Several readers have written to let me know that the links for Small Factory / The Godrays and Glenn Phillips have gone dark. They’re dark no more. Here are some direct links to those refreshed posts:
Glasgow Scotland was host to a vibrant and thriving Indie rock scene during the 1990s, but that scene was dominated by two distinct musical styles
the winsome guitar pop of Teenage Fanclub and its many affiliated bands or the twee preciousness of Belle & Sebastian and their many affiliated bands.
Part of the scene, but also outside and looking in was The Nectarine No. 9. Lead by Davey Henderson (guitar and vocals), Simon Smeeton (guitars/keyboards), Iain Holford (bass) and John Thompson (drums) the group formed in 1991.
Signed to the reactivated Postcard label the band and Henderson, in particular,
shared little of the naïve pop sensibility of Postcard alums like Aztec Camera or Orange Juice, instead preferring a noisy guitar rock sound mixed with Captain Beefheart-style quirkiness.
Prior to forming The Nectarine No. 9 Henderson lead “the avant-funk Fire Engines in 1980.” He later joined forces with Simon Smeeton in the 80’s pop band Win.
Their 1992 debut, A Sea With Three Stars was quickly followed by the Unloaded for You EP. In 1993 Strange Fruit released Guitar Thieves, a nine-track compilation of various BBC sessions which the band had recorded during the first half of that year. America and Canada were finally introduced to the group with the 1994 release of Niagara Falls,“ a 16-track summation of the first album and EP.” Included on the album was one new track, “This Arsehole’s Been Burned Too Many Times Before,” which was a limited edition U.K. 7″.
The group’s long delayed second proper album, 1995′s Saint Jack, proved to more “dissonant than A Sea With Three Stars,” while also exhibiting a new found fascination with electronic noise.
After a tour with Edwyn Collins (Orange Juice) the group went on hiatus for two years, remerging in 1997 as the backing group on Scots poet Jock Scot’s album My Personal Culloden.
Released in 1998 on the Glasgow indie label Creeping Bent the curiously named Fried for Blue Material included the song “Port of Mars,” their side of a 1997 split single with Suicide singer Alan Vega.
2001’s Received Transgressed & Transmitted
is the Cliff Notes version of the history of avant-garde rock.
with nods to the lo-fi rock of the Fall and Pavement, early Flaming Lips, the technologically induced, electronic freak-out sessions of Grandaddy, and let’s not forget Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums:
A Sea With Three Stars (CD, LP, MP3) Postcard Records 1992
Saint Jack (CD, MP3) Postcard Records 1995
Saint Jack (CD) Shake The Record Label (Canada) 1995 Niagara Falls (CD) Shake The Record Label 1995
Received Transgressed & Transmitted (CD, MP3) Beggars Banquet 2001
I Love Total Destruction (CD, MP3) Beggars Banquet 2004
Un-loaded For You (CD) Postcard Records
Fried for Blue Material
Singles & EPs:
This Arsehole’s Been Burned Too Many Times Before (7″) Postcard Records 1994
Paul Quinn & Nectarine No. 9, The & Independent Group, The & Jock Scot – Pregnant With Possibilities Vol. 1 (CD EP) Postcard Records 1995
Revolutionary Corps Of Teenage Jesus* / Nectarine No. 9, The – Creeping Bent Singles Club #7 (7″) Creeping Bent 1998 South Of An Imaginary Line E.P. (CD EP) Creeping Bent 1999
Constellations Of A Vanity Extended Play (CD EP, MP3) Beggars Banquet 2000
Society Is A Carnivourous Flower (CD, MP3) Beggars Banquet 2000
The End Of Definition (CDr Single) Beggars Banquet 2004
Adidas Francis Bacon (7″) Sano Music
Compilations:
Guitar Thieves (CD) Nighttracks, Postcard Records 1994
It’s Just The Way Things Are, Joe, It’s Just The Way Things Are (CD, MP3) Creeping Bent 1999
Miscellaneous:
Paul Quinn & Independent Group, The & Nectarine No. 9, The – Thirsty Ear Promo CD (CD) Thirsty Ear 1996
Appearances:
Albums:
Inside Of Your Heart (as Nectarine #9) The Beat Goes On… (CD) Shake
Singles & EPs:
The Holes Of Corpus Christi D’Un Échantillon De Marchandises (CD EP, 7″) Postcard Records, Summershine 1993
Compilations:
Thierry Lacroix Volume 15 – Technology Alert! (CD) Volume 1996
Walter Tevis The Carve-up (CD, Comp) Loose 1999
Walter Tevis (as Nectarine No. 9) Unconditionally Guaranteed Volume 10 (CD) Uncut Magazine 1999
The Port Of Mars Bentism (The Underground Sounds Of Creeping Bent) (CD) Creeping Bent 1999
These Days Bentboutique, Chasing The Chimera (2xCD) Creeping Bent 2000
Foundthings 1.8.16.2001 (CD) Beggars Banquet 2001
Constellations Of A Vanity Winter 2001-2002 (CD) Beggars Group 2001
Foundthings (as Nectarine No. 9) Eight Labels Sixteen Tracks Second Edition (CD) Beggars Banquet 2001
Saint Jack Thank You For Being You (CD) Electric Honey Records 2007
Curdled Fragments (as Nectarine No. 9) Park Lane Archives (CD) Jungle Records 2009
Miscellaneous:
South Of An Imaginary Line (as Nectarine No9) Bleeps-oh-six (9xFile, MP3) Bleep 2006
Playing time: 48:50
1. Saint Jack (3:40)
2. Curdled Fragments (3:47)
3. Fading Memory Babe (1:41)
4. Can’t Scratch Out (4:27)
5. This Arsehole’s Been Burned Too Many Times Before (4:17)
6. It’s Not My Baby Putting Me Down (1:34)
7. My Trapped Lightning (4:21)
8. Just Another Fucked-Up Little Druggy On the Scene (2:15)
9. Couldn’t Phone Potatoes (4:47)
10. Dead Horse Arum (0:38)
11. Firecrackers (3:09)
12. Un-Loaded For You (4:13)
13. Clipped Wings & Flower Sting (5:22)
14. Tape Your Head On (4:39)
Powered by Windows Live Writer
How quickly the year has passed and once again it’s Record Store Day.
Without our continuing support the local independent record store is fast becoming a thing of the past and as it stands now increasingly every year finds more and more of them going out of business.
As usual there is a lot of music that is exclusive to Record Store Day and from a broad range of artists, Abba to Uncle Tupelo.
To help you find participating Record Stores in your area you can search for them here.
I’ll be out there adding to my “record” collection. Hope to see you there as well.
Canadian dream-pop band A Northern Chorus was formed in 1999 by guitarists/vocalists Stu Livingstone and Pete Hall following the break-up of their previous group Datura Dream Defered.
For over a year they performed as a duo, during which time they also began composing and performing their own original songs.
In 2000 the band add two new members, bassist Mark Raymond and drummer Dan Jagt, but it was the 2001 addition of violinist Erin Aurich to the band
which proved to be the missing piece for the band’s conceptual work.
Following the release of their debut disc, 2001’s Before We All Go to Pieces, the band went on an extended Canadian and U.S. tour.
With the tour behind them, and a new rhythm section, percussionist Marshall Bureau and bassist Owen Davies in place, the band began recording their next album, 2003’s Spirit Flags at Mount Fairview Sound in Dundas, Ontario. Rounding out the group for this album were flautist Julie MacDonald, and Sarah MacGregor on violin and violo.
By the time that the band released 2005’s Bitter Hands Resign the band had gone through another lineup change with the additions of Alex McMaster, (cello) and percussionist Steve Hesselink.
Bitter Hands Resign
melds the extended pieces and touching vocals of Sigur Rós with the emotional rock of Appleseed Cast’s Two Conversations
Influential Pitchfork Media said of Bitter Hands Resign
A Northern Chorus has turned out the record that Death Cab for Cutie might make after taking an on online classical composition course and a near-fatal overdose of tranquilizer cocktails.
Released in 2007, The millions too many, marked the return of violinist Erin Aurich and the addition of drummer Craig Halliday and also featured the one-man-horn-section, Ben Bowen.
With it’s faster tempos and shorter songs,
seven of nine songs clocking in around four minutes
The millions too many is
hushed, artsy, and smart.
A number of the album’s songs resemble those by
similar Canadian bands like Arcade Fire and Rheostatics
but it’s on the album’s center piece, the dramatic, slow building “The Canadian Shield,” where the band resembles
the Canadian equivalent of Sigur Rós.
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums:
Before We All Go To Pieces (CD, Digital) Black Mountain Music 2001
Spirit Flags (CD, Digital) Sonic Unyon 2003
Bitter Hands Resign (CD, Digital) Sonic Unyon 2005
Before We All Go To Pieces (CD) Black Mountain Music 2006
The Millions Too Many (CD, Digital) Sonic Unyon 2007
The Millions Too Many (LP) Sonic Unyon 2007
Singles & EPs:
Chained To The Truth (7″, Digital) Black Mountain Music 2007
Appears On:
Albums:
“Let The Parrots Speak For Themselves” Blisscent II (CD) Blisscent Records 2003
“Subjects & Matter” Transcend Mainstream Mediocrity (CD) Sonic Unyon 2005
Compilations:
“Slide” We Could Live In Hope : A Tribute To Low (CD, MP3) Fractured Discs 2004
“Until Cause Meets Effect” Je T’Aime (CD) Where Are My Records 2006
“The Millions Too Many” Nothing On But Your Radio: Live Sessions From CJSW 90.9 (2xCD) CJSW 2008
Bitter Hands Resign (2005)
Playing Time: 50:00
1. The Shepard & The Chauffeur (6:58)
2. Subjects & Matter (6:51)
3. This Open Heart (7:31)
4. Watershed Divide (6:31)
5. Prisoners Of Circumstance (5:49)
6. Costa Del Sol (8:10)
7. Don’t Think Of Collapse (3:33)
8. Winterize (4:37)
Buy Bitter Hands Resign from Sonic Unyon
Buy Bitter Hands Resign from Amazon.com
The Millions Too Many (2007)
Playing Time: 39:25
1. Carpenter (4:13)
2. Skeleton keys (3:47)
3. The millions too many (3:42)
4. No stations (4:06)
5. The Canadian Shield (5:30)
6. Horse to stable (3:39)
7. Remembrance Day (4:34)
8. Ethic of the pioneer (4:13)
9. Victory parade (5:41)
Buy The Millions Too Many Sonic Unyon
Buy The Millions Too Many from Amazon.com
Powered by Windows Live Writer
In 1994, while still in high school, Matt Lunsford and Darcie Knight started the publication, Polyvinyl Press, to cover the burgeoning independent music scene in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. As the magazine grew so did it’s connections to label-less artists. The July 1995 issue of the magazine included a split 7" EP with Back of Dave and Walker. And so a label is born. Their first major releases came following their signing of "emo"/post hardcore rockers Braid in 1998, which with the subsequent national exposure allowed the label to work with a wider repertoire of artists.
Polyvinyl finally achieved mainstream success following the release of Montreal’s The Sunlandic Twins in 2005 . The success of that album,
which produced three successful singles and national television and media exposure
also increased the visibility of all Polyvinyl’ s artists to the point that in 2008 the label opened a San Francisco branch. No longer confining themselves to local bands, the label currently boasts a roster of 21 bands, including international artists like Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki and Norway’s Casiokids.
With rare and exclusive tracks from Aloha, matt pond PA and Pele, 2001’s ReDirection documents the label’s first six years and Lunsford’s and Knight’ efforts to expose “independent artists” to a far wider audience.
ReDirection (2001)
Playing Time: 70:47
1. Sunday’s Best – Saccharine (3:47)
2. The Ivory Coast – Swope (3:34)
3. Aloha – A Hundred Stories (2:54)
4. AM/FM – Come Suck Down A Cloud (3:54)
5. Radio Flyer – (312) (4:03)
6. Rainer Maria – Breakfast Of Champions (3:36)
7. American Football – Never Meant (4:18)
8. matt pond PA – A New Part Of Town (4:05)
9. Pele – The Mind Of Minolta (3:41)
10. Hey Mercedes – Stay Six (4:32)
11. Kerosene 454 – What Was (3:03)
12. Paris, Texas – Le Tigre (2:41)
13. Sunday’s Best – Sons Of The Second String (4:01)
14. AM/FM – A Best Man (Put My Girlfriend On Fire) (2:58)
15. Rainer Maria – Artificial Light (3:38)
16. Braid – Killing A Camera (2:35)
17. matt pond PA – This Is Montreal (1:19)
18. Pele – Gas The Nutsy (6:50)
19. Aloha – Warsaw (5:18)
Buy ReDirection (CD) direct from Polyvinyl Records
Powered by Windows Live Writer
Described as “the love child of the Pixies and the Go-Go’s” Austin Texas Sincola was started by guitarist Kris Patterson in 1992. Rounding out the group was Wendell Stivers (guitar), Chepo Peña (bass), Joan Weiss (drums) and vocalist and “self-described "kewpie doll bitch," Rebecca Cannon.
Their eponymous debut EP with it’s
angular post-Pixies pop — all herky-jerk hooks and jagged cadences,
five strong “deliriously off-balance bubblepunk songs” and the vocals of Rebecca Cannon who
whoops, snaps, hiccups and shouts as if possessed by some sort of wanton, green-eyed imp from slumber-party hell.
won the Austin Chronicle’s Music Award "Best EP" in 1994.
In the summer of 1994 the band signed with Caroline Records and added a new drummer, Traci Lords.
On 1995’s What the Nothinghead Said producer Brian Beattie
fine-tunes Sincola’s mercurial sound, giving it just the right shades of new wave gloss and punk-rock punch.
Besides the reworked versions of "Bitch" and "Hey Artemis from their debut EP the album is studded with “shoulda-been-hits” like the breakdown car song "Drive," the anthem like "Sedate Me," and "Amazing,"
which practically begs for an upraised lighter as it finishes the record off.
This is woman-driven, explicit punk with an edge.
Sincola released one more album, 1996’s Crash Landing In Teen Heaven before being suddenly dropped by Caroline Records.
The group broke up in 1997, but has begun playing again in the Austin area. Plans for an album of new material are unknown at this point.
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums:
What The Nothinghead Said (Cass, CD) Caroline Records 1995
Crash Landing In Teen Heaven (CD) Caroline Records (US) 1996
Crash Landing In Teen Heaven (LP) Caroline Records (UK) 1996
Singles & EPs:
Sincola (7", CD EP) Rise Records 1994
Girlfriend / Second World (7") Get Go Records 1994
One Hit Wonder (7") Caroline (UK) 1996
One Hit Wonder (CD) Caroline (US) 1996
Sincola / Engine 88 – Bitch/Funny Car (7") Caroline 1996
Happy M.F. / Ugly Place (7") Caroline (UK) 1996
Stretford / Sincola – Pop Culture Press #28 (Flexi, 7") Pop Culture Press, Eva-Tone Soundsheets Sincola / L7 – Pop Culture Press #34 (Flexi, 7") Pop Culture Press, Eva-Tone Soundsheets
Appearances:
Albums:
"One Hit Wonder" The Great Summer Pop Sampler (CD) Pop Culture Press 1996
Compilations:
"Carousel" Fallout: A Radioactive Compilation (CD) KVRX 1993
"Bitch" K-NACK Homegroan Volume One (CD) Raydog’s 11th Hour Records 1994
"Bitch" CMJ New Music March – Volume 19 (CD) College Music Journal 1995
"Star 79" How Low Can A Punk Get? (CD) Caroline (UK) 1996
"One Hit Wonder" Seven Hit Wonders (CD) Caroline (UK) 1996
"One Hit Wonder" CMJ New Music July – Volume 35 (CD) College Music Journal 1996
"One Hit Wonder" huH, Volume 22 (CD) huH Music Service 1996
"Bitch" 94 Fall Menu
"Bitch" Hear Ya! Winter 1994-1995
What the Nothinghead Said (1995)
Playing Time: 39:33
1. Hint of the Titty (2:18)
2. Bitch (3:43)
3. 1000 miles (5:04)
4. Girlfriend (2:28)
5. Sedate Me (3:45)
6. Cement Shoes (3:06)
7. Hey Artemis (4:46)
8. Hymn 13 (3:10)
9. Drive (2:44)
10. Sud (2:53)
11. Amazing (5:36)
Powered by Windows Live Writer
Some of you may have wondered if I ever planned on posting again. Unfortunately computer problems which took longer to repair then originally thought, and then once it was repaired getting everything back to the way it was meant I’ve been without a computer since early January.
Being computer free (except for work) wasn’t all the bad, nor difficult. While I’ve been using a computer for the last 25 years the majority of my life has been lived computer free. So what did I do? Caught up on my reading, and I highly recommend The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by William Morris, The Game by Ken Dryden and Open Ice by Jack Falla. Plus with the Bruins on TV nearly every other night, the NHL on NBC, games on the NHL Network and college hockey on both NBC and NESN I haven’t lacked for something to watch.
But hey, this is a music blog!
Tonight I had a request to freshen up the links for a post I wrote back in 2006 about the guitarist Glenn Phillips. So with nothing prepared & anxious to get going again I’ve freshened those links. Here’s that link. Enjoy
Over the space of four albums, the sadly overlooked group, Downy Mildew went from
cryptic folk-pop to alternative rock powerhouse
finally settling for shimmering folk-pop on their last release, 1994s Slow Sky.
While the music on their two earlier releases, Broomtree and Mincing Steps, was shrouded in mystery (REM’s Murmur comes to mind here) 1992’s An Oncoming Train dispenses with the mystery in favor of a more accessible sound.
Some critics felt that the band lost more then it gained with this change in the band’s sound, but also conceded that the album wasn’t without it’s highlights, notably, "Elevator", a complete pop gem, and the vocals of
the sultry Jenny Homer… (whose) vocals are at their peak throughout this album, and she assays a wide variety of moods with success.
Building on the strengths of An Oncoming Train Downy Mildew goes out on a high note on their final album, which is
highlighted by hook-laden gems such as "Left Foot Down," "A Liar Needs a Good Memory," and "Them That Dream."
Not everything on Slow Sky is bright and breezy as the somber darker
A Polka-Dot Scarved Woman" and "Release" balance out the jangle.
as do the haunting, yearning songs "Girls by the Lake" and "Them That Dream."
DISCOGRAPHY
Albums
Broomtree (LP) Texas Hotel 1987
Broomtree (LP) Glass Records 1987
Broomtree (CD, LP, MP3) High Street Records 1993
Mincing Steps (Cass, LP) Texas Hotel 1988
Mincing Steps (CD, LP, MP3) High Street Records 1993
An Oncoming Train (Cass, CD, MP3) High Street Records 1992
Slow Sky (Cass, CD, MP3) High Street Records 1994
Singles & EPs
Downy Mildew (12" EP) Texas Hotel 1986
Elevator (CD Single, MP3) High Street 1992
Miscellaneous
Left Foot Down (CD) High Street Records 1993
Compilations
"Frown Song" All Ears Review 1 (Cass, CD) ROM Records 1988
"An Oncoming Train" Spin This (CD) Spin Magazine 1992
"An Oncoming Train" Musician Magazine’s New Music Sampler: A Little on the CD Side, Volume 5 (CD) (Musician Magazine’s) 1992
"Frown Song" All-Ears Review, Volume 1: The Hottest New Sounds from African to Jazz to Rock to Zydeco (CD) ROM Records 1992
"The Kitchen" The Best of the Fest 1993: A Sampler of Great Music (CD) BMG Music 1993
"Left Foot Down" We Sing to Open Ears (CD) High Street Records
An Oncoming Train (1992)
Playing Time: 42:36
1. An Oncoming Train (3:51)
2. A Borrowed Chant (4:50)
3. Trading Jewels (4:14)
4. Elevator (3:40)
5. Twice Told Tale (3:46)
6. Six Months Is A Long Time (3:53)
7. Seconds Protest (4:33)
8. Melissa, I Know the Difference (5:41)
9. Sleep! (3:59)
10. Child (4:09)
Slow Sky (1994)
Playing Time: 48:22
1. Your Blue Eye (3:17)
2. Left Foot Down (4:14)
3. Release (4:34)
4. A Polka Dot-Scarved Woman (3:34)
5. Girls By The Lake (5:49)
6. A Liar Needs A Good Memory (4:19)
7. That He Wrote (4:27)
8. Them That Dream (3:36)
9. Machine (4:02)
10. Sidewinding Home (4:10)
11. Don’t Change Your Mind (3:54)
12. I Remember Yesterday (2:26)
Powered by Windows Live Writer
