I've Got It And It Isn't Worth Having

This probably sounds about as good as any 20-year-old flexi is going to sound, although whomever released this had balls for putting 7 minutes of music on one side of a flexi anyway. This is Boyracer's first-ever recording, and is schizophrenic like most of their best stuff is, starting off quitely but then going out thrashing by the end of it. One of the best of the '90s bands, and almost any starting point in their massive catalog will prove it to you. I'm not sure why I'm bothering to include the Sabine song, except that it's a pleasant enough diversion as far as '90s home-recorded stuff goes.

Boyracer -

"Boyracer"

Sabine -

"Painting Portraits"

No Skin Off My Ass

The booklet for the "Going Against Maz's Advice" compilation has to be one of my favorite booklets ever: "Jangle, my ass!", "Fuck with Us and We Fuck with You", "Total Running Time: 15 Fucking Hours!" Plus the fact that the label is called Four-Letter Words, I mean, it still makes me chuckle every time I flip through it. Clumsily, I chopped up the booklet with a pair of scissors years ago, trying to make it fit into a jewel case so the compilation wouldn't keep getting lost in my CD tower (the compilation originally just came in a bag). How was I supposed to know that someday I'd eventually be scanning the cover for some internet bullshit. Fuck that.

"Beaches and Canyons" is a great lead-off track, gliding into a huge swell, and in fact both Summer Hits tracks on this are fairly ace. Even if you're not completely sold by some of the other stuff on here-- Cat's Miaow, Belmondo, Holiday Flyer, etc-- you'll still be able to tell where Weed Hounds get most of their ideas from (not that I don't love Weed Hounds, plus they're playing Popfest New England this year, which is weird but great). This was also the first time I'd ever heard Boyracer, whose tracks somehow got stuck at the end of the compilation, as if they were an afterthought. Boyracer, of course, totally floored me; terrifyingly hooky, blown-out, one-minute pop songs, how could you not like that? "Meadowhall" starting off with a tossed-off improv bit and then suddenly switching over to the real song with the click of a recorder button reminded me of Guided By Voices, another band that I was just getting heavily into at the time, and Stewart's laugh as he flubbed the vocal but kept going was sorta Westerberg-ish. "Meadowhall (acoustic)" isn't even the same song, much less entirely acoustic. (Tricycle Popstar is shit, as always.) We need more dumb humor in music.




The Summer Hits -

"Beaches and Canyons"

"Spanish Films"

Starstreamer -

"Halo"

Belmondo -

"Girlfriends' Revenge"

Orange Cake Mix -

"The Doctor's Wife"

Tricycle Popstar -

"No Skin Off My Ass"

Boyracer -

"Meadowhall"

"Meadowhall (acoustic)"

I Can't Hold On To Anything Worthwhile

I used to think that Boyracer were the best indie-pop band in the world, and I still don't think I was too far off. I love how most of the best Boyracer songs seem to explode when they get to the chorus, and how Stewart almost always sings the beginning of each verse like he's already in the middle of it. Anyway, this is a one-sided 12" EP in another impossibly limited pressing from the always unreliable Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club, as sort of a companion to the 7" version which was released in Germany around the same time by Turntable Friend. Three almost perfect pop songs here, all at about 1:20 each-- what could be better than that?




Boyracer -

"Your Unspoken Desires"

"Boxing Day"

"I Can't Hold Onto Anything Worthwhile"

(these files are now listen-only)












My completely illiterate review in Brushback #5