Folks On Fire - Under A Hairy Sun

Label : Self-Released

Year : 1985

Country : US

Format : LP

Goofy, artsy punk from Louisville. Not the most experimental affair, but worth it for a listen that can be compared to blog darlings Proof of Utah.

Here

Gary Panter - Pray For Smurph

Label : Overheat Records - OVE-0102

Year : 1983 (RE 2008)

Country : Japan

Format : CD

Here's something I didn't know existed 'til a few months ago. The CD issue of this, that is. I had once heard an old vinyl rip of this album, weirdowave avant-country by the comic artist Panter. An apocryphal Ralph Records curiosity if you will.

Now a local comic book store came upon a batch of these, cutting the price down by magnitudes going by Discogs. It was really serendipitous, I opened a social media app one night (turning morning) and came upon it and gave it an order. The rest is history. 

Now given that this is by an artist of Panter's cache you would expect to find some sweet prints in the booklet. If you have been paying attention to the scans, you would know yourself to be correct. It also came with this sick flag, which I have hanging proudly in my closet at the minute.

This is a definitive "zolo" release, although I see that more as a pure aesthetic than an actual musical genre. If you haven't heard it before and my aforementioned description of the music doesn't register, think of it like the music he designed covers for in the past: Snakefinger, Residents (and Renaldo/the Loaf), Oingo Boingo, the good doctor Eugene Chadbourne, etc.... The herk and the jerk of a twang in a mode of new wave.

Don't be afraid to click the CD!

Defuser - World Suicide And Freeze Please

Label : Landslide Records - LSD-502

Year : 1982

Country : US

Format : 7 inch

Here's a real classic, straight from the underground bunkers.

Chiefly the B-side, which is atypically featured in prominence compared to the headliner Freeze Please. You might have heard it before on various platforms and differing qualities, but I figured I would throw my hat in the ring and post my own personal rip. Fresh! 

Defuser were a very intriguing project in the new wave oeuvre: frenetic synths match up to the frenetic vocalisms, a combo which really works as expected. Though that's a little vague, I'd let this speak for itself at 45 revolutions per minute.

 Here

While Defuser hasn't gotten the VoD treatment or a sniff of a CD retrospective, you can make do while someone picks up the pieces by going to their website that's packed with info and good old MP3s.

Circadian Rhythm - 新鮮なかおり

Label : Air Records - AIR-3008

Country : Japan

Year : 1986

Format : 7 inch

Some Eastern hospitality in the form of a cute little 7 inche package. The music is quite comfortable, too. A languid Lacrymosa side project, with pop sensibilities between the avant bursts. It's odd, I quite enjoy the B side and do like the chintzy little melodies of the A-side, but this doesn't grab me as much as I would have anticipated... It has all the niceties of the Japanese new wave in all its [musical description/cliche] and weirdo sensibilities (or zolo, whatever that is). Sort of like a lot of technopop I hear, I would prefer to hear kraftverk or O. My. Dee.

Of course, I could just let it settle. Let it grow on me, yes, grow on me like a, er, mushroom. Yes, yes, yes, yes,  Psilocybin hallucination or insomnia? I'll go with the latter, my circadian clock's only right a couple times per day.

I neglected to scan the back side of this one, wouldn't you believe it? Lucky enough, someone was gracious enough to facilitate the missing spaces to Discogs, making my job halfway obsolete. Oh, if you would like to hear more from this rather obscure outfit I recommend checking out Tony Coulter's show on WFMU. If you bug him enough he might just queue em up.

Here

Marica - 海Jellyfish月

Label : Invitation - CDR-1465

Country : Japan

Year : 1987

Format : CD

Crossarmed and pangless.
Truth be told, I was juggling the notion of whether I should post this here or on my "sister blog", given that this is a bit too poppy for the content here and not quite the "Avant-garde Jazz, Leftfield, Post-Punk" posited by Discogs; truly the treachery of labels there.

Truth be told a second time, this isn't an avantpop romp, but a solid slice of 80s Japanese new-wave. We in the industry (note: not industrial) throw these kinda releases under the nebulous umbrella of "Art Pop". Not quite Kate Bush, but I never listened to her anyway.

So, why wait? Immerse yourself in synthpop goodness... the kids on-line are always impressed by obscure Japanese albums.

Here

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.

Here

Various Artists - Downtown NYC

Label : Virgin Records - 1-90950

Country : US

Year : 1988

Format : LP

The 80s music scene in downtown New York brought a lot of great stuff, including the barrage of eponymous Downtown Music projects, No Wave and other noisy cacophonies. Unfortunately, these scenes are not represented very well here, aside from some more obscure inclusions. It starts off with the title track, a very cheesy eighties anthem about living "downtown". So, yeah.

Some gems are to be found here, though. Tracks such as the second by Mark Johnson, who put out a classic Baroque pop private press album in the 70s. Another highlight is the contributions by Timber side project Rude Buddha and the post-No Wave of Ritual Tension. Some other good things to be found are the minimal synthpop of Soma Holiday and avant-folksong of Songs From A Random House. I don't really care for the rest, sadly. You might, though.

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