I'm alone with Lucifer...

From 1990.

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

Hear

Tubular Face - An Acoustic Disturbance (1984, Closet)

Talk about music that was completely devoid of the prevailing norms of it's era.  Enter Tubular Face, a San Antonio, Texas duo (Mike Escamilla and Gilbert Garcia) whose homegrown, DIY penchant didn't have a stitch in common with say, A Flock of Seagulls or even ZZ Top (though I've read the band was in cahoots with Daniel Johnston).  T/F didn't stay hemmed-in to any one particular style, and while some of this record is in fact acoustic, some of the more enticing selections (check out bookends "Movie Star" and "Change My World") are plugged in and all the better for it. An Acoustic Disturbance is intermittently mellow, boasting lo-fi folk inclinations, and at other times idiosyncratic with some downright tweaked interludes.  If anything else, you'd swear this album was cut in the mid-'70s, as it's 1984 copyright date is somewhat deceptive. Interesting and occasionally intriguing stuff.

01. Movie Star

02. Two Feet of Snow

03. Circle

04. Macho Muchacho

05. Big Sister

06. Apocalypse Now

07. Nerve Gas Party

08. My House

09. Everything Will Work Out Fine

10. It's Almost Over

11. The Oppressor

12. If There's Anything I Can Do

13. Echo of a Scream

14. A Dream Shared by Two

15. Change My World

Hear

Being this month's model is the best, but you change your mind and heart like you change your dress.

From 1981. This L.A. institution's oft overlooked third album.

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

Hear

Mystery Date - Zoom 7" (1985, Twilght)

Yet another single I've only been able to procure via ones and zeros. Despite not owning a physical copy, I know that Mystery Date (who were one of numerous bands with the same moniker - go figure) were Georgia denizens, possibly from the oft-noted Athens.  Beyond boasting some serious post-punk angularities, whether they were conscious of the fact or not, M/D were prescient enough to forecast the riot-grrrl movement, a dam that would all but burst in the not-too-distant future.  Sonically, they emanated a similar pigment to another Peach State cadre, Pylon, right down to some intermittently gruff vocal chops. Mystery Date bore a dazzling moxie, that for whatever the reason was never parlayed into a full-length.  

A. Zoom

B. Pink Ribbons

Hear

Stone Telling - s/t (1994, Network Sound)

Some mixed feelings on this one, which I've flirted with sharing almost since I started this page in 2007. So what took so long?  Not quite sure, perhaps the timing.  Stone Telling sound a bit dated three decades after the fact.  Too melodic and accessible for straight-up hardcore, yet thematically, too contemplative and thoughtful to label pop-punk...albeit not any obvious stripe of emo either. With a somewhat regrettably over-processed guitar tincture this Southern Cali quartet slotted in sonically with Dag Nasty circa Field Day with less memorable songs and no bona-fide anthems to speak ok. That said, this is still a genuinely consistent listen, and these fellows exude little to be embarrassed of.  Go into this with measured expectations, and if you're anything like me you might come away from it pleasantly surprised.

01. Disappear Here

02. Easy

03. Reach

04. Almost Again

05. For Times

06. Always

07. Nothing Lasts

08. Shine

09. Every Breath

Hear

Life’s a messy table and someone’s gotta clear it.

A debut from 1999. The creator of this has album repeatedly disavowed it, but I still find it endearing.

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

Hear 

It's secession time, paid for by cutting backwards.

Hard to believe this album is 30 years-old this week!  Could be my top pick of 1994.  

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

Hear

Tanjent Image – Suranland ep (1988, Nebula)

Here's a bygone Detroit-area quintet to rock your weekend. Tanjent Image strike an impressive visage on this stimulating four-song platter, representing the one-and-done entry in their petite discography. Mouthpiece Reed Richard bears similarities to Peter Murphy, but his approach is considerably less pious, and the resemblance is likely a coincidence. The one brief online reference I found for these guys corralled TI into the goth ghetto, though I find that inaccurate. These dudes were about as brooding as say, The Cult and would have fit splendidly on a bill with hometown mates The Orange Roughies, who I know for a fact were a going concern around the same time. Sort of post-punk-lite exploring serious themes, often pondering spirituality with nary any religious overtones. Not exactly the most original shtick for their era, yet a solid thumbs-up nonetheless.

01. Suranland

02. Faith

03. One Nation

04. Anytime

Hear

Broom - Tranquility Forest 7" (1993, Echonet)

What a splendid blind purchase this turned out to be!  A coed San Francisco treat who roamed the Earth between 1989-93, I don't think I was even aware of Broom's existence until I came across this 45.  The A-side, "Tranquility Forest" is a sheer delight, the kind of lo-fi gem that contemporary east-coasters like early Versus or some upstart hopeful on say Simple Machine Records might have concocted. Slight and rough hewn, with oodles of intermediate charm and fuzzy analogue hues course through virtually every nanosecond of this keeper.  The flip, "Carpet" isn't quite as convincing, nonetheless still adequate, with a less-tuneful gentleman on the mic as opposed to the fairer sex fronting the aforementioned "Tranquility."  The only other proper Broom release was a preceding 1992 single. in 2015 Patterns and Tones blog offered a thorough interview with members Steven Brown and Eric Bluhm where it was revealed that guitarist Roxanne Rodriguez passed away in 2003.

A. Tranquility Forest

B. Carpet

Hear