With ‘Gimme 5!’ we take a peek into the collections of artists we admire. The premise is simple: artists WE like share 5 records THEY love.
Do you still own CDs? I do, but in all honesty, I hardly play them. The main purpose of my CD-collection nowadays is ice breaker in work-from-home videocalls. Still, it’s pretty sweet to be able to pick out some CDs, and rekindle your connection with them on long drives. That’s definitely the case for this week’s Gimme 5! artist Jiffy Marx – he will explain in a minute. Let me first say how happy I am that Jiffy wanted to share his list for this blog, because this guy knows how to write catchy tunes. He released an excellent solo single a couple of months ago, I wrote about that one here.
And this friday, he will release the second album of his band Autogramm. Autogramm are somewhat of a hybrid between ’80s powerpop, new wave and synth pop. The first song I ever heard from the band was the powerpop perfect Jessica Don’t Like Rock N Roll, and I’ve been keeping tabs on the band ever since. Spoiler alert for the new record: it’s pretty great; expect a review later this week. Here is a video for one of their new hits.
Okay, time to go to Jiffy’s list and let him do the talking. Enjoy!
TOP 5 CDs IN MY TRUCK RIGHT NOW! by Jiffy Marx
“I haven’t bought a CD since the early 2000s but I have a CD player in the truck that I bought for a big renovation that I’ve been working on through the pandemic. Can’t wait to get rid of the truck but in no particular order, here’s what I’ve been listening to in the meantime.”
1. Odd Numbers || Retrofitted for Today (1994)
“This is a totally underrated band that only people who were into skateboarding in the 90s remember. I believe this is a compilation of most of their first 3 singles. If I was going to start a reissue label this would likely be top of my list for first releases!”
2. The Pulses || The Pulses (2002)
“Probably pretty close to one of the last CDs I ever bought? Just a guess.. Anyway this record was introduced to me by esteemed producer Jesse Gander with whom I played in a math rock band at the dawn of the 21st century. Also maybe my introduction to Dirtnap Records although they did put out a record by my friends The Cinch around the same time. I’ve definitely bought a lot more Dirtnap releases since then!”
3. The Beatles || Past Masters Volume One (1988)
“You’re welcome to disagree but in my opinion there would be no powerpop without The Beatles. Also my daughter’s first favourite song was “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. Also this CD has two German versions of famous Beatles songs which I think is where I got the idea for doing “Quiero Ester Sedado”, the b-side on Autogramm’s ‘Bad Day’ single on Jarama 45rpm Recs.”
4. Jerk With A Bomb || Death To False Metal (1999)
“This was (Autogramm drummer) The Silo’s pre-Black Mountain band. When I moved to Vancouver I really wanted to be in this band! They didn’t have a bass player but unfortunately I didn’t play bass… yet 🙁 I own all their stuff and am sorta surprised no one has ever released this on vinyl. Might have to be another release for my yet-to-exist reissue labe!?”
5. The Monorchid || Let Them Eat… (1997)
“The Monorchid is the singer and guitarist from seminal DC band Circus Lupus whom my band Night Court has a song about. I love everything Chris Thomson has done but this album might be my favourite. I am lucky to have gotten to see Monorchid a couple times and they were a fucking awesome band, like Soft Boys fronted by Darby Crash or like Television if Television were a post-hardcore band from DC in the late 90s.”
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