Vinny - Olas De Sexo (1983, Eat)

So, what on Earth compelled my blind purchase of an album with a cringy, Red Hot Chili Peppers-esque title such as this?  Best I can remember it must have been the pedigree of the label Vinny were signed to, Eat Records, an imprint also responsible for the likes of Human Sexual Response and Men & Volts, even though I've never been a huge proponent of either.  Much akin to HSR, this Ralph Fatello-fronted quartet were also stationed in Boston, though the band's intermittent finagling with reggae-lite textures suggests anything but. In fact there are few consistent throughlines operating amidst Olas.... but there are some inviting snyth pop ventures like "I Never Saw You" and "Letting Go of Love" that satisfy on the same vector as say early Wang Chung, Blanket of Secrecy and even say a more pedestrian incarnation of Japan. Vinny were regrettably not the innovators I was vaguely hoping for, but the Caribbean seasoning flavoring subtropical-leaning forays "Los Condos" and "Drums of Passion" are a nice change of pace, so long as you're willing to let your guard down for a few hedonistic minutes.  And if MTV-friendly power pop (a la, the kind of no-name one-offs that aired in the wee-hours of the morning) was your bag "Flexible" and "We Almost Made It" certainly lend some appeal as well.  

01. Waves

02. I Never Saw You

03. Letting Go of Love

04. False Alarms

05. Los Condos

06. Drums of Passion

07. Flexible

08. We Almost made It

09. Why Can't You Say Love?

10. Here's Where I Get Off

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Shouting in the Grand Canyon, hearing my own voice.

I know I didn't give you much last weeks folks, but I'll try to compensate later on today. For now, here's a corker from 2022.  Maybe not as stimulating as their debut, but what these Brighton kids possessed was still fairly dazzling.

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

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Barking Tribe 7" (1991, Atomik Industries)

God knows I've probably passed up on buying Barking Tribe's 1991 LP, Serpent Go Home, from many a cut-out and bargain bin over the decades, but it wasn't until I ran into a used copy of this 45 that I made any conscious effort to explore what this combo was all about.  After experiencing both sides of this wax I'm still not entirely sure if I really "get" whatever the heck they were trying to perpetrate.  "White Man's Mind" is a roiling riff-rocker to be sure, splayed out like a feral amalgam of AC/DC, Georgia Satellites, and maybe even a smidge of Motorhead.  "Worm in the Apple Ed," the lesser of the pair, loosely exudes vibes not dissimilar to Mercyland and the Meat Puppets more wailin' forays.  Nutshell speaking, I just might have to catch up with that aforementioned cut-out after all.  Enjoy. 

A. White Man's Mind

B. Worm in the Apple Ed

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I got caught playing with your heart...

One of 2015's best.  Sumptuous nodes of jangle and power-pop filtered through an updated, Slumberland Records-esque delivery system.  Big Star channeled by way of the Ocean Blue? Kinda. Sadly there's been no follow-up to date.  

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

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I got a stained-glass window and a terrible cough...

From 2000.  

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

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The Bishops ep (1988, Nobody Really)

I don't know much about The Bishops' hometown of Alton, IL, but if in fact they were the biggest success story from the locale (not far from St. Louis) I'll bet this record has much to do with it.  Right out of the gate they impress with the nervy "Don't Get Around Much," sounding like a crucial outtake from Soul Asylum's Made to Be Broken or Hang Time. While that's generally the peak here, the remaining three numbers hardly slouch, including the three-minute plus spiel-a-thon "Coming in Color," which I perceive to be the Bishops signature-song based on it's inclusion on several indie compilations from the same era. Multiple albums were recorded by these guys in the '90s, none of which I've heard, but am quite eager to based on what I've been enlightened to here.  

01. Don't Get Around Much

02. Get Behind Me

03. Coming in Color

04. So Far From Heaven

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Scarce - "All Sideways" 7" (1994, Rocka Mundo)

Even if Scarce frontman, Chick Graning, hadn't suffered an amnesia-inducing brain hemorrhage in 1995 (running right into the Stateside release of his band's major label bow, Deadsexy) the odds were stacked up against a good 95% of alterna-inclined bands (his being no exception), given the seemingly wonton signing spree engendered by the runaway success of Nirvana and Green Day.  More often than not, left-of-center propositions like Scarce, simply weren't accorded the same level of nurturing and artist-development of the aforementioned multi-platinum behemoths.  A veritable shame, as Graning & Co's. angular guitar splay on the dynamic "Sideways" leans into the a curious soft/loud/soft schematic with it's phenomenal harmonic chorus yielding a robust payout. The prolonged flipside, "Dozen" is considerably less climactic, albeit it's contemplative tenor functions as a soothing comedown.  Brace yourself for mucho surface noise on this one.

The 1993 demos for Deadsexy are well worth absorbing, as is a split 45 with Funland, and last but not least Graning's '80s endeavors with the even more amp-shredding Anastasia Screamed. 

A. Sideways

B. Dozen

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I'm playing a tape that I just found...

From 1996.  Just about the best indie rock album you didn't know existed.

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

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Arpad and the New Sons of the Industrial Revolution - Calm Down (198?, 1201)

This is the first cold case I've brought up in awhile, and the combo this concerns doesn't help matters by omitting their moniker from the front sleeve, and to a lesser extent reserving said name for a fine-print mention on the back.  Arpad (and the New Sons of the Industrial Revolution) were Rochester, NY denizens, and their presence in the Flower City scene doesn't appear to have been notably robust. Kind of a shame, because this art rock posse strived to serve something relatively original on the dinner platter. Mouthpiece and prime-mover Arpad opts for a deadpan, spoken parlance, which I know might be a deal-breaker for a lot of you, yet it's the instrumentation on Calm Down, that shines on the occasions that it capably does so. The clangy, chiming fretwork and pointed synths exude shades of early Joy Division (think Warsaw era) and perhaps to a merely coincidental degree Middle Class and Pylon.  Not everything this threesome hurls at the wall sticks, but Arpad's chosen pastiche stimulates just fine amidst ditties like "Tied Down" and "Fellow Human."  Confusingly Discogs states a 1984 copywrite for this one, whereas the tracklist on the back cover parenthetically denotes the year for each individual composition, with some showing dates as late as 1985 and '86.  

01. Flammable

02. Tied Down

03. Rudest Person

04. Trusted You

05. Dominating Creatures

06. Fellow Human

07. Sick of Life

08. Nuclear Delight

09. Bitching Worker

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