Friday, May 7, 2010

Pailhead - Trait (CD, 1988)

Wow, here's one I haven't listened to in years.

When you're in high school and some punk kid you're sort of friends with asks you if you've ever heard Pailhead - you know, that group with Ian MacKaye singing with Ministry - your first instinct is to think he's lying. Or he's confused. Or he's fucking with you. Ian MacKaye and Ministry? You know both of these artists, and the idea of the two of them teaming up on a musical project seems far-fetched at best. In fact, you have a hard time thinking of two artists who are further apart from each other in both musical styles and general philosophies. Seriously, is this kid fucking with you?

You hear about it from some other people, and you start to think it might be real. You eventually track down the CD, proving once and for all that this thing actually happened, and this recording actually exists. You still don't really believe it for some reason, but when you listen to the CD, it's all there. Industrial guitar rock and Ian screaming over the top of it. You don't really like it that much, but you're so infatuated with the fact that it's real that you hold onto the CD for the rest of your life, never really listening to it, just always knowing it's there, on your shelf, being one of the strangest things you could ever imagine.

"Man Should Surrender"

1 comment:

Biff Pocaroba said...

I also remember hearing the legend of the "Ian MacKaye/Ministry" album as a young man. In the pre-internet days info on these things were harder to come by. I remember finding out that it really existed and I think I have even heard it and wasn't real thrilled with it. I still don't really believe that it exists.