Obscure 90's indie

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I have a competition on with my mates to come up with the most obscure 90's indie band, any names?

― Reverend merrrick, Sunday, 27 November 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

the raymond brake

― cutty (mcutt), Sunday, 27 November 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

Wanton Loveboy

― dbricks, Sunday, 27 November 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

I think it's a tie between 9,327 bandz.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 27 November 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

My New Boyfriend

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 27 November 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Wingtip Sloat

― Edward III (edward iii), Sunday, 27 November 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

the fresh air kids

true: an indie-rap band out of ithaca NY that specialized in raps about being drunk and falling down

― gear (gear), Sunday, 27 November 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

Are there any conditions? Must the band have at least undertaken a national tour or released a full-length album etc?

― Eoin (eoinot), Sunday, 27 November 2005 21:41 (twenty years ago)

Prickly

― Guayaquil (eephus), Sunday, 27 November 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

the smoothies

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

the regrets/vitreous humor

― naturemorte, Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

Weeping in Fits and Starts

Carnage Asada

Salt Chunk Mary

Brown Supper

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:28 (twenty years ago)

Bomb Pops

Is This Bob

John's Black Dirt

Sweet Things

Hed

Cornelius Gomez

Art Space

Bagpipe Operation

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

tear jerks

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

slack

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:34 (twenty years ago)

re there any conditions? Must the band have at least undertaken a national tour or released a full-length album etc?

-- Eoin (tuairis...), November 28th, 2005.

yeah - as i'm sure i could list a hundred local groups that played a handful of shows and never recorded.

― chris andrews (fraew), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:40 (twenty years ago)

the goobers
once in a fortnight
sandwich junkies

― latebloomer: Do I have a large frog in my hair? (latebloomer), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)

my favourite would be: le mot cafe
crazy 'french-instrumental-ish' spin-off from local legends the puffins... still occassionally play shows now some 5 years later.

― chris andrews (fraew), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

the urethra franklins

― latebloomer: Do I have a large frog in my hair? (latebloomer), Sunday, 27 November 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

malarkey ninjas

― latebloomer: Do I have a large frog in my hair? (latebloomer), Sunday, 27 November 2005 23:22 (twenty years ago)

the raymond brake birthed Tussle. (in case you didn't know.)

My answer based on refiling all my 7"s today...

Herzfeld. 1 single on Duophonic, sounds exactly like Stereolab.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 27 November 2005 23:23 (twenty years ago)

haha i was so going to say herzfeld!! he had a mini-lp too, very very un-stereolab-like..

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Sunday, 27 November 2005 23:25 (twenty years ago)

Parva!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 27 November 2005 23:30 (twenty years ago)

I think my choice existed for one month and only recorded one song. And yet they were definitely indie.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 27 November 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

honcho overload
hula hoop

― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Sunday, 27 November 2005 23:48 (twenty years ago)

I used to review records for a NW magazine called Snipehunt in the 90's. There were vast swathes of obscure 7" releases. Sometimes I would even muster up the will to listen to them and give them bad reviews. Sadly, there is still a good handful of them in my house. Here are some:

Wonder "Obsession For Men"
Spine "Tiny Bones/Jack's Hit"
Bill Racine s/t
Harvest Theory "From The Back"

― sleeve (sleeve), Monday, 28 November 2005 00:14 (twenty years ago)

― sleeve (sleeve), Monday, 28 November 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

I like Weeping in Fits and Starts!

― Guayaquil (eephus), Monday, 28 November 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

you're on the right thread, then

― gear (gear), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:10 (twenty years ago)

the raymond brake birthed Tussle. (in case you didn't know.)

I KNEW THIS

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:20 (twenty years ago)

baked bean teeth will win this shit with both hands tied behind his back, he ain't even got warmed up yet

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

sammy

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:45 (twenty years ago)

space needle

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:46 (twenty years ago)

pumpernickel

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:46 (twenty years ago)

two dollar guitar

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:48 (twenty years ago)

shiva speedway

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:48 (twenty years ago)

milky wimpshake

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:48 (twenty years ago)

sammy was terrible. what was their indie-cred connection? I vaguely remember something...

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

smells like records was their cred

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:57 (twenty years ago)

also they were from great neck, long island

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:57 (twenty years ago)

wade

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:08 (twenty years ago)

anything on the toothpick label outta Belgium

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:43 (twenty years ago)

the ah club

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:48 (twenty years ago)

sukpatch

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

victory at sea

hurl

― m bott, Monday, 28 November 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

ender

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Monday, 28 November 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

victory & hurl aren't that obscure, surely?

go sailor, whose "fine day for sailing" single I still have to this day.
hypnolovewheel obscure enough?
sohcahtoa.

― Special Agent Dale Koopa (orion), Monday, 28 November 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

go sailor have too much rose melberg to be truly obscure. oh the crush i had on rose back in the day

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Monday, 28 November 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

the i live the life of a movie star secret hideout

― Guayaquil (eephus), Monday, 28 November 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

creeping jenny

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Monday, 28 November 2005 03:15 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 164 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Urethra Franklins was real!?!

― latebloomer: The Corridor (Yes, The Corridor) (latebloomer), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 04:17 (twenty years ago)

Who can forget:

Patsy
Frown
The Motor Morons
Daisycutter
Baxter
Orifice
Nudeswirl
Wellwater Conspiracy
Dime Bag

(apparently everyone)

Difference Engine
Containing future members of obscure indie bands V for Vendetta and Fern Knight!

Vitapup

They're sort of emo Dragonfly 7" was all the rage at my campus radio station when it first came out- then I blinked and they were passe, accused of being sell-outs. I saw them a few months later at some club in NYC ('96 or so) and they were doing some kind of live instrument hip-hop/poetry thing. I think they got signed, but don't recall anything ever coming out.

-- o. nate (syne_wav...), November 28th, 2005.

They put out a full-length, An Hour With Vitapup, that's worth tracking down. There's some really fantastic stuff on it, but a lot of filler, too. If it were called Twenty Minutes With Vitapup it would be one of the best of the 90s. Their drummer Melissa went on to Team Dresch / The Butchies fame.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

Difference Engine were fantastic. Fern Knight is on a totally different trip from Breadmaker or Calidad, but still very nice. i dig 'em. FK appear to be part of the less visible freak-folk faction in Providence. bad blood between Margie and Jeffrey since the end of Iditarod?

tell me more about V for Vendetta. isn't there a movie of the same name coming out?

― loxmyth (echoinggrove), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Agree that Fern Knight are quite nice. I think Greg Weeks from Espers produced their last one? Not sure about the bad blood stuff, as far as I know everyone in RI loves each other and everybody loves us.

V For Vendetta is a pretty well-known graphic novel by Alan Moore, and a film version is coming out by the guys who did the Matrix. It's also the name of the band Cara started after Difference Engine broke up. Check out http://www.vforvendettarocks.org. Two piece emotional math rock (but not emo). Not sure how active they are anymore, though.

― Edward III (edward iii), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

Would Too Much Joy be considered obscure?

― Terrible Cold (Terrible Cold), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 21:51 (twenty years ago)

Urethra Franklins was real!?!

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov75/dre000/e029/e02947a6lqq.jpg

― cdwill, Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)

Jettison Records roster in its entirety: Mind Sirens, Blue Chair, Blue-Green Gods, Minerva Strain (already mentioned), Crowsdell, Finger, Bicycle Face, Shiny Beast, Picasso Trigger (although vaguely infamous via the Guided By Voices film).

Antiseen would be the exception to the rule.

― R3000, Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

I have not forgotten Wellwater Conspiracy, in fact I am sorry I got rid of that 1st single. Cool Mudhoney side project.

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 1 December 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

Also featuring ex-Monster Magnet riff lord John McBain...

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 1 December 2005 01:49 (twenty years ago)

wasn't Wellwater Conspiracy a Soundgarden offshoot (rather than Mudhoney)? wouldn't call them obscure (less so than one-off Hater).

― loxmyth, Thursday, 1 December 2005 03:40 (twenty years ago)

i think i have a picasso trigger 7". maybe. i know i have a vitapup one for sure.
m.

― msp (mspa), Thursday, 1 December 2005 06:02 (twenty years ago)

wasn't Wellwater Conspiracy a Soundgarden offshoot (rather than Mudhoney)?
-- loxmyth (doodlehu...), November 30th, 2005.

Yes, this is correct.

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 1 December 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

how about Rats of Unusual Size?

(yes, a real band, though I never saw them live)

― James, Friday, 2 December 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

endless upteens
full story here...

― sjrobb, Friday, 2 December 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

how about Rats of Unusual Size?
(yes, a real band, though I never saw them live)

-- James (datapani...), December 2nd, 2005. (later)

I saw them live....openning for king missle at the old knitting factory. They were pretty funny.

― ddb (ddb), Friday, 2 December 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

SMALL 23

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 2 December 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

I actually saw Math play at legendary performance art venue/bar now defunct Club Lower Links. Chicago, early 90s

Brise Glace was a Gastr Del Sol spinoff, or just O' Rourke by himself with tapes I forget. i have a cassette somewhere

How about:

Boys' Life

Giants' Chair

― Tate (Tate), Friday, 2 December 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

boys life wasn't obscure. see the above comments on christie front drive.

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 2 December 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

Jaymc: Cornish put out three albums, all in the same ziploc/cardboard casing. Two great, one decent. I remember being at a party where they just showed up, while they were still in high school, and all these people mobbed them. It had to be weird...

― js (honestengine), Friday, 2 December 2005 21:38 (twenty years ago)

The only 90's indie rock band I know of to have emerged from my small home town of Kearny, NJ...

Jeff Humphrey Trio

(an early act on the Troubleman Unlimited label)

― James, Friday, 2 December 2005 21:56 (twenty years ago)

Flop, Some Velvet Sidewalk.

I'm not positive about their obscurity rating though.

― Will (will), Friday, 2 December 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

[quote]"I have an album made by some kids from Ypsilanti, MI, circa 1999, where the CD is enclosed in a Ziploc bag and taped to a cardboard sleeve. The band: a spastic pop act called Cornish in a Turtleneck. "
At least one of the Cornish guys moved to Athens, Georgia, to go to college, and wound up starting a few obscure early '00's indie rock bands. Like the Sugar Shakers, and Col. Knowledge and the Lickety-Splits.

Cornish in a Turtleneck were very popular at the campus radio station back in '98 or '99.[/quote]

hey, i have this too! i thought i was the only person in the world with that album.

― andy dale (andy dale), Saturday, 3 December 2005 00:32 (twenty years ago)

Andy: I live in Ann Arbor, so this those guys were around a lot during their time. Their concerts were hilarious. Have you heard their "20 Songs About Booties," recorded anonymously with Ben from Midwest Product?

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Saturday, 3 December 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

Spare Snare
See Saw
Pipe
Spent
Blumfeld
Push Kings

― goodoldneon (goodoldneon), Saturday, 3 December 2005 03:26 (twenty years ago)

That Spare Snare single rules.

― sleeve (sleeve), Saturday, 3 December 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)

I own 4 Spare Snare albums! They're all really good though I play _Live at Home_ and _Westfield Lane_ the most. Their "Thorns" at the Middle East upstairs = one of the great live revelations evah.

I remember a very good Push Kings show at the same place. One was not really supposed to like them but they put on a good show and would have been much more popular in 2003 than they were in 1997 or whenever it was.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 3 December 2005 05:37 (twenty years ago)

Full Red
Raina No Reply
Autosleeper

― Tate (Tate), Saturday, 3 December 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

assembly line people program
duster / valium aggelein
old hearts club
the yind

― naturemorte, Saturday, 3 December 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

DUSTER. yes. amazing.

― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 3 December 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

Have you heard their "20 Songs About Booties," recorded anonymously with Ben from Midwest Product?

Is one of these songs called "Booty Conniption"? Cause I'm pretty sure I saw this CD at Wazoo two or three years ago. I regret not purchasing it, just because of the sheer genius of a song named "Booty Conniption".

― joygoat (joygoat), Saturday, 3 December 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

"In the year 2025, if man is still alive. If woman can survive, they might find...Chinese Democracy on sale this week at Walmart."

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Sunday, 4 December 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

i think that maybe i've heard one song of that project. i have a we're twins records sampler from 2003 with a song called "oh my god issa booty in my face" by dope-assed booty dominataz. it's hilarious, i love putting it on mixes. that song has something to do with it though, right? if not, then i don't think that i've heard that...

i found my cornish in a turtleneck cd just a couple of years ago, actually. i was visiting some friends in ann arbor, and we were at encore, and i was shifting through the local section searching fred thomas cds. and, i just remember the cornish in a turtleneck cd popping out at me, with it's packaging and everything, and i just had to own the weird-wonder. it's still probably the weirdest/coolest-ly packaged album i own. and, it's also a nice, weird/cool-sounding album that i own. i think i'll be giving it another spin, soon.

― andy dale (andy dale), Sunday, 4 December 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

That Spare Snare single rules.

hahaha.. this has me wondering if there's already a thread about "bands with immense discographies that nobody has heard of"

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Sunday, 4 December 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

Yeah that Booty cassette/CD has kind of a bizarre release history. AFAIK these are all the different titles it's been released under:

1. "10 Songs About Booties" cassette--Cornish in a Turtleneck
2. Found Magazine's "Ypsilanti All-Starz--The Booty Don't Stop" CD, using the cassette as source material
3. "20 Songs About Booties + Special Remix" CD--Tim Schreiber
4. #3 reissued by We're Twins, credited to Dope-Assed Booty Dominataz

The Found Mag edition is the only one still available, I think. Which is too bad, cause it's missing such gems as "Wide Ass Whumpin'" (downloadable from WFMU here), "Booty Coniption," and "Booty Ass Delight."

― Matt B. (Matt B.), Sunday, 4 December 2005 15:20 (twenty years ago)

the billy crosbys -- a central new jersey mid-90's indie band in the vein of the mountain goats crossed with more twee things. i believe some of these dudes went on to play in need new body and other bands.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 4 December 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

crowsdell mention upthread -- that was shannon wright's previous band, right? steve malkmus produced a record for them.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 4 December 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

v for vendetta [the band] -- played ladyfest philly in 2003, broke up around then. cara lives in philly, performs solo every now and then. goes to temple university, i think? i recall something about her coming out as a man. she/he is the the bee's knees in my book.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 4 December 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

other bands i recall:

slam dunk = pre-rye coalition band
my favorite citizen
latimer = RIP geoff dor1ng [committed suicide last week?]

i should know more of these, as plain parade pretty much exists on obscure indie.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Sunday, 4 December 2005 16:25 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

Guided By Voices!

― scott seward, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

Roffle.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

Have you guys ever heard of a band called Built To Spill?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

weren't they that halo benders side project?

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

v for vendetta [the band]

Saw them at a completely different basement show in Ann Arbor, oddly enough, summer of 2000.

― jaymc, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha raymond brake was the first thing i thought of when i saw this thread title

― pretzel walrus, Friday, 6 July 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

fourteen years pass...

I did a quick search and this seemed like and apt thread to bump - I’ve woken up today haunted by a tune I’m pretty certain existed, and wonder if anyone can help.

It was a power song based with a chorus that went “Mary Warner”. Google is drawing blanks due to the lame weed pun nature of the title.

It must have been mid 90’s as I’m sure I recall it on the BBC Evening Session, and I’m pretty sure it was out around the same time as Number One Cup - Divebomb and Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe, with that kind of vocal as well.

― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Sunday, 16 January 2022 10:57 (four years ago)

*power pop / post punk even

― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Sunday, 16 January 2022 10:58 (four years ago)

Whatever happened to Dave Shouse's post-Grifters band Those Bastard Souls, anyway? They sorta broke out real big for a second and then were gone in a flash.

He followed it up with another project called the Bloodthirsty Lovers that was quite good live. They put out one CD on Frenchkiss that I had for the longest, but I think it just stopped playing at some point.

― concentrating on Rationality (the book) (will), Sunday, 16 January 2022 12:26 (four years ago)

four years pass...

We played a bunch of shows with the SF-ish band Poundsign. No idea what happened to those guys, but I used to love them. This one reminds me of the Bats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD8A8Ne1_Ws

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 6 August 2026 16:27 (two months ago)

I did a quick search and this seemed like and apt thread to bump - I’ve woken up today haunted by a tune I’m pretty certain existed, and wonder if anyone can help.
It was a power song based with a chorus that went “Mary Warner”. Google is drawing blanks due to the lame weed pun nature of the title.

This?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnsM3z6tbOo

The Nicotines - Mary Wana

― mandarax, Friday, 7 August 2026 15:00 (two months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKMR8vAarYo

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Friday, 7 August 2026 18:47 (two months ago)

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