TAKAKO MINEKAWA Roomic Cube 1996

Discogs

Artist Biography by Heather Phares

Singer/songwriter Takako Minekawa avoids many J-pop cliches, crafting her unique sound from her personal obsessions -- cats, keyboards, French pop -- and her sweet, girlish voice. A child movie and TV star in Japan, Minekawa was always interested in music and formed her first group Lolita with some college friends. This morphed into Fancy Face Groovy Name in 1990, which also included Kahimi Karie. After playing in a number of groups, Minekawa was ready to strike out on her own. She released her solo debut Chat Chat in 1994, which she followed up with 1995's A LittleTouch of Baroque In Winter and 1996's Roomic Cube (released the following year in the U.S.).

With each album, Minekawa's writing and arrangements showed a more refined mix of innocence and complexity. However, her ideas were still fresh and playful, as the 1998 remix EP Recubed -- which featured Roomic Cube songs remixed by friends like Sukia, the Pulsars, and Buffalo Daughter -- showed. Cloudy Cloud Calculator, Minekawa's most independent statement yet, was released at the end of 1998; it was followed by 1999's Fun 9 and 2000's Maxi On EP. After marrying Cornelius' Keigo Oyamada, Minekawa took an extended break from making music, and resurfaced in 2013 with the fractured, experimental pop of Toropical Circle, a collaboration with former Ponytail guitarist Dustin Wong. The duo returned the following year with Savage Imagination, a more free-flowing set of pieces featuring more samples and textures. 

Tracklist  

1	Sleep Song	3:01
2	Fantastic Cat	3:58
3	Never/More	4:17
4	Klaxon	4:28
5	Wooooog	3:53
6	Dessert Song	2:59
7	Destron	3:57
8	Pop Up Squirrels	0:27
9	1.666666	6:24
10	Rainy Song	2:19
11	T.T.T.	2:05
12	Black...White	3:16
13	More Pop Up Squirrels	0:49

DANCING FRENCH LIBERALS OF '48 Scream Clown Scream 1994

by request

Discogs

Tracklist

1	Scream Clown Scream
2	F Is For Fake
3	In A Past Life
4	Bottom Of Our Career
5	Off The Deep End

SPONGE Rotting Piñata 1994

Thanks to Jim

Discogs

Artist Biography by Steve Huey

Sponge was one of the more underrated groups in the post-grunge boom of the mid-'90s. When they were on top of their game -- as evidenced by the hits "Plowed" and "Molly (Sixteen Candles)" -- the band's songs had a knack for jangly riffs and catchy, anthemic hard rock hooks, despite being wrapped in the fuzzy guitars and brooding seriousness that typified grunge music. Sponge grew out of a Detroit-based hard rock act called Loudhouse, which released an album on the Virgin label in 1988 before losing its record contract and disbanding shortly thereafter. Drummer-turned-vocalist Vinnie Dombrowski (born Mark Dombrowski) and guitarists Mike Cross and Joey Mazzola regrouped as Sponge in 1992, adding Mike's brother Tim Cross on bass and Jimmy Paluzzi on drums. Adapting their '70s hard rock influences to fit the grunge zeitgeist, the bandmates earned a major-label deal with Columbia and released their debut album, Rotting Pinata, in late 1994.

Initially, critics compared Sponge unfavorably to Stone Temple Pilots, but alternative radio embraced the band's first two singles: the driving rocker "Plowed" and the jangly, introspective "Molly (Sixteen Candles)." A third single, "Rainin'," also earned airplay, and Rotting Pinata went gold; meanwhile, Sponge went on tour as Live's opening act. With new drummer Charlie Grover in tow, their 1996 follow-up album, Wax Ecstatic, was a more diverse affair, rediscovering some of the band's roots in arena rock, British glam, and jangle pop. Even though singles like "Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina)," "I Am Anastasia," and "Have You Seen Mary" enjoyed some degree of radio airplay, Columbia was dissatisfied with the sales figures and dropped Sponge once the album left the charts.

Undaunted, Sponge signed a new deal with the Beyond label, which released the more classicist New Pop Sunday in 1999. It attracted little commercial attention, and more personnel shifts ensued. Tired of touring, the Cross brothers both left and were replaced by guitarist Kurt Marschke and bassist Tim Krukowski; Billy Adams also came on board as the new drummer. After several years of recharging -- during which time Dombrowski played in several Detroit-area side projects -- Sponge returned with For All the Drugs in the World in 2003 and Man in 2005. Dombrowski reworked the lineup once again, this time adding guitarists Kyle Neely and Andy Patalan, before returning again to the studio in 2007 to record Galore Galore for Bellum Records.

Two year later, there was another lineup shift -- Tim Patalan became the group's bassist -- and they released an EP called Destroy the Boy. A full-length called Stop the Bleeding arrived four years later; the LP contained all of the 2009 EP plus new songs.

FLU THIRTEEN Spincycle 1996

by request

 

Discogs 

 

Flu Thirteen was an indie rock band from Long Island, NY. Formed in 1994 by Tomas Costanza (Vocals/Guitar), Brian Fawcett (Guitar), Lawrence Sullivan (Bass) and Billy Alemaghides (Drums), they went on to release two albums and a 7" single. After a few line up changes, the band signed a major label deal in 2000 and changed their name to Diffuser (2).

Tracklist

1	Ramona's Toy	4:20
2	The Denver Jockstrap	3:46
3	Kill Me With It	5:45
4	Soup Of The Day	3:11
5	Effexor	3:17
6	Haircut Face	3:59
7	Polysorbate	2:45
8	8 Stitches	3:30

 

ADORABLE Fake 1994

by request

Discogs

Artist Biography by Michael Sutton

Adorable arrived when the shoegazer scene in England was starting to fade away. Formed in Coventry, England, in late 1990, Adorable was comprised of Piotr Fijalkowski (vocals, guitar), Robert Dillam (guitar), Wil (bass), and Kevin Gritton (drums). The band's wall of shimmering riffs drew comparisons to shoegazer icons such as My Bloody Valentine and Ride; however, their most noticeable influence was Echo & the Bunnymen as Fijalkowski has a harrowed, melancholic voice similar to Ian McCulloch's. The group didn't deny its Bunnymen worship in the U.K. press, either, as Fijalkowski stated in one interview that the Bunnymen were even superior to the Doors. Adorable recorded their first single, "Sunshine Smile," in 1991. However, the 800 copies made of it were never released. In January 1992, the band met Alan McGee, the owner of the British independent label Creation Records, at a pub in Coventry. The group signed with Creation and "Sunshine Smile" finally appeared in April of that year. The record was voted Single of the Week by the U.K. magazine NME and hit number one on the indie charts. But the band's cockiness -- which separated the group from faceless shoegazer acts -- began to annoy critics. Adorable's first album, Against Perfection, was released in 1993. The band then toured America for a month; however, Creation and the group's U.S. label, SBK, were bickering, throwing Adorable into the crossfire. Although it made the Top 75, Against Perfection didn't sell as heavily as it should've and reviewers -- perhaps still turned off by the band's arrogance -- were not impressed. After Sony took over Creation, Adorable felt pressured in recording a follow-up LP that would keep them with the company. Unfortunately, 1994's Fake didn't have the snotty self-confidence of Against Perfection, and it flopped. Consequently, the group was dropped from Creation; a year later, they split up. Fijalkowski formed Polak in the late '90s. 

Tracklist  

1	Feed Me	3:29
2	Vendetta	4:10
3	Man In A Suitcase	4:48
4	Submarine	4:29
5	Lettergo	3:59
6	Kangaroo Court	3:27
7	Radio Days	3:36
8	Go Easy On Her	4:33
9	Road Movie	4:17
10	Have You Seen The Light	4:49

.O.RANG Fields And Waves 1997

by request

Discogs

Artist Biography by Joslyn Layne

Bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris were bandmates for a decade in the influential British band Talk Talk. A year after the band's final release -- 1992's critically acclaimed Laughing Stock -- Harris and Webb built a studio that they dubbed The Slug. Once the studio was up and running, the duo allowed all sorts of musicians to come in and improvise with them, using the resulting music as source material with which to create the music heard on 'O'Rang's albums. The band's recorded debut was the EP Spoor (1994) followed by two full lengths, Herd of Instinct (1995) and Fields & Waves (1996). The recordings were originally released on Echo Records and later picked up and reissued (except for the EP) in 1997 by Chicago's Hit It! Recordings, followed a year later by the new Remixes. 'O'Rang features Webb and Harris on a variety of instruments, incorporating dub rhythms, various percussion, and thickly layered atmospherics to create a rock music that has been highly praised by U.K. publications such as The Wire, The Times of London, and Melody Maker.

Tracklist  

1	Barren	7:30
2	Jalap	8:10
3	P.53	6:03
4	Moider	4:52
5	Seizure	3:34
6	Moratorium	4:06
7	Superculture	4:37
8	Quondam	7:56
9	Forest	4:14
10	Hoo	7:56
11	Boreades	4:06
12	Fields & Waves	2:05
13	Untitled	1:42

UNCLE WIGGLY Non-Stuff 1995

by request

Discogs

Tracklist

A1	Kakaphonic
A2	Empty Bag
A3	Gumby's Robots
A4	Glooga Girl
B1	Drug Comm.
B2	Washing Machine
B3	Tract Home Chippy
B4	Cocky, Nocky & Blern

SEKIRI Take Me To Sekiri 1991

by request

 

Discogs

AllMusic Review by Nitsuh Abebe

Take Me to Sekiri is a fairly conventional slice of Japanese girl punk, but not at all in the chirpy, squeaky clean style of bands like Shonen Knife, -- Sekiri draws enough influence from Japan's heavy garage scene to wind up with a thrashy riff-rock sensibility that seems a lot like Black Sabbath covering simplistic punk tunes. This sound isn't quite as impressive as Japan's purveyors of more extreme garage, but it does have a definite purity of sound that is, for the most part, vastly entertaining. 

Tracklist

1	Death Match
2	4649 (Yoroshiku)
3	Yodel-Ay-Hee
4	Doro Doro Oedo
5	Katsu Katsu Rock
6	Dara Dara
7	Youth (Seishun)
8	Bad Day Rhapsody
9	Chameleon
10	Let's Fuck
11	Chittaka
12	Endless
13	Crazy Starlight Tonight (Konya Seiko Ranman)
14	Let's Fuck (Alternate Version)
15	Background Music (Unreleased Version)

WORK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD 7 inch 1997

Discogs

Tracklist

A1	–John Sims	Spread The Tikka
A2	–Go-kart 800	Long Green
B1	–Mark Hibbett*	Work's All Right (If It's A Proper Job)
B2	–The Family Way	Sweet Little Nothings

DAKOTA SUITE Songs For A Barbed Wire Fence 1998

Discogs

Artist Biography by Bryan Thomas

The loosely configured lineup of Leeds-based Dakota Suite is centered around the group's talented frontman, singer/guitarist Chris Hooson; the only other firm member of the group is producer Richard Formby -- formerly a collaborator with Spaceman 3, the Telescopes, and Jazz Butcher -- who handles occasional guitar chores and various other instrumentation, including harmonium, Fender Rhodes, lap steel, bowed double bass, and tape effects. Various other members have included David Buxton on bass guitar and pedal steel; John Sheppard on drums; Peter Haslam on piano; and Colin Dunkley, who also plays the piano, provides the strings, and co-writes much of the group's instrumentals. Hooson -- whose vocal style is often compared to Red House Painters' Mark Kozelek, Spain's Josh Haden, and Mark Eitzel -- often bases his songs on haunting personal experiences; he attempted suicide in late 1995 (taking to his bed, he tried to will himself to stop living). Hooson has also worked at in a hospice for terminal alcoholics, witnessing first-hand the despair and psychic pain that infuses his languid and somewhat sad country-flecked songs, which are highlighted by simply-strummed acoustic guitars, brushed drums, brittle horns, keening lap steel, soulful electric piano, and the occasional cellos and violins. The group also perform chamber orchestra music.
In late 1996, Hooson and Formby first met, when Hooson was recording his first demos. Later, Formby and the owner of a Leeds-based record shop set up the Amos label to release these recordings as three Dakota Suite EPs, in late 1996 and early 1997; they've since been compiled as Alone With Everybody, a CD released in 1998 with additional unreleased material. Mostly positive press and word-of-mouth raves about subsequent 7" and split-7" singles on various labels led to a more formal arrangement with the Glitterhouse label, who issued Dakota Suite's Songs for a Barbed Wire Fence in 1998 (Hooson's original choice for the CD's title was "Bereavement and Loss"). When it came time to play live, Formby volunteered his services, and the band continued touring for nearly a year while Hooson held down his hospice job. Hooson and a variety of additional musicians continued recording at Formby's house or used old churches for the grand acoustics. Hooson ultimately forfeited his sole opportunity to sign to a major label (stating he enjoys his job too much), choosing instead to release Dakota Suite's albums via the German-based Glitterhouse independent label; in turn, they have been licensed by Hooson for release in the U.K. via Loose Recordings, the U.S. via Badman, and Japan via the Tokyo-based Painted Sky Records.
Hooson's wife Johanna's photographs -- bleak, starkly black-and-white compositions used as cover art -- perfectly reflect the music to be found inside. Navigator's Yard -- instrumental pieces for piano and assorted instruments -- was released in 1999, followed by Signal Hill (2000) and Morning Lake Forever (2001). The Way I Am Sick, instrumental pieces for a chamber orchestra, was released in 2002; Painted Sky Records has also issued this CD with the non-Navigator's Yard instrumental pieces from the other albums as an extra bonus disc. A two-CD/LP compilation of the first two Dakota Suite albums was also issued as Blown About a Moon. This River Only Brings Poison was recorded in San Francisco with Bruce Kaphan and Tim Mooney (ex-American Music Club), and in Nashville with Derri Daugherty (the Choir). 

Tracklist  

1	Wintersong	6:02
2	Cripplied World	3:20
3	Harley Reeves	4:38
4	One For The Shoe Shine Man	3:10
5	Divided	3:16
6	Ornamental	3:56
7	Leaving Home	4:06
8	Johannasong	2:34
9	Over	3:36
10	Everything Is Wrong	5:18
11	December 8th 1980	2:13
12	I Can Feel Your Disease	4:23
13	The Last Thing She Wanted	4:21
14	Loss	2:01