Mudhoney / Gas Huffer Split

One of my favorites, simply because the cover art is too damn funny. The sleeve folds out to a larger image of the two bands fighting.

Both bands cover fairly obscure punk acts. Gas Huffer takes on the Silly Killers' "Knife Manual". I can honestly say that despite all of the obscure stuff I've dug up, I've never heard the original, and after doing some internet sleuthing, that seems to be a common theme. There's no sign of them except for references to Gas Huffer's cover, and no one seems to have heard anything by them. (Note- found it. Duff McKagan of Guns n' Roses was in this band, briefly, and they only put out one 7")  Fun song though, and there's some cool guitar licks from future Monkeywrench guy Tom Price.

Mudhoney takes on The Angry Samoans' misogynistic angry break-up song,  "You Stupid Asshole".  I really liked the Angry Samoans in high school. Totally politically incorrect and quite goofy at times, ("Lights Out" is still a great little song) which kind of sounds like Mudhoney themselves, actually. Mudhoney were better at playing this kind of thing than the Samoans though. It's much better than the original.

Harvard Sq. Newbury Comics, I think. Note that this is just a regular old 7", and not one of the ultra- cool saw blade ones pictured below. I might just have to go and get one of those.

A: Mudhoney - "You Stupid Asshole"
B: Gas Huffer - "Knife Manual"
Enjoy!

Folk Implosion - Take A Look Inside

I figured I should just get this one done, given all the Lou stuff that's been floating around. Folk Implosion's first album. 14 songs in 22 minutes, recorded in a living room.

A: Blossom, Sputnik's Down, Slap Me, Chciken Squawk, Spiderweb-Butterfly, Had To Find Out, Better Than Allrite

B: Why Do They Hide?, Winter's Day, Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Shake A Little Heaven, Waltzin' With Your Ego, Take A Look Inside, Start Again

Enjoy!

Carnival Of Souls - Soul Train

Another album bought on a whim. It was cheap (like $2 or $3 at the most), and the cover was just too cheesy not to pick it up. And they were obviously named for a great cult film, so that's cool, right?

They were from Columbus, OH, but definitely inspired by Seattle, and their label, Aroma Records, was based there. Both faded rapidly into obscurity. Not awful, but not particularly good. Very  unpolished.

There's a sticker on the back cover that says "Due to legal reasons and lineup changes, Carnival Of Souls are now Barbed Wire Dolls" I tried to google the Barbed Wire Dolls, but came up with very little, so they rapidly sank into obscurity yet again. 

A: Soul Train
B: Morphina
Enjoy!

Folk Implosion - Palm Of My Hand

#75. Starting to see some real disparity in the stacks of "dead" and "to do". This thing is on the downslope. Damn. I'll refrain from making comparisons with life as I prepare myself mentally and physically to hit year 40.

Lou Barlow and his many bands have been appearing here about as often as the snow these days. Folk Implosion is probably his best known Sebadoh side project in that they made it big with the "Kids" film soundtrack.

All of his side projects are interesting; there's no mistaking who is at the center of them, but they're all just different enough. Folk Implosion is more lo-fi than late-era Sebadoh, not nearly as raw or unpredictable as the Sentridoh stuff, but it lacks the dark humor of Beltbuckle. Folk Implosion fills some strange gap between all of these bands in some way, comprising some middle ground.

One of the last purchases in this collection, as this came out in1995. Sticker says Newbury Comics, I'm guessing the Amherst one, which would have been fairly new at the time.

A: Palm Of My Hand
B: Mood Swing
Enjoy!

Forced Down - Stifle

I'm a sucker for packaging. Anything well-printed on a nice cardstock will draw some interest from me, regardless of what it contains. This is a great example of that. I bought this double 7" EP based entirely on the interesting rubber stamps and the Albrecht Durer-esque engraved angel printed on a nice vellum.

And the guts of this thing had these nicely printed and well-designed duotone green lyric sheets with photos and stuff. I had no clue what the band would sound like, and since they were a San Diego act, no one in the store did either. Pretty sure I got this on Newbury St.

They would have fit in quite well on Dischord. Melodic post-hardcore, a little tougher sounding than Holy Rollers, but not as intense as Fugazi. The songs get slower, mellower, and generally better as you work your way through them. For a random selection, it was OK. Not great, but could have been far worse.

A: Thread, Tap & Die
B: Time Without
C: A Cry For Truth
D: Escape, Exit
Enjoy!

Tad - Loser

Tad is back! And yes, long before Beck, there was someone singing about being a loser, but this song isn't quite so anthemic-sing-a-long-ish. Neither is the B-side, which mostly consists of Tad shouting "We're cookin' with gas!" It's all delivered in the usual heavy, stomping Tad-style.

Inscribed in the vinyl around the label is "The show ain't over..." and on the B-side "...until the Fat Man sings"

Mystery Train was kind enough to leave their price tag right on the sleeve. One of the few with that, actually, most are on a plastic outer sleeve, but at least I know I paid $3.50 for this in Amherst.

A: Loser
B: Cooking With Gas
Enjoy!

Yo La Tengo - Shaker

This is one of those bands that's full of surprises. They can bounce back and forth from guitar driven noise to poppy-dreamy sounding stuff with ease, so you're never  quite sure which version you're going to get from them.  Luckily, you get both on this single.

"Shaker" is the guitar song, while "For Shame Of Doing Wrong" the mellower track. "For Shame..." is a Richard Thompson cover. YLT adds their own sense of moodiness to it.

A: Shaker
B: For Shame Of Doing Wrong
Enjoy!

Sentridoh - The Mysterious Sentridoh EP

More Lou Barlow. He's a bit of a constant theme in this whole thing, isn't he? Damn, that guy wrote a lot of songs.

A-side produced by Bob Weston (Volcano Suns, Shellac) B-side produced by Lou. It's exactly what you expect from a Sentridoh project. Completely Lo-fi, a little strange, a little neurotic with a touch of self-damning, too.

A: Good In Others, The Spirit That Kills, Weakness Is The Secret
B: Cold Love, No One Taught Me, No Matter What
Enjoy!

Green River - Come On Down

The return of LP Sunday. Thanks to lots of snow days.

There's been a lot of Seattle stuff this week. Gorilla, Mark Arm, Love Battery, tons of Sub Pop singles...

So I figured I'd go way back, and rip this album, which  marks the unofficial beginning of the whole Seattle thing. The first "grunge" album. This band is two parts Mudhoney (Mark Arm, Steve Turner) two parts Pearl Jam (Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard), and one part some random guy. (Alex Vincent).

Kind of a crazy mix, since Mudhoney didn't take themselves (or anything) too seriously, and Pearl Jam was a serious band. And of course, that's why the band split. "Artistic differences" and all. Basically, Turner wasn't fond of the musical direction of the band as they veered toward metal in their later days, and Arm seemed to think that Gossard (who played with Turner since high school) and Ament were too driven for a major label deal and were in it for the money. Alex Vincent bailed on life in the US and fled for Japan. Everyone seemed to wind up where they belonged. Pearl Jam was a wildly successful big label band, Mudhoney kept their independence far longer than most Seattle acts, and bombed as a major label act because of they just weren't mainstream enough, and Alex got to eat soba and drink sake. They're apparently doing the occasional reunion show, and there have been rumors of a new album in the works for a couple of years now.

I got this used in Amherst somewhere in the early 90's. Al Bum's maybe? I fully understood the cultural significance of the album, especially since the whole Seattle things was front and center at the time, and figured I should have it for that alone. I honestly can't remember ever listening to it though.

It clearly skews towards the Mudhoney side of the equation. I guess that's what happens when Mark Arm writes a lot of stuff. It's noisy. Come On Down and Swallow My Pride could have been on Superfuzz Bigmuff if you changed up the guitar settings and effects. I can see why Turner was complaining though. Not quite his sound.

A: Come On Down, New God, Swallow My Pride, Ride Of Your Life
B: Corner Of My Eye, Tunnel Of Love
Enjoy!

Also, while I know she's not reading this, happy 41st to my big sister.

Minutemen - Paranoid Time

Goddamn, I love the Minutemen. I picked this up in Cambridge in some basement record store that I doubt is around anymore. I'm pretty sure that this was a 1990-1991 or so SST re-release. It's on emerald green vinyl.

Mike Watt is about the nicest guy you could imagine. I was a shy, star-struck kid at a Firehose show at Pearl St. way back when, and I saw him getting a beer at the bar well before the show and went over to say hi. Sensing my awkwardness as I approached, he pulled me aside,  pulled out a seat, and said "Hey kid, what's yer name? Sit here and hang out with me while I make up my set list." So I did. I asked a few questions about life on the road, and how Firehose came about, and he answered them while scratching his chin and jotting down song names. He didn't have to tolerate some geeky 19-20 year old hanging around him, he could have just as easily gone backstage. It all adds to the "regular guy" legend of Mike Watt, I suppose.

There's seven tracks stuffed onto this little 45. Most are under a minute long. This was their first release, and they got a bit more polished as time went on. Watt gets all the fame for his bass work, but Hurley is one hell of a drummer, and Boon could play, too. I wonder what would have happened had Boon stuck around a bit longer.

A: Validation, The Maze, Definitions, Sickles and Hammers
B: Joe McCarthy's Ghost, Fascist, Paranoid Chant
Enjoy!

Mark Arm - The Freewheelin' Mark Arm

Mudhoney's Mark Arm takes on Dylan's "Masters of War", and even steals Dylan's album cover, putting him in a gas mask.

This was released during Gulf War part 1, and wasn't exactly a topic about to be covered by Mudhoney, who were as apolitical as any band could be. Arm doesn't exactly have the best voice for folky stuff, but then again, neither did Dylan, so why not?

The B-side is a goofy Bo Diddley-esque thing (he even gets partial songwriting credit) about rickets, Amsterdam, and getting beat up.

A: Masters Of War
B: My Life With Rickets
Enjoy!

Steve Westfield & The Slow Band/Scud Mountain Boys Split 7"

A Northampton split single full of slightly twangy slow stuff. Steve Westfield seemed to play the Baystate Hotel regularly. He recruited an all-star band for this single, with Murph from Dinosaur Jr, Lou Barlow, and some guy named Jim Joe Greedy. It's OK, but my hopes were set a bit higher than this.

The B-side features The Scud Mountain Boys, a band that went on to much bigger and better things. Signed by Sub Pop a year or so after this, they released Massachusetts, a brilliant alt-country album that was at least near the forefront of that whole movement. Joe Pernice is still recording with the Pernice Brothers.

There's a personal connection as well. I got to know Scud Mountain Boy Stephen Desaulniers a little bit during my time out there, as he was a housemate of a co-worker of mine, and he lived right down the road. He's the guy in the pine box on the album of that name. I have fond memories of drinking whiskey, playing cribbage and listening to Bill Monroe with him. A lot of what I know about early country music came from him and his housemate, whose name suddenly escapes me.

A: Steve Westfield & the Slow Band, "Sittin' On The Bottom Of The World"
B: Scud Mountain Boys, "Television"
Enjoy!

The Breeders - Head To Toe

Here we go, something a little less Seattle.I liked the Breeders. They were a pretty cool side-project turned big time act for Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly (who was gone by the time this came out). I saw them open for Nirvana.

Anyway, this came out after their big breakthrough hit "Cannonball" but never got the same recognition. Solid single, but not as catchy as that one.

This was produced (technically "recorded with" on the notes) by J Mascis. The Breeders either were picking sides, or having a sense of humor about things (not sure which) as they covered Sebadoh's "The Freed Pig" which is Lou Barlow's musical middle finger to Mascis for kicking him out of Dinosaur Jr.

I picked this up at Main St. Records. The price tag is still on it, $2.99.

A: Head To Toe, Shocker In Gloomtown
B: The Freed Pig
Enjoy!

Love Battery - Foot

Three in a row. Got to mix these up a bit. Another Sub Pop Singles Club pick, from November '91.

Love Battery was a  psychedelia meets garage-rock/grunge act out of Seattle. Well known out there, not so much out here. They had a constantly revolving lineup, with people continually leaving for bigger and better things (Mudhoney, Presidents of the USA) and eventually coming back to do gigs with them later when their replacements moved on too.

"Foot" is a rockin' tune, and you can see where they got the whole psychedelic label from with the wah pedal that kicks in about 2/3 of the way through the song.

The B-side pays homage to their 60's influences and is a solid cover of Buffalo Springfield's "Mr. Soul".

A: Foot
B: Mr. Soul
Enjoy!

Shonen Knife - Neon Zebra

Back to back Sub Pop Singles Club picks. This was April 1991's release. As I mentioned earlier, this came early in my Singles Club membership along with the UO stuff. This really had me wondering if my money was well-spent. Shonen Knife is a Japanese all-female pop-punk act. It's as weird as it sounds. High pitched, cute-sy sounding barely intelligible English vocals over fairly straight-up simple garage rock

Neon Zebra has this sort of Bo-Diddley beat to it, and it's about, well, a neon zebra visited by aliens. Bear Up Bison is about how Bisons are becoming extinct, but "he has a right to live, though he's ill-shaped." It's...different.

A: Neon Zebra
B: Bear Up Bison
Enjoy!

Gorilla - Detox Man

Sept. '91 Singles Club release.

I wasn't sure who these guys even were when I got this one. 20 years later, and I've got the incredible power of the internet at my fingertips, and I'm not much closer to an answer, though I've gotten some clues.

They were a Seattle band, mostly made up of older professionals. They never toured, (hard to do that if you've got a good job) so they remained strictly local to the Seattle scene. They cut a handful of records, and seem to have given it up around 2000. Detox Man sounds sort of like Offspring meets the Lyres; anthemic shouted vocals meet organ.

A: Detox Man
B: Sober
Enjoy!

Beat Happening - Red Head Walking

The pile of done stuff is starting to approach the size of the pile of stuff yet to be done. Almost, but not quite halfway. It's been fun so far, not sure what to do when there is no more pile of "to-dos" left, except to find some vinyl to buy I suppose.

Another influential Pacific NW band. Beat Happening were a minimalist, Lo-Fi trio with a male and a female "singer" neither of whom really seemed to sing.

They founded the successful DIY label K Records so that they could record and distribute their stuff, and through K helped launch all sort of other acts out of Olympia, such as Courtney Love (the band...) and a lot of the Riot Grrrl bands.

Despite their running K Records, they maintained a relationship with Sub Pop, and this is one of a few things that Sub Pop put out for them. As Sub Pop was taking off at the time, this was probably a smart business move by the band.

Calvin handles the vocals on both tracks. His voice is so deep and low, it sounds like he smoked and drank quite a bit the night before.

Not sure where or when I got this. Probably picked it up because I'd heard of them, but hadn't heard anything by them, and it was on Sub Pop. Interesting enough, but not really my thing at the time. Not bad though.

A: Red Head Walking
B: Secret Picnic Spot
Enjoy!

Hole - Dicknail

This was supposed to be in the box of stuff I got from my ex-GF. I clearly remember buying this in Amherst and listening to it in her dorm room. This was the first thing I looked for, quickly flipping through them all, looking for the fluorescent green stripe. Sadly, it was not in the box. The other early Hole single was missing as well. I guess she had kept the Hole stuff, which I understand. I tracked them down to restore the collection. Luckily, these little early 90's artifacts are pretty cheap these days. Had Courtney Love faded into obscurity, they might be worth more, I think.

Before she became famous for being Mrs. Cobain and a junkie with lousy fashion sense, she fronted a pretty good band. Loud, abrasive and angry as hell, Hole was not for the faint of heart. I remember them being lumped in by the press at the time as a Riot Grrrl act, (which spurred my girlfriend to buy it at the time) though they were anything but. They had big time aspirations, and a big-time sound to match.

This was one of their earliest releases, coming out a good 9 months or so before Pretty On The Inside.

A: Dicknail
B: Burnblack
Enjoy!

Mudhoney - You're Gone

Another Mudhoney single. These are from the Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge time period. "You're Gone" was only released as a single, but "Thorn" was on the album.

The final song, "You Make Me Die", introduced me to English garage rock king Billy Childish. It's his song, and he's singing it with Mudhoney backing him up. He released an album on Sub Pop around this time, with Eightball's Dan Clowes doing the art. His stuff all sounds the same, but at least you know what you're getting from him. I grabbed the Sub Pop Singles Club record he did, which came out around this time too.

A: You're Gone
B: Thorn, You Make Me Die
Enjoy!

Pork - Wanna Ride

Another one from the box o' Riot Grrrl stuff, and another one I dreaded. My intention was to get two done today, one for today and one for tomorrow, so that I can get myself back on track. I did that, though it was a challenge. A fair bit of working from home took place, followed by some running around in the snow with the boys, and then shoveling. Lots of shoveling. Oh well, it happens.

Since this one came up, it's definitely going up today, since there's only a few hours left in the day anyway. So what is it? It's a live 4-song EP, from an Austin all-girl band, and it's just not very good. It sounds terrible, like it was recoded in a fishbowl, for one thing. It's muddy as hell, and there's no bass at all. In fact, it's pretty much snare drum, guitar and voice. That's all that you can hear, anyway. And the music...meh. Repetitive, and suffering from the wandering rhythm section problem I mentioned a while ago.

What I do like about this single? Not much, but "Strychnine" is always a good cover song. I do like their rip off of the Sub Pop logo that they put on the back cover, only they spell it "Sub Par",  which sums it all up nicely.

A: Wanna Ride, Strychnine
B: Backstabbin', Go
Enjoy!

Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout

I picked this up at a Newbury Comics. You could find some of the Singles Club stuff there, and this was the Singles Club record for December 1990. This single was what convinced me to finally sign up. These guys already had a great reputation as a live act, but I hadn't heard anything from them yet. I thought this lived up to the hype. Rockabilly inspired, but fast and furious.

The Reverend is still out there playing, 21 years later. This is one of the few acts in this collection that is still going strong. Just caught him at House of Blues in Boston this summer, and he'll be back again this May.

This track also wound up in Guitar Hero II, giving the Rev. some more exposure and some new fans.

A: Psychobilly Freakout
B: Baby You Know Who
Enjoy!

Sebadoh - Not Too Amused

Jason gets an A-side with this track that appeared on Bakesale. This is the album where he really started contributing songs that were just as good as Lou's, and it's a solid choice for a single.

The B-side is really, really strange. It's got some of the early Sebadoh Lo-Fi quality to it, but they add bongos, cackling laughter, discordant guitar and Hank Williams playing on a radio. They also throw a slower version of "Not Too Amused" in there. Some of the weirder stuff they did without Eric Gaffney in the band.

Looks like we've got a storm on tap, might get myself caught up on Wednesday.

A: Not Too Amused
B: Hank Williams
Enjoy!

Operation Ivy - Hectic

A friend told me that this single was placed into a juke box in the place of some pop thing, so when you press the button to play that one, this would come up. Brilliant!

I was inspired to pick it up. It was different from what I expected. Good though. A little different for the time, and foreshadowed the Bosstones and so on.

Two members of this band would go on to lots of fame in the 90's as Rancid.

A: Junkie's Runnin' Dry, Here We Go Again, Hoboken
B: Yellin' In My Ear, Sleep Long, Healthy Body
Enjoy!

Crackerbash - Nov. 1

This was the Sub Pop Singles Club recording for August, 1992. It's another Portland, OR band, still legendary out there for their live shows.

Had I started this little project when I intended to, I would have put this up on Nov. 1. Oh well. They've got a very Buffalo-Tom-esque sound.

Crackerbash was done about a year or so after this was released. Sean Croghan is still making solo records. The rest of the band went off to form surf-guitar/garage-rock band Satan's Pilgrims.

A: Nov. 1
B: Halloween Candy
Enjoy!

Various Artists - Lever

Tsunami's Simple Machines label put out these compilation 7" of bands in the Arlington VA/Washington DC scene (and a few farther afield, like Baltimore's Lungfish and NC's Superchunk), and named the records after, well, simple machines, like lever, screw, pulley, etc. Their stuff always looked fantastic. The bronze on the cover is a metallic ink.

This was a great little DIY label, and it was hard to resist buying their well-packaged and interesting looking stuff. I grabbed this at Main St. Records, I think. I have another one of these around here somewhere, though I missed out on a couple that look particularly good.

"Me & You" is not to be confused with the Egghunt recording, but it's a pretty cool track from a band that I never heard form again.

Scrawl covers Wire's "Reuters". Wire is a tough band to cover. The music is simple as can be, but it sounds so damn full and thick that this sounds tinny by comparison. The vocals don't cut through all the noise the way Colin Newman's does, either. If you're reading this and haven't listened to Wire's Pink Flag, (I know you're out there...) go do that after listening to this.

Autoclave was an all-girl DC act in the vein of a Tsunami or Velocity Girl.

Circus Lupus' "Pacifier" is anything but. The closest thing to mid-western noise rock to come out of the mid-atlantic. Former Soul-Sider Chris Thompson belts out the vocals here.


A: Severin - Me & You, Scrawl - Reuters
B: Autoclave - Summer, Circus Lupus - Pacifier
Enjoy!

Rites Of Spring - All Through A Life

Half of this band became Fugazi (Guy Piciotto, Brendan Canty), which is why I picked this up. They were considered to be pretty influential by the early 90's too, so I figured I'd see what that was all about. Basically, they're credited as the first "emo" band, even though they themselves despise the label. This was released after they had called it quits.

I have to say, what strikes me is how jangly the guitars sound. You'd expect them to have that Gibson SG/Marshall stack sound like every other DC post-hardcore act. Interesting and truly unique stuff for the time that I appreciate a bit more now than I did then.

I ordered this straight from Dischord.

A: All Through A Life, Hidden Wheel
B: In Silence/Worlds Away, Patience
Enjoy!

Calamity Jane - Love Song

Another Riot Grrrl single from the ex-GF archive, and a good one, too. Calamity Jane was from Portland, and this was put out by the Tim Kerr (Apparently not from The Monkeywrench) label.

This band didn't stick around for long. Kurt Cobain was a fan, and he invited them to open for them in Buenos Aires. It was a complete disaster, and the band fell apart shortly after that. They apparently reunited last summer for a few shows.

This is one of the single coolest pieces of vinyl I have. Words won't do it justice, so here's a picture.

A: Love Song
B: Believe
Enjoy!

Courtney Love - Highlights

The Olympia duo (not Mrs. Cobain) are back, with another set of poppy-jangly-acoustic songs. "Highlights" draws its title and cover art from a reference in the song to Goofus and Gallant, reminding me of time wasted in pediatricians' offices as a young boy.

In "Disappearing Lessons" Lois Maffeo changes up her usual rhythm a bit. It's a bit more downcast instead of the usual upbeat cheery rhythm thing she's usually got going on. Her songs, while pretty good, do sound alike, so some variety is welcome.

A: Highlights
B: Shaniko, Disappearing Lessons
Enjoy!

Johnny Cash - A Boy Named Sue

Number 50. OK, this is a curveball, I admit. I went through a Johnny Cash phase around the time of his 3-CD box set that came out in 1992. No one has  more American-punk-rock attitude than Johnny Cash. Iggy Pop might be close, I suppose, but I think that's about it. Way ahead of his time.

Anyway, I picked this up in W. MA at the Hadley "Dead Mall" flea market for $1. How could I say no to that? It's beat to hell. The label and sleeve are battered, and the B-side is a total mess and needs some serious software repair. It was some 20 years old at the time I bought it. What do you want for a dollar? Both of these songs are taken from his Live At San Quentin album, and you can hear the rowdy hooting and hollering of the prisoners in the background.

Fun fact, "A Boy Named Sue" was written by children's author Shel Silverstein. Also, Cash's longtime guitarist Luther Perkins died in 1968. 50's Rockabilly legend Carl Perkins (no relation) replaced him and is on this recording. Listen for a very brief appearance by June Carter Cash, singing "San Quentin..." a couple of times in the background during Perkins' guitar solo.

A: A Boy Named Sue
B: San Quentin
Enjoy!

Sebadoh - Gimme Indie Rock!

Welcome to 2011.

My resolutions:

1. To run the 25K (that's 15.5 miles) Around Cape Ann race on Labor Day and to do it well, all while raising money for the Jimmy Fund/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. This is part of a SoSH fundraiser, but my friend Dan is very much on my mind and is keeping me motivated. You can donate here, if you'd like.

2. And this is where this holiday selection comes in, is to listen to and buy some new music this year. Gimme Indie Rock applies to 2011 just as much as it did 20 years ago (has it really been that long?). I lost track of everything that was current in the music world from about 1999-2009, and am still catching up. No sense falling further behind, or living in 1991 forever.

I've probably played this 7" more than any other. It's got everything about early Sebadoh in one little 5-song package. A loud, tongue in cheek rock song that worships indie rock, while throwing jabs at Lou's former band? (4 Stars in the Rolling Stone!) Hell yeah! And it's followed up with a favorite Sebadoh song of mine, "Ride The Darker Wave". This started out as one of his lo-fi solo acoustic songs, but it's been redone with the whole band, and it's early Sebadoh at their best. Bouncing, loud, and melancholy all at once. The B-side is full of oddities, a lo-fi Sentridoh-esque acoustic song about Lou's fantasies in "Red Riding Good", and a song with Beatles-like masking effects in "New King". Of course, the last track on the B-side has to be really strange, and this is no exception. It's an Eric Gaffney song about Alastair Cooke occult stuff, "Calling Yog Soggoth", complete with a lecture on the nature of magic. This is another 7" that's has since been added to newer, remastered/bonus track version of Sebadoh's III that I never bothered to buy again.

 #50 goes up tomorrow. Starting to make some real progress on the pile.

A: Gimmie Indie Rock, Ride The Darker Wave
B: Red Riding Good, New King, Calling Yog Soggoth
Enjoy!