Wish us all the luck, 'cos we are making record time.

From 1997. Their third album, and while it doesn't outdo their previous LPs, there are some splendid tunes to be had here.

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

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Faith Over Reason - Eyes Wide Smile (1991, Big Cat)

Eyes Wide Smile is a mini-album masquerading as a full length, and isn't even a "proper" LP, rather a compilation of early demos. The Moira Lambert-fronted Faith Over Reason sure could've had me fooled if I didn't know better, as this record flows with not only seamless continuity but the kind of care and perfectionism that most outfits couldn't muster on their sharpest day in the studio.  Contemporaries with the likes of the Sundays, Shelleyan Orphan and The Cranes, albeit with a mildly more pronounced acoustic lilt, Faith Over Reason skewed a bit closer to the hipster, UK indie scene of whom they were certainly a byproduct of. In the grand scheme of things they seemed to have been rarely, if ever, name-checked alongside the aforementioned, and saw little promotion in the States. Eyes Wide's "Not So" and "Sofya" best exemplify what this coed quartet were capable of, and illustrate that Faith's comparatively low profile was to everyone's disadvantage. A passionate reading of Nick Drake's "Northern Sky" is also an enormous treat. 

01. Lullaby (mother love)
02. Sofya
03. So Free
04. Northern Sky
05. Song for Jessica
06. Evangeline
07. Not So
08. Eyes Wide Smile
09. Fallen

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No clue.

A 2016 joint from down under. Dream pop tempered with jangly guitarchitecture. This is downright glorious. 

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

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Soul Asylum - Hang Time/Clam Dip... demos (198?)

They say that you dance with the one who brought you. In 1988, Soul Asylum along with the likes of such varied names as Wire, Killing Joke, and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry were responsible for yanking my chain to the left end of the dial and keeping it there. The single/emphasis track, "Sometime to Return" on their fourth album (and first for a major) Hang Time, and it's accompanying video was a revelation for me, and I stayed an adherent to the band long after it was fashionable to do so.  By the late-90s just about everyone whoever boasted ties to the Minneapolis quartet let go completely, but at the very least I was still a champion of their halcyon era just presaging their fleeting bit of stardom circa Grave Dancers Union. For me, Soul Asylum never delivered a definitive, front-to-back corker of an album, but Hang Time came mightily close.  Though they had recently kissed Twin/Tone Records goodbye, the restless and loose melees that made 1986' Made to Be Broken and While You Were Out so impressive were still functionally intact when they made the jump to A&M. Hang Time was S/A's last hurrah, so to speak, in letting their rambunctiousness run wild, evident on deeper album cuts, "Little Too Clean" and "Standing in the Doorway."  Dave Pirner and Co. certainly still rocked post-Hang Time, albeit with more polish and noticeably less grit. 

With that, I've decided to share a collection of demos cut in preparation for the album, as well as the Clam Dip and Other Delights ep, also minted in '88 and was the band's final release for Twin/Tone. Most of the songs from both records are represented here and though, it's easy to distinguish these rough drafts from the finished products, Soul Asylum had done their homework and clearly hashed out the arrangements for virtually all the songs prior to heading into the studio with Ed Stasium. This is a nice treat for fans, and not a bad place to delve into if Grave Dancers... is where you got on board.

01. Sometime to Return
02. Ode
03. Secret No More
04. Twiddle Dee
05. Standing in the Doorway
06. Endless Farewell
07. Down on Up to Me
08. P-9
09. Artificial Heart
10. Saving Grace
11. Forever and a Day
12. Just Plain Evil
13. Jack of All Trades
14. Secret No More
15. Just Plain Evil
16. Juke Box Hero
17. Chains
18. Set Me Free
19. P-9

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Senseless Things - The First of Too Many - expanded edition (1991/2022, Sony/Cherry Red). A Brief Review.

Think back to 1991, from both an international and British perspective. There was war in the world. A prolonged recession was around the corner, the Tories still stubbornly clung to power in England, and a few of us just became introduced to something called 'email.' Then consider what was afoot in the guise of rock music. An alterna/grunge sea-change was well under way in the States supplanting nearly a decade's worth of formulaic, cosplay-ridden glam metal. On the other side of the pond the roots of Britpop were threatening to unfurl into full bloom at any second, while the more subterranean dream-pop movement had just reached it's apex via the woozy and enthralling mechanizations of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.  So where did that leave London's Senseless Things who would be launching their sophomore record that year?  Hardly in any of the aforementioned categories.

Then again the '90s, writ large, would eventually be characterized for it's anything-goes penchant, and in that respect a quartet of vibrant, high-strung youngsters whose buoyant guitar tones and often strenuous punk-pop delivery system fit in perfectly well with the proceedings, presaging bona fide stars like Supergrass. Contemporary to S/T were other like-minded UK exports including Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Mega City Four and arguably the Wonder Stuff, yet the type of tuneage peddled by the four protagonists this post concerns didn't actually slot into any trend or movement, as no such niche really existed. Undoubtedly there was surely a space to be carved out for the Senseless Things, and luckily they garnered fringe notoriety back home on the ranch, but sadly, in the United States and other scant foreign markets their album garnered a reputation for the first of too many...appearances in cut-out and used CD bins.  For the most part The First of Too Many was where the Senseless Things began and ended for the vast majority of us Yanks. College radio picked up on it, and I'm certain a number of fanzines were happy to endorse the album, but it really wasn't until thirty years later that the band would be name-checked again in America, and for all the wrong reasons.  On Jauary10, 2021 frontman Mark Keds passed away at the tender age of 50 with no cause of death announced.   

Would we have been bequeathed with an expanded (and remastered/mixed) incarnation of  The First... at this time were it not for the aforementioned circumstances?  I highly doubt it, but to be certain this reissue is undoubtedly in Mark's honor.  And why not?  It's the band's most definitive statement - an optimistic, albeit sonically careening and nosediving juggernaut of distortion and euphoria that somehow remains poised and approachable thanks to a bedrock of sheer, relentless melody.  Paisley considerations aside, the album sleeve is a fairly accurate depiction of the Senseless Things kaleidoscopic reach - colorful and chaotic. 

While the band had veritable competition on their home turf (to reiterate, Mega City Four, Neds, etc) they had virtually no equal in North America, save for the likes of perhaps Montreal's Doughboys.  And much like the Doughboys, major label backing didn't exactly do wonders for S/T stateside. Epic Records, flush with cash no doubt from ceaseless sales of  Michael Jackson and Wham! albums from the decade prior, apparently weren't capable of raising the band's profile (though they did wonders with their investment in Pearl Jam the very same year). The First of Too Many's most obvious blush of uptempo salvos, "Should I Feel It," "Ex Teenager," and the momentous lead-off number "Everybody's Gone" may not have shared the same angsty DNA of Eddie Vedder and Co's "Even Flow" but would've still been relatively comfortable adjacent to it on '91 rock playlists.  And there were plenty of mellower, not to mention hooky respites to be had here to boot - "Fishing at Tescos," "Wrong Number," and the considerably chilled-out "Different Tongues." To their good fortune the album did make more than a handful of believers in the U.S. - just not enough to justify an American release of S/T's 1993 follow-up, Empire of the Senseless.

So what to make of the reissue of The First...?  Mostly for the positive, and as for a few criticisms I'll leave those for the end.  Expanded to a three CD set, disk one is a 30th anniversary remix of the whole enchilada. It's rarely the fans who clamor for alternate mixes of albums, but they seem to be coming down the pike more often these days, invited or not.  The original '91 mix of The First... was hardly muddy or indiscernible, yet this fresh twiddling of the knobs and levels reveals a far more lucid portrayal of the album's fifteen numbers and is said to reveal new elements that were left out of the initial mix, including banjo (or so the band claims).  To my ears, Mark's vocals, nor is any specific instrumentation especially prominent in the new mix, but considerably brighter with maybe the high end tweaked a tad.  The second disk is a straight version of the more frenetic and amped-out o.g. mix, which is what most, if not all listeners will be more accustom to. Then comes the final CD, a gripping live set from a Camden Palace gig in London from June 1991, featuring not only songs from The First... but also choice cuts from their debut LP, Postcard C.V. and a clutch of rarely heard gems ("Ponyboy" anyone?)

While the music presented across this set ranges from merely good to fantastic, it could have been that much better. How?  Well, this reissue sticks strictly to the original UK tracklist.  Any of the three CDs could have potentially housed another album's worth of bonus material including an ace non-LP single from the same era ("Easy to Smile," which technically made it to the American version of The First...), not to mention roughly a half-dozen contemporary b-sides (including but not limited to "I'm On Black and White" and the fun "Beat to Blondie"). Additionally, it would have been a treat to have the under-released Andi in a Karmann ep from 1990 appended too. Like I said, there was plenty of room for extras. The only other quibble is that the booklet's liner notes were kept to a bare minimum, with the typeset tiny enough to warrant reaching for a magnifying glass. A little more insight into the music at hand would have been appreciated, but of course Mark wasn't around to provide any.

The First of Too Many is available straight from Cherry Red, either in triple CD or double LP formats, and from a variety of other vendors including Amazon. 

I guess it takes awhile to disappear.

From 1988. Too bad I slept on these New York noiseniks when they were originally around. I'm discovering a goldmine in their back catalog.  BTW, the last six songs comprised an EP released the same year. 

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

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Arti Rhythm - Can't O.D. on R&B ep (1984)

Hope the title of this one doesn't scare anyone off. Arti Rhythm, who evidently called Holland home, were steeped in pub rock more than anything else, and anyone who gets a whiff of this record would swear they were American born and bred. Think maybe that first Huey Lewis and the News album and Rockpile (albeit even more pedestrian). A pretty meat and potatoes affair, though I could do without the long-ish ballad, "Cold Outside," which is about as bluesy as this five piece gets. 

01. Feel Like Lovin'
02. Cold Oustide
03. Take a Ride
04. Walk in a Line
05. The Trick
06. Three Times Enough

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No bridge too far...

From 2009. Rich, deftly crafted indie rock with melodic smarts for miles, and a keen singer/songwriter flair.

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

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Steppin' Razor - Studio Junkies (1982, QL)

This was a nice find, even if it isn't particularly rare.  My understanding is that at the time of this recording Steppin' Razor were a Florida duo consisting of Mike Rogers and Kenny Lyon. You'd be forgiven if you mistook their moniker as Studio Junkies given how the album jacket graphics are portrayed, but anyway. You can file this one loosely under 'new wave,' although the lead-off number, "Follow the Leader" is a delectably catchy slice of ska-pop with an indelible staccato syncopation. There's precious little more of where this came from at least as Studio Junkies is concerned, but more regarding that after the jump. The remainder of the album traverses more traditional terrain, with whirring keyboards being a dominant factor yet not overpowering. Some of the comparatively introspective pieces ("Another Way to Live") never quite manage to climax, and further along, "I Really Wanna Dance With You" is just too vacant for my tastes. Steppin' Razor redeem themselves on the livelier "Ready to Break," while "Yellow Lights" dips back into the white-boy Rasta bag 'o tricks, but at five minutes is too lengthy for it's own good.

Shortly after Studio Junkies was issued, the duo of Rogers/Lyon made a break for L.A., teamed up with a rhythm section and rechristened themselves Steppin' Lazer. They took and ran with the ska-bent of the aforementioned "Follow the Leader," and cooked up one hell of an ep, Plain Wrap in '83, which included a rerecording of that song and another Junkies number, "Seeing What I Ain't Got." Per a blurb I read on YouTube, frontman Rogers has sadly passed on.

01. Follow the Leader
02. Seein' What I ain't Got
03. Another Pretty Face
04. You Don't Approve of Me
05. Another Way to Live
06. I Can't Afford it
07. I Really Wanna Dance with You
08. Ready to Break
09. Yellow Lights
10. Für Elise

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She had a full pack of smokes, I had cash from my folks...

From 1995. Even the "weakest" link in their catalog of stellar albums was superior to their competition's greatest work.

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

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Red Rain Coat - s/t (1990, Blue In)

Sometimes when I receive a request for a band I'm wholly unfamiliar with it can lead down a pretty rewarding rabbit hole.  Much as I dig the new find, sadly, after doing what little research I could, I wasn't able to find out many pertinent details regarding the long defunct Red Rain Coat, presumably an indie quartet that possibly called Switzerland home. In terms of what imbued their music however RRC's collective gaze seemed to be fixed on Ireland, particularly taking a page or two from the likes of Power of Dreams, Cactus World News, and early(ish) U2. For their debut LP they decided to give fans and the world at large nearly two albums worth of material, and judging from just an initial, listen I'm grateful they were so generous. Preceding the LP was a 1987 single that spoke even more relevantly to their post-punk bona fides, the video of which you can view here. Enjoy.

01. Facade
02. Mother
03. Lokomotion
04. Running Round
05. Avalanche
06. She Likes Rain
07. Runes 2
08. Small Place
09. Footsteps
10. Wonderland
11. Spaghetti
12. Look For Somebody Else
13. Love or Hate
14. Wasteland
15. Past
16. Sometimes
17. Love Will Break My Mind
18. Runes 2

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Breck & Scott - Dream You Away + The Orbits (rec. 1976-88)

The tale of fellow Wisconsinites Breck Burns and Scott Krueger began when the two met in the early '70s as teenagers, but the world (or at least the country...or maybe just the state) at large didn't pull them up on radar until their first serious band, The Orbits made inroads in the power-pop circuit via their brilliant 1980 7" "Make the Rules," which I'll get to a bit later. Almost simultaneous to The Orbits, the duo alongside Scott's girlfriend Jill Kossoris would become part and parcel of one of Milwaukee's most renown unsigned bands, the Shivvers.  The Shivvers. and their incendiary 45, "Teenline" (another crucial 45 blast from '80) were quite literally a story and phenomenon unto themselves. 

The real meat and potatoes of this post concerns Breck and Scott's work post-Orbits/Shivvers, which was well hidden until the Hyped to Death folks did more of their crucial excavation efforts, yielding this cd-r album in the mid '00s. Still residing in WI throughout most of the '80s the duo in question had no good excuse not to continue collaborating, even if they kept their recordings to themselves, which they did for almost a couple of decades. Per the liner notes, they never bothered to field tapes to labels, and from what I've been able to glean never played out. The high strung, punky power-pop of the Orbits and Shivvers was largely phased out by the mid '80s when Breck & Scott's commenced recording sessions semi-informally in their spare time. With a more mature and seasoned acumen in hand, and best of all, no record label or management hovering over their shoulders, our protagonists weren't informed by any pretensions or even the prevailing trends of the era. Oddly enough, with a lack of supervision (so to speak) the boys sounded doubly more disciplined on Dream You Away's dozen or so tracks, most of which exude surprisingly clean and measured tones, without sapping any of the songs' natural energy.  The overall effect isn't quite as charming as say, Big Star or Velvet Crush, but not entirely removed thereof either.  A more accurate comparison might be Butch Vig's pre-stardom outfit, Fire Town. The strummy "Without a Sound," the gritty and muscular "Day Into Night" not to mention the wistful ballad "Let Me Know" are all immaculate keepers...and there's more gold where that came from. 

Dream You Away thoughtfully, and for that matter, crucially appends The Orbits aforementioned lone single, two frenetic power pop bangers, laced with the same mid-fidelity aptitude that worked wonders for the Shoes on their contemporary platter Black Vinyl Shoes, and maybe to a less obvious extent what the Plimsouls were up to around the same juncture. If you're hungry for more than just a pair of two-minute Orbits tunes (and who wouldn't be) four unreleased demos are graciously tacked on.

Breck and Scott
01. Dream You Away
02. On My Roof
03. Look What You've Done to Me
04. You're in Love
05. She Won't Change
06. Alone
07. Without a Sound
08. Frank Lloyd Wright
09. Day Into Night
10. Pine Circle
11. Here and Now
12. Let Me Know
13. Day Into Night (live)

The Orbits
14. Phenomenal World
15. Make the Rules
16. Having Fun
17. Smart Suit, Shirt &Tie
18. Until the Word Gets Out
19. The Waiting Game

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She had to take it to the majors, couldn't keep it on the down low.

From 2009. I make no apologies if I already shared this LP a few years ago. I've had so many songs from it lodged in my head over the past few weeks it almost feels like an omen compelling me to put this out there. As a bonus, I'm including a companion ep to the album, which I'm pretty sure I haven't given you already. Sorry I didn't post anything over the past week. I should be remedying that tomorrow. 

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

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I always needed a plan to dislocate.

Quality power pop coupled with rich Britpop resonance from 2008.

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Otto No 7" (1987, Permanent Rave)

Two young men, one young woman. What could possibly go wrong?  Sounds like the setup to some teenage comedy flick, right?  Guess again. It's a cold case weekend here on Wilfully Obscure, and what better way to spend it than with a coed wave trio dubbed Otto No?  Ostensibly hailing from New Jersey, this threesome manage to sidestep synths but boast virtually none of the cool cache of say, Let's Active or Pylon. To the contrary, Otto No strike me as Top-40 hopefuls on a razor thin budget, with Karla Crowley managing to salvage the day with a Bangles-esque chorus hook propelling "Getting Married," wherein she readily admits the couple in question "don't know each other very well." Okay, so that happened I guess, leaving one to wonder how that situation played out. As for the flip, "Looking Through Your Eyes," Joe Crowley seizes the mic, but not quite the anthem-atic grasp he seems to be striving for.  

A. Getting Married
B. Looking Through Your Eyes

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Sextet - s/t ep (1986, National Trust)

As the band's name suggests, Sextet were a six-piece, but aside from the music I can't tell you much of anything else. For synth-popsters they had some decidedly more aggressive label-mates, including but not limited to the Vandals, Fang and M.I.A. For what it's worth, this half-dozen posse didn't see to be particularly tainted by superficial '80s production techniques and better yet, they had a decent handful of tunes going for them. The Thompson Twins and Erasure Sextet were definitely not, rather you'd swear this crew was occasionally skewing more towards Aztec Camera and the Armoury Show.  I don't have much more to opine on this one, but if anyone wishes to spill some more pertinent details feel free to comment away.  Btw, the sixth track, a remix of "Plants and Animals" is unlisted, and unfortunately may have a skip around the 21-second mark.

01. I Lie in Wait
02. Captuered
03. Side By Side
04. Tight
05. Plants and Animals
06. Plants and Animals (remix)

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Try to cover it over...now it's over my head.

From 1993. Everyone seems to celebrate this band's 1980s output. So far as I'm concerned they really excelled a decade later. Recommended if you have a thing for Husker Du or Overwhelming Colorfast. 

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

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Perfect Vision - Tongues Out mLP (1986, Backs)

The Perfect Vision ep I shared last year seemed to illicit a positive reaction, so here's another feast for your retinas, if not your eardrums. There isn't an abundance of difference between the two records. This Cambridge, England flock were still not exactly a radio-friendly fit by the time they got around to sticking their Tongues Out, so to speak. Still, Perfect Vision sport a wry accessibility at times, whether they were conscious of it or not thanks to no small amount of rhythmical agility.  The post-punk undercurrents buttressing so much of 1984's Broken Crown ep are evident on Tongues, "Damnation," but stylistically it's clear this quartet were content to have their fingers in a myriad of pies.  From what I can tell these fellows doggedly stuck to indie labels to disseminate their recordings, and while they would have probably gone further had they been taken under the wing of say, Rupert Hine, I'm grateful they prioritized keeping their credibility intact. 

01. Hole in the Soul
02. Scratch & Howl
03. Engines
04. Kick
05. Impossible Blue
06. Damnation
07. ...Like Engines

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I'm sleeping on top of the world.

From 1997.

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

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Mick & the Maelstroms - Privates (1989, Rivet)

On what could be their lone LP, Mick & Co. don't stir up a Maelstrom, or even much cacophonous noise, but ironically enough, simply a batch of respectable pop rockers.  While they didn't necessarily blow up college radio playlists, the New York-area trio in question hardly blended in with the AOR types of their era either.  Even if Mick & the Maelstroms weren't intent on seizing the sound of anyone in particular they did boast a modicum or two of appeal amidst the boppy power-pop of the title track, plus the bittersweet "Not So Long Ago" and "Strange Things Start to Happen," a sturdy, melodic bar rocker. "Sous Quelle Etoile Suis-Je Ne?" is a cover, but I couldn't tell you squat about the original version.

01. Privates
02. Difficult
03. Levitation
04. When I Get My Car
05. Not So Long Ago
06. Strange Things Start to Happen
07. In the Bath
08. Leave Her Alone
09. Sous Quelle Etoile Suis-Je Ne?
10. Nothing to Fear 

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Cassette - Minnow Swimmers ep (2006)

With a name like Cassette this has to be lo-fi bedroom pop...right?  Think again. This veritably un-searchable indie rock quantity, evidently based in Austin, Tejas, exuded far more studio finesse than I expected going into this one, and to everyone's benefit this ep's half a dozen tunes were worth laboring over. Sure, Cassette sport tuneful bona fides, but more discernibly there's a real technical proficiency at play here, recalling this quartet's inspirational antecedents No Knife, The Jealous Sound, and even Clairty-era Jimmy Eat World.  Moreover, they pull off mildly downcast and contemplative motifs without resorting to anything too heavy handed or maudlin enough to dodge most, if any, dreaded "emo" accusations.  This is one blind purchase that turned out to be an unexpected delight.

01. Oak & Tunnel
02. New Southern Economy
03. The Anchor
04. Real Live Animals
05. Waking World
06. Every Last Tall Building

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Got us going faster than we've ever gone before.

The bonus disc and only the bonus disc of the 2011 expanded edition of this 1998 masterpiece.

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

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Unaccounted IV ep (1984)

There's not much info, if any to be had on this presumably North Carolina based quartet, whose self-released ep may be their lone surviving artifact. Unaccounted IV's strain of power pop is not so much of three-chord variety, rather a bit more highbrow a la The Motors. There are other subtle Brit Invasion maneuvers baked into the band's proverbial cake, the Zombies among them. What these guys really strive for (and frankly readily achieve) is their penchant for remarkably adept harmonies regardless of how fevered their tunes are executed. I'm mighty impressed. 

01. Room For Three
02. Girl on a String
03. You're Always Alone
04. The Incredible Shrinking Mind
05. Room for Three (Dance Remix)

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Did you ever see something so beautiful, you had to look away?

The (almost) complete discography from a bygone D.C. area band that ran in the same circles as Fugazi and Soul Side...yet sonically gravitated much closer to Van Halen at times. I'll be damned if these guys didn't turn this far-fetched combination into a winning formula.

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

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V/A - WXYC Demolisten Vol. 2 (1991)

This one was scarce enough not to earn a page on Discogs, but whatever.  Coincidentally or not, this cassette compilation was released in tandem with the Chapel Hill, NC indie scene threatening to go national, but truth be told, only a portion of WXYC Demolisten 2's roster was from said college town...but not all that's presented here is traditional indie rock. Casting a wider net than one might guess WXYC's dandy little reel goes so far as to represent world music and metal. Nonetheless, the brunt of what's here largely caters to the Wilfully Obscure set with fine contributions from Dillon Fence, Eight or Nine Feet and Willard.  

I'd be remiss if I didn't note that the purpose of Demolisten is/was to expose fresh and/or unsigned talent, which this tape capably does. By the time this installment in the series rolled out of the tape factory, Superchunk were more or less off to the races, so to speak, but as is the case with any given concert it helps to have a proven headliner.  The inclusion of an acoustic and/or demo version of one of their crucial, early single sides, "Cool" is an easy highlight, though I believe it also wound up on the Aussie Self Mutilation comp from around the same era.  Satellite Boyfriend, a band whom I've intended to raise some awareness of (and likely will in the near future) make an appearance, and tar heel, ska-punk favorites the Pressure Boys close things out with a rendition of "Radar Love."

01. Dillon Fence - Daylight
02. Pure - Senseless
03. Eight or Nine Feet - No Title
04. Mbonda Afrika - Mbele Mbele
05. Johnny Quest - Speed is All You Need
06. Satellite Boyfriend - Break Me Down
07. Superchunk - Cool
08. Willard - As Beautiful
09. The Heydays - Lonesome Jake
10. Annabel Lee - Soul Child
11. Pressure Boys - Radar Love

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