Metro Pulse/Music/Eye on the Scene

Moving vinyl

After more than a decade in a small West Knoxville shopping plaza, Mike and Maria Armstrong have moved Lost & Found Records to a new spot on the UT Strip. It's a long, narrow storefront, located at 1823 Cumberland Avenue, on the north side of the street, near Cup-a-Joe and Sunspot. Inside, new and used LPs—from import editions of the latest indie releases to classic country and jazz—are in bins or stacked knee-high in the aisles, waiting for the staff to find room and some system of organization for them.

"We moved for two or three different reasons," Maria Armstrong says. "One very important reason was that the rent here is about $1,000 cheaper than our spot in West Knoxville. But basically, in a nutshell, we get more business from this side of town, and we'd looked at moving here three different times, but always talked ourselves out of it. This time we just decided to do it."

The Armstrongs have added to their considerable stock (Maria guesses they have as many as 60,000 titles, but says only Mike knows the exact numbers) by buying out Nathan Moses' Modern World Records, formerly located in the Old City. "We decided to move the same weekend that Nathan decided to close his store," Maria says. "We actually opened here the day he moved his stuff." Moses worked at Lost & Found even when he had his own store, and will still work with the Armstrongs at the new location.

"Mike's been collecting records since he was 5 years old," Maria says. "If he had to shut down I don't know what he'd do. He'd go crazy."

If the Camper's a' rockin'

Once again, dozens of well-known musicians will take to the mic in order to raise funds for WDVX 89.9 (106.1 in the city), the little radio station that could. The Camperfest 2001 will kick off on May 11 and run through the weekend, featuring performances from folk such as Bill Mize, R.B. Morris, Tut Taylor, David Childers and Duane Jarvis. Admission is $8 and all proceeds will benefit WDVX. The campground is located just of Exit 122 on I-75. Call 494-9386 for more camping and parking info and visit www.wdvx.com for a complete rundown of the weekend's events.

Local Review

Scull Soup (NFM Records)

Thriving on the periphery of the Knoxville music scene for around a dozen years with all the original members intact (!), the guys in Greeneville's Scull Soup have channeled their musical madness into a highly evolved, hybridized sound. Small town life and the gang mentality of four deranged minds can result in some twisted stuff, as is evidenced on the band's latest CD release, a compilation of the best bits from four separate recordings and a live track called simply Scull Soup (NFM Records).

Forging an amalgam of metal, punk and funk, the Scull Soup boys are playing what might fit in quite comfortably among today's rap/metal crew. But you've got to keep in mind that mixing metal and funk wasn't exactly a common practice in the late '80s when the band began.

Sure, the music might sound angry at first. But listening more closely you'll find that there's a lot of humor suffused in the lyrics and none of the grating white-boy rage that is so popular today. The music is indeed heavy at times—most of the time in fact—but that's just an aggressive, energetic framework for singer Vanbuscar's satirical wit.

OK, so now it's time for some name dropping. After listening to Scull Soup for about 10 minutes, you might hear similarities to bands as varied as Primus, the Dead Kennedys, Faith No More, Helmet, the Voodoo Glow Skulls, Black Sabbath, or even the Descendents. But as soon as you think you've got the band figured out, they'll do another musical kick flip. And this is a good thing.

It's a total miracle that the band is still playing together with the same lineup after all these years. And those years of mutation have created a real monster. You can't create true weirdness like this in short order. To get your own copy of this and other Scull Soup CDs, email [email protected] or write NFM Records, 82 Skyway, Greeneville, TN 37743.

Go.

As usual, check the calendar section for complete information.

Thursday: Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men with Charlie Robison on Market Square. A rock 'n' roll installment in the Sundown in the City series.

Friday: Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time at Palace Theatre. Bluegrass for a blue heart.

Saturday: Tibetan Monks at Pellissippi State Performing Arts Center. They're back and spreading their unique sound and magic. If you're roadtrippin', R.B. Morris is playing the Depot Restaurant in Greeneville.

Sunday: Perspectives in Modern Dance at UT Music Hall. The best in the area dance together.

Monday: Absolute Wood at The Spot. Local, lower-key but still good rock for a long day.

Tuesday: Einstein Simplified at Manhattan's. Improv comedy that can be hit or miss but is always fun.

Wednesday: Dismembered Tennesseans at Barley's. More bluegrass, but homegrown.

—Emma "Grown in the collective subconscious" Poptart