|
_| | THE INDIE-LIST DIGEST #15 (January 23, 1992) |
| "As necessary and natural as breathing" |
| | |
| | Moderated by Mark Cornick, Liz Clayton and Joshua Houk. |
_| _| Mailed weekly from Indie-List world headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. |
___________________________________________________________________________|
From: Mark, still a professional slacker <mcornick@delphi.com>
Our fifteenth issue. La-di-da-di-da! It's not a big one but we'll roll with it
anyway. Here's some stuff I've heard recently:
Pooh Sticks, _Million Seller_ (Zoo): It probably won't. I like the Pooh Sticks,
but this album strikes me as being extremely uneven. Too much going on and not
enough flowing together. There are a few good tunes on here, but overall this
comes as a pretty big disappointment, even if a girl who looks a lot like
former Ice Cream Socialist Jinhee Kim appears on the cover. (And on the "The
World Is Turning On" 7".) **
Shonen Knife, _Let's Knife_ (Virgin): The first Shonen Knife album I've
actually been able to listen the whole way through. Several old songs and some
new ones, all in English. Those who demand talent and musicianship from a band
would be well-advised to leave this alone, but anyone who just wants to have
a good time and shake their hair a bit should check this out. **
Mecca Normal, "Rose" 7" (K): They just keep putting out records, don't they?
This sounds a lot like the Dovetail LP (probably recorded at the same time)
and, really folks, _no one_ has a voice like Jean Smith. Stark, yet powerful
& furious. Wow. **1/2
Fifth Column, "Donna/All Women Are Bitches" 7" (K): Yet another grrrl-core band
(and yet another band named the Fifth Column.) The vocals remind me a lot of
Kat Bjelland of Babes In Toyland--alternately sweet and bilious. The music is
more up the L7/Lunachicks psuedo-metal alley. One of the more interesting bands
of this style. *1/2
Dinosaur Jr., "Start Choppin'" CD5 (Blanco y Negro/Sire): Ya know, Dinosaur
just hasn't been the same since Lou Barlow left. This latest single from The J
Mascis Experience actually starts with a funk lick. Yes, it's the first Dino
single you can dance to! :) I'm not really sure what to think of this,
although J still has the best grunge falsetto in the biz. For now I'll give it
*.
Superchunk, "The Question Is How Fast" 7" (Merge): The 'Chunk is spinning its
wheels. There's nothing new here; just the same old Superchunk. Consistency is
good, but try something different! (The Magnetic Fields cover "100,000
Fireflies" is pretty good, tho.) This makes me want to listen to Bricks. **
___________________________________________________________________________|
From: brian <Brian.May@mel.dit.csiro.au>
Australia? Many people don't even know where it is (Scandinavia?), let alone
that there's a healthy indie music scene here, down under. Bands here usually
(read 99% of the time) make their name by climbing that greasy pole known as the
pub circuit. Australians don't usually appreciate anything unless (a) it's from
overseas, or (b) they've worn themselves out on the pub circuit, so maybe we
should check them out!
Recording wise, there's hundreds of indie bands putting out records. This is
normal, but don't forget that there's only 17 million people here. The annoying
thing here is that vinyl is dead, and there's no comeback! The main
Slumberland/Parasol type label here is called Summershine. They still put out 7"
records (and have released some Slumberland bands) but have them made outside
Australia now (methinks).
[Many Summershine releases are available in the US as well. Most are only on
import, although I have seen US-pressed Summershine CD singles. As for Oz
vinyl, Tim Adams from Ajax mentioned in his last catalog that the last vinyl
pressing plant in Australia closed recently. Flying Nun no longer presses
vinyl because of this. - Mark]
There's only one CD plant in the country (with a lousy crop yield) and another
one being built at present (who said the industry's backward here?!). On a
typical friday night, the average indie gig goer in Melbourne has the choice of
over 100 indie bands to see at about 50+ indie type venues. Pretty healthy!
Back to the bands.....Here's a short description of a very small number of
'indie' bands around Australia.
Tlot Tlot: Strange, hilarious sequenced duo who are less geeky than They
Might BE Giants.
Hurdy Gurdy: Breeders like band with a penchant for cartoons in music
Rob Clarkson: solo acoustic guitar act with great sarcastic, humorous songs
Foil: Industrial noise makers with far too much bass in their songs!
The Mavis': indie pop/gypsy/rock - very swirly
The Dead Salesmen: Like James were in the beginning - only weirder
The Templebears: powerful 3-piece indie pop with lots of on/off distortion and
noise
The Earthmen: guitar pop with on/off distortion. One great song, the rest awful
(IMHO)
Wild Pumpkins At Midnight: 2 piece acoustic folky Rock (capital R) which can get
like the Violent Femmes meets Ride at times.
Underground Lovers: More groove than MBV, but still like to play 1 chord for 3
hours at a time at 120 zillion dB. Oh, they signed to a
major just end last year
All the bands bar two have at least one release on CD/vinyl.
Disclaimer: I manage Tlot Tlot, so take the comment I wrote as you like! I DJ an
indie show on Melbourne public radio, so any demos etc sent to me can be passed
on to the relevant people for airplay & A&R people if desired (If you want to
try Australia's tiny market of people!)
I am:
Brian May
3PBS-FM
PO BOX 210
St Kilda
VIC 3182
Australia.
Next week: Australia's 'mobile Glastonbury' concert - "The Big Day Out" report.
The tour includes Iggy Pop, Carter USM, Sonic Youth, Helmet, Disposable HOH
(blah, blah) AND 20 other AUSTRALIAN INDIE acts. It's my birthday present to me
(Jan 22) after SY this Friday...so there.
------
cheers,
brian
___________________________________________________________________________|
From: Sean Murphy <skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu>
Not much to say, but the mail fairy was quite good to us this week, so I can
pass along a few more titles to look for...
...from the Feel Good All Over constantly-delayed desk, we received:
Nice - Nice : This is the first release from Nice, featuring Randall Lee,
who helped start the Cannanes and then left in 1988. after recording the first
LP, "An African Man's Tomato". I haven't had a chance to listen yet, but if
you like the Cannanes and Crabstick, this will probably keep you happy as well.
[Not to be confused with THE Nice, an utterly ridiculous 60s/70s symphonic
rock group featuring Keith Emerson. -Mark]
Stuart Moxham - Signal Path : The long, long, long awaited solo LP from Mr.
Moxham, founder of the Young Marble Giants and the Gist. His youngest brother
Andrew helps out in places, as does Alison Statton, the lovely vocalist from
YMG. I've got high hopes for this, but I saw a bunch of this performed live
last summer, so I kinda have an idea what Stuart sounds like on his own. But
this one's important just 'cause it's from Stuart, and the Young Marble Giants
were one of the most amazing bands of all time.
DQE - Masturbation Made A Mess Out Of Me 7" : I know Mr. Houk, among others,
already have this one, but I hadn't seen it yet (and still haven't heard it).
All reports indicate it's a good one - Mike Appelstein from Writer's Block
(a really cool fanzine - no. 9 currently in development - mail me for more
info) has been talking about these folks for a while.
Terminals - Witchdoctors 7" : I love the Terminals. They have few ties to
other NZ bands (a rarity), but sound-wise they're in the Xpressway camp, one
of the more straight-forward ones, with a gloomy, dark, foreboding edge.
Their Xpressway cassette is amazing. The last 7" I saw from them was good,
but it lacked some of the energy from the tape. Peter Stapleton is also in
Dadamah, heirs to the Dead C-mind altering music throne. Stapleton and
Stephen Cogle used to be in the Victor Dimisich Band, who put out one tape on
Xpressway and then one of the best songs on Xpressway Pileup, "Native Waiter".
They also have an LP on Flying Nun, "Uncoffined". Get it all. You won't be
disappointed.
And from Kokopop, an entry from the twee world...
Saturn V - Dominator/Red Star In Orbit 7" : Haven't heard this one yet, but
the signs are good - 2 of these guys used to be in the Razorcuts (a neat brit-
pop band who didn't record for Sarah but could have), another used to be in
"another one of those indie-bands" (sorry, I can't remember - I don't have the
press sheet in front of me, and I have one issue of This Almighty Pop which
clued me into a bunch of these bands, but that's it) so I'm expecting stuff
along the lines of Talulah Gosh's hard edge - Heavenly is too soft too often
to approximate the sound (but they still rule). I could be wrong, but it's
rare to see this stuff released domestically in the US, so I'm happy.
From Arlington, VA - a promo-only copy of the new Tsunami single with a
bonus track sung by Andrew...and SMR-006, "Inclined Plane", the conclusion
to the set of singles celebrating the little things that make our lives so
much more functional (i can't remember the exact quote right now). Tsunami
covers a song by Flower (Richard-from-Versus' old band, pre-Saturnine),
Unrest contributes Celebrity Tribute #2, "Winona Ryder" ("Cath Carroll" was
the first for me), Superchunk proves again that Jon Wurster should be shot
with "Baxter", and then there's Rodan, a new band from Louisville featuring
members of Crain. Rock out. I'm a very happy boy (even if I'll have no
money in a couple weeks... :)
Sean Murphy
skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu
You're just a radio...
- Tsunami
___________________________________________________________________________|
INDIE-LIST DIGEST is published every Saturday by The Indie-List Junta, UnInc.
headquartered (virtually) in Chicago, Princeton, Athens, GA, and Harrisonburg,
VA. The editor is Mark Cornick <mcornick@delphi.com>. The submissions manager
is Joshua Houk <houk@athena.cs.uga.edu>. The mailing manager is Liz Clayton
<lclayton@uhuru.uchicago.edu>. The archivist is Sean Murphy <skmurphy@phoenix.
princeton.edu>. Please send submissions for next week's digest to Joshua,
preferably on or before Friday. Send address changes to Liz, and requests for
back issues or anonymous FTP information to Sean. Send any other questions to
Mark. Thiggedy-thiggedy-thiggedy-that's all folks!