Warrior Soul -- Last Decade Dead Century

Year: 1990
Label: Geffen
Style: Alt-metal
Location: Waterloo Records (Austin, TX)
Medium: CD
Condition: Used
Dollar diamond or dud: Diamond--like a big massive one

I actually purchased this in about 2002, and I had forgotten that it was from the $1-bin until I broke it out last week for a refresher spin and saw the "Waterloo Discount $1.00" on the back... I'll admit that I'm biased in a pro-Warrior Soul fashion because, for as long as I've owned it (about twenty years now), I've absolutely loved their second record, Drugs God & the New Republic, which is conventionally held to be lesser to this one... I disagree, but that's just me...

That said, Last Decade is absolutely stellar. A great record from one of the most underrated rock bands of all time. Kory Clarke's political stances aside, this band created some killer psychedelic-tinged alt-metal, like Jane's Addiction mixed with thrash metal and post-punk or something. There's no other band I can think of that sounded like this at the time, and if all had gone according to plan, Warrior Soul would've been huge. What went wrong, I don't know, but they should've been...

For this specific record, there's the closest thing they had to a classic, which is The Losers, with it's huge refrain. There's also Downtown and Superpower Dreamland and We Cry Out. Aside from the throwaway spoken-word Four More Years, there's nothing here that's anything less than kick-ass. Fans of anything remotely metallic and different would be advised to check this band out, but be forewarned: the production didn't hold up as well as the tunes. The guitars are dry and compressed, but beyond that, it's still pretty raw and rocking.

About Waterloo: It rules. Go there. Austin is one of my favorite cities, and I visit Waterloo and Cheapo's every time I go, without fail.

Birds & Batteries - I'll Never Sleep Again

Year: 2007
Label: Self-released
Style: Alt. rock, alt.country
Location: Aquarius Records, San Francisco
Medium: CD
Condition: Used
Dollar diamond or dud: Diamond

Info:A few of you might remember this from one of my other blogs. It fits in here too. Here's what I said about it the first time:

Well, okay, imagine this: Right after cutting "Heart of Gold," Neil Young has a Nostradamus-esque prescient vision and is shown a music world that's filled with Tortoises, Kid-As, and clickin' and cuttin'. He runs into the studio and cuts a record that's half twangy Americana country/folk and half electronically manipulated madness with woozy synths and enough bleeps and bloops to make every song sound like a Deep Blue mating call. After reading that, there's a natural inclination to stick I'll Never Sleep Again right next to similar electro-enhanced rootsy albums like Songs: Ohia's Ghost Tropic--and one must admit that Mike Sempert's vocals are as close as you can get to Jason Molina without having to build a tenor guitar to properly accompany them--but Birds & Batteries's songs are far more richly layered, coming close to almost Beatlesque pop at points; just, you know, with synths. It's an interesting touch that keeps the album straddling the glory years of early '70s country rock (Young, Parsons, etc.) and the modern peaks and valleys of dub-influenced post-rock. At the very least, the first four songs are worth a listen. The "Heart of Gold" cover nearly eclipses the original and "I'll Never Sleep Again" sneaked into my top ten list last year; a slowed-down number that shimmers with melancholy and just begs to be slipped into the CD player any time you drive past long n' lonely pastures that are only illuminated by headlights n' moonlight.

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Evil Mothers - Spider Sex and Car Wrecks

Year: 1997
Label: Alternative Tentacles
Style: Industrial
Location: The 99 Cent Store
Medium: CD
Condition: New
Dollar diamond or dud: Dud

Info: I've often said that the only time that it really pays to know about music is when you're hunting around the bargain bins, but, sadly, that same knowledge can burn you when it comes boiling over. Case in point, I turned over the hideously titled Spider Sex and Car Wrecks in the 99 Cent Store and saw these two tidbits that ultimately swayed me to part with my pocket change:

Produced by Martin Atkins.
Alternative Tentacles Records Ltd.

The breakdown: You probably know Martin Atkins even if you think you don't. He's done time in Killing Joke and Swans and maned the skins for PIL.

Alternative Tentacles, on the other hand, has been putting out trailblazing shit in most punk-related genres for years now. It's Jello Biafra's label. Within their ranks, at one time or another, has resided bands like Amebix, the Butthole Surfers, Comets on Fire, the Melvins, Neurosis, Nomeansno, and on and on and on.

So, to me at least, this seemed like a can't miss purchase. Mistake. Evil Mothers is pretty by-the-numbers industrial dreck, right down to the tribal drumming, silly atmospherics, and the cringe-inducing songwriting choices. The whole album kind of sounds like a band trying to play a Download album...slowly. I honestly don't like a lot of industrial, so this could very well be another man's treasure, but, really, I would've expected better and, well, anything after examining the clues that the back cover provided; like an all-girl band in the Jesus Lizard mold, a Pigface clone,...something...anything... Ugh.

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Kill The Vultures - The Careless Flame

Year: 2006
Label: Jib Door Productions
Style: Hip-Hop
Location: Reckless Records (Chicago)
Medium: CD
Condition: Used
Dollar diamond or dud: Diamond (barely)

Info: Even though I knew this was a hip-hop record, the cover art made me think twice. It suspiciously resembles a late-90s metalcore record - the jacket features lowercase typewriter font and obscure shots of a partially nude woman smoking a cigarette. I hate to go in to records with preconceptions, but I had a hunch I'd be hearing some Midwestern guys knocking off Clouddead. Note that I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that, though, because I do enjoy a good Clouddead knockoff. Just sayin'. Previously, these guys were known as Oddjobs, and did the odd bit of touring with De La Soul, Atmosphere (blech) and DJ Shadow.

For the first thirty seconds of this record, I was sure I'd be sold. I was also quite wrong on the Clouddead tip. A stumbling, unorthodox beat laid under a loop of a saxophone kicks off "Moonshine," which is - surprisingly literally - actually about moonshine. A crackling "old LP" sound layer backed the verses, which is a trick that rarely fails to amuse me for whatever reason. The first emcee immediately reminded me of Aesop Rock (or, really, any number of other Brooklyn-styled emcees with broad pronunciation). Not too shabby, right?

As the tracks wore on, though, my enthusiasm cooled somewhat. It's a peculiar hip-hop record, in that it often doesn't feel like one at all. This whole affair is usually much closer to slam poetry than hip-hop. I cringe while writing about slam poetry and hip-hop in the same line, as I'm afraid most will think of Saul Williams, and that's the last thing I want to call to mind here. The samples run the gamut from Coleman-esque free jazz loops to Syrian folk song samples. The liner notes even specifically mention a Sean Behling live improv sax sample from a jazz fest in 1974. Lazy cratediggers these guys aren't. Nifty source material aside, it just doesn't work sometimes. The chosen samples delve into the atonal a bit too often, and while that's all well and good on a jazz record, they're not exactly conducive to even, flowing rhymes. There are three emcees on the record, with tracks fairly evenly split between them. I didn't notice a track where more than one appeared. The second and third emcees remind me of Sage Francis and Blueprint, if vague points of reference are needed, and none of the three are particularly distinct. The vocal cadences of each are often stilted to match the lumbering free-jazz breakbeats, and as such, it's not much of a head-nodding record.

Was this worth a dollar? I suppose so. It's got some good samples to check out, even when they're a bit awkward, and on a whole, it felt reasonably fresh compared to a lot of hip-hop I've heard in the past couple of years. I was pleased to hear something different happening production-wise here, but the lackluster emceeing brought it down several notches. So, not great, but not too bad either - and that's harder to find in a blind purchase than you might think.

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Lustre - Lustre

Year: 1996
Label: A&M Records
Style: Alt. rock/pop rock
Location: The Warehouse (closed)
Medium: CD
Condition: Used
Dollar diamond or dud: Diamond

Info: A rare Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday post from me since I'll typically be absent those days. Excuse the quality, but I've already got one leg out the door.

One of the most bittersweet types of dollar finds is when you come across bands that were supposed to "make it." It's cool that you're able to scoop something notable up for dirt cheap, but rather sad because, like DJ Shadow said, it's humbling. No matter how big you are, how much money is thrown at you, or how good you are, there's a place waiting for you in the dollar bin, along with all the other shooting stars that were promised big things before you. It's then that you realize how fleeting and how luck-based the chance at longevity in the art world truly is and blah blah blah give me the download link already.

Anyway, Lustre were a band from North Carolina, the future hotbed of metalcore. They had a song on a hit soundtrack (Empire Records, which, seemingly, everyone from my generation has a copy of), were getting pushed by a major, and had a video. Then...nothing. Nothing really happened. Of course, even with the slick production job that pushed the vocals way up front, Lustre were never really geared to appeal to the masses. Their brand of hook-laden power pop is uber-attractive and accessible, but wasn't quite mainstream ready, if you know what I mean. What we have here is pretty much a Husker Du-disciple that has taken into account the mini-rock revolutions of shoegazer's din, jangle-pop's hooks, and, of course, the head-in-the-clouds space rock of Hum, Shiner, et. all. The guitars are fucking huge, like the Gin Blossoms backed by an amp army all fuzzed out and turned up to eleven. The major (w)rec(k)ords influence has tried to reign 'em in, but this is still a satisfyingly noisy and ballsy record. The songs, though, are largely hit or miss and if you own Empire Records, you already have the best song, "No Overalls." But, nitpicking aside, this is a minor miracle to find for an uno.

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Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Brainbloodvolume

Year: 1994
Label: Sony
Style: Alt-rock
Location: The Great Escape Discount Store (Nashville)
Medium: CD
Condition: Used
Dollar diamond or dud: Dud

Like most of North America, I first came across Ned's Atomic Dustbin with the release of "Grey Cell Green" off their God Fodder record. Also, like most of North America, I wasn't impressed with their duelling-bassists gimmick, although I will admit that I enjoyed God Fodder for what it was, which was ultimately just future $1-bin (god) fodder. Although I liked it okay, I didn't enjoy it enough to pick up Are You Normal?, and I only picked this one up because... well, it was $1. Enjoying something of a minor alt-rock blip with "Grey Cell," Ned's failed to capitalize on anything by releasing two consecutive boring records, before collapsing and fading away entirely...

A blend of Madchester beats, punky riffing, alt-pop dreaminess, and blandness, Ned's sound like about forty-seven British bands at the time, most notably Jesus Jones, except without the hookiness. This isn't awful--it's merely competent. And consequently, it's sort of pointless for anything more than $1. Back to the two bassists, one would play a higher melody line and the other would play the more traditional bass parts, so there's a combination of the typical post-punk British "let the bass carry the melody" ideal with the usual "let the bass fill out the sound' aesthetic, but that's more interesting in print than practice, I'd say.

Pale Divine - Straight To Goodbye

Year: 1991

Label: Atlantic
Style: Alt-rock

Location: The Great Escape Discount Store (Nashville)

Medium: CD

Condition: Used

Dollar diamond or dud: Dud

Not the killer doom metal band, but instead a St. Louis-based you'd-swear-the-singer-was-British early-90s alt-rock band, sort of like a darker Live or something similar. At this point, the biggest claim-to-fame this band would have is the presence of future-G'n'R guitarist Richard Fortus. I've seen the word "industrial" tossed around when discussing this record, but I don't really equate this with industrial music, at least not industrial in the sense of Einsturzende Neubauten or NIN or whatever. Maybe this has some elements of martial, mechanical percussion or general industrial darkness, but overall, this is like a more gothic Live mixed with a depressed U2 or something.

The drumming is bouncy, like Larry Mullen Jr, and the guitars are psychedelic-tinged and generally riff-free, clean and spacey, so this is college-y alt-rock. Nothing here rocks, though--it's all mid-tempo at best, with some almost King's X-y vocal melodies. Vocalist Michael Shaerer possesses a disaffected version of that 90s-alt world-weary I've-got-something-to-say-ness, if that makes any sense--that palpable sense that, for better or worse, these artists meant what they were saying, even if what they were saying didn't make shit for sense at times. (See also: Ed Kowalczyk or Eddie Vedder.)

I'd also read some reports on this band talking about how they were St. Louis' favorite sons back in the day, how they were the biggest band from that area, but here's the deal: at the risk of pissing off a minor major city, I've been to St. Louis--I've got friends there even--and that place sucks. Sorry. It sucks. And this band is good, but compared to Live, for example, they're stuck in Mental Jewelry, without the brilliance of Throwing Copper, and rightfully condemned to the $1 bin. Not an awful purchase, but far from transcendent.

About the Great Escape Discount Store: Nashville's Great Escape is one my favorite stores on the planet, and I spend a ridiculous amount of money there. (The first CD I bought there: a used copy of Malevolent Creation's The Ten Commandments in 1993.) The discount store is just an overflow store for their unsellable CDs, with everything discounted. I find it's a great place to catch up on the last decade's popular bands, like Live or Counting Crows or the Cranberries, all for $1. I'll pay $1 for almost anything.