It's All Fun and Games Until They Add "Newsradio" to Nick at Nite

In an effort to avoid talking about the Pistons, we'll have another topic today. Early 90s nostalgia is great. I've had that kind of day. I'm listening to Ride's Nowhere right now, and I just finished listening to what I'm going to bore you with now: St Johnny - Speed is Dreaming. Hmmm. No link, right? That's because there's hardly anything out there on this album, let alone the band.

The "alternative" arm of Geffen Records, DGC, signed a ton of bands in 1992-94. St Johnny was picked up on a recommendation from Thurston Moore, which tells you something about their sound. I first heard St Johnny in 1995 on the Buy Product compilation, by which time they had released a very average followup and DGC was beginning a freefall to irrelevance. I heard a couple of other songs, but in the pre-Napster days, hearing anything this obscure off of a college campus was tough. I was 15 and not in college. When I saw Speed is Dreaming and Let It Come Down (the very average followup) in the 5 for $10 bin in about 2000, I had to have both.

Speed is Dreaming is equally Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and Nirvana, with some shoegazer-like harmonies mixed in. There are times in nearly every song where you swear J Mascis should be listed in the songwriting credits or you just expect the guitars to fall apart into some 10-minute meadow of feedback. The strongest songs are probably "A Car or A Boy?" and "Stupid," the opener and closer, respectively. As someone pointed out on a message board, you can get this for less than $3 including shipping on Amazon. You should own it, and feel like you're at Second Stage Lollapalooza 1993 EVERY DAY.