the other side of the 80s

Zero Boys - Livin In The 80s (original 7inch version)
Zero Boys - Livin In The 80s (album version)
Hates - No Talk in The Eighties

it's friday and i haven't held up my end of the bargain too well this week. i've tried to cover my lack of quantity with some moderate boost in intellectual quality, which may or may not count for much. the explanation: i'm holding out on some tracks right now while i finish of my latest mix tape effort. but that's no reason i can't share some recent additions to the laptop. went way back in time this week and dug up a bunch of old time punk rock. two tracks are some ripped from the original vinyl 7inch. just for fun i threw in the album version of Livin' In The 80s where the guitar is thicker and the drums don't sound as much like a some guy beating a wet sponge with a stick of celery.

Ulysses

Ulysses - Push You Away
Ulysses - Evening Star

I was never that into apples in stereo - though i'm reconsidering that opinion given how much i usually like robert schneider's (don't call him bob) side projects.

in fact, i always kind of assumed that schneiders commitment was just a fitting counter piece to mangums brilliance - but schneider over time has demonstrated the platitude "slow and steady wins the race". while mangum is more myth than artist today, schneider appears borderline predatory in his work ethic, releasing records like the chinese new year; you're never sure when it is, but it happens every year.

schneider's discography reads like a diary - you can track his whereabouts at any given time by the band he's working on - whereas mangum is more of a campfire story. some say he still haunts the mountain caves of denver colorado - his wails can heard on quiet nights when planes pass too low overhead.

after 2002's (that would be 2003 if my math is correct) Apples record the velocity of sound (which by all accounts is the bands best), schneider apparently left colorado for lexington. while in attendance at a show by local act Big Fresh, schneider approached a couple of the band members (john furgeson, ben fulton) about working on a project. like i said - predatory (or "assertive"... whatever you want to call it). the band added a fourth (robert beatty of Hair Police) and started working on schneiders material.

the 10 tracks on the record were all recorded in schneiders garage within a 4 hour span around a single microphone. the plan was just to capture a sketch of the record then take the band in-studio to cut a finished version. but at the end of the day (figuratively i assume), the band decided that what they had achieved in that 4 hour session represented the best takes of each song, and finished the album using the single-mic sessions.

French Kicks prep 3rd LP

French Kicks - White

remember the french kicks? I mean remember like BEFORE. before they stole the drummer from the walkmen. back when nick strumpf would sit behind the kit and bounce up and down while he belted out post-pop tunes to chiming guitars and rolling drums. this May it will be two years since the bands Star Time debut - 2004's Trial Of The Century. two years since they unrolled strumpf from behind the drums. all 18 feet tall of him. two years since he took to leaning into a steady croon, one arm perched on the mic stand. but back before that, the 'kicks had a genuine garage feel to their hall and oates strut. you got the feeling these guys would have to take up tennis because otherwise they wouldn't be able to wear half their wardrobe.

maybe it's the apple green v-neck i recently purchased, but i've been thinking a bit about this band lately. about how awesome their shows were at spaceland and the troubadour. and wondering "how are those guys gonna regroup after their last record?" TOTC had some moments, but to call it a "slow burn" is like calling a coma "nap time". there's some nice tracks on that record. i bought it. i listened and wanted to like it more than i did. but it wasn't the band i knew and loved. word on the bands website reports that the kicks will be coming out to los angeles to lay down tracks for their 3rd LP. they expecting to be done in March and have the record out around June. with a little luck, they'll play a few gigs in town to warm up the new material.

White originally appears on the bands 99's self-titled EP issued on My Pal God and later on an import-only version of the Young Lawyer EP on V2 i think. if you don't have it and if you can find it, pick up the import. (that kind of sounded like the last line of the A-Team opening voice over... for which i'm not going to apologize.)