ELECTRIC EELS - Jaguar Ride

“The Cleveland-based (and formerly Columbus) ELECTRIC EELS were unrivaled in terms of sonic mayhem for 1974/1975, especially for the Midwest, where extremities in music were very much unwelcome and were not given the opportunities that the art scenes of the coasts got to foster. This was an entirely new species emerging from the primordial ooze of the fertile crescent of a cesspool that birthed the 70s version of punk as we know it, this was true madness captured on tape, catchy and infectious insanity flowing through the air that never, EVER had a chance during its time, and this is one of the reasons the eels have such creedence. Its no surprise that it wasnt until worldwide punk was in full swing three years later that the debut electric eels single finally came out of the gates, oddly enough on the Rough Trade label, as its certain stillborn death in 1975 wasnt even conceivable, even to the Metal Mike and Lester Bangs-types lighting up the underground. The electric eels were the nexus of outsider noise at a time when there might have been several isolated antecedents in random basements in the early to mid 1970s, but none as stripped, bleeding, and almost too-cleverly-convulsing, and none more intimidating or more enigmatic considering how long it took their material to surface. This is the real deal, and there isnt anything more we can say, but there isnt much more than the electric eels when it comes to punk evolution, and the creatures much lower on the evolutionary scale than the currently accepted "godfathers of punk" music, wo will someday inherit this rotten corpse. And did we mention the B-side is the brutally beautiful comp-only track "Splitterty Splat" also recorded in 1975? Surely the planets have aligned, and this is our ticket into heaven, or madness, and yours as well, and we could not be more excited, proud, and genuinly scared to host these sacred recordings on our imprint, AMEN.” - Hozac.