NAME ME SOMEONE THAT IS NOT A PARASITE 6

“Hide Your Daughters” - The Lapse

The Lapse was a band that existed in the late 1990’s. They released records on the consistently incredible Gern Blandsten Records, a label that operated out of New Jersey and was set up by Charles Maggio who once upon a time happened to be the singer in a band called Rorschach. Rorschach are one of my favourite bands period. Maybe I will post a Rorschach track next week. I digress. Considering the calibre of his own band it came as little surprise that when he set up a label Maggio kept its output of a consistently high quality. The Lapse were the third in a series of bands conceived and fronted by Chris Leo. Yes, Chris Leo is Ted Leo’s brother but for reasons that are wholly beyond me none of the truly excellent music that Chris has created with his first act Native Nod, The Lapse and his peerless second group, The Van Pelt, has ever really registered on people’s radars in the same way that his brothers stuff. Go and beg, borrow or steal a copy of The Van Pelt’s 1997 record Sultans Of Sentiment and you will see just how criminal this lack of recognition is. The Lapse formed from the ashes The Van Pelt and consisted of Leo and his then girlfriend Toko Yasuda who went on to play with Enon and Blonde Redhead. The restrained arrangements, sparse instrumentation and intense, emotive and often oblique lyrical complexity that had characterised The Van Pelt were all present on Betrayal! and Heaven Ain’t Happenin’, the pair of albums that Leo recorded as The Lapse but I can’t recommend The Van Pelt highly enough if you enjoy the below song. Until next week.

JAMES KNIGHT