1995 Called & They Want Their Records Back.

I went on a big (well, bigger than usual) '90s indie rock nostalgia binge on my show this week, so I figured I'd make another post of nostalgic visual accompaniment. I'm getting paid to sit here at work & watch Robert Pollard do high kicks on the internet, so why not? The following looks suspiciously like one of the dozens of mixtapes of songs that I would have taped off the local college radio station when I was in the seventh grade.

Superchunk - "Precision Auto"


Sonic Youth - "Bull In The Heather" (with Kathleen Hanna!)


Guided By Voices - "My Valuable Hunting Knife"


The Halo Benders - "Don't Touch My Bikini"

Kool Thing.

I'm sure most of you have seen the film Juno by now, if I'm to believe that the population of horn-rim wearing McSweeney's readers referenced in the dialogue is likely to overlap with those sorts of individuals who would read a college radio station's smart-ass blog. I don't want to get into a heated discussion about the movie here, although it seems to be ripe for picking apart. To get it out of the way, I enjoyed the film well enough for what it is, although I was definitely hyper-aware (almost to the point of being completely turned off from the movie) of the fact that the music/cultural references so carefully utilized in the script were very much intended to pander directly to me, the sort of person who writes for a college radio station's smart-ass blog. Nevermind the fact that I saw the movie with my middle-aged schoolteacher mother (her choice) & had to explain to her later why I almost gagged on my popcorn at the first of MANY truly weird references to the Melvins. Definitely wasn't expecting King Buzzo & Company to be so prominently name-dropped in a cloyingly cute indie comedy about teenage pregnancy. Anyway, maybe this just illustrates what a nerd I am, but I experienced some hardcore disruption to any suspension of disbelief during the film when Juno points out that two of her favorite bands are The Stooges & Patti Smith, only to express an apparent lack of awareness about Sonic Youth (although she seemed to know who the Melvins were? Huh?). Y'know, the whole "I bought another Sonic Youth CD & it was just a bunch of noise!" thing. I'd just like to go on record & say that as I was once a sixteen year old girl myself who listened to Iggy & The Stooges, there's no way that any girl who cites 1977 as the best year ever for music would be completely unaware of Sonic Youth (hello, the Year Punk Broke?). Maybe my view is slanted because I came of age during the hey-day of grunge, but it seems inplausible that some high schooler would stumble upon a copy of Raw Power without Daydream Nation or Dirty having popped up on their radar at some point. And say what you will, but as far as I know, the Melvins haven't turned up as guest stars on an episode of Gilmore Girls yet.



WHAT WOULD THE MELVINS SAY?!

Plumber

Maybe you've seen some flyers around the Valley talking about a "record release party" for Thurston Moore's newest solo release Trees Outside the Academy that's taking place at the Eagles Nest in Northampton this Saturday. It turns out that's partly true. Thurston Moore IS playing, but not solo or part of some record release party. Apparently, there was some miscommunication on that. But the good news is, Thurston Moore is playing. Thurston, his brother Gene [Moore, doy] and John Moloney form like Voltron to become Hustler Collage and word on the street is they'll be doing some good ol' improvisational tunage.

The lineup:

Hustler Collage
Dredd Foole
Radioactive Prostitute
Jow-Jow the Death Knell Rung

Show starts at 8 pm and costs only $5