$2.00
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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Popfest Compilation (Poppies For My Sweet)
Long before the Paisley Pop label, while living in the frozen wastelands of upstate NY, I briefly had a couple of labels - Popfest and Gamma Ray Records. I recently found a box of a few Popfest CD's and thought perhaps it was time to offer them up to the world again. It got reviewed in Goldmine and a couple of places, but at the time, it mainly felt like I was banging my head against a wall that wouldn't budge. In retrospect, I'm still proud of it, and there's some nice cuts on here from bands mostly you would've never heard of including The Salamanders, Saturnalia, Lalaland, and Roy Stein. There's also a couple of 'bigger names' in pop like Jamie Hoover and Julie Adams (from the Mountain Stage) that contributed music. At the time, my definition of 'pop' was probably way too broad, but I've put a bunch samples on the pages about it, and for only $2, this is a rare chance to hear Eric Gregory of the Crack City Rockers when he was into reggae...
REVIEW
"I like compilations, especially when they include a bunch of bands I've heard very little or nothing about. There are always a few really good cuts that make it worth the price of the disc just to have in your collection. Here's another, with more than just a few good cuts. This is a fun disc, with just enough variation to keep you interested from start to finish.
Top Cuts: Paperboy (The Salamanders), Thin Line (The Chinchillas), Close To Home (Lalaland), Be With Me (Julie Adams)"
— Mark Deming, All Music Guide
BACKGROUND:
(confessions of a deluded would-be music mogul)
Back around 1993, I worked at a recording studio (GFI Productions) in Upstate NY. Having worked with lots of good bands who would record a few songs but not end up with money to put out a CD, I decided to put out a compilation that would expose them to the world, get the band I was playing a the time (Lalaland) and hopefully get me some more studio/production work. Having seen SpinArt launch a whole revival with a great review in SPIN, I figured, the burgeoning pop scene of Rochester, NY with the help of a few choice cuts from artists I dug like Julie Adams and Jamie Hoover would find a nice home on AAA radio, the new happening commercial genre at the time.
So, the CD was made, and in the midst of manufacturing, my live-in relationship fell apart, my band broke up, and I wound up having to get a job at the local Borders as I was not making enough as an engineer. Then depression set in. I sent out a bunch of copies, but got a lot less response and reviews than I expected. It wasn't indie enough sounding to appeal to the hipster indie 'zines of the time and wasn't mainstream enough to get commercial radio's attention. It got some distribution and a little college radio play, but ultimately never truly found its home.
Pulling my last box of 30 out of storage recently, I put one on, and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were still a number of songs on there that appealed to me. Some things that I thought were great at the time, now were a bit of an embarrassment, but other things that I thought were dreadful mistakes, actually sounded fine. And all in all, it wasn't an embarrassment. Most of the bands on here have long since broken up, with this the only artifact of their existence.
Exercycle was a one-off studio project with some of the members of Hypermarket with their friend Larry Feldman. I always thought of the track as a bizarro world James Bond theme. Larry was a bit of a noodly guitar player, and when I found the effect in mixing to put his guitar through (some weird harmonizer setting), it made me think of "You Only Live Twice."
The Salamanders ended up spawning 2 great pop projects -- the Gregory Townson led Hi-Risers and the amazing Squires of the Subterrean led by Christopher Earl Zajkowski.
Roy Stein's very haunting "Wheels Turn Slow" still gives me chills. It's one of those tracks that conveys a beautiful melancholy feeling
Muler actually went on to getting signed to a subsidy of RCA for an album. I ended up buying a copy of that CD a couple of years back for a $1 in a bargain bin at a local CD store here in Portland
If you have ever liked the Moody Blues, then I suggest you check out Zonker (Mark) Roberts' cut "Watertown". It's actually quite good, though the production reminds me of the Big 80s (as does many of the cuts on this disc).
Lalaland, the band I played in at the time, eventually reformed without me (hmmm... a hint there?). However, they totally lost their psychedelic sound that I added with backwards guitars and a strange Enya effect I found by putting heavy preverb on the backing vox when I flipped the tape. Nor did they ever use timpani again! To their great loss, in my opinion. They eventually put out an album with a lot less Revolver style production that can still be found at Not Lame.
I think this album pretty much pounded the nails into my coffin on the Rochester music scene. A year or so later, I took off for the Pacific Northwest (in the footsteps of the Hypermarket crew, who I ended up drumming for a year), and for the most part, I think my old comrades from Rochester have either disavowed or forgotten me completely following this overly ambitious failure.
TRACK LISTING:
- Exercycle - Weapon Of Love mp3
- Swingin' Beef - (Everybody) Get Ready
- The Salamanders - Paperboy
- Koo Koo Boy - Killer Bees mp3
- Saturnalia - It Comes Natural
- Lalaland - Close To Home mp3
- Julie Adams - Be With Me
- Roy Stein - Wheels Turn Slow
- Jamie Hoover - Moonlight (!!!!)
- Zonker Roberts And The Bohemian Fringe - Watertown
- Bonedippers - Wave In The Sea
- Hypermarket - Discipline (pre-Crack City Rockers)
- Raw Magillys - Big Sky
- The Jimmies - Gail Goes To Jail mp3 (early Girls Say Yes)
- The Chinchillas - Thin Line mp3
- Muler - Weekend Girl mp3
- Catfight - Dear Diary
- Dog's Life - Greatest Song In The World mp3
Paisley Pop
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$10.00
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WESTSIDE DAREDEVILS
all things small produce a spark
1 left in stock
All Things Small Produce a Spark is the brilliant debut of one of Knoxville, Tennesee's most promising new bands. Spark showcases the pure pop instincts of The Westside Daredevils and highlights their love of great song cratmanship. They've mastered their own special blend of indie pop, although it's certainly not without its influences. There's a bit of The Go-Betweens in here, and a whole ton of The Flaming Lips, as well. Yet, the Daredevils never sound stale or done-before. Their positive attitude and warm, poppy songwriting carry a certain charm that'll keep the cd in your stereo for awhile. The instantly catchy melodies of upbeat songs like "Andrea" and "Careful Tom" juxtapose magnificently with the more moody tracks like "Miner's Shortwave" and "Mind''s Cold Sweat"
The Westside Daredevils are a Knoxville, TN, alternative pop band formed in 2000 by co-frontmen Brett Cassidy and Jeff Caudill, lead guitarist Gray Comer, drummer Morrie Rothstein, and bass player Brandon Smith. The group places an emphasis on melodic, upbeat tunes featuring three guitars and three-part harmonies and shoots for fairly complex, ear-pleasing arrangements that can swing from sunny pop to psychedelic-tinged rock. After building up a following touring the Southeast, the Westside Daredevils' released their debut, All Things Small Produce a Spark, in 2002 on Lynn Point Records, the Knoxville, TN, label run by former V-Roys Jeff Bills and Mic Harrison.
TRACK LISTING:
Listen 30 Second Sample - Andrea
Listen 30 Second Sample - Darling Currency
Listen 30 Second Sample - Camera Religion
Listen 30 Second Sample - London Forces
Listen 30 Second Sample - Miner's Shortwave
Listen 30 Second Sample - Careful Tom
Listen 30 Second Sample - Strange You Haven't Fled
Listen 30 Second Sample - Mind's Cold Sweat
Listen 30 Second Sample - Heroes and Zeroes
Listen 30 Second Sample - We Miss Him So
Listen 30 Second Sample - She's a Disguise
Lynn Point
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