Polvo - s/t ep (1991, Kitchen Puff/1996, Jesus Christ)

I believe it was Alan Alda who coined the phrase, "If it bends it's funny, if it breaks, it's not." Straight outta the glistening hotbed of Chapel, Hill, NC, Polvo's utterly malleable song sculptures were not merely bent, but perhaps a little mangled too. Crooked and sinuous as-all-get-out guitar tunings, somewhat buried vocals, and an uncanny off-kilter stop/start penchant were all seemingly indigenous to perhaps the most original indie-rock troupe ever, at least in the '90s for sure. Many albums and eps were cut for Merge Records, but this self-titled ep commenced Polvo's recorded output.

Originally making the light of day as a double 7" for Kitchen Puff Records in '91, it entered the digital age five years later on the short-lived but substantial Jesus Christ Records label, retaining it's seven tunes but not a shred of the original artwork (I've included jpegs of the Kitchen Puff sleeve within file, swiped from Ebay). The lead-off cut, "Can I Ride" was rerecorded for Polvo's first album, Cor-Crane Secret. For an even greater appreciation of this record, you can read an essay of sorts from Battle For the Earth blog. A solid analytical deconstruction of Polvo's discography can be read here.

01. Can I Ride
02. Leaf
03. Lull
04. Totemic
05. Tread On Me
06. Teen Dream
07. Snake Fist Fighter

Merge Records recently did a nice reissue of this one.

Polvo - demos (1991-92?)

Okay, this was completely random find.  A few months ago, I was searching for something on Ebay non-Polvo related, but one click led to another and I stumbled on a pre-recorded mix tape of sorts that included these seven demos from Chapel Hill legendary, oddly-tuned tunesmiths.  No track list was provided nor were any other pertinent background details including the year they were committed to tape.  By my deduction, this material originates from the era of Polvo's uber-innovative debut album, Cor-Crane Secret which dropped in '92.  In fact three songs from that album ("Vibracobra," "Sense of It," and "Bend or Break") appear here in the form of earlier versions or alternate mixes. "Double Scorpio" so far as I'm aware did not see release in any form save for a 1993 Peel session, and this version differs tremendously.  Their reading of Wall of Voodoo's '80s classic "Mexican Radio" sounds as though it may have appeared in the same incaranation on the Freedom of Choice new wave covers compilation which they contributed it to back in 1993.  The only song on here that has me scratching my noggin is the second track in, which I simply can't identify.  If any of you are up to the challenge, please leave a comment.

Some two years ago I shared the first Polvo ep, specifically the cd reissue thereof, which is still up for grabs, while Sunshine Smile Factory blog has compiled Polvo's various radio sessions, including the 1993 John Peel set I noted above.

01. Vibracobra
02. Channel Changer
03. The Drill
04. Bend or Break
05. Double Scorpio
06. Sense of It
07. Mexican Radio

Hear

Splitting the Difference # 19 - Polvo/New Radiant Storm King (1994, Penny Farthing)

Behold, two bands that should need no introduction - at least in a perfect world that is. Chapel Hill, NC and Amherst, MA indie kids, brought together by the wise business sense of a record label in Arizona, circa 1994, arguably at the creative peak of the two conglomerations involved. As far as I know, none of the four cuts that appear hear have made it into the digital age, which is kind of hard to believe, especially from Polvo's end of the stick, but I digress. You can relive the excitement of the first Polvo ep that I posted in December here, not to mention one of New Radiant Storm King's more stirring albums over this way. Enjoy.

New Radiant Storm King

01. Back Door

02. Hey Baby

 

Polvo

01. Two Fists

02. All the Cliches Under Broadway

 

Hear

Erectus Monontone/Polvo - El Sid 7" (Merge, 1992)

Thought this would be a suitable follow-up to my Raymond Brake post from the other night.  I first became conscious of the fact that I was a record collector somewhere in the mid-90s, and this split single was one of the first "rare" records I couldn't track down.  Thing was, it never was particularly rare, just a bit hard to find.  Eventually I just forgot about it until I ran into a copy of it at a recent record show.  So here you have it, two of the most left-of-center bands to ever bear the Merge Records trademark.  I've yammered on about Polvo before, a band whose crooked, Sebadoh meets Sonic Youth pastiche was mildly addictive back in the day, especially on their earlier releases.  "In The Hand, In The Sieve" appears here in a lengthier iteration than the version that landed on their debut, Cor Crane Secret.  Erectus Monotone had more of a scuzzy art punk thing going for them, boasting a co-ed lineup to boot.  Never investigated them too extensively.  "Fragment (Pam)" appears to be exclusive to this record.  Both bands crossbreed on the the altogether avant and warped b-side "Anything's Fine."  Consider yourselves warned.  

A1. Erectus Monotone - Fragment (Pam)
A2. Polvo - In the Hand, in the Sieve
B. Erectus Polvotone - Anything's Fine

Hear

The Raymond Brake - Piles of Dirty Winters (1995, Simple Machines)

Nineties indie rock in North Carolina.  On one hand you had the "kingpins" like Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, and technically (though they stuck out like a sore thumb) Ben Folds Five.  On the other were a bevy of striving hopefuls including, but not limited to Polvo, Spatula, Minerva Strain and The Raymond Brake.  I was pretty wowed with Piles of Dirty Winters when it dropped some twenty-one years ago.  More recently, my adherence to this one has wavered.  Back then I picked up on RB's pop overtones which were somehow more evident at the time, but in retrospect it's obvious this Greensboro quartet took Polvo's fractured ball o' dissonance and ran with it big time.  That being said, Raymond Brake had a heightened awareness of melody embedded within the noisy. tone-bending confines of "New Wave Dream," "Dolley Madison" and "Philistine" - I just wish that same magic had reared it's head on a more consistent basis.  Midway trough Piles... we're offered a bit of a respite from RB's copious feedback-laden angularities via the lo-fi acoustic "The Long Sleep."  There were singles surrounding the album as well as a subsequent ep, Never Work Ever.  In addition to Polvo, if Edsel and Half Hour to Go did the trick for you, check this out.

01. Philistine
02. Filthy Lucre
03. Shooting in the Dark
04. New Wave Dream
05. Funeral Bride
06. Laying Down
07. The Long Sleep
08. Dolley Madison
09. Slink Moss
10. Never Felt Better
11. Whistler
12. Visit to Bdlam

Hear

Various - Why Do You Think They Call it Pop? (1994)

With it's lovingly whacked out cover art, this Pop Narcotic double 10" comp hit turntables in 1994. The Boston based Pop Narcotic label went as quickly as it came, but not before dispensing records from Versus, The Dambuilders, Small Factory, and most notably the Why Do You Think They Call it Pop? compilation that this post concerns. It's my assumption that the record's title is a play on the once ubiquitous catch-phrase "why do you think they call it dope?" but I digress. All of the aforementioned, and ten more lucky hopefuls, are immortalized on yummy strawberry and banana 10"s of wax, which strangely turned out to be a very representative snapshot of indie music at the time.
The results are about as mixed as they come but the creme de la creme disproportionately populate the first slab, filled with ringing roughewn pop gems from Small Factory, Sleepyhead, and the sensory-overloading guitar sprawl of Monsterland, whom I will dedicate to future posts. The Dambuilders do their best Polvo imitation on "Pennsylvania," apparently oblivious to the fact that Polvo themselves are on the flipside of the disk!

Side three offers a female-fronted trifecta: Helium, Ruby Falls, and Twig. The last side rounds things out with some lesser knowns, and an early Grifters song. Many selections here would crop up on original albums or retrospective singles & rarities compilations specific to each band, but this is a wonderful and unique souvenir of the era. If anyone wants future postings for any of these bands, just say the word and I'll see what I can do.

01. Sleepyhead - Hot Stuff
02. Dambuilders, The - Pennsylvania
03. Small Factory - Yeah!
04. Versus - Sunburned (Life's a Beach)
05. Polvo - Colonial Arms
06. Monsterland - Sunburn
07. Wingtip Sloat - Leap Into My Velvet Arms
08. Helium - In a Little Box
09. Ruby Falls - Let Me Go
10. Twig - Airplane
11. Greenhorn - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
12. Kudgel - Friction~Ali Baba
13. Grifters - Black Fuel Incinerator
 
Hear

Various - Pyloric Waves compilation (1994, D-Tox)

Fulfilling a request via a response to my recent Slowchange Madagascar post. Here are 18 whacked-out North Carolina bands circa the mid-90s. A decent comp that not only features my much lauded "Tree" by the aforementioned SM, but a career-prime nugget from Superchunk, "Invitation," as well as dandy contributions from Polvo, Picasso Trigger, and a myriad of lesser-known bands from the NC scene.

01-Robert Delaney - Intro
02-Well Nigh Forgotten - Florida Evans
03-Picasso Trigger - Queenie
04-Blue-Green Gods - Water
05-Matt Malloy - Traffic Lights Cause Accidents
06-Slowchange Madagascar - Tree
07-Polvo - Wild Turkey
08-Geezer Lake - The Bag
09-Orifice - Fuck
10-Vanilla Trainwreck - Someone Somewhere
11-Toxic Popsicle - American Dream
12-Boil - Timmy
13-Shiny Beast - Texasatan
14-Camper Van Chadbourne - Out To Lunch
15-Eighthundred - Drift
16-Superchunk - Invitation
17-Erectus Monotone - Bang
18-Bicycle Face - Brand New Attitude
19-Robert Delaney - You Little Asshole

Hear

Luxurious Bags - Frayed Knots (1995)

With the rapid dissolution of independent (and even some chain) record stores, not only are discophiles like yours truly left with fewer places to buy tangible recordings, we're also left with fewer places to be exposed to music. Case in point is the Luxurious Bag's excellent mini-album, Frayed Knots. This band would have remained unbeknownst to me, at least indefinitely, had I not heard this cd played in-store at Reckless Records in Chicago a few years ago. Something tells me this experience wouldn't be duplicated at say, FYE or a big box retailer. In-store play sells records - always has, always will...that is until there's no more stores...

Before approaching Frayed Knots, it would be to your benefit to be acclimated with Polvo. While the Luxurious Bags don't share any affiliation with the Chapel Hill quartet, they take more than a couple pages from Polvo's chord-mangling indie-rawk days of yore, particularly their earlier releases like 1993's gloriously dissonant, Todays Active Lifestyles. The Bags slide the lo-fi quotient up a few notches, while carrying a tune at the same time. Furthermore, the songwriting occasionally strikes an emphatic tenor here, a move that's an anathema to most noiseniks.

The Luxurious Bags earlier recordings, collected on Quarantine Heaven were a largely in one ear, out the other proposition, leaving Frayed Knots as the band's most essential offering.
 

01. All the Time in the World

02. Movie Mind

03. Woolite

04. Lost Wallet

05. 12 Miles Back

06. This Won't Help a Bit

07. Eyes Tell Me, Hands Tell Me

Hear

45 Spiders - Standard Forms of Communication (1998, Deep Reverb)

This lovingly clangy disk of noise pop comes courtesy to us via a departed but doggedly indie-rock trio from Washington D.C. monikered the 45 Spiders. Shades of local yocals Edsel certainly spring to mind, as well as a slew of bands beyond the beltway like Versus and Small 23. The atmosphere on Standard Forms.... is mildy downcast but never dismal. The Spiders are wont to alternate between piqued and relatively contemplative modes, but rarely within the span of one song. As for the overall aesthetic employed here, titles like "Another Polvo Song" speak volumes. Here's a paragraph or so a Washington Post scribe committed to cyberspace about this very album:

The song titles on 45 Spiders' "Standard Forms of Communication" are a little alarming: "Carter Stanley or Jacques Lacan?" and "Naomi Yang's Thoughts on Bass and Life Parallel My Own" would seem to be heftier loads than most indie-rock songs can bear. But then words don't really matter too much to this local trio. Peter Viditio's scraping, surging guitar is usually upfront, and on songs like "All Souls' Day" his vocals virtually meld with the strum.

Like many indie-rock outfits, the Spiders value timbre over melody and tension over release. Still, this album is not all mid-tempo brooding. The trio does hit the accelerator sometimes, usually for songs about its obsession -- indie-rock.

01. Carter Stanley or Jacques Lacan
02. All Souls Day
03. Hot Head Don
04. Sickbed
05. Northampton
06. Club Anthem
07. Hoosegow
08. Pentimento
09. Another Polvo Song
10. Naomi Yang's Thought on Bass and Life Parallel My Own
11. Me and Seamonsters
12. Fuck the Canon

Hear

Gapeseed - Lo Cell (1994, Silver Girl)

I couldn't think of a more appropriate follow-up to my Cars Get Crushed entry from two nights ago then this title, which I wisely salvaged from the "rejects" bin at the college radio station I was spinning for at the time (a hearty thanks to whomever was music director in 1994, or thereabouts).  Like CGC, New York's Gapeseed were early adopters of Unwound's harsh, guitar-rawk dissonance, but were even more frayed and dynamic.  I'm picking up more than a few traces of Archers of Loaf, Polvo, Sonic Youth, and to a lesser degree Dino Jr. and Garden Variety, but I'd argue this trio's stripe of manicured noise was even less tidy than some of the aforementioned, often attributing to Lo Cell's mixed outcome.  Relatively tuneful and rewarding respites populate the frantic opener "Thirsty" and later, "Watermelon Bread," but the bulk of Cell's second half is typically a disjointed trainwreck, succumbing to incoherent and gratuitously tweaky feedback experiments.  There was a 1997 follow-up, Project 64 which I have yet to experience, but you can read plenty about it in Gapeseed's bio on Silver Girl Record's website.

01. Thirsty
02. Grifting Ballistic
03. From the Cusp
04. Watermelon Bread
05. Anisette
06. 1:59
07. Lazarus Sparkplug
08. Magister Dixit

Hear

Teriyakis - 7" ep (1996, Priápus)

There must have been some suspicious particulates in the water this Lawrence, KS based outfit was imbibing at the time of this recording in '96.  The Teriyakis' noisenik proclivities were at the very least informed by Polvo's dissonant juxtapositions and alternate guitar tunings.  I'd argue these folks were even more bent, given their ability to make one song sound like a jumbled melange of two compositions...or more.  "Romper Stomper" and "Red Hula Hornet" simultaneously merge the techniques of early Pavement, the Feelies and then some.  The concluding "The Power of Pablo Neruda's Vest," bears a chilled-out Velvets-y lilt, and is by far the least unwieldy thing on here.  Let it be known that Bob Weston worked on subsequent Teriyaki's releases.

01. Positive Forestry
02. Red Hula Hornet
03. Romper Stomper
04. The Power of Pablo Neruda's Vest

Hear

Singles Going Single #160 - Sunday Puncher 7" (1997, Turnbuckle)

Sunday Puncher were a none-too-celebrated New York by way of Connecticut indie combo who's crooked chords and choppy arrangements put them squarely in league with Polvo and the like, though on this particular 45 Mission of Burma can also be singled out as a notable inspiration.  At the time, S/P garnered a few Bailter Space comparisons, which was convenient considering they were also part of the Turnbuckle Records stable.  Nonetheless the two barely resembled one another.  Ultimately, I'd argue that Sunday Puncher upped the dissonance ante too much for their own good, thus stifling much of their potential charisma.  If this wax does it for you, be content in the knowledge that while they've long since parted S/P are survived by two albums, The Livid Eye in 1997, and For Your Ever Changing World a year later, both available cheap on Amazon, and digitally over on Emusic.  For a quick recap on their career, may I direct you to this brief bio.

a. do-over
b. jury duty

hear

Singles Going Single # 77 - Half Hour to Go Don't Forget the Children 7" ep (1994) PLUS Items For the Full OutfitCD (1996, Grass)

Half Hour to Go were a northern New Jersey trio that hashed out a few recordings in the mid-90s, but given their propensity to sound uncannily like Archers of Loaf and Polvo they might as well have transplanted themselves to North Carolina. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch but HHtG’s wirey inspirations were fairly obvious to indie-guitar rawk connoisseurs. Even upon initial examination of Items For the Full Outfit, and it’s preceding single, Don’t Forget the Children, these guys ooze from every pore the archetypal texture and hue of that misbegotten era. Know what I mean, Vern? You can read an article about HHtG here. According to their Myspace page some or all of the members relocated to California.The 7” comes courtesy of I-sore Records, a NJ label that at the time had planned a series of 5” records, as part of a “club” not unlike Sub Pop’s Singles of the Month thing, but from what I understand it never came to fruition. Items… had the oversight of one of the most respectable and interesting indie imprints of the era, Grass Records. A trademark of quality if there ever was one.

Don't Forget the Children 7"
01. MomentSpur
02. Grandpa's Blue Bus
03. Big
04. Shave + outro

Items For the Full Outfit
01. Shave
02. Ellison Jelly
03. Theatre in the Round
04. Fishy
05. John Glenn
06. Eleventeen
07. Slick
08. Can mack Draw?
09. MSY
10. X-it
11. When Propaganda Sings
12. Bocour

Don't Forget the Children 7": Hear
Items For the Full Outfit: Hear

further - sometimes chimes (1994, Christmas)

Recently had a request for this long overlooked mid-90s artifact. I shared a further ep way back in '07 called Golden Grimes, that's still available for the taking. Consisting of Darren and Brent Rademaker, once of major label flunkies Shadowland, further was something of a 180 degree reaction to that regrettable endeavor. After imbibing an overdose of SST-era Dino Jr, Sentridoh, and perhaps a swig or two of Polvo, Darren and Brent decided to extend their spin on mid-fi indie rawk to a rather indifferent public, save for a few college radio djs and fanzine scribes. Sometimes Chimes, their second and final proper LP, was by far and away their lengthiest release, clocking in at over an hour with two-dozen plus selections of clangly noise pop. If you ever wondered what the "bridge" between post-Bug Dinosaur Jr and Lou Barlow's fully realized vision of Sebadoh (circa Bubble and Scrape) would amount to, Chimes will give you a fairly spot on idea. It features some of their finest moments, including "She Lives By the Castle 2," "Generic 7," and a cover of Unrest's "Isabel." Look for more further to come on Wilfully Obscure.

01. surfing pointers
02. generic 7
03. duck pond
04. ferrets and weasels
05. brian and ray
06. she lives by the castle 2
07. the kindergarten set
08. phase out
09. j.o. 2
10. unstuck
11. sometimes too
12. pioneer 10
13. isabel
14. jaded ball
15. doof amuz 6 (the love machine)
16. going to glendora
17. traction in the rain
18. ride
19. big spoon
20. katdancer
21. sickness
22. organ doner
23. further doh jr-q
24. alternative ulcer
25. new glass
26. untitled

Hear

Spatula - Even the Thorny Acacia (1994, Jesus Christ)

Spatula rarely receive a mention when folks recount the burgeoning '90s heyday of the band's legendary locale of choice, Chapel Hill, NC.  Not least of which I'm sure was due to limited distribution of their debut, Even the Thorny Acacia, and three more platters that followed later in the decade, all doomed to a similar fate.  Nor could Spatula boast the moderately pop-friendly persuasion of figureheads Superchunk and Archers of Loaf.   Were you to stack up Chuck Johnson & Co. with any of their hometown brethren the closest approximation you could come up with is Polvo, most evidently on Acacia's string-mangling "Yoohoo." Truthfully, I don't have a solid handle on the bulk of the Spatula oeuvre, but as of 1994, they (merely a duo on this record, I might add) were cautiously gravitating to post-rock environs, melding dissonance with mathy considerations, tracing a wildly uneven line between Seam, Slint, and a myriad of period artists in between.  The sharpest hook, or perhaps more appropriately, 'thorn' amidst the dynamic clamor of Acacia, is "Thinking Like a Statue," which might pass for a thoughtful Pavement outtake, circa '94.

As of this writing, Chuck is touring the eastern seaboard in support of his recent solo endeavor, A Struggle Not a Thought.   You can delve into a 2010 interview with the man over at Pitchfork.  As for Spatula proper, two subsequent albums, Despina By Land and Under the Veil of Health are available from Squealer Music.

01. Minute Hand
02. Yoohoo
03. Jules and the Termites
04. Salus
05. Kuskus
06. True-life
07. untitled
08. Laughing Like a Statue
09. Confessional Tutor
10. Even the Thorny Acacia
11. Pachinko
12. Algae

Hear

John's Black Dirt - Perpetual Optimism Is a Force Multiplier (1994, Grass)

Throughout the '80s and '90s, Minneapolis/St. Paul was the collective gift that kept on giving, seemingly producing more bands than California and New York combined.  Not an entirely accurate analogy but it sure felt like it, and John's Black Dirt were part of the Twin Cities mix.  Snatched up in the Grass Records signing frenzy of '94, JBD played a relatively traditional stripe of indie rock that was way more Chapel Hill than Seattle.  I could easily envision these three lads sharing a bill with Polvo and/or Archers of Loaf.  Heavy goes it on the dynamics too, adopting a similar modus operandi to Seam.  Unfortunately, JBD weren't quite as consistent as their aforementioned contemps, but Perpetual's good 'uns shine like a zillion bucks, with the tuneful soft/loud surge of "Lights Flashing," and "Buicks" bittersweet tinge floating my boat just fine.  Props to "Pugilist" as well. Per a couple of blurbs on Amazon's page for this disk, an unreleased follow-up to Perpetual... is sitting in a vault or closet somewhere. 

01. Congliptious
02. Saltines
03. Movements
04. Buick
05. Fog
06. Happy Apple
07. White Sale
08. Crazy Goddamn Mad
09. Pugilist
10. Falling
11. Wide Load
12. Cloud in Pants
13. Lights Flashing
14. Who Wears the Jerk Hat?

Now on Amazon, or on ltd ed. vinyl courtesy of Bandcamp.

Retriever - Greatest Moments of Doubt (1998, Anisette)

Upon doing a web query on this bygone southern California outfit, I discovered that a music blog had presented a previous Retriever record - mine!  Given that I've showcased some 1000+ music titles on these humble pages, I suppose I'm entitled to forget one or two I've shared along the way.  At any rate, here's another eight-songer courtesy of the same folks, whom I unfortunately have few details to enlighten you about.  Recorded over the span of three years, 1995-97, Greatest Moments of Doubt tenders some patently indie-centric fare in the manner of early Lilys and the Raymond Brake, even managing to shoehorn some tweaked Polvo-y guitar bends into "Evil K" and "Collapsing."  In fact, this is practically like finding some long-lost Slumberland Records product tucked away in the storeroom at Mod Lang in Berkeley.  "From Pixels to Providence" shifts gears into Elliott Smith turf, and "Never Comeback," exudes the type of downer, lo-fi tact that only the Clinton-era could muster.

01. Zenith
02. Evil K
03. Rollercoaster
04. From Pixels to Providence
05. Collapsing
06. Never Comeback
07. 10,000 Predictions
08. East Coast Knacks

Hear

Revived links for Black Friday.

Your re-up requests have been coming at a fast and furious pace, but I aim to please.  Feel free to keep them coming.  Enjoy

Defenestration - Dali Does Windows and s/t ep
Sorry - The Way it Is
The Squares - Enjoy Yourself and Answer
V/A - Pure British Pop for Raw People Vols. 1 & 2
V/A - Diamonds and Porcupines 
Band of Susans - Blessing and Curse 
Polvo/New Radiant Storm King - split 7"
Splendor Head - Mirth
Swallow - s/t and Sourpuss
fig. 4 (Tobin Sprout) - s/t ep
Voodoo Gearshift - s/t
Get Smart! - Action
True Believers - Live, Harder... tape
Dreams So Real - Nocturnal Omissions, live in Charlotte 1988, Bearing Witness 7", interview promo tape
Young Officers Movement (pre-Dreams so Real) - 7"
Gigolo Aunts - Everybody Happy
V/A - Hotel Massachusetts 
V/A - Loud Ugly Pop
Tubetop - singles
Cinderblock - Greatest Hits
The Sneetches - Starfucker ep, Think Again ep, Sunnyside Down 7"
m.i.j. - 7" ep
Let's Active - Afoot demos & Cypress demos
Sheriff Jack - Let's Be Nonchalant ep 
Velvet Elvis - What in the World and s/t
Enuff Z' Nuff - demos
seade - (perf)
The Volcanos - s/t

Tinsel - Quit While You're Ahead (1996, Jesus Christ Recs.)

Tinsel were one of several also-rans that spewed from Chapel Hill, NC’s collective technicolor yawn in the mid-90s.  No outright aping of the usual local yokels – Superchunk, Archers, or Polvo, but a likeminded, mid-fi aesthetic is highly palpable.  Early Built to Spill and Sonic Youth’s subtler sojourns were more Tinsel’s thing, thank you very much.  Munk's endearingly off pitched vocal aplomb and crooked melodic structures slotted the band in slacker territory, if not along the fringes of its cranky environs.   Overall, this isn't a particularly crucial artifact from what is generally regarded as a watershed era for indie rock, yet the vibes permeating this record are thoroughly quintessential of the genre. Give 'er a spin and you'll see precisely what I mean.  Quit... was preceded in 1994 with the more raucous Finding the Perfect Gift.  You can indulge in Tinsel's "Golden Retriever" 7" here.  Please excuse me for the chopped upper-right corner of the sleeve of this disk, which was apparently issued as a promo.

01. The New Machine

02. Major Warning

03. If I Had a Seizure

04. Gotta Get Some

05. Here Comes the Scum

06. Good to Loose

07. Esquire

08. Bottles and Tires

09. Spooky

10. Great White Hopeful

11. Scarface

Hear

Finger - 20th Century Masters: The Singles Collection (1991-93)

In the annals of North Carolina indie rock histroy, circa the 1990s, much has been discussed about such Tar Heel luminaries as Superchunk, Polvo, Archers of Loaf, and for that matter Ben Folds Five, yet one of the states finest exports from Raleigh, Finger, rarely materialize in the conversation.  Hopefully this worthy, but perhaps none-too-urgent matter is about to be rectified with the release of a Finger anthology cd, Still in Boxes, issued this spring on Second Motion Records.  A crackling quartet that fit in with just about any of the aforementioned success stories, Finger's brand of punky, crunch-ridden guitar rawk offered an earnestness their hipster contemporaries couldn't hold a candle to.  Furthermore, Finger genuinely sounded like they were a product of the south, due largely in part to a noticeable dialect and a smidgen of twang that put them more in league with say, Snatches of Pink.  To cut to the long and short of it all, between 1990-94, a self-titled album, a clutch of singles and compilation appearances (one documented on these very pages) were unleashed to an indifferent public, save for local aficionados. 

While the a-sides to these three 45s make an appearance on Still in Boxes, the b-sides (including a snarling Dead Boys cover) do not. Once again, Wilfully Obscure comes to the rescue.  To the uninitiated, let these seven tracks serve as an introduction to Finger, and moreover an incentive to investigate some of the band's equally, if not more potent material on their new retrospective album.  BTW, guitarist/windpipe Brad Rice has since gone on to record and/or tour with The Accelerators, Backsliders, Ryan Adams, Tift Merritt, Son Volt, and more currently Keith Urban.  For further info on Finger, head over to We're an American Blog for a nice write-up.  

01. Another State of Mind

02. Rotting in a Cage

03. Hey Benny

04. Ship Full of Holes

05. Al l This and More

06. Wedding Boots

07. Do It Feel
08. Gravitatin' Home
09. Needle in a Haystack
10. John Genzales Blues (Johnny Thunders medley: Chinese Rocks/Personality Crisis/Blame it on Mom)

Note 1/28/15: Tracks 8-10 just added today!

1-3 from Moist Records 7" (1991)

4 & 5 from Jettison Records 7" (199?)

6 & 7 from Third Sister Records 7" (1993)

8-10 from Radiation Records 7" (1993)

Hear