Amps for Christ - The Plains of Alluvail
(Water Wing)

Of all the various projects spawned from the disbanding of the legendary Man Is The Bastard, Amps For Christ is the sore thumb that sticks out the most. The Plains Of Alluvail is the debut release for this solo project from Henry Barnes, the MITB guitar player/instrument maker, originally released in 1995 on cassette. The songs on the first half are brief vignettes of primitive guitar work, fuzzed out freak folk, and twisted lo-fi traditional sounds. Mixed with the occasional invasion of electronic noises. All played on instruments Barnes built himself, of course. Songs like "River Land" are simply beautiful, but the uniqueness of the instruments and the fidelity of the recordings keep this from being a record that's all sunshine and roses. Side B is almost 100% electronic noise from custom oscillators and synths. Another thing Barnes is known for building. It's organic and raw noise from a time when it was starting to swell again in the USA. Lots of high end, not a lot of reverb or echoing at all, crunchy, grimy distortion and churning sonic frequencies.  Worth a listen or three for sure.  (VII) Check out a track here