Beihai Park (2026)
(Germo)Phobic is Tanner's 2nd album and was originally released on CD back in 1997, but never on vinyl. Beihai Park stepped up and finally brought this album to vinyl for the first time and I couldn't be happier to have this record in my hands.
I'm not one of the cool kids that was aware of what Tanner was doing in real time as it happened. I knew the name of the band and even had the split 7" they put out with No Knife, but I didn't really dig any deeper in the 90s. It wasn't until Hot Snakes broke onto the scene that I backtracked and checked out Gar Wood's prior band. To say that I was impressed would have been a gigantic understatement. The way this band is able to blend complex guitar dynamics with a driving drum beat and high register, melodic vocals is nothing short of amazing.
I've always been torn between this album and Tanner's debut, Ill Gotten Gains. I've definitely spent more time with the debut as that's been on vinyl for a while. But there's something about the energy and freshness of (Germo)Phobia that knocks me over every time I listen to it. Maybe it's because I'm a little less familiar with it so it's still able to surprise me in a way that Ill Gotten Gains doesn't anymore, but whatever it is I couldn't help but be impressed as I spun this vinyl version for the first time.
A lot of that is because of how great it sounds. It's not like the CD didn't also sound great, but Beihai Park has done an incredible job with this release and it's a perfect record to put on the turntable and play slightly louder than appropriate.
Tanner - (Germo)Phobic:
