The Perfect Disaster and especially the above album.


Phil Parfitt, Dan Cross, John Saltwell, Josephine Wiggs, Allison Pates, Malcom Catto, Richard Geismar, Kevin King, Julian Nelson

Profile:Band leader Phil Parfitt originaly started out in punk band The Varicose Veins releasing the now highly collectable single Incredible in 1978. Then followed releases as The Orange Disaster, The Architects of Disaster, before settling on The Perfect Disaster following its rhythm section's departure to form Fields of the Nephilim. When the group's Velvet Underground-influenced alternative pop/rock failed to break onto the British scene, they moved to France in 1985 and released a self-titled album with a lineup of bandleader/singer/guitarist Phil Parfitt, bassist John Saltwell, guitarist Allison Pates (also ex-The Varicose Veins), and drummer Malcolm Catto. The band continued to struggle, releasing only a few EPs, and by the time The Perfect Disaster finally secured a record deal in the U.K. in 1987, Saltwell and Pates had quit and were replaced by bassist Josephine Wiggs and guitarist Dan Cross. 1988's Asylum Road, based on Parfitt's experiences working in a mental hospital, received favorable reviews, as did 1989's Up. Wiggs left the band during the recording of 1990's Heaven Scent in order to work full-time with Kim Deal's Breeders. Parfitt went on to collaborate with Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce before drafting in Lead Guitarist Kevin King, bassist Julian Nelson & drummer Richard Geismar, the band then changed their name to Psychotropic Vibration & musical direction, playing a more Post Punk/dub/krautrock style. Psychotropic split around 1992 with Parfitt going on to form Oedipussy.

blimey, that's a name i never thought i'd see on the SY board

It was 1992. I saw them in Chicago; I had to go there to see Spiritualized on their first US tour since they weren't coming to Minneapolis and they were opening for Curve and The Jesus And Mary Chain. Most of Curve's sounds were completely canned and I found the frontwoman's stage presence irritating. The guitarist was pretty hammy too, and I was already in a bad mood because Spiritualized got a measly 25-30 minutes at the bottom of the bill at that show.

Rockbitch
Nashville Pussy
Raging Speedhorn

Myess indeed. Saw them when they played with the mighty Urusei Yatsura... it was Magoo, Prolapse then the Urusei. That's a whole show of great bands that are largely forgotten now.

Have I mentioned Nought in this thread yet? They were/are great.

I think I only know a couple of songs by Nought. I don't really remember what they sound like. Could you please remind me? Were they a female-fronted band?

No, they're an instrumental band. Nothing like post-rock at a time when instrumental meant post-rock. It's like some sort of instrumental Iron Maiden, but not as hoary.

http://www.myspace.com/nought
http://www.noughtmusic.com/

Listening again, I would ignore my description and just listen to Redrag on their myspazz. I think Alex Ward of Bailey's Limescale notoreity played with them a few times.

the most underrated band is THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS.
in terms os songcraft, originality, inventiveness, lyrics, etc. they are fantastic and noone ever mentions them.

Rob you must be kidding. They are the worst college radio band that I can think of, unless you are being ironic. Racist, thanks for all the information. I'll refresh my memory.

they are one of my top 5 all time bands.
their intensely dour and bleak lyrics, coupled with their fantasmagoria of genre melodies and music tickle my fancy.
they are supremely gifted in my eyes.

How are they a college radio band? they were two guys doing songs and performance for a decade before getting a full band, just them and whatever instruments they devised. amazing stuff.

tindersticks

np on let them it pussy = underrated

np on the first record after let them it pussy = overrated

np after that record = getting what they deserved.


"fried chicken and coffee" and "go motherfucker go" are anthems.

Yes.

Labradford

Labradford consists of bassist Robert Donne, guitarist/vocalist Mark Nelson, and Carter Brown on keyboards. Their music style is experimental ambient/post-rock, although their earlier releases such as Prazision and A Stable Reference were much more related to dark drone rock.
In 1993 they released their debut album on Kranky which has remained their home since. The group's music mostly drifts on the guitar effects and the keyboard passages, with the vocals, when present, in the background.
In 1999 they started a tour with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and their Festival Of Drifting series, which featured appearances from Pole, Matmos and Papa M as well.
Though the group has not officially disbanded, they have not released another album since 2001's critically acclaimed Fixed::Context, and the band members have apparently moved away from their former base of Richmond, Virginia. Robert Donne has joined the slow-core group Spokane. Mark Nelson continues to release records on Kranky under the name Pan•American.

In my opinion, the greatest forgotten band the last decade.

I must get me some Labradford some time. Or at the very least listen to some.

Did I mention "Calla" in here already?
I love them, so many simply beautiful songs with nice sounds.

I know it say it all the time -- and even the Sun City Girls agree with me on this -- but the most underrated band ever is probably Thinking Fellers.. you're talking about a band that is just consistantly amazing and completely competent and forward-thinking as musicians who got NO press whatsoever (I mean, I HAVE seen Polvo mentioned in small capacity in music magazines and press, even Ryan Adams talked about them in some interview he did for Spin; I've never seen any mention of Thinking Fellers anywhere outside of the internet). It's hard to find a band without a single bad song. Their approach to structure, craft, melody, riffs, etc. was completely off-the-wall and inventive, yet oddly accessible. Very rarely did they degenerate into tunelessness, even in their most of out of tune moments. It seems like they stuck all that filler in their albums just so people didn't take them too seriously. But in all seriousness, probably will always be the most underrated band ever. I've seen bands listed so far on this thread that have been listed on the Billboard Top 200.. on the other hand, I kinda doubt that all the Thinking Fellers record sales combined would be equal even 200,000. Sad.

You should definitely listen to "Mi Media Naranja". I'm always trying to capture that beautiful atmosphere in my own music, but, unfortunately, mostly I badly fail.

I have a 7" single from Labfrbador that I have owned for years. It is good stuff, but I have ot heard it in a long time. I will check it out tonite

Not a band, but a solo artist, however, New Zealand's Peter Jefferies is a complete musical genius of a song-writer who far too few people have even heard of.