Here We Go Again

 I don't even know anymore

The Westbury Squares (1999)

Pre-Millenium pop from Houston named after a dead shopping mall.

Do I like this.
Yes. That's why I posted it.

This is Interesting

 Compilation day

Still behind...

In Their Eyes : 90s Teen Bands vs. 80s Teen Movies (1998)

As usual tracklist on Discogs because I'm too lazy to type that shit out.

Gotta Hurry

 Need to shower and shave for work

Beautiful Soup (2003)

 

As near as I can tell this lovely little pop group hailed from Brooklyn. That's about all.

Oops

 Yeah, so I wasn't paying attention and missed a day.

Now it's the start of my work week.
Do your own homework

When You Land Here, It's Time to Return (1997)

Flake Music.

They'd rechristen themselves the Shins shortly afterward.
The rest is history.

More of the Same. Good Shit.

 Yep.

 

 Rituals (1985)

The other Lou Miami release.

"Dance with Death" makes an encore appearance which is just as well since it's worth repeating.

Yeah, This is the Good Shit.

 I'm loading up the queues and it's getting late since I wasted an entire week doing fuck all.

Fascist Love (1982)

 

Lou Miami and the Kozmetics

The A side is a fucking classic, but it's the cover of  Lulu's "To Sir With Love" on the flip that got all the college airplay. Original single came in a plastic bag made to look like a Lord and Taylor one.

Later on that same year. (or maybe before. The timeline is really fuzzy. I was in High School for fuck's sake)

Lou Miami and the Kozmetics (1982)

Look, I'm not trying to tell you what to do with your life, but "Dance With Death" is a really really fucking great song. You might want to check that out.

Oh Yeah, Before I Forget.

 

So while I wasn't as totally productive in some senses this past week, I did accomplish two things.

I drove all the way to Wisconsin to buy another vintage guitar.

A (probably) 1969 Baldwin/Burns Split-Sound "Jazz" guitar that is a perfect match for the Baldwin "Jazz" bass I've had for a long ass time.
Both were stripped and refinished in the 70s to natural wood because that's what people did back then.

It's a shame that Jim Burns was such a failure at the business end of things because these guitars are fucking cool. (I also have a 1972 Hayman 1010 from his next failed guitar venture. It's a beast.)

Anyway, my hands are tired from playing too much.

So without further ado

Let Go of Your Bad Days (2003)

This is the follow up post about the Salteens.

I played the shit out of this when I got it a while back.

You too may do the same.

Prince Was Telling the Truth

 Sometimes it really does snow in fucking April.

At least it does in Minnesota.

Hopefully wherever you are, dear reader, it's full on fucking Spring and you find yourself every day with the particular dilemma where you have to decide in the morning if you're going to dress for the early morning cold and sweat on the way home or if you're going to be chilly now to be appropriately dressed for later.

It's a nice problem to have.

I mean, it was supposed to be Opening Day for baseball around here just last week but it was postponed due to snow.

Short Term Memories (2000)

The Salteens from Vancouver. That's in Canada.

This is the sunny pop you need to bop along to on a pleasant Spring day.

Enjoy the sunshine.

 

Plus an added bonus:

 

Tomorrow (2000)

Here's a contemporary single to go with the full length that has includes a passable cover of Guided by Voices in "Motor Away" for extra credit.
 

The In Between

 So when this posts will be the day I that Robyn Hitchcock comes back to Minneapolis.

I have a ticket and I'm looking forward to it. I've seen the guy probably 30+ times since the middle of the 1980s (around "Fegmania", if I remember correctly)

If I'm lucky, I may have a chance to chat with him a bit again. He's been like this ongoing acquaintance for the last thirty years who has absolutely no memory of ever encountering me before in his life. It's actually kind of funny to imagine and even funnier when I consider that he's probably one of the longest running acquaintances I have in my entire life.

He added a second show as well the next night and although I'm very tempted to go. (He always plays a very different set on consecutive nights in the same place), but another friend's band, Annie & the Bang Bang, is playing as well and I haven't had a chance in too long to see them.
Plus I get to feel like a bon vivant flitting about on sequential nights for the rock and roll.

Anyhoo...

Practical Footwear (1998)

Sodastream

This falls into that nebulous area where it's labelled as an Elongated Player, but there's seven songs and it's a solid half an hour which would qualify as a feature length in another time.

Other than that, I'll just cut and paste the profile from Discogs:

"Sodastream is an Australian duo of Pete Cohen and Karl Smith, who produce songs from lo-fi to melancholic pop. They formed in 1997, ceased the project in 2007, and returned in 2013."

 

Tossing Out Some Random Splits.

 Blah Blah Blah

I'm really starting to wonder if my heart's even in this as much anymore.

I also hope you're all caught up on stuff on here because I deleted another gig going back to 2015 to make space for new things....

Winter's Mist 2 (1995)

A lovely seven inch collection of the indiepop via the Silver Girl label in the middle of the 90s.

It's the very thing you didn't really know you needed today.

You're welcome.

 Third Story comp (2005)

A mere decade later Third Story put out this little seven inch with Emilyn Brodsky, the Vibration, and a personal favorite of mine, Mirah.

You needed this too.

The Oven Awaits.

 

That.

 

 Look Who You're Talking To (2006)

The other one by Human Television and the last thing they released.

Maybe it was the rather condescending review that they got from those pretentious arbiters of hip Pitchfork that caused them to pack it in.

I hope not. I prefer to think they were made of harder stuff and broke up because of artistic differences or somebody fucking somebody else's girlfriend like normal bands.

God, I hope so.

Gotta Be Quick

 I realized as I was heading for the other queue that I'd screwed up my posting calendar which means that I have to throw together another couple of quickies to fill it in until I have time off again.

It's hard being me.

All Songs Written By (2004)

Human Television. Brooklyn. 

Indie Rock with a bit of the old Shoegaze that the old hipsters used to groove to.

Don't break a hip.

I Have More I'll Get Around To

 I have to keep an eye on the time.

Cabbage Rolls in the oven and all.

I'm not trying too hard right now anyway.

(In-ter/a-bang/) (1996)

The band is Pest 5000. About the only concrete thing I could find online off the first couple of google pages was that they were from Montreal, Canada.

I picked this up years ago after I snagged a couple of singles on a whim for a buck apiece and liked them.

They're still deep in the boxes and I've been really unmotivated lately so I just keep digging myself deeper into a hole because I also keep buying new stuff.

Someday. Maybe.

But in the meantime. This.

It stayed on my phone for over a year, if that helps.

This is Not a Prank

 I have some heartburn and a cat in my lap.

It's also April Fools Day.

This is not a prank.

It's the follow up to the previous post.

I'm not joking.

1993 - Augustus Loop

Everything I had to say I said in the previous post except that I think I gave a copy of this to a long ago ex for some reason. Probably because I thought she would like it. 

I like it more than her nowadays. 

But that's a whole other story.

(Besides I'm still in the throes of my particularly intense and enjoyable Robert Pollard obsession and don't need to dredge up bad memories.)

Besides the Trouser Press article linked in the previous post seems to enjoy this.

Maybe you will too.

Don't Mind Me

 So yeah, I've been a lazy slug this past week and only now realized I'd let the queue run dry.

But then again, I was just stuffing some cabbage rolls, so it wasn't a total wash.

Besides, I saw Guided by Voices again last Saturday and they were fucking incredible.

Three hours. Close to sixty songs. A fucking master class.

Hit almost all my personal highlights.

So I've been listening to nothing but GvB and other Bob Pollard related things for days now.

And ordered or hunted down thirty different discs going back to 2001 without making a dent in Bob's output. It's scary. 

And made worse by my compulsive need to complete discographies.

I think that's why I gave up way back when...

Anyway.

Here's the Barnabys...

Delightful Browns (1992)

The Barnabys were from Philadelphia. They released a number of things on the SpinArt label, so you know it's something more indiepop based.

One former members bio page calls them "Commercial Folk Rock" (I didn't link it since that's about the only related thing I saw on the page and was too lazy to dig any deeper)

Is it apt?

I dunno. We can go with it if that's how they saw themselves.

Shinola (1992)

Shinola was the brand name for a popular boot polish founded in the 19th Century.

It is also the name of this seven inch.

If you're discerning you'll be able to tell the difference.

Names

 

Yeah. Here we go again.

 

 Here Comes Everybody (1993)

The band is called Me. 

Not exactly the best name for a group in the internet era.
But then they started with Me Fertile which while unique is not exactly an improvement.

But it's some lovely pop otherwise. Released on the SpinArt label.

 

 

Harmonise or Haunt (1993)

The single was followed up by a full length of more of the same.
I had this on the phone for quite a long time if that helps.
I like a good pop song with some dreamy harmonizing.

I Don't Know Anymore

 So...Week off as usual. Did a fuck load of nothing in particular, but I did get out of the house to see some music this past weekend, so I have that going for me.

Played through a bunch of the "Uncharted" series on the Playstation which had been part of my original package, but which I had completely ignored for the last five or more years to play other shit. But the PS+ games this month sucked again, so I decided to just run through them. (Haven't finished it, but Uncharted 3 has been kind of the weakest of the lot so far.)

But then as I play I have flashes about how completely psychotic this stuff really is. I mean, Nathan Drake shows up someplace and just casually slaughters twenty guys at a pop with absolutely no remorse or regrets. Granted it's all self defense for the most part, but still...

It's mindless stuff though that is intended to play out like an action movie and all of that's part of the trope, but sometimes I wander around the area after an extended battle picking up extra ammo and just wonder at all the corpses littered around in the aftermath....

All of which has nothing to do with this, but it was something on my mind

No Less the Trees than the Stars (1996)

Purple Ivy Shadows.

Providence, Rhode Island via Charlottesville, VA & NYC.

The stuff I most like by them is the more shoegazey stuff, but there's more gears at work on this their inaugural full length. I can honestly as I haven't sat down and played this on all the way through by itself. Currently I have other things blasting away in the room so I'm relying on hazy impressions. I think I liked a lot of what I heard and was less impressed by other bits.

I have a couple of singles that precede this though and I do believe that I will have more to say about them when I get around to them.

Some day.

Hmmm

 Blah Blah Blah

Suitcase and Umbrella (2000)

About the onlyconcrete information I could really find about Jumprope is that they were from Boston.

Indiepop with jazzy chords.

I don't know why, but there's something about this that always make me think of the Katamari Damacy soundtrack. (Maybe it's her voice.) But then again, I have a three disc set of all the music for the Katamari games.

 So there's that.

My Lobster Throbs

 Compilation day.

I might have to add a second one or just start throwing them in the queue more randomly.

 There's just way too many to keep up.

1985 - Claws!

Part three of the Throbbing Lobster series of Boston bands.
This is some prime middle 80s Boston rock.

I mean, anything with a Turbines track is A-Ok by me.

Plus it has my personal favorite Classic Ruins song.

 "Geraldine, I Need Money More Than I Need You" is a fucking classic.

You can quote me on that.

Full tracklist for the curious as always via Discogs.

Clearing Out the Bin

 Another one from the bin that's been sitting for a while from when I thought about making a third blog. It didn't happen.

So tonight I took all of the stuff I'd set aside for the Blog That Didn't Happen and stuffed it back into this one. So there's a big backlog of good indiepop things that need to catch up to everything else now that they've been languishing for like three years.

Let's start that process here...

Lines and Colors (1999)

Kissing Book

I'm pretty sure I posted something by these folks a while back.
They have some tracks on a seven inch with a fuck ton of inserts of little bits of paper and a wooden ice cream spoon.

You can do a search. I don't feel up to it.

Anyway. Some top quality Indiepop to brighten your day and worm its way into your heart.

The In Between

 I have a bread dough defrosting by the stove. I should check on that.

Tough Guy Problems (1993)

The Dambuilders.

Originally formed in Honolulu before eventually moving to Boston.

This is a six song ep, I guess. It kind of straddles that long Ep/short Lp state for my thinking.
And I got nothing else so it stands alone.

Indie rock with violin.

I'm Ok with that.

Jumping the Gun a Bit.

 Here we go.

Let's get the queue topped off for another couple of weeks....

Sweet Soul Sister (1992)

The Sweetest Ache

Their first few releases were on Sarah Records. These ones are on Sunday Records.

So with that, you ought to know what you're getting yourself into.

I also have two of the Sarah ones. Fuck knows when I'll get around to getting those in the digital shitheap. So until then, make do with these pop nuggets.

 

 

Dreaming (1992)

This is from some kind of fuck up pressing. It's a single sided two song thing. The other song being "A New Beginning" that's on the above and this song.

Then the Other

 Yeah, continuing.

 

Fontana (2003)

The follow up by the National Splits.

More of the same and more.

First One

 Yeah, continuing from where we left off

It's the National Splits.

The National Splits (2002)

So this is the first of the umpteen bands in this orbit that I heard.
They have a lovely little tune on the "Crayola Catastrophy" 7" compilation on Kitteridge that I posted a while back.

A bit more guitar oriented than Mathlete. Still the lo-fi indiepop you know and love. Still running all the vocals through some kind of effect for virtually every song.
It's still difficult for me to grasp that this is over twenty years old now.

Welcome to the underground at the turn of the 21st Century.

This One Goes Deep

 But you're going to have to do the grunt work yourself.

I'm going to pour myself a drink.

Telstar Parthenon (2000)

So yeah, Mathlete.

It's a lo-fi project spearheaded by Mike Downey who had previously been in Wolfie along with the couple who would go on to make records as the Like Young until their divorce and who also had recorded under the moniker Busytoby whose two singles I've previously posted.

Mathlete then turned into the National Splits. (which may or may not follow up this post. I don't know yet.) and the rest is all ashes.

Mike Downey maintains an Audio Graveyard on Bandcamp for all his projects. Go and literally pay some respects.

Firsts

 Yeah, first off, I need a shower.

I'll toss a few in the queue and it's off to the bath for me.

Otherwise here's the first full length of several by Sleepyhead

 

Punk Rock City USA (1992)

More of that noisy distorted pop music in a longer playing format.

Here it's a compact disc from my personal collection.

If I didn't already know what to expect, I'd probably have skipped it based on the cover which is an abomination.

And that's even after knowing that it was released on Slumberland Records which is a label whose releases I generally enjoy.

Yeah. Put it on.
Don't look at the cover.

But also, before I forget.

Sleepyhead still exist in one form or another and play live and have a couple of brand new tunes up on their Bandcamp page as well as some other albums for download. ("Future Exhibit Goes Here"is a compilation of remastered versions of the records that followed this one.) 

Go nuts, kids. 

Let them feel the love.
 

Oops. I Did It Again.

 I wasn't even trying.

Songs About Our Past (Part I) (1996)

It's the Thirteenth of the month.

And it's actually a Sunday. 

It's only appropriate that I post a compilation on Sunday Records.

Tracklist on Discogs for the curious.

Indiepop from the first half of the 90s.

Almost half the disc is previously unreleased tracks. 

Keep it handy for tomorrow.

Wake Up!

 Letting things skate a bit here lately. Let the queue run dry.

Getting a bit lost in looking at new cars. The 17 year old one that she bought for $2500 already with 170+k miles on it is reaching a point where I don't feel like it's worth putting any more money into after about five years of driving. I'm feeling like we've already gotten our money's worth out of it, but it's time to update to something more recent and modern.

So many fucking options. So many opinions. Reviews. Sources.

Normally I'd be scouring the used market since I well know that value depreciated significantly the moment you drive it off the lot, but the market is really really fucking tight right now and the price of newer used vehicles is not significantly less than new ones. So with that in mind I'm figuring that I may as well buy a new one. But even those are hard to come by with the chip shortage and all that crap, so it looks like I'm going to have to order what I want through the dealer. Which is certainly a weird situation to be in, but here we are.

Which has nothing to do with anything except that I got up earlier than usual this morning and I'm still a little groggy this many hours later despite two espressos.

You might say I'm a "Sleepyhead"

Play (1990)

Sleepyhead.

Their first bleat straight from the basement of NYU and produced by Kramer of Shimmy Disc/Bongwater/Shockabilly fame and who I think is a much better maker of records than Albini ever was or will be.

There. 

It needed to be said.

Oh yeah, Sleepyhead. Noisy pop music with boy/girl voices.

 

 Fairyboat (1991)

This is the second single and more of the same.
It's one of those sounds that really encapsulates a time for me.
While the rest of everybody was sniffing Teen Spirit for the first time I was here.
This isn't life changing music, but it's, at least for me, kind of like sonic comfort food.
It's good enough and lingers with a pleasant nostalgia on the palate, but not necessarily going to be what I'm humming tomorrow. I will tap a foot while it's playing though.

Sometimes that's more than enough.

Got Messed Up There

 I got the two blogs out of sync over the holidays.
Shit is fixed now and will continue in the proscribed intervals with an all too regular schedule forever and ever until somebody gets their panties in a bunch and I get shut the fuck down by the Man.

Fuck the Man.

Burn it Down

1997 - Johan

A Dutch band who called their band Johan.

Another one that probably seemed like a funny idea at the time, but makes looking them up on the web a pain in the ass. 

You named your band the equivalent of John.Yeah, that's going to make it easy to find you online...

Anyway, we were talking about SpinArt records a couple of posts back. Here's another one.

The band themselves ended up recording three more, but this is the only one to get a US release which is a bit unfortunate for the indiepop lover at the heart of all of us. The Netherlands is too often overlooked in terms of the quantity and quality of the music that's been produced there over the decades.

Listen and learn.

I Don't Usually Do This

 Let's see how this goes...

(We Get There When We Do) (1995)

Now under normal circumstances I avoid posting major label things because 1) it's usually common trash and 2) I generally want to avoid drama from lawyers.

I'm going to make a bit of an exception here because it's good and long long OOP.

They got unceremoniously dumped by the label in a big, but probably short sighted in the long run deal at the end of 1996 where Warner Brothers cleaned house of a lot of indie type bands that weren't making million sellers like Celine Dion and the Spice Girls were.

So here it is.

They'd even recorded the follow up which was shelved.

And such is it in the cut throat cesspool that is the fucking music industry.

Suddenly Posts

 

I need to throw some stuff in the queue quick before I lose my currently unbroken record of posting as regular and predictable as my bowels.

Suddenly Tammy! (1993)

Suddenly Tammy!

A couple of years before anybody had ever heard of Ben Folds the band known as Suddenly Tammy! appeared as a guitarless piano trio singing their little pop hearts out.

One of the first few bands to appear on the SpinArt label which makes some sense because both were based in Lancaster, PA at the time.

I'm trying to assemble a SpinArt discography.

Let that be a recommendation.

Also Three Year Old Stuff

 Yeah.

 Some compiled seven inch shit that's been sitting around for the past three years like the previous post.

 This time from the good old US of A

 

Sidewalk Chalk Adventures (1999)

Yeah, the lo-fi pop lives here

Another fine release on the Kittridge label.
I like everything here.

 

Double Agent 001 (1995)

the Papas Fritas track is aces.