3 out of 5

Label: Skin Graft Records

Produced by: Weasel Walter

I’m gonna say that one’s preference in AoR albums might be defined by what they hear first, with the scale shifting along from anarchic dance-punk to no-wave brutality during their relatively short late 90s to earlys 2000s run. Of course, this allows that this mystical “one” appreciates Arab on Radar’s general shtick of masturbation- and penis size-obsessed lyrics; Eric Paul’s nasally vocals; and a clipped drumming and repetitive guitar playing style that’s often more out to assault than delivery a melody; but allowing for that, earlier material found the group getting across a pretty booty-shaking groove as the tracks’ base, while material from their final album, Yahweh or the Highway, abstracts beats out to a U.S. Maple style of dissection, if Maple couldn’t not play their instruments as hard and fast as possible.

While the Yahweh style was definitely established on Soak the Saddle, to the extent that you could say several tracks are almost repeated on that album, this is also something of the meeting of “before” and “after” AoR sounds, getting used to Weasel Walter’s raw production, and the kind of forward momentum approach that seems to encourage. The dance punk of yore is not without momentum, of course, but it also leaves room for booty shakin’, allowing tracks to zip through chorus-verse-chorus structures. Soak the Saddle instead is all-hands-on: it pummels; it rips and tears. Had this been the album I heard first… I don’t know; it’s hard to say how I would’ve received it. Yahweh is such a polished, precise version of – juxtaposingly – madness, and features some of Paul’s best lyrics, wrapping his obsessions around symbolism which feels like it’s leaning into something that could be analyzed and considered, and not just random perversions spat about. Saddle is not the latter either, but Walter and the crew mix Eric’s phrasings into the background, making them sound not as confident; just as some music carried over to Yahweh, all the subject matter seemed to also, but that change in presentation removes the bravado, relegating chatter bout teachers and boners to a school of juvenilia.

The mix also makes this less noise rock and a bit more punky: the bass and drum grooves take center stage. So to rewind to my question, while this is more directly anarchic than much of Skin Graft’s stuff, it feels like this album creates a clearer link to some of their mates on their previous labels, Herapin and Load, which erred more post-rock or noise than the version of AoR playing at that time; had I heard Soak the Saddle first, I think I wouldn’t have fully understood what the group could offer – I could’ve filed it alongside things I’d heard before, though that also means this might be a good gateway disc for new listeners.

Regardless, I really can’t ditch my memories of Yahweh while hearing Soak the Saddle, as it’s just too close to the template without really nailing any aspect of it. But it’s to the band’s credit that they were able to get to this sound from their previous works, and then absolutely perfect it a year later.