DEPARTMENTSTORE SANTAS-AT THE MEDIEVAL CASTLE NINETEEN 100-YEAR LIFETIMES SINCE, D.S., LP, 1984, USA
Trying to explain why this record is such a cornerstone item for me is gonna be something of a feat, as Departmentstore Santas' M.O. is an entirely elusive one. There's a certain guilelessness to the way experimentation is undertaken by this L.A. outfit, a kind of naif art brut, albeit one without the cloyingly cutesy overlay of, for instance, Jad Fair's work. Incredible pop smarts are secreted away in offhand gestures and art damaged jams erupt in the least likely places in Departmentstore Santas' mercurial shoebox universe, giving them a certain frisson I thought was exclusive to L.A. equally hermetic (if more acknowledged) Decayes.
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