STATIC PARTY

The Cuts - Heart Attack EP

2009-06-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

The Cuts Heart Attack EP (Lookout, 1999)

This debut by Oakland band The Cuts has the distinction of being:

1. One of the singles least worthy of being common Bay Area dollar bin fodder,

2. At the time, the best record Lookout put out in quite a while,

3. One of the best seven inches that Lookout released,

4. Probably the last good record that graced the Lookout label,

5. The precursor to two fine albums,

6. A look at Andy Freeze's pre-Time Flys rock & roll noise,

7. A reminder of why this band is much missed.

Here are two of three cuts. Find the single, 'cuz all the songs are killers.
--Scott S.

Heart Attack
Lady Killer

Fox Force 5 - If It Feels Good EP

2009-05-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

Fox Force 5 If It Feels Good EP (One Million Dollar Records, 1996)

If ska had a tough time in the 90s, then its sister subculture, the Mods, enjoyed an equally barren run in that particular decade. It was never easier to find the gear to get the look down pat, and this perhaps watered down the inherently elitist drive behind the whole enterprise; if yer gonna dress in a three-piece suit every show and play rock-based music in 1996, then you might as well make some fucking dough in a dopey ska band playing to 1000 kids per night in the process. Eh. There were some good mod-influenced bands (The Strike come immediately to mind, perhaps the Odd Numbers...), but in general it was a one-way road to boredom. Our friends here in the thoroughly "blech"-monikered Fox Force 5 have nothing, and I mean nothing, going for them. They've got the trad 90s Mod look, their song titles reveal zilch depth and they sport the ultimate handicap: they're fucking Krauts. And yet, they pull it off, at least on the two tracks we've ripped off their debut EP.

There's a sort of Prae-Kraut Pandemonium consciousness evident, especially in that first track, "Pocadot Top Girl" with its muttered vocal style playing off the femme faux-soul belter, (one Matha K.). The Mod trip was to be smart, not formulaic, and there is definite evidence of intelligence, uh, evident on this EP. In fact, this group got an LP out a year or so later that had loads of sharp smart-ass lyrics based in a sound that leaned increasingly away from straight-up Mod derivitives and more towards a garage-modern rock smersh that almost felt like a reaction to Britpop bands like Blur and Supergrass. Not bad, and even Shane White in MRR felt so at the time as well. We'll leave the LP for some other time (riiiight) and stick with this nifty Mod-Pop-Garage EP for the nonce. -Ryan W.

Pokadot Top Girl
The One I Get

Deche Dans Face - Germon et Fils EP

2009-04-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Deche Dans Face Germon et Fils 7" (Sub Pop, 1996)

Deche Dans Face second American release is in the unique position of being on a super high profile label, still available in dollar bins across the country, and largely unheard. I've plopped this gem into plenty of record fiends hands, people who've told me they've seen it around but never heard it. The only two reasons I can think of is that prior to Germon et Fils, Deche Dans Face had released two seven inches, one on a French label and one on an obscure US label - neither with very good distribution in the US. Second is that, by the time this came out, the Sub Pop name was so linked to grunge that garage punkers ignored their output. Add the two and you get a great piece of primitive garage pummeling that you should have no problem finding. Here you get one originaly a wicked pounder which reminds me of fellow Frenchies Crash Normal and a rowdy, racketty cover of Willie Dixon. No sampled here is a very worth-a-listen take on the Oblivions' "Jim Cole."

Merry Dickmass
I Just Want to Make Love to You

Hearts Paid To Lie

2009-04-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Some Hearts Paid To Lie 2 x 45 (Wiiija, 1993)

Last Z Gun magazine reference, promise; in the latest issue is an article that attempts to sift through the psychic garbage that surrounds the "riot grrl" movement's actual musical output, up to roughly the end of 1995. It was determined after many hours of sequestered listening that one of the bands that comes off best in 2009 is an outfit that has already had some run on this blog: Skinned Teen. In the spirit of further exposure, here are a couple more tracks from their oeuvre, from a double 7" comp on London's WIIJA label. Intelligent brat attack with ideal production and some ideas in the riffs dept. We've also included a Pussycat Trash song, one of the better tracks from their occasionally spotty vinylizations. Linus on here are kinda "eh", and Comet Gain don't need any exposure, they gots lots 'o fans alreddy. The Sound of '93! -Ryan W.

Pussycat Trash - Un Soul Less
Skinned Teen - Secrets
Skinned Teen - Swimsuit Blonde

The Hot Corn Girls - Hot Rod Corn Girl

2009-03-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Hot Corn Girls Hot Rod Corn Girls EP (Singles Going Everywhere, 1994)

"Then there were the hot corn girls, pre-Civil War New York’s twisted, virgin-whore fantasy. These were teenage girls, always barefoot, wearing trademark, calico shawls, and selling ears of fresh-roasted corn—and sometimes themselves. They sang plucky little verses at the passing men who pitied them, and wanted to protect them—or to buy them..." so writes Kevin Baker. Our Hot Corn Girls were also a New York City product, but one about 150 years advanced. Their plucky little verses are nonsense and what they are selling only they know. Members also did time in The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, Murphy's Law, and the Chimpanzees. The band was fronted by Bob Limp who might or might not be related to this Bob Limp (worth looking at either way). After this seven, they did an album called Look at My Bum. -SS

Hot Rod Corn Girls
Maggot Fiesta

The Inhalants - Kolchak, the Night Stalker

2009-03-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

The Inhalants Kolchak, the Night Stalker 45 (Bag of Hammers, 1994)

So solly for delay, we took a detour into the realm of the actual print zine. See, they were these paper rags that predated this whole "blog" phenom...oh, never mind. I won't let a little thing like a new issue of Z-Gun overshadow the swellness of this Inhalants 45, on (yet again) the Bag of Hammers label. Their Misanthrope debut single on the Unclean label held a lot of promise that was more than fulfilled on this double A-sided monster. For a "garage" band (they have to be "garage", look at that cliched-on-date-of-release sleeve), they sure seem to be channeling a fair bitta Urinals or Vast Majority influence via their treble uber alles schema. Just another great rockin' 45 out of Texas.

The Inhalants got a full length out on Estrus a couple of years after this that, while aok, really doesn't come close to the debut or this, their high water mark. Another saving grace is that this is one of the easiest 45s on the BOH label to dig out, outside of the Refuzers. -Ryan W.

Kolchak, the Night Stalker
Middle Ages

Howardian / Nikki Light Brigade

2008-12-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Howardian / Nikki Light Brigade split 7" (Red Cloud, 1995)

Hey there, It's been a while. You're lookin' good. Yeah, I know, should have kept in touch, but you know how it is. Things. Stuff. But, you don't wanna hear about that. How you doing? How's ummmm Rob? Oh, you aren't seeing each other? Me? Things. Stuff. Ha ha! No, nothing going on. Who are the kids? They're a friend's. Just watching them for the afternoon, but I will be free later. Their names? This is Howardian. He's a little retarded. Doesn't play well with others and has a hard time with volume control. The older one is Nikki. She doesn't talk much. In fact, I don't think she's said a word all day. In one of those "woe is me" phases. But they are alright. Actually they are pretty good. So what are you doing later? Have any dinner plans? How about you and me go to the warf, get something to eat, and you know.... -SS

Howardian - Deluxeness
Howardian - Imperial Criminals
Nikki Light Brigade - Good to go/Pull the Trigger

Disasternauts - Backbone

2008-08-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Disasternauts Backbone 45 (self-released, 1998)

Mystery meat time folks, it's the Disasternauts 45! No label, no sleeve, only that Portland, OR address. And two great, no, fucking definitive late 90s punkeroos that are a mashup up everything that appeals out of the Devil Dogs/New Bomb Turks/open-collar vest school of "wide stance" garage rock. I know a little about the genesis of this thing: Portland roots, played around town in the 97-98 date range, didn't tour anywhere, had a planned sleeve but never got around to it, record never distributed beyond one-on-one handoffs and a now-defunct OR-based online mailorder. Beyond that scant whispering, only the songs serve as the band's headstone, which is as it should be. Beee-hold... -Ryan W.

Backbone
My Dad's the Heat

Jalla Jalla - Minnesota Plates

2008-08-09T17:19:00.000-07:00

Jalla Jalla Minnesota Plates 45 (Hiljaiset Levyt, 1991)

Ahhhh if the first sounds that came to mind when hearing the words "pop punk" were as spot on as Jalla Jalla's "Minnesota Plates," the 90s sub-genre would be spared the ridicule it deserves for bands like Squirtgun, 15, and the Riverdales. To be fair, you can probably throw Finland's Jalla Jalla on that list, because other than this gem of a song, I haven't heard anything else that justifies their decade long existence. No big deal. Plenty of bands have lasted for longer with nothing good to show. At least these Finns have one stellar song. --Scott S.

Minnesota Plates

Moorat Fingers - Hurt My Brain

2008-07-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

Moorat Fingers Hurt My Brain 45 (Into the Vortex, 1998)

Wow, look at the time! Is it really July alreddy? Sorry about the pause, but we are refreshed, and we'll be back on a regular schedule again now. Promises, promises. Here's a good one to jump back into the fray with, Germany's Moorat Fingers.

Now, Europe in general took a back seat to the USA and Japan for most of the 90s when it came to great garage/punk-type records; with isolated exceptions (the records we put up, 'natch) the Euros always came off studied and a tad too precious. Beautifully printed sleeves, vinyl heavier than a Norseman's axe, spare-no-expense production; all for naught. Considering their huge population and documented "healthy" history of totally debased perversity, and the fact that they even invented the hamburger, at least in the apocryphal sense, Germany had without doubt the worst batting average of any EU nation. In spite of all their perceived advantages, their basement-level punk records pretty much stank. Here is one exception, the full-steam ahead Moorat Fingers, who run through the 3 songs on this, their debut platter, with "not a brain cell to spare". The other two tracks are pretty much the same song as the one we've selected for extraction, so let's not dull the blade. And this isn't even their high water mark, that 45 is going to be saved for a future unveiling.

The Moorat Fingers are still around, well, there's someone alive enough to keep their website active, anyway. They were good enough that an American label, Big Neck, even got them inhouse for a 45 some years after this; unfortunately not their best moment. Try this on instead. -Ryan W.

Hurt My Brain

The Kwyet Kings - Don't Doubt My Love

2008-05-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

The Kwyet Kings Don't Doubt My Love 45 (Weed, 1994)

Sorry about the wait - well, as sorry as a couple guys who are doing this for no pay can be. We've been working on the new issue of Z Gun and haven't had the time to keep up with this. Now that that beast has been felled, time to post some crap.

Today, we delve into an area we have steered pretty clear of - 90s garage punk where the stress in on the garage rather than the punk. For the most part, the by-numbers, Six-Oh sounds leave us in a napping mode. Sure, they got the style points down and the sounds are fine but there is no umph, no rip it out your ass noise that nails one's ears to the wall. Perhaps you might think that flies in a world before the Mummies. If you think so I got a challenge: Name me ten bands from the Paisley Underground garage revival of the Eighties what deserve a second listen. You can't. After the Morlocks and the Lyres your brain freezes and nearly everything else you gotta be a bit generous about. Bah. Too much good shit out there to spare some generosity.

Now The Kwyet Kings, they have something going on. Sure thing that they adhere to the Known World of Sixties Twang n' Thump, but they do it well. Certainly helps that these Norwegians swipe smart from both the Seeds and the Lyres. The K-Kings released a scad of other records, most of them equally as good, but between you and me - if you can scrounge up just one, no need to break a sweat lookin' for more. - Scott S.

Don't Doubt My Love

Decoy X

2008-04-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Kitty Cat Spy Club / Teenagers Decoy X EP (Radio Trash, 1996)

While "South City USA!" was getting all the garage spotlight in the early-to-mid 90s Bay Area scene, there was apparently something brewing down south a ways, just past the San Mateo county seat of Redwood City. Little city called Palo Alto. One high school band called the Electrocutes, who also previously went by the name Ragady Anne. Got an EP out on this same Radio Trash label. They turned into the Donnas once the South City Talent Agency got ahold of them.

And, apparently, there were these two outfits running loose as well. Listening to them now you pick up a definite riot grrl-type sound running through their songs, I'm thinking early Frumpies. You know, that sort of basic surf or garage-influenced rock take with the "riot" aspect primarily in the vocals. But, in kinship with their zip codes mates the Ragady-Electro-Donnas, there wasn't a whole lotta boy-smashery or incest revelry in the lyrical dept; just a celebration of unwholesome teenage suburban degeneracy, party-time stylee!

There some some debate over how many of these things Radio Trash made, I heard either 200 or 300 as the likely pressing size. In any case, pick it up if it ever crosses your path, there's two tracks we left off that should sweeten the deal. And in response to any requests to post that Ragady Anne 45, eh, they're on Myspace, go on... -Ryan W.

Kitty Cat Spy Club - The Searcher
Kitty Cat Spy Club - See Ya Later Alligator
Teenagers - The Teenagers (Theme Song)
Teenagers - Kids from Rosendale High

Stupid Fuckin' Hippie - River

2008-03-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

Stupid Fuckin' Hippie River 45 (Eardrop, 1993)

Call me a stupid fuckin' asshole, but the '90s were not kind to the Stooges. Yeah, sure, that was the decade in which the band finally were universally recognized as God like. And it was in the 90s that the Funhouse box set came out. But, it was also the decade of the most Stooge Clone Bands Ever! T'was hard not to swing a dick without hitting a Junior Iggy. Every ass with some sass wanted to be Ron Ashton. And the result was hundreds of shitty Stooge-oid records. BUT there were some exceptions. This single by Columbus's Stupid Fuckin' Hippie is one of them. SFH hits everything you need to hit to pull of the Stooge influence. They have a rippin' guitarist, the vocalist lets in just enough Ig to flavor the song but not too much, and they write a song which, while it owes something to the Stooges, belongs to them. Great stuff here. - Scott S.

TheTonebenders s/t

2008-02-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

The Tonebenders s/t 7" (Hit Records Label, 1995)

This little zero-rep 7" made it's way into my trembling mitts courtesy the platinum pen of Mr. Mike Lucas, the widely-acknowledged Bay Area-based sexpert on the subject of what makes a great garage record "tick", regardless of decade of origin. I got an article together back in 2000 for Maximum Rock 'n Roll whose putative purpose was to rattle off all of the best 7" of the 1990's (this was waaay pre-blog mania folks), and Dr. Dante was one of those invited to hold forth. One of his picks was this obscuro, whose mere existence had previously flown completely under my sticky radar up to that point. Couldn't have that. COULDN'T HAVE THAT. So, I started lookin' and lookin' and it took a good year of internet searching to dig up a copy, and one listen to that wall of pickled cardboard fuzz on "Root Beer" makes me realize that, yup, Dr. Lucas knows what ails ya. My personal cure was a one-off 7" by this bunch of clammy Swedish boffs.

The Tonebenders, it turns out, were not really "a band" within the filthy confines of plays-shows-and-actually-exists-as-a-band. They played one show, their recording career barely spanned a single afternoon, and then they moved on. The brief paragraph detailing the full scope of their rise and fall can be found over at the Xotic Mind/Subliminal Sounds website. Just scroll about 2/3 of the way down.

Thanks again, Lucas. You, uh, suck. Right. -Ryan W.

The Decibels - s/t

2008-01-15T19:05:00.000-08:00

The Decibels s/t EP (G.I, 1997)

Note perfect power pop from a note perfect band. The Decibels were Dean Seavers' late 90s power pop vehicle and a perfect follow up to his just-as-good prior venture, The E-Types. The few times I saw the Decibels, I thought they were a tad too clean. But I was trapped in the bowels of lo-fi and didn't really get it. The Decibels were all about clean, from their tidy image to the choice of songs to cover. I mean, who but the neatest of the neat cops tunes from the Association? While I might have been blind to these guys, others weren't. Screamin' Apple out of Germany released a fine LP and I believe they even made it over to Europe and Japan a couple times. Great record, get it while it is still easy to find. Here are three of four. --Scott S.

Rust - Full of Counterfeits

2008-01-04T23:10:00.000-08:00

Rust Full of Counterfeits EP (Real Deal Records, 1999)

Here's another one of those frustratingly elusive late 90s Japanese pop-punk-waveish 45s that barely ventured beyond the shores of the rising sun. I found this copy in the only apparent venue for distribution this thing had in the USA: a Bay Area bargain bin. Anyway, the track here, Shameless Thieves, is a savory slice of Tweezers/late-period Registrators rock 'n roll, off of a 3-song EP by these gents Rust. The other two songs are perhaps a notch below this, so I stuck with the A-grade material.

My ability to rap about Rust's pre- and post-Counterfeits projects is as limited as my knowledge of kanji. Nada. Tuff. -Ryan W.

3 Stoned Men - s/t

2007-12-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

3 Stoned Men s/t EP (Bag of Hammers, 1993)

It really would have been a crime if the 90s best punk label didn't release at least one David Nudelman record. There are so many Nudelman projects and a lot of them are really damn good so one was bound to land there. And when I say "so many" I mean a lot. As with Seattle's Rob Vasquez, Nudelman was everywhere in San Francisco of the 90s. And as with Rob Vasquez, we could easily make this seem like a "Nudelman Appreciation Society" blog (we've done one of his bands already). Was talking to famous KDVS dejay Rick Ele yesterday and commented that someone could probably do a whole show dedicated to David Nudelmen projects. So what's the fuss about Nudelman? Well, his stuff is pretty much straight ahead rock & roll, right out of the garage, with no airs or image or hype. It's a little off, but naturally so. And it has good reference points. So, you get three out of four songs off this EP. The whole thing is good rock & roll with a sense of humor. And just so I don't get accused of forgetting the rest of the band: Mike Buzzo played drums and John Blackwell, who co-wrote most of the songs and totally wrote the excellent "Lisa", played bass and far out harmonica. Check it out. (PS: Anyone know if there is any relation between David Nudelman and Todd Nudelman of the In Out?) --Scott S.

Come to Blackjack Country/Bulb

2007-12-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Come to Blackjack Country/Bulb EP (Bulb/Blackjack, 1995)

A perfectly bizarre twin billing 'promotional for sale' EP put out by the two labels that most perfectly continued the weltanschauung of ESP Disc into the 90s; the Blackjack label of California and the Bulb label of Massachusetts. Each label contributes a track from 7 artists on each side, ranging from the "punkier" clangor of Harry Pussy, Sternklang and the Whales (see tracks below) to the ephemeral and occasionally wince-worthy Shriek, Lids and Doodle Dandies, amongst others. I would've included the Lake of Dracula track from the Bulb side, but they only get around to abusing their instruments in the last 10 seconds or so of their track and bandwidth = thousands of dead bunnies so no go. Listening to the whole of both sides is akin to catching a head cold, beating it with a sigh of relief, then having it come back to sandbag you right before the weekend, so you dose on radical head drainers to compete with the viral load. You're left slap happy, feverish, clammy, mobile and slightly sticky, that's the total package on this.

All the tracks on this thing are exclusive to this discus, so you'll have to really wanna dig to get the rest off a copy of the original crap vinyl pressing. Ahhh, they aren't that hard to find, any old hole in NYC or Chico should have one in the bargain bin. We're still waiting for a full court press resurgence in interest in these two labels, someone get started on a noise/rock book that covers the 90s before someone enshrines the likes of Unwound as some sort of gold standard. -Ryan W.

The Twerps - Amnesia

2007-11-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

The Twerps Amnesia EP (Great Skott!, 1993)

The opening drum beat of the Twerps' "Don't Beat Me Up" might sound fey and inept, like a bunch of pale, skinny nerds feckless playing poppy, no-fi, Ramones riffs, but ain't that the point? I spent plenty of evenings in the 90s, watching bands like the Twerps, the Bananas, and the Four Eyes slop out a crowd of eager teen geeks. I don't think any of this stuff ever got lumped into a subgenre or movement or anything like that but I do know that the Secret Center label was home to many of these bands, most of whom appeared on one of many of SC's great cassette comps. I am pretty sure the Twerps, from relatively near by Santa Rosa, appeared on at least one SC comp. I am also sure that I saw them once, but I am not sure if it was in a basement, at the Loft, or in some library near San Jose. Whatever the place, I do remember that they sounded pretty much like this record. No frills, straight, to the point, teen punk rock. -Scott S.

Cheater Slicks - Walk Up The Street

2007-11-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Cheater Slicks Walk Up The Street 45 (In The Red, 1994)

Has there ever been a garage-level punk band within living memory to have as much praise heaped upon them as the Cheater Slicks without a commensurate level of scene hysteria? The 'Slicks have put out at least a dozen great-to-greater records, all of them as solidly-of-the-moment and yet instantly classic sounding as your average Dead Moon record, say, and yet there is no tumescent joy upon the imminent release of yet another opus except among a select rabid cognoscenti of jerks, butthairs, longshanks and cock sniffers. Hopefully, you are already among this host, if not, I hope these two tracks off one of their numerous 90s 45s can degrade you into becoming a believer. They simultaneously pummel and offer a salute to their hometown heroes the Modern Lovers on the A-side, the flip finds them in a grouchy grunge slouch that kinda sounds like they were auditioning to open for a 90s-feedback-era Neil Young.

So this 45 is on In The Red Records, plucked from the midst of that label's mid-decade classic run of 45s (they are supposedly working on a wunnerful, wunnerful singles comp, so consider this a Big Teaser) and it's not that hard to track down, but its asskick factor should make it one of the 45s from this era that you just gotta own. Or be owned. And, their last LP was as good as any record they've yet released. -Ryan W.

Schwermut Forest - Nischenoperation

2007-10-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Schwermut Forest Nischenoperation 45 (Kollaps, 1994)

Got this gem in a batch of records that I bought off a guy I know. Had no idea what it was before hand, but the stack that I was looking at had enough known winners to take a chance on the others...and I am gand I did.

Schwermut Forest has journeyed from skewed eyed indie rock to post-rock, all the while tossing off bits like Nischenoperation, a great tune which reaches back to Rough Trade's post punk slurge and further back to krautrock classism. It is also not too difficult to find. -Scott S.

Henry Fiat's Open Sore - Headshots E.P.

2007-10-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

Henry Fiat's Open Sore 'Headshots E.P.' EP (Repo, 1998)

When the history of the Swedish contribution to 90s Rock is written, probably by someone with a complete run of the early Hellacopters 45s close at hand and a Vegas-style shirt with flames on the lower hem draped over his corpus, I'm forced to smirkingly ponder the possibility that Henry Fiat's Open Sore would not get any run at all. Oh, they might get mentioned in passing, just a namecheck really, since in the end Henry Fiat missed out on the Hives payday. They had folks in their corner like Frank Kozik (it says here friends close, and enemies closer, but who can tell?) and most of the crew at Maximum Rock 'N Roll and a few others but HFOS just played too hard 'n fast to pull the casual Live 105 rockers who needed that whole freeze-dried "Let's Save Rock!!" pose to justify their attention. Of course, HFOS mainly traded in a equally pat nihilism that traced it's immediate lineage back to the early 90s Dwarves, but since that particular unit was producing pretty watery asspaint by that point, HFOS done snatched their hateful crown when they weren't looking.

So this is one of HFOS' first stand alone EPs, their first LP was actually released just prior to this. Three short blasts of what the elders call punk rock, and I don't think anyone will accuse of us of a "garage" bias on this one. I personally find "The Anti-Man" to be the finest example of their work from the 90s. They contined for some time into the 21st Century and just released a split record last year that betrayed no signs of the deprivations of Chronos. -Ryan W.

Pretty Girls - The Kids are All Fucked

2007-09-27T20:23:00.001-07:00

Pretty Girls The Kids are All Fucked Ep (Moo-La-La, 1999)

Color me prejudice, call me an egomaniac: This record is not only from Sacramento but I put it out...and it is great! Some folks will say that it is a fantastic record despite its geographical origins and my involvement; others - mainly me and my mom, though I don't think moms has rocked to the Pretty Girls - would say that it was a good thing I was involved because no one else was gonna corral the feral cats that were the Pretty Girls. Okay, maybe someone else would have or maybe the band would have done it themselves. And if I am to get a few slaps on the back, let them be few because my role in this one was limited to the nuts & bolts of putting out a record, something any monkey can do. The songs (save one), playing, and recording were all done by what was even then a Who's Who of Sacramento punk rock. First off, the figurehead and creative spout of the band was guitarist Tristan T., last of the Yah Mos, Los Huevos, & the Boulevard Park Trio. Tris was joined by another former Yah Mo, singer Mike T and Mike's former bandmate in Crash & Britney, guitarist Hoi. And then the rhythm section which ranks as Sacramento's 90s best, fresh from Los Huevos, Jason P. & Woodhouse. Take Woodhouse and his 4 track to record them, a whole mess of drugs & booze to fuel them, and a unhealthy dose of band fights (both in the band and against other groups - Take That! Loose Lips!), and you get one dirty stew of ungh! Live these guys were unstoppable, at least for a time, and this record merely hints at the damage they could do (though there is another recording that got snuffed by the band, two songs that I would very much someday love to release, that are so exciting that they'll make you bald!). This line up of the Pretty Girls was full of too much chaos for it to hold together for too long. I think it lasted about a year before Woodhouse bailed. Mike followed. With a new front man, the band's sound shifted. They released a CD. The band split for good. Woodhouse & Jason were to get together again (in different roles) in the FM Knives. Tristan & Jason later formed Lyme Regis. And so it goes.

You get three songs out of four. Two are originals. One is a swell cover of the Shadows of Knight's My Fire Department Needs a Fireman.

This record was released in a pressing of just 300 right at the height of the vinyl glut. It took about 3 years to sell out the pressing. I sell all but a couple off. - Scott S.

Ye Ascoyne d' Ascoynes - Just the Biggest Thing

2007-09-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ye Ascoyne d' Ascoynes Just the Biggest Thing EP (Hangman, 1992)

Just when ya think you know everything about the Billy Childish diaspora, you realize you don't know nuthin'. That's what I felt when I discovered this hidden gem back in the mid 90s, calmly lurking in the used bin for $2. I feared it would be another of Billy's anonymous side projects dominated by one-string mandolin, a lemon rind in both cheeks and plenty of Olde Angle-Land-isms, but instead it's actually a Bruce Brand (Milkshakes) moonlighter with mucho vim to spare. Verily, both sides register as essential as any pukka Childish/Headcoats product from the same era, additionally evidencing the sort of world-weariness one associates with prime-era Subway Sect (OK, perhaps if they had been obsessed more with the Who than the Velvets).

It's a one-off folks, sadly. And for the record, not all Childish side projects are wearisome, just track down that Jack Ketch LP if you can. Yowsa. -Ryan W.

VooDoo Boots - Bulb Japan Rock Series #1

2007-09-04T19:12:00.001-07:00

VooDoo Boots Bulb Japan Rock Series #1 7" (Bulb, 1998)

The Massachusetts label Bulb gave the 90s a lot of great records. Bridging the world between garage punk and art damage, they released records by The Bunny Brains, Quintron, The Monarchs, Demolition Doll Rods, Wolf Eyes, and the King Brothers. I believe it was the Brothers King that briefly turned their attention toward scouring Japan for the more obscure of the garage punk world. I am guessing that is that momentary focus that brought about this VooDoo Boots single, the first and only record in their Japan Rock Series. Taken from a two track recording, this single shows that behind Teengerate, The Registrators, and the 5-6-7-8's there were plenty of one off's, side projects, and never beens making good music. That shouldn't be surprising to you 90s punk fans, Nipponophiles, and loyal Static Party readers. And it is here you get the obligatory complaint that the damn Japanese are too fucking stingy with their music. I am ever so thankful that labels like Estrus, Planet Pimp, Rip Off, SFTRI, Bulb, and Crypt were able to sneak into the brief window that the Japanese left open in the mid-90s. Without that openning, plenty of bands would have gone unlistened to in the West. But Damn Them Japanese for shutting the door. We are lucky that Mr Wells has gone through the effort to get Japan only pressings of bands that still remain obscure. He got the records that you've seen posted here with lots of effort, expense and a bunch of persistence. But he's only waded ankle deep. There are tons of records we over here in the US never have seen and even more bands that we have never heard of. This VooDoo Boots record is a case in point. When this was recorded, I don't think anyone thought of releasing it. The band split, the singer going on to Gasoline. Bulb somehow got the recording, probably through the King Brothers, dug it and pressed it. I've never found out the song titles, as the label is blank and they aren't listed on the sleeve. Maybe Bulb didn't know either. But the record is a good one, especially song number two. And you know that this is just a fragment of an underground past that we probably will never hear. Arghhhhh!! --Scott S

Rupture - Get Fucked, Cunt!

2007-08-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Rupture Get Fucked, Cunt! 7" (Incognito, 1996)

Gather round kiddies, let me tell you another scene story. See, back in the 80s and 90s there was a brand new phenomenon in mores that social conservatives branded Political Correctness. It sort of evolved from a previously under-utilized emotional response called 'empathy' but it was quickly seized and used as a club by all sorts of folks with varied agendas to quell basically any mode of thought or action that conflicted with Foucault's or Derrida's take on oppression. Sort of a stultifying party pooper all the way around, in that it did nothing to stop true ignorance and instead demonized any and all what the legal teams term 'excited utterances'. Stuff yer Id up yer ass. Alas, at the same time the intentions, the moral source of its authority, was noble. You get me? As it was translated in the musical scene known as punk rock, it allowed for a cadre of humorless, self-righteous bores to enjoy an influence disproportionate to their actual ability to generate this genuine emotion at the core of PC, this 'empathy'. They were handed the moral keys to the scene, and they immediately decided that lots of folks were 'fucked'.

Enter Australia's Rupture. Now, a lot of bands had an effortless knee-jerk reaction to PC, and that was to basically scribble down everything that offended the PC Squads (now that's hard) and then recite these concepts back at top volume over really bad hack metal/meathead Southern rock riffs. You know who I'm talking about here: Antiseen, and the whole Scum-whatever crew. GG Allin as well, and lots of others. Rupture are mentally right there, but they've got two redeeming things going for them: I can't understand half of what they are saying and the music, especially on this here highwater mark of an EP on the German Incognito label, can showcase a really great basement-level punk attack that sounds, well...garagey! I can enjoy this stuff because my brain has a wonderful editing chip that turns stuff like this into karaoke for me, so I get the nutritious riff-based vitamins sans the sugary sentiment, well, except for the chorus. Sure, let's go to the primary school, what, they have a vending machine that still has Shasta soda? I'm there!

Rupture had lots of records out in the 90s, I sampled a couple of others and the hit-to-miss ratio declines the faster they play, making this EP the Static Party pick of their discography. -Ryan W.

The Dirtys - It Ain't Easy 45

2007-08-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Dirtys It Ain't Easy 45 (Italy, 1998)

From Detroit comes an absolute ripper of a record and why be surprised? For a couple years David Italy had one of the best, if not the best record labels going. He put out the first couple White Stripes singles and, no matter what you think of them now, those two records are great. He did a few things by Detroit mainstays The Henchmen, when they were pretty much lost in the late 90s garage band glut (and didn't deserve to be). He released a great one by Static Party favorites, The Fells. And he did the legendary, seminal Clone Defects single, Scissors Chop, not to mention the Lizard Boy 7". I think there are two out of 12 Italy releases that I don't like and that is as good of a track record that anyone has had. In the majors Italy would be batting .833.

So here is Italy Records 002 and it is a fucking ripper! The Dirtys It Ain't Easy, featuring Gories/Dirtbombs Mick Collins on guitar, jumps out of the grooves like a Gaunt song, but it is nastier, meaner. The flip, Fuck, is so aggressive it would make Blag Dalhia cower. One Dirty is dead, another one unaccounted for, and two are in the Luxury Rides. - Scott S.

Skinned Teen - Karate Hairdresser

2007-08-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Skinned Teen Karate Hairdresser EP (Soul Static Sound, 1993)

Perhaps you are "aware" of Skinned Teen via their split LP with Raooul on the Lookout Records label, but who are we kidding? You aren't. It's perfectly understandable as way too many terrible 90s records and bands somehow got the Riot Grrl tag applied to them, and that could've been the kiss of death all by itself depending on your personal predilections. These UK birds were tarred with that selfsame brush, and "More's the pity" as their Dad's might've grunted (they were also, like super young teenos def still livin' with the folks), as it probably inhibited the grokking of how good Skinned Teen actually were. Listen to that first track from this EP, and it's like UK Summer 1979 all over again: Refreshing, sporty, snotty, non-preachy musical energy that springs at your senses like last night's fish 'n chips splattering the floor. There's no way these grrls had heard of the Petticoats in their pre-download age, but just maybe the Slits...Anyway, top shelf effort from the UK that's a lot more engaging than any Huggy Bear product I've heard so far. -Ryan W.

A brief break

2007-07-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hey! We are taking a one week break as we just published the first issue of our zine Z Gun. It is 40 pages with interviews with and stuff on the Brainbombs, Not Not Fun Records, San Francisco art punk of the 70s/80s, Pink Reason, tons of reviews and more. The price is very reasonable. Reviews so far:

"A sight for sore eyes" Tom Lax - Siltbreeze Records
"Best read in ages..." Brian Turner - WFMU
"It felt great to turn pages again" Grady Runyon - Monoshock/The Bad Trips
"Woah!" - Rick Ele - KDVS

Ordering info at S-S Records.

The Drags - Trailer Park Family

2007-07-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Drags Trailer Park Family EP (Devour, 1994)

Not to be confused with the more well known Drags from Albuquerque, this four piece hailed from Citrus Heights, California, a suburb of Sacramento. The label is from Boston. I am sure that dollar bins of Northern California and Eastern Massachusetts are familiar with this record. Why? Because three out of four of the songs on it either are mediocre or outright suck. The last one, however, is a nice piece of bar-chorded hate, which sits fine by itself. The catch is you have to suffer through the title cut, Panu the Drunk Hindu, and Bowlegged Baby to get to You're so Ugly. The titles should tell you that these guys weren't big on deep thought. The photo on the back of the typical beer drinking sub-punks fronted by a long-hair in a Ramones t-shirt firm up that impression. Saw these guys live a couple times and they were moronically good. Frontman Honeyboy Wilson (AKA Jason Dancer) later turned up in The Infections, of Rip Off Records fame. This is from their second 7". --Scott S

The Devil Dogs - LBMF

2007-07-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

The Devil Dogs LBMF EP (Headache, 1994)

I know, I know, the Devil Dogs are surely not an obscure band by any means, they might actually be one of the few bands that had a sort of semi-significant presence outside the strict confines of 90s garage punk. You know, a Rocket From the Crypt or Misfits fan would have one of their CDs lost somewhere under the front seat of their VW. Boy tho', they sure were a polarizing bunch for garage types (then and now), warn't they? For some folks, when they are evoking the term "garage fonzies" (which are those rockin' purists who can't stand any aural cultural input into their party tuneage that's identifiably post-Monterey Pop Festival at the latest) they are thinking of these guys, or more probably, their fan base. It's the occasional horn chart, or the "aw-BAY-buh!" vocal style, or their fucking hair styles, I dunno, but I think it's largely a bum rap. True, their colors run to a synthesis of late 50s greaser and mid-60s chart-bound muscle-pop but their stuff is a lot less determinedly retro than the Cramps of the same era, say. Or Rancid for that matter. Plus if you go through their choices for cover material you are as likely to run into 1977 as 1964. It's not enough to merely rock I suppose for some insecure types who need a whole lifeplan-affirming superstructure to drape themselves over, but rock is about all the Devil Dogs ever did.

It's my recollection that this was the last vinyl to come out while the Devil Dogs were still active, I think they broke up right before or after this thing came out. And look, it's on that Jersey label Headache that's mostly known for hops-worshipping, knuckle-bustin' oi-boy folderol. Don't let the party beat your ass on the way out! -Ryan W.

Ford - s/t

2007-06-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ford Friendly 45 (Black Jack, 1992)

The four chicks that make up Ford are pictured on the back sleeve, hanging out in a backyard, in t-shirts or flannels, one sporting a Slayer cap. If the name Ford doesn't stink of grunge, that picture certainly does. Yet, though Ford has a tad of the metallic sludge and Stoogeisms that infested grunge, these ears hear more early 80s artcore ala Husker Du's Statues, Blight, or Saccharine Trust in these dames sound. Aided by being just good enough to pull their songs off but not good enough to wank, these Frisco gals manage two fine songs.

Ask me about Ford in the Nineties and I'd have to plead ignorance. So close to Frisco I was but word from that town regarding "all girl" bands was about the Mudwimmin and Tribe 8, both who failed to deliver anything as good as Friendly. Ford would have remained unknown to me had it not been released on Black Jack, the excellent label of Monoshock's Scott Derr. Proof that paying attention to certain labels will get you to forgotten gems of an era. --Scott S

Bitchschool - s/t

2007-06-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Bitchschool s/t EP (Lipstick, 1998)

Bitchschool were one of the first rockin'-gum-poppin' outfits from the late 90s Bay Area scene to directly mainline the harder powerpop sounds of the late 70s, well, other than the Bobbyteens, obviously. The Loose Lips were "operating" on a post-Dolls-shambolic level around then, just as the Donnas were generating their stiffly freeze-dried Suzi Quatro-style approach, but Bitch School stayed true to the Bomp Records school of pop: Anthemic songs 'bout nuthin' much, just life and its myriad letdowns and pick me ups rendered with a straight forward garage/glam 1-2 punch. This 45 could slot right onto that first Waves comp that Bomp released in 1979. Still waiting for a contemporary powerpop band to channel the true-to-life geek on the cover of that monster alb!

So Bitchschool didn't last too long. Nothing good does. However, they did graduate members into groups that will mosey along on Static Party in the bye-and-bye. -Ryan W.

Teen Cool - Skips Skool

2007-06-18T21:16:00.000-07:00

Teen Cool Skips Skool EP (Mortville, 1999)

These Texans break absolutely no new ground here but who cares when the template is Supercharger and the songs are revved up enough to jump out of the grooves. Part of the late 90s Austin punk scene which spawned some excellent bands (Motards, Cryin Out Louds, Inhalants, etc.) and a few solid labels, including Toby "Motards" Marsh's Mortville.

Don't know how many of these were pressed but considering you can find it for under $5 I'd say plenty. --Scott S.

The Odd - Rock Rock Burn

2007-06-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Odd Rock, Rock, Burn! 45 (Jet Star, 1998)

Here we go again, every ten or twelve posts I trot out another one of these records, a 90s 7" whose unacknowledged swellness inspired me to agree to help get this blog a-goin' in the first place. Isn't this thing just the epitome of a fun, rocking 7" garage single? The production is intelligent (nice overdubs), the songs are "merely" spirited re-writes of 60s pop songs (sometimes two operating at the same time!) and the cover has that great thrown-together-on-the-kitchen-table look.

Catchy little fucker. Nothing to say about this because my searches didn't turn anything up but I think this was from Minnesota, based purely on some hazy half-forgotten convo at the time. I'm sure someone out there will chirp. -Ryan W.

Zymotics - (Eddie's) Random Bombing

2007-06-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

Zymotics (Eddie's) Random Bombing EP (Answer, 1998)

God damn. Didn't like the last one, huh? Like we really care. You are paying what for this stuff? Great, I am glad we have an understanding. Let us also understand that Ryan and I have been working our asses off writing shit for this zine we are doing. It is called The Z Gun. It will be out later this month. It is a lot of writing. We are tired and cranky and this is late. I shouldn't reward your whining with a gem like this, but under this gruff exterior is a marshmallow of a man.

Back to Japan and the first Zymotics record. A feisty trio from Nagoya, they went from blazing garage punk to aggressive weird punk to fucked up post punk. Good luck in finding their records, especially their one on Needle. Enjoy. (And don't confuse them with the lame Euro band by the same name.) --Scott S.

Slant 6 / The Make Up

2007-05-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

Slant 6 / The Make Up split 7" (Time Bomb, 1995)

Washington DC is one of America's legendary punk rock cities. Though there was a pretty great weird/DIY punk scene in DC/Baltimore/Bethesda in the late 70s, as every school child knows, it twas hardcore that made DC important for more than being the Belly of the Beast. When hardcore faded, the DC underground pioneered what was to be known as emo. And then there was Fugazi, one of emo's early icons but so much more to legions of youth. It is really too fucking bad that with all that history, the legacy of pioneering punk, Washington DC of the 90s was unable to turn out many truely memorable punk bands. In fact, I'd go so far to say that of DC's 90s punk bands only Nation of Ulysses (and various spin-off), Bratmobile (if you count them as being from DC), and Slant 6 produced anything worth listening to a decade or so later.

Slant 6 were three women who had a good punk sound, lasted for a couple years, out out one really really good album (Soda Pop Ripoff), one okay album and a single or two. The cut here comes from a split they did with the Make Up, a spin-off of the Nation of Ulysses. Say what you will about the Make Up and what you will say will undoubtably be based on what you think of their front man, Ian Sevonius. Me? I think they guy is one of the great punk entertainers of the era, a guy behind a successfully done, high concept punk band (NOU) who made three fantastic records. He did a great little single as the Cupid Car Club (posted here some months ago), and then formed a "soul" punk band, the Make Up. I saw the Make Up live once and all their failings (weak rhythm section) was more than made up for by Sevonius's skills a lead dude. Their records never lived up to the live act and their side here is not excpetion; HOWEVER, Young Vulgarians is still a keeper, especially for fans of Sevonius. --Scott S

Nervobeats - Carjackin'

2007-05-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Nervobeats Carjackin' EP (In the Red, 1991)

Strange to think back on the utter profusion of garage-type labels that littered the landscape of the 90s, some of them putting out world-class shit on a regular basis and others just sort of dog paddling in circles. If I had to sit down in say 1993 and try to separate out those labels that would still be dinking around 10 years later I don't know that In The Red would have been one of my picks. I mean, they were largely a singles-first label at that point and CDs were getting pretty crucial and they didn't have the Rip Offs or Teengenerate or the Devil Dogs in the stable, ya know? Just a bunch of 45s by obscure little bands like the Dirty Lovers, or the Nervobeats.

But In The Red was tricksy. It's records like this one by the Nervobeats that laid the foundations for the global rock empire they have since become. To look at the goofy cover and the lack of all-star rep within the ranks would give some pause, but it turns out this thing is one of the more underrated garage EPs of the early 90s. All four tracks switch it up with actual songwriting talent combined with perfect 'period' production chops to really deliver on that presumed lack of promise. I mean, I passed this record up a half dozen times before I finally pulled the trigger at some online mailorder a few years back and I'm glad I did. See it, snap it up. Then you get the other two tracks. In The Red, of course, dusted the competition and even survived passing on the first White Stripes record to lay some of the best rock 'n roll records of the last ten years on you and I. Actually, I had $10 on them to outlast Estrus and it looks like I'm winning.

This is the only EP these lads waxed under this name, although two members later show up in Rocket 455, another worthy that might make it up here later this year. -Ryan W.

More here!

Hung Dover

2007-05-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hung Dover EP (Very Small, 1993)

If you know anything about 90s punk rock, you probably know the name David Hayes. Co-founded Lookout Record with Larry Livermore, responsible for bringing in much of the talent that made the label a legend, walked away when he felt too perved out by Livermore, started up Very Small Records and put out a lot more records, including some great compilations (and a load of Sacramento bands). Meanwhile Lookout was making bank for Larry. Though David was to see none of Lookout's riches he soldiered on, putting out records in a half drunk/totally DIY way. Then one day, he said "Fuck it. I am through with records, the Bay Area, everything." He packed up and either moved to Florida or Spokane or Vegas - I am not sure where he wound up first, but his kiss off was this record of scraps that his label hadn't used. (About a year later, David got bit again by the record label bug and started Too Many Records...)

Here you get Stockton, California's Captain 9's & the Knickerbocker Trio, Sacramento's Pounded Clown, and Portland's Elmer (there are also tracks by the Horny Mormons & 3 Finger Spread, but you can hunt those down yourself). Capt. 9's were one of the best meat & potatoes garage punk bands of the time. Over a couple recording sessions they produced enough for three classic records. Pounded Clown were a Sacramento institution. They had a horn section, were influenced by the Dickies, were one of the most fun and most bizarre live spectacles, and served as an incubator for bands such as Cake, the Lizards, and Los Huevos. Elmer was the late great Jim MacLean's cow-punk band. Jim was formerly of Sewer Trout.

I think David only made a few hundred of this one and gave them out to friends and supporters.

The Wild Breed - Live at Tom Guido's Fuzz Club

2007-05-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Wild Breed Live at Tom Guido's Fuzz Club EP (Belly Lint, 1991)

An analogy can (and will, watch!) be made that the Mummies were the Sex Pistols of the garage punk revival of the 90s. There are individual records that might be better than the Mummies Never Been Caught Lp, or some contemporary 45s that perhaps in isolated instances might top their Skinnie Minnie discus, but in toto the Mummies are the ones who fixatedly drove that filthy white hearse straight up the asshole of rock 'n roll history and blazed the brightest path to follow for the hordes that were inspired by their anti-tightass revolution. And thanks for that. But, then, it stands to reason that there are other bands that had the same basic idea but just didn't flare off to such a spectacular extant as those guys, and these groups would be analagous to all the great worldwide proto-punk outfits that shadowed the Pistols in '76; Yer Bob Story, yer Hurriganes, yer Low Numbers, yer Kursaal Flyers, etc.

Enter the Wild Breed. A Bay Area band blessed with the unmistakeable vocals of David Nudelman (and also at one time the unstoppable MAL), the Wild Breed are sort of a 60s band I suppose but their take is totally, uh, contemporary. Some of the songs on this EP fall apart but not this one. Jeez, sounds like a Czech bootleg of some Polish arty garage band from 1973...right? But this is LIVE from Tom Guido's (pre-Purple Onion) travelling DJ club/extraganza that usually ended up camping at the Chatterbox in San Francisco but settled in wherever it could before he got the lease in North Beach. The Bay Area used to, like, be the City That Was Built on Rock 'n Roll, Grace Slick no lie! Upcoming will be other like-minded legends such as the Vanilla Whores EP and possibly a peek at the seldom-seen full-length Fuzz Club Ep 'released' by Guido years after the fact. Stay tuned.

The Wild Breed have several other records for you to purchase, NONE of which are at all easy to find since they were 300-500 press back when that meant something. If the going gets tough, you can certainly make do with the recordings of their successor unit 3 Stoned Men. And Tom Guido is still walking the Earth, just spotted him hassling a record store clerk for Cowsills records. "Cow-thills you hump!" -Ryan W.

The Stitches / Le Shok

2007-04-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

The Stitches / Le Shok split 45 (GSL, 2000)

AKA Why Don't The Stitches Always Make Records This Great. Here is a split 7" of two bands where were the hot shit in their respected micro-scenes. The Stitches were the It band among the mini-77/pre-KBD revival dress up crowd; Le Shok were blowing away the post-emo/pre-screamo, white belted college students...and actually quite a few others. While The Stitches never matched Cars of Today, which is a fantastic tune, Le Shok shat out a nice pile of nifty singles, all of them in crazy color combos and limited variations. If you want to blame any contemporary band for the Let's Make 10 Copies on Red Vinyl, Call It A Tour Edition, And Float Them On Ebay So Some Trust Funder Can Pay For Our Tour By Buying It trend, point the finger at Le Shok, but don't discount the handful of very good to very fine singles they made.

I don't know how many of this one were made in what kinds of colors. I do know that it is very much worth seeking out for Cars of Today, a song that you will play over and over and over again. And a nice touch that both songs start with sound effects. -- Scott S.

Steel Wool - Devil's Night!

2007-04-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Steel Wool Devil's Night 45 (Bag of Hammers, 1994)

Yet another from the nigh-bottomless Bag Of Hammers label's Well of Quality, this one a snazzy-looking two-songer from a Pacific NW band that spread a decent amount of vinyl around on assorted labels to, eh, 'medium' levels of interest I would say. They sound a Tad like Mudhoney don't you think? Perhaps some folks dismissed them as mere sound-alikes but at the time I thought there was plenty of room for more worthies on that particular soundwagon and this 45 sounds just as keeno to me now. I mean, there's several bands toddling about in the right now that try to sound just like the Carbonas, or maybe the Reatards, or what have you, but that doesn't keep me from appreciating any resulting 'strong material'. True to tell, Steel Wool's LPs have too much filler on them, but who cares when they could rip off a great 45 like this one, and I'm so sure you shall agree that you get both sides. -Ryan W.

Oblivians - Go! Pill-Popper!

2007-04-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Oblivians Go! Pill-Popper! EP (Drug Racer, 1996)

Here's an impossible task: Pick the best Oblivians 7". Looking at the list - Call the Shots, Trio, Now for the Hard of Hearing, Static Party, Go! Pill-Popper!, Strong Come On, Kick Your Ass - it is quite apparent that these guys did not turn out any crap. Eenie meenie minie moe - I grab Go! Pill-Popper! which is just as well, as it is my favorite. I like the crazed distance this one has. It reminds me of the Cramps live version of Hurricane Fighter Plane, which might just be what they were going for. I got a hold of Eric Oblivian and this is what he had to say:

Oblivians had promised Henry Owings (now of Chunklet "EVERYTHING'S OVERRATED" fame) a single since he had recorded that Live In Atlanta record or something. We were due to go to Europe and he kept bugging us about it so we went in to record a single like bo diddley or some 60s rockers woulda done it... a one minute rocker on one side and a "Part 2" on the flipside. We'd been working up "Pill Popper" as some blatant Cramps/Ramones ripoff thing that had kinda gotten its own momentum the more we did it. (Speaking of one-chord songs, we used to play "We're The Doll Rods," too. Goddamn. Stupid.) We did it straight to reel to reel in Greg's girlfriend's back house/garage where we practiced and thought it turned out pretty good. We also did Larry Williams' (co-written by S. Bono!) "Teardrop" that ended up on the Best Of the Worst comp (we liked that, too, but never figured out a place to get it on a record before the comp.) Anyway, we thought "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" sent the tapes out to Henry, and headed off to Europe to shlub around. Henry got the songs, thought that no one would want a single that was a total of two minutes long, and added a live take of the song that someone had recorded while we were on that tour. We got back from tour and got the singles and there it is, two versions of the song but not the way we meant it to be. I guess it's all right, but we wanted it to be one thing and it ended up being different without our say-so, and we were kinda bummed. Glad you like it. --Scott S

Gyogun Rend's - s/t

2007-04-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

Gyogun Rend's s/t EP (No. 2 Records, 1998)

The clumsily-named Gyogen Rend's are not strangers to the more Japanophile punk/pop collectors who used to flip through the back of Doll magazine looking for new release information, something I haven't done in a long while. Heck, you can still pick up their Fish Eyed Soul LP on the Screaming Apple label from 2000 if your fingers are up for the typing, but you probably won't find this debut EP during that search. A snazzy little 4-songer in a typically beautiful full color sleeve, this came out on the No. 2 label (probably the band's own label, and also typical for the time, pressed up at a plant in the USA) around 1998 or so. It might have come out the year before, my kanji is nicht so gut. These are the two harder tracks, the others are a tad more trad but don't suffer for it.

There are lots more late 90s Japan-only 45s coming down the pike in 2007, they really hit an exhilarating peak for this kind of stuff back then. It's a shame they are too 'shy' to share nowadays. (note that the buzz that you hear is part of the original recording) -Ryan W.

The List So Far

2007-04-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

This is the Static Party list of posts. Got all these and you have the start of a very good collection of 90s punk rock records. Of course, this list is not the last word on 90s punk nor from us. There are some holes in this and we have plenty of obscurities to squirt out. Hell, we haven't even gotten to the band who made this song which this blog is named after.

Thanks for visiting and more so to you who leave comments. Big thanks to those of you who have linked this page to your site. And the biggest thanks to the bands and labels who released this stuff. Some of both parties have gotten a hold of us upon seeing their record up here and the response has been 100% great. Many people express surprise seeing that people remember their band and care about this music. They shouldn't. They made records that will stand the test of time.

With that, it will be a week or so before we post again. We are sorting out audio issues. Once those are hammered out, we will have more Static Party.

---Scott S. & Ryan W.

01.04.06
Nar s/t (Secret Center, 1991)
Nar Holiday Routine (Moo-La-La, 1993)
Nar Belgian Gambit (Generic, 1993)
Nar Four Song EP (Yakamashi, 1997)

01.06.06
Young Losers All Gone b/w Private Affair (Young Losers, 1998)

01.09.06
Chickenhead Everything Must Go! (4 1/2 Fingers, 1993)

01.12.06
Prehensile Monkeytailed Skink I am a Gorilla (Blackjack, 1994)

01.14.06
Electric Manchakou Animal Man (Helter Skelter, 1990)

01.17.06
Crash Normal Nothing I Can Tell (Royal, 1998)

01.19.06
The Fabulous Organ Donors Nerd Punk (Organ Donors, 1990)

01.22.06
The Pinkz USA (Radio Beat, 2000)

01.24.06
The Geeky Dorks My Pussy Hurts (Slutfish, 1999)

01.27.06
Engine Boo s/t (Wallabies, 1996)

01.30.06
The Tiki Men Sneak a Drink with... (Secret Center, 1994)

02.02.06
Robot Assassins Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Total Sound, 1997)

02.05.06
The Motards s/t (Motards, 1994)

02.08.06
The Leather Uppers Pantsuit Party (Famous, 1992)

02.11.06
Copout s/t (Team Murder USA, 1993)

02.14.06
The Raydios s/t (Target Earth, 1998)

02.17.06
The Cave Dogs The Hellraisers Vol. 1 (Kill Yourself Punkarrecords, 1998)

02.21.06
The Seculars Social Skills (360 Twist, 1998)

02.25.06
The Budget Girls Get in Your Ear (Planet Pimp, 1996)

02.27.06
King Brothers s/t (Bulb, 1998)

03.03.06
The Young Ones Era of Hopeful Monsters (Punk Before Profits, 2000)

03.05.06
Cockscratch s/t (Needle, 1996)

03.09.06
Hali Gali Halid Vo-Zdra (Listen Loudest, 1991)

03.13.06
The Kirks Get Out (Cup O'Knowledge, 1997)

03.17.06
The Persuaders Van Ride (Royal, 1998)

03.09.06
Chinese Millionaires White Collar Criminals (Punkity Rockity, 1995)

03.22.06
Paska Hetrosapiens (Human Wreckords, 1997)

03.25.06
Ulan Bator Trio Stereo Hi-Fi (Discos Alehop!, 1996)

03.28.06
Lil Bunnies s/t (Moo-La-La, 1995)

03.31.06
Captian 9's & the Knickerbocker Trio / Fuckboyz Most Small Fires
(Heatpunch/Truth About Fonzie, 1992)

04.04.6
Various Suburban Underground: Conspiracy Kids (SUCK, 1997)

04.08.06
Spider Babies s/t (Rat City, 1994)

04.13.06
Lili Z. Let's Go (Polly Maggoo, 1998)

04.17.06
Tonight 1978 (Freaked Out Frequencies, 1997)

04.21.06
God is My Co-Pilot How I Got Over (Ajax, 1992)

04.24.06
Retardos Come On Back (Super Teem!, 1995)

04.27.06
Designer Boyz from the Woodz (Black Forest Breed, 1994)

05.03.06
The Night Kings Brainwashed (Dope/Bad Trip, 1993)

05.08.06
The Yips 1000% Fox (Siltbreeze, 1995)

05.12.06
The Knotts s/t (Star Time, 1998)

05.19.06
Coastersride s/t (Savage, 1997)

05.25.06
King Kong Bring It On (Trash Flow, 1990)

05.30.06
Astro Zombies / Sound Bite House Split (Poe/Rotten Roll, 1993)

06.02.06
Blue Cock Roach (Bovine, 1993)

06.07.06
The Millionaires Return to the Island of the Robots (Teen Patriot, 1995)

06.12.06
Headache / TV Killers Teenage Sapiens (Total Heaven, 1995)

06.19.06
The Four Eyes Hat Nerd (Sacramento, 2000)

06.23.06
Rock 'n' Roll Class s/t (Hate, 1998)

06.27.06
Sunshine Super Scum Two Reactions (Siltbreeze, 1996)

07.02.06
Teengenerate Sex Cow (Estrus, 1993)

07.07.06
The Yah Mos Off Your Parents (Recess, 1994)

07.11.06
Splayed Innards s/t (Splayed Innards, 1996)

07.16.06
Couch New Friends 99 (Insignificant, 1995)

07.20.06
Blatz / Tribe 8 Bitches -N- Brew (Lickout, 1992)

07.25.06
Liimanarina Lantinen Pornokatu 25 B 13 (Bad Vugum, 1991)

07.28.06
Mike Rep & the Quotas / Screamin' Mee-Mees Twinkeyz Tribute
(New World of Sound, 1996)

08.02.06
Stilluppstypa flexi (Gallery Krunk, 1992)

08.06.06
Bend Sinister / Kent 3 split (Vague Vinyl, 1999)

08.10.06
Various King Kong #3 (King Kong, 1994)

08.14.06
Sloggy Need for Speed (Hell on Wheels, 2000)

08.17.06
V-3 Monsters of Hollywood (Iron Press, 1991)

08.23.06
Jetpack Throw Down (Mortville, 1998)

08.29.06
Country Teasers Against (Guided Missile, 1996

09.04.06
Charm City Suicides Green Blood (Baths of Power, 2000)

09.11.06
Supercharger Icepick b/w Want It Bad (Pre- B.S. Records, 1992)

09.16.06
The Rondelles s/t (Rondelles, 1996)

09.21.06
The Arch Villains We Hate Your Ugly Face (Sigma Phi, 1996)

09.27.06
Gibson Bros. Who's Black & Who's Not (SFTRI, 1991)

10.01.06
Ape Lost Drag Baby (Bad Vibe, 1994)

10.07.06
Gnu Skalp (Scrape, 1996)

10.12.06
Various Standing with His Back to the Door (Fringe-Weird, 1997)

10.18.06
Jumpin' Beans & the Moustaches / Somebody & the Somethings
Outta Peanut Butter / Long Haired Genius! (no label, 1999)

10.23.06
Spoiled Brats Rich Kid (Real, 1995)

10.29.06
The Styrenes Silver Daggers (Thermionic, 1997)

11.02.06
First Alert T.V. Masturbation (Mangrove, 1997)

11.08.06
The Mants The M.A.N.T. from U.N.C.L.E. + bonus 7" (Lance Rock, 1997)

11.13.06
Los Huevos The Rebel Kind (Moo-La-La, 1996)

11.19.06
Junior Varsity GO! to the Ice Cream Social (Peek-a-Boo, 1996)

11.28.06
The Man Tee Mans s/t (Bag of Hammers, 1994)

12.05.06
Invisible Men s/t (Estrus, 1994)

12.09.06
The Countbackwurds Play Rip It Up (Sumppi Werthimer, 1994)

12.15.06
My Erotic Narcotic s/t (Nouveau Cliche, 1993)

12.21.06
The Leather Uppers / Icky Boyfriends split (Famous, 1993)

01.03.07
The Mulligrubs Lil Miss Arthur b/w Cadillac Blues (Mullitone, 1995)

01.10.07
Cupid Car Club, M.P. Join Our Club... (Kill Rock Stars, 1993)

01.16.07
Clone Defects Scissors Chop (Tom Perkins, 1999)

01.22.07
The Splash Four Different b/w Pink Dress split (Rock A Rolla, 1996)

01.30.07
Rock'n'Roll Stormtroopers I'm a Rebel (Incognito, 1999)

02.06.07
Sexton Ming Beastly Magnet (Little Teddy, 1997)

02.12.07
The Fells I Don't Need You (Bag of Hammers, 1995)

02.19.07
Demolition Doll Rods s/t (Past It/Womb, 1994)

02.28.07
Splotch Two Million Fuckheads (Menlo Park, 1999)

03.12.07
Stiletto Boys 8 Track (Zodiac, 1997)

03.18.07
Firewood s/t (Robber Baron, 1997)

Firewood - s/t

2007-03-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

Firewood s/t 7" (Robber Baron, 1997)

I am 100% positive that the 1990 vinyl boom to glut resulted in hundreds of records like this. Firewood's one and only EP rides the line between punk and Pavement-like indie rock and, aside from a few college dejays and their friends, it is totally unknown. In fact, I live 15 minutes from where it was made (me = Sacramento, Firewood = Davis) and I didn't know the record existed until one Mick Mucas played a cut on his radio show. I happened to show up early for my show and heard it. He told me who it was and that Firewood was from Davis. I asked if he knew how I could get the record. He said that the band was two brothers and one of them has most of the pressing in his closet but wouldn't part with any. Mick had an extra copy himself so he gave it to me. Subtract the Mick part of the story and think about what I just wrote: There are hundreds a very good if not great records still out there waiting to be discovered. However they are not 60s garage punk, 70s KBD punk, or 80s hardcore. Those holes are, statistically speaking, fished out. Nineties punk has not. -Scott S.

Stiletto Boys - 8 Track

2007-03-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

Stiletto Boys 8 Track (Zodiac, 1997)

The Stiletto Boys had a micro-career similar to many garage-rockers in the 90s: A debut EP that stirred interest followed by a slow but steady decline in the quality of their releases. The Motards are probably the best example of this phenomenon, although their peak lasted through a few more of the early 45s to be fair. This first Stileto Boys 45 is clearly genuflecting at the altar of late 70s powerpop, cut with a bit of that fading Hollywood-glam feel that so many LA and West Coast 45s of the period also feature. This EP was also notable for its initial 200 press; Nobody outside the Distractors was so pessimistic of their chances in the marketplace, 500 or 1000 being the default press back then. The title track is the best song on the EP, the rest are too long by about 30 seconds each, so we will leave their digitization to others.

The 'Boys managed an LP around 2001 that I picked up out of curious loyalty and listened to a few times before filing away. This first EP is good enough that I'm gonna dig it out for a re-listen for when we get around to posting tracks from LPs in 2010; Maybe there's some gold in there. -Ryan W.

Splotch - Two Million Fuckheads

2007-02-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

Splotch Two Million Fuckheads 7" (Menlo Park, 1999)

This is the second of two records by New York City band Splotch (the first a 1996 LP called Have Another Tantrum, which is featured at Crud Crud). Like other Menlo Park bands, Splotch specializes in really noisy art punk/no wave that is so simple and lo fi that it borders on garage punk - or, to my ears, blurs the line between the sub-sub-genres. 'taint much more to add. --Scott S

Demolition Doll Rods - s/t

2007-02-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

Demolition Doll Rods s/t 7" (Past It/Womb, 1994)

The Demolition Doll Rods are hardly an unknown quantity, being the vehicle for Dan Kroha immediately following the implosion of his previous gig, the Gories. I was at their first show in San Francisco at Tom Guido's Purple Onion, a rather sparsely attended black tie (leather) affair with Tim Yohannon up front slapping his leg along to their set-closing brace of Velvet Underground covers. Their sound was skeletal to the point of starvation, Kroha's femme duds were charming, the two chicks were bouncy in all the best ways. Rock 'n Roll. This EP captures the feeling of that show perfectly, a great way to start Act II of a garage-rock career. Take that F. Scott Fitzgerald, you sourpuss, there are Second Acts in America.

The Doll Rods have continued for a long time, wow, look at the time, they are still rockin' it although I have to confess I haven't seen them in years. Charm has a limited shelf life with a grizzled consumer like me, and their first full length didn't do me like this EP did so I moved on to, I dunno, the Rock 'n Roll Adventure Kids. This EP appeared as a split release on the Past It/Womb labels, who were separately responsible for bringing the world the Icky Boyfriends and Monoshock. And the Demolition Doll Rods. That makes them a better bet to get into the indie rock HOF than Junk or Beer City or... -Ryan W.

The Fells - I Don't Need You

2007-02-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Fells I Don't Need You 7" (Bag of Hammers, 1995)

I'm sitting here trying to do the impossible: Find the best 7" by The Fells. Impossible because The Fells were one of the best 7" bands of the 90s. To my ears, they were just as good at turning out quality Sevens as Teengenerate, The Mummies, New Bomb Turks, or Rob Vasquez. I've got six of the nine they released right here and all of them are great. I've got their 10" and LP in the stacks and love both. (And I read on Grunnen Rocks that there is a split and NINE comp appearances! Argh!)

Fuck it, I am gonna go with their Bag of Hammers 7". Not only is it one of The Fells best, it also is in my top five favorite Bag of Hammers 7". Here you hear all the things that make these Arizonaians great: The Angry Samoans influence, the garage punk fuzz, the squirrelly guitar, the great songwriting, and the smart compactness that makes punk rock.

And it is not like these guys are going away. I mean as far as I know the Fells will never die and even if they did die, the Fell dudes are in quality bands such as The Radio Reelers, The Knockout Pills, and The Frustrations. --Scott S

Sexton Ming - Beastly Magnet

2007-02-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

Sexton Ming Beastly Magnet (Little Teddy, 1997)

Sexton Ming's career has been shaded by a strange resistance to his charms outside the UK, even though I find his stuff to be far more palatable than Patrick Fitzgerald, to name one stiff working roughly the same artistic plane. I think people consider him a sort of sidekick to Billy Childish, a rascally perverted Igor to Mr. Childish's wild-eyed Dr. Frankie. And he's got all those spoken word, sorry, poetry, records to make the energy drink punkers rip the needle off. But there are tons of flat-out rockin' moments in the Ming discography, starting with his late 80s records in bands like the Mindreaders and Auntie Vegetable (mostly on the Hangman label) up to his cracker-jack garage rock LP Endless Discipline backed by the Diamond Gussets from 1993. All that shite is the shite.

Okay, here's an example on the Little Teddy label, two tracks from a four song EP. Great perverse lyrics, basic almost psych-garage riffage, a wavering bashing beat. And they are totally distinctive, whaddya know. Anyone working the garage-rock angle that can bring off sounding totally unique without stretching the form beyond recognition is doing something. You have my permission to skip his spoken word stuff, fine, live in a dull little bus station if you like, but his rockin' stuff is as good as anything out of the UK in the 90s. The keeper of the Vivian Stanshall flame, if you will. -Ryan W.

Rock 'n'Roll Stormtroopers - I'm a Rebel

2007-01-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

Rock'n'Roll Stormtroopers I'm a Rebel 7" (Incognito, 1999)

Hidden behind one of the worst record covers ever is one gem of an EP. Germany's Rock'n'Roll Stormtroopers put forth one of the most perfect matings of punk and glam, coming up with something that sounds one step removed from the great Hubble Bubble. Don't believe me? Listen to Shut Your Mouth and Bulldozers (On the Loose) and dig the Slade/Sweet goes punk rock and that jackhammer drumming and if it doesn't bring to mind Our Belgian Heroes, well, forget you! I don't know how many of these were pressed but I gotta think about a thousand, given that this came out at the tail end of Incognito's big vinyl push. I don't imagine that these are too uncommon. A combo of it getting released during the late 90s vinyl glut and the shitty sleeve makes me think it is sitting in hundreds of dollar bins everywhere. Do pick it up, the four songs on this one are all keepers. _ Scott S.

Splash 4 - Different

2007-01-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

The Splash Four Different b/w Pink Dress (Rock A Rolla, 1996)

Ah, the Splash Four. The TV Killers may have gotten a record out first but it was the Splash Four (name picked up from a 13th Floor Elevators song) who were the first Frenchies to have any kind of profile with Ami record buyers. They seemed singularly devoted to popularizing then-totally obscured European punk songs in the French language; indeed, this here track Different is a Strychnine cover. It was certainly refreshing to have a garage punk band dipping into a whole 'nother bag of tricks rather than trotting out the umpteenth Fun Things cover. This was also the band that marked the 'return' of Lili Z to the ranks of the rockers, there being some inexplicable delay between the 'Four and Manisch Depressiv (see KBD #6). She really was unique amongst gurl guitarists in the 90s: She fashioned a different sound for her other band the No Talents and for her solo stuff as well, without much commercial impulse to do so. Just liked to play, wotta concept...

So this 7" is probably the hardest Splash Four disc to track down, I certainly grabbed it the one time it showed up on a wholesale list, so we give you both tracks. There was a Splash Four comp CD on a Japanese label with these tracks but since it is now out of print as well treat this as a teaser to push you into tracking it down on Soulseek. -Ryan W.

Clone Defects - Scissors Chop

2007-01-16T21:11:00.000-08:00

Clone Defects Scissors Chop 7" (Tom Perkins, 1999)

A year or so ago, a smart ass at Terminal Boredom named Eric Lastname coined the phrase "weird punk" to describe everything from the Piranhas last work to what is currently going on in France. The weird in weird punk is what I like to think of as the number 5, in that weird punk bands know how to count past 1, 2, 3, 4.

We can debate who the first weird punk band was and I think 9 out of 10 people who care (very, very few) would give the honor to the Electric Eels and why not? The E. Eels pretty much sum up everything that is weird punk about weird punk: Aggressive, abrasive, creative, and not overly concerned with musicality. Since the Electric Eels, weird punk has been found in No Wave, in late 70s San Francisco, early 80s San Pedro, Chicago Now Wave, and now sprinkled around the United States and definitely in France.

So why rant about weird punk in a post about the Clone Defects? Well, if you are gonna peg the now surge of weird punk to one record, Scissors Chop is a good choice (you could also pick Crash Normal's EP on Royal). When I first heard Scissors Chop, I flipped. "How come there isn't more shit like this?" I asked myself. The answer to my question came fast. Though the Clone Defects weren't to get any more "weirder" (perhaps Timmy Vulgar saved the weird for Human Eye), it seemed like post-Scissors Chop, lots of strange, challenging, and very listenable punk bands appeared. I wouldn't say that the Clone Defects are responsible, but, rather, that they tapped into a vibe that was just starting to grow loud.

Scissors Chop is a great record. -- Scott S.

The Cupid Car Club, M.P. - Join Our Club...

2007-01-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

Cupid Car Club, M.P. Join Our Club... 7" (Kill Rock Stars, 1993)

This was one enormously popular 7" at the time of its release, enjoying props from both the garage rocker and Grrrl camps. The garage folks dug it for the hooks and the tunes, the Grrls for who was in the band, I guess. It's essentially a Nation of Ulysses (or the Make Up) lineup, with Kim Thompson of Delta 72 onboard. All the songs benefit from the tossed-off nature of the presentation, and since the Cupid Car Club wasn't intended to be anyone's 'serious' touring group there is a morbid playfulness on here that seems to be absent from NOU and their successor outfits. All the songs on it are, like, rad. So rad that KRS kept it in print continuously for almost a decade, so it shouldn't be too hard to track one down.

This was their only vinyl other than a song on the Rock Stars Kill comp. Usually there is some wicked rare cassette floating around with this kind of project...but nope. There is a fan site (!) for this band that you can visit if you are some kind of sickie: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/cupidcarclub/joinourclub.html -Ryan W.

The Mulligrubs - Lil Miss Arthur

2007-01-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Mulligrubs Lil Miss Arthur b/w Cadillac Blues 7" (Mullitone, 1995)

What a better way to swing in the new year than with a trio of white Silicon Valley teens trying to sound like a bunch of old Black men from Memphis, especially when they pull it off or at least create something that is highly listenable and very entertaining?

The Mulligrubs remain a mystery to me. This record came unsolicited to a volunteer run record store that I helped run in the 90s. It got put in a pile to price. I priced it and then I thought, well, it has a hand screened sleeve, maybe I ought to listen to it. Put it on & took it home. I was doing Moo-La-La Records at the time and was always looking to trade records so I wrote them once, thrice, five times and got no answer. Every once in a while I'd come across someone who had the Mulligrubs one and only single and we'd hype it to each other.

Both songs fit in with the 90s garage revival; however the Mulligrubs come at it from an angle honed by the Gibson Bros., 68 Comeback, and the Oblivions. A bit more good-timey than the O's and not as sleazy is 68C, the Mulligrubs try to conjure up the same greasy R&B sound that fuels both. Lil Miss Arthur is simple but really intoxicating. And though the ill-advised Negro jivin' at the top of Cadillac Blues, as well as the subject of the song, leave me shaking my head in a "What were they thinking" moment, the song is great. Funky, dirty and as dancable as any punk soul moderne, and these guys don't look a day over 17!

The sleeve says 500 of these were pressed in San Jose, California.

Happy New Year! - Scott S.

The Leather Uppers / Icky Boyfriends - s/t

2006-12-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

The Leather Uppers / Icky Boyfriends 7" (Famous, 1993)

A lot of virtual ink has been spilled on account of San Francisco's Icky Boyfriends in the last year or so, most of it spurred by the release of a double CD retrospective on the Menlo Park label in 2005, a release that caught a lot of people by delighted surprise. Who were/are these guys, and why were they neglected for so long? Don't ask this correspondent, my Icky's Sooper-Trooper Fanclub card is number 00047 (Carolyn Keddy's is 00026, does anyone have a lower number please email???? Doug Pearson???). Live they were a delightful mess, a shambolic controlled catastrophe, yet their studio recordings, shockingly, managed to deliver the goods with a 'precision' bordering on elan. I think there were so many kookoo-for-cocoa-puffs outfits treading the boards in the early 90s; gettin' nekkid, painting themselves orange and pooping themselves, that the hysteria the Icky's were offering got overshadowed by the apes hanging off the chandelier. In 2006 the Icky's songs, loaded with their malevolent intelligence, have won out over the long-forgotten poopy-pants brigades.

The Leather Uppers, on the flip, presented the lighter side of what is now known as 'panic rock'. We covered the Uppers early on in this blog, just hit the archives for the early take, which hasn't changed, only ripened.

The Leather Uppers will apparently see some more reissue action in 2007 courtesy the Goner label, while the Icky's can continue to rest easy on their laurels. Although, hmmm, anyone out there feel like reissuing their I'm Not Fascinating LP as a stand alone item? There seems to be some pent-up steam out there for it, based on its continued non-appearance on the 'Bay. I don't think anyone who has one of that original and only 500 press feels like letting go. -Ryan W.

Back to today

2006-12-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

The Z-Gun review's today's sounds...

My Erotic Narcotic - s/t

2006-12-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

My Erotic Narcotic s/t 7" (Nouveau Cliche, 1993)

Back to Seattle we go and once again another slinky, drugged out, fuck it all. What is shocking, at least to those of us in the Rob Vasquez Appreciation Society (AKA Static Party), is that Rob V. has nothing to do with this one. No matter this is still a really cool single.

We debated for about 2 minutes whether My Erotic Narcotic was "punk" enough to make it on Static Party or whether I should slap it on Crud Crud. Fuck it, it is dark enough, primitive enough to wind up here and there is an idiotic brilliance that says, to us at least, punk rock. Before you say otherwise, give these a full listen. The songs get better as they go (or at least more absurd). And listen to them a few times because they are growers. Beside how can you pass up lyrics like "Take you for a ride/down my slippery slide/to the surface of Venus/I'll show you my penis"?

I know nothing about the history of My Erotic Narcotic, though I do know that Ted Narcotic (AKA Ted Higgins), the vocalist, hosts a Seattle public access show, drives a cab, and suckers cute Asian girls to sing his songs. Bassist Kelly Kristjanson fronts a band called the Cunning Hounds.

The Countbackwurds - Play Rip It Up

2006-12-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

The Countbackwurds Play Rip It Up 7" (Sumppi Werthimer, 1994)

I think people kind of take the Rip Offs for granted these days, just another early 90s garage band with lots of canned 'attitude'. "They were good but not as good as 'fill in Band X here' was." It's all a reactionary pose, the Rip Offs were probably better than 95% of the competition on any given night, and in their 1993 prime they were rocking a righteous mixture of 60s and 70s punk influences that was, oh wait for it...fun. I couldn't listen to 'em afterwards for a long time due to burnout, but a recent relisten still nets a solid 'two dicks up' review, to paraphrase Shane White.

Live, the Count Backwurds were better than the Rip Offs, and listening to this EP reminded me of that fact. They had a great front man in Peeping John and a lunatic named R. Quan on the kit, so the fix was in. They played 90% covers (hell, it was probably 100% and I just didn't recognize the rest) and if fun is what you want from a live band they delivered in aces and spades. Just brainless, hyperactive, gorilla-time hilarity. For me, they were/are the definitive Purple Onion band. They didn't release a whole hell of alot when they were around, and this is their only proper stand alone 7". That other one you 'see around', the 'Double Decker Bus' one? That's actually the Trashwomen with Russell bouncing around in the background. They've got some cuts on one of the Repent-label comps as well, just buy them both to make sure, and you're set. This sole EP came out on Russell's, uh, short-lived Sumppi Werthimer label, whose only other release was a Teenie Cheetahs 45 that's also SP-worthy.

The Backwurds sort of evolved over the years (and intervening bands) into the Flakes, who trod the boards of several continents today. If you can picture them all in pirate outfits and push their influences back about five years, you can recreate the CB experience for yourself. Except for the elusive Tom Guido Factor. -Ryan W.

Invisible Men - s/t

2006-12-05T19:23:00.000-08:00

Invisible Men s/t 7" (Estrus, 1994)

Listening to the Invisible Men reminds me of a time when you could buy any Estrus record and there was a 98% chance that it would be pretty good, if not an absolute smoker. Raw, catchy garage punk was the rule of the roost, the cock of the cafe, the big egg in the little hole. Then one day, the music took a second seat to packaging and the slide started. It was the Cocktail comp box that started to make me shy away from Estrus. That and the never ending Monomen records. Ah but I've come here not to bury Estrus but to praise it. Yup, smoking hot it was and one of those odd little burners was this Invisible Men 7".

Filthy Rich Kronis tells me:

Regarding the Invisible Men: There were two different bands using that
name around the same time. One made up of Zack and Donnie from the
Statics and one of the Fall-Outs (I'm pretty sure) and another that was a
few of the Bomboras dudes. The Invisible Men with Zack were the ones that
did the Estrus 7" you guys have on Static Party and the one on Rat
City, and that was it. They were just a fuck-around band while Zack found a
new bass player for the Statics after Diane left. The other (and far
inferior) Invisible Men did the records on Dionysus and other C-list
garage labels.

Stripped down, Billy Childish influenced garage punk is what you get here. No frills. Just shitty attitude and some fuzz. This was the second of three Invisible Men 7"s and probably the easiest to find. -Scott S.

The Man Tee Mans - s/t

2006-11-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

The Man Tee Mans s/t 7" (Bag of Hammers, 1994)

Wow, we are turning into the Rob Vasquez Appreciation Socity around here at Static Party. Maybe we'll even get around to the band our site is named for one of these days, but for now we are satisfying calls to further illuminate the RV diaspora. The Man Tee Mans are probably the most 'laid back' of the the Rob-led units with vinyl in the 90s, it kinda sounds like they are all splayed out on their backs on the practice room carpet with a single boom mike hanging over them, surrounded by empty cough syrup bottles. Even on their putative theme song, you can almost hear their eyelids creeeeaaaak open to begin the chorus. Isn't it amazing how cool the most primitive guitar jangle can sound in the right context? Stoney baloney.

The Man Tee Mans only managed this lone 45, leaving, I assume, six or seven unreleased LPs in the can somewhere, don't you think? Yet another on the Bag Of Hammers label worthy of your time-delayed moolah. -Ryan W.

Junior Varsity - GO! to the Ice Cream Social

2006-11-19T20:00:00.000-08:00

Junior Varsity GO! to the Ice Cream Social 7" (Peek-a-Boo, 1996)

Now for a bit of the lighter side of punk. From the Neer-Do-Wells to the Henchmen, the Brentwoods to Mulligrubs, dozens of bands used the 90s punk explosion to explore the world of 60s frat rock, often by way of Thee Milkshakes. Some would argue that the squeeky clean, lite distortion tunes of the neo-frat rockers is a bit too polite for punk. To that I say, both BAH! and Did you ever see the Henchmen?

In Houston, the torch was carried by Junior Varsity. A well-scrubbed trio, these preps put out one LP,4 7"s and a couple of splits, not to mention a bunch of comp inclusions. The three songs here are from JV's 1996 debut. The discography for these folks ends in 2001, so figure them gone...but not forgotten. -- Scott S.

Los Huevos - The Rebel Kind

2006-11-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Los Huevos The Rebel Kind 7" (Moo-La-La, 1996)

No fair. It's conflict of interest time, the charming vocals on this are courtesy the other half of this site. And about a year later this half put out an LP by this same band. I figure with the recent election results totally changing the face of the nation, yes that's right, forever and ever, a new spirit of 'coming clean' is in the air. I'm wearing a powdered wig as I'm typing this to a soundtrack of Marine Corps Hymns, and I fully expect all the conservative Democrats that just got elected to finally push all that socialization thru that's I've been harping on. You know, the freedom to shoot up openly in the park, that kind of thing. Hurry up, I'm sick of working for a living, too, I want a stipend. I'll even sculpt if I have to.

Anyway, Los Huevos were an institutional presence in the Sacto punk scene for a good long while, pretty much the whole 90s. Their first 7" is in the Very Small Records vein, so that's kind of 'eh', but then they got it on their second. This one, their 3rd EP, created a mini-stir in certain circles...okay, at the weekly music buyer's confab at the old Epicenter Zone record store. It was the tits for a solid month, and we sold scads of them to folks treading outside of their rigid genre ghettos, punkers and garage-types alike. That's crossover 90s-style, you know who else managed that? Bands like the Registrators and the New Bomb Turks, everyone was allowed to like them. And Los Huevos. They were into combining an early 80s hardcore (ala the SST-label Stains, say) with what would be called 'KBD' today, but back then was considered more of a distinctly Pagans-style attack. I think the tracks on this qualify as their high water mark considered as a single stand alone record, although there are devotees of their 7" on Goodbye Boozy as well.

Los Huevos got an LP out after this (your welcome) and then a couple more 7" before placing their photo on the wall of the Sacto Punk Rock Hall of Fame. There were many bands a-risin' from their ashes but the best known would have to be the FM Knives, who only put out the best power pop/rock 'n roll LP of the early 00's. -Ryan W.

The Mants - The M.A.N.T. from U.N.C.L.E.

2006-11-08T17:04:00.000-08:00

The Mants The M.A.N.T. from U.N.C.L.E. 7" + bonus 7" (Lance Rock, 1997)

Hello Canada! Here ya go: :1/2 man, 1/2 ant, all asshole" The MANTS! These critters eluded me for quite a while. I had heard of them but until I scored this gem a couple years back, I had just heard the hype. Great that they lived up to it. (Mostly) instrumental Mummies style garage punk is what you get here. Loud, raw, and loud. Not sure how many copies came with the bonus but mine did. Friend to None and Bow to Your Masters come of the MANT from UNCLE. The Creeper is from the bonus.

First Alert - T.V. Masturbation

2006-11-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

First Alert T.V. Masturbation 7" (Mangrove, 1997)

Now its back to the land of perfectly realized powerpop action, which in the 90s was largely Japan. First Alert are a really good example of how bands in the Japanese scene have changed over the years, those that have stuck around that is. They started out in roughly the mid-90s with records like this one: tough, fast, catchy punk with the requisite 70s punk-via-Registrators sound. There are very very few Japanese bands that aped the Registrators sound from this period that suck, trust me, it was too hard to put out a record at all in Japan to even consider sucking. This sound template produced dozens of great 45s from about 1994-99.

Then, powerpop started to take over the Japanese scene, and the proportions started to slip. It is far more challenging to write and perform effectively in that style with real conviction, especially when the language barrier is factored in. Also, Japanese studios tend to slick up whatever they touch anyway, so starting down the path of channeling the Chords, the Snips or Rachel Sweet is playing right into their digitally-frosted mitts. For every Tweezers there was a Mach Pelican. Even the Registrators themselves floundered during this period post-1999, producing meandering, flaccid material drenched in flange and reverb and sub-New Romantic vocal keening. First Alert also went powerpop, but they managed to come out the other side as a very effective mod-pop ensemble whose records are almost as enjoyable as Firestarter's. Quite a relief actually. Track them down if you can, they won't set you back as much as the Tweezers 45 anyway. -Ryan W.

The Styrenes - Silver Daggers

2006-10-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

The Styrenes Silver Daggers 7" (Thermionic, 1997)

I can't think of a punk rock singer with a better suited voice for the romantic, on-the-skids side of punk than Mike Hudson. Known mostly for his band The Pagans, Hudson had a "second act" with longtime Cleveland legends, The Styrenes. In the 90s, they did this 7" and an astounding album (We Care So You Don't Have To). Both are exactly what "adult" punk rock should be, musically and lyrically smart, something a bit more than I Hate This or I Feel Like Shit About This. Silver Daggers is a story book of all the crap you think about when the girl that you want slips through your fingers, that night, that time that seems so perfect and bam she's gone and all that is left is the memories, all those details you hold on to because you never really wanted it to end and the question, "Whatever happened to the letters that I sent her? Are they sitting in a box in somebody's basement?" Ever had one of those? - Scott S

Spoiled Brats - Rich Kid

2006-10-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Spoiled Brats Rich Kid 7" (Real, 1995)

We put up the Supercharger 45 a while back, here is another early 90s Bay Area club classic, the last 45 from the Spoiled Brats released on some weird UK label. In general, you didn't hear much of the Bay Area first wave garage on 45s outside of the USA, this and the Rip Offs split with Teengenerate on Wallabies being exceptions. I always thought this record, along with the Fingers 45 on Bag of Hammers, was one of the most underrated 90s garage punk 45s. Elka, formerly of the Trashwomen, really cuts loose here on Rich Kid with the singin' and wotnot, and it also sounds like someone broke the piggy bank and fed quarters into the producer's soundboard like crazy because this thing is most definitely not lofi. Those are real, actual guitars bearing down on you!

This 7" originally came as a bonus with the Sooprize Package zine, we'll have a podcast of us reading the whole thing cover to cover so you can have the complete digital read on this package, sure, in the near future. Elka Zolot, where are you now, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you...-RW

Jumpin' Beans & the Moustaches / Somebody & the Somethings

2006-10-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

Jumpin' Beans & the Moustaches / Somebody & the Somethings
Outta Peanut Butter / Long Haired Genius! 7" (no label, 1999)

I got hooked on Jumpin' Beans sometime in the mid-to-late 90s, when a flood of 7"s started coming out of a label called Ball, from Gardner, Maine. First there was Jumpin' Beans & Willie, then Willie got demoted to a Moustache and that's when Jumpin' Beans & the Moustaches started making records. Ball seemed to be a label exclusively devoted to Jumpin' Beans mania and then came a John Schooley record and one by Jumpin' Beans main man, Hasil Adkins. The Jumpin' Beans sound is pretty simple: Turn up the guitar and have some guy pound on the drums. Capture it all on a 4-track with everything pegged in the red. Do some covers like Memphis, Strychnine, and Born in the USA, along with Adkins inspired originals about hamburgers, milkshakes, and peanut butter. I devoured these 7"s and still think that Jumpin' Beans is one of the '90s lost gems. So much was I into Jumpin' Beans that I sent off to England for this split 7". Turned out that there were only 100 of these made, the songs hand written on the label, in ball-point pen. I've got no idea of Somebody & the Somethings are, but they do turn in a pretty great song. - Scott S.

Various - Standing with His Back to the Door

2006-10-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Various Standing with His Back to the Door 7" (Fringe-Weird, 1997)

Way back in 1998 or so I got a 7" for review at MRR by a band called the Spin Age Blasters, buncha tracks of warpy arty yelping and twanging, and gave it a smartass backhanded review because the band dared, dared!, to name themselves after an Electric Eels song. 1998 was pretty much the Year of the Eels for me and lots of other folks. Insufferable. That 45, which sounds alot better to me now (of course) is from the same twisted little Portland, OR, mini-scene that birthed this oddity, a multi-band comp EP that features lots of incestuous band-hopping amongst its contributors. That there is a KBD-esque feel running thru most of these tracks is obvious, but it ain't your momma's Freestone-style KBD they are mining, this is more like Peter Laughner worship at its most sincere, an unconscious proto-punk fumbling that comes off like mid-70s psych as much as anything else. A flag-waving garage aesthetic informs all these efforts, draping itself over both the art and the punk. The Stepford Wives most successfully channel the 'Eels Feel' here, definitive strum-n-stop, while the other bands modulate their volumes as they will, some of them being a tad more recognizably indie. There are three other tracks on here, sorry, get to work. I would've liked to have heard a stand alone 45 from most of the bands on here...alas.

The Fringe-Weird label didn't put out much, but it's all at least interesting. The guy behind these projects (who shall go nameless) later attempted his own terminal velocity experiment on one of the many local river-spanning bridges. The answer was No, you merely bust your legs. -Ryan W.

Gnu - Skalp

2006-10-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Gnu Skalp 7" (Scrape, 1996)

That we've barely touched on Eastern Europe has more to do with our ignorance and lack of vinyl in hand than any kind of prejudice against those Moe headed foreigners. There was and has been a thriving punk rock world in the former East Bloc, even when it was still behind the Iron Curtain. Took the fall of the wall to get much of it onto vinyl and even then things like sketchy economics and the Balkans War kept a lot of the records out of casual reach. So there is our excuse (please apply it to any other country or region of the world we have neglected).

Gnu is one of those Eastern Euro bands. From the Czech Republic, they started in the early 90s and first found vinyl with this pup. By the proto-sludge metal sound it should be no surprise that they followed this up with a split 7" on Amphetamine Reptile. I think the early '00s promised them a full length. I am not sure. Anyway, here is Gnu. Expect more E. Euro stuff as we dig it up. --Scott S

Ape Lost - Drag Baby

2006-10-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Ape Lost Drag Baby 7" (Bad Vibe, 1994)

This is our first return visit to a previously posted artiste, and I have no problem at all with that being a Rob Vasquez-led band. Ape Lost were yet another of his short-duration bands that peppered the 90s, the Gorls being another worthy project for example (see you in 2007!). Ape Lost are perhaps the most blooze-soaked of his 7" from the 90s, a stutter-stop-stagger affair that reeks of Sunday morning hangover puke in the sink and a girl sitting on the couch who thinks you are taking her out to breakfast. You ain't. Now, this type of blues-grungy-punk style has been copied to death by Euro hacks on numerous toss-away 7", so you kind of have to peel off any residual memories of those efforts that you've been (over)exposed to in order to get at this kernal properly, kind of like Home Hacked Aesthetic Surgery. Don't cut too deep or you'll become immune to the Gories, you just want to be able to forget that stock distortion one-man band from, what was it again...? Yes, excellent!

Ape Lost managed just this one 7" and it is still floating around out there in the 'bins', yes 'bins', not 'crates'. -Ryan W.

Gibson Bros. - Who's Black & Who's Not

2006-09-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Gibson Bros. Who's Black & Who's Not 7" (SFTRI, 1991)

There ain't anything I can tell you about this band that hasn't been written before. One of the only great punk bands to come out of the late 80s and, to me at least, the best thing to be born from the bowels of Columbus, Ohio. If you haven't heard either one of their first two albums, it is time for you to get hopping. Along with the Cramps, the Gibson Bros. are the best fusion of early rock & roll, "roots" music, and punk rock done yet, responsible for countless imitators, none of whom have ever come close to the godliness of the Bros.

Here main Gibsons Jeffrey Evans and Don Howland are joined by post-Pussy Galore Jon Spencer on noise guitar. A nice addition before Spencer's descent in jackass-dom. Also here is the best version of the Avengers' White Nigger ever done and that counts the Avengers version. For some strange reason hearing the words come out of the mouth of guys who have actually held shitty jobs and not a teenage punk debutante gives the song a little more heft (and before you soil your mittens, I'd have no one but Penelope sing America in Me or We are the One...)

Also count this as one of the best singles Sympathy for the Record Industry released. -Scott S.

The Arch Villains - We Hate Your Ugly Face

2006-09-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Arch Villains We Hate Your Ugly Face 7" (Sigma Phi, 1996)

In an earlier post below, I alluded to the "200 bands" that were utilizing the Supercharger stencil on their garage-punk sound to varying degrees of success. Well, here's a gang that used the equally paint-stained 'Mummies stencil', and to great effect sez I. Everything about this discus, from the raw-knuckled attitudinizing to the cheapo organ sound to the 'wham-wham...Whamwhamwham' drumming is pure 1990-era Mummies. So where is the bootleg volume of "Songs the Mummies Taught Us"? No point, since the Mummies primarly traded in taking quasi-known 60s garage songs and smashing them into their own template. The true Mummies 'schematic' is thusly a shoplifted bottle of Maker's Mark, pal.

The Arch Villains EP here is a numbered edition of 250, very hard to track down until I finally found it for $2 on my last road trip up to the NW. These guys were from Olympia, WA, according to the address on the back. I shows it my girlfrendo, an Olympian local yokel from way back, with a casual query as to where the street was located in town and she snorts "Psst, that address is out in the Evergreen College dorms, these guys must have been students." This dovetails nicely with speculation by other 90s garage sexperts that these clowns were actually operating on the belief that 90s garage was merely a Beeg Joke (unlike, ya know, 'real' bands like Butterglory or Scenic Vermont or Dead & Gone or Goober Patrol or what have you), and this is supposed to be a demonstration that 'anyone can do this stupid shit'. A putdown concept EP. Sort of like the tossed off b-side to a certain Freestone 45 titled "Bummer Bitch" that also seems to have handily subsumed the authoring band's contempt for their own creation. Takes all kinds, even slumming trust fund posers. All hail rock 'n roll! -Ryan W.

The Rondelles - s/t

2006-09-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Rondelles s/t 7" (Rondelles, 1996)

My first encounter with the Rondelles was by chance. Los Huevos was on tour and were passing through Albuquerque. We didn't have a show but Scared of Chaka arranged for us to stay at some punk house they hung out at. Sometime after taking us to food, Dave took us to a very large club to check out a band that "we had to see." The band was the Rondelles and they were opening for Trans Am.

The club was empty and it was four dorks from Sacramento and Dave standing in front of a very big stage watching the cutest band on earth rip through a set of girl group meets garage pop punk rock. After the show I got a record, we watched a song of Trans Am (all I can remember is that they had a clear drum set), and then went to the punk house to drink & crash.

After that I paid attention to the Rondelles, loyally picking up their newest record and setting up shows for them in Sacramento. They were a band worth following. Their singles and first LP showed them to have a knowledge of girl group bands as well as garage punk classics. They had the smarts to filter that through a lo fi aesthetic. Their playing ability was good enough to pull off their ideas and wise enough not to stray from the simple. And the drummer doubling on Casio keyboard, playing it while drumming and as a percussion instrument, gave them a sound no one else had.

These songs are from their first 7", my favorite of the bunch. The 7"s that followed are also good and worth picking up, as is their first album. However, after the debut LP, they moved to Washington DC and somehow got infected with the suckiness that infests that town. They never got bad, just the Albuquerque charm was replaced by East Coast hip. They broke up a few years back and I haven't followed the former members endeavours. -Scott S.

Supercharger - Icepick

2006-09-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

Supercharger Icepick b/w Want It Bad 7" (Pre- B.S. Records, 1992)

Supercharger, the Holy Ones. Like the Motards post earlier, not much to say that ain't been said elsewhen. Just one of the best garage-punk 45s of the 90s, and really, what could you do to improve this? Play faster, no. More no-fi, no. Smarter or dumber lyrics, nah, you leave it alone. Oh, and about 200 bands put out singles trying to take some or all of this formula and graft it onto their garage take with varying levels of success (see ebay for how that played out in the end). I think Supercharger as, uh, *cough*, songsmiths, are quite underrated...

Supercharger got a couple of fantastic LPs out (their debut, released before they ever played a gig, is one of the five best of the whole 90s garage/rock 'n roll/punk thing/scene/clusterfuck) to bookend their 45s, which thankfully were not so plentiful as to ever allow for a dropoff in quality; they are all either good or great, buy them all. This here 45, like all Pre -B.S. label 45s, comes in both 'cut-out'-clipped and non-shorn editions, the snippers being the more plentiful on the ground. Bendover. -Ryan W.

Charm City Suicides - Green Blood

2006-09-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Charm City Suicides Green Blood 7" (Baths of Power, 2000)

Have you ever been to the Charm City? Don't know what it is? Baltimore. I am sure it has its charms for the folks who are willing to give it a whirl, but for the casual visitor, it is a nightmare. Take the downtown exit and you wind up smack in the middle of a ghetto. The streets are bare: Boarded up and fucked up house mixed with the corner liquor stores and check cashing joints. Hanging out on the corner are unemployed men of all ages. The poverty is Black as is most of the city. Go to the harbor and you will find a tarted up tourist district which is utterly charmless. The place is fucking depressing. Even the trendy college kids area seems bleak. No surprise these four miscreants named their band Charm City Suicides and front the kind of twisted noise that only pissed off, dead end youth are able to do. Plus it has the kinda thrown together quality that fellow Balto's Half Japanese mastered AND a touch of Saccharine Trust/New Alliance sound. This Suicides 7" came and went pretty fast. I believe only three hundred were pressed. A full LP followed, good but not as striking as this gem. --Scott S.

Country Teasers - Against

2006-08-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Country Teasers Against 7" (Guided Missile, 1996)

Speaking of 'slow builds' alluded to in the V-3 post below, here we have the UK's Country Teasers flogging a thoroughly Soviet-style Ten Year Plan towards achieving their own AAA champeenship in indie punk. The Teasers have been all over the map stylistically through their many lineups, but listening to this mid-90s waxing sets the tone for most every other record they've put out: harsh lyrics with a real comic aftertaste that sticks to your craw, set amidst a shambling sonic stumble that veers from powerful to plain idiotic seemingly on whim. Bluntly, this band sounds like they were drunk or high during the recording on almost any track you can name in their lengthening catalog; even their choice of covers seems to be the sort of randomly inspired genius that only nerveless drunks can truly nail. It is your call as to whether they are merely swamping their talent or laughingly floating away from the wreck of the world on any given song. When people compare them to the Fall, this is what I think they are trying to reference, it's not the chord structures or the Northern (UK) accent, it's the feel they create akin to the early Fall records that a truly creative brain is battering against resistance (self or other) to create something meaningful to itself. If you get something from it as well... Art! Put on a CT record and read the 'Maakies' comics, it's better than bread and chocolate.

The Country Teasers catalog is largely still in print on the Crypt and In The Red labels, you can find their stuff down the street at your neighborhood record store, the one right around the corner from where you live, ya know? -Ryan W.

Jetpack - In Charge

2006-08-23T06:57:00.000-07:00

Jetpack Throw Down 7" (Mortville, 1998)

When I was a kid, the promise of the future was jetpacks and moving sidewalks. Well, I have both a Moving Sidewalks 7" and a Jetpack 7" so I should consider myself blessed, especially since I have this Jetpack record. Four songs that are above average garage punk, especially Throw Down, which is a 90s punk classic.

Jetpack were from the college town of Moscow, Idaho - a little hideaway up in the panhandle and a couple hours south of Spokane. Because of their remoteness, I never saw them play but I did meet them when they drove up to Spokane to experience Los Huevos among a crowd of five. And then I got to hear the demos that resulted in this record. They were great and had I been putting out records by bands other than those from Sacto, I would have jumped on this fucker. As it was Toby from the Motards did and great thing because otherwise these guys might have been just another great band that never gets heard out of their hometown. In the late 90s, Jetpack moved to Portland and put out a split 7". Then they broke up, splitting into the Flip-Tops and the Pills. -- Scott S.

V-3 - Monsters of Hollywood

2006-08-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

V-3 Monsters of Hollywood 7" (Iron Press, 1991)

Ohio exports weirdly catchy artpunk as their primary source of trade credits these days (since the collapse of their laudanum empire in the 1970s), which thusly vaults V-3 into a sort of regional superstardom...sure. V-3 is Jim Shepard is Vertical Slit is one of 'those' indie-punk cult bands whose rep has slowly crawled up the Power Rankings over the last few decades, fueled by one obscurely confounding release after another. They put out a generous pile of 7" through the 90s, even managed an LP on a major-label imprint at one point and toured with some indie heavies as a result, but V-3 generally remains an aquired taste for many, perhaps due to the barking-talking-yelling vocal style of lead-avatar Shepard. Here is a slow-building track off one of V-3's earlier and harder-to-find EPs, make your own case.

V-3 ended with the suicide of Mr. Shepard, but not before he had produced some of the most boggling (and outrageously rare and expensive, like, a month's-rent-in-San-Francisco dear) records over the era 1977-2001 or so. Worth picking up in the 'actually findable' category would be his solo LP on the Siltbreeze label from the late 90s which sailed a might bit under the sonar screens at the time. -Ryan W.

Sloggy - Need for Speed

2006-08-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

Sloggy Need for Speed 7" (Hell on Wheels, 2000)

If you'd have thrown this in front of me and said, "Here, buy," I, upon looking at the sleeve, would've snarfed. I admit that it would have been a slightly elitist snarf, one that roughly translates to, "Jesus Christ, there's a fucking race car on the cover. Do you see me wearing a fucking flame shirt? Am I sporting mutton chops? Are my forearms inked with flaming dice?" Lucky me that I bought this sight unseen, tipped by a Carolyn Keddy review in Maximum Rocknroll. I don't recall what the review said, but CK is one of the few reliable tipsters at that rag and on this one she was right.

Sloggy is a brother/sister act before such things were both chic and faked. They are obsessed with race cars, particularly dirt track racing, and they are from Luxembourg. By that description, you might think, hell, I don't know what you might think. That is not a combo of things that you are likely to encounter anywhere else but in Sloggy-land.

And what is Sloggy land? It is the tip of the second generation of drum machine/electro punk, re-pioneered by Euros like Lili Z., Nazis from Mars, and this duo. If you need any convincing, point and click Grand National and you will hear one great intro, if you want to call that awesome lurch forward an intro. A great hollowed out/Chrome-style guitar anchors it, some cool vocals and a restrained scream of a guitar lead sits atop. Rather than treat you to another great original, instead you get a faithful but great cover of the Dave Starky 5's Hey Everybody, the original comped on a later Back from the Grave. - Scott S.

Various - King Kong

2006-08-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

Various King Kong #3 7" (King Kong, 1994)

The early 90s, pre-garage rock revival, could be a pretty dire slog for younguns lookin' for riffs 'n kicks. Alot, ALOT, of bands chose two paths. One: either super-duper serious, ponderous and full of themselves (and really, really drugged out), or two: goofy-tunes punkeroos who mixed shitty hardcore-emo with quasi-personal political lyrics. Oh, and the ongoing worshipping of late-period Husker Du, that would about cover the rest of what you could actually find at a store. The Brainbombs (from Sweden) could have fallen into that first camp, the super-serious sloggers except they pulled themselves free of the sludge-trudge with the magic of RIFFS. And 'Funhouse'-era skronking chaos. And a perverse GG Allinesque obsession with street whores and big sharp knives as a ready substitute for their cocks...so over-the-top despondent that it achieves for this correspondant a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card due to the fact that the band itself is so so alive and exciting that the heavily-accented vocals just act like another dissonant aspect of the sonic mix, ie; I don't pay close attention to them. Really, I don't think the misogyny of this largely studio-bound bunch of Scando miscreants will add one single dollop of actual misery to the world.

Enough apologia. There is a singles comp of these guys on the Load label (oh, they mastered one 45 at the wrong speed on that, aaaaaaah) that somehow missed this track from 1994, with our antiheroes the Brainbombs doing a nifty little Chrome cover for this Euro mag-with-7' EP series called King Kong. For those of you who acquired the Load comp, here's the missing piece of the puzzle.

Our Scando friends the Brainbombs are going through a little namedrop-revival these days, based partly on their insistance on releasing really good new records, partly on the continued discovery of the keeno-nesss of their past early 90s efforts, which are currently out of print but not too difficult to find as of today (the full lengths anyway). Here's hoping that someone muscles up and reissues their magnum opus, the 'Burning Hell' LP, which has more sheer nauseating riffs than Amrep managed as a label for the entire 1990s. -Ryan W.

Bend Sinister / Kent 3 - split

2006-08-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Bend Sinister / Kent 3 split 7" (Vague Vinyl, 1999)

Listen close to Bend Sinister and you can hear the seeds of the A Frames and there is a good reason why, subtract one member of Bend Sinister, give them a year, and, tra la la, the A Frames.

Wrinkles the Clown has the smart dumb song writing that the A Frames were to perfect, but it also has a relentlessness that you rarely hear in the A Frames. This is one riff pounded endlessly until it is time to end the song and then, four minutes in, some new chords and the thing falls apart with little flair. Wrinkles is a gem of a song and well worth tracking down. --Scott S.

Stilluppstypa - s/t

2006-08-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

Stilluppstypa s/t 7" flexi (Gallery Krunk, 1992)

Now here's a 90s obscuro that exists wrapped in a fog of the band's own creation. These experimental chubs from Iceland released a small pile of records thru the mid-late 90s on a variety of labels, and those are the records you are likely to run across in bins or online; they are a resolutely noise-first concern, lots of biff-bang-thud-type randomness and clatter. S'kay, 'spose, but not of interest to us here. This, their debut disc, is a strange hybrid flexi made out of sterner stuff than the usual flexi but yet not quite as sturdy as a mid-90s United Records pressing (which is one step up from a flexi). Anyway, this thing was fished out of the legendary MRR-rejects dump of 1996 (when Tim Yo excised all the "non-punk" from the collection, a purge that targeted mostly grind and noise and emo more than anything else), most of which landed at the ol' Epicenter Zone collective store in Frisco-town.

So, this isn't like Stilluppstypa's other records at all, this is a pure post-Amrep riff churn with a real bite to it the likes of which wouldn't resurface at this potent a level until the A Frames began walking the Earth years later. In fact, that one track sounds like an outtake from that band's first LP, ya think? World Music Brain at work, since there is no way the men of the A Frames ever heard this thing, and since I never saw release info for this anywhere at the time it came out, I would wager a copy got sent to MRR for review and then...that was their defacto total USA 'distro'. In any case, a great slice of 90s aggro art-punk that I would liken to an updated modernist take on the Amon Duul aesthetic. Grows hair outcher ears. -Ryan W.

Twinkeyz Tribute

2006-07-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

Mike Rep & the Quotas / Screamin' Mee-Mees Twinkeyz Tribute 7"
(New World of Sound, 1996)

No, I'm not gonna show you my membership card from the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, booster though I may be. Besides this record's subject band is Sacramento. It's participants come from elsewhere. Blah Blah Blah.

Ask most Sacramentans what the top three Sacto bands are and they are gonna tell you Tesla, Cake, & the Deftones. Some joker might say Night Ranger or Timex Social Club, but for the majority of the morons here the big three are T, C, & D. Fuck that. The top three Sacramento bands are Public Nuisance, Tales of Terror, and the Twinkeyz (if we wanna get technical I could claim Blue Cheer for Sacramento, though that would start a border war with Davis and these days peace is what we need).

The Twinkeyz were pretty much two guys - Donnie Jupiter and Tom Darling. Donnie was the song writer and the brains behind it. Tom was the acid casualty/guitarist who drew some terrific guitar lines. An important part of the band who wasn't a band member was David Houston, formerly of the aforementioned Public Nuisance. David recorded all the Twinkeyz stuff. They also had a drummer who hates to be reminded that he drummed for "that stupid band," so fuck mentioning his name. And there was some dude who was in the band for a bit and got thrown out because he was an asshole, but not before he penned and recorded their worst song. The Twinkeyz only played a few times but they record enough to release 2.5 7"s and an LP, all compiled (and remastered) on a great CD collection (now out of print) put out by Karl Ikola.

The Twinkeyz sound is lazy proto-punk rock informed by glam, psych, freak rock, and 100+ degree Sacramento summers, as well as old comic books and a helping of dope. In other words, perfect territory for Mike Rep & the Quotas and the Screamin' Mee-Mees to cover. If you were to ask me to come up with two bands to make a Twinkeyz tribute record, I might not have picked these two (just cuz they don't pop into my head immediately), but I can see why NWOS did. What a great idea!

So here you get one of two songs. The Screamin Mee-Mees doing the Twinkeyz' Cartoonland. Cartoonland is the b-side of the Twinkeyz second (and a half) 7" and the Mee-Mees do it mighty justice. (We will do a proper Mike Rep & Mee-Mees entry in the future.) -Scott S.

Liimanarina - Lantinen Pornokatu 25 B 13

2006-07-25T09:51:00.000-07:00

Liimanarina Lantinen Pornokatu 25 B 13 7" (Bad Vugum, 1991)

I'm a big Fall fan, one of my five favorite bands ever really, even made sure on a trip to the UK (pre-ebay, friends) to go out of my way to secure minty copies of the early 45s on Step Forward at Portobello Road prices, even willing to offer limp apologies for Mark E.'s continuing assault on Human Decency (which makes liking the Country Teasers easier as well, its like I'm bombing that part of my brain with anglophiliac poisons). Having said that, the Fall from about 89-93 suck. Suck like Madchester sucked. Beep-boop digitalis and Mr. Smith make for lumpy gravy, and I'll stick to the meat. Into this temporary void in the World Sound leapt Liimanarina. These heroes fashioned a caveman-level Finnish take on the chopped-line, mussed-hair, skeletal-rockabilly-period Fall that everyone goes glassy-eyed over, the 80-83 period. Liimanarina came out with their first EP in 1989, and followed up with two more that are all indistinguishably great. The Scando lingo adds alot to the "indistinguishably" part of that assessment, of course, but since I barely listen to lyrics 90% of the time (thanks indie rock poets with lyrics that only mean something to the three people involved) I couldn't care less.

Liimanarina are one of the bands that kick-started the idea of doing this blog, a totally primal punk band that people either missed because of the deluge of 7" at the time, ignored because of the name/country/lack of industry buzz or just couldn't find due to the rather hit-n-miss American distribution of their record label, the now-legendary Bad Vugum. Since all of their 7" are hot poop, I may try to bend the rules of time and space to allow the inclusion of their debut platter in later days, despite the late 80s pub date. That thing didn't really register with too many ears over here till 1990 at the earliest anyhow. Well, Tom Lax heard it, but we mere mortals...

So, they got an LP out on Drag City eventually, a record that the band apparently hated, but sounds fine to me (and everyone else). Liimanarina, who were essentially just one guy and whoever he could bribe to play with him, subsequently retreated back into the cave for another 2000-year sleep, waiting for conditions conducive to world domination to re-ripen I 'spose. If anyone has a copy of their rather elusive live tape, send it on over, I've got a perfectly good kidney with low mileage, available for trade. -Ryan W.

Blatz / Tribe 8 - Bitches -N- Brew

2006-07-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Blatz / Tribe 8 Bitches -N- Brew 7" (Lickout, 1992)

Not sure how I wound up with this 7". Never was much of a fan of East Bay punk and my interest in Tribe 8 ended after seeing them live (don't like cock rock regardless of who plays it). HOWEVER I got it and I am glad I do because Blatz's Roadkill is one great song. Not only is it a story song, it is one of the few that I've heard that pulls off both a Patti Smith and X influence.

I remember when this came out it created a minor stir, not so much because the bands are Out, as in Gay. Rather that feeb Larry Livermore of Lookout Records got bent out of shape because the label called itself Lickout. Ooooooo. - Scott S.

Couch - New Friends 99

2006-07-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

Couch New Friends 99 7" (Insignificant, 1995)

Nowadays, everyone who is digitally so-inclined can have their very own personal Top 40, all you have to do is suss out what you've played the most on the ol' handy hip-pocket mp3 music simulator: just toggle that switch. And with podcasting and other venues such as myspace its become a tad easier to get more exposure while the iron is still hot. But waaaaay back in the past, like the mid-90s, personal Top 40s were not so easily quantified. There was this element called chance, which is similar to hitting that 'shuffle' button, newbies. So when my friend A-Tone is constantly warbling "New Freeeeuuuunds ... uh, ninety-niiiuuuun!!!" at my place circa 1997 or so, I know I've got a closet Top 40 hit on my hands. Turns out it's this band Couch, a hot new act on the Bulb Records label, a band whose records I had casually flicked past at yer odd swap or indie store without snaring (back then there used to be good records coming out every week, it was a real challenge to stay focused). So I grab one pronto, and it gets some heavy rotation in my SF-standard 12 x 15 apartmental bedroom box. Now, it is your turn World, simply shove this into your Portableness and rock it at your cafe job over the sound system the day before you quit, perhaps you can continue the chain reaction. The goal is to make New Friends, and irony is OUT.

Couch had a couple more records, EPs and a split LP, and there was a handy comp CD floating around on the aforementioned Bulb label that is now sadly OP (as they say in the biz), since the label itself is now on 'extended hiatus'. The members served (and continue to serve) boldy in a number of other outfits, merely google "Marlon Magus" and "Velocity Hopkins" for more information there. Do NOT be fooled by "Couch of Eureka" on Lookout, they are headbutt-central BAD. -Ryan W.

Splayed Innards - s/t

2006-07-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

Splayed Innards s/t 7" (Splayed Innards, 1996)

'twas sent this record unsolicited right when it came out. I figured the Splayed Innards guys sent it to me because they liked or were interested in Los Huevos so I sent them a Rebel Kind. I fell in love with this record the first time I dropped needle on it. It had a smart ass quality that spoke to me and the music sounded like these guys ingested that classic slab of early 80s Midwestern hardcore, Master Tape Vol 1. Listen to Social Retard and tell me that isn't so. Hell, listen to Social Retard and tell me these guys ain't fucking geniuses. "All girls hate me / And I'm really not a cool guy" is a great lyric when it is sung with the lack of energy that the Innards vocalist gives it. The guy has accepted his lot in life. So disinterested is he that the songs melody is never exactly the same. Finally, frustration kicks in and he feels his social retardation. Take Social Retard and mate it with five more songs of near equal greatness and you have one of my top ten 7"s of the 1990s. If you ever lay a hand on the record, check out the thank you's. They too have the same smart assness as the songs.

A year after I got the record, I started trying to track them down. Letters went unreturned. The internet was no help. There was one mention of them playing at an Iowa City record store, which no longer existed. It wasn't until my top ten of the 90s appeared in Maximum Rockandroll (along with a bunch others, in a feature put together by the other half of this blog) that I was to hear from an Innard. By then, most of them had moved out of Iowa City and on to other bands (for more on the band see Dave Hyde's piece in Terminal Boredom). I was able to get ten copies of the record, all of which I promptly gave away. -Scott S.

The Yah Mos - Off Your Parents

2006-07-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

The Yah Mos Off Your Parents 7" (Recess, 1994)

For the longest time this Sacramento punk rock 'institution' were slagged off as a mere blue-collar low-rent take on the Nation of Ulysses' staggering genius, they being the DC band who married a sound similar to this with lots of expensive clothes and wowed a very narrow slice of a certain generation that shall go nameless (post-X, pre-Y, eh...). Well, no one outside the Beltway cares about NOU anymore so let's just freshen the take on this EP's achievements just on its face, shall we? All these tracks are bashing away with brainy, wreckless abandon, yet they are held together by a sinewy rhythm section that never allows the songs to fall apart into jerkoff/spazz/mess/hardcore. Channeling and controlling this seething energy (in other words, making it accessible) without sounding tight-assed or self-conscious or devolving into a prog-punk-core band (with its nice, safe, mathematically derived lego-piece song construction aesthetic) is very tuff I says. Previous SP post Cop Out managed it. The Yah-Mos do it on this EP.

This particular EP carries the odd distinction of being released on one label (Recess) and then getting reissued right afterwards on another (Moo-La-La), which usually means the first label has disappeared, which as we know with Recess is certainly not the case, alas. The covers of the two pressings are slightly different, so for those of you who 'collect 'em all!'... One of the overlooked punk LPs of the mid-late-90s is the Yah Mos' own effort, mainly because it took years and years for it to find eventual issuance via the Gern Blandsten label. Seek and enjoy. - Ryan W.

Teengenerate - Sex Cow

2006-07-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

Teengenerate Sex Cow 7" (Estrus, 1993)

Oh you know this one? Well, you fucking better. It is not only thee best Teengenerate 7" (based on the title song alone) but one of the top ten punk singles of the 1990s. It is for those reasons that this prime piece of puss is being posted. We will assume that you know the ways and whys and whats of this band and editorialize about just one thing: The completely fucked up sound of the lead guitar. The songs starts up and guitars riff away dirty and grindy, not grindy in a grindcore way but grindy as in grinding. The lead rips one off and drops out. A whole layer of sound disappears and when the lead comes back in you realize that the guitar sounds about three steps from death. Excellent. --Scott S.

Sunshine Super Scum - Two Reactions

2006-06-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sunshine Super Scum Two Reactions 7" (Silt Breeze, 1996)

Ahhhhh, the joy of the one-off 7" EP. Sunshine Super Scum are from Nippon, but their music is from the center of the earth, molten fury played by angry art-brats on a mission. There is a great wildness on this 45, released on the always stimulating Siltbreeze label in the mid-90s (right in the middle of the 7" glut that has been referred to in other posts), a wildness born of several members' origins in the super-amoeboid musical organism commonly referred to as the Boredoms. Collecting the Boredoms many releases can be a pastime that would require you to not only attempt survival with only 2 liters of blood in your body, but to build that donated blood back up on a beans and rice diet. This 45, however, is not gonna break the bank to track down, trust me. These mere mp3s will not do it for you, either. We are talking one of the definitive examples of non-jerkoff mid-90s artpunk here, with a healthy dose of early 80s hardcore spazz, especially in that Ginn-flat guitar tone, oiu? Surprise! It was produced by Fink from Teengenerate.

I lied, the 'Scum have another 45 on the now-defunct Vinyl Japan label that is probably becoming alot more elusive than this platter, but I'll bet copies are all over the shops in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. What, you were planning on doing something else this weekend? -Ryan W.

Rock 'n' Roll Class - s/t

2006-06-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

Rock 'n' Roll Class s/t 7" (Hate, 1998)

Now, I finally get to disparage the Italians. What the fuck, dudes? What the hell happened after that early 80s punk and hardcore explosion, your entire country produced like five rock 'n roll bands that were any good over the next ten years and the only one that I can actually recall off the top of my head is the Starfuckers, so maybe it was just them. Fucking Yugoslavia produced more great rock during that time than you guys for chrissakes. FUCK!

But now it is time for Class. The Rock 'n Roll Class to be precise, one of the many Italian bands that started popping up in the mid-90s to rescue a national rep that had been bogged down under an avalanche of boomy industrial dance remixes, pop-reggae mediocrity and Amrep-styled riff bores wearing stupid spaghetti-western hats. These cats are channeling this One Band that immediately comes to mind: the Pack (kraut version). From the gravelly vocals to the primitive yet forceful guitar churn, this 45 exemplifies the return of a truly effective garage-level rock mentatlity to the Italian scene (and I don't mean all that limp noodling pansy-on-a-doily 60s psych 'garage' dressup stuff they were peddling in the early 90s). There are a bunch of other 45s that started coming out before and after this one, recs that will get the treatment later on. Let's just say that people who are on the fence about Taxi, well, their first 45 is a different animal.

I think this 45 is still available from the label that done released it, Hate Records in Italy, still very much alive and putting out some good reissues these days. -Ryan W.

The Four Eyes - Hat Nerd

2006-06-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Four Eyes Hat Nerd 7" (Sacramento, 2000)

The first time I heard the Four Eyes was on the way home from a Los Huevos gig in Santa Cruz. I forget which show it was, perhaps the one in which we met the fabulous Oliver Brown and then went to a movie theater to watch the GG Allin documentary. Sometime that weekend they gave us a copy of their tape, Rock & Roll. We listened to it on the way home and fell in love. Stupid songs about being a nerd, but not just stupid, very well done stupidity. The music was sloppy and poppy, very much in the sound and spirit of Sacramento bands like the Bananas, Nar, Horny Mormons, etc. These guys seemed like they were Sacramentans. Soon they were playing in Sacramento more than in Santa Cruz. And in 1997 or so they finally moved to Sacramento. Since then they've pretty much been looked at as a Sacramento band, something that I don't think they mind at all, and something that actually fits, being that they've been a Sacto band much longer than they were a SC band. They put out one 7" (1995) of songs from the tape. Unfortunately they rerecorded the songs. After Come Prepared, the Four Eyes gigged a lot but other than cover songs, few new songs entered their set. Then one evening at the Loft, they pulled out Hat Nerd. People flipped. The song was probably the stupidest song they had done to date - A song about a guy who collects hats. The sloppy poppy chorus had every "Loft Fag" singing to him/herself for weeks on end. The song saw vinyl thanks to Sacramento Records. The song also so some life past vinyl. I was told that some elementary school kids with a in-the-know teacher did a skit to Hat Nerd, to which the Four Eyes were invited. --Scott S.

Headache / TV Killers - Teenage Sapiens

2006-06-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

Headache / TV Killers Teenage Sapiens 7" (Total Heaven, 1995)

This record sort of functioned as my introduction to the modern French rocking punk scene, hidden in yet another split 7" rolling into MRR amidst the torrent of mid-90s 7"ers. You would not belive the sheer number of black 'n white sleeved two-band 45s coming in from Europe in those days, eeeeeh. My fellow reviewer Jeff Random got it for review, and I pulled it out of the stack as well and threw it on to give the French one more chance, more of a chance than they had been giving themselves for what seemed forever. The Headache side I remember as having one good song (here it is) but it was the flipside band who ruled. The TV Killers have a sort of floppy production take on this that robs the song of alot of its muscle-bound propulsive power, but it's that evisceration that enables you to hear the damn guitar, which is properly itchy and scratchy. Ah, mid-90s bands sure loved their wall-of-Ramones guitar wash, especially the New Bomb Turks, who perfected the sonic pummel that reduced alot of potentially good 45s into a soupy grey mush. It ruins the other two songs on the Headache side of this record. Here the TV Killers break the mold.

The TV Killers put out lots more records through the 90s and early 00s, most of which were cursed with terrible cover art that kept away possible converts, cie la vie. Their records, other than this debut EP and their first (really really good) LP on Total Heaven, are pretty easy to find. -Ryan W.

The Millionaires - Return to the Island of the Robots

2006-06-07T02:00:00.000-07:00

The Millionaires Return to the Island of the Robots 7" (Teen Patriot, 1995)

Welcome to the land of obscurity. You've been there already? Well, thanks for coming back. Here we have one of the Millionaires two 7"s. I've heard them both and this one is my fave. Meat & potatoes bar-chord punk of the kind slicked up by the New Bomb Turks. Take a bit of Saints, a lump of Misfits, shave off some talent, and run it through a wah wah peddel and you know the formula. While it's been done by many a bad band, the Millionaires are one of the few who chugged fine with it. One huge tipping point in their favor is their total lack of attention to high fidelity and perfection. This is rev it up and go of the variety that has nothing to do with Gearhead and everything to do with Fuck It.

I am told that when this came out there was a bit of a stir. Not because of the record or band, but because of the label. Looks like Team Patriot had the nerve/balls/lack of brains (depending on your political predilection) to announce that they were putting out a Johnny Reb 7" flexi. Johnny Reb is infamous for his racist rock & roll and country western and sings songs with titles such as Some Niggers Never Die (the just smell that way). Classy guy that Reb. Of course, sayigng you are gonna rub wax with a fella like Reb, even if it is a joke, will cause some distribution problems for a little label like Team Patriot, "The Leader in Post-Colonial Rock and Roll." The label pariah status probably explains why only 200 of this pup were pressed. Either that or they were cheap. --Scott S.

Blue - Cock Roach

2006-06-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Blue Cock Roach 7" (Bovine, 1993)

Man, look at that cover. The band name, the cheap paper, the bland cover art. Pretty much sums up a bargain bin 90s indie rock ep these days, on first take alone this could snuggle up in there with all the Buzzmuscle and Hula Boy and Buck 09 7"s that are all destined to get melted down to generate vinyl for the 16th pressing of a Shattered Records release. But Blue were not hoping to be just another 90s indie rock 'calling card' 45, this is a surprise punker bolt from beyond. These guys were operating in a vein similar to bands like Unholy Swill or Designer (see previous post), being a sort of post-grunge return to punk charged with the early 80s sensibilities of bands like the Nig-Heist. Now, I slagged on the poor 'ol Spider Babies earlier for their knuckle-dragging attempts at porn-punk, and some of the lyrical exercises from our friends Blue here are similarly tired, but there is something genuinely creepier about their take so I'll give 'em a pass. They could just be operating at max capacity here.

Blue have a couple of other 7" floating around on labels as diverse as ERL and Datapanik, but don't worry, their covers are as off-putting as this one (in different ways) so you should have no real competition in fishing them out of the 'gettin-yer-knees-dirty' understock boxes at the next swap. They have an LP I've never heard that is apparently more of the same, will report, over. -Ryan W.

Astro Zombies / Sound Bite House

2006-05-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Astro Zombies / Sound Bite House Split 7" (Poe/Rotten Roll, 1993)

What I know about the Astro Zombies is what I got from Billy Syndrome's Slutfish Records website. The Zombies were from Brooklyn and lasted from 1991 to 1994. They put out 3 records, comped on a CD by Slutfish in 2002.

Billy writes "All hell would brake loose whenever the zombie mobile rolled into town to some unsuspecting dive. The Astro Zombies would book themselves to play "music" at bars in the middle of nowhere and then show up and wreak the place. First DJ Drunken Pat would turn on the blender he had sitting on his turn table and make this toxic mixed drink called the astro zombie which was offered to those who dared at the front of the stage. It was so strong you'd turn into a zombie. People would be stumbling mindlessly when the bass player, Jim Beam would start blowing himself up with firecrackers and hurl garbage bags of bloody meat at people in the audience. Usually the club owners would freak out at the out of control mayhem that resulted. They'd usually turn the power off midset but by then it was too late. Half the people had already left, The Astro Zombies made a mess and would never play that bar again. It was back in the zombie mobile and off to another unsuspecting town."
(For more on the Astro Zombies and the zombie mobile, check out the Slutfish site.)

The "Hey maaaaaaannnnnnn!" undercurrent and Syndrome's detailed history, leads me to think that this was one of old Billy boy's 8 zillion bands.

Here is a cut from the Astro Zombies split 7" with Sound Bite House. Enjoy some great sludgy psychedelic garage punk. --Scott S.

King Kong - Bring It On

2006-05-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

King Kong Bring It On 7" (Trash Flow, 1990)

Boy, how about those dumpy vocals? Sounds like he's reading the lyrics out of a spiral-bound notebook with his other hand jammed into the coat pocket of his dirty warmup jacket. Casual is the word, this guy is definitely not trying to 'sell' anyone that's he's reached his internal boiling point, and yet the unforced nature of the vocals is what makes this 7" by Chicago early 90s mini-institution King Kong work. There's alot to be said for the occasional heavy-lidded who-gives-a-fuck respite from 100-mph skin shredding gogogogogogogogogo; all scream and no soul made hardcore a metal-dominated wasteland for over 15 years running. This record reminds me strongly of the recorded ouevre of the Bay Area's quasi-legendary David Nudelman, who creeped out many an audience in a variety of fantastic psych-garage-punk bands like the Wild Breed, Three Stoned Men and the Resineaters. It also sorta reminds me of this mega-hyped 60s Swiss garage band the Sevens, who also sound like they are signing/playing under duress. So, it works as a good punker platter on that level, eh?

King Kong have other records out, they even graduated to the Drag City label at one point, but none of the subsequent releases have the basement vibe that this EP's got. Carpet sample-core. -Ryan W.

Coastersride - s/t

2006-05-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Coastersride s/t 7" (Savage, 1997)

First off, sorry for the delay (though why we are apologizing for givingyou free shit "not on time" is beyond me). Our Magic MP3 Making Machine has been making strange sounds lately. Kicking it doesn't do shit. Neither does shaking it. We'll figure out something.

Remember back in the late 70s when you picked up any record that looked new wave or punk? Of course you don't. But you do remember buying those same singles in a used bin some time in the 1990s. When you got home, sweaty in anticipation, your hands shaking, you place the new score on the turntable, drop the needle and...and...discover that The Doll 7" that had such a cool sleeve sucks hard. Thus the cliche "Don't judge a record by its cover" gains meaning.

The same lesson is applicable to records that have shitty covers. Take today's fodder. If I saw this Coasterride 7" sitting in a record bin circa 1997, I wouldn't have picked it up. A guitar and the band's name does not beckon me to buy. Add to the lesson don't judge a band by its name. Coasterride? My god, are these guys foriegn? In fact, they are.

Coasterride were a mid to late 90s punk band from, you guessed it, Japan. This Teengenerate insipired kerrrang is their only single, released on Sweden's Savage Records label. Enjoy. --Scott S.