Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The Raydios s/t
The Raydios s/t 7" (Target Earth, 1998)
These guys sprang phoenix-like from the barely-cooled ashes of Teengenerate, and the general anticipation was that their next band would probably be roughly more of the same hearty gruel, just as Teengenerate were a general continuation of the immediately preceeding American Soul Spiders minus all the Rawk! jizz. Surprise, the Raydios took that restless power and channeled it into this EP full of hooky buzzsaw powerpop, one of the best examples of Pure Pop Moderne of the decade. Most every other 'punker'-type band that was attempting to fuse their Ramones fixations with diabetes-inducing sugar frosting (see the Lookout! catalog roughly 1995-2000, most notoriously the Queers) was not only digging for water in the desert, they were burying themselves in the process (MOTO notwithstanding, there are others...). The Raydios actually managed to recreate everything that is great about a crackly Jolt or Protex 45 without fixatedly aping their influences in the process.
The Raydios turned out to be a stopgap band that was destined to evolve into Firestarter, the true realization of the 'New' new wave-meets-powerpop project that these guys were dedicated to finishing. These Raydios also have an LP on the Screaming Apple label (distributed by ebay) that has these tracks plus a batch of others just as great. This 45 also marks an unfortunate trend dating from about this time: the gradual disappearance of Japanese bands playing this type of stuff on American-label releases, or even as findable vinyl imports. I noticed that I had somehow missed a Japanese 7" release by the Raspberries-luvin Tweezers, why hadn't it shown up via the usual 'circa '98' mailorder channels? Japanese metallic hardcore? No problem, here's a phone book full of Ami distros with the required imports. But catchy punk on a garage level? Poof, learn Japanese, fool ... The situation has calmed somewhat in 2006, but you now have to order these types of 7" direct from Japan about 98% of the time, and you have to move fast, like, the week of release. Aaaargh. -Ryan W.
There will be more of these annoyingly elusive 90's Jap press 45s in future posts. -Ryan W
// posted by W/S @ 12:04 AM 
Comments:
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Whaddyer blind, I missed that Tweezers 7". Then the early Slomotions 7"ers. Then the Laukaus and Basements 7"s. Blah Blah Blah...Ryan W
great record! on the subject of japanese garage-punk 45's, any chance of the Bou Sou Nezumi 7" being posted? keep up the good work....
# posted by 
: 2:46 PM
: 2:46 PM
Bou Sou Nezumi, they are with a bunch of Japanese records we are going to feature in the coming months, (other than the American Soul Spiders), except for the frickin Tweezers 7"...-RW
And has everyone heard that The Raydios are back together with the bass player from the Young Ones. I saw them last November and they only played stuff from the old releases but kicked booty of course. I think Fifi has a band going also.
Fifi isn't continuing Firestarter?
Bou Sou Nezumi. All's I got is that Rat Bag 7". Is there anything else...or are they on that Repent comp too?
Also, the world may finally be ready to recognize the greatness of First Alert.
Bou Sou Nezumi. All's I got is that Rat Bag 7". Is there anything else...or are they on that Repent comp too?
Also, the world may finally be ready to recognize the greatness of First Alert.
# posted by : 11:17 AM
: 11:17 AM
yeah, not sure what the whole story is. Originaly I heard that Firestarter broke up because Fifi had to go back to his hometown and take of his parents. Fifi showed up at the after-party and someone mentioned that he had another band going. When I asked someone else about the taking care of his father story, I got an answer in convoluted English...maybe Strange knows what the dealy is.
Cardwell - BSN had that EP and tracks on the Repent comp then morphed into the Zymotics who've got a couple of singles.
Laukaus first EP was US press and hung around for a while before disappearing...those two new ones got past me, though. Darn.
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Laukaus first EP was US press and hung around for a while before disappearing...those two new ones got past me, though. Darn.
# posted by : 5:42 PM
: 5:42 PM << Home
