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* * * THE INDIE-LIST DIGEST #10 (Spectacular tenth issue!)
* * "The new Ginsu cuts through the old Ginsu, and still never needs
* * * sharpening!"
* * * Moderated by Mark Cornick, Joshua Houk and Liz Clayton.
* * * Mailed worldwide weekly. Over 100 subscribers!
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From: Mark, Joshua and Liz, the moderators
THERE WILL BE NO DIGEST NEXT WEEK IN OBSERVANCE OF THANKSGIVING.
"I know all y'all are gonna be gettin' busy with some turkey. And if you're
vegetarian, I know you're gonna be gettin' busy with some salad." - B-Love,
funk DJ at WXJM
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From: Mark Cornick, Working Holiday drone #514, co-moderator
<stu_m1cornic@vax1.acs.jmu.edu>
This is our tenth issue. Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!
Very little to report from the poultry capital of Virginia this week. I
finally got my hands on the first Versus 7" (great, but I like their new one
better) and also got the first 7" from a new Louisville, KY band called Hula
Hoop. This one totally rocks out. Get it. I'd like to say thanks to Volker
Stewart and Bill Peregoy for sending 7"ers to my radio station recently.
Liquor Bike has been doing well with our hard progressive and metal DJs, and
Versus was chosen as one of our CMJ Adventure Picks, which means we expect
it to go big at our station. If anyone else out there puts out music, do
please send a copy to WXJM, Anthony-Seeger Hall, James Madison University,
Harrisonburg, VA 22807, Attn: Mark. Thanks.
Also, now that Courtney is sufficiently healed from her unfortunate accident
of a few months back, our guitar-and-drum duo, now known as Sweet Tooth,
will be back on its feet shortly. Rockin' out like Bratmobile or Mecca
Normal, I guess. Truly amateur stuff. It's gonna rawk.
Well, enough babble. The time has come to talk of many things...
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From: Liz Clayton, co-moderator <lclayton@uhuru.uchicago.edu>
Well, I think it's best if I begin this week's submission with an
enumeration of some of the really neat new stuff that's just come out or is
about to come out in the near (or distant) future. To wit:
Present
-------
Belly - "Gepetto" EP. I don't have this yet, but I can't wait to get my
hands on it. It's out now as a four song 4AD import CD5/12", or as a ltd.
edition 2 song 7" with postcard enclosures.
Dinosaur Jr. - "Get Me" import single. A real disappointment. This sounds
like a weak version of one of the slower tracks (which were brilliant) at
the end of _Green Mind_. Oh well. The CD is backed with a live version of
"Quest" and "Hot Burrito #2" by the Flying Burrito Brothers. Yikes.
Future:
-------
Pavement - "Watery, Domestic" EP. Due out next week. 4 tracks, Matador.
Velocity Girl - "Crazy Town"/"Creepy" 7". SubPop. Within a week or two.
[ Yay! - Mark ]
Distant Future:
---------------
(this is all SubPop stuff, bear with me. I just got hold of a "projected
releases" list from them and there's a LOT of good stuff on it.)
Jan 22 (my birthday!) Fastbacks - "Zucker" LP
Feb 5 Wipers - "Is This Real?" CD reissue of 1st LP (+ "Alien Boy" EP)
Feb 19 Fastbacks "Gone to the Moon" CD+3
Feb 26 Sebadoh LP
Mar 19 Velocity Girl LP
May 14 Love Battery LP
June Club Single: Severin
---------
In other news, I saw Negativland last weekend. Wow. Truly a memorable and
impressive show. The strangest thing wasn't even part of their act--Mark
Hosler got everyone in the front of the near-sold out club to SIT DOWN on
the floor before they started, so people would be able to see what was going
on onstage. Really neat stuff, with an audience- stage bread fight, burnt
toast smoke, multimedia weirdness, and more. If you got to see them on this
tour, you're one lucky person. Also: pick up the new Mondo 2000 to read
Hosler interviewing the Edge(!). Th' Edge didn't even know who he was
talking to until about the third hour of the 3-hour interview. Great
stuff.
Anyway, I guess that's about all I have to say this week. No shows worth
anything are coming up in this area until The Bats on Dec 14 (hopefully I
can score an interview). Y'all have a happy Thanksgiving, and save me an
extra slice of pumpkin pie (with lots of whipped cream, mind you).
-- Liz
Update from the next day:
I got the Belly EP. Dig this: They cover "Hot Burrito #2" by the Flying
Burrito Brothers, too. Two covers of this in two weeks? Jesus christ.
Also: Vomit Launch are breaking up, just as I started to get into them.
Great.
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From: Joshua Houk, co-moderator <houk@athena.cs.uga.edu>
Hey - tons of reviews this time out. Week after next I should have a bunch
of live reviews worth of note including Negativland, Jesus Lizard, and
Surgery. Whoopee!
o Flesh Eaters - 'Sex Diary Of Mr. Vampire' [SST] This is Chris D's blues
rock band that's been around - god, I think a decade? Wow. Chris is showing
his age on the front cover, too. Nevermind the cheesy cover pics (especially
the back with one of the femme backup vocalists looking very heavy-metalish
and seated way too cliched close to Chris D. Listen to the music instead -
nice blues punk that always kicks into a great groove a couple times in
every song. Vocals are annoying, though, but this is still a fine disc.
o Beat Happening - 'Black Candy' [K/Sub Pop] Reissue of the orignal release
on K/Rough Trade. This is in my opinion Beat Happening's best record, but
you'll find a lot of people who'll disagree with me. Calvin does most of the
singing, which'll have every hormone addled male in fits that Heather only
sings on one song. Every song here is great, ranging from swamp trash to pop
to garage... Absolutely brilliant! Pick up this one.
o Gibson Bros. - 'Mean Mistreater' (7" ep) [Homestead] This was originally
scheduled to be released over a year ago, but Homestead balked when Billy
Norton and Miriam Linna brought up a lawsuit against the Bros. over an
A-Bones sample. Tensions did not relax after this Memphis duo put the poetic
message "Assfuck Billy Norton" on their 'Men Who Loved Couch Dancing' lp.
Anyhow - things have eased a bit, and finally Homestead has seen fit to
release this three song 7" that puts the Gibson Bros. at their finest. White
trash, garage and blues wrapped up in one nice package. Also has Jon Spencer
on guitar. Really good stuff.
o Liquor Bike - "Thirst Day" (7" ep) [Penultimate] Not being a huge fan of
the DC sound, it took me two listens to get into this single. The a-side is
kinda standard, with nothing much to propell it out of the pack. The two
numbers on the flip however blend a nice nice dose of pop to the
proceedings, and are absolutely essential! Good stuff.
o Crimpshrine - 'Duct Tape Soup' (lp only) [Lookout!] An almost comprhensive
collection of every this East Bay punk band ever recorded. That's very
swell, cause Crimpshrine ruled the world during their time in existence.
Pop-punk songs about love, anger, hope, trust, love, beauty, summer, picking
up the pieces, and love. Incredibly great stuff, and you'll regret it if you
don't buy this. Really.
o Versus - "Bright Light" b/w "Forest Fire" [Pop Narcotic] Let's hear it for
indie-pop!! This trio's been compared to Mission of Burma a lot, but I
detect a big Unrest influnce in these grooves. Nice poppy stuff that you'll
groove along to without any complaints.
o Dambuilders - "Smell" b/w "Colin's Heroes" [Pop Narcotic] Catchy poppy
stuff that sometimes gets a bit dated-sounding for my tastes, but everyone
else and their dog will like this probably. Call me weird. This is good
though - with nice strings throw in on the flipside. (No - they don't sound
like Camper Van Beethoven. Yes - that is a compliment).
o Hayride/Harvey Milk - 'Friends Forever' (split 7") [Self Rising] Hayride
shines through with three songs of flannel punk, the only dud being "Clampy
Hold". The other two songs are impossibly catchy. Harvey Milk does their
brand of Melvins-a la-Steel Pole Bath Tub rock. "Blueberry Dooky" sludges
around in an okay way - but "Smile" will leave you in the dust in 6.5
seconds flat.
o Giant Sand - 'Ramp' [Amazing Black Sand] HOWIE GELB RULES!!! Country rock
with obvious Dylan influence, but coupled with some great guitar snazzwork.
High on the sappy quotient. Great diversity of songs without being
schizophrenic. Awesome songwriting. Screams "buy me!!!". Don't pass this
band up - especially if you like good songwriters.
o Fastbacks - "They Don't Care" b/w "Out Of The Charts" [Popllama] Kinda
emptyish pop, but still way above everyone else. I'm a huge Fastbacks fan,
so I'm kinda disappointed with the single, but I still come back to it again
and again, pop junkie that I am.
All for now. Bye folks.
Joshua Houk houk@athena.cs.uga.edu
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From: Joshua John Buergel <jbbb+@andrew.cmu.edu>
I've spent waaaaaaay too much money on music recently, but oh well. Here is
a bunch of reviews...
Big Black, _Song About Fucking_ (Touch & Go)
Yeah, I know it is old, and yeah, I know it has been available for a while.
So sue me. I never got around to buying it. This is Big Black's second LP,
and it just can't quite match the sheer majesty of Atomizer, which is one
of the best albums by anybody ever. Anyway, saying this isn't as good as
Atomizer is like saying somebody isn't quite as rich as Bill Gates (and
no, he isn't subscribed to the grunge-list. That's Bill Gallagher, whose
user id is billga@microsoft.com. Har har). This is still primo guitar
noise with a great bassist and a horrible drum machine. Classic. A must
buy.
Big Black, _Pig Pile_ (Touch & Go)
This is that live album that for a long time was supposed to be released by
Blast First records, and was originally called _Last Live_. However, it has
been delayed, delayed and delayed some more. It is finally out. This is a
recording from their last tour, and the sound quality is pretty decent.
Albini's singing, however, doesn't come across very well. I guess it is a
must buy for a Big Black maniac, but it isn't really necessary for somebody
who just likes them, because there isn't really anything new.
The Mortals, _Ritual Dimension of Sound_ (Estrus Records)
Leave it to Estrus to release an album like this. This is rock 'n' roll in
its purist form. There isn't any pretension that you might frequently find
on an 'alternative' or 'industrial' album. There isn't the pompous
self-importance you find on many punk albums. There isn't the burnout of
ideas evident in many genres such as techno. Instead, you just get rock 'n'
roll, pure and simple. No surprises, but there isn't anything that they do
wrong. Just something you can pop on and go 'cool' too. Highly
recommended.
Samiam, Billy (New Red Archives)
I'm not sure what most people call these guys, but I consider them power
pop. That is, making the same sort of music as Dag Nasty, ALL, and others.
The deal here, is that their line up has two guitars, bass, drums and a
separate vocalist. This allows them the freedom to pack a good punch in the
lyrics while still maintaining a real nice guitar sound. The tempos here
aren't as fast as many other bands, but the vocals are sufficiently
emotional that it doesn't really matter. Very well produced as well, which
is a must for this sort of music. Nuke your Washington D.C. 'emo-core'
records. Those guys don't know emotion from a hole in the ground. This
sort of stuff is what 'emo-core' should sound like. Highly recommended.
Green Day, _1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours_ (Lookout)
After I reviewed Kerplunk!, I received several messages to the effect of
"Get the first one! It is much better!". Well, I did get their first one,
and it is, indeed, better than Kerplunk!. I won't say much better,
because Kerplunk! is still a great album, but this is an amazing one. The
CD, which is what I have, contains the EPs _1,000 Hours_ and Slappy as
well as the LP 39/Smooth, hence the name. To review: Green Day didn't
event the genre of punk pop (playing pop songs over basically punk music),
but they have just about perfected it. As far as I am concerned, this album
is a classic as well. Buy or die.
Negativland, Points (Seeland Records) As far as I'm concerned,
Negativland can do no wrong. Bizarre nosies collide with bizarre samples
and bizarre vocal stuff. Adds up to a bizarre recording. I like most of
their other stuff better than this, but that doesn't mean this is bad.
Plus, I love the Wurlitzer action on track 2. I must admit, however, that
you really only need to buy this if you are a drooling Negativland fanatic.
Lesser fans should just give _Escape From Noise_ another spin.
The Orb, U.F.Orb (Big Life/Mercury)
For those of you who don't know, the Orb is probably the most laid back band
on earth. They make corpses look lively. Just totally tranced out stuff.
The bleeps and other stuff completely conjure up the feeling of floating in
space, with the occasional visit by something else (a beat), but still
mostly empty space. Beautiful stuff to zone out to, but it does take some
getting used to. Highly recommended if you like this sort of stuff, though.
Act quick and you get a bonus disc with over an hour of extra music. My
copy totals 2 hours, 20 minutes of music.
Pop Will Eat Itself, _The Looks Or The Lifestyle_ (RCA)
Somewhere along the line, Pop Will Eat Itself (PWEI) acquired a real live
drummer. Also, there is quite a bit of guitar on this one, and I'd bet my
friend's left arm that a real bass makes an appearance here. So, what I'm
saying is that despite themselves, PWEI has turned into a real band. The
immediate comparison that comes to mind is EMF, although they are not nearly
as boring as EMF. But, it is still that same basic format of rock. Lots of
samples, driving rhythms, and mostly 'rappish' vocals. I love it. If you
sort of wished EMF really knew how to rock, check this puppy out.
Samiam, s/t (New Red Archive)
This CD is a compilation of their first LP and an EP. Unfortunately, I just
can't get into this as much as Billy. The sound quality is just too
murky, and ends up burying the songs. This record just doesn't get going.
I wish I could say otherwise. Maybe I'll like it more if I listen to it
more.
[ Later Joshua added the following... ]
Well, I've give it a few more listens, and it clicked. The sound quality
could still be better, but these are some damn fine songs. See what I
mention about Billy above, and apply that here. Takes a bit more
listening, but I've decided that this is a good album after all.
Scherzo, _Suffering And Joy_ (Lookout)
Yeah! Now we are talking. Sounds like prime Dag Nasty, but with more
interesting guitar. Blows away all those wimpy emo-core bands away (and I
even like alot of those wimpy emo-core bands). Just flat out rocks with
some good tight playing and great songs. Reminds me alot of Screeching
Weasel, but with more serious songs. Highly recommended.
Phew. I also have Lungfish's _Talking Songs For Walking_ and Bad Religion's
Suffer, but I haven't listened to them enough to review them (but so far,
they sound pretty good).
*************************************************************************
From: Pretty Rainy Out <kbennett@seattleu.edu>
Okay, y'all, I feel like some turn of the century traveling correspondent
posting my dispatches from the strange exotic worlds I travel through....
:)
I went out on Friday night to the RKCNDY to see Hammerbox, whom I haven't
seen perform before. I've never been to RKCNDY either, and I was kind of
disgruntled by the space. Maybe it was the concrete floor. Maybe it was
the fact that they serve cheap beer in cups and the sticky beer on the floor
was incredibly dense and held my shoes like superglue. Maybe it was the
fact that when a band starts to get a little popular, college kids with more
attitude than musical appreciation come to shows and walk around pushing and
shoving with no respect for humanity or for the music. Maybe I'm just
getting too old for this kind of thing. (Last few shows I went to, I
consciously made an effort to scope how many people were there older than
me; to make myself feel better -- and I'm not even 30 yet! Is this sick or
what? Is my age group represented by my "ex" who is still pining for
early-80's "skinny tie" music that was on when we were in college, and
listening to the very popular upper-dial station that plays all that old
stuff -- is this becoming the "classic rock" for the fiscally/
demographically ascending upper-20somethings?)
Anyway, Hammerbox was pretty good, but because of my disgruntlement and
weariness at having to sit through several other bands, I couldn't really
get into the energy. They did mostly stuff (very good songs) that's not on
their C/Z album; I guess it's from their forthcoming album. I don't know if
that's gonna be on C/Z, too; there was some gossip yelled by a fellow
audience member to me over the noise that sounded like they'd been picked up
by a larger label (they sure are good enough to be snatched, plus we all
know about record company reps hanging around Seattle....). They asked the
audience to suggest titles for their album, because they couldn't think of
one.
Anyway, I've always really like Carrie's voice recorded -- that kind of
deep, soulful, howling sound, sounds great over loud grungy melodic guitars
and weird time signature changes -- but she came across as more "screechy"
in this setting, at least to my ears. She has a lot of energy, though, and
is fun to watch.
The other bands were Clyde, whom I only caught a couple songs of but sounded
pretty good; Christ on a Crutch, which I didn't like because it seemed
mostly like good old'fashioned "white ugly guy sings hardcore" without a lot
of originality to it (at least it was loud and thrashy, I'll give it that);
and Trashcan School, which was pretty entertaining -- 3 guitars, some sax
which was the grungiest use of sax I'd ever heard and certainly sounded more
like animals being run over than any sax I've heard before (in this context,
that's a compliment), and a really cool cover of the Fall's "I See
Hobgoblins."
Not much more to say. Just want to voice a general pet peeve into the
ether, to no one in particular, which is that it really bugs me when some
people on GRUNGE-L or usenet start railing about how much they hate Seattle
or how Seattle is dead, just because they've heard 2 or 3 overhyped and
overplayed bands from this neck of the woods -- we're as sick of the hype as
they are, but I think the solution is not to put down Seattle but to start
realizing there's so many other, varied bands here, and seek out Seattle
sounds rather than "THE Seattle Sound."
P.S. Sky Cries Mary opened for Shriekback last week, and after a long tour
they seemed glad to be home. They seemed tired but picked up the energy
after a few songs. I hear they have a new album coming out early next year.
Tomorrow, I go see Throwing Muses and Sugar.... :)
Lena who's running out of money but is happy
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From: peregoyb@roadrunner.pictel.com (Bill Peregoy)
I've been promising some sort of Boston "scene report" for a while now.
Since all the shows I saw in Boston over the past few weeks are starting to
run together, I thought I'd give a brief and biased summary of Boston area
bands, labels and stuff... Here goes:
Off the top of my head, here are some of the most happenin' bands in Boston
these days.
Swirlies - You all know these guys. Yeah they sound a little like MBV, but
you could pick a lot worse things to sound like. Their EP recently came
out on Taang! and it's great. Even if you're KolectorSkum, you need this to
get "Tall Ships" and because of the way this record is sequenced. Great
debut non-7". Also the Swirlies are playing live again after a few months
away from the clubs. Check 'em out with new fill in bass player Morgan.
Kudgel - You've heard all this talk of chimp-rock. Well these guys started
the whole thing. Noisy, noisy songs with pop melodies hidden somewhere
within and the live shows are getting totally out of control. The great
thing about Kudgel is they play great shows and never take themselves too
seriously.
Madbox - On an "on night", Madbox are one of the best bands in Boston and
they have a lot more on nights than off nights. They're taking a few months
off so you'll have to settle for their single on Cinderblock Records. Also
look for a brand new 7" soon. Oh yeah, what do they sound like... loud,
tight, heavy, I'd called 'em Boston's answer to Unsane.
Spore - The newest Cinderblock Records stars. These guys have only been
playing out for a few months, but they've already taken Boston by storm.
Aggressive, noisy but catchy songs with the most amazing raw female vocals
I've heard in quite a while.
Helium - Even newer than Spore, this band consists of Mary Timony
(ex-Autoclave) and the rythm section from Dumptruck. This is really Mary's
band as she plays guitar and sings her songs. Kind of sparse, emotional
stuff and Mary has an amazing voice that sends chills up my spine every
time. I think this band shows off Mary's talents a lot better than
Autoclave did (and I loved Autoclave).
Dambuilders - The Dambuilders are going to be the next big stars out of
Boston. Quite simply, the Dambuilders are the most impressive live band I've
seen come out of Boston since the Pixies. No, they don't sound anything
like them, but I can see them every week and always walk away amazed at how
great they are. Deep down they're a pop band, but the songs rock so hard...
the lineup is guitar, bass, drums and violin. Joan Wasser is the most
unorthadox violin player I've ever seen. Don't expect rootsy stuff like CVB
or the Mekons, this is pure rock. (errrm... let's see if this slips past the
censors: Check out their new single on Pop Narcotic.)
[Close, Bill, really close. Just kidding. :) - Joshua]
Green Magnet School - They don't play out much in Boston any more, but what
a band! Three guitars, ahhh you know all about 'em. Check out their CD on
Sub Pop and their new split single with Six Finger Satellite (also on Sub
Pop)
Sebadoh - Sometimes I forget these guys are from Boston because they seem
like they're from another planet. They're moving a bit away from the lo-fi
sound and that's alright with me... makes it easier to concentrate on those
great songs. Check out their debut CD on Sub Pop and don't forget the 3
great Homestead releases.
It's easy to forget how many great bands there are in this town so I
probably forgot a few. And then there are quite a few good bands from
Providence, only 45 minutes away. But I'll talk about that some other time.
Bill
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From: Lindsay Watt <lindsay@maths.ed.ac.uk>
Therapy?/Whipping Boy/In Dust, 15th November, Edinburgh Venue.
No tickets on sale for this (apparently Therapy? didn't want to charge
more than 5 pounds, and decided not to go through a ticket agency) so I
arrived 40 minutes early to be sure of getting in. I needn't have bothered
though, because despite Therapy? being a chart band, it wasn't that busy.
New Irish band In Dust opened proceedings, and they were pretty good. Sort
of like Ministry crossed with early Godflesh, with some terrible dancing
from the singer thrown in too. They've got an LP out, the name of which I
can't remember at the moment. After that it was The Whipping Boy, who've
been around for several years now, and who I've never really cared for. The
singer was pretty animated, but unhappily for him, an overactive smoke
machine effectively blotted his performance out. Therapy? put on a pretty
energetic show, but to my mind they seemed to be trying a little too hard.
Better that than not trying hard enough, but the result was that some of
their best songs were rendered rather shambolic. They coped better with the
straightforward thrashers from the new LP, but I find this stuff a little
bland. Anyway, after concentrating largely on the new material, they
concluded with a version of Potato Junkie hich included Andy interviewing
several members of the audience, and then finished off with a bit of
half-hearted instrument smashing. A fairly good gig, but perhaps a little
contrived.
Lindsay.
Oh, by the way Mark, I thought you and your bandmates might be interested
to know that your former namesakes Headcleaner have just released their
debut LP ("Au Fou", on Eve records).
[ Great. Well, we've been the I.C.Socialists for some time now so I guess it
doesn't matter. Besides, Sweet Tooth is gonna stomp everything I've ever
done anyway. :) - Mark ]
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CREDITS
GAFFER: Mark Cornick, stu_m1cornic@vax1.acs.jmu.edu (Harrisonburg, VA)
BEST BOY: Joshua Houk, houk@athena.cs.uga.edu (Athens, GA)
DOLLY GRIP: Liz Clayton, lclayton@uhuru.uchicago.edu (Chicago, IL)
PRODUCTION CREW - THANKS YOU GUYS
Joshua John Buergel, jbbb+@andrew.cmu.edu (Pittsburgh, PA)
Lena Bennett, kbennett@seattleu.edu (Seattle, WA)
Bill Peregoy, peregoyb@roadrunner.pictel.com (Boston, MA)
Lindsay Watt, lindsay@maths.ed.ac.uk (Edinburgh, Scotland)
A BLOOFGA PRODUCTION
Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely intentional.
We'll be back in 14 days. Bye now & don't eat too much...
--Mark, Joshua and Liz