Burn, baby, Burn!
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Indie List Digest!
July 1, 1994
Volume 3 Number 40
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Reviews: Mayo Thompson
More: Rodan, Dungbeetle, Killer Shrews, et al.
Swell, ADX, Bailter Space, Codeine
Pavement, dEUS, Reggae, Grand Funk Railroad, Tar Babies
ANNOUNCE: 0-aluminum volume 2
All right, everybody wrote kind of long this time. But that's not so
bad. You don't want to develop a USA Today kind of mentality, do
you? Listen, "digest" does not mean "pre-digested," folks, and I....
(blink)
Sorry. It's been a long day. Anyway, sit back and enjoy these tales
from Chicago and the Netherlands. Can you tell the difference?
az
From: bce2@midway.uchicago.edu
Some trashy record reviews
********************
Mayo "Clinic" Thompson
********************
Recorded music is a strange thing. Once recorded, a song written and
performed for a particular time and a particular audience can now be
listened to any time by anyone. This is cool in that it makes a lot
of great music available for those who missed it the first time
around (assuming they can afford the price of admisssion). However,
sometimes listening to recordings from another time or place creates
its own set of problems. In other words, it's hard to figure out
what's going on if you have no frame of reference.
This is what I was thinking while listening to Mayo Thompson's album
"Corky's Debt To His Father," a reissue on Drag City Revolution (Dan
Koretsky's little tip o' th' cap to Texas Revolution who originally
put out the record back in 1970). There is nothing to go on except a
color photo of Mayo in period costume (shaggy nest parted on the side,
wide lapels, collar, and sky-blue tie). He looks like a regular,
unassuming kind of a guy. He certainly never heard of Punk (but then,
in 1970 who had?). Which makes this a strange release on the
consumate Post-Punk, DIY label, the folks who brought us Pavement,
Royal Trucks, and Gastr del Sol.
In fact Gastr Del Sol is a strange point of reference for "Corky's
Debt To His Father." Rumour has it that Dan Koretsky played some Mayo
Thompson stuff for David Grubbs (the multi-instrumentalist
poet-scholar responsible for teen punkers Squirrel Bait, Rapeman
contemporaries Bastro, and, now Gastr Del Sol) and Dave was so blown
away he convinced Koretsky to reissue the stuff and is now at work on
some new collaborations with Mayo Thompson (and apparently fellow
Bastro alumnus John McEntire). Like Grubbs, Thompson plays piano,
bass, and guitar all with a level of dexterity and unassuming
inventiveness uncommon in Rock.
After hearing Mayo Thompson's reissued solo album I had a chance to
hear some of his earlier recordings with the Red Krayola. The tape
I listened to (courtesy of my friend Seth Sanders) was a muddy dub.
"Parable of Arable Land," which originally came out in 1967, is
full-on, foaming at the mouth dementia. In between each
psychedelic logjam of a song is a sloppy morass entitled "free-form
freak-out." If the actual songs hadn't already scrabbled my grey
matter, the blasts of dirty Southwest hippie sweat that framed each
planned excursion would have. The '80s drone n' drug band "God
Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It," Red Krayola's 1968
follow-up (post-Crayola lawsuit, hence "Krayola") is more spare and
orchestrated, and less delibrately psychedelic, though certainly not
tamed.
By the time Mr. Thompson recorded his solo album he must have chilled
out some (it actually sounds like a logical progression from "Parable"
to "God Bless" to "Corky's Debt"). The sweet acoustic melodies on
"Corky's Debt To His Father" leave the bombast of the Red Krayola's
freakouts behind. The album is extremily listenable and clear (at
least on CD). This is the kind of music that really benefits from
being able to distinctly hear each instrument, since often they
complement each other in surprising ways. There's the wonderful
combination of guitar and fiddle on "The Lesson," in which Mr.
Thompson wonders, "all my lessons were for free....or am I just a fool
for believing that the map which you gave me was true?" And "Oyster
Thins" which sounds like three songs in one (I kept checking the CD
player to see if the songs had changed without me noticing). Some of
the guitar playing really sounds like Grubbs on the new Gastr Del Sol,
while the vocals seem reminiscent of Lou Reed (that dirty old man),
especially as Mayo Thompson intones,"She's got those bedroom eyes", or
"What could be better than one last dog trick at day's end?" Then
there's "One Song In A Million" with its show-tune shuffle featuring
Joe Dugan on plink-plink pianos. And there's the kinky romp "Around
The Home" with backing vocals by the La-las and 'C' Melody Sax by
Mike Sumler. "Worried Worried" sounds like the Velvet Underground's
"Sweet Jane" with its simple staccato barre chords.
The strange thing about these songs is that while on first listen they
seem almost Martian in their foreign-ness, after listening to the CD a
few times, I realized, days later, that the songs had burrowed their
way into my brain and were playing themselves over and over. Maybe
Mayo Thompson's music is just as relevant to this time and place as it
was to its original audience. After all, not everyone had forgotten
him. Spacemen 3 later covered "Transparent Radiation" from the first
Red Krayola album. Galaxy 500 covered "Victory Garden" from "God
Bless the Red Krayola" on a 1990 single. And Drag City has rereleased
his solo album and there are plans for a new record. Maybe there
will be a cover tribute album with Sonic Youth covering "Hurricane
Fighter Plane" and L7 doing "Tina's Gone To Have A Baby Now." Who
Knows?
love, Benjahmyn Ewens
------------------------------
From: bce2@midway.uchicago.edu
more reviews
I hope I'm not getting too long-winded here, folks. Too much time on
my hands I guess....
The other day I got this Rodan single at Ajax (Three Little Girls
Recordings P.O. Box 6833 Louisville KY 40206). It's pretty good.
Side one features Jon Cook on drums (tight and snappy) and the hard-
rocking "Milk & Melancholy." The tense, quiet guitar picking that
begins the song only makes the bile and bombast that follows seems
louder. The desperate, angry, indecipherable vocals (shades of Henry
Rollins back when he was the front man for Greg Ginn's old garage punk
band), the stage whispered please ("crawling the walls, I'm crawling
the walls") are all right up front with the spiny, heaving guitar.
Sure, it sounds like that other Louisville band (more reminiscent of
their first, privately pressed [but later repressed on CD with the
warning, "this was meant to be heard on vinyl"] album, Tweez, than
their Homestead release) but it also sounds like Circus Lupus in its
post-hardcore urgency. It's powerful and insirational in its own
right. The b-side (featuring John Weiss on drums and no one on
vocals) starts out with that taut, together Spiderland sound and
proceeds to blow up all over the place with reckless abandon into a
noisy mess that trickles down to one guitar sputtering around while
Mr. Weiss gently taps on a cymbal and the bass and other guitar
resume the original dissonant melody. Of course these two songs were
recorded in September 0f 1992 long before Mr. S.
"trust-me-I'm-an-asshole-it-keeps-me-honest" Albini held them up as an
example of good music (as opposed to their friends and neighbors,
Crain, who make bad music) in his interview in Chicago Magazine. The
cover shows a cocooned butterfly and has the description, "how the
winter was passed." I guess this single was just a hint at the
greatness they would brandish on their excellent full length album.
Which makes the unrestrained noise and guitar squonk on the b-side
even more daring.
Dungbeetle is band from Providence, R.I. They have a single out called
"Destroyer" on Load Records (P.O. Box 35, Prov. RI 02901). "Blowhole"
is a garage rave-up like some of those bands on Amphetamine Reptile
Records used to record. It's groovy, it rocks like hell, and for the
one-minute monologue (about fisting a whale?!?) in the center, it's
scary, well maybe not capable of actually scaring any of you
seen-it-heard-it-done-it-all-last-year-types, but I think it could be
described as scary. "Swinger" combines a mid-'80s hardcore,
spittin' venom attack with a slow n' heavy post-Melvins mosh grind.
Scratchy vocals whine and yell, "what's your sign" in the slurred
style of D. Yow. I guess it picks up where Black Flag's "Swinging
Man" left off. The next song is a one-liner, so to speak. A steady
hand taps out a high-hat/kick drum slo-mo beat, tish-boom, tish-boom,
tish-boom, some one intones, "temptation," there is a brief,
Boredoms-esque explosion and then the drummer resumes his steady beat.
The song is, of course, called "Temptation." I guess it's a concept
thing. Well, there you have it, now you'll have something to say when
Dungbeetle comes up in conversation at the next Indie Rock cocktail
party you attend.
The other night me and my friend Ted were busy getting soused at the
Empty Bottle. He saw John Langford and nearly pissed his slacks. I
guess some people are big Mekons fans. I saw them at the Metro a few
years ago. That was the time they played with Superchunk (yawn...) and
Jonestown (the late, great, but poverty-stricken Minneapolis band who
never showed 'cause their van broke down). I wasn't impressed with the
Mekons. But I guess some people were.
I guess the Mekons have a new Punk record out. Ted says it's their best
yet. But I'll talk about the new Killer Shrews CD instead, on which
Mekons Guitarist Jon Langford joins guitarist Gary Lucas (a one-time
member of Capt. Beefheart's Magic Band) and bassist Tony Maimone (who
has played with Bob Mould, Frank Black, and the 1988 reformation of
Pere Ubu). This Chicago-based super group of
well-known-to-a-precious-few, old school Indie Rockers recorded their
debut disc last summer at Kingsize Studios over on Western Ave., just
up the street from the Empty Bottle.
For some reason the drummer, Steve Goulding, who kicks out some
rockin' rock beats, is not listed as being in the band. Sure, there's
plenty of guitars and plenty of impressive guitar playing, like the
piercing solo in "Big Eye" or the great guitar line to "Imp Of The
Perverse." And there plenty of uplifting melodic choruses (see both
the aforementioned songs). But with a few exceptions (such as the
lilting "Bring Me The Fat In California" or the country blues and
bluegrass pickin' of "Handful of Gimmie") these are rock songs,
propelled by the drums.
"It's Happening Again" starts off with a wonderfully choppy guitar
stomp before it has to calm down for the vocals to find their pace.
Then, once the vocal bit is finished off, the guitars converge into a
great confused mess, from which the opening chords of the next song,
"Big Eye," emerge. On that song, the most Mekons-sounding cut,
Barbara Manning lends her wonderful voice to the mysterious, anthemic
vocals ("if you can lose your head, when all those around you are
keeping theirs, they will call you big eye"). Like Mr. Langford's
other band, the lyrics on "The Killer Shrews" record are often
subtlely political.
"Cuba Changed over the years, felt the wall pressed up against her
back. The first real sign of Civilization, on the wrong side of the
tracks," Mr. Langford mourns on "Bring Me the Fat." These are not
polemical tracts but songs written by a cynical old Leftist boozer
whoose metaphors are often taken from political history.
This is not a great rock album. But it is an interesting combination
of ingredients, a Rube Goldberg that actually works (excepting, of
course, "The Brain From Planet Eros," which sounds like a horrendous
mistake the Edge and Bono had the good sense to leave off "Rattle And
Hum," and the acoustic barstool mumbling of "Hank Williams Must
Die").
Bulb Records may be an obscure label, specializing in an obscure
medium, 7-inch vinyl, based in a small city (Ann Arbor), but it
seems to have a big following here in the Windy City. The last show
that the label's flagship band, Couch, played before establishing
their thousand-dollar minimum guarantee was here at the Czar Bar, with
the Flying Lutenbachers. In fact, maybe that's why they established
their thousand-dollar minimum guarantee.
Some of the people who sometimes join label honcho Peter Larson, aka
Mr. Velocity Hopkins, as Couch played not long ago with Jodie from
Math on drums as Cornelius Gomez. I guess Weasel Walter from the
Flying Lutenbachers used to perform with them, but now he doesn't.
He was at the Czar Bar to see them, though, right up front, of course,
gobbin' at the stage as Cornelius Gomez spat back their no wave
anthem "Fuck You." The three performers wore these back-alley dark
suits. From the back of the room they looked spiffy, but up close you
could see the vomit stains. They played a kind of snot-nosed
post-Boredoms, post-Borbetomagus spaz Noise, which was neither
innovative nor pleasant to listen to. They wore their incompetence
proudly, like the Skinhead who tattoos "Oi!" backwards on his forehead
so he can read it in the mirror. Maybe it was good for them, but as a
member of the audience I felt a bit taken advantage of.
I got the same feeling the next weekend in a leaky basement in Ann
Arbor on the corner of Hill and Main Streets. Mr. Velocity Hopkins
turned on his electric guitar, writhed and wriggled, threw out his
tailbone, and made all kinds of feedback squonk and scrape noises.
The entire performance lasted about 12 minutes.
(In my head I could see Mr. Hopkins and his three or four cronies
[all of whom immediately commenced clapping vigorously as Mr. Hopkins
stepped out of the basement spotlight] scheming a few hours earlier.
"All right," Mr. Hopkins intones, "we play the show, but not as
Couch. We keep the bastards guessing. We act like Couch is too big,
and pretty soon they'll believe it. I'll play solo, you know, just
wank off in their faces. They won't understand it. They'll think
it's over their heads. But, of course, they won't want to let on. So
they'll applaud. You know, that old ploy. And we'll wear the suits.
It'll impress the fuck out of those peasants."
"Yeah," Hopkins' cronies responded, "we'll do it. Just don't play for
that long.")
It's almost as if the most alienated and inverted clique from Ann
Arbor High got their own record label and proceeded to issue as many
records as they could by constantly recombining into as many different
bands as they could think up names for. They've heard everything
before, of course, so the only thing left for them to do is one up
everyone. Fuck the Knitting Factory (equally clique-ish and perhaps
more pretentious)! These guys are lower than lo-fi, noisier than
noise, dumber than dumb!
You can order any Couch or Conelius Gomez records from Peter Larson @
Bulb Records, P.O. Box 8221 Ann Arbor MI 48107-8221. I suggest the
Couch 7-inch because of the great song titles (better than the
actual songs). Side one has "Haters of Couch." Side two has "Red and
Green Look Alike." Need I say more?
-Benjahmyn Ewens
------------------------------
From: Laurens Pit <laurens@prolin.nl>
Swell, AFX, DI Go Goth, Bailter Space, Codeine
From: The Two Pure (Loz and Joep)
Subject: The Indielist contribution from HELL!!!
We've been saving up our live expriences way too long. When we
started reviewing this, we didn't expect it to be this much. Tried to
edit as much as we could, but it's still one hell of a contribution.
Oh well, we think it's exciting enough to read. Have fun!
Nova Mob/Swell/Die Monster Die may 22nd Paard Den Haag
Swell was obviously the one we were coming for. But still we had
great expectations of the other two. Too bad they were a bit of a
letdown. Well, sort of.
Die Monster Die is a grungy kinda Jane's Addiction fronted by a girl
playing bass. Loz liked it, but Joep didn't care much for them. They
seemed just like many other 'new' guitar bands from the states, just
not different enough. Technically speaking, they sounded all right.
But they just didn't stand out.
Nova Mob is the band of Grant Hart, the other member of Husker Du. They
were the real letdown. We never took the trouble to listen to a Nova
Mob album and we've never been too fond of his part in Husker Du. But
still, you would expect something more then a third-rate noise pop band
with a rather bad vocalist. Oh well, maybe they sounded just a bit
bleak after seeing Swell.
Swell were brilliant. It's been quite a while since seeing the
concert, so we have some trouble remembering what was so brilliant.
But we'll try. The Paard was unbelievably full, considering the lineup
that night. Normally about a hundred people turn up. This night it
must have been three times as much. All fans, all yelling, singing,
buying merchandise, having a wonderful time. Even before Swell played
the venue seemed more cozy than ever.
As soon as Swell started playing the comfortable feeling grew. Even
live they have a way with sounds that is uncanny. The drums shuffle
and make you want to wiggle or even dance. The acoustic guitar
strumming fills in the gaps. Through all that the lead guitar comes
peercing like white streaks of light, playing a melody or soloing or
sometimes just a screech of feedback. On stage, Swell use all the
elements you hear on the records. You hear a phone ringing. The
keyboard is subtle and gives the whole composition of
the songs a weird dark atmosphere. Inventive use of the guitarchip on
the microphone, creating a weird windlike sound.
The building "41", they have taken it on tour. And this will be
probably the last time Swell sound like this. They have left the
building and now they are looking for a new space to live, somewhere
in Portland, Oregon. We hope they find a place just as inspirational
and make more of this ambient rock.
Bailter Space may 28th Ekko Utrecht
In a city haunted by hyped-up gabba, mellow and hardcore house'rs, we
escaped the web of Thunderdome Mega Rave 2000 and made sure we were
on the other side of the city, where a band playing honest rock in a
small basement comes to us as a much better idea of enjoying
oneselves.
Bailter Space was going to do only one show in Holland, and that was
in Ekko. This was the first time we visited the venue in Utrecht. It
breathes the same kind of atmosphere at the Patronaat in Haarlem:
small, nice and very cozy. The beer is good (especially after you've
roamed the city for an hour to find the place) and it's cheap (only
$1, and white Belgium beers for just $1.25, you can't get cheaper than
this here in Holland). And they play good music. A bit old, but
classics none the less.
At this point I'm supposed to write how Bailter Space sounded live.
However, I can no longer be objective about this three-piece rock band
from New Zealand, since after their performance I bought their new
album "Vortura" (= Vortex+Future) which has got me hooked like no
other album at the moment.
When the three-piece from New Zealand started, smiles cracked our
faces, as it was at once so bleeding obvious why we'd gone to all
the trouble to see them. Their sound is utterly unique. This is
probably due to their native country, New Zealand, far away from the
American and English culture (although they now live in New York).
They sound clear and open, and yet so claustrophobically dense. They
are also one of the very few in rock who understand the importance of
atmosphere, hence the use of samplers, the lazily strummed guitars,
and the unique vocals which are not articulate or heard, but neither
submerged. The guitar sound always has a rough edge but never harsh
or screaming. Sometimes it's machinelike or like tools from
construction workers. Drum sounds are sometimes like the hitting of a
hammer on iron pipes. And yet it is not like the industrial sounds.
They started with 'Begin' from their 1993 "Robot World" album.
Alister sings passionately with half-slit eyes, John the bassist never
looks at the audience and Brent hides behind his drum kit and
sample machine. Contact is solely made through the music. That's the
only way into their idiosyncratic oyster shells of personalities.
They did a couple of new songs. Songs we didn't know yet since their
new album "Vortura" hadn't been available in Holland at that time. At
one point Alister and John exchanged their instruments and played a
new song called 'Projects' which was quite loud. Almost metal-like.
John sang and seemed to warn us of something, as if Armageddeon was at
hand. On the album the song comes out much better (at least you can
hear what he was ranting about, big-city problems). I also remember
their new song 'Shadows,' which poisoned me because of its dreamlike
noisy nature, and Alister singing the word 'shadow' like it actually
was one. Dark, somewhere out there, not for you to grasp. Live they
were ace.
About the new album, there's one track ('Reactor') which starts like a
dark modern techno track. This surprised me, since you wouldn't
expect something like this from them. It's... ehm... quite
brilliant, to say the least. Now I'm listening to the last song
'Control,' encouraging us to take control because this is our
future (as it's being fucked up). Again, it's brilliant, a totally
unique rock sound. Holy shit! This is amazing! I just had the urge to
go out to my record store and buy this album /again/ !
The Ambient Night may 29th Melkweg Amsterdam
24 hours later we were in a totally different environment. This night
4 live electronic ambient acts would be done, and 4 guys would do some
DJing. Among them was the Aphex Twin as DJ and Locust as a live
act. It was the first time the Aphex Twin was going to be here in
Holland. This we just /had/ to see, even if he was only going to DJ.
At nine o'clock we were present. The place was decorated in that
ambient atmosphere: matresses all over the floor for people to blow,
do dope, go into a deep ambient, whatever. There were also chairs set
up like you were going to watch a film in a cinema.
I'll skip two and a half hours, 2 live acts and 1 DJ-session, which
were quite a bore. Let's get right down to the Aphex Twin. He was
going to do two DJ sessions that night. Now, normally when
someone DJs, they just spin some records you can dance to, mix them
together, and that's it. The Aphex Twin is another story. He doesn't
/just/ spin records. He does something with the records. He twists
the sounds, frequencies and has a remarkable choice of records.
His first DJ session was not that special for the first couple of minutes,
however. It started to become brutal when he spinned a record from
Bruce Gilbert ("This Way To The Shivering Man" 1987 Mute Records).
By playing around with the mixer and accentuating certain sounds and
frequencies he actually managed to let the whole building shake and
vibrate on its foundations! The volume of the sound was not loud or
anything, he just connected in weird way to ... everything. We'd
never witnessed anything like that in the Milky Way, but everything
just shook. After that the Aphex Twin could give some other stunning
sounds, especially the freaky hysterical sounds which cut through you
ears and left you horribly terrified.
Now I'll skip one and a half hour, 1 live act and 1 DJ-session, both
boring. Let's get to Locust. Locust consists of Mark van Hoen. He
was the producer of Seefeel's "Quique" and did the Sine Bubble mix on
their "Pure,Impure" EP. He has his own record since May on R&S,
called "Weathered Well", which is fairly good. If you like Seefeel,
you'll definitely like this one too. His live performance wasn't that
special however. You didn't see him since he was hiding behind a
curtain, doing... something. Meanwhile images from a film were being
projected on the curtain. Live it all didn't sound that different
from the album. We danced to it and had a good time. It all sounded
very cool.
Back to the Aphex Twin for his second DJ session. This time his
choice of records would become /extremely/ exceptional and
interesting. The way he mixed everything together just showed his
great talent. He started with classical music. Then he started
'Drumming,' a piece from 1970 performed by avant-garde composer Steve
Reich, in which you only hear drum sounds and nothing else. The
original piece lasts about 2 hours, but there isn't a second equal to
another second, everything shifts back and forth in ever-changing
layers of drum sounds. The Aphex Twin used that as the basis for the
next 15 minutes or so.
On top of that he brought other sounds into existence. Bizarre
sounds. We can't remember everything he did, but we'll tell you: it
was wicked !! For example, at one point we heard a trumpet sneaking up
on us, and suddenly it was on the foreground playing dissonants and
off-key notes (like SY does on guitar). It was so beautiful, goose
pimples ran riot. Also a stunning avant-garde piece was played, which
we'd never heard before. According to Richard James (he is the Aphex
Twin) it turned out to be by a Hungarian called Vorsec, who'd
released an album on Hungarian's only record(-state-)label called
'Computer Music.' The label is long gone. It just shows that the
Aphex Twin is not just a DJ like all those others... He's really
different. More exciting, wicked, on the edge, eccentric, and just
bloody brilliant musically.
After that we had a short break and then went to dance to the music
from a Dutch DJ. I won't go into details about this one, we just had
a ball, and when it all finished and we had to leave the place, dawn
was already welcoming us outside. What a night!
Codeine/Spinanes june 3rd Arena Amsterdam
What can we say about this one? Both the bands you all know very
well.
The weird thing about the Spinanes is they leave so much space on the
stage. Seeing the band play it seems incomplete. Hearing is a
different thing all together. We've been looking behind the pillars
supporting the roof if there was a person playing bass. No. She's
all doing it by herself. This is the trick what makes the Spinanes so
nice. But the drummer is wonderful too. For such a small guy
(compared to her) he makes a lot of noise. Lots of the melodies got
lost because her voice was too flat. She is able to do a lot more,
as you can hear on the record. The Spinanes could have done better but
were all right.
Codeine blew us away. Never banged our heads so slowly we started
pogoing in a dub-reggae manner. As soon as you lock in to the slow
pace of their music, you really understand the dynamics behind
Codeine. Their new drummer is very good. We think he must be able to
do songs four times as slow as these. Never missing a beat (and we've
been counting). Talking about slow songs. Before the show Codeine
ask the DJ to play a track by OSTZONENSUPPENWURFELMACHENKREBS
(translation: 'East German broth gives you cancer'), a German band, at
least four times as slowly, lovely. Codeine played songs from all
three albums. Ending with a lovely drumless lullaby encore. If we
hadn't seen Seam earlier this year...
Disco Inferno june 4th Paradiso Amsterdam
Never liked Goths. No, Disco Inferno have nothing to do with Gothic
bastards. But they were put on the bill of a NEW WAVE REVIVAL NIGHT.
The Dutch have reinterpreted the concept of 'New Wave' all wrong.
They think dressing up in black rags, painting your face white,
colouring your hair black, wearing a pointy hat and putting in your
vampire dentures has something to do with the late '70s/early '80s
pop era. Well it hasn't, but try telling that to the hundreds of bats
crawling out of their dark dwellings into the big venue (an old black
church, funnily enough).
Why did we go to this? For the last five years that Disco Inferno
existed, they never got the opportunity to go abroad. Their first
label (Che', now called Cherry Red) never could put up enough money to
sent the boys on a big tour. Now they are signed to the second coming
of Rough Trade things haven't changed much. But still, somebody had
been able to persuade them to cross the dark waters of the North Sea.
We were thrilled.
Disco Inferno reinvented themselves two years ago, starting out as a
Joy Division protege. Singer Ian Crause thought the act had gone far
enough and wanted something completely different. So they went out
and bought a sampler and loads of other electronics. The records
slowly became more diverse, creating scary collages with all the
sounds that surround us and adding political lyrics. Everything
works fine in a studio, but live..
..it all went horribly wrong. The drum kit - not looking like one
because it consists of only plastic triggers - and the guitar are
hooked up to the sampler by MIDI. All seems fairly complicated and
Ian later explained it is. It is so complicated that the sound man of
the venue and the one doing the monitors couldn't understand it. Out
to the audience everything sounds like a big brick wall collapsing.
All fine for one song, but it shouldn't sound like that every
song. On stage you see the three guys struggling. The drummer
keeping pace, the bassist listening for the beat and the guitarist
singer trying to keep al other things together. Twenty minutes, five
songs, Ian throws his guitar to the floor and the band stops. We try
to cheer them on, but they walk away dissapointed. They failed again.
Only because the sound guys don't know how to do it properly. I hear
later that Disco Inferno had sound checked for about two hours earlier
that day. The reason they fucked up was the support group, who had
turned every single knob on all the panels.
We went downstairs to the backstage area. Since we've been the Two
Pure it has become a real hobby of ours speaking to the artists we
see. For this meeting we even made a list of questions. Too bad we
haven't got a tape recorder, though. We should buy one. We shall try
and reconstruct parts of the interview. The quoted words may not
resemble the exact formulation of Ian Crause's answers. But the
information hopefully does.
What is your connection with the 'Dreampop Syndicate' (Seefeel, Bark
Psychosis, Insides, Aphex Twin)?
"We haven't got much to do with it, actually. We know Bark Psychosis
[started out on the same label as D.I.]. But we don't even like
SeeFeel. Melody Maker just created another scene."
Will you re-release "In Debt"?
"There aren't any plans for that, but who knows? The initial pressing
of the compilation CD was just a few thousand. And I have the
impression there isn't a single copy left. I gave mine away."
Do you know about Slint, Codeine, Palace Brothers?
"No. After Nirvana I really lost interest in the American rock
culture."
Are you into avant-garde classical composers?
"No, I do not consider myself as an intellectual guy. We're not an
intellectual band, we just want to make pop music."
What are your influences then?
"Well obviously we started out with Joy Division, New Order, Young
Gods. But we like Lee Perry, Big Black and Public Enemy."
What do you think of House music?
"Well it's pop. So it's okay. We really like Jam & Spoon."
Can you tell us about the political content of your lyrics?
"Wow! You're the first to ask me that question. We live in London and
things are getting out of hand. It's getting more and more dangerous
to walk on the streets at night. Especially if you're a girl. Here
in Amsterdam you wouldn't have much trouble. But almost every night
there is a gang rape going on in the streets of London. And then you
have the ultra-right-wing problem. The homeless. Those things get to
me, so that's why we write about them."
And on a lighter note. Do you know Ren and Stimpy?
"Yeah! They're great. Have you heard the album yet? 'Don't wizz on the
electric fence..' Wow. What great pop."
Thank you for the interview.
"No, thank YOU. You really made my day."
After that he gave us a few shirts for free. And Joep got the new
CD single "Second Language."
Still, quite a nice ending to a mostly horrendous night. Next time we
have to go to another New Wave Revival night, we'll bring a big
wooden pole and drive it right through the organizer's heart.
Disco Inferno - "Second Language" (Rough Trade) 4 tracks 16:10
1994 is possibly the year with the most top releases ever. Even after
five months, it's difficult to choose what recordings to like best.
Considering that, this recording still stands out.
In these four songs Disco Inferno show their most beautiful side. The
second album was quite harsh and only after repeated listening it
would give you a glimpse of the shining diamonds beneath the layers of
noise. These four songs are a bit of a step back for Disco Inferno.
Back to the time they sounded more like Joy Division. Songs
comparable to 'Set Sail' and 'Glancing Away' (both from the brilliant
'In Debt' album). The sounds of the sampler pushed more into the
background. Letting the guitar play waterlike melodies, supported by
the heavy but friendly bass lines. Ian Crause sings with his flat
voice about meeting someone foreign, with whom he's trying to speak
but in the end resorts to smiling.
Disco Inferno are one of the few bands brave enough to be doing
something truly innovating and different. Making pop music using
means most other haven't thought of. Live they are known to fail.
But on record they succeed wonderfully. Shouldn't that be rewarded?
BUY THIS FUCKER!!! Before it's too late.
So, that's it. But you ain't seen nothing yet. Next time. Twice as
long!
-=> The Two Pure <=-
Lawrence Pit: pit@WI.leidenuniv.nl / pit@prolin.nl
Joep Vermaat: pjoe@grafix.wlink.nl / v902160@si.hhs.nl
------------------------------
From: VISSERK <VISSERK@bureau.rug.nl>
Pavement, dEUS, Reggae, Grand Funk Railroad, Tar Babies, et al.
Eeeeeeerrrrhmmm. I'm looking for something to start with for more
than five minutes now. Could it just be 'hi there'? OK:
Hi there to y'all indiecats. Hm, that sounds nice.
I've been lurking a long time. Having a 9 to 5 job means that you're
about to go nuts pretending nothing happened after graduation. Still,
there is life after graduation, even R&R life.
So hereafter i'll try to write some decent reviews about fresh records
not reviewed yet. And about some recent discoveries of older
material. So fasten your seatbelts, here we go:
Let me start with a remark about the new Pavement, tho' there have
been a lot of reviews. Being fairly unfamiliar with Pavement (yes,
these ignorants do exist) the other day i heard a song (i don't
remember what song but nevermind) on the radio. It sounded a lot like
the Fall, which was not a good recommendation for me, since i happen
to hate the Fall (that is, The wonderful and frightening world of the
Fall was the last thing of theirs i liked). Sorry. But back to
Pavement, i did overcome my distrust and nowadays i like them a lot.
Splendid record, even if it is hifi. So what?
Oh, and before i forget, one word about B*ck: a friend of mine has an
early demo version of Loser, which is way way better than the Official
Indie Mersh Version we all know and despise:) Good tune, honestly.
The rest of the demo is pure shit.
dEUS : Worst case scenario (munich records)
dEUS is a Belgian band. Here in the Netherlands their new record is
somewhat hyped. Still it is OK. They start with an "introduction" in
French, followed by pretty good MOR indieguitarnoise. A bit like
Seam, a bit like Helmet, a bit poppy, yeah i like this. Not as
beautiful as the Tindersticks album (i will not review because their
fame is well known by now) but more rocking and with a little more
experiment. Still, they drink from the same well.
Urban Dance Squad : Persona non grata
The history of the UDS is a little shaky. Since a year or so their DJ
DNA didn't want to go on with the UDS. What would become of that? To
me DNA always was one of the juicy elements which made UDS a very
peculiar band.
The other day i saw them play at a large festival in the Netherlands
and i didn't like what i heard. Now i've listened to the album and it
is OK, tho not as good as it could have been. Compare it with the
switch Living Color made (but Dough Wimbish rox!) Most of the 'songs'
are medium tempo hard funk and after four of these i'm done. Luckily
"alienated" is one of the finest UDS-songs ever. But the lyrics of
rapper Rude Boy are as ever brilliant. Listen to "demagogue."
Ethiopian Groove : the golden seventies (munich)
This is a compilation of Ethiopian '70s dance music. After the
abduction of emperor Haile Selassi, a lot of musicians went into exile,
especially to the USA. There they continued playing their dance
music. Singer Aster Aweke is the most famous singer on this
record, but the others are quite as good. The music is typical
Ethiopian, and i cannot explain it further, you have to check this out
yourself. But there are huge influences of the early Stax and Motown
series: a singer with a studio band. It really sounds like that.
Extra recommendation for the readers of this digest is the sound
quality: pretty poor, 'cos it was all recorded with one or two
microphones. Still: aw gawd, this is yummie (like the Oletta Adams
compilation i bought the other day: $2!)
Some oldies:
Grand Funk Railroad : caught in the act
Live-recording lasting for more than an hour with sweaty funk rock. Of
course it isn't indie, but still it is a pleasure to listen to, but
for the "locomtion." Yeach.
Tar Babies : Death trip
Never been able to memorize the brilliant gigs i saw of this indeed
dead band i was very happy to by this copy for only $5. It is not the
Tar Babies i remembered, but still this record is a lot of fun,
especially to chase your unwanted visitor away, if he or she isn't a
regular indielistener.
Captian Beefheart and his Magic Band: Sunlight kid/Clear spot
Two records one CD for the prize of one lp! If you decide to have at
least 1 record of The Great Insane Genius: dig this! I hate blues, but
i love this piece of blues going nuts. For the diehards i can
recommend Doc at the Radar Station as well.
Hope you enjoyed, and bye@:)Kees.
======================================================================
mr. C. Visser | "As your lawyer I advise you to
Legal Department | start drinking heavily"
University of Groningen |
Netherlands | Hunter S. Thompson
P.O. box 72 9700 AB Groningen |
phone: 31-50-634986 |
<visserk@bureau.rug.nl> |
======================================================================
------------------------------
From: Brian K!z!K MacDonald <bmacdona@Bonnie.ICS.UCI.EDU>
ANNOUNCE: "0-aluminum" Volume 2 available!
Remember about six months ago, when a tape offer was, well, offered
for a 90 minute comp of 7" trax from a variety of bands? Well, Volume
2 of that series has just been completed!
Before I continue, I want to say that THERE WON'T BE DELAYS this time
around for sending tapes, assuming a natural disaster as an earthquake
doesn't cut access for a while, like what happened last time. I'LL
MAKE 'EM and SEND 'EM as soon as I GET 'EM, (as long as there isn't an
immense influx of tapes)
e-mail me at bmacdona@bonnie.ics.uci.edu for more details on how to
get the tape and what's ON the tape. (It's free, aside from paying
for your own blank tape and postage to send it to and fro).
Here's an alphabetical list of bands for each tape.
bloopers: 0-aluminum Volume 2 A MINOR FOREST, ARCHERS OF LOAF,
BUILT TO SPILL, CRAYON, COWS, DISKOTHI-Q, DOO RAG, GODHEADSILO,
GRENADINE, HEAVY VEGETABLE, KID CHAMPION, LESLIE, LORELEI, NEUTRAL
MILK HOTEL, NEW MIND, PEE, PICASSO TRIGGER, PITCHBLENDE, SHOEFACE,
SMOG, SOUL-JUNK, SUPERCHUNK, SUPERCONDUCTOR, TOOLING FOR BOVINES,
TORTOISE, UB ZUB.
safety_through_songs: 0-aluminum Volume 1 ARCWELDER, BRAINIAC,
COURTNEY LOVE, THE DAMBUILDERS, DRIVE LIKE JEHU, THE EVAPORATORS, THE
EX, GAUNT, HALF JAPANESE JAWBREAKER, KUDGEL, LYNC, MUSTARD, NOMEANSNO,
PHLEG CAMP, POWERDRESSER, THE SPINANES, SUGAR, SUGARTIME, TRUMANS
WATER, UNWOUND, VERSUS, WCKR SPGT, WRECK, WWAX.
K!z!K
P.S. I realize there might be a copyright issue involved. Although
I don't feel there really is an issue. I'm not making any profit from
this (except for any slight surplus that could result from people
sending money for postage, in which case, I'll be happy to return
change back if senders request it). If anything, I'm probably helping
the bands on the tape a small bit. However, if people feel strongly
enough about the issue, I'll cease making the offers.
<------------------------------------------------------------>
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