The Minnesota Daily
1995

How do I love thee Blue Up? Let me count the ways Next time you see an ad for A&E on the side of a University 13 bus, take note of its psychedelic design. Our art directress, Liberty Eggink, made some of them with this guy singing into a microphone; the others borrow images of a feminine eye, decorated with swirly makeup and glitter. I think the owner of that eye, Rachael, would find her optic exposure poetically appropriate.

Rachael leads the Blue Up?, Minneapolis' most adventurous pop creation. Her ahead-of-its-time music is lush with magical fairies and uninhibited exhibitionists; startling emotional power beside fairy tale symbolism. And Rachael's favorite symbol -- besides cups, stars, snakes, Geisha girls and scissors -- is her eyes. Just observe her artwork and lyrics on the latest Blue Up? disc, Spool Forka Dish.

Her large, royally decorated eyes are tiny Rachael's largest and most expressive feature, rivalled only by her broad- ranged voice. Indeed, the combined height of the trio is less then 15 feet. But when guitarist Rachael, bassist Carolyn Rush and drummer Renee Braachi take the stage, the Blue Up? is huge. When I first saw them three years ago in the Whole, I was nailed with the revelation that there's much more to pop than testosterone. The band draws from an obscure fringe history of pop music, from psychedelia to progressive rock to punk to new wave; Pink Floyd to Kate Bush to Bowie, Babes in Toyland and beyond.

Courtney Love once admitted that the Blue Up? album Cake and Eat It inspired her most famous Hole lyric: "I want to be the girl with the most cake."

What's most amazing is that Rachael and her band have spent 11 years trapped in a music scene that barely understands them. Rachael's exotic and often controversial flair exudes a potential-star power that contradicts the sound, attitude and gender conventions of the Midwestern rock/work ethic. Spool Forka Dish is the most ambitious pop recording from Minneapolis since Prince's prime.

It shifts gears so often, from 12-string guitar rock to synthesized bliss to acoustic meandering, that unaccustomed listeners may be disoriented. Rachael places a premium on recording and performance over musicianship, and she's not very staunch about doing her own promotion work. Yet Rachael's visions extend far beyond guitar-bass-drums in dingy bars. She's much more like Bjork: Her music becomes a post-rock platform for sensuality, whimsy, studio command and neo-feminist assertiveness.

The artist lives in, not with, her art. "You can't tell me how and where to shine," Rachael demands on Spool Forka Dish; the irony is that unlike Bjork, Rachael hasn't quite gotten her chance to shine -- yet. After all, the Blue Up? boasts the bizarre misfortune of having three excellent albums which are all rare or aborted. Rachael's first self-recorded effort, the engaging, embryonic Introducing Sorrow, never saw the light of day once its English label disappeared off the face of the earth with the master tapes. Strike One.

The Blue Up? bounced back in 1992 with the masterful, explosive Cake and Eat It, which boasted 23 tracks of emotional catharsis, lush psychedelic production, soundbite oddities and defiantly tough pop. Within nine months of Cake's release, the band surged forth to hard-won local notoriety. But the spotlight was finite -- Cake was released to tiny distribution on a friend's label, Catacombs, and is now next to impossible to find. Strike Two.

Their luck seemed to turn around when former Prince drummer Bobby Z "discovered" the band, signed on as manager and ushered in a contract with Columbia Records. For the first time, the Blue Up?'s stars were aligned for success. Or so it seemed. In a gabble of bloated disorganization, Columbia sat on the big-budget debut Spool Forka Dish for months, only to issue it last May with impotent support. The single "Breathe You Out" got excellent airplay at home, but Columbia lifted barely a finger to spread the word. Two months after the release, the Blue Up? predictably got the boot. Spool went out of print, and remaining sale copies are dwindling. Strike Three.

After enduring all this, most bands would have broken up three times. But the ever-resilient Blue Up? forges on. I've always thought the acclaimed dream-pop label 4AD would make a better home for the them. But until something happens, the Blue Up? remains our best-kept secret. The Blue Up? performs tonight at the 400 Bar with Tribe of Millions. ID required.. The Blue Up? also plays Friday at the Whole Music Club, underground at Coffman Union. All ages.

--Simon Peter