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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Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards (2006)

"We Used to Vacation" by Cold War Kids

The discovery and signing of Zee Avi took a winding road.  She ended up on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records but she was referred to Brushfire through Jack's surfing buddies, the Malloy Brothers.  The Malloys got their big break with the surfing film Thicker Than Water, co-directed with Johnson, then shifted their attention to music videos for the first decade of the millennium.  They worked primarily with rock acts and helped break out a handful of indie hopefuls.  One of those hopefuls was the Cold War Kids for whom the Malloys directed the music video to "Hang Me Up to Dry," a song from their debut album Robbers & Cowards released in 2006 by Downtown Records.

Song by song, Cold War Kids show that they have a knack for the occasional bass hook or guitar riff but then can never turn any of these into a decent song.  The missteps come from a combination of a sound, lacking any complexity, that owes way too much to other better bands; poorly executed "high concepts;" and insufferable lyrics, full of forced anthems, and made grating by Nathan Willett's strained singing voice which veers closer to a baby's wail than to an obnoxious Jack White impression.  The Kids are also attracted to the use of noise as metaphor while lacking the ear for either.  They are a band that have ideas though, but never more than one idea at a time, and if it's a clever idea, it's safe to know you can listen to a better execution of it from someone else.

Here is the discography surrounding Cold War Kids' debut album:

Mulberry Street (2005 EP)

With Our Wallets Full (2005 EP)

Up in Rags (2006 EP)

Up in Rags/With Our Wallets Full (2006 compilation album)

Four Excerpts from Robbers & Cowards (2006 promo disc)

Robbers & Cowards

We Used to Vacation (2006 EP)

Benefit at the District (2006 live EP)

Hang Me Up to Dry (2007 single)

Hospital Beds (2007 single)

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

Paste Magazine Sampler 33 (2007 compilation song)

"Hang Me Up to Dry" by Cold War Kids

"Quiet, Please!" by Cold War Kids

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Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales (2001)

"Mudfootball (For Moe Lerner)" by Jack Johnson

Zee Avi signed to Brushfire Records, a label created by Jack Johnson and named for his debut album Brushfire Fairytales, released in 2001 on Everloving Records.

Jack Johnson proves a clever songwriter, building up memorable images and wordplay intertwined into rolling rhythms.  The lyrics are suffused with enough film language repurposed for metaphor to remind the listener he's not too far removed from film school, and he's not removed at all from his home state of Hawaii and his love of surfing.  They anchor the album both musically and philosophically in a new iteration of surf music.

Here is the discography surrounding Jack Johnson's debut album:

Brushfire Bootleg (2000 bootleg)

Bubble Toes (2000 single)

Loose Change (2000 compilation song)

Middle Man (2000 single)

Brushfire Fairytales

Maybe This Christmas (2001 compilation song)

Radio Tracks (2002 promo EP)

Flake (2002 single)

Live (2002 live single)

The September Sessions (2002 soundtrack)

Thicker Than Water (2003 soundtrack)

"Inaudible Melodies" by Jack Johnson

"Flake (live)" by Jack Johnson

"Moonshine" by Jack Johnson

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