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.

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.

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.
 

It's November Now

 

So a while back I kind of toyed with the idea of doing another couple of blogs. 

That obviously didn't happen. But in the meantime I'd set up one very large folder specifically for the stuff I intended for one.
Not likely to happen at this point. I lack the will, energy and desire.

So with that in mind I'm going to start plundering that folder for more posting fodder.

And since the backlog continues to grow at an alarming rate try and be a bit more discriminating in which things do get tossed up into this salad like a wayward spider among the red leaf lettuce.

Here's some flexis that I did a while back before I got the restoration software in all their low fidelity hissy glory.

Heaven flexi (1991)

Flexi discs. Something we all hate to love and love to hate.

Shitty sound, but cheap to make and all over the fucking place in the early 90s with so much otherwise unavailable things that you were forced to get them.

So here's a couple released by Sunday Records in the long ago days.

This first one has the Fat Tulips and a band called Confetti.

Sunday flexi (1992)

This one has Po!, Balloon Farm (a different one not to be confused with the 60s "Question of Temperature" one), former Sarah Records stalwarts St. Christopher and Applicants.

It's Sunday Records. It's pop.

Matters of Convenience

 

Blah blah.

Some days everything is much more inconvenient and annoying than you might normally want it to  be. Which, speaking for myself, is a solid zero.

But alas, we live in a world of imperfection and bad grammar and poor typing skills.

90-95 (1995)

I'm a lazy fuck and didn't scan this myself and the only jpg I could find are all this tiny and shit.

Maybe I'll fix this some day.
But probably not.

This is however a nice compilation of the majority of the Laurels singles and miscellaneous output during their short and noisy rock existence. I have all off these, but not the full lengths for some reason.  I'll rectify that at some point, I'm sure but for now this is what I have to offer in one neat digital package which I can present as a single post rather than split across several.

It's so much more convenient this way.
I have shit to do.

The Pitts.

 

I have nothing.

 

 

Train Song (1991)

 

Wimp Factor 14 : A Pittsburgh based indie band

this single is hand painted with an actual run over penny glued to it.

 

Botch (1992)

There is no mutilated monetary incentive to purchasing this other single.

Frank Boscoe from this band would reappear as the main dude for Vehicle Flips a couple of years after Wimp Factor 14 calls it a day.

 

1992 and in the meantime, a nice pair.

 

I'm drinking a whiskey and full of anxiety while listening to Robin Lane and the Chartbusters (got the 3 disc set of their catalog today in the mail).
It's November 3, 2020 as I type.

Think back to that day and you can understand.

I know 2020 was a terrible shitshow of a year all the way around, but while my wife watches election returns in the other room I can't help but wonder if by the time this posts itself if we are all collectively looking back at 2020 with a warm nostalgia at what an idyllic time it was compared to where we are now.

Meanwhile,

 

 

 

Vinegar Blossom (1992)

 

 

This band appears to be from Fleet in the County of Hampshire in the UK.
This single was released on Turntable Friend.
That means it's quality.

According to Discogs this appears to be their sole release on vinyl, though as was usual at the time they have multiple songs on various cassette compilations.
Maybe someday some nice person while compile all that stuff for us, 

in the meantime this is some lovely indiepop

 

 

the Waking Hours (1992)

 

 

On the other side of the Atlantic in Richmond, VA, the Waking Hours were plying their trade with this fine indiepop single on the Brilliant label. This marking their first foray onto vinyl. There seems to be at least a couple or more compact discs that follow.
I'm constantly surprised at the volume of stuff that Richmond and surroundings was producing at this time. Perhaps someone ought to start some scholarly research to bring more indiepop goodness like this to light.

But that could just be the whiskey talking.

Just Take my Word for It

 
Finishing up personal quotas and rounding numbers up.
Google your own shit.
As of this I have exactly 75 posts in the pipeline.

6/8 Lullaby (1992)

Swirl. Manchester UK

 

Travesty Befalls the Snow Queen (1996)

the Snow Queen. Los Angeles, CA
 

 

I Got Nothing

Just still bored.

Going to make quesadillas in a little bit.

All Hung Up (1984)

I know what side my bread is buttered on and I have noticed that I get the most traffic from other blogs when I post older shit.

Here is some.

The Flies were from Boston. I saw them at least once at an all ages show. Clint Conley (from Mission of Burma) produced this and plays electric sitar.

But the Dylan meets garage band thing that the Flies had going is just fine by me.

I should probably post the other records at some point. I just don't have them available at the moment.

Maybe in another year or so depending on my whims.

I Hate People (1992)


 This could just be the theme song for my entire life.

R Stevie Moore.

You need to be aware of him if you aren't already.
Man is the very definition of fucking legend.
I just wish I had his work ethic and dedication.
I'm just too lazy and distracted most days.

Still Quarantined Almost a Year Ago.

Like the title says.

Which is good news, since it means I was surviving into last April.

We'll see if it lasts

If nothing else this is the 700th fucking lame ass post on this shitty blog.

Seriously. WTF?

Funny (1992)

Hope.

A pretty generic name for a band which doesn't necessarily make for easy searching via the google machine and which even confused the usually pretty good cloudberry folks.

So this may or may not be the product of one person named Stuart Troop.

Not that it matters.

It was released on A Turntable Friend so you already know it's quality.

Telescope (1994)

This band calling itself the Mary Janes hailed from Indianapolis, IN and haven't apparently updated their website since 2003. It's probably safe to assume it's merely a ghost ship at this point.

According to that website "the mary janes play honest american music from the heart of the midwest."

I'm not exactly sure how that relates to what they were doing way back in 1994, but it's a description of some sort which is usually in short supply around these parts because blah blah blah "dancing about architecture"

But there's some scratchy fiddle and acoustic guitars in there.

"Telescope" is the winner here though. 

I'd play that one. It's a good one

Name's the Same Redux Plus

Everything old is new again and things are constantly shuffled and recycled.

Thus is it always with band names.

There being a somewhat finite amount of names for things in the English language there's bound to be a bit of overlap.

Which leads us into today's lesson.

We Are the Moles (1968)

One fine day in 1968 a single by a band calling itself the Moles entitled "We Are the Moles pts 1&2" appeared with little fanfare. It was both a fine bit of English psychedelia and a parody of it all in one neat little package and with no information about the band.
Ultimately it was revealed in a roundabout fashion that the perpetrators were in fact the Shulman Brothers of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound under psuedonym.

The year previous they had a minor hit with this song called "Kites"

They seem like nice lads but alas were unable to follow up on their initial minor success and broke up before a second Lp could be finished.

They then proceeded to take revenge upon the world by forming a prog rock band called Gentle Giant because the world had not suffered enough for ignoring them.

What's the New Mary Jane (1992)

Sometime later and on the near opposite side of the world Richard Davies and his compatriots formed a band in Sydney, Australia that likewise to Simon Dupree & the Big Sound decided to call itself the Moles.

Their small discography included this wonderful bit of Australian neo-psychedelice nonsense in the form of a double 7 inch release asking the important question "What's the New Mary Jane?"

Here it is in its original hissy, clicky vinyl format.

Let it flow through you like a nice cold lager laced with psilocybin.

This is Me Procrastinating

I should be making a chocolate ice cream base, but I'm putting it off for no other reason than I just don't feel like doing it right now.

Engine ep (1996)

I like nonpareils as candy.
Chocolate with the little round sugar crunchy things on top.

I also like the Nonpareils as a band.
From the same Providence, Rhode Island scene that gave us the overly earnest sounds of Small Factory (Alex Kemp of which assisted in the recording of the latter two songs here.) and the ever wonderful pop sounds of Honeybunch.

Banana (1992)

The Nelories were from Japan.

An accordion and guitar duo just like They Might Be Giants,  I learned everything I needed to know (except their hometown) from the TMBG Wiki

 This is extraordinarily pleasant listening depending on your personal tolerance for the accordion and lyrics written by someone who doesn't speak English.

(My personal tolerance is high enough that someone really ought to consider an intervention.)

International Seven Inches Cool

The preamble goes here.

I got distracted looking shit up that I lost my place.

La Linea Del Arco (1992)

The seven inch on Elefant Records apparently accompanied the #3 edition of a fanzine of the same name. I didn't get that with my copy.
No matter. I got the important part

Two bands from England and two from Spain.
All good.

I quite like the Usura track

Mercenary Tree Freaks have a web presence and I found an interview too.

La Sintesis have a few things in spanish to look at and apparently had only one press photo.

The Lovelies existed and didn't leave much of a trail to follow.

Benno Presents Volume Two (1999)

The tiny short lived Swedish label Benno brings the hits.

Bands are Nixon, Cat Skills, Ny Akustik and Chocolate Barry.

While each band and contribution has its merits and is lovely and wonderful in its own way, the reason I bought this was the brilliant cover of Jonathan King's cheesy 1970 wonder "Gay Girl"

A song so hilariously awful that it needed to be covered which Chocolate Barry does with abandon. (and spares me the duty to having to do it myself)

Yeah,  that's the stuff that gets me up in the morning ready to shuffle through crates of shitty records to find gems like this.

Today we're all winners..

It's Raining Hard and I Have Shit to Do

I'm in a bit of a hurry again tonight.

The Meaning of Life (1992)

The Loneliest Christmas Tree

Hey War Pigs! (2008)

Ric Menck from Velvet Crush et al. covers Katrina & the Waves (I told you they was cool posts ago...) and the Flamin' Groovies.

She Had a Most Immoral Eye

(bonus points to anyone who gets the title reference.)

The Bitter Air (1992)

Lorelei were a trio from the Washington DC area.

Asleep (1993)

Two singles and then two full lengths done almost two decades apart plus the insanely good "Float my Bed" was on the landmark (for me anyway) Slumberland compilation "Why Popstars Can't Dance" (Posted here a long time ago. Do a search. It's worth it.)

Anyway. that's all I got.

Still Local-ish and for Completions

I got nothing.
Not exactly my favorites, but needed to hit some blank spots in discographies that I'm working on.

Happy Ain't Coming Home (1992)

The acoustic pop on Bus Stop from the Leatherwoods.

Discogs says they originated in Lawrence, KS and subsequently moved to Minneapolis.

I'll accept them as from around here.

It's one of my less favorite of the Bus Stop singles but it fills a spot.
The sort of stuff that would absolutely kill at an open mic night.

They eventually made a full Lp on which Paul Westerberg played under a pseudonym.
You can use that as some sort of a recommendation if you will.

I Want to Function with You (1980)

Magnetic Head Cleaners.

More outright weirdness from your friends at Break'er Records.

It just is.