I'm over the precedent of a false security...

From 2002.  Believe it or not, I already shared the demos for this one closer to when I started this site.

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Buffalo Tom - WERS FM, Boston, 1989.

As much as I love and revere Buffalo Tom's 1992 mature masterstroke, Let Me Come Over, it was that album's two rawer and raucous  precursors, Buffalo Tom (1989), and Birdbrain (1990) that ushered me to the table. While the Boston trio were able to better differentiate themselves from Dinosaur Jr. (comparisons early on in B/T's career were virtually ceaseless) their somewhat derivative embryonic phase gave rise to a phenomenal host of songs.  This performance at WERS FM captured Bill Janovitz and Co's. relatively nascent steps, with an emphasis on the recently released self-titled album.  Visceral previews of Birdbrain's title track and "Guy Who is Me" are also featured in the setlist, and even if this was tracked in the auspices of a cozy radio station, those of us not blessed with the privilege of witnessing Buffalo Tom in the flesh circa the late '80s can be assured this is an accurate reenactment of what they doggedly brought to the stage every night.  This flat out smokes, and I'm making it available both in MP3 and FLAC. 

01 Racine 

02 Crawl 

03 Guy Who is Me  

04 She Belongs To Me (Bob Dylan)  

05 interview 

06 Enemy 

07 Flushing Stars 

08 Deep In The Ground  

09 Birdbrain 

10 Sunflower Suit 

11 outro  

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I don't know what's up ahead, don't think too much it'll hurt your head.

From 1991. Strangely enough this is the record that introduced me to the band, not their more coveted debut.  

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The Tearaways - See the Sound (1993, Fried)

Something of an L.A. power pop institution dating back to the early '80s, The Tearaways didn't get around to issuing an album until 1993, specifically this one.  It's sleeve suggests something a little more gritty than the actual proceedings, but despite the presence of some comparatively precious, and frankly too polished ballads ("Black and Blue," "Leave it to Me") the Tom Werman and Earle Mankey-produced See the Sound houses plenty of meatier offerings, including "Jessica Something" which drops a downright devastating chorus hook.  If you're an aficionado of the Grip Weeds and Rooks, you might already be well acquainted with this these chaps, but if not you're in for a treat. Incidentally, the late, great Clem Burke was a onetime Tearaway (though he didn't lend his talents to this LP).

01. I Walk Alone

02. Nowhere Left to Turn

03. Jessica Something

04. Can't Get Through

05. Black and Blue

06. I'm Lost

07, For Free

08. Leave it to Me

09. 4 Letter Man

10. It Could Take Years

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Itch - Spiraling Paper Planes ep (2001)

Hmmm.  What to make of this one?  Having zero familiarity with Itch, I chanced on this based on the sleeve art, and an irresistible price tag (merely a quarter).  I knew I'd be in for indie rock of some stripe, but superficially there were really no other signposts to speak of. My initial assumption is that Itch may have been Canadian, but alas, this quartet were from Leeds, England - and were a heck of a lot more wrought that anticipated.  Shades of aughts emo and post-hardcore abound, but Itch's method splits the difference between dynamic and mathy, with impassioned and occasionally screamy parlance circa the choruses.  The melody structures could use some expansion, but in fairness there are genuine tunes here.  Am detecting trace elements of everyone from Garden Variety to Jebediah, with "If You Ignore Him He Will Go Away" moving my proverbial indicator the most.  You can delve deeper into the band's catalogue here. 

01. All Our So Called Bad Luck Stories

02. If You Ignore Him He Will Go Away

03. Spiraling Paper Planes

04. Know Idea My Dear

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No bandwidth, all I do is cry.

One of 2024's finest albums, and the runaway winner in the post-punk category. 

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Curious Ritual - "How Fast" 7" (1993, Gila)

Sometimes I'm at a loss for describing music in the written word, but goddamn, it feels like my site outright exists for records like this one.  I didn't know one whit about Boston's Curious Ritual before this landed in my "buy" pile at an indie shop I've long since forgotten the name and place of, but this coed quartet's inclusion of a Big Star cover meant that I was certainly adopting it.  Sonic signposts point to another Beantown band of yore, Christmas, not to mention early Throwing Muses and Vomit Launch.  With it's droney guitar line, and hypnotic, layered vocals, "How Fast" is the stuff of sublime, collegiate radio alchemy.  An impeccable exercise in harnessing the appropriate quotient of every musical molecule without conveying itself as the least bit forced or formulaic. I'm stunned I wasn't tipped off to Curious Ritual sooner.  On the aforementioned remake, the band applies the same earnest veneer to the downcast "Kanga Roo," one of Alex Chilton's most moving pieces from Big Star's comparatively neglected  Third album.  C/R have made a handful of their other recordings available on Bandcamp and are well worth your attention. 

A. How Fast

B. Kanga Roo

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I'll bring the heavens down screaming with me.

From 2003.  As was the case last week I wasn't able to deliver you much.  It doesn't help that I have no convenient way to digitize records/tapes for the time being, but am working on that as I speak. At the very least I'll try to wrangle up a single tomorrow evening, not to mention something more filling later in the week.

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Fine Art - Scan ep (1981, Good)

Minneapolis, circa the early '80s wasn't all hardcore, and Fine Art were one of several anomalies.  The coed band in question were to great extent artful indeed, but I think oblique would have been a more apropos descriptor.  Chilly and vaguely impersonal (thanks in part to the sometimes deadpan parlance of Terri Paul), I wouldn't term Fine Art as coldwave by any stretch, yet still cast firmly in the post-punk mold. The  saxophone-enhanced "You Tell," really abets the tune with some much needed bounce and sway, but is subtle enough not to define it, or for that matter the quartet writ large. "Nerves Ending" is a propulsive two-minute nugget, while "A Scheduled Interruption" plays us off with an air of noir mystique.  

01. You Tell Me

02. Motives

03. Nerves Ending

04. A Scheduled Interruption

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A little bit of fun's never been an insurrection.

Sorry I wasn't able to bring you any new music last week.  I'll try to rectify that within the next 24 hours.  In the meantime, this one qualifies as more of a sampler for a box set, than a bona fide hits collection...which is fitting since they never had any hits. 

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Leave it up to me to mix business with pleasure...

Four eps, including a devastatingly hot demo from 2005 I recently discovered, and a 1996 power pop jewel.

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Club Wig - s/t (1987, Mustang)

This one's quite a mixed bag, so it's apropos that Club Wig sounded like differing music artists from song to song. Ostensibly calling Tuscaloosa, AL home they didn't quite fall under the purview of the Mitch Eastern/Don Dixon sound, so I'll gladly give them credit for not hitching their way onto that bandwagon. The leadoff "Monkey Beach" strikes me as the work of a lesser Feelies or Bongos. Not a corker by any means, but often superior to the remainder of this LP. "The Ballad of Abraham Lincoln" folky lilt is loosely in the vicinity of The Donner Party. "How Can You Be So Beautiful" is a chilled out, hammock-swayer of a ditty sung by Mary Nelson, who splits vocal traipses with the band's more prominent Robert Huffman. "Not Hers Now" is plaintive yet convincing and could have been Club Wig's token single. "Gypsy Business'" meter and parlance is strangely similar to that of the band Felt, so much so that a sheer coincidence is unlikely.  A faithful rendition of Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" does little to persuade, or conversely dissuade from the overall effect of the album. 

01. Monkey beach

02. The Ballad of Abraham Lincoln

03. Fat

04. How Can You Be So Beautiful

05. Naugahyde

06. Not Hers Now

07. I Fall to Pieces

08. The Pine Villa Romeo

09. No Accident/Johnny

10. Gypsy Business 

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Our ideas are adjoining canals.

From 1997.

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V/A - The Sound of Deep Ellum (1987)

Once upon a time record labels (including major ones at that) would take a chance on unproven talent, both on an individual basis, and occasionally multiple artists for compilation albums.  In 1987 Island Records invested a few shekels to showcase ten artists that were part and parcel of Dallas, TX's burgeoning Deep Ellum scene. D/E was a neighborhood in East Dallas wherein there were numerous thriving nightclubs and concert venues.  Said to have peaked somewhere in the vicinity of the early-90s, this hipster locale engendered  a handful of acts garnering national exposure (and even one that was responsible a viral one-hit wonder).  The fact that nearly four decades after it's under-the-radar release, not one but two ...Deep Ellum artists are still performing in one guise or another - Reverend Horton Heat and The New Bohemians (yes, Edie Brickell's gang), is thoroughly astonishing.  

Punky provocateurs The Buck Pets were the main (and perhaps only) initial draw for these ears, and their contribution, the pulsating "Snatch Rap" is as potent as anything on their legendary 1989 debut LP.  End Over End and Three on a Hill sport gritty left-of-the-dial vibes, and The Trees offer a slightly twangier variation on roughly the same sonic motif.  As for the aforementioned New Bohemian's their "Jamaican Lady" is one of the more alluring numbers here, peppered with sweet, chiming guitar fills.  The remainder of the ...Deep Ellum roster delves into genres I'm typically not prone to featuring on these pages, but by no means should you let that dissuade you from investigating them and drawing your own conclusions.  Enjoy. 

01-Three On A Hill – No More Love

02-Decadent Dub Team – Six Gun

03-Buck Pets - Snatch Rap

04-Shallow Reign - Paint The Flowers All Black

05-Reverend Horton Heat – The Devil's Chasin' Me

06-The New Bohemians – Jamaican Lady

07-The Trees - Cattlecar

08-End Over End -  My Dark Earth Edge

09-The Daylights - Man o' War

10-The Legendary Revelations – Sales Tax

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I fly off the handle whenever you're near

From 2008.  Wish I had been tipped off to them sooner.

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The Eighties 7" (1980, Meanwhile)

Here I go yet again posting a single I don't actually own.  It was produced by the one an only Geza X at Can-Am Studios, giving me a pretty solid hunch The Eighties were L.A. denizens.  Thing was, this combo wasn't quite punk, but the stripe of rock and roll they toiled in was certainly adjacent with considerable nodes of power pop infiltrating their pastiche.  Both sides exude mild proto-wave feels to boot, albeit nothing gaudy.  I could have really gone for a full length from these chaps, but apparently this is all the world at large was entitled to.  Frontman Ted Quinn pursued solo ventures and is still active.

A. No Cruising in an Era of Limits
B. Letter to Loretta

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Nasty Habits - s/t ep (1987, Big Chief)

There were a couple of Nasty Habits running amok in the '80s, and though I'm fairly confident this one hailed from America, just not sure where as no correspondence address was provided.  This one falls more on the trad-rock/AOR end of the spectrum, but the gritty, leadoff  "Can't Help Wondering" isn't far removed from the likes of The Neighborhoods and Too Much Joy. "Lonely Tonight," the records token ballad doesn't resort to anything cringy, it just doesn't particularly move me. "You Keep Me Loaded" indulges in some blustery guitar lines, but at the end of the day Nasty Habits aren't reinventing much of anything here. 

This wax was subsequently packaged in a completely different black and white sleeve, playing up what little glam-rock bona fides this quartet may have possessed. It appears that guitarist Jonathan Hale Lacey eventually migrated to the full fledged alt-metal outfit The Beautiful, who I also had some appreciation for back in the day.

01. Can't Help Wondering

02. Lonely Tonight

03. You Keep Me Loaded

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I can collect myself deep down and then come out punching...

From 1998. Little else could match my feeling of elation when I first put this on.

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Bohemia - Deviations (1981, VU)

Picked this one up a few years ago based on good looks.  Bohemia presumably hailed from Chicago, though I should mention there's also a hamlet named Bohemia tucked away in Long Island.  Anyway, what I took away this whirl is that said band predominantly featured a female front-person, and the Deviations overall schtick was skin to X, and considerably less-so the Cramps.  That being said this is a bit of a "mood" record often entailing a rollicking fervor, but whomever was the ringleader of this cabal manages to keep the proceedings from getting too haywire.  The punkier tracks, including but not limited to "312," "State of Affairs" and "Standard Deviation" leave the most compelling and lasting impressions. Merely good, if not always astonishing, Deviations is nonetheless a keeper, and you'll be glad to learn there were several singles and eps surrounding it.  

01. Standard Deviation

02. Empty Room

03. State of Affairs

04. Hydrogenic

05. Dr. Werner

06. 312 

07. Plastic Doll

08. White Couches

09. Penitentiary

10. How Could You Advertise?

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...at a Mexican Bar Mitzvah for seven hundred years...

The much ballyhooed alternate mix of a 1989 LP that housed a few exceptional tunes, but as a whole was merely satisfactory.

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Quix*o*tic - Heliotrope 7" (1998, Ixor Stix)

Not exactly a toe-tapper, but a veritable curiosity that I think some of you will appreciate.  Until I did my homework on Quix*o*tic, I didn't realize that subsequent to this 45 the coed trio in question recorded an under-the-radar full length for Kill Rock Stars, Mortal Mirror, before disbanding.  The band beat a lot of their contemporaries to the punch in the coming post-punk revival, bearing an economic yet highly textured aplomb on the angular and eerie "Heliotrope," with the song's final  moments steeped in a tense, staccato-heavy foray, tapering off to an uneasy nadir. The rhythmically sentient "Prediction of a Crash" is comparatively accessible (and stimulating), while "Reqi*es*cat" exudes a doomy flow, that taps into a Sonic Youth by way of The Fall middle ground.

A. Heliotrope

B1. Prediction of a Crash

B2. Reqi*es*cat

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Blood Uncles - Petrol ep (1985, Drastic Plastic)

So...the gruff vocals on this one were an immediate turn-off, but fortunately not a deal breaker.  Ditch that element of Blood Uncles and you had a pretty crack band, not far removed from what the Cult and U2 were offering around the same era, granted not quite as anthemic. On top of that, "Swallow" splendidly futzes with some early Gang of Four histrionics.  I just wish the mouthpiece would relent with the whole Lee Ving approach he insists on perpetuating here.  In fact, said singer does curtail the schtick a tad on "Never Happy Man," adopting a more measured timbre (either that or someone else in the band took over on the mic for this one).  An LP, Libertine, followed two years later, bizarrely containing a Prince cover of all things. I don't think that one is about to rise to the top of my want-list anytime soon.  

01. Swallow

02. Mad As You

03. Never Happy Man

04. Drink My Sweat

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I want to float upon my memories...

 Aussie bullion from 2004.  

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The Lost Tropics - s/t (1983)

It's been another week where I simply didn't get o much of anything in terms of this site, one that feels like it's very slowly going to pot due to my neglect.  Am definitely going to make more of an effort to get in the swing of things by spring.  In the meantime, I present to you The Lost Tropics, major label casualties from the mid-80s, who were ostensibly responsible for a one-and-done album, pictured to your right. New wavish for certain, but thankfully nothing gaudy or egregiously over-produced which was the norm for their era.  Coed vocals as well, splitting the difference just about evenly, with the "he" quotient vaguely recalling Ric Ocasek - convenient as some of the Lost Tropics skews in a Candy-O-esque vicinity (sorta).  Competent and even enjoyable, albeit nothing particularly innovative. Nonetheless you can count me as a fan.

01. Zoo Story

02. Feels Like Love

03. Girls

04. Too Much to Handle

05. I Think of You

06. Rumble

07. Any Other Day

08. Keep on Sleeping

09. A Different World

10. Tonite is Booked

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Hard times right now might be bliss deferred...

From 1995.  Was saddened to learn of the recent loss of this power pop maven.  He may not have vaulted to the highest tier of my favorites, but still leaves behind a choice legacy.

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