4 out of 5

Label: Triple X

Produced by: Dave Sardy, Doug Henderson

Out of the small ring of noisy junk-rock bands that were kicking around Brooklyn in the late 80s and early 90s, I always feel like Spongehead gets left out of the namedropping.  Which I don’t really get: Cop Shoot Cop were always a bit too purposeful for me, with Firewater like a distilled version of the same; and god bless Dave Sardy and Barkmarket – Sardy’s production the reason I picked up Spongehead – but those discs are emotional plunges (meaning I’ve gotta be ready to get swept up in it), and the style varies pretty widely from release to release.  But Spongehead nips the best funk and aggressive touches from these bands and lets it swing via Doug Henderson’s rambling growls and crunching, catchy guitar riffs and his brother’s pulsing sax work, with Mark Kirby – a match for Barkmarket’s Rock Savage in the pummeling-skins department – keeping time and keeping our toes tapping.  Spongehead is catchy, for all of the noise they make, damned fun compositions surging for the majority of the runtime with Doug emoting about day-to-day nonsense in a completely relatable manner, like the angry dude venting about something so you don’t have to.  It’s not deep, perhaps, but it’s entertaining, especially with the sarcasm and snark that often seeps into the lines.

There’s some bloat on the disc, some tracks hanging around for maybe thirty seconds too long without really building on what’s come before, but the majority of the album is all forward thrust, with that lovely combo of gutter guitar and squealing horns a delightfully inspired combo that never feels out of place.

So don’t sleep on Spongehead.  Maybe Henderson didn’t have the fuck-off attitude of Tod A. or the production chops of Sardy, but that didn’t stop him from being part of another key release in a sadly missed scene, one that honestly surpasses – in terms of repeat listenability – a lot of its peers.  (And yes, Henderson has his share of studio work to his name as well, though moreso as a mixer than producer.)