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Numero Group has just released a gorgeous boxed set of the D.C. band Tsunami’s collected works. Their first record, Deep End, was a part of the soundtrack to my 1990s (they were involved with the Riot Grrl movement) and revisiting it now, it still packs a punch. There’s such great interplay between the singers, Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson, and the songs are ragged and noisy while also being deeply melodic. Jenny's DIY mentality (she also founded Simple Machines Records) and genuinely indie/alt ethic certainly helped put them on the map, which then charted the course for so many bands which came along after them. What with '90s indie-pop having its moment (think: bands like Soccer Mommy, Alvvays, Snail Mail, and Mannequin Pussy), there’s no better time to return to the source, to a time when politics was kinda boring and the insidious dismantling of the democratic process was only in its infancy.
Heroines. The title track to their sophomore release, 1994's "The Heart's Tremolo," gives a good sense of that oh-so-Tsunami thing without diving headfirst into their noisier mudbaths.
Nov 5, 2024
Related Recs
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WHEN THE PAWN : fiona apple.
just lovley. just insane. every track is a banger but one. you know the one. i listen to it anyway. my faves are on the bound, to your love, a mistake, and i know.
AMNESIAC : radiohead
truly the better more beautiful sister of Kid A. more experimental, more weird and freaky, more of thom yorke just being a funny guy. i listen to this album front to back at least once a month. my record is 6 times in one day. i was in colorado on the most beautiful hike and i listened to the album during and after, so now i see the mountains when i hear it.
TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY : kendrick lamar
i don’t listen to kendrick regularly, but this album is LOVELYYYYY it’s so so good and the narrative builds throughout the album so you really gotta sit through the whole thing sometime. For Free? is the best track idc. these walls is a close second.
I GOT HEAVEN : mannequin pussy
YUM YUM YUMMYYYYYYY. the punk and pop mix is so good it makes me feel like i am so hot and sexy kiss kiss mannequin pussy i love you
GIRL WITH FISH : feeble little horse
favorite album as of late. it’s so fun and poetic and shoegazy and folky all at once. Steamroller is a banger.
HOMEBODY : homebody
weird project started by a local ABQ band. show them some love! weird stuff, but it’s really fun.
PUSSY WHIPPED : bikini kill
probably my all time fav punk album. it was released before Joan Jett reproduced all their stuff so you really get that diy off beat feel. the constant anger throughout and the switch into For Tammy Rae is so fun. i personally love alien she and tammy rae.
Feb 20, 2025
Love & Rockets, cuz I’m old and they jam in some weird unforgettable jams. jungle law, teardrop collector. The album is a must.
“I don't know what color your eyes are, baby
But your hair is long and brown 🎤”
Lydia Loveless, savior of cowpunk. the lingerie cowboy. They are an indestructible machine. “can’t change me”, it just is.
“🎼 Because if people knew, they would call me a fool
I wish they knew it was true: Jesus was a wino, too”
Alejandro Escovedo. If he’s in town, we go. He reminds me off an old story Kiss tell about getting started. At 73 Alejandro will still tear the roof off an empty room. And the full ones are abuzz in adrenaline that keeps the 20-something to 80-something crowd he draws on their feet. He’s the old school punk rock rolled in smart Americana Rock ‘n Roll. He’s an embodiment of Austin City Limits magic ❤️
“I was drunk, I was down, I was wandering around my bed… I calLEd out your name… 🎶”
Metric. The art of doubt. “I’m so rich, everything is free.” 🎵 I love Canadian rockers - they know how to skewer bullshite and this is one of many in their now lengthy catalog that plays electric rock as loud as your punk-kid-soul needs it to go. When I blow the speakers on the family van my wife is gunna be pissed but, what can I say. I can’t put the good speakers in the house 🤣 When the generally more subtle, and way more analog, Cowboy Junkies & Neko Case need a shake-up this is one of the Metric Albums that gets a spin.
Aug 9, 2024
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70s-80s experimental punk band from Britain started by brother duo Epic Soundtracks, and Nikki Sudden. Although they didn’t garner much success while they were together, their sound was a large inspiration to the likes of Pavement and Sonic Youth. After they broke up, Sudden (vocals/guitar) went on to form “The Jacobites,” Soundtracks (piano/drums) joined ”Crime and the City Solution,” and Head (bass) joined “Television Personalities,” all of which I recommend. My favorite album of theirs, “Jane from Occupied Europe” is linked above.
Jan 16, 2024
Top Recs from @coreydubrowa
Hey tyler hopefully this doesn’t violate some PI.FYI golden rule
But after nearly two years of writing, editing and arguing, my book about the EP is coming out in May and can be preordered here:
https://hozacrecords.com/product/aifl/
The book is about the origins, history and cultural impact of the EP since these little objects first started coming out in the 50s.
Over 50 of my music biz friends then helped me shape the list and review the top 200 ever released, according to us (ha).
For those of you who are into this kind of geekery/snobbery, I can’t wait to hear what you think. A labor of love, as all books are! ❤️
Mar 27, 2024
“Songs Of a Lost World” coming to a goth listening station near you Nov 1 🖤
The fr FW Me Friday the 13th the world was looking for
Sep 14, 2024
I will fail to explain just how much this band meant to me in the 90s.
So I will borrow from AV Club who did a fine job of distilling it:
“Unwound is the best band of the ’90s. Not just because of how prolific, consistent, and uncompromising it was, but because of how perfectly Unwound nested in a unique space between some of the most vital forms of music that decade: punk, post-rock, indie rock, post-hardcore, slow-core, and experimental noise. That jumble of subgenres doesn’t say much; in fact, it falls far short of what Unwound truly synthesized and stood for. Unwound stood for Unwound. But in a decade where most bands were either stridently earnest or stridently ironic, Unwound wasn’t stridently anything. It was only itself. In one sense Unwound was the quietest band of the ’90s, skulking around like a nerdy terror cell. In another sense it was the loudest, sculpting raw noise into contorted visions of inner turmoil and frustration.”
R.I.P. Vern Rumsey.
This is their finest song, from their finest album.
I really can’t say enough about the sheer bloody minded genius of this group. 🖤
Mar 23, 2024