various artists - Mojo Presents: Swoons (15 Alternative Pop Gems from the 1980s)

There's a reason why I haven't written about this one by now. It's because it's a very English indie curation by Mojo, full of bands whose legacies generally haven't been discovered by our American cousins 40 years on. I have very little cultural context or listening history with the 15 bands appearing herein. I've been digging into Orange Juice recently; a result of The New Vinyl Villain's ongoing Edwyn Collins 45 series. Sad to say, it hasn't clicked yet. I know Microdisney from Rough Trade, Scritti Politti from "The Sweetest Girl", and Marine Girls from Tracey Thorn, whose voice I still rate alongside Beth Gibbons for my favorite British chanteuse.

Otherwise, it's all Greek to me. I can only imagine what it'd look like if the shoe were on the other foot, and I compiled a bunch of Baltimore punk/HC/indie bands from the aughts and teens for the average Mojo reader. They'd probably find something great in Entrance or Celebration or Double Dagger, but the finer points of a Charm City Suicides, a Tarpit, or an Oranges Band would no doubt be lost in translation. "You had to be there," rings in my ears.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - The Mojo Machine Turns You On 2018.

I think I probably didn't pay more than a couple of bucks for this Mojo "Best Of" from 2018. Unlike other entries in their "free CD with purchase" gimmick, this one doesn't really stand out as something I'd want to write about, or even listen to more than once or twice.

Courtney Barnett and Rolling Blackouts F.C. are the two entries that I own records by. Ezra Furman, I think I often confuse with MC Paul Barman, simply on the basis of names. But I really enjoyed their songs used in "Sex Education", and their cut here is equally excellent. As far as other songs I come back to:

• Goat Girl's "Cracker Drool" is a pretty solid post punk banger
• Khruangbin offers a pretty awesome Thai psych soul-by-way-of-Houston sample that had me track down their newest record on Dean Oceans
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra serve up some Southern Hemisphere indie psych rock that I'd probably hate watching live, but would dig putting on a mix tape at some point

In conclusion, I went in with very few expectations, and was pleasantly surprised.

Discogs

Click here to download.

A smorgasbord of Bandcamp buys (The Baltimore stuff)

Homosuperior

So it's possible I may have gotten a little out of control on Bandcamp this weekend.

As I noted in my Friday post, Bandcamp waived their typical fees for the day in support of musicians. I'm really excited to see what kind of money was spent; if memory serves, fans spent something around $4.3 million on independent music during the last sesh. I was able to do my part this time around, picking up 16 records this past Friday. Today, I'll talk about the Baltimore bands; tomorrow, it'll be the non-Baltimore jams. So here we go!

Concrete City - "Break Up The Band" / "Strange Bodies!" / "Killer Kane"

Concrete City bills themselves as "power pop for a disappointing world". I'm just happy that some of favorite 40-something punx from Baltimore have teamed up and are making really fucking great music. Mike Hall (Sick Sick Birds, the Thumbs), Elena Fox (Squaaks), Tim Baier (Roads to Space Travel), and Lee Ashlin (every fucking band) have been playing the soundtrack of my life since the late 90s, but have only been together for about a year and a half now. Since June 2019, they've rolled out six singles, the three newest of which I snagged Friday. I typically try to wait until there's a physical release I can get through a new band's Bandcamp, but these are worth snagging immediately. I suppose the closest sonic comparisons are the last Sick Sick Birds record and, I dunno, maybe something like the Greenberry Woods or XTC? These are the kind of recordings that would have been championed by WHFS and released by Merge back in the 90s, only you get to see them today with 50 other smart souls...if you live in Baltimore.

Homosuperior - "SISSY FUSS"

Here's another one that I wasn't going to wait for a physical release to pick up. Homosuperior is super-queer, super political punk from D.C. This is their third record. They started playing out and about the year after I left Baltimore, but I was lucky enough to check them out live during my last trip home. This is awesome, basement dance party punk rock; I dare you not to shake your ass while listening. I really like Donna's vox on this recording; there's more than a hint of Darby Crash in the performance, without the out & out nihilism. This record is so snotty, you almost want to offer it a tissue. How much do I like this record? So much that I'll buy a physical copy when it comes out.
Dakota Condition - self-titled / Geezus/Hain's Point - split / Inner Oral Photography - "Assorted Artisanal Hand-Crafted Meats and Other Fine Dairy Products"

It's really fun when the kids of former bandmates get old enough to start their own bands. It's also nice to see when their taste doesn't necessarily echo their parents' taste, instead using it as a jumping off point. That's what you get here with these three releases from Baltimore's Soursop Records. Dakota Condition's been playing a fair amount of DIY shows over the past couple years in Baltimore, and started to make a good name for themselves. This recording from 2019 sees them wearing their post-hardcore & emo influences on their sleeve, but that's not a bad thing. Honestly, the more I listen to it, the more I'm reminded of the Emo Summer CD, which, again, good thing! Two of three members play on the Inner Oral Photography cassette. It embraces the players' more experimental side. I found myself reminded of the first Mr. Bungle record listening to it; they've heard a lot of great music, and now they're playing it back in 90 second blasts. Finally, there's the Geezus/Hain's Point split, which I grabbed mostly because there's a perfectly good Rites of Spring reference on the B-side. Most of what I take away here is "promise". I can't wait to hear what comes next. Oh, for shits and giggles, here's Dakota Condition covering Fugazi.

Cold Feet - Punk Entity

I shared "The Worst of the Worst" last week, so that era of American hardcore has been on my mind lately. I had heard good things about Cold Feet from friends back in Baltimore, and I figured it was a good time to check them out. "Punk Entity" is their brand-spanking new 12", and it - fucking - ROCKS! I hate to regurgitate the text on their Bandcamp page, but it's really true: they sit firmly at the intersection of 1983-era American HC and 2020 rock & roll. I like this for the same reasons I still love "This Is Boston, Not L.A."; this is young, snotty, fast, and often unintelligible. I feel kinda dumb that I only snagged the MP3s on this; I really should have copped a copy of the 12" while I was at it.
Mallwalker - DEMO

Fuck, this turning into a REALLY long post. But it's worth it; I swear. Baltimore's Mallwalker has been on my radar for a while. I'm not sure why I haven't snagged their 2018 demo tape until now, but it's a worthy addition. I think making a riot grrrl reference would be really lazy, but I hear a fair amount of Bikini Kill and, oddly enough, Circle Jerks on these five songs. There's a definite Girls-Up-Front vibe at work here, and it totally works for me. Considering it's been two years since this was released, I expect to hear something new from Mallwalker after the quarantine lifts. Grab this and get out in front of the hype; we should be hearing more from this quartet soon.


And that's it. I got some real bangers from my hometown on Friday. Come back tomorrow and listen to what I got from around the country.

Meet Me In The Dollar Bin

Note: here's something I wrote in 2018 when I did two posts of a dollar bin blog, then promptly forgot I'd ever started it. I'm moving it here because here's where I write now.

I've been thinking a lot about writing again.

It was nearly nine years ago that I stopped writing for my last Blogspot blog. I was newly divorced and back on the scene and I just figured, "Fuck it...I'd rather go live it than chronicle it." So I dove into singing for a band in Baltimore. I bought a house. I found a new gig down South, then it moved me out to the PNW. And then I lost my job. And I was out of work for over a year.

Now, being out of work for a year+ teaches you a few things. They include:

1. Maybe you weren't as well regarded in your industry as you thought you were.
2. You can get fairly decent health care if your partner is a bulldog on the phone/internet on your behalf.
3. You better get clever if you want to have some fun.

So, in spite of abject poverty, I've actually probably acquired more music in the past 12 months than at any point in my life. And, with the rare exception of a Bandcamp purchase (the best thing since sliced bread for the DIY musician, IMHO), I haven't spent more than $3 on a single recording. A lot of it is out-of-print. A lot of it is really good. These all came from Goodwills, Value Villages, libraries, and $1 shelves in record stores.

The inspirations for this blog are folks like Spavid at Wilfully Obscure, Matthew Perpetua at Fluxblog, and Grey at Shiny Grey Monotone, all of whom have provided me with 1,001 new things to listen to over the years AND have kept the faith long after Mediafire killed all our links. The soundtrack and namesake is this song by Les Savy Fav, who once put on a hell of a show for a cynical 23-year-old, then became a late night talk show band. I found a copy of "Inches" in a Oregon Salvation Army for a dollar. It made me sad to think this might live there for another six months. So I brought it home, and an idea took shape, and now here you are.

"Meet me in the dollar bin
It's a band I once was in
Haven't done much better since
This is no coincidence
Been rubbing off our finger prints
Covered up with phony skins
This giving in has worn so thin
That you can see the beat within"

 Les Savy Fav, "Meet Me In The Dollar Bin", 2004