I Suck On That Emotion [Vinyl]

SEPTEMBER 2016 REPRESS!Now that we’ve moved definitively onward, in time if in no other significant fashion, it feels right to revisit a neglected chapter in the history of DC’s storied music scene. Circa 2002–2003, dig the time of Scene Creamers! Formed by Michelle Mae and Ian Svenonius (the electric bass player and voice from Make Up) with guitarist Alex Minoff (Golden, Make Up), Scene Creamers intended to advance from Make Up’s minimalist punk-gospel, a much-imitated style now at an obvious endpoint. This meant the soul elements were set aside in favor of riff rock and funk-fueled psychedelia. Discarding the call-and-response vocal thrust, Ian Svenonius produced his most musical lyrics to date, conjuring life-size reflections of scenesters of all kinds: art students, trust fund kids, crusties, professionals and disenfranchised insiders, all of whom spoke to the changing times through a heavy-rolling, acid-wah kaleidoscope. “The Sound of Young America!” the PR trumpeted. Why, then, did Scene Creamers not record again? It will be recalled that they debuted in the immediate wake of the rock and roll era, which may have affected public perception, creating a subsequent gap in the band’s private perception. With the name Weird War in immediate reserve (Parliament-Funkadelic style!), the band moved in and moved on to make a couple further albums in this mode. While they built a separate discography, I Suck On That Emotion became an album unto itself. Today, in another era entirely, we’ve built a bridge back to there.