(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . IVH: Cub / Come Out, Come Out [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-05-30 Tonight’s selections from Vancouverites Cub’s second album, 1995’s Come Out, Come Out. Like most artists, 1990s cuddlecore queens Cub resented being pigeonholed. In a way, that's kind of a shame. When I say the Vancouver-based trio's early recordings are among the cutest things I've heard, I'm giving some of my highest praise, but to most people, "cute" probably means something less, well, substantial. Especially when applied to three young women with only modest technical chops, the term could seem both confining and condescending. Sure enough, Cub were moving in a noisier direction by 1997, when they called it quits. In interviews, singer/bassist Lisa Marr would emphasize her smoking and drinking, two very grown-up vices; at another point, then-drummer Neko Case shocked an unruly audience member with a roundhouse right. Twee as fuck, maaan. — Pitchfork Ticket to Spain Cub may have been understandably uncomfortable being written off as cute, but their music-- mostly punky three-chord twee-pop similar to Sacramento's Tiger Trap or a Pacific Northwest all-girl Ramones-- was often more memorable, emotionally affecting, and flat-out fun than so much of the self-serious, middlebrow cock rock that tends to top year-end lists. Their 1993 collection of EPs and new material, Betti-Cola, which features future New Pornographer and solo songstress Case behind the kit on a couple of tracks, shows Cub finding their ramshackle, sweetly innocent voice. When they began to toy with their squeaky-clean image on 1995's Come Out Come Out, a good band got even better. Both albums, recently given the deluxe-reissue treatment on original label Mint, come as endearingly awkward reminders of a free-spirited enthusiasm too often missing in today's crop of licensing-ready indie-pop upstarts. At least cuteness can be controversial. [...] Cub tighten up as a band still more for Come Out Come Out without losing their appealing simplicity, thanks in part to increasingly confident songwriting. Having a full-time drummer, Lisa G., probably also helped. The reissue tacks on an alternate version of adorable watching-you-sleep song "Your Bed", a silly live version of "Cast My Shadow", a sillier radio rendition of the debut's "My Chinchilla", and an, uh, ambient-house mix of early song "Go Fish", but the original full-length itself still stands as one of the better twee-pop albums from an era that also brought us great material from the Pastels, the Softies, Rocketship, Tullycraft, and others. "New York City" captures the joy of being young and in love in a big city, with fuzz-tone guitars and girl-group melodies, while organ-accented "Everything's Geometry" goes for jangly guitars but fuzzy math: "If 1 is 3 and 3 is 9, then we can be happy all of the time." Here, pumpkins turn into princesses, and a "flaming red bobsled" can be a thing of menace. A closing Go-Go's cover, "Vacation", is as deceptively exuberant as you'd expect. — Pitchfork New York City "We're serious to the point of putting in as much effort as we can," says Lisa G. on the phone from Vancouver. "But, it's about having fun and meeting people -- and making good music, of course. I'm proud of the new CD, but I wouldn't say we're out to solve the world's problems." Perhaps not, but cub's approach to music seems to be working. During their last tour, many cub fans showed up at a record store -- in Las Vegas. "They knew all the words to our songs," says G. "That totally freaked us out." [...] Since going on tour, cub has garnered a good deal of recognition across the country. Campus gigs are the mainstays of the tour. "At campus shows, a lot of young people -- particularly women -- come up to us afterwards and say, 'I never thought I could play an instrument, but watching you guys play really inspires me,'" says G. "That's the best compliment for me, because I tried to learn to play for years but was constantly told, 'No, you don't have the skill, you'll never learn to play.'" — Campus Canada Your Bed . My Flaming Red Bobsled It’s tempting to make too much of the stripped-down cover of the Go-Go’s’ “Vacation” that ends the much- improved Come Out Come Out (released on CD and triple 7-inch), but it’s impossible to gauge whether the song is being milked for camp or enjoyed for its own merits rather than meant as a tribute to the pioneer rock women. In fact, it doesn’t matter, as Cub is well on the way to defining itself. Marr’s singing has plenty of vulnerable but self-possessed personality; [Robynn] Iwata’s fuzz- guitar power fleshes out the band’s sonic presence; drummer Lisa G punches the beat with brisk authority and no frills. Ultimately, though, it’s the lyrics — about crushes on girls (“Ticket to Spain”), sexual roles (“You be Doris, I’ll be Rock” is a crushing throwaway in “Your Bed”), romantic disillusion (“Life of Crime”) and unfailing devotion (“So Far Apart”) — that give the album the weight intentionally absent from the breathless music. — Trouser Press Vacation (Go-Go’s cover) . WHO’S TALKING TO WHO Jimmy Kimmel: Sofía Vergara, Manolo Gonzalez Vergara, Andres Valencia, St. Vincent Jimmy Fallon: Anne Hathaway, Melanie Lynskey, Lang Lang (R 4/29/24) Stephen Colbert: Jennifer Hudson, Marisa Abela (R 5/14/24) Seth Meyers: Quinta Brunson, Bobby Moynihan, Les Savy Fav, Jon Theodore (R 5/15/24) After Midnight: Jack Martin, Maggie Winters, Vinny Thomas (R 4/2/24) Watch What Happens Live: Pre-empted The Daily Show: Pre-empted Had a poll but the verdict coming in today made it pointless. Site wouldn’t let me add a new one after deleting the previous one. 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