Tsunami/Velocity Girl "split" 7 inch (Sub Pop/1992)

In anticipation of the Chickfactor Anniversary Festival featuring Black Tambourine, The Softies, Small Factory, Versus,  Lois, The Aisler's Set, The Lillys, Lorelei, and many others I am going to be posting a few of those bands and their various offshoots in the coming months. Some I have already shared, specifically a few Pam Berry projects already. As a side note I will be attending the April 10th show so if any readers will be attending let's meet up and chat indie rock and such!

In addition to featuring members of bands taking part in the Chickfactor Festival they also represent pretty much the lone 90s indie rock bands that I wish would get back together as everyone else already has gotten on my wishlist which consists of Further, The Summer Hits, Tiger Trap, June of 44, Kicking Giant and probably at the top would have to be Velocity Girl. Don't get me wrong I'd love to see some Tsunami but Velocity Girl has been a band that has always been one of my faves! Both Archie Moore and Brian Nelson were in Black Tambourine and after that band broke up they formed Velocity Girl a band who balanced noisy guitars, melody as well as harmony so well. Their songs were super catchy, and always had really strong guitar work. And while their later stuff became much more polished, removing the noise in my opinion they were still a great band. Most fans pan their later work but I have to say their second full length Simpatico! is the album I probably listen to the most which is a straight up pop album. The song captured on the this split with the wonderful Tsunami is a song called "Warm/Crawl" which is most definitely a shoegaze/indie pop hybrid with its sprawling noisy guitars.

This single was a part of the Sub Pop singles club which was limited to "only" 4,000 copies. And to think that back then that was considered super limited. And my copy as you can see is on pink which back in the 90s give me some serious record collector assholic bragging rights. Sub Pop totally hit a nerve with the Singles Club and while other labels over the years have tried to replicate it but as far as I am concerned no one has come close.

Velocity Girl/Tsunami "split" tracklisting
1. Tsunami "Left Behind"
2. Velocity Girl "Warm/Crawl"

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Kicking Giant "Halo" cd (Spartadisc Records/1993)

I am actually surprised it has taken me such a long time to share one of my more "rarer" cds on this blog. I have been focusing so much on my vinyl and tapes that I haven't acknowledged the fact that I do have a large amount of obscure cds in my collection. And this cd Halo by the noisy indie/art rock duo Kicking Giant is certainly quite obscure, at least these days. This cd which is packaged like a 45 with a hard plastic sleeve, however the sleeve folds out to be a intricate 3-D structure of sorts with the inserts acting as "stands".  This cd version was released on Spartadisc while a cassette version was released on the band's own Loose Leaf label. Halo is a lengthy effort at that with 22 tracks!!! Remember this was the day of lo fi indie rock excess. Our parents generation had double and triple albums-our generation had Guided By Voices Bee Thousand! A few of the songs on Halo also appears on a few of their self released cassettes, namely Present and Secret Teenage Summer but given the even greater scarcity of those cassettes Halo was and is the only game in town for most folks to hear these tunes. While Kicking Giant's Alien ID on K Records showed off the duo's more noisier side I think it is safe to say that Halo documents the pure indie pop side of the band. The tunes on Halo prove that the song "She's Real" wasn't a indie pop fluke, Kicking Giant were superb pop songwriters. Halo does find the duo delving into more abstract, noisier elements at times but at that heart the album is pure pop. To me Kicking Giant were a perfect amalgamation of all that I loved about the 90s independent music underground. They were indie rock, bedroom pop, riot grrl, art rock, and punk rock all in one.

As a side note if anyone out there in blog land has a rip of the Present cassette please send it my way as it is the only Kicking Giant release that I *know of* that I don't have.  And as I was saying, releases that *I know of* that is reference to something I came across last year. I was looking through old college radio single play lists and I came across one from WCKS Fm from back in 1995. And on their list is a Kicking Giant 7 inch called Monogahella on Generator Records. I have never seen this record or it mentioned elsewhere. I was getting into Kicking Giant in 1994 and was able to snag most of their releases as they were coming out but this single is something that I never heard of until a year ago. So if anyone has information on this record actually existing or even a rip or (gasp!) perhaps a copy to sell drop me a line.

Kicking Giant Halo track listing
1. Satellite
2. Wierd
3. Three
4. Throw
5. Five
6. The Way That You Are
7. Rocket
8. Ruby Red
9. Suck
10. Go Girl (Riot)
11. Rachel's Song
12. Fuck the Rules
13. 13 13 13
14. This Sex
15. Mario
16. If Not You
17. Halo
18. Hi
19. Rocket Dreams
20. Stereo Hi Fi
21. Love Science
22. Come in Colors

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Sleepyhead "Fairyboat" 7 inch (A Picture Book Artifact/1991)

I can't believe it has taken me this long to post something by Sleepyhead. This a band who was responsible for some of my favorite tunes of the 90s. While the band lost me a bit with their later material, their first two albums, Punk Rock City USA (Slumberland) and Starduster (Homestead) are some of the best noisy yet infectious guitar indie pop the 90s had to offer. I have fond memories of driving around with my girlfriend in high school listening to the Half Cocked soundtrack and cranking it every time Sleepyhead's "CB" came on.  And in addition to those two great albums they released a whole bunch of singles and appeared on just about every cool compilation. Sleepyhead were originally based out of New York City though at some point relocated to Massachusetts, and they played really uptempo indie rock that to my ears was a cross between My Bloody Valentine, The Shop Assistants and Dinosaur Jr. Noisy guitar stuff but not in obtrusive, tuneless manner-make no mistake Sleepyhead is way catchy. And I say "is" because Sleepyhead is still together writing and releasing new music as well as playing shows when the can. I am still mad that I missed their show at The Cake Shop a couple years back. Nothing like finding out about the show two days later.

The single I am sharing with you all today is pretty awesome. The version of "Fairyboat" here is different than the version that appears on Punk Rock City USA and on the b-side is a great rendition of My Bloody Valentine's "Thorn". My one gripe is that no matter what I did the record ripped a bit on the noisy side but quite frankly that is what the actual record sounds like more or less. Distortion, shoegaze over load in all its glory. I shall be uploading the rest of my Sleepyhead singles over the course of time. They are a truly great and in my humble opinion a sorely overlooked band from that era.

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Sonic Youth "Live in Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96" cassette (MGR Records/1997)

I am going to assume that everyone reading this blog listens to Sonic Youth or at least as aware of who they are and that sort of thing so I will refrain from any sort of write up about the band itself. Instead I will direct attention to this actual release itself. I have plenty of Sonic Youth bootlegs in my collection some official and some not, but this is the first one I ever bought. If I recall correctly I ordered along with some Afghan Whigs t-shirt through some mail order in the back of the old CMJ or Magnet. Sonic Youth has always been a band that has been supportive of bootlegs being out there, some have been authorized by the band and others have not. And honestly I have no idea where this one sits with them, it isn't even listed on the bootleg lists on the Sonic Youth website. This cassette came with a photo copied sleeve with no song titles or info inside (in true bootleg fashion) so I took it upon myself to make my own liner notes (see picture below). This bootleg comes from the Washing Machine  era of the band so with the exception of the band opening with "Teenage Riot" and "Sugar Kane" all of the material comes from Washing Machine as well as Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star. Official or not this is a great sounding, soundboard bootleg. The version of "The Diamond Sea" that closes out that set is just incredible.

Sonic Youth "Live in Dusseldorf, Germany 4/7/96" track listing
1. Teenage Riot
2. Bull in the Heather
3. Starfield Road
4. Washing Machine
5. Junkie's Promise
6. Saucer Like
7. Becuz
8. Sugar Kane
9. Skip Tracer
10. Skink
11. The Diamond Sea


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v/a "In A Lonely Place" 7 inch compilation (Four Letter Words/1993)

I am not sure if I have mentioned in this space but if you couldn't tell from my Blogger profile picture, I am a huge fan of the band Further. And this record was one that I thought would certainly be a white whale in trying to put together a complete collection of all the band's releases. (for those looking to help complete my collection listed at the bottom of this post is what I am looking for.) But to my surprise I was able to locate this rare compilation several years ago and somehow very cheaply at that too. This compilation from the wonderful indie pop label Four Letter Words is called In a Lonely Place and it features four exclusive tracks from Allen Clapp & His Orchestra, Kevin, Further and Six Cents & Natalie. I have written about Allen Clapp & His Orchestra in this space before and he is a pop song genius. The song here "The Apple of My Eye" is a lo fi slice of indie pop greatness. As far as I know the song was never re-recorded. Up next is "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" by an artist by the name simply Kevin. It is fuzzy, noisy guitar indie pop and I would like to hear more. I am curious if this is Kevin from  DiskothiQ or not. If anyone out there knows let me know. I just made that assumption due to the relationship of the bands and also that DiskothiQ has a song called "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" On the flip side Further kicks things off with a earlier version of the noisy pop gem of "Going to Glendora" which was later re-recorded for Sometimes Chimes. Closing out the compilation is "Sea Scout" by Six Cents & Natalie which is the lo fi and sporadic home recording project of Sean Tollefson of Crayon and Tullycraft. He released a bunch of cassettes and singles as well compilation appearances in the early 90s and later on released a few cds. "Sea Scout" was later re-released on the CD Show Me the Honey on the excellent label Blackbean and Placenta Club.. In a Lonely Place is a pretty nice cross section of what sums up my interests in indie rock, indie pop and lo fi.

So for those of you looking to assist in completing my Further collection here is what I am looking for. If you have any of these and are interested in selling/trading please drop me a line.
-Further /DiskothiQ Race For the Brass Turd (live) cassette (Sonic Enemy)
-Further Overrated/Beautiful Feeling 7 inch (No Guff Records)
-v/a Pop American Style double 12 inch (Flavour Records) *has the Further track "Day to Day"

v/a In a Lonely Place track listing:
1. Allen Clapp & His Orchestra "The Apple of My Eye"
2. Kevin "What I Did on My Summer Vacation"
3. Further "Going to Glendora"
4. Six Cents & Natalie "Sea Scout"

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Blaise Pascal "Foreword" 12 inch (Cave Canem/1994)

It has been several days since my last upload so I figured to make up for it that I would share with everyone a full length. Fair trade? And this full length that I am sharing with y'all today is quite a rare indie rock gem from super obscure Canadian indie rock band Blaise Pascal. They existed in the mid 90s, did some touring with Pavement and in addition to releasing this full length Foreword on their own Cave Canem Records they also released the E-Filter CDEP (once again on Cave Canem) as well as contributing the song "Library" to the wonderful A Day in the Park compilation on the Now Sound. I have looked high and low but I am fairly certain that this is all the band ever recorded. Blaise Pascal played disjointed, lo fi indie rock that was definitely reminiscent of early Pavement but at times it was a bit darker sounding, dare I say Slint-esque at times. Guitarist/vocalist Nicolas Bragg has gone on to play guitar in the rather successful indie band Destroyer. Bragg himself was also the inspiration as well as name to a song by fellow Canadian, super cute indie pop band Cub. Foreword is a wonderful collection of loose indie rock tunes that ebb, flow and totally rock. If you ever are fortunate enough to find this record out in the wild grab it, supposedly less than 300 of these were made. For those interested I just spotted a copy on Ebay as a Buy It Now for $19.99. Worth every penny.

Blaise Pascal Foreword track listing
1. Forecast
2. New Lamps
3. Segue
4. Demilo
5. Only the Stars
6. The Right Bank
7. Restoration
8. Victory Church
9. Algiers

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Archers of Loaf "Jive Kata" 7 inch (fan club single/1997)

Really does anyone need an introduction to this band?? Archers of Loaf is Indie rock! 'Nuff said! I saw Archers a bunch back in the day and I couldn't have been happier that they reunited this year for a tour. I saw them twice on this current reunion tour and they were just phenomenal. Most of the Archers of Loaf records are fairly easy to locate but this one I guess is considered a rarity. It is a two track fan club single that I purchased when I saw them in 1998 or 1999 at Tramps Cafe in NYC with Vehicle Birth, Knapsack and At the Drive In which was easily one of the best shows I have ever been to. The two songs included are tracks that are exclusive to this single, a unreleased studio cut "Jive Kata" and a awesome live version of "Slow Worm" that was recorded at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA in 1996. This record usually fetches a pretty penny when it does show up on Ebay so go ahead, be thrifty and download these tunes. GO LOAF!

Archers of Loaf Jive Kata track listing
1. Jive Kata
2. Slow Worm

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Versus "Go Tell It on the Mountain/Frog" 7 inch ( K Records/1994)

So here we are...another blog. This is My Life and You Can Have It is a blog dedicated to sharing what essentially has been a large part of my life, listening to and collecting music, particularly music in the indie rock/indie pop/lo fi/post punk genres. Also it is me paying homage to the great indie pop band Veronica Lake and their song 'This is My World and You Can Have It". I won't be sharing my entire collection but just things that I am interested in discussing and also pieces that are rare and aren't elsewhere on the internet. So with that being said shall we?

In getting this blog off the ground I'd like to share the first 7 inch that I ever bought from a record store (not counting local band records that I purchased at shows). How I miss you Music Den of Port Jefferson... This 7 inch was also my introduction to the wonderful K Records label and their wonderful International Pop Underground series. I had already been introduced to the New York City based Versus by way of their incredible full length album The Stars Are Insane on Teenbeat Records. This two track single continues in delivering what I had come to expect from the band, driving yet jangly melodic indie rock with outstanding male/female trade off vocals. The sleeve features trademark artwork from indie artist extraordinaire Tae Won Yu (also known for his work in the band Kicking Giant). As the years have gone on these two songs "Go Tell It On the Mountain" and "Frog" remain some of my favorite in the band's catalog. When the band started playing again a couple of years ago, I caught one of their first shows back with the original line up and I absolutely lost my shit when they closed their set with "Go Tell It on the Mountain". If you are a fan of indie rock from the 90s chances are you are familiar with Versus and if you are not you owe it to yourself to check out one of the era's best.

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