various artists - Mojo Presents: The Dreamers (15 Tracks Of Kate Bush-Inspired Dream Pop)

I don't have the October 2014 issue around which to contextualize the claim, but can one truly say this collection is Kate Bush-inspired? This stretches the definition of what "dream pop" is, and I always found Kate Bush (who I love...don't get me wrong) to be more akin to Peter Gabriel on the art rock tip, so I'm casting a gimlet eye towards the title. But there's a Wye Oak song here, and one by Julie Holter, and I can always skip over The War On Drugs, so I guess I'll just throw this one out to you, my people, and wish you not only a happy Mojo Monday, but a solemn Memorial Day.

Discogs

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various artists - Astralwerks SXSW New Music 2006

From the "Holy Shit, It's Been 20 Years!" Files: this sampler.

This one came from the missus's collection, which I would say runs both less esoteric and more eclectic than my own. For one, even 20 years ago when it was still primarily a place for indie rock bands to play 6 shows in the course of 4 days, you wouldn't have caught me down in Austin for SXSW. I was always happy for friends who got a bunch of slots down there, and a good opportunity to tour to and from. But it felt like a combination of too much money, too many bands, too many drugs, and not enough sleep, even in my twenties when all that's supposed to be what you're living for.

The contrivance part of Astralwerks was really no longer present by the time they put this out in 2006. It was no longer only the place where EMI would collect and license a bunch of European electronic music makers to help them grow. The success of Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers led to more breakouts from the likes of Sia and Hot Chip. It also served as the American home for Beth Orton and Placebo. Dance punk adjacent artists like the Juan MacLean and VHS Or Beta put out records along with soul survivor Candi Staton. It was still a home for dance music, but this sampler is a reminder that it was a much larger tent by 2006.

Does it hold up well, 20 years past? In a few instances, yeah, the song and artist is timeless. I'm going to think of Christopher Walken every time I hear "Weapon Of Choice" and it's going to make me smile. Hot Chip sounds like the future, just like they did on the "Over & Over" 12" that DFA put out in '05. Likewise for the Juan MacLean, whose eponymous leader also recorded for DFA before putting out their first full-length in the States on Astralwerks.

2006 was my first year of marriage, my first year out of college, my first year working under my abilities at as "straight" a job as I could stomach. It was the end of youth, the beginning of respectability...or so I thought. As it turns out, it was the first major detour in an adulthood full of them, and this sampler, just out of the mainstream of the times, is as good a soundtrack to remember those times as anything.

Discogs

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various artists - I Am Not A Test Market (1994 Restless Winter Yearbook)

It's the winter of 1994, and whilst picking up Brainiac and Guided By Voices records for your cool niece for Hanukkah, a sympathetic clerk at the local record store throws this into your shopping bag. And because who doesn't like free stuff, you smile and thank them. You slap this Restless Records catalog sampler, featuring two tracks each from eight bands, into your Discman with the tape deck adapter, and dig right in. Here's what you hear:

• aMiniature was from San Diego, and came from that angular, post hardcore/math rock tradition exemplified in the area by the immortal Drive Like Jehu. Both tracks come from their second record, 1994's Depthfiveratesix.
• Surrender, You Freak was album #2 from Seattle's Sister Psychic, a band who I'd never heard of until picking this up. Definitely hailing from the Neil Young folk rock branch of mid-90s alternative rock.
• Swains' second and third records got issued Stateside by Restless; these two songs come from the third and final full-length Sonic Mind Junction. Apparently, the folks on Discogs describe them as "progressive house", but I'll just give them the "leftfield" genre and move on with my life.
• Smut were a quartet of Minneapolis punks who made music along the same lines as Babes In Toyland, so it makes sense they put out records via Lori Barbero's imprint Spanish Fly Records. It was tied in with Twin/Tone, which, by this point, Restless was distributing, so BOOM! two tracks from their debut full-length.
• Louisville's Crain was part of the end of Slamdek, and helped bridge that label's weirdo punk/HC aesthetic with the weirdo indie rock vibe that'd emerge via Rodan and the For Carnation a couple years later. Heater came out in 1994 and was Crain's swan song.
• I knew God And Texas almost exclusively from a track they contributed to the Australian comp "Self Mutilation - A Compilation Of Compilations", which I've never owned an actual copy of but managed to acquire a dubbed tape somewhere around 1996 and treasured ever since. God And Texas were one of those noise rock shit stirrers that all gravitated to Chicago; both tracks here originated on 1993's Criminal Element, which is a pretty great record from that era.
• The Hang-Ups, like Smut, hailed from the Twin Cities. Unlike Smut, the Hang-Ups made super tuneful jangle pop and had a record co-produced by Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. He's After Me was released on Clean Records, distributed by Restless, and was the source of the Hang-Ups' two songs contained herein.
• And, finally, a pair of songs from Giant Sand, the still-active, ever-prolific, Tucson-located alt-country band. Purge & Slouch was Giant Sand's third record for Restless, their 10th overall, is now 33 years old, which breaks my spirit, b/c I remember playing songs from this record on the radio in 1995.

So, there you have it. A sampling of an American indie rock label during the peak of Cobain. A lot of it still holds up. But maybe that's because I came of age during this time.

.Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Beloved (A Treasury Of Classic British Indie Rock)

Far be it for me to miss a second straight week of Mojo Mondays. And with St. Valentine's Day right around the corner, what better time is it to celebrate our beloved 80s British indie bands?

From the Monochrome Set and Orange Juice (shout out to The New Vinyl Villain for their ongoing OJ/Edwyn Collins singles series) through the Sound and Half Man Half Biscuit, all the way up to McCarthy and the La's, this is good confirmation that this was a classic era of indie for the UK. Universally, none of this broke in the States at the time of its release, but I sure as hell keep an eye out for these records in secondhand stores and thrift shop bins. This is the kind of physical media that the Gen X'ers seem to still be ditching if they didn't 86 it all when streaming really took hold. It's one of those "beggars can't be choosers" situations, where you're paying a premium to seek out specific records. But if you're down for a bit of aural adventure, you can finally determine why Julian Cope is held in such high regard, why Cherry Red is still reissuing Felt recordings 40 years on, and why you should give a damn about Pete Wylie and his various iterations of Wah! (Heat).

Discogs

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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

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Daphne The Painted Lady - s/t

I turned this one up at a Value Village in September, mainly taken in by the handprint on the cover and lack of immediately-identifiable information online. This turned out to be a really fun discovery. This Los Angeles trio dates from around 2005 (aka the Myspace years), and plays a brand of indie pop along the lines of that dog., the Anniversary, or Karmella's Game. There's a few live tracks on YouTube, but, otherwise, the collected work of Emily, Laura, and Joe might be lost to the age, save for this post. So enjoy this one; it's a recording that should be remembered.

Discogs

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various artists - Saddle Creek 2007 Sampler

John Davis, formerly of Q And Not U and Corm, has a new book out about the history of DC fanzines. "Keep Your Ear To The Ground" is like catnip to folks like us; those who want to preserve the old days, warts and all, and see value in the things that many others might view as trash. John's zine Held Like Sound still holds a special place in my heart. It was my contemporary look at DC when I first moved to the DMV in 1994. I thought I was moving to the DC suburbs; it turned out to be the direct opposite side of Baltimore. Instead of Positive Force, I got the Loft and Reptilian Records. It was all for the better, but I still wonder what might have changed if I had ended up in Arlington, Sterling, or Laurel.

John was also one half of Georgie James, whose sole full-length came out on Omaha's Saddle Creek in 2007, and who are represented by two tracks on this sampler. Saddle Creek's luminaries also show up; Bright Eyes' "Cassadega" and the Good Life's "Help Wanted Nights" both came out that year. Within a year, Conor Oberst would be out on the campaign trail, playing Obama rallies with Bruce Springsteen. It was a weird time. The twelve tracks are rounded out by two each from ex-Azure Ray artists Art In Manila & Maria Taylor, and S.F. folky duo Two Gallants, who I'm pretty sure I booked on their first show in Baltimore around this time. This is all a stretch to suggest y'all check out Davis's book, but I think I got us there.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Come On Let's Go! (A Modern Jukebox)

You can count on Mojo and Paul Weller to compile a disc every couple of years. And this is the offering from 2012. Highlights (for me, at least) are Weller's cover of Nick Drake's "River Man", a live recording of "Love Is A Losing Game", and a program led off and titled by Broadcast, the beloved pop experimenters from Birmingham.

This came on in the car while the missus and I drove into Seattle to see Baltimore hardcore luminaries End It a couple of weeks ago. She's never rarely boggled by what I play in the car; 15 years and numerous free jazz, grindcore, and K-pop records on, she's heard just about all of it. But to hear Joanna Newsom, Tame Impala, and Joan As Police Woman in quick succession had her asking if I was ok. I was just following what Mr. Weller put together for me, was my response.

Discogs

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various artists - Modern Life Is Rubbish (Mojo Presents 15 Tracks Of Everyday British Angst)

This specific era of British pop music is not my particular cuppa. Excepting the Pop Group and the first couple of Libertines records, those artists represented here are, as my dad once described Aphex Twin, "a bunch of pops, clicks, and whistles." It's not my bag, is what I'm saying.

But someone once told me to check out Sleaford Mods, and I remain a fan of the output of the late, great Mark Stewart, and this sucker was a buck when I plucked it from the shelf, so I had to have it. EVEN THOUGH I KNEW I probably wasn't going to dig most of this. Even ten years on from publish date, the only name I recognize here is Half Man Half Biscuit, who I own a much healthier amount of records by/including than I would have ever guessed.

Discogs

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various artists - Pop Romantique: French Pop Classics

Record Store Day was this past weekend, and, if you're like me, you avoided it like the plague. The way that it's buggered up capacity, driven up prices on new releases, and generally caused folks to further fetishize vinyl really bums me out. Because I loves a good party. But people...man, do I hate people.

Apropos of nothing, here are a bunch of indie bands covering chansons from the 60s and 70s. Françoise Hardy and Kevin Ayers both pop up for guest appearances. OF COURSE there are Elephant 6 members involved. You get an AIR track, a Heavenly cover, a Stephen Merritt performance. This was a spur of the moment penny bid, based on the cover alone, that 100% panned out for me. I fucking love it like I hate Record Store Day.

Discogs

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bis - The New Transistor Heroes

I've been listening to a bunch of bis in recent months. One of those hyperbolic "it's what got me through the winter"-type statements doesn't apply here, but it sure was nice (re)discovering a band at 47 that I'd written off as unworthy of my attention at 20. I mean, of course I like them now, now that I've had a quarter century's seasoning, listening to Los Campesinos and Eugenius and Another Sunny Day, getting a sense of what came after, what existed during, and what led into this.

It's just punk kids making pop sounds, which is really all I need at this late date. Sure, I just loaded the Faith/Void split back on my phone, and spent March alternating in "Madvillainy" between listens of these Glaswegians. Give me this for a buck and I'm happy as a clam.

This is the US CD version of the record, released on Grand Royal. Willja handled honors in the UK, and Steven from bis reissued this in an expanded version in 2024 on Do Yourself In. Regardless of how you get it, get it, cuz it's good, you know? Hell, if you can get out of the country, go see them on their home turf; they're playing shows all year long!

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Love Will Tear You Apart (15 Hand-Picked Tracks Of Hurt, Pain & Despair)

This is my ideal Mojo comp. a mix of old and new, originals and covers, artists I've known for years and folks that are brand new to me. Every song is listenable, with a track like "Marie", performed by Townes van Zandt and Willie Nelson, leaving me wondering how I'm only hearing this for the first time now. Jim Reid of the JAMC covering the Saints was a pleasant surprise. Hearing Jon Auer's "Green Eyes" had me reaching for the first three Posies records, while I never need a reminder to dive back into the catalogs of Nina Simone or Jarvis Cocker.

Yeah, I fucked up the title in the tagging. Please kick this ass of a man.

Discogs

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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

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various artists - How Soon Is Now? (Mojo Presents 15 Tracks Of Modern Independent Music...)

This is all I want from any free-with-purchase compilation. There's some old (the Fall, Lush), some new (Hooton Tennis Club, Let's Eat Grandma), some borrowed (Ian William Craig), and some blue (Destroyer). It's a marriage of the familiar and the unfamiliar; a little reference to something to pick up on Bandcamp Friday. Toss in some old colleagues from the hardcore scene (White Lung) and back home in Baltimore (Beach House) and, bah Gawd, this is a heck of a stew to sample, even eight years on.

Discogs

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various artists - 1999 Teen-Beat Sampler (A Compilation Album)

It seems strange to me that I haven't written more about being a big dork for Arlington, VA's Teen-Beat Records. After all, it's not like I just got into them last week. The Mark Robinson-led label has been a part of my life ever since I moved to Baltimore in '94, having copped Unrest's "Perfect Teeth" shortly after landing there. Here was a sonically different fellow traveler to my beloved Dischord, a place that melded pop influences with DIY ethics and a postmodern visual aesthetic. Along with what was coming out of K Records in the PNW, it was a place where Madonna and Enya could meld with Crispy Ambulance and Cath Carroll into something that was distinct and familiar to this 17-year-old boy.

This is the fourth in the Teen-Beat Annual Sampler Series, and it's a pretty good one, a proper sampling of both the current label roster as well as a smattering of some super deep cuts from the catalog. The Rondells' record was one that I listened to nearly to death in 1999, and their cover of "Like A Prayer" got played a lot on my radio show. There was something familiar about True Love Always' "Faust"; it would be years later that I'd connect that it originated from de Palma's "Phantom Of The Paradise". Versus, Flin Flon, Tel Aviv: their songs from their then-current records laid out a indie pop present very different from what was playing on the radio at the end of the millenium, but just as danceable and worthy of singing along.

Discogs / Teen-Beat

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various artists - Throw (The Yoyo Studio Compilation)

Originally posted September 23, 2020. Reuploaded with a new rip of a previously mint-in-shrink copy.

I've been wanting to share my collection of Yoyo Recordings comps for a while, but I think I never got around to ripping the later releases. I've always liked the way that Pat Maley's recordings have sounded, and appreciated what he's contributed to the 90s Western Washington sound (if there is such a thing). If you got stoked on it, he probably recorded it: Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Unwound, Beat Happening, and Team Dresch all came into YoYo Studios and made records now considered classics. He's always seemed like the perfect person for a band to make their first recordings with.

It seems to be dormant since 2011, but the 30-some-odd releases on Yoyo from 1992 on still hold up really well. Pat released five comps during that period, capturing both a sample of songs he recorded and released. The first is "Throw - The Yoyo Studio Compilation", released on both CD and vinyl. I grabbed this years ago because it had songs from the above bands, but I think it's worth coming back to for songs from the lesser-known bands. Whether it's the lead-off song from Olympia's Kicking Giant, channelling the K/53rd & 3rd vibe of late 80s indie pop, or Anacortes' Gravel, going grungier, these songs just stick in my brain. The standout for me remains one of the earliest artifacts from Heavens to Betsy. Corin Tucker's voice is SO big on this track; even if I had heard it before I heard "Calculated", I still would have thought that she would have become a big deal.

Discogs

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various artists - KJET Alternative CD Sampler #3 Summer '88

1988 was the year I first remember choosing to listen to the radio.

Before that, it was whatever Mom or Dad had playing in the car, or in the living room. Sometimes it was tapes, sometimes it was whatever MOR nonsense that was playing in the mid 90s on the FM dial.

But I got a boombox and a half dozen blank tapes on my 10th birthday, and by the following year, I had locked in on 96 Rock and 99.1 in Atlanta. I was too young to know about WREK, still in its heyday down at Tech; I'm not sure now that it would have had the signal to make it out to north Cobb County. So it was Todd Rundgren and Skid Row and LL Cool J and Public Enemy coursing through my ears into my brain. Not a bad time to start hearing music.

I did not get exposed to anything like this CD. Compiled by a trade magazine called The Hard Report, this "sampler" was a custom job on behalf of short-lived Seattle alternative radio station KJET 1590 AM. And compared to the rest of the Hard Report's samplers, this one's pretty good. The highlights for me are appearances from Wire (from their second post-reunion album), the Sugarcubes ("Deus" off their debut "Life's Too Good") and Dag Nasty, the pride of WDC. It's up there in quality alongside the couple of Borders CD samplers I got in the mid-90s; an interesting snapshot of what qualified as noteworthy back before I was old enough to use deodorant.

Postscript: reader Todd pointed out that this is a labeled as "KROQ - 106.7 FM Alternative CD Sampler #3 Summer '88" on the download. "What's the big idea?" I can hear him screaming (I project sometimes). Well, when I originally ripped my copy and uploaded it to Kraken, it was before I had snapped photos of the cover or added it to Discogs. I thought I was going to write about it sooner. I was incorrect. I should have re-tagged and added new pics, etc., etc.

Todd, your No-Prize is in the mail.

Discogs

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various artists - Yoyo A Go Go

It's been a few years since I last posted anything from Pat Maley's Yoyo Recordings. But it's been thirty years since the first Yoyo A Go Go, and since I'm less than 80 miles away, as opposed to the 2,800 or so that I was back then, I thought it was time to pay this one a visit, and share it with you fine peep-holes.

Let me tell you what I recollect about this time. I was listening to my cassette of International Piop Underground Convention a lot in the spring of 1994, so when I heard that something similar was going to take place that summer...well, I didn't give it a ton of thought, because how was I going to go from Boones Mill, Virginia to magical Olympia? Especially since I found out a few weeks before school ended that we were leaving the sticks for suburban Baltimore,

But it was definitely intriguing. And, in retrospect, a little bit gumption could have gotten me out there on a four-day Greyhound with more than a few of my hard-earned Taco Bell dollars in my pocket. And who would I have seen? Unwound, Heavens to Betsy, Excuse 17, and Team Dresch remain the big names for me, even this far down the line. How cool would it have been to see Codeine, or Cub, or two thirds of Yo La Tengo, or Neutral Milk Hotel? Would I have even been into it back then? Or would it have been one of those moments I would have only appreciated in retrospect?

I suppose it's better to regret something you have done, rather than somehing you haven't done. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get up in someone's face and scream "SATAN!" over and over again.

Discogs

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various artists - Ask The Sky

I bought this 30-year-old comp from a Half Price Books clearance shelf for $2 because it had Redd Kross on it. I figured, hell, if the "Phaseshifter"-era McDonald brothers are batting lead-off, then the rest of the lineup can't be too bad. And I was right. This one's a mix of UK & US early 90s indie and Japanese indie pop. The Penelopes' two songs are great, and Samantha's Favourite is a band I'll be keeping an eye out for. This one probably should be on I Hate The 90s, but I never heard back about contributing there, so here you go.

Discogs

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various artists - Get Up Kids Last Tour Sampler

This one's pretty straightforward, like a handshake from an Elk.

Back in the good ol' days of 2005, the Get Up Kids decided to call it a day.

They went out on a final tour (as was the custom at the time), taking some of their buds from Kansas out on the road with them.

The gang at Blue Collar Press put together this sampler, featuring each band on the tour plus Matt Pryor's new band for kids.

I presume this ended up in my collection as a result of Mrs. Mummy having attended at least one or two of those shows.

I've been listening to a fair amount of GUK's more contemporary work, so it made sense to me to share this with y'all.

See? Straightforward. Like the answer to the riddle "Would you eat the moon if it were made of spareribs?".

Discogs

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