Indietracks Festival / all things C86 and indiepop!

[tinycowboy]

Exactly the same as you. Loved the early stuff. Driver 8, Toys in the Attic, all of Murmur, most of Green. Saw them live at Milton Keynes Bowl, on their Monster tour, about the time I started to lose interest. Blur were the main support, with Tanya Donnelly's Belly playing earlier to a few hundred people.

REM were comfortably the third best band on the night.

Green was my turning point. On the early stuff, the guitars are somehow rural-sounding, with a bit of mystery as well as melody. Couple the unintelligible singing with this and the basic bass and drums, and the whole thing was a basic but somehow magical treat. Add in some smooth production, celebrity guest appearances and slightly annoying but now audible lyrics and somehow it became average very lightly left-field rock. For me, the Chronic Town EP and Murmur are masterpieces, but Fables is also up there. Pavement took up the mantle where they left off - another of my very favourites. Wonderful, wonderful band.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Green was my turning point. On the early stuff, the guitars are somehow rural-sounding, with a bit of mystery as well as melody. Couple the unintelligible singing with this and the basic bass and drums, and the whole thing was a basic but somehow magical treat. Add in some smooth production, celebrity guest appearances and slightly annoying but now audible lyrics and somehow it became average very lightly left-field rock. For me, the Chronic Town EP and Murmur are masterpieces, but Fables is also up there. Pavement took up the mantle where they left off - another of my very favourites. Wonderful, wonderful band.

Shiny Happy People was the end. They were dead to me after that!

 

[hans kraay fan club]

In other matters, the Phil Wilson album arrived today. Only heard 4 tracks thus far as was glued to the cricket, then off playing football, but very promising so far. Will report back tomorrow!

 

[The Modfather]

I have fallen in love with Pristine Christine again. Just as gorgeous as she was back in the 80's.

 

[tinycowboy]

Five aching American indie rock classics:

Circle of One - Lemonheads
Not The Same - Dinosaur Jr
Web In Front - Archers of Loaf
Starlings of the Slipstream - Pavement
No. 13 Baby - The Pixies

 

[tinycowboy]

I have fallen in love with Pristine Christine again. Just as gorgeous as she was back in the 80's.

In 1988, were there many Christine's around who were in their late teens or twenties? I think the name is more common amongst a slightly older generation. Strange that the name has inspired at least two classic songs of the late 80s, but it's a good name for rhyming. Emma was a much more popular name at the time - so I can believe that the Field Mice would hang around Emma's House. Wouldn't like to be forced to pick between them musically though...

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Five aching American indie rock classics:

Circle of One - Lemonheads
Not The Same - Dinosaur Jr
Web In Front - Archers of Loaf
Starlings of the Slipstream - Pavement
No. 13 Baby - The Pixies

I mentioned Dinosaur Jr in the first page or two of this thread. Great band.

Freak Scene is a fabulous, fabulous track. Perfect C86, frankly, just with a vocal with an American accent.

Taking liberties with your new genre a bit, I'll add:

Ahead by a century - The tragically hip (ignore that they are Canadian)
Counting Backwards - Throwing Muses
Feed the tree - Belly

 

[tinycowboy]

I mentioned Dinosaur Jr in the first page or two of this thread. Great band.

Freak Scene is a fabulous, fabulous track. Perfect C86, frankly, just with a vocal with an American accent.

Taking liberties with your new genre a bit, I'll add:

Ahead by a century - The tragically hip (ignore that they are Canadian)
Counting Backwards - Throwing Muses
Feed the tree - Belly

I'm aware that a band called The Tragically Hip exists, but I don't think I've ever heard them. I'll give it a go. Freak Scene is indeed a stone-cold ocean-going classic, THE Dinosaur Jr track, although Raisans has its followers. I didn't think it was quite "aching" enough, so didn't put it on my list. Love playing the Freak Scene riff on my guitar loudly with the kids, although they disapprove of the two instances of the F-word (NB I've NEVER taken them into the North Stand; however, I HAVE turned round and stared at an old man throwing a C-bomb in the Family Stand). Pavement are the kings of aching indie classics. I nearly added The Bus by Buffalo Tom to the list. I never really got into Throwing Muses, but maybe I should try - I suspect they're not that immediate, but require a little bit of work which should suit me in my old age.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I'm aware that a band called The Tragically Hip exists, but I don't think I've ever heard them. I'll give it a go. Freak Scene is indeed a stone-cold ocean-going classic, THE Dinosaur Jr track, although Raisans has its followers. I didn't think it was quite "aching" enough, so didn't put it on my list. Love playing the Freak Scene riff on my guitar loudly with the kids, although they disapprove of the two instances of the F-word (NB I've NEVER taken them into the North Stand; however, I HAVE turned round and stared at an old man throwing a C-bomb in the Family Stand). Pavement are the kings of aching indie classics. I nearly added The Bus by Buffalo Tom to the list. I never really got into Throwing Muses, but maybe I should try - I suspect they're not that immediate, but require a little bit of work which should suit me in my old age.

Tragically Hip do not really belong in this particular thread - I just like that track. They belong in a different thread with The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam's quiet moments.

I don't think throwing Muses were inaccesible. Not at all. Start with the recent Anthology. Tanya Donnelly would have made a fantastic indy-pop queen if she'd been born the right side of the Atlantic. When they went their seperate ways, her stuff with Belly was also excellent, and easy to get into. Less so Kristin Hersh's solo album Hips and Makers. That requires some effort.

 

[boik]

Tragically Hip do not really belong in this particular thread - I just like that track. They belong in a different thread with The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam's quiet moments.

I don't think throwing Muses were inaccesible. Not at all. Start with the recent Anthology. Tanya Donnelly would have made a fantastic indy-pop queen if she'd been born the right side of the Atlantic. When they went their seperate ways, her stuff with Belly was also excellent, and easy to get into. Less so Kristin Hersh's solo album Hips and Makers. That requires some effort.

Love Kristin to bits. Try Sunny Border Blue as a starter. Her lyrics are still viciously precise, such as -

I wanted you to sleep with her
And hate yourself instead of me.


Ouch!!

 

[tinycowboy]

I don't think throwing Muses were inaccesible. Not at all.

I associate Kristin Hersh with complexity - maybe it's her solo stuff I'm thinking of. Belly are easy enough to appreciate. Dizzy is Throwing Muses, isn't it? I like that, and a song called Fish that was on the 4AD Lonely Is An Eyesore compilation.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Love Kristin to bits. Try Sunny Border Blue as a starter. Her lyrics are still viciously precise, such as -

I wanted you to sleep with her
And hate yourself instead of me.


Ouch!!

Indeed. When I said "Kristin Hersh - less so", I meant 'less easy to get into' rather than 'less excellent'.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I associate Kristin Hersh with complexity - maybe it's her solo stuff I'm thinking of. Belly are easy enough to appreciate. Dizzy is Throwing Muses, isn't it? I like that, and a song called Fish that was on the 4AD Lonely Is An Eyesore compilation.

Come on tiny. I know its early, but Dizzy was clearly Vic Reeves and The Wonderstuff...

 

[tinycowboy]

Come on tiny. I know its early, but Dizzy was clearly Vic Reeves and The Wonderstuff...

"Dizzy, my head is spinning....like a whirlpool, it's never ending". Surely this is Throwing Muses, or, failing that, The Groove Farm? I've never heard of this "Wonder Stuff" you're on about

 

[Albumen]

I listened to Hunkpapa the other week, quite under-rated. Mania is still rather mental.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgTHbKtBAGM

[yt]YgTHbKtBAGM[/yt]

 

[Staly]

"Dizzy, my head is spinning....like a whirlpool, it's never ending". Surely this is Throwing Muses, or, failing that, The Groove Farm? I've never heard of this "Wonder Stuff" you're on about

You can keep your REMs, but if you start mentioning the Groove Farm I'm back in..

 

[Flex Your Head]

Exactly the same as you. Loved the early stuff. Driver 8, Toys in the Attic, all of Murmur, most of Green. Saw them live at Milton Keynes Bowl, on their Monster tour, about the time I started to lose interest. Blur were the main support, with Tanya Donnelly's Belly playing earlier to a few hundred people.

REM were comfortably the third best band on the night.

I was at that, mainly because my kid brother really wanted to go and my ex at that time was a huge fan.

Magnapop played too and were great, but generally the day was crap. It was baking hot and there was no shade and the security confiscated our bottles of water on the way in. Had to queue for ages to get a drink. The music between bands consisted of a single Patti Smith CD and Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’ being played on repeat again and again and again… When REM finally took to the stage, they looked tiny and there were no big screens. I just remember sitting on a coach back to the station feeling totally underwhelmed.

Gimme a room at the back of a pub and 80 eager music fans over any big venue, Indietracks excepted.

 

[Flex Your Head]

In other, far more C86 related news, this:

http://archdeaconofpoprecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-flatmates-you-held-my-heart-7

I can't play it at work - how does it sound?

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I was at that, mainly because my kid brother really wanted to go and my ex at that time was a huge fan.

Magnapop played too and were great, but generally the day was crap. It was baking hot and there was no shade and the security confiscated our bottles of water on the way in. Had to queue for ages to get a drink. The music between bands consisted of a single Patti Smith CD and Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’ being played on repeat again and again and again… When REM finally took to the stage, they looked tiny and there were no big screens. I just remember sitting on a coach back to the station feeling totally underwhelmed.
.

Just be grateful your were on the train. It took two hours to get out of the car park, and then the M25 was closed. We got home about 4am.

 

[tinycowboy]

You can keep your REMs, but if you start mentioning the Groove Farm I'm back in..

OK Staly - we know you're hardcore...Just been looking at the Cherry Red website - lots of books and CDs I'm tempted by, but at the same time suspect that I don't really need. However, an interesting assortment of compilations and remasters. The 14 Iced Bears retrospective has already been mentioned on these pages, but there's loads of other stuff, as you'd expect - just about all the Felt albums, a June Brides collection, Best of the Chesterfields (?! - see what I mean?), Bodines reissue, HoL 3 x deluxe CD, etc etc, book by Jon Robb on fanzines 1981-1987.

For a while in 1986, when they released Forever Breathes The Lonely Word, Felt were my favourite band in the world. Lovely silky elegant guitar jangles and Hammond organ, great songwriting. Their later stuff was patchy, but every house should have a Felt album or compilation so that they can enjoy the range of songs from jangly pop to Baroque guitar instrumentals.