Springhouse >> Find the bullet, not the gun

Springhouse - "Enslave Me"

(Caroline Records, 1992)

Sick basslines, passionately cryptic vocals ("All makes my heart yearn for a beach where we burn"), jangly-yet-intense guitars (with a roughly-strummed acoustic guitar hidden in the mix too), a minimalist guitar anti-solo, choppy drumming, even some EBow drones... This song has it all.  Even the album title, Postcards From The Arctic, is a champ.  The band was even on one of the most prominent indies of the era, yet they languish in near-total obscurity to this day.

The other essential songs on this album are "Asphalt Angels," "Ghosts," and "Shattering Cold."

Back cover of CD; credited in booklet as "1910 Arctic expedition photograph by 'Unknown'"

Drummer Jack Rabid (presumably a pun on "Jackrabbit") is one of the most bestest dudes in indie / punk music history, having published his influential zine The Big Takeover since the early '80s.  One of the things he did that people like myself will always want to buy him a beer for is to champion the shoegaze / dream pop bands as they were coming out of England and later the U.S. and other places.  He was/is a massive fan of The Chameleons, Catherine Wheel, The Sound, The Comsat Angels, Swervedriver, For Against, Hüsker Dü, Ride, Kitchens Of Distinction, The Wipers, etc.  For example, in 1997, he chose Catherine Wheel's Adam And Eve as album of the year over Radiohead's much-touted OK Computer.  I think that C.W. album is non-amazing, but still, anything that knocks Radiohead down a notch is great by me.  (I believe he also chose C.W's Happy Days as album of the year in '95 over Radiohead's The Bends.)  And I think he was the author of the article that got me into Feverdream in '98 or '99.  And believe me, almost no one else was writing about Feverdream then, or ever.  Jack was in a punk band called Even Worse in the early '80s and named his zine after the famous Bad Brains song, but like I said, he later branched out into lots of other, more mature styles of music.  If you're into the Blowtorch Baby aesthetic of music, you've probably come across an occasional review of his that I've cited from AllMusic Guide or Trouser Press.  About 6-7 years ago I put together a long-ass playlist of songs to burn onto CD-Rs for him, but I figured he had probably already heard most or all of them, so I never followed through with it.

Bassist Larry Heinemann has (or had?) a lucrative side gig with Blue Man Group.  His big, round bass tone was Springhouse's secret weapon.  Mitch Friedland played the guitar and did all the vocals, which is quite a demanding task in a "power trio."

There's a nice Springhouse fansite that summarizes them thusly: "Springhouse is an American band, although you might not guess it from their strong UK influences... Springhouse songs have one foot grounded solidly in early 80s post-punk and one floating in ethereal guitar-swirl heaven. Their earlier material tends to be more driving and energetic, while their later material is more soothing, eerie, and reflective. Power and beauty. That's Springhouse... Sadly, Springhouse disbanded shortly after Postcards was released. They reformed briefly in 1994 in order to open for the American leg of the Mark Burgess And The Sons Of God tour. After the tour, they disbanded again."  They reformed for a new album a few years ago, but I haven't heard it, since I'm not really into "reunion albums."  Some recent reunion albums by Springhouse's peers have been good (For Against) and some have been bad (The Verve).

Speaking of slavery, I mentioned a little while back that the first person in my family emigrated here in 1903, some 38 years after slavery ended in America.  I'm quite proud of that fact & just wanted to point it out in black & white for those of you who skipped the SAT.  I'm also quite self-conscious of the lack of non-white artists on this blog, but I'm trying very hard to fix that.  The problem is that the vast majority of my favorite bands with black members have been on major labels, so I simply can't post them, and I don't know of many, say, Mexican shoegaze bands or Cambodian ambient dudes or Inuit noise rockers.  Oh well, music has no color since it's just an invisible entity.  Carry on...

Time-lapse of ocean currents looks like a living Van Gogh painting

Planets with similar climates: The Chameleons - "Return Of The Roughnecks" (1985), Adorable - "Crash Sight" (1992), The Black Watch - "Come Inside" (1994), The Sound - "Burning Part Of Me" (1984), Catherine Wheel - "Waydown" (1995), Verve - "All In The Mind" (1992), Spy Vs. Spy - "Injustice" (1985), Hüsker Dü - "Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely" (1986).