Some Velvet Sidewalk

by Jason AnkenyAlongside fellow natives Beat Happening, Some Velvet Sidewalk helped establish Olympia, WA, as an epicenter of the American indie rock community throughout the 1980s and 1990s, their minimalist sound and wide-eyed world view giving rise to the emergence of the love-rock ethic. Originally a duo comprised of singer/guitarist Al Larsen and drummer Robert Christie, Some Velvet Sidewalk debuted in 1988 with a cassette titled From Playground Till Now; the single I Know, their first release for the famed local label K Records, followed later that same year. After the full-length Appetite for Extinction, Christie left the group, and was replaced by bassist Don Blair and drummer Martin Bernier in time for 1992s Avalanche; the I Scream EP followed in 1993, and a year later Some Velvet Sidewalk returned with Whirlpool. Though not released until 1995, Shipwreck was actually recorded in 1990 and intended as the bands second album; after issuing the all-new Generate and The Lowdown in 1997, Some Velvet Sidewalk disbanded, with Larsen soon resurfacing in the Polar Bears.