The great age of democracy (a christmas carol)

I've been searching for this album for ages, and only today I finally decided to buy it -- it took quite a while for me to have a international credit card. And, boy, did I feel like a happy college student.

While mostly (totally) associated with that 90's thing called trip-hop, Bristol had its share of indie bands with the likes of You & the Atom Bomb*. And until today it's difficult to find a band that produced such quirky and adorable sounds, paced with unexpected time signatures, while maintaining its high share of glucose.

I have no idea of the whereabouts of the band, which is a shame. I figure if they first appeared a couple of years ago, when Bandcamp and other alternative mediums of distributing music were finally reliable, they would be all over the place (you can still buy their EPs trough Sink and Stove records).

pw: spooked

*BONUS: an assortment of Christmas songs composed and played by Bristol bands, compiled by these guys. Happy holidays for those who care.

tim cohen has the right idea.

because not everything has to be obscure or underground or kvlt or ripped from some record that was only pressed in an imaginary country. american analog set are my favorite band from texas, & one of my all time summer go to bands fershure. i feel like this album gets overshadowed by know by heart & set free, but fool around should be on everyone's summer mixtapes. put this on & get lost forever.

bravo, max! - dmtblues.

some dallas brahs i use to take drugs with. i worked with two of the members, & hung out with the producer separately. the two dudes would invite me to their shows on a semi frequent basis, & i always dicked my way out of it by coming up with some poor excuse. finally i went to go see them, & they were this mid tempo folk rock band with a little too much nmh & beirut showing on their sleeves. a few minutes sounded like a post rock calexico, which i then drunkenly decided to tell them was "THEIR sound man" & that they should just write songs like that. anyway, fast forward five months. i have seen them a couple of more times, & even did a horribly drunk cover of where eagles dare by the misfits with them. they lose their second guitarist, their accordion player, & their third guitarist/multi instrumentalist & gotten a new drummer (the producer from earlier in the story). i went over to the producer's house to hang out with him, & he played me the new demo tracks which i was blown away. it's just raw lo-fi stripped down mid nineties folky indie rock which was the other avenue i was hoping they would go down if they weren't going to desert rock like i begged them to. anyway, i saw them almost every show they played after that for a good month & a half stretch because every time they got better & better. then i went over to jj's house one day, & he played me some new tracks, & they just didn't have the same sparkle as the old demo he had given me. the ones sounded too much like blown out bloozy two steppin' bar rock which is fine for other people, but i didn't dig it. anyway, here is that first demo that jj gave me for y'all. he didn't title the songs, so i gave them the names i always thought of them as in my head when they would play them. i also made the cover art for them. sorry if yr bummed duders. call me!

glory gongs.

three mile pilot were such a ridiculously talented band, & i always felt they were really underrated. even their post break up bands never got the recognition they truly deserved. now that they're back together again, hopefully they will start touring more regularly. this album is one of the best that late nineties san diego had to offer.

this whole union is a shame.

the leo brothers are the baldwins of indie rock. you have chris leo, who in my opinion is the alec of the group, writing the best songs out of the three of them. then you have danny who is the william... a respectable body of work, but not quite up to par with the older brother. then you have ted leo... i don't really care for that dude outside of chisel. anyway, this is i believe the only album from danny's holy childhood, which is a bit like the lapse with more of a bluesy country twinge to it. just get it, it's a gem.

stoli on the rocks.

happy sunday y'all! ghosts & vodka was victor villareal's band post cap'n jazz. super noodly jazzy post rock in the midwestern 1997 style. just download & enjoy with some mimosas.

i've crossed the dutchman's path.

the hal al shedad are one of my all time favorite bands hands down. in the same echelon as roadside monument & the vehicle birth who are bands i always thought of as leaps & bounds ahead of their peers but never got the recognition they deserved. dark mathy angular post hardcore in the louisville vein, but with a style & flair all their own. i'm not sure why all the people who are downloading the world records aren't downloading my mid nineties posts? any suggestions? comments are welcome. don't be an idiot, just download this & thank me later.

a picture postcard.

a mid nineties comp of the who's who of the creme de la creme of indie rock/emo. i listened to this so much, and had a few of the actual seven inches that comprised this comp. sometimes i get really sad i sold off most of my collection via ebay & skylab (does anyone even remember that website?). if you were ever into jade tree, polyvinyl, crank, or caufield, then grab this & grab yr old cardigan & horn rimmed glasses & get ready to shed a few tears.