16 Horsepower

What I learned from re-listening to 16 Horsepower and researching them online is that we are meant to take it all literally. Lead singer and founder David Eugene Edwards, from Colorado, is not messing around. His dad was a preacher and he apparently kicked several people out of the band for deviating from his stringent religious views. That makes the whole thing a little harder to swallow, but this band (especially Sackcloth and Ashes, their second and best album) was a huge influence on me in college when I was in an alt-country band. I loved the mix of the evilness that was previously associated with metal and the acoustic/country music that I had previously been leery of. Plus the instrumentation is super-interesting, with wheezy squeeze boxes and other rare acoustic instruments, but that sound does get a bit redundant. They got more folksy as they went, but then they broke up. They haven't done anything in a while, but they are now distributed by Alternative Tentacles - so you know it's good. This is still the best song, but I had not seen the video until this moment:

112

I don't usually listen to much contemporary R&B, so it was difficult to get through the eight or so albums by these guys. I was not impressed. OK, decent harmonizing, but the lyrics reminded me of a high school boy trying to write a valentine - extremely unoriginal. They are from Atlanta. "Peaches and Cream" was a mild hit that is mildly tolerable. However, they did win a Grammy because they are the voices on that song that Puffy did when Biggie died. So they were all over the place in 1997, which is how they ended up in my library. Eventually they split up for solo projects, but occasionally they got back together. They look like this:

So there's that.

100s

The first pleasant surprise! If Juvenile and Hot Boys are the second-wave of bounce-rap (they are; we all know DJ Jubilee started it) then this guy represents the third wave. The whole time I was thinking he sounded like Juvy, and then he name drops him in a song.

100s only put out one album, 2013's Ice Cold Perm. However, since then he's returned under the name Kossisko. He's from Berkeley. Great beats. I love the song with Chippy Nonstop, "Bout That Life," not to be confused with the Rick Ross song of the same name. Looking forward to hearing the rest of this guy's stuff when I get to K.

10,000 Maniacs

So, because of significant line-up changes this is actually two completely different bands. The first band has Natalie Merchant as the lead singer. She's great - a star. Her voice is impressive and full of great vibrancy. They put out 4 albums in the late 1980s and early 90s, with good songs with like "Trouble Me," "Like the Weather," and  "Eat for Two" and "What's the Matter Here," which both particularly speak to me as a parent. "My Sister Rose" should be on everyone's Wedding Playlist. Their well-crafted songs have a certain timeless value to them. They peaked with Our Time of Eden (with well-deserved hits "Candy Everybody Wants" and "These Are Days"). Being 16 when "These Are Days" came out probably helped lodge it in a special place in my memory. Their MTV Unplugged  is a great snapshot of a band playing at their very best, although I'm disappointed that the album version excludes the duet with David Bryne covering The Flatlander's "Dallas"; I had it on my cassette dub of the the VHS recording from TV(!).  And then she walked away for a successful solo album that everybody had in college, but then...not much else (that I ever heard). The band, however, unfortunately regrouped with the lady who had previously done a great job as backing vocalist and violin player taking on the lead vocals duties. The backup singer should not sing lead vocals! It is sooo bland. The production values are amazingly bad. They put out several albums in 90s, but they sound like they were made in the 80s - or in Garage Band. Awful stuff. A friend has dubbed them 9,999 Maniacs, and the bastards continue to tour mercilessly. It's tragic.

I can't find that David Bryne duet anywhere (I hope it's not a Mandela Effect false memory), but here's another great cover from Unplugged. Love the strings arrangement here.

1000 Homo DJs

 I thought they just did that one song! But there was apparently a full EP. "Supernaut" is, of course, a fantastic cover song that damn-near exceeds the original. I'd heard plenty of Black Sabbath before even realizing they had done this song first. "Hey Asshole!" is extremely disturbing, kinda like "Fuck the Police." The other tracks are largely forgettable but reminiscent of Lard or Ministry. Still, Trent Reznor working with Al Jourgensen was a great moment in industrial rock history. I first (and only ever) heard this on the Wax Tracks box set. Here's the story I remember hearing about how they got the name: the two key members were planning to get together to record something as a one off, and someone said, "Don't worry- the only people to hear it will be 1,000 homo DJs." I'm sure they meant it non-offensively.

Apparently, "1000 Homo DJs began as a side project to release outtakes from Ministry's The Land of Rape and Honey. The credits read "Another Luxa/Pan Production", which was the production pseudonym for Ministry members Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker."-  Provided by Wikipedia under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 4.0

Look at the babies in this band photo and hear the song here:

The 1-4-5s

I love this band SO much. 5-stars - classic. Essential listening (if you're into this sort of thing). Hugely influential to me personally. File Under: Garage Rock, Trash Rock, Availabilism, Simple sweet fun...

Although I have absolutely everything this short-live Austin garage band ever put out, most of it is on vinyl. I burned some of my records into my digital library (back when I used to do that sort of thing), but was surprised to find their debut 7 inch Unsafe at Any RPM streaming - the record is definitely out of print. Their entire discography is probably around 40 songs, and they are largely forgotten, but dam they are wonderful kids. Almost all the songs are about themselves, or cars, or other ridiculous things. Almost every song uses the same 3 chords and a guitar-solo bridge. Fine!

Their one and probably only full-length release Rock Invasion came out on the Estrus label, before their warehouse burned down, but this band is mostly associated with the indie label Peek-a-Boo Records. In fact, one of the guys in this band is/was the founder and head of the label (he sent me personal post cards as I bought up everything he put out), and all the other band members have great Peek-a-Boo bands of their own (The Wontons, Big Red Poopie Eater, The Kiss Offs, etc.). They toured Japan(!) with The 5-6-7-8s, appropriately enough. The second side of Rock Invasion is pure awesomeness with wall-to-wall punk rock perfection. But the nicest possible punk rock. Punk in the loosest sense. Really it's straight up garage rock. Maybe even trash rock. The band certainly should also be connected to the bubble-core sub-genre along with Beatnik Termites.  The last two songs on the album are as close to pure-pop-bliss as anything I've ever heard on the radio. And the hidden bonus track, where they are trying to play a song live on the radio but keep messing it up, still makes me laugh so hard. 

I learned so much from this band: all great rock uses the same three chords. You don't have to be "good" to sing or play in a band- you just need to do it. Don't get too complicated! Simple drumming and occasional M/F vocals? YES, this is perfection. People who don't like this are ruining rock and roll.

And, I've told this story before, but after playing Rock Invasion at 45 RPM instead of 33 RPM I was inspired to form my own fast, poppy-punky-trashy-thrashy metal garage band, Perverse Osmosis.

Here's the official story - you won't find them on Wikipedia!

Here they are in their glorious, unpolished prime:

I <3 the 1-4-5s! May the legend of their perfect imperfection grow for all time.

030

And now we begin bands whose names are numbers.

This band was in my library because of one song on the classic Trance Europe Express double-CD. I do love that song- it's great late-night listening. I realize midnight is not late for this sort of thing, but this song is the perfect after-party song. Great, chill beats.

I couldn't find anything else about this "band," and this was the only song available streaming.

Here it is

!!!

Again with the symbols first. And being hard to google. This one is almost certainly pronounced Chk Chk Chk, but even the band won't confirm that. How artsy! If you like LCD Soundsystem and somehow missed this band then you are in for a pleasant surprise. They are right up that same alley. Super-fun, dancey indie rock. Lots of albums. It's all good, and hard to pick a stand-out album or track, but perhaps they peaked with 2013's Th!!!ler.

{{{Sunset}}}

The stylized band name makes it hard to google, but this is really just a guy named Bill Baird. He's from the Sound Team, which is a band I appreciated and miss- they broke up too soon. He's only released three albums- one in 2013 and two in 2016. It's good. Sounds more like Yo La Tengo then Sound Team. The stand-out track is a cover of the 80s hit "Sailing." Here's the video,which gives you a sense of the band's aesthetic.

+/-

First up, and winner of the alphabetical challenge, is a band whose name is probably pronounced "Plus Minus".

They are a NYC-based band that has put out about 8 albums since since their debut in 2002, including a new on that came out late in 2016. It's good stuff- an interesting mix of glitchy electronica and organic acoustic stuff.  I guess they got in my library via a single track on some compilation somewhere, but I enjoyed their music. I also appreciated the consistency of their style and creative design. Apparently they are big in Japan.