“Porch-core”, replied Doo Crowder, when I asked him five years ago to what genre of music does his band fit in. In the Fall of 2004, I was lining up a gig for a touring Austin band Mandarin Dynasty at the now defunct art/music/culture space at Revoluciones, which I co-founded and directed from 1997-2005. Doo Crowder, the singer-songwriter and bandleader of Pee-Pee, had solid roots at Revoluciones playing bass with local pop-punk darlings The Dinnermints. This first Pee-Pee gig at Revo was a raw and playful coalescence of a few friends experimenting with some of Doo’s new ideas.

Basement-core may also be an apt moniker for the categorization of this 10-piece (or so) ensemble who held rehearsal and a few improv recordings in the laundry room of our apartment building off of Colfax in Denver. Doo’s dingy, garbage filled apartment is the sole inhabitance in this basement; a wretched refuge of a pop genius/anti-popstar. Coincidentally, Randall Frasier of Helmet Room (who shared warehouse space with Revo), also resided in this basement apartment in the late 90s; DJ Flukz of Future Reference Crew, who kicked off the debut event at Revo, also lived in this basement in the early 2000s.

Every Monday night for 4 years, I could hear Pee-Pee rehearsals from my ground-level apartment above. Hearing the original chaotic stench blossom into an orchestra of chamber-pop and folk-rock experiments over time and practice is truly astounding to me. Almost two years in, Doo invited my wife to join in with his jamboree to beat on a cardboard box. Seema eventually moved up to playing the cajon and various percussion, as well the french horn. A live Pee-Pee show was one among several performances at our wedding reception. This blood runs deep here, baby.

Along comes Castile Jackine is Vooded At Broonus Mousin Volume I, the debut album and part one of a double release, unleashing it’s weirdness and beauty on eager fan’s ears and new listener’s alike. Castile Jackine is the result of several recording sessions by the band and studio work by Doo Crowder and Danny Shyman, owner of Shyman Studios, and a member for Pee-Pee. Mastering was done with meticulous brilliance by my good friend at the Helmet Room Studio, Randall Frasier. Randall also produces his own music project called Orbit Service, a darkly psychedelic affair, mixing analog instruments with lots of digital effects. His label Helmet Room Recordings, handled the digital release of Castile Jackine, while the cd format was self-released.

Insider secret: the album title comes from a page in a small spiral notebook that Doo found on the ground on Colfax Ave. Handwritten in chickenscratch, the words “Castile Jackine is Vooded At Broonus Mousin” revealed themselves as peculiar and random enough to become the title for Doo’s upcoming opus.

Castile Jackine begins with the lovely acoustic ballad “Jaroline”, which quickly becomes something different in the way of indie-pop as the chorus comes in after the first verse. Warm and sincere, Jaroline is the perfect opener for an album that I feel can be sincerely described as having a lot of ‘heart’.

“Madness (Remix)” is a studio version of a yet to be recorded original. My personal favorite, Madness begins with a door knock by an uninvited guest who arrives while Doo is playing his guitar, repeating the underlying chords and rhythm to the song. When he finally answers the door about a minute and a half in and recognizes his guest, the lyrics kick in with phase effects and the journey into lo-fi psychedelic delight ensues. “Hello Madness my old friend/Ask me one question tell me/where are you taking me now?/ Please be gentle I ain’t got no health insurance/I’m as fragile as the law will allow.” An indie-electro beat complete with handclap and vocoder effect informs the following verse, then segueing into a lysergic electric sitar-driven verse that eventually paves the way for a somewhat straight-forward chorus; not too dissimilar from the original version of “Madness” that I’ve heard many times during live performances.

“Love Needs a Quivering, Restless, Aching Fire to Lay its Head On” is perhaps Doo’s finest pop moment thus far. Like a meeting of Modest Mouse’s “Float On” and Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips, this acoustic number should have been an indie top-ten single. The first verse name drops the very talented Mikie Neff, a close friend to the band. In the hushed second verse, the line “From some distant memory/of some distant memory/of some long-lost trip on LSD/when we were free” gives the listener the sense yearning for a dreamy mystical love that may be just out of reach.

Listed as two separate tracks, “Freakout Jam” and “Pee-Pee Song” actually play on the disc as one song. Like the Dub and Krautrock-ish splicing of highlights from miles of recorded tape, “Freakout Jam” is an experimental post-rock improvisation pieced together from jam sessions in the basement practice room. “Pee-Pee Song” is a raw, country-rock romp, with a Neil Young guitar and a Velvet Underground-style/motorik chugging rhythm. The lyrics are simply meaningless fun. “This is the Pee-Pee Song (2x)/This is the Pee-Pee Song, Honey/Pee-Pee Song all of your life/Sing a little song for Pee-Pee/Sing a little song for life/Sing a little song for Pee-Pee/Sing a Pee-Pee song til you die.”

The paradoxical nature of moods between these songs, from honest and heartfelt confessionals to the absurd and playful freakouts, Doo Crowder carefully measures a pinch of M. Ward and a dash of Animal Collective into the Great Work that is Castile Jackine. But it doesn’t stop there. “Love U2 Much” revisits the soul sound of Stax/Volt of the 60s, featuring the incredible lungs of Miss Holly Thompson, a theatrically-trained vocalist.

This album review is a bit overdue. I myself designed the album art what seems like eons ago, and the CD release event was in May 2oo8. But with Castile Jackine volume two on the horizon, I’m just getting excited for what’s in store. Doo told me that the sophomore release will contain all of those darker-themed songs that I know as well as some new themes for the coming apocalypse .

Madness Song (Remix).mp3