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

Iceplants - Done By The Iceplants

Label : Small Tools Tradition - B Town 01

Year : 1986

Country : US

Format : LP

I have unearthed a holy grail. Well, bought one at least. This group has been on my mind for quite a while after hearing their Happytime At The Wow Club shortplayer first posted on the legendary Mutant Sounds blog. On my mind, but out of reach (financially). Specifically this "long"player. I was just about ready to take a road trip down to DC to have a listen to the Library of Congress' copy before deciding to just bite the bullet and let the collectors win just this once.

Taking a chance with it, I'd say it was worth it. The seller was a treat to deal with, too! Anyway, to the music. Its sound is caught between the drunken piano cabarets of the aforementioned Wow Club and the industrial postpunk of their other rarity which I posted some time ago. The bite is certainly there, lyrics wise. Anti-Soviet ballads are not something often to be found in the exp. underground of the time, sort of continuing on the theme of atypical political lieds after "Hanoi Jane"... Among other topics, like nuclear destruction and short ditties about roadkill.

Read em or weep, maybe both at the same time.

Aside from all that "musical" stuff, there's a letter left from the band leader (I assume) to the former owner of the record. 

Always seems kind of weird, I won't say voyeuristic, to have these in your collection. Maybe it's just me. It's still cool though, in terms of extra goodies that you may find in a random given record. It could be worse, could be whatever came with the first edition of TG's D.o.A.

 

Here

XX Century Zorro - La Volpe Du XX Siècle

Label : Old Europa Cafe - OECD 140

Country : Italy

Year : 2011 (1983 orig)

Format : CD

Not to blaspheme the blasphemers, but in the face of the revolutionary MonSter sound system I have shirked the original intentions by doubling the tracks on each channel into one for every song. In its original form, the album has different tracks going on at the same time in the stereo space, perfect for equalizers... But I intend to give it a bit more accessibility if at all.

Warped cabaret tunes and postpunk industrialism in a collage of madness.

here

Five Or Six - A Thriving And Happy Land

Label : Frizz Bee - Frizzbee 2

Country : Netherlands

Year : 1982

Format : LP

Like Durutti Column, except in place of pastoral melancholy there exists an aggressive undercurrent of urban spiral. Like a hellish construction site, but also a bit heavenly. I'm surprised these guys haven't gotten the full-on Cherry Red reissue treatment, having just a Greatest Hits (hm) CD to their name. That's all well and good in this thriving and happy land but it's missing some key tracks. Some of the implied tracks appear here, and on the early retrospective "Cántame Esa Canción Que Dice, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" that today still sit on their respective plastic platters. Five or six years from now, maybe.

Here

Down With People - Down With People

Label : Circularphile Records / Nadirean Extensions - NE002

Country : US

Year : 1990

Format : LP

That isn't how the Lambchop song goes, but I digress. Here today is a hidden, er, thing from the NYC underground. Not quite the Shimmy-Disc gem, but it's serviceable and might just grow on you and me. Horticulture.

Down With People (or DWP, not sure if they are the same) are an elusive little band, I can hardly find a peep about them on the internet. Does that make me a pioneer? Sons of Pioneers?
I dunno.

Sonically, this reminds me of the Fibonaccis. That's high praise, I love the Fibonaccis. Fibonaccis interspersed into the Downtown music scene seems money to me; something is missing however, it's not a golden ratio. Some sort of "indie" inflection throws me for a loop a bit, might be bias. Avant aspects lacking, but that's me being pretentious. I prefer to be portentous, respectively.

Here

Damarge - Les Box Set (Sur La Plat)

Label : Equation Records - E=mc04

Country : US

Year : 2004

Format : Lathe Cut

What do you know?
I've decided to drop this behemoth here. Even a passing familiarity doesn't quite scratch the surface. OK, maybe not that esoteric an artifact, but it surely is strange. Lemme preface with a previous review:

A very, very curious document of a rather obscure 80s synth band. On land and on sea, these tracks never rose to the surface til the early 2000s. Snowboy got his bearings here, and the other guy dwelled in miscellany. What makes this box set so odd is the way it is presented: numerous lathe cut records from the King Peter himself, labeled with various appropriated animu and second life-esque images (looks like someone scraped the page of an '03 era imageboard), a CD-Rom (which, to my surprise, has not rotted one bit), and a bunch of pleasantries such as fridge magnets and pins and, of course, stickers.

The music itself holds up pretty well, surprising that none of these appeared on any cassette compilations over the years. A whole case history for the band itself comes with the whole package, and the package itself can be enjoyed digitally:

http://www.chronoglide.com/damarge.html

I was in danger of repeating myself (h/t Fad Gadget), but I don't care anymore (Fad). Yes, yes, yes, yes a peculiar amalgamation of lowfi synth madness. I swiftly thank the makers of the dead for the included CD-rom, making my job just a bit easier. All you would want in visual and textual form is in this measly .zip:

ici

Toutefois, me being a muzak blogger of some integrity, no matter how faulty, I know that the intrepid listener may find the 2004 era 128kbps mp3s found on the compact disc insufficient.
Have no fear: panacea!

Here

You may note while listening, this is not especially superior to the audiophile repellent above. As noted in the blurb above that, this is the work of the high King. That be as it may, each disc and its grooves which house each song fall prey to the inherent flaws of the lathe cut alternative. Plus, a ground buzz in the background I never got around to fully remedying. O'well. 

Iceplants - Cravenous

Label : Small Tools Tradition

Year : 1992

Country : US

Format : CD

Ooooo this is a pleasant surprise! (Apologies to the other variety of surprise)

Actually, maybe it is unpleasant. Iceplants were never a pastoral group, totally negative type music. Jaunty self-murder ballads, things of that nurture. They sounded British to me at first, but they were actually germinated from the pistols and stamens that populated the burgeoning fleurs du mal of the 80s Colorado subunderground scene. Dismal, really. This is quite a bit different from the other material (paltry amount of which) I've heard from this old and exciting project. Less "dark" cabaret and more Industrial-ambient postpunk. Still, it's worth getting your ears on.

My search for the rest of the material of this band is almost nearing completion... Unless they have even more stuff I don't know about. My next step in this journey might find me at the Library of Congress. I just have to thank my good digital friend Tony Coulter and whoever gave this to him for making the trek abit lighter.

Here

Breather - Loves And Disloves

Label : Sonic Incision Records - SI 001

Country : US

Year : 1984

Format : LP

You might be familiar with this one, a rip of it has come to pass a couple times throughout the blogosphere. I bought it for a bargain while on vacation, so I figured I'd post it. I seem to remember the existing rip being rather unsatisfying... Though I am not a very good arbiter for such a thing. I think the tracks were combined and was only encoded at 256kbps, so I'll do it a couple things better. Properly ripped and post-processed (to a certain extent, I'm too cheap to buy click repair), in clear FLAC.

The album itself is prime Bay Area weirdowave, a Goth facsimile with a guise of sparse avantrock. Good stuff.

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

Shrug - Nevil Wanless E.P.

Label : Our Mam's Records - MAM 00001
Country : UK
Year : 1988
Format : LP

I was feeling a bit giddy this weekend and have been making more rips as per usual, so I figured I'd do a special edition: Harmful little Armful. It originally was gonna be a metapost with multiple rips on one post but then a lightning bolt came through the skies and ripped into my head like a thought, "Nutz to that" I say, archaically. Without any further transgression, here's the first approved vinyl rip of the special, twice in a blogtime extra-vagenza.

I was quite fortunate to find this in a Omaha record shop, though not that surprising considering it was one of my favorite stores I have had the pleasure of plunging into. Although when I bought it lacked both a sleeve for the record cover and the record proper, and the cover had an accursed price tag stuck onto its bearings (my feeble attempt of fully removing said sticker without consequence is seen clearly in the top right corner of my scan. Also note the damp 50% isopropyl alcohol stain).

Going back to the music--and really, that's why we're here--I had mentioned I was fortunate to find this, the reason being that I really like these lads' musings. I made a comparison to the incredible Tall Dwarfs of that one island nation, difference being that this clourish originates from that other island nation, the one that once owned that one island nation on some velvet morning. "Shrug", as weathermen do, is an apt name for this kinda music. Totally confounding in an enchanting sense. The organ heavy punk rhythms win me all over.

Here

Expect some more rips later on today and tomorrow, I have some free time left in my body.

Some Rare Footage - Stony Love

Label : Memphis Music

Year : 1994

Country : UK

Format : C60

Ripped by OminousMafioso

Another 90s gem from the man with the plan... This kind of tape would probably be better suited for the more "indie" nostalgie blogs, conforming to more of the poppier/footwear glancing side of noize as opposed to the harsher/collage-based/industrial explored here. Though I do have a propensity for synthy stuff, so I guess it's a wash.

Not much info on this group, and I would have probably found more if not for some kind of bad loop on the internet archive. It's a shame, really. Something about Television, and I'm not talking about the consumer electronic though you hear a good amount of those on this cassette. Marquis de Moon Television, must have been a collaboration. Anyway, this is a UK Noise Pop and Post-Punk project by and by, composed of Ric and Marianne, whoever they may well be.

Here

Billy Synth - We Have Got To Make It On Our Own

Label : Mind Cure Records - MC-107

Country : US

Year : 2015

Format : LP

Not quite Pittsburgh, but close enough. This is some roaring Stooge infused synthgaragepunx from the city of Harriburg, mind the lack of h. I've never really been around that area of the state, but I never would have expected such cool synthetic punk to come outta there. Especially not from around 1978.

This is another release from a local record shop/label that has closed its physical doors and has set its sights towards shows and the wired... Still a cool place, though. The insert includes a positive overview by Michigan's own John Olson, so you know it's kwuite something.

This compilation includes his work with bands such as The Turn Ups and The Janitors, who I am sure are the same bands with different names as bands were wont to do back in those times and today.

Here

Black Citron - Black Citron

Label : n/a - FELA 8

Year : 1987

Country : Switzerland

Format : LP

Here's another recent nugget in the collection, recently shipped from Canada. Very percussive and organ backed post-punk and avant-pop in the French tongue. If I could understand it with my sub novice understanding of the language, I'd say it was also rather political. I first learned of these guys a few months back listening to the Foutre en l'air compilation released by Christof Migone, also worth a listen.

Here

According to a listing on Discogs and elsewhere, this came with an insert. If anyone has it and is gracious enough to share a scan or photo of it, I would love to see it.

Various Artists - Power In The House

Label : Post-Ambient Motion - POSTCASS 002

Country : US

Year : 1988

Format : C90

Another one from the decrepit vault. A benefit compilation of sorts against the demolition of a historic district in Omaha which features many a track from a variety of different in artists in sometimes drastically different fields. From the sound sculptures of Reinhold Marxhausen to the synth funk of Ja'Boi, this a great melange of strange mediocrity. I have the cassette version but it didn't come with a tape, so a kind soul came along and gave me the ripped CD version... in 160kbps.

Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Here

Various Artists - UHF/Channel 14

Label : A State of Flux / UHF Tapes - ASOF00

Country : US

Year : 1987

Format : C90

Here

Special Ed - When It Rains It Foams

Label : Cubist Productions - CUBE001

Country : US

Year : 1989

Format : LP

Here