Labels make all the difference. They determine what we listen to and even how we hear what we're listening to. Especially in the 80s! If Throb Throb had been released on the venerable SST records instead of the veritable unknown Homestead, we'd likely be talking about it in the same hallowed breath as other adventurous hardcore albums of that year such as Double Nickles on the Dime and Zen Arcade. But, it wasn't. Instead it's basically unknown outside of the Midwest where they are treated like the hometown Gods they should be. Which is a shame. I'm not saying it's as good as DNOTD or Zen Arcade, but it's in spitting distance and definitely in the conversation.
Taking influences from the aforementioned Minutemen as well as Killing Joke, Naked Raygun were yet another hardcore band bristling at the straightjacket that hardcore had become in the mid 80s. In essence this sounds like a Midwestern cross between The Minutemen and ScratchAcid/Jesus Lizard that was not afraid to go to the corner pub, quaff back a few cans of Old Style and belt out some blue collar punk anthems.
Grade: A. Essential.
Last edited by Repo on 02/28/2018 13:31; edited 2 times in total
Didn't I tell you Jimmy Dale and the Flatlanders were awesome? Didn't I? Huh? Huh? Didn't I, huh??? 8)
I have no idea why I choose this gif. Besides that Katy Perry with Devil horns is awesome. Definitely my favorite pop personality. Not that I really know anything about them. lol. she just seems the funnest & goofiest.
fka Twigs is obviously a sponge. She absorbs genres like a Bounty Quicker Picker Upper. She arrived on the scene fully formed. Fully realized. An intoxicating stew of Trip Hop, 90s IDM, Modern Soul and Pop. Her first EP is perfect. It's hard in fact to believe its her debut. Released soley by herself at the time (I think through bandcamp). It didn't take long for it to catch on.
While it is without question one of the most adventurous "Indie Pop" releases of the 2010s it is never anything less than accessible. Stuff that stays with you long after the song is over. The crossover potential for this EP is through the roof. It should be appealing to lovers of Indie Pop, Soul, Trip Hop, EDM, hip hop, etc.. And with her exotic yet captivating face, it's no wonder she blew up. In many ways her face and image are a mirror of her music. An amalgam of multiple cultures and styles but nothing less than individualistic and utterly herself. I think this is far better than the stuff on her first LP from what I remember, but I'll be immersing myself in her other stuff in due course. For now, I'm just content to listen to this.
Sequencing matters. Especially for the Lo-fi American Underground indie scene of the late 80s/early 90s. Stuff like Zen Arcade, Slanted & Enchanted, GBV’s Propellor, and Sebadoh’s III. These albums wouldn’t have worked half as well if the order of the songs had been different. These albums were not collections of songs. They were sound collages. One song melded into the next. Alone the songs were just neat little snippets of sonic pop experimentation, but they often made little sense isolated and apart from one other. No. It was together - one sound tumbling logically & expectedly into the next - that these lo-fi snippets were weaved into the masterpieces they are now generally recognized to be.
So when the Moles debut material was re-released and expanded as Flashbacks & Dream Sequences, they sort of got the order all wrong. I like it. A lot. It’s a great collection of lo-fi indie rock songs. But, it wasn’t until I recreated the sequencing with a Spotify playlist that I recognized it for the indie lo-fi benchmark it should of been. And album that fits right along with other lo-fi classics of the era such as III, Propeller, & Perfect Sound Forever.
Here’s the track listing I particularly like from the original Australian CD release of this album back in 1991 on Seaside Records...
Bury Me Happy
Tendrils and Paracetamol
This Is A Happy Garden
Breathe Me In
Lonely Hearts Get What They Deserve
the Crown Souls
Rebecca
Europe by Car
Curdle
Wires
Nailing Jesus to the Cross
Grade: A+ Like Pavement, The Moles ably pilfer The Swell Maps (R they most underrated but massively influentail band in all of indie rock?) aesthetic but their DNA is chiefly cobbled from lineage of The Clean and other legends of kiwi rock as opposed to The Fall.
Sequencing matters. Especially for the Lo-fi American Underground indie scene of the late 80s/early 90s. Stuff like Zen Arcade, Slanted & Enchanted, GBV’s Propellor, and Sebadoh’s III. These albums wouldn’t have worked half as well if the order of the songs had been different. These albums were not collections of songs. They were sound collages. One song melded into the next. Alone the songs were just neat little snippets of sonic pop experimentation, but they often made little sense isolated and apart from one other. No. It was together - one sound tumbling logically & expectedly into the next - that these lo-fi snippets were weaved into the masterpieces they are now generally recognized to be.
So when the Moles debut material was re-released and expanded as Flashbacks & Dream Sequences, they sort of got the order all wrong. I like it. A lot. It’s a great collection of lo-fi indie rock songs. But, it wasn’t until I recreated the sequencing with a Spotify playlist that I recognized it for the indie lo-fi benchmark it should of been. And album that fits right along with other lo-fi classics of the era such as III, Propeller, & Perfect Sound Forever.
Here’s the track listing I particularly like from the original Australian CD release of this album back in 1991 on Seaside Records...
Bury Me Happy
Tendrils and Paracetamol
This Is A Happy Garden
Breathe Me In
Lonely Hearts Get What They Deserve
the Crown Souls
Rebecca
Europe by Car
Curdle
Wires
Nailing Jesus to the Cross
Grade: A+ Like Pavement, The Moles ably pilfer The Swell Maps (R they most underrated but massively influentail band in all of indie rock?) aesthetic but their DNA is chiefly cobbled from lineage of The Clean and other legends of kiwi rock as opposed to The Fall.
Essential.
I have already been trying to find this album on Apple Music but couldn't find it (in whatever order the tracks are) so I started listening to their 2016 album which I really like already.
Tonight's Music by The Moles
I'll try to listen to Untune The Sky on Youtube...
I have already been trying to find this album on Apple Music but couldn't find it (in whatever order the tracks are) so I started listening to their 2016 album which I really like already.
Tonight's Music by The Moles
I'll try to listen to Untune The Sky on Youtube...
I have already been trying to find this album on Apple Music but couldn't find it (in whatever order the tracks are) so I started listening to their 2016 album which I really like already.
Tonight's Music by The Moles
I'll try to listen to Untune The Sky on Youtube...
Oh cool. I'll check it out!
I had started to some of the tracks from Untune The Sky but could only find a handful, so I tried Spotify and I found Flashbacks and Dream Sequences so first listening to the tracks from Untune the Sky and what a lucky man I am: this could turn out to be one of my alltime favorites: Bury Me Happy is just a great jangly tune in the style of REM/The Chills and Tendrils and Paracetamol is very weird but wonderful at the same time. It also reminds me a bit of the strangeness of Syd Barett.
Thx for recommending this one Tilly!
I have already been trying to find this album on Apple Music but couldn't find it (in whatever order the tracks are) so I started listening to their 2016 album which I really like already.
Tonight's Music by The Moles
I'll try to listen to Untune The Sky on Youtube...
Oh cool. I'll check it out!
I had started to some of the tracks from Untune The Sky but could only find a handful, so I tried Spotify and I found Flashbacks and Dream Sequences so first listening to the tracks from Untune the Sky and what a lucky man I am: this could turn out to be one of my alltime favorites: Bury Me Happy is just a great jangly tune in the style of REM/The Chills and Tendrils and Paracetamol is very weird but wonderful at the same time. It also reminds me a bit of the strangeness of Syd Barett.
Thx for recommending this one Tilly!
Awesome to hear! It really probably would have been an indie rock classic if it had been released in The States.
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Repo
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