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

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.