The Sugarplastic - live & rare (1991-2005)

A few weeks ago when I was updating a broken link for one of several Sugarplastic entries that I've posted, it occurred to me they were deserving of a deeper dive, so to speak.  True I'd already shared all manner of singles, an outtakes collection and even an early demo tape, but there was still plenty of juicy morsels I had accumulated over the years to be plucked and brought to market. Whether you've already imbibed their four proper albums, the rarities I've been sharing heretofore or both...or neither, you can regard these recordings as a bountiful appetizer or a downright succulent dessert.

I've spilled so much text with no shortage of biographical details on these guys already, but for the uninitiated, The Sugarplastic are/were an immensely talented L.A.-area pop trio whose body of recorded output spanned the entirety of the '90s and well into the first half of the next decade.  Garnering a small but dedicated following, the trio of Ben Eshbach (vocals/guitars), Kiara Geller (bass) and Josh Laner (percussion) seized on a mildly eccentric poise, offering considerable Anglophile nods to the likes of XTC, The Monochrome Set, and yes, The Beatles.  There's a not-so-subtle undercurrent of whimsy and mercurial charm threading their way through just about any song they leave their imprint on, and Ben & Kiara's barbershop harmonies merely buttressed the band's indigenous and often addictive tenor.  Weird, without being weirdos, the Sugarplastic were a unique proposition for a major label, especially in 1996 when their second and perhaps most representative album Bang, The Earth is Round saw the light of day on Geffen Records.  Such a singular species was bound to be a hard-sell in an era when Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots still ruled the roost, and as fate would predictably have it the masses were indifferent or outright ignorant to the curious threesome.  They persevered with two more studio LPs, 2000's Resin, and Will three years later.  Following up a series of subscription-released singles dispensed between 2003-05, they carried on as a live entity for a few more years, and to my knowledge are currently on an extended hiatus, or perhaps completely put to pasture.  Ben and Kiara have relatively recent solo outings to crow about, albeit far removed from the typical Sugarplastic mold.

Recommendable as the albums are as an ideal jumping off point, the quintessence of what they were about is demonstrably summed up in a nine-song, in-store gig held at Los Angeles' No Life Records in April of 1996.  Captured straight from the soundboard, the Bang-era performance is crisp and nimbly executed, and plays to every iota of the Sugarplastic's spartan but melodic strengths.  Included are then current nuggets "Polly Brown," "The Way This Is," and "Montebello," earlier triumphs "Skinny Hotrod" and "Sun Goes Cold," and even a tune that was apparently reserved for live sets, "29¢ Stamp."

There's considerable song overlap between a KCRW, Morning Becomes Eclectic live-to-FM set from the same era as the No Life Records performance, but I'm including it for the interview segments intermingled between the tunes.  Sugarplastic songs often take on the gist of romantically-sentient, if not surreal and crooked fables, but the conversation entails background details and provides a sense of where the band's collective heads were when the emerging combo was briefly under the auspices of a major record company.

Finally, I've curated a collection of fourteen (mostly) under-released doses of 'plastic passion, that even the most astute devotee might be lacking on their hard drive or otherwise.  The first six cuts were made available for literally less than 48 hours on Bandcamp, approximately five years or so ago.  No recording dates were affixed to these tracks, but they bear the strident and buoyant gait that so typified the Sugarplastic aesthetic.  Next up are a quartet of songs that appeared on a "bonus" CD that were made available to subscribers of the Tallboy Records 7x7x7 singles series I mentioned in passing above.  Even by Sugarplastic standards, "Overextended And Helpless At A Payphone In Chinatown" and "Hesperus And Phosphorus" exude some relatively oblique properties.  These are followed up by three early, unreleased tracks that were deemed fit for unleashing on YouTube.  Finally there's the band's contribution to the soundtrack of the cutest superhero cartoon enterprise ever. 

Los Angeles, CA @ No Life Records, 4/23/96

01. Intro
02. Polly Brown
03. Skinny Hotrod
04. 29¢ Stamp
05. The Way This Is
06. Spastic Laughter
07. Sun Goes Cold
08. Joyce
09. Montebello
10. Another Myself

 

MP3  or  FLAC

KCRW Studios "Morning Becomes Eclectic," Santa Monica,CA, May 10, 1996

01. intro talk
02. Polly Brown
03. talk
04. Spastic Laughter
05. talk/The Way This Is
06. talk
07. 29¢ Stamp
08. talk
09. Another Myself
10. talk/Skinny Hotrod
11. outro talk

MP3  or  FLAC

Rarities

01. Export Number Two
02. Broccoliesque
03. Bottome Line Bounce 1
04. Ship Has Gone Down
05. Put it Away
06. Soldier Girl
07. In Love With Number One
08. Overextended And Helpless At A Payphone In Chinatown
09. The Barber (live)
10. Hesperus And Phosphorus
11. In the Hole
12. Ingersol
13. Magnificat
14. Don't Look Down (Professor's Song)

1-6 Bandcamp "rarities"
7-10 "7x7x7" series bonus CD
11-13 YouTube tracks
14. The Powerpuff Girls Soundtrack

 
MP3 (no FLAC, sorry)

7th Night of Chanukah: The Sugarplastic - Ottawa Bonesaw 7" box + bonus (1993, Pronto)

You may be a stranger to the Sugarplastic, but the Sugarplastic are no stranger to Wilfully Obscure, as this is the fifth entry I've dedicated to them, not counting compilation appearances.  Kiara Geller, Ben Eshbach, and various associates have been the esoteric yin to the proverbial yang of the traditional indie pop cognoscenti, off and on now for over twenty years, garnering comparisons from XTC to the Monochrome Set.  Due to relatively widespread availability, I have resisted sharing their five proper albums, but there's been a lot of extraneous material that's needed a proper nailing down, and that's where I've been laying down the hammer.  Case in point, their ultra scarce "Sheep" single, limited to a mere edition of 200 copies in 1993, which I've conveniently made available since '08.  Back than I foisted the "holy grail" meme to it, somehow forgetting the nearly as hard to come by Ottawa Bonesaw triple 7" on Pronto Records, also from '93.  That's one song apiece to each side of wax making for an even half dozen...with only two of those tracks appearing elsewhere.

If you're familiar with the Sugarplastic's Geffen offering from 1996, Bang, the Earth is Round you're likely to recognize "Polly Brown," spotted here in an early incarnation.  That selection, along with the five others, are indicative of the group's trademark mercurial charm, one that's fantastically weird, whimsical and erudite (though not necessarily all at once).  The title track is particularly advanced, with the Sugarplastic kicking their own oblique "pocket symphony" into high gear.  In addition to the ...Bonesaw box, I'm including the three songs they contributed to the M.E.G., L.A. Sampler compilation, also on Pronto Records.  The version of "Ottawa Bonesaw" is actually identical to the one on the box, but the fidelity is superior to my vinyl rip.  You'd also do well to check out "Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore," a smokin' little ditty that very well might make it into my hypothetical Sugarplastic Top-10 of all time.

Ottawa Bonesaw
01. Brownly Corduroyd
02. Polly Brown
03. Grasshopping
04. Dover
05. Ottawa Bonesaw
06. Debussy and Me

M.E.G. comp tracks
Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Hank
Ottawa Bonesaw

Hear

The Sugarplastic - Polly Brown ep (1996)

If I had to boil it down to one single artist that was the essence of Wilfully Obscure, it just might be Los Angeles' long-running Sugarplastic. With their wry, XTC-ish (a lazy and obvious comparison, I know) sensibilities and esoteric wit, the Ben Eshbach and Kiara Geller-helmed Sugarplastic are one of the most curious and intriguing "pop" bands to have ever snagged a major-label deal. It was 1996 when the 'plastic grasped for the brass ring, resulting in their sophomore album, and Geffen debut (and finale) Bang, The Earth is Round.

The four-cut Polly Brown single however, did not see any domestic release. From my keen observations, I estimate that no more than a few hundred copies made it to American shores, outdone by it's sheer scarcity only by the band's triple-7" box set on Pronto Records, and the "Sheep"/"Superball" 45, that was limited to a mere *gasp* 200 copies! Read 'em and weep. There are two LP tracks here, "Polly Brown" and "Another Myself," as well as "Where Dead Bullies Go," which previously saw the light of day on a Minty Fresh Records 7" (and later on a CD compilation). So, the real curiosity here is "Daisy May," that thus far hasn't appeared anywhere else, including the Sugarplastic's b-sides and outtakes Japanese import, Primitive Plastic. Now that's what I call quite rare.

Unless there are any objections, look forward to future Sugarplastic posts. I'll even take requests. Enjoy (or not).

01. Polly Brown
02. Where Dead Bullies Go
03. Daisy May
04. Another Myself

Hear

Sugarplastic - demo tape (199?)

Almost since Wilfully Obscure's inception, I've gone on and on about one of the finest band's to ever grace the City of Angels, that band being the curiously monikered, slyly XTC-flavored Sugarplastic. With five albums, a 7" box set (Ottawa Bonesaw) and a handful of singles under their collective belt, I thought I had made my Sugarplastic collection complete years ago. Turns out there was a missing piece of the puzzle I had yet to procure. A Sugarplastic "demo tape" made it's way onto Ebay a few weeks ago, and within a few days of making it's way onto my radar the item had been seized by yours truly.

As I may have mentioned in one of previous Sugarplastic posts, the band's first release was in fact the Ottawa Bonesaw box set on Pronto Records. Turns out this was their first official release. The tape in question, coming unadorned with recording details of any sort, includes three songs that would make it onto Bonesaw, the same versions in fact (I'm about 95% sure on this). The real find here is an early version of "The Way This Is," later retooled for their smash-hit Geffen release, Bang, The Earth is Round. The "tape" is a TDK Professional Master Series Sound Master tape, so we're talking some pretty high-falutin' "let's impress the living daylights out of a few potential LA indie clubs that might book us a show or two" stuff going on here. And the rest is history. Maybe I'll get around to sharing the complete Ottawa Bonesaw box one of these days. For now, n-joy.

 

01. Ottawa Bonesaw

02. The Way This Is

03. Brownly Corderoid

04. Debussy and Me

 

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Singles Going Single # 64 - The Sugarplastic - Sheep/Superball 7" (1993, Small-Fi)

Folks, what you are about to download (at your choosing of course) is the rarest of the rare, the scarcest of the scarce, the holy grail. Ok, maybe nix that lost one, because there was actually only one holy grail, right? The single in question was actually limited to 200, copies, all hand-numbered had numbered copies, mine being "15." Many, if not most fans of The Sugarplastic, L.A.'s long-running answer to XTC and the Monochrome Set, are likely unaware that this insanely limited, one-sided single, with one-of-a-kind sleeves specific to each record even exists, let alone even begin to ponder about where they might obtain a copy.

At the time of it's release, the two songs it contained were thoroughly exclusive - an early version of "Sheep," which would later be rerecorded for their second album, Bang, the Earth is Round, and one of the trio's most archetypal, wry pop nuggets, "Superball." The latter of these two would be included on the Sugarplastic outtakes and rarities collection, Primitive Plastic, which only saw release in Japan on the Air Mail Recordings imprint. Even so, that still makes this single immensely hard to come by, save for Ebay where I found mine a few years ago.

If you have no idea who The Sugarlastic are, you acquaint yourself via the Myspace route, or peruse my previous Sugarplastic posting, concerning a certain cd-single that's almost as scarce as this wax. Better yet, pick up a used copy of the aforementioned Bang... CD (it's the one in the $1 bin), or finally, their most recent album, Will on Tallboy Records.
 

1. Sheep

2. Superball 
 

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The Sugarplastic - Primitive Plastic: Demos and B-sides (2001, Air Mail)

At first blush, my deduction of Sugarplastic's wide-scale release, 1996's Bang, The Earth is Round, was that a trio of prodigiously smart Los Angeles wunderkinds were operating on the same bandwidth as XTC, albeit with more fey and esoteric inflections.  In fact, I thought it was a bit absurd that a major label (Geffen) would wrap one of their tentacles around a project so devoid of typical, mainstream pop-star trappings.  After becoming acquainted with the rest of the 'Plastics catalog, especially their debut Radio Jejune, I realized there was much more than abject Andy Partridge/Colin Moulding-homage afoot.  Boasting their own eccentric songwriting duo of Ben Eshbach and Kiara Geller, Sugarplastic's indigenous sense of whimsy encompassed more than
off-kilter pop tunes, but also wry allegorical themes, and sonically speaking, infectiously jagged rhythms. 

The Japanese-only Primitive Plastic: Demos and B-sides is precisely what it's title purports it to be, with Eshbach imparting in the album's liner notes, "We were just kids, here are some of our baby pictures."  Four of the fifteen selections technically saw the light of day prior to Primitive Plastic's release, albeit in exceedingly limited quantities in some instances.  Case in point would be "Superball," which was derived from a DIY single limited to a scant 200 copies.  There's also "Dover," culled from a the Ottawa Bonesaw 7" box set, "All Way Down" from the Closet Pop Freak compilation, and the ever so quintessential "Liar Over Winchester," originally featured on a Minty Fresh Records 45.  As for the demos quotient, most of the selections are keepers, including "Euripides the Jaguar," which is noted as the very first song the Sugarplastic took to task upon gracing a recording studio.  At the time of this release it was said that the band had over fifty unreleased tracks under their belt, but whether we'll ever have the chance to indulge in them is anyone's guess.  A very thorough discography can be referenced here.

01. Liar Over Winchester
02. Dover
03. All Way Down
04. Ode to Home
05. Set Me Up Eleven
06. Pineapple Lilly
07. Abigail
08. Superball
09. Stephanie
10. Marsha
11. Euripides the Jaguar
12. Wundergeisel
13. untitled demo
14. Where Have You Been?
15. Mumbletypeg

Now on Bandcamp

The Sugarplastic - Radio Jejune (1995, Sugar Fix)

Thought I'd fulfill a request to cap off the year.  At one point this was available on iTunes and such, but not anymore apparently.  Over the years I have dispensed copious text regarding this L.A. area pop conglomerate.  Ladies and gentlemen, may I reintroduce you to The Sugarplastic.  Platinum records, sold-out arena tours, sordid tabloid headlines, and love songs that were known to be the impetus of many an unplanned pregnancy - all telltale Sugarplastic earmarks.  Ok, in fairness, maybe I'm a tad off base, but in a more perfect world...  If it's back-story details you're looking for, you can check out some of my previous 'plastic entries to get caught up.   In a nutshell for the newbies in the audience, this trio opted to mix a twee-spoon of sugar into their XTeaC-indebted salvos, and poured in some mercurial idiosyncrasies of their own for intriguing measure.  Radio Jejune, their debut album, is probably the most inventive and adventurous album in their catalog, featuring off-kilter treasures like "Salmolina" and "Sir Sheever."  A classic. 

01. Radio Jejune
02. Ways to Save Face
03. Salmolina
04. Sun Goes Cold
05. Skinny Hotrod
06. Please Mr. B
07. Arizona
08. Sir Sheever
09. Officer G
10. Howl a Little

Get it at Bandcamp

Various - The Patio Collection (199?, Smilex)

Recently had a request for this rather oddball compilation from the mid-90s, showcasing a bevy of up-and-crumbling California indie bands. If I recall, I'm pretty confident it was Sugarplastic's contribution to The Patio Collection, "Ways to Save Face," that suckered me in. BTW, that song also appeared on the 'plastics debut Radio Jejune, and to this pair of ears it sounds like the identical version. I've gone on at length about them before on these pages, so I suppose I need not do that again. Truth be told, the latter portion of this comp unravels in a pretty big way, but not before offering a few saving graces from Tanner's angular aggro-punk, Culty Smothers' fleeting, Sentridoh-esque acoustic goodness, Half-Sister's boisterous indie-rawk and the slacker leanings of Hugh. There are a couple of more relatively known quantities chilling out on the Patio, namely A Minor Forest and 3-Mile Pilot, but a myriad of no-names rule dominate here. Smilex, the label that gave rise to this collection has a Myspace page, with info on the sequel to this comp, Patio Collection Vol. 2.

01. Rrope - West Tone Song
02. Culty Smothers – Oh
03. Sugarplastic - Ways to Save Face
04. SevenFortySeven – Earth
05. Jackass – Tibet
06. Fleabag - Up & Down
07. Hugh - Church of José
08. Tanner - Slightly Calculated
09. The Polar Goldiecats - Minuet in Squirt
10. A Minor Forest - 3 Long Piles
11. Half Sister – Splitzville
12. 3-Mile Pilot - The Piano Titanic
13. Don Knotts Overdrive - Electric Treechrome Disco Girl
14. Mars Bonfire - Serpent Coil
15. The Splatz – Gary
16. Mindcandy – Head
17. Clancy Pearson – 4:09
18. Foil - Drowned Out

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Splitting the Difference # 22 - Mars Acclerator/The Adding Machine - Semaphore Loveletter (199?, First Alert Doppler)

Way, way back someone requested music from Mars Accelerator. At long last, here it is - at least the best I could do for now. Just discovered Mars are apparently still in business, even offering a "download of the month" of some sort on their site. Really enjoyed their first cut here, "Bubbles, Lurching," which smacks of crooked popsters The Sugarplastic, throwing a co-ed twee vibe in the mix for good measure. Am pretty sure I heard a Mars Accelerator CD several years ago but don't recall them sounding a damn thing like this. According to their Myspace hovel, Mars Accelerator call Seattle home.

Call it an uncanny coincidence (or in fact, just call it a day), but The Adding Machine also seem to be grazing from the same pasture that The Sugarplastic happen to occupy. Not a slavish imitation mind you, the Machine are wont to peel off a none-too-dissimilar volley of relentlessly ringing chords and quirky prose. If I recall, I have an Adding Machine CD tucked away somewhere that I think I ought to listen to judging from the satisfactory results here. No apparent web presence for these folks, but it looks like their album came out in 2000.

Mars Accelerator
01. Bubbles, Lurching
02. Yes, Slimy

The Adding Machine
01. Missiles
02. Baby's Own Colour Annual 1976

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Reviews you can use: The Mosquitos, Falling Stairs and sparkle*jets u.k.

In case you haven't noticed I'm way overdue for some reviews of current releases and reissues, and I'm going to try to address that over the course of the next few paragraphs.  I appreciate everyone that has been gracious enough to set up vinyl and CDs.  Being provided with physical media is more of a luxury than ever, and if I haven't been thoughtful enough to those who go to the trouble your generosity is appreciated.  More critiques to come in the near-future, I might add. 

Spandex. Breakdancing. Mullets. And just about dayglo-everything.  For better or worse this is the world in which Long Island's Mosquitos were forced to toil and contend with.  But guess what? They weren't having a lick of it.  In fact, it would seem like this quintet hadn't gotten the bat signal that the world had evolved past say, 1966.  Stuck in their own time-warp, not unlike similarly bespoke San Diego brethren The Nashville Ramblers, this quintet carved out a small niche within the environs of New York's power pop circuit alongside contemporaries The Bongos and Fleshtones, yet their antecedents were entirely steeped in British Invasion and Merseybeat pop, with nary an inclination to the present day - and you can take that literally.  Their discography consisted of a well received 1985 ep, (That Was Then, This is Now), and if you want to get technical a few demo tapes, but that lone record was essentially all that was made available for public consumption - until 2023, which saw the release of the double CD This Then Are the Mosquitos, and the more concisely consolidated vinyl incarnation, In the Shadows.  

The Mosquitos replication of the Cool Britannia epoch was awe-strikingly spot-on, wherein the band's five protagonists uncannily could have slotted in precisely with Help!, Face to Face-era Kinks, or the Dave Clark Five, etc.  They completely had the instrumentation, tonality and poise of the mid-60s down to a science, so much so that "I Know a Secret," "You Don't Give a Hang (About Me)," and "Put Your Foot Down" could have passed for veritable oldies - that is if it wasn't for copyright dates revealing these tunes were actually minted two decades later.  The 'squitos were genuinely expert and adept at the card they were playing, but for every fan they successfully roped in, there was likely to be a dozen or so would-be-listeners that were put off by their schtick, or more realistically, completely checked out in a haze of MTV and video games.  That being said, the bustling forty song-plus This Then... is really aimed at two parties - Brit Invasion aficionados and the Mosquitos small but gonzo fanbase.  Though their studio work was limited (hovering around fifteen numbers) the band was remarkably well documented, with about ten quality soundboard recordings of live gigs surviving over the ensuing decades, yielding much of This Then's... retro-laden manna.  I'd be remiss if I failed to mention The Mosquitos were responsible for writing the original version of the Monkees '80s comeback hit, "That Was Then, This is Now," which might ring a bell to a lot of Gen-X'ers in the audience.  A bit cloying?  Sure, but if you're down for what these not-so pesky insects were dishing out there's a bountiful hive of music to adore here. This Then... is available directly from Kool Kat Musik or Bandcamp. 

Having surely made your acquaintance with Falling Stairs when I posted their marvelous That and a Quarter mini-album several years ago (2010 if you're keeping tabs), you'll be pleased as punch to know that they've made their slim but estimable catalog available again - physically no less. In  reference to the moniker of this long defunct Queens, NY quartet, you’ll find nary a stumbling block on Falling Stairs first record in 35 years.  Not that everything occupying the twelve grooves on Life is a Kick Trial 1988-1993 is actually ‘new’ per se, considering this is a retrospective absorbing the entirety of the aforementioned, That and a Quarter alongside five scarce and/or heretofore unreleased tracks.  F/S deserved a better lot than their meager exposure on a few left-of-the-dial outposts accorded them, with a warm, reverby vibe that smacked of halcyon era R.E.M., not to mention lesser renown buried treasures like Bleached Black, Beauty Constant and Lifeboat.  From the jackhammer power pop fervor of “Man-Made” to “Good Intention’s” acousti-folk lilt …Kick Trial makes a crucial argument for this combo's neglected legacy. It's available immediately as a limited vinyl and digital release here.

Not unlike the Mosquitos compilation I went on about at the beginning of this piece, my assessment of sparkle*jets u.k.'s 2023 platter, Best of Friends is loooooooong overdue.  So much so in fact the band is actually on the verge of releasing a new album this summer, Box of Letters, which I'll try to share my thoughts in a more timely manner.  So, why am I not dedicating space to the new one, when Best of Friends is several months (if not close to an entire year in the rear view)?  Because for me ....Friends is the most consequential item in the sparkle*jet's long and storied catalog. In a nutshell, back in the mid/late-90s I couldn't get enough of the groovy power pop (and adjacent) music scene emanating from the City of Angels.  It seemed as is every other month during the Clinton-era another crucial, revelatory album from a Los Angeles-based cabal was dropping, be it in the guise of new CDs from the likes of The Wondermints, Baby Lemonade, The Sugarplastic, and more that I'll be disclosing momentarily.  

Best of Friends is a covers album that's a self described "love letter" to the 'jets' local peers - bands and songwriters they shared bills with, came up with, and generally speaking, mutually supported.  It functions both as a flattering tribute and as an ingenious time capsule of sorts, revisiting the music of essential L.A. aggregations Cockeyed Ghost, Double Naught Spies, The Negro Problem, Sugarplastic, Shazam, and Big Hello just to rattle off a portion of those paid homage to here.  You'd think half the rosters of Not Lame and Big Deal Records are represented on ...Friends, because veritably speaking that's practically the case.  And represented reverentially at that, with the coed 'jets in almost all cases impeccably retaining the original arrangements. True, the original incarnations of TNP's "Mahnsanto" and The Wondermints' "In and Around Greg Lake" are stunningly priceless, yet the new coatings of paint they're treated to here illicit a similar visceral rush - a feat than any given tribute album should strive for, yet so rarely achieves. Heck, along the way I even discovered a handful of songs from phenomenal acts like the See Saw and Kompost that were brand new to this set of this ears, offering plenty of motivation for me to investigate their respective bygone catalogs. And with 21 selections, there's no shortage of hooks to engulf yourself in.  Best of Friends can be had directly from Big Stir Records and Bandcamp, digitally or on double-LP and CD.

The Negro Problem - Their General Suave Guys Request 7" box (1996, Pronto)

Before I proceed, try not to get too weirded out by this outfit’s seemingly outrageous moniker. The Negro Problem are not only more than ethnically friendly, frontman Stew (Mark Stewart) is African American. In fact, my only reservation in sharing this very hard to find three 7” box set is the frustrating amount of vinyl static that populates some of these songs. Released in 1996 via Pronto Records, the same label that put out a similar 7” box for the Sugarplastic (and from what I understand Possum Dixon), Their General Suave Guys Request features early incarnations of songs that would be reworked for their masterful debut LP, Post Minstrel Syndrome, one of the signgle most dazzlingly sophisticated post-power pop records of the 1990s.

In the world of TNP, arresting wordplay, surrealism, and an avalanche of hooks to die for often dovetail with none-too-obfuscated social commentary, but when all is said and done it's Stew's incredible set of lungs that define the band in a most sublime way. If you're at all impressed with you hear, Post Minstrel... is an absolute must, and TNP's followup, 1999's Joys and Concerns is nearly as crucial. In 2002, a third TNP album, Welcome Black, was released and throughout the '00s Stew would pen several solo albums, Guest Host being my favorite. In recent years Stew has followed theatrical pursuits, quite successfully I might add.
 

01. The Meaning of Everything
02. Repulsion
03. Camelot
04. Sabrina Drill
05. Submarine Down

06. Heidigger in Harlem

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Metal Flake Mother - Beyond the Java Sea (1991, Moist)

Metal Flake Mother were one of the more modest spokes comprising the mega wheel that was the North Carolina indie scene circa the early '90s.  Never heard of 'em?  Well, for better or worse, not all Tar Heel combos could rise to the stature of Superchunk and The Connells.  As for what they were all about, Carrboro's MFM were practitioners of the lopsided pop thing, and when they set sail for the Java Sea in 1991, they failed to dock for a subsequent album.  I'm hearing intermittent traces of the Pixies throughout this record - not so much the dynamics, or for that matter even the intensity, but rhythmically.  Hmmm.  Violent Femmes might be a looser reference point, and if bands like the Sugarplastic ring your bell Metal Flake are worth investigating.  Boasting seventeen songs, not everything occupying ...Java Sea exactly sticks to the wall, but you'd do well to begin with the out-and-out catchy "Wingtip Lizards" and "Mean to Me," and proceed from there.

01. Tongue Long
02. Wingtip Lizards
03. Wiggle Like a Wild One
04. Ballroom
05. Mean toMe
06. Open a Vase
07. The Inquisition
08. Fine Lady
09. Satpen
10. Squash Beetle
11. Dance for Nails
12. Got a Lot of Blood
13. Mr Flower
14. Our Love for the Bone
15. Moss Howl
16. Matador
17. Safer

Hear

Okay Paddy - The Cactus Has a Point (2006, Prison Jazz)

It was just six years ago that I pinned my hopes on this new-ish Scranton, PA four piece, whose deftly composed indie pop was a synthesis of some of the previous decade's smartest offerings.  A 2004 ep, Hunk, preceded The Cactus Has a Point, but after another ep in 2008, Okay Paddy were ostensibly splitsville.  Had Cactus arrived a couple years later than it did, Paddy just might have blown up like Rogue Wave or Beach House.  Their official website is unfortunately kaput, but the band has a posthumous presence on Myspace (linked above).   Okay Paddy prime-mover Mike Quinn made his solo album Magico available on Bandcamp last year.  You can read the review of Cactus I penned many moons ago for Big Takeover magazine below.  

It’s a diminishing phenomenon, but every so often an album will come out of left field that once again reaffirms the audiophile in all of us why we go to such lengths to excavate a gem like Okay Paddy’s debut The Cactus Has a Point.  Whom does this visceral indie-pop quartet take their collective cues from?  Take your pick: The Bigger Loves, Sugarplastic, Pavement, A.C. Newman, Telepathic Butterflies, The Shins – and that’s just grazing the surface.  Okay Paddy marry their scrumptious power pop with carefully measured amounts of quirkiness and sassy enthusiasm to make a convert out of anyone with respectable taste in contemporary indie-rock. Cactus offers ten short and sweet, three minute nuggets emanating surprising depth and robustness given their brevity.  Lay your ears on “Time For a Tailor,” “You Never Worry,” and “Oo-Man, La-World“ and prepare to become a believer.  

01. Your Bar's on Fire

02. Gas Money

03. Put Them in Cages

04. Time For a Tailor

05. oo-man, la world

06. You Never Worry

07. Where's the Taste

08. lighter later

09. Fraktur

10. Furrier

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Singles Going Single #20 - The Wondermints 7" (1993, Pop Psycle)

While I ca't give you a firsthand account, I can tell you that Los Angeles had a thriving, renaissance of an indie/power pop scene in the mid to late '90s. Some of the crème de la crème included The Andersons, Cockeyed Ghost, Sugarplastic, Baby Lemonade, and the slightly conspicuous Negro Problem, but if I were to boil it down to one band that was representative of that era, The Wondermints would probably be my band of choice. Pristine and polished as they were, the 'mints had an incredible sense of integrity and quality control. Their debut single on what would appear to be their own label, Pop Psycle, is the best of both whirls, as one might say. The a-side, "Proto-Pretty" was timeless enough to even be enshrined on a Rhino Records power pop anthology. It's flip-side, "Silly Place" is just as golden, as was their self-titled album that followed this single. That album is out of print but relatively easy to hunt down. In short, whether you're an established fan, or if you're here for your first spin, you're in for a major treat.

A. Proto-Pretty
B. Silly Place

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The Jigsaw Seen - Shortcut Through Clown Alley (1990, Skyclad)

L.A.s The Jigsaw Seen arrived at the tail end of the Paisley Underground movement, but unlike Rain Parade and The Three O'clock, they didn't garner as much notoriety. Profoundly unfortunate, because their debut LP, Shortcut Through Clown Alley, is a sophisticated psych-pop treasure, laced with sublime, Roger McGuinn-informed guitar fills, well placed flourishes of Farfisa organ, and ambitious songwriting. The effect is startlingly akin to the Mersey Beat endebted XTC side project, The Dukes of Stratosphear, and more recently the work of fellow L.A. scenesters The Sugarplastic. Shortcut...evokes the vibe of a loosely strung together concept piece, which it may or may not be, only adding to it's charismatic mystique. There's no definitive centerpiece here, but the winsome "Jim Is the Devil" was striking enough to be issued as a single in it's own right, shortly before the release of the album. Incidentally, my copy of Shortcut is slightly blemished by a scratch that effects the first couple rotations of this very track, but conveniently, in 2007, Little Hits blog posted the song as well (sans the rest of the album), which is still available for the taking.

Incidentally, The Jigsaw Seen would bring forth their signature song in 1991, in the shape of "My Name is Tom," featured on the ep of the same name that was thoughtfully reissued in 2006. The band have been recording/performing intermittently since their late '80s inception, and their website linked above is well worth exploring, if only for plundering the MP3s of a BBC session.
 

01. Pillar of Salt

02. Can Andy Come Out and Play?

03. Where You're Goin'

04. Jesus of Hollywood

05. These Are the Days

06. Jim is the Devil

07. Sebastian Kane

08. Under Par

09. Cordially Invited - December

10. Jezebel
 

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The Mommyheads - Delicate Friction (2011, Dromedary) - A brief overview

When I was compiling my write up for two Mommyheads reissues this spring (the retrospective Finest Specimens, and an expanded version of their 1994 fan favorite, Flying Suit) I was completely ignorant to the fact that they were recording a new record, their second since their 2008 (or thereabouts) reunion.  Up until those reissues I had nothing invested in the Mommyheads, but encountering their back catalog revealed that yours truly overlooked a veritable indie pop treasure for the better part of two decades.  Frankly, I found myself posing the rather obvious question, "Where had 'mommy' been all these years?"

The 'Heads struck their creative peak mid-90s, boasting lucid, uncluttered sonic motifs with a measured dollop of quirky panache, a la contemporaries the Sugarplastic, and predating what the Shins would be bringing down the pike in a few years to come.  Delicate to a fault the, Mommyheads in the Twenty-first Century are an even cleaner and leaner trio of pop troubadours than past endeavors suggested.  Delicate Friction is still very much the brainchild of the Mommyheads of yore, with an emphasis steeped in the casual ebb and flow of Turin Brakes, thirty-something Sloan, and the more ballad-esque persuasions of Fountains of Wayne.  In short, the boys are maturing and mellowing out just like the rest of us, and even if you're a longtime fan there's nothing to be alarmed about.  The trick will be whether the Mommyheads can lure in a few new sets of ears that have a taste for their ever-increasing refinement.  Three live tracks are bonus-sized, including "Saints Preserve Us" from their aforementioned Flying Suit album.  Delicate Friction is available now from Dromedary Records.

Chewy Marble - demo (1996)

Here's a name that might ring a bell for some of you.  Chewy Marble were an L.A. area trio who did their thing not only when power pop in general was enjoying something of a renaissance,  but were part and parcel of a primo local scene including the likes of the Wondermints, Baby Lemonade, The Sugarplastic and Cockeyed Ghost among several others. Chewy, helmed by singer/guitar slinger Brian Kassan, never quite hit you over the head with anything intense or crazy, but they possessed a bevy of killer tunes, especially the ones populating their 1997 debut.  I'm offering the contents of their '96 demo reel, which was generously passed along to me recently by a friend. All three songs were rerecorded or at least remixed for that subsequent first album, but the demos wield a bit more immediacy than the finished versions, so encountering this was a treat. "My Reaction" and "Peculiar" abound with a Posies and Jellyfish-like charm, while the piano-ballad, "Touch and Go" rolls some Badfinger-isms into the equation.  Again, Chewy Marble weren't household names by any stretch, but in their three album lifespan they did pretty damn good.

01. My Reaction

02. Peculiar

03. Touch and Go

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VA - Best of the Blog mix 2013

In what's become an annual tradition, I've prepared a (highly) condensed version of what I've been sharing for the past two months in the from of my yearly blog mix.  It serves as an ideal starting point for both lapsed Wilfully Obscure-ophiles, or for the more dedicated visitors who would simply enjoy indulging in a straight-up. 80-minute wedge of some of the finest audio treasures I was able to purvey to you in 2013.

This has easily been the most tumultuous year in the history of this site, if only for the fact that my file hoster of choice for nearly six years, scrubbed 50+ gigs of data that I had been sharing with you lot, without an iota of warning I might add.  For the most part, this matter is behind me, and roughly 80% of the links on here are currently active.  Additionally, work obligations have chiseled into my recreation time more than ever (not that many of you have probably noticed).  As the years go by, it seems as though I have fewer "big unveilings" to present to you, with the creme de la creme of my collection already exhausted and immortalized on Wilfully Obscure.  Nonetheless it's still fun, and I have plenty more to offer. And while we're on the upside of things, 2013 brought with a fresh new segment, namely Mystery Mondays, allowing me to (temporarily) share a segment of my collection that I have been reticent to do so before. 

The twenty-four song collection I'm presenting today is a patchwork of disparate genres, often inconveniently rubbing elbows with each other, may they be punk-pop, jangle, or frankly unclassifiable.  For those who find it fit to devour these couple dozen tracks in one sitting, there are bound to be some uncomfortable segues - a sort of microcosm of this site itself in many respects.  Along with twenty jams I've already unleashed, there are four additional ones that I haven't, and they're denoted below.  Enjoy.

01. Sardina - Ding Dong, The Liberty Horse
02. Sugarplastic - Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore
03. Tobin Sprout - Serial Killer
04. Second Childhood - Smashing Mirrors
05. The Church Grims - Plaster Saint
06. James Dean Driving Experience - Drop Dead Darling
07. The Love In - Late as Usual
08. The Wake - Lion's Heart*
09. Perfect Strangers - Small Town*
10. Nuns of the Great West - The Right and the Wrong*
11. Nocturnal Projections - In Purgatory
12. Lion Tamer - West 64
13. Garden Variety - Turnout
14. The Crush - Get Out Of My Head And Into My Hands
15. G-Whiz - You Popped My Life*
16. Splendor Head - Number on the Radio
17. John's Black Dirt - Lights Flashing
18. The Donner Party - John Wilkes Booth
19. The Trace - This Time
20. The Nines - Jennifer Smiles (demo)
21. Something Fierce - My Hands Are Tied
22. Brave New World - Brave New World
23. Cries - Death in Boston
24. Enemies in the Grass - Day After Day

* = previously unshared

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The Adding Machine - Suspicious Package (2000, First Alert Doppler)

Here's a fairly young relic from a co-ed Seattle contingent I introduced ya'll to many moons ago, via a split release with them and Mars Accelerator.  I mentioned in that entry I was impressed enough by Adding Machine's side of the affair to investigate this album.  Suspicious Package isn't particularly suspect per se, but it's inconsistency is hard to overlook.  The good: Adding Machine are crisp, adept players, allocating the precise dosage of clangy, strummy fretwork that often emanates the same stripe of synergy that the Sugarplastic made their calling card.  The not so good: vocalist Jason Roos, whose nerdy aptitude falls shy of torpedoing the ship, but a bitch to get accustomed to nonetheless.  Package's wry observations are best unwrapped when abetted by a healthy serving of melody, employed to it's fullest extent on "I Like It That Way" and "Will You Remember Me?"

01. Thank You, Arlys
02. Binars
03. Dvorak
04. Crime Scene
05. I Like It That Way
06. Chicken, Chicken
07. Lenawee
08. A Return to Quality
09. Will You Remember Me?
10. Little Sally Haircit
11. Jenny's Identity Crisis
12. What's Up Wanda L?
13. Excitement!

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Cockeyed Ghost/Adam Marsland - Rarities Vol. 1

The name Cockeyed Ghost might ring a bell if you took a liking to a bevy of fresh-faced power pop acts emanating from the Los Angeles-era circa the mid-90s like the Wondermints, Baby Lemonade, The Negro Problem and The Sugarplastic among a dozen or so others.  Starting in 1996, four Cockeyed Ghost albums came, and sadly largely went without much fanfare, but it wasn't for lack of trying or competence.  CG weren't the monochromatic, three chord variation on power pop that was all too ubiquitous back then, thanks to frontman Adam Marsland, an adept singer songwriter who wielded sophisticated motifs, layered arrangements and a dynamic vocal range to boot.  After pursuing multiple Cockeyed Ghost lineups, Adam launched a solo venture in earnest the next decade, yielding diverse and often visceral records like You Don't Know Me, Go West, and The Owl and the Full Moon.

By the late-90s he had already racked up a significant body of work, so much so that all of it couldn't be corralled onto proper albums.  Two compilations of unreleased and under-released CG (and related) songs were issued as limited edition CD-Rs and made available through his website.  Today I'm presenting Rarities Vol. 1.  Copious and informative liner notes accompany the album, all of which I've scanned in with the artwork, but if you're looking for a shortcut, here's a little synopsis of what's on here.

Oddly enough, CG Rarities Vol. 1 doesn't delve straight into Cockeyed Ghost jams, rather Marsland's preceding endeavor, Adam Marsland's Band, who were responsible for a short run of local tapes and ep's in the early 90s.  Some of the six AMB nuggets featured are the ambitious "Here Comes Eric," the rather rockin' "A Manner of Speaking," and the slick but sublime ballad "Where's My Heart."  Even from the get-go Marsland had a deep-seated penchant for harmonies, and the hooks, while present, would be evidenced exponentially in the not-too-distant-future.

Two respectable. albeit finely polished solo recordings from 1993, "The Empty Room" and "Do Something" follow next.  After that it's an album's worth of scarce Cockeyed Ghost goodies, including some of the band's earliest studio attempts, including punky riff rocker "Cut and Run," the melancholic "Leave Her Alone" and Get Me Out of Here," a demo of Keep Yourself Amused's "Keep the Sun" and a Japanese-sung version of "Special," a tune which originally appeared on CG's 1997 album Neverest.  Faithful renditions of Badfinger's should-have-been classic ballad "Name of the Game" and the Raspberries "If You Change Your Mind" also make an appearance.  The set concludes with Adam's solo acoustic take of "Falling Down the Hill," yet another deep album track.

If you enjoy what you were hear, lay your ears on some of the proper Cockeyed Ghost albums. I'm afraid CG don't have much of a presence on Spotify, but some of his solo albums do, and there's always his homepage's store where physical CDs and such can be purchased including his latest, Bulé.

The last I heard, Adam was traipsing around some exotic outpost in the eastern hemisphere.  Perhaps you can get a feel for what he's been up to here. 

Adam Marsland's Band (1991-93)
01. Here Comes Eric
02. Young + Stupid
03. Don't Laugh at How I Feel
04. Where's My Heart
05. Talking About Myself
06. A Manner of Speaking

Adam Marsland (1993)
07. The Empty Room
08. Do Something

Cockeyed Ghost (1994-98)
09. If You Change Your Mind
10. Cut and Run
11. Love, Art and War
12. Get Me Out of Here
13. La La La La La La (Manic 5-0)
14. Leave Her Alone
15. Keep the Sun
16. Name of the Game
17. Someone You Know
18. Special (Japanese)
19. Falling Down the Hill (Adam acoustic)

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