Built To Spill - Keep It Like A Secret

YOURZ

What a fucking awesome Forgotten Gem.  I can't figure out why it's sat in my collection for so long without being played, I really can't.  But I'm so pleased the pointy stick landed on it to remind me again.  And it's been so long since I heard Keep It Like A Secret, it's almost like I'm listening to it for the first time again.

I was turned on to this wonderful band by an old friend (g'day Ciaron, if you're reading, give us a call).  He made my day when he said this reminded him of the sort of songs I wrote.  I'd love to say I agree with him but it's hardly true.  Regardless, I was fairly chuffed with the comment.

For me, BTS plumb the spaces between The Grifters, Superchunk, Archers Of Loaf, Pavement and Sebadoh, with a little Grandaddy thrown into the mix as well.  I suppose all this could be gathered loosely under the heading 'Slacker Rock' but as we eschew labels here, lets just leave it at my first descriptive - 'fucking awesome'.  In researching this, I found out they are still putting out records and, in fact, their latest has been rated as good as this one.  *sigh* I guess we have another band to add to the list, Mine.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

YourZ handed me this CD with the comment that he likes this band, but wasn't sure about me.  So I'll start right away with my criticisms.  That drummer sounds like he got a new set of cymbals for his birthday and just can't stop playing them.  And the vocals once or twice moved over into that whiny indie-pop inflection, which irritates me.  Just sing, don't complain!

OK, that's it.

Oh, how about what I liked about Built to Spill?  Everything else.  The melodies are happy and well-structured, the sound is multi-layered and beautifully produced, the songs are hummable and the standout song is track 8, You Were Right.  I'm looking forward to hearing it again.  1999, really?  I'm not surprised I haven't heard this before, because I was working for commercial radio at the time, and it would have passed me by.  It's a pity they weren't more popular here, this is an excellent CD.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.builttospill.com/

Jebediah - Slightly Odway

MINE

Leaving Home was so huge for Jebediah it's almost permanently implanted in my brain.  Or at least that's how I remember it.  But I never bought the album as it was then and remains to this day just a bit teenage-boy-type music.  Created by the demographic for the demographic, it's not really the type of music that appeals to me.  I can see why it attracted YourZ though, especially when the band namechecked Archers Of Loaf.

However I'd recommend it to any women trying out their cougar-claws.  Sure to attract those young boys...

VERDICT: TIRN IT DOWN

YOURZ

I remember when I first heard Jebediah's single, Jerks Of Attention, way back in the early 90s, then heard how young they were (lead singer Kevin Mitchell was just 18 when it was released), I felt both jealous and somewhat irrelevant, being a hoary old muso in my early 30s.  Yeah, I know, what a sap but when faced with such youthful presence and exuberance, what do you expect?

Yet another example of the brilliant music coming out of the isolated environs of Perth, their exuberance fairly spills out of the speakers when you listen to Slightly Odway, their début album.  The songs are brash and loud, with just the right amount of teen angst.  Kevin's idiosyncratic vocals might sound contrived if not carried off with such raw honesty.  You almost believe he actually speaks like he sings.

The success of this album lies in the huge singalong choruses of tracks such as Leaving Home, Harpoon and Military Strongmen, but every track on this is a winner.  The strength here is in the attachment their audience felt to some of the other tracks, like Puck Defender and Teflon, that became huge live favourites and led them to supporting some of the biggest acts in the world at the time.  It's such a shame that they never really broke anywhere else apart from the antipodes.  Maybe their slightly odd ways were simply too much for the rest of the world to handle.  Whatever it was, I'm certainly glad this is still in our collection.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.jebediah.net/

Superchunk - Foolish

YOURZ

There was a time when I listened to this album a lot.  And by this I mean at least once every day.  Seriously.  In fact, I wrote a song that became a centrepiece in my band's repertoire that was heavily influenced by this album, so much so that a lot of friends called it our Superchunk song.  Ah, those were some good days...  ('scuse me while I reminisce a bit more...)

Okay, done now.

The Chunksters were part of the Chapel Hill scene, which also spawned Polvo, Archers Of Loaf and, most notably, Ben Folds Five.  Superchunk's Mac and Laura also founded the hip indie label, Merge, which is still going strong today (and includes American indie darlings such as She & Him, Spoon and The Shout Out Louds).  And the band itself is still going strong, something of a feat considering most of their contemporaries have long broken up.

I still get shivers up my spine when I hear tracks like Driveway To Driveway or The First Part.  And while I know Mine is probably gonna hate Mac's voice, (Mine says: you know me so well, dear) the raw emotion and fragility of  it is still kicks me in the guts.  Foolish might be this album's name but its nature is so much more.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

So who told guitarist Mac McCaughan he could sing?  (YourZ sez: ha, I knew it)  Seriously, this album has some nice tunes on it, but by the time I was on to about the fourth or fifth track, that high-pitched sounds-like-you-trod-on-a-cat wailing gave me a headache.  I really got the whole grumpy-old-woman bit about it.

In fact, this is one instance where the fact they'd mixed the vocals down and the instruments up didn't bother me at all.  This album would have been better if it was wholly instrumental.  Or if someone else sang.  Anybody.  Even Bob Dylan.  (OK, maybe I exaggerate there.)

The songs are also a bit same-y after a while, and I guess that means I've outgrown the whole indie-band thing, when you can forgive poor execution for the fact they have a lot of raw energy.  Give me execution any day. 

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.superchunk.com/

In our collection we also have Here Is Where The Strings Come In

The Grifters - Ain't My Lookout

MINE

What a surprise - I actually liked it!

I've never even heard of this band, and they've now disappeared into that special ether that's reserved for "weren't you in the...?" indie bands.  But the tunes are excellent, the mix was unobjectionable, and the instrumental track in particular blew me away.  Positively orchestral in parts.

Um, the singing - not so much.  Not that it's really bad - but there are moments when it's of that deliberately-untuneful-indie-band style that initially led me to suppose I'd hate this CD.  But the tunes are so delightful, it's possible to allow those flat notes to just drift past, like an oil splodge on the surface of an otherwise picture-perfect lake.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

YOURZ

The Grifters' Aint My Lookout was another one of those discs I was asked to review and ended up keeping because I loved it.  It was 1996 - I'd quit my job in the public service, took a hefty redundancy package and moved from Canberra to inner-city Sydney hoping to become a rock star.  

I immediately started working for a street press publication as a feature writer and live/ CD reviewer.  I was seeing lots of fresh, interesting and exciting acts and copping a lot of great free music.  I was into all things indie and noisy and lofi.  To give you an idea, I was listening to (among other things) a lot of Pavement, Sebadoh, Superchunk, Archers Of Loaf and other bands I've long forgotten.  

Listening to this disc after quite a number of years, I still feel a tingle of delight hearing songs like Boho/Alt, Parting Shot, Covered In Flies and Day Shift.  There's also something distinctly Bowie-esque about them (just listen to Last Man Alive or Give Yourself To Me).  There's absolutely no doubting his influence.  Of course, The Grifters are now long gone, more's the shame.  I'm sure there are a bunch of indie kids out there now who would take to them like a duck to water.

I'm almost sure Mine probably won't like this but then I thought she'd vomit when she heard Pavement so I'm fully prepared to be wrong on this one.  (Mine says: tee hee, and you are) I'm glad I still have it to remind me of those times.  And in honour of this, I'm definitely naming it another Forgotten Gem.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/shangrilagrifters