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Wilfully Obscure
power pop * punk * emo * indie rock * shoegazer
Sunday, May 5, 2024
I haven't got a steady job and I've got no place to stay.
Friday, May 3, 2024
The Windbreakers - A Different Sort (1987, DB)
02. Fit In
03. You Closed Your Eyes
04. Better Left Unsaid
05. So Far Away
06. A Different Sort...
07. So Much
08. We Never Understand
09. Forget Again
10. Any Longer
Monday, April 29, 2024
V/A - Downtown NYC (1988, Virgin)
Downtown NYC is not one of those legendary time capsules, like say, No, New York. documenting a certain niche, rather a mish mash of widely disparate genres, for the most part honing in on new and upcoming talent. The only real semblance of a unity here in fact is the opening cut, a euphoric, soulful spin on Petula Clark's "Downtown" by the impromptu Downtown Chorus featuring members from a handful of the other bands occupying this same 33 1/3, the Uptown Horns, Jerry Harrison, and I would imagine some session musicians to boot. The overall effect is that a of a lively Broadway cast recording. This leads into the album's finest moment, a just-under three-minute slice of guitar pop genius from Mark Johnson. "Breakin' Rocks" is a perfect-ten that sounds 100% inseparable from anything that might have jumped off the first two Marshall Crenshaw albums, and is quite literally worth every penny of this record's cut-out-bin admission. I'm flabbergasted and will be checking out the arears of this mans catalog soon. Surprisingly the only band featured here with any Wilfully Obscure overlap is Rude Buddha who's sassy "No More Gravy" is more nervy than anything on their 1985 Blister My Paint ep. As for Loup Garou, I was never a mark for zydeco, but damn, these gents are mightily adept at their craft.
Side two offers several pleasant surprises. Going into this, I wasn't at all familiar with the late Frank Maya, who was a comedian by trade, however more notably on "Polaroid Children" he's backed up on guitar by Naux, a one-time Voidoid and part of the creative heft behind China Shop, a rather arcane but rewarding artifact of New York's no-wave syndicate. Soma Holiday's syncopated synth-pop boasts more 1980s production indulgencies than one can shake a stick at, the absolutely frenetic and dissonant Ritual Tension are in prime under-your-skin form as usual, and Ok Savant whose discography consists of merely two compilation showings (this one included) involves the talents of Vernon Reid on "Rain."
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Monday, April 22, 2024
Mission -- The Last Detail (1983, Frantic)
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Human Switchboard - Fly-In ep (1977/2019, Fat Possum)
Naturally, you took note of this records original 1977 copywrite date, and although this coed trio (eventually a quartet) called one of punk's early Meccas their hometown, they hardly bore any overlap with, say Pere Ubu or the Dead Boys, or for that matter other class of '77 mainstays like the Ramones and Talking Heads. The four song Fly-In ep finds the band slotting in more appropriately with the likes of Question Mark and the Mysterians due in part to a mildly churning undercurrents of organ. You won't find much in the way of jarring power chords here, rather a comparatively meager, and dare I say tentative lo-fi garage-pop aptitude overflowing with charm and integrity. Fly-In's concluding number "San Francisco Nights" oozes an aplomb thoroughly steeped in the vein of the Velvet Underground, yet it's derivative nature is it's very selling point. The 2019 Record Store Day reissue of this was adorned with wonderful packaging, a rather thick, 40-some-odd page black & white zine chockablock with articles, record reviews, gig flyers/posters and such, all pertaining to the band in question. I didn't have the time or patience to scan the vast majority of the text, but I did sneak in roughly a page of concise liner notes.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Seaweed - Beasides
As far as this somewhat haphazard collection is concerned it is presented somewhat chronologically, and for better or worse is chockablock with covers. Yes, they pursue Fleetwood Mac's most overplayed hit, but they compensate for it with excellent readings of songs that Beat Happening, The Fastbacks, Jonathan Richman, and even hardcore cult legends The Dehumanizers. Weak's "Squint" is subjected to a radical remix, while "Losing Skin" is massaged much more subtly, skewing closer to it's original incarnation. And there's plenty more gold to boot. A big shout out to whomever curated this collection.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
PopeAlopes - Yolo County Line: The Good, the Bad, The Ugly (2002, P on the K)
Going into this near 50-song collection of b-sides, outtakes, piss-takes, and concert and cable access TV performances it would be ideal to have some familiarity with the 'lopes, and seeing that I've featured their first couple of proper albums An Adder's Tale and Kerosene it's not beyond the realm of possibility to take that plunge. A lot of you might be asking what in the hell were these chaps all about. The aforementioned review can clue you in on that, but I tend to a spirited yet casual mélange of the following: The Reivers, Long Ryders, The Doors, and perhaps more minimally the likes of fIREHOSE, R.E.M. and the Replacements. If you go by what Trouser Press has to say the PopeAlopes come across as acolytes of True West, but my interest in T/W never extended that far to levy such a comparison. At last half of Yolo... consists of live recordings, the audio of which sounds to be culled from soundboard tapes.
The collection is divvied up between what the band regards as material that ranges anywhere from decent to mediocre to not-so-much, but my assessment is that if they had the cojones to make this material available for public consumption in any amount even "the ugly" quotient of this is set is still relatively approachable. And oh yeah, there's no shortage of covers populating this thing - "Wichita Lineman," "2000 Light Years From Home," Opal's "Happy Nightmare Baby, Galaxie 500's thoroughly winsome "Pictures," not to mention a riveting reading of T. Rex's indispensable "Telegram Sam." As for originals, if I had to sweat it down to just one particular song to recommend in the band's repertoire here, I'd settle on the angular yet relentlessly ringing "Blesh." I've provided the entire tracklist directly to your right, and tucked the full artwork including liner notes inside the CD 1 (The Good) folder. Enjoy.Sunday, March 31, 2024
Me and you forever!
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Arcwelder - 6/11/09 @ Vera Project, Seattle, WA
Nonetheless, I took a shine to this trio no less than 30+ years ago, due in no small part to their resemblance to another Twin Cities favorite of mine, Hüsker Dü. I never had the opportunity to encounter them in concert and due to some of the factors I've outlined above I likely never will. That's a shame, because Arcwelder made seven thoroughly convincing albums circa their run in the 1990s. Over the years I have been lucky enough to have come into a couple of live bootlegs of theirs, including this one of a rare out-of-town performance in Seattle in 2009, where they happen to churn out a bevy of fan favorites like "All Mixed Together," "Lahabim" and "Captain Allen." This is a band that's always scratched a certain itch for me, and by some miracle the boys did us a solid this January reuniting for a Mpls gig, and finally unleashing a brand new album, Continue, their first since 1999. If you have yet to make your acquaintance with these guys this live set isn't a bad place to get your feet wet, and check out the aforementioned posts in the first paragraph.
02. Lahabim
03. And Then Again
04. Treasured Island
05. title unknown
06. Criminal
07. Captain Allen
08. Harmonic Instrumental
09. title unknown
10. All Mixed Together
11. What Did You Call It That For?
13. Cranberry Sauce
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Dose - Singleton 7" (1991, C/Z)
Sunday, March 24, 2024
The Stench - Crazy Moon (1989, Running)
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Saturday, March 16, 2024
The Blackjacks - Basic Blackjacks ep (1984, Homestead)
Friday, March 15, 2024
Exploding White Mice 7" (1988, Greasy/Festival)
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Saturday, March 9, 2024
The Texas Instruments - Magnetic Home (1993, Doctor Dream)
Sunday, March 3, 2024
I kicked around in the big bad world after you sold all my action figures...
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