Epitonic Newsletter: Vol. 5, No. 8 'Gaps in Grids and Generations'
09/05/03
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Ahhh, the blackout

Some of you may have gotten last week's newsletter a little late (or not at all), or perhaps noticed that our site was down for a few days. We'd like to think that this was the biggest inconvenience of the great 2003 blackout for egotistical reasons, but we know better. Still, there's something nice about blackouts, at least in a nostalgic sense. Remember when a summer thunderstorm would blow the power and shake your house as a kid? Huddled around candles in the dark was kinda fun in it's own way. We hope that the blackout wasn't too difficult for those of you in it, and we hope those of you who had power managed to survive without the 'tonic for the few days we were down.

Kids these days

The sixth annual Mindset List was recently released listing all the ways that today's college freshmen are total alien creatures to most adults. Examples of the way their culture differs from their parents and their instructors include the fact that Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents, that Paul Newman has always made salad dressing, there has always been a Fox network, and they have never wanted to "be a Pepper, too."

It kinda get's us thinking about all the other things they've missed out on if they missed out on the Dr. Pepper song. For those of you readers who are over the legal drinking age, think about all your favorite bands when you were in college. About the bands that changed your life. Think about the first Fugazi album, about Depeche Mode before they were pop stars, about Nirvana before Nevermind. This week's newsletter is dedicated to the bands on our site that you kids out there should know about. It's never too late to dig into the music that came before us. If we could, we'd add some music by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, REM (you know, before Green), Minor Threat, Grand Master Flash, New Order, James Brown, My Bloody Valentine, Kraftwerk, Misfits, Dinosaur Jr., Black Flag, Afrika Bambaataa, Sinead O'Connor, FSOL, The Cure, The Velvet Underground, The Clash and a few thousand others.
Sonic Youth
"Schizophrenia" by Sonic Youth
One of the most important and beloved bands of the past twenty years, Sonic Youth is almost singularly responsible for the acceptance of avant-garde forms by underground rock audiences. The albums in their remarkable discography possess the unique ability to appeal to passions both visceral and cerebral. If you've never explored this band's amazing contribution to rock, now is a perfect time to start.

Yo La Tengo
"Don't Have to Be So Sad" by Yo La Tengo
One of the many fine musical products of the Garden State and one of the most consistent performers in all of pop music, Yo La Tengo is America's preeminent group of indie rock intellectuals, with nearly two decades worth of buttery noise pop gems and engaging rock experimentation to their credit.

Mekons
"Chivalry" by Mekons
From angular anarchic post-punk to lonesome countrified rambling to disco-driven synth pop, the Mekons have made a lot of different kinds of music very well. No matter what genre or style they're working in, their songs are touched by a loose, carefree warmth and acute, poignant lyricism that are undeniably Mekons.

Orb
"Once More" by Orb
From his humble beginnings in '89 as a chill-out room DJ at Heaven, The Orb's Dr. Alex Paterson went on to achieve major chart success in Britain with the singles "Little Fluffy Clouds" and "Blue Room." His cut-and-paste sampledelic ambient is the staple diet of undergraduates and clubbed-out trance lovers across the globe.

Guided by Voices
"Everywhere With Helicopter" by Guided by Voices
Dayton, Ohio's finest, and one of indie rock's most important and influential over the last decade. Headed by schoolteacher-turned-rock star Robert Pollard, Guided By Voices epitomized the offbeat, lo-fi aesthetic that came to define underground pop music in the mid '90s. Ever restless, continuously evolving, the prolific ensemble continues to build their impressive discography.

Polvo
"Tragic Carpet Ride" by Polvo
Polvo's dynamic, dissonant music blended classic indie rock tropes with Eastern musical influences and deliberately detuned guitars. The resulting din was often glorious, sometimes deafening, and always creative.

The Ex
"Frenzy" by The Ex
For more than two decades, Dutch anarcho-punk musical collective The Ex has been playing explosive lefty rock that has only grown tighter, more complex, and more avant-garde with the passing of the years. More proof that the Netherlands has plenty to offer the world besides tulips, wooden shoes, and psychotropic substances.

Modern English
"Rainbows End" by Modern English
Remember Modern English? Remember "I'll Melt with You"? With countrymen like the Psychedelic Furs and New Order, the seminal U.K. post-punk/synth-pop band was on the cusp of the English new wave with a memorably gritty synth-based rock sound. A great, often overlooked band.

Versus
"I Love The WB" by Versus
New York's Versus has been writing beautiful rock songs for almost ten years. Expansive and intimate, sweet and sinister, restrained and dynamic, their songs are filled with more layers and textures than a swath of Amazonian rain forest.

Bad Brains
"Pay To Cum" by Bad Brains
Hardcore spawned from punk rock in the early '80s as a more violent and more aggressive form of the underground, and DC's Bad Brains were among the most influential and pioneering hardcore groups ever, mixing reggae with their lightning fast bursts of rage.

Stereolab
"Long Life Love" by Stereolab
For over a decade, this loose-knit French-English ensemble's colorful, playful, spacey music has set the bar for experimental pop. One of the '90s' most influential and adored groups.

Camper Van Beethoven
"All Her Favorite Fruit (Orchestral Version)" by Camper Van Beethoven
Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, a new Camper Van Beethoven album is available years after the band's demise. The album, comprised of live tracks, outtakes, and studio noodling documents the genre-bending songwriting (and knob-twiddling) skill of an independent band that was years ahead of its time.


"Still Flat" by Built To Spill
Doug Martsch is the best pop songwriter of his generation. This heartbreaking, ear-bending epic is from The Normal Years, a collection of BTS singles from 1992-1995.

Mission Of Burma
"Progress" by Mission Of Burma
By all accounts, Mission of Burma was one of the best American punk bands ever to set foot on a stage or inside a recording studio. They paved the way for multitudes of post-punk bands with brilliantly nervous, declamatory rock that's bound to bump up your heart rate a bit.

The Jesus Lizard
"Fly On The Wall" by The Jesus Lizard
If that kid who stuck peas up his nose in the school cafeteria started a band with the neighborhood bully and the crazy old man next door, this would be the perverse result. Chicago's The Jesus Lizard transcends even legendary status. They wrote the book on the way rock and roll destroys people's ability to act civil.

Tom Waits
"Books Of Moses" by Tom Waits
That tough old cuss Tom Waits. The years keep going by and -- incredible as it seems -- that famous voice keeps getting gravellier, the characters that populate the desolate landscapes of his songs keep getting seedier, and the songs themselves just keep on getting weirder. You gotta love the wacky old curmudgeon.

The Pretenders
"Complex Person" by The Pretenders
With her band the Pretenders, Chrissie Hynde rewrote the rules for women in pop music, churning out some terrific records that employed punk, new wave, and hard rock to generate their uniquely powerful emotive impact. After a quarter century, the Pretenders continue to rock like no other band around.

Drive Like Jehu
"Caress" by Drive Like Jehu
One of the most influential indie rock records ever, Drive Like Jehu's first album is a masterpiece of high-energy mayhem and jet engine melody. These guys made punk rock with a high IQ and an even higher volume.

Swans
"Sex God Sex" by Swans
The Swans are perhaps the darkest and most disturbing group in the history of the underground. Their pounding stream-of-consciousness and overall sickness disregarded all the swagger of The Birthday Party and cut to the bone of Sonic Youth's noise, delivering something truly horrifying.

Jawbox
"68" by Jawbox
This once-was Dischord post-punk band (who later moved to Atlantic before spinning out on DeSoto) brings you a compilation of B-sides, last recordings, Peel sessions, and other forget-me-nots. These veterans will leave you craving for more, but fear not: they have more releases than a cat has lives.

Pavement
"Greenlander" by Pavement
Stockton, CA's Pavement may well have been the second most influential rock band of the early '90s (after Nirvana), ushering in a new era of convoluted musical structures and rock and roll irony.

Mercury Rev
"The Dark Is Rising" by Mercury Rev
Despite enduring countless trials and tribulations during their existence as a band, this New York ensemble has evolved from their noisy chaotic avant-rock origins into sensitive neo-psychedelic pop-rock innovators. One of the best of the bigger bands around today.