TeenageJesus

I saw the It Was DVD yesterday. It only runs to 14 minutes but gives you an impression of what a great live band these guys can be.

The Minutemen's Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat is my favourite SST release.

I second Paganicons as a really great record though.

Early Sonic and Early Branca (ie. the bands not the symphonies) equally.

I'm of the opinion that Sonic Youth became less interesting after Steve Shelly joined. Though there's no denying he's an outstanding drummer, I think Shelly's style drove them to sounding like more of a 'rock' band, whereas with Bert et al. there was more instability in the sound. Bad Moon Rising is the apogee of their originality to my ears.

Shiny Grey Monotone For folks who like Skin Graft / Amrep / Touch&Go bands and similar stuff.

Hey, happy birthday K-man!

BLE owned it!

It was great to see the place so packed out for the Stabs.

Worst hangover in about a year now.

Norther, I used the term counterculture to broaden the scope of my point beyond the independent music community. I guess it can be a vague term but for the purpose of this discussion it was meant to imply creativity that eschews commercial priorities in favour of an independent/underground community.

i personally beleived capitalism is protected from all forms of counter culture

Interesting statement. If you mean that changing the way we live and create is insufficient on its own to tear the head off the ruling class, then I agree. But if you mean capitalism is so ideologically hegemonic that oppositional ideas will never gain traction, I disagree. Also, having alternative creative communities gives many of us a space to stay sane, which without our own efforts capitalism would not provide!

Without wanting to sound clumsily earnest, I agree with Frankie and think its a really good time to be involved in DIY music and counterculture.

One thing I suspect is that the corporate grunge explosion of the early nineties undermined some DIY scenes for many years. I'm know a HC element was immune to this, but certainly allot of indie kids would have formed bands with an automatic consideration of what label they were going to get signed to etc. I think much of that has gone now and our creative communities are all the healthier for it.

Ha! I didn't know X (Japan).