Elliott Smith - "Needle in the Hay" 7"

Elliott Smith  - “Needle in the Hay” 7”

Kill Rock Stars, 1995

Acquired: Kill Rock Stars Mailorder, New, 2003

Price: $4

I spent many hours of my teenage years analyzing “Needle in the Hay.” Like many kids my age, I discovered Elliott Smith via the wrist-cutting sequence of The Royal Tenenbaums. Because of that, and through mishearing something Wes Anderson said on the audio commentary, I thought Elliott Smith had killed himself. I found out he was still alive! And two weeks later (and two weeks after I’d acquired this 7”) he killed himself. I remember coming home from school to that. Sitting at the family computer in the living room and letting punknews.org break the heartbreaking news. That memory is firmly attached this this 7”. As is riding the KU campus bus heartbroken. And thinking lines like “Man, I’m glad I’m not addicted to heroin” but also being able to find the deep, dark humor in a line like “You oughta be proud that I’m getting good marks.” Smith is his generation’s Nick Drake (who also has a song on The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack, committed suicide, and wrote the same sort of sad, soulful songs that get inside of you and never come out) and a national treasure bound to be discovered and rediscovered for decades, centuries, millennia.

Slumber Party - Mailorder Freak 7" Singles Club

Slumber Party – Mailorder Freak 7” Singles Club

Kill Rock Stars, 1999

Acquired: Mail Order, New, 2002 (?)

Price: $2?

I know for a fact that this is one of the first seven-inch records that I owned. I also know that I don’t know where the hell it came from. I know mail order was involved, and I am fairly certain that it came free when I ordered something from Kill Rock Stars’ website. I’m thinking it was probably Elliott Smith’s eponymous LP, but don’t quote me on that. Slumber Party’s hazy female-fronted indie pop a la the Aislers Set, a more sedate Black Tambourine, or a less edgy Breeders is right up my alley and I really enjoy the beautiful basicness of these tracks. It’s simple and pretty and not without substance (although there’s not a lot that sticks, there’s something to be said for tracks that are pleasant in the moment). This is the December installment of KRS’s Mailorder Freak 7” Singles Club. Maybe I purchased it as a “Random 7” add-on to my order. I had just started collecting records in the very early 00s and I know the prospect of paying a buck or two for some random single would have appealed to me. Actually, that still appeals to me. Every record label should offer that! What a great way to clean house!

Nicole Panter - The Story Lady 7"

Nicole Panter – The Story Lady

Kill Rock Stars, 1996

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

The back of this 7” warns: “CONSUMER ADVISTORY: THE ENCLOSED VINYL CONTAINS PROSE!!!” Fair warning! I clearly didn’t see it when I picked this up, but even if I had, the Kill Rock Stars logo on the back was like a seal of endorsement and, at a whole quarter, impossible not to purchase. What we have here is a micro audiobook on wax. Four short stories by the former manager of the Germs. Most of the stories failed to harness my rather short attention span and was promptly returned to a massive stack of recently acquired 7”s. Listening now I enjoy these tales more. There is one about westernized Indian food (and food in the western world in general) compared to the food in actual drought-ridden India was particularly striking. Traveling through India Panter notes, “the eyes of these people lance me. They are not angry, they are not hostile, they are simply hungry.” Another potent piece is “Fuck You Punk Rock/77” which plays almost like slam poetry but is really just an impassioned recollection of punk rock being used as a tool for belonging from someone who was there. While it’s a little odd finding stories on a 7”, there’s a certain power to the way the needle spins over nothing at the end of the heartbreaking and harrowing story from a fucked up upbringing (the lone track that populates the b-side, “The Baby”) that makes the whole thing hit you like a ton of bricks.

None of these tracks are available at the web, but there is a spoken word track up on Panter's bygone Myspace page. The graphic sexuality of the piece had me blushing so hard I couldn't even dig for the embed code. 

Li'l Pit - "Feeling Good" 7"

Li’l Pit – “Feeling Good” 7”

Kill Rock Stars,

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

 

No doubt, I grabbed this little baby from the Love Garden Shotgun Room because of the KRS and because of the Mike Watt on Stand Up Bass. Watt also produced this strange attempt at cool jazz by alt-rockers (Porno For Pyros’ Stephen Perkins dishes up drums on this one). Leave “Feeling Good” to Nina Simone, I say. This one’s a bass-heavy wash. For kicks, here is the record's ancient website from Mike Watt's hootpage circa 1997s.

feelin' good from lil pit on Myspace.

sometimes I'm happy from lil pit on Myspace.

The Decemberists - "Sixteen Military Wives" 7"

The Decemberists – “Sixteen Military Wives” 7”

Rough Trade, 2005

Acquired: Half Price Books, Used, 2013

Price: $1.50

 

“Sixteen Military Wives” is the high water mark of the Decemberists fun factor. They were always fun, with Colin Meloy’s yarns about chimbley sweeps and their penchant for sea shanties and the more morbid aspects of the grimy past, but “Sixteen Military Wives” is just a hoot. And a holler! It’s jaunty and clever and a distillation of everything the Decemberists did best in their prime before Meloy got obsessed with making grandiose concept albums. Where The Crane Wife seems to be considered their masterpiece (is it?), the songs were never as good as they were on Picaresque. It’s not as interconnected as any of their albums, but it works out for the best. The B-side delivers a demo of “From My Own True Love” which along with “Eli, the Barrow Boy” shored up the gloomy sad side of that album and helped tracks like “Sixteen Military Wives” and “The Sporting Life” really pop by contrast. The Decemberists’ most recent LP—The King is Dead—found the group returning to a more song-oriented approach, which was great, but the whimsy had clearly dried up. Which is fine. Bands get older and get tired of doing the same shit album in and album out and while The King is Dead is a fine record, it really pales in comparison to Picaresque. Plus, that video for “Sixteen Military Wives” was just fantastic, wasn’t it?

The Delta '72 - "On the Rocks" 7"

The Delta ’72 – On the Rocks 7”

Kill Rock Stars/Dischord, 1994
Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2008

Price: $1

The DC in Delta ‘72’s blood is undeniable. My first thought when putting the 7” on was “Is this on Dischord?” I checked. It’s on Kill Rock Stars but KRS would have been my second guess. TWIST. It’s a collaborative release between the two labels! Delta ’72 bring edgy post-grunge alt-rock to the (turn)table. “On the Rocks” is a murky mess of booming drums, screeching female vocals, and has a farfisa playing out some eerie organ tones to make the whole thing feel a little unsettling. The first track on the B-side—“Got a Train to Catch”—is a lot more palatable. Again, it’s pretty straightforward noisy mid-90s indie rock but that track (in addition to the farfisa which adds a unique texture to the band’s sound) has a harmonica that pops up halfway through and though John Popper ruined the harmonica for EVERYONE in the 90s, it’s kind of awesome here.