Bands to Care About: Sparky Deathcap

If your awkward college/post college years were made into a movie, Sparky Deathcap would be the one hired to make the soundtrack. Comparisons can be made to Smog or The Microphones, but due to Sparky's deep seeded love of Pavement and other '90s indie rock, some humor and irony is injected to the formula as well. This creates something more akin to what Superman Revenge Squad is doing or if David Berman of the Silver Jews started touring by himself and a guitar.

Creating the persona five years ago, Rob Taylor has been crafting his woeful acoustic tunes for anyone willing to hear them. His first release was a 100 press, all hand made, mini-album titled Let's Build a Fire for Pulsar Records. Suffice to say, it would go on to sell out. Before putting out his next EP, Sparky Deathcap wound up doing a lot of tour, going across Europe, playing multiple music festivals, and even opening for the great Daniel Johnson on a few US dates as well as playing with Los Campesinos! too. In fact, Sparky Deathcap is now a sort of 8th member of the band, playing guitar and drums with them live. During all this, Sparky also found time to self-release a brand new EP on his own Nettlejam Records in 2009 titled Tear Jerky. It's only five songs, but it manages to hit you hard, and it's very impressive how he manages to manipulate standard acoustic tracks into something so much more with feedback, drum loops, hand claps, and more.

While Sparky Deathcap is a bit preoccupied with playing with Los Campesinos!, he still has forgotten about his own work. He recently started recording demos, and has a (no joke) ukulele opera based on love in the works that he wants to have ready for this upcoming Valentines Day. Rob Taylor's is a breath of fresh air in these over self-obsessed, over electronic days, not mention his music is quite beautiful, in a self-depreciating sort of way.
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On a small side note, Rob Taylor is also a master illustrator, and draws incredibly dark, incredibly funny comics as well. They can be seen on his webpage as well.

(mp3) Sparky Deathcap-Mountain and Central
(mp3) Sparky Deathcap-Glasgow is a Punk Rock Town
(mp3) Sparky Deathcap-Blossomwing

Links:

Sparky Deathcap Website
Sparky Deathcap on Myspace