walk through this world w/ the folk Implosion CD [Private Stash]

Lou Barlow and John Davis began their collaboration improvising acoustic songs in Lou’s apartment in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood in 1993. After a few times playing and recording, they decided it might be fun to try to play a show in Providence RI. They called themselves The John Davis Folk Implosion, an ironic nod to the John Spencer Blues Explosion. John Spencer, like John Davis, had attended Providence’s Brown University and The Blues Explosion were the coolest, tightest band on the planet. Lou and John leaned heavily in the opposite direction (as you will hear). The John Davis Folk Implosion’s set included a selection of John’s solo tunes and songs that Lou had just written. Bob Fay was recruited to play drums (soon to be the full-time drummer for Lou’s band Sebadoh). The duo moved operations to John’s bedroom near Harvard Square, meeting early in the morning, twice a week and recording on a Tascam Porta-One cassette 4-track (a step up from the portable Walkmen recorder they used to capture their first experiments). The songs became less improvised/acoustic and more structured/electric, influenced by the new wave and post-punk they loved. They swapped off on drums and guitar, Lou played the bass and they shared vocals. The songs retained the free-wheeling absurdist edge of the Walkman recordings but coalescing into the songwriting 'band' that would go on to release 3 full length LPs and become known for their work on the KIDS soundtrack. After completing a handful of 4-track songs they shortened the name to The Folk Implosion and compiled Walk Through This World (borrowing the title from a George Jones song) for release on the U.K. label , Chocolate Monk (1993). It maps their very rough, impulsive, lo-fi beginnings. Walk Through This World was edited into a 7” vinyl e.p, and released on the Drunken Fish label in 1994. This version was transferred from the original copy of the cassette, all the chaos, all the hiss, clicks and glitches preserved.