Indie-List_V2_N17
<------------------------+
the INDIE-LIST DIGEST /
<---------------=======================--------------->
/ Volume 2, Number 17
+------------------------>
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark
Subject: Outhouses Of The Holy
Hi de ho de hum... I'm pretty busy working on Fshee! and the second ish
of _Burping Lula_ right now, so not much this week...
- AVAIL, "Attempt To Regress" 45 (Catheter-Assembly, POB 4785, Richmond
VA 23220): A Richmond band who've played a melodic HC sort of sound (on past
records) that was not too bad, but seemed to be lacking a certain "oomph."
There's "oomph" to spare on this 45, pairing up the thick & heavy guitar
sound with a rap-inflected (!) vocal and rhythm. There's a message to it, of
course, but they stop short of pounding a dogma into your brain. The b-side
"Mr. Morgan" is the more melodic of the two, but the a-side "Connection" is
the one I find mumbling to myself in the car. Recommended for people who
(like me) are/were getting pretty jaded on endless HC bands that all sound
the same. Fresh and invigorating. **
- BLASTOFF COUNTRY STYLE, "Pretty Sneaky Sis" (Teenbeat, PO Box 50373,
Techworld Station, Washington DC 20091): I find it really hard to believe
that they've made it this far, but here is the second 45 from BOCS (with
a third soon to follow, yippie-ky-yay!) Much better realized than their
first one (production once again by noted graphic artist/Pitchblender
Treiops Treyfid), but holds on to the endearing geekiness. (Hey, they even
learned how to tune a guitar, wacky wild stuff kids!) And, "Far-Out-Law"
even adds some neato organ shtuff. Part Gidget, part budget rock, part
Degrassi Junior High. And yes, they're just as zany in person (I went to
college with them.) What more can I really say? It's silly, it's chipmunky,
and it'll rock your bobby sox off. Yeah. **
- CANVAS #4 zine (Jamie Kennard, Skidmore College Box 641, Saratoga Springs
NY 12866, <jkennard@skidmore.edu>, half-letter size, $1.00/trade): Punk/HC
oriented zine featuring interviews with "controversial" poet Paul Weinman
and Amy Pickering o/b/o/ Dischord Records, as well as some musings on the
commercialization of punk and skateboarding, plus yr usual record/zine
reviews, all well done. Comes from the Rochester NY area, where my parents
went to college and almost had me (neat, huh?) and the reviews reflect the
locale to some extent (although not exclusively.) Looks good, too. Enjoyed
reading it. I don't listen to much hardcore any more, but if I did, I'd be
reading this fairly regularly. *1/2
- HELIUM, "Hole In The Ground" (Pop Narcotic, 1085 Commonwealth Ave #339,
Boston MA 02215, <popnarc@world.std.com>): Not too long ago I reviewed
the 45 from Slant 6, featuring Christina Bilotte from Autoclave. A fellow
'Clave alumna, Mary Timony, now fronts Helium. A friend of mine once
described Timony's voice as "a hardcore version of Chrissie Hynde." Not
sure if I agree with her or not, but the b-side "Lucy" does have a slight
Pretenders ring to it here and there. Nevertheless, the a-side is near
hardcore intensity (I'd say it's probably the hardest record on this label
thus far) and teems with grrrl anger. Big sound for a trio, and a great
record (right, Liz?) **1/2
- SMALL FACTORY, "So What About Love" (Pop Narcotic): My dislike for Small
Factory is well-known among people who know me or have read some of my past
writings. But their Working Holiday contribution "If You Hurt Me" was so
fucking amazing that I decided to give them another chance. So here's their
latest 45, and they're not as afraid of electrifying as they once seemed to
be. The a-side "So What About Love" is a fairly typical SF lala-fest, but
the b-side "We Will" rocks out big-time with a bass sound bigger than Alaska.
They've finally made a record I like; now what am I going to rant about?
**
- V/A, "HOW TO WORSHIP MOSQUITOES" (Eerie Materials, PO Box 14592, Richmond
VA 23220): Second in Eerie's line of "How To" tape compilations (the next
one, "How To Cauterize A Flesh Wound With A Waffle Iron", will be out when
Dick Clark dies or when hell freezes over, whichever comes first.) Eerie,
of course, are the world-renowned (ahum) merchants of musical dementia.
This compilation is perhaps not as strong overall as the first ("How To
Kill Frank Sinatra") but has some great moments from bands like Geezer Lake,
Slang Laos, Evolution Control Committee and Rob Christiansen. The overall
atmosphere is one of low fidelity, chaos, noise, and sonic sputum. But how
can you pass up a tape that includes a song entitled "My Half Brother, Vomit,
Keeps Saying Clotwurst!, Clotwurst!, Clotwurst!, Clotwurst!, Clotwurst!, !"
Guaranteed to make your parents hurl faster than you can say "Beavis, this
rocks, huh huh, huh huh." *
Ran into an old friend of mine this week, whom I hadn't seen since he used
to go out with my best (female) friend back in North Carlolina. (Hmm...)
We had some beers and caught up a bit. Also, my current temp assignment got
extended, etc. It's been a good week, I must say. Thanks to people who've
written recently, and let's have those articles for Fshee!... c'mon, don't
be shy... :-) BTW, a brief note about Fshee!: I'm not planning on running
reviews in it. I mean, we run reviews every week; I don't really see the point
in running more. Instead, I'm looking for more generally-interesting stuff.
What that means is (as usual) up to you. See ya...
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: STU_AJWAN@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU (Amy Wan)
Subject: a show of interest
Hey those out there in indie list land. This is my first contribution
to the list, but please don't expect much(I have an extreme fear of getting
flamed, so I hate to write). Basically, I want to let all out there about
a great show which is going to be at James Madison University(yes, Mark's
old school) on September 24th. I think it starts around 7 or 7:30 and will
cost $5 in advance, $6 at the door. Oh, yeah--the bands playing are
Joe the Fireman(from Blacksburg, VA), The Earthworms(rom Athens, a sort of
pop band), Bicycleface, the Moving Targets(cool, cool punk rock, infamous
for their live Zeppelin covers), and Unrest. I guess that's it, unless
you have any questions. Feel free to e-mail me or call the station(the
show is sponsored by WXJM) at 703-568-6878. (if you are far away you can
still buy tickets in advance) Please come if you are within a reasonable
distance. It should be pretty neato.
ps... by the way, I have some news about Mark's old band the Ice Cream
Socialists. Fortunately for all you fans out there, the band is still
alive and well. They are/have been playing some out of town gigs, plus
pretty much exhausting the one half way decent club and all on campus
venues. I guess the biggest thing going on with them is that are being
considered for a Globe records compilation disc(label part owned by
Archie of Velocity Girl) Stay tuned for more....
[ Yessirree, leaving that band was the best thing I ever did for them,
eh? :-) Glad to hear they're doing well. What's Gimpy the Turtle up to
these days? - Mark ]
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Laurence Roberts RD <lroberts@bellahs.com>
Subject: Indie-list: Oswald Five-0, Huggy Bear, and Plunderphonics
Saw Oswald Five-O on Saturday, who were performing as part of Queer Media
Chaos, a queer zine fair. The fair went o.k -- I no longer have high
expectations of selling lots of Holy Titclamps at such events, and mostly
go for the opportunity to meet other zine editors.
>From looking at Oswald Five-O, you wouldn't expect them to make the kind
of music they do. They look more like they should be performing swing
music or something. Robert and Nick wear dapper suits and ties, and Diane
wouldn't look out of place in the 1950's either. There's sort of an early
Cindy Sherman (black and white movie still period) sensibility about the
cover of their CD, "For Losers Only," which pictures Diane looking depressed
at a kitchen table.
Despite all this, they rock out, the tempos are sometimes fast, at times
sounding like melodic Eastbay hardcore. Diane and one of the male members
swap vocals. They make reference in the liner notes to the Descendents and
the Wipers. What really made me prick up my ears, though, was their cover
of "My Head Hurts," a lost classic originally sung by Lois Maffeo with the
Go Team on the "Archer Come Sparrow" cassette. Oswald Five-O's cover rocks
out more than the original, but is worthy.
(History Lesson: The core of the Go Team was Calvin Johnson [sigh --Lena]
and Tobi Vail, and they collaborated on a couple of cassettes and an
abortive monthly series of singles (never made it past the summer) with a
range of northwest underground luminaries including Curt Kobain.)
Oswald Five-0's record is available from Grinning Idiot Records, Box 10634,
Eugene, OR 97440. Archer Come Sparrow is still available from K.
Sunday I saw Huggy Bear, the Frumpies and Blood Sausage, but I've already
reported on that to the Chugchanga-list. Huggy Bear will be heading east,
and will be rejoined by Blood Sausage for the east-coast leg of the trip.
(Don't worry about getting hit by confused British drivers -- they're being
driven by a member of Pavement. Small comfort.)
Something else to look out for is a new Japanese import Plunderphonic CD.
John Oswald samples, cuts up and reconstructs pop music. What does a title
like "Ozzy Osmond" suggest to you? I suppose this is probably being discussed
on the New Music list, but I don't subscribe. Could someone who is let me
know what folks are saying?
Larry-bob
lroberts@bellahs.com
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: 0 <sokay@swift.mitre.org>
Subject: Brush with Greatness
Since everybody here has been talking about Unrest so much recently,
I thought I'd drop in my own ObUnrest.
I had a brush with them at Dulles Airport about 3 weeks ago as they were
getting ready to leave for LA and I was heading for San Francisco.
Once again, this proves that I should let other people do my interviews
for me and not say anything myself.
Me:"Unrest ehh? <looking at gold painted Unrest logo on a guitar case as I
wait in the United check-in line>...are you guys with the band?"
U: "Oh I am the band...errr...we are the band...her and him and me"
Me:" Cool!!...so where are you guys off to?"
U: "We're going to LA and then work our way up the coast"
Me:"Are you going to play the Bay area?.. I'm gonna be out there for about
2 weeks,s it'd be cool to know if you're playing there.."
U: "Naahhh....not until October..but we'll be back here in Sept. Like the
2nd or something.."
Me:"Okay..."
U: "So are you with anybody?"
Me:"I just do this small netzine thing called 'Armadillo Culture..you've
probably never heard of it.."
U: "No.....sorry.."
U: "we're from around here though, did you know that?"
Me:"Yeah...."
U: "Oh, you just look kind of lost or something..."
Me:"Oh....well, I kind of always look like that..."
<Counter Droid>"Can I help you down here sir?"
Me:"Yeah!...well...later..."
I didn't get to the show when I got back. It was the day I got home and
I was pretty lagged, so I got crashed instead..
----Steve
-------
Stephen Okay sokay@mitre.org
"You won't be happy with me,but give me one more chance,
You won't be happy anyways..."----Magnetic Fields
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: "Baddiley, John" <badjoh.topemail@mhsgate.cit.ac.nz>
Subject: In defense of Shihad
Why is it that every band that releases something even slightly
industrial-ish with samples these days that they get compared to Ministry?
I mean, all the newspaper reviewers would be out of luck if Ministry
hadn't released Psalm 69 (nothing these people are releasing sounds even
vaugely like earlier Ministry. Anyway, off with the rambling rant.
A year ago, I could have said without a shadow of a doubt that I didn't
like anything that vaguely resembled a metal-type sound. Then I bought
Course of Empires' album, and then The God Machines', and now I find
myself quite liking the "Wall of sound" effect. So when I received my free
ticket in the mail to the Radio Active (our local ex-student band (they
lost student association funding a couple of years ago)) [Private]
Function, I was quite pleased. Playing that night was a heap of Nz bands
that I had heard of, and wanted to see, had not heard of, and wanted to
see, and had heard of and didn't really want to see, but would if I wasn't
paying for it I suppose.
Playing were (in no particular order), Cinematic, Steak, Pumpkin Head,
Emma Paki, Halleluja Picassos, Shihad, MC OJ and Rhythm Slave and The
Headless Chickens. For my mind, it was definitely worth the $25 I had paid
at the beginning of the year to get the subcard (considering I got a
Lemonheads ticket with that as well).
Anyway, back to the topic. Cinematic sounded good (I walked in just to
hear them say "And this is our last song for the evening"), Steak were,
well, they were very good in places. I particularly liked the head dress
they wore (bassist wore a horses skull with glowing red eyes, Guitarist
wore a papier mache aliens head (with moving jaw and red glowing eyes)
...they sounded quite a bit like Fear Factory crossed with something like
(oops...ministry? :) ). Went over to a friends party across the road when
Emma Paki was playing, so I don't really know what she was like.
Halleluja Picassos, on the other hand, were brilliant. They played just
the right type of music (the type that you could jump up and down to).
The Chooks had the best accoustics for the evening. Although I still don't
like Fiona McDonald. Bring back rupert! (It seemed at times as if she was
trying to justify her place in the band by saying things after each song.
She also seemed to be the kind of person to say "We are now a pop band, so
I will wear pop/trendy clothes". They were quite good though, and I liked
a lot of their new songs.
The highlight of the evening for me was definitely Shihad, though. Their
new album (churn), has been getting very good reviews over here, and so I
was quite looking forward to seeing them. As said before, there was lots
of that nasty smoke stuff, but I was just back far enough to miss inhaling
it all. Shihad have definitely been doing some practice though, and ripped
through a 45 minute set with a fair amount of flair (I thought that the
"fuckin' cheers" to the audience between each song had a certain amount of
style :) ) Not really knowing the songs doesn't help for a review though
(I did know "churn" by the chorus :) ).
Needless to say, If Shihad come your way (and there is a possibility of a
worldwide release of their "Churn" album, go get it (or at least have a
listen)
Jono
___________________________________________________________________
"Have you ever seen a bird fly? Have you ever seen the sun shine?
Have you ever held anything beautiful,
and known that it would eventually die?"
The God Machine
Jono Baddiley (Internet : badjoh.topemail@mhsgate.cit.ac.nz)
The Open Polytech of New Zealand
Information Services
Phone (64 4) 560 5679 <or>
(64 4) 566 6189 (Ext. 5679)
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: David Bennison <davidb@dbadmin2.amgen.com>
Subject: Blues Explosion + Stereolab Live
13th Sept- Stereolab/Codiac/Fur - Norwich Arts Centre
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I figured I might as well go to this, there was nothing on TV (rest day
for the World Chess Championships, no 'Mr Don and Mr George'), there was
nobody at home and Stereolab had had a pretty decent album review recently
although they had so far passed me by. The only track I'd ever heard was
Super Electric?, something which I didn't like but I'd give them another
go anyway.
Pretty cool venue with a nice range of steam beers, teas and soups and
giant photos of nipples on the walls. Those crazy crazy Norwich Art
students. They had a selection of bowls on display selling at over 100
pounds each! Looked quite nice but are they practical I asked myself. Fur
were already playing and I felt an overpowering depression as I watched
them. 4 non blonds with Ride/ Foppish haircuts (I have the urge to punch)
singing miserable slow `shoegazer' epics with the panache and stage
presence of the old bassist from Lush. In the My Bloody Valentine stakes,
they were 10th round drafts. Ho hum, let's be fair. One guy played a cello
and at times could be compared to the Bambi Slam (anyone remember?).
Codiac were next and they wore dirty vests. Real men I thought. Don't care
for personal hygeine and older than me so a good start all round. They
looked a bit like World Domination Enterprises (a band I loved but nobody
else did) but yet again flattered to deceive. They were a 'power-trio' and
tried to sound like Monster Magnet but only managed to re-create Monster
Magnets dullest moments, the problem being that they were limited
guitar-ally, unable to wig out at the desired moment and having to resort
to the slow wah-wah instead. OK I guess but I'm getting sick of accepting
mediocrity, rawness and promise at the expense of genuine talent and
someone who can deliver the goods.
Take any 5 kids, one French preferably and 1 Moe Tucker lookalike. Show
the guitarist a riff, the keyboardist a chord, the bassist a string and a
drummer what drum to hit and you have Stereolab. Now repeat for 8 minutes,
add some admittedly nice girly vocal harmonies over the top. Now stop. Now
choose the same riff, a difference chord (or the same one but higher),
show the bassist another string, don't bother notifying the drummer that
you're now on a new song and repeat as before. Actually this is pretty
unfair but I like slating bands. Stereolab don't play a brand of music I'm
particularly excited about although they went down pretty well with the
crowd. I feel the most interesting thing about them is the lead vocalists
French accent and the harmonies she makes with the Moe Tucker clone. A
Farafisa organ comes in and adds a bit to the groove but overall I saw
nothing to convince me that I'd missed out on seeing their career develop
to the suprising heights of Sub Pop stars. The Dwarves they ain't. The
repetative rhythm angle is something that I think Th'Faith Healers do a
lot better due mainly to them having a top notch rhythm section and an
excellent drummer while Stereolab rely more on vocals and keyboards.
Anyway, that's that. On the drive home I listened to a John Spensers Blues
Explosion bootleg which reminded me why I bother going to these gigs.
14th Sept - The John Spenser Blues Explosion/Nightblooms - Boat Race,Cambridge
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got there early as it's down the road from where I work and said Hello to
John Spenser who was sitting outside, as you do. Wow. Good start I
thought. Not only was he in one of the greatest bands, it was HIS band too
and he had Bob Bert AND Neil Haggerty in it. I saw Unrest here a month ago
and there were around 50 people and it was a great night. This venue is
fast becoming my favourite for sound and location, although it's pretty
sparce, dark and scummy and there's not much room, even for a small crowd.
So, The Nightblooms were first up, a 4 piece with a powerful and loud
drummer, a young dreadlocked girl bassist, a
Ramones/Slash-from-G&Roses-lookalike lead guitarist and a Scandanavian
Abba/Heidi-type girl vocalist. They were pretty inanimate on stage but
were making a real interesting Velvet Underground guitar groove, more
'Waiting for My Man' and 'Rock & Roll' than 'Sister Ray'. This comparison
may be partly due to the Nico vocals of the Dutch? singer although they
were more upbeat. The bassist chimed in with some nice harmonies and all
in all I was impressed. They varied from sparce stop/start songs one
minute to full-on guitar and drum workouts the next and I say 'Go See
Them' although they didn't look like they could afford a bus home, let
alone a US Tour.
Next was my potential escape from a mundane week, John Spenser and his
Blues Revue hit the stage and looked total star material from the first
note. John was all in black with 'Hustler' across the front, the other
lead guitarist looked like John did before he got his hair cut while the
drummer wore a Halo of Flies T-shirt, looked like he knew what he was
doing and was of Bob Bert proportions (almost). Not having the Blues
Explosion LP, I couldn't name anything - most of the songs running into
the next with the occassional cry of 'Blues Explosion' and 'Thankyou
Ladies and Gentlemen', but every second of the 1 hour set was nothing less
than stunning. The obvious comparison is Pussy Galore, particularly the
R&B tinge of the Exile on Main Street recordings but it seemed better live
in front of me. I kept looking back at my pal Jezz who was taping the
show. For the first time ever, he was smiling and shuffling about - quite
an achievement. As well as some blistering blasts of harmonia and guitar
noise, John also plays a mean 'Electric Pole' which sits on top of an amp
and makes a radio tuning/wave oscillating hum when he waves his hand over
it. The drummer was brutal, the other guitarist was stellar and John
Spenser was a God! They fucking rocked the way I expect my rock to be
fucking rocked.
I won't go on an on except to say that this show beats Faust, Shudder to
Think and Blurt to the glittering prize of best gig of the last 2 years
for me. You've sinned if you don't see them live given the chance. Praise
the Lord & Amen.
David...
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: In lust we trust <doomgirl@u.washington.edu>
RE: Christine's Reviews
Hi - it's me, Chris Sievanen in Seattle - and here are some reviews!
[Thanks, Chris! Now these were worth the wait. That's what I call a
well-written review! -- Lena]
Belt Buckle EP - 7" on Sonic Bubblegun
(Lou Barlow, Bob Fay, and a guy named Eric)
All Lou and Sebadoh fans buy this single! It's definitely Lou from the
word go doing his best to rip your heart out of your chest with his
wobegone vocals - but wait, then you notice he's singing about the Beastie
Boys and farts! Only Lou Barlow could sing about flatulance and make it
sound serious and wistful. It's a bit more uptempo than Lou songs are, and
that's due in part to Bob and Eric who also provide charming baritone and
echoing backing vocals to the songs....the last song even sounds almost,
um, rap-like! Amazine! What's next, country and western Lou? 4 very cool
songs.
Palace Brothers - "drinking woman" 7" - + full length album Drag City
The Palace Brothers are mostly ex-Slint guys and in the move to the new
band they somehow became kinda country! But in a rather fucked up
mentally sort of way, a kind of drunken dusty punk rock cowboy sort of
way. The music is very mellow and kinda ambles along - it's very calming
music, calm like the Cowboy Junkies but with more of an awareness, if that
makes sense, not as blind as the Cowboy Junkies. Someone that I know
questioned the the "sincerity" of the Palace Brothers - i.e. were they
poking fun by doing country-ish music? I dunno, really, but they're good
at it, it's a g reat sounding album if you're into really low key stuff.
Star Pimp - Victoria b/w Richie & Meat Grinder 7" - Boner Records
I don't know much about this band but I bought the single cause I'd read
an interview in Flipside. I'm so glad I did! They've got female vocals
and go from a kind of woozy winding kinda off key warbling on Victoria to
full out punkish frenzy on Richie and Meat Grinder. The songs are very
addicting, i.e. they will totally get stuck in your head. I'd compare
them to something like Salem 66 crossed over with Babes in Toyland or
something like that. I'm very impressed and can't wait for a full album.
I guess there's a CD single with 3 extra songs, which sucks, cause now I
already have the single and buying the CD is annoying. OH well.
Butt Trumpet - Lost my Flannel in Seattle
Don't buy it. It's annoying and bad. I thought it would be funny (cause
I'm from seattle) but the music just sounds so bad that I can't even
listen to it to get the joke.
Ok, byebye
chris
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: VISSERK@BUREAU.RUG.NL
Subject: review
It's about nine in the morning. And i'm sitting behind my desk. At my
office. Everything is going slow this morning. Even the cigarette burns
hesitantly. Never mind though, coz last night i saw a show. Old faves,
never expected to see _Bloood on the saddle_ at the Vera Club in
Groningen, Netherlands. I mean, i was a highschool kid when they had their
first records out, mind. When i gathered i'd be old enough to go to clubs,
there were no _Blood on the saddle_ anymore, or so they say. Do you
readers remember this band? It's a fine one.
Okay, about the concert. I was anxious to know if it was still the same
music. It is, in a way. Really fast punk rock, i remember they called it
=cowpunk=, for there was and is a lot of country involved. Fine..... The
drummer is kinda Revererend Horton Heat look-a-like. And he was tight,
man. The bassplayer looked like he was supposed to be a member of the
Smashing Pumpkins, but i think he should play worse if he decides to
sollicitate:-). And then about mr. How-fast- can-you-play-guitar himself.
I suppose there must be a lot of heavy metal guitarplayers being very very
jealous:-) And what do they play, dear reviewer? Well.... Okay, it's like
the cowpunk thing, actually, but sometimes it's like the Dead Kennedys or
perhaps even Prong are roaming all over the stage. And did i tell you
about W.A. Mozarts ghost, who transcended in every solopiece? I tell you
now. I forgot to count the moviethemes, cosily wrapped up in the songs. Of
course! Of course they played Rawhide, a Johnny Cash song and a lot of
this stuff. It was at least to me good fun. Though the audience was small,
i guess everyone had a good, or hilarious, or whatever, time. So, readers,
tell me about how they're doing in the States. I'm curious.
Bye then. Kees<VISSERK@bureau.rug.nl>
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Sean Keric Murphy <skmurphy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: Indie-List: Ecstasy
One quick review this week (gotta deal with classes and all sorts of other
shit these days...)
The Ecstasy of St. Theresa - Fluidtrance Centauri 10" (Free Records - no
address given, but I know they're British)
Wow. Spoooooooky. Ride and the Cocteaus and Lush all swirled together
into three little songs...it's fairly mindblowing. (So mentioning Lush
and the Cocteaus seems redundant to you? So what...) It's sparser than
the usual shoegazer brit stuff - they let you get a good listen to each
and every guitar pedal they own (here's a delay! here's our phaser!
neat!), and the drops from quiet, barely audible stuff to crashing fuzz is
like riding that big old log flume at Canobie Lake Park in southern New
Hampshire at the end of a hot, sweaty summer day. Whoooooosh. I'm gonna
have to dig up the bucks for import 10" vinyl...grrr. (New austerity
mode, forced by a lack of financial resources at the moment...i don't like
being unable to enter record stores). **
(and if you like, the word "swirled" can be a pun - it wasn't intended,
but it's also somewhat appropriate :)
Also been listening to too much Stereolab for my own good, and I scored a
copy of Metallica's _Master Of Puppets_ for 1.99 a couple weeks back -
this truly is one of the best metal albums ever recorded. Fuck Beavis and
Butthead. Metallica once ruled (they lost it after the "success" of "One"
and that horrible one-riff record they put out whenever...), and Master
is an example of how to rule the metal plains. My friend Tim just picked
up Slayer's "Reign In Blood" for the same price - I kinda wish I grabbed
that one too.
[ I dunno. I'm pretty partial to Ronnie James Dio myself. JUST... walk
away. :-) - Mark ]
Back to the same old, same old...
Sean
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Steven Silverstein <cs141091@cs.brown.edu>
Subject: hagio;afjkd
This week's shows:
Yo La Tengo and the Non Pareils at Last Call Saloon, 9/12
Quite a good show. Non Pareils are local and sound a lot like the Feelies
circa Good Earth, but less polished and with only one guitar. They even
covered a song I'm forgetting from that album. They didn't impress me that
much live but were kind of OK. I've been told their 4-track work with Alex
Kemp is really good, but I haven't heard it.
Yo La were quite good, mixing old and new stuff. Some songs were
amazingly pretty, esp the stuff with Georgia (?) on keyboards instead of
guitar. Some other tunes were great noise workouts, though the guitar
soloing occasionally goes on a tad too long, still excellent. Some of the
avant noise sort of stuff was really cool. They swapped instruments a few
times and things, and all was great overall.
Superchunk, small factory, and Mole People at Lupos, 9/16
OK. We got there at 10:15 and the Mole People were long over. Now I know
Lupo's just starts shows too damn early and has really long breaks between
bands. I heard that they were quite good. It's Jack and Matt from Flower
Gang back as the Mole People, which they were before FG. They're
apparently a lot more straightforward punk than FG, and Matt sings
sometimes. That's all I know, since I missed them. small factory were
good, and have finally learned to play a bigger place. They didn't use
the whole (huge) stage, since Superchunk's drums were set up, so that
helped. A couple new songs drag a bit ("Friends" esp.), but others
("Junkie on a Good Day", "Keep on Smiling") sounded good and "What to
Want" and "Suggestions" were better than ever. Superchunk really don't
sound as original or messy as they did and Mac's efforts to sing better
are actually irritating and a bit grating after a whole show, but they
still are amazing songwriters and totally rocked. Very energetic, and they
just have so much fun running around the stage. Their closing noise thing
on "Throwing Things" was really solid, and some stuff like "On the Mouth"
really rocked. So, a good show in all.
Fudge are heading up to Boston to record with Eric from the Dambuilders,
who are themselves in the studio recording some new stuff (look for a 7"
of older stuff on Rockville soon). small factory are probably recording a
new album of unspecified and often newly resurrected and rearranged old
stuff. Vegetarian Meat have a couple of 7"s and a CD coming out on No. 6,
including the stuff they recorded with Kramer in June.
-Steve
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: LePageL/MF <lepagel/mf@hermes.bc.edu>
Subject: Indie List - Breeders etc
Breeders and Yo La Tengo, Live at Axis
Well, to start off with, Axis is a lousy club so I saw very little of the
show (I did hear it pretty well). Also, there was a heavy bonehead
presence in the crowd (sorry, mostly male, can't figure why), who enhanced
my enjoyment of the show by talking in ringing tones during most of the
softer songs by both bands and (in one case) yelling "shut up and play"
anytime Kim Deal had the temerity to open her mouth.
Yo La Tengo are one of my favorite live bands. For anyone who hasn't
heard them, they have a wide ranging stylistic repertoire ranging from
free-form improvisational guitar noise (Ira Kaplan), gentle dreamy ballads
(Georgia Hubley), and even some conventional pop songs. While they never
sound the same twice, this time out, the emphasis was more on noisy guitar
with Ira and the bass player trading leads (so to speak). Georgia, whose
drumming seems stronger than ever, came out from behind the set to do one
ballad (from the new record), but the vocals were so low that the crowd
was more audible than she was. With minimal stage patter, the set
proceeded in hypnotic waves, and in fact, I saw several people around me,
eyes closed, swaying gently to the roar.
I was curious about the Breeders live for several reasons. For one, Kim
Deal has implied in interviews that her sister Kelley, who is credited
with playing lead guitar, in fact learned the instrument in the last three
months especially for the purpose of enabling her to replace Tanya
Donnelly. Then there is the matter of Kim herself. When I saw her with
the Pixies a couple of years ago, her stage presense consisted of standing
in the corner of the stage and smoking one cigarette after another. So I
was surprised to find that Kelley Deal can actually play guitar (she's not
exactly Eddie Van Halen; more like a poor man's Bob Mould), and that Kim
Deal, who is smoking agagin, is a not only a powerful singer but a very
funny frontperson with a well-tuned sense of the ridiculous. Her first
words to the audience were "I'm in a bad mood" but you wouldn't have known
it from her performance or the beatific look on her face throughout the
show. The band put together a representative set including "You Can't Go
Home" and "Safari" from the ep, and great versions of "Iris" from Pod
and "Cannonball" from _Last Splash_. They even ventured their Aerosmith
cover "Lord of the Thighs," intoned by bassist Josephine Wiggs in her
charmingly British and very un-Aerosmith-like vocal style. On record, the
Breeders seem a bit scattered but their live set is solid and forceful,
not to mention a lot of fun. And to think I doubted them!
That's all for me. Next week I might get it together to write up the Free
Kitten, Lou Barlow (!) show which I will be attending Saturday night at
the Middle East. All I can say is, I better get in.
Lise LePage [lepagel/mf@hermes.bc.edu] in Boston
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark Bunster <mbunster@hibbs.vcu.edu>
Subject: urge reporter kill
Urge Overkill--Sept 15 at the Flood Zone
Richmonders may or may not think, as the lawyer for the mom who took her
grandchild away from her lesbian daughter said, that people in DC and LA are
"stark raving mad." They may be forgiven, however, for worrying what Chicago
ret-fashion combo Urge Overkill would be like as houseguests in their
stunning Victorian row houses. Sweaty, anemic and beergutted, with a furious,
bored energy, the trio + hometown bassist (whose name rumbled through the
Flood Zone's squawkbox PA as "MR BRMRBLE TREECH!") finished off a set of
crescendo-ed intensity with an encore that featured their
all-too-unexpected-anymore "surprise" MTV hit Sister Havana, and a guest
appearance by opening act The Shams singing backup. The Shams, by the way,
seemed awfully saccharine and fluffy, something you wouldn't expect to find
on Cosloy's Matador.
Anyhow, UO certainly seemed to enjoy the hospitality of a typical September
evening's return to the heat and humidity of July. The white, wide lapeled
blazers, loan-shark vests, and giant gold UO medallions that Messrs Kato,
Roesser and Onassis had on miraculously stayed glued to their chests while
they wheeled around in enjoyment. Onassis (Blackie) was particularly sloppy
and frenetic, much like Martha Stewart would be if she cooked high on a bunch
of reds. He got the job done, but his tiny little kit didn't seem to want to
follow his hands around as he swung his arms wildly and quickly. Even so, the
most notable lesson learned from the live UO experience is that they can lose
themselves in temporary individual frenzy, then miraculously all end up with
the same chopped Les Paul guitar rthymns that make Saturation, their majlab
debut on Geffen, a strong album that rides the rail of cheesiness without
falling off.
I used to think the cleanliness of sound that marked Saturation was less than
the optimum sandpaper scratch of Stull (a tune they performed live with an
extended skquonk), but the muddy and torn-speaker sound of the
getting-more-henious-everyday Flood Zone (charging under21's an extra buck is
lame lame lame) left a lot of good noise sounding like bad noise.
Like the summer heat, the sweet memory of Nash Kato's stringy, greasy hair,
slitted eyelids, pale swollen belly, platform shoes and raspy voice will fade
away until they decide to come back. Maybe I'll go buy the new
Meatloaf album if I get a jones for something really ugly that plays guitar.
Doug Wilder needs a new job, can you help?
M o R
-
Mark Bunster |Exchange conversation if you dare--
Survey Research Lab--VCU |Share an empty thought or a laugh.
Richmond, VA 23220 |
mbunster@hibbs.vcu.edu |
(804) 367-8813/353-1731 | -edFROM
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Douglas Wolk <dbcloud@panix.com>
Subject: I-L: Pinball with the stars
Indie highlight of my week was definitely getting to play pinball with
Mark E. Smith last night. He won, and also approved that Fall-tribute
compilation I've been working on for months. This is good, as the Wedding
Present track just arrived in the mail and the TV Personalities are
supposedly sending theirs...
Saw the Fall on Friday night with Superchunk and Free Kitten. FK are still
doing the same damn material they were doing a year and a half ago, and
none of it's gotten any good yet, despite the new members: Mark (Pavement)
Ibold and Yoshimi from the Boredoms, who was the one really good thing
about the set. They also name-checked God Is My Co-Pilot from the stage,
which made me feel nice.
Superchunk are, well, Superchunk. Superchunk springs eternal. They're
still doing pretty much their old thing, too. I'd have been pretty annoyed
except that they now have enough terrific songs to fill up most of a set:
"The Question Is How Fast" is an incredibly great song and I'll listen to
it any time they feel like playing it. But I can't really deal with seeing
Superchunk more than once a year or so, and I was reminded of why.
And The Fall, well, they just didn't seem to happy to be there, although
Mark did get pretty passionate during a lengthy version of "Big New
Prinz," and they did play "Dead Beat Descendant." Wish they weren't
ignoring all the material from their first twelve years, though.
Saturday night was considerably more fun: I got to see the last-ever
performance of Naked City (at the Knitting Factory). It was PACKED, but
not unreasonably so. This was the last of an eight-show stand: the first
seven shows were all their songs in chronological order, and this was the
all-request show, from a request sheet that had been downstairs for a
while. They started with a Messiaen piece, then did some film music and
covers ("Pet Sounds"!), then brought out Yamatsuka Eye for a cover of
"Super Stupid" and a bunch of the tiny _Torture Garden_ pieces. It was
great, y'know, Zorn announces "Speedfreaks!" Audience cheers, band tunes
and plays it for 30 seconds. Zorn announces "New Jersey Scum Swamp!" Same
procedure. Zorn announces "No Reason To Believe!" Audience doesn't cheer.
"Well, somebody requested it." They play it. "Igneous Ejaculation!"
Audience cheers. Band plays "Happy Birthday"--it was Zorn's 40th.
That was followed by a DNA cover and some more film music, but the
_Torture Garden_ stuff was the best. Wow.
Got a couple of new records yesterday. Be warned that Liz Phair's
"Carnivore" single is flat-out awful, the first actively bad thing I've
heard from her. That it's just got two different versions of the same song
and has Liz in glamour-girl pose on the cover doesn't help. Crayon's "The
Snap-Tite Wars" single, on the other hand, is TOTALLY FUN and has an okay
Some Velvet Sidewalk cover on the flip. And the EP that comes with the new
Bananafish has Wingtip Sloat doing World of Pooh's "I'm On The Wrong
Side," which is pretty neat.
Hey, anybody got a copy of The Go Team's _Your Pretty Guitar_ that they
don't want any more?
Douglas D. Wolk dbcloud@panix.com
"Teenage angst has paid off well. Now I'm bored and old."
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Michiel <S0477311@let.rug.nl>
Subject: Indie_list contribution...Yippee-a-yo!
Blood on th saddle, Vera 16-09-'93
Yippee-a-yo, this is the kind of cross-over music you can't afford to
miss. Blood on the saddle is of course a punk band playing bluegrass. Or
at least playing old country classics like Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" or
"Rawhide". I've never been that keen on country, it was always my dads
music, but this seems to make sense. At least they were good enough to
make me buy a shirt (which is quite something, it usually takes me a
couple of gigs to make me buy anything beside an album (I mean vinyl!!)).
I guess it's just the enormous amount of fun they caused. Playing
bluegrass on his modified Telecaster (Is the neck made out of Rosewood?
I'm not sure..,it looked like it. Can anybody tell me what kinda bridge
pickup Greg Davis is using? It looked quite cheap but it might as well be
a Bill Lawrence) Greg Davis (Vandals) seems to have found a perfect
mixture of old fashioned and "slightly more modern" music. His voice
sounded a bit grumpy, which fitted perfectly with the music. Ceasar
Viscarra was the man with bass, Danny Rickard did the drumming. Looking
like Duff from that band Bums N' Poses Ceasar Viscarra was the heavy guy
on stage. Long hair, cowboy hat, Yamaha bass, one foot on his monitor
cabinet, yeah that's the way I like it (it sure makes me laugh). I must be
careful not to like punk that much,it would ruin my image, but it was a
pity I had to play competition matches this weekend (anybody ever heard
about canoepolo?) so I couldn't see their gigs in other towns. For those
European readers: check them out and have fun, Blood on the saddle is
touring now!
Well that's it for now, so goodbye n' :-),
Mike
s0477311@let.rug.nl
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Jesper Sandvad <js@kom.auc.dk>
Subject: INDIE: Reading '93 review (better late than never?)
I know it's a bit late for this, but I haven't seen any Reading Festival
reviews on the list. Reading Festival is a three day indie music festival
in England with lots of great bands, IMHO consistently the best line-up in
Europe every year (with Phoenix on a close second this year). I'll review
the bands I saw friday this week, hopefully I'll be able to finish the
rest later.
TOOL opened friday on the main stage (an open air stage), an American
grunge/metal combination, lots of noise and jumping around, but the
standard metal riffs got on my nerves, and I went over to Melody Maker
tent to watch FENN, a Scottish band named after Sherilyn Fenn. They played
some sort of shoegazing or early Sonic Youth guitar noise, except for the
drummer who could have played for Metallica. Liked the guitars, but the
drummer spoiled it all. **1/2.
Next band on main stage was GALLON DRUNK. According to the festival
program, they see themselves as a combination of James Brown, Pharaoh
Saunders, Dean Martin, Oliver Reed and Einsturzende Neubauten. I see them
as a combination of Nick Cave, Birthday Party, Birthday Party, Nick Cave
and Nick Cave. Which is not too bad, actually, the show was very good, and
would probably have been great if it wasn't for the sun shining. They
would have been better in a pitchblack night with thunder rumbling in the
distance or something. *1/2.
I dropped Bad Brain on Main stage, and watched GREEN APPLE QUICK- STEP on
mm stage instead. Just what the world needs. Another Pearl Jam wannabe. **
And, not being crazy about Pearl Jam, I also skipped Stone Temple Pilots
on main, and watched FLAMING LIPS instead. I am probably the only reader
on this list who haven't heard a thing with Flaming Lips. From what I've
heard about them, I expected a cacophony of noisy guitars and dissonances,
but they were almost pleasant. Quirky and strange, but pleasant. A really
nice 'stand and listen' experience (as opposed to a 'jumping around
frantically' experience). *1/2.
I expected the 'jumping around frantically' experience from the next band
on main, BABES IN TOYLAND. I like that band a lot. I was really looking
forward to watching that band, and go home to my friends and say 'Babes in
Toyland were amazing'. Unfortunately, they weren't. They may have been
great in a 200 people club, but on the main stage in front of 20.000
people, it just didn't work. Damn. **1/2.
Next on main stage was BUTTHOLE SURFERS. Almost the same story as with
Babes in Toyland, high expectations etc., except that Buttholes WERE
amazing. Everything I had hoped they would be and more, crazy, noisy and
intense. **1/2
I was totally wasted after Buttholes, so I missed the beginning of NEDS
ATOMIC DUSTBIN. I didn't mind too much, the part I saw was terribly
boring. **1/2.
Almost everybody I know likes RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. Everybody at
Reading liked RATM. I don't. So I guess my opinion on the show isn't too
interesting.
PORNO FOR PYROS were headlining on main stage. I have only heard the album
once, but I liked it a lot, it sounded like Jane's Addiction without the
stupid songs. The first song lasted forever, with Farrell ranting about
suffering and calling the audience 'cunts'. I simply lost interest after
20 minutes and left. Nobody I talked to afterwards liked them. Oh well. **
That's all for this time, hope I'll find time to do the rest before next
week.
Jesper
js@kom.auc.dk
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Sean Keric Murphy <skmurphy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: More Cherry Red fascinations
Well, I was sitting around last night (Sunday) and started working on
taping this pile of stuff my friend lent me this summer - all early 80s
brit stuff. I get through Tracey Thorn's solo lp _A Distant Shore_, and
I'm just amazed at how great she was and get bummed thinking about how she
hasn't done anything worthwhile in the last 10 years with Everything But
The Girl. So, I'm thinking, "it must be that damn Ben Watt's fault, he's
the one who ruined everything and created that lounge-sludge stuff" and
then turn to the next record in my pile, and it's Ben Watt's EP _Summer
Into Winter_, recorded in 1982 along with Robert Wyatt. And I listen, and
it's great! More slow, introspective "wimp-pop" that spawned 100 bands on
the Sarah label like the Field Mice. So now I'm torn - it can't be
Tracey's fault that EBTG sucks, but now it's not conclusively Ben's fault
either! How do I explain this problem? (Current reasoning - Robert
Wyatt's presence twisted the Ben Watt EP just enough that it's interesting
- Ben is still responsible for wasting Tracey's voice for the past 10
years.)
Also in that pile was an EP from the Patrik Fitzgerald Group, people I had
never heard of. It's also really cool - sparse, edgy, some synth, some
guitar, twisted lyrics...why didn't I ever hear this stuff when it was
current? Oh yeah, I was 9 or 10 and listening to Air Supply 'cause that's
what came on my parents' radio... :)
Anyway, it's been one of those weekends where I alternate between a.
wanting automatic weapons to blow away large numbers of drunk people late
wandering past my room late at night (the path to the 24-hour convenient
store runs right past my room); and b. crawling into a small, dark room
listening to that Tracey Thorn LP and not much else for the next year or
so...man, I'm beginning to think that relationships are highly overrated,
especially if this is how I feel when I'm not in one...
Sean
P.S. - listen to "You're The Man" from the new Karl Hendricks Trio LP
(which is fabulous - _Misery And Women_ is the title) and then Hurl's
"Radishes" and tell me if you think they're practically the same song in
places...no blame assessment here, just curiosity. And then listen to
"Big Store" by the Jacobites and crawl deeper into that dark corner.
<----------------------------------------------------->
the Indie-List Digest: published every Tuesday by the Indie-List Infotainment
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<----------------------------------------------------->
please send your articles, etc for next week to LENA!
<----------------------------------------------------->
[Submitted by: Sean Keric Murphy (skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu)
Tue, 28 Sep 1993 10:59:05 -0400]