Digging for Something with Robin K.C.
Overlooked, underrated, over-hated or regionally specific gems.
I’m reaching out and asking writers, band members and music curators to tip us all off to their favourite underrated albums, overlooked or unfairly obscure gems… even the downright over-hated. Hopefully it’s another fun way for you to find some new-to-you music to love.
Joining me today, is Robin K.C.: member of the Rosy Overdrive discord server, bassist in Patches and Hit Self Destruct, pretentious music collector, and avid Zach Braff hater.
Check out Patches’ distorted pop tunes on Bandcamp:
And now, let’s get to their album recommendations:
Morsel - G.I.B.L.E.T. (1992)
Genre: Noise Rock
Robin K.C. says:
I find Morsel in general to be one of the most overlooked bands of the 90s. They didn’t really fit in with a lot of the prevailing trends at the time, their noise was less heavy and more disturbing. I really don’t have a point of reference to compare them to, and while a lot of hardcore Albini-core fans might be familiar with Noise Floor, I doubt most people have much time to G.I.B.L.E.T. which was released a couple years earlier on cassette. It isn’t as aggressive as Noise Floor, and alternates between a creepy style of noise, some sort of punk-prog hybrid, and it’s own style of anti-pop.
This cassette is what managed to get them signed to a label, where they became known as the band with the lady who sings through a flute, but they were one of the most raucous indie rock acts of the time and this album/EP/Whatever is fantastic.
Dan says:
Robin is right that I’m familiar with Noise Floor but hadn’t heard this one. This is really cool, wild stuff. Particularly cool how well they balance super noisy stuff with atmosphere, like on album opener “Spark Knock”. The drumming on here is particularly dope, as well.
Crispy Ambulance - The Plateau Phase (1982)
Genres: Post-Punk, Coldwave, Darkwave
Robin K.C. says:
In their time a lot of critics wrote off Crispy Ambulance as a soulless Joy Division rip off only to turn around and talk about how they were actually really good and misunderstood many o’ year later, but the damage was already done at that point.
I don’t think this album is going to seem new for a lot of people who are familiar with the long drawn out history of post-punk, but for everyone else? This is the definition of hidden gem. It is dark, gloomy, angular if you can appreciate the term, and full of space.
Dan says:
I think I may have been reading Crispy Ambulance’s name all these years as “Crispy Ambiance”. Is my brain ASMR-pilled and that’s why, or is it just my light dyslexia? Regardless, this is my first time actually sitting down and listening to them.
Didn’t realize they were a Factory Records / Factory Benelux band, to be honest. That pretty much unlocks what you can expect here, though I agree there is something interesting going on with negative space. “The Force And the Wisdom” is really cool.
Hunchback - Ugly on the Outside (2006)
Genres: Punk Rock, Surf Punk, Garage Punk
Robin K.C. says:
Have you ever wanted to listen to The Cramps mixed with Cows? No? Whatever, that’s what this album reminds me of. Chunky, hook filled, death worshiping punk with a something-billy twist. Distorted guitars, twangy leads, winding synths, and songs that alternate between thrashing screaming noise and mellow and calm.
Dan says:
I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but I thought I was getting into something more aggressive than “feelingbetterdotcom” when I first hit play. They do get there though. Naming one of your songs after Andy Milligan as well is a good way to get my attention. I particularly like the synths here!
Yellow Milk - Kite (2012)
Genres: Post-Punk, No Wave, GBVFI?
Robin K.C. says:
Oklahoma isn’t exactly known as a hub for underground music. Yellow Milk was a short lived band that existed for a few short years in the eastern half of the state, and really stood apart from what was popular at the time. You had a lot of that melodic metal hardcore stuff, and there was a thriving industrial metal scene, but what Yellow Milk offered was a very claustrophobic take on Sonic Youth, or a more jittery version of Velvet Underground, or maybe something in between.
Kite isn’t actually the first album I’d pick, but it is the only one with a Bandcamp link. If you’re going to share a hidden gem, you should at least be able to find it.
Dan says:
I might disagree about that last part - the harder it is to find and hear, the more I want to hear it! But I digress…
For genres here, I’m partially going off the band’s tags on Bandcamp. Is this GBVFI? It has that lo-fi, first takes only kind of vibe but the songs feel too sprawling to really sit comfortably in that genre of stuff… but then again I suppose some of it does (“Winter Morning”).
I think the bands Robin K.C. namechecked do as good a job as anyone could to describe this. I might add that some of this sounds like Duster trying to do an impression of GBV.
Neat stuff, regardless.
The Trend - Sgt. Pepper ll (2022)
Genres: Power Pop, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock
Robin K.C. says:
My album of the year in 2022. It is a wonderful power poppy nugget that has the most audacious title I may have ever heard. The melodies are great, the vocals are great, the whole album is great. Yeah, it is Beatlesesque but what it really reminds me of is Teenage Fanclub. Is it just me? I don’t know. It’s fresh, it is the album I’ve heard the least of these five, but it is an album that has left and impression and one I will still refer to a decade from now.
Dan says:
Listen, if your album cover references Rival Schools, I’m paying attention.
I believe I had already heard this but I didn’t give it a super solid chance at the time, so I had to revisit for this article. I also enjoy when bands pull this kind of prank, like when pop-punk band Pavid Vermin named every song on an album after Beatles tunes and wrote new songs/lyrics around those titles… to great success!
This works well too, and definitely has some post-Weezer hook-laden crunch to it (“Come Home”). Teenage Fanclub makes a lot of sense too. I always have time for this kind of thing!
That’s it, that’s all. Be excellent to one other.