Best band on TOO PURE (that isn't Stereolab or PJ Harvey)?

Only know about half those names myself. Feel free to YouTube and otherwise educate.

Easy. Laika.

Mclusky.

a few things missing up there. i would have voted for it hugs back.

once hefner would have taken it for me. instead i voted for kaputt, whose TP single is the best thing they've put out in years (though closely followed by the paperplain 7")

faith healers

a few things missing up there. i would have voted for it hugs back.

All omissions due to my half-arsed research. Basically it's the list of bands on the Wikipedia page.

Ah, how much I loved this label, though I don't know all the bands on it either. I'm guessing the ones I don't are earlier ones, by and large, but maybe they're newer, as I haven't really kept up.

Mouse on Mars vs Seefeel vs Th'Faith Healers, probably gotta give it to Mouse on Mars really, but I will be sad if any of those get no votes.

Th' Faith Healers for me, but it definitely seems like there's a clump missing in this list tho I can't place any names.

can't choose between mouse on mars and moonshake

Tough call between Th' Faith Healers and Seefeel.

Pram followed by Seefeel and Electrelane

I'm voting for Th' Faith Healers because "Spin 1/2" is one of the greatest things ever recorded.

Laika by a coupla astronomical units.

Honorable mentions: Moonshake, MoM, Seefeel, TFH, Pram.

I really want to vote for Pram but my heart is saying Mouse on Mars by a mile.

Honorable mentions would go to over half the list, so probably not worth actually writing them all down.

Easy choice for me, Electrelane. My only regret is not getting into them sooner and only having the opportunity to see them live twice. They blew Arcade Fire off the stage at the Chicago Theater a few years ago.

voted moonshake in a heartbeat

Mclusky

Sargasso sea by Pram is a cool album (late 90's).Some Scout Niblett is ok ."Kiss" sung with Bonnie Price Billy is awesome.I have not heard much from any of the other choices so Pram it is.

don't know much of this stuff but it's between long fin killie and seefeel for me

Electrelane for me.

mclusky far and above the rest

Th' Faith Healers vs. Seefeel is not a battle I'm interested in deciding, thanks much.

MoM did two wicked albums which I love on Too Pure. Electrelane did three. Long Fin Killie did three. McClusky did 1 album that I quite like. Bows did two albums I like. Most of the rest I've not heard of. Are Laika really that good? I think I'm gonna vote for LFK, because a; they're fucking wicked, b; consistently so across entire career, c; entire career was on Too Pure.

except for one 12-inch on Not Pure Enough

that is the worst joke ever and I voted for Electrelane

That was a joke?

I thought of voting for Laika, and they have had a very consistent career, but I've gotta go with Moonshake, if only for everything up to & including the Big Good Angel ep.

Electrelane, solely for "The Valleys," which is the BEST SONG EVAH

'eva luna' was the best thing released on the label, well my favorite and my favorite record of the 90s. but pram were my favorite band for like forever. and i worship luke sutherland. and then there is 'quique' and 'dry' and 'switched on'. i voted moonshake, although i would have felt better about it if they had been hit by a bus after 'big good angel'. nu-too pure is just the worst thing ever-murry the hump, mcclucsky, billy mahonie, tracy and the plastics, ugh! the first 50 or so releases were so exciting.

I'm voting for Jack, mainly because nobody else will...plus, The Jazz Age has some very fine moments...Moonshake I also liked a lot, but that male singer, ooh he annoyed me...

'big good angel' is one of my favourite things ever

did "eva luna" originally come out on Too Pure? If so, I vote Moonshake.

oh Keith already answered my question.

McLusky for sure.

Nick have you heard The Difference Between Me And You...? I love it as much as Do Dallas.

Moonshake I also liked a lot, but that male singer, ooh he annoyed me...

Yeah, Dave Callahan's voice can grate, but I spent my teens listening to the Wolfhounds so I'm sort of immunised against it. Sick Mouthy: as you like Long Fin Killie as much as you do, it'd be definitely worth your while finding at least the songs 'Spaceship Earth' or 'City Poison' off Eva Luna on Spotify.

Anyone fancy doing a brain dump on any of the following?

Ill Ease
Kaputt
Motormark
Murry the Hump
Peggy Sue
Seely
Shooting At Unarmed Men
Suncarriage
The Keys
The Rogers Sisters
Voodoo Queens
Young People

Shooting At Unarmed Men

Mclusky bassist's post-'Lusky project; released two albums in quick succession, the first one pretty awful, the second with a few redeeming tracks. Split up, I think.

The Rogers Sisters

Brooklyn bar owner's band.

Murry The Hump - vaguely sarky melodic Newport indie, had a couple of good-to-great singles ("Thrown Like A Stone", "The House That Used To Be A Ship") and an album that I used to really, really like albeit that I've not heard it in years now and vaguely recall going off it quite badly; they would later return as...

The Keys - if I remember correctly, this was solely because they could no longer stand the name Murry The Hump. I used to have their first (only?) album, and remember being massively unimpressed.

The Rogers Sisters - New York garage rock-like three-piece, two of whom are actually sisters with the surname Rogers, hence the name. Saw them live and thought they were excellent; generally speaking, I like to think they're still very worthwhile. No idea they were on Too Pure.

Motormark - very, very vague recollections of these as being a Scottish electropop duo that I didn't much care for.

I saw Rogers Sisters open for Mclusky in NYC. They were pretty good. "Freight Elevator" and "the Conversation" are highly recommended.

Vodoo Quens - vaguely surfy Riot Grrls, 'Kenuwee Head' (about Keanu Reeves) was the biggest single. Better than some of the other stuff around at the time, but forgettable.

Kaputt - Silke from the Go Team doing loudish guitar music. Seen them a couple of times, remember nothing other than a cover of Eisbär. Didn't realise they'd actually put stuff out on 'proper' labels, let alone working with Graham Sutton.

the two singles kaputt have done have both been really good - gone a bit quiet since but tbf there was a good year or two between their first and second 45s

WBS 100% otm on MtH/Keys

seely were vague shoegaze/post rock, mostly dull and uninteresting, first american band on the label, the beginning of the end for me.
jack's 'pioneer soundtracks' and all of the singles surrounding it were highly underappreciated. i think the fact that they seemed to take themselves incredibly seriously is a turnoff for some oh and the dreadful more recent releases could deter fans as well.
murry the hump were meant to be odd but they were not really.

Ill Ease: one-woman project of ex-New Radiant Storm King drummer (briefly, and not that you'd know it to listen) with a live looping tool, running manically from drumkit to beating power chords out of a guitar and shouting. Have only heard a couple of recorded tracks but it doesn't quite gel for me, a bit too loop-bound, like unfinished song sketches. I love loads of other stuff that could be described like that, but not this.

Seely - mid-90s post-rock-ish gazey dirges. Tried to like these guys when I was into Bailter Space and Salaryman and seeing their name in articles about this (imagine scare quotes on some or all of the rest of the clause if you wish) new post-rock sound, but never quite managed it. Possibly doesn't help that the 7" I had of theirs was pressed so off-centre as to be physically nauseating, but the album on CD never did it for me either.

Suncarriage - don't think these guys were on Too Pure proper, but had a track on the live showcase Camden/Wiiija-related scene compilation that was TP's first release. Don't remember anything about them, but that album is pretty unrepresentative of what Too Pure turned into.

Felt briefly bad that there was no Rothko option, then remembered the Rothko I'll really rep for is the three basses lineup, which wasn't on Too Pure.

yair rothko never really interested me once the triple bass thing was no longer

only know a few but surely none beats mclusky?

Mclusky are good and all (and I'll check out the second album at some point) but honestly, LFK at their best are fucking staggering.

dude do yourself a favor and check out the second album

I think by "second album" he is referring to their third album and not Do Dallas. Their actual debut is brilliantly titled but not really up to scratch.

Most of what I've heard from Too Pure is from the "Pop, do we not like that?" compilation which I haven't heard in ages, and the only song I remember from it is "Radio Freak in a Storm" by Pram. I thought it was the most horrible and depressing (in a good way) song I ever heard. I don't know if I've changed my mind.

^waiting for inevitable "POLL! do we not like that?"

That is a good comp

I voted McLusky and get the impresison they might actually win! Poll needs Tuomas to rep for MoM and ask what everything else is

The Keys - if I remember correctly, this was solely because they could no longer stand the name Murry The Hump. I used to have their first (only?) album, and remember being massively unimpressed.

Nah, different band albeit with 50% same membership... aye, nothing much going on there tbh, vaguely recall positive feeling towards a song or two that was a bit Calexico-y, if you squinted your ears

Motormark - very, very vague recollections of these as being a Scottish electropop duo that I didn't much care for.

I have a single (pre-TP) by them behind me that's like Bis meets Digital Hardcore IIRC, which I'm guessing serves as alarm bells for most ppl (me included, I think)

Ill Ease lady has my email for some reason so I get her mailouts quite often. Have tried genuinely hard to like her twice live and probably more than that in recorded form. Not happening

mclusky

mclusky can not win, if they do it is only because you haven't heard the rest of the roster. too pure started to fade when they stopped having a varying degree of obsession with Can as an almost prerequisite to being on the label.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ugh.

i voted for McLusky, but i'm really glad to see someone voted for Young People. So underrated.

mclusky can not win

it wasn't a prediction it was a desperate plea.

Mouse on Mars 9
Th' Faith Healers 9
Seefeel 9

Nice three way tie between my top three picks. I enjoy Mclusky and Electrelane also, but would've ranked them slightly lower.

I love all the bands that finished #2-9 (Electrelane through Long Fin Killie) but I've never heard Mclusky. Clearly Mclusky is one of the greatest bands of all time and I need to check them out.

they are worth hearing, i'll say that. interesting that neither of their offshoot bands garnered even a single vote though

xpost: me too. Upon reflection, I think the real reason I have avoided Mclusky is that there is a rather large family of the same name in my hometown & most of them are rich, spoiled assholes.