Box Of Seaweed

Up until last year, I'd never listened to the band Seaweed...hell, I'd barely heard of them...in fact, the only reason why they popped onto my radar at all, was because of Marcus' blog. He really spoke highly of them, and after reading post after post about their records, I finally broke down and checked out their Four LP. Much to my surprise, I absolutely fell in love with that record, and could not stop playing it. No matter how much I enjoyed that record, I really didn't expand my Seaweed knowledge much beyond that. Four is amazing, and it was all that I really needed. Leave it to Marcus to set me straight once again.

A couple weeks back, I was quite surprised to find a box of Seaweed records on my doorstop. Apparently Marcus had been picking up pieces of vinyl for cheap over the past few months, and in a show of record nerd solidarity, once he had a handful of them, he sent them my way...plus he figured it was the best way to get me to finally post some non-metal records to this blog.

Okay, let's take them in chronological order...starting with Seaweed's second 7 inch, Just A Smirk.

This one was one of my favorites of the bunch, simply because that colored vinyl looks amazing. Had I heard these songs in the early 90's, I would have listened to the shit out of this record. I listened to a lot of bands that played this style at the time, and it still surprises me how I completely overlooked Seaweed until 2014.

Another two song 7 inch that Seaweed released in 1990 was Deertrap. More of that sound that they are great at, and reminds me of bands like Bad Trip, Garden Variety, and that Split Lip LP where they changed their name to Chamberlain..

Up next is the single for the song Bill, which appears on Seaweed's album Weak. Great song, and worth it for the exclusive b-side song, Pumpkin. Released in 1992, this one shows some growth, and while I really dig the earlier work, this is a nice step up for the band.

I believe there are two camps for Seaweed...those that think that Four is their best album, and those that are wrong. Lots of people seem to prefer the band's first album, Weak, and while I think it is still great, it doesn't beat their second LP.

Finally we come to one of the singles from the Four LP...the Go Your Own Way 7 inch. Meh...I really could do without this Fleetwood Mac cover, but it is still a cool 7 inch to own for the exclusive She Cracked b-side song.

The last surprise was inclusion of a record that didn't fit the Seaweed theme. I'm not sure why Marcus included this record in the package, and upon first glance I had zero interest in checking it out. Not wanting to be rude, I put the vinyl on the turntable for the Young Conservatives record. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I really liked what I heard. It is catchy and melodic hardcore, but with a good gritty edge. Quite the surprise.