Walt Mink - Listen, Little Man! & The Poll Riders Win Again! (1990/91)

In the early '90s Minnesota's Walt Mink were adopted by a lot of ear-to-the-ground, indie pop geeks, though the band were hardly ones to be hemmed into three simple chords and bright choruses.  My personal familiarity with the band extends only to their 1996 El Producto platter, an admirable disk but a colossal major label debut flop.  Before Producto came Miss Happiness in 1992, and Bareback Ride a year thereafter, both issued on one of the choicest indie imprints of the day, Caroline Records.  But even prior to those albums a few early adopters of Walt Mink were enlightened enough to procure two nascent cassette releases, Listen, Little Man in 1990, and The Poll Riders Win Again!  Last year I purchased what appeared to be a band sanctioned CD-R reissue of the those two cassette demos...at a thrift store for a mere $1.00.  I shit you not.

For those of you that happen to fly the Walt Mink flag, you'll notice that a bevy of the songs enshrined on this disk also appeared on Miss Happiness, albeit in are re-corded incarnations.  Even though Listen... and Poll Riders were unleashed within a year of each other, the two albums chart some measurable musical development.  Starting with the first of those two titles, the lovingly lo-fi Listen, Little Man! is chockablock with classic rock homage, and sometimes embarrassingly wanky, fretboard squalls that reveal the boys have been adeptly schooled by Hendrix, and a then burgeoning Billy Coragan.  Pure riffola doesn't come much chunkier than it does here, and if anything else, Listen... is air-guitar cotton candy wrapped on a drum stick.

Reportedly recorded in a living room, The Poll Riders Win Again! is a trifle more subdued and significantly more melodic, lending a more apt canvas for the deftly crafted "Twinkle and Shine," and the buzzing "Everything Worthwhile."  An unconventionally electrified reading of Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" is surprisingly right on the money.  It along with "Twinkle and Shine" would later be recut for Miss Happiness.  Walt Mink were on the cusp of something greatly encouraging here, and luckily they would soon break to a modest national audience.

Listen, Little Man!

01. Fragile

02. All-Nite Grocery

03. Love You Better

04. Hummous Overload

05. Chowder Town

06. Factory

07. Zero Day

08. Croton-Harmon

09. Swifty

10. Up + Out

The Poll Riders Win Again!

11. Everything Worthwhile

12. Miss Happiness

13. New Life

14. Pink Moon

15. Disappear

16. Pop Song

17. Quiet Time

18. Smoothing the Ride

19. Twinkle & Shine

20. Erasable You

21. 9 O'Clock World

22. Turn of the Religious

23. Sugartop

Hear

Walt Mink - El Producto (1996)

Hard to believe an indie band of any stripe would become more inspired upon making the jump to a major label.  Nevertheless, Urge Overkill, Surgery, and what's that other one...oh yeah, Nirvana, all seemed to gain a stronger sonic/lyrical foothold when the big boys rang the dinner bell.  This phenomenon could be pure coincidence, but I'd lump Walt Mink into that elite fold, with their lone Atlantic Records release, El Producto.  Their third proper album, Producto yielded little in the way of hits (thanks in part to a nil-promotional push), but in terms of proficiency and hook saviness it's probably the most convincing album of their tenure.  From the buzzy power pop of "Betty," the dexterous guitar splay of the uncanny "Overgrown," to the bowl-em-over thrash pop scorcher "Little Sister," you'd be hard pressed to claim this lil' rekid doesn't persuade in one way or another.  Gotta love those arpeggiated guitar fills too.  Make sure to check out our previous Walt Mink entry surrounding a pair of early demo albums here. 

01. Stood Up
02. Everything Worthwhile
03. Betty
04. Overgrown
05. Settled
06. Me & My Dog
07. Little Sister
08. Up & Out
09. #246
10. Listen Up
11. Sunshine M
12. Love in the Dakota

Hear

Dumb Angel - Topflite tape (1993, Generator)

Here's my second post in as any days to reference the Beach Boy's coveted Smile album.  This Minnesota trio took their name from the working title of that very album, but their shtick doesn't quite allude to anything particularly Brian Wilson-esque.  Steeped in 4-track, lo-fi sonics Dumb Angel's tape manipulations, samples and messy homegrown whimsy weren't far removed from say, early Ween or Sebadoh.  Incidentally, two of the Angels (Jon Kimbrough and Joey Waronker) also belonged to Walt Mink, while a neutral party, Tim Gartman was the primary microphone fiend.  Recorded in 1990, portions of Topflite are more structured than others, with the tuneful "Sugarbaby" comprising the only track thoroughly winning me over.  Make of this what you will.  BTW, you can delve into some rare Walt Mink material here.

01. Sugarbaby
02. TV Song
03. Jungle Song
04. Me & My Dog
05. Ditty Dum
06. untitled interlude thingy
07. 19th Century School Girls
08. When Grown-ups Sleep in Sunnymede

Hear

Bitch Magnet - Umber (1989) & Star Booty ep (1988)

I don't know what could have possibly possessed singer Sooyoung Park to christen his influential, late '80s trio "Bitch Magnet." I also don't why their second full length, Ben Hur is ostensibly still in print, while this 18-song CD featuring their debut ep Star Booty and first LP Umber languishes out of print, with huge price tags on Amazon for used copies. Furthermore, I don't know why I was stupid enough to set up my big CD rack on a wall receiving direct sunlight for several hours a day, thus insuring all the spines of my CDs would gradually fade, including this one. What I do know, is that I am fortunate to have discovered the singular genius of Bitch Magnet, and in particular this disk, chock full of noisy feedback-ridden indie-punk.

The band's historical significance is considerable to us indie rock types. Allmusic.com lays it out better than I ever could:

Part of the extended Squirrel Bait family tree, Bitch Magnet was one of two bands that guitarist David Grubbs joined in the wake of his departure. Unlike the other one, Bastro, Grubbs wasn't a charter member of Bitch Magnet, nor was he the leader; that duty fell to bassist/vocalist Sooyoung Park. Much like Bastro, however, Bitch Magnet played a blistering and intellectual brand of post-hardcore punk, which often drew comparisons to Steve Albini's Big Black; they were also grouped with a more direct Squirrel Bait descendant, Slint, albeit more relentless and somewhat less nuanced. Sooyoung Park founded Bitch Magnet in 1986 while a student at Oberlin College in Ohio, joining with guitarist Jon Fine and drummer Orestes Delatorre (aka Orestes Morfin); despite their Oberlin roots, the trio was actually based in Chapel Hill, NC. Bitch Magnet signed with the indie label Communion and debuted in 1988 with the Star Booty 12" EP, which was produced by Steve Albini himself and earned the band some notice on the underground rock scene. For the follow-up, 1989's full-length Umber, they added second guitarist David Galt (a later CD issue appended Star Booty as well). Galt's place was taken by David Grubbs later in 1989, and Grubbs toured with the group in between commitments with Bastro. Grubbs appeared on the EP Valmead and on Bitch Magnet's final album, Ben Hur, both issued in 1990. After Bitch Magnet's breakup late that year, all four members went on to other projects: Park formed the acclaimed Seam; Grubbs returned to Bastro, which evolved into the seminal Gastr del Sol; Fine played with Vineland and Don Caballero; and Orestes Morfin resurfaced in Walt Mink.

Part of Bitch Magnet's appeal to me was the influence they had on other torchbearers, like the wholly unrelated Jawbox. To my ears, the Big Black comparisons aren't as prevalent as the Squirrel Bait ones, but given their lineage, I suppose that makes sense. The performances here bear a "distant" quality to them, almost as if the mics were positioned several feet away from their respective instruments (that or a lukewarm mix). It's hard to tell if this was purposely built-in for effect, or the product of recording constraints. Nevertheless, it doesn't stop the quite literally, revved-up "Motor" (from Umber) and "Sea of Pearls" (Star Booty) from functioning as demi-inide rock anthems. The Star Booty tracks strike me as more melodic than the full-length, and thus appeal to me more, but anyway... Now that I've rambled on this fine tuneage copiously enough, check it out for yourselves. In the folder, amidst scans of the booklet and tray card is a photograph of the sleeve of my vinyl copy of Star Booty. Enjoy

Umber

01. Motor

02. Navajo Ace

03. Clay

04. Joan of Arc

05. Douglas Leader

06. Goat-Legged Country God

07. Big Pinning

08. Joyless Street

09. Punch and Judy

10. Americruiser 

 

Star Booty ep

11. Carnation

12. C Word

13. Sea of Pearls

14. Hatpins

15. Knucklehead

16. Circle K

17. Polio

18. Cantaloupe (live at CBGBs) 

 

Reissued: http://shop.temporaryresidence.com/trr150