Indie-List_V3_N14
In the year 7979, I read from the Book of Her.
And I don't know what it's about.
I am wednesday and proud.
############################
Indie List Digest
February 22nd, 1994
Volume 3, Number 14
############################
Luna/Spinanes Review, San Francisco
eggs/five-eight/lois
Antietam / Tara sez
Live - Boredoms + Jacobs Mouse + Pig
Live - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion + Done Lying Down + Linus
Live - Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 + Minxus
Live - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion + Tubesurfer
Live - Underworld+Drum Club+Charlie Hall+Darren Emerson
**ADS & ANNOUNCEMENTS****
VHF Catalog
Gig in London...
###############
NEWS FLASH:
This edition of the Indie-List is dedicated to the memory of Unrest, who
have apparently called it quits after 12 years of music, madness, and fun.
No more will you have to read about "another nrst show/record" in this
work. The "official" word was published today in Melody Maker, while I
had heard about it independently last weekend... :( - Sean
###############
>From mr. friendly editor:
Hi. I'm feeling better, so no grouches and grumbles. Just some reviews.
(or was, until I wrote the above note...)
The Vertebrats - A Thousand Day Dream (Parasol)
Yippie-ti-yi-yay! Wow... a Vertebrats CD, and it's the first of two...
man, this is what I've been looking for without knowing it - the spirit
and fire and energy of the early 80s playing the sounds of the
garage-laden 60s. Lucky folks out there might have heard "Left In The
Dark" or were quick enough to snap up the double 7" that Parasol did a
while back on the VBs... it's not incredibly original, but it'll put a
smile on your face and a twang in your step. Why did they have to break
up in 1983? **
Swell Maps - Train Out Of It (Mute - search your local cut-out bins)
3rd in the series of Swell Maps re-issues, and the oddest of the bunch by
far. Mostly instrumentals, some from the never-released Jowe Head/Epic
Soundtracks LP, some studio out-takes, some similar to LP material. Also
includes "Read About Seymour" and "Let's Build A Car" and "Ammunition
Train" which are reason enough for grabbing it for $4 (like I did) or even
twice that. The sound? well, um, let's see... art-damaged punk? (now
there's a catch-phrase for you... I'd call it post-punk except it's of the
same exact time... imagine, Johnny Rotten is making a fool of himself, and
Nikki Sudden is writing stuff like this... argh!) Not for the weak-hearted
- there are parts of this that will leave you scratching your head for
days...but if you've heard and enjoyed other Swell Maps stuff, then it's a
must-have. *1/2 for the unknowing, ** for those who know what the
want (or are feeling adventurous).
Hotel Cleveland III - various (Scat)
So it's not brand-spanking-new, but it's still good. Worth the price of
admission just to have a 7 minute Styrenes song with the unreal
vocalising of Mike Hudson (Pagans). And then there's more... Pufftube,
Supie T and Friends, um, damn, stop reading and go see what you haven't
already heard about from Cleveland. *3/4. And thank Robert Griffin in
advance for the 3x10" he's doing on the Electric Eels/Styrenes/Mirrors.
Cleveland Archives, indeed. (Now if there were only more MDID material
from the "Shine" sessions... or another few Children's Crusade tunes... :)
I also found a double LP by Boy Dirt Car on RRRecords, all live stuff
from 1983-87... haven't had a chance to listen yet, but could anyone
please clue me in? I'm looking forward to having a truly functional
turntable sometime soon...
And another opinion on that Pavement record - give it 3 or 4 listens
before passing judgment. I'm still not sure about it, but I like it for
the most part... the "Take Five"/space age ditty is fun, as is "Range
Life," but since my roommate hasn't removed it from his record player in
3 days, I guess I'll soon be able to report on the effects of extended
exposure.
If it wasn't already clear to everyone, go buy that Guided By Voices
split single with Jenny Mae Leffel. Her side isn't as bad as everyone
has been claiming (sorta wishy-washy mid-to-late 80s brit-synth with
loungy vox), and the GbV side should be 2 or 3 minutes longer but is
otherwise perfect.
Sean
skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu
###############
From: mlim@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Michael Lim)
Luna/Spinanes Review, San Francisco
Last night I went to the Kennel Club in San Francisco to witness an
excellent triple-bill....Luna, Spinanes, and Barbara Manning. Actually,
I'm not too keen on Barbara Manning, so I'll cut to the review of
Spinanes.
They took the stage by announcing, "Hi, we're the Spinanes and we
represent SubPop Records." Drummer Scott displayed a sign that read "SUB
POP KEG." Aparently this gig was part of the Gavin Convention. Anyways,
they started off with "Entire" from the Manos album, and played, oh about
5-6 songs from it. Unfortunately, Rebecca lost her voice partway through
the show and kept apologizing for it...it really wasn't that bad, just a
few parts she was off key or dropped vocals an octave, but the show was
still great. At one point, Scott warned to her, "Don't fuck up your
voice," hinting that maybe they should end the set, but Rebecca responded
with "I'm FUCKING up my voice!" and launched into another rockin' song.
Funny, last time I went to see the Spinanes in San Diego, they cancelled,
since she was sick and couldn't sing or something... They played the early
singles "Suffice" and "Hawaiian Baby" and they also played at least one
(maybe two) new songs, one with just Rebecca. Overall, it was a great set,
and Luna drummer Stanley Demeski semed to agree as he applauded
enthusiastically by the side of the stage.
(By the way, Spinanes are playing their own show in San Diego soon, so
they must be on tour. When she lost her voice she commented, "We still
have 6 weeks left..." She also said, "If I were Paul Westerberg, I would
invite people up to sing for me.")
Now, I was really excited to see Luna. I'm pretty sure they aren't playing
shows in Southern Cal, so luckily, I was in Northern Cal this weekend, and
was fortunate to see such an amazing pairing. Their new album doesn't
come out for another 2 weeks, but they played about 5 songs off of it. The
new songs are pretty good...lots of VU influence, and a bit mellower than
other Luna stuff and Galaxie 500 stuff. Unfortunately, the sound levels
at the club were not agreeable with me, so a lot of the beautiful
crystalline Luna guitar parts were inaudible. Off LunaPark, they played
"Slide", "Anesthesia," "Hey Sister", "We're Both Confused", "Slash your
Tires" and "Time to Quit." I don't know any of the titles from the new
album, except "Scented Magazine," which they played. Of course, people in
the audience kept yelling out for Galaxie 500 songs, and finaly they broke
into "Blue Thunder" and I was elated!! It was great! As usual, they ended
with "Indian Summer," which was also pretty great. During the encores,
they played 2 songs I didn't know...I suspect they were covers, perhaps a
John Lennon song, since the guy next to me kept yelling out, "LENNON!!
YOKO ONO!! WHOO!" Now, i was just totaly satisfied at this point, and i
thought the show was over...but then Dean begins to start another song...I
eye his fingers and notice he is fretting a "G" chord and only hope that
it could be....wait...could it be?...YES!!! He begins the beautiful
opening chords of "Tugboat", another Galaxie 500 song! All the times I've
seen Luna and reports of Galaxie 500 shows that I've regretably missed,
I've never heard them play Tugboat, but here it was! Anyways, words cannot
describe how happy I was to hear them playing that song! Overall, it was a
great night, and I look forward to seeing them in theatres soon, with the
Cocteau Twins.(I'm not sure if I mean that or not...)
-Mike
###############
From: SOLOMON FALLS ON HIS FACE IN LOVE WITH ME <STU_KEFITZGE@VAX1.ACS.JMU.EDU>
eggs/five-eight/lois
hey kiddies.
i got the loverly opportunity to see these three hep bands this
weekend (2/18) at jmu. there wasn't a very big turnout unfortunately.
eggs started out the show with a pretty cool set. they played sitting
down and told us to do the same. they lacked a percussion section, so
they recruited 2 people from wxjm to do a fairly heartless job with
bongoes, a tambourine, and A maraca. i dunno...they might have been
better off without them. the set was great and i think the guys had a lot
of fun though they seemed a bit tense. it was a very cool set to be
sitting down listening to.
[oh, no, do the drummer-trials continue? i thought they had found a
sorta permanent one... - Sean]
five-eight are a pretty hep band from athens georgia. the set started off
with the lead singer doing one song with just his guitar and no mic. it
was fantastic!!! he has a very interesting voice...kinda high. great way
to start a set. the guys are very animated, particularly the bassist who
is just nutty. he was having the best time. they aren't as guitar driven
as bass moved. tough bass that makes your tummy tremble. :)
the lois...man, these kids give new meaning to the term rock stars...lois,
the frontwoman of the trio, spent the time between songs telling stories
and chatting with her audience. she might not have the most fabulous
voice but the way she uses it and her lyrics are fantastic. the bassist
is fairly invisible but the band would be seriously lacking without him.
the drummer, amy...this chick is the shit!! she has such force and just
puts an incredible amount of energy into the air. lois gave her audience
quite a treat by singing a capella while the bassist, juan, replaced one
of her guitar strings. i got a chance to talk to her afterwards and she
spoke like we'd been friends for years. all three bands played great sets
and had great rapport when it came to their fans. they all actually seemed
surprised that they even had fans!!
--daedalia
###############
From: Glenn Susser <glenns@panix.com>
Antietam / Tara sez
I saw Antietam at NY's Knitting Factory on Saturday. Boy do I feel
stupid. The way it was billed, Versus was the opener, some band with
"fire" in their name second, and Antietam headlining. And I had no idea
what anyone looked like, except for a few poor quality photos of Tara Key
in the liner notes of Antietam cds & her solo. Ok, you guessed it.
Antietam was up 1st and I didn't recognize them nor any of the songs. I
kept thinking, -- I know Versus is good, but I didn't realize how great
their guitarist was -- So, the last song comes on, and I finally recognized
something. However, by this time my mind is sold that I'm watching
Versus, and I thought it was from Let's Electrify. So I had to go home
and replay the whole show in my head!
Forgive the dumb analogy, but Tara Key is Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Liz
Phair and Keith Richards rolled into one. Her angry singing and raucous
guitar were a breath of fresh air. But Tara Key is not Antietam. Husband
Tim Harris' bass guitar complimented TK's grating guitar. The drummer
(Josh Modell?) fit right in and maintained a pounding incessant beat. The
show was loud, though not loud enough for me - but loud enough for ear
plugs for others who shall remain nameless. :-) Unfortunately, it was way
too short, lasting maybe 45 minutes.
I was trying to get the nerve to go up and say hi after the show, but I'm
the original chicken shit. As fate would have it, I kind of ran into TK
as I was leaving, and I had to say hello. She's super nice and seemed
pleased someone even recognized her (little did she know!) Jealous Wilson
says I've gained my place in alternative rock history. Hopefully she'll
answer my email (she's here on the net) asking all the bizillion questions
I should have asked at the show.
[a few minutes later...]
Hot off the presses is TK's response to my message! Boy is she ever so
nice. Since I told her I wanted to write something (intelligent) about
the show in the indie list, I don't think she'll mind if I quote
her:
==========================================================
The set included 5 songs from our Spanish CD, out soon on Radiation
Records, called Safe/Sound. There will be some kind of US release this
spring, but with who is still under negotiation, and we will record new
material to add to a US release as well. The CZ comp (No Alternative, I
think, which has a great cut by Antietam -gs) is supposed to be out before
summer. I did a solo record to have fun basically and because Homestead
approached me to do it. I really got into playing with my friends and
making music that was "atypical" for me (more acoustic based). My attitude
about my career is MORE MORE MORE...more songs, more records, more gigs. I
enjoy playing the guitar as much as breathing. Antietam goes forward. I
jam with various people. And I am making another solo record for Homestead
this summer. Tara Key & pals will play the northeast and midwest at some
point this spring/summer. The caravan will include whoever can go, but all
my talented friends are busy folks, so when depends on a lot. Antietam
will tour this spring/summer, possibly in conjunction with the Babylon
Dance Band gig at Derby time in Louisville...first weekend in May. That
record was recorded by the BDB about 2 years ago and Matador will be
releasing it on April 11 I understand. The Dance Band is punk rock-n-roll
madness onstage and I miss the hell out of it (first love syndrome), so
it's always a pleasure to do that stuff again..the other two members other
than Tim and I live in L'ville and do not work in music full time
anymore...but we will do northeast shows to support the record once it's
out. Antietam and Music From Elba have come under discussion for a CD
rerelease at some point in the future. [Yay! I'll be looking forward to
that! But I'm not holding my breath since Mr. Cosloy says that Homestead
has no visible signs of letting go of the tapes of those albums....] No
definite plans right now. Wolf Knapp -- a founding member of Antietam,
along with me, Tim, and Mike Weinert, is all over Bourbon County you'll
notice. Antietam has no leader...whoever is feeling the most chatty
onstage is usually MC by default...and I tend to trance out
sometimes...communing with sonic space, so I am not the most forthcoming
with talk talk at times...One real cool thing for me in making BC was that
Tim produced it. I usually am all over the mixes, so it was nice to
collaborate that way with my musical partner of, jeez, 15 years now...
========================================================
How can you resist someone with a MORE MORE MORE attitude!
Tara has been appearing solo at various venues as part of the Bad Girl
series. I'm surprised at the billing because her recent solo release,
Bourbon County, is the most melodic and tuneful of her releases. But I
wish her and Antietam the best of luck because they are one of the most
exciting bands today.
Oh, re "Fire" in their name and Versus. Fire something came on next. One
guy was wearing this "groovy" shirt (jacket?) I thought it was ala NY
Dolls, and Wilson remarked the Kinks. Anyway, not much to report, cuz we
left after the 1st song. It was real sugary pop that didn't mix well with
Antietam. It was obvious that the audience was not there for Antietam
judging by the lackluster reception and the rousing welcome given fire
something. As soon as Fire hit the first chord, as if perfectly timed, 3
girls started jumping up and dancing. I would have liked to have seen
Versus, but it didn't seem worth the torture.
|--------------------------|
| glenn susser |
| glenns@panix.com |
| gsusser@delphi.com |
| cis:73424.2630 |
|--------------------------|
and Tara responds:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Hey! Thanks for the kind words---I must confess since I have never posted
it seems a little weird to be quoted, but whatever---it's cool. A couple
of things though--It is Josh Madell...and it was just that one Wed.
concert as part of the Alternative Museum Bad Girl series, although I
guess I feel pretty "bad" sometimes. Jeez, kinda hard on my pals Fire In
the Kitchen huh...and now I'm freaking out---I felt appriciated that
night, but I am certainly not here to fuck w/the critical view :-)!
So...thanks agin for raising the profile and I'll let you know about
what's coming up.
Tara
###############
From: davidb@dbadmin2.amgen.com (David Bennison)
Boredoms + Jacobs Mouse + Pig
-----------------------------
Highbury Garage, London. 11th February
--------------------------------------
The beginning of a quite extraordinarily good week of bands that were
bound to leave me flaked out by the end of it all, particularly as all of
them were miles away (in a UK scale of things). Pig were first. I expected
them to be disappointing and I wasn't disappointed. Their early LP 'A Poke
In The Eye With A Sharp Stick' I really like, it pre-dated all this NIN
New Industrial stuff, was tongue in cheek, had light and shade and some
good funk moments as well. Unfortunately, Pig seem to have become all doom
and gloom, quaking Goth vocals, tired, repetitive and full of posturing.
Whereas before they seemed to be offering a different angle on that
Foetus/Swans/Funk sound we all know and love!, Pig now want to sound like
Foetus but you end up with some bad Sisters of Mercy/The The hybrid. Who
cares anyway.
Next were Jacobs Mouse who I've seen 3 or 4 times now without wanting to
particularly, and every time I've come away thinking "Hmm. OK I guess". I
don't own any releases by them, don't want to and can't say much about
them except that they went down with the crowd well (the non Japanese
indie-kids that is), tended to induce 'slamming' and seem 'to work hard
for their money, so hard for his honey'...Errm. They come across as a more
noisy Therapy with indistinguishable shouted vocals, strong rhythmic
drumming but not much resembling a catch, tune or hook of any description.
Workmanlike but lacking in flair, rather like the England Rugby team.
Talking of indistinguishable shouted vocals, here come the Boredoms for
their first UK show. I don't want to appear racist, I'm sure there are
some very tall Japanese people in this world, but when they came on in
their wacky clothes, funny beards, weird language and restricted height, I
could relate to how Judy Garland felt when she first set foot in
Munchkinland. Fortunately for me, most of the audience were of a similar
stature so no problems seeing everything. They launched into an impressive
lurching assault of babble, noise and shrieks from what appeared to be all
8 or so band members, leaping on top of amps, pulling contorted faces and
hiding inside their jumpers (shit - I can do that). They had two drummers,
the girlie one with a head-mic being particularly entertaining. Musically
I wasn't that impressed, it seemed to come a distant second to their stage
antics and didn't seem to vary in any way. After each song the crowd were
more amused than anything else, I think they certainly charmed the
audience. You wouldn't get such interest if they weren't Japanese. People
enjoyed the show but I was yet again vaguely unmoved and left after an
hour (apparently they played for about 2 hours)
********
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion + Done Lying Down + Linus
------------------------------------------------------
Highbury Garage, London. 12th February
--------------------------------------
I'd been warned about Linus by a friend of mine. You know how a band play,
you dislike what they do purely for the ordinariness of it all, they seem
to play for ages and once they've finished you can't remember a damn thing
about what they sounded like, well that's what happened. All I rememeber
is the annoying girl vocalists habit of grinning all the time in a Kim
Deal/Kirsten Hirsch 'aren't I weird and kooky' kind of way. Godaweful if I
recall but that was mainly 'cause of the vocalists face.
Why am I reviewing this show, I can't recall anything about Done Lying
Down either, I was too busy schmoozing with ex-Membrane John Robb. The
singer looked like the lead singer of Squeeze from a distance and they
finished well, the last two tracks being particularly good. Sorry, can't
pretend to know anything else about them except that I wished I'd paid
more notice of them at the time. They're on John Robbs label tho' and
they're worth checking out I feel.
The Jon Spencer band then hit the packed stage and delivered another
amazing show of rock, roll, blues and showbiz Elvis style. While not quite
being up to the heights of the first time I saw them in Cambridge, I'm
sure that musically they were just as good. They rattled and rolled
through their greatest hits, got everyone singing 'Bellbottoms',
swaggered, rocked, played that weird electric spike thing and fully
justified their title as one of the best live shows around. Trying to
dance to the JSBE groove is great fun, when they lock into the last track
from 'Extra Width', as I've said before, I end up doing that Snoopy dance
with my feet (that usually just ends up with me getting attacked when I
see the Cows). Anyway, obviously they really can't be missed, and many
people on this list agree so there.
********
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 + Minxus
-----------------------------------------
Russell Arms, Mornington Cres, London. 14th February
-----------------------------------------------------
This was a new venue to me, obviously named as a tribute to the mighty
arms of Russell from JSBE. It was the first night of the re-vamped Sausage
Machine, the club where Silverfish, Th'Faith Healers, StretchHeads and
others first came to prominence (allegedly). It was an-all too-cool crowd
of Rough Trade Shop/Too Pure/Heavenly London scenesters, the 'go on,
entertain me. I'm too precious to contribute but if you're lucky I might
just clap' ethos here in abundance. Minxus were first and played what I
felt was a good approximation of the Thinking Fellers sound, strange
off-key guitars and obtuse vocals. They adopted the more studied
thoughtful approach, using chords and vocals at 'right moments'! and
breaking into strange Thin White Rope type mangled guitar solos while
never 'rocking out' or losing control. I liked them.
I guess 99% of the audience were big Thinking Fellers fans, it's been a
long wait for them to finally come over to the UK and the expectation was
high. They came onto the stage and they looked kind of weird, sort of like
they'd been stuck in the woods for two weeks living in a cave, eating
berries, had remained clean shaven but their hair had grown slightly
unruly and their clothes needed a wash. Except for Anne Eickelberg who
looked like a librarian. They started off in a mellow languid mood with
Hurricane and Hive, played most of the tracks from Mother of All Saints
and a good 6 or 7 I couldn't recognise. Mark Davies really has a uniquely
beautiful voice, he seems to pour out phrases which just ebb and flow with
the guitars and the lazy feel of the song, Hive being an excellent
example. Then they suddenly break loose and start on a rollercoaster of
taught surging tracks such as Gentlemans Lament and Hornets Heart, many of
which seem to have elements of skiffle in their rhythms while still not
sounding like anyone else. Brian Hageman swaps from guitar to mandolin and
back, adding his own vocals. His work as part of US.Saucer is stunning and
he had a big say in the Thinking Fellers sound too. Bit disappointed that
Anne didn't get to sing, I really like Undertaker off the last EP, I
thought she contributed more to the band sound than she did tonight, she
seemed happy taking a back seat and sticking to the bass. There was this
jerk next to me who insisted on shouting out only for obscure tracks and
kept yelping Caroliner and Sun City Girls references much to everyones
indifference. Unfortunately I found out he was the guy who runs Fisheye
Distribution and thus has had about 200 pounds of orders from me in the
past and thus will not receive an order in the future the twat. After the
show I briefly spoke to the guitarist I haven't mentioned yet, he looked
like he wanted a chat. They've just recorded a Peel Session, will be over
again in the autumn and won't be bringing Caroliner with them (as people
were shouting throughout the show) due to their props/stage show. I told
him they should cut their hair and what prompted them to record 'Tuning
Notes', the biggest waste of space they've done. Apparently it was Brians
idea and nobody else likes it! Another excellent show anyway just about
living up to my over the top expectations combined with a solid support
band I'd see again. Check out future Sausage Machine Friday Night
specials featuring Hellfire Sermons, Delta (ex Sea Urchins I think) Breed
and suchlike.
********
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion + Tubesurfer
-----------------------------------------
Leicester Princess Charlottes, 16th February
--------------------------------------------
I like this venue, the ceiling is low, the room is small and there are two
big speakers either side of the stage. Tubesurfer looked ominously
cliched, three guys, the lead singer built like a Tongan with shaved hair
but they were OK I thought. Most of the songs came across like a less
heavy Godflesh, a dense powerful sound with a little element of thrash
added. Not particularly groundbreaking but one song was played at double
the speed of the rest and ended up sounding like an excellent New Bomb
Turks track. When they were slower they were a little tiresome in their
relentless pursuit of bowel-quake-dom.
Mark Lamaar from 'The Word' (where JSBE had appeared live on Friday night)
came on to introduce JSBE (Why? He could have just watched them like the
rest of us.) and they played exactly the same set as in London. They were
still great but not up to their previous two showings. Few bands are as
good the second or third time around plus the crowd were more subdued this
time. The band were troupers though, belting out the tracks with the same
fury as previously irrespective of how the crowd were (not) reacting.
********
Underworld+Drum Club+Charlie Hall+Darren Emerson - Club Megadog
---------------------------------------------------------------
Leicester University, 18th February
-----------------------------------
The MegaDog Club is fast becoming the UK phenomena of 1994 although
attendences have been increasing rapidly for a couple of years now.
However, they tended to occur in and around London until recently when
they branched out into Manchester, two European dates and are currently on
small UK tours with various showcase bands. Loop Guru, Zuvuya, Banco De
Gaia, Dread Zone and Conemelt have put on great shows so far, but nothing
prepared me for this night in Leicester. Megadog is a name given to the
club, originally playing and showcasing bands on the Planet Dog label, but
branching out into an all embracing umbrella of all that is great about
new ambient dance techno music. What you are guaranteed are amazing DJs,
loud music, very late nights (all nighters usually), psychedelic light
shows, dry ice, lots of dancing, luminous paint, weird characters lurking
around dressed as angels, free food (on occasions), continuous music and
the most thorough drug search at the door I've yet come across (roll down
your turn-ups, unfolding your 5 pound notes, sniffing my glasses case!).
Obviously this isn't to everyones taste, (I can't stand the smell of my
glasses case for a start!) those with no interest in ambient or dance
music will probably find it dull. If you stand at the back waiting to be
entertained it's unlikely you will be, the idea is to get involved. It
only takes a few minutes before any inhibitions are cast away and you're
dancing like a loony with the rest of the people there, it's really that
infectious and who gives a shit anyway. I'm never going to meet these folk
in a job interview so who cares! It's difficult to comment on some of the
acts, it's more of a general all encompassing experience where DJ merges
into Live Acts (usually more DJs) and back again. All I can say is that it
wasn't until the next day when I couldn't walk that I realised I'd danced
from 9:00 to 2:00 without noticing. There were two stages, one being DJed
by Michael Dog (one of the key organisers), the other by Charlie Hall,
both playing a strange brew of dub, arabic, african, dance and trance.
Although Megadog and some of the acts lumped into this whole ambient scene
have got a reputation as a scene for old hippies listening to digeridoos,
birdsong, 'chilling-out' and disturbing links with Ozric Tentacles, in
tonights show there was no sign of any ambie-onic tendencies. Instead, the
theme was more along the lines of Orbital, Drum Club, Jam and Spoon,
Underworld, On-U Sound even, rather than any Aphex Twin ambience or Black
Dog/Warp style weird-techno. The light shows were amazing, combined with
all the paint, ultra-violet light, net, smoke, people on stilts and the
like it made a total welcome change from examining a beer mat, a pool of
spilt Guiness or the state of my shoes as usually happens at live shows I
attend. So, we had a 1 hour Charlie Hall set, he seems a bit of a plank
really but his hearts in the right place. Then the Drum Club came on and
were utterly amazing I thought. Having bought the 'Sound System 1' EP and
found I hated it, I was surprised how good they were. I find vocals tend
to spoil the feel of a lot of the tracks, particularly if they come from
some big soul-diva and are full of 'Ooh Feel It. I'm gonna Take Ya Higher
into X-Ter-C' type cliches. The Drum Club played nothing I could recognise
and it was a brilliant 1 1/2 hour set, tracks merging into each other,
building up layers of drums and keyboard repetition, just the sort of
stuff I always dismissed as turgid keyboard nonsence until fairly recently
when I actually bothered to listen to it. Seemlessly this merged into a 1
hour Darren Emerson set (the creative force behind Underworld as far as I
can see). Then the rest of Underworld joined him and played for an
eclectic! 2 hours, again the tracks merged into one long groove, elements
of them being recognisable as Rez, Cowgirl, Spikee, Spoonman and the rest.
Carl?, the vocalist and guitarist seemed to contribute around 2% of the
music and spent most of the time dancing around like the rest of us. It
really was quite a night and it was all captured on film for a forthcoming
Underworld video. I didn't go a whole bundle on the Underworld album but
live they were just what I'd hoped. A group of 3 guys walked out at the
end and I overheard them say that it was the most boring night they'd ever
had. That's a possibility but there were about 1000 others that felt
otherwise. Whew!
**ADS & ANNOUNCEMENTS****
[This is just a reminder: Ads must be 10 lines or under or they will be
rejected. Thank you. - Lena.]
From: "William E Kellum" <WKELLUM@gmuvax.gmu.edu>
Hey:
VHF has a new catalog. Read all about (a whole paragraph each!) new
releases by:
Wingtip Sloat
Flying Saucer Attack
Rake
The Little Debbie Performing Arts Society
Vincent Van Gogh-Go
and a bunch of other junk, too. Send your street address to:
wkellum@gmuvax.gmu.edu.
-Bill K.
###############
From: mt1aoy2 <mt1aoy2@greenwich.ac.uk>
Hello, im just quickly plugging a band i'm in, "Peter's Denial", we're an
indie/rock/pop band and are playing at the Rock Gardens, Covent Garden,
London, England, Tuesday March 1st... if you're around that area, pop
along and see us play. Anyone interested in a demo from us at the end of
March, mail me.. cheers..
Marcus T-M... Uni of Greenwich, London.
<------------------------------------------------------------>
The Indie-List Digest is published a few times each week (usually
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What Who Where
Editor Sean Murphy skmurphy@phoenix.princeton.edu
Moderator K. Lena Bennett keb@carson.u.washington.edu
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<----------------------------------------------------->
please send your articles for the next issue to LENA!
<----------------------------------------------------->
[Submitted by: karlof chris knox (karlofc@seq.cms.uncwil.edu)
Thu, 24 Feb 1994 11:06:37 -0500 (EST)]