Power-Lloyd "Live From Bluffington; Live From the Honker Burger" cassette (self released/2000)

Here is a rare slice of eastern Long Island tuneage courtesy of lo fi collage/noise pop trio Power-Lloyd. And God help you if you forget the damn hyphen! I am not sure if it was the water we drank, growing up near a nuclear power plant that never opened or just digging on the finest fuzz box happy indie/alternative rock that the 90s had to offer that caused a bunch of the bands in eastern Long Island to make so much darn noise in the late 90s/early 2000s. Armed with a four track (my old Fostex I believe) and a lineup of instruments that defy convention (seriously seeing Mark Gill play a vacuum cleaner is one of the best things I have ever seen) Power-Lloyd played lo fi collage/noise pop that was just the sound of three friends having a good time. No pretentions or anything like that. Like I said just three friends getting in front of a 4 track and saying "Go". What came out was a mystery to even them I presume much less listeners. But for you folks who need reference points to click "download here" to put things simply Power-Lloyd reminds me of a combination of the snippets of sound collage on Olivia Tremor Control records, Beck's Stereopathetic Soul Manure, Edith Presler and God is My Co-Pilot. In addition to jangly guitar chords, bass, and vocals added to the arsenal of sound were various children's toys that produced sounds, drum machine, various percussion, whistles, and various sound makers. Oh yeah did I mention a vacuum? I did but I like that so much that I'll mention it again.

Power-Lloyd consisted of Jason Cassara, who collaborated with me on the Stars Are Insane album Justin Age 8 and Chris Grant and Mark Gill both of whom were in my first band Pale Marble Movie. Gill was briefly the bassist of Prescott C and recorded the Low Flying Planes EP with them. Anyhow back to Power-Lloyd... They recorded their lone release which was packaged in a fun grab bag of goodies (which I have lost. Shame on me...) Live From Bluffington; Live From the Honker Burger for the most part on 4 track in various spaces in the Rocky Point/Shoreham area but two tracks I believe were recorded at the North Shore Public Library from the same show that Stars Are Insane performed. (See this post to download the Stars Are Insane set if you missed it.) And if you are wondering if Live From Bluffington; Live From the Honker Burger is a Doug reference, the answer is most certainly yes. In fact check out Power-Lloyd's re-imagining of The Beets' "One Little Voice" for further Doug references.

Power-Lloyd were a ton of fun the few times they played and so is Live From Bluffington; Live From the Honker Burger. Anyhow Power-Lloyd certainly isn't for everyone because quite simply most people don't know how to have fun. Somehow I have to convince Mark to make a guest appearance playing some vacuum on the next Stars Are Insane album...

Power-Lloyd Live From Bluffington; Live From the Honker Burger track listing
1. Jelly Belly Blues
2. Israeli Sub Machine Gun
3. Math Camp
4. Vegetable Bitch (A Chorus of Boris)
5. One Little Voice
6. Upwelling

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Backspace "Backspace" cassette (self released/2002)

Between my neighbor sawing and hammering away at building a deck at 8 AM, house mates talking in the kitchen which is adjacent to my room and the dog freaking out I have been awoken prematurely from my slumber. 8 AM isn't very early but considering I haven't been able to fall asleep until 3 or 4 every morning that leaves my body craving (and needing) more rest. So why not fight fire with molten lava?

Today's upload comes from Backspace which is Jay, Ren and Robbie from Sometimes Walking Sometimes Running giving us a two fiery blasts of instrumental drone/noise/power electronics. I received this tape in a care package from Ren back in 2005 which he sent along with a copy of the unreleased Scent of Human History album and a copy of what was then called United States Demo Tape Riots (see pic below), which ultimately became the band's 12 inch/cd/tape Divorce Songs. In the note that Ren sent me along with the goodies this is what he had to say about Backspace:

The Backspace tape is some stuff that Jay, Robbie and I did on 12/30/02. Bored, stoned and stuck indoors. side B is much better than side A, but it works better after you sit thru side a. I recommend listening to it in the car...loud. 


From what I can gather this Backspace tape wasn't formally distributed/released instead it was a private press kind of thing where only copies were made for friends and that sort of thing. I showed it to Jay a few months ago when his awesome new band Risk was recording in the basement and he was surprised to see I had a copy or that Ren even made copies of it. So needless to say I feel grateful that Ren decided I was worthy enough to receive a copy of this. And really I think that is how music is best shared- amongst friends. I know music of this kind definitely does not have a broad fan base and it takes a very specific pair of ears to appreciate it but once you do your ears lock into the sounds swirling around and hear something rather pleasurable and dare I say soothing. Maybe I am messed up but stuff like this does relax me quite a bit. The little dense,droning melodies that keep things moving along in time all the while hypnotic feedback, hiss and tape manipulation are occurring around it. In listening to this Backspace cassette  one can certainly hear how this type of music and experimentation seeped through into Scent of Human History's sound, particularly the unreleased album so with that being said I do firmly feel that fans of Scent of Human History who while themselves perhaps wouldn't identify themselves as noise/drone fans would certainly find value in listening to this. It is easy to connect the dots. So whether in your room on your stereo or as Ren suggests in your car, play this motherfucker LOUD.

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Bigg Uppz "Demo" cd-r (self released/2003)

So much for promises... There are several reasons why there has been such a long gap from the last upload. A lack of free time being one and the other as lame as it sounds my digital camera is garbage and in doing this blog I really wanted to take pictures of the actual releases so I could share the artistry and packaging with everyone but right now that is just adding to the time it takes to getting stuff up here. So it becomes a matter of weighing what is more important. And of course I spent the better part of the morning to prepare a gem of an upload that I have wanted to share for awhile now (an incredible album that went unreleased for whatever reason) only to find that the last couple of tracks were screwed up so that will be coming at a later date. Anyhow enough bullshit, on with the show...

This past weekend was the first rehearsal that included past members to get ready for the last Yes Sensei show (mark your calendars January 22nd 2011 @ Mr Beery's w/ Everything Sucks, Thought & Memory and Risk) so it is only fitting that I share this release with you today as it features original Yes Sensei bassist, Paul Como causing quite the ruckus. Upon leaving Yes Sensei, Como teamed up with his buddy and then co-host of WUSB's Caffeine As Gasoline, Matt to form this noise making duo. Armed with drum machine, pitch shifting sounds and layers of distortion and feedback Bigg Uppz recalls the aural onslaught of bands like Big Black, Lightning Bolt and Wolf Eyes- so certainly not easy listening. The short lived duo unleashed this eight song demo and played I believe only two shows. One was with Yes Sensei and one with Lickgoldensky whom I shit you not played the same song like seven times out frustration-whether amongst themselves or the sparse attendance. Bigg Uppz was a short lived wrecking ball of sonic chaos that certainly didn't take itself too seriously.

Bigg Uppz "Demo" track listing
1. "One"
2. "Two"
3. "Thre"
4. "Four"
5. "Fiv"
6. "Six"
7. "Sevn"
8. "Secret"

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