Then the Other...

 

[something something robble robble robble]

 

 The Oswald Cup (1996)

the Technical Jed.

First One

 

[Insert food related nonsense here]

 

 Southern States (1994)

The Technical Jed was a rock band from Richmond, Virginia. They started when Daniel Bartels and David Bush asked Clancy Fraher and Steve Brooking to join them. Fraher taught Bartels some open tunings on his new telecaster, and Daniel began creating his own musical vocabulary that was later set this band apart from the typical 2-guitar bands of the day.

1992 and in the meantime, a nice pair.

 

I'm drinking a whiskey and full of anxiety while listening to Robin Lane and the Chartbusters (got the 3 disc set of their catalog today in the mail).
It's November 3, 2020 as I type.

Think back to that day and you can understand.

I know 2020 was a terrible shitshow of a year all the way around, but while my wife watches election returns in the other room I can't help but wonder if by the time this posts itself if we are all collectively looking back at 2020 with a warm nostalgia at what an idyllic time it was compared to where we are now.

Meanwhile,

 

 

 

Vinegar Blossom (1992)

 

 

This band appears to be from Fleet in the County of Hampshire in the UK.
This single was released on Turntable Friend.
That means it's quality.

According to Discogs this appears to be their sole release on vinyl, though as was usual at the time they have multiple songs on various cassette compilations.
Maybe someday some nice person while compile all that stuff for us, 

in the meantime this is some lovely indiepop

 

 

the Waking Hours (1992)

 

 

On the other side of the Atlantic in Richmond, VA, the Waking Hours were plying their trade with this fine indiepop single on the Brilliant label. This marking their first foray onto vinyl. There seems to be at least a couple or more compact discs that follow.
I'm constantly surprised at the volume of stuff that Richmond and surroundings was producing at this time. Perhaps someone ought to start some scholarly research to bring more indiepop goodness like this to light.

But that could just be the whiskey talking.

I'm Multitasking Again.

 

So a couple of days ago I got a package in the mail from the UK full of wonderful late 80s/early 90s flexi discs of indiepop goodness which some many years from now I may finally get around to posting on this particular shitty blog provided that the Man doesn't shut my shit down in the meantime.

Anyway. Here's some stuff from last year...

 

 Schwa (1993)

A long time ago and nearly a whole other lifetime ago I posted a single by a mystery band calling itself Fashion Central with a catchy as fuck little number called "Count Me In"

Go ahead and watch the video and dig the song. I'll wait. (then go and find the post, it's worth it)

Apparently the band had previously been known as Schwa which is in itself kind of a terrible name because there were at least half a dozen bands using the name at the same time. (see also: Shrimp, Plate O' in the 80s)

So here's their debut pre-name change and obscurity.

Moneyshot (1997)

Schrasj were from Houston, TX.

This is their third single on Rocket Racer who also put out a single by Boyracer.

Take that as a recommendation.

Something to do.

I was listening to/digitizing some new arrivals and thinking about next big things I want to post from recent obsessions.
I ended up quarantining a large list of MN cds from the 90's into their very own folder in the SSC folder titled "MN Rocks" with the intent that in some future time I will spend a few months running down a long list of the local stuff that nobody outside of the Twin Cities Metro ever really heard. Still a few holes I need to plug to make it be what I want so who knows when it will happen.

I'll probably end up running with a Duke Ellington radio bootleg bonanza before that.

Or I'll just continue to peck away with the things that are still clogging up the SSC works waiting for their day in the spotlight.

Speaking of which..

Liquorice (1995)

Discogs sez:

" US indie 'supergroup' Liquorice featured Jenny Toomey (Tsunami (6), Grenadine), Dan Littleton (The Hated, Ida (3)) and Trey Many (His Name Is Alive). Jenny and Dan were close friends and had been playing music together sporadically for the several years. However, commitments to their main bands made collaboration increasingly difficult. In 1995, Ivo invited Jenny to make a one-off solo album for 4AD. She worked with Dan on the demos and Liquorice was born...

I tend to believe them. They seem like they know what they're talking about.

Bad September (1990)


On the other side of the globe and five years previous the Kryptonics from Perth, Australia released their final blurt into the world. Notable for a couple of fine original hard and fast Aussie punk pop and a reasonable cover of the oft covered "Another Girl, Another Planet" by the Only Ones.
It's not the sort of thing you might seek out for itself, but one that you find coming across your random play and nodding along with while you're driving.


Maybe you ought to go on a road trip.

This is not a suggestion.

I Noticed This in the Folder and Decided to Post It Now.

Here's the final piece of a puzzle that I began assembling back in 2014.

Color Blind (1983)

It's the middle release by Acrylix.

I posted their first single back in 2014. 

A good friend of mine in high school really liked it. I hadn't seen him in over thirty years, but we'd reconnected on Facebook as old people do. It was nice to hear from him. He'd occasionally download some of this stuff. He made a point to tell me that one was a favorite.

In 2018 I put up the final 12" with a much more dance oriented mix.

I'm not sure he got to hear that one. 

Sometime that year he died following complications following a BMT for leukemia. 

I regret that I never got to go and have a drink or six with him before that. That would have been fun and a deluge of laughter and Monty Python bits.

it just wasn't in the cards, I guess.

 But life is like that and the older you get the more dead people you know. 

That's just how it is. 

You either know them or are them.

I like to think that he'd really like this one too. (Well, actually I'm pretty sure he'd get a kick out of "Dear John". It's pretty hilariously overwrought and dramatic.)

So this is dedicated to you, James. 

I hope they keep the good whisky wherever you are.

Some Things Exist as Themselves

I really need to eat something, but I'm digging listening to these two first.

 The French Are From Hell (1984)

Very little is to be found on the interwebs about this band. I had a link at one time that can't be bothered to find right now. In the end it doesn't really matter.

What does matter is how fucking good this seven inch is.

I mean, every once in a while I buy something blind. Simply based on random factors like date or one familiar name on an otherwise obscure sleeve. This was recorded by Don Zientara who recorded basically everything in and around Washington DC worth listening to.

The music nerds might say this is some sort of post-punk nonsense with saxophone or something silly like that.

 I just say this one is Gold.

All four songs. Gold.

"Pinned Under a Jet" is arguably the hit, but damn, I wish there was an lp hiding somewhere or a few stray compilation tracks, but sadly no...

I just want some more.

Climb (1983)

Chorus pedal abusing New Wave trio from Boston with at least one member being an Irish expat which explains why some further releases by the band were on an Irish label.

It's still the good stuff.

At least for me, I guess. It has a certain nostalgic appeal that brings back a time and a place and sense memories of the parking lot of the Channel right on Boston harbor where I'm pretty sure I probably saw them at least once for some all ages show. I should have kept a show diary...

It's a compilation day

Why Do You Think They Call it Pop (1994)

01. Sleepyhead - Hot Stuff
02. Dambuilders, The - Pennsylvania
03. Small Factory - Yeah!
04. Versus - Sunburned (Life's a Beach)
05. Polvo - Colonial Arms
06. Monsterland - Sunburn
07. Wingtip Sloat - Leap Into My Velvet Arms
08. Helium - In a Little Box
09. Ruby Falls - Let Me Go
10. Twig - Airplane
11. Greenhorn - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
12. Kudgel - Friction~Ali Baba
13. Grifters - Black Fuel Incinerator

I'm Going to Turn the Coffee Back On

I could use another cup to get through the next few hours.

Farrahclones (1978)

One gets the feeling that Mark Hoback and his band probably didn't get laid much.

First off he's a bit bitter about the number of vapid blondes with the feathered flip hairstyle who just don't have the kind of emotional depth that a complicated man like him requires. He's a real man who knows how to treat a full grown woman. But these easy ladies are just not for him.

Flip the record over and we're into the friendzone and our gentlesir just can't quite seem to take a hint.
He's "left her with his number a number of times" and he's "left her with a number of dimes"* and she still won't call him back and give him a chance to treat her like a real woman deserves to be treated.

It's so sad. Women are so shallow.

*For our younger viewers, before telephones became cameras you could put in your pocket and use to send text messages so you don't actually have to listen to other people talk, there used to exist in public places a thing known colloquially as a "Payphone" which accepted money in order for one to talk to somebody for a period of minutes before rudely cutting you off or extorting another quantity of small change to continue the conversation. In the 70's this price was 10 cents.

Launderette (1981)

Vivien Goldman. 

Dub & reggae influenced single. A-side produced with  John Lydon & Keith Levene from PiL. 

You  can decide if this is in your wheel house. 

At least she's not some kind of Farrah clone.

Today's Adventures in Difficult Listening

A difficult listening post.

Haven't had one of those in a bit now have we.

At least this is pretty damn funny...

Now We Are Six (1986)

This band consists of two fine upstanding gentleman known to the record buying public as Mr. Anus & Mr. Horribly Charred Infant.

We all have regrets. One of mine is that I didn't pull the trigger fast enough to purchase the first Happy Flowers single with "Mom, I gave the Cat Some Acid" because it's still one of the things that make me giggle uncontrollably whenever I listen to it.
Just tickles me pink.

Alas, I was too late for that first gem, but did manage to snag the follow up. This one. It has such lovely little toe tappers as "Mom and Dad Like the Baby More Than Me" and "Daddy Melted" which unfold slowly and painfully over a bed of excruciating noise. Just like spending time with your own family.
Only this is actually funny along with being painful.

At least I did get a very sweet hand written poem with my copy of this gem which I can only assume is a one of a kind piece of art that will not increase in value anywhere in the world

except my heart:

Excuse me a sec. I may cry. Too much  beauty....



Meanwhile let's take a moment to remember that difficult listening comes in many forms

Hardattack (1981)

So here's Hardattack.

It's sometimes billed as a "rare US punk" record.

I'm less convinced.

First off the b-side "Me and You" is some kind of extra shitty wacky white guy reggae concoction that generally causes me to bruise a shin or something scrambling for the "next track" button. 

The band sounds like approaching middle aged guys trying to catch up with the latest sounds of  1981 so they can  regain some kind of relevance. (which I say from a comfortable middle age myself as someone who was never relevant to begin with)

which leads us to the second thing

The better side is the A-side "Sick and Tired of my Friends"

(and presumably why some optimistic and perhaps slightly delusional soul thinks that this single should command a minimum of fifty five US dollars on Discogs. Which is itself an improvement on the whopping hundred previously offered copy. You can ask a million, but there has to be takers....)

It's a relatively fast number with a beat and a certain New Wave bent, a bit of a misanthropic slant lyrically. 

And features the inimitable punk rock guitar stylings of guest artist Jorma Kaukonen who approaches this old person New Wave/Punk thing like he's playing in a Blue Oyster Cult cover band. (which I also say as a fan of B.O.C. "Secret Treaties" gets a fair amount of play around these parts. 

But in this case context matters.)

The whole aging hippie who was in Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna thing kind of kills that "punk rock" vibe for me. But I'm snootier than most. 

Punk rock was invented because of people like this. To spite and despite them. It was my generation's thing. Fuck off, poser. 

Fucking Baby Boomers ruin fucking everything.

That ranted, I mean, it's still probably not the worst record ever made in this vein at the time, but it's far from the top.

At least now you can save your fifty five dollars for something better. 

Like tacos. 

Go buy yourself some tacos.

Waiting for some new singles to arrive

I've got to go to work soon.

I also checked the mail and the other package of singles I ordered still haven't come today.

The first one came yesterday and I ordered them at the same time.

This annoys me slightly, but it will hopefully be worth it.

In the meantime....

Gleaming Spires (1981)

You may think of Posh Boy records as primarily a "punk rock" label, if you think about it at all. (Most people don't. People have weird priorities some times) But into that stable came the Gleaming Spires with their synths. Apparently they played in some kind of incarnation of the band Sparks which is a band who made a million records but for whom I've never actually seem to have known anybody who was a fan.

Anyway. Here they are.

Go to Blazes (1992)

Meanwhile. Go to Blazes. They get me.

Linked by general geography

More or less, give or take etc...

Food For Worms (1981)

These guys were from Baltimore which goes a long way to explaining why their record label is Balto Weird Records. There's a farfisa. Some minor chords and a garagey nu-wave vibe. They don't want to be president. I don't blame them. It would really cut down on how much golf you could play. (At least for legitimate ones anyway.)

Eggs (1993)

These guys were from the DC area and on Teenbeat records.
That is all.

As Eerily Predicted in the Previous Post

Here's the other two singles by Fudge (8)

And the first of which is on the Bus Stop Label.

Spooky.

Astronaut (1992)


Blah blah blah words go here...

Bomb Pop ep (1992)

Even more mindless blather would go here if I felt like it.

Still procrastinating

I  was going to only queue one more post, but here we are.

Presence of Greatness (2001)

On the Bus Stop Label. Bronze was the brainchild of one Paul Handyside who had previously been in an 80's band called Hurrah! that I know fuck all about.

I got this to fill in a gap in my Bus Stop Label singles collection and have listened to it a sum total of twice so far.

We're all in the same boat now.

Girlwish (1992)

This is the debut single by Fudge who are the 8th band with that moniker on Discogs. This particular Fudge were from Richmond, Va. Here's a brief write up they got in the Chicago Tribune. It kind of lays shit out pretty succinctly. Their other two singles on the Bus Stop Label will follow in the next post.

Stay tuned.

Well Fuck You Too (or Holy Fucking Hell Not More Fucking Boyracer)

Fuck You, Tiger (1995)

It's Air Miami again.

That is all.


And also:

Boyracer/Sabine split flexi (1993)

Yeah, more fucking Boyracer. Deal with it.

Sabine are related to Veronica Lake. They share two members in common. I'll post some Veronica Lake sometime later in this century.

You've got nothing better to do

Obscured by the Mists of Obscurity

So it's the middle of the night. I had thought I'd go somewhere earlier, but it got later than I wanted because I've been spending too much time dicking around with this crap. Lucky you.

Fashion Central (1994)

So about the only thing I've ever found about this band is a small video for the song "Count Me In" attributed to a band named Schwa (though Fashion Central is named in the comment) There's girls exercising in the video. It's otherwise just about the catchiest little pop tune you're ever likely to hear today and maybe most of tomorrow as well.

It also says they were from Richmond, VA. As far as I'm aware this is their only released work.
It's kind of unfortunate. I quite enjoy all three songs on this one.

Ekstasis (1977)

The Fans were one of the first of the independent bands that would appear in the fertile crescent of the Athens, Ga scene that also spawned bands like the B52's & REM. They put out three singles and didn't become famous. One of the main guys in the Fans was Kevin Dunn who made a few records on his own that will appear at some point down the line.
This record owes a bunch to the artier side of  concurrent UK at the time but owes a lot more to Roxy Music than the Sex Pistols. Lots of what were probably very very expensive at the time synths and a cover of the Tornadoes 1962 hit instrumental "Telstar" which was produced by the incredibly innovative record maker Joe Meek before he a bit off the deep end and shot his landlady and himself.  Everybody else lived happily ever after.