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 - 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

Click here to download.

various artists - Periscope (Another Yoyo Compilation)

I had wanted to post "Tulip", the second Yoyo comp, in this space. But I seem to have deleted it from my hard drive, and the hard copy is in a box in one of my storage units, and who knows when the Christ I'll find that, so here we are.

"Periscope (Another Yoyo Compilation)" is the third release sampling recordings from Pat Maley's Yoyo Studios. This one's as strong as the preceding volumes, with a mix of bands and performances you'd probably never find elsewhere in the world. On the noisier side, you get Mukilteo Fairies, Fitz of Depression, Copass Grinderz, and Bloodthirsty Butchers. If you're looking for something a bit more twee, then check in for Love As Laughter, Go Sailor, or Tattle Tale. Even a pair of indie rock/alternative luminaries make appearances. Beck shows up with a song pre-dating his "Mellow Gold" breakout. But the stand-out has got to be the otherwise unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel cut, "Bucket". It's a winner.

Please forgive the shitty genre tagging on these cuts. I think I ripped this when I was hopped up on goofballs or something.

Discogs

Click here to download.