Shampoo Banana [2018] - Digitalia Records
Artist: Digitalia Records
Album: Shampoo Banana (Single)
Year: 2018
Label: Santa Rosa Records - 13
Format: CD (Scratch 'N Sniff)
Track-list:
- Shampoo Banana
- Brimstone
Companies:
Polehouse: Recorded at, Mixed at
Personnel:
Eureka Brown: Vocals, Strings, Keyboards, Turntablism
Elmo Townsend: Bass, Programming
Beat Sinclair: Drums, Percussion
© 2018 Digitalia Records. All rights reserved. Written, Performed, & Recorded by Eureka Brown, Elmo Townsend, & Beat Sinclair at Polehouse.
Notes: A limited edition of cassettes was released in conjunction with the banana scented CD by Santa Rosa, a tiny label out of Texas best known for it's participation in Cassette Store Day 2018, as covered by BrooklynVegan. A more developed album version of Shampoo Banana made Paradiso.
Related: I have a mixtape in progress of 80s music from CU.
Although we were involved mostly during the middle of the 00s, with bands like Headlights, The Blackouts, and Shipwreck, being a senior-most millennial taken in by the Gen Xers, I've been in it since 96; my first keg show was a mid 90s Pi Omega formal. And while having role models like Hum, Poster Children, Lovecup, and Swoon, certainly instills one thoroughly with the spirit of the 90s, if you hung around the scene enough you'd end up mingling with those who'd been involved even since its proto-grunge beginnings. I worked for Phil Strang, of The Rocking Clones, at the campus Record Service, whose compilation was a major predecessor to Buttons: From Champaign To Chicago, and played the last In-Store there with Joe Martin, of The Beauty Shop, after 34 years of business in CU. The Clones' Edible Records also released The Outnumbered, and a phenomenal 7 inch too, from Erin Isaac.
Related: I have a mixtape in progress of 80s music from CU.
Although we were involved mostly during the middle of the 00s, with bands like Headlights, The Blackouts, and Shipwreck, being a senior-most millennial taken in by the Gen Xers, I've been in it since 96; my first keg show was a mid 90s Pi Omega formal. And while having role models like Hum, Poster Children, Lovecup, and Swoon, certainly instills one thoroughly with the spirit of the 90s, if you hung around the scene enough you'd end up mingling with those who'd been involved even since its proto-grunge beginnings. I worked for Phil Strang, of The Rocking Clones, at the campus Record Service, whose compilation was a major predecessor to Buttons: From Champaign To Chicago, and played the last In-Store there with Joe Martin, of The Beauty Shop, after 34 years of business in CU. The Clones' Edible Records also released The Outnumbered, and a phenomenal 7 inch too, from Erin Isaac.
While the Clones don't have a track on the Record Service comp, they're included on the Pogo one from 82. I was in the Mus 134 Intro Recording Studio class at Pogo with Mark Rubel, that recorded Rectangle, working, indirectly, with Rick Valentine and Matt Talbott, on Polar Bear and The Last Custard Stand. I'm not sure if individual students are named in the liner notes (I'm still trying to get my hands on a copy), but the Octopus review did make mention of the class, so I'm thinking it's entirely possible. At any rate, I wound up in the credits of Lanterna's Sands, along with Mark Rubel, a few years later—Henry Frayne was one of the best musicians in CU in the 1980s, and he stayed active over the following thirty years. His ¡Ack-Ack! bandmate Brendan Gamble used Studio B at Private, to mix one of our songs, when we lived next door. I had no idea Gamble was the first drummer for Poster Children, but John Pines worked with everyone in town, going way back.
He engineered Record Service's comp, and even worked with Champaign (I met Talbott and Jay Bennett each, while paying rent). Rocky Maffit, from Champaign, had an older band called Mosaic, and my old man took the cover shot for their album. Champaign's offshoot act, Race, is included in this playlist, and he also played percussion with Rocking Clones. I grew up on the same block as the old Parasol on Lynn St., and left demos on Last Gentlemen Michael Roux's desk. Geoff Merritt signed my paycheck, when I worked at Paradiso, with Mike Clayton from Hot Glue Gun and Mad Science Fair. Hot Glue Gun had a split 7 inch they did with Lonely Trailer, whose discography reaches back into the 80s...
I've written about this kind of stuff in general before, but now I'm organizing the music itself into something presentable. I'm collecting mostly 45s, of tracks that don't "exist" online; as my collection grows, then so too will this playlist. With comps like Strum & Thrum, and Buttons putting Champaign on the map, it's time for a retrospective CU exclusive update:
Shampoo Banana: X Marks The Spot - Hidden Nuggets From The MTV Generation (A Eureka Brown Dub, 3/3/22)
The Outnumbered - You're Not Free (Be Warm Soon, 1983), The Vertebrats - Any Day Now (Stabs In The Dark, 1982), Poster Children - The Non-Reggae Song (Light Into Dark, 1989), Reaction Formation – Looking At You (Looking At You / Today, 1986), Didjits – One Dead Hippy (Signifies My GO-T, 1985), The Martyrs - Only Girl (The Martyrs, 1982), ¡Ack-Ack! – Another Face (Another Face, 1985), The Rocking Clones - (Love in the) Twilight Zone (Twilight Zone / Kidnapped, 1982), Erin Isaac – Rain Rain (Rain Rain, 1983), Turning Curious – Area (Soul Light Season, 1985), Big Daddy Sun And The Outer Planets – (What A) Rocket (Out Here In Space, 1983), Race – Show Me The Way (Show Me The Way, 1982), Combo Audio – Stand! (Action Mix) (Stand!, 1986), Last Gentlemen – One Possession (Last Gentlemen, 1985), Nines - Holiday (Stabs In The Dark, 1982), Lonely Trailer – Rabbit (I Know What I'm Doing, But You Don't Think So, 1989), Hum - Jesus Wants You (Is Like Kissing An Angel, She Said, [Cassette self-released in 1990 - precise date unknown. Recorded in Steve Albini's basement studio])
#protogrunge #powerpop #newwave #synthpop
Joe Martin (paperdrums) did a good job conveying once, just how many bands have come out of CU, circa 2003 on Opening Bands / General Banter / Re: CU Band Dictionary (every letter of the alphabet has several different acts, and the list is only partial—PS: "Q is for... ?" Quackatron)
The Outnumbered - You're Not Free (Be Warm Soon, 1983), The Vertebrats - Any Day Now (Stabs In The Dark, 1982), Poster Children - The Non-Reggae Song (Light Into Dark, 1989), Reaction Formation – Looking At You (Looking At You / Today, 1986), Didjits – One Dead Hippy (Signifies My GO-T, 1985), The Martyrs - Only Girl (The Martyrs, 1982), ¡Ack-Ack! – Another Face (Another Face, 1985), The Rocking Clones - (Love in the) Twilight Zone (Twilight Zone / Kidnapped, 1982), Erin Isaac – Rain Rain (Rain Rain, 1983), Turning Curious – Area (Soul Light Season, 1985), Big Daddy Sun And The Outer Planets – (What A) Rocket (Out Here In Space, 1983), Race – Show Me The Way (Show Me The Way, 1982), Combo Audio – Stand! (Action Mix) (Stand!, 1986), Last Gentlemen – One Possession (Last Gentlemen, 1985), Nines - Holiday (Stabs In The Dark, 1982), Lonely Trailer – Rabbit (I Know What I'm Doing, But You Don't Think So, 1989), Hum - Jesus Wants You (Is Like Kissing An Angel, She Said, [Cassette self-released in 1990 - precise date unknown. Recorded in Steve Albini's basement studio])
#protogrunge #powerpop #newwave #synthpop
Joe Martin (paperdrums) did a good job conveying once, just how many bands have come out of CU, circa 2003 on Opening Bands / General Banter / Re: CU Band Dictionary (every letter of the alphabet has several different acts, and the list is only partial—PS: "Q is for... ?" Quackatron)