Wipers
Over The Edge

These almost unknown Wipers have churned out a lot of material, that is, rags… will they be dirty or clean rags, soft or rough, …damn, it's not the rags I want to talk about. The Wipers are from Oregon (Portland), not exactly a great advertisement for rising to fame. Anyway, Greg Sage, leader of the Wipers and son of a professional sound engineer, practically self-produced all the albums solo, never allowing the major labels to disturb him artistically, resulting in the extremely difficult availability of their records.

The rags never enjoyed super success, heaps of money, or absurd radio repetitions, all of this cannot be explained, but perhaps, not for them, it was for the best, too much money could have let the group's talent slip into a magnificent public toilet. Among the best albums, besides "Over The Edge," which I will briefly describe, is "Is This Real," perhaps the most famous. Few like this band marked the transition from the '80s to the '90s musically speaking; they shook up post-punk. "Over The Edge" is anger, nervousness, speed, and a bit of that rock melancholy from Seattle. The album is from 1983, and listening to something from '83 that's so close to grunge is not easy to find. "Over The Edge" starts with the titular track “Over The Edge,” simple and robust; Greg, if I may say, spits anger and melancholy for his own business, almost detached from the music without much concern. Then “Doom Town,” a bit slower than the first track, strikes immediately from the first notes, a bit raw but at the same time precise like a sixteen-year-old ready for her super Saturday at the disco. Skipping a few tracks, we come to “Romeo,” in my opinion, the real gem of the album, the drums gain courage, Greg starts off casually to then invoke the beloved cow Juliet (Giulietta) at the top of his lungs in a gloomy Wipers atmosphere. The album flows quickly, with short and concise songs typical of the band. Noteworthy is the presence of a splendid “The Lonelyone,” rather alien to the album for its initially much more tranquil sounds, and a “No Solution,” which has nothing particular, but it’s my favorite, I don’t even know why, but it puts something Pixies-like in my head (you won’t find any connection, it's a mental quirk of mine).

In conclusion, I am not a professional writer, I cannot describe something that you listen to with the same results as if I made you listen to it, so obtain it by any means and listen to it.