"Four young women kicking out some classics in a ruthless garage mode. This powerful, rockin’ band’s signature is the background screaming (nearly every song). I swear, it doesn’t get better, or wilder, or crazier than this! Technically, they could be better, which only proves how totally unnecessary that would be. The whole band’s great, and there’s a definite SONICS influence in the way they pound these songs out like they own them all!
...Though it remains based in the pounding garage mode that was theirs, the growth here is exciting, and much of it is in their songwriting. This is my favorite version of ‘Inside Looking Out’, but ‘Spice Powder’ is a promise of the future this band could have had, with dancing girls in scarves and caravans rolling through your mind. This band was growing, and yet not losing any of what made them great, until they lost Akko, their singer/guitarist in ‘99, and then it was gone." Rock Of Japan
TRACKLIST 1. Afro Girl Go A Go 2. Lulu & Lover’s Lover 3. How Much Is Love 4. New Orleans 5. Kitsch Girl 6. High & Low 7. Spice Powder 8. Girl Give Me Love 9. Hey Mother 10. Inside Looking Out 11. Choc Ice (Chocolate Ice) 12. Choc Ice~Mono Mix
Dark, sexy, and as morbidly seductive as a Quentin Tarantino flick, this female-fronted foursome has been breaking hearts and stealing souls with their tales of love, betrayal, revenge, and bloody demise.
AFTER SCHOOL SPECIALS -CD 2005 (Dropouts Music)
The front cover only looks innocent. A quick flip to the songlist on the back gives ample warning of what's to come: "In The Shadows", "Six Feet Under", "Suckerpunch"... With narrative imagery that's as vivid as the best film-noir classics from Blue Velvet to Chinatown, each and every tune is an erotic pulp thriller that dances with the macabre.
"Some people will call it garage-punk-rockabilly, or psychobilly, or Kill-Billy or even Jezebilly. We call it rock and roll." - The Dropouts
"So there's this band from London, Ontario you should definitely check out. And no, this isn't some street-team b.s. either. I've seen them a few times, but most recently on Saturday night and they tore the roof off. They're called The Dropouts and they play mashed up garage-punk-rockabilly rock'n'roll stuff. I don't wanna call them psychobilly because they're not a cookie-cutter cartoon schlock band with giant hair and 500 sacred heart tattoos. They have a great, original sound and play tight as all fuck. They have a chick lead singer whose voice is really distinctive.. Let's just say she can really sing for real. The rest of the band really knows how to play, too." - LDHBA, Groupie in Training
"A healthy combination of the Misfits and Crash Vegas, The Dropouts capitalize on their female singer. Her borderline operatic vocals are the ray of light shining through the band's dark, yet catchy riffs." - matt
The Dropouts:
Candace Beaul - vocals and organ Corey Shipp - guitar Chadwick Shipp - bass John Augustine - drums
THE DROPOUTS S/T: 1. Painted Moonlite 2. Laid 'Em Low 3. Bored Stiff 4. Monster Bash 5. Loaded Gun 6. Loudmouth, Quiet Days 7. Horror Hotel *. Idle But Deadly (Live Broadcast) - bonus
"This 7-song EP debut by London, Ontario's monsterbilly quartet is striking in its fusion of surf, garage and rockabilly; not simply a throwback to what other bands have done but The Dropouts instead have captured a sound they're defining on their own terms.
Corey Shipp's licks reinterpret 50s and 80s rhythms, and Candace Beaul's countryesque punk vocal sensibilities complement his guitar work better than any of the current revivalists would be able to muster. John Augustine's timely, head-bopping drumming and Chadwick Shipp's bass don't miss a single beat, and the maturity in this outfit sounds well beyond their years: there's no grandstanding or one-upmanship, just four in-sync rock and rollers giving life to an obtuse local music scene currently overrun by emo/screamo sound-a-likes.
The first six tracks are all original numbers and the energy is constant; the pace scaling down to mid-tempo for their fabulous cover of The Misfits' "Horror Hotel" which ends the record much too soon. Andy Magoffin of London's House of Miracles again does a masterful job of producing a band that allows The Dropouts to keep their own voice, and at the same time bringing out the best of each member.
Put The Dropouts in San Francisco, Austin, Texas or Chicago's underground and you would have heard of them long ago..." - Andreas Gripp, Music Director, CHRW 94.9 FM 2002-2004
AFTER SCHOOL SPECIALS: 1. In The Shadows 2. Six Feet Under 3. Sucker Punch 4. Don't Make A Move 5. Blissful Torture 6. Bleeding On The Sabbath 7. Murder Following 8. Fallen Crown 9. Black Dress 10. The Night The Caddy Died
"Good ol' twang-tinged, laydee fronted Rock n' Roll from Vancouver's soon to be secret lovers. If you take the honest to Garage sounds of Holly Golightly and mix them with the sultry country sensibilities of Coal and the Rawkabilly sneer of Nashville Pussy you would end up with a band that would be skipping classes with The Dropouts." - Red Cat
"The track list's stacked with more zombies than the forthcoming, dubious-looking Dawn of the Dead remake, suggesting a hair-raising, horrorizin' psychobilly shakedown. That facet of Canadian retro rock 'n' roll is certainly represented here, but this comp makes a point of showing how varied the punk-surf-rockabilly axis is this side of the border." - Rupert Bottenberg
"The Zombie Night in Canada Volumes 1 and 2 recordings are a throwback to the OG Records era compilations.
They feature the spookified surf twang of teen-targeted B movies and gather up many of the rip ‘er up ‘n tear ‘em down psycho-billy and cowpunk bands that play the factory town stockcar racing circuits throughout Upper Canada. It’s all leopard print shoes and Western shirts. Think The Sadies’ Rat Fink Soundtrack... but with a different band for each song." - William McGuirk
TRACKLIST:
THE DEADCATS - Crypt Zombie Hula SIN-TONES - Knot Of Wood BIG JOHN BATES - Crankenstein GUTTER DEMONS - Playground Horror Peepshow FARRELL BROS. - The Baddest One Around FLESH - Are You Restless MATADORS - The Evil Eye FEVER BREAKS - Zombie Swagger BRAINS - It's Over ASTROBILLYS - Jungle Fever KC & THE MOONSHINE BAND - Zombified ALLEY DUKES - Change My Way CADILLAC BILL & THE CREEPING BENT - Leather Pants BLOODSHOT BILL - Monsters Everywhere WREKDEFY - She Haunts Me SCREAMIN' BLACK CADILLACS - Back Around HOWLIN' HOUND DOGS - Rockin' Rollin' Stone NIGHT STALKERS - Tombstone Hop BUZZ DELUX - Velvet Eyes HELLBOUND '71 - I Like To Drink SWINGIN' BLACKJACKS - I Love You So ROSEKILL - My Bloody Valentine ATTIC DADDY - Rule That Roost THE ROWDYMEN - The Old Hereafter CRAZY RHYTHM DADDIES - Been Gone A Long Time.
"OG Music meisters Gerard Van Herk and Tony Dewald are rock's answer to Bela Lugosi/Peter Laurey. Deja Voodoo brewed up their zany, and often trying, sludgeabilly swamp rock with enthusiasm of Buddy Holly and the charm of Herman Munster. Raw guitars, drums and vocals are all that grace their records and contain no studio trappings leaving them live and harsh." - canoe.ca
"Deja Voodoo (and the Gruesomes) were probably the Canadian underground bands from the 1980's who generated the most affection from their fans partly through the good-natured silliness of their music and image which could still rock no matter how goofy it was. Their mixture of rockabilly, garage, 'B' horror movies, comic books, cartoons, and junk food was not the first such (the Cramps were already there), but they pursued it with such irreverent vigour in an decade full of sombre, gloomy music or wimpy synth bands. Deja Voodoo also toured heavily all over Canada as well as the USA and Europe (especially Scandinavia), the first Canadian underground band to do so. Their Deja Voodoo BBQs became an institution in Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere in southern Ontario. They also further encouraged a scene to develop by founding their own lable OG! Records and putting out a series of comps. of similar minded Canuck bands called It Came from Canada, which introduced a number of bands such as the Gruesomes, UIC, Ray Condo, Harold Nix, the Deadcats, the Shadowy Men, the Cowboy Junkies, the Smugglers and more.
"In their groundbreaking two-man, trash-rock attack, they led the way for a number of other one and two man bands such as The House of Knives, Leather Uppers, Fuck Y'all, Bloodshot Bill, Mississippi Grover, Slim Sandy, Duotang, (all Canadian BTW) Flat Duo Jets, and Bob Log 111 to open up garage rock by stripping it down. Now of course we have the mega-successful White Stripes and Death From Above, but Deja Voodoo did it first." - Carl Wilson
"If Og broke new ground for the Canadian indie scene, pop music is only now catching up to the weird and wonderful world inhabited by Deja Voodoo. They weren't the first guitar-drums duo -- Marc Bolan's original Tyrannosaurus Rex comes to mind -- but their incoherent mix of The Cramps, The Kingsmen, The Sonics and "the episode of The Incredible Hulk where he marries Mariette Hartley and she dies" seemed to come from another dimension." - Allan Wigney
"We had tried to do a band with more people and it hadn't really worked out, and we did figure out that we could make enough noise with the two of us.
If Tony didn't spend a lot of time hitting symbols we would have bottom all the time; if I only had the four fat strings we would have a sort of bassline happening all the time. I've heard other people play with just guitar and drums playing with a full drumkit and with a full six strings and it sounds very thin and tinny. But then again, we sounded like we were playing in your basement with the door closed. So it all evens out." - Gerard Van Herk
Gerard Van Herk - Screams & Gut Strings Tony Dewald - Skins & Bones
Tracklist: 01 - Into The Gumbo 02 - Duh Papa Duh 03 - Van Gogh's Ear 04 - Baby Honey 05 - You're No Fun When Your Head's All Mushy 06 - Deja Voodoo Train 07 - Someone In My House 08 - Boppin' 88 09 - ifugao 10 - Baron Samedi 11 - Full Moon 12 - Big Black Bus 13 - A Girl I Know 14 - Pyramid 15 - Wall of Paisley 16 - Vegetables 17 - Surfing on Mars
Fiction Romance Fast Machines -CD 1998 (Smells Like Records)
"Careening, ultra-catchy, hook-filled lo-fi pop songs that will keep you on your feet while you listen and remain embedded in your consciousness for weeks to come." - Jesse Ashlock
"The Rondelles are a fabulous disaster. They are wonderfully crappy. The first time I saw them I almost walked out in the middle of the show. It was like seeing a bunch of high school kids. Something about their attitude and the atmosphere of the dive they were playing in made me stick it out. When I did leave, I had a copy of their latest cd clutched in my sweaty palms, with the hopping up and down and the clapping...
The Rondelles have an endearing charm that seems to be made up of equal parts naivete, youthful enthusiasm, and beginners luck. Their songs are simple and their sound is low-tech. Song subjects are typical of the genre, lots of boys behaving like louses, sock hops and county fairs...
Part of the Rondelles package is their amateurish exhuberance little bit on par with early Shonen Knife. I said "a little", so don't get carried away...
Most songs have some pieces of brilliance in them. Some of them are awkward, but not awkward enough to kill your buzz. It's like riding a rickety rollercoaster. Part of the thrill is being on the verge of derailing, and wondering if they are going to be able to pull it off. rough around the edges? Sure. Worth buying? Definitely." - Kilwag
"Only 23 minutes and 19 seconds. Ah, but what a sweet 23 minutes and 19 seconds it is! The Rondelles' Fiction Romance Fast Machines (Smells Like Records) is a short but immensely satisfying romp. Their "Sleater-Kinney meets the Shangri-Las" tunes are a curious mixture of anthemic rock & roll and bubble-gum pop featuring aggressive players who, though lacking the anger of their riot-grrrl and punk heros, infuse their songs with plinky New Wave keyboards and delectable harmonies.
The Albuquerque, N.M., natives are still in their teens: They're fresh-faced, fun-loving kids, which is what makes Fiction such a wild ride. Young 'uns, free from restraint, don't have to bother with health insurance, major disappointments in life or five-year relationships that turn to shit. Instead, they can sing gloriously about boys, boys, boys and be, at least for now, carefree. Sigh.
The "boys" include Slim, "the rebel guy from the other side," in the catchy lo-fi mania of "He's Outta Sight"; Johnny from "Drag Strip Race"; and the supercute, intellectual object of desire of "Mission Irresistible." The lyrics aren't inane but smart and clever; they don't meditate on the meaning of life or on humanity's place within the universe, but their words are entirely appropriate to chugging power chords and good-girl/bad-girl vocals. There's nothing wrong, and everything right, with singing about milkshakes.
This brings us to an obvious comparison with another teen band that likes boys. If California's the Donnas listened to more indie rock and less Kiss, they would sound like the Rondelles. The latter band is less stylish but more pure: They are a truly modern version of the garage-rock band.
The Rondelles' simple yet incredibly engaging sugar rush is practically over before it begins. But there is virtue in its quickness. Too many cookies can make you sick. And the Rondelles won't make you sick." - Anna Giuliani
"a west coast phenomenon that burned white hot during their short career from 1978-1981. Coming out of Vancouver, Canada, the Sticks created a unique legacy with their pop/rock/punk sound." - Sudden Death Records
"Although Vancouver's scene in the late '70s and early '80s was dominated by first-wave hardcore acts like D.O.A. and the Subhumans, the West Coast city's breakout new wave act was the altogether poppier Pointed Sticks." - Stewart Mason
"Canadian bands with few exceptions have the odds of achieving success overseas stacked against them and little has changed in the almost 30 years since the Pointed Sticks were in their heyday. For them that lucky break, despite a golden opportunity, would prove even more illusive than even they could have anticipated...
Formed in the summer of 1978, when singer and principal songwriter Nick Jones returned to Vancouver from London, England that is rather than Ontario, where he’d been working in a record store, it’s clear that Jones had been paying attention to what had been going on around him.
Conjuring a winning formula of punk’s energy and no small amount of pop sensibility, the band churned out three cracking singles between 1978 and 1979. Sounding quintessentially English – the band even took their name from a Monty Python sketch! – the band should have gone down a storm in the UK. Stiff Records, one of the great record labels thought so as well, signing the band and releasing the Brinsley Schwartz-produced single ‘Out Of Luck’ backed with ‘What Do You Want Me To Do?’ and ‘Somebody’s Girl’ in 1979." - Geraint Jones
"The Pointed Sticks seemed to have a good thing going at the dawn of the ’80s. They sold out of a combined 11,000 copies of their first three seven-inch singles, they drew more than 1,000 people to the Commodore Ballroom in their hometown of Vancouver and had a solid live following across Canada and down the U.S. west coast, and they were the first Canadian band signed to England’s infamous Stiff Records label.
But things quickly unravelled for the hard-luck power-pop group. Stiff never released their album. Their Canadian label, Quintessence, didn’t pay the pressing company for the manufacturing of their re-recorded debut LP, and 5,000 of the 10,000 copies ended up being destroyed. Not surprisingly, low morale and uncertainty led to the band calling it quits in June 1981." - Steve McLean
"Several attempts to bootleg the band's material were made during the '80's..." - hushreality.com
Pointed Sticks Line-up:
Nick Jones (vocals) Bill Napier-Hemy (guitar) Gord Nicoll (keyboards) Tony Bardach (bass) Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery (drums) Scott Watson (bass; replaced Bardach) John Farano (sax)
Tracklist: 01 - The Real Thing 02 - Marching Song 03 - True Love 04 - All That Matters 05 - All My Clocks Stopped 06 - Nothing Else To Do 07 - Careless 08 - All I Could Take 09 - Part of the Noise 10 - How Could You 11 - Middle Aged Teenagers 12 - Worse 13 - Love or Money 14 - American Song 15 - New Ways 16 - Apologies
Mostly early to mid eighties NZ/Aussie punk, served up by Greg!
TRACKLIST: (In a rough chronological order)
1) Suicide 2 – Proud Scum 2) I am a Rabbit – Proud Scum 3)Lipstick – X 4)Suck Suck - X 5)Hope She's Alright – Instigators 6)Saturday Night stay at Home – The Suburban Reptiles 7)True Love - The Scavengers 8)Bride of Frankenstein- Toy Love 9)Green Walls/Pull Down The Shades – Toy Love 10)Adults and Children – The Gordons 11)Nerve Ends in the Power Lines – Nocturnal Projections 12)Difficult Days – Nocturnal Projections 13)Looking For The Sun – Childrens Hour 14)Legalized Dogs – No Tag 15)Friday Nights – Flesh D-Vice 16)Flaming Soul – Flesh D-Vice 17)Hate Hate – No Idea 18)Weep Women Weep – Sticky Filth 19)Greg's Song – Casualty 20)Astronaut- Sticky Filth 21)Johnny – Celibate Rifles 22)Balance – Massappeal
LIVE! From Tom Guido's Purple Onion and Other Swinig Places -LP 1994 (Lazy Lizard)
"There was a local SF band called the Trashwomen that played dirty garage / surf rock which I recommend to all you Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans, if you can manage to track down a Trashwomen album you can then throw out your Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums and your roommates will thank you." - whir
"God, the Trashwomen are one o' my fave bands ever. That whole dirty, wet, sproingy guitar, the glorious absence of hi-hats, the thunking primordial bass, and that yowling-cat vocal style... If I had my way, EVERY band would sound like this. I actually disbanded my first combo after I got the SPEND THE NIGHT WITH THE TRASHWOMEN longplayer back in the 90's, simply 'cause they already had exactly the sound I wanted, and had done it a thousand times better than we ever could. When people asked when we were gonna put out a record, I directed 'em to buy the Trashwomen's spinner instead. They all understood when they heard it...
Elka Zolot, where are ya now when we need ya the most?" - ajarvez
"As far as I'm concerned, The Trashwomen had the most evil sounding low E I've ever heard coming from a surf band." - Deltones
"The Trashwomen have an attitude that takes no flak from anyone; leopard print outfits, mean looking snarls, and so on. With their '60s garage revival sound that flies from three-chord punk to a handful of surf instrumentals that sound as if the band can barely keep it together, the Trashwomen perfectly capture the tough-girl essence seen in Russ Meyer's Faster Pussy Cat, Kill! Kill!. Fans of the Rip-Offs, Supercharger, and the Hissyfits would enjoy this." - Mike DaRonco
"Everyone is a Beat Happening fan... and if they're not, they should be. They're truly one of the most influential bands of the late 80's/90's. Without them we'd be doomed. "other side" has to be one of the best album openers ever. It's such a great song." - adrian - bakersfield, CA, USA
"There's at least one moment in everyone's life when the whole world is balanced on the edge of a brand-new song, and it never spins for them quite the same way again. The day I went off to college, filling closets and tacking up posters, my new roommate put Beat Happening's "Black Candy" on the stereo. Hearing Calvin Johnson's impossibly deep, sternly sexy off-key howls and croons about candy, sex, playhouses and beehives knocked me off the axis of everything I'd ever thought about how music was supposed to sound. Beat Happening's childlike, feral songs embodied the life force of youth in rebellion, and that moment set the tone for the rest of my college years." - tart.org
"the whole time i just kept screaming “GOD, BEAT HAPPENING IS THE GREATEST BAND EVER ” and “GOD, THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA EVER ”. we began discussing beat happening and something became really clear: Beat Happening is one of the most aggressive bands ever. i know this is most likely the most ridiculous thing i could say about band that is often labeled twee pop or indie pop, but i really see them as DIY punk rock. everytime they play a melody over and over for a long time it is an act of aggression against all of the stereotypical distorted guitars that were clanging in the sea of hardcore and post-hardcore that surrounded them. they were the band that taught me that it doesnt have to be fast, there doesnt have to be a change for a chorus, there doesnt even have to be a chorus, you can drum on an empty bucket of frozen yogurt, you can do whatever it is that you want to do. beat happening makes me extremely happy." - etcvisitor
"Beat Happening was formed in 82' in Olympia WA. First it was Calvin, Heather and anyone else they could get going out and playing all ages shows. Bret joined in 83' and the band released a 5 song debut. On a trip to Japan the band recorded their first EP, "Three Tea Breakfast". Their first full length album, "Beat Happening", was released in 85' and was produced by Greg Sage of The Wipers.
They took a break for awhile, and then recorded "Jamboree" in 88'. The album was produced by Mark Lanagen and Gary Lee Conner of Screaming Trees. In the summer of '89 Calvin and a few other guys organized the Sound Out Northwest tour, the idea was to play shows in smaller towns. Beat Happening played two shows w/ Mudhoney. Also doing shows that summer was Some Velvet Sidewalk. After that album a joint release between Beat Happening and Screaming Trees. Soon after Beat Happening's next album, "Black Candy" was released.
In 91' the band released "Dreamy". In summer Calvin and friend Candance put on The International Pop Underground Convention in Olympia with over 50 bands like L7, The Melvins, Fugazi, Thee Headcoats, Bikini Kill, The Fastbacks and Seaweed. Part of the festival was released on a double album on K records. It was followed by "You Turn me On" in 92'." - The Sara Monster
"Knowingly innocent, sexually frustrated, perpetually teenaged, and oppressively minimal, Beat Happening put its last song to tape in 2000, after the eight year absence that followed their final LP, You Turn Me On. Survived by five full lengths, a rarities compilation, a box set, a mountain of cassettes, and 18 years of public service, Olympia's chosen sons (and daughter) deserve every accolade thats ever had lavished upon them--including this title, that of The Greatest Band of All Time." - ZAC
"Beat Happening should never have learned how to play their instruments. That's not to say that post-Black Candy releases aren't sublime and off-kilter pop confections in their own right. It's just that on this particular collection of songs, the awkward, knock-kneed instrumentation is the perfect accompaniment to lyrics about youth on the verge of coltish rebellion. The record lurches and howls, like a gawky, hormone-crazed teenager. Vocals jolt back and forth between Heather Lewis' charmingly askew romantic kid warbles and front man Calvin Johnson's trademark ocean deep baritone, and pounce within mere notes between handholding innocence to hard-core nookie in the backyard tree house. It's feral, sweet, raw music, and pretty damned scary upon first listen.
Johnson has never been one to worry about comforting the masses, founding his seminal indie label K-Records in the early 1980s specifically to prevent bands from having to pander to record company restrictions. Working in collaboration with artists like Beck, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Built to Spill, he's revealed a knack for assisting artists to screw the conventions and unleash their inner rock animal. He's at his own untamed best, however, with the pared down Beat Happening. The trio (now nearly on their 20th year together, albeit many of those years spent in a non-recording "hiatus") made Black Candy an album stripped to its most primal components. With drummer Bret Lunsford providing the raggedy backbeat and Lewis and Johnson swapping offkey lead singer and sloppy guitar duties, it's an aural exercise in barely-contained mania and the pure bliss of youth. While subsequent Beat Happening records provide their own more musically tutored joys, Black Candy is the one that stands as a snapshot of that spirit that sparked a DIY revolution." - FHM
Bret Lunsford, Guitar and Drums Calvin Johnson, Guitar, and Vocals Heather Lewis, Drums, Guitar and Vocals
Tracklist: 1. Other Side 2. Black Candy 3. Knick Knack 4. Pajama Party In A Haunted Hive 5. Grave Digger Blues 6. Cast A Shadow 7. Bonfire 8. T.V. Girl 9. Playhouse 10. Ponytail
"After honing their craft in the darkest recesses of Vancouver's rock clubs for a couple of years now, The Cinch have finally given us their debut release on Stutter Records. A short, sharp, 5 song (one unlisted bonus track for all you modern lovers out there) dynamo that reminds one of early Dream Syndicate and Wire. Glorious, driving rock 'n roll, delivered by nervous, buzzsaw guitars, a tough-as-nails rhythm section, and fronted by a coupla' edgy female Richard Hell's. A summer must-have!" - Zulu
"Ever since the popularity of garage-pop bands such as The Strokes and The Hives made buzzing, twisting guitar riffs and primitive, Meg White-approved drum chops en vogue, cutesy bands that wrap grunge rock around vintage pop chords and feature some self-important sap behind the microphone have inundated hipster record stores and coffee shops across North America and beyond. Armed with little more than some vintage threads and their Velvet Underground boxed set, most of these groups should never have existed in the first place, probably, except maybe in order to fill that all-important first slot on the $5, five-band bill at the local Cavalry Chapel.
Fortunately, when The Cinch crawled out of the primordial ooze of some rehearsal space in Vancouver, it didn’t give a hot damn about being cute or taking itself too seriously." - Casey Lombardo
"The Cinch were able to win people over so easily that you might almost call their whole career a string a splendid flukes. Shortly after the band started writing songs and performing, they played a couple of gigs at a battle of the bands contest hosted by the UBC radio station. Despite taking on a new member just before playing their first contest gig, the Cinch won—and scored some studio time as a result. The result was their first EP, released in 2002, and represents the first time the Cinch had ever set foot in a studio." - Angels Twenty
"As the Strokes were taking New York by storm with their blend of lifts from late-era Velvet Underground, early Modern Lovers, and the first Television album, Vancouver's the Cinch were perfecting their own distaff blend of the same influences. The difference is that the Cinch's debut lacks the whiff of arrogance that colors the glammy New Yorkers' efforts; the far more diffident vocals of Jennifer Smyth are Doug Yule or Richard Lloyd to Julian Casablancas' Iggy Pop/David Johansen cross-breed. More importantly, the five-piece band (also including singer/guitarist Kathy Dube, guitarist Mark Epp, bassist Geoff Thompson, and drummer C.C. Rose) burns through these three-minute pop songs with punky intensity instead of snotty attitude, giving lesser songs like "French Maid" and "Got To" an extra energy boost even as it lifts top-drawer stuff like the kinetic opener "Once a Week" and the howling "Talk and Talk" to a higher plane. In these surroundings, the closing cover of the Modern Lovers' classic "She Cracked" not only stands up to the original, it almost sounds like an original. The Cinch was originally released on the tiny Canadian indie Stutter Records in the summer of 2002. Seattle's slightly larger Dirtnap label gave it a belated United States release in early 2003." - Stewart Mason
Kathy Dubé (guitar, vocals) Mark Epp (guitar, vocals) CC Rose (drums) Jennifer Smyth (vocals, percussion, guitar) Geoff Thompson (bass)
Tracklist: 1. Once A Week 2. Got To 3. Talk & Talk 4. French Maid 5. She Cracked
PRETTY LITTLE BAKA GUY + LIVE IN JAPAN! -CS 1990 (Rockville)
"...the exhuberant all-girl punk pop that opened many ears to the fab world of japanese music. wonderfully wonky and utterly melodic these songs show of the girls obsessions with the Ramones, Buzzcocks, sweets, animals and space rockets. - Rough Trade
"The colorful Knife's early records are magical treats of whimsical absurdity, ingenuous attacks of product endorsement and artless reports of mundane Japanese reality." - Ira Robbins
"Theoretically, any band that writes songs with lyrics such as "Banana chips for you!/Banana chips for me!/ In the afternoon, banana chips and tea" should have a life span no longer than that of a grasshopper. But something oddly spellbinding occurs when deceivingly silly lyrics are sandwiched between a buoyant guitar and a rapid-fire, pop-punk drum kit. Which perhaps explains why the Japanese female rock band Shonen Knife is still singing songs about cookies, sushi, jelly beans, and, of course, banana chips, nearly 25 years after its inception." - Christopher Muther
"Of all the bands to accept punk's do-it-yourself dictum, none is more unlikely than Shonen Knife. The trio was founded in early 1981 by three maverick women from Japan, where individualism is not encouraged and carefully airbrushed teen idoru ("idols") dominate the charts. Although initially amateurish, Shonen Knife ("boy knife") always controlled its own music and image, with cover art hand-drawn by bassist Michie Nakatani or drummer Atsuko Yamano. Nakatani, who eventually left the group, and guitarist Naoko Yamano, the principal songwriters, sang not about romance but everyday life (notably food and animals), and stressed that they were from earthy Osaka, not trendy Tokyo." - Mark Jenkins
"Way before the whole Riot Grrrl thing happened, here were three women making a joyful noise as a rock band. Even though some people may have gotten over on them just because they were Japanese, they're definitely not a novelty." - Jason Gross
"Word first began to get out abroad in the mid-'80s, when a cassette tape the trio had released on a Kyoto indie imprint made its way to K Records out of Olympia, Washington. K decided to issue the album in the states, and soon Shonen Knife were getting offers from a range of labels, as well as getting spun by the late, great British radio DJ John Peel.
Improbably for a trio of Japanese office girls, they became a hip name to drop by the rock glitterati of the time, with a range of alt-rock bands recording takes of Shonen Knife's poppy, punky songs on 1989's Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them." - Dan Grunebaum
'"For the first half of the '90s, Shonen Knife was the only band from Japan being seen on network TV, the only one that was able to headline international concert tours," says Eric Bresler, host of the J-rock show "Tokyo No Radio" on Drexel University's WKDU.
"But ultimately, they still ended up coming off as a novelty act, and that's unfortunate. People were tuning into them for a dose of wackiness, rather than the music itself. Sure, maybe their lyrics might come off as odd to U.S. audiences, but not any more so than, say, ABBA or Björk. You can't say that that was the reason why people weren't able to take them seriously as musicians. ...You have to wonder if maybe there's something else going on. I think there's a taint there: It's the Pink Lady effect."' - Jeff Yang
"Anyone doubting the authenticity of Shonen Knife as legit alternative rockers should direct their attentions to this title, which couples their Pretty Little Baka Guy (1986) LP with another eight tracks documented "Live In Osaka Japan" from a pair of respective sets in 1990 and 1982, the latter recorded when Michie Nakatani (vocals/bass), Naoko Yamano (vocals/guitar), and Atsuko Yamano (drums) were still in their teens. The ten studio sides perfectly demonstrate the band's quirky, if not terminally catchy approach to crafting pop melodies. Their grunge-inspired instrumentation and D.I.Y. execution give the material a rough and edgy quality. Lyrically, the Knife are all over the place, ranging from the ecological concerns of "Bear Up Bison" (aka "Making Plans for Bison"), to the confessions of a sweet-tooth on "I Wanna Eat Choco Bars," and the fun little romp on "Ice Cream City." The angular and trippy "Public Bath" extols the virtues of the decidedly Eastern tradition of public bathing facilities in a manner that only they can pull off. "Antonio Baka Guy," "Kappa Ex," and the previously mentioned "Ice Cream City" are repeated in the five-song performance dated January 21st, 1990. By contrast, the three tunes from April 1982 are rougher and arguably more stinging than their counterparts -- especially the lead guitar crunch of "I'm a Realist." Audible tape noise indicated that these probably originated on cassette, however what they lack in fidelity is more than compensated for in sheer inspiration. Again, this is a recommended find for any and all perspective parties.." - Lindsay Planer
Tracklist: 1. Making Plans for Bison (aka Bear Up Bison) 2. Summertime Boogie 3. I Wanna Eat Chocobars 4. Public Bath 5. Devil House 6. Antonio Baka Guy 7. Ice Cream City 8. Ah Singapore 9. Riding on the Rocket 10. Kappa Ex. 11. Lazybone [Live] 12. Ice Cream City [Live] 13. Baggs [Live] 14. Kappa Ex. [Live] 15. Antonio Baka Guy [Live] 16. Spider [Live] 17. Secret Dance [Live] 18. I'm a Realist [Live]
"Remember when Grim Skunk were just five rambunctious punks singing "Mange la marde"? Remember back when you couldn't decide if their progcore fusion was some kind of acid hangover from the '80s (or '70s) or whether it might be the most exciting concoction of the rock styles that have touched Quebec most deeply over the past 25 years? Remember when their first album was released and they were already coming off as elder statesmen of the scene? No? Well, you must've had some better cheeba than them." - Chris Yurkiw
"The drama and epic quality of prog with the ''take no prisoners'' attitude of punk--must be heard to believe." - The Rock
"Borrowing its name of a particularly strong hybrid of a certain grass, it was very natural that Grim Skunk likes to mix the styles, the cultures and the kinds. Formed in 1988, the group, inspired of the hardcore, punk and progressive, gives a first spectacle in 1989. Animated of a not very common energy, Grim Skunk likes more than all to find itself on scene and communier with his audience...
Recognized for their engagement and their political vision, the members of Grim Skunk do not hide their opinions. They openly give an opinion against wild capitalism, the abuses our leaders and the devastations caused with the environment, against the war and for the legalization of the marijuana. All that is reflected in what is most important: music." - Bande A Part
Joe Evil - Lead Vocals, organ Franz - Lead Vocals, guitar Alain "Ulf" Vadeboncoeur - Drums, vocals, healing djembe Peter - lead guitar, vocals Marc "Borris" Saint-Maurice - Slacker Bass, vocals
TRACKLIST: 1.overture in e minor 2.rigpa 3.east coast 4.no sympathy 5.self inflicted stress 6.le gouvernement songe 7.la vache 8.lord ogre 9.dead end violence 10.dope moon vibe 11.feeling severe 12.brussels 109 13.p.c.p. 14.colorblind 15.inner piece 16.fat al's illness
"There just aren't enough good three to three and a half minute pop songs out there that you can drive your car off a cliff to and still be smiling, you know." - Ian Jones
"Straight ahead punk-pop with a thick guitar sound and really good songwriting. Does life get any better than this? Well, maybe, but you'd have to work real hard at it.
Let me reiterate: this ain't particularly complicated, fast, mean, ugly or politically motivated. If Pluto gets around to a fourth chord on a song, you might fall over in shock. But the finest pleasures are simple ones, and Pluto is as tasty as this stuff comes.
You just have to listen for a few seconds, and you'll be hooked, too. Vancouver seems to have taken the cue from all the great pop/punk bands in Seattle and then done them one better. First Cub and now Pluto. Trust me. You need your Mint." - Jon Worley
"Once upon a time there were four musicians living in Rainsville, B.C. A togetherness formed through their common love of music, and from this bond sprouted a band named Pluto.
The band's catchy, guitar-pop style seemed to be liked by the people, so they released records on the small indie labels Shake and Popgun Records. Little did they know that one of those people who liked the band was a Baker named Bill. Bill liked them so much that he led them to a land that was Minty fresh.
This fabled land had its own record label, and said label released Cool Way to Feel. After Pluto toured the country back and forth, forth and back, the people of Canada agreed that the record suited its name. The record also received some noteworthy music industry acclaim and rustling could be heard outside the main gates of Mint Records. Major Label Reps were hiding in the shrubbery!
The Minty fresh land, still so nice, just wasn't big enough anymore, and after a tearful (speculation, okay? get over it) departure, the boys of Pluto wandered to the main gates, where they happened upon an eccentric gent and a hot-air balloon. Accounts are blurry from there; some say they went voluntarily, some say they were abducted and some are too scared to talk about it, but Pluto now have their signatures on a contract with the dreaded "Major Label." Pluto are now Virgins...
...So the next level of success would be the dreaded backlash?
"I think that Pluto has been going through a constant state of backlash since we played our first show, there's always been someone putting us down, mainly the Communists though, the Reds... I think we've avoided it because we've never really been part of any scene, the main thing about us is that we've never claimed to be who we're not."
Ian: "I think the more popular you get these days anyway, the more you suck."
John: "Yah, we'll have to stop now or we'll start sucking. We used to want it all, now we just want a chance to do what we want to do."
Well, whatever they're doing, by the amount of attention Pluto is getting, they do seem to be cutting the mustard, as it were. But how do they describe Pluto?
"It's white soul with loud guitars... It's dislocated pop... it's what you need."
Well, whatever it is, for a growing number of people, it's out of this world.
And they lived happily ever after (speculation, again, get over it)." - Paul 'Grimm' Watkin
Pluto: Ian Jones (guitar, vocals) John Ounpuu (bass, vocals) Rolf Hetherington (guitar) Justin Leigh (drums)
Tracklist: 1.Thirsty 2.Expelled 3.It's Over 4.Failure 5.Details 6.#17 7.Paste 8.Deathstar 9.Menthol 10.Cool Way to Feel 11.Locked and Loaded 12.Pretty Little Jacket 13.Dirty
“Ladies and Gentlemen, It is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you a man who is not only more Canadian than the maple leaf, and more devastating to a piece of plywood than a hungry beaver, but he’s even stomped down more streets in this country than a Peterborough Postman. Ladies and gentlemen, make way for the one and only STOMPIN’ TOM CONNORS.” - Bacon Magazine
"Back in his ’60s-’70s heyday, Stompin’ Tom Connors would, indeed, stomp a hole clean through a piece of three-quarter-inch plywood in just one show." - JENNY FENIAK
"Tom is the coolest of the cool, more Canadian than a six-pack of Molson..." - MIKE ROSS
"There roams to this day across the Great White Northlands a man, a myth – dare I say, a LEGEND who has cast a long, black, yet somehow barely perceptible shadow over every guitar lasher who means a half hoot on either side of the dreaded U.S. /Canada border. A man who possesses a wicked tongue, beaver-sharp mind, commanding right leg and, above all, a wit and wisdom before which few others dare even stand, let alone deserve to approach.
That man, that myth, and/or that legend is named… Stompin’ Tom Connors...
Prepare to have each and every one of your preconceived notions about All Things Twang simply dissolve forever before your very ears: NOBODY who falls under the spell of Tom ever comes out the other end quite the same way again." - Gary Pig Gold
"...with his guitar, he could conquer this space called Canada and speak to the average Canadian about the places he had seen and the people he had met...
This man is a true Canadian through and through. He chose a life that he wanted to live no matter what other people thought and did not compromise his principles. In fact, if you live outside of Canada you may not have heard of this Canadian legend." - Tanya Howie
"This generous, uncompromising artist is the composer of more than 300 songs. He has released in the neighborhood of four dozen albums, which have sold nearly four million copies. He has done it all without ever leaving Canada and thus is the total opposite of every other Canadian country artist of renown, all of whom went to great lengths to become established in the United States. An example would be the extensive string-pulling from Ernest Tubb to get the Canadian Hank Snow on the Grand Ole Opry. Connors has not only never toured outside of Canada, he also has never embraced the typical subject matter of popular American country songs and instead has stuck to singing about -- you guessed it -- all things Canadian, from a Saturday night in Sudbury to the joys of hockey. He did not begin his singing career until the mid-'60s, when he found himself on the road penniless...
Whereas in the '70s he was considered corny and square, he became a cultural icon among the new wave and punk crowd a decade or so later...
He has attained such notoriety without any of the expected career accomplishments such as a hit record. Not only has he never had a single record released in the United States, he has also yet to have his first hit country record even in Canada." - Eugene Chadbourne
"...he inexplicably has yet to place a solitary song on a Canadian country music chart ("They told me in 1964 that I didn't fit the format, they told me that in 1974, in 1984, they told me that again." Tom says. "I guess the format hasn't changed that much!" - Mike Dunlop
His grassroots popularity kept this legend alive when times were tough and no one seemed to care if he exited the Canadian music industry. After many years in the business, Stompin’ Tom is finally getting some of the recognition that he deserves.
His boots were made for walking; years of travel all over Canada have given this man a unique perspective on Canada and what it means to be a Canadian. He sings about his homeland with pride. In fact, he has never performed outside of Canada." - Tanya Howie
"Various stories have circulated about the origin of the foot stomping, but it's generally accepted that he did this to keep a strong tempo for his guitar playing - especially in the noisy bars and beer joints where he frequently performed. After numerous complaints about damaged stage floors, Tom began to carry a piece of plywood that he stomped even more vigorously than before. The "stompin' " board has since become one of his trademarks. After stomping a hole in the wood, he would pick it up and show it to the audience (accompanied by a joke about the quality of the local lumber) before calling for a new one.
It was reported that when asked about his "stompin' board", Tom replied, "it's just a stage I'm going through". Stompin' Tom periodically auctions off his stompin' boards for charity." - Wikipedia
"...after winning an unprecedented six consecutive "Canadian Grammys" as Male Country Singer of the year, Stompin' Tom defiantly returned all these Juno Awards in 1978 as a protest against "Border Jumpers": Canadian artists who no longer live and rarely perform in their home and native land." - Mike Dunlop
"I leave you with these words from Stompin’ Tom: “I have traveled my country from coast to coast and I have considered it from top to bottom. And not through rose-coloured glasses. I’ve seen our good points and I’ve seen some bad. We have our strengths and we have our weaknesses. But when all is said and done, we have been blessed with one great big and beautiful country of which we can all be proud.” - Tanya Howie
TRACKLIST: 01 My Stompin' Grounds 02 Song Of The Peddler 03 Name The Capital 04 Song Of The Cohoe 05 Snowmobile Song 06 'Wop' May 07 Tillsonburg 08 Cross Canada 09 Song Of The Irish Moss 10 Bonnie Belinda 11 The Bridge Came Tumblin' Down 12 Tribute To Wilf Carter
AFRO GIRL
