Happy Holidays! Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living

Since nothing says Christmas like noise rock, today's MP3s are culled from the debut album of one of my favorite, often overlooked shoegaze bands--Medicine's Shot Forth Self Living.

Often derided as having been a My Bloody Valentine tribute act, I think a thorough listen to Shot Forth reveals something more substantial. Sure, it's pretty obvious that the track "Aruca" owes a pretty heavy debt to MBV's "Soon." And you could even argue that the whole album sounds like the work of a band caught in the damning riptide of hero-worship, destined to drown in a sea of fuzzed-out, blurry guitar textures. "American shoegaze?" you might scoff loudly. "That's a contradiction of terms."

Well, I would contest your argument with two points.

1. The fact is, SFSL is quite good, and although it sounds a lot like MBV, it's important to remember that Medicine developed concurrently with the UK's "Scene That Celebrates Itself";

2. Given Kevin Shields' notoriously lax work ethic, having something that sounds like another album from the undisputed kings (and queens) of early-90's blissrock is pretty awesome.

A bit of background info for those who need it: Brad Laner began playing in bands in his early teens, progressing from one shoddily-named experimental outfit to the next, eventually working up the ranks til he landed himself in one of Savage Republic's many lineups (as a drummer). Through these efforts, Laner eventually met the key players who would form Medicine with him. These parties included vocalist Beth Thompson and drummer Jim Goodall, with the bassist position being occupied by one dude after another throughout the band's history.

Obsessed with the idea of creating his own "sound" but unable to afford effects pedals through which to run his guitar, Laner experimented with a 4-track cassette recorder that he'd previously used to track demos at home. He found that by using the 4-track as an effects processor, he was able to create a particularly unique and harsh distortion sound. This texture lent itself rather well to the vision he had for Medicine, which was to combine sweet pop melodies with blazing, abstract guitar dissonance. With his guitar innovations matched by Thompson's lovely, atmospheric vocals and Goodall's solid, tasteful drum work, Laner and Medicine seemed destined for greatness.

But somewhere along the way, the plans unravelled. It wasn't easy for Medicine to secure a recording contract in America; they had to sign to the British Creation label first, and despite generating a buzz with their first couple of UK singles, the English press mercilessly painted the band as MBV-wannabes almost as quickly as their tour bus pulled up outside the tour's first venue. By the time they finally signed to Def American in the US, Stateside audiences were obsessed with grunge, meaning that Medicine's noisy, abstract pop-rock went unnoticed while interlopers such as Bush scored hit after hit.

Anyway, it's my hope that history's greatest mistakes are someday redressed. Aside from Native Americans being given a little something for their trouble (other than some farming-proof land and a few casinos), and other than a black man getting elected president--oh yeah!--I'd like to see Medicine acknowledged as one of the greatest bands to come out of the shoegaze movement. You can do your part to help by listening to the four tracks posted below and telling your friends about Medicine.

Normally, I encourage everyone to buy a copy of the album; however, it seems as though the manufacturer of the album has ceased production. So I'm still advocating for you to buy a used copy of the CD if you can find it, but I think it'd be even better for you to lobby Def American to reissue a lovely remastered set with bonus tracks (b-sides, acoustic cuts, etc). I've bookmarked American Recordings' website and as soon as Rick Rubin's email address is posted, you can bet I'll send the first of a series of strongly-worded letters.

Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living - 01 - One More.mp3

Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living - 03 - Defective.mp3

Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living - 06 - Sweet Explosion.mp3

Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living - 09 - Christmas Song.mp3

The Bent Moustache - Forst

I saw the Bent Moustache awhile back at Sebadoh's hometown reunion show. They opened for Mr. Barlow and Co., and from the first song I was smitten. Combining volatile influences like the Fall, Gang of Four, dub reggae (seriously), and a hint of Krautrock, this then-3-piece combo blew me away with their nervous energy and angular rhythms.

I know next to nothing about the band, biographically speaking. From what I gather, they're Scottish but they live in Amsterdam. Their lineup has included 2 women and contained as many as 5 and as few as 3 members, though when I saw them, there were three dudes. Evidently, two of the Bent Moustaches started out as Dog Faced Hermans. The rest of the story remains a mystery, and their website doesn't provide much more in the way of elucidation.

Regardless, TBM provides a welcome respite from today's revisionist punk-funk trends by leaning toward the genre's dirtier, grittier history. Vocalist/bassist Ajay sounds like Mark E. Smith, if Mr. Smith changed his angle from "drunk, acerbic and eccentric" to "energetic, chemically happy, and eccentric." This sounds much better coming through your speakers than it does in print, trust me.

When I saw them play live, TBM's guitarist was in fact a tech/roadie who told me after the show he was filling in for the band's usual gunslinger. He didn't clarify if this was a permanent or temporary change, but to my knowledge the gentleman I spoke to didn't play on "Forst," TBM's most recent release. This is something of a shame, because the guy I saw had a wild Andy-Gill-on-steroids style of playing that really pumped the energy levels and kept them elevated throughout the band's set, even when they took a left turn into a freeform dub excursion. Nonetheless, the guitar playing on "Forst" is solid, if a little more restrained-sounding than what I witnessed.

I hope you enjoy the 4 tracks I'm posting, and then visit the band's website. If you like the songs, please consider purchasing the full album from which these tunes are culled. It's a bit hard to track down, with search listings all over the bloody internet that seem to turn up nothing, so be sure to grab it where you find it.

The Bent Moustache - Forst - 01 - Bubblebath.mp3

The Bent Moustache - Forst - 03 - Killa Dub.mp3

The Bent Moustache - Forst - 05 - League Of Mature Jazz Friends.mp3

The Bent Moustache - Forst - 08 - Organ Fascination.mp3

Magazine - The Complete John Peel Sessions

As we all know by now, after after authoring Buzzcocks' 1976 debut Spiral Scratch EP and changing the face of the UK's musical landscape almost single-handedly, singer/guitarist Howard Devoto left the band by the end of that same year to form his next project, Magazine.

Bored with what he perceived as the rapid codification of a genre that, at least initially, was about breaking established rules, Devoto was seeking a forum for greater artistic and musical expression that welded punk's rebellious energy to prog's shifting song structures, and emboldened further by incorporating daring textural experiments and strange, abstract lyrics. Instrumentation in this new band would include driving drum beats, propulsive basslines, icy keyboards, and guitars that alternately buzzed, fizzed, and shattered like glass. Magazine, it seems, set the template for not-prog prog bands like Radiohead.

Personally, the element that drew me deeper into Magazine's twisted little world wasn't Devoto's proto-Thom Yorke bit, although that's a pretty compelling part of the band's overall appeal. No, for me, John McGeoch's ground-breaking guitar playing was the real highlight. Veering back and forth between straightforward, overdriven punk power chords and the fractured, angular, atmospheric style that would become a hallmark of post-punk and new wave, McGeoch blazed an original path and to this day remains undercredited for his contribution to modern rock's 6-string vocabulary.

Anyway, I've decided to cherry-pick four hot tracks from Magazine's new Complete John Peel Sessions release. These live-in-the-studio tunes reveal a side of the band previously hidden by their more studied studio albums--a side marked by shit-hot ensemble playing and an ability to groove in a way that few other bands of their ilk were capable of doing. Witness their mighty cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)" and try keep in mind that these are pasty, white English boys.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tunes. Be sure to pick up a copy of this record at Amazon.com, Newbury Comics, or any other fine retailer of quality music.

Magazine - Complete John Peel Sessions - 02 - The Light Pours Out of Me

Magazine - Complete John Peel Sessions - 04 - My Mind Ain't So Open

Magazine - Complete John Peel Sessions - 09 - TV Baby

Magazine - Complete John Peel Sessions - 10 - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Return of the Mack

So it's been a long time since I've posted anything; for awhile, I'd basically given up because there didn't seem to be any evidence that anyone was actually reading this blog.

But in the meantime, I've found some great new stuff that I'd like to share, so I plan to resurrect this site soon. I plan to rennovate and do two things I wasn't doing before:

-Start writing and posting album reviews
-Post links to my original music

Many thanks to those who left comments that didn't redirect to Canadian pharmaceutical sales sites. It was your posts that convinced me to start up again.

Coming next week: MP3s of songs from Magazine's Peel Sessions, The Affectionate Punch by the Associates, a review and tracks from Wire's latest release Object 47, and maybe--just maybe--an original track from yours truly...