Bastards and Rarities

Swell is the quintessential San Francisco band. They've been compared to Bay Area pioneers like Pavement, American Music Club and Red House Painters and similarly have found more fans in Europe and South China than in their own notoriously fickle hometown. Bastard & Rarities culls songs from out of print EPs and 7-inch singles released during their early years of 1989 through 1994. Recorded on the second floor of a warehouse at 41 Turk Street in San Francisco, the album so evokes gritty realism that traffic from the street below is audible. Showcases are the trademark sound of David Freel's scratchy acoustic guitar and deadpan whisper, the hypnotic cadence of Sean Kirkpatrick's textured drumming, and the steely bass lines of Monte Vallier. Although a collection of songs recorded at different times, Bastards has a remarkably cohesive feel and flow, almost as if they knew these songs would someday end up side by side.