Galaxie 500 - Cabaret Metro, Chicago, Illinois, March 29, 1989 / The Lounge Ax, Chicago, Illinois, October 12, 1990
It's not quite the Fourth of July, but hey, let's listen to "Fourth of July" by Galaxie 500. If there was ever an Independence Day to stay at home and pull the curtains so you don't have to see the sky, well, this is it! 🇺🇸
That classic G-500 tune kicks off a truly majestic Lounge Ax set from 1990 — yet another treasure from the extraordinary Aadam Jacobs tape stash. Dean, Damon and Naomi were headed for a big breakup by this point, only lasting into the spring of '91. But however fractured their relationship was, their strength as a musical unit was reaching some kind of peak. Aadam's recording perfectly captures the sheer immensity of the trio's sound; Krukowski's drums in particular are HUGE here. Super powerful, blue thunder all the way.
You can also check out another Aadam tape of Galaxie 500 in Chicago from a little over a year earlier — happier times, maybe! On Fire wasn't in stores yet, but the band plays a whole bunch of that masterpiece, along with choice selections from the debut. The highlight is the roaring rendition of Jonathan Richman's "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste," with everyone bleeding in sympathy.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
The first few songs I heard from The Standby Connection (Valencia, Spain) didn't actually prepare me for what was to come. The first few songs made me think of a more indie Lemon Twigs or even The Chills ("Visions"). But then, this album turned into full-on Galaxie 500/Luna worship. Well done worship at that. I listened all the way through and then looked at the credits.
Surprise! On track 6, "MB", none other than Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips make guest appearances.
Members of The Standby Connection have also played in Polar. This is released by Spanish label No Aloha Records.
Dean Wareham — That’s the Price of Loving Me (Carpark)
Photo by Laura Moreau
Dean Wareham sat at the forefront of the slowcore movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the jangle dreaming Galaxie 500, making “quiet is the new loud” classics like This Is Our Music. His subsequent Luna rocked the 1990s a bit harder, its trance-y tunes studded with complicated guitar licks and sudden explosions of dissonance. Lately he has been spinning out sweetly breezy pop originals and covers with his wife and musical partner Britta Phillips. The constant through all this is an intriguing contrast. Wareham’s music spikes whipped cream buoyant melodies with sharp-edged guitar; his songs are placid on the surface, but prickly and intricate underneath.
That’s the Price of Loving Me is Wareham’s third solo album, a ruminative set of songs that once again taps long-time Galaxie 500 associate Kramer for production duties. It’s clearly a look back. Wareham takes a wry swipe at former Galaxie bandmates in “You Were the Ones,” (“Together we made a somnolent sound, echoes and trails from all that we found, you were the ones I had to betray”) and covers Mayo Thompson and Nico. His voice is untouched by time, still murmur-y, still unforced, a half portion of tune-ful-ness braided into spoke-sung poetry, and his guitar playing still shimmers. A clean line of electric carves through jangle in the Mayo Thompson cut “Dear Betty Baby,” just as it did in “Tugboat” some 37 years ago.
Wareham leans into a lifetime of technique in these songs. “Mystery Guest,” is built on an acrostic poem, each letter of the title another characteristic of a lost friend. And yet, while the format is somewhat fraught, the song itself is not. It sways and glistens, a bit of plucked cello lodged in translucent layers of guitar tone, the beat swirling in slow, nostalgic waltz time. Later, he pays tribute to his first love, a guitar, in “We’re Not Finished Yet,” another waltz. The details are almost sexual as Wareham enumerates all the things he’s done for his instrument. “I sanded your saddle, I polished your frets, I reamed you, I cleaned you, I have no regrets, play for me darling, and do not forget, we’re not finished now, we’re not finished yet.” Steamy, yes?
Lyrically, I like the final track best, a post-apocalyptic reverie called “The Cloud Is Coming.” It’s serene and untroubled musically, full of gentle sway, but the words are unsettling. “German shepherds from New Mexico, coming down by parachute, see the man in the mylar suit, coming here to burn and loot,” Wareham croons, and we suppress a shiver.
Musically, though, “Yesterday’s Heroes” is the best of the bunch, starting in a pensive mode but building to tidal wave crescendo of guitar sound. Wareham is, indeed, one of yesterday’s heroes, but he’s not done and by no means yesterday’s ghost.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Luna was still a trio when they recorded this debut. Ex-Galaxie 500 frontman Dean Wareham had just put together the group with drummer Stanley Demeski (ex of The Feelies) and bassist Justin Harwood (ex of The Chills), causing critics in the know to pull out the ‘indie supergroup’ label. The sound wasn’t super distant from Galaxie 500’s latter day work but Wareham’s two band mates definitely made their presence felt in the dream pop miasma.
