Throwback Thursday - Throwing Muses - The Doghouse Cassette

This weeks throwback thursday looks at the remarkable demo cassette that launched the career of one of the most under-rated and influential bands of the 80s/90s - Throwing Muses.

Throwing Muses had built up quite a cult following throw their live shows in and around Long Island, with their weird and wonderful songs that came unbidden fully formed into the mind of lead singer and guitarist Kristin Hersh. The result of a trauma caused by being ran over by a car. The doghouse cassette was a demo formed of the songs that made up their early gig setlists and was the basis on which they were signed to the highly influential 4ad label.

To get your hands on the actual cassette nowadays is nigh on impossible but they songs were later released on the excellent In a Doghouse cd, the second side of which is the closest you'll get to the original versions of the songs. What is exciting about these songs are the energy, wildness of Hersh's voice set against the Tanya Donelly's sweeter vocals and the many tempo changes within songs, as well as some pretty interesting and sometimes disturbing lyrical imagery. The songs sounded like they were coming from someone one the edge emotionally.

The tracklisting for the cassette was:

Side One.

1. Call Me
2. Sinkhole
3. Green
4. Hate My Way
5. Vicky's Box

Side Two.

1. America/She Cant Say No
2. Fear
3. Raises The Roses
4. And a She Wolf After the War
5. Fish

I think this represents the best of their output as a band (though they did produce a lot of great moments throughout their career afterwards). Sinkhole was probably the most accessible of the tracks - being quite anthemic and it was their breakthrough hit on US college radio. Songs like Hate My Way, Vicky's Box and Fish showcased the disturbing side of Hersh's lyrics and the best of her shouty ragey vocals. Green showcased the fact the Tanya Donelly (half-sister of Hersh and future Belly frontwoman) was also capable of producing some excellent songs too and perhaps a bit more tuneful and accesible than Hersh's songs.

I recommend a lot of people to read Hersh's book Paradoxical Undressing (Rat Girl in the US) which gives a great account of her personal story and that of the band from the time this cassette came about.

I managed to catch Hersh reading from the book and performing some of the songs in January 2011 as part of her book tour and it was a fantastic experience to hear these songs live after living with them as recordings for so long.

Throwback Thursday - Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister

Starting off a series of throwback thursdays where i look at the most important albums of my lifetime, i am looking at Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister. The album that served as my introduction to the band and timed because they've been announced as being the winner of an outstanding contribution to music award at the forthcoming NME awards.

I first heard about this mysterious Glasgow band in 1997 when i was at uni. I'd while away the hours between lectures and tutorials by sitting in the computer lab (being a software engineering student these were always open to me) and making my first tentative steps into exploring the internet. The NME website and it's angst message board (named after the letters page of the magazine at the time) where other students up and down the country discussed there musical tastes. I'd never heard Belle and Sebastian on the radio or read much of the them in the music press but there was a small band of fans constantly talking about them on the angst board and this roused my interest. I went straight to the Jeepster website and ordered their second album, though first widely available album If You're Feeling Sinister and awaited the postman to let me in on the secret of this band.



When the cd arrived i was struck by the cover, the arty picture of a girl (i imagine on a train) with a novel at her side, black and white on a red background, was somewhat reminiscent of the kind of covers The Smiths had on their records. The first track started quietly and the words were the first thing i noticed - The Stars Of Track and Field went it's business quietly but with rhyming couplets such as 'now he's throwing discus for liverpool and widnes' and from that moment i was hooked. The album offered up ten songs, or ten stories even, in a gentle but incredibly infectiously melodic manner that sounded so different from all the britpop that was being churned out elsewhere.

I loved that face that they augmented that indie guitar, bass and drum sound with more old fashioned instrumentation such as trumpets and pianos. I also

Another part of the charm was that they were Scottish and quite intelligent and not afraid to putting beauty prose and little vignettes that resonated with me and people like me. Especially as there was a lot of mentions of school life and I'd just left school and my word they even mentioned my place of work at the time (and in a way still is my place of work) Safeway in songs (though not from this album). Particular highlights from this album for me were the trio of The Fox In the Snow, Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying, and If You're Feeling Sinister. The album then closes on the most poppy song from the album the wonderful Judy and the Dream Of Horses - a precursor to some of the great moments that were to come.

What turned my curiosity into what's now been a 17 year fandom is that they've always done things their way and always been able to evoke the same emotions and feeling of comfort and belonging in their later work as i felt when i first listened to this.

If you don't have it - get it here

And here's a fantastic documentary about the album that pitchfork did and put on you tube....well worth a watch.