indie-list-21.txt
* THE INDIE-LIST DIGEST *
Issue 21 (March 6, 1993)
Presented by Mark Cornick, Joshua Houk, Liz Clayton and Sean Murphy.
Kneeling beneath TNT since September 1992.
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Please note Mark's new address. It is different. :)
The address <mcornick@delphi.com> will cease to exist on or around April
1. DO NOT mail there after this date or your mail will bounce. There
will NOT be a forwarding order in place.
(How long has Dischord had "Please note our new prices. They are higher."
on their price list, anyway? :)
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From: Quick Trick Knox Stack <cornick@access.digex.com>
Hi, Mark back again, slushing through the rain (ooh, Seattle style) to
bring you yet another stack of reviews.
But first, an observation. I enjoy writing a lot of stuff, and so does
Sean, but it seems like we end up writing the majority of most digests.
You've gotta be getting tired of our slant on things by now! :) Send us
stuff! Reviews, playlists from your radio station, upcoming gigs, scene
reports, research on DC-band inbreeding, nursery rhymes for Frances
Cobain, fantasies about Debbie Gibson, whatever... You are perfectly
welcome to read Indie-List without contributing anything, but we urge
you to get involved! You don't need to be one of the people you read
here every week, or even need to be up-to-date on all the world's indie
happenings (lord knows _we're not :) We're a friendly, non-intimidating
operation and we want to hear from you! Don't be afraid... unless your
article is a flame or about Michael Bolton, it won't be rejected.
(Flames of Michael Bolton may or may not pass Josh's gauntlet :) Also,
anonymous posting is available for those who don't want to get caught by
The Man. :)
Anyway, ya got yer new stuff...
TSUNAMI, "Diner" 45 (Southern Studios/Simple Machines, PO Box 10290,
Arlington, VA 22210-1290): Manufactured in Europe by Southern Studios,
who've long done the manufacturing & distribution for Dischord.
(Southern will also be assisting the Simple Machinists with the
still-upcoming Tsunami LP _Deep End_. Which, by the way, is now half a
year behind schedule... that's OK, Sean and I will wait it out :)
Anyway, this 45 contains two very nice songs; you'll have to ask Sean if
either one of them is on And hey, Kristin sings the B-side ("Gold
Digger.") Nice embossed sleeve with the Tastee Diner menu on the back.
By the way, Waffle House now serves hashbrowns 6 ways... now you can
get 'em scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, topped & diced (diced
tomatoes.) Just seemed like a good place to mention that. 24-hour-a-day
fun.
HOOVER, "Side Car Freddie" 45 (Dischord, 3819 Beecher St NW, Washington,
DC 20007-1803): Look, it's a new band from DC with apparently no members
of other DC bands... what an anomaly :) Anyway, they're much in the
new-school harDCore vein, with a sort of JAWBOX/J-CHURCH kind of sound.
I missed 'em when they played JMU last week--I was in Charlottesville
checking out other bands (read on.) But me and my friends did run into
'em at Waffle House after their last Harrisonburg gig, so at least we
know they eat well. (Note: this is technically a Dischord "half" release
and, as such, does not have the super-snazzy Southern Studios sleeves &
vinyl. It does, however, have a sleeve describing the stereo recording
process, for your information.) Despite the name, Hoover don't suck. :)
ROLLKICKER LAYDOWN, "No Voices In The Wire" 45 (DeSoto, PO Box 60335,
Washington, DC 20039): On the other hand, Rollkicker Laydown is a side
project for various DCenesters, among them J.(ay) Robbins from JAWBOX
and Geoff (aka Jeff) Turner (who was in various bands and now runs WGNS
studios.) It's passable stuff, inevitably sounding like Jawbox since
Robbins sings. Iain Burgess mixed it (there's that Jawbox/Chicago
connection again :) And apparently the DeSoto label is still around, not
having released anything for about a year and a half before this. You
probably won't hear from this band ever again, so take a listen now.
MAKE IT STOP, demo cassette (c/o Scott Evans, 583 Brandon Ave Apt. 703,
Charlottesville, VA 22903 or <thrash@virginia.edu>): As mentioned a few
weeks back, MIS are a Charlottesville band who pretty much defy
categorization. They could be a metal band with all the guitar-school
technique, but that wouldn't account for the Helmet/Breadwinner type
mechanations, nor the sorta floating alto of Kayte Stasny. And what
metal band ever wrote a song "On The Shelf Life Of Twinkies"? There's a
little bit of Rush creeping in here, but don't hold it against them.
Most of us probably don't buy a lot of cassettes, but this is one you
should check out.
EGGS, "Erin Go Bragh" split 45 with WHALE (Hineymartian, PO Box 1407,
Kearny, NJ 07032): Probably my favorite of the current Eggs releases,
and ironically the one least recognizable as Eggs. Lilys/Swirlies kinda
water-tank noise, with an addictive flute & la-la-la hook. Wunnerful,
wunnerful. Whale, on the other hand, were not very good, but the A-side
(which also includes a brief talking bit by some guy whose name I've
forgotten) more than makes this worthwhile.
VELOCITY GIRL, _Velocity Girl_ CD EP (Slumberland, PO Box 14731,
Berkeley, CA 94701): This 6-song CD neatly recapitulates most of VG's
Slumberland recordings. It includes both tracks from the extremely out
of print "I Don't Care If You Go" 45, both sides of their second 45
"(My) Forgotten Favorite", the cool previously-unreleased "Not At All"
and an OK acoustic version of "I Don't Care If You Go" (can't you see it
now on MTV... "VELOCITY GIRL... UNPLUGGED!" :) You'll still have to hunt
down the "What Kind Of Heaven Do You Want?" compilation to get the full
VG/Slumberland experience, but this catches us up very nicely. (Oh yeah,
it's packaged just like an indie 45, with folded paper sleeve in a
plastic bag. Cute, but I put mine in a jewel box :) As essential as
breakfast cereal, with the same sweet aftertaste.
MERCURY REV, "Chasing A Bee" (Columbia -- CD5 only): For those of you who
bought the Mercury Rev LP reissue but didn't get the "Special Whipped
Edition" (the 2-disc set), the second disc is now available separately
(with its own CBS Jazz Masters-style picture sleeve to boot.) "Chasing A
Bee" is same as on the LP. Track 2 is a fucking hilarious cover of Sly
Stone's "If You Want Me To Stay." The Red Hot Chili Peppers wish they
had this much soul. Finally, Track 3 contains four songs (Coney Island
Cyclone, Syringe Mouth, Frittering, Chasing A Girl Inside A Car) from
their Peel session. So who cares if a massive Japanese conglomerate owns
their souls? What a great band.
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From: enriquk@instruction.CS.ORST.EDU (everyday oozer)
Hi All!
This is my 1st post...so let me say "hello". My name's Kelly and I live
in Corvallis, OR...a pretty cool town with a decent music scene (even if
there aren't a lot of people here who come out and support the local
scene). Since Travis already talked about Corvallis music last week (I
go ditto with what he said)...I'll review some bands that are from the
West Coast in general...o-tay?
GIRL TROUBLE 7" Work That Crowd/Granny's Pad (Empty Records, P.O. Box
12034, Seattle, WA 98102) This is typical Girl Trouble...Great!!! Plus
the added bonus of some insights from Granny Go Go (who does tour with
them on occasion). Girl Trouble is your basic rock-n-roll band from
that Seattle area. I highly reccommend you see these guys (and gal) play
if you get the chance...they put on a great live show.
HAZEL 7" Jilted/Truly (Sub Pop, P.O. Box 20645, Seattle, WA 98102)
really good songs...kind of mellow stuff from Hazel. Another great band
to see live. Oh they're from Portland,OR in case you didn't know.
...you know it's a good song when you're dreaming about it (I woke up
last Sunday with Jilted stuck in my head...).
TRIBE 8 7" _Pig Bitch_ (Harp Records, P.O. Box 460465, San Francisco,
CA, 94146) Tribe 8 is a hardcore, lesbian band from San Francisco. The
lyrics are great...but the music is only so-so. (consider...I was
playing Frat Pig over the air at 45 rpm...and later decided maybe it was
supposed to be played at 33 rpm...oops) Definitely see this band live
if you get the chance. They're much better live than on vinyl.
PINHEAD GUNPOWDER 7" Fahizah (Lookout Records, P.O. Box 11374,
Berkeley, CA, 94701) This is great!!! Fast and fun...kinda sounds like
GREEN DAY (probably 'cuz both bands share a certain bandmember). I
especially like their cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" (originally by Joni
Mitchell).
NOFX _White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean_ (Fat Wreck Chords/Epitaph) This
is a great cd...lots of different styles. They do this great Louis
Armstrong-wannabe version of "Straight Edge" (originally by MINOR
THREAT). "Liza and Louise" is a classic song about a lesbian love
affair...and there's much much more. A lot of high energy music!
HANSON BROS _Gross Misconduct_ (Alternative Tentacles) I know this has
been reviewed before...but I just wanted to add my enthusiasm. Buy this
cd!!! Especially if you like NoMeansNo or the Ramones.
ok...that's all for now.
hasta luego,
Kelly
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From: prdillo@med.unc.edu (Paul R. Cardillo)
Hey Indie-List subscribers, my name is Paul Cardillo and I am a fairly
new resident of Chapel Hill, NC. I've been enamored of the Music Scene
here for quite some time and decided to quit my stuffy corporate job in
New York and move my sorry-ass to a small town that was fairly
inexpensive and had a good music scene. I'll try to post some regular
news and reviews from the North Carolina area and get the obligatory
Superchunk review over with now.
SUPERCHUNK/TH' FAITH HEALERS/UNREST - March 1, 1993, Cat's Cradle,
Chapel Hill, NC.
An all'round excellent ticket. Couldn't pass this one up.
UNREST - opened the show with a sloppy, out of tune version of Bavarian
Mods and stopped ten seconds into the song. Apparently Mark hadn't
tuned his guitar before taking the stage. After some brief adjustments
the band resumed playing and sounded just wonderful. This is the first
time I had seen Unrest (hell, this is the first time I've reviewed a
show for anyone) and was duly impressed with their energy. The singing
was a bit high in the mix and Mark and jenny's voices were a little weak
from flu season. Overall, it was a good show with obligatory cuts from
"Imperial fffr" ("Cherry," "I do believe you are blushing," "June") and
no "Skinhead", "God Gave R n'R to You."
TH' FAITH HEALERS - were somewhat underwhelming. I didn't know too much
about them before the show, and it seemed they were mining the MBV sound
and making it slightly more grungy. Very few of the songs stuck in my
head and after about '45 minutes of loud, chiming guitars and feedback
(I couldn't hear a single lyric) I retired to the back of the club and
had a few Olympias. I don't know if I'd go out and buy an album based
on this performance, but I would like to hear some more of their stuff
before writing them off. Overall? Too long and too loud for a
supporting act (they probably should have headlined but this is Chapel
Hill). Most of the rest of the crowd really seemed to enjoy them.
SUPERCHUNK - loud, tight and fast. One of the better performances from
the local heroes. They opened with "100,00 fireflies," a Magnetic
Fields cover from the B-side of the "Question is How Fast" 7" and 75
minutes later, in a sweaty heap closed with a Minor Threat cover
dedicated to all the people from the DC "Hardcore" scene who had come to
see Unrest. In between they did killer versions of "Cadmium," "Tie a
Rope to the Back of the Bus," "Punch me harder," "Precision Auto,"
"Mower," and the new slow "ballad" from "On the Mouth" (I can't remember
the name right now). Mac and laura seemed pumped to be playing on their
home-court after a brief hiatus. The last time they played in Chapel
Hill was on Halloween night. It was all high intensity and anthemic
posing and shit. They've really tightened up in a live setting since I
saw them last April at NYU's indie-music fest, where I was completely
underwhelmed and somewhat disappointed in their live performance. But,
they have redeemed themselves. They worked the crowd for all it was
worth and I think everyone in the Cradle was pogoing after the first
three notes of the first song. btw, they did "Slack Motherf*er," as
an encore (before the Minor Threat Song - I think it was "Filler") and
threw the crowd into a frenzy.
Despite my lengthy Superchunk review, I will in the future pay more
attention to some of the lesser known bands in the area. Superchunk may
be the most popular local act on the national scene (and deservedly so -
they're good and they're super-nice people) but they are certainly not
the most popular or even the best band in NC now. My vote? - Zen
Frisbee. I'll review some of their stuff soon.
Bye for now,
paul
prdillo@med.unc.edu
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From: stuart <johnson@mail.ph.ed.ac.uk>
This may well be the indie lists first ever post from Scotland.
Excited? Well, its not often I get to notch up a first.
[ Well, actually, we had regular reports from Lindsay Watt in Edinburgh
until about December or so. Lindsay, you still there? Did you graduate?
:) This is our first Scottish post of 1993, though. - Mark ]
Live: DINOSAUR JNR/COME/BETTIE SERVEERT @ Barrowlands, Glasgow (20/3).
All know what to expect with a D.Jnr performance, moments of out-there
guitar hero ecstacy which were all there in the right places (Freak
Scene/No Bones/Start Choppin') interspersed with the ocassional drawn
out yawns. No surprises, no disappoinments.
Earlier Come, who've had good things said of them in our music press of
late, just left me unmoved. They seemed lazy and unenthusiastic and what
emotions they were trying to relate with their bruised and beatup blues
just never got through.
But Bettie Seveert did surprise. My only previous listen of theirs was a
quite, slight Sundays-like session recorded for the BBC so when this
ROCK band came out and proceeded to knock us dead with song after loud
song, I was stunned. The flailing long haired guitarist performed (in
the actor on stage sense) with more energy, more stage presence than
J.Mascis has ever encountered, he was in love with the whole idea of
being up there, right down to sawing the guitar up against a mike stand.
Plus those gorgeous Sundays-style vocals were still there soaring out
over top of it all; I sense a love affair in the making. 40 minutes that
were worth the ticket price alone. Now I need that album, "Palomine" is
the name and it's out on the Guernica label.
[ B.Serveert album is on Guernica in Europe, Matador in the USA - Mark ]
Thanks, stuart.
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From: Sean Murphy <skmurphy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Just a quick post this week - made a little trip out to Penn State last
weekend to see a few bands - Wendyfix, Purple Ivy Shadows, Wimp Factor
14, and Eggs. This seemed to be the night of too many/not enough band
members as PIS and Eggs were each missing one person and WF 14 had too
many. But all was cool. Due to some idiocy on our part (i.e. no map),
we took a slightly long route to Penn State and just missed Wendyfix.
All reports suggest that they played a fine set. PIS was up next, minus
John the bass player - it was cool, but I missed his part in a few
songs, particularly "Cathedral Forest" and "Icicles Are Echoes". Wimp
Factor 14, the only band I hadn't seen before, really rocked me. Frank
Boscoe and Franklin Bruno (of Nothing Painted Blue) really need to get
together - between the 2 of them, we could see some of the coolest
lyrics of all time. WF tends to be less wordy than NPB, making it
easier to figure out the words (which is really important). "Botch" and
"Rockwell International" were the big standouts for me. And the drummer
looked like she was a lost Wiggin sister (from the Shaggs). Very cool
- I hope to see them again soon. And then Eggs came on, without a
drummer, sorta. Rob played drums for about half the set, and then the
three of them pulled up folding chairs and Rob broke out the trombone.
It was very different from the last time I saw them, but excellent all
the same. They did all the stuff from the Jade Tree single, a newish
song called "Evanston" (sorta dedicated to the Wendyfix crew, who drove
out to Penn State from Northwestern - 10+ hours of driving), and lots of
other neat things. And I was able to pick up the new single, "Government
Administrator/Sugar Babe", which is well worth having. Probably my
favorite of the recent slew of releases from Eggs - now if they could
just find a permanent drummer... :)
And, I got one weird CD - it's a compilation and tribute to some obscure
60's poet/writer from Hungary named Eleine D. Jezus. Really cool music
- lots of covers (Beatles, Pooh Sticks, The Ronnettes, T. Rex), lots of
neat German bands, basically cool stuff all around. It's called "And He
Didn't Even Draw A Fish On My Shower Curtain", released on Mermaid
Records from Berlin. The bands I recognized on it were WF14, Fat
Tulips, and a Jowe Head side project, but those might be the weakest
songs on it. This guy named Sirkin Sikora does a 12 minute "symphony"
partly in Hungarian, partly in German, and it borrows riffs and rhythms
from Deep Purple's "Child In Time". Very cool. If you see this, get
it. BTW, has anyone ever heard of this author before? I'd love to see
what her writing is like...
Oh yeah, just saw "Slacker" for the first time tonight - what a great
movie...I can see myself doing something along those lines in a year and
a half... :) ...maybe those anarchists were on to something...
See ya...
Sean
PS: If you're nearby and have the time, please come to our concert on
Wednesday the 10th - Corndolly, Hassan Chop!, and Tot Finder (a
Princeton band - two friends of mine doing some cool quiet stuff). All
ages, 9 pm, $5. Mail me for info/directions...
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From: Napoleon XIV <STU_DMGREENB@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU>
I got a call from Tony, MD at WCWM at William & Mary, this afternoon,
about two upcoming Band Nites:
Friday March 19th SWIRLIES and FUDGE
Saturday April 24th UNSANE and RAILROAD JERK
The shows will be around 5 buckaroos, and beer is usually 25 cents. Mark
and I are planning a roadtrip to the first one, and staying overnite at
some friends' of mine. Dan and I will be roadtripping to the second
show, and ditto. If anyone wants to tag along, we'll be leaving for both
shows from Harrisonburg. We will cut through Charlottesville and
Richmond. Before each show is the traditional WCWM Dinner, so come
early! For rides and directions, email me or call (703) 433 - 4966.
WTJU FM in Charlottesville will be having its annual Rock Marathon the
first week of April. Mark and I are doing a VA. Indies Show, the date
and time of which will be announced shortly. The station is also having
a benefit show, the date of which has not been finalized; however,
UNREST are headlining, the support bands yet to be scheduled. if any
bands are interested in playing, please call or email me as directed
above. I will post a Marathon schedule here, for those of you in the
listening area. The station is installing its new transmitter soon
(perhaps as you read this) and will be broadcast at 91.1 FM (formerly
91.3 FM). The range of broadcast supposedly will be increased, but I'm
not sure of the exact radius. More on that later.
[ The frequency change happens between midnight and six this Sunday,
so by the time many of you read this, it will have happened. WTJU's
new transmitter has twice the power of the old one, and you should
be able to hear us through most of central Virginia on 91.1 FM -
Mark ]
ARDVARK
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BRIEF PLUG: As mentioned by Mme Ardvark, WTJU-FM, one of the University
of Virginia's three radio stations, begins their Rock Marathon
fund-raiser in early April. Each year 'TJU gets a well-known musician to
design a shirt for the event. Past artists have included Robyn Hitchcock
("91.3