When I Want To Know What You Think, I'll Ask You

If you dig splits with almost-punk-sounding Merge-type indie-rock bands then the '90s should be your deal, judging by my record collection at least. If you're one of the three people who have been reading this blog since 2008 -- yes, this blog is now 4 years old, doesn't time suck the life right out of you -- then you already know that Small and Pipe are two of my favorite bands from that era... so it would make sense that I would think this 7" is all aces. "Chuck's Buzz" is Small at their most Dinosaur Jr./Treepeople-est (I'm pretty sure this is the Eric Bachmann lineup, so that figures), while the Pipe song barges headlong with practically no chorus and comes off almost like a pop-punk version of Die Kreuzen, which is great. Pipe probably gets my vote for most-underrated band of the '90s, you people should look into them more often.




Small -

"Chuck's Buzz"

Pipe -

"Submariner"

I Remember Everything But I Forgot Your Name

Not that I'm looking to bring down the scrutiny of the Merge people around here, but I was listening to "Slowboy" in the car the other day ("I live in a shithole, baby!"), and had it re-installed in my memory chip re: what an awesome fucking band Pipe really were. Even though Pipe were one of my favorite bands back in the 90's, it usually takes me revisiting their records and CDs every other year or so to bring me back up to speed on just how great those records are.

I wanted to post the "Yr Soaking In It" 7-inch with the Replacements cover on the backside, but my copy has grown a couple scratches on it, so here's another one that's just as good. While I was listening to "Figure 8" just now it gave me the idea that the new Guilty Faces material sounds similar to this, so buy the new Guilty Faces LP when it comes out on Deranged soon, damnit.




Pipe-

"Human Gutterball"

"Figure 8"

(these files are now listen-only)

I Remember Falling Up My Driveway

Something sinister is happening to the guy in "Ashtray", exactly what I haven't figured out yet. On top of that the song doesn't really have a chorus, just three verses and then a neat guitar part (almost like a hardcore mosh part) where the chorus should be... and then it ends with a wicked ear-splitting guitar solo.

If there's a Pipe record out there that isn't totally the friggin' balls, then I haven't heard it. With "Warsaw" they even manage to make Joy Division listenable, which is somewhat of a first.




Pipe -

"Ashtray"

"Warsaw"

(these files are now listen-only)