Saturday, July 31, 2010

Harold Kelling
"Harlem Nocturne"

Harold Kelling
Harlem Nocturne
7" single
(Hib-Tone Records, 1981)

Harold Kelling and Glenn Phillips were the guitar team for Atlanta's answer to Beefheart and Zappa, the Hampton Grease Band, whose sole album, 1971's Music to Eat, I highly recommend. I found this little gem in the local singles bargain bin at a store near my house a year or two ago. Sadly, Harold passed away in 2005; I have no idea if he released other solo records or not.

NOTE: Hib-Tone Records' first release was the debut 45 by R.E.M., a gazillion freakin' years ago.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Circle of Ouroborus
"The Judgement Star"

Circle of Ouroborus
Star / Rise
cassette
(Northern Sky Productions, 2006)

Now that ゆらゆら帝国 have called it a day, Circle of Ouroborus just might be my favorite currently extant band. A good deal of their releases are cassettes, and, as of this writing, I have 15 of 'em. Roughly half are cassette-only, such as this one, which was released in a limited edition of 50 unnumbered copies.

Circle of Ouroborus are an interesting bunch. I first heard them on a split CD I bought for the tracks from the Dutch band Urfaust; I ended up liking the CoO stuff more, though. Their music ranges from acoustic, folky material, such as presented here, to post-punk à la Joy Division to raw black metal. Both members, Antti and Rauta, also play in a few other bands. I have several CD's and a tape by Rauta's band Vordr, and I highly recommend them. They come across to me as sort of a black metal Rudimentary Peni.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Bit-Part Actor
 "Crash Course" 

Bit-Part Actor
Bit-Part Actor
CD
(Braille Records, 1996)

Sorry, today's selection is not a Budgie cover; that'd be "Crash Course in Brain Surgery."

Anyhow . . .

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Rebel Truth
 "Child Hosts the Parasite" 

Rebel Truth
Rebel Truth
7" EP
(Version Sound Independent Communications, 1983)

I first heard these guys on a cassette compilation called Meathouse 1, which I bought primarily because the Minutemen were also on it. It was a great compilation. In fact, it still is!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

MX-80 Sound
 "Someday You'll Be King" 

MX-80 Sound
Someday You'll Be King
7" single
(Ralph Records, 1980)

Crap . . . not enough time to do a proper write-up. I'll try to get it done before the day is done.

Monday, July 26, 2010

割礼
「太陽の真ん中のリフ」

割礼
『ネイルフラン』
CD
(Invitation, 1989)

Translations:

  • 割礼 = Katsurei = Circumcision
  • ネイルフラン = Neirufuran = Nail Franc (??)
  • 太陽の真ん中のリフ = Riff in the Middle of the Sun

I won a CD by 黒百合姉妹 on eBay a few years back. I asked the seller if he had anything else on the SSE Communications label, and, in fact, he did. I bought every title he had that I didn't own already. When the package arrived, from France, I found that he'd tossed in a CD by 割礼, Live9091, as he didn't know who they were (the band name was written only in Japanese). It turned out to be really cool, so I started looking for more and won this one in an auction on Yahoo! Japan. They have a bunch more, but almost everything is out of print. Actually, until the beginning of this year, everything was OOP. Early in the year, their first record, Paradise K, was reissued in a deluxe version with a lot of bonus material. Then, last month, they released their first new album since, I think, 2003: 『星を見る』. It's fantastic.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

I Would Set Myself on Fire for You
"The First Word That Comes to Mind" 

I'd been intrigued by this band's name for a while before I ever heard them. My first actual exposure was live at the Stickfigure Records annual showcase at The Drunken Unicorn back in 2006. Their set sucked, but that was due to a terrible mix. Something made me think I'd probably like them in a better sonic environment, so I snagged a copy of this, their debut CD, from the merch table before I left.

Yep, I liked 'em!

Sadly, they disbanded in 2007, but not until releasing their fantastic second album, Believes In Patterns.


NOTE: that bright smudge in the middle of the pic is gold paint. The covers were all handmade.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Chubby Behemoth
 "J.M.K.'s DNA Is Not on J.B.'s Panties" 

Chubby Behemoth
Drunk Elephant
CDR
(Open Land Records, 2007)

I saw these folks a few years back opening for Brass Castle, my favorite local combo. I'd never heard of Chubby Behemoth before and was mighty impressed, so I bought a copy of their lil' CDR. So, here's a song from it.

So there!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Sam Gopal
 "Escalator" 

Sam Gopal
Escalator
LP
(Stable Records, 1968)

OK, this was completely unintentional, but there's a connection between today's group and yesterday's! I didn't realize it 'til I sat down to write these notes.

See the guy on the left? That's Ian Willis! Before hooking up with Sam Gopal, he was a member of The Rockin' Vicars! He went on to play with Opal Butterfly, though I'm not certain if he actually appeared on any of their three singles. He's definitely not on the first two. I own the third, and I can say, with a bit of confidence, that you needn't seek it out or pay a lot of money for a copy.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Damned
 "Alone" 

The Damned
Music for Pleasure
LP
(Stiff Records, 1977)

OMG, second day in a row of not-very-obscure!

8·O

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

UFO
 "Timothy" 

UFO
1
LP
(Beacon Records, 1970)

Did you know Michael Bolton used to play guitar in UFO?

Well, he didn't; it was a dude named Mick Bolton. When Michael Bolton's debut album was released in the early/mid-80s, though, I was not the only person who wondered if it was the same guy. Nor was I the only one disappointed to find it was not.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Alex Chilton
"She's Alright"

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Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Alex Chilton
A Man Called Destruction
CD
(Ruf Records, 1995)

Alex Chilton is one of my (many) gods. I first heard his early '70s combo Big Star at a local record store back in 1985 or '86, when #1 Record and Radio City, their first two albums, had just been freshly pirated by some label. I had no idea who they were but I liked what I was hearing. A lot. I asked my friend at the counter if she might tape them for me. Lord knows how many times I listened to that tape. Eventually, they and the third album, 3rd, were legally reissued and I jumped on them.

LX's solo stuff has been poo-pooed by a lot of folks because it sounds nothing like Big Star. I don't give a rat's butt; I like it. The last couple of decades of his life, LX played and recorded mostly covers of older r'n'b songs. This album, A Man Called Destruction, was his last to include original material (six of the twelve tunes were self-penned). It was released in the USA on the revived Ardent Records label, original home of the first two Big Star records. In Germany, however, it was licensed by Ruf Records and featured a bonus track, which is also an original and is today's selection. It's maybe a bit fluff, but I think it's a fun lil' number. I hope you do, too.

Monday, July 19, 2010

zZz
 "Running with the Beast" 

zZz
Running with the Beast
CD
(Excelsior Recordings, 2008)

I've got a thing for two-piece bands; I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Should I be?

Regardless, I read that zZz were playing at a local club a few years back and remembered that I'd seen their debut album, Sound of zZz, in the bargain bin at a local store. I drove there on my lunch break, bought the CD, loved it, went to see them that night, was blown away.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

S.Process
 "Three of Us" 

S.Process
More Me
CD
(Track Star Records, 2000)

I wrote this review after seeing S.Process open for Pretty Girls Make Graves way back on October 9, 2003:

Up first were S. Process from Philadelphia. I thought they were local since they're playing again on Sunday at Neutron Bomb but I guess I was just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The singer/guitarist quickly established a nice raport with the audience by informing us that the area in front of the stage was dragon-free and, therefore, safe for us to stand there rather than farther back. Then they had a guy come out and blow fire at another guy on stilts wearing a small child's disturbingly tight Batman costume. Yeah, safe. Sure. Anything you say.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Dappled Cities Fly
 "Chameleon Girl" 

Dappled Cities Fly
Chameleon Girl
CD single
(Wash Records, 2003)

My second favorite local record store has a huge $1 bin. Everytime I go there, I look through it for stuff that looks interesting. Sometime last year, I stumbled across the third album by Dappled Cities, Zounds. The cover art was interesting and the band name certainly odd, so I chanced it. As it turned out, it became one of my favorite albums of 2009. I loved it so much, I went and found as much back-catalog stuff as I was able. This track was released as their second single and never appeared on any of their three albums, so far. In between their first and second albums, A Smile and Granddance, they dropped the "Fly" from the end of their name. No, I don't know why.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Cindytalk
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
"A Song of Changes"

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Cindytalk
Wappinschaw
CD
(Touched Recordings, 1994)

Gordon Sharp is one of my (many) favorite vocalists. He initially gained a bit of recognition singing on some Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil records, but Cindytalk is his baby, and it kicks those other group's collective asses. Plus, he's never had song titles like Eggs and Their Shells or Pearly Dewdrops Drops. I like a few Cocteau Twins songs but, good gracious, their titles are so precious I feel compelled to engage in violent projectile vomiting.

So, anyhow, this pair of songs is from their third album, and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, by English folkie Ewan MacColl, never fails to give me chills. When the judges called it a Roberta Flack song on American Idol a few years ago, I nearly burst a blood vessel.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Nils
"The Back Flow"

The Nils
Now
demo tape
(self-released, 1983)

Summer, 1983; I'm just freshly 20 and it's time for our annual family trip, this time to Canada. We were due to leave on August 17, and packing had been slow. That night, one of my favorite local bands, The Faith, were playing their final show ever, and I desperately wanted to go (sure, I'd seen them 14 times already, so what?). My parents had other ideas, however. They wanted to leave that night, drive for two or three hours, then find somewhere to stay. I asked if we could please wait to leave 'til the next morning, since they only wanted to drive a short bit, anyway. Nothing doing. I was furious but powerless. When I tried to explain to my mother that they were never going to play again, she responded, "Well, if they're not going to play again, what's the big deal?"

Needless to say, I was not a happy camper on that trip.

Yes, it was a camping trip.

In order to partially make up for capriciously destroying my happiness, they let me go to several record stores. I wanted to buy Canadian punk rock stuff, since we were in Canada, so I picked up this cassette by The Nils. It ended up being really great and, as it turned out, they were playing in Montreal while we were in town, so the 'rents let me go.

Unfortunately, they didn't play until after I had to leave. I did see a pretty cool band called the American Devices, though. I kept an eye out, and they released an album not long after I returned home; it's still sitting in my collection to this day.

The Nils ended up releasing a couple of 12" EPs and an album before calling it quits.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Libido
「流砂」

Libido
Ryu~sa
12" mini LP
(Distance, 1987)

Crap! This is sooo late already. I'll do a proper write up this evening.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Kelley Stoltz
 "Dead John" 

Kelley Stoltz
Australia - It Speaks for Itself
CD
(self-released?, 2003)

So I'd never heard of this guy before I went to see his set at SXSW in 2006. The friend I was with wanted to go, 'cause an old mutual friend* was playing guitar with Kelley, at the time.

I ended up being pretty impressed and started buying what I could find when I got home. In addition to his three releases on SubPop, there are a bunch of releases on smaller labels; today's selection is from one of those. Despite the cover art saying "LP," it's a CD-only release. Then again, "LP" is just an acronym for long play, as opposed to "EP," which stands for extended play, so a CD can also be an LP, technically. I still tend to say LP, though, when referring to 12" vinyl records of a full-length duration.

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
 "Blow That Horn" 

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
The Gospel Album
CD EP
(Family Owned Records, 2007)

I love bargain bins. Even more, I love free bins! My favorite local record store has both and I discovered the Big Damn Band via the free bin. I found a promo copy of their album Big Damn Nation and thought it looked interesting, I flipped it over and saw it was produced by Paul Mahern, formerly of Indiana hardcore legends the Zero Boys. It went home with me and turned out to be a nifty country-blues sorta kinda thing. Rev. Peyton sings and plays slide guitar (well, dobro), his wife Breezy plays the washboard and their cousin Aaron plays a tiny drumkit 'n' a five gallon bucket.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Tim Buckley
 "Sing a Song for You" 

Tim Buckley
Once I Was
CD
(Strange Fruit, 1999)

Well, hello and welcome to my jukebox! My goal is to have a new song up every day around 9 a.m., Eastern time. We'll see how well that works.

^_^

So, for my first selection, I decided to go with something "song"-related, and this was the first thing that popped into my lil' noggin'.