Shit happens and then there's a frightening amount of Boyracer

So, I've been away for a bit. Not that the world at large noticed or cared. This blind alley in the rather dodgy section of the internet is usually very overlooked. (And with likely good cause.)

But here's the deal. My old laptop's hard drive went belly up. I got a new laptop. However, new OS meant that the ancient but still functioning scanner no longer worked with it. Plus this Lenovo piece of shit has an annoying tendency to spontaneously crash at least once an hour and usually a lot more than that. (There seems to be an issue with the wireless LAN driver) Plus work has been busy and I haven't had much time or interest in digitizing anything.

Previous to the collapse of my digital world I'd had a big rush to get reacquainted with the at times frantic and noisy, but always a bit too sensitive world of Boyracer. (who were for all intents and purposes Stewart Anderson and all who sailed with him, then and now.) I then went through what I had of their considerable back catalog with fresh vinyl rips. It's not complete by any stretch, but it is pretty expansive and entertaining as fuck nearly all the way through. It seems like it's almost all out of print too which is a bit of a shame. You might have thought that Stewart would have become some sort of underground indie legend given his prolific nature and propensity for noisy and lo-fi pop hooks. (It worked for Robert Pollard...) At some point I'll fill in the last gasps/gaps when the mood strikes me and my wallet and my anal retentive collector nature.

Anyway,  for no other reason than shits and giggles and because it's great summer listening and on a metric shit ton of seven inches, I'm just going to put up everything I've got up to this point..

(If you're a good and honest internet downloader, you should also mosey on over to Jen + Stew which is the label site run by our hero and his wife and buy some of the stuff they're doing now. It's the right thing to do and you'll get mail. Everybody likes getting mail.)


The vinyl deluge that was to be known as Boyracer all started with a single song on a flexi disc which they split with Louisville's own Hula Hoop.

 Fluff split w/Hula Hoop (1992)


These two bands were some sort of kindred spirits it seems, though they sound nothing similar. They shared vinyl space on a full length and on a compilation lp and Stewart and Eric from Hula Hoop would go on to make 4-track recordings under the moniker Hulaboy. A splendid time was had by all.

 Naked (1992)

After another flexi (that I don't currently have) came the first actual Boyracer vinyl on Turntable Friend. I liked that label quite a bit if for no other reason than they made high quality pressings on heavy vinyl. It just feels substantial and like they actually gave a shit. A side is a slow one, but things heat up a bit on the flip. This one almost sounds produced. I dunno. It came in the mail this morning.

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.

Middle of America

Middle of America (1984)

I like punk rock compilation records. There's almost always something on there that makes the purchase worthwhile and the songs are so short that the shitty ones go by pretty quick. This one is from the Chicago area and was presented by the Northwestern University radio station's "Fast'n'Loud Radio" show. It seems a pretty safe assumption that it was a hardcore radio show. (A hardcore DJ being the busiest kind of DJ since they'd only have 30 seconds to a minute most of the time to queue up the next song.) As with all compilations this one is a hit or miss affair, but it's entirely worth the price of admission because it has "I Don't Know" by Chicago's long standing rock and roll tradition, Naked Raygun. I'd almost entirely forgotten that song until I pulled this out.

There's also tracks by other Illinois heavy hitters like Articles of Faith, Rights of the Accused and a weird remix of the Effigies. There's even an early track by Big Black that reconfirms my contention that I am not now nor am I ever likely to be a fan of Steve Albini's. I just find his work to be kind of tedious which is my right as a hard working American to attest to. 

Flipping Through the Dollar Bin

I will occasionally have a look at the dollar bins. While usually it's a vast collection of shitty dance 12"s and Herb Alpert lps and the like, every once in a while you come across something kind of interesting like this masterpiece:

  

Ekstasis (1983)

It's New Wave, but with the vague pretensions of seriousness and pomp of certain aspects of Prog rock. It's bad, kinda, but nevertheless pretty entertainingly so. Prog New Wave. Such a lost musical opportunity that the world was probably never ready for.

Here. I'll let Jim Guido give you some of the skinny:

"...The album as a whole depicts the struggle of urban youth to find their way in a rapidly decaying society. I find it interesting that many of the lyrics of this album have become even more relevant than they were 30 years ago.."

So fucking deep. Really speaks truth. I may just become a Libertarian now.

He's got a slightly remastered version for sale on Bandcamp if you feel the need to upgrade the sound from my cruddy straight from vinyl version. And why wouldn't you? It'll only set you back four bucks, which granted is four times what I paid for my copy, but hey, it's your call.

Chicago Scores

A while back (at least as far as when this post will show up as opposed to when I'm actually typing this up and setting it loose in the queue) I made a quick trip down to Chicago to go and see the big "David Bowie Is..." Exhibit at the MCA Chicago. It was fab and had a bunch of stuff and costumes and ephemera. David Bowie's cocaine spoon was on display. It was a wonderful time.

While I was there I got to hang with a wonderful friend I hadn't seen in way way too long and she proceeded to chauffeur us around to just about every record store in town. I spent a lot more money than I'd wanted, but there was so much that I'd never physically seen that I knew I'd better just go ahead and pick it up while I could.

 the Lepers (1979)

ClePunk.com has a little bit of info on them. Doesn't matter. It's Cleveland, 1979. It's punk rock. It's on the same label as the Pagans. There's a song called "Coitus Interruptus". There's cowbell. I picked it up pretty cheap because there's a huge ugly scuff mark on the b-side which looks bad, but doesn't effect the grooves. I'm pleased with this purchase.

 the Panik (1977)

Manchester band with some vague tenuous Joy Division connections. It's loud. It's UK punk. It didn't sell.