About A Million

 

About A Million hails from the tiny city of Coatesville, PA. To say this band is unique would be putting it lightly, there are so many things going on in this band it's hard to pick a place to start; To start I feel like I should mention that this is a family band. Family bands aren't all too common when thinking about songs of this style. I'd compare them to something like twee, jangle with a mix of Alex G. and garage. 

Going back to the family band point, this band consists of the Leitch siblings, the siblings being.

Scotty Leitch, Anthony Leitch, Kyle Leitch & Jessica Leitch. some of these names might sound familiar, primarily Anthony and Scotty due to their other side projects. Scotty has been featured on my blog before under the band "Pirouette" but is now better known as "Shelf Life". If you haven't yet listened to Pirouette I recommend you do so ASAP.

The "albums" I'm sharing today I forgot I had and can't find anything about them online at all, nothing, 0, zip, nada. The reason why I call these songs "albums" is because I would consider these more of something like home recordings and demos more than full fledged albums, these don't even have album art or lyrics which is why I'm borrowing the photos from the bands facebook which also does not have much info about that band but I digress. 

as well as not knowing much about the recordings or having album art / lyrics, I also don't have any release dates for any of these albums but I'm guessing maybe around 2003/4? sometime before pirouette but I could be wrong entirely. Regardless I hope you enjoy these long lost tracks.

DREAMING IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE

1) Gentile Rubber

 2) Hallucination

3) It's called well love 

4) Plastic Black 

5) Since We've Been Apart

6) Something About Hannah

7) Surviving a Plane Crash

8) The Stereo Had it Cumming

9) This Cocoon is Cacomfortable

10) His Girl Fridays

11) In Our Dreams

12) Nah, I Think I'll Just Go Home

13) The Yearbook That Gave Birth To The Dictionary

14) Krystal Boll

15) Matt's Black Haircut

16) Technilogical Composure (bass) 

Man Made of Paper

1) Air

2) Dirty Mafia

3) Drunken Spaceship

4) Last Chances are Hard to Breathe Without Anyone

5) Man Made of Paper

6) Oh

7) You Gotta Know

Don't let our chord break

1) 12 year old with aids

2) Don't Give Me That

3) I CAN'T BE FREE

4) She Won't Say Anything

5) Since We've Been Apart (Acoustic Version)

6) Something Random Something Weird

7) The Truth

8) You were telling the truth

9) All the hours

10) Animals eating animals

11) Cars are retro

12) His girl friday1

13) I Hate Breathing

14) Lullaby

15) Makeout session with the enemy (4 Miles Ago)

16) Makes Sense

17) My Only Friend

18) She won't say anythingg

19) Techincal Difficulties 

20) The Jealous Sound

Wavelets

Wavelets is a band from Gainesville, Florida.

Ryan Willems (bass), Lee Kraft (drums), Steven Gray (vocals), Scott 'Tang' Carr, Luke Moses

You might recognize some of these names as band members of other bands in the same era of music, these guys were prevalent in making music and it shows in the different bands they've been in. The most notable of these bands (I would say) is Dikembe which is still going strong nearly 20 years into their lifespan, Send away stranger is more sonically sounding to wavelets in my opinion though.

This band played a unique emo sounds the sounds of which you probably like if you've found my blog, twinkly methodical emo sounds galore

They've released several demos and singles as well as splits most of which have been compiled in "Athaletics", with the exclusion of very few tracks, namely those being their "Cuss words" demo written only 3 days into the existence of the band, and also "Random acts of Grindness" which was a song originally meant to be on the official release of "Curse Words" but was left out. I'm really happy to be sharing these again with the world. 

side note: I've found the original artwork for the cusswords EP but haven't been able to find any album art for RAOG, so I'll be using a filler photo.

Cuss words (2008)

1) This Morning I Put Orange Juice In My Cereal

2) It's Like A Supermarket Under Here

3) I Thought You Said King Arthur

Random Acts Of Grindness (2009)

Wolf Pacts

 

"Wolf Pacts formed in late 2010 in Palmerston North, they consisted of Dion (Sets of 57) on drums, Alex (Mega Sneak) On Vocals and Jake on Bass. They played fast and noisey party songs, released a demo and played a few handfuls of shows before splitting amongst a large amount of small town drama."

- Last.FM

Not much out there about this band but they played a fuzzy garage punk sound with low quality recordings, sounds like a lot of the mid 2000's DIY stuff that people are after, so give it a listen.

Wolf Pacts (2011 Demo) 

1) Intro

2) Computers

3) Society

4) B+V

5) Ghettonomics

6) Outro

Father Figure

 

father figure is a band from denton, texas made of members of innards and two knights, these guys rock; it's hard to pick just one of these guys' release to share as they're in so many bands around Texas but this project of theirs is easily my favorite.

    As with all their projects, this band was short lived but made up for their short lifespan with crazy guitar sounds and screaming vocals, I can't be the only one who blasts "Dreams" in their room right?

anyway, here's their discog; I'm including Marcy's side of the split also because why not.

P.S I love this photo, the cramped house show, Four Loko clearly visible, person holding the camera above their head and the dude rocking the Moss Icon shirt, I hope we have shows like this again soon (Fuck 2020)

Demo (2012)

1. Royal Pain is Ramona Flowers

2. The Side of Me I Hope You'll Never See

3. Hugh Jazz

4. Hot Wads to Stop the Bleeding

5. Mary 'Wrestlemania' spuckler

6. Your Best Is an Idiot

死の手 Hand of Death (2012)

1. Black

2. (Ears of a Beagle) The Rockland Mann Love Story, Pt. 2 

3. Dreams

4.Ted, Dancing

5. Slideshow

6. (B.Y.O.K)  The Rockland Mann Love Story, Pt. 3

7. Mark of Shane

8. Dad Libs

9. Together We're Alone

10. Flowers

Jumping Off A Building (2013) 

1. What the Hell Is On Jonny's Head?

2. Death Is My Way Out  (D.I.M.W.O)

3. Mean Girls Ripoff

4. Maybe I'm Upset, No, Wait, Definitely

5. This Is My Attempt At An Apology

Father Figure / Marcy - Split (2013)

1. Father Figure - Dakota's Incredible Droopy Impression

2. I Think I'm Immune to Hangovers (Either That or I'm So Used To Feeling Like Shit It Goes Unnoticed)

3. Marcy - One 

4. Marcy Two

5. Marcy - Three

6. Marcy - Four

7. Marcy - Five

8. Marcy - Six

9. Marcy - Seven

Teenage Cool Kids

"Teenage Cool Kids were an Indie rock/Punk Rock band from Denton, Texas.

The band started in summer 2006 by Andrew Savage, later joined by Daniel Zeigler whom Savage met while attending the University of North Texas in Denton. The bands earlier material, from the self-released demo and "Remember Me as a Silhouette" 7", was lo-fi, poppy and often compared to early '90s indie rock. The band's first full length was Queer Salutations, released in 2007. Shortly after the release of Queer Salutations the band embarked on its first tour. The band is decidedly DIY, keeping all recording, songwriting, booking and visual art within the band. Teenage Cool Kids spent much of 2008 touring the United States and recording their next album. In 2009 the band was issued a cease and desist by Chicago hip-hop duo The Cool Kids over alleged trade mark infringement. The dispute ended with a settlement initiated by the Cool Kids. The dispute delayed the band's second LP release by several months, but in June 2009 Foreign Lands was released by Protagonist Music."

- Last Fm

This. Band. Shreds, extremely underrated; FFO indie, alt rock

Teenage Cool Kids - Demo (2007)

1. List

2. I Watched the Clock Turn 5 AM

3. Reasons Why

4. Dimestore Camera

5. Bedtime Stories

6. Find Out

7. Self Abuse

Remember Me As A Silhouette (2007)

1. Down The Street

2. Bedtime Stories

3. Abbreviated Smile

4. Find Out

Queer Salutations (2007)

1. Queer Salutations

2. Awkward Type Of Girl

3. Sleeper Hold

4. Reasons Why

5. Excursion Into Philosophy

6. Write Back Soon

7. Crowd Aggravation

8. Self Abuse

9. Prose

10. Total Babe

11. Tryna Decide

Speaking In Tongues (2009)

1. Speaking In Tongues

2. Crucial Talk

Foreign Lands (2009)

1. Reservoir Feeling

2. Tilting at Windmills

3. Exile In La Mancha

4. Foreign Lands

5. Crossing The Desert As A Stream

6. Speaking In Tongues

7. Prison Sermons

8. Half Eaten Cake

9. Art School Anarchist

10. Calm Me Down

11. Skinny Girls

12. Animal Sounds

Denton After Sunset (2011)

1. Denton After Sunset

2. Kachina Doll

3. Landlocked State

4. No Fragments Reach

5. Zealous Convert

6. Thousands

7. Volvo To A Kiss

8. Beg To Differ

9. Beyond The Grasp of Guilt 

Bells On Trike

Finally got some time to upload some new stuff, this one's an easy one. 

"Bells on Trike was a melodic emo band from Richmond, Virginia from 1995-1999. Jason Bishop-guitar Bryan Hoffa-guitar, vocals John Harrison-bass, vocals Josh Poteat-drums"

that pretty much explains it all, amazing melodic emo band that unfortunately only released a single S/T LP before calling it quits, but this S/T holds up against time. This LP is a must listen to any fan of the emo genre and as far as I know is pretty well known.

I am also including some demos that I've acquired, these were supposedly recorded with the hopes of reuniting the band for a second LP but never came to fruition, how unfortunate.

I would compare them to bands like Boilermaker, Christie Front Drive, and Edaline but thats just me; if you agree or would like to call me an idiot feel free to use the comment section or the chatbox on the right side of the blog.

        Bells On Trike (1996)

1. I Drive

2. Schematic

3. Self Drawn Blueprint

4. Apparatus Must Be Earthed 

5. The Old Adam

6. There Went Nothing

7. Meadow

No album art for this release

Bells On Trike Demos (199x?)

1. Noville

2. 5-7-5_1

3. 5-7-5_2

4. untitled 

5. You're On In Ten

Veronica Lake

FFO: Shoegaze, Lo-fi

Veronica Lake was a pop band formed in 1990 in Ann Arbor Michigan. The band consisted of Tim Sendra as well as Christopher Chip Porter and R. Scott Kelley previously of down MF. Veronica Lake released "The Man Who Was Not With It E.P" in 1990 on Bus Stop and two 7"s- "When You Smile/Insecure Baby" in 1992 on spinART and "Threnody/In the Clouds" in 1993 on Audrey's Diary. They appeared on several twee and indie comps including Simple Machine's "Working Holiday!: May" 7". An insert for their first 7" describes them as, "dedicated to flexidiscs, exclamation marks, and hopelessly derivative, instantly forgettable songs".

-Taken from Last.Fm

As said above most of these songs were taken from 7" records on labels that are now very much defunct (RIP) but their music will live on; That being said these recordings are low quality with pops crackles and all included. I wouldn't want it any other way.

An interesting thing I found when going through these files was their split with Crayon that was released on Cher Doll Records which has a slight connection to another band featured on this site which was Gaze. Gaze's "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) EP covers Crayon's song "Pedal", don't you love making connections?

I'm including the songs from all splits/ singles and EP released from 1992-1993, each of these releases had their release name and album art but for neatness I found a generic album art and id3 tagged that so they all share they same art as well as album name.

as of the time post (8/21/19) Veronica Lake had reunited once in 2015 playing PopFest in NYC, with their reunion came a compilation CDr that was titled "Ballad Of The Band" and features three songs not heard on any previous releases, this was being sold directly through the band in person so I feel it isn't right to share something currently being sold, especially by a band without a label. Veronica Lake makes infrequent posts on Facebook so they might be active once again but I wouldn't put money on it.

Favorite Track : This Is My World (You Can Have It), From the get go this song is interesting as it starts with an excerpt from a Steve Martin SNL skit so bonus points there, when the song starts it's what you'd expect from a 90's shoegaze band, soft voices and guitar with fuzzy guitar effects and somber whistling to follow, good song to sit in your dark room under the covers and think of better times to.

Veronica Lake (1992 - 1993)

1. Daisy Kiss

2. Emma Maybe

3. In The Clouds

4. Insecure Baby

5. Saints Above

6. See Me When You Are 16

7. Sleepyhouse

10. This Is My World (You Can Have It)

11. Threnody

12. When You Smile

Rilo Kiley

I. Love. Rilo Kiley.

I love this band with all my heart 

Rilo Kiley were an American indie rock band which formed in 1998 in Los Angeles, California. The band consisted of Jenny Lewis (vocals, guitar), Blake Sennett (vocals, guitar), Pierre de Reeder (bass, keyboards) and Jason Boesel (drums). 

FFO: Jenny Lewis, Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, Elliot Smith, The Elected, Conor Oberst

Rilo Kiley are big name players in the indie rock scene being signed to Barsuk, Saddle Creek and later Warner. That being said a lot of their music is being sold online and is readily available through these labels which is why I will share the stuff that is no longer for sale but so fundamental to this band

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm including a photo of the original cassette and what is widely accepted as the unofficial album art

Consider this the earliest Rilo Kiley release that has tracks that you will later find on the "Initial Friend EP" (featured) but with a different sound, what comes to mind is Glendora a fan favorite by RK fans and is usually thought to be a slower song (as heard on Initial Friend EP) but this version is faster or more angry picture of RK was a Riot Grrrl band and that's what you'd expect. 3 of the tracks on this cassette are only found on this cassette and NEED to be listened to by fans of Rilo Kiley or indie / alt rock.

Favorite Track: 13 this song is for anyone who grew up questioning their sexuality and finding self acceptance through learning through growing up

The Sandbox Sessions (1998)

1. Papillon
2. Cousin To Cousin
3. Glendora
4. The Frug
5. Dead Cat
6. 13

The second release I'm sharing is The Initial Friend EP this EP was self released by the band three different times, the only difference in each of these pressings were a song or two but most of the songs are the same with some slight variations so for the sake of saving time and space I've compiled all three pressings into on album, enjoy

P.S the final 2 songs are about 8 minutes of a car's door open alarm sounding on repeat but the song Troubadours follows the first song and in the 2nd annoying noise of death track, a voicemail between Jenny, Blake and others is heard.

Favorite Track : Troubadours , This song has so much stuff going on it's hard to pinpoint all instruments and devices being used; the song shows how great Jenny is at telling a story and shows of what's to come in later releases, If i had to compare this song to another band I would probably put it close to Hop Along, Queen Ansleis' Freshman Year

The Initial Friend EP Complete (1998-2001)

1. The Frug
2. 85
3. Glendora
4. Papillon
5. Teenage Love Song
6. Asshole
7. Sword
8. Steve
9. Keep It Together
10. Troubadours
11. Annoying Noise of Death pt. 1
12. Annoying Noise of Death pt. 2
13. Gravity



The third and final release I'm sharing is Rkives Cassette
this release was bundled with Rilo Kiley's final release Rkives these songs were demos that never became B-sides which makes the quality not the best but are essential if you want a complete RK discog.

Favorite Track: Are You Sad? (Blake's House)
this is one of the few songs released under the Rilo Kiley name that someone besides Jenny sings on, Blake's voice is soft low and haunting with melodic guitar work to accompany.

Rkives Cassette (199x-2013)

1. All the Drugs ( Garage Band Demo)
2. Are You Sad? (Blake's House)
3. Close Call (Garage Band Demo)
4. Commoner (Wilton House Demo)
5. Pull Me In Tighter (Sunset Sound Demo)
6. That's How I Choose To Remember It (4 Track Demo)
7. The Good That Won't Come Out (4 Track Demo)

Fever Kids

Elliot Babin (drums), Barry Johnson (lead vocals, guitar), Matt Ebert (bass), Austin Montanari (guitar)

I don't know much about this band besides the fact that it features amazingly talented musicians, this album AFAIK was a one and done release not on a label, not sure of the release date but I'd place it after Koalacaust and somewhere around the "Pancake" Joyce Manor demo as there are huge similarities in the sounds and lyrics of both releases, what comes to mind is the track Homesick  which starts as a slower and changes tempo multiple times throughout the song, it's basically a demo of their Derailed demo from "Ew Gross" (2009). 

long story short this is early fast angry Barry Johnson so you can't go wrong.

Favorite Track : Cassius Clay , This song just sounds great and simple; would love to see this covered in person

Homesick

1. Word Problems

2. Ode to Lace

3. stairs L

4. Cassius Clay

5. Homesick