Lo-fi compilation on Shrimper record label
Tracklist
| A1 | Buzzsaw– | War Of Poems |
| A2 | Bugskull*– | You Don't Know |
| A3 | Simon Wickham Smith*– | Finnish But Not Finished |
| A4 | Smog– | Your Dress |
| A5 | Mincemeat– | Playing With Fire Music |
| B1 | OAR– | Ants |
| B2 | Nothing Painted Blue– | Big Pink Heart |
| B3 | LiL' Johnny H*– | Little Red Rooster |
| B4 | Paste (2)– | Tuesday |
Compilation on the Spanish record label Running Circle
Tracklist
1. Smog - Bathysphere
2. Guided By Voices - Motor Away
3. Archers of Loaf - Fabricoh
4. The Minus 5 - The Emperor of the Bathroom
5. Cheralee Dillon - Little Yellow Lemon
6. Walter Salas-Humara - Be Honest With Me
7. DM3 - 1 Time, 2 Times Devastated
8. Smudge - It's Over
9. Sebadoh - Skull
10. Lambchop - Soaky In The Pooper
11. Picasso Trigger - Club Joiner
12. Edsel Auctioneer - Summer Hit
13. The Pastels - Guiding Star
14. Palace - New Partner
15. Butch Hancock - To Each His Own
16. Dubrovniks - Holy Town
17. The Dickies - Golden Boys
18. Lunachicks - Drop Dead
19. 24-7-Spyz - Outta Mind, Outta Time
20. Gutterball - Transparency
21. Kim Salmon - Suzanne
An under-recognized pioneer of the lo-fi revolution, Smog was essentially the alias of one Bill Callahan, an enigmatic singer/songwriter whose odd, fractured music neatly epitomized the tenets and excesses of the home-recording boom. Melancholy, poignant, and self-obsessed, Callahan's four-track output offered a peepshow view into an insular world of alienation and inner turmoil, his painfully intimate songs ping-ponging wildly through a scrapbook of childhood recollections, failed relationships, bizarre fetishes, and dashed hopes.
Smog debuted in 1988 with the spare, primitive Macrame Gunplay, a cassette-only release issued on Callahan's own Disaster label. Cow followed in 1989, while three more tapes -- A Table Setting, Tired Tape Machine, and Sewn to the Sky -- were issued a year later. With 1991's Floating EP, Smog signed to the Chicago-based indie label Drag City, and with the move began an advancement toward more traditional songcraft. The subsequent full-length, Forgotten Foundation, was his most well-rounded effort yet, employing a stronger sense of melody while remaining true to the trademark bare-bones atmosphere.
Released in 1993, the superb Julius Caesar raised the stakes considerably. Recorded with collaborators Cynthia Dall and Jim O'Rourke, the album expanded the Smog palette to include touches of cello, violin, and even banjo. At the same time, Callahan's songs were his best yet; highlighted by the touching "Chosen One" and the menacing "Your Wedding," Julius Caesar also featured "I Am Star Wars!," a hilarious rant built around a tape loop of the intro to the Stones' "Honky Tonk Women." The six-track Burning Kingdom EP appeared the following year.
Issued in 1995, Wild Love continued Smog's approach toward relative sonic grandeur. Led off by the remarkable "Bathysphere" (its title a fitting metaphor for Callahan's self-absorption) and climaxed by the epic "Prince Alone in the Studio" (a virtual theme song for a solitary creative existence), the LP reflected his bitter obsessions with stunning clarity, emerging as a triumph of abject failure. After 1996's Kicking a Couple Around EP, Smog resurfaced later in the year with The Doctor Came at Dawn; Red Apple Falls followed in 1997.
The peripatetic Callahan relocated to Chicago prior to the release of 1999's Knock Knock, resurfacing in the spring of 2000 with Dongs of Sevotion and the Strayed EP. 'Neath the Puke Tree followed that fall, an EP that reinvented several tracks and included a few new ones. By the next year, Callahan changed his project's name to the more intimate (Smog), drawing attention away from the "idea" of Smog and putting more emphasis on the music. The next album, Rain on Lens, followed on this path by unveiling several more reflective and sensitive tracks. A year later, the Accumulation: None singles collection arrived with five new songs and the continued use of parentheses. Classically voluble, Callahan returned with Supper in 2003. The literary, laid-back A River Ain't Too Much to Love -- which reflected Callahan's move to Austin, Texas and featured performances by Drag City labelmate Joanna Newsom -- arrived in 2005.
| 1 | Souped Up II | 1:23 | |
| 2 | Kings Tongue | 3:01 | |
| 3 | Garb | 1:46 | |
| 4 | Hollow Out Cakes | 2:14 | |
| 5 | Confederate Bills And Pinball Slugs | 1:39 | |
| 6 | Coconut Cataract | 1:14 | |
| 7 | Fruit Bats | 1:14 | |
| 8 | Peach Pit | 1:23 | |
| 9 | Disgust | 0:49 | |
| 10 | Russian Winter | 3:17 | |
| 11 | Polio Shimmy | 1:55 | |
| 12 | Smog | 1:34 | |
| 13 | Lost My Key | 4:00 | |
| 14 | Fried Piper | 1:05 | |
| 15 | Fables | 1:38 | |
| 16 | Puritan Work Ethic | 2:21 | |
| 17 | A Jar Of Sand | 2:37 | |
| 18 | I Want To Tell You About A Man | 1:01 | |
| 19 | Olive Drab Spectre | 1:36 | |
| 20 | The Weightlifter | 1:59 |
'The Sundowners' was an open band project for the members of Drag City
rooster, and more specifically the Sea Note sub label one. The 1st 7"
(Goat Songs) was a collaboration among Will Oldham (Palace Brothers back
then) and Smog (Bill Callahan).
The 2nd episode was basically Smog doing his thing while the 3rd 7"
is rumoured to be the work of Rachel Brook's post-Flying Saucer Attack
project Movietone.
| A | Singing Death Chants To The Stars | |
| B | Sliding Past Saturn |
| 1 | –Tourettes (4) | Horse Girl | 0:51 |
| 2 | –Cupid Car Club | M.P. Skulkers | 2:53 |
| 3 | –Starpower | Megablot | 4:01 |
| 4 | –Boredoms | Pukulee & Rikulee | 4:36 |
| 5 | –Helium (3) W/ The Bird Of Paradise | Puffin Stars | 2:13 |
| 6 | –Spinanes* | Stupid Crazy | 2:35 |
| 7 | –Team Dresch | Seven | 1:47 |
| 8 | –Mukilteo Fairies | We Are Not Your Entertainers | 0:38 |
| 9 | –God Is My Co-Pilot | Anatomically Correct | 1:19 |
| 10 | –Severed Lethargy | Rev | 2:36 |
| 11 | –Rancid | Brixton | 3:05 |
| 12 | –Free Kitten | Feed The Tree | 1:54 |
| 13 | –Universal Order Of Armageddon | Painfully Obvious | 2:20 |
| 14 | –The Pee Chees* | Patty Coahuila | 2:52 |
| 15 | –Starpimp | Roche Limit | 4:00 |
| 16 | –Pell Mell | Don The Beachcomber | 3:33 |
| 17 | –Smog | 37 Pushups | 2:18 |
| 18 | –Star Sign Scorpio | Eskinaut | 1:14 |
| 19 | –The Hattifatteners | North Pole | 1:24 |
| 20 | –Grouse Mountain Skyride | Pretty Polly | 2:38 |
| 21 | –Fifth Column | Detox Killer (Erotic Thriller) | 1:55 |
| 22 | –Fleabag | Pusdog | 4:32 |
| 23 | –Kathleen Hanna | I Wish I Was Him | 2:59 |
| A | The Girl With The Thing In Her Hair | |
| B | The Summer Song |