Good point, I’m coming at it from a U.S. perspective. (Didn’t Primal Scream pay tribute to that album somehow?)
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 21:44 (five years ago) link
If this is a publicity stunt, it's working like a charm. This is the most ILX has ever discussed Royal Trux
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 21:50 (five years ago) link
accelerator was well-reviewed but by that point (turn of century) they were well consigned and probably resigned to being a minor indie phenomenon. the moment they had any buzz (and as noted, it was only ever a mild buzz, i remember even contemporaneous bands like urge overkill getting way more industry attention) was earlier, when they were signed to virgin.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 21:57 (five years ago) link
xp nah there were ~80 posts in the 9/4/2005 revive upthread :)
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 21:58 (five years ago) link
The recent Pavement vs. Royal Trux poll garnered tons of comments (and votes)
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:06 (five years ago) link
(Trux lost, of course)
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:07 (five years ago) link
Trux maybe peaked in terms of both mainstream and critical appeal w/Cats and Dogs, i remember a glowing review in Rolling Stone (during a time when that actually meant something). plus it was released at a peak era for alternative rock making more commercial waves, in the same month as Exile in Guyville, Saturation, Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, In on the Kill Taker, 14 Songs, and Souvlaki. I'd be willing to bet Trux sold less than any of them, and I actually doubt it was their biggest selling album, but I think they were at their most "respectable" during that moment.
― omar little, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:20 (five years ago) link
...or in Drag City's words, Do you remember the summer of '93? Our brief stay in Camelot.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:27 (five years ago) link
i remember a glowing review in Rolling Stone
iirc that was SReynolds, who had already championed the previous couple/few records in the pages of Melody Maker.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:28 (five years ago) link
I believe it was Jim Greer who had championed them (& pre-hype Pavement) much earlier in the mainstream press, the zines were all over the early Drag City catalog.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:31 (five years ago) link
Cats & Dogs is a brilliant, brilliant record
― my future think tank (stevie), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 23:15 (five years ago) link
"Alison Moyet, man." Graun interview worth it for that alone, but can't believe how bad the writing is at times, even resorting to the old "like x falling down a flight of stairs" cliche.
― Position Position, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 00:29 (five years ago) link
Sativa ftw
― ian, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 00:31 (five years ago) link
I'm on Team Neil, but he very well may "smoke too much weed" ;P
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 00:53 (five years ago) link
I've listened to White Stuff a good bit since Friday and it's steadily growing on me. Honestly just happy to hear those sloppily-intertwined voices together again on some new songs.
― InternationalWaters, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 14:58 (five years ago) link
funny, when I interviewed Neil via email for a PSF article back in 2015, I asked him about the 1990 tour when they were running drum loops behind live guitar/vox (as seen in the 'What Is Royal Trux' concert footage posted above), and he brought up Yaz as a reference point. Guess it had a bigger impact than I had assumed.
― whitehallunity, Wednesday, 6 March 2019 17:52 (five years ago) link
I'm trying to listen to White Stuff again... the drumming is, like, really bad.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 18:49 (five years ago) link
The Trux concept c. "VOD" era was not supposed to extend to literally sounding like amateurish hair metal
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Wednesday, 6 March 2019 18:53 (five years ago) link
Podcast interview with Jennifer. She explains leaving Drag City and a bit of personal history:http://vishkhanna.com/2019/03/06/ep-465-jennifer-herrema-of-royal-trux/
― Mike Dixn, Thursday, 7 March 2019 12:24 (five years ago) link
On first listen through this sounds fine to me; it's neither as good as Veterans of Disorder or Electric Brick Wall but it sits comfortably between the two, and I 100% have time for that kind of album
― space rock gapdy = ADOSE (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 7 March 2019 21:36 (five years ago) link
Amen
― Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Thursday, 7 March 2019 21:48 (five years ago) link
can't listen to that interview at work. what's the short version of her leaving drag city?
one thing notale about drag city is how much loyalty they seem to inspire. royal trux are exceptional in being long time or old time d.c. acts that have left the label not once but twice. cf. bill callahan and will oldham who have stuck with them for 25+ years despite surely getting lots of offers from bigger labels.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:26 (five years ago) link
*notable
Listening to the podcast now; Jennifer suggests that Drag City operates in some kind of groupthink fashion that was dragging them down (transcription is mine):
Neil and I have, like, all sorts of ideas[...] We don't want to be held down, we don't want to be told no, and we don't want to be on a label that's a collective mind. When we want to do something, we can't wait for the label to determine if everyone else wants to roll that way. We're autonomous, and always have been[...] They're the label, and we're the artist. It's more of a 'project' than a seriously functioning record label at this point.
She goes on to say that when she finally overcame her skepticism around streaming, and wanted Trux's stuff out there, she was frustrated by the politics around how Drag City was approaching it at the time.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:29 (five years ago) link
huh. honestly it's hard to imagine any label satisfying her desire to roll with whatever they want to do.
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:31 (five years ago) link
"they"
"our 2020 album will only be released on CD-ROM"
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:32 (five years ago) link
The specific incident she mentions is that she is/was pro-streaming and DC kept pushing back for months and then finally they acquiesced and let Royal Trux/RTX/Black Bananas be available on streaming sites and within a day or two the entire Drag City catalog started being available as well.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:33 (five years ago) link
The way I heard/understood it, it was only after they had left the label, and their catalog was made available by Fat Possum, that all the DC stuff also came online (which was the "irony" of the situation).
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:35 (five years ago) link
Haha, I def like the accuracy of your take better than my 1/2 of one ear semi-listening take.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 7 March 2019 22:40 (five years ago) link
omg interviewer seriously just asked about "'white stuff' in terms of racism" I'm dying
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:01 (five years ago) link
Podcast interviews conducted via telephone are t-h-e W-O-R-S-T
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:03 (five years ago) link
I don't know what the story is with Drag City; but when you consider that even Neil "noted he was 'overjoyed' not to be working with the band’s previous label" (per one of the interviews linked above) -- something definitely went bad there.
― yuh yuh (morrisp), Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:06 (five years ago) link
is your ejaculate racist y/n?
― affects breves telnet (Gummy Gummy), Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:12 (five years ago) link
I'm kinda glad I heard this after all the Neil/Jennifer drama and read some of the negative reviews, since it set my expectations to a point where I really kinda liked it. It's not great, but not the Black Bananas redux I kinda feared. I still don't like the Kool Keith track and a few others, but "Suburban Junky Lady", "Every Day Swan" and "Whopper Dave" give me what I like.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 13:11 (five years ago) link
I agree, it's definitely a better album than what I / we had been led to believe
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 19 March 2019 21:09 (five years ago) link
I think it's great fun. And it still feels like RT except for the Kool Keith track but I'm gonna guess that was Jennifer H's call so I'll give her that one weird outlier.
― Carly Jae Vespen (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 19 March 2019 23:38 (five years ago) link
THE 1987 ROYAL TRUX PINK CASSETTE HAS BEEN FOUND AND RIPPEDhttp://tinyurl.com/rtx1987
Just making my rounds passing this out. If you know anyone who's interested in hearing this pass it along.
― trux tracker (edges), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 14:00 (five years ago) link
/\ cassette rip credit goes to Concentric Circles on instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/concentric_circles_/
whoa
― Emperor Tonetta Ketchup (sleeve), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 14:11 (five years ago) link
!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 2 April 2019 14:43 (five years ago) link
Oh weird, vocal on "Gold Dust" almost sounds like Daniel Johnston. Wonder if this has been uploaded at the right speed. Can't really tell Neil and Jennifer apart! Nice find.
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 2 April 2019 15:24 (five years ago) link
Pretty sure it's ripped at the right speed. There was a 30 second clip released a year ago by another tape owner that sounds the same.
This is before Jennifer came into her rough vocal style. Just a kid at that point
― trux tracker (edges), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 15:42 (five years ago) link
https://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/56462476_2039185006194155_3549618383689351168_n.jpg
― I am message board pro and respond when talked to (stevie), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 16:01 (five years ago) link
dammithttps://scontent.flhr4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/56462476_2039185006194155_3549618383689351168_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_ht=scontent.flhr4-1.fna&oh=71e618db22d8a3cb0c7ed45948032438&oe=5D3C871A
Priceless!
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 2 April 2019 16:04 (five years ago) link
Thanks for sharing the link to this demo; very cool.
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 22:25 (five years ago) link
"Cut You Loose" and "Luminous Dolphin" sound like the same versions on Singles, Live, Unreleased -- yes?
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 22:46 (five years ago) link
yes, and it seems like Bare Bones & Andersonville are the same as on the first LP.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 22:51 (five years ago) link
Just got to those (and agree).
― get your hand outta my pocket universe (morrisp), Tuesday, 2 April 2019 22:56 (five years ago) link