Artist: Swirlies
Album: What To Do About Them
Release: 1992
Label: Taang!
Tracklist:
1. Tall Ships
2. Sarah Sitting
3. Her Life Of Artistic Freedom
4. Didn't Understand
5. Upstairs
6. Chris R.
7. Cousteau
8. [Untitled Track]
The compilation of What To Do About Them happened to be my first tryst with the Swirlies, one of America's finest shoegaze bands. I assume Taang! released this to serve as a nice introduction to the band as a pre-release for their debut LP, compiling their first two 7"s, Error and Didn't Understand, as well as their split 7" with Kudgel and some other stuff I can't quite place.
While not as uniformly excellent as their first album Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, this possesses some of their finest material and outshines any of their output post-Blonder. "Upstairs" and "Didn't Understand" are two of their best songs, the former being an indisputable classic of early 90s American indie and possibly my favorite Swirlies song. Lesser known, but equally amazing songs like "Chris R." (which also appeared on the classic ...One Last Kiss comp and is a mixtape staple of mine) and "Tall Ships" make an appearance, as well.
This is not to say everything on here is good: "Her Life Of Artistic Freedom" and "Cousteau" are pretty much bedroom experiments gone awry, only serving as both filler and a way to completely kill the momentum of this collection. "Sarah Sitting," while actually pretty good, is way too indebted to Isn't Anything-era My Bloody Valentine to truly reach greatness, but at least it's not the last two songs mentioned. Come on, it sounds just like "Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)!"
Obviously, the good outweighs (heavily) the bad, though, and if you're a fan of both shoegaze and the American indie scene from the early 90s, you could do much, much worse than this. Plus, where else are you going to find shoegaze/indie pop songs that feature hardcore-styled yelling?
Download Here
-Adam
Album: What To Do About Them
Release: 1992
Label: Taang!
Tracklist:
1. Tall Ships
2. Sarah Sitting
3. Her Life Of Artistic Freedom
4. Didn't Understand
5. Upstairs
6. Chris R.
7. Cousteau
8. [Untitled Track]
The compilation of What To Do About Them happened to be my first tryst with the Swirlies, one of America's finest shoegaze bands. I assume Taang! released this to serve as a nice introduction to the band as a pre-release for their debut LP, compiling their first two 7"s, Error and Didn't Understand, as well as their split 7" with Kudgel and some other stuff I can't quite place.
While not as uniformly excellent as their first album Blonder Tongue Audio Baton, this possesses some of their finest material and outshines any of their output post-Blonder. "Upstairs" and "Didn't Understand" are two of their best songs, the former being an indisputable classic of early 90s American indie and possibly my favorite Swirlies song. Lesser known, but equally amazing songs like "Chris R." (which also appeared on the classic ...One Last Kiss comp and is a mixtape staple of mine) and "Tall Ships" make an appearance, as well.
This is not to say everything on here is good: "Her Life Of Artistic Freedom" and "Cousteau" are pretty much bedroom experiments gone awry, only serving as both filler and a way to completely kill the momentum of this collection. "Sarah Sitting," while actually pretty good, is way too indebted to Isn't Anything-era My Bloody Valentine to truly reach greatness, but at least it's not the last two songs mentioned. Come on, it sounds just like "Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)!"
Obviously, the good outweighs (heavily) the bad, though, and if you're a fan of both shoegaze and the American indie scene from the early 90s, you could do much, much worse than this. Plus, where else are you going to find shoegaze/indie pop songs that feature hardcore-styled yelling?
Download Here
-Adam
13 comments:
Hell yeah!
Excellent. I love Swirlies. "Pancake" is one of my fav noisy pop songs ever, Thanks for sharing this.
yes! Thank you! Growing up in Massachusetts rewarded me with classic gems like these! Thank you!!
More Swirlies! More Trollin' Withdrawal...
Love this band. So many people seem to prefer "They Spent their Wild Youthful Days..." to "Blonder Tongue," but something about their early period has always appealed to me much more.
Re: "Some other stuff I can't place"--two of the songs, "Tall Ships" and "Cousteau," were original to this record.
I bought this album on cassette the month it came out and played it to death. I still have it, though it is somewhat the worse for wear. Excellent post. These guys don't get enough recognition.
Ah, thanks a lot for the info! I had no idea.
-Adam
Nice! I sold this CD a long time ago and I forgot I missed it 'till now!
You can download most of the records for freeee here (all ripped at 320): http://rcarchives.com/swirlies/discography/index.htm
some info (if anyone is interested);
tall ships, park the car (on blonder), and upstairs were all from a Fort Apache session (but differ from the single versions in that they have new vocals and new mixes done with Rich Costey). The early mix of tall ships was not released. Didn't understand, chris R, and sarah sitting, were all recorded in a bedroom (except the drums). There were two outtakes, bell and all I could do. Cousteau and her life were indeed recorded in a bedroom, Massachusetts style... hooray for that!
best comment ever
i cant think of anything more boring than a self-professed Swirlies fan pulling the MBV comparison, nonetheless "sarah sitting" to "soft as snow". why even bother? its apples and oranges. apples and tractors, more like. but if you wanted to look like a rookie, you did, so... more power to ya.
OK.
Does anyone have the Kudgel tracks on that Cinderblock split? anyone?
"Plus, where else are you going to find shoegaze/indie pop songs that feature hardcore-styled yelling?"
Hell yeah...always loved that about them.
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