Messages

271

Music Shit / Re: blitzkrieg bop "let's go" 45 vs cult figures "zip nolan" 45

« on: May 15, 2008, 10:07:27 AM »

I don't like the more "avant" Ludus stuff like Danger Came Smiling so much, but some of the poppier/art rock stuff is great. The version of The Escape Artist on The Damage comp, or most of The Visit/The Seduction I like. Closer to Dislocation Dance or ReR art-pop then the wanna-be Yoko stuff on Danger Came Smiling.

Word is Stef Petticoat's on myspace and is gonna do a CD comp or something. Have you heard the Scaling Triangles ep? All drum machined out. Sounds like something that would've come out in the early/mid 2000s.

272

Music Shit / Re: Hey Ohio Heads!

« on: May 15, 2008, 07:45:17 AM »

Glad to see a record store in Oberlin...I was a freshman the year Sarge's closed, and worked at the Co-Op bookstore record dept my junior and senior years. Under Dave Todarello's stewardshit, the Co-Op was one of the best CD stores in the midwest, and had a decent selection of vinyl.

273

Music Shit / Re: blitzkrieg bop "let's go" 45 vs cult figures "zip nolan" 45

« on: May 15, 2008, 07:38:52 AM »

I think they're more for the DIY/post-punk set. Instant Pop Classics introduced me to the Desperate Bicycles. On volume 2 Dolly Mixture, The Fakes, They Must Be Russians, Versatile Newts, 48 Chairs are all classics now. The more conventional power-pop/rock stuff on it I find less interesting...Agony Column's Good Greif, Moondogs, Static Routines.

Volume 1 has Cult Figures, Desp Bikes, I Jog & The Tracksuits, Metropak, Petticoats, Prefects...all canon material in the DIY universe.

274

Music Shit / Re: blitzkrieg bop "let's go" 45 vs cult figures "zip nolan" 45

« on: May 15, 2008, 05:21:35 AM »

I love Blitzkrieg Bop, Life's Just a So-So from Instant Pop Classics 2 and Let's Go and UFO from the Lighting Records comp CD. What's the "top of the pops" CD?

Blank Frank from Blitzkrieg Bop went on to join post-punkers Basczax who had some cool tracks, they're on Earcom 2 with Joy Division, then a single as the Gynaecologists which is on Cherry Red Seeds V, then a new wave group called Makaton Chat, among others.

275

Music Shit / Re: Roxy Music

« on: May 15, 2008, 05:18:02 AM »

I pretty much love everything Roxy Music ever did. I started with the first two but worked my way on from there. The next few have songs as good as the Eno period though maybe not quite as much sonic experimentation, but those guys weren't slouches when it came to processing. Stranded, Country Life and Siren are all great. Bryan Ferry wrote most of the material before and after Eno, I think the more you listen to it all the harder it is to hear a huge difference between the Eno era and post-Eno. Certainly less proggy stuff like "The Bob", and a bit less synth, but Andy Mackay was an electronic music guy as well.

Finally, the last few records are great as well, but the production is different enough that I can respect it's more of a leap. But Manifest is a wicked underrated album. Just check out the title song, with it's slow burning disco intro. And Avalon is a beautiful album start to finish. Really, the technology may be updated, and the mood mellowed, but the material's no less great then on earlier albums. It helps to buy into the adult contemporary end of the night the party's over let me take you home vibe.

Really it's a pretty amazing run.

276

Music Shit / Re: The Bizarros

« on: May 15, 2008, 05:06:40 AM »

I think the LP is pretty great. The last song, White Screen Movies is awesome. Mind's a Magnet, a version of A New Order (or the same? I haven't a/b'd them or heard the single in a while).

277

Music Shit / Re: XTC

« on: May 15, 2008, 05:01:37 AM »

I like all the early albums ok but really love Drums and Wires. Still manic but a bit more dense or arty, and poppy. You need the UK version with Life Begins At the Hop.

278

Music Shit / Re: Giants Of Jazz

« on: May 06, 2008, 04:18:36 PM »

just to clear up the timeline, in case anybody cares...

I think I started collecting Desperate Bicycles stuff sometime around 99, after hearing them on the Instant Pop Classics bootleg I randomly got at Princeton Record Exchange. I somehow managed to track down a member online and was able to buy an unplayed copy of the LP, and he later sent me a copy of the Evening Outs single. I digitized it with the intention of trading copies with other folks who were mostly still trading tapes, CD recordings not quite being ubiquitious yet. That must've been sometime around may or june of 2000, because that's when I took a letterpress printing class, so for my one assignment, I made 2 color jewelcase inserts. I even gave it an Acute catalog number, but it was just a lark. It was still 2 years before the first Acute CD actually came out. I didn't think it would end up on ebay or whatever. I just started making copies to send to friends and "friends" i.e. traders and collectors on the internet. I ran out of the letterpress covers and made some color ones on the work laser printer, then later made the one printed above. I used to send this out with my 2 CD Homosexuals compilation, with definitely made the rounds, as well as CDs with Scritti Politti, Manicured Noise and the Prefects, all of which have seen legit release since. The Homosexuals CD had a cover of Rainy Day Sunshine Girl, which wasn't them at all, it was a misunderstanding and totally my fault.

I was only in touch with the one member, then another popped up on an ILX thread. I know several labels have gotten in touch or tried to, and I don't know any specific reason for it never happening. Maybe it's some big ideological thing, or maybe it's a disagreement between various members of the band. Simpler things have gotten in the way of an in-demand reissue before. Personally, in general I have greatly mixed feelings about the free sharing of music online and specifically my part in this particular case, some of which is discussed on the ILX thread that was a result of Derek Erdman posting all the songs, where you can still download them.

In 2004 I wrote an article about them for the fun of it, which I've been meaning to post to the Acute site for ages.

Anyway, great band.