Thursday, May 31, 2012
Drumming on Glass "Tear It Down" 7" (1990, Aurora)
A. Tear it Down
B. Trip
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Monday, May 28, 2012
Foreign Bodies ep (1985, Hyena)
01. Evil Live
02. Symphony of Desire
03. Carry a Big Guitar
04. Pink Bathrobe and Blue Slippers
05. Don't Go
06. Ride Sally Ride
Hear
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Chris Richards and the Subtractions - Get Yer La La's Out (2012, Gangplank) - a brief overview
Get Yer La La's Out is the slightly more assertive yin to Sad Sounds' brighter, goes-down-easy yang. With ten (or eleven if you take the vinyl route) short but sweet nuggets, Richards proves once again he's a thoughtful steward of quality control. This time out, the band have created an album that's just as much Buffalo Tom and Dillon Fence as it is Matthew Sweet and Velvet Crush. La La's... is guitar pop perfection on a stick, without any of the cotton candy fluff. Wherever the needle or laser lands here is likely to yield a blissful result, but I'd start with "Don't Do Anything Tonight," "It's Something" and "Uncertainty." You can stream the whole thing from their Bandcamp site, and if you like what you hear buy a physical copy at CD Baby or through Chris Richards and the Subtractions website.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Lost Luggage - Chateau Relaxeau (1991, Lughead)
01. Everything Breaks
02. Broken Down
03. Roller Coaster
04. On the Ropes
05. Front Porch
06. double double
07. Adam 94
08. Do Something About It
09. Sign of the Times
10. A Different View
11. The New One
12. Story Line
13. Groove 101
14. Pulled Together, Priced, and Sold
15. The Big Parade
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Thursday, May 24, 2012
Dryhouse - Hayride 7" ep (1993, Mustard)
A1. I Remain
A2. Then Again
B. Haunted Hayride
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Re-up: New Jetz - s/t (1982, Jam)
01. Time Was Wrong
02. Flesh Wound
03. Privilege
04. Make Me Crazy
05. Secret
06. Expressed Yourself
07. Reflections
08. Jet Lag
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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
John Mac and the Moraggots (of Marshal Fields)
Operating under the moniker The Moraggots, and enlisting the assistance of former Fields percussionist Mike Spinrad on various songs, Mac's most two recent albums, 2008's Performing as the Soldermen and '09's Play Date, reveal an unplugged, everyman troubadour indulging in homespun ethos aplenty. Opting for a spare, organic template patched through a predominantly acoustic delivery system, our man takes queues from a variety of singer/songwriter mainstays including Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello yielding a bevy of sweetly plucked tunes, often folky and even a little twangy. Ballads reign here, but they're hardly the stuff of dry ice-laden music videos, teased hair, and raised cigarette lighters...if you get my drift.
Both of the aforementioned disks can be streamed and purchased digitally on the Moraggots Bandcamp page (hyperlinks provided above), along with an even more recent collection of songs. Play Date and Performing as... are also available digitally through CD Baby, Amazon downloads and Emusic.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Riff Doctors - tape (1985)
01. Say Goodbye
02. Turn Me On
03. Set the World on Fire
04. She
05. Reckless
06. The Things That Make Me Glad That I Met You
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Friday, May 18, 2012
Okay Paddy - The Cactus Has a Point (2006, Prison Jazz)
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Burdons LP (1984, Big Rock)
01. I'd Really Like to See You Tonight
02. Here Comes That Girl Again
03. Climbing Up the Walls
04. I'm No Good
05. Heartbeat
06. Time
07. Right Back to Me
08. Go Steady
09. I Fell in Love
10. Just Like You
11. For You
12. The Raging Current
13. Goin' Away
Hear
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
"I could make a horse's head of all your friends..."
A. I'll Do You
B. It's Only Dark
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Sunday, May 13, 2012
Yanks - Made in the States ep (1984, DTI)
01. Tell Me No Lies
02. Reason to Try
03. We Call Each Other Mine
04. Run
05. Searchin'
06. Made in the States
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Saturday, May 12, 2012
Young Pioneers - tape (1983)
01. Get Up
02. Razor Madness
03. Life's Problems
04. Party
05. Revenege
06. Pop Shark
07. Anthem
08. Final Frontier
Hear
Miles Dethmuffen 7" (1992, Presto)
A. Mouth of Hell
B. Painting the Bridge
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Orange Roughies - Detroit (2012, Gangplank) - a brief overview
Even after multiple listens, it's tricky to discern the root of the Roughies charisma and mystique, but I suppose a good place to start would be with vocalist John Pineau who possesses a timbre reminiscent of Peter Murphy not to mention a smidgen of Paul Weller, but such Anglophile resemblances are likely coincidental. Six-string wrangler, David Feeny is a spectacular asset as well, peeling off cutting guitar leads a la Pylon's Randall Bewley and The Edge circa The Unforgettable Fire. The Orange Roughies' encompassing sonic aesthetic often amounted to an intoxicating negotiation between Echo and the Bunnymen and Let's Active...or on second thought, make that the Chameleons UK by way of late '80s REM. Heck, both of those tasty propositions apply to one extent or another, yet this Motor City quartet weren't derivative so much as advanced.
"Knuckle Sandwich" (culled of course from the album of the same name) along with "Eyepatch" and "Pure and Simple" are dense latticeworks of ambitious arrangements wherein indelible chorus hooks and ringing chords give rise to sublime and stirring post-punk arias custom fit for the 120 Minutes generation. Perhaps not life altering, Knuckle Sandwich still boasted enough razzle dazzle to outdo the bulk of the band's peers. I should also add that the killer remastering job goes a long way in turning these already resonant tunes into something downright seismic. The not quite as beefy Spilling True Love Everywhere tracks manage to bask in a melodious glow of their own with "She's Trippin" and "4 Quarters" providing ample evidence that O/R were on a roll, a grand one in fact, that would unfortunately come to a halt in the summer of 1991 when Pineau opted to go back to college. At the very least, the music still lives and sounds better than ever (incidentally, Detroit was marked with an album release party of sorts this past May 5th, with a reunited Roughies sharing a bill alongside the Junk Monkeys and Hippodrome). I'm sharing two songs from the album below to whet your psyche. CDs are available from Gangplank Records and CD Baby. CD Baby is also offering Detroit digitally, as is Amazon Downloads.
Tracks: Knuckle Sandwich, She's Trippin
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
White Animals - s/t (1986, Dread Beat)
01. Help Yourself
02. It's a Jungle
03. Big Shot
04. Don't Want to Hear That Song
05. Caught Up in the Dread
06. She's So Different
07. Not Another Love Song
08. I Can't Wait
09. Old-fashioned Day
10. Tristan's Woe
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Monday, May 7, 2012
The Pursuit of Happiness - live in San Jose, CA 5-27-89
01. Killed By Love
02. Food
03. Man's Best Friend
04. banter/When the Sky Comes Falling Down/Walking in the Woods
05. Forbidden Fruit
06. Beautiful White
07. banter, Moe speaks
08. Consciousness Raising as a Social Tool
09. All I Want
10. She's So Young (cuts at beginning)
11. Ten Fingers
12. Tree of Knowledge
13. banter/Handsomest Man, Prettiest Girl in Town
14. Hard to Laugh
15. Let My People Go
16. Looking for Girls
17. Down on Him
18. I'm an Adult Now
19. encore intermission
20. Moe speaks/Couldn’t I Just Tell You/No Matter What
21. Little Sister
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Friday, May 4, 2012
Downsiders - All My Friends Are Fish (1988, Mammoth)
I recently had a request for this one. Some four years ago when I unleashed a digitized incarnation of the Downsiders eponymous 1987 album on the masses, I merely liked it but have grown to love it. As it would turn out, this Chico, CA four-piece had the drivin' and chimin' indie-guitar rock thing going quite dexterously, not far removed from the realm of Bleached Black and Carnival Season (references far too obscure for most of you, I know). By the time the Downsiders took the reigns for their second and final record, All My Friends Are Fish, they opted for a slight detour, wherein varying textures and shifty moods wafted into the sonic ether. There are several moments here, particularly in the first half, that graze the fringes of the Paisley Underground circuit which was in full gear a few hundred miles due south in L.A. Even so, the Downsiders tended to favor the darker side of that coin. Ranging from the sobering, reflective strains of "Ode to Traci" to the comparatively raucous "She's Alright," and even a droll reinterpretation of the Modern Lovers "Pablo Picasso," ...Fish swims through relatively disparate waters, but doesn't necessarily exceed the strength of the 'siders sterling debut.
01. I Wanna Drive
02. Wild Honey Pie
03. Old Black Crow
04. All My Friends Are Fish
05. Pony Made of Ice
06. Cleaning House
07. Nobody Ever Called Pablo Picasso an Asshole
08. Kenny Koughdrop
09. Waiting for Nothing
10. Feet of Clay
11. She's Alright
12. Ode to Traci
13. Winnemuca
14. Find (We Can Hide)
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Sheer Thursday - Expecting the Grass (1986, Twilight)
Well, there's not much info to be had on Sheer Thursday, but some superficial stats on the back sleeve of this platter inform us they were based in Atlanta - that, and they were affiliated with Twilight Records, the imprint that released my favorite Pedaljets album, Today, Today. Expecting the Grass peaks early on with it's ringing opening salvo, "Dodge," suggesting that ST had imbibed their fair share of Reckoning and Fables of the Reconstruction prior to these sessions. If the remainder of this record was of the same caliber I'd be more enthusiastic, but luckily this quartet rolls a solid spare (if no more outright strikes) in the form of "A View From the Side" (esp the latter of the two tracks bearing that title). Great, edgy post-punk, loosely in a Homestead Records mold. Amidst some of the lesser selections there's too much collegiate-level ambling and artsy transgressions for my taste, but with the exception of ...Grass's most egregious foible, "Distance," it's a listenable and occasionally rewarding LP.
01. Dodge
02. Distance
03. Fish form...
04. Moral
05. Gray Day
06. A View From the Side VII
07. Home Park
08. A View From the Side
09. The Dancing Bear
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Dreams So Real - The Audio Biography tape (1990)
Were I a little more "with it," I would have created this entry a week ago, and used it as on opportunity to plug two Dreams So Real reunion shows that had yet to happen (April 27th in Athens, GA, April 28 in Atlanta), but if those dates don't already make it obvious, I can only refer to them in the past tense. On the ball as usual.
This isn't the first post I've dedicated to this Athens, GA trio, who were responsible for three stellar albums of rootsy jangle pop, circa the mid-80s thru 1990. This tape was released by Arista Records as a promotional item coinciding with DSR's third and final outing, Gloryline. Narrated entirely by leadman Barry Marler and bassist Trent Allen, the self explanatory motif of this nineteen-minute reel spans the group's early independent releases for Coyote Records right up to the then fresh Gloryline. Not overwhelmingly revelatory, the guys at least have more to opine here than in their wide-screen appearance in the 1987 Athens, Ga Inside/Out rockumentary. Interspersed between the spoken portions are one minute clips of key album tracks, including a demo take of "City of Love," that can only be enjoyed here - at least the few moments of it that are included anyway. If DSR are unfamiliar terrain to you, this digitized cassette is a no-brainer as far as making your acquaintance, while seasoned ears will no doubt regard Audio Biography as a tasty curio. Like what you hear? DSR's crucial debut, Father's House is ripe for the picking at Power Pop Criminals, we're hosting the rarities and outtakes compendium Nocturnal Omissions, and the two Arista albums, Rough Night in Jericho and Gloryline are on iTunes and Emusic.
Hear