Remembering FLNL and Puller

Once or twice a year I get into these serious fits where I listen to a lot of For Love Not Lisa and, by extension, Puller.

For Love Not Lisa --
- two full-length albums (Merge, 1993, and Information Superdriveway, 1995)
- a compilation of b-sides and alternate takes (The Lost Elephant, 1999)
- and at least one EP in there somewhere.
Formed in Oklahoma City in the early '90s. Broke up soon after releasing Information Superdriveway.

Vastly overlooked, supremely underrated. They were a '90s band, to be sure, playing '90s music. They rode that wave of post-Nevermind grunge/alternative rock that infiltrated every college radio station and cassette mix tape between Seattle and DC, but their songmanship was extraordinary. Everything had to be as serious and as passionate as possible, and it came off (in these days before inherent irony ruined everything about loud music) completely sincere. More post-grunge than anything, the music stops and starts and climaxes and crescendos and, when given enough running time, wanders in and out of semi-lucid dream states.

If there's any wide-spread familiarity of the band at all it's from their appearance on the soundtrack to The Crow. In fact, "Slip Slide Melting" is playing in a bar in one of the scenes. But other than that, despite their dedicated following, FLNL was never given the promotion they needed and deserved.



Frontman Mike Lewis, bassist Clint McBay, and guitarist Miles went on to play in...

Puller
- three full-length albums
- one live release (Live @ Tomfest, 1999)
- and a split EP with Roadside Monument (1997)
Until their final album Puller still benefited from Lewis' impassioned vocals and the plowing guitars that gave FLNL their signature sound. However, Puller songs were not laden with so much heavy atmosphere. Lyrically the songs still came from someplace angsty, but there's an unpinpointable lightness (or is it just maturity?) that serves as an almost unconscious undercurrent to the music.

...Except it's not so subtle in "#1 Fan". That song is just silly.

Puller never made it onto any cult movie soundtracks, but they've been on just about every Tooth & Nail compilation album produced between 1997 and 2000. Songs From the Penalty Box, anybody?

Puller's final album, What's Mine at Twilight (2001), saw the band reduced to a Mike Lewis/drummer Geoff Riley duo (although Miles makes a songwriting credit). This one lacks the punch and swagger of all other Lewis-related rock projects and is a Puller release in name only. It is still special in its own sort of way, mostly because it contains LOVE SONGS. I actually find it very accessible and spin it more than I do the other albums.

Anyway, following the demise of Puller, Mike Lewis released a solo album. I remember listening to one track from it and being very disappointed. But that was one listen to one song, and that was years ago. I'm more than willing to give the album a full chance, if I can ever find the dang thing.

Lewis went on to form Zambooie.com with Bruce Fitzhugh, a company devoted to merchandising shirts and stuff for bands (or something like that). Bill Power is involved now, and if you enjoyed Puller ten years ago you were probably also jamming to Blenderhead. Lewis and Power are actually doing very good things at the moment.

I've only seen Puller once. It was at Cornerstone '01. Stupidly I never took any pictures. The band was promoting WMaT, and rather than playing the softer intimate love songs they (a full live band, none of this wimpy duo stuff) blasted the rock, shooting energy through their instruments and bodies like this was the last show they were ever going to play, hitting up a few of their old favorites, engaging their sweaty audience, ensuring that no matter what they played or where they played it nobody would forget the time spent with Puller. I can only assume the same would have been said for any given FLNL performance.



For Love Not Lisa - Coming Into Focus
[also, the music video for this song is infinitely entertaining]

For Love Not Lisa - Lucifer For Now

Puller - Light In Eve's Time (Live @ Tomfest 99)

2000-2009:10-1

So here we are. FINALLY. My top ten releases from the years 2000 to 2009. Keep in mind that this is a subjective list of favorites, and I don't really care if you think I messed it up.

These final ten are comprised of an internationally diverse group of musicians. Music is, after all, a medium unrestricted by the boundaries of coherent language. Included here are a bunch of Canadians, Icelanders, Frenchies, a couple of Italians, our Japanese vocalist again, and I think Shelby Cinca was born in Romania or something. And then there are the Americans, of course. Loud and proud.


10) Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
Though all three of her full-length releases are outstanding, this one stands out a bit more than the others. You might remember the "Back to Me" single, and it is by far the friskiest song on the album. The other tracks are emotionally heavy and vocally harmonized to perfection. Though lyrically focused, the instrumentation is solid and the bittersweet slide guitar bends the music into what sad country songs should be.
Kathleen Edwards - Back to Me
Kathleen Edwards - Copied Keys

9) Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly
A little bit aristocratic, a little bit arty, a little bit rock 'n' roll, Misery is completely magnificent. The vocals (shared by Kazu Makino and Amedeo Pace) are breathy yet somehow also squeaky, if that makes any sense. Atmospherically lush by way of strings and organs, Misery is a dreamy voyage to familiar places you've never been.
Blonde Redhead - Misery is a Butterfly


8) Frodus - And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea
From the grinding bass that opens track one to the calming afloat-at-sea instrumental at the end of the record, this, Frodus' final studio album, is their magnum opus. It is all at once angular, blistering, paranoid, and post-apocalyptic. Labeled "spazz-core" early on, the band takes the genre to unforeseen and awesome (as well as awe-some) levels. Though completed in 1999, it was not released until 2001 and is thus technically an aughties album.
Frodus - The Earth Isn't Humming
Frodus - There Will Be No More Scum
Frodus - Red Bull of Juarez

7) Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
One day it suddenly dawned on me that I had never heard a BSS song I didn't like. You Forgot It In People is a fantastic collection of songs that I really truly don't not like. It's chill, but still incredibly noisy. This is headphone music as there's a lot going on. The album credits also read like a Canadian Indie roll-call.
Broken Social Scene - KC Accidental


6) twothirtyeight - Regulate the Chemicals
Originally released in 2000 on Takehold Records (oh, the memories), Chemicals was re-released by Tooth & Nail and features two additional songs, neither of which sound like they should be on the album but are good songs nonetheless. The original tracks are angsty, but not in the annoying teenage way. More in the awkward young-adult way where the future is wide open yet unattainable. Personally I've attached many fond memories to this album and it will always remain an all-time favorite.
twothirtyeight - The Songs Will Write the Words

5) Sigur Rós - ( )
Probably the most pretentious records ever. None of the tracks were named upon the album's release, the album's title is unpronounceable, and all of the lyrics are sung in a made-up language. It's kind of ridiculous, and if the songs weren't as absolutely beautiful as they are then it would be an exercise in silliness. But these songs are bucolic and hopeful, building layers upon layers until the idyllic has turned into something triumphantly grandiose.
Sigur Rós - Untitled #4 (aka Njósnavélin)
Sigur Rós - Untitled #8 (aka Popplagið)

4) Norma Jean - Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child
Chug-chug-weee-weee'd to perfection. Botch clone? Perhaps. But I find Norma Jean deliciously more chunky, and when Bless the Martyr was released all the xJCHCx kids desperately needed an anthemic 'core album to get behind. It has since moved from trendy to endearing and will never be forgotten, a testament to the music's craftsmanship and the hookiness of each songs' "key moment."
Norma Jean - Memphis Will Be Laid to Waste

(Holy Cameo Appearances, Batman!)

3) Iron & Wine - Woman King
Either a short album or a long EP, Woman King is six songs of woodsy southern gothic folksiness. More upbeat than his prior releases (and significantly more hi-fi), Samuel Beam continues to explore his (your? my?) disquieted soul. Not long enough to bore you, not short enough to tease you, Beam has crafted (perhaps with an antique chisel) one of the best collection of songs ever.
Iron & Wine - Woman King

2) Suffering & the Hideous Thieves - Rats in Heaven
Gritty and real. Like, REALLY real. Jeff Suffering takes an honest look at the dark soul of man, revealing what undeserving creatures humans are. But found at the lowest point is redemption, and a solemn eleven-and-a-half minute rendition of "Amazing Grace" concludes the album. I am blown away each and every time I hear these songs.
Suffering & the Hideous Thieves - The Collector
Suffering & the Hideous Thieves - The Potters Field

1) Comity - The Deus Ex-Machina as a Forgotten Genius (Andy Warhol Sucks)
So my favorite album from the aughts comes from France. A French metal band, no less. Only seven tracks in length, the band packs as much metal and as many metallic genres into these songs as they can. The end result is ambitious, complex, and epic. Listening to the entire album at once would be akin to being a part of an hour-long car crash. Even hearing out just one track is a serious endeavor as most push the ten-minute mark. There is a parental advisory that accompanies Ex-Machina, but it's probably because the metal of Comity is capable of exploding a child's head.
Comity - Alleluia Versus Amen (As Eros Kills)

2000-2009:20-11

20) Neko Case - Blacklisted
Even those tired of country music will stick around to listen (really listen) to Case's resounding and haunting vocals. Echoes, slide guitars, vocal pipes, and basically everything are perfectly utilized to create an atmospheric album culled from a sepia-toned past located somewhere between the Appalachians and the American mid-west.
Neko Case - Deep Red Bells

19) Pedro the Lion - Winners Never Quit
A David Bazan project through-and-through (he performs all the instruments and wrote all but one of the songs) Winners spills the details of a cautionary tale full of political scandal, murder, familial turmoil, and redemption (with a Bazan twist, naturally). Fun for everybody!
Pedro the Lion - A Mind of Her Own
Pedro the Lion - Never Leave a Job Half Done


18) Aaron Sprinkle - The Kindest Days
Known primarily for his production work and his 1990s contributions to Poor Old Lu, people forget that his solo stuff is marvelous. So dig this overlooked gem out of some discount CD bin somewhere and marvel at it. Elliott Smith-ish, and hooky as heck.
Aaron Sprinkle - Genevieve

17) Mason Jennings - Boneclouds
Jennings does what he does best here, and that's croon the loveliest love songs this side of Neil Young balladry. He has the sense of rhythm and positivity that will draw comparisons to Jack Johnson, but here he puts together something very solid without losing the folkiness that makes him so appealing in the first place.
Mason Jennings - Moon Sailing On the Water

16) Elliott Smith - Figure 8
I hear a lot of White Album in there, that oximoronic subtle lushness. Songs here are divided into two categories: the acousties and the rockies. The acousties sound bare despite the studio effects and are disarming in their ability to twist the hearer's emotions (even the bouncy acousties). And the rockies... well, they just freakin' rock.


15) ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes
Pitchfork gave Source Tags a rare 10/10, for whatever that's worth. I give it a high-five for devastating the way I think about music. It is agitation musically embodied without any of the cliches that riddle rock and roll.
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Relative Ways

14) Bob Dylan - Love & Theft
Released on September 11, 2001, the fact that this album was not ignored in the ensuing months is a testament to how good it is. Dylan voice is froggier, but the man himself is just as wily as ever. Hear him swagger them Delta blues. Feel some banjo-pickin'. Lap up the mud.
Bob Dylan - High Water (For Charley Patton)

13) Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
Listening to this album (save for the couple fun upbeat tunes) is like putting your heart in a vise and having your every human failing turn the crank as they're revealed to you. Of course, Edwards does this with musical sensibilities of a morose Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen, but with sultrier vocals.
Kathleen Edwards - Goodnight, California

12) Royksopp - The Understanding
There's some pop in there, but this album isn't electro-pop. But neither is it convoluted electronica. It's butter-smooth and open like a clear winter sky. The Norwegian duo's strength relies on their mid-tempo output, but there's subtle genius in the slower and faster songs as well.


11) mewithoutyou - Brother, Sister
This is the band's best album. Deal with it. Deal with the melancholy, deal with Jeremy Enigk dropping by to blow you away, deal with the flugelhorn, deal with interludes full of multi-colored spiders, deal with convicting lyrics, and deal with the passion with which it's all delivered.
Now watch them undermine it all with just one music video that grows increasingly more awkward as it progresses.