In the right mood for mud: English Festivals

"September is here again", sang eternal David Sylvian in 1987.
Glastonbury Festival set June to fire, and Reading (and Leeds) Festival unplugged its plugs last Sunday night.
Therefore even this year I've not gone to any of the two most suggestive and symbolic festival ever (to me).
I still go to concerts and I'm happy to necessarily take planes to reach the venue; I went to festivals, got soaked with rain, beer and sweat (mine and others'), longed for a real toilet, yet enjoyed the experience thoroughly.
But, I feel there's a kind of... void anyway.
I've been planning to squeeze myself into the crowd of one of the two UK festivals since I first handled a precious copy of New Musical Express and read epic reviews of epic concerts, some 20 years ago.
Postponing after postponing I'm here, 36 and counting, and progressively less eager to share an ocean of mud with 50.000 people. Especially when you get Beyoncè (Glasto) or My Chemical Romance (Reading) as headliners (I mean, I've nothing against them, I even like them, but it's definitely not my cup of tea).
Anyway,
since this blog is meant to talk about 90s, here's something from the poster above:

Manic Street Preachers* - Revol (1994)

*: when they were still cool

Suede** - Metal Mickey (1992)

**: everlastingly cool

The Cardigans*** - Sick and tired (1994)

***: jewel of a song, jewel of an album.

August, 1991

As everyone knows, "Nevermind" was released in August 1991.
Exactly 20 years ago.
Is there still something to add about this album?
Yes, I do think so. And I'm sure you're pining to know what it meant and still means to me, its role in my... musical education, and... and sooner or later your curiosity will be fulfilled. I'll write a post about it someday.
(omg, 1991... I was 16, my hair was longer than Eddie Vedder's, I weighed almost 20 kilos less than now, and... man, the 90s had just begun!)
Anyway...
in that very same month other milestones of (indie / pop / alt) music saw the light of day.
From my beloved brit bishops Blur and their first album "Leisure", to riot grrrl goddesses Hole ("Pretty on the inside"), from trip-hop fathers Massive Attack (monumental "Blue lines") to seminal "Ten" by Pearl Jam, not forgetting Metallica's "Black album", Cypress Hill, and... er... Spin Doctors.
Talking about singles that colored record shop shelves in that fiery August 1991, here are some.
Even some multi-million selling artists, for once.
Enjoy.

Smashing Pumpkins - Siva* (August 1991)

*: those colors, those blurred images, Billy Corgan's not bald head...
I think my heart stopped for some seconds

PJ Harvey - Dress** (August 1991)

**: Polly's first ever single.

Metallica - Enter sandman (August 1991)


R.E.M. - Near wild heaven*** (August 1991)

***: admit it, you do love "Out of time", as everbody else.
Pop at its best.

Hole - Teenage whore (August 1991)

Crumbs - Crumb #3

Crumb #3: "Fake fur" by Urusei Yatsura

Uuhh.. that's what I call a "crumb" (for the correct definition of "crumb", see this post)!
I've totally forgotten (about) both song and band.

Premise is needed:
if you own a Facebook profile or, in general, are used to hang out at forums, you've most likely noticed that lots of italian (males as well as females) users' avatars are japanese (TV) cartoon characters, the most part coming from the late 70s and 80s.
All of us Italians, 30-heading-for-40 something, were raised up with, no... thanks to japanese TV cartoons.
Even my 67 y.o. father still remembers characters, themes song / opening themes from lots of them.
Try to google "cartoni animati giapponesi": a new world will open itself before your eyes.

A few days ago, while taking advantage of my fake FB profile to take a peek at other people's life, I noticed that a (male) friend of mine chose an image of Lamù as his avatar.
Among utterly forgettable comments I happened to read the original japanese name (I somehow forgot) of the series: Urusei Yatsura.
And suddenly... poof! my mind went immediately back to this scottish combo, and the only one song of theirs I knew.
And so.. here it goes:

Urusei Yatsura - Fake fur (1997)


and... er... this is the italian version's opening theme

Songs by numbers

It's all in the title of the post.
Songs, numbers.
Songs with a number, nothing else, in their titles.


Massive Attack - Three (1994)



Jimmy Eat World - Ten (1999)

Fan made video: don't know whether it captured the spirit of the song or not, but... I liked it.
(and "Clarity" is a great album indeed)

Cranberries - Twenty-one (1994)

I proudly admit it: I loved "No need to argue". Period. And songs like this or "Empty" still give me the shivers.
(I know, I know... this video basically is "Dreams" re-edited. But to me is new, because I've always thought this version was the only one existing. And, anyway, the 4AD atmosphere suits the song like a glove)

The Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-three (1996)

The view from stage

As I wrote somewhere in this blog already, I was in a band, in the 90s, and we existed from 1994 to 2001. Actually, we kept on rehearsing and putting sketches of songs on tape (and on audio file) until 2004, but we basically ceased to be everyone's favourite active indie pop band (only in my dreams, of course) in 2001, when we played live for the last time.
It was the 21st of July. So it's exactly 10 years now.
I remember it was so windy, just like today (in Sardinia).
Ten years... aargh!!
I definitely need something carelessly happy, and pop, and live, to cheer me up a bit.
Here it goes:

Pulp - Disco 2000 (1995)

speaking of elliott smith

this is one of my favorite songs by him, the ballad of big nothing, off of either/or. no video it seems, so here's a live version with pretty good sound. skip the first minute, cos it's all just applause. (although, click here if you want to hear the recorded version.) enjoy.

Oh, yes! Bright Eyes is Nebraskan!

"What about 90s music from Nebraska?"
That's what I was thinking about yesterday morning, while putting the finishing touch to the "Nebraska" panel.
Because I have this artsy-fartsy project going on (one of the many; most of them pointless and indefinite): simply, I cut out Google Earth aerial views, then I combine them together through collage techniques (on PC).
I suppose millions of PC / interent users have done it alreay before.
Anyway... I've completed only one of the 4 (digital) patchworks / panels that will compose the work, so far (work that, when finished, will adorn that sad and white wall of my living-room).
This panel's called "Nebraska", because all the patches pertain to Fred Astaire's, Hillary Swank's and Marlon Brando's home state.
Getting back to the point: a quick search on Wikipedia revealed that Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes deus ex machina, was born in Omaha, Nebraska's biggest city. I've always seen him as something from the 00's on (I came across Bright Eyes only in 2000, when "Fevers and mirrors" came out), but I just finished listening to 1998 "Letting off the happiness" and it's great!
And there's a track on it that smells like 90s. Like Sparklehorse on a shoegaze trip (with intriguing female backing vocals).
Enjoy.

PS: unforgotten Elliott Smith was born in Omaha, too. But he was kind of "adopted" by Portland, Oregon.

Bright eyes - pull my hair (1998)

PJ Harvey, a girl from England

Tomorrow... no, today, early morning, I'm going to take a plane from Sardinia (Italy; it's the large island on the left, for those who have not been taught geography properly) to Ferrara (centre-north of Italy). And in the evening I'll be there, again a few meters from my love of a life time, Polly Jean Harvey.
Since I'm in a hurry (wake up time is within... 3 hours), and since this blog is all about 90s, here's one of the very few songs taken from PJ's 90s albums she's going to play in Ferrara.
I think I'll write and upload something about the concert anyway, next week.

(suggestion: go to Youtube and search PJ Harvey and "Let England shake"; there's no official TV-friendly video at all. But you'll find 12 short documentaries, the size of a song. 12 songs on "Let England shake", 12 videos about England, its colors and shapes and humanscapes, about english people, their eyes and hands, their past and present, hopes and disillusions and memories, the story of a nation through images of daily simple life)

PJ Harvey - The sky lit up (1998) tour 2011

Winona, Winona and Wynona

Undoubtedly, when you think about Winona Ryder your mind can't help focusing on 90s.
Because it's in everything she evokes (evoked): it was in her haircut, in the way she nodded her head, in the position of the camera that made it look like she was less tall than you and she was watching you like a scoutgirl at your front door on a mission to sell as many biscuits as possible (*gasp*, forgot to breathe!..), it's in "Reality bites" as well as in "Edward Scissorhands" (and in her lovestory with Johnny Depp), it's in the way she dressed, it's in her bewildered fawn glance.
(however... er... she always left me unimpressed; my younger sister, instead, was definitely a "winonian")
This clueless post would like to... celebrate Winona Ryder through three classic (to me) 90s videos that simply bear "Winona" in their title or... feature Winona lip-synching.

We start with gross "Wynona's big brown beaver" by Primus* (although leader Les Claypool always denied any reference with the girl from Minnesota).
Second video is "Talk about the Blues" by superb Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Winona sings, Giovanni Ribisi plays guitar, and John C. Reilly is on drums.
Third video is "Winona", by guiltily underrated Drop Nineteens: intense Uk-style shoegaze made in Boston. And that's my favourite by far of the bunch.
Enjoy

(*I hated Primus. It'not (only) their fault. I'll write a post about it)

Primus - Wynona's big brown beaver (1995)


Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Talk about the Blues (1998)


Drop Nineteens - Winona (1992)

It's 90s g(r)eeks!

Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)

Just came back from a trip to the island of Rhodes, Greece (suffice it to say: you do have to visit that place!).
After strolling along the windy alleys of the Old City for a few minutes, you immediately realize that you've been surrounded by... menus! They are everywhere, trying to enchant the unwary tourist from a restaurant window, or triumphally invading the (narrow) streets in form of a 2x1 metre board, or lasciviously offering their goodies to your hungry eyes from an unsteady lectern.
And all of them promise nothing but one thing: authentic, real, genuine greek food.
And in a whiff you feel comfortable with words like "dolmades", "gyros", "moussaka" (and "tzatziki") and, of course, "souvlaki".
But... could have a 90s geek like me simply eaten that delicious thing without thinking about Slowdive?
This post is for the cold-hearted readers out there who don't know that "Souvlaki" is, also, the 1993 masterpiece by essential Slowdive (and for all the people who thinks that their 90s would have been poorer without that band and that album).

file under: shoegazing, My Bloody Valentine without distortions, music to float to, thank God there had been Creation Records, oh my! Rachel Goswell turned 40 last month.

Slowdive - Alison


Slowdive - Souvlaki Space station


Slowdive - When the sun hits


Slowdive - Machine gun

How to disappear. Not completely

Hello again.
To the millions of (silent, apparently) readers of this blog out there... sorry for disappearing again.
I promise it won't happen any more.
I offer you Lush's "500 (shake baby shake)" as an apology.
There's an alternate video for this song, and it's definitely sooo 90s: a kind of summary of 90s videos mood, something resembling Stone Temple Pilots' "Creep" meets Garbage's "Stupid girl" meets Whale's "Hobo humpin slobo babe" meets Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet with butterfly wings".
Pretty cool indeed.
But tonight I prefer version #1. An image for "carefree happyness"? Miki (Berenyi) singing and nodding her head in time while driving a 500 (yes, "500" is that tiny car's model, symbol of Italy's history and culture. My family owned two of them when I was a kid!).
Enjoy
(Now go and buy "Lovelife"!)

Lush - 500 (shake baby shake) (1996)

fade out again

this is one of my favorite music videos of all time and also one of my favorite radiohead song. great combo there. both video and song are so incredibly beautiful. i get the urge to watch it every now and then, but it's been, i think, over a year now. my brain just went "hang on.. street spirit!" all of a sudden.

so, enjoy. the video is from '96 so, considering, the effects still work. good job there video making people.

Taking songs for real

Just got to know that Lacuna Coil, "Italian gothic metal band from Milan" (as Wikipedia reports. And I'm not going to venture trying out some other definitions: I'm not into metal et similia at all), made an elegant cover of Dubstar's "Stars", a good ten years ago ("Halflife" e.p., 2000).
I'm not a fan of Lacuna Coil, though I respected them much (each time an italian band / artist reaches international success through appreciable music... thumbs up, anyway). But, needless to say, I prefer Dubstar's original version.
And, for the record, Sarah (Blackwood, the charming singer), is one of the thirty? fifty? billion girls / women I fell in love with during my 90s.

Dubstar - Stars (1995)

Birthdays and self-gifts

So it's my birthday, today.
And it's time for a self gift.
Because, you know, the (not-written) rules of this blog are strict and inflexible: "Remember: thou won't write about anything happened before the 1st of January 1990 and after the 31st of December 1999. Rrremember!".
Thus this is one of the rare chances I have to venture out of the 90s.
It's a crime worth committing, I think.
The record is 1988 "Nothing's shocking" by Jane's Addiction.
I'll write an entire post about them sooner or later, that's for sure.
For now, let me just say that: if you want to thoroughly and deeply understand and appreciate the 90s, you definitely shouldn't keep ignoring it.
There are no fillers, no dull songs on that record.
It's so dense, so full of ideas, genres, sheer class and genius.
And there are Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro at their best.
I would have liked to upload "Ocean size" video, but, you know, embedding is not permitted... (however, here's the link)
So here is "Jane says", the most relaxed moment on "Nothing's shocking".
A sublime ballad. With my name in it, too.

Jane's Addiction - Jane says (1988)

Reissues: "Deserter's songs" by Mercury Rev

Mercury Rev - Goddess on a highway (1998)


For those cold hearted people out there who have never listened to Mercury Rev, this is your chance to make up for this shameful lack.
As Pitchfork reports, the "upstate New York orchestral rockers" reissued fundamental 1998 "Deserter's songs" two weeks ago, their most famous and critically acclaimed album, and everyone's favourite.
The (according to NME) "best album of 1998" features all the elements that have been defining Mercury Rev's peculiar sound since "See you on the other side" (1995): "shimmering psychedelic pop, immersive indie-rock, spectacularly engrossing passages of sumptuous instrumentation"*. Mine definition could be... uhm... "evocative orchestral astro dreamy pop with falsettos"??
Rate your music filed it under "Chamber Pop, Indie Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Dream Pop, Psychedelic Pop".
I've always loved music genre categories...
Anyway...
I strongly suggest you to provide a copy of this gem, and to listen to it over and over, until your heart and blood are warm again.

(*: by Mike Diver for BBC.co.uk. Full review here)


Mercury Rev - Opus 40 (1998)



Mercury Rev - Holes (1998)

We are Grandaddy and we play Strokes covers

I just realized, with surprise and shock, that I can't, I won't upload "The crystal lake" by Grandaddy on this blog.
Because that marvellously dreamy song, one of my favourite ever, was released in 2000.
So I won't even write about the magnificent "The Sophtware slump",
the album that contained it.
To (partially) relieve this discomfort, I can't do nothing but watch this:

Grandaddy - Summer here kids (1998)



and, obviuosly, this:

Grandaddy - AM 180 (1998)

150 years

Today Italy celebrates 150 years of unity.
I however think Italians don't have that much to celebrate these days.
And if you happened to read about Italy politics, you'd agree with me and with a good half of italian citizens.
A-ny-way...
Since I'm Italian and I didn't display a national flag on my window, I want to celebrate somehow.
Is there anything fancier than a 90s video and anything more proper than an italian one?

Viva l'Italia!


(for the record: in 1997 my band opened for them. I stored the event poster somewhere. In case you don't believe it...)

Mao - Satelliti (1997)

The "if I were an astronaut about to launch etc..." list

Nick Hornby, in "High fidelity", showed us the delightful art of compiling lists.
It's more satisfying than what you may think, unless your mind can't go further than a dull "my favourite 10 albums" list.
Along the years I happened to come across intriguing lists like "songs to be heard at my funeral", classics like "songs to shag to" (or "ALBUMS to shag to", in case you were that type) or weird inventories like "most useless member of a band" (uh... if I don't get wrong, I read it on the Melody Maker, and the "winner" was awkward skinny allucinated-eyed Bez of the Happy Mondays. Actually, his role was to play maracas and dance. Although maracas were not hearable and he danced like "a man who needs the bathroom trying to start a fight at a bus stop"*).
Anyway, talking about oddness, here's my "songs I'd listen to if I were an astronaut in the Space Shuttle two minutes before countdown starts" list.
Imagine yourself, sitting stiff and tensed in a Space Shuttle about to lunch, alone in your spacesuit, breathing like Darth Vader, halfway between the warm confidence of your beloved ones, the noise and confusion of your earthly life, and the cold, astonishing silence of the great beyond.
What would it be your soundtrack?
That's my choice:
#5
Foo Fighters - Next year (1999**)
Widely predictable.

#4
Blur - Far out (1994)
Ground control for the Major Damon...

#3
R. Kelly - I believe I ca... no, joking.

#3
Nine Inch Nails - A warm place (1994)
Because I'll need an instrumental

#2
Mansun - Wide Open Space (1996)

(I suggest you to have a listen to the acoustic version here)

#1
Spiritualized - Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space (1997)
Anything to add?


*: by David Pollock in independent.co.uk. Full excellent review here.
**: ok, the single was released in 2000; but I received the album as a Christmas present, in 1999.

So-called alternative sister

Yesterday* my sister turned 31.
But she still is a 14 years old girl to me, at a time when she was mad about Pearl Jam, Blur and so-called 90s alternative music.
I supposed it's so common for older brothers to see their younger sisters like... they were eternally framed in their teenage years; and I presume I'd feel the same even if she turned 40, or got married or spawned noisy creatures called "nephews".
But I arrogantly think my case is even more serious, and that's because so many memories of my "90s in music" are closely related to her: all those records we listened to together, all those VHS tapes as mementos of all the music videos and TV programmes we watched together, all those gigs of unknown local bands we went to...
We shared happy and unforgettable moments like that festival in 1999 (where Courney Love ordered the security staff to get rid of the "fan" who throwed a bottle on stage during Hole' set, and where Butch Vig had been only a spit's throw from me), as well as dreary ones, like the day Kurt Cobain egoistically resolved he would leave us orphans.
So many things changed since then (and how changed we are...).
(The words "The End" on the screen, melancholic violins, end credits.
This oh-so-personal post is finally over)

Yesterday* I went to my parents' house to celebrate her birthday altogether, and I secretly took a picture (see above) of two records from her collection.
The one on the left is a (rare?) 10inch vinyl copy of Juliana Hatfield's "My sister" I bought ages ago in London and gave to her as a present (one of my favourite song ever, for the record). I thought it couldn't miss from this post.
The CD on the left is 1996 "This world and body" by british band Marion. I remember she loved that album so much.
Pretty nice song indeed.
"Our" song. Sort of.

(*: the 6th)

Marion - Sleep (1995)

...and all of a sudden it's February 1991

I was searching material for a post about the so-called Madchester scene; in my intentions it would take three sub-posts at least, in order to define, to discuss, to... explain (to myself, first) its role in the decade this blog is about.
It's such hard mission, and my English doesn't assist me the way I need it to. So many cool things to say, yet so few adjectives to convey the message.
Anyway...
While idly drifting from site to site, I stumbled upon a date, no... two dates.
The Charlatans released "Over rising", one of their most legendary singles, on the 25th of February 1991. The year after, on the 24th of February, they published my favourite single of theirs, "Weirdo".
You realize time is not on your side anymore when the songs of your life are twenty years old.

The Charlatans - Over rising (1991)


The Charlatans - Weirdo (1992)

throwing muses et. al.

there are three ladies that go together in the american indie musical landscape of the 90s; kristin hersh, tanya donelly and kim deal. all of them also go together with my favorite label, 4AD.

the first of them, kristin hersh, formed throwing muses in the early 80s (in her early teens). in the line-up were her stepsister, the second of the ladies, tanya donelly. they were signed by 4AD in '86. in '91 their 4th and pure fantastic album the real ramona was released, after which tanya donelly left the band. by then donelly had already started a side project with kim deal (of pixies) called the breeders. later that year, 1991, she also formed belly, one of my absolute favorite bands. more about them in a later post.

a few year later kristin hersh also started to release solo albums, something she's continued to do. she also formed 50 foot wave in 2003.

here's throwing muses "not too soon" off of the real ramona. love it!



also, here's "bright yellow gun" from album university from '95. (no real video)



also, "your ghost" from hersh's first solo album hips and makers. interesting note: michael stipe sings backgrund vocals here.

Oh, my lover!

The first time we met was in 1992, and it was true love at first sight.
And we've never parted since then.
I can say I somehow grew with her. I couldn't imagine my 90s (and my 00s) without her fierce glance and her ruby lips (and her smile often turning into a grin); I loved and still love the way she looks so real whether she shouts out her power and majesty in a fake leopard-skin coat or she drags you in the darkest corners of her heart with a shivering falsetto, dressed like a contemporary Emily Bronte.
She is PJ Harvey, and today, 14th of February, her new album "Let England shake" is out.
If this blog survives, I'm going to write much more about her; so, for now, to salute her new work, celebrate Valentine's Day (do we really need it? No, of course) and give a hint of what took place yesterday here in Italy , here's "Mansize".

I'm coming up man-sized
skinned alive
I want to fit
I've got to get
man-sized
I'm heading on
handsome
Got my leather boots on

PJ Harvey - Mansize (1993)

Oops! I gigged again

It's been more than a year since the last time I grabbed a guitar.
I thought I wouldn't fall into temptations again, but... it happened.
Last week, in a rehearsal room.
And.. uh! I wasn't alone.
So I think I can state that I play again in (a sort of) a band, somehow.
We're only in two, so far. Me on bass and voice and a friend of mine on guitar.
A third member is going to join us soon. A real bass player. So I'll switch to rhythm guitar.
And by the end of the month we would succeed in dragging a drummer, too.
This is the nth time I try to make music again. But this time it's different!! Promise!

While checking amps, microphones and volumes, we wanted to put our sense of rhythm to the test.
I'm not a big fan of so called "math rock" (like "Don Caballero", for instance); even if I was, I wouldn't be able to play anything "mathematic".
The most complicated thing that came to my mind was "Vasoline", by the Stone Temple Pilots.
Yes, it's not tortuous at all, on a rhythmic level, and.. yes, I'm a very poor guitar player (yet excellent songwriter, oh yes yes yes!).
But that song is marvellous.
(Original video here, and here)

Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline (1994)

Seattle, anyone?

As everyone knows, there was a time when "Seattle" was the most spoken word in the world, even more than "Tetris", "Gangsta", and "Winona Ryder". It seemed like the city formerly famous for Hendrix and for the first revolving restaurant ever could have spawned cool bands... endlessly; and even though a grunge scene (in my opionion) actually never existed and bands were so different from each other, the impression was of a... family, where bigger names (do I really have to list Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc...?) devotedly used to mention their (musically talking) brothers / fathers in interviews, and to involve them in side projects or simply invite them on stage. Sort of.
That's why you could have the lucky chance to get to know Mother Love Bone, Mudhoney, Green River, Melvins, Meat Puppets, etc, you would have otherwise ignored.
Among the bands who savoured the flavour of popularity only from a distance there's Love Battery. As Wikipedia sumptuously sums, they blend "intense swirling psychedelic guitar work, pulsating rhythms, driving beats and heartfelt vocals". I totally agree (and now I know how to use the verb "to swirl"), and their 1992 "Dayglo" is a stunning proof, so marvellously dense.
Guiltily underrated band (this is a formula I'm going to use frequently in this blog...).

(Wikipedia tells they derived their sound "from '60s garage/psych, '70s punk rock, '80s post punk and '90s grunge". In this song there's something else, too... UK shoegaze perhaps?)

Love Battery - Out of focus (1992)

LOVE BATTERY ---Out Of Focus
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

magazine covers

check out this awesome page, with a couple of magazine covers from the 90s. awesome stuff!

Aging rockers

A few days ago we rented "The rocker", a 2008 movie starring Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate and many others (quite unknown here in Italy. Jane Lynch aside, probably, thanks to her role as the evil gym teacher Sue Sylvester in "Glee" ). It deals with... er... never giving up on following your dreams to become a rockstar?
(mm... am I totally sure I didn't watch "Camp Rock", instead?)
If you haven't seen it yet, here is some spoiler: drummer is dumped by the band he founded, Vesuvius, a jiffy before they make it big. About twenty years after he joins a band of teenagers called A.D.D., leading them to stardom, and finally gets his revenge on Vesuvius (culminating in an epic clash on stage).
Uh, two members of Vesuvius are Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett (aka Gob in "Arrested development". The series, not the rural-rap combo); something more than a cameo, but their Izzy Stradlin meets Nikki Sixx meets Miley Cyrus outfits are marvellous.
Honestly funny comedy. Seen far worse movies than this one.
A-ny-way,
I wouldn't dare to put "The rocker" in my "movies that changed my life" list at all, and the music A.D.D. play is something halfway between the Snow Patrol and Kelly Clarkson, but... how I miss playing in a band (I had one in the 90s, you know)!! And how I miss the days when being skinny (in a Damon Albarn-ish way) and able to play some chords was (almost) everything you needed (yes, I have some problem with accepting my current weight).
Even though the message was delivered through a careless comedy, it lead me into thoughts about aging and teenage dreams and... playing music naked, of course.
And so, in my list of resolutions for 2011 I officially squeeze: "play again on stage with a band; an entire own song at least".
Since the singer of A.D.D.* resembles Ash's Tim Wheeler to me and since we (my 90s band) used to pluck their "Girl from Mars" during soundchecks, here you are:

Ash - Girl from Mars (1996)


* as I just learned from Wikipedia, Teddy Geiger is "an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor", basically unknown here in Italy. I apologize to his fans and parents for not recognizing him.

Crumbs - Crumb #2

Crumb #2: "Positive bleeding" by Urge Overkill

Faithful to the definition of "Crumb" I coined (could I be more arrogant?) I didn't search any further information about Urge Overkill.
I rely on my defective memories only.
So: mm... a trio, from Usa, I suppose, the singer's (real?) name was Nash Kato, I listened to their "Saturation" album (1993? 1994?) half a dozen times (it was a friend of mine's), at a certain point there was so much hype on them that a music magazine (can't remember which... NME? Spin?) claimed their "Stull" e.p. would have become the most influential record of the century, they toured with Nirvana (if I don't get wrong, I'm not that sure), they gained sudden and colossal visibility outside "indie world boundaries" after appearing in "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack with their Nick Cave-ish cover of "Girl, you'll be a woman soon".
Needless to say, this single had been my "favourite song to sing in the shower" for weeks.

Urge Overkill - Positive bleeding (1993)

smashing fantastic

this is the fantastic song "today" by the smashing pumpkins, released as a single and on the album siamese dream from 93. i've loved this song since first i heard it, which was actually on mtv 120 minutes sometime in 95. i remember cos it was at my then boyfriend's house. my parents didn't want to pay for extra channels back then so i just had the ones that were for free, which was 3 and no music. thank god for video recorders!

the album, siamese dream, is on my list of the best albums of all time, a list that's been in the making for as long as i can remember, and doesn't seem to ever make the light of day. we'll see.

enjoy the 90s when it was at its best: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHUd896Sur0 (embedding disabled by request)

this is 2011

well, not really. at least not on this blog. rest assured, we're very much still in the 90s here. although i will lend an ear to 2003 with the second video here which is death cab for cutie's fantastic song "the new year". this first video is not a video, just a song, but the song is so good that it won't matter. it's the breeders' "new year" from my favorite album of theirs, last splash, from 93. you will hear more about the breeders later on on this blog.

for now, happy new year!

So this is the new year.
And I don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal
Explosions off in the distance

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialogs bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that could hold us back.
death cab for cutie

This a post about Christmas

(Could we rob ourselves of a Christmas post? Of course not, dear fellows)

I have to admit it... I didn't remember any remarkable 90s original song about Christmas, Santas, reindeers, unwearable sweaters from your favourite auntie...
So there went my investigation.
And I discovered that Low recorded some "Christmas e.p." in 1999 ("Just like Christmas", "Taking down the tree" ), The Wedding Present boast a song called "No Christmas", The Flaming Lips sang "Christmas at the zoo" in 1995, while Stina Nordenstam whispered "Soon after Christmas" in 1991.
Uh... and there's intense "She came home for Christmas" by Mew and soft and dreamy "Christmas song" by Mogwai (taken from their 1999 "EP").
But...
Since Christmas usually pushes me into gloomy thoughts and forces me to ingage in a review of the past year (and of my entire life, too), I desperately need a gift to cheer me up a bit.
I choose "Merry Xmas" by Marlene Kuntz, essential and crucial italian indie band of the 90s (I will surely write a post about them).

In late, merry Christmas and happy New Year everybody.

Marlene Kuntz - Merry Xmas (1994)


(here are some lyrics:
"talk to me, please, don't go, no!
I think I can't stand them..."

"I'm here, with my heart in my mouth and it's about Christmas.
But all those people there... i'd rather stay here")