overlooked 90's groups

(*insert John D's story about seeing them live and having his jaw drop*)

(*insert Ned posting a comment with a crying ASCII frowney expressing jealousy at not being able to see Supercollider live*)

They put out a second CD on Sony and then got dropped in the 90s major label purge. Jake Smith has his own label and put out a CD last year.

a/k/a the band with liner notes by Thomas Pynchon!

Lotion were a bit similar - great early singles, great debut album, pretty much downhill from there.

Six Finger Satillite -- their albums "Severe Exposure" & "Law of Ruins" are the two to check. They had some other cool songs.

Mule -- I saw these guys live a few times and they rose a major amount of dust. Their music gets a bit repetitive, but there are a few good nuggets on both albums.

Tar & Engine Kid were also both bands that were quite good live, but records are kind of spotty.

JF Coleman of Cop Shoot Cop also did a d'n'b/soundtrackish music under the name Phylr that is pretty good. The first album "Contra la Puerta" is quite good, the second one isn't that hot.

Silkworm's first two albums when they were a four piece are excellent, after Joel left their sound just didn't have the same amount of tension and he was the best vocalist of the three. There is a few good songs on "Firewater" but I hated "Developer" and quit following the group.

Red Red Meat's album "Jimmiewine Majestic" is one of my favorites from that time. I never read/hear anyone give them much props, so I will do so.

Finally...The Grifters are somewhat known, but nowhere near as much as they should be. They are one of my alltime favorite bands, period.

"Golden Skin" and "Barney" - both brilliant singles.

If Silkworm was that same band that I saw play with Consonant in NYC this summer, they were horrible. One of the worst shows I've ever seen.

awww, sweet! Don't forget Paul Bardsley's post-MHH incarnation, Wireless. Still got one of their mugs in a cupboard somewhere, along with my My Life Story Golden Mile one.

And while we're with MLS, Jake Shillingford's new web-only project Exileinside is definitely worth a look & a listen. Electropop but nowhere near electroclash...more like ABC with a fat undercarriage.

I nominate: (* denotes still active - not sure about some)
Swell*
Sugar Plant*
Seely
Cotton Mather
Red Sleeping Beauty
Elysian Fields
Scissor Girls
Would-Be-Goods*
Secret Shine
Vulgar Boatmen (late 80s maybe?)
Lida Husik
Chimera (esp. Earth Loop album)
Madder Rose
Long Fin Killie
Sammy
Yatsura
Lionrock (token electronic/dance thing)

Madder Rose's first two albums are worth seeking but after that it's all a bit messy. I'm starting to wonder if Urusei Yatsura really did suck after all.

Wonder no more.

Ditto for the Interpreters.

OT: In my changer now: New EP by Pas/Cal, "The Handbag Memoirs" on Le Grand Magistery....it's terrific! Reminds me a bit of Starlight Mints.

Madder Rose? Lush band. Check out Saint Low, Mary Lorson's soloish outing (with Billy Cote on occasion too). Yeah.

Oh, and in conclusion, The God Machine. And Kingmaker. I'm joking about one of these.

Actually Hurl I blame for their name. That name was crap.

and Indian Summer? jesus christ, did you attend that Unwound/Lync/Indian Summer/Embassy/Second Story Window show out in Pomona or something? they may have been the worst band of the 90s. I had one of their guys provide studio space for North of America when they came down Stateside so Juan Carrera and Bill Skibbe could track their album. Biggest fuckup I ever met. Ever. Homeless people have their shit more together than this jagbag. Guy didn't even have money for masking tape to mark the channels on the board. And he was paranoid about giving out his last name too ... some drug slinging deal gone bad or some shit. What an asshole.

Speaking of more 90s bands that went unappreciated. North of America. God bless em, wherever they are now.

Swirlies, mostly for Blondertongue Audiobaton, but they also did a lot of really crappy, half-assed stuff too.

aMiniature, a post-Pixies-indie-rock band out of San Diego that had some kinship to Drive Like Jehu and No Knife. Released three albums (two on Restless) and then fell off the face of the earth.

Erectus Monotone, some weird screamy no-wavey band that I would never have heard of had they not released a mini-album on Merge.

Pie, my personal obsession. They sounded like Pavement with ten-story-tall amps. They put out an album and an EP on Big Top Records and then I never heard from them again.

never heard pond's last lp, was it as good as 'the practice of joy before death' or whatever it was called?

sxxx

trashmonk - completely and bafflingly overlooked. maybe it was the dream academy connections??

I desperately wanted to like Trashmonk, but I don't. Mind you, this is going by the "Sapphire" 7" only..

"Of all the bands overlooked in the 90s, there's no greater tragedy than the consignment of Zoom, Poole, Nectarine* and Doxie to our great nation's cutout bins."

*Joel Mark of Necatrine? VP of A&R for MCA!

Although, come on - no love for Milf? Where my bitches at.

Velocity Girl weren't overlooked. At one point they were Sub Pop's second biggest selling act.

Ooh. Velocity Girl. I don't know if they were "overlooked" per se, but y'know.....where are they now, eh?

They reunited for a benefit show last year, and I think they may be working on something new.