It was only 23-or-so odd years ago that I was working in one or two record stores in College Park, Maryland and seeing these folks rifle through the racks on a near-daily basis.
Then they formed Black Tambourine and my record store snob eyebrow arched like Belushi's.
Then Pam Berry co-created Chickfactor, and Mike Schulman formed Slumberland Records, and Archie, and Brian Nelson, and Kelly Riles, and Jim Spellman, and Sarah Shannon formed Velocity Girl.
And suddenly there was a legacy of the College Park scene.
Maybe they hadn't just been shopping for records when I'd seen them? Maybe they had been hatching their plans for indie pop domination 'cause by the early 1990s, they -- and hordes of their crew -- had translated their fanboy and fangirl love of Sarah and Creation stuff into their own great music.
But Archie Moore always seemed like the pop genius of the lot. It's fitting that the last time I talked to him in person was when he was recommending Bats albums to me at the late great Vinyl Ink, run by the late, great George Gelestino.
The guy's got impeccable taste and he's able to use that to make music that sounds like a dozen other bands but which stands on its own with little touches of unique melodicism or studio craft.
Archie is a busy guy these days but when he's not counting his royalty checks from having a VG song on the Clueless (1995) soundtrack album -- where it is in the actual film I've still never been able to determine! -- he's making wonderful music.
And you can get a whole album's worth for free.
Still not convinced? Check out the whole Brian Wilson-trying-to-rewrite-a-Standells-cut-vibe of "Oh No Baby Don't" which features Pam Berry of Black Tambourine.
Still waiting for that Velocity Girl reunion? Well here it almost is. VG, minus Sarah Shannon, get it together on "Incidental Music" which recalls -- again! -- the Beach Boys but also Calvin Johnson. It's an odd mix but a real delight -- expertly constructed lo-fi.
This is good stuff for fans of Archie Moore's various incarnations (Black Tambourine, Velocity Girl, Lilys, The Saturday People -- with Terry Banks of Dot Dash and Pam Berry's Glo-Worm) and I'd hate to see it slip under the radar.
I mean, "Everything is Okay" is like some weird mix of Teenage Fanclub, Boo Radleys, and those Wilson-inspired drum patterns. I'm sort of amazed at how easily Moore cranks out this sort of thing and, obviously, a track like this deserves a lot more fanfare than it may get on Bandcamp.
This kid is going to go places!
So all you aging Velocity Girl fans, grab dreamshit surfer from Archie Moore's bye! now.
Grab it here: http://archiemoore.bandcamp.com/album/dreamshit-surfer!
