Courtney Love - Uncrushworthy

Note that this is the 2-piece band with Lois Maffeo and Patrick Maley, not the Mrs. Cobain.

I dug a hand into the trunk and came up with this little gem today, taking us from one coast to the other, from hardcore to acoustic indie pop. Unlike the fun revolutionary wannabes in Nation of Ulysses, Lois Maffeo really is a sort of revolutionary, credited with influencing the Pacific NW scene (and the Riot Grrrl movement) of the late 80’s/early 90’s with her music and radio show in Olympia, Washington. She also bucked the trends of the time, crafting these catchy acoustic pop songs when it seems like everyone in Washington was plugging vintage Fenders into Marshall stacks. She's got a great voice, and writes these sweet sounding songs about love and all of the awkwardness that can accompany it. Maffeo recorded a lot in the 90’s simply as “Lois” and then sort of faded away, but she’s apparently still active in the Olympia scene as a writer.

This is not the type of thing I was buying in 1990. I was buying the noisy stuff the guys in Seattle were making. I got this from an old girlfriend. We were together when I was buying all of those other records, and she’d tag along and pick out something a bit more, well, girly. This, for example, or some Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, that kind of thing (these will all show up here later…you’ll see).

Anyway, a decade after we split up, she emailed asking for my address. A few days later a box showed up on the doorstep, and the 7” records she bought way back when were all inside, with a note saying that I would appreciate these more than her. I took the records from the box and put them in the trunk with my old stuff, ending their long, roundabout journey. The last time I saw these, I was pulling them out of my collection, placing them into another box (probably the same one they were mailed to me in, come to think of it...) so that she could take them with her on her way out the door.

I was glad to see these again. Some of these are great, (this one in particular) and I figured they’d have a nice home here, and that the music on them would eventually see the light of day again. And so the idea for this little project was born. It only took a few years to get it going.

Coincidence! Lois is actually like Nation of Ulysses in that she is also connected to Brendan Canty, releasing a critically acclaimed album with him (The Union Themes) in 2000.

A:  Uncrushworthy, Sunny Day
B: Motorcycle Boy, 2nd Most Beautiful Girl In the World

Enjoy!