If you are sick of scouring used CD shops and discount bins for all those long-deleted Silkworm albums, Comedy Minus One is making your life a whole lot easier. On June 1, the New Jersey label will be digitally reissuing hard-to-come-by releases from the now-defunct Chicago-via-Montana indie rock act, as well as some of the groups offshoots.
If you are unfamiliar with Silkworms output, the tuneful but ever-noisy indie rock pioneers formed back in 1987 and disbanded in 2005, due to the untimely death of drummer Michael Dahlquist who was struck and killed by a suicidal driver. (In 2007, the woman behind the wheel, Jeanette Sliwinski, 25, was sentenced to eight years in prison for reckless homicide.) During the bands lifespan they built up quite the massive, and striking, back catalog, put out on various labels such as Touch and Go and Matador, but somehow never reached the fame of peers like Built to Spill and Pavement. Since the group disbanded, the surviving member formed Bottomless Pit, who released their debut, Hammer of the Gods, late last year to enthusiastic fanfare.
Whether you know this history all too well or not, Comedy Minus One label head Jon Solomon is once again giving listeners a chance to discover or rediscover some of these lost gems, including Silkworms impressive 1994 album Libertine and their final release, Chokes!. "It is an honor to get the opportunity to share these records with others," Solomon told CMJ. "I hope that completists and novices alike will be able to use these records as jumping off points for the incredible Silkworm back catalog I think about the first time I heard an advance cassette of Libertine while riding down Witherspoon Street in Princeton, NJ, back in 1994 and saying, 'Wow!' from the back seat as There Is a Party In Warsaw Tonight played out."
And dont forget, as we previously reported this will all be covered in the forthcoming, educational doc by Seth Pomeroy, Couldn't You Wait? The Story of Silkworm.
Tracklisting for Silkworms Libertine:
1 There Is a Party in Warsaw Tonight
2 Grotto of Miracles
3 Cotton Girl
4 Yen + Janet Forever
5 Oh How We Laughed
6 The Cigarette Lighters
7 Couldn't You Wait?
8 A Tunnel
9 Written on the Wind
10 Wild in My Day
11 Bloody Eyes
Tracklisting for Silkworms Chokes!:
1 Bar Ice
2 Low Blow
3 Int'l Harbour of Grace
4 Lilly White & Cherry Red
5 Wrote a Song For Everyone
Tracklisting for It Goes like This, a solo album by Silkworm bassist Tim Midgett:
1 As Long
2 Portable Life
3 Bar Ice
4 Young
5 Time Of The Season
6 Something Hyper
Tracklisting for The Lightning and the Sun by pre-Silkworm outfit Ein Heit:
1 Summer
2 Authority
3 Houssari
4 I Can't Believe
5 Before
6 No Revolution
7 Lonesome Heart
8 Revenge (Again)
9 Without Warning
10 Winter
Tracklisting for Crust Brothers Marquee Mark (a live album recorded by Silkworm members and Stephen Malkmus):
1 Going to Acapulco
2 Million Dollar Bash
3 Bessie Smith
4 Yazoo Street Scandal
5 Lo and Behold
6 You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
7 Never Met a Man I Didn't Like
8 Heard It Through the Grapevine
9 Feel a Whole Lot Better
10 Bitch
11 Tuesday's Gone
12 Please, Mrs Henry
If you are unfamiliar with Silkworms output, the tuneful but ever-noisy indie rock pioneers formed back in 1987 and disbanded in 2005, due to the untimely death of drummer Michael Dahlquist who was struck and killed by a suicidal driver. (In 2007, the woman behind the wheel, Jeanette Sliwinski, 25, was sentenced to eight years in prison for reckless homicide.) During the bands lifespan they built up quite the massive, and striking, back catalog, put out on various labels such as Touch and Go and Matador, but somehow never reached the fame of peers like Built to Spill and Pavement. Since the group disbanded, the surviving member formed Bottomless Pit, who released their debut, Hammer of the Gods, late last year to enthusiastic fanfare.
Whether you know this history all too well or not, Comedy Minus One label head Jon Solomon is once again giving listeners a chance to discover or rediscover some of these lost gems, including Silkworms impressive 1994 album Libertine and their final release, Chokes!. "It is an honor to get the opportunity to share these records with others," Solomon told CMJ. "I hope that completists and novices alike will be able to use these records as jumping off points for the incredible Silkworm back catalog I think about the first time I heard an advance cassette of Libertine while riding down Witherspoon Street in Princeton, NJ, back in 1994 and saying, 'Wow!' from the back seat as There Is a Party In Warsaw Tonight played out."
And dont forget, as we previously reported this will all be covered in the forthcoming, educational doc by Seth Pomeroy, Couldn't You Wait? The Story of Silkworm.
Tracklisting for Silkworms Libertine:
1 There Is a Party in Warsaw Tonight
2 Grotto of Miracles
3 Cotton Girl
4 Yen + Janet Forever
5 Oh How We Laughed
6 The Cigarette Lighters
7 Couldn't You Wait?
8 A Tunnel
9 Written on the Wind
10 Wild in My Day
11 Bloody Eyes
Tracklisting for Silkworms Chokes!:
1 Bar Ice
2 Low Blow
3 Int'l Harbour of Grace
4 Lilly White & Cherry Red
5 Wrote a Song For Everyone
Tracklisting for It Goes like This, a solo album by Silkworm bassist Tim Midgett:
1 As Long
2 Portable Life
3 Bar Ice
4 Young
5 Time Of The Season
6 Something Hyper
Tracklisting for The Lightning and the Sun by pre-Silkworm outfit Ein Heit:
1 Summer
2 Authority
3 Houssari
4 I Can't Believe
5 Before
6 No Revolution
7 Lonesome Heart
8 Revenge (Again)
9 Without Warning
10 Winter
Tracklisting for Crust Brothers Marquee Mark (a live album recorded by Silkworm members and Stephen Malkmus):
1 Going to Acapulco
2 Million Dollar Bash
3 Bessie Smith
4 Yazoo Street Scandal
5 Lo and Behold
6 You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
7 Never Met a Man I Didn't Like
8 Heard It Through the Grapevine
9 Feel a Whole Lot Better
10 Bitch
11 Tuesday's Gone
12 Please, Mrs Henry