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Crash
"I Feel Fine"
Everything Under the Sun
Justine (1992) (1986)
Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes
"Presence"
Splashing Alone 7"
Narodnick (1986)
Sarandon
"Remember Mavis?"
Kill Twee Pop
Slumberland (2008)
Telescope
"Bye Bye's (Ain't Nice)"
Pentagon (1977)
Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle
"Drunk"
Peel Session (1985)
Moscow Olympics
"What Is Left Unsaid"
Cut the World
Fraction Discs (2008)
The Apple Moths
"Fred Astaire"
Fred Astaire 7"
A Turntable Friend (1990)
Belle & Sebastian
"Electric Renaissance"
Tigermilk
Jeepster (1996)
Courtney Love
"Shaniko"
Teenbeat 50
Teenbeat (1991)
Tickley Feather
"Lookout What's Next/Convention"
Tickley Feather
Paw Tracks (2008)
So, this month's Pisser is an extra special one, because a fellow who had much to do with assembling of an American indiepop presence provides us with the first two tracks and his own reminiscences. He'll be at the Pisser this friday, in fact. Take it away, Mike Schulman, impresario of Slumberland records:
"Discovering Crash was a real mind-blower at the time, as I didn't know very many American bands on the same noisy pop C86/Flying Nun wavelength that we were on. "I Feel Fine" is the title song on their sole album and it slots perfectly into that classic pop-meets-something a little darker mode.
In the mid-80s Scotland was my indie-pop dreamland, a magical place where the Pastels, Shoppies and Desperadoes had great gigs every night and Postcard records sat in dusty record bins just waiting. Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes remain just about one of my favorite bands ever - Fran's slightly astringent, yet fragile, voice just sends me; the jangle is relentless (three guitars!) and the songs are effortlessly perfect. "Presence" is the Blondie tune, and was the b-side of their first single. Hearing it now still makes me want to form a band and start a record label."
And there you go. As it so happens, of course, Mike's putting out a bunch of new material on Slumberland. This new Sarandon sort of hits a bunch of spots for me, akin to that old fond world of Bogshed and Big Flame, where a bass was rollicking and the lyrics were caustic and incisive. Add your scything guitar modes and you've got off-kilter indie pop that wants to take you by the throat. It's that good.
From there we go to a punkish obscurity by a band called Telescope. There's enough of a hint of song-writing to let it don a Pisser sleeping cap for the night. And you know, it's not like all the indiepopster never liked a little bit of grit in their meal.
FSK, or Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle, are one of the more criminally underknown acts from the 80s (but still active, actually). It didn't help that they were German in some ways, because the route they took was to adopt a Mekons-like approach: embrace the American country sound. Their earliest efforts belonged to a German new wave of sorts, though, and Peel took a notice, yes he did. You can hear their transition from post-punk to the next phase beginning here.
So, we've now featured Moscow Olympics two out of the last four months, I believe, and they just won't stop. The debut single we sampled last week was just a teaser for this new EP, again on the Swedish Fraction Discs label. Their dreamy popscape hails from the Philippines, however, just like our very own Pinstriped Rebel. She's blushing now. Plus she hand-picked this twee'er than though 45 by the Apple Moths from 1990 that follows. I was actually surprised by its relatively late origins, since this sounds to me well after such camp indie had lost an audience, but there you go. And yes, Fred Astaire is on the cover, should you find this rarity on ebay.
It occurred to me we've never featured B&S on a Pisser mix. When asked by the laity just what the hell The Pisser actually plays, I sometimes use a shorthand of "before-during-after Belle & Sebastian." A lazy effort, sure, but I make it up in other ways. In any case, it's not too far from the truth, and so back to their origins we go here. 1996.
And yes, you read correctly - next is Courtney Love. I'd determined that with our love-in for Slumberland, I should make an effort to feature something from that other majestic DC area pop label, Teenbeat. And for a laugh, from the Teenbeat 50 comp, here's a young Courtney. She gets billing in the liners as hailing from "DC & Olympia." Couldn't have been much longer thereafter that Cobain met her. I'll give her this much - she always could write songs.
We leave you with both a lovely song from the new Tickley Feather release and a reminder that she'll be in DC next Saturday (May 17) at the Comet Ping Ping pizza joint up on Conn & Nebraska Avenues.
– The Kaiser More
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