Okay, folks. I'm taking a temporary change of direction. Being inundated with new toys for 2 days and writing about them for the psat week may seem like a thrilling jaunt through an innocent, childlike world, but the new plastic fumes are starting to give me growths and hallucinations that are none too pleasant. Last night, and this is no joke, I had a dream that I beat the crap out of someone for stealing a MIP Teela from me. There's many things wrong with this, the first being that I don't really care if I have a Teela or not, the second being that I'd be the last person to employ violence in any situation, and the third being that I should be dreaming about beautiful, bespectacled girls who would only SHARE their delicate Teelas with me.

So, I'm going to do something that I've wanted to do for a long time, and that thing is explore an aspect of nerd culture that a lot of common geeks don't really realize.

I've been a big proponent of indie music for years now. I caught onto it relatively late, in early college, and I've never gone back. I've spread it like a virus among friends, kinda like Heroclix and encephalitis. This interest in the obscure comes from an intense unrest about the homogenized world of MTV, and from living in a town where there's either radio static or E-Z Lissnin' crapola. I guess it's a kind of romantic notion, to be at the core of a green town where the radio plays mostly static, but it doesn't do much to expand one's musical knowledge, for good or bad. What DOES expand one's musical horizons?

For me, it was the Adventures of Pete and Pete. THIS was a pretty geeky, excellent show where nearly all of the incidental music and themes were pulled from obscure, indie-label stuff, and it made all the difference in creating the atmospherics of a warm, quirky suburb. I guess that if you were to pick out a genre of music for Putnam Valley New York, my good ol' hometown, the sound would be unimportant. The important thing would be that the musicians played electric guitar and had big hair. Something about this town screams (or perhaps blasts a power chord to the effect of) 'fifteen years too late'. For all of its charm, it's an isolation chamber. However, I'm not reviewing my town - I'm exploring the vast, quirky world of indie music.

Just the music. Not the 'obscurer-than-thou' world of indie music culture, nor the politics. Just what I know and what I like, because in talking with nerds and geektypes, I've realized that they listen to some pretty godawful tunes. Yes, you. Drop your Whitesnake and Similar Punk/Ska Band #35. If nothing else, I'd like to put some great indie music in the spotlight for the existing audience. Music about computer camp, and riding your bike, and Boba Fett, and Superman, and robots and monsters, because it's good stuff, and you shouldn't be missing out on it. And because, well, I'm in a place where I'm regretting losing my youth.

I used to run a radio show on the New Paltz campus called Delicious Radio. I reviewed CDs for them, played old Batman radio shows from scratchy records, threw out a healthy dose of indie tunes - all before anyone on campus was awake. It was glorious. 2 hours of being alone in the booth, switching off CDs and listening to my favorite music, all the while making the rest of the building and anyone watching the recycled images on campus TV listen to the same. So, I'm no inexperienced hand at this, and I hope that I don't alienate you mainstays. Bear with me as I get back into my Delicious Radio groove with this first (and hopefully not the last) batch of Delicious Radio Reviews on ANR.

Polaris : Music from the Adventures of Pete and Pete
Mezzotint, 1999
Five word summary : 'suburban ghosts play summertime show'
Noteable tracks : Hey Sandy, Waiting for October, She is Staggering, Ashamed of the Story I Told
Geek Factor (out of 10) : 6

You know Polaris from the indellibly cool theme song to Pete and Pete, the sadly deceased show from the better days of Nickelodeon, when Mark Summers roamed free, Ren and Stimpy played daily and there was no 'Amanda Show' to be heard of. While Pete and Pete was underscored by any number of great indie bands, including a good share of the many projects of Stephen Merritt (The Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, The Sixths, and Future Bible Heroes), Polaris headed up the mix with their memorable opening. However, Polaris only existed in that suburban front lawn. There were no albums to their credit, and their real names were never clearly revealed. It was only after the fact that Mezzotint collected the Pete theme music by Polaris, and even then, the real names of the musicians were only cryptically mentioned in the album notes, along with references to 'Huss', 'Tamberelli' and 'Maronna'. I coordially invite Toby Huss to have my deformed man-babies. The strongest babies in the world.

Polaris is Mark Mulcahy, once of Miracle Legion, and as lead vocalist and songwriter for the ephemeral Polaris, he weaves an image of a quickly fading summertime afternoon. It echoes in a kind of contemplative, pleasantly lonely place, and nothing's ever been more appropriate to have meandering around in the back of your head on a good, warm day. I tend to associate albums with seasons and particular angles of daylight, so... be patient.

The album opens with the familiar track, 'Hey Sandy'. Poke around on the ol' WWW enough and you'll find some dark undercurrents to this all, as cheerful and hopeful as the whole song sounds. The lyrics are sung with enough vocal ambiguity to blur lines such as 'can you settle to shoot me?', referring to the murder of Sandy Scheuer during the Kent State massacre. I never found myself listening too acutely, being more entranced by the image of 'Mom's Plate'. Fortunately incomprehensible in the theme, (permitting it to be aired repeatedly on Nickeloden), it's one of the only occasions where Mulcahy can't be understood. He's a buzz of quick, sleepy vibratto over all of the chanting and melodic guitars of the album.

Mulcahy is often described as 'bittersweet' in his lyricism, and I don't think that I can improve upon that. The lyrics are a range of lonely emotions and innocence spread across relaxed optimism. Do I sound artsy enough yet?

Slightly related to this all, Pete and Pete bootleg DVDs are, in fact, available for purchase. You know, if you can't wait for the real thing... and I can't. More details on that later, once I can give 'em a test run. I'm giving Polaris' Songs From the Adventures of Pete and Pete a smooth five stars out of five. Of course, I'll only be bringing up things that I really dig for the first few music reviews anyhow, so expect a lot of fives. This is a must have geek album. It'll improve your disposition, you damned misanthropes. I decapitated five percent less bunnies after hearing this album. Honestly, I'm a lot more amusing when I'm being heartless.

Elysian Fields : Bleed Your Cedar
Radioactive, 1996
Five word summary : 'smoky evening of underwater bliss'
Noteable tracks : Mermaid, Fountains on Fire, Star, Lady in the Lake
Geek Factor (out of 10) : 1
[website]

Okay, I admit it - this album isn't very geeky at all, but I think that it's an essential one to include in any music collection that you want to use to seduce the ladies. Not that I used it to that end - I lost my virginity to Tori Amos' Under the Pink on a warm February day, o so many years ago. So, um... stop asking me about that. Honestly, geeks need all the help that they can get, and if your lady isn't affected by this sultry vocals of miss Jen Charles, she just might be dead. If that's your thing, more power to ya, and this is a pretty good litmus test. It's an all-purpose album.

Take fuzzy guitars and exotic instruments, bright shocks of disjointed piano, play it all deep and low with whisper-quiet subtleties, and wrap it all up with the smoky, alluring voice of Jen Charles - which oft sings hyper-poetically about sex, anatomy and dismemberment. This is the vast, slow place that is Elysian Fields, and it's something that I fell asleep to nearly every night for years on end. Falling asleep to an album doesn't mark it as a boring one, but it does mark it as an atmospheric one. This is an album that you listen to with your eyes closed, letting all kinds of bluegreen things happen. It's not so atmospheric that the melodies are unimportant - on the contrary, they're complex, jazzy numbers, like a lounge gig gone all sexified.

Just so you know, because I know that my welfare is all you think about, I still have to listen to something, ANYTHING, as I fall asleep every night. My grandmother instilled a fear of both burglars and fire in me at a very young age (which I later compounded with my self-taught terror of alien abductions) that has kept me awake for all hours of the night for as long as I can remember. Living in a creaky house didn't much help dispel the illusions of tiny, webbed footsteps drawing closer to probing my butt. I had a plan though - I'd trade them info for my anal purity. I'd tell them everythng that they wanted to know. God please keep away from my danger zone.

If you hear nothing else in your life, you have to hear Mermaid, the final sight of the album as it quietly drifts out of sight. Suddenly, all of the fuzz and smoke clears, revealing a solo, softened guitar and Jen's clear voice, spinning a narrative about the romance between a mermaid and the impossible above-water world. It's not the only nautical theme used throughout the course of their albums, as the album begins with the aquaeous tale of the Lady in the Lake, and later albums detail a sailor finding a corpse at sea and making love to it. This is the sound of romance, folks.

I give Bleed Your Cedar another clear 5 out of 5. You've never heard anything like this, so go and find a copy.

First String Teenage High : The Songs of Tullycraft Played by the People Who Aren't
BumbleBear / AAJ
Five word summary : 'nerds use powers for good'
Noteable tracks : 8 Great Ways / Murder Beach, Miss Douglas County / Genoe
Geek Factor (out of 10) : 7

Here's the album that provoked the inspiration to kick off the music reviews. While it may not be the most obvious place to start, exploring cover songs of a band you've never heard of by a bunch of other people you've never heard of, it's still a great album that you should hear.

Tullycraft are three albums and a ton of singles into their career, and while the next album will probably be their last, a tribute to them is not unfitting. They're a genius section of the indie scene, with lyrics hearkening back to themes of beach party shenanigans without the campy melodies, as well as the better memories of youth. Somehow, the same lyrics sung to 'modern' tunes makes them acceptable to my computerized, childlike cyber-brain. So, this is what this album based on, and you can't sing a song about Superboy and Supergirl without being geeky, nor can you include a hidden track on your album which is an answering machine message about borrowing a Sega to make it past the 'trash monster'.

Being played by an array of over 22 different bands, it ranges across a whole spectrum of the world of indie sound. Pipper the Kissing Cat comes in with lo-fi, electronic stuff, Gang Wizard blasts out an incomprehensible wall of noise from across a crowded theatre, Genoe and Seasick Crocodile spread out some warm acoustic guitars, and My Place in Space makes a good example of the cliche that indie singers can't, well, sing - all done in good humor, though. All of these bands are ones that I want to hunt down and hear more from. No matter what is being played or who is playing it, it's clear that Tullycraft was an inspiration, or is at least strongly admired by, these other bands. Pseudo-poor recording quality throughout doesn't detract from the excellent interpretations - it just enhances the indie charm. These are 22+ bursts of mini-songs played with great style.

We're far from the world of uber-produced and polished albums here, but you just may find something that you like. Overall, it's less energy than Tullycraft themselves, but the artistry and creativity makes it worthwhile, and it's been stuck on repeat here for weeks. Again, five out of five.

So, I hope I've done my small part in education our geek audience towards a secret cache of tunes that they'll appreciate. Oh, there'll be more - concept albums based entirely around comics, a parade of songs about superheroes, and a fair sampling of bands that are so hardcore geek that they compose bouncy ballads to their Commodore 64s.

So, if you will, let me know your reaction to this! Tell me if this is far from my arena, or if you feel smarter and hipper now, or if you think I should go stab myself with something rusty. eMail collin[at]allnerdreview.com. Enjoy the tunes!

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