grand royal records Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Russell Simins “Public Places”

sfilzen — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:54:09 +0000

Russell Simins “Public Places” 2000. Grand Royal Records. Today, September 27th, is Russell Simins’ 60th birthday (b. 1962)*. Best known as the drummer for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and now for S-E-R-V-I-C-E, Simins released his lone solo record during the time that the other members of JSBX were also working on side projects (20 Miles, Boss Hog, etc.). Public Places has some really great power pop/indie rock that to me recalls Bob Mould for songwriting. While unabashedly hard pop, the title track “Public Places” is super-catchy, as are “Jim’s Problem” and “World Over.” The slow-rocking ballad “Comfortable Place” also has a Mould feel, especially the vocals. The reviewer on Allmusic finds their Simins comparison with Beck and I don’t necessarily disagree, especially with the instrumentation on tracks like “Don’t You Believe” and “Scope” that have an indie-meets-hip-hop scritchy-scritchy-scratch groove and plenty of computer-generated sounds. There’s a couple of harder tracks, too, like “I’m Not a Model” which apparently appears on the video game “Jet Set Radio Future.” I’m completely ignorant when it comes to any video games made after Pac Man but my teenage son games and sometimes subjects me to video game music on his Spotify. “I’m Not a Model” has that video game background sound, so does “No 90210.” Both have a nü-metal smell that apparently hypes up kids on the shoot ’em up and drive fast platform. Simins is the sole and/or primary writer on Public Places and not only plays drums and sings on most of the tracks, but also plays guitar and keyboards on several songs. Other folks back him up as well of course, the most interesting contribution credited is Bijou and Chyna Phillips’ backing vocals on the folky “No Straight Line.”

*birthdate courtesy of Adam from Pop-Catastrophe, the best place for all things JSBX-related.

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Luscious Jackson “In Search of Manny”

sfilzen — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 16:17:19 +0000

Luscious Jackson “In Search of Manny” 1992. Grand Royal Records. Today is Luscious Jackson singer/bassist/songwriter Jill Cunniff’s 55th birthday (b. August 17th, 1966). In Search of Manny is their first release, a 7-song EP, and the first release for Beastie Boys’ label Grand Royal. It’s also one of my top releases of the 90′s: a little sleazy, a lot slinky, laid back and über-cool. Going on 30 years old, I still listen to the record a lot. It reminds of me of when I first heard it in the early 90′s, not too long after I moved to Milwaukee after finishing under-grad. I had a horrible 9-5 office job and also had a second job working retail at a hip shoe store (Goldi’s) in Bayshore Mall and one of the other girls working there played the CD almost every night during our closing duties. The job kinda sucked (helping rich older ladies trying to jam their feet into cute shoes way too young and way too small for them: “Sure, we can stretch those for you!”) and I didn’t last long there but out of the experience I got a sweet employee discount and exposure to Luscious Jackson. I genuinely love every track but of the seven, four are my big standouts: the groovy “Let Yourself Get Down,” the slacker anthem “Life of Leisure,” the cool girl call-to-arms “Daughters of the Kaos” and the raw “Keep on Rockin’ It.”

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Butter 08 “Butter 08″

sfilzen — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 18:50:15 +0000

Butter 08 “Butter 08″ 1996. Grand Royal records. A one-off LP side-project alt-supergroup consisting of Russell Simins (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto), Rick Lee (Skeleton Key) and Mike Mills (not from REM). Also notable: Sean Lennon guest-keyboards on speed rocker “It’s The Rage.” The album is very mid-90′s New York: a bit lo-fi JSBX blues-punk, Sleater-Kinneyish vocals (yes, yes they’re from the Pacific Northwest but you know what I mean), garage-punk keyboards, Beastie Boys/Luscious Jackson-y hip hop rhythms. “Dick Serious” is one of my favorite tracks and not just for the song’s title. It’s a crazy mashup of Simins’ madcap drums, horns and keyboards pulled from a punk world music fest and muffled mic vocals. I also like “Butterfucker” and that is for the title, too, but it’s also a really excellent heartbeat tempo’d stomper.

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Luscious Jackson “In Search of Manny”

sfilzen — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:52:19 +0000

Luscious Jackson “In Search of Manny” 1992. Grand Royal Records. The EP “In Search of Manny” was the first release on Beastie Boys’ label Grand Royal (and the album art is probably one of the sleaziest of all time). While only vaguely hiphop, the band had many connections to the Beasties: drummer Kate Schellenbach played on the Beasties’ “Pollywog Stew” and the band’s first performance was as the opening for the Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill. Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes the album perfectly – “music that is elastic, casually expansive, darkly seductive…the samples are for texture and color, not groove, and the aesthetic is slacker bohemia. In short, it’s a record that only could have happened in 1992, just as Gen-X alt-rock culture hit its stride but before it reached the mainstream.”

I love this album so much and listened to it incessantly in the early 90′s, especially late hot summer nights, nodding along to the slinky beats of “Daughters of the Kaos,” “She Be Wantin It More” and my favorite, “Life of Leisure,” with its perfect 90′s slacker lyrics:

You got a brain you ain’t using
You got charm you’re abusin’
You’re too busy out there floosin’
Or lying at home snoozin’

Why you wanna waste away?
Lover of the life of leisure
Lover of the life of leisure

Why you wanna waste away?
Lover of the life of leisure
Lover of the life of leisure

Time moves along
You don’t have a life anymore
Time moves along
You don’t have a job, I got four

Spend my money on cigarettes
Midnight dragon, off track bets
Get up at three, turn on the TV
For all I know you got a dangerous disease

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