“WAPL Apple Cellar Tapes”

sfilzen — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 17:10:21 +0000

“WAPL Apple Cellar Tapes” 1982. Pacer Productions. Various artists compilation. “Six of the most exciting bands in the WAPL listening area as voted by the audiences and the ‘Apple’ staff during three nights of the ‘Rock Battle of the Bands.'” WAPL is an AOR/classic rock station in Appleton, Wisconsin that I listened to growing up and tune into when we head up there for visits to our families. Their playlist hasn’t changed much since 1986, which honestly makes my heart glow a little bit. We’re guaranteed to hear Rush, Van Halen, Pink Floyd or RATT at least once. So when Joe brought this home from the Exclusive Company (a regional chain record store that started up in the Fox Valley and will be shutting down all of its locations soon), I grabbed it and headed into the depths of the internet to figure out what it was. Apple Cellar Tapes is proggy and 80’s hard rock by a few different Northeast Wisconsin bands: Yazz, Adam Trask, Stormbringer, Magician, High Flyer and Fracture – this album is the only recorded appearance for each band. Not surprisingly, there isn’t much info about it other than the release date (’82) and a brief review of each track by some metalhead on his blog. It’s mostly cock rock: lots of overblown guitar solos, peacock posturing keyboard riffs and big, crashing 80’s drumming. I do kind of like Yazz’s “All Night Long” which has some serious funk; their other song “Go” is decent as well. “Fight” by Stormbringer has a rockin’ beat and plenty of rough swagger and “Can’t Do Without You” by Magician is pretty much a direct ripoff of Ozzy. “Emily” by Adam Trask is a truly painful power ballad and their other song “Cat Lady” isn’t much better. “Changing of the Guardian” by Fracture is “proggy pomp rock” (as quoted by metalhead’s blog). This is not my kind of music but I am rather delighting in the sounds of my hometown from 40 years ago. Cruisin’ the ave (College Avenue in downtown Appleton) was a favorite pastime of teens in the 80’s and I can picture any of the tracks blaring out of Firebird Trans Ams and Mustangs on a summer Saturday night.

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Tenement “The Self-Titled Album”

sfilzen — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 14:38:09 +0000

Tenement “The Self-Titled Album” 2016. Forward Records/Deranged Records. Tomorrow we’re heading up to Appleton, Tenement’s (and my) hometown for the Mile of Music Festival for four days of non-stop performances. Tenement is not playing this year but we caught them last year (and I picked up this record and am now, finally, giving it a spin). (Photo of their performance last August at Emmett’s outdoor stage, the band had doubled in size from when The Self-Titled Album was recorded)

Tenement is described by online articles as either punk, fuzz punk, pop punk or noise pop (they were even included in a 2016 list of the 10 Great Modern Punk Bands by Rolling Stone) but I really don’t think any of the descriptions fit, or at least not this album (those descriptions DO fit their first release, Napalm Dream from 2011 on Mandible Records). When I wrote about them last year as part of the Mile of Music experience, I described one of the songs they played as “a Velvet Undergroundy freak out sonic assault that lasted about 15 minutes.” That description also does not fit The Self-Titled Album. Rather it’s got an alt-rock, laid-back vibe that recalls to my ears the Milwaukee band Space Raft: catchy, sunny, chill, melodic with some fuzzy rough edges. You can decide for yourself by listening to the entire record here.

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“WAPL Apple Cellar Tapes”

Tenement “The Self-Titled Album”