INDIE-LIST #1 "Indie beginning..."
Moderated by Mark Cornick and Joshua Houk. Mailed worldwide weekly.
Fshee!
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Please see the end of this mailing for subscription and submission
information. And now here it comes...
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FROM MARK:

I know I said this would mail on Saturday, but hey, we just couldn't wait, and
besides I've got band practice all day Sat. (The band's called Head Cleaner. I
play bass. Look for our stunning debut on Arista in December. Not.) Anyway,
hi there and welcome to the very first indie-list. I'd just like to say
thanks to the 50+ people who subscribed in the first week. Thanks. This week
we have some info from Sean Murphy on the upcoming Heavenly/Lois
Maffeo/Small Factory show (which I can't afford :( ) as well as a request
from Rob Vaughn on sources for indie jazz. Help him out if you can. Also,
I'm going to babble a bit about the new releases from Dischord. I have not
heard the new Gray Matter (Thog) yet, but I've been told it's a hell of a
comeback. What I have heard is the following:

* Severin _Acid To Ashes, Rust To Dust_: A fairly solid debut. There is a
reworked version of "Fire And Sand" (from their debut 7") along with seven
other new songs (plus, on the CD, three tracks from their previous 7"s.)
Mark Haggerty (Gray Matter) is in the band; Sarah Shannon (Velocity Girl)
sings on a few tracks as well. The most obvious comparison is to Superchunk,
but don't let that scare you away; it's a great disc. Enthusiastic stuff.

* Nation Of Ulysses _Plays Pretty For Baby_: The rumor around DC right now
is that this could be NOU's final album. If so, it'll be a slightly
problematic swan song. The band dabbles with jazz and Flipper-style gloom on
this, their second album. Some of the songs work, but most of them seem to
get lost in the ether. This is not a bad album, but it lacks the focus and
synchronization of their debut. (The CD includes the "Birth Of The Ulysses
Aesthetic" 7", with the correct track order listed :)

* Circus Lupus "Pop Man" 7": The A-side is kind of funky and reminded me of
the Alice Donut, believe it or not :) The B-side, "Pressure Point", is more
straight-ahead and similar to the tracks from _Super Genius._ Not a bad 7".
(The sleeve claims that it is "Produced by Joan Jett." :)

I also recently picked up the Scrawl 7" "Misery (Someone Is Winning)" on
SOL. Very different from their earlier material, the A-side is just Marcy on
acoustic guitar and Sue on electric bass, singing a fairly slow song (not
quite a ballad, but close.) The B-side, "Just Plain Bad", is more typical
Scrawl anti-foxcore. I recommend this one highly. Does anyone know anything
about a new album?

Well, that's all from me. Send your articles in for next week's issue. And
now...

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From: rob@msc.cornell.edu (Rob Vaughn)
Subject: Indie Jazz?

Hi folks,

Maybe this is way off-base, but I figured I'd ask anyway.  I've been
following the Indie Rock thang for many years, since I first started working
in a record store back in '84.  For the life of me, I can't figure out why
the whole indie thing seems to be limited to the "rock" formula - is there
not a big enough market to something different from that alive, or am I
simply oblivious to some great source of non-rock indie stuff?

In specific, I'm looking for Indie Jazz.  The music is as 'Merican as
rock-n-roll, albeit not as popular.  Until it was bought out by Capitol
Records, Blue Note released dozens of brilliant albums year after year in
the '50's and '60's.  I've bought stuff from Fantasy Records directly on 
several ocassions, and I drool when I look through the catalog.  But is that
all there is?

Aside from Cadence, which I find obscure and very difficult to read, is 
there any source to good, small-label Jazz out there?  The big labels don't
pay too much attention to it, which seems to be one of the big reasons the
whole Indie Rock thing exists today.  So why not Jazz?

Thanks,
Rob

-- 
Rob Vaughn
Material Sciences Computing
Cornell University
rob@msc.cornell.edu
rob@crnlmsc2.bitnet

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From: "Sean K. Murphy" <skmurphy@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: Heavenly/Lois Maffeo/Small Factory

Can you say "fun"? Can you say "one amazing show"? And can you believe that
it's coming in less than two weeks? Yup, Maxwell's, Sept. 18, and I will be
there dragging lots of people with me. It's Heavenly's only east-coast show,
and people will be coming up from Carolina and DC for this. Pure fun. I'm so
excited, especially since Lois Maffeo will be stopping by our station on the
way up to Hoboken to play some tunes and do the interview kinda thing.  YAY!

If you have the ability to make it to this show but blow it off, may you rot
in hell for all eternity, placed right next to record thieves and Barry
Manilow.

Sean Murphy
skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu

[Sean, if I had the money, I'd be there, but I don't, so I won't. That's
what happens when Dischord and Simple Machines release four new LPs between
them in one month. :) -Mark]

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"Fshee!" is a word developed by Mark and his friend Courtney as a general
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That's all for this week. Power to the little people.

Mark & Joshua

"Ain't got no time, ain't got no goddam time.
(that's it?)
That's it! I had no time!"
--Beefeater