Thursday, February 22, 2018

Modernairs - Bend

Label : Illuminated Records - ILL 812
Country : UK
Year : 1982
Format : LP
In short succession, another post. For once, I'd like to avoid a metanarrative in what should be a humble download page. But I want to illustrate this to satiate a feeling in my tangled neurons. I got this record (along with another LP which I will share later on) at a local fixture in Jerry's Records. The name emblazoned on the sign holds little more than sentimental value and a legacy function, given that the original Jerry has recently handed off the musty and beautiful little shop to new management. Still essentially the same place, however.

Back to what I was getting at: the act of finding what I'm looking for is a much bigger challenge nowadays than it had been then. The last post contains a tape zine which I had found in a crop of several other suitors for my ultimate purchase that given day. Most of said suitors had belonged to a one Paul Morrison, a man who had amassed a gigantic collection of records and tapes of any kind of persuasion, a good amount of which were experimental/avantgarde/whathaveyou... I think I dried up that well given that most of what can be found on this blog especially in the earlier days can be sourced back to good 'ol Jerry's. Now, in the world as it is today, finding a record which I can find some sort of enjoyment out of is a whole different ballgame. Sorting through album after album, taking a few to the designated listening stations, and finally shelling out the green to bring home a few soundforms is the name of the game. It is never a sure thing, which I do enjoy though it can be exhausting. There is a large volume of unknown stuffs on those packed shelves between the Wham! and Aerosmith surplus; the main issue is whether or not I will hit on some good stuff or end up with some generic, abhorrent stuff that was forgotten for a reason.
Betraying my succeeding line at the beginning, I must take heed to the fact that I had written a ton of stuff without having paid even an iota of attention to the music presented here. And I said this was "humble"download page. Anywho, this isn't what I described on the second half of that last line there. There is stuff to like here... Though the whole time I had spent listening I couldn't help but try to conjure up musical comparisons. I saw a review of their sole album liken them to Ludus, which isn't too inaccurate given the jazz instrumentation and postpunk spirit. No female vocalist, though. Maybe a less crazy James Chance? Jazzified Police? I dunno. A bit too neu-wavey at times to me. Still, jazzy postpunk is always welcome dans la maison.


Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Various Artists - Outward Inward #5

Label : SSS Productions - OI-5
Year : 1987
Country : US
Format : C34
If not for the brandspankin' new website tape-mag brought forth by Vinyl-on-Demand honcho Frank Bull, I'd have forgotten that I had never brought the 5th little issue of this industrial zine to lite. Now, here we are. Tape and all! Lots of interesting tendons to chew on in here, interviews from the subunderground tenenaries featured on that prestigious front cover. The music, in lieu from the usual compendium of tracks originating from various sources, consist of live "songs" from a set that occurred at the Squirrel Hill American Legion. Must have been quite the slight live.

Here (tape) / Here (zine)


Monday, February 5, 2018

Panda Haus - Exercises In Brevity

Label : Polyamory
Country : US
Year : 1999
Format : C44

Most of some of the time trawling the assorted obscurities of Discogs' database bears strange and rewarding fruits. This is one of those times. As soon as I saw that notification on the electronic mail, I as there. I first discovered this little dirtied gem of a tape when I, as I am wont to do, inputted some appealing filters with the sites rather limited Style system. I believe it was something to the chune of "1990s, Cassette, Avantgarde, Synth-Pop". A winning combination.


As can be seen from the image, this was likely sent for review to the subunderground zine Muckraker and addressed to its honcho Patrick Marley. Though I bought this from CMS Foundation's Chris Sienko, one of those things that get mixed up when buying a little something. When describing the music, I could say that it is along the thread of experimental pop with lofi production with little smatterings of noise here and there. The noise element, though very understated, is appropriate given the involvement of Tovah "Dead Machines" Olson. Personally, I have found more enjoyment in this sort of project, that is melodic yet chaotic and noisy pop rambling, than the more harsh and glitchy sounscapes that has found prominence over the last two decades or so.