Love Cup — Grefus Gronks and Sheet (1994)
Love Cup on Bandcamp:
Love Cup on discogs:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/935199-Love-Cup
Champaign-Urbana is an important region for me, for personal reasons. I do find it to be a unique, charming place. Yes, it is a college town, but it has more going on — both with the college and outside of it — than your typical one. Although the lame, little-used nickname “Silicone Prairie” is an exaggeration, there is a poetic overlap between the technological fantastic and ordinary, everyday agriculture-tinged middle American life. I remember chatting with a friend who was waiting in her lab- she was in the cue for Blue Waters, which she needed for a geoclimatic model she was working on. She mentioned that it was pawpaw season, and knew a good place to gather them.
When I worked as a field hand for a Physical Geographer, we would dump (harmless) wood particulate matter in man-made streams, using a Lidar drone to measure the twists and bends. I spent hours talking with the other field assistants about our research, science, animals, whatever other scientific narratives we could entertain ourselves with.
All this is to say that in retrospect, it makes perfect sense that Champaign-Urbana produced a pint-sized space rock scene. Of the two bands that composed it, Hum is the better-known, but their twin, Lovecup, is the definition of a musical gem. Lovecup never attained much notoriety, only releasing an EP and LP before breaking up. When you put them on though, you can hear their talent and distinctive artistic vision shine through their somewhat rough-sounding recordings. The imperfections even help, giving a sense of intimacy between the band and listener, decades on.
You could play the adjective game when describing Lovecup: A Smashing Pumpkins-influenced alt rock band which incorporated grunge and funk rock into their style. And they are definitely creatures of the mid-90s, their sound drawing from the different little camps of alternative rock which had sprung up earlier in the decade. But, this would overlook how Lovecup succeeded in making an evocative, adventurous Space (hard) Rock sound, one distinct from Hum, even if obviously related. Their first EP has a strong Red Hot Chili Peppers-influenced funk rock sound, but is still a fun listen.
It’s their LP Grefus Gronks and Sheet where the band’s artistic vision reaches maturity. Here, they offer the listener a mix of space rock dirges, ballards and faster-paced rockers with a deep, cavernous sound that puts emotional weight behind each track’s musical narrative.
The vocalist works well with the band in this regard. Just as you can hear the harder edge of the Seattle sound, stoner rock, RHCP funk and Pink Floyd all over this LP, the singer gives a rough, youthful singing voice that convincingly shifts with each moment in the band’s style.
Every track is worth a listen. Beloit is probably the best example of their approach to Space Rock vibes, as a wonderfully reverberant song that swallows you up. Billfershort is more aggro, holding the strongest hints of their earlier funk rock sound. THe opener, Entirely Made of Wood will charm you with what their songwriting has to offer.
FFO: Hum, The Smashing Pumpkins, Failure, Pearl Jam
Full Tags: Space Rock, Illinois, Midwest, Hard Rock, Champaign-Urbana, Hard Psyche, college twon
