Three Hour Tour - next time... (1993, Parasol)

In the mid-90s I was paying more attention to music than ever, yet there were some artists I just plain missed the memo about. Three Hour Tour was among them, and much to my detriment. I was aware of their existence via the proliferation of Parasol Records catalogs and mailings at the time, but it wasn't until recent decades that I really took the plunge, and this 45 was an ideal spot to dive in. As it turned out, 3HT were a marvelous power pop proposition from the fertile plains of Champaign, IL, brandishing a classist bent a la The Posies and Matthew Sweet.  The A-side, "'Til the Next Time' is a deftly honed slice of three-and-a-half-minute hook manna from the skies that doesn't so much as waste a nanosecond, and its two flip sides are just about as arresting. I discovered that lead Hour Darren Cooper's lineage reached back a decade earlier through his collaboration with Ric Menck and Paul Chastain in the embarrassment of jangle pop riches that was Choo Choo Train.  In fact, Chastain joins in on some of the magic here via a co-songwriting credit with Cooper on the bittersweet "Prancing Horse Farms." All three songs here would appear on the subsequent 3HT album, 1969 a few years later, though I can't vouch for them being the same versions.

A. 'Til the Next Time

B1. King of the Mountain

B2. Prancing Horse Farms

Hear

Karma is a killer, regret can really nail you too.

From 2019. They got off to a bit of an uneven start with their first reunion album, but this one was an improvement.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Chewy Marble - demo (1996)

Here's a name that might ring a bell for some of you.  Chewy Marble were an L.A. area trio who did their thing not only when power pop in general was enjoying something of a renaissance,  but were part and parcel of a primo local scene including the likes of the Wondermints, Baby Lemonade, The Sugarplastic and Cockeyed Ghost among several others. Chewy, helmed by singer/guitar slinger Brian Kassan, never quite hit you over the head with anything intense or crazy, but they possessed a bevy of killer tunes, especially the ones populating their 1997 debut.  I'm offering the contents of their '96 demo reel, which was generously passed along to me recently by a friend. All three songs were rerecorded or at least remixed for that subsequent first album, but the demos wield a bit more immediacy than the finished versions, so encountering this was a treat. "My Reaction" and "Peculiar" abound with a Posies and Jellyfish-like charm, while the piano-ballad, "Touch and Go" rolls some Badfinger-isms into the equation.  Again, Chewy Marble weren't household names by any stretch, but in their three album lifespan they did pretty damn good.

01. My Reaction

02. Peculiar

03. Touch and Go

Hear

My punk rock friends are old and weak.

From 1997.  A delightful power pop debut bearing an all-important serrated edge.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

The Cradle - "It's Too High" 12" (1987, Rough Trade)

What's this?  A no-profile Rough Trade Records outfit from arguably the prime of that renowned label's tenure, making virtually no impression online or otherwise with just one scant 12" single to their credit?  Spawned in Manchester, The Cradle were a quintet whose humble discography was pared down to the mere ten minutes that I'm making available today, possibly for the first time in ones and zeroes (albeit Cloudberry blog insightfully fills in some of the backstory blanks). 

Sonically, the Cradle's template, while not wholly derivative angles in the direction of contemporaries Echo and the Bunnymen and St. Julian-era Copey, minus a good bit of the fading mystique both of those figureheads could still lay claim to.  Furthermore, guitarist Ivor Perry's fretboard prowess was of such Marr-esque caliber (feast your ears on "Walk Around") that after Johnny absconded from Moz in '87 The Cradle was put on ice with Perry's name bandied about as a fill-in for the famed Smith. As for the record, we're treated to two very rich, promising songs...and an instrumental, "Wires," that tacks on a spoken poem bit for it's caboose.  Amazingly, The Cradle never featured on any various artists comps either, even of the Rough Trade variety, but it appears mouthpiece Andy Housley fronted another band earlier in the mid-80s T'Challa Grid, whose tape, The Strangest Trials I really wouldn't mind hearing. As you know, I live for this stuff.

A. It's Too High

B1. Walk Around

B2. Wires

Hear

Nixon's Head - The Doug Factor ep (1986, Ichiban)

I liked their 1987 album, Traps, Buckshot & Pelt, but I'm feeling even more affection for Nixon's Head's preceding ep. The Doug Factor manages to factor in what these Philly lads may have been tuned into at the time, ranging anywhere from the Ramones to Agent Orange, and even the Mighty Lemon Drops. Perhaps those touchstones were purely coincidental, but whatever infiltrated their sensibilities, N/H's garage punk timbre and subtle underdog penchant made for some wailing rock 'n rule on "Still," and the exponentially more pounding "Bad Vibes." If Doug... isn't outright phenomenal, it's often tantalizingly close. 

01. They Can't Touch Us

02. Still

03. Bad Vibes

04. First Steps

Hear

You wind me up like a crooked tree

From 2021. One of the most fetching young singer/songwriters to come down the pike since Juliana Hatfield. Delighted I took a chance on this.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Life Without Principle - s/t (1989, Intrepid)

My takeaway from this one? Surface level perception in only worth so much. My expectations for Life Without Principle were far from what I actually got. What I thought would be a band solidly steeped in left-of-the dial aesthetics, either of the serious post-punk or lovingly shambolic (a la The Replacements) varieties instead skewed considerably closer to mainstream notions. Surprisingly, even the presence of synths doesn't particularly imbue this trio with new wave bona fides. By and large, the eight songs occupying this self-titled platter can stand on their own, though LWP's commercial aspirations (try the frequent, wailing guitar salvos on for size) were loftier than I could have anticipated.  "Find Yourself Inside" is my clear favorite here, suggesting the band had tuned in to some of Tommy Keene's then-most recent albums. My copy of LWP was no-so-tastefully defaced by a radio station, so Discogs for the win for supplying me with a non-blemished pic of the front sleeve. 

01. I Hear You Singing

02. Find Yourself Inside

03. Much Too Much

04. Let's Go There Anyway

05. Don't Cry For Me Now

06. Business as Usual

07. No Going Home

08. You Can't Hide From Love

Hear

Science can wait, democracy now.

Practically two albums' worth of demos and outtakes tracked in this band's heyday of 1979-82.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Wellabee - s/t (2001, Eclectic)

Wellabee will when nobody will!  Or so how I like to think this band's motto might have rung. Truthfully with the exception of one article I was able to unearth there ain't nuffin' out there on this Sarnia, ON foursome (though a documentary on the boys was supposedly in the works at one point).  And it sounded like these lads were really young when this came out in 2001, possibly still in grade school.  Oodles of fuzzy, distortion-prone guitars populate every nook and cranny of this one with no shortage of Weezer-ims and gratuitous grunge tricks, though somehow curtailed from the sheer excess of either. Something about Wellabee grabbed me on my initial listen that never did on subsequent encounters, but thought this was worth submitting for your approval (or not).

01. Orange!

02. Graduation

03. Proud of Me

04. Her Picture

05. Menasha

06. It's Not Sunday

07. Collar

08. Whisper

09. Christine

10. Tuck in My Shirt

11. Oreo-Fence (Springs is Here Again)

Hear

Say I'm sorry 'til I'm blue in the face...

Recent reissue of a vital indie rock album from 1985 that flew far too under the radar. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Braid - live acoustic at Record Exchange, Raleigh, NC 6/19/98

I've been on the fence about sharing this one for many, many years, with my hesitation usually dictating my decision not to do so, largely due to the low bitrate of the files, which I was never able to find a more satisfactory rip of.  Hard to believe it's not only the 25th anniversary of this particular event, but likewise for Braid's career-defining album, Frame and Canvas. It's no coincidence that almost every song in this set was culled from that aforementioned album, one that was a quantum leap in terms of proficiency and songwriting over Braid's previous two full lengths, The Age of Octeen (1996) and Frankie Welfare Boy Age 5 (1995).  If you're already acquainted with Frame... you know what I speak of.  To the contrary, if Braid is an unknown quantity to you, before delving into this live set it helps to have an appreciation of the album, or even what the band was about in a more traditional live setting.

This ten song exchange is pared down and as minimal as this crew ever got, yet the sub-par fidelity of the recording happens to mesh well with the intimacy of the spartan setup on this particular summer solstice in '98. In 2011 Braid reconvened for live shows and even new recordings, and the band just finished up a slate of dates this month commemorating the quarter-century birthday of Frame and Canvas.

01. killing a camera

02. i'm afraid of everything

03. urbana's too dark

04. never will come for us

05. first day back

06. a dozen roses (sort of)

07. niagara

08. forever got shorter

09. (strawberry ann) switzerland

10. ariel

Hear

Empire State Games - 7" (1998, Makoto)

See that banner at the head of the page?  When I started W/O in 2007 I rattled off a number of genres that I intended to specialize in. I haven't made much of a concerted effort in recent years to cater to the emo quotient, but I haven't outright abandoned it either.  With that I present you with a stellar 45 from Empire State Games, a quartet not from New York State ironically, but would you believe Plymouth, MI?  This single came to light mere years before emo would become neutered and retooled almost beyond recognition, and is that much more precious for it. Neither adhering to the genre's subrosa's genesis, circa, Washington D.C. in the mid-80s, nor forecasting the capitulated strain thereof to follow shortly in the twenty-first century, bands like ESG instead played the compelling card of distortion, smothered melody, and slightly maudlin angst that made so many of their contemporaries like Garden Variety, Sideshow and even the Promise Ring such a colossal treat.  These guys didn't boast an extensive catalog, or even a full length to speak of, but they had phenomenal songs to fall back on.  Here are two of them.  If you dig what you hear, you might want to direct yourself yonder for a nice discography CD. 

A. 100 Years of Baseball

B. Dialogue (From a Movie)

Hear

So pick your poison for the third time...

From 2002.  I've had track #6 (and even #2) stuck in my head for the past two weeks. Now it's time for them to get lodged in yours.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

U.S. Mods - Station 7 (1988, Rockhill)

So much for me getting back on track and posting more often. At any rate, this one is of slightly higher caliber than what I've been offering of late. U.S. Mods.  Can't really tell you much about them other than they were a quartet, and apparently hailed from Dayton, OH.  Though they barely skewed towards genuine "mod" rock/pop, they did have a penchant for dabbling in power pop, collegiate indie rock, and even a loose approximation of post-punk.  Station 7 may not be a wall-to-wall Chanukah worthy platter, but there are a cluster of songs here that certainly are - "The Train," "Jumping Off Niagara Falls," "Sleeping With Father John," and the title cut.  Ample hooks, guitars, distortion and a rough hewn aptitude make Station 7 more than a pleasant surprise.  

01. Sleeping With Father John

02. Wake the World

03. Station 7

04. Is She Blind?

05. When's it Gonna Rain?

06. The Dreaded Year

07. The Train

08. Bricks

09. Jumping Off Niagara Falls

10. Not to be Found

11. Twirl Girl

12. Waiting All My Life

13. Father John's (Reprise)

14. Let's Take 'Em Away

Hear

If I only could fit more of the truth inside those medium t-shirts…

Four eps, but all from the same artist released between 2021-22. For whatever the reason I decided to burn all of them to a cd-r to play in my car, and I soon discovered they all functioned together as a fairly cohesive album - and made for an outstanding listen too. I numbered each of the four folders in the order they were released, but assuming your new to the artist I wouldn't necessarily recommend that you listen to them in order, although it wouldn't hurt. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Laughing Stock - Pipe Dreams (1985, Livestock)

Another mixed bag in a sea of mixed bags. Minneapolis' Laughing Stock had a few things going for them right off the bat, even before you heard a note of their music. Their lone, privately pressed record, Pipe Dreams was engineered by renown, Midwest indie-punk knob-twirler Steve Fjelstad, and the group recorded at famed Nicolett Studios. While it's unclear whether they were actually in cahoots with the Replacements, Paul Westerberg & Co are given a quick shout out in the album thank-yous. Not bearing any dreaded '80s production values is also a huge plus, albeit, some of the quartet's ideas here, aren't necessarily laughable, just lackluster. The good news is that L/S exuded a measurable quotient of momentum on the driving and guitars-y "The Boy Who Never Sleeps, "Carpathia Girl" and the harmony-laden "Amnesia." The sleepy ballad "Salutations" passes muster, but just barely. I'm not sure what these gents were thinking on the plodding, "The Local Bands," wasting a solid two minutes on the tune's somber, instrumental intro. They close things out with the frenetic, raging "Catholic Bulletin," though I'm not exactly clear what the source of the angst is. 

01. The Boy Who Never Sleeps

02. Amnesia

03. Salutations

04. The Local Bands

05. Carpathia Girl

06. Boy's Town

07. Laughingstock

09. Catholic Bulletin

Hear

It's time to reach out any way, and put back color where it's dark.

Their fifth album found this crew placing themselves on an exciting, and considerably more tuneful trajectory. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Balboa - Live Like This ep (1980, Single Sound)

Yet another record I don't own a physical variation of, but in the absence of something tangible I'll take whatever I can get, even ones and zeros. Hailing from Knoxville, TN and releasing this lone platter in their early '80s lifespan, Balboa angled for something poignant in a power pop-ish  realm on "Writer and Artist" and this ep's punky title cut, without slavishly skewing to said genre, or for that matter what was passing for new-wave at the time. The remainder of the record meanders into divergent paths, and frankly gets a little non-descript by the time they lay down "The Big Sleep." In doing my research on this foursome, I learned Balboa recently compiled these songs and about a dozen more into a digital compilation on Bandcamp at a really nice starting price. Consider this a sampler, and if you enjoy what you hear please consider sending a few dollars their way. 

01. Writer and the Artist

02. Live Like This

03. Be Somebody

04. The Big Sleep

Hear

Drive Like Jehu - first album demos & live KXLU 1933 (R.I.P. Rick Froberg 1968-2023)

"NO!" I thought.  That was this past Saturday night when I learned of Rick's passing. How could a (seemingly, anyway) healthy 55 y/o male just drop dead in his sleep, much less someone who so strenuously and consistently contributed to my soundtrack (angsty as it sometimes is) since I was a teenager?  Perhaps Rick Froberg (aka Rick Farr or Rock Fork) had already reached the peak of the mountain in terms of artistic endeavors, but this was certainly an unfinished life. And he contributed to so many of our lives, fourfold in some cases, if you were an aficionado of his quartet of music endeavors Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes and Obits. Rick was a singular visual/graphics artist as well, somehow translating his mangled sonic splay on tape to the canvas. I'm not about to tell you any personal stories because I don't have any, nor do I have time to critique his fairly robust catalog, so will you settle for a few random thoughts?

Most Froberg devotees got on board with Jehu, but I was lucky enough to start with the first building block, the lovingly sinewy and dexterous Pitchfork, not from being a fan in their native San Diego, circa 1990, but rather via a review of their posthumously released Eucalyptus, possibly in a Alternative Press or Option. From what I recall a reference to Superchunk was all it took to have me bounding through the door, but there was so much more waiting in the wings.  Pitchfork's math-rock smarts, artful underpinnings and sheer technical finesse slowly unfurled upon each subsequent listen of Eucalyptus, to the extent that I soon became thoroughly rapt. Quite literally this was music that I had never encountered before...or would again.

By the time they were put to pasture in mid-90s, Froberg's Pitchfork bandmate John Reis was the prime-mover in the considerably more visible Rocket From the Crypt, yet he would soon be splitting his time with Rick's next endeavor, Drive Like Jehu. Not unlike Fugazi, DLJ forged their own indigenous and incendiary stripe of punk, possessing unwieldly dynamics and an altogether startlingly vicious m.o. that tended to make Pitchfork sound like something of a warmup in comparison. In the wake of Rick's passing, it's been stated numerous times online that he "found his voice" in Jehu. Equal parts catharsis, indignation, and vulnerability it can truly be said that his trademark timbre tapped something deep from the human condition. In terms of the band proper, Jehu were bejeweled with rancorous intent, often recoiling mere inches before careening off the edge of a cliff like umpteenth scenes in a Warner Bros. cartoon. And may I remind you, this band was responsible for perhaps the most uncompromising and commercially unaffected major label album ever, 1994's Yank Crime.  

I could speak volumes on Hot Snakes as well, but since this post only concerns recordings circa DLJ, I'll draw to a close here. The musical portion of this presentation concerns an early set of demos cut in 1990 for the first album. While I can only offer MP3s of those tracks, I'm giving you a lossless option for the live session they tracked for L.A.'s KXLU in October of 1993, which at the time found them previewing key tracks from Yank Crime.  As frustrating as Froberg's passing is, he leaves behind a devastatingly visceral legacy.

1990 demos - Hear

01. O Pencil Sharp

02. Turn it Off

03. Spikes to You

04. If it Kills You

KXLU FM 10/25/93 - MP3 or FLAC

01. New intro

02. New Math

03. Golden Brown

04. Do You Compute

05. Luau

06. Bullet Train to Vegas

You made a vow so you better leave him right now.

A collection of early eps from one of Australia's most melancholy but engrossing propositions of the 1990s. Sorry for another week of non-posting. Some heavy stuff happening on my end, but will have something for you in the next day or so.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

…and I feel I never will.

 An indie rock stunner from 2014.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Starkicker - Beach Music (1996)

Contrary to what the cover might project, Starkicker, in fact, are not a twee conglomeration, and the music involving the half hour that is Beach Music rarely lives up to it's title's sunny aesthetic. An all male trio with a correspondence address of St. Catherines, ON, Starkicker seemed to have more in tandem with fuzzy, amped-up contemporaries Transistor Sound & Lighting Co., and Australia's often grand and affirming Jebediah and Pollyanna, than say, Sloan or Matthew Sweet. Bittersweet yet hook-savvy notions including "Baby's Comin' Home" and "Careless Driver" will easily allow you to forgive these gents for not delivering on the straight-up power-pop the band's superficial hints (again, the deceptive album sleeve and title) often suggest. A very promising record that sadly didn't receive the push it deserved from the very established Epic Records. Three years on the group tweaked their formula and rechristened themselves as Dunk, monikered after the surnames of frontman Ben Dunk and bassist brother Nick. 

01. Get Up

02. Neil Armstrong

03. Baby's Comin' Home

04. Pitter Patter

05. Merry Go Round

06. Pick Up Truck

07. California's Cool

08. The Letter

09. Careless Driver

10. Going Downtown

11. 360°

Hear

Doughboys - Live (Home Again) 7" ep (1991, Blackbox)

Hard to believe I waited this long to share this one, considering it's been in my collection since I started this whole shindig. The Doughboys, one of Canada's finest proponents of melodic punk-pop released this live ep via the European Blackbox label, featuring two originals and two covers (Cheap Trick and Kiss). Presumably tracked during their tour supporting Happy Accidents, given the inclusion of "Happy Home." Will try to get something else up for you later today as well, so check back.

01. Happy Home

02. Home Again

03. He's a Whore

04. Stole Your Love

Hear

Only tomorrow the love comes easy.

My apologies for not getting any music up this past week. It was a busy one, but will try to rectify that soon.  As for Mystery Monday, is this really the album we were holding out 22 years for?  Definitely some flourishes of brilliance in the first half, but the concluding tracks are outright grating. Enjoy (or not).

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear