indie-list-32.txt
* THE INDIE-LIST DIGEST #32 * May 22, 1993 *
"Forward In All Directions - Playable At All Volumes"
Serving the International Pop Underground since 1992
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ATTENTION: NEW, SLIGHTLY ENIGMATIC PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
Due to real-life constraints (i.e. my new job), Indie-List will mail on
Monday nights, starting with issue #32 which will mail May 31. This
means you should probably have your articles in Josh's mailbox by, say,
5.00 PM EST (2100 GMT.) Look for Indie-List in your mailbox on Tuesday
morning!
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From: Mark <cornick@access.digex.net>
Correction-uh: the name of the new Fall LP is _The Infotainment Scan_,
not _The Infotainment Scam_ as I wrote last week. Personally, I think
Scam fits a little better, but that's Mark E. Smith for you. I stand
corrected-uh.
* THE TROUBLE WITH LARRY cd: The first full-lengther from this
geek-metal trio from Richmond. Many of these songs were on their
previous string of 45s. TTWL are, for whatever reason, kinda popular in
Slovenia, and somehow it seems appropriate. Like Laibach, TTWL like dark
& violent contrasts; unlike Laibach, they rock out when the vocals
(which often border on the horrendous) don't get in the way. Also, the
songs (there are 18 of them) tend to sound a lot alike after a while.
The Trouble With Larry (not to be confused with an identically-named TV
show starring Bronson Pinchot premiering this fall on CBS) are one of
those odd Richmond bands, like Honor Role, that will probably never
endear themselves to vast audiences, but make some challenging music
nonetheless. (Whatever that means. :-) *. (Good Kitty, 201A N Davis
Ave, Richmond, VA 23220)
* PYLORIC WAVES compilation cd: "A selection of unreleased brown weight
from the North Carolina movement" sez the catalog. ("Brown weight" being
a quaint Carolina euphemism for "shit.") 19 tracks (although two of them
are by the utterly pointless, Tube Bar-esque Robert Delaney) from a wide
assortment of Tarheel bands, from the cash cows (Superchunk, Polvo,
Erectus Monotone) to the up-n-coming (Vanilla Trainwreck, Geezer Lake,
Picasso Trigger) to the best-forgotten (Toxic Popsickle, Camper Van
Chadbourne.) There are a few omissions, some notable (Small? Pipe?
Archers of Loaf?) and some commendable (I never want to hear another
Antiseen song again), but all in all this is a fine overview of what's
happening down tobacco road, and might even (finally) put D-Tox on the
map. **. (D-Tox, PO Box 5655, Greensboro NC 27435)
* POLVO, _Today's Active Lifestyles_ cd: Speaking of North Carolina,
this is the second LP by these Raleigh sonic deconstructionists. Their
first album _Cor-crane Secret_ sounded like they'd been listening to
Evol a lot; now it sounds like they've moved back to _Confusion Is
Sex._ Enigmatic, difficult listening; the kind of music that either
really excites you or gives you migraines. It doesn't really excite me,
but I'm not gulping down the Advil either. It'll probably grow on me as
it gets older, but for now I give it *. (Merge, PO Box 1235, Chapel
Hill NC 27514)
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From: Socks <houk@athena.cs.uga.edu>
First - a request... can anyone give me the address for Smells Like
Records? I am presently w/o my Sentridoh 7" at the present... Oh - and
the address for Shrimper, too... thanksya!
[ Smells Like, PO Box 6179. Hoboken NJ 07030. Don't know about Shrimper
-- I buy very few cassettes. :-) Mark ]
And, the reviews, aka "So What's The Big Deal?", sure to lower y'alls
image of me... :)
o Grifters - _One Sock Missing_ (Shangri-La) [CD]
Didn't affect me as much as I wished it would've... I was all set for
great low-fi pop/rock heaven, and I got a bunch of old Homestead Records
retreads, with an occasional shimmer of greatness. Every else seems to
be fawning all over this, though - so just take this review with a grain
of salt. There's a couple tunes on here that'll leave you grounded
("She Blows Blasts of Static" is great, as is "#1"), but the rest are
wander around aimlessly, occasionally picking up a good vibe. Nice to
have, but easy to skip over. (*)
o Trumans Water - _Spasm Smash..._ (Homestead) [CD]
Yep - it's a total rip-off of Pavement, Sebadoh, TFUL282, and all them
low-fi aggro bands. What it boils down to is: it's okay to listen to,
but you'll feel pretty irked that you were taken on a ride. The
mind-numbing length (70+ minutes) doesn't help either. Strictly playing
by numbers. (**1/2)
Joshua H
| houk@athena.cs.uga.edu | indie-list co-moderator | neurotic, but cute |
"With all the insipid music receiving popularity, I thought
to myself, 'Thank God for Debbie Gibson.'"
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From: Brian K!z!K MacDonald <bmacdona@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU>
TRUMANS WATER "Hey Fish" 7" (Drunken Fish) -- Anyway, the first release
since the supersuperb Spasm_Smash soliliquy. (Try saying that 5 times
fast). I love this. "Hey Fish" is a momentous venture, staying as
spastic as ever. "Mr. E" is a lo-fi venture into primal, er...
SOMETHING, containing a few guitar wanks and some screaming. The other
side, with "Storm Queen II" (Not too sure the first word is "Storm" but
it's something) is a more standard (if that's possible with Trumans
Water) type of thing for them, reminding me a bit of "Girler Too" from
Of_Thick_Tum. To keep it short, this 7" is yet another reason to get
into this band. This one is probably one you'd want to start with.
FURTHER Grip_Tape_LP (LP/CS/CD) (K/Christmas records) -- Finally, this
L.A. quartet comes out with a full-lengther. In a few words, Further are
to Dinosaur Jr. as the Swirlies are to My Bloody Valentine. Both
Further and the Swirlies are great bands and put out equally great
material if you don't mind the nagging similarities between their
influencing counterparts. Further is more reminiscent of the Dino Jr. of
the You're_Living All_Over_/_Bug era. If you don't mind listening
to something which reminds you of the above, you'll love this album from
start to finish. Lee Ranaldo appears on one of the tracks, "Broken"
(?) for all you Youth completists. It was recorded by Mr. Wharton
"Hockey Club" Tiers in NYC. You probably would have thought this band
was from New York if Further hadn't included the L.A. address for
Christmas records.
interesting trivia fact: Further used to be Shadowland. Yes, THAT
Shadowland. The terribly overproduced Waterboys ripoff on Geffen whose
hit single "Indigo Blue" hit the commercial-alternative media around
1989. Don't let this fact turn you off. There is as much in comon
between Further's sound and Shadowland's sound, as there is between
Ministy's With_Sympathy and Kephali_69. (For those who don't care
for Ministry, the former is new wave disco crap and the latter is
grinding metal noise mania).
Oh, yeah. Further are quite cool live.
BAILTER SPACE Robot_World (Matador/Flying Nun) -- Bailter Space can
only be described in adjectives: Haunting, swirly, dense, loopy,
hypnotic, minimal, atmospheric, turquoise, dissonant, ressonant, spacey.
If those adjectives and the vision of multiple gleaming guitars whet
your musical appetite, you might have discovered your new favorite band.
Interestingly enough, most people who see pictures of Bailter Space in
muzic-mags assume that they are industrial (!!!). I have to admit that
Bailter Space look A LOT like Front 242! I laughed when I played the
album for a friend. He said "WHAT? No beatbox? No repeating catch
phrases? No synthocore?". THIS BAND proves that you CANNOT judge an
album by its cover.
SEBADOH Bubble_and_Scrape (Sub Pop/Domino)
Lou Barlow: The tortured artist and soul by definition.... A swooner
for all teenage girls across the world.... ["Ohmigawd! Lou Barlow! I
totally wanna marry him..."] A jealous asshole one day, and the world's
greatest serenader the next.... Minstrel for a millenum.... A praline
purveyor and prince of punk....
Eric Gaffney: Death metal dissonance freak.... Loyal Mudhoney fan....
Beckoning blond booger.... One who sacrifices old fotos for album
covers....
Jason Lowenstein: The new kid on the plantation.... A brute in
appearance, an innocent apprentice on inspection.... The third
muskateer.... A psychedelic bystander....
Yup. This is proof. Proof that Sebadoh could very well be characters
in a potential new spinoff sitcom based on "The Young Ones"!
Oh, about the album... IMHO It's the most compressed album to date.
Somehow the variety of III just hit me at the right level. I feel
there isn't as much as a spark on this album, though I still enjoy it.
My favorites from each songwriter are "Sacred Attention"(Lou), "No Way
Out"(Eric), and "Sixteen"(Jason). What also bugs me about the album is
that the flow from one member's songs to the other isn't there.
Somehow, on III, the bumpy fun ride rid me of caring who was operating
the ride. Bubble_and_Scrape takes me through a forlorn love tunnel
(via Lou) then transfers me down to a pit of hell and fear (via Eric).
Jason' songs put me through a little of both. There's nothing wrong
with being spontaneous and inconsistent. It's just that III's
inconsistency was more enjoyable then Bubble_and_Scrape. Has Eric
been listening to too much Mudhoney? Most of the songs I like on III
are by Eric! But on Bubble, these are the ones I tempted to skip.
Anyway, I still give the album kudos, for Sebadoh are the musical
equivalent of The_Young_Ones for the 90's. How much cooler can you
get than that?
VARIOUS ARTISTS Internation_Hip_Swing compilation (K) -- Some of your
favorite K 7" A-sides compiled on a 20-song CD. Includes Unrest's "Yes
She is My Skinhead Girl" (Kramer produced version)(?), Seaweed's "Deer
Hunt", the McTell's "Clean", Teenage Fanclub's "Free Again", and many
others. A must for those who lack ye turntable.
That's all for now. I got these a while ago, but I thought they were
still strong in the underground's field of vision currently.
K!z!K
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Mail articles for next week to Josh Houk: <houk@athena.cs.uga.edu>
(that is Joshua's address, not K. Lena Bennett's... :-)
[Submitted by: Mark Cornick (cornick@access.digex.net)
Sat, 22 May 1993 10:35:02 -0400]