#dale flattum

[spilladabalia]

Dale Flattum aka Tooth

[gotankgo]

Steel Pole Bath Tub “Kung Fu Love”

• The Skull Tapes (1987)

«Steel Pole Bath Tub was formed in 1986 by Mike Morasky and Dale Flattum in Bozeman, MT. The duo relocated to Seattle where they met drummer Dorothy Kent...ultimately relocating as a unit again to San Francisco shortly thereafter. "The Skull Tapes" contains the first released Steel Pole Bath Tub recordings with the band's solidified trio lineup of Morasky, Flattum and Kent. This trio would serve as the lineup for the band's entire career. "The Skull Tapes" was originally released on cassette tape in 1987 and has become a collector's item both because of its rarity, but also its content. The band quickly followed the release with a string of classic albums on Boner Records, and they played shows supporting Nirvana, Killdozer, Jawbreaker, The Melvins, The Flaming Lips, Hole, Sonic Youth, ETC.»

[gritboy]

Unlistenable

In the fall of 1996, Darren Mor-X, Mike Morasky and Dale Flattum began making recordings for what was scheduled to be their second album on a major label with offices in Los Angeles and New York. The trio first spent 72 hours holed up in guitarist Morasky’s living room, and later moved the operation to a small recording studio behind an auto repair shop in downtown San Francisco. The results were…

[kovasp]

Dale Flattum, Library Drawing Set I, 2019

Dale Flattum, Library Drawing Set I, 2019 - four watercolor and India ink drawings on museum board.

Dale Flattum, Library Drawing Set I, 2019

Biography: “When not watching Law & Order reruns, Dale Flattum spends his time creating posters, art prints, and other screen printed propaganda under the alias TOOTH.  Previously, he pursued a career in music, touring the world with the San Francisco rock bands Steel Pole Bath Tub and Milk Cult. He resides in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter and…

[still-single]

2017 Best Ofs: Andrew Earles

MY 2017

There is no order or ranking on display below, as I PERSONALLY consider it one of music writing’s more maddening logical fallacies that I’ve admittedly engaged in with other outlets/entities, but only due to editorial policy. I’m sure some releases have been forgotten, but my window for submitting this has closed thanks to a mountain of overdue reviews. 

On that note, there are several inclusions that I’ve already reviewed here over the last year as well as a couple/few that are currently in the future pipeline.

7”s

MOZART Nasty 7” EP (Iron Lung)

COORDINATED SUICIDES False Pleasure 7” EP (probably 2016 but fuck it, Kitschy Manitou Records)

SURFBORT Bort to Death 7” EP (Hozac)

BOB SEGER SYSTEM “2+2=?” (REISSUE...sort of, Third Man)

NOTS  “Anxious Trend” / “In Glass” (Famous Class)

LARGER RECORDS

DREAMDECAY Yu LP (Iron Lung)

KING WOMAN Created in the Image of Suffering LP (Relapse)

UNIFORM Wake in Fright LP (Sacred Bones)

XETAS The Tower LP (12XU)

MEAT WAVE The Incessant LP (SideOneDummy)

IMPALERS Cellar Dweller LP (540)

BORIS Dear 2LP (Sargent House)

PART CHIMP IV LP (Rock Action)

PISSED JEANS Why Love Now LP (Sub Pop)

PALLBEARER Heartless 2LP (Profound Lore)

USA/MEXICO Laredo LP (12XU)

ELDER Reflections of a Floating World 2LP (Armageddon Shop)

CHELSEA WOLFE Hiss Spun 2LP (Sargent House)

REISSUES

WORLD OF POOH The Land of Thirst LP (Starlight Furniture Co.)

COLD SWEAT Blinded LP (Iron Lung)

A CERTAIN RATIO ‎The Graveyard And The Ballroom 2LP (MUTE)

GIRLS AGAINST BOYS ‎Tropic of Scorpio LP (Drastic Plastic)

CAP ‘N JAZZ Analphabetapolothology 2LP (Jade Tree /Epitaph)

BOB LIND Since There Were Circles LP (Deep Focus)

TOO $HORT ‎Life Is...Too $hort LP (8th Records)

MORBID ANGEL Covenant LP (Earache) ‎

HELIUM The Dirt of Luck 2LP (Matador)

THE AVALANCHES Since I Left You 2LP (UK REISS, Modular Recordings)

FLYING SAUCER ATTACK Distance LP (VHF Recordings)

BILL FOX Before I Went to Harvard LP (Eleventh Hour Recording Company)

CURRENTLY ONLY AVAILABLE VIA BANDCAMP

THE HAND Vol 4 aka When All Of The Shit Hits All Of The Fans

This is Zak Sally (Low, Enemymine, etc), drummer Karl DeBeest (not sure...has a badass surname, tho) and Dale Flattum of Steel Pole Bathtub (my all-time favorite and therefore the best band to ever find itself under the banner of “noise-rock”). Please support this entity via Bandcamp, as not only does it appear to go to a good cause but this band’s profile needs to be raised so that someone sees fit to elevate their amazing and somewhat politically-charged brilliance to a physical format.

LIVE

POWERTRIP

DANA

JIMMY FLEMION (THE FROGS, first live performance since Dennis’ passing)

CHEATER SLICKS

NOTS

[robotcosmonaut]

Minneapolis, Minnesota - November 18, 2006

[spilladabalia]

Steel Pole Bath Tub - I Dreamed I Dream (Sonic Youth cover)

[kovasp]

Love finding cool new artists - this is Dale Flattum aka @brothertooth. Thanks to @parlorfstudio for turning me on to his work. https://www.instagram.com/p/B4i6sEFnadX/?igshid=o2qi6k2r4gxy

[lnthefade]

Steel Pole Bathtub - Train to Miami

You should listen to this. It's from one of my favorite albums. It's good. 

Left Chicago, left the filth.Hopped a boxcar, headed south.  Lust with 13 Siamese twins. Bought for science, kept for skin. 

Interesting facts about Steel Pole Bathtub members:

This song was used in the television ad for Left 4 Dead.

Mike Morasky is a video game and film composer and works for Valve, where he wrote music for Portal 2, Team Fortress2, Left For Dead and other games. He's also a digital artist who worked on the Lord of the Rings and Matrix trilogies

Dale Flattum is a graphic artist whose book Tooth was successfully funded through Kickstarter (thanks for the heads up, Shane)

 Like most of the record, this particular song is surreal, noisy, weird, disturbing, haunting and addicting. The repeated chorus of “these are my friends now” over a staccato bass, the cacophony of sounds in the background, the whispers about church burning and satan, the short scream; it’s what the circus might sound like if you smoked a bowl of crack before entering the big tent. You’d think that putting all these sounds together might make a mess, but Steel Pole Bathtub makes it work.

The whole album is at once disturbing and riveting. Bozeman, Carbon, Waxl, I could try to define each song for you but it would take far more words than anyone wants to read.

You should listen to it.

[spilladabalia]

The Hand - Super Sissy

[spilladabalia]

Steel Pole Bath Tub - Christina

[spilladabalia]

Steel Pole Bath Tub - Down All The Days (Pogues cover) (django kill)