At a time when punk was the way to go and in a city where most bands were taking heavy influences from the mid-80’s hardcore scene, Washington, DC’s Black Tambourine was conceived primarily as an indie-pop group. One of the first bands to be signed to the Slumberland imprint, Black Tambourine’s sound provides a snapshot of the early American indie-pop scene in the late 80s/early 90s.
The seminal quartet of Archie Moore and Brian Nelson (later of Velocity Girl), along with vocalist Pam Berry (later of Glo-Worms, The Shapiros, and Castaway Stones) and drummer guitarist Mike Schulman (Slumberland founder) went against the grain of what was happening in their city and looked across the Atlantic to British twee and C86 groups like The Pastels, along with noisemakers Jesus and Mary Chain for inspiration. Like many shoegaze bands that followed, Black Tambourine were influenced by Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound production, predating the sounds that later caught on rather largely in the States.
Black Tambourine’s short, instrumental only “Pam’s Tan” was the band’s debut and first release on Slumberland in 1990. The group’s first official single, “Throw Aggi from the Bridge,” a track about a crush on The Pastel’s Stephen Pastel dropped in 1991. Its tracks like “Aggi” and “Can’t Explain” that really make you fall in love with Black Tambourine. Berry’s ethereal vocals wash over bouncing layers of guitar and bass lines soaked in fuzzy layers of distortion and feedback. Sweet irresistable numbers about unrequited love, crushes, and broken hearts makes for perfect rainy day listening. You’ll find yourself happily singing along “just throw her off the bridge, we both know it’s gotta be done.” Other favorites include the more downtempo/shoegaze-oriented “For Ex Lovers Only” and “Black Car,” along with the 60s pop influenced “Drown.”
After just two years together, the group called it quits in 1991. In that time span, Black Tambourine released nine singles and played only a handful of live shows. The nine released tracks along with the previously unreleased “I Was Wrong” were amassed on 1999s stellar Complete Recordings: Black Tambourine. For fans of bittersweet charming pop combined with gorgeous walls of distortion, this one’s not to be missed.
Like the seven blonde adventuresome heroines from which they borrow their moniker, Brooklyn’s Vivian Girls have moxie. The all female, Henry Darger-inspired trio packs abrasive power and infectious harmonies that recall groups like The Raincoats and B-52’s. The lo-fi single, “Tell the World (Woodsist Records),” unites reverby vocal harmonies with buzzing garage riffs and a hurry-up rhythm. Floating above the trudging punk beat and thick bassline, the infectious group-sung vocal harmonies provide welcoming warmth in an otherwise dissonant atmosphere. Vivian Girls manage to straddle the line between catchy and abrasive and do it without compromising either side, making their debut self-titled LP (early May on Mauled by Tigers) one worth anticipating.
Vivian Girls kick off an extensive US spring tour starting May 12th. Until then, the trio has five local shows scheduled in New York, including one this Wednesday, April 30th, at Lit Lounge. The group’s self-recorded 7” “Tell the World” single will also be available in May via Woodsist Records in limited edition (500 copies only) black vinyl. Full tour dates, songs, and more at MySpace.
GET HYPE!FRICTION celebrates Cinco de Mayo with a lineup featuring Bristol, UK’s euphoria-inducing Fuck Buttons, along with Brooklyn noise machine Sightings, and Philadelphia’s unorthodox, polyrhythmic pop outfit Pattern Is Movement. Come out for this solid bill to celebrate Mexico’s initial victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. I can’t think of a better excuse to drink on a Monday. NYCs Still Hype DJs will be spinning in between sets.
FUCK BUTTONS recipe for sound is one that seems to test the limits of throwing the most twisted ideas and sounds along with the most melodic and beautiful into one big brewing pot—euphoric chimes and pounding tribal rhythms with violent screams and spooky distortions, that sort of thing. [Pop Matters]. [MP3]:“Sweet Love for Planet Earth”
The sound of SIGHTINGS is the sound of civilization in reverse. Its 11-year, six-album career is one long sayonara to the 20th century, a fulfillment of rock and punk’s broken promise to unravel everything—language, shape, unity. Sightings’ songs give impressions not of sweaty stages and cheesy lights but of battlefields erupting and factories collapsing. Inside the wreckage, swirling within the sonic violence, the human presence of drummer Jon Lockie, bassist Richard Hoffman and guitarist Mark Morgan barely registers. [Indy Weekly]. [MP3]:“Debt Depths”
The combination of Thiboldeauxʼs swooning, near-operatic singing style and Wardʼs fierce yet deconstructive drumming,
surrounded by flurries of shimmering keys and sometimes strings, makes PATTERN IS MOVEMENT more unusual than ever. The only band one could rightly compare them to is Radiohead, what with the jaunty song structures and
opaque, repetitive lyrics. [Philly Weekly]. [MP3]:“Right Away”
Good things come to those who wait. That’s what it seems like Los Angeles noise pop trio, Autolux, have been teaching their loyal fans (myself included) for the last two years. A posting on the band’s MySpace page in January 2007 announced a follow-up to 2004′s excellent Future Perfect, which was slated for a late 2007 summer release. The summer came and went without any new material or news from the band. One fan wrote recently on the trio’s MySpace page:
Dear Autolux,
Can I please hear a new album?
I may have have heard your last album as much as I’ve heard Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, which means I must love you guys.
Love,
Troy
Troy will be happy to know that a new single, “Audience No. 2,” is currently on its way to radio stations for arrival next week and will be available on iTunes shortly thereafter. The band sparked further anticipation with and email last night to their mailing list announcing the single and the new album titled Transit Transit. Still no word on the release date, tracklisting, or artwork, but the band assures us that they are coming soon enough. However vague the news, it’s something, and I’m stoked for this release as Future Perfect was one of my favorites of 2004.
Autolux plays Coachella on April 27th followed by European dates. For nostalgia’s sake, listen to “Turnstile Blues” below.
Tilly and the Wall, those crazy tap dancing kids who sing about making out and getting f*cked up are back (though they’re not that young anymore). The Omaha, Nebraskans are set to release their third full-length O June 17th on Team Love records.
I still think “Rainbows in the Dark” is a banger. Every time I see them its been a festive affair, they just bring the fun factor. Though seeing Tilly’s SXSW showcase was the lowest point for me in March down in Austin. I just remember being so wasted and exhausted that I was going to pass out in the back. Then feeling pissed that I wasn’t able to enjoy Tilly’s show. Then drinking bottles and bottles of water and then trekking to some party three in the morning… Tangent
The Scene Is Now was a post no-wave jug band comprised of a loose collection of downtown New York City musicians. Throughout their half-decade career, the band had a revolving door policy with the only two permanent members being Chris Nelson and Philip Dray formerly of the avant-rock band Mofungo. Like many of their no-wave colleagues, the band avoided technicality, but unlike them TSIN had an affinity toward melodies and pop. The group is hard to pin down sonically, ranging from erratic and angular to smooth (even elegant) and melodic. Their sound could be (and has been) described as quirky off-kilter pop music with a rootsy slant. In a 2001 interview with Perfect Sound Forever, Dray explained that is wife referred to their music as “Swerve Music,” meaning that’s it’s like regular pop music but slightly off-kilter.
TSIN’s debut record, Burn All Your Records (Lost, 1985) sees the quartet dabbling with over half-a-dozen “instruments” including pots, pans, bicycle wheels, along with conventional guitars and keyboards. On first listen, the album can be somewhat inaccessible with a jamming brass section competing against smooth guitar lines and Chris Nelson’s oblique broken vocals. At times it sounds as if multiple bands are playing at the same time. However inaccessible Burn may be intitially, repeated satisfying listens draw forth catchy melodies and pop hooks from the volatile weirdness, while each sound finds its unique place within the compositions. The 20-track long player includes “Yellow Sarong” best known for being covered by Yo La Tengo on Fakebook and who have shared the stage with the ever-changing group. The liner notes on the LP’s back cover hint at Marxist art criticism and a borrowed lyric from Mao Tse-Tung, while the quartet stresses “Don’t buy fur.”
Two proper LP’s followed Burn, including 1986s Total Jive (Lost, Twin\Tone), which moved away from the avant-garde of the group’s previous recordings to more melodious and less complex pastures. In 1988, Pere Ubu bassist and ex-dB Will Rigby signed on for The Scene Is Now’s final official LP titled Tonight We Ride (Lost, Twin\Tone) in 1988. A cassette only release in 1990 (Shotgun Wedding) marked the final recorded material until 2005 when a re-united lineup dropped Songbirds Lie (Tongue Master). In 1995 Hoboken, NJ imprint Bar-None put together an extensive collection of TSIN material on the compilation The Oily Years (1983-1993).
As of February 2008, the re-united TSIN have been playing shows around New York City venues, including Cake Shop and Southpaw, as documented here by Bryan Bruchman. No word on if the band will be releasing new material, but rumors are that the three hard to find original albums will be re-issued later this year.
Despite the cold isolation of winter, there is always something more coming…another spin around the sun.
We’ve been counting the days for warmer weather here in Philly and New York. A glimpse of spring showed its face yesterday but was blown away by strong winds and evening rain showers, leaving us with a chilly, yet sunny, Wednesday. In the hopes of less ravaging weather soon to come, we pulled together a mixtape to coax spring back out of hiding. It ranges from Jack Penate’s happy, clappy, and jaunty “Second, Minute or Hour” to the light psychedelic bubblegum pop of The Lemon Pipers, providing the perfect accompaniment for blooming flowers, morning songbirds, the warmth of the afternoon sun, and those inescapable spring allergies.
