Sebadoh - Bubble and Scrape

After countless attempts to update this blog with my presence (only to be hindered by a lack of inspiration, apathy, and most recently sickness) here I am in what will hopefully be the first of many posts. First up is the 1993 album Bubble and Scrape by lo-fi indie rockers Sebadoh.

For indie fans living under a rock for the past two decades, Sebadoh is the main recording outlet for Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr and Deep Wound fame. Barlow who was often overshadowed by J Mascis immense songwriting talents formed Sebadoh with percussionist/songwriter Eric Gaffney in 1987 as a way to further showcase his own. The duo released two albums 1987's Weed Forestin' (although essentially a Barlow solo release) and 1988's The Freed Man and were soon joined by multi-instrumentalist Jason Lowenstein. This is the lineup the would go on to record 1991's Sebadoh III and th Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock compilation. Shortly after the release of The Freed Man Barlow was kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. causing much tension and bitterness that would shine through on later Sebadoh recordings.

After a couple EP releases the band released their debut Sub Pop full length 1993's Bubble and Scrape. The album is an overall eclectic mix of the three members songwriting talents with Barlow contributing seven tracks, Gaffney with six, and Lowenstein with four. With it's release it sold over 10,000 copies in it's first week solidifying the band as alternative rock mainstays throughout the 90's.

Barlow's songs are easily the most accessible on this recording often heralding back to the indie pop, love and break up songs of his previous band. While Lowenstein's tracks also hold onto a certain pop awareness although shorter and less traditionally structured. Gaffney's tend to be the real oddballs of this collection often delving into more experimental territory. Weird, disjointed, and seemingly all over the place, his songs are a strange mix of 60's Psychedelic and Minutemen punk rock sensibility. This record would prove to be his last with the band.

Despite the noticeable changes in style the songs manage to meld into a collective whole to form one surprisingly cohesive and solid album. It is a perfect mix of the lo-fi experimentation of earlier records and the more polished pop friendly work that would follow.

Recommended Tracks:
Soul and Fire, Sacred Attention, Homemade (Barlow)
Bouquet for a Siren (Gaffney)
Happily Divided, Sister (Lowenstein)

Bubble and Scrape - if you enjoy the album please support the band and your favorite independent record store by purchasing a copy.

Spiral Architect - A Sceptic's Universe

Spiral Architect is an extremely technical and progressive metal band. It is also one of those “super groups” in the metal world. Just look at the line up and the members past and present bands:

Øyvind Hægeland - Vocals, Keyboards (Arcturus (Nor), Scariot, Manitou (Nor), Lunaris)
Steinar Gundersen - Lead Guitar (Satyricon, Lunaris, King's Quest)
Andreas Jonsson - Guitar (Lunaris)
Lars Koppang Norberg - Bass, Programming (Anesthesia (Nor), Ihsahn)
Asgeir Mickelson - Drums (Borknagar, Enslavement of Beauty, Ihsahn, Lunaris, Scariot, Thornbound, Vintersorg)

A Sceptic's Universe is the only studio release by Spiral Architect, which isn’t too surprising since this is mainly a side project and the band members all have their other bands to focus on.

The album is full of constant changing time signatures alone are enough to boggle some. The technicality of the playing is amazing, and it doesn’t feel soulless. The music is top notch and some of the more interesting technical stuff I’ve heard in the past. Singer Øyvind Hægeland has an amazing ranger and the vocals are actually done clean, no cookie monsters on this album.

So a few metal heads that I have suggested this album to in the past to a few enjoy the music but can’t seem to get over the vocals. The songs are each a wonderful master piece with amazing technical prowess shown by all the members of the band. The lyrics are also a thing of odd beauty, poetic even on their own. The lyrics tend to be philosophical in nature, a mixture of metaphors and fragments of ideas. An example would be the lyrics for the song “Cloud Constructor”:

Life as it seemed to the circling man
As he gazed into discarded land
Was a ride on a carousel of faith
Then he flew away

He traveled far through his worn out mind
Through sorrow and pain, what had he gained?
Still his dreams they could never take away
So he flew into the sun again

Emptiness struck as he realized
There's no answer to "who am I? what am I?"
He then saw why men must construct for themselves
A cloud of Unknowing


Do yourself a favor and check out this album, listen to the whole thing in one sitting. If after that you don’t like it, delete it. If you do find yourself liking the album, purchase it.

-Christian

DL: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?hibmm11nidn

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

(I just want to thank mike and dan for letting me take part on this blog before I start. Hopefully this will turn out better than my last blogging endeavor. haha.)

Its funny how you can hear about a band over and over again, and never check them out. I have no real reason why it took me so long to listen to Drive Like Jehu. Their name would constantly pop up in my “music quests.” They were compared to lots and lots of bands that I like. And for some reason, it was only last year that I heard them. YES, LET THE CRUCIFIXION COME! Haha.

The band only released two albums. “Yank Crime” was their second. I think a lot of people, myself included, view this as the better album. Which is strange because it was a major label release. And as a lot of people know, often times when a indie band gets signed to a major, they change. And usually not for the better. Somehow, this album is even more aggressive than their first album. Taking all things into consideration, this is quite a feat. Their intense energy is constant through the entire album. Whether it be in the slower song “Luau” or the album’s opening track “Here Come The Rome Plows”. Rick Froberg & John Reis’s guitar interplay set a new standard for the post hardcore genre. Its right up there with Guy and Ian of Fugazi if you ask me. “Do You Compute?” might be one of the best examples of this on the Yank Crime album. Its not hard to see why Drive Like Jehu are/were cited at a big influence on the then emerging “emo” scene. There are a lot of elements from the music on this album that reappear in later “emo” releases, as well as post hardcore albums. Its great that such a short lived band could have such wide spread influence. Its just a bummer that they were so short lived in the first place.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yxyuy3dlyig

Buy it if you like it

-matthew saint laurent

Elektric Music - Esperanto

Elektric Music is the pseudonym of Karl Bartos, a former member of the almighty Kraftwerk. Esperanto was released in 1993, several years after he left the group.

Several of the songs were co-written by Andy McClusky of the synth pop group Orchestral Maneouvers in the Dark (OMD). McClusky even provides lead vocals on the track Kissing the Machine.

This album is pretty cool in the sense that it draws influence from places and artists which had been influenced by Bartos' previous work a few decades earlier. It still has a real Kraftwerk feel throughout the album but also contains elements of rave music, industrial and synthpop groups such has Human League and, of course, OMD. The track TV shows a striking resemblance to the only Kraftwerk song Bartos takes full credit for writing (you'll find out what track that is later on).

Karl Bartos has since then dropped the Elektric Music name and now records just as Karl Bartos. Some people argue that his solo material beats Kraftwerks later werks (see what I did there?).

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ycn2iamzojy/elektric music - esperanto.rar

Top 3 Tracks: Show Buisness, Crosstalk, Esperanto


PS. you can expect an 8 part Kraftwerk retrospective from me sometime in the near future. I bet you can hardly contain yourself.

Let it all hang out,
-mungmike

First post / Meat Puppets "Mirage"

So, welcome to the first post of this run-of-the-mill music blog. It seems these things are a dime a dozen these days.

Anyways its going to stick to the basic formula of 4-5 other people and I posting every so often about records we enjoy and hope other people will check out.

For this first post I picked Meat Puppet's 1987 album Mirage. It's considered the groups most experimental album. It still has traces of alt-country as heard on their earlier album II, but also has a more psychedelia-esq sound as well as some new wave thrown into the mix. Out of the 6 albums I've heard from this band this is the one I always go back to. In my opinion this record would be a much better candidate for their Don't Look Back concert.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/tt2umhntzzz/[1987] mirage.rar


Top three tracks: Quit It, I Am a Machine, Love Our Children Forever


Buy it

-mungmike


note: When I say this is the first post, its the first post for this blog. Dan uploaded all this posts from a previous blog that came before this one. Fuck me, right?

Insomnia Soundtrack

Due to issues that shall remain unmentioned I stopped writing for Listen To This Once and started this blog with a Kraftwerk obsessed human being named mungmike. Please excuse us while we work out the kinks and figure out what we want to do and who we want to contribute. We hope to have a viable option for the stimulation of your eyes and ears operating a.s.a.p. Thank you for checking us out.

-Daniel Marc Cafferty

Oh, Canada (Part 4): North Of America

I decided to go right for the golden ring with this post. North Of America is probably my favorite of all the Canadian bands I planned on covering in this "ongoing" series. And since this could very well be my last post for awhile, I figured, go out with a bang. North Of America went from originally sounding like Pavement and Polvo had a love child, to getting heavier and more technical. Eventually getting to a point where they sounded fairly similar to singer/guitarist Michael Catano's other band, The Plan. They broke up in 2003. But have reunited numerous times. In 05 they got back together to do a Canadian tour with Ted Leo. And they just recently played a couple shows at the end of this past December which marked their 10th anniversary as a band. I fucking hate myself for missing those shows because now I'll probably have to wait for some other anniversary or special occasion to see them. They will always have a special place in my heart. Fans of blah, blah and blah should definitely listen to them.

-matthew st.

their stuff I have in chronological order...

Elements Of An Incomplete Map

These Songs Are Cursed

The Sepultura

This Is Dance Floor Numerology*

Brothers, Sisters

CJLO - SONiCs Session 10-2-05

Buy them from a independent record store if you like them

Or you can get them all from Rewika Records Online.