Beat Happening - Beat Happening (1985) & Jamboree (1988)

It was likely inevitable that I'd come to share some Beat Happening. This band has all the elements I loved about the 80s post-anything ethos, in this form really stripped down indie pop. The way I look at it this is the flip side of the climate that produced bands like Half Japanese, Sonic Youth, Suicide and The Jesus & Mary Chain in post-punk and shoegaze. Instead of making noise and walls of sound, it is pop songs reduced to basics. Artists like Aztec Camera, Daniel Johnston, and Beat Happening made simple, lo-fi, numbers that are frequently short love ditties. I mean really damned rudimentary at times, like "Honey Pot" from Beat Happening's self-titled album wherein there is just fuzzy singing with handclaps. Like most good pop songs they're easy to take in and almost never complex, yet they make for some sweet listening. Of course this is one of Calvin Johnson's many outlets over the last few decades, and I recall enjoying this band some of his later ones like Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Halo Benders without connecting the dots for some time. Anyhow, most of you are hopefully aware of Beat Happening, but I'm posting what I've been listening to while working in the yard.

To be had here:





Beat Happening [160 kbps]











Jamboree [160 kbps]