Indie-List_V2_N15
So hot it's cool, so cool it's hot.
<------------------------+
the INDIE-LIST DIGEST /
<---------------=======================--------------->
/ Volume 2, Number 15
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(Delayed slightly due to Labor Day)
This week:
Editorial
Now that we've made that clear
The mondo label-list is done.
submission from rose of the poster childrem
Reviews of records, shows, and zines
Indie-list contribution II
HIGH CULTURE FOR INDIE AMERICA
COBRA (Ribot) etc.
And now here's something we hope you really like...
I-L: I'll keep it brief
Hello from Cow Country.
ahvn;afjd;
Indie: Something or another...
Deja VU
that classical music on Weed
ZZAJ INPUT
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark
Subj: Editorial
I got a letter this week from an Indie-List reader who took issue with the
Unrest review I did last week, saying it didn't really say so much about
why the record is good. No contest. I wrote a review which was basically my
opinion of the record. To me, that's all a review should be. I don't care so
much why a record is good, just that some reviewer (whose opinions I trust
and respect) says that it is. Some people like reviews that compare tracks,
point out good and bad things, etc. etc. I personally think this is the arena
of "real" rock criticism. Indie-List is not (and I hope it never is) "real"
rock criticism. It's basically a compilation of various people's opinions on
various records. It's a gut feeling, not a critique. I like it to have (like
many good paper 'zines) the feeling of just talking music shit with some
informed friend of yours. You know what your friend likes and doesn't like,
and for the most part, you don't ask for an explanation of why your friend
feels the way (s)he does. (Possible parallel: Kim Gordon once wrote in a
review of Sassy that magazines like Seventeen feel like they were written
by your mother, while Sassy feels like it was written by your hip older
sister. I personally think a lot of "proper" music magazines feel like they
were written by your high school English teacher, whereas something like
_Chemical Imbalance_ is written by your somewhat deranged but still
musically-knowledgeable buddy Mike McGonigal.) This is how I'd like people to
approach Indie-List. You know what I like (if you don't, read the FAQ file
:-) and you know that I'm a fairly shabby rock critic. You know that what I
say is not gospel and should be taken with several grains of salt. (Just
'cause I edit this thing doesn't mean that what I say is the last word.) And
you know that when I write a review, I'm just telling you that I like the
record (or I don't.) I go into why I like it (or not) a bit, but that's not
my primary focus. That's the entire purpose of Indie-List to me: people
talking to other people about records they like. (Or don't like.) This
sometimes isn't evident due to the relative infrequency of this list as
opposed to, say GRUNGE-L, but that's the real purpose: discussion. I
personally feel criticism (constructive or otherwise) is not our mission.
(Which is not to say that you can't write a constructively critical review or
what have you; you can write what you want and 999 times out of 1000 we'll
print it.)
Bottom line: Indie-List is just a collection of opinions and recommendations.
Sometimes hard information slips in, but that's not our focus. Let's leave
the criticism for Jack Rabid and just talk emotions, man. :-)
[ The preceding is Mark's opinion only and does not necessarily reflect the
views of anyone else who runs this thing. ]
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark
Subj: Now that we've made that clear
So, y'all want to know how much I enjoyed the indie fest thing in Richmond
this past weekend, right? Er, I didn't go. There were a grand total of three
bands out of the weekend (Tsunami, Eggs and Archers of Loaf) that I would've
paid to see, and it was $7.00 a night... little overpriced, eh? And all three
bands were on different nights. Well, I heard it was OK but not a lot of
people showed up. Better luck next time, Dave. And it might behoove you not to
make ridiculous guarantees that require you to charge so much at the door. ;-)
On the other hand, there was a respectable turnout (more than we expected,
anyway) for the Sunday party in Cyndy's backyard (aka the Classic Ampitheater
on Oregon Hill.) Idiot Mittens opened the show with a good set of their
decidedly non-wimpy guitar-duo work. Who needs drummers, anyway? :-) These
guys have hundreds of songs written, and maybe you'll get to hear some of
them some day (once I have the funds to get Strange Attractor going, I would
like to do something with them.) Next was yours truly's band, Friendly, in our
auspicious debut. I'm ordinarily very hard on myself, but people tell me it
was superb and I guess I agree. (Somebody apparently liked it; read the next
paragraph.) Last up was Uglyhead, substituting for those wusses :-) Blast Off
Country Style. What I heard from them was very good; loud 'n' noisy a la AmRep
but with an obvious pop sensibility. But my stomach was bugging me so I left.
Thanks to everyone who showed up, and especially Brad and Tracy.
The next Friendly performance, unless we get something set up before then
(not likely), will also be our first club show: we'll be playing with the
aforementioned Uglyhead and SST recording artists (but don't hold it against
them) Hotel X on Friday October 1 at the Metro in Richmond. As usual, anyone
with a means to get there in a reasonable amount of time is invited.
No new records this week, sorry.
I'm kinda getting stuck in a rut with this thing recently, I think. Maybe it's
because I'm barely making enough money to pay the rent and eat; maybe it's
because I'm depressed about my non-existent love life; maybe it's because I'm
getting dicked around by the temp agency. Or maybe it's because I'm not
feeling like I'm having a lot to say recently. In any case, I need a
vacation, so I'm going to take a couple weeks off. I'll still be working
behind the scenes, but you won't see my incisive [sic] commentary for a
while. Expect me back in a few weeks. (There's been a lot of contributions
lately, so it's not like I need to write stuff to fill out the digests. Thanks
for writing.) Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a pot of minestrone bubbling
on the range.
--mark
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Sean
Subj: The mondo label-list is done.
Yeah, my little late-summer project is finished for now...1860 lines worth of
labels and label descriptions written/compiled by me with a bunch of help,
some of it from Indie-Listers (thanks!). If you'd like a copy, mail me and
ask for one. I'm also posting the sucker to alt.music.alt just because I
have no mercy for the Internet (and it might get a few people thinking out
there...) and a copy will also be stored at Dave Datta's huge FTP site
(ftp.uwp.edu). Just had to mention it...
Sean
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Rose, I guess (address lost)
Subj: submission from rose of the poster childrem
Fugazi Show in Kansas City, MO, @ Memorial Hall
Tenderloin opened the show and they were utterly amazing. The singer is the
guy from Sin City Disciples, and they were every bit as incredible as SCD;
pounding, heavy blues/punk/sort of like Jesus-Lizard, if they came from
Texas. (Yah, I know they do.) Poster Kids went next, embarrassed (as always)
to go on the stage after such a fantastic set from Tenderloin, but I think we
did ok, considering the new drummer... Fugazi went on, and, well, were
Fugazi. The first thing Ian did was to explain that the $1.50 surcharge that
was not only added to their $5 adv tkt price from TicketMaster, but to the
DOOR price also,:-< was a load of crap, and then they tore thru a bunch of
new and old songs, and the crowd tried to stay non-violent. Then a little
while later thru the set, Ian decided that they'd like to have the HOUSE
lights ON, so the room was very bright. Kids were complaining a lot, probably
because they didn't enjoy seeing how many people there were, all dressed sort
of alike. Also, it was prolly distracting. We had just had a light discussion
with Ian about that book _Among the Thugs_, about the crowds taking over the
individual, and I wonder if he was playing a little mind game with himself,
turning on the lights. At any rate, a couple of songs later, I see this huge,
flattened piece of cardboard and a piece of paper being passed down to the
center of the pit, and it gets tossed up on the stage. It turns out to be a
PETITION, full of 100 names, of people who want the lights turned out. Ian
obliges, but adds that they enjoy seeing who's in the crowd while they're
playing. The house lights get turned off, and the crowd is happy. Then, some
joker yells, "Turn off the STAGE lights!" and Ian races over to turn off
their 'light show' (two floodlights). Now the whole 3000-seat theater is
pitch black, and they start playing Blueprint, in the pitch black. Some
people have lighters, and hold them up. It was so beautiful, really. I
couldn't believe it. Halfway thru the song, all the lights came on, and at
the end, Ian explained that this was how democracy works; a small group of
100 people could get together and override the public. It was incredible.
So on to the exciting part of the story: After the show, as the PA was being
loaded out, the guy from the PA Co. (Dave) was talking to his girlfriend on
the phone, and these security guards come up and yell at him and tell
everyone to leave the bldg, they're closing up. Somehow, they ended up
grabbing Dave and wrestling him to the floor, and totally prying open his
video camera, yelling something about the fact that they did not want him
taping what they were doing. Fugazi got yelled at by some guards, too, "You
fucking bastards, trying to incite the crowd against the hall about that
tktmster scam, how dare you..." Etc. etc., and Dave had everything on
videotape, so I guess that's why they wanted the videotape from him, and
that's why they ruined his camera. Dave started screaming for help, because
he was being beaten up, and that's when a bunch of people ran into the bldg
to help, Fugazi and opening bands and kids, and That is when the security
guard PULLED A GUN out of his pocket and started waving it around, screaming
"Get out of the bldg NOW!" Everyone ran out of the bldg, called the police,
and we all waited outside while different people told the police their
stories on what had happened. Rumor has it that one of the guys with the guy
who pulled the gun was an off-duty cop. What a mess. I heard that someone got
pushed thru a plate-glass window by a guard, too. What a show. And before the
show, they were talking about Boredom. Geez.
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Shane Graham <sdg@merle.acns.nwu.edu>
Subj: Reviews of records, shows, and zines
Hello. I suppose I should introduce myself or something: I'm Shane Graham,
slave to modern music and English literature. I'll be a senior at
Northwestern University in Evanston, IL in September. I'm also music
director at WNUR-FM. I post playlists weekly on alt.music.alternative, if
you're interested. I've been reading the indie-list all summer, but this is
the first chance I've had to write anything. It's been a good music week, so
my first post is a long one. Feel free to mail me; I like mail.
RECORD REVIEWS:
>>KARL HENDRICKS TRIO _Misery and Women_ :
I suppose it was this band's bland name that kept me from picking them out of
the crowd at first: I heard their _Buick Electra_ lp and was unimpressed.
Their "Baseball Cards" 7" and _Some Girls Like Cigarettes_ 10" EP (any band
who puts out 10" records is all right by me) finally won me over, however.
This CD further entrenches my belief that KH3 are disputably the second
coolest band in Pittsburgh (sorry Karl, but those Don Caballero 7"s are
pretty smokin'). It holds up from beginning to end, with solid rock tunes
like "Do You Like To Watch Me Sob" and "Women and Strangers" interspersed
with slower pop ballads like "Romantic Stories From the War" and "I Didn't
Believe in Gravity," that manage to sound nostalgic or sentimental without
being wimpy. Sunshine Fiasco has put a smile on my face again. (Fiasco, POB
34416, LA CA 90034) **
>>SPACE STREAKINGS, Hatsu-Koi cd:
Fully armed with kazookas, dragonballz, bazookahorns, and with synthesizers
in superoverdrive mode, Space Streakings come ripping out of Japan in combat
boots, space glasses, and headlamps, spraying the listeners with noise.
Musically, this eccentric quartet shares more with Dog Faced Hermans or God
Is My Co-Pilot than with fellow Japanese noise-makers the Ruins or KK Null
(who co-produced this disc, incidentally). I suppose they are closest to the
Boredoms, but this is slightly less abrasive. Most of the tunes sound a lot
alike, and halfway through the 11 tracks it begins to grow redundant; but
songs like "Hiropon Goo!!" and "Megaton Baby Bomb" save the day. This is
loud, fast, energetic, and a lot of fun. I bet they're even more fun live.
(Nux Organization, Japan; distributed by Charnel House, POB 170277, San
Francisco, CA 94117-0277) *1/2
>>PORK QUEEN, "Gunman" 7":
Okay, people. I can appreciate a good dose of noise as well as the next guy,
but the question I always ask myself when evaluating these things is: "If I
had a guitar, a bag of scrap metal, and a four-track, could I do better?"
The answer in this case, I think, is yes. The A-side sounds like a wind chime
inside a car wash; I couldn't tell if the needle on my turntable was skipping
or not on the second side. The cover is pretty unpleasant to look at, too.
(Trackshun Industries, 1285 E. 18th Ave., Vancouver BC, V5V 1H3, Canada) **
>>DNA, s/t cd:
My roommate picked this up in New York, and I just listened to it from start
to finish. It's absolutely incredible. DNA were one of the pioneers of the
no-wave avant-garde scene in New York in the late 70s. Starting around 1976,
this "movement" also included Lydia Lunch's Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and
M.A.R.S., as documented on the _No New York_ compilation; it later gave rise
to or influenced the Swans, Sonic Youth, Live Skull, Cop Shoot Cop, Eliott
Sharp, John Zorn, etc. etc. etc. These are recordings from 1982, the band's
middle stage, during which its members (Arto Lindsay, Tim Wright, and Ikue
Mori) were working in other projects as well: Golden Palominos, Ambitious
Lovers, and the Lounge Lizards. Okay, enough history: let's talk about the
music on this disc. Lindsay's stacatto, machine-gun guitar attacks, which
could be the prototype for both Steve Albini's and Roland Howard's playing,
among countless others; screaming vocals punctuated with occasional squaks
from Mori in the back; Wright's bass rumbling underneath: all these elements
intertwine, separate, and play off of one another and the steady, mechanical,
untiring beat. Some might call it noise (in fact, most people who heard it
did); but for those who have acquired a taste for cacophany, this is divine.
(Avant, Disk Union 2-13-1 Iidabashi Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 102, Japan) **1/2
>>RAILROAD JERK, 02.29.93 7" EP:
The "unplugged" phenomenon is taken another step, as New York's finest drop
the electricity and record three acoustic songs. The blues and Rolling
Stones influences shine through more strongly in the absence of distortion,
but this is still RR Jerk, with the off-key guitars, lurching, staggering
tempos, and Marcellus' coyote-wail vocals and rusty harmonica. Maybe all
bands should be required to record some acoustic songs, to demonstrate
whether or not they can play their instruments. I seriously doubt that many
would turn out this well. (JuggernautPress, POB 566, Claremont CA 91711/Walt
Records, 89 Fairview Ave., Port Washington, NY 11050) **1/2
>>JUNKET, "Everclear" b/w "Snub" + "Bad Wheels" 7":
If the name of this record doesn't give it away immediately, the first bar of
music reveals American Music Club influences heavily at work on this San
Francisco quartet. The first I heard from these guys was on Road Cone's
Tarantistic Seed Plot 7" compilation. Junket had probably my favorite track
on that record, and this single convinces me I was right. The A-side is a
slow, dirge-like tribute to Eitzel & co. However, unlike Red House Painters,
Idaho, and all the other AMC-wannabe bands I've heard, this song shows true
passion, but with a certain self-mocking sense of humor that makes me wonder
if this isn't a parody of sorts. The two flipside songs pick up the pace a
little, though they still drip with melancholy. Quite a nice debut. (Road
Cone, POB 8732, Portland, OR 97207-8732) **
>>TORTOISE, "Mosquito" + "Onions Wrapped in Rubber" b/w "Gooseneck" 7";
"Lonesome Sound" b/w "Reservoir" + "Sheets" 7":
Tortoise have risen quietly and unobtrusively to become the best band in
Chicago - almost indisputably since the demise of Shrimpboat. They're a
Midwest underground supergroup of sorts: members have played with 11th Dream
Day, Poster Children, Bastro, and Shrimpboat; live, they have also been
joined by other Chicago scenesters such as Chad from the Flying
Luttenbachers. They've been around for a while - calling themselves Mosquito
until (apparently) they found about Jad Fair's new band's name - but these
are their first two releases (besides a version of "Lonesome Sound" which
appeared on the Brain Blo 7" box set comp). All 3 tunes on the Mosquito EP
are instrumental, the best of which is "Gooseneck" - a meandering, loping
guitar intercourse that demonstrates everything missing from 90s guitar rock:
subtlety, patience, deliberation mixed with improvisation. Two minutes into
the song, the music just stops, like the guitars are suddenly sucked into a
vacuum; ten seconds of silence(!! -- that steals the record from Specimen!)
follow, and then the band slides back into the groove. On "Lonesome Sound"
they introduce vocals (the liner notes don't say who plays what) that have
just enough of the twang and whine of the Palace Brothers, without
distracting me from the music behind them. "Reservoir", the weakest moment
of the six songs, is still a great listen; and "Sheets" combines stark
apocalyptic lyrics with slow rhythms and prepared guitar work that does Jim
O'Rourke proud. Brad Wood, who plays drums, also produced all the songs.
Oh, and did I mention that these are companion records, and that the sleeves,
when unfolded and placed side by side, form a picture which can only be seen
in its entirety with both records? So I guess that means you'll have to buy
them both. Immediately. (Mosquito is on: Torsion Music, POB 477195, Chicago,
IL 60647. Lonesome Sound is on: Thrill Jockey, POB 1527, Peter Stuyvesant
Sta., NY NY 10009) Mosquito: *** Lonesome Sound: ** 1/2
LIVE REVIEWS:
>>RED RED MEAT and BOY KING, Friday Aug. 27, Lounge Ax, Chicago:
The opening band confused me. It consisted of three very young-looking ladies
(they were MAYBE 16, but I doubt it) whose fingers could barely reach the
strings, much less play them; and a drummer who was at least twenty-five.
They knew two songs - basically a Beat Happening-type song and a Velvet
Underground-type song - and while they played them over and over, I was
wondering if I should be calling the police on this drummer. Curiousity, and
uncertainty of the statutory rape laws in Illinois, kept me around. **
When Red Red Meat came out, the guitar player was the drummer from Boy King,
so that straightened things out somewhat: I guess one of the girls was his
sister. Anyway, Red Red Meat are going to be, I think, one of the next bands
to be scooped up in the "Chicago scene" craze that everyone's talking about.
SubPop has signed them, and reissued their debut self-titled LP; and they
opened for one of three sold-out Smashing Pumpkins shows in Chicago a couple
of weeks ago. If they DO get big and famous, it will be well-deserved; they
put on a very enjoyable live show, despite the fact that they were all
sitting down, relaxed and probably stoned out of their minds. They played a
deep yet jangly style of rock that owes a great deal to the Rolling Stones
(they even acknowledged this debt with an outstanding cover of "Jigsaw
Puzzle"). The night was made very surreal by the crowds of people in the
audience, ranging from 12-40 year-olds. It seemed as if EVERYONE there knew
everyone else, except my girlfriend and I. Those RR Meat people keep very
strange company. *1/2
>>THE FALL, ELEVENTH DREAM DAY, and GREEN, Sat. Aug. 28, 1993, Metro,
Chicago:
I missed Green, who are from Chicago and play nice guitar pop. Though
Eleventh Dream Day have played very regularly in Chicago since I've lived
here, for various reasons I've missed them every time, so this was a tasty
treat. I never realized that Janet Bean played drums as well as singing; I
always thought she played guitar. Anyway, they started with "Two Sweeties"
and proceeded through an energetic, festive set that, speaking in purely
musical terms, stole the show. Even the people who looked as if they
probably weren't expecting much from the opening acts bobbed their heads.
They've put out two great albums on a major label, yet superstardom has
eluded them. I think it's a conspiracy. ** I must confess that I am a
relatively new fan of the Fall. I don't know much of their material except
for singles and lps from the 70s and early 80s, and I didn't think much of
_Infotainment Scan_. So since they mostly played more recent stuff, I
couldn't entirely judge. With that disclaimer, The Fall played very
competently, and the musicians gave it a good try, but they're kind of old,
and nothing could live up to the legend that is built around them. However,
it was well worth the price of admission to watch Mark E. Smith, the most
grumpy, curmudgeonly man in rock 'n' roll, stalk and snarl around stage for
an hour or two. I was wondering why the roadies had set up three vocal mics:
When Smith came on stage, squinting as if he'd just been awakened from the
nods and wanted to go back to them, he grabbed one mic, sang one verse into
it, dropped it with a clunk onto the stage, picked up another, sang into it
for a while, banged it on the keyboards, dropped it and picked up the third,
etc. etc. It was a fun night, and only two fights broke out on the floor -
rare for an 18+ show at Metro anymore. * 1/2
PAPER 'ZINE REVIEWS:
>>NIPPLE HARDNESS FACTOR #2: 7"x7", b&w photocopied, 56 pp. $2.00
A 'zine devoted exclusively to the beloved 7" single. I'm a pragmatic
person, and the first thing I look for in a mag is record reviews (quantity,
obscurity, and informativeness) and label addresses. NHF has plenty of both,
written by Chuck's (the editor) friends all over the country, which means a
lot of news about regional bands and scene-oriented labels. There are also
lists of singles being played by Chuck's favorite college radio stations.
It's portable, fun reading, and pretension-free - this is just the editor and
his friends writing about records they like a lot, and rating them (1-4
nipples). Except for that idiot in Wilmette who thought the Codeine side of
the working holiday 7" was brilliant and the Coctails were "square" lounge
music (Codeine are the most boring band, live and on record, that I've ever
experienced; the Coctails are one of the most entertaining), this is a
promising rag. (NHF, Box 461778, Los Angeles, CA 90046)
>>NICE SLACKS #4: 8.5"x11", b&w, 88pp., $2.50
Cool Chicago 'zine. The editors and columnists are very opinionated, but
they generally have good opinions (read: close to mine), so I don't object
too often, except when they brutally slam Shrimpboat or Regrigerator or
something. One of the main contributors is Weasel Walter, drummer for the
Flying Luttenbachers, and a lot of the writer's tastes lie in similar skronky
jazz-rock bands (they have an ongoing obsession with God Is My Co-Pilot). A
respectable 45 pp of record reviews, plus interviews with Sooyoung of Seam,
Circle X, Pavement, Brutal Truth, and Trenchmouth, makes this one of the
better, most affordable 'zines on the stands. Its only real fault is not
giving label addresses for the records they review. (Nice Slacks, POB 476659,
Chicago, IL 60647)
That's all for now. It'll probably be a few weeks before I write again.
Shane
sdg@merle.acns.nwu.edu
There are a great many opinions in this world, and a good half
of them are professed by people who have never been in trouble!
--Anton Chekhov
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Michiel <S0477311@let.rug.nl>
Subj: Indie-list contribution II
Sorry, the first part should have been mailed earlier, I've been to busy to do
that so here it is now. Thanks to some technical failure the second part is
to late for this weeks edition too. Great.......
Jammah Tammah storming the Vera club in Groningen, Holland on wednesday
august 18. Wow, Ska happens again after you have seen these guys. They took
off two years ago, consisting of a keyboard player, a singer (former Boegies
frontman Speedy) two saxofoon players and aguitar player. Nowadays it's a
complete orchestra with horns, a real drummer and a real base player. Lyrics
are kinda mixed up, every song has at least two languages combined. By the way
Jammah Tammah is supposed to mean Hey Ho , Let's Go in the local dialect. So
far about the band, let's talk about the concert. With their guitar player in
southern France, they had to have a replacement. That worked fine, except
their replacement had to play his own gig acouple of blocks away, so he had
to be replaced too. Finally they ended up with three different line-ups: no
guitar player, the first replacement, and the second replacement. (thanx to
Jan-Pier of Combo Knus En Gezellig, and to Dicky of Moonlizards for their
support). Having played for an hour or so the crowd wouldn't let them go so
they had to play three more encores. After ninety minutes of Ska, punkrock,
Salsa and some more tropical heat they called it a day, but what a day.
Ninety minutes filled with their own songs and some covers (Skatalites)
really made me jump (literally) so after a while I wasn't too sad about the
end of the show. Their debut album on Tophole Records will be pretty
interesting I think. No release date is known yet but it has already been
recorded so it can't take that long. There is some more interesting material
about to be released here in Groningen, you'll here about that as soon as it
happens.
Stars in the Park, sunday august 29. Well, actually it was stars in the hall
'cause the weather was supposed to be bad. The sun enjoyed the music so much
that it stayed all day, so much for the weather forecast. The bands were:
Rudy benimm dich, Detour, Wishing Tree, Dandruff!, Karebekeans, Some house
shit (this is not their name of course.....), something I can't remember the
name of. I had never heard about Rudy Benimm Dich but they were great! Violin,
acoustic guitar and percussion. I think they were local but I'm not sure.
Can't find any band to compare, just see them as folky with some classical
influences. Powerfull voice by the way, sounded good. Next were Detour,
definitely local. They fell in for a band who had cancelled their gig. Not
bad,that is if you happen to like it. It sort of rocked though the guitarist
looked as if he hadn't woken up yet. Pity, if you play music which pretends
to be powerfull, move (at least take a couple of steps every now and then).
Wishing Tree is also a local band, though very different from Detour. Their
music is kindalike Bettie Serveert (their demo's have been recorded by Bettie
Serveert's producer Edwin Heath) which means Beatlelesque songs with a touch
of Velvet Underground, American Music Club, Dinosaur Jr. Melancholic and
powerfull popsongs would be the best way to describe them. They did a good
job, clearly having fun that day. The crowd (a small one) liked it too, W.T.
had to play an encore, which is rare in this kind of festivals (usually the
managers won't let the bands play encores, even though the public asks for
it).
Dandruff! plays powerfull punkrock with lots of humour (listen to their debut
415-E on Tophole records, a happy collection of punkrock song). This band was
formed by former boegies guitarist Mark Tilstra.It's the old boegies style
which means a lot of fun with lyrics about almost nothing. They got the crowd
dancing, which was more than the Karebekeans could say. They were late, since
they were supposed to play before Dandruff!. Having transport problems (they
are an Amsterdam-based band) their gear came in late so their gig had to be
postponed. With their jazzy rithm section and poppy songs they sound a bit
like De Artsen (the Doctors), the band which broke up and whose spinn-off is
known as Bettie Serveert..... Nice but as a friend of mine put it "they
suffer from to much beautiful songs, which all sound a bit familiar". Last
band was something completely uninteresting, I don't even remember their
name. Some supposed-to-be-a-partyband with a lot of jumping around on stage,
but with no public left. Shit happens. Anyway, it was time to go home so I
didn't care much.
Have fun and check out your local gigs, :-)
Mike
s0477311@let.rug.nl
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: PATRICK PADUA <PADUA@MAIL.LOC.GOV>
Subj: HIGH CULTURE FOR INDIE AMERICA
Lena,
Dare I make my indie-debut with this?? He -is- signed to Interscope, I
think...
Will I, with this bi-syllabic icon, sign away what little respect I have??
I saw him at Merriwether Post Pavillion last night, and, sadly, was inspired
for the first time in a long while (ladies, send e-underwear to this
address). He was REALLY GOOD. We (I and two lady friends who were sopping by
evening's end) unfortunately missed nearly a half hour (walked in during a
strong version of - get this - PURPLE RAIN; and I bet we missed his version
of GIMMIE SHELTER, recorded recently for a UK homeless charity), but he put
on a great act. I mean, his comeback cover versions of contemporary hits are
-improvements- in their way. He converts EMF's "Unbelievable" (the backup
singers hold the last syllable and sweep their arms as if conjuring up atomic
clouds) from euro-hip-hop to a convincing (I'm not sure if I really want to
say "rocker" here...something) that I prefer to the annoying original version
(and the same goes for his version of Prince's "Kiss"). He wisely stayed away
from syrupy ballads, and concentrated on r-n-b : "Knock on wood", "Try a
little tenderness", "Sweet soul music", "Great balls of fire", "Flip flop and
fly", "Superstition". He swivelled and hipshook, and I can't wait to try out
those moves myself.
And yes, towards the end of the show panties were thrown, among other
unidentified strings of fabric.
Anybody there in the Vegas area?? Lemme know when he turns up thereparts; I
wanna experience Tom Jones in Ceasar's Palace.
[ Oh, Tom Jones. I thought maybe Ian Svenonius was up to something again.
- Mark ]
Pat
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: burck@nyplgate.nypl.org, burck@carson.u.washington.edu
Subj: COBRA (Ribot) etc.
I finally got around to seeing a performance of Zorn's Cobra (for those of you
who don't live in new york, Cobra is John Zorn's "game piece" in which a
group of improvisers, using hand signals and other gestures, "compose" the
piece through a "prompter" who chooses which signals to convey to the group
via cue cards). I was moved to go 'coz it was billed as "organized by Marc
Ribot" who is the coolest guitar player in town. It turned out that
organizing a performance just means getting the players together, so Ribot
really didn't leave his personal stamp on the show. He said he wanted to get
a group of members of the pit orchestra from the broadway production of Les
Miserables, but only one full time member (a flute player who played a neato
bass flute) would do it on his day off. Anyway, while the performance was
entertaining, I think it suffered from the fact that the prompter didn't
really let anything go on for very long -- no groove was allowed to last for
more than a few seconds. All of the changes were quite jarring; nothing was
allowed to flow or mutate slowly. Since I haven't seen any other
performances, I can't tell if it was all due to the prompter or if Zorn's
rules tend to force such choppiness. I did get to see John Zorn pop through
a door mid-performance and tickle Anthony Coleman. He fell over sideways in
an awkward fashion to avoid smashing his keyboard. Funny.
I got two cool records in the mail from AmRep. The Chokebore lp "motionless"
is pretty groovy (not too unlike their earlier picture 7") the guitars are
loud and the singer yodels a bit. The Today is the Day lp "supernova" is
tres swell. It's not as mind numbing as the crushing "I Bent Scared" 7", but
makes up for it with added weirdness. It's kinda like if Melvins were Ruins
were Nurse With Wound or something. I like it plenty.
Bands! Send stuff for review to Animal Review: 81 Grand St., #4, Jesey City,
NJ 07302.
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: The Stupidity Patrol <lim7@midway.uchicago.edu>
Subj: And now here's something we hope you really like...
Well, not much in the 4 days since the last report from lovely Gaithersburg,
MD. Haven't had much time to listen to my new records, so I'll just cover
the one show I managed to get out to:
Unrest w/Blast Off Country Style and Versus at the 9:30 Club (9/2)
In the stifling heat, even the homeless panhandlers knew about this show
("Hey man, enjoy the show - Unrest will show you a good time. DO you have any
change..?") I got to the club shortly after Versus had gone on (I was late
because I caught an early showing of M, so sue me). They sounded quite good,
although i must confess a certain ignorance of their material (They didn't
play "Tin Foil Star" when I was there, which is the only song I have of
theirs). They were pretty good, although I'm getting increasingly desperate
about finding something to seperate these indie guitar pop bands from one
another. They were good enough in a bright, cheery way to make me want to
hunt down a single, particularly their last song, which was a rougher,
rhythmic distorted-guitar song that was more intense than their previous set
put together. Anyway, after they had left the stage, the main floor at the
club cleared out a bit, so my brother and I got closer to the stage... After
about 15 minutes, Blast Off! took the stage, half the band in their best
cowboy hats. Phil looked quite the suave man with his glasses, hat and black
vest... They played a pretty short but enjoyable set, which was vaguely
reminiscent of an amateurish B-52s (??!?) and featured the theme from Vomit
Mania, Lake Eerie, Weiner Dude Attitude, and actually most of their songs
from their first 3 singles (one of which hasn't been released yet). Mary
broke two strings so the band feebly tried to fill time by embarrassing a
friend. Evelyn started of sort of intimidated by the largish stage and big
crowd, but once they got into their set, she seemed to relax and do goofy 50s
dances. After a bizarre birthday song, they left the stage. After another 20
minutes and mounting expectation, Unrest finally took the stage. "Hi. We're
called Unrest," said Mark, and they launched straight into "Skinhead Girl,"
which should have gotten the crowd (not even sold out!) in a frenzy but
rather just set some of us dancing in place. After that, the band played a
frantic "Bavarian Mods" that bowled me over with Mark's delivery and
energetic performances form the entire band. This song reminded me of when I
would listen to Malcolm X Park and Kustom Karnal Blaxploitation and think
"Hey, this is a damn fine drummer," then realize that he's still in the band,
although considerably toned down) Sooooo, they went on to play for about 75
minutes, covering much material from their newest ("So Sick, awell-received
"Make Out Club", a very well received "Cath Carroll," "Light Command" and
maybe one more...) some recentish stuff (they closed their first set with
"Isabel" and started the encore with "Love to Know"), plus the real
highlights, which were a pretty good rendition of "Suki" for the final song
of the evening, and a stupendous reworking of "Oils" and a great version of
"Christina." They also had another old song in there that I can't quite
place... The weird moment of the evening came when Mark asked the audience
"Knock knock" (who's there) "Frank Sinatra" then Bridget screamed and tried
to kick Mark in the ankles (Frank Sinatra who?) "nobody," said Mark, a bit
sheepishly. Anyway, they went on to do a mellow cover of a Sinatra tune,
which was ok, but I'm not a big Sinatra fan, you see. This is the first time
I've seen Unrest (following several near-misses over the last year), and I
was really impressed both with the professional musicianship they displayed,
the energy they put into their performances, and of course the great songs.
It's too bad they didn't do more of their incredible Imperial, but those two
from Malcolm X Park were well worth the 5 bucks it cost.
Until next time,
The Stupidity Patrol o o "Special Interests Make Me Sick"
lim7@midway.uchicago.edu > -Teamsters sign
12XU! o (I believe they're serious, too)
(Temporarily residing in DC)
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Douglas Wolk <dbcloud@panix.com>
Subj: I-L: I'll keep it brief
Or briefer than last time, anyway. Jeez. Sorry about the bandwidth, folks.
Obligatory this-isn't-really-an-ad-it's-just-an-infotainment-sca[nm]: The
Hattifatteners' _Vogue Bambini_ EP is finally out on Dark Beloved Cloud. The
band includes members of God Is My Co-Pilot, Silver Jews, Growing Up Skipper
and Fly Ashtray. Email me for details.
[ Let's hear it for Moomintroll references in indie music! The Hattifatteners
are these strange little electrical glow worms that Snufkin sows as a
practical joke. I also hear there's a band in the Bay Area called Little My!
-- Lena ]
Heard the new Belt Buckle 7" on Sonic Bubblegum. It's a new band including
Lou Barlow and Bob Fay (the semi-legendary Sebadoh temp who's also played at
most bands that have been in Boston in the last five years). Lou's trying
really, really hard not to sound like Sebadoh. He can't do it with his basic
guitar sound, which is pretty inescapable, but the songwriting-- jeez. They
must have been unbelievably stoned when they wrote a lot of this stuff. Not
that that hurts in their case; it's just that "Mary Hair" sounds kinda like
"Take The Skinheads Bowling," male-chorus call-and-response and all. "Had a
dream about the carnival (carnival) / And the Beastie Boys were there
(there)..."
I second Sean's hearty recommendation of the Sick Things album. It was
recorded WAY the hell back when - late Seventies is my guess - and released
about three years ago after years of being tape-bootlegged. I vaguely recall
that they had some connection to Venom P. Stinger. For the tenth anniversary
of WHRB's Record Hospital program, they made T-shirts that say "YOU STILL
MAKE ME SICK" and reproduce the genius drawing of the vomiting man from the
sleeve of the Sick Things album.
I do kinda have to argue with Sean on the Tsunami v. Velocity Girl thing.
Yes, Tsunami have finally started making records I like this year (especially
"Brickbook Building" on TeenBeat 100 and the Flower cover on _Inclined
Plane_), but on stage they're still awfully reserved and preachy, or have
been so when I've seen them. V. Girl made a really bad record with some good
songs on it, just so that people would stop comparing them to My Bloody
Valentine. I think that was a dumb move--the world could use a pop MBV--and I
also think it's dumb that they're putting their best songs on B-sides these
days ("Creepy," "Stupid Thing"). But they're capable of doing great stuff
in the studio when left to their own devices (videlicet "Forgotten Fave" and
"Warm/Crawl"), and they've got some great stuff left in them.
Speaking of grumblings about Jenny and Kristin, I just got to hear the
_Simple Machines_ CD, and it made me unhappy for a couple of reasons. The
foremost of those is that I bought a bunch of singles thinking that their
music would stay on 7" form, and now it appears I wasted a decent amount of
money. (A friend tells me they're planning to do a _Working Holidays_ CD too,
which annoys her since she paid $40 for a subscription thinking this was the
only place she'd be able to hear those songs.) The second is that, for the
chronicle of one of the things that helped launch the self-released indie 7",
it's pretty damn dull. Of the 24 tracks, there's only a couple that are that
interesting. And it still pisses me off that Mark Robinson can get away
with "Winona Ryder" (which is a note-for-note, word-for-word ripoff of Family
Fodder's "DEBBIE HARRrY" (sic)) and nobody really notices.
Whatever. Off to sleep, and dreams of someday finding a copy of the Little
Siter album...
Douglas
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Brad <searles@emily.emba.uvm.edu>
Subj: Hello from Cow Country.
Greetings to all from Burlington, VT. Home of fine ice cream and not too much
indie rawk. But there's some!!
Well, first, news from the outside world...
taking place this weekend is the afformentioned indie thing way down in
Richmond, VA. A more-than-enthusiastic friend of mine named Colin Clary left
Thursday to drive something like 13 hours to see this thing. I couldn't go.
Can someone review it?
[ See above. - Mark ]
Someone asked last issue where 'Soul Mate' by Sebadoh can be found. And yes,
it's on the Freed Weed/Man, but can also be found in full-
arrangement/noisy-band form on the limited Sub Pop/Sassy (gasp!) single that
also features exclusive tracks by Codeine, Velocity Girl, and Beat Happening.
How fortunate it is to know someone at Sub Pop. It's an amazing version and
I will happily make it available to you all out there....
[ Please send me one... I love Beat Happening.... I will send you an
envelope full of mashed peas or emeralds or something.... Love, Lena. ]
I've been talking to Dave from Small Factory recently because he is trying to
book them up here to play and I'm trying to help...it was supposed to be on
Sept. 18 possibly with Versus, but that fell through since the show they were
going to play at Bowdoin the night before also fell through. But his is
going to reschedule in October, so they'll be coming this way.
Dave sent me both the new Pop Narcotic Small Factory single as well as the
new Simple Machines working holiday single with S.F. and Tsunami on it. The
song that S.F. contibuted to the latter is god-like. Could be my favorite
S.F. song ever...it's called If You Hurt Me. Dave said they were going to
put it on the upcoming S.F. full-length, but decided they'd rather put a
strong song on the split single instead of something off the cuff. And boy
did they. The two songs on the Pop Narcotic single are wonderful as well.
The BIG news is the double 10" that Pop Narcotic will be putting out soon
(fall)...it's NARC006, and it's got Sleepyhead, Dambuilders, Small Factory,
Versus, Polvo, Monsterland, Wing Tip Sloat, Helium, Ruby Falls, Twig,
Greenhorn Kudgel, Grifters -- OBOY!!!!!
Write pop narcotic at 1085 Commonwealth Ave. #339, Boston, MA 02215
Get on their mailing list! Buy a t-shirt! Support them. They have yet to
release anything that is not good.
[ Or email Mr. Bill at <peregoyb@roadrunner.pictel.com>. Memo to Bill: Send
money. :-) - Mark ]
Go see Magic Hour if you can. It's Damon and Naomi from Galaxie 500 plus
some folks from Crystallized Movements (Wayne and, um...I forgot) They made
their debut with Unrest and Blast Off Country Style a couple weeks ago, and
they are playing again on the 30th of September with Velocity Girl and
Tsunami at the Paradise in Boston. I'll be there!!! Magic Hour has a single
out on Forced Exposure. I can't find it.
Hey! I have a band! We're called 'hover' (yes, i know about hoover...argh).
We've been around about 1 1/2 years...two tapes out that we did ourselves,
plus a mini cassette (3 songs) that we did in a studio up here, and soon, we
realease our debut-studio-full-length-11-song thing to the masses. It's
called thinsilverhorizon (10 points if you can tell me where the title comes
from). Don't ask me what we sound like. It's not really noisy (well, not
most of the time)...female and male vocals, one guitar with not many effects.
Lots of mellow songs. Hmmmm... That's us. Someone compared us to Tallulah
Gosh once. Just once. We're on a compilation called Thurtene that is a
tribute to the 4AD record label...we cover a Breeders song.
I'll be at the Breeders in Boston on Sept. 11th if anyone wants to meet up.
Other news.
Anyone in Chicago should look for upcoming shows by a band called....
Guppyboy!!!! they rule all. One of the best bands i've heard in a long
time....and i'm not just saying that because they are my friends. Quirky,
different, amazing. Great lyrics, messed up vocals. see them....
They'll be playing at the Lincoln Tap Room on the, um....16th? I think.
THey'll also be playing at Phylis' Musical Inn. Go see them. They moved to
Chicago from Vermont and these are their first shows out there. They deserve
the support.
my band (hover) and the Guppy's have a split single coming out sort of
soon....as soon as they decide which song they want to put on it.
Write me and I can send you some Guppyboy or some hover or whatever. My band
releases our stuff on our own label called 'Club Fub'... We recently put out
a tape called 'Guppylove', which is a tribute to Guppyboy. Six Burlington
Vermont bands covering Guppyboy songs.
Well, this posting is too long and my roomates here at the Club are getting
mad that I'm tying up the phone....
Until next time....
Brad
searles@emily.emba.uvm.edu
Club Fub
150 East Ave.
Burlington, VT 05401
802-865-9282
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Steve Silverstein <ST201268@BROWNVM.brown.edu>
Subj: ahvn;afjd;
OK. Lots of news to report this week, esp. since coming back to school kept
me from posting last week. Where to start.
Laurels, Flying Nuns, The Lune, Sidemouse at AS220 9/03
Back to Providence, and back to seeing Boston and Providence bands. Just
about everyone was supposed to be on this bill, which Jeff Toste of the
Laurels arranged, at some point. Kudgel, Helium, and Monsterland were among
those who bailed. On to those who showed. It was Sidemouse's last show with
Mike (from Loaf) on drums. The rest of the band is 3 women who go to Brown.
I'd seen them a long time ago, and they've improved thousand-fold, and were
good. Noisy and a bit less melodic than my taste at times, but definitely
worth seeing. Up next was The Lune, who first did tunes with strange acoustic
instrumentation and then switched to electric. Worth seeing for the sudden
shift, plus the acoustic stuff was fun, but they were far from spectacular.
Third were Flying Nuns. Boston band (like The Lune). Sort of Mission of
Burma mixed with some Unrest, but not as exciting as either. Noisy Boston
pop; good but not too memorable. Finally were the Laurels (from Providence).
Very solid. Noisy and VERY energetic and fun. Good songwriting too. Worth
catching. They've got 2 7"s on their own label, Heparin, with more coming,
plus an LP on Triage on the way. I don't have Heparin's address handy. Mail
me for it.
Next. Unrest, Blast Off Country Style, Palentine at the Rev, 8/27 or so.
Palentine were on first. The singer has an amazing voice which I can compare
to Polly Harvey in a way. They sound sort of Too Pure-ish, but the
songwriting lags and is their clear weakness. Blast Off were fun. Cowboy
suits, matching outfits on both women, and the bassist's dancing were unique.
And the songs are fun too. It made me laugh quite a bit and entertained me,
but I couldn't imagine buying a 7". See them if you get a chance, but don't
expect musical mastery. The highlight was when the guitarist and singer
swapped roles for the last song, something like "Ding Dong It's Your
Birthday". Also nifty were the songs that started with the bassist saying
"Blast off country style", maybe to indicate the tempo or something. It was
interesting. Finally Unrest, who sounded solid (as usual). Similar set to
the one recently mentioned. The free "Vibe Out" 7" has a great computer
voice at the beginning of both "Vibe Out" (a decent Bridget tune) and "So
Sick" (otherwise the LP track). 2000 made, only available for about 2 weeks.
Just got the new Versus EP in the mail, and it is just amazing. Fontaine
sings a funny tune called something like "New Girlfriend" with a lyric "My
boyfriend's got a new girlfriend now. I hope she gets hit by a car." Richard
sings the rest. The most memorable tunes are probably the last 2, a7 1/2 min
noise freak-out thing called "Seaweed Rising" and a perfect 2-min pop song
with lyrics by roadie Jeff Cashvan, "Sea Girl". 6 songs for $6, something
like 25 mins of music. Again, address isn't handy. I posted it a while
back, or mail me.
-Steve
[Steve later added:]
The Versus song I gave some butchered title for is "That Girl's Gone", and
the EP, which I neglected to say, is called Let's Electrify.
Mark, how was the Fest? I hope you enjoyed, and I hope the Friendly/Blast
Off and whoever else thing was a huge success.
[ See above again. - Mark ]
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Joshua Lee Houk <houk@mind.ORG>
Subj: Indie: Something or another...
Yeah, I'm back. I know y'all are thrilled to death (har, har) - but it is
nice to be back spouting off my misconceived opinions about anything and
everything. Haven't been up to much - not buying too many records, got my
first paying job in three years, bonking undiscovered cartoonists, and being
extremely lazy - as usual. Anyhow - time's a wastin'...
SEERSUCKER - Pushing Rope [Sky Records, 6400 Atlantic Blvd., Suite 220,
Norcross GA 30071]
First record from Atlanta's finest comes off as an example of what it would
be like if Superchunk were an AmRep band. Trading the bouron wash of Dirt's
harshness (two alumni from that band are here) for hooks and intelligible
vocals, this us a darn good record. Production (by David Barbe) falters on
side one, but doesn't detract from the band's intensity one iota (and now
amplified by the addition of Harvey Milk bassist Stephen Tanner). Originals
are all strong, with a revamped version of "Smokestack" from the Worry Bird
7", "ACME Action", "Rodney + Starlet (heart)", and "Electra 225" being
particularly memorable. A cover of Mercyland's "Tough Ass Knives" really
smokes, and Barbe puts better production on this one (wonder why? :), and a
new version of Dirt's "P.F.P." shows that Chris Lopez can match John Forbes
whiskey-at-9am vocals. And Jennifer Hensley is still the best guitarist in
the southeast. Bad cover art by David Yow. (**1/2)
Next ish (hopefully!), stuff by Unrest, as well as a buncha zine reviews that
might take one or two weeks to do - includin' Second Skin, Second Guess, File
13, Black To Comm, Mole, and I'm sure there's something I'm forgetting... ah
well...
Joshua Houk
houk@mind.org
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Tom Meyer <tmeyer@il.us.swissbank.com>
Subj: Deja VU
Well, I know that 'nicking' guitar riffs from other people's tunes is pretty
much accepted nowadays, but I thought I'd point out a few of the more blatant
examples I've noticed recently:
1- the closing 'solo' in Urge Overkill's 'Sister Havana' swipes a good deal
from Eleventh Dream Day's 'After This Time is Gone' almost note for note.
2- This is among the most blantant theiverys (sp?) I've ever noticed, some
band called Beach Buggy has a song called 'There's a Place in My Heart' that
pratically lifts the entire guitar part from VU's 'What Goes On' note for
note, chord for chord. Granted, there are only so many chords/notes
available, but c'mon. They as well have just dubbed new vocals over the old
music.
3- (older) 11th Dream Day's borrowing of the closing line (the individual,
ascending notes) from Television's 'Marquee Moon' in 'Bagdad's Last Ride'.
anyone else got any blantant examples of this type of thing??
[ Well, I think most of the riff in that Mazzy Star song, what's it called,
"Flower in the Morning Rain" or something, is really "I'll be Your Mirror" by
the Velvet Underground and Nico.... -- Lena ]
[ And, of course, the melody of "Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl" is basically
the bridge from some Go Team song I've forgotten the title of. Unrest -
masters of creative plaigirism. :-) - Mark ]
-tom
<-------------------------------------------