Classic Nada – Promote This, Beeyatch, Fall 1999
Promote This Beeyatch!
September 1999
While snobby corporate rock mags like SPIN and Rolling Stone have oodles of albums to wade through, most of which end up in the circular file, we here at Nada Mucho got the time and space to talk about everything we’re sent. Part altruistic big brothers and part reclusive nerds, we put this column together to both promote the work of independent bands and to educate our listeners on the wide variety of music available to anyone with an imagination, a computer, and a credit card.
If you want to gain some free exposure for your band, send promotional materials to: Nada Mucho World Headquarters, 1512 Summit Ave Suite #302, Seattle, WA, 98122.
6x
Kung-Pow!
Daemon Records – Decatur, Georgia
http://www.daemonrecords.com/daemon.html
Something like the Ramones vs. the Fat Tulips, minus the Ramones’ edge or the Fat Tulips cuddliness. It’s not bad stuff though – three chords and a distortion pedal. Not enough attitude to get you suspended, but could lead to some time in study hall. Bonus points for a cover of “Be My Baby.” If lead singer Lara Kiang could go on a year-long Lost Weekend her voice might become distinctive enough to pull this band up through the ranks – they lack that thing which could distinguish them from the ever-growing pack of almost-rans
While snobby corporate rock mags like SPIN and Rolling Stone have oodles of albums to wade through, most of which end up in the circular file, we here at Nada Mucho got the time and space to talk about everything we’re sent. Part altruistic big brothers and part reclusive nerds, we put this column together to both promote the work of independent bands and to educate our listeners on the wide variety of music available to anyone with an imagination, a computer, and a credit card.
If you want to gain some free exposure for your band, send promotional materials to: Nada Mucho, 611 Capital Way SE #410, Olympia, WA 98501
6x
Kung-Pow!
Daemon Records – Decatur, Georgia
http://www.daemonrecords.com/daemon.html
Something like the Ramones vs. the Fat Tulips, minus the Ramones’ edge or the Fat Tulips cuddliness. It’s not bad stuff though – three chords and a distortion pedal. Not enough attitude to get you suspended, but could lead to some time in study hall. Bonus points for a cover of “Be My Baby.” If lead singer Lara Kiang could go on a year-long Lost Weekend her voice might become distinctive enough to pull this band up through the ranks – they lack that thing which could distinguish them from the ever-growing pack of almost-rans on the “punk” scene. Until then, I grant this mildly enjoyable CD a spot on my “mildly enjoyable CDs” list. – BO’B
Belloluna
Livid and Loving It
Daemon Records
An early candidate for a crown of some kind – “Worst CD of 1999” or “Schlock of the Year”, something distinctive. Before you write to tell me that you’re the lead singer’s mom and the album came out in 1998, which of course is just the START of what is wrong with my review – save your breath; I know, but Daemon just sent it our way. A pity it didn’t get routed to someone else’s mailbox – or back to you, mom. Take the worst parts of Ben Folds Five and some bad ’70s prog-pop (Supertramp maybe) and mix together in an unappealing mush. Throw in some sub-Barenaked Ladies “wacky” lyrics not even Canadians would laugh at, and you’ve got yourself a Belloluna. I recommend throwing it away promptly and purchasing anything else in the “B” section of your local independent music store. – BO’B
(Ed note: Daemon Records is owned by Indigo Girl Amy Ray)
Vern Gosdin
The Voice
BTM Records – Nashville TN
http://www.btmrecords.com/
Today’s C&W scene is festered with a disease known as “young” or “hip” country, which is essentially pop music with big belt buckles, or a Top40-fied version of the genre formerly known as country music. Vern Gosdin, on the other hand, does country the way country should be done.
Every song on The Voice is as derivative as déjà vu, but hey, it works. The sound is simple and pure, sort of like what the Marlboro Man would have listened to before he got cancer. Songs like “Chip Off the Chip Off the Old Block” and “Let’s Don’t and Say We Did” hark us back to better days in the country music. The best thing about Gosdin is that he has no pretensions. He’s the epitome of old school.
Interesting side note: A search engine query on Altavista yielded 600 hits for Vern Gosdin. A similar search for Garth Brooks scored 56,008 hits. That’s probably why we liked this album. – JL
dipsomaniacs
Undertow
Facedown Records – Burlington, New Jersey
http://www.facedown.net/
Take everything you hate about The GooGoo Dolls, Tonic, and recent Soul Asylum and compound that frustration ten fold and you’re still nowhere near the pathetic unoriginality of the dipsomaniacs. On Undertow, “Wake Up” asks the following musical question – “Where do we go from here?” Answer? Back to your day job. This is boring music for boring people who like to hear about boring things while they do boring stuff with their boring friends in their boring towns.
Lets start with the absolutely meaningless and uninspiring lyrics. Try the chorus “bet off my bike/ get off my bike/get off my bike” repeated over and over for a full four minutes on the creatively named “Get off my Bike.” Or how about “she’s a student driver and she’s got the keys to my heart/she’s a student driver but she don’t know how to park,” from the equally obvious “Student Driver.” Then there’s the unimaginative production – the boring guitar lines are mixed perfectly with the adequate drumming, the text book basslines, and the annoying vocals. This is music so damn non-descript and unaffecting that it just might be the next big VH1 breakthrough.
Furthering the idiocy of this record are their label’s Replacements comparisons and boasts of “polished, endearing garage pop.” Some genius even let these nerds cover a Mat’s tunes on an upcoming tribute album sold on a Replacements fan club website. Somewhere Paul Westerburg smokes his 80th cigarette of the day and wonders what the fuck is wrong with people.
In summary, immediately purchase the new dispomaniacs album Undertow, as its certain to make anything else you own sound a lot, lot better. – MA
[Read the drummer’s reply to Matt’s review]
96mm
“Waking Hour”
RPS Records, Batavia Illinois
No website available
The massive boom in consumer technology has a dark downside. Nowadays, people with a smidgen of technological savvy and a few years of high school band can cut an album.
96mm is a two-member group with an oh-so typical alternative sound underscored by a sometimes-ethereal, mostly-annoying piano sound off a Yamaha keyboard, combined with standard issue guitar play and a voice that could sink a fleet.
The lyrics are decent, and they do a nominal job of maintaining a melancholic mood throughout the album. “Waking Hour” is arguably a very grassroots effort, but the amateur production work detracts from it rather than adding any special flavor to it.
We’d have more info about this band for you, but the CD cover (printed off a color inkjet printer with about 24 dpi) had little info, and the website address they promoted proved inaccessible. – JL
(Contributors: Brendan O’Brien, Jerry Lee, and Matt Ashworth) 
