Southpaw - Left Hand Rule 2xLP

90s Tapes (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

90s Tapes deals in two major types of reissues.  When there's a more well known album being released, that's termed a "classic" and when they delve deeper into the more obscure or previously unreleased recording, they tend to call that release an "indie."  What I have put together myself is that the "classic" tend to have a much better chance of being from that 90-94 sweet spot (my sweet spot is 87-94, but 90s Tapes doesn't do reissues for 80s records) that I like for hip hop, where the "indie" releases often are from the second half of the 90s.  

This has led me to discover many post '94 "indie" albums that I probably wouldn't have heard otherwise and has, to an extent, made me soften my stance that hip hop is no good after 1994.  But, the flip side of that is 90s Tapes have definitely put out some albums from that time period that aren't my cup of tea.  Even the indie scene of that era seems to be obsessed with slow, atmospheric beats that don't have the driving rhythm of the earlier 90s.  But every so often, the stars align (at least for me).  Southpaw's Left Hand Rule is the more rare "indie" release that originally came out in 1993.

What that means for me is that the beats on this album are much more in line with the sort of production I gravitate towards.  There's still some slower cuts on here, but the majority have those hard hitting drums that I like so much.  It's not upper tier 1993 production, but it's good and has a varied sound from song to song that keeps the album interesting.   

On the lyrics side we have two MCs, Pro K and Champion.  Both are pretty gifted MCs and have flows that are on the more complex side of what was common in that era.  Again, we're not talking elite flows for 1993, but they're not doing nursery rhyme raps.  They know how to work within a beat and hit that pocket right where they need to.  It's a fun record and one that I like having around when I need a change of pace from my "classics" that I've listened to 40,000 times each.

Southpaw - Left Hand Rule:
https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/left-hand-rule

Outtacontroller - Television Zombie LP

Southpaw (2015)

Sorry for the unannounced break at the end of last week.  Real life occupied my mornings for a bit, but things are getting back on track.  I can't think of a better return than being able to write about this Outtacontroller LP.  I really dug their last album and couldn't wait to get my hands on this new one.  It was definitely worth the wait and is every bit as good as their debut.

For some reason I think Outtacontroller tends to get left out of the conversation when people talk about all of the great Canadian bands that are floating around right now.  They very much fit in with the heavy hitters of that scene like Sonic Avenues and Steve Adamyk Band.  This album, in particular, also reminds me a lot of the second Something Fierce album There Are No Answers (also known as the really, really good Something Fierce album).

Outtacontroller are masters of stitching together downstoke heavy chord progressions, vocal harmonies and ultra catchy choruses.  The hooks on this album are, pardon the really, really bad pun, out of control and I've been playing this album pretty much nonstop since getting it in the mail the other week.

2015 is wrapping up and I'm getting my best of the year list in order.  Television Zombie is so good that it's really shaking up my list.  Don't be surprised to see them quite high on my list when it is eventually posted.  This is a hell of a way to close out the year.

Outtacontroller - Television Zombie:

https://outtacontroller.bandcamp.com/album/television-zombie

Pleasers - Reject Teen 7" - Yellow Vinyl (/100)

Southpaw (2015)

This will conclude my three day run of Matthew Melton related 7"s released on Southpaw records.  I have saved the best for last as this Pleasers 7" is miles better than the other two.  That being said, I don't completely understand why Melton formed another band that for all intents and purposes sound pretty much exactly like Warm Soda.  If Warm Soda broke up, I could understand, but I'm a bit confused as to why he needs two bands that sound like this (and a solo record that only strays slightly from the formula).

I'm not going to get too worked up about it as both songs on this 7" are quite good.  A-side "Reject Teen" spins a yarn about not fitting in during high school and some of the hijinks gotten into.  It's a bit goofy, lyrically, but the song is saved by a super catchy vocal melody and some good lead guitar work.  The thing that most reminds me of Warn Soda is the same type of click track style drumming and what ever they do while recording to make the snare drum sound like it was plucked from a 1986 Boogie Down Productions album.

On the flip is "Judy."  It's slightly lower key in nature, but just as easily stuck in your head.  The highlight being the way the pre-chorus gradually builds into the simple but ultra catchy hook.  Of the two songs I probably prefer "Judy," but both are excellent and could easily work their way on to a Warm Soda full length and fit right in.  Of the three 7"s I've reviewed this week, this one is the one I most recommend picking up.

That's going to wrap up this week as tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  I'll be back on Monday, but don't forget that PopKid records is having a black Friday sale at http://www.popkid.com.  Help me clear out some of these old records and make room for a new LP coming in 2016.

The Pleasers - Reject Teen 7":

https://pleasers.bandcamp.com/album/reject-teen-7-b-w-judy

Matthew Melton - Too Many Hearts Lack Lovers 7" - Red Vinyl (/100)

Southpaw (2015)

As I had mentioned yesterday, I was a little disappointed with the newest Warm Soda 7".  After knocking it out of the park with their full length earlier this year, I felt that the 7" was OK, but not anywhere near as good.  Today, we have Matthew Melton of Warm Soda's solo 7".  This is also following up a solo LP that I enjoyed quite a bit, but just like the Warm Soda 7" from yesterday, these two new songs are something of a let down.

I'm not sure what exactly is going on with these new Melton tunes, they feel so weirdly produced and so very, very 1980's.  The recording has this swirling ambience that gives the songs an odd dream-like feeling.  I don't really like either of these two songs.  "Too Many Hearts Lack Lovers" covers Melton's often revisited topic of heartbreak.  Typically, he wraps those discussions in a power pop coating that makes everything seem optimistic despite the breaking of the heart.  This time, the song is just a major league bummer.  I have about as much hope for the situation as I do after listening to "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics.  Which is to say no hope at all.

On the B-side "Was It A Song" isn't quite as much of a downer, but it's kind of a throwaway song.  It's a simple mid tempo song with a clockwork drum pattern and is just sort of there.  I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's just not the sort of thing that really grabs your attention.  

It's kind of odd writing such a critical review of something Matthew Melton is involved in.  He's done so much that I really love including releasing one of my very favorite albums of the year with Warm Soda.  Unfortunately this 7" just doesn't work for me.  Hopefully it's more of a blip on the radar than a sign of things to come.

Matthew Melton - "Too Many Hearts Lack Lovers":

https://soundcloud.com/southpaw1/matthew-melton-too-many-hearts-lack-lovers

Warm Soda - Renegade Mode 7" - Blue Vinyl (/100)

Southpaw (2015)

I think I'm going to knock out the 3 new Matthew Melton related 7"s that I recently picked up from Southpaw records.  I'll start up with the Warm Soda one.  I was relieved to have been able to pick up a copy on the limited to 100 blue vinyl.  My understanding is those sold out pretty quick.  While I'm not sure either song is as good as anything from the most recent Warm Soda full length, it's still a fun little 7".

"Renegade Mode" is upbeat with a little dash of synthy keyboard lead.  It's not the octave rock party that that their full length Symbolic Dream was, but it still keeps the music catchy and the vocals breathy.  The song was originally available on a split cassette that the band sold on a tour, so it's nice to have the tune committed to wax.

On the B-side we have a completely new song, "No Place To Fall."  I can't say I'm as big of a fan of this one.  It's built primarily on low key drums and bass, with a smattering of guitar accenting here and there in the verse.  The chorus sounds much fuller than the skeletal verse, but in general this feels very much like the kind of song that would have come out in the 80's.  It's not really my thing as I prefer when Melton & co keep things fast and loose.

Oh, in other news and if you care at all, I just posted a news update about PopKid records on the PopKid website.  So give it a look if you can.  Or don't if you can't.  Your call: http://www.popkid.com 

Warm Soda - "Renegade Mode":

https://southpawrecords.bandcamp.com/track/warm-soda-renegade-mode