Idolator: the vault

Tiger Trap Warm Up A Chilly Day

Maura Johnston — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 14:35:56 EST

I never got to see the Sacramento indiepop act Tiger Trap live, thanks to the confluence of my stunted age during the height of their popularity, the oppressive 21-and-over door policies of Chicago's finer rock clubs, and the fact that their collaboration sputtered to a halt after only one full-length, an EP, and a handful of one-off tracks for seven-inches and compilations. This clip of them performing the lovely, lilting "Words And Smiles" from their LP was uploaded to YouTube a month ago, and it's making me even more sad that I never chalked my license back in the day. So many regrets! [YouTube / MySpace]

Mouse On Mars Get A Little Froggy

Jess Harvell — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:30:16 EST

German electronic duo Mouse On Mars got a much-needed aesthetic reboot last year thanks to their rougher backing tracks for their Von Sudenfed project, twisting disco, glitch, and rock into hiccuping grooves that allowed their new collaborator, Fall vocalist Mark E. Smith, to free his spleen. But my favorite MoM tune might still be one of the first they ever recorded, the croaking, vocal-free techno track "Frosch" from 1994's Vulvaland. Despite the album title, the tune's very much safe for work. Cuddly, even.

Mouse On Mars [MySpace]

Before They Were Famous, The Arcade Fire Were Just These Guys Who Opened For Chromeo

mjohnston — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:35:11 EDT

While cleaning out his archives, Gawker's Jim Lehnhoff unearthed some video that he shot of the Arcade Fire all the way back on April 11, 2004, at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. (They were third on the bill, playing behind the Unicorns and freakin' Chromeo, and in front of The Ponys.) Anyway, he donated it to us for "research" purposes; while Win Butler does engage in some flopping around the (teeny!) stage during this performance of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," this clip is notable for the fact that the band doesn't really need Christmas lights, mariachi bands, or Web 2.0 trickery in order to put on a pretty damn compelling show. Ah, 2004—were we all that much more innocent then?

Squeeze Get A Big, Two-Dimensional Thumbs-Up

mjohnston — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:30:41 EDT

Because I am, somehow, still completely shell-shocked by the Video Music Awards—I blame the 12-frame split screens during the fleeting moments that were devoted to enumerating nominees, which made up for their brevity by being completely fucking overstimulating—I am going to indulge myself (and, I suspect, delight a reader or two) by posting this clip of pop titans Squeeze lipsyncing their fantastic song "Up The Junction" in the midst of a Top Of The Pops set that's made up of what looks at first glance to be a forest of thumbs in the "I approve" position. Come on, this set is so much cooler than the Sky Villa!

Anyway, "Junction" is merely one of the many incredible tunes that the band has put out during its existence, which has been marked by whip-smart, yet heartbreaking lyrics and choruses that are like brain-Velcro. I saw the current incarnation of Squeeze in New York a few weeks back, and the show was a ton of fun; Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford ran through most of their biggest hits in absolutely rip-roaring fashion, and they threw in some more recent tracks like their power-ballad "Walk Away" for good measure. "Junction" was a highlight, and the guitar solo in "Black Coffee In Bed" still sounded note-perfect. Also, in the one-day-shy-of-one-year history of this site, we've never done a post on this band, which seems like a major oversight, given that a) I listened to them every day during the summer of 1995 and b) their catalog has at least 100 songs that could be used as examples in the How To Write A Perfect Pop song textbook.

Squeeze - Up The Junction (TOTP) [YouTube]
Squeeze [MySpace]

The Vault: The Dynamics (Yes, Another Lost Soul Classic)

dangibs — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:45:03 EDT

Managed by Aretha Franklin's husband, the Detroit band the Dynamics featured four singers, each able to take the lead with a different vocal style. Following in Franklin's footsteps, the band headed to Memphis to mix their sound with Stax-flavored soul. Produced by Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman, responsible for hits like Elvis' "Suspicious Minds" and the Box Tops' "Cry Like A Baby," 1969's First Landing never fully caught on with R&B fans, with only a minor hit in "Ice Cream Song." But the album's last track, "Murder in the First Degree," is a funky number comparing a woman packing her bags to premeditated homicide, and the narrator's misery is to your listening benefit:

The Dynamics - Murder in the First Degree [MP3]
The Dynamics - First Landing [Amazon]

The Vault: Finally, We Get To Avail

Brian Raftery — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:16:49 EDT

This is the week for one of your Idolators to burn through every remaining standout MP3 in his collection, which brings us to Richmond, Va.'s Avail. From 1992 to 1998, the group put out a must-own album practically every year, with a hardcore-punk style that was aggressive enough for pissed-off teens, yet just melodic enough to land the band on Lookout! Records (1994's Dixie was no doubt the source of many road-trip sing-alongs). Three tracks are below, all taken from Jade Tree's 2006 reissue series; take a listen, as the songs are much more compelling than any of the rushed rock-crit hackery in the paragraph you just endured:

~~Avail - Simple Song~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Avail - Tuning~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Avail - Scuffle Town~~ [MP3, link expired]
Avail [MySpace]

The Vault, Part II: Picking Up The Pieces

Brian Raftery — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:44:20 EDT

There's very little to say about "Croque Pop," this 2003 track from Indianapolis trio the Pieces: The group and its label seemingly disintegrated years ago, and information is scant (though if this Amazon listing is correct, they at least got far enough to open for Evan Dando). But "Pop" is a quick-and-easy pop-rock number that's survived numerous iPod-lineup reconfigurations, and it deserves a few more fans

~~The Pieces - Croque Pop~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Diving In With The Chills

Brian Raftery — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:53:28 EDT

Could it be true that the Chills' 1990 classic Submarine Bells is out of print in the United States? These used-copy prices on Amazon seem to imply as much, which is a shame: Bells is probably the Kiwi group's most captivating album, one that glosses up the Chills' jangle-pop sound without overwhelming it. You could even call it "sumptuous," if only that word didn't make you sound like part of a cat-food commercial:

~~The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Chills - Tied Up In Chain~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Chills - Singing In My Sleep~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault, Part II: Getting Silly with Some Hot Chips

mmatos — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:00:46 EDT

As you may have surmised from reading this site, we're big fans of nonsense. So we thought we'd share a classic '50s R&B song that's almost nothing but nonsense, from the title on down. According to Ace's wonderful collection of gibberish-laden doo-wop and R&B, Great Googa Mooga, the Chips were students at Brooklyn's Warwick School of Delinquent Teenagers who made one record, 1956's "Rubber Biscuit," before vanishing into obscurity. But what a record: In between exhortations like "Gow gow oh-ho!" and "Here ride in a himma-limma humma-lumma," we're informed, "The other day I ate a ricochet biscuit. Well, it's the kind of biscuit that's supposed to bounce off the wall, back in your mouth. If it don't bounce back—whuh-whuh-whuh—you go hungry." Well, duh.

~~The Chips - "Rubber Biscuit"~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Don't Stop 'Til You Get the Other "Enough"

mmatos — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:22:08 EDT

As we all know, every American R&B song ever recorded has at some point been covered by a Jamaican artist. But few have claim-jumped their source material as energetically as Derrick Laro and Trinity did in 1980, when they cut a smoking version of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," with Laro's clear falsetto comparing favorably with Jackson's (the track surfaced a few years ago on Soul Jazz's Hustle! Reggae Disco compilation). And hey, did MJ have a deejay like Trinity to toast over the groove? We think not.

~~Derrick Laro and Trinity - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: The Atomic Numbers' Lack Of Success Doesn't Add Up

Brian Raftery — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:10:23 EDT

There are some big changes coming to the site, and we promise that after they take place, you will not have to read anywhere near as many MP3 posts that contain the following elements:

- A breathless rave about an album released between 1998 and 2002 that no one really cares about.
- The phrase "hooky power-pop."
- A closing-sentence lament that said album is now available on Amazon for a mere penny.

But those new editorial mandates are still a few weeks away, and in the meantime, we treat you to a write-up that contains not one, but all three of those elements! So enjoy these tracks from Detroit's now-disbanded Atomic Numbers, a group whose Clinton-era, power-popping output can be yours for a mere 1/100th of a dollar:

~~The Atomic Numbers - In Your Power~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Atomic Numbers - Creature Comforts~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Bright Spots From The Fall Line-Up

Brian Raftery — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:08:07 EDT

Statistically speaking, it's impossible to believe that we haven't posted more songs from the Fall: After all, Mark E. Smith drops a new album around lunchtime seemingly every day around lunchtime (just this morning, he dusted off a collection of sea shanties and British bird warbles, which the NME has already declared "his bestest, boldest yet"). Released shortly thereafter the death of John Peel—the band's biggest champion—The Complete Peel Sessions 1978-2004 encapsulates what the band does best: Cranky rants, ninnyhammer guitars, and lyrics that would make for some truly bewildering yearbook quotes:

~~The Fall - C.R.E.E.P. (Peel Sessions 1/3/84)~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Fall - Cruiser's Creek (Peel Sessions 6/3/85)~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: A Check-Up From The Dentists

Brian Raftery — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:00:49 EDT

You would think that, by now, we'd long run out of '80s British indie-pop bands to write about. But you'd be wrong! In fact, if it were to all go down tomorrow, and we had to live in the mountains to stave off toxic fallout, the sounds of jangling guitars would be bouncing off the walls for months (our emergency preparedness kit consists solely of portable Bose speakers, two iPods, and some Capri Sun packets). Today's entry is from the Dentists, a quartet from the Medway towns that wrote many songs about dreams, and knocked out at least one great Tori Amos cover:

~~The Dentists - I Had An Excellent Dream~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Dentists - Peppermint Dream~~ [MP3, link expired]
BONUS: ~~The Dentists - Cornflake Girl~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: The Living Things Get Thrown To The Lions

Brian Raftery — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:10:31 EDT

Living Things lead singer Lillian Berlin has a reputation for irking would-be fans, whether it's because of his on-stage political diatribes, or just for excessive fashion-magazine preening. Such factors may be part of the reason why Ahead Of The Lions, the band's politically minded 2005 album, didn't exactly start a revolution, but it's a better-than-you'd expect metal-punk-garage collection: The Iggy-aping "I Owe" is better than anything off that last Stooges album, and "New Year" is plenty menacing:

~~The Living Things - I Owe~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Living Things - New Year~~ [MP3, link expired]
The Living Things [MySpace]

The Vault: Revisiting The Slightly Lesser-Known French Revolution

Brian Raftery — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:25:15 EDT

Thanks to Saltkya's Music Take Away for turning us on to So Young But So Cold: Underground French Music 1977-1983, one of the most accurately titled retro compilations we've heard in some time. The songs are either synth-poppy, post-punky or very synth-poppy, and while they don't always mesh together perfectly, there are some great moments scattered throughout. In fact, we'd wager even the famously French-hating Bill O'Reilly would like something here! That is, if he were actually human:

~~Ruth - Roman Photo~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The (Hypothetical) Prophets - Wallenberg~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Bernard Szajner - Welcome (To Deathrow)~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: The Producers Still Got It

Brian Raftery — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 12:42:42 EDT

Where do aging new-wave power-poppers go when they can't get enough of the road? Apparently, they head to Guantanamo Bay. That's what we learned when—as part of our ongoing efforts to promote every skinny-tie band of the late-''70s and early-'80s—we looked up the official site of the Producers. We didn't know the band was still playing, but apparently they flew last month to the infamous detention center in Cuba, where where they were "presented with a flag flown over the base in their honor" for entertaining the troops, and where they presumably played the beat-you-over-the-head hook of 1981's "What's He Got" a half-zillion times or so:

~~The Producers - What's He Got?~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Producers - Certain Kinda Girl~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Shudder To Think Is Still On The Brain

Brian Raftery — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 11:35:15 EDT

Last week's Dismemberment Plan live-show MP3s once again got us all mushy on the '90s D.C.-rock scene, but really: It doesn't take much to get us to prattling on and on about how great it was back then, and we're about two more Dischord posts away from being told never to post a Clinton-era indie-rock song again. But while we can still get away with it, we'll gladly make the case that that art-pop-rockers Shudder To Think was one of the most underrated artists from that time, despite the fact that that band scored a big-label deal and opening for the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins; one of the greatest joys of seeing them live was watching non-fans gawk at singer Craig Wedren's improbably high-pitched voice, which was put to especially good use on the tracks below:

~~Shudder To Think - Red House~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Shudder To Think - 9 Fingers On You~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Shudder To Think - Earthquakes Come Home~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Lessons From Mull Historical Society

Brian Raftery — Wed, 30 May 2007 11:05:44 EDT

As noted earlier today, one of your Idolators suffered a rather nasty bout of Anglo-fever a few years back, and most of 1999-2002 was spent trying to track down every new, maddeningly over-hyped band to come out of the U.K. There are entire CD-storage shelves lined with regret from this period, but one album that almost justifies the madness is Loss, the 2001 debut album from Scottish act Mull Historical Society. Essentially the work of a one-man band (Colin MacIntyre, who wrote and produced the whole thing), Loss is full of ornately arranged (but never overly precious) pop songs, including the low-key anthem "Animal Cannabus." It's well worth a listen, especially since you can get it for a penny at Amazon:

~~Mull Historical Society - Watching Xanadu~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Mull Historical Society - Animal Cannabus~~ [MP3, link expired]
Colin MacIntyre [Official Site]

The Vault: L'Trimm Blows It Up

mjohnston — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:37:07 EDT

Thanks to Aleb for heeding our earlier call with an MP3 of L'Trimm's "Cars That Go Boom," which was one of our favorite rollerskating jams back in the day—you know, back when we were too young to know what the "it" in L'Trimm's other hit, "Grab It Like You Want It," actually referred to. Anyway, "Cars" is a fine addition to any Memorial Day BBQ playlist, and if you play it in front of the right crowd, you may unwittingly set off some spontaneous karaoke fireworks:

~~L'Trimm - Cars That Go Boom~~ [MP3, link expired]
Cars That Go Boom [YouTube]
L'Trimm [MySpace]
Earlier: Stuck On Repeat: The Song That Will Be On A Thousand Fashionistas' Lips This Summer

The Vault: Flipping Through Magazine

Brian Raftery — Thu, 24 May 2007 10:40:33 EDT

Not sure how we missed this, but last month, Caroline Records imported the remastered & expanded back-catalog from Magazine, the new-wave band that Howard Devoto formed after leaving the Buzzcocks. Best known for the tense "Shot By Both Sides"—a track that seemingly appears on every single punk-history collection ever made—Magazine went to some dark places, especially when the ominous keyboards bubbled up underneath; for proof, check out "A Song From Under The Floorboards," which contains one our our favorite self-loathing opening lines:

~~Magazine - A Song From Under The Floorboards~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Magazine - The Light Pours Out Of Me~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Magazine - Definitive Gaze~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Hüsker Dü's And Don'ts

Brian Raftery — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:00:35 EDT

Granted, posting a few tracks from the best-known Hüsker Dü album is pretty obvious—and, in light of today's anti-nostalgia trip, a little hypocritical. But take it from us: You have not wept for the future until you've overheard a 17-year-old kid identify Zen Arcade as "a song by Bush." So this one's for the children:

~~Hüsker Dü - Something I Learned Today~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Hüsker Dü - Never Talking To You Again~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Hüsker Dü - Turn On The News~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: We're All For Against Me!

Brian Raftery — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:20:38 EDT

You'll have to wait a few more months to hear New Wave, the forthcoming record by Florida punks Against Me!; but trust us when we say it's well worth the wait, and that it will compel you to print up anti-war pamphlets and renew your MRR subscription. In the meantime, here are two tracks from the group's 2005 album Searching For A Former Clarity, including "From Her Lips To God's Ears (The Energizer)," the best song about a Secretary of State since Black Flag's "George Shultz Is A Dick":

~~Against Me! - Miami~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Against Me! - From Her Lips To God's Ears (The Energizer)~~ [MP3, link expired]
Against Me! [MySpace]

The Vault: The Flashing Lights Brightens Up The Room

Brian Raftery — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:00:47 EDT

For some reason, we didn't catch the Flashing Lights' Where The Change Is when it was released in 2000, though we're guessing that the group's home country (Canada) and sound (guitar-centric power-pop) garnered it plenty of Sloan comparisons. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who missed out, as the Lights appears to have disbanded a few years after the album's release, and Change is now available at Amazon for about $4—a good deal, especially when you consider that it works out to to an amazing forty-cents-per-sing-along-chorus cost:

~~The Flashing Lights - Where The Change Is~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Flashing Lights - Highschool~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Honoring The Godfathers

Brian Raftery — Mon, 14 May 2007 14:26:26 EDT

Idolator readers of (ahem) a certain age will no doubt recall the late-'80s/early-'90s heyday of Pulse!, the magazine published by the now-defunct Tower Records chain. So correct us if we're getting this wrong, but we remember Pulse! writing about the Godfathers' 1988 album Birth, School, Work, Death every third issue or so, and with good reason: The British quintet fit nicely alongside such '80s college-radio darlings the Hoodoo Gurus and later-era Replacements, guaranteeing that a) they never, ever had a shot at commercial success, and b) music-store clerks and rock critics will wax about them for years to come:

~~The Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Godfathers - If I Only Had Time~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Snot-Punk For Punk Snobs

Brian Raftery — Fri, 11 May 2007 10:34:42 EDT

Believe it or not, there once was a time—and we realize how crazy this will sound—when a new pop-punk compilation was not released every three days. Really! In fact, at one point in the mid-'90s, you had to wait three or four whole weeks until you could buy another lower-priced collection of 23 bands doing exactly the same thing. And while most of those records were eventually returned to the used-CD store, Lookout! Records' 1994 round-up Punk USA remains a stand-out, as it hits on every pre-emo "punk" strain possible, from the snot-rock sounds of the Vindictives to the stab-guitar melodrama of Garden Variety:

~~Scratch Bongowax - Nobody Home~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Vindictives - I'm In Trouble Now~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Garden Variety - Pretty Mouth~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: A Lively Band Called My Dad Is Dead

Brian Raftery — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:25:13 EDT

Years ago, while at a "record fair" (look it up), one of your Idolators spotted a copy of My Dad Is Dead's The Taller You Are, The Shorter You Get with a hand-drawn price tag that read "$10 NEW (and the best album of 1989)." As it turns out, the CD was used—and the best album of that year remains 3 Feet High And Rising—but Taller is nonetheless a great collection of dark, twisting guitar-rock from one-man-band Mark Edwards. If you've only got time/room for one track, go with the paranoid "Too Far Gone," which was canonized in K-Tel's infamous Gimme Indie Rock compilation:

~~My Dad Is Dead - For Lack Of A Better Word~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~My Dad Is Dead - Too Far Gone~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~My Dad Is Dead - Seven Years~~ [MP3, link expired]
My Dad Is Dead [Blog]

The Vault: Zumpano Gets Back In Bacharach

Brian Raftery — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:30:33 EDT

We've posted before about Zumpano, the stellar power-pop band that served as the homebase for A.C. Newman before he went on to co-found the New Pornographers. BigO Worldwide has unearthed a super-rare 1999 Canadian radio session from the group, in which they cover a handful of Burt Bacharach tunes; three stand-out tracks are below, but really, we suggest you go to the page and DownThemAll.

~~Zumpano - Always Something There To Remind Me~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Zumpano - Anyone Who Had A Heart~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Zumpano - What The World Needs Now~~ [MP3, link expired]
Zumpano - CBC Studios 1999 [BigO Worldwide]

The Vault: Killing Joke Gets The Last Laugh

Brian Raftery — Mon, 07 May 2007 16:20:54 EDT

Killing Joke's self-titled debut album arrived in 1980, just a little over a year after the band's formation, and it's been scaring-slash-intriguing the crap out of curious middle-schoolers ever since. Two of Killing Joke's best tracks are below: "Requiem" sounds like an air-raid with a beat, while the sick-man vocals and assaultive guitar of "Wardance" would help clear the way for the likes of Ministry and Big Black:

~~Killing Joke - Requiem~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Killing Joke - Wardance~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Joe Jackson Remains The Man

Brian Raftery — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:40:01 EDT

From 1979 to 1989, Joe Jackson averaged an album a year; some were great (Look Sharp!, Night And Day), some were a chore (Will Power) and some remain inexplicably out of print in the U.S. (Beat Crazy, where are you?). But 1979's I'm The Man remains the favorite in the Idolator flophouse, as it features his finest new-wave rave-up ("I'm The Man") and a ballad ("It's Different For Girls") that some of America's finest news outlets might regard as "emo before it was emo":

~~Joe Jackson - I'm The Man~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Joe Jackson - It's Different For Girls~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Simian Monkeys Around

Brian Raftery — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:00:50 EDT

Before they teamed up to form the blog-beloved remix outfit Simian Mobile Disco, James Ford and James Shaw were members of SImian, a short-lived British electronic-pop-psych group that managed two albums on Astralwerks before breaking up in 2005. We Are Your Friends, the band's last effort, is fairly hit-and-miss, but it yielded two notable tracks: "LA Breeze" (which was eventually discovered by Madison Avenue) and the joyous, bursting-at-the-seams "When I Go":

~~Simian - When I Go~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Simian - LA Breeze~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Taking A Ride With The Hellacopters

Brian Raftery — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 13:35:06 EDT

Despite its title, High Visibility didn't do much for the Hellacopters upon its release in the U.S. in 2002—though it did confirm to longtime fans that these Swedes had the '70s-influenced guitar-rock sound down cold. "Toys And Flavors" might be the best song of the band's career, a dark-and-dirty anthem that begs to played at every high school parking lot at least once a semester:

~~The Hellacopters - Toys And Flavors~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Hellacopters - Hopeless Case of a Kid In Denial~~ [MP3, link expired]
The Hellacopters [MySpace]

The Vault: Polyrock Does The Math

mjohnston — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:05:15 EDT

During one of our many VH1 Classic-watching marathons years ago, we came across a video by a band called Polyrock; the song, "Romantic Me," was skittish and spare, but this being the earlier days of the Internet, Googleable material on the band was nowhere to be found. But the news that the first two albums by the New York City sextet—both of which were produced by Philip Glass—had been reissued o CD got us pretty excited, although we're wondering if there's a day coming when we run out of lost bands to rediscover, and if that day is coming in, say, November or so:

~~Polyrock - Romantic Me~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Polyrock - No Love Lost~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Polyrock - Changing Hearts~~ [MP3, link expired]
Polyrock [MySpace]

The Vault: Can't Knock The Paybacks

Brian Raftery — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:50:37 EDT

When the Detroit music scene was finally "discovered" a few years ago, the Paybacks was one of the groups most often assigned Possible Next Big Thing status, thanks in part to lead singer Wendy Case's gargled-with-shrapnel voice. Knock Loud, the Paybacks' fiery 2002 album, didn't make them international stars, but it's one of the best garage-rock records in recent memory, and you couldn't ask for a more stirring kick-off track than "Just You Wait":

~~The Paybacks - Just You Wait~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Paybacks - Black Girl~~ [MP3, link expired]
The Paybacks [MySpace]

The Vault: Medium Medium's Dance Dance Revolution

Brian Raftery — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:55:03 EDT

Nottingham's Medium Medium was one of the key acts of the late-'70s/early-'80s punk-funk-disco movement, though the group is usually cited at the end of a long list that also includes Gang Of Four, Liquid Liquid and the Pop Group. "Hungry, So Angry," released in 1981, was Medium Medium's lone "hit," a groovy white-boy workout that some claim helped popularize the slap-bass sound:

~~Medium Medium - Hungry, So Angry~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Coloured Balls Keep On Rolling

Brian Raftery — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:20:09 EDT

We were just getting ready to post a few tracks by Coloured Balls—the Aussie boogie-rock band from the '70s—when we noticed that guitarist Lobby Loyde passed away over the weekend. Lloyde's death comes just a few months after a reissue of Ball Power, the excellent 1973 album that helped solidify the Aussie-rock game-plan that's still being followed to this day: Fast riffs, to-the-point choruses and then a few even faster riffs. "Flash" is the album's wailing opening track; as Stephen Malkmus notes in the reissue-package sticker, it's the one song he always hope to hear while playing darts:

~~Coloured Balls - Flash~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Cymande Should Be Played At All Hours

Brian Raftery — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:05:03 EDT

Your Idolators have many obsessions—puppets, blooper reels, puppet-blooper reels—but one that's been popping up inexplicably lately is Spike Lee's The 25th Hour, a movie that's likely much better than you remember, and which is highlighted by a fantastic (but disturbing) nightclub scene featuring Cymande's 1973 funk-soul classic "Bra." The group's catalog has long been plundered by both sample-needy DJs and soundtrack supervisors—Lee also used "Bra" in the much-likely-worse-than-you-remember Crooklyn—and even though we've heard this track about a dozen or so times in the past week alone, we're still not sick of it:

~~Cymande - Bra~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: The Maniacal Sounds Of The Bouncing Souls

Brian Raftery — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:52:56 EDT

We lost track of New Jersey's Bouncing Souls right after our sophomore-year pop-punk phase fizzled, but the group's first two albums—including 1996's Maniacal Laughter—remain among the best the genre has to offer. Two tracks are below, including "Quick Check Girl," which marks our second convenience-store reference of the week:

~~The Bouncing Souls - Quick Check Girl~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Bouncing Souls - The Ballad Of Johnny X~~ [MP3, link expired]
The Bouncing Souls [MySpace]

The Vault: The Sharply Defined Sound Of Razorcuts

Brian Raftery — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:10:28 EDT

We know, we know: Enough already with the '80s jangle-pop limeys. And believe us when we say that we're really trying to cut down. But there are jabagillions of these groups in our collection, and they always sound good when they pop up on random, and besides, wouldn't it be great if some 14-year-old kid takes a listen to the breezy "I'll Still Be There" after mistaking Razorcuts for that other similarly named band? It could send aforementioned hypothetical kid into a C86-buying frenzy! Not that you can easily buy a lot of these records anymore. But still:

~~Razorcuts - I'll Still Be There (Single Version)~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Razorcuts - Big Pink Cake~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~Razorcuts - Sorry To Embarrass You~~ [MP3, link expired]

The Vault: Making Time With The Monks

Brian Raftery — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:40:47 EDT

Until 1965's Black Monk Time was reissued by Repertoire Records in the mid-'90s, most Monks fans were getting by on ancient vinyl copies or well-worn third-generation cassette dupes. And despite being out of print for years, Time retained its cult status thanks to both the group's tunes (raw and erratic, though never too abrasive) and its back-story (all the members were American G.I.s stationed in Germany). Three tracks from the expanded edition of Time are below, including two of the slightly more polished bonus singles:

~~The Monks - Monk Time~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Monks - Love Can Tame The Wild~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~The Monks - He Went Down To The Sea~~ [MP3, link expired]
The Monks [Official Site]

The Vault: A Few Minutes Of 7 Seconds

Brian Raftery — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:33:34 EDT

Co-produced by Fugazi's fussy-britched Ian MacKaye, New Wind took 7 Seconds' hardcore skate-punk sound and made it more "accessible"—not in a "man, my kid sister likes that new 7 Seconds ballad" kind of way, but more in a "they have melodies when they scream now!" sort of way. Two other fun facts about this 1986 classic: It features a liner-notes shout-out to U2 ("for years of inspiration"), and it ends with "Colour Blind Jam," a lengthy funk-ish number that's even worse than its title implies:

~~7 Seconds - The Night Away~~ [MP3, link expired]
~~7 Seconds - Somebody Help Me Scream~~ [MP3, link expired]