Penom Pen

Mudmen -- Let It Go b/w Penom Pen

Obscure NYC no-wave single from around 1980, the only release by Mudmen. Dark atmospheric tribal post-punk-funk with a rumbling-bass dub feel, comparable to 99 Records contemporaries ESG, Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras, Konk, etc. Sonic Youth's first drummer Richard Edson plays trumpet (he also played with Konk and Liquid Liquid.) Produced and engineered by Joe Barbaria, who also engineered the Talking Heads' Fear Of Music.
Mudmen -- Penom Pen

eBay status: item #350274094897
 

I Want To Be Blank

Blank Students -- We Are Natives b/w I Want To Be Happy

Super obscure DIY post-punk-funk single from Preston band Blank Students (whose only other appearances are on Fast Product's Earcom 1 LP along with The Prats/Flowers, and Luxury Soundtracks' A Classic Slice Of Teenage Angst 2 C-90 cassette comp along with Dexter's Urban Renewal.)

Strong A Certain Ratio influence (or likeness), poly-rhythms with great deep bass lines, catchy vocals, shambling guitar, songwriting hooks, but with a wilder free-jazz strain, the A-side starts off funky then turns into an extended almost psych improv passage with lots of free-form honking saxophone and there's even some exotic zurna/shawm ("Indian horn".)

"I Want To Be Happy" marries that UK 1980 ACR punk/funk sound with frantic no-wave funk like James Chance and the Contortions, Liquid Liquid, ESG, Konk, etc. Dancefloor filler with tight upbeat rhythm section, killer bass-playing, more wild screeching sax, whistles, cowbells and catchy hooks. A pretty great song to find on a more or less unknown record from 1980.

Blank Students -- I Want To Be Happy

eBay status: item #350274082601
 

Noise Punk of Sumeria

Songs Of Sumeria

All-out barrage of decimating noise punk from Flophouse, Stillborn Terror, and EMG.
EMG -- 777

eBay status: item #170402249142
 

Scratch the devil you hide inside

Mydolls -- Imposter b/w Excorcism

Female post-punk band from Texas, on the same label as Really Red, Culturecide and Doomsday Massacre. They're also on Cottage Cheese From The Lips Of Death. Check out http://mydolls1978.wordpress.com/ for lots and lots.

Band History compiled by Brian GTA: This highly original group featuring a very prominent feminist/social lyrical base got its start in 1979 in Houston, Texas by members Trish Herrera (ex-Kinky Friedman And the Texas Jewboys), Dianna Ray, Linda Bond (wife of Ronnie Bond from Really Red - aka U-Ron Bondage), and George Reyes (ex-Mystics). They recorded their first demo in '80 and late the same year a 7" entitled In Technicolor for Ronnie Bond's CIA label. In '81 they recorded the track "Soldier" to be included on the Cottage Cheese From The Lips Of Death compilation LP released by the Butthole Surfers. In '82 a second 7", Imposter, was recorded for CIA Records.

In 1983 Sub Pop released their Sub Pop 7 cassette compilation featuring amongst others a cut from the Mydolls, and that same year the Mydolls toured the Midwest. The Speak Softly And Carry A Big Stick 12" EP was released on CIA followed by an East Coast tour where the band played at the New York Film Festival due to one of their songs making it onto the Wim Wenders movie "Paris, Texas". In late '85 they returned to the studio to record a few more tracks which would remain unreleased as the band pulled the plug on themselves in '86.

Mydolls -- Excorcism

eBay status: item #170402170290
 

Close (to the Ellis Otivator) Dub, Hey!

The Stick Figures EP

Obscure DIY post-punk synth-wave single from this Tampa, Florida, band who relocated in Boston. Recorded in 1980 and released by the band in 1981 with five different front covers, one made by each band member. This copy has the white cover with the minimalist stick-figure drawings.

There's some very no-wave sounding avant punk funk on here, check out the insanely scrambled "Ellis Otivator Dub" which -- with its spliced-up vocals, psychotic shards of electronic noise and piercing guitar over gut-pounding bass n spastic drums -- sounds like it could be off of No New York or a 99 Records release by Liquid Liquid or ESG or Bush Tetras.

And even more bizarre is the apparent inclusion four years before "Close (to the Edit)" of the same "Hey!" sample that The Art Of Noise used so famously in 1984, and The Prodigy later picked up for "Firestarter". Listen closely, at 1:19 for that exact same "Hey!".

The Stick Figures -- Ellis Otivator Dub

eBay status: item #170401898338
 

I've Never Had So Much Fun In The Whole Of My Life

The Blonde Etheopian -- Sinews Are A Girls Best Friend

This stunningly good EP is UK avant post-punk band Crawling Chaos going under a different name. Twisted Nurse With Wound-ish takes on pop, punk, new wave, even surf music that would definitely appeal to anyone who likes the Lemon Kittens, Karl Blake, Danielle Dax, or Tools You Can Trust.
The Blonde Etheopian -- Throwing Pins

eBay status: item #170401896453
 

Admission (Yours)

The Filmcast -- Admission (Yours) b/w Colour - Colour

Scarce DIY minimal-synth art-wave single from 1979, check out the dark atmospheric electronic sound punctuated by sparse acoustic instruments:

The Filmcast -- Admission (Yours)

eBay status: item #350273751398
 

Another Absurd Record

Naafi Sandwich -- Slice 1 b/w Slice 2

Experimental DIY post-punk art-wave single, dark rumbling bass, driving percussion, all kinds of crazy electronics and minimalist guitar skronks. Next to Gerry And The Holograms, one of the very best of the great run of Absurd singles.
Naafi Sandwich -- Slice 2

eBay status: item #350273743535
 

It's a cult thing

Pak -- Balinese Dance b/w Sex Cult Thing

The band were also known as Metropak.
Pretty intense DIY post-punk single, "Sex Cult Thing" is dark and eerie, the sound of clamorous desperation, with swirling synth, gritty guitars and unforgettable vocals.

Pak -- Sex Cult Thing

eBay status: item #350273748714
 

The whale is a monstrous big thing, it's harmless too but human beings, we're not harmless to him

The Afflicted -- The Afflicted Man's New One

Insanely great Steve Hall guitar-led DIY oi/psych/punk noise! Simply one of the best UK DIY punk singles ever, from ca 1979. Comes in a rubber stamped candy-striped thin-stock bag, just like The Afflicted Man's Musical Bag LP except this is a custom-size smaller bag, it unfolds to about 8"x14". There are no songtitles printed anywhere, but Hall announces each title at the start: A-side is "142" and B-side is "Senseless Whale Slaughter" (an epic fuzz-bass psych-guitar killer of a song, has to be heard to be believed.)

The Afflicted (Man) -- Senseless Whale Slaughter

eBay status: item #170400585371
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 10:45:35 PST

Modern Noise

The Algebra Mothers -- Strawberry Cheesecake b/w Modern Noise

Simply amazing 1979 post-punk single from Detroit's Algebra Mothers aka A-Moms. A-side is catchy beyond belief synth-punk, B-side is an absolute killer arty noise-punk blast with over-the-top distorted fuzz-bass, WAY ahead of its time.

Comped on hyped2death's Homework #104, where Chuck says: I fell in love with the A-Moms' "Strawberry Cheesecake" the moment I heard it twenty years back... Cheesy Stranglers keyboards, annoying post-Devo vocals, and three or four of the most insidious hooks ever committed to vinyl. It's a special punkwave favorite. The handsomely-distorted squawking of "Modern Noise", however, should thrill a completely different bunch of, um, noise fans.

The Algebra Mothers -- Modern Noise

eBay status: item #350271926687
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 11:00:17 PST

We Are the Rock 'n Roll Dead

The Colors Out Of Time -- Rock Section

1981 UK DIY post-punk from this Manchester band. Definite Factory/Joy Division/Section 25/Crispy Ambulance influence, with a little harder, more KBD punk sound. "Rock Section" is dark, morbid and catchy as hell... "We are the rock 'n roll dead/We didn't wanna die/We didn't wanna OD".

The Colors Out Of Time -- Rock Section

eBay status: item #170399757264
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 08:31:17 PST

Je n'ai rien fait

Dead Heat -- Damnée Petite Sophie b/w Love Song

Sinister sounding French minimal-synth dark post-punk avant-industrial single, rare as hell... strong Throbbing Gristle feel, also DDAA, SPK, Minny Pops, etc. Art For Spastics sez: "Dead Heat is even weirder, more minimal starkness with near zero melody and absurdly slow and sped up vocals. I can find no information anywhere about them. What does anyone know? Please tell!"

Dead Heat -- Damnée Petite Sophie

eBay status: item #170400634107
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 12:28:00 PST

Bells are ringing, children singing

The Eternal Scream -- How I Wish b/w Child

Rare obscure UK DIY post-punk single, dark and moody experimental Factory Records sound, low bass/polyrhythmic drumming/shards of noisy guitar like Joy Division, Section 25, Crispy Ambulance, In Camera, The Names, Coitus Int, Josef K, etc.

The Eternal Scream -- Child

eBay status: item #350271935494
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 11:16:26 PST

More Ning Machine, Please!

Ning -- Machine b/w More Ning

Rare promo copy of one of the greatest lost prog/psych/glam/proto-punk tracks, full of hard rock attitude 'n studio sound effects. Monster heavy guitar break with dirty hard psych vocal. Try it if you don't know yet...

Ning -- Machine

eBay status: item #350271993425
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 13:15:18 PST

Trial by Silhouette

The Lowest Note On The Organ EP

Amazing DIY experimental single by the Low Notes under an alias. Features Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow, The Work), Mick Hobbs (1/2 Japanese, Family Fodder, The Work), Bill Gilonis (Grrr, News From Babel, The Work) and Rick Wilson (Family Fodder, The Work). Engineered by Charles Bullen (People In Control, This Heat).

Great stuff, fans of This Heat or Homosexuals/L Voag/Sara Goes Pop/George Harrasment and the more post-punk shambling side of the Recommended Records catalog will be pleased.

The Lowest Note On The Organ -- Trial By Silhouette

eBay status: item #170400606374
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 11:29:54 PST

Louder Glaxo Animal Homosexual Pop Group

Louder Animal Group -- Pip Pop b/w Six Magnificent Cathedrals

Rare obscure UK DIY experimental post-punk single from 1980, shambling art-wave with a loose dub feel and shards of trebly guitar, catchy aloof vocals, A-side sounds suspiciously EXACTLY like Glaxo Babies, B-side has a nice Homosexuals feel crossed with a little of The Pop Group as you can hear:

Louder Animal Group -- Six Magnificent Cathedrals

eBay status: item #350271939811
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 11:24:53 PST

Hard as Nails

Dayshift -- Living In The U.K. b/w Cedric Wazza, Superstar / Yeah Eh Oh Yeah Oh!

Shambling UK DIY post-punk weirdness from Dayshift i.e. Dan Electro (aka Dan Driscoll), guitarist for Desperate Bicycles.
"Yeah Eh Oh Yeah Oh!" is a killer track which should really get comped... shards of scrambled distorted bluesified guitar ontop of herky-jerky drums with David Bowie-drowning-in-the-bathtub vocals... brilliant stuff, veering between some kind of claustrophobic post-Televsion NYC no-wave sound and Swell Maps UK DIY mania... the kind of song Pavement strove for but could never achieve.

Dayshift -- Yeah Eh Oh Yeah Oh!

eBay status: item #350270725235
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 08:30:20 PST

Our Earth is Dying, woooooooohhh!!!

Androids Of Mu -- Blood Robots

Amazing lost DIY post-punk LP from this female punk band, formed out of Here & Now (Alternative TV, Planet Gong.) They played/toured with Zounds and The Mob and The Astronauts and The 012... gives an idea of what they sound like. Mix in some Raincoats, Slits, Petticoats, Crass, Kleenex... and you've got this great LP, about 15 years ahead of its time and very hard to find nowadays.

Pretty incredible cover art by Monica Sjoo.

For more on this LP and Monica Sjoo, check http://www.greengalloway.blogspot.com/search?q=androids

Sounds review from 1980:

Androids Of Mu -- Atomic X

eBay status: item #170400693581
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 15:33:23 PST

Sie sprechen Deutsch

The Epigram EP

Rare obscure DIY post-punk/powerpop EP from the UK 1981, with one truly great track, "You Speak German", a real catchy pop-punk song by The Architects, notable for the insanely over-recorded production, with crunchy distorted guitars and vocals pushing the red. It's like the Sick Things decided to slow things down a bit and try to cover the Only Ones. The Architects, according to the sleeve, "are a three-pieced band from North-West London who believe in the principles of Commodity, Firmness and Delight."

The Architects -- You Speak German

eBay status: item #170400594058
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 11:04:14 PST

I Got the Shakes

The Runts -- Cheddar Lounge EP

Really great obscure Ohio noisy garage-punk rock, that classic Ohio sound with some blasts of drunken primal noise-rock (check the insane "Black Label".) A crime this record is not more well-known.

The Runts -- 5' 3"
The Runts -- Black Label

eBay status: item #350271958123
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 12:01:00 PST

I say Bombs Away

Tracks -- Brakes On You b/w Bombs Away

Scarce classic Boston punk rawk recorded Live at the Club (Cambridge, MA) in 1977. Raw, ballsy nasty KBD stuff from the very early days of nasty KBD stuff. Original 1977 pressing on Blue Door, this copy does not have a picture sleeve. Band was: Lorry Doll, vocals, guitar; Jeff Rey, guitar; Kidd Kross, bass; Wild Johnny Lewis, drums

"Brakes On You" is comped on Killed By Death #666 while "Bombs Away" is comped on Hyped2Death #12 where Chuck says: The Tracks probably deserve credit as the undiscovered gem of this lot: they played both Boston and New York City frequently in the late '70s, but left just this one 1977 single behind: both sides are punk'n'roll genius... Their bassist had been in Boston ur-wavers Bonjour Aviators. Lorry Doll published Neon fanzine which became Neon TV in NYC, and she and Jeff Rey remained active on the New York punk/hard rock/metal scene as the Doll-Reys and the Wild Ones.

Tracks -- Bombs Away

eBay status: item #350271952177
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 11:48:25 PST

I Wanna Be A Mannequin

Christian D'Orbit -- Drive Me Crazy

Stunningly good obscure DIY punk/powerpop 45 from upstate New York... side project of Syracuse punk band The Penetrators. Christian D'Orbit's "Drive Me Crazy" scores high on the catchy sticks-in-yer-head pop but still sorta nasty KBD punk meter... amazing surly and snotty female vocals, recorded in the red for extra surl, screamed chorus that gets obnoxious real fast, in a good way:

Christian D'Orbit -- Drive Me Crazy

eBay status: SOLD

Living Neon Lights

Earthling -- Slow Down The World b/w Urbanitrops

Incredibly rare electronic prog minimal-synth 45 from this Japanese band led by the mysterious John and Yoko. As the sleeve says, "Earthling are sound pioneers, painting future dreams that transcend the present day. They understand that the future cannot be easily classified, and that tomorrow is not another day."

They have an LP which shows up every now and then but this single never does.

Earthling -- Urbanitrops

eBay status: SOLD

b/w De Dag Dat De Derde Wereldoorlog Ook Aan Ons Land Niet Onopgemerkt Voorbij Ging

Bart & Jan -- De Dag Dat De Derde Wereldoorlog Ook Aan Ons Land Niet Onopgemerkt Voorbij Ging b/w Messerschmitt Parade

Amazing off-the-wall Dutch experimental post-punk synth 45, check out the haunting "Messerschmitt Parade" which devolves into a chilling abstract soundscape of far-off explosions... then that majestic metal guitar riff rises out of the ashes... incredible:

Bart & Jan -- Messerschmitt Parade

eBay status: SOLD

Save Me

Green Sex -- Save Me b/w Tellyphone

Highly experimental homemade DIY single by John Ze'wizz (ZeWizz) going here as "John Cage". This is his very first band, before The Product and then Sleep Chamber. The is the debut release on Innersleeve Records, aka XXX Organisation aka Triple-X aka Inner-X-Musick. Release date is 1980 but from interviews it appears this was recorded in 1978.

"Save Me" is a truly claustrophobic shrieking-feedback piece of desperation and alienation, maybe comparable to early Haters or some of the weirdest/darkest stuff Jad Fair was doing early on, but at 1978 it really predates both of them.

Green Sex -- Save Me

eBay status: SOLD

i dunno either and jeez I often wondah

The Eleventh Episode -- Excuses b/w In Broken (Sometimes I Speak)

Exceedingly rare Boston minimal synth post-wave single from 1983, real nice experiental dub synth electro by a couple folks from WZBC (Modern Rock/No Commercial Potential) who'd go on to produce Boston bands like Morphine, Mark Sandman, Bullet LaVolta, etc.

The Eleventh Episode -- Excuses

eBay status: item #170400642181
ENDS Nov 03, 2009 12:46:06 PST

tiny broken horns repeat a tape loop line

The Product -- I Like The Angles b/w At The Midway

An early DIY pre-Sleep Chamber record on Triple-X aka Innersleeve Records aka XXX Organisation aka Inner-X-Musick. Produced by John Ze'Wizz, but it really sounds nothing like Sleep Chamber, it's instead really great stripped-down post-punk sort of dark tight+angular pop, more along the lines of the Propeller bands or UK post-Wire postpunk than anything "industrial."

The Product -- At The Midway

Thanks to jaylitch.

eBay status: item #350270721584
ENDS Nov 03, 200908:19:11 PST

Celebrate The Minimal

Hot Lunch -- "Celebrate The Criminal"

Scarce snotty thug punk 45 from NYC 1978. Real trashy mid-tempo hardrock/punk kind of like the Electroflex 7" or that Wreck'N Crew 7". Strong snarling lead vocals.. Stiv Bators and The Dead Boys is clearly an influence, also the New York Dolls. This band is slower and raunchier, and their sound is a bit stranger as they experiment with fuzz bass and weird guitar effects.

"Celebrate The Criminal" is a very stong cut, a real bass-heavy, low down and nasty song which starts out "Down on your luck/Beggin for a f***ck"... and ends with the snarled commands: "Make the music minimal/The lyrics subliminal/Come on, celebrate the criminal" and some glorious feedback.

This single is completely obscure today, and unjustly so. It looks like it has never been comped anywhere. If you google this record you'll only find three references to it... one being Boston Groupie News where they print the September 1978 gig list for Cantone's, featuring "From NYC Assassin Records Presents….Hot Lunch, 45 Debut, Dizzy and Celebrate The Criminal" back-to-back with "The Misfits (from NYC)."

Hot Lunch -- Celebrate The Criminal

eBay status: item #350125843431
  ENDS Nov-24-08 11:50:59 PST

They'll know we are Christians by our noise

The Folk Group at Saint Christopher's LP

Here's a pretty amazing unknown private press Christian hippie folk-rock LP. Custom pressed in New Jersey, it is likely from St. Christopher's in Parsippany, NJ, and most certainly early 1970's if not 1970.

Real sweet female vocals throughout (in a West Coast psych/Jefferson Airplane vein -- a few songs have a guy singing too) along with acoustic and electric guitars and some real crazy bongo drums and tambourine. Very amateurish lo-fi recording adds to the charm of this super-sincere and unaffected DIY music. Many of the songs start with liturgical verses set to a groove and then drift into extended jams, with the bongo drummer and someone playing ridiculous leads on 12-string guitar taking center stage. Even the folk-rock covers here -- like George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord", Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sounds Of Silence", Bob Dylan's "Blow'n in the Wind, "Aquarius" from HAIR -- sound more like improvised jams than the actual songs they're covering.

This is primarily an acoustic record, the electric guitar on here is someone repetitively playing quiet rudimentary, impressionistic patterns, like the dreamy opening to "Lamb of God".

If anyone recognizes this group or can say for sure where this St. Christopher's is, please add a comment.

The Folk Group at Saint Christopher's -- We Are One In The Spirit
The Folk Group at Saint Christopher's -- Lamb Of God
The Folk Group at Saint Christopher's -- I Am The Resurrection

eBay status: item #170275734406
  SOLD

Maybe in our noise...

The Mission -- Let's Get Together LP

Really odd group of hip priests from St. Louis who sing and play psychedelic folk-rock music, with some fuzz guitar in spots. Includes a bizarre cover of Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street", "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen,"Turn Turn Turn" by The Byrds (especially nice fuzz on this one), and the stellar original "Listen Part 1", their call to arms.

The Mission -- Listen Part 1

eBay status: item #350115349052
  ENDS: Nov-03-08 12:49:58 PST

Thug!

Thug -- "Dad" b/w "Thug" 7"

Witness Thug's ugly birth on this 45 of pure aggro nilihism and depraved absolutist noise punk from Tex Perkins and mateys. 1987, Black Eye Records, Australia.

Thug -- Thug

eBay status: item #350114139991
  SOLD

We echo our eternal Yes

Sisters Of The Incarnate Word -- Composed For You LP

This is an astonishing, breathtaking record.

There's a charming, shambling trad folk feel to some of these songs, strumming and loping rhythmically in a primitive acoustic Shaggs-ian way. And then there's the simply mind-blowing "Speak To Me Of Life", one of the absolute greatest songs I've ever found in hunting down folk-psych private presses... an epic, existential, spine-tingling exploration into the psyche of one who hears the calling... the music is urgent and chaotic, with shimmering double-tracked echoey vocals and frantically-strummed droning acoustic guitars punctuated by snare hits like shots from a rifle. It's every bit as psychedelic and profound as any of the neo-weird-free-folk of the last decade, or any of the private 60s/70s Xian folk LPs which command huge prices today.

I cannot find a single reference to this album's existence anywhere on the web. It was made in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1974. The words and music to the two songs here were written by Sister Patrica Jean Smithyman.

Sisters Of The Incarnate Word -- Everybody Knows This Man
Sisters Of The Incarnate Word -- Speak To Me Of Life

eBay status: item #170272263979
  SOLD

This time he comes to Judge the world

Mike Johnson -- Lord Doctor LP

Rare private Xian psych LP from ex-Exkursions main guy Mike Johnson. Acid Archives describes Johnson's recordings as "Eclectic rock with folk, rural and jazz inflections, with both acoustic and electric guitars," though they haven't yet reviewed this killer LP.

It all starts off with the epic heavy apocalyptic psych track "Cause and Effect", with a stomping heavy bass beat, plenty of distorted fuzz guitar and completely over-the-top lyrics about the end of mankind, schools in ashes, Judgment Day, etc. The next 8+ minute track has a wild extended freakout intro of Arp Synthesizer, guitar and frantic drumbeats. All the songs on here are originals -- a satisying rural mix of bluesy rock and folk -- Neil Young is definitely an influence.

Mike Johnson -- Cause and Effect
Mike Johnson -- Pride (intro)

eBay status: item #350111635921
  SOLD

He just wants to fly

Carl Hakansson -- Candles Glow LP

Completely obscure private press from central Massachusetts, late seventies or 1980. This is the same little corner of the world where Bobb Trimble made two of the best psych records ever, also around 1980. This album's not as out-there as Bobb's, but it's completely unknown as far as I can tell and several tracks have got a nice rural psych feel with great garagey guitar work from Richard Thyng, as evidenced on "Morning Bird". Neil Young's definitely an influence here, and the rest of the record is a lot mellower, with a few solo downer-folk numbers by Carl Hakansson and one really spooky and somber kind of chanted mantra a cappella track "Alone They Ride", credited to The Thyng-Hakansson Chorus.

Carl Hakansson -- Living In The Sunlight
Carl Hakansson -- Morning Bird

eBay status: item #350111635732
  SOLD

Everything But Free

Dennis and Elaine -- The Moment of Truth

Completely obscure Christian album from this couple from Holden, Massachusetts. Instrumentation is a little unusual: piano, organ, synthesizer, bass, cello, violin, percussion and oboe. Looks and sounds sixties, if so this is a real early use of synth on an Xian LP. "Keep Me Where Love Is" is a real nice catchy uptempo 60's pop song that has a fresh appeal that's hard to pin down.

Dennis and Elaine -- Keep Me Where Love Is

eBay status: item #170272339478
  SOLD

Sleuthing around Costa del Sol

Stitched-Back Foot Airman -- Costa del Sol EP

UK Fall-damaged post-punk band in a Ron Johnson C86 vein on the same label as Marc Riley and the Creepers. "Sleuth" is one hell of a great driving, skronking-guitars instrumental that sounds like some lost UK 79 post-punk single by the Tiller Boys or some Swell Maps offshoot...

Stitched-Back Foot Airman -- Sleuth

eBay status: item #350111245133
  SOLD

what rhymes with 'denominator'?

Nullset Unisphere EP from 1983, a completely obscure US new wave electronic/synth-punk EP produced by Matt Pinfield (future MTV and VH1 VJ, host of 120 Minutes, DJ on Sirius and now WRXP in NYC.)

Very tight and fast DIY synth-punk/post-punk band, definitely influenced by Joy Division and the other Factory UK bands, but also has a dinstinctly US DIY post-Devo garage-synth sound.

Nullset -- Times Out

eBay status: item #170239889665
  SOLD

Kinetic Transparencies

Kinetic Transparencies, a challenging and rather bizarre experimental abstract 1978 LP from cellist Gwendolyn Watson. Inside the stunning cover art, this record possesses some elements of jazz improv, some Middle Eastern flavor, and an amazing avant-garde piece of taut textural dissonance and darkly haunting sonic shrieking called "Demon, Transiting".

"Primarily Trained As A Cellist, Gwendolyn Watson's Improvised Compositions For Dance Encompass Classical, Jazz And Ethnic Folk And Include The Use Of Syrian Finger Cymbals, Cello, Piano, Voice, Bongos And Other Instruments In A Challenging Melange Of Styles."

Gwendolyn Watson -- Demon, Transiting

eBay status: item #170242460949
  SOLD

Late Night Rocker

Phil Shades self-titled LP, a completely obscure and bizarre private rock album from the Boston area on Wampum Records, 1978. A strange mix of straight-ahead American 70s guitar punk rock (like New York Dolls, Dead Boys, Heartbreakers) with more melodic power-pop and some over-the-top moog synth work. Phil Shades defnitely has a David Johansen thing going on, his anonymous back up band is very tight and do rock out in places. There's an amped up cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" and a nice deferential version of Velvet Underground / Lou Reed's "Rock and Roll".

Strangest of all is that midway through "Late Night Rockers" there is an abrupt and completely out-of-nowhere extended electronic freakout -- a bizarre psychedelic musique concrete/noise passage crudely edited right into the song -- that sounds right off of the far-out side of Can's Tago Mago or a Stockhausen record.

A real hard LP to figure, and impossible to learn just who exactly is playing on it. There are no credits, but thanked on the back cover are: Phil Specs, Bill Sbrega, Pat Costa. Nick Prout. I've sampled some clips from the LP, including the electronic freakout, on the mp3 linked below:

clips from the Phil Shades LP

eBay status: item #350079600066
  SOLD

But the stars in the sky moaned a soft lullaby

Marianna, rare private press Xian folk LP compiled in Cambridge, Mass., by Jamaican priest Richard Ho Lung in 1972, featuring a wide variety of Jesus Music from different artists: traditional folk, calypso, mento, Tim Buckley-ish moody folk-pop...

The one absolutely incredible track on here is the first known recording of Boston streetsinger and free-spirit Ruth Anna, the eerie and haunting lament "Star Lullaby", probably the most beautiful Jesus song you'll ever hear. She was known around Boston for singing Appalachian mountain folk songs in a striking vibrato voice, while playing recorder or autoharp, and she was arrested many times for singing on Boston Common. She would go on to found Snake And Dove Records and release a wonderful LP in 1975 as RuthAnna.

Another highlight on here is Richard Ho Lung's raucous "Christmas Mento", in the same style as his Caribbean Bread & Wine LP from 1971.

Ruth Anna -- Star Lullaby

eBay status: item #350081754914
  SOLD

So, take you magah soul, Fling away you dutty sin

Caribbean Bread & Wine, a truly off-the-wall 1971 private press Xian Folk/Calypso LP from Jamaican-born Richard Ho Lung and his hippie Jesus freak friends.

from the liner notes: The body and blood of the Caribbean event are here offered to us all by a man, Richard Ho Lung, who was born to Jamaica and reflects the depth of the Jamaican experience. In these twelve songs, he offers us part of his own body and blood given up when he separated himself from his own people in order to return one day to serve them as priest, poet, teach and friend.

Ho Lung's music and poetry say something universal, namely, that if you can find it in your heart to look around with the eyes of a lover the world comes alive in a riot of colour which makes even a cloudy day something full of wonder; if you can let talking die for but a moment and allow your ears to hear, there are sweeping rhythms to life which wait to wash away all our doubts and fears; if you can manage to embrace life as it presents itself instead of simply managing always and always ending by mismanaging, there is a magical serentiy which will lead open the way to the truth about life.

Richard Ho Lung -- The Reason Why
Richard Ho Lung -- 'Ternal Life

eBay status: item #170244846854
 

But where are the songs of Forgiving?

Dynamic West Coast psych LP with folk-psych touches and some nice dark Doors-ish psych with a bit grittier guitar sound.

Clear Light -- Street Singer

eBay status: item #350080237981
  SOLD

Aiming at you

Great hard rock/heavy psych LP from this lost UK group, (The) Gun.

The liner notes on the back cover: A race riot shook the nation's pop charts recently. It was a "Race With The Devil" A noisy, punch up hit that blasted Gun into the Top Ten. And Gun are, by their own admission, a noisy, violent group. They brought back a shot of excitement at a time when gloom and depression had hit the pop scene and groups were breaking up in al directions. But sheer exuberance is not enough to survive under the critical glare directed at today's groups. Fortunately two of the brothers Gun, Paul and Adrian Curtis, have developed talent for writing.

Their original compositions and arrangements are the basis of this first album. Paul (bass guitar) devised the arrangements that equal the creativity of Adrian's (lead guitar) tunes. With the hard hitting drums of Louis Farrell to spur them on, and the addition of one of those brass sections that fire on all cylinders, they have produced a programme of sustained interest mixing their hit appeal with solid musical ideas. "We are a rock group", states Louis firmly. "No, I don't mean rock and roll do me a favour. I mean a hard rock group. We're trying to play rock, in our own way". And hear them rock on tunes like "Yellow Cab Man" with it's honking car effects, and fuss tone guitar, with Paul's tough vocals. Violins are added to "Rat Race", a slower paced Adrian composition, and you can hear the backing vocals of Barry St John and Sunny of Sunny and Sue team.

Most unusual and proof of their originality is "The Sad Saga Of The Boy And The Bee" and the purely instrumental track "Rupert's Travels", somewhat in a "Classical Gas" vein. But the arrangement the group are most proud of is "Take Off", an extended freak out. Lights must be turned off and volume controls set to maximum to absorb this property. "Watch your eardrums" an engineer yelled at a hearing at London's CBS studio's one influenza ridden day in January. Visiting elderly men and small children were warned to evacuate during playback, but they stayed in the control room to hear Gun roar into an explosion of musical adjectives. Listen to Louis thunder his bass drums, and the guitar and bass hurtle into an odyssey of sound and emotion! The Men and children survived and my ears were unscathed, but a final warning the GUN are aiming at you!

Chris Welch, Melody Maker 1968

Gun -- The Sad Saga Of The Boy And The Bee

eBay status: item #170235194843
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Won't Come Bak

All 6 of the legendary Zakary Thaks singles are compiled here for the first time on this 1980 Moxie LP. Absolutely essential '66-'67 US garage punk.

Zakary Thaks -- Won't Come Back

eBay status: item #170235194712
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He heard our cry

Very nice riff-heavy hard-rock LP, the first from power trio BANG.

Bang -- Lions, Christians

eBay status: item #350074225533
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good balance

Spirit guy solo, just great, great.

Randy California -- Downer

eBay status: item #170233555496
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And the answer man please

Real nice lost rockin' country-psych LP from Jerry Corbitt, issued a year after he left the Youngbloods in 1968. Features Charlie Daniels, as well as Bernie Krause and Edward Bogas playing The Moog. His stunning "The Kahuna Song" is especially dark and gritty and about 20 years ahead of its time.

Jerry Corbitt -- The Kahuna Song

eBay status: item #170235194899
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The Childrens Pictorial

Great orchestral psych from Houston, produced by Lelan Rogers (13th Floor Elevators, etc.) There are moments, like the intro to Pictorial, which are just raw and heavy tripped out rock. Starting out as STOICS back in 1966, they later evolved into MIND'S EYE, then their final incarnation as THE CHILDREN with the beautiful female vocals of Cassell Webb.

The Children -- Pictorial (intro)

eBay status: item #170233555252
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New Delhi Blues

The definitve reissue of Elias Hulk's Unchained, a heavy, heavy monster psych/hard-rock album from 1970, now impossible to find. Has a real unique Eastern tinge to some tracks, just play the simply amazing "Delhi Blues" back to back with Suni McGrath's "Blue Domes of Isfahan". Sleeve has very long and detailed liner notes. A must.

Elias Hulk -- Delhi Blues

eBay status: item #170233554017
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