I figured I'd make my first real post on this blog a record I love. If you've talked to me about emo or indie you've probably heard me bring this little demo tape up, and if you've taken the time to listen you know exactly why.
The story is something like "The Hated broke up in 1989 but also kind of didn't but also mostly did and then a few of them decided to start another band to develop on their already trailblazing sound even more with another project" and as such the Annapolis, MD indie rock band Three Shades of Dirty was born. Paper Roses compiles the only recordings we have from them, and what an exceptional batch of songs it is; it's hard to believe indie rock of this quality and style was coming out as early as 1990. Clearly inspired by R.E.M. (as was The Hated) but replacing a lot of the produced college radio kitsch for excellent lo-fi-pop charm, TSOD loses absolutely zero of the songwriting that you want and expect from a band like this, and I've found this particular sound almost entirely unreplicated still. The bass is fucking insane from the get-go and the vocals are precisely what I want from an early indie rock band.
TSOD was, to my knowledge, only a three piece, though the excellent Jenny Toomey provides backing vocals on tracks 1 and 5. She also was in the band Slack that featured Dan Littleton and Collin Meeder from TSOD, which I highly recommend and will likely post at another point. Drummer Sandy Whitesel has done some recent stuff which I have not checked out but would be interested to at some point.
Please note that the following download is actually technically the tiniest bit faster than the actual tape; I know, I know, horrible of me to post, but it's the only rip that anyone had for literal decades, and honestly I'm choosing to post it because I truly like it more that way. If you want the correct version I could provide you with that to. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
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