For Better Visibility

 Yeah. Here we go.

It's fucking Winter and I never see the sun or any daylight.

It's dark when I leave for work. It's still dark on the trip home and I'm asleep before it gets fully light. Rinse and repeat until Spring.

But the night shift differential is too much to walk away from...

Anyway here's something I quite like

She's All the Rage (2000)

Moneypenny.

I really ought to be posting this on the other Minnesota based blog I do, but this one has a little more visibility and this is an album that I feel like deserves a little bit more of a highlight than a half dozen local people who will be interested in it simply for its localness.

By my estimation this is a Great Lost Indiepop album that needs to be appreciated by a larger audience who know and love this sort of music like I do.

It was produced by Bryan Hanna (Bomb Pops) and Jason Orris at Terrarium.

It's clean and polished, shiny, dreamy and hummable girl fronted Indiepop on par with any other of the genre that you can think of.

What I'm trying to convey here is that I think this is a lost classic.

Ok? 

Have I steered you wrong before?

Check out "What a Great Day for Some Sort of Thing" or "The Annoying Inconvenience of Love" and tell me different.

This is a wonderful album.

Apply the Labels (1998)

Preceding the full length there existed a sweet little four song Ep.

I bought this blind for a buck at Roadrunner Records off the shelf of one dollar discs out of curiosity and as fodder for the Minnesota based SSC. I was really kind of blown away and wondered why I had never heard of these guys before. I would have at the very least sought out to play some shows with them and the band I was in at the time.

This is the less studio polished version of the album, but it still shines by its own light.

And here we are.

It set off a year's long search for a copy of "She's All the Rage".
I spent more than I wanted, but not an unreasonable amount and regret nothing

The odd thing is that the band existed for at least two years or more and has left absolutely not trace that I can find on the interwebs.

And I'm Ok with that.

It stands on its own.

I've Been Obsessing Again

 

For tonight I'm doing up more records while I type.

I've been obsessing over Duke Ellington radio transcription bootlegs of programs from the 40s.
Some fucking brilliant stuff. Lots of hits of the day that didn't get recorded otherwise as well as great performances in front of a live audience.

So in the past month or so I've picked up about another dozen.
It's like the Duke was recorded almost as much as the fucking Dead. (But I can listen to him without wanting to punch a hippie in the throat so I enjoy it much more.)

I even went so far as to pick up an extra shift with an extremely desperate bonus for picking up just so I could justify spending a shit ton of money getting a hard copy of the 24 disc Ellington Centennial Collection of his complete recordings for RCA Victor.

You can never have enough Duke Ellington. Never.

So that's where my head's at lately and at some point may end up here.

But in the meantime have some Punk/New Wave nonsense...

Chronic Alkie (1981)

Wilma & the Wilbers. From Minneapolis, MN (or maybe St. Paul, I don't know)

A blink and you missed it band that really should have been comped more.

"Chronic Alkie" is a fine tune but the other two are also worthy.

Tiger Beat (1982)

Yeah, this one's even better.

The hit for me is "I Like It Thick" about a girl's love for milkshakes. 

She likes them thick when she's hot and wet on a summer's night.

Absolutely about milkshakes.Nothing else implied. No sir. She just loves those cold dairy products. Yep yep yep. Milkshakes.

This too needs to have been comped more.

I Don't Know What to Do with Splits pt 2

[brief rant removed]

Castaway Stones/Dearly (1998)

Castaway Stones were from Washington DC and one of the hundreds of really great bands that involved Pam Berry (Black Tambourine).
Add it to the list.

Dearly were from Minneapolis. That's about all I know. Maybe it's all I need to.

Test Pilot Meets Origami (2000)



Another fine release on Kittridge.

About a year ago I tracked down the dude who ran the label and completed the label discography. He also sent me a Cdr of the unreleased Going Stagg cd (he played guitar in the that band) which is fucking wonderful stuff that at some point blah blah blah...

Which is kind of besides the point of this single, but information is very slim about the origins of both of these bands. This being the only vinyl appearance for both. (though Test Pilot did release a number of cassettes)

Two more contenders for the Indiepop compilation...

I scanned the insert.

More Mor Mor's

I'm doing other records.

Don't expect much.

3D Sound (1982)

Seriously there's not fucking diddly squat I could find about this band in a short search. Moroccos appear to be from Philadelphia and everybody was in a couple of other bands.

A side is some seriously nice catchy danceable Nu Wave. B side is an instrumental.

Does it matter?
Fuck No.

Is it good?
Hell Yes.

Suburbanite (1981)

The Morons were from Albany, NY.

This and a compilation appearance are the only evidence of their existence except in memories.


And today, a special bonus.
Just because...

The Girl Next Door (1979)

Another blink and you missed it Minneapolis group that cluttered up the Break'er Records catalog. Kind of almost Power Pop. Probably considered a "punk" band at the time.

I think I have actually less than a dollar invested in this one if I remember correctly.
Total score on my end.

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.

I Just Woke Up

I haven't had my second cup of coffee yet.

Lover Boy (1978)

Gonna keep it real. Going local.

The Jets. Power Pop from the Twin Cities.

It's on Twin Tone.

I really like the flip "Paper Girl"

Enough said.

Climbing Vine (1990)

Liquid Pink were from Milwukee, WI.

It's some swirling psychedelicate pop in that weird zone between pop and the lost era of undefined sounds that was the end of the 80s. It's really a musical gray area.

The flip "Pretty Lizard" is a rousing rocker about an actual lizard. Even reptiles need songs now and again.

One has to wonder how many times they played with Plasticland.

Jesters and Jokers

I'm not going to work too hard on this post.
I don't usually work that hard, but I'm going to just go with it.

The quality of the music itself is more than anything I might add to it

Jesters of Newport (1965)

Yeah, I paid the princely sum of twenty bucks for this monster back in the middle 80s.
Currently you would not be so lucky.
Even so.
Worth every fucking penny.

Jokers Wild (1967)

From Minneapolis, MN. Both sides are great stuff.

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.

The Good and Bad and Things Reconsidered

It's another day. The next day from the previous post and I've still got a head cold.
Bear that in mind.

Matt Allison (1989)

I hadn't actually listened to this in quite a long time until now. I must have been having a bad time when I first played it because I'm totally reassessing my my original opinion. First off the a-side has the core of the Velvet Crush (Rick Menck & Paul Chastain) backing Matt Allison up to pretty sweet pop effect. The flip is all Matt Allison in his home studio.

Oh, and it's on the Bus Stop Label so if you've enjoyed anything else I've posted on that label, this is going to be right up your alley.

As for Matt Allison himself, it looks like he's been making his living on the other side of the recording booth with his own Atlas Studios in Chicago if you're in need of some recording done.

Neo Bar & Grill (1979)

I'd thought that I'd posted the second single by the D'gadband a long ass time ago, so this was supposed to be a simple follow up of a less interesting single for the sake of completeness, but alas, I hadn't posted the original. (or I just can't find the post. Holy shit I've done a lot of this crap...)

So anyway, we'll start with the first single from Minneapolis unknowns the D'gadband. And I'll preface it with a simple that it's not particularly good. It's the exact kind of Midwest 70's bar band noodling you might expect of the leather vest, mustache and bad hair on the band members on the back of the sleeve. It's competently done, but really really not my scene.

No Money, No Future (1980)

But what a difference a year makes.

It seems like the gents had ditched the 70's soft country rock sounds and found a bit more of an edge. Perhaps they just put the bong down for a little bit. It's not like the holy grail of lost punk rock records, but "No Money, No Future" is a start lyrically and in intent which hopefully scored them more gigs in the big city and maybe some coke.

The next year before the waters of obscurity swallowed them again they were on the "12x8" compilation that' on here somewhere if you search for it. It' compilation so check the 13th. That has some good trcks on it, but the boy in this band had obviously picked the bong back up for  tune they called "Mini Spliff". Don't let that deter you...

Let's Top Off the Month

Quickly. I got shit to do.

Frenesi (1998)

Here it is the very thing you never actually knew your life had been missing for so long.

Modern Japanese neo-bossa nova.

It's like something straight out of the Katamari video game soundtrack. (Which is pretty fucking awesome in itself. I seriously bought a four disc version of that soundtrack and I'm the person who normally mutes the music as the first thing I do when setting up to play a new game...)

You're welcome.

Long Goodbye (1999)

Here's the final single by the Hang-Ups since I got it and I needed something else to post today and I've already posted everything else I had by them last year sometime. (Do a search. I'm not your Google.) It's more of the same and will have to tide us all over until they record new material.

Which may actually happen. For an anniversary deal last year they played an in-store at the Electric Fetus with more new songs than I wanted to hear at the time. So perhaps they will reappear in another form in the near future.

Still Not Feeling It, but Need to Complete

I'm still kind of pissed.

I'm also going through a fresh batch of things that arrived in the mail the other day and which may or may not appear here in the future. A couple of real gems so far tonight that I might not have found if a Discogs seller wasn't selling wonderful things cheap.

But that will be for another day. I'm typing and listening and doing a shit job at both.

Here's the other Bomb Pops single:

Won't Find It (1995)

Here's the other Bomb Pops single. This one is on the Bus Stop Label.

Bugbear (1992)

It's the first Bugbear single with noted economist Amelia Fletcher OBE and her brother Matthew. They were also in Heavenly and Talulah Gosh

That is all.

Not Feeling It

So it was months ago, but yesterday to me.
But I found someone shitting on my posts and the rips and I just kind of feel kind of like crap about it today.

The upshot of which is this:

If you don't like what I'm doing or think that these direct from the vinyl rips are shitty then just fuck right off. If you don't think I've done your long forgotten recording project justice, then tell me and I'll delete it and then see former advice.

That is all.

Here are Bomb Pops

Paler (1993)

This is the studio product of Minneapolis producer Bryan Hanna. It's the sweet pop.

Girl Daredevil (1994)

This one is on Turntable Friend from Germany who always put time and care and quality in their releases. I pick up their releases on sight.

I'd say more, but I don't feel much like it.