seventeen

130-138



Beat Happening - Black Candy (K/Sub Pop) 1992

One of the sounds that helped define the now-useless term "Indie Rock" was the kind of childlike approach to songwriting that Beat Happening utilized. Far from being a gimmick, it was simply the noise made by people who loved getting together to make music but were too excited by it to wait until they were really professional. Essentially it was the DIY of punk rock stripped of fashion and posturing (at least overtly). The trio hammered out three chord anti-anthems... and Black Candy was their attempt at darker themes and swampier production in the vein of The Cramps or Deja Voodoo. It never really got that heavy, though... instead you end up with a six-year-olds' version of dangerous rock. The song "Cast a Shadow" has been covered by BMX Bandits, Adam Green (of The Moldy Peaches) and Canada's own West Coast indie pop darlings Cub.
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Beck - One Foot in the Grave (K) 1994


Beck - Odelay (Geffen) 1996


Beck - Mutations (Geffen) 1998


Beck - Sea Change (DGC) 2002

OK... I let you in on my non-funk biases when talking about Beastie Boys... so it should come as little surprise which four Beck albums I have in my collection. The first, One Foot in the Grave, comes appropriately right after Beat Happening on the shelf... given that it features Calvin Johnson of that group and it came out on the label run by Johnson, Olympia's K records. The music reflects most starkly what's at the root of all Beck's music: grizzled Folk Blues mutated by the street level Hip Hop he grew up with in California. Mutations and Sea Change are my favourite sides of the Beck coin... downbeat and moody; is it a coincidence his non-smiling face are only on these quieter albums? I will concede that Odelay is a masterwork, though it seldom is the one I reach for when I'm playing a Beck album by myself. All the elements are balanced... the production is, er, slammin' (?)... and his freaky Rorschach test lyrics are at their best. Respect.
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Bedhead - Beheaded (Trance Syndicate) 1996

Middle album of three superlative efforts by this great Texas quintet centered around the brothers Kadane, Matt and Bubba. They play a slightly countrified (i.e. echoes of pedal steel) version of the slow-core dynamics employed by other groups like Codeine and Seam. I was playing this in the store on Wednesday and three young ladies all started grooving to it... always a good sign that an album's worth it's weight. They get the slow dynamic build-up just right, but also infuse it with a kind of vague malaise that keeps it on edge even in the quietest parts. After the dissolution of Bedhead the brothers reconvened in 2001 as The New Year.
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Beef Terminal - Grey Knowledge (Noise Factory) 2002


Beef Terminal - Isolationist (Noise Factory) 2003


Beef Terminal - Anger Do Not Enter (Noise Factory) 2005

Beef Terminal is MD Matheson of Toronto, ON... and Noise Factory is the post-rock/electronic label who brought us the first Broken Social Scene album... back when they were merely a duo. Despite the fairly visceral name, BT's music centers around nicely layered and delay-enhanced guitar figures that suggest bleary eyed early mornings and over-heated Summer nights. Of the three Isolationist has the most to offer... introducing some slight force in its rhythms and a live, organic drum feel that buoys the more ephemeral melodies. Anger Do Not Enter relies more on (purposefully?) outdated drum machine sounds that have a little touch of sterility that does the music no favours.