Indie-List_V2_N21
THE INDIE-LIST DIGEST!
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FIRST ANNIVERSARY 1993
Volume 2 Number 21
Hey, we're semiweekly!
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SPECIAL INDIE GRIPES EDITION! (unplanned, but hey...)
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Editorial from Liz Clayton
A subscription-girl bone to pick: Look, I've been doing pretty well w/adds
and drops, but NOTHING PISSES ME OFF MORE (well..) than going thru the
list and finding some IDIOT has sent me two or three requests for the same
thing within like, two or three days. What do you think I am, superwoman?
Have some patience, and please don't multiple mail me unless you have
waited for say, at least 2 1/2 weeks, or if you really screwed something
up or something. It makes my life difficult to have to sort out all the
names as it is, and having your name in there six times does NOT simplify
matters! And besides it annoys me. THank you.
liz
<----------------------------------------------------->
Editorial/Gripe from K. Lena Bennett, Slacker Goddess, Postmodernism/Comix
Consultant, and Indie-List Moderator
Can you guys please use more descriptive subject headers? Like, you know,
band names, record titles, etc. I'm getting real tired of ToC's
containing 7 entries all entitled "record reviews," or "indie list
submission." This is especially important as the indie list gets longer
and longer.
Also, for new people thinking about submitting, can you take a look at the
Indie List FAQ first? (Get it from me or Sean Murphy or off of the FTP
site.) I'm basically a nice person and I don't like rejecting postings,
so you cause me pain when you send me something about mainstream bands and
I have to send it back to you. The FAQ (plus reading old indie lists)
will give you some kind of idea of what kind of submissions we accept in
terms of subject matter and quality of content. If you just want to
write "the new Quizzical Homunculus record really SUCKS!/ROCKS!" go to
alt.music.alternative -- PLEASE!
Lena keb@u.washington.edu
Grungepuppies Are My Weakness....
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"If everyone else jumps off the Empire State Building" little thing that
annoys me from Mark, editor in chief, Downtown Richmond Inc. nth-wheel and
reformed vinyl freak (broken turntable):
"Indie" is a style of music. "Indy" is a car race. :-)
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark <cornick@delphi.com>
Subject: Ballot Result & etc.
The winner of Tuesday's giveaway was Doug Orleans of Sunnyvale, CA. The
correct answers, for those keeping track, are:
1) Fudge were known for a brief time, post-Twitch Hazel but pre-"Girlwish",
as Engine Number Nine.
2) "Mandy" was written by noted pop philosopher, McDonald's jingle composer,
and nude sunbather Barry Manilow.
3) "Decimation Blvd." lasts approximately 23 minutes, for 12 tracks.
4) Caroline USA releases are generally distributed in the UK by the Hut or
Quigley labels, but once in a while there is a release from Caroline UK. So
the correct answer is "all of the above."
5) This is a trick question. If Billy Idol sends his subscription request to
Liz, as mandated by the Indie-List FAQ and advertisements, then she will be
the first to utter said profanity. However, if he makes the increasingly
common slip of mailing to "bloofga" instead, everyone on the list will get
the sub request, but none of the seven people mentioned in the question will
necessarily say it first, because the E-mail option for Newton is not yet
available. Ha, ha, ha!
Sean would probably like me to apologize to Kristin Thompson, since I
basically stole the math-problem idea from the back of _Inclined Plane._ But
Kristin doesn't read Indie-List... :-)
Next week's prize is another Unrest 45, this one not available in any store
and already out of print, and the giveaway will be handled by Washingtonian
exile-in-Guyville Robert Lim (yr cue, sir) so watch for it in a coming ish...
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Mark <cornick@delphi.com>
Subject: And
Just thought you all should know that, although I'm not going to leave the
list or anything, my contributions will probably become less frequent. This is
not because I don't have time (I don't, anyway) or because I'm getting tired
of my writing (although I do, sometimes); it's mainly because indie-rock is
becoming less of a driving force in my musical taste. I've always been
interested in lots of musics, like small combo jazz, Motown, and (shudder)
electronic music (the last CD I bought, if you care, was "UFOrb", so call me
what you want.) Don't get me wrong, I still love raw lo-fi Pun Krock as much
as the next joe, but the fact that I'm buying less indie-rock records, more
other-types-of-records, and less records overall adds up to I won't be
reviewing a lot of indie discs no more. Frankly, the readers of Indie-List are
writing enough that I don't need to write every week like I used to. Take it
and run with it, because it's going to become more and more your project as
opposed to mine.
Also, due to various problems beyond my control, such as Cha$e VI$A screwing
me, and my being more in debt than I'd like to be regardless, I'm afraid I'm
going to have to cancel Fshee! for the time being. Instead, the articles
that people have sent me will go towards the year-end issue we normally
publish around New Year's. If you sent me money for a Fshee! ad, I will
refund it. When Christmas rolls around and I inevitably get the numerous
gifts of cash I always get (I am the world's hardest person to buy gifts for)
I may do the paper project then. I apologize for getting yr hopes up and then
tearing 'em down, but really, I'd ignore The Man if only he didn't charge such
exorbitant interest. "Now what we need are Punk Rock Banks!" :-)
In happier news, there's a chance that Friendly (who I am still with for the
time being, BTW) may be on an upcoming compilation from Squealer Records of
"industrial folk" (huh?) bands. Other bands being considered are my housemate/
Friendlycohort Mike's other band, Slow Loris, as well as Mole Magazine's own
George Willard, and Paste (aka Dennis Shrimper.) Also, both Slow Loris and
Idiot Mittens (two friends of mine whom I've dubbed "writer-songsingers") have
recently recorded songs which they intend to release on 45s. And, Friendly is
studio-bound on the 23rd, heading up to Hot Chocolate City to lay down some
tracks with Rob Christiansen (Eggs, Grenadine, Triumphant Elephant
Triumvirate) manning the boards. Oregon Hill punk rock revolution baby!
Hey, my housemate Scott wants me to tell bands planning to come through
beautiful [sic] Richmond that the Metro (site of the recent Friendly show)
is back in full effect and is looking to book bands. Upcoming shows include
Codeine, Supersuckers, Don Caballero, Buzzov~en, Three Day Stubble, and
others. Scott is one of the people booking the club these days, so if you need
a gig, why not give him a call (our number is (804) 649-7410), or send him
mail at <has2slb@cabell.vcu.edu>.
I'm now a reviewer for Throttle, a local Richmond music & etc. magazine,
which means they give me CDs to review for them. But that doesn't mean I
can't tell you about them... (quick takes only this time since I'm a little
short on time and this is getting lengthy...)
- PAIN TEENS, _Destroy Me Lover_ (Trance/T&G): A little more cohesive than
their prior stuff; still a heavy dab of the gothic/masochistic over yr
basic mid-America guitar sludge. Bliss Blood still inspires fear and loathing
in most men I know who've heard her sing. Cool Leonard Cohen cover, too. **
- FUGAZI, _In On The Kill Taker_ (Dischord): Everyone outgrows hardcore
eventually; Fugazi kinda did it early on, but this record affirms their
determination to go beyond. Easily their best record since "Margin Walker",
this is the record I always wanted Fugazi to make: intense, intelligent, and
focused like a laser beam. I hope they haven't reached the climax, but if they
do go out on this note, it'll be their highest one by far. ***
- CIRCUS LUPUS, _Solid Brass_ (Dischord): My second favorite Dischord band of
all time (_As Is_ by the Holy Rollers is still tops for me) makes a bid for
total Cornick domination and comes up pretty damn close. Raw power, stream-
of-consciousness lyrics, and two versions (on the CD) of their greatest 45
ever, "Pop Man." (The CD includes a few tracks from scattered 45s released
since _Super Genius_ which is where you get one of the "Pop Men.") Simply
smashing. **1/2
- 9353, _Overdoses At Your Mother's House_ and _Make Your Last Days Loud Days_
(Adult Swim): Yup, they're back, the "southern new wave satanic christian pop
metal comedy band" from back in the FYH days of DC music. Frankly, I never
wondered whatever happened to them, but due to a horrible mistake they're
playing shows again and they've had old LPs reissued. You get 17 previously
unreleased tracks between the two CDs. Hey, this is just stupid shit, but not
the worst records released by Adult Swim/Dischord (the Snakes LPs take the
cake on that one, hands down.) They're good for several deep hearty laughs,
which I think is the point, but these days we demand more from bands, y'know?
** for each
And I'm out like the Cubbies management...
--mark
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From: eric labow <elabow@info1.cc.vt.edu>
Subject: indie list:"news from Blacksburg, VA"
Well, it's been a while since I've submitted anything since I got a job
cause I really haven't felt like sitting in front of a computer for more
hours a day than I normally do, but I'm gonna try to keep regular
Blacksburg scene reports and reviews comin' from now on.
Last week was a pretty good week of rockin' for this small mountain town
in Virginia which is not really close to anywhere except the West VA.
state line.
Here we go.
Friday, Sept 24 - Archers of Loaf, Girls against Boys and Haze @ Eat at
Joe's Cafe
Cool bill. Would've been cooler if GAB didn't cancel. Steppe Children
played on last minute notice and opened the show. I could have sworn these
boys played their last show this summer. But this band refuses to die. All
the band members were in town, and so threw together an effort which was
sub-par, but understandable for not practicing together for a couple
months. Local Blacksburg classic rock meets funk band Haze were up next. I
just kept wondering, "Hey that sounded like a Hendrix riff. And another,
and another. Hmmm." Might have to drink more beer to not be bored by this
band. So I did. And I was still bored. Ho-hum. The Archers came out and
put on a fantastically sloppy set which I enjoyed every minute of. This
band plays hard. The bass player is a total nut - he had broken two
strings by the fourth song of the set, and he made sure to keep the
audience entertained between songs with his insights on peculiar bathroom
habits. To nobody's surprise they did "South Carolina," "Wrong" and "Web
in Front" which were all fabulous. Go see this band when they come to
your town.
Saturday, Sept 25 - Archers of Loaf @ Radford University
Weird show since Radford, being the cultural void of the universe that it
is, never gets small bands, and the Archers had just played the night
before about 15 miles away in B'burg. They played in a university ballroom
with full disco balls swirling and strobe light blasting. It was a good
cheesy effect that enhanced the Archers set just a wee bit. They played
the same set as the night before which was fine by me. Bass player broke a
string on the first song of the set this time. He's just too energetic, or
crazy. More bathroom insights too. Cool show for the dollar I paid to get
in.
Sunday, Sept 26 - They Might be Losers w/Pere Ubu @ Virginia Tech
I really hate They Might be Giants so I paid my $5 to solely check out
what Pere Ubu has been up to lately. Wow, what an awesome set. Even the
twinkies that came to see TMBG enjoyed Pere Ubu. Moshing to Pere Ubu?
Damn, I dunno about this MTV generation. But they gave a hearty applause
after every Ubu song. So there might be some hope for the future. David
Thomas put on a great display of theatrics, stomping around onstage while
playing his mystical, squealing, electro-magnetic field altering
instruments and gave strange hand gestures to the crowd. Ubu did some
older stuff from Cloudland and a lot of stuff from their new album
incuding the great "Wasted." Heard from a friend who saw them up in
Lexington, VA the night before that Thomas yelled at some stupid college
kids who requested "Freebird". Thomas replied, "You kids tell the same
stupid shit jokes as your parents did." Thomas is definately a candidate
for the musical-geniues-dicked-over-by-the-industry hall of fame. Glad to
see Ubu still grinding out the tunes. But still, moshing to Pere Ubu?
Weird.
Wednesday, Sept 29 - Royal Trux w/SuperMax and 68 Youth Riot @ Pedro's
Not being a fan of Royal Trux I was mostly there to check out the newly
formed ex-Milk Badger, ex-Freefrom Liberation Front combination of 68
Youth Riot. Good first outing for this Pavementy sounding band. Throw some
Codeine licks and some Polvo-ish lead guitar and you've got some pretty
cool sounding stuff. Hope to see more from these guys soon. By the way,
Butch from Squealer is the drummer. SuperMax is the favorite local
funk-punk band and probably technically the best band in town. Usually
they give an energetic a la Chili Peppers performance, but tonite they
just found a groove and beat it to death. Must have been the addition of a
sax player that changed their style. Kinda uninspiring until they started
to rock out during the last two songs. Royal Trux came on and played what
many people termed "junkie music". Total New York punk non-art rock
bullshit, for a more descriptive term. Trux's lead singer scares me. Her
entire face is covered with her hair. I was told she had sun glasses on
underneath all her hair. I never saw them. She probably wears tinted
contacts to get rid of any extra light that dares make it to her eyes.
Someone really should have told the margarita-sippin frat boys to refrain
from trying to sneak up on her and put cigarettes on her shoulder while
she was singing. I don't think she ever noticed. Not being impressed by
the music or her harsh vocal style I focused on counting how many
cigarettes she would go through during the set. She was on number four by
the sixth song. Not being a big fan of chain smoking or Pussy Galore I
left feeling I had wasted about 20 minutes of valuable sleep time.
Next time: just got lots of stuff from AJAX including the Alastair
Galbreath comp. and the Killing Capitalism w/ Kindness comp. Will review
next time. Hope I get the heat in my house turned on by then. Damn it's
cold here for September. -eric
[ I just got a letter from Butch, the drummer for Milk Badger and Squealer
Records major domo. As Eric alluded to, M.Badger have broken up. Butch
tells me that about a week after they broke up, they got a letter from
Kramer saying how much he loved them and wanted to produce their next record.
What a bummer! - Mark ]
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From: 0 <sokay@swift.mitre.org>
Subject: New Pop Narcotic Catalog
This has been sitting at the bottom of my snail mail pile at home and I
finally unearthed it and took a look. I'm very glad I did. The rest of it
could have been blank and just mention the new Kicking Giant CD and would
have been totally worth it. I don't mean to dis the other fine 20 or so
entries contained therein, but I just absolutely LOVED KG the couple times
I saw them live before they split the east coast about 2 years ago and
have worn my copy of "Secret Teenage Summer" straight through to the
mylar, so seeing this made my day...
Other stuff:
PN is now e-vailable. Write Bill and co. at popnarc@world.std.com. Bill
apologizes for shipping delays on the new releases because of pressing and
mastering and other stuff most of us have gotten used in indie-world.
Lots of stuff here, some new, some old, I'll try to summarize without
trying to sound like a total ad. Still hanging on are copies of Swirlies
"Error" Versus/Scrawl 7", and the Versus "Insomnia" single. Kollector Skum
are encouraged to hurry. New are Magic Hour "Hands Down", Betty Please,
and a new Dambuilders 7", "Smell" among others...
[ hey, Dambuilders "Smell" was PopNarc#2, which don't exactly make it "new".
You haven't read your mail recently, have you Steve? :-) - Mark ]
Scene stuff:
Went to the Black Cat over the weekend and saw Junction, Tilt and a couple
others which I missed 'cause I got there late so I didn't even bother to
look at who else played. It was the DC Alternative's Festival, put it that
way...
Anyways, the place is pretty cool. Its big, which is something you CAN'T
say for most DC venues. It is very much a constructed place and not just a
hole in the wall that happened to pass firecode, so some of that
crammed-against-the-wall ambience you might get at 15 Minutes or the 9:30
club is missing. But its another place to play, which we're desperately
short of IMHO, and it looks like a good place too, pool table in the back
and food off to the side if you're just hungry.
Some will probably dis it for being too nice, too constructed with its
more-than-ample stage and shiny floors, but I'm suspending at least
critical judgement for now...
Where?---On 14th and T, not too far past Soul Brother's Pizza in NW DC.
---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: Joshua John Buergel <jbbb+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: INDIE: Record reviews (what else?)
UFO Or Die, _Cassette Superstar_ (Bomb 02/Public Bat PB 04)
This is a side project of Yamatsuka Eye (I'm pretty sure I spelled that
wrong...sorry) and Yoshimi of the Boredoms along with somebody named
"High-Ash" (the liner notes, in case you couldn't guess, are not terribly
helpful). This is demented, which you probably already could have
guessed. Totally lo-fi noise, spastic playing, screaming...it's all here,
and 23 tracks of it too. Actually, this shows some really surprising
moments of musical coherency, demonstrating that Yoshimi can get really
funky on those drums and that the bassist is pretty funky too. Not for
the fainthearted, though, since this still is really, really spastic. Not
only that, but it's a Japanese import, so you're going to pay through the
damn nose for it if you want it. It is a fascinating album, though.
**1/2 (for originality, but it gets knocked down to * 'cause it's so
pricey)
(I can't find an address for Public Bath either, since I'm not in my room.
Not that it would do you any good. You might try contacting Forced
Exposure, since they usually do a good job carrying Japanese stuff. Or,
you could try Mason Jones, Charnel House Records honcho. He might carry
it. mason@netcom.com)
Don Caballero, _For Respect_ (Touch and Go 120)
Local Pittsburgh boys hit the big time withh their debut full lengther on
Touch and Go records. Don Cab play heavy duty instrumental songs with
lots of nice changes. Think Helmet, sans vocals, with even more stops,
starts and whatnot. Driven by Damon's great drumming, this is really
wonderful stuff. Heavy, but not so heavy that it seems like a joke.
After the brilliant "Unresolved Karma" b/w "Puddin' In My Eye" I expected
something good from this album, and Don Cab delivers the goods. **1/2
Joshua Buergel - allroy@cmu.edu - jbbb@andrew.cmu.edu
"Anybody who thinks we overstepped the playground perimeter of lyrical
decency (or that the public has any right to demand 'social
responsibility' from a goddamn punk rock band) is a pure natural dolt,
and should step forward and put his tongue up my ass." - Steve Albini
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: MGANGLOFF@Gems.VCU.EDU
Subject: indie-l submission
hey indie-l'ers:
first, i was among the scattered, confused crowd at editor mark's friendly
show sunday and i didn't think it went nearly as badly as mark makes it
out to be (difference 'tween standing on stage and out on the floor, i
guess). yes, the sound was awful, with the soundman clearly baffled by the
changing array of instruments -- six masked, costumed musicians (nice
goggles, mark) switching between trumpet, clarinet, guitars, banjo, basses
(sometimes one, sometimes two), toy keyboard, misc. percussion and drums.
all that, plus male and female vocals -- and occasional dancing by various
band members -- added up to quite a smorgasbord. some stuff worked a lot
better than others. i thought the quieter, more
folky/clanking/sorta-tom-waits-beat-meets-dissonant-strum pieces came
across the best. it'd be interesting to hear it again with a soundperson
who could sort it all out...
[ no shit... obviously "more vocals in the drum monitor" translates to "less
vocals in the house mix" in MetroSoundMan-ese. folks, if yr gonna do sound for
shows, it would help to be able to hear! just a Friendly tip. - Mark ]
second, a clarification for those who care -- doug wolk mentions Lid and
mark asks:
>[ Are there two bands named Lid? There used to be a band until very recently
>here in Richmond named Lid (featuring lister Mike Gangloff on gtr); some of
>them are now in a band called Pelt. I understand there are multiple bands
>named Schwa as well, one of them living a couple blocks from me. - Mark ]
yes, doug saw the "other" lid (from chicago, maybe??) -- the richmond,
va.-based lid i played in has been on hold since the release of our
12-inch last summer. singer mike plays in pome rocket in nyc these days,
bassist joe in art monks in blacksburg, va. i'm a pelt.
there's a SCHWA and a SCHWAH, isn't there?
[ indeed. As for the two Schwas (no H), according to Rob Lim "the worst that
could happen is that they'd collide and turn into a lowercase e." - Mark ]
enough,
--mg
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From: DJRUDAWSKY@MIAVX1.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: tsunami/velocity girl
i saw tsunami/velocity girl at staches in columbus last night and it was
great. tsunami were really great live, making me buy the deep end cd and
being quite pleased with that. they played a short set that consisted
mainly of new songs that they plan on recording next week. their set was
way too short, which is something i almost never say. they also plugged
the new scrawl cd coming soon, maybe it was because they were in the
audience, but i doubt it. it's probably great music and tsunami are just
insanely nice.
stopped by my girlfriend's place (she lives next door to stache's) in
between sets, and missed velocity girl because of it. i was somewhat
dissapointed, but i don't live in columbus and my friends wanted to drive
back to school, so i had to compromise.
don
DJRUDAWSKY@MIAVX1.BITNET
<----------------------------------------------------->
From: Liz Clayton <lclayton@uhuru.uchicago.edu>
Subject: Indie submission: Blatant self-promotion strikes back
Ok, ok, I know, I never write, I never call.. you all think I don't love
you anymore. But that's not true, I'm just busy as hell. With what, you
ask? Well, as you all may know I just started school u (up) here at the
lovely U of M. I haven't fully converted over my email stuff yet but
you'll hear about it when I do. SECONDLY, the new issue of Wind-Up
Cataract Surgery is out. You can order one directly from me by writing:
Liz Clayton
536 S. Forest #1004
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
I think we revised our policy on "ads" in the indie-list (or I hope we
did) so I can tell you it's $2.50 from me post paid. This issue has Don
Caballero, a Coctails tour diary, Bailter Space, a hefty (I mean hefty)
live reviews section, and the ubiquitous "MORE". Hope you enjoy, and if
you're too lazy to use the mail it should be in stores all over the place
within a month or two.
In terms of other less-advertisingystuff, I've seen some good shows lately
(to wit Tar last week here in Ann Arbor and Shadowy Men/ Six Finger
Satellite in Chicago before that). Lots of great stuff coming through,
and the Jesus Lizard are gonna play out in Chicago again next month
(supposedly), as well as some other very tempting shows (Caspar Brottsmann
Massaker (sp?)/Don Caballero/ Vineland/Rodan!) in Chicago that I suppose
I'll just have to drive home for..
anyway, see y'all around and sorry I'm such a dope about writing for this
thing!
liz
<----------------------------------------------------->
the Indie-List Digest: published every Tuesday and Friday by the Indie-List
Infotainment Junta, Unltd.
Editorial office: Mark Cornick <cornick@delphi.com>
K. Lena Bennett <keb@carson.u.washington.edu>
Subscription requests: Liz Clayton <lclayton@uhuru.uchicago.edu>
Back issue service: Sean Murphy <skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu>
FTP: /pub/music/lists/indie @ ftp.uwp.edu
Indie-List is not copyrighted. It may be freely reproduced for any purpose.
Please cite Indie-List as your source.
REVIEW MATERIAL: Yes, we'll review your 45/tape/CD/8-track/Edison wax
cylinder/zine/whatever! Send it to Mark at 324 S Cherry St, Richmond VA 23220
USA. We get to everything eventually, so please be patient.
<----------------------------------------------------->
please send your articles for the next issue to Lena!
<----------------------------------------------------->
[Submitted by: Sean Keric Murphy (skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu)
Mon, 11 Oct 1993 00:35:35 -0400]