Drumming on Glass "Tear It Down" 7" (1990, Aurora)

HFS, why didn't someone tip me off on these guys two decades ago?  I downloaded Drumming on Glass' Asparagus Tea LP awhile back but didn't give it a concerted listen until fairly recently.  Boy, was I missing out big time.  From what I've been able to discern, much was made at the time of DoG's psychedelic tendencies.  I suppose that's par for adding a sitar (of all things) into the mix, but this Boston trio was way post-punk if you ask me, with rich shades of Nice Strong Arm and Fire in the Kitchen bubbling to the surface.  Both tracks on this 45 fall well within the late '80s Homestead Records realm - dark and austere, with some pleasant mystical ambiance thrown in to ward off anything too gratuitously brooding.  The A-side "Tear it Down" appears to be exclusive to this single, while "Trip" would find it's way onto the aforementioned Asparagus Tea.  Lost in Tyme blog did a nice write-up of the album, but since the download link has expired, I might be offering it here if anyone is game.    

A. Tear it Down
B. Trip

Hear

Foreign Bodies ep (1985, Hyena)

By the looks of things, Foreign Bodies were denizens of one of my favorite '80s hotbeds, North Carolina, perhaps Durham in their case.  There's more than a modicum of the "new south" sound permeating the bulk of these grooves, but amazingly F/B had no involvement from Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, at least not on this record.  The Bodies roster consisted of three men and one woman.  Guess who carried most of the vocal heft?  Going by the assumed name of Sonar Strange, the world may never know her true identity, but her pipes color this affair in much the same way Salem 66 and Throwing Muses were all the better for having the fairer sex occupy the mic.  Guitar-wise, you'd think that Peter Buck had his fingerprints all over this disk, save maybe for the concluding rave-up, "Ride Sally Ride."  Impressive.  Yet again I present another record sleeve marred by ID designations of a left-of-the-dial radio outlet.

01. Evil Live
02. Symphony of Desire
03. Carry a Big Guitar
04. Pink Bathrobe and Blue Slippers
05. Don't Go
06. Ride Sally Ride

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Chris Richards and the Subtractions - Get Yer La La's Out (2012, Gangplank) - a brief overview

A couple months ago when I was introduced to a nationally unknown Detroit-area export from the late '80s, Hippodrome, there was a name in the lineup that rung a significant bell.  It turns out that had I already been exposed to the solo offerings of Hippodrome's figurehead, Chris Richards.  In fact a compilation of his work in Hippodrome, The Pantookas and beyond, Pathetic History 1990-2000, had already made an impression on me a decade prior.  With a penchant for linear yet savvy power pop Richards hasn't exactly been perched on the cutting edge of his chosen genre, but much like Tommy Keene, his songs beam with an irrepressible Midas touch.  That was certainly the case with 2009's Sad Sounds of the Summer, the first album credited to his latest assemblage Chris Richards and the Subtractions, a trio also featuring one of his Hippodrome henchmen, bassist Todd Holmes.   

Get Yer La La's Out is the slightly more assertive yin to Sad Sounds' brighter, goes-down-easy yang.  With ten (or eleven if you take the vinyl route) short but sweet nuggets, Richards proves once again he's a thoughtful steward of quality control.  This time out, the band have created an album that's just as much Buffalo Tom and Dillon Fence as it is Matthew Sweet and Velvet Crush.  La La's... is guitar pop perfection on a stick, without any of the cotton candy fluff.  Wherever the needle or laser lands here is likely to yield a blissful result, but I'd start with "Don't Do Anything Tonight," "It's Something" and "Uncertainty."  You can stream the whole thing from their Bandcamp site, and if you like what you hear buy a physical copy at CD Baby or through Chris Richards and the Subtractions website. 

Lost Luggage - Chateau Relaxeau (1991, Lughead)

As I settled into Chateau Relaxeau's sublime lead-off number, "Everything Breaks," I said to myself, 'it's probably not going to get any better than this,' and I was spot on.  Furthermore, Lost Luggage were spot on as well - namely for putting their strongest song on the front burner.  Sounding like something Tommy Stinson should have included on one of his overlooked solo albums, the melodic stride of "Everything Breaks" points to this long defunct quartet as being deft craftsmen when the inspiration struck them.  This isn't to say that the remainder of Chateau... is disappointing, but comparatively the dozen or so tunes that follow it are entirely competent and even satisfying, albeit a tad nondescript.  Think Gin Blossoms, or post-Grave Dancers Soul Asylum and you've got a good handle on Lost Luggage (no pun intended).  I have a couple of L/L demo tapes that might be making it onto these pages in the days to come.

01. Everything Breaks
02. Broken Down
03. Roller Coaster
04. On the Ropes
05. Front Porch
06. double double
07. Adam 94
08. Do Something About It
09. Sign of the Times
10. A Different View
11. The New One
12. Story Line
13. Groove 101
14. Pulled Together, Priced, and Sold
15. The Big Parade

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Dryhouse - Hayride 7" ep (1993, Mustard)

Now this is cool.  Yet another cold case, but it's a good 'un.  The only online reference I can conjure up for this record suggests that the charmingly ramshackle Dryhouse were a hybrid of the Doughboys and Dag Nasty, but I don't buy the first half of that combination in the least.  Instead, try mid-80s Soul Asylum, and if you must usher Dag Nasty into the equation, we're talking shades of Wig Out at Denko's at best.  The songs are quite excellent, especially the two on the a-side of the coin.  No correspondence address is provided on the insert, but we're offered a couple clues that Dryhouse may have originated from Rockford, IL, or thereabouts.  First, this disk was cut in 1990 at Underground Noise Chamber, a recording studio in said town.  Furthermore, the record sleeve depicts Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen on the left, grasping the neck of a guitar from an unidentified man on the right.  As is common knowledge to many of you, Cheap Trick hail from Rockford.  If anyone has the proverbial dirt on Dryhouse, comment as you see fit. 

A1. I Remain
A2. Then Again
B. Haunted Hayride

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Re-up: New Jetz - s/t (1982, Jam)

I posted this one last September, but wanted to offer you a better rip and a clearer depiction of the sleeve.  You can visit New Jetz Myspace page for a full bio.  Enjoy.

01. Time Was Wrong
02. Flesh Wound
03. Privilege
04. Make Me Crazy
05. Secret
06. Expressed Yourself
07. Reflections
08. Jet Lag

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John Mac and the Moraggots (of Marshal Fields)

Granted it was a good quarter-century after the fact, this January I became a belated, drooling fanboy of a long departed Bay Area group called the Marshal Fields, and I shared my discovery with the world at large, not knowing a stitch about them outside of the seven songs populating their lone mini-LP.   I was hoping someone would chime in with some crucial details on the Fields, or at the very least offer an insightful anecdote or two.  To my good fortune I was treated to both, in spades in fact, by virtue of co-frontman John "Mac" McClellen contacting me personally.  It was a pleasure not only to inquire about his old band, but to learn that Mac was still musically active, even if his recent endeavors don't necessarily echo Marshal Fields angular, power pop roar.    

Operating under the moniker The Moraggots, and enlisting the assistance of former Fields percussionist Mike Spinrad on various songs, Mac's most two recent albums, 2008's Performing as the Soldermen and '09's Play Date, reveal an unplugged, everyman troubadour indulging in homespun ethos aplenty.  Opting for a spare, organic template patched through a predominantly acoustic delivery system, our man takes queues from a variety of singer/songwriter mainstays including Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello yielding a bevy of sweetly plucked tunes, often folky and even a little twangy.  Ballads reign here, but they're hardly the stuff of dry ice-laden music videos, teased hair, and raised cigarette lighters...if you get my drift. 

Both of the aforementioned disks can be streamed and purchased digitally on the Moraggots Bandcamp page (hyperlinks provided above), along with an even more recent collection of songs.  Play Date and Performing as... are also available digitally through CD Baby, Amazon downloads and Emusic.

Riff Doctors - tape (1985)

Just when I thought I'd heard the last of Mitch Easter's prolific, 1980s productions, I'm lovingly slapped upside the head with one that almost escaped.  In the case of North Carolina's Riff Doctors I suppose I could be forgiven considering this was a cassette-only release, that I happened upon in a large allotment of old demos that I recently came into.  Containing six songs, this little reel is the stuff of jangle-pop nirvana, if evidenced by nothing else than the opening salvo "Say Goodbye."  Fred Bednash and Donna Esposito trade off on vox, making comparisons to Mitch's coincidentally co-ed ensemble, Let's Active a bit of a no-brainer (even if Game Theory would be more accurate).  By tape's end, the Doctors settle on a Buddy Holly-esque sock-hop rocker. "The Things That Make Me Glad That I Met You."  In addition to this cassette, the group is also survived by the a 1983 single, "Falling" on Coyote Records, which one seller on Ebay has a staggering price tag for.  That song was anthologized on the Teen Line Vol 1 cd, as was a song from the demo which I'm presenting in it's entirety below. 

01. Say Goodbye
02. Turn Me On
03. Set the World on Fire
04. She
05. Reckless
06. The Things That Make Me Glad That I Met You

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Okay Paddy - The Cactus Has a Point (2006, Prison Jazz)

It was just six years ago that I pinned my hopes on this new-ish Scranton, PA four piece, whose deftly composed indie pop was a synthesis of some of the previous decade's smartest offerings.  A 2004 ep, Hunk, preceded The Cactus Has a Point, but after another ep in 2008, Okay Paddy were ostensibly splitsville.  Had Cactus arrived a couple years later than it did, Paddy just might have blown up like Rogue Wave or Beach House.  Their official website is unfortunately kaput, but the band has a posthumous presence on Myspace (linked above).   Okay Paddy prime-mover Mike Quinn made his solo album Magico available on Bandcamp last year.  You can read the review of Cactus I penned many moons ago for Big Takeover magazine below.  

It’s a diminishing phenomenon, but every so often an album will come out of left field that once again reaffirms the audiophile in all of us why we go to such lengths to excavate a gem like Okay Paddy’s debut The Cactus Has a Point.  Whom does this visceral indie-pop quartet take their collective cues from?  Take your pick: The Bigger Loves, Sugarplastic, Pavement, A.C. Newman, Telepathic Butterflies, The Shins – and that’s just grazing the surface.  Okay Paddy marry their scrumptious power pop with carefully measured amounts of quirkiness and sassy enthusiasm to make a convert out of anyone with respectable taste in contemporary indie-rock. Cactus offers ten short and sweet, three minute nuggets emanating surprising depth and robustness given their brevity.  Lay your ears on “Time For a Tailor,” “You Never Worry,” and “Oo-Man, La-World“ and prepare to become a believer.  

01. Your Bar's on Fire

02. Gas Money

03. Put Them in Cages

04. Time For a Tailor

05. oo-man, la world

06. You Never Worry

07. Where's the Taste

08. lighter later

09. Fraktur

10. Furrier

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The Burdons LP (1984, Big Rock)

Here's an unduly forgotten power pop record brought to us by Bay City, MI's Burdons, who according to this article are still active some three decades on.   Loosely, the Burdons could pass for the Flamin' Groovies unhip second cousins, albeit even more linear in the songwriting department.  Occasionally things tack in the direction of the Raspberries, other times this affair strolls into Shoes territory, but when it comes to the choicest morsels like "Heartbeat" and "I Fell in Love," you could make a case for the Burdons occupying three minutes on a Teenline and a K-tel compilation.  That's saying a hell of a lot if you ask me.  My apologies for the radio station sticker adorning the cover.  Manually removing it would have resulted in even greater mutilation, and I'm not very handy with Photoshop.  Check out the comments for a link to a 2010 Burdons performance clip.

01. I'd Really Like to See You Tonight
02. Here Comes That Girl Again
03. Climbing Up the Walls
04. I'm No Good
05. Heartbeat
06. Time
07. Right Back to Me
08. Go Steady
09. I Fell in Love
10. Just Like You
11. For You
12. The Raging Current
13. Goin' Away

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"I could make a horse's head of all your friends..."

Of the quintet of 415 Records acts that made the migration to Columbia (Sony) Records in the mid-80s (which included Romeo Void, Translator, Red Rockers and Until December ) San Fran's Wire Train weren't an initial priority, but upon belatedly hearing their first LP, 1984's In a Chamber a few years ago I was sold in a heartbeat.  Theirs was a dreamy amalgam of driving jangle rock and new romantic subtlety, with Chambers crown jewel casting itself in the form of "I'll Do You."  It's sublime sway is nothing short of transporting, marrying a hook of staggering proportions to an irresistibly propulsive back beat.  Wire Train shot a primo video for this single, which you can see below.  The b-side "It's Only Dark" is exclusive to this wax and is par with just about anything on the aforementioned album.  True, it lifts a well known Mission of Burma lyric, but it works so well I'm inclined to forgive them for copping it.  In a Chamber and WT's 1985 followup Between Two Words were paired on a 1995 CD reissue, but I'll be damned if you can locate an original copy, which was seemingly in print for ten minutes.  A Wire Train fansite with a thorough discography and so forth is linked above. 



A. I'll Do You
B. It's Only Dark

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Yanks - Made in the States ep (1984, DTI)

The net cast by the major labels in the midst of their '80s signing spree apparently wasn't wide enough to capture San Fran's Yanks, who released two independent eps, this being the second, with their debut, Only Lovers Left Alive issued one year prior.   This fairly straightforward guitar rock quartet kicks things off with the club-ready, "Tell Me No Lies," constructed around a shuffling, APB-style rhythm.  It's all uphill from there, with a clutch of airwave-tailored pop-rockers including "Run," "Reason to Try," and "We Call Each Other Mine."  The sobering title cut brings this affair to a tasteful conclusion, but truthfully, I was expecting this record to possess a grittier edge.  The Yanks have a page on ReverbNation, hosting a veritable box set's worth of demos and live recordings, along with tracks from the two eps I've spoken of.  If only all the bands I write about were this thoroughly archived...

01. Tell Me No Lies
02. Reason to Try
03. We Call Each Other Mine
04. Run
05. Searchin'
06. Made in the States

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Young Pioneers - tape (1983)

From what little data I've been able to glean, the Young Pioneers were a Seattle by way of Olympia four-piece, whose lineup contained drummer Scott Vanderpool of Room Nine, a somewhat seminal Northwest alt-rock group.  Furthermore, Chris Pugh would later branch out into Swallow, perhaps the most genuine and purist grunge band of all time. Pugh and fellow Pioneer Brad Sweek were co-owners of an Olympia all ages venue, the Tropicana.  Now, what does all of that have to do with the music concerning this entry?  Not a damn thing really, just thought I'd give you some perspective.  My impression from this tape is that the Young Pioneers were very young, and more than a little wet-behind-the-ears.  There's definitely a nascent energy running through these eight, post-punky songs (two of which are instrumentals), and I'd say the group's most convincing moment is "Life's Problems" with it's sweet arpeggio guitar bits.  "Get Up" and "Anthem" follow close behind.  I'm not sure if Y/P committed anything to vinyl, or for that matter what their expiration date was.  The tracklist from the inlay card and the one on the tape shell differ greatly, but the latter seems more accurate.  If you can confirm this, that comment link has your name written all over it.

01. Get Up
02. Razor Madness
03. Life's Problems
04. Party
05. Revenege
06. Pop Shark
07. Anthem
08. Final Frontier

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Miles Dethmuffen 7" (1992, Presto)

This 45 is a follow-up to a couple of prior Miles Dethmuffen posts, whose Nine-Volt Grape album I took a huge liking to.  M/D were a co-ed Boston area outfit who had a penchant for smart, left-of-the-dial pop that was in some small way the quintessence of their era, despite being an unknown quantity.  Linda Bean lends her pipes to the sprite, tuneful A-side "Mouth of Hell," a succulent slice of gritty pop perfection.  Even Trouser Press referred to this little nugget as "wonderful," though it's more abrasive flip, "Painting the Bridge" is less approachable...but don't let that scare you off. 

A. Mouth of Hell
B. Painting the Bridge

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The Orange Roughies - Detroit (2012, Gangplank) - a brief overview

Diminishing returns are the name of the game when it comes to surprise revelations from yesteryear, particularly for someone like myself who's been peering under many a rug from virtually every nook and cranny in the bygone, American alt-rock landscape.  Nonetheless, I still make a handful of pleasant discoveries every year, and one of the finest entries of the 2012 contingent arrives from Detroit in the shape of The Orange Roughies, whose 1989 album Knuckle Sandwich comes paired on CD with an entirely unreleased LP, Spilling True Love Everywhere, originally tracked in '91. 

Even after multiple listens, it's tricky to discern the root of the Roughies charisma and mystique, but I suppose a good place to start would be with vocalist John Pineau who possesses a timbre reminiscent of Peter Murphy not to mention a smidgen of Paul Weller, but such Anglophile resemblances are likely coincidental.  Six-string wrangler, David Feeny is a spectacular asset as well, peeling off cutting guitar leads a la Pylon's Randall Bewley and The Edge circa The Unforgettable Fire.  The Orange Roughies' encompassing sonic aesthetic often amounted to an intoxicating negotiation between Echo and the Bunnymen and Let's Active...or on second thought, make that the Chameleons UK by way of late '80s REM.  Heck, both of those tasty propositions apply to one extent or another, yet this Motor City quartet weren't derivative so much as advanced.

"Knuckle Sandwich" (culled of course from the album of the same name) along with "Eyepatch" and "Pure and Simple" are dense latticeworks of ambitious arrangements wherein indelible chorus hooks and ringing chords give rise to sublime and stirring post-punk arias custom fit for the 120 Minutes generation. Perhaps not life altering, Knuckle Sandwich still boasted enough razzle dazzle to outdo the bulk of the band's peers.  I should also add that the killer remastering job goes a long way in turning these already resonant tunes into something downright seismic. The not quite as beefy Spilling True Love Everywhere tracks manage to bask in a melodious glow of their own with "She's Trippin" and "4 Quarters" providing ample evidence that O/R were on a roll, a grand one in fact, that would unfortunately come to a halt in the summer of 1991 when Pineau opted to go back to college.  At the very least, the music still lives and sounds better than ever (incidentally, Detroit was marked with an album release party of sorts this past May 5th, with a reunited Roughies sharing a bill alongside the Junk Monkeys and Hippodrome).  I'm sharing two songs from the album below to whet your psyche.  CDs are available from Gangplank Records and CD Baby.  CD Baby is also offering Detroit digitally, as is Amazon Downloads.

Tracks: Knuckle Sandwich, She's Trippin

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White Animals - s/t (1986, Dread Beat)

Not that I'm trying to best my competition over at Shotgun Solution blog, but they recently posted a hodge podge of tunes by Nashville's long put-to-pasture White Animals.  Coincidentally, when I was used record plundering last month I found vinyl editions of their self-titled effort, and it's 1987 follow-up In the Last Days, the former of which I'm hosting tonight.   The White Animals espoused their fair share of '80s, "modern rock" trappings, and given it's studio sheen this record might slot comfortably with the output of say, the Hooters.  The silver lining?  This quintet wasn't far removed from such 415 Record staples as Wire Train and the Red Rockers either.  Despite a drought of innovation, White Animals is still appealing, and had the group's luck panned out a little more favorably, a mainstream fanbase would have been entirely palpable, if not inevitable. For those of ya'll in need of a shortcut, The Animals brightest embers flicker across side one.

01. Help Yourself
02. It's a Jungle
03. Big Shot
04. Don't Want to Hear That Song
05. Caught Up in the Dread
06. She's So Different
07. Not Another Love Song
08. I Can't Wait
09. Old-fashioned Day
10. Tristan's Woe

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The Pursuit of Happiness - live in San Jose, CA 5-27-89

It's probably going to be a couple more days until I have the chance to rip some more vinyl, but in the meantime, I'm giving you a vintage live show from TPOH that includes every song from Love Junk, and even the superb "She's So Young" b-side, "Let My People Go" to boot.  Moe Berg and pals also give the audience a preview of a handful songs that would appear on 1990's One Sided Story.  There's more than a few obligatory covers rounding this set out, not to mention banter and the occasional monologue.  It's safe to say that they couldn't have offered this crowd a more thorough performance.  This show comes from an above-average audience tape.  If you haven't done so already, check out Moe's pre-TPOH outfit Facecrime, whose Sex and Revolution ep is available for the taking here.

01. Killed By Love
02. Food
03. Man's Best Friend
04. banter/When the Sky Comes Falling Down/Walking in the Woods
05. Forbidden Fruit
06. Beautiful White
07. banter, Moe speaks
08. Consciousness Raising as a Social Tool
09. All I Want
10. She's So Young (cuts at beginning)
11. Ten Fingers
12. Tree of Knowledge
13. banter/Handsomest Man, Prettiest Girl in Town
14. Hard to Laugh
15. Let My People Go
16. Looking for Girls
17. Down on Him
18. I'm an Adult Now
19. encore intermission
20. Moe speaks/Couldn’t I Just Tell You/No Matter What
21. Little Sister

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Downsiders - All My Friends Are Fish (1988, Mammoth)

I recently had a request for this one.  Some four years ago when I unleashed a digitized incarnation of the Downsiders eponymous 1987 album on the masses, I merely liked it but have grown to love it.  As it would turn out, this Chico, CA four-piece had the drivin' and chimin' indie-guitar rock thing going quite dexterously, not far removed from the realm of Bleached Black and Carnival Season (references far too obscure for most of you, I know).  By the time the Downsiders took the reigns for their second and final record, All My Friends Are Fish, they opted for a slight detour, wherein varying textures and shifty moods wafted into the sonic ether.  There are several moments here, particularly in the first half, that graze the fringes of the Paisley Underground circuit which was in full gear a few hundred miles due south in L.A.  Even so, the Downsiders tended to favor the darker side of that coin.  Ranging from the sobering, reflective strains of "Ode to Traci" to the comparatively raucous "She's Alright," and even a droll reinterpretation of the Modern Lovers "Pablo Picasso," ...Fish swims through relatively disparate waters, but doesn't necessarily exceed the strength of the 'siders sterling debut.  

01. I Wanna Drive
02. Wild Honey Pie
03. Old Black Crow
04. All My Friends Are Fish
05. Pony Made of Ice
06. Cleaning House
07. Nobody Ever Called Pablo Picasso an Asshole
08. Kenny Koughdrop
09. Waiting for Nothing
10. Feet of Clay
11. She's Alright
12. Ode to Traci
13. Winnemuca
14. Find (We Can Hide)

Hear

Sheer Thursday - Expecting the Grass (1986, Twilight)

Well, there's not much info to be had on Sheer Thursday, but some superficial stats on the back sleeve of this platter inform us they were based in Atlanta - that, and they were affiliated with Twilight Records, the imprint that released my favorite Pedaljets album, Today, Today.  Expecting the Grass peaks early on with it's ringing opening salvo, "Dodge," suggesting that ST had imbibed their fair share of Reckoning and Fables of the Reconstruction prior to these sessions.  If the remainder of this record was of the same caliber I'd be more enthusiastic, but luckily this quartet rolls a solid spare (if no more outright strikes) in the form of "A View From the Side" (esp the latter of the two tracks bearing that title).  Great, edgy post-punk, loosely in a Homestead Records mold.  Amidst some of the lesser selections there's too much collegiate-level ambling and artsy transgressions for my taste, but with the exception of ...Grass's most egregious foible, "Distance," it's a listenable and occasionally rewarding LP.     

01. Dodge
02. Distance
03. Fish form...
04. Moral
05. Gray Day
06. A View From the Side VII
07. Home Park
08. A View From the Side
09. The Dancing Bear

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Dreams So Real - The Audio Biography tape (1990)

We're just as much a heathen as anybody. - Barry Marler

Were I a little more "with it," I would have created this entry a week ago, and used it as on opportunity to plug two Dreams So Real reunion shows that had yet to happen (April 27th in Athens, GA, April 28 in Atlanta), but if those dates don't already make it obvious, I can only refer to them in the past tense.  On the ball as usual.

This isn't the first post I've dedicated to this Athens, GA trio, who were responsible for three stellar albums of rootsy jangle pop, circa the mid-80s thru 1990.  This tape was released by Arista Records as a promotional item coinciding with DSR's third and final outing, Gloryline.  Narrated entirely by leadman Barry Marler and bassist Trent Allen, the self explanatory motif of this nineteen-minute reel spans the group's early independent releases for Coyote Records right up to the then fresh Gloryline.  Not overwhelmingly revelatory, the guys at least have more to opine here than in their wide-screen appearance in the 1987 Athens, Ga Inside/Out rockumentary.  Interspersed between the spoken portions are one minute clips of key album tracks, including a demo take of "City of Love," that can only be enjoyed here - at least the few moments of it that are included anyway.  If DSR are unfamiliar terrain to you, this digitized cassette is a no-brainer as far as making your acquaintance, while seasoned ears will no doubt regard Audio Biography as a tasty curio.  Like what you hear?  DSR's crucial debut, Father's House is ripe for the picking at Power Pop Criminals, we're hosting the rarities and outtakes compendium Nocturnal Omissions, and the two Arista albums, Rough Night in Jericho and Gloryline are on iTunes and Emusic.

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The Blisters - Storch 7" (1997)

Another great, albeit posthumous find.  Gotta love the dollar bins folks.  My initial assumption was that Storch was a debut release, but through the miracle of Facebook, I have since learned that New Jersey-ites The Blisters, had an array of other releases under their belt, some dating back to 1987.  In fact, this three song jewel was to be the group's last recorded foray, which is sort of tragic given the tunes are so utterly, um...blistering.  "Teenage Flower" is par excellence bar-rock-cum-punk gold, and the two flips by and large follow suit.  The Blisters adhere to the same beer-battered recipe as The Figgs, Magnolias, Junk Monkeys (them again?) and The Leonards, but at the end of the day all roads lead to Minneapolis, or more specifically Paul Westerberg and Co.  I hope I have the chance to hear more of where this came from.  A tell-all bio can be read here at your leisure.  

01. Teenage Flower
02. Laughing At You
03. Five to Nine

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Motocaster - Stay Loaded (1994, Interscope)

Don't have much time for a write-up tonight, but this one was requested on the heals of my share of a vintage Motocaster single from a few weeks ago.  Changing their name from the ill-advised moniker of Motorolla, this ever so economic power trio weren't your average Chapel, NC denizens.  Yes, they brought the rawk big time, but they weren't vying for college radio airplay or a slot at SXSW, so much as they wanted to blaring out of car stereos in 7-ll parking lots.  Stay Loaded was one of the most unaffected major label releases of its era, consistently cranked up to a rolling boil, and grizzled to perfection.  Good times.

01. The Buddha
02. The Habit
03. Straightfaced
04. Farah
05. Broken Eyes
06. Pull the Plug
07. Uranus
08. Dual-Active
09. Truth
10. Motorolla Blues
11. Sweet Pearl

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Serious Young Insects - Housebreaking (1982, Epic Aus.)

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I became acquainted with this Melbourne, Aussie lot - some three full decades after the fact.  Talk about arriving to the dinner table late.  Despite a major label pedigree (restricted to Oz anyway) Serious Young Insects didn't seem to make a huge dent in their homeland, and you can write off the States entirely.  After checking out the video for "Be Patient" (featured below) a feature track on Housebreaking, I became an instant convert, falling prey to it's plush, power-pop by way of tasteful new wave maneuvers...and a devastating hook that most bands would sacrifice a collective left nut for.  As for the video, "Be Patient" would have been quintessential MTV fodder of it's era, slotting in perfectly amidst a myriad of genius one-hit-wonders, but again, the album and single failed to make it stateside.  My theory?  Things might have gone in the Insects favor had Epic not been flexing all of it's marketing muscle behind Men at Work, but I digress

The trio's Myspace bio stresses that with it's über-slick production, Housebreaking failed to serve SYI justice stacked up against their live performances, which from the sound of it were plenty potent.  Sonically, the record's rich, state-of-the-art sound is still a pleasure to listen to, and perhaps even edgier that I'm leading on, but the songwriting is woefully deficient.  Despite receiving lyrical input from all three Insects, many, if not a full half of the cuts dotting Housebreaking's landscape are demonstrably underwritten and/or laden with half baked ideas that had yet to fully gestate.  One egregious example is "I Want Cake," which for most lesser bands wouldn't even qualify as a b-side.  In it's entirety, Housebreaking is still an impressive listen, just a bit frustrating in the lyrical department.  To my knowledge there are at least three SYI singles floating around out there (which I'd love to hear along with any unreleased studio material), and the group's Myspace page has five additional cuts (some live) that can be streamed.  If anyone cares to chime in about the Insects, comment as you see fit.  A big shout out goes to George for sending me these files.

01. Faraway Places
02. Things
03. I Want Cake
04. Parents Go Mental
05. I Don't Know
06. Be Patient
07. Safe
08. Housebreaking
09. Sad
10. Why Can't I Control My Body
11. Nerve

Hear

Hippodrome - dogbunny (1989) + Junk Monkeys show announcement

One of my readers tipped me off about an upcoming one-off reunion gig involving one of the more oft mentioned subjects of these pages, Detroit's Junk Monkeys (see the flyer below for details).  The same gracious informant also alerted me that his own band, Hippodrome will be reuniting for an opening slot at this show as well, and he was kind of enough to pass along their 1989 CD dogbunny.  Having been contemporaries with the Junk Monkeys, Hippodrome were also of a similar post-Replacements stripe, aesthetically cross-pollinating with the likes of Material Issue, Smithereens, The Magnolias, and even left-of-the-dial obscuros Weird Summer.  Judging by the consistency of this album, Hippodrome had the songs and the talent to find a place within the same ranks.  Amidst the twelve originals is a fervent reading of the Velvets "Foggy Notion."  Singer and plucker Chris Richards went onto another combo in the '90s dubbed the Phenomenal Cats, and launched a variety of other endeavors including Chris Richards and the Subtractions. whose Sad Sounds of the Summer album saw a 2009 release.  In addition, I'd also recommend the Pathetic History compilation which selectively highlights Richards 1990s pursuits.

UPDATE: May 2nd - one of the Hippodrome guys just posted a bonus-sized version of dogbunny which you can check out on their Bandcamp page.  It supersedes my version by almost twice the number of tunes!

01. She's Raining On Me
02. Henry
03. Brenda Lee
04. I'm in Love With Everything
05. Under the Tree
06. Her Hair Was Way-cool to Me
07. Call
08. Hope She Didn't Hear Me Say
09. Village Idiot
10. Sunshine Girl
11. Caroline
12. Foggy Notion
13. Crumble

Watch: The Aminals At Night "One Down, One to Go"

The Animals at Night are hardly a name brand commodity, but for those of you who frequent these pages you might be familiar with the group's chief architect Graig Markel, who fronted the distorto, indie-punk trio New Sweet Breath, who I've spieled about on a number of occasions.  Not unlike an octopus, Markel is a man of many tentacles, and one of those appendages has unfurled the engaging electro-pop unit that is the subject of this entry.  Below, please check out the video for "One Down, One to Go," which we're premiering today!   Behold it's sheik, neo-cosmopolitan vibe, accompanied by images of unraveling movie reels on an expansive waterfront vista.  Chill.

If you like what you hear, "One Down..." is available on iTunes, Amazon and other digital merchants, with proceeds going to benefit PAWS, a Seattle non-profit that rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife, shelters homeless cats and dogs, and educates to make a better world for animals and people. Donations will be made in the name of Henry, a wonderful little dude who came from this shelter years ago, and passed away around the release of this single. 

Graig's 2012 solo release, Graig Markel was written up here.