Nice Strong Arm - Stress City (1989)

To some people, Nice Strong Arm were just another noisy post-punk band on Homestead Records. My first encounter with them came courtesy of college radio in the early ‘90s when I was at an impressionable age . Specifically, the song that lured me in was this very album’s “Desert Beauty Bloom,” and it was a tremendous revelation. With it’s lofty escapist sentiments, abetted by a sonic fusion of maelstrom and melody, “Desert Beauty Bloom,” went that much further in legitimizing my increasing dedication to indie-rock. Stress City, along with albums/singles by dozens, if not hundreds of bands that flew under the collective mainstream radar, motivated me to gradually forfeit nearly a decade’s worth of heavy metal and classic rock schooling. Everyone says that Nirvana killed hair-metal. I’d argue that Nice Strong Arm proved to be damn near effective as well, at least for me.

New York’s NSA opted for a dreary foreboding landscape for many of their songs, and Stress City’s ten selections are certainly no exception. “Desert Beauty Blooms” is relatively hopeful, but I think I’ve commented enough about this song above. Although much of the remainder of Stress City is less than immediate (to say the least) it’s still worth the investment.

Lead Arm, Kevin Thompson would later helm the much mellower Timco, but we’ll leave them as a subject for another time.

01. Desert Beauty Bloom

02. Stress City

03. Lost Sleep

04. Neighborhood Voyeur

05. From Heaven

06. Amnesia

07. My Perception

08. Cakewalk

09. Autumn Green

10. White Wonder

Hear

Nice Strong Arm - Mind Furnace (1988, Homestead)

More glum music for another glum news day. To be honest, I had designs on sharing this one for awhile, especially after my entry for Nice Strong Arm's third and final platter, Stress City, garnered so much approval from you, my humble audience.  1988's Mind Furnace was their second LP and by and large doesn't compel like NSA's aforementioned follow-up...but Kevin Thomson & Co. were making strides.  Overcast, dissonant, and occasionally tuneful (check out "Windowsill" and "Faucet Head") Mind Furnace's pessimistic stanzas went a long way in characterizing the trio's sinewy stripe of post-punk, resulting in one of their signature songs, "Everyday an Ambulance."  The more I think about it, you can hear a heck of a lot of Nice Strong Arm in the first two Jawbox albums (Grippe & Novelty) if that's your thing, proving these low-profile, Austin, TX outliers had a deeper reach than even they might have realized.  And yes, I'm not particularly moved by the album jacket either.

01. Windowsill
02. Everyday an Ambulance
03. A Case for the Calm
04. You'll Never Know Me
05. Secret Languages
06. Framingham
07. Faucet Head
08. Swingset
09. Turn Me Grey
10. Centralia

https://www89.zippyshare.com/v/SJ60dT29/file.html

Timco - Friction Tape (1994, Basura!/Priority)

If you already have some familiarity with Timco frontman Kevin Thomson's previous endeavor, that being New York, late '80s noise-mongers Nice Strong Arm, it's to your advantage before delving into Friction Tape, but not particularly essential either.  Adhering to a relatively lucid modus operandi, Timco eschew much of NSA's wailing maelstroms, instead reveling in emotive, and sometimes highly dynamic downer rock, conveyed with splendid indie panache.  Friction Tape is a quieter and more contemplative catharsis if you will, that sonically resembles contemporaries Versus.  Might I also add that Timco inadvertently predated the often tense and conflicted lyrical yearnings of The National, though in a more secluded context.  The trio followed up Friction Tape with the lengthier but less textured Gentlemen Jim in '96.  Timco also had some 7" material that shall be the subject of a future post.  In the meantime you can check out a great Nice Strong Arm platter, Stress City, right here.

01. My Dead Friends
02. A Pill
03. Love Locked
04. July
05. Franny
06. Bastard
07. Walking Papers
08. Screw You

Hear

Timco - 20th Century Masters: The Singles Collection (1991-94)

Way back in 2011 when I addressed Timco's Friction Tape LP, I mentioned a collection of their singles would be forthcoming.  Well, a full nine years later the forth has belatedly come.  Since this is a band that hasn't been active in roughly a quarter century I can't enlighten you much more than I already have.  Nonetheless here are the basics.  The fulcrum of Timco were two alumni from one of a really choice, not to mention noisome indie rock troupe from the '80s I've oft featured on these pages, Nice Strong Arm.  Kevin Thompson parlayed his frontman role in NSA to Timco, and also brought along Ethel M. Deathel from his old group.  Timco eschew much of NSA's wailing maelstroms, instead reveling in emotive, and sometimes highly dynamic downer rock bristling with texture and sobering resignations.  If that description strikes you as a bit of an oversimplification, maybe it is, and while it may apply to their albums, the aforementioned Friction Tape and 1996's Gentleman Jim, Timco's first blush of short-for
m releases reveal a more varied story.

Birds, Bees & Cherries, a double 7" ep delivers a quartet of four-track demos cut by Thompson in '91.  The commencing "Dragg Dabb" is the most engaging, anchored by a low roar of melancholy vocals and a gradually escalating crescendo of layered post-punk fretwork.  Sheer magic.  "Water Sucks Bugs" is even rawer and more amped-out and just about the closest Timco ever came to stretching back to Nice Strong Arm's sonic posture.  The two songs occupying the second 45 are more subdued - not to mention a bit sardonic, proving Thompson possesses something resembling a sense of humor, idiosyncratic as it may be.

Another single, The Hotel Radio surfaced about three years with two songs culled from a radio session on KPFK in Los Angeles.  The A-side, "Gone" is relatively spare but effective thanks to a devastatingly powerful vocal hook.  This song would reside comfortably next to work of Timco contemporaries Seam and Versus.  The flip, "Louisiana" is a ballad of dark proportions, although Thompson's dialogue leading into sounds a tad disingenuous.

The final single, also from 1994, features two live tracks from the Friction Tape-era. Ironically, Friction... itself was cut live in studio, and it's almost impossible to tell these singler versions apart from the album.  The angsty "Walking Papers" is the epitome of what Timco were all about, while"Screw You" is an insular kiss-off if there ever was such a thing.  Enjoy (or not)

01. Dragg Dabb
02. Water Sucks Bugs
03. Alegria
04. Lovelie
05. Gone
06. Louisiana
07. Screw You
08. Walking Papers

1-4 from Birds, Bees & Cherries 2x7" ep (1991, Communion)
5 & 6 from 7" (1994, Insignificant)
7 & 8 from 7" (1994, Basura)

Hear

Nice Strong Arm - Cloud Machine ep (1989, Homestead)

In the mood for some insular, densely packed indie rock, often approaching something of a melancholic maelstrom?  Yeah, me too.  NYC noiseniks Nice Strong Arm never failed to satisfy in this realm.  I featured their Mind Furnace and Stress City LPs prior to tonight's offering, both of which garnered no shortage of approval.  I'm about 95% certain the Cloud Machine ep was NSA's final recorded spasm, featuring two new studio tracks on side one, with the flip providing some live action.  "Cloud Machine" is another slyly dissonant, subtly melodic post-punk jewel in the band's sinewy oeuvre, amped-out to the hilt I might add.  Can't get enough of that guitar.  The instrumental that follows it, "Cop Show" doesn't make quite the same impression, but a live (at CBGB's no less) run through the choice Furnace kernel "Faucet Head" on side two more than compensates.

01. Cloud Machine
02. Cop Show
03. Faucet Head
04. Life of the Party

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Nice Strong Arm - Reality Bath (1987, Homestead)

And so I present you with the final piece of the Nice Strong Arm puzzle, their debut, Reality Bath.  I've featured their subsequent platters Mind Furnace and Stress City eons ago, and a convenient thing that since both were extractable from CDs.  Reality Bath, on the other hand, was a vinyl/tape-only proposition.  Those in the know about these angsty New Yorkers, fronted by one Kevin Thomson, will no doubt boast their noisenik credentials, and rightfully so I suppose, but these folks were emanating from points of catharsis and artful sensibility, not so much full bore aggression. 

On second thought, it's damn near impossible to deny that Reality Bath isn't chockablock with raging, dissonant notions and eardrum-frying sprawl.  Even relatively likeminded contemporaries Live Skull and Red Temple Spirits couldn't quite compete with NSA's near-disorienting sonic alchemy that often fell just shy of surreal.  No, taking this proverbial Bath won't be of Calgon proportions in the least, and dare I say there's not much here that's "fun," but despite it's miles-deep layers of sinewy latticework, the going rarely gets difficult.  Furthermore there’s more guttural, emo pathos at play here than Rites of Spring ever thought to fling in our direction.  If you're looking for some comparatively melodic respites, you may want to dive in at "When Truth Comes Around," "Minds Lie," and "Free At Last."  This one's an acquired taste that's well worth acquiring, and check out NSA's second and third records linked above

01. Life of the Party
02. Date of Birth
03. Copperhead
04. Disenchanted
05. When Truth Comes Around
06. Life is So Cool
07. Minds Lie
08. Free at Last
09. Notes From a Gut
10. Dying Skin

Hear

Splendor Head - Mirth (1989, CFY)

The only relevant info I was able to procure on Splendor Head was the following blurb from a distro site that's apparently still carrying unsold copies of Mirth:

Thoroughly modern, thoroughly tuneful lyrical pop rock, falling somewhere between REM introspection and something considerably noisier. 

Well, it would be nice if this Cali crew's shtick was that cut and dry, but at least I agree with the noisy quotient, which varies from song to song.  Sonically, Mirth tends to tilt in the direction of a myriad of contemporary Homestead Records stablemates (a touch of Nice Strong Arm, maybe a pinch of Phantom Tollbooth), and some miscellaneous but exceptional post-punk acts from the Midwest, specifically The Libertines and Pedaljets.  Despite a few misfires, Splendor Head manage to elicit their fair share of spot-on keepers, including but not limited to "Number on the Radio," "Sick Architecture," and "Mother Tongue."  Am quite pleased I took a gamble on this one.

01. Green M&Ms
02. Mother Tongue
03. Sick Architecture
04. World Dog
05. Sacrifice
06. In My Nightime
07. The Toymaker
08. Number on the Radio
09. She Is a Girl

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Indian Bingo - Scatological (1990, Independent Project)

I'm puzzled at their choice for the album title, but one thing I'm certain of is that I know a good album when I hear one.  In fact, Indian Bingo's Scatological is better than good.  Released on Independent Project Records (former home to Savage Republic and For Against) the album had a more than appropriate roost.  Dark but not doomy, and deep without noir pretensions, Indian Bingo delivered tuneful, echoing guitar leads and a crackling rhythm section, all smoothly threaded with a modest, post-punk subtext.  Scatological's air of sweet, minor-key melancholia suggests admiration for several of their sub-rosa contemporaries, namely Springhouse, Fire in the Kitchen, and Nice Strong Arm/Timco.  Some occasional artsy tangents keep the proceedings all the more interesting.  It's a swank collection that spans from scalding fireballs ("The Ulcer Prophecy") to billowy ballads ("Goon Lagoon") and plenty in between.  A huge thumbs up.

Six-stringer Phil Carney eventually migrated to the Red House Painters posse.  A less enticing follow-up LP, Overwrought materialized in 1993.  A nice piece on Indian Bingo can be read at the Record Robot. 

01. Stan
02. Separation Days
03. The Ulcer Prophecy
04. Flow
05. Drowsy
06. Pathetic Thing
07. Goon Lagoon
08. Plaid
09. Casim Glue Co.

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Drumming on Glass "Tear It Down" 7" (1990, Aurora)

HFS, why didn't someone tip me off on these guys two decades ago?  I downloaded Drumming on Glass' Asparagus Tea LP awhile back but didn't give it a concerted listen until fairly recently.  Boy, was I missing out big time.  From what I've been able to discern, much was made at the time of DoG's psychedelic tendencies.  I suppose that's par for adding a sitar (of all things) into the mix, but this Boston trio was way post-punk if you ask me, with rich shades of Nice Strong Arm and Fire in the Kitchen bubbling to the surface.  Both tracks on this 45 fall well within the late '80s Homestead Records realm - dark and austere, with some pleasant mystical ambiance thrown in to ward off anything too gratuitously brooding.  The A-side "Tear it Down" appears to be exclusive to this single, while "Trip" would find it's way onto the aforementioned Asparagus Tea.  Lost in Tyme blog did a nice write-up of the album, but since the download link has expired, I might be offering it here if anyone is game.    

A. Tear it Down
B. Trip

Hear

86 - Provocation (1987, Twilight)

I made my acquaintance with Atlanta's 86 a good ten years after they disbanded, via an ep titled Minutes in a Day.  Not an overwhelmingly awe-striking record, but the band's Yankee spin on tuneful Brit post-punk put their foot in my door, so to speak.  After said revelation, it would be eons before I excavated any further 86 ventures, but low and behold the follow-up to Minutes, 1987's Provocation eventually found it's way into my hands.  What a difference a year can make between records.  Provocation still bore a decent chunk of 86's collective worship of clangy, Anglo crown jewels C.S. Angels and the like, but the album was equally informed by a more dissonant quotient of American indie-rawk:  The Wipers, Nice Strong Arm and an assortment of lesser names that would crop up on imprints such as Homestead Records.  This recipe tempts delightfully on paper, but in practice...  It's still a recommendable album, but you might be better off sticking to side two (tracks 6-11).  You can peruse much more detailed text on 86 here and Beyond Failure blog, who are hosting the bulk, if not all of their discography.

01. New Pair of Eyes
02. The City
03. Shade of Black
04. Seven Weeks and One Day
05. Kings Mountain
06. Eyeless
07. Sonambo
08. Wondering
09. Getaway
10. Inside
11. Wheel of Confusion

Here

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

A relatively acute case of underblogging - Best of the blog mix 2020.

Well, it wasn't my intention of going the entire week without sharing any fresh, vintage tunes, but at the very least I was planning on my latest annual compendium, which is usually get to early in January than this.  Hopefully this will be the exception and not the rule.  Needless to say I didn't partake in as much record shopping this year as I normally do.  While we can chalk that up to a one very obvious (and tragic) aspect, I've accumulated so much stuff over the past few years that I really didn't have an excuse for being so slack in posting entries.  Hard to say what 2021 might hold, but content-wise thus far I've been less than generous - but hopefully I'll be turning the corner on that soon. 

The 26 songs occupying the folder that you may opt to capture to your hard disk of choice, are arranged loosely at best, with most of the more fun, less heady selections occupying the first quarter, with the last quarter placing the emphasis on the opposite tenor, you might say.  What's in between varies in terms of mood/mode/modus operandi, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions. I'm pressed for time to elaborate on any particular titles, though I plan on attaching links to the original artist entries, if not later today, soon.  As usual I've tossed in a handful of previously unshared kernels that are noted with an asterisk.  Speaking of which, I'm looking for a quality rip of Ghost Of An American Airman's Some Day LP from 1988.  I'm assuming few copies made it to mainland America from the band's native Ireland.  At any rate, dig in.

01. Great Outdoors - World At My Shoes
02. Cool It Reba - I Saw Snakes
03. The Choice - Candy
04. Secrets - Uniform*
05. Rockin Beats - Foreign Girl
06. Ring Theatre - Mrs. Ann
07. Children's Crusade - Your Time is Through
08. Chicken Scratch - House the Size of Your Mind
09. Quinn the Eskimo - Samantha Rain
10. The Waxmen - Hands That Speak
11. Ghost Of An American Airman - I Hear Voices*
12. Airstrip - English Guns
13. Eyes - Disneyland
14. Sgt. Arms - Company Girl*
15. The Seen - Younger Than Yesterday
16. The Heats - Night Shift
17. 11th Hour - Pictures In My Room
18. The Glory Box - Aarr
19. Jet Black Factory - Tonight
20. Crashing Plains - I Dream of Structures
21. Nothing But Happiness - Buried in the Flowers
22. Friends of Ghosts - Eleven Boy
23. Red House - 25 Reasons
24. Bond Bergland - Found Wonder
25. Nice Strong Arm - Minds Lie
26. Lifers - Wealthy Additions

Hear

Western Eyes - s/t (1984, Trace Elements)

I stepped into this one relatively blind, based on nothing more than a seal of approval from the venerable Trouser Press.  One of Western Eyes most rewarding revelations was the prime mover of their lineup, Robert Poss who would later form and helm another New York based band near and dear to my heart, Band of Susans.  If BoS' scalding guitar maelstroms spelled sensory overload for you, Western Eyes were considerably more approachable, and better yet, song oriented.  Possessing the forward thinking aplomb of post-punk latch-hooked to a warmer and more conventional hard rock stride, W/E loosely approximate how Bruce Springsteen might have interpreted say, Mission of Burma or Nice Strong Arm - and it ain't nearly as offbeat as it sounds kids.  Melodically endowed charmers like "Television Rules," "Wonderful Life," and "Exchange it For a Dream" feature edgy guitar interplay between Poss and six-string co-conspirator Andrew Halbreich resulting in some genuinely thoughtful tunes along the journey.  Alas, my secondhand copy of Western Eyes is used and abused to say the least, and that translates into mucho surface noise.  While I was poking around online for anything relevant to this quartet, I learned that another blogger had offered this title up previously, so perhaps their rip is cleaner. 

01. A Better Story
02. All Too Real
03. Exchange it For a Dream
04. Swan Song on Broadway
05. Sacrifice
06. Shroud of Turin
07. Television Rules
08. Wonderful Life
09. No Less
10. Twenty-four Hour Protection
11. New Grub Street

Now on Bandcamp (apparently remixed as well).

Indian Bingo - Overwrought (1993, Rockville/Dutch East)

This is the not-so-spectacular follow up to Indian Bingo's relatively spectacular Scatological which made it's way onto these pages a couple weeks ago.  Less focused than it's predecessor, Overwrought doesn't necessarily live up to it's title, but that's more pro than con.  Still sounding a helluva lot like Nice Strong Arm, Indian Bingo hit a demonstrably more lucid stride here, particularly on the delicate "Ice Cooler" and "Worm," the latter containing a bit of dialog from Charlotte's Web.  Conversely, the proceedings get downright aggressive on the muscular opener "Ramos," and later, "Porcelain."  Jazzy guitar melees spice up "My Leg's Numb" and "Father Thinks the World of Me," but at the end of the day the debut wins out. Feel free to read what Allmusic had to say.

01. Ramos
02. Ice Cooler
03. My Leg's Numb
04. I Hate Your Guts
05. Worm
06. Father Thinks the World of Me
07. Sexy
08. Porcelain
09. Treatment

Hear

Big Tube Squeezer - I Have A Thing For Love (1989, Candy From a Stranger)

Granted I got this one gratis (thanks to a sadly defunct sharity blog I used to visit) but I can't help being a little flummoxed with Big Tube Squeezer.  On this Jack Endino-produced effort, the band commence I Have a Thing for Love with a couple of genuinely promising numbers ("Black Velvet" and "Rain") oozing the same sort of frenetic moxie as contemporaries fIREHOSE, Nice Strong Arm and Vomit Launch. I thought I was in for a while record's worth of nimble fretwork and subtle hooks and such, but the good ship BTS looses steam almost immediately thereafter, indulging in inconsequential and sometimes corny jams - just the kind of offbeat frivolities their namesake would suggest.  There's a Fugs cover ("Couldn't Get High") and a bastardization of a Lou Reed classic.  The guys sorta recover their momentum on "Lamp of Life," but by then the record is finito.  You can check out the Big Tube's rendition of "Sweet Jane" on YouTube.  Thanks to whomever ripped and edited this wax.

01. Black Velvet
02. Rain
03. The Fire
04. Dreams of My Love
05. Ball and Chain
06. Bill
07. Couldn't Get High
08. Mother (For Yours)
09. Walk On The Suicide
10. Feelin Eye Dog
11. Lamp Of Life

Hear

Drumming on Glass - Asparagus Tea (1990, Aurora)

This is a much-deserved follow-up to the Drumming on Glass single I shared a few weeks back.  While that 45 served as an appetizer, the Lou Giordano produced-Asparagus Tea is truly the main course (I guess "beverage" would have played into the title a little better).  In that last write-up on DoG I mentioned how much I thought this noise-addled trio harkened back to '80s Homestead Records alumni Nice Strong Arm, and to a lesser extent, Breaking Circus.  What I failed to make note of was this Boston trio's even stronger resemblance to New York contemporaries Band of Susans.  Admittedly, Band of Susan's sprawling armada of three Fenders could overpower Drumming on Glass any day, yet both manage to spray paint a kaleidoscope's worth of technicolor onto a similar Marshall-ravaged canvas.  DoG's not-so-secret advantage was their formidable melodic structures - not quite in the "pop" realm mind you, but primo examples here like "Hell on Wheels" and "In the Factory" demonstrate that a little harmony can yield more mileage than you might think.  And it's songs like these that make Asparagus Tea the masterfully played hand that it frequently is.

01. All the Colors
02. Trip
03. Jagged
04. Hell on Wheels
05. Slippery Side  
06. Out to Sea
07. Precious Piece
08. In the Factory
09. Legal Obsession
10. Thrill of it All
11. The Kindest Bag

Hear

Half a Chicken - Food For Thought (1988, Rabid Cat)

I think my expectations for this one were a little too high, due in no small part to the Bob Mould production credit. From what I can tell this was the only national release from Half a Chicken, a four piece combo from Port Washington, NY (downstate, Nassau County...like you care). Anyway, Food For Thought is a little on the nondescript side. HAC don't portray themselves as true believers of Husker Du, and if anything lean more towards northeast indie-rawkers Agitpop and Nice Strong Arm. Their more convincing moments like the jangling "Red Kite," "Describe the Rain," "Feeling it Now" could have been scaled down for a tidier ep. This Chicken may be a little Half baked, but if you're an aficionado of college radio from this era, I wouldn't hesitate giving Food... a taste.

01. Chicken Scratch
02. Red Kite
03. 50 Favorite Dead People
04. You & Me
05. Another Daydream
06. Describe the Rain
07. Feeling it Now
08. (You Can't Have It) Your Own Way
09. On My Way

Hear

Kid Icarus - American Ghosts (2011, Big School) - a brief overview

It would be an understatement to say that Kid Icarus should have been on my radar eons ago.  I certainly had the opportunity given they (the 'they' being attributed predominantly to head honcho Eric Schlittler) already had four albums under their belt, but some much needed word of mouth was apparently lost in the translation to these eyes and ears.  I can't rightfuly say I know how those previous releases compare, but American Ghosts is a joyous excursion into mid-fi, sonic abandon.  Copious amounts of frilly and fuzzy reverb collide head-on with the clamorous, yet poignantly sweet twin guitar attack of Schlittler and cohort Justin Marchegiani.  Kid Icarus are mongers, if you will, of noise and melody, but add to this already potent cocktail a walloping dose of heady, billowy sonic expansiveness to push this affair over the top, particularly on "Bicycle Spokes II" and "Hang Gliders."  It's been noted that Kid Icarus owe more than a wink and a nod to '90s indie rock in general, and stretching even a little further back, many a band on the Homestead Records roster.  That said, they exude so much of what cult groups like Nice Strong Arm and Death of Samantha seemed to be painstakingly striving for, but on American Ghosts these guys see to it that vision is realized, albeit on their own slightly esoteric terms.  Check out this record digitally or otherwise.

Parts Found In Sea – Seat Of The Writing Man ep (1984, Checkmate)

This is the second record I've shared by Ontario quartet, but unlike '87s Every Soul's House, Seat of the Writing man isn't a live document.  Bearing a collegiate indie rock aptitude Parts Found in Sea seem to chart in the same vicinity as a number of bands on the soon-to be emerging Homestead Records (think Nice Strong Arm, Salem 66). There's a cool subterranean charm at play here and Parts play the artful without being artsy shtick to convincing effect. Though lacking immediacy Seat of the Writing Man is an acquired taste that's worth acquiring. 

01. Seat Of The Writing Man
02. Look Through Water
03. Satellite
04. Ghost Train
05. Bird Song
06. Body Sends Us

Hear