Garage T. Rashington III – The Last Slop

Garage T. Rashington III – The Last Slop – Album Review

Pus.  Phlegm.  Seepage.  Moist.  Slop.

There you have it.  According to the internet, those first four words are the universally agreed upon worst words to hear.  I added slop.  Well, Garage T. Rashington III kept adding slop so that I eventually had to comment on it, but you get it.  Fackin’ good riddance – that word makes my stomach churn.

Anyhow.  Lest ye get yer panties in a knot, he’s not retiring from music, just thankfully entering a new, slopless chapter of his existence as an artist.  For now, we’re still here, slopping it out, with GTR3’s latest offering – The Last Slop.  I suppose there’s a point in there somewhere though…you could argue that, if I have such a horrifying reaction to the word slop, chances are I’m not alone.  Could our friend Garage have been intentionally keeping us at arm’s length, rather than doing everything he could to draw us in to listen?  I think the answer to that has pretty much always been yes.  Some like to compromise and find some middle ground between the creator and the listener, but he ain’t ever been that dude as far as I can tell.  More of a middle finger type guy.  He likes what he likes, and whether you like it or not, has always been a very distant concern, if it’s ever even been a concern at all…which is probably doubtful.

As I listened to “Chewin’ Now” as The Last Slop started up, I did actually wonder a little if he was starting to bend a little bit towards something that the people out there might have a chance to catch onto.  And I mean that in a complementary sense.  I’m not gonna be the guy to come in here and tell ya that GTR3 is all of a sudden making music that’s gonna be magically accessible to everybody out there – but there is no doubt that a track like “Chewin’ Now” would likely be one of the most appealing cuts in his catalog to most people tuning into what he creates.  I dig the crunch of his slop at the start as “Chewin’ Now” begins, I really love the shift into a golden-age style of melodic pattern via the Alt-methods that a band like Weezer would employ songwriting-wise, and I like the heavy definition in this song as well.  All good things when it comes right down to it.  It’s very crispy…and I suspect there’s still some room for the man to evolve with his production techniques, but c’mon, the guy’s got Garage in his damn name, so it’s only fair you expect a little extra rumble and dirt in the mix.  Still, when you’re considering the composition of a song like “Chewin’ Now,” you’re probably looking at him flip the script in the wrong direction – he’s got the dirtier parts in the chorus hooks, which should likely be smooth AF and highlighting the melody you find there, and the verses come out sounding clearer with an intentionally heavier sound.  So…I mean…yeah…I’m not gonna try to make sense of this guy’s choices…he’s an elusive motherfucker and impossible to pin down in that respect – but I will tell ya that the hooks in this track are genuinely stellar.

Hmm…whaddya know…there’s kind of like, an old Blues-standard at the core of “Brake, Slam, Reverse” – and I didn’t have that on my bingo card for 2025, nor did I have the whole bingo card commentary thing surviving the year 2024 into the new year we’re in now, but alas, here we are & it’s still hanging around.  So let’s see here…what is exactly goin’ on with “Brake, Slam, Reverse” – because it sounds like he’s just plowed his car straight into his livingroom, yes?  I suppose there could be a ton of different interpretations, but I like going with the one that has GTR3 ramming his automobile straight into his childhood home, likely in a drunken stupor/existential crisis, and ending up with a couch in his passenger seat via the ol’ smashy smashy.  “Home has been remodeled to the point of no return, despite the look on my face no one else appears concerned” – I mean…I’m just saying…my theory holds at least a little bit of weight to it.  Imagine plowing your vehicle into the middle of the family home as everyone is hunkering down to watch a little Wheel Of Fortune – that’d be a home “remodeled to the point of no return,” would it not?  And as for the “look on my face” – it’d be a madman’s grin, hence the reason he makes a comment on it being a bit strange that “no one else appears concerned.”  Then the panic ensues as he realizes he’s gotta get the fuck outta there, so “Brake, Slam, Reverse,” off he goes again, vroom.  If you’ve got a better theory, I’m open to it – get yourself a website, write yourself a bunch of shit that no one on Earth will ever read, and let me know about it via a bunch of social media messages I can ignore.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.  (referring to a longer, more reflective and contemplative pause, based largely in surprise, I think?)  “Stride” is…okay…look…we are all the sum of our influences yadda, yadda, yadda.  Most of it is unintentional.  Take Led Zeppelin for example, they ripped off a ton from the Blues and nary did they ever think to apologize for that.  So here, on “Stride,” you’ve got Garage T. Rashington III ripping off Led Zeppelin ripping off the Blues, and eventually someone out there will come along and rip off Garage T. Rashington III ripping off Led Zeppelin ripping off the Blues too.  Nature of the game y’all.  So…I mean, obviously there are aspects of “Stride” that can’t help but be derivative in that regard, but what are you gonna do?  It’s still entertaining.  There are still only what, twelve notes or whatever?  As many folks much wiser than myself have pointed out, our creativity as a species is much more limited than we realize sometimes…and to be truthful, we end up doing similar things to others, unintentionally.  I happen to *dusts shoulders off* know Garage T. Rashington III as much as any human being might be able to know an enigma like him, and I don’t think we’ve ever discussed Led Zeppelin…not even once.  So was he intentionally throwing me off the trail so that he could one day incorporate just a tiny piece of their catalog from around Zeppelin I or II without me knowing?  I wouldn’t put it past him.  “Implausible outcomes” perhaps, but also, perhaps not.  Who knows what this madman is capable of?  But like I said, maybe, just maybe, it’s possible that he randomly stumbled onto the same awesomeness that Led Zep once did in listening to the Blues and making it Rock…and here we are.  “Stride” varies enough so that the AI machines probably won’t pick it up, but that’s what I’m here for.  To call that shit out.  You’re all welcome.  I’m on guard.  I’m the watcher on the wall.  Protecting a thing that no one really cares about anyway.  Music.  The thing we all say we can’t live without, but only listen to on the way to fucking work.

On the bright side, “Reverse Rain” shifts the GTR3 sound away from the Blues & beyond any discernable comparisons to Zeppelin…so I can finally let me guard/hackles down a bit.  Or is that exactly what he wants?  Should I be keeping them up, just in case?  The magic in “Reverse Rain” is all found in the droplets of backing vocals surrounding the main lead folks…that’s probably the meat & potatoes of what you really need to know.  You’re gonna listen to this song on the surface like you do with everything else, so I don’t really expect you to catch these kinda details, nor do I expect you’ll read this article directly encouraging you to listen for them…so…I mean…you’re still doomed to be the lemmings that you are, but hopefully you’ll learn to swim before it’s too late and everything Maynard prophesized about on “Aenima” comes true.  If you find yourself “standing on an umbrella” like our good hero GTR3, you might very well be beyond help, but if you’re like him in his other crazy ways, at least you’ll be having a good time as the waters rise up and you can wave to Noah’s Ark as it cruises on by your single ass.  Anyhow.  I stand by what I’ve said here – “Reverse Rain” ends up finding the majority of its appeal by what’s happening in the background, kind of like, an odd metaphor for what it’s really like to live life.  Other than that, it’s got some fun guitar parts, it’s well sung, it’s actually got a fairly wide range of depth in its emotions & ideas that are cool to consider as well…”Reverse Rain” is a good mix of substance and style.  Is it gonna be everyone’s favorite?  Nah.  That’s still probably the opening track for the time being.

“More Chill, Less Burn.”  Don’t tell me how to live my life Garage – get off my fucking NUTS bro!  I like this track.  I’ve liked them all so far, to be truthful.  Let’s see though…what can I tell you about “More Chill, Less Burn,” what can be said?  I dunno!  This is one of those tracks that I guess I’d say I wouldn’t expect non musicians to enjoy, and a song that listeners who dig getting more outta their music would – how about that to start?  Look…I think it’s a given reality that the more you deviate from a natural path of accessibility and pursue art, the more you’ll tend to throw the masses off your trail – and I suspect that’s probably the case for a song like this one.  That being said, if you do dig on art and composition and songs that challenge what you think you know about music, “More Chill, Less Burn” will help ease you into that without a vicious brow-beating to achieve it.  Like, as in, it’s fantastically artistic, but there is still just enough normalcy in the works here for the average Joe, that you might not notice it, or be offended by the creativity it possesses.  It’s got a decent verse-chorus-verse design to it, but even that isn’t designed in an overtly typical way…the verses are unique, the chorus is brilliant…I’m all for more of “More Chill, Less Burn” and less of whatever else is out there for the most part.  It’s an interesting song, but in the good sense…I felt like I listened to this track on repeat for hours & hours on end as I made my way through this record over the course of the past millennium I’ve been listening to it and you haven’t.

What’s with all this stuff happening in the veins of these songs, Garage T. Rashington III?  You riding the H train again?  For real though…”Crescent Dawn” is another really great track, and paired with “More Chill, Less Burn,” I felt like the mid-section of this record was like the proverbial money shot straight to your mom’s face.  BLAMMO!  SKEET FUCKING SKEET!  Thick, sticky ropes of great stuff to listen to – who could ask for anything more?  GTR3 ends up in a real mesmerizing gear with these two tracks back-to-back, and the writing on “Crescent Dawn” could very well go down as some of the best he’s ever done on a lyrical level.  Goddamn poetic he is!  Everything fits like hand in glove here on this cut…not OJ’s, but like, anyone else’s.  I just felt like he really hit the “Stride” he was going for at this point in the record, not the other spot where “Stride” actually appears.  The music glides along so organically & fluidly, and the flow just feels right, you know?  You end up just wandering into these songs and wanting to live in’em, and so that’s kinda what I felt like I did for massively extended periods of time.  Is there a better compliment that can be paid to music than that?  If there is, I don’t know what it could be.  I felt like “More Chill, Less Burn” was the appetizer, and “Crescent Dawn” was like the meal I’ve always wanted someone to serve me.  Excellent fucking song from start to finish…I love everything about this track, 100%, and feel like I’d easily put this right up there with the best I’ve ever heard from our hero, GTR3.

I tell ya though…nothing drives me more batshit crazy than knowing I’ve heard something comparable to something else and then wondering if I’m ever gonna be able to pull the name of what I’m looking for outta the corners & cracks of my mind after however millions of songs I’ve listened to at this point, you know?  They’d revoke my Canadian citizenship for this one though if I couldn’t fish it out, but I’ll fully admit, it took me a while.  So I’m sitting here…minding my own business…fingers crossed that as I switched tracks GTR3 wasn’t gonna slip back into his Zeppelin-esque moments of unabashed rippoffery, and “Where Do I Wanna Be?” starts up…and I’m thinking…fuck…I have definitely heard that pattern before – but where was it?  Because that’s the thing y’all…you get snippets of songs within just about EVERY song…some moments are simply more precise in their pattern than others, and even in those instances, like this one here, they still probably sound different enough to get away with it.  NOT TODAY though Garage…I’m here to police this shit YET AGAIN, and call you out on this CLEARCUT THIEVERY!  Take from the US, take from the UK…hell…take from New Zealand, and MAYBE I can let it slide – but you’re coming for CANADA?  My brother in Christ, I say HELL NO.  You’re not taking a remote piece of “New Orleans Is Sinking” from our Tragically Hip without a comment or two from this Canuck, I assure ya.  It IS unquestionably true that “much too much” of the rest of the song deviates cleverly from the rest of which you have stolen out from underneath the Canadian rug – so sure, we’ll let’er go, because we are talking about apples and oranges here at the end of the day.  BUT…is there enough goin’ on in “Where Do I Wanna Be?” that is as potent as that main comparable riff is?  Tisk, tisk…this is where folks can get themselves into trouble!  I don’t know that there is a more defining part of this particular song, or The Hip’s for that matter.  I’m gonna side with this being yet another unintentional influence that you have borrowed shamelessly Garage…but the evidence is piling up!  It’s not the evidence you think though…it’s not just a collection of clips that are comparable, but more-so the conclusion that we have no choice to draw from it – The Last Slop is very arguably less GTR3 than we’ve previously experienced, and is instead an amalgamation of the songs that have been roaming around in your brain, good sir.  All this being said, they’d also revoke my citizenship if I didn’t at least agree to be enjoying that riff, which I do.  It’s actually the instrumental break in between the choruses & next verse that tickles my coin purse the most if I’m being entirely honest with ya.  “Where Do I Wanna Be?” feels very compartmentalized in that regard…like, we’re all gonna feel this way or that way about each individual section of this song.  I don’t always mind that, but for others, it can make for a tough track to absorb, or feel like the flow isn’t fluid or organic enough.  It’s weird for people when they feel like there’s a just piece of a song they like most in comparison to the rest, and I feel like I get that well enough.  I suppose I’d say I feel the same about “Where Do I Wanna Be?” too…I like all the pieces in fact, but does it feel like it flows smoothly?  I don’t know…I mean…it appears to, but so too would anything between two slices of bread technically make a sandwich, you feel me?  GTR3 has a bit more of a polarizing tune here I’d reckon, but that’s cool.

Lots of low-end in The Last Slop and its lineup of tunes, but I dig the way he uses it to his advantage.  It brightens the melody up when he takes it away, which in turn makes his words clearer, and when he brings it back, it makes the music that much more intense.  Garage has always been a bit of a mystery when it comes to what the ultimate priority IS within his music…and that occasionally trips him up, in my personal opinion.  I’d probably tell ya that lyrics are the most important ingredient to him.  I’d listen to an argument that simply making songs that are anti-typical is the most crucial part of his recipe.  And then like, if you listen to the intricacies of the music or the complexities often involved in the structure, I’m sure many people would assume that keeping the music different & interesting is the number one thing he’s going for.  I think we can all agree that none of these things are necessarily what the majority of listeners out there are usually looking for more than an easy-bake hook they can sing along with, but that’s not a standard of which anyone should be judging music, or art.  “Celestial” is as good of an example as any when it comes to how GTR3 will often make things more difficult than they might need to be, and how he’s willingly placing more than a few barriers between himself and potential listeners.  That doesn’t mean the music ain’t good – hell no!  If you dig stuff that’s off the beaten path, believe me, this cat’s got PLENTY for ya.  All I’m saying is that he COULD, quite easily and quite clearly, make things a whole lot easier on himself in terms of how to get the average set of ears listening along.  Listen to the chorus hooks of “Celestial” for example…that’s a solid & undoubtedly accessible part that’s got a whole lot of appeal to it.  When combined with the verses, which still work in their own way mind you, the strength of the appeal likely becomes lessened for many listeners, because it’s again tough to reconcile how these pieces somehow fit together.  Only the mind of Garage T. Rashington III would be able to tell you how he comes up with these anti-typical combinations, or why it’s innately appealing to him to take the road less traveled than simply make life easy on himself.  That being said, the choices he makes are the same ones that lead to loyal fans and followers that know to expected the unexpected, and always.

I had to chuckle at the final title, “I’m Gonna Sit” – that’s exactly how my mother in-law used to describe how she was about to go take a shit, like anyone in the family would EVER want to know about anything to do with that.  Anyhow.  I freakin’ LOVE some of the lead guitar parts in this tune…particular in those spots where it ends up alongside the metronomic percussion pieces…that’s probably my favorite section of this particular tune.  Make no mistake, there are about a million & one ways a person could review a GTR3 album…I tend to just report on what catches my attention, but let it be said, he’s performed with admirable consistency all the way through The Last Slop.  I don’t think there’s any song he could have sung better than he did, I didn’t find any spots in the musicianship that weren’t hit with spot-on precision, and beyond any of that stuff, it’s really just about what does or doesn’t appeal to any of us on a personal level.  He’s done what he can do, and he’s done it well.  He’s “no spring chicken” after all, and this certainly ain’t his first chicken rodeo…he’s a well-seasoned veteran and an endless well of creativity, even if you’re savvy enough to catch him RED-HANDED copping a piece of something comparable every now & again.  “I’m Gonna Sit” is another well-executed tune, but still very much in that familiar vein of GTR3’s material that will reveal your favorite piece of a song…which is ultimately the easiest way to identify Progressive music by its defining parameters.  “I’m gonna sit and wait for the next big thing” – I kinda feel like he’s onto something in pointing that out, and he might do well to take some of his own advice in that regard.  There’s lots to be admired about the music he makes, and definitely how constant he makes it as well – but the rate of his production might be his own worst enemy at times too.  “Been there, done that” is a comment that could be made about consistency in any case, not just his own – any of us that do what we do, myself included, often end up retreading terrain over and over again without providing as many substantial differences as we might like to think that we have.  “I ain’t gonna force it” – those are words for the artist to live by, and advice that should definitely be heeded as well…but there is hardly an artist or band I can think of that hasn’t pushed themselves too much & too quickly at points throughout their careers.  “I’m Gonna Sit” still bares resemblance to other tunes…probably Zeppelin again in the chorus…but again, that’s symbolistic of likely needing more separation than Garage has been allowing himself to have in order to remain objective and maintain perspective on what makes his music, his.  Consistency…it’s a damn great thing when it comes to quality, but it’s a bitch ass motherfucker when it comes to creativity…and it’s really up to Garage T. Rashington to figure out where he wants to fall on what side of the fence as his main priorities.  This IS The Last Slop though…so whatever he chooses to do next, he’s already signaled that he’s looking to do things differently, which is probably for the best.  I’m always going to dig what he does, because this cat just ain’t like the other ones out there in this scene we share…but it does feel like the Slop has run its course, and by opening up the doors of opportunity to doing something new, chances are he’ll surge into the next chapter ahead.  He’s mastered this one, and it shows on this record.  Sit and wait for that inspired spark my good man – when it comes, you’ll definitely know, because you won’t feel like you’ve “been there, done that” at all, and you’ll be fuckin’ jazzed about diving into the unknown and the challenge of breaking out of routine.

Deezer?  Do people still Deezer?  How bout Deez(er) Nuts then?  Find music by Garage T. Rashington III at Deezer, right here:  https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/196294377

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