Tuesday, April 04, 2006
VA - Suburban Underground: Conspiracy Kids
Various Suburban Underground: Conspiracy Kids 7" (SUCK, 1997)
For the rock & roll archaeologist nothing is better than a regional compilation. Keeping in mind that the compiler often is telling the story as the way they see it (a notorious example is Brian Eno's distillation of New York's no wave scene to just 4 bands, ie No New York), good or bad, they give one a view of what was going on when and where. The best regional comps tend to be ones that originate from a bunch of excited bands or fans who want to show the world what they are doing (the worst tend to be ones what are put together to market a scene and induce major labels to take a look-see at the local talent). Today's 7" is one of those youngsters-needing-to-tell-the-world comps and the thing that is oh so important to these kids is the Palo Alto, California punk scene. This comp showcases four bands from the Palo Alto area: Jacob Ham (Redwood City), The Dimes (Mt View), The Babysitters Club (PA), and the most excellently named The Smelts (PA). None of these band turn in technically proficient tunes. None are going to blow your mind with something differant, but all four present themselves with a couple buckets full of enthusiasm and a some good noise. Here you get two of the four. The Babysitter Club have that garage sound that draws from early Red Cross and Supercharger. The Smelts sound like they were the teen girlfriends of the Prats. - Scott S.
// posted by W/S @ 6:32 PM 
