2012.06.18 The Six Parts Seven - Casually Smashed To Pieces

Color: Black

Released: 2007, January 23 

Label:  Suicide Squeeze

The Six Parts Seven are a band I should have seen at least twice but only had the pleasure of watching perform once. While serving briefly as bass player for The Sincerity Guild (an instrumental outfit from Nashville,TN) we were offered an opening slot in front of the The Six Parts Seven at Cafe Coco. We were then offered a place on the bill with the band Decahedron (who featured Unwed Sailor’s Johnathan Ford at the time) on the same night in Murfreesboro, TN. Neither was an opportunity we wanted to miss… so which did we choose? Both. We showed up at the 6P7 show, played a 2-song 20 minute set, packed our shit up and hauled ass to M-boro for the Decahedron show. I don’t know why I share this other than to say that listening to this band reminds me of this time in my life - a time when I was so hungry to participate in all aspects of music. And that I spent a decent portion of our second set thinking about how I was a little bummed to be missing a band that I’d really wanted to see live. Naturally, when a second chance to catch The Six Parts Seven came up, I made sure not to miss it. Currently this is the only full length record of theirs that I own on wax (a mistake I am already rectifying - a copy of Everywhere And Right Here is currently on its way to me from Germany. Also, their one-sided LP on Burnt Toast exists in my collection and will most likely appear on this blog shortly). I don’t consider it their best output, but it is still an excellent release that features some new tactics for the band. Horns provide a bit of texture and guitar player Allen Karpinski opted to play a Fender Jazz Bass (my favorite) strung with standard guitar strings instead of the normal bass guitar strings. The Six Parts Seven remain one of the most sublime instrumental outfits. Casually Smashed To Pieces’ art is pretty sublime too - from the pleasing color palette to the intricate patterns found within the bands on the front cover. The sleeve is printed on a matte cream paper stock and features imagery a bit unusual for the band but maybe this was their way of subtly saying “Hey, we’re trying new things.” Sadly, we’ve not heard from the band since.