Thursday, February 25, 2010

5-Piece Generation X Sushi Roll

   

     I love the 90's!
     What's not to like, the Philippine Peso was 25 to a dollar. We witnessed the return of the Adidas Samba and Gazelle for your daily footwear needs. There's various states of curious experimentation, but that of course is another story.
     Best of all, I loved the variety of music that came out back then. Different genres were coming out from all corners of the globe. Europe had their britpop, shoegaze, twee-tinged music. The US had their Soundtrack Music (Singles OST, Reality Bites OST, Empire Records OST, Mallrats OST, No Alternative Compilations and much much more...) the Philippines had a little bit of everything. 
Back then, Indie would mean Indiana Jones and Alternative Music would range from Reggae, Grunge to Poprock.  Nevertheless, it was a good time for a long-haired, Birkienstock wearing, don't fear the beer drinkin'  music geek like me to collect all of the CDs to fill my heart's content (Back then we had Original Compact Discs that cost around Php 375 and left a huge crater in my chained wallet).
     Fast forward 2010, I'm now sport a beer belly, I'm married with 2 kids, I do longboarding and I still am a music geek. Although I still love the 90's Alternative music scene, I have a love/hate relationship with anything Indie. Love because its mutant offsprings still rocks my socks off and  as I said the variety it has spawned to pushes me to check out all of them (Thank you internet!!). Hate because there is just too much F@cking music out there...its crazy. I really dunno how Cris does it...how do you do it Cris?!?
     Anyway enough chat...here's my 90's Indie List! (P.S. My definition of indie is as long as its not heard on any of our pop FM stations or any of those Pop Music Channels, then everything else is Indie.)

1. Fossil - Moon 

     I was in 2nd year highschool when I first heard of them. I'm surprised that they're on YouTube, while it took me forever to even get a copy of this song through Limewire or Pirate Bay. Not much is written about them except that they are a four-piece band from NY and released their self-titled debut album in 1995. Its a pity that the urge to buy their CD wasn't that great...maybe if they changed their album cover, it would have convinced me otherwise. Why a turtle?!? WHY?!
2. Popsicle - Histrionics 

     Composed of  Andreas Mattsson (vocals, Guitar)  Fredrik Norberg (vocals guitar), P-A Wikander (drums) and Kenneth Wikström (bass), Popsicle is an indiepop group from Sweden and are the contemporaries of similar bands such as Brainpool, This Perfect Day and the Wannadies. This track came out of their 3rd album Abstinence. From what I noticed about Swedish indie bands  is that they are ridiculously melodic. I love how their distortions would compliment the jangly melodies of their riffs, not to mention the tiny, whiny vocals make a perfect mix.
      Ex-Mr. Clair Danes here recorded this track at the tender age of 16 after disbanding from his former band Noise Addict. This came out of his debut album Grandpaw Would in 1995 which would eventually make him the youngest singer/songwriter to make an impact in Australian music today. This track is actually reminiscent of The Lemonheads' Evan Dando and Belly. The lyrics are, although mediocre ,are honest and direct to the point. I guess its brutal honesty is what attracted me to begin with. Ahhh...the joys of young love! It was a good time to be a virgin.
4. This Perfect Day - Fish Tank

     Once again another indie band from Sweden. This came out of their 2nd titled album C60. I know what youre thinking. Youre probably saying they sound like Teenage Fanclub. More specifically Teenage Fanclub's album Grand Prix. Once again, another prime example of sweet distorted melodies combined with wrist -slashing lyrics on love and relationships  the pressures of hymenal surrender do make an interesting mix, sort of like drinking a heaping glass of Wengweng ( A Pinoy drink which is a combination of 6 different liquors...our version of AMF..AdiosMotherFucker) with Sisig bits on the bottom of the glass. Mmmmmm.

5. Superchunk - Hyper Enough
     Go, go American Indie Rock!! I recently learned about them after an acquaintance of mine compared them to Zach Lucero's Matina Town Square. Got their album, and fell in love. With melodic distortions all around, Superchunk does a great job of complimenting Mac McCaughan's squeaky pitched vocals with melodic punk-laden guitars proving that its not all punk is about anarchy nor rejection.They have a DIY attitude in  recording their music thus making Superchunk's career i a true testament of what it takes to be an indie band in the 21st century.  BTW This song  is also featured in the video game NCAA Football 06.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Boowy...actually, I don't know how I do it myself. Come to think of it, my music site is really held together by just sticky tape and glue - yet it still stands.

    This post will be up there next week. Thanks! ;)

    - Cris

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