The Savage Young Taterbug – “The Paperstud”

If you’ve spent any time poking through the spools of the Night People roster (and you should, you really should) then its more than likely you’re already familiar with Charles Free’s Savage Young Taterbug. The label has released several tapes of his cracked folk implosions and now there’s finally a release coming to a turntable near you. “The Paperstud” creeps in like a lullaby, soft and sweet with Free’s vocals warbling over the top of music box melodies like a faded message recorded to private press and beat up by the mail en route to a relative overseas. Despite that rather dusty description, this is actually one of the more untarnished bits of the Taterbug universe and it proves that he’s always had a bit of a pop charmer floating under his tattered offerings. This one arrives as part of the Shadow of Marlboro Man picture disc, as usual, on Night People and wrapped up in some Sean Reed art goodness.