Chicago’s mighty Naked Raygun performing at Q101 makes me yearn for the good old days when the Rayguns were putting out vinyl, Jeff Haggerty was playing guitar for the group pre-Pegboy, and striped pants were still considered kooky stagewear. Check out this great YouTube clip. Even in this tiny little room, immobilized and hardly breaking a sweat, Naked Raygun manages to create quite a stir. Vanilla Blue is one of their best tracks, hands down.
In my book, the all-time number one indie vinyl urban assualt weapon has GOT to be this album by Big Black. It kicks off at maximum velocity and simply doesn’t stop until the needle hits the end of the record. Songs About Fucking by Big Black is quite possibly Steven Albini & company’s finest hour. Sure, you can buy this on CD, but it sounds just the way it needs to on the vinyl; this is truly a case where the LP format is the best way to experience the sounds–Albini the analog audiophile really shines on this. No, you don’t listen to Big Black for subtlety, you put it on to shock your senses awake after putting in a full day at the death factory. Never mind Black Flag, Ministry, or even Nine Inch Nails; this is the genuine angry article–no pussyfooting with piles of rack effects and studio tweezing, just the machine gun thud of the drums, those great, trebly guitar sounds and Albini screaming his head off over the racket. If you play this album at maximum volume, your neighbors will die.
Standout tracks include The Power of Independent Trucking, L Dopa, and a razor-blade-n-gasoline cover of the Cheap Trick classic, He’s A Whore. STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
Aquarium Drunkard is raving about this. While Cat Stevens is more odious because of his “Kill Rushdie” utterances as an Islamic militant back in the late 80s (Is he still one? Who knows?) the vinyl in question is highly prized in some circles. Aquarium Drunkard reports the Cameron Crowe is responsible for this finally seeing the light of day…if you loved the movie, this might be worth a look in. It’s a limited edition–2500 copies according to the blog post. Collectors take note!
We found a listing for the Harold and Maude soundtrack LP on Amazon for a whopping $299…claiming to be an original, factory sealed pressing on blue vinyl. Buyer…beware? We don’t vouch for the veracity of this–but it IS available for sale. One copy only!
This is another of the fun vinyl finds I scored while shopping at Toledo’s RamaLama Records. The Atlanta-based Swimming Pool Qs cut this one in 1987. It’s not REM-style jangle pop, but this definitely rode the wave– late 80s Georgia indie rock, without sounding terribly Athens alt/indie. The right vibe is definitely there, especially on Working In The Nut Plant, an angsty “hate my job” track with a great doomy instrumental section. This would go well in a mix/mashup with Single Bullet Theory. A nice listen indeed. For some reason I think of Fetchin’ Bones, Scruffy The Cat and The Fabulous Poodles when listening to this album, though stylistically they don’t really emulate any of those. They do seem to live in the same musical zip code, though.
I’d never heard this lot until I picked up the Firing Squad For God EP, but you can check out the Swimming Pool Qs page and get the dirt on all their releases, plus more MP3s and photos.
Download/Listen to Working In The Nut Plant by The Swimming Pool Qs.
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