July 24, 2005
Candy Machine - The Constant
This, too, was on the end of the David Byrne tape like the previous post, recorded from the John Peel show. Its a rough mp3 - the tape is degrading.
So who the hell are Candy Machine?
Well, they are from Baltimore and were signed to Desoto records. And they had something to do with Simple Machines, as they are on this interesting compilation
Its a big noise track and kinda sounds like it should have been done by an English band - there is definitely something 'manchester' like in there. Its a good, big, trashy track, and certainly doesn't out stay its welcome.
Read a little bit about Candy Machine at All Music.
Candy Machine - The Constant mp3
/3
I think I'm going to go for the Simple Machines compilation.
July 18, 2005
The Best Kissers in the World - Broke My Knee
I found this on the end of a tape of David Byrnes' Rei Mono. Its a fantastic, screeching grungy rock n roll track.
The Best Kissers in the World started in Arizona but moved to Seattle around the time of the big grunge thang where they made some singles and an album and split up. I haven't heard the album, but may dabble as I quite like this track. One guy out of the band now manages the Super Suckers.
The Best Kissers in the World - Broke My Knee mp3
/3
I might just try and find this record to have a listen.
July 13, 2005
Bivouac - unknown
Bivouac were briefly interesting. I certainly liked this track, but seem to remember that the album, Tuber, didn't hold up that well.
Further research has suggested the Paul Yeadon of Bivouac is / was a member of AC Acoustics and have worked with Pitchshifter. I can't confirm any of that though - anyone know anything more?
/3
The album didn't stand up, so no replacing going on here.
June 18, 2005
Unsane - This Town
This is a great amount of unholy noise - I like this. Maybe I'm turning Finnish - they like to listen to a lot of noise rock / noise metal.
Unsane, from NYC, made a bunch of albums from 1991 onwards and have a new album in 2005. I'm gonna be searching out some records, I suspect the earlier stuff is the better...
/3 (this is a rating from one to three gauging whether I'd replace this record on cd)
I'm going to hear a lot more of this - starting with the Singles 89-92.
Godfathers - I'm Unsatisfied
We used to go and watch the Godfathers at the Hummingbird in Birmingham - well, at least once we did, and they were very cool performers, real 'foot on the monitor' rock'n'roll, complete with windmills.
It was at a Godfathers gig that we saw an older bloke wearing a suit. As 17/18 year olds we wondered if we would still be going to gigs when we were 30 yrs old. I guess we know now. I go to very few gigs in London, as they all seem to be over priced to me. I'd love to see more gigs, but once you've bought the ticket for £20 plus £2.50 service charge plus £4.95 processing fee plus £5 travel and 3 beers you've spent over £40, and that'll buy a few cds.
Anyway, the Godfathers don't appear to be going any longer, and their final albums were, um, shite. This track, however, rocks.
The Godfathers - I'm Unsatisfied mp3
/3 (this is a rating from one to three gauging whether I'd replace this record on cd)
I enjoyed it at the time, but probably couldn't be bothered to listen to it anymore.
June 15, 2005
The Blue Aeroplanes - Yr Own World
They're from Bristol and were student favourites. I know nothing much else about the Blue Aeroplanes. I had this one album, Beat Songs, and this is the stand out track on the record.
They're still going apparantly - www.blueaeroplanes.com
The Blue Aeroplanes - Yr Own World mp3
/3
oh, they were alright, but that was then...
June 06, 2005
Rubher - Johnny Peel is Dead
Maybe a bit to close to last years tragic news, but this is posted with upmost respect for the great DJ.
I found this track on the end of a Voodoo Queens album, taped from John Peels Radio One show. Its got a great preamble by Mr Peel and it was very strange to come across this in my big box of tapes. No doubt John Peel would approve of its revival now seeing as he is dead, I guess this tracks time has come...
I don't know anything about Rubher except they are Australian, possibly from Queensland.
Rubher - Johnny Peel is Dead mp3
/3
If anything could be found by Rubher, it probably wouldn't be worth it.
Compulsion - Little Marks
Around the time of Nirvana were Compulsion, and that is exactly what this track and album remind me of. Its not half bad, quite rousing.
Amazingly, Compulsion seem to still be going - or at least by that I mean that they released a record in this century, to my surprise.
They're from Dublin, Ireland and their singer is called Josephmary so they've got to be worth a listen.
Allmusic.com's list of similar artists is, as usual, kinda questionable - Midway Still, for gods sake?
/3
I probably can't be bothered, I'm sorry to say.
June 05, 2005
Maria McKee - Am I The Only One
Maria McKee's voice is absolutely penetrating on this song and I love it. Formerly of Lone Justice, but with much better work on her own, McKee is coming from the country stable. Indeed Allmusic.com states similar artists as Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and the Jayhawks.... hmmm, not exactly but I get what they mean.
So, if you like your country, give this a listen. If you don't, then still give it a listen cos its very good indeed. Once you like this, try on some Lucinda Williams for (a very different) size.
This track is from her first self titled album and her second album - You've gotta sin to get saved - is also worth a listen.
Maria McKee - Am I The Only One mp3
/3
I will most definitely be getting at least two Maria McKee albums and checking out her Live in Hamburg album too!
American Music Club - Ex-girlfriend
I'd forgotten how powerful Mark Eitzels' vocal is, and in fact how good the songs of American Music Club can be. A band with a rocky on/off past which saw seven albums released, they disbanded in 1996 and have since reformed and released a new album which I haven't heard.
American Music Club are a band where the word 'tormented' often appeared in reviews, Ex-girlfriend seems to be a similarly distraught song with a fantastic sound scape of noise. This track is from the album 'Everclear', apparantly named after a 180 proof spirit as Mark Eitzel was known to be fond of a drink.
American Music Club on Allmusic.com
American Music Club - Ex-girlfriend mp3
The C90 rating:
/ 3
This album was suprisingly good, I think I'll add to the wish list for future purchasing.
May 26, 2005
360s - Deadpan Superstar
The 360s are an obscure Boston quartet that I know very little about. This track is from their 1991 Illuminated EP and was recorded at the end of the Magnapop tape - see previous entry. They went on to record a couple of albums, but I never heard them and they don't show up on Amazon.
The C90 rating:
If this was available on Amazon I'd get it, but as it isn't I'll have to wait until I see it a second hand record store.
May 02, 2005
World Party - Give It All Away
Whatever happened to World Party? I figure I'll be saying that a lot with these tape entries.
Karl Wallinger was, as far as I could tell, World Party. Before that he was in the Water Boys (I forgot all about that). This track is from the third album, Bang!. I seem to remember that World Party had some kind of 'green' pretensions - perhaps most noticeable on Put the Message in a Box.
Anyways, I like the full on production on this track, its very layered, intense and quite mesmeric and Mr Wallinger sounds quite concerned about giving it all away.
Here is the website of World Party, but it seems unattended, deserted.
You may do better at All Music.
World Party - Give It All Way.mp3
The C90 rating:
Its good - but not enough to buy.
---
April 25, 2005
Magnapop - Favorite Writer
I had REM, also from Athens Georgia, on the other side of this cassette, and I always wanted to fast forward through it so I could play
Magnapop again. This track is from their first record that is a collection of demos and singles produced by Bob Mould and Michael Stipe.
I never heard any other albums by Magnapop, but I used to love this and especially remember listening to this in the car driving down to London years ago, along with Underworld tapes.
Magnapop - Favorite Writer mp3
The C90 rating:
Its good - but not enough to buy.
---
April 20, 2005
Box Full of Cassettes
When I was younger, probably like a lot of people, my friends and I used to lend and borrow our LP records and tape them. In this way, we'd greatly extend our music collections beyond what our meagre cashflow could afford.
Now I'm surrounded by cds and mp3s I rarely listen to these old cassettes. With print-through and general deterioration, I've got a box full of defunct cassettes and a recent move of house saw me resolve to get rid of them. I never play these cassettes anymore, they're taking up space, gathering dust.
But there is a lot of good stuff on these tapes, so I've decided to go through all three boxes to figure out which albums I want to buy on cd. As I'm doing this, I thought I'd post up some mp3s of the more interesting artists I find.
Hence 'C90' - a trawl through 3 boxes of old music cassettes on their way to the dump.