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Sunday, February 28, 2016
Friday, February 26, 2016
Newkeys - Not Just Alright 7" (1986, Vanity)
It's been a staggering seven years since I presented Newkeys debut long-player, Acts of Love, but I don't recall it being half as enticing as this exponentially better 45. A D.C.-area combo that the hepsters of their era apparently wouldn't touch, the Newkeys possessed an anonymous but effective power-pop angle, that would have capably slotted in on a myriad of '80s comedy soundtracks, just as much as your hole-in-the-wall dive of choice. The out-and-out catchy "Not Just Alright" is the obvious keeper here, which coincidentally or not, is reminiscent of some of their equally clandestine contemporaries like the Dads and Volcanos. In what might be the first for a 7" (or perhaps even any record, period) the band includes an alternate ending to "...Alright," commencing immediately after you assume the track has ceased. Check out my original piece on the Newkeys here for more fun facts.
A. Not Just Alright
B. Man of Leisure
Hear
A. Not Just Alright
B. Man of Leisure
Hear
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Something Blew - s/t (1989, Kept)
01. In Dependence
02. Mistake
03. Losing Track
04. Creating Happiness
05. In the Dark
06. Talk TV
07. Your Day
08. Beauty Waits
Hear
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Sofas are soudning to dream like you
The Also-rans - The Resignation ep (2002, SINCaudio)
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Dare I say this is amazing? This young-ish Beantown five-piece is armed with an awareness of indie-guitar rock that finds them wise well beyond their years. Even if this already brief three-song EP was whittled down to just the scintillating opener “Resignation Letter,” you’d still be enamored by the Also-Rans appreciation for early Archers of Loaf, Treepeople and Versus and their ability to apply these well-worn influences into such warm, buzzing songcraft. Can’t wait to hear more.
More can be had from the Also-rans on Bandcamp.
01. Resignation Letter
02. Glass Jaw
03. Chapter 3
Saturday, February 20, 2016
The sound of Leatherwood Studios - Pychic Archie, The Tunes, and Abuse - a brief overview.
Topeka, Kansas in the 1980s - you had to be there. Full disclosure, I wasn't, and perhaps the "had to" portion of that statement might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but if you were present and of legal age to attend club gigs you may have been a better person for encountering some or all of the bands this entry concerns. All three of which, btw cut their music at the now defunct Leatherwood Studios in Topeka.
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Between 1984-85 Psychic Archie were responsible for two ep length cassettes, remastered and re-sequenced on the newly minted compendium 4 Tracked. It's not necessarily a wall-to-wall goldmine, but the band's best moments are stunning. This is due in part to local Topeka collaborator Alan Oliver, who wrote two of PA's most memorable songs, "Happy Man," and "No Pictures of Dad." That latter gem was licensed to Josie Cotton (yes, of "Johnny Are You Queer" fame) who performed the song on an episode of the '80s sitcom Square Pegs. The Archies spin on "No Pictures of Dad" isn't as gussied up as Cotton's, rather they transform it into a mid-fi marvel, tweaking it to such a bittersweet extent that you might mistake it for something Guided By Voices wrote, say, in 1990. "Happy Man" was later adopted by a fantastic, one-album-wonder of a band, The Leatherwoods who covered it on their 1992 Topeka Oratorio LP. As you might guess, that band named themselves after the recording studio where PA recorded. And there are even more must hear salvos - "Don't Kiss Me Stranger," the previously unreleased "Flag of My Own," and "Every Time it Hurts," which if listened to attentively reveals a slight similarity to The Paul Collins Beat classic "Walking Out on Love," just when the chorus hits.
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All three reissues are available as we speak via the Psychic Archie website as hard copy CDs or digital downloads. A fairly extensive article regarding the heyday of the Leatherwood Studios "scene," as it were , can be found over at Shea Magazine's site.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Gardener - Intermission 7" (2000, Paper Bag)
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BTW, per Discogs, this single was evidently housed in an actual paper bag (hence the name of the label/series) but mine came in a stamped chipboard sleeve. Make of that what you will.
A. Boys of Summer
B. Two Sides
Hear
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The Cuckoos - Sticks and Stones mLP (1986, Survival/Festival)
These Aussie lads appeared to have had a solid indie pedigree, though by the sounds of this disk the Cuckoos could have likely crossed-over...but did they? Haven't been able to find any pertinent details on them through the usual search engines. Singer Simon recalls Colin Hay, Julian Cope and even a tad of David Bowie all wrapped into one, but Sticks and Stones is well short on mystique. Some genuinely strong tunes here nonetheless. I could envision the Cuckoos sharing a bill with Icehouse circa the Flowers album, Noiseworks, or some other quasi "wave" combo of the era. I'll leave you with this little morsel - in it's entirety, Sticks... is more consistent than any given INXS album. Then again that might not be saying much, eh? Enjoy.
01. Wheels of Your Heart
02. Climb That Mountain
03. Autumn Lasts Forever
04. Splinters of You
05. Your Lover Tonight
06. Temptation
07. Rescue Me
Hear
01. Wheels of Your Heart
02. Climb That Mountain
03. Autumn Lasts Forever
04. Splinters of You
05. Your Lover Tonight
06. Temptation
07. Rescue Me
Hear
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Going underground.
Catching up with Saint Marie Records - Secret Shine, Difference Engine, Seasurfer and more.
It doesn't take long for a spate of quality releases from Saint Marie Records to accumulate. Submitted for your approval, a rundown and encapsulation of some of the finest and most intriguing propagators of the scene, that as they saying goes, celebrates it's own personal self. We'll kick things off with an exploration of reissues from two twentieth century progenitors who never quite achieved
their due.
Secret Shine's Untouched was never issued in the States upon it's 1993 release, and from what I've been able to glean, they were given short shrift on their UK home turf. Why? Well, this quintet was patently standard fare for the dream pop crowd, and it didn't help that S/S copped liberally from more established contemporaries Lush, Slowdive, and the Valentines. That little theory aside, Untouched contains some phenomenal, if not particularly groundbreaking music, quintessential of shoegaze's golden era, and in my book earns a slot as one of the best 25 albums the genre had to offer. Eight songs, and regrettably, no bonus tracks.
From the comparatively rural locale of Ithaca, NY (later relocating to Providence, RI) came Difference Engine, whose 1993 debut, Breadmaker I dedicated some text to a couple of years ago. Theirs was a cleaner and less congested approach to the form, but no less intoxicating. Margaret Ayre's ethereal vocal penchant and her compatriots tingly guitar leads lingered more in the atmospheric realm of contemplative indie rock than full-bore, shoegazer bludgeoning. It was this transcendent aptitude that lent Difference Engine a blissful plateau unto themselves. The 2015 reissue of Breadmaker boasts a crisp remastering job and appends a hard to find compilation track "Ed's Apache Ghost."
The term "nugazer" gets bandied about a little too much for comfort these days, but in regards to Hamburg's Julia Beyer-helmed Seasurfer, that tag is apropos insomuch they don't necessarily salute the class of 1990, rather sonically-charged modern successors like Silversun Pickups. Their, Headlights ep brews up a dark, gale-force surge sans any labyrinthine maneuvers to bloat the overall effect. If possible, try to snag a limited and expanded version of the ep, Live in the Headlights, containing a ten-song live set wherein Seasurfer transform Slowdive's "Dagger" into a veritable arena rock anthem. These folks seriously pump in concert.
What band melds the cavernous howl of Jesus and Mary Chain to the hammering scuzz-pop of Isn't Anything-era My Bloody Valentine, while managing to convey a general semblance of melodicism? Enter Static Daydream, the brain child of Ceremony/Skywave alum Paul Baker. A scalding swath of feedback and echoey vocal effects permeates damn near every speck of Static Daydream, and even if the album imbibed in it's entirety may hint of a recurring daydream, barbed hooks like those accentuating "More Than Today" and "Until You're Mine" will encourage many a repeat listen to this eleven-song post-punk suite.
In what's becoming a perennial tradition Saint Marie has strung together another jam packed, mondo three disk compilation set, the fourth installment in the reliably gratifying Static Waves series. And like any worthwhile label-associated collection (i.e. sampler) there's not merely a a handful of exclusive tracks, rather the vast majority of them, in this case numbering well over twenty out of 33 songs total. The entirety of Saint Marie's active stable is on board - Bloody Knives, Spotlight Kid, SPC ECO, Presents for Sally, Keith Canisius, High Violets, Deardarkhead, Cherry Wave, all of the aforementioned in this write-up, and then some. Jeff Runnings from For Against is launching a solo endeavor early this spring, and you can preview a special mix of a track from it, "Outside Oslo" here. I was also chuffed to The Emerald Down on the Static roster as well, a name that hasn't been on my radar for ages. Only $9.99 for all of this and more kids.
You can find all of these items (in most cases on vinyl in addition to ones and zeroes) straight from the source at Saint Marie online. A query on Amazon and iTunes should get you going as well.
their due.
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You can find all of these items (in most cases on vinyl in addition to ones and zeroes) straight from the source at Saint Marie online. A query on Amazon and iTunes should get you going as well.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Mrs. Peacock - My Brain and it's Headlights ep (1991)
01. My Brain and It's Headlights
02. The Empty Stare
03. Birthday
04. Creator
05. Sally's Song
Hear
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Blue Trapeze - Who Were You Then? (1984, Fullspeak)
In 2010 I posted an ep from a rather arcane Orange County, CA outfit dubbed Blue Trapeze. Ring a bell? Anyway, here is what appears to be their first record. Coincidentally or otherwise, Who Were You Then? is steeped in shades of paisley psych-pop, de rigueur for it's era, with that very strain of musique blossoming full tilt in nearby Los Angeles, spearheaded by such proponents as Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, etc.
Blue Trapeze's spin on things was considerably more organic and delicate, faintly exuding the aura of Love's Forever Changes, particularly that album's more hushed tendencies. At least that's what I got out of it, but naturally, your results may vary.
Note: There were some skips on track five, "Projections." Not much I could do to rectify this, even after cleaning the record, but I do have an alternate transfer of the album from someone else, and I've included their rip of that song if you wish to hear an unblemished version.
01. The Day This Life This World
02. You and Me
03. This Fear
04. In the Still Darkness
05. Projections
06. Passion Like Paper
07. Ever Selfless
08. Walk Through the Field
09. Who Were You Then
Hear
Blue Trapeze's spin on things was considerably more organic and delicate, faintly exuding the aura of Love's Forever Changes, particularly that album's more hushed tendencies. At least that's what I got out of it, but naturally, your results may vary.
Note: There were some skips on track five, "Projections." Not much I could do to rectify this, even after cleaning the record, but I do have an alternate transfer of the album from someone else, and I've included their rip of that song if you wish to hear an unblemished version.
01. The Day This Life This World
02. You and Me
03. This Fear
04. In the Still Darkness
05. Projections
06. Passion Like Paper
07. Ever Selfless
08. Walk Through the Field
09. Who Were You Then
Hear
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Game Theory - Lolita Nation (1987/2006, Engima/Omnivore) - A brief overview.
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Thankfully, one thing Lolita isn't is rambling. There's a palpable method to the late Scott Miller's sequencing and flow of what many regard as his career best album, albeit not a particularly narrative one. Lolita Nation nonetheless has quietly cultivated a mythos in the years since it's Reagan-era conception. A one-fan-at-a-time conversion ensued over the subsequent decades as it was handed off from friend-to-friend, much in the way Big Star's three albums were posthumously disseminated throughout the '80s. And even though Game Theory made their case more concisely (and arguably more consistently) over the course of crucial precursors like Real Nighttime and Big Shot Chronicles, LN captures Miller and Co. revisiting their indigenous aesthetic and charm of yore on signature-tunes-in-waiting, "Chardonnay," "Little Ivory," and "The Real Sheila." Another tune smacking of classic Game Theory's is "The Waist and the Knees," though to the contrary of the aforementioned it's cascaded in jarring blasts of synths and other intermittent techno trickery. Things take a decidedly more avant turn on "Dripping With Looks," and then we have the oddest duck of all, "All Clockwork and No Bodily Fluids Makes Hal a Dull Metal Humbert," two challenging minutes of loopy studio effects and a pastiche of dissonant audio snippets and samples. Lolita Nation is the one album in the Game Theory oeuvre that adamantly defies generalities.
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Onto the supplemental material. A whole disks worth in fact, almost as lengthy as Lolita Nation proper. Among it's 21 servings of rehearsal and live takes, rough mixes, and radio session material, you really won't find any unique Game Theory compositions that aren't represented on the album. Instead, you'll be treated to a wealth of imaginative covers, encompassing such disparate artists as David Bowie, The Hollies, Iggy Pop, The Smiths (for chrissakes, wow!), Public Image Ltd, Sex Pistols and even Joy Division. But it's not all remakes mind you. The proceedings commence with the unedited, near eight minute version of "Chardonnay," that had to be pared down considerably for the album to accommodate the original 74-minute limitation of compact disks, circa 1987. Rehearsal demos of "Little Ivory" and "The Waist and the Knees" are represented at their spontaneous best, but it's seven radio session offerings from 1987-88 that really take the cake, and in fact are where many of the covers are sourced from.
So what makes Lolita Nation so endearing to Game Theory fans? Taken into account it's breadth, depth, inherent contradictions, not to mention a tad of experimental wanderlust, the answer to that question lies solely in the eyes/ears of the beholder. To have an behold the rejuvenated Lolita Nation for your own, head over to Omnivore headquarters, Amazon or iTunes.
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Saturday, February 6, 2016
VA - Teen Line No. 4 (covering letters R to Z, 1978-88)
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Hear
Thursday, February 4, 2016
New noise: Muler, Slanted, Smug Brothers
Out of all the indie-rock hopefuls to emanate from Rochester, NY during the Clinton-era none charmed me as much as Muler fronted by the deftly skilled David Baumgartner. Many singles came and went between 1993-98, but more notably a smashing debut platter in 1997, The State of Play, chockablock with tuneful turbulence and heart-on-sleeve text. In 2010 or thereabouts, I was happy to learn of Muler's exceedingly belated followup, Hope You Found a Home. That record signaled Baumgarterner and Co.'s graduation from post-adolescent to common ailments of maturity. It was a Muler album alright, but to varying degrees I was able to discern that the record stylus was slightly amiss of the grooves, lacking some of the spark and verve of a more vibrant and visceral past. To my delight Muler's needle is locked right back in place all over the freshly minted Unlikely Soldiers, which if anything picks up where 1997's State of Play left off. The rush of clangy chords and dense arrangements is thriving on "Soldier," "Jumping Jack Queen" and "Olivia," and the guys are still suave enough to dig into the well of small-scale dilemmas, eschewing any potential emo schmaltz to the curb. I still have Muler loosely pegged as a fusion of Buffalo Tom and the Promise Ring, but that strikes me as more of a tasty coincidence than deliberate plundering. In any event Unlikely Soldiers isn't an unlikely return to form, so much as a welcome one. It's available digitally through Bandcamp, Amazon and iTunes. Excruciatingly limited physical runs on LP and cassette are available per the Bandcamp link. No CDs? It's like 1982 all over again.
We checked in with Cincinnati based denizen Casey Weissbuch (aka Slanted) a year ago via his premiere offering, the slanting and often enchanting Forever, crammed fulled of maneuvers that signaled allegiances to inspirational antecedents of yore like Polvo and Dinosaur Jr. Slanted's new ep, Desire for Lust delves a bit further into the weeds, downplaying verse-chorus-verse song structures in exchange for tweaked and decidedly more introverted motifs. "Santa Fe" occupies a downcast, droney space, entailing a smidge of avant weirdness, a la Creeper Lagoon, while the concluding "My Universe" indulges in a chilled-out, lackadaisical stride. I do believe I'm picking up some co-ed vox here as well - either that or Casey is really adept at throwing his voice. Check out Desire for Lust at a price of your own discretion here, and lay yours ears on the aforementioned Forever if you haven't already.
I haven't dedicated much space to Dayton's Smug Brothers in a good five years, specifically not since the insertion of 2011's Fortune Rumors into the marketplace. Hardly ones to sit idle, they've been churning out roughly an album a year and their latest salvo, Echo Complex is split release between the Bros and Brat Curse. I'm not going to avoid saying it - these guys do exude a considerable resemblance to their hometown boys done good, GBV (think Under the Bushes, Under the Stars era). They even involve an alum of that recently disbanded American treasure, Don Thrasher in their lineup, but the going here isn't as derivative as I might be leading on. Try the pop-sided "(A Minute for) Ruby Skate" and the mildly angular "Razor Thin Races" out for a spin and you'll get the idea. Lot's of bite-sized "shorties" here, some of which clock in around a mere thirty seconds. As usual, Bandcamp has you covered.
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Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Indian Rope Burn - s/t (1990, GGE)
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01. disjointed
02. she's helpless
03. stupid for you
04. two steps
05. flying past the window
06. blood
07. close the door
08. part II
09. say when, now
10. love problems & pipe bombs
11. stranger
12. dead man's body
13. horror show
14. daydreaming at night
15. spider web
16. looking for home
17. alex
18. mystic
19. have you heard
hear
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