I have decided to forgo the traditional Mojo Monday this time around to share something that I've had on vinyl since it came out, and something I just acquired a promo of in the past couple of weeks. I also have a lot of two dozen Mojo comps coming in the mail this week, which will cover us into 2027. So here we are with a break in habit.
Girls Against Boys was a good example of what happened to hardcore kids when they "outgrew punk" in the 90s. Made up of 3/4 of the beloved DCHC band Soulside, GvsB released a trio of records for Touch & Go before getting signed by DGC Records in 1997. As far as major label signings go, it made sense. GvsB made the sort of music that fit well on the shelf with Helmet, latter-day New Order, Soul Coughing, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. When "Freak*On*Ica" came out in 1998, I remember it having a listening station at work, very cool point of purchase gear, and a design aesthetic that read more downtempo than indie rock. Our record department, located in the back of a suburban Baltimore bookstore, ended up not selling a single copy and returning all 30 copies six months later to the distributor.
It turns out pop & nu-metal just fucking buried records like this. There was no one championing this indie darling's experimental fifth record. "Park Avenue" wasn't going to outplay "Flagpole Sitta" or "Sex And Candy" on the radio; not even GvsB's hometown station WHFS gave this more than a few spins. If this had come out of Bristol or Manchester, or come out on Creation, Melody Maker or the NME probably would have given this single massive coverage. And it would have been able to draft that into greater acclaim in the States.
I got the Akashic 7" of this a few weeks after it came out via Dischord Direct. I loved the B-side, a dancy remix of "American Black Hole". But this was firmly in my past until a few weeks ago, when I found this 4-track promo CD in a dollar bin. It was so cool to find two additional remixes that I hadn't heard before. Plus remembering how much I enjoyed the 7". I had to share it with you.
1 comment:
Nice surprise as I was unfamiliar with this band, sounds great, thank you!
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