Music from Doug (1994)

For several years, dating back to a time without a working turntable, and just as this ridiculous cassette craze was beginning, I have been waiting for CDs to get sexy again.  However, in that time, even I went and sold nearly all my CDs and virtually ignored what could have been many goldmines of low-priced, high-quality, un-erasable, un-degradable music.  The popularity of cassettes continued to grow, and crate-diving for records continued to be rewarding as Lewis became a legend all while CDs were phased out of more and more retail environments.

No one crate dives for CDs.  While people will still spend hours searching for funny-looking releases made for 60s grannies and the third world like irony was still entering style, some of the greatest music off all time was being rejected from the most profitable record stores in the world.  Even I have on many times held a jewel box of intriguing mystery and thought "I'd rather keep that dollar."

There are plenty of reasons for this.  Music of the CD era is the worst, and none of your favorite post-hardcore "masterpeices" are going to change that.  CDs are easier to produce than LPs, decreasing the private press success rate from less than one percent to less than point one percent.

That is why when I found myself with time to kill at the Orlando Public Library book store I was surprised to see myself looking so closely through the racks of compact discs.  Mixed in with the garbage were masterpieces like, Paul's Boutique and assorted Bob Mould releases that will continue to be passed over in a city not known for its musical taste.  Assuming it was still cash-only I left a lot behind including this promising nugget with artwork that turned me off from the beginning.

Look up this band for reason why I would be even remotely interested in something that looks like it came out on Asian Man records.

However, after a few minutes I found that holy grail - something I would have bought already had I known it even existed.

Note the other CDs in the background.

Turns out the reason I did not know this existed is because it doesn't really exist.  The note appears to be from "Fred," presumably Fred Newman and is labeled as for promotional use only, leaving one to wonder jsut how many of these exist.  The artwork appears to be printed on a printer - granted one of extremely high quality for 1994, but not a professional printer used by even the lowest-budgeted of labels.  The CD, however, was factory quality, with information printed in a green to match Doug's pathetically uncool sweater vest.

It is noted that this is from the first three seasons (there were four, not counting Disney's imposter version), so not all the hits are there.  In fact, some of the hits may be missing.  I have not listened to the whole disc yet, but I have yet to hear such memorable pieces as "Japanese Restaurant," "Judy's Theme" or my personal favorite, "Cool Shoes."  However, all the Beets songs (except so far for the "Where's My Sock?" fragment and the "My Shoes are Cheap" song that Skeeter sings) are there, and that's most likely what people will enjoy this for most.

Below you can see the beautiful way that the tracks are grouped and titled.  

There isn't much left to say as this music, and the video below really speak for itself, but in case anyone who isn't a nostalgic 90s kid, just know this great music is not just for us.  I would recommend this to any fans of the Residents, Frank Zappa, Ween, the indestructible beat of Soweto, and of course, Mark Mothersbaugh who's excellent work on Rugrats has always overshadowed the brilliant music of this less visually-innovative Nicktoon.

Terri's loss has been all our gain.


UPDATE 6/7/17:

Unfortunately I have had to remove the download here.  I was alerted by one of the artists of the need to do so.  I won't make any assumptions about his position, but I will say it's unfortunate that powers much greater than his own will continue to prevent his work from keeping his reputation growing amongst the people who his music reached.  All I can say is keep digging through those CD bins and try to be as lucky as I have in finding treasures like this one!

Roots, part 1: Hurtu - The Power of Rawk

In late 2002 or early 2003 with the departure of Adrian Ricelli, Xyster dissolved and left Aidan McEneaney, Sam Deutsch, and myself to become Hurtu.  This was a brief period before the addition of Alec Signorino and the name change to the Shears.  In the summer of 2003 Deutsch and the McEneaneys recorded the EPs ¡Swing Pad! and Smokin' in the Girls Room with stand-in drummers Tin Nelson and Jeff Ziga (former Affirmative Action Jackson and Knives Out, later founder of Little Baby's Ice Cream).  While those recordings were mostly tight and professional, this is a noise-lo-fi mess.  Afterwards, with the departure of Signorino for "The New Shears," the core trio became Love Athena, working with drummers Peter Cross and Will Floyd.  Both band's work will be posted later with a more in-depth history.




















It was a tumultuous time and this recorded document crudely captures this unique transitional band, perhaps at its worst, but should be interesting for fans of outsider music, especially that made by teenagers.  It has a rare combination of teenage stupidity and art-damaged pretension, to the point where distributors Barfbag Records features several warnings, such as "Explicit Content," a warning about long gaps of silence, and another about the extremely violent threats dispersed throughout the record (though no one complains when Wu Tang does it).  There was never a track list and some of these songs may have never had titles at all.  Some did and those are recorded and here is the analyisis.

So with that that album begins with "1:  You Wanna Die?," the first of four of the threatening tracks performed by Aidan in his heavy metal singer alter-ego.  They are all some of the of the most explicit and hilarious manifestations about early-teen angst and this first track is the only one with full musical accompaniment, making it one of the album's most listenable "songs."  Batwölf may or may not have played it live.  The character is first introduced and luckily the music hides the other members' laughter.

"2:  Creep Street" is an instrumental that goes back to the earliest days of Xyster originally composed by myself, Tommy Holden, and Adrian Ricelli.  As the Popes, Aidan and I recorded that as well in a professional setting in the Summer of 2002.  IT owes a heavy debt to the Fall's "Mansion" and is one of the best places to hear the use of cheap multi pedals.

"3:  The Power of Rawk III" is another instrumental based on "What Is Love?" with a blistering lead from Sam that used to be my favorite song on the album.  It doesn't really hold up as well, I must admit.

"4:  Parallel Lines" is yet another instrumental, also led by Sam's guitar.  It gained its title later when lyrics were added and was eventually recorded as such on the ¡Swing Pad! EP, to be shared next time.

Track five is another threat from Aidan, this time directed towards me.  The laughs are not a problem and his love of prolonging torture and saying "Shut up, bitch!" is exposed as well as his misunderstanding of the word "arsenal."

Six's drum track is one of the coolest sounds on the whole record and the bass playing on this fuzzed-out reggae track is solid, but otherwise it's a failed experiment, though I have to admit a bold one, mixing such elements together.  It's bad teenage heartbreak, but has to be heard to believed, tough I suppose it may not be too different from nu-metal, especially 311...  That was not the intention.

Next up is "Flavia," a long comedy jam.  It is the only song recorded completely live with guitar, bass, and drums, and even more surprisingly only one of two songs featuring Deutsch on vocals.  IT's an absurd love song to a girl who may not have deserved such treatment.

"Lost on Gilligan's Island" I think had the most potential to be a great song.  It's lyrics are still kind of funny, in a really cute way, I can't remember exactly what I was going for, but I think it just came to me title first.  It's a mess but the idea is there and it has the best home-made feeling to it with my "wait, stop" beginning the song.  The drums are more shambolic than I still think is possible, but there is some tune and a lot of playfulness yet if you stripped it of that it's some top-notch noise rock.  The actual song section concludes with piano credited to Ben Folds and the following "silence" is actually Aidan talking shit on Nirvana.  If you can get through the whole thing you still won't believe it was for real.

The ninth track is maybe the best-realized song, a sludge-metal, on which I think I played everything.  It's simple and I think it would be cool to play again.  Some find it boring and the timing of each instrument sucks, but there is one moment where the solo is absolutely transcendent.

"Crop Circles," on the other hand, is probably the biggest mess on the album with horrible over-driven bass leading the whole thing and deafening clipping drums.  Maybe some potential in there too, but who cares?  If you can hear anything resembling music in there you will know for sure that this is Sonic Youth-aping, but hey apparently that's what everyone wants, so you'll probably like it.  I, however, hate it and I love outsider music like this.  Actually, Aidan's screams are kind of cool, mine too, or Sam's whatever that is...

The unnamed eleventh track is also somewhat well-realized in terms of instruments playing together (though the drums could use some work).  It sounds like it was recorded live, and I vaguely remember that being the case.  I felt pretty good about this one at the time, and structurally, I still do though the lyrics are god-awful weepy teenage boy garbage, but I was trying!  I noticed I had drowned out my vocals, so they cranked up a little high to compensate and all three of us sang on this one and Sam's may be the most pleasant sound on the whole album.  Aidan's have a real unusual rhythm that I still think is pretty cool too.  I was the only person who had any faith in this song, but it's really a pretty decent grunge rocker, theoretically.  With the right pedal it could have even been "Mudhoney-esque"

Twelve is the return of the heavy metal singer and is the best view into the deranged mind of a 12 year old boy with its mix of homophobia and homoeroticism.  If you can get over that it's probably the funniest one, especially when he talks about cutting off your penis and feeding it to his dog.  Then it takes the left turn with "ever since you signed up for the army" and it's self referential qualities which just grow and grow.  What's real and what is just black humor?  Either way it's gonna BURRRRRN YOOUUUU!

"13:  Smokey Bear Plays With Matches" is another old one.  The concept/lyrics came from Jonathan Lee in Mr. Clark's Comm. Arts class in spring 2001 and the music was from Panaphobia members Bo Liu and Doug Chee.  All that time makes this probably the strongest song on the album.  A loud, heavy, noise-blues tune which is the most apparent result of teenagers imitating Captain Beefheart probably ever recorded.  If any track needs to be heard on this album, it's this one.

In conclusion I accept, and grow tired of the heavy metal singer's threats, and he is eaten apart by his insecurities as I turn into him.  It's pretty jail.  Think about it.

I don't know what machine this was recorded on, but it was a cheap digital 12-track.  Production began at the Deutsch's West Orange McMansion and concluded after they relocated to a townhouse in the Cedars, Basking Ridge.  The guitars were a Mostrite Ventures II, a Fender Cyclone II, an Epphone Explorer and possibly an Epiphone Casino.  Basses were an Ibanez Jazz and Precision hybrid and a Fender P.  Drums and amps were a mixed bag and at some point everybody played every instrument, that was important to me.

Ultimately this album is pretty unlistenable, but it did live up to my artistic vision as something of a historical document.  I think it stands up to other teenage outsider music like The Shaggs Philosophy of the World or Todd's With Love... From Me To You or the younger crowd of Eyeball Skeleton, but is a lot more fun and with a far, far greater awareness of the whole expanse of rock music.  Just look at the artists I reference here, this is not in retrospect.  This is a fact, the experimental/noise rock of Can, Sonic Youth, Captain Beefheart, etc was as much an influence as Weezer, Mudhoney, and At The Drive-In as the lo-fi challenges of Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, and Pavement.  I put this out here because it needs to be heard and be out in the universe.  It's just too funny not to.  You have enjoyed worse, I know that for a fact.

YOU WANNA DIE!? 

Next time:  The Shears.

Believe Me!

It seems that over the past year Dara Puspita has become a familiar sound in hip circles, perhaps a mostly as a name to drop, but to be honest, not even this cynic sees it that way. That being said, I am a little late on this, but I should throw in my two cents as well, and perhaps as in such "dire economic times" two cents has more value than we have thought. Either way, I just want everyone to know they heard it here too, plus it's been a while since I've posted one of those girl groups we love so much.

So, Dara Puspita or, in English "The Flower Girls" were an all-singing, all-playing girl group from Java who in my opinion represented everything great about sixties rock. This well-coiffed quartet had the sass and presentation of America's finest negro girl groups, the songwriting of the British invasion, the energy and low fidelity of garage/proto-punk, and all with a delightful psychedelic tinge. Obviously it's a ton of fun. This is as pure as it gets as the forward-thinking West had yet to see such a perfectly self-contained X-chromosome unit and this pre-dates even the Kim Fowley-dictated Runaways by nearly a decade. Like much of the music I have posted it is catchy and memorable even when largely in a foreign tongue, so don't let that bother you on pop gems like "Bhaktiku" and the fantastic title track which demonstrates the finest lo-fi production prior to GbV's Propeller, and maybe even beyond. For those intimadated by the language barrier you may want to start with their beautiful cover of the BeeGee's "To Love Somebody," or their own work in "Believe Me." Regardless this aptly-titled album is a real pleasure from beginning to end.

In some ways, I feel like Dara Puspita will be to 2009 what Os Mutantes was to 2004, so get hip to them before liking them too much makes you seem a bit behind the curve. On the other hand, David Byrne has yet to champion them and their cohorts, so you may be fine. Either way, if you love fun pure, rock 'n' roll, especially from girls this is essential.


Dara Puspita - A Go Go (1968)

Choke on the Wonder of It All

Of course, first off I apologize for disappearing like that. I'll try not to do it again. I am tired as I jsut got back from a show in Mid-City I will likely write about this week.

So here is the first solo album from the one man whose hair outdoes Robert Smith's - Echo and the Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch where he proves the band may be different be he is not. After a substantial break since the masterpiece Ocean Rain he returned with a strong set that does not disappoint. It is another great piece of evidence in the Liverpool stands as one of Rock's greatest cities.

While I can assure any fan of Echo that they will be pleased this is not another album by that band. It's a little less moody and dramatic than them and the music is more akin to New Order even as the singer's voice remains as expressive and pleasant as ever. However, this is not to say that record is full of synth-dominated extended dance tracks. McCulloch is still about well-written poetic psych pop songs best fit for a lonely bedroom or romantic night than a crowded club. The opening track "The Flickering Wall" is sure to engage the most critical listener with it's dreamlike lyrics and production and sing-along chorus you will be glad to have stuck in your head for days. The lullaby-like title track is another standout as is the single "Proud to Fall," and the head-scratching "Horse's Head" with its Godfather imagery is delightful pretentious in that distinctly Ian McCulloch way.

Even if you are wary of solo records from leaders of legendary bands, this one really is a essential for any fan of 80s UK indie rock.


Ian McCulloch - Candleland (1989)

Obnoxious Actions, Obnoxious Results, They Teach Us to Refuse to Be Taught

Thanks to most likely the greatest creations of our time, Pandora, I have finally discovered the ultimate band I shouldhave heard 6 years ago... The Chameleons.

Hailing from outside Manchester, the psychedelic postpunk quartet led by bassist Mark Burgess is the perfect thing in between The Teardrop Explodes (to whom they own a massive debt) and the Smiths, as well as a missing link to post-rock. They released three albums in the mid 80s: Script of the Bridge (1983), What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985), and Strange Times (1986) before breaking up and re-uniting in 2000. These three records are all fantastic and utterly life-changing, yet they all follow expected patterns: First a raw, energetic debut, then an somewhat excessive piece that relies on studio wizardry, and then an absolute masterpiece.

The debut begins with the near goth of "Don't Fall" which take away it's atmospheric psychedelia would not be out of place on an early Bauhaus release. However, it only gets better from there with "Up the Down Escalator," which's lyrics set the standard of symbolism, introspection, and transcendence. This continues in particular onto "As high as You Can Go." The sophomore release after an indulgent synth intro kicks into "Perfume Garden" which succeeds in melding rock guitars with airy synths and pure emotion so many artists these days fail to replicate. Pretty much every other track does this as well, particularly "On the Beach" and "Looking Inwardly." The final masterpiece Strange Times truly captures everything great about the band with the energetic "Mad Jack" opening and the real show-stoppers "In Answer" and "Tears" solidifying its title as one of the greatest records of the decade. The latter (which has a perhaps even better version on the second disc) and "Childhood" also contain a nostalgia that also sets it as a perfect swansong.

This is 100% essential for any fan of 80s UK indie rock, postpunk, and psychedelic rock... especially if you are a fan of Kilimanjaro.

The Chameleons 80s.

When I Saw You There I Saw The Best Part of Me Was Yourself

As a true Official Iron Man, I would, of course consider Robert Pollard the greatest songwriter ever. Beyond that, I would say the other contributing member of GbV and father of their lo-fi sound Tobin Sprout is the second. Anyone who has fairly listened to their records Propeller through Under The Bushes Under The Stars need not question why. After all where would those albums be if not for classics like "Ester's Day," "A Good Flying Bird," "Little Whirl," "14 Cheerleader Coldfront," or "To Remake the Young Flyer" Slightly less deserving as the greatest records of all time, that's where. Well, here's an entire album of that kind of thing.

This album, release concurrently with Pollard's Not In My Air Force, the initial reaction to Sprout's now out-of-print album was more favorable than Pollard's unexpectedly experimental piece. This one fits in noticeably more with the prior three GbV releases than that album does. In fact, one of the most recent album's standout tracks, "It's Like Soul Man" is re-recorded here - actually with a more clean and professional recording. Luckily it's not even the best song as "My Beloved Martha" and "E's Navy Blue" manage to outdo that GbV masterpiece. that is not to say they are the only two. Really this album is as solid as most of GbV's LPs and to be frank, maybe even better than average. It is the perfect for anyone who ever wished for just a bit more of "You're Not An Airplane."


Tobin Sprout - Carnival Boy (1996)

It's the Story How I'm S'posed to Feel Because You Told Me So

A true American tale of its era. Us in the United States should be able to recall Spring 2002. A time not long after the 9/11 disaster where any incident that could be called terrorism was, understandably, assumed the comlicated, calculated work of Islamic extremists.

One of the many times the media (yes, for any foreigners, it's more often the media than the government... even the Bush administration) was wrong was in the case of the Midwestern Pipe Bomber. The guilty party turned out to be a Kurt Cobain-worshiping Minnesota college kid named Luke Helder. Rather than hurt anybody, Helder wanted to just fight conformity by setting off minor explosions across middle America inthe shape of a smiley face.

9/11 aside, the media, especially in regards to teens/young adults was still reeling from Columbine and eager to point the finger at music. This is where I was first lucky enough to hear Apathy on a rare event of my dad driving my brother and I to school listening to Howard Stern. Copies of the bomber's band's album Sacks of People went for as much as $200 and Stern was lucky enough to get one on the air. As expected, it's a bunch of mindless teen angst played over an honestly well-done imitation of Nirvana that lives up to the perp's attire when busted.

A few years after the incident I managed to find the album's supposed masterpiece "Conformity," but lost it in computer transitions. After years of casual search, I finally got it again along with this site that seems to feature the whole thing. I'll get it later and probably put it up. If anyone has the full album with allthe proper titles and track order, please let me know. This is the Billy Beer of the aughts. Have a blast.

Apathy - "Conformity" and more...

Didn't Realize the Sign, 'Cause it Was the Sign of the Times

As trendy and hip as the city became this decade, it's easy to forget that Portland that actually made it's greatest contribution to music actually came before most of the world actually knew that people actually lived in the Pacific Northwest. That, of course, would be the Wipers, led by the enigmatic Greg Sage.

I am not sure of the availability of their work these days, but when I first got into them at a middle school teacher's suggestion it was all pretty rare. His suggestion was, increasingly weak due to it's Nirvana connection, Is This Real?, with "Return of the Rat." So when I managed to find this compilation in Ann Arbor's Encore Recordings, I was a little disappointed to to find neither that track, nor anything from the classic debut on here. After acquire the all-classic first three albums though, my appreciation for this compilation grew exponentially. With only one track from Youth of America and two from Over the Edge, this set features the best of Sage's supposedly spottier later work.

Most of the tracks on here stand up to the classics' "Messenger," and "Taking Too Long," so this is the perfect source for more Wipers. The opening track "Nothing Left to Lose," is one of Sage's all-time best and his darkly dreamlike virtuosity over a simple rhythm is not only the perfect transition between postpunk and grunge and enough to make one instantly fall in love with the Wipers. However particularly strong, that track is only one of many so carefully selected (especially counting the CD-only last three tracks) that would suggest that the band's last three albums of the 80s were as strong as the first. Also included are a couple tracks from Sage's supposedly lackluster 1985 solo debut. These, "Soul's Tongue" and "Blue Cowboy" are some of the best on here. They certainly have a different sound, slower, cinematic, yet no less effective. Their desperado air seem to be as much of a window into this elusive soul as any of the Wipers' finest moments.

They sometimes call the Wipers a "wrong-coast Mission of Burma," but anyone who's been to Boston can tell you it's the other way around. While that band came to represent their city's pretense and pomposity, the Wipers came to establish the whole sound of their region. Bravo.

The Best of the Wipers and Greg Sage (1990)

Water, Keep On Falling...

Well, back from another trip to the Bay which included a much needed trip to Amoeba after months of being to lazy to go to the one in H-Wood while it was still open...

While in their home town, I was looking for any Viva Saturn, but to no avail. While checking the Rain Parade section, though, I was pleasantly surprised. First, I saw that for the first time ever Crashing Dream was available on CD, but I also found this one for the first time on any format.

Here is a posthumous compilation of Rain Parade's finest odds and ends. Mostly demos, it's a great look into their later work for the Emergency Third Rail Power Trip purist, as the stylistically similar album art should imply. The first ten tracks show the band in preparation for Crashing Dream before Island records cleaned up their sound a bit. Personally, I think most of the album version are better, but these are worth hearing, even if you agree with me. Though, perhaps this could only be said about such standouts as "Mystic Green," as this collection's version of "Gone West," despite its invasive synthesizer is better than the proper album's. Additionally, this includes two tracks (including a title number) from that album which, at least in this context, stand up to the others.

The last nine tracks of this collection are the only available examples of Rain Parade's last days and the unsurprising change of pace. Here the band's final sound was one much darker and indeed for the most part heavier than any previous phase. While at times they remain slow and more comparable than ever to David Roback's post-Rain Parade project Opal, even more are rockier than one would have previously though possible, with the live "Got the Fear" sounding a bit like early Built to Spill. However, this should not be a surprise considering how much Rain Parade's Paisely peers had changed by this point (1987), and these rough demos are better than anything The Bangles or The Three O'Clock released that year.


Rain Parade - Demolition (1991)

Hey, You Wanna Buy Some Speed?

In a sense created by a record executive, Speed, Glue & Shinki was more or less Japan's first successful super session, and a particularly visually alarming one full of 6-foot plus Eurasians. Journeyman guitarist Shinki Chen, often hailed as Japan's Jimi Hendrix was a mainstay of Japanese sessions, but had failed to make any great music on his own. Vice-heavy bassist Masayoshi "Glue" Kabe had been a founding member of the naturally most cracked-out Groups Sounds band the Golden Cups. The only exception was drummer/vocalist/songwriter Joey "Speed" Smith a virtually unknown half-American Filipino national who at the time was fronting an R&B band playing department stores. With a loud, messy blues concotion that would have sounded msot at home in Detroit only years earlier, the three recorded perhaps the most drugged-out music of all time.

This debut album ranked by Julian Cope as the greatest Japrock album (tied with the Flower Travellin' Band's Satori) is a thirty-five minute tribute to drugs and the futen lifestyle. Immediately in "Mr. Walking Drugstore Man," the band shows that while they are excellent musicians, their life truly does revolve around getting high. While the stringed section's command of English may not have been near that of Smith's, it is doubtful they, especially Kabe would object to their content. While the love of drugs is explicit, so is everything else. "Big Headed Woman" is the rock 'n' roll suicide suggestion the PMRC spent most of the eighties searching for, and a funny one at that. The group's assertion of the futen lifestyle runs rampant especially in the anthemic "Ode to the Bad People" to which we all should relate to.

Tempo changes, the instruments run wild, it's a loud mess, but probably the tightest, most deliberate one you will ever hear. This is punk rock.


Speed, Glue & Shinki - Eve (1971)

Now I'm So Happy I Have To Let My Song Outside

so I have been wrapped up lately with attempts at professional stuff and personal struggles and I am forced to do what I try so hard to avoid... re-post what I have found from the internet's best music blog - ZAMBONI Soundtracks.

So, here is Todd. A high school nerd who put together a whole album of music that could only, and most definitively be called "heartfelt." It comes from 1979 like it could come from no time else, but where, I am not totally sure. I would think somewhere in the suburbs of New York: Jersey, Long Island, Staten Island... something like that. It is clear that Todd put is all into this. He had to hire or beg the services of other and record in in a rush as the talent of his backers is arguable and their best defense is that they are playing with no familiarity with Todd's vision and their best attempt to follow it on the spot. The bass player is clearly the most lost and it seems like the drummer may just lack talent. Todd's piano is strong, and his vocals are weak - it is evident that here was a kid with the vision and the passion and hey, he did what he could, so let's give it some credit!

Regardless, you can feel what Todd is going for even if it comes from the superficial standpoint of Me = Good, Jock = Bad. Bottom line, it's like emo of the late 70s... back when that kind of thing was unacceptable. Either way, it's interesting to hear that kind of thing without the influence of the likes of hardcore and the Replacements. Rather the influences are more along the lines of show tunes and Hermit of Mink Hollow-era Todd Rundgren. Yet, still there are the topics of suicide and a-bit-too-unrequited love. There is nothing else like this. Give it a chance, as I am sure anyone who actually reads this kind of thing can relate to it. "Alone" and the title track can resonate the most while "Miracle Whip" is pure Vince Guraldi fun, and "Christ's Love Song" eliminates all the nice Jewish boy context I would assume. "Before It's Too Late," though while not one of the best songs is significant for the "believe it or not" factor of this. So, here is...

Todd - With Love... From Me To You (1979)

What's Going On and What Will Be

Sorry I've been away for a while - I have recently moved from Venice (sort of) back to Westchester and was, as a result, without home internet for a while.

Anyway, back to beeswax... Of all the great artists to bring 60s-influenced psychedelia back in the 80s none was as into the 60s Swinging London look and sound as Milwaukee's Plasticland.

I am not totally sure what that Great Lakes region city was like at the time, but it may have had a burgeoning scene along with the Violent Femmes, who I believe had some loose connections to the band. If anyone can enlighten me and out other readers on that topic, it would be appreciated. Regardless of how big it may have been it is not remembered as widely as Hoboken, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston or other indie rock hotbeds of the time. Plasticland was no better known in the national scene though and their first self-titled album was actually released initially only on a French label. It is too bad though as their hard acid sound would have found an audience with fans of Paisley Underground or, perhaps even more so those misfit early Flaming Lips.

This album is one so in touch with the sixties that it could have only come out of the eighties that and the punk rock influence that only is apparent in the group's energy and short song lengths. Likewise, it is a bit prescient of groups like Mudhoney's use of 60s-style feedback - especially when coupled with Glenn Rehse's voice which is not too different from that of Mark Arm's. The album is structured well and from the ass-kicking opener "Alexander" it would be hard to switch to something else afterward. "Her Decay" is another particular standout and was the first I heard of the band from listening to "Jet Fighter" Radio on Pandora. Needless to say this is perfect for fans of not only 60s psych, but any kind of 80s sixties revival style, be it acid rock, garage, or even jangle pop.


Plasticland - Plasticland (1985)

She's Like Fire, She's Like Ice, She'll Leave You High And Dry

A lot of people give David Roback the most credit for Rain Parade because of Mazzy Star. Their later work does not falter enough for that argument, nor is Mazzy Star good enough. His in-between group though, is the place to highlight his individual talent though.

Originally as Clay Allison, he and the Dream Syndicate's Kendra Smith collaborated on the work here, which I feel, particularly on the shared track "She's a Diamond" is better than their Happy Nightmare Baby. While it may have been in discussion of Rain Parade, Roback's famous quote "we wanted to make very quiet music," is the best description of Opal's work, more of a departure from the old band's Byrds-y guitars and hard-hitting drums than expected. What distinguishes this from the follow-ups of sorts is stong songwriter, at least some that can really shine through. Its opener "Empty Box Blues" is instantly more captivating than a lot of Roback's other post-Rain Parade work, and Smith sounds better than ever, as well. At times she even has the sound of an Old West chanteuse with a quiet shoegaze milleu. There is not much else like this, just don't let it put you to sleep... no offense.


Opal - Early Recordings (1988)

They Weren't Kidding When They Called It "Obsession"

...and that is because all the featured artists have gotten bigger and bigger over the past year and a half. While not all of them have gotten proper re-issues, their names are out there and their music is on the blogosphere. I will continue this with the Quarteto Nova Era EP. There is not much more I can add to it - Brazilian, stands up to their contemporaries, shame there wasn't more from them despite making it into the 70s. Every song is good. A friend of mine bought a copy of this extremely rare find on eBay. The rest of us can get it here.


The Quarteto Nova Era EP (1968)

Be Kind and Humour Me

With their hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" lifted from Bach, the music of Procol Harum lives in the subconscious of the Western mind. Unfortunately fewer and fewer people know the name and even less know of anything else the band did. It's a real shame since Robin Trower's guitar style was an key influence in classic Hendrix, and there's nothing like the majesty of the piano-organ duo.

So, here is some of their best work. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was originally intended as one-off studio project, but by this time they had become a true band still playing a unique blend of baroque sounds and classic blues-based rock. All with unusual, carefully written lyrics Procol Harum stands as one of the more distinct bands of their era, albeit an often forgotten one. While the other instruments usually get the most credit, this album's drums really excel. Fromthe first track "Quite Rightly So" they are the extra little kick that gives the album so much of its appeal. This is a dark and pretty album with the band channeling all of their diverse influences to create something totally new, as best heard in the wild "Skip Softly, My Moonbeams."

There are plenty of bonus tracks here and those are many of the best. "Homburg" - the band's second attempt at a hit and perhaps a little much like the first one is here, and as similar as it may be it's still an amazing song. However it is "In The Wee Small Hours of Sixpence" that may be the band's best all thanks to the organ of course.


Procol Harum - Shine on Brightly (1968)

Woke Up Screaming "God I Hope I'm Not Bleeding!"

I went with a recent photo for the irony. I have not listened to that much Built to Spill in a while, but this weekend after "Ze" telling me about their performance at Outside Lands they have been on my mind. Like my friend was after their set I was just a little disappointed when I saw them about four years ago. Now, a lot of that had to do with weak openers, but also because my friends who had seen them two years prior seemed to have gotten an unusually remarkable set from them featuring VERY early work.

I am one of the few that think the band got slightly weaker with each album, thusly implying that the debut is the best. In addition to having the best album and best cover it in fact has the best music. But, it has been out of print (actually, I think just decent distribution) for who knows how long? It captures the band at their best offering both the pop of There's Nothing Wrong With Love and Ancient Melodies of the Future AND the jammy epics of Perfect From Now On and Keep It Like A Secret all with classic 90s lo-fi recording. One could argue that the band may not have the chemistry they would later have as a solid line-up'ed band, but with songs and energy like this who cares? It is particularly odd this did not catch on more as its heavy guitars and playfully angsty lyrics, in addition to the band's Boise home town could have given it a grunge audience at the time. Everything just comes together in such sloppy glory and Greg Martsch's affinity for stacks of guitar tracks shines through, particularly on the simple, yet wailing "Get A Life." "Lie for a Lie," the album's catchiest and shortest song with its goofy samples and white nose tracks stands with The Olivia Tremor Control's "Love Athena" as definitive 90s US indie pop. Its line "Once in a while there's a girl I don't know in my dreams/ she reminds me of a lot of people, but she's someone that I've never seen/ and she's perfect" was the star of numerous bonding moments during my teenage years. However, the star of the show is probably "Nowhere, Nothin', Fuckup" which showcases the band's remarkable talent for jamming on something familiar and turning it into their own masterpiece while making the title a fun little sing-along. This is essential American indie rock. A lost masterpiece.


Built to Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers (1993)

Party In The Pines - Big Sur

Thanks to my friend (whose more-professional-than-mine review is available here) I was able to attend this great event.

We arrived as Wooden Ships were playing. They were pretty cool - heavy instrumental psych-rock with the years there to do it quite well. Next there was Vietnam and Farmer Dave. Neither of them did it for me, personally, but with some good, but expensive New Orleans barbecue and some good, and modestly priced local beer who cares? Then, at last there was Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti. His set consisted mainly of new stuff and the obscure. Some of these highlights were "Bevery Kills (Freaks with the Golden Heirs)" and "Psychodrama City." The new stuff is fantastic and I really can't wait for the next LP, which if released on time could rank as one of the best of this decade. He also gave an obvious(ly great) rendition of "Among Dreams" and my wish from the last time I saw him of hearing "Higher and Higher" was granted.

Following Pink was Gang Gang dance. I had never heard them before, but they put on a really cool show, which even more than the other sets I wished had been in a different setting. I would not listen to their records, but when they play LA next I will attend that show, especially if it is at the Echo, where their sound would fit perfectly.

Dungen was the star of the show in my eyes, and while they played mostly cuts from he last two albums, it was everything I could have asked for. Gustav Ejstes' genius was in plain view as he demonstrated his skills on mainly piano, plus vocals, flute, guitar... and tambourine. Also on display was his amazing ability to find talented musicians who can play just like him. The band also matched the forest setting best and their sound on classics like "Festival" and "Panda" was more subdued, yet no less powerful than on Ta Det Lugnt. Never miss the chance to see Dungen.

Another star of the show was the DJ who gave us music during the painfully long transitions. Her set consisted heavily of Anatolian rock, even with a cut from Benimle Oynar Mısın - the awesome "Sen Varsin". Gustav Ejstes was enjoying it a whole lot and why not because many of those artists are a clear influence on him.

And of course, who could discuss Anatolian rock without Erkin Koray...

Starting as early as the late 50s, Erkin Koray was the definitive voice of the Anatolian Rock movement, which while less famous was as unique and strong as similar prog/psych rock movements of the time in West Germany and Japan.

Since I have been so unreliable lately, here are his first two solo albums, which despite the increasing availability of Anatolian Rock since the successful Obsession compilation are really not "widely" available. Both of them are very strong and solid and serve as a great introduction to the style which melded Western psych rock with traditional sounds from the crossroads of the Old World. The self-titled is the one that is most in tune with that side, while Elektronik Türküler, much cleaner, is a little but more on par with the West, despite the exotic language. Okay, enough words.


Erkin Koray - Erkin Koray (1973)


Erkin Koray - Elektronik Türküler (1974)

Just Like Life, There's a Good Beginning, But There Is No Middle, So You Might as Well Skip to the End

I can't believe it toook me so long to hear classic Television Personalities. I was pretty up on things when My Dark Places was released a few years ago and knew and loved "Part Time Punks", but I did not really hear this gem until a few months ago at the home of my friends in the Brooklyn band Pow Wow!

The Television Personalities were Joe Strummer's favorite band. He said that they represented, to him, what punk rock was all about. Though, in many ways they are more "indie-pop" than punk, but hey, what does all that mean anyway?

The guitars are jangly, the structure is pop, and the lyrics are playfully dark and perversely innocent... if that makes sense? Either way it's one hell of a record. It has a few less pop culture references than their earlier work, but a little more high culture to keep it full of allusions. However, what may be this album's greatest strength is how well it captures the mind of a teenage boy. Not in some dumbed-down kind of mook way, nor over-dramatic and emo. Jsut real, sincere, and deep, yet naïve. Opener "This Angry Silence" captures that voice amid a tempestuous home life while the discomfortingly simple lyrics of "La Grande Illusion" show the darker side to perhaps the same situation as "Silly Girl." "The Glittering Prizes" is one of the best songs and captures the feeling of malaise with nothing both the future to daydream about and "Geoffrey Ingram" is the "David Watts" of the punk era. Changing to a third person look at essentially the same thing is perhaps the album's best track "World of Pauline Lewis," with a refrain that cuts to the bone. This is essential pop as only an original UK punk band could do it.


Television Personalities - ...And Don't The Kids Just Love It (1981)

The Hidden Door: Found

Forming in Riverside, CA, in the mid 60s, the Misunderstood made one big mistake. Instead of remaining in their home and probably being a big hit on the Sunset Strip they followed the current British Invasion and relocated to England where they became one of the great lost bands of the sixties.

This album, recorded in 1966 was not even released until 1982, when even with the rise of neo-psychedelia this could never have hoped for an audience. The group's move is also significant in how it tells their sound. The Misunderstood is to the Yardbirds what the Olivia Tremor Control was to the Beatles. That is to say that their sound is what the blues rockers could have become had they gone further and further into their psychedelic territory. That London blues sound never leaves their sound even though the band goes as far into the psychedelic whirlwind as the 13th Floor Elevators - the band with whom they warrant the most significant comparison, particularly the first album. Lead vocalist Rick Brown's soulful voice on par with Eric Burdon's adds an element not often heard in American psych-rock, even outdoing Arthur Lee. The steel guitar provided by Glenn Ross Campbell wail in a way that set the standard of masterful use of alternative instrumentation is both the psychedelic and progressive rock that would follow in the footsteps. That is not to say the regular guitars don't kick ass as well. The songwriting is as strong, perfectly creating some of the heaviest rock of the sixties on par with the Creation. Some of the best tracks are opener "Children of the Sun," I Unseen," "I Can Take You To The Sun," and should-have-been hit "I Cried My Eyes Out." The Misunderstood's splicing of bluesy British Invasion, far-out acid rock, and proto-punk/metal heaviness makes it perhaps the quintessential underground rock album of the era.


The Misunderstood - Before The Dream Faded (1966/1982)

Classic Art has Had Its Day

Sorry it's been a while. Been busy for once and a little uninspired. Well, regardless, here's the Creation.

It wasn't just their heaviness (probably the heaviest until the MC5 came around, IMO) that made the Creation so ahead of their time. It was also their postmodern take on performance and their un-pretentious artiness of which today's artists' minds are not even capable of dreaming. Well, that and playing the guitar with a bow. Naturally, only the Germans got it.

Most informed people today know "Making Time" from the classic film Rushmore, but until then, "Painter Man" was their best-known song. These are two of their best and show the band at their peak with Kenny Pickett on vocals. The band was a staple of the original mod movement along with the Kinks, the Action, and the Who (Pete Townsend even offered guitarist Eddie Phillips a spot, which probably would have made the Who a better, yet less commercially successful band.) The band really re-wrote the rock format. With that in mind plus their loudness I would consider them beginning of "proto-punk." They do, however, keep in touch with the trends of the time with numbers like "If I Stay Too Long" and clovers like "Cool Jerk" plus the best cover I have heard of "Like A Rolling Stone." "Nightmares" and "For All That I Am" may be the quintessential mod tracks and forget proto-punk, "How Does It Feel To Feel?" is basically heavy metal in its most original form. A change of pace, "Ostrich Man"'s arrangement is a classic that shows the Creation had as much power to go in the baroque direction as their contemporaries. This is essential listening, plus one of the most bad-ass album titles which I was lucky enough to find at Barcelona's (where it is easily available) Révolver Records.


The Creation - Our Music Is Red - With Purple Flashes