Sister Psychic - Catch and Release (1996, Y)

Had a request for this.  I listened to Sister Psychic's first album, Fuel, on occasion when it came out.  That was around 1991-92, but for the most part, they fell off my radar after that.  SP were a Seattle fuzz pop trio, who weren't terribly concerned with grunge (yet they definitely employed some crunchy riffs now and again).  Not unlike Gnome, but I thought Gnome had better material.  Speaking of which, Y Records was an obscuro Seattle imprint, that I think was actually supposed to release a Gnome CD out, but anyway.  Enjoy (or not).

01. Garden
02. Bob
03. Hollywood
04. AFL
05. Dream Heard
06. Make Me Nervous
07. If I Were God
08. Japan
09. My Decision
10. Groove
11. Draw With Erasers
12. Space Boy

Hear

The Movement - s/t ep (1985, Neo)

Ah, just what the doctor ordered - a sweet set of potent, driving power pop that subscribes to the same undiluted aesthetic as the Plimsouls, Producers, and a myriad of others from this era were renown for.  For that matter, Shoes might have come up with something like this had they been a bit less inhibited.  I do have to say however the bizarre outro that concludes the record is a bit puzzling, as is the equally odd side one segue track "Back in the Cafeteria."

By what little I have to go on The Movement operated out of Nashville, and prime-Mover Richie Owens is still at it with his current endeavor, The Farm Bureau.  I've got a live Movement clip for you below from '84.  Have at it!

01. Together We Can Survive
02. Lost Horizon
03. Back in the Cafeteria
04. I've Got Eyes
05. I Won't Settle Down
06. Temporary
07. Illusion of Conciousness
08. untitled

Hear

The Stevens - A History of Hygiene (2014, Chapter Music) - A brief overview.

If you've forgotten my review for The Stevens 2012 ep, I more than forgive you, as that probably seems like eons ago, and alas, it didn't exactly make them a household name.  Perhaps that circumstance will be remedied in light of the release of their first full length, A History of Hygiene, a disk that captured my attention even before I cracked the cellophane.  Why?  Well, seeing 24 song titles on the back cover of any album tends to usher me into a state of anticipation.  After all, I loved the tuneful and occasionally dissonant facets of that aforementioned ep - and the possibility of four times that amount this time around had me stoked.

The Melbourne based Stevens tend to operate in two minute parameters.  The same goes for some pretty legendary acts - Bad Religion, They Might be Giants, and Guided By Voices to name three.  The thread tying this disparate trifecta is that each one had a "formula."  The Stevens "formula," quite frankly, is a non-formula, and by the time ...Hygiene reaches it's conclusion, it kinda makes you wish they had adopted one.  In a nutshell, you can loosely describe the Stevens as mid-fi, bedroom pop.  To their credit they're above average at their craft, but when you pitch this many darts at the board, quite a few aren't going to meet the bulls-eye, and that's exactly the scenario here. 

One throw that's precisely on the mark is "Challenger," an excellent fuzz-pop nugget that splits the difference between The Soft Boys and vintage Cleaners From Venus.  "From Puberty to Success" agilely evokes some of Pavement's persuasive slack attack, while "Lost and Found" and "Turpins Falls" strike a buoyant and bouncy tenor with rock solid hooks.  Hygiene offers even more keepers than that, but elsewhere the going gets a lot less memorable, with several tracks resembling random fragments more than full-fledged compositions.   The Stevens intermittent aimlessness is either going to charm or dissuade you, and my experience has entailed a little of both.  Word on the streets is that album two is in the works.  Despite faltering on occasion here, their dedication and potential still has me pulling for them. 

A History of Hygiene can be previewed and purchased on Bandcamp.  CD hard copies are available from Amazon and direct from Chapter Music.

Tired of doing day jobs with no thanks for what I do...

The sophomore album from a so-called "pub rock" tour-de-force.  This is the 2000 reissue with bonus tracks. 

http://netkups.com/?d=d81210e53e315

Angst - Mystery Spot (1987, SST)

Angst were one out of as many as two-dozen unknown acts that SST was capable of bankrolling after they began raking in profits from Black Flag and Husker Du records.  They were on an intriguing roster to say the least, but this trio sounded relatively organic when stacked up against their more noisome stablemates.  1987's Mystery Spot was their third full length, and the only one I've really listened to.  It's a samey but likeable batch of songs threaded together by briskly strummed chords and rumbling rhythm accompaniment.  Deliberately or not, Angst definitely had a collegiate rock angle, and were even reminiscent of the Feelies, albeit more concise.  Trouser Press had a real issue with the recording quality involving Mystery Spot, but as for myself, not so much.  You can read their critique below.

Angst took a calculated risk on Mystery Spot, engaging producer Vitus Mataré to help flesh out and upgrade the sound. It almost worked. Multi-tracked guitars and dynamic arrangements bring the songs into near-pop focus, with unprecedented melody, sensitivity, structure and vocal appeal, but atrocious recording quality (and/or a heinously bungled mix) buries them in a flat, muddy swamp. Pope and Risk continue to reveal themselves in emotionally resonant songs — too bad their ambitious effort was spoiled by a technicality.

01. Outside My Window
02. Back in January
03. It's Mine
04. What's the Difference?
05. Looking for a Reason
06. Colors
07. Mind Average
08. One Life (Out of 9)
09. Wazee Street
10. I Remember
11. Ah, the Morning
12. Red Wing

Hear

Email crash

Hate to post another lame "housekeeping" entry, but my email program crashed today, and I lost the last three months worth of emails from my in-box.  In a nutshell, if you've sent me anything important or semi-important since this past December, and I've failed to respond, you might want to resend your correspondence.  My email addy is in my profile.  Thanks.

Phoenix Bird 7" (rec. 197?, American Sound)

I've decided to be all over the map this week.  So there.  I found this little curiosity on Ebay last year.  I'm tempted to refer to it as a reissue, but in fact it was issued as a single for the first time in 2011 or 2012 (undated).  The back sleeve (depicted below) explains that Phoenix Bird were a New Hampshire trio who formed in 1969, and presumably cut these two songs to an acetate in 1970 or shortly thereafter, with the intention of releasing them as a single.  That didn't happen until four decades after the fact.

Per the liner notes, PB had "hopes of being the next big power trio."  Had it been released on schedule, "F.T.C (Fuck the Cops)" would have beaten N.W.A. to the punch by a good twenty years, yet the tune doesn't contain a shred of profanity, nor does it extend any meaningful umbrage to law enforcement types. Sonically, it sounds like the band was cutting it's teeth on Cream.  The B-side is what I really came for - "Parchment Farm," a rendition of the old-time prison standard that Blue Cheer turned inside-out for their 1968 opus, Vincebus Eruptum.  Sure enough, Phoenix Bird keep the song faithful to Blue Cheer's arrangement and totally nail it.   Well played.  This single was limited to 500 copies.  Some surface noise is detectable, but the source of it lies in the quality of the acetate, not my vinyl copy (at least I like to think). 

A. F.T.C.
B. Parchment Farm

Hear

Pull up the Gran Turino and play some music for the holy ghost.

Believe it or not, this week it's gonna be more in the Blue Cheer vein than Big Star.  Twelve nascent, lo-fi
missives from a gentleman who in a few years time would become a black magic mastermind of the highest order.  It's a curveball alright, and a trippy one at that.

http://netkups.com/?d=1013aa22b9b54

The Wolves (1988, Top)

The blurb on the sales insert accompanying this record states as follows: Power-pop that remembers 1977, even though it knows it's 1989.  As lazy as it may sound, I tend to agree.  In fact, the D.C. based Wolves offered a slightly more modified take on what the Plimsouls were attempting a few years prior.  Sadly, I have a hunch these fellas had a bitch of a time fitting in with their hometown brethren, as the Fugazi kids certainly weren't going to tolerate harmonies, or for that matter, even some occasional hand claps.  If anything, the Wolves' vaguely glammed-up appearance put them in better company with their west coast contemporaries (but I wouldn't let that frighten you off).  A small local label like Top hardly suited their ambitions, methinks.  Speaking to the music itself, The Wolves is an above average disc, thoughtfully weaving sweet jangly strands into "All Day" and "The Follow Up."  "Good News" is power pop manna, while the off-the-rails momentum of "Atta Boy, Otto!" serves as this album's punk rock outlier.


01. All Day
02. Out of It
03. Remember Me
04. The Follow Up
05. Days of Our Lives
06. Good News
07. Atta Boy, Otto!
08. Mine, All Mine (When I Get Rich)
09. You Won't See It

Hear

Attention - What Have We Done ep (1985, Mb/3)

Ironically, Attention never cry out for the very thing their namesake implies, or for that matter what it's supposed to encourage, at least as far as this record is concerned.  Not even rambunctious enough to qualify as power pop, this New York quartet nonetheless possessed something of an edge thanks to Martin Foley's spoken/sung timbre.  That paired with Billy Hopkins strummy guitar maneuvers tilted Attention towards The Feelies side of the tracks, albeit with a more pedestrian bent.  What Have We Done is hardly a revelation, but probably more enriching than say, anything hitting the Top 40 in 1985.

01. What Have We Done
02. Hold Tight
03. Statesong
04. Coming Home
05. Highwire

Hear

The salamanders are delirious.

A spiffy b-sides and rarities collection, circa this Australian group's (arguable) heyday of 1986-90.

http://netkups.com/?d=6d536068a13a7

Badbob - Now is Reaction (1988, Incas)

Quite posthumously (roughly twenty years after the fact) I encountered the Connecticut based indie label Incas Records, whose heyday happened to be squarely situated in the 1980s.  In the years following my first Incas discovery (The Miracle Legion) I slowly realized that this was a record label with a consistently winsome roster, featuring some of my soon to be left-off-the-dial favorites like Spiral Jetty, Valley of Kings, Cameraface and Rapture of the Deep.  So upon eying the Incas logo adorning the album jacket of Badbob's Now is Reaction on a recent record excavation, I was almost assured something satisfactory would come of the purchase, despite having zero beforehand knowledge of the artist in question.  In the end, this one wasn't necessarily a bulls-eye, but the dart landed close enough.  "Badbob" is the nickname of frontman Robert Therrien.  Prior to this album he cut several records under the same moniker but with a space between "Bad" and "Bob."  At any rate, I perceive Now is Reaction to be the work of a band, and not so much a solo record.  Therrien is an adept singer/songwriter who turns in a deftly crafted batch of melodically smart tunes bearing a respectable indie rock aesthetic.  There are a plethora of touchstones here, raging from the Feelies to Todd Rundgren, to Neil Young, but it would be best if I let you draw your own conclusions.  Enjoy, and just as a heads up, the best songs reside in the first half.

01. Queen of Peace
02. Same System
03. On the Fence
04. Back Seat
05. South of the Paranoia
06. Spaceman Blues
07. Revelation
08. Time of the Signs

Hear

Spot - s/t (1995, Ardent)

No, this isn't the same Spot that smeared his hallowed fingerprints all over the SST gold rush (i.e. Husker Du, Black Flag, Minutemen, et al) in the '80s, rather the Spot in question was a Dallas trio.  Allied with Ardent Records, Spot never struck me as the most ardent Big Star aficionados, despite extolling props to Jody Stephens for "grooming tips" in the album credits.  Perhaps a shade too dissonant for the mainstream, grunge-era grunion of their time, but not quite shifty enough to get the indie contingent piqued, Spot were in a bit of a, well...spot (sorry, couldn't resist!).  Despite heaps of flavorful riffs and occasional moments of pop persuasion, Spot isn't the most instantly indelible debut the gen-x epoch produced, but as far as opening salvos go it was a noble and inviting effort.  As for myself, I'm partial to the song concerning the fellow that purchased a chunk of the Berlin Wall for $1.50.

01. Drop Down
02. Straight Thru The Sun's Head
03. L'America
04. One of Hazy Days
05. Moon June Spoon
06. Absalom
07. Ground
08. Fodder
09. Cut a Wide Swath
10. Hole

Hear

The Circling Sky - rough mixes (1990)

I have stacks of stuff to share folks, problem is very little of it is currently ripped.  But I do have this - a rather miscellaneous cassette by a combo billing themselves as the Circling Sky.  A total cold case, if you will, as no contact or personnel info is provided on the spartan j-card, which offers nothing more than a standard track list.  By the looks of things, this may have been devised as an in-house tape for some indie label or A&R company.  It does however mention these are "rough mixes," but considering there's nary an iota of evidence to indicate this was ever made available for public consumption, I would suspect these was about as "finished" as these six tracks ever got.

Circling Sky's whatchamacallit brand of quirky guitar pop was heavy on noodly arpeggios and a trifle jammy on occasion.   Tight as hell too, and with a bigger recording budget, juicy morsels like "Another Lifeless Day" and "The Dating Game" would have held their own amidst the fringes of the soon-to-be burgeoning alt-rock boom.  Not a game changer by any means, but strangely appealing.  

01. Another Lifeless Day
02. Middle-aged Man on the Circle of Fun
03. The Land of the Insane Bridge Builders
04. Miracle Babies
05. The Dating Game
06. Manhattan Traffic

Hear

I think it's safe to say the ice gets thinner every day...

My favorite album of 1990, and in my opinion one of the best indie rock albums of the era.  Unfortunately, these guys were something of a footnote to the more successful spinoff bands they would soon give way to.

http://netkups.com/?d=71787901535a3

Winter Hours - Leaving Time (1986, Link)

Recently had a request for this one.  Winter Hours came to prominence in the "golden age" of collegiate indie rock, on the heels of REM's success with Murmur.  The Hours sonic lineage was mildly derived from Michael Stipe & Co. (check out "We Can Only Win"), but folk and roots-rock inflections endowed a more conventional hue to the bulk of their first proper long player (this one), and their self-titled second album which followed in 1989.  Ironically, Leaving Time trails off into the sunset on a markedly bluesy note with a rendition of Buddy Miles "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?"

For a taste of Winter Hours in their earliest incarnation, browse over here to encounter a scare set of demos.  

01. Up There Again
02. untitled (interlude)
03. Tell Me Today
04. The Confessional
05. September Street
06. Waiting for Thunder
07. Ten Minutes (acoustic vers.)
08. If I Could Make You Hear Me
09. We Can Only Win
10. Have You Ever Loved a Woman?

Hear

Sit tight...

As of right now, Netkups (my file hoster) is down, meaning none of the links are currently functioning.  Am hoping this is a temporary glitch on their end.  Will keep you in the loop.

The Fan Club - 15:20 ep (1982, Rude)

Once in awhile, gambling at the Casino Ebay really pays off (accurately judging an album by it's jacket factors in heavily folks).  So it was a relatively safe assumption that The Fan Club had "power pop" written all over them, it was just a matter of what stripe.  If you're at all familiar with the quasi-bootleg Teenline and Powerpearls compilation series, these New York co-eds will likely be of some interest.  A few notches shy of punk, yet wielding plenty of spunk, the Fan Club evoke the likenesses of the Pointed Sticks, the Speedies, and the (Connecticut) Bats in terms of approach, and sheer melodicism, which is never in short supply here.  "Just Another Kiss," "My Baby Loves It" and "I Won't Take It" are all pretty outstanding.  As for the album title, it would seem 15:20 references the length of this all too brief ep. 

01. Going Mental
02. Heartache
03. Just Another Kiss
04. My Baby Loves It
05. Future Problems
06. I Won't Take It

Hear

Everything I've heard you spill is sleepier than Seconal…

The lead singer on the two albums I’m presenting today is reuniting with his original ‘90s outfit for their first show in over fifteen years this very week.  Thursday to be exact.  

http://netkups.com/?d=bf4b453859245 

Simple Machines - Tool cassette series (1992)

For those of you who didn't browse the comments section of the recently posted Tsunami Cow Arcade demo that I shared a couple weeks ago, I wanted to pass along a few links.  The Arlington, VA based Simple Machines imprint predominantly stuck to vinyl and CD releases, but they had a soft spot for cassettes too, at least during their tenure in the early '90s.  So much so, they put out seven very limited tape-only titles by their friend's bands, including Dave Grohl.  The majority of these cassettes curios were album-length, and none (at least not in their entirety) made it to the digital realm in the years to follow.  For shame, because they contained a wealth of good music.

I don't have an adequate amount of time to provide an overview of the artists involved, but I've made links to all seven Tool tapes available below, with some very brief clues as to whom is involved with each release, some of the names you're sure to recognize.  A HUGE debt of gratitude goes out to Shane for digitizing, organizing, and providing us with everything presented after this paragraph.  I'm not sure how long the Zippyshare links will be active, so get downloading.  Enjoy.

SM TOOL 1 Geek - Hammer (See Tsunami)
Hear

SM TOOL 2 Slack - Bates Stamper (See Hated, Lungfish, Ida, Dag Nasty & Tsunami)
Hear

SM TOOL 3 Late! - Pocketwatch (See Dave Grohl)
Hear

SM TOOL 4 Hated - Awl (See Outrageous Cherry)
Hear

SM TOOL 5 Saturnine - Roto Chipper Paint Remover (See Versus & Nice Strong Arm)
Hear

SM TOOL 6 Mommyheads - Swiss Army Knife
Hear

SM TOOL 7 My New Boyfriend - Super Saw (See Bikini Kill, Seaweed & Tsunami)
Hear

True Believers - Live - Harder! Harder! Harder! promo tape (1986)

Austin's True Believers enjoyed a brief but highly lauded run, and were adored posthumously even more, despite having released just one album during their mid-80s lifespan.  Helmed by brothers Alejandro and Javier Escovedo, the Believers boasted no less than three potent six-stringers in their lineup.  Much has been made about their innovative "Americana" bent, but this quintet were rock and roll purists at heart, forward thinking ones at that.  The live cassette featured in this post was not an official release, rather a limited run promotional item that I assume was sent to magazine, radio, etc.  For the uninitiated, Harder! Harder! Harder! is bound to make for an ironic introduction, as it doesn't contain any original True Believers compositions.  The five songs within were sourced from hometown performances in 1985 and '86, via a live session on KUT FM and a gig at Liberty Lunch, respectively.  As far as covers go, the Believers tackle a familiar cache of classics, reinterpreting the Velvets, Chantays, T. Rex, Mott the Hoople and MC5 in precisely that order.  I'm making these files available in MP3 (320 kbps) and lossless FLAC below.

The band's aforementioned lone LP was reissued on CD in 1994, under the title Hard Road, buttressed by ten tracks from an unreleased second album, recorded in 1987. It's not to be missed. 

Live KUT-FM, Austin 11/10/85
01. Foggy Notion
02. Pipeline
03. 20th Century Boy

Liberty Lunch, Austin 9/5/86
04. Walking With a Mountain
05. Ramblin' Rose

MP3   FLAC

Dirty Face - I Can Hurt Myself (If I Want to) (1988, Overwellum)

If you can get past the funky album sleeve, you're in for one of the most straight-up rock and roll albums I've offered in awhile.  A little known Albany, NY trio, Dirty Face could have easily thrown down with such no-nonsense aggregations as the Neighborhoods, Magnolias, and perhaps Twin/Tone-era Soul Asylum.  Blue collar romantic concerns abound amidst these grooves, alongside a plea for respect for their chosen stomping ground ("My Town").  Dirty Face skate by with the stray minute-long instrumental or two, but I highly doubt you'll hold that against 'em.  After the jump, check out a video of them performing at an anniversary gig for a local college radio outlet last year.



01. I Can Hurt Myself
02. Too Young
03. Unfinished Too
04. Mistaken
05. My Town
06. Right By My Side
07. Worship the Beast
08. Backseat Driver
09. Hey Now
10. Everything to Me
11. Stella
12. On the Wall
13. Good to Be Back Home
14. Unfinished
15. All I Want to Say

Hear

So much to learn, so little to teach...

Presenting a slab of Can-indie, power-pop gold circa 1999.  Have at it.

http://netkups.com/?d=a5e0d62befdc2

Ultracherry Violet - I Fall to Pieces (1994, Bedazzled)

The D.C. based Bedazzled Records imprint was friendly to bands that veered towards the shoegazer or at the very least quasi-shoegazer end of the indie rock continuum.  Ultracherry Violet were the latter, dispensing noisy and ethereal particulates into I Fall to Pieces engaging sonic stew.   The trio bore a likeness to American practitioners Smashing Orange, Hum, and less so The Drop Nineteens and Fudge, but like any dream-pop unit worth it's salt they cast their collective "UV" rays across the big pond to such obvious entities as the Pale Saints and Slowdive.  Long-ish songs, with a decent emphasis on quality control.  I shan't give away much more than that, but This is That Song blog has a nice write up on Ultracherry that you can peruse here.  More UV to come (hopefully). 

01. Angela's an Angel Now
02. I Think You're Lying to Me
03. Remember
04. Post Wing-and-Prayer
05. Mexico Song
06. Losing My Friends
07. Anything is Feasible
08. I'm Gonna Burn
09. Recur Again

Hear

Gem/Jenny Mae 7" (1997, Spare Me)

If you've frequented my back pages, you may recall my affinity for Gem, a Cleveland area group fronted by former Death of Samantha/Cobra Verde figurehead Doug Gillard (who would eventually pair up with Robert Pollard in Guided By Voices for a spell).  I thought their two albums, the I Am a Tree ep, and a couple of singles comprised the sum total of their discography, but a couple years ago I learned I was pleasantly mistaken, when this rather arcane split single from '97 made a blip on my radar.  "A Clove of Harlots" is as rich and melodically resonant as anything on Gem's superlative Hexed album (which btw you need to investigate, even if the remainder of Gillard's pedigree doesn't compel you).  Sheer indie rock manna from heaven.  Unfortunately, I can't intone the same about the other Gem cut here, "Monochrome," a benign but unmemorable instrumental. 

Singer/songwriter Jenny Mae (Leffel) hails from the same neck of the woods, and like Gem, she shares a connection with GBV, courtesy of a 1993 split single.  I haven't been exposed to much more of her material beyond the singles, but I really enjoy the two ballad-esque pieces on her side of this disk, especially the stark, organ-laden concluding track that vastly contradicts it's frivolous title. 

Gem
01. A Clove of Harlots
02. Monochrome

Jenny Mae
01. Cancelling the Game
02. Crappy Piece-of-Shit 4-track

Hear