First time available on vinyl. LP includes coupon for full album download + 10 previously unreleased bonus tracks from various years. Next in the Merge 25 reissue series is East River Pipe’s 1999 classic The Gasoline Age. East River Pipe (AKA F.M. Cornog) signed to a major label that folded before he released a note. But he kept his advance money and moved out of his tiny apartment in Queens and bought a house in New Jersey and, apparently, a car. Whereas previous East River Pipe albums focus on a solitary man who only breaks his loner streak for the love of his good woman, The Gasoline Age takes to the highway in a “Shiny, Shiny Pimpmobile.” Sometimes it”s a “Cybercar” for a “Party Drive.” He hits the town with “Atlantic City (Gonna Make a Million Tonight).” Imagines where his car has been (“14th Street Boys Stolen Car Club”) and takes it onto the New Jersey highways where he drops “Tenafly,” “Hackensack” and Routes 26 and 22 like an experienced pro. The music is still recorded on his home recording unit while his ambitions remain Phil Spector high and deep. The keyboards bleed into the jangly guitars and the over-compressed reverbed vocals. For the first time, Cornog sounds excited and relieved, alive and glowing.