Folks On Fire - Under A Hairy Sun

Label : Self-Released

Year : 1985

Country : US

Format : LP

Goofy, artsy punk from Louisville. Not the most experimental affair, but worth it for a listen that can be compared to blog darlings Proof of Utah.

Here

Gary Panter - Pray For Smurph

Label : Overheat Records - OVE-0102

Year : 1983 (RE 2008)

Country : Japan

Format : CD

Here's something I didn't know existed 'til a few months ago. The CD issue of this, that is. I had once heard an old vinyl rip of this album, weirdowave avant-country by the comic artist Panter. An apocryphal Ralph Records curiosity if you will.

Now a local comic book store came upon a batch of these, cutting the price down by magnitudes going by Discogs. It was really serendipitous, I opened a social media app one night (turning morning) and came upon it and gave it an order. The rest is history. 

Now given that this is by an artist of Panter's cache you would expect to find some sweet prints in the booklet. If you have been paying attention to the scans, you would know yourself to be correct. It also came with this sick flag, which I have hanging proudly in my closet at the minute.

This is a definitive "zolo" release, although I see that more as a pure aesthetic than an actual musical genre. If you haven't heard it before and my aforementioned description of the music doesn't register, think of it like the music he designed covers for in the past: Snakefinger, Residents (and Renaldo/the Loaf), Oingo Boingo, the good doctor Eugene Chadbourne, etc.... The herk and the jerk of a twang in a mode of new wave.

Don't be afraid to click the CD!

Reportaż - Reportaż / Muzika

Label : Tonpress - SX-T 129

Year : 1988

Country : Poland

Format : LP

Back from the dead, to give you some stuff to listen to. 

Maybe, if you want.

Two to make up for my absence with excellent, excellent RIO from Poland. An avant-bordello soundtrack, even. You might have heard these releases somewhere else on the internet but you might just like my rips better.

Here

Label : ADN - 25

Country : Italy

Year : 1987

Format : C60

Here

Defuser - World Suicide And Freeze Please

Label : Landslide Records - LSD-502

Year : 1982

Country : US

Format : 7 inch

Here's a real classic, straight from the underground bunkers.

Chiefly the B-side, which is atypically featured in prominence compared to the headliner Freeze Please. You might have heard it before on various platforms and differing qualities, but I figured I would throw my hat in the ring and post my own personal rip. Fresh! 

Defuser were a very intriguing project in the new wave oeuvre: frenetic synths match up to the frenetic vocalisms, a combo which really works as expected. Though that's a little vague, I'd let this speak for itself at 45 revolutions per minute.

 Here

While Defuser hasn't gotten the VoD treatment or a sniff of a CD retrospective, you can make do while someone picks up the pieces by going to their website that's packed with info and good old MP3s.

Down With People - Down With People

Label : Circularphile Records / Nadirean Extensions - NE002

Country : US

Year : 1990

Format : LP

That isn't how the Lambchop song goes, but I digress. Here today is a hidden, er, thing from the NYC underground. Not quite the Shimmy-Disc gem, but it's serviceable and might just grow on you and me. Horticulture.

Down With People (or DWP, not sure if they are the same) are an elusive little band, I can hardly find a peep about them on the internet. Does that make me a pioneer? Sons of Pioneers?
I dunno.

Sonically, this reminds me of the Fibonaccis. That's high praise, I love the Fibonaccis. Fibonaccis interspersed into the Downtown music scene seems money to me; something is missing however, it's not a golden ratio. Some sort of "indie" inflection throws me for a loop a bit, might be bias. Avant aspects lacking, but that's me being pretentious. I prefer to be portentous, respectively.

Here

Various Artists - Downtown NYC

Label : Virgin Records - 1-90950

Country : US

Year : 1988

Format : LP

The 80s music scene in downtown New York brought a lot of great stuff, including the barrage of eponymous Downtown Music projects, No Wave and other noisy cacophonies. Unfortunately, these scenes are not represented very well here, aside from some more obscure inclusions. It starts off with the title track, a very cheesy eighties anthem about living "downtown". So, yeah.

Some gems are to be found here, though. Tracks such as the second by Mark Johnson, who put out a classic Baroque pop private press album in the 70s. Another highlight is the contributions by Timber side project Rude Buddha and the post-No Wave of Ritual Tension. Some other good things to be found are the minimal synthpop of Soma Holiday and avant-folksong of Songs From A Random House. I don't really care for the rest, sadly. You might, though.

Here

Motor Totemist Guild - Sub-Mission / The Ballad Of The Thin Man

Label : Rotary Totem Records - RTSS002

Country : US

 Year : 1984

Format : 7 inch

Here
[Reupped, I just realized this was meant to be played on 45rpm]