The Squires Of The Subterrain: Pop In A CD (1988)

One of the nicest perks of the digital era is that it allows talented music nerds to record decent-sounding albums in their basements and get them disseminated online.  One of my favorite home-based artists is New Yorker Chris Earl, who's been quietly releasing music for decades as the Squires of the Subterrain.  The music tends to be lo-fi retro-psychedelia and Brian Wilson-esque surf-pop, with shades of more baroque pop like XTC -- picture Guided by Voices trying to cover Pet Sounds and you're halfway there.

Though a lot of the releases are pretty solid (i.e. 2005's better-produced Strawberries on Sunday), I'm a sucker for the delightfully catchy debut, sonic limitations and all (sourced from some earlier home-cassette recordings).  The brief self-referential "Theme Song" sounds like the theme song from a weird 70s Saturday morning cartoon about a fictitious band and their dog; "Intoxicating Violet" is like a Nuggets-era leftover, an intriguingly catchy chorus and simple, largely acoustic hook; "Admiral Albert's Apparition" is faux-psychedelic sunshine pop; "East Coast Surfin'" is a murky but rousing early Beach Boys leftover (by way of Val Kilmer in the Top Secret soundtrack), while "Stained Glass Summer" is more Smile-era Beach Boys. 

I couldn't find anything on YouTube from the album, but, hey, as long as we're here, how about a video someone threw together for a later song?

Most of the Squires albums stream on Spotify, and you can buy them on the Squires website.