Crate Digging is our recurring feature series that takes a deep dive into music history to turn up several albums all music fans should know. In this edition, The Jesus Lizard’s David Yow rips through 10 great albums from artists with “L” names.
For the first time in over a quarter of a century, a new The Jesus Lizard album is on the horizon, primed like a dirty bomb that’s ready to cause chaos and break shit via their reptilian brand of noise rock. But with Rack (out Friday, September 13th on Ipecac Recordings; pre order here) arriving a full 26 years after the band’s last release, does The Jesus Lizard still have the secret, furious sauce that made records like Goat or Liar so hard-hitting?
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Fuck yeah they do.
As heard on singles like “Hide & Seek” and “Alexis Feels Sick,” the passage of time seems to have had little impact on The Jesus Lizard’s sonic and thematic interests. Somehow, Rack is just as energized, aggressive, and noisy as any of the band’s ’90s material.
“See, the thing is, I rarely listen to music these days. Maybe occasionally when I’m driving, but at home, never,” frontman David Yow tells Consequence. Instead, what makes it to his ears are the sounds of “the cat yelling and the wife asking when dinner is, shit like that.”
As a result, Rack feels more like a long lost session from ’97 than it does a comeback record seeking to bring The Jesus Lizard into the 2020s — and thank god for it. Never change, Jesus Lizard, never change.
To celebrate the release of Rack, we connected with Yow to talk about music via our Crate Digging series. In typical Yow fashion, he took a piss over the column’s concept, opting not to list albums from a certain genre or scene, but rather a collection of records made by artists whose name starts with “L.” You gotta love it.
“The reason I made this list is because in the last three or four years, I got turned on to Lhasa De Sela… I just wanted to include her in it somehow,” Yow explains. “And her name begins with ‘L,’ and Led Zeppelin was my first concert, so I just decided I’m gonna do names that begin with ‘L.’ I went through my iTunes music and sorted by ‘L,’ and some of it was pretty thin pickings. Like, Lotte Lenya — eh, I don’t care. And Love Kit, that was a band my wife was in years ago, so whatever.”
Check out The Jesus Lizard frontman David Yow’s full list of albums from artists whose name begins with “L” below. You can also read our review of Rack’s lead single “Hide & Seek,” as well as our reflection on the band’s collaboration with producer Steve Albini. The Jesus Lizard also has a slew of tour dates coming up; get tickets here.
