Various Artists - International Pop Underground Convention

Various Artists – International Pop Underground Convention
K, 1991
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007
Price: $12

This is a document of what was probably the greatest music festival of all time. Well, in my pop kid head that's what it would have been. The whole legend of this festival/ “Convention” is recounted in Michael Azzerad's Our Band Could Be Your Life, and is full of awesome little anecdotes about things like Ian MacKaye working as a ticket taker and detailing the anti-corporate community-minded mindset of the International Pop Underground. All of this was spearheaded by Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson and goddammit, I wish I could have been there. But I was five years old when this happened, so I'll live with just having this record. Everything here is noisy and sloppy and thoroughly badass...well as badass as indie-pop can be. Ok, it's not all indie-pop. Fugazi is on this! As are Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, the Melvins, Unwound, and L7. There's a nice offering of awesome indie-pop jams, naturally, including entries from the Pastels, the Spinnanes, Rose Melberg, and naturally, Beat Happening. The Pastels' “Speedway Star” sounds exactly like the kind of live performance I'd like to play. The jangly guitars, off-key vocals, and lots of under-mixed vocals. It's all quite DIY to the max, fighting the “corporate ogre” Johnson describes in the liner notes. Sadly, a lot of this is hit or miss for me and it mostly just makes me wish I was there because I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. A bunch of hip, fey twentysomethings in cardigans rocking out. The Spinnanes “Jad Fair Drives Women Wild” rules though. RULES. There are just too many screamy, shambling bands that sound exactly alike on this record and it gets old after a while.

IPU CAKE WALK!!!

Various Artists - Getting Older: The Flying Nun Retrospective Compilation 1981-1991

Various Artists – Getting Older: The Flying Nun Retrospective Compilation 1981-1991
Flying Nun Records, 1991
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007
Price: $15

This is probably the best compilation I own, and strangely, features my three favorite Flying Nun related songs. It's a strange twist of fate. The album opens with the Clean's “Getting Older,” which is one of those songs that changed my life. Needless to say, it's my favorite track in the Clean's outstanding discography and I remember the first time I heard it. Nick Dormer called in to one of my shifts at KJ and demanded I play it, especially after I'd told him I'd never heard it. And I had a moment, one of those moments where your life is going to be different after hearing a particular song. Like there's my life before “Getting Older” and my life after “Getting Older.” It's a song that gets better with age, as I'm persistently getting older and not knowing why, and not knowing what to do. This compilation also has “Rolling Moon” by the Chills, which I first heard on either Gabe or Justin's Alternative Flashback on KJ. I can't remember who played it, but I'm sure both of them know the song and both of them love it because it's a goddamned masterpiece. I know “Pink Frost” is typically understood to be their monster jam, and I love that song but as soon as that little bit of the echoy riff hits in the first ten seconds of the song before the drums kick in, I get a woozy feeling. It's a perfect pop song. Also on the comp is Chris Knox's “Not Given Lightly,” which could very well be the greatest love song of all time...that no one has ever heard. It's one that you sneak on to a mixtape to make a girl fall in love with you, just absolutely incredible and while Knock is best known as ½ of Tall Dwarfs, this is his masterpiece. In addition to those three unfuckwithable tracks, there are excellent entries from The Verlaines, Bird Nest Roys, Able Tasmans, the Bats, Look Blue Go Purple, and Straightjacket Fits. It's an excellent starting point for someone looking for a primer in Flying Nun Records, and one that shows what you can do when you're country wants to promote an arts scene and gives you money to make weird little pop records and create a sound that is incredibly distinct and that will inspire artists around the world. This is why New Zealand is awesome. Right here.

Various Artists - Lonely is an Eyesore

Various Artists – Lonely is an Eyesore
4AD, 1987
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007
Price: $6

I don't know what compelled me to buy this. Probably the 4AD logo on the back. However, the label has grown significantly since 1987, notably growing into my comfort zone. Gothy, post-punky, dreamy weirdness isn't necessarily where I live. I do like the Cocteau Twins, though, but I hate Dead Can Dance. My layman's description of this would be that it sounds like Joy Division without the awesome beats and basslines and like the Cure without hooks. Like if every song was the verse for “Let's Go to Bed”...or maybe just this creepy Wolfgang Press song. I am digging all the drum machines, though. Apparently this album came in a “wooden box” limited edition, which featured the recording on LP, CD, cassette and VHS, which is kind of neat, and would be neater if this compilation was more substantial. The Throwing Muses song is kind of a jam, though. I REALLY dislike Dead Can Dance, all that weird gothic wailing just sounds like mush to me. I feel like I should be wearing a cape once I get to the end of side two. And that I should have fangs, and be standing on a spire in a thunderstorm, watching a horsedrawn carriage riding off into the storm.

How strange! Both of the comps covered so far have a song called "Fish" on them! Here's Throwing Muses' "Fish."

Various Artists - Tuatara

Various Artists – Tuatara
Flying Nun Records, 1985 (Strange Weekend US reissue)
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007
Price: $10

This, along with the Topless Women Talk About Their Lives comp, was my introduction to Flying Nun Records, which would eventually become one of my favorite labels in the history of music. It's amazing, how this little island nation at the bottom of the world could basically figure out indie-pop in a way that was slightly different from what was going on in the UK and in the States and put out some of the most outrageously good tracks and bands nobody's ever heard. Tuatara kicks off with the Clean's awesome instrumental “Fish” and the whole first half is dedicated to bands whose stuff is really, really hard to find. Even on bittorrent. The Gordons, Fetus Productions, Children's Hour, I can't find their stuff anywhere! “Pink Frost” by the Chills is here though, and jesus christ, a jam like that is worth $20 on its own. It's also got “The Brain that Wouldn't Die” by Tall Dwarfs, who I'm only now getting into in a sad way. Chris Knox, as you may know, recently suffered from a stroke and a whole bunch of awesome artists put together a two-disc comp of Tall Dwarfs and Knox-related band covers, and this is what has led me to listen to the originals with vigor.

There are plenty of gems here. The Verlaines “Death and the Maiden” embody the word “jangly” in terms of guitars and is a perfect little capsule of a pop song that could put most mainstream pop groups to shame. AND it features a weird, woozy little carnival organ solo (like one of my other favorite songs from the southern hemisphere, “Annabel Bleach” by the Ampersands (which will be coming up shortly in the 7”s section) seemingly out of nowhere for a half a minute before launching back into the song. The gatefold has a little bio about all of the bands, which is totally rad. Pictures too! Some bands, like Children's Hour have a hardcore post-punk bent, but mostly this is a mass of indie rock gold, catchy indie pop jams and just plain weirdo shit (see: Marie and the Atom's hauntingly odd “Isol”). Awesome comp, weird comp, totally worth having comp.

"Pink Frost" as performed live by the Chills!

End of Z

A through Y = $2502
Z = $1
A through Y + Z = $2503

Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

Warren Zevon – Excitable Boy
Asylum, 1978
Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008
Price: $1

Warren Zevon perpetually sounds like an old man, and it works to his advantage. I knew this was his, you know, “Classic” record and for $1, I think it's pretty much a steal. This is a fantastic record and triggers the sensors in my brain that have a firm fondness for Harry Nilsson. AND it's got “Werewolves of London” on it, which has always been a jam for me since I was a kid. I listened to Zevon's final record (before his death in 2003), The Wind, at work the other day and while I didn't like it much on an aesthetic level, I thought it was pretty awesome. There's something about looking death in the face and saying “well, bring it on” that makes that record really powerful. And getting all your famous friends to pitch in, it's almost like a tribute to yourself before you're actually dead. A way to go out on top, sort of. But Excitable Boy, fuck this is a good record. I mean, the title track pulls of a sax solo and the only other person that pulls off sax solos (for me, at least) is Springsteen. “Accidentally Like a Martyr” is one of the best songs I'd never heard until just now, when I listened to this record. It's like the song you hear in a movie during some huge, transformative moment and you're like “Who the hell is this?” It captures heartbreak without being melodramatic. There's something so matter of fact about it that captures the feeling perfectly. That “what the hell do I do now” feeling after someone's gone. Honestly, this song feels like a touchstone for Jason Molina, and come to think of it, I remember him doing a cover of “Werewolves of London” at one point, so that makes sense. But yeah, this is like classic rock for nerds without muscles and trans ams, and that is helping me love the shit out of this record. And closing with the righteous jam “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” well, you can't really go wrong.

End of Y

A through X = $2411
Y = $91
A through X + Y = $2502

ALMOST THERE! Or, almost done with the LPs. All that's left is one Z, which should be up today, a handful of comps and the LPs I got for Christmas that I've been saving for the very end. And then the real fun begins with the 7"s. I'd love to start putting up MP3s of some of these, because there are some amazing songs coming up, but given that blogger has been DESTROYING any blogs that so much as BREATHE on an MP3, I better not.

Hopefully it doesn't take me 2 weeks to get to the 7''s though, busy times around the office (i.e. my living room, where I am currently sitting)! Lots of Pitch stuff, lots of regular work stuff at the CD Tradpost, lots of comix drawing, lots of playing actual music and writing actual songs for the first time in months. AND, I've been secretly buying records again. It's a cruel mistress, Love Garden. They recently obtained a massive collection of all the kinds of records I hope to find there some day, and I simply avoided the place for a couple of weeks to keep myself from doing something stupid. Finally, I went in to survey the damage and see if there were any scraps to pick up and blew about $20 in two days. Not bad, considering my track record (See: $2502 so far...), but still, money doesn't grow on trees like it used to (see: my student loan days, which I now realize were foolish, very, very foolish). However, I've decided the best way to satisfy my desire to own records is to stick almost exclusively to 7"s. They're more fun to listen to, and I really love b-sides. And Love Garden is VERY good at making me second-guess my budget. Like, I bought the 7" for Teenage Fanclub's "The Concept," one of my favorite songs of all time. It was the shortened version, lacking the guitar solo that I get sick of about a minute and a half before the song ends, BUT the next day I saw that they had the same single on 12"! And I ALMOST BOUGHT IT...and I might still buy it. Goddamnit. Not to mention a Sarah Records single by one of my favorite Sarah bands that I really should have bought by now but am fighting!

Anyway, it's been busy and I've been poor. Naturally, when I finally started to have some spending cash I slipped on some black ice on the front stairs and destroyed my laptop screen which, thanks to my buddy Andrew, only ended up setting me back $160 but still! Funny, though, the laptop broke my fall and now it's bent. As in, I put a disc in and it spits it right back out because the goddamned disc drive is dented! It works, so there.

AND THERE ARE 8 MILLION SHOWS THIS WEEK. Is anyone going to Surfer Blood at the Reeps on Saturday? I only just realized it's the same night as the Kid Congo Powers show across the street at the Jackpot and I REALLY WANT TO GO TO THAT and I'm pretty sure most cool people will be at that show. But Surfer Blood = getting paid to write about, so that's where my heart lies. That, and their debut LP Astrocoast is the jam. Should have a Gut Feeling reev of that up soon, come to think of it! AND the rating system has been expanded...or will be, as soon as I ink the drawings for "Real Goddamn Good" and "Hella Fuckin' Good," or whatever they are.

For no reason, here is a picture of what the dog is doing right now, inspired by this afternoon's reading of Dave Eggers' short story "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned," which is told from the point of view of a dog.

Neil Young - Harvest

Neil Young – Harvest
Reprise, 1972
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2007
Price: $7

I like Harvest more than After the Goldrush (ok, they each have their own merits that I am falling in love with) but I'm still not sold on Neil Young. I think he's a great songwriter, and but sometimes I think covers of his songs are better than his. Like St. Etienne's “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” which was my introduction to the song and once I heard Young's version, I was a little let down. Mostly, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about because I feel like I'm going to get really into Neil Young once I turn 27, but right now I'm still too much into mid-90s indie rock guitar solos. I do love the use of the London Symphony Orchestra on “A Man Needs a Maid” (but I don't like how the Orchestra makes “There's a World” sound like a song from a Disney movie). There's such a grandiosity to that song that really, really works for me. “Heart of Gold” is probably my favorite Neil Young song because it's the one I've heard the most, probably on the jukebox at Harbour Lights. “Out on the Weekend,” “Old Man,” and “The Needle and the Damage Done” also slay. You know, maybe I just want more guitar solos with Neil Young. Like “Like a Hurricaine.” That's probably my favorite Neil Young song, and it's mostly because of how badass and end-of-the-world the guitars sound. I forgot how good “The Needle and the Damage Done” was, and I can't remember why, but I got REALLY into this song a few months ago...or someone's cover of it.

Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

Neil Young – After the Gold Rush
Reprise, 1970
Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008
Price: $1

I don't know why, but I've never really given Neil Young a shot until very, VERY recently. Mostly, I just thought he sounded like an old woman and yeah, his melodies are great, his guitar solos are wicked, and that cover of “Cortez the Killer” that Built to Spill does led me to seek out Zuma, but yeah, something never grabbed me. Something still doesn't grab me. But I do enjoy listening to his records, and anytime he comes on the radio it's a pleasant surprise. And I love Magnolia Electric Co., who have clearly been VERY influenced by Mr. Young (why, just read any music review of that band and his name is sure to pop up). Ok, so what I know now is that I should listen to more Neil Young because I really don't, and this is necessary. At the store today, I was looking for the greatest hits collection we had, but I remember I hard-sold it to someone for some reason, all “oh, Neil Young is great” and now I realize I could have spent so much more time with that CD! Honestly, the only song I don't like here is the cover, “Oh, Lonesome Me,” which just pales in comparison to Young's own songwriting on this record, so it makes sense. I was wondering why it sounded corny. But “Don't Let it Bring You Down” follows up and that track fucking slays. Basically, this is like some shitty band I found, signed to my major label, and have ignored for a while but eventually, they'll start paying off and I'll be rolling in cash. In this case, Cash is understanding why people love Neil Young and loving him myself because, yeah, this is pretty good. And my favorite parti s how “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” should sound cheesy and lame but it's so fucking affecting it breaks my heart a little. And you contrast that with the pseudo-southern rock of “When You Dance I Can Really Love” it really makes this album kind of epic.

Why I Hate Going to Shows In Lawrence: Reason #1

Apparently, there's an unwritten law that once an artist drops into the “hushed” range, you are allowed to talk over the music. It spreads like a forest fire too. First it's the people somewhere behind you in the back where people usually talk, but then it moves to the people directly behind you. Then the people right next to you, and then the people right in front of you who are standing two feet away from the person who's singing. And then it sounds like some sort of art piece. Put a really quite singer-songwriter on stage and see how long it takes for people to drown out his music. I know concerts are very much a social gathering kind of thing, but maybe I'm just old school in believing that when someone is playing REALLY quietly you either a.) go outside if you want to talk and you're not into it or b.) watch just as quietly as the person is playing.
So anyway, if you haven't gathered this is what happened at the show at the Jackpot last night. I've always given Lawrence shit for being a town that prefers chatter over music, but there have been shows when audiences have behaved themselves. I remember the Kings of Convenience show years ago, the one where Feist opened and no one had ever heard her and everyone in the jam packed Bottleneck was absolutely still and quiet with the exception of a few “holy shit, she's amazing”s. I don't think it should be selective though. Maybe that's why the Chomp Womp kids play so loud. I mean, that's not the reason I know, but at least no one can physically talk through their sets. That's why I always wanted to play loud in the Kite Tails, because once we played a slower song I could hear the people talking, and I could see the people talking, and it didn't really bother me very much but I did try to make my face contort into a “Bob Dylan singing 'Idiot Wind'” kind of disposition.
We were never as quiet as Blakey Bear though, and I've never, ever been part of such a disrespectful audience. God, I sound like someone's mom...or a nun. But really, I always thought there were rules of common courtesy but apparently no on gives a fuck because at one point, EVERYONE was talking and talking louder and I literally couldn't hear a damn thing Blake was singing. So I left and went outside and just sat. And then I went back in, hoping things had changed and of course it had just gotten louder. It's like, everyone WANTS to talk, but it's not OK until the people next to you are and then well, what's the point of coming to a show if you just want to talk and you don't want to watch the bands? Even if it's not your thing, you can go outside and have a cigarette or go sit in the back. It was embarassing.
I don't know if I can say the same for KC, but I've generally had a better time at shows there. At least during Low everyone sat on the floor and it was totally quiet, so quiet that I could get upset about the a-hole behind me snapping pictures the whole time. It's funny, too, because Jenny and I saw Blake play at Wonder Fair a few weeks ago and it was packed and dead silent throughout his set. Although, everyone there was at least 25 or older, so maybe that's the thing. You put college kids in a bar where they actively go to see bands, and they will talk over the bands. I'm just downright amazed that people would pay to go to a show and then talk through it. And then probably go home and blog about it. Maybe I don't notice these things as much because this was the first show I WASN'T covering for the Pitch since like, October. The first one I'd actually paid to get into, to go and see some newish local bands and just watch music without taking notes and without over analyzing anything. And we ended up leaving after Blake's set because if you stand around too many assholes for too long, you're bound to become one of them.