LP YOUR FOOD Poke it with a Stick

2023 repress. "Poke it with a Stick -- the only record by Louisville legends Your Food -- is a sui generis gem of the American underground, now faithfully reissued for the first time by Drag City. Recorded in 1983 by four scarecrows from Kentucky subsisting largely on cheap beer and baked beans, the album is a burbling burgoo of hypnotic rhythm, uncoiling tension, and sharp invective -- a proud bastard of post-punk royalty. In the fall of 1981, the residents of 1069, Louisville's original punk house, began to spy three teenagers lurking outside the decrepit environs. Eventually the teens grew bold enough to approach, and soon two, John Bailey and Wolf Knapp, were learning guitar and bass in the trashed rehearsal space within. 'Their practices seemed interminable at first,' remembers Charles Schultz, 'and then picked up confidence and momentum.'

Financed by a Pell Grant and what little cash the band could scrounge, the album was cut largely live in the studio by a guy who usually recorded church groups, and self-released on the band's own Screaming Whoredog label. The prevailing themes of restlessness and isolation are palpable in songs like opener 'Leave,' where ennui morphs into dark comic fantasy. The punk funk of 'Don't Be' fits perfectly with the downtown NYC groove of bands like ESG and Bush Tetras. Doug's sardonic wit laces each song with trenchant, first-class put-downs. The band became big brothers and bad influences for prepubescent Slint project Languid and Flaccid."