8 Comments

You are a funny writer, Dave. Your words make me smile when I'm in a smiley mood. I don't see Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman on the USCLOBAF94INPO list and think you would really like it (if you're a fan of Portishead's first album, say, or Kid A, don't say).

Right, what other vague comments need I bother/not bother to leave here? Your enjoyment of acoustic sets by established acts. I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this but Kevin chatted to Matty on Substack and Matty does this tour of kind of living rooms and back gardens etc. It sounds really interesting as a new kind of way for musicians to earn an income. Kevin can probably provide a link to a chat podcast the two did on Substack a couple of months back. Or you can seek it out with your clever tech-savvy know-how.

Your review of 'Parklife' is fantastic. I really like how much you've been enjoying Britpop. That's my era. I agree that Blur and Oasis approached lyric writing from very different angles at least at that stage of their respective music careers. I do hope your interest in this genre (we'll roughly call it Britpop) digs into a few albums that were never going to make it into Rolling Stone's Top 500 (unless lots of people bought them of course) in time. 'Yeah Yeah Yeah' by Bob Stanley is a fab book about British pop singles. I understand you are very busy with your critical music listening work, Dave!

Oh cool, that's all I've got to say. Thanks Dave. Nice post.

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Thank you much Benjamin! I appreciate you reading as always! I think I will be exploring Britpop in more detail in the future. I know I’m staying on the well-worn path so far, but my theory is that I need to orient myself to what the popular canon was in those years in order to have a reference point to dive deeper. And I definitely need to check out Matty’s acoustic tour!

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Thanks for mentioning that, Ben! Matty came through here recently, and we finally got a chance to catch up in person. It was awesome.

He wrote a bit about it here:

https://whatamimaking.substack.com/p/tour-diary-madison-wi-and-the-start

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Weight, by The Rollins Band happened that year. https://youtu.be/_nyzRYGg9as?si=m5-fizUvBeIjbcTa

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Very cool, thank you!

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Wow, the USCLOBAF94INPO is quite the list! Happy to have contributed, but also just very happy to sing Bedhead’s praises.

It’s hard to overstate the impact WhatFunLifeWas had on my musical journey growing up. I mean, that album is just so sonically different from all the other rock albums on the list above. It was revelatory.

I’m a totally sucker for quiet->loud dynamics, and it all started with “Bedside Table” from that album. This LP was the jumping off point that eventually led me to Slint, Mogwai, GY!BE, etc.

Also, “Powder” is just a perfect song.

For anyone interested in learning more about Bedhead, Numero Group wrote up an excellent history of the band.

https://numerogroup.com/blogs/stories/indescribably-epic-the-tale-of-bedhead?srsltid=AfmBOoodfxHxtYI9B1yqxmQ6j_ePvc4cTY1w_fLomMVK9L1QmJbG2Y97

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I will be sure to check out WhatFunLifeWas! There’s so much goood music I missed, I’m excited to catch myself up

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Cows: Orphan’s Tragedy

The Jesus Lizard: Down

Shellac: At Action Park

Nick Cave: Let Love In

Swans: The Great Annihilator

Melvins: Stoner Witch

Helmet: Betty

Darkthrone: Transilvanian Hunger

Supersuckers: La Mano Cornuda

:)

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