From Now to OK

Jack Rabid made a name for himself not merely as a very active music critic from the 1980s on but as the co-founder and editor of the highly regarded long running zine The Big Takeover, rapidly approaching its fiftieth anniversary as of this writing. Rabid also put his money where his mouth is by working in the band Springhouse for many years, often featuring album and single designs courtesy of Bruce Licher. It was only with the band’s last full-length to date and first in fifteen years, 2008’s From Now to OK, that the trio released an album on Licher’s label Independent Project. Eschewing their earlier first-wave shoegaze days (aside from the concluding “Anew”), From Now To OK finds them in a more generally psych/pop vein – the strings on the opening “Passion” suggest that much – and with a brisk way around mixed acoustic/electric arrangements. The singing throughout is bright without being cloying, and Rabid’s playing combined with Larry Heinemann and Mitch Friedland’s rhythm work is consistently attractive, creating a dreamy way around Beatles and power-pop moves without being overly fussy.