R. Stevie Moore "Pop Music"

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Cropped Out Fest

Cropped Out Fest
this weekend
Louisville KY
should be a weird ass time

album stream: Suckers - Candy Salad

You can't find much press on Suckers. After a very strong EP and LP (self-titled and Wild Smile, respectively), people took notice of the band. But after the obligatory "Brooklyn-based," details get scarce real quick. Some might mention that they have a pretty solid live show. Some might pull out the name of their vocalist, Quinn Walker. But how many have listened to his fever dream double album, Laughter's an Asshole/Lion Land? What about the albums he put out for ten years before that?

Until Suckers, Quinn Walker was a bedroom project in the vein of Ariel Pink or R. Stevie Moore, making album after album of similarly warped music (with more of a freak folk lean), burning it on CD-Rs, and mailing it out to fans who wrote him. You can't find these albums on RateYourMusic or What.cd, and you can't find his stuff on Youtube (beware of that other Quinn Walker who had a song on Scrubs). I've got a stack of these discs, and while most of them aren't worth searching out, they do give you an idea of where Suckers is coming from. Any fan of Suckers should at least check out Laughter's an Asshole/Lion Land. I'm sure the band will continue to move away from their roots towards a poppier, more accessible sound, as they've done on Candy Salad. And they'll no doubt find more success in that. But Suckers will always be that weirdo on Music That Fears for It's Life and This Umbrella Doesn't Work and People Are Full of Blood to me.

Candy Salad is out April 24th on Frenchkiss Records.

video: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Witchhunt Suite for WWIII

videos: R. Stevie Moore - I Like to Stay Home + I Need Your Love

I recently learned of R. Stevie Moore (or finally took notice of his name being tossed around) from a review of John Maus's new album, We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves. R. Stevie Moore is a weird cat. He's the best kind of weird -- the kind who records freaky drug-damaged pop music in his basement for decades and self-releases it on hundreds of cassette tapes and CD-Rs. If you've ever heard Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, you'll realize as soon as you watch these videos that Ariel basically owes his career to this guy. (BTW, John Maus apparently played keyboard for both Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti AND Animal Collective in the past. If you dig Ariel Pink, check out John Maus as well -- you won't be disappointed.)

R. Stevie Moore has been self-releasing music since 1968, and he's just now going on his first tour in 2011. Sadly, it looks like I got into his music about 20 days too late, as he came through my area last month. Let's hope this first tour isn't his last.