Welcome to Review Revue, where every Thursday I dig through the KEXP stacks to share DJ reviews and comments written on the covers of LPs (and occasionally CDs) in the ’80s and ’90s, when the station was called KCMU, the DJs were volunteers, and people shared their opinions on little white labels instead of the internet.
K Records stalwarts Some Velvet Sidewalk had several lineups and released several albums in the decade between the late '80s and late '90s, but it all started with Al Larsen on voice and guitar and Robert Christie on drums, as we hear on the beautifully titled Appetite for Extinction. This sound wasn't for everyone — but what is? — and it seems to have been somewhat divisive at KCMU, but that's the beauty of college radio: The people who need to hear it get it, and share it with the world.
"Eegads! This is awful."
"I disagree! Noisy, sloppy, spare & packed full of emotion. All right by me. Fans of early Beat Happening & Mecca Normal may enjoy."
"Groovy, simplistic guitar slog. Singer likes to think he's Iggy. He falls short, of course, but I still like this record just fine."
"Playing w/the Screaming Trees @ the H.U.B. on 3/9 (along w/Earth & King Krab)."
This week's Review Revue spotlights the Coffin Break album Rupture. See what KCMU DJs thought back in the day.
This week's Review Revue spotlights the Skinny Puppy album Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse. See what KCMU DJs thought back in the day.
This week's Review Revue spotlights the Posies album Failure. See what KCMU DJs thought back in the day.
