Franklin Bruno "The Irony Engine" 7 inch (Walt Records/1993)

Today's post  is going to be a quickie as I am short on time at the moment but anyhow here is another offering from the wonderful Franklin Bruno. I previously shared one of his singles, A Sand Dollar Relief Map and this single The Irony Engine is just as good if not better. It is hard to decide because quite simply Franklin Bruno does not write bad songs. Seriously. The melodies get stuck in your cranium and the lyrics are intelligent without coming off as pretentious. Like I said in my previous post if you like stuff like The Mountain Goats, in particular post All Hail West Texas then you will love Franklin Bruno. The Irony Engine is four tracks of fantastic lo fi bedroom pop and once the first track "Milk Crate" kicks in you will know that to be fact for yourself as well.

I should also mention that Franklin Bruno has a new band called The Human Hearts who will be releasing a 7 inch soon on Fayettenam Records and you can stream it here.

Franklin Bruno The Irony Engine track listing
1. Milk Crate
2. Sleeping Through the Jane Pratt Show
3. Medium of Exchange
4. Fond Icicle

Download Here

Diskothi-Q "Lane Discipline" 7 inch (X-Mas Records/1995)

I have been so busy with school the last several weeks that the blog has been neglected so I apologize to those faithful readers out there! So to get back on track let me kick things off with a request of sorts. I received an email to post some more Diskothi-Q which I planned on doing and well here is one of the releases in that said plan. Lane Discipline is a great four song 7 inch that was released by X-Mas Records- the label run by Brent from Further/Beachwood Sparks/etc. There are two original tunes and two absolutely fantastic covers, the first being "Heartland Feeling" by Beck. That is a great old obscure Beck tune that appears on two old Beck cassettes Fresh Meat and Old Slabs as well Golden Feelings, the latter of which was released on Sonic Enemy, a wonderful label run by Diskothi-Q's Peter Hughes. As a side note Golden Feelings which was originally released on cassette was later reissued as a cd and as the story goes Beck was completely unaware of that and thus asked Sonic Enemy to cease manufacturing the cd version. Only 2,000 of those made it into circulation and can fetch serious cash on Ebay. Anyhow back to Diskothi-Q's Lane Discipline- the second cover tune on this 7 inch is a rendition of "Javelin" by the one, the only and sorely under appreciated Simon Joyner. The originals on this single are the title track and reprisal of that tune to close out the 7 inch. Even though two of the songs are covers Diskothi-Q really makes them their own and this is one of my favorite singles from the band's discography.

Diskothi-Q Lane Discipline track listing
1. Heartland Feeling
2. Lane Discipline
3. Javelin
4. (Reprise)
Download Here

Franklin Bruno "A Sand Dollar Relief Map" 7 inch (Shrimper Records/1995)

Shame on me for taking so long to post a release from my favorite label, Shrimper Records. This label inspired me so much growing up and still continues to inspire me in how I approach doing my own label. Fear not, I will be certainly be sharing some more Shrimper gems in this space shortly. Today's upload comes from none other than prolific indie pop song- smith, Franklin Bruno. In addition to churning out records with his indie rock/power pop band Nothing Painted Blue, Bruno was consistent with releasing singles, full lengths tapes (later cds) and compilation appearances with his wonderful solo music. Franklin Bruno with a doubt gives John Darnielle a run for his money as the best American born song writer to come from this era. Quite honestly I do think that Bruno's work in the 90s far outshines the early Mountain Goats stuff. But it is all a matter of opinion I suppose. All that matters is that Bruno pens fantastic bedroom pop/folk music that has catchy melodies and is filled with really well written, smart lyrics. If you dig the Mountain Goats and have never listened to Franklin Bruno's music you  are doing your ears a disservice. Need further convincing-Bruno has played on a few Mountain Goats records and even done a project with Darnielle called The Extra Glenns. Check it out.

Franklin Bruno A Sand Dollar Relief Map 7 inch track listing
1. News From Cupid
2. The 101st
3. No 119
4. Pointless Triangle
5. Coupon

Download Here

Diskothi-Q "Hit the North" 7 inch (Volvolo Records/1993)

Unlike the vast majority of records and bands I am posting here Diskothi-Q is band who I really didn't get into until many years after the fact. I imagine there were a few compilation tracks over the years that stuck with me but I must admit that it wasn't until I learned that this was the pre-Mountain Goats band of Peter Hughes that I decided to investigate further. And when I did I found some top notch indie rock which ultimately has turned on the record collector nerd mode where I have had to obtain every bit of music they ever released. Diskothi-Q played jangly yet driving indie rock that in some ways isn't too far off from what Mountain Goats is doing currently with the full band lineup albeit with a little more distortion at times. Throughout the 90s Diskothi-Q released a bunch of albums, singles and a compilation tracks. The earlier cassette releases were released on Hughes' own Sonic Enemy Records (Delicious Homemade, Dummy, and Race For the Brass Turd:live split w/ Further) as well as one on Shrimper Records (Harmless But Ultimately Unloveable.Loveless But Ultimately Unharmable). These early cassette releases are damn near impossible to find and I have been fortunate enough to find kind folks out there in the internet to at least share the wonderful content of these releases but the nerd in me still longs to have them in my hands. Their two best full length albums, in my opinion at least, The Wandering Jew and Waterworld were also released by Shrimper Records and are still available to this day through Shrimper's distributor/mail order Midheaven. Additionally, Hughes has made available both The Wandering Jew and Waterworld as well as the unreleased but fantastic Sad Truths and the 2 volume The Football Albums up for free download here. So what are you waiting for??

You can view the entire Diskoth-Q discography at I Hear Strange Music. As for any fellow record collectors out there this is big focus in my collection so if anyone is looking to part with any of their cassette full lengths please drop me a line. I have all of the vinyl (minus the split 7 inch with Massengil) and cds and most of the comps, just those darn tapes are thwarting my possession. Also I have rips of everything except Dummy so if  anyone would car to share....

Diskothi-Q Hit the North 7 inch track listing
1. Hit the North 3
2. Dwell On This
3. Theme From the Adventurers

Download Here