(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Hazel were a power trio from Portland, composed of drummer Jody Bleyle (a driving force in the citys alternative scene), guitarist Peter Krebs, and bassist Brady Smith. Hazel earned their reputation through electrifying live performances, during which they even featured a forty-year-old dancer.
They debuted with the single J. Hell (Cavity Search), which alternates, ā la Gun Club, thrash lashings with swamp-blues steps, and with the EP Jilted (SubPop), particularly on Truly, a feverish litany full of romantic pathos.
The album Toreador Of Love (Sub Pop, 1993) tempered the punk-rock frenzy and gave space to what was truly their innovation: a modern form of love song. The album highlights the graceful portrait of She's Supersonic and the catchy Everybody's Best Friend. Strong echoes of the Xs are heardthe blended harmonies of Bleyle and Krebs and their characteristic ragged gaiton the country-rock ballad Day Glo and the hoedown of Constipation.
More rustic and subtle than their local peers Pond and Sprinkler, Hazel represent an isolated case, as they show no connection to the local garage-rock tradition or the grunge of nearby Seattle. This vaudeville spirit of these pranksters, these anti-heroes against grunge, is precisely what makes it more sincere.
Bleyle also played in Team Dresch, and Krebs often performed solo. Preceded by Blank Florida (Candy Ass), Are You Going To Eat That (SubPop, 1995) was released, essentially revisiting the same vices and virtues. Despite the ragged cowpunk of Lazy H, the tone had softened further, more pop-oriented in Green Eyes and subdued, Beat Happening-like in King Twist. Crowned and Ringing In My Ears are acoustic ballads, Krebss preferred terrain, featuring Bleyles backing vocals in the epic style of the Xs.
Indeed, Pete Krebs then ventured into Brigadier (Cavity Search, 1996), a purely solo album (voice and guitar) and acoustic, revealing him as a 1960s-style Donovan, tenderly attuned to intimate emotions. There is no doubt that Lou Barlow (Sebadoh) could learn much from D Tune Drop, Firepower, Kiss, and Orleans Parish, though in the long run the process of self-catharsis leaves a sense of excessive sentimentality. (Mean Time, Orleans Parish, Do Your Father Proud).
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
The marvelous marriage of folk and grunge that characterized Hazel's debut
shines on Ohio Player and Mr. Magazine Man, the highlights of the
EP Airiana (Candy-Ass, 1997), and on the single Incendiary (CandyAss, 1997).
Hazel reinvented itself like a mature and powerful collective, led by a
strong songwriter and blessed with a distinctive style.
Pete Krebs' solo career continued with
Western Electric (Cavity Search, 1997), a more varied work that often
recalls the folk sounds of the Greenwich Village movement
(J.F.K., Horsepower Daydreams, Purple Heart Of Texas)
and even the pastoral/romantic folk of Donovan and Gordon Lightfoot
(Madison, Purple Heart Of Texas), if not
Nick Drake's manic depression (Elevation).
The catchy Hideaway and the 10-minute instrumental Luminous
show the breadth of Kreb's stylistic range.
Duet For Clarinet Adn Goat (Cavity Search) is a collaboration with
Bad Livers' singer
Danny Barnes, each singer covering the other's songs.
For Sweet Ona Rose (Cavity Search, 1999) Krebs finally gathered a
real band (including former Soundgarden Ben Shepherd)
Johnny Come Lately and Quickly Steals Away are the only upbeat
tunes. The rest is melancholy and fatalistic wailing at the moon.
Krebs can't get more traditionalist than on I Know It By Heart (Cavity Search, 2003), an unpretentious but also predictable collection of melodic vignettes that hark back to the Kinks' exuberant guitar-pop (Sleeping Beauty and Distant Lights of Home) and to Sixties bubblegum pop (Smashed to Splinters). The only "experiment" is the trip-hop of Kid Domino.
