Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Various Artists - I Stayed Up All Night Listening To Records (Anyway Records,1998)


Various Artists - I Stayed Up All Night Listening To Records
(Anyway Records,1998)

LAME -APS (vbr)
Includes: front cover, nfo, m3u, log

There's something about lo-fi music that I can't help but find really appealing. It can be anything from old gospel to rowdy garage rock but I guess there's something about it that makes it seem more special. I always like these recordings where seemingly average people were able to put out tunes that were really enjoyable without having to be on some huge label with million dollar studios or fancy equipment - and that by doing this it seemed to me to encourage anyone who loves music to just go out and do it.

On "I Stayed Up All Night Listening To Records...", its "90's indie rock" music that's being showcased. Subtitled "A Collection of Field Recordings" it features a large selection of (mostly Ohio native) musicians well known (well, in an underground sense of the word I guess) in the small label Indie circuit of the time, cutting some highly lo-fi/intimate/stripped down indie rock/pop tunes. To be perfectly honest, the reason I got this was because it had a track from Dump on it (for those unfamiliar, the side project of one James McNew of Yo La Tengo fame). I didn't really know any one else on the album at all to any real extent. Many fans of the genre will however recognize (as I do now) names like Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Simon Joyner or Don Howland.

The opener from Jake O'Clay is a bit of an eye opener (in not the most appealing way) but it's still fun, and to me that's what listening to this should be about. The remaining tracks all have a somewhat similar feel to it (mid tempo indie ballads is one description I've read that fits the bill pretty well) with a good combination of solo acoustic tracks as well as straight up indie rock complete with solos and feedback.

A great quote that I think really holds true and can sum up the album is that it "has the feel of a rediscovered favorite mix tape, one that truly merits staying up all night to listen to."

Favorite Tracks:
Bill Fox - Electrocution
Jake Housh - Testament
Dump - It's Not Awright
Smelt Daddy - How Low Can You Go

....

Tracklisting found in comments

2 comments:

Sweet William said...

Track Listing
-------------
1. Alphabet Pirate (Jake O'Clay) (2:07)
2. Eclectrocution (Bill Fox) (3:07)
3. Background (Ted Hattemer) (2:46)
4. Cryptic Shapes (Tobin Sprout) (3:12)
5. Testament (Jake Housh) (3:29)
6. Cinema East (Lizard McGee) (3:25)
7. Drapes (Jenny Mae) (2:07)
8. It's Not Awright (Dump) (3:40)
9. Dream King (Robert Griffin) (3:14)
10. Telling Secrets Forming Unions (Dan Spurgeon) (5:16)
11. Shooting Past Me (Franklin Bruno) (3:24)
12. Straight to Neil (Earnest) (0:59)
13. Song (Waybald) (2:23)
14. Coolville (Chris Biester) (2:29)
15. Rubber Boots (Don Howland) (4:29)
16. As Long as a Block is Black (Robert Pollard) (1:30)
17. Bulemia Blues (Mike Rep) (1:46)
18. Pit Bull (Gilmore Tamny) (0:33)
19. The Dress You Bought in Cleveland (Karl Hendricks) (5:01)
20. Astronauts (Paul Nini) (2:02)
21. Stones and Noah's Bones (Scotty Tabachnik) (1:37)
22. Hot Tears (Simon Joyner) (2:39)
23. How Low Can You Go (Smelt Daddy) (2:27)
24. Love, Death + Photsynthesis (Jerry Wick) (3:12)
25. 5:00 (Ron House) (2:06)

Total Playing Time: 69:12 (min:sec)

Charles Hodgson said...

13 years too late for this, but could you please re-up!