ONECHORD

DIY graphics

2011-11-14T11:43:00.001Z

Extract taken from John Peel’s “Arena – Today Carshalton Beeches… Tomorrow Croydon” documentary. Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #37

2011-11-13T17:07:00.001Z

Czechs – Rough Cuts VA EP (1980)
“Brilliant minimal DIY.” Chuck Warner
“Inspired sampler of four bands (The Boywonders, The Ghoulies, The Czechs and the Decadent Few) two of which tell us their age on the cover (The Boywonders are all 16, The Czechs are all 17). Humbling thought that such musical spirit could be mustered at such a tender age. Great variety of flavors too: The Boywonders great inept, spooky DIY strut where the band might think that a reggae influence is prevailing, us knowing that the stumbleblock shuffle bears more resemblance to ancient Celtic airs, the unbearable beauty of the Czechs utter disregard of tone, meter and signatures or the Ghoulies oddly Booker T-esque chug n' scrape. The business, all and all.” Johan Kugelberg

Czechs – Suffocation
Get it here.

More info here and here.

How minimal can you get? #36

2011-11-06T10:54:00.000Z

Aural Indifference – A Selection VA LP (1981)
Denial – California Dreaming 7" (1982)
Different name for the same band from Sydney. More info here.

Aural Indifference – Baby Love

Denial – California Dreaming

Xmas Eve

2011-11-06T10:10:00.000Z

Originally posted February 19, 2008
Never been sure to start a project like this blog. First, because I am not a huge record collector; second, because I usually don't have interesting things to tell. But things like the following story make me change of idea and keep blogging. Here it goes:

It all started getting a sample of Homework #4 CD from Hyped To Death, listening to it and being blown away for the music – specially for the song “Pot of Gold” by a band called Yo. Almost at the same time, I was addicted to Collector Scum – in fact, I had printed out the International Discography of the New Wave – and one day, looking at the list of records, an intriguing black & white cover got my attention. It was from a band called Xmas Eve. What was my surprise when reading these lines about the record: “All four tracks are cool artpunk. Pre-Yo, similar sound but a bit punkier. [BD]” Wait a minute… Was there a band before Yo? Thanks again to Hyped To Death, I was able to listen to Xmas Eve for the first time, on the Homework #103 CD. The song was “My House”, and as what happened with “Pot of Gold”, it turned out to be a masterpiece.

Xmas Eve: Eric Capers (drums), Jerome Capers (bass), Bruce Rayburn (guitar). Catharine J. Anderson

Just few weeks ago, I discovered that Mutant Sounds had posted all Yo's stuff. I went nuts and asked for Xmas Eve as well. What happened then, there's no words to describe it: Bruce Rayburn, the original vocalist and guitarist of Xmas Eve / Yo got in touch via email… and he was so kind to send me the complete Xmas Eve record! I don't know how to give him thanks for this beautiful present and express how amazingly kind he is. Maybe this post will work.

Xmas Eve EP (1982)

By the way, this is the song that started everything:

Yo – Pot of Gold
Get it here.

Asbestos Lead Asbestos

2011-09-23T18:13:00.000+01:00

Originally posted December 20, 2008
“This is without doubt the sound of the mid 1980's from W11. Their first single and never bettered, despite being recorded in possible one of the worst studios in London. They had already been around for years on the free tours and playing in squats as part of the Street Level Organisation under the name The 012, who released the seminal 'Fish From Tahiti' and the even more seminal Weird Noise EP on Fuck Off Records. Anyway 'Asbestos Lead Asbestos' must be in the top 20 debut singles of all time? Discuss! But not with me.” Sean (Rough Trade)

World Domination Enterprises – Asbestos Lead Asbestos (1985)

The 012 – Asbestos Lead Asbestos (1984)
Get it here.

World Domination Enterprises – Asbestos Lead Asbestos + Interview

More info here.

Campingsex

2011-09-22T20:55:00.001+01:00

Campingsex – Fall ich hinein

This performance by Campingsex changed my life when I saw it on TV by pure chance years ago.

Church Police

2011-09-22T18:30:00.000+01:00

Originally posted September 12, 2007
“Once there was a band called The Maroons which tried to be the stupidest band ever. It consisted of: Bruce – organ, Dave – guitar, Tim – drums, and some other people. Some of the band got mad at Dave for getting so wasted at a big gig that he couldn't play. Bruce ended up kicking him out of the band. After that everyone slowly but surely quit the band until there were no more maroons. Then Tim & Dave decided to form the loudest, most depressing band ever. Tim wanted to sing and Dave continued to play guitar then they got Eric to play drums. They needed a bass player so Bruce joined and thus formed the Church Police. They played countless nigths at The Sound of music for no money but they didn't care too much. It was fun and worthwile. They opened for Flipper at the Throbbing Gristle show last march. And it was ‘a real scream’. Subterranean Records keeps saying that the show will be released on a live record. They even have it in their catalog but nobody has seen it yet.” Cometbus

Church Police (clockwise from top left): Tim (vocals), Dave (guitar), Bruce (bass), Eric (drums). Dave Blakeslee

“The Church Police were one of the earliest underground punk bands to emerge from suburbia. The band performed their first live gig at the Sound of Music, a cheap, sleazy and accessible club in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, in the fall of 1980. An amateur studio recording was made around that same time at Diablo Valley College, in which the band's guitars were plugged directly into the sound board because live electrical performances would have been too loud and disruptive to the nearby classes. Only the drums were mic'ed. A cassette recording of this session began circulating through the San Francisco scene, gaining particular favor with two bands who had identified themselves as ‘pet rock’ bands: Animal Things and Flipper. The Church Police, mainly through Bruce's persistence, were able to land weeknight gigs at the Sound of Music with some regularity. One particularly memorable show occurred when Bruce Loose, lead singer of Flipper, made his enthusiastic appreciation of the band highly visible by dancing wildly in front of the stage as they performed. This convinced many trendies in the audience to consider the Church Police ‘cool.’ Even though their musical abilities were lacking, they had a unique stage presence and represented something fresh and unpredictable within the local punk community.” Dave Blakeslee

Church Police poster

“Unfortunately, along with their lack of humor comes a lack of originality, which negates taking any of their copycat antics seriously. The Church Police play and everyone stares woodenly. What is this shit, man? We thought this was gonna be a punk rock show. To put it lightly, the Church Police are not your garden variety thrash band. Not knowing what to do with this strange emanation, the crowd takes the easy way out and snarls its hate. They spit, yell, make gestures, throw things, hit – you know, your typical Type A look-in-your-punk-textbook-do-I-look-mean-enough bullshit. The band reacts in an exemplary manner and just goes about their business. After all, they were asked to play, no one asked the crowd to come and make trouble. And 'twas surely a loutish crew. I mean, ready to kill. They really loved the band (even if they wouldn't see it that way) simply because they hated them so much. Finally the Church Police were pulled off stage, which was wise. I would like to see them play again. Their steadfast behavior at this show again proves the motto: Church Police is God. Church Police is Disco.” Eric Bradner

Church Police – The Oven Is My Friend

Church Police – Life Is Fun
Get it here.

More info here.

Vibrant Fiasco

2011-09-21T19:00:00.000+01:00

Originally posted June 12, 2009
“What a piece of shit!! Why don't you idiots out there send us somethingood.” Dave Damage's review on Vibrant Fiasco 7" (Flipside #22)

I like it when music is so bad that makes people get angry, because there's a point when the bad is so bad that it turns into good. Not everybody can appreciate that, though. That said, this song by this rare art punk combo from the Midwest is not so bad to be good. Instead, it is just great, catchy and addictive!

Vibrant Fiasco – Lizard Lips

By the way, this song also appeared on the Sub-Pop 7 compilation released in 1982.

More info here.

The Terrace scene: Wellington Punk & Post-Punk 1979–81

2011-09-15T21:08:00.000+01:00

“The Terrace scene in Wellington, an arty, vaguely nihilistic, vaguely decadent post punk scene unlike any other in the country.” Gary Steel

“The Terrace scene was so named because of the area of relatively cheap housing around which the people and parties moved, giving rise to a group of bands with similar musical taste and outlook. The scene began with ‘underground’ parties for the punk set, which began to feature bands, or just as often, jam sessions within a small group of like-minded people.” Wade Ronald Churton

“Wellington's emerging punk and post-punk scene made it's home in a couple of houses, (212 and 246 The Terrace) occupied by members of Beat Rhythm Fashion, RIOT 111 and others. Located only 5 minutes from parliament the ‘Terrace scene’ as it became known was a key location from 1979–81 with house parties by touring and local bands. It's place in the local scene was considered prominent enough to feature as the principle location in Chris Knox's documentary on the Wellington Scene featured below.” Up The Punks

Wellington Scene – Part 1

Wellington Scene – Part 2

“The Terrace scene spawned several shortlived bands, only one surviving into 1982. The overall sound was harsh and confrontational with a strong emphasis on improvisation, contrasting sharply with the other centers' general revved-up dance-pop zeitgeist. Punk here meant anti-stardom, and an attendant militantly uncommercial musical stance; art as opposed to crowd-pleasing pop. There was much more of a psychedelic influence at work; the Cure, the Fall, Beefheart, PIL… all in a punk-fuelled witches' brew and available at Thistle Hall, Billy The Club, or someone's party.” Wade Ronald Churton

Thistle Hall at the top of Cuba Street in a photo dated 1980.

Life In The Fridge Exists (LIFE)
“Life In The Fridge Exists could have been brilliant if they had practiced, but when they did practice, it was in front of an audience.” Alan Jimson

LIFE playing at Thistle hall.

“LIFE was largely the conception of artist/guitarist/vocalist Michael Gallagher, with vocal and musical support from Samantha Swan and her guitarist brother Nick. In the early days there was also guitarist/bassist Adrienne Hally. The drum stool was taken by a succession of candidates with varying degrees of ability over the band's chaotic six month existence, notably Wellington's own answer to Sid Vicious, sheep-immolator Rhys Bassett. If spontaneity and loose jamming was the prevalent attitude amongst the Terrace scene musicians, then the envelope-pushing LIFE made a positive virtue out of non-practice.” Wade Ronald Churton

LIFE, Billy The Club, May 1980

“In late 1980 LIFE recorded a number of original tracks at Sausage Studios, three of which feature on the **** (Four Stars) compilation of bands that made up the Terrace scene. Track one on this LP, Have You Checked The Children, is regarded by some as the theme song for this period of first wave Wellington punk/post-punk. The title references a 1970's slasher horror movie in which a babysitter is tormented over the phone by a unseen psychopath. LIFE's song neatly turns this around casting the children (who have all become ‘punks’) of Wellington's complacent middle class as the imminent threat to polite adult society. Wade Churton's 1999 book on New Zealand punk and post-punk from 1977–81 references this song in it's title. The group played in the Cuba Mall and Thistle Hall circuit during 1980–81 before splitting with guitarist Nick Swan continuing the use of music and ‘theatrics’ in New Zealand's first political punk band RIOT 111.” Up The Punks

Life In The Fridge Exists – Have You Checked The Children

Beat Rhythm Fashion
“This band is different – the two very British Birch brothers have spent most of their lives in Hong Kong and view New Zealand as a cultural wasteland. They don't even want to be associated with local bands. ‘We're a solar system band,’ Nino chips in. Even Kiwi drummer Glen whose nasal twang stands out from these toffee tones whispers ‘I hate New Zealand bands’.” Gary Steel

Beat Rhythm Fashion

“Formed by brothers Dan and Nino Birch in 1980 Beat Rhythm Fashion made some initial sporadic appearances as The Westown Quintet and The Mixers before settling on the BRF moniker. Conceived of initially as a studio only project the band recorded two tracks for the **** (Four Stars) album released in August 1980. Living in one of the flats (no. 246) that made up the vibrant Terrace scene the brothers appear playing in a living room and interviewed outside by Chris Knox in his documentary on the Wellington post-punk scene.” Up The Punks

Beat Rhythm Fashion playing and interviewed at The Terrace flats, Wellington 1980.

“BRF made wistful, introspective art-pop with complex arrangements and an immaculate sound (the production on their singles is uniformly excellent). They were a great deal less improvisatory than most of the other Terrace scene bands, but prone to preciousness and fussy arrangements which could become a minus (‘Art And Duty’, based on a Coleridge poem, sounds uncomfortably close to progressive rock).” Wade Ronald Churton

Beat Rhythm Fashion – Beings Rest Finally

Naked Spots Dance
“Originating from a High School garage jam in 1979 (Stephen Norris, Phil Harfield and Geoff Smith), Naked Spots Dance formed in 1980 with an original line-up of Kate Walker, Stephen Norris, Phil Harfield and Jenny Leyland and were an integral part of the Terrace scene with three songs included in 1980s' compilation album **** (Four Stars). Heavily improvisational and accompanied by an ethereal vocal style NSD were regarded as one of Wellington's best bands of the time, releasing one album and two EPs between 1981 and 1983.” Up The Punks

Naked Spots Dance in In Touch magazine.

“The music the early band made was recognisably punk but different; short and spiky songs alternated with long, rumbling, improvised epics going well past the three-minute barrier. Lyrics were discontented, sullen and often ‘you’ scenarios. Norris and Walker achieved a fine musical rapport early on with their highly individual yet complimentary styles; raw, sparse and scouring guitar scraped over a warm, fluent bass which provided both rhythm and melody. They took their time over the music, and would not make a live appearance until well into 1980.” Wade Ronald Churton

Naked Spots Dance – Governed By You
Get it here.

Shoes This High
“With an anti-pop Public Image Limited/Pere Ubu/Fall sound, Shoes This High were one of the key defining outfits of the post-punk era. Formed around the hub of Hawkins and Walker in late September [1979], Hayward joined on vocals in November, and the band began to have the familiar drummer problem. There were one or two more in circulation by this time, however, and the band tried a few out, playing increasingly over summer, which was rich with parties, Cuba Mall and Thistle Hall events.” Wade Ronald Churton

Shoes This High (Dec 1980). Pic by Peter Avery

“The band were plainly punk-based (though influences like funk and even disco were coming through) but shared little of the form's clichés. Plummer and Walker locked together to form one of the country's finest post-punk rhythm-sections; taut, slippery, staccato and even funky (and remarkably reminiscent of 1980s' Features). Fused with Hawkins' menacing jangle and unusual melody-lines, the three were exemplary improvisers who could extemporise on a theme on a par with most jazz-rock hotel outfits. Shoes This High were working with much more exciting rhythms, however.” Wade Ronald Churton

“Unfortunately for Shoes This High, their music is just too extreme, too intense for the average Joe Public who frequents The Last Resort, Willy's Wine Bar etc. The band aren't prepared to compromise their music to gain commercial acceptance… A Shoes This High concert can be a pretty intense experience. Chris and Jessica lay down a solid, rhythmic foundation around which Kevin weaves patterns of jangling, often discordant guitar. Above all this Brent spits out the words as if his life depended on it. A lot of people I've talked to about Shoes This High complain that they can only take so much of Brent screaming insults at the audience in the songs.” Dave Maclennan

Last gigs in Wellington, 1980

“I was living out in Wellington's suburbs. I was psycho. I was going off my tree. I just had the most violent thoughts about stuff.” Brent Hayward

“Inevitably this doctrine of ‘rile up the punters’, together with the band's singularly abrasive, difficult music meant that Shoes This High was always going to be the proverbial acquired taste, only ever appealing to a few fellow travellers and hardy souls (and very few hotel venues). From the word go they were destined for cult status for the whole of their 28-month existence.” Wade Ronald Churton

Shoes This High – A Mess
More info here and here.

* * *

Excerpts taken from the book Have You Checked The Children? by Wade Ronald Churton and the website Up The Punks – Wellington Punk Culture.

Cassandra's Ears

2011-09-05T00:36:00.000+01:00

“Dunedin was surely safer than many places in the country to be 'different'. (It still is.) It was also prime garage band turf, with the Dunedin Sound syndrome testament to that fact. Things could be tried out in (relative) safety, so even though they were not locals – not part of the Dunedin Sound scene per se – this was the perfect location for Aucklander Jan Hellriegel and her friends Venessa Anich, Felicity Rhind, Sarah Macnab and Meaghan Millar to form the next ground-breaking all-woman band. In doing so, they carved out for themselves a small but vital place within the rich and varied history of New Zealand rock music.” Ian Chapman

Cassandra's Ears

“It's any teenagers dream to be in a band. We will be rock stars and we'll be on the road together – forever. And for a time the dream is very real. We are five girls in various groupings, we travel up an down the country for five years. We record our tunes and grow into our 20s knowing the joy and challenge of collaboration. Life long friendships are firmly established and our creativity fed and honoured. In 1989 we play our last gig at the Powerstation and the dream comes to an end. We part ways and it's very sad but we are all the richer for our experiences together.” Felicity Morgan-Rhind

Cassandra's Ears flyer

“We toured the country countless times in an old Bedford van with a couple of cushions thrown in the back, played loads of orientation shows, got thrown off stage on occasion, released a five-track LP and a three-track EP, and apart from a $500 grant from the Ministry of Women's affairs we did this under our own steam.” Jan Hellriegel

Cassandra's Ears – My Command

* * *

Excerpts taken from the The Cassandra's Ears story CD. More info here.

Making Waves

2011-09-04T23:37:00.000+01:00

ISSUE #1 : AUGUST 2011 | buy |
A5 / 88 pages / English
Cover: Anna Nasty (Phoenix, US)
Contributors: Anna (Leeds, UK), Camille (Paris, FR), Constance (Rennes, FR), Darryl (San Francisco, US), Edu (Barcelona, ES), Jaspin (Auckland, NZ), Jenn (UK), Mary (Los Angeles, US), Jenny Woolworth (London, UK)

MAKING WAVES ZINE TAPE #1 | download |
01. Jeri Rossi - I Left My Heart But I Don’t Know Where
02. Dolly Mixture - Shonay Shonay
03. All Girl Summer Fun Band - Charm Bracelet
04. Finally Punk - Environmentality
05. Ludus - Too Hot To Handle
06. The Petticoats - I’m Free
07. Chalk Circle - Easy Escapes
08. LiLiPUT - In A Mess
09. The Bags - Violent Girl
10. Devil’s Dykes - Fruitless

More info here.

How minimal can you get? #35

2011-05-22T13:46:00.000+01:00

Concrete – Ghoulish Practices 7" (1981)
“Concrete once got yanked off an Xmal Deutschland bill for showing up to play with four Sony Walkmans and a banjo…” Chuck Warner (Hyped to Death)

Not sure if they considered themselves a minimal band, but one thing I am sure of: they got attitude and they must had been fun lads to hang out with.

Concrete – Uranium Plant
Get it here.

More info here.

Hose

2011-05-22T09:40:00.002+01:00

Originally posted June 27, 2008
Hose was the first band by now legendary cult figure Rick Rubin. What got my attention was the fact that Rubin was a really huge Flipper fan, and also that both releases made by Hose were not so well known. Maybe were those records not so great? Was Hose just a bad copy of Flipper? I couldn't disagree more! Hose was great noisy artcore – or call it as you want – at its best. Because let's face it… how can you go wrong with slow bass intros and feedbacks?

Rick Rubin

“A chubby NYU student from Long Island wearing tight leather pants and bullet belts, Rick was quick to throw dad's money around. His first Rock Biz foray – an uptown/downtown fusion gig with Heart Attack, Liquid Liquid and Treacherous Three at the Hotel Diplomat – was a total flop. Before he got involved with the Beasties, Rubin played in THE PRICKS and in HOSE – a funny Flipper-style act who'd do ultra-slow versions of Rick James' Superfreak and Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf.” Steven Blush (American Hardcore)

Rick Rubin and Mike Espindle performing at Maxwells around 1985. The Mystical Beast

“Flipper was a conceptual art project masterminded by a group of (relatively) old San Francisco punk hippies. No doubt, the first few singles and the Generic Flipper LP are crucial records, among my favorites. And Hose desperately wanted to make records that sounded like Flipper. But Hose were an uncalculated, reckless and downright foolish band, just happy to be there, pissing off their neighbors. Flipper is smart, Hose is dumb. And dumb usually wins in rock.” James Barber (Reckless Country Soul)

“Released in the same year as their other record, but unlike on the 12", their NYC adaption of the Flipper sound works pretty well here. Mobo and Zoo are extremely noisy mid-tempo hardcore songs with really evil feedbacs, similar to Flipper but not as weird; Girls is a fast simple thrasher. Cool EP.” Burkhard Järisch (Flex! #3)

Hose – Only The Astronaut Knows The Truth

Hose – Mobo

More info: Where’s Your Bag? and Rick Rubin, The Early Years (bottom of the page).

* * *

Last but no least, endless thanks to Rockin' Rex for being so extremely kind to send me the mp3 files and to Mike Cutlet for getting in touch.

In search of the catchiest garage-pop song ever recorded Pt. I

2011-05-22T09:29:00.004+01:00

Crystalized Movements – Mind Disaster LP (1983)
Grow-Up – A Manchester Collection V/A LP (1979)
The Numbers – Sunset Strip 7" (1980)

Crystalized Movements – Sandy Roy
Get it here.

Grow-Up – You Are The One
Get it here.

The Numbers – Sunset Strip
Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #34

2011-05-21T23:52:00.002+01:00

Six Minute War – 33.3 EP (1980)
Six Minute War – More Short Songs EP (1980)
Six Minute War – Slightly Longer Songs 7" (1981)
“Six Minute War arrived on the scene a bit late (1980), exploring minimal lengths as well as minimal lyrics and instrumentation. It'd be a stretch to call them England's answer to the Urinals, but you get the concept: their 11-song debut (…) was called 33.3; the next was More Short Songs (though there were only 5 of them). Their 4-track swansong was (naturally) Slightly Longer Songs. After that a couple of them morphed into Fallout, and Rob Taylor later joined Andrew Beer in Concrete and 400 Blows.” Chuck Warner (Hyped to Death)

Six Minute War. Messthetics #107

“One fanzine gave us a right panning because we never looked 'punk' enough – Charlie, Steve and I all had long hair… Another review said 'I know appearances aren't supposed to matter but the singer is a fat Angus Young clone and the rest aren't much better.” Rob Taylor (Six Minute War)

Six Minute War – Camera
Get it here.

Six Minute War – Sell Out
Get it here.

Six Minute War – Weathermen
Get it here.

More info here.

How minimal can you get? #33

2011-05-21T20:08:00.000+01:00

Anne Bean & P. D. Burwell – Low Flying Aircraft 7" (1979)
“Pulp: ‘Low Flying Aircraft’ is what happens when avant-garde meets punk on neutral ground, a wonderfully delirious disaster area. I love it.” New Musical Express

Anne Bean & P. D. Burwell – Low Flying Aircraft

More info: Pulp Music

Our record label could be your life #3

2011-05-21T19:43:00.001+01:00

NB Records
“(…) I met Nag and Bendle busking in Finsbury Park Underground station and stopped to join in. They had NB Records and when I said I wanted to make a record they said they'd put it out.” Giblet (The 49 Americans)

The only three bands that were part of NB Records were:

#1: The Door And The Window – Production Line 7" (1979)

“Having faithfully followed D.I.Y.'s minimum prescriptions for musicianship (none, initially: they learnt as they went), production values (ditto), and packaging (blank labels with stickers, hand-folded sleeves, thank-you credits listing just themselves), Nag and Bendle took it all one step further by abandoning all pretext of melody. (Their lyrics remained enjoyable but conventionally witty/Marxist/anti-rockist.) After two resolutely unhummable EPs on their NB label (for 'Nag & Bendle'), The Door and the Window's glorious din had annoyed and enraged much the press and large segments of the DIY 'establishment' as well… but it was pure aural catnip for anti-pop icon Mark Perry (Sniffin Glue/ATV) who promptly recorded two similarly tune-free 45s for NB –and modestly accepted a position as The Door and the Window's drummer. This line-up recorded TDATW's landmark LP, Detailed Twang.” Chuck Warner (Hyped to Death)

#2: The 49 Americans – The 14-Track Single 7" (1980)

“The idea of The 49 Americans was not to be a band. I hated the pictures of bands posing and the idea of 'finding a sound'. So I created the band as a kind of democracy that allowed anyone to be in it, regardless of ability, no fixed line-up, no fixed style.” Giblet (The 49 Americans)

#3: Mark Perry + Dennis Burns – You Cry Your Tears 7" (1980)

“What might seem to others to be harsh reviews were to us wonderful complimentary fodder; 'swamped in kettle and saucepan percussion', a 'hearty shabbiness', 'amateurism viewed as a material virtue rather than a spiritual one', and the best quote of all, 'makes Swell Maps sound like Led Zeppelin.” Nag (The Door And The Window)

Limbo District

2011-05-02T19:52:00.006+01:00

Limbo District – Carnival (Athens, GA, 1983)

More info: Limbo District – Athens' Biggest Puzzle (At Least To Me)

How minimal can you get? #32

2011-05-02T19:52:00.003+01:00

Doof – Exist 10" (1981)

Doof – Treat Me Like (The Man I Am)
Get it here or here.

Campaign for musical destruction

2011-05-02T19:46:00.004+01:00

How to be a 12 year old virtually destroying a recording studio, not once but three times.

The Prats – Inverness
Get it here.

Revo – Blah Blah Blah
Get it here.

The Silver – Do You Wanna Dance?

Addendum:

The Sextons (pre-Lärm) – Do You Wanna Dance?

How minimal can you get? #31

2011-05-02T19:46:00.002+01:00

Partly Cloudy – Excess Verbiage LP (1986)

Partly Cloudy – Bus Ride
Get it here.

Dybbuk

2011-03-05T20:23:00.003Z

Dybbuk – Ale čert to vem (1985)

How minimal can you get? #30

2011-01-25T18:52:00.000Z

Come – Come Sunday 7" (1979)
The very beginning of Come Organisation.

Come – Come Sunday

DA

2011-01-05T18:40:00.001Z

DA – Dark Rooms (1981)

“Chicago is funny in that they have their ears focused intently on what the hell is happening in Britain while ignoring our own shores. DA is a classic example in that even before one side is over, you're muttering to yourself; now they sound like something I've heard before, if I could only place it. Trouble is, you do finally figure it out… only to realize that this town is full of technicians, who while they may be very competent, don't have an original idea among them. I'm almost embarrassed to say who they sound like, the resemblance is so clearcut. Alright I'll spill the beans, the band I'm refering to did a song called 'Happy House', which comes closes to what DA sounds like. A little like any of the unsteadily wailing cuts off of 'The Scream', if you happen to need more of a hint. DA sounds fine, recorded very well, very clean, but I just don't have an appetite for this kind blatant emulation.” Dave Stimson (Touch & Go #15)

How minimal can you get? #29

2010-12-30T08:58:00.000Z

The Four Plugs – Wrong Treatment + Biking Girl 7" (1979)
“The Four Plugs – Biking Girl (Disposable Records UK 1979) The subtle charm of marginal culture: Truly marginal culture where 1000 singles were pressed more than 22 years ago. How many got lost? How many are never being played? How many are stored in a box in the attic? How many are being played repeatedly on turntables that cost ten times as much as the recording and pressing of this given 45? 'She used to be my biking partner ? she used to be my biking girl. We used to go for rides in the country side'. A true punk rock/diy statement issued by the Damaged Goods people, who knew their Chesterton and Thomas Browne.” Johan Kugelberg

The Four Plugs – Biking Girl
Get it here.

Chalk Circle

2010-12-29T10:11:00.000Z

Chalk Circle – Side By Side & Reflection (Live @ dc space, 1982)

“Chalk Circle played three out of our four shows at dc space, which was another really great place to see bands. It was a small artist-run performance space that had all sorts of music and art events, including shows like Sun Ra and Laurie Anderson and film screenings of underground and experimental movies. It had a very intimate, friendly, comfortable vibe, but I had to walk past the drug dealers, porn shops, and rats to get there. It was at 7th & E, NW, right around the corner from the original 9:30 Club. At that time the area was known as the red light district. But once you were inside dc space, you felt safe and welcomed, like you were in a friend’s living room. Almost every punk / hardcore band in DC in the 80s played there at one time or another. Chalk Circle never played outside of the DC area, unfortunately. It wasn’t like today where it’s easy to book shows in other cities. There was no infrastructure built up, no easy way to communicate other than by letter or phone (and remember this was before answering machines), no easy way to find out about places to play. And it was doubly hard for girls to tour. It was a big achievement for us to have played in the DC area, although I wish we’d been able to tour the US. When we played our first show at dc space in July 1981 (with Sally Berg of REM — later Egoslavia — borrowed on bass), we were the first all-female band to have played in DC since the 1940s!
Sally worked for District Curators, which was the company run by Bill Warrell that owned dc space. Sally then worked at the 9:30 Club with Tamera, and that’s how we met Tamera and got her to be our bass player. Tamera was originally a guitarist. She didn’t play with us at that first show, but she played with us at our second show at dc space, which wasn’t until Feb 1982.” Sharon Cheslow

Chalk Circle at dc space: Sharon Cheslow and Mary Green (1982).

“Other than punk and the music that evolved out of that, Chalk Circle loved a lot of glam rock, folk rock, psychedelic music, soul, and funk — especially go-go. Go-go was a style of funk native to DC that was very percussive and rhythmic, with lots of repetitive call-and-response vocals, so people really got into a groove at shows. It had a lot in common with hip-hop. There was a great local funk scene in DC, with bands like Trouble Funk and Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, and it became known as DC go-go.” Sharon Cheslow

“The two songs on the Mixed Nuts comp, 'The Slap' and 'Subversive Pleasure', were taken from our second Inner Ear demo. Those two songs, plus most of the songs we released on WGNS cassettes, will be released on vinyl with digital download in early 2011. Mississippi Records and Post Present Medium will be doing a split-label release. The LP will be titled Reflection, which is the title of one of the songs from our first Inner Ear demo, and it will come with a 16-page booklet. The booklet includes liner notes by Don Fleming, photos, and some press clippings.” Sharon Cheslow

Chalk Circle Reflection LP out in February 2011.

Meanwhile, please visit Decomposition – Chalk Circle for more information.

* * *

Excerpts taken from an interview with Sharon Cheslow in November 2010.

Earth Dies Burning

2010-12-26T11:06:00.000Z

Earth Dies Burning – Another Six Year Old (Live @ New Wave Theatre, 1982)

Earth Dies Burning: relics from the valley of the bored teenager

Shelley's Children

2010-12-12T11:00:00.001Z

Originally posted December 13, 2008
“Shelley's Children are bright enough to make superb female harmonies over buzzsaw pop guitar protest songs with ace lyrics... and just dumb enough to be anarchists. Long time since our Billy wrote a song quite this good. Pull your socks up, lad.” Steven Wells – NME (30 March 1991)

Steph, Greg, Imogen, Neil, Coral (the final Shelley's Children lineup).

“Like a slightly off-key Calamities or Gymslips, this band features female vocals set to very catchy tunes that sometimes cloy. Still, the better songs on the 45rpm side leave a solid impression. Pretty good.” Maximum Rock'n'Roll (Sept '90)

“And speaking of Shelley's Children, here they are with their own single. A comparison to Kirsty MacColl springs directly to mind, not simply because it's a girl singer, but the voice is not dissimilar and the songs are like Kirsty at her best. The top side is a clever piece of Folk-Pop from this big band whilst the flip includes Jack – which starts with a nursery rhyme introduction before crashing into an upbeat song – and Waiting For The Weekend, which is more of the same. Highly recommended.” Steve Smith – Spiral Scracth (May 1991)

Shelley's Children – Born Too Late

Shelley's Children – Elvis Says

Shelley's Children – Every Town
Get it here.

Shelley's Children Myspace

Our record label could be your life #2

2010-12-03T18:41:00.002Z

Subterranean Records
San Francisco's first hardcore label, the US's first industrial label.

“Subterranean Records for me is one of the best examples of what a good quality independent label is all about. Take a look at their catalog: Z'ev, Flipper, Nervous Gender, Minimal Man, Chrome, Leather Nun, Dead Kennedys, Code of Honor, Fried Abortions, Wilma, Monte Cazazza, Factrix... Quite an odd assortment wouldn't you say? The thing that separates Subterranean I think from most of the others is the chances they take by releasing unusual, unproven artists who are different from the norm. (And I'm talking within an underground context). Let's face it. Safe is boring and different music and new ideas is where it's at, folks.” Suburban Relapse #11

“We're much more interested in experimental kinds of things – closer to street level kind of music, the kind of music being made by hordes of kids just picking up guitars and synthesizers and making music. It's modern urban folk music. It reflects people's daily experiences and how they live and have to try and cope with life in a nitty-gritty world.” Mike Fox & Steve Tupper

“Everybody's trying to figure out what's cool. Right now what's cool is what's dead. I wish people would stop worrying about what's cool and start trying to do things that are so new and challenging that they can't be ignored.” Mike Fox & Steve Tupper

The first three releases were:

#1: Various – SF Underground 7" (1979)

#2: Society Dog – Working Class People / Bad Dreams 7" (1980)

#3: Various – Live At Target LP 1980

Factrix – Night to Forget

Nervous Gender – Miscarriage

More info: Subterranean Records – An Uncompromising Vision of Luxury since 1979.

Kleenex Pt. 3

2010-11-30T16:46:00.000Z

LiLiPUT – Turk / Split live

How minimal can you get? #28

2010-11-30T16:31:00.002Z

Precision Bearings – Precision Bearings EP (1981)
This was the first release by Fowl Records – the same record label that put out vinyls by Urban Assault, Verbal Abuse and the Fuck-Ups. Yes, it's hard to believe now but there was a time when Hardcore, avant garde and experimental music were hand in hand.

Precision Bearings – Don't Fall Down
Get it here.

Guerrilla gigs – Live from a car park

2010-11-30T16:08:00.001Z

Kilgore Trout – Cataract Jack / English Never Listen (Live From A Car Park, Nottingham, 11/06/1987)

The Membranes – Shot By Own Gun

Our record label could be your life #1

2010-11-30T15:58:00.006Z

Ron Johnson Records
“Ron Johnson Records was an UK independent record label based in Long Eaton operating between 1983 and 1988. The label contributed five tracks to the NME's C86 compilation.Run by Dave Parsons, the label released records by artists such as Big Flame, The Shrubs, A Witness, The Great Leap Forward, Stump, The Mackenzies, Twang and The Ex. Despite the press attention and critical acclaim for the label's bands and releases, sales were insufficient to make the label profitable and financial difficulties brought it to an end in 1988.” Wikipedia

The first three releases were:

#1: Splat! – Yeah The Dum Dum 7" EP (1983)

#2: Splat! – Bloom 12" EP (1984)

#3: Big Flame – Rigour 7" EP (1985)

Splat! – Yeah… The Dum Dum

Splat! – A Foolish Crawl
Get it here.

Big Flame – Man Of Few Syllables (Live in Plymouth, 1985)

More info: Ron Johnson Records – An appreciation

Jeri Cain Rossi (Your Funeral / Black Cat Bone / Dolly Dillon)

2010-10-09T14:58:00.017+01:00

Originally posted March 16, 2008
Following the recent post about Frantix and Denver underground music scene, here it is this one dedicated to Jeri Cain Rossi, vocalist of the legendary band Your Funeral. It may sounds a little bit ridiculous to you, but I remember falling in love with this band the first time I saw its 7" sleeve, even before being able to listen to its music. I didn't notice that Jeri formed Black Cat Bone until I got Homework #10 – with their impressive song “Judas Tree” – and I realized that Jeri was, in fact, their singer.
Since early 80s Jeri has been playing music, writing novels and doing films. She lives now in San Francisco. These two songs are from years 1985-86, when she was playing with Black Cat Bone and was living in Boston. It seems that BCB were quite popular on college radios back then, and I really can understand why: they were simply amazing.

Your Funeral: Karen, Cleo, and Jeri, 1982. Duane Davis

“I met Karen from hanging out at art gallery openings, gigs. She had spent time in London and was very cool & stylish and had big aspirations. We became friends to start a band, a British influenced Cure‑ish kinda band which became Your Funeral. I knew guitar from playing folk bars in college and she picked up bass. We met Cleo who was more into the Ramones. She was in an all girl band called The Guys.
At the time my musical style was more rootsy and pop, case in point: I Want To Be You. Besides the Cure I was also influenced by Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division, and especially The Gun Club (though you can’t tell by our music). The Gun Club had toured to Denver and Boulder in ’81 and that was the first time a performance changed my life. The other time was when my band opened for The Birthday Party in ’83. I wasn’t the same after either those shows.
My lyrics were way depressing, dark. By the age of twenty four I had lost a boyfriend in an apartment fire and my father to depression. I took their deaths incredibly hard. Thus the name: Your Funeral. A little‑girl‑lost take on the impermanence of nature. Karen was way into it as well, but our dark, unsmiling broodiness drove Cleo crazy.” Jeri Cain Rossi

Your Funeral 7", Local Anesthetic, 1982

“After the initial all girl trio disbanded I reformed with Phil Teague and Michael Sidlow and that was the best formation of Your Funeral. We were loud and noisy and crazy great. I played bass. Phil played a noisy noisy rootsy style on his Fender Jaguar and Michael played drums. I threw out most of my songs except for a few and we added other songs that Phil wrote. By this time I was throwing out the gothy British thing and going for the Americana roots thing. We had volatile personalities and unfortunately we didn’t last long. The day we got the Birthday Party gig, was the day they both quit. I asked some friends to fill in and opened for the Birthday Party and it was great, but I always regret I didn’t beg Phil and Michael to let bygones be bygones and do the gig because it was truly one of the best bands I was ever in. I don’t even have a practice tape of us.” Jeri Cain Rossi

Black Cat Bone @ Johnny D's, Boston, 1986. Wayne Valdez

“The Boston scene in the 80s was incredibly inspiring with the Lyres and the Flies and later the Titantics. So many great bands. I moved out their with Michael from Your Funeral. We had patched things up and had done a punk folk duet called No Time For Flowers. Michael didn’t like Boston and moved back to Denver but I stayed and started Black Cat Bone. We had a bit of success and started getting great opening slots around town for bands such as Foetus and Sonic Youth. I had a few side bands also: Death House Pussy, Trashed Out Lez Boys, Hogtied… I can’t remember them all. After that I gave up music for a while, started writing fiction, went into the MFA program for filmmaking. When I got my MFA I moved to NYC for two years and worked in the film industry. No music.

    It wasn’t until I moved to New Orleans that my music was resurrected and I was in the greatest band of my life thus so far: Dolly Dillon. We were stripped down Americana and it was divine. The Dolly Dillon recordings are pretty much my favorite. I had finally come into my own as a songwriter and a singer and guitar player. And we went NOWHERE! After Dolly Dillon I solo’d a lot. Focused on my fiction writing, had two books published, had two plays produced.
    After Katrina I moved to San Francisco. The weather is nice. But I left my heart in New Orleans.
    By far Boston had the most bang for the buck as far as great music. But there’s something about New Orleans that lures me back again and again.” Jeri Cain Rossi

Jeri Cain Rossi, 1995. Jim Merrill

Black Cat Bone – I Need A Jerk Like You

Black Cat Bone – If Loving You Is Wrong

Dolly Dillon – Soldier Of Love (New Orleans, 1995)

* * *

Excerpts taken from an interview with Jeri on Summer 2010. My deepest gratitude, Jeri!

How minimal can you get? #27

2010-10-03T09:28:00.001+01:00

Phonophobia – s/t 7"
“Phonophobia was a studio-band. Phonophobia never performed live. Phonophobia was located in Bremen, Germany.”

The only pressphoto of Phonophobia.

“Phonophobia had three members: Bine Linden, she is not into music anymore. A.S. (who wants to remain unnamed), he became a christian some years ago, I think he is making music in church sometimes. He was our recording-man (cause he owned the studio in which we worked). Harald Falkenhagen, I am a visual artist, check out my website if you are interested in my work.”

“First recordings are dated late 1979, last recordings were made in 1983. In 1980 we released the only record, a single with three tracks, 1200 copies were made.” Harald Falkenhagen

Phonophobia – Der Hit
More info here.

No Trend, No Scene, No Movement: No Trend, the early years

2010-10-02T08:21:00.002+01:00

Originally posted September 17, 2007
“No Trend fancied itself a sort of DC harDCore scene gadfly, razzing the scene from just outside the Beltway, pointing out its hypocrisy and conformity. In fact it was a fantastically creative and energetic scene, but it did bear some criticism, and No Trend felt it should provide that.” Michael Salkind

Michael Salkind, No Trend's first drummer, 1981. Lloyd Wolf

“No Trend's earliest conception, I think, was a briefly lived band called the Aborted. Jeff Mentges was the singer and Bob (I don't know his last name) the bass player, with 12-year-old guitar genius Brad Pumphrey the only person in the group who could play. It was my first gig drumming, and was well before I was able to play (perhaps that ability didn't come to me until at least after the contents of this CD, but if that's your opinion, keep it to yourself). We practiced in Bob's parents's basement in Maryland, perfecting such politically cutting material as 'Drive Fast, be an Ass' and 'Who's a Dick? Merv (Griffin).' We played one gig, at a party, with Government Issue, sometime during the summer of 1981. Our other two scheduled gigs were both canceled, and then I left for a year of college, at which point the Aborted probably ended.” Michael Salkind

Bob Strauser @ Lansburgh's, 1983. Jim Saah

“After college, which for me was about as much of a success as the Aborted, or less, I returned to DC and joined up with the burgeoning United Mutation, part of the Northern Virginia Hardcore Scene. I got kicked out in late 1982 for being unable to keep a tempo, something which United Mutation actually expected form a drummer, and was soon called by Jeff, who was now fronting a band called No Trend. They had a gig coming up, and had lost their drummer, and so I agreed to give it a go. It took the long lonely trip to Olney, Maryland, several times, tried out for the band, and then rehearsed several times. In the group was Jeff, still singing, and Bob (from the Aborted) still playing bass, and some guy named Frank who could torture a guitar like nobody's business. I think it was Frank who wrote all or most of No Trend's songs, and he's the guy who drew the cover of this CD (also the art work from No Trend's first EP, using the name Jim Jones; but Frank was quiet about his contributions.” Michael Salkind

Jeff Mentges @ Lansburgh's, 1983. Jim Saah

“No Trend was lucky (?) enough to have been picked up and brought under the wing of Steven Blush, an American University student who, as one half of what was to become Dog Bite Productions, produced many punk shows in the DC area. He became our manager, and we became an opening act mainstay for such bands as the Dead Kennedys and TSOL. We weren't very well liked by the more mainstream DC punk rockers, but developed a weird, fringe, suburban Maryland following, and even some support from the local rock critics (I was one of them, so that connection didn't hurt either). Still despite our rather rapid rise, the association with Steven Blush was one akin to selling ones soul to Beelzebub.” Michael Salkind

Steven Blush, DC, 1981. Steven Blush

“They hated everyone and everything; their grinding Flipper/PiL onslaught constituted a complete fuck-you to DC scene conformity. When I met 'em, they were shoving flyers that read 'No Trend, No Scene, No Movement' up all the Georgetown Coke machines frequented by Straight Edge types.” Steven Blush

“Mass Sterilization Caused By Venereal Disease by No Trend: that's the way anybody with any brains'd approach it if they still wanted to make really loud hard music in 1983. You had to do a Big Black or a Hose or a No Trend. You had to turn the music inside out, to the point where Hardcore kids were gonna hate it, so hopefully you'd find smarter people who still liked the dictates of aggressive music but weren't Hardcore.” Jack Rabid

“In March of 1983, we decided it was time to lay down some tracks, and we spent a fruitful day in Don Zientara's Inner Ear Studio, Arlington, Virginia, where all the hardcore bands recorded at the time. We recorded nine songs, three of which were destined to become No Trend's first record, simply entitled:

Skin-shedding “snake people”
the Man who gave birth
Humans with horns
Famed giants and dwarfs
The woman with 52 lb breast
Hideous cannibal rites
A 169 year old man
Siamese twins who married
The “leopard” family & much more!

Right after that we began planning our first trans-continental tour, a little summer jaunt planned to promote the EP which, by the way, actually saw the light of day right after we returned; not a lot of good that did us. The tour took place in June of 1983. We rented a station wagon and drove, within the span of three weeks, some 8500 miles, the four band members, our manager, and all of the equipment in this one car.” Michael Salkind

No Trend @ 1349 Ogden, Denver, June 15th, 1983

“Right after we got home, the EP finally saw the light of day, the song “Teen Love” becoming a minor indie hit, garnering some positive reviews as well as radio airplay in several cities including Boston and San Francisco. My departure from the band was an imminent and mutual decision, though I did manage to play one last gig, in July at a place called Oscar's Eye in DC. I received 25 copies of the EP as my divorce settlement, and went on to play in a variety of bands in and around the DC area. None of them ever attained the status of No Trend, nor did I ever lose as much money and dignity.” Michael Salkind

No Trend @ Oscar's Eye, July 25th, 1983

“No Trend – the anti-DC DC band, to a fault. Their sound had more in common with Flipper than anything from the East Coast. They probably picked that just to annoy people. I first met Jeff and Frank when they came up to me at Yesterday & Today – 'Do you hate John Stabb?' 'Well, no, not really.' 'Do you hate Ian MacKaye?' Just real grim, negative stuff. I said, 'Stay in touch and send a tape.' The tape had more humor to it, but a much more fatalistic view than most bands. Frank told me everybody in the world should stop having kids as a solution to overpopulation. I've heard Frank killed himslef. He saw the big piture too clearly but wasn't able to get pleasure out of fighting it.” Jello Biafra

No Trend – Hanging Out In Georgetown

No Trend – Purple Paisleys Make Me Happy

No Trend – Teen Love

No Trend circa 1983 in a Los Angeles studio. Featuring members: Jeff Mentges, Frank Price and Jack Anderson. Manager Steven Blush subs for AWOL drummer, Greg Miller. Shot by Al Flipside for Flipside Videos.

* * *

Excerpts taken from No Trend: The Early Months CD. Get it here.

More info here and here.

Hate from ignorance: A critical view on Hardcore (in three songs)

2010-09-29T17:05:00.001+01:00

Empty Rituals – Hardcore
Get it here.

Mr. Epp – Mohawk man
Get it here.

Meat Joy – Proud to be Stupid
Get it here.

Occult Chemistry

2010-09-18T08:13:00.002+01:00

Occult Chemistry – Fire (Destroy Create)

Happy music doesn't have to be dumb!

2010-09-18T07:39:00.003+01:00

Or the Story of The 49 Americans
“The 49 Americans were an experiment in the pursuit of happiness. We were playing because we wanted to play. Because we enjoyed being together and seeing what each other could do. Musicians and non-musicians surprising each other. We did not take ourselves seriously, but we were serious about that. In the increasingly global market place, there is less and less room for individuals at the top. So we celebrated, not being at the top, but simply being together. Like the Statue of Liberty we held up a shining torch of self-entertainment! Saying: Have fun! Play! Participate! Everyone should be allowed to be an American. Like it says on the dollars: E pluribus unum!”

“All kinds of music are created equal. No music is more important than other music in a democracy. We believe in freedom. Freedom from everything, including lack of ability. In early American times, when there was a tradition of patchwork quilt making, the last piece of patchwork was always placed incorrectly in order to emphasise that man was not perfect. The 49 Americans have continued this traditional practice in their own music, accepting the subtle variance of the pieces they play through the medium of human error.”

“The 49 Americans were an experiment in the pursuit of happiness. Happy music doesn't have to be dumb.” The 49 Americans

The 49 Americans – It's time

Read the Incompleteable Story of The 49 Americans.

Jungle Nausea

2010-09-18T07:18:00.000+01:00

Jungle Nausea – Live (1982?)

Nuclear Crayons

2010-09-06T17:39:00.002+01:00

Originally posted August 23, 2009
This post tries to be a little homage to an utterly amazing band that deserves a lot more recognition than they have nowadays. The Nuclear Crayons made, in my opinion, truly amazing top notch noise, and Laura Lynch was such a terrific singer/performer it's hard to describe. Don't forget she created Outside Records as well, the record label that released the legendary Mixed Nuts Don't Crack compilation.

“The Nuclear Crayons were formed in 1981 by Lynch LaVoison (Laura Lynch) and Darin Drake, quickly adding in Bernie Wandel and Kendal Church by 1982. They played the Washington DC Metropolitan area underground music venues from approximately 1982 through 1984. Places such as the 9:30 club, Marble Bar (MD), Gay Pride day, Lost & Found, and various sundry joints.”

Nuclear Crayons (Darin Drake, Bernie Wandel, Kendall Church, and Laura Lynch). Laura Lynch

“Lynch was unable to gain support for the Nuclear Crayons through the now burgeoning Dischord Records, the sound wasn't right & the Nuclear Crayons weren't officially part of the 'Georgetown Punk' group and so didn't fit the bill. But Lynch was impressed with the 'do it yourself' attitude of Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson so she started up a Label called Outside Records. It was this label that the Nuclear Crayons, in 1982, released their first 7" vinyl 3 song EP with 'Outsider', 'Teenage Suicide' and 'Political Punk'. This record was sent to Jello Biafra who reviewed it in Maximum Rock & Roll giving the band a label of 'disturbing' to the sound. Folks took this as a good review and the small supply of approximately 250 vinyl EP's were sold out within a few short months.”

Laura Lynch at TGYA, 1982. Leslie Clague

“in 1980 i went to the closeout sale of a big store like Kmart called Korvettes and in the sale (for $5) i purchased a 6 foot long blue crayola crayon which was my inspiration for the name 'Nuclear Crayons'. I then started going to these 'progressive' rock shows (later called punk) at a club in DC called the 9:30 Club. there i saw this hideous creature recoilled in a corner and after several shows i finally got up the nerve to approach her and speak to her. i told her i was a guitarist and wanted to dabble in this new punk medium genre and would she like to do some vocals (not knowing or caring if she could sing or not!) WELL..i gave her my phone number three times and on the fourth time i saw her i asked her why she hadn't called and she confessed she thought i was just trying to pick her up...hahaha so i told her nononono dear, I AM GAY and you are really not my type!!! well after that she promptly showed up on my door step the next day (scaring the bejesus out of my neighbors and my roomates) and we promptly wrote like five songs that first day. we wrote, 'outsider' 'political punk' 'what's wrong with us' and two more i don't remember the titles of right off hand. it was her singing and me whaming away on my acoustic ovation guitar and she said Oh you have to get an electric guitar. so i went out and bought for $99 on of those mini stratocasters (released and designed by ZZTop's lead guitarist...but they don't make them anymore...mine was stolen in san fran....sad) and a Black widow Peavy 500 watt amp...so she comes over the next day and i plug in and slam my first chord and knocked the pictures off the wall in the house. needless to say she loved it and from then on we were 'electric'. i then named us and she put out some ads for a bass player and this kid justin answered and he played with us for the first year both recording and doing some live shows. then he left to go away to college and we got bernie and kendall and the rest you know. jello biafra came to see us at the 18th street studios and all i could hear during the entire show was him yelling Turn it Up!” Darin Drake

“Like all bands, we all had shortages of places to play, so we had to be creative about it. Our guitar player, Darin Drake, who was gay, got us jobs a lot of places bands usually wouldn't play. The first show the Nuclear Crayons played was a song writing contest at a drag queen show. The Nuclear Crayons took second place under somebody doing Diana Ross. We also played Gay Pride Day and were written up by the Washington Blade who said, 'The festival went wonderfully after a false start by a band who gave punk rock a bad name.' Most interesting was when we played Edith Massey's birthday party at the Marble Bar in Baltimore, where all kinds of local Baltimore color showed up for the event. The whole event took on a carnival-like air. The hardest thing was trying to hold the audience's attention. There's a guy at the bar yelling, 'Shut up! I can sing better than that… you call that singing?!!!' The bartender broke a bottle over the guy's head. The whole night was so bizarre. The act before we went on was a fire eater. How do you follow a fuckin' fire eater?!!” Kendall Church

“The only Nuclear Crayons show I played sober was at Gay Pride Day and that's because the beer was on the other side of P Street Beach and I was still on my crutches and I couldn't make it all the way down there.” Bernie Wandel

Nuclear Crayons at 18th Street Studio. Jim Witlaw

“Totally weird & psychotic DC punk, the bass is mixed real loud, the female singer is real scary, and the music is just unexplainable. Sick!” Burkhard Jaerisch, Flex! Book #2

Jeff Bale (from Maximum Rocknroll #10, December 1983)

Nuclear Crayons – Nuclear Crayons
Get it here or here.

Nuclear Crayons – Political Punk
Get it here.

Nuclear Crayons – What's Wrong With Us
Get it here.

Nuclear Crayons – Teenage Suicide (Live)

Nuclear Crayons – Anarchy Poseurs (Live)

Catwalk – Live at DC (1983)

You can also see the “official“ Catwalk video here, although it's quite bad quality. Anyway, it's really worth it! Love Laura Lynch's voice so much.

Catwalk – Official video
Produced, filmed & directed by Mitch Parker. The Nuclear Crayons filmed a Music Video of their song 'Catwalk'. The majority of it was shot in and ontop of the original 9:30 Club in Wash. DC. VHS to AVI. Copyright Nuclear Crayons 1983.

More info here and here. And last but not least, endless thanks to Darin, Kendall, and Laura for getting in touch!

How minimal can you get? #26

2010-09-05T11:31:00.001+01:00

V/A – Little Bands 7" EP
Once again, summer is over. So, what better way to say goodbye to summer than with this minimal jewel?

The Take – Summer
Get it here.

The Wrecks

2010-09-05T10:50:00.001+01:00

“Reno's all girl band were born to a family of ceramic lizards and have been around since about October 1980. These girls range in age from 16 to 18. Hell-n-52, Jone-9, Bess-147, and Lynn-2 months. They play Ozark music on a variety of instruments: Lynn-spoons and mandolin, Bess-fiddle and kazoo, Jone-washboard and harmonica, and Hell-n-banjo and jug. MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Molly Hatchett, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Lynard Skybard and Aretha Franklin. Just jivin'. SOME OF THEIR PASTIMES INCLUDE going on dates with people who eat glass, collecting empty deodorant containers, and lighting people's underwear on fire.” Not So Quiet on the Western Front 2LP inlay

“This band hails from Reno, Nevada and is composed of four teenage girls that do mostly all hardcore material. The nine songs on this tape are definitely not of the slam'n'thrash variety but are more akin to art damage, sorta like Flipper. Anyway everything here is original and well, kinda weird. Broken-up rhythms and strange singing abound but this stuff really does grab ya after repeated listenings. Also the lyrics are top notch and these girls definitely have something to say! They deal with subjects such as high school, Cuban refugees, and the all important question about drug use. What ya got here is a fairly rewarding tape from a rebellious crew of teenage girls ready to shake up the system.” Frankie DeAngelis (from Ripper #7, May 1982)

Lynn of Reno's The Wrecks. Touch & Go #19

Tesco Vee: How's been the response to your tape?
Bessie: Good enough for a homo-zine-new wave chronicle like Touch & Go to interview us I guess. Actually pretty good – I think it's cuz we put alot into it.
Lynn: So far pretty good. We get a couple of letters a week for tapes.
Jone: Pretty good, I'm surprised. We've been getting good reviews except those that say we're an art damage band. Fuck yeah we sound like a combination of Rik L Rik and the Slits and David Bowie… I'm sure!
Hell-n: Great – I even saw one in Recycled Records.

PUNK'S AN ATTITUDE (Jone Jetson, 1981)
Swear to God I get sick of people's attitudes
And trying to figure them out
They talk about shit they don't understand
And dress to fit the trend
You can be accepted or rejected
in punk or society
You can play the role, I'll just be myself
Fuck people who think I'm a hippy
or a weekend punk
If they stopped to think they'd see
Punk is an attitude
Punk is an attitude, individuality is the key
Do what you want, don't care what they think
I guess some people just can't see…
Trendies suck!!!

The Wrecks – Lullaby of the Womb
Get it here. More info here.

Neonates

2010-07-13T00:57:00.001+01:00

Neonates are a new band from Los Ángeles, consisting of Mary, Gwendolyn and Max. They play refreshing and catchy songs, and have just released a split tape with Pussy Patrol on Clan Destine Records.

Neonates – Gridlock
Order a copy here, and more info here.

Endless thanks to Mary for sending me the tape!

Mr Epp and the Calculations…

2010-07-13T00:25:00.000+01:00

…or the worst band in the world.

Mr Epp and the Calculations – Live @ the Langston Hughes Cultural Center (1983)
More info here.

How minimal can you get? #25

2010-06-18T16:39:00.002+01:00

The Door and the Window – Detailed Twang LP
“Initially inspired by the first wave of industrial bands and the ethos of DIY pioneers like the Desperate Bicycles and Scritti Politti, Nag and Bendle played their first gig and recorded their first single sometime before they bothered to rehearse. Playing with an ever-changing lineup TDATW became first gradually rhythmic and then melodic. Mark Perry became a third permanent member. Unhappy to remain in one musical ghetto, they inhabited several – playing gigs with post punks and ska bands, playing free tours with idealist hippies and gradually becoming deeply involved with the London Musicians Collective. They co-produced a magazine about the politics of record production, hosted the seminal “Jazz Punk Bonanza” festivals of 1980, ’82 and ’86 and ran the weirdly eclectic sprouts conspiracy Cabaret Club. Nag and Bendle also played in The 49 Americans and The Liberated Sound Octet, Nag played with Mark Perry and Karl Blake in The Reflections and Bendle with The Casual Labourers and The Late Music Group.”

Nag, The Door & Bendle, The Window

The Door and the Window – Part Time Punks
Get it here, here or here.

How minimal can you get? #24

2010-06-14T18:07:00.009+01:00

The Tom & Marty Band – Afraid to go to sleep CS
“The largest concentrations of experimental bands (on vinyl, at least) in the U.S. centered in greater Los Angeles, and along a narrow strip running from Baltimore to Richmond, Virginia: arty electronic, experimental or just "difficult" music found an unusual level of acceptance in the southern Mid-Atlantic. The Artifacts label scene in Richmond, Virginia tended to be more jazzy/classical and "serious," while the northern end of the scene (which sometimes unselfconsciously referred to itself as "Balto-weird") tended to be more clever and artwavy. The Tom & Marty Band was a studio-only gig by two central figures in the Richmond scene: Tom Compagnoli and Marty McCavitt. They produced a ton of stuff on Artifact, and Marty played in Idio Savant, Trans-Idio, Glad Corp and House of Freaks, as well as on much of LaDonna Smith's more high-brow stuff.” Chuck Warner, Hyped to Death

Tom in the recording studio, 1981

“The Tom & Marty Band is composed of Tom Campagnoli & Martin McCavitt. These two met many years ago while they were both in high school in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Tom and Marty have been involved in many artistic endeavors over the years, but Marty is the real musician of the group while Tom writes most of the lyrics. Inspired by space, science, myth, love, nature, their children, their childhoods, and the world and sounds around them, The Tom & Marty Band doesn't take itself too seriously and do appreciate a good (or bad) joke now and then.”

Marty in the recording studio, 1981

“Formed in 1980 the Tom & Marty Band was known for its unusual instrumentation and unique lyrics – often being referred to as "Electronic Folk Music." The Band played into the early 1980s when the Band took a hiatus only to reappear in the year 2001 with new instruments and new songs. They were known as the Band that would not go away, and true to form they are back. Only time will tell what really will happen.”

The Tom & Marty Band: The Band That Wouldn't Go Away!

“We heard Chrome and Throbbing Gristle and thought they were pop bands...” Marty

The Tom & Marty Band – Havin' A Canipshun
Get it here and visit their website here.

How minimal can you get? #23

2010-06-14T17:25:00.008+01:00

Ut – Ut EP
“Notes and chords collide as if the instruments were all talking at once, creating one unvarying tone. They sound undisciplined, yet they are bound together in taut concentration. Daring to experiment, they occasionally grope about clumsily. They are a promising, sometimes awkward, Punkish debutant band, ready to blossom.” Doris Keily, New York Rocker

UT, No Wave's über-non-conformists.

From left to right: Sally Young, Jacqui Ham and Nina Canal.

“None of us had been programmed in rock licks or the correct way of doing things… so we didn't think or act with any sense of restraint. Weird tunings, weird positions – everything was permissible with us. We didn't have to make this leap because we didn't see the walls.” Jacqui Ham

“We decided right away to not stick to a single instrument each, which meant changing [between songs]. We got a lot of flak about how impractical it was. But it kept us in the mode of constantly experimenting without getting into ruts on any one instrument.” Sally Young

“We weren't easy to place – we fucked around too much for the art scene, we were too raw and dissonant for the post Punk norm, and we didn't conform to anything they could conceive of.” Jacqui Ham

UT – New colour
Get it here.

Excerpts taken from the No Wave book.

How minimal can you get? #22

2010-06-06T17:58:00.003+01:00

OH-OK – Wow Mini Album EP
Jason Gross: What kind of band did you want Oh OK to be?
Linda Hopper: No guitars. When we were talking about it originally, I was going to play guitar but then it just came to be bass, drums and singing. We actually did things like play on bent saws and baby toys and things like that. It was noisy, it was very pop. But at the same time, it was very weird. I don't think we said 'let's make it weird.' Maybe it had something to do with being in art school. In that first term, ideas just hatch and grow and you try. We did tons of different things. I remember that was when Casio (keyboards) first came out. We were always trying to make a song with a Casio but we never did.

From left to right: Lynda Stipe, Linda Hopper and David Pierce

Jason Gross: In the original band you had, there was no guitar. That was pretty unique.
Lynda Stipe: Hopper was going to play around with it but it was working out fine without it. Actually, even now all my bands tend to be a little bottom-heavy. Now, I'm on cello and then there's the bass. Double basses were always really cool. We really didn't care much (about not having a guitar) but we got a lot of slack from soundmen. First, we were girls and I played the bass like a girl, barely hitting the thing. (laughs) So they were like 'Where's the guitar? That's it, huh?' Oh well.

Read the Linda Hopper and Lynda Stipe interviews here and here.

OH-OK – Lilting

Beta Evers (Pervers / Deutscher Abschaum)

2010-05-19T17:29:00.007+01:00

“The Godhead. Reminds me of Teddy and the Fratgirls or the Foams in the sense that one gets the notion that these must have been fun gals to hang out with or date. The timeless splendor of the arty urban misfit girl: Her goofy charm and no-holds-barred enthusiasm for all that she found weird, interesting or sexually appetizing. A toast to the art school weirdo outcast girls of the world: May they forever paint their room black or read Hermann Hesse to you in bed! The music is wild, out of control amateuristic slop goes from Electric Eels fuzzed out haterock to drumkits thrown down the stairs to minimal teen-angst and then back. Beautiful stuff. Got this in trade from Thurston Snore for some boring free jazz records back in the day. What a chump!” Johan Kugelberg

Pervers: arty urban misfit girls.
From left to right: Vanessa Violence, Gaby R, GitZe

“Around my 15th birthday I founded my first band called Pervers. It was a punk/new wave/noise band in the tradition of those female German avant-garde bands existing between 1978-1982 like Malaria, Östro 430, Carambolage and X-mal Deutschland. We were a girl trio and we used a guitar, drums, metal cans, electronic instruments and lots of distortion. I also appeared under the name Deutscher Abschaum (duo with one of the Pervers girls). With Pervers we had two releases on my own tape-label and two record releases on a punk and new wave label from Frankfurt called Zweckfrei.” Beta Evers

Beta Evers

“The first EP was really rough stuff, recorded in bad quality in a cellar, but it found some attention after a positive review in the well-known US-punk fanzine “Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll”. In 1989 both bands ended for various reasons. During the 1990’s I didn’t make music, but started and finished two studies at the university, I wrote articles for the German Trust fanzine and organized some parties. After I had founded Kommando 6 (aka K6) in 2000, the wish became stronger and stronger to make music again. In 2001 I bought some equipment and began to produce as Beta Evers then.” Beta Evers

“Gaby "R", GitZe and Vanessa Violence (aka Flizzer), were three very young and defiant girls from the area Augsburg (Bavaria), when they started to play together. In the beginning their band was called "Deutscher Abschaum", but soon they re-named to "Pervers". First they had also a male member, Ingo Riedl, but he left the band soon due to permanent fights with Vanessa Violence. They titled themselves "Punkband", but their music sounded not like the typical german punk sound of the 80's. They were quite inspired by german experimental DIY bands (e.g. Hirnheimer, Familie Hesselbach, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Toedliche Doris, Geile Tiere, MDK). Apart from e-guitar, bass guitar and a snare drum they often used objects which weren't very usual for punk music those days (cans, metal objects, distortion/noise modules and an e-organ). Their lyrics mostly dealed with the "shady sites of human existence". They recorded two longplayer tapes, which GitZe distributed to underground recordshops in and out of Germany. They also appeared on various compilations (on different german labels). An offer for a release on the well-known german punk-label "Muelleimer"-Records they rejected, cause of the sexistic attitudes of the label owners. After two years they released their first record, an 7inch EP with 5 tracks (at Zweckfrei Records, Frankfurt - in co-operation with GitZe's label S.U.F.F. - edition: 500 copies). After a positive review of that EP in the US Fanzine "Maximum Rock'n Roll" they got some attraction in the US and were invited to come to New York for some gigs, but since they still hadn't the full age, it didn't happen. Vanessa left the band then, but Gaby "R" and GitZe continued. After a while they did their second deal with Zweckfrei Records and recorded 5 new tracks, - co-produced by Vill Love & Friends (Cem Oral, Can Oral, Roger Kobernuss) from Frankfurt - these tracks were published on CD-R after a while (title: "We live in a cesspool"). In 1989 they stopped, cause their musical preferences developed into different directions.” Joseffa Aggressiv

Read the full article here and visit the official Beta Evers website here. For more info click here.

Pervers – Asozial

Deutscher Abschaum – The German Superman
Get it here.

Cash Not Clash

2010-05-19T16:49:00.008+01:00

“Punk died the day The Clash signed to CBS.” Mark Perry

Anti-Clash Flyer. Source: Shit-Fi

“The Boffo track was from a spoof of the 'Clash On 45' thing which I recorded onto cassette. I'd been a big Clash fan and was sad to see them getting into the whole cocaine/USA rock'n'roll lifestyle. The full recording I did went through a series of parodies of Clash songs where I vented my bitter spleen in a very angsty way against these rotters who seemed to be selling out my dream.” Allan 'Boff' Whalley, Chumbawamba

Boffo – Garageland

“A rant against the commercialism of punk and the audience who where falling for it.” Messthetics #105 liner notes

Vertical Smiles – The New Clash Single
Get it here.

“I used to listen to the Clash
Now they suck like all the trash
The Ramones used to be a hit
Now they're just a pile of shit”

Government Issue – Rock'n'Roll Bullshit

Maestros And Dipsos

2010-05-15T18:36:00.002+01:00

“Dual female vocals weren't heard much outside of folk circles and so the sound of Debbie and Ashley's close harmonies was bound to be memorable. However, the band were always a little tentative, seemingly a bit uncomfortable with themselves and each other, especially on stage. Their strong point will always be the direct, confessional lyrics which made a marvellous change from the bluster that other bands produced. In songs like Inertia and the gorgeous Backslide, simple guitar and drums, strong bass, floating melodies and emotional text combine perfectly.” No Night Sweats

Maestros And Dipsos. Photo: Anne Kay

Discovered this lovely band thanks to the Detailed Twang post back in the day, and since then, I've been wanting to hear more stuff by them. Recently, (thanks again for this, Camille!) I was lucky to know there are more Maestros and Dipsos songs floating around the internet. So, thought it would be nice to spread the word.

Maestros and Dipsos – Sex and Pelt
Get it here.

Support the scene & Stand united!

2010-05-15T17:32:00.014+01:00

Nah, just kidding… Here's an anti-Hardcore and Straight Edge parody post.

“You know me – there's nothing I like less than intolerant people, especially conservative Punks. Originally, every band sounded totally different. Nowadays it's been put into all these narrow parameters. A band picks a style, plays in nothing but that style, and puts the intelligent members of their audience to sleep. (…) in terms of independence and freedom quickly became such a formula and book of rules – how to dress, to sound, to act – it wasn't fun anymore. It was over and it was time to do something new.” Jello Biafra

“Most things needs criticism now and then, like most other subcultures in western society, punk has its own conformism which must be made fun of or even ridiculed if we are to be free individuals. Tons of kids with the right T-shirt or haircut doesn't mean much. Although it's fun to dress like your peers but differently from your parents. When I was in high school I was a hippy and dressed like others in my group. In the early 80's I still had long hair and punkers and new wavers will sneer at me. Now in the late 80's it's fashionable to have long hair again (in the punk world, not in mainstream society). I guess a lot of Bob’s lyrics were saying that we all look a certain way, but what's inside? What's your attitude? Punk and other rebellious movements have their silly sides and we attacked them.” Duff, Th’ Inbred [Read the full article here.]

“I thought bands who played straight-ahead Hardcore music missed the whole point. Playing Hardcore became like being in a Rockabilly band, aping a style that happened years ago. You're not creating anything original at all. The ritual became retarded.” King Koffee

Straight Edge glossary

“I had been listening to people sing about subjects as 'important' as scene unity, and beer drinking, and not drinking beer, and fighting each other, and friendship and vegetarianism. That shit made no sense to me. Why would I expend energy, time, and effort getting a band together to stand on a stage in front of 300 straight edge kids and say, 'This song is about straight edge' just to get a huge applause and a bunch of people jumping on stage to sing along? Nick and I wrote the lyrics and we wanted to have people read them and think. That's it, just think. Think about the shit going on around them. Think about the fact that all of this shit is happening and they 'Remain Sedate' because it is easier to just go see a band that tells them they are doing the right thing and everything will be okay.” Charles Maggio

Crucial Youth – Crucial Youth
Get it here.

Straight Youth – Positive Stand
Get it here.

Grudge – Cap'n Straightedge
Get it here.

Pleased Youth – I'd Rather Be An Asshole

Cyanamid – Support
Get it here.

Th'Inbred – Positive Song
Get it here.

Zwitschermaschine

2010-05-09T10:18:00.001+01:00

“Punk for me was the cracking open of form. At the Dresden Art School where I studied, the professors were preparing for re-tirement and didn't have a clue about what was going on in our lives. So it wasn't surprising that Ralf Kerbach and me cranked up the amplifier at his studio (that reeked of turpentine) one morning to experience what we demanded from life – a thrill!” Cornelia Schleime

“Our aim was to irritate and to drift off into a world no longer interested in understanding. We didn't want to be there for anyone – apart from ourselves. Each singer wrote their own lyrics – reflecting our lack of expectations in a bizarre and melancholic manner.” Cornelia Schleime

Cornelia Schleime (right), 1982. Mita Schamal

“When I look back on Punk, the images hit me like the blows of an axe – memories of pogo and the soles of my feet cut by glass. When I fell asleep with black feet I never realized the state I was in. I wore a gas mask on my head walking through Prenzlauer Berg – to promote my case to be allowed to leave.” Cornelia Schleime

“Life only existed for the moment – there was no future in the country that I was imprisoned in.“ Cornelia Schleime

Zwitschermaschine – Geh über'n Fluß
Get it here.

Excerpts and photo taken from the book Too Much Future, Punk in der DDR.

Kleenex Pt. 2

2010-05-09T09:33:00.001+01:00

Kleenex – Hedi's Head

Do I need to say anything else? For God's sake, go here and order a copy. And special thanks to Camille for this one. Merci beaucoup!

How minimal can you get? #21

2010-04-25T18:41:00.004+01:00

Seems Twice – Non-Plussed EP
“Like the bastard sons of early Wire and The Ramones, Seems Twice played incredibly short, fast and loud. Hardly ever more than a minute long, their songs define a most useful kind of minimalism: an intro (sometimes), a verse, a chorus and, occasionally, an instrumental section with very little repetition.” No Night Sweats

Seems Twice (Sydney, 1980). Mysterex

“None of the tracks is over thirty-seven seconds long with the shortest being sixteen seconds. Musically, however, they say more than many albums of the time. There is a spontaneity and art-minded innovation here worthy of Wire and Beefheart.” Andrew Schmidt

Seems Twice – Metropolitan Recluse
Get it here.

More info here and here.

How minimal can you get? #20

2010-04-19T19:00:00.002+01:00

VA – English As a Second Language 2 LP
More minimal stuff, this time with a song by D. Boon (voice and guitar only) appeared on this spoken word compilation released by Freeway Records in 1983.

D. Boon – My Part
Get it here.

Leslie Singer (Girls On Fire)

2010-04-18T18:54:00.003+01:00

“If you were 22, and you hated Tuxedomoon, and you were pissed off because your Art History prof wouldn't let you do your Joseph Beuys term paper on cassette with a guitar, you might have done the same thing. But you weren't, and you didn't. And you probably never recorded the most severe & distressed-sounding guitar-skronk + stream of consciousness vocals this side of 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts, either, did you, huh? That proves that you're not Leslie Singer, and that strongly implies that you need this 5cdR collection of every precious moment of the GIRLS ON FIRE project.” EEEE EEEE Records

Leslie Singer (Girls On Fire) – My Restrained Anger
By the way, note "Pleasure of Love" by Tom Tom Club sounding in the background.
Get it here.

Click here to know more about Leslie Singer.

How minimal can you get? #19

2010-04-18T18:15:00.031+01:00

Voice only songs… It's amazing what just words can do!

A-Soma & Eve Libertine – The Exordium
Get it here.

Henry Rollins – Madonna

Teddy & the Frat Girls – The Egg Man Don't Cometh
Get it here.

Twin Diet – Communicate
Get it here.

Zenzile – Moment by Moment / Exiled Shadows

Johanna Went

2010-04-18T16:48:00.003+01:00

“Set against a background of very loud noise/rhythm, Johanna's show is more a furiously energetic trance-state than the performance of a rational being. Then again, this is not real time – a slow-motion drug would be needed to comprehend alll the images, symbols, details, and gestures crammed into the 15 or 20 minutes of a Johanna Went show. Definitely not for the cleanliness-and-order set, this is sheer fun and black humor masquerading as modern art…” V. Vale

Johanna Went

“I love violence in movies. I like that safe atmosphere where I can sit there and watch violence – I like the color, I like things exploding, and I like fires, I like blood, I like guts. Sometimes it's so ridiculous I can't believe people look away from it! But personally, I prefer not to be in violent situations.” Johanna Went

“First of all, I hate anybody telling me anything; I hate getting messages, through art, films, all that stuff – I don't think that anybody needs to tell me anything. And I'm not going to tell anybody – I'm not trying to make anybody feel anything or think anything. But… I think that my shows affect people on a real gut level… for reasons other than guts! To me, the things that people probably think are the most sensational about myself are things that I really think are kind of fluff, things to entertain me, that I like to play or be silly with. But I really don't think that people should be shocked by these things.” Johanna Went

Johanna Went – Live at UCLA (Studio One, 1982)

Johanna Went – No legs
Get it here.

Excerpts and photo taken from the great Industrial Culture Handbook.

How minimal can you get? #18

2010-04-03T16:15:00.002+01:00

Artistic Decline – Random Violence LP
“From the minutemen we learned that a song could be any length, so songs range from 6 seconds to 3 minutes.”

“When Random Violence finally came out, Maximum RocknRoll gave it a good review and said they hoped we would be playing live a lot more in the future. Well, those days were numbered. But John Peel wrote, requesting a copy of the record after reading the MRR review. He wrote as if he was some obscure guy: "My name is John Peel and I do a radio programme for the BBC in England...”

“Also, Jello Biafra wrote and said he had our first EP but was blown away by Random Violence and said it reminded him of Wire's Pink Flag.”

Artistic Decline – Random Violence
Get it here.

The Nixe

2010-03-17T18:19:00.001Z

The Nixe – Live at Tivoli & Interview, Utrecht (1981)

“Looking back, it's easy to see what made The Nixe such an attractive proposition at the time. First and foremost they personified the 'anyone can do it' spirit of punk rock without a hint of pretence or career mindedness. Plus they also attracted a diverse crowd because they were never as aggressive and unapproachable as the male punk bands”. Jeroen Vedder

By the way, love to listen to Dutch so much.

How minimal can you get? #17

2010-02-06T00:09:00.005Z

Ramones – Ramones LP
“The Ramones had everything I ever liked. The songs were short. You knew what was happening within five seconds. You didn't have to analyze and/or determine what it was you were hearing or seeing. It was all there.” Danny Fields

“I'd heard the Sex Pistols early on, but it didn't make a huge impression on me. What made the bigget impression on me was The Ramones' first album. I loved playing that record for people just to watch them cringe. Suddenly, Rock & Roll was fun again.” SPOT

“This is the ultimate exercise in deconstruction: take away everything that doesn't matter, or doesn't seem to matter, but leave exactly the amount that is necessary to make the listener realize this is rock'n'roll, this is The Power! This is The Force!” George Starostin

“They are representative of a musical movement centered mainly in New York and London that heralds the return to 'minimalist' rock, better known as punk rock.” Bruce Terrell (Commonwealth Times, October 1976)

Ramones – Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World (1975)

How minimal can you get? #16

2010-02-05T23:14:00.002Z

A & Others – Y.T.O.W Undersongs 1–14
Amazing minimal stuff. Cover design by Wayne Daly.

A & Others – Remote Sensing

How minimal can you get? #15

2010-02-05T18:06:00.003Z

Rhys Chatham – Guitar Trio
“One night in 1977, when Chatham was strumming his guitar's low E string, Nina Canal told him, "Rhys, it really sounds like YOU!” This inspired Chatham to compose a piece, “Tone Death”, based on that single note. To perform it, he formed a group of the same name with Canal and Robert Appleton.”

“Chatham soon reworked the piece, renaming it “Guitar Trio” and adding two former Theoretical Girls: Branca on guitar, and Wharton Tiers on drums in place of Appleton (Chatham had played with Theoretical Girls at gigs he booked at the Kitchen while serving as music director).”

Rhys Chatham

“Chatham would continually vary “Guitar Trio”, adding and substracting instruments and modifying its duration from eight minutes to nearly a half-hour. The piece became a ferocious mix of minimalist ideals and rock fury, as one-note guitars built an ascendant riff whose smallest timbres became full chords of their own.” Marc Masters

“The audiences thought, 'Jesus, most Punk bands can play at least two chords, this band only plays one!' – but they liked it.” Rhys Chatham

Rhys Chatham – Guitar Trio
Recorded live in the Grand Theatre, Groningen Holland (2008)

How minimal can you get? #14

2010-01-15T21:21:00.001Z

D & V – The Nearest Door 7"
“Sheffield's D & V weren't to everybody's taste, but once heard, they were never forgotten… how many other anarcho-punk bands comprised just a drummer and a vocalist? And what better way to deliver a pertinent message other than just the words of wisdom you care to impart and a rhythm against which to deliver them?” Ian Glasper

“People always used to say, 'What happened to the guitarist and bassist?' But we just wanted to stand out from the crowd really.” Jeff Antcliffe

D & V – S21RN
Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #13

2010-01-15T20:46:00.003Z

Second Auschwitz – The Arse of Mankind!
And more minimal Dutch stuff: “Noise, noise, noise!! According to legend, these Dutch punks never practiced or wrote any songs, or even played their instruments before they started recording their bursts of magic.” Terminal Escape

Second Auschwitz – Schlachtenbummle
Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #12

2010-01-15T20:30:00.003Z

Fahrenheit 451 – Flexi
More minimal Dutch stuff. The inlay says it all.

Fahrenheit 451 – Untitled
Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #11

2010-01-10T18:41:00.000Z

The Residents – Commercial Album LP
“Here's the concept: The structure of most pop songs consists of only two parts, the verse and the chorus. Since the verse and chorus usually repeat three times in a three-minute song, a pop tune really only consists of one minute of music. Cut out the repetition and you can, therefore, fit 40 pop songs onto a 40-minute record. And that's exactly what the Residents have done on The Commercial Album, the title of which comes from the band's deduction that since pop songs only consist of one minute of music and most advertisements are about a minute long also, ad jingles are "therefore the music of America." Got it?” AMG

The Residents – Less Not More

How minimal can you get? #10

2010-01-10T18:17:00.001Z

Wire – Pink Flag LP
“Wire were one of the most adventurous bands to emerge in the late seventies. Their early music was minimalist but in the early eighties their non-conformist avant-garde music combined both art and anger, often with a futuristic sound, which gave it an unique feel.” Vernon Joynson

Wire – Pink Flag

The Glaxo Babies

2010-01-06T16:02:00.002Z

“In the Autumn of 1977 both Sounds and NME ran free Musicians Wanted ads. I placed an ad in both which read 'Musicans wanted to take over where the Velvet Underground left off.' It wasn't meant to be presumptuous. If I'd placed the same ad six or seven years later it would have attracted a bunch of Jesus & Mary Chain copyists. If I placed the same ad now, god knows who it would attract. People who want to make music for car ads perhaps. But in 1977 it was a way of attracting like minded individuals from those select few who knew, and cared, who the Velvet Underground were.” Rob Chapman

The Glaxo Babies

“We were fairly isolated from the 'scene' at first. We didn't really know anybody. Tom knew some of the Clifton crowd, an amiable Cortina or two, and later on when we got more 'accepted' it was nice to go round their houses after we got back from the pub. They all had trendy middle class parents, that Clifton lot, none of whom minded you skinning up in their pine kitchens. But initially we were outcasts and that was our strength. A rumour went round in the early days about all the warring and bitchy factions in the Bristol music scene. You know the sort of thing. 'What about band A?' 'Oh, they hate band B?' 'What about band C?' 'They hate band D'. 'What about the Gl*xo Babies' 'Oh, they hate everybody.' We didn't, we just didn't know anyone, but we were happy to indulge the myth. We weren't part of any clique. That's why we didn't sound like anybody else.” Rob Chapman

The Glaxo Babies – Christine Keeler

Read the full article here.

VS.

2010-01-06T15:32:00.002Z

“Olga de Volga leaded this hypnotic and unique San Francisco band that only released this single back in the 1980. She joined the Lewd later and this song is rerecorded on the American Wino LP, faster and rougher but without the magic charm.” The Ripper

By the way, this terrific song was included in the great Brainkiller bootleg compilation – which years ago I was lucky to get a copy. To this day, this song is still my favourite of the whole compilation.

VS. – Magnetic Heart
Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #9

2010-01-06T15:13:00.001Z

The Magits – Fully Coherent 7" EP
“Nick and I were at the same secondary school together, Langleybury Comprehensive. And we met through a mutual friend also at the school, Martin 'Drooper' Cooper. This was when The Magits were formed, alongside another school friend, Alex Hawkes. I reckon this would have been in '78 or '79. We used to have the odd rehearsal around my parents' place, and by god we needed it! Musically, it was pretty shambolic and probably naive, but it was just exciting to be a part of the punk thing. I don't have any memories of Magit gigs, but that's not to say there weren't any…” Jon Greville

“Testament to the empowering qualities of punk rock, even a band as obscure as The Magits could immortalise themselves on vinyl; no longer was that a privilege the preserve of larger-than-life rock-stars… no, now anyone could release a record if they merely set their mind to it. Which the Magits duly did in 1979, with the four-track 'Fully Coherent' EP, for Nick's own Outer Himalayan Records, the rather disconcerting result. Anyone who has heard this perverse, meandering collection of keyboard torture will know that its song titles such as 'Fragmented' and 'Disjointed' are mischievously and knowingly apt.” Ian Glasper

The Magits – Disjointed
Get it here.

How minimal can you get? #8

2010-01-06T14:38:00.010Z

Fang – Enjoy The View 7"
“Their debut 7" from when the band was still a duo (both ex-Tapeworm members, by the way). Really basic stuff, simple, stumbling drums, some noisy guitar/bass chords, murmured vocals. A side at least a basic RnR pattern, the B side is even more minimalistic. Sound is very garagey. Kind of funny, but definitely no milestone.” Burkhard Järisch

Fang – Yukon Fang
Get it here.

The 100th Post

2010-01-06T14:09:00.005Z

ONECHORD ethos sumed up in two quotes (and five songs):

“What is now called punk may sound familiar, but too often the spirit has been replaced by rules – a kind of fundamentalism, even. The cartoony harder-core-than-thou crowd reminds me a little too much of Fonzie on Happy Days – they're as much fun to fuck with as Zeppelin and Skynyrd fans were way back then.” Jello Biafra

“Punk has become, to me, almost the status quo, so what I'm doing is challenging punk.” Matt Wobensmith

Flipper – Earthworm
Get it here.

Drunks With Guns – Wonderful Subdivision
Get it here.

My 3 Sons – Starving Artist
Get it here.

Siege – Grim Reaper
Get it here.

Cyanamid – Stop the World
Get it here, here and here.

Punk Aversion Pt. 2

2010-01-02T19:38:00.013Z

More songs about leather jackets, safety pins and that shite.

Art – Ugly People With Fancy Hairdos

Black Humor – Neo Hippies

Ed Davis Band – Asshole

How minimal can you get? #7

2010-01-02T09:55:00.004Z

“When I got on stage, I was attacking the audience in my mind. This music was intended to challenge the audience, because when I went to a gig I wanted to be challenged. I wanted somebody to kick me in the face, metaphorically.” Glenn Branca

“We were criticised a lot for only playing about once or twice a month. But whenever we played we always had new material, and that was part of the attraction of the band. You never knew what you were going to be hearing.” Glenn Branca

Theoretical Girls – Theoretical Girls

Sarcastic Orgasm

2009-12-05T23:14:00.004Z

“Sarcastic Orgasm was formed by Scott M. Phillips and John A. Hoppe, childhood friends from the great state of New Jersey. They started writing songs together in 1984 before being forced to leave Kent State University for shameful crimes against man and property. Sarcastic Orgasm came to the Washington D.C. area in 1985 and settled into a dusted out crack riddled northwest neighborhood rowhouse which was shared with friends and members of the band Christ On A Crutch. The two bands lived and rehearsed there without heat in a filthy delusional harmony, protected by exterior/interior motes of broken glass, razor wire, plastic gallon piss jugs and an army of partially trained rodents. Police visits for noise and odor complaints were common. Bass players and drummers came and went. Some lasted for a year or more. Others for one show. DC Space, Back Alley, Botswana, Rock Against Reagan, and 9:30 Club, were a few of the venues played in DC with bands such as Pussy Galore, Fugazi, Southern Culture On The Skids, Karen Black, Beefeater, God Is My Co Pilot, etc. Sarcastic Orgasm recorded a self titled 45rpm EP vinyl record and various other unreleased/lost recordings until disbanding in 1992 after moving to NYC.” Sarcastic Orgasm

Sarcastic Orgasm – Why? Because I Said So!
Get it here.

If you want to know more about Sarcastic Orgasm, please check this out.

Mission for Christ

2009-12-05T22:40:00.005Z

“Experimental punk, No Trend meet Blight at a Nuclear Crayons gig… some traces of the NY no wave sound, too. Interesting but a bit too artsy for my taste. B side has same music but vocals in dub reggae style (taped-delayed voice fragments).” Burkhard Järisch

“As the harDCore promoter, I 'discovered' the noise band No Trend and ran their label — releasing their first four discs (7", 12" and two LPs), and a single by John Gibson’s fucked-funk band, Mission For Christ.” Steven Blush

Mission for Christ – Pennies from Hell

Please, any info related to John Gibson's band would be immensely appreciated.

Wormer, Mon Amour

2009-11-22T16:03:00.019Z

Never been to Wormer – a town located thirteen kilometres up north Amsterdam – but I definitely would like to. Why? Easy, because it had one of the most interesting scenes back in the day. Curious to know what was to be part of Wormer? Then, please read this.

The Ex – Money (1980)

Zowiso – Live @ Oktopus

De Groeten – Live @ Oktopus

Svatsox – Unplugged @ Oktopus (1984)

Villa Zuid was the “homebase of punkbands the Ex and Svätsox” and it was “squatted in August 1981. In the big garden next to the villa they organised every year a big party to celebrate this.”

Recommended listenings:

V/A – Oorwormer LP (1982)

V/A – Villa Zuid Moet Blijven 7" flexi (1981)

Svätsox – Ruins LP (1982)

Grrr – Grrr LP (1984)

Zowiso – Beats per Minute 7" (1983)

If you want to know more about Wormer bands, please click here for a complete discography, and here for another article – although it's in French only.

How minimal can you get? #6

2009-11-20T23:48:00.006Z

Minutemen
“You see, when Punk came, we were real embarrassed that we knew how to play. The other Punk bands were writing as they were learning. For us, we couldn't turn back the hands of the clock, so we tried all these real extreme devices to hide it, which we picked up from the English group Wire: you don't need verse/chorus, you don't need solos, you don't need shit. We thought Punk meant that no one was supposed to know you can play well! Then it seemed some Punk bands, as they played better, turned more Rock & Roll, and the joke was on us! We didn't give a fuck – no matter what we played, you could tell it was The Minutemen.” Mike Watt

Minutemen – Live @ at the 9:30 club (1984)

How minimal can you get? #5

2009-11-16T15:37:00.004Z

Beat Happening
“Here's my Beat Happening story. One day, spring of 1985 (I think), an Australian kid name of David Nichols showed up on my doorstep in Willesden Green clutching three records; seven-inch singles by Venom P. Stinger and Rabbit's Wedding, and the first Beat Happening album (the one with the cat on a rocket ship on a yellow background). He was on his way back home to Melbourne from Olympia, and had a 24-hour stopover in London, and had been given three addresses to try. So I invited him in, made a cup of tea, and stayed to chat a while. After he left, I figured I may as well listen to the record with the cat and I couldn't get past Heather's voice on 'Foggy Eyes', first song on. It brought tears to my ears. Stopped me dead. Killed me. A few days later, I called in to Rough Trade – Karen who worked there was just about the only PR who gave me free stuff back then, so I thought I'd repay favour by playing her the Beat Happening LP, too. She loved it too – and so did Geoff Travis, who later ended up releasing the trio's second album in the UK. Man, that felt good.” The Legend!

Beat Happening – Cry For A Shadow (1992)

How minimal can you get? #4

2009-11-15T09:06:00.005Z

Puritan Guitars
“Cardiff '80: Scritti Politti were the first band to print their manufacturing costs and supplier information on their record-sleeve… and this helpful gesture immediately touched off a widespread competition to show who could make their record out the cheapest. Indeed, an entire generation of bands were more likely to list their production costs than the band-members' names. So when later (and, naturally, anonymous) Cardiffians Puritan Guitars came out with '£100 in 15 minutes' b/w 'Making It' it was widely [mis]understood that they were singing/boasting about their manufacturing costs. (…) In truth, however, the £100 was the sum that Rough Trade had spent on an 'open bar' to celebrate the final gig of the Raincoats tour – which 'the assembled radical DIY types drank up in 15 minutes'.” Chuck Warner

Puritan Guitars – £100 in 15 minutes

How minimal can you get? #3

2009-11-15T08:36:00.005Z

Tandstickorshocks
Tandstickorshocks “were part of the Rondos/Red Rock scene, but while their 'big brother band' often played pretty catchy, fast songs, Tandstickorshocks's music is totally hook-and-chorus-free. Though they sound like they're just starting to learn to play, the playing is precise and to-the-point. It's not 'energetic' or even aggressive in the usual punk way. In places, the music reminds me of stuff like early Minutemen, Teenage Jesus, Red Krayola and early Scritti Politti, but the difference is those bands (and the Rondos, too) came from an art background, while Tandstickorshocks were genuinely young working class kids.“ Niels

Tandstickorshocks – Tradition

How minimal can you get? #2

2009-11-15T08:21:00.003Z

Aventuras de Kirlian
“Once upon a time there was a band called Aventuras de Kirlian. They got together in early 1986 in San Sebastián, where they all came from, and their line-up was: Peru Izeta (stand-up drummer), Jone Gabarain (vocals), Teresa Iturrioz (bass) and Ibon Errazkin (guitar). They were influenced by Young Marble Giants, Cherry Red bands, early Talking Heads, Tamla-Motown and a few assorted psychedelic bands from the 60’s. But, most of all, what determined their style was the fact that none of them could play at all. So they started writing songs that never went further than one minute long and never had very complicated chord changes. They were called 'minimalists' from the very start, and there wasn’t much they could do about it. Anyway, that was never a big concern.” Elefant Records

Aventuras de Kirlian – Un día gris / El cielo (TVE, 1989)

Störung

2009-11-15T00:04:00.001Z

Störung – Warschau Pact (Live at Mazzo in Amsterdam, 1983)

How minimal can you get? #1

2009-11-14T22:52:00.005Z

GOD
This is the first post of a series dedicated to the most minimal records ever made. And what better way to start the series than with this terrific artifact by this mysterious band called GOD. No sleeve, no info, no pictures, no lyrics sheet, just a black vinyl with the word “GOD” written on it by hand. In the purest minimalist approach, the song titles are “God Is Dood Nr. 2”, and “God Is Dood Nr. 3”. And as for the music, it sounds as it was the band's first attempt to record these two songs at the studio – or maybe at bedroom?, and I am pretty sure they did both songs in one take. Minimal as fuck, isn't it?

God – God Is Dood Nr. 2
Get it here.

Last but not least, if you feel you can help or want to make a suggestion, you'll be more than welcome. Let's keep it minimal!

Ich bin ein Berliner

2009-11-08T16:31:00.029Z

Tomorrow is twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and this post commemorates this very special day. It's my little homage to the city of Berlin and its music scene, both so inspiring.

Berlin Super 80

Die Tödliche Doris – Naturkatastrophenballet (1984)
“On Potsdamer Platz, windy and deserted, variations of natural catastrophes were recited and illustrated by objects attached to Käthe Kruse's body.”

Recommended listenings:

Berlin Super 80 Box Set

Sleep? West Berlin Tape

DDR Von Unten Split LP

V/A Die Grosse Untergangsshow - Festival Genialer Dilletanten LP

Industrial Music or The Real Hardcore

2009-10-25T11:51:00.027Z

This post is just a collection of images, words and sounds that tries to work as an interesting relation between Industrial Music and Hardcore.

Flyer for a Throbbing Gristle & Flipper show (Raymond Pettibon, 1981)

“Genesis was really scary. There was something so intense about him on the stage; he looked so lizard-like-reptilian-with dark circles around his eyes. He would stalk around the stage with these paramilitary clothes on. There was this sonic maelstrom. In the audience were the most degenerated people I have ever seen. It was literally as if the people there had been let out of an insane asylum from the lowest level of Dante's Inferno. There was this creepy sexual vibe, Felliniesque in its utter decadence.” Richard Metzger

Throobing Gristle – Live @ Kezar Pavillion (San Francisco, 1981)

“I started going to Hardcore shows. I appreciated the aggression, the violence, and the fierce independent attitude, which was antithetical to most other music of the time. I saw most of the early American Hardcore bands play, but like everything, it seemed to get co-opted. I was looking for something more extreme that didn't concede to popular opinion. That's how I started listening to Industrial Music.” Michael Moynihan

Michael Moynihan (Coup de Grace) – Live @ Oberhausen (1986)

“I suppose you were seeing something that hadn't been seen before. There was no pretentious Rock Star stuff. There's no bar, no pick-up scene. It was very intense and visceral, in close quarters.” Michael Moynihan

First cassette released by Coup De Grace (1984)

“The idea I had in my mind was of an electronic maelstrom. And in live situations people would have no choice but to be completely submissive to this kind of sound.” William Bennett

Hardcore kids during a Whitehouse performance (DC, 1983)

“Utilizing ear-shredding frequencies and demented vocal hysterics, Whitehouse terrified the frail and pleased only those with the most discriminating of tastes.” Michael Moynihan

Whitehouse – Live (1984)

“I did Noise Music because I genuinely liked noise. I thought it would extend the boundaries of music. I didn't do it to be confrontational. I assumed others would feel the same way, and find it exciting. But a lot of people didn't. At my concerts, people smashed beer glasses in my face.” Boyd Rice

Flyer for NON show @ Mabuhays Gardens (1982)

“They really disliked me. At the show I had these bright lights shining in their eyes so they could barely see me – they were trying to reach up and smash the lights, but the lights were just out of their reach. One guy in front who was a real hardcore punk was rolling around with his hands over his ears and actually crying – he had tears in his eyes. Somebody threw a beer glass that hit me on the forehead. And it broke, and I could feel this throbbing pain – it had a little bit of beer in it, and the beer ran down my face and I thought it was blood. I continued to be real friendly to the audience, which made them even madder, because they were so mad and I didn't care! They were shaking their fists at me, and I thought that at any minute there'd be a riot. So I took it as far as I thought I could, and then thanked them and left.” Boyd Rice

Hanatarash – Live (1985)

“Hanatarash are infamous for their extremely dangerous live shows consisting entirely of on-stage destruction and utter disregard for anyone's safety. The most notorious incident involved Yamatsuka throwing junk around with a backhoe inside a venue. On another occasion, he inflicted a deep wound on his leg with an electrical saw, but carried on with the show. A dead cat is also known to have been cut in half during a show. The band once caused so much damage to a live house in Kyoto that it was forced to close.”

Hanatarash – Art from We are Hardcore 5CDR set of early CS releases

“At a 1985 gig in Tokyo's Superloft, Hanatarash had the audience fill out forms relieving the band of responsibility for any possible bodily harm caused by the performance. The show stopped just as Yamatsuka was about to throw a lit molotov cocktail onto the stage, which was gasoline-drenched from a barrel. The performance cost the venue ¥600,000 ($6000) in repair costs.”

Hanatarash – Live (1988)

Sentimentale Jugend

2009-10-21T19:23:00.002+01:00

Sentimentale Jugend – Live (1981)

Less Is More: Thoughts on Minimal Pt. 2

2009-10-21T18:48:00.003+01:00

“One cultural influence [on punk] that's been forgotten is Seventies minimalism. There was a concerted effort by bands like Suicide, Ramones and Talking Heads to follow the aesthetic that 'less is more' and to strip music down to its core… After all, most of the bands at CBGBs' had gone to art school or were aware of the art scene of the time.” John Holmstrom

“In minimalism, the object and the idea are one and the same. Minimalist artists, according to Kenneth Baker, strive to 'make us «see the whole idea without any confusion,» by seeing the object as the idea, that is, making meaning identical with the object's physical presence'. Of course, discovering punk for the first time, as a child, you never thought about wether it was minimalist or not. All you knew was that you loved it, and you wanted more. Why did you love it? Why did you want more? Because it said so much with so litte.” Nicholas Rombes

“Much has been said and written over the years about the amateurism of punk, but it wasn't a case of musicians deliberately trying to sing or play their instruments poorly, but rather, because so many of them were amateurs, they did not have to unlearn anything. In this respect, minimalism in punk was a condition of necessity, not choice.” Nicholas Rombes

As an example, here you have these two minimal-as-fuck songs. Drums and vocals only. Because you need nothing else, don't you?

Total Chaos – Revolution Part 10
You can get the original mp3 track here.

Noh Mercy – Caucasian Guilt
You can get the original mp3 track here.

The Shrubs

2009-10-03T20:02:00.004+01:00

The Shrubs @ the Bull & Gate, London (1987)

Damage

2009-10-03T19:24:00.004+01:00

This band was another great surprise from the Cake & Polka Parade, a really inspiring blog. The text below is the original written by Gregory Jacobsen on his Damage post, plus a brief extract from an email I got from Damage's drummer after asking for more info about his band.

“Damage was a band out of Winterpark, Florida circa '84. They played hardcore music with synthesizers. Whereas Screamers and Nervous Gender were very inventive and threatening with their use of synths, Damage was extremely clunky and ineffectual… Which is why I love this record. Their screaming of generic punk lyrics over dry sine-waves farted out at the most most remedial level sounds like pure futile and infantile rage from a 13 year old.” Gregory Jacobsen

“In the 1980s, Damage performed in Florida and was definitely different when it came to Punk music during that time. We opened for Black Flag, JFA, and The Dead Kennedys + others. It was raw and even Jello, from DK spoke highly of Damage in his California punk scene newspaper in California. (...) All hard copy music was produced in extremely limited quantities. I have become a better drummer since then – That was the first band I was in…” Joe (Damage's drummer)

Damage – Jock Mentality

By the way, it would be really nice to listen to more Damage stuff (that Tennis Shoe Massacre Demo anyone?). If so, please get in touch.

Pink Dirt

2009-10-03T18:29:00.004+01:00

“As far as inept, crazed joi de vivre goes? Here's the acme. I've written this one up before and will do it again. While this is obviously a straight-ahead angry punk rock band, the abandon and enthusiasm of this record could raise the dead. An angry rant against organized religion ('I have this to say tonight? Never, never get involved with christianity!') howled in a barely English Johnny Rotten-imitation by some Norwegian genius backed by shitrock more primitive than the first Endless Boogie rehearsal. There is no sleeve, no labels, just the legend 'Pink Dirt Hey Sir/Hooker' scrawled in magic marker. Who were these gods and why did they walk among us? Please email me if you know anything about the people behind this stunning art experience.” Johan Kugelberg

Pink Dirt – Hey Sir

The Last Song

2009-09-11T13:34:00.006+01:00

“The Last Song” by French Cold-Wavers Trisomie 21 has one of the most amazing bass lines ever played. I taped this song on cassette back when I was an avid radio fanatic, but it took me several years to know what band was behind such a masterpiece.

Trisomie 21 – The Last Song

Outpunk

2009-09-06T10:49:00.014+01:00

Outpunk was a queer record label and magazine started by Matt Wobensmith in 1992. Zines! Vol. 1, a lovely book related to the art of doing fanzines, contained an interview with the creator of Outpunk. That interview is so great I thought it would be nice to post it on the blogsite. To me, it still sounds as fresh and inspiring as the first time I read it.

Outpunk #2 ½

And here's another great interview with Matt. This one was also made in 1996, and you can find it in the Punk Rock Academy website. I decided to copy and paste the whole interview because it's simply brilliant.

How have you seen punk rock change since you became involved with it?
It's gotten more diverse in style and politics, and conversely, certain elements are that much more purist and conservative.

Is it better now or worse than when you got involved?
Again, certain things are getting better - mainly, feminism becoming realized in punk; queer participation and co-option of punk; the use of punk's "outsider" identity for people on the fringes to identify with, however surface it may be. Those things are the true personification of what punk is about. On the worse side, punk has gone through an identity crisis, and now that lots of people appreciate its music and style, the remaining holdouts of the punk identity are trying to define themselves by their "politics." For example, militant animal rights, the anti-major label stance, the poverty trip, straight-edge, etc. - all are not inherently bad, but on a larger level represent the surface level fake politics that punk is barely capable of conveying. On an institutionalized level, punk politics are ignorance personified, and embody the racist, sexist, and classist structure that it claims to be different from. Punk ideology works in a make-believe world; it works as entertainment and fantasy. But in reality, it does nothing to solve world problems; it doesn't empower the truly oppressed because it's all about the views of an overprivileged class. Punk rock is not a valid political movement - It's a collection of idealistic and mostly naive people who yearn for more, yet settle for less.

Do you think there's anything wrong with punk?
Yeah, in a nutshell, these things come to mind: stupid, ignorant, racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, elitist, fake, cult-like, ancient, ultra-conformist, brainwashed, totally afraid and not something I identify with, thank you very much!

What's good about it?
It allows people truly on the outside - some women, queers, people of color, fat people, and on - to find a niche where they can feel accepted. They use its ideas and pretense to make an identity that includes them. It provides some relief for all people to escape from their horrible surroundings. Entertainment does that for people, whether it's Screeching Weasel, Arnold Schwartzenegger, or Monday Night Football.

How have you seen the crowds and people at shows change?
More women, more queers; more affluent people; more Asian-Americans but less African-Americans.

Do you see any problems with the way people act at shows?
I'm glad moshing is going out of style - it's stupid and dated. Shoegazer dorks are starting to annoy me, though. People don't dance and they should. They don't dance because they're too macho, too uptight, too uncreative; a combination of these factors.

What can we do to make the scene better?
Destroy it. From the ground up.

Final thoughts? Anything you'd like to add?
It's 1996. Stop fooling yourselves!! There are people who are invested in feeding you nostalgia when you could be creating and enjoying your own. You are being manipulated! Consistency is overrated. Punk makes you conform big time - it makes you think you have to know all the answers to life at age 18 and then hold on to them forever. You're supposed to brag about how long you've been true to the cause. It's fucked. Listen: change is life. If you haven't changed, then you haven't grown. If your goal is to stay the same, then you're living in a fucking cave. There is a HUGE world out there and you are not a part of it. It's OK to admit you were wrong or naïve; reinvent yourself constantly! Most of the people interviewed alongside of me in this zine are fucked. I hate to be read in the context of such stupidity and narrow-mindedness. They don't have anything to say. It's one big in-joke that isn't funny, one without a greater meaning or context in the crazy fucking world we live in. Or rather, the one I live in. If I had to be around these people, I'd have to kill a few of them. You don't control your landlord, or your boss, or your family. If you get involved in a subculture, it'd better be exactly what you want and need. If not, then you look pretty stupid - you chose to be there. If punk sucks, it's not because you suck; it's because you finally woke the fuck up from your dream and decided to get real. Quit bullshitting like it's not true - you can fool everyone else, but look who's the real fool.

Matt Wobensmith

Outpunk interview (Zines! Vol. 1, Re/Search Publisher, 1996)

Children In Adult Jails

2009-08-27T16:33:00.008+01:00

Children In Adult Jails were a New Jersey band originally formed by Pseu Braun – guitar/bass/vocals, Diane “Kamikaze” Faris – drums/vocals, Christen Clark – guitar/vocals, Laurie Es – bass/drums/vocals, and Tom Shad – bass.

Children in Adult Jails flyer

“Throughout the years 1986 to 1995 the band recorded several songs and practiced hundreds more while trends like neo-sothern rock, concepts like grunge and marketing terms like 'alternative' seemed to have destroyed any vestige of artistic expression in the 'underground'. To admit to being in a band was like admitting to a murder, to be viewed as just one more piece of driftwood waiting to be fashioned into a puppet of the corporate music army. For CIAJ, to not be heard from was like having all the perks of invisibility. It was also seemingly imperative for their collective mental health to stick together.”

Children in Adult Jails

During their whole existence, the main core of the band was Pseu and Diane, both ladies deeply involved in the underground music scene, doing since long time ago great radio shows on the cult WMFU Radio.

Diane and Pseu

By the way, Pseu is still playing bass nowadays with the band Daughters Of Atlas.

Children In Adult Jails – Brick House
You can download the whole album here.

“This song is one of a few early and seminal works of punk deconstruction of pop. It's entertainingly stupid, racist and features special guest Skippy the Sea Lion intermittently belching out the word 'House'. Recorded on 8 tracks in Caldwell, NJ back in 1984 I guess.” Pseu

Children In Adult Jails – Ebeneezer [Unreleased song]