After
Cul de Sac's 1992 debut,
Ecim, was met with a warm critical response, there were some complications that put off the group's next studio recording until 1996. In the interim, this lo-fi compilation of mostly improvised experimental rock was issued to an equally awestruck music underground.
I Don't Want to Go to Bed is a collage of weighty
Cul de Sac rehearsal tape highlights compiled by drummer
Chris Guttmacher between 1990 and 1993. While the 11 tracks might strike the uninitiated as more than a little aimless, Krautrock and deconstructionist fans (post-rock and otherwise) will marvel at this unorthodox craftwork. While the subtle surf and experimental jazz-rock textures that help propel records like
China Gate are nowhere to be found on
I Don't Want to Go to Bed, the herky-jerky currents ("Lower Hate, Massachusetts"), Middle Eastern melodies ("This Is the Metal That Do Not Burn"), and spacious meditations ("Doldrums") make a textural mark all their own. It might lack sonic detail, but this sophomore release makes up for it with spontaneity and vision.