This captures a vintage performance with very good quality soundboard audio, coupled with slightly more gritty handy cam footage and a bit of TV broadcast vision edited into the middle.

The blurriness is authentic because, if I had of been in the audience, I probably would have had several ciders beforehand.

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Classic cassette mix part 4.

I love me some jangly power pop.

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I saw JH and her band when she toured the album Only Everything. Arguably, when she at the height of her powers. Good TV performance of Universal Heart-Beat, this.

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Noise rock band originally founded in 1986 in Christchurch, New Zealand by Hamish Kilgour (The Clean) and Alister Parker (The Gordons). The band started with the name 'Nelsh Bailter Space' but became 'Bailter Space' in 1988.

Personnel and country changes ensued, with the band, at one point, recreating The Gordons' lineup and settling on New York as a base. They released several records on Matador outside of NZ, where they remained on Flying Nun.

I always liked this video and song.

I know this track from a compilation put out by the recording studio, Fort Apache. I know zero about the band, anyone out there know more?

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The Breeders had a hiatus, so Kim and Jim formed The Amps and released one album on 4AD called Pacer. This is the title track.

In theory, I saw them play at a festival in 1996, but I can't remember anything about it!

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Songwhip

Tucson, Arizona's Supersuckers have been around since 1988 but the only real exposure I've had to them is during the time of this track and its album The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers. Good tune.

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Presumably named after The Clash's song…to my mind, Auckland's Garageland was more like a slightly more melodic, Kiwi answer to Pavement^*.

This song was released on the Come Back Special EP in 1995 and also appeared on the debut album, Last Exit To Garageland, in 1996. I loved the sound that guitarist Deb Silvey got out of her hollow body guitar on this track and I was disappointed when she left the band after the debut album, to concentrate on a radio career.

I was lucky enough to see them play live a couple of times on a record label roadshow they did with a couple of other Flying Nun bands, Love's Ugly Children and King Loser.

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^*Stephen Malkmus contributed to a Flying Nun Records tribute album for their 21st birthday in 2002.

Having just posted a Jon Spencer tune, my mind flicked to New Zealand's King Loser.

King Loser are a band who are difficult to explain, especially for a non-expert like me. They existed for about 5 years in the 1990s, putting out a spate of 3 albums in a 2 year period. They mixed surf instrumentals, Stooges-like riffs, Lee & Nancy chic, Dick Dale covers, and sweat soaked Elvis jumpsuits into a band that was both slightly cartoonish but also deadly serious.

I got to see them play a couple of times when they toured the album that this track is from, on a Flying Nun Records roadshow along with a couple of other label mates.

In finding the video for the song, I discovered a documentary about the 2016 reunion has just been released in NZ. I Iiked this description of the band from the trailer:

“We had a bit of an us against the world vibe… but also us against us, too.” King Loser’s first of fifteen drummers summarizes their stunningly explosiv

My desert island jukebox would have all of the first 6 or 7 JH solo albums on it. Have seen her play a few times, including on the tour for the album this song was on.

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I once wrote about music for some very minor publications. A year or so before this track came out, I was invited to a showcase put on by a record company who were hyping Ash up as the next big thing. I thought they were sort of OK, but getting a bit ahead of themselves. The show was in a dingy, local rock pub, that was mismatched to the level of hype and the band's stage demeanour. I would have made a terrible A&R person for a record label, as they went on to indeed become a pretty big band.

Anyway, I like Jackie Chan movies, so this song that was on the Rumble in the Bronx soundtrack brought me around a little bit.

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My tiny mind found this hard to take in at the time. But hey, it's a pretty good tune and it's always good to broaden your perceptions.

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My theme for the day is "Obscure Australian 90s bands that will only get 2 upvotes".

Second band of the day is Rail, from Melbourne. In another example of choosing a non-unique band name, there are several artists called Rail on Discogs. This one is Rail(2).

Their previous band names were Sleeper and Fragment and this song is called Freebird, so they stuck to a theme. Of course, the music is the important thing and I enjoyed the 2 albums they put out and used to go and see them play regularly.

They can to a premature end when Ian, their drummer, passed away suddenly, leading to their demise.

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Happy Monday from the future (Australia).

Speaking of happy Mondays, here's a song that I think is a banger from Black Grape. They formed from the ashes of the Happy Mondays.

Shaun Ryder and Bez carry on from the Mondays. The addition of Paul "Kermit" Leveridge (Ruthless Rap Assassins), who shares vocals with Ryder, definitely adds something to the mix that wasn't in there previously.

There are some good tunes on the album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, which is probably an allusion to why HM broke up!

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IMO the whole Britpop designation was a terrible construction of the British music press of the time. However, if I was forced to pick the music of only one of the bands with this label to take to a desert island …it might be Pulp.

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