Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 1

April 19, 2012, 11:22 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 2

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts: 

17 Pygmies, Abecedarians, Afterimage, Animal Dance, Atila, B People, Beat-E-O's, Choir Invisible, Christian Death, Danny & the Doorknobs, Dogma Probe, Fibonaccis, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Gleaming Spires, Green on Red, Human Hands, Iron Curtain, Kommunity FK, League of Nations, Life After Death, Martyr Complex, Monitor, Nu Beams, Null And Void, Oingo Boingo, Outer Circle, Perfect Imperfect Circular, Plebs, Rand Kennedy, Savage Republic, Shadow Minstrels, Sparks, Standard Of Living, Steaming Coils, Suburban Lawns, The Squad, Wall Of Voodoo, Wet Picnic, Wild Kingdom, Zolar X.

Suburban Lawns, Janitor 7" (Suburban Industrial, 1979)

Disk 1

1 Wild Kingdom — Roma / Destiny (1981) 5:51

2 17 Pygmies — Words Never Said (1984) 2:28

3 Abecedarians — Benway's carnival (1985) 5:09

4 Shadow Minstrels — Great Expectations (1983) 4:03

5 Martyr Complex — Monsters (1981) 3:30

6 Null And Void — A Party Filled With Thieves (1982) 3:33

7 Steaming Coils — Diamond Pillow (1987) 3:43

8 Suburban Lawns — Janitor (1981) 2:31

9 Zolar X — Science (1982) 1:25

10 B People — Can Can't (1981) 2:27

11 The Squad — Scene Of The Crime (1981) 2:36

12 Life After Death — In Living Color (1985) 1:54

13 Choir Invisible — Hands of Another (1981) 3:49

14 Kommunity FK — Something Inside Me Has Died (1985) 3:45

15 Christian Death — When I Was Bed (1985) 7:57

16 Beat-E-O's — China Sleeping (1981) 2:12

17 Wet Picnic — He Believes (1982) 5:33

18 Dogma Probe — Thirteen (1982) 4:30

19 Oingo Boingo — Only A Lad (1979) 4:16

20 Iron Curtian / Steven Fields — Legalize Heroin (1988) 5:07

21 Null And Void — The Motorcycle Song (1982) 2:27

Savage Republic, Customs (Fundamental, 1989)

Disk 2

22 Savage Republic — Next To Nothing (1982) 3:24

23 Suburban Lawns — Gidget Goes to Hell (1979) 2:01

24 Human Hands — Blue Eel (1981) 2:51

25 Gleaming Spires — While We Can (1982) 4:19

26 Nu Beams — One Step For What? (1981) 3:09

27 Abecedarians — I Glide (1986) 7:31

28 Standard Of Living — So Hard (1982) 1:53

29 Wall Of Voodoo — The Passenger (1980) 4:09

30 Monitor — BEAK (1979) 1:50

31 Fibonaccis — Some Men (1987) 2:42

32 Iron Curtain — Tarantula Scream (1984) 4:18

33 Freshly Wrapped Candies — Judas (1987) 3:41

34 Green on Red — Two Bibles (1981) 3:29

35 Perfect Imperfect Circular — A Mighty Feeling (1986) 2:33

36 League of Nations — Thin Ice (1984) 3:42

37 Atila — Mr. Kritik (1981) 1:12

38 Sparks — Angst In My Pants (1982) 3:28

39 Outer Circle — Another Moon (1982) 3:25

40 Afterimage — Relapse (1981) 3:08

41 Rand Kennedy — Enorma Jones (1983) 1:03

42 Animal Dance — Under Pulse (1984) 3:21

43 Plebs — Redhead (1982) 1:44

44 Null And Void — I Can See What's Happening (1980) 2:43

45 Suburban Lawns — Flavor Crystals (1983) 3:47

46 Danny & the Doorknobs — In Exile (1985) 2:40

So here's the distillation of my "post-punk" anthology of Southern California bands. I'm having a hard time finding a truly accurate title for the comp, since many of the bands are from the county but from places with very particular scenes, like Pasadena and Long Beach, and a few are from outside of the city altogether (but within a two-hour drive). And to call these "post-punk" bands is not entirely accurate; many of them are "new wave," "darkwave," "deathrock," "art rock," even something like "freak folk." Oh well.

Some older bands are included, like Zolar X and Sparks, since they might be the strongest native influences (outside of Zappa or Beefheart and local groups like LAFMS and COMA) and seemed somehow to respond the post-punk/new wave phenomenon. I've included early tracks by bands that have gone on to produce hits, like Oingo Boingo and Wall of Voodoo, since they just seemed part of the scene back then and are certainly strange enough (and also more original than a lot of the Devo/Cure/U2 etc imitators that I've come across). Some acts, like Missing Persons, Berlin and the Motels, for all their presence on the scene, were quite commercial from the start and are so well known that I've skipped them.



Of special note is the first track, by Wild Kingdom, since this is their only studio track and was released as a flexi-disk insert in a short-lived music magazine called No Mag. It's pretty amazing -- I can't find anything else by them except an appearance on Peter Ivers' New Wave Theatre which isn't very good (but you get an introduction to their eccentric drum kit). The band was almost entirely Chicano, and one of the guys even sports an exaggerated Elvis-pompadour.

Other bands I could only find single studio tracks for are Dogma Probe (who also has a great video), the Beat-E-O's (who kind of remind me of the Homosexuals), and Animal Dance, whose track was retrieved from the Radio Tokyo compilations that appeared in the 80's. Other live, more dissonant, tracks by Dogma Probe appear on their website.

The groups that managed to record and A and a B-side include the Nu-beams (though an entire live bootleg appears on the net) and the Squad (or "S Squad") which I retrieved from the CD of the Keats Rides a Harley compilation. Bands that have 4-8 song EPs to their credit include Shadow Minstrels (this is their slowest, most conventional track but give it time), Plebs (forgive me for this one), In Living Color (a bit of an imitation "Madchester" band in my mind, right down to fake, Richard-Butler-esque English accents), Standard Living (whose track here seems to anticipate that George Michael single I can't remember the name of), Wet Picnic (fronted by the well-known Argentine film composer Gustavo Santaolalla) and Human Hands (though they've put out posthumous LP compilations and have started recording again).

Perfect Imperfect Circular, Bill Shifflette's project after Null and Void, didn't release anything, and though these tracks seem rough, the songs veer from hook to hook, with no looking back, much like the earlier band, if with a little more soul. Rand Kennedy has a lot of comp appearances and a cassette only collection, "Scenes from Redemption," all of which sound roughly like this one -- spoken word over background beats. League of Nations put out a single EP that sounds something like a stripped down Another Green World (an earlier project was titled Oblique Strategy), that is, sans Phil Collins and Robert Fripp. Afterimage, probably one of the more conventionally "post-punk" bands here, only managed an EP and a few singles as well, though their tracks can be found on all sorts of comps.

I'm not sure I can take Atila all that seriously -- their records are terribly under-produced, but they managed to put out two full-length LPs, the first of which, International Sandwich, featured lo-fi imitations of music styles from around the world. Monitor was a weird, Throbbing Gristle-like art collective called World Imitation Productions that decided to become a musical act. A nicely designed .pdf outlining the history of the band appeared somewhere on the web but I can't find it, so you'll have to settle for this. They also have a strange appearance on New Wave Theatre.

One of my favorite acts here, Outer Circle, who managed 2 EPs, was fronted by Steve "Spit" Spingola, who appeared on New Wave Theatre as part of an act called Heroic Struggles, which was quite hilarious (it's since been deleted). All of their tracks are really great but for some reason I've only included one. Martyr Complex used to include the "All-American Jewish lesbian folksinger" Phranc, but she doesn't appear on their album; the band also went by the name of Nervous Gender, and featured Paul Roessler of the legendary LA synth-punk band the Screamers, whose videos for "122 Hours of Fear" and "Vertigo," are priceless. Fronted by the legendary, late Tomata Du Plenty, The Screamers never recorded an LP, possibly due to unrealistic ambitions (an interview with Jon Savage).

Danny and the Doorknobs, something of an underground super-band (composed of members of 100 Flowers, The Last, Leaving Trains, etc.), transformed into Trotsky Icepick and a had a career well into the nineties. I'm sure many readers are already familiar with Christian Death, first fronted by Rozz Williams, who then left only to form a band called "Christian Death" several years later while the first one was (and still is, fronted by Valor Kand) active. Kommunity FK only recorded 2 LPs in the 80s but seem to have reformed; they also belong to the "deathrock" category though I'm really suspicious of these taxonomies.

Iron Curtain, a band that can mix leaden drum tracks with depressing lyrics and So-cal harmonies, was an act from Santa Barbara, fronted by Steven Fields who is still active with an act called Cosmic Love Child. "Legalize Heroin," the only track to break the 1987 cut-off date, was a solo track but really feels like Iron Curtain's swan song, and is I think the most accomplished (and enigmatic) thing they released. Null and Void, another one of my favorite acts, released a smattering of LPs, cassettes, singles, etc. of varying quality. I'm still trying purchase a copy of their first LP, which I'll soon snatch off of Ebay. I think some members of this act went on to play with Berlin.

Savage Republic has a substantial discography, mostly long, percussive-heavy, unchanging but atmospheric, Middle Eastern or African tinged instrumentals that must have been amazing live. Their cover designs, titles and general iconography are really great. The poppier, more synth-heavy side of some of their members appeared as 17 Pygmies; this track reminds me of a long-lost 80s band Torch Song who were featured in the same issue of Debut as The Smiths. Green on Red is known as a "Paisley Underground" band, but this track, from their first EP, seems to me strange enough to belong on a post-punk compilation.

The Fibonaccis has a fairly substantial discography and seems to vary between somewhat campy but virtuoso, Casio-keyboard send-ups of traditional music styles and really elegant art-rock songs; with a little more edge, they would have been perfect for John Zorn's Tzadik label or onstage at the Knitting Factory back in the 90s. Another "art rock" act is BPeople, who were among the more visible on the LA scene; Alex Gibson went on to form Passionel and then record as a solo artist. On the fringes are the most "arty" projects, Steaming Coils and Freshly Wrapped Candies, the majority of whose output resembles LAFMS improvs with tape effects. I've considered including more of this type of material but some of it seems so aggressively anti-song that it broke the spirit of the collection.

The Abecedarians were known well enough to catch the attention of Bernard Sumner (of Joy Division) who produced their first single "Smiling Monarchs" for Factory, the flipside of which is "Benway's Carnival" (included here) and neither of which are very emblematic of their work. More typical is the brilliant "I Glide," with its minimal lyrics and subtle transitions in the guitar lines. Chris Manecke used more delay than the Edge, but unlike the latter's band, the Abecedarians thrived on their apsergersy stoicism.

Another band, Gleaming Spires, also benefitted from exquisite production by a UK-associated American, Stephen Hague, on the beautiful track included here. They might best be known for their track "Are You Ready For the Sex Girls?" which ended up in the soundtrack for Revenge of the Nerds and sports a really funny minimal video that can be seen on YouTube. Formerly the Bates Motel, this duo formed the rhythm section to several Sparks EPs; much of their catalogue is still available for purchase at Posh Boy Records.

The Suburban Lawns were probably the first post-punk, or New Wave act, from LA to get national attention when the Jonathan Demme-directed video for "Gidget Goes to Hell" was played on Saturday Night Live in 1979. Their first LP spawned "Janitor," which has a pair of appearances on Youtube, the first a proper video and the second an appearance on New Wave Theatre, in which Su Tissue is practically catatonic behind the microphone. The band split as they were recording their second LP for IRS, which is too bad since the released tracks demonstrated substantial growth in song-writing and production. This band had everything, a legitimate sound, lots of chops, stage presence (Su Tissue was early on the Grey Gardens bandwagon), etc; it's surprising to me the work hasn't been remastered for CD.

---

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 2

May 17, 2012, 9:29 am

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 3

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 1

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

Abecedarians, Android, Atila, Bad Religion, Boxboys, BPeople, Christian Death, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Cipher, Deadbeats, Fibonaccis, Fourwaycross, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Geza X And The Mommymen, Gleaming Spires, Green on Red, Human Hands, IQ Zero, Jobriath, Knife Lust, Kommunity FK, Life After Death, Null And Void, Outer Circle, Passionel, Perfect Imperfect Circular, Primal Danse, Rikk Agnew, Savage Republic, Shadow Minstrels, Steaming Coils, Suburban Lawns, The Egyptian Lover, The Plugz, The Plugz, The Screamers, The Weirdos, Trotsky Icepick, Zoogz Rift.

Abecedarians, Eureka EP (Southwest Audio Reproductions, 1986)

Disk 1
1 Steaming Coils — Singing Notice (1991) 3:12
2 The Plugz — El Calvo Y La Cruz (1981) 2:57
3 Cipher — Harmonic 33 (1981) 3:07
4 Geza X And The Mommymen — The Paranoids Are Coming (1982) 3:11
5 Bad Religion — Chasing the Wild Goose (1983) 2:50
6 Null And Void — All The Old Humans (1980) 3:36
7 Life After Death — Isn't It Time (1985) 2:57
8 Suburban Lawns — Baby (1983) 3:59
9 Rikk Agnew — 10 (1982) 2:58
10 Atila — De-pre-ssion (1985) 4:38
11 Trotsky Icepick — Mar Vista Bus Stop (1988) 3:03
12 Abecedarians — Smiling Monarchs (1985) 6:47
13 Android — Perpetual Motion (1982) 5:28
14 IQ Zero — Zero Gravity (1981) 3:09
15 Outer Circle — Broken Children (1982) 7:02
16 Primal Danse — Insomnia (1982) 5:00
17 Perfect Imperfect Circular — From The Ocean Above (1986) 4:09
18 The Plugz — Touch For Cash (1981) 2:40
19 Fibonaccis — Crickets (1987) 4:32
20 Knife Lust — Shrivel Up (1979) 3:10
21 The Screamers — 122 Hours of Fear (1978) 3:32
22 The Child Molesters — Brenda Spencer (1981) 1:44 [removed by request]

Zoogz Rift, Island of Living Puke LP (SST, 1986)

Disk 2
23 Christian Death — This Glass House (1984) 3:10
24 Shadow Minstrels — Popular Song Of The Hour (1983) 4:23
25 Suburban Lawns — Not Allowed (1981) 2:20
26 Green on Red — A Tragedy (1981) 4:20
27 Kommunity FK — The Vision And The Voice (1985) 3:48
28 Human Hands — New Look (1982) 2:44
29 Boxboys — Separate Rooms (1980) 3:12
30 Savage Republic — Mobilization (1982) 3:21
31 Abecedarians — Soil (1986) 6:08
32 Gleaming Spires — How To Get Girls Thru Hypnotism (1982) 3:56
33 Outer Circle — Blind Venetians (1982) 1:39
34 Zoogz Rift — The Breather (1986) 4:22
35 BPeople — Give Up (1980) 2:02
36 Freshly Wrapped Candies — Fa Fa Fa (1987) 3:11
37 Deadbeats — Brainless (1979) 2:31
38 Fourwaycross — Apologize (1985) 4:18
39 Rikk Agnew — Everyday (1982) 4:30
40 Cindy Lee Berryhill — Headin' For The Border Line (1987) 3:56
41 Earwigs – Freedom (1981) 2:47
42 The Weirdos — Helium Bar (1991) 3:22
43 Passionel — I Found You Crying (1984) 3:25
44 The Egyptian Lover — I Cry (Night After Night) (1984) 5:04
45 Jobriath — Heartbeat (1974) 2:45

This new set starts with a track well out of my date range from the great band Steaming Coils, but I though starting with some carnival sounds would give some symmetry to the collection, pointing back to the Wild Kingdom track from the first group. We then move into The Plugz, one of the great first-generation punk bands of LA, from their mellower second album Better Luck. A Mexican-American band, the Plugz incorporated a variety of musical styles into their work, one of the rare LA bands that seemed to want to do that, Tito Larriva being an excellent and ambitious songwriter whose since moved on to score a few films.

Geza X is something of an LA legend, perhaps best known as a producer, though his early band The Deadbeats recorded some classic tracks (one included here), and he himself was a pretty compelling, if very strange, performer with his band The Mommymen. Rikk Agnew is another legend of sorts, being a member of Adolescents and recording with the first incarnation of Christian Death. These two tracks are taken from his first solo album, All By Myself, on which he played all the instruments. These might seem out of place in a "post-punk" collection being largely rock music -- the second, slower track could have been a b-side from an early Kinks single -- but in fact I think this LP is a bit uncategorizable and somehow bridges punk with something more melodic, even a bit grandiose.

Acts that appeared on the first collection include Suburban Lawns (one seemingly inspired by the percussion of Eno-era Talking Heads), Null and Void, Life After Death (where the Roland Butler really comes out), Trotsky Icepick (formerly known as Danny & The Doorman -- sucks when you hit on a great name for your band just after the first album release), Abecedarians (including their Bernard Sumner-produced first single, released by Factory), the Fibonaccis, Atila (again, not sure if this is a great track or pointless), Human Hands, Green on Red (sounding more Lou Reed-ish than ever), Savage Republic, Gleaming Spires (produced by Stephen Hague), Shadow Minstrel and Freshly Wrapped Candies. My choices from the Kommunity FK and Christian Death catalogues haven't been terribly inventive, but so there.

The Outer Circle track here starts a bit slow but leads into a killer slide guitar solo and ends with 4-minutes of synthesizer bliss. The second track I've included is, I believe, in 5/8 time, which I'm only guessing based on the drummer's countdown at the beginning. There's also another BPeople track, and a sweet, sincere bit by Passionel, Alex Gibson's project after BPeople folded. I've also included another unreleased track by Perfect Imperfect Circular, Bill Shifflett's project after BPeople.

So that leaves the newcomers, who include the Earwigs (I've only been able to locate 4 tracks by them, two of which are actual songs), Cipher (an instrumental that is pretty haunting, though most of their work involves Siouxsie-ish vocals), and Primal Danse, who only managed an EP with Enigma Records (and doesn't even appear on Discogs). The track from Knife Lust appears on a collection of Devo covers created by radio station KROQ which appeared (I believe) even before or in the same year as the release of the Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

IQ Zero managed to release a single (can't find much else about this band) whereas the synth- and vocoder-drenched Android (full name: Android A 21st Century Band), most of whose tracks border on kitsch, managed a single and an LP. Boxboys were the first ska band in LA, and inspired a mini-movement here leading to the more prolific Untouchables.

That leaves the track from the inimitable Zoogz Rift, mostly known for wild, often beautiful, often profane Beefheart-ish work. Fourwaycross are little late in the chronology, and most of their work seems to edge toward prog-rock, with a few tracks sounding like mid-career Pink Floyd.

I've also included a track from Bad Religion's often maligned (even by the band itself), but often hotly-defended second LP, which introduced synthesizers into the equation. The track from The Screamers is from a series of demo sessions, and might best be heard in conjunction with the video. The Child Molesters were really an LAFMS-based conceptual band, a fake punk-band led by a bunch of guys who didn't much like punk (hence the Nazi garb in the photo below). They're kind of like a cross between the Fugs, witch their obscene humor, and The Homosexuals, at least in inspired offensiveness of their band name.

That leaves the folk singer Cindy Lee Berryhill with a track taken from on of the Radio Tokyo compilations, and which I think is weird enough (and not quite as retro as might first seem) to include in this collection. The Weirdos are usually associated with the first wave of punk acts though they mostly considered themselves an "art" band (their if-then-else project of industrial instrumentals would seem to bear that out). The Egyptian Lover is a DJ coming out of the electro-funk scene in LA and is often considered a forerunner of hip-hop.

The set closes with an anachronistic cameo by Jobriath, the ill-starred solo artist whose first album was so over-hyped and glammed out (a little late in the day) that it completely bombed. He released another LP (which his label practically refused to promote) and eventually succumbed to AIDS in 1983. I kind of think of him as the forebear of vulnerable, histrionic acts like Antony and the Johnsons and (from a skewed angle) Kiki & Herb. Morrissey label Sanctuary released a best of, Lonely Planet Boy, in 2004.

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 3

May 22, 2012, 11:41 am

≫ Next: L.A. Post-punk Covers

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 2

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

17 Pygmies, 45 Grave, Aurora Pushups, Blissed Out Fatalists, Bone Cabal, Burning Image, Cathedral of Tears, Cipher, Drowning Pool, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Gleaming Spires, Human Hands, if-then-else, Infantry, Johanna Went, Kommunity FK, Marina La Palma, Marnie, Mnemonic Devices, Monitor, Neil Young, Null And Void, Outer Circle, Partly Cloudy, Party Boys, Peter Ivers, Phranc, Pompeii 99, Pop Art, Puppies, Rand Kennedy, Readymades , Shadow Minstrels, Shiva Burlesque, Steaming Coils, Stiv Bators, Subjects, The Cramps, The Fontanelles, The Gun Club, Transport, Wog.

Kommunity FK, The Vision and the Voice (Independent Project Records, 1983)

Disk 1
1 Kommunity FK — Incompatible Disposition (1983) 2:48
2 Neil Young — Transformer Man (1982) 3:23
3 Party Boys — Nora (1986) 3:53
4 Drowning Pool — Festival of Healing (1987) 2:56
5 Peter Ivers — Sweet enemy (1974) 2:46
6 17 Pygmies — Suit Of Nails (1985) 3:35
7 Gleaming Spires — A Christian Girl's Problem (1983) 3:43
8 Marina La Palma — Mi Ni Parolas (1984) 2:51
9 Blissed Out Fatalists — Everything & Nothing At All (1987) 3:03
10 Phranc — One O' The Girls (1985) 4:58
11 The Cramps — Green Fuz (1981) 2:08
12 Infantry — The Call (1987) 3:50
13 Monitor — Amphibious (1981) 3:10
14 Wog — I Had a Notion (1988) 5:54
15 The Gun Club — Devil In The Woods (1982) 3:05
16 Outer Circle — My Mona Lisa (1984) 3:53
17 Pop Art — Never No (1987) 2:31
18 45 Grave — Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood (1980) 2:38
19 Stiv Bators — Evil Boy (1979) 3:17
20 Puppies — Mechanical Beat (1981) 2:45
21 Human Hands — Jubilee (1981) 3:59
22 Cathedral of Tears — Calm Storm (1984) 3:00
23 Mnemonic Devices — Marriage Of Convenience (1982) 3:42
24 Freshly Wrapped Candies — Cherry Tomato (1989) 2:22

Party Boys, Daddyland LP (Nate Starkman & Son, 1986)

Disk 2
25 Shiva Burlesque — Arabesque (1990) 5:14
26 Pompeii 99 — Android Police (1982) 3:00
27 The Fontanelles — Passion Kills (1987) 2:57
28 Steaming Coils — Carne De Sol (1991) 2:59
29 Drowning Pool — The Italian Pop Song (1990) 5:37
30 Rand Kennedy — Smith's Room (1983) 2:24
31 Null And Void — Un Sedatif Ce Soir (1980) 4:34
32 Cipher — Body Chemistry (1981) 2:09
33 Marnie — Everyone Loves Olga (1988) 3:09
34 Monitor — Mokele-Mbembe (1981) 3:23
35 The Gun Club — Preaching the Blues (1981) 3:59
36 Subjects — Augie (1982) 2:36
37 Transport — Body Buildings (1982) 3:49
38 Bone Cabal — I O Betulah (1983) 4:34
39 Shadow Minstrels — The Guest (1983) 2:30
40 Partly Cloudy — Bus Ride (1987) 3:16
41 Aurora Pushups — Angels on Runway (1978) 2:54
42 Readymades — Terry Is A Space Cadet (1977) 4:18
43 Burning Image — Time Is Running Out (1984) 4:09
44 Party Boys — I Love You (1986) 3:22
45 if-then-else — Sidewalker (1981) 5:23
46 Johanna Went — Slave Beyond The Grave (1981) 2:50
47 Peter Ivers — In Heaven (1977) 1:46

So this collection has been getting quite a few hits lately, thanks to an appearance on BoingBoing and a lot of tweeting and shouting. Thanks to everyone who has forwarded the link and downloaded the tunes. Various band members have been appreciative in comments an in emails as well — it’s been great fun hearing from them.

Like the past collections, this one has a few oddities. On a whim, I decided to include a track from Neil Young’s “electronic” album Trans, a sweet one written, purportedly, for his autistic son who apparently responded more directly to the vocoder voice than to an unmodified human one. Also a little strange will be the two tracks by Peter Ivers, the first from one of his solo efforts and the latter the ditty he wrote for David Lynch's first feature Eraserhead. Ivers was, of course, the host of LA’s New Wave Theatre on which many post-punk bands appeared. He was murdered in his apartment in 1983 in a still unsolved case. One occasionally hears about a Peter Ivers’ cult revival, and I must say I find much of Terminal Love, from which this track is taken, pretty great.

The track from Aurora Pushups might sound anachronistic — some of the members of this band played in Zolar X — but I find it really catchy. The B-side, “Victims of Terrorism,” was included on Jon Savage’s Black Hole Califironian Punk 1977-1980, and they are if anything more out of place there than here.

There’s also a cameo by ex-Dead Boys singer Stiv Bators, who moved to LA in an effort to become a punk-pop singer. Well, it’s part of the history! Seemingly out of place will be Phranc, the self-described "All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger,” but I thought to include her due to her previous membership in Nervous Gender (included in the first volume) and because I saw her open for The Smiths at Jones Beach back in the day.

Several bands have appeared in earlier volumes of this collection: Gleaming Spires with the hectic "A Christian Girl's Problem" (also produced by Stephen Hague) whose video is a classic; 17 Pygmies with another catchy tune with a female vocal; two tracks from the art collective Monitor, the second sounding like a cover of an ancient African ritual, and Outer Circle, the A-side from their second, final EP which could have been a hit if it were more professionally produced (and didn’t have such odd, misogynistic lyrics). The singer of Outer Circle, Steve “Spit” Spingola, went on to sing for the Fontanelles, who are best known for a track featured in the movie Hobgoblins; I prefer the track here over that one.

Also included are a few tracks from the ever-resourceful Steaming Coils and Freshly Wrapped Candies, another funk rap by Rand Kennedy, one final track from Null and Void (members of whom, by the way, worked on the first Berlin album), a bouncy one by Human Hands, a dark one by the Shadow Minstrels, and Cipher, this one with a strong, Siouxsie-ish vocal track. This collection starts with a very concrète Kommunity FK, who I’m beginning to think were terribly underrated — they only managed two LPs before last year’s La Santisima Muerte which I hear is very good. 

While it’s never quite clear where the Cramps should be placed, geographically, they were originally from California and did record most of their records here, hence their inclusion. I never listened to them when I was younger but am now a huge fan. 45 Grave are often credited with starting the deathrock movement with their cover of “Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood,” and I prefer the earlier, Darker Skratcher version to the glossier one from their LP. Pompeii 99 is kind of an earlier manifestation of Christian Death, joinging Rozz Williams after Rikk Agnew departed; this is one of their goofier tracks.

Running through this collection are a number of tracks by woman performance artists — Marina La Palma (is this title really Esperanto?), Marnie Weber, and most infamously Johanna Went. Marnie Weber (whose earlier band, the excellent Party Boys, are twice represented here) has sporadically recorded several LPs over the years, as well as having gained a reputation as a sculptor, film and video artist, costume designer, painter, etc. You can visit her website to find out more.

Partly Cloudy could almost be called a female performance act, as most of their tracks involve a sort of spoken comedy routine by vocalist-musician Aliz over some very compelling, industrial-ish backing tracks. Not unlike many LA bands included here, they seem not to have recorded anything past this first LP. I can't find much else about them on the net.

The Gun Club are a well-known band that I wasn’t going to include since they seem a bit “roots” rock to me, but there’s no way to hear these tracks without thinking they are a bit too spastic to be traditional. Pop Art are the only “jangly” pop band that I know of from LA that cannot be associated with the Paisley Underground (outside of the Three O’Clock, most of that genre’s music leaves me a bit cold, but I’m trying…). The very psychedelic Drowning Pool recorded a handful of LPs and EPs, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of them as I love the weird, seemingly Yes-inspired “Festival of Healing.”

What I know about the rest of the bands here — Blissed Out Fatalists (who seem to have stolen a page from Jesus and Marychain’s playbook), Infantry (I really wish I had a better version of this track), Puppies (from San Diego), Cathedral of Tears, Shiva Burlesque (who actually have a substantial catalogue), Mnemonic Devices, Subjects (who I think might be from San Francisco…), Transport, Bone Cabal, Readymades and Burning Image is so pathetically little, I’ll just let you hear the songs and Google them if you want to learn more. I can tell you that if-then-else is basically The Weirdos doing an all synth album, and there is a nice post about Wog over at A Viable Commercial. Their LP sounds like it was recorded in a bedroom with a Casio keyboard, but actually many of the tracks are pretty compelling.

I'll be slowly working on a volume 4, most likely the last one, over the next couple of months — new bands appear all the time the more I dig — so please stay tuned.

L.A. Post-punk Covers

May 25, 2012, 5:03 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 4

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 3

$

0

0

Cookie Bonanza over at Ruminations of the Ephemeral has kindly designed three covers for the three volumes of L.A. Post-Punk I've posted so far. If you are as obsessed as Cookie with the album covers in your iPod, just select all the tracks in your iTunes, choose Get Info and drop these images, respectively, into the artwork box. This is such a nice gift to get on a Friday afternoon... love that Su Tissue takes center stage on the first one.

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 4

May 29, 2012, 2:26 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 5

≪ Previous: L.A. Post-punk Covers

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured acts: 

Abecedarians, Angel Of The Odd, Autumnfair, Christian Death, Eddie & The Subtitles, Ethyl Meatplow, Fender Buddies, Gothic Hut, Grey Obscurity, Information   , League of Nations, Los Illegals, Marina Swingers, Marnie, Newsbreak, Noble Gas, Nocturnal Education, Nu Beams, Opus, Peter and Mary Saving Grace, Pompeii 99, Psi Com, Red Wedding, Slow Children, Standard Of Living, Steaming Coils, Tex & The Horseheads, The Cramps, The Fibonaccis, The Nerves, The Rotters, The Runaways, The Salvation Army, The Untouchables, Vidiots, What Is This, Wog.

The Marina Swingers, I'm a Swinger 12" (L.A.X., 1979)

Disk 1

1 Marina Swingers  — Little Swine (1979) 2:57

2 Eddie & The Subtitles  — Magic (1981) 3:53

3 Red Wedding  — Drums (1982) 3:47

4 Opus  — Get Procedures (1979) 3:01

5 Nu Beams  — Oh Chico (1981) 3:18

6 Standard Of Living  — Dancing In The Street (1982) 5:15

7 The Cramps  — Surfin' Bird (1989) 5:08

8 League of Nations  — Fade (1984) 4:13

9 Ethyl Meatplow  — Car (1990) 2:25

10 Peter and Mary Saving Grace  — Queen of the Night (1980) 5:46

11 The Child Molesters  — Violent Crimes (1981) 2:27 [removed by request]

12 Angel Of The Odd  — Infinite Tunnels (1989) 5:47

13 Marnie  — Shanghai My Heart (1988) 5:41

14 Autumnfair  — Arterial (1986) 3:09

15 Pompeii 99  — Ignorance is the Control (1982) 4:35

16 Eddie & The Subtitles  — Zombie Drug Killers (1981) 1:20

17 Tex & The Horseheads  — The Slip (1985) 1:35

18 Information     — I Know (1985) 3:35

19 The Untouchables  — Lovers Again (1985) 3:27

20 The Rotters  — Sit On My Face Stevie Nix (1979) 2:27

21 Red Wedding  — Goddess No More (1984) 2:43

22 Vidiots  — Laurie's Lament (1981) 1:41

23 Slow Children  — Spring in Fialta (1981) 3:24

Steaming Coils, Breaded (Nate Starkman & Son, 1991 [recorded 1987])

Disk 2

24 Christian Death  — Romeo's Distress (1982) 3:15

25 Grey Obscurity  — Tell Me A Story (1983) 3:43

26 Eddie & The Subtitles  — Dave Dacron (1981) 4:14

27 Tex & The Horseheads  — Bartender Sam (1985) 2:59

28 Wog  — Businessmen In Love (1988) 3:25

29 Nocturnal Education  — Alive in You (1986) 3:54

30 Standard Of Living  — Don't Worry (1982) 2:33

31 The Salvation Army  — Happen Happened (1981) 3:02

32 Angel of the Odd  — Darker Side (1985) 4:25

33 Newsbreak  — Hidden Eyes (1983) 3:14

34 Noble Gas  — Possibly Maybe (1982) 4:31

35 Information     — Inside Your Mind (1985) 4:38

36 The Fibonaccis  — Tumor (1983) 3:26

37 Abecedarians  — They Said Tomorrow (1988) 5:06

38 The Nerves  — Hanging On The Telephone (1976) 2:05

39 The Runaways  — I Love Playin' With Fire (1977) 3:18

40 What Is This  — Days Of Reflection (1984) 3:42

41 Los Illegals  — Guinea Pigs (1983) 4:45

42 Gothic Hut  — C-14 (1982) 3:40

43 Fender Buddies  — Furry Friend (1980) 1:33

44 Psi Com  — Ho Ka Hey (1985) 4:07

45 Steaming Coils  — Harry Languid (1987) 1:09

46 Marina Swingers  — I'm A Swinger (1979) 3:28

I've had a few backchannel exchanges with a music publisher and photographer about the ethical nature of this project. I'm really just trying to create interest in this period of music, and with luck some of the bands might find renewed interest and income through more conventional, commercial channels. If you are an artist whose tracks appear here and would like it removed, please write to me and I'll remove it immediately.

This set starts with a true rarity from the Marina Swingers, who have since reformed and are distributing new tracks on their MySpace page. Another rarity, from a band that also only ever released a single, is from the proto-grunge Opus, about whom nobody seems to know anything except that they had an exception cover design for their single. The Rotters, pretty much a "punk" band with (I think) fake English accents, show up with a single that was banned from KROQ for understandable reasons.

There's some relatively lo-fi New Wave here in the form of Grey Obscurity, Newsbreak, Wog, Nocturnal Education, and Information as well as some more polished work by Slow Children (who had a few hits in their day) and League of Nations, and a haunting track by Autumnfair, yet another offshoot of Savage Republic, and from whom a CD comp of their work (no LP was released) is commercially available.



In the LA post-punk retro category are the Cramps (with a track they probably recorded in New York), Tex & The Horseheads -- one of my favorite recent discoveries, whose lead singer Texacala is a total original (Google her images since I'm no longer posting photos here) -- and Eddie and the Subtitles. Actually, this last band's first album jumps from proto-hardcore to Orbison-esque crooning to Wire-esque art punk to rockabilly to some things completely undefinable from track to track. This was one of Rikk Agnew's favorite bands back in the day, which is excuse enough to include three tracks of theirs.

On the more purely avant-garde side are a very quiet, beautiful track from Marnie Weber (a little late in the chronology), some interesting nonsense from Peter and Mary Saving Grace, about whom I can discover nothing (except that they might be from San Francisco), a noisy track from Standard of Living along with a hypnotic cover, Fender Buddies (the only track of theirs I could locate),  Vidiots (who have also revived and have a MySpace page), and yet another little gem from Steaming Coils. Angel of the Odd was a strange band led, in their later years, by the late performance poet Cecilia± — yet another woman (along with the smattering from the last set) who crossed over from performance to quasi-pop music.

Red Wedding was brought to my attention by members of Outer Circle and Dogma Probe. Their first EP was recorded over a single weekend with one vocal take, but I think it sounds great, while their second one is more polished  and atmospheric but less quirky. Michael and Spider from this band, known as the "first openly gay punk band" in Los Angeles, are still making music through a variety of projects.

Gothic Hut was the musical project of Posh Boy graphic artist Kevin J. Walker. I haven't yet heard the two LPs that followed their debut, which resembles more the music of pre-punk art bands from the U.K. and Germany, but they're on the way. Ethyl Meatplow was a band known for their "sexually explicit, burlesque-inspired"live performances that turned off Kim Gordon, and had a minor hit in 1993 with "Ripened Peach," which is worth checking out on YouTube.

Bands you've seen before include Nu Beams, The Child Molesters, Pompeii 99, Christian Death (the Rikk Agnew version, whose work is sublime on this track), and Abecedarians with a track that didn't appear on either of their EPs. I've included one of the Fibonaccis more mischievous tracks which perhaps sounds more like what they were known for, quirky, polished lounge music (just verging on novelty act).

The band What Is This? was closely related to the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in the day and swapped a lot of members before settling down (I think Flea might have even played for them). This is an unbelievably gorgeous track. The Untouchables were the first Los Angeles ska band (after the Boxcars, who appear in an earlier set) and set off something of a mod revival here. Los Illegals are, along with the Plugz and the Brat, the best known Chicano punk bands from this period, led by muralist Willie Heron who might be better known for being a part of the artist collective ASCO (recent retrospective at LACMA).

Noble Gas is an act I discovered while reading blog comments for the band Android (who appears earlier) who shared studio space with them back in the day. Just as I was reading their website I got friended by Mike "Molecular Persuader" Lutgen, one half of band (his wife Lily "Thetaloops" the other), who have since moved on to New Jersey. Mike digitized one of the tracks from their first published cassette "Invaders from Earth," which I'd love to hear in its entirety.

Lastly are the bands most of you have heard of. Psi Com was Perry Farrell's first band before Jane's Addiction, while "Hanging on the Telephone" was the hit song by Blondie, here performed by the band that wrote the track. I love this Runaways song so tossed it in here since I doubt there are any more "arty" tracks by them available. The Salvation Army is an early version of The Three O'Clock, a band usually associated with the Paisley Underground (their singer, Michael Quercio, coined the term) but whose dedication to that very British form of mod-pop I think borders on pathological (which means, good).

I don't know how much longer I can leave this material up before I get into serious trouble, so please download soon! I hope to have one final volume in about a month, so stay tuned.

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 5

June 5, 2012, 11:55 am

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 6

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 4

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

Afterimage, Angst, Anna Homler, Beat-E-O's, Berlin, Blood on the Saddle, Cambridge Apostles, Christina, Cyrnai, Dark Arts, Dogma Probe, Doll Congress, Eddie & The Subtitles, Ex-Voto, Factory, Geza X And The Mommymen, Gothic Hut, Idle Lovéll, Laws of Motion, Le Forte Four, League of Nations, Marnie Sounds, Ministry Of Love, Minutemen, Oingo Boingo, Opal, Peter Ivers, Rainy Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rhino 39, Rik L Rik, Screaming for Emily, Screams For Tina, Sleeping Dogs, Suburban Lawns, Surf Punks, The Dickies, The Last, The Prime Movers, The Quick, Trees, Wet Picnic, Zoogz Rift.

Eddie and the Subtitles, Dead Drunks Don't Dance LP (13th Story, 1983)

Disk 1
1 Rainy Day — Soon Be Home (a Quick One While He's Away) (1984) 4:09

2 The Dickies — Attack of the Mole Men (1979) 3:41

3 Doll Congress — Concrete and Clay (1982) 4:23

4 Zoogz Rift — The Great Apes Ate Grapes (1979) 2:34

5 Marnie Sounds — Coquette, Circus Girl (1991) 5:48

6 Eddie & The Subtitles — Shoot Up And Dance (1983) 2:32

7 The Quick — My Purgatory Years (1976) 5:17

8 Geza X And The Mommymen — Isotope Soap (1982) 2:18

9 Blood on the Saddle — I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again (1983) 1:42

10 Beat-E-O's — Arabian Reggae (1981) 3:37

11 Le Forte Four — The Lowest Form Of Music (1980) 3:09

12 Suburban Lawns — My Boyfriend (1979) 1:39

13 Surf Punks — Can't Get A Tan (1979) 2:44

14 Afterimage — Out Of Breath (1990) 3:46

15 Cambridge Apostles — Can't Fight The Feeling (1983) 4:17

16 Oingo Boingo — I'm Afraid (1979) 3:32

17 Ministry Of Love — Nuclear Stone Age (1987) 3:26

18 Cyrnai — Waydom (1985) 3:40

19 Opal — A Falling Star (1987) 1:25

20 The Prime Movers — Pieces (1984) 2:56

21 Gothic Hut — There Has To Be An Answer (1982) 3:14

22 Screaming for Emily — The Love (1987) 4:43

23 Berlin — A Matter of Time (1980) 4:07

24 Laws of Motion — Check It In The Mirror (1984) 4:43

The Quick, Mondo Deco LP (Mercury Records, 1976)

Disk 2
25 Zoogz Rift — Idiots On The Miniature Golf Course (1979) 0:32

26 Sleeping Dogs — Same Old Song (1982) 1:32

27 The Last — She Don't Know Why I'm Here (1979) 3:29

28 Doll Congress — Easy to Touch (1982) 3:17

29 League of Nations — Illuminas (1984) 4:03

30 Ex-Voto — The Devil's Work (1990) 4:11

31 Dark Arts — Rivers (1986) 4:59

32 Anna Homler — Karu Karu (1987) 2:18

33 Rik L Rik — Meat House (acoustic) (1981) 1:31

34 Minutemen — Polarity (1983) 1:48

35 Beat-E-O's — He Waiting (1981) 2:56

36 Angst — Pig (1983) 1:43

37 Dogma Probe — A Word of Warning (1982) 3:17

38 Peter Ivers — I'm Sorry Alice (1976) 4:08

39 Zoogz Rift — Locked Out (1988) 2:10

40 Screams For Tina — Nightmare (1986) 3:01

41 Trees — India (1982) 3:04

42 Idle Lovéll — I Can't Wait (1984) 4:01

43 Rhino 39 — Marry It (1981) 2:26

44 Eddie & The Subtitles — Tonight (1983) 2:19

45 Wet Picnic — Cocktailed Sky (1982) 5:24

46 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Lovin' And Touchin' (1989) 0:36

47 Factory — Vapor Lock (1987) 2:06

48 Opal — Happy Nightmare Baby (1987) 2:57

49 The Quick — Over The Rainbow (1977) 3:10

50 The Dickies — Nights in White Satin (1979) 2:55

51 Christina — Surprise! (Is that all there is?) (1980) 5:41

Some tracks here are not by LA bands, but Sleeping Dogs features Carolyn Fok (who is Cyrnai, included below), an LA-based musician and artist who must have traveled a lot, and their single EP is amazing. The track by Christina, who was from New York, is the closing track on the first Rodney at the ROQ compilation, and is a cover of a Leiber and Stoller song (they were, of course, nearly sued for this). Rainy Day was an ephemeral band spearheaded by David Roback made up of many of the Paisley Underground stars before they were stars; this cover of a Who song -- really just a fragment from "A Quick One" -- is from their album of covers, mostly beautiful if a little drowsy versions of songs from the 60s.

The Oingo Boingo track is the first one they ever released as "Oingo Boingo" (before that they were the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo and more of a whacky music theatre act that made an appearance on The Gong Show), featured on the obscure compilation LA In (it's also where I discovered the Surf Punks, kind of setting the template for the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Angst was originally from Boulder and then settled in San Francisco, but they were very much on the LA scene back in the day, recording their first tracks for Happy Squid here in Hollywood, then a slew of albums for SST.



Other things to look out for are the songs by the Quick, Dennis Cooper's favorite "punk" band (they feature prominently in his literary magazine Little Caesar). The first track is from their only proper album, produced by the notorious Kim Fowley (you might remember him from the Runaways movie), and really sounds like nothing else -- a little glam, a little New Wave, some elements from the Sparks, and a bit of the AM "power pop" feel that seeped into a lot of work in LA. The Dickies were the first punk band to be signed to a major label in LA; their early sound was very Ramones influenced, but they outgrew that pretty quickly. I included a Berlin song because it was produced by Dan van Patten who was behind the Null & Void tracks featured heavily here; this one features their replacement for Terri Nunn, who had left the band temporarily to pursue acting. It also features a deliriously overblown operatic synth-drenched opening.

I'm going to update this blog soon with album covers and photographs that I can get permissions for. But for now... enjoy.

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 6

June 18, 2012, 12:02 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 7

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 5

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured acts:

3D Picnic, A Produce, Battery Farley, Bay Of Pigs, Bulimia Banquet, Chris Manecke, Christian Lunch, Cigarettes, Descendents, Doubting Thomas, Erratic, Extruders, Eyes, Fishbone, Flyboys, Gary Valentine, Jimmy Smack, John J. Lafia, John Trubee, Ken, Man From Missouri, Minutemen, Motor Totemist Guild, Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Nip Drivers, Pat Smear, Peer Group, Poetic, Redd Kross, Rhythm Plague, Rich and Famous , Rich La Bonté, Saccharine Trust, Schematix, Tao Mao, The Brainiacs, The Holy Sisters Of The Gaga Dada, The Middle Class, TSOL, Tupelo Chain Sex, Twisted Roots, Vicious Fish, Vivabeat, White Glove Test

Christian Lunch, Unreliable Sources (Alternative Tentacles, 1990)

Disk 1

1 Pat Smear — Golden Boys (1987) 3:20

2 Redd Kross — Love Is You (1987) 2:29

3 Descendents — Impressions (1987) 3:08

4 Twisted Roots — The Yellow One (1981) 3:03

5 Bay Of Pigs — Manchild (1984) 3:05

6 Gary Valentine — The Ballad Of Nathaniel West (1979) 4:01

7 Poetic — Snowflake (1980) 0:26

8 Nip Drivers — Cindy (1984) 1:34

9 Man From Missouri — Epitaph (1990) 4:35

10 Battery Farley — Dress For Obscurity (1985) 3:39

11 Jimmy Smack — Untitled (1982) 1:27

12 Fishbone — Party at Ground Zero (1985) 6:28

13 Vivabeat — Man From China (1979) 5:23

14 Flyboys — I Couldn't Tell (1980) 2:46

15 Rich and Famous  — Neutron Star (1978) 4:05

16 Peer Group — I Saw That Movie (1981) 1:07

17 The Brainiacs — Drunk with Funk (1981) 4:03

18 A Produce — Pulse (1988) 4:00

19 The Middle Class — Home Is Where (1980) 2:09

20 TSOL — Soft Focus (1982) 3:33

21 Christian Lunch — Strangling Of a Small Dog (1981) 1:43

22 Tupelo Chain Sex — The Dream (1983) 4:55

23 Doubting Thomas — Helen Keller (1987) 2:50

24 The Holy Sisters Of The Gaga Dada — Neighbor's Scream (1986) 3:55

25 Tao Mao — Mokusatsu (1985) 3:42

Middle Class, Homeland (Pulse Records, 1982)

Disk 2

26 Minutemen — Ack Ack Ack (1985) 0:27

27 Bulimia Banquet — Satan's Doorstep (1986) 2:24

28 Descendents — Weinerschnitzel (1985) 0:14

29 The Middle Class — The Call (2008) 4:18

30 Battery Farley — Memories Of You (1985) 4:38

31 Ken — Purposeless Attitudes (1981) 1:28

32 Nip Drivers — Have You Ever Benn Mellow (1985) 3:05

33 White Glove Test — Leap (1990) 2:38

34 Motor Totemist Guild — In Sackcloth and Ashes (1996) 1:47

35 Twisted Roots — Mommy's Always Busy In The Kitchen (1981) 1:36

36 Erratic — I Wrecked Myself (1980) 3:52

37 Saccharine Trust — Effort to Waste (1986) 3:30

38 Schematix — Jagged Edge (1980) 3:49

39 Extruders — She Pushed Plastic (1981) 2:54

40 Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo — Ballad of the Caveman (1978) 1:34

41 Christian Lunch — Monika Po (1981) 2:30

42 Rich La Bonté — Mayan Canals (1981) 5:32

43 Chris Manecke — Mulholland Daydream (c. 1985) 3:07

44 Rhythm Plague — Radio Free Dude (1985) 6:31

45 John J. Lafia — Queen of the Nile (1984) 3:49

46 Cigarettes — Gimme Cigarette (1978) 2:28

47 Eyes — Taqn (1979) 1:59

48 Vicious Fish — Not Fade Away (1989) 1:49

49 The Middle Class — Out Of Vogue (1978) 1:07

50 3D Picnic — In Their Eyes (1989) 5:14

51 John Trubee — Crawling Down The Corridor (1984) 3:49

51 Tupelo Chain Sex — Everyday's A Holiday (1984) 4:28

All the bands, with the exception of The Minutemen, haven't appeared in any of the previous volumes, so these notes are going to be sketchy because I don't have the time to ruminate in any serious way on the tracks. They are also in (roughly) alphabetical order. For what that's worth.

I don’t know much about 3D Picnic, who produced two LPs. Their first, Dirt, contains a mix of styles from Paisley Underground folk rolk to more post-punk fare, though none of it too dangerous. This track is from a compilation called Ultraviolet and doesn’t appear on either disk. 

A Produce was the person behind the band Afterimage which appears in early volumes of this series. His own music tends toward the ambient, though this track and a few others have something like a kinky energy. He was the creator of the label Trans Port which specialized in what came to be known as “trance music” though in fact most of what I’ve heard of his work doesn’t sound like later trance music (which is more beat heavy). A Clearing is available in its entirety at CDBaby, though most of his other material appears to be out of print. He passed away in 2011.

Battery Farley is still pretty much a mystery to me, though it appears an “underground” producer named Jeff Farley is behind it all. There is a YouTube video the band performing an unreleased track, “Bagman on Sunset,” which if anything has an unforgettable snarkey resonance. The LP Dress for Obscurity is pretty interesting, and they seem to be symptomatic of one aspect of “New Wave” here in LA, which is that for all the synthesizers and dance beats, much of it is completely uncommercial. There's a cheap copy of Dress for Obscurity sitting in the stacks at Amoeba Records that I want to snag when I have some cash.

I don’t know anything about Bay Of Pigs except that they recorded an EP called Wife Swapping in Granada Hills and appeared on the first Viva Los Angeles compiltion. I don’t think they are the same band that recorded the LP Plastic Pig.

Bulimia Banquet’s LP Eats Fat, Dies Young is really quite amazing, lots of great musical ideas, truly strange singing, offensive lyrics, and pretty amazing concrete music elements. They belong to that small set of “hardcore” bands (including Nip Drivers) that really were either too smart, too vulgar – not in the racist or homophobic way that seems commonplace among the boy bands – and too artsy to fit it. The two lead members were women, Ingrid Baumgart (who played in the all-female punk band Raszebrae, who I hope to hear soon) and Julia Bell, so that must have made a difference. The vocal performance on this track is amazing. I’m looking forward to hearing the other LP (it’s in the mail).

Chris Manecke was the songwriter, keyboardist, guitarist and singer behind the Abecedarians. This track is taken from an unreleased project that he is apparently going to release commercially. There's a lot of unreleased Abecedarians related music that should hit the racks shortly.

Christian Lunch is one of the few bands from LA with the word “Christian” or “Catholic” in its title which does not in fact refer to religion. He appears to be a German named Christian Gregory Ingle and produced a number of EPs and an LP, all of which (from what I’ve heard) are great. Total avant-garde synth, synth-pop, avant-collage-whackiness, whatever… really amazing stuff that should be better known. He did a one-off project with the Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra called The Witch Trials that I’m looking forward to hearing.

I don't’ know anything about Cigarettes, Extruders, Erratic, Eyes, Flyboys, Man From Missouri (though they did release an LP with the great title BWanger TaTalingus Debase), White Glove Test (though they were tangentially associated with the Paisley Underground, or at least recorded at the same studio), Schematix, Rich and Famous (though Rich La Bonte was a member of that band and gives away a lot of his music here), John J. Lafia (who was associated with LAFMS), Ken, Doubting Thomas, The Brainiacs (described as a Los Angeles “No Wave” band in the style of James Chance on one blog), The Holy Sisters Of The Gaga Dada, Tao Mao (though this track was taken from the Beginner’s Guide to COMA LP and they have a cassette out there somewhere), Peer Group, or Vicious Fish. I mean, I know a little, but it’s hardly worth repeating here as many of these acts just produced a single at the most, or were a one-off project for some compilation (like the Chunks compilation from D. Boon’s New Alliance Records). Suffice it to say, some of this is trashy post-punk, some avant-garde noodling, some catchy power pop with pretty harmonizing, some drunken wailing and some serious attempts at creating a band. White Glove test did releast two LPs, but I haven’t heard the other one, Look, yet.

I think anyone reading this blog knows who the Minutemen are – I included one of their tracks in an earlier volume. The Descendents are, like the Minutemen, often associated with hardcore though in fact they tried a lot of different textures – probably more well-known for their puerile humor (they actually are hilarious) but they kept it real. Their very short tracks "All" and "No All" are well worth Googling.

Saccharine Trust is another band who started as somewhat hardcore, but eventually added a lot of free jazz elements into their repertoire – some of their albums, actually, are based on long jam sessions, kind of a no-no with hardcore. Their first album, Pagan Icons, was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorites. Their guitarist, Joe Baiza, who went on to make a lot of great music, is probably as well known for having the shit kicked out of him in Germay several times as he is for his guitar playing (fully on display in this great YouTube video).

Fishbone is the relatively famous ska-punk band called Fishbone, and this might be their most famous track – or at least, I remember it from back in the day, which is saying something. They also put on a great live show – I refer you once again to YouTube.

Gary Valentine was an original member of Blondie. He moved to Los Angeles to start a solo career but only ever released a few tracks before becoming a major figure in occult literature, writing many books under his real name, Gary Lachman. This track is taken from a compilatio of his music called Tomorrow Belongs To You.

Jimmy Smack is described thusly in a short online essay called “The Legend of Jimmy Smack” (which contains a not-to-be-missed photograph of the man): Basically the man, made up in elaborate corpse-paint (certainly the first I ever saw), in fall tartan gear playing amazing electric bagpipes accompanied only by a then de-rigeur Dr. Rhythm drum box and reciting in a demonic Beefheart-esque growl some occasionally great, occasionally goofy (in a “going insane inside my brain” kind of way) doom and gloom poetry." It’s all good!

John Trubee first gained notoriety for his song-poem “Blind Man’s Penis,” which you can find pretty easily on the internet. Basically, he wrote the worst, most offensive song lyric he could think of and sent it off to one of those “song poem” outfits that set it to country music, sung by a buy named Ramsey Kearney. His LPs (from what I’ve heard) are mostly made up of really incredible prank phone calls intercut with either avant-jazz or deep synthesizer music tracks. He was a collaborator with Zoogz Rift in the early days.

Motor Totemist Guild was formed in 1980 by composer James Grigsby and poet/singer Christine Clements. Basically, they take a lot of the compositional techniques and instrumentation associated with classical music and apply them to songs, which sounds like a horrible idea but in fact the music I’ve heard of theirs is incredible. I have yet to work through their catalogue but I’m sure you’ll see them again in these collections.

Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo were the earlier incarnation of Oingo Boingo, and were not so much a recording act as a musical theater troupe. They were led by the elder Elfman, Richard Elfman, and made a pretty unique appearance on The Gong Show (kind of on a par with Frank Zappa’s appearance on the Steven Allen show).

Nip Drivers were led by the inimitable Mike Webber, who died in 2006 at the age of 43. He seems to have been both very troubled (or at least a “hedonist” which seems to me to mean deeply troubled) and completely brilliant – certainly his singing wavers between vulgar and innocent, or ironic and vulnerable, in a way that’s hard to describe. There’s a really nice remembrance of him by Julia Bell (of the aforementioned Bulimia Banquet) at the LA Weekly blog. They released a handful of LPs and EPs over a short but intense career.

Pat Smear, hello, is the guitarist from the Germs, and later Nirvana and the Foo Fighters. This is the only track I know from his solo career, and is apparently the last song Darby Crash wrote before dying. I think it’s amazing – his singing style seems to have set the template for the much cuter, snarkier post-punk bands of today, and there's something about the chord progression that's satisfying every time you hear it – and am greatly looking forward to hearing the rest of Ruthensmear.

Poetic was a sound-perfomance group made up of artists Mike Kelley (known also for his music act Destroy All Monsters), Tony Oursler, and occasional others. I made the mistake of buying this box set of CDs used – it didn’t include the booklet! – because the entire contents are available on ubu com. I can’t say I love it all, but this track is pretty fun.

Redd Kross was a band that started when their their guitarist, Jeff McDonald, was 15 and the drummer, his brother Steve, was 11. Something about them reminds me of Ween – lovingly aping, mockingly yet reverently, the styles of their musical heroes in a way that’s a bit undefinable. As the Tater Totz, they recorded albums full of covers of the Beatles, Yoko Ono, Queen, etc. occasionally in a totally mashed up way, occasionally entirely straight. They also put out LPs as a fake hardcore band, Anarchy 6, which to this day appears on the web as the production of a hardcore band and not a satire. Go figure. I still don’t quite get them but this tune is catchy.

Rhythm Plague was made up of the well-known avant-garde guitarist Nels Cline (whose music I don’t really know but am eager to discover – he played with Wilco at one point), Wayne Peet and Steubig for an LP and this track, from the Beginner’s Guide to COMA (California Outside Music Association, kind of like LAFMS in that they attempted to bridge composed or avant-garde music with something closer to rock). I apologize for the skips on this track, but I tried to delete as much of the badness as I could in Audacity. I don’t own this LP, but I thought I the track cool enough to include anyway, especially for the beats which seem a bit ahead of their time.

The Middle Class are kind of legendary for having recorded the first music that could be described as “hardcore,” even if its questionable whether or not anyone really heard the recordings. Apparently, Keith Morris, the original singer for Black Flag, saw them perform and really was inspired to have his band play really fast, and certainly their track “Out of Vogue” sounds like hardcore to me. But in fact I think they were actually quite avant-garde musical minimalists who thought it would be interesting early in their career to see if they could outpace the ability of your average music consumer to follow the music – which is to say, there is none of the adolescent angst, simple political sloganeering or general macho aggression in this track so much as the spirit of experiment and social critique. Well, that’s what I think. With their second EP, released the same year, they took on more Gang of Four elements, and by their final LP they were very much in a kind of Joy Division spirit – which is to say, they went from being quite at the forefront to somewhat trailing in the end, though I think they were quite true to their own musical direction. I think they were a great band, with really intelligent and provocative lyrics (no simple anthems), and a case study of what having no proper label (I think all of their stuff was self-released) or native audience does to a band that really tries something less immediately enjoyable.

TSOL, which is short for “True Sounds of Liberty,” is a very well known post-punk band on this side of the desert, led by the inimitable Jack Grisham, a fearless howling giant from what I understand, also behind such later acts as Cathedral of Tears (who appears in an earlier volume here) and Tender Fury. I’m pretty new to TSOL so I don’t have much to say here, but Grisham himself is really interesting who published a book about his life of drug addiciton, An American Demon: A Memoir,which I’m looking forward to reading.

I don’t know much about Tupelo Chain Sex except that they had an incredible show, and featured Don "Sugarcane" Harris, an electric violinist who played with Frank Zappa. I remember hearing about them back in the day, but something about their name scared the shit out of me.

Twisted Roots was made up of Paul Roessler of Screamers fame (he also played with Nervous Gender, Geza X, The Deadbeats, 45 Grave, etc.), his sister Kira Roessler (who, by the way, was kind of gorgeous) before she became the bass player for Black Flag, Pat Smear of the Germs and others. I have a hard time figuring out their discography as some LPs are released under the title “Paul Roessler and Twisted Roots,” and some LPs don’t feature any of the other players. Anyway, the band made a pretty good go of it after the breakup of the Screamers and were big on the scene, though their recorded output was, as I said, a little disorganized. Paul, as I’ve learned slogging through the archives at Beyond Baroque, was also a poet.

Lastly, I learned about Vivabeat while trying to find out more about the band The Vidiots, whose “Laurie’s Lament” appears earlier in these collections. At one point members of both bands were in an act called Audio Vidiot that never managed to gain much traction (or perhaps rehearse enough) so they split and took up their respective new bands. This track is notable because Peter Gabriel – yes, that Peter Gabriel – really took a liking to their whistled melody and decided to replicate it somewhat on “Games Without Frontiers” -- he also, I think, helped them get a contract. I think this track, which can seem slow at moments, stands up on its own, mostly due to the variations in the vocals by their singer, Terrance Robay, but the utter pointlessness of the lyrics kind of show how playfully, even Dadaistically, idiotic a lot of the 80s MTV fare was. They are considered one of the “lost great bands of the 80s” but in fact this track was released in 1979, which might seem quibbling but that makes this a very, very early new wave track, which must mean something!

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 7

July 1, 2012, 1:33 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 8

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 6

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

20/20, Animal Dance, Barton A. Smith, Bay of Pigs, Black Randy and the Metrosquad, Brooke Shields, Celebrity Skin, Code Blue, Electric Peace, Fender Buddies, Gabriele Morgan, Germs, Invisible Zoo, John J. Lafia, Lem, Mark Lane, Nervous Gender, Nip Drivers, No-Y-Z, Pop Art, Randoms, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Screamin' Sirens, Skooshny, SSQ, Stefan Weisser, Steve Stain, Stillife, Suspects, The Dream Syndicate, Germs, The Hollywood Squares, The Last, The Motels, The Plimsouls, The Romans, The Signals, The Skoings, The Soul Brothers (of Chula Vista), Tidal Waves, The Tweezers, Tunneltones, Visiting Kids, Wall Of Voodoo, Zoogz Rift

The Skoings, Doctors Wives 7" (Vigilante, 1977)

Disk 1

1 Brooke Shields — Introduction (1980) 0:04

2 The Skoings — Do The Orbit (1977) 3:23

3 Nervous Gender — People Like You (1981) 2:40
4 The Signals — Clam Up (1984) 1:06

5 Mark Lane — White Glove (1984) 3:33

6 Barton A. Smith — Roland #119 (1980) 5:50

7 Black Randy and the Metrosquad — I Slept in an Arcade (1980) 2:30

8 20/20 — Yellow Pills (1979) 4:17
9 The Hollywood Squares — Hillside Strangler (1978) 1:55

10 Tidal Waves — Fun, Fun, Fun (1979) 1:53

11 Tunneltones — Happyland

12 The Last — Lies (1980) 3:20

13 The Dream Syndicate — That's What You Always Say (1982) 3:12

14 Lem — Scat Cat Kitty (1977) 4:18

15 Stillife — Celadon (1984) 7:35

16 The Plimsouls — I Can't Turn You Loose (1981) 3:22

17 The Tweezers — Ernie Kaboyng (1981) 2:08

18 The Germs — Round and Round (1981) 2:16

19 The Skoings — Doctor's Wives (1977) 2:15

20 Randoms — Let's Get Rid of New York (1977) 2:42

21 Suspects — Talking Loud (1979) 2:21

22 The Romans — Runaway (1983) 2:21
23 Invisible Zoo — Synthesizer Man (1983) 3:14

24 John J. Lafia — Escape (1984) 7:04

25 Stefan Weisser — You Think That Was Not An Attack (1983) 3:39

Electric Peace, Medieval Mosquito (Barred Records, 1987)

Disk 2

26 Visiting Kids — Trilobites (1989) 3:21

27 Zoogz Rift — You're Killing Me (1982) 2:02

28 Animal Dance — Fake! (1983) 4:25

29 Skooshny — It Hides More Than It Tells (1978) 3:21

30 Red Hot Chili Peppers — True Men Don't Kill Coyotes (1984) 3:40

31 Fender Buddies — Dancing a Frenzy (1980) 1:48

32 Electric Peace — Case Of Dynamite (1985) 4:08

33 Celebrity Skin — S.O.S. (1990) 3:37

34 Nip Drivers — You Need Us (2000) 1:10

35 Code Blue — Whisper/Touch (1980) 2:35

36 The Soul Brothers (of Chula Vista) — The Brothers Johnson (1989) 2:37

37 Screamin' Sirens — Maniac (1985) 2:34

38 The Motels — Celia (1979) 3:06

39 No-Y-Z — Little Did He Know (1983) 3:33

40 Gabriele Morgan and Doll Congress — No Moon At All (1981) 1:40

41 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Why Don't You Love Me (1984) 3:23

42 Pop Art — A Beautiful Girl (1984) 3:27

43 Animal Dance — Sterile Mecca (1983) 3:29

44 Electric Peace — Came Into Town (1987) 6:05

45 Bay of Pigs — Mary Tyler Moore (1987) 2:21

46 Wall Of Voodoo — Ring Of Fire (1980) 6:11

47 Germs — No God (1993) 1:54

48 Fender Buddies — Poolside (1980) 4:37

49 Steve Stain — Flight of the Drill (1986) 3:50

50 SSQ — N'importe quoi (1983) 2:56

Notes by the guest editor Jeremy for Disk 1 (my notes follow):

On May 31, 1980, Brooke Shields celebrated her 15th birthday on “Rodney on the ROQ,” the radio show that helped bring widespread attention to the local punk and hardcore scenes. That cross-wiring neatly encapsulates Los Angeles.

Rodney Bingenheimer was also partially responsible for the success of the first single from the Hollywood Squares: “Hillside Strangler” was recorded, released, and snapped up (to the tune of 500 copies) well before the real Hillside Stranglers (turned out there were two) were caught in 1978. Other punk cuts here that would likely have seen airtime on KROQ include the Germs’ gloriously sloppy Chuck Berry cover, the Randoms’ anti-NYC anthem (the first single from Dangerhouse Records), and “I Slept in an Arcade” by notorious roustabout Black Randy (also on Dangerhouse).

The Skoings—whose only single was printed in Westwood and featured another serial killer tale, “Doctors Wives”—the Signals, the Tweezers, and Tidal Waves all had a jerky pop sound but none of them managed more than a handful of releases. The Tweezers have since released a "remixed" CD of their first 7" with additional tracks. In more of a straight-ahead power-pop vein were 20/20 and The Last, both prolific and both overlooked.

There are also a couple Paisley Underground representatives here. Steve Wynn and Kendra Smith recorded one post-punk single as Suspects while still living in Davis, California, before moving south and starting the ’60s-leaning the Dream Syndicate (and Smith’s great Opal project). The Plimsouls cover of Otis Redding’s “I Can’t Turn You Loose” is a nice nod to L.A. music history: Redding opened his famous 1966 show at the Whiskey a Go Go with the same tune.

Other UCLA affiliates besides (presumably) the Skoings include Barton A. Smith and John J. Lafia. Smith was a composer and tinkerer who recorded “Roland #119” for the school’s Institute of Dance and Experimental Art. According to the liner notes, it’s “suitable for several unique scenes and situations including: sound of bees, spider webs, cosmic, propulsive, industrial, laboratory work. Especially useful for scenes involving increasing mental tension.” It’s an impressive piece made using rhythm sequencers and has a more climactic energy than the rest of Smith’s work (which was recently rereleased by Folkways).

Lafia was a graduate of the UCLA film department who recorded one LP and a couple compilation tracks (see Volume 6) before transitioning to the movie industry (where he co-wrote Child’s Play and directed Child’s Play 2). Both Lafia and Stillife (Chas Smith, Dennis Duck, Michael Jon Fink, Michael Le Donne-Bhennet, Tom Recchion) are linked to the LAFMS and the Trance Port label, and both were primarily ambient projects. Stillife’s “Celadon” in particular is ridiculously pretty.

The Romans were another collective of LAFMS-ers. They were responsible for a disk’s worth instrumental surf-noir and space-lounge that was re-mastered in 2003. They seem to have been the brainchild of Juan Gomez but also featured members of the Dream Syndicate, which maybe gives some sense of the crossover between different scenes.

Tunneltones was one of Brad Laner’s gazillion projects; Nervous Gender included Daniel Voznick of Afterimage; and Mark Lane is still a minimal synth guru whose recent compilation The Anti-Tech Testament: 1981-1985 is worth checking out in full. Both Lem and the new wave trio Invisible Zoo featured Doug Lynner who was from the goofier edge of the city’s electronic music world.

Stefan Weisser was born in L.A. but spent most of his career in the Bay Area art-world recording as Z’EV. This B-side from the Editeditions & Contexts 7” consists of noisy tape loops of a man and a woman arguing and does an incredible job capturing the rhythms of that sort of thing. The inserts for record are six very cool panels of text-art built supposedly out of mimeographed student papers.

Notes for Disk 2:

I actually didn't know LAFMS had an online store before Jeremy sent me the link for the Romans. That's where you should go to buy LPs by BPeople, Child Molesters, Human Hands, and whatever LAFMS associated music that's appeared here. My apologies!

Visiting Kids were a one-off project by some members of Devo who recorded an EP in 1990 in Los Angeles. The band was composed of Bob Mothersbaugh, his then-wife Nancye Ferguson, their daughter Alex Mothersbaugh and two other children, August Kimbaugh and Scarlett Rouge (along with some other adults). They appeared on late night TV, opened for Sparks, annd created one incredibly cute video for this track, "Trilobytes." But my favorite YouTube video of theirs is this one for "Microwave Babies."

I've been in touch with Robin Carr of Animal Dance, and she turned me on to the group's one single which I found at a rare vinyl site, both sides of which appear here. They also made one music video for a track called "Wired" which is not terribly recommended as they were trying to get a contract and they became suddenly a whole lot less interesting. I love these two new tracks, though I think "Under Pulse," which appears in Volume 1 of this series, is still my favorite.

Included are two tracks from the Andy Gill (guitarist for Gang of Four) produced first album of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which is usually derided for its cold production. Well, Gang of Four was criticized for their first LP, Entertainment!, for the same reason, and it's a classic. The culture clash makes for some interesting moments, especially in the horn section of "Why Don't You Love Me" which is just hilarious. George Clinton produced their next record, which, while I suppose "better" in many ways, deleted those contradictions.

Fender Buddies were one of the many infamous "art punk" bands that appeared in LA around this time; they released just this one single. The Bay of Pigs that appears in this set is not the one who appeared on the last one (they were actually from San Francisco, oops). LA's Bay of Pigs had some connection to LAFMS (through Rick Cox) and managed one LP.

Celebrity Skin was a spin-off of Pat Smear's first post-Germs band, Vagina Dentata, and were quite active on the scene, producing an EP and LP and being banned from basically all the clubs in SF and LA in their short tenure. I'll include some of their original material in the future, but I just love this cover of the ABBA song. Speaking of Smear, I like this Germs track mostly for the clapping section in the middle, which I could imagine the guys from Animal Collective going apeshit over.

Ok, I really like the Motels, particularly Martha Davis, a really talented if uneven songwriter who had terrific presence in the pre-MTV days, as you can see on this video for their track "Total Control." I remember them from watching MTV in the 80s and not really getting it, but I was a young then and anything mainstream was anathema. "Celia" is subtle and minimal, showing their actual roots in the punk scene here in LA but with a touch of Tom Waits-ish storytelling. Code Blue is one of the spin-off bands from the Motels who released one LP.

I don't know much about Screamin' Sirens but discovered this track on the compilation The Enigma Variations and liked the harmonies and production, though it verges on novelty. Electric Peace sounds a bit anachronistic, kind of from the era of Deep Purple, but I think there's something else going on here, and the organ line on "Came Into Town," coupled with the Who-esque synth track, is a killer.

Steve Stain, who released an LP called The Brain Feels No Pain, is one of those many the Minutemen's New Alliance artists that you just can't find anything out about. He was also part of a band called What Makes Donna Twirl that I'm dying to hear. I discovered the Soul Brothers on some compilation that I can't locate right now. They remastered all of their recorded music from that period under the name Soul Brothers (of Chula Vista). 

SSQ used to be a band called Q (who released a track called "Sushi" which sounds incredibly great but can only be seen online in this mangled YouTube video) and then became Stacey Q in the MTV-era. They had a few hits (that I don't remember) and became infamous for their softcore video for the pretty good track "Screaming In My Pillow" featuring their lead singer, Stacey Swain, doing exactly that in various states of undress.

No-Y-Z released one album, the picture disk Sheer Electronic Din, and included a member of Twisted Roots. Gabriele Morgan started as a solo artist with Sean's brother Michael Penn in the band that eventually became Doll Congress, represented earlier in this series doing the classic "Concrete and Clay." This is another beautiful cover of a song recorded by Doris Day and Ella Fitzgerald among others, with a lot of (I like to think) Savage Republic-inspired percussion.

This track from Pop Art is taken from their first, self-titled LP, kind of their Chronic Town (R.E.M.'s first EP) but without the world-conquering follow-up. Literate, hooky, with some nice jangly guitars. Nip Drivers, whose Mike Webber was a damaged genius, and Wall of Voodoo, whose catalogue I'm trying to explore more since getting over my distaste for Stan Ridgway's vocal stylings, have appeared earlier in this series. This cover of the Johnny Cash song was apparently an underground hit back in the day, and certainly makes its points with some lovely secondary melodic synth lines later in the track (it ends with a piece of abstract tomfoolery that is technically the next track but which works really well as a coda).

Skooshny is a little hard to explain, kind of a holdover from the psychedelic days but who managed something of a legendary status on the scene in the 70s. They were the backup band for a so-so single by a guy named Page Croft. Some solid songwriting, though this is the only track that comes close to being considered "new wave," mostly due, to my mind, to the organ line and the angsty vocals. All of their stuff from this era has been remastered and can be found on iTunes. Skooshny might not be as great a name as Skoings, but seems to be in the same family.

---

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 8

July 6, 2012, 1:27 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 9

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 7

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

20/20, 3D Picnic, 5uu's, Agent Orange, Ann DeJarnett, Artiphax, Battery Farley, Bulimia Banquet, Cigarettes, Del Rubio Triplets, Demolition Gore Galore, Doubting Thomas, Dr's Rx1, Drowning Pool, Invisible Chains, Irritators, Jane's Addiction, Kommunity FK, Los Illegals, Luther Davis Group, Mind Games, Minutemen, Mr. Epp And The Calculations, Motor Totemist Guild, No Right No Wrong, Pilgrim State, Saint Vitus, Schematix, Scott Goddard, Starforce 1, Steaming Coils, The Bangles, The Death Folk, The Motels, The Toons, The Witch Trials, Transport, Vagina Dentata, Vicious Fish

A Beginner's Guide to COMA (Rotary Totem Records, 1985)

Disk 1
1 The Motels — Art Fails (1981) 2:58
2 The Death Folk — Hobos (1989) 3:36
3 20/20 — Alien (1981) 3:42
4 Saint Vitus — Clear Windowpane (1987) 3:19
5 Starforce 1 — Space Agent (1981) 3:34
6 3D Picnic — Dizzy (1989) 2:00
7 Invisible Chains — Old Speak/New Teeth (1986) 2:14
8 The Bangles — Going Down to Liverpool (1984) 3:43
9 Steaming Coils — 4/10 (1987) 3:12
10 The Toons — Video Games (1982) 2:46
11 Demolition Gore Galore — Long Gone Blonde (1986) 4:17
12 Irritators — Voodoo Boogie (1981) 2:55
13 Ann DeJarnett — Eyes (1988) 3:36
14 Schematix — Second Story (1980) 2:30
15 Scott Goddard — Cowpunk (1984) 4:53
16 Vagina Dentata — Golden Boys (1984) 5:32
17 Doubting Thomas — Fourteen Or Maybe 8 (1987) 5:30
18 Cigarettes — Oh Oh Oh (1978) 2:55
19 Vicious Fish — Foreign Cities (1982) 4:00
20 5uu's — The Birth Of Compromisation (1985) 3:02
21 Los Illegals — The Mall (1983) 4:33
22 The Motor Totemist Guild — Farmer Without Strings (1985) 4:06

The Toons, Looking at Girls (Rhino, 1982)

Disk 2
23 Agent Orange — Blood Stains (1980) 1:46
24 Battery Farley — New Deals (1985) 4:07
25 Drowning Pool — Weaving Petals (1987) 3:43
26 Luther Davis Group — You Can Be a Star (1979) 4:40
27 Mind Games — Don't Take The Car (You'll Kill Yourself) (1981) 2:05
28 Del Rubio Triplets — Chica Chica Boom Chick (1989) 2:40
29 The Witch Trials — The Tazer (1981) 6:20
30 The Motels — Only The Lonely (1981) 3:28
31 Artiphax — Mystery Eyes (1985) 3:34
32 Mr. Epp And The Calculations — Mohawk Man (1982) 2:53
33 The Bangles — How Is The Air Up There (1982) 2:52
34 Kommunity FK — Is It Your Face (1990) 6:17
35 Bulimia Banquet — Naked Movie Star (1986) 2:03
36 Transport — Isotope Tan (1982) 3:14
37 No Right No Wrong — Girls Girls Girls (1986) 2:34
38 Dr's Rx1 — Crunch (1983) 5:11
39 Minutemen — The Anchor (1983) 2:34
40 Pilgrim State — Fuck Society (1983) 0:44
41 Irritators — Whack the Dolphin (1981) 4:20
42 Jane's Addiction — Thank You Boys (1988) 1:04
43 Battery Farley — Flag Waving Idiots (1985) 3:44
44 Invisible Chains — Sal Mineo Youth Growing Up (1986) 3:57
45 The Toons — Mind Death (Sally Only Had One Eye) (1982) 6:38

The Motels’ third album, after the relatively minimally produced self-titled debut and Careful, neither of which produced national hits, was the highly experimental Apocalypso, produced by Val Garay, hot off of the success of producing Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes.” The album was rejected by the label and sat on the shelf for thirty years, only to be released last year on colored vinyl and CD. Some of the tracks reappeared on the more commercial sounding All Four One, which produced their first big hit “Only The Lonely,” but I prefer this earlier version, along with this grittier version of “Art Fails.” They probably made the right decision to scrap this album as they wouldn't have made a dime off of it, and now they are lucky to have had it in the kitty for us retrophiles to buy later.

Another famous act whose sound changed dramatically was the Bangles. I was surprised to read that they were associated with the Paisley Underground since all I ever knew of them was “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Manic Monday,” which are both pretty solid pop tunes but could never be called underground. I just assumed they were a label concoction. These two tracks, both covers, show the transformative talent the band had (the songs themselves are nothing special), not to mention savvy with harmonies and some nice guitar work. “How is the Air Up There” is a cover of a pretty obscure 60s track by Changin' Times – they also knew their history – while “Going Down to Liverpool” features a very odd, completely non-sensical but cute video starring Leonard Nimoy as a sexually repressed chauffeur driver (not a huge stretch).

Also on the commercial end of things is this track from Ann DeJarnett, the lead singer (and violinist) for Mnemonic Devices who appeared earlier in this series sounding rather Siouxsie-esque. Here, she’s obviously shooting for mainstream success, but it eluded her despite her striking resemblance to Cyndi Lauper on her EP album cover. Dr's Rx1 is another mainstream act, kind of a pop funk act in the Herbie Hancock mode that uses a lot of the sounds and stylings of the Ghostbuster’s theme song. I found this album in a used LP bin and only bought it for the great cover and the fact that their representation was in Los Angeles. I actually don’t know where they come from, and the text on the back is so small and illegible, I was barely able to make out the name of this track. It has period charm. I tossed in an uncharacteristic ditty from the first Jane’s Addiction album, just for fun.

Bulimia Banquet again makes an appearance here with another track from Eat Fats Die Young, the giddily offensive “Naked Movie Star.” This track by Kommunity FK is probably the last they recorded before their long hiatus and appeared on the comp Viva Los Angeles II. This is much more commercial, even a bit soulful, than their LPs, though a bit too long for my taste (the lyrics just run out of steam halfway through). Catchy, though. I’ve included another track from the prodigious Minutemen, and will move on to fIREHOUSE – Mike Watt and Ed Crawford's band and after D. Boon’s death in a car accident – for my next collections. I’ve also included two earlier tracks from the ominous Battery Farley, the first a New Wavey bit that could have been from their LP Dressed for Obscurity, the second a raunchier, “political” one that has obtained some infamy with its many comp appearances (in the same obnoxious spirit of this track, "Bagman on Sunset," performed live in a studio with an underaged androgynous synth player and never released on vinyl).

Other bands who have previous appeared are Doubting Thomas (not the Skinny Puppy side project), Cigarettes (this is the B-side of their only single), the Chicano punk band Los Illegals with an unusually subdued track, the “original” Drowning Pool (another beautiful vocal track from Satori, available for purchase), Schematix (you now have 2/3 of their complete output) and Transport, who answers Geza X with their own variation on the “isotope” theme. This track from Steaming Coils is from their LP the Tarkington Table, and might be incorrectly titled – it’s pretty difficult to tell where one track ends and the other begins on this LP. It points forward toward the song forms and harmonies of their masterpiece Breaded, though much of the record seems largely improvised or at least more loosely constructed.

The late Scott Goddard was the force behind the Surf Punks, who appeared earlier in this collection. This is a pretty mischievous, sophisticated piece of pop – he put out quite a bit of work, all of which appears on a compilation You Break It, You Bought It, available for digital download. Not nearly as prolific is Vagina Dentata, Pat Smear’s band after the demise of the Germs – they only recorded this one track, Smear’s first attempt at rendering the song “Golden Boys” which he and Darby Crash had written together. I prefer his solo version (which appears in Vol. 7) but this one has some terrific demonic drive. The song has actually gone on to be covered several times by acts such as the Dickies and Pavement, but I think the two Smear versions are the best. Death Folk is another post-Germs Smear project, an actual folk collaboration with Gary “Celebrity” Jacoby (who himself coverd "Golden Boys"). Smear has an amazing singing voice, and can cut through all sorts of guitar noise by being just off-key.

Among the bands I know nothing about except the few shreds of information I’ve found on blogs (you’ll have to do your own research on these) are synth-instrumentalists Starforce 1, Mind Games (who only released a single), the somewhat cloying (unless you really love poppy New Wave) Artiphax, Vicious Fish (also commercial sounding despite the great Breton-ish name), 3D Picnic (I included a track of theirs earlier), Mr. Epp And The Calculations, No Right No Wrong, and Demolition Gore Galore, though this latter does appear on the Celebrity Skin-produced compilation Let It Bleat: Six L.A. Bands, released just on the cusp of the hair band invasion of Los Angeles. That’s all bad enough, but I also don’t know anything about the Irritators, though I paid a pretty hefty (for me) sum for their single “Whack the Dolphin,” based on my enthusiasm for the title and cover art. I’ve included both tracks here – let me know if it was worth it! There’s another single floating around out there called “Gotabona” (another variation on the masturbation theme?) which is selling for nearly over $200 – I think I’ll pass, but I'm really curious. “Whack the Dolphin” was packaged in a water-proof plastic case with a flap, I guess for retail under water.

The Toons are a real curiosity. They actively aped the sound of the Beach Boys – most L.A. bands acknowledged the debt through occasionally complex harmonizing, even in punk songs! – but injected their lyrics with a lot of weird, puerile humor which that sentimental slug Brian Wilson would never have approached. This first track really evokes for me that crazy glee that us young’ens felt for the first video game arcades in the 70s, while the second is some sort of odd mixture of the sci-fi hallucinations of early Bowie and the horror-kitsch of 45 Grave. Another fun discovery was St. Vitus, who are probably very famous in some quarters – they are one of the foundational doom metal bands – but was news to me. I imagine the guys from Spinal Tap paid pretty close attention to their sound and lyrics – I love the way the guitars are layered on this track. The Witch Trials was a one-off collaboration between L.A.’s Christian Lunch, the Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra and other Bay Area figures – somewhat unlistenable but amusing the first time around.

Jeremy included a track from 20/20 – the incredible “Yellow Pills” – in the last set. This one is taken from their second album and is not quite as brilliant but is in the same mold. Pilgrim State was a one-off art-hardcore act that included the protean Brad Laner – “art-hardcore” in the sense that I don’t think any of the members particularly liked hardcore at all, and if anything wanted to take the piss out of it. But I have this theory (as Redd Kross’s spoof hardcore act Anarchy 6 seems to support), which is that you can’t parody hardcore – unlike, say, heavy metal, new wave, lounge music, even punk – without simply being hardcore. It just sounds like hardcore no matter what, there's just not enough room for ironic distance. (Is “Fuck Society” successful as a spoof title?) The only solution would be to do a hardcore song that is 40 minutes long and takes two sides of an album. Just an idea. Both sides of the Pilgrim State LP end with a locked groove – where the needle just spins forever in a circle, a favorite technique of another LA-associated radical, Boyd Rice – as you can hear on this track. It took me a while to figure this out, as you'll hear.

Invisible Chains was an act featuring Carla Bozulich, later a founding member of Ethyl Meatplow (featured earlier in these volumes) and singer/co-founder of two bands I never heard of, The Geraldine Fibbers and Evangelista. These two tracks somehow link the percussive minimalism of a lot of underground acts in L.A. and the space-jazz elements of someone like Sun Ra, if you can imagine that. Sal Mineo, by the way, is the actor who played Plato in Rebel Without a Cause. A real tragic figure, he had a hard time getting work after being a child star, was one of the first actors to come out as gay publicly, and was stabbed to death by a pizza deliveryman-slash-thief at the age of 37.

I ripped this track from the Del Rubio Triplets from one of the Rodney on the ROQ LPs. Actual triplets and born in 1921, they were about 60 when they recorded this. Jeremy included The Luther Davis Group on the first version of his set from the last collection, but then nixed them for the final cut – that’s about as much as I know about the act, which only produced a single. Not brilliant, perhaps, but I’m interested in obscure black acts from this era as well, even if they are not in any way “post-punk.” Agent Orange is a very well known hardcore band – this is their first A-side, and was produced by Dan Van Patten who did work with the amazing Null and Void (all over my earlier volumes), Ann DeJarnett, the Beat-E-O’s (I've included their entire output in these collections) and a bunch of other obscure acts. He also played on and produced Berlins’ first LP before moving to Belize to, it appears, hang out at bars (living off of royalties from "The Metro," no doubt). He’s something of an unsung hero in these collections, too bad he didn't hang around.

Lastly are two acts associated with COMA – aka the California Outside Music Association, the more classically and/or jazz-inclined sister organization to LAFMS. Dogma Probe and the Rhythm Pigs, from earlier in these volumes, appeared on their only compilation, a Beginner’s Guide to COMA. Motor Totemist Guild, the brainchild of James Grigsby, performed work that wouldn’t feel out of place in a survey of light early Modernist orchestral work, while the 5uu’s (who are not-surprisingly easy to Google, unlike X or Q) used more jazz instrumentation and rhythms. But they obviously liked each other a lot, because the two bands eventually combined (after recording a collaborative LP together with their separate names) and released a pair of LPs as U Totem. I’m really coming up short on ways to describe their music, and their history has twists and turns that will be described more fully in a book-length work by Charles Michael Sharp on experimental music communities in LA that is coming out soon – so you’ll have to wait until then to learn more. 

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 9

July 16, 2012, 9:51 am

≫ Next: The L.A. Telephone Book Vol. 1, 2011-2012

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 8

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2


Featured Acts:

100 Flowers, 17 Pygmies, 20/20, Afterimage, Alfalfa, Ann DeJarnett, Celebrity Skin, Chas Smith, Che Blammo, Dennis Duck, Extruders, Fourwaycross, God And The State, Hilary, Hundredth Monkey, Jetzons, John Trubee, Johnny Chingas, Lotus Lame And The Lame Flames, Luther Davis Group, Marc Monroe, Mark Lane, Moebius, New Marines, Nick Paine, Owned By the Public, Page Croft, Passionel, Penetrators, Q, Red Temple Spirits, Subjects, The Deadbeats, The Pandoras, The Romans, The Signals, The Three O'Clock, The Tikis, The Tweezers, The Wake, Tiger Lily, To Nije Sala, Urinals

Che Blammo, Rock Moderne 7" (Permanent, 1982)

Disk 1
1 Urinals — Surfin' With The Shah (1979) 2:42
2 Lotus Lame And The Lame Flames — Bad Sex (1983) 3:40
3 Passionel — Make Like You Like It (1985) 3:56
4 Ann DeJarnett — Baptism by Fire (1987) 4:09
5 Che Blammo — Stupid for Your Love (1981) 3:07
6 Hundredth Monkey — Mute Lament (1986) 4:50
7 The Pandoras — Hot Generation (1984) 2:16
8 Fourwaycross — When Will You (1985) 3:46
9 100 Flowers — All Sexed Up (1983) 2:43
10 God And The State — My Name Is Mud (1985) 2:42
11 The Deadbeats — Let's Kill More Hippies Like We Did Last Summer (1996) 2:34
12 17 Pygmies — Drunkard (1988) 3:00
13 The Tweezers — Loveable and Fearless (1985) 4:30
14 Q — Sushi (fragments) (1982) 1:54
15 John Trubee — Blind Man's Penis (1976) 1:41
16 Extruders — Street Avenger (1981) 3:35
17 Solid State — Owned By the Public (1982) 7:16
18 Celebrity Skin — Introduction (1991) 3:09
19 Marc Monroe and Silentype — Shovelin' The Snow (1982) 4:04
20 Urinals — Dead Flowers (1979) 0:56
21 100 Flowers — 100 Flowers (1983) 1:09
22 Page Croft — You Hold Nothing (1978) 3:49
23 Alfalfa — Lucky Guy (1985) 3:32
24 To Nije Sala — Dog Trail (1989) 4:08
25 The Wake — Lion's Heart (1985) 1:59

Moebius, Moebius (Moonwind Records, 1979)

Disk 2
26 Dennis Duck — Dennis Duck Goes Disco - Intro (1977) 1:27
27 Hilary — Goose Step, Two Step (1983) 3:37
28 New Marines — I Like Baseball (1980) 2:31
29 Tiger Lily — Die Laughing (1984) 3:42
30 The Three O'Clock — Mind Gardens (1981) 2:43
31 Mark Lane — Sojourn (1981) 6:41
32 Subjects — I'm Mechanical (1982) 3:18
33 Penetrators — Sensitive Boy (1979) 3:27
34 The Romans — Big Neck (1983) 1:46
35 20/20 — American Dream (1981) 4:56
36 Jetzons — You (1982) 3:19
37 Nick Paine — Solid State (1985) 3:23
38 The Tikis — Junie (1981) 2:04
39 Moebius — Money (1979) 5:31
40 100 Flowers — Our Fallout (1983) 2:29
41 Luther Davis Group — To Be Free (1979) 3:55
42 Afterimage — Strange Confession (1984) 2:47
43 The Signals — Person to Person (1984) 2:43
44 Johnny Chingas — Phone Home (1982) 8:37
45 Hilary — Drop Your Pants (1983) 3:25
46 Red Temple Spirits — Lost In Dreaming (1988) 4:46
47 Chas Smith — October '68 (1982) 4:44

Notes for Disk 1:

I thought I had included some tracks from 100 Flowers earlier in this series but I actually hadn’t. They are probably the most significant and quintessentially “post-punk” band in Los Angeles, having a sound that can waver between Gang of Four chunky white funk, Wire’s clipped song structures and enigmatic lyrics, the more typically LA Dada puerility of their song titles and subjects (the first version of the band, formed when the members were still students at UCLA, was the Urinals — and it’s the name they use now!), the also very-LA layered primitive percussion, and even in their DIY publishing aesthetics — their label, Happy Squid Records, was responsible for getting a number of underground acts some attention, especially via their compilation, Keats Rides a Harley, an expanded CD edition of which is still available. 

Urinals/100 Flowers were a big influence on the Minutemen in particular, maybe the explanation why the Minutemen can get away with being so “arty” while also keeping it real with the hardcore crowd. So here they are, belatedly. The smallish output of the Urinals and 100 Flowers is all very excellent,  beginning to end. The band some members formed afterwards, Trotsky Icepick, runs to 5 LPs and is less challenging and a bit more uneven. The band God and the State, included the drummer from Urinals/100 Flowers. Most of their posthumous LP is kind of gritty PIL-like instrumentals with lyrics uttered over it (and with some nice guitar work), but this uncharacteristically techno-beat one was most appealing to me.

I discovered Che Blammo, as I have a few other bands, through Henry Weld’s extensive “Punk Rock in Southern California” discography, and bought the rather expensive 7” based on the appeal of the jacket alone. (My copy actually didn’t come with the original art, which is why it was about $150 cheaper than the other available copy.) I don’t know much about them. I have no special knowledge about the very R.E.M.-esque The Wake, but picked it up because they appeared on Pop Art’s Stonegarden Records. This track by Page Croft (which I’m sorry is so muddy) is backed by Skooshny, who appeared earlier in this collection. I don’t know much about him either, but as you can see by the album cover (which is included with the MP3, a new thing for Scavenged Luxury), he thought he was pretty sexy!

Acts you’ve seen before include Alex Gibson’s Passionel, Ann Dejarnett (with a great track produce by Dan Van Patten with DeJarnett doing a pretty good Patti Smith imitation), Extruders sounding more British than ever, Celebrity Skin, Fourwaycross, 17 Pygmies (from their final album Welcome, which is full of “spoken word” interludes that sound like they were written by the Marquis de Sade), and the Tweezers going all synthy with their second and final release, the EP Lovable and Fearless. This track by the Deadbeats (without Geza X, I believe) is actually a recording from 1996 that revisits the “kill the hippies” motif of their only single, and which is available for purchase online.

This track by Lotus Lame and the Lame Flames appears on the Hell Comes to Your House, Vol. 2 comp. I don’t know anything about them but this promo photograph is pretty hot, and I love this tune, a one-off that compares well to that lone gem from the UK’s Flying Lizards, “Money.” Unfortunately, I just can’t track down a copy of Q’s early track “Sushi” — also produced by Dan Van Patten — so I’ve included this rip from Youtube featuring Stacey Q performing as a techno-geisha. It sounds like a great track all around, the only one that’s kind of keeping me up at night. I also ripped John Trubee’s infamous song poem, “Blind Man’s Penis,” from YouTube, the one that got him on “the map” of audio deviants, though he didn’t actually create this here. For the full story and uncensored lyric (well, they took out the name Stevie Wonder), visit here or read this article by fan Matt Groenig.

I discovered by chance a comp of San Diego new wave called Who's Listening in the bins at Amoeba Records, featuring almost known Claude Coma and IVs (who I will include later) and the Penetrators, who appear in Jeremy's selections, among others. This track by Solid State is incredible, and I regret that the album was recorded live and that this is the only track I can find of theirs. I haven’t heard such pretty woodwinds in rock since early Roxy Music. Equally lucky was my discovering this track by Alfafa online, a band that included Vex Billingsgate of the Suburban Lawns, the only record I have (outside of Su Tissue’s classically inspired EP Salon de Musique) that any of these guys made music again.

This track by Marc Monroe and Silentype might not be genius, but it was released by Christian Death’s Fish Ranch Records (who also released the Atila material), and so I thought it important (for completists, at least). And, well, it’s a song about shoveling snow — how often do you see that? — though it just struck me that it might be a different snow he’s talking about. To Nije Sala is, I think, basically Steve Stain’s What Makes Donna Twirl? with a few different members. (Again, sorry about the fidelity here, it’s very low.) 

I thought for a long time that the Pandoras were one of Kim Fowley’s attempts, post-Runaways, to form another power pop girl band, but in fact they formed the good old-fashioned way, by answering an ad posted by a few art school punk wannabes. They eventually were associated with the Paisley Underground though I don’t quite see it outside of a resemblance at times to the Three O’Clock. Lastly, Hundredth Monkey is composed of two members of the punk band Benedict Arnold and the Traitors, and have that mix of psychedelia and post-punk that is pretty characteristic of a lot of LA music of this time. This is a very pretty song, but once again I didn’t get a very good rip — I’m really new to turntables, and have to do some research on what the hell I’m doing wrong.

Notes for Disk 2 by guest editor Jeremy:

Dennis Duck was an L.A. Free Music Society compatriot whose plunderphonics-like cassette Dennis Duck Goes Disco was "made entirely with a phonograph and records, utilizing skipping and pitch changes for most of the effects." 

Hilary (Blake) and Nick Paine each crafted fewer than a handful of synth-pop gems and then disappeared, though Hilary at least got some airplay in the '80s. Her chorus from "Drop Your Pants"—"So drop your pants around your ankles / You make me shiver when you deliver"—is about as unsubtle as it gets, internal rhyme and all.

The New Marines eventually released a few likable new wave singles, but their first 7" was their feistiest. "I Like Baseball" starts out listing sports ("I like baseball! And I like football! And I like basketball!") and ends by screaming acronyms ("I got a BMA! I got an ERA! I got a CRA!"). Anaphora at its spazzy best.

Tiger Lily was a more temporary new wave arrangement fronted by force-of-nature Laura Molina. They recorded just this one track, but it's probably the catchiest of the "13 Swinging Hits from Today's Grooviest Gals" on The Girls Can't Help It compilation. For some reason I really like the premise of responding to a bad apology with uncontrollable laughter: "You want me to believe / A second-rate apology / You're telling me what you want / From a beggar's knee / I wanna die laughing / When you were too proud to cry / And I could die laughing / Tears I'll spit in your eye."

The Three O'Clock were early Paisley Underground-ers, and "Mind Gardens" dates from when they were still called Salvation Army. The Penetrators were a San Diego-based garage/surf band. The Jetzons were from the same Arizona scene that gave rise to the Gin Blossoms, but they moved to L.A. briefly after releasing their great first EP to try and make it big. The Tikis put out one post-punky surf single in 1981. Moebius is the early work from two of the three fellows from Invisible Zoo and Lem (see Volume 7) plus Steve Roach and a nod to German kosmische musik. And 100 Flowers was the later incarnation of the UCLA-born punk group, The Urinals. Their "Our Fallout" reworks Imagism for the apocalypse: "The world's an oyster in a bed of pain / And my charred limbs are all I retain." (Thanks to Donal for this one.)

If "Person to Person" by The Signals laments the loss of face-to-face contact in the telephonically mediated '80s, then "Phone Home" by Johnny Chingas might be read as a rebuttal: a groove-laden celebration of the fact that technology can help alleviate basic problems like loneliness. Are you sad because your family is still in Mexico? That's what the phone is for, man. And Youtube? That's for reliving Whittier Boulevard when you're longing the other way for East L.A.

The meandering tribal rock of the Red Temple Spirits is what it is, but it would've been something else to see them live.

CalArts grad and LAFMS collaborator Chas Smith is a wizard with the pedal-steel guitar, using it to produce not twangy accompaniment but comprehensive soundscapes like "October '68" (a cautious commemoration of the end of the Vietnam War?). He was one of the masterminds behind Stillife (see Volume 7), and his solo work is well worth checking out.

Folks who appear on earlier volumes: 20/20, Subjects, Mark Lane, Afterimage, Luther Davis Group (the soul musician from Bakersfield), The Romans, and The Signals.

The L.A. Telephone Book Vol. 1, 2011-2012

August 9, 2012, 4:40 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 10

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 9

$

0

0

This doesn't have anything to do with L.A. post-punk, but I thought I'd throw it up here for now until I have some more music material. Give it a whirl! The L.A. Telephone Book is a collection of new work by contemporary Southern California writers and text-artists compiled and designed by poet and digital artist Brian Kim Stefans (that is, me). The volume is free for download from Mediafire (see links below). The collection was created based on a semi-open call to writers and artists for up to 7 pages of work, set in 6 x 9 in .pdf format, which were then assembled into the present file. All choices were made by the artists and presented as they created it. Several artists contributed notes and statements about their work. Mediafire download PDF (33mb) http://www.mediafire.com/?gxqkj7fw39lndkn ZIP (30mb) http://www.mediafire.com/?yu6d5w9pq32322m Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheLaTelephoneBookVol1 This volume includes work by: Harold Abramowitz Amanda Ackerman Danielle Adair Will Alexander Rae Armantrout Therese Bachand Julia Bloch Allison Carter Andrew Choate Selby Cole Brent Cox Zen Dochterman Ben Doller Sandra Doller Amy Dozier Johanna Drucker Kate Durbin Sesshu Foster Matt Gangi K. Lorraine Graham Anna Guercio Larkin Higgins Jen Hofer Jibade-Khalil Huffman Andrea Lambert Janice Lee Eric Lindley Tess. Lotta Barbara Maloutas Andrew Maxwell Anna Mayer William Mohr Joseph Mosconi William Poundstone Christopher Russell Anthony Seidman David Shook Irene Soriano Brian Kim Stefans Mathew Timmons David L. Ulin Paul Vangelisti Mark Wallace Jacqueline Waters Christine Wertheim Amanda Yates

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 10

August 11, 2012, 7:00 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 11

≪ Previous: The L.A. Telephone Book Vol. 1, 2011-2012

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

Arrow Book Club, Bakersfield Boogie Boys, Claude Coma And The I.V's, Concrete Blonde, Deviation Social, Dream 6, Ethyl Meatplow, fIREHOSE, Funeral, Gary Kail & Zurich 1916, God And The State, Great City, Hilary, Holly and Joey, Joe 'n' Mike, Josie Cotton, Magnolia Thunderpussy, Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Nadia Kapiche, Pat Smear, Q, Radio Werewolf, Systems of Romance, T.S.O.L., Tender Fury, The Alley Cats, The Coupe De Villes, The Crowd, The Go-Go's, The Halibuts, The Rave-Ups, The Rub, The Wake, Thelonious Monster, Twisted Roots, UXA, X

Pat Smear, Ruthensmear (SST, 1987)

Disk 1

1 Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo — Forbidden Zone (1980) 2:52

2 The Alley Cats — King Of The Street Fights (1981) 3:43

3 Tender Fury — Look Back In Anger (1988) 3:45

4 Dream 6 — Rain (1985) 3:16

5 Thelonious Monster — I Live In A Nice House (1992) 3:47

6 Funeral — Ant Trap (1981) 2:15

7 Josie Cotton — Johnny, Are You Queer? (1982) 2:47

8 Pat Smear — Sahara Hotel (1987) 5:24

9 Twisted Roots — Every Party Song (1986) 4:36

10 Claude Coma And The I.V's — Minimum Wage (1982) 2:41

11 fIREHOSE — Brave Captain (1986) 3:15

12 The Crowd — Right Time (1980) 2:30

13 The Go-Go's — Cool Jerk (1982) 2:31

14 Arrow Book Club — Get Down Part 4 (1980) 1:33

15 Bakersfield Boogie Boys — Flying Tigers (1980) 3:30

16 Great City — A Dollar, A Ruble (1986) 5:16

17 The Rave-Ups — Better World (1985) 4:54

18 X — Los Angeles (1981) 2:24

19 The Coupe De Villes — Waiting Out the Eighties (1985) 3:08

20 T.S.O.L. — Word Is (1982) 2:35

21 UXA — Paranoia Is Freedom (1980) 3:50

22 Hilary — I Live (1983) 4:25

23 The Halibuts — Shorepound (1984) 2:50

24 Magnolia Thunderpussy — Circle (1985) 4:33

The Rub, Bikini Gospel (Happy Squid Record, 1987)

Disk 2

25 Nadia Kapiche — Africa (1981) 5:15

26 Deviation Social — Machines Convulse (1984) 3:27

27 Q — Playback (1982) 3:07

28 The Wake — Forever's Fair (1985) 3:38

29 Claude Coma And The I.V's — I Don't Trust You (1982) 2:24

30 The Crowd — On My Own (1980) 2:18

31 The Alley Cats — Nightmare City (1981) 2:54

32 Gary Kail & Zurich 1916 — Life Is Ugly So Why Not Kill Yourself (1983) 7:05

33 Concrete Blonde — Joey (1990) 4:08

34 The Rub — Death of Pop (1987) 2:46

35 The Go-Go's — Lust To Love (1981) 3:28

36 Thelonious Monster — Sammy Hagar Weekend (1989) 3:00

37 Bakersfield Boogie Boys — Okie from Muskogee (1980) 2:01

38 X — Johnny Hit And Run Paulene (1981) 2:51
39 Tender Fury — Kill Cindy (1988) 3:16

40 God And The State — Anorexia (1985) 3:47

41 Radio Werewolf — Incubus (1989) 4:02

42 fIREHOSE — Under the Influence of Meat Puppets (1986) 1:58

43 Joe 'n' Mike — Everywhere (1989) 2:41

44 Ethyl Meatplow — Silly Dawg (1990) 3:37

45 The Rave-Ups — Remember (Newman's Lovesong) (1985) 3:01

46 Systems of Romance — Girls Want Thrills (1983) 3:19

47 The Halibuts — Gnarly! (1984) 2:42

48 The Rub — No Sympathy (1999) 1:59

49 Holly and Joey — I Got You Babe (1982) 3:36

I haven't given any credit as of yet to the many amazing music blogs that long predated mine, and from which I've drawn a lot of my material prior to purchasing a turntable. My rationale has been that I think some of them would not too much attention drawn to them due to legal consequences, especially as most of them contain entire LPs and EPs for download. As it is, a lot of these blogs have been somewhat gutted by legal actions during the years that I've been visiting them, especially those sites that housed their files on Megaupload.

One site that I will mention, though, is Pig State Recon, partly because they seem to post only single tracks or small compilations, and partly because I've used some of their choices as my own from the catalogues of some of the artists. Tracks from this set such as Twisted Roots' "Every Party Song," Magnolia Thunderpussy's "Circle" and Jon 'n' Mike's "Everywhere" were found on Pig State Recon (I actually own the Twisted Roots CD but haven't listened to it much). In a few cases we picked the same tracks for posting, such as Electric Peace's "Case of Dynamite," with no knowledge of the other.

This volume is much more band-oriented and guitar-heavy, straying quite a bit over into pure pop, than previous volumes. Two tracks (actually early demos) by the Go-Go's, when lead singer Belinda Carlyle, known as Dottie Danger when she was the chubby drummer for the Germs, was not quite yet the svelte vixen of MTV-fame, point somewhat backwards to their punk roots at the Masque.

Dream 6 renamed themselves Concrete Blonde upon the suggestion of Michael Stipe. This track opens their first EP, while "Joey," their biggest hit, comes from their final album of the 80's, Bloodletting. I find singer/bassist Johnette Napolitano incredibly engaging as a performer (as in this cover of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows"), kind of in that vein of the sexy abject that I associate with early Martha Davis performances with the Motels. Their guitarist is another alumnus of the various bands supporting Sparks. 

Tender Fury is Jack Grisham's project after leaving the first version of T.S.O.L. and a little before a new-wavy band that appeared in an earlier volume here, Cathedral of Tears. They can join the ranks of those willing to fuck with Bowie with their cover of Lodger's "Look Back in Anger," though nothing beats The Associates releasing, as their first single, a dramatically re-conceived version of "Boys Keep Swinging" within weeks of Bowie's release. I regret including a track involving killing a girl named Cindy, not only for the implicit misogyny but also because my sister's name is Cindy. (For her 30th birthday I gave her a 3-CD compilation of songs that had the word "Cindy" in the title; happily, I hadn't come across this one).

I discovered the Bakersfield Boogie Boys on the Devotees compilation of Devo covers (from which I took Knife Lust's "Shrivel Up" earlier in this series). They took the fairly original tack of recording a non-Devo song in Devo style, hence the straight plagiarism of instrumentation and rhythm in "Okie from Muskogee." The Coupe De Villes are another quasi-novelty act, being the band director John Carpenter (The Thing) created to make music for his films. "Big Trouble in Little China" might be their best known track.

On the pure ambient or musique concrete front are Arrow Book Club, who existed for exactly one track on the Keats Rides a Harley compilation from Happy Squid, and Zurich 1916, a one album project of Gary Kail's that included singer Carla Bozulich (Ethyl Meatplow, The Geraldine Fibbers). This track was also chosen by Pig State Recon though I've been listening to this CD for months. The Ethyl Meatplow track here, "Silly Dawg," was produced by the legendary Geza X. 

The Halibuts were a bit anachronistic: a full-on, non-ironic, not entirely retro, mostly instrumental surf music band capable of some sublime stuff, putting the studio to good purpose. They recorded two LPs in the eighties which are still available for download, then took a break before releasing two more in the 90s. Josie Cotton also updated some past sounds, this time the girl groups of the 50s and 60s, though as the title of her most famous single, "Johnny Are You Queer?" included here, suggests her slyness in this project. The Go-Go's used to perform this regularly in their sets though didn't do much to transform it.

The Rub, whose "The Death of Pop" is probably the catchiest, most perfect song in this group and would not seem out of place in Nick Lowe's catalogue, was a band I discovered when going through the Happy Squid website (the band doesn't even appear on Discogs). They released two LPs, one in the 80s and one in 2001 that sounds like it was probably recorded in the 80s, though I have no proof of this. Far better known is Thelonius Monster, a veritable staple of the post-punk scene whose singer / songwriter Bob Forrest is not out of place with those other melancholy ironists of Los Angeles, Randy Newman and (in a much different way) Tom Waits. 

I wasn't sure if the Alley Cats could be considered post-punk at first as much of their material seemed pretty much classic guitar-driven "punk," but I gave their first LP a closer listen and (I don't know how I missed it) their "King of the Street Fights" is really amazing, kind of like a Bob Dylan recreated or misremembered after doing tons of heroin (the vocals remind me a bit of the boys over at Fourwaycross). The band's bassist and co-singer Dianne Chai is one of the many Asian American women in the scene, Maggie Song of the Fibonaccis, and Cyrnai's Carolyn Fok being two of the others.

Among the bands I know almost nothing about are growly Funeral, the new-wavy Great City, the truly creepy, satanic Radio Werewolf, and the antic Systems of Romance. Joe 'n' Mike are basically the songwriters of The Last; they recently posted a number of their demos for free download online. Holly and Joey are Holly Beth Vincent of Holly and the Italians (I'll have some of their stuff in the next volume) and Joey Ramone goofing around. Magnolia Thunderpussy were a band from Westwood who finally got around to releasing their material online. Deviation Social is actually a one-man industrial act from San Francisco who performed often in L.A. I mistakenly included this track early on and decided to just leave it. 

Nadia Kapiche was the name Toni Childs adopted when she was first starting out in L.A. (her other early band, Toni and the Movers, included eventual Bangles bassist Michael Steele). The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo are, of course, an early incarnation of Oingo Boingo, formed mostly to compose the soundtrack to Richard Elfman's made-for-cult-status B-movie Forbidden Zone. Did I mention that this version of the band appeared on The Gong Show? Bill Bixby gave them a "10."

Pat Smear is, of course, Pat Smear; this is the first track from Ruthensmear, his debut solo album. X is, of course, X, one of the few L.A. bands I knew about as a teen in New Jersey. This is from their first album, produced, as with most of their LPs, by Doors organist Ray Manzarek. fIREHOSE is the Minutemen after they continued in the wake of D. Boon's death. U.X.A., which stands for United Experiments of America, was fronted by the singer De De Troit, whose vocal stylings bear more than passing resemblance to John Lydon's in this track (particularly on the obscure Sex Pistol's track "Schools are Prisons"). UXA were not strictly an L.A. band but moved around quite a bit, and only managed this one LP.

The Crowd were pretty good power-pop band who seemed to absorb a lot of post-punk influences from overseas (the usual suspects, Gang of Four, the Clash) without sounding derivative, but also without quite finding a sound of their own. They lasted one LP, but as with many of the bands covered here, it would have been great to see where they could have gone had they a contract. Likewise, Claude Coma and I.V.'s were a compelling band from San Diego and could have had some national reputation with their populist leanings. I found a copy of their very rare LP Manslaughter online that I plan to rip soon.

The Rave-Ups (originally from Pennsylvania) had a minor hit with "Positively Lost Me" which, thanks to fan Molly Ringwald, was featured in the John Hughs movie Pretty in Pink. The folks at Allmusic think they were ahead of their time with their country-rock elements, but I don't know much about country rock. I would have included the single mentioned above, which is pretty catchy, but it's way too long and the initial hook just becomes obnoxious after a few spins. But these two tracks are really good and give you an idea of what the fuss was about.

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 11

August 13, 2012, 8:01 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 12

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 10

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2


Featured Acts:

17 Pygmies, Angst, Autistics, Baby Blue, Berlin, Carl Stone, Deep Six, Descendents, Detox, Dos, Earth Dies Burning, Eazy Teeth, Erth, Food And Shelter, Holly And The Italians, Invisible Zoo, Jamie Sheriff, Johnny's, Jon St. James, Kendra Smith, Linda J. Albertano, Mark Nine, Mestizo, Necropolis of Love, Painted Willie, Pleasure Mask, Q, Red Scare, Resistance, Slovenly, The Blades, The Brainiacs, The Kipper Kids, The Pop, The Rain Parade, The Reactors, The Rub, The Soul Brothers, The Unknowns, Vox Pop, X, Z6, Zamp Nicall

The Unknowns, Dream Sequence (Sire, 1981)

Disk 1
1 The Unknowns — Not My Memory (1981) 2:21
2 X — I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (1983) 4:15
3 Earth Dies Burning — Pork Yoghurt (1982) 0:41
4 Dos — Taking Away The Fire (1986) 4:15
5 Angst — Some Things (I Can't Get Used To) (1986) 3:26
6 Z6 — You, Eugene & Me (1982) 3:03
7 Holly And The Italians — Youth Coup (1981) 2:41
8 Deep Six — Ghostride (1981) 2:49
9 The Brainiacs — Suzie's So Unsure (1979) 2:02
10 Berlin — Tell Me Why (1981) 4:10
11 17 Pygmies — Childbride + Cheganca (1983) 3:22
12 Mestizo — What Am I Gonna Do (1983) 3:18
13 Q — Music's Gone (1982) 2:52
14 Zamp Nicall — Music Man (1985) 3:29
15 The Pop — Down On The Boulevard (1977) 2:42
16 Slovenly — Even So (1983) 3:42
17 Food And Shelter — Nun With A Gun (1984) 3:18
18 Eazy Teeth — Her Blade (1980) 4:20
19 Jamie Sheriff — China (1982) 4:00
20 Detox — Placidyl Polka (Eddie's Drunk Again) (1985) 2:23
21 Carl Stone — Wave Heat (1984) 3:29
22 Necropolis of Love — The Tunnel (1984) 6:54
23 Vox Pop — Become A Pagan (1982) 4:29
24 The Kipper Kids — Sheik of Araby (1983) 4:28

Vox Pop, Become a Pagan (Mystic Records, 1982)

Disk 2
25 The Rub — A Thousand Days (1990) 4:24
26 Kendra Smith — Temporarily Lucy (1995) 4:42
27 The Reactors — It's hard to be a rebel (1980) 2:34
28 The Soul Brothers — Du Bist K√§se (1990) 3:07
29 Baby Blue — Rock N' Roll Rebel (1980) 3:01
30 Johnny's — Spy For Your Love (1979) 2:25
31 Pleasure Mask — The Touch (1983) 3:59
32 The Rain Parade — What's She Done to Your Mind (1983) 2:56
33 Food And Shelter — I Like Smog (1984) 3:15
34 Invisible Zoo — Nobody's Girl (1983) 4:16
35 Slovenly — Prejudice (1987) 2:26
36 Descendents — Catalina (1982) 1:46
37 Mark Nine — Sun And Shadows (1990) 7:31
38 Painted Willie — Kill It (1984) 3:15
39 Resistance — Bombs For Peace (1986) 3:22
40 Autistics — Girls (1981) 3:25
41 The Blades — Vera (1982) 3:04
42 Earth Dies Burning — Another 6 Year Old (1982) 1:08
43 Jon St. James — Fast Impressions (1986) 4:08
44 Rain Parade — Talking In My Sleep (1983) 3:47
45 The Pop — I Want To Touch You (1979) 3:33
46 Red Scare — Sunny (1984) 2:22
47 The Brainiacs — Stunned (1979) 2:33
48 Erth —  The View (1986) 4:06

49 Linda J. Albertano — S.O.S. (1987) 1:43

This set was co-edited with Jeremy S. We're both really busy right now so the notes will have to wait, but in the meantime, enjoy!

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 12

October 22, 2012, 12:41 am

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 13

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 11

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2


Featured Acts:

Alfalfa, Artistic Decline, Brent Wilcox, Cold September, Concrete Blonde, Eazy Teeth, Fear, Feederz The, First Men on the Sun, Flesh Eaters, Food And Shelter, Holly Beth Vincent, Homeland, Intra Muros, L.A. Turds, Life After Death, Mark Lane, Missing Persons, Painted Willie, Pat Smear, Q, Rain Parade, Saccharine Trust, Skin Trade, Slow Children, Stepmothers, Stocking Heads, Tater Totz, The Blasters, The Brat, The Bytes, The Furys, The Hollywood Stars, The Pearls, The Rub, Tyrants in Therapy, X, Young Moderns

The Flesh Eaters, A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (Ruby Records, 1981)

Disk 1
1 Flesh Eaters — See You In The Boneyard (1981) 3:30

2 Rain Parade — This Can't Be Today (1983) 4:35

3 Alfalfa — Jewels (1985) 3:09

4 Fear — We Got To Get Out Of This Place (1982) 2:38

5 First Men on the Sun — Cary Grant's Hallucination (1995) 2:16

6 X — Adult Books (1981) 3:19

7 Mark Lane — Pushing and Pulling (1981) 3:15

8 Holly Beth Vincent — Honalu (1982) 3:49

9 Stepmothers — To Sir With Love (1981) 3:00

10 The Rub — Who Killed Bob Crane? (1987) 3:35

11 Painted Willie — Chia Pet (1986) 5:26

12 Cold September — Looking Up At Them At Me (1986) 2:21

13 Food And Shelter — What Is The Problem? (1984) 4:09

14 Missing Persons — I Like Boys (1980) 2:39

15 Intra Muros — 33 RPM (1985) 3:25

16 Concrete Blonde — TRUE (1986) 3:00

17 Life After Death — Marks (1985) 2:33

18 The Furys — Hey Ma (1977) 2:34

19 Tater Totz — Give Peace A Chance / We Will Rock You (1988) 2:47

20 Pat Smear — Lulu Belle (1992) 2:04

21 Young Moderns — Disposable Girl (1982) 1:42

22 Artistic Decline — Fallen In Love (1983) 1:32

23 Saccharine Trust — I Have... (1981) 1:56

24 Stocking Heads — Song A Minute (1983) 2:36

25 Skin Trade — My Heart Is King (1986) 3:45
26 Homeland — Alexander the Metal Worker (1987) 5:29

Holly Beth Vincent, Holly & The Italians (Epic, 1982)

Disk 2

27 Stepmothers — Guardian Angeles (1981) 2:50

28 The Bytes — Why Didn't You Call Me (1983) 3:05

29 Q — Sushi (1982) 2:02

30 Slow Children — Talk About Horses (1981) 2:49

31 Eazy Teeth — Car Noise (1980) 4:28

32 The Furys — Suburbia Suburbia (1978) 3:09

33 The Blasters — I Wish You Would (1980) 2:42

34 X — White Girl (1981) 3:27

35 Feederz The — Avon Lady (1980) 1:49

36 The Hollywood Stars — I Need You Tonight (1977) 3:24

37 Mark Lane — Cartel Danse (1981) 5:17

38 Intra Muros — Within the Walls (1985) 2:44

39 The Pearls — Running in Circles (1980) 4:27

40 Life After Death — It Happens Anyway (1985) 2:37

41 Artistic Decline — Andy Warhol (1983) 1:43

42 Stocking Heads — Lose Control (1983) 2:21

43 Young Moderns — Body Won't Obey (1982) 3:06

44 Brent Wilcox — Parts Dignity (1981) 6:17

45 Skin Trade — There's No Word (1986) 2:43

46 Flesh Eaters — Wedding Dice (1987) 4:16

47 The Brat — Attitudes (1980) 1:59

48 L.A. Turds — The Ends (1984) 3:20

49 Q — Video Girl (1982) 2:54

50 Tyrants in Therapy — In the Shadow of Hitler (1984) 2:31

51 Holly Beth Vincent — Cool Love (Is Spreading Around) (1982) 4:38

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 13

October 29, 2012, 8:55 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 14

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 12

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2


Featured Acts:

Con Safos, Dinosaurs With Horns, Dred Scott, fIREHOSE, Great Buildings, Great City, Legal Weapon, Mood of Defiance, No Crisis, Painted Willie, Rank And File, Red Scare, Saccharine Trust, Secret Hate, Slava Ranko, Slovenly, Solid State, Sue Saad and the Next, Super Heroines, Susan Rhees and the Orientals, Taboo Zoo, The Dils, The Leaving Trains, The Long Ryders, The Reactors, The Spell, The Textones, To Damascus, True West, Vivabeat, Voodoo Church, When Kids Are Alone, White Glove Test, Zippers

Legal Weapon, Interior Hearts (Arsenal Records, 1985)

Disk 1

1 Saccharine Trust — Drugstore Logic (1986) 2:28

2 Legal Weapon — Too High (1985) 4:14

3 Great Buildings — One Way Out (1981) 3:35

4 The Dils — Sound Of The Rain (1978) 3:21

5 Mood of Defiance — Sticky Lips (1982) 2:33

6 When Kids Are Alone — The Sand The Surf and the Sea (1987) 3:48

7 Dred Scott — I Believe You All (1979) 2:34

8 fIREHOSE — Honey, Please (1987) 2:23

9 Susan Rhees and the Orientals — There's Something In The Air (1983) 4:32

10 White Glove Test — Peter (1986) 3:04

11 The Spell — Invisible Target (1984 ) 2:53

12 The Leaving Trains — Leaving Train (1984) 2:34

13 Painted Willie — Ragged Army (1984) 1:47

14 True West — Lucifer Sam (1982) 3:12

15 Slovenly — Sand (1987) 3:32

16 Vivabeat — Napalm Springs (1982) 4:33

17 When Kids Are Alone — Clouds Colliding (1986) 4:03

18 Sue Saad and the Next — Young Girl (1980) 3:56

19 Zippers — You're So Strange (1977) 2:45

20 The Long Ryders — Too Close To The Light (1987) 4:12

21 The Reactors — It's Hard to be a Rebel (1980) 2:34

22 Red Scare — Flight 007 (1984) 2:46

23 Legal Weapon — Death Of Innocence (1982) 3:35

24 No Crisis — She's Into the Scene (1982) 2:48

25 Super Heroines — I'm Not Here (1982) 2:13

Susan Rhee and the Orientals, s/t 12" (Real Records, 1984)

Disk 2

26 Dinosaurs With Horns — Dinosaurs With Horns (1983) 1:13

27 Solid State — These Times (1983) 3:27

28 Rank And File — Rank and File (1982) 4:51

29 Great City — Night Flight to Tangiers (1986) 5:05

30 Vivabeat — The House Is Burning (but there's no one home) (1982) 4:15

31 White Glove Test — Dream #10 (1986) 3:41

32 Voodoo Church — Live With The Dead (1982) 2:50

33 To Damascus — Hearts to Cry (1986) 3:54

34 Taboo Zoo — I'm Alive (1983) 3:41

35 When Kids Are Alone — The Thinnest Line (1987) 3:59

36 Legal Weapon — What's Wrong With Me (1982) 3:54

37 Mood of Defiance — Girls in a  Painting (1982) 2:37

38 The Leaving Trains — 10 Generations (1986) 3:39

39 Secret Hate — Rixadik (1983) 1:31

40 Slava Ranko — Twin god babies (1981) 5:48

41 Great Buildings — Maybe It's You (1981) 5:06

42 The Reactors — Heretic Song (1980) 2:56

43 Con Safos — C/S (1983) 7:43

44 The Textones — Vacation (1980) 1:47

45 Vivabeat — Henry James (1982) 4:42

46 Susan Rhees and the Orientals — Little Miss Proper (1983) 4:09

47 The Long Ryders — Born To Believe In You (1987) 3:10

---

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 14

November 25, 2012, 6:34 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 15

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 13

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2


Featured Acts:

8088, Agent Orange, All, Blackbird, Blue Daisies, Boyd Rice, Bulimia Banquet, Burning Sensations, Chas Smith, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Cold September, Crimony, Failsafe , Holy Sisters of the Gaga Dada, Jesters of Destiny, Kim Rosenfield, L.A. Burgers, Lawndale, Mark Lane, Mumbles, New Marines, Nick Paine, Paul Roessler, Raszebrae, Red Temple Spirits, Scott Fraser, Steaming Coils, Sunset Bombers, Susan Rhee and the Orientals, Swamp Zombies, The Dull, The Flesh Eaters, The Screamers, Tom Stevens, Trotsky Icepick, Venus And The Razorblades, Zimbo Chimps

Cold September, Looking Up At Them At Me (Azra Records, 1986)

Disk 1
1 Blue Daisies — Suck Me (1985) 5:50
2 All — Alfredo's (1988) 3:52
3 Cindy Lee Berryhill — Damn, Wish I Was A Man (1987) 3:06
4 Mumbles — Diamond (1990) 4:09
5 Kim Rosenfield — Four Selections From The Book 'Some Of Us' (1983) 3:19
6 Sunset Bombers — I Can't Control Myself (1978) 3:34
7 Crimony — Vampire Party (1988) 2:37
8 Holy Sisters of the Gaga Dada — For Pete's Sake / Shades Of Gray (1986) 3:05
9 Cold September — Veil Of Guise (1986) 4:16
10 Nick Paine — California Beaming (1981) 3:58
11 Zimbo Chimps — In A Cave (1985) 2:49
12 Raszebrae — Stray People (1985) 3:09
13 Tom Stevens — Telephone (1982) 3:37
14 Chas Smith — Santa Fe (1982) 2:27
15 The Screamers — Punished Or Be Damned (1978) 5:25
16 Steaming Coils — Golding Operations (1987) 3:24
17 Lawndale — Interstellar Caravan (1986) 2:52
18 8088 — Stick Man (1985) 3:15
19 The Flesh Eaters — Sleeping Sickness (1980) 1:42
20 Paul Roessler — Mouse Maze (1983) 1:21
21 Blackbird — More (1987) 5:09
22 Failsafe — 1943 (In Germany) (1984) 3:33
23 Jesters of Destiny — Diggin That Grave (1986) 5:13

Zimbo Chimps, 7" (Budget Ranch Records, 1985)

Disk 2
24 Trotsky Icepick — Home Surgery (1993) 3:09
25 Susan Rhee and the Orientals — I Love You I Hate You (1984) 4:02
26 Boyd Rice — Untitled (1977) 1:40
27 All — Sex In The Way (1988) 2:19
28 Red Temple Spirits — Soft Machine (1989) 4:20
29 Burning Sensations — Pablo Picasso (1984) 4:00
30 Mark Lane — Love Is So Aggravating (1981) 2:34
31 L.A. Burgers — Hello Goodbye (1980) 2:00
32 Agent Orange — Fire In The Rain (1986) 3:20
33 Scott Fraser — Communique (1988) 7:08
34 Mumbles — Johnny Go (1990) 7:16
35 Zimbo Chimps — Inca Vacation (1985) 5:21
36 Bulimia Banquet — Allansan (1989) 1:45
37 Swamp Zombies — We Just Don't Belong (1989) 4:14
38 The Dull — She's a Nuclear Bomb (1986) 4:31
39 New Marines — Do It For Science (1983) 3:38
40 Raszebrae — Purity (1985) 3:01
41 Blackbird — Time To Go (1987) 6:14
42 Paul Roessler — Dull Dreary World (1983) 3:29
43 Venus And The Razorblades — Punk-A-Rama (1978) 5:19

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 15

December 18, 2012, 8:28 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 16

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 14

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

A Noise Agency, Blackbird, Burning Sensations, Caterwaul, Christian Lunch, Cindy & the Gidget Haters, Deception Bay, Ethan James, Francis X and the Bushmen, Friends of Ghosts, Game Theory, Gary Panter, Gary Panter & Jay Cotton, Gone, Gothic Hut, Her Movie, Hollywood Squares, Human Drama, Lawndale, Marina Swingers, Motor Totemist Guild, Naughty Sweeties, Non Credo, Peace Corpse, Pilgrim State, Project 197, Scott Goddard, Shut Up, Silver Chalice, Smegma, Steve Tetzloff, Swamp Zombies, Ten Foot Faces, The Act, The Fiends, The Last, The Orchids, The Unknowns, Tim Lee & Matt Piucci (Gone Fishin'), Trotsky Icepick, Visiting Kids

Friends of Ghosts, Realm of the Senses (self-released, 1986)

Disk 1

1 Friends of Ghosts — Sinister Daze (1987) 2:52

2 The Unknowns — The Streets (1982) 2:42

3 Francis X and the Bushmen — Grey Talk (1987) 4:15

4 Visiting Kids — Nepotism (1990) 3:15

5 Peace Corpse — Mental Malady (1986) 3:12

6 Pilgrim State — Deathwish (1983) 3:24

7 The Orchids — Radio Dream (The Last Song) (1980) 1:50

8 Swamp Zombies — A Simple Desultory (1985) 2:16

9 Ten Foot Faces — Get Out of That Tree (1986) 2:23

10 Motor Totemist Guild — Get Angry (1984) 2:43

11 Naughty Sweeties — Wonder Will I Get Mine (1980) 3:11

12 Her Movie — Camouflage (1981) 2:11

13 Caterwaul — On the Front Porch (1988) 2:48

14 Silver Chalice — Evil Birds (1985) 4:13

15 Gary Panter & Jay Cotton — God Save the Queen (1989) 3:15

16 Project 197 — Plastic Straws (1980) 2:23

17 Gone Fishin' — Too Many Eyes (1986) 3:11

18 Human Drama — Old Man (1989) 3:43

19 Cindy & the Gidget Haters — Pogoin's For Me (1980) 2:18

20 Scott Goddard — Your Fool (1984) 3:01

21 The Act — Telephone (1981) 4:06

22 Lawndale — Gone Fishin' (1986) 4:25

23 Ethan James — The Absinthe Drinker (1990) 2:56

24 Game Theory — Book of Millionaires (1986) 2:20

25 Trotsky Icepick — Cornfield (1989) 4:55

26 Deception Bay — All My Future (1991) 4:50

Ten Foot Faces, Daze of Corndogs & Yoyos (Pitch-A-Tent, 1986)

Disk 2

27 Gothic Hut — Undermatter (1988) 5:37

28 Smegma — Die Wo-Wo (1979) 1:36

29 Swamp Zombies — Fire & Dogs (1985) 3:31
30 Shut Up — Every (1986) 1:39

31 Ten Foot Faces — Don't Want Love (1986) 2:33

32 Friends of Ghosts — Eleven Boy (1986) 2:09
33 Caterwaul — A Flower and a Stone (1987) 4:08

34 Gary Panter — Tornader to the Tater (1981) 3:16

35 The Unknowns — Crime Wave (1982) 2:05
36 Hollywood Squares — Organized Crime (1978) 3:22
37 The Fiends — Ramblin' Rose (1984) 2:08

38 Pilgrim State — Trilogy 1 (1983) 2:31

39 Non Credo — Wild Humans (1988) 3:08

40 Burning Sensations — Belly of the Whale (1983) 5:00

41 Trotsky Icepick — Clown On Fire (Version) (1986) 0:58
42 Gone — Ch. 69 (1986) 3:25

43 Christian Lunch — This Media Sucks! (1990) 4:30

44 Gone Fishin' — Touch The Gold (1986) 3:23
45 The Last — Somebody New (1989) 3:41
46 Scott Goddard — Panic in Van Nuys (1984) 2:47
47 Marina Swingers — Admiralty Way (1979) 3:03

48 The Orchids — Girls (1980) 3:30

49 Steve Tetzloff — Not An Enemy (1985) 3:32
50 Gothic Hut — Take a Look and See (1988) 2:45

51 A Noise Agency — Fun (1985) 1:13

52 Blackbird — What Goes On (1989) 6:59

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 16

December 24, 2012, 5:51 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 17

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 15

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

3D Picnic, 5uu's, Andy & the Rattlesnakes, Benedict Arnold And The Traitors, Bluebeard, Cliche, Corpus Delicti, Dennis Cooper, Departmentstore Santas, Dyan Diamond, Failsafe, Frank Zappa, Friends of Ghosts, Iron Curtain, Jon St. James, Kim Fowley, Kommunity FK, L7, Left Insane, Malabolge, Mary's Danish, Meat Puppets, Mellow Man Ace, Modern Warfare, New Marines, Rich La Bonté, Rubber City Rebels, Scott Goddard, Sin 34, Sixtieth Parrallel, Stewart Copeland / Stanard Ridgway, Stukas Over Bedrock, Tender Fury, The Bullets, The Last, The Point, Them Rhythm Ants, This Ascension, Wall Of Voodoo, What Is This, What Makes Donna Twirl?

5uu's, Bel Marduk and Tiamat (U:r Records, 1985)

Disk 1

1 Frank Zappa – Duke of Prunes (1979) 4:20

2 Andy & the Rattlesnakes – Patience (1982) 4:11

3 Wall Of Voodoo – Longarm (1980) 3:46

4 Corpus Delicti – Child Child (1984) 4:45

5 Dennis Cooper – Seven Poets Chosen By John Ashbery (1983) 2:18

6 Mary's Danish – Don't Crash the Car Tonight (1988) 3:22

7 Malabolge – Rains Come Down (1985) 3:36

8 The Point – Pothead (1983) 5:47

9 Kommunity FK – No Fear (1983) 5:13

10 Departmentstore Santas – Kaleidoscope (1984) 2:49

11 Meat Puppets – Tumblin' Tumbleweeds (1983) 2:00

12 Bluebeard – The Good Life (Turnin Tricks For Her Man) (1978) 4:27

13 What Is This – I'll Be Around (1985) 5:07

14 Modern Warfare – Dayglo (1980) 1:00

15 3D Picnic – Murdermaid (1991) 3:03

16 Kim Fowley – Visions Of The Future (1978) 3:30

17 Mellow Man Ace – Mentirosa (1989) 4:18

18 This Ascension – Groove (1989) 4:19

19 Friends of Ghosts – Juju Digby Juju (1986) 3:57

20 Iron Curtain – The Burning (1987) 5:01

21 Sixtieth Parrallel – Into Bliss (1988) 3:18

22 L7 – Snake Handler (1988) 2:29

This Ascension, Tears in Rain (Tess Records, 1989)

Disk 2

23 5uu's – The Birth Of Ancient Internationalism (1985) 4:04

24 The Last – You (1989) 4:47

25 Benedict Arnold And The Traitors – Kill The Hostages (1980) 1:52

26 Scott Goddard – Nikita Kruschev (1983) 1:27

27 Wall Of Voodoo – Mexican Radio (1982) 3:58

28 Tender Fury – Slaughter the Lion (1987) 3:44

29 Them Rhythm Ants – 50 Opinions on Death (1981) 1:00

30 What Makes Donna Twirl? – Amber Skin (1986) 6:04

31 Stukas Over Bedrock – Bedrock Bedlam (1983) 1:04

32 Dyan Diamond – In The Dark (1978) 4:01

33 Corpus Delicti – No Conflict (1984) 2:56

34 The Bullets – That Certain Glow (1987) 3:48

35 Failsafe – You Live Your Life (1981) 3:08

36 Jon St. James – The Girl Who Seduced the World (1984) 5:49

37 This Ascension – Alex Kidd (1989) 3:55

38 Left Insane – Anastasia (1990) 4:25

39 Rubber City Rebels – Paper Dolls (1979) 2:30

40 The Point – All My Life (1983) 2:04

41 Sin 34 – New Wave Slut (1983) 1:04

42 Malabolge – When You See Her (1985) 2:32

43 Rich La Bonté – Chance Circumstance (1980) 4:37

44 New Marines – Too Far (1988) 4:14

45 Stewart Copeland / Stanard Ridgway – Don't Box Me In (1983) 5:05

46 5uu's – Birth Of The Scale Of Life (1985) 3:22

47 Cliche – I Ran from Iran (1980) 2:49

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 17

January 13, 2013, 3:59 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 18

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 16

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2

Featured Acts:

A Noise Agency, Alisa , Angry Samoans, Atila, B.L.O.C., Black Flag, Bob Beland, Bruce Joyner and the Plantations, Camper Van Beethoven, Christian Lunch, Crimony, David Roback, Death Ride 69, Dim Dandy & The Dolts, Earle Mankey, Eddie Call, Eleven Sons, Extremes , Flash Bouyancy, Fourwaycross, Jane Bond & The Undercovermen, L.A. Burgers, Marty Gras and the Flamingos, Motorcycle Boy, Paniolo, Stan Ridgway, Stever Wynn, Ten Foot Faces, The Bangs, The Bullets, The Middle Class, The Pandoras, The Question?, The Toasters, Tyrants in Therapy, Vena Cava, Wall Of Voodoo, Wednesday Week, Youth Brigade

Alisa, I Want to Be a Prostitute 7" (Ear Movie Records, 1982)

Disk 1

1 Earle Mankey — Mau Mau (1980) 3:18

2 Extremes — Animals Part III (1979) 3:32

3 Alisa — I Want To Be a Prostitute (1982) 2:38

4 Ten Foot Faces — Sex Slave (1990) 3:15

5 Marty Gras and the Flamingos — New Clothes Part 1 (1981) 3:21

6 Marty Gras and the Flamingos — New Clothes Part 2 (1981) 2:01

7 Stan Ridgway — The Big Heat (1985) 4:28

8 Jane Bond & The Undercovermen — I Made Love To a Communist (1985) 3:44

9 The Bullets — Just Another Crime (1987) 3:35

10 Motorcycle Boy — Supersonic (1991) 4:47

11 David Roback — Dinnertime Blues (1983) 0:55

12 The Toasters — Teenage Tease (1980) 3:59

13 The Bangs — Getting Out of Hand (1981) 2:17

14 Death Ride 69 — Elvis Christ (1988) 4:49

15 Flash Bouyancy — Music On The Radio (1980) 4:06

16 Vena Cava — Garden (1991) 3:46

17 B.L.O.C. — You Could Run Away (1991) 4:52

18 The Pandoras — Stop Pretending (1986) 2:40

19 The Middle Class — A Blueprint for Joy (1980) 2:27

20 Stever Wynn — Here On Earth As Well (1983) 2:26

21 Bruce Joyner and the Plantations — Deep Green Water (1986) 5:10

22 Black Flag — Its All Up To You (1985) 5:20

23 A Noise Agency — Looking at You (1985) 2:06

24 Atila — Army's Calling (1982) 2:12

Death Ride '69, Elvis Christ (Little Sister Records, 1988)

Disk 2

25 Fourwaycross — Climate And Weather (1986) 9:40

26 Wall Of Voodoo — Far Side of Crazy (1985) 4:03

27 Earle Mankey — Trashman (1980) 3:48

28 Bob Beland — Unhappy Girl (1982) 3:23

29 Angry Samoans — They Saved Hitler's Cock (1982) 1:40

30 Tyrants in Therapy — Three People (Nude Below The Waist) (1984) 6:47

31 The Bullets — A Minute or Two (1987) 3:10

32 The Pandoras — Anyone But You (1986) 3:06

33 Crimony — Reverence (1986) 3:10

34 L.A. Burgers — Color Eyes (1980) 3:03

35 Alisa — I Love An Ape (1982) 1:44

36 The Question? — Distance Apart (1983) 3:16

37 Eleven Sons — A Painted Desert (1983) 4:52

38 Wednesday Week — Missionary (1987) 4:25

39 Paniolo — Red House (1985) 4:40

40 Eddie Call — Gimme A Break (1983) 1:03

41 Dim Dandy & The Dolts — No Disco (1980) 3:35

42 Flash Bouyancy — Do The Ray (1980) 2:42

43 Earle Mankey — Crazy! (1980) 2:58

44 Christian Lunch — Toyfish / Tonnabrix (1979) 4:25

45 Youth Brigade — Sink With California (1983) 4:13

46 Camper Van Beethoven — Take the Skinheads Bowling (1985) 2:33

Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 18

January 30, 2013, 5:30 pm

≫ Next: The Best of Scavenged Luxury

≪ Previous: Los Angeles Post-Punk, Vol. 17

$

0

0

Disk 1 | Disk 2


Featured Acts:

Abecedarians, Alex Cima, Caterwaul, Cathedral of Tears, Chinas Comidas, Circle Jerks, D.O.M.E.S., Departmentstore Santas, Dos, Earle Mankey, Fishbone, Frank Zappa, G-Whiz, Gary Panter, High Rise, Jane Wiedlin, Kim Fowley, Lem, Magnolia Thunderpussy, Minutemen, Moebius, Motor Totemist Guild, Neef, Non Credo, Paul Collins' Beat, Radwaste, Raszebrae , Rhythm Plague, Steve Roach, Suburban Lawns, T.S.O.L., The Jetzons, The Last, The Silver Tears, The Things, The Unclaimed, Vital Sines

Gary Panter, Pray for Smurph (Overheat Records, 1983)

Disk 1
1 Suburban Lawns — Hug You (1983) 4:49

2 The Jetzons — 4-3-1 (1982) 4:18

3 Fishbone — Slick Nick, You Devil You (1987) 4:44

4 Frank Zappa — Bobby Brown Goes Down (1979) 2:49

5 Minutemen — The Glory Of Man (1984) 2:57

6 Gary Panter & Jay Cotton — Artist's Hymn (1989) 2:11

7 T.S.O.L. — Word Is (1982) 2:35

8 D.O.M.E.S. — It's Too Bad, Mother Dear (1985) 3:44

9 Kim Fowley — 1980 - Run For Your Life (1979) 3:12

10 Motor Totemist Guild — Nigh (1986) 4:07

11 Non Credo — Tell Me What You Dream (1988) 3:25

12 Caterwaul — Not Today (1988) 4:01

13 The Last — Book (1988) 6:03

14 High Rise — Run To The Cities (1979) 5:18

15 Circle Jerks — Golden Shower Of Hits (1983) 5:14

16 Neef — Raindance / Lunch Time (1984) 3:40

17 Earle Mankey — Bigger Than Life (1985) 4:55

18 Magnolia Thunderpussy — Outside Inside (1985) 2:49

19 Cathedral of Tears — She Won't Talk (1983) 3:58

20 Chinas Comidas — Lover Lover (1978) 2:28

21 Vital Sines — Mandalay (1983) 5:10

Alex Cima, Cosmic Connection (Polydor, 1979)

Disk 2

22 Paul Collins' Beat — You and I (1979) 2:49

23 Steve Roach — Time for Time (1983) 3:33

24 Moebius — Video Soldier in a Radio War (1982) 4:26

25 Lem — She Was A Visitor (1977) 6:20

26 G-Whiz — Ameasure (1990) 2:05

27 Gary Panter — Oakie October (1983) 4:30

28 Radwaste — Capital (1986) 3:27

29 T.S.O.L. — Silent Scream (1981) 2:46

30 The Unclaimed — Lost Trails (1983) 3:18

31 Suburban Lawns — Protection (1981) 1:57

32 Dos — Don't Explain (1989) 2:47

33 Jane Wiedlin — My Travelling Heart (1985) 4:11

34 Raszebrae — Riding Through Zebra Land (1985) 5:11

35 Rhythm Plague — Dressed For the Apocalypse Part I (1985) 7:19

36 The Silver Tears — High Life (1984) 4:42

37 The Things — Out Of Time (1984) 3:42

38 Caterwaul — Lay Down to Rest (1988) 3:06

39 Departmentstore Santas — Bactol Bank Acct (1984) 4:33

40 Alex Cima — Eight Seven Seven (1979) 5:33

41 Abecedarians — Spaghetti Western (1988) 6:25

This was supposed to be the last one, but as you can tell Mediafire has already shut down these files. Well, fun while it lasted. I'm searching for labels that would be interested in doing a two or three CD comp of the "best of" the most rare material, with a royalty system involved and with remastered files. If you have any ideas, let me know. Thanks for stopping by!