One of the few interesting things to show up unannounced in my mailbox back when I was doing Brushback in the late '90s was a Thee Psychic Hearts single, which had practically no information on it (blank label, almost nothing on the sleeve other than a sticker) but featured an amazing song called "The Tongue of The Killer" -- a six-minute b-side, no less -- that had a weird false ending and was as hooky and anthemic as all get-out, sounding somewhat like Portastatic crossed with some of the other experimental indie-rock stuff that was happening in San Diego at the time (Three Mile Pilot, The Black Heart Procession). It was actually released under the name "Thenceforth Psychichearts", but whatever, that's just someone being a little too cute. I still have the single, but it's way too scratchy to post here, so in its place I'm posting the first Thee Psychic Hearts single, which I bought some time later. I still don't know exactly when either of these singles came out-- I'm just guessing from memory that it was '97/'98 or so. This one maybe isn't up to the same level of quality as the other single, but there are still some points of interest; "Post Meredian" (which I think should actually be spelled "Post-Meridian" but, again, the lack of info isn't helping) is your basic mopey Shrimper-metal with a drum machine, while "Frenching" starts off by mimicking the opening riff from "Cradle Will Rock" and finishes with a locked groove. The picture of a toilet is an actual Polaroid slid into the sleeve, with the band's address and phone number hand-written across the back with a marker, which is how I know that this was Sean Brooks -- later of Minmae -- if that helps you at all. Didn't think so.
"Post Meredian"
"Frenching"
6 comments:
It's a fact that I somehow underrated just how much good graphics proliferate the underground record output in the US. And a fact that it is here as opposed to any other site that underscores it.
I don't know whether it's the presentation over the content or not, but. I'm heartened to see the guts of Incremental Decrepitude #2 spread all over this space.
Blessed state, indeed.
Yeah, there was a second issue of the zine, barely made a ripple though. I might start work on a third one, once I figure out how many corners I can cut.
Cutting corners is good.
"They're not losing their audience, I think it's just their appeal is becoming more selective."
Wow, multiple comments on one post. That hasn't happened since 2009, I think. Look out, Blogger's making a comeback!
Opening to "Frenching" made me play Van Halen's "And the Cradle Will Rock".
Which led me to pulling out 1st VH lp, which made my morning, so thank you!
Also, I don't mind scratches :-) Would love to hear Tongue of a Killer.
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