Still there with me?

Great. Awesome.

My offering this week is two fold.  I recently happened upon indie pop group Bag O Shells and, after hearing their Markers single on YouTube, ordered their other single, Pocketbook.  The seller graciously elected to also throw in another EP from some band called The Silly Pillows.  With that, I also pass this unexpected but not entirely disagreeable discovery on to you.  Both were a small step outside of my usual comfort zone, but one I'm glad I took.

I'm back and I have candy

   

...for a little while, anyway.  Ahem, so I'm assuming you're all just here for the download links and don't much care for a longwinded explanation of my five year absence right after launching this blog, I'll cut right to the chase.

This week's entry springs from the briefly lived and even more briefly enjoyed late 80s/early 90s blues revival.  Run a search on Denver Mexicans and you're far more likely to land heaps of info on the city's Mexican cuisine rather than anything resembling a cohesive biography on this obscure trio with their decidedly un-PC name.  It isn't the most engaging or innovative indie blues record to come out in 1988, not that the blues were a particularly indie thing at the time.  Still, compared with the modern übertreiben of apparent fomula advancers The Black Keys and Rival Sons amongst others, maybe a retro trip to a simpler, less socially conscious time is just what the doctor ordered.

The opening instrumental "Denver Mexican Theme" (because everyone needs theme music) is definitely one of the strongest tracks present. Immediately following is "Rain", a hokey pop song complete with period appropriate slide guitar licks.  Then things chill out fast on "Lonesome Road" before the rave-up "Cold Steel" finishes off the side.  "John Coltrane Stereo Blues" cracks open the second side with a bang, but it's the last song you'll likely remember there.

They did record a follow-up album, Empire Town, a couple years later and then apparently dissolved. That one's available for download on Amazon, but this first LP remains relegated to analog obscurity. Anyway, I'd say it holds up a lot better.  Have a listen and decide for yourself. Also included is the non-album track, "Boogie Song", which would later be done acoustically for Empire Town, but again, this one's way better.