4 out of 5

Label: self-released

Produced by: James Kirk Harrell, Paul Francis Yates, Jim Biscuit Hall

A somewhat mysterious, low print run LP that is likely notable for featuring a young Moby, but should be appreciated as a solid entry in the no-wave / noise rock burbling out of the various indie scenes at the time.

‘Peanuts’ has what might be considered track divides – points where the music halts and changes shape – but it’s presented as single sides of the vinyl, often comprised of rattling noise and distant drumming, with samples or stray, chattering vocals wandering in. An appreciated aspect of this, amongst its peers – which I might count as Brise-Glace, or early Total – is that Shopwell’s approach adds some personality to its atmospheric barrage, clearly allowing us to accept that there are real people making all this noise. While the anonymity of such music can be part of its appeal, having the feeling like humans are sitting there at machines or instruments and making this stuff suddenly grants it more shape, and accessibility.

As with much of this music, though, it can be prone to indulgence. Shopwell hits that about midway on both sides. Side A is very unformed in general, but it has approximate “sections” which are more drone or more chaotic, and about halfway through, the compositions / group go rather scattershot, and it’s hard to settle into the sound. This is especially true towards the end of the A-side as well, when the group nigh fully breaks character and starts recording themselves talking, finding ways to chop up the sample, but this is more acceptable as something of a coda to this track / side.

Side B repeats this structure to a degree, but the Brise-Glace bit really comes out in bookends that have actual identifiable guitar strums and a beat, guiding the music, plus some tape manipulations.

Due to its surprising lack of notoriety, given one of its members eventual pedigree, I was expecting a noise album of a lesser tier, but Shopwell’s Peanuts is a mostly immersive, and definitely interesting piece of work, with warm production that’s held up well over the decades, and a shifting palette of noise / clatter that would’ve felt at home on Skin Graft or other outre music labels back in the day.