Robert Palmer, the longtime New York Times music critic, writing about THE FLESH EATERS in 1982 (!).
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The people have spoken. Here’s another track from the rare 1997 “Fractious” 7"EP by SALLY SKULL, one of the coolest pieces of vinyl I’ve discovered in some time. They were, by what rare accounts there are, a female-led UK garage punk band with a hankering for fuzz and an aversion to fidelity. This one’s called “Tear Out”.
I watched the MUDHONEY “I’m Now” documentary last night via online streaming – and you can do the same for $5.99 right here. A DVD’s about to ship as well.
My kudos and proverbial hat off to the guys who made this one. They did an excellent job avoiding a lot of documentary cliches, except for the one that says you have to use “found footage” from the 1950s to cheekily illustrate your points and concepts. They were kind enough to interview me for my commentary on a band I saw play many, many times & whom I know pretty well, and they left the dumbest things I said on the cutting room floor. I was positive they’d use this thing I said (as a complement) comparing Mark Arm to Bryan Ferry as examples of two guys who transcended their limited vocal abilities or something like that, and hack the statement to make it look like a major dis. They did not.
There’s a ton of great footage from 1988 to the present, and a chronological walk through the band’s many eras. The best stuff is definitely the “major label years” and why they jumped to a major in the first place after a particularly gross meeting with a guy from indie label Caroline. There are lots on interviewees, from Thurston & Kim to Keith Morris to the Claw Hammer guys to Soundgarden & Pearl Jam and so on.
Someone needs to explain to me what happened to Sub Pop founder Jonathan Poneman. This once-hyperactive sales machine is nearly narcotized during his interviews. Then again, there are loads of veterans of the scene wars in this one, and most have served their cause admirably. Check it out if you’ve got 100 minutes to spare soon.
Terrific early 1990s fanzine put out by Eric Friedl, pre-OBLIVIANS, just as Goner Records was getting off the ground.
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I missed most of the late 1990s Elephant 6 hullabaloo, having heard a couple of the bands in question. I dismissed some (Neutral Milk Hotel – gawd), sorta liked others (Olivia Tremor Control) and couldn’t be bothered to seek out the rest. That’s how I missed THE MINDERS, which is a goddamn shame. This Denver band were present at the creation of this mythical collective, and from what I’ve heard so far, their Big Star/Beatles/GBV-style pop was head and shoulders above the rest of the crew. You can hear for yourself here, on “Chatty Patty” from their posthumous Cul-de-Sacs and Dead Ends collection.
As is so often is the case, Erika Elizabeth from WMUA’s Expressway to Yr Skull radio show turned me on to this band, so big ups to her for doing so.
Just as San Francisco’s DWARVES were started to get some notice around the country for their mind-blowing, room-clearing 5-minute shows in the early 90s, Gerard Cosloy penned this piece in the Village Voice, which I’ve saved for over twenty years with the intention of sharing it with you on the internet today.
I just ordered this June 13th, 1981 issue of SOUNDS magazine for a king’s ransom of nearly $14 from a place in the UK. Looks pretty nondescript, doesn’t it? The value that us music obsessives assign to tokens from our youth, however, bears no relation to actual worth.
I was 13 years old when I bought this UK music paper at Little Professor Book Center in San Jose, CA (no joke). It totally upended my musical world. Already a fan of the “new wave” as I was, this was where I first heard the term “indie” – in relation to their Indie Top 20 chart, which was full of punk and post punk 45s that are considered legendary to this day. It was the first place outside of CREEM that I ever saw snarky, dismissive music journalism. (CREEM was a metalhead mag by this point anyway). In England, it appeared, it was all about the small-run 45rpm single, and there were dozens coming out every week from all corners of the UK.
I proceeded from that week in June 1981 to being a regular buyer of Sounds, NME and Melody Maker over the next four years or so. This one somehow got taken out with the trash a long time ago, and in a fit of nostalgia, I decided to spring for it again. Scans forthcoming.
I found my two copies of AWAY FROM THE PULSEBEAT fanzine in the garage this past weekend as I was looking for things to scan for you. This late ‘87 issue might not have any lasting rock heroes featured within its pages of interviews (my favorite among those pictured was Killdozer, whom I probably last listened to in about 1993), but their photos were original and well-done, and the actual reviews touched on all of 1987’s true heroes – Lazy Cowgirls, Laughing Hyenas, Pussy Galore, Green River, Scientists and so on.
I’ll have various scans from both issues parceled out here on the ‘Hemorrhage over the next few weeks.
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I’d have to put this track in my Top 20 songs of all time, to be honest. I didn’t hear THE DESPERATE BICYCLES until the ‘00s, I don’t think – not until the internet age was in full bloom. They were only a legend before then – “the ultimate ramshackle UK DIY band”; “agitprop aggressors for taking control of the means of music production & distribution” etc.
The band’s first two singles, from 1977 and 1978, are so unique and special that despite the explosion of amazing punk and deep-underground sounds at that time, their clattering, homebound, bass-driven songs truly have no equal or even imitators.
From WIPEOUT! fanzine #5. Not sure if this was a bumper sticker I could have had on my 1980 Mustang back then.
AGONY SHORTHAND 