Map, Monitor, Surge (1997)
Map, Monitor, Surge was co-recorded by Steve Albini and esteemed Cleveland metal producer Bill Korecky at Korecky's Mars Recording studio in December of 1996. Craw's third album came out on Cambodia Recordings, a label owned by craw guitarist and cofounder Rockie Brockway, in the spring of 1997. Map, Monitor, Surge is a strikingly different record than the two that preceded it. This record features new drummer Will Scharf—later known for his work in the crushing math-metal outfit Keelhaul—who brought a looser, more unhinged feel to craw's music. The contrast between Scharf's intuitive, jazz-informed style and the guitarists' continued interest in wildly elaborate song structures yields some of craw's most wired and visceral work, including a three-part suite of through-composed prog-punk miniatures and the 12-minute concluding journey "Days in the Gutter / Nights in the Gutter." Map, Monitor, Surge would be Craw's final album with cofounding guitarist David McClelland, whose texture- and noise-driven approach was an integral element of the band's early work.
Listen/buy
Songs
Treading Out the Winepress
Unsolicited, Unsavory
I Disagree (and Here's Why)
Rip and Read
I Am Gunk
Killer Microbes Devour Cleveland
New Plastics Diet Alters Man's DNA
Parasitic Dad Evades Biocops
Divinity of Laughter
Hayfield Jim's Texas Trip
Creating the New Paranoid Man
Days in the Gutter / Nights in the Gutter
Personnel
Rockie Brockway - guitar
Zak Dieringer - bass
David McCellaland - guitar
Joe McTighe - vocals
Will Scharf - drums