God Mother & Country - Foot on the Rock

God Mother & Country existed for a short time and put out just this one 12" in 1985, on the Kaz label. Official band members where David Wright and Bruce Smith, Neneh Cherry's first husband and likely the reason she sings lead vocal on this track. Other Rip Rig & Panic alumni appear as guest musicians, the whole list being: Sean Oliver, Nick Straker, Paget King, Henry Defoe, Dave Defries, Ashley Slater, Simon Morton, and Afrodiziak. As for the sound it's pretty standard electrofunk, along the lines of the more commercial efforts of 400 Blows or Brilliant, though with a nice skronky sax solo at the end. The B-side is a dub version of the A-side. The record was cut with insanely high levels; I've done my best to tame them, but there's still some distortion and clipping in the rips. Get the vinyl rip here or here.

Junk - Continuation of Madness

Continuation of Madness is the third and final album by Bay Area acid-skronk quartet Junk, released in 1997 on their own Faffco Records label. The core trio of David Robbins (baritone sax), David Schumacher (guitar), and Frank Swart (bass) is intact from the previous album, while former drummer Diego Voglino is replaced by Malcolm Peoples. (See the previous entry for a full band bio.) The band's postpunk influences are on display here: "Ascending Thirds" is a fantasia on Liquid Liquid's immortal "Cavern" bass riff, and "Tippy Top" sounds like a lost SLAB! track. The full track list is:

01-Continuation of Madness
02-F U, Frank!
03-Stoppin' in Gilroy
04-Ascending Thirds
05-Stratesphere
06-Chutney con Carne
07-Leslie B
08-Tippy Top
09-Kojak Girl
10-Bowleeged Otis
11-Foreign Relations
12-Jive Picnic
13-Win Some, Lose Some
14-The Spoiling Kids
15-Junk

Malcolm Peoples was in turn replaced by Ian "Inkx" Herman; that lineup lasted for only a year and did not result in an album. Junk disbanded; Robbins, Schumacher, and Herman continued as Post Junk Trio, releasing four albums between 2001 and 2007. The last, Chinatown, is in print and readily available for purchase in mp3 format. The first three are more elusive, and may eventually grace these pages. In the meantime, get the Continuation of Madness CD rip here or here.

Junk - Kiss My Acid Jazz

Junk were an instrumental four-piece band who made music somewhere in the borderlands of acid jazz and skronk; the rhythms were too smooth for skronk, but David Robbins' baritone sax was too edgy for acid jazz. The band's bio from their seemingly abandoned website (last updated April, 2001) reads:

JUNK has been called a jazz band, a funk band, a jazzy-funk band, a funky-jazz band, an "anything but jazz" band, even (horrors!) an acid jazz band. While critics can't agree on how to define them, the listeners & dancers who have heard and seen JUNK will usually agree on this: they have a talent for moving their audiences (body and soul) and they do it intelligently, confidently, and without getting hung up on the labels others try to hang on them. Call it what you like--it swings, it grooves and occasionally it goes off the deep end. But label it, and the music will punch a hole through the box you tried to put it in.

JUNK's beginning can be traced back to 1988 when Dave Schumacher (guitar) and David Robbins (baritone sax) roomed together at Boston's Berklee College of Music, while Schumacher played with Frank Swart (bass) in a band that was to have a significant influence on JUNK. Six years later they all met again in the Bay Area and hooked up with Malcolm Peoples, the local drummer of choice for numerous funk/hip hop acts. Their first CD, JUNK was born out of jams worked out in a smoke-filled rehearsal space. The buzz got going right away. "A solid album," said Stepjazz magazine, "which really shows the possibilities of this music and this band." Urb agreed. "Quite against the pretty boy space cowboy pseudo-funkateer pretenders, they are willing to funk themselves into a cold sweat without apology or gimmickry."

Following tours of the West Coast, the band entered the studio with Philip Steir of Consolidated to record Kiss My Acid Jazz. A more varied CD than the first, KMAJ 's jazz/funk mix was spiced with some experimental cuts that raised a few eyebrows but also brought them critical praise, and national radio airplay. JUNK was nominated in the Outstanding Jazz Band and Jazz Album categories of the 1997 Bay Area Music Awards (Bammies).

The "band that was to have a significant influence on JUNK" would be Morphine, whose defining "low rock" sound is echoed in Junk's heavy bass-and-baritone-sax orientation. Get the CD rip of Junk's second album, Kiss My Acid Jazz (Faffco Records FAFFCD-02), here or here; check back in a week or so for their third and final album. (Have a rip of the first? Please let me know, I'm looking for one.)

Various Artists - Imminent 2

In 1985 and 1986 the Food Ltd. label released four compilation albums entitled Imminent 1-4. Each one was a superb sampling of UK indie acts of the day, cutting across all styles and genres of rock music. A rip of the first one, featuring exclusive tracks by Eric Random and Brilliant, among others, is available at the excellent but seemingly abandoned blog Dirk Wears White Sox. A rip of the second volume is available right here. On Imminent 2 we get skronk from Biting Tongues and Gasrattle, a shimmering synthpop ballad from Recipe, an early demo from 400 Blows, Karl Blake riffing on Bad Company (!) with the Shock Headed Peters, an extended soundscape from UV Pop, some hard Sheffield throb from Hula, grebo from Zodiac Mindwarp, and more noisy rock from the rest of the bunch. Some tracks are unavailable elsewhere, I think, though I'm not going to research each song. Here's the full list:

01 Kill Ugly Pop - Church of Bloody Deception
02 Biting Tongues - The Boss Toyota Trouble
03 UV Pop - Zuitar
04 Gasrattle - Beach Party
05 Recipe - Home's Over
06 Living In Texas - Hate Me More II
07 Shock Headed Peters - Head Thorax Abdomen
08 400 Blows - Strangeways
09 Sting-Rays - Never Had It So Good
10 Hula - Bad Blood
11 Deep Freeze Mice - Here Comes the Sun Explosion
12 Zodiac Mindwarp - Drug Shoes

Get the vinyl rip here or here. The LP came with a poster, too:

Flex 13 - Candy

Here's a belated return to my Peter Hope discography project. This time we have Candy, the second CD recorded by Peter Hope and his bandmate from The Box, Charlie Collins, as Flex 13. (See here for the first, Paint My Legs.) Recorded in 1998 and 1999, Candy is a livelier affair than Paint My Legs. "Nothing Starts" is a dead ringer for early Clock DVA (Charlie Collins period), and ex-DVA and Box-man Paul Widger adds guitar to "Leader of the Pack" (co-written by John Wills, who plays on that track and the other one he co-wrote, "Back of Your Mind"). Also guesting is Jonathan S. Podmore, a.k.a. Kumo (a.k.a. Jono), who plays theremin on "Picking Up Speed." Here's the full track list:

1. Listen Doctor
2. Nothing Starts
3. Birdman Falling
4. Uptown Crank
5. Grease Junkie
6. Picking Up Speed
7. Your Drugs Are Killing Me
8. Leader of the Pack
9. Ditch I'm In
10. Back of Your Mind

It's a fine addition to the Hope/Collins opus, and the last one that I'm aware of. (If you know otherwise, please let me know in the comments.) Get the CD rip here or here.

The Box - Great Moments In Big Slam

This post is made possible by a generous gentleman from Sheffield, who donated his copies of two records by The Box to fill in the gaps of the blog's Box discography. In 1983 Go! Discs released "Old Style Drop Down" from the Secrets Out album as a single; presented here is the 12" version, with an extended mix on the A-side and the original mix on the B-side, plus the non-LP track "Momentum." Then in 1984 The Box recorded the 8-song mini-album Great Moments In Big Slam and came as close to success as they ever would: their label Go! Discs had struck a distribution deal with Chrysalis. Unfortunately the increased marketing muscle could not sell the general public on The Box, who (thankfully) had not made any concessions to the mainstream in their recordings; on Great Moments In Big Slam Peter Hope and the crew are as skronky as ever. The Box were subsequently dropped from Go! Discs and went on to make just one more studio record (the Muscle In EP) before disbanding. Their final release was the live album Muscle Out, which is my only remaining hole in the discography. When I get ahold of it, and it's just a matter of time, be assured that I will post it here. Until then, thanks to our donor, here are Great Moments In Big Slam and Old Style Drop Down. (Or here.) The Box's reedman, Charlie Collins, is still active in the Sheffield free jazz scene, though he plays mostly percussion instruments now. See here for more info.

Pinski Zoo - The Dizzy Dance Record

In the same vein as The Box, Rip Rig & Panic, etc. (which is to say, no-wave free-jazz skronk, but without the vocals) was reedman Jan Kopinski's Pinski Zoo, from Nottingham. Or that should be is, since amazingly, the band is still active. Here is the info on this 1982 record, Pinski Zoo's second, from Kopinski's own website:

JAN KOPINSKI tenor / soprano saxophones / voice
STEVE ILIFFE electric grand piano / harmonium
TIM BULLOCK drums
TIM NOLAN bass
MICK NOLAN percussion

1. It’s a Monster Steve
2. Spasm and Split
3. Dizzy Dance
4. Erase My Memory

For this 12” mini LP, Jan collaborated with famous Dub producer, Adrian Sherwood, who produced it at Berry street Studios. Dizzy Dance is about trying to hear many harmonies and rhythms as if they were crossing the street at once and picking your way through it. Steve Iliffe’s use of the harmonium is an interesting clue to his later masterful use of sounds with keys and samplers in the 90’s.

It came in a plain white open-centered sleeve--at least mine did--so there's no cover art. That's okay, because the music is great! Get it here or here.

Update: a helpful chap has found a cover image for me, I've placed it below. I will eventually incorporate it into the archive file, re-upload, and re-link; in the meantime, right-click below as Save Image As...

The Box - Secrets Out

Continuing the catalog of Sheffield band The Box, composed of ex-Clock DVA members Charlie Collins (sax, flute), Paul Widger (guitar, vibraphone), and Roger Quail (drums), plus Terry Todd (bass) and Peter Hope (vocals), here is their first full-length LP, Secrets Out (Go! Discs VFM4, 1983). I've already written about The Box here, so I won't repeat it, except to reiterate that The Box's version of skronk/no wave is second to none. Pete Hope sounds like a cross between James Brown and Tom Waits after a triple espresso. Now that I've thought about it for a week, I've found a good comparison band for The Box: the Fire Engines. The Box produced the same kind of aggressive, abrasive, free-jazz/rock hybrid music, but took it even farther afield. Secrets Out contains a generous helping of twelve songs, though only one of them is over three minutes long. Get the album here or here.

The Men - Herminutics (Chicago, 1981)

I bought this record in a sale bin back in the 80s and was pleasantly surprised at the contents: while the band was from Chicago, the music sounded like it came straight out of the UK postpunk scene. Herminutics is a six-song EP with a "Dance" side and a "Listen" side. There's a remarkable breadth to the musical style from song to song; at different points the Men sound like all four of the Pop Group's splinter groups (Pigbag, Rip Rig + Panic, Mark Stewart + Maffia, Maximum Joy; that's all of them, isn't it?). "Sacrifice of the Gods," on the Dance side, sounds just like something from A Certain Ratio's first two albums (vocals aside) and benefits from a dual-bass lineup. The Listen side is weirder, opening with "Middle Man" and its processed spoken vocals which land somewhere between the bureaucratic paranoia of Mark Stewart and the psychedelic ramblings of The Mars Volta. The side closes with "Four D", possibly the weirdest piano ballad ever recorded. Who were The Men? The credits list them as Arturo Eduardo MacQuilkin III, Reggie (Mars) McFadden, Sven Herman, Jack Santee, and Steve Georgiafaundis. I've gleaned a little information on them from the web:

Men were a Chicago punk/industrial band from the early 80s, sharing or featuring ex-members of the more popular band The Mentally Ill. Founded by Snat 5 Records head Art MacQuilkin, they released a 12" in 1981. (The Chicago Punk Database)

There's also a brief discography on Collectorscum.com, which lists this EP and an album, Matrix of Compassion. I have that too and will post it here eventually.

How did The Men get so completely overlooked? They rank with the best postpunk/no wave bands of the era, yet I've never met anyone who has ever heard of them. I hope you will take the time to download this exceptional record and give it a listen. Get it here or here.

The Box

Despite the critical success of ClockDVA's 1981 album, Thirst, bandleader Adi Newton (Gary Coates) sacked the rest of the band and assembled a new one with the intention of going in a funkier direction. As Mick Fish tells it in Industrial Evolution:

One of Newton's new lyrics was the appropriately titled song "Bone of Contention". That's exactly what the newly proposed direction became. "We're not fucking playing that sort of stuff," was the reaction from the rest of the band. Newton, being from the same Sheffield soul boy clique as Oakey, the Cabs et al, was still obsessed with white boy funk. It was obvious that there was no way Newton was going to drag Paul [Widger, guitar] or Charley [Collins, sax] away from Captain Beefheart and towards James Brown. The end, when it came, wasn't so much a firework display as the fizzling of a spent sparkler. "Oh look, we've got a gig in Brighton," Paul noted on browsing the music papers. What the singer had in fact failed to tell them was that Clock DVA did indeed have a gig, but that a whole new band of musicians were being invited along for the ride.

Widger, Collins, and drummer Roger Quail recruited bassist Terry Todd to form The Box. Fish again:

The Box tried a number of singers, one who sort of whooped like a Red Indian chief but couldn't sing in tune. They even played two gigs with Mal [Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire] on vocals -- a marriage of styles that was quite successful in its own way.... The Box eventually advertised for a singer. By far the best response came from Pete Hope from Hertford. Vocally somewhere between Tom Waits and Howlin' Wolf, he moved up to Sheffield with his young family.

(See Destroyed By Gods on Noise Heat Power for an amusing anecdote about Pete Hope in the notes to Track 14, and be sure to download the Sheffield mix from the same page.) Skronk may have originated in New York, but no one did it better than The Box. They became the first band signed to Andrew MacDonald's Go! Discs, which would later find great success with the Housemartins, Billy Bragg, and Portishead, among others. There is no Peter Hope or Box material available on the web other than a four-song live set on Pandora's Music Box, so I'll take it upon myself to remedy that by offering up the first release by The Box, a self-titled five-song EP from 1983 (Go! Discs VFM1). Also highly recommended to fans of The Pop Group. Get it here or here.