Ditch Croaker "Chimpfactor" cd (Fine Corinthian/1995)

If there is one word that I feel probably describes Hoboken, NJ's Ditch Croaker, the word without a doubt would be under appreciated. As far as 90's indie rock goes, for all the great things that era spawned I do have to say that it championed mediocrity more so than craftsmanship. And while Ditch Croaker certainly bared sonic resemblance to bands such Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh and Buffalo Tom, their songs were certainly more refined. I even detect a hint of Creedence Clearwater Revival in their sound which is awesome, but back then as far as I can tell your parents' record collection wasn't as cool as it is today. Ditch Croaker's tunes were catchy but had that melodic dissonant thing that bands like the aforementioned Dinosaur Jr and Sebadoh had going for itself.  I would probably lean the sound a bit closer to the Sebadoh tip as Ditch Croaker's songs certainly had a darker edge to them at times and the lyrics have always reminded me of the stuff Lou Barlow and Jason Lowenstein would write.

Truthfully, this isn't my favorite Ditch Croaker release which would be 1996's Secrets of the Mule which in my opinion is a bonafide unheralded classic album of the 90s, but with all of that said Chimpfactor is a solid album. If I had one beef with it, I feel it isn't very front loaded as the best songs are on the second half of the album. Perhaps my main reason for sharing Chimpfactor over Secrets of the Mule is that in the few places in blog land that I have seen write ups or uploads from Ditch Croaker it is always about Secrets of the Mule. However, at some point I will upload Secrets of the Mule as well the other release I own by Ditch Croaker, 1999's Tranquil Waters. I got to see Ditch Croaker once in 1997 as the first band on a bill at the Knitting Factory with Nada Surf, The Wrens and The Candy Butchers, and they were absolutely fantastic live. It is a shame that I only saw them that one time. Anyhow, enough of my blabbering...do yourself a favor download Chimpfactor and if you can't wait for my eventual upload of Secrets of the Mule, I implore you to not just seek out on a blog but pick up the cd which always shows up dirt cheap on sites like Ebay, Amazon, etc. There is a vinyl version but I haven't seen that turn up as much.

Ditch Croaker Chimpfactor track listing:

1. Mr Bluefish
2. Madman at the Opera
3. Monkey Wild
4. Fallen Behind
5. Pleasant Trip
6. Sweet Lucy
7. Videohead
8. Ticker Type

Download Now

The Heartworms/California Stadium "split" 7 inch (Ace Fu Records/1998)

Here is a nice little split 7 inch that came out towards the end of the 90s that I mainly picked up because of The Heartworms, but I would end up enjoying the  California Stadium side much more. The Heartworms was the band that Archie Moore started with girlfriend Trisha Roy after Velocity Girl disbanded. They released a couple of albums, singles and comp tracks all of which is awesome, straightforward but catchy indie pop with male/female vocals but I have to say their track for this split 7 inch is rather underwhelming.  It is a keyboard driven piece of instrumental synth pop.

On the flip side California Stadium is the one man project of Andrew Basile and though I have read in various places that California Stadium turned into a full band I have never seen or heard of any other releases so this maybe it. And what California Stadium provides here are three short lo fi acoustic numbers that remind me a lot of a cross between early Beck, Smog and Tugboat 3001 ad. I think my favorite of the three tracks offered here is the wobbly joke song, "Ain't Fit For Shit".

Since I feel that The Heartworms track on this split, "Parsimony",  is rather a poor representation of the band  so as a bonus I am including their awesome pop song "No Way, No Way" from the Pop American Style compilation. This tune will definitely appeal to fans of Velocity Girl.

The Heartworms/California Stadium "split" tracklisting

1. The Heartworms "Parsimony"
2. California Stadium "My Heart"
3. California Stadium "Ain't Fit For Shit"
4. California Stadium "Crawlspace"

bonus: The Heartworms "No Way, No Way"

Download Here

Harmony Rockets "Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void" CD (Excelsior Records & Big Cat Records/1995)

If you subscribe to my Facebook newsfeed then you have no doubt seen my recent lamenting over post See You On the Other Side Mercury Rev. In the mid 90's in my mind there was no other band that came close to conjuring up the unique sounds that the upstate New York based psychedelic/orchestral/indie/art rock band Mercury Rev. With their first two albums Yerself is Steam and Boces respectively they sounded like if the Butthole Surfers and Sonic Youth crossed with Sun Ra were writing a score for Disney's Fantasia. It was fantastic drug induced brilliance with hypnotic swirls of guitar noise and horns and the juxaposition of melancholy vocals from guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Donahue and the manic, stream of consciousness freak outs of then vocalist David Baker. The popular belief of older Mercury Rev fans is that they lost a large spark of creativity when Baker left the band but I maintain that their first foray without him, See You On the Other Side, is actually a wonderful album offers a balance between the chaos of prior albums with a more pop and orchestral element which at times is more trippy and surreal. However, by the time 1998's Deserter's Songs touched down any edge Mercury Rev had completely vanished as their music (and to this day) has become predictable and for a lack of better words safe. What does any of this have to do with Harmony Rockets? Well because Harmony Rockets was an experimental side project of Mercury Rev.

Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void is a single track clocking at 41.40 and it features droning guitars with interweaving horn melodies, squeaks and squalls with occasional percussion, vocals, wavering sounds and chimes to provide a generally stoned out psychedelic trip. Harmony Rockets consists of the two mainstays of Mercury Rev, Jonathan Donahue and Grasshopper and the project occurred around the time of See You On the Other Side but it certainly has some of the "out there" quality of Boces. According to the liner notes: "Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void" was performed live at the Rhinecliff Hotel by the group Harmony Rockets. It was recorded on a hand-held Arrivox-Tandberg 183 analog cassette recorder."

In addition to Paralyzed Mind of the Archangel Void the group released the Golden Ticket EP, of which there are two versions of in 1997. If anyone out there has a rip of that they would like to share I would certainly welcome that. And as a side note for people interested in David Baker's contributions to Merucry Rev I highly recommend you seek out the sole solo album he did under the name Shady. It is an absolute brilliant mindfuck and it features guest appearances from Merucry Rev members as well as Jimi Shields of Rollerskate Skinny.

Download Here