Some Velvet Sidewalk - Whirpool

Some Velvet Sidewalk were contemporaries of Beat Happening in the late 80s/early 90s Pacific Northwest scene.  Not surprisingly, K Records released most of their recordings.  They shared Beat Happening's minimalist approach to rock, but Some Velvet Sidewalk were a bit more... there is no way to candy coat this... talented.  

Even then, it took SVS a couple albums to really get their stride.  Whirlpool is my personal favorite album of theirs.  It was certainly heavier than their earlier releases, but it was also more sprawling in its sound and tighter in its performance.  No doubt this was thanks in large part to production by Steve Fisk.  

If you like slightly atonal, sometimes noisy and droning, occassionally childlike, but ultimately melodic indie rock typical of the early K Records persuasion, check it out.

i blame you

The Wedding Present - Watusi

You can't swing a dead cat in a room full of aging hipsters without lashing someone who owns a copy of Seamonsters.  With good reason.  What I don't get is why more people don't also adore the follow up, Watusi.  

Lyrically, it continues the usual themes of unrequited love and narcissistic heartbreak.  Musically, however, the band built on the shredding guitar template and adopted a somewhat more diverse sonic palette.  Recording with Steve Fisk may have helped.  Listen to Fisk's contemporary project Pell Mell (posted yesterday, here) and you may hear what I mean.  

It's difficult to find this album in any format right now.  It is not for sale at any of the major mp3 stores. I could not even find it posted on another blog.  Hopefully, Island Records will not hammer me as hard as they did Negativeland.  Enjoy!

they can keep it all

Pell Mell - Flow & Interstate

  

[I have been very busy lately with work and family.  Free time has been at a premium.    To those who have commented and written, thanks for the encouragement!]

For whatever reason, there is a disproportionate amount of music released in 1992 that has always dominated my turntable/CD player/computer/iPod playlists.  Among my very favorites from that year, and from all time, is Pell Mell's third LP Flow.  This is gorgeous instrumental guitar rock music with just the right combination of noise and melody and quite a distinctive style.  It certainly borrows elements from surf music and krautrock, but from my perspective this mostly sounds like... well, it sounds like Pell Mell.

All you middle-aged heads like me remember the major label feeding frenzy of the early 90s.  For Pell Mell, it was kismet.  Microsoft used a snippet of one of their songs (I think it was "Flood" but I am not sure, and the interwebs fail me on this search).  Pell Mell's former manager was working as an A&R rep for DGC.  I suppose that was as much "buzz" as one could have ever foreseen about for an anonymous, scattered,nomadic instrumental band which rarely played live and almost never toured.  The result was Interstate, another gorgeous record which picked up where Flow left off.

Interstate was not gorgeous enough in the sales column, apparently.  Pell Mell recorded another record for DGC but they got downsized instead.  The resultant album - Star City - wound up on Matador.  

A few years later I had a pleasant surprise watching the second episode of HBO's excellent Six Feet Under.  Fans of that program should instantly recognize the first song on Interstate.

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