I think they're little fish.
Oh, Look! They still have their eyes!
#############################
Indie List Digest!
October 2, 1995
Volume 4 Number 40
#############################
Contents:
ADMINISTRIVIA: new archive
Cosmic Groove
Heeby Geeby
GIMCo
T in the Park
ANNOUNCE: New(ish) e-zine
ANNOUNCE: Lower records catalog
AD: Treiops Treyfid/Halogen split 7"
Non-Contents:
Welcome to another Indie-List. Chi-centric, but we've got
some net-news and europhilia to boot.
First, a handful of reviews from az and m'self...
Jenny Mae, Extra Glenns, Empty Bottle
Jenny Mae seems to be a Columbus, OH, favorite at this point, and she
and 3/4ths of her band made a trek up here to Chicago. She provided
an interesting, if self-awarely drunken, opening for the Extra Glenns,
with her simple synth elements behind curiously introspective vocals
in a synergestic balance with her louder band to carry her along.
What could be a rehash of singer-songwriter is empowered. Pleasant
stuff, this.
[i liked this better than eric, i suppose. the key word is fun with a
capital F, with added bonuses of trumpet playing, 'boy, am i drunk!'
jokes, and a killer closing number that jenny usually introduces as
'the disco song.' -az]
John Darnielle and Franklin Bruno, the Extra Glenns, gave the audience
a polite mix of their tunes. Where John can seem spare in his role as
Mt. Goat, Franklin's guitar work, subtle and intricate, brings these
same elements out in John's vocals. And where the vocals are
emotional on tape, seeing John giving them life, his body thrashing in
his seat, heightens the experience. You can buy the stuff, and you
should, but the live show is important to understanding the whole.
Dianogah/dis-/Uzeda, the Empty Bottle
One thing I'm having to adjust to in Chicago is the crowded nature of
so many shows. This is good - a paying audience makes for repeat
business, after all. But it still surprises me. This show, as I
understand largely a labor of love by Rob of dis-, should have
gratified his efforts severalfold.
Dianogah openned with a legit blend of math rock traits in their two
bass and drums bag. Dynamics, start and stop, but not a whole lot of
the desired varience and creativity that I'd been wanting.
It's been a year or so since I last saw dis-, and they exceeded my
expectations, high to begin with. In the last year, they've grown
from a powerful outfit, mathy in origin, but with a school of
variation. To the mix this show was added an element my friend Dave
called simply "Rockin'." dis- just seemed to have matured nicely, and
are more at ease with themselves astage.
Uzeda were who the audience were waiting for. A four-piece from
Sicily, they provided one of the most visceral experiences I've had at
a rock show in some time. Loud, disruptive songs with plenty of space
in them. But it's a dense space rather than a vacuum; dark particles
inside the songs. The new 4-song EP out on Touch n Go doesn't have
the same mass of sound and freakout, but comes just as recommended.
Which is highly. Any band that can move an audience so fully, and
from a stance that is unfamiliar, is aces.
A couple quick zine reviews, with more to come. Beer Frame #5 is out,
and is as good as ever. Elements this issue include embalming
services, the toothpick dispenser (cover-object for this issue), and
an update on the M&M controversy. Pick up your copy from the usual
suspects, or for a mere $2 from Beer Frame, 160 St John's Place,
Brooklyn, NY 11217.
Also out now is the paper product from the folks over at Sick-n-Tired,
Escargot. The first documentation of the melding of Indie Music and
the 'net that I've seen, they look at things from various
perspectives. Some of your favorite musicians are here (John Davis,
Franklin Bruno, Dan Fargo of godheadsilo, etc) talking about their net
experiences. A number of reviews originally published in Tasty
Thread, a handful of excerpts from various mailing lists (e-mail
plunder), translations of FAQs computing terms and concepts, and a
good start resource listing to round it all out. There's nits to pick
- the layout has some eccentricities, and we all make typos - but it's
a nice product to incite some thought. And you get a 7" (far better
than an AOL disk, I'd say) of John Davis, Lou Barlow, Dymaxion and
Rula Lenska (the SF side of SnT, it looks like) in the bargain.
Available for $4 from Escargot/Sick&Tired, 1230 Market St #224, San
Francisco, CA 94102, or drop a line to tired@sirius.com.
-es
<------------------------------>
From: Mark Cornick <mark@evol.resnet.jmu.edu>
ADMINISTRIVIA: new archive
Hi folks, remember me? (I'll write soon. Promise.)
I just wanted to let the list know that I've set up a back issue
archive on my system. It's available via FTP and WWW, and looks
almost up-to-date. I figured since I now have a direct, fairly speedy
net connection, I might as well give everybody another alternative to
the dreadfully slow uwp.edu.
WWW access: http://evol.resnet.jmu.edu/indie/
FTP access: ftp://evol.resnet.jmu.edu/pub/indie/
WWW is preferred since I'm running the honkin' new Apache server -
pretty damn fast. There's a 10 user limit on FTP so don't everybody go
crazy at once.
cruise yr new baby fly self,
--msc
--
Mark S. Cornick ** mark@evol.resnet.jmu.edu = cornicms@jmu.edu
http://evol.resnet.jmu.edu/~mark/ ** finger for PGP public key
kill the bass player, kill both bass players... kill the 3x bass
expansion unit, kill the drummer he can't play ------------ GVSB
[Add this to the list, folks, and don't forget the other archives in a
pinch. If you're ftp or www shy, there's the friendly service of
archivist Chris Karlof (karlofc@seq.cms.uncwil.edu) to help you out as
well! -es]
<------------------------------>
From: Michael Hauben <hauben@cs.columbia.edu>
Cosmic Groove
REVIEW: Wetlands, New York City, Thurs, Sept 7, 1995, CMJ Too Pure
Showcase & Friends
[Bands: Long Fin Killie, Pram, Jessamine, Laika, Sea and Cake]
[Disclaimer, other than hearing Laika's album, I am very unfamilar
with any of these bands. I will not even attempt a set list. Sorry.]
I arrived as the second band of the evening, Pram were setting up. In
the background was playing some wicked dub electronic wild beats.
Later I found out it was a DJ spinning, but just what I don't know.
Anyway, it helped set the atmosphere of the evening - the groove.
Pram was a bunch of weirdos. Female singer, drummer a Cheap Trick
lookalike, and the guitarist in a glittery shirt. Plenty of other
instruments and players on the stage. Previously I had only heard
good things about the band from newsgroups and mailing lists. First
the positives: an incredibly tight band, good players, weird sounds.
The result? The most serious fun band I've heard in a long time!
Their sound was just insane, crazyness from all around. Very much an
outer space type of vibe. They put on a show that made me laugh and
dance at the same time. From the first chord, my smile did not leave
until they left the stage. What is even better was they were the
cosmic groovers. Really fun AND funny stuff. A GREAT live show -
see them if you get a chance and have a good laugh. It feels good.
Next the DJ spinning some more wicked dub/groove/electronics - dunno,
was this one of the Juggle DJs from the Monday night party, Konkrete
Jungle? Gotta find out as he was playing some wicked stuff - funky
and hard.
Jessamine was the band with no eyes. Pretty much the whole gig, all
the band members (that I could see) had their eyes closed. Not
horrible, as they were playing some lovely drone, but still not very
charismatic at the same time. They actually had a great set - again,
very groovy - out of this world bliss type music. Drone, but
punctuated by drums, etc. Loved that Moog though - great sound
quality.
DJ break again while equipment was broken down and Laika's set up.
Laika were also a very spacy type of rhymthic band. Sadly the set was
plagued by sound problems, vocals slowly becoming inaudible, and
instruments gradually disappearing from the mix. However, no one in
the audience let that bother them and those onstage started joking
about it eventually. As CMJ is a media event, flashes were going off
like fireworks ever few mins. I never can understand how musicians
can not be bothered by the constant picture-taking at these shows!
Very bouncy, syth-lead songs - with rhumba and similar keyboard beats
leading live drums, hand drums, guitar and bass. Again, monster
grooves that just carry you. Live Laika was excellent. I was even
more impressed as I haven't quite gotten the hang of the album yet.
Last up was Sea and Cake. To complete the evening, this was anther
groove-heavy band. However the vocals set me off, it was getting
late, I needed to go to work in the morning and things were not
clicking. They seemed like a fine band, but the out of this world
sound effects were missing and it just didn't seem to fit. I'm sure
they're a wonderful band, and I'll probably make sure to see them live
again in the future. However the night was over by then.
Again, three really good live bands with a outer space type groove.
Don't miss this line-up if they are touring at all!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Hauben Columbia College'95 Editor of Amateur Computerist Newsletter
by day hauben@cs.columbia.edu by night
<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/">Netizen's Cyberstop</A>
<------------------------------>
From: bce2@midway.uchicago.edu
Heeby Geeby
SOME REVIEWS OF SOME MUSIC:
The Belgian Waffles!, originally from Bloomington, Indiana, now based in
Louisville, are a sextet (or more recently a quartet) which performs
fast, often loose, music (improvisations and compositions)
incorporating elements of various genres. They are most distinguished
by their audacity, plain and simple. They brazenly attempt to play
intellectually adventurous music with humour and without obvious
training, thusly alienating snobs and lowbrows with a single stone.
Their most recent tape (February 9, 1995) is divided into a song side
and a composition side. The composition side, a single song credited
to Waffle-man Dan Willems, drones and crackles, plonks and snaps.
Tony Woollard sabotages a short wave radio, eliciting illicit squonk.
Later there are three or four banjos and Tony's voice mumbling
farm-talk babble. Heather Floyd's drums crowd and threaten, invade
your personal audio space. It's surround-sound, in-your-face sound.
When they played at Cary's Lounge on Devon Ave. in Chicago some guys
at the bar looked up from their Olde Styles to remark, "Hey, she's
got, like, no rhythm." They were wrong, of course.
The so-called song side recalls other rock bands playing songs with
structures so complex they sound as if they have fallen apart. This
dichotomy between composed and improvised reminds me of Blowhole's
masterfull "A Love Extreme" double LP.
I went back and listened to two of the Waffles! earlier tapes to
gain (hopefully) some perspective. "Bounty Killers" is from 1986.
It's a collection of static and voices commenting on totalitarian
control techniques. At one point, a fair way through the tape, the
static bursts begin to come in syncopatated time intervals. Funky?
Groove? By the time I could type out my impression the moment had
passed.
"D'Loose & Guitary" dates from Halloween 1989 and appears to be
recorded live (according to the cheers and clapping that fill the
pauses in the otherwise continuous onslaught). Whereas the earlier
tape was an abstract sound collage (composition side?) this performance
highlights a clumsy but enthusiastic drummer and one-riff songs in
the manner of Trash Can School or their L.A. antecedents (song side?).
As someone in the audience (?) shouts repeatedly throughout the
performance, "Party!" The best moments here are like a Hoosier
basement party version of "Death Valley '69" complete with the
clanging dissonant guitar. The worst moments are like a Hoosier
basement party.
"(Too Many) Dustballs", 5/3/93, features the debut of the tuneless
trumpet, the bungled bugle, the hackneyed horn, a tortured instrument
that dominates the first fifteen minutes of this tape. No doubt when
many first heard the freed saxophone of Ornette Coleman or Albert
Ayler or even Charles Gayle, they thought, "Any little kid could do
that." Well, it took some real punk rockers to attempt to prove that
theory, and guess what? No dice. "Ben 4 Tracks" was recorded
3/22/93.
Listening to this last tape of what my cohabitant has come
to call "headache music," I started thinking about space, between
instruments and between sounds and the lack thereof. The Belgian
Waffles! have created a dense, inpenetrable musical landscape. It's
like a city with no parks or boulevards or streets or alleys or
sidewalks, where people climb through each others windows to get from
one side of town to the other (the rooftops being crowded with air
conditioners and satelite dishes). The concept of polyphony, the
complex, evolving negotions between several musicians in a band, was
revolutionary in the early days of jazz when it was pioneered by the
likes of Freddy Kepper and King Oliver. But too much of a
revolutionary concept can be a bad thing, and the Belgian Waffles! are
often contrapuntal to a fault.
That said, I gotta say I dig their crazy sound, and I think they are a
band that is only going to get better and better. (Adept Recordings,
Rufer Avenue #2, Louisville, KY 40204)
Local Chicago band Broken Skin has recorded a demo tape that is
making the rounds here in the Windy City. I think it's evidence of
just how fucked-up my reference points are getting that when I listen
to the first song I think, "Breadwinner with vocals", or, "Superchunk
con huevos" when I listen to the second song, instead of whatever mid
to late '80s hardcore these guys were actually inspired by. As an
old radio buff I love the samples which proceed each song (especially
the intro from the classic sci-fi show X Minus One). The vocals are
great, ragged, bulldog croaks and squeals of anguish, reminiscent of
the stuff Joseph I or H.R. used to be famous for before he turned his
fickle attentions to pop reggae (of course now he's back with the
Brains, but I haven't heard their new shit). The last song reminds
me of Gone, or those instrumentals Black Flag used to record, with all
that way-out-there guitar athleticism. This tape is a lot better than
most debut singles out there. [contact Broken Skin @ 312-227-5509]
Columbo Knights: snatches of Depression-era big band broadcasts
filtered through a wall of static, then the sound of a man violently
trunced and whooped, someone wheezes and then more crackling swing.
Aluminum hammer on stained glass, gentle guitar nips, Morse-code
feedbacking back into itself, "Grrroah!" The sound of unflinching,
unfettered acceleration into oblivion. This cassette appeared to be a
series of random noises until about twenty minutes into the first side
when it became some kind of ultra lo-fi tribute to Hasil Adkins backwoods
guitar howls. Then the Casio bossa nova beat comes in and the guitar
ramblings continue and it almost sounds like rock music. Side two is
a bit more moody; explosions are played backwards while someone
imitates Yosemite Sam warbling on about something. By the time they
decide to throw in the blues harmonica samples, the listener is so
disoriented that even that familiar sound is hard to place. A
coherent composition or just a bunch of noise? I read it as a kind of
tip of the hat to American roots music that most people wouldn't even
find fit for their garbage cans.
I wrote the above roughly two months ago. Listening to the cassette
again I am reminded of Robt. Crumb complaining (in "Crumb", the
movie) that people are only creating culture to make money nowadays.
Culture is just another way to make a buck; just like everything in
our society it's inextricably tied to its dollar value. Well, this
tape may be the first step in the opposite direction. The whole
package, not just the sounds. You'd haftah be crazy or somptin tah
pay money fr dis. Right on. (This is Destroy All Music cassette #13,
and is available through E.F. Tapes & Distribution, P.O. Box 14013,
Mpls., MN 55414-0013.)
The Farmers, "Black Sea" b/w "Devil": Bundy Brown always said that Joe
Lucas embodied the spirit of the Farmers, and when he left, they just
had to suck. Well, before Mr. Lucas departed they recorded this
single with Iain Burgess for Pravda Records. Simple, quick, bare-
bones songs that don't recall Beat Happening (the Farmers never heard
of 'em, I asked), two guitars, drums, Buddy Holly vocals, it's easy to
see how they could fit in on a folk label like Flying Fish (where they
later ended up). These are party songs which do just that. Paul
Crayton's (now with Slink Moss & the Flying Aces) lyrics add enough
mystery to make the songs interesting. His dark, primitivist posters
for the band used to wallpaper Hyde Park and made me very curious to
hear what they sounded like after I first moved to Chicago eight years
ago.
One of the strangest weekend roadtrips I ever took was to Louisville
as a roadie for the Farmers. The road to Louisville was lined with
the landmarks of their many previous trips. Every offramp seemed to
mark the burial sight of one of their tour van's many ancestors. The
Farmers were playing a show at Uncle Pleasant's with fellow Hyde
Parkers Bastro (that incarnation of Bastro included Bundy Brown and,
of course, David Grubbs, both of whom were living at Onshore, as well
as John McEntire). I guess the person who booked the show hadn't
considered that the two bands had completely different sounds, and,
for the most part, completely different audiences. In fact the two
were as different as two bands within the broad category of "Rock"
could be. In the end, the Farmers had to open for nominal local
heroes Bastro (Grubbs is from Louisville), despite the fact that they
obviously had more fans there. As we packed up their equipment Bruce
said, "Hey, they did their thing, and that's cool. But we rocked man!
We really rocked!" "Bullgoose," Paul answered. "Bull fuckin'
goose," said Bruce. (Pravda, Chicago, IL).
Peace,
Ben.
++++ Free Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
++++more info: http://www.calyx.com:80/~refuse/mumia/mumiadir.html++++
[reviews just like this can be found in Ben's Zine _Destroy Amerikka_,
the new issue of which is to be out "veery soon." And look for more
of Ben's work in the next IL -es]
<------------------------------>
From: rented@merle.acns.nwu.edu
GIMCo
Team Dresch, Glen Meadmore, God Is My Co-Pilot, Room 13
@ The Fireside Bowl, 2648 W. Fullerton, Chicago ... couple of blocks
off the Kennedy Expressway.
In Chicago, a couple of years back, "true punks" started using this
veritable bowling alley as a venue for bands. Only twice did I ever
have the desire to see a show here at the Fireside Bowl: once last
year for Bikini Kill, which I missed, and Saturday,
September 2, 1995 for God Is My Co-Pilot, making their third public
appearance in Chicago.
The show was brought to us by the straight-up "production" crew of
HomoCore. For me, this meant high admission price ($8, and the
bowling alleys were closed!), free condoms and water-based lubricant,
a table full of gay-friendly 'zines, and a wonderful audience. "These
are my people," I joked to fellow GimCo fans Blaise and Rosie. In
practice, the joke's a joke, but in my heart, it's the real thing.
Go to and support HomoCore. Audience members: lots of punk-rock
teeny-boopers for this all-ages show; a couple of really tough
leather-men; several possible transvestites (the garish flourescent
lighting did them no justice); real children under the age of five; a
couple of parents picking up their punk-rock teeny-booper kids. All
nattily dressed and ready for action. Particularly included was one
of the principal players in Rose Troche's movie "Go Fish" --- Wendy,
the woman who played the black professor. I had met her at a party
about six months ago and she only vaguely remembered me but was
friendly just the same. If you ever see her at a show, feel free ...
"the girl is out there."
Ever seen a band play at a bowling alley? Where do the bands play?
They played on a make-shift stage behind the front of the lanes, in a
corner of the room. Fireside Bowl has baout 15-20 lanes so it's
pretty sizable, and it actually turned out to be a good place to see a
band. There were some of those bowling seats (though they faced away
from the stage), and no theatrical-lighting. The flourescents that
wer eused illuminated the band and the audience equally and
adequately. Blaise said that the large crowd (bad guess of about a
100 people) was unusual for the Fireside, yet I never felt crowded at
all.
The gritty: I intentionally missed all but GimCo. Sorry.
GimCo was more hard-core then when I last saw them in Chicago, at the
Czar Bar. Sharon Topper did not bring her soprano saxophone; instead,
she had her melodeon and her harmonica. Mr. Flanagan seemed quite
intent to raise the noise-quotient in his guitar. Maybe it was the
portable and rentable p.a. The cellist (do I detect a Tom Cora and
the Ex influence here?) was drowned out but when he came through, or
when you can discern his sound, you dug it. Sharon had weird thingys
in her short-cropped hair. This did not distract from their sound.
They did not play many of their punk-folk Yiddish tunes (Topper quoted
in the Village Voice: "I'm Jewish. I'm a musician. You figure it
out." Whatever. The girl is out there.). They stuck mainly to their
mesh of one a half minute songs .. which pleased me just fine.
Between songs, they talked more ... even giving away what I think was
some copies of their 'zine. Sharon said something about how all bis
and gays should love one another ... "except me!" which reminded me
of that hitch that her and Craig are married.
Finally, I'd just like to add that I was mistaken for the lead singer
of Seam. Some rocker comes up to me and casually asks: "So how was
playing for the Metro?" I told him I was Te from Kicking Giant, and
that I've never played the Metro.
.............................
<------------------------------>
From: smchugh@mv.us.adobe.com
T in the Park
OK, it's over a month ago, and it deals with some of the less savoury
'Britpop' bands, but here it is anyway, a review of the T in the Park
festival. Well, to be precise, day one of the festival. The second day
looked so unattractive (the Beautiful South were perhaps the most
exciting prospect, giving you an idea of the standard) that I decided
to pass on this. Though I should mention that if you'd timed things
well, you'd have seem Joe Strummer jamming with Dreadzone, Nick Cave
duetting with Kylie, and Rat Scabies standing in for the collapsed
Shamen drummer. Worth #25? You tell me.
I'll give you a description of the environment first to get you into
the swing. One of the hottest days in Scotland for years (yes, the
ice on the lochs was starting to melt), and probably 30,000 people
gathered in a walled-off public park near Glasgow for what is the
biggest festival in the country. Compared to English festivals like
Reading, Glastonbury etc it's a bit smaller, and it's
necessary for the organisers to book more mainstream bands to pay the
bills (Scotland's population is 10% of England's, you see). However,
apart from the main stage, the 3 other stages included, the Groove
Tent, and the Caledonian Stage, which was intended to showcase
Scottish (and Irish, apparently) talent, plus the King Tut's/NME tent
which basically catered for indie bands.
It was here I headed for first, to catch Cast, who despite their lowly
billing, have just had a top 20 single in _Find Time_. They play a
jangly Merseyside-style bunch of songs of varying quality, pretty much
like the La's, which is where the singer came from.
Moving swiftly along, I head for the Caledonian stage, where the
Delgados take the stage. They're a kinda spiky, kinda perky pop band,
whose LaserWalking is a favourite of Peel and other right-thinking
people.
I catch Corduroy rather briefly, as their Jamiroquai/Stevie
Wonder-esque brand of funky soul fails to impress my ears, though
their crimpelene flares are a sight to behold.
On, then, to the main stage where Terrorvision, the Bon Jovi it's ok
to like, take the stage. They are an ideal stadium band, so it's a
shame we're in a field in Lanarkshire. They really are like a
working-class grim-oop-north glam metal band, except some of their
songs aren't at all bad. However, I soon discover this is limited to
their singles, as the part of the set that's not greatest hits is
stodgy and fattening.
Back to the tent then, where Ash take the stage. Pretty big
everywhere, with a new hit single (Girl From Mars), these pubescent
Buzzcock-a-likes and friends of David Gedge sound just like that
description suggests. Not half bad if you like that kind of thing,
which I certainly do. I quite regretted having to leave, but Spare
Snare, Dundee's finest, are on the Caledonian stage. Despite self-
confessedly 'fucking-up' on FOUR occasions, and playing for rather
less time than billed, they just about steal the day for me. Though I
didn't realise quite how low-fi/shambling/insert your
insult-cum-compliment here they really were. They get much tighter
when they swap instruments later in the set, which must be a bad sign.
Over at the main stage, a Smiths tribute band have kicked off. Oh no,
dearie me, it's actually Gene! In fact, they don't sound quite as
much like Moz live for some reason (probably unscrupulous record
producers, I muse silently). In fact, they are not unlike
Microdisney, which is ok in my book. Despite the accusations of
plagiarism, etc., their tunes such as Olympian and Be My Light are damn
fine tunes. Morrissey would have been proud to have written them.
(Whaddya mean, he did ?)
Back to the Caledonian stage, where Schtum are onstage already.
Imagine if you will Fugazi and Big Black jamming inside an aircraft
hangar. Right, forget that image. No, in fact these bands have
certainly been used as reference points for this Irish band, but I
suspect that's only because their sound is pretty original, and these
bands are as close as you can get. I look forward to hearing more of
their stuff and picking out some tunes among the sonics. At this
point there was something of a break as far as I can remember) so I
wandered off to the Massive Attack Groove Tent. I'd been doing this
in passing all day, just popping in as I wandered towards the toilets,
etc., but never saw anything resembling Massive Attack, Horace Andy, or
any of their other special guests. All I would see would be a lot of
extremely chemically challenged people chilling out, and a DJ playing
some sounds at the front. To be honest, for the same money you could
have set fire to a #20 note, danced through the smoke, snorted some
ground-up dog worming tablets, and stayed in your house listening to
the Tricky album with the curtains drawn.
Though I was impressed with the way the light came through the holes
in the roof of the tent and cut through the ganja smoke in a Pink
Floyd laser show kind of way.
Back to the music then, and Shriek were on the Caledonian Stage. I
wasn't sure, not knowing their stuff, if the vocals were intended to
be buried in the mix like that. I'm sure that with the good tunes
there were lyrics of interest, but perhaps we'll never know. A more
belligerent Throwing Muses, a less aggressive Silverfish, or a Belly
with a spark of life in their music, these are all descriptions which
would have Shriek up in arms if they read this.
There was a lot of mainstream stuff on the main stage which I've long
forgotten. Black Grape might have been at least interesting, but they
clashed with Spare Snare, so no contest. Paul Weller would have been
best forgotten, but probably 10 years ago. He'd stepped down from
headliner, presumably to let his audience get home early to their
cocoa and babysitters. I must be fair and say that the audience
response for Weller was massive, but as far as indie-list readers are
concerned, he's no more indie than Neil Diamond or Randy Newman. He
can still write a good song, but whatever happened to the leader of
the Jam? Answers to his record company, not me.
The King Tut's tent had been filling up all day, and Echobelly were
next up. Again, part of the great Britpop hype, they were more
disappointing than I could have imagined. Likened to a female-fronted
Smiths in the past, they showed that they have not even a fraction of
the songwriting ability to be awarded this dubious honour. Even
'Female-fronted Gene' would be insulting to Martin Rossiter and his
foppish fiends.
After July the nights start to fair draw in, so Therapy? took the
stage bathed in the golden glow of a Scottish sunset. Bet you wish
you'd been there' eh? They run through what's a half hour of greatest
hits - 'Nowhere', 'Loose', 'Potato Junkie' et al. Oddly enough, it's
when they launch into their patchy lp 'Infernal Love' I realise that
there's something of an exodus towards the tent again. It's time for
SuperGrass and also time to see how to fit the band with the #1 album
and #2 single into a canvas sauna along with everyone in the West of
Scotland who bought their records. I get an idea of the scale of this
around 50 yards from the tent, where my progress is checked by a
seething mass of bodies. There are still people moving forward to
enter the tent, but it soon becomes clear that space for them is only
being freed up by the legions of bruised and weeping people who cannot
brave the crush. In the interests of the indie-list I enter the tent,
where conveniently they are performing some of their greatest hits -
'Time,' Caught by the Fuzz,' 'Alright'. They are really very good
live, but I decide that self-preservation is the order of the day and
fight my way back to catch the end of the Therapy? set, which
climaxes (oh dear) in a cello-led version of Grant Hart's 'Diane'.
After that, there's the choice of techno-bore with the Prodigy or the
new wave revival with Elastica. The thought of going back in the tent
keeps on bring back two words to me - 'Ibrox Disaster' - and I decide
that I'm suffering from rock'n'roll fatigue. I wander off into the
sunset.
<------------------------------>
From: marcus@cix.compulink.co.uk (Marcus Austin - PC Direct)
ANNOUNCE: New(ish) e-zine
Just a quick note to say we're a UK-based indie e-zine and we're on
our fifth issue. If you want to see reviews of Reading and Phoenix, the
latest LP by Oasis (it's not out til October !!), and other indie
goodies, then it's the place to be. http://www.southern.com/rage/
Marcus
PS anyone who has looked at our site before should note that we are no
longer using Acrobat; it's all in html from issue 5.
<------------------------------>
From: pnini@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Paul Nini)
ANNOUNCE: Lower records catalog
Lower Records, a cassette-mostly label, has an e-mail catalog
available for the asking. Cassettes: Great Plains '85, Fungobat, Peck
of Snide, Househearts, Paul Nini, Shades of Al Davis, Rescue Mission.
7" vinyl: Log, Steve Lindstrom/Paul Nini (on Anyway), Peck of Snide
(on Picturebook). CDs, etc.: 'Our salvation is in hand' -- an
acoustic-based compilation from Theme Park (UK), Log 'Light fuse and
get away' (on Anyway). Log T-shirt too. Limited quantities for most
items.
Please e-mail pnini@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Paul Nini) to have full
catalog sent via reply.
<------------------------------>
From: Benjamin D Piekut <bdpF93@hamp.hampshire.edu>
AD: Treiops Treyfid/Halogen split 7"
KILOGRAM DENIAL RECORDS' first release is out now.
A searing and burning split 7" w/ Treiops Treyfid and Halogen.
Treiops plays in the art-prog, butt-kickin' band PITCHBLENDE. This is
his first solo release on wax. This is Halogen's second single. They
sound somewhere between Bitch Magnet and Rodan, I would say.
Three dollars postage-paid. PO Box 2462, Amherst, MA, 01004-2462.
<------------------------------------------------------------>
The Indie-List Digest is published weekly (Mondays) or more often by
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What Who Where
Editors Eric Sinclair esinclai@tezcat.com
Anne Zender azender@tezcat.com
Mailings Sean Murphy grumpy@access.digex.net
Archives Chris Karlof karlofc@seq.cms.uncwil.edu
FTP ftp://ftp.uwp.edu/pub/music/lists/indie
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K. Lena Bennett.
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purpose. Please cite Indie-List as your source.
<-------------------------------------->
please send your articles for the next
issue to <indie_submit@indiana.edu>.
<-------------------------------------->