they're still cheap on Discogs, if that helps
― sleeve, Saturday, 1 September 2018 17:56 (five years ago) link
Maybe, I haven't ever messed around with buying stuff ondiscos, but there's a bunch of vinyl stuff I'd like to find for an affordable price. I probably should try it out.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Saturday, 1 September 2018 18:02 (five years ago) link
For the most part, I've had success on Discogs. But more recently, I've run into sellers that accept the order only to inform me a week (or more) later that they actually don't have the item. Refunds every time, but it just strikes me as odd that, of my last five orders on there (from completely different sellers), three have resulted in this scenario. Granted, it's not like I order that often; maybe once every four months or so. So, I don't know, maybe a fluke. Just seems weird.
Otherwise, yes: buy House Tornado! It's a wonderful album.
― outside, you're never alone. (Austin), Saturday, 1 September 2018 19:56 (five years ago) link
True, I still listen to it fairly regularly. My interest in the Muses fell off after that as they moved in a more conventional rock direction.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Saturday, 1 September 2018 20:00 (five years ago) link
I have In A Doghouse which compiles a lot of the early stuff but I'm just seeing it for £25 on Amazon. Seems to be a bit cheaper on discogs.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 1 September 2018 20:11 (five years ago) link
In a Doghouse is very highly recommended; the first album and the coinciding EP with a ton of extras.
― outside, you're never alone. (Austin), Sunday, 2 September 2018 02:40 (five years ago) link
the two disc version with the early demos >>>>
― boxedjoy, Sunday, 2 September 2018 19:06 (five years ago) link
Just scored In a Doghouse for 20 bux U.S.on ebay. I've given several of TM's lps a chance over the years but it's the earliest stuff that really resonates.
― VyrnaKnowlIsAHeadbanger, Sunday, 2 September 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
Glad i brought it up, it has some great stuff on it.
Wonder if the lps will see any further reissue?
& I have Kirsten's first book Paradoxical Undressing floating around the bedroom waiting to be read still.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 2 September 2018 22:45 (five years ago) link
Yeah steveo thanks much. I hadnt really thought about them in prolly 20some years (i'm 53!). But was inspired by yr post to spring for that compilation. That book sounds intriguing also. I'm not anti-donnely but kristin is the genius in that band, period. For me anyway
― VyrnaKnowlIsAHeadbanger, Sunday, 2 September 2018 23:12 (five years ago) link
the book is amazing
― aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Tuesday, 4 September 2018 07:49 (five years ago) link
Yes read it! Published as Rat Girl in the US. Kristin Hersh is as good a writer as she is a, uh, songwriter. Don't Suck, Don't Die is also great, about her friendship with Vic Chesnutt.
― com rad erry red flag (f. hazel), Tuesday, 4 September 2018 14:53 (five years ago) link
I really enjoyed Rat Girl, the descriptions of her synesthesia were really interesting
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Tuesday, 4 September 2018 15:01 (five years ago) link
The mighty Chris O'Leary studies them in his new project:
https://64quartets.wordpress.com/2019/07/02/2-throwing-muses/
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 July 2019 18:07 (four years ago) link
did i ever tell u guys about meeting Kristin????she was hands down the most gracious poet i've ever had the chance to meet i went up to her so timidly at the end of one of her showsshe was just incredibly kind.
― surm, Tuesday, 2 July 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
(i'm sure i did tell u but it feels good to be able to brag about it again)
― surm, Tuesday, 2 July 2019 18:16 (four years ago) link
wow, that article is nice deep dive, cheers Ned
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 2 July 2019 21:37 (four years ago) link
yep great article, thanks for posting.
― thomasintrouble, Tuesday, 2 July 2019 21:49 (four years ago) link
great images too!
― boxedjoy, Tuesday, 2 July 2019 22:03 (four years ago) link
never heard those 1984 demos!
some of the only music so overwhelming that all forebrained attempts to reverse engineer how they arrived / performed the music fail. even now decades later, the technician always surrenders to how fucking amazing this music is
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 02:15 (four years ago) link
at least I could try to figure out the piano songs like 'walking in the dark', but I remember trying to figure out 'fish' on keyboards once. that was funny that I tried that
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 02:17 (four years ago) link
man, I love "Two Step."
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 02:18 (four years ago) link
xps Milton "In The Doghouse" is essential, yeah
really wish they'd reissue this:
https://www.discogs.com/Throwing-Muses-Throwing-Muses-EP/release/1435252
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 03:07 (four years ago) link
and I never knew "The Letter" dates from that period, so that's why it gives me chills
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 03:08 (four years ago) link
I knew "Doghouse" & the 7", but not the '84 demos linked in the article! amazing that Donelly had written 'Not Too Soon' that early
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 03:25 (four years ago) link
I have a long, long interview I did with Dave Narcizo back in 1994 and I don't quite know what to do with it - we published it in our little fanzine but it's completely obscure. He was the friendliest guy - blew out our allotted 20 minute interview to over an hour, once he realised I really knew the band's stuff - and at the show I travelled to in Melbourne, welcomed me like a friend when I crept up and said "I did that long phone interview." He invited my friend and I to the band room after the show, even gave us beers from the rider, I remember Bernard opening them on the edge of the table. I was too overwhelmed to talk to Kristin but she and Billy were friendly - pretty tired tho. Vivid memory from the show of K's electric blue eyes fixed on a point at infinity while she swayed around her Strat and its cowgirl decal.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 03:29 (four years ago) link
dirt is on the floor is one of my favorite deep cuts, glad to see it mentioned
― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Wednesday, 3 July 2019 04:49 (four years ago) link
Me to Dave Narcizo in the mid-'80s, shortly before the Muses were to play at the Blue Pelican, a now-defunct club in Newport, RI: "Let me buy you a drink."Dave: "I'm not legal yet."
― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 15:32 (four years ago) link
Pretty sure I was at that spring 1985 show at the Living Room.
― Jazzbo, Wednesday, 3 July 2019 15:35 (four years ago) link
New album in May!
https://throwingmuses.bandcamp.com/album/sun-racket
― Jeff W, Tuesday, 25 February 2020 19:50 (four years ago) link
excellent news! Hersh's recent solo stuff isn't clicking with me, I've been digging the Tanya Donnelly Swan Song Series though
― avellano medio Inglés (f. hazel), Tuesday, 25 February 2020 21:07 (four years ago) link
New album is out! Who else is listening?
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 6 September 2020 01:49 (three years ago) link
just picked it up from my office mailbox today!
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Sunday, 6 September 2020 02:19 (three years ago) link
Always thankful for new Muses. The usual curve so far: hard to get a handle on the songs at first, but struck by all the awesome sounds.
― geoffreyess, Sunday, 6 September 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link
seems to have a kind of Red Heaven vibe
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Sunday, 6 September 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link
Starts off with a bang, "Dark Blue" has a great warped feeling. I should cherry-pick the best bits from their 3 albums this century.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 8 September 2020 20:56 (three years ago) link
The 2003 self-title is an untouchable classic front-to-back. It's awful to say but Kristin's blown-out voice is almost too uncomfortable for me to listen to now, which is so unfair because she's still writing great stuff.
― assert (MatthewK), Tuesday, 8 September 2020 21:16 (three years ago) link
The current voice does not bother me much; maybe even on the contrary, it is kinda correct that it is her in this era out of several. What was heartening to me at a cursory listen to this latest album was that it did not share that weird unlistenableness production- or mastering-wise that the 2018 solo album had that (awful to say) (in spite of still great writing) had me seriously doubting her ears.
― anatol_merklich, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 21:55 (three years ago) link
hm, her voice just seems to have aged in the way I'd expect it to. Milk at McDonalds, for instance, she doesn't sound that ragged at all. Anyway, this is a great album and in fact, I'd be hard pressed to name one single thing she has released that isn't great. She's just about the most consistent artist I listen to.
― akm, Wednesday, 9 September 2020 22:51 (three years ago) link
I was surprised at how much I liked the new album after hearing at at one of Mr Tim Burgess's Twitter listening parties - to my jaded ears it sounded like it had the energy of an excting new band, not someone whose been on the go for a zillion years. I went and bought my own copy and I like it.
― The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 22 October 2020 20:15 (three years ago) link
I like Michael Jones' post from nine years ago that the order you hear the albums in is important and makes a big difference. I was really captivated by the first album, and not as much by the rest.
thought Christgau's review of it was really incisive and funny, one of his most memorable, but it also really disappointed me (and made me doubt his future reviews) because I didn't see the album that way at all:
"When friends turn psychotic, I withdraw. I haven't found black leotards sexy since I broke up with Sheila in 1962. I'm rarely persuaded that verbal dissociation reflects any social problems but the poet's own. So while I'm happy to grant the originality and even craft of Kristen Hersh's quavery free-form folk-punk, I'd do the same for the art of H.P. Lovecraft, Anaïs Nin, or Diamanda Galas. Fans of whom will pay more mind to Hersh's buzz than I do"
― Dan S, Friday, 23 October 2020 00:04 (three years ago) link
I find that Xgau review to be mean spirited and sexist tbh
love that 1st LP though
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Friday, 23 October 2020 00:08 (three years ago) link
every now and then i wonder if i should give xgau another chance and then i see one of his reviews quoted here and i'm reminded why i haven't
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 23 October 2020 00:16 (three years ago) link
yup
― howls of non-specificity (sleeve), Friday, 23 October 2020 00:18 (three years ago) link
This interview is terrific: https://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/throwing-muses-kristin-hersh-on-the-music-that-made-her/
― Video Drama (morrisp), Thursday, 29 October 2020 06:49 (three years ago) link
TM = Ut for lightweights― mark s, Monday, July 2, 2001 8:00 PM (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink
even xgau was not this wrong
― rip van wanko, Thursday, 29 October 2020 15:19 (three years ago) link
Ha ha. 19 years later, Mark S's throwaway line still sticks in my head!
Happy to be a lightweight.
― Michael Jones, Thursday, 29 October 2020 16:14 (three years ago) link
This is kind of following on from me talking about major labels on the Jawbreaker thread but I'm curious about Hersh in that interview being angry about signing to 4AD, but with Throwing Muses, her solo stuff and one 50 Foot Wave release, she wasn't finished with them until about a decade ago.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 2 February 2021 18:36 (three years ago) link
I’ve never heard her say a bad word about 4AD; wasn’t it signing to Warners (albeit encouraged by Ivo) in the US that was the disastrous thing?
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 2 February 2021 21:30 (three years ago) link
correct
― Überschadenfreude (sleeve), Tuesday, 2 February 2021 21:40 (three years ago) link