Husband and wife duos are no strangers to rock and roll’s DIY landscape. Eleventh Dream Day, Sonic Youth and the legendary Dead Moon are heady company for Milwaukee’s Red Stuff. Bless Us is the latest album by the group fronted by Kelly (guitar/vocals) and Tom Wanderer (bass/vocals). Recorded at home, mostly live on an 8-track cassette machine, with Steve Tiber on drums and Morgan Engels on keyboards, the quartet’s mid-fi sound is defined by the rules they set: a found-sound intro here, a mantra-turned chorus there and intense focus throughout.
Taking DIY to the logical extreme, the 150 gram vinyl pressing is housed in a cover hand-printed by the band. Psychedelic in subject matter, wah-wah pedal and glitchy sonic touches, this could be a soundtrack for an imaginary road trip as the songs build and unfold. Mildly addicting and perhaps reserved for special occasions, you might say. Opening with the space swoosh of “Strawberry Street” the album neatly ends with the same swoosh closing out “Trippin’on Me.”
