Small Factory - "The Last Time That We Talked" 7"

Small Factory – “The Last Time That We Talked” 7”

Vernon Yard, 1994

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2008

Price: $1

“The Last Time That We Talked” is one of my favorite alt-rock tracks from the mid-90s. It’s absolutely perfect. Alex Kemp delivers the bitter college rock dude tirade while Phoebe Summersquash sweetens the affair with backing vocals that accent and harmonies on the chorus that absolutely make the song. In my head, this is what I think is cool: Three people from Rhode Island playing for no glory, and nobody but themselves. It’s a crying shame that their tiny output remains locked away in obscurity, because their discography is so very, very good. The b-side “Movies” turns up the band’s sensitive side and serves as excellent contrast to the rolling pure pop bliss of the a-side. Though Alex Kemp and Phoebe Summersquash continued on via their band the Godrays, neither seems to have any musical output after 1997, which is unbearably sad considering how great these songs are.

Small Factory - "Lose Your Way" 7"

Small Factory – “Lose Your Way” 7”

Slumberland/Bijoopiter, 1994

Acquired: Love Garden, Used, 2008

Price: $1

I feel like I can’t go 20 posts without talking about Small Factory. They were a small band from the smallest state and somehow they always seem to be popping up. Something about their tunes really hits me where it counts. They’re pure indie pop, but not cloyingly twee. They’re a little lo-fi with a firm grasp on mid-90s jangle pop, but these tracks sound timeless. Both “Lose Your Way” and b-side “Scared of Love” are instant winners. I was just slagging Slumberland the other day, but this is the stuff I was talking about when I was talking about Slumberland’s mid-90s heyday where their track record was unblemished. Neither of these songs found their way onto Small Factory’s second and final (and fantastic) LP For If You Cannot Fly, which makes this 7” a tiny miracle. 

Scared of Love from Small Factory on Myspace.

Honeybunch - "Count Your Blessings" 7"

Honeybunch – “Count Your Blessings” 7”

K Records, 1994

Acquired: K Record Mail Order, New, 2009
Price: $3

 

“Count Your Blessings” was one of my favorite songs from my indie rock era. I played it consistently on my radio show—“Pop Rocks”—and though the song isn’t as flashy as other pop hits, it has tremendous replay value. Lots of little subtleties worm their way into your brain. They’re not afraid to break out sweet guitar solos here and there, which puts them on the Teenage Fanclub side of the pop spectrum. The back cover notes that Dave Auchenbach recorded the songs. Why does that name sound so familiar? I thought to myself. That’s right! Dave Auchenbach was in Small Factory, who I have been thinking about a lot lately via recent write-ups of Small Factory offshoot the Godrays (which notably did not feature Auchenbach, presumably because he wanted to record other bands from his native Rhode Island and establish a classic “Rhode Island Sound”). Alas, I’m a sucker for members of bands I like working with other bands I like. 

I gave up on trying to find a way to upload and share "Count Your Blessings" so here's another one of their excellent singles, "Mine Your Own Business." Both tracks can be found on their terrific career retrospective Time Trials via Summershine. Honeybunch are one of those great little forgotten indie pop/twee bands from the 90s who never really got their due despite crafting subdued songs that could hang with the best of Sarah Records.


And while we're at it, I might as well add on "Hey Blue Sky." Because it's wonderful.

The Godrays - Songs for TV Stars 7"

The Godrays – Songs for TV Stars 7”

Vernon Yard, 1996

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

 

The title track from this double 7” is probably the most impressive song in the Godrays’ tiny catalog. I can’t guarantee this, as I haven’t heard their full length—also titled Songs for TV Stars—which amazingly only features two tracks from this 7”. I totally expected this to be a selection from the forthcoming album but nope! The Godrays know how to do an album proper! Strangely, the real overlap comes with “Crummy,” which appeared in a different form of the other Godrays’ 7” I own. This version of “Crummy” was recorded into a four-track, features only front man Alex Kemp, and isn’t nearly as good as the version on the “Crummy” single. Partly because the pretty little synth line gets way distorted into obscurity, but mostly because Phoebe Summersquash’s backing vocals make that song. It’s not bad, it just pales in comparison. I wonder which version shows up on the album? Oh yeah, I was talking about the impressiveness of “Songs for TV Stars.” Kemp suckers you in by laying out a serpentine bass line at the outset and littering the track’s empty space with spare little guitar notes. And then he just hammers you with the chorus and its big wall of guitars, Summersquash backing vocals poking through, and a mightily satisfying melody. “No Arms are Good for Holding” and the brooding instrumental “Film Music 2” stray from the pop-tinted glow of their first 7” and Small Factory’s entirely blissful output, but Kemp and Summersquash handle this newfound heavy indie rock with aplomb.

Willfuly Obscure is once again the only place that has the Jams.

The Godrays - Bed Spins 7"

The Godrays – The Bed Spins 7”

Vernon Yard, 1996

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2008

Price: $.25

 

The Godrays rose from the ashes of the excellent little Rhode Island based indie pop band Small Factory. Following the departure of guitarist Dave Auchenbach in 1995, bassist Alex Kemp and drummer Phoebe Summersquash formed the Godrays and continued paying tribute to the rich tradition New English alternative rock. Considering that Small Factory’s “The Last Time That We Spoke” is one of my favorite, most criminally unsung alt-pop songs of the mid 90s (a song I should note I only heard after acquiring the 7” in the Love Garden Shotgun Room) I was absolutely game to finally listen to the Godrays. Of course they’re great. Kemp and Summersquash harmonize in that way that really great indie-pop bands harmonize, which is to say that while they aren’t Singers with a big capital S, when they harmonize they create that perfect human sweetness you love. A-Side “Crummy” capitalizes on those harmonies, and threads an airy little unobtrusive synthesizer riff throughout. Though Kemp has an average-dude voice, it is more than capable enough to deliver the melodic goods on the track’s catchy chorus. The B-Side, “Northless,” provides a nice counterpoint to the upbeat niceness of “Crummy” by setting the mopefactor to 11. It’s a short, downtrodden little tune that bursts into a cathartic guitar solo at the very end. This is one of those perfect little 7”s where a band you’ve never heard manages to blow you away and you realize that there are hundreds of bands you’ve never heard of and will probably never hear that have songs that would knock your socks off if only you stumbled across them in the bargain basement section of a record store.   

"Crummy"