Friday, January 2, 2009
Creamtastic / Moving Pictures Golden Nugget: Awesome Videos of Brainiac Playing in Nashville 18 Years Ago Uploaded on YouTube
Posted by Adam Gold on Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 4:29 PM
So I was doing my daily combing of YouTube, as always, trying to find some hidden and/or new gem to distract me from my general directive of data entry. When combing I'll look out for one of two things, the first being something uniquely awesome or hilarious, the second being something that's relevant Nashville. Rarely do I find something that meets both criteria. But it's a new day and a new year, and you know what? Yahtzee! As a gracious user by the name of tinycorkscrew has uploaded two videos of the criminally under-appreciated '90s indie outfit Brainiac performing at Lucy's record shop in Nashville on Jan. 31, 1991.
It's hard to believe the golden era of indie-rock is nearly 20 years past. Brainiac was a seminal band whose cutting angular guitars, fractured rhythms and possessed vocals were the panoply of rock 'n' roll's final gasps of creativity in the '90s. Their career was cut short, tragically, by the death of lead singer Tim Taylor in 1997. This video pre-dates their debut release by two years and not only captures the formative stage of the band, but in Music City nonetheless.
If any of you reading this were actually at this show then I'd love to smoke pot with you while you tell me about it and other shows you must have seen before independent music was hi-jacked by the kitsch-obsessed laptop hackery, disco beats, '80s nostalgia, fashion-crazed '60s and '70s revivalism and phantasmic irony that suffices for a cultural zeitgeist these days. I picked up (and by picked up I mean downloaded off rapidshare) this new Hot Chip record that everyone and their mom are currently having multiples over, and you know what? Sucked!
Also, who the fuck does Greg Gillis think he is? Some people call him Girl Talk. I call him an empty spectacle. You know how if you take a road trip and end up eating inordinate amounts of fast food that give you 20-wipe truckstop shits? That's kinda what the GT album did to my brain when I listened to it. Seriously, now that this guy has managed to finagle his way into the iTunes library of every 20-something nationwide, from hipsters to frat boys, he has put this already at-risk age group in further peril. I don't think people realize the chance they are taking when they listen to Girl Talk. What if you happen to be listening to it and some unforeseen traumatic event happens, forever associating that particular track you were hearing with that experience? That means that instead of having just one song that reminds you of the event you now have 20 classic pop-hooks to conjure up the awful memory of the worst night, like EVER. I digress. Unfortunately, just as the content of this video represents a bygone era, so does the camcorder sound quality, which is a bit lacking. Still, this is quite a nugget if you ask me.
Since some of you might be hearing this band for the first time I suppose it's appropriate to give you a better fidelity (if only slightly) representation of their work. Here is the video for "Vincent Come on Down."
Comments (11)
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It's hard to believe the golden era of indie-rock is nearly 20 years past.
I tried to make this argument on an online forum the other day. I got called a troll...
Are Enon still together? High Society was a pretty good record.
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One of the greats, it's hard to believe more people do not know about and love this band. There's another, later, video of them performing at Lucy's, I can't remember if it supporting "Bonsai Superstar" or "Hissing Prigs", but it was an awesome show. "Bonsai Superstar" is a great record also, actually all their records are great and completely different from each other. "Hissing Prigs" is an absolute classic.
Enon is still together, and I believe they are still awesome.
Brainiac - One of the best bands ever in my opinion. Funny thing about that show. They sent in their demo and asked for our feedback. They even provided a feedback card for the response. I was was of the only people to respond, so they called up and asked if they could play Lucy's. I believe this was one of the very first out of town shows. They really became a great band in the years that followed and came back to Lucy's sevral more times after they "made it". Also check out Michelle wearing her RIP shirt!
Things that happened before now were/are better than things happening now.
Bands now are terrible and cant do anything right.
This goes for every band on Earth. No exceptions.
Brainiac- one of the best bands ever. I booked that show...they sent in a demo with a feedback card and I was one of the only people that actually responded. I thought they had potential, but the demo wasn't that good. I believe that show was their first out of state gig. They went on to make some great music and came back to Lucy's several times after they "made it". Also, check out that RIP shirt Michelle is wearing in th evideo, old, old school!
I was fortunate enough to see Brainiac at Lucy's in 95 or 96. It was pretty amazing. Thanks Donnie, for sending in that feedback card.
Brainiac was the greatest band in the history of rock music. And wasn't Tiny Corkscrews the band that turned into the Grief?
I used to live in Cincy back when Braniac was comin up. They were one of those bands that other bands gravitated toward immediately. They were very open and genuine, and had so much potential. Really was tragic. That said...thank you for bringing the video to my attention, I loved seeing it.
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