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The swell 1988 debut from this Pittsburgh quartet.  **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear

Had a request for this one.  Personally, I was never very motivated to sling myself onto the caboose of the Leaving Trains , but I know how endearing they were to the droves who were more than content to depart the station with them.  This was their first album, released a couple years prior to their stint with SST.  I've heard bits and pieces of those subsequent records, but Well Down Blue Highway might be the first I've encountered wall-to-wall.  And I'm definitely down for some of it, 'specially the more rompin,'  rockin' forays like "She Knows the Rain" and "Virginia City."  There's some sweet psych flourishes on "Always Between Wars" too.  I've been informed that ...Highway's follow-up, Kill Tunes, was their utmost achievement.  Here's what the boys at Trouser Press had to say. That said, the Los Angeles band's debut, Well Down Blue Highway (co-produced by Rain Parader David Roback and featuring a gue...

So you say you're a Rude Buddha fan (all two of you)?  I guess you can chalk that up to depriving yourself of sleep in the wee hours of the morning with your gaze fixed on MTV to witness their briefly-in-rotation clip for "No More Gravy."  That was actually in 1988, so I bet ya didn't know they had a couple records to their credit earlier in the decade?  Here's one of 'em, and this co-ed combo waste nary a second of it...on side one anyway.  That's where you'll find more of the structured tunes, considerably crooked to begin with.  Brian Daley and Jenny Wade trade off on vocals, the latter of whom has a particularly unique warble.  I'm more partial to Daley whose dexterous digits tickle the fretboard in a nimble and clangy manner I'm such a sucker for.  Depending where the stylus lands there's some sheer magic going on here.  After the jump, you'll find the video I referenced above. 01. Blister My Paint 02. Economic War 03. So Long D...

There's a certain reliability to a Willie Nile album. Not unlike spending an afternoon at the ballpark perhaps. Hot dog in hand, a nice 75 degree day, and a certain contentment in knowing how things are going to roll for the next couple of hours or so.  Not that Children of Paradise, Willie's eleventh (or so) studio outing spans anywhere near the better part of the afternoon, but you get my drift.  His original premise (and I say that loosely) always struck me as an empathetic fusion of Springsteen and Dylan.  These days that synthesis manifests itself into something approaching solo Paul Westerberg, albeit without as much irony and wordplay.  Not one to operate in the abstract, Willie's plaintive aplomb is nonetheless conveyed via uplifting, populist sentiments on Children's... rallying opener, "Seeds of a Revolution."  Call it a melting pot-anthem if you will, reminding us that our presently turmoil-ridden democratic experiment only exists due to it's...

A slightly abrasive start to the week.  An ep and full length from 1993 and '94, respectively. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear

This past week I've been all over the map...so why not end it with a Cure bootleg?  I haven't featured Robert Smith et al on these pages, due to the wide availability of virtually every speck of their catalog.  In a nutshell, What Happened Behind the Door is comprised of demos and possibly alternate mixes of tunes that touch on several of their key '80s records.  By now, I think all of their albums up through Disintegration have been reissued and bonus-ized with generously expanded track listings, loaded predominantly with demos and songs-in-progress.  The rub?  The bulk of these prototypes were just instrumentals that hardly warranted repeat spins.  In some instances, What Happened... features alternate demo versions with vocals ("In Between Days" being a prime example) that you are unavailable on said reissues.  Some really rare tracks make an appearance here as well, specifically "Ariel" and "Cold Colours."  This handy and thoughtfully ...

What little there is to glean on The Critics makes the case that this suburban Illinois quartet fancied the Beatles.  Even the most casual listen to their Braintree album solidly proves this point, especially on the first half, but this adept power pop combo were ultimately more attuned to their own era.  Not quite as heavy or beefy as say, what the Posies were concocting at the time, the Critics took their cues from nearby mates Material Issue, and for that matter slotted in quite appropriately onto the first volume of the Yellow Pills compilation series.  Released by the band Shoes on their in-house label Black Vinyl Records, Braintree's most remarkable moment arrives in the guise of "Got No Heart," a relatively raw nugget that extends a wink and a nod to their chosen genre's halcyon era of the late '70s. 01. Love Discreet 02. Change Your Mind 03. I Heard You Calling 04. L-O-V-E 05. You Can't Lie 06. Got No Heart 07. Surprise Surprise 08. I Feel Sorry Fo...

Welcome back!  Though it is a shame that it took a grotesque and traitorous Republican administration to jostle The Poster Children's collective muse to write and record again.  Or maybe I'm speaking too soon, considering the 'antics' of the Mar-a-Lago Mussolini haven't informed the entirety of Grand Bargain! ...but at least a solid half of it.  For the uninitiated, The Poster Children's tenure has spanned four decades, the most of active of which transpired in the twentieth century, with albums of dynamic, skittish guitar spree like 1991's Daisychain Reaction, and their '92 follow-up, Tool of the Man serving as the most crucial examples.  A little further into the Clinton-era, the band embraced a wonkier, electro-pop modus operandi, and though this particular gambit yielded mixed results the Poster Children resolutely made music on their own terms, even when 'the man' was cutting their paychecks. Grand Bargain! is the first full length P/C...

It's summer.  A little guilty pleasure never hurt anybody...right? **Comments are permitted, EXCEPT for revealing the name of the artist** Hear

Damn, where has this band been all my life?  Minneapolis, MN from what I understand, but it wasn't 'til last year that I caught wind of them via this used single.  Looked the Rank Strangers up for the first time this week, and was pleasantly surprised to learn they have a fairly deep catalog featuring no less than eight LPs, and almost as many shorter releases.  This wax is the extent I've experienced the Strangers so far, and while I hesitate to make any broad stroke generalities, the A side, "Target" is awash in proto-punk aesthetics brimming with raw, nervy production a la the Velvets and significantly more so the snider panache of Iggy and the Stooges.  "Planetarium" packs almost as much attitude, and while a tad less frenetic, these gents accent the proceedings with spicy guitar fills reminiscent of ABKCO-era Stones.  Simply put, the Rank Strangers don't bear a smidgen of '90s sonic trappings - an astonishing feat given their era. If you di...

My recent post of The Woodies '89 ep Train Wreck went over big with a lot of you, so I thought I'd share one of their prior convictions.  More of that tasty collegiate indie rock manna with a homespun angle, that for the record was several notches above lo-fi.  By and large these guys (and girl) churned out some quality tunes, not terribly far removed from say, the Windbreakers, early Trotsky Icepick and such.  The first half of Five Years From Now is well above average, and the flip side, while exhibiting some occasional dabs of lyrical clumsiness is still refreshingly genuine.  I really wish more bands had followed in the Woodies humble albeit gratifying footsteps. 01. Fate to Be Late 02. You and He 03. Five Years 04. Potential Drop 05. Mirror 06. Soldier 07. She's the One 08. Kicks 09. A Little Night Music 10. Let You Up 11. Rave Up (unlisted track) https://www47.zippyshare.com/v/9VoQgZ08/file.html

Thoughtful modern rock from 2002 with a graceful singer/songwriter acumen. ** As a friendly reminder, please do NOT reveal the artist(s) in the comments .**  Been a real problem as of late. There's a reason why I refer to these as "mysteries!" Hear

Have fun. The Posies - Broadcasts - Vols. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 & 7 Wondermints - covers/demos The Purdins - Greatest Hits & 7" ep Nubs - Job 7" Reivers - End of the Day demos & Saturday demos Revelons - Anthology Phantom Tollbooth - 1985 demo Ten Inch Men - Hours n Pain ep Buzz Hungry - At the Hands of Our Intercessors Viola Peacock - The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter The Stockings - Red Tango Wishniaks - Nauseous and Cranky ep Screaming Believers - Communist Mutants From Space Rail - two eps V/A - I'm In Love With That Song - Australian tribute to the Replacements V/A - Blatant Doom Trip - Guided By Voices tribute V/A - Dirt fig. 4 (Tobin Sprout) - s/t cd Porcelain Boys - Away Awhile , Away Awhile demos , singles , Fetish for Female tape , Live 1989 Jettison - Search for the Gun Girl Sister Ray - No Way to Express Honest Injun - Rosenthal Effect Everready - Fairplay Doc Hopper/Bollweevils - split single   Jet Black Berrie...

The modicum of buzz fulflej were accorded seemed to dissipate not longer after this ep and a subsequent album, Wack-Ass Tube Riff, hit the market in 1995 and '96, respectively.  Then again, these Richmond, VA rawkers had a lot of competition in the mid-90s from considerably more sizable entities that were exuding a similar vibe...say like the Smashing Pumpkins.  Ironically, Scratchie Records was a boutique label helmed by the Pumpkins own James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky.  Much to their credit, fulflej differentiated themselves from those Corgan crunch-addled titans by embracing a woozier dream-pop bent, exemplified marvelously on microwave's most effective salvos, "Merely" and "Parallel to Gravity."  Whether they were conscious of it or not, fulfej had some excellent like-minded contemporaries in their midst to boot - Monsterland, Majesty Crush, and even their hometown's primo Fudge.  This record's title piece is probably the band's most rel...

It wasn't my initial observation regarding this Dutch combo, but their moniker conjures up the name of an over-the-counter antihistamine or something.  With that out of the way, what led to my investigation of Alerta was a connection to one of my fave '90s dream-pop wunderkinds The Nightblooms .  Specifically, it was Alerta guitar slinger Harry Otten who made said migration, but these lads didn't emanate anything approaching the shoegazer realm themselves.  No, Alerta were doggedly post-punk, mid-tempo in pace at that, purloining a trick or two from early (and I mean early ) Siouxsie and Killing Joke, while loosely touching on Joy Division U2, and even Crass label alums Rudimentary Peni.  Plenty of noir and existential-lite mystique abounds, with no shortage of echo-y guitars. ... Land of a Thousand Pretty Dreams' initial volley of tunes are Alerta's most convincing, but further in, while many a song threatens to escalate to a fiery and billowy crescendo things l...

EP time again.  Four of them to be exact, from four disparate artists spanning just as many decades.  Some absolute gems.  Perhaps the best of these piecemeal collections I've shared to date. ** As a friendly reminder, please do NOT reveal the artist(s) in the comments .**  Been a real problem as of late. There's a reason why I refer to these as "mysteries!" Hear