Thread for Mighty Sphincter and the Phoenix all-stars Joke Flower/Victory Acres album(with Charlie Gocher and Cris Kirkwood and Derrick Bostrom!)

Because the Joke Flower side (in particular) of the Placebo LP is some of the best shit I've heard in ages, and it seems like it was largely the work of the Mighty Sphincter related folks. Well, you can definitely hear the Meat Puppets influence on certain tracks, but it's 'Human Coat', 'Bikinis And Atomic Bombs', 'His Big Urine' and 'Confetti' that are causing me to freak out. They're the Gocher tracks. Seriously hookish almost-gothic post-punk kinda vibes (is it fair to say gothic? I've only just started dipping my toes...) with scary/stern vocals from Mary Clark. And wow.... .lyrics! My mind isn't built to process lyrics, so unless they're obvious they tend to slip me by, but these lyrics rule e.g. 'I hope they see my bikini in the flash from the bomb'. And that track then kinda breaks down into a snarly version of the breakdown in Sly and the Family Stone's Dance to the Music.

So why is there so little out there about this album anyway? And why is there loads of sealed copies everywhere for cheap, when Placebo is Sun City Girls associated and therefore usually snapped up right away? It even says Sun City Girls on the sticker! The availability and lack of mentions kinda had me figuring it was gonna suck.

But it doesn't.

This also has Dan Clark from the Feederz. Phoenix sounds like it was an amazing place to be for a while. You can talk about that Brainz record too, if you like. And the Teds?? Seems they're all Mighty Sphincter related. That Brainz 7" is incredible!

And check out the Matisse spoof artwork:
http://www.dead-babies.de/bands/acres11.jpg

Also, according to this site, Michael Ochoa from Nervous Gender was also involved??

holy shit where can I get this from?

ebay. $7.99!

two copies. FITE

but I've seen it around elsewhere a whole bunch. and they're usually sealed.

wow never heard of this but sounds intersting

I just spotted that Dan and Mary Clark were part of the band on Eddy Detroit's Immortal Gods album. Love that record.

I have this album knocking around somewhere, I think I played it twice about twenty years ago so I can't remember too much about about it now. There was some song on it about a coat made of human hair though right? I think bits of it reminded a little of More Fiends (dunno if you remember them - John Peel used to play 'Vinyl Grind' quite a lot at about that time). Anyhow, picked it up cuz of the Meat Puppets connection. Think that Al Perry from the Cattle (AZ psych rock band) has something to do with it as well?? Maybe I'll dig it out and spin it again, wife permitting.

Don't know More Fiends, no. I would have been pretty young when it came out. I'll check em out though. And yeah, I also picked this up because of the Meat Puppets/Sun City Girls connection. The track you mentioned about a coat made of human hair (that grows on you) is one of the best tracks. It's the first bit of an awesome three-part song. I love it, anyway. One of my favourite things I heard last year.

more fiends are probably still playing. tonight! or at least they still were when i lived in philly 5 or 6 years ago. some bands never die. like rancid vat. and antiseen. elizabeth fiend from more fiends had an awesome cooking show on public access t.v. in philly.

I used to own this but I think it went to the MVE in The Great Community 3 And Similar Sounding Stuff Purge about 15 years ago. God knows how a copy made its way over to the UK.

I bought this album cuz of this thread and will be able to listen to it in a few days.

excited!

well, hope you like it, sleeve. there's one or two tracks that aren't quite as strong, but the rest is totally worth it.

here's the 3 part track 'human coat/Bikinis And Atomic Bombs/his big urine'

The Great Community 3 And Similar Sounding Stuff Purge

Oh I had one of those alright! Can't quite think what was in that stack of stuff though. Only name that comes back to me is the Stripminers. What else was on Community 3?

Arson Garden. Poopshovel. Brenda Kahn. Spongehead. Oh, loads more.
Maybe I was a bit hasty with the Joke Flower LP on reflection but ya gottaa throw the baby out with the bathwater sometimes, otherwise you end up carting Poopshovel records around every time you move house.

Haha, yeah how could I forget Poopshovel? Had that one too, such a terrible name it totally tainted your enjoyment of the music. Agitpop were Comm 3 as well, they were decent enough - tight funky indie stuff with a big Minutemen influence.

Talking of More Fiends just picked up their Yo Asphalt Head LP which is quite fun.

Agitpop were great! Also Chickenscratch were not half bad. I still have the Arson Garden record b/c they were/are friends of mine.