Indiepsychobit: Bill Doss

Terrible news from America today, as Olivia Tremor Control's Bill Doss has died:

1968-2012
We are devastated by the loss of our brother Bill Doss. We are at a loss for words.

Last year, Bill told Aquarium Drunkard a little about what he'd hoped the band would be:

Aquarium Drunkard: This is what I love about y’alls records, those records…it doesn’t sound to me like 1996, like indie rock of the time, Superchunk, Archers of Loaf…

BD: That’s kind of what we were hoping, that if someone found that record one hundred years from now that they wouldn’t here it and go “Oh, that’s from the 90s.” Or the 60s. With any luck, they would say, “When was this record made?” There are elements of all these things.

As a reminder, here's what the OTC were up to in 1996, a track from Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk At Cubist Castle with a homebrewed fan video -

After the Tremor Control split in 2000, Doss reactivated his older outfit, The Sunshine Fix (more-or-less a solo project) and graduated through tour support into being a full-time member of The Apples In Stereo.

Bill Doss was 44; no cause of death has been made public.

Pepsi repackages

It's still a nasty multinational company flogging unhealthy products, but I couldn't help being impressed with new look Pepsi is rolling out for its colas. After years of pushing cluttered, ugly tins with pointless digitised splodges and whatnot all over, they've decided to start acting like an iconic brand and produced a crisper, cleaner design for the cans and bottles. Not only that, but The Apples In Stereo are soundtracking the new campaign.

It's the same horrible PepsiCo. But they've smartened up their presentation.