TOTALLY WIRED

TO BE CONTINUED... (?)

2010-09-28T11:48:00.003+01:00

When I started this blog back in February 2009, I didn't had a clear idea about what its future would be (I still don't have, as you'll see). Truth is - after all these months and several hundred thousands visits later - I am now happy to say that your response to this project was truly great, certainly well above what I expected when I started posting.

But - and there's always a but - I must admit that a certain amount of fatigue has recently crept in. I'm not saying that I've grown tired of spreading my (admitedly very limited) knowledge, or sharing the music from one of the most creative periods in the Story of Pop (for lack of a better word). The problem lies above all in the fact that this is an extremely time consuming activity - not just the posting in itself, but also the fact that coming up with interesting ideas on a daily basis can be hard work (and some of you must know what I'm talking about). Most importantly: I've grown aware that maintaining this blog alive is keeping me from actually listening to the music I love, which is somewhat of an obvious contradiction with this blog's original intentions.

So, getting to some sort of a final resolution, I'm not saying that this is the end - who can say what the future holds - but I'm definitely putting this blog in a state of 'suspended animation' - which is to say that I won't be posting any time soon (if ever), but I'm not shutting it down either: the streamed mp3s will still be there, together with all the album links (at least as long as the service providers let them live). In other words, TO BE CONTINUED - but with a big question mark right there at the end.

Thanks for all the visits, kind comments, general support and for your love of great music.

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Lost In the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

2010-09-26T19:19:00.002+01:00

LP A&M Records 1985
CD A&M Records 1985 with bonus tracks

"First time I heard this I started muttering, 'Kurt Weill invented rock and roll', which I report only to indicate how turned on I was, because it's ridiculous - Weill really only invented rock. Milking abrasive pop for outreach and meaning, he had more in common with Dylan and Newman than with Porter and Berlin, and the rock artistes who take their turns on this sequel to Hal Willner's 1983 Monk tribute sound completely at home. You can imagine improvements on some of Willner's choices - David Jo rather than Sting on Mack the Knife, the Clash rather than Stanard Ridgeway on Cannon Song, etc. - but that's a parlor game. With Lou Reed's September Song and Marianne Faithfull's Ballad of the Soldier's Wife the unmitigated triumphs, every track on this hour-long disc holds its own. Introduce yourself to one of the century's greatest songwriters and composers. Or augment your Weill collection and be glad you did".
(Robert Christgau)

ENJOY

The Cannon Song

FURNITURE - Food, Sex & Paranoia

2010-09-25T20:09:00.003+01:00

LP / CD Arista Records 1990

"The British pop band Furniture was founded in London in 1981 by vocalist Jim Irvin, guitarist/pianist Tim Whelan and drummer Hamilton Lee. A 1983 self-financed EP, The Boom Was On, won the trio a contract with the Survival label, and after swelling to a five-piece with the additions of bassist Sally Still and keyboardist Maya Gilder, they began issuing a string of singles, later collected as the LP The Lovemongers. After jumping to Stiff Records in 1986, Furniture released Brilliant Mind, which reached the Top 25 on the UK singles chart. The group's future appeared bright, but within weeks of issuing the follow-up, Love Your Shoes, Stiff went into liquidation; Furniture's 1986 album The Wrong People was picked up by ZTT, but after only 30,000 copies were pressed the record was abruptly deleted. After a three-year court battle, the band was finally able to remove themselves from ZTT's grip; signing to Arista, they resurfaced with 1989's Food, Sex and Paranoia, but the long hiatus destroyed any chart momentum they had accrued, and the record quickly vanished. Furniture dissolved in 1991".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Slow Motion Kisses

COLIN NEWMAN - It Seems

2010-09-24T22:49:00.002+01:00

LP Crammed Discs 1988
CD Crammed Discs 1988 with bonus track

"Colin was a founder member of the legendary 'art' combo Wire. Wire was formed in 1976 in the midst of the first flush of punk's youth but immediately diverged from the 'pogo' standard thrash with a combination of a sparse aesthetic, obtuse lyrics and a much vaunted (but never charted!) 'pop sensibility'. Through the Seventies they built a formidible reputation based on a rapid evolution of style until one band could no longer contain the prodigious output of it's members and Wire went into one of it's periodic hibernations. During the early 80's Newman recorded solo albums, became a record producer, working with amongst others the notorious Irish band The Virgin Prunes, and then quit the music business for a 14 month sojurn on the Indian Subcontinent. On his return Wire recommenced activity running in paralell with both more solo albums and more record production, this time including seminal Israeli band Minimal Compact. Wire's 80's output eclipsed it's 70's output both in quantity and sales with it's new electronic styles finding favour amongst a new (mainly American) generation weaned on Brit synthpop".
(swimhq.com)

"The first of Colin Newman's records to fully take advantage of sequencing, It Seems is mostly driven by layers of interplaying rhythms. Where it differs from traditional sequenced album (aka dance music) is in direction and instrumentation. Both seem to follow on from Commercial Suicide; the mood is quite dreamy, and the album almost devoid of drums. Improvements over the older release are immediately apparent: although often musically quite sedate, It Seems has an edge, and the arrangements seem richer. Although perhaps sounding slightly dated, the result is an intriguing combination of mellow rhythms and occasional hard edges. The release is full of engaging music, from the dreamy title track to the philosophical mickey-take Round and Round. The wonderful Better Later than Never including Robert Gotobed on drums, is the album's undisputed high point - a fairly 'pop' number with a chord sequence to die for. One to watch out for".
(Craig Grannell, wireviews.com)

ENJOY

Better Later Than Ever

THE BAND OF HOLY JOY - Manic, Magic, Majestic

2010-09-23T18:25:00.002+01:00

LP / CD Rough Trade Records 1989

"The rough-and-tumble British acoustic unit Band of Holy Joy formed in the New Cross area of London in 1984. Led by singer Johny Brown, the group - which also included trombonist Adrian Bailey, drummer Bill Lewington, keyboardist/banjoist Big John, violinist Karel Van Bergen, accordionist Alf Thomas and double-bassist Mark Cavener - created a uniquely English urban folk sound, free of guitars, which brought frequent comparisions to their Irish counterparts the Pogues; while steeped in the grit and grime of London street life, Brown's songs were uplifting and optimistic, a call-to-arms against the oppressions of Thatcherism. Upon signing to the small indie label Flim Flam, the Band of Holy Joy debuted in 1986 with the EP The Big Ship Sails, followed in 1987 by the full-length More Tales From the City. The group signed to Rough Trade for 1988's Tactless single; the next year's Manic, Magic, Majestic won widespread critical acclaim, but the commercial breakthrough projected for 1990's Positively Spooked - an LP backed by a promotional tour of the U.S.S.R. - never materialized".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

"The second album by the the Band of Holy Joy saw the band move from Flim Flam to major U.K. independent label Rough Trade. Main music writer Max left the band, leaving much of the composing to Big John. The emotions still swirled and swooned as on their previous album More Tales From the City, but the music and production is smoother and more accomplished. Undoubtedly the highlight is What the Moon Saw where soaring violins crescendo as the starstruck lover's world comes crashing down. Although filled with melancholy and desperation - Baubles, Bangles, Emotional Tangles relates the story of becoming pregnant but not by the one she loves - the Holy Joy also describe the feeling of rapture, whether that's making a new start with a loved one, Bride, or the title track Manic, Magic, Majestic, where possessions take second place to the happy-go-lucky charm of the heroine. On releasing the single Tactless, the video filmed the band performing in an out-of-season seaside resort, which sums up this album very nicely".
(Christian Smillie, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Baubles, Bangles, Emotional Tangles

JAZZATEERS - I Shot the President

2010-09-22T22:21:00.002+01:00

Original recordings 1982-1987
Compilation CD Marina Records 1997

"The album you are listening to is by a guitar group called the Jazzateers. The music isn't new - it was mostly recorded between 1983 and 1987 (that's after New Romantics and before New Psychedelia). We were a guitar group who liked being a guitar group - when we played live people who liked it, liked it and those who didn't, didn't. We liked Neil when he was Young, Brian when he was Wilson and Glasgow was the city we grew up in. We didn't travel all that far - but we knew the world from comics, movies and records. Jazzateers didn't play live a lot - but we always wrote songs. Some of those songs are on this album and you may have heard a couple before - others, though, you most definitely won't have. Some I even have trouble remembering and I helped write most of them. I hope you enjoy it - I did".
(Ian Burgoyne, CD liner notes)

ENJOY

Sixteen Reasons

ATTRITION - Recollection 1984-1989

2010-09-21T20:03:00.003+01:00

Compilation CD Projekt Records 1990
Reissued 1994 with different artwork

"Attrition are pioneers in a darker electronica, carving out a unique slice of the creative underground for over two decades, fueled by a succession of critically acclaimed albums, selling over 50,000 to date, the band has toured all Europe and North America, Mexico and Asia, appeared at major festivals and had their music included on a number of film soundtracks. Formed in 1980 by Martin Bowes and Julia Waller in Coventry, England, influenced by a mix of punk ideology and experimental art aesthetics, they emerged as part of the early '80's UK Industrial scene alongside contemporaries Test Department, Coil, Legendary Pink dots, In The Nursery, Portion Control et al. Their music is an undefinable marriage of dark and light, of futures and pasts, probing unexplored sonic landscapes with an eclectic marriage of experimental and traditional sound, of electronics and acoustics, of male and female.
(attrition.co.uk)

"Attrition have always been a nexus of industrial fury, gothic drama, ambient structural finesse and classical chamber orchestrations. Stunning in scope, character and intellect, Martin Bowes has been a paragon of true creative prowess, holding in two hands the past and future of music, and smashing them together with a calculated and charismatic menace. Bowes builds his dark industrial music with all the compassion and attention to detail of a classical musician..."
(Electroage)

ENJOY

Monkey in a Bin

Request: THE WORLDS OF LOVE - The Worlds of Love

2010-09-20T20:35:00.006+01:00

LP Review Records 1989
CD reissue Review Records 2000 with bonus tracks

"The Worlds of Love was formed as a collaborative project, dedicated to performing love songs and improvised pieces that bridge the gap between chaos and romance (is there a gap?). Together, The Worlds of Love creates a new kind of romantic music, one in which lovely melodies meet raucous noise, hand-played drum machines meet banjo and synthesizer, fragile sopranos meet blustery baritone, and boy meets girl. Most of the songs on this album are Worlds of Love originals, but we were inspired by Jo Stafford to record You Belong to Me, and by Francoise Hardy to record two of her songs, In The Sky and Et Meme, as a medley. Boy/Girl, Boy/Boy, Girl/Girl, Parent/Child, Person/Place, etc. There are many worlds of love, and these are but a few of them".
(original 1989 LP liner notes)

"The songs on the [Worlds of Love] album work as adult, if weird, love songs. They’re funny, a reimagining of Weill, children’s songs and pop, all processed through a synthesizer swirl and informed with free improvisation (...) an act of reclamation, mixing pop music with noise and turning them into something new. The noise of urban life is tamed and used; the effluvium of mainstream music, where love song after love song is mass produced, is made sensible by music that both appreciates and pokes fun at the process".
(Peter Watrous, New York Times)

ENJOY

You Belong To Me

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye

2010-09-19T13:54:00.004+01:00

CD Sire / Warner Bros. 1990

"Roky Erickson often seems to be better known in rock circles for his well publicized psychological maladies and his less-than-gentle treatment at the hands of Texas' judicial system than for his music - and that's a shame. While Roky's habit of informing anyone who asks that he's a Martian or is in contact with Satan makes for good fanzine copy, the best reason to be interested in Erickson is his songwriting - there's a graceful, vivid surrealism to his lyrical style that's endured far better than most of the noodlers who came out of the psychedelic rock movement, and his later bursts of horror film fancy conjure up a troubling tension that's laughed at only by the shallow or ignorant. When Erickson's legal problems came to a head in the late 1980s, longtime fan and Sire Records executive Bill Bentley assembled Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson to raise money for Erickson, as well as drawing attention to the unique beauty of his music. Like most multi-artist tribute albums, the results are a bit uneven; some of these artists seem to have appeared out of convenience rather than any great love of Roky's music, and a few of the interpretations are simple miscalculations (Thin White Rope's Guy Kyser really goes overboard on his version of Burn the Flames). But there are a several moments of very real beauty and power here, especially from the artists who share Erickson's Texas heritage - Doug Sahm and ZZ Top rock out on their contributions, the Butthole Surfers' version of Earthquake is one of their finest moments on wax, and T-Bone Burnett's take on Nothing in Return is a heart-tugging gem. The 13th Floor Elevators' first two albums are still the best place to sample Erickson's music (and the latter-day All That May Do My Rhyme is a fine album, for which Erickson actually receives royalties - hint, hint), but Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye is a sincere if inconsistent tribute to his work, and shows how well his songs can translate to the styles of other artists".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

I Walked with a Zombie

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Rutles Highway Revisited

2010-09-18T10:05:00.003+01:00

LP / CD Shimmy Disc 1990

"Of the hundreds of tribute albums that have been assembled since the mid-'80s, this had one of the most clever concepts: perform a 'tribute' to a band that never existed. The Rutles, Eric Idle's spot-on television parody of The Beatles, were never a bonafide unit, but they did record some fine satires for the film's soundtrack, composed by Rutle and ex-Bonzo Dog Band honcho Neil Innes. What we have here are 20 alternative acts of the '90s covering all of The Rutles' songs. Better than most tributes, it still falls prey to the genre's chief pitfalls: compared to the original, it's forced, stiff, and lacking. The best interpretations tend to be the most straightforward, like Syd Straw and Marc Ribot's acoustic I Must Be In Love; Shonen Knife's Goose Step Mama, with its high-pitched vocals and jerky tempos, would have fit easily onto one of their actual albums. Alternative rock collectors may want to pick this up for the otherwise unavailable tracks by Galaxie 500, King Missile, Jellyfish, and Daniel Johnston; there are also some half-famous stalwarts of the indie scene like Das Damen, Unrest, and Peter Stampfel, as well as total obscurities like The Tinklers and Paleface".
(Richie Unterberger, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Cheese & Onions

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER - Art Attack

2010-09-17T14:35:00.002+01:00

LP Ryko Analogue 1988
CD Rykodisc 1988 with bonus tracks

"Marty Willson-Piper is a guitarist and member of Australian independent rock band The Church. After busking his way around the world, the Englishman found himself in Australia. Having taken in an early concert by The Church, which were at that time performing as a three-piece, Willson-Piper soon joined Steve Kilbey, Peter Koppes and Nick Ward in 1980, expanding the band's lineup and broadening its sound. Along with contributing to each of The Church's studio releases, he has maintained a steady solo effort since the mid-1980s. Other side projects and collaborations include two stints as guitarist for UK rock group All About Eve, David Gedge's Cinerama and work with Jules Shear, Tom Verlaine, Martin Rössel, and Aimee Mann. In 2005, Willson-Piper joined veteran band The Saints to record an album and tour".
(wikipedia.com)

"His gently-plucked 12-string makes a wonderful, warm sound throughout, the Piper pipes are accomplished in a scruffy sort of way and his cosmopolitan reportage ultimately makes Art Attack ideal for those Bohemian evenings when the Cointreau flows and conversation turns to the lips of Beatrice Dalle. Art Attack is almost maddeningly precious - the lead track, O' Stockholm, comes in two tempos and two languages, and Willson-Piper actually pauses in the middle of Too Round to Be Square to recite the lyrics, just in case you need help appreciating all their zen implications and yet it will win you over by virtue of the incredible sweetness of its melodies. You Whisper opens with the sound of a ticking clock, over which an acoustic twelve-string guitar then begins to play a beautifully arpeggiated chord progression. She's King is a simple and perfect folk-rock love song. Evil Queen of England is a charmingly simple-minded protest song made all the more effective by its spare voice-and-string-bass arrangement. Marty Willson-Piper is on a high - and getting higher, the spirit amid the magician".
(martywillsonpiper.net)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY

She's King

THE SOUTHERN DEATH CULT - The Southern Death Cult

2010-09-16T17:56:00.003+01:00

Original recordings 1982-1983
Compilation LP Beggars Banquet 1983
CD reissue Beggars Banquet 1996

"One of the leading bands in the post punk, pre-gothic movement of London, an emerging form of gloom and doom rock. The band was the brainchild of Ian Astbury, the only one who would remain in the band for all of its incarnations. The Southern Death Cult would become infamous, several lineup changes and two name changes later, as The Cult. It is easy to see the formative influence this earlier incarnation had on the goth blues metal 'cult', though the music is much more raw and powerful. I think that this incarnation is the best of the three Cults, the next being the Death Cult, before axing all those long words from their name".
(deathrock.com)

"Southern Death Cult had the tribal tom-tom rhythms, while singer Ian Astbury wore a Mohican just like [Bow Wow Wow's singer] Annabella, along with feather and chicken-bone necklaces (a jewellery collection that expanded with each visit to KFC). But Astbury's obsession with Native American culture went slightly deeper than Adam Ant's, with his skimmed library books and cosmetic appropriation of the Navajo nose-stripe. Astbury had spent five years in Canada as a youth, during which time he'd visited Indian reservations and cultural centres. Returning to the UK just in time for Punk, he became deeply involved in 1977's revolution. When Punk died, Astbury felt bereft and rudderless, and turned to Native American culture for spiritual sustenance. The name Southern Death Cult itself came from a Mississipi Valley tribe who maintained burial mounds and shrines".
(Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again)

ENJOY

Fatman

KARL BISCUIT - Secret Love

2010-09-15T15:50:00.004+01:00

Original recordings Crammed Discs 1984-1986
Compilation CD Crammed Discs 2003

"He came from the world of contemporary ballet and became a mysterious cult figure following his three releases which combined electro beats, tongue-in-cheek romantic darkness and strange mambo influences: Regrets Éternels (1984), Fatal Reverie (1986), and Secret Love (1987), which were all re-released on one CD in 2003, as part of the Crammed Global Soundclash re-issue series. Karl Biscuit went back to his first love and formed successful modern dance company Castafiore, which he co-directs to this day, and for which he continues to create intriguing soundtracks, early examples of which are compiled in the Aktualismus album, which came out in the Made To Measure series in 1991".
(crammed.be)

"The cookie has crumbled and the grains have been tumbled out of the aerosol of synth-tone poppery into a dark, dank well where turbulence and torment cling to the talents of Karl like poisonous fungi. Since seeing this singer (pronounced Bisk-wee) in Paris last year, he seems to have undergone an amputation with traumatic side-effects. Adroitly fingered at the time as a Serge Clerc character in 3-D, the accompanying stylised cocktail mannerisms have dried out and what remains is an emotional brainburn where Fairlights blink with a hangover instead of grinning like dumb robots. Death, Loneliness, No Friends, Requiem - with song titles like these you get the idea of the horrorshow on offer, how many ways you can terminate or be terminated is equal to the pleasures of this record. Pleasures ? Hell, yes, but not of the ugly bedsit torment sort. Karl is pretty enough to have aimed for the wide-eyed-innocent end of the synth spectrum with its lure of big bucks. Instead, he's inhabiting the cutting space that both the Human League and Depeche Mode are trying to reach in vain at present. Regrets Eternels is pimple synth-pop lanced until the pus runs. Vampire instrumentation sucks at the neck of linear tunes, foreign textures unfurl and infect the clean kid's ideas. Take a peek at the liner notes and everything makes sense. Aided in sections by Blaine L.Reininger and Honeymoon Killer Marc Hollander, the whole project is filtered through the hemlock hands of Gilles Martin of the great Tuxedomoon. Regrets Eternels is the alternative madness in the method dance"
(Jack Barron, Sounds 1984 review)

ENJOY

Regrets Éternels

ASPHALT RIBBONS - Old Horse

2010-09-14T17:14:00.003+01:00

MiniLP / CD ETT Records 1991

"Asphalt Ribbons were a UK band that formed in 1988. They were the pre-Tindersticks, featuring vocalist Stuart Staples, David Boulter, Dickon Hinchliffe, Neil Fraser and Al Macaulay. Mark Colwill replaced John Thomson in the last days before Asphalt Ribbons became Tindersticks. Mark was recruited when John left but it is not sure if he played any gigs under the Asphalt Ribbons name. They then changed their name to Tindersticks after Stuart discovered a box of German matches on a Greek beach. Their sound is more country-ish than Tindersticks, but already features the distinctive vocals of Stuart Staples".
(discogs.com)

ENJOY

Rosemarie

AUTUMNFAIR - 1986-1989

2010-09-13T14:18:00.003+01:00

Compilation CD Mobilization Recordings 2002

"One of the many offshoots of Savage Republic, Autumnfair based their sound in the early-'80s post-punk output of the Factory and 4AD labels. Savage Republic bassist/guitarist/vocalist Thom Fuhrmann started the band in 1986 with Val Haller, a bassist/vocalist who had previously played with Jayne County, the Flying Lizards, and Lords of the New Church. The remainder of the band included, at various points, Biff Sanders (a SR engineer), Scott Feemster, Caroline Topalian, Jack Housen, and Savage Republic's Greg Grunke. All told, they went through three lineups. Though the group quit operating in 1989, none of their material was issued until 1991, when Independent Project Records (the label run by SR's Bruce Licher) issued the 10" EP Glaciers and Gods in 1991. 11 years later, the Mobilization label (yet another SR-related imprint) released Autumnfair 1986-1989, a CD compilation that paired a remastered version of the 1991 EP with previously unissued material".
(Andy Kellman, All-Music Guide)

"Thom Fuhrmann has described the work on this CD as being from his '4AD period', and that's not a half-bad way to look at the results, which draw together both the single tracks and a variety of unreleased material for a complete, if unannotated, overview. He and partner Val Haller, along with a rotating crew of backing players, created a generally dark and oftentimes dramatically powerful series of tracks that do have a bit of This Mortal Coil-styled impact to them, spiked more than once with Joy Division's sense of power as filtered through Martin Hannett's production. More rock and less texture, though - the opening cut, Alone, is practically an epic, with pounding drums; soaring, wordless backing vocals; and a piano part snaking through the mix. There are certainly dollops of Savage Republic-styled aggressiveness on Autumnfair 1986-1989, but generally speaking there's nothing in the way of industrial/metallic rhythms (Read My Lips being a definite exception) or roared, shouted vocals - guitar, first and foremost, leads the way. But Haller's growling bass often offsets his calm, reflective singing (reminiscent of Simon Huw Jones' quieter moments with And Also the Trees, as on the pounding She Only Smiles), while Fuhrmann's at once cold and enveloping guitar work is often pure post-punk ecstasy. Add in touches such as the reverbed choir sample starting the swirling, very Cocteau Twins/Xymox-tinged instrumental Novy Mir, and it's little wonder one could imagine this packaged in artwork by Vaughan Oliver or Chris Begg. Other strong numbers include Cascade, with a conclusion worthy of Unknown Pleasures (down to the echo on the drum machines), and the rumbling, doom-laden punch of Glaciers and Gods, which also has the best song title of the bunch hands down".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

She Only Smiles

BRIAN SETZER - The Knife Feels Like Justice + Live Nude Guitars

2010-09-12T18:27:00.004+01:00

LP EMI America 1986
LP EMI America 1988
CD reissue American Beat Recordings 2007

"After the Stray Cats broke up for the first of several times in 1984, guitarist and frontman Brian Setzer seemed determined to prove he could do a lot more than make like Eddie Cochran, and his first solo set was 1986's surprisingly ambitious The Knife Feels Like Justice. Leaving his rockabilly influences at home for the time being, Setzer reinvented himself as a thoughtful heartland rocker on this set, which shows clear influences of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp's work of the period, and his snappy retro guitar work was replaced by the jangly peal of a Rickenbacker, though his fretwork was no less impressive in this new context, especially on the rollicking Radiation Ranch and the atmospheric title cut. Setzer also dipped his toes into old-school R&B on Bobby's Back, and demonstrated a previously unaired concern for social justice on Maria and Aztec; while Setzer's songwriting wasn't always quite as sharp as the folks he clearly emulated, there's a heart and sincerity to this material that's genuine and affecting, even when his lyrics lean to the obvious. (...) Setzer demonstrates some typically fine guitar work on Live Nude Guitars, but it's a creative hodgepodge that desperately needs a cleaner focus, and suggests he was in need of a new creative direction; the next time Setzer was heard from as a solo artist, he was fronting his big band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY

The Knife Feels Like Justice

Request: VIRGINIA ASTLEY - From Gardens Where We Feels Secure

2010-09-11T23:38:00.005+01:00

LP Happy Valley Records / Rough Trade 1983
CD reissue Happy Valley Records 1989 with bonus tracks
Japanese limited edition

"Virginia Astley's solo debut (she had previously been a member of the short-lived Ravishing Beauties with Kate St. John and Nicky Holland, and played piano on her brother-in-law Pete Townshend's single Slit Skirts) is a magical piece of instrumental pop. It's too melodic to be Brian Eno-style ambient music, too involving to be new age mush, too simple and casual to fit in comfortably with the post-minimalist school of Michael Nyman, Andrew Poppy, or Wim Mertens, and too restrained to truly be pop music. Almost entirely instrumental, save for a few wordless vocals on A Summer Long Since Past, and featuring little instrumentation besides Astley's piano and some subtle woodwinds, the album is a lovely 35-minute meditation built around field recordings Astley made of the ambient sounds of the rural English countryside. This description makes the album sound much more twee and insubstantial than it actually is; however, Astley is no mere ambient noodler. These nine songs are melodically rich and varied; mood pieces in the truest sense of the term. Specifically designed to mirror the moods of an indolent summer day (the sides of the original LP were even marked 'morning' and 'afternoon'), From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is a dreamy, involving, and occasionally even fascinating listen".
(Stewart Mason, All-Music Guide)

"Evoking images of summer afternoons in the countryside, From Gardens Where We Feel Secure is, superficially at least, soothing sonic wallpaper. Except for a few syllables, it's entirely instrumental, consisting basically of piano, flute, clarinet and tape loops. Upon closer scrutiny, the tapes (animal sounds, church bells, etc.) build subliminal tension: there's more to Ms. Astley than initially meets the ear".
(David Sheridan, Trouser Press)

ENJOY

Hiding in the Ha-Ha

TOPPER HEADON - Waking Up

2010-09-10T19:45:00.006+01:00

LP Mercury Records 1986
CD reissue Mercury Records 1992 with bonus tracks

"Originally Headon joined The Clash with the intention of establishing a reputation as a drummer, before moving onto other projects, but he soon realized their full potential and remained with them for four years. Headon appeared on the albums Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978), The Clash (US version, 1979), London Calling (1979), Sandinista! (1980) and Combat Rock (1982), as well as several landmark singles the Clash recorded during their early period. Also of note are his lead vocal on Ivan Meets G.I Joe from Sandinista and his work on the hit single Rock the Casbah from Combat Rock, on which Headon composed most of the music and played drums, piano and bass guitar. He also appeared on Super Black Market Clash (1993), which included B-sides from the band's single releases. Clash singer/guitarist Joe Strummer is quoted as saying that Headon's drumming skills were a vital part of the band. Tensions rose between Headon and his fellow band members due to his addiction and he left the band on 10 May 1982, at the beginning of the Combat Rock tour. The band covered up the real reason for Headon's departure, the apparent growing use of heroin, claiming Headon's exit was due to exhaustion. In a later interview for the rockumentary Westway to the World, he apologised about his addiction and speculated that had he not been asked to leave The Clash the band might have lasted longer and might possibly still be together. He also lamented the fact that the best known Clash line-up had been considering a reunion at the time of Strummer's death, after the positive reunion during the Westway to the World rockumentary.
(wikipedia.com)

"Topper Headon's musical acumen should have ensured a lengthy run, if only for composing the Clash's biggest U.S. hit, Rock the Casbah (on which he played everything but lead guitar). However, well-publicized heroin problems led to the drummer's 1982 dismissal, followed by guitarist Mick Jones' ouster on dubious ideological grounds in 1983. Fans assumed the former Clash mates would work together, which didn't happen. Left to his own devices, Headon cut this sleek-sounding album with first-rate help from guitarist Bob Tench (of Jeff Beck fame), ex-Clash session keyboardist Mickey Gallagher, and vocalist Jimmy Helms, who sounds appropriately gritty without being overbearing. Musically, the album offers few surprises from the Clash's resident soul-jazz buff, falling comfortably into unhurried jazz, R&B, and soul grooves; just compare his relaxed take on the Stax classic Time Is Tight to his former band's more urgent treatment on Super Black Market Clash. Highlights include the swirling pop-funk of Got to Keep on Going, one of several songs addressing Headon's addiction; Pleasure and Pain, a hard-hitting showcase for Tench; and Just Another Hit, whose poppy drive belies its clever metaphor for stardom, professional killing, and drug addiction".
(Ralph Heibutzki, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Got To Keep On Going

AUTOPSIA - Death Is the Mother of Beauty

2010-09-09T22:43:00.008+01:00

CD Staalplaat 1989

"Autopsia is a depersonalized art project dealing with music and visual production. Autopsia gathers authors of different professions in realization of multimedia projects. Its art practice began in London in late '70s of the last century, and continued, during the '80s in art centers of the former Yugoslavia. Since 1990, Autopsia acts from Prague. At the beginning of its activity Autopsia issued a dozen of MCs, in the period after 1989, twenty CDs were issued, at first for Staalplaat from Amsterdam, then for German label Hypnobeat and London's Gymnastic Records. Autopsia's music can be found on numerous compilations issued all over the world. One of its compositions is a part of the soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's film Pillow Book. Music production of Autopsia is associated with a large graphic production which consists of original graphic objects, design of flyers, booklets, CDs and a Web Page www.autopsia.net, with its offsprings: Autopsia TV and Illuminating Technologies.
(discogs.com)

"Autopsia does not deal with predictions. It deals with reality, which means - Death. Scars of Europa narrates a new spirit of Europe, which is filled with the scars of history. Such an historical component also belongs to the new spirit of Europe. Death is the Mother of Beauty and the presage of the world to come. After the domination of an all-encompassing simplified modernism, the world that could have been different was presaged, the world which, throughout the channels of its networks, will not reproduce the same. It could have been only the world aware of its history, the world of an individual, which was known to such a history. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen. The entire project of the new spirit slipped into a globalized network of technological modernism. The only things that remained after particular histories were images, appearances and illusions that were poured into us by means of the media in order to cover the real condition - the flow of money. (...) Project Death is the Mother of Beauty can be translated into the domain of the political or the cultural, but it is not directed towards the presentation of something real, but towards an understanding of the homelandlessness (‘not-being-at-home', 'not-being-in-homeland’), which occurs in the catastrophic age of groundless faith. Since the messages cannot be checked anymore, one can only believe in them. Truth has lost its meaning, only belief remains and pure faith without religions and ideologies".
(autopsia interview, chaindlk.com)

ENJOY

Scars of Europa

Request: PAUL QUINN & THE INDEPENDENT GROUP - Will I Ever Be Inside of You

2010-09-08T17:36:00.003+01:00

2xLP Postcard Records 1994
CD Postcard Records 1994

"Glasgow-born singer Paul Quinn first emerged in the early '80s lending his deep, rich voice as a backing vocalist for Edwyn Collins and Orange Juice. After tenures with Yazoo's Vince Clarke and Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame, Quinn set out for a solo career, forming a support band dubbed the Independent Group which also featured Alan Horne, the founder of the famed indie label Postcard".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

"Within the framework of the Independent Group, Quinn's so-distinctive voice, which lands somewhere between Bowie, Lloyd Cole and Scott Walker, spins out in front of what amounts to a series of interesting, but unobtrusive, backing melodies. The opening title track is a dirgy, longing lament loaded with odd electronic bits and pieces, as well as an ethereally brief chorus. Lover, That's You All Over meanwhile, is a sparse, guitar twang that vividly repaints some of the alternative post punk's gloomier acoustics. And, while the rest of Will I Ever Be Inside of You follows along in the same sort of vein and, while it's also true that Quinn doesn't break any new ground, there are some absolute gems in the set, as Misty Blue unravels like some long lost ballad spun through cobwebs, and the closing At the End of the Night, with its subtly buried rhythm, plays out a somewhat beery, and completely fitting nightcap. Often startling, Quinn loads Will I Ever Be Inside of You with unexpected dips and twists, keeping the mood fairly somber, but ensuring that anyone taking the chance can't settle in and kick back too easily. Sweet and just slightly sinister, this set can't be ignored - it's gorgeous fodder for the older doom and gloom set".
(Amy Hanson, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

You Have Been Seen

BAND OF SUSANS - Hope Against Hope

2010-09-07T17:28:00.002+01:00

LP Furthur 1988
CD Furthur 1988 with bonus tracks

"Favoring chaotic squalls of guitar noise and avant textures over the dynamics of conventional songcraft, the New York-based Band of Susans formed in 1986 around the core duo of singers/songwriters Robert Poss and Susan Stenger, longtime friends who reunited only after pursuing dramatically different musical paths: while Poss became a fixture on the N.Y.C. punk scene in the Clash-inspired Tot Rocket before joing Rhys Chatham's guitar ensemble, Stenger relocated to Prague, where she studied the theories of John Cage. Originally, Band of Susans featured Poss on lead guitar and Stenger on bass, rounded out by guitarists Susan Tallman and Susan Lyall (hence the outfit's name) and drummer Ron Spitzer; four months after forming, they issued their debut EP, Blessing and Curse. In 1988, Band of Susans released their first full-length album, Hope Against Hope".
(Jason Ankenny, All-Music Guide)

"At their utmost Band of Susans make one of the most spiritual and uplifting rock sounds around. Hope Against Hope remains the blueprint for their best 'songs'. Live, in a downtown New York club, it's even more ultimate than on vinyl. Three guitars cross-hatch incredible simple chords and sub-riffs over the same, narrow soundspace, creating an inchoate blaze of light, like a child scrawling manically over and over a piece of paper with fluorescent crayons. Band of Susans work furiously all for that moment of flashover when the song's superstructure is engulfed, lost in a borderless miasma of interference, a pall of cosmic tinnitus. The problem for many listeners is that Band of Susans, like A.R. Kane and the most intelligent rock of the moment, depart from the customary ways we children of the music press 'read' rock. Instead of 'communication', Band of Susans offer something more like communion. The vocals and words are almost buried; as narratives (both lyrical and musical) their songs don't go anywhere, but by repetition alight into a pure ascension. The ideal state all these songs verge on is the instrumental - but maybe it's important that the words are half-heard, are seen to be obliterated. Others will be troubled by the lack of charisma, but these are the people whose idea of 'presence', is a winsome doll backed by there leather-clad airheads. Sometimes Band of Susans are a radical vaporisation of 'presence', in the same way the metal of their riffs passes beyond white heat into a gaseous state. Sometimes they are just plain nondescript. Their debut LP, Hope Against Hope is divided evenly between celestial grey and New Wave grey".
(Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker)

ENJOY

Throne of Blood

SOULED AMERICAN - Fe

2010-09-06T21:49:00.004+01:00

LP Rough Trade Records 1988
CD Rough Trade Records 1988 with bonus tracks

"Heavy and heartfelt country'n'strychnine from this hard-touring Chicago quartet. Closer to Neil and Graham than Lefty and George, Souled American specializes in low-key grooves that gurgle and bounce with songwriter Joe Adducci's reggae-style lead bass, Jamey Barnard's slapping New Orleans-style drums and Scott Tuma's shimmering rhythm guitar, which sounds like pedal steel but isn't. Sporting the heaviest drawls in all god's country, Adducci and co-writer/vocalist Chris Grigoroff pen original material that sounds like long-lost traditional laments. The first side of Fe (group code for 'feel') focuses on an imagined rural present, while the flip dishes out a world of hurt".
(Richard Gehr, Trouser Press)

"Short for 'feel,' Fe introduced Souled American to the world with what in the end turned out to be their biggest commercial success - and even that was fairly minor in the US indie scene of the time. In terms of quality, though, the quartet were onto something that few bands who followed afterwards - Uncle Tupelo, the Palace Brothers and its innumerable spinoffs, Lambchop, just about the whole No Depression scene of the nineties - could approach. (...) There's a deep twang in the guitars and vocals both, but [Joe] Adducci's stuttering bass suggests something else is afoot, which Fe then proceeded to prove in spades. Whether the deceptively tight r'n'b groove underpinning Field & Stream or the lovely acoustic chimes on a version of the traditional Fisher's Hornpipe, Fe shows the foursome drawing any number of strands together to create a new sound that doesn't feel like a forced fusion".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Make Me Laugh Make Me Cry

CLOCK DVA - Buried Dreams

2010-09-05T17:33:00.003+01:00

LP Interfisch Records / Wax Trax! Records 1989
CD Interfisch Records / Wax Trax! Records 1989 with bonus tracks

"Computer hacker Adi Newton illuminates Clock DVA's impatient electro-acoustic existence. (...) Clock DVA began in 1977 as an experimental collective with two cassettes, White Souls In Black Suits and Deep Floor. The band's aesthetic took a turn into choppy noise-funk representative of the early 1980's independent music scene in England with their first album Thirst (1981) and its attendant, classic single 4 Hours. The band broke up after the album, but Newton regrouped the members in 1983 for Advantage, a creative pinnacle that cross-pollinated film noire tension, Jazz urgency, radio-friendly Funk, spoken-word sadness and formless avante-garde sound painting. Clock DVA collapsed yet again under a storm of tempers and interpersonal attacks. Newton then founded a collective called the Anti-Group which started out as a conventional Jazz/Rock/Funk sound bite outfit that has since created more experimental work. In 1988 Newton reformed DVA with Robert Baker and Dean Dennis, emphasizing digital synthesis and sampling. The resultant album Buried Dreams and its vibrant single The Hacker came out in America on Wax Trax".
(Jason Pettigrew, Alternative Press)

"Clock DVA are hacking into the mainframe, our virus is virulent. Memories lay short circuited. This energy, this electricity, this AVD, an electro-chemistry of sound. DVA are calculating a new algebra, a programme of the unseen. DVA will illuminate with phonetized apparitions a velvet realm. Hold up the sound mirror so we can see where we hide. A new reign where the hacker develops a heuristic approach, an amalgamation of technology and geist. Clock DVA the next generation are preparing for a major digital audio warfare, sound is a weapon, a sono-nuclear device. That can cut through the psychological barriers set up by the corporate systems. This is not talk of new but talk of old. Incept dates. Codes. Longevity. The future holds many shapes. DVA is one of them".
(Buried Dreams booklet notes)

ENJOY

Buried Dreams

JOHNNY WARMAN - Walking Into Mirrors

2010-09-04T11:26:00.004+01:00

LP Rocket Records 1981
CD reissue Angel Air Records 2002 with bonus tracks

"Born in Bethnal Green, London, Johnny Warman made his stage debut as a child, when his local school choir was judged proficient enough to appear in two productions at London's prestigious Royal Opera House, alongside Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi. By the mid-'70s, however, he had gravitated to rock, forming the band Bearded Lady and releasing a 1975 single, Rock Star. It went nowhere and, when the band split, Warman signed solo with Ringo Starr's Ring-O label, releasing a single in 1977 and a Germany-only album, Hour Glass, two years later. By 1980, Warman had formed a new band, Three Minutes - following their breakup, he took much of the band's repertoire for his next solo album, 1981's Walking Into Mirrors, released by Elton John's Rocket label. Recorded with Peter Gabriel's then-current band, with Gabriel himself guesting on backing vocals on the single Screaming Jets, Warman found himself with a major Australian hit. (...) A masterful, electronics-driven slab of wartorn paranoia whose edginess was only amplified by the presence of Peter Gabriel on effectively keening backing vocals. (...) Hints of the John Foxx-era Ultravox (not to mention the inevitable Gary Numan, too) shine through some of the sparser numbers, an impression heightened by both Warman's own, occasionally robotic vocal intonations and the sense that the entire album is an idiot dancing on the edge of Armageddon; the early '80s, of course, saw civilization perched on one of its way-too-regular nuclear precipices, and Walking Into Mirrors echoes both the scientific realities and the science-fiction romances of that scenario. (...) Unfortunately, the follow-up, 1983's From the Jungle to the New Horizons, did little, prompting Warman to abandon his own recording career and concentrate on songwriting".
(Dave Thompson, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Screaming Jets

Request: GRAUZONE - Die Sunrise Tapes

2010-09-03T17:13:00.002+01:00

Original recordings 1980-1982
Compilation CD Play It Again, Sam 1998

"Grauzone (German for 'grey area') was a band from Berne, Switzerland, active in the early 80s. At the end of 1979 Marco Repetto (drums) and GT (bass) left the punk band Glueams, to form together with Martin Eicher (guitar, vocals, synthesizer) a new band called Grauzone. Martin had already supported Glueams on their single Mental. They gave their first concert in March 1980 at the Club Spex in Berne. Martin's brother Stephan Eicher (guitar, synthesizer) and Claudine Chirac (saxophone) supplemented the group temporarily in live appearances and recordings. After ten concerts, four singles and an album the group split up at the end of 1982. (...) The band is most famous for their 1981 hit Eisbär, which was later covered by the French band Nouvelle Vague. The single went to #12 in Germany and #6 in Austria".
(wikipedia.com)

"Grauzone was a music/art project started by brothers Martin Eicher, Stephan Eicher in Switzerland circa 1978. The duo used synthesizers, light effects and super-8 film projections in their act. Publisher of punk magazine No Fun Urs Staiger helped Grauzone in the studio and they began recording numerous singles, and in 1981 they released their first and only full length title Grauzone. Undoubtedly, the group's most known track has to be Eisbär, which literally means 'Ice Bear'. It reached the top ten on the German charts shortly after it’s release. Over the years the song has been sampled and covered by numerous artists. (...) Grauzone only released their one album but they released a series of 7 inch singles over the years and in 1998 a collection called Die Sunrise Tapes was released on Play It Again Sam Records (...)".
(this.bigstereo.net)

ENJOY

Eisbär

THE THREE O'CLOCK - Sixteen Tambourines

2010-09-02T17:12:00.003+01:00

LP Frontier Records 1985
CD reissue Frontier Records 1991 with bonus tracks

"The Three O'Clock were the quintessential L.A. Paisley Underground band. Lead singer and bassist Michael Quercio in fact coined the term to describe the set of bands, including the Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Green On Red and the Bangles, who incorporated the chiming guitars of the Byrds and the Beatles into their pop songs with a psychedelic bent, and the clothes to match".
(Denise Sullivan, All-Music Guide)

"Sixteen Tambourines is (...) an incredible full-length collection of chiming, memorable power pop tunes played and sung as if each track were likely to get played on every radio station coast-to-coast. Slick and inventive production by Earle Mankey delivers the songs (most co-written by guitarist Louis Gutierrez and bassist Michael Quercio) in utterly engaging style. Best numbers: On My Own, Jet Fighter, And So We Run. Absolutely charming and remarkably memorable".
(Charles P. Lamey, Ira Robbins, Dave Schulps, Trouser Press)

LINK REMOVED

Jet Fighter

THE SKELETONS - In the Flesh!

2010-09-01T14:24:00.003+01:00

LP The Next Big Thing 1988
CD reissue Demon Records 1990 with bonus Rockin' Bones LP

"The Skeletons never gained widespread recognition, yet they had a small cult of dedicated followers who made them a modestly popular roots-rock bands in the late '80s and '90s. Based in Springfield, Missouri, the Skeletons formed in 1979 as a touring band assembled by Steve Forbert. Following the tour, they decided to stay together, releasing their own records when they weren't touring either as their own entity or as a supporting group. In 1987 they released their first American album, Rockin' Bones. Over the next 10 years, they remained busy, particularly backing artists like Syd Straw and Dave Alvin, yet only released three other albums - In the Flesh! (1988), Waiting (1992) and Nothin' to Lose (1997)".
(Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide)

"One of the best things about this rock critic job is that every time you start getting complacent and thinking you've heard it all, something comes along and makes you realize that even if you have heard it all, you haven't been listening as well as you should. There's nothing tremendously new in what Springfield, Mo.'s Skeletons do. Like NRBQ's, the quintet's music is a wild pastiche of most things American, including the twang of country, a splash of surf and great heaps of rockabilly, '60s rock and R&B influences. But, further like NRBQ, the Skeletons combine those elements in a way that makes one hear them afresh, catching the vitality the music had when it was first born and that still is there when the songs are played with spirit".
(Jim Washburn, Los Angeles Times)

ENJOY

Older Guys

Request: THE APARTMENTS - A Life Full of Farewells

2010-08-31T17:20:00.003+01:00

CD Hot Records 1995

"A brisk Australian chamber pop group with echoes of Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg as well as Leonard Cohen and post-punk, the Apartments were formed early in the '80s by frontman and guitarist Peter Milton-Walsh, though the band's unhectic release schedule resulted in only three albums during their first dozen years. The Evening Visits... was released in the Apartments' home country in 1985, and though it did only moderately well there, the album became a cult classic in France. Seven years after the debut, Drift followed with similar exposure, causing a French label to sign the group for third album A Life Full of Farewells. After re-releasing the first two LPs, plus Fête Foraine (which featured acoustic renditions of previous songs), the Apartments even gained American release on Twin/Tone Records. Their fourth proper album, Apart, was released in 2000".
(John Bush, All-Music Guide)

"Simply put, Peter Milton Walsh is a great songwriter. While the first two Apartments albums (The Evening Visits, Drift) show this in abundance, it's here on the third where he simply outdoes himself. A song cycle regarding the dissolution of Walsh's increasingly middle-aged life, Farewells begins with the ultra-catchy Things You'll Keep, works through the complicated games of love (The Failure of Love is A Brick Wall) and sweeps through to a sad finale where he remembers his father as an absent dad and dedicated worker sent out to pasture by the world he embraced (All the Time in the World). All in less time than it takes to fix a flat".
(Rob O'Connor, amazon.com)

ENJOY

Thing's You'll Keep

Request: TELEVISION PERSONALITIES - The Painted Word

2010-08-30T16:47:00.002+01:00

LP Illuminated Records 1984
CD reissue Fire records 2002

"For some people - even those who didn't live through it - one crucial cultural era or another remains paramount, the fountainhead to which all subsequent existence must pay tribute. London singer/guitarist Daniel Treacy evidently considers the pop-art/mod '60s all there is to life; via the Television Personalities - the eccentric, haphazard group that has lobbed his brilliant salvos of vulnerable, adenoidal, damaged genius into the pop world for three decades now - Treacy has fashioned himself the voice of a long-lost young generation. While he draws heavily on mid-'60s pop and psychedelia (to the point of covering songs by the Creation on They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles and in concert), Treacy doesn't seek to re-create a sound so much as honor a culture. A tender, detached, often wounded romantic with a mighty knowledge of his stylistic forebears, Treacy writes and sings with even more Britishness than Ray Davies. (...) Treacy formed the band with schoolmate Edward Ball (also the man of the Times, to which he became singly loyal in the early '80s) and Joe Foster (later of Slaughter Joe) as a haphazard and amateurish band whose records offer no slick musicianship but loads of brilliantly adapted pop-art weirdness. They started out wide-eyed and Jonathan Richman-like but evolved into (and beyond) rambling, jagged space noise and various stripes of time-warped psychedelia. (...) The Painted Word lists a four-man lineup and actually features a group photo (albeit a dark, fuzzy one) on the front cover. Musically, the TVPs have drifted off into spare, droning psychedelia and ultra-restrained rock that's hauntingly beautiful, like the most delicate moments of the Velvet Underground. While less resonantly topical than before (save for Back to Vietnam), the all-original songs effectively convey a melancholic sense of futility, even when superficially addressing relatively jolly topics. Highlighted by Stop and Smell the Roses and the heartbreaking romantic yearning of Someone to Share My Life With, The Painted Word is surprisingly serious and altogether excellent".
(Ira Robbins, Trouser Press)

ENJOY

Someone To Share My Life With

STRAWBERRY SWITCHBLADE - Strawberry Switchblade

2010-08-27T15:10:00.003+01:00

LP Korova Records 1985
CD reissue Korova Records / WEA Japan 1997 with (lots of) bonus tracks

"From the ominous shadows of Goth suddenly appeared two young girls in polka-dot dresses, flaming red lipstick, and hair ribbons. Looking like the brides of Robert Smith, Strawberry Switchblade made a brief splash on the U.K. charts and then abruptly vanished in the mid '80s, leaving their fans with a handful of collectible singles and one LP of deceptively sweet-sounding dance pop. Rose McDowall would later appear on countless experimental and industrial releases by Psychic TV, Coil, Current 93 and Death in June, among others".
(discogs.com)

"The songs on Strawberry Switchblade bloom melodically, cheekily, childishly and rampant on the pulsating field of a complex beat instrumentation, whereby melancholy ballads in orotund pop clothing (with strings and oboes) alternate with quicker dance numbers (in the style of their hit Since Yesterday). The singing stems from the tradition of the beat-girl groups (Shangri-Las), charged with a shot of pop shock à la B 52s. Light pop music for a nightly stroll over fragrant asphalt, in May!"
(Musik Express Sounds)

ENJOY

10 James Orr Street

CINDYTALK - In This World

2010-08-26T21:19:00.004+01:00

2xLP Midnight Music 1988
CD Midnight Music 1988

"Cindytalk was the alias of one-man band Gordon Sharp, a Scottish performer who first emerged in 1981 as the Freeze, recording a John Peel session under that name. More prominent was his appearance on This Mortal Coil's 1983 debut EP, Song for the Siren; he also contibuted vocals to the project's 1984 full-length It'll End in Tears. At about the same time Sharp began working as Cindytalk, a solo vehicle aided by a variety of studio musicians. After debuting with the dark industrial effort Camouflage Heart, Cindytalk fell silent for a number of years, finally resurfacing in 1988 with the ambient In This World".
(Jason Ankenny, All-Music Guide)

"[In This World], two albums of the same name released simultaneously, featuring cover art by Kathy Patterson. The first of the albums, a broken and noisy affair, the second, an album of creaky ambience featuring Sharp's improvised piano experiments. In This World also featured an uncredited collaboration with feminist punk writer Kathy Acker (Janey's Love)".
(wikipedia.com)

"In This World is the magnum opus from hyper-obscure post-punk industrialists Cindytalk. The album, four years in the making and only the second of the band's career, was originally released in 1988 (...). Though it has a pronounced experimental vibe marked by freeform industrial noise, waves of ambient synth, and the occasional eerie string passage, In This Wold is at its core an abrasive industrial goth album that looks to Joy Division and the Birthday party for inspiration, but points directly to Marilyn Manson in its goolish aesthetic and bombastic metallic din. Literary listeners should take note of the guest appearance by experimental author Kathy Acker on Janey's Love".
(cduniverse.com)

ENJOY

In This World

Request: 1000 MEXICANS - Music While You Work

2010-08-25T15:28:00.002+01:00

Original recordings 1983-1986
Compilation CD Still Music 1993

"1000 Mexicans were one of the most innovative and creative independent bands of the 1980s, combining quality pop songwriting and rhythmic and harmonic richness with their unique touches of experimentalism and eccentricity. Described by one journalist as 'the musical equivalent of the 70s Dutch team with their total football', the trio of Julian Griffin, Michael Harding and Andrew Hobday exchanged vocal and instrumental duties at the drop of a sombrero, 'mixing melody and mayhem in equal measure'. Their first single The Art of Love provoked Melody Maker reviewer Adam Sweeting to enthuse 'The way things are going it won't be long before 1000 Mexicans are the best band in the world'. They went on to release 4 more singles including the classic The Last Pop Song and Under Construction, a hit in Spain and Portugal, as well as the LP Dance like Ammunition. Despite success in Europe and consistent critical acclaim, they never found favour with the UK record industry who appeared confused by their singular brand of humour and sometimes anarchic live shows. The 'hi-flying Burrito Brothers' eventually found themselves in a tangle of bad management and publishing agreements that strangled their creative momentum and finally their will to live".
(1000mexicans.co.uk)

"Leaving the synthetic deadwood of automised rhythm at the door, 1000 Mexicans' beat is less confined to their feet, spread out more evenly to the head and heart. There's a touch of the avant-garde about 1000 Mexicans that neatly sidesteps the need to force their awaiting audience to dance or stagger them into intellectualised submission without descending into the inferno of corporate paranoia and wicked stitch-ups of 23 Skidoo and Cabaret Voltaire. (...) It's your party and you can dance if you want to".
(Martin Aston, Melody Maker)

ENJOY

In Faith With You

Request: ULTRA-VIVID SCENE - Rev

2010-08-24T17:02:00.005+01:00

LP / CD 4AD records 1992

"Kurt Ralske's Ultra Vivid Scene drenches a listener with charged psychedelic folk-rock on Rev. Jangling, wailing guitars, deep basslines, and shuffling drums transport a listener to Ralske's passionate dreamy realm. Evoking heady, dark imagery in his lyrics, Ralske thankfully varies his pace and tone throughout the album. One doesn't know whether to expect a screaming guitar solo or dreamy female background vocals at any given moment. It's quite a feat that Ralske is able to stretch his catchy hooks and melodies into songs that hover and go well past the five-minute mark. That Ralske also maintains a somewhat dour vocal style, but still manages to hold a listener's rapt attention, expresses that fine songwriting and arrangements are on display. Equally successful whether it's pumping out Dark Side of the Moon-era Pink Floyd-inspired atmosphere or neo-psychedelia reminiscent of World Party, Rev is loaded with compelling songs. Sounding born of the Rolling Stones, in their vibe-heaviest mode, Rev exudes timeless tunes. Rev shows dream pop at its symbolic, aggressive zenith".
(Tim DiGravina, All-Music Guide)

"1992's Rev was a different entity to its carefully-honed predecessors. Recording as part of a three-piece rock band, Kurt kicked out the jams on a series of lengthy tracks dominated by his searing guitar leads. Despite what seemed like a promising new direction, Rev proved to be the final Ultra Vivid Scene album. Kurt subsequently concentrated on production, before returning with a new project, Cathars, in 1999. Ultra Vivid Scene's final release was the Blood And Thunder EP, featuring a single remix of the title song (drastically shortened from it's 10 minute running time on the Rev album) and three other tracks, including a superb rendition of John Cale's Winter Song".
(4ad.com)

ENJOY

Cut-Throat

ASSOCIATES - The Radio One Sessions Volume One

2010-08-23T15:33:00.004+01:00

Original BBC recordings 1981-1983
Compilation CD Strange Fruit 2003

"The Associates' sound mixed post-punk modernism (the iceburn spires of Rankine's guitar) and the more postmodern traits of the New Pop. In the Associates case that meant flashbacks to the stylized romance of bygone forms - inter-war torch songs, post-war musicals, Sinatra-style crooners, Scott Walker's orchestrated solo albums. MacKenzie's towering vocals conjured an era when the malady of love was expressed in epic proportions, when singer luxuriated in grief".
(Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again)

"Poor Billy MacKenzie: he was ever a round peg in a very square world. How many diminutive singers from Dundee with a multi-octave range and a penchant for whippet breeding can you name? Plus many would argue that, coupled with multi-instrumentalist Alan Rankine, his blend of disco, Low/Heroes-era Bowie, Frank Sinatra and Krautrock is very much an acquired taste. Unfortunately the world never got the chance to catch up with this maverick as he took his own life in 1997. Yet this album at least gives us a chance to see why his voice was at once his blessing and his curse. By the time the first sessions on this disc were recorded, the original partnership of Mackenzie and Rankine was hitting its zenith. The first batch comes mainly from their masterpiece Sulk and displays exactly what made this pairing both exhilarating and frustrating. A re-titled track Me Myself And The Tragic Story (originally called Arrogance Gave Him Up) demonstrates Rankine's canny way with a melody while still retaining a frantic arrangement that is vertiginous. Most of the gems from this period will have you worrying that the drummer is about to fall over himself. The most exhilarating example must be It's Better This Way where Billy's multi-tracked whoops and hollers echo Rankine's gloriously risqué guitar lines. By the second visit to wonderful Radio One (as was) the partnership was fraying at the edges. Mackenzie's love of all things dance-oriented was pushing him away from the legendary excess-fuelled experimentation that had left their previous three albums sounding like pop produced in an alternate universe. His adaptation of Love Hangover (featuring Martha Ladly of Muffins fame) errs on the side of campness rather than plain old weirdness, and THAT voice is now intruding instead of intriguing. There is, however, a far lovelier early interpretation of Waiting For The Love Boat that outstrips its frantic final version. By 1983 MacKenzie had parted with Rankine and with new partner Howard Hughes was setting his cod-surreal lyrics in a far less challenging musical landscape. This was still no ordinary band, however. Hughes' piano on Breakfast is swoonsome while Billy's delivery on God Bless The Child is half Mel Torme, half Orson Welles. Despite a couple of absolutely classic singles this outfit were always destined to be too left-field for mass-consumption. But listening to the oddball irreverence applied to these radio sessions reminds one that true innovators very rarely fit in. Remarkable and utterly unique".
(Chris Jones, bbc.co.uk)

ENJOY

A Matter of Gender

ASSOCIATES - The Radio One Sessions Vol. 2

2010-08-23T15:24:00.004+01:00

Original BBC recordings 1984-1985
Compilation CD Strange Fruit 2003

"Recorded and aired during 1984 and 1985, the second volume of Strange Fruit's complete restoration of the Associates' BBC sessions, Radio One Sessions, Vol. 2, isn't quite as thrilling as the first. Those familiar with the difference between the Alan Rankine era and the post-Rankine era of the group need little explanation. Though Billy Mackenzie carried on making respectable records with a talented group behind him, none of the material at any point threatened to rival what was accomplished with The Affectionate Punch, Fourth Drawer Down, and Sulk - three very different records that continue to sound like no one else's. Still, the trips to the BBC documented here feature some alternate versions that followers won't want to live without".
(Andy Kellman, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

The Crying Game

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Cocteau Signature Tunes

2010-08-22T18:08:00.003+01:00

LP Cocteau Records 1986
CD reissue Cocteau Records / Enigma Records 1989
with slightly different tracklist

"Cocteau Records was an independent label started by Bill Nelson and his former manager Mark Rye in 1980. Named after Jean Cocteau, the famous French artist, philosopher, filmmaker, etc etc..., the label released numerous recordings during the 1980's, most of which were Bill Nelson solo releases. It was also the launching pad for A Flock of Seagulls, whose first single Bill produced and released on his label. The strength of that record led to their signing by Jive Records and video infamousy for their hit song I Ran (So Far Away), which was played to death on MTV in America. Other artists who recorded for Cocteau were Yukihiro Takahashi, Man Jumping, To Heaven A Jet, Last Man In Europe, Fiat Lux, and a number of Nelson vehicles such as Jobson/Nelson, Revox Cadets, Scala, and Bill Nelson's Orchestra Arcana. US indie label Enigma eventually picked up Cocteau for distribution in the United States in 1986. This deal lasted until around 1989-90 when Enigma went bankrupt thanks to the label's 'bread and butter' act, Poison, disintegrating in a cloud of drugs, booze, and too much hair spray. After Rye resigned as Bill's manager in late 1990 the releases stopped and Cocteau Records was eventually 'struck from the register' in 1994".
(billnelson.com)

ENJOY

Feels Like Winter Again

DRAMARAMA - Cinéma Vérité

2010-08-21T15:18:00.005+01:00

LP New Rose Records / Chameleon Records 1985
CD reissue Rhino Records 1995 with (lots of) bonus tracks

"Grounded in the timeless twin aesthetics of pop art and power pop, Dramarama was nevertheless a star-crossed combo, out of synch with both the mainstream rock audience and the music business throughout its career. Formed in the basement of a collectors' record shop in Wayne, New Jersey, at the turn of the '80s, the band applied the brash energy of '70s punk and glitter-rock to the glamorous propulsion and romantic irony of David Bowie and the Velvet Underground. With the exception of the 1985 track Anything, Anything (I'll Give You), a modern-rock radio fave in LA for years, Dramarama never escaped the critical-acclaim ghetto. But it is a tribute to a potent sound and enthusiastic vision that Dramarama still sounds as fresh and sharp now as when it first emerged during the corporate-rock bloat of the mid-'80s. (...) Produced by bassist Chris Carter and singer/songwriter John Easdale, Cinéma Vérité is an album of drawn-out vintage. Five tracks originally appeared on the Comedy EP, issued in 1984 on the band's own Questionmark label. One of those five numbers, a beautiful-loser's reading of the Velvets' Femme Fatale, had first surfaced on Dramarama's '83 independent debut single. The other six songs were recorded after the French label New Rose commissioned a full-length album. For all its mixed parentage, though, Cinéma Vérité is an assured statement of refined style and desperate purpose. While Easdale's burnt-heart romanticism in songs like Some Crazy Dame and Questions? suggest Jonathan Richman by way of Raymond Chandler, the Britpop gleam and Jersey bar-band crackle in the guitars of Peter Wood and Mark Englert (aka Mr. E Boy) evoke the power-chord thrills of Mott the Hoople and the New York Dolls. And in Anything, Anything (I'll Give You), Dramarama bottle that contagious tension with car-radio finesse.
(David Fricke, Trouser Press)

ENJOY

Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)

SOFT CELL - The Bedsit Tapes

2010-08-20T22:43:00.003+01:00

Compilation CD Some Bizarre 2005

"Historical rare recording made between 1978 and 1982 by the now legendary 80’s electro pop group Soft Cell. Originally, vocalist Marc Almond and synth player Dave Ball teamed to compose music for theatrical productions and, as Soft Cell, their live performances continued to draw heavily on the pair's background in drama and the visual arts. A self-financed EP titled Mutant Moments brought the duo to the attention of Some Bizzare label head Stevo, who enlisted Daniel Miller to produce their underground hit single Memorabilia the following year. This was the launch pad for the band to rise to international notoriety in their short and successful career".
(somebizarre.com)

“I remember there was a little makeshift studio tucked away in the corner of Leeds Polytechnic Fine Arts department, the 'studio' basically consisted of two Revox B77 quarter inch reel to reel tape machines, a funny old Tandberg reel to reel machine and a six channel line mixer. I had a Korg DV800 duophonic synth (my first one), a couple of stylophones and eventually aquired a very basic drum machine. I used this set up to make weird little tunes up for reasons known only to myself (i.e. no reason). It was probably 1978 when Marc Almond, a fellow student, happened to be walking by and heard these funny electronic bleeps and came into the studio to listen and asked if I would do some sounds for his performance art shows, which I did. A year went by and we had started writing our idea of 'pop songs' which we performed live at the Fine Art Xmas party. Before we knew it we had turned our 'art pop' into 'pop art' or maybe the other way round".
(Dave Ball 2005)

ENJOY

L.O.V.E. Feeling

SNAKE CORPS - Flesh On Flesh

2010-08-19T20:23:00.002+01:00

LP Midnight Music 1985
CD reissue Midnight Music 1990 with bonus tracks

"The Snake Corps came together in 1984 following the break-up of Sad Lovers & Giants (SL&G) the previous year. Aiming for a harder-edged sound, core members Tristan Garel-Funk and Nigel Pollard advertised in the Melody Maker for the necessary musicians. After many auditions they settled on Marc Lewis and Liam McGuinness on vocals and bass respectively. This original incarnation set about establishing its own sound - recording demos of songs later to appear on the band’s albums as well as a video of Look East for Eden at Kingston Poly where Marc was a student. After some initial success building a local following and reconnecting with many of the fans of SL&G, Nigel left the band and was replaced by Jon Greville from the extreme hardcore three-piece Rudimentary Peni. This line up went into record the first album: Flesh on Flesh, released on Midnight Music. Tours in Europe helped to build and consolidate the band's following, but at home the story was one of press and radio indifference".
(snakecorps.com)

ENJOY

Science Kills

DEATH IN JUNE - Burial

2010-08-18T12:27:00.003+01:00

LP Leprosy Records 1984
CD reissue Leprosy Records 1991

"Industrial innovators Death in June emerged in 1980 from the remnants of the punk unit Crisis, reuniting singer/multi-instrumentalist Douglas Pearce and bassist Tony Wakeford; drummer Patrick Leagas completed the original lineup, which made its live debut late the following year with an opening slot for the Birthday Party. The 12-inch Heaven Street soon followed, and in 1983 Death in June issued their first full-length effort, The Guilty Have No Pride; from the outset, the group was criticized for its adoption of fascist imagery, and charges of Nazism dogged Pearce throughout his career".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

"By 1984, angry punksters Crisis had miraculously transformed into Death in June - gone were the leftist ideas and in came black uniforms adorned by the totenkopf. Still, the band didn't really sound like Nazi drummerboys at a Nurenberg rally. Burial is a weird record that bears a notable punk feel, clearly signifying what the band members practiced some years before. The actual studio tracks are but five, the rest of the album consisting of live recordings. Opener Death of the West still serves as one of the neofolk evergreens: a simple but emotional anti-capitalist anthem composed in classic Death in June fashion, concentrating on strumming acoustic guitar and vocals exclusively. Fields, Nirvana and Black Radio all possess a definite '80s sound, meaning they're unmistakably post-punk and have strong new wave leanings. Sons of Europe delivers more pathos: martial drumming, trumpets blowing and atonal singing - it is probably the strangest track of the album. The live section, recorded somewhere in London in late 1983, is predictably psychedelic and somewhat chaotic. Even more than the studio material, the live recordings deliver a mix of proto-industrial, psychedelic rock and punk-influenced wave sound that is impenetrably esoteric and avant-garde".
(chroniclesofchaos.com)

ENJOY

Death of the West

DANNY & DUSTY - The Lost Weekend

2010-08-17T12:00:00.003+01:00

LP A&M Records 1985
CD reissue Prima Records 1996 with bonus track

"Danny & Dusty wasn't actually a duo, but a supergroup of sorts comprised of players from groups associated with L.A.'s paisley underground. Danny & Dusty consisted of Dan Stuart of Green on Red and the Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn - along with members of their bands - plus Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy, and Tom Stevens from the Long Ryders. The gathering of friends recorded one album in February 1985 over the course of a single, notoriously booze-soaked weekend. Appropriately, the effort was titled Lost Weekend. It would assume legendary status among the followers of the paisley underground, though certainly many of the players here are from more of a roots rock, country-punk bent. The sleeve notes hail the effort as an amalgam of 'friendship, fear, drunkenness, death, and elusive salvation', a fair enough assessment of the loose, boozy set. The LP consisted of seven Stuart/Wynn compositions, plus a cover of Bob Dylan's Knockin' on Heaven's Door, and the sound varied from country-pop to blazing barroom rock".
(Erik Hage, All-Music Guide)

"For years, legend had it that this Paisley Underground supersession - starring Dan Stuart from Green on Red and Steve Wynn from the Dream Syndicate, with three-quarters of the Long Ryders joining members of the two above-mentioned groups as the backing band - was recorded in a mere three days over a long weekend in 1985. In his liner notes to the 1996 CD reissue, Wynn sets the record straight: actually, the basic tracks were cut in a single beer-fueled recording session (lasting a whopping 36 hours), with the guys calling it quits on Saturday night in order to give themselves Sunday to recover".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Knockin' On Heaven's Door

COLLECTION D'ARNELL-ANDREA - Un Automne à Loroy

2010-08-16T16:47:00.003+01:00

LP Lively Art / New Rose Records 1989
CD Lively Art 1989 / New Rose Records with bonus tracks

"Noticed in 1988 by the English label Valotte records, the band Collection d'Arnell-Andréa, reduced at this time to the founder nucleus (Chloé St Liphard & Jean-Christophe d’Arnell), records the 4 tracks of its first 12” entitled Autumn's Breath for Anton's Death. This record, unobtainable today, presents a musical atmosphere particularly deep and bewitching, that at once appealed to both sides of the Channel. Coming out in 1989, Un Automne à Loroy, real funeral oration, coloured by the Autumn, in which stands out Chloé’s wonderful voice and the long sob of the cello, has a warm welcome from the press, in France and abroad. The music of Collection d'Arnell-Andréa is original because it realizes the perfect assimilation of instruments a priori antinomic: on a background of a minimum and metronomic rhythm composer, blend, the bass guitar, the cello, the simply or symphonic layers of the keyboards, and at least the voice, real instrument too. As for the lyrics, they have certain similarities to symbolism Poetry, arousing pictures of quiescent residences, pond under snow and old memories, lost in the foggy mornings of the bygone days".
(cdaa.free.fr)

"This music is both impassioned and ravishing. Entrance me to the end of love".
(Melody Maker)

ENJOY

Aux Averses de Grele

SWANS - The Burning World

2010-08-15T16:52:00.007+01:00

LP/CD Uni Records / MCA Records 1989

"The Burning World (1989), [was] Swans' first and only major label album. Released on Uni/MCA Records, the record was produced by Bill Laswell and expanded the acoustic palette introduced on Greed and Children of God. For this album, the core line-up of Gira, Jarboe and Westberg was augmented by session musicians, and the distinctive heavy guitar element of their earlier work was toned down significantly in favor of folk and world music elements. Though Swans would later explore more acoustic music with similar moods, Gira has stated that, while he admires much of Laswell's work, his efforts with Swans were simply a mismatch".
(Wikipedia)

"Perhaps the best Leonard Cohen record he never made, The Burning World benefits a great deal from the world-music instrumentation and structural abilities Laswell brings to it. The arrangements are uniformly strong, the gentler sounds don't strike one as a compromise and the cover of Blind Faith's Can't Find My Way Home is both apt and surprising. A nice one that's almost as haunting as it wants to be.
(Trouser Press)

"Dangerous and priceless, The Burning World flames from a tinder of crashing hearts, lost minds, and unexpected mercy...The inevitable tides of rhythm, the hypnotic drone of the voice, leave you with the marvelous and sick sensation that you are staring fascinated at a beautiful slice in your own wrist...only by passing through so many frames of darkness could Swans approach pure light".
(Spin Magazine)

ENJOY

Jane Mary, Cry One Tear

THE WEDDING PRESENT - Ukrainian John Peel Sessions

2010-08-14T17:02:00.004+01:00

10" LP Reception Records 1988
CD reissue Fresh Ear Records 2000 with bonus tracks
(originally released as Ukrainski Vistupi V Johna Peela)

"Between 1986 and 1989, the Wedding Present (labelled incorrectly by the British press as heir apparent to the Smiths) periodically went into the BBC studio of John Peel and recorded traditional Ukrainian folk songs. Eventually, three members of the Wedding Present would branch off to form the Ukrainians and record some inspired covers of songs by the Smiths. This CD is a collection of the Peel sessions, so the music is credited to the Wedding Present and, indeed, Wedding Present frontman David Gedge has a large role, playing guitar and providing background vocals. But these songs aren't really features for guitars and traditional instruments. Instead, mandolins, bayans, bubons, skripkas, and other exotic instruments dominate the mix. The music, comprised of traditional Ukrainian folk tunes, works best as a fun diversion. The general tone is festive and celebratory; the songs would not seem out of place at a wedding or some other party where funky dancing is the rule of the day".
(Tim DiGravina, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Vasya Vasyliok

CHRISTIAN DEATH - Catastrophe Ballet

2010-08-13T22:39:00.003+01:00

LP L'Invitation Au Suicide 1984
CD reissue Contempo Records 1987 with bonus tracks
(this early reissue retitled A Catastrophe Ballet with Rhapsody of Youth and Rain)

"The founding fathers of American goth rock, Christian Death took a relentlessly confrontational stand against organized religion and conventional morality, with an appetite for provocation that made Marilyn Manson look like Stryper. Regardless of who was leading or performing in the group, Christian Death set themselves up to shock, both in their cover art and their lyrics, which wallowed in blasphemy, morbidity, drug use, and sexual perversity. (...) Their music also relied on slow, doomy, effects-laden guitar riffs and ambient horror-soundtrack synths, and their theatrical performances were strongly influenced by British glam rockers like David Bowie and Roxy Music, as well as industrial provocateurs Throbbing Gristle. The latter was especially true of the band's first incarnation, led by vocalist and founder Rozz Williams, who masterminded much of what many critics consider their best work. (...) Catastrophe Ballet finds Christian Death at its early peak, both focused on and committed to the music. The subject matter revolves around the subversive juxtaposition of the religious and the erotic, while the arrangements utilize minor-key metal guitar riffs and eerie synth backings".
(Steve Huey, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

As Evening Falls

SPK - Zamia Lehmanni: Songs From Byzantine Flowers

2010-08-12T15:43:00.002+01:00

LP Side Effects Records 1986
CD reissue The Grey Area of Mute Records 1992 with bonus track

"At the core of the group was the idea of madness-as-truth and schizophrenic-as-seer. Founder Graeme Revell drew inspiration from his experiences as a nurse in an Australian mental hospital and his parallel studies of Art Brut, anti-psychiatry (Foucault, Guattari, etc), and poststructuralist theory. At various points in the group’s career SPK has stood for Surgical Penis Klinik, System Planning Korporation, SoliPsiK, and SePpuKU, but in the beginning it came from Socialistisches Patienten Kollektiv: a bunch of German loony-bin inmates who emulated the Baader-Meinhof and started their own terrorist group, rallying to the slogan ‘Kill Kill Kill For Inner Peace and Mental Health’. Along with the interest in un-sane states of consciousness, another crucial influence was Revell’s precocious reading (long before it was translated into English) of Jacques Attali’s seminal treatise Noise. As you might expect, SPK’s discography encompasses a fair amount of banging and screaming, augmented with guitar feedback and tortured synths. Hard going at first (Information Overload Unit, 1980), it gets progressively more listenable and interesting across Leichenschrei (1982), Dekompositions (1983) and Auto-Da-Fe (1983) as elements of structure, atmosphere, and even electro-influenced danceability creep in. SPK then pulled their own conform-to-deform move, signing to a major label and attempting a metal-bashing/electropop crossover sound on 1983’s risible Metal Dance and Machine Age Voodoo (1984)".
(Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again)

"SPK are never ones to be bound by expectation or formula. Their history is littered with fleeting glimpses of drastic environments and inquisitive moves. Their moves have fluctuated from the inpenetrable, discordant Leichenzchrei of 1981 to the cohesive, industrial dance power of 1984's Machine Age Voodoo. And now, not content to wallow in the praise and scepticism of transient souls, they move in their own sweet time to more challenging roles. Zamia Lehmanni (Songs of Byzantine Flowers) is a world away from the pop impregnated force of Machine Age Voodoo. Its overall spirit is bathed in a classical mysticism conjured from the sounds and instruments of New Guinea and Indonesia. These textural pieces are occasionally accompanied by choral chants that add a haunting air. Their restraint belies an inner strenght that sends shivers down your vulnerability. SPK make music of conviction. They aren't in the business of parody. They immerse themselves fully in their new guise, and what emerges is a mutated slant on ancient values as the true spirit of the Orient finds itself accommodating Western idiosyncracies and glimpses of their industrial past appear to form a majestic panorama. SPK have developed an image that makes it easy for people to dismiss them as indulgent antagonists, but it's only through their exploratory ventures that those less brave have followed a smoother ride. For those who endeavour to seek out SPK and persevere, the rewards can be satisfying and durable. Zamia Lehmanni is rich in colour and imagery. It'll sooth the aches and pains of perverted realism and leave you cleansed and fresh".
(Kevin Murphy, Sounds)

ENJOY

In Flagrante Delicto

THE WOODENTOPS - Giant

2010-08-11T23:21:00.003+01:00

LP Rough Trade Records 1986
CD Rough Trade Records 1986 with bonus track

"In this era of retro-rock, revivals and ripoffs, it's not easy to find truly innovative pop music. That's what makes this quintet from Peckham so special - they literally defy categorization. Led by the exuberant Rolo McGinty, the Woodentops employ only the barest of essentials - vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitars, bass and rudimentary drums. (...) The Woodentops' long-awaited debut album proved to be more than worth the wait. Giant is a bright handful of pop gems hallmarked with the band's special sound. They've filled out musically with the addition of trumpet, marimba, strings and accordion, and the songs are more structured. But that in no way detracts from their originality. You're not likely to hear more innovative pop than Hear Me James, Love Affair with Everyday Livin' or Travelling Man. An incredible first album".
(Altricia Gethers,Trouser Press)

ENJOY

Good Thing

THOMAS LEER - Contradictions

2010-08-10T22:26:00.002+01:00

Original recordings 1978-1982
Compilation CD Cherry Red Records 1994 reissued 2008

"Thomas Leer is one of the architects of the electronic revolution of the late 70s, when a cluster of artists on independent labels augmented the DIY metric of punk with newly available synthesizers. Part of that generic instrument’s appeal, of course, was that it gave a voice to those who had previously lacked either the social wherewithal or the instinct to work in a band setting – instead a whole new generation of bedroom mavericks stepped forward, empowered and unshackled by technological advances. Leer, alongside Robert Rental, Daniel Miller (The Normal), Fad Gadget and others, emerged to mine a seam of music that was perpetually challenging but also emotionally resonant".
(Alex Ogg)

"Thomas Leer was the original one-man bedroom band, his pioneering 1978 own-label underground hit Private Plane prefiguring many subsequent developments in synth-pop. Featuring Leer’s haunting, uncertain vocal - recorded quietly, so as not to wake his girlfriend in their bedsit! - crooning over a minimal bass pulse and discreet whines and washes of primitive Wasp synthesiser, it retains its peculiar lo-fi magic three decades on. The rest of this compilation reveals a talent maturing perhaps a little too rapidly for his own good: the spiky, angular guitar and squelchy synth of Dry Land show Leer making tentative incursions into avant-jazz territory. Soul Gypsy, meanwhile, features electronic-soul innovations only now being taken up by the likes of Jamie Lidell. A true original, well worth reassessment".
(Andy Gill, The Independent 2008 review)

ENJOY

Private Plane

BOB MOULD - Workbook

2010-08-09T14:05:00.003+01:00

LP / CD Virgin Records 1989

"Guitarist/singer/songwriter Bob Mould was initially a member of Hüsker Dü, one of the most influential American bands of the '80s. Hüsker Dü was a post-hardcore punk band that helped define the sound and ideals of alternative rock. After Hüsker Dü broke up, Mould signed a solo contract with Virgin Records in 1988. The following year, he released his first solo album, Workbook, which represented a major shift in sonic direction. (...) Like all of Mould's work, it's an intensely introspective record, finding him purging demons left over from the dissolution of Hüsker Dü. Instead of relying on raging guitars, Mould explores a wide variety of styles, from pure pop (See a Little Light) to reflective folk laced with cellos. It's an astonishing array of styles, and the songs are among Mould's finest. (...) A stunning work of individuality, marrying a distinctive body of songs with an original musical vision. Occasionally, the production is a little too pristine, but the power of the songs cannot be diminished".
(Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Wishing Well

IAN McCULLOCH - Candleland

2010-08-08T23:23:00.004+01:00

LP / CD WEA Records 1989

"Ian McCulloch's first solo LP represents his most accomplished work since the 1984 Echo and the Bunnymen masterpiece Ocean Rain; haunted by the recent deaths of the singer's father as well as Bunnymen drummer Pete DeFreitas, Candleland is a poignant yet ultimately triumphant album which probes not only themes of loss but also rebirth. Atmospherically produced by Ray Shulman, tracks like The Flickering Wall and Proud To Fall tread familiar musical territory, yet are delivered with a renewed sense of purpose; McCulloch's expressive vocals and impassioned lyrics recall past glories, but also tap newfound reserves of maturity and introspection. Equally compelling are the record's more unexpected departures, which include the waltz-like I Know You Well, the New Order-esque Faith and Healing, and the glistening title track, a fairytale music box with backing vocals courtesy of the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser. A stunning and unexpected return to form".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Proud To Fall

SLEEPING DOGS WAKE - Threnody

2010-08-07T18:19:00.002+01:00

LP One Little Indian 1990
CD One Little Indian 1990 with bonus track

ENJOY

Moth

THE ICICLE WORKS - If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song

2010-08-06T21:48:00.003+01:00

LP Beggars Banquet 1987
CD Beggars Banquet 1987 with bonus tracks

"The Icicle Works were an English alternative rock band of the 1980s. Named after the 1960 short story The Day the Icicle Works Closed by science fiction author Frederik Pohl, The Icicle Works joined Liverpool's early 1980s 'neo-psychedelia' wave, which also propelled Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes to stardom".
(Wikipedia)

"The Ian Broudie-produced Defeat Your Enemy brought out the band's varying influences in different ways, resulting in a varied record touching on everything from funk to folk. But as successful as earlier works? Yes and no. Unquestionably, the band's knack for big, uplifting but not hollow performances was still in fine flower, as the smash single Understanding Jane showed. A quick, fierce rocker with an instantly catchy pop vibe and a brilliant chorus, it's a '50s tearjerker filtered through the Ramones with fantastic results. Another winner is the opening cut, Evangeline, with a lovely chorus consisting of overdubbed vocals from the band and guest singer Alison Limerick and a quick, Motown-touched rhythm supporting McNabb's powerful singing. Then there's Up Here in the North of England, a slow, string-touched waltz winningly sung while bitterly ripping into the political state of the nation line for line. McNabb's vocals throughout the album are deeper than before, but still with the same general sense of control and projection; if anything, he was doing a better David Bowie croon than Bowie himself could do at the time. However, elsewhere the elements are in place but the performance isn't quite there. Part of this can be laid at Broudie's feet as well as the various mixers on the record, who bring things to a too commercially ready punch and sheen".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Understanding Jane

THE GUN CLUB - Mother Juno

2010-08-05T21:14:00.002+01:00

LP / CD Red Rhino Records 1987

"Jeffrey Lee Pierce, for all intents and purposes, was the Gun Club. From his days as a peroxided, Debbie Harry-fixated Los Angeles teen-punk, through a lengthy era when he seemed convinced he could channel the spirit of Robert Johnson, to a more recent probe of the seedier side of continental balladry, Pierce - who died of a cerebral blood clot in Utah at the end of March 1996 - always presented a highly individual, albeit sometimes dazed'n'confused, vision of a soul in torment".
(Jim Green / David Sprague,Trouser Press)

"The Gun Club collapsed within a year of the release of 1984's The Las Vegas Story, so more than a few fans were surprised in 1987 when Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers returned with a new version of the band, featuring Romi Mori (Pierce's significant other) on bass and Nick Sanderson (ex-Clock DVA) on drums. Even more startling was that the group's comeback album, Mother Juno, was produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, who would hardly have seemed a likely choice to channel the Gun Club's fiery blues-punk assault onto vinyl. But against the odds, Mother Juno turned out to be one of the band's best albums; the hard rock overtones of The Las Vegas Story were replaced by a more direct, streamlined sound that suggested Miami without the twangy undertow, and while Bill Bailey and Thunderhead proved this band could rock as hard as they ever had before, Pierce's songs were also venturing into new musical territory, as evidenced by the slow, slinky R&B of Yellow Eyes, the atmospheric carnival-pop of The Breaking Hands, and the contemplative Port of Souls. And as a vocalist, Pierce's trademark just-off-pitch style had gained no small amount of nuance in the six years since Fire of Love, and whether he's shouting the blues or crooning sadly, Pierce shows he'd moved into a whole new class as a singer".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

The Breaking Hands

B-MOVIE - Volume 1: Remembrance Days

2010-08-04T23:31:00.005+01:00

Original recordings Dead Good Records 1980
Compilation CD Dead Good Records 1991

"Formed in Mansfield Nottinghamshire circa 1979... Critically acclaimed after releases on local label Dead Good Records, the band signed to Some Bizarre and released the brilliant trio of new wave singles Marilyn Dreams, Nowhere Girl and Remembrance Day. Every one an indie classic! The band played some great gigs and built a strong live following but an album failed to materialise and band members left at the end of 1983. Steve Hovington and Paul Statham carried on with new member Martin Winter and secured a deal with Sire Records. The singles A Letter From Afar and Switch On Switch Off were followed by the debut album Forever Running in 1985. The band disintergrated after this with Hovington forming the band ONE and Statham going on to work with Peter Murphy for a number of years. Various retrospectives and session albums have been released since, whilst the band have played live again recently too..."
(myspace.com/bmovieuk)

"A handy collection of the band's earliest efforts, ranging from extremely early compilation appearances to various EPs, Remembrance Days is certainly a fans-only experience. That said, at worst it's still enjoyably derivative post-punk (certainly the first couple of cuts have major Joy Division / Cure tones going in a slightly more pop vein) and at best it's sparkling. Admittedly, maybe the borrowing went both ways - while it doesn't sound similar at all, the fact that the band had a song called Drowning Man a year before a similarly titled cut turned up on The Cure's Faith is an amusing note of history. Rick Holliday's keyboards definitely give the band more of an individual voice, and while in the light of history his parts sound terribly thin and restrained (certainly he's no Brian Eno circa Roxy Music), his parts on The Soldier Stood Alone and other songs work well enough. That said, nothing can quite help the too-earnest-for-its-own good Institution Walls, but the music does its best all around. The bandmembers themselves take the opportunity to rearrange the running order of the original Nowhere Girl EP into new form, and there's a wonderfully curious bonus - a variety of studio snippets as the band tunes up and figures out what to record or try next".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Remembrance Day

SUMMER BREAK

2010-07-16T19:48:00.002+01:00

I guess you'll have to do without me for the next couple of weeks.
A big bag full of CDs is already packed, meaning that I'll try my best to spend a few days actually listening to some music - instead of just keep posting it!
Anyway, take care and don't forget to leave any requests, thoughts, suggestions...

Request: HEX - Vast Halos

2010-07-15T20:11:00.003+01:00

CD First Warning Records / Rykodisc 1990

"Another tech-heavy and mostly self-created effort from the duo (though more accurately a trio with the participation of Jim McGrath on pounding, shaking, and apple eating'), Vast Halos is a more upfront effort in general than the band's debut. The same combination of swoony psychedelia and new wave-tinged compositions, with a dollop of T. Rex-flavored glam here and there, makes for another enjoyable album all around. The Marc Bolan tinge crops up at a number of points in the snaky slink of many melodies - one can practically hear his trill fitting in perfectly on songs like Hollywood in Winter and the fine lead song, Monarch. [Donnette] Thayer's singing is more direct at many points, sounding fuller in the mix and in her general delivery, while [Steve] Kilbey's arrangements gain a little more in the way of detail and kicking against the sometimes-sterile rhythms. When he decides to let the epic-rock part of his personality come forth a bit more, as on the extended coda for Antelope, the extra oomph helps send everything that little bit higher without hijacking the song entirely. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when the group takes a more organic approach, as with the Indian-sounding percussion on the really lovely Centaur, Thayer's singing is some of her most seductive and thrilling and the results are truly special. There are some striking nods to Phil Spector's Wall-of-Sound tearjerkers (Shelter), late-night jazz blues smokiness (Hell), and string-heavy waltz turns (Orpheus Circuit, with one of Thayer's best performances), which add variety without seeming dilettantish. Not everything connects all the way, with some material merely being pleasant rather than special, but overall Vast Halos makes for a varied and intriguing effort that overtops its predecessor with skill and style".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Antelope

KEVIN ROWLAND - The Wanderer

2010-07-14T14:10:00.004+01:00

LP/CD Mercury Records 1988

"(...) when it comes down to it, it's the music that matters - the albums and the shows, and Dexys gave us some fucking great ones, putting their hearts and souls into it. The problem was though that in many ways, they were ahead of their time, they were visionaries. When they came into the music business, it was full of guys from the seventies wearing Doobie Brothers tour jackets. Nothing wrong with the Doobie Brothers of course, but who of these could understand the young soul rebels? Essentially Kevin Rowland has always been the core of Dexys. He built several different line ups of the band (a new one, for instance for each of the three albums). And after Rowland finally put Dexys to rest in 1986, 2 solo albums, The Wanderer and My Beauty punctuated the next two decades".
(myspace.com)

"This is a brilliant album. Although it is not a sequel to 1985's brilliant Don't Stand Me Down, it is clearly the natural follow-up. Knowing he could never top that major achievement, Kevin Rowland once again set out to reinvent himself for his first solo album. The result is a mixture of Celtic folk, rock, country, and dance music. The result is stunning. Rowland's vocals are amazing, clear, and full of his famous emotion. The assorted session musicians (including famed pedal steel guitarist Eric Weissberg) provide a solid foundation on which Rowland builds his mini masterpieces. Rowland is not so much the angry young man here (except maybe on the standout track, Tonight), but rather a sad, lonely, pensive man who is trying to make sense of the world around him. He may not succeed, but in the process he has written some moving lyrics and does a wonderful cover of the classic Heartaches By the Numbers. As usual, this is not the type of album one expects from Kevin Rowland, but when did Rowland ever do what was expected of him? Also worth searching out are the three singles released from the album, all containing hilarious and wonderful non-LP B-sides that could have been added as bonus cuts to the CD. There really is something here for most tastes, and by all rights this should be in most serious record collections".
(Aaron Badgley, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Walk Away

THE DANSE SOCIETY - Heaven Is Waiting

2010-07-13T14:15:00.004+01:00

LP Arista Records 1984
CD reissue Great Expectations 1992 with bonus tracks

"The Danse Society were a very special band formed in the early 1980’s and hailed from the Goth heartland of Yorkshire. After their highly regarded album Seduction on their own label Society Records, the band signed to Arista Records and released this, the excellent Heaven Is Waiting album. It's their most complete and accomplished album. During the eighties, the Danse Society created a reputation for lush and atmospheric sounds that separated them from the rest of the gothic scene at the time. The innovative and creative use of keyboards was the element that gave the band their distinctive sound".
(cherryred.co.uk)

" Goth music has been perhaps unfairly maligned down the years. So often associated with humourless, irony-free presentation and tuneless displays of depression, at its worst it is admittedly unbearable. Danse Society were never that poor but this reissue of their 1984 album Heaven Is Waiting sums up the good and bad of the goth scene in a nutshell. Made up by Steve Rawlings' powerful, haunting vocals, Lyndon Scarfe's very much 'of the time' keyboard embellishments and a fiercesome, bludgeoning rhythm section the group were built on solid foundations. Everything begins well with Come Inside and Wake Up possessing an imperious majesty and vitality. Such qualities are sadly absent from the keyboard-heavy work with fancy arrangments that Ultravox had long since discarded as being passé". (Jonathan Leonard, Leonard's Lair)

ENJOY

Intro / Come Inside

NURSE WITH WOUND - A Sucked Orange

2010-07-12T12:23:00.003+01:00

LP United Dairies 1989
CD United Dairies 1990

"A loose experimental project formed in 1978 by Steven Stapleton, Nurse with Wound explored abstract music - influenced by Krautrock, freewheeling jazz improvisation, and Throbbing Gristle but including a heavy debt to surrealists Dali and Lautréamont - with an overpowering release schedule of limited-edition albums and EPs. Stapleton worked with an ever-changing list of collaborators during the early years of Nurse with Wound, though Current 93's David Tibet has been the only frequent recording companion during the 1980s and '90s".
(John Bush, All-Music Guide)

"A Sucked Orange is a twenty nine track compilation of outtakes and random unused material from Stapleton’s huge tape archive. The reason for compiling this collection was that he was moving out to Ireland and couldn’t take all his tapes with him so most had to go in the bin. He 'picked them clean' to reveal these tracks. It’s a hit and miss affair with some tracks being frankly silly e.g. Raymonde Fluffs It. And some are short pleasant tid-bits. The Spiral Theme with it’s drifting ambience, or A Precise History of Industrial Music, which features various machines (a printer) and other strange sounds. Rockette Morton Parts One and Two, are just a loop of the name Rockette Morton delayed, mutated and twisted for what seems like eternity. I’m a Frayed Knot, features the tribal beats and sounds from Aquarium. This Piano Can’t Think, is the unaltered piano piece from the second track off Spiral Insania. Crack Up, is a swamp of orchestral synths. While Scissor Rock Bicycle Revelation is loops of scissors and someone changing a bicycle chain (I think). Most of the tracks here are quite simple with only a few elements competing to be heard. Dream of a Butterfly Inside the Head of a Horse is another amusing track, muffled buzzing and dissonant drones and sounds. It Just Aint So (Slight Return) was used on the Sylvie and Babs Hi-Thigh Companion. A Little Missing Part of Homotopy To Marie, is just that. Scrambled Egg Rebellion in the Smegma Department is a nice end to this compilation. Echoed cries and all that. Definitely a mixed bag. I suppose this is as close as you could get to demo versions of Nurse songs. All the pieces chopped up and separate before the Nurses put them together in their deformed wonderful ways. For fans only me thinks".
(Xaven Taner, nightoftheworld.com)

ENJOY

Scrambled Egg Rebellion In the Smegma Department

FELT - Bubblegum Perfume

2010-07-11T13:22:00.003+01:00

Original recordings Creation Records 1986-1988
Compilation LP/CD Creation Records 1990

"When it comes to individuality and wilful perversity, Lawrence's only rival is Prince. In 10 years he guided Felt through 10 LPs and 10 singles, occasionally threatening to make it into the major league but, just as he was making headway, he'd put out an album of lift music or title the new single Space Blues. (...) Of all Felt ingredients, Lawrence's voice was their real trademark. 'How do they get Lou Reed to sing in all their records?' a review once asked - pretty funny, but Reed's name could be replaced by either Bob Dylan or Tom Verlaine. Somehow Lawrence sounded like all three and still had an instantly recognisable timbre: that slightly off-kilter warble, that subtle tone of endless Black Country boredom. Other Felt-isms were Martin Duffy's keyboards (Hammond and vibes a speciality) and, always, guitar craftsmanship. (...) It's funny how, just six months into the Nineties, the Eighties seem like so much history. Felt already belong to another era, their ecletic wanderings part of our past. They managed 10 years of mystique. That's pretty cool. Bubblegum Perfume acts as historical document, an excellent Felt primer for the initiated, and a seal on their legend. We will not see their like again".
(Bob Stanley, 1990 review)

ENJOY

Space Blues

ULTRA VIVID SCENE - Ultra Vivid Scene

2010-07-10T15:03:00.002+01:00

LP 4AD Records 1988
CD 4AD Records 1988 with bonus track

"Listen past the pretty facade of Ultra Vivid Scene to the barely suppressed screams within, and you'll find an admirably subversive mind at work. Whether performing techno-pop, ambient soundscapes or Patsy Cline covers, UVS wields the same breathless, desperate menace. For all its attempts to be perceived as a band, UVS is still essentially Kurt Ralske, a musical prodigy of sorts from Long Island who grew up on jazz and classical music. After quitting the Berklee School of Music at 17, he bought a guitar and began playing in rock, hardcore and jazz bands, moving to London with a group called Crash (which soon did). He then formed the first incarnation of UVS and hung out with members of the Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Loop before returning to New York and signing with 4AD. Ralske created the elaborate Ultra Vivid Scene entirely by himself, offering a disturbingly intimate glimpse into his evidently tortured soul as well as his considerable musical talents. The bittersweet juxtapositions - a beautiful melody with S&M lyrics, a bouncy pop song driven by hyper-distorted guitar - create a tension that jangles even the album's most sedate songs. Anguished yet never overbearing, soothing without turning complacent, it's one of 1988's best".
(Jem Aswad, Trouser Press)

"The first album by Kurt Ralske, a native New Yorker who spent stretches in Boston and London before signing to 4AD, is musically an intriguing and eclectic record that mixes pure pop and noise experiments better than any album since the Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy. (My Bloody Valentine was working similar territory at the same time, but Ralske's fondness for the pop hook, best heard on the first single She Screamed, was far more obvious.) The difficulties come when one pays attention to the lyrics, which are laughably pretentious in a way rarely seen since Jim Morrison's Lizard King heyday. (...) Still, ignore Ralske's mopey black-clad high school sophomore-level lyrics, which, luckily, is pretty easy to do since his voice is mixed fairly low, and Ultra Vivid Scene is a pretty interesting record with much to offer".
(Stewart Mason, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Mercy Seat

LITTLE NEMO - Vol.1: 1987-89

2010-07-04T13:00:00.003+01:00

Compilation 2xCD Infrastition 2009

"Originating from the region of Paris, Little Nemo is one of the French bands recognized by the british bock critics in the years between 1988 and 1992 (mostly by New Musical Express). This band was part of the 'Touching Pop' current at the crossroads of Anglo-Saxon inspired new wave and rock. This current gathered French bands like Mary Goes Round, Asylum Party, Neutral Project. The name of the band is directly inspired by the comics Little Nemo in Slumberland".
(wikipedia.org)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY

New Flood

Request: GAME THEORY - Tinker To Evers To Chance

2010-07-03T17:04:00.004+01:00

Original recordings 1982-1989
Compilation CD Enigma Records 1990

"Game Theory formed on the fringe of the Paisley Underground movement of the early-'80s, and though they certainly had a retro-'60s sound with psychedelic leanings, the band owed its greatest debt to the proto-power pop of Big Star. Leader Scott Miller's songcraft, distinctive voice (self-described as a 'miserable whine'), and intelligent lyrics (often obscure but rarely pretentious) carved a sound that, while firmly rooted in traditional pop, was truly original and defined an era of college rock".
(Chris Woodstra, All-Music Guide)

"Scott Miller compiled and annotated this career-spanning retrospective of his band Game Theory, and anyone looking for a convenient introduction to the band's arch and intelligent power pop could hardly do better than to pick this up. Tinker to Evers to Chance boasts 22 songs that offer representative selections from the band's four studio albums and three EPs, including their relative 'hits' (well, Erica's Word and The Real Shelia got some college radio airplay and made brief appearances on MTV in the middle of the night), as well as hard-to-find material from their early 12"s. For the completists, Miller also re-recorded two very early Game Theory tracks with the band's final lineup and even reworked Beach State Rocking by his pre-Game Theory combo Alternate Learning. A nice mix of obscurities and favorites for the fans, and a revelation for the uninitiated, Tinker to Evers to Chance is hardly the only Game Theory album worth owning, but it may well be the best way to go if you're only going to buy one".
(Mark Deming, All-Music Guide)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY

The Real Sheila

ALTERNATIVE TV - The Image Has Cracked

2010-07-02T23:27:00.002+01:00

LP Deptford Fun City 1978
CD reissue Anagram Records 1994 with (lots of) bonus tracks

"Starting with a nuttily bombastic synth intro (courtesy of Squeeze's Jools Holland!) which sounds just like the music punk was supposed to be destroying might seem an unusual move for a band founded by the guy who chronicled the original London explosion. But it's that very contrariness in Mark Perry which made the original Alternative TV such a thrilling prospect, and which makes The Image Has Cracked an unfairly neglected classic from the late-'70s upheaval. Seizing on the promise of punk as being a new means of expression rather than a new set of musical rules to be adhered to, Perry, along with a solid-enough band, whip up a series of incendiary pieces that explore as much as they thrash, caught somewhere between the Fall's divine ramalama and three-chord snarls".
(Ned Ragett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Action Time Vision

WHITE GLOVE TEST - Look

2010-07-01T23:26:00.002+01:00

LP Nate Starkman & Son 1986
CD reissue Fundamental Records 1990

ENJOY

Look

WILL SERGEANT - Themes for 'GRIND'

2010-06-30T23:34:00.004+01:00

LP Happy Customers 1982
CD reissue Spiffing 1997 with bonus track

"Will Sergeant is best known as the guitarist for Echo and the Bunnymen, but fans of that group shouldn't go looking for this LP expecting a familiar-sounding spinoff. Themes for GRIND has no vocals and none of Echo and the Bunnymen's trademark hooks. This album will probably appeal to anyone who enjoys dark, atmospheric ambient music. It's experimental, but not in an annoying or pretentious way, and evokes a gray-sky world of abandoned factories and empty streets. Highly recommended".
(discogs.com)

ENJOY

Scene II

THE NORMAL - Warm Leatherette

2010-06-29T22:27:00.003+01:00

7" single Mute Records 1978
CD reissue Mute Records 1995

"A short-lived outfit whose existence is conveniently documented by a lone 1978 single, The Normal was an alias for Daniel Miller, owner of Mute Records. Through the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, Fad Gadget, and Depeche Mode, Miller's label was responsible for opening thousands of minds to the possibilites of electronic music. (...) A pivotal, early release of electronic new wave, this single oddly gained more notoriety for its B-side, Warm Leatherette. Amidst jolting zaps, pops, and blipping skips, Daniel Miller robotically intones about the pleasures of car crash as foreplay: 'A tear of petrol is in your eye / The hand brake penetrates your thigh / Quick - let's make love / Before you die'. The track sounds like a darkly cartoonish version of a malfunctioning dot matrix printer: clinically pristine, minimal, and sinister. A brief flash that caused countless ripples, it sounds just as fresh two decades after its creation. T.V.O.D. is no slouch either, commanding the tube owner to cut to the chase and stick the aerial antenna into their arm".
(Andy Kellman, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Warm Leatherette

THE MOCK TURTLES - 88-90

2010-06-28T22:35:00.003+01:00

Compilation CD Imaginary Records 1991

"The Mock Turtes were led by singer/guitarist Martin Googan, the older brother of famed British television comedian and actor Steve Coogan. Bassist Steve Green, keyboardist Krzysztof Korab, and drummer Steve Cowen completed the lineup, which channeled influences spanning from folk-rock to psychedelia to glam. The Mock Turtles issued their debut single, Pomona, in 1987. Contributions to Imaginary Records tribute LPs celebrating The Byrds, The Kinks, and Captain Beefheart followed, but in early 1989 Green and Korab exited, with bassist Andrew Stewardson, guitarist Martin Glynn Murray, and keyboardist Joanne Gent signing on for The Wicker Man, a single inspired by the cult horror classic of the same name. With 1990's Lay Me Down the Mock Turtles began incorporating the club-inspired rhythms that would come to define the Manchester sound in the months to follow, and that June the band issued its first full-length effort, Turtle Soup, to significant critical acclaim. Major label Siren soon extended a contract offer, and for their label debut the Mock Turtles reworked the Lay Me Down B-side Can You Dig It? The record proved a Top 20 chart hit, accompanied by an appearance on the BBC's Top of the Pops. A slick second album, Two Sides, nevertheless failed to earn much attention and in 1993 Coogan dissolved the group to form Ugli with Green and Korab".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Oh Helen How (Strings)

HEX - Hex

2010-06-27T10:59:00.003+01:00

LP / CD First Warning Records 1989

"The first Hex effort somehow gets the mood right from the start, that lovely end-of-the-'80s psych-pop/indie or whatever groove that had defined much of the underground music of that era. Given the participants' background in The Church and Game Theory, that's hardly a surprise, but it's lovely to hear how well they go together, [Donnette] Thayer's voice just tripped out and intoxicating enough, [Steve] Kilbey's arrangements suiting the mood well. Aside from a guest drum turn on one song, the two create everything themselves and do a lovely job. If the percussion throughout is electronic, it certainly sounds less stiff and out of place than on some of the early Church recordings, so credit goes to Kilbey there. The use of keyboards also deserves note: gothy/new wave synth lines made into darkly elegant swells of sound (check out Mercury Towers for a fine example). Other musicians, like Heidi Berry and The Moon Seven Times, could almost be said to have taken tips from the results, because there's the same rainy/sunny rural-afternoon glaze throughout Hex, a wonderful way to spend some time with music. Of the high points, Ethereal Message is clearly a pinnacle; not as gauzy as the title might imply, it's a low-key epic that feels and sounds like a building climb into the sky, the combination of backward guitars and steady pace the perfect bed for Thayer's vocal prowess. That the two can call a song Hermaphrodite but have it sound like a fragile, echo-heavy ballad rather than a glam rock strut is but part of the overall charm. Every so often things turn a bit more pedestrian - In the Net, one great solo from Kilbey aside, is too mannered to really work - but overall, Hex is an underrated keeper".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Diviner

Request: PHIL SHÖENFELT - Backwoods Crucifixion

2010-06-26T17:30:00.003+01:00

CD Paperhouse Records 1990

"Shoenfelt's music is steeped in blues and intense gothic imagery, a world peopled by junkies and losers sung in a moody and effective voice over a frequently refrigerated guitar. It came as some surprise to me to learn that he was as English as gold-topped milk, although much of the influence is explained away by the fact that he spent the best part of his formative career in New York where one assumes he was exposed to urban decay and abject despair to a greater extent than might be expected over here. His music is incisive, well structured and thoroughly masterful: a sort of Paul Roland of the high-rise tenement, the David Ackles of the boarded-up street-scene. Somehow amid all this despondency Shoenfelt manages to squeeze in the odd heartrending melody, the occasional gentle caress amid the clamour of powerful rock music played with verve and misleading simplicity. Songs like the powerful, catchy Garden Of Eden (which opens the set) and the more gentle and cunning Marianne, I'm Falling deserve to be heard by as wide an audience as possible - dammit, scream out to be heard".
(Phil McMullen, Bucketful of Brains)

"It's a dark world, this one, littered with things holy and hellish and, although the dank and troubled paths of the deep South have been well-trodden by a host of white boys with varying degrees of authenticity and bad faith, Backwoods Crucifixion succeeds brilliantly by holding off on the usual melodrama and speaking with a subtle voice. (...) The tone throughout this LP is blue, bent savage and bleakly urban, but without the theatre. It's more Lou Reed or Lenny Cohen than Nick Cave, and Crime And The City Solution are fair comparison, especially in The Light That Surrounds You and Hateful Heart. It's not all doomy though, - Psyche is a sweeter, fuzzed-up Byrds thing - but Shöenfelt's vocals steer so shy of hysteria that, despite the gentleness, he seems detached. He's the slightly spooked story teller in shades, snooping about the netherworld with calm curiosity. His Backwoods Crucifixion is a perfect, passionate understatement stumbled on in the dark".
(Sharon O'Connell, Melody Maker)

ENJOY

Garden of Eden

DALIS CAR - The Waking Hour

2010-06-25T23:14:00.003+01:00

LP Paradox Records 1984
CD reissue Beggars Banquet 1988

"Dali's Car were doomed almost from the start. A seemingly good idea when first suggested to former Bauhaus vocalist/lyricist Peter Murphy that he collaborate with ex-Japan bassist/composer Mick Karn, the group nearly self-destructed before it was disbanded. (...) Things seemed fine when Murphy and Karn began their collaboration. Initially working with four-track tapes that they sent back and forth, they wrote most of the songs before they came together in the studio. Once there, however, they clashed, and when the project was completed, neither wanted to work together again".
(Craig Harris, All-Music Guide)

"Either a temporary project, a promising alliance that fell apart, or a waste of time - Dalis Car and its sole effort isn't something easily agreed upon, even by longtime fans of both Peter Murphy and Mick Karn. Even its original appearance was fraught with doubt given that the two were signed to separate record companies, resulting in the creation of a wholly new label just to get it in print (Beggars Banquet has since taken over full pressing on its own). While on the one hand Waking Hour is pretty much the sum of its parts - Murphy's dramatic, edgy singing style and Karn's fluid, immediately recognizable fretless bass and other instruments, plus percussion from Paul Lawford - there was enough variety going on to set it apart enough from the legacies of both Bauhaus and Japan. On the one hand, the band's music feels a little harsher and more electronic than the flowing arrangements of late Japan, no doubt accentuated by the electronic drums in place of Steve Jansen's work. Similarly, the production feels a bit hollower - not quite demo level, but a little more straightforward all around, occasional fripperies like the exotic synth line on His Box aside. Meanwhile, Murphy avoids the more torturous roars and screams of his most extreme work in Bauhaus - it's still recognizably him at 50 paces off, but everything feels a touch gentler and more meditative. He indulges in his usual cryptic images, admittedly - quite what Dali's Car itself is meant to be is unclear - but as is so often the case, his all-around performance is what counts the most".
(Ned Raggett, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

The Judgement Is the Mirror

TRUE WEST - Hollywood Holiday Revisited

2010-06-24T21:46:00.003+01:00

Original recordings 1983-1984
Compilation CD Atavistic 2007 with bonus tracks

"True West rolled through California's paisley underground like a piece of purple sage in a dust devil. The band adopted Syd Barrett as a father figure (True West's first release was a single of his Lucifer Sam,) and took Rocky Erickson and Alex Chilton as uncles. They played echo laden, dense drone with erie guitars and sinister vocals. Co-produced by guitarist Russ Tolman and Dream Syndicate's Steve Wynn, the True West EP put's the bands best foot forward. Russ, Gavin Blair and Steve had worked together as The Suspects, but they never busted sod like this. Hollywood Holiday contains the whole EP plus three more-polished tracks recorded later with a new rhythm section. Drummer Jozef Becker rejoined Thin White Rope before True West went back to the studio to record Drifters. The album's nine new songs and another version of And Then the Rain, highlight Gavin Blair's vocals as much as Tolman's thick chime like guitar work. A quieter record than Hollywood, Drifters hangs on to enough edge so as not to leave anyone asking where the rock went. The album has a thick atmosphere like an old mining town. The songs invoke cowboys without sounding anything like today's alt. country bands or roots music".
(MySpace)

LISTEN
&
ENJOY

Hollywood Holiday

THEATRE OF HATE - Westworld

2010-06-23T23:14:00.002+01:00

LP Burning Rome Records 1982
CD reissue Snapper Music 1997 with bonus tracks

"Gothic post-punks Theatre of Hate formed in Britain in 1980; led by singer/songwriter Kirk Brandon, formerly of The Pack, the original group also comprised guitarist Simon Werner, bassist Jonathan Werner and drummer Jim Walker. Immediately recognized as one of the era's premier live acts, Theatre of Hate debuted in 1981 with the concert LP He Who Dares Wins: Live at the Warehouse Leeds; soon after, Brandon dismissed the remainder of the group, assembling a new line-up comprising guitarist Billy Duffy, bassist Stan Stammers, saxophonist John Lennard and drummer Nigel Preston (who was soon after replaced by Luke Rendle). Another concert recording, Live at the Lyceum, followed in 1982 before Theatre of Pain entered the studio with producer Mick Jones of the Clash to record their proper debut, Westworld; the album went on to reach the UK Top 20, also launching the Top 40 single Do You Believe in the Westworld? He Who Dares Wins: Live in Berlin followed in late 1982, but by this point the group was beginning to disintegrate, with Duffy exiting to form The Cult; a second studio album, Aria of the Devil, was recorded but went unreleased. By 1983, Brandon had founded a new unit, Spear of Destiny".
(Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide)

ENJOY

Do You Believe in the Westworld?

THE LOTUS EATERS - First Picture of You

2010-06-22T22:53:00.005+01:00

BBC sessions originally recorded 1982-84
Compilation CD Vinyl Japan 1998

"The Lotus Eaters were an integral part of Liverpool's second wave of post-punk youth, arriving a few years after Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes unleashed a psychedelic revival in the Beatles' hometown. Fresh-faced and fragile, the Lotus Eaters formed in 1982, essentially the duo of yearning, soaring vocalist Peter Coyle and guitarist Jeremy Kelly with three sidemen (bassist Michael Dempsey, keyboardist Gerard Quinn and drummer Steve Creese). The pair crafted what would become their debut single, The First Picture of You, in Kelly's bedroom studio. A year later, the record hit the British charts. The group's debut LP, No Sense of Sin, came out a year later. One of the most underrated albums of the '80s, it is essentially the neo-acoustic blueprint employed by Travis, Keane and Badly Drawn Boy two decades later".
(Michael Sutton, Trouser Press)

"Peel Sessions are renowned for letting artists unsheathe the serrated edges of their sound. However, for a relatively mellow band such as Liverpool, England's the Lotus Eaters, there are no blistering guitars to unleash. As if their studio recordings weren't stripped down enough, the Lotus Eaters' performances for legendary BBC DJ John Peel slice away any trace of pop gloss from their early-'80s classics. First Picture of You collects the Lotus Eaters' John Peel appearances as well as a few live tracks. The First Picture of You sounds virtually identical to the original, but other tracks exhibit subtle differences that earn the CD the status of an essential purchase for Lotus Eaters fans. On German Girl, Peter Coyle's plaintive vocals sound more fragile than ever, floating nakedly atop dreamy keyboards, while on Alone of All Her Sex the drums are more forceful than in its initial version. The meditative When You Look at Boys builds up into an avalanche of powerfully strummed acoustic guitars, and the heartbreaking Love Still Flows unfolds with gorgeously spare arrangements. Coyle's voice and Jeremy Kelly's guitars are mesmerizing throughout the album; they hypnotize the ears, summoning feelings of love and heartache even when they're whispering".
(Michael Sutton, All Music Guide)

ENJOY

The First Picture of You

JONATHAN RICHMAN & MODERN LOVERS - Modern Lovers Live

2010-06-21T18:44:00.006+01:00

LP Beserkley Records 1978
CD reissue Wooded Hill Recordings 1997

"At the outset of his career, Jonathan Richman was considered a radical trailblazer, precociously exploring minimalist rock years before such behavior became popular (or even acceptable). Not only was his unique approach enormously influential on later bands, original members of the Modern Lovers went on to become successful in such groups as Talking Heads (Jerry Harrison) and the Cars (David Robinson). Over the course of his recordings, however, Richman's predilection for childlike whimsy replaced the angst-ridden emotionalism of his first songs, and he challenged his audience by refusing to remain the same character he had been a decade earlier".
(Scott Schinder & Brad Reno, Trouser Press)

"Live catches Jonathan Richman at the height of his candy-floss novelty period. The music is warm and mild, almost all of it derived from '50s and early-'60s models such as surf idioms and guitar instrumentals. The lyrics are sweet and charming, sure to appeal to fanciful youngsters with visions of ice cream men and little dinosaurs in their heads. The only bothersome misstep here is the repeated encore reprise of the chorus to Ice Cream Man, which extends well past the point of honest enjoyment. Sound quality and instrumental balances are excellent, and performances are low-key and winsome. While not an essential album in the Modern Lovers' canon, this sunny little platter is a fetching listen".
(David Cleary, All Music Guide)

ENJOY

Egyptian Reggae

SLIGHT DELAY

2010-06-14T19:21:00.004+01:00

Hi there,
Back from holidays, but also facing unexpected hardware problems.
So, normal posting will take a bit longer than I originally antecipated - thanks for your patience!
Cheers

HOLIDAY BREAK

2010-05-31T09:31:00.002+01:00

Hi,
It's that time again.
I'll be away for a couple of weeks, hopefully to return with fresh ideas for new posts.
In the meantime you know the drill: rants, thoughts, suggestions are always welcome.
Take care

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Downtown 81

2010-05-30T17:57:00.002+01:00

Original recordings 1981
CD Recall Records 2001
CD reissue Recall Records 2007

"Downtown 81 is a feature film starring the legendary American artist Jean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988.) Basquiat was a 19 year old painter, graffiti artist, poet and musician when he played the lead in this film, which vividly depicts the explosive downtown New York art and music scene of 1980-81. Basquiat was an important figure on that scene. He had yet to have his first exhibition. But his paintings and words were part of the city landscape. Today, his paintings hang in museums and important collections around the world and he is internationally recognized as one of the most important artists of the late twentieth century. (...) Basquiat is a natural actor - witty, radiant, the epitome of coolness and artistic exuberance. The cast includes Deborah Harry, and leading bands of the era including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, James White and the Blacks, DNA, Tuxedomoon, The Plastics, and Walter Steding and the Dragon People. Also heard on the soundtrack are rap legend Melle Mel, John Lurie, Lydia Lunch, Suicide, Vincent Gallo, Kenny Burrell and Basquiat’s own band, Gray. Downtown 81 not only captures one of the most interesting and lively artists of the twentieth century as he is poised for fame, but it is a slice of life from one of the most exciting periods in American culture, with the emergence of new wave music, new painting, hip hop and graffiti".
(downtown81.com)

"Legendary painter, graffiti artist, poet and musician Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) was only 19 years old when he played the lead in Downtown 81, a striking 'lost' film that chronicles the explosive early-1980s Manhattan art and music scene. Completed and theatrically released two decades later, it’s the story of a charismatic artist who attempts to sell a painting amidst the rappers, junkies, strippers, models and art-world matriarchs of a pre-Giuliani Lower East Side. This vividly entertaining slice of life is also a fabulous showcase for the music of Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Tuxedomoon, The Plastics, DNA, The Lounge Lizards, and Basquiat’s own band, Gray. Shot on location, Downtown 81 not only captures one of the most important and provocative artists of the 20th-century as he is poised for worldwide fame, but is also a vivid snapshot of a New York City that no longer exists".
(zeitgeistfilms.com)

"What a fantastic trip down memory lane this is! As its title suggests, Downtown 81 is mostly set in New York's East Village and Lower East Side in the early '80s; the movie follows Jean (played by then-unknown painter Jean-Michel Basquiat) through blasted streets looking like war zones and in clubs pulsing with ear-melting music. The CD careers from post-punk abrasion (DNA's Blonde Redhead and Detached), to proto-electronics (Suicide's Cheree, Plastics' Copy), to Latin- and disco-tinged danceathons that make contemporary would-be funksters sound downright pallid (Kid Creole & the Coconuts with Coati Mundi's K Pasa-Pop I). And then there's James Chance's Sax Maniac, which bring both approaches together in a skronky, funky explosion. The most famous melody here may well be the bass line from Liquid Liquid's Cavern, which was famously sampled on Grandmaster Flash's White Lines. The intensity is often furthered by the fact that some of these are live versions, and the quality level is really high throughout. A great collection for fans of inventive, hard-to-classify music, and a worthy complement to Soul Jazz's New York Noise compilations".
(Elisabeth Vincentelli, amazon.com)

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Cavern

Request: THE BATHERS - Sweet Deceit

2010-05-29T21:00:00.004+01:00

LP / CD Island Records 1990

"The Bathers are a Scottish Chamber Pop band. Formed in Glasgow in 1985 after the band Friends Again split up, they are essentially the vehicle for singer songwriter Chris Thomson. They have released seven studio albums. Thomson secured a deal with Go! Discs and released the debut album Unusual Places To Die in 1987. The album gained an enthusiastic reception but label politics limited its success. Thomson went back to the drawing board and produced the follow-up Sweet Deceit. The album was released in 1990 by Island and was, again, critically acclaimed. A flirtation with two key members of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions followed in the form of the Bloomsday album Fortuny. The Bathers then signed to the German label Marina and three albums were released - Lagoon Blues (1993), Sunpowder (1995) and Kelvingrove Baby (1997). Thomson enjoyed a good relationship with Marina but felt that a label nearer home would be preferable. The Bathers' sixth album Pandemonia appeared on Wrasse Records in 1999. The label also released Desire Regained in 2001, a compilation of 20 re-recordings of the band's best known work".
(wikipedia.com)

"I'm nineteen and I'm crazy about you. Yes I'm crazy about you. So crazy. If you've heard Chris Thomson sing this song, Desire Regained from this 1990 record, you should have hairs standing on the back of your neck by now. It is certainly worth seeking out if you haven't. If The Blue Nile offer a late night Glasgow train or car journey, The Bathers offer the same tour but in the form of a bracing walk. Thomson's voice, the closest Scotland has come to Tom Waits, later came to distinction on Bloomsday with two of Lloyd Cole's Commotions, but Sweet Deceit is the start of something good (The band continued to record through the 90s on Marina records). Unusual Places to Die, The Bathers' previous album on Go! Discs, is also worth your investigation if you can find it on CD, but Sweet Deceit is where The Bathers started to luxuriate. As well as the stunning Desire Regained, it's difficult to hear The Pursuit of an Orchid, The Honeysuckle Rose or Memory Fever without hearing a singer and songwriter at his evocative best. A wonderful 1990 late night snapshot of the then City of Culture".
(John McKie, The Scotsman)

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Desire Regained