Old News: Delta Dart Albums!

Delta Dart, Lone Star LP (DOWNLOAD)
Delta Dart, Fight or Flight LP (DOWNLOAD)

So, when I posted that link to the Delta Dart demo tape uploaded to Soul Ponies, I received a request in the comments for Delta Dart's albums. I took a quick look around to see how available they still are and although they're still up for sale on the Paroxysm Records site, said site hasn't been updated since 2008, so you'll likely want to e-mail and check availability before sending them any money.

That said, here are Delta Dart's two full length LP's, Fight or Flight and Lone Star. Fight or Flight is complete, but for some reason I'm missing the last two tracks ("Fifteen" and "Extra Extra") are missing. I did some quick searching around the internet to see if I could recover them from another source, but didn't have any luck. So, sorry, but if you want a complete version of Lone Star, your best bet is to get in touch with the folks at Paroxysm or search out a used copy.

Anyway, as mentioned last week, Delta Dart is an all-girl three piece who made loud-quiet-loud riot grrrl type songs. They sound sort of like a cross between Tattle Tale and The Third Sex. You can get (slightly) more info on Delta Dart at the Paroxysm Records site.

Delta Dart, Lone Star LP (DOWNLOAD)
Delta Dart, Fight or Flight LP (DOWNLOAD)

"My Thoughts on Riot Grrrl"

Conversations with Drew have shown me that there is no quicker way to bore people to tears than to offer them a chance to hear my thoughts on riot grrrl, but there has been so much ongoing discussion around the idea of a "riot grrrl revival" in the so-called "blogosphere" that I feel like I can't help but continue putting my opinions out there, especially because I seem to have found myself in the unpopular position of thinking that a "riot grrrl revival" is A) unnecessary and B) perhaps a bad idea.

I feel like whenever I have these discussions online, I have to throw in this obligatory, "But I love riot grrrl!" and yeah, I do. I came of age listening to riot grrrl records, riot grrrl heavily informed my personal politics, and I still have a heavy admiration for many of the musicians involved in riot grrrl. All that said, I feel that even from my first general moments of interest in the riot grrrl movement, I understood riot grrrl as something that existed as a specific cultural moment in time. I never wanted to call myself a riot grrrl, but I feel like my general detachment from the riot grrrl label did nothing to compromise my interest in the intersections of music and feminist politics. But, all that said, I still find myself getting apprehensive when I see all of the buzz about a riot grrrl revival.

I feel like there's been a lot of talk about how "original" riot grrrls are protective of/territorial about the riot grrrl movement. That they are, perhaps, trying to keep all of the riot grrrl for themselves. I don't think that is true AT ALL. In fact, I think that they are working to encourage parties who are interested in riot grrrl by telling them, "You are already valuable and should be doing your own thing," and I don't think that there's anything wrong with that message. I think they're also working to make people who weren't a part of the original riot grrrl scene more cognizant of some of riot grrrl's troubled history in the hopes of preventing a scene that blindly and unintentionally reproduces those same failings. While many people speaking out in the interests of having a riot grrrl revival have indicated that they are aware of these issues, there seems to be a general consensus that "we're all more educated now and these things won't be problems anymore," which is an approach that really worries me.

Just because someone is well-intentioned and aware of their race, class, or cis privilege doesn't mean that they are immune from saying/doing problematic things (we all know that no one is immune). More importantly, it also doesn't mean that they are necessarily any better prepared to respond appropriately in the event they do or say something that is racist, classist, transphobic, etc. The volume of people I have seen saying that when it comes to the riot grrrl revival "race won't be a problem, class won't be a problem, transphobia won't be a problem," seems to suggest a complete and total lack of both interest and willingness to seriously engage around these issues and what they meant for riot grrrl/what they will mean for a riot grrrl revival, and that lack of serious engagement leads me to think that these issues will continue to be problems within the context of a "future" riot grrrl movement.

I'm also a little bit troubled by the general attachment to the riot grrrl name. To me, at this point in time, such an attachment suggests more of a brand name identification than anything else. I can be a girl, play a guitar, make a zine, write letters to friends, engage in community building, etc. all without calling myself a riot grrrl. Naming something is a very loaded act and I wonder, if we're all so aware of riot grrrl's problematic history and the bad baggage that the riot grrrl name often carries for working class girls, pocs, and transfolk, why we want to carry that name over into a movement that is supposedly more inclusive and aware.

While I understand the value in drawing both musical and political inspiration by looking backwards, I sometimes worry that by fixating so wholly and fervently on riot grrrl that we erase the women who were doing musical and political work before riot grrrl and who continue to do so in its wake. I feel like we do this even when it comes to original riot grrrls themselves. I mean, members of bands like Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney, and Bratmobile have not stopped existing -- in fact, many of them are continuing to work on their own creative projects. Yet many people continue to fixate on what they were doing 15 years ago as opposed to what they are doing in the here and now. I also worry about the tacit assumption that all lady punks have a vested interest in the riot grrrl movement -- there are plenty of people out there who explicitly do not want to identify as riot grrrls and when we push their critiques to the margins in the hopes of "keeping it posi," we effectively engage in the same silencing of marginalized populations that some of the original riot grrrls engaged in.

I’m in no way opposed to a movement that encourages girls/ladies/women/ANYONE to empower themselves, especially when that empowerment occurs through expressing themselves and creating work that reflects their thoughts and experiences. I am 100% for working to create an environment that facilitates girl-centric music, writing, and art, that isn’t afraid to both personalize and politicize those cultural products, that promotes networking between girls that helps to create an infrastructure where girls are more able to take their bands (or other projects) on tour, can connect with other girls who share their interests and beliefs, can share resources with each other & support each other, etc. What I don't understand is why people feel the need to organize such a movement around the riot grrrl name. I'm all about intent and having a reasoned out though process, so I'm really interested in the why around all this. Why call it a riot grrrl revival? I've heard a lot of people saying, "Because I love riot grrrl," and to me, that's just not a strong enough response to counter the concerns that the riot grrrl name often evokes.

Live in Cleveland (Last Week)

"Mind Meld," Kitten Forever (Download)
"Voodoo," Kitten Forever (Download)

So, last Friday I had the complete and total pleasure of seeing Kitten Forever play at the Blue Arrow on Waterloo. Kitten Forever is a 3 girl punk rock band from Minneapolis & I feel like it's sort of a cop-out to borrow from their MySpace page to describe their sound, but the description they have up there is so on, so who cares? I mean, it's not like I have any journalistic integrity to compromise or anything. So, Kitten Forever sounds like crabby baby cats, later Bratmobile, the Gossip without the southern twang, and Husker Du's "New Day Rising." How does that not sound like the best possible combination of things?!

Here are two semi-related (but maybe not really?) things that I really liked about Kitten Forever:

1. The only instruments they use are drums & bass -- In many ways, one of the big things that gets me hung up on doing something like "being in a band" or "playing music in public" or even "playing music with other people (or by myself) in the privacy of my own home" is that I get caught up in what I think you "need to have" in order to make music. Even though a lot of the music I enjoy listening to is way simplistic & stripped down when it comes to fancy gear, when I imagine the way I think things should be, I always think of things I don't have or don't know how to play. Seeing Kitten Forever play was like taking a crash course in, "Oh hey, real people make music and they make it all the time and they make it with what they've got and with who they like" and it was awesome to be reminded of that.

2. Their music simultaneously reminds me of stuff I lived for listening to in middle/high school, without seeming tired -- I've been seeing this whole whirlwind of "riot grrrl revival" talk on the internet (I am just going to use that blanket term "internet" because when I talk about things like "tumblr" and "the feminist blogosphere" Drew makes fun of me) & while I'm generally opposed to all of the "revolution grrrl style 2010" rhetoric for reasons I won't get into here, it was really awesome to hear new music that fit in with that canon without sounding played out and insincere.

Kitten Forever's most recent release is their Magical Realism EP on UF Records. They also have an album, a single, and a cassette that you can order directly through them (see their MySpace page for ordering info.)

Kitten Forever is just one of many out of town bands that the Blue Arrow is hosting. If you're in the area, I highly recommend coming out tomorrow to see Hop Along & Lithuania! The show should start around 7.

"Mind Meld," Kitten Forever (Download)
"Voodoo," Kitten Forever (Download)

Tattle Tale Discography

I know that I've written about Tattle Tale on this blog before (read previous thoughts on Tattle Tale here)-- but I'm a girl of recurring themes. I'm going to write about certain bands and certain albums over and over again, there's just no getting around it.

Like a lot of people who spend too much time on the internet, I have a tumblr account, and while I have a love/hate relationship with tumblr in general, I do like that it occasionally serves as a platform for a particular kind of discourse that gives equal importance to visuals, words, and sounds -- so that on a day like today, I can answer a question from a friend about what my favorite albums are by writing about them, posting pictures of their covers, and sharing songs from them. Anyway, when I wrote about Sew True being one of my favorite albums, my friend replied with the thought, "I wish I could find a copy of that album for less than $100," which just seemed unbearably sad to me, even though it is a very realistic thought -- copies of Sew True are getting to be pretty rare (not that they were ever commonplace to begin with) and it's not unheard of for people to sell them for upwards of $100, which just breaks my heart because I love this album and I want everyone to be able to hear it, not just in that, "Hey, I downloaded this album on the internet and really like it" sort of way, but in the kind of way where they can hold it in their hands and say, "God, I love the linocut of the sewing machine on the inside of the album cover" and marvel at the liner notes and know that Madigan and Jen have some of the best handwriting ever.

It's stupid to say that the internet has changed music forever -- everyone already knows that. Nothing gets lost anymore -- it always finds a home somewhere, on a blog or a messageboard or a file sharing community, and that's ok, but sometimes I wish it was different. I got my first copy of Sew True in the mail from Hayley, a Bonfire Madigan superfan who put together a great (and sadly no longer existent) Tattle Tale fansite. I listened to that CD-R over and over again, so thankful for those songs and for Hayley's kindness in sending them to me, and I wish I could do that for everyone who's ever complained about downloading a cut-off mp3 of "A Girl's Toolbox." But I can't, so I'll put the files on a blog just like everyone else does.

It's not normally my policy to post full releases, but I also think it's totally wrong for people to sell these tapes and CDs and 7"s on eBay for 10 times their original cost -- so here it is, here is all of the Tattle Tale I have. I'm putting it out there for anyone who wants to hear it, who has missed out on it, who has no idea what I'm talking about, but is now curious, etc. Maybe it's absurd to quote Defiance, OH (but maybe not, since they're tenuously linked to Tattle Tale through Sherri Ozeki's time with Bonfire Madigan), but share what ya got, right?

So, if you already know, you already know, but if you don't: Tattle Tale was Jen Wood (violin) and Madigan Shive (cello), a teen girl duo with riot grrrl influences who left behind a small, but singularly raw and sincere body of work: one album, one demo tape, two 7"s, and a handful of songs released on compilation albums. Their music relies largely on the interplay between Madigan's cello and Jen's violin, and is occasionally added to by some spare drum and guitar parts. There is an intimacy to these songs, and a worldliness, and a quiet sort of anger that, I think, might be particular to teenage girls (but maybe I am wrong about that.)

So, here is what I'm giving you:

Early Daze 7" (Download) Released on Pillarbox Red Records in 1992. Features the songs "Running Too" and "Zachary's Mother."

Tell/Yell Demo (Download) A cassette only demo released by Kill Rock Stars in 1993.

Alder-Wood Mall/Loose Lips 7" (Download) Released on Chou-Chou in 1995.

Sew True (Download) Tattle Tale's only full-length release, put out by St. Francis records in 1995. Sew True features "Glass Vase Cello Case," which, thanks to its use in Jamie Babbit's But I'm A Cheerleader, is probably Tattle Tale's best known song.

"Fly Away" (Download) A track contributed to the Yo Yo Records comp, Julep (which can still be purchased on CD here).

"Girls Go To Heaven" (Download) Featured on the Yo Yo Records comp, Periscope.

"Erica" (Download) and "Take Ten (Download) Contributed to the compilation album Move Into the Villa Villakula. (I've uploaded the entire compilation album here).