From Other Bands

Here we go again....

Halo Bit (1992)

So this is the 2nd band formed by Alex Kemp following the demise of Small Factory a couple of years previous with a brief diversion into one called the Godrays (with Small Factory drummer Phoebe Summersquash which is either an alias or the result of bad hippie parenting.)

Like all the other bands, it's pretty earnest. That's not necessarily a bad thing. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. It's nice to listen to, but I'm not sure that I'd recommend dating them lest you find yourself immortalized in the inevitable break up song.

Happiest Guys in the World (1995)

So many years ago I was thumbing through a dollar bin of cds and came across one by Philistines, jr. which had a completely non-ironic cover of "Moon River" on a console organ that tickles my fancy. (I really am a big Mancini fan. He wrote some great tunes)

The main force behind them seems to be Tarquin Katis who has a recording studio and a label and who makes happy music under various monikers with a rotating cast of characters. Including the Zambonis who play songs about hockey and who shared a single with a Harry Potter themed band for a crossover record of Harry Potter Hockey themed songs. You just can't make this stuff up.

He's also backed up comic artist James Kolchaka Superstar for a really fabulous cd with such classics as "Magic Finger". I never want to be so old and curmudgeonly that this song doesn't make me laugh.

So into this mix comes the Happiest Guys in the World with two sides of eternal optimism and encouragement. In these trying times, now more than ever this is what this country needs.

If you need visuals there's also this video for "Hey Hey, It's the Vegetable Man" that's not related to the unreleased 4th early Pink Floyd single "Vegetable Man".

Have you got it yet?

Local Bands

I'm lived in the Minneapolis area for a long long while now. Here's some local obscurities for the discerning listener. They're a couple of bands whose entire existence I only know of because I've seen their records in cutout bins all over town over the course of many years before finally prying a dollar from my pocket and buying them.

 

Apollo Kings (1995)

I know absolutely nothing about this band. I don't remember ever seeing them. I don't even remember them being listed on a bill for a show I didn't see. There's not much to be found online. They played a Show in the 7th St. Entry (King Can/Mickey Finn/Apollo Kings) on September 24, 1995. That's about the extent of it as far as I can tell from three minutes on Google. It's certainly punk rock. Lots of distortion. Loud/quiet. And that really shitty upturned bucket snare sound that the 90's churned out. (and I will forever hate.) "Alpha Driver" is the winner here for me. Longer song with some of the Slint tendencies that everybody was starting to add in the wake of a realization that Spiderland existed.

 

Amanda by Night (1989)

Amanda by Night named themselves after a 1981 adult film featuring Ron Jeremy and Samantha Fox along with such memorable characters as "Threesome Girl" &  "Tan Threesome Girl" 

This early Susstones single is also a good candidate for worst graphics ever for a single. (though I'm pretty sure that it's difficult to get around the horrible that constitutes the entire Hypnolovewheel discography.) The thing is that the music within is not anything like you'd expect based on that shitty sleeve. It's kind of garage of varying amounts of competence and a cover of the One Way Streets "We All Love Peanut Butter" and a tender ballad in "Shireen Won't Die Today". The singer here is one of those garage singers who's not precisely one to be held back by bourgeois concepts like singing in key in order to convey what he needs to share. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll ignore this and see if you can watch the adult feature "Amanda by Night" instead. Everyone's a winner.

I had always assumed they were local up to this point since the label is local and there have always been copies hanging around, but Discogs says they were from Bridgeport Connecticut. I learned something new today.