Oh Yeah, Before I Forget.

 

So while I wasn't as totally productive in some senses this past week, I did accomplish two things.

I drove all the way to Wisconsin to buy another vintage guitar.

A (probably) 1969 Baldwin/Burns Split-Sound "Jazz" guitar that is a perfect match for the Baldwin "Jazz" bass I've had for a long ass time.
Both were stripped and refinished in the 70s to natural wood because that's what people did back then.

It's a shame that Jim Burns was such a failure at the business end of things because these guitars are fucking cool. (I also have a 1972 Hayman 1010 from his next failed guitar venture. It's a beast.)

Anyway, my hands are tired from playing too much.

So without further ado

Let Go of Your Bad Days (2003)

This is the follow up post about the Salteens.

I played the shit out of this when I got it a while back.

You too may do the same.

Prince Was Telling the Truth

 Sometimes it really does snow in fucking April.

At least it does in Minnesota.

Hopefully wherever you are, dear reader, it's full on fucking Spring and you find yourself every day with the particular dilemma where you have to decide in the morning if you're going to dress for the early morning cold and sweat on the way home or if you're going to be chilly now to be appropriately dressed for later.

It's a nice problem to have.

I mean, it was supposed to be Opening Day for baseball around here just last week but it was postponed due to snow.

Short Term Memories (2000)

The Salteens from Vancouver. That's in Canada.

This is the sunny pop you need to bop along to on a pleasant Spring day.

Enjoy the sunshine.

 

Plus an added bonus:

 

Tomorrow (2000)

Here's a contemporary single to go with the full length that has includes a passable cover of Guided by Voices in "Motor Away" for extra credit.
 

I Have More I'll Get Around To

 I have to keep an eye on the time.

Cabbage Rolls in the oven and all.

I'm not trying too hard right now anyway.

(In-ter/a-bang/) (1996)

The band is Pest 5000. About the only concrete thing I could find online off the first couple of google pages was that they were from Montreal, Canada.

I picked this up years ago after I snagged a couple of singles on a whim for a buck apiece and liked them.

They're still deep in the boxes and I've been really unmotivated lately so I just keep digging myself deeper into a hole because I also keep buying new stuff.

Someday. Maybe.

But in the meantime. This.

It stayed on my phone for over a year, if that helps.

Minimalism

 We're out of ice cream and I really want some ice cream.

Pictish (1982)

 Rent Boys Inc. Toronto, Canada

The Still Reflex (1981)


Repetition. London, England

Ok, Here's That One Song.

Hard to get around it.

Here's that one song that you may know.

(this also marks a moment when I've got an even hundred posts queued up to almost a year ahead of me. That's a lot of shit..)

Echo Beach (1980)

It's still a great fucking tune.
Martha and the Muffins

Perfect for daydreaming to at the office waiting for your lunch half hour.

Was Ezo (1980)

I should also point out that this was the fifth goddam single they released in 1980 along with two full lengths. A lot of the singles contents would end up on both. Still. that's a lot of activity for one band. That's a Fall/Billy Childish kind of output. Be impressed.

I Mean It.

Blah blah blah..
More of the same.
These guys really deserved better.
This is good stuff.

Saigon (1980)

Flipside is backwards. I included the track reversed as an added bonus.

About Insomnia (1980)

Martha and the Muffins

No. Shut Up

A few quick ones.

Very little typing.
This band was actually quite good at what they did. They however get more or less relegated to a footnote because they had a minor hit which invalidates everything else they ever did or did before. Hate that shit.
If it's good it's good.

Insect Love (1979)

Martha & the Muffins. 

A-side is a remixed version of their first single.

Suburban Dream (1980)

A-side was also on previously mentioned first single. This is their third single.

A Small Variety Assortment

I need to get some shit done.

Here's some sweet prime 7 inch Indiepop compilations.

You may need these.

 Crayola Catastrophy (2001)

A1	–Tugboat Fantastic!	I'll Stick With You
A2	–The Casino Ashtrays	Gilded
B1	–The Summer In Between	Simple & True
B2	–The National Splits	Your David Starship

Since buying this on a whim I've been slowly acquiring every release on the Kittridge Records label. I haven't been disappointed in anything but the purposeful misspelling of "catastrophe" on this record.
It offends my sensibilities.

Kissing Book/Cherry Ice Cream Smile split (1998)

A1	–Kissing Book	Teen Club
A2	–Kissing Book	Just Another Pop Song
B1	–Cherry Ice Cream Smile	Squeaky Clean
B2	–Cherry Ice Cream Smile	Amelia Earhart

One of the hallmarks of mid to late 90's indiepop bedroom label releases besides the low quality of the vinyl and mastering, was choking the sleeve with massive amounts of bits of paper all kinds of haphazardly cut with scissors.

Whole forests were decimated for this.

This one compounds the immense clutter by including a wooden ice cream spoon with the band's name emblazoned on it like we were sitting here forever  with a nice Italian Ice and no eating implement just about ready to dig into it with our fingers out of sheer desperation before buying this single and the day being saved.

I want nice primitive pop songs, not junk that I feel compelled to keep with the rest of the overstuffed package because that's how it came and I have a pathological need for the intactness of things.

Fortunately I got those too.

Bonus material!

Milky Way No. 1 (1991)

A1	–HoneyBunch	Nothing But Trouble
A2	–Small Factory	The Giant Merry-Go-Round
A3	–The Bachelor Pad	Sunshower Sun

I thought I'd already done this one a long while back when I did all the Honeybunch singles. Apparently not. So here you go.

Volume 2

It's the day before Valentine's Day.

Suck it romance.

Ils Sont Fous Ces Gaulois! - Vol. 2 Le Retour! 

Here's the second volume as a companion to the previous volume I posted last month.

It's more of the same only there's even a band from the Belgian Congo.

Upend this record and let it flow over your beleaguered mind like so much absinthe over a sugar cube.

You'll hate yourself in the morning

But probably not much more than you already do.

 

Get Hip to Those Crazy French

Fuck it.

This is the shit you need in your life.

Ils Sont Fous Ces Gaulois! 

A 1997 vinyl compilation of the cool hip sounds of Young French speakers in the middle 1960's from France and Canada.

If you haven't heard this.

You need to.

That's all I have to say about it

 

Both Feet of It

2 Foot Flame (1995)

So after the last record, Peter Jefferies hooked up with Jean Smith from Mecca Normal and ended up working on a bunch of stuff with her.

I'd seen Mecca Normal at one point or another (they might have played with a duo version of Mountain Goats I'd seen in the early half of the 90s)
 I was not a fan.

I had hopes though. They'd even enlisted the services of Michael Morley of Dead C.

It didn't help.
I'm not a fan of this either.

Your mileage will vary, naturally, but I include this one this month for educational purposes only.
Try it.
You may love it.

Both sides of the pond part whatever. I can't be bothered to keep track of this shit.

A post. I am making a post. It looks like this.
It looks like this because this is it.

It is a post.

33 1/3 Rpm ep (1979)

the Government were from Toronto, Canada. You've heard of that place.

Hardware ep (1979)

Hardware were from Cheltenham, UK. You probably haven't heard of  that place until this second. Now you have and you will never not know it from now on.

Eric & Ed

I guess, men's names is today's secret link

Ed's Redeeming Qualities (1989)

I quite enjoyed seeing this weird folk quartet ply their wry craft on Sunday afternoons at the Rathskellar in summer of 1988 or so. (1989?) First met Robyn Hitchcock at one of those before he got up to sing "Rain" by the Beatles with Galaxie 500. It was a magic and weird time with songs so dark that they could only be funny.

This lone and forgotten blog post kind of sums it up and includes a link to some live footage from one of the Ed's Basement shows. I was probably there.

Eric's Trip (1994)

Lo-fi weirdness that found its weary ethereal way onto Sub Pop in the early part of the 90's and got lost there. They deserved better.

Sure, Why Not...

Stuff that I want to post, but have no idea why and no back story to connect the two.

 

 1991 - I am Drunk Every Night Because of the Blue Fur Bosom Girl

Dogbowl (aka Stephen Tunney) of minor renown as the original guitarist of King Missile who had a tiny brush with fame in 1992 with "Detachable Penis" after he'd had left the band.

Dub Rifles (1982)

Some somewhat punk/new wave, somewhat ska stuff from Winnipeg, Canada.

 It's the dual saxophones. Throws the whole genre metric off somehow if you give a fuck about microgenres and such. It's still rock and roll to me.

Another compilation lp.

Because I can and it's my blog and I can cry if I want to.

1979 - The Last Pogo

A live compilation of Toronto bands done as the last hurrah for the closing of the first "punk" club in town. Once again. Hits and misses, A reggae band and a mod band that apes the Jam. Your mileage will vary, but I quite like the Cardboard Brains.

Artists Making Music

Today's installment of 12" eps involves bands of artists making music.

 

UJ3RK5 (1980)

UJ3RK5 were from Canada.  If you're really interested in their story there's a few things to read. I suggest you do that. Or you can simply like them on Facebook and look weird in front of your family and friends. It's your call

3 Teens Kill 4 (1982)


3TK4 have a wiki page. They have a Facebook page. That should provide you with enough to go on. I'm hungry and I'm going to fry up some bacon for my breakfast. I worked all night and got up at 5pm and now it's time eat something. That's how I'm going to spend my time.