Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers - The Original Monster Mash (1962)

"Rabian - The Fiendage Idol" by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers

The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds

(Wa-ooh) Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds

(Wa-wa-ooh) The Coffin Bangers were about to arrive

(Wa-ooh) With their vocal group, The Crypt-Kicker Five

Bobby Pickett released his Halloween classic single "Monster Mash" in 1962 and its album The Original Monster Mash the same year on Garpax Records.

The album starts with the "Monster Mash" and builds upon the world established in it. Bobby Pickett's Dr. Frankenstein-like "Boris," henchman Igor, pop idol-aspirant Wolfman and rival "Drac" all return to pad the album with their own dance craze hits and graveyard skits. At its best, Bobby Pickett and his producers hit a Frank Zappa (for kids) level of satire, but that sense of wit is short-lived as the songs feel ever longer and tiresome and the interest in spoofing loses ground to world-building. After a few non-hit singles as just Bobby Pickett, "Boris" and the gang would return to recording every now and then either to spoof the latest trend (Woodstock, Rap) or advocate for social issues like the environment and anti-smoking.

Here is the discography surrounding Bobby Pickett's debut album:

The International Twist (1962 single with The Cordials)

Monster Mash (1962 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers)

The Original Monster Mash

Monsters' Holiday (1962 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers)

Graduation Day (1963 single)

Simon the Sensible Surfer (1963 single)

The Monster Swim (1964 single as Bobby Pickett and The Rolling Bones)

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) (1964 single as Bobby Pickett and The Filter-Tip Kickers)

Blood Bank Blues (1965 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett)

Wake Up My Mind (1965 single)

Monster Concert (1970 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett)

Monster Man Jam (1970 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett)

Me and My Mummy (1973 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett)

Monster Rap (1984 single as Bobby (Boris) Pickett)

"Monster Mash" by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers

"Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" by Bobby Pickett and The Filter-Tip Kickers

"Monster Concert" by Bobby (Boris) Pickett

"Monster Rap" by Bobby (Boris) Pickett

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Crypt Kicker Five - Crypt Kicker Five (1986)

"4th Hole" by Crypt Kicker Five

Jack Endino produced Afghan Whigs's label debut.  It wasn't a very big or successful or necessarily well-organized label, but at the time, Sub Pop was a step up from the Whigs's self-released debut.  Endino, whilst producing, also played in a handful of bands throughout the late eighties, and his debut recording was on the 1986 self-released, self-titled Crypt Kicker Five (often shortened to Crypt Kicker 5 for... space reasons?)

While a lot of the music Jack Endino produced, and produced, favored hard rock and heavy metal influences, Crypt Kicker Five prefers surf rock and post-punk.  The allure of the band is in the interwoven guitar and bass and in the unique keys and tunings used to build songs that can sound at times oriental or aquatic or horror punk.  The lyrics are unintelligible without any liner notes (though they hardly seem necessary,) and Jaime Caffery's voice in the mix unfortunately doesn't have the force it needs to anchor the meandering compositions as Endino's drums do.  The album is one of two sides and Side B shows off the band in a live context: energetic, humorous, improvisational and imperfect.  Not much would be gained from the addition but for filler in a shoestring production if not for Side A which hypnotizes with its complexity and texture.  In turn, Side B becomes a fascinating microhistory of a band that could have been so much more.

Here is the Crypt Kicker Five discography:

Ya Ya Love Song (1984 song on The Sound of Young Seattle compilation album)

Crypt Kicker Five

Shoot to Kill (1988 song on Secretions compilation album)

Mecca (1988 song on Bands That Will Make Money, Too compilation album)

4th Hole (1990 single)

Shoot to Kill (1993 song on A Far Cry compilation album)

4th Hole/Bedouin Stomp (2011 song on C/Z Records Unreleased Singles 1987-1993 compilation album)

"Shoot to Kill" by Crypt Kicker Five

Crypt Kicker Five by Crypt Kicker Five

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Afghan Whigs - Up In It (1990)

"Amphetamines and Coffee" by Afghan Whigs

Shellac the Bozak claimed Ultrasuede-002.  There was no -003.  Ultrasuede-001 belonged to a release we've visited before: Big Top Halloween by Afghan Whigs; appropriate, as the Whigs's John Curley created the Ultrasuede "label" and studio.  As such, we return to Afghan Whigs and their second album Up In It released in 1990 on Sub Pop Records.

The Afghan Whigs got an indie label and grunge producer and it led to a step in more focused musical direction.  They now had a sound and lyrical themes to match, an evolution of metal and punk that dwells in the seedy minds of addicts, deviants and abusers.  The band brings to life, not the internal psychoses and obsessions of each song's character, but the world those characters live in... or at least they try to.  When it's not working, sometimes you just have to plod through it with guitars on loud.

Here is the discography surrounding Afghan Whigs's second album:

Jugula (1989 demo)

I Am the Sticks (1989 single)

Up In It

Sister Brother (1990 single)

Retarded (1990 single)

Up In It (1990 album CD version)

"Sister Brother" by Afghan Whigs

Afghan Whigs Live at The Middle East Cafe

"Hey Cuz" by Afghan Whigs

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Liquid Hippos - Shellac the Bozak (1988)

"Rosetta Stone" by Liquid Hippos

John Curley owned and operated Ultrasuede Studio where Lizard 99 recorded their debut (which he also engineered.)  A further extension of his DIY ethos had Curley creating his own label, also called Ultrasuede, that released the only album by Liquid Hippos, Shellac the Bozak, in 1988.

It's often amazing how deep and powerful rock and roll can be despite and because of how young the musicians are.  Even immaturity can find resonance and beauty in the zeitgeist... or it can be produce some of the stupidest lyrics put to wax.  Shellac the Bozak is an obscure album (with only one song available online) and there's not much use in bringing it up for rediscovery.  Although the band is musically adept and their sound dances the line between 80s alternative and indie music, everything about the album, from production to lyrics, sounds like a practice run for putting out a record without any intention of it leaving the safety of the Cleveland music scene.

The lyrics are the bane of the album: confused when hiding in nonsense and laughable when they make sense.  Every song seems to have a line meant to surprise for its sheer absurdity but those lyrics stand apart, aren't funny and do the songs no favors.  The liner notes chronicle each song but one, the closing song "Unicorn Hop" which gives it the feel of a "hidden track."  Where all the other songs carry an air of seriousness, this one was meant to be a lark.  For posterity, I will go out of my way to chronicle one stanza from the song:

This old man he played one, he played knick knack on my thumb!

This old man he played two, he played knick knack on my shoe!

This old man he played three, he played knick knack on my knee!

This old man he played four; he played knick knack on my BOOTY!!!

Miraculous.

I'm still shocked that line exists, but sometimes youthful creativity takes you to some truly stupid places.

Here is the Liquid Hippos discography:

Shellac the Bozak

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Lizard 99 - Black Fantastic (1990)

"A Hit on the Head" by Lizard 99

The Greenhornes's recorded their debut at Ultrasuede Studio in Cincinnati.  One of the earliest other debut albums I could find recorded there was Lizard 99's 1990 self-released album Black Fantastic.

The first track of Black Fantastic calls to mind The Feelies mixed with Steve Albini's Big Black project but after "Dance Dance Dance" concludes, it gives way to the less industrial and more metal and goth rock influences of the 80s.  Solid musicianship prevents Black Fantastic from becoming a chore to listen to even if the lyrics force an eye-roll at least once or twice per song.

Here is the discography for Lizard 99:

Black Fantastic

"She" (Live Studio Recording) by Lizard 99

"Nail" by Lizard 99

"Dance Dance Dance" by Lizard 99

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The Greenhornes - Gun for You (1999)

"Wake Me, Shake Me" by The Greenhornes

Zee Avi had gone viral with her song "No Christmas for Me" but it took drummer Patrick Keeler to begin the journey of getting her name to the right people, specifically, to his manager Ian Montone.  

Patrick Keeler has drummed in a few bands but started out with the retro garage rock band The Greenhornes.  The quintet released their debut album Gun for You in 1999, and it is the sole release of Prince Records (likely the band's own label.)

The title of the album and its cover are the only indicators for the listener that this is a nineties release.  Play any track at random and it could be the start of a compilation album featuring decent but forgotten Midwestern garage rock gems of the 1960s.  But, The Greenhornes are not a sixties band and they're not musical archaeologists though they make a good act of it.  Rather, they are more akin to geneticists, and their cloning project is a scientific success.  From the lyrics and song structures to the vocals and harmonies to the guitar riffs and audio production, they sound exactly like a band formed amidst the long shadow of The Rolling Stones that never managed to sonically get out from under it.  If the album were a rediscovery from a past era, it might have enjoyed cult status as an album of the lost "very good" from creative middle America.  Instead, The Greenhornes have crafted an album as a very good bar band: playing for patrons originals that sound like covers which are just trying to recapture, for the players and for the listeners, the love of a past era now gone.

Here is the discography surrounding The Greenhornes's debut album:

The End of the Night (1999 single)

Gun for You

"Hold Me" by The Greenhornes

"I've Been Down" by The Greenhornes

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Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (2008)

"A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend

The word about Zee Avi passed to the Malloys from Ian Montone, entertainment lawyer turned band manager turned management company impresario.  Montone got off to a major start through his management of The White Stripes.  He followed that up by guiding the success of indie darlings Vampire Weekend.  Their debut Vampire Weekend came out in 2008 on XL Recordings.

Vampire Weekend's sound is a testament to how much popular and critical traction a band can get on the back of good taste.  They transpose the sonic history of African guitar pop to the ivy league campus where it mixes with the more local chamber pop and indie influences.  But what pushes the band's debut to a modern classic is an ideal of creative collaboration that challenges each contribution to be its most engaging best before all of them are neatly nestled together into an efficient, tight and buoyant song.  The conceptual result is full of life in execution and in reception: eternally fresh and iconically memorable.  The traveling, the melange, the product is a story of music just as familiar to Congo or Mali as to Columbia University and all the college campuses that had Vampire Weekend retelling it from just about every open window.

Here is the discography surrounding Vampire Weekend's debut album:

Vampire Weekend (2007 EP)

Mansard Roof (2007 single)

OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer (2007 compilation song)

Daytrotter Session (2007 live session)

Vampire Weekend

A-Punk (2008 single)

Oxford Comma (2008 single)

The MySpace Transmissions (2008 live session)

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (2008 single)

The Kids Don't Stand a Chance (2008 single)

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend Live at Amoeba Music

"Ladies of Cambridge" by Vampire Weekend

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