(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

Karl Hendricks is a guitarist and singer from Pittsburgh, a fan of Leonard Cohen, who cut his teeth in the Sludgehammer of Ian Williams and also plays in Thee Speaking Canaries.

His twisted personality was revealed with the single I Hate This Party (1991). Together with drummer Tom Hoffman and bassist Tim Parker, he formed the Trio that first released the album Buick Elektra (Peas Kor, 1992 – Grass, 1994), still influenced by the punk-pop of Husker Du (Dumber Than I Look, Heart Of Steel, Orange Nehi), and then the EP Some Girls Like Cigarettes (Big Ten Rex, 1992), bitterly autobiographical. The singles Baseball Cards (Mind Curve, 1992) and Checking Yo Out (Mind Curve, 1993) closed the prehistory.

The second album, Misery And Women (Fiasco, 1994), tempered the sonic impact, focusing on melodies and romanticism (Flowers Avenue).

The increasingly depressed songs of the third album, A Gesture Of Kindness (Fiasco, 1995), showed clear signs of musical growth (A Gesture Of Kindness, Breathtaking First Novel). The single Coming In September remains one of their small masterpieces.

With What Everyone Calls Fun (Merge, 1996) and For A While It Was Funny (Merge, 1996), his major phase began. At his best, Hendricks is a humble, composed singer-songwriter with the power of a hard-rock band (Naked And High On Drugs, Spock Is Depressed, and the long Pale Lips), but at his worst, he is only the male counterpart of Juliana Hatfield without her melodic talent.

Declare Your Weapons (Merge, 1998), with a completely revamped lineup, establishes him among the avant-garde singer-songwriters. On the opening track, Like John Travolta, Hendricks stuns with riffs halfway between Neil Young and Nirvana, singing with the sly wit of a jester of decadent rock. The guitar work pushes the limits of Sex Pistols-style punk-rock on Know More About Jazz (but the solo is worthy of Hurricane) and The Smile That Made You Give Up. Beyond the angularity of his hard-rock, the songs on this album are melancholic and fatalistic reflections on the unhappiness of urban adolescents: The Policeman's Not Your Friend and the single The Worst Coffee I've Ever Had overflow with both pathos and fury. Hendricks seems to favor the ballad, and his heart beats strongest in Your Lesbian Friends and the eight-minute The Colonel Feels All Right.

Some Girls Like Cigarettes, Coming In September, Naked And High On Drugs, and The Worst Coffee I've Ever Had established Hendricks, alongside Mark Edwards (My Dad Is Dead) and Mark Eitzel (American Music Club), among the pessimistic singer-songwriters of America.

As the trio keeps maturing, The Jerks Win Again (Merge, 2003) offers emotional, tortured, angst-ridden folk-punk that outdoes Neil Young at his own game: I Think I Forgot Something, The Night Has No Eyes, the lengthy The Summer of Warm Beer. Maybe just a bit too self-referential (Chuck Dukowski Was Confused, New Wave Situation, Situation), but very adult and mature.