Music-related rants from a self-styled underground music snob/scholar/freak. Topics range from late 1970s punk rock, pre-WWII delta blues, 60s garage punk, wild-ass rhythm & blues, sugar-coated 60s girl group pop, early 80s UK D.I.Y. post-punk, and more. You can comment and be a part of the action! Let a hundred insular record-collector voices bloom!
Here’s a post from last September that I wrote on my old blog about this amazing posthumous single – this time with the song itself for you to download below…..!
I plopped this on the turntable this past weekend and was again blown to friggin’ kingdom come by its glory. These 1975-76 recordings from original recipe proto-punk space teleporters MIKE REP & THE QUOTAS were lost to the wilds of history until Jacob Olausson’s Sverige Age Records in Sweden brought them to life again in 2002 – and you know what? These two tracks are every bit as raw, wild & grimy as Rep’s original legit 45 “Rocket To Nowhereâ€Â – and if you know that one, you know it’s an all-time freak-rock knockout. Both of these tracks are mono, shit-fi productions before there was any cachet in such a thing, but Rep pretty much wrote the book on making ends greatly exceed the means, starting here. So when you listen to “Mama…â€Â you hear drums that are every bit as heavy and echoing as Bonzo’s – and louder. The force of a thousand amps projecting simple, screaming chords into space is as alive as any other punk, pre-punk or proto-punk whatsis of the 70s. I guess the real true heavy metalloid music of the era was being created in places like Hamilton, Ontario; Chickasaw, Oklahoma and REP’s Columbus, Ohio – not NY, SF and LA.
OLLA were a very short-lived New Zealand group comprised of several individuals, most notably NZ band-hoppers Chris Heazlewood and Sean O’Rielly. Their 1992 7â€ÂEP on Flying Nun is one of my favorites of the era, which was a time when great, challenging, noisy music from the two islands was arriving in bursts. This EP, like so much from around that time & from that country, was scattered between retro-ish, analog keyboard, drone-heavy pop, and clattering & often improvisational noise. I feel like the whole record’s aged better than most of their peers’ did, and when I put it on the other day I said, “I gotta share this with the peopleâ€Â. So here’s the best track.
In 1994, for about five minutes, I fashioned myself a budding record label entrepreneur to some extent. I’d heard pals wax rhapsodically about how incredibly easy and cheap it was to put out a 45, and for the most part – since I put out or helped put out all of two – it totally was. I started a label called WOMB RECORDS, and was lucky enough to be allowed to put out MONOSHOCK‘s first record, “Primitive Zippo” – a searing, wild-ass overloaded mindfuck that kicks off their posthumous CD, a disc that you simply must get. What was I gonna do next? Well, I kind of knew the folks in the GORIES a little bit, as I’d interviewed them for the fanzine I did in the early 90s, and I also met & hoisted beverages with Dan(ny), their guitarist, in Detroit in 1993. My friend Anthony, who ran PAST IT RECORDS and was in the Icky Boyfriends at the time, also knew Danny & the flaunting ladies from his brand new band, the DEMOLITION DOLL RODS. We decided to team up and put out their debut 7″EP together, so it ended up being a Womb/Past It co-production. What was cool was that the two of us got to pluck the songs that would kick off this still-active band’s recording career from a tape they gave us, and the Doll Rods gave us full rein to select our favorites, track order, etc. I think we chose pretty well. The band never really touched the Gories for raw, unadulterated stripped-down soul power, but I feel to this day that this is the closest that they came. It sold well enough that Anthony & PAST IT did a solo re-press of another 500 copies with a blue-tinged cover; I opted out and threw in the towel for record mogulship. If you ever see the black-and-white cover pictured here, that’s the one that we did. If you never see it, well, here are the songs.
Sure it’s something of a conflict of interest but I’ll say it anyway – a new podcast called NEST OF VIPERS has just made its regal debut, and despite it being hosted or contributed to by people with whom I’ve broken bread in the past, it’s still the most entertaining & laugh-out-loud funny one I’ve ever heard. DANNY PLOTNICK hosts a show that’s billed as being:
“Like the unholy coupling of Fresh Air and The Best Damn Sports Show, Nest of Vipers is smart, funny and irreverent. Each episode features the rantings, ravings and erudite patter of independent musicians, filmmakers, writers and comedians holding court on cultural topics of the utmost importance….”
Like, for instance, the current episode, “WORST ROCK SHOW EVER”, which is just over a half an hour or so. Psychefunkapus gets namechecked. “Robe rock” (Sunn O) is discussed. Pain is felt. I’ve heard a couple of the upcoming ones as well & they’re a blast. You can subscribe via iTunes or just go right here and listen up. I recommend that you do.
I’ve found over the years that the eras that I consider the “bestâ€Â for the sort of music I listen to happen to correspond with the same years that I happen to be paying attention the most closely. Over the past 3-4 years, I’ve naturally concluded, as one who’s been blogging about music nearly every week during that period, that we’re in a pretty solid era of microgenre-bending rock music right now, with fantastic bands or acts popping up every few months. Here are 10 that I’m really into that I want you to be into as well (all names link to the individual band’s sites):
1.TIMES NEW VIKING – (pictured here) Scattered but harmonious, joyful but ear-bleeding, TNV are the 2007 equivalent of the late 70s UK DIY bedroom recording movement crossed with that berserk 1979 Half Japanese triple-LP box set, with dueling male vs. female vocals rattling off of every surface. Their new CD “Presents The New Paisley Reichâ€Â blows away their (excellent) previous efforts and is the early favorite for record of the year around these parts.
2.JOSEPHINE FOSTER – Strange and ghostly folk chanteuse who can hit the upper registers & the lower depths as well as any Maria Callas you care to put forward. She never stands in one place too long and may be an acquired taste, but once acquired, wow. She bends vocal notes and guitar chords in ways that generate shudders and deeper wisdom. (warning – her most recent CD-R hints at a very experimental record to come later this year; I suggest starting with “Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead Youâ€Â).
3.THE WOODEN SHJIPS – The prototype band for what I’d want “psychedeliaâ€Â to sound like in 2007 – heavy but nimble; referential to the flipped-out greats while not overly apeing them; and full of layered, screaming keyboards, guitar and revved-up, droning sound. Only two small-form records in (a 10â€Â and a 45), and they’ve already built up a cult-like following, of which I am a member.
4.NOTHING PEOPLE – Also mining the weirdo garage/psych vein are California’s Nothing People, but they do it in a much more lo-fi, splayed-out, guitar juggernaut sort of manner. Their 2006 EP is a godsend, and hopefully portends a lot, lot more to come like that.
5.PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT – Columbus, Ohio-based genre-crappers who play with such confidence and fuck-it panache they remind me of a pumped-up early FALL minus the repetition, but with all the bizarre cut-ups and decided lack of recording quality. I guess you’d call it really loud folk, but sometimes they explode into total noise, and that’s not very folky, is it? Just one and a half 45s so far, both fantastic.
6.THE TIME FLYS – The standard-bearers for punk rock right now, as far as I’m concerned, but these guys + gal are so goddamn fun they can probably even connect to a much wider, non-punker audience (though some people just HATE ‘em!). I compared them to the NY Dolls and old Texas punks earlier in the month, and was corrected by one wag, who said he heard RED CROSS’ “Born Innocentâ€Â more than anything else. Bingo! That’s why I like ‘em so much!
7.CHEVEU – Way cool, experimental French garage punk band who’ve already developed a reputation for complex, dirty, gruff songs built around simple, exploding riffs and a variety of tempos. These guys seem to have nothing but upside; I’m totally stoked to hear what an LP from them might sound like.
8.PISSED JEANS – It’s hard to pull off a sound that reminds this particular late-thirtysomething so much of his ear-bleeding youth & the bands from it, but these guys do it, approximating Black Flag, Drunks With Guns and the Laughing Hyenas with every monster riff and every tortured scream. It doesn’t sound dumb, it doesn’t sound dated, it sounds totally raw & alive and worth savoring. Please tour!!!!
9.MISS ALEX WHITE – She’s slipped under too many radars for my liking, which is a crime since every record she’s put out so far is a blast. Tuff, tuneful garage rock that constantly reminds me of some of the late 70s Masque bands from LA like The Eyes, The Bags and The Weirdos or slightly later ones like UXA.
10.CORTNEY TIDWELL – Guaranteed to be loathed by 75% of those of you reading this right now – but I shall soldier on. Miss Tidwell is an up-n-comer from Nashville who I read about & then downloaded a couple tracks from a few weeks ago; her m.o. is to graft exceptionally sparse arrangements & her lovely vocals onto to a template of OPAL-ish, even COCTEAU TWINS-ish melancholy country & electronica. Yeah, I know! Electronica! Put that in your pipe and smoke it! I recommend downloading her track “Eyes Are At the Billionsâ€Â and proceeding from there. The album’s got more gems like that one.
SPK were an Australian group who recorded into the late 80s and whose music ended up in the lower-case “industrialâ€Â zone – industrial as in disco-dance, heavy-BPM goth garbage; very popular in the late 80s as I’m sure you’ll recall. But in 1978 and 1979 they were an incredible upper-case Industrial band all the way, as it was defined at the time – jarring, abrasive, percussive, and other employing mangled synth sounds and rhythm patterns on scrap metal and cans & the like. I’m a recent convert to their early stuff. I wrote about it over here in 2004; here’s an excerpt from what I said then:
……I am floored by how fantastically harsh and rhythmically complex their debut 1979 singles are: “Contactâ€Â and “Mekanoâ€Â in particular. These are the records that are not only mind-numbingly rare and collectable, but have been popping up on certain collectors’ lists of the world-beating best DIY 45s of that era. I’d have to agree. The 1979 version of SPK took a straight-to-the-gut punk rock approach to early industrial noise, and made a handful of tracks that you simply have got to hear if you haven’t before. I’d count them among my favorite discoveries of the many things I’ve undeservedly ignored over the years……
Both these songs are available on a CD compilation called “Auto-Da-Feâ€Â (buy it here), but if you can’t find that, they’re available right here as well. Prepare to be floored.
That’s right, four months and two days ago I started this site with no goal in mind other than for it to be a repository for things I wanted to write about, and maybe the odd mp3 or two. Mission accomplished, I guess. (We haven’t completely morphed into a free mp3 site, I promise – that’s just the kick I’m on right now). Though we haven’t seen the lofty heights of web trafficking achieved by my previous all-music-based site Agony Shorthand, there are about 170 of you that see fit to click this way on a given day to see what I’m blathering on about. And that makes me proud. Here are a few items you might have missed during the last 122 days:
I missed the one and only LP from Los Angeles’ L.A. DRUGS when it came out in 2003 (update: I am told in the comments below that they were from Boston, whoops) – it existed first as a CD-R and later was put out as a one-sided affair on Twisted Village. It has the potential to both anger and dazzle all comers, given that it’s simultaneously one of the most annoying and yet most crazed and unhinged, dirty, noisy, lo-fidelity records I’ve ever heard. I think they were around for less than a year, tops. Obviously they found a lot of comedic value in early 80s LA punk (as we all do), given that the album is bookended with verbal clips from “The Decline of Western Civilizationâ€Â (“I swear, I hate cops to the MAXâ€Â) and the Germs’ final show (“We’ll see you all at Oki Dogâ€Â). The singer has a bratty, whining tweener voice that she uses to fine effect on tracks like the ones I’m posting for you today – sorta like what one might have called a quote-unquote “riot girlâ€Â fifteen years ago, but even more annoying. The band exudes learning-to-play confidence, utilizing cheapo keyboards, fucked-up guitars, and all manner of crashing & bashing to get their point across. It sounds like a goddamn lights-out teenage pajama party with peanut butter smeared all over the floor and pharmaceuticals piled high in punchbowls. See what you think by clicking the links below.
THE SWELL MAPS are probably in any right-thinking individual’s personal Top 10 punk-era British acts, despite their experimental, sonic distance from punk and the fact that they slot much better into the DIY, homemade post-punk “Messtheticsâ€Â world so popular with the kids today. Several of their most “famousâ€Â tracks – famous being relative for a band still so little-heard – like “Dresden Styleâ€Â, “Vertical Slumâ€Â and “Read About Seymourâ€Â, are surely punk rock on wheels, but they also feature the scarf-on-the-mic-stand, beatnik/French-like vocals of Nikki Sudden, and there’s just something very strange about the construction of each tune. That’s why I love ‘em. They often went totally ambient, too, or showcased piano ballads, 10-minute soundscapes, or tribal, polyrhythmic percussive workouts. Some of these worked better than others, but it’s a good bet that there weren’t many bands this far-reaching & still good anywhere at the time. There were only two real albums (1979’s “A Trip To Marinevilleâ€Â and 1980’s “Jane From Occupied Europeâ€Â), some amazing 45s, a couple posthumous collections, and then this: a 1981 double LP on Rough Trade called “Whatever Happens Nextâ€Â.
When I found my copy of “Whatever Happens Nextâ€Â in the early 90s I was just becoming wise to the charms of the Maps, and I felt like I’d struck gold at Sutter’s Mill. This collection was rare to begin with, and has never been put on CD, even with two US Swell Maps reissues having come out just over the past 6-7 years. I did my research, and the three tracks I’m posting for you today are not only fantastic, fantastically rare, and fantastically fabulous, but they exist only on that great “Whatever Happens Nextâ€Â 2xLP that nobody has (not even me, I eBayed & digitized it a few years ago). Strong recommendation to you to buy buy buy the two LPs (now on CD with loads of extra tracks), plus the “Train Out of Itâ€Â and “International Rescueâ€Â comps while you’re at it…..
One of the strangest records I’ve ever heard, and one of the most oddly compelling. A friend of the distant past bought this solely for the cryptic cover; check out the back cover and inner labels pictured here – we had NO IDEA who this was by until I sent out a plea on my old blog back in 2003, and was told that it was PETER BLEGVAD, a member of the avant-rock band SLAPP HAPPY. Is this from 1972? Or 1980? I know the 45 pictured here is from ’80 but the track may be from much earlier. It may have only existed as a bonus one-sided 45 that turned up with the reissue of a Slapp Happy LP called “Sort Ofâ€Â in 1980. Regardless, it’s totally fried and out of time, the sort of oddball madness that sucks you in & makes you watch/listen, rather than turn you away in horror. Well I guess that’s really for you to decide, isn’t it?
Here’s a post from last September that I wrote on my old blog about this amazing posthumous single – this time with the song itself for you to download below…..!
OLLA 
THE SWELL MAPS 