― electric sound of jim, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― nickn, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Mark, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Alex in NYC, Wednesday, 5 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
They were an utterly undebatable classic.
― Michael Taylor, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Nude Spock, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― baboon, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Damon & Naomi is great and Luna is cool too.. but Galaxie 500 is amazing!
Did you ever see the movie HIGHBALL?.. Dean Wareham is in it and does the music.. He plays Justine Bateman's date... He sings "Frankie And Johnny" kereoke.
― Todd, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― youn, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Love their 3 LPs. "Listen The Snow Is Falling" puts Yoko Ono in a whole new light.
― David Gunnip, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Yoko Ono's original of Listen, The Snow Is Falling is beautiful, what do you mean? Whereas Galaxie 500's cover is one of the few things of theirs that bores me.
You're dead right about the intro to Decomposing Trees, though. How did they do that? It is total perfection. I could imagine a poem that was the analogue of that intro. Sadly, I couldn't write it.
― Nick, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― g, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Magic Hour? Oh god no. That guy's voice makes me want to be sick.
― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― nickn, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Nitsuh, Thursday, 6 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― David Gunnip, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Edna Welthorpe, Mrs, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Nude Spock, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Dave225, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Tony, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Andrew L, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Admittedly, I tend to focus on that sort of thing more than direct technical or structural links ...
― Nitsuh, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Nick, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Hi, Mrs. Welthorpe! I think you should cast the next muppets movie.
― youn, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
I know that too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and that people who have never heard the VU can have interesting and enlightening things to say abt a Galaxie 500 rec or whatever. Prob. more interesting, 'cos they haven't drowned in all the cliches, received ideas, half-truths etc. of VU rockwrite. But I really don't buy your argument that G500 might well have existed w/out the VU. God knows I'm as sick of the whole VU 'myth' as anyone who was once a fan, but I think that that sound is far more original than you're suggesting, this almost unique coming together of folk, the avant- garde, free jazz, r'n'b, rock and pop. And, you can still hear all those things going on in Velvets recs, whereas all I hear in G500 - bits of loverly 'texture' notwithstanding - is one DOMINATING influence (there, gulp, I said it!) that isn't made use of in an esp. interesting way. I mean, it's more than a fair cop to point out that some kind of relationship/similarity exists between the two groups, isn't it? Just for the sake of erm 'the historical record' or whatever. And don't you like it when new groups can turn you onto old groups and you end up liking the old group better sometimes? I imagine there are B&S who will one day hear a Nick Drake rec and kick themselves!
Maybe I just don't like G500 because they copped an alb title from Ornette Coleman.
The way I read Nick's comment -- that G500 could have existed without VU -- isn't that G500 would necessarily have sounded exactly like they did in the formal sense, but that they quite likely would have been able to create the same tones and moods using different tools.
ahem.
Seriously, I think the VU influence was precisely the feel. It was as if Cale had stuck around for the s/t album, & they had gone all acoustic-ish anyway.
― Sterling Clover, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
* Although I'd argue that the VU elements they borrow aren't the ones that, in the end, actually defined VU: it's pretty hard to imagine them doing faithful covers of "Waiting for the Man" or "Sister Ray" or even "Sweet Jane," which is a lot closer to the influence they're taking. And the influence is slightly indirect -- the most they've ever sounded like VU was while covering a Jonathan Richman song.
― nickn, Friday, 7 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Even my sister, who by her own admission has never heard a slowcore band she disliked, thinks On Fire is sort of a cute, enjoyable, OK album, not a masterpiece of any sort. What's so exceptional about it?
― sundar subramanian, Tuesday, 25 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
I'm thinking your question deserves a thoughtful reply, so I'll offer this: the value of On Fire lies in the fact that it's surprisingly un-like "slowcore," as that particular genre happened to accrete. "Slowcore" gradually became concerned with its own sonic smoothness: low bubbling organ lines, richly-processed guitars, a pervasive sense of stillness, comfort, a fluffy-pillow phenomenon. On Fire has some resemblances in this sense. But On Fire is one of few records I can think of which are tagged as "slowcore" despite sounding surprisingly real, almost garage -- despite the only processing being reverb, really, and tracks like "Strange" letting you hear the band very much as you'd imagine them sounding in a really large garage. "Slowcore" went for this richness and softness, whereas G500 had a hollowness to their sound that's always really appealed to me.
More importantly, On Fire is not really slowcore, when you get down to it: if you get a chance, go back and listen to "Strange" and notice how really active and passionate it is. (The guitar solo practically makes me imagine fireworks launching.) Quite a bit of the record feels this way to me: what I tend to marvel at is the way three instuments, free of much processing or adornment, lock together to form these fairly dramatic constructions. Hyperbolic as it sounds, the word I'm looking for is probably "glorious." Honestly, the starts of those guitar solos on "Strange" sum it up: they come sweeping in so gloriously.
― Nitsuh, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Zack, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
TugboatKing of SpainFlowersPicturesParking LotDon't Let Our Youth Go to WasteObliviousIt's Getting LateInstrumentalBlue ThunderSnowstormWhen Will You Come HomeAnother DayIsn't It a PityVictory GardenCeremonyFourth of JulyListen the Snow is Falling
(my faves, weighted towards the first album and b-sides, 81:15)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 01:48 (twenty-two years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 6 November 2003 01:55 (twenty-two years ago)
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:12 (twenty-two years ago)
"summertime" was my favorite song of theirs... i put it on every mix i made for myself for a period of about 5 years. i haven't listened to them in forever but if I did, it would be "summertime"".
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:27 (twenty-two years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)
― strongo hulkington's ghost (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)
― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 6 November 2003 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)
Ethan Miller announced this morning:
GALAXIE 500 • Uncollected Noise New York ’88-‘90The complete uncollected Noise NY studio recordings. A 2xLP, 24 track journey through rarities + outtakes including never-before-heard songs.Listen + preorder now on 2xLP, 2xCD, 2xTape and digital... https://galaxie500.bandcamp.com/album/uncollected-noise-new-york-88-90
The complete uncollected Noise NY studio recordings. A 2xLP, 24 track journey through rarities + outtakes including never-before-heard songs.
Listen + preorder now on 2xLP, 2xCD, 2xTape and digital...
https://galaxie500.bandcamp.com/album/uncollected-noise-new-york-88-90
― jaywbabcock, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 14:24 (one year ago)
Was super excited to see that in my inbox this morning, instant purchase.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 10 July 2024 14:26 (one year ago)
Vinyl looks dope too and seems to be reasonably priced
― calstars, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 14:40 (one year ago)
wow!
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Wednesday, 10 July 2024 14:47 (one year ago)
Shoot You Down is KILLER.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 15:07 (one year ago)
Yeah, unheard Galaxie 500 was an instant purchase from me this morning.
― spastic heritage, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 15:53 (one year ago)
a lot of it already released in the Ryko box set but still plenty of unreleased tracks on here... bought!
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Wednesday, 10 July 2024 16:01 (one year ago)
The Blue Thunder (Sax) CD-EP was a prized posession of mine for years due to the 1-2 cover punch of Victory Garden and Ceremony, both on the Ryko CD of On Fire and the box set. Don't mind paying for them again. They're that good.
― dan selzer, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 17:05 (one year ago)
“I wanna live!”
― calstars, Thursday, 11 July 2024 02:06 (one year ago)
xp to 11 years ago, that Mike McGonigal oral history book did come out and it's really good, with lots of graphic content showing how Naomi cut and pasted all of their early visual content (fliers, cassette covers, band stationary, etc.)
― henry s, Thursday, 11 July 2024 10:24 (one year ago)
An old girlfriend bought me that G500 box set for Christmas a long time ago. That was a damn fine present.
This was an instant buy for me as well, I fell for the fancy version.
― Cow_Art, Thursday, 11 July 2024 11:41 (one year ago)
Stupid question that I could possibly confirm with some targeted googling, but I missed out on that box set. Is the disc of extras that came with that the same one that came with the Domino 2010 reissue of Today? Seems like it, but I wasn't sure if they were any different.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 July 2024 15:32 (one year ago)
they're the same — this new release is basically the "expanded edition" of that collection.
― tylerw, Thursday, 11 July 2024 15:35 (one year ago)
Cool, thanks! Still all in on the new one, was just curious about the older one.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 July 2024 15:35 (one year ago)
totally — g500 is the rare band where I want to pretty much hear every note they played ... b-sides, demos, outtakes, radio sessions, etc.
― tylerw, Thursday, 11 July 2024 15:38 (one year ago)
haha, yup!
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 July 2024 15:40 (one year ago)
also, between this and the Sonic Youth archival stuff, I want to keep supporting Silver Current in this stuff in the hopes of more to come! they do a great job.
Where does the “uncollected” edition on Spotify fit in?
― calstars, Thursday, 11 July 2024 17:12 (one year ago)
iirc, that's the same disc I was referring to earlier, that was initially included in the Ryko box set and later again with the 2010 Today reissue.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 July 2024 17:14 (one year ago)
it was also issued on its own outside the box set, although not until several years later
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 11 July 2024 17:21 (one year ago)
here's the rundown though the "otherwise unreleased" tag is a little untrue, as you mention — you could get Uncollected as a standalone CD iirc.
GALAXIE 500 - Uncollected Noise New York '88-'90Track Listing:(February 1988 session)1. Shout You Down (previously unreleased)2. See Through Glasses (previously unreleased)3. On the Floor (Noise NY version) (previously unreleased)4. Can't Believe It's Me (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)5. Oblivious (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, Chemical Imbalance fanzine 7-inch)6. King of Spain (Today CD bonus track, Aurora Records 7-inch B-side)(July 1988 session)7. Jerome (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)8. Song in 3 (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)9. Crazy (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, European Today CD bonus track)(February 1989 session)10. I Wanna Live (previously unreleased)11. I Will Walk (previously unreleased)12. Cold Night (On Fire CD bonus track, Rough Trade BlueThunder EP)13. Ceremony (On Fire CD bonus track, Rough Trade BlueThunder EP)(August 1989 session)14. Never Get to Heaven (previously unreleased)15. Maracas Song (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)16. Victory Garden (On Fire CD bonus track, Rough Trade BlueThunder EP)17. Blue Thunder (w/sax) (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, Rough Trade EP)(June1990 session)18. Cheese and Onions (Ryko BoxSet bonus CD, Rutles Highway Revisited Shimmy Disc LP)19. Fourth of July (video mix)20. Cactus (previously unreleased)21. Moonshot (previously unreleased)22. Them (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)23.Final Day (Ryko Box Set bonus CD, otherwise unreleased)24. Here She Comes Now (This Is Our Music CD bonus track, Rough Trade Fourth of July 12-inch B-side)
― tylerw, Thursday, 11 July 2024 17:25 (one year ago)
so 8 tracks of 24 actually previously unreleased
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Thursday, 11 July 2024 17:28 (one year ago)
nice, thanks for that!
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 July 2024 17:42 (one year ago)
g500 is the rare band where I want to pretty much hear every note they played ... b-sides, demos, outtakes, radio sessions, etc.
same. there's something about the elements being so simple that it's hard for me to imagine what a bad or uninteresting Galaxie 500 song would even sound like
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Thursday, 11 July 2024 20:21 (one year ago)
Otm
― Thrapple from the Apple (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 11 July 2024 20:25 (one year ago)
Luna was fine but a whole different thing
ditto Damon and Naomi
― henry s, Thursday, 11 July 2024 23:56 (one year ago)
I love the whole extended galaxie — some of my favorite music ever, I guess
― tylerw, Friday, 12 July 2024 00:23 (one year ago)
classic
― well below the otm mendoza line (Hunt3r), Friday, 12 July 2024 00:44 (one year ago)
Love how “I wanna live” kicks in and Naomi just starts soloing
― calstars, Friday, 9 August 2024 23:58 (one year ago)
Dean & Britta touring NZ playing Galaxie 500 songs:
https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/news/21701/Dean--Britta-Play-Galaxie-500-New-Zealand-Tour-Announced.utr
Is this something they've done before? Feels kinda weird/off when Damon & Naomi are still around, but everyone I know seems unreservedly excited.
― etc, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 03:18 (one year ago)
they have done it before, saw them in LA do this 2019? 2018? Was great.
― encino morricone (majorairbro), Wednesday, 25 September 2024 03:38 (one year ago)
see also: Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90 out last friday
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 05:34 (one year ago)
Oddly enough, the only time I saw Wareham et al it was G500-themed. A bootleg suggests that it was late 2011/. I guess I was hopelessly inattentive when Luna toured these parts, which I see they definitely did at least twice. I liked Luna plenty.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 08:56 (one year ago)
got my Uncollected Noise in the mail yesterday, happy to finally have their version of "Here She Comes Now" on vinyl
― waste of compute (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 25 September 2024 12:25 (one year ago)
damn, every vinyl version sold out. hope that gets a repress.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 13:17 (one year ago)
I got my LP in the mail yesterday too
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Wednesday, 25 September 2024 13:47 (one year ago)
Well here's a surprise!
https://galaxie500.bandcamp.com/album/cbgb-121388
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 10 June 2025 14:57 (nine months ago)
great show — sonics are much improved from the bootleg I've heard (which sounded slightly underwater)
― tylerw, Tuesday, 10 June 2025 15:09 (nine months ago)
TAKE MY MONEY!
― Blood On The Knobs, Tuesday, 10 June 2025 16:34 (nine months ago)
Nice
― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 10 June 2025 21:21 (nine months ago)
Done.
Man, I remember getting that collected purple and silver box that had almost everything for Christmas one year. That was one of the best presents.
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 11 June 2025 03:18 (nine months ago)
still one of the nicest designed box sets ever.
― encino morricone (majorairbro), Wednesday, 11 June 2025 04:19 (nine months ago)
This CBGB show is phenomenal! Thought there might be more shouting from the rooftops about it, but guess folks knew it from the bootleg.
― better than ezra collective soul asylum (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 21 August 2025 21:22 (six months ago)
it is great — what a weird/magical band. it almost shouldn't work, but it really really does.
― tylerw, Thursday, 21 August 2025 21:24 (six months ago)
previously uncirculated audience tape — halloween 1989! sounds fab.
https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/796396519421050880/galaxie-500-ecstasy-berlin-germany-october
― tylerw, Friday, 3 October 2025 17:09 (five months ago)
oh wow! Thanks, tylerw!
― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 4 October 2025 00:34 (five months ago)
i stood in liiiiiiiine and ate my twinkie
― maelin, Friday, 24 October 2025 05:03 (four months ago)
Two test pressings with hand-drawn art from Naomi Yang. If I had a pile of cash, I'd be in for one.
― the way out of (Eazy), Friday, 28 November 2025 04:07 (three months ago)
Those are amazing! To quote myself from further upstream in this thread:
that Mike McGonigal oral history book did come out and it's really good, with lots of graphic content showing how Naomi cut and pasted all of their early visual content (fliers, cassette covers, band stationary, etc.)
― henry s, Friday, 28 November 2025 13:36 (three months ago)