Chimpomatic

Pigeonhed

The Full Sentence

Sub Pop

THEN: Pigeonhed was the result of noted Seattle engineer/producer Steve Fisk collaborating with singer Shawn Smith and Soundgarden bassist Kim Thayil. Dabbling with  electronics and tape loops Pidgeonhead were an 'experimental' band, giving Sub Pop one of it's most left-field releases.

NOW: There's elements of Trip-Hop, a hint of Prince and even touches of Gospel in this hard-to-Pigeonhole album - but it still maintains an 'Alternative' tone. This still rates as a fairly left-field album and - while the meandering electro-funk of tracks like P-Street hasn't fared well - Shawn Smith's distinctive vocals add much to the atmosphere and still create several memorable tracks.

SUB POP SAYS: "Fisk and Smith contributed to some of the finest bands in the Northwest—Brad, Satchel, Pell Mell, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Beat Happening."

KILLER TRACK: For Those Gone On

NEXT: 1998 - Murder City Devils - Empty Bottles Broken Hearts

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13th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sebadoh

Harmacy

Sub Pop

THEN: Sebadoh's eighth album and their fourth for Sub Pop, saw the Massachusetts (rotating) 3 piece pick-up the succesful formula of its preceeding release, Bakesale. That 1994 smash reached the dizzy heights of number 40 in the UK albums chart, thanks largely to toning down some of the more off-the-wall ideas that marked earlier records and focusing on a more consistent sound, with more emphasis on 'songs'. Harmacy picked up that baton and as a result (and perhaps inevitably) was the band's most mature release at the time.

NOW: More mature maybe, but that's not to say the imagination and slight eccentricity that has secured Sebadoh an intensly loyal fanbase (guilty) is not present here. With songwriting duties split largely evenly between Lou Barlow and Jason Lowenstein, it weaves and bobs at differing pace; from the jaunty, effortless pop (Ocean / Can't Give Up) 3 chord punk (I Smell A Rat) rocking instrumentals (Sforzando! / Hillbilly 2) and painstaking love song (Willing To Wait) all held together with a tighter production than previous releases. Basically, Harmacy sits comfortably in a formidable canon of releases from these indie rock legends.

SUB POP SAYS: "Since each member of Sebadoh writes songs, their sound can be very different from one song to the next. Where once we heard three voice screaming at once, now they talk in harmony"

KILLER TRACK: Always tricky to pick a killer from the mixed bag that is a Sebadoh record, but of the nineteen here and in the interests of fairness I'll go for (Jason's) Mindreader and (Lou's) Ocean.

NEXT: 1997 - Pidgeonhed - The Full Sentence

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13th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Pond

Practice of Joy Before Death

Sub Pop

THEN: Ecstatic reviews from the British Music Press (never trust those guys!) set the pace for the much anticipated Pond, who made an early attempt to move away from the plaid shirts / long hair stereotype and onto the short hair / t-shirts prototype. After their '93 debut, this second album aimed for a darker sound - before major label debut Rock Collection failed to break the band in 1997.

NOW: While Pond were a little late on the Grunge circuit, they were also a little behind the 'alt' continuation that powered through the mid-90's. Without the grandiose ideas of Smashing Pumpkins, or the crunching power of the Foo Fighters, these songs are done few favours - with the muffled production doing little to lift the appealing buried melodies out of the quagmire. Could do with a little more distance between the quiet and loud of their "quite quiet / quite loud" formula.

SUB POP SAYS: "We just wanted danceable, driving drums, and lotsa melodies and hooks, and it all seems to come out murky and thick".

KILLER TRACK: Sundial

NEXT: 1996 - Sebadoh - Harmacy

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12th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sunny Day Real Estate

Diary

Sub Pop

THEN: 1994 and Sub Pop was at the top of its game. Others such as Touch and Go, Blast First, Amphetamine Reptile, Cargo were all dishing out quality fayre, but it was the Seattle label that remained the go-to choice for hard-rocking anger and good times. So Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary caught a lot of people off-guard. Mostly it was singer Jeremy Enigk's voice, this guy sounded like he could actually sing - and it sounded like he was singing about intensly personal themes too, hence 'Diary' I suppose, this couldn't be right from the label who gave us Mudhoney, the band who sang about being drunk for 24 hours. Add to that the slightly creepy and childlike artwork of the record and it felt like Diary was a step in a new direction. Luckily, whilst making us think, it also rocked. Hard.

NOW: Little surprise that Dave Grohl called up rhythm section Nate Mendel (bass) and William Goldsmith (drums) when putting together his new project Foo Fighters in 1995, the drumming especially is awesome across the whole album. Take opener Seven for example: nearly five minutes of constant rolls and fills across a track that was a permanent fixture on many a mix-tape made around that period (to both guys and girls - evidence of the rocking and sensitive all-roundess of the group).

I hadn't listened to it for a while and seemed to remember the intensity level dropping off after Seven and In Circles, but no, the quality remains consistently high across all eleven songs. From the blistering Rounds and Shadows, surreal Grendel and Pheurton Skeurto and the epic 47 and 48. It's fair to argue that Diary was amongst the first Emo records, but don't confuse it with the cynical bullshit of today, there is far more intelligence to Diary than simply plastering on a bit of eyeliner. A classic of classics.

SUP POP SAYS: “Sunny Day’s key members have seemingly engaged in just about every rock cliché imaginable.”

KILLER TRACK: Seven

NEXT: 1995 - Pond - Practice Of Joy Before Death

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12th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Earth

Earth 2

Sub Pop

THEN: Earth's first album, Earth 2 passed over me on its initial release but I do remember its cover. The white background with tasteful typography had a quality that stood out among the other alternative bands. Not that alternative is the best word to describe Earth. There was a certain amount of interest I around Earth 2, what with having such a memorable name and also the fact that no one seemed to be able to stomach the repetitive drone.

NOW: Only three songs in length but still a long player, Earth 2 is a challenge and that really is an understatement. The songs run along at a painfully slow pace and time changes are scarce. Because of the lack of variation the Earth sound could fall under the category of background music if it was not so intimidating and intense. Yet I like this album even if I can only stomach listening to one song at a time. Earth have gone on to expand their sound and improve, thankfully into something more substantial.

KILLER TRACK: Definitely one of the first 3.

NEXT: 1994 - Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary

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12th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Monkeywrench

Clean As A Broke Dick Dog

Sub Pop

THEN: With Mudhoney in full swing, the ever-active Mark Arm and Steve Turner collaborated with Tim Keer of Poison 13 and an even more Nuggety side-project was born.

NOW: With Mark Arm having found his true voice with Mudhoney, this is a long way from Green River. Harmonica, touches of brush drums and stretched-out bluesy jams with extended instrumental sections makes for a great listen. It's a mild attempt to do something new, but not really. Like a Muhoney album without the belting killer tracks, but a bit more subtlty.

This is the side project that won't quit - with new album Gabriel's Horn out this year.

SUB POP SAYS: For fans of: Mudhoney, The Big Boys, Lubricated Goat, The Sonics, The Dicks, MC5

KILLER TRACK: Doubled Over Again

NEXT: 1993 - Earth - Earth 2

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12th Aug 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Mudhoney

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Sub Pop

THEN: I was definitely well aware of being late to the party on this one, and with Nirvana having blown up and Sonic Youth defecting to Geffen this somehow seemed like Mudhoney's "sell-out" album. Luckily being a sell-out in this instance meant being able to pick the album up in the outer-regions of suburban England. It was a great record though, with multiple highlights and Pokin' Around notching a place in my all-time favourites.

NOW: In context it's about as much of a sell-out as Led Zeppelin II - and takes equal standing. Many might disagree, but for me this is still Mudhoney's kick-ass high-point by a mile. More focussed that Superfuzz, but still fresher than their later efforts EGBDF seemed to pull it all together: better songs, better production and more accomplished playing. Good Enough, Let It Slide, Fuzzgun '91 and of course the still mighty, harmonica-infused frenzy of Pokin' Around.

KILLER TRACK: Pokin' Around

NEXT: 1991 - The Monkeywrench - Clean As A Broke Dick Dog

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11th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

L7

Smell The Magic

Sub Pop

THEN: Sub Pop of 1990 was a very male led and largely Seattle based affair. That L7 were made up of four girls from Los Angeles is a good marker of the uncompromising nature of this band and their debut album Smell the Magic. The quartet who were definitely more Riot Grrrl than Girl Power, earned notoriety on these shores by dropping their trousers live on The Word or going one step further at the Reading Festival by throwing a used tampon into the crowd, along with the challenge "Eat my dead uterus!"

NOW: Sound charming don't they? But such 'fuck-you' antics were very much part of the appeal of the music coming out of Sub Pop at the time. Like a reincarnation of the Punk explosion that inspired many groups in the scene, it wasn't necessarily the music that mattered most - some distorted barchords and single fingered solos would work just fine - as long as it all came with plenty of anger and attitude. Released in a year when the eyes of the alternative world were all fixed on Sub Pop, Smell The Magic can make legitimate claim to being the archetypal 'Grunge' record, with album opener Shove as anthemic as any Touch Me I'm Sick or Teen Spirit. "My neighbours say I jam too loud. SHOVE! America thinks I should be proud. HUH!"

SUB POP SAYS: “L7 are a primal rock machine.”

KILLER TRACKS: Shove. Fast And Frightening

NEXT: 1991 - Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

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11th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Nirvana

Bleach

Sub Pop

THEN: Decent debut from Seattle scenesters that didn't make much of an impact until Nevermind's all-conquering success brought fans back looking for more.

NOW: Very much the sound of a band finding their feet (oh look there they are, inside our Chuck Taylors). Intimate production makes it sound like you're in the studio with them. A lot of Bleach (Negative Creep, Paper Cuts, Swap Meet etc) feels like heavy metal being played by punks who can't solo that proficiently, but still know their way around a riff. Which in a way is what grunge was really. Most of the tracks here are a lot heavier than the quiet-LOUD-quiet template they ripped off borrowed from Pixies later. Notable for having pre-Dave Grohl era drummers Chad Channing and Dale Crover in the band - they're solid, but nowhere near as tight as Grohl - confirming long-held chimp theory that a drummer is the key for a decent band to reach real greatness. Launches straight into their "singalong with the riffs" style of song writing with Blew; Floyd The Barber's a heavy sludgeathon; About A Girl is the only song that really sounds like "Nirvana" - clean guitars until the solo etc, a pretty poppy chorus riff - it's almost like an early Beatles track.

SUB POP SAYS: "These guys are gonna get big!"

KILLER TRACK: About A Girl

NEXT: 1990 - L7 - Smell The Magic

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11th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Green River

Dry As A Bone / Rehab Doll

Sub Pop

THEN: There's no denying that Green River was a lawless guitar riot that was the start of something new. In the early 90's everybody was acting like they were into this long before Nevermind or Superfuzz, but unless you were based in the Pacific North-West it's unlikley you really heard this until long after the fact.

NOW: All the elements are here, but while it's all fine there are no real stand-out tracks. Sounds like the early band of a few guys who went on to form Mudhoney; a band that was a lawless guitar riot and the start of something new. It's also a minor footnote on the Pearl Jam biography, but there's little sonic resemblance - try Temple Of The Dog instead.

SUB POP SAYS: "Before alternative sucked"

KILLER TRACK: This Town

NEXT: 1989 - Nirvana - Bleach

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11th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Nominees (aka We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian Of The Year)

ABC (Australia); FX (UK)

After the break-out success of Summer Heights High on BBC3 this year, FX are smartly re-running Chris Lilley's earlier series The Nominees. 

If you've got into SHH, you'll know what to expect - edgy, dry mockumentary humour, with Lilley cast as all the leads. He's playing five characters here, all candidates for the "Australian Of The Year" award.

Daniel Sims, a hoon teenager living in the outback, who's been nominated because he's going to donate an ear-drum to his deaf twin brother.

Pat Mullins, a suburban housewife who clearly likes wine-time, and is a champion "roller", planning to roll on her side all the way to Uluru (rock and roll...).

Phil Olivetti, a publicity-loving ex-cop who's nominated himself after a rescue attempt involving a bouncy castle that floated off from its moorings. 

Ricky Wong, a physics PHD student who'd rather be acting in his own play, Indigeridoo

This was also the debut for the mighty "I don't mean to be a bitch but..." Ja'mie King, SHH's popular exchange student, who's in her own school here. She's been spending her time sponsoring 85 Sudanese children who she organises in a Pop Idol-style popularity contest in her bedroom. She also fasts for them, which helps raise money and "keeps me looking hot".

V funny, worth catching if you've run out of Summer Heights High.

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10th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Ponytail

Ice Cream Spiritual

We Are Free

Ponytail are are four-piece band from Baltimore featuring two guitarists, a drummer and the individual vocal stylings of singer Molly Siegel (Yep, Harris Pilton scores a review for another band with no bass player. Must be something about 2008, because that's the third band this year that eschews the services of the lower frequencies). So, on the one hand here is a band which doesn't rumble the floor (bad), but on the other hand, they are also a band which still sound great when they throw the rule book out of the window (good).

There's nothing as straightforward as a song here, well not the sort of song you could sing the words along to, nor the sort that is served up in a verse/chorus framework, but nevertheless the sound Ponytail deliver is still very catchy, joyful and full of poppy hooks and melodies. Everything is pretty frantic - drummer Jeremy Hyman serves up solid garage rock rhythms at a furious pace while the twin guitars of Ken Seeno and Dustin Wong riff, battle, noodle, wig out and mash together in an unremitting orgy of late-60's inspired jamming. Meanwhile in the few remaining upper-mid frequency gaps, Molly Siegel vocalises her way through the entire record like a day-glo toy on happy juice. Screeching, yelling, making mouth noises and sometimes flirting with a melody, Siegel manages to swerve the band's sound away from The Allman Brothers (acknowledged in one track title) and into a land of dementedly happy ultra-neon flowers and sunshine, all racing by at a breakneck speed making your head spin from an overdose of colour saturation.

It's noisy, and it's fun, so go check it out. But it is full on from the word go and pretty much relentless. Most of the time the band sound like they've just hit the final minute of an already epic number and are pulling all their freak-out chops for the big final chord - except Ponytail start their songs that way then carry on from there. Wacky, but in a good way.

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8th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Everything's Gone Green

(dir. Paul Fox)

ThinkFilm

Post-Generation X slacker Ryan gets home to find his girlfriend and her brother moving him out of her apartment. When his father claims to have won $4.2 million on the lottery, he quits his job before realising the mistake. Luckily the Lottery Bureau hires him as a writer for "Winners" magazine and after meeting hot set-designer Ming things start to look up. However, when his parents get involved in a grow-op and he starts money-laundering for golf-course designer Bryce, life gets a little tricky.

Surprisingly engaging comedy from Douglas Coupland, transferring the un-transferrable nature of his novels onto the big screen, by writing one specifically for the big screen, even if much of it was previously covered in Coupland's book JPod (the grow-op, the Hongcouver non-influx). Here, the constant ironic nods and stream of consciousness writing assimilate nicely into the plot without ever seeming forced, and all the usual issues are covered: consumerism, aspiration, relationships, life direction... and it all comes together nicely.

The actual boards of Canada seem to have had quite a bit to do with this too - and it's an easy choice for them. While poking fun at Vancouver's flexible qualities as a film location the city is a strong silent character in the film, coming across like a pretty laid back place - which being in South-West Canada seems like a sunnier version of North-West America. The best-of-Canada soundtrack is also well worth checking out, with the likes of Black Mountain and Caribou.

The best thing about it though, is it's just like reading a new Coupland book - and it only takes 95 minutes.

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7th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

In Search Of A Midnight Kiss

(dir. Alex Holdridge)

Vertigo Films/ IFC Entertainment

Monochrome US indie romance that follows the walking and talking template of Before Sunset/Sunrise. It's New Year's Eve and wannabe scriptwriter Wilson (Scoot McNairy) finds himself stuck in LA with no job, no girl and no prospect of getting the elusive midnight kiss he's dreaming about. His roommates talk him into placing an ad on Craig's List, so he cynically types:

Misanthrope Seeks Misanthrope

and is pretty surprised when he gets a confident call a few hours later. He's even more surprised when he goes to meet her a few hours later, and finds her auditioning other prospective dates for the evening. It's not giving too much away to reveal that Vivian (Sara Simmonds) decides to pick Wilson (where would the rest of the film be?)

It's always great to see a film that's confident enough to let its characters learn about each other's lives without any great car chases or hyperactive ninjas forcing them together. It's also interesting to see the downtown side of LA - they talk about heading over to hip hotels like the W, but never actually make it. Instead we're hanging out on the streets (ie, the streets where there are actually people walking around), taking the subway, getting stuck in traffic.

It's downbeat, funny, moving and revealing in turns, as the glammed up Vivian slowly sheds her sassy hardass shell, and Wilson lets his slacker guard down. Very much in the spirit of that wave of 90s US indie, with the Craig's List internet dating MacGuffin giving it a 2008 refresh. Recommended.

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6th Aug 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet