Quickspace - Precious Falling (1998)

Here's another underrated and overlooked band from me that is hardly mentioned, this time from the 90s. Quickspace was a London band formed in the mid 90s by the ex- Th' Faith Healers member Tom Cullinan. After releasing three albums and many singles they completely disappeared in the new millennium. And while they lasted they were pretty low profile band, releasing quietly their music on their own, a true indie band in the original sense of the word. Maybe all of this contributed to them being relatively forgotten (at least I have that feeling), but their music certainly deserves to be remembered. They were often referred to as "Stereolab that rocks", so it is perhaps understandable that in the mid-90s Brit-pop preoccupied UK they would pass under the radar. Like Stereolab, Quickspace was heavily influenced by kraut-rock, especially Neu! and can be seen as a part of that 90s neo-kraut scene that went hand in hand with post-rock scene. Their music could be described as Neu! meets Stereolab through The Fall and Spacemen 3 (Are you interested now?) But, to me, their biggest strength is a pop sensibility and the ability to always have a lot of fun.

'Precious Falling' is their second album from 1998. and is a great example of their versatility, experimenting with influences and general spontaneity. These 13 songs range from fun kraut-rocking songs with catchy, repetitive, noisy beats like 'Death + Annie', 'Quickspace Happy Song No. 2', 'Walk Me Home' and my favorite 'Coca Lola' to the more mellow, dreamy and moody songs like 'Mouse', 'Minors' and 'Melo' and in the end to some real cinematic tracks like electronic 'Habib', melancholic 'The Mountain Waltz' and excellent closing track 'Goodbye Precious Mountain' which has that desert, spacey feel of one Ennio Morricone. So, let us all remind ourselves what real indie 90s had to offer.

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MX-80 Sound – Big Hits / Hard Attack (1976/1977)

MX-80 Sound, or just MX-80, were one of those very unique 70s bands that are often overlooked and always remain underrated. Formed in the early 70s in Indiana, their first influences were Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, The Stooges. They managed to release EP "Big Hits - Hard Pop From the Hoosiers" on their own in 1975 or '76, when they were a five piece band with two drummers. That led Island Records to take an interest in them, but sadly their first proper album "Hard Attack" (1977) was never realized in USA, only in England. Later, they hooked up with The Residents in San Francisco and released next two albums on Ralph Records: "Out Of The Tunnel" (1980) and "Crowd Control" (1981). These were more in the vein of post-punk, but too hard-rocking for the punk crowd.

This is a 1995. CD release that merged Big Hits EP and Hard Attack. The music here is so unique in its eclectic ways that no wonder they were so confusing to the listeners and labels at the time. It’s almost impossible to classify them. They’ve been called post-punk, proto-punk, art-dada-heavy metal, art-prog-punk, psych-hard rock, pre-punk noise rock, etc. All these terms sound even crazier than the band. The best one I’ve heard is Acid Punk, and that’s what I’m going to use. The sound was an unlikely marriage of hard rock/metal riffs and solos, prog-rock shifts, changes and odd time signatures and punk immediacy, simplicity and energy, all accompanied by a deadpan vocal delivery a la Jonathan Richman of Modern Lovers - like a cross between Television/Modern Lovers and Captain Beefhaert/Motorhead. Just imagine a punk band that not only knows how to play instruments, it also does it with such a virtuosic quality, but is never afraid to lose itself in a wall of sound, the grooving energy and a unique sense of humor are never compromised.

I suspect that MX-80 Sound’s music had a certain influence on noise rock of the 80s – Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Jesus Lizard etc, especially on the latter two. At their time they couldn’t exactly find an audience. They were too complex and hard rocking for punks, too simple and energetic for prog-heads and too out there for hard rockers/metal-heads. Hopefully, now, in these times of post-this and post-that they'll be more appreciated. So, punks and prog-heads, this is something for both of you.

Big Hits (1976)

1 Train to Loveland/You Turn Me On/SCP/Till Death Do Us Part

2 Myonga Von Bontee/Boy Trouble Girl Trouble/Tidal Wave

Hard Attack (1977)

3 Man On The Move

4 Kid Stuff

5 Fascination

6 Summer '77

7 PCB's

8 Crushed Ice

9 Tidal Wave

10 Theme From Checkmate

11 Facts-Facts

12 You're Not Alone

13 Civilized/Demeyes

14 Afterbirth/Aftermath

Bonus Track

15 Sad Girls

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