Week 12: Absinthe Blind – Music for Security

Hey there, folks. This week I’m going to bring you another treat. This one isn’t quite something that I found in a thrift store, but it’s a great album none the less. I am, of course, talking about Absinthe Blind’s fantastic 2000 shoegaze album, Music for Security.

In late 1999, my Internet access almost solely consisted of what I could scrape together at work. That ended up with me spending some hours after work and on weekends, surfing for lack of anything better to do. It was a weird time in my life. Anyway, in my adventures, I found mp3.com. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the site, mp3.com was something of an open marketplace for independent artists, allowing them to post samples of their music and offer CDs (or the rare digital downloads) for sale through the site. Some great music died when the site went down – they got a little too big for their britches and decided to implement a system whereby you could put your CD into a PC, their servers would recognize the CD, and serve you their files. Pretty cutting-edge stuff for 1999/2000, but WAY too early and the labels killed it in its crib.

Anyway, some fairly big names built their fanbase on MP3.com, the unfortunate Linkin Park being the biggest among them. I could cruise the site for hours, picking among the refuse to find the gems. Absinthe Blind was one of my earliest finds. They grabbed hold of me right away, and I had to have their then-current album, Solarshift. I became a steadfast fan despite the fact that they rarely played outside of Illinois at the time. When Music for Security came out, I had to have it, and thus, I am now sharing it with you.

Describing Absinthe Blind’s music is kind of tricky. They’re clearly influenced by shoegaze bands like Ride, My Bloody Valentine, and Spiritualized, but they put their own twist on it, featuring a little more melody than some of those groups. How about I just give you a sample instead? Here’s Vanity Calls, which offers a pretty good idea of what you can expect:

If you’re at all into the shoegaze sound, you owe it to yourself to check out this great band. Sadly, they broke up in 2003 with no sign of a reunion, but it was a great run while it lasted.

• Label: Hammerhead Records
• Year: 2000
• Found: Arlington, VA
• Notes: N/A
• Filesize: 73MB

Track List:

1. Small
2. Breathe the Screen
3. Don’t Lose the Image
4. Lifelike
5. Standing with Knives
6. If You Move On
7. Three Hours Later
8. Phoenix
9. Invisible One
10. Sandpaper Straight
11. Giving up the Crown
12. No Sound
13. Man After You

Get tracks 1-7 here.

Get tracks 8-13 here.

Week 11: New Order – Western Works Demos and Peel Sessions

Welcome back, folks. This week is going to be a lot of fun and a change of pace from the last few weeks. This week, we’re looking at two rarities from New Order.

I discovered New Order back in the mid-80s, with the release of True Faith and its inclusion in the “Bright Lights, Big City” soundtrack. I was familiar with most popular music at the time, but this song sounded so different from the sound ecosystem to which I had grown accustomed. It immediately intrigued me; it sounded so foreign and impenetrable. I started slowly picking up the band’s music, trying to decode it. I didn’t entirely get it, but I sure as hell loved it, and that’s all that really mattered.

So that’s a close to 20-year love affair with the band. I guess everyone goes through a New Order phase, but it turned out to be something other than a phase for me, and that’s okay. Anyway, with that in mind, imagine my excitement when I first discovered a cassette of the long-out-of-print Peel Sessions album at a thrift store in Rockville, MD and, this past Saturday, found a vinyl bootleg of the first New Order sessions. As soon as I saw the demos, I knew what had to happen: this post.

The first offering, as I said, is a vinyl bootleg of New Order’s Western Works sessions. That’s July 9th 1980 on the cover, not September 7th, but it’s a moot point as both dates are incorrect – this actually took place on July 7th, 1980. For those who aren’t familiar with New Order, they began life as legendary post-punk band Joy Division, which continued right up until the lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide on May 18th, 1980. The band wanted to carry on, but agreed that it would be wrong to continue as Joy Division. They had an early identity crisis, though: who would be the singer? What would the direction of the band sound like? This collection is a great historical snapshot of that time.

The first demo track, Dreams Never End, sung by Peter Hook (told you they were trying to figure out the face of the band), has no less than two separate mixes on this album – I prefer Mix 2 – and a separate, more evolved version below in the Peel Sessions tape. While Ceremony is the most obvious  bridge between Joy Division and what would become “real” New Order, I feel Dreams Never End shows the real evolution of the band during those six months.

The second track, Homage, is the only song on this set featuring Bernard Sumner, who would later become the band’s singer. Ironic, then, that the only song with the final lead singer never saw the light of day past these demos and a handful of live performances. It’s a brooder that has more in common with the Cure than what the band would later become.

The third track is Ceremony, probably the best-known early New Order song and a remnant from the Joy Division past. Like I said, it’s the clearest bridge between the two. What’s interesting is that this version features drummer Steven Morris; the final version featured Sumner.

The fourth track is Truth, which survives almost intact from the demo session to the Peel session, but features a different singer. Both versions sound more like Joy Division outtakes rather than New Order, but this would end up on New Order’s debut album.

The fifth track is Are You Ready, a track recorded with the members of Cabaret Voltaire and featuring their manager on lead vocals. It’s the real oddball of the set and threw me off when I first heard it.

All in all, it’s a weird little slice of history that’s worth hearing if you have even an inkling of interest in the band or that period. I recommend checking it out.

• Year: 1980
• Label: N/A
• Found: Frederick, MD
• Notes:
• Filesize: 48MB

Track List:

1. Dreams Never End (Mix 1)
2. Homage
3. Ceremony
4. Truth
5. Are You Ready?
6. Dreams Never End (Mix 2)

Get the whole thing here.

Now, let’s talk about The Peel Sessions.

The Peel Sessions were issued by Strange Fruit records in 1990 and comprised of two separate sessions with John Peel, the first in January 1981 (Tracks 1-4), just six months after the Western Works session, and the second in June of 1982 (Tracks 5-8). By this point, Gillian Gilbert had joined the group and the band had started to take a decidedly more electronic path. The addition of the synthesizers is both very pronounced and, to my ears, welcome.

The 1981 session is of the most interest, as you can hear the band’s sound beginning to gel as compared to the relatively sloppy demo session. All of the tracks in the 1981 session would appear on Movement, and while the arrangements and production are noticeably different, many of them still sound unfinished on Movement.

The 1982 session is a bit more polished, with the synthesizers taking more center stage. It features a few tracks that would appear on 1983’s “Power, Corruption, and Lies” (generally cited as the real beginning for the band), including “We All Stand” and “5 8 6”. The other two tracks never appeared in any other format, so they’re something of a treat.

• Year: 1990
• Label: Strange Fruit
• Found: Rockville, MD
• Notes: This is two sets of recordings. Tracks 1-4 are from an early 1981 Peel Session. Tracks 5-10 are from June 1982.
• Filesize: 69MB

Track List:

1. Truth
2. Senses
3. I.C.B.
4. Dreams Never End
5. Turn the Heater On
6. We All Stand
7. Too Late
8. 5-8-6

Get tracks 1-4 here.

Get tracks 5-8 here.

Week 10: Deerheart – Queen, Worker, Drone

Welcome back to Found Music. This week I’m excited to present a new treat: found vinyl! We went to nearby, historic Ellicott City over the weekend and I made some exciting vinyl finds, none more exciting (well, possibly one) than this one. This week we’re talking about the band Deerheart, and its album Queen, Worker, Drone. This is the Goldenrod Records release from 1997 (or so the vinyl claims), not the much later Coolidge Records version, which features different versions of these songs and a different tracklist.

Before we get started, I’d better warn you: this is not the precious, twee Deerheart whose music was featured in Gossip Girl. It’s pretty much the diametric opposite.

Someone described the sound of this album as Killdozer meets Tad, and I’d have to agree. For folks not familiar with either of those bands, that means you’re looking at heavy, sludgy, messy punk rock. The focus of the music is the heavy, driving drumming, with the guitar work swirling around that center. It’s hard to describe without evoking other bands, honestly. It’s the kind of band that sounds so much better on vinyl than CD – I’ve actually compared the files featured here with the cleaner CD version and prefer this take.

For samples of the CD/MP3 version, you can go over to Amazon and check it out, then come back here and get the heavier, sludgier vinyl version.

By the way, I realize this is two weeks of noisier music in a row. We’ll go to something a little lighter on the ears next week.

• Year: 1997/2008 (?)
• Label: Goldenrod Records
• Found: Ellicott City, MD
• Notes: The date on this is unclear.
• Filesize: 52MB

Track List:

1. Livestock Fire
2. Small Teeth
3. The Royalty
4. Good Taste
5. Zoo Dominance
6. Pheasant
7. Trevor
8. The Ship
9. Fawn
10. Bosch

Get tracks 1-5 here.
Get tracks 6-10 here.

Week 9: Nobodys – I’ve Been Everywhere

As predicted, I missed last week – deepest apologies for that handful of readers who check this blog weekly. As a plus, Vegas was nice? I never did get the time to hit up a thrift store out there, as I had hoped, but there’s plenty of music to last us through the rest of this year. That said, let’s dig into this week’s offering: a covers album by Denver punk band Nobodys.

I can hear some people rolling their eyes already. “Great, another album full of ironic punk covers’. I thought the same thing when I broke the shrink wrap and realized what I had, but nothing of the sort. This album is instead a love letter to the bands they’ve toured with – including bands such as the Queers, Chixdiggit, and Guttermouth. The jacket even features pictures of members of the Nobodys with the bands that they cover here. It’s such a damned cool idea that I’m surprised I’ve never seen anything like it before. See the tracklisting below for the bands associated with each song, and a warning, some people might find the song “I like young girls” a bit offensive removed from the context of being performed by a band called the Queers. Otherwise, this is all pretty straightforward punk rock (of course the usual language warnings apply), and very well done. I’m surprised the Nobodys never really made it, but they might have come along a little too late for the sound.

As for the band itself, here is their description from their Myspace site, last touched in 2007:

Let’s face it. There are a lot of nobodys in the music scene today. But there is only one NOBODYS! Mixing four-chord Ramones-inspired rock anthems with an unadulterated pornography fixation, the Nobodys have sprung forth from the fertile grounds of Colorado Springs to become the reigning Ron Jeremys of the punk rock world! ALL HAIL THE NEW HEDGEHOGS OF ROCK!!

They might still be out there performing, for all I know. The MySpace has a few people commenting on the site in 2011, referencing a show the night before, but they haven’t released an album since 2001. Some fans say they’re still together, they just very rarely play together. Apparently lead singer JJ Nobody is manager and part owner of Three Nickles bar in Colorado and drummer  Justin Disease occasionally plays with the Queers (covered here).  Anyway, if you like punk, this is definitely worth giving a listen. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

• Year: 2000
• Label: Suburban Home Records
• Found: Harrisonburg, VA
• Notes: The track “Hidden Track” is a cover of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere”.
• Filesize: 37MB

Track List:

1. No Wonder (Sick N Tired)
2. I Like Young Girls (The Queers)
3. Leaving Home (Digger)
4. Double Fisted (Gotohells)
5. C-Biscuit (Jugheads Revenge)
6. Tonight (Automatics)
7. Six Down (Pinhead Circus)
8. Best Hung Carrot (Chixdiggit)
9. Monster Zero (Queers)
10. Die Tonight (Gotohells)
11. High Balls (Guttermouth)
12. I’ve Been Everywhere (Johnny Cash)

Get tracks 1-6 here.
Get tracks 7-12 here.

Week 8: 90s-Style EPS – Skiploader and Inward Eye

It’s EP week again, kiddies! I figured it was only fair to give you a couple of different options since there’s a good chance I won’t be able to update next week (trip to Las Vegas – wedding – long story). Thankfully, these are both pretty good EPs.

Let’s start with Inward Eye. I discovered these guys after my close friend and best man, Rob, saw them in concert a few years back. This EP has been kicking around my collection ever since, and I recently rediscovered it. I know, strictly speaking, this doesn’t fit the site’s normal profile, but it – and the band – need a lot more attention, as this is a quality EP. If you’re wondering what they sound like, especially since the album cover below suggests a punk band, instead think Our Lady Peace meets Spacehog. The Our Lady Peace comparisons seem especially apt, as the band hails from Vancouver, Canada (OLP is from Toronto). This EP has a very 90s sound, but in the best possible way.

The first track, Blind Paranoia, especially channels Our Lady Peace, but every song features the lead singer’s borderline falsetto/Robin Zander-styled vocals. The last track, You Know I Know, shows the band expanding a little into Jellyfish/Cheap Trick sounds. I don’t know, just check this thing out. It’s great, and SHOULD make you want to buy the full-length album, available here. Do it!

• Year: 2009
• Label: N/A
• Notes: The label’s website is still up at http://inwardeye.com. There’s not a whole lot more information on the band there, but I can share that they’re currently working on a new album and will be touring again very soon.
• Filesize: 24MB

Track List:

1. Blind Paranoia
2. Shame
3. Times They Aren’t A-Changin’
4. You Know I Know

Get the Inward Eye EP here.

Our second EP comes from major label Geffen Records but is way, way out of print, so I have no qualms sharing it. We’re talking about Skiploader.

I first discovered the band back in 1994 through a record store compilation long lost in the mists of time. I could have sworn they were on the DGC Rarities CD, but that seems to have been incorrect. I do, however, know that the song I heard was N2O and it made me want their Anxious.Restless EP – which was nigh-impossible to find even then, despite being on a major label. Eventually, Skiploader passed from my consciousness, an oddity from the past.

Until January of this year, when I stumbled across a copy of Anxious.Restless at a thrift store in Rockville, Maryland. I jumped at the opportunity to finally hear the whole thing, and it didn’t disappoint me. The EP leads off with N2O, and I wasn’t surprised to find that it’s the strongest song on the EP. After all, why not put the strongest track on a compilation?

Otherwise, though, it’s quite a strong EP with tracks reminiscent of a softer Helmet, 90s band Dig, and hints of the Afghan Whigs. Again, another album with strong 90s overtones, but highly recommended.

• Year: 1994
• Label: Geffen Records
• Notes: The band could last be found on Myspace, but appears not to have logged in since 2009. I can’t seem to find much more information than that, so I can only surmise that the band broke up in 2009. You can see the N2O video at YouTube.
• Filesize: 20MB

Track List:

1. N2O
2. All Smiles
3. Trademark
4. 12-5-92
5. Stunt Double

Get the Anxious and Restless EP here.

Week 7: Shockwave Rider – The Shining

Note: This is not that Shockwave Riders – besides, that band is just that, Shockwave RiderS. This is an entirely different band.

Hey, kids! Do you like Big Star? How about Guided by Voices? Maybe Spoon, or Hum? If so, I have a treat for you this week. We’re featuring the defunct Virginia band Shockwave Rider, who kind of fit all of and none of those descriptions.

Shockwave Rider’s The Shining is a big, crunchy, fuzzy bit of rock that never fails to excite me, even with repeated listens. I am a huge Guided by Voices/Bob Pollard fan, and I can’t help but hear their influence most clearly on this album; especially in the first track, King Corduroy, which sounds like it could be an outtake from that band’s 1995 LP Alien Lanes.

The album doesn’t let up there, though, and the GBV influence remains strong throughout. The second track, Shooting Off Sparks, has a slightly harder guitar feel than you might hear from GBV (more Soundgarden than indie), with some nice atmospherics that wouldn’t feel too out of place in a latter-day shoegaze album. The third track, The Ballad of Mr. X, belongs in the same class with some of GBV’s slower work, maybe a lo-fi Hold on Hope.

Oh, did I mention lo-fi? This album manages to capture the lo-fi sound brilliantly while also featuring layered instrumentation. The space in the songs are great with a good pair of headphones, something that even GBV never quite managed to get right.

My favorite tracks are probably King Corduroy, Shooting off Sparks, Never Let Me Down (an acoustic, Beatles-tinged take), Some Girls, She Falls (seriously love that one), and Burn Bright, but honestly, I don’t think there’s a weak track on the whole thing. Sad that we’ll never see more of this band, but I’m glad to be able to share this with you.

• Year: 2006
• Label: Tired Orbit Records
• Found: Rockville, MD
• Notes: The label’s website is still up, though defunct, at http://www.thetiredorbit.com/. You can get more information on the band there.

Get The Shining here.

Week 6: Outrageous Cherry – Out There in the Dark

This week I’m pretty excited because I get to share an exciting band with you. Okay, I know, I get to do that a lot, but this is a really cool band if you’re into the whole retro-neo-60s sound thing. The band is Outrageous Cherry, and the album is Out There in the Dark, from 1999.

I first discovered the band when my all-time favorite band The New Pornographers covered their song Georgie, Don’t You Know for a bonus track on their “Togetherness” EP. The cover really made me sit up and pay attention, because it was a slight departure for the band. They also covered another song called “Togetherness”, though that sounded a little more in the band’s wheelhouse and stayed under my radar for longer. A little research, and I learned that the “Georgie…” song was by a band called Outrageous Cherry. Well, who the hell was that? Not a clue, so time to do some digging.

Well…it turns out there’s not much out there on the band. They’re from Detroit, and started as a vehicle for singer-songwriter Matthew Smith. This guy:

As far as I can tell, the band is still together and going strong. Here’s their bio from last.fm:

Named after a brilliant red hair dye, Detroit’s Outrageous Cherry explores the sunnier side of droning, fuzzy indie rock. The band started as a recording project in 1992 but blossomed into a full-fledged group when singer/guitarist/producer Matthew Smith, bassist Chad Gilchrist, guitarist Larry Ray, and drummer Deb Agnolli began performing live in 1993. Outrageous Cherry’s wistful noise-pop debuted with a limited-edition 7” of “Pale, Frail Lovely One” on the local Third Gear label. The song’s deceptively simple, garagey sound formed the template for the group’s style: on albums like 1994’s Outrageous Cherry and 1997’s Nothing’s Gonna Cheer You Up, Smith’s and Ray’s alternately jangly and feedback-laced guitars and Agnolli’s minimalist, floor tom-and-snare drumming combine with sweet vocals for a sound that falls between nostalgic and experimental.

Along with his duties in Outrageous Cherry, Smith also performs in the country-tinged Volebeats and often collaborates with His Name Is Alive’s Warren Defever on producing and recording projects, as does Gilchrist, doubling as Outrageous Cherry and His Name Is Alive’s bassist. In 1999, Aran Ruth replaced Gilchrist on bass, and the group released its first album for Del-Fi’s new music imprint, DF2K, Out There in the Dark. The group also contributed a version of “Keep Everything Under Your Hat” for that year’s Skip Spence tribute, More Oar. The band moved to Alan McGee’s new label, Poptones, for their next album, 2001’s prog- and space rock-influenced The Book of Spectral Projections, which was reissued the following year by Rainbow Quartz.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to stumble across a promo copy of this album about a month after I discovered the band. Quite timely, considering that the CD was going for a decent amount on Amazon and eBay at the time (it’s since come down, but $5 for a used CD tells you something about the rarity).  If you’re a big fan of 60s music, especially Donovan, the Byrds, or the Velvet Underground or more recently The Shazam, The Coral, Scott Bomar, or Bobby Rush, I think you’d like it.

• Year: 1999
• Label: Del-Fi Records
• Found: Bethesda, MD
• Notes: Rip of Promotional Copy

Track list:

1.   Georgie Don’t You Know
2. Togetherness
3. Where Do I Go When You Dream?
4. Corruptable
5. Eclipsed
6. Easy Come, Uneasy Glow
7. Tracy
8. Only The Easy Way Down
9. Song For Inoshiro Honda
10. A Bad Movie
11. It’s Always Never
12. Out There In The Dark
13. There’s No Escape From The Infinite

Part 1 of Out There in the Dark can be found here.

Part 2 is here.

You can also hear that New Pornographers cover of “Georgie Don’t You Know” here.

Week 5, Part 2: Sugamyth and Denzil

Okay, you can probably figure out that yesterday was not the intended weekly post. That was something that I stumbled across a few weeks ago that seemed perfect for April 1st. This is cassette week, though, so we’re looking at two recent, intriguing thrift store finds.

First up this week is Sugamyth. The cover called to me…

Sugamyth appears to be a New York-based R&B/rock band featuring three lead singers that trade off songs. I say “appears to be” because information on the band is incredibly limited online. I really could only find a blurb from their former drummer. I actually found what I think is a former member online and asked for an interview, but she didn’t get back to me in time for this post. Shame, really.

Sugamyth sound something like an En Vogue light, with less synths and more brass. Given that this came out in 1996, you might see why such a thing didn’t take off. It was hardly the popular form of music, though they do it fairly competently.

The album starts with a fairly simple drumbeat on One Way to Know, transitioning to a clean guitar sound, funky bass, and horn section. Then they start singing, and you get a second clue to why they might not have taken off: though they can harmonize well, the sound is, for lack of a better word, thin. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of their voices not really working together or production values (I’m betting on the latter, as the whole thing has what I’m sure was an attempted layer of sheen that instead diminishes some of the impact of the overall sound). Sweet spanish guitar solo and trumpet solo in this one, though.

And that highlights the thing about this album: though the sound is very, very dated (and probably sounded dated in 96), many of the songs have some redeeming quality. For instance, in the second song, I Can’t Wait, has a pretty great breakdown that might have worked as a verse in some other song. There are lots of little moments like this on the album, so while it’s hard to recommend the album overall, those moments can redeem some of its issues and make it a worthwhile listen. Hell, I’m on my fourth listen through, so it must be doing something right.

I can, however, recommend one song. One song fires on almost all cylinders and redeems the entire thing: track 4, Amazon. If you give nothing else on this album a chance, go for that one. When I say “almost all”, I’m referring to the intro. It starts off sounding pretty bland with a questionable horn section, then turns into a Sade song. And a pretty good Sade song, at that. By the time you get to the hook in the chorus, things come together very nicely, and you get an idea of what the singers might be able to do when the production isn’t holding them back.

Like I said, overall, not the greatest album, but I think it’s worth a listen.

• Year: 1996
• Label: Suga Records
• Found: Gaithersburg, MD

Track list:

1. One Way to Know
2. I Can’t Wait
3. Seeds
4. Amazon
5. Lenny
6. Sweetest Love
7. Karma (Give it Back)

You can get Part 1 Here.

And Part 2 Here.

Our second offering is something of an oddity for this site. Denzil was a critically successful band in the mid-90s with their album pub (and indeed, the tracks I’m offering today are from that album, though at least two are different mixes from the final version), but they never caught on commercially in either the US or the UK. They’ve apparently been hugely influential, though, and the bit of pub that I’ve heard is brilliant. I recommend picking it up at Amazon or iTunes or where-ever you can find it. Normally, this EP would fall well outside of the scope of what I’m trying to do here…

However, I’ve decided to post it for two reasons: 1. I think Denzil, defunct though they may be, deserve the attention, and 2. This is a limited promotional release, so I’m not taking away from the pub album itself.

If I were pressed to describe the band’s sound, I’d say they show definite signs of being influenced by that legendary English pop band, XTC, with perhaps a little Elvis Costello-meets-the-Kinks. For a more modern point of reference, they’re something of a Kooks progenitor (if you’re familiar with them). The first track, Useless, is the big hit here, if you can call it that. It’s very radio-friendly and actually got some radio airplay back in 1994, but failed to catch on even when they won every award under the sun. This one most clearly shows the XTC influence, sounding like something off of Skylarking infused with a 1990’s sensibility.

Track 2, Fat Loose Fancies Me, starts with a Pixies-style drumbeat and acoustic guitar then layers in the electric guitar and bass. It has an almost archetypal 1990s sound, something indefinable but definitely present. It also received a video, but sank in the charts.

I don’t know if I would call these the four strongest tracks off of pub, but they’re a decent representation. I urge you to pick up the whole thing if you enjoy these tracks.

• Year: 1994
• Label: Giant Records
• Found: Bethesda, MD
• Notes: Promotional EP

Track list:

1. Useless
2. Fat Loose Fancies Me
3. Rake Around the Grave (Incomplete – cuts out on cassette)
4. Who Made You So Cynical About Me?

Get Stupid here.

Week 5 – Jake Brake and the All-Trucker Band: Damn the D.O.T. (Language Warning)

The American Highway system. Home to hundreds of dreams and thousands of smashed dreams. It’s a world all its own, and truckers are the wandering poets of this world. That’s why I’m particularly excited to bring you this week’s entry, Damn the D.O.T. by Jake Brake and the All-Trucker band.

A paean to freedom and the bureaucracy that would destroy it, the first track, Damn the D.O.T., is both a rousing anthem _{(full of homophobia)} and an examination of the pain of the working class _{(and homophobia)}. It’s little wonder that the producers of this album chose to have the song both lead off and end the album. We considered whether we, too, should follow their inspirational lead, but in the end we decided that the interests of space were just too important. And the listener likely could not handle such awesome.

The rest of the tracks pale in comparison; still, the songs range from the rollicking blue-grass/country fusion of  Last Time Turnaround to the Grateful-Dead-via-Tennessee tunefulness of Smokey Mountain Bound. This album has a little something for everyone _{(and no one)}, even if they can’t match the title track.

Save one track. “Big Titty Girl” is the other standout of this album. A haunting ode to mammaries and the women that these modern-day poets encounter on the road, it’s one that will get in your head and take up residence for days, nay, weeks.

You might want to avoid this album if you don’t enjoy fun or a good time. That might be a valid reason. Another would be if you’re a big city limousine type who looks down their nose at the plight of the American trucker _{(or you’re intelligent)}

_{(Check the Date)}

• Year: 1987
• Found: Hyattsville, MD
• Notes: Damn the D.O.T was covered by Elmer Fudpucker. This is the original version.

Track list:

1. Damn the D.O.T.
2. Last Time Turnaround
3. Smokey Mountain Bound
4. My Wheels
5. Big Titty Girl
6. Next Town
7. Six Days on the Road
8. Damn the D.O.T. (not included)

Damn the D.O.T. – Part 1

Damn the D.O.T. – Part 2

Week 4 – This Side Up and Presence

Welcome back for another week of Found Music. Wow, I never expected to be where I am now, but my collection has grown to the point of possibly needing two posts a week. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem to get them up; I’ll probably do one post on Friday and one post on Monday, but we’ll see how that all shakes out.

This week, in the interest of both variety and giving you the same number of tracks as last week, I’ve decided to feature two EPs from a couple of very different artists. One is a fairly polished sounding rap-rock band, the other a very raw girl band.  What I’m saying is that I’m trying to offer you options here. OPTIONS!

Let’s start with the rap-rock. Presence was a Tallahassee, FL-based outfit that appears to have gotten to the point of releasing an album on Curb Records, a Nashville-based album label. The odd thing about that album’s release is that it’s only available via a CD-R pressing option on Amazon. I have no idea if this is a standard thing for some indie labels, but it strikes me as a bit odd. I normally try to go for out-of-print obscure stuff here, but this fact alone made me feel okay with presenting this EP here. Obviously, the standard caveats apply – if the label or artist requests that it be pulled, it will be gone.

Okay, that said, these guys very obviously worship at the altar of Rage Against the Machine. That’s not a band thing necessarily, but the sound is very…well, not derivative, but clearly comes from that inspiration. If that’s not your thing, definitely move on. I find the EP okay. I might give it a couple more listens to see if it grabs me, but I’m sure some folks will love this.

One more note – the unedited tracks DO feature cursing, so if this is a problem, you might only want to listen to the (Clean) versions that were included on the EP, likely for radio play. There. Sorted!

• Year: 2003
• Label: Curb Records
• Found: Rockville, MD
• Notes: Promotional EP

Track list:

1. Soundcheck
2. Soundcheck (Clean)
3. Hold Up
4. Hold Up (Clean)
5. Tonz of Fun
6. Tonz of Fun (Clean)

You can get the Mic Check EP here.

Our second EP is from what appears to be a Harrisonburg, VA-based band with an absolutely horrifying logo. I’m fairly sure they’re from that area, as I recognize some of the locations in the liner note photos. Unfortunately, I don’t think the band got very far past recording this album. At the time this thing was recorded, the youngest member was 15, and they had only been together for 2 years, at least 1 of which was spent learning their respective instruments. Yes, it shows, but it’s surprisingly catchy for such a raw group. I’d argue that at least one member of the band had some actual talent, and I hope that she’s continued to pursue music. I think she’d be about 27 now, but I’m not going to chase her down like some wild stalker (if the band was still together it would be a different story).

The music itself sounds like a very raw Michelle Branch/Juliana Hatfield fusion, with maybe a touch of the Go-Gos thrown in. Based on the handmade cover I had some major misgivings going in, but I ended up enjoying it despite myself. Maybe you’ll like it too. Just don’t expect anything in the league of what I’ve featured here so far.

• Year: 2000
• Label: Self-Published
• Found: Harrisonburg, VA
• Notes: Pressed on CD-R

Track list:

1. Say Goodbye
2. Don’t Leave Me Hangin’
3. Is There Anybody With Me?
4. With Or Without You

You can get the Is There Anybody With Me? EP here.