The Best Part of Travel

You go to new record stores in different cities and there's always stuff you would be less likely to find in your own town.

And so it was that this was the most amazing find I had on a trip to Seattle where we traveled halfway across the country to see Scientists play on their first real US tour. And it was totally fucking worth it....

But I digress.

I also found this record.

Ki Ra I (1983)

The band is called D-Day which is different from a previously posted band with that name.

This one is a Japanese New Wave band.

This four song ep is fucking great. Each song is unique and sounds kind of unlike most anything else I can think of. It's atmospheric and experimental but never unlistenable.

 I dig it greatly.

Enough that I feel like I want to post scans of the inserts for no particular reason other than I like it so much.

So there.

Guys with Glasses (1990)

 And then there's this.

One night as we were hanging out with one of my oldest friends a couple of days after the Scientists/Mudhoney show he hands me this single because he doesn't like it and thinks I might.

I already have and have posted the double single by these guys so he obviously was correct.

Fast pop songs not very well recorded and played kind of amateurishly?

That shit's right in my wheelhouse.

It's good stuff and I'd have put this on a hundred tapes for girls if I'd known about it at the time.

"Guys with glasses think...."

Thanks, Roger

Not That One, A Totally Different One Again

Yeah, another band that named themselves after a famous person which while less confusing than the band that called themselves Courtney Love there's still plenty of room for confusion.

Bug (2000)


And so it was that at the start of this century two people decided to name their musical project Harper Lee. And here is a couple of examples of what they sounded like which is something that a decade earlier would have found a home on Sarah Records.

Dry Land (2000)

If you have an interest in the people involved here's an interview with Keris Howard and Laura Bridge  which may or may not illuminate things for you. Sometimes interviews do that. Sometimes they just muddy the mental waters.

Otherwise just lay in your bed and relive a little bit of that long lost adolescent love that adulthood has beaten into a nostalgic haze. Then afterward you can do some laundry.

A Couple More Because

I have a couple more Autohaze things I want to post. Be a nice person and visit their bandcamp page and give them some love and by love I mean money.

Dive Into the Sun (1992)

Yep. That's  one.

White Bird (1995)

And this is the other.

Going Down Under

I don't know much, but I know what I like and garlic, onions and potatoes fried in bacon fat is pretty high up there on that list. There's some of that available to me as soon as I'm done with this post.

I'll be quick about it.

 27 Air (1992)

I also like Autohaze.

They were from Melbourne, Australia. They made and alternative pop rock noise that wouldn't have been out of place on Creation or some or other similar label. (Creation did sort of release an Autohaze compilation on a subsidiary label, August Records, so I guess they weren't fully interested in committing...)

But I like it.

Hanging Around (1992)

A number of singles, a couple of full lengths and a myspace page if you're feeling 90s nostalgic and that's about all that's left except for the music.

Enjoy this little time capsule...

More of the Same in a Compiled Format

Last month it was a double disc of indiepop goodness for Compilation Day.

Today is more of the same.

For better or worse.

(I think better)

...One Last Kiss (1992)

So this is the inaugural release by SpinArt Records and another good place to start if you're looking for some guidance in where to start looking to get your fix of 90's indiepop. It's a genre that's every bit as widespread and and amazing to dig into as any of the usual ones that record collector scum ever wax rhapsodic about but currently still easily available and cheap. I mean, if you're reading this and taking advantage, you probably already know this but as an obsessive record collector of all kinds of stuff over the years, take my advice and get in on the ground floor while you can still afford the good stuff. (I mean, the Lilys and Swirlies stuff is already going for more than I want to part with on Discogs) You might not be able to retire on it, but you'll have something good to listen to and escape the dreariness of nursing home life at least

Track listing is

1. Chris R. - Swirlies

  2. Lamp - Suddenly, Tammy!

  3. Mimesis - Lorelei

  4. Daisy Kiss - Veronica Lake

  5. 100,000 Fireflies - Magnetic Fields

  6. Hair Like Alain Delon - White Town

  7. Arm In Arm - Honeybunch

  8. Helicopter - Swirl

  9. One Wish Too Many - Our American Cousins

  10. You Should Have Seen The One That Got Away - Tree Fort Angst

  11. All The Stars - Crayon

  12. Shutdown - Jane Pow

  13. I Love Her All The Time - Whorl

  14. Hey Lucille - Small Factory

  15. Forgotten Favorite - Velocity Girl

  16. Baseball Bat - Courtney Love

  17. Any Several Sundays - Lilys

  18. We Can't Be Friends - Black Tambourine

  19. Change Of Address Kit - Wimp Factor 14

There is very little by way of filler here. It's all fucking good and you could play it for your mom which in the Grunge was where the real rebellion was.

Good Enough or Not.

Another Lp today because I wanted an excuse to listen to it again.

 

The Allies (1982)

I'm not exactly sure if I like this one or not.
 I only bought it because it was cheap and local when I was in Seattle and the band had the right sort of look to them.
 And it is what it is.

A fairly solid bit of AOR New Wave-ish Rock and Roll.

 I mean it has some decent moments. "Emma Peel" is a solid track that apparently received some airplay on the very early days of MTV but then "Cruel Beauty" sounds like it would be more suited to red spandex pants than to skinny ties. But then one of the founding members was from a band called Bison that had previously had some success in the PNW and toured with the likes of Reo Speedwagon so a certain amount of rock posturing is going to be expected. It does kind of detract overall from my impression.

But as an AOR rock lp, it's mostly successful and interesting enough in that sense. But then I could only imagine them as an opening act for Blue Oyster Cult more so than say, Blondie though.

Have an Lp.

Haven't had a long player in a while...

Sprockendidootch? (1985)

This is an Lp by Jung Analysts which is an alias of Terry Burrows.

All songs, comedy attempts and irritating noises are his fault.
Blame him.

Custodians

Let's clean things up a bit....

Zix Cuts '81 (1981)

J'nitors United C.O.D. were a Dutch band.

They're an odd mix of elements that I'm too hungry to go into.
You listen. I've been carting this thing around for decades now.
Let that be a warning.

H'mong Today, Hung Tomorrow (1992)

Janitor Joe were from Minneapolis, MN.

If they have any renown outside of the Twin Cities it would be because the bass player is the one who ended up in Hole playing for Courtney Love and subsequently died a few months after Kurt Cobain did and for which there still swirl a certain amount of conspiracy theories about them and that.

I'm not going to speculate on any of it, but I'm not ruling anything out at this point....

Also Janitor Joe were a better band than Hole.
And that's not a conspiracy theory. That's a natural fact.