Carrie Nations

Carrie Nations, Be Still (album is in .m4a format)

I wrote about Be Still by the Carrie Nations back when I did my Decade in Review post, where I had the following to say:

I think a lot about the punk years: the sloppy kids in messy houses drinking and shouting and drinking some more. I think a lot about how I tried to glamorize that whole travesty -- tried to talk it up through the construction of community, intentional living, fucking the man, whatever. I ignored: substance abuse, misogyny, racism, general teenage fuck-uppery. But this: this album was the teenage punk rock utopia I dreamed of. 13 songs in less than 28 minutes. Songs that you can scream along with. Vocals that have that Westerberg edge of longing that make mediocre songs great. Especially on "Fireman's Bakesale."

Be Still is now out of print, so I offered to upload it for interested parties &, much to my surprise, actually got a comment from an interested party.

Good news, though... If yr interested in buying the album, it turns out that it's still available from No Idea (just search for "Carrie Nations," they have Be Still and their 7").

Carrie Nations, Be Still (album is in .m4a format)

Witches

I've posted about P.S. Eliot here before, their album Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds was released on Salinas Records last summer. This post isn't really about P.S. Eliot at all, but it is about another band with a release on Salinas: Witches.

I spotted the Witches 7" on the Salinas site this afternoon & a quick Google search revealed a MySpace page with 4 songs and a blog with 3 more. Witches have a sound that reminds me of Cadallaca without the Farfisa -- powerful female vocals and catchy guitar lines, simple songs that stay with you. Their cover of the Nerves' "When You Find Out" (available for download on their blog) is great! I also really like their original, "Do I Sound Like My Self Now?"

If you're interested in more info, you can email clancybeach@gmail.com about 7"s, tapes, and shirts! In the meantime, you can get their 7" from Salinas.

Move Into the Villa Villakula

Move Into the Villa Villakula, various artists (zip)

I think (and write) a lot about music that I loved when I spent a lot of time lying in bed with a discman (or walkman) & it's no secret that certain bands dominated those years. Move Into the Villa Villakula is my teenage life in a nutshell: sad songs, spoken word, girl-centric, cut and paste, Pippi Longstocking.

From the liner notes by Evelyn McDonnell: I'm trying to cultivate toughness. It's easy to seem hard and aloof -- women who stand up for themselves are quickly dykes and bitches -- but it's hard to be tough on the inside, to keep the kicks from damaging internal organs even when you're smiling in the prick's face.

Sleater-Kinney's cover of "More Than A Feeling'" was one of the most majestic things I had ever heard at that age. Kaia's "Peyton vs. Your Boyfriend" and "Off" were too much & I've already rambled on about Tattle Tale's "Erica." Normally I don't post full albums, but Move In... is long out of print & whenever it comes up it's always tremendously expensive, so...

Complete Tracklist

01. You Ain't It - Sleater-Kinney
02. Write Me Back Fucker - Sleater-Kinney
03. More Than A Feeling - Sleater-Kinney
04. Peyton vs. Your Boyfriend - Kaia
05. Off - Kaia
06. Memorial - Eileen Myles
07. I Always Put My Pussy - Eileen Myles
08. Warrior - Eileen Myles
09. Rape - Eileen Myles
10. Debate With A Glove - Eileen Myles
11. Take 10 - Tattle Tale
12. Erica - Tattle Tale
13. Spanish Olive - Ruby Falls
14. The Way of Colleen - Ruby Falls
15. Possibly - Azalia Snail
16. Vitriolic Feeling - Azalia Snail
17. Fantastic Castle - Led Byrd (members of Helium)
18. Embrace - Kore
19. Cry - Kore
20. Miss Unknown - Denise Monahan
21. Knoxville Girl - DQE
22. Treat Her - DQE

You can read more about this comp & Villa Villakula Records here. I'm not 100%, but I think a majority of these artists are no longer recording (at least, not in these incarnations), but Kaia's most recent album, Godmakesmonkeys, is available through InSound.

Move Into the Villa Villakula, various artists (zip)