When Sub Pop Took a Sponge Bath

When you think of Sub Pop in the '90s, a particular genre that's not real popular in our little corner of the blogosphere is bound to come to mind. Truth is, by the middle of the decade, the label had made a real effort to diversify itself, and I quite liked the power-pop bands in its stable. One only has to look as far as No. 46 on my top 100 songs of the '90s to see Velocity Girl was a great listen in 1994, for example.

Zumpano was another one of Sub Pop's up and comers that received serious consideration for my countdown. The band signed in '94 during the label's Canadian phase. These fellas were out of Vancouver and, unfortunately, have been boiled down to a trivia question these days. (What was the band A.C. Newman was in before joining supergroup the New Pornographers?) That's too bad because they put out two fantastic albums chock full of bounce, both of which have been physically out of print for some time. Today's listen is the opener from their first long player, 'Look What the Rookie Did.' There is a section near the end of "The Party Rages On" that sounds just like the Turtles, and I mean that as a sincere compliment. Crisp, clean and just about as far from grunge as possible. Find this album if you can. You'll be able to hear some early Feelies (especially on "Jeez-Louise") and Sloan in there somewhere too.

"The Party Rages On"