Earlimart
[#] Filthy Doorways (1999)
Abridged beginnings.
Reviewed November 30, -0001
What's most interesting about Filthy Doorways is that, despite the differences in lineup, recording circumstances, and just being a much greener group, how much of the eventual Earlimart sound was there from the beginning. Granted, Earlimart's sound was never super original to begin with, straightahead, strummy, occasionally twangy-occasionally crunchy indie rock, but it's not hard to draw a line from the noise excursions that bookend Doorways to the staticky interludes on Treble and Tremble, or to hear a nascent version of "Bloody Nose" in "Someday You're Gonna Love Me". The corollary to that is it wasn't especially well-developed yet.
Filthy Doorways busts through twelve tracks in 25 minutes, some not being music at all, so I wouldn't go in expecting particularly groomed songs, fetchingly splintered and occasionally catchy as they can be. Some ("Kill Your Parents", "Heaven") end after two choruses and verses apiece. Others ("I'm a Queen") feel more like early drafts or experiments in mood and lyrics than fully formed songs. It's not bad as much as it is unfinished business from a band likely still getting to grips with just what making records even consists of—the kind of release likely only to appeal to the hardcore Earlimart crowd, and I'm the only one of those that exists.
| Essential: | "Heaven", "Someday You're Gonna Love Me", "Punk Rock Mom" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "Dorian Gray" |
| Non-Essential: | "Kill Your Parents" |
| Rating: |  |