tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21058044457548846852024-03-08T04:28:39.693-06:00Victorian SquidAmazing Fact: Lou Reed wrote and recorded the original dial tone you hear upon picking up a phone.Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.comBlogger263125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-49570409874432667202011-12-30T16:30:00.000-06:002011-12-30T16:30:02.016-06:00V/A. Garden Party. Alienor Records.<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMi0lAdEIa7v7JPS_-EXPkmA9ioADF2eWtGv6enOAnEOInIl8kPleQ_JT2IxDKb4a4BOBrfAWqaWqZ-WEwQ6Bc-17blZ90d9R1YZ6k7ODqSJ27k9t7wVHxpQ4jmQbe1ZmsCVTa0g94VGE/s1600/vagp.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692033897321529218" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMi0lAdEIa7v7JPS_-EXPkmA9ioADF2eWtGv6enOAnEOInIl8kPleQ_JT2IxDKb4a4BOBrfAWqaWqZ-WEwQ6Bc-17blZ90d9R1YZ6k7ODqSJ27k9t7wVHxpQ4jmQbe1ZmsCVTa0g94VGE/s800/vagp.jpg" /></a><br />Some lovely stuff here, particularly the gorgeous Bedflowers who sound like Opal if Amelia Fletcher had joined up after Kendra Smith left. Also, is it just me or does Bulldozer Crash's <em>Changing</em> sound a whole heck of a lot like <em>Just Like Heaven</em>?<br /><br /><strong>Side A</strong><br /><br />1. Des Garçons Ordinaires - <em>Summer Games</em><br />2. Bulldozer Crash - <em>Changing</em><br />3. The Spinning Wheels - <em>Don't Get Me Wrong</em><br />4. Meek - <em>Beautiful Day</em><br />5. The Straw Dogs - <em>My Cherished Lonelyness</em><br />6. La Sintesis - <em>September</em><br />7. The Bedflowers - <em>My Ex-Lover's Adress</em><br />8. Antiseptic Beauty - <em>Shoegaze</em><br />9. Les Daffodils - <em>So Easy As You Lie</em><br />10. Flame Up - <em>Let The World Smother You</em><br />11. Charming Boys - <em>Rain</em><br /><br /><strong>Side B</strong><br /><br />1. The Little Rabbits - <em>The Boy Who Never Saw The Light (live)</em><br />2. Penelope Trip - <em>Inside The Taxi</em><br />3. The Gravy Train - <em>Happy Again</em><br />4. Les Chaplinn's - <em>Sunny Day</em><br />5. The Prayers - <em>Sister Goodbye</em><br />6. The Lovelies - <em>Stupid Habit</em><br />7. Kaleidoscope - <em>Dream 2</em><br />8. Koma Kino - <em>Weaky Town</em><br />9. The Penelopes - <em>A Place Called Home</em><br />10. Alival Tiosihteeri - <em>Nasta Kaupunki</em><br />11. Mosaic Eyes - <em>Klaus' Eyes</em><br />12. Die Time Twisters, Verdammt! - <em>Denn Jetzt Bist Du Da</em> </div><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?c5gd1cp50k7k30f">Garden Party</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-59723853546917594722011-12-30T15:30:00.000-06:002011-12-30T15:30:02.376-06:00Best of 2011.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_2K79XXoJd6Yo6tEs2enOs8kNMZ-Qy0l2RSxUthdLfwPprBlNlSzGtiE_VGMY0EV4lgJUTXoOFb0th5DmLYRY-FkTWBlVRAAoA6AZ7Nof48UpPDcXiMf9EZldwV2sqM1lbXdUTWEcSs/s1600/bo2011.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_2K79XXoJd6Yo6tEs2enOs8kNMZ-Qy0l2RSxUthdLfwPprBlNlSzGtiE_VGMY0EV4lgJUTXoOFb0th5DmLYRY-FkTWBlVRAAoA6AZ7Nof48UpPDcXiMf9EZldwV2sqM1lbXdUTWEcSs/s800/bo2011.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5692031356017581506" /></a><br /><strong>Best Albums</strong><br /><br />24. Speed the Plough - <em>Shine</em><br />23. The Feelies - <em>Here Before</em><br />22. Smith Westerns - <em>Dye It Blonde</em><br />21. Dignan Porch – <em>Deluded</em><br />20. Seapony - <em>Go With Me</em><br />19. U.S. Girls - <em>U.S. Girls on KRAAK</em><br />18. Craft Spells - <em>Idle Labor</em><br />17. The Bats - <em>Free All The Monsters</em><br />16. Blasted Canyons - <em>Blasted Canyons</em><br />15. Terror Bird - <em>Human Culture</em><br />14. Amen Dunes - <em>Through Donkey Jaw</em><br />13. EMA - <em>Past Life Martyred Saints</em><br />12. Wax Idols - <em>No Future</em><br />11. Xray Eyeballs - <em>Not Nothing</em><br />10. The Cars - <em>Move Like This</em><br />9. Wild Flag - <em>Wild Flag</em><br />8. Tom Waits - <em>Bad As Me</em><br />7. Beastie Boys - <em>Hot Sauce Committee Part Two</em><br />6. Veronica Falls - <em>Veronica Falls</em><br />5. Dum Dum Girls - <em>Only in Dreams</em><br />4. Blouse - <em>Blouse</em><br />3. Royal Headache - <em>Royal Headache</em><br />2. Men - <em>Talk About Body</em><br />1. Shannon and the Clams - <em>Sleep Talk</em><br /><br /><strong>Best singles</strong><br /><br />Bake Sale - <em>Bake Sale</em><br />Beach Fossils / Wild Nothing - <em>Gruesome Flowers: A Tribute to The Wake</em><br />Blouse - <em>Into Black</em><br />Catwalk - <em>One by Words</em><br />Head On Electric - <em>Ghost Hunter</em><br />Terry Malts - <em>Something About You</em><br />Midnite Snaxxx - <em>A Guy Like That / Jackie</em><br />Pope Anything - <em>Witch Tits</em><br />Vein Cranes - <em>True Believer</em><br />Wax Idols - <em>All Too Human / William Says</em><br />Xray Eyeballs - <em>Crystal</em><br /><br /><strong>Best Reissues</strong><br /><br />Chalk Circle – <em>Reflection</em><br />Various Artists - <em>The Hidden Tapes: A Compilation of Minimal Wave From Around the World '79-'85</em><br />Various Artists - <em>Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesia Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock and Funk 1970-1978</em>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-36429002877505657092011-09-10T16:15:00.001-05:002011-09-10T16:15:00.608-05:00James Dean Driving Experience. Complete Recordings.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpiZ-ha4ltAAPCSyUBQV8ppOSxa3X4lcqPfZfnsssC4fMytr_OZ89AttuIOrpzyOkguI_SA0O8MlwMNl_1XZyvT4jL851U677XT7rOha1ZcxWCHa11qPm6gVWKjy3XDniOi8ACYpG9JY/s1600/jdde.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpiZ-ha4ltAAPCSyUBQV8ppOSxa3X4lcqPfZfnsssC4fMytr_OZ89AttuIOrpzyOkguI_SA0O8MlwMNl_1XZyvT4jL851U677XT7rOha1ZcxWCHa11qPm6gVWKjy3XDniOi8ACYpG9JY/s800/jdde.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650838411085040882" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">These songs are like snapshots; the wet, chemical alchemy of real-life emotions frozen and blurred, crystalized and captured in velvet-grained silver gelatin. That's not a knock. Good pop distills the messy ambiguity of life and rearranges it into perfectly balanced nuggets of time and sound, allowing us to romanticize our pain, or even see it as heroic. (Those old vinyl 45s are legendarily fetishistic, and by their very nature as self-contained physical objects allow us to externalize, manipulate, and catalog our emotions from a safe distance. It's not for nothing that these sleeves all feature the detached, isolated, context-free iconography of romantic cinema. Starlets looking as cool, cold and untouchable as actual stars, and yet here you are turning them over in your hands.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My experience with so much of C-86 is about what it's like to feel a feeling instead of being the direct embodiment of feeling itself, which is why so much of it evokes things safe and wistful. It's instant nostalgia (<i>I miss the comfort of being sad</i>, indeed) ionically charged with the symbolism of things acutely felt, existing in the infra-thin moment between loss and possibility.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That tart crispness becomes a roundabout way of eroticizing isolation—the tingling sensation of being wrapped in a warm sweater on a cold day and getting goosebumps anyway. While rock and roll of the past aimed directly at the groin (and what it might be doing in the vicinity of someone else's), C-86 is a generation or more removed from the 60's pop it reveres and acknowledges that temporal distance by underpinning the physical and emotional distance between the singer and subject, and between the song and its listener. To make up for the carnal absence it prefers to idealize loss itself the same way it idealizes the white pop and girl group sounds of the 60's. Everything is perfect in memory. Your skin can feel just as electric as your ears when being touched by invisible waves.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I think this is why the majority of C-86 and twee bands of the 80's existed primarily on singles. The songs on albums have to relate to each other, but singles come to you as individuals. You can have private relationships with them. They're meant to be handled. Singles are flirts, constantly demanding your attention to flip them on your record player, or pore over their enigmatic sleeves. Albums belong to the world, but singles are yours, no matter how many other people have one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, whatevs. The James Dean Driving Experience are actually pretty upbeat (and as evidenced by their name, a bit cheeky), but mostly dreamy. It's perfectly realized jangle-pop in the vein of the <a href="http://victoriansquidmusic.blogspot.com/search/label/Sea%20Urchins">Sea Urchins</a>, <a href="http://victoriansquidmusic.blogspot.com/2010/03/remember-fun-demos.html">Remember Fun</a>, or Hey Paulette. The download includes the singles and eps for <i>World Weary & Wise</i>, <i>Lonely Hearts XI Versus The Rest Of The World</i>, <i>Dean's Eleventh Dream</i>, <i>Clearlake Revisited</i>, and <i>Sean Connery</i>.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><iframe width="600" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NXPrfTWOyxU?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?5eth77q4oek65xy"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; "></span></a><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?5eth77q4oek65xy">Drive</a></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-21212923240930423532011-07-13T11:00:00.002-05:002011-07-13T11:00:10.448-05:00Oppenheimer Analysis. New Mexico.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1btaqF7F_VSLt9_-fyjoEL7OcN7KPCZJSdxQlBr2aQ6n7fIByKbmNC8-mHCMfn5kAXHt2ZdaNKuAE1hpLmFqHWq2opWUyPFi8ll6Q0mDtcAaCsfmnaAe9POLHiRO1mSQpBmjfUfiQmc/s1600/oanm.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5628638835475370770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1btaqF7F_VSLt9_-fyjoEL7OcN7KPCZJSdxQlBr2aQ6n7fIByKbmNC8-mHCMfn5kAXHt2ZdaNKuAE1hpLmFqHWq2opWUyPFi8ll6Q0mDtcAaCsfmnaAe9POLHiRO1mSQpBmjfUfiQmc/s800/oanm.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Achingly beautiful cold-wave fluttering between melancholic minimalism and elegant, fizzy electro-pop from way back in 1982. Andy Oppenheimer has the most gorgeously androgynous voice, perfectly suited for his songs about cold-war paranoia and detachment. The coming atomic Armageddon and technological dystopia were perennial themes of 80's new wave, made all the more poignant here, as Andy was apparently an actual science writer and nuclear expert. I had the same thought upon hearing it as I did when I discovered Eleven Pond—this has got to be one of the most sublime albums released that decade and somehow no one has ever heard of it. You need this now.</div><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?5ad10sdo7ccakgb">New Mexico</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-70875451354121523892011-07-08T16:30:00.000-05:002011-07-08T16:30:00.979-05:00Alex Bleeker & the Freaks. Alex Bleeker & the Freaks.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg8h19IrZs5gkp7mmuiUsGZnXVOrvS7C3dMKF-SIlsls27RqVLKtsktzlRezdKY9frWMrGeBQzY2pbJ4Nc1pT1m_kMzL-Dw4WNUycVpDw3kRNiXvKbzIReeW8NqJiuprYjUHHktSNeDM/s1600/abatf.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqg8h19IrZs5gkp7mmuiUsGZnXVOrvS7C3dMKF-SIlsls27RqVLKtsktzlRezdKY9frWMrGeBQzY2pbJ4Nc1pT1m_kMzL-Dw4WNUycVpDw3kRNiXvKbzIReeW8NqJiuprYjUHHktSNeDM/s800/abatf.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627090230100403042" /></a><br /><div align="justify"> Somebody reshuffled Real Estate’s cards, and instead of turning over Woods or Beach Fossils, they cut deep into the middle of the deck and came up with Neil Young. This side project from bassist Alex Bleeker features most of the Real Estate crew, along with Julian Lynch on guitar, and sounds for all the world like an unsung Laurel Canyon band coming down with the last good buzz of the 70’s. Wistful and meandering with undercurrents of real power, it rolls down the highway like a Studebaker into the evening’s twilight. Cozy and easy going with tidal rhythms spiked by Lynch’s loose and ragged soloing, it’s classic rock for the “let’s rock the beach” set.<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?b23ryz075rlk0qc">Freaks</a></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-73971270791514191652011-06-25T11:00:00.000-05:002011-06-25T11:00:02.649-05:00Another Sunny Day. You Should All Be Murdered.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s1600/sr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s800/sr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463438775810660178" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sarah 22</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Released:</span> November 1989<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tracks:</span><br />01: You Should All Be Murdered<br />02: Horseriding<br />03: Green<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?e6ssoaw3v3hktiv">Murdered</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-19794919372489153832011-06-21T11:00:00.000-05:002011-06-21T11:00:00.985-05:0014 Iced Bears. In the Beginning.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLHrwaD-BMOYHvYkb0l5xt31SRB0DZXf_x_lQ9CNqLjycKmbP6R33tON6fJ9awmlbnu5WPkAjcFUkJdzEzm-aqzcIYgzbi4stAoWxZsug0VCgHd_Khm4Wi2C4uppUsitrB-cfqNt3noQ/s1600/14ibitb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghLHrwaD-BMOYHvYkb0l5xt31SRB0DZXf_x_lQ9CNqLjycKmbP6R33tON6fJ9awmlbnu5WPkAjcFUkJdzEzm-aqzcIYgzbi4stAoWxZsug0VCgHd_Khm4Wi2C4uppUsitrB-cfqNt3noQ/s800/14ibitb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620388646558583378" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><i>Finally</i>, an album that <i>won’t</i> make you want to have sex with your mother!<br /><br />Tired of music that does nothing but feed your unholy Oedipal desires? Weary of bands whose idea of a MILF is <i>waaay</i> too narrow? Who isn’t? Let’s face it, popular music today is a minefield of pants-tightening paeans to the insatiable itch to put the “mother” in “motherfucker”. Gaga’s miming it on stage, fifteen years ago the Dave Matthews Band devoted a double concept album to it, and back in the 80’s you couldn’t get Phil Collins to shut up about it.<br /><br />Well, worry no more! The 14 Iced Bears special blend of jangle-pop and psychedelic-punk is 100% guaranteed to take your mind off boning the baby cannon that brung you into this world, or your money back. </div><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?d93mqfysxbq40x6">Beginning</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-5405271078339116372011-06-10T11:00:00.000-05:002011-06-10T11:00:03.930-05:00V/A. Positively Teenage!!?.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_KuQJ2EJzU6BeXyCVervl1QvyG0SMwIjvQFZBPElsM0vacNkzdhQ4whhEYPyCkncEu2vQKOlRR7tnpt3rWSacZ-jUhLuhkVAE440c-aY2pdiLr5jJlVrZDgHU-9TPNIoTGYOD5Kc9Ic/s1600/vapt.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_KuQJ2EJzU6BeXyCVervl1QvyG0SMwIjvQFZBPElsM0vacNkzdhQ4whhEYPyCkncEu2vQKOlRR7tnpt3rWSacZ-jUhLuhkVAE440c-aY2pdiLr5jJlVrZDgHU-9TPNIoTGYOD5Kc9Ic/s800/vapt.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616274496286375794" /></a><br />1. The Love Parade - <i>Dave Clark 5</i><br />2. The Gravy Train - <i>Devil In Your Shoe</i><br />3. Lavender Faction - <i>In My Mind</i><br />4. The Sunflowers - <i>Sunflower Babies</i><br />5. St.James Infirmary - <i>The Sun Don't Shine</i><br />6. The Mayfields - <i>Out To Sea</i><br />7. Penny Candles - <i>Memory Box</i><br />8. Regulators - <i>Southside Johnny</i><br />9. Remember Fun - <i>P.S. Elaine</i><br />10. Church Grims - <i>Plaster Saint</i><br />11. Marc - <i>Clearer, Brighter, Sharper</i><br />12. Felicity's - <i>Why Don't You Come Round</i><br />13. Crimson Mints - <i>Makes Me Want To</i><br />14. Mousefolk - <i>Wishing The Summer Away</i><br />15. The Fat Tulips - <i>All That Matters</i><br />16. The Love Parade – <i>Eternally</i><br />17. The Gravy Train - <i>All Fall Down</i><br />18. The Sunflowers - <i>Sunflowers Mum</i><br />19. Perfect Kiss - <i>So Many Alike</i><br />20. Church Grims - <i>Seen It All</i><br />21. Panda Pops – <i>Submarine</i><br />22. The Williams - <i>Still Keep Coming</i><br />23. St.Christopher – <i>Charmelle</i><br />24. The Driscolls - <i>It's Your Daughter</i><br />25. The Sohfas – <i>Thorns</i><br />26. The Spinning Jenny's - <i>Gardeners Weakly</i><br />27. Bulldozer Clarts - <i>Walks Away</i><br />28. Librarians - <i>Stripping In The Cemetry</i><br />29. Strawberry Story - <i>For The Love Of Billy</i><br />30. Hellfire Sermons - <i>Down All The Days</i><br />31. Patrick Skelly & The Prescriptions - <i>Land Of Tears</i><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?3b71r0n38ez19al">Positively Teenage</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-1636094713135198962011-06-02T11:00:00.000-05:002011-06-02T11:00:08.244-05:00V/A. Ideal Guest House.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8z5M4CF9D4s4a_gOD6sbhbhnSiFXiBAinWYRQK2QC3WjaYO4ZFjQdSvivHCxC8digcnhS1hIQZ3RaSO1JcWwVU6C29GDPeguj_KKxWbVIfF9P2T0FOteG3o91DM27IYzPSBv44yXOsI/s1600/igh.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8z5M4CF9D4s4a_gOD6sbhbhnSiFXiBAinWYRQK2QC3WjaYO4ZFjQdSvivHCxC8digcnhS1hIQZ3RaSO1JcWwVU6C29GDPeguj_KKxWbVIfF9P2T0FOteG3o91DM27IYzPSBv44yXOsI/s800/igh.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613346166332906962" /></a><br />Songs introduced by Ted Chippington<br />1. Big Flame - <i>Man Of Few Syllables</i><br />2. The Wedding Present - <i>You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (Version)</i><br />3. The Soup Dragons - <i>Fair's Fair</i><br />4. The Creepers - <i>Sharper And Wider</i><br />5. The Shop Assistants - <i>Home Again (Live)</i><br />6. The June Brides - <i>This Town (Acoustic)</i><br />7. Rob Grant with Yeah Yeah Noh - <i>Mr. Hammond Has Breakfast In Bed</i><br />8. Stump - <i>Kitchen Table</i><br />9. The Legend - <i>Everything's Coming Up Roses</i><br />10. Pigbros - <i>Barren Land</i><br />11. Stitched Back Foot Airman - <i>The Deadly Spore</i><br />12. BMX Bandits - <i>Sad</i><br />13. Bogshed - <i>Jobless Youngsters</i><br />14. Chumbawamba - <i>Kinnochio</i><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?1cp2ne8icdm3aig">Ideal</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-63740737975593517262011-05-20T15:25:00.001-05:002011-05-20T15:25:00.395-05:00The Jags. Evening Standards.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilezsX4MidPPhpja-UyM4jof6wcYW7WF_mm63WXXaw5OXzRsAUo-wxsTNDiUYS4ESdkYgWCX52LbAHp-nFUX-xnTZbrCLBMb2ryQbFIxRbJF7-_0y6gi2-4U9NoDq7XwTjaRQiMuIacnM/s1600/jes.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilezsX4MidPPhpja-UyM4jof6wcYW7WF_mm63WXXaw5OXzRsAUo-wxsTNDiUYS4ESdkYgWCX52LbAHp-nFUX-xnTZbrCLBMb2ryQbFIxRbJF7-_0y6gi2-4U9NoDq7XwTjaRQiMuIacnM/s800/jes.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608895666889252354" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I have this fantasy that the sleeve for this album got made first and then handed to the band with instructions to make an album that would fit inside it. Because nothing else could have produced the synesthetic mesh of image and sound found here. It may not be an unjustly overlooked classic of new wave power-pop, but it may have unintentionally created its iconic apotheosis. Four nattily dressed lads stand looking studiedly aloof in front of the clean lines of a bauhausian office building beneath a romantically airbrushed turquoise sky. Sort of a cross between The Cars portraits on the back of <i>Candy O</i> and The Feelies <i>Crazy Rhythms</i>. The Jags themselves sound (a lot) like early Elvis Costello, and were in fact dismissed by critics as unworthy imitators when this was released in 1980. I was actually never a big fan of Costello, so this doesn't bother me, as I don't consider him terribly sacred. Their song <i>Back of My Hand</i> made the Top 40 and is occasionally resurrected on power-pop comps, but they never quite equaled it or scored another trip to the mainstream. It <i>is</i> undoubtedly the catchiest song on the album, but the rest of the songs are strong, punchy bundles of crisp, nervous energy, and to the people who encountered them, they're very fondly remembered.<br /><br />Here's the problem, though. Either someone in the Jags had very recently been dumped, or they were just generally misogynist pricks (could be <i>both/and</i>). It seems like eighty percent of the songs on here are about how women are this stupid, sadistic alien species with the single-minded goal of breaking men's hearts, fucking with their lives, trapping them into bourgeois marriages and—of course—doing all this with men who aren't them. I know, I know...these sort of attitudes towards women are so common in popular music that if I had to edit out all the bands that weren't perfectly feminist, there would be precious little left to listen to. I'm hoping to get a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Out-Vinyl-Deeps-Ellen-Willis/dp/0816672830/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IXH2BT7O0U5GD&colid=2IT9F2RRRDTQD">Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music</a> for my birthday. Writing of the Sex Pistols' <i>Bodies</i> she said<br /><blockquote>It was an outrageous song, yet I could not simply dismiss it with outrage. The extremity of its disgust forced me to admit that I was no stranger to such feelings---though unlike Johnny Rotten I recognized that disgust, not the body, was the enemy. And there lay the paradox: music that boldly and aggressively laid out what the singer wanted, love, hated---as good rock and roll did---challenged me to do the same, and so, even when the content was antiwoman, antisexual, in a sense antihuman, the form encouraged my struggle for liberation. Similarly, timid music made me feel timid, whatever its ostensible politics.</blockquote><br />They Jags may not be political in their stance, but the feathery-haired guy who sort of looks like Bruce Campbell on the cover is a pretty sharp songwriter and clearly has a vision he wants to communicate. It's the typical vision of <i>nice guys turned bad boys due to not being given the pussy they so clearly deserve</i>, but at least he owns it heart and soul. If guys start bands to be more attractive to women, I will never understand why they then go on to write songs insulting women and generally calling them heartless sluts for dating guys who weren't them before they had their own stage. Especially when you consider that (at least in the 80's) women were the primary audience for and consumers of new wave and power-pop music. Who did The Jags think their audience was? Who were they writing to?<br /><br />Their saving grace is that the music is really catchy and choosing pleasure is its own kind of rebellion. Also, without the lyrics sheet I rarely know what the singer is singing about. It's just that...when you do read them—jeebus they can be pretty bad. <i>Woman's World</i> outright states in the chorus that <i>It's a woman's world we live in / And a woman don't think straight</i>, handily pointing out the confusing, oppressive, and flighty pussyarchy white male rock stars are forced to live under.<br /><br />Then there's their one hit, <i>Back of My Hand</i>. <a href="http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/friday_genius_ten_hang_the_dj_hang_the_phone_edition">Pandagon</a> was talking about giving out fake phone numbers to get creepy guys to leave you alone at bars, and how women aren't entitled to the space to just be out with their friends. It was in response to <a href="http://thehairpin.com/2011/05/how-to-not-give-a-guy-your-number">this post</a> at The Hairpin about how stalkery guys can be in those situations, and it made me think of this song, which sounds at first to be about getting a woman's phone number, but is actually full of thinly veiled threats of violence. With the double meanings of "I've got your number" (I have your phone number / I know what kind of person you areand what sort of sneaky thing you're up to) adding "written on the back of my hand" makes it pretty clear that he's threatening to hit the woman in question for the sin of not calling him for dates. Savor this run of lyrics and see what you think:<br /><br />You only call me if you're feeling blue<br />You tell me I don't pay attention to you<br />But if you only knew just what I'm going through<br />You wouldn't phone those guys who mess around with you girl<br />...<br />You're not unreadable, you're not unbeatable<br />I know just what you are, don't push your luck too far<br />You're not untouchable, not just another girl<br />I get in touch with you, I only wish you knew...<br />I got your number written on the back of my hand<br />I got your number...<br /><br />The weird thing is that I remember there being a lot of masculine gender panic over insufficiently manly new wave acts in the 80's, which was coupled with anxiety/resentment that this style was supposedly being driven by sexual young women having the hots for this new, androgynous version of the male. So to find this kind of sexual push back—a warning to women to know their place—in the songs that helped inspire that panic is odd to say the least. It seems like for every gain women achieve in regards to freedom and pleasure, there's a backlash—even within the cultural items that women's choices have helped make successful.<br /><br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AUlU105lkgs?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="600"></iframe></div><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?t6vnifhxqltj43y">Evening Standards</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-20134090165707175782011-05-14T11:11:00.000-05:002011-05-14T11:11:00.306-05:00The Wake. Crush the Flowers.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s1600/sr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s800/sr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463438775810660178" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sarah 21</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Released:</span> October 1989<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tracks:</span><br />01: Crush The Flowers<br />02: Carbrain<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?cff7mnn4zc6a9de">Crush the Flowers</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-44690078137501095472011-05-06T11:00:00.000-05:002011-05-06T11:00:05.683-05:00Double Negative. Black Time.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SIw_oJykbUSmVV2TvQNDAN6EGzJJurI4i56kPuq-07zy9OeejkwgvvmNsPW2FD10gSe-GM9bPYu1Ti2QN3ZAqspQb_XhAG5AijXhT0pUBVOPmHkXsFh4NbtJa0hgQLJqrYeDX76jAqE/s1600/dnbt.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SIw_oJykbUSmVV2TvQNDAN6EGzJJurI4i56kPuq-07zy9OeejkwgvvmNsPW2FD10gSe-GM9bPYu1Ti2QN3ZAqspQb_XhAG5AijXhT0pUBVOPmHkXsFh4NbtJa0hgQLJqrYeDX76jAqE/s800/dnbt.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5603407143993701026" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Another band that learned all it ever wanted to know about rock and roll from Dave Davies’ razor slashed guitar amp. Fully deserving of the <i>In The Red</i> stamp of approval, they may be the loudest goddamn band I own, other than Guitar Wolf. It’s magnificently lo-fi, too, like it was recorded in a closet of an abandoned hammer factory built inside a cave. They claim to be proponents of the “heavy vampire sound”, whatever that means (they are neither goth nor sparkly, though they do carry on a long British tradition of spookifying their garage rock; cf. <i>When the Clock Strikes Twelve</i> and <i>Scary People</i>).<br /><br />It’s all raw-screaming-noisy-punk-garage-rockabilly-distorition-blues-raw-raw-rawr with a heart of 60’s pop confection that gets torn out from under your feet and shredded amid ear stabbing primitiveness every time you think you’ve got a hold of it. The standout—sounding all the sweeter for being nestled in so much bone chafing distortion--being the indie-crushed <i>I’m Gonna Haunt You When I’m Gone</i> (sung by Janie Too Bad) which could be a psychic-historical pre-echo of Beat Happening caught on the only known acetate of a 1960’s regional girl band trying their hand at one of those <i>MY Boyfriend’s Back/My Girlfriend’s Dead</i> songs that used to be so popular.<br /><br />The All Music Guide describes it as being "performed and recorded with a technical finesse that makes Billy Childish sound like David Gilmour", which may be the best blurb ever.<br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?k9af0zfw5hbqfpp">Black Time</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-37806509005154296772011-04-29T11:00:00.000-05:002011-04-29T11:00:07.688-05:00Dan Melchior. Bitterness, Spite, Rage and Scorn.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ohc2FuBWk26AMp6pYDoHdA76DB2jv8o348dL80xV7_Wfnc9BdAM6YVnrOEVAID_Uczunvs34alUtC69q87f3f6QCGHexnl2gA7V36xdzSSrgpLc85br241hXbf-7fT8CWg7UUKnq4B4/s1600/dmbrbsrs.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ohc2FuBWk26AMp6pYDoHdA76DB2jv8o348dL80xV7_Wfnc9BdAM6YVnrOEVAID_Uczunvs34alUtC69q87f3f6QCGHexnl2gA7V36xdzSSrgpLc85br241hXbf-7fT8CWg7UUKnq4B4/s800/dmbrbsrs.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600719074360379778" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Like some rare, unexpectedly righteous blues rock platter dug out of a garage sale, <i>Bitterness, Spite, Rage and Scorn</i> is an homage, an elation, a junkyard cathedral to the Savage Chord. Its grooves were carved by hand with a pair of rusty knives.<br /><br />With a voice like a smashed window and a devotion to pile-driving minimalism, Dan Melchior plays fuzzed out swamp rock (swamped out fuzz rock? rocked out swamp fuzz?) like John Lee Hooker and Mark E. Smith’s love child. He has a long pedigree with Holly Golightly and Billy Childish, so you know what you’re getting into.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kznUlNQ15UE?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="600"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?914bdler8pjaecb">Bitterness</a></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-47442747719899794582011-04-15T11:00:00.000-05:002011-04-15T11:00:01.258-05:00Cave Weddings. Bring Your Love / Let’s Drive.<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsrA6Smx7T-9gXxMIqZiIhrWwJE6qw3c1_yAIR9USZazLZW2n5ucp664kx2YE9jsPNjfBP6_KIDODZWMnMk4zGPpqMe7pi47ykJP0tY_TOYEJfqKSNz8ia7CS14mOPdD90yizmN2-RJU/s1600/cwbylld.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595097445719496018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsrA6Smx7T-9gXxMIqZiIhrWwJE6qw3c1_yAIR9USZazLZW2n5ucp664kx2YE9jsPNjfBP6_KIDODZWMnMk4zGPpqMe7pi47ykJP0tY_TOYEJfqKSNz8ia7CS14mOPdD90yizmN2-RJU/s800/cwbylld.jpg" /></a> <br />Eric La Grange is in too many bands for me to keep track of. I know about Eric & The Happy Thoughts and The Romance Novels, and….okay, three. I guess he has three bands. But I am here today to tell you about The Cave Weddings and this one perfect single—exquisite, impeccable guitar pop in the mold of countless 60’s summer bands. <i>Bring Your Love</i> (tart and tight like The Archies, only without sucking) kicks off like a racehorse with a driving, perfectly chosen guitar line and drums galloping like a hormone rush. <i>Let’s Drive</i> is as jangly and rollicking as Buddy Holly’s jalopy. It’s all there: tambourine rhythms, sparkling, clearly drawn melodies, harmonized “ba-ba-ba’s”, and occasional bouts of frothy, frenetic, shredding guitar. I wanna lick it and see what it tastes like.</div><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?a2uv3y43et95bbb">Cave Weddings</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-21389247000448192392011-04-12T11:00:00.000-05:002011-04-12T11:00:09.248-05:00Boomgates. Bright Idea / Cameo.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPdNkBjOduz1hto7IZcGB1u8i17FOLyPR1uBNQ8r8XEWyPtnJVgcUCNDzd5QsYOllD1j9wNyqHSRaNPT6EPJcmCk_FnyHvEuh-_yIjxcUs5_AVRiRr-b-p1exPE41zEwrAvZYTXGoEis/s1600/bmgts.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594384193577335410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYPdNkBjOduz1hto7IZcGB1u8i17FOLyPR1uBNQ8r8XEWyPtnJVgcUCNDzd5QsYOllD1j9wNyqHSRaNPT6EPJcmCk_FnyHvEuh-_yIjxcUs5_AVRiRr-b-p1exPE41zEwrAvZYTXGoEis/s800/bmgts.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Eddy Current Suppression Ring put on the best punk show I’ve ever seen. And I don’t mean punk as a style of music, but whatever it was about the original incarnation, whatever DIY exuberance, whatever magic connection it had to its audience, a true <i>you/me/us</i>, Eddie Current has it in spades. It was jaw dropping. There were maybe only twenty or so of us in the club, but they performed like their life depended on it.<br /><br />Lead singer Brendan Suppression was a nervous bundle of energy who seemed to find his peace while performing, despite the fact that he was stalking back and forth on the stage like a slightly less manic Cornholio. It was the release of being truly yourself, even if that self is a bit twitchy and tightly wound. During instrumental portions he would lean wearily on his bandmates and hold his mic to their chests, like some sort of autistic attempt to plug directly in to their heartbeats, which seemed profoundly sweet. Towards the end of the show, after climbing all over the stage and merchandise table, he cautiously staggered into the audience while the band strummed and thumped and riffed furiously as if they could conjure up a secular rock n’ roll rapture right then and there. Drenched in sweat, Brendan repeated his mic gesture, touching each of us in turn as a sort of punk rock communion, sharing with us their energy and adding the sound of our bodies to their mix. A fan held a cold can of beer to the back of his neck to cool him off, and then it was over.<br /><br />I’ve loved and thrived off music for ages, but that night was an epiphany. Fuck the hippies, this was the real thing. In that moment I felt like we all—all of us in the club, everybody on stage—loved one another; like we’d all just shared a communal vision of something rare and astonishing and perfect and beautiful. No church revival could ever compare.<br /><br />Boomgates is (so far) a one off featuring Brendan and friends (Trial Kennedy, Teen Archer, The Twerps, Dick Diver), and it has a definite ECSR vibe, but softened by the addition of Stephanie Hughes’ dulcet voice. It’s a looser, poppier affair that just wants to hang out with you and settle comfortably onto your heart. The summery <i>Bright Idea</i> trundles along on a strolling, rubbery bass that falls somewhere between a relaxed ECSR and the Go-Betweens, and the interplay of Brandon’s vocals and Steph’s backing <i>whoah-o-ohs</i> make me think of old C-86 tunes or Slumberland releases. The guitars are still nice and trashy, though. B-side, <i>Cameo</i>, lets Steph take lead on the vocals before Brendan comes in with an homage to Lou Reed’s talking songs, only with an Australian accent and having to do with relating some weird dream he had. It alternates between the story and the sharply jangly chorus where they all erupt, singing “you’re just a cameo in my dreams”.<br /><br />In short, they are expectedly awesome, and “for your information, this is all you need to know”.<br /><br />P.S.: They have a new single coming out on April 18th on <a href="http://www.smartguyrecords.com/boomgates/index.htm">Smart Guy Records</a>. </div><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?7836a7d2ye9wzan">Boomgates</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-83412474175176451772011-04-01T11:00:00.001-05:002011-04-01T12:27:09.202-05:00The Snivelling Shits. I Can't Come.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzG-J2VlPn2_JeWF3EUZNQlgp9h7PHCKEYiulGDJARAeqgMam4U7yFLkdL_yBRQyK7yYo8nYYrXrllHMegxSpThRZuWovXuMDXLeUtrclf7EMiGixzre5miwaEHm9MFUxn2Ys_ZBc1y50/s1600/ssicc.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590332574459730786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzG-J2VlPn2_JeWF3EUZNQlgp9h7PHCKEYiulGDJARAeqgMam4U7yFLkdL_yBRQyK7yYo8nYYrXrllHMegxSpThRZuWovXuMDXLeUtrclf7EMiGixzre5miwaEHm9MFUxn2Ys_ZBc1y50/s800/ssicc.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">I feel like I should just be able to point out that these guys named themselves <i>The Snivelling Shits</i> and that their signature song spends six minutes detailing all the many ways in which their lead singer can’t achieve an orgasm, and leave it at that. But that would mean leaving out mention of <i>Crossraods</i>, wherein they take the piss out of Lou Reed by turning <i>Waiting for the Man</i> into a Bowie-esque vamp about impatiently waiting for their favorite British soap opera to start. Or bludgeon the French language to death. Or lament their inability to become samurai, question god’s gender and daily grooming rituals, and write a song for The Damned.<br /><br />Anyway, as <i>Maximumrocknroll</i> once said, this album is "essential for music lovers and music haters alike". Formed as a bit of a lark in 1977 by music journalists Giovanni Dadamo and Dave Fudger (<i>Zig Zag</i>, <i>Sounds</i>, and <i>The Face</i>), they recorded <i>Terminal Stupid</i> (backed with the aforementioned <i>I Can’t Come</i>) and sent it anonymously to their rivals at NME, who made it single of the week. With a lineup rounded out by members of Eddie & the Hotrods and eventually legendary producer Steve Lillywhite, the Shits recorded a total of nine songs that, through utter devotion to being as magnificently stupid as possible, manage to be as good as or better than most of the bands they were supposedly mocking.<br /><br />If you can dig a viciously unholy smash-up of the Velvets, The Damned, Bowie, and the Sex Pistols, then this is a criminally forgotten classic of punk-as-fuck snots who couldn’t even take themselves seriously (thank god).</div><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nYD1qqKUMCU?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="600"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?jjbkqy9ywlx0460">Shits</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-39216943299418519422011-03-18T11:00:00.000-05:002011-03-18T11:00:05.924-05:00V/A. Grimsby Fishmarket 4 Norrkoeping 0.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpfJpunDkOfBKNiCwUHhyphenhyphen7nf1GbtbdAcQpXiLdfOUHj96MBG14nVM_VQvTTakzkcNte9J66zUaA_x9doIXmGIKsZ1Pt2jtPHX_CIuMFXYdIbg7RzmGaNSinJfcx1Aa0YmBKTaW_-0ues/s1600/flowers+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpfJpunDkOfBKNiCwUHhyphenhyphen7nf1GbtbdAcQpXiLdfOUHj96MBG14nVM_VQvTTakzkcNte9J66zUaA_x9doIXmGIKsZ1Pt2jtPHX_CIuMFXYdIbg7RzmGaNSinJfcx1Aa0YmBKTaW_-0ues/s800/flowers+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585142887231096178" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This ridiculously hard to find compilation was originally issued by Swedish pop fanzine <i>Grimsby Fishmarket</i> (I think in 1991). The Orchids track was an exclusive to the tape and never appeared anywhere else. Quite a few bands I'd never heard before, too.<br /></div><br />1. <span style="font-style: italic;">Eusebio</span> - Louis Philippe<br />2. <span style="font-style: italic;">Song About Girls</span> - Bummer Twins<br />3. <span style="font-style: italic;">Walking Back To You</span> - The Cherry Orchard<br />4. <span style="font-style: italic;">This Friendship Of Ours</span> - This Perfect Day<br />5. <span style="font-style: italic;">Chick House</span> - Roof<br />6. <span style="font-style: italic;">Barriers Of Mine</span> - Are You Mr Riley<br />7. <span style="font-style: italic;">Silent Sigh City</span> - Happydeadmen<br />8. <span style="font-style: italic;">Shaunty</span> - Joe Clack<br />9. <span style="font-style: italic;">She Fakes Apples</span> - My Finest Hour<br />10. <span style="font-style: italic;">I Fell In Love Last Night</span> - Cerise<br />11. <span style="font-style: italic;">Kymri</span> - The Apple Moths<br />12. <span style="font-style: italic;">Jennifer Anywhere</span> - The Kitchen Cynics<br />13. <span style="font-style: italic;">Room</span> - Bridge<br />14. <span style="font-style: italic;">Turn Over</span> - Momus<br />15. <span style="font-style: italic;">Into The Morgue</span> - Mary-Go-Round<br />16. <span style="font-style: italic;">Next Summer</span> - Brighter<br />17. <span style="font-style: italic;">New World</span> - Venus Peter<br />18. <span style="font-style: italic;">Chelsea Guitar</span> - Blueboy<br />19. <span style="font-style: italic;">Not Unusual</span> - BJ Eagle<br />20. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Light That Will Cease To Fail</span> - Stereolab<br />21. <span style="font-style: italic;">High Rise</span> - The Cherry Orchard<br />22. <span style="font-style: italic;">Windmills And Milestones</span> - Bummer Twins<br />23. <span style="font-style: italic;">Wood Dust</span> - Joe Clack<br />24. <span style="font-style: italic;">Ralph De Bricassart</span> - Happydeadmen<br />25. <span style="font-style: italic;">Time Will Pass</span> - The Rileys<br />26. <span style="font-style: italic;">And When I Wake Up</span> - The Orchids<br />27. <span style="font-style: italic;">Birds Of Prey</span> - Marble Hammock<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?q1cod00b2raa0m9">Grimsby</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-23094533755378991962011-03-15T11:00:00.000-05:002011-03-15T11:00:07.577-05:00The Lumerians. Burning Mirrors / Chevaux Fous.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDhHXnDTM6_MuZO9bbYtn9n4fKt2uyZ2dMY_97QNQWyVKUS5sAaaJQLzjZy1QXwtZsIWszjBA3ziS4rYWCT-9Z4zYrE4yeYF8xgSK3URXXPEkiAJQRpXzNzVt6cbk3j9jiuGxCnxMBcMU/s1600/lbm.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583971772516175362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDhHXnDTM6_MuZO9bbYtn9n4fKt2uyZ2dMY_97QNQWyVKUS5sAaaJQLzjZy1QXwtZsIWszjBA3ziS4rYWCT-9Z4zYrE4yeYF8xgSK3URXXPEkiAJQRpXzNzVt6cbk3j9jiuGxCnxMBcMU/s800/lbm.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">I got sucked in by the trippy cover art smiling enigmatically at me from the shelf of 45s in my local record shop. A gnomic, three-eyed, golden mystic looking out underneath a field of eyes (leaves? paramecium?) that transform into a convulsive wave of moire dots. Also, I'd just finished reading <i>Invented Knowledge</i>, all about fake histories and pseudosciences, and it had a chapter on Lemuria—a "lost" continent supposedly located between India and Australia—so it seemed fortuitous. I'm perfectly OK picking up an album based on its cover, and this one matched perfectly.<br /><br /><i>Burning Mirrors</i> erupts in a spasm of pummeling drums and bass driving a deeply grooved krautrock beat, like the Silver Apples crossed with Hawkwind. It’s a whirlwind swirl of noise rock and psychedelica that builds up towering layers of whooping incantations, howling organ, and fuzzed-out guitars that quickly saturate all the available psychic space in the room. It’s a total brain melter. They’re getting comparisons to the Black Angels, and although they definitely build analog altars of throbbing reverb, it feels less retro. They’re looser, wilder, more exploratory and way more likely to just start going wiggy all over the place.<br /><br />The b-side, <i>Chevaux Fous</i>, translates the Osmond’s <i>Crazy Horses</i> into a grinding echo-chamber of siren noise and triple-bad-acid occult freak-outs. They’ve got a full length out now on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/”">Knitting Factory Records</a> that you should definitely pick up. <br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?i7jk0fp9p94j944">Burning</a><br /></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-84946837275493803232011-03-12T11:00:00.000-06:002011-03-12T11:00:00.846-06:00St. Christopher. All of a Tremble.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s1600/sr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s800/sr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463438775810660178" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sarah 20</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Released:</span> August 1989<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tracks:</span><br />01: All Of A Tremble<br />02: My Fortune<br />03: The Hummingbird<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?89m3tfbyld1nkna">Tremble</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-88921612024976959912011-03-09T11:00:00.000-06:002011-03-09T11:00:15.823-06:00The Wild Tchoupitoulas. The Wild Tchoupitoulas.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TWQK4tBDiQiHtkDeZJ-k-65wIlJDpxeLOjBTqtiw5iE11yAFY7pg6OMar249blMTM-6Kh7p4e75uGvojALWYFSVdYdfd7hCYe6Td1Nm4SMSp4Ht7xB00tFbGOVRdHGNrQ-IceyYOQ2k/s1600/wt.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5581759315431083314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1TWQK4tBDiQiHtkDeZJ-k-65wIlJDpxeLOjBTqtiw5iE11yAFY7pg6OMar249blMTM-6Kh7p4e75uGvojALWYFSVdYdfd7hCYe6Td1Nm4SMSp4Ht7xB00tFbGOVRdHGNrQ-IceyYOQ2k/s800/wt.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Today is the day I traditionally spend biting off the impulse to tell people they have schmutz on their forehead, which means that once again Mardi Gras has come and gone and I missed the opportunity to post this album.<br /><br />I’ve never enjoyed the various pleasures of Mardi Gras, nor even visited New Orleans, although I did once attend Key West’s Halloween celebration, Fantasy Fest. I imagine they’re somewhat similar, although Fantasy Fest (when I attended in ’94 at least) was primarily being enjoyed by droves of middle-aged naked people in body paint. I do recall one delightful couple who had dressed from head to toe in vintage ‘50s duds and were wheeling around an old fashioned baby stroller. When people leaned in to see the “baby”, a little person dressed in leather bondage gear would leap out making <i>boogada-boogada-boogada</i> noises. So I guess what I’m saying is that if you’re looking for a getaway built around heavy drinking and nudity, Key West is probably the more family oriented destination. Although New Orleans’ celebration lasts all week and they could probably use the money more. As I’m sure you’re aware, New Orleans has not exactly been suffering from a surfeit of good fortune lately. The way things have been going, we all know it’s only a matter of time before Ben Stiller unleashes <i>Fuck the Meters</i> (“the hilarious and heartwarming tale of one man’s struggle to overcome dyslexia and join a New-Orlean’s funk band”<sup>1</sup>) upon the already punch-drunk metropolis.<br /><br />Speaking of the Meters, they, along with several of the Neville brothers, can be found on this non-stop rump-shaker from the heyday of New Orleans funk. Despite the pedigree, the stars of the show are the Wild Tchoupitoulas themselves, a tribe founded by George Landry (better known as Big Chief Jolly) in the early 70’s. It’s a swampy stew of New Orleans jazz, R&B, and blues, with an emphasis on appropriately dirty funk. The songs are built around traditional call-and-response chants, with niceley rough and raw vocals from Big Chief Jolly and the rest of his tribe. If you’re a fan of Professor Longhair, or early Dr John, grab this now.<br /><br />The word <i>fonktaculastic</i> gets bandied about a lot in favor of bands who would barely be in danger of catching gonorrhea if it were actually spread by rhythmic clapping. But the Tchoupitoulas are the real deal. They're more than infectious. They'll leave rabid hoodoo brand upon your brain.<br /><br />1. Script available upon request. You may also be interested in my original screenplays <i>Forrest Gump II: The Gumpening</i> and <i>Abel Gance’s Napoleon Dynamite</i>.<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?hd088jc15e473bs">Wild Tchoupitoulas</a></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-28785215815851403672011-02-24T11:00:00.000-06:002011-02-24T11:00:06.644-06:00Henry's Dress. Bust 'Em Green.<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2nlwynCIQhs9uPAPc5jn0wZ7L__5E-I_BywRr6fDWkA4uw9SjydKc9WfSSnqDWpozjcwjMJUz2cAn6TWH1B6ZcnEm4QPhxaLwHbjLxIp60UBxb5iTPf70MIe2pmHQHxgyJ5qWlZfNoEc/s1600/hdbeg.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576617031228314530" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2nlwynCIQhs9uPAPc5jn0wZ7L__5E-I_BywRr6fDWkA4uw9SjydKc9WfSSnqDWpozjcwjMJUz2cAn6TWH1B6ZcnEm4QPhxaLwHbjLxIp60UBxb5iTPf70MIe2pmHQHxgyJ5qWlZfNoEc/s800/hdbeg.jpg" /></a><br />One of Slumberland’s best noisepop releases. The band has swept up the shrapnel from their <a href="http://victoriansquidmusic.blogspot.com/2009/12/henrys-dress-henrys-dress.html">debut</a> into bristling piles of jagged, brightly colored confetti. Their shoegaze excesses have been condensed into blasts of garage punk mauling 60’s mod rock. You can see the genesis of the Aisler’s Set, but it’s a much, much louder, fuzzed-out version of what’s to come. When they’re going full tilt, they have a way of pummeling through a song with delirious abandon, which just digs the hooks in deeper. You may not notice them the first time, but soon you won’t be able to get <i>Hey Allison</i>, <i>All This Time for Nothing</i>, and <i>Self Starter</i> out of your head. It hurtles by in just under half an hour, so I’ve appended the songs from their <i>1620</i> single as a bonus.<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eDX6K9bd0tw?rel=0" frameborder="0" width="600"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?4a3uc4goz1bgca1">Green</a></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-49347141754908406892011-02-22T14:45:00.000-06:002011-02-22T14:45:00.793-06:00Schatzi and Hazeltine. Happy Birthday Baby / When Yr Alone.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjYRlD65F2gQc9X45UmPDpmhg9j_pAxCUYJm6_SHOnEniAi4m8rXTwJ0Ol8Eian5CBpgFuIoO2HXqhXA0iExbGgMhxmoA4K3c6HT8X_u-P3kDoCXLXN-WEns3YLeoo5LGx5ERpoUef0Y/s1600/sahhbb.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjYRlD65F2gQc9X45UmPDpmhg9j_pAxCUYJm6_SHOnEniAi4m8rXTwJ0Ol8Eian5CBpgFuIoO2HXqhXA0iExbGgMhxmoA4K3c6HT8X_u-P3kDoCXLXN-WEns3YLeoo5LGx5ERpoUef0Y/s800/sahhbb.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5576613955872318978" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The first couple of times I listened to this, I was sure some part of it had been recorded on the wrong speed. The vocals are so damnably cute and coy—a winking come-on from a couple of Ronettes obsessed teenage garage punks hiding switchblades in the pockets of their leather jackets. But now it all falls together. All the great 60's girl-group pop was about love and obsession, so it makes sense that Schatzi and Hazeltine have built their own musical shrine to the sultry sound of tuff-girls and the menacing vulnerability of teen love. You can feel the sway of her hips in the swagger of her voice. They're lipstick killers—gang debs demanding kisses in exchange for the pleasure of their songs.<br /><br />The hand-made, low-budget wall of sound is exceptionally well crafted and layered, much more so than you'd expect for a couple of songs that were probably dreamed up and tossed off in one exuberant afternoon. It's a total blast. Plus hand-claps! Glockenspiel! That moist, swollen-lipped, tiger-kitteny growl they stole from Ronnie Specter for the "oh-oh bay-a-buh's"! Crush worthy.<br /></div><br />Video for <i>When Yr Alone</i><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LZLv35q9kvw?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" width="600"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?e6tawm7abiefcb8">Happy Birthday Baby</a><br /><br />Buy it from <a href="http://www.insound.com/When-Yr-Alone-7inch-Schatzi-and-Hazeltine/P/INS63461/">Insound (US)</a> or <a href="http://shop.bachelorrecords.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=246">Bachelor (Europe)</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-82044983975903095292011-02-18T14:30:00.000-06:002011-02-18T14:30:01.737-06:00Butterglory. Downed.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MfxJbZJdRPxSzg2KjpsynNRKT2_KoLC126u3ic3L8Pye2rDoNiYkpgRMEzN7I9EkYS3Kw14H7SpT437wXK9bIWNESEUaVDeIMzf5CINsi9P4RxobVxBoENuRKQ_8DeP8hRy1gJcLIDA/s1600/bgd.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; DISPLAY: block; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575125825858551762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4MfxJbZJdRPxSzg2KjpsynNRKT2_KoLC126u3ic3L8Pye2rDoNiYkpgRMEzN7I9EkYS3Kw14H7SpT437wXK9bIWNESEUaVDeIMzf5CINsi9P4RxobVxBoENuRKQ_8DeP8hRy1gJcLIDA/s800/bgd.jpg" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Still feelin’ kinda 90s, so here’s some slackeriffic evanescent psychic pezz drops from Lawrence, KS duo Butterglory. I’ve seen numerous comparisons to Pavement (who, honestly, I never cared for) and Archers of Loaf (who I’m not all that familiar with), but to me they sound like a crackling, ragged wire version of Yo La Tengo’s <i>Genius + Love</i>. They were contemporaries of all those bands, so it’s not like they were trying to recreate that sound, it was apparently just some lo-fi virus going around at the time. Indie mono, in more ways than one.<br /><br />Despite the comparatively lackadaisical attitude emanating from Matt Suggs and Debby Vander Wall’s vocals (I imagine this being recorded when neither member felt like getting off the couch), the songs are endearing, hooky, and melodic in a skewed, left-handed fashion where you’re never quite sure which way they’re going to swerve next. The melodies easily win out over the noisy, ramshackle trappings, and part of the magic is the way they paste together all the unpredictable, unpolished bits of buzzing guitar feedback, perky trap drumming, and cool boy/girl vocals into two minutes of hummable chaos.<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?ekrd6r109k4wc2f">Downed</a></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-493260656661628412011-02-12T11:00:00.000-06:002011-02-12T11:00:05.990-06:00Brighter. Around the World in Eighty Days.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s1600/sr.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6NPbnrq2HlQiy-m9oMhissRnpMnFiYFV8jU8-tTFcNf3ij5nxJI_OFS8TesKw_c3c4EmtnemJg2q0npEHAx4vYxBDtH2agLyCpyu-G2qNGkTQkpiq5QnhIjDwEZeO2eLpIcPVC3B2QWE/s800/sr.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463438775810660178" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sarah 19</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Released:</span> August 1989<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tracks:</span><br />01: Inside Out<br />02: Tinsel Heart<br />03: Around The World In Eighty Days<br />04: Things Will Get Better<br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?zwfdjgu146jm5je">Around the World</a>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2105804445754884685.post-7471751634962518922011-02-04T17:30:00.001-06:002011-02-04T17:30:00.577-06:00Susan Voelz. Summer Crashing.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2OhBUliFlQd2lQXJl8ZFNIkLhrFESWzEVg9jNbCh-Amt_hU0A8zuukJUpM2-zZppantV7SMgky2_W5O0_edStXARFVsTBSl867UGVD9XOvFg7Yw82CyaZGVDIdX7tID6-A7s74esEUs/s1600/svsc.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG2OhBUliFlQd2lQXJl8ZFNIkLhrFESWzEVg9jNbCh-Amt_hU0A8zuukJUpM2-zZppantV7SMgky2_W5O0_edStXARFVsTBSl867UGVD9XOvFg7Yw82CyaZGVDIdX7tID6-A7s74esEUs/s800/svsc.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569955118797204418" /></a><br /><div align="justify">Getting back to my nostalgic lamentations for the 90s<sup>1</sup>, I’d like to mourn the passing of feminism and pro-choice activism as a mainstream phenomenon<sup>2</sup>. I got spoiled, coming of age at a time when women had taken their rightful place on the stage (partially by force, mostly by being more awesome than everyone else) and feminist and pro-choice concerns were front and center in the culture. It seemed that we had finally broken through; that there would be no turning back the clock. I realize that I was still living in an insulated “alternative” bubble, and that large portions of America didn’t share my convictions<sup>3</sup>, but it was thrilling to see the challenge being made (besides, who was going to mess with Kim Gordon, PJ Harvey, Kathleen Hannah, Kim Deal, or any of the numerous other women kicking ass across the country?). We had L7’s Rock 4 Choice<sup>4</sup> and Riot Grrl, and even the boys were in tune—I seem to remember Eddie Vedder scrawling “choice” on his arms when Pearl Jam played SNL, and Curt Kobain made a habit of puncturing traditional male rock-star machismo by getting photographed wearing a lot of cardigans while holding cats (things usually coded as female) and appearing in his pajamas on the cover of Out Magazine.<br /><br />Unfortunately, we finished out the decade with a president who largely backed off on his pro-choice promises, with both NOW and NARAL asking the street-level movements to tone down the demonstrations for fear of alienating an administration they thought was tenuously still on their side. By the turn of the millennium, fully in the sway of “finding common ground” with anti-choicers<sup>5</sup>, abortion rights had been chipped away to such an extent that it was more difficult to obtain one than it had been under Reagan and Bush<sup>6</sup>. And now we’ve arrived at the point where a Republican Congress can shamelessly introduce <a href="http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/shorter_gop_tax_breaks_for_everyone_except_those_pregnant_teenage_rape_vict/">a bill that would not only prohibit abortion coverage through private insurance</a>, but that <a href="http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/01/29/dearjohn-for-when-boehner-decides-your-rape-just-wasnt-enough/">attempts to define rape out of existence for the majority of women who have been sexually assaulted</a>. They’ve since backed down and <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/republican-plan-redefine-rape-abortion">removed the “forcible rape” language</a> (proving that street-level feminist activism still has power, and is needed more than ever), but they’re still going ahead with the bill. If you live in the U.S., <a href="https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml">write to your representative</a>, and if you’d like to do something more directly positive, <a href="https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6713/donate_page/donate">donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds</a>, which helps fight these measures and helps pay for women who can’t afford abortions on their own.<br /><br />I was thinking of all this when I recently revisited an album that had been a favorite of mine back in ’95, but had fallen off my radar in the ensuing years. Susan Voelz is probably best known for playing violin in Poi Dog Pondering (and has contributed to albums by John Mellencamp, Alejandro Escovedo, and Ronnie Lane). Much of Poi’s work is characterized by the use of relentless optimism as a weapon against the inevitability of death, but Susan’s solo work finds her examining more ambiguous territory. Recorded after surviving a horrific car crash, she starts to question the ability to connect or take action within this brief existence, asking, "When we die, will we think this was anything?".<br /><br />That emotionally abstract, quizzical tone flows through the album. The instrumental <i>Mystic River Bridge</i> refers to a real-life suicide while Susan wonders if the jumper chose the location for its name. The poppy <i>Happy</i> can be read as a manifesto for allowing yourself to be who you are (“Just for an hour I'm going to be happy/Just for a day I'm going to let dumb things happen/I don't care how I look 'cause I look good-enough/I don't care what I think 'cause I'm not thinkin' much”) and as a caustic take on happiness as a goal instead of a state of being (“I don't wanna feel bad/So I stop feelin' anything”). Later on, <i>William</i>, about a man hospitalized for manic happiness, expands the idea further. In the liner notes, Voelz writes of <i>Step Off the Roof</i>, “There was a news story of protesters blocking entrance to a clinic, forcing girls to climb a ladder to enter through a second floor window. What if she skipped the procedure and turned and induced her abortion by jumping off the roof onto the protesters below?”.<br /><br />She can be solemn, but none of it feels depressing or dour. It’s actually breathtakingly beautiful—somewhat like Mazzy Star’s languid sensualtiy crossed with Andrew Bird’s spritely, tight-rope dancing virtuosity. Dreamy—like so many things back then tended to be. The arrangement and production for such a small album are spectacular. Seductive, swooning melodies (rich and velvety with deep purple hues) are cloaked in mesmerizing, atmospheric guitar drones that swarm around the more distinct core of Susan’s breezy voice and the bright solar flare of her violin. She has a way of pinning a hook to your eardrum (especially in <i>Taka Looka Round</i> and <i>Step Off the Roof</i>) and the rare ability to sing about discrete, concrete things in a tender, personal way while at the same time holding them just far enough out of reach to analyze it like a butterfly impaled on a needle.<br /><br /><br />1. I have a theory (which is mine), which is that <i>“The 90s”</i> actually comprised a period from about 1988 (the year of the first Pixies’ album) to about 1994 (around the time Curt Kobain killed himself. Not that Curt “owned” the 90’s or that his death caused its downfall or anything, but it’s as good a date as any, and my memory of the period is of things going downhill fast after that). At least, this was the in-between time period for the cultural highlights of my in-between generation. Yes, other stuff (soul-deadening effluvia) happened in the 90s <i>“the decade”</i>—boy bands, nu-metal, rap-rock—but those things didn’t belong to <i>“The 90s”</i>.<br /><br />2. No, I’m not saying that feminism is dead, just that the media has wholly fallen for the backlash.<br /><br />3. In fact, a lot of activism was in response to the wave of home-grown, Christian terrorism directed at abortion clinics in the late 80s and early 90s.<br /><br />4. Doing some research online<sup>4a</sup>, I notice that Gillian Anderson emceed in 2001. *nerdgasm*<br /><br />4a. I also see that Stone Temple Pilots once played Rock 4 Choice, despite having recorded <i>Sex Type Thing</i>, which was totally rape-y. I know Scott Wieland later claimed it was an anti-rape song, but I find it nearly impossible to get over the first person perspective and the fact that there’s nothing in the song to undercut his point of view. There’s probably a whole other post that could be done just on the subject of male bands writing what they think of as anti-rape songs that identify with the rapist instead of the victim. Just off the top of my head, there’s NIN’s <i>Big Man with a Gun</i>, and Nirvana’s <i>Polly</i> and, of course, <i>Rape Me</i>. <i>Polly</i> at least, puts the creepiness of the narrator front and center (whereas <i>Sex Type Thing</i> just makes STP sound creepy), and could be read (if you were thinking of writing a term paper on it) as alluding to the inability to have true sexual equality in a patriarchal society. <i>Rape Me</i>, on the other hand, with its cop from the <i>Teen Spirit</i> riff, just seemed to be Curt going off on his hatred of fame and what mass media did to his art, which is pretty trivializing of actual rape victims.<br /><br />5. There is none. When one side believes women have the right to make their own decisions about their health, their lives, and their bodies—and the other side thinks of women as less human than a clump of cells, as people who deserve to be punished for their sexuality, and who have no interest in the needs of children once they’re born—I can’t imagine what we could possibly have in common. There is no compromise to be made on women’s rights. You either believe they have them or they don’t, and the anti-choice crowd is not going to stop until they’ve overturned Roe v. Wade. And after they’ve accomplished that, they’re going after Griswold v. Connecticut, so stock up on birth control now.<br /><br />6. There’s an excellent article on the history of Rock 4 Choice, its place in the 90s alternative culture, and the withering of mainstream feminist activism <a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/we-need-rock-we-need-choice-music-needs-a-womans-voice/">here</a>.<br /><br />I still wonder why everyone stopped wearing Doc Martens.<br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="600" height="367" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NiZy1u0WLxY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><a href="http://anonym.to/?http://www.mediafire.com/?tc2483jxfbrvj27">Crashing</a><br /></div>Egnu Cledgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526822817817607559noreply@blogger.com0