Drop Nineteens - Your Aquarium EP [12"]

This is typically a 12" maxi that i came across for a reasonable price and thought "why the heck not", and bought it. It's decent 90's indie rock. Some people call DROP NINETEENS a shoegaze band, but then bands like Breeders and Sugar would also be shoegaze. The song My Aquarium sounds like a good mix of the aforementioned bands, i think. The song Mandy on the B-side of this YOUR AQUARIUM EP is a pretty cool cover of the Barry Manilow hit from 1974.

Label: Hut Recordings
Cat.nr.: HUTT 22
Year of release: 1992

SIDE A:
01. My Aquarium (Second Time Around)

SIDE B:
01. Mandy
02. Nausea

Fucked Up / Serena Maneesh - Here Lies Are / Opium Priest [12", Split]

This split 12" was sold out pretty quickly when it came out in 2010 on the Canadian/Norwegian indie label Best Of Both Records, and i never thought i'd run into a copy anymore. But fortunately i found one at the Robot store in Bergen, Norway. I was mainly interested in the SERENA MANEESH song since i really like their music and this track can't be found on any other release. OPIUM PRIEST is a trippy and lengthy cacophonic song; really cool. But of course FUCKED UP is also a great band, and HERE LIES ARE is a typical F.U. song that starts in a somewhat slower tempo and then turns into an epic singalong melodic hardcore punk song. Awesome!

Label: Best Of Both Records
Cat.nr.: BOBR 1003
Year of release: 2010

SIDE A:
01. FUCKED UP - Here Lies Are

SIDE B:
01. SERENA MANEESH - Opium Priest

Catherine Wheel - Painful Thing EP [12", Promo]

The first thing i ever heard by CATHERINE WHEEL was the song Shallow. It was on an "Indie Top 20" compilation CD that i had, and i liked the song a lot. Until recently i didn't have any vinyl by this band, but i came across this pretty rare white label promo edition of the PAINFUL THING EP a few weeks ago and i decided to buy it for old times' sake. Shallow is still my favourite track of this 12", but the other 3 songs are also pretty good. Maybe it's time to check out some more stuff they released...

Label: Wilde Club Records
Cat.nr.: WILDE 5
Year of release: 1991

SIDE A:
01. Shallow
02. Spin

SIDE B:
01. Painful Thing
02. I Want To Touch You

Yuck - Glow & Behold [12", LP]

This album by YUCK was released about a month ago, and overall it wasn't as well received as their self-titled debut from 2011. Most reviews mentioned the departure of the band's frontman as main cause for this album being weaker than the first. But i can't help but liking GLOW & BEHOLD actually better that their debut. And i think that Pitchfork in their review hit the right spot when they said that the first album sounded like Yo La Tengo, Superchunk, Built To Spill and Dinosaur Jr, while this one is more like Lush, Buffalo Tom, the Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub. What i certainly do not agree with however is that they consider that first batch the A-list of 90's indie rock, and the second batch of lesser status. Don't get me wrong, i love Dinosaur Jr, but i simply like bands such as Lush (and Swervedriver, and Nada Surf, to name a few that came to mind when i first heard this album) better. It's all just a matter of taste, isn't it. So yes, this album sounds more polished and catchy and commercial, but hey... i love it. Songs like Rebirth and Middle Sea are some of the best songs of 2013, i dare say.
Also I was happily surprised when i found out that Yuck were supporting Pixies in Amsterdam last month. A lot of times i skip support acts, but this was something i didn't want to miss, so i got to see them live for the first time. And i'm glad i came early because they were really good!

Label: Fat Possum
Cat.nr.: 3751547
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Sunrise In Maple Shade
02. Out Of Time
03. Lose My Breath
04. Memorial Fields
05. Middle Sea
06. Rebirth

SIDE B:
01. Somewhere
02. Nothing New
03. How Does It Feel
04. Twilight In Maple Shade (Chinese Cymbals)
05. Glow & Behold

Lou Reed - Rock 'N' Roll Animal [12", LP]

Today is a sad day. News just broke that LOU REED died, at the age of 71.

Having become a massive David Bowie fan when i was a teenager, i first got to know Reed from the stuff that Bowie did for him (producing Transformer together with Mick Ronson, for example) and the songs that Bowie covered (most notably White Light/White Heat during his Ziggy Stardust period). So out of curiosity i started to listen to the man's work. First Transformer, then i discovered Berlin, and then the whole Velvet Underground catalogue. Amazing stuff! I still rank many Velvet Undergound songs as some of the best pop/rock songs ever written, and Lou Reed was the writer of nearly all of them. His solo work rarely reaches the same level as the Velvets did, to my opinion at least, but still i love albums like Berlin and New York. Also Transformer, The Blue Mask, Magic And Loss and the phenomenal Songs For Drella (with John Cale) are albums that mean a lot to me. So does this particular album, ROCK 'N' ROLL ANIMAL. It's a live album from 1974 and the songs are mostly from his Velvet Underground period. It only has five songs on it, but these are definitely the best live versions i've ever heard of every single one of them, and the total length of the album is still over 40 minutes. Especially the guitar work is excellent. Some live albums are true classics. This is one of those.
Funny detail: the musicians on this album would later join Alice Cooper when he had parted ways with his old band members and went on to release Welcome To My Nightmare. Producer Bob Ezrin introduced them.
As for myself, i've seen Lou Reed perform live twice. First during his Magic And Loss tour in 1992, and a year later with the Velvet Underground during their MCMXCIII reunion tour. And as of today, it's clear that there will definitely be no further chance. Truly sad.

I own two different editions of this great album. The picture above is from an original pressing from 1974. Below, it's a reissue from 2012, when Music On Vinyl released it as a special Record Store Day release, remastered and on 180 grams vinyl. Even sounds better than it ever did before.

 

Label: RCA / Music On Vinyl
Cat.nr.: APL1-0472 / MOVLP 529
Year of release: 1974 / 2012

SIDE A:
01. Intro/Sweet Jane
02. Heroin

SIDE B:
01. White Light/White Heat
02. Lady Day
03. Rock 'n' Roll

Dråpe - Blue Skies [7"]

It's always cool to learn about some good local bands when you're visiting a foreign country. Recently i was in Norway, and when i asked they guy in record shop Tiger in Oslo if he could recommend some good Norwegian shoegaze vinyl releases, this recent 7" by DRÅPE was something he suggested. Indeed really good stuff! The dreampop tune BLUE SKIES on the A-side reminds me a bit of Cocteau Twins, while the uptempo Wash Away with its much louder guitars on side B, fits more into the shoegaze category of bands like good ol' My Bloody Valentine. Dråpe is definitely a band to keep an eye on!


Label: Riot Factory
Cat.nr.: -
Year of release: 2013

SIDE A:
01. Blue Skies

SIDE B:
02. Wash Away

Ride - Twisterella [7", Promo]

The TWISTERELLA single by RIDE features some songs that are not on any album. I still haven't got the 12" edition at this point, which has all 3 of them, but the 7" promo edition i recently found somewhere at a good price and it has the song Going Blank Again on it. You'd expect it would appear on the album by the same title, but it doesn't. Another nice addition to my Ride / Creation Records collection. Slowly getting there ;)

Label: Creation Records
Cat.nr.: CRE 150P
Year of release: 1992

SIDE A:
01. Twisterella

SIDE B:
01. Going Blank Again