Music Library: Scud Mountain Boys, Sea And Cake, Seatbelts, Sebadoh, Secret Crush Society, Secret Intentions, Section 25, Secular Joy

The Scud Mountain Boys - The Early Year: Pine Box/Dance The Night Away (1995) and Massachusetts (1996). Joe Pernice's alt-country band is more of a mopey, Smith-influenced guitar pop band with country flourishes. That said, these are excellent albums, and Pernice's songwriting chops are in great form.



The Sea And Cake - The Fawn (1997) and Oui (2000). Excellent fake jazz outfit from the John McEntire wing of the Chicago mafia with Sam Prekop of Shrimp Boat out front. They're not quite as fantastic as Tortoise, but that's a pretty high bar.



The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop Boxed Set (2002). I wasn't that crazy about the anime or its soundtrack, but I somehow ended up with this. The best track is the one they used as a theme for the opening credits. Otherwise it's just mediocre bebop.



Sebadoh - III (1991) and Harmacy (1996). I have a hard time believing that I only have two Sebadoh albums, too. And no Bakesale! Not sure how that happened. Anyway, yeah. My musical tastes are based in the indie rock of the early 90s. I love Sebadoh.



Secret Crush Society - Baltimore Chapter (2005). Freakin' excellent heart-on-its-sleeve indie-punk from a band fronted by my pal Lisa. They have a new incarnation, which is the one appearing in the video below. The one on this album is a little more Ramonesy.



The Secret Intentions - Don't Fight It, Feel It (2001) and Love's Permutations (2002). These are two excellent lo-fi fuzz-pop basement albums by my pal Michael.

Secular Joy - Made For Better Things (2012). I was in this band briefly after the original guitarist Zeno Gill left. It was (is?) fronted by Mark Edwards of My Dad Is Dead and it is an AWESOME band. These recordings (which I don't play on, for the record) are intense, emotional, and overwhelmingly beautiful. Truly excellent stuff. I can't find videos to embed from youtube other than this glimpse into the recording process, but the whole album is at the bandcamp site here.