Firsts

 Yeah, first off, I need a shower.

I'll toss a few in the queue and it's off to the bath for me.

Otherwise here's the first full length of several by Sleepyhead

 

Punk Rock City USA (1992)

More of that noisy distorted pop music in a longer playing format.

Here it's a compact disc from my personal collection.

If I didn't already know what to expect, I'd probably have skipped it based on the cover which is an abomination.

And that's even after knowing that it was released on Slumberland Records which is a label whose releases I generally enjoy.

Yeah. Put it on.
Don't look at the cover.

But also, before I forget.

Sleepyhead still exist in one form or another and play live and have a couple of brand new tunes up on their Bandcamp page as well as some other albums for download. ("Future Exhibit Goes Here"is a compilation of remastered versions of the records that followed this one.) 

Go nuts, kids. 

Let them feel the love.
 

Wake Up!

 Letting things skate a bit here lately. Let the queue run dry.

Getting a bit lost in looking at new cars. The 17 year old one that she bought for $2500 already with 170+k miles on it is reaching a point where I don't feel like it's worth putting any more money into after about five years of driving. I'm feeling like we've already gotten our money's worth out of it, but it's time to update to something more recent and modern.

So many fucking options. So many opinions. Reviews. Sources.

Normally I'd be scouring the used market since I well know that value depreciated significantly the moment you drive it off the lot, but the market is really really fucking tight right now and the price of newer used vehicles is not significantly less than new ones. So with that in mind I'm figuring that I may as well buy a new one. But even those are hard to come by with the chip shortage and all that crap, so it looks like I'm going to have to order what I want through the dealer. Which is certainly a weird situation to be in, but here we are.

Which has nothing to do with anything except that I got up earlier than usual this morning and I'm still a little groggy this many hours later despite two espressos.

You might say I'm a "Sleepyhead"

Play (1990)

Sleepyhead.

Their first bleat straight from the basement of NYU and produced by Kramer of Shimmy Disc/Bongwater/Shockabilly fame and who I think is a much better maker of records than Albini ever was or will be.

There. 

It needed to be said.

Oh yeah, Sleepyhead. Noisy pop music with boy/girl voices.

 

 Fairyboat (1991)

This is the second single and more of the same.
It's one of those sounds that really encapsulates a time for me.
While the rest of everybody was sniffing Teen Spirit for the first time I was here.
This isn't life changing music, but it's, at least for me, kind of like sonic comfort food.
It's good enough and lingers with a pleasant nostalgia on the palate, but not necessarily going to be what I'm humming tomorrow. I will tap a foot while it's playing though.

Sometimes that's more than enough.

Another Bite of the Big Apple

 

Yeah, I'm going to toss off another quick one.

I need to be awake for another hour.

TV Sex Star (1981)

Ok, I couldn't find anything concrete about this band in the scant five minutes of google searching I did and the actual record is still in packed a box in the other room so I can't refer to that either.

The band's name is also really easy to miss on the cover so a lot of times you the actual name, the Agents (one of over a dozen bands that have used the name) gets lost and they're called TV Sex Star.

But it's a perfect storm of 1981.

You have Ronald Reagan on the cover and the presumed subject of the song "TV Sex Star". A bit of white boy reggae that gets mixed up in the NYC punk pop of the rest of it. A whiny synth that makes an appearance. The last three songs are all recorded live.

And it's all surprisingly good. 

It feels like one of those records that just never fell into the orbit of the right people who are interested in and reissue these kinds of things. I mean, the song "No Name" about an L.A. acid casualty with it's super cheesy synth hook is a stone cold classic that ought to be rescued from the ash heap of musical history and brought into the light.

 I originally stumbled across it on somebody else's music blog years ago and liked it enough to track down my own surprisingly cheap as fuck copy.

Perhaps this will inspire you to do the same

Trying to Stay Awake. Trying to Stay Ahead

 

I've been on "vacation". We moved to a new apartment. Things have happened and come and gone and I've let this particular venture sit for a long while with the idea of catching up a little closer to real time for posts rather than setting things up months in advance.

And here we are.
There's only one more post in the queue and I feel like I need to make a cushion or two between myself and the disappointment of the dozen people who stop by here if there's not something new to listen to.

Plus I flipped my sleep schedule to more normal people time for the last couple of weeks and I need to unflip it back to a nocturnal schedule before I go back to work in a couple of days. I'm mostly there, but I'm using this to keep myself occupied and awake for another hour or two so as to lessen the inevitable wrenching horror that will be trying to get back to my normal sleep habits.

The other thing is that I'm running out of the free space on the Mediafire account and I'm thinking I might have to start deleting things. I mean, nothing was ever meant to be permanent but so long as I had the space and nobody got their panties in a ruffle about it I was willing to keep them up given that the internet is just rife with dead ends when it comes to these kinds of blogs.
I figure seven or so years is a good long time. I probably won't do any reposts. I've got plenty of other stuff to go up.
Consider it a heads up.

Playtime (1990)

This is one of those things I've had kicking around for a while without listening to. It came as a bonus record or extra packing or something with a package of other records. I had no idea what it was so it languished until a day when I was curious about whether I was going to listen to it or sell it or toss it or something.
I listened to it. I kinda liked it.

It turns out that Marc Jeffrey was previous to this solo effort in Band of Outsiders whose beginnings are in that Power Pop/Punk rock nexus that was New York City in the late 70's in a band which morphed into Band of Outsiders in the early 80's and limped along through several albums before dissolving at the end of the decade. (though they apparently reformed in the teens of this century for one more album) Based on some of the things I found in the last ten minutes it feels like they were much more enjoyed by a European audience than over this side of the pond.

Which is neither here nor there where this particular Lp is involved. This is a Marc Jeffrey solo Lp produced by Ivan Kral (of Richard Hell and the Voidoids fame) and with a secret uncredited appearance by Nikki Sudden which makes perfect sense when you listen to the record.

All in all I'm going to call this one a pleasant surprise for a "free" lp.
It's not ever going to be the first thing out of the stacks when I'm thirsty to listen to something, but I'm not going to be getting rid of it anytime soon.

If that makes any sense to y'all.

An LP and an Article

 

Blah Blah Blah

 

 Stop Those Songs (1983)

This contemporary December 21, 1983 article from the NYT says more than I care to.

"

VEFFECT, a rock band that has been associated with the experimental music scene on Manhattan's Lower East Side, recently returned from a European trip that included performances in Czechoslovakia. Western rock bands have rarely ventured into Eastern Europe because governments there tend to be suspicious of rock. Yet a little-known New York band, with no record company or high-powered manager to back it up, succeeded where many rock stars have failed.

V-Effect was performing in Western Europe and recording its first album in Switzerland when an associate, Fred Frith, a British guitarist, provided a contact with the Jazz Section, an officially sanctioned organization in Prague that publishes a music magazine and puts on concerts. ''We were told that official permission to play there is difficult to obtain and that concerts are often canceled at the last minute,'' D. Zonzinsky, V-Effect's saxophonist-vocalist, said the other day. ''We decided to take our chances, and it only took around 20 minutes to drive from Vienna to our first concert at a student center.''

Prague was not that simple. ''There was an official campaign against new-wave rock going on,'' Mr. Zonzinsky reported. ''And the kids were fighting it, writing in to the newspapers saying 'Don't knock the rock.' Apparently this was the first time significant numbers of Czech young people openly complained about Government suppression of popular music. Our concert in Prague was canceled, so we ended up playing for invited guests in someone's backyard. People were very excited by the music, and we got into some interesting discussions with them. They felt very alienated from the Soviet bureaucracy, and they were as disturbed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as we are by American involvement in El Salvador.''

During the last two years, Mr. Zonzinsky has been working with the bassist Ann Rupel and the drummer Rick Brown as V-Effect, creating fresh idiosyncratic music inspired principally by Ornette Coleman and the Sex Pistols. V-Effect attracted critical attention last year, when two of their songs were highlights on a Zoar Records anthology album of Lower East Side bands called ''Peripheral Vision.'' Now there is a V-Effect album, ''Stop Those Songs'' (Rift Records), most of which was recorded in studios in Switzerland and New York but with a few excerpts from the trio's performances in Czechoslovakia.

V-Effect's songs frequently express the band's political commitment, but they are refreshingly free of hectoring and camp. The group shows exceptional ingenuity in the wild variety of moods and feelings it expresses, with what most musicians would consider a severely limiting instrumentation. The music has a terseness and lucidity, and a supple elasticity of rhythm and line, which one encounters more frequently in jazz than in music that is nominally rock.

''Right now, we're uncertain about the future of the group,'' said Mr. Zonzinsky. ''There really isn't a nurturing or sustaining downtown rock scene anymore, and with the scarcity of decent club gigs, bands like ours are struggling. Maybe the album will open up some opportunities for us.'' ''Stop Those Songs'' is distributed by Rough Trade of San Francisco and London and is available by mail from New Music Distribution Service, 500 Broadway, New York 10012."

Compilations & Other Things to Embarrass People With

I swear I have a shit ton of indiepop in the pipeline..

Marty Thau Presents 2x5 (1980)

1.“Shadow Line” Fleshtones
2.“Fascination” Fleshtones
3. “Bloodless Pharaoh” Bloodless Pharaohs
4.“Nowhere Fast” Bloodless Pharaohs
5.“Overseas” Comateens
6.“Late Night Cry” Comateens
7.“Red Hot Women” Revelons
8.“Cindy” Revelons
9.“Looks” Student Teachers
10.“What I Can’t Feel” Student Teachers

Ok, you can never embarrass the Fleshtones because there's no shame in being consistently awesome.

However if you ever run into Brian Setzer you can always hum a few bars of "Nowhere Fast" by his pre-Stray Cats band, Bloodless Pharaohs. It's really hilariously terrible.

Student Teachers had a single on Ork Records. That's a heavy recommendation.

Comateens are/were. I have no feelings of animosity or love.
 I'm feeling very neutral. (Tell my wife, hello)

A Quick One and I'm Away

I got nothing.

Modern Gal (2001)

Bunsen Honeydew.
From New York.
Their final release under that name on Little Teddy Recordings.

The little label says "Original New York Punk Rock"

Don't take that at face value.

I can't remember how I came to have this. Part of me wants to say it was a bonus that somebody threw in the box with a large order of 45s and another part of me thinks I picked it up for a pittance because it was on Little Teddy.
Either way. I got my money's worth.

Sideshow All the Way (1996)

Flowchart.

This is very pleasant to listen to on a rainy day.
I hope it's raining where you are.

Still Alive Somewhere in your Past

I'm typing this from the great quarantine days of April 2020.
Still alive and kicking as of then.
So you get a few more posts since I don't have a whole lot going on around here otherwise.

Monterey (1999)

The Write to address is Brooklyn, so I'm going with that.

This is the sole proof of the existence of the band that called itself Monterey.

Nice strummy indiepop from the waning days of the 20th Century.

A fine example of the time and genre and vinyl when almost nobody bought it.

I Know a Girl (1995)

Meanwhile and in the same general time period and area, All About Chad concluded their four year run of pop songs about girls with this single ahead of their sole full length "Down in Front"
That's about all I know or feel like I need to know at this juncture.

*

No Talking.

Just posting.

Google is your friend.

The Greatest Time ep (1995)

the Mad Scene

Relentless (1990)

Men & Volts

One More Before I Eat Something

Low blood sugar.
No typing.

Apt. 621 (1982)

Synthpop from NYC in the early 80's.

Need I say more?

More 60s Shite

I'm tired and need to make coffee.

The Girl I Love (1965)

One of at least five different bands calling themselves the Lost Souls all at about the same time in different parts of the world.

Of special note is that this is NOT the Long Island band that foisted Billy Joel upon the world as a musician. This one is actually listenable.

This one was on Bang Records and as such like the Strangeloves probably didn't exist as anything but a studio creation of the producer looking to make a buck or two off unsuspecting teens. If either song had become a hit they'd have recruited some enterprising young men to impersonate the concept for a paying audience. It didn't so they didn't bother.

Too bad, the flip here "Simple to Say" is a nice garage number.

All You've Got (1967)

Here they're called the Lovin', but previous to that Children, after that the Nerve and finally Duffy Taylor Blues.

Here they make a nice Mod Pop racket for you and your Vespa.

All the Marbles

Robert Schneider wasn't the only one who called a project Marbles

Marbles (2006)

Once upon a time in mid-70s New York City a group of gents called themselves Marbles and put out a couple of insanely good pop singles that should have enshrined them in the halls of Valhalla, but instead they languished in obscurity and were all but forgotten.

The first single was "Red Lights" and came out on Ork Records. (I'm holding out for a copy with the elusive picture sleeve. It's one that I need an original copy of.)

I picked up the second single years ago in a dollar bin and played the fuck out of it. The kind of record you play multiple times because it's just that good.

 "Forgive and Forget" is the shit, man.

In 2006 Vinyl Countdown compiled both singles and a bunch of live tracks onto this lp that I felt like I paid too much for at the time, but maybe not so much now.

This is complex, intricate and well written and catchy pop songs.

You need this in your life.

Bi Coastal

First off,

Let's establish a few things here.

This post is of two bands with releases in 1981 from each coast of the continental United States. One based in New York, New York and one based in San Francisco, California.

It is not in any way related in any way shape or form to the 1980 record "Bi-Coastal" by the late Peter Allen which was the first album he released after divorcing his beard, Liza Minnelli and coming out of the closet. Which was great for him, but not much of a surprise to anybody (except maybe Liza.)

That was this:

This record was a particular favorite of my mother who would play it quite a bit on the 8 track in her Pontiac.
 I loathed it.

And still do.
It's dreadful stuff.



This post however is something entirely different.

Entirely

Wolvarines (1981)

Wolvarines were from San Francisco.

They made a primitive pop noise and left almost no physical record of their existence beyond this sole seven inch vinyl record.

However a diligent five minutes of intense googling did unearth a short section of a live radio broadcast which can only add to the mystery.

Reasons for Change (1981)

Meanwhile on the other side of the country and the other other coast...

David Leonard and his group were making a much more polished power pop sound in New York City.

There's a more recent picture of him in the gallery section where he's playing through a Supro Thunderbolt amplifier. I can't hate a dude who plays a Supro, even if it's one of the new revived ones rather than the old school ones I've owned and treasured through all those years gear snobs would sneer at them. Now they're cool and valuable and I've been vindicated. Suck it gear snobs.

So there's that too.

So We're Taking Our First Halting Steps

The first real post of 2020 not tied to a date.

As it is I'm typing this up from February of 2019 which I realize is just as fucking crazy.
I'm hoping that the rest of the year improves and 2020 gets even better.

Or at the very least that the Powers That Be will leave me and this silly thing I've been doing the fuck alone.

So here we go

Back in the 80's (1980)

I wasn't really sure where to place the Major Thinkers. They were based in NYC, but the major players were Irish. So there's that.

I'm going with New York.
It's good no matter where it's from. There's some nice synth stuff on there too.

This one pleases me.

Silence on the Radio (1980)

Here you go. Cross Louisiana off your Fifty States card.

Punk rock from the Crescent City.

There's something you don't hear every day.

Now you can.

You're welcome.

Let Me Save Your Lame Ass Party for a Second Year

Holy Fuck.

It's been a whole fucking year.

Y'all need more Fleshtones in your life.

Hexbreaker! (1983)

This is a party album by a party band.

Keep this handy when your New Year's starts to get lame.

You need to be fully prepared in the event a Toga Party should break out in your vicinity.

(Especially if you're the one who realizes the absolute need for one if there is any slight hope of salvaging any occasion)

It's too late for me, but you...I pass this on to you....Use it well, my children.

Boxing Day 2019

 Yeah, it's Boxing Day

This isn't a box.
It's a record.
It's square though.
(at least the cover is.
the record itself is
a flat disc shape.
Not a square.)
Perhaps, though
the cover could
in a pinch serve
as one side of a cube
of some sort
then it would be part
of a box.

So then this is
a potential part
of a box.

Revere (1980)

All signs point to this 12" slice of rhythm & new wave point being a New York City creation. I'm basing this on the label address and where it was recorded. Of a minor bit of interest is that it was produced by session musician (for folks like Brian Eno) and touring band member for Talking Heads, Busta Jones. (He also played bass with Jerry Harrison's side project the Escalators)

Of further minor interest will follow in the next post and concerns the drummer, Lisa Wexler.

 A quick google turns up that she is the daughter of Jerry Wexler, famed executive and producer for Atlantic Records. I did not put those dots together until just now, but isn't actually the thread I'm looking at to link to the next post....

Head Cold

I've got a head cold.

Post nasal drip and the accompanying sore throat. Runny nose and all the usual crap involved.

So there we are.

Merge (1981)

Jah Scouse.

Some white guy reggae toasting while being backed by the Moxham brothers of Young Marble Giants fame. You get the song and as per usual the reverb filled dub version on the flip.

Usually this sort of stuff annoys the crap out of me, but this one is actually much easier on the ears than expected even without being high as fuck.

Janis & the Bumble Bees (1979)

There is fuck all I could find about Janis & the Bumble Bees in five minute and my keyboard is still  piece of shit. (I'm seriously having to cut & paste in every instance of the letter "s" & "a") Here is a link to 13 Things you Didn’t Know About The Bumble Bee

Here's Your Party Album

Hopefully this missive gets to you in time to save whatever lame New Year's Eve party you're going to tonight.

Roman Gods (1981)

Here is one of the greatest party records of all time by one of the greatest live acts of all time, the Fleshtones.
This is music made for playing loud and drinking beer to. Its raucous and fun and dumb and everything you need to liven up any festive occasion.

Seeing the Fleshtones lives was a guarantee that you would emerge at the end drenched in sweat from nonstop dancing and probably pretty happy and drunk at the same time. They never failed to deliver and it was always a good fucking time.

Really. There's a documentary to watch about them. It's inspiring.

Do yourself and others a favor and tear whatever lame bullshit is likely to be played and chuck this on.

You're Welcome.

The Return of the Son of Both Sides of the Pond

I got nothing.

Hearts in Exile (1978)

the first single by the Homosexuals.

It's fucking brilliant.

Get more of their music.

Hose (1982)

The first single on Def Jam records.

No, I'm not kidding. This is Rick Rubin's college punk rock band.

It's fucking...well, maybe not "brilliant",
but it's noisy and dumb and you could clear a party with it.

I can respect that.

Triple Play Harkening Back Towards the Beginning

This one completes something started at the beginning of this mess.

December of 2014.

That seems like a lifetime ago.
I was so young and full of life. Now look at me. I'm a hollow shell of my former self.

I can't go on and then I do.

It's the other singles by the Hi-Sheriffs of Blue

Ain't But Sweet 16 (1980)

I have nothing to add. According to Byron Coley these guys missed the arbitrary cut-off date to be considered part of the No Wave scene by a matter of weeks.

Cold Chills pts 1 & 2 (1981)

Half of the band was in Boston's the Girls. One became a semi-famous painter.

Tweet split with John Miller (1981)



This is a limited split seven inch they did. The insert explains things so I don't have to.