Blonder Tongue Audio Baton

Infobox Album
Name = Blonder Tongue Audio Baton
Type = studio
Longtype =
Artist = Swirlies


Released = March 26, 1993
Recorded = June 1992 to Nov. 1992
Genre = Indie rock, Alternative rock, Shoegaze
Length =
Label = Taang!
Producer =
Reviews = *Allmusic: Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:81rx287r058a link]
*Tiny Mix Tapes Rating|4|5 [http://www.tinymixtapes.com/The-Swirlies link]
Last album = "What to Do About Them" (1992)
This album = "Blonder Tongue Audio Baton" (1993)
Next album = "Brokedick Car" (1994)

"Blonder Tongue Audio Baton" (sometimes spelled "Blondertongueaudiobaton") is a 1993 album by Swirlies, released on CD, LP and cassette. The majority of the album was recorded in the summer of 1992 at Q-Division, Boston with engineer/co-producer Rich Costey. It is possibly their best-known and most critically-praised work, with many critics citing it as a "lo-fi" answer to My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless". Allmusic calls it "a mainstay of early-'90s indie music."

Some tracks from it appeared, in altered form, on the band's 1994 "Brokedick Car" EP.

The album is named after an obscure and expensive audio graphic equalizer, made from 1959-61 which was used extensively while tracking the album. It was co-lead singer Seana Carmody's last full album with the group, before she formed the Farfisa-driven and somewhat more pop-orientedSyrup USA.

In addition to the standard track listing, two session out-takes exist and are in unofficial circulation. The first is an unfinished rerecording of "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" and the second is the original recording of "Trudy." The version of "Park the Car by the Side of the Road" that appears on the record is not actually from the BTAB sessions. Rather, it is a remix (with some re-recorded vocals) of a track released as part of the "Error" single in 1991. A later 8-track version of Trudy was eventually released as part of the Simple Machines Working Holiday 7" series. Neither out-take has seen official release.

Track listing

# "Bell (Intro)"
# "Bell"
# "Vigilant Always"
# "His Love Just Washed Away"
# "His Life of Academic Freedom"
# "Pancake"
# "Jeremy Parker"
# "Park the Car by the Side of the Road"
# "Tree Chopped Down"
# "Wrong Tube"
# "Wait Forever"

External links

* [http://www.njarc.org/articles/audiobaton.htm information about the original Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton e.q. unit]
* [http://www.evil-office.net/swirlies/discography/index.html Swirlies official discography - links to a download]