One foot in the door, the other in the gutter

 

The thinking person finds ambivalence everywhere. But where it could paralyze, the truly wise make it something to rock out to. And there are few wiser than the Replacements. Here, it's ambivalence about taking their punkness uptown or wrapping it in a suit or some other metaphor for making the primal rock instinct palatable to the mass market, such as it existed in the mid-'80s. I'm not sure if the horns are meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but for me, they make for an irresistible, snarling groove.

The Replacements - I Don't Know

Silver age

The thing about being "ahead of your time" is that you never get full credit for your innovations if time never actually catches up to you. So it went with the Silver Apples, who used a fairly limited sound palette to produce some of the coolest, most distinct music of the '60s (also some of the least '60s sounding). There are so many ways the space age could've gone. These guys charted a course we still haven't even embarked on.

Silver Apples - Lovefingers
Silver Apples - Misty Mountain

Jangle in the attic

What is it about slightly maudlin jangle pop that sounds so good when captured on cheap cassettes? It's like jewels found in the attic, covered in dust and neglect, and all the more precious for it. At least dudes like Ariel Pink were paying attention. Martin Newell went on to form the Cleaners From Venus, who were just about as unheard as these early recordings. Another nice Internet rescue from the out-of-printdom.

Martin Newell - Julie Profumo
Martin Newell - Winter Palace 2

Gold Soundz

Seems like everything you read about The Sound casts them as poor saps who should've had a following at least as devoted as those of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen. They coulda been a contendah! Well, the fame game is a crapshoot. A lot of mediocrities get on marquees and a lot of brilliance goes unnoticed. And the sun still comes up every day, and the whining gets stale. At the same time, this 'blague has a fair bit of sympathy for said whining, or at least offers a forum for remedy. So here's a double dose. I love the creepy synth squiggles and Can-esque drumming on this first one. And what a primal lyrical sentiment. As for attention getting, a gentle marketing hint — maybe a more distinct name could've helped. Googling 'The Sound' is just a dumb exercise.

The Sound - I Can't Escape Myself

And for those of you who can't stand Bono, but know that in an alternate universe, you could find yourselves feverishly jumping up and down to a voice that sounds remarkably similar, here ya go...

The Sound - Golden Soldiers

Give me the words

Drawing together a couple threads from the week — extroverted vox à la Peter Hammill and a cover treatment courtesy of Nouvelle Vague. (The latter is actually where I heard this tune first.) I don't often listen to these San Francisco avant-theatrical dudes, but I'm always happy when I do. Or at least made happily ill-at-ease. Such is their art, although this one is absolute pop for them. Also, they sport one of my all-time favorite band names.

Tuxedomoon - In a Manner of Speaking

Canon fodder

I've been living in this city long enough that songs from my first days in town sometimes feel like they're from another life. It's a fun time to mentally revisit, and summer especially takes me back. The Other Music heads were all over this "band" (more of a sporadic confederation of musicians circling around accordionist Alig Fodder) around '99, and I was quite smitten as well. You can hear why right here. This is like a cubist pop song — about five different potential versions of it all happening at once. Somehow, they make room for each other. Also, there's something a little Stereolab-y about it, and you might remember how wanky those same heads were over them at that time (yours truly of course being just as guilty). OK, back to now...

Family Fodder - Savoir Faire

Church music

If your knowledge of The Church starts and ends with memories of "Under the Milky Way" on 120 Minutes, I heartily recommend grabbing some early albums, or at least their well-compiled Best-of. The fact that it's subtitled "Under the Milky Way" doesn't do much to push against one-hit-wonderdom, but there are many great alt '80s songs to be heard from these Australians. Here's one.

The Church - Shadow Cabinet