Leftover College Radio Station Indie Rock Records I Haven't Listened To (And That Nobody Will Buy)

i bought 110 big boxes of records from a local college radio station in march and almost all of it is gone except for some cheap jazz and r&b that i like having around and that people still buy and four boxes of indie/punk/etc from the 80's and 90's that i priced down (i need to go lower though...) but that nobody wants. i keep thinking there has to be SOMETHING left that i would like. anyway, a list because i'm bored:

miracle room EP - bar none - 1990
syd straw - surprise - virgin - 1989
the jack rubies - see the money in the smile - tvt - 1990
the ophelias - oriental head - rough trade - 1988
manufacture - terrorvision - nettwerk - 1988
the jigsaw seen - shortcut through clown alley - skyclad- 1990
the sandmen - western blood - a&m - 1988
miranda warning - your life is excellent now - presto - 1991
oyster band - love vigilantes 10-inch - cooking vinyl - 1989
the slugs - non-stop holiday -pravda - 1988
the neon judgement - general pain and major disease - play it again sam - 1989
joey kline - pomp and circus pants - popllama - 1988
katydids - s/t - reprise - 1990
the wind - guest of the staphs EP - cheft - 1984
kanamits - bananafish - luminous fish - 1990
victor delorenzo - peter corey sent me - chameleon/dali - 1990
big wheel - east end - giant - 1989
surgery - nationwide - amrep - 1990
king carcass - blind - no.6 - 1990
pop art - snap crackle pop art -stonegarden - 1987
moon - questionable places and things - skyclad - 1990
miles dethmuffin - nine-volt grape - presto - 1990
the men they couldn't hang - silver town - silvertone - 1989
river city people - say something good - capitol - 1989
sordid humor - tony dont - oedipus - 1989
sidewinders - 7 & 7 is - rca - 1990
the buck pets - mercurotones - island - 1990
mucky pup - can't you take a joke? - torrid - 1988
roomnine - voices...of a summers day - c'est la mort - 1987
the entropics - spagga!- popllama - 1987

that's just the tip of the iceberg. maybe i'll add more later. there should be a wing at the R&R hall of fame for this stuff. i think Nirvana MIGHT have actually saved us from more like this...

I've owned records by six of those bands but i can't really say that i particularly loved any of them. Surgery is probably the best of the bunch - someone plz remind me which zine Sean McDonnell used to write for

someone plz remind me which zine Sean McDonnell used to write for

was it YOUR FLESH?

Big Wheel is Peter Searcy singer of Squirrelbaits later band. They were ok.

Did all the Judybats records sell out?

that'a a tough row to hoe, man. looks like fodder for the Dollar Dungeon.

i'll just do band names or i'll be here all day:

shiva burlesque
boiled in lead
three
the swinging erudites
swamp zombies
excessive force
death of samantha
das damen
dessau
donner party
low pop suicide
arsenal
the popinjays
dancing hoods
spinout
reverb motherfuckers
gregory's funhouse
turning curious
primitons
the fundamentals
future neighbors
yo
the conditionz
tictoc
los illegals
open arms
the terrible parade
jonathan segel
the furies
gut bank
girl trouble
glass eye
dogzilla
the big f
big drill car

"that'a a tough row to hoe, man. looks like fodder for the Dollar Dungeon."

ha! i was just thinking of that.

i have about 20 boxes of indie singles that the station messed up by cutting the picture sleeves in half and then taping each side of the sleeve to cardboard? the singles themselves are in fine shape. but kinda pointless without a decent sleeve. they are all in the dungeon.

i kinda LIKE that its such a dread mix of forgotten bands? i don't really want to play any though. i'm leaving out the stuff that people actually like. or that i've heard/played.

I already have a copy of that Jonathan Segel (I assume it's the Story Telling 2LP) but would pay $5-10 for it if I didn't, I like it

death of samantha records possibly worth than a dollar - one guy went on to be in gbv. they have at least 2 great albums btw

Buck Pets were ok. They were for Dallas scenesters mad that Tripping Daisy sold out.

i did just pull a skinner box album out to play. and i am playing this right now:

http://www.recordsbymail.com/uploads/1-5-15-4/37666.jpg

I'll happily take that Slugs record off your hands.

it should be noted: i sold THOUSANDS of these radio records all spring and into summer. there were some true gems. lots of great punk/hardcore/metal.

i would give tarfumes any of these that he wanted if he ever came to greenfield.

was mad keen on das damen when i was 17 - the records on SST are pretty good imo

There's so much anonymous late 80s college rock that all sounds vaguely like REM with no other memorable differentiating qualities.

(also had about 50 boxes of jazz. strata east up the wazoo...)

SO many major label anonymous rem-ish late 80's bands. none of them really hit.

Awesome, this is like a return to "I have never heard this band that starts with the letter..."

I really loved Glass Eye, and I'll rep for Katydids and Popinjays, but man there was just so MUCH of this stuff in the late 80s.

I haven't heard it, but Snap Crackle Pop Art is supposed to be a very good indie singer-songwriter record. I think its hard to find, as well.

didn't reallly like the arsenal records at the time but would be curious to hear them now. it was santiago durango's band after big black along with a guy called malachai ritscher who came to a really bad end:

Born in 1954, Malachai Ritscher was a recording engineer and musician heavily involved in the Chicago jazz & experimental scenes. He died on November 3, 2006, in a public suicide, self-immolating in protest of the US-led Iraq war.

i would give tarfumes any of these that he wanted if he ever came to greenfield.

― scott seward, Thursday, November 9, 2017 12:04 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I may be there next Saturday!

oh boy this oysterband version of 'love vigilantes' is very not good

the spanks
sea stories
the cavedogs
spot 1019
shelleyan orphan
chris hickey
dimmer theater
gruntruck
dogbowl
crazyhead
the american vandals
greater than one
hullabaloo
hex
eighth route army
winter hours
windbreakers
the weathermen
wig
white boy worry
the wild flowers
harm farm
gutterboy
blast paris
the naked into
cattle prod
clay idols
duchampians
close lobsters
chicken scratch
woodcocks
those melvins
starvation army
the slaves
satellite boyfriend
agitpop
slap
sturm group

dear god

Agitpop were OK

I will rep for the Dogbowl records, I like those especially "Tit"

shelleyan orphan - saw them supporting the cure at wembley on the disintegration tour. robert smith was a big fan but i never really got them

close lobsters - i think i'm right in saying ILXOR AHOY!

Yeah Dogbowl stands out for sure. Which records by him?

Close Lobsters are incredible!!! Foxheads is one of my favorite albums.

Spinout later rebooted/morphed into Acetone. NickB OTM re: Death of Samantha. Terrible Parade and Starvation Army also from Cleveland.

sharkey's machine
the citizenz
strawberry zots
the sneetches
king kong
the 700 club
active joy
samiam
god's acre
marcel monroe
wuhling
the nameless
the big thing
swallow
les thugs
soda can
one plus two
olivelawn
bleach
second self
passion fodder
the creepers

do i need to listen to king kong or wuhling? i usually try homestead/touch & go i've never heard.

agitpop are decent minutement-influenced indie rock from minnesota

gruntruck are connected to skin yard i think - early grunge stuff from seattle

crazyhead - third best of the grebo bands iirc

king kong is a slint spin-off but the two records i had were mostly pretty shitty. title track off old man on the bridge is good though

les thugs are great! listen to chess and crimes if you have that one

swallow is early sub pop - kind of biker rock? 'trapped' is a decent song but mostly kind of blurrghh

King Kong were indie faux funk, IIRC.

dancing hoods

who later became sparklehorse

death of samantha records possibly worth than a dollar - one guy went on to be in gbv.

two guys actually. but only one hung around long term.

doug orton
the cucumbers
morticia
repulse kava
the balancing act
vic bondi
coffin break
vertigo
sweet baby
lois
the bloods
attention
the high
blue clocks green
bigger thomas
chain gang
falling stairs
beat feet
rapscallion
skinsect
the young caucasions
the magnolias
the snakes
the whitefronts
the water walk
dharma bums
doughboys
levellers 5
john kruth
john moore and the expressway
spit
the wygals
walkers
we are going to eat you
wreck
love camp 7
kings of wyoming
white glove test
wild choir
waxing poetics
x-tal
the miss alans
madhouse
lmnop
yard trauma
senator flux
victims family
cavedogs
screaming broccoli

i need to listen to the walkabouts? i think i listened to them once because ned likes them so much? maybe i'm remembering wrong.

sad that nobody wants silverfish's cockeye for five bucks. that was a cool comp.

i have bought records by 2 of the bands on your list so far (the windbreakers, shiva burlesque), and had varying degrees of buyers remorse after getting them home and actually listening to them. shiva burlesque was definitely the better of the two, especially if you've ever wondered what would have happened if Echo and the Bunnymen played 12-string guitars and were way more into the Doors (they had grant lee phillips in the band, though not on vocals).

also, the levellers had a song I once loved, but when I listen to it now, i realize how much my critical facilities must have refined since then.

That repulse kava album is great! Twisted aggro psych metal jamming - along the same sort of lines a phantom tollbooth maybe. Check out ‘coercion’

the cucumbers

love camp 7

now we've entered the "people who were friends with fact checking cuz" part of the box. cucumbers debut ep featuring "my boyfriend" was pretty good. the love camp 7 guys founded the fantastic williamsburg recording studio excello.

Owned records by a lot of those bands too, but I don’t know how many times you want me to type ‘this was not good’

Vertigo had some jams though

That wasn’t directed at fcc btw

i'm gonna listen to these comps for the rest of the day. so many bands i've never heard of.

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Secretions/release/1967108
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Downtown-NYC-A-Compilation-Of-The-Best-NYC-Artists/release/5232183
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Welcome-To-Comboland/release/2605901
https://www.discogs.com/Various-San-Jose-Is-Ground-Zero-Were-Number-One/release/3831335
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Tampa-Smokes-II/release/3010021
https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Iowa-Compilation/release/6064936
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Glitch-Sampler-Vol-II-Class-Of-86/release/4120048
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Geyser-Anthology-Of-The-Icelandic-Independent-Music-Scene-Of-The-Eighties/release/880216
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Hit-The-Floor/release/870231
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Glitch-Sampler-Ten-Austin-Groups-In-Black-And-White/release/3839014
https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-View-From-Here-The-San-Francisco-Compilation/release/2662215
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Brain-Food/release/2682634
https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Towers-Of-New-London-Vol-I-The-Bands-Of-The-El-N-Gee/release/2501480
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Make-The-City-Grovel-In-Its-Dust/release/4421096
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Monkey-Business-Green-Monkey-Records-1986-Compilation/release/2604581
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Hog-Butcher-For-The-World/release/535309
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Scream-Sampler-Containing-Really-Exciting-American-Music/release/6687418
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Sorority-Sampler/release/1996913
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Scream-Sampler-Containing-Really-Exciting-American-Music/release/8580555

Chain gang were on the cover of forced exposure once I think, but I didn’t ever get round to hearing them

Yeah, I liked The Cucumbers. The Wygals record is excellent if you like that Individuals/db's Hoboken sound.

"The View From Here" has Camper Van Beethoven covering Country Joe & The Fish, so not a total loss

dig the first song on the first comp i put on. there are LOTS of primitons albums where i live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hTH9G78aNo

i would like to hear the album by the neon judgement : weren't they goth/gloom/EBM/New Beat/Electro ?

john moore and the expressway : these guys were j&mc copyists on their debut album,saw them live, and they did that sound really well.

the high : baggy beats + guitars.

also, there is a Low Pop Suicide album that i need to add to my digital archive, so off go a hunting now, as i seem to recall it being not too bad.

I paid a good $2 for the Ophelias record in 1990, when it was going through its first round of discarding. I wanted "Apron Strings", prime faux-Zep, though this territory was subsequently beaten to death by Jack White

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCrA_a71n1Y

Sharkey's Machine were originally called Killdozer, forming about the same time as the other band, and tried to get the other band to stop using the name, but that band didn't care if there were two Killdozers. I remember playing Sharkey's Machine on the college radio station, but I cant remember what it was like. I've mentally filed them with Live Skull.

victor delorenzo - peter corey sent me - chameleon/dali - 1990

The drummer from the Violent Femmes had a solo outing? I did not know.

mucky pup - can't you take a joke? - torrid - 1988

Bought this and three other Mucky Pup albums after being blown away by their joke-punk on the Bloom County flexi-disc. I don't remember much about this particular release, but it does contain the couplet: Adolph Hitler - a dangerous man?/I heard he got caught with this dick in his hand! They were fighting the good fight.

after being blown away

*I was 11 at the time.

post-r.e.m. the amateurishness goes away which is kinda sad. one dollar production makes jangle-indie sound more charming. so amazing how crappy (in a not good way) so much u.s. stuff sounds in comparison to u.k. stuff. just more ambience in cheap u.k. studios i guess.

its like the difference between the studio sound of 1980-1983 u.s. hardcore and 1984 and beyond u.s. hardcore. did all the studios get new equipment in 1984? that big horrible echo-y sound. metal bands seemed to know how to get the sound they needed for the most part. though they got a lot more pillow-y too until death metal got going.

Boiled in Lead was a Minneapolis Celtic/indie rock band that did quite well locally live for many years, but that Irish-y stuff always has a pretty loyal audience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlaDcsWRy0

the Magnolias are local powerpop/punk legends, they still play, great band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oK9oH7HLJc

coffin break

Unremarkable but I got a kick out of their Freebird cover when I was a kid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LzeX22sHwo

agitpop are decent minutement-influenced indie rock from minnesota

actually upstate NY but were on Twin Town

coffin break did good covers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjh97hVmJVc

the Cucumbers were cute

i def saw Coffin Break and Boiled in Lead live

Saw boiled in lead live once as well - they played the reading festival in 89 iirc?

lois is a twee legend, iirc

That dharma bums album had some bangers on it. Post REM jangle but with the raucousness of early soul asylum. John peel used to play this track:

https://youtu.be/d2fAiSev10Q

oyster band : peel fave cos they did a cracking cover version of a new order track (love vigilantes), but in an upbeat roots/celtic style.
saw them live at reading'90 while the pixies were on the main stage, and had a brilliant time.

i'm going to call it and say that 1986 was the nadir for non-rap/dance music production in the u.s.

unless 1987 was.

one dollar production makes jangle-indie sound more charming.

otm

lois is a twee legend, iirc

she later became courtney love. the band, not the person.

/pedant/ that pre-dated the Lois albums

Courtney Love singles are great, I still have two of the three

(xp) ah, thank you. fact checking cuz very much appreciates fact checking, obvi.

June Tabor is in Oyster Band!!!!

crazyhead - third best of the grebo bands iirc

'bad news travels fast' was their big crowd pleaser i think.
one of the better grebo bands, but no idea what i would think if i heard them now!

or maybe that was just for one album? did they back her up? is that a totally different oyster band?

xp

Oysterband are the only band on here so far to have had a number one single in the UK - they did Day Trip To Bangor under the name Fiddlers Dram

i only included oyster band because of the new order cover. they were obviously looking for some of that Clannad crossover money.

i feel like i've been staring at that syd straw album in dollar bins for as long as i've been staring at cindy lee berryhill's debut in dollar bins or that marti jones debut in dollar bins. all three should tour together.

i'm going to call it and say that 1986 was the nadir for non-rap/dance music production in the u.s.

unless 1987 was.

― scott seward, Thursday, November 9, 2017 1:51 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Bands that didn't have access to professional studios in the early '80s knew that one guy across town with a 4-track reel-to-reel, plus that other guy who we could totally borrow a mixer and some mics from. The goal of such recordings was just that everything could be heard; there was no way to approximate big production.

Then these bands came back from tour with a little money, and maybe a label willing to put out a record and pay for time in a pro studio. Studio time! I didn't think we could do that! Now it can sound "professional"!

oh god, so otm

"Cyclops Nuclear Submarine Captain" by Dogbowl is great. His other albums don't deviate much from it but aren't as good. Haven't heard any that stuff in years though.

in 1985 the sound got so mushy here! like, just terribly weak and that infernal echo and everything got gauzy and indistinct. just abysmal drum sounds. things actually improved when people started recording for CD. i never thought i would type that sentence. but at least you could hear the music again.

maybe the don gehman cougar mellencampisms of lifes rich pageant made people tighten their sound up too. this is merely conjecture. 1985 was ground zero for "atmospherics". but there was no budget mike hedges to make your crappy enigma record death rock sound like hyaena.

This is upthread a ways now, but aren't Samiam pretty well-known in certain 90s punk/emo circles? I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a buyer for one of their early records.

its like the difference between the studio sound of 1980-1983 u.s. hardcore and 1984 and beyond u.s. hardcore. did all the studios get new equipment in 1984? that big horrible echo-y sound.

― scott seward, Thursday, November 9, 2017 12:36 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've wondered about this too! It went hand-in-hand with stylistic shifts in hardcore that I also mostly hate.

Started back in '83
Started seeing things differently
And hardcore wasn't doing it for me
No More
Started smoking pot
Thought things sounded better slow
Much slower and heavier
Black magic melody to sink this poser's soul

(I also vastly prefer pre-84 USHC)

I heard Greater Than One on college radio just a couple days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nRjmS_qAQc

The Windbreakers and Winter Hours are both fantastic bands. I love them both.

Ah darn - someone already claimed The Slugs record

this old neon judgement song is cool.. totally harsh awesome coldwavey thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-1WjgkIbX0

yeah, good band

I love old Neon Judgement. Don't know that album though

re neon judgement : thought so.
tis very alien sex fiend vs LS6.
if only my local charity shops had such excellence.

here's some vertigo - pretty similar in style to tar amongst all the amrep noisemongers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkiW8T3pjMI

Did you get that stuff from WMUA?

Stuff I own and still love:
Syd Straw - "Surprise", a great album and a singular voice. Michael Stipe guests on one track. Also, she was a Golden Palomino!
Low Pop Suicide is a hidden gem, Dave Allen of Gang Of Four was their bassist.
Winter Hours - friggin' LOVE these guys, sort of alt-country-folk, tremendous lyrics and emotions in their music. The lead singer came to a tragic end.
Close Lobsters - c'mon, way too good for this trash heap list. The Wedding Present covered one of their songs on their Hit Parade singles!
Bleach - great noisy shoegazers, their singles all bettered their one album.
The Creepers - this is Marc Riley's band! Great Fall-esque stuff as you'd expect. Also covered by The Wedding Present.
Lois - as in Lois Maffeo, K Records wunderkind, gorgeous voice and guitar stuff.
Someone mentioned the Judybats and I still love their debut.

Bands I once owned but no longer:
Oyster Band has their moments but never made me love them.
Neon Judgement had a great track "Voodoo Nipplefield".
Shiva Burlesque - I used to own their albums, Grant Lee Phillips was a member.
Cavedogs were a big Boston band, I liked their radio hit.
Hex - I think there are multple bands with this name. Steve Kilbey was in one that I had but they weren't very memorable.
Clay Idols - related to The Black Watch, J'anna Jacoby and Steve Schayer. Not as good as I hoped.

Many of the rest I heard at the time, maybe even checked out some of the bands, but they belong in the trash.

The first Close Lobster album is terrific, beats all C-86 fluff to dust

LobsterS

Did not know Gang of Four's Pete Allen was in Low Pop Suicide, will check them out! Also want to go back to Death of Samantha, Das Damen (think I've got them on SST, one of the few labels I used to collect, other than ESP-DISK), and I've heard a number of other bands here, but the one I remember best is the Donner Party, who seemed like a crisp, juicy plot twist of the times; xgau got it:
The Donner Party [Cryptovision, 1987]
R.E.M. as punks. Feelies as folkies. Horseflies without horseshit. "John Wilkes Booth." "When You Die Your Eyes Pop Out." "Jeez Louise." B+
Donner Party [Pitch-a-Tent, 1988]
Like Camper Van Beethoven, who started the label in their DIY days, they're sardonic ethnic/folk-rock postpunks, just as Kaleidoscope and the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band were sardonic e./f.-r. hippies two decades ago. I don't know why northern California does this to its bohemians, but rootlessness must contribute; rootlessness fertilizes popular culture, forces it to reach out. As in their fabulous folk-punk name, these postteenagers are fascinated by mortality--their most striking songs are about infancy, ingestion, illness, fucking yourself up, and various commonplace-to-horrible vicissitudes. They're posteenage psychologically as well as chronologically because they don't romanticize death--just joke about it a lot. A-
Wikipedia: The band consisted of Melanie Clarin on drums and accordion, Sam Coomes on guitar, violin, and banjo, and Reinhold Johnson on bass....Clarin also played drums in another San Francisco folk-rock band, The Cat Heads, and also Harm Farm.[1] Coomes would later play in Heatmiser, and then form Motorgoat and Quasi with his ex-wife, Janet Weiss. Hey, Harm Farm's on Scott's lists too!

donner party

went on to form Pop Will Eat Itself iirc

I saw quite a few of these bands as perennial West Coast opening acts...

i liked Shelleyan Orphan back in the day, the lead singer died very recently. i also used to love that The High album but i know it would sound dated today. i might have heard like two or three other bands on here and that is it.

i wonder how many of these bands had members who went on to be part of medium-big but not-especially-cool alt-rock bands a few years later. it would not surprise me at all to learn that Sponge or Collective Soul or Seven Mary Three were primarily composed of shuffled-around members from some of the younger bands here.

I remember loving the Doughboys & would buy an album.

Coffin Break are a sentimental fave - they would play a gig ANYWHERE. Really nice guys, too.

TWAS had a nice write-up of that Primitons record: http://www.furia.com/page.cgi?type=twas&id=twas0008
I'm a huge fan.

that first katydids record works for me. the one produced by nick lowe. brit bangles?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXYPwsCYZz0

Snap Crackle Pop Art is a great, great record. (I wrote the liner notes for the Pop Art retrospective!)

Winter Hours, The Cavedogs and the Primitons are all classics, too.

donner party

went on to form Pop Will Eat Itself iirc

you dnrc

oh wait was that a joke /slaps self

Yeah, that xpost Primitons description reminds me I should get back to those guys (and the Individuals-related Wygals, for similar sonic appeal). Primitons (and the HoHo Men, whom I don't recall hearing) were spawn of Jim Bob and the Leisure Suits.

Sorry for so many parens.

Death of Samantha also begat Cobra Verde both of which featured John Petkovic on vocals. I got one of DOS EPs which was pretty good if I remember right. I quite like Cobra Verde.

the magnolias 4 sure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irudgfBqUTs

I have the first Waxing Poetics album; the one with Mike Mills in the producer's chair. Haven't played it in a long time, but remember thinking the guitar work was pretty great throughout.

And Shelleyan Orphan are great, full stop. Humroot is a fantastic record.

Also, Boris Williams and Porl Thompson play on Humroot. It's great.

I would definitely buy that Hit The Floor compilation. It's got a cover of "Do You Wanna Funk" on it!

Olivelawn was one of the best grunge bands, maybe even the best and that's no lie. I don't know if they toured and built much of an audience outside Southern California, but they were quite popular here for a time and seemed like they were selling out clubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QOPHxiAGek

I don't know who all here would remember 'em, Ned probably!

Or our old friend donut. (Do you still post here???)

gygax

Chain Gang were a snotty punk band, featured on several Killed By Death compilations. Matador put out a compilation of all their stuff in the early 90s, presumably that's what you've got there.

I love Les Thugs - driving, almost droney punk with melodic vocals (punkgaze?). NickB knows what's up, Chess & Crimes is a good one.

I'm seeing Lois tomorrow night! Although tbh I never got into her, I'm going to see the Pastels and Kicking Giant and she's also on the bill.

Girl Trouble, Yard Trauma - garage rockers, pretty good too

Victims Family - kinda like NoMeansNo. I like them

We Are Going To Eat You - ex-members of anarcho-punk band Hagar the Womb go indie rock, not v good (I love Hagar the Womb so was pretty disappointed when I bought the We Are Going To Eat You 12" but it was only 50p)

Vic Bondi was the singer of Articles of Faith, dunno what his solo stuff is like

Big Drill Car - pop punk. kinda similar to Samiam iirc (I may not rc)

is the Three album any good CP? always used to see that around but never bought it - guys from Gray Matter and Minor Threat iirc?

don't know that one! like Gray Matter a lot (Minor Threat prob goes without saying)

bit of a non-story but i tried engaging bruce pavitt in a conversation about les thugs at a tad/nirvana show once.

- hey bruce, i hear you've just signed les thugs to sub pop!
- what?
- les thugs!
- who?
- les thugs dude!
- *blank look*
- eh nevermind

either my french was bad, or his french was bad, or both of our frenches were bad but in mutually incompatible ways, but at least i gave him a suggestion for a title for the new nirvana record

Yo - were on a couple of Hyped 2 Death's Homework comps, but iirc were fairly straightforward college rock

Reverb Motherfuckers - "scum rock". nothing special

Greater Than One - industrial dance/EBM - OK I think?

scum rock is right for reverb motherfuckers. bought one of their albums while i was going thru a phase of buying everything on noiseville and similar: bench, unholy swill, unsane, pocket fishrmen

I've often wondered how Les Thugs is pronounced by French people - toogs? or do they just use the English pronunciation?

The Pocket Fishrmen 7" on Noiseville is great! I've only heard their first album apart from that, which was v mediocre unfortunately.

I've often wondered how Les Thugs is pronounced by French people - toogs? or do they just use the English pronunciation?

By 'eck as like, the Lez Thugs are a reet class act.

Yeah, the 7" was the one i had - The Leader Is Burning! was one of the singles in John Peel's record box iirc xp

Next we have Blankety-Blank! Hosted by Les Thugs

you do rc. in fact that's the only reason I even heard of it

i wonder how many of these bands had members who went on to be part of medium-big but not-especially-cool alt-rock bands a few years later.

Reading up on The Ophelias revealed that the guitarist went on to Counting Crows.

Never heard of Miranda Warning, but that’s a great band name. Would be better if it wasn’t all dudes, though.

I’m friends with one of The Slugs who was always billed as “____ of The Slugs” and I had no idea who the Slugs were but liked what he went on to do.

price too quality ratio a lot of this stuff is the best deal in records right now

Did all the Judybats records sell out?

I hope so because those records were ace then and they're ace now

"Yo - were on a couple of Hyped 2 Death's Homework comps, but iirc were fairly straightforward college rock"

this reminds me that i have been meaning to tell chuck about the 45s in the basement. he wouldn't care too much about the wrecked sleeves.

i had never heard samara lubelski's 80's goth rock band until i got this stuff:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/479725-Of-A-Mesh

Reading up on The Ophelias revealed that the guitarist went on to Counting Crows.

He was also in Monks of Doom with the other Camper Van Beethoven folks. Jonathan Segel (also in one of your lists above) is CVB's violin player. If it's his "Storytelling" record, that album is great, like a cross between CVB and Genesis. Haven't heard his other solo stuff.

That Syd Straw record, Surprise, is pretty OK. Has an Eno collab, was around the time she was on those all-star Golden Palominos records.

And yeah, Shelleyan Orphan are pretty good.

i got a box of those 45s out for bonus fun:

meristem
poole
pivot
please
drain
downy mildew
crust
crush
mudwimin
slow children playing
simple ones
scrog
milkmoney
voodoo queens
vertigo
the easy goings
earshot
nerdy girl
the united states
the very pleasant neighbor
swirl
shim jambs
pirate jenny
quivvver
drill
orbit
halogen
freak magnet
mantis
halcion
the raymond brake
eggplant
purple ivy shadows
edsel
the el caminos
spitboy
nothing painted blue
tizzy
bare minimum
for love not lisa
moped
tipili
chessie
crungehouse
30 amp fuse
the trouble with larry
naked lunch box
muler
nisi period

they sure did play that egg hunt single a lot. to be fair, i did too when it came out.

somebody tell me about downy mildew

pretty decent indie-pop iirc

Scott, which Swirl 45 is that? The 7" version of 6/8 Lullaby is fantastic. I'm not actually sure if it's a different mix from the LP version though... I thought so.

Otherwise, my favorites in that list are Poole, Edsel & The Raymond Brake.

crush - i had one of their singles but don't really remember the song; i only rescued it from the cheap bin because gary waleik from volcano suns/big dipper was in the band, but bob weston pre-shellac was also a member iirc

crust - buttholes related weirdness from texas. think they were on king coffey's label - trance syndicate?

yes, along with (I think) Drain?

the post-Pavement "one word" indie bands of the 90's... too many people went down that road

you got extra points if it was one syllable.

tizzy

Which record? "New Jersey" or "Betty vs. Veronica"?

uh its a 45. i dunno.

that's the most un-scott seward thing you've ever said

Hm. OK. I probably have it, but I might buy that, too.

xp

TS: One-word-from-the-hardware-aisle bands vs gratuitous-Russ-Myers-reference bands

This is my socket wrench, and it freaks me out!

How could there not have been a band called Socket Wrench?

Or Socket Wench!

google search turns up a fixer-upper page "The Socket Wrench: A Modern Man’s Guide to Tools", obviously their first album

Toad the Wet Socket

Maybe it just looks worse with them all grouped together but some of these band names re-define the concept "we are an ambitious musical act who definitely do not overly wear our influences on our sleeve"

wherefore art thou, wingtip sloat?

Poole - another one of those liked-the-single-I heard bands.
30 Amp Fuse - ditto.
Downy Mildew - owned their albums, sold their albums.
Swirl - ditto. And I mean both the US and AU bands with this name.
Tizzy - ditto.

vomit launch slept on my floor once. #90scred

st. johnny slept on my floor once. but that was when my friend jim was in the band. jim was the leader of the excellent band HED. #onesyllable #openedfornirvana

I still regret selling my Wingtip Sloat singles

I still own records by Shiva Burlesque and Downy Mildew but don't dare play them in case they're truly horrendous. Sometimes you're better off with just the memories of what you once loved.

st. johnny slept on my floor once. but that was when my friend jim was in the band. jim was the leader of the excellent band HED. #onesyllable #openedfornirvana

― scott seward, Friday, November 10, 2017 12:30 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Love their first 2 albums

they were opening for elastica that night in philly. elastica's first show in philly i think and they had all the buzz in the world. packed club. st. johnny were awesome. the atmosphere was electric with joe camel fumes. the geffen thugs looked like they were ready to audition for season one of the sopranos four years early.

elvis hitler asked to sleep on my floor once and i declined because i was pretty sure the risks outweighed the benefits. i have no regrets about this.

listening to the only St. Johnny song on Spotify (From DGC Rarities Vol 1) - "Wild Goose Chasing"

this is good!

so fucking unreal the bands that got signed to majors in the 90s

'twas the greatest generation of rock, everyone called upon to serve in the campaign to rid the world of sub-Nevermind record sales. "Web Publishing with HTML 3.0" was the GI Bill waiting for them when the war was over.

hi Brad I don't like to keep things from you so I wanted to let you know that I was surprised that Manufacture (a fairly by the book late 80s style industrial/dance cru) had a song with Sarah McLachlan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA2DNtkkLzg

Tizzy - ditto.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, November 10, 2017 12:24 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Tizzy put out two singles, then a CD EP, then two CDs, then another CD EP.

(I joined Tizzy in 2002, and it was a dream come true, as they're one of my favorite bands, and the drummer had previously raged in Crystalized Movements.)

#tizzycred

bands that could've been on these lists that i actually really liked:

horny genius
gobblehoof
big tube squeezer
sister ray
wild seeds
expando brain
viv akauldren
drowning pool
stripminers
ten tall men
flower
dragnet
tvbc
bastards

I <3 Vomit Launch

'twas the greatest generation of rock, everyone called upon to serve in the campaign to rid the world of sub-Nevermind record sales. "Web Publishing with HTML 3.0" was the GI Bill waiting for them when the war was over.

― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Friday, November 10, 2017 12:27 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A decent number of these bands played my college town - the Gallery in Normal, IL. Victim's Family played a couple of times, once opening for Alice Donut and that still ranks as one of my fave shows. Others from the list include Big Drill Car, god's acre, les thugs, surgery, gruntruck.

somebody tell me about downy mildew

― brimstead, Friday, November 10, 2017 9:59 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They were okay. They sound at various times like REM, 10,000 Maniacs, The Church, and Mazzy Star, but they're never as good as any of those. I'm listening to them today because it's dark and wintry outside.

Franklin Bruno from Nothing Painted Blue played with the Mountain Goats.

Was just listening to Big Drill Car on Wednesday; their split 7" with Chemical People doing Cheap Trick and Kiss covers. Still love their Small Block EP too.

john moore and the expressway : these guys were j&mc copyists on their debut album

He was in the J&MC, right? I think that's the only reason I hunted down that album back then.

Yeah, he was in the Mary Chain and then later on he was in Black Box Recorder with Luke Haines

somebody tell me about downy mildew

― brimstead, Friday, November 10, 2017 9:59 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Downy mildew refers to any of several types of oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants. Downy mildews exclusively belong to Peronosporaceae. In commercial agriculture, they are a particular problem for growers of crucifers, grapes and vegetables that grow on vines.

ha!!

their first record + the name looked really familiar. plus it's tagged as "ethereal" on discogs so i was intrigued

Flower! Fantastic band, precursor of Versus. I chatted up the lead singer before a gig, top bloke.

If that Skinner Box is the dream pop one with what sounds like a detuned upright piano (The Playhouse / The Imaginary Heart Of), its a keeper. Like the Hex (if the Steve Kilbey/Donnette Thayer duo), it was one of rather few albums that hit my 4AD/goth-lite buttons in the late 80s, before I discovered the Projekt mail-order catalog.

Scott, do you do much mail order?

Lots of familiar names from my distant past here. Going to single out one:

joey kline - pomp and circus pants - popllama - 1988

This I still have plenty of time for -- Joey was a long running member of Seattle legends the Squirrels (and they're back so I think he is too). "Mrs. Smith," which leads off the album, remains one of the best Morrissey slams I've heard. (And since FWIW Joey's openly gay himself this neatly sidestepped the Warlock Pinchers problem.)