The Breeders - Classic or Dud?

Breeders = Classic up to (and, on the right day, including) Title TK.

The Breeders = major, major classic. Many of my fondest adolescent memories were soundtracked by The Breeders' music. Plus, Kim Deal has the most brilliant sense of humor. I saw her on the cable access program "The Hondo Show" recreating a scene out of Showgirls with one of her Amps bandmates and the host of the program. The fact that I can still remember this about four years after I saw it first is a testament to how memorable the scene was/is.

And Title TK needed to be in the Top 40, damn it.

lord custos, are you on crack?

Last Splash - my CD's been played so much it's gone all quiet and muffled and basically fucked (I didn't even know this was possible but...there you go), loveit loveit loveit even though "Cannonball" was for years the most overplayed indie club tune EVAH and - for shame - ended up immediately preceding my departure from whichever club on the grounds that "if the DJ's still playing that...sheesh" etc.

Title TK stands up well with the above, agreed, but I've perhaps not given it the exhaustive attention it deserves. Hmmm.

Anyway. Breeders=brilliant, Jo Wiggs was always my favourite but now she's disappeared (anyone remember Honey Tongue? Aces). Is she related to Pete?

Title TK is pretty good as well. But Last Splash fucking rocked like a monster when I was in middle school and still does so when I listen to it now. I listen to it a lot now.

Good God I am old.

How exactly are you going to wave them if they're already cut off?

I'll bet Ned started crying and gnashing his teeth when they played the theme to Buffy though!

-- Tom Breihan (lazerbee...), July 14th, 2003

Well, I think I know what your problem might be. Them ol' pair of ears need some quick replacing, gramps! :)

"How exactly are you going to wave them if they're already cut off? "
--My name is Kenny

SH*t you're kidding right?

-- Francis Watlington (peppermintsmok...), July 14th, 2003.

No! Dude! I get to make fun of you for being old! That's how it works! Nobody gets to make fun of me for being young! Don't make me fuck you up with my Nerf dart gun!

They've been playing it at most of their recent live shows, I wasn't saying it for the sake of being random.

(and yes i like the breeders way more than the pixies)

(btw the amg is a little messed up for kelley deal. boom boom boom doesn't show up under 'kelley deal 6000' but does under 'kelley deal')

I remember a cover of "The Angry Inch" from Hedwig, which is far cooler on several levels. Or so I deem.

Some show notes

Kim mentioned they recorded Last Splash in San Francisco but neglected to mention that the studio* was a block and a half away from The Warfield on Mission & 6th.

Ironically because of the shitshow of Market St construction, my exit for the venue was exactly right in front of the building the studio formerly occupied.

*I think she called it Coast Recorders but it was actually Brilliant Studios.

Also when covering "Drivin' On 9" there was no shoutout to Dom Leone who wrote the song and lived in SF most of the 90s/00s.

I'd never seen Jim play so many Pod songs at once so it was interesting to compare his style with Britt's.

Had no idea Jo and Jim switched instruments for "Roi"... the psychedelic midsection of which was incredibly trippy.

Had no idea "I Just Wanna Get Along" was Kelley's song.

Reiterating Kelley can absolutely shred with the best of them. She was surprisingly stellar on the material when she wasn't in the band!

They replaced Carrie Bradley with someone named Sophie Galpin who had a Mancunian lilt but she could play 3rd guitar and violin very well.

Thanks, Shakey!

xp Dom Leone died in 1989.

Oof, Dan Leone I meant!

His brother, the ukelele player.

Triple oof, I just misgendered her FFS.

I didn't know "Drivin' On 9" was a cover until last week (after the show, my wife looked up & played the original).

this seems to come as a surprise to many people, sadly. The original is definitely superior, the Breeders version excises several key lines and verses, which undercuts and obscures the narrative that makes the song work imo.

also Cow Art just webmail me where to send the zine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuR-wL5sh_M

Worth mentioning that violinist Carrie Bradley in above video of ERQ playing in Oakland was originally a member of (pre-Pod) The Breeders and then again sporadically throughout the 90s.

Also when covering "Drivin' On 9" there was no shoutout to Dom Leone who wrote the song and lived in SF most of the 90s/00s.

how does webmail work

LL, no:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed%27s_Redeeming_Qualities

figured it out!

Thank you SS

i tried looking for a thread, but Ed's Redeeming Qualities is great. Breeders could've made a new American songbook digging through their works.

Cow_Art check yr webmail, you should be receiving the zine soon if you haven't already

honestly we should change the name of this thread because "dud" is not an option.

i have been on a Breeders kick because I never listened to any of the post Last-Splash albums. Enjoying it IMMENSELY.

I still put on All Nerve a lot, it's a good morning album!

All the post Last Splash catalog is great but I love love love Title TK

The only bummer about the classic lineup getting back together is that it makes Title TK and Mountain Battles seem lesser, which is not the case.

I got the zine!!! Thanks a million! How do I check my webmail?

Title TK was a revelation. Ive gone back to it several times. Love the nonsense lyrics and meaty sound. Listening to Mountain Battles after it made me realize that Kim Deal will make a cool sounding song out of basically anything.

Has anyone seen the iguana???

How do I check my webmail?

login to the email account that you use to login to your ILX profile

xpost Kim has a real knack for surreal turns of phrase. I think about the line "I need spit/to crush these beetles on my lips" from "Skinhead#2" on All Nerve all the time

Here's a challop: the only Breeders album I don't play often is Pod.

I’d love the zine, please

Oh. So webmail means the email goes to my regular email account?

If that’s the case, I have no emails pertaining to the Breeders Digest.

But I have an address and I know how much it cost, so I think we’re good.

Here's a challop: the only Breeders album I don't play often is Pod.

― hat trick of trashiness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 1 November 2023 17:00 (yesterday) link

It's funny that with the In Utero anniversary and the attendant discourse all the stuff about how them wanting to work with Albini becuz of Sufer Rosa, which I am not discounting, but I haven't seen any mention of Pod which at the time seemed, and listening to both records recently, to be a pretty obv sonic template, I mean "Happiness is a Warm Gun" sounds exactly like something on In Utero

Every time I listen to the Amps record I think "oh I don't really remember this record" and the second it starts I realize I have it memorized

first song on the Amps record has been one of my go-to random out-of-nowhere just-start-singing-out-of-thin-air melodies for 30 years

"now i'd liiiike to get back..."

In "Tipp City" I thought I was mishearing this but she really does sing "I have relations with anonymous internet nation", which feels both of the times and truly prophetic

"Unplugged" mini-set in the coastal redwoods:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcFS92RAnYk

Do You Love Me Now?
Divine Hammer
Invisible Man
Drivin' On 9

God I am so sick of Last Splash being the only Breeders album.

that was completely sublime. ty, SS for sharing

sorry, should have said that!

https://www.kimdealmusic.com/

New solo single from Kim!

So good, feelin' a little Blondie ("Sunday Girl") in the verses.

I’m at work, it’s killing me that I can’t hear this now. Kim is the best.

wonder if there's any chance this means a solo album is coming?

from reddit:

Around March of last year, Kim delivered a solo album to 4AD

Many presumed it would be a collection of all of her solo singles, as well as the unreleased single 'Nobody Loves You More'

However, recently Kyle Rector (long time friend of the band, who runs their social media and merch store) shared that the album will consist of entirely new songs, aside from two songs from the solo series, which have been re-recorded.

It's sounding like the album will come out this year, exciting stuff!

Edit:

A new song called "Coast" was released today (June 15)!

Some info taken from 4AD's website:

‘Coast’ was written in 2020 after being at her friend Mike Montgomery’s wedding when the house band, The Grape Whizzers, jammed Jimmy Buffett’s 1977 ‘Margaritaville’ with “revelatory levels of low self-esteem.” But the song’s roots reach back as far as 2000, when Kim was staying on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. An unlikely retreat for the Ohio native (“I hate the sun, beach and watersports,”), she spent a rough off-season where young workers “check the WAM” for surfing conditions.

‘Coast’ was recorded by Steve Albini at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago. Lindsay Glover and Breeders alum Mando Lopez are the song’s rhythm section, Kim’s sister Kelley plays guitar and horns are by Chicago marching band Mucca Pazza.

The two solo songs that have been recorded are rumoured to be Are You Mine and Wish I Was. The new song "Disobedience" played at the recent Breeders shows is also rumoured to be on the album.

Glad to hear that “Are You Mine” will get a wider airing. That’s a Top 10 Ever KD tune.

yeah, that one is incredible — not sure how she'll top the original recording!

new song sounds very nice.

Oh man, this is pretty nice. The song feels slight but the sound of it is so warm and direct, it's a good change for her. Kim's voice is so lovely, it's fun to see it in a different setting.

Is this the first time Kim has had horns on a song? It's definitely got me stoked for the album.

Really into this.

next single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpqLQIoivAY

Wish I ever had a use for a scarf so I could wear a Kelley Deal original.

https://kelleydeal.bigcartel.com/