So today I get an email from an old friend and my collaborator in the magazine PRAISE BOB, which was published from 1993-1995 and distributed in Ann Arbor, MI, and Savannah, GA. It has been available here on the net for some years now as well.
At 02:05 PM 2/12/2007, Christian wrote:
Hey, do you remember the name of that wall of noise band we saw play at the Blind Pig?
I started thinking it was "Math" but that was probably just a band that was on their label. Then I recalled that Bob the Pharmacist once reviewed them in PRAISE BOB. So, I dig up the old review. http://www.lavondyss.com/zines/iss07/is0704.html
Just a reference to go on, the label name, Bulb Records. Fortunately, the Internet cooperates and I turn up a Bulb Records website. The band is "Couch." You can get the album that defines their career here halfway down the page: http://users.tmok.com/~bulb/bulbprod.html
COUCH- "Glass Brothers" (BLB-041) CD Full length CD documenting the extensive career of the legendary Couch musical ensemble. Perhaps no other band has explored the horizons of modern music like they have, blending elements of modern rock, Cambodian folk sounds, and street sensibilities. These veterans of the midwest experimental scene are likely to be listed as one of the ten most influential bands of the century. Don't miss the legend. $10.00
They also did a 7 inch, which I think I still have in my attic somewhere: COUCH - "s/t" (BLB-026) 7" - The band that made men men and women men. These three Michigan heart-throbs know what it's like to be iconoclastic. Contains the hits "Hater of Couch", "Green and Red Look Alike", "The Coffe' Gun", and "(Is This) Time Travel Man". Makes Machester look like Yazoo City. Contains a member of SKINK and CORNELIUS GOMEZ so you have to buy it. OUT OF PRINT
Bulb Records has some mp3s available for some of their bands. You should check them out, Ass Baboons of Venus in particular. http://users.tmok.com/~bulb/MP3.html
Signing off,
~ Hodester
Christian replies:
There's a flood of memories. I'm surprised that Bulb Records is still in operation. I remember meeting that friend of Marshall's with the records he gave us.
After checking out the website I recalled some of the bands and I looked on eMusic for them. Searches for 'Prehensile Monkeytailed Skink', 'Mr. Velocity Hopkins', & 'Couch' turned up nothing. There is a 'Couch' band but they're from Germany and formed in the mid nineties.
They have a lot of links that don't work on the website and their artist are still of dubious quality. Even with that said I think you need to purchase the 'Mind Flayer' album.
MIND FLAYER "Take Your Skin Off" CD (BLB085) - Mind Flayer is the synthesis of Mr. Brinmann (Meerk Puffy, Force Field, MC Brinkmandibles, Danse Asshole) and B. Chippendale (Lightning Bolt). Like having your brain sucked out at the bottom of a dungeon, Mind Flayer rip and tear at your psyche with psionic skill and power. "Take Your Skin Off" captures the band like no other release they have done before, a complete record with connections to the atral plane. Get out you Players Handbook and study up on your illithid interpretation techniques.
The reason I was inquiring about Couch was that I came across a band named Murzbow that sounded similar to them. I didn't think it was them but I didn't want to cloud your thinking with another name.
Cheers, Christian
