Johnny Palermo - 1978 - Silly Old Songs 7'' (BE)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Vktms - 1997 - Vktms (US)
Vktms - 1997 - Vktms (US)
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VKTMS is a compilation of the San Francisco punk pioneer's three 7 inch EPs and one LP along with three bonus live tracks.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Mekons - 1980 - Devil Rats And Piggies (UK)
Mekons - 1980 - Devil Rats And Piggies (UK)
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The Mekons are a British rock band. Formed in the late 1970s, they are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.
The band was formed in 1977 by a group of University of Leeds art students that included Jon Langford, Kevin Lycett and Tom Greenhalgh - the Gang of Four and Delta 5 formed from the same group of students. They took the band's name from the Mekon, an evil, super-intelligent Venusian featured in the British 1950s-1960s comic Dan Dare (printed in the Eagle). The band's first single was "Never Been in a Riot", a satirical take on the Clash's White Riot. For several years the loose-knit band played noisy, bare-bones post-punk, releasing singles on a variety of labels. The Mekons' first album, The Quality of Mercy is Not Strnen, was recorded using the Gang of Four's instruments, and due to an error by the Virgin Records art department, featured pictures of the Gang of Four on the back cover. After 1982's The Mekons Story, a compilation of old recordings, the band ceased activity for a while, with Langford forming The Three Johns.
By the mid-1980s (revitalised by the 1984 miners' strike) the Mekons had returned as an active group. The band was now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms, violinist Susie Honeyman, ex-Damned member Lu Edmonds, accordionist/vocalist Rico Bell (a.k.a. Eric Bellis), and former The Rumour drummer Steve Goulding, among others. They began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional English folk (tentatively explored on the English Dancing Master EP prior to the hiatus), and American country music. Fear and Whiskey (1985), The Edge of the World (1986) and Honky Tonkin (1987) exemplified the band's new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos and left wing politics with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. Subsequent albums, such as The Mekons Rock'n'Roll, continued to experiment with diverse instrumentation (notably the fiddle and slide guitar).
The Mekons Rock and Roll was the band's first major label release. Issued by A&M Records in 1989, Rock and Roll was not a commercial success, but it was met with critical acclaim.
Just as the Mekons began to grow in critical stature, their relationship with A&M Records became tense, and the Mekons were soon dropped by the label, unable to fulfill their commercial expectations. However, they continued to record at a prolific rate, releasing such notable albums as 1991's The Curse of the Mekons, 2000's Journey to the End of the Night, and 2002's OOOH!. Natural moved the band to a more folk-flavoured sound. In April 2009 the Mekons returned to the studio to complete a new collection of songs, although it was unclear how these would be released as their label Touch and Go had gone bust.
Jon Langford has been busy as an artist and as founder of several solo and band projects, including the Waco Brothers (a punk-meets-Johnny Cash-like ensemble) and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts (exploring the music of Bob Wills, Johnny Cash and others). Besides his solo albums he has released CDs with Richard Buckner and Kevin Coyne.
The band has toured and recorded with a mostly unaltered lineup (Langford, Greenhalgh, Timms, Goulding, Bell, Edmonds, and bassist Sarah Corina) throughout the 1990s and early 21st century, and has a highly devoted following.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Andrew Klimek - 1979 - Afterbathinginturpentine 7'' (US)
Andrew Klimek - 1979 - Afterbathinginturpentine 7'' (US)
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Andrew Klimek-AFTERBATHINGINTURPENTINE EP ("Felt Hammer"/"Anna Told"/"Drapery Hooks of my Love") (Mustard)
Closing out our late-seventies NE Ohio soiree's a neat slab that I recall reading all about (via the COVENTRY SHOPPING NEWS) at the REAL WORLD THEATER/Phantasy Nightclub back in July of '79 while awaiting Bernie and the Invisibles' trek to the club's tiny stage. And really, that article was a porverbial brain-buster for back then Klimek's future-and-ex-wife Charlotte Pressler made both Klimek and this upcoming EP out to be one of the more exciting efforts to come out of the Cle area in quite some time. Not only by detailing Klimek's varied history in the underground (having jammed with brother Jamie's Mirrors in 1973 [age twelve] playing echoplex and stylophone before forming Tender Buttons and joining Ex-Blank-Ex/Johnny and the Dicks!) but with his entire home-spun musical vocabulary which once again took the Velvet Underground into even more uncharted realms that seemed oh-so-apocalyptic back in those brave new days. And yeah, even all that got dumped into the eternal commode of useless ideas we put so much stock in at one time once the eternal magic of the Velvets filtered down into the barren-brainfold of the likes of Michael Stipe, but back in 1978 the promulgation of post-Velvets rock was a mighty noble endeavor indeed and for that Klimek should be eternally saluted!
Playing with an all-star band (former Ex-Blank-Ex bassist Jim Ellis of CLE fame, ex-Mirrors/Ex-Blank-Ex Michael Weldon on drums and Weldon's brother Christopher on glass and electric saw), Klimek sure puts out one mighty fine slice of just what Cleveland meant for more'n a few hungry rockists back in those best/worst of time days. And that's not only with a sound and vision that's firmly rooted in that city's Velvet Underground appreciation, but with the same wild approach to the rock subject-at-hand that has the same quirkiness and feeling which typified a whole lotta other smart projects that came outta the area at the time. Everything from Brian Sands' REHEATED CHOCOLATE TANGOES to the early Pere Ubu sound was somehow channeled into this recording which takes the standard Velvets drone (thanks to Chris Weldon's saw?) and reshapes it into something a whole lot more twisted, sort of like Brian Eno doing HERE COME THE WARM JETS after attending an abnormal psych seminar. Things do come to a head on "Drapery Hooks of my Love" where the admitted Beefheart influence spreads out into even more frightening vistas, especially when the music is suddenly being played backwards. I remember hearing this at the Drome back in '80 asking in jest how the guy playing it for me (some hippie who was biz partners with Johnny Dromette) got his turntable to spin backwards. I don't think the joke hit him in quite the right way, but it was rather invigorating.
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source black2com (link)
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anyone has the cover scan from this one?
Au Pairs - 1980 - Diet 7'' (UK)
Au Pairs - 1980 - Diet 7'' (UK)
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The Au Pairs were a post-punk band who formed in Birmingham in 1979. Musically they were very similar to bands such as Ludus, Gang of Four and the Delta 5. That is, the rhythm section was tight and funky (obvious influences were James Brown and Funkadelic), but the guitars were light and "scratchy" (like Subway Sect). All these bands shared a strongly left wing social outlook, but the Au Pairs stood out due to their frontwoman, Lesley Woods, being an outspoken feminist and lesbian. The band were greatly influential in this respect on the riot grrrl movement a decade later. Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual politics.[1]
Their first album Playing with a Different Sex is considered a post-punk classic with strong, sarcastic songs like "It's Obvious" and "We're So Cool" taking a dry look at gender relations. Other songs, such as "Armagh" with its refrain,"we don't torture" took a pro-republican look at the then ongoing "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, which caused some controversy at the time.
The band's second album, Sense and Sensuality, showed an even greater influence of jazz, soul, funk and disco on the band's sound, but was less well received. The band broke up in 1983 just before they were about to go into the studio to record an album with producer Steve Lillywhite. Woods formed an all woman band called the Darlings in the late '80s, but then left the music industry. She now works as a lawyer. Guitarist, Paul Foad remains an active musician, playing with Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes, a Jamaican Jazz band and teaching guitar in and around Birmingham. He has also published a guitar technique book, co-written with Stuart Ritchie, titled The Caged Guitarist (2000). Bass player Jane Munro works as an alternative therapist (aromatherapy, reflexology and indian head massage) in Birmingham. Pete Hammond also remains an active musician and teaches percussion in Birmingham.
The band performed in 1980 for the cult classic concert film Urgh! A Music War.
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source Wikipedia (link)
Monday, July 6, 2009
S.I.B. - 1981 - The Third World War + 6 unreleased tracks (IT)
S.I.B. - 1981 - The Third World War + 6 unreleased tracks (IT)
download @ zshare
download @ sharebee
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History (from a june '84 flyer)
All started in the early summer of 1980 when Red, Dirk, Hirschmann and Sidney were still playing in the R.N.A. TRANSFERT, a 6 piece band playing trax of Iggy Pop, Heartbreakers, Police and suck like. At that time Red was bored to keep on playing songs of the biggest bands so he decided to form a new band. Dirk and Sifney joined him and they decided to name the band RED BRIGADES then started to compose the first tracks that were mainly influenced by the Sex Pistols and early Police. A few weeks later they met Tracy a girlsinger mad for the U.K. Subs and in a couple of days their songs got also lyrics.
At the end of the summer Tracy left for 2 month holidays in London and in the meantime SS Hirschmann joined the band too then they changed the name to SWELLING ITCHING BRAINS because it wasn't easy to get gigs in Italy with a name like RED BRIGADES. In November Tracy came back home and S.I.B. started playing several great and powerful gigs and just after a performance at the Girasele Club in Ravenna in January '81 a producer of a small independent label asked the band to make an album.
Tracy and Co. couldn't nearly believe it and on April 8th thay got in a small 4-track studio to record 12 songs to THE THIRD WORLD WAR Lp.
In the middle of the time employed in recording, S.I.B. gave their beat gig at Forli on May 27th but just later Dick, Sidney and Hirschmann were very much influenced by the new wave style and Red also got a previsional influence like that so the latest phase of the recordings and mixing gave the sound of the album less power. The same thing happened to the following gigs and at the end of the summer of '81 the first disagreements grow up about the kind of music to play, Sidney, Hirschmann and Dirk were against keeping on playing punk while Tracy and Red (that had come back himself) only wanted to do that kind of music so they looked for some people to form a hardcore band but in the small town and neighbourhood where they live there weren't (and still aren't) punks and S.I.B. were the only alternative then, the best thing was keeping on playing with S.I.B. trying to make a music between punk and new wave.
In December '81 the album came out finally but it was a disappointment, the tracks were much softer than the first raw live versions but the product wasn't that bad and it sold very well in Europe, especially after the release of RAW WAE compilation tape by Xcentrix Noise label, featuring two tracks (NO-ONE RULES and SECRET LIFE) from the Lp.
In the meantime S.I.B. started practicing lots of new songs but all those ones weren't good enough to bring on stage and at the following gigs S.I.B. just played the same old numbers and dew new ones.
The Situation inside the band became a total bore and after a gig at Cesena on June 28th 1982 Tracy and Red decided to leave definately, then the band get to break up.
However S.I.B. get other 10 minute life on September 24th 1983 when all the members of the band met occasionally at a punk gig at Cesena and went on stage to play 3 old numbers.
The following activities of the single members haven't been particularly important except then Red who joined a great Oi! band called DIOXINA for ever one year before leaving them too.
Hirschmann, Sidney and Dirk formed a 6 piece band into funky, no gigs so far.
At the moment Track and Red are forming a new band, of course it will be a great band, they may come out at the end of this summer, you have to wat and see...
Swelling Itching Brain (S.I.B.) were:
Tracy Crazy - lead vocals
Sidney Ratcatch - bass
Dirk - drums
Red - lead guitar
S.S. Hirschmann - rhythm guitar
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Album: "The Third World War"
Label: LM Records (LM04)
Released: November 1981
Personnel:
Tracy Crazy - Vocals
Red G. Seventeen - Lead Guitar
S.S. Hischmann
Sidney Ratcatch - Bass
Dirk - Drums
Comments (by Red): Recorded at Piazza-Triossi 4-track studio, Ravenna. I don't have my own vynil copy of this album anymore so I turned to digital my TDK SA chrome cassette taped from original master reel just prior sending it to the vynil factory. It mantained the orogonal sounds so,despite the obsolete "hissy support" it sounds better than vynil!
Tracks:
01. The Third World War
02. Tears
03. My Secret Life
04. Listless
05. Li
06. Nuclear spy
07. The Hero
08. You
09. No One Rules
10. Boys
11. That's Me
12. No Moon Out Tonight
Extra Tracks (not in the Lp or previous realeased):
13. Untitled (Goin' Upstairs)
Rehearsal session, Spring 1982. After releasing the LP we started working to some new tracks. There wasn't enough time to complete this one before the band did split up. To my ears this riff reminds me somebody running up and down the stairs hence the reason why I titled "Goin' Upstairs"...
14. That's Me
15. Boys
Rehearsal session, Summer 1981. We used to work on instrumental structure of new songs then, after recording them we passed tapes to Tracy to put lyrics on
16. Nuclear Spy
Recorded Live, Scuola Giosuè Carducci, Cesena, 24/7/1981. This was the original form of this song. When we entered the studio we had the bad idea to change the sound using a drum machine and a sax. We didn't own a drum machine so we asked a local band who had one. Although there was no way to obtain a decent sound from it we went straight on anyway. Let's avoid to talk about the sax player... After all these years I still wonder why we kept this version rather than dismiss it and record the song the same way we always performed live...!
17. No Moon Out Tonight (instrumental)
This is the same take used in the album just before recording the vocals.
18. Listless
Recorded Live, Cinema Ariston, Cattolica, 13/2/81. When performing live sometime we used to extend this song with a Ska rhythm coda.
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This special post is in memory of Tracy (R.I.P. 2007) and just possible because of Red from the S.I.B.. Thanks very much for this amazing and unknow materials!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
V.A. - 1979 - Earcom #3 (UK)
V.A. - 1979 - Earcom #3 (UK)
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tracklist:
Noh Mercy - Caucasian Guilt
Noh Mercy - Revolutionary Spy
Stupid Babies - Baby Blues
Stupid Babies - Baby Sitters
From Chorley - Tablecloth
Deutsch Amerikanisch Freundschaft - Ich Und Die Wirklichkeit
Middle Class - Out of Vogue
Middle Class - Situations
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