postpunk on the prairie: the Jesus Lizard

Man, we're on a roll here with the Chicago postpunk, might as well strike again while the iron is hot - with perhaps the best of 'em all...



Today, I bring you the Jesus Lizard. Only the best live band I've EVER seen, bar none.

Vocalist - and I use that term lightly - David Yow fights his way through each song as if he were choking on booze and razor blades. Oddly enough, he's one hell of a nice guy in person, clearly a case of a stage persona vs reality thing. Bassist David Wm. Sims (who's blog I have linked to on the right) muscles each song forward with some of the best bass playing I've ever heard, guitarist Duane Denison layers each song with sheets/shards of furious - but tasteful - guitars, and drummer Mac McNeilly (the heart and soul of the band) anchors it all down with, again, some of the greatest drumming I've ever heard.

So yeah, they're pretty good.

Formed in Chicago in 1989 from the remnants of Steve Albini's Rapeman project (Sims) and Austin, Texas legendary punk act Scratch Acid (Yow and Sims), the Lizard began relatively inauspiciously with the 3-men-and-a-drum-machine debut EP PURE on Touch and Go. Having taken the drum machine approach as far as it could go, they recruited super drummer man Mac and unleashed the new 4-piece Lizard via a classic 7" single featuring a medley of Chrome songs ("TV as Eyes" and "Abstract Nympho") simply-titled "Chrome", backed with an original track "7 vs. 8".

Then they ran off a series of absolutely fucking stellar/devastating/ridiculously amazing/fantastic records on Touch and Go through 1993, and then began a slow gradual slide into irrelevance after signing to a major label in 1995, ultimately breaking up in 1999 after earlier losing drummer Mac to other projects (he was replaced by former Laughing Hyenas drummer Jim Kimball for the last couple years of the Lizard's life). 1994's DOWN was their final Touch and Go LP before jumping ship, and I don't know if the separation had already begun between tJL/Albini/T&G but it really sounds like the last LP of an era.

More tJL info here, here and here (official Touch and Go page about 'em).

All their Touch and Go output was recorded by the legendary Steve Albini, who, being the indie purist he is, refused to work with them again after they signed to the major label Capitol Records.

The latest news - "latest" being a relative term, of course, when Jesus Lizard news was few and far between until a month ago - is that the Lizard is reuniting with the original lineup (Yow/Denison/Sims/McNeilly) to play a few gigs in the fall. Oh how I'd pull my own Tight 'n Shiny to see those gigs!

Changing it up a bit here, rather than posting entire album(s), I'm going to compile the greatest tJL compilation ever. We're going to flat-out ignore the Capitol Records era, and focus exclusively on their indie years on Touch and Go 1989-1994, and better yet, I'm going to do it chronologically.

Here's a quick Touch and Go-era discography hit, we'll get to our exclusive compilation below....

- - - - -

1989: PURE (EP) T&GLP#43



Blockbuster / Bloody Mary / Rabid Pigs / Starlet / Happy Bunny Goes Fluff-Fluff Along


1990: CHROME (7") T&G#53



Chrome / 7 vs. 8


1990: HEAD (LP) T&GLP#54



One Evening / S.D.B.J. / My Own Urine / If You Had Lips / 7 vs. 8 / Pastoral / Waxeater / Good Thing / Tight 'N Shiny / (None Other Than) Killer McHann


1991: MOUTH BREATHER (7") T&G#66



Mouth Breather / Sunday You Need Love


1991: GOAT (LP) T&GLP#68



Here Comes Dudley / Mouth Breather / Nub / Seasick / Monkey Trick / Karpis / South Mouth / Lady Shoes / Rodeo in Joliet


1992: WHEELCHAIR EPIDEMIC (7") TG087



Wheelchair Epidemic / Dancing Naked Ladies


1992: LIAR (LP) TG100



Boilermaker / Gladiator / The Art of Self Defense / Slave Ship / Puss / Whirl / Rope / Perk / Zachariah / Dancing Naked Ladies


1993: PUSS / OH, THE GUILT (split single with Nirvana) TG083



Puss (the Jesus Lizard) / Oh, The Guilt (Nirvana)


1993: LASH (EP) TG121



Glamorous / Deaf As A Bat / Lady Shoes / Killer McHann / Bloody Mary / Monkey Trick
(tracks 3-6 live)


1993: (FLY) ON (THE WALL) (7") TG128



(Fly) On (The Wall) / White Hole


1994: DOWN (LP) TG131



Fly On The Wall / Mistletoe / Countless Backs Of Sad Losers / Queen For A Day / The Associate / Destroy Before Reading / Low Rider / 50¢ / American BB / Horse / Din / Elegy / The Best Parts

- - - - - - - -

Enough background.....

FOUL
the Jesus Lizard 1990-1994, Compiled
(a Power of Independent Trucking exclusive)

Part I
Part II



01 Blockbuster (live soundboard recording 4 December 1992, 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - far better live than the 3-piece studio version)
02 Chrome
03 One Evening
04 S.D.B.J.
05 My Own Urine
06 If You Had Lips
07 7 vs. 8
08 Waxeater
09 Tight 'N Shiny
10 Then Comes Dudley
11 Mouth Breather
12 Nub
13 Seasick
14 Monkey Trick
15 Wheelchair Epidemic
16 Boilermaker
17 Gladiator
18 Whirl
19 Rope
20 Dancing Naked Ladies
21 Glamorous
22 Destroy Before Reading
23 Low Rider
24 The Best Parts

This compilation just plain rips. If there's enough demand I can post the individual records, but they're all still in print (the albums, that is) on Touch and Go, and there are plans afoot to issue remastered editions (and, from what I've heard, remastered the right way by none other than Shellac's Bob Weston) before the year is out.

postpunk on the prairie: TAR

If you haven't noticed yet... the blog has featured a LOT (relatively speaking!) of albums released in 1993 on Touch and Go Records.

Coincidence?

Perhaps. But your humble blogger - in retrospect - is amazed at the quality and quantity of fine records released that year. It's as strong as a year as I can remember, for indierock releases. I was going to run a list of some of them but I don't want to lose focus... ;)

And being perhaps the greatest ever American indie label, it's no surprise so many quality records - from 1993 or any year since T&G's early 1980s inception - came out on this fine label.

(one of the nifty things about running your own blog is that you're beholden to nothing. Zippo. I declared early on that the blog would have several recurring features such as the "variations on a theme" producers meme, the "5 songs" meme, etc. But there's no rules here, no schedule. Nothing but my wily wiles to guide me. And if I want to post nothing but snippets of Benny Hill jokes, for 30 days straight, by all means I'll do so. So, long story short, if you're waiting for the "variations on a theme" or "5 songs" series to continue, just settle down. There. Feel better? Good. Now pay attention... ;) )



Which brings us to TAR, formed in the teeming metropolis of DeKalb, Illinois (75 miles west of Chicago, thick in the cornfields, home of Northern Illinois University and Cindy Crawford). I don't have a clue how to describe TAR but that they're rhythmically awesome, they're guitarishly amazing, and they were one of Steve Albini's favorite bands ever. I know this because Mr. Albini told me so himself, when I found myself standing next to him at TAR's last-ever gig at the fabled Chicago venue Lounge Ax (RIP...) in November 1995. The gig was pre-announced as their last ever gig, so all the indie/postpunk Chicago luminaries (and, I suspect, others from all around our fine world) were there. It was a stellar gig, opened by Arcwelder, and closed with TAR auctioning off their handmade aluminum guitars from the stage.

Albini is perhaps a tad more qualified than most to assert "favorite band" status on TAR because he recorded the majority of their releases.

TOAST, the band's 1993 Touch and Go LP, is being featured here only because I can't stop listening to it myself. No other real reason - their prior record JACKSON may be better, or it may not - but that I like it and "Barry White" kicks some serious butt.

Believe it or not I even reviewed this record for my college newspaper in 1993 and even more terrifying, I still have a copy of that review, from the paper's September 17, 1993 edition:

TAR sticks to you like... well, tar

By YOUR HUMBLE BLOGGER
Editor-in-Chief

TAR
Toast
Touch and Go Records

Chicago's neo-Nirvanaesque TAR has kept a busy pace this year with three releases: Winter's "Teetering" 7-inch single, April's Clincher EP, and now Toast, their third full-length album. Toast is much in the same vein as their past two LPs, Roundhouse and Jackson: Walled guitars, shouted vocals, brisk drumming, throbbing metallic bass, muddy-yet-clear Steve Albini production. The album's ten tunes show off what makes TAR one of the best neo-grunge groups around.

The first tune, "Altoids, Anyone?" opens the disc with a full-frontal-assault of guitars. Nice, powerful, aggressive music. Aggressive is a good way to describe TAR's sound, actually. If you feel like kicking the shit out of a wall, or smashing your head against a (punk) rock, put on TAR instead and just yell. Works wonders for the mind. Anyway, "Barry White", the next song, has kind of a groove-type thing working for it. Good for shaking your booty to while letting off steam. Same goes for "Quieter Fellow", the next ditty, which isn't really quieter.

The rest of the songs are much in the same vein as the first three, and they are choice. "Mach Song" stands out in my mind, for some reason. The last song, "Theme", is really two songs separated by 12 minutes of total silence, reminiscent of "Endless Nameless" from Nirvana's Nevermind. The second part of "Theme" is quite brilliant, actually, It's about 2 minutes of weird guitar sounds and indecipherable vocals. Pretty cool.

If you want good frustration-releasing music, check out TAR. Especially since Nirvana's taking so long to put out their next one, which I just found out is delayed 'till October.

For the record, that "second part of 'Theme'" that I described above in the review is tracked separately in the download below, as "(untitled hidden track)". So no need to have a 14-minute song on your iPod ;)

enjoy....

- - - - - - - -

TAR
Toast



(1993 Touch and Go TG106CD)

01 Altoids, Anyone?
02 Barry White
03 Quieter Fellow
04 Satritis
05 Clincher
06 Giblets
07 Testor's Choice
08 Standpipe
09 Mach Song
10 Theme
11 (untitled hidden track)

edit: removed link.

postpunk on the prairie: Seam

There once was a time when I wanted to be SEAM.

(Musically, that is.)

Still do, actually.

Something about this longstanding Chicago band captivated me at very first listen, and kept my rapt attention with everything I ended up hearing from them. If I have to pick my top three indierock bands, Seam easily makes the list, and would be in strong competition for the #1 spot.



Led by Bitch Magnet alum Sooyoung Park on vocals/songwriting/guitars - and fleshed out by various different bassists/drummers/second guitarists depending on the album - the band's penchant for huge somber-to-in your face dynamics, Sooyoung's barely-audible vocals, terrific minimalist songwriting, and just stellar guitars, it's truly a shame they never got more recognition.

While I never hope to solve that recognition thing with the 35 readers this blog has, if even one person recognizes this band's utter brilliance, my mission is done.

With every band I was in, and with nearly every song I wrote for a duration some time ago, I wanted to sound like Seam. That's the level of influence these guys had (and still have) on me. But my songwriting skills are nowhere even close to matching up, and I include myself in the inability of any band I've been in to perform them well. So of course I had to live vicariously through just listening instead (though here you can hear an utterly pathetic-yet-still-cool garage cover an old band of mine did of their first LP's track "Shame", with yours truly on bass guitar).

As far as I know Seam is still a going concern, but they've not released an album since 1998's THE PACE IS GLACIAL, and haven't played a gig (as far as I am aware) since 2007. Sooyoung's since relocated to the West Coast, and other band alum are scattered about Chicago either in other bands or doing who knows what.

But to hell with that - featuring here on this very blog are the finest works they've released, the stellar 1993-to-1995 run of an EP and two LPs.

First we feature 1993's KERNEL EP. With a remake of a song initially appearing on their debut LP HEADSPARKS (the aforementioned "Shame") but this time much more subdued than the original (my old band's cover version I linked above is based on the original), a cover of a Breaking Circus track "Driving the Dynamite Truck", again much more subdued/dynamic than the original, and two new tracks "Kernel" and "Sweet Pea", Seam comes roaring out with passion and energy.

Later that same year they blasted everything away - rewrote the book, if you will - with the utterly fucking phenomenal LP THE PROBLEM WITH ME - a landmark record, in my eyes. The first full-length to feature my favorite aspects of the band as mentioned earlier, there's not a duff track in the bunch. Blasting off with "Rafael", slowing the pace a bit with "Road To Madrid", flying off the handle again with a remade "Sweet Pea" (the E Bow guitar here is utterly stellar, that keening sound throughout the track that sounds almost like feedback), building and releasing tension all the way through to the closer "Autopilot" (what a song!) - this album is utterly unstoppable.

Then we segue into 1995's ARE YOU DRIVING ME CRAZY? - a refinement, if you will, of what they perfected with THE PROBLEM WITH ME. It's much the same spectacular sound/songs/dynamics but with added new twists, and a more developed sense of pacing. Had I never heard THE PROBLEM WITH ME this album instead would be tops - but the band had a hard act to follow, and while they didn't top it, they may have matched it with this one.

I've seen Seam quite a few times and each gig was spectacular - I even taped them once. I will upload that gig at some point to the blog.

So enjoy - and as usual, these records are (as far as I know) all still in print on Touch and Go, so for Chrissakes go buy 'em after sampling 'em here!

SEAM
Kernel / The Problem With Me / Are You Driving Me Crazy

- - - - - - -

KERNEL



(1993 Touch and Go TG112CD)

01 Kernel
02 Sweet Pea
03 Shame
04 Driving The Dynamite Truck


THE PROBLEM WITH ME



(1993 Touch and Go TG118CD)

01 Rafael
02 Bunch
03 Road To Madrid
04 Stage 2000
05 Sweet Pea
06 Dust And Turpentine
07 Something's Burning
08 The Wild Cat
09 Autopilot


ARE YOU DRIVING ME CRAZY?



(1995 Touch and Go TG142CD)

01 Berlitz
02 Hey Latasha
03 Port of Charleston
04 Rainy Season
05 Two Is Enough
06 Haole Redux
07 Tuff Luck
08 Broken Bones
09 Sometimes I Forget
10 Petty Thievery

all the above split into two RAR files, need to download both to extract....

edit: removed link.

postpunk on the prairie: Arcwelder

Today we add yet another meme to the blog - postpunk on the prairie (i.e. the American Midwest). Since your trusty blogger originates from this heartland, he is quite familiar with the musics of the region.

What exactly is postpunk on the prairie? That's an easy one.... how about music that comes from the Midwest? Let's say that middle third of the US that lies between the East and the West. In terms of the blog, it's good old alternative/indie music that originates from Midwestern acts. For whatever reason (boredom? too many cornfields?), the US Midwest was - and continues to be - a very fertile ground for aspiring indierockers.




Today we feature a wonderful album from a lesser-known Midwestern postpunk act, Arcwelder. Hailing from Minneapolis (postpunk hotbed of acts such as Hüsker Dü, Replacements, Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, etc), Arcwelder is from the "third wave" of the Minneapolis punk scene, having started in the late 1980s and continuing through today.

With melodies galore, sub-Bob Mould vocals, blistering guitars, and just damn good songwriting, the album we feature below was Arcwelder's first "mass market" release - mass market in that it wasn't just put out on a tiny regional label, but instead on Chicago superindie stalwart Touch and Go - granddaddy to many indie labels itself.

Produced by Brian Paulson, Arcwelder's third full-length LP Pull is stellar - just hear it for yourself below. And allow me to quote some random reviewer on amazon:

This is no question one of the best indie/alt rock albums of the early 90s. I rank it up there with Superchunk's Foolish, Seam's The Problem With Me, Nirvana's Nevermind, and Pavement's Crooked Rain Crooked Rain. There must be something in the water in the Twin Cities, because Arcwelder have picked up where the Replacements and Hüsker Dü left off. With the Graber brothers (Bill and Rob) switching back and forth on guitar and bass, and drummer Scott Macdonald sharing vocal duties with Bill, Arcwelder mixes it up a little yet maintains a consistent post-punk, melodic power. Songs "Truth" and "Raleigh" are as good as any anthem in the power-pop canon. "And Then Again" is a heartfelt, nostalgic gem and my personal favorite. "Criminal" adds a wonderful rhythmic twist to plow ahead, while the subtle piano solo on "Finish My Song" makes me think of an overcast Minneapolis winter day. The album overall maintains a certain gloomy edge, but there is too much hope, potential and excellent songwriting to become bogged down in a quagmire. If you feel that indie rock is dying (as I do), go get this CD -- it will recapture the past glory.

(I plan to feature at least two of the above-mentioned albums in later blog posts - the author is spot on with his comparisons here.)

And from Trouser Press:

Like the sizzle of hot sparks hitting cold metal, Minneapolis' Arcwelder splatters impassioned vocals over a chilling backdrop. There's a frayed fury that lingers behind even the strongest hooks, the same tension-building mix that in the past has proven explosive for bands like Naked Raygun and Hüsker Dü, to which Arcwelder has most often been compared. With vibrant melodies that jump out of penetrating grooves, Arcwelder's albums also tend toward more subdued soundscapes. If the Hüsker match doesn't always apply, Arcwelder's singing does owe something to Bob Mould's disaffected tone. Drummer Scott Macdonald and guitarist Bill Graber share vocal duties — sometimes harmonizing, but often taking on differing melodies.

Completed by brother Rob Graber (bass/guitar), the trio debuted in 1988 as Tilt-a-Whirl and released its first album, This, under that moniker two years later. But the manufacturers of the carnival ride threatened to sue, and Tilt-a-Whirl became Arcwelder.

Armed with such terse pop constructions as "Raleigh" and "Remember to Forget," Pull again hits with harsh Big Blackened aggression and rhythms that churn and grind. A few tracks slow the pace, yet still seethe with anguish: see "What Did You Call It That For." Though the repetition of lyrics and riffs gets monotonous, the vocal interplay adds a caustic beauty to the basic melodies of "Finish My Song," "Lahabim" and "And Then Again."

Your humble author has seen this band at least twice that he can remember. Once in Chicago, opening up for Tar at the legendary Lounge Ax in 1995 for Tar's last-ever gig, and once in Minneapolis in 1999 at the 400 Bar. Both shows were terrific and if they ever make their way to where I reside currently, you can bet I'll see 'em again.

So on with it.....

ARCWELDER / Pull



(1993 Touch and Go Records TG108CD)

01 Truth
02 What Did You Call It That For?
03 And Then Again
04 It's A Wonderful Lie
05 Raleigh
06 Cranberry Sauce
07 Criminal
08 Will When You Won't
09 Remember To Forget
10 Lahabim
11 Just Not Moving
12 Finish My Song
13 You

nota bene: this LP is still available worldwide on Touch and Go. So buy it and support this fantastic band.

greetings and salutations

Steve Albini, in the liner notes to this album, stated:

Every good Vegas act has an opening theme, some appropriately triumphant fanfare to welcome the delight of the audience. It helps convince them the show was worth their thirty bucks or so.

Translated: Every blog needs an opening post, something to convince the teeming hordes that their mouse-clicking was worth the effort and to feed the expectations of terrific material to come. Though had Albini written those words today, I don't think he'd be stating thirty bucks or so. Try hundreds...

BIG BLACK - SONGS ABOUT FUCKING
(1987 Touch and Go Records)

I discovered this record in high school in 1987 or 1988, about a year or two after their scheduled 1987 breakup. Founder/guitarist/singer/songwriter Steve Albini says they broke up at the right time, they were getting to the point where their popularity was exceeding the amount of energy and effort it would have required to maintain it. Guitarist Santiago Durango also was about to start law school so all things just fell in line to call it a day after this record - an ending which the band pre-announced. There's another school that states this record took Big Black about as far as they could within their framework, and some think it didn't better their previous LP Atomizer - it wasn't a progression, it was just a continuation of the themes and attitudes brought forward with terrific impact by Atomizer.

This LP still sounds as jarring and "ugly" as it did twenty years ago. Not many bands can you say that about today - what seemed earth-shaking then might be commonplace today. I figured it was an excellent way to lead off the blog - and the first song having bequeathed its title to the blog, why the hell not?






















1 The Power Of Independent Trucking (1:27)
2 The Model (2:34)
3 Bad Penny (2:33)
4 L Dopa (1:40)
5 Precious Thing (2:20)
6 Colombian Necktie (2:14)
7 Kitty Empire (4:01)
8 Ergot (2:28)
9 Kasimir S. Pulaski Day (2:28)
10 Fish Fry (2:06)
11 Pavement Saw (2:12)
12 Tiny, King Of The Jews (2:31)
13 Bombastic Intro (0:34)
14 He's A Whore (2:38

The future belongs to the analog loyalists. Fuck digital.