So, yeah, a couple weeks ago i was found here lamenting the lack of coverage (or the nonexistence?) of quality noise-oriented rock tunage in the blogging universe these days, as everyone seems to be too interested in screamo or sensitive singer-songwriter twee-pop to care. So, i thought i’d give you guys a little taste of what the hell i’m talking about. In that post i listed a few current-day still-active noise-rock bands worth your time, attention, money, and panties. This time, we’re gonna head into the private Wayback machine what is my head and revisit some of my favorite noisy bands from the formative years of my now-impeccable music taste–i.e. the 1990s. (There was plenty of amazing noisy crap happening in the 70s and 80s that inspired this stuff, and hey, maybe i’ll go back that far next time. But back in the 80s i had my head stuck up my ass and in a sea of AquaNet and leather banging my head to Poison and Warrant, so you’ll excuse me for sparing you those formative years, capeesh?) If you’ve never purposely stuffed a single discordant note into your ears, you could do worse than starting with these bands, which i gobbled up with voracious abandon back in my early 20s.

Six Finger Satellite: Creepy, abrasive geniuses from Sub Pop who can trace their musical roots straight back to the late 70s and art-punk pioneers Chrome. To be honest, i was a late arrival into orbit around the Satellite, not really catching on until about 1998 or so. Still, their records hurt my ears but good, so i was immediately hooked. The album i’ll recommend to you is their 1995 jam Paranormalized. Check it out–their Sup Pop page even has an old old .wav link to their tune “Rabies (Baby’s Got the).” That’s so cute! A .wav! They always did have a thing for outdated technology, as this nerdtastic equipment list will demonstrate.

In case you’re interested, band member Rick Pelletier is now in the Chinese Stars. Aesthetically, Detroit band Human Eye follows in their footsteps, but they’re considerably less good and more closely derivitive of the School of Helios Creed.

Girls Against Boys: New York City’s take on what happens with you give Mark E. Smith a sexier spin. A lot of people wouldn’t necessarily throw these guys in the “noise-rock” category, and yeah, Melt-Banana they ain’t, but just because the groove makes you wanna fuck doesn’t mean it ain’t arty. So, about that groove; it’s anchored by a two-bass attack that’s built on a foundation of The Fall’s more straightforward moments, and is garnished with the smokey nonsensical scatting of one Scott McCloud. Their best albums are 1993’s Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby (which they performed in its entirety at Touch & Go’s 25th Anniversary Weekend of Simultaneous Fanboy/girl Orgasm) and 1995’s Cruise Yourself (which features the tune “Kill the Sexplayer,” also featured on the soundtrack to a little indie flick from the same year called Clerks.)

One of those wacky bass players, by the way, is a cat named Eli Janney, a sexy beast who also has a reputation as an accomplished engineer, partially thanks to the albums he recorded for tonight’s final spotlight arteest,

Brainiac: Oh yeah. This is why i do so love what i love. My musical universe permanently redshifted the night i witnessed Brainiac opening for Jawbox at the Elks’ Club in Green Bay, WI in 1994. If only one band mattered to me, well, ever, this was it. They sprung from the primordial proto-punk ooze of industrial Ohio (Dayton, specifically, as their “Fuck y’all we’re from DAYTON” t-shirts proudly proclaimed), the same blighted muck that spawned DEVO and Pere Ubu in the 1970s. Take the Ubu’s messed-up guitars and synth blurts and put it over a jagged DEVO-esque beat, and maybe you’ll start to comprehend what the live Brainiac experience entailed…but i doubt it. Frontman Timmy Taylor was a wildman in fake fur and polyster, staring right through you as he screamed through his effects, backed up by a lollipop-sucking and raygun-finger-pointing bassist named Monasterio (or “Mono Stereo” when they were feeling clever) and a drummer named Tyler who seemed to be out for revenge against a drum kit that must have done him wrong at some point and it needed to be taught a lesson, dammit. The recommended tour de force is their 1994 release Bonsai Superstar, but good luck finding it, as the label that released it, Grass Records, morphed into Wind-Up Records and made its owner, the insane Alan Melzter, a millionaire by backing fucking Creed. So, instead, pick up a close second to Bonsai’s manic genius, the equally-touched and darker Hissing Prigs in Static Couture, which you can still get through Touch & Go Records.

Brainiac came to a premature end one night in May 1997 when Timmy Taylor was killed in a one-car accident late at night while driving home from the studio. The catastrophe is still felt to this day, as was evidenced by the audience at Touch & Go 25 when both Girls Against Boys and Enon dedicated songs to his enduring memory. Oh, and that band Enon? That goofy blond fronting the band is Mr. John Schmersal, Brainiac’s guitar player on everything except their first album, Smack Bunny Baby. The guitarist on that album (also a keeper if you can find it) was Michelle Bodine, who now shreds for Ohioans Shesus.

As for that Mono Stereo guy…Juan Monasterio is out in Los Angeles now kickin’ it with some dudes from Bullet Lavolta in a trio known as Model/Actress. They’re mining much of the same territory as Enon and stand to be just as good once they find their groove. And David Yow guest starred on their EP! Yow, um, za!

There you have it–hope i gave you enough links to explore. If any of these three bands trip your trigger, click on the links to the older bands i referenced in their profiles. Find out where they got it and get it your damn self, OK?

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