Mule | ST LP

On a slight early 90's kick here. . .

I had a friend in high school who dipped Days Of Work chaw and liked MGD. He liked to get drunk and drive backroads tipping cows and shooting road signs with his grandpa's 12 gauge. This was his second favorite album right after Steve Earl's Copperhead Road.

Get you some low down chaw infested dirty ass backwoods wife-beating, cheap beer and whiskey drinking, non-law-abidin' punk rock riffage right here.

Friends of Jesus Lizard or Boss Hog will be especially interested.

Babyland | 1991 EP

The unabashed eclecticism continues. . .

Brian Turner was playing some Babyland on his WFMU show (possibly the best radio show on the net) the other day and I had forgotten how fucked up over the top these dudes were. Techno-thrashfest cum industrial cheese-wad fuckery to the max. Like a rave full of Tesco Vee lookalikes drunk on whiskey and tripping on bad acid while tooling for anus, and then Ogre comes in and kicks all their leather-clad asses. So dumb as hell yet somehow damn good. Motor.Tool.Appliance must be cranked to 10, and you must mosh to it without shame every time you listen to it. If you don't, the cyberpunk Gods will permanantly implant an earworm of Temple of the Dog's Hunger Strike in your brain while your sleeping.

I think this is floating around out there in very low bitrate, but here's a hq vinyl rip for anybody that might be interested. And basically these are the best four tracks on the You Suck Crap album (with the exception of Reality) which is hit or miss on the rest of the tracks.

Sean Mccann | Boomerangutan & Sway Cdr's

Jane Pow, Tar, now Sean McCann. . . yeah, I know, I'm crazy.

McCann runs neck and neck with Prurient for most prolific man in the experimental underground. Much like the aforementioned noise guru, a surprising majority of McCann's work is excellent, and you will be hard pressed to find a release of his that isn't worthy of at least one listen.

McCan took off on his musical journey with Boomerangutan in early 2008, and hasn't slowed down, disseminating his spectral sounds on cassette and Cd-r (15 releases proper by my count) but so far nothing on vinyl. Hopefully that will change soon. While McCann gambles with being overly prolific with this many releases, he's also got the skills and the creative capital in the bank to back him up if the dice don't roll his way from time to time.

Boomerangutan consists of 16 untitled tracks ranging in length from 1:26 to 8:38 long, which is a refreshing change from the 20-30 minute long-players which are so prevalent these days. I'm not trying to decry the lengthy tunes, as many times the form is dictated by the nature of improv explorations. That is, it just takes that long for some pieces to culminate and become fully realized. McCann, however, has a knack for packing his shorter tracks to overflowing with interesting and dynamic sounds, each component carefully crafted and placed as to attain utmost efficiency. The economy of his sound, if you will, leaves nothing to waste.

Boomerangutan begins by introducing us to an abundance of disparate but well mixed sounds that congeal in a murky pool whose depth is somewhat concealed upon initial listens, but clears upon subsequent evaluations. A mashup of apparent found sounds, echoing chants, and tribal drumming, all warbling through tape hiss and a distant shoegazed guitar sheen (ala My Bloody Valentine) create an atmosphere of enchantment which never lulls or dulls.

Space-synth notes fluctuate in between the ever-mutating drones as an undergrowth of sound thickens and spawns colorful blooms of noise, mimicking the collaged cover-art of the release. A metallic hue, subtly evident during Boomerangutan's initial tracks, begins to take over the proceedings, pushing the releases essential rhythms and ubiquitous loops into outer-territories, flirting with pure noise and creating a paradox of musical emotion as the dilatory pace is antagonised by the harsher elements of the overall sound. Eventually this bipolarity drives the inmates insane, and a cacophony of inhuman voices overwhelms all but the endless electronic hum and some steady maraca-like percussion, leaving an unsettling feeling behind.

Throughout its remainder, Boomerangutan fluctuates between airy and reflective drones, desultory experiments with large arrays of obscure instruments, pure pedal and synth din, banjo strumming on ramshackle porches with steel guitar accompaniment, and soulful guitar meanderings, obviously lessening in intensity over time, but never losing its anxiety, an element which serves it well, keeping it alert and focused throughout its 72 minutes. The consistency here never becomes boring, and its creativity never goes over the top. Mccann manages to keep affairs intact and focused while wrangling a panoply of unique sounds out of a multitude of sources. Versatility and vision meet controlled chaos as seen through a kaleidoscope of sound.

I was lucky enough to get a hold of these two early on, and a quick search did not indicate they're available anywhere, so here they are now for your consumption.

Boomerangutan

Sway

Tar | Clincher

Tar, "One of the most underappreciated bands of the 90's." Truer words (as uttered by jspdilla on RYM) have not been said. This album has only 18 ratings at RYM, which is truly amazing, considering how good all of Tar's work was.

Smear some of this all over your ears and call me in the morning.

Tar | Teetering b/w The In Crowd

To be filed under more long lost 90's greatness. Don't know what it is, but groups like this who seriously slayed have seemingly been completely forgotten. You never hear any love for bands like Tar or Godheadsilo or Karp etc. It's like the entire 90's sludge/metal/am-rep punk underground has been skipped over, and all you hear groups now tallking about influence wise is either krautrock, psych or drone. There's an entire lexicon of exceptional underground rock from the the early to mid 90's that folks need to get back to. It all basically comes and goes from one place, so this genre-montheism can fuck off.

Thanks to Shiny Grey Monotone for posting these Tar singles and reminding how good Tar were. Oh, and here's some more Tar goodies at The Power of Independent Trucking that should also help cure your noise rock fix for a while.

indie rock that is really indie rock

Jane Pow | Warm Room b/w Shut Down

Ok, we’re going to go in a totally different direction with this one. Jane Pow were a indie power-pop band from Southhampton, England who sailed to the states via the Slumberland label. They put out a few singles and the Love It Be It LP, but faded away quickly following the steps of many of their peers.

The A side, Warm Room, is more melancholy and atmospheric than the more rock-like numbers on the Love It Be It LP (and CD of which the two single tracks were included), a feeling which I think worked much pretty for the band, as the LP seemed a bit inconsistent and somewhat off-kilter, which is not to say it doesn't have it's standout moments. The B side, Shut Down, is a good straight forward power-pop song with some good guitar and killer drums.

This single spent plenty of time spinning on my roommate/best friend's Pioneer turntable back in the day, and helped me through many a blue period. This is a pretty timeless record from an age when things didn't seem so damn cynical, and endless joy could be found in simplicity. But I'm sure all people say that as they grow older, as the adage "the more things change, the more they stay the same" always seems to hold true. So enough of that. I hope you find this music as ethereal and meaningful as I did, and still do.

Warm Room/Shut Down

This Jane Pow site says the full-length is LP only, but you can actually get the CD reissue direct from Slumberland for $8.