01 March 2014

After the 'Flu...some Head Candy

Sorry for the absence here...Casa Nada temporarily felled for a while by influenza. 




 

I’ve featured bands from Iowa before (Iowa Comps I & II). Iowa has always been a fertile breeding ground for driving pop bands. Here’s the one & only album from the incredible Iowa quartet Head Candy. They played a heartlands-style medium/loud, complex guitar rock similar to Television or Dumptruck, kinda psychedelic in texture & lyrics.

Guitarists Mike Sangster & Doug Roberson came out of two other great Iowa units, the Hollowmen & the Dangtrippers respectively. Sangster's vocals veer radically between uneasy tension & mellow smoothness in such a way that Head Candy's songs portray both a world-weary callousness of songs like “Soul Grinder” & a vulnerable empathy of “In the Night Kitchen”. Starcaster also features an uncomplicated production comprised of grinding guitars & fuzzy vocals layered over a firm rhythm section. One of my choices is the William Gibson inspired cyberpunk "Mona Lisa Overdrive".

Heady Candy are: Mike Sangster – vocal, guitar, & tapes; Doug Roberson – guitar & tapes; Jim Vallet – bass; & Jim Viner – drums.



Head Candy – Starcaster, Link Records 1-61151-4, 1991.
decryption code in comments

Side 1 –

Soul Grinder
In the Night Kitchen
At the Controls
Words to Live By
Part of the Earth
Watching the Suns Trail

Side 2 –

Sideways Laughing
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Rocket Transfer Warehouse
Invitation to a Beheading
Black Spirits & White
Starcaster

Enjoy,
NØ

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6 comments:

  1. NØ3/1/14, 5:39 PM

    K4b85SVMCrRgsHdfUtwpsVje2z5Ve5hiIdqCOGtYw24

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9/7/15, 11:32 PM

    Oh, i miss this one, Thank you very much for this nice copy. needless to say ; this album is excellent. Best Regards.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4/1/18, 12:58 AM

    This was a great band from Iowa - played many a show with these guys. Miss those sonic guitars Mike. Tim from the Bishops

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NØ4/1/18, 5:37 PM

      Tim, thanks for the comment. It's always great to hear from someone who was actually involved in the music/scene that a particular post might be about.

      I’ve heard it said that The Bishops are big St. Louis underdog favorites who spent the first part of their existence warming up stages for the likes of Poster Children, Smashing Pumpkin, The Connells, Soul Asylum, Uncle Tupelo and a butt load of other sort of Midwesty guitar bands (Head Candy?).

      Here's their first
      self-titled release.

      The Bishops - The Bishops 12“ EP, Nobody Really, 1988.

      Side A -
      Don’t Get Around Much
      Get Behind Me.

      Side B -
      Coming in Color
      So Far from Heaven

      to all reading this. Tim who commented is Tim Bramstedt, guitar & vocals for The Bishops. You can learn more about the band & find more of their music here.

      Thanks again, Tim.


      Delete
  4. CP Bird4/11/24, 4:47 PM

    Loved this back in the day. Can’t find it much now. Fave tracks: Soul Grinder and Black Spirits

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NØ4/11/24, 8:39 PM

      Glad you found an old friend. Thanks for the comment.

      Delete