The Sexual Side Effects "An Hour Ago"

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The Sexual Side Effects
High Maintenance
CD EP
(Effective Entertainment, 2012)

As I've written plenty of times before, I love bargain bins and free bins. A couple of weeks ago, I was in a local shop and spotted the debut EP by local combo The Sexual Side Effects sitting on a shelf of free stuff. I'd heard of them, but knew nothing about them other than leader Amber Taylor is a trans woman, i.e. the oft ignored and/or maligned T in LGBT. Now, in the afternoon, I often play fetch with the doggie while I hang out on the deck and listen to CDs, so that evening the two of us gave it a listen. Well, I listened and he screamed at me to throw the ball when I would pause too long after being given it (i.e., one nanosecond).

Musically, it's a bit more mainstream than my usual tastes, but after the second listen, the songs had wormed their way into my head quite successfully. In fact, it was a tough decision which song to feature, as I dig all of them.

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NOTA BENE: The top Buy MP3 button will take you to the link for the song on Bandcamp, whereas the lower one will direct you to the download on Amazon. The iTunes button will, shockingly enough, take you to the iTunes link for it.

Warren Steele Stylee w/ the Strung-out Orchestra and the Crackhead Circus "II"

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Warren Steele Stylee w/ the Strung-out Orchestra and the Crackhead Circus
Songs for Lost Soul,s
CD
(self-released, 2005)

And welcome to day two of what I decided this morning will be a new Theme Week: Local to Me Week!

Warren Steele Stylee w/ the Strung-out Orchestra and the Crackhead Circus is quite a mouthful, eh? I came across a three-song sampler CDR of tracks from this album at my favorite local store back in 2006. The music therein was definitely on the . . . odd side, but I liked it. Shocking, eh? There was a little flyer for an upcoming show at the Star Bar, so I decided to check 'em out.

From the credits, it would appear that Warren did everything himself on the album, but he assembled a small ensemble for the live show. I know I enjoyed it, but all I can remember now is they were a bit more conventional in the live setting than on this utterly bizarre and wonderful CD. Also, Warren obviously got a haircut sometime between the taking of the photograph from the back cover and their show.

I reviewed this one on Amazon, by the way, something I don't do all that often. Here's what I had to say back in the early months of 2007:

Different . . .

File this somewhere between The 13th Floor Elevators, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, Amon Düül (I not II) and the Godz (the ESP band, not the metal one(s)). Droning music, unintelligible vocals and a general sense of otherness make this one of my favorite releases of 2006.

Gift Horse "Men of God"

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Gift Horse
Gift Horse
CDR EP
(self-released, 2008)

What can I say; I'm a sucker for cool type fonts. The artwork of this lil' puppy snagged my eye as I perused the free bin at my fave local store, due in large part to the font used for the band name. When I popped it in the player, I found my gut feeling was right, and 'twas a keeper. I very much dig the mellow yet heavy sounds they produce. The guitar on this track is pretty crushing in parts.

Since this intro EP, they've released a full length album, Mountain of Youth, and appeared on a compilation album put out by local institution Wuxtry Records for Record Store Day 2011, along with R.E.M. and a buncha other folks from the Athens/Atlanta nexus. I put Athens first, as that is the grounds for stomping of the Gift Horse boys. Also, I believe the Athens Wuxtry was opened before the one in Decatur, which is in the Atlanta area.

NOTA BENE: Gift Horse re-recorded two of the five songs from this EP for Mountain of Youth. This is not one of them.

Alice Texas "For the Horses"

Alice Texas Sad Days CD (Fargo Records, 2005)

I found Alice Texas's debut album, Gold, sitting in a free bin, feeling worthless and crying quietly to itself. The poor thing wasn't even in a jewel case, just a cheap plastic bag. I felt so bad for it that I promptly took it home and gave it a warm meal. I'm nice that way . . . sometimes. It turned out Alice Texas was the name of the band but the name of the leader-vocalist-guitarist-sultry-lady-in-the-picture-on-the-back-cover is Alice Schneider. Nothing against the name but Alice Texas honestly does make for a better band name. It also makes for a good city name, as they found out when some residents of Alice, Texas were a bit miffed that searches for info on the town were turning up links to the band instead. Oops.

Talk Engine "Dream Me Coupled"

Talk Engine Talk Engine CD (Engineous Productions, 2005)

Another free bin snatch, and an odd one, at that. The band name is quite appropriate, as the album is primarily blues rock with spoken word vocals rather than singing ones. It works, though! Vocalist Jackie Sheeler is an award winning poet, and she writes some pretty powerful stuff, based on this CD. Patti Smith started the same way, I believe: poet then band leader. Not that Talk Engine sound anything like Patti. Before I forget, guitarist Landru von Dige is, to use the vernacular, shit hot.

Nutchild "+[.o.] . i ° .3 . ° . ."

Nutchild Nutchild CD (self-released, 2000?)

I found this bizarre CD in the free bin at my favorite local store around a decade ago. There was no info other than the artist name on the cover, song titles on the back in spidery handwriting mixing letters and symbols with little regard to standard capitalization, and an e-mail address. I sent him a fan mail and he responded, but I lost it long ago when I moved my e-mail from one platform to another. I just did a search, though, and found his website. It's jam packed with some pretty amazing artwork, sculptures, and tattoos. Plus, if you poke around, you can find samples of more songs from this CD plus another called Ignakiiiatussin Epilektum, though I'm not sure that it's been released in physical form.

Raising the Fawn "Cableknit Clouds"

Raising the Fawn Raising the Fawn CD (self-released, 2001)

Another free bin discovery! I came across their third album, The Maginot Line, in the free bin at, naturally, my fave local shop for music fans. The cover art was intriguing and the band name . . . odd. When I got it home and into the compact disc playing device, I found it to be a worthwhile risk (hey, I coulda thrown my back out carrying it home!). The structure of the songs was a bit proggish, but it was definitely not progressive rock; 'twas more indie rock that wasn't afraid of extended musical pieces. Now that I'm thinking about it, one could possibly get away with calling them a more gentle version of Thee Speaking Canaries, whom I featured last month.

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band "Blow That Horn"

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
The Gospel Album
CD EP
(Family Owned Records, 2007)

I love bargain bins. Even more, I love free bins! My favorite local record store has both and I discovered the Big Damn Band via the free bin. I found a promo copy of their album Big Damn Nation and thought it looked interesting, I flipped it over and saw it was produced by Paul Mahern, formerly of Indiana hardcore legends the Zero Boys. It went home with me and turned out to be a nifty country-blues sorta kinda thing. Rev. Peyton sings and plays slide guitar (well, dobro), his wife Breezy plays the washboard and their cousin Aaron plays a tiny drumkit 'n' a five gallon bucket.