Artist Mix Tape: Rich Ivey
This Wednesday marks the fourth installment of our Artist Mix Tape series that’ll last throughout the next few months. If you’re in a band that’s featured by our guests, and you’d like your song removed, please email us and we’d be happy to take your track down (I’m lookin at you Squeeze XTC Walker Bros Stuart Murdoch, I have a feeling a bunch of these fools are gonna post the shit outta your tracks).
Whatever Brains at Berkeley Cafe “What makes a man make what makes man start fires” from Mann’s World on Vimeo.
Please welcome Rich Ivey, Introduced by Jeff Byers: Rich Ivey, if you live inside of the general Harrisonburg MSA, is a man that needs no introduction. For those with this unfortunate handicap, Mr. Ivey is the man behind the curtain known as Whatever Brains and the singer for Order. You can usually find him each April surfing on top of band’s trailers going downhill and talking about plagiarizing Belle & Sebastian lyrics. This year, Mr. Ivey will take a break from such hijinks to record what will sure to be a hellraising lo-fi journey in and out off Raleigh’s inner circles of indie rock, to be released on Sorry State records this fall.
Mayo Thompson – The Lesson
Red Krayola main dude goes it solo and records one of the greatest
records ever. This is the first track from 1970’s “Corky’s Debt To His
Father,” and it’s a scorcher for every possible reason. We should all
write music this good.
Tall Dwarfs – All My Hollowness To You
Oh, Chris Knox, where do we begin? It’s no “Stomp The Yard,” but this
beat slays. Unbelievably catchy. Unbelievably mean. I can ask no more.
Lung Leg – My Secret
Wet Dog and Grass Widow are two of my favorite current bands. It
wouldn’t be fair to say that they wouldn’t exist without Lung Leg, so
I won’t say that. I think Lung Leg got the Riot Grrrl tag too much.
This is more like the sister band to The Yummy Fur. Oh, and singer
Jane McKeown is the sister of Yummy Fur singer John McKweon. Bring it
all together now. Tight track.
Black Grape – Reverend Black Grape
“It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah” topped the UK charts in
1995. I think I was pretty into Silverchair around then. If only us
Yanks had taste. This band belongs to Shaun Ryder and Bez from Happy
Mondays, a rapper named Kermit and some other guys. “Reverend Black
Grape” is a slamming stab at religion that has one of Ryder’s best
lines ever: You do nothing but socialize and become a menace/ Put on
your Reeboks man and go play fucking tennis.
Anika – No One’s There
Producer dude from Portishead and some young Brit who sounds like Nico
getting Krauty, dubby and creepy in one fell swoop. The record has
some cool covers, namely our Lord and Saviour Ray Davies’ “I Go To
Sleep” and Yoko’s “Yang Yang.” This is an original cut, and I dig it
hard.
Von Sudenfed – The Rhinohead
Mouse On Mars and Mark E. Smith. This shit should have been a massive
hit. Kanye?
Harriet The Spy – Retardo Y Retardo
I’ve been trying to rewrite this song since 1998. I’ve never come close.
The Spits – Eyesore City
My favorite Spits song from my favorite Spits record. My favorite
Spits song overall? Dunno, but it rules. Three-fifths of Whatever
Brains drove to Charlotte to see these dudes recently, and they killed
it. Best band.
Brain F(lannel) – (Date Rape) Real Estate
Brain F opened that Spits show in Charlotte and were pretty fantastic.
This track is from their demo tape. They’ve also released two smoking
singles and have an LP on the way. I’m making them do a tour with my
band in July and will not take NO for an answer.
Index – Turquoise Feline
Psych collectors freak over this record as they should. Light it up.
Belle & Sebastian – Pocketbook Angel
From the infamous demo tape. “Pocketbook Angel” is heavy on the cheese
factor and light on the fidelity, and I love every bit of it. Stuart
Murdoch said he’d never rerecord this song because it’s been
bootlegged and circulated so much that too many people have already
heard it… or something like that. The only book I’ve really read cover
to cover in my 20s is about this band.
Cheveu – Charlie Sheen
People are talking about Charlie Sheen a lot right now because he did
some drugs and had some sex. People should be talking about Cheveu
right now because they just put out the best record of the year.
Doom Spiral – Fat Frog
Somewhere between Eat Forever and My Mind was Doom Spiral. “Fat Frog”
is too good to be missed. Kind of a hip hop vibe on this one. Speaking
of which, there is no rap music on this mix. That sucks, but what’s
done is done.
Alex Chilton – Hook or Crook
“Like Flies on Sherbert” is one of my favorite records. The Brains
used to cover this song.
The Male Nurse – Back on the Pills
So good.
