Two Great Tastes

For absolutely no reason than I want to post these two things here's a couple more singles to stuff in your brain and let rattle around like marbles in a coffee can.

Babylon Dance Band (1981)

The Babylon Dance Band is one of the original bands from the Louisville, KY area which was a scene that nobody would give a shit about for at least another decade. They existed briefly until the didn't and then morphed into Antietam, another band that nobody really noticed outside of Kentucky. I only know they existed because I used to flip right by their records frequently in stores when I started at "A" and began working my way through the alphabet. They also toured at least once with Yo La Tengo at a show I wasn't able to go to. Perhaps I missed something.
This is one of those singles that occasionally gets name checked in some circles. I'd read somewhere about it long before I ever saw a copy. Whatever. I like "Remains of the Beat".

the Bleeding Hickeys (2002)

Fast forward 21 years.

The Bleeding Hickeys were from Minneapolis. They appeared made a big splash and then were sucked back under. They put out this seven inch and a full length (Lover & Haters Unite!", maybe if you're nice and someone leaves a comment or two someday...).

One band I had played with them a couple of times. I was not impressed at the time. (Most likely because they were getting all the attention I wanted for our cruddy little outfit that we didn't really deserve.) Listening now, I like it a lot more. Lots of energy and some serious Brix Smith guitar stylings over songs like "Cock Taco" How can you hate a song called "Cock Taco"? I defy you to hate that. You can't. (And a liar if you say different.)

The New Wave

If you know where and how to look there are millions of records of bands that appeared, recorded and then slipped back into the darkness with nary whimper escaping to the greater world beyond the band and their immediate friends. I love that shit. Obscurity not for the sake of obscurity, but because it's always an adventure and a gamble. You never quite know what you're forking your hard earned over for. Sometimes it pays off with something good and sometimes you get the lamest AOR nonsense and the occasional shitty half ass ska band.

Acrylix (1982)


So here is Acrylix. There's not much to be found that I've come across without diving deeper into the rabbit hole. They appear to be from the DC area. They apparently released a pair of 12"s later on. The sleeve is a nice New Wave design capsule with the rubberized graphic logo and the hot pink and yellow color scheme that by simply looking at floods one's memory with the scent of way too much Aquanet. The hit side is "Waiting in the Car For You", but the b side... "Dancing in the Middle of Inflation". There's the feeling of the times. Reagan is president. The economy is in the toilet. The threat of nuclear annihilation looms large. At least we can morosely dance about it in day-glo clothes.

 A Single Love (1980)

From Minneapolis and a bit of a mystery. They seem to have lasted far into the ass end of the 80's. There's  a flyer in the First Avenue archive for a show by them in the 7th St Entry as late as 1987. Other than that, I think I'd traced a name on the sleeve to another 90's band a while ago, but I really don't feel up to tracking that down this morning. (I'd need another cup of coffee and an extra fuck to give.) The single itself is another case of "We've got PiL records and we know how to use them." at least as far as the vocals go. "Times of Change" has some nice jangly swirly guitar stuff going on. They probably killed it in 1980.
 

Another Sunny Day

If ever someone was to conceive of a soundtrack to the Friend Zone I do not doubt that it would heavily favor the morose twee ramblings that Sarah Records specialized in. Case in point I would offer up a few of these tidbits from Another Sunny Day. (I mean, their first single is called "I'm in Love with a Girl Who Doesn't Know I Exist" fer cryin' out loud.)

 

So it's all here. All the aching and longing for a love that cannot be. All the angst your teenage heart can handle until it's almost bursting. (I have a tear in my eye yet as I type this)

 This is the sound of old girlfriends and missed opportunities basted in reverb and guitars. It's a pain that transcends time and place and little things of life like washing dishes or making your bed. Your heart hurts.

 You're totally allowed to wallow.

 

Wallow along with ASD

Bag O' Shells

 The end of the 80's through the mid-90's if you were like me (and I have no reason to doubt that you weren't half that awesome) you found the whole "grunge" think kind of dull. (Oh boy. more three chord angst filled punk rock ten years too late to be interesting anymore.) But we were in luck because if nothing else that time period was a bit of a heyday for jangly indie pop music. It just took a little more digging to find it sometimes.

There were also a bunch of reliable small labels that filled your needs. The kind with a certain and consistent aesthetic sense that you knew that even though you had no idea who the band was there was a high probability that you would like it based solely on the label. One such label for me was the Bus Stop Label (which seems to have been dormant since 2010). I snagged pretty much everything I came across up until the middle of the 90's when my musical focus shifted elsewhere.

Around this time I also became quite enamored of the Velvet Crush following repeated  listenings to "In the Presence of Greatness". The two main members of the band, Paul Chastain & Rick Menck who have had a longstanding musical partnership in multiple projects going back to 1987. (Bag O' Shells is, I believe, the third such project preceded by the Choo-Choo Train & the Springfields.)

Bag O' Shells


Unlike the Velvet Crush who focused more on the rock side of Rock/Pop, Bag O' Shells leans more to the pop, though not nearly as much on the wimp pop side as the Choo-Choo Train (who always struck me as too sensitive to ever get laid much.) It seems as time went on they just wanted to kick out a few more jams.
I only got to see them play once opening for Elastica (who I thought were pretty dull) and then the two of them as part of Matthew Sweet's backing band a few years later. They also apparently backed up the original Duran Duran bass player on a couple of records. (That's what I learned today.)

I Should Be Studying

I've got a big important and expensive licensing test coming up this week and I really ought to be studying. But I'm taking a break instead. I'm having a hard time staying in student mode the further from school I get. I'd rather be dicking around with music. So here I am. Sitting in this coffee shop taking a break from my  practice test and writing another silly entry in this little waste of time I like to call the Swinging Singles Club.

 

Propeller Eps

So instead of being a responsible adult I present for your delectation the two compilation seven inches released on Boston's Propeller Records in 1981 and 1982 respectively. The label itself started out as a loosely run collective in which the various bands on it to put out their music. It apparently worked pretty well for a little while before the usual gripes about money, ego and who got to release what effectively killed it off. I got a little of the story from the bass player of CCCP-TV who I briefly was in a failed band with in the mid-80's. That's sad, but the fact that the label folded before they released "The Law" by Art Yard (b/w "60 Cycle Hum") on vinyl makes it a little bit sadder. Then to add insult to injury all the Propeller masters seem to have been lost in a house fire towards the end of the decade. So little vinyl slabs are all that remain.

Oh well. Here's your opportunity to enjoy the Neats finest moment with "Six" as well as the wonderful "Babble" by 21-645 and the first appearance of Christmas (who would later morph into Combustible Edison) when they were a bassless trio. A nice cross section of the state of the artier end of new wave spectrum as it manifested in Allston, MA.

Everything is Right

Change of pace time. It's Lps today.

The Velvet Monkeys put this lp out in 1982. It doesn't appear to have ever been released on Cd and I couldn't otherwise find it online. That's too bad. It's a killer album of 60's inspired tunes with a dark (then) modern twist. They occasionally used synths instead of a farfisa. Also enclosed are the two post-Future singles, a cover of the Classic IV's "Spooky" & a "Colors pts 1 & 2". (the b-sides on both are throwaways unfortunately.)  A few stray tracks made it onto the Rotting Corpse Au Go Go compilation, but it's one that needs to be digested in its entirety. I've had it probably since it came out and every time I pull it out I always think "This is great. I should play this more" and then forget about it for another few years only to rinse and repeat.

 

Future (1982)

If you're so inclined I'll throw in on this post a couple of other compilation Lps with Velvet Monkey related stuff. The 80's were a freakin' heyday for compilations and where the savvy consumer could be exposed to all kinds of new bands by buying them for the one or two tracks they might have by a known entity. Here we have the "No Room to Dance" lp, a compilation of Tidewater, VA bands from 1980. It's a good example of the various styles of New Wave floating about in 1980 from the power pop stylings of the X-Raves to the incompetent faux Jam aping of the Noise (complete with faux English accents again.) & as always some futuristic robot pop from Rock Bottom.

Of interest for our purposes is Citizen 23 who would within the year lose their drummer and move to DC to transform into the Velvet Monkeys. They are easily the highlight of the lp.

Compilations

The other one is a 1981 compilation by the renowned DC Limp label. It's a bit of a corker. Usually label comps will have a few stinkers in there. This one, not so much. The two power pop numbers by Tommy Keane are worth the price of admission alone, but you get some lots more. (I personally am happy with any tracks by the Nurses.) The newly christened Velvet Monkeys contribute ace two tracks for the discerning listener to swallow with their earholes.