three

17-24


Air Miami - Me. Me. Me. (Teenbeat) 1995

There was a little group called Unrest in the early 90s that answered the temporally unaskable question: What would you get when crossing Belle and Sebastian and Velvet Underground in the back of a rare glass shop? Air Miami was a little stutter step that came after that group's demise, retaining singer/guitarist Mark Robinson and bassist/singer Bridget Cross, before it too dissolved, leaving Robinson to record as Flin Flon and eventually simply under his own name. I scored this one during a brief period of fascination with eBay... particularly a seller that would have 300+ auctions daily of CDs all starting at 1 cent. Occasionally a little gem like this would go for under a dollar. It was fun, and it consumed time.
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Aix Em Klemm - S/T (Kranky) 2000

I was introduced to the wonderful Kranky label after seeing Godspeed You Black Emperor play in Halifax during the 1999 Pop Explosion. After picking through a few early Kranky releases by dreamy pop groups like Bowery Electric and post-rock/noise groups like Spiny Anteaters I stumbled upom the 1999 Self-titled album by Labradford and then a non-Kranky title by Stars of the Lid. The latter, I found out after being entranced by Music for Nitrous Oxide, also had two or three Kranky releases. That same year I started doing a show at CHSR called Y2K-Mart, which eventually became perMUTATIONS and is now Surgery, and I contacted Kranky about receive playcopies of their releases. One of the first was this collaboration between Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid and Bobby Donne of Labradford. It was a slightly scaled down and more directly focused amalgam of the two groups' sounds... light-shot guitar haze and minimal bass pulse with occasional distant vocals. So far it's been a one-off, but a solid entry into its field.
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Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies (Sony) 1993

Like many I was swept up in the wave of "grunge fever" that grabbed up all the under-30 music fans in the early 90s. My first copy of Nevermind was on cassette... how's that for hardcore? I was also a child of metal that had undergone a late 80s period of exploration into non-metal avenues, having slightly more worldly/trendy residence neighbours who introduced me to The Cure, The Smiths and The The. Sooooo, when grunge came along the rush of adrenaline was balanced by a slight resistance to take steps "backward" to heavy music once again... especially because I also had an ongoing love affair with shoegazer bands like My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive that was taking up a fair amount of listening time, too. But anyhow... all of that is to explain how I really liked the acoustic e.p.s and Unplugged album that Alice in Chains put out, but could pretty much do without the rest. I'd blame it on my youth, but the same is true today. So.
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Aloha - Here Comes Everyone (Polyvinyl) 2004


Aloha - Some Echoes (Polyvinyl) 2006

For a while Polyvinyl records have been exceptionally generous with their playcopies. They also have a solid roster of bands that do well critically, but none that have really made a big break out album. Aloha are described as early Genesis for the indie rock crowd, but a more apt description might be Tortoise for people who also love songs. They have a nice crowded drum sound, use marimbas and xylophones like an Arizona yard sale gone mad, and a warm guitar/vocal mix that draws you back in to the middle of things. Ten years and five albums into it, they are still waiting for their close-up.
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AM/FM - Getting Into Sinking (Polyvinyl) 2001

Also on Polyvinyl, AM/FM are a little more introverted but just as instrumentally ambitious as Aloha. The duo craft what usually gets referred to a Chamber Pop tunes a little like the quieter Ben Folds songs, but even fore like Matt Pond, PA to whom Tom Cavallario bears a strong vocal resemblence. This one was brought in for stock and bought on a whim... I get bored, ok?
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Ambulance LTD - LP (TVT) 2004

Popping up during the thick of the NYC gold rush that The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs touched of a few years ago, Ambulance are one of those strange bands that I find compelling to listen to every time I put this album on... but an hour after it's finished I'm at a loss to describe it... so then I think maybe it's one for the ol' sell/trade pile, but when I put it on to make sure I'm compelled by it... and the cycle continues. I'd tell you what it's like, but I can't remember just now.
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American Music Club - Mercury (Reprise) 1993

One of my definite weaknesses is sad sack rock. Music that, to paraphrase The Beatles, "Takes a sad song and makes it better." The last couple of decades have seen more than it's fair share of mopey bands that have hit pop highs (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails) and mascara running lows (Nü Metal, Emo). Well to the periphery of all of the stylized suffering are a handful of bands who manage to hit that perfect note that conveys spirit-crushing defeat that is tempered with the will to go on... somehow. AMC are one of the best of those rare bands and Mercury is the pinnacle of their powers. Singer/Lyricist Mark Eitzel nails the barfly boredom of down and out San Francisco is a cycle that verges on but never quite spills over into cartoonish excess. Guitarist Vudi is one of those rare players, like U2s Edge, who play for atmosphere rather than chord structure... the whole thing blends perfectly into a good Scotch drinking weeper of an album with sad ass lyrics like these:

01 Gratitude Walks
Drunk on the kind of applause
That gets louder the lower you sink

02 If I Had a Hammer
The love cry of the traveling man goes
No one knows who I am
But I'm as priceless as a brass ring
That lost the heat from your hand

03 Challenger
The city below me shines
I guess I'm part of Detroit's shiny dream

04 I've Been a Mess
***(The song begins and ends with an extended metaphor about Lazarus' lack of enthusiasm for being raised from the dead)
Your beauty is just a slap in the face
That's gonna bring me back to life
Back to another sky thats blue
It's gonna turn me into another great American zombie
So hungry for you

05 Hollywood 4-5-92
What happens to the rat that stops running the maze
The doctors think it's dumb when it's just disappointed

06 What Godzilla Said To God When His Name Wasn't Found In The Book Of Life
Watch your house of cards take a deep breath
Watch it breathe word for word

07 Keep Me Around
The sound the air makes as I fall
Is like a laugh that was torn
From where nothing was before

08 Dallas, Airports, Bodybags
Shuffling through people like cards
I can't find anyone to take my losing hand

09 Apology For An Accident
Well Ive been praying a lot lately
It's because I no longer have a t.v.
Just a flourescent hangover to light the way
Between the things you say and the things I see

10 Over And Done
Seems like boiling history down
To a forty-five minute wait
A big boredom filled with stars
All burning with hate

11 Johnny Mathis' Feet
He said, a real showman knows how
To disappear in the spotlight.

12 The Hopes And Dream Of Heaven's 10,000 Whores
"Forgive me if you can," said the sad cashier,
"For the dollars and cents our love has become."
I didn't sell you anything my dear
You were a scarecrow looking for a bonfire to sleep on.

13 More Hopes And Dreams
Instrumental

14 Will You Find Me?
If you ask the man in the tollbooth
Well I'm sure he'd tell you
That on the highways there's a million ways
If you wanna disappear