milf - feasting on fried afterthoughts: part one (1992-94)

What's up folks? Two months ago, I introduced you to a sadly defunct Buffalo power-trio, milf, by way of a split 7" they shared with Tugboat Annie. Through their early-to-mid-90s run, they produced two albums ha ha bus (1994), antidope (1995), a pair of singles, the aforementioned split 7," and a slew of demos and comp tracks. This is the first installment in a three (or perhaps four) part series, that will examine milf's various cassette-only and short form releases, all of which saw an exceedingly limited run.

As I expressed in my post of milf's split 7" with Tugboat Annie, one record scribe likened the trio's music to a Husker Du 45 played at 33. Though not the most spot-on summation, milf dispelled a sinewy, distorto guitar sprawl with jawdroppingly tuneful sensibilities that bands from the Queen City have not replicated before or since. When they were "on," milf were the greatest thing you ever heard in your life - period. Dynamics were a biggie, and so were indelible, penetrating hooks, which wrapped themselves around your cranium with an anaconda-like grip. Per an essay on their Myspace hovel:

In their time, they were compared to an incredibly diverse list of bands including (but certainly not limited to) Fugazi, Dag Nasty, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, Cheap Trick, The Beatles, The Posies, Sugar, Swervedriver, and on and on. milf's members were true lovers of music…music of all kinds, and that was reflected in the music they made.

For this installment, I'm treating you to a four-cut 7" ep, issued on Cash Cow Records in 1993, dubbed Feasting on Fried Dough, which offers some of their finest moments ever committed to tape, including "Sell Out" and "Face." Up next is their very first demo tape, New Skin, which likely had a run of 500 copies, if that. Though most of these five tracks were eschewed from their setlist by the time they got to their Fried Dough ep and ha ha bus!, the genius gears were clearly being set into motion. Capping this set off is "Up Yours," their humble contribution to a locally released Goo Goo Dolls tribute cassette. The tribute tape which I speak of came with a Goo Goo Dolls board game, but that's neither here nor there. In the liner notes regarding the song, milf note:

We slowed it down a bit, hoping to add a little of our personality to our seemingly derivative style of suburban sloppy punk-pop.

 

If the vinyl pops and tape hiss have got you down, fear not, because roughly half the songs here were made available on a limited run milf cd of demos that I'm going to post for the last installment of this series.

 

Enjoy, and be sure to look for the second module coming in early June. To tide you over, make a point to read Matt Barber's mindblowing milf essay. 
 

Feasting on Fried Dough 7" ep (1993, Cash Cow)

01. sell out

02. face

03. bridget fonda

04. wave

new skin tape (1992)

05. scrambled tv

06. certain people shouldn't lie

07. headspin

08. hair bitch

09. liberated amish lasses 
 

from Nothing Compares to Goo v/a tribute tape (1994)

10. Up Yours 

Hear