Search Results for "Byron Coley"

UT was formed in NYC at the tail end of 1978, after Nina Canal abandoned Robin Crutchfield’s band, Dark Day. Together with Jacqui Ham and Sally Young, Canal produced rattling trio noise that was akin to that of other second generation no wavers like Information. Swapping instruments after each song, UT were more interesting to…

A fine quartet originally from Long Island, Hypnolovewheel carry a kinda avant-garage ethos into all sorts of unexpected places. Refusing to be pinned down to any one stylistic board, the group wiggles around through a wide array of psychedelic pop, punk and garage-mush puddles. That they’re able to do so without seeming like a bunch…

Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Frogs are about as important as an alternative band could be. The duo’s insane 1989 faux- gay-power-folk album It’s Only Right and Natural became something of a cult classic. Nirvana and Pearl Jam had it played over PA systems before performances; the Blake Babies named their EP Rosy Jack World after a song…

Boston’s Big Dipper came together in 1986 when bassist Steve Michener and guitarist Gary Waleik (both from the original lineup of the Volcano Suns) joined up with former (and future) Embarrassment vocalist Bill Goffrier and local drummer Jeff Oliphant. The six-song Boo-Boo is an extremely jovial combination of retro-punk guitar and loopy rhythms and vocals.…

Rat At Rat R (you figure out the anagram, sport) was one of the brighter lights of the NYC noise-groove scene back in ’83. Originally hailing from Philadelphia, the quartet was formed in ’81 by poet/guitarist Victor Poison-tˆte, and reassembled on the Lower East Side a year or so later. Their craven guitar-crack, female bass…

Formed in 1982 as M.A.D., this Santa Cruz quartet was obviously touched by the message of Black Flag’s mid-period work. The rumble on the bottom, the elliptical scrambling of Mike Neider’s guitar and the bellicose roar of Clifford Dinsmore’s vocals all bring post-Damaged Flag to mind. Considering the lame thrash that many of their skate-punk…

It’s hard not to be leery of any band that defines itself as a purveyor of New York Scum Rock, as these gents do on the cover of their second LP. (Stuff like that always makes me think of those hideous “punk fashion” window displays Macy’s put up in ’77. Anybody who’d wear a $400…

Rifle Sport are central members of Minneapolis/St. Paul’s “third wave.” After the Suicide Commandos/Suburbs in the mid-’70s, and the Hüskers/Replacements at the beginning of the ’80s, along came bands like Soul Asylum, Man Sized Action and Otto’s Chemical Lounge. These combos bloomed roughly around the time of the worldwide hardcore explosion, but none of them…

Fish & Roses just may be the friendliest-sounding band that can trace its roots back to NYC’s late-’70s no wave scene. Formed in the fall of 1985 by drummer Rick Brown (ex-Information, V-Effect), bassist Sue Garner (ex- Vietnam, Last Roundup) and keyboard player David Sutter, Fish & Roses eschew guitar, which gives the material a…

Born as an odd post-hardcore band named Killdozer 85, this NYC quartet changed its name to Sharky’s Machine after Wisconsin’s Killdozer signed to Touch and Go. There’s No Mistaking Quality has a decent amount of guitar-slurping (in an amped-up Gun Club style), but the rhythmic base is too frequently reliant on hardcore’s polka-born time keeping.…

The Alter Natives are a frantic, improv-minded combo from Richmond, Virginia’s hop-crazed art community. During SST’s expansionist days of ’86, their all-instrumental, sax-led spazz attack was among the most promising noise the label released. The band’s first two LPs, recorded as a quartet, feature sax and flute-playing (Eric Ungar) of a remarkably non-fusionoid stripe; by…

More than any other single band, Seattle’s Green River (named after a local serial killer) was responsible for the rise of long-haired dudes in Sub Pop T-shirts standing around in clubs, shaking their manes like so many lost Status Quo guitarists. It’s tough to hold that existence-as-a-bad-influence against the group though since, in its prime,…

Gut Bank was a Hoboken, NJ quartet whose original lineup included Sonic Youth drummer Bob Bert as its “token male.” The band’s sole LP (recorded after Bert’s departure; the configuration here includes a female drummer and a male rhythm guitarist) was co-produced with Roger Miller and features a combination of neo-noise guitar crunch and songwriting…

From the ashes of Midwest proto skate-thrashers Mecht Mensch came the Tar Babies. But these Madison, Wisconsin kids quickly outgrew the hardcore peewee straitjacket in which they’d been born. As far back as Face the Music, Bucky Pope’s guitar displayed a unique, lunging hard-psych quality that separated the Tar Babies from their brethren. With the…