Freedom's just another word for never getting paid
March 25, 2008 4:01 PM   Subscribe

Idle nostalgia led me to check on the mp3 page for Bulb Records (early home of Quintron and Andrew WK).

That all reminded me of space/noise rockers Gravitar, whose drummer Ben Cook has put up a fair amount their music (and other music he's made) for free. Oh, and he has a (rarely updated) music blog, which mentioned the Weird Sound Generator and Noizehole.

All told, about three hours of free music.
posted by klangklangston (10 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Speaking of Quintron, I just saw Miss Panacea at a local coffeehouse. Not performing, or anything, just tapping away at her computer.
posted by erskelyne at 4:15 PM on March 25, 2008


Nice!

I loves me some Gravitar (heaviest brothers band ever, and Harold went on to Easy Action with John Brannon, who are also great). And everything I've heard from Bulb has been awesome too.

Thanks KK.
posted by stinkycheese at 4:18 PM on March 25, 2008


Well, I'd encourage you to buy some Bulb stuff too, since they've pretty much stopped putting out music until they can get rid of the backstock. They had a couple of distributors crumble on 'em, and Pete Larson (the guy behind Bulb) has basically said that he's not going to throw any more good money after the bad he's sunk until it gets a little closer to break-even. Which is a shame, because he was a total force for awesome in my young listening days.

I didn't realize that Harold went on to Easy Action; I've been enjoying a lot of Laughing Hyenas tracks lately, so maybe I'll move along to the newer Action stuff.
posted by klangklangston at 4:22 PM on March 25, 2008


AnnArborBasementShows-filter! I think I own almost half their catalog just from growing up there and going to lots of local shows in the early 90s. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

One of my favorite shows from that scene was Wolf Eyes and Caroliner in an Ypsilanti basement - I think shortly after Wolf Eyes formed (it was the first time I saw them anyways). A lot of those Bulb bands that I remember were always good at making shows visually entertaining with stage props, theatrics, etc- usually made for fun shows.
posted by p3t3 at 5:00 PM on March 25, 2008


One of my favorite concert experiences was seeing Quintron years ago at Speak in Tongues in Cleveland. I brought a college friend with me who just moved from Pakistan to go to school and he was totally blown away by the weirdness.
posted by Falconetti at 5:04 PM on March 25, 2008


The members of Prehensile Monkey Tailed Skink (Bulb Records 7" is out of print) went on to form The Monkey Power Trio which has a few hours of free MP3s on their site. I should say "our site" as this is a complete and utter self-link that I'm hoping is kosher.

We just finished doing interviews and providing outtakes for an upcoming 4 hour special on KFJC, which appears to stream even more music of this ilk if it strikes your fancy.
posted by nonmyopicdave at 5:12 PM on March 25, 2008


Why, Nonmyopicdave, that 7" is available on the Bulb Singles collection. Also, I had no idea that PMTS was related to MPT; Mark Maynard's the only one of y'all that I know, and I thought he moved up from Georgia after the heyday of Bulb.
posted by klangklangston at 5:29 PM on March 25, 2008


This is great.

Also, thanks for the Monkey Power Trio info. My first band covered "Anarchy is Stupid"!
posted by unknowncommand at 5:36 AM on March 26, 2008


One of my favorite Bulb memories is MC Trachiotomy playing an outdoor show in Houston, TX. There was a huge hole in his shorts, and his testicles were pretty much in plain sight once you figured out what was going on. Someone handed him a towel and tried to explain, but he was rocking out too hard, so he just wiped off his face with it and threw it to the crowd. (It was also a great show not just because of that). Also, when Quintron set the drum buddy on fire. He is such a fantastic performer.
posted by unknowncommand at 5:53 AM on March 26, 2008


Metafilter: testicles were pretty much in plain sight once you figured out what was going on.
posted by stinkycheese at 8:30 AM on March 26, 2008


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