“Godsend”, Beat Happening

This way: Godsend

One of my all-time fav LPs. Beat Happening was an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford were the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and slacker rock movements as well as pioneers of twee pop, noted for their playful disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship that contributed to lo-fi music, and songwriting with carefree and coy themes.

Beat Happening met while attending the Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band took its name from a student art film, Beatnik Happening, made by Lunsford's girlfriend. The year prior, Johnson had founded the label K Records. The band's basic line-up was drums, guitar, and vocals, though when they formed, their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Lewis once joked in an interview that she believed the history of the band could be readily told through a list of people whose drums they had borrowed. She and Johnson had been members of a previous band and approached Lunsford, who had no musical experience at the time.

Early recordings made use of an Echoplex machine to add heavy reverb to Lunsford's guitar, in an attempt to mask his unkempt performance.

The band traveled to Tokyo in 1984 with intentions of touring. Their first show in Japan was at the high school of a former exchange student Calvin knew. The band members recorded Three Tea Breakfast, a five-song EP that marked the band's first release.

[Spotify] Godsend 

[Charming Live 1992] Godsend