John Kruth “John Kruth’s Midnight Snack”

Apparently someone broke into my apartment in 1987 (the year this vinyl hit the streets, on a label I’ve never seen) (Hopewell) and deposited this one into my collection for future “review” purposes—thanks, guys! —but how did you do it, since I’ve only lived here since 2023? No, 2013, but still… At any rate, someone lived here in 1987—a fact that I prefer not to dwell on. Initially, I handled it gingerly, thinking it must be fairly contemporary—but no! The cover is amazing—looks like the scrapbook from Hell—credited to Eric von Schmidt. There is a nice b&w photo on back, and it’d be weird indeed if that wasn’t Kruth—a handsome young man wearing what looks like (it’s cropped) a coonskin cap (or maybe that’s his hair). It starts out dubiously with a lot of harmonica, and… with a capital J. The first song, “Class Clown,” is a Jaunty rocker about mild rebellion. After that, things get weird. (100% a good thing.) Second song has a really nice groove to it, even if the chorus is suspect: “Get back, get back, I’m not your midnight snack”—what human would ever say that? Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s about bedbugs. I’ll listen more closely. Actually, I’m not going to listen more closely, in case it is. Anyway, this has led me to believe anything might come along on this record, and it does. Art rock, experimental jazz, experimental folk, Violent Femmes-sounding stuff (some of them played on this record, as well as other Milwaukee old-timers) —some killer playing on this record! Good lyrics, throughout, too, though some of the songs are a bit “humorous” for me—not to say comedy or anything—nothing that fans of Frank Zappa would mind, unless you think Zappa’s the only one allowed to be whimsical—in which case, you should expand your musical horizons. Actually, maybe I should (expand…) —put those comedy, jauntiness, harmonica, fiddle, mandolin, etc. biases aside… and lighten up! The last song is called “The Donut Shop”—which of course won me over, even though it sounds like it’s a song about me! (nothing in the fridge but mayo, Cleveland and SF references)—mysterious! My favorite is “House by the Shore”—I’m thinking I must have heard it somewhere before—or maybe it just has the inevitableness of meta-horror, sounds 2025, or later! At this point, as much as I wish I was in the internet-less North Woods, I’ve got to look up John Kruth before I say something too obvious, OK? A mandolin virtuoso, wildman, multi-instrumentalist, former Milwaukee resident, later NYC resident. He’s got tons of records—but this is his first—so if I want to go into the Kruth rabbithole, I’ve started in the logical place! He’s also written tons of books, many of them about music. He’s a prolific guy, possibly still going strong—five years older than me—thus, still young. He often wears a hat, in photos, as least, so it’s likely that what I can see of the fur, crowning his head, on the large, cropped, photo, is a hat.

9.12.25