Mudhoney eating its heart out

U-Men -- Solid Action b/w Dig It A Hole

Original 1987 US release on Black Label (Seattle WA) (catalog # UM 4012), in Picture Sleeve, with lyric insert.

Killer noise-punk from U-Men on their own Black Label. Halo Of Flies' Tom Hazelmeyer played guitar on their 1988 Black Label LP, don't know if he's on here but this GRRREAT single kicks as heavy as anything on AmRep.

U-Men -- Dig It A Hole

eBay status: item #170451572622
ENDS Mar 02, 2010 17:45:01 PST

Not Samsonite

Arcweld -- Trunkload of Satanized Luggage

Original 1989? US release on Tiger Epoxy Records (Corvallis OR) (catalog # TE 001), in Picture Sleeve, with insert, innersleeve punched #523/666.

Dark and disturbing heavy noise-punk from Oregon... lowers the whole AmRep and Sub Pop ethos down several rungs into dank subterranean underground.

Arcweld -- Trunkload of Satanized Luggage
Arcweld -- Homeboy's Crack

eBay status: item #350319579742
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You Make It So Hard On Me

Protagonists -- Hard On Me (You Make It So)

Just an incredible 1985 US DIY KBD punk single from the Midwest (Naperville IL) that's criminally unknown today. It doesn't appear to be comped anywhere, and aside from it being played once on WFMU there's not much at all online about this record or this band.

This one is a keeper. Catchy as hell but hard-edged, with a nice raw guitar sound, nasal vocals, and great shouted choruses. A rough Midwest punk sound, but really this single sounds more like classic Aussie KBD punk like Fun Things, Leftovers, Psycho Surgeons, News, Babeez, etc.

Protagonists -- Hard On Me (You Make It So)

eBay status: item #350320526911
ENDS Mar 01, 2010 17:32:32 PST

Produkt Der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft -- Produkt Der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft LP

Original 1979 German release on Ata Tak/Warning Records (GERMANY) (catalog # WR 001).

A stunning LP of experimental post-punk and deconstructed Krautrock cum NDW from DAF. This album sounds nothing at all like DAF's later electronic music... it's an all-out heavy guitar/bass/drums attack, VERY heavy noise-psych-punk with improvised jams cut up into some intense shards... the closest sounding band to this LP is Chrome circa Half Machine Lip Moves or Alien Soundtracks... or imagine Guru Guru, Amon Duul, Can, or Neu jamming with Abwarts or S.Y.P.H.

Aufgenommen von Februar bis April 1979 allein. Catalog number NR. 00001 on edge, WR 001 on label, c/o Art Attack on back sleeve, A Warning Record Production on back sleeve, Warning Records on label. Yellow label, glossy cover.

Scarce LP, some sources give pressing edition of 500 copies.

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Untitled track from side 2

eBay status: item #350319393498
ENDS Mar 01, 2010 16:35:32 PST

Give Me What I Want!

Blackouts -- Exchange Of Goods

Original 1981 UK release on Situation 2 (UK) (catalog # SIT 14), in Picture Sleeve.

Post-punk band who formed in Seattle in 1979, moved to Boston in 1982 and then to SF in 1984. Three of these guys joined Ministry.

Blackouts -- Exchange Of Goods

eBay status: item #170449077289
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wipe nose scribble, barefeet, post office

George Willard EP

Original 1991 release on Nut Music (Herndon VA) (catalog # NONE, matrix # U-31552M, translucent vinyl), in handmade Picture Sleeve, with insert with photos, recording notes and long rambling stream-of-consciousness essay, plus a color photo snapshot dated Aug 87.

Scarce homemade DIY lo-fi bedroom psych from Nut jobber George Willard. The term "Industrial Folk" was coined by George Willard of Nut Music to describe his own work; a combination of 'folk' stylings (acoustic instruments and song structures) and 'industrial' touches (noise, static, etc). Comparable to lo-fi home-taping music by Lou Barlow's Sentridoh, Shrimper, Bill Smog, Paste, Will Simmons, etc.

George Willard -- Overwhelmed

eBay status: item #350320842902
ENDS Mar 02, 2010 12:49:11 PST

Wipe away the sweat of responsibility on your brown shirt sleeves

The Very Things -- The Gong Man b/w The Colours (Are Speaking To Me)

Original 1983 UK release on Corpus Christi Records (UK) (catalog # Christ It's 2), with fold-out multi-color Picture Sleeve.

Amazing UK post-punk single with a noisy hard-psych feel, debut release for this ex-Cravats band... Brit psych-punk akin maybe to The Afflicted Man. Check out the way "The Colours (Are Speaking To Me)" devolves into total psych-punk insanity.

The Very Things -- The Colours (Are Speaking To Me)

eBay status: item #350311381835
ENDS Feb 02, 2010 14:16:47 PST

The siege goes on heavily/But with uncertainty

Visitors -- Empty Rooms

Original 1980 UK release on Departure Music (UK) (catalog # rapture one, "A PORKY PRIME CUT, RAP 001").

Fantastic Scottish DIY post-punk from this obscure Dundee band, recorded in 1979. Very memorable songs with a dark edge, great scratchy/shambling guitar, strong basslines, icy keyboards and angst-ridden vocals. Listen to the first two tracks below, "Visitors" is more of a minimal synth track.

Visitors -- Empty Rooms
Visitors -- The Orcadian

eBay status: item #170439711134
ENDS Feb 02, 2010 13:04:08 PST

Discerning the infant and the atom bomb/Restrain the animal and the automaton

Mike Swinchoski & Synthesis -- The Torch Is Passed LP

Original 1989 stereo private pressing on Swinco Records (Jamaica Plain MA) (catalog # SW0001).

Scarce private AOR rock LP from Boston composer/singer/bassist Mike Swinchoski and band. Privately released, and there are no copies of this record available anywhere now (except here!) Some real nice AOR rock tunes with prog flourishes. "Thin Line" is more hard rock with a really novel experimental wall-of-noise microtonal guitar sound, a sort of No-Wave Night Ranger... imagine Glenn Branca recording with Styx or Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore jamming with Whitesnake... hear for yourself.

Mike Swinchoski And Synthesis -- Thin Line

eBay status: item #350312443896
ENDS Feb 09, 2010 11:03:07 PST

Ragged But Right...

The Wheatones of 1962 -- Ragged But Right LP

Original 1962 private pressing on no label (catalog # F-W-1).

Wheaton College girls singing group, all female vocals with folk guitar on some songs. Features "Green Leaves of Summer", "River Nile", "Gospel Train", "Adam and Eve", "Mood Indigo", "Quitcha", "Blues Medley", "Lover Man", etc.

Remarkably though are two stand-out tracks which are stunning solo pieces credited to Judith Sapadin (she sings solo, plays guitar and arranged the pieces.) She performs an incredible raw version of the vintage blues song "Black Girl", also known as "In the Pines" and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Nirvana made this song famous in 1993, and Kurt Cobain attributed authorship to Lead Belly, who had recorded the song several times, beginning in 1944, but the version performed by Leadbelly and covered by Nirvana does not differ substantially from other variants of the song. This song has been recorded or notably performed by the likes of (according to wikipedia):

    * Peg Leg Howell    * Bill Monroe    * Lead Belly    * Nathan Abshire    * Pete Seeger    * The Louvin Brothers
    * The Kossoy Sisters    * Bob Dylan    * The New Christy Minstrels    * Joan Baez    * Doc Watson    * Roscoe Holcomb
    * Jackson C. Frank    * Clifford Jordan    * The Four Pennies    * The Pleazers    * Grateful Dead    * John Phillips
    * Long John Baldry    * Dave Van Ronk    * Link Wray    * The Osborne Brothers    * Gene Clark    * Charlie Feathers
    * Blood on the Saddle    * Mark Lanegan    * Nirvana    * Dolly Parton    * Odetta    * R. Crumb
    * Ralph Stanley & Jimmy Martin    * Bill Smog    * Josh White

The other Judy Sapadin song on this album is a very interesting and unconventional arrangement of "They Call the Wind Mariah" (here just called "Mariah") from Paint Your Wagon, again with guitar, this time with rather haunting group back-up vocals.

FYI Judith Sapadin was a college sophomore when she recorded these songs, and it appears that she is the girl standing in the center of the cover photo, with one knee raised, wearing the rather strangely cut-off shorts.

The Wheatones of 1962 -- Black Girl

eBay status: item #350299749858
ENDS Jan 07, 2010 16:18:32 PST

Dressed To Kill

Empty Rituals -- Dressed To Kill 7"

Original 1983 US release on Mental Assault Records (Chelsea MA) (catalog # MAR 002).

Scarce DIY punk 45 from Boston band Empty Rituals, a sort of art-punk/post-punk record made in reaction to the hardcore scene in early 80's Boston, so an anti-hardcore punk record! And a pretty great one. As goodbadmusic.com sez in a blog post well worth reading, "A band from MA, recording at Radiobeat, being engineered by Jimmy Dufour – and with a strong anti-Hardcore sentiment, this is a real punk record. Musically, we have a very nice blend of Jello Biafra-type vocals backed-up with a solid post-punk beat, filled up with some atmospheric guitar work. When this kind of music is well done, it gets a really hypnotic drive as it is the case here."

Empty Rituals -- Dressed To Kill

eBay status: item #170425226227
ENDS Jan 04, 2010 09:18:22 PST

Can you spot a double meaning?

Take It -- Twenty Lines 7"

Original 1980 UK release on Fresh Hold Releases (UK) (catalog # FHR 1), with huge fold-out poster Picture Sleeve, lyric insert.

Amazing and obscure UK DIY post-punk single, "Armchairs" is comped on hyped2death's Messthetics #101 but all three songs on here are equally amazing.

Chuck of h2d says: "After Blue Screaming/Collective Horizontal, Igor and Simon next reinvented themselves as Take It, whose spectacularly noisy debut is simultaneously as catchy and as extreme as anything in H2D's collection, with just the two of them hammering away at distorted keyboards and guitars or bass (although honorary third-member credit should be given to Cy Real [??] who'd [de]constructed their instruments). After Simon left music to pursue dance and theatre, Igor borrowed two of the 49 Americans and opted not to play keyboards at all on "Armchairs" from their second single. Then Take It's final iteration dazzled/bewildered nearly everyone by adopting a small-band swing jazz sound (with ex-Jelly Baby and latter-day alt-country star Alan Tyler on vocals [Alan Tyler and the Lost Sons of Littlefield], Paul Platypus, and drummer Dave Morgan [Casual Labourers, 12CF, The Loft, Weather Prophets, Primal Scream, Sun Dial, etc.]). "

Take It -- Twenty Lines

eBay status: item #350298500917
ENDS Jan 04, 2010 09:19:04 PST

what's your price?

Spizzenergi -- Soldier Soldier 7"

Original 1994 US release on Park Royal Mfg. Co. Records (catalog # PR 358), in handmade ink-stamped envelope Picture Sleeve, with second Picture Sleeve (w/ UFO), ink-stamped innersleeve.

Very early Rough Trade gem. "Soldier Soldier" is a classic post-punk anti-war anthem as you can hear below. "Virginia Plain" is a Roxy Music cover. Neither song ever appeared on a regularly released album. They had been around since 1978 and were known at various times as Spizzoil, Spizzenergi, Athletico Spizz 80, The Spizzles and Spizzenergi 2.

Spizzenergi -- SoldierSoldier

eBay status: item #350309814156
ENDS Feb 02, 2010 10:06:13 PST

The internet in 1994 according to Palentine

Palentine -- File .004 EP

Original 1994 US release on Park Royal Mfg. Co. Records (catalog # PR 358), in handmade ink-stamped envelope Picture Sleeve, with second Picture Sleeve (w/ UFO), ink-stamped innersleeve.

Pretty much unknown experimental punk/emo EP. Some solid HC/emo/screamo on here plus some wildly experimental free-form stuff. Men's Recovery Project or Universal Order Of Armageddon are reference points.

Palentine -- Internet

eBay status: item #350293311006
 

Cotton are high

Cotton -- Cotton LP

Akasha Records, 1980. Obscure local Tulsa private pressing of nice and mellow rural folk-rock, with a pleasing country touch and even some lush pop-psych flourishes. Some really sparse, beautiful acoustic songs (like "Bittersweet" below) crossed with some more AOR pop moves. Recorded in Missouri, mixed in Tusla, Oklahoma and pressed in Texas. Not much info anywhere to be found about these real-people guys.

Cotton -- Bittersweet
Cotton -- Song From High Mountain

eBay status: item #170424474810
ENDS Jan 05, 2010 10:42:34 PST

when there's nothing left to do, you must do the residue!

Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest -- Do The Residue

Absolutely brilliant single from Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest aka KMO aka K.M.O. aka Geoff Leigh of Henry Cow along with Black Sheep/Red Balune folks. Both songs are equally strong DIY RIO art-punk genius... one of the holy-grail records of the genre imho... equal parts Pere Ubu and The Homosexuals.

The MCCB catalog describes this release thusly: "Rock music from the streets & Disco fiction, on one record. Here's where we really start to talk with you. Do you wanna live in Rotterdam or any other city? If you think so, we suggest that you just do the residue, because that's the only thing left to do."

Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest -- Do The Residue

eBay status: item #350284067085
ENDS Dec 01, 2009 13:52:34 PST

Whose side are you on?

Red Balune -- Capitalist Kid

Genius post-punk RIO from Geoff Leigh (Henry Cow, Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest) and crew. The MCCB catalog says of this release, "It's absolutely a classic record. A wild excursion into the non-used parts or your brain. Acid punk in its most original form. ['78]"
Red Balune -- Capitalist Kid

eBay status: item #350284062122
ENDS Dec 01, 2009 13:40:51 PST

You Make It So Hard On Me

Protagonists -- Hard On Me (You Make It So)

Just an incredible US DIY KBD punk single from the Midwest (Naperville IL) that's criminally unknown today. It doesn't appear to be comped anywhere, and aside from it being played once on WFMU there's not much at all online about this record or this band.

This one is a keeper. Catchy as hell but hard-edged, with a nice raw guitar sound, nasal vocals, and great shouted choruses. A rough Midwest punk sound, but really this single sounds more like classic Aussie KBD punk like Fun Things, Leftovers, Psycho Surgeons, News, Babeez, etc.

Protagonists -- Hard On Me (You Make It So)

eBay status: item #350283946324
ENDS Dec 01, 2009 09:56:57 PST