It's nearly impossible. Highly improbable. But not hopeless.

From 1999, and I think I've shared this before.  It's not Pet Sounds, nor in the same genre, but thematically there's some significant crossover with this one.  Eye of the beholder I guess. 

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The Effigies - live WZRD, Chicago 1981

How is it that I've neglected The Effigies for so long?  For as long as I've been acquainted with the late John Kezdy and Co, they've never been an obsession.  In some respects that's been a convenient proposition, since so much of their back catalog has been long unavailable.  And while there have been the occasional Effigies reunion gigs, and even albums, including last year's Burned, nothing engendered me to super-fan status.  Nonetheless, I'm sure at least a few of you are, thusly this post will have your name written all over it.  Broadcast live for WZRD's "Sunday Morning Nightmare" program, this seven song set finds Chi-town's hardcore heroes bracing, hungry and in sheer take-no-prisoners mode.  Still three years away from unleashing their debut LP, 1984's For Ever Grounded, the songs from this performance were culled largely from their Haunted ep, and songs that would appear on subsequent short-form releases, including '82's classic "Bodybag" 7" and their debut release for Engima Records, We're Da the Machine.  I certainly wasn't the one who had the notion or wherewithal to tape this off the radio (much less digitize) it, so a hearty thanks to whomever did.  Btw, along with the aforementioned Burned, a fortieth anniversary remaster of For Ever Grounded dropped just last year. 

01 Below the Drop
02 Blank Slate
03 Quota
04 Strongbox
05 Techno's Gone
06 Bodybag
07 Guns or Ballots

Band lineup:
John Kezdy - vocals
Earl Letiecq - guitar
Paul Zamost - bass
Steve Economou - drums

MP3  or   FLAC

GhostShirts 7" (1992, Cypher)

Yet another casualty of the pre-internet era, and I'll be damned if i can shed much relevant info on this bunch who boast a Brooklyn correspondence address.  GhostShirts were produced by Kramer, at his fabled Noise New Jersey studio, yet these guys weren't particularly avant/weird.  Definitely more Homestead Records than say, SST, although the faint fIREHOSE-ism's I'm picking up are likely more coincidental than anything else. The turbulent "Here is a Compass" wins this two song contest with a compelling rhythm guitar line and wily dynamics.  Not unlike what Agitpop gave us a couple years prior.  The flip, "...(Song X) sports fuzzy bass and jazzy juxtapositions, and is indicative of GhostShirts' jammier proclivities.  

A. Here is a Compass

B. 38th Subjective Rant (Song X)

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...twist and rearrange, the spaces always show.

A debut from 2006.  Not dissimilar to the grand gestures Interpol gave us, but with even more flexibility and nuance.  

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Shrubs - Somebody's Watching tape (1996)

It's been yet another bummer of a week, and I know I haven't provided you with much since MM, but hopefully this lil' reel will tide you over until tomorrow. Not sure where I acquired this Shrubs cassette, but clocking in at a half hour with a solid ten (or arguably eleven) tunes, it's definitely more in line with an album than a demo.  Hailing from downstate New York, or thereabouts this trio had a jones for no frills riff-pop, settling on a mid-tempo clip, not overtly resembling anyone in particular.  The aptitude is pedestrian, but earnest and occasionally a tad wry.  The two-minute, "Never Go Back" possesses plenty of punch, and while little else on Somebody's Watching can compete with it's pace this tape bears at least a few repeated listenings.  Said affair closes out with an unlisted, insurgent 46-second hardcore-punk throwdown, out of character with everything preceding it.

01. Hail Mary

02. Never Go Back

03. Memorial Day Poppies

04. Things We Could Have Been

05. Space Threat

06. Lover

07. Time Fades

08. Born Too Soon

09. Underground

10. I Don't Know

11. unlisted mock hardcore song

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I ain't run out of track...

This band's parting shot from '93.  Maybe not as glorious as the albums that preceded it, but in terms of the alterna-rock era it's still well above average. I've also tacked on a b-side, a cover no less. 

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