The Rich Girls Are Weeping

07 August 2006

What were you doing 10 years ago? Well, for Mr. Benjamin Gibbard, who turns 30 this week (happy birthday, dude!), that would have been playing the band Pinwheel. Mr. Gibbard, then performing under the moniker BenjaminD, shared lead vocal duties with Justin Kennedy, who now fronts L.A. popsters Army Navy. I'm having trouble tracking down the last names (and current band activites, if any) of bassist Brian and drummer Sean -- anyone know? Listening to this is a serious nostalgia trip -- really, really dated mid-90's proto-emo/powerpop, but still charming nonetheless. (Actually, it's kind of like listening to The Wrens' 1994 album, Silver.) Pinwheel also makes me think of Blake Nelson's novel Girl -- perhaps this is what Color Green, the band in that book, might have sounded like. [Thanks to the lovely person who ripped this to mp3 from cassette and put it out on the p-to-p networks!]



Pinweel, s/t, 1996
Pinwheel -- Honey And Acetylene
Pinwheel -- Idled Drivers
Pinwheel -- Phase Shifter
Pinwheel -- Pabst
Pinwheel -- Grape Juice
Pinwheel -- Malcom McDowell

(To the kids coming from the Death Cab board -- sorry, I had a problem with my hosting service and had to take these down. Hope you can find them elsewhere!)

In other news, to answer a question posed by Travis at This Big Stereo, I am totally lovin' on the new Christina Aguilera, Back to Basics. It's one classy pop record all around, and I mean that in an utterly sincere way. I think it's really neat how there's something about the production that makes it already sound mashed-up. I mean, it makes me think of DJ Food's Raiding the 20th Century. Which kind of makes my brain explode, since the lynchpin of that piece is, of course, is Freelance Hellraiser's seminal mashup "A Stroke of Genius." (In a testament to the ephemeral nature of digital music, I seem to have misplaced my file of that track, so stream it over here.)

Some quick hits:

Shocker! Lollapalooza was well-mannered and hardly rebellious. 'Cept maybe for Patti Smith on the kid's stage. Also, we're all for convoluted, mannered writing, but what does "the buoyant, la-la-filled, cheerfully inexplicable pop-rock of the New Pornographers" mean, exactly? Is the band cheerfully inexplicable, or the music? Perhaps that was the point... Anyway, would people stop hyping Anathallo already? The last thing the indie rock sphere needs is a bunch of marching band nerds from rural Michigan with a bizzare fetish for Japanese mythology trying to be The Next Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Lloyd Webber Style. Just. Please. Stop. Already. Good thing I don't have to see them open for new TRGAW darlings The Format.

Robbie Williams' new single "Rudebox" isn't a joke. We swear, it's really good -- if you have a sense of humor about it.

Robbie Williams -- Rudebox (iPop has the Riton remix...)

Is venture capital funding for overblown rock albums the wave of the future?

And, it would seem to be Goth Week over at Stylus. (I'm sure Pinkie will have something to say about that...)

13 Comments:

Blogger Pinkie von Bloom said...

i will totally have something to say about goth week at stylus...only it might be filled with profanity and uttered under my breath into a front loading washer as i do my laundry tonight.

in other news, i am almost a year older than ben gibbard. this somehow makes me feel really, really, really old.

Monday, August 07, 2006 5:08:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

nice post but two of the links are dead, shape shifter and the last track
amelia

Monday, August 07, 2006 8:30:00 PM  
Blogger JJS III said...

Haha, yeah...I still need to let the new Christina grow on me. I think overexcited about it.

Monday, August 07, 2006 9:14:00 PM  
Blogger cindy hotpoint said...

Thanks Amelia, the files should be working now. Sorry about that!

Monday, August 07, 2006 9:54:00 PM  
Blogger cindy hotpoint said...

I'm looking forward to hearing you rant about other people's cataloging of Goth. I've already prepared the following phrase:

"Yes, you're right. You are totes gothier than the Stylus staff."

You're welcome.

Monday, August 07, 2006 10:25:00 PM  
Blogger Pinkie von Bloom said...

shut up! i'm not taking issue with their cataloging. i'm taking issue with their self-importance. then again i could be misreading sarcasm, but it seems like they're lighting the way to "true" goth or something. whatevs. i look back on it fondly. and with a lot more humor than i look back on other portions of my misspent youth.

luff,

pinkie von bloom
resident gothtard

Monday, August 07, 2006 10:28:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Different Kitchen said in regards to Christina: "Look how far hip hop has come. This kind of track would have been the "street remix" of a pop song like this back in the day. Now it's the official album version."

Which is totally spot on. He was referencing "Still Dirrty" but it's true for most of the album.

I didn't think of the album as a "mash up" but... I feel that. The production is all over the place and leaves you with that "head spinning" feeling. Like, in a good way.

She has It.

Monday, August 07, 2006 10:57:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for these!

Tuesday, August 08, 2006 9:42:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Pinwheel tracks! You just made my day.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006 1:58:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

The links don't work.

I've been looking for these songs for the longest time. I'm a HUGE Ben Gibbard fan.

If someone could fix these or tell me where I could go to listen to them, that would be great!

Thanks!

Saturday, May 05, 2007 10:31:00 PM  
Blogger Adam said...

Here's a link to a host for the Pinwheel demo.

http://bsidesrus.blogspot.com/2008/05/pinwheel-demo-tape-from-96-radio-static.html

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 12:21:00 PM  
Blogger Heather Thompson said...

wow, thanks for the Pinwheel links. I thought I was the only person who remembers them. all the local 14 year old girls (myself included) adored the band.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 5:01:00 PM  
Blogger Adam said...

@cindy hotpoint

No problem on the links. I did some digging and I thought it would be nice to help other people out. The album is great. I wish I could have seen them in person.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 7:01:00 PM  

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