I completely agree with Brandon Stosuy that “those stoner fucks created something essential” as he remembers the indie glory days with the re-release review of Sebadoh III over at pitchdork. Mr. White Bread (Brandon’s old self published zine) makes you want to relive the hey-day of indie-dome. He or Lou Barlow might not say it but they seem to speak of a certain time period that reminds me of the moment when you peeled apart his zine, Boiled Angel, Crank, or some other rag like Insight there in print was some band you’ve never heard of or some off the wall reference. You knew you found something real in some little dustbin of a shop, a nugget amongst the stax of wax and in the corner hidden like porn. In our case one of the congregrasion shops was Cheap Thrills(RIP), in New Brunswick for local rags, mail order or literally trading shit through the mail. Postage was somewhat cheaper and everything was new well sorta because we still remembered the 80’s, or at least I did, and all the cool crap that it had to offer (sst, twin-tone, homestead ) and then we were presented with lo-fi. “Oh lordy” I was pretty dumbfounded to be honest at first, although I did quite thoroughly enjoy the Lync cassette Brandon passed over to me, icky mettle from Jim T and No Pocky for Kitty from my housemate rocker Ted. There was a charm to be had, music revealed itself much slower than it does today but like all cool things there was some hurtin’ material out there, so like any good discerning shopper you will need to check it out for yourself. What makes music essential these days? Somebody please answer.
I know like all good music blog readers today, you relied on the guys who’s only reason to start a fanzine was so they could get some free swag at first(my story) but told it like it was or it least they tried until somebody else convinced you otherwise. I remember having unhealthy amounts of Epitaph swag in my po box all the time that paid for a few six-packs over the course of a couple years. I usually dug all the Dischord stuff (in particular Fugazi on vinyl) and usually found a home for the empty records and a few other record peddlers. You had fun poking fun at the ones you didn’t get but you didn’t abuse your power for fear of literally getting into fight with some band because you slagged them.
Anyway, the true test of overly hyped bands is that if when you can spin it 6 month to 10 years later and if does not make you sick to your stomach that it is still fresh, it takes you on a time warp but for a moment. The Meadowlands get me a little queasy because I did overdose on it a little for awhile when it came out and it has past the test. Looking forward to the new one fellas!
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