Splitting the Difference # 11 aMINIATURE/Drip Tank - a tale of two singles (1992-93)

I can't say to what extent San Diego's long defunct aMINIATURE and Drip Tank were aligned back in the day, but they must have been fairly busom buddies to back each other up on two 7" singles within the span of a year. Purely out of convenience and/or coincidence? I think not, but anyway...

aMINIATURE have been explored on these pages before, specifically regarding a single on Sing Fat Records posted last summer . If you haven't been enlightened on this sadly departed outfit already, think smart, post-hardcore rock a la Jawbox, exhibiting dexterous technical finesse without laying waste to the songs. "Weepo" from the '92 Topsy Records single was nicely retooled for the band's Depth Five, Rate Six record, while "Safety" remains exclusive to this disk. aMINIATURE's cut for the second split single with the Drip crew, was "Towner on the B-side" was tracked at the Casbah nightclub in San Diego in 1993. Later rerecorded for Depth Five..., Spoon were enthusiastic enough to make it a staple of their mid-'90s live sets.

The band on the other side of these coins, Drip Tank, were purely a local phenomenon. A raucous, coed quartet (originally named Joe's Drip Tank from one account) straddled that fabled indie/punk divide over the course of two albums for Headhunter Records, Slake in 1992, and Sprawl two years later. The former of those two may be posted in it's entirety at some later point, but their side of the Topsy Records wax includes two of their best. As was the case with the aMINIATURE disk on the Trademark split 7," Drip Tank's "Mumblehead" was also a live at the Casbah affair. Hope that's not too confusing. 

 

Topsy Records 7" (1992) 

aMINIATURE

01. Weepo

02. Safety

Drip Tank

03. Cut

04. Quencher 

 

Trademark Records - Trip 1 (live at the Casbah) 7" (1993)

A. aMINIATURE - Towner on the B-side

B. Drip Tank - Mumblehead 

 

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aMINIATURE - Plexiwatt (1991, Scheming Intelligentsia/Restless)

Ever since namedropping them a few night ago I've had this kinetic San Diego troupe on the brain.  Thing is, they didn't sound particularly kinetic until they hit their stride on their 1993 mini-masterpiece Depthfiveratesix.  It was on that record that aMINIATURE proved their dextrous knack for melding math-rock dissonance with emotive hooks.  For better or worse, everyone has to start somewhere, and for this bunch that spelled a thing called Plexiwatt, which I'm offering today.  It's a formative debut for sure, and though I regard it as fairly nondescript, aMINIATURE were at the very least laying down some sweet guitar tones here and there.  Plexiwatt was initially released on the micro-indie Scheming Intelligentsia in '91, but reissued on Restless on the heels of the band's relatively successful Depthfive... and 1995's Murk Time Cruiser.   You can check out a couple of split singles with aMINIATURE and locals Drip Tank here. 

01. Skyline
02. Security From a Stranger
03. Bassboost
04. Windskirt
05. Fake It
06. Memory Traveler
07. Frozen
08. A Ragged Town

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Singles Going Single # 61 - aMINIATURE 7" (1993, Sing Fat)

Oozing forth from the miasma of San Diego, one of the most tauted post-Seattle hotbed cities in the early-90s, aMINIATURE (presumably taking the reverse capitalization cue from fIREHOSE ) were dwarfed by contemporaries Rocket From the Crypt and Drive Like Jehu. It's a shame, because by the time they released their 1994 sophomore effort, Depth Five, Rate Six they had ascended to the ability of the aforementioned. With a slightly oblique tact, and technical guitar finesse to boot, aMINIATURE dazzled with cerebral, but hooky pop songs. They called it quits after an equally impressive follow-up, 1995's Murk Time Cruiser. This single preceded Depth Five, offering alternate versions of two album tracks.

A. Foreign Room
B. Zero in Trust

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Restored links!

Almost seventy of 'em, based on your requests.  Enjoy!

Summer Suns - Greatest
Catherine Wheel - four eps
Rich Kids - Burning Sounds
The Germs - GI rough mixes
Semantics - Powerbill
Howard and Tim's Paid Vacation - I Never Met a Girl...
The Love In - s/t ep
Teeze - s/t ep
Pipe - singles collection
Centro-matic - singles
Splitsville - Amateur Hour
Greenberry Woods - Shorty ep
Diesel Park West - Shakespeare Alabama demos
Ten Ten - Ordinary Thinking
Not Shakespeare - Edge of the World
Chainsaw Kittens - High in High School ep & Mother 7"
The Flies - Alternatoid
Figgs - singles
Muler - singles
Pluto - singles
Wool - singles
Bum - singles
Jolt - Proof of Total Collapse tape & singles
Luxury - EP #1
Bangtails - Hypnotic Downpour ep
New Flamingos - In the Pink ep
Instructions - s/t LP
Christmas - In Excelsior Dayglo
Tiny Lights - Know It You Love
Four Color Manual - Guardian For a Year
Blank Schatz - The Grand Prize
Jo Broadbery & the Standouts - The House of Love
V/A - Here Comes the Summer - Undertones tribute
V/A - The Patio Collection
V/A - Super Mixer
V/A - More of Our Stupid Noise '98
V/A - Cinnamon Toast: Trim Crusts if Desired
V/A - Self Mutilation
V/A - Half Assed ep
V/A - Vehicle ep
New Musik - Straight Lines ep
Propaganda - Calling on Moscow ep
Green on Red - Rev. Luther 12" 
The Restless - s/t LP
Pink Noise Test - Electric Train ep & single
Superscope - Generally Electric ep
Grady Sisters - 7" ep
Dish - Mabel Sagittarius ep & single
Harvey Street - What About George? ep
The Harlows - 1995 tape & 1996 tape
Mrs. Svenson - 1995 demo
Five Ticket Ride - demo
Bluebird - The Two
aMINIATURE/Drip Tank - split singles
Second Childhood - Figure Skating
Revellaires - Pop of Ages
Carmine - Carpe Patio Flounder
Vim - 7" ep
Bright - Plymouth Rock 7"
Gone Daddy Finch - Sunshine Sister 7" 
Gardener - Intermission 7"
Zoinks!/Narcissistic Freds - split 7"
Bomb Bassets - Please Don't Die 7" ep
Girlpope - Teenage Jesus 7"
Smackmelon - Space Shot 7"
Forty - Lightswitch 7"
Revelers - This Little Light of Mine 7"
Sweetcream USA - 7"
Shelf Life - 7"
Lemons - Keep Diggin' 7" 

Helen Earth Band - Our Own Ghost City (2009) - a brief evaluation

As far as current music goes, a lot of you might guess that I'm not exactly in the tank with junior high pop-punk bands, screamy nu-metal schlock, or for that matter, the Kool-Aid that online 'tastemakers' are so willing to gush out like a raging kegger on a daily basis. Fortunately there are still a plethora of bands of significant merit that manage to fly under the radar. San Diego's Helen Earth Band just so happen to fall under that life-affirming realm.

For the uninitiated, if you had to sweat down Helen Earth Band’s single most prominent facet, it would clearly be brothers Marc and Adam Allen’s, choppy, metronome precise guitar licks that sweetly deflect off one other to utterly gratifying effect. Very much in league with hometown post-hardcore predecessors like No Knife and aMINIATURE, Helen Earth band sport an agile sense of dynamics and mildly dissonant rhythms that can, and often do, stop and start on a dime. Speaking of dimes, Helen Earth Band fully funded their thirteen song debut, Our Own Ghost City on their own coin, however their studio acumen might lead you to believe they had some rock star engineer tweaking the knobs. Not a chance - Ghost City is an entirely inside job.

There’s an inherent technical slant coursing it’s way through this album, though it’s dexterous and savvy exterior belies some seriously tuneful maneuvers and sonic wanderlust. In a nutshell what you have here is a solid dose of smart, textured rock, sans the self-importance and ennui. You can stream the full album on their bandcamp page, and even lay down a few bills for your own CD.

No Knife - Singles: 45s and under (1994-97)

Had a request for some No Knife singles a few weeks ago in the comments for my aMINIATURE 7" upload. In the summer of '94 I went to a Drive Like Jehu gig in Toronto. A mindblowing band named Tanner kicked off the proceedings, and convinced me to buy some of their merch, including a split 7" with No Knife. Tanner definitely packed a walloping punch, but it was No Knife's "Sweep Away My Shadow" that truly rocked my world. So enthused by this little ditty I got a hold of frontman Mitch Wilson and asked if I could put a No Knife on my then non-existent homegrown record label. That homegrown label remained non-existent, but at any rate, I was a super fan of the San Diego quartet for life. It turns out that No Knife would soon attract a decent amount of attention, and a year or two thereafter, released their first album, Drunk on The Moon, which after initial release on Goldenrod Records was usurped by the Time Bomb Recording label.No Knife was a self-referenced "audio karate" band. Brandishing a dazzling technical finesse, particularly guitar-wise, the group's cerebral and dynamic spin on the then burgeoning post-hardcore movement was also espoused with tuneful sensibilities. With a nod to DLJ/Rocket From the Crypt's John Reis ax-shredding salvos, No Knife weren't quite as gnashingly fierce as their forebearers, but truthfully, they didn't need to be. To me, they were the best of many worlds.

This post covers the aforementioned Tanner split single, as well as two more early NK 45s. "Habits," from their 1994 7" on Goldenrod was later retooled for the Drunk on the Moon cd, with the sly riff-rocker, "Oh...I" that occupied the B-side remained exclusive to the single. Prior to the release of their second album, Hit Man Dreams, in 1997, a preview single was released containing the album cut "Jack Boots," backed with a cover of Japan's "Communist China." The curiously oblique Hit Man... album also included a rerecording of "Sweep Away My Shadow," originally offered on the Tanner split 7." Even greater things were to come in the form of their third, and arguably strongest record, Fire in the City of Automatons, circa 1999. A fourth album, Riot for Romance! reared it's head three years later, but life from the No Knife camp has largely been mum since, with the exception of some recent murmurings about possible reunion gigs. No Knife were anything but linear, however these nascent singles were as close to "conventional" as they would ever come, and were quite an accomplishment in themselves.
 

1994 7" (Goldenrod Records)

01. Habits

02. Oh...I

 

1997 7" (Time Bomb)

03. Jack Boots

04. Communist China

1994 No Knife/Tanner 7" (Goldenrod)

05. No Knife - Sweep Away My Shadow

06. Tanner - Slightly Calculated

 

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Lion Tamer 7" (1995, Cargo/Headhunter)

I don't know very much about Lion Tamer, but I certainly know what I like, and I'm really digging this.  Where the hell was this Richmond, VA trio back in the mid '90s when I was jamming to likeminded, dissonant noise-pop combos like Archers of Loaf, aMINIATURE and Edsel?  My guess is the Tamers were sticking close to home, and unfortunately were unbeknownst to me at the time in the pre-social media era.  At the very least, this single (perhaps their lone release) offers two bittersweet mementos from the golden age of indie guitar-rawk.  If anyone can shed a ray or two of light on these guys, don't be a stranger.

A. West 64
B. Shoes

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Drip Tank - Slake (1992, Headhunter/Cargo)

At some point during 1993, during my stint as a college DJ, a new word entered my vernacular - "Slake," and the album of the same name by San Diego's Drip Tank (formally Tom's Drip Tank) became part of my early twenty-something soundtrack. Bucking the trend of a plethora of co-ed alt-rawk groups of their era, Drip Tank were not cute and cuddly. In fact, when they bore their collective teeth on lacerating punk salvos like "Quencher" and "What the Hell," they were about as approachable as a live chainsaw blade within inches of your jugular vein. In regards to the those two searing album cuts, Exene Cervenka of L.A.'s famed X seemed to have rubbed off on mouthpiece/guitar slinger Julie D to no small extent. Elsewhere, Slake recalls some of Drip Tank's grimier, indie-punk contemporaries on the east coast, Pipe and Picasso Trigger (maybe more on this pair later, esp that first one, but I digress). Lotsa treble kickin' fun on this one folks.

A couple more quick things. Slake was mastered at an embarrassingly low volume, so I took it upon myself to boost the levels a few notches. Secondly, visitors to Wilfully Obscure may recall that earlier this year I shared two separate split singles the band did with fellow San Diego denizens aMINIATURE, that are still up for the taking. BTW, before disbanding, Drip Tank released a follow-up album, Scrawl. Speaking of which, if anyone in the band is reading this, I sent you $4 for that cassette you offered in the liner notes of Scrawl, and you never followed through on your end of the deal. A pity. At any rate, check out their Facebook page for more fun.

 

01. What the Hell

02. Outside

03. PBJ

04. Quencher

05. Thinking of You

06. 3-Men

07. Sense

08. Feel Cow

09. Mudbogg

10. Pinball

11. Captain Crunch Countdown

12. Miserable

 

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