Birdcrash= The Go Team Seaweed beat happening K Records
$
28
$ 28
Sold For
Feb 1, 2011
Sold Date
Jan 25, 2011
Start Date
$ 13
Start price
8
Number Of Bids
USA
Country Of Seller
eBay
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Description
Various- Birdcrash cassette [Go Team/Oklahoma Scramble/Spook & The Zombies] (K Records)
Very rare 1988 cassette from K Records showcasing 3 bands including the legendary The Go Team and Seaweed's Aaron Stauffer's Spook & The Zombies. This is early pre-singles/pre-Kurt Cobain/pre-The Legend Go Team.Most of the music here is in line with the late 80's/early 90's K Records sound pioneered by Beat Happening; somewhat spare, somewhat twee and wrought with child-like innocence. K Records later released works from The Melvins, Modest Mouse, Robyn Hitchcock, Kimya Dawson (Moldy Peaches), Talulah Gosh, Tiger Trap, Shonen Knife, Heavenly and many many more.
The Go Team were:
Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening/Dub Narcotic Sound System/Cool Rays/The Halo Benders/Slowpoke)
Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill/Frumpies/The Old Haunts/Spider And The Webs)
Brad Clemmons
Oklahoma Scramble were :
Jennifer Seymore
Marianne Kawaguchi
Argon Steel
Spook & The Zombies were:
Aaron Stauffer (Seaweed/My New Boyfriend)
Tracks are:
1. Crime-Stopper's Textbook (Go Team)
2. Street (Oklahoma Scramble)
3. In Love With Everybody (Spook & The Zombies)
4. Town (Oklahoma Scramble)
5. Hop On Clock (Go Team)
6. Girlfriends Don't Keep (Spook & The Zombies)
7. Cactus Bone Candy (Go Team)
8. We Fall (Spook & The Zombies)
9. Mine (Oklahoma Scramble)
1. Seasons (Spook & The Zombies)
2. Grr Tiger Grrr (Go Team)
3. Boy (Oklahoma Scramble)
4. Love Each Other (Spook & The Zombies)
5. Girl (Oklahoma Scramble)
6. Theme For An Unmade Bed (Go Team)
Mike Applestein on Writers Block said of Go Team :
Let us now observe a moment -- not one of silence, but preferably one of pure crashing joy -- to commemorate the passing of the Go Team. After five years and a bunch of cassette releases, the Olympia, WA threesome broke up this past September, following a cross-country tour. Founding member Calvin Johnson shrugs it off with a simple "Oh well, five years is pretty long for any band." But for me, having the Go Team break up is kind of like meeting this great friend at the beginning of the summer, and then having him or her move away a few months later.
The Go Team got compared to Beat Happening a lot, largely due to the obvious similarities: Calvin plays in both bands, both recorded for the K label, both hailed from Olympia, and they both cranked out their songs with an infectious, hey-kids-let's-play-band enthusiasm. But there the similarity ends, for as good as Beat Happening are (indeed, one of my very favorite bands), they have never come anywhere near the depth and diversity of the Go Team. Part of it might be due to the revolving-door lineup changes, and myriad guest stars, on each release. Each song sounded completely different. One moment they were crashing through three-chord slices of pure pop, the next moment it was several guitars interlocking and creating a quiet tension, followed by crushing, near-industrial textures.
The first Go Team project, Recorded Live at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, was literally a tape of construction sounds as recorded by Calvin, who lived across the street from the theater as it was being built. Your Pretty Guitar, with Calvin and Steve Peters, and Donna Parker Pop, with Calvin and Tobi Vail, were more song-oriented. But it was Archer Come Sparrow, released early in 1989, that really turned my head around toward the Go Team--pure, direct and utterly addictive, all for less than half the price of a CD.
The only time I got to see them live, in September of 1989, was a rock experience like few others. For this tour, the lineup was Calvin, Tobi and Billy Karren, who were already onstage by the time I made it to Maxwell's. Calvin was plucking out a simple, tinny guitar line, staring the crowd down underneath his K baseball cap. Billy was wailing away on rhythm guitar and Tobi was hitting the skins with abandon. Three very distinct personalities at work hare. Tobi and Calvin then switched places, which all three members would continue to do in between nearly every song, and things really kicked into high gear. They seemed to be playing as hard as they could, fueled by adrenaline as much as what could have been sheer nervousness. At other times, they were on the verge of falling apart completely, but amazingly stayed in control. Calvin recited Black Flag lyrics before careening into the final song, which was highlighted by Calvin and Billy throwing down their guitars and dancing wildly. Twice. And finally it was over. It all added up to a performance that not only blew away headliners Yo La Tengo, but every other band I saw in 1989. Absolutely incredible.
And as it turned out, it would be one of the last Go Team shows ever. The threesome played a few more East Coast gigs that week, drove back to Washington and disbanded. In the first issue of The Pushcart War, Frank Boscoe documents a bend that was already kind of tense before they even made it across the Delaware River. That they were so inspiring and together the night I saw them is all the more remarkable (although their CBGB show and Washington, DC gig were slightly less so, allegedly).
But the point of this article is not only to call your attention to yet another tremendous group that doesn't exist anymore, but also to spread the word about the Go Team 1989 Monthly Series of Releases. It hasn't quite worked out quite to that schedule: by the time 1989 ended, they had only managed to release nine singles. Still, many of these 45s are more than worth your time, and way cooler than that other Pacific Northwest single-of-the-month series, the Sub Pop singles club. Each record comes bagged in a clear plastic sleeve, with two songs on one side and a custom-silkscreened design on the other. In true Go Team spirit, no two in a row sport the same personnel: Tobi and Calvin play on all of them, and their musician friends stop by to sing or play.
Mike Applestein's When You Were 14 and I was 14 says of Oklahoma Scramble :
Oklahoma Scramble were an Olympia, WA band that existed for a brief time in about 1986 or 1987. Argon Steel played rhythm guitar and wrote some of the songs. Jenny Seymore sang lead vocals, wrote the songs Argon didn’t, and played lead guitar lines that corresponded exactly to her vocal lines. Marianne Kawaguchi played drums on their recordings, but not for their two live shows. Jenny’s neighbor was K/Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson; he offered to release some Oklahoma Scramble songs on a compilation cassette, Birdcrash, alongside Spook & The Zombies (Jonathan Richman-esque naiveté by Aaron Stauffer, Seaweed’s future lead singer) and instrumental tracks by the Go Team.
Although the least known of the three Birdcrash bands, Oklahoma Scramble’s five songs – almost everything they ever wrote – are the tape’s highlights. Each song has an appropriately simple one-word titles – “Boy, “Girl,” “City,” “Street,” “Mine.” Jenny’s voice is high, sweet, untrained, with a tart edge that brings to mind the Cannanes’ Frances Gibson. The bare arrangements and simple, straightforward guitar are perfectly in sync with early Beat Happening and what was once known as “love rock.” These songs sound intensely personal and private, like you the listener are almost not meant to hear them.
“Boy” and “Mine” are about crushes, longing and frustration. “City” documents a typical evening’s ambient sounds as heard from a windowless apartment (drunks in a bar; kids on skateboards; the roar of buses; police sirens; music from a car radio). “Girl” celebrates a teenage friend gone wrong. “Town,” perhaps their best songs, is a bittersweet goodbye to Olympia, capturing all the mixed feelings that go with leaving a warm but insular place (“you know I hate you I love you this town”). It’s an appropriate song for a band so of its moment. It’s even more appropriate 1997’s Go! Olympia project, a compilation cassette/guided walking tour, ends with “Town.”
Cassette is MINT- (plays great)/Cover is MINT (generic plastic case has some scuffs but the art work is MINT).
I accept payments through Paypal. I also accept payment by mail in US currancy and Checks drawn on US banks (Checks require 10 days to clear the bank). Please do not send cash by postal mail, I cannot be responsible for cash sent by mail.
Buyer pays shipping:
Air Mail To USA : $3.00
Air Mail To Canada : $4.25
Europe/Australia/NZ: $6.00
Asia: $6.00
I will ship internationally & I will provide proof of mailing but I cannot guarantee delivery overseas (Italy has been a problem for many sellers) unless the buyer elects to use international priority mailing (ask for details...coverage is limited). It is essential that you provide a clear and accurate address for mailing of a package. Domestic packages to the USA are sent with delivery tracking.
I need to be clear that I can provide proof of shipping on any package mailed, but I cannot be responsible for packages lost in the post. In order to minimize the likelyhood of lost packages I print the address from your paypal payment address and give you the oppportunity to correct the address if necessary. If you pay by postal mail, I ask that you email me your address so that I can print a label from your email.
These prices reflect Priority shipping with coverage of $63.78 added automatically up to 1 pound.
Western Europe: $23.00
Asia : $22.00
Australia: $21.00
New Zealand: $19.50
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