stuff

[hsu%uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU@a.cs.uiuc.edu (William Tsun-Yuk Hsu)]

>Really-From: think!haddock!chrisb (Chris Baxley)

>	Someone told me he had heard a rumor that within the
>next few years the major labels are planning to phase out
>all vinyl releases in favor of CD's [C'Disease?], which could
>conceivably widen the gap between underground and above-ground
>music (for lack of better terms). 

Kind of what people like Simon Frith have been predicting: there
will be no "reconciliation" between underground music and mainstream
music, unlike the late '60s and early '70s, when the underground
bands/labels slowly became the major labels. Actually there are CDs
of good material too, like Sonic Youth. It's just that there's less
of it.

>I naturally predicted their [Peach of Immortality]
>album ""Johovah" My Black Ass - REM is Air Supply!" to be worthwhile. But 
>turned out to be 50+ of continuous noise. Did I miss something?

Their earlier "Talking Heads '77" was pretty similar... a little 
monochrome in parts even for me. Nice use of silence and dynamics, but
otherwise I think this band has yet to live up to its rhetoric.
	
>	The 6-song disk by Gray Matter should definitely qualify as a
>great record of '86. Try to find a copy in blood-red vinyl. 

Yeah, this is great stuff! Buy buy! (I have a red-vinyl copy, heh heh)

(BTW, there's a west coast dance(?) band called Grey Matter, so be
careful.)

There's this new tape from a hardcore-oriented band called Insurgent
General (tape's called "Experiments in Reality") which is a little
rough but has some good material. Other than some good thrashy numbers,
there's satirical a cappella singing, tape noodling, tempo changes,
odd meters and a few tasty guitar solos. Mail me a note if you're
interested and can't get copies.

Bill