31 March 2013

THE CHILLS


Soft Bomb
1992


Submarine Bells
1990


Discogs

 

biography

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
The Chills were one of New Zealand's best and most popular bands of the '80s, making a small but consistent series of chiming, hook-laden guitar pop. Both the songs and the arrangements were constructed with interweaving guitar hooks and vocal harmonies, creating a pretty, almost lush, sound that never fell into cloying sentimentality. Throughout their existence, the band's personnel changed frequently -- there were more than ten different lineups -- with the only constant member being guitarist Martin Phillipps, the band's founder. Phillipps began playing music with the New Zealand punk band the Same in 1978. Following in the footsteps of the Clean and the Enemy, the Same played mostly covers, creating a raw fusion of British Invasion and garage rock. However, the group never recorded. Phillipps applied the same approach for The Chills, the band he formed in 1980 with his sister Rachel and Jane Dodd (bass) after the Same fell apart. In 1982, The Chills signed with Flying Nun, the influential New Zealand independent record label, and released several singles that were never widely distributed in America and Europe. During this time, the group went through an enormous amount of members: future Great Unwashed bassist Peter Gutteridge, the Clean's David Kilgour, keyboardist Frazer Batts, bassist Terry Moore, guitarist Martin Kean, keyboardist Peter Allison, drummer Martyn Bull, and drummer Alan Haig. While these incarnations of The Chills recorded plenty of singles, they never made an album. Released on the U.K. record label Creation, the group's first album, Kaleidoscope World (1986), was a collection of early singles; it was later released in the U.S. on Homestead. With the lineup of Phillipps, bassist Justin Harwood, keyboardist Andrew Todd, and drummer Caroline Easther -- the group's tenth lineup -- The Chills recorded their first proper album, Brave Worlds, in 1987. Produced by Mayo Thompson, the leading figure of the cult band the Red Crayola and a former member of Pere Ubu, the bandmembers weren't satisfied with the final result, claiming it was too loose and under-produced. The Chills, particularly Phillipps, were more satisfied with their second full-length album, 1990's Submarine Bells, their first record released on an American major label. Submarine Bells was recorded with yet another version of the band, with Jimmy Stephenson replacing Easther, who was suffering from tinnitus. The album was well received by critics and college radio, yet it failed to break the band into the mainstream in either America or Britain. Two years later, they released Soft Bomb, which suffered the same fate as Submarine Bells. The following year, Martin Phillipps broke up The Chills again, yet the group reconvened a couple times to record Sunburnt (1996) and Stand By (2004).
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Soft Bomb 

Tracklist

1 The Male Monster From The Id 3:46
2 Background Affair 4:17
3 Ocean Ocean 3:56
4 Soft Bomb 3:12
5 There Is No Harm In Trying 0:40
6 Strange Case 3:56
7 Soft Bomb II 1:02
8 So Long 3:20
9 Song For Randy Newman Etc. 3:02
10 Sleeping Giants 3:25
11 Double Summer 3:13
12 Sanctuary 3:53
13 Halo Fading 3:34
14 There Is No Point In Trying 0:34
15 Entertainer 3:20
16 Water Wolves 4:40
17 Soft Bomb III 1:06
 
 
Submarine Bells

Tracklist 

1 Heavenly Pop Hit 3:27
2 Tied Up In Chain 3:15
3 The Oncoming Day 3:06
4 Part Past Part Fiction 2:55
5 Singing In My Sleep 2:39
6 I SOAR 3:04
7 Dead Web 2:15
8 Familiarity Breeds Contempt 3:20
9 Don't Be–Memory 4:45
10 Effloresce And Deliquesce 2:45
11 Sweet Times 0:40
12 Submarine Bells 3:41
















































THE LIGHTNING SEEDS Cloudcuckooland 1989

 

Discogs

 

biography

 by Jason Ankeny


The wispy pop outfit the Lightning Seeds were essentially the solo project of noted producer Ian Broudie. Born August 4, 1958 in Liverpool, England, Broudie first emerged as a member of Big in Japan, a product of the same Liverpudlian post-punk scene that gave rise to Echo & the Bunnymen, the Teardrop Explodes, and Icicle Works. After Big in Japan split in 1979, Broudie followed a brief tenure in the Original Mirrors by producing the first two Bunnymen LPs, Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here, as well as work by the Fall, Wah!, and Frazier Chorus.
Seeking to return to performing, in 1982 Broudie teamed with Wild Swans vocalist Paul Simpson under the name Care; the duo released a series of shimmering singles that pointed in the direction Broudie followed in the Lightning Seeds, a one-man band backed by pop luminaries and session players. After scoring an international hit with the lush single "Pure," the Lightning Seeds issued their debut LP, Cloudcuckooland, in 1989. Still, despite the record's success, Broudie again returned to production, helming albums for groups like the Primitives, Sleeper, Alison Moyet, and the Frank & Walters.
In 1992, Broudie revived the Lightning Seeds guise for Sense, on which he made synth programmer Simon Rogers (formerly of the Fall) a full musical partner; for 1994's Jollification, he formed a touring band (comprised of keyboardist Ali Kane, former Rain bassist Martyn Campbell, and ex-Icicle Works drummer Chris Sharrock) to play his first live shows since serving in the Original Mirrors over a decade previously. The British chart hits "Three Lions" (a number one U.K. single commissioned as theme music for the 1996 UEFA European Football Championship) and "Ready or Not" (a Top 20 U.K. single) followed in 1996, the latter included on that year's Dizzy Heights full-length.

Broudie made an attempt to modernize the Lightning Seeds’ sound on 1999’s Tilt, but the album's commercial reception was less than overwhelming and he decided to put the group on hiatus.
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Tracklist  

1 All I Want 2:50
2 Bound In A Nutshell 4:29
3 Pure 3:45
4 Sweet Dreams 4:25
5 The Nearly Man 3:06
6 Joy 4:13
7 Love Explosion 4:10
8 Don't Let Go 3:54
9 Control The Flame 3:22
10 The Price 4:16
11 Fools 4:08
12 Frenzy 3:56

SUN Murdernature 1992


by request


 
 
 
German alternative/grunge rock band
 
 

Tracklist

1
Switch5:41
2
Soap4:41
3
Eat6:42
4
Nice4:07
5
Suck4:54
6
Grin3:01
7
Eagle4:04
8
Love5:07
9
Machine Gun Rodeo4:58
10
Condemn4:45
11
Sewerrats3:24
12
Evolution11:01
 

FILM SCHOOL Brilliant Career 2001

by request
 

biography

[+] by Heather Phares
Inspired by post-punk, dream pop, and a touch of electronica, the San Francisco-via-New York quintet Film School began as the brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Krayg Burton (aka Greg Bertens), who began recording under the Film School name in the late '90s. After releasing the I'm Not Working 7" on MeToo! Records, Burton joined forces with a rotating cast of musicians to make 2001's full-length A Brilliant Career, including members of Fuck and Elephone as well as Pavement and Preston School of Industry's Scott Kannberg. Also involved in the sessions were keyboardist Jason Ruck and guitarist/vocalist Nyles Lannon (also of the electronic group Technicolor and his side project n.lannon), who both became permanent members of the band. For the tour supporting A Brilliant Career, Film School recruited Lannon's fellow Technicolor bass player Justin LaBo and drummer Ben Montesano. This lineup recorded 2003's Alwaysnever EP for Kannberg's boutique label Amazing Grease. After appearing at South by Southwest early in 2005, Film School signed to Beggars Banquet and began recording, joined by new drummer Donny Newenhouse. The On & On EP arrived that fall and heralded the release of their self-titled album in winter 2006. Film School's lineup had almost completely changed by the time Hideout, their third album, arrived in 2007; bassist Lorelei Plotcyz, guitarist Dave Dupuis, and drummer James Smith added to the album’s darker, more cohesive sound. The group spent most of 2008 touring in support of the album and contributed a cover of “An American Dream” to the Love and Rockets tribute album New Tales to Tell the following year. When Beggars Banquet dissolved and left Film School without a label, the bandmembers planned to release their fourth album, Fission, by themselves. However, Hi-Speed Soul, which issued albums by the group’s former tourmate Adam Franklin, stepped in and gave Fission a mid-2010 release.
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STARMARKET

Calendar
1996
   
Sunday's Worst Enemy
1997

by request

 
 

Sunday's Worst Enemy Review

by Jack Rabid


Now that Americans' faddish fascination with the Wannadies, the Cardigans, and others has faded, all the Scandinavian bands gave up guitars and went back to being waiters and CD store clerks, right? It may seem that way from the return to U.S. media silence -- on to other playthings, as usual -- but Sweden in particular continues to be a hornets' nest of loud and roaring rock & roll. Starmarket might be the most ferocious of all, judging from this 1997 reissue on top of the fearsome foursome's smackin' recent LP Calendar (also released in the U.S. via Deep Elm). The production is immense and teeth-rattling; the guitars, bass, and drums blast at full-throttle as though ear damage is a good thing; and the double-tracked, throaty, frantic choruses are primed for eruption. Comparisons to modern emo groups such as Promise Ring and Jimmy Eat World are more misleading than helpful; if anything, this far more headlong and desperate rush is more rooted in the more pulverizing mid-'80s Washington, D.C./Dischord mature punk/indie/emo slam to the gut, only even better recorded. Seriously, if you're going to adhere to a ten- to 15-year-old form, you better bring the goods, and Starmarket is hotter than August in Belize. Woah!


 
Calendar



Tracklist

1
Wither
2
Everybody's Gone
3
North
4
Hate You Still
5
LosingTrack
6
Sell Your Friends
7
Into The Well
 
 

Tracklist

1
Repetition4:04
2
Carry On2:16
3
Ten Seconds2:21
4
You Can't Come3:04
5
Unsaid1:54
6
Too Much Gone Wrong2:55
7
Fool1:35
8
Safe Bayou4:29
9
So Sad2:36
10
Worn-Out2:46
11
Teenicider2:47
12
Released (From You)2:45


 

30 March 2013

DEADEYE DICK A Different Story 1994

by request


Discogs

 

Biography

[+] by Steve Huey

Authors of the collegiate novelty hit "New Age Girl," Deadeye Dick found themselves quickly consigned to alternative rock's one-hit wonder bin. Formed in New Orleans in 1991, the band consisted of vocalist/guitarist Caleb Guillotte, bassist Mark Miller, and drummer Billy Landry, and took their name from a Kurt Vonnegut novel. Playing a college-friendly brand of new wave-inspired guitar pop, Deadeye Dick built a following by touring the Southeast, and self-produced an album's worth of material before they'd landed a record deal. One of its songs, the hippie-chick satire "New Age Girl," became regionally popular and earned some radio airplay in New Orleans and Atlanta. That success led to a record deal with the independent Ichiban label, more known for its soul and blues catalog than alternative rock. Ichiban gave a wide release to the group's debut album, A Different Story, in 1994, and "New Age Girl" was selected for inclusion on the soundtrack of the smash comedy Dumb and Dumber. It became a national hit late that year, climbing into the pop Top 30 and becoming nearly ubiquitous on college and alternative radio. Catchy as it was, the song's novelty humor had many pegging Deadeye Dick as flashes in the pan, and the follow-up singles, "Perfect Family" and "Marguerite," were virtually ignored. A second album, the slightly rootsier Whirl, was released in 1995, but met with a similar fate, and Deadeye Dick disbanded. Guillotte and Miller remained active on the local New Orleans scene as producers.
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Tracklist

1 New Age Girl 3:29
2 Perfect Family 2:26
3 Your Love Is Killing Me 2:28
4 Marguerite 2:39
5 The Oath 4:07
6 Anyone 2:42
7 Sentimental Crap 2:45
8 Like A Shadow 2:42
9 Molly 3:04
10 Different Story 3:31
11 Lucky One 3:05

RED AUNTS Ghetto Blaster 1998

by request


 

I'm Crying
Poison Steak
The Things You See, The Things You Don't
Midnight In The Jungle
Exene
Fade In/Fade Out
Alright!
Who?
Skeleton Hand
Wrecked
I'm Bored With You
Cookin', Cleanin' And Cryin'

THE DYLANS self titled 1991

by request
 
 
 
 

Tracklist 

1 She Drops Bombs 3:49
2 Planet Love 3:49
3 I Hope The Weather Stays Fine 5:46
4 Sad Rush On Sunday 3:16
5 No Coming Down 5:13
6 Mine 4:06
7 Particle Ride 1:59
8 Ocean Wide 4:31
9 Godlike 4:33
10 (Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant In Blue 3:17
11 Love To 3:15
12 Indian Sun 5:33
















































 

STARMARKET You Can't Come 1997

Thanks to Jenz



Tracklist 

1
You Can't Come 3:07
2
My Part 3:08
3
Endless 2:52