The Act - Too Late at 20 (1981, Hannibal)

Is this my favorite retro discovery of the year?  Hard to say, as even in the eye of the beholder these things are difficult to quantify.  At the very least it's well above average, despite not being particularly visionary or inventive.  And though I've encountered this title years ago on a sadly defunct, and quite frankly outstanding blog, I didn't consider sharing it until I found a personal copy of the record, used and abused as it was.

If you have any familiarity with The Act, such beforehand knowledge likely resides in the fact that this was Nick Laird-Clowes band prior to enlisting as the frontman for the Dream Academy.  Not that there's much novelty in that mind you, but for what it's worth don't expect to hear any contemplative elegies to Nick Drake on Too Late at 20.  Instead, what the Act had in store was well-executed and concise power pop, bordering on the skinny tie variant.  Taking cues from the likes of more visible contemporaries, including but not limited to The Records, Nick Lowe, and less-so Joe Jackson, the quartet in question really don't place any new fabric to the table.  Other than the vaguest of finagling with dub rhythms on "Protection," Too Late... plays it safe...yet never calculated or rote.

Nick and the lads are at their most potent on "The Long Island Sound," "The Art of Deception" and "Get it While You're Young," and the sprite title piece - all of which slot into a mode akin to a more pedestrian Elvis Costello.  Despite this seemingly vanilla tableau The Act really did possess the songwriting chops and incisive melodies to turn what could have been an ordinary record into something considerably more substantial.  In 2024, that was good enough for me. 

01. Too Late at 20

02. The Long Island Sound

03. Touch and Go

04. The Art of Deception

05. Protection

06. Sure Fire

07. Skip the Beat

08. Zero Unidentified

09. Ok Jerko

10. Get it While You're Young

MP3/FLAC

V/A - Home Runs Vols. 1 & 2 (Songs That'll Take You All The Way) (2000/02, Sound Asleep)

The number of homegrown various artists collections compiling rare, turn-of-the-decade power pop and punk singles that seemingly materialize out of the blue never ceases to amaze or impress me, even in the event when I may not own physical copies of them. In previous years I've shared multiple volumes of well-curated series like Teen Line, Powerpearls, and Every One a Classic.  Home Runs (Songs That'll Take You All The Way) courtesy of  Sweden's Sound Asleep Records quietly cropped up in the early 2000's gathering up dozens of vintage of should-have been classic 45 sides from the late '70s to the mid '80s with a similar aesthetic to the aforementioned, and I've got volumes 1 & 2 on tap for tonight.

As much as I'd like to give insight to all of the 41 bands represented, a much more cursory synopsis will have to suffice.  For starters, there's not much overlap between the bands covered on Home Runs and Wilfully Obscure, though there are some relatively higher profile names that we've covered - Seattle denizens The Heats and Moberlys for starters, not to mention The Windbreakers are present, and I think I've namedropped the likes of Screen Test, Beat Rodeo and perhaps even the Incredible Casuals, but that's about the extent of it.  The rest of these names, generally speaking, are uncharted territory for the bulk of us...and as such are ripe for further picking and examination.  And what of this cavalcade of virtual unknowns you might ask?  The Shakers and Jimmy True are jangle-merchants of the highest order, New Jersey's Modulators are loosely on par with Shoes, and X-Dreams are a cheeky, rollicking blast.  Elsewhere, New York's Beatles-indebted Poppees appear with the melodious "If She Cries," Meantime proudly take a cue from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and the Hi-Fi's featured a young Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, prior to their more renown stint in the long-running Blue Rodeo.  By no means are these the only highlights, but I'm not about to give anything further away.  I will mention there's a third volume in the Home Runs series that I still need to get my hands on...and I think you know what that portends.  Cheers.

Volume 1 (2000)

01. Gary Private – Home Run

02. Barry Knoedl – Baby Don't Give Up

03. Windbreakers - I Never Thought

04. Rikki Rush - Donna

05. The Patriots - That Way

06. Young Fresh Fellows - How Much About Last Night Do You Remember

07. Pete Holly & The Looks – What Did I Say

08. Eric Collis - Someone Better

09. The Rooms - She Loves Me/She Loves Me Not

10. The Shakers - Til I'm Gone

11. David Hines - I Go to Pieces

12. The Impossible Years – She's No Fun

13. David Quinton – Does It Matter To You

14. Willie English - I Can't Have You

15. The Badbeats - Lies

16. Tom Wilson - Break Down Your Door

17. Dynette Set - Learn to Love

18. X-Dreams – Space Shuttle Stowaway

19. The Incredible Casuals – Money Won't Buy You Happiness

20. The Mercenaries - oh Sally

21. Tommy Rock - It's Later Than You Think

Hear

Volume 2 (2002)

01. The Dawgs- Shot of Your Love

02. The Poppees - Is She Cries

03. Modulators - She's So Cynical

04. Tom Stevens - Just One Night With You

05. The Heats - Nights With You

06. Beat Rodeo - Mimi

07. Moberlys - You Know I Know

08. The Rubinoos - Gorilla

09. Saucers - A Certain Kind of Shy

10. Jimmy Rue - Cheap Fun

11. The B-Girls - Fun at the Beach

12. The Toys - I'm Telling You Now

13. The News - Don't Talk to Me

14. Meantime - Two For One

15. The Shout - Sha-Day-la-Day

16. Hi-fi's - Look What You've Done

17. The Nads - You Don't Know Me

18. Screen Test - I Am Sincere

19. Buddy Love - I Just Wanna Hold You

20. The Right Profile - Underneath the Window

Hear

Big Black - 5 Hard Noises demo (1982) & Live @ Exit, Chicago, IL 11/25/84

This is a sad fu%kin' blog post.  I'll be lucky if I don't bust out crying.  In fact, 2024 was a tremendously sad f'n year overall.  On an otherwise non-descript spring day it was announced that Steve Albini perished from a sudden heart attack May 7.  The world didn't see it coming. While the sometimes cranky and invariably idealistic recording engineer and musical auteur hasn't popped up very frequently on these pages, the recordings he made with seminal proto-industrial punks Big Black, and later, Rapeman resonated with me substantially when I was younger.  

For those who regularly tune into this site, the mention of his name (and furthermore Big Black)

might strike ya'll as the biggest curveball I've hurled yet.  That's fine.  I'm not really here to sell you or evangelize, because I came to the realization decades ago that Albini's music was hardly palatable to everyone, especially those of us more aligned to pop-centric musical constructs.  However, I hope a few of you will take this dive into B/B's nascent steps, if only to illustrate they weren't entirely (anyway) the abrasive, Dadaistic malcontents they were routinely painted as.  True, stiff drum machines and coarse vocals don't necessarily emanate fruity rainbows and daisies, yet on 5 Hard Noises, a solo demo concocted by Albin to win over recruits for his then upstart combo, there's a distinct post-punk undercoating suggesting Joy Division as much as say, Cabaret Voltaire.  The icy sparseness of "I Can Be Killed" and "Peeled" belie warmer notions should you opt to pursue the glints of light at the far end of the tunnel.  I'll reiterate, not for everybody, but 5 Hard Noises provides fascinating insight into Big Black's blossoming vision.  

By 1984, the lineup had fanned out to entail Santiago Durango on guitar and Jeff Pezzati (courtesy of Naked Raygun) on bass (and I think sometimes live drums). The November '84  gig live in the band's hometown of Chicago I'm presenting is an above-average audience tape featuring songs from B/B's first trio of eps: Lungs, Bulldozer, and the then unreleased Racer-X which would drop within the next year.  The band was still a good year-and-a-half out from their debut full length, Atomizer, but the crowd is treated to a preview of "Big Money," and the live staple "Cables."  By now, B/B's dense, signature sound had reached fruition, albeit the tempo and sheer intensity of future material would be heightened considerably during the latter half of their tenure.  There's plenty of banter in this set, but I don't hear anything particularly unnerving/amusing, and it certainly doesn't overshadow the music. Btw, I only have MP3s to offer for the demos.

5 Hard Noises (1982)

01. Jump the Climb

02. I Can Be Killed

03. Peeled

04. Live in a Hole

05. Rip

Hear

Live @ Exit, Chicago, IL 11/25/84

01 Seth

02 Rip

03 Live in a Hole

04 Albini on Kraut

05 Il Duce

06 Dead Billy

07 Albini chats

08 Deep Six

09 Cables

10 Albini on Pezzati

11 Big Money

12 Texas

13 stage chat

14 Pigeon Kill

15 Shotgun

16 The Crack

17 Racer-X

MP3/FLAC

The Clash - Give 'Em Enough Demos (1978)

Yet another band I haven't featured on here, and obviously of a higher stature...and not-quite-obscure.  When I made a conscious decision to listen to punk in my mid-teens I had long been acquainted with "common" classics in the Clash canon - "Should I Stay...," "Rock the Casbah," "London Calling."  Songs all of us have heard to death, so much so they've taken on the air of classic rock.  It was time to excavate deeper however, and the most recent edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide left no doubt in my mind that the band's 1977 debut was all but essential listening.  In short order after reading that I did indeed listen, and the American iteration of The Clash got a workout on multiple tape decks for numerous years.  But I wasn't going to stop there.

The next order of business was to obtain Joe Strummer & Co.'s subsequent albums, and Give 'Em Enough Rope and London Calling were utmost priorities.  While I sincerely appreciated the band's ambitions (and for the most parts, songs as well) entailing L/C I did find the album as a whole a bit over-lauded, with Rolling Stone going so far as to insist it was the finest album of the '80s.  As it turned out ...Rope, their "difficult" second album wasn't so difficult at all, wherein the boys did make a progression from the debut without eschewing it's vim, rambunctiousness and overarching social critique. It was apparent to me that "Complete Control" from The Clash foreshadowed what they had in store on ...Rope - just a tad more melody and negligibly curtailed tempos. They were maturing at their own whim - one that just so happened to be at a pace parallel with the logical progression of any decent punk band that wanted to be relevant beyond the late 1970s.  "Safe European Home," "Tommy Gun," "All the Young Punks," and the driving-as-all-get-out of "Drug Stabbing Time" were the most stimulating throw-downs they had accumulated to date, and for me ...Rope placed the Clash in a unique, and dare I say hallowed pantheon. 

So here we have a collection of prototypes for the record I so fondly speak of.  The demo variants are not at all far removed from the finished product.  Certainly rawer, but the arrangements and gait are almost inseparable.  I suppose this might suggest that the demos in themselves aren't particularly revelatory, but the songs are, and that's what counts.  I obtained a rip of these tracks secondhand, which were taken from a vinyl bootleg.  There was a skip about 40 seconds into "European Home," and while it was requested that the track be re-ripped, the call unfortunately fell upon deaf ears.  I went in and removed the skip and applied a very brief fade in/out.  I was able to locate an unblemished version of "European" from a second source, but only in MP3 form which I tacked on as a reference.  Furthermore, I gently futzed with the tone and color of the album jacket just for the heck of it.  Enjoy.      

01 Safe European Home
02 English Civil War
03 Tommy Gun
04 Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
05 Guns On The Roof
06 Drug-Stabbing Time
07 Stay Free
08 Cheapskates
09 All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contracts)
10 Groovy Times

MP3/FLAC

Three astounding eps: Green Ice, the Zulus, and That Petrol Emotion.

Every Chanukah I tend to alternate between offering up a volley of singles or a trio of eps, and this year I opted for the latter. Even with just three records, it's the equivalent of three regular blog entries, so I try to make them count, and even made a point of taking to task three acts that have somehow never made an appearance on W/O prior to this evening.  So without further ado, let's have at it, starting with...

...Green Ice, who hailed from the 'burbs of Seattle, and are just one of many acts I've shared from the greater Emerald City that possessed not a smidgen of grunge in their DNA.  Even more so, none of the gents in this quartet (to my knowledge anyway) parlayed their talents to higher visibility endeavors post G/I.  That's a shame, because the men in question boasted three-minute, power-pop moxie for days and turned in four bona fide keepers on their lone record, with "Breakdown at Geneva" taking the 'lost-classic' cake.  I know that some of you might be begging me for comparisons, and although none in particular come to mind, Green Ice would've slotted in on Strum & Thrum seamlessly.

Green Ice - s/t ep (1986)

01. Breakdown at Geneva

02. Color Blue

03. Talking in Tongues

04. Shattered Eyes

MP3/FLAC

Though some of us wouldn't be prone to admitting it, a sizable block of the Zulus humble fanbase only learned of the group after the fact, when it was revealed circa the release of Sugar's 1992 smash, Copper Blue, that drummer Malcom Travis could vouch for role of Zulus (not to mention HSR) percussionist on his resume to boot.  In actuality, the fulcrum of the Zulus was Larry Bangor and Rich Gilbert, two of the more prominent alum of Boston's artful kinksters Human Sexual Response.  Bangor's near-maudlin vocal histrionics went a long way in defining the Zulus' edgy post-punk inclinations.  Though by and large the foursome in question had some divine creative juices flowing concerning the "Bones" ep depicted to your left, the same wasn't said for their debut full length, 1989's Down on the Floor, which encouraged many to crow the band's rough edges had been sanded down.  At any rate, fast forward to 2020. Long having been defunct, the Zulus released the sprawling multi-disk Cockfight in a Bullring, an archive of their early epoch featuring two CDs of studio material - all the tunes from this ep, previews of songs to be revamped for Down on the Floor, and roughly two full albums' worth of wholly unique songs that saw the light of day for the first time.  The Z's even reunited for a proper 2022 sophomore album, Outer Space, which I evidently slept on.  

The Zulus - s/t ep (1985, Greenworld)

01. I Can't Wait To Tell You The News

02. At the Subway

03. Back to Sleep

04. Kings In The Queen City

05. Can't Stop Having Fun

06. Gotta Have Faith

MP3/FLAC

"But I only liked their early stuff!" he decried.  That certainly isn't the case for every band I follow (I suppose a few prime examples would be Husker Du, Jimmy Eat World and The National, among loads of others), but for my time and money, That Petrol Emotion never surpassed their 1986 debut, Manic Pop Thrill, not by a longshot as far as I was concerned.  Even a recent discography box set wasn't able to get me on board for the remainder of their repertoire.  Incredibly, there were still a few odds and ends circa-Manic that the aforementioned box missed, many of which found a home on In the Beginning.  Composed of 1985 recordings made when the band was still an indie proposition, Beginning culls together non-LP goodies like their ace early single, "Keen," b-sides "Happiness Drives Me Around the Bend," "V2," and a pair of drumless 4-track demos.  I wouldn't say this 10" is the most ideal way to acquaint yourself with the Petrol's stripe of UK indie pop spiked with user-friendly psychedelia, but it's a rewarding footnote. 

That Petrol Emotion - In the Beginning ep (2016, rec. 1985)

01. Keen

02. V2

03. Zig Zag Wanderer

04. Happiness Drives Me Around the Bend

05. Keen (4-track demo)

06. V2 (4-track demo)

MP3/FLAC

Big Star Quintet - White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ - 8/22/24

This one's a bit of a whopper, if only in terms of sheer length (and size, should you opt to download the lossless FLAC version of this set).  No, this isn't Big Star, not as they were in their first go around in the '70s, or even in their reunion iteration in the 1990s and beyond, when at best they only boasted 75% of the original lineup. Truth be told the most recent incarnation of the group, now billed for rare live dates as Big Star Quintet, is more of a glorified tribute, merely with only drummer Jody Stephens on board from the original roster.  But as far as tributes/homage/legacy acts are concerned, BSQ are veritably all three, perpetuating the tradition of one of rock and roll's most epochal yet neglected entries.  

Performing on the 50th anniversary of Big Star's second LP, 1974's Radio City, for a Jersey City, NJ audience on August 22, 2024 the BSQ lineup consisted of Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Jon Auer (Posies), Chris Stamey (Db's), and Pat Sansone (Wilco, Autumn Defense) all of whom pass the mic around.  In addition to hitting every number on Radio City (in album sequence), they manage to approach #1 Record in it's entirety, lick the edges of Third/Sister Lovers, and even take the late Chris Bell's classic 1978 single "I Am the Cosmos" for a spin around the block  31 songs total, performed with the utmost reverence to the original compositions, albeit exuded with the kind of passion and vigor Big Star's relatively brief back catalog deserves.  And to think BSQ pull of the whole enchilada so flawlessly without two of Radio City's key architects, Alex Chilton (d. 2010) and Andy Hummel (d. 2010) on board is illustrative of how these songs have endured despite Big Star's paltry album sales in the '70s, and not really enjoying exhaustive reexamination and exposure until almost two full decades later. It's unclear what future (if any) touring agenda Big Star Quintet are plotting, so this well-recorded audience tape is something to savor.  Many thanks to whomever tracked and shared the files for this one.

The FLAC version will take up approximately 1.36 GB, so I'm making a drastically less sizable MP3 adaptation available as usual.  Full track list below.

01 Feel

02 The Ballad of El Goodo

03 Don't Lie To Me

04 The India Song

05 O My Soul

06 Life Is White

07 Way Out West

08 What's Going Ahn

09 You Get What You Deserve

10 Mod Lang

11 Back of a Car

12 Daisy Glaze

13 She’s a Mover

14 September Gurls

15 Morpha Too

16 I'm In Love With a Girl

17 Watch the Sunrise

18 My Life Is Right

19 Give Me Another Chance

20 When My Baby's Beside Me

21 Blue Moon

22 I Got Kinda Lost [Chris Bell]

23 Nightime

24 Jesus Christ

25 Try Again

26 ST 100-6

27 I Am the Cosmos [Chris Bell]

28 Thirteen

29 In the Street

30 You And Your Sister [Chris Bell]

31 Thank You Friends

Jody Stephens: drums, vocals

Jon Auer: guitar, vocals

Chris Stamey: guitar, keyboards, vocals

Pat Sansone: guitar, keyboards, vocals

Mike Mills: bass, keyboards, vocals

MP3/FLAC

Rare tapes! - Mike Viola & Snap, Overwhelming Colorfast, and Shufflepuck

Welcome to night one.  Collectors of all stripes are always searching for "grails," so to speak, few and far between as they may be.  At any given moment there's no shortage of vinyl and aluminum on my ever expanding want list.  Pricy as those tricky titles may be, most of the records and CDs I need to fill in the gaps are out there so long as I'm willing to pony up the cabbage.  Cassettes, on the other hand, particularly original demo tapes and cassette-only albums are typically much scarcer - in some cases limited to a few hundred, dozen or even just a handful copies.  But on these rare reels often sit under-released music that never made it past the demo phase, and thusly even the swankest, most audiophile-coveted turntables and component CD players will be of no use whatsoever in playing them back.  Here are three unearthed chestnuts, from my teaming shoe and storage boxes.

There's precious little in the W/O permanent collection representing Mike Viola and/or his crew The Candy Butchers, given that the vast majority of his catalog is officially available from all the usual suspects.  The four song Don't Break My Fall, though technically not a demo, is however of particular scarcity, especially the vinyl incarnation - so image my delight when I spotted a sealed copy of the cassette version at the now sadly defunct In Your Ear Records in Boston a few years ago.  So far as I can tell Don't Break... was the first in a long line of recordings to bear Mike's namesake, and while he and the accompanying three-piece Snap may have looked like reformed metalheads, power pop was pulsing through his veins as far back as the mid-80s when this EP reared it's precious obscure head.  The primo title cut finds our protagonist already finagling with the hook-addled panache of Rundgren and Costello.  As for the remaining numbers, even the frivolously dubbed "I Don't Wanna Die a Pizza Maker" drops a few hints at the quantum strides he would muster in the ensuing decades.  If you're new to Mr. Viola, I recommend starting with the Candy Butchers 2003 magnum opus, Hang on Mike.

Mike Viola & Snap - Don't Break My Fall (1987, RPM)

01. Don't Break My Fall

02. Rainbows

03. I Don't Wanna Die a Pizza Maker

04. Room For One More

MP3/FLAC

 

Overwhelming Colorfast may have made your acquaintance on these pages, when I got this whole ball o' wax rolling upon sharing their delightful Sourdough ep (1995) along with a preceding '92 single.  This San Fran-area treat put their howling, blustery Husker Du indebted noise to pasture by the turn of the millennium, leaving us with three highly consistent albums alongside considerably more petite but powerful releases like this self-titled cartridge circa 1990.  I only came into possession of it relatively recently, but I can imagine the excitement of what it must have been like hearing this right before O.C. had a national presence - raw, amped-to-the-hilt, yet engagingly melodic. It's punk pop enhanced with the deftness and dexterity of classic rock minus the beer gut.  The originals are pretty remarkable, but so is their fairly straightforward reading of "She Said, She Said."  This one is a real treat if you took a liking to their 1992 debut LP, also self-titled.  

The Overwhelming Colorfast - tape (1990, Two Car Garage)
01. Yap!
02. Forest
03. Try
04. The Pink & the Red
05. Yup!
06. She Said, She Said
07. Veil
08. Fearless

MP3/FLAC

Last but not least, here's a band I've already sung my praises about (heck, I've technically shared 2/3 of this ages ago) but as the saying goes, it bears repeating. Shufflepuck made waves in L.A.'s indie circuit in the Clinton-era and happened to be near and dear friends to their slightly more visible cohorts, Weezer.  Sonically, Shufflepuck were in the same wheelhouse, yet the Adam Orth helmed-quartet wielded an even crunchier guitar heft and a more concussive modus operandi.  The absolutely blistering "Where the Hell is She," a par-excellence underdog paean bearing a FAT, intoxicating power chord is just as effective as any damn AC/DC riff these ears have encountered.  And much like early Weez, the 'pucks quality control was on a 'blue album' level, not yielding a nanosecond of filler.  The band recorded an album intended for release on Interscope in '96, but the long and short of it all is that it was shelved...until this year. Finally brought to market as a privately pressed and extremely limited vinyl LP, it's finally seeing the light of day physically and digitally.  Two songs from the cassette I'm offering here tonight made the migration to Shufflepuck's Album, but the third number, "Naked With No Covers On" is very much exclusive to this tape and thoroughly worth your while.  Enjoy! 

Shufflepuck - tape (1994)

01. Where the Hell is She

02. Fool Like Me

03. Naked With No Covers On

MP3/FLAC

Man I’m gonna destroy your cover!

A generous, Chanukah-worthy passel of demos spanning 1978-80 from one of the best in the business.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Watching the candles burn...it returns Wednesday night.

With a half-smile and a somewhat lighthearted *sigh,* my burdensome endeavor and your annual holiday treat is upon us in roughly three days folks.  This well may be the first time the Festival of Lights commences simultaneously with Christmas day, at least in all the years I've been performing my Chanukah routine on Wilfully Obscure.  Starting right around sundown on December 25, I'll be gifting you eight consecutive nights of the most coveted (or at least I like to think) volley of un/under-released vinyl, bootlegs, live offerings and demos.  Will I outdo myself from previous years?  In all likelihood, no, as the well gets a little more barren every year, but I'm going to sure as hell try.

You might be asking what initially motivated me to begin this tradition altogether.  For one, it gives me a convenient excuse to share several mind-blowing "gifts" instead of just one big reveal on Christmas.  Secondly, Chanukah represents personal relevance to me.  We all know you were envious of that kid down the block who had a yarmulke festooned to their head, who was given the privilege of lighting the menorah, and of course, reveling in eight glorious nights of presents.  Once again, I'm paying it forward.  Previous Chanukah entries have featured Wire, Velocity Girl, Jellyfish, Husker Du and Teenage Fanclub, but name recognition is hardly a guarantee.  As in past years, there will definitely be familiar faces, but also provocateurs that have never or infrequently garnered face-time on W/O.  Bear in mind that what's crucial and/or special to my ears may not be of equal essence to yours, but humor me folks.

At the top of each Chanukah upload will be a thumbnail photo of a menorah, with the appropriate number of lit candles to denote each succeeding evening until all eight slots in the candelabra are occupied on the concluding night of January 1. 

• Look for the first Chanukah posting this Wednesday evening, and then for the remaining seven nights 'round supper time all next week. 
• Mystery Monday will be taking a break the week of Monday the 29 so as not to disrupt or distract from the continuity of the eight consecutive nights of the holiday.
• Some offerings will be made available in FLAC (in addition to standard MP3).

That's it in a nutshell. Download responsibly. 

Naúx - Light, Traps And Exploding Wires (1982, Noise New York)

In 2010 when I shared the four art-damaged song-things constituting China Shop's lone 1981, Atomic Notions I was already a solid convert, but my fascination with the defunct combo would morph into something even more profound in the ensuing years.  At the nexus of C/S's woozy but comely amalgam of lower Manhattan post-punk-cum-no-wave/funk/avant soiree was late prime mover Naúx (supposedly pronounced Nah-ooj) aka Juan Maciel.  His most renown exploit was that of one-time guitarist in a latter lineup of Richard Hell and The Voidoids, but I preferred hearing him up front and center.  As luck would have it, there would be an extended reel of China Shop outtakes to delve into, but I was too piqued to stop there.  

Without much sleuthing online I was pleased to learn of a Naúx solo venture, a one-off LP, Light, Traps and Exploding Wire arriving merely a year after China Shop ostensibly shuttered.  Painting from the unpredictable sonic palate that made Atomic Notions such a beguiling treat, Light, Traps'... most engrossing salvos including "Don't Know Love," "Forget Just Once," and "Atlantis" were akin to the choicest (albeit perplexing) persuasions C/S offered.  Here, however, the bass guitar was uber prominent, not to mention doubly more elastic. Naúx exuded a clear penchant for challenging his audience, and no doubt himself, but for virtually every time he threatens to breach into something completely leftfield he counters with a naggingly accessible poise, reminding me why I took such a keen interest in the first place.  I'd be remiss if  I didn't mention that Robert Quine had a hand in this album as well.  Light, Traps'... has previously endowed it's rays into the blogosphere, but what's presented here is my own private rip of the album, and by extension this meager critique. 

01. Mammoth Tarpits

02. Forget Just Once

03. Don't Know Love

04. The Tiger Waits for Me

05. Too Much Sex

06. This Dance of Conflict

07. Sounds and Daughters

08. Transmissions

09. Atlantis

10. Face to Face

11. World Without End

Hear

Farmers - Packed in an Urban Area ep (1982, BFM)

One of the only morsels of punditry I've encountered surrounding this platter is the notion that Farmers were a no-wave proposition.  Truth was, they reportedly had ties to the Bay Area, the Bowery, not so much. Musically, there was more going on here than shronk and abrasiveness, though frequent insertions of free jazz sax and brass indicated they weren't necessarily vying for the airwaves - not by a long shot. Call Farmers art-rock if you must/may, though their hot mess did flirt with tuneful affectations seeping into the likable title cut and the subtly post-punk informed "A Frozen Lake."  A spartan webpage exists for the band, with some more background details and numerous audio files, however I'm presenting my own rip of Packed... which I like to think turned out quite well.  

01. Packed in an Urban Area

02. Bakshish

03. Close Shave in Burma

04. A Frozen Lake

Hear

Maybe in another year you could be a butterfly.

 Power pop from 1999.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

VA - Three on the Tree 7'' (1994, C/Z)

A follow up to the label's choice 4 on the Floor 7" compilation from a year prior, C/Z Records threw another numerically named micro-comp onto the fire with 1994's Three on the Tree.  The biggest draw here was an exclusive cut from Engine Kid, purveyors of dynamic, Slint-indebted noise rock whose "Thigh With a Desolate Thorn" pushes the quiet/loud/quiet envelope to it's breaking point.  Vexed were mainstays on the C/Z roster, and one of the only combos that I didn't explore more thoroughly during their tenure.  "P6" is two-and-a-half minutes of gritty grunge-ola with the sort of roiling, punky underbite exuded by labelmate's Coffin Break.  Meanwhile, Wreck's "Your Monkey's On Fire" is Three's... most valuable asset, with it's bendy guitar fills winning me over from moment one.

A1. Wreck - Your Monkey's on Fire

A2. Vexed - P6

B. Engine Kid - Thigh With a Desolate Thorn

Hear

Johnny Rey & the Reaction - More Than I Can Do ep (1984)

At least a bit more promising than it's sleeve implies, More Than I Can Do doesn't quite paint Minneapolis' Johnny Rey and his crew as power pop/wave-sters, albeit this five song disc (that would go without a sequel well into the next century) proves they were certainly more potent than your typical singer/songwriter hustlers.  No gimmicks here, and despite it's copyright date this quartet completely circumvented keyboards.  "The New Way" is spiced up with a nervy saxophone line, the danceable "Streetlife" naggingly reminds me of Jo Broadbery and the Standouts/Local Operator, and the jangly title cut isn't unlike a welterweight Elvis Costello.  Really not disappointing at all for a debut, just not particularly revelatory.  Rey would record outside the realm of the Reaction, prior and subsequent to More Than I Can Do, but evidently the band reconvened for a 2018 ep, This Modern Age, that I can't find much more in the way of specifics about besides a standard Discogs listing.  You can read a 2012 interview with the man of the hour here.

01. The New Way

02. Streetlife

03. More Than I Can Do

04. Automobeat

05. Flesh & Blood

Hear

The president's laughing 'cos we voted for Nader.

This week it's four eps, spanning four decades no less.  Enjoy.

**Please do not reveal artists in comments!**

Hear

Plimsouls (Eddie Munoz) - MGM Music Hall @ Fenway Boston, MA, 7/17/24

So I really wasn't able to give you much this week beyond M/M, but not a total loss, as I do have this tidbit to share.  A scant four-song set from a reunited incarnation of The Plimsouls featuring guitarist Eddie Munoz.  No Peter Case for this show, or apparently the entirety of this tour, which was billed as the Totally Tubular Festival, a bundle also entailing Modern English, Men Without Hats, Wang Chung, dude from Thompson Twins and even Annabella of Bow Wow Wow.  Again, a very truncated setlist but Munoz and Co. had the wherewithal to stick to the numbers that you're most likely craving, and they still have the chops to do justice to them.  Cheers.

01. Zero Hour

02. Oldest Story in the World

03. Now

04. A Million Miles Away

MP3  or   FLAC

The twist of the knife can only bring us closer.

From 2000. I heard this band namedropped in a podcast today, and thought, "why not?"  This is the UK import version with a bonus CD of b-sides.

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Second Language - In Shadows ep (1984, Lingo)

Alas, another one I don't own a physical iteration of, and even more so I don't recall where I procured the files from (though I'm fairly confident I'm not lifting off any fellow bloggers).  Second Language were an Aussie proposition entailing a frontwoman possessing just the stripe of commanding, hypnotic timbre for the brand of icy goth rock this five-piece were determined to make their calling card.  Overall, their effect is a bit more austere and amelodic then say, Siouxsie an Co. but they can't help but veer in a similar vicinity.  In terms of overarching aesthetic and temperament the results are impeccable, even if they're hardly creating these four songs out of whole cloth.  A big round of applause to whomever went to the trouble of digitizing this.

01. In Shadows

02. On the Edge

03. Kashan

04. The Heart Becomes 

Hear

The Health & Happiness Show - demo (1992)

I've probably thumbed by numerous Health & Happiness Show albums in used CD bins over the years, nary giving them a second thought.  Then I procured this tape, probably in a lot of other demos and such ages ago, and was pleasantly surprised when I actually had the notion to play the damn thing.  H&HS were based in Hoboken, NJ, and coincidentally or not resembled a more renown combo from that neck of the woods, specifically the Feelies.  These guys gracefully stir No Depression-esque affectations, a la Uncle Tupelo, into the pot yielding wholly earnest fare like "We Are Here," which happens to pack a dynamite chorus hook.  "The Man Who Married the Moon" with it's mandolin accoutrements isn't far behind, and like the aforementioned number you almost get the impression than the author experienced some sort of spiritual awakening, albeit nothing heavy handed. Frontman James Mastro partnered with the Bongos' Richard Barone, for the one-off Nuts and Bolts LP in 1983, and has collaborated with numerous acclaimed artists since.

Three songs from this cassette made the migration to the first Health & Happiness Show LP, Tonic in 1993, with two more records to follow.

01. We Are Here

02. The Man Who Married the Moon

03. Live Your Love

04. Drunk-Eyed Waltz

Hear

I got a wine swept smile and a well-timed mile...

From 2000.  Probably the only thing I haven't already shared by this long defunct bunch. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Blackouts - Men in Motion ep (1980, Engram)

In multiple books I've encountered about the Seattle music scene, the Blackouts are commonly bandied about as antecedents to the more successful purveyors from the Emerald City that rose to prominence in the late '80s and beyond. Problem is, if you just merely read the text without hearing the accompanying soundtrack, you'd naturally assume that the quartet in question were decked out in flannel and had a floorboard of distortion apparatus at their feet.  Trust me when I say no one would mistake the Blackouts for Mudhoney, or god forbid someone like Candlebox.  Coming from a different template altogether, this artful cabal reveled in the jittery post-punk sway of Gang of Four, L.A. contemporaries Middle Class, and to a lesser extent the more approachable persuasion of the Talking Heads.  (The) Blackouts, were in fact even more dissonant, halting and skittish than the aforementioned, and were novel enough to insert their own indigenous flair into the pastiche.  Men in Motion was the band's second record, and is phenomenal both in terms of execution and creative acumen.  Ironically, the leadoff cut "Dead Man's Curve" isn't the Jan and Dean song.  While they would stick around until the mid-80s, a full length never came to pass... 

...however a compilation of Blackouts small body of singles and eps were compiled in 2004 as History in Reverse.  Physical versions of ...Reverse appear to be completely sold out, but if anyone has a line on where I might be able to buy an original CD of it please get in touch!

01. Dead Man's Curve

02. Probabilties

03. Being Be

04. Five is 5

Hear

Delta Clutch - Shine 7" (1994, Lady, I Like)

I've owned a CD by this Mass. trio probably for a solid 60% of my life, yet the impression it left was somewhat nondescript.  The 45 I'm sharing today is another matter.  Two memorable, strummy numbers, with "Shine" bearing resemblances to certain late-80s SST signees, albeit nothing obvious.  A much more lackadaisical fIREHOSE or Angst perhaps?  Anyway, the chorus is undeniably the selling point that keeps this five-minute A-side pleasantly afloat.  The plaintive "Baby, The Rain" is a subdued, acoustic traipse, the kind of comfy, goes-down-smooth ditty that would be the perfect accompaniment for any given afternoon slouch in a hammock.

A. Shine

B. Baby, The Rain

Hear

Can I not shop around...wait a second please!

From 1997.  The second album by these Aussie wunderkinds. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

VA - Rock Turns to Stone (1988, Vild)

Here's one I've been intending to digitize for awhile.  A 36-year old compilation of Boston area bands that's both relatively consistent, and fits in within the overarching context of this site.  Side one is near-perfect, showcasing among other items an early incarnation of the Cavedogs "La La La," eventually rerecorded for their stupendous Joyrides For Shut-Ins album.  I've featured the Blackjacks Basic Blackjacks ep just earlier this year, and their contribution here, "Born Rude" coincidentally or not entails a chorus with a melody much akin to the Heartbreakers "Born to Lose."  The Titanics are another band I've long planned on featuring, but I hope the reverb-laced distortion of "High on Drugs" will tide you over in the meantime.  Screaming Broccoli are another Wilfully Obscure veteran, and "Somebody's Company" extends it's roots in the vicinity of Agent Orange with satisfying aplomb.  The little known Matweeds are straight-up power pop purveyors that I'm motivated to explore further, the Dogmastics are minor Beantown garage rock legends, and Rash of Stabbings turn in the considerably more serious, post-punk tinged "Hear My Call." 

01. The Slaves - Radio Daze

02. The Cavedogs - La La La

03. The Matweeds - Stay

04. The Titanics - High on Drugs

05. The Blackjacks - Born Rude

06. Neutral Nation - T.V. Salvation

07. Dogzilla - Lunch With Ed

08. Screaming Broccoli - Somebody's Company

09. Condo Pygmies - Take Cover

10. Rash of Stabbings - Hear My Call

11. The Dogmatics - Teenage Girls

12. Big Huge - I'm a Suck?!

Hear

Feel the world tapping on my shoulder...

Recordings from 1987-89.  The word impeccable comes to mind.  Don't pass on this!

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

Pavement - Red Asphalt (1993, Bloody Buddies)

This is essentially nothing more than a bootleg of an early-ish Pavement gig circa the spring of '92 (right around the time Slanted and Enchanted hit shelves), and a Peel Session.  Sounds like a soundboard taping, though this really doesn't entail the swanky sonic aesthetics of a 'proper' live album. You can't go wrong with a setlist like this.  Upon finding this I dove right into the unrecognized "She Believes," which actually starts off as "Greenlander," Pave's contribution to the renown Born to Choose compilation. For more fun, make sure to check out another Pavement banger I've been sharing for a good fourteen years now.    

Uptown Lounge, Minneapolis, MN 6/11/92

01. Here

02. Perfume V

03. Frontwards

04. Home

05. Conduit for Sale

06. Summer Babe

07. Texas Never Whispers

08. No Life Singed Her

09. Loretta's Scars

10. Trigger Cut

11. In the Mouth a Desert

12. Debris Slide

13. Two States

14. Zurich is Stained

15. Lions

16. Angel Carver Blues

17. From Now On

18. Greenlander/She Believes

19. Box Elder

20. So Stark

Peel Session 7/10/92

21. Circa 1762

22. Kentucky Cocktail

23. Secret Knowledge Of Backroads

24. Here

Hear

Skyscraper/Grady Sisters 7" (1995, Omnibus)

Haven't posted a split single in awhile, and this one features a band that's brand new to these pages, Skyscraper.  Ostensibly hailing from Davis, CA the coed foursome in question, whip up a fury of serrated guitars and distortion sounding some like three parts Jawbreaker and one (or two) parts Archers of Loaf, circa Icky Mettle.  Their side of this wax, "Rockgirl" is the only tune of theirs that I've been enlightened to, and though they didn't persist long enough to give us an album, a couple of other Skyscraper items are floating around, if you can locate them.  The Grady Sisters were another Cali indie-rock proposition, whose 1993 ep on Geometric Records I offered a few years ago.  The Sisters' contribution to this 45, "Meridian" loosely hovers in the vicinity of their east coast contemporaries Chisel (yep, Ted Leo & Co.). Satisfying if not particularly remarkable.  

A. Skyscraper - Rockgirl

B. Grady Sisters - Meridian

Hear

Five stripes shining in the sunlight.

From 1998.  The saucy sophomore LP from a Scottish band with a Japanese name.  

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

The Trend - Crash the Bash (1980-96)

It's hard to believe that original copies of a single minted by a teen punk band from Syracuse, NY circa 1980 has fetched as much as $2000.  You can credit The Trend to that unlikely feat. Presented in reverse-chronological order, Crash the Bash, features both songs from that collectible 45 ("Electric Chair" b/w "Band-Aid"), and the trio's 1982 platter Batman Live at the Budokan, alongside unreleased material and reunion songs.  That reunion unfortunately didn't entail one of the Trend's principal members, singer/guitarist J. Marc Patenaude who perished in a 1985 car crash.

Though somewhat rudimentary, not to mention highly topical, The Trend's mid-tempo forte was competent with surprisingly robust arrangements. The Dead Boys or the Saints this trio were not, but they have moments here that almost parallel the Buzzcocks circa their nascent Spiral Scratch ep, bearing some of the same sardonic heft.  Another loose comparison might be the Trends' Belgium contemporaries The Kids, but you're no doubt bound to draw parallels of your own. Love their spot-on rendering of the Mats' "Color Me Impressed," and they also delve into the Damned's Strawberries-era "Dozen Girls."

A thoughtful bio on the band can be read here, and the aforementioned Batman Live... was reissued in limited quantities on the always impressive Japanese Air Mail imprint.

01. Crash the Bash

02. Color Me Impressed

03. Isn't It Mine

04. Dozen Girls

05. Bake Bread Not War

06. Anyone But Me

07. Winneego

08. (Don't) Drink and Drive

09. Candy Striper

10. Office Friendly

11. The Butler Did It

12. Giddy Up and Go

13. Mommy is a Jilt

14. Quaranteen Teen

15. Pop Star

16. Toy Section

17. Peer Pressure

18. Zinc Tabletz

19. Don't Talk to Her

20. Electric Chair

21. Band-Aid

Hear

No one that survived this hurricane would dare deny...

From 1986.  The second album from Placentia, CA's finest. 

**Please do not reveal artist in comments!**

Hear

The Fat Lady Sings - Fear and Favour 7" (1986, Good Vibrations)

One of my more recent bargain-bin scoops.  Despite the copyright date, The Fat Lady Sings were not lumped in with the usual C86 crowd (i.e. Primal Scream, Close Lobsters, Pastels) perhaps due to their initial locale of Dublin, yet judging by these two numbers they were aesthetically playing in the same ballpark.  TFLS bore a mildly pastoral bent, say in the manner of the Weather Prophets and Housemartins, and might even tickle the same eardrums Aztec Camera made such a vivid impression with.  "Fear and Favour" was the band's first record, coming together mere months after they had formed, and has me piqued to investigate what they came up with subsequently.  

A. Fear and Favour

B. Wishing Well

Hear

Primary Colors - s/t ep (1983, Urbanoise)

In doing what little research I could on this quartet, it was unsurprisingly revealed that there were multiple bands over the years running around with the moniker Primary Colors.  This one presumably hailed from Boston, MA or nearby environs and released this single ep.  Quintessential synth-pop, but with discernable socio-political themes, mildly suggesting an emerging technocratic world.  In short, there isn't a "Just Can't Get Enough" in this comparatively pensive bouquet, and that's absolutely fine by me.  The one comparison I stumbled on that was leveled at these guys was Illustrated Man, if that means anything to you.  With the exception of the icy, quasi-Dadaistic "Original Sin," I enjoyed this one.  

01. Fact or Fiction

02. Notorious

03. Small World

04. Original Sin

05. Fiction (reprise) 

Hear

Then Jerico - Before the Future: 1984-1989 (2024, Cherry Red) - A brief review.

So, me and my extended family were late in getting MTV, and for that matter, cable TV writ large.  In fact we were a good six long years-late to be exact.  The higher-ups in my household finally relented in the summer of 1987, and between that time right up until the mid-90s I was practically glued to eMpTVy.  MTV News, including a 30-minute weekly incarnation thereof was a thing by early 1988 (if not earlier - but how would my deprived eyes have known)?  I don't remember the month, but sometime that year it was a slow news week for the channel in question, and some filler was needed to flesh out said half-hour. Am not sure if payola was still in the ether circa '88 but the endcap for this particular week was a five minute puff piece on three up-and-coming UK artists.  The lucky trifecta entaild the boy-bandish Wet Wet Wet whose album, Popped in Souled Out, wasn't going to be popping in or out of my cassette deck anytime soon.  Next up was none other than a pre-stardom Rick Astley, a young man with vocal superpowers to be certain, but it was clear that this carefully coifed and polished lad would hardly represent anything heroic to my discriminating eardrums.  

To my good fortune, the remaining contender, Then Jerico wasn't as quick to excise the last distinguishing marks of rock and roll as thoroughly as the aforementioned, and in fact impressed me enough to plunk down the better part of $10 for the stateside release of their debut, First (The Sound of Music).  Their comparative stature to Mr. Astley, and even that of flash-in-pan saps Wet³ was diminished in their native England, and held a virtually non-existent presence in North America...but I couldn't have been more delighted to have TJ all to myself.  As luck would have it, we can all partake in the privilege of indulging in Then Jerico's entire '80s output, as Cherry Red has assembled a four CD box set, Before the Future 1984-1989, encompassing the band's classic first album, it's 1989 follow-up, The Big Area, plus two entire CDs worth of surrounding singles, b-sides, remixes and even a cluster of early demos.

With sizable nods to Simple Minds, as well as lesser concessions to the likes of Duran Duran and U2 (the more preferable eras of all three I might emphasize), The Mark Shaw-fronted Then Jerico usually functioned as a five-piece and wielded a 50/50 sonic wallop of keys and guitars to match their manpower.  No, this wasn't quite new wave, rather an advanced outgrowth thereof, buttressed with a manicured fury of dense, robust arrangements, a flair for the dramatic and colored with somewhat opaque socio-political themes.  Heck, even the album title alone, First (The Sound of Music), reeked of ambition and sophistication.  A volley of singles from the effervescent album in question commenced with 1986's "Muscle Deep" (reissued as a single for a second go-around in '87) , "Let Her Fall," "The Motive," "Prairie Rose," and finally "Blessed Days," the latter for  TJ's Japanese market exclusively it appears. Sweeping, anthemic, yet wholly benevolent and above all else, melodically captivating, First... is practically a salvo of greatest hits unto itself.  Not quite on the level of say, the Joshua Tree or Songs From the Big Chair, First.. but merely a rung or two down on the same ladder, deftly avoiding any ostentatious or preachy pitfalls.  It's an unheralded classic with even it's deepest cuts, specifically "The Laughter Party" and "A Quiet Place (Apathy and Sympathy)" landing as effectively as it's more renown singles.   

The version of First... presented on Before the Future, is sensibly enough the original British iteration of the album.  When First... saw the light of day in America in 1988 several tracks were remixed, the U.S. variants thereof are included as bonuses here - and there's gobs more on top of that, with all the contemporary extras from the album occupying not one or two CDs, but would you believe three all told?  We're treated to TJ's excellent premiere independent 12" "The Big Sweep," circa 1985 and it's follow-up, "Fault." From there on ...Future leaves virtually no stone-unturned, catching every solitary non-LP b-side (including gems like "Searching" and "Electric"), remixes of the more danceable cuts, and a plethora of single edits.  It's a bit overkill, and the sequencing/intermingling a bit dodgy (occasionally separating A-sides and B-sides on different disks), but nothing egregious mind you, and this collection is very much assembled with the completist in mind.  The fourth CD here, dubbed From the Vaults, houses something I've been craving for an eternity- demos for roughly half of First... Early takes of "Let Her Fall," "The Hitcher," and "The Motive" aren't necessarily raw or rough-hewn, per se, but certainly presented in an interesting embryonic context, and worth my decades-long wait.     

Still possessing a healthy quotient of the grandiose sweep that imbued much of First..., TJ's 1989 sophomore effort, The Big Area is by significant degrees more of a commercial venture, demonstrating a tighter and more lucid approach, and notably guitar-centric. Even when the emotional pull isn't as evident as before, Mark Shaw & Co. don't yank the rug out from underneath much of anything, rather Jerico's collective stride pursues a comparatively streamlined tact.  And they were still amassing solid material in the shape of "What Does It Take," the pulsing "Helpless," and "Reeling," the latter accented with strings. Six b-sides and such are appendixed to the Big Area CD, including an unlikely reading of Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Underfoot." Considerably uncharacteristic territory for Jerico, but they manage to pull it off.

Overall, Before the Future... makes an exhaustive case for rediscovering Then Jerico's often neglected catalog, and its attendant bells and whistles (not to mention ace remastering) ushers all of the band's missing pieces into the digital era in one succinct space. It's available direct from Cherry Red, Amazon. and hopefully a brick and mortar retailer near you.