Had a request just a few days ago for Small's (later Small 23) early 7" side, "Somebody Owes Me Money." Thought I'd go nine better and include all of this Chapel Hill, NC quartet's non-album tracks in one handy place. Small have cropped up on these pages before, via the Fish Hips and Turkey Lips compilation, and more recently on a split 7" with J Church.
Hot on the heels of local legends in the making, Superchunk , the Mike Kenlan-helmed outfit straddled the not so great divide between full on indie-rock and pop-punk. As it so happened, Small boasted Superchunk expatriate Chuck Garrison, as a drummer, and in their earliest lineup, Eric Bachman of Archers of Loaf. Moreover, their real asset was a bevy of deftly crafted, melody-rich songs spanned three albums (True Zero Hook, Chin Music, Silver Gleaming Death Machine), two eps (Cakes, Free T-Shirts for Spain) and several singles and compilation appearances. The greatest unheralded North Carolina band ever. Truly not to be missed. You can read up on their discography and catch a link to download the True Zero Hook album here. As usual, Trouser Press has their say as well. Just FYI, I didn't include the a-sides of the singles available on LP. So there.
Cakes ep
01. Empty Room
02. Cakes
03. Chuck's Buzz
04. The Big U Without Me
05. He Who Cannot Be Bathed
06. Every
singles, b-sides, etc
01. Makes Me High
02. Nasty Little Chick
03. Somebody Owes Me Money
04. Wet Cement
05. Useless
06. Chew It Down
07. B is for Bridge
08. Happy Days Are Here Again
09. Eb
10. Something Stupid
1-3 1st 7" (Matt Label)
4. b-side of Noodles (Matt Label)
5. b-side of "Chopsocky" 7" (Alias Records)
6. from split 7" w/ J Church (Honey Bear Records)
7-8 b-sides of Mona Skips Breakfast (also available as a separate two song 7" on Alias)
9. from A Day In the Park compilation (The Now Sound Records)
10. from Chairman of the Board - a Frank Sinatra tribute compilation (Grass Records)
10. from Chairman of the Board - a Frank Sinatra tribute compilation (Grass Records)
Cakes: Hear
singles, etc: Hear
19 comments:
i feel like a kid on christmas morning! thanks, willfully obscure!
whoa. thanks so much! I've recently rediscovered my love for this band...saw them live way back when , too, and it was good.
Yep, Wilfully Obscure is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
I'm all over this 'cause Eric says I should be
Wow, thanks for the kind words. You missed "Pincushion" though.
Mike K
"Nasty Little Chick" was the best song they ever did! What a band!
Where can I get Nasty Little Chic? Can't find it anywhere.
i really don't know why this band is so underrated and obscure... it's even difficult to find any info on them nowadays. but i love them!
i really don't know why this band is so underrated and obscure... it's even difficult to find any info on them nowadays. but i love them!
Hi. The Cakes link seems to have expired now so could you please reup that ep... Thank you.
The links have been updated.
Just had a friend rip this and mail it to me. I dig the sound! I completely missed these guys back in the 90's. I was in SoCal at the time, and exposure to new music consisted of word-of-mouth, music rags, Fanzines, articles, college radio, 120 Minutes, and the oh-so-coveted "Trouser Press Record Guide", etc... Going to see a band play that you never heard of was "research"! Buying an album (or cassette) based on what someone wrote about a band was a leap of faith, which sometimes panned out brilliantly (Rise Robots Rise's 1992 eponymous masterwork was acquired using this method), other times not so well(enter forgotten band name here) and you wished you had your $11.95 back for that Bauhaus poster you were going to buy. Yes, I am old. My point? Coming across this band all these years later reminds me of all the sub-par crud we had to wade through to find something truly inspired. I think the satisfaction of "discovering" a really good band and turning your(worthy)friends on to them is a bit watered down by the internet, youtube, and the fact that you don't have to seek and travel the "hip" record stores to even have a chance of finding that one EP (enter respected underground scenester name here)mentioned in that article your friend had you read. It was a freakin Record Store Safari. A secret mission to infiltrate the cool, the underground anti-everything truly alternative cool. To find your buried treasure, and bring it back to Suburbia to share with like-minded Misfits, Weirdos, Punks, Goths (Goths were "Death rockers" in mid 80's LA)and the pure Music-Geeks that we called family. Done.
Oh, and this band sounds really good. A bit of Dinosaur Jr., Husker Du...me likey.
Link to Nasty Little Chick is dead. could you please hook me up?
wow thanks
I'd love a re-up for these songs. Fantastic collection!
PLEASE Re-Up!
THANK YOU!
can you re upload the links please, this band is amazing thanks!!!
Thank very much! I love this band
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