Toychestra - Toychestra

 

Label : Self-Released

Country : US

Year : 1999

Format : 7 inch

More toy-based avantpop for whoever still pops their head in here. Not much to really say that wouldn't involve the term "toy" being repeated incessantly, but it's more than worth a short listen. In contrast to the delightful music and artworks, the sleeve smells of old cigarettes. 

Funny what secondhand goods can get you.

The group runs a tight ship at bandcamp, so check that out if you want the rest of their discog.

Here

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

Burden of Friendship - (I Am) Zuzu's Petals

Label : Panic Records & Tapes

Year : 1986

Country : US

Format : C60

 

Noise collage as you would come to expect from Scott Marshall (Martian?) and co.

Here

The Dave - Lois / Poof!

 

Label : Self-Released

Year : 1984/85

Country : US

Format : C45

Here are two tape rips sent to me by the great Tony Coulter. A long time coming, these. I have posted this group on here in the past, probably half a decade ago on one of the Outward Inward comps, but here they are in full swing. Bizarro indie with improvisational folk inclinations. A good comparison would be the vastly underrated Flying Nun outfit Marie & the Atom, of which I'm hoping to see a reissue campaign come to light sometime soon.

These two rips were split by myself, going by whatever the submitter at Discogs thought the track listings were. It's all so weirdly structured that you cannot be too sure of where one song ends and another interlude begins and vice versa. In any case, these are buried gems in the junkyard (in a good way!) of the 80s cassette underground.

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

The Bunk! - Scenes From Dreamland

Label : Cobbs Music

Year : 1999

Country : US

Format : C90

An eBay shot in the dark that hit the target. Based only on the faith given by the two Sun City Girls' covers featured as well as the homage in the title proper, I gave it a whirl. Not like I had to pay too much for it anyhow. What's contained in the oxide today is mostly cosmic psyche improvisations, like the Girls' jams at their most melodic and (somewhat) coherent.

Given their location, I wonder if they were buddies with Gravelvoice honcho Scott Colburn. He of Bishop and Gocher production infamy, but I didn't need to tell you that.

Here

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.

Cool And The Clones - Wrong Time Of Month

Label : Ejaz - 2001

Year : 1985

Country : US

Format : LP

Here

Freed from the clutches of whoever, and free they are. Improvisational jazz interpolated with electronic treatments and experiments. Everything laid bare on the taped on insert. Live shenanigans. what more does an obscuro-avant fan need? Succinctness is key, the music itself paints an expressionist picture that I could only complete with filler text. Enjoy! 

Shrinkwrap - Fear, Loathing & Admiration

Label : Shrinkwrap Propaganda

Year : 1991

Country : US

Format : C90

 The sequel no-one would have expected. Yes, five years after the original post comes a compendium of that very same band. One of those wishlist items I knew I had to buy when it popped up, it's now here for the enjoyment of a relative few. The title track of the tape I posted all those brief few years back is featured here, with the b-side absent. Still, a ton to chew into here. That very same collage heavy industrio-noise rock (not quite Godflesh) is there, with some surprising experimental passages here and there.

Here

The Plagiarist Trio - Appearance

Label : Wafer Face - WAFER 4

Year : 1992

Country : US

Format : LP

Here's a strange whiplash of a record, from the fine friends of Wafer Face. As expected from the small press, this is a surreal and dadaistic piece of work. Also expected is the reliance of collages from different mediums from tape to vinyl record.

That's not all to it, really. It's hard to get into as every track in this wreckord sorta fades into the next yet clashes all the same. While it is mostly comprised of scattershot samples over a textural electro-acoustic kinda underbelly, some parts are more song-based than what one could anticipate. I haven't heard the groups other project under the alias Absinthe Radio Trio, but I have to imagine it's in the same ballpark in terms of musical surrealism.

[sic]

here

Hinton-Templar - Isn't That What You Wanted?

Label : The Subelecktrick Institute - SEI 8601

Country : US

Year : 1985

Format : C90

 Brook Hinton was one of many in the Big City Orchestra, and his solo stuff isn't too far of a departure from the varied sounds of the long-running project. Hinton-Templar is apparently a collaboration between he and... himself. I think. This cassette has been ripped before on an obscure corner of the Internet Archive, but not in clear hissy flac format. So there you are.

Here

King Frog - Silver Gelatin

Label : Oblique - Oblique-001

Country : US

Year : 1997

Format : LP

"Suburban Gamelan", a phrase stuck to this particular project that then stuck into my head for awhile. An interesting concept, and I think it befits this just a little bit. The visuals and some of the sounds come to mind as a bleak cityscape.

I went out of my own usual way for this one--I heard a rip of this LP a year or so ago after being interested in the King after first reading about it in Blastitude. The 128kbps rip found on slsk was serviceable and I ended up really liking the sound, so I went and bought a copy to get a more "definitive" sound. I guess.

The whole album has a sound that I can cling to. A sort of unholy cacophony of almost early 20th century clamor. I liken some aspects to some choice 80s tracks from Band of Holy Joy and ZGA's excellent "Gloom". The art book that comes with is also a great companion piece in its sort of amateur expressionism. Also some of the tracks sound like Casio demos, which is quite charming.

Here

 

 

(Man, formatting on this site is annoying)