No man breaks ranks, no foe outflanks!

From 2016.  Riveting and harshly administered coed punk/post-punk that may recall Unwound or Metal Circus at moments - but I'd say this threesome had something a little more economical in mind.

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

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Mudhoney ‎– On Top! (KEXP Presents Mudhoney Live On Top Of The Space Needle) (2014, Sub Pop)

Another Record Store Day has come and gone...but actually not exactly this year due to an obvious and wisely chosen postponement of due to the Covid-19 virus that's tragically very much still with us.  In fact, to keep crowds at bay to avoid anything approaching a super-spreader event, this year the breakdown of the 500 or so releases was spread across three dates, August 29th being the first.  While I'm not quite at liberty to share anything that just came out, I've made an an inconsistent tradition of sharing titles from previous RSD sales. This year, the honor goes to a 2014 release from Seattle's quintessential Mudhoney.  It's a live set captured by KEXP radio of a July 11, 2013 gig the band performed at the top of the Emerald City's defining landmark, the Space Needle.  Presumably Mark Arm and Co. were situated in the observation deck, where the audience were treated not merely to a breathtaking 360 degree view, but a visceral half-hour of power with the legendary quartet busting out ten, tight, serrated grunge-punk blasts, revisiting know-em-by-heart classics "Touch Me I'm Sick," "Suck You Dry," and "Into the Drink."  Alongside the standards were nearly as many new songs from that years Vanishing Point, a late career record that I wasn't completely sold on, but hearing live incarnations of "The Final Course" and The Blue Cheer-flavored "I Don't Remember You" enlightened me with a greater appreciation of the path Mudhoney had placed themselves on in the twenty-first century.  Enjoy.

01. Touch Me I'm Sick
02. I'm Now
03. The Final Course
04. Into the Drink
05. Chardonnay
06. Who You Drivin' Now
07. What to Do With the Neutral
08. I Don't Remember You
09. Suck You Dry
10. The Only Son of the Widow From Nain

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The Holidays - Restless Heart (1989, Broken)

The Holidays put a wrap on their gift, as it were, long before the internet could say stuff about 'em, so background details on this trio are considerably scant.  A fan club address of Fontana, CA points to where the band hailed from, but let's just say that's unconfirmed.  Hanging out on the more accessible (i.e. pedestrian) side of the alt-rock fence these fellas give us eleven fairly commendable tunes infused with a healthy dose of melody and a sweet, albeit muscular guitar aptitude.  Sonic sign posts point to contemporaries Drivin' 'n Cryin', Crossfire Choir, and the Rhythm Corps.  Not quite power pop, but had they tweaked their m.o. a tad they could have opted for that path without much of an imposition on their part. There are occasionally vague spiritual connotations amidst Restless Heart, but you'd really have to read deep into lyrics to identify them.  Not a masterpiece, but in the band's favor, they're frequently well-above average.  A cassette album, Everything is Now preceded this disk.

01. Tear the Curtain
02. Two Times Two
03. Round and Round
04. Touch Me
05. Should I Tell You
06. Sunshine
07. Promises
08. It's a Fight
09. Color Me While
10. My Love
11. The Lines of Time

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Sex is mine, this body is good. Tired of being misunderstood.

From 1992.  This low-profile, dissonant pop quartet managed to slightly buck the trend of most of their more renown labelmates.  Admittedly, this one's an acquired taste.

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

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Dick Tracey - Movin' to the Beat ep (1983, DT)

There's something for everyone here - that is, everyone that has even a modicum of appreciation for power pop and wave.  Dick Tracey were coed kids from Philly who hung around in the mid eighties for a couple of singles and an LP, Talkin' Bout the Future, but Movin' to the Beat is the only one I can vouch any real familiarity with.  The lead-off title piece is quite the corker, brandishing enough guitar crunch to propel half a dozen like-minded cuts, if that's the direction they intended to take things.  D/T were more diverse than that however, pitching us the noticeably sweeter keyboard-enhanced "A Modern Experience."  Not to be mistaken for a ballad, "When the Lites Go Out" manages to shift the proceedings into a more benign modus operandi, with washes of pleasant ringing chords.  Sadly, I'm not in possession of this record, and in fact I purloined files thereof several years ago from the now defunct Vinyl Obscurity Blog - which to this day I'm thankful for it's brief but revealing existence.

01. Movin' to the Beat
02. A Modern Experience
03. When the Lites Go Out

Hear

Fellow bloggers please read/respond - cannot update previous entries.

I know most of you won't be able to offer me a solution given this is an issue with the mechanics of Blogger, but if you have a blog of your own I could really use some assistance.  If you're merely browsing Wilfully Obscure (as a good 95% of you are) this conversation will be foreign to you. 

That being said, Blogger has switched to a new graphic interface, which will become a mandatory replacement for the "classic" interface.  It has several inherent flaws, most notably the feature that allows us to edit previously established content (i.e. "old" entries).   Typically once I'm signed into Google/Blogger I can search for any given entry and scroll down to the bottom right hand corner of the post and click on the Quick edit (pencil) icon ().  This will take me directly into that entry to make any necessary modifications. 

While the Quick edit icon is still present in Blogger's new interface it does NOT take me to the original entry as it has for almost twenty years, rather a list of ALL previous entries in reverse chronological order.  I am nearing 3000 entries on this page and it is virtually impossible to access a specific entry with this method.  While I can create and edit new posts (say, one's created in the last two months) it could literally take me hours of loading and scrolling this list to reach the one I intend to.  In essence, I will not be able to modify previous entries in the future.  This translates to no more refreshed download links. I have a posted to Blogger's "support" page, but Google is notorious for not replying to any queries, and email/chat/phone support is not existent.  There isn't even an option to pay for support.

If any of you utilize Blogger on a regular basis and can duplicate the issue I'm describing please leave a response in the comments.  If you have a direct contact to a Blogger/Google developer and are brave enough to share their contact details you can email me as well (please check my profile).  Thanks so much for your help!

Reject your will, you'll find it's not your own.

Four EPs time again, all from fairly disparate artists.  Remember, no spoilers kids. 

Have a great week Kevn Kinney, wherever you are.

Hear

Jet Black Factory - Days Like These ep (1986, 391)

Like many (perhaps even most) of the groups I post about here, Jet Black Factory made it to my radar only posthumously.  When I did finally start to encounter what records/CDs I could locate approximately twenty years ago, I was scared off by the very inaccurate assumption they were industrial or goth (after all, Factory was part and parcel of their name).  To my detriment I had been putting off some genuinely earnest indie rock that was far more organic than the ill-informed notion I had ignorantly planted in my head.  On their debut (yep, Days Like These) they didn't have much intimidating in store after all, but still mightily effective.  Frontman Dave Willie wielded a delivery that suggested a welterweight Mark Lanegan (not that he was deliberately aspiring to sound like the real McCoy) and his three fellow Nashville compatriots play rugged, distortion steeped tunes with thoughtfulness and depth, sans any contrived mystique or gimmickry.  "Tonight" is my go-to song here. Though my memory banks aren't bringing up much in the way of accurate comparisons, you're bound to come up with one or two on your own I'm certain.  Days Like These was followed up by another ep and two long-players.  Apologies for the radio station call letters adorning my humble copy. 

01. Real Down Ticket
02. By the Temple
03. Tonight
04. Chelsea
05. The City Sleeps
06. Waters Edge

Hear

Passionate Friends 7" (1983)

Passionate Friends, who despite their namesake did not follow in the same creative footsteps of the Teardrop Explodes, were a Scottish six-piece who made minor waves with a pair of singles in the early/mid-80s.  Consisting of no less than three brothers John, Malky and Allan McNeill, the Friend's debut 1982 single, Time Bandits/What's the Odds was an impeccable stab at new romantic pop firmly in league with A Flock of Seagulls, but somehow more resonant.  The band caught the interest of MCA a year later, who released the 7" platter I'm presenting today.  Bearing a mildly more linear tact with the guitars taking on even footing with the synths, the band's self-titled tune (imagine that, beating Living in a Box to the record presses by a good three years or so) exudes melodic and casually melancholic hues, to gratifying effect.  The flip, "Wake Up/Shake Up" charts more of an uptempo course, but not as memorable (patented '80s sax wails don't do them any favors).  However, I've decided to do you a favor by tacking on the winsome "What's the Odds" from their previous 45.  The Wiki2 link provided above will steer you to all of the biographical deets you could want on the Passionate Friends, including info regarding their 2008 reunion.  Cheers.

A. Passionate Friends
B. Wake Up/Shake Up
plus: What's the Odds

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Precisely in our wheelhouse.

Could it be someone associated with Captured Tracks has taken a gander at this site...or do they merely possess remarkably refined and esoteric taste?  I don't have the specifics on exactly when Strum & Thrum, a double LP comp of collegiate jangle "nuggets," circa 1983-87 is going to be dropping, but if the video alone isn't enough to sell you check out Strum's impeccable playlist here in the article.  Bravo CT!

Do you think I should take a class to lose my southern accent?

This past Saturday (Aug 8th) marked the 25th anniversary of one of the most dazzling debut albums ever...or at least so says I.  Instead of sharing the record in question I thought it would be more of a kick to share the demos for it...and some demos for their even more popular sophomore LP...and why not some really scarce and altogether unreleased tunes on top of that?  This collection was sourced from tapes, and whomever did the digital transfer may have had the Dolby switched on, but it's barely enough to detract from the overall quality of both the audio and the songs.  For what it's worth, back in '96 it meant a lot to have these tracks to tide me over while I was patiently waiting for their second album to come out.  Hope ya dig.

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

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Pacer - s/t ep (1993, Remora/Bear)

Pacer were a coed trio of New York indie kids with a penchant for noise and serrated guitar histrionics, but on their lone ep they reign in just enough of the chaos to filter in a few morsels of the latent tuneful ambition they could have likely made so much more of on subsequent records had they stuck it out.  They were label-mates with Versus, who were newly incorporated themselves at the time, and the two bands had just enough in common to draw a legit comparison.  Truthfully, Pacer made more of a racket and played it a good bit looser.  You might sense trace elements of the first Seam album (Headsparks), and Unwound, but I think the latter was more of a coincidence.  Of the three Pacer aluni, it's bassist Samara Lubelski that went onto to the most robust career with stints in the Sonora Pine, Chelsea Light Moving and has abundant solo releases to her credit. My apologies if the audio is a little bumpy in spots.  Purchased this one used and the condition wasn't as sharp as I preferred.

01. Hot Wired
02. Go
03. Tell You Something
04. Seven
05. Two
06. Disso

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Punchbuggy - The Great Divide (2002, Boss Tuneage/Does Everyone Stare)

Got a request for this one recently.  The Great Divide was the fourth in a series of Punchbuggy albums to feature less songs than the LP that preceded it.  I suppose they called it quits after this one considering the only logical move for a fifth record would entail offering merely ten songs (or less). That would hardly be a complaint though given the caliber and consistency of what they pumped out for almost ten solid years.  These Ottawa-based Doughboys proteges knew their way around a hook, not to mention chunky punk-pop riffs, all the while sustaining maximum sonic density.  I've gone back and forth on my favorite Punchbuggy albums over the years, but since they're not a band that anyone normally "debates," so guess what?  I don't have to pick favorites. Even with the absence of Jim Bryson on guitar (who also wasn't aboard from 1998's My Norwegian Cousin) The Great Divide is another wall-to-wall trove of aces, wherein the band even negotiates some modestly mature gestures on the slower (but not quite ballad-worthy) "Easy to Leave" and the relatively contemplative title cut.  Aficionados of the Doughboys Crush or Goo's Superstar Carwash will find plenty to love here.  In fact, the only thing that might have improved ...Divide is if the band employed another halter-topped model for the album cover, as they so effectively did with the aforementioned My Norwegian Cousin...but once again I digress.  You can also find the band's second LP, Grand Opening Going Out of Business Sale here.

01. Same
02. Way to Go
03. Kids Say
04. Rock and Roll Fantasy
05. Easy to Leave
06. Heart Attack
07. Just Another Day
08. Want You More
09. Lucky Me Lucky You
10. Marianne
11. The Great Divide

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Don't try to get a ride in my Cadillac, you don't look good enough for that...

From 1982.  I had car songs on the brain the other day, and when that happens the first tune on this album invariably comes to mind.  Not typical Wilfully Obscure fare...but that's why Mystery Mondays were invented. 

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

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The Cure - Live in Orange (rec. 1986, released on video 1987)

My friend was looking for the audio portion of The Cure's 1987 Live in Orange concert video tape.  I found it for him and am sharing the contents with you as well, with lossless FLAC as an option. The video/audio was captured from a series of gigs Robert Smith & Co. performed in 1986 at the Théâtre Antique d’Orange, in Orange, Vaucluse, France, in support of the Head on the Door album.  As such, don't expect to hear anything from Disintegration or Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.  The setlist is exceptional, not skimping on old fan faves like "A Forest," "Charlotte Sometimes," and "Shake Dog Shake."  The audio component of Live in Orange was never officially released on record/CD, but somehow it found it's way to market in places like Malaysia and China.  Online video links are available here.

01. Shake Dog Shake
02. Piggy in the Mirror
03. Play for Today
04. A Strange Day
05. Primary
06. Kyoto Song
07. Charlotte Sometimes
08. In Between Days
09. The Walk
10. A Night Like This
11. Push
12. One Hundred Years
13. A Forest
14. Sinking
15. Close to Me
16. Let's Go to Bed
17. Six Different Ways
18. Three Imaginary Boys
19. Boys Don't Cry
20. Faith
21. Give Me It
22. 10:15 Saturday Night
23. Killing an Arab

MP3  or  FLAC

Nothing But Happiness - Detour (1987, The Remorse Label)

Been sitting on this one for awhile.  You can attach almost another ten years on top of that, as I patiently waited for an affordable copy of Detour to make itself available Stateside, given I was only looking to make a minimal to moderate investment in it.  The draw here was none other than Kurt Ralske of Ultra Vivid Scene renown.  Truthfully, Nothing But Happiness wasn't actual his "baby" so to speak, rather that of frontman David Maready Bowman, whom I believe occupies all the lead vocals on this record with Ralske serving as guitarist.  Bowman was also a contributor to Crash,  another pre-UVS band that Ralske had a more definitive role in commandeering, who happened to exist during the mid-80s as well.

There is sadly little to no details to be had online regarding NBH, and I'm not even certain of what side of the Atlantic they operated on (though a NYC correspondence address on the back sleeve indicated one or all of the members already had a foothold in the States). If you're looking for a "lost" UVS album by another name you won't find much of a discernible Ralske influence at all on Detour...but it is good, channeling a bevy of Brit, indie small-of-famers like the June Brides, Felt and  early Microdisney.  The wily and rambunctious feedback and horns-laced corker "Buried in the Flowers" taps into nascent Jesus and Mary Chain, "For Waitress Friends" and "Couldn't Make You Mine" are glistening guitar pop forays, however Detour counters with an equal number of ballads and relatively serene pieces too.  Nothing But Happiness were officially a co-ed quartet, with Lynn Culberstson contributing subdued backing vox on a number of tracks.

01. For Waitress Friends
02. Striped Socks
03. Battle Hymn
04. Buried in the Flowers
05. Facsimilie
06. Don't Laugh
07. Couldn't Make You Mine
08. My Summer Dress
09. Blue Kiss
10. Narcotics Day

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I've stood some ghostly moments with natives in the hills...

From 1978.  Every band has to have a start.  This was theirs. 

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

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Local Rabbits - Basic Concept (1998, Murder)

Hard to believe this band's first and third albums were so utterly polarizing (to my ears anyway).  In fact I don't have a solid idea of what the Local Rabbits debut, 1996's You Can't Touch This, was all about, because on the two occasions I attempted to listen to it I was repulsed enough by the second or third song in I gave in to my compulsion to yank the thing out of my CD player.  I remember it having an unseasoned and unfocused air to it, and the fact that they went to the trouble of covering John Lee Hooker didn't do anyone any favors.  Ugh.  What a difference six years made, because by 2002's This Is It Here We Go, I was fully onboard thanks to the seemingly multiple quantum leaps these Montreal natives were responsible for.  The link above will take you to my critique of that LP, but in a nutshell, the quartet in question got exponentially more sophisticated from that off-putting debut, and post-Y2K they had fused bona fide singer/songwriter chops with retro yacht-rock tangents aplenty.  This Is It... was outright dazzling, and to this day I'm still stunned how a band who were so mediocre on the launch pad delivered such a devastating moon shot a mere six years later. Sadly, that's the last we heard from the Local Rabbits.

If you've gotten this far, you might be asking what of the band's crucial "transitional" second album?  Well, it was called Basic Concept and was an immense progression from their comparatively frivolous baby steps. I should also point out that L/R were on Sloan's Murderecords label.  They never particularly sounded like Sloan, but they did have something invaluably in common with the Halifax boys-done-good.  Much like Chris Murphy & Co. the Rabbits possessed multiple not to mention adept singer/songsmiths in Peter Elkas and Ben Gunning.  On Basic Concept they hadn't pulled out all the bells and whistles yet, but the record housed genuinely melodic, mature and stimulating tunes like "When You Return" and "Nightingale."  Further in we get nascent previews of the next album's diverse streaks by way of the sax 'n' keys enhanced ballad "Read How You Read" and the textured "Lowdown on the Download," a piece concerning romance in the recently-gone-mainstream digital era.  Again, the Rabbit's didn't fully emerge from the fabled "hat" until they got around to the full-bloom This Is It... but Basic Concept was genuinely respectable if not always consistently rewarding.

01. Our Life
02. When You Return
03. Play On
04. This Lengthy Glance
05. Nightingale
06. High School Hierarchy
07. Read How You Read
08. Stomp Your British Knights Down
09. The Deal
10. Something So Big
11. Keep it Down
12. Lowdown on the Download

Hear

The obvious is to unwind, but I still thought we had some time.

This week it's a noise pop pearl from 2015. 

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

Hear

Big Idea - The Big Idea (1987, YoYo)

Ultimately for the Big Idea, the record label they found themselves on (for what appears to be their only album) would soon gain considerably more notoriety than they would in their own right.  YoYo Records was directly associated with Yo-Yo Studios in Olympia, WA, and both would become key indie taste-makers in the '90s, with the label being responsible for a relentless slew of various artist compilations that in no small way helped codify what indie (particularly the twee contingent) represented in that decade.  Big Idea presaged all that in 1987 however, with their LP The Big Idea, being the label's maiden release.  Mildly unfocused, but never messy, the Idea were an eclectic coed five-piece, with integrity for miles, loosely pulling from a number of then-current, forward-thinking sources, including Athens, GA, and North Carolina's burgeoning Comboland circuits, without over-indulging from any one pool.  Theirs was a fun and lively endeavor, combining traditional analog accouterments (translation: guitars/drums) with flavorful keyboard lines and gentle flourishes of  harmonica.  Each song on this platter reveals itself to have it's own particular flair, and for a change I'm not disclosing any spoilers.  Just know this one is organic, heartfelt, and even a bit daring.  Enjoy.

01. Walking on Water
02. Go Ahead
03. Words of Wisdom
04. The Farce
05. Round and Round
06. Shameless
07. You're Alright
08. The Great Joy
09. Coming on Strong
10. Left and Gone

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Airstrip 1 - Longer to Live 12" (1981, Oval)

More commonly spelled Airstrip One (but what's in name anyway, ya know?) this UK batch sound as if they quickly absorbed the earliest records by Killing Joke, U2, and perhaps even Comsat Angels and decided to have a merry go at the post-punk thing themselves.  Recording under this name from 1981-82, they ostensibly re-calibrated themselves a little later in the decade as the dancier Escape From New York, but I haven't 100 percent confirmation of this (just going by Discogs stats, folks).  Airstrip didn't waste a second of this angsty three-songer, offering ample presence and texture not to mention a dab of social consciousness, albeit a little derivative.  I really enjoy this and must hear more, hopefully to share at a future date.

A. Longer to Live
B1. English Guns
B2. Crime

Hear

Burn down days like cigarettes...

From 1989.  A relatively common one this week.  Then again, this quartet's prior album was so lackluster and uninspired, many of you likely gave up on them.  Hope this will be new to some of you, because this "comeback" record was fairly on par with their first three.

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

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Orange Helicopter - s/t (2001)

It's harder to start off an album with a bigger bang than "Arsenic Bubblegum," a tune which beckons Cheap Trick's punky 1977 clarion call 'Elo Kiddies" to such an extent it's hard not to regard it as gloriously plagiaristic...but who in their right mind would complain?  Orange Helicopter hover their collective chopper over the environs of power pop like there's no damn tomorrow, and they do so with LOUD, hook-filled abandon.  From the sound of it, this quartet had their ears affixed to combos like Enuff Z'nuff and Jellyfish as well.  Aside from "Arsenic" there aren't a ton of outright revelations, but quality control was a calling card for O/H, and they would have fit in like a glove on the sadly defunct Not Lame Records imprint.  And yes, "Jet" is the Paul McCartney and Wings mainstay, done to very enthusiastic effect at that.

01. Arsenic Bubblegum
02. Strawberry
03. Take it All
04. Majestic Black Rainbow
05. Help!
06. Summer Song
07. Jet
08. Falling Star Potion
09. Coming Around
10. One Step Closer
11. Movies

Hear

The Glory Box - Donkey ep (1990, PolyEster)

I can't profess to know what a "Glory Box" precisely is, but if someone were to place this record in a carton of some sort and hand it off to me I'd say, "Yeah, this is pretty damn glorious."  I wasn't necessarily opining that about the lead-in track, "Cut" which starts Donkey's proceedings a tad on the slow side, but this five songer (created by five guys, ironically) quickly gains steam thereafter showcasing this Aussie unit's penchant for serrated and mildly droney indie guitar rock that happens to remind me of their UK counterparts the Family Cat, and to a much lesser extent the Straitjacket Fits.  Donkey reveals itself to be more stimulating with each succeeding song, a rare phenomenon in itself.  So much so that by the time you hit "Regrets" and "Aarr"occupying side two you'll find yourself craving more...but five tunes are all we're allotted.  A full length, Fudgeland followed in 1991, and a generous spate of singles and EPs surrounded it as well.

01. Cut
02. To You
03. Intersect
04. Regrets
05. Aarr

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In the Exorcist baby, you were really insane...

In 2008 this long-running combo released a live DVD, bundled with a makeshift best-of collection.  It was only available as a Spanish import.  I'm sharing the best-of (minus the DVD), although many of you might have these guys down pat already.  Please say I'm not insulting your intelligence!  This one is for the uninitiated. 

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

Hear