Silver Spring, Maryland’s Black Tambourine were only around for a couple of years in the late ’80s/early ’90s, coming off the 80s wave of twee pop (or indie pop; whatever you wanna call it). They were in the same vein as The Pastels and the Jesus and Mary Chain, combining minimalist production, song structures that paid homage to ’60s pop (particularly Phil Spector productions), and deafening feedback that was inspired by the Velvet Underground. Despite being influential, the band only released one single and only played a handful of shows during their brief existence. In 2010, their label, Slumberland Records, decided to compile their complete recordings into one package, probably in response to the emergence of twee-pop influenced acts, such as Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast. Despite their small output (Which totals 16 songs at roughly 41 minutes), Black Tambourine was a band that ultimately proved to be onto something truly amazing. “For Ex-Lovers Only,” and “Pack You Up” have well-constructed and commanding hooks that show that despite having pop hooks, Black Tambourine didn’t fuck around; Pam Berry’s vocals may sound sweet, but you can tell that she had attitude, which complimented both the clean chorus-y guitar that provided the melodies and the sharp squalls of feedback that permeated the track. “Pam’s Tan,” one of the band’s earliest track, is a hypnotic groove that reminds me of surf-rock on pot laced with acid; the guitars swirl, the drums play a simple, lazy beat, and the wordless track clocks in at a mere 1:19, but it makes its impact.
Slumberland Records did issue a Complete Recordings mix back in 1999, but they went one further and revisited Black Tambourine’s small but heavily influential output and expanded on it. In addition to the 10 songs that was on the Complete Recordings album, they added six additional tracks of covers, unreleased tracks and demos. Their versions of Buddy Holly’s “Heartbeat” and Suicide’s “Dream, Baby, Dream” show off their wide scope of influences and put their own special mark on those songs, with the latter being maybe one of the most beautiful songs ever.. Black Tambourine may be no more, with its members in different bands, but their brief time together was something special and at the time groundbreaking in indie music. Indie rock wouldn’t really experience such simplicity until early in the 2000s, and up until now, Black Tambourine would have been seen as a cultural footnote. These days, they’re pioneers!
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