Ahead of the Game

 

I don't know.
I went a bit overboard with a somewhat expected windfall and spent a shit ton ordering things online in the past month. It's kind of ridiculous really.
I have more music than I think I'll ever really have the time to listen to and the pile just keeps growing and growing.

Then I rip it and eventually trickle out some of it here and there and you face a similar situation except without the scarcity of shelf space and filing issues that I have.

I mean, I have like nine plus days worth of Duke Ellington music. That's just fucking crazy to me. But here we are....

I need a drink.

Girlish (1995)

Discogs tells me that Racecar at one point went by the name Paint for a track on a compilation called "10 Cent Fix". Duly Noted. It's probably for the best that they changed the name. there's also a track by Racecar on the "Pop American Style" compilation that I'm pretty sure I already posted. (But I'm too lazy to check on that right now) 

All relevant links to the band have long since gone dark, so this is about all we have to know. It's enough. The music has to stand on its own some day.

It's middle 90s indie/power pop with female vocals that was the perfect thing to pop onto a compilation cassette as part of ye olde pre-Tinder dating rituals when the youth roamed the pre-internet wastelands looking for love and affection.

Unfortunately for today's on the go youth they won't be able to share any of this album on a Spotify playlist for a potential mate. It's going to be here or nowhere.

Good luck.

If this helps even person get laid it will have been worth it.

Your Doubtful Mind

 

I'm running out of steam and desire and want to have a snack instead.
So here's a minimal post to tide you over.

Cold Cold Hearts (1997)

The self titled album by Cold Cold Hearts.

They get listed as part of the Riot Grrrl movement of the middle 90s.
But, I dunno. It's all just rock and roll to me.

I Don't Know What to Do with Splits pt 2

[brief rant removed]

Castaway Stones/Dearly (1998)

Castaway Stones were from Washington DC and one of the hundreds of really great bands that involved Pam Berry (Black Tambourine).
Add it to the list.

Dearly were from Minneapolis. That's about all I know. Maybe it's all I need to.

Test Pilot Meets Origami (2000)



Another fine release on Kittridge.

About a year ago I tracked down the dude who ran the label and completed the label discography. He also sent me a Cdr of the unreleased Going Stagg cd (he played guitar in the that band) which is fucking wonderful stuff that at some point blah blah blah...

Which is kind of besides the point of this single, but information is very slim about the origins of both of these bands. This being the only vinyl appearance for both. (though Test Pilot did release a number of cassettes)

Two more contenders for the Indiepop compilation...

I scanned the insert.

She Had a Most Immoral Eye

(bonus points to anyone who gets the title reference.)

The Bitter Air (1992)

Lorelei were a trio from the Washington DC area.

Asleep (1993)

Two singles and then two full lengths done almost two decades apart plus the insanely good "Float my Bed" was on the landmark (for me anyway) Slumberland compilation "Why Popstars Can't Dance" (Posted here a long time ago. Do a search. It's worth it.)

Anyway. that's all I got.

Nothing.

I'm pretty much just piling up a month's worth of posts while listening to other records that may eventually become future posts. Tonight (aka 9 months ago) I'm in a box of newer purchases that I haven't listened to yet and I'm in a section of it with a multitude of bands named Red something. (ie: Red Balune, Red Beat, Red House etc...)

There sure were a lot of "Red" bands.

This has nothing to do with this post.

You Don't Hide So Well (1996)

This band was named Juniper.
There's a Washington DC address on the sleeve.
There's apparently one seven inch previous to this one.
This is the extent of my knowledge.

Other than that.
It's quite good at being what the kids called Indie Rock with excellent female vocals.
This particular one is on Turntable Friend.
That's always a high recommendation.

Think and Die Thinking (1997)

The label and the band went all out on this one. First off there's an actual picture tabbed into the front of the very nicely done sleeve and then they've carefully taped an individual pressed flower onto the back of each sleeve. This must have been quite time consuming and costly to assemble and manufacture.

I applaud the effort and the single itself.

Thanks Juniper.
 It feels all the more special for your attention to the packaging.

Them Them Them

I'm having another record night with some of the things I picked up on a recent jaunt to Seattle, WA. To be honest I spent way more money on records than I really planned or wanted to, but we were only there for a few days, so it was buy it or regret it.

I can mostly afford the records, but I don't have time for the regret.
Middle age is like that.

One fun thing was flipping through the $1 cd bins downtown. Cds are apparently very out of favor these days and some things just don't sell anymore, if they ever did in any capacity to begin with.

Me. Me. Me. (1995)

So yeah, I picked this OOP gem by Air Miami up for a single US dollar. I count this as a complete win. I may be wrong, but know I'm not, that the Washington DC band Unrest deserve another look and posthumous critical reappraisal for their recorded output. They covered a lot of ground in their brief existence leading into Mark Robinson's record label Teenbeat. (which also needs to be looked at again in hindsight)

From the ashes of Unrest, Robinson and Bridget Cross formed the even briefer existing outfit Air Miami which picked up where Unrest left off and a bit further.
It's lovely.

The tl:dr of which is that this their third and final full length is fucking wonderful.

There I said it.

 I can't be bothered to look up and link them, but I know there are a couple of singles also posted sometime last year.

Happy?

You Leave Me...

I have an appointment for my annual physical in the morning. Therefore I am having to fast for the remainder of the night, which normally wouldn't be a problem since I tend not to eat a whole lot during these hours and even less if I'm keeping myself occupied with projects like this crap. But it's the knowing I can't eat that's getting to me. So now I'm extra hungry and more cranky than usual.

Belmondo (1995)

Jean-Paul Belmondo is a French actor who was in enough of those 60s French New Wave Cinema films that even you may have heard of him. I certainly saw as many as I could at second and third run art cinemas back in the 80's whenever I could. I loves me some Goddard and Truffaut.

Belmondo himself rose to fame with his starring turn in Breathless (1960) with Jean Seberg and her pixie cut. He is the epitome of cool with an unfiltered gauloises cigarette hanging from his lip. (and we're just going to pretend that the Richard Gere version didn't happen. It was pretty fucking terrible and Valérie Kaprisky was no Jean Seberg)

This Belmondo is a collaboration of Pam Berry and R. Scott Kelly who were each in a multitude of  other projects that have appeared here and others that will eventually appear and some that I will have to seek out now that I'm aware of them. They're like a one stop shop for all kinds of your 90s indie pop needs. And since I'm currently on a bit of a 90s indie pop kick fits right in with my mood.

More or less, I really want a whiskey...

Helen Love vs. Belmondo (1995)

They also shared a flexi disc with Helen Love who according to Discogs are:

"Cult punk-pop band from Swansea. Formed in 1992 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. For the individual artist in credits please use Helen Love (3)"

Indeed.

Endless Summer in the Middle of Non-stop Winter

Where did we leave off...

(Hold on a sec. I clicked stop on this single too soon. Have to do the whole side over again. Mult-tasking is harder than they make it seem on TV)

Now, where did we leave off....

Into the Action (1980)

Back again with the Insect Surfers.
All you goofy feet wax up your boards and put on a skinny tie because it's time to get totally tubular.
Two groovy sides.

Nothing but blue skies and cool water.

Insect Surfers/the Source split flexi (1983)

A few years later there must have been some kind of feature in Trouser Press because there appeared this little flexi split with label mates on the Insect Surfers label Wasp Records and fellow DC band, the Source.

The Insect Surfers looked like this when they played their song:

Presumably the Source looked different but who can be sure anymore?
It was a very long time ago..

Two Great Tastes

The cat has had her dinner. The wife is sleeping or at least trying to. It's late at night and I got a large package of new things in the mail today very cheaply and while I type up these posts I'm simultaneously digitizing some of them on the other computer.

I'm also restocked on beer and made chicken adobo for the first time yesterday.

It should be a good night.

Wavelength (1980)

When I was a lad, I used to spend many a summer vacation hanging out at my grandparent's house in Washington DC. At some point in and around my middle teens I must have heard this on the local college radio play some tracks from this Insect Surfers ep.. "I'm in Gear" is an earworm of deceitful type proportions. And in those heady long lost days I purchased a copy of my very own.

Somewhere in the intervening years I sold it. I began regretting that decision. But there we are. I regret quite a few records I sold. But as luck would have it, I did eventually find another cheap copy to call my very own. It's this one.

It answers the burning question of what happens if you cross an American New Wave band with a Surf band. The results more or less speak for themselves. Quite positively.
As an added "bonus" there's a very odd stab at Wire's "Ex-Lion Tamer" to round out the process.
It is by no means the highlight of this set.

Filler on the Spectrum Ends

Digging deep again for more from previous entrants because I like completeness when it comes to discographies. I want to have it all. What's the point of having a collection if everything is incomplete?

Good Times (1983)

So back about four whole years ago I posted this Washington DC area based band debut single which some people really seemed to like based on feedback. It's the Acrylix. There's another 12" in between that and this that is perhaps the missing link, but here we have a 12" dance song with an instrumental remix on the flip and a track of nearly two minutes of people clapping and chanting the title for your club mix/roller disco needs.

You're welcome?

The Real World (1985)

And now as a palate cleanser a band I have not previously posted crap by.
They called themselves Don't No and they played hardcore.
The record is on Mystic and is from 1985.

You already know what this sounds like without even hearing it.

You're welcome?

I'm Stalling.

It's bright and early on a Saturday morning and I've been up all night per usual. It's the time I might normally be going to bed, but the landlord is here fixing the toilet and bathroom sink. I have to be up for it.
Well, probably not, but I doubt I'd be able to sleep in the room next door to this activity.
So I'm digitizing records and making with the posts. (I also hope the downstairs neighbor is at his girlfriend's if he wants to sleep in...)

Problem is that I got some new stuff that needs to match up with stuff that is already done and just waiting for the typing part. It's a dilemma.

So instead I'm going back through and seeing what I missed.

Which brings us to this post.

Now you're up to speed.

the Catholics (1980)

I don't know diddly about these guys except that the label is Washington DC based, they do a very white medley of James Brown hits and the other side is a pretty decent tune called "Motor Drive".
That's all I needed. I spent a dollar or less if I recall.

the Cartoons (1983)

The studio they recorded this is in Glasgow. I will assume that the band also hails from that same city.
One side is called "Gee George"

They also do a cover. This time it's a cover of Roxy Music's "Love is the Drug".  What does it sound like? Look at the picture of them on the back cover.

Like that.

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.

A-Hunting We Will Go

Time to crap out another quick post with the band names sharing a theme.

Aren't you fucking lucky.

Egg Hunt (1986)

This was an intensely exciting thing when it came out because it was a one off project by Ian McKaye and Jeff Nelson from Minor Threat. Together they own Dischord Records. It was half of that band making music. We listened to it often. I still like to listen to it. You may too.

 

Duck Hunt (1991)

This is also a one off project on K records by Steve Fisk noted Seattle producer musician & all around good egg and his Pell Mell bandmate Bill Owen.

If I wasn't incredibly lazy I'd look and see if I'd previously posted the single he did in 1980 as Anonymous which is also an odd sonic mish mosh of studio fuckery. I may or may not have. If I didn't I may come back and post it later if anybody gives a shit and maybe asks nicely. But I'm not holding my breath.

I should reference the band names in the post titles

If I did that it would make my life so much easier since I wouldn't be constantly scrolling through the post list trying to figure out what I've put up and what I haven't yet.

I guess I'm still not doing that.

Here's Air Miami

Air Miami (1994)

On Teenbeat. Features Teenbeat mastermind Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross both late of the rather unjustly overlooked Unrest (who I'm always surprised have not been rediscovered by hipsters and made famous.) These are pop songs. You may enjoy them.

Danse Society (1981)

Second single by Danse Society. The Discogs descriptor for it is "goth rock". I'm not necessarily going to dispute that. The sleeve alone already makes their intentions clear.

The Front & Made for TV

 Florida. It's a state full of alligators, old people and where people do very odd things for some reason. "Florida man" is an American archetype that seems to defy logic. While certainly that kind of strange stupidity goes on everywhere, there's such a seeming extreme concentration that occurs on that particular peninsula.

The Front (1982)

The Front were from Florida. This is their second single and is some fine quirky New Wave Pop. It's entertaining and does not involve alligators. I like it. There is even an "official" video for "Aluminum Room"






Made For TV (1983)




 

Made For TV made this little bit of new wave Cold War paranoia in 1983. Nothing interesting pops up on first google and I'm not caffeinated enough to venture beyond the first page. The label is from Washington DC and John Cale was involved. So there you have it. This single will need to be judged on its own merits. You can do that. I believe in you.

The New Wave

If you know where and how to look there are millions of records of bands that appeared, recorded and then slipped back into the darkness with nary whimper escaping to the greater world beyond the band and their immediate friends. I love that shit. Obscurity not for the sake of obscurity, but because it's always an adventure and a gamble. You never quite know what you're forking your hard earned over for. Sometimes it pays off with something good and sometimes you get the lamest AOR nonsense and the occasional shitty half ass ska band.

Acrylix (1982)


So here is Acrylix. There's not much to be found that I've come across without diving deeper into the rabbit hole. They appear to be from the DC area. They apparently released a pair of 12"s later on. The sleeve is a nice New Wave design capsule with the rubberized graphic logo and the hot pink and yellow color scheme that by simply looking at floods one's memory with the scent of way too much Aquanet. The hit side is "Waiting in the Car For You", but the b side... "Dancing in the Middle of Inflation". There's the feeling of the times. Reagan is president. The economy is in the toilet. The threat of nuclear annihilation looms large. At least we can morosely dance about it in day-glo clothes.

 A Single Love (1980)

From Minneapolis and a bit of a mystery. They seem to have lasted far into the ass end of the 80's. There's  a flyer in the First Avenue archive for a show by them in the 7th St Entry as late as 1987. Other than that, I think I'd traced a name on the sleeve to another 90's band a while ago, but I really don't feel up to tracking that down this morning. (I'd need another cup of coffee and an extra fuck to give.) The single itself is another case of "We've got PiL records and we know how to use them." at least as far as the vocals go. "Times of Change" has some nice jangly swirly guitar stuff going on. They probably killed it in 1980.
 

Everything is Right

Change of pace time. It's Lps today.

The Velvet Monkeys put this lp out in 1982. It doesn't appear to have ever been released on Cd and I couldn't otherwise find it online. That's too bad. It's a killer album of 60's inspired tunes with a dark (then) modern twist. They occasionally used synths instead of a farfisa. Also enclosed are the two post-Future singles, a cover of the Classic IV's "Spooky" & a "Colors pts 1 & 2". (the b-sides on both are throwaways unfortunately.)  A few stray tracks made it onto the Rotting Corpse Au Go Go compilation, but it's one that needs to be digested in its entirety. I've had it probably since it came out and every time I pull it out I always think "This is great. I should play this more" and then forget about it for another few years only to rinse and repeat.

 

Future (1982)

If you're so inclined I'll throw in on this post a couple of other compilation Lps with Velvet Monkey related stuff. The 80's were a freakin' heyday for compilations and where the savvy consumer could be exposed to all kinds of new bands by buying them for the one or two tracks they might have by a known entity. Here we have the "No Room to Dance" lp, a compilation of Tidewater, VA bands from 1980. It's a good example of the various styles of New Wave floating about in 1980 from the power pop stylings of the X-Raves to the incompetent faux Jam aping of the Noise (complete with faux English accents again.) & as always some futuristic robot pop from Rock Bottom.

Of interest for our purposes is Citizen 23 who would within the year lose their drummer and move to DC to transform into the Velvet Monkeys. They are easily the highlight of the lp.

Compilations

The other one is a 1981 compilation by the renowned DC Limp label. It's a bit of a corker. Usually label comps will have a few stinkers in there. This one, not so much. The two power pop numbers by Tommy Keane are worth the price of admission alone, but you get some lots more. (I personally am happy with any tracks by the Nurses.) The newly christened Velvet Monkeys contribute ace two tracks for the discerning listener to swallow with their earholes.