LISA GERMANO Geek the Girl 1994

Discogs

Artist Biography by MacKenzie Wilson

Lisa Germano is one of those artists who's never belonged to one core crowd. Doing the big rock thing wasn't important to her, although time spent playing with John Mellencamp in the late '80s and early '90s opened her eyes to the ever-changing ways of the music business. Germano worked her craft without becoming a conformist; music is her soul and writing is her fuel.
Born in Mishawaka, Indiana, at the dawn of 1958, Germano was the middle of six kids. Her parents were teachers and musicians who encouraged their children to play an instrument until they turned 18. At the age of seven, she wrote her first piece of music, a 15-minute opera on the piano and, in due time, learned the violin, an instrument that would ultimately guide her to a professional career in music. She made her debut as John Mellencamp's violinist and fiddle player on his 1987 hit album Lonesome Jubilee. Germano would spend the next seven years with Mellencamp, shaping a smooth, fearless playing style. Additional tours and recording sessions with Simple Minds and the Indigo Girls motivated Germano to do something on her own. She found her voice at the age of 30 and developed a quirky sound rooted in folk-rock and poetry. The lo-fi, shadowy On the Way Down from the Moon Palace was issued on her own Major Bill label in 1991, marking Germano's proper introduction as a solo artist.
Happiness was much more melancholy and acerbic when it appeared two years later on Capitol. Sales were fair, but Germano didn't care for the major-label buzz, so she signed with Ivo Watts-Russell's 4AD in 1994 and reissued a new version of the album. (4AD eventually included the fantastically dramatic Inconsiderate Bitch EP with its re-release in 1999.) Geek the Girl, which also appeared before the year's end, captured Germano's secrets of a wavering self-concept and her disgust for social ignorance. This particular album of sexual conflicts earned Germano her biggest praise from the press to date. People started to connect with her, and that's exactly what Germano wanted. Excerpts from a Love Circus was gushing in adoration when it arrived in 1996, but critics didn't take to this glossy body of work. The emotional double-cross of Slide (1998) didn't do as well, either, so Germano took some time off. Within months, she lost her deal with 4AD. She questioned her place in music and basically vowed to never make another record.

A move to Hollywood for a simple kind of life gave Germano a much needed break. She took a job as a clerk at Book Soup and enjoyed her anonymity. Songwriting remained an integral part of her life, but having it be a means to making a living wasn't a concern. Joining other artists such as David Bowie, Anna Waronker, and Neil Finn on their respective projects kept Germano connected. Luckily for fans, Germano inked a deal with the ARTISTdirect imprint Ineffable in 2002. Germano's classic, twisted sense of humor was at its finest on Lullaby for Liquid Pig, which was issued in April 2003. Her music found another new home, Michael Gira's Young God label, where Germano released In the Maybe World in summer 2006. After touring in support of the album, Germano took a break, then began recording her second Young God album, Magic Neighbor, which arrived in fall 2009. Around that time, Germano also collaborated with Neil Finn on his 7 Worlds Collide project, which also featured members of Soul Coughing, Radiohead, and Wilco. No Elephants, Germano's 11th studio album, arrived in early 2013.

Tracklist  

1	My Secret Reason	4:33
2	Trouble	2:20
3	Geek The Girl	3:40
4	Just Geek	2:44
5	Cry Wolf	4:59
6	...A Psychopath	4:37
7	Sexy Little Girl Princess	3:39
8	Phantom Love	3:22
9	Cancer Of Everything	4:00
10	A Guy Like You	3:18
11	...Of Love And Colors	3:55
12	Stars	2:32

FUZZHEAD High In A Basement 1995

by request

 

Discogs

Artist Biography by Stewart Mason

Less a true band than a loose collective of experimental improvisers and sonic explorers, Kent, OH-based Fuzzhead has no permanent members, save leader/philosopher Bill Weita. Since the mid-'80s, Weita has led an ever-shifting lineup (the sleeve photo of one album features a group photo of literally dozens of people) through an occasionally bizarre mélange of Krautrock-style hypnotic rhythms, tuneful psych-folk, and blistering noise, like some sort of cross between Can, Glenn Branca, and Pearls Before Swine.
Although primarily an improvisatory live act, Fuzzhead released several albums, including 1988's Fuzzhead Is Love (with an utterly warped reworking of Jonathan Richman's already odd "Pablo Picasso"), 1991's Technicolor Soul, 1993's What's Going On?, 1995's El Saturn, and the excellently titled I Saw the Best Minds of My Generation Rock. Following that 1996 release, Fuzzhead retreated to their live-performances-only roots and Weita began releasing solo albums (featuring some members of Fuzzhead's ensemble), including 1997's Substance D and 2000's Subsidized Time. 

Tracklist

A1	Chicken
A2	Patch On Your Eye
A3	Another Step Closer
A4	88.8
B1	Catnip In Her Head
B2	Springtime

COMET GAIN Casino Classics 1995

Discogs

Artist Biography by Mark Deming

Led by guitarist and vocalist David Feck (aka David Bower and David Christian), Comet Gain are a British indie pop band whose music is a freewheeling, literate fusion of folk-rock, twee pop, garage rock, R&B, punk, and any number of points in between. The first edition of Comet Gain was formed in 1992; Feck initially conceived the group as a trio with bassist George Wright and drummer Phil Sutton, but the band truly found its sound the following year, when Jax Coombes replaced Wright on bass and singer Sarah Bleach and guitarist Sam Pluck came on board. This lineup recorded the group's debut album, 1995's Casino Classics, which was released by the U.K. indie label Wiija.

In 1997, Wiija issued Comet Gain's second album in Great Britain under the title Magnetic Poetry, while it came out in the United States via Beggars Banquet in expanded form as Sneaky. However, months after the sophomore album arrived in stores, Feck's bandmates walked out on him, and he assembled a new version of Comet Gain from scratch, featuring Rachel Evans as female vocalist, M.J. "Woodie" Taylor on drums, and former Huggy Bear member Jon Slade on guitar and bass. The new version of Comet Gain cut the 1999 album Tigertown Pictures, which was released by Kill Rock Stars in America and Fortuna Pop in the U.K.

While Evans, Taylor, and Slade (and bassist Kay Ishikawa) have frequently played with Comet Gain since, Feck remains the only constant from the band's many personnel changes, and in a 2009 interview he claimed that 66 different people have been members of Comet Gain since the group's formation. Comet Gain's relationship with Kill Rock Stars resulted in two more albums, 2002's Realistes and 2005's City Fallen Leaves, while in 2008 Feck assembled Broken Record Prayers, a 20-song compilation drawn from the group's many single releases and compilation appearances.

Their sixth album, 2011's Howl of the Lonely Crowd, featured new keyboardist Anne Laure Guillain and found Comet Gain receiving some production assistance from one of their heroes, ex-Orange Juice leader Edwyn Collins. After that record, the band lost longtime members Ishikawa (in 2011) and Slade (in 2012), replacing them with Ben Phillipson on guitar and ex-Clientele member James Hornsey on bass. The new band returned in 2013 with the "Avenue Girls" single, before releasing its seventh album, the relatively quiet and autumnal Paperback Ghosts, in the early summer of 2014 on the Fortuna Pop label. Some of the tracks recorded during the Paperback Ghosts session that didn't quite fit the mood ended up on the Fingerprint Ritual EP in early 2015. 

Tracklist  

1	Footstompers	2:27
2	A Million And Nine	3:23
3	Turnpike	2:52
4	Last Night	4:28
5	Original Arrogance	1:39
6	Another Girl	3:23
7	Music Upstairs	3:23
8	Villain	2:35
9	Stay With Me Til Morning	4:54
10	Charlie	3:03
11	Just Fourteen	3:10
12	Ghost Of The Roman Empire	2:24
13	Intergalactic Starbed	5:06
14	Chevron Action Flash	2:12
15	Aliens At War	2:05
16	A Kind Of Loving	2:55

COMET Chandelier Musings By Comet 1996

Discogs

Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny

The enigmatic noise pop outfit Comet formed in early 1994 in Mesquite, TX. Brought together by a common love of the Beatles, singer/guitarist Jim Stone, his bassist-brother Neil, guitarist Daniel Huffman, and percussionist Josh entered the studio later that year to cut their debut single "Portrait," produced by Mercury Rev alum David Baker. A deal with the Dedicated label followed, and with Baker again at the helm, Comet recorded their LP bow Chandelier Musings, issued in late 1996. 

Tracklist

1	Rocket Flare	4:07
2	Day At The Races	6:33
3	She's A Mastermind	4:58
4	Soundtrack To The Short Film: "Lifelines"	6:05
5	Shōgun Girl	4:34
6	Birds Are Little Dinosaurs	3:19
7	Formula One Driver Blues	4:34
8	American Flyer	8:19
9	Untitled	13:23

SKINNER PILOT This Parking Lot Is Being Videotaped 1996

Last FM Biography

Elizabeth Sharp (Ill Ease, New Radiant Storm King) played bass and shared vocal responsibilities with Andrew Zarou (The Deer Park) who played guitar. But each geographical shift brought with it a line-up change in the drummer's seat.

Skinner Pilot was formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1993. The band re-located several times, first to Athens, Georgia, next to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and eventually by 1997, to Brooklyn, New York.

Andy Monteleone, Steve Healey (Frances Gumm), Roddy Elliott, and Liz Bustamante (Spouse, Addicted to Fiction) all played drums in Skinner Pilot.

The band released one full-length cd, "This Parking Lot is Being Videotaped"; two 7" singles (all on the Goodsin label from Boston, Massachusetts); and appeared on three compilations "Hotel Massachusetts" (Chunk), "The Art of Falling" (Monstro), and "Japanese Rhumba" (Y'akuza).

The group disbanded in 1998.

Discogs

 

 Tracklist

1	Collecting The City	4:02
2	Southed	4:34
3	Between The Clock And The Bed	5:16
4	Skin For Canoes	4:11
5	Braille Menu	2:27
6	Its All Angels	5:56
7	Through Binoculars	4:31
8	Miles City	5:59
9	Train I Was Taking	3:55
10	The 18	7:07
11	Ocean 1212W	4:48
12	Venus In Retrograde	1:43
13	Manitoba	5:30

BLUEBOTTLE KISS

1996

1999

Discogs

Artist Biography by James Christopher Monger

Formed in the mid-'90s by precocious 21-year-old singer/songwriter Jamie Hutchings, Australian indie rock quartet Bluebottle Kiss craft atmospheric power pop in the vein of Nick Cave, Coldplay, and Brendan Benson. After a solid yet unremarkable debut and subsequent EP for a major-label imprint, the band released the self-produced Patient in 1999. The success of that record was matched note for note on 2002's Revenge Is Slow and 2004's Come Across, both of which did well overseas. Hutchings and longtime member Ben Grounds were joined by bass player Ross Dickie and drummer Jared Harrison for 2006's two-disc extravaganza Doubt Seeds.

Fear of Girls 

Tracklist

1	Claim
2	Helping You Hate Me
3	I'm Wrong And You're Right
4	Now
5	To Think I'd Ever Disappoint You
6	Autumn Comes Too Soon
7	Dragee Fauna
8	Barbed Wire Star
9	Won't Forget
10	Outside Are The Dogs
11	Loaded To The Gills
12	Rust And The Time
13	You're Gonna Be On Your Own Soon
14	Ice On The Road (Taken On A Trust)
15	Stained Mouth

 

 Patient

 Tracklist

1	Return To The City Of Folded Arms
2	Smother It In Honey
3	Girl Genius
4	Homeless Blueless
5	Running Around The White Picket Fence
6	Matrimony
7	Give Up The Ghost
8	Six Wheels
9	Maps To Help You Lose Your Way
10	Paddock Blues

 

TREMBLING BLUE STARS Her Handwriting 1996

Discogs

 

Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny

Named in honor of a passage from Pauline Reage's infamous novel The Story of O, the melancholy Trembling Blue Stars heralded the return of singer/songwriter Robert Wratten, best known as the frontman of the British indie pop band the Field Mice. Ostensibly a solo project with significant input from producer Ian Catt, Trembling Blue Stars originally emerged in the wake of the dissolution of Northern Picture Library, the project Wratten mounted after the demise of the Field Mice with then-girlfriend Annemari Davies; 1996's Shinkansen label debut Her Handwriting explored the couple's breakup in heartbreaking lyrical detail, couching its elegiac songs in airy, evocative guitar soundscapes. As of 1998's Lips That Taste of Tears, some measure of reconciliation had apparently been reached, as Davies' ethereal vocal presence again surfaced. 2000's Broken by Whispers was issued in the U.S. on Sub Pop. That same year the band added Keris Howard (formerly of Brighter) on bass, Beth Arzy (formerly of Aberdeen) on backing vocals, and Jonathan Akerman on drums, and began playing live shows in the U.K. before journeying to the U.S. for the first time. With the help of another Sarah Records vet, Harvey Williams of Another Sunny Day, this same core group recorded 2001's Alive to Every Smile. Since then the band's lineup remained stable, but they left their longtime label, Shinkansen, and moved to Spanish indie Elefant before the release of 2004's The Seven Autumn Flowers. Bar/None released the album in the U.S., and the band returned for a few dates to promote the album. After the release of the Bathed in Blue EP in early 2005, the group recorded and released their sixth album, 2007's The Last Holy Writer. Wratten announced shortly before the release of their next album 2010's Fast Trains and Telegraph Wires, that it would be the group's last. 

Tracklist

1	A Single Kiss	3:08
2	For This One	4:41
3	What Can I Say To Change Your Heart?	5:56
4	Abba On The Jukebox	7:22
5	The Far Too Simple Beauty	3:31
6	Less Than Love	4:28
7	Less Than Love (Reprise)	0:28
8	Do People Ever?	3:42
9	Last Summertime's Obsession	4:12
10	A London Story	5:14
11	Saffron, Beautiful And Brown-Eyed	4:26
12	Nobody But You	2:26
13	Two Octobers	1:26
14	To Keep Your Heart Whole	6:45