December 12, 2006
As bassist for the Blue Leaves, Craig Comstock works an avant-pop vein; as the one-man band This Is My Condition, he goes for the jugular. With only a drum kit and an electric guitar, a few effects and a microphone, TIMC transforms simple pop songs into awe-inspiring symphonic explosions. His intense and athletic solo performances are as compelling as his tough and heavy music-which explains Comstock's choice of the DVD format for his eponymous inaugural release, "This Is My Condition." One such performance brought Comstock to the attention of the seminal post-minimalist composer Glenn Branca, who recruited Comstock as a regular touring member of the hundred-guitar Glenn Branca Symphony. Street Level welcomes the gallant Comstock to share a pot of tea in a garret at the end of a long gravel road, and to contemplate tractor beams of angst, pop music as minimalism, and Bruce Springsteen.