Vee Vee (1995) by
Archers of Loaf has a very special place in my heart.
Lovable, blatantly-indie, 1990s rock. Clever, scathing, charming, honest lyrics: poetic and illustrative one line, then unpoetic, crude, raging in-your-face the next, but always
real. A band with songs titled “
Audiowhore”, “
All Hail the Black Market”, and “
White Trash Heroes” sharing the same catalog with “
Scenic Pastures”, “
Distance Comes In Droves”, and “
Telepathic Traffic”.
Their sound—much like their lyrics—was so…contradicting, wonky…all this [awesome] shit going on at once that somehow fit perfectly together; maybe mid-tempo punk rhythm, but with these alternatively-tuned guitars taking turns screeching and noodling with riffs and feedback.
This song below was so
good when it came out that it got them booked on a tour with Weezer (and this was when Weezer was just exploding [below]):
The 2012 reissue has some good bonus tracks, but for pure aural pleasure, the original 1995 pressing of
Vee Vee—which was produced by
Bob Weston (the alternative/underground rock producer, and band member of
Steve Albini in
Shellac—sounds absolutely
amazing (especially the vinyl).
Booming drums, the rumbling bass…the first time I heard
Vee Vee, I immediately felt confident that Steve Albini had produced it.
…but those guitars…oh, man, those, screeching, buzzing, tender, violent, clean/overdriven/distorted/imploding (and occasionally acoustic) poor, poor guitars must have completely disintegrated by the time they wrapped.
Archers of Loaf: Reissues
—
This indie-rock band was/is the
gem of all gems.
