You + me = something

I worked for Pure Pop after many years of distracting its employees from doing that very thing…so it’s only fair.

Pure Pop was one of the last of my iconic Burlington jobs…and although I was fairly certain I was unqualified for all those previous positions, I was least qualified of all for Pure Pop. I mean, sure…I was cynical, sarcastic, and opinionated and with a soupcon (Ed. – You mean soup can, right?) of misanthropy…but what Vermonter isn’t? Of all those employable assets, last on the list was musical knowledge. I couldn’t tell my Pete Zorn from John Cage (Ed – Never even heard of John Zorn…) …I just liked drawing pick cards, eating chips and salsa and putting on my fair share of Zeppelin and Jethro Tull. After work I would join those fabulous co-workers at Metronome or Higher Ground to just shut the fuck up and listen…and that was rapture.

My whole lifetime in Burlington feels like one gigantic rock show…my memories from the years 2000-2006 smell like cigarettes and beer…but they have a great soundtrack. I wasn’t a fan of music before I moved out east, but a few accidental friendships turned into a backstage pass to the thrill of a live show.

I miss those shows. Now that I’m back here in Cincinnati (Doing great! Working here! Doing this!)

I wish I’d taken better notes and taken more pictures…So my list for this article are some of the top shows I saw in those days and with those people.

Beginning with Casey nearly dragging me to the Frank Black in-store at Pure Pop – I had no idea who Frank Black OR the Pixies were…and most of what I remember from that show was that I was standing in the midst of about 40 people that were all just staring at Black Francis…I felt the appreciation in the tiny cavern of Pure Pop…and seeing those people who were becoming my friends openly thankful of the opportunity to be in such a tiny audience lit the flame of being a fan in me.

When I was unemployed, I traded a bootleg copy of Photoshop for a space on the list of The Beta Band show at the Winooski Higher Ground. For that show, I went by myself, ran into a crush who was making out with another girl…and then the band came on the night exploded. I had seen them before in Olympic Park, but being in a club on a freezing February night felt so much more intimate…

The Coral – first in Montreal and second in Boston – Although I would never be so presumptuous to say that I discovered The Coral, I felt like I got in on the ground floor with these guys. The first time, Mia and I drove to Montreal with only the Skeleton Key EP to listen to. The Coral was the opening act that night…and we knew all the words even then…six months later, Mia and I drove to Boston to see them headline, with Jet as the opener. I skipped Jet (unfortunately) but was back in time to make my way to the front and watch this 6 piece band from Liverpool command the room.

Did you know that Sue Norton can defy gravity? That’s what happened during the Interpol show…again at HG in Winooski. It was during NYC that Mia and I looked over and Nortie was full on floating. If you know Sue, you know that’s a true story.

I first saw the band Tarantula at 242 (I think….this is where the better notes come in) and I can’t remember who turned me on to them, but I remember seeing them at least 2 more times in rapid succession…at Metronome and in the new Higher Ground’s second stage. I loved them from the first moment because the crowd they drew was fabulous…they pulled members of ever musical fandom…although the audiences were sort of small, it still felt like everyone was there.

I can’t leave out the local bands…but I can’t narrow down even my top ten shows…I will however say that if it wasn’t for Carrigan, The Cancer Conspiracy, Brett Hughes, Neil Cleary, Missy Bly, Charles (Dead or Alive, Swale, Led Loco, The Interior, The Magic is Gone, The Jazz Guys, Barbacoa, The Smittens and a million others, my life would have been so boring.

Nirvana – Live at Reading

Nirvana’s 1992 performance at England’s Reading Festival is impossible to separate from its historical significance, which is this: Nirvana was at the time ascending to biggest-band-in-the-world status, and their 90-minute, 25-song set at Reading officially put them there.

This was August ’92, a year after “Nevermind” reset the expectations and aesthetics of modern pop music. This was a headlining slot at Reading, one of the longest-running, traditionally career-making music festivals in the world. And this was Nirvana at its artistic peak. (Read the Full Review)

Nirvana – Bleach (Deluxe)

With its title derived from a poster advising heroin users to bleach their needles before use, it’s easy to look back at Nirvana’s debut album of 1989 – famously recorded for just $606 – and conclude that all the warning signs were there. Collapse was inevitable, disaster just over the horizon. But then you listen to the record and fall in love, again, with a collection of scrappy, scratchy songs that comprised the foundation for one of the best rock albums of all time.

That bona-fide classic is Nevermind, of course – Nirvana’s 1991 release elevated the trio of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic (Chris at the time) and Dave Grohl to superstar status, aided in no small way by the runaway success of Smells Like Teen Spirit and the reach of MTV. But Bleach is an angrier, fidgety affair; it’s the sound of a hungry band putting all they’ve got into sessions they couldn’t afford to repeat. As such, compared to its successor it’s a rough-edged listen, and the actual songwriting on show is at a developing stage, a lack of sing-along choruses limiting its mainstream reach. But the promise that sweats out from the cracks between songs, between the fractured riffs and guttural screams of Paper Cuts, the frenetic flailing of Swap Meet and the affectingly understated ardour of About a Girl, is incredible. (Read the Full Review)

Say Anything – Say Anything

Say Anything’s fourth album is both trim and tuneful, with Max Bemis devoting more focus than ever to the tightening of his quirky, unchained pop songs. “Focus” is a relative term, of course; the frontman still finds time to run wild throughout this disc, rearranging conventional song structures like Picasso and sampling from multiple genres — emo, rock, punk-pop, R&B, even doo wop — with greedy glee. The choruses boast stronger hooks this time around, though, which lends heft to Say Anything’s musical mish-mash, and the band’s willingness to break rules is what makes this album so refreshing. (Full Review)

Slayer – World Painted Blood (Track reviews)

Unit 731 Only Slayer could pick a subject like Unit 731 – a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army, that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War that, frankly, leaving Josef Mengele looking like a rank amateur – and make it sound this good. Not to mention appropriately brutal. If the previous track caused a suspicion Slayer are slowing with age, then ‘Unit 731′ completely assuages those fears – full on, mega-fast thrash; no frills, no solos, just under three minutes of bloody-minded thrash-as-fuck metal.

Snuff Wah! The smoking pigs are back! No warning shots here – no brace of fire across the bow, just Jeff Hanneman shredding like it’s 1988 from the very first second. ‘Snuff’ quite literally rips your innards out or your asshole as… well, just it just does – it’s Slayer, they can do that. Less convoluted in subject matter than previous numbers, there is a barbaric beauty to the lyrics: “Torture, misery, endless suffering; pleasing to the eye”. The stand out number so far. (Read the Full Review)

Julian Casablanca – Phrazes for the Young

Phrazes for the Young offers treble-heavy Strokesish guitars over 80s synthpop; there are jittery drum machines and knowingly cheesy, triumphal-sounding synth riffs and vocals delivered in time-honoured I-am-an-alienated-robot staccato. The single 11th Dimension opens with a bassline influenced by early house that could have stepped straight off a late 80s Pet Shop Boys album. It’s a beguiling mix. (Read Full Review)