brimstead is very close to correct. Maybe not the best but probably top ten.
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, 21 May 2018 04:35 (six years ago) link
US Maple was great but they did their own thing (which, DGAF as it may have sounded, was revealed to be tight and calculated as hell if you ever saw them live) and Trux did theirs.
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, 21 May 2018 04:37 (six years ago) link
Another metatrope is the band who plays with a specific genre and its well-established tropes but manage to throw in enough anomalous, quirky elements that no one could ever confuse their music for the real thing. Again, this is an okay summation of Trux circa Cats & Dogs/Thank You , where the residual scuzzy noise, spaced out vocals, and lo-fi sound marks the albums as distinctive, 'artistic' takes on Southern rock.
The thing I actually liked most about RTX around this time was that I didn't think that they were playing with a specific genre. I don't think "Southern rock" encapsulates it. I mean, it was rock music for sure but that can mean many things and I think it did mean many things in their music. Like Richard Meltzer would have said something like "Rock is an eclectic form" - well sure, it was at one time. It was before most rock bands started identifying themselves with some particular strain, some particular sub-genre. Trux were one of the only bands around at the time, I felt, who were open to all kinds of things and also knew their records and could hit on all sorts of things. I saw them play a song from Pet Sounds once.
― timellison, Monday, 21 May 2018 07:06 (six years ago) link
US Maple was great but they did their own thing (which, DGAF as it may have sounded, was revealed to be tight and calculated as hell if you ever saw them live)
this is otm, I don't think there's a single note out of place on any U.S. Maple record
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, 21 May 2018 10:37 (six years ago) link
neither one of these bands is remotely on US Maple's level
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 11:36 (six years ago) link
plus Skin Graft was it's whole own world and doesn't even belong in this convo, rtx and pavement were very conventional rock bands at the end of the day
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 11:38 (six years ago) link
this is my kinda '90s indie rock record. for the record.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzoCfZtE3v0
― scott seward, Monday, 21 May 2018 12:33 (six years ago) link
Would add the Grifters' One Sock Missing to the relatively-conventional 90s Stones-scuzz indie rock convo
US Maple, esp by the end of the 90s were in a completely different realm - including other Skin Graft people
― Master of Treacle, Monday, 21 May 2018 13:37 (six years ago) link
i don't think i've ever listened to a us maple album.
come were and are my fave american 90s indie rock band. i like every song they recorded. which is unheard of!
― scott seward, Monday, 21 May 2018 14:12 (six years ago) link
I feel like Pavement had a more focused approach when composing and cared more about their music than Royal Trux.
I also think this counts as making their brand of slacker indie wrong.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 21 May 2018 14:34 (six years ago) link
pavement records sound sooooooo good to me. those guitars. like way better to me than most similar stuff. i don't know how they did it. its the reason i still listen to them.
― scott seward, Monday, 21 May 2018 14:37 (six years ago) link
Yeah, the “haunt you down” / “Fillmore Jive” tone is nice and warm
― calstars, Monday, 21 May 2018 14:42 (six years ago) link
lot of weird opinions itt
― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 May 2018 15:20 (six years ago) link
i love both these bands but will not be voting in this poll because it seems weird to compare them. other than being contemporaries and briefly being on the same label, they don't have much in common in terms of sound or approach or goals or aesthetic. it's like doing liz phair vs. silkworm or something.
― na (NA), Monday, 21 May 2018 15:31 (six years ago) link
otm
― tylerw, Monday, 21 May 2018 15:32 (six years ago) link
it feels like the purpose of this thread is to make old people feel cool for voting for royal trux over pavement. which is a purpose i support. i pick royal trux.
― na (NA), Monday, 21 May 2018 15:33 (six years ago) link
thank you poll, I had not listened to Royal Trux since the 90s & now I have & I like it.
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 21 May 2018 15:37 (six years ago) link
what's a good place to start w/ trux? ive been intrigued by them but haven't really gone in
pavement's okay, i could take em or leave em tbh
― marcos, Monday, 21 May 2018 15:43 (six years ago) link
these guys here are pros but I've been playing Cats & Dogs
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 21 May 2018 15:46 (six years ago) link
marcos get Veterans of Disorder or Accelerator
― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 May 2018 15:47 (six years ago) link
― na (NA), Monday, May 21, 2018 10:33 AM (twenty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 15:54 (six years ago) link
cats & dogs isn't my personal favorite but it makes sense as a midpoint where you can listen to it and then if you want them to be noisier and weirder, you can listen to the earlier albums, or if you want them to be more cohesive you can listen to the later albums (which is not a diss, i generally prefer the "rock" albums)
― na (NA), Monday, 21 May 2018 15:54 (six years ago) link
^^That’s what I always say (you stole my wise counsel)!
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:01 (six years ago) link
(NB - probably no one has ever actually asked me so I’ve never actually said it)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:02 (six years ago) link
Funny Malkmus should mention MGMT as a band who shouldn't be citing them as an influence, as when I first heard Time To Pretend I thought it sounded like a super poppy Royal Trux, even down to thinking their vocalist sounded like Jennifer (who ended up singing with them anyway)
― PaulTMA, Monday, 21 May 2018 16:07 (six years ago) link
I personally believe Trux has no “peers,” in the same way that Kubrick doesn’t or someone else very singular in their field. (Maybe that’s BS, but I’m stickin to it.)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:10 (six years ago) link
By contrast, Pavement had “peers,” they just happened to be the very best at what they did.
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:12 (six years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Monday, May 21, 2018 11:47 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
thank u
― marcos, Monday, 21 May 2018 16:13 (six years ago) link
I'm skeptical of anyone voting Trux. Trux were really more of a project, or a concept, albeit a concept brilliantly realized. Although they made it sound effortless, it seemed like they were definitely trying to be this or that on every record.
This was true if Pavement on the first 3 EPs, but from Slanted on they were, like, a real Band with their own voice and style, not working from a blueprint. It was a band you could grow with, identity with, who presented a more expansive ethos you could kinda lose yourself in.
IDK sorry this is just how I feel etc
― salt sugar fat, that's where it's at (rip van wanko), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link
start there imho!
― salt sugar fat, that's where it's at (rip van wanko), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:26 (six years ago) link
ok lol
― marcos, Monday, 21 May 2018 16:32 (six years ago) link
haha
don't start there though, for real
― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 May 2018 16:33 (six years ago) link
(not to slag it off, it's a great record, but when I first heard it I was put off by the super-fussy bass playing all over everything)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 May 2018 16:34 (six years ago) link
I don't think there's a ton in common here beyond a few very generic points:- both bands started off as scuzzy sounding noise projects, but then gradually shifted into more "classic rock" formats- both were briefly on Drag City- both feature very inventive, unique guitarists- both are fronted by very smart, literate, conceptually-oriented people
that being said, their respective catalogs sound very, very different and RT esp went all over the place in a way Pavement/Malkmus did not.
love 'em both, not voting
― Οὖτις, Monday, 21 May 2018 16:37 (six years ago) link
*whispers*
sometimes royal trux reminds me of nyc hipster ween
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:44 (six years ago) link
"weird opinions" otm, and nothing wrong with that, but the reductive "tuneless noise" take is so misguided and anyone who writes Royal Trux off as that is cheating herself out of some of the best rawk of that era
― salt sugar fat, that's where it's at (rip van wanko), Monday, 21 May 2018 16:46 (six years ago) link
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, May 21, 2018 12:37 AM (twelve hours ago) Bookmark Flag
Harry Pussy were like this, too. That Beefheart thing of "you think it's random unstructured noise but watch them repeat exactly the same thing in exactly the same way, and now behold a level of obsession almost too insane to be believed"
― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 21 May 2018 17:00 (six years ago) link
i'm not trying to troll here but people who don't like pavement are dumb.
― scott seward, Monday, 21 May 2018 17:46 (six years ago) link
Although they made it sound effortless, it seemed like they were definitely trying to be this or that on every record.
This might be why I'm not as fond of the later records. But I don't think it's true of the third, fourth, and fifth albums, when they just sounded like a band to me. A band with a pretty wide scope.
― timellison, Monday, 21 May 2018 18:08 (six years ago) link
Or even the super early records like the first album or those tracks on the ROIR tape - I don't see those as being one thing.
― timellison, Monday, 21 May 2018 18:13 (six years ago) link
What Is Royal Trux?
― timellison, Monday, 21 May 2018 18:15 (six years ago) link
they were a rock band
― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 21 May 2018 18:19 (six years ago) link
You guys keep mispelling Trucks, it's imbarrassing.
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, 21 May 2018 18:24 (six years ago) link
there isn't a single song by Royal Trux that comes close to "Grounded" but overall I gotta go with them.
― flappy bird, Monday, 21 May 2018 18:41 (six years ago) link
Hmm. Might actually agree with that post.
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, 21 May 2018 18:46 (six years ago) link
(Rather, plenty of Trux songs come close to 'Grounded' but I'm trying to think of some/any that top it in my esteem.)
― Now I know my ABCs. Next time won't you scream at me? (Old Lunch), Monday, 21 May 2018 18:47 (six years ago) link
Trux at their best were dynamite. "Fear Strikes Out" is dynamite.
― timellison, Monday, 21 May 2018 18:58 (six years ago) link
what's that song that has its own thread on the noize board?
― salt sugar fat, that's where it's at (rip van wanko), Monday, 21 May 2018 19:47 (six years ago) link
Oh neat ROYAL TRUX are on spotify now! Thanks thread for eeminding about them last time I checked they weren’t there.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 21 May 2018 21:24 (six years ago) link
It’s missing some of their best albums though :/
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 21 May 2018 21:25 (six years ago) link