Monday, August 3, 2009

Bands to Care About: The Capstan Shafts


It’s incredible what it takes to be noticed in the indie rock world. 10 years into recording under the name The Capstan Shafts, Dean Wells has released 7 albums and 10 eps along with 4 records under various monikers. Yet despite all this insane productivity, chances are very high you’ve never heard of him. Why? Because he does nothing but record! He has only preformed three times, never stays signed to an label for more than a few releases, and hasn’t set up his own myspace page. Still, do what you can to track down his work because it is some of the best bedroom pop around. Recording everything on 4-track and playing every instrument, Wells is like a mad man, cranking out these lo-fi nuggets so delicious you fear you’ll get an uncurable sugar high just listening to one of his album. The Guided by Voices influence is hard to ignore, but with Wells better mastery of his instruments and trying to be more Tobin Sprout than Robert Pollard, it amounts to something much more. Plus he has a song called “Space Nut to Ape Length”. How can you not love it?


Rainbow Quartz (The Capstan Shafts most current label)

1 comment:

  1. a couple of my friends back him up when he plays in nyc. I still haven't seen him, but dig his music...I need to make that happen.

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