Indie-List_V2_N14
For people who desire the finest in sound... always demand:
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the INDIE-LIST DIGEST /
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/ Volume 2, Number 14
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This week:
As the Indie-List turns
Some people like to rock.
Message from the Moderator
indie list articel
Eggs and other fine farm products
I-L: Road Tripping
Watch Out! (aka another indie submission)
Ford recalled
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NOTE: Mark has discovered a bug in the text editor he uses to put together
Indie-List (BBEdit Lite, if you care) that sometimes causes spaces between
"I" or "A" and other words to mysteriously disappear. So if you see strange
things like "Iam" or "arecord" in the digests, well, Mark tried to fix all
the typos, but he might've missed a few.
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark
Subj: As the Indie-List turns
For those of you just coming back from the summer, here's a brief update on
some stuff which happened in the past few months:
- Josh resigned as Moderator due to lack of net access; K. Lena Bennett was
promoted from Postmodern Comix Specialist to Moderator.
- Mark's address changed about 93 times.
- Jawbox and Clutch signed to Atlantic, and Rocket From The Crypt's _Circa:
Now!_ was reissued by Interscope (a division of Atlantic.) Also, the first
two records from the new Matador/Atlantic alliance were released: The Fall's
_Infotainment Scan_ (aka ...Scam) and Moonshake's _Eva Luna_. We can only
conlude that Atlantic Records are out of their minds.
- GG Allin died; HeWhoCannotBeNamed did not.
- The Indie-500 was not the Woodstock-esque event that some had hoped it to
be, but people enjoyed it nonetheless.
- Mark is in a new band called Friendly.
- Mark and Rob Vaughn had an interesting but non-indie-related debate about
spiedies.
- Liz published the first issue of her zine _Wind-Up Toy_; next on the paper
tip from I-L Infotainment Junta co-conspirators are Lenazine from (guess)
and _Making Michael Bolton Happy_ (working title), the official Indie-List
first anniversary paper thing.
- Indie-List will soon become a twice-weekly publication; read on.
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark
Subj: Some people like to rock.
About twice a year, I go thru all the CDs I've bought in the past several
months and take the ones I don't listen to much down to the shop to sell.
That way I can buy new stuff such as the following. This week only, I'm going
to include makeoutability ratings, as a public service to Seattle residents
bonking undiscovered cartoonists:
- UNREST, _Perfect Teeth_ (TeenBeat/4AD US/Warner Bros): Well, sports fans,
here it is (OK, I didn't buy the ultra-limited boxed-45 set, I didn't want to
be endlessly flipping 45s. If I were a true KolectorSkum who bought records
only to look at, I'd own all the variations on the box by now. :-) So does it
live up to Imperial? Well, almost. It's a fantastic CD, yes. And Cath
Carroll is not only a pretty song, but a good looking cover star too. The
songs are all good -- and for once, Unrest isn't the Mark Robinson
Experience: Bridget wrote and/or sings a few tunes ("Stylized Ampersand" is a
great title), and Phil (!) even sings one. (!!!) The instrumentation includes
(on "Food & Drink Synthesizer") one of those plastic tubes that, when you
swing it around yr head, makes a whistling-rushing noise. (You know.) The
booklet (by 4AD usual-suspect Chris Bigg) is beautiful. (See page 14.) Mark
could've let the opportunity go to his head, but he didn't. No sell-out here,
no sir. Basically, if you liked Imperial (and I only know a few Unrest fans
who didn't) you're probably going to like _Perfect Teeth_ too. (Attention
DJs: like Imperial and _Isabel Bishop_, this record includes speeds in
bpm.) But it still falls short of the godlike Imperial, one of the top 3
LPs of all time in my book. This was inevitable. In light of that, I'm going
to give it ***.repeating; that is, ** limitlessly approaching ***.
(Calculus! The bane of the thinking class!) If Imperial had never come out
it would be exactly ***, but TeenBeat 77 is so much to live up to.
(Recommended makeout tracks: "Angel I'll Walk You Home", "Food And Drink
Synthesizer", "West Coast Love Affair", "Stylized Ampersand". "Make Out Club"
would work if it were a little slower.) Last note: Compare these lyrics:
"Will you die for me? No." (from "Loyola" on Imperial) and "I will die for
you" (from "So Sick" on _Perfect Teeth._) Geez, how getting signed to 4AD can
change a guy's outlook... :-)
- STEREOLAB, _Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements_ (Elektra):
Too Pure is my favorite Brit indie label. So far, the American corporate
muzak mo-chine has picked up on three Too Pure bands (PJ Harvey, Th Faith
Healers and Moonshake); Stereolab is the fourth. Tiddeli-pom. If it means I
can buy Stereolab CDs for less than $21.99, I'm all for it. (Memo to Terry
Tolkin: A stateside issue of Peng! is long overdue.) Anyway, the record.
First thing you'll notice is that the sleeve is designed (as was _The Groop
Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music_) like an old hi-fi test record, right
down to explanations of the tracks ("Channel recognition", "Pink noise,
primarily for evaluation" and -- the odd one -- "Proust song.") The music?
They must've been hanging out with Th Faith Healers a lot recently -- "Our
Trinitone Blast" sounds a lot like a Healers song -- and they're trying some
new things with much success. Getting out of a rut, if you will. And, when
you can make out Seaya's, er, Laetitia's vocals (a lot more often than
before) the lyrics actually make some sense, unlike the awkward Circus
Lupus-ish constructs of records past. It's quite different, and yet it still
sounds just like Stereolab. And (Stereolab critics take note) nearly every
song is different. I'd say it's their best yet, yes sir re Bob, you've got to
come down and see the panda bears at the zoo, uh-huh. "Analogue Rock!"
**1/2. (Recommended makeout tracks: "Pack Yr Romantic Mind", "Pause",
"Jenny Ondioline", "Lock-Groove Lullaby." Space-age bachelors and
bachelorettes take note: "Jenny Ondioline" runs over 18 minutes.)
- MOONSHAKE, _Eva Luna_ (Too Pure/Matador/Atlantic): This has been out a
little while, but I waited for the US edition before buying it. (OK, maybe
Gerard is a swell guy after all... naaah.) So let me just add my name to the
Moonshake Roll Call Of Glory, recommending this very highly. White people
have never sounded so noisy and yet so hype at the same time. It chugs, it
changs, it chuckas, it makes various sounds you can't reproduce in print. It
ties many things together into one of my favorite records of the year. Even
better deal on the US edition -- you get the "Secondhand Clothes" single
tacked onto the end. ***. (Recommended makeout tracks: None. It's
impossible. Unless maybe you're into bondage.)
- V/A, THURTENE (Dewdrops, 1817 Corinth Ave. #10, LA CA 90025-5567,
<nelson@bonnie.astro.ucla.edu>): A collection of (yup) 13 covers of various
4AD bands by various little-known indie acts (the Moon Seven Times is
probably the best-known act on here.) Most of 'em are from the pre-Lilliput
era and are fairly faithful to the originals. My personal favorite is Floral
Majority's cover of the Henry Cow/Mazzy Star/Pale Saints classic "Blue
Flower", although Red Zoo's N'Land-ish take on "5/10" (Colin Newman -- he's
provisionally entitled the singing fish, y'know!) is pretty damn cool too.
It's all very thatlisty. It looks nice too. (Nice faux-23-Envelope design.) A
big thumbs-up to Brant on this one. (But why no Birthday Party covers? :-)
**. (Recommended makeout tracks: making out to the Cocteau Twins is
indicated only in high-school-age manic-depressive creatively-repressed
half-Japanese French-hornists with geeky boyfriends from the wrong side of
town. (Hi, Anne. :-) Any other use for this purpose may result in excessive
smoking. Proceed at yr own risk.)
- SLANT 6, "What Kind Of Monster Are You?" (Dischord, 3819 Beecher St NW,
Washington DC 20007): Excellent three-song debut 45 from this male-free trio
with Christina from Autoclave and Myra from Lucky 13. If Bikini Kill could
play their instruments, they'd sound like Slant 6 -- they fit somewhere in
the harDCore pantheon between the FYH old-school and the current "Dischord
sound", whatever that is; it's got that HC tension but with the melodic &
rhythmic sense of a Jawbox or NOU. Hopefully Slant 6 will be around a little
longer than Autoclave was, 'cause I've liked everything I've heard from them
thus far. **. (Recommended make... ah, forget it.)
- ANALOGUE, demo tape (760 S Lumina Ave, Box 8801, Wrightsville Beach NC
28480, <ckkarlof@eos.ncsu.edu>): 5-song demo from a band featuring a reader
of this list (see? if you send stuff we'll review it!) OK Pavement/S. Youth/
Slint influenced stuff. I'll overlook the cruddy drum sound since this is a
demo. Except for the first song, vocals are kinda quiet and occasionally
spoken (the HM vox on that first song are muy annoying.) Should appeal to
_Soluble Fish_ and/or Shrimper fans. Perhaps not bound for glory, but stacks
up with a lot of their Tarheel contemporaries. Nice coughing on "Pets de
Westlake", too. *1/2.
P.S. the Friendly/Blastoff/Idiot Mittens show is now definitely going to
happen this Sunday, late in the afternoon. Anyone in/near Richmond, whether
as a way of life or just for the pop fest, is invited. Please contact me if
you're interested.
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Lena
Subj: Message from the Moderator
Well, last week's digest was really long, prompting inhouse soul-searching
and hair-tearing over the issue of whether to go twice-weekly, but this
week's digest is trim and fit so the issue is back-burnered for now. My
personal feeling is that if it starts looking too long by Wednesday, I'll go
ahead and bump it over to Mark, but, anarchist that I am, I'm wishy washy on
the subject of whether to officially be once- or twice-weekly. At least as
often as a cartoonist washes his hair....
[ Right now it looks like it'll be either once or twice depending on
necessity, so let's just call it a {1...2}-times-weekly for now. When it
happens, the issues will be on Tuesday and Friday. - Mark ]
Anyway, I have nothing to report this week -- no new CDs, no shows.... Well,
except for I picked up the new issue of Option, which had some good stuff
in it (e.g., the Loud Family), and there was an article about Liz Phair that
had some photos that made her look like a grunge playboy bunny. I have had a
lot of reservations about buying her disc unheard, merely on the basis of
hype, and seeing these photos put me off the idea even more.... If anyone
wants to convince me she's worth it, don't waste words, just send me a
tape....
[ I read an interview with Miz Liz Phair where she said something like "I
like to use myself as my own little dress-up doll." (Hmm. Kinda like
Madonna.) So Iguess the pictures where probably her idea. Anyway, the little
bit of Liz Phair I've heard was pretty interesting, but the other Chicago Liz
has the whole CD courtesy of Gerard "I Will Wrestle You For Food" Cosloy so
maybe she should talk about it. - Mark ]
I do have a question -- can anyone tell me what's the classical music on the
tape loop spread throughout Sebadoh's _Weed Forestin'_? My guess would be
Stravinsky or Wagner but what do I know. Also, who's the Patsy Cline-like
country singer on some of the other tape loops? Thanks.
--Lena
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From: Jodi Shapiro <jodi@dsm.fordham.edu>
Subj: indie list articel
After a long absence, I've returned. What happened was I got buried under
apile of singles...my mom just dug me out a week ago :)
Okay, new stuff that rocks:
Buffalo Tom _Big Red Letter Day_: Ok, ok, they're corporate whores but BT
are great anyway. This album has no loser tunes, great lyrics, and a sound
you can't stop humming. "Soda Jerk" is sure to be a fave. I'm sure you can
find it in the used bin :(
Flop _Whenever You're Ready_: Distributed by Sony, no less. Flop are what
the Beatles would sound like if they were doing punk covers; either that or
Elvis Costello crossed with the Fastbacks. This is close to the energy of
their live show, lots of science references (like Unified Theory), and
infectious hooks that stick like gum on your shoe.
Kicking Giant Halo: Not as wussy as I thought it would be. Nice, meaty
songs with a bit of wistfulness and innocence. "Fuck The Rules" is a great
love song :)
Big Chief _Mack Avenue_ Big Chief are god :)
[ sorry Jodi, my editor ate yr sig. - Mark ]
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Douglas Wolk <dbcloud@panix.com>
Subj: Eggs and other fine farm products
Yeah, I like the idea of a twice-weekly indie-list a lot--just wonder if it
would mean doubling the workload for our poor maligned editorial staff. But
it would be nice to find things I like at the bottom of the mailing without
having to page through 80 or so previous pages.
[ I totally agree -- Lena ]
[ Poor, yes. But maligned? Aw, c'mon, I spent my entire high school life
being maligned... :-) -- Mark ]
Saw The Fall/Jon Spencer Blues Explosion/Difference Engine at the Grand on
Friday night. (My apologies to those of you who've already read me talking
about it on the Fall list.) Anyhow, I'd never seen them before and they're
about my favorite band ever and all. It was terribly disappointing: only two
songs from before Shiftwork (and they were "Big New Prinz" and "Hit The
North"), the band seemed like it was on autopilot, everything sounded kind of
samey, etc. But it was still incredible to hear That Voice coming out of a
human being's mouth.
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, on the other hand, was completely great. Mr.
Spencer had fashionable short hair and a very sharp gold lame shirt, and
ripped through an amazing set. At the end, he did James Brown's "Lost
Someone" as the other guitarist frantically made "I don't know this one"
signals at him. Difference Engine opened, and were darn impressive: their
single sucks, so I hadn't expected much, but live, they were just fine. Sure,
they rip off MBV, but they rip off the parts that nobody else does.
On Saturday night, I went over to CBGB's to see Eggs play. Not to make this a
lovefest or anything--there was certainly enough praise for them in last
week's list--but damn, are they great. Their driver got up on stage, took off
his shirt, and go-go danced; after a couple of songs, all the Eggs took off
their shirts too (boy, they're skinny); and a little bit later, some guy who
looked like he did it for a living took off his shirt, got on stage, and
go-go danced too. Before that night, I'd never seen panties thrown at the
CBGB's stage. They played almost everything from the post-Bruiser singles
(starting with a rocked-up version of the very lovely and underappreciated
"Erin Go Bragh"), and a couple of songs from the forthcoming album.
"Government Administrator" was a highlight of my week. Afterwards, I went
outside and hung out with the crowd (sadly, I wasn't able to stick around for
Baby Tooth, who are really promising and have a record due out soon on
Remora); turned out Tim and Laetitia from Stereolab were in town and had come
to see Eggs too.
I got the advance tapes of the three forthcoming K albums (thank you, Dan;
thank you, Vicky) and can report that they're all superfine. Best of the
bunch is Lois's Strumpet, which has a couple of the lovely songs she's been
playing for a long time (like the title track and "The Trouble With Me"), a
bunch of excellent new ones, an ACTUAL BAND--and boy does that improve her
sound--and a heartbreaking acappella plaint, "The Way I Feel Inside," which
I'm sure has to be from some ridiculous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical or
something. There's some major artistic growth going here, notably on the
opening "Evening In Paris," where her vocal is just spellbinding.
Heavenly's _P.U.N.K. Girl_ is also a step forward, inasmuch as all of its
melodies are notable and they vary the arrangements a whole lot. It also ends
with an acappella song, "So?"--which is admittedly a lot grimmer; date rape
is the topic of at least two of these five songs. Note also that the new EP
has exactly the same songs as the two new Sarah singles, so hold yer horses,
bub.
And Mecca Normal's _Flood Plain_ is pretty much just another Mecca Normal
album, which is all I want from them: the kind of experimentation this band
does is within very specific sonic confines, and everything's still just as
strong as ever. Also just bought a whole slew of singles. Greater-length
report will follow, probably next week, but I can report that Lois's Working
Holiday song (for Independence Day), while not as good as the stuff on her
album, does have the priceless verse "One if by land/Two if by sea/Hey, look
at me/I'm an indie!" And that the new Franklin Bruno solo single (on Walt)
has four good-but-not-spectacular songs--a lot of his stuff is starting to
sound very familiar, and he's yet to top "Rhythm Buddy" from the _Pawnshop
Reverb_ compilation cassette.
Hey, if anybody's got a spare copy of Lucky Pierre's "Communique" 7" lying
around, let me know, okay?
Douglas D. Wolk dbcloud@panix.com
[ Doug writes again: ]
Saw Eggs again, this time on Wednesday at Brownies. They rule the world. I
think I've figured out what makes them so great. Most good bands have a
"secret weapon" - a member who maybe isn't the most visible, but makes the
whole thing tick. All four Eggs are secret weapons. Of course, Rob
Christiansen is the secretest and weaponest of them all. He's always got a
little knowing look on his face when he picks up the trombone or the
guitar... They've been practicing a lot, too. Things like the bit at the
end of "Roll Away The Stone" where Andrew, Evan and Rob let the last chord
ring and then all cut it off at exactly the same time don't happen unless you
spend a lot of time in a rehearsal studio together. (And that they're all
housemates doesn't hurt either, I'm sure.)
I got to hear a copy of their forthcoming album _Eggs TeenBeat 96 Exploder_,
too. It's a double-album that probably would have made a better single
album--a few too many doodly synth instrumentals--but the highlights are
great. They're becoming expert arrangers, which is something you don't see
very often in the indie world, and Andrew's a heck of a songwriter. "Why Am I
So Tired All The Time?" and "A Pit With Spikes" are both future bossa-nova
wonders; there's also excellent remakes of "Erin Go Bragh" and "The
Obliviist," from the split singles with Whale and Aurora Paralysis, and a
very cute instrumental called "March Of The Triumphant Elephants"--presumably
after Rob's label Triumphant Elephant Triumvirate.
Last night I saw the Jeffries/Galbraith double-bill at the Knitting Factory.
Pretty darn amazing. Alastair Galbraith is somewhere between a Nick
Drake-type "sensitive" songwriter and a performance poet--his songs are in no
particular meter and don't have any conventional structure, but they're often
startlingly fresh. (And they have the old-Wire trick of stopping when the
text runs out, and not after.) Jeffries mostly did a greatest-hits-type set,
although he also covered Barbara Manning's "Scissors," which was a treat - he
re-arranged it radically for synth piano. After they'd played, we were
treated to the only performance of Clean Crystal Grind: the two of them, plus
Wayne and Kate from Crystallized Movements, plus Hamish Kilgour playing
drums. Only one song, but I'll remember it for a good long while.
After them, Cat Power played (with Craig Flanagin substituting on drums for
Lowlife editor Glen Thrasher, who is currently persona non grata to put it
mildly), followed by (conflict-of-interest-alert) God Is My Co-Pilot. It was
Alex's birthday, so he and Siobhan weren't present--hence, no bass player.
Anthony Coleman played keyboards instead, and was supposed to play Alex's
bass parts, but he doesn't really know the songs. Result: lots of
improvisation, lots of songs with lengthy drum solos and duets on the set
list ("We Signify" had Laura and Christine doing an especially fantastic drum
break), and very different versions of some standards. Alex usually opens
"Vot Vot Ja Niin Niin" with a super-fast bass solo; Anthony substituted ten
seconds' worth of super-low- frequency keyboard rumble, and the rest of the
band got the idea and somehow came in together...
Headed over from there to see Slambook play at Under Acme. Maybe I should
insert another c-of-i disclaimer 'cause I'm friends with them and in a band
with one of them, but they're getting _really really_ good-- they were a
little pissed that they got compared to Pavement in the CMJ writeup of their
demo tape, but they do have that nonobvious-hooks thing going on, and they've
got the kind of serious musicianship that never exhibits itself flashiness.
Check 'em out.
Douglas D. Wolk dbcloud@panix.com
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Sean
Subj: I-L: Road Tripping
So, it's wednesday afternoon. I'm working on stuff in my room, just got done
with a radio shift (jazz is fun, but not 5 days in a row), and Iget a call
from my friend Jon. "Hey...I was just thinking...you want to go to Baltimore
tonight? Drinking Woman is playing down there, and I kinda want to go but I
can't do it alone." I think about it for an hour, and decide to join him -
Princeton, NJ is pretty quiet on a Wednesday night, and Baltimore is a
"charming city" only 2 1/2 hours south of us. So, we jumped in the car and
went down to the American Revolutionary Bar, known affectionately as "The
Rev". Pretty random neighborhood - not as bad as where CBGB's is, but
getting there... The show itself was also random - it was a grrrrl night, set
up by "Broom", a zine based in Baltimore. When we got there, no bands had
played and there was some sort of skit based on Jeopardy going on...very
strange. Hissy and Olive were the two openers, and we hung outside for most
of their sets - it sounded OK but not really motivational. We also
conveniently skipped the poetry reading between sets. Drinking Woman is from
Louisville, and shares a bass player (Tara Jane O'Neil) with the mighty
Rodan. Although the sound in the club was a little muddy tonight, the band
was great - visions of Antietam rolled through my mind as Heather's vocals
sorta cracked and snarled. Tara Jane is a great bass player, and she now has
Fontaine-from-Versus's old bass - I knew it looked familiar... Totally nice
people, "easy on the eyes" (quote courtesy of Lois Maffeo in reference to
Tiger Trap - but it's become one of our summer catch-phrases), and a great
sound - I know there's one song on a comp single on Mira (available from
Simple Machines), but I'm waiting anxiously for more (and more Rodan, as
well...)
Thursday night means "trip to Philly" - and this week it was Unrest, Blast
Off Country Style, and Caterpillar at the Khyber. BOCS were tremendously
funny, interesting, bizarre. Chris Callahan's impersonation of Mark E. Smith
was great, and I can't believe that Evelyn's voice is that high! The
matching cheerleader outfits (for the girls) and rose-colored, Texas-shaped
sunglasses (for the guys) were an added bonus. Caterpillar is very ROCK.
Like classic ROCK. Not bad, but another non-sequitur at the Khyber. And
then Unrest came out and played a wicked killer set. Opened with "Miles",
they played old stuff ("Christina" and "Oils"), new stuff (about half the
album), requisite encore of "Cherry Cherry". I was very happy. The new
songs had more punch live - I even liked "Make Out Club" which kinda bugs me
on LP (it will be the hit Unrest dance single of the fall). And I got to
watch some guy take a hit off his pipe in the front and then offer it to
Bridget while she was still playing bass - she leaned over, he stuck the pipe
in her mouth and lit the bowl - pretty damn funny to watch. Also, before the
show Mark was giving out singles - TeenBeat #98 "So Sick/Vibe Out" aspecial
Unrest single only available at their live shows between 8/23 and 9/3/93.
He's giving out about 100 per night. Strange but cool. And perusing the new
TeenBeat catalog is fun too - a new Grenadine single in the works, a special
"Cath Carroll" 12"/CD with a 34 minute version of Hydroplane, new stuff from
Eggs (delayed again 'til November), and the return of the old TeenBeat
t-shirt.
[ THIRTY-FOUR MINUTES?!?!?! Gawd! - Mark ]
other notes: The new Stereolab LP, _Transient Random-Noise Bursts With
Announcements_, should be your next CD purchase. It's a progression in sound
for the groop - still loopy in places, but with more hard edges, strange
samples, and definite breaks from the "slow-song/fast-song" rut that they
were becoming (in)famous for. **
There's also a Dadamah LP on Majora, _This Is Not A Dream_, which is very
necessary for Kiwi-noise fans. Structured guitar, but murky and scary, too.
*3/4
And, if you see it around, please, please pick up _Sounds Of Silence_ by the
Sick Things. Aussie punk which makes me jump up and down and should finallly
convince people that I'm not just a pop kid (even if I am going to see
Tsunami and Small Factory on Thursday for the nth time [where nis an integer
equal to or greater than 8]). The sound quality is low, but the record
itself is absolutely great. Harder and faster and scratchier than any of the
stuff now being called punk. ** (on Shock Records).
That's all for now...oh yeah, upcoming events - October 2, at the Trocadero
in Philly... "VELOCITY GIRL! with special guests tsunami" Is there no
justice in this world? VG hasn't done a single interesting thing in the past
year, and Sarah Shannon is a frigid ice-princess who can't sing. As much as
Ilove Tsunami (many reasons here, including the fact that both Jenny and
Kristin can sing), I may have to skip this congregation of the
"hip-indie-folk-who-listen-to-WDRE." (WDRE is the "commercial-alternative"
piece-of-shit radio station in Philly these days - they are working with
apartial simulcast of WDRE from NYC but on a different frequency)
Now that I got my daily rant out of my system (and look, I got through an
entire post without bitching about Gerar- oops :)...
Sean
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: The Stupidity Patrol <lim7@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subj: Watch Out! (aka another indie submission)
Hullo everyone, and welcome again to my weekly submission! I hope you are
all doing well; I know I am (only a week and a half of work left).
This past weekend has been hellishly hot here, and not just because of the
weather. Unrest played an acoustic in-store at Go! Discs in Arlington
(employer of Evan Eggs). Actually, Mark had an acoustic guitar, Phil had a
snare drums and some other percussive devices, but Bridget cheated and played
her electric bass. They played five songs- three from their new album (So So
Sick, Cath Carroll and Make Out Club) which all were quite good, despite the
fact that Bridget was playing out of time with the rest of the band for most
of Cath Carroll. They also played Isabel and Love to Know. I don't know
about you, but I'm getting kind of sick of these songs... I guess they were
pretty well received and at least 50 people showed up on a very hot day,
including Jenny Toomey and Franklin Bruno (don't know what he was doing in
town). They're playing at the 9:30 on Thursday (get your tickets soon!) and
then off on a cross country tour with Stereolab opening for them (!). I'll
see if I can get a list of dates or something (I know that they're playing
the Metro in Chicago sometime in October. E-mail me sometime this week and
I'll see if I can get them out. Or maybe I'll post them in
alt.music.alternative....
It was good to see Mark E and the crew stepping out, but the real event was
the debut Washington appearance of Peter Jefferies and Alastair Galbraith,
which has been much ballyhooed everywhere. I'll leave the gory details to
others more familiar with their work, but I'll throw my two cents in. It was
at the BetaPunk Warehouse (home of Ecomedia, which the show was a benefit
for), which boasts no windows and no fans. Earlier in the day, it was 96
degrees with 80% humidity, and i would not be surprised if I were told it was
90 degrees in the Warehouse, what with all the lights and all. As Mr.
Galbraith mentioned, "It must be the hottest day in the world." Despite the
heat and late starting time (doors opened at 9, show started at a quarter
till 11, with no bar to speak of to keep us entertained), Peter Jefferies
turned in a damn fine performance. Everyone (about 25 people) sat on the
floor and mellowed to such songs as "Figure on an Unknown Beach," "Fate of a
Human Carbine," some new songs, a cover of "Scissors" by Barbara Manning and
acouple TKOP songs (to get the reissues selling, eh?) He played maybe 40
minutes, and then ALastair Galbraith took the stage for another 40 minutes.
Iam not a big fan of Alastair Galbraith, and his set didn't particularly make
me want to be one. Dischordant tunings and noise seemed to be the name of
the game, and I could swear I've seen it done better by others. His set
ended after he broke astring. While he was preparing his violin, Peter came
out and treated us to a great rendition of "Domestica," which started out
acappella and ended up using everything (violin, piano) except the kitchen
sink (snort). They went on to play another song together, which was mighty
fine, and then closed with another TKOP song... ALl told, I think I prefer
Galbraith's violin playing to his guitar, but Peter Jefferies was definitely
the star of the show, with his wonderful range of skill on the piano (now
quiet and elegaic, now brash and rhythmic) and 2 packa day voice. In
attendence was the aforementioned Mr. Bruno and reps from Atlantic and
Columbia (just kidding). In between sets, I read the new Ajax catalog, which
mentions our very own mailing personality Liz Clayton no less than 3 times.
[ hey, that's MISS intern-to-the-stars to you! - Mark ]
Another somewhat minor event of indie significance was Vinyl Ink's record
show at the Holiday Inn in Tyson's Corner, VA. Not much indieness going on
there, actually except a couple of stands, one of whom was selling Unrest's
first LP for $100. The other curiousity on sale at the same booth was a copy
of Unrest's first single (Yowza!) which they were taking bids for. Only one
catch- it was broken in half. Now who would pay lots of money for a broken
single? Hey, it's also autographed, the guys said. Nevertheless, despite the
lameness of the convention, I managed to hunt down a few goodies which you
will here about later, since this is getting quite lengthy. One prize I did
scoop up earlier is the Stereolab/Nurse With Wound Clawfist 10", which is
easily the most impressive Stereolab associated effort that my ears have
heard in a while. The first side is a 13 minute song that is more NWWish
with Stereolab influence, noisy and beautiful. The flip side is a much
shorter effort that seems more Stereolab with NWW influence, since it
actually has a quite poppy edge to it and of course French vox. Although the
b-side is a pretty good pop song, the darker edge of the a-side is more
compelling, particularly in its use of a droning rhythm to lay down a rather
hypnotic pattern. Get this release while you still can.
Finally, I finally alerted Mark Unrest to the presence of the this mailing
list by showing him the review that Donna Brown did of the Teen Beat 100
release reviewed not long ago. He seemed a bit perplexed while reading it (I
think he was trying to figure out how some strangers knew so much about his
label) and finally said "Weird."
And now back to your regularly scheduled stuff:
The Stupidity Patrol o o "...although the ratio of news to
lim7@midway.uchicago.edu > drivel in many newsgroups compares
12XU! o unfavorably with the back of a
(Temporarily residing in DC) cereal box..." -Cecil Adams
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Tim McGinnis <tim@vestek.com>
Subj: Ford recalled
i ran into michele philer of Ford at the "the urge overkill" show last monday
night. it's official Ford has broken up! the bottom of the hill show was the
end.
i was lucky enough to pick up these gems at aquarious:
yo la tengo - shaker. 3 non-lp songs including a richard thompson cover. the
woman behind the counter had an advance copy of the matador release - can't
wait.
the reivers - pop beloved. this came out a few years ago, very nice esp. the
cover of vulgar boatmen's "katie". don't really know what these guys are up
to, except that kim longacre is doing gigs w/ david halley and his band.
barbara manning 7 inch. the title escapes me. side A is written by a chill,
i believe. the other song is backed by j.c. hopkins and co. the actual album
cover comes in 800 different silkscreened versions, very attractive i might
add.
[ the a-side, "B4 We Go Under" was in fact written by Robert of the Bats.
Good guess, though. - Mark ]
tim
tim@vestek.com
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Lena
Richard Metcalf submitted a copy of the ZZAJ PRODUCTIONS '93 Catalog, which
seemed mostly like an ad to me, so we're not going to include the text (it
was really long, anyway), but it looked like a lot of weird neat
self-produced tapes by a bunch of experimental-type people, hey, one of them
could be the next Sebadoh, so if you're interested, write to him at
dmetcalf@freenet.scri.fsu.edu.
<----------------------------------------------------->
the Indie-List Digest: published every Tuesday by the Indie-List Infotainment
Junta, Unltd.
Editorial office: Mark Cornick <cornick@delphi.com>
K. Lena Bennett <keb@carson.u.washington.edu>
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REVIEW MATERIAL: Yes, we'll review your 45/tape/CD/8-track/Edison wax
cylinder/zine/whatever! Send it to Mark at 324 S Cherry St, Richmond VA 23220
USA. We get to everything eventually, so please be patient.
<----------------------------------------------------->
please send your articles, etc for next week to LENA!
<----------------------------------------------------->
[Submitted by: Sean Keric Murphy (skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu)
Wed, 1 Sep 1993 00:48:06 -0400]