Saturday, January 31, 2009
Splitting the Difference # 2 - Small 23/J Church 7" (Honey Bear, 1993)
Splitting the Difference # 1 - Garden Variety/Jejune 7" (1996, Montalban Hotel)
Valley Stream, NY's Garden Variety were anything but. With dense, dissonant guitar mangling aplenty courtesy of Anthony Rizzo, and Anthony Roman's angst-addled vox, the trio employed the same gnashing, aggro leanings Drive Like Jehu were wont to revel in, albeit with some poignant melodicism, occasionally approaching Superchunk and the like. GV released a pair of devastatingly intense and addictive albums during their run, a self-titled effort on Gern Blandsten Records, and the more accomplished Knocking the Skill Level. Roman went onto front the exponentially more appreciated Radio 4, while drummer Joe Gorelick wound up in Retisonic. Their contribution to this single, "New Guitar Parts" is a non-lp track that wound up on the Revelation Records Anti-Matter compilation, however this mix is exclusive to the single. 'There's a lot at stake...'
Like their flipside counterparts, Jejune were also a trio (at the time of this recording), and a co-ed one at that. They were about as "emo" as Jimmy Eat World, and I guess that's downright fitting when you consider they did a split single with them as well. Like Garden Variety, Jejune burned out too quickly, and moreover could be pretty cathartic and carry a captivating tune at the same time. "Drive By Negly" (not sure if they're referring to a person or place) is quintessential Jejune, and should you appreciate it, you're well advised to investigate their back catalog.
A. Garden Variety - New Guitar Parts
B. Jejune - Drive By Negly
Hear
Friday, January 30, 2009
Auto Interiors - No Frill Haloflight (2001, self released)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
VA - Lonely Planet Boy (Back of a Car - Big Star fanzine comp, 1995)
The centerpiece of this disk is arguably the first track, an up until then unreleased Chris Bell song, "Country Morn," later re-written as "Watch the Sunrise," with virtually the identical arrangement, but new lyrics. According to the liner notes, the song was issued on a flexi-disc with BOAC #2. Bell of course was one of the co-founders and lyricists for the pioneering, proto-power pop Memphis quartet.
The rest of the disk is germane to Big Star, if only aesthetically. Featured are a clutch of contributions from Big Star "disciples," including such small-of-fame, underground pure-pop acts Tommy Hoehn, The Scruffs, and Outrageous Cherry. Sister Lovers flew the Big Star flag so damn high they christened themselves after the band's third album, while Norway's The Chairs penned a tribute song to Mr. Bell himself. There are some stunning relative unknowns on LPB too, namely Yuji Oniki and Mystic Eyes to further sweeten the pot.
For your reading pleasure, I've scanned the entire zine booklet (essentially a double sided piece of paper) which provides pertinent band and zine info. Check out the links in my intro paragraph too.
01. Chris Bell - Country Moon
02. Outrageous Cherry - Boxtop
03. Paranoid Lovesick - Feelin' Alright to Drive
04. The Knobs - Cut Out Bins
05. The Chairs - Christopher Bell
06. Tommy Hoehn - Cuba
07. Van Duren - Nothing's Too Good For My Baby
08. Sid Selvidge - Torture and Pain
09. The Scruffs - Number One
10. Yuji Oniki - Cover
11. Sister Lovers - Radiator Girl
12. Big Ray - Evergreen
13. Mystic Eyes - Turn and Kiss Me Goodbye
Hear
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Singles Going Single # 99 - Silent Partner 7" ep (1981, Lucky Boy)
Silent Partner are a long defunct Athens, GA outfit lauded on a pair of fellow music blogs, namely Crud Crud where I originally learned of them, and more recently on Little Hits. Definitely an anomaly for their locale of choice, SP are rumored to have started life as a prog band with occasional pop sensibilities (check out the title track of their exceedingly rare 1975 LP, Hung By a Thread on the Little Hits link above). By the time they got around to this four-song 7," they had ostensibly shorn their prog connotations and went for something approaching 70s AM Rock, albeit with considerably more depth. The opening "Radio Activity" is a thing of beauty - four sublime minutes of downcast singer/songwriter pop, loosely reminiscent of Todd Rundgren, certainly one of their primary influences. "The Second it Surrounds You" excavates folkier territory, while "Blank Page" veers towards late '70s power pop with admirable acumen.
01. Radio Activity
02. The Second it Surrounds You
03. A Blanket Statement
04. Blank Page
V/A - Diamonds and Porcupines (1989, Beat All the Tamborines)
01. Wedding Present - It's Not Unusual (live)
02. Montgomerys - Train Train
03. Go Team - Sand
04. The Bats - Downfall
05. St. Christopher - If Even the Sky Seems Blue
06. Mc Tells - Funck
07. Earwigs Under Fire - Banquo's Ghost
08. Sachinko - Mr. Right
09. Crocket and Jones - Red Balloon
10. Fenton Wells - Playtime
11. Pale Saints - She Rides the Waves (demo)
12. Easter Island - The Life and Times of Mr. Price
13. Dog Faced Hermans - John Henry
14. Beat Happening - Cast a Shadow (live)
15. Viola Crayfish - Love is More Than Weather
16. Cannanes - Felicia
Hear
Friday, January 23, 2009
Blake Babies - Nicely, Nicely (1987, Chewbud/Mammoth)
01. Wipe It Up
02. Her
03. Tom and Bob
04. A Sweet Buger LP (live at Harvard Univ)
05. Bye (live at Harvard Univ)
06. Let Them Eat Chewy Granola Bars
07. Julius Fast Body
08. Better 'n You (w/ Evan Dando)
09. Swill and the Cocaine Sluts
Hear
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Junk Monkeys - Kick Out the Jelly! (1988, Happy Face)
01. Medicine
02. So American
03. Fallin' Out
04. Today Is Summer
05. I Couldn't Smile
06. One More Drink
07. I Want More
Hear
Monday, January 19, 2009
Rich Kids - Burning Sounds (1998, Rev-Ola)
02. Rich Kids
03. No Lip
04. The Move
05. Empty Words
06. Strange One
07. Bullet Proof Lover
08. Burning Sounds
09. Hung on You
10. Shape of Things to Come
11. Cheap Emotions
12. King
13. Precious
14. Just Like Lazarus
15. Ambition
16. Twisted
17. Tomorrow’s Zero
18. Forever and Ever
19. 12 Miles High
20. Point it to Your Head
21. Silence
Sunday, January 18, 2009
V/A - I-5 Killers (1990, Schizophonic)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Singles Going Single # 98 - Blue TV 7" (1985, Twilight)
The Lines - Statues ep (1981, Live Wire)
01. Action/Fraction
02. Again
03. I'll See You
04. Statues
Hear
Friday, January 16, 2009
Singles Going Single # 97 - Dharma Bums 7" (1991, Frontier) + Haywire LP (1989, Frontier)
02. Boots of Leather
03. Cruel Acres
04. Over/Under
05. Walking Stick
06. Mutiny
07. Hope of the Hour
08. Jet Pilot
09. Dropping Out
10. Farmyard
11. Flowers
12. Haywire
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Moving Targets - Brave Noise & Burning in Water (1986-88, Taang!)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Singles Going Single # 96 - God's Reflex - Shifting 7" ep (1998, Arms Reach/Johanns Face)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Citrus Groove - Sunswayed ep (1993, Honeychain)
Citrus Groove were a California four-piece who caught the tail end of the "Madchester" scene without a moment to spare. To my relief, their thing was more Soup Dragons than Happy Mondays. The two tracks that bookend Sunswayed are welcome exceptions to this rule, with "Angel" impressing me as the long lost cousin to The Only Ones "Another Girl, Another Planet." The closer "Hit the Ground" (also released as a 7" on Honeychain), flows down the same slipstream as Ride's headier, psychedelic moments, explored on that band's 1994 Carnival of Light album. You can read more about Citrus Groove here.
01. Angel
02. Sympathy
03. Mesmerized
04. Everything
05. Bass Driver
06. Bury Me With Roses
07. Hit the Ground
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Flag of Convenience (Steve Diggle/Buzzcocks) - Northwest Skyline (1987, MCM) & War on the Wireless Set (1988, MCM)
When The Buzzcocks originally split up in the early '80s, it actually turned out to be a lengthy hiatus. Though they would record five albums as a reunited unit in the 1990s and '00s, Steve Diggle the band's guitarist and co-songwriter, alongside vocalist Pete Shelly, established and fronted an entirely new entity during that hiatus period, Flag of Convenience (aka Steve Diggle and Flag of Convenience, or simply F.O.C.).
Friday, January 9, 2009
The Super Friendz - Slide Show (1996, Murder)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Sometimes Y - One Fell Swoop (1984, Jane Bear)
01. Walk Away
02. Girl Like You
03. Because
04. Where's the Music?
05. (She'll Get) Pregnant
06. Oh Well
07. The Chores
08. Love Tunnel
09. (interlude)
10. Piecemeal
11. (interkude)
12. Doesn't Bother Me (At All)
13. Over Again
Hear
V/A - Been There, Done That comp 7" (1995, Science Project)
01. Flake - Your Love
02. Bring Back Dad - Cars
03. Treadmill - Shock the Monkey
04. Scared of Chaka - Land of the Lost
Hear
Monday, January 5, 2009
Barely Pink - Starduster ep (1995, Full Scale)
01. Baby A.M.
02. Dot-to-Dot Elvis
03. Face Down
04. It's Okay
05. Never Wrong
Hear
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Singles Going Single # 95 - The Joel Plaskett Emergency "Clueless Wonder" 7" (2000, Multiball)
Singles Going Single # 94 - Alien Crime Syndicate 7" (1999, American Pop Project) + s/t ep (1999, Collective Fruit)
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Newkeys - Acts of Love (1985, Ruby)
01. Acts of Love