The trio of Thomas Deater, Brent Gutzeit and Blaine Townsend that played together on the Linkage track "Ugly Bell Suite" performed under the moniker Muzak for Llamas while at Western Michigan University. The band, formed to highlight the sculptural instruments made by Gutzeit, would expand, shift lineups and become Liminal. Liminal released a cassette No. 1 (Construction) in 1993on Deater's Gentle Giant Records.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a copy of this cassette nor any of the music thereon. But in 1999, Gutzeit's own label BOXmedia did release Temple Music, a 1993 Liminal live performance held in WMU's Rotunda Gallery. It helps fill in what the cassette might have sounded like keeping in mind the band's fluid lineups. On Temple Music, the nucleus is, of course, Gutzeit's instruments. They are uniquely percussive—in ways only handmade instruments can be—outside of any classical and familiar resonances. His instruments are also sculpted with the live space in mind and can sound cavernous as the tones emitted tumble and layer, reverberating in the room and against themselves. The result is an entropic ambience whose amplitudes level anywhere between balm and bombast.
Becky Cooper's flute, playing Eastern-influenced tonalities, is the other omnipresent sound and only melodic ingredient on the recording. She adds a meditative layer that elevates the music to something more mystical. Thomas Deater (guitar,) Michael Hartman (percussion,) Josh Remy (synthesizer) and Todd Carter (sampler) further accent the soundscape and bring structure to the, only somewhat, controllable chaos at the music's center. Together, the improvisations build a space greater and more strange than a gallery; akin to a temple, yes, but also revealing of the fantastic therein: the liminal, you might say.
Temple Music is available for purchase here. Special thanks to Brent Gutzeit for his generosity in sharing these albums and answering my questions.
Here is the approximate discography surrounding Liminal's cassette:
No. 1 (Construction)
Temple Music (1999 release of a 1993 live performance)
04.16.94.21.24.20 (1995 track from The Miracle of Levitation compilation)
Kalamazoo 04.16.94 (1997 track from The Miracle of Re-Creation compilation)
The best and most tasteful decision Jimmy Fallon ever made was hiring The Roots to be his Tonight Show band. Considering the history of music on the Tonight Show, the bands—meant to entertain and hype audiences leading up to shoots and during breaks—have all been versatile with popular song. Only Branford Marsalis, who played what he wanted, bucked the job description. Kevin Eubanks and his band brought rock, R&B and pop into the show's repertoire, and The Roots could do all that and bring in, naturally, Hip Hop. Even before hiring them, Jimmy envisioned The Roots playing a bigger role than just as a hired audience to laugh at his jokes. In a call back to Carson, Jimmy features their skills regularly in sketches, and games and musical routines. The best thing about Jimmy's tenure is his palpable camaraderie with The Roots, a relationship not prominent between host and band since Carson and Doc. "Retiring" to the regular job for Tonight came after nearly twenty years of albums and hard touring. The Roots self-released their debut album Organix in 1993.
At first, The Roots found it difficult to get signed. Not gaining any career traction in their native Philadelphia, they moved to the UK and toured Europe and had to self-produce their debut. As such, Organix lacks studio polish. Instead, The Roots were still finding their identity and sought to chronicle that growth on record. Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson on drums and Josh "Rubberband" Abrams/Leonard "Hub" Hubbard on bass are the album's beat and melody in an radical embrace of stark minimalism that has a flexible affinity with jazz, funk and R&B rhythms. Guitar and keyboards are only occasional touches to get the listener moving a bit. Overtop is almost always Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter who delivers breathless rhymes as the primary emcee. He can fall into similar rhythms and rhyme schemes from song to song but delivers with undeniable power and cleverness.
In this freeform chronicling of artistic growth, each song owes a lot to The Roots's Hip Hop influences with the jazz-attuned Tribe being undeniable. They try a few times to replicate their own versions of earlier alternative rap hits like "Can I Kick It?" or De La Soul's "Buddy." Songs like "Grits" and "Pass the Popcorn" allow lyrical play with a rather undefined metaphor but don't have the same ear for a single. Despite the spare instrumentation, the rhythm section already has a deep well of musical references to pull from, incorporating them into songs in a manner halfway between sampling and jazz quotations, and Black Thought is just as willing to rap as to try slam poetry or scat. The experimentation can be just as silly as serious like with a bass line call back to the "Inspector Gadget" theme song or just a 14 minute-long, "Longest Ever," posse cut featuring the Foreign Objects, The Roots's attempt to create a hip hop collective akin to the Native Tongues (Tribe, De La, Jungle Brothers,...) "Good Music" is the album's musical and lyrical peak opening with a nod to underground radio world-building, incorporating storytelling and band lore, using a clever echo-like round in the chorus and breaking down into a fun time.
I don't think I really needed to say all this because Black Thought says it all in "Leonard I-V":
And I speak up loud so you can hear me yo
Is it a Tribe Called Quest? Is it the JBs?
We're cool like that, but yo we're not the DBs
It's the group, The Roots, with the organic rap style
Plus the groove from the rhythmic rhyme file
Umm...I'm a big fan of the Soul
But I'm trying to get this Roots shit in control
So I hate when people say
"Umm—you remind of me De La Soul,"
'Cause I got a soul of my own, and umm
Yo, The Roots are taking big steps and
You can listen as we progress in
Sometimes I might come to teach a lesson
Other Times it's with a crazy question like...
Yo, whatever happened to Leonard Parts One to Five?
The result is a testament to Thompson and Trotter's pursuit of a destiny written in song. Shaggy, fun, full of potential, devoted and indebted: The Roots are trying a little bit of everything to start. They don't know quite who they are yet but they know where to go to find out and we, the listeners, get to witness the first steps.
Thus ends the year-long-plus journey through the audio history of The Tonight Show. Thank God. Wouldn't have done it in hindsight, but I...really wanted to cover The Roots.
Here is the discography surrounding The Roots's debut album:
Organix
"Pass the Popcorn" by The Roots
"Essawhamah?" by The Roots
Questlove Remebers When Jimmy Won The Roots Over
Know Your Roots with Questlove and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter
Jimmy Fallon, The Who & The Roots Sing "Won't Get Fooled Again" (Classroom Instruments)
The Spaceshits were notorious for their live shows leading to incidents that would get them banned from many of the Montreal venues they played at. One such incident involved another, more established punk band, New Bomb Turks. New Bomb Turks released their debut album !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!! in 1993 on Crypt Records.
Here is the discography surrounding New Bomb Turks's debut album:
A Datapanik Split Single EP (1991 split single EP)
Bumped by Karaoke: Datapanik's Greatest Hits Vol. II (1992 compilation album)
So Cool, So Clean, So Sparkling Clear (1992 EP)
Trying to Get By (1992 single)
Cowtown EP Vol. II (1993 compilation EP)
Bottle Island (1993 single)
In the Wee Small Hours (1993 split single)
I Wanna Sleep (1993 single)
I'm Weak (1993 single)
Drunk on Cock (1993 EP)
Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus (1993 compilation album) !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!!
The Next Big Thing (1993 single)
So Young, So Fair, So Debonair (1993 single)
Sharpen-Up Time (1993 single)
Tattoed Apathetic Boys / Dogs on 45 Medley (1993 split single)
Live '93 (1993 live EP)
Live Munster '93 (1993 live EP)
Peel Session 1993 (1993 Peel Session)
Shoestrings found its songs a way onto a good number of compilation albums. The most iconic of these compilations is 1996's Pop American Style which helped highlight and cement some of the 90s' best underground indie pop groups. Vancouver's cub was one of those groups.
cub formed in 1992 with Lisa Marr (bass, vocals), Robynn Iwata (guitar, vocals), and Valeria Fellini (drums, vocals). In essence, they were punk. But, their songs played at a laid back pace and featured Marr's high-pitched voice singing simple, playful, and honest songs. The mood of the band mixed a childlike innocence and imagination, an unabashed femininity, a melancholy optimism, and raw cool that all might seem incongruous in writing but can only make you smile when you listen to them. Although punk, they were so superficially different from what most people hear as punk that their brand of music was dubbed "cuddlecore" and seen as an offshoot of twee pop.
They started recording right away in the lo-fi fashion and were a favorite in the Vancouver indie scene. Their debut full-length Betti-Cola came out in 1993 as more of a compilation album that gathered most of their recordings from their first three EPs. It featured cover art by legendary Archie artist and Josie and The Pussycats creator Dan DeCarlo.
Here is the discography surrounding cub's debut album:
Pep (1992 EP)
Hot Dog Day (1993 EP)
The Mint Is A Terrible Thing to Taste (1993 compilation song)
Betti-Cola (1993 Double EP) Betti-Cola
Volcano (1994 single)
Periscope: Another Yoyo Compilation (1994 compilation song)
13 Soda Punx (1994 compilation song)
All Kindsa Girls Vol. 2 (1994 compilation songs)
Johnny Hanson Presents... Puck Rock Vol. 1 (1994 compilation song)
"Nicolas Bragg" by cub
cub Live at Hastings Community Center in Vancouver, 1993
Mark Mason helped engineer Joan Osborne's debut and many other works. One of his jobs was on the first album by Canadian indie band Blinker the Star. Blinker the Star revolves around the personality and work of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jordon Zadorozny. Other possible members include Phil B (bass), Reg Wick (drums), and Roger Pederson (guitar) though it's a little difficult to confirm at the moment. Another thing I cannot confirm is that the band's first album Blinker the Star came out in 1993. (It could be an incorrect date or not due to possible self- releases or re-releases. It's listed as also having been released in 1994 and 1995).
The album is largely made up of amateur recordings made in Pembroke, Ontario and released on the Treat & Release label. Although Jordon was given the chance to re-record the album professionally in studio, he turned the chance down because he knew the album would lose the little accidents (happy or otherwise) and off-the-cuff experimentations that could not be recreated. The band, at this early stage in their career, falls into the loosely defined world of indie rock but finds influences from metal, grunge, punk, power pop, and psychedelia, executing them all with passion and recklessness. The album is refreshing and each song stands apart and carries its own tone, making for a well-paced listen.
Here is the discography surrounding Blinker the Star's debut album:
Swedish grindcore band Skull released one song for a compilation album then transitioned down to a less abrasive hardcore punk, changing their name to the unlikely Teddybears STHLM.
The band consists of brothers Klas (bass) and Joakim Åhlund (guitar), Patrik Arve (lead vocals), and Glenn Sundell (drums). Teddybears released their first record, an EP, in 1991 that showcased an explorative blend of influences including classic rock, British punk, metal, and a touch of hip hop. With all of these influences, it wasn't clear what genre of music Teddybears played in (at least from their recordings) until the release of their debut album You Are Teddybears came out in 1993 and all songs from the album built off a hardcore punk foundation.
Here is the discography surrounding Teddybears STHLM's debut album:
On a Mission in Blood (1991 compilation song as Skull)
Women in Pain (1991 EP)
Extra Pleasure (1993 EP) You Are Teddybears
We Are the Best! (1994 EP)
Verve formed out of four college friends from Wigan: "Mad" Richard Ashcroft (frontman, vocals, guitar), Nick McCabe (guitars, piano), Peter Salisbury (drums), and Simon Jones (bass). At the turn of the 90s, they signed to Hut Records while their brand of neo-psychedelic shoegaze caught on in popularity alongside My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and others in the UK at the time. The band pushed their sonic textures and jams towards a more accessible pop that resulted in their first three singles charting #1 on the British Indie Rock list in 1992. Their first EP released in 1992 and their debut album A Storm in Heaven a year later. John Leckie (think Muse or The Bends) producing; it peaked at #27 on the album charts. Due to legal issues with Verve Records, the band made a was forced into a big step in becoming The Verve. They toured the United States for the record, fueled by drugs and alcohol, but only had success in cities friendly to psychedelic music like New York.
Here is the discography surrounding The Verve's debut album:
The First Wigan Demos (1991 demo)
All in the Mind (1992 single)
She's a Superstar (1992 single)
Gravity Grave (1992 single)
Verve (1992 EP)
Voyager 1 (1993 live EP)
Blue (1993 single) A Storm in Heaven
Slide Away (1993 single)
No Come Down (1994 compilation album)
Both hHead and Moxy Früvous were among many bands to feature on the compilation album A Canadian Alternative '92. Whereas hHead found its niche on college radio, Moxy Früvous were popular with just about everyone. The band started in 1989 with three secondary school friends Jian Ghomeshi, Murray Foster, and Mike Ford then joined by David Matheson who'd take the role of lead singer and only. Not only did they garner popular attention at local shows in Toronto, but they caught the ears of CBC Radio who'd commission the band to write politically and socially aware songs. Many of these songs found their way onto Moxy's debut Bargainville in 1993 though they'd find a smart balance between their comedic and serious tracks. In the band's early years, they relied only on an acoustic guitar and simple percussion to better emphasize their barbershop quartet harmonies. With their witty lyrics, beautiful harmonies, and fun attitude, Moxy Früvous reminds of previous "tour stops" like Tom Lehrer and Tally Hall while also bringing to mind The Mountain Goats, Ben Folds Five, Simon & Garfunkel, and They Might Be Giants.
Here is the discography surrounding Moxy Früvous's debut album:
Moxy Früvous (1992 demo) Bargainville
King of Spain (1993 single)
Stuck in the 90's (1993 single)
"King of Spain" by Moxy Früvous
"My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors" by Moxy Früvous
Bloodthirsty Butchers released their first recordings through compilation albums. On a compilation album called TVVA, their songs featured alongside another struggling Japanese punk band Guitar Wolf.
In the spirit of the Ramones, Guitar Wolf is made up of the actually not related Wolf brothers: Guitar Wolf (real name Seiji), Bass Wolf (real name Billy), and Drum Wolf (real name Narita then replaced by Toru). They formed in Harajuku in 1987 and played a style they dubbed Jet Rock 'n Roll. The style drew upon punk and traditional rock and made heavy use of distortion, feedback, and screaming. The name pays homage to Joan Jett. They released their debut album Wolf Rock! in 1993 which was supposedly recorded in Seiji's basement.
Here is the discography surrounding Guitar Wolf's debut album:
Machine Gun Guitar (1992 compilation song) Wolf Rock!
Justine Frischmann and Brett Anderson dated for a time while attending University College London. They also co-founded the band Suede with friend Mat Osman. The relationship between the two didn't last, but the band did though it struggled early on to garner much attention from record labels. Their "unclassifiable" sound neither fit with the popular UK Madchester scene or the burgeoning US grunge scene. While the band was floundering, Justine started dating Blur frontman Damon Albarn. According to Brett, she started missing practices and annoying band mates with her experiences with the more successful band. Pushed to the end of his patience, Brett kicked Justine out of the band.
After the event, things finally started to go right for Suede. Most importantly, their live performances garnered media attention; so much so that Melody Maker featured them as "The Best New Band in Britain". This pronouncement coincided with Suede's signing with Nude Records in early 1992. Suede's sound even found classification as it kicked off the UK Britpop movement, solidified with the release of their debut album Suede in 1993.
Here is the discography surrounding Suede's debut album:
Action Man (1984 compilation song by Dead to the World)
Be My God (1991 single)
1991 Demo (1991 demo)
1991 November Demo (1991 demo)
1992 Demo (1992 demo)
The Drowners (1992 single)
Metal Mickey (1992 single)
Animal Nitrate (1993 single) Suede
Live at the Leadmill (1993 live bootleg)
Brixton Academy 1993 (1993 live bootleg)
So Young (1993 single)
Glastonbury Festival 1993 (1993 live bootleg)
Although Valerie Phillips is primarily a fashion photographer and art exhibitor, her freelance work has lead her to photograph for album covers including work on Amy Winehouse's debut. Her work also featured as the cover of The Cranberries's second single "Linger" nearly a decade earlier.
The Cranberries began as The Cranberry Saw Us in Limerick, Ireland with brothers Noel and Michael Hogan in 1989. Noel played guitar; Michael: bass; Fergal Lawler manned the drums; and Niall Quinn provided the vocals. In these early days, Quinn would provide the bulk of the songwriting with some input from Noel. The founding four didn't last any longer than a year and a demo as Quinn stepped out of the group, leaving the band without a voice. The remaining three put out an advertisement for a replacement and quickly found Dolores O'Riordan. She not only won the lead vocalist position but also quickly cemented her position as a leader of the group by supplying the band with much needed songwriting skills.
The group recorded new demos with Dolores and caught the attention of Xeric Studios founder Pearse Gilmore, who signed on as the group's manager and producer. Under his unsteady guidance, the group recorded a couple of demos, changed their name to The Cranberries, and released their first EP Uncertain in 1991. After what was supposed to be the sessions for their debut album fell through, the group fired Gilmore and replaced him with manager Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records. Travis set the group back to recording in Dublin, this time with producer Stephen Street who had previously worked with The Smiths and Morrissey (solo).
There was no bang out of the gate for The Cranberries. Both their singles ("Dreams", "Linger") and their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We? charted poorly in 1993. Touring with Suede helped their commercial momentum until they caught the broadcasting eye of MTV. The band blew up and had their album and singles re-released to meet the hype. The album reentered the UK charts at #1 (previously #74) and did nearly as well in the US after an extended tour in Europe and North America.
The Cranberries sound was that of a "synthesis" though it was an overall formula for a dreamy guitar pop. Neil Hogan's deft compositions and Street's ear-catching production mixed jangly guitars and string arrangements with electronic sensibility to provide a familiar pop foundation. But O'Riordan's Irish lilt in her vocals helped give the band a folk tinge and a defining sound that caught on with audiences. By the end of 1993, The Cranberries had slowly emerged as one of the world's most promising young bands. They were hopeful and simple in their lyrics and, as 1994 roles around, ready to reach new heights and take themselves a little more seriously.
Here is the discography surrounding The Cranberries's debut album:
Anything (1990 demo as The Cranberry Saw Us)
Water Circle (1990 demo as The Cranberry Saw Us)
Nothing Left at All (1990 demo as The Cranberry Saw Us)
Xeric Records Demos (1991 demo)
Uncertain (1991 EP)
Dreams (1992 single)
Linger (1993 single) Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
"Dreams" by The Cranberries
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
As mentioned in the previous entry, Forest for the Trees had a constantly evolving cast of musicians playing alongside Karl Stephenson. One of these members was a harmonica player, Beck, for whom Karl would eventually produce his major label debut and landmark album Mellow Gold. This album, however, was not Beck's first.
Beck is the son of artists. His father is composer David Campbell (previously used as a Tour link between Macy Gray and David Vandervelde) and his mother is ex-David Warhol Factory Worker Bibbe Hansen. He dropped out of high school and began busking around Europe while staying with his grandfather in Germany. After earning his wings, he moved to New York where he became part of the anti-folk movement. He continued his anti-folkie routine in Los Angeles where he also dabbled in a metal band (Loser with Peter Hanft) and started experimenting with recording techniques.
The most common attribute of Anti-Folk is a fervent desire to subvert the ideals of folk music (the voice of the common man, the call for change). Every anti-folkie has a different means of subversion. In Beck's case, he created a ne're-do-well, slacker persona that sang songs about going to moon cars, do drugs, and the possibility of getting out of bed. While folk music portrayed the common man as earnest, hardworking, simple, and wise of the land, Beck sang about the common pariahs of society: uneducated, lazy, and ignorant boys who refuse to grow up and take responsibility for themselves and others. As Beck was originally interested in folk music (he had as healthy an interest in Woody Guthrie as the next guy), his anti-folk music shared the same earnest sounds of the guitar and harmonica. His sound evolved quickly to match his lyrics. His recording process became increasingly lo-fi, his songwriting was more in minor key coupled with purposeful poor playing, and his voice became disturbingly distorted.
All of these elements, after a slew of home demos and experiments, reached a point with his debut album Golden Feelings released in 1993 by the very small label Sonic Enemy. At this point in Beck's musical career, he was still stuck in dead-end jobs and left largely ignored at the clubs and coffee houses he performed at. But with his prolific demo output and "experimentation" as "his only gimmick", it's no wonder such an earnest love of music would produce one of the most respected and critically acclaimed artists of the nineties and aughts.
"Gettin' Home" by Beck
Here is the discography surrounding Beck's debut album:
Banjo Story (1988 demo)
Beck and Dava (1990 demo)
R-Marcel (1992 demo)
Are U Positive (1992 demo)
Beck, Like the Beer (1992 demo)
Don't Get Bent Out of Shape (1992 demo)
1992 Demo (1992 demo)
Metal Demos (1992 demo as Loser)
Fresh Meat and Old Slabs (1993 demo) Golden Feelings
Golden Leftovers (1993 outtakes album)
"Totally Confused" by Beck
"Desire (Hollow Log)" by Beck
If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.
No, I'm not doing the same band twice in a row. It turns out there are about eight bands (that I could find) that go or went by the name of "Crow" such as a prog-rock group from the UK, punk rock and visual kei bands from Japan, and a hardcore band from South Korea. Not to mention bands and artists like DJ Crow, Sheryl Crow, Bart Crow Band, The Crows, Counting Crows, The Black Crowes, and Russel Crowe's various bands. The band that caught my eye, however, was an Australian band called Crow.
Friends Peter Fenton and Peter Archer formed the band in 1986 in Canberra, Australia. The two would share guitar, vocal, and songwriting roles. They were joined by Jim Woff on bass and brother John Fenton on drums. The band moved to Sydney and gradually became renowned on the underground circuit for their explosive and confrontational performances.
Crow's first experience with a record label was in 1990 with EP and single releases under Phantom Records, but they were not able to capture the energy of their live set and found no commercial success. The band nearly broke up before Half A Cow Records were able to convince them into a new deal that resulted in their 1993 debut album My Kind of Pain. The album was successful on an underground level and considered one of Australia's greatest rock records of the nineties.
Here is the discography surrounding Crow's debut album:
Sunburnt Throats and Happy Thunderclouds (1990 EP)
Ravine (1992 single)
Crow (1992 EP)
Vermonstress (1992 live recording)
Railhead (1993 single) My Kind of Pain
The Helicon Days (1994 EP)
If you have any suggestions for where the tour should go next, please give a shout.
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