“Zounds! I was Never so Bethumped with.... the Soundz of Punk Rock’n’roll!!”

Some time ago I posted the proclamation that Wire's Pink Flag (1977 Harvest) may be the best punk rock album of all time.  I still stand by that, but making such claims can be complicated and ultimately unconvincing.  There’s so much great punk (as well as sooooo much bad stuff...) out there, and much of it - contrary to popular perception - is  extremely diverse in sound and attitude.  Case in point: meet Zounds, the best anarcho-punk band of the early 1980s.  They were very different from Wire in all senses of style and sound, but they too are on my top 5 list of best punk bands of all time.  

Whereas Wire explored the artpunk aesthetics that paved the way for bands like The Fall, Zounds   cultivated their sounds in the communes of anarcho-peace punk - a second-wave movement of UK punk rock that took seriously the political and cultural principles of philosophical anarchism.  Anarcho-peace punk exposed the John Lydens of first-wave punk for the media sellouts they’d become by offering a more politcally-charged, stripped-down-and-sped-up form of punk music that was uncompromising and intentionally uncommercial. The thing that gets me about Zounds, however, is there’s real musicianship and artistry in their songs - they’re a politically and stylistically focused band that proves just as aesthetically clever as groups of the artpunk tradition.

       

Zounds was formed in the Reading area of England in 1977 by the frontman Steve Lake.  Early in their career the band became friends with fellow rockers and activists, Crass, and even lived at their famous Commune, the Dial House, for a period of time.  The group released their first Ep, Can’t Cheat Karma, on Crass’s label (of the same name) in 1980.  Here’s the title track of that release:

A song like that has as much in common with artpunk & postpunk sensibilities as say the sounds of their Crass Records contemporaries. It reminds me of Gang of Four more so than Rudimentary Peni or Flux of the Pink Indians - and perhaps that’s why I like it so much...

I was inspired to make this post, however, due to another recent vinyl acquisition: Rough Trade’s 1981 release of Zounds first Lp The Curse of the Zounds. If Pink Flag’s my number #1, this one’s the runner-up, so I was thrilled to find it in the used record bins in such great condition.  Here’s the track, “Die He Jump” followed by "Fear" and lastly "New Band":

Zounds definitely sits on the mellower side of the Crass Records sound spectrum.  The guitars are cleaner, for instance, and the rhythms are less grinding.  Yet their message and attitude were just as uncompromising; they’re definitely punk rock. This album deserves a listen - as do their many singles and 7”s... Check it out:

Curse of the Zounds!

Also, the Wire Pink Flag link has expired on the previous posting page, so here’s a new one:

Wire's Pink Flag

Enjoy! And feel free to comment!

It’s my Birthday, so Let’s Have a Party with Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, and Rowland Howard... We’ll Call It The Birthday Party!!

Sorry for the delay in posts; I had a birthday this week!! So this will be a short one, but I'll get back to business this weekend with some more goodies.... The Birthday Party were an Australian Post-Punk/Noise Rock band that formed in 1973 and remained active until 1983. Their first name, however, was The Boys Next Door, and they changed to the Birthday Party sometime in the late 70s before they relocated to the London music scene. Critics have claimed them to be the pioneers of “gothic rock” and “no wave” due to their darker approach to post-punk noisiness; I’m sure most have heard their name due to their lead singer’s later worldwide exposure and commercial success as Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.  Nick Cave needs no explanation; he’s a legend, but his work with the Bad Seeds often eclipses his previous material as the Birthday Party.  That’s too bad because this band’s influence cannot be overstated; these guys were making noise before the advent of bands like Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard, Big Black, and Shellac.  Here’s an interesting video of the single, “Nick the Stripper,” from their debut album, Prayers on Fire (1981 4AD):

So that’s what would happen if the kids of Lord of the Flies decided to form a Post-Punk band to pass the time.  I believe I saw Beelzebub bouncing around on the ole wooden stake as they reveled in their Dionysian frenzy.  Poor Piggy and Simon...  One can definitely hear the roots of 90s Noise Rock.  People always talk about their connection to Bauhaus and other "Goth Rock" bands, but there's definitely more going on here. I bet Albini and Yow would agree...  The Birthday Party released only two full length albums, the second being Junkyard (1982 4AD), before disbanding.  They did record some Eps, however. Definitely check out both records....

Birthday Party's Payers on Fire

Birthday Party's Junkyard

Nick Cave’s later career has been well celebrated and thoroughly noted, but I think more recent audiences are often unaware of the later of work of band members, Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard.  They too have continued to record and release really great records.  In fact, when Nick Cave gave his acceptance speech for the Australian music hall of fame, he informally inducted the other members who equally deserved such accolades.  Well, it is my birthday, and I would love to post video samples of the artists’ work, but that takes time.  Perhaps I’ll post later (with links and all); their solo work is worth all Nick Cave fans’ attention.  Check ‘em out...

Best Punk Record Ever: Wire’s Pink Flag, No Question About It!!

Punk Rock is an overwhelming genre; it’s difficult to navigate around all the hackneyed cliches that pass off as Punk acts. I feel sorry for the recent teenager that's just discovered the stripped-down, 3 power chord phenomenon that first shocked the music world in the late 70s; there’s just too much junk to wade through these days in this digital information age. A student asked me recently for a list of punk rock essentials; I’m not sure I ever answered that daunting question, but here’s an attempt to begin an answer.

The first on my list, without a doubt, would be England’s more artsy punk rockers, Wire. Members, Colin Newman and Graham Lewis, formed the band in London in 1976. They released 3 seminal full lengths in the late 70s, disbanded in the 80s, and reunited in the 90s to record several more albums, the most recent being released in Dec. 2010. Most critics and musical enthusiasts celebrate the first three albums (of the late 70s) as their most important material. Their debut Pink Flag (1977 Harvest/EMI) is by far the best album of the 1st wave Punk movement; the next two releases, Chairs Missing (1978 Harvest) and 154 (1979 Harvest), moved more towards Post-Punk/Art Punk sounds and away from the minimalism that distinctly defines 1st album's style. They’re great albums as well, but Pink Flag is a dead serious essential for all rock collections! Here’s the opening track “Reuters”:

What an awesome opening to an album that continues to be good the whole way through! Here’s the song that cost the 90s Britpop band, Elastica, a lawsuit (see Elastica’s strikingly similar song “Connection” - a big radio hit in the mid to late 90s...); Wire’s song is called “Three Girl Rhumba”:

And now Elastica:

Hmmmm. That guitar rift is almost exactly the same, for sure, but I don’t know if I would sue Elastica over it....

In the song, “Mannequin,” one can clearly hear their nascent movement towards Post-Punk sensibilities. Here’s the track:

That’s a good song. Wire has obviously had a major, widespread impact on many musicians over the years. R.E.M., for instance, has covered the song, “Strange,” from the Pink Flag Lp on their album, Document (1987 I.R.S.). Here’s the Wire version:

That song almost reminds me of early Velvet Underground or early Stooges; it's good stuff... Also, Dischord Records enthusiasts may notice that Minor Threat, at one point, covered the Post-Punky track, “12xU,” from the Wire debut:

Minor Threat really plays that song hard and fast. Definitely check it out as well. 4 Men With Beards rereleased the Vinyl version of Wire’s debut album in 2006; it sounds really good! I cannot recommend it enough. This is the best punk album ever! Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?arkzmtcllli

Now, before we depart, I must leave you with this:

Ahhhh, American hardcore...

Let’s wrestle? Well, ok!!

If you like the previous post and you’ve never listened to Let’s Wrestle, well now’s the time, especially when I reveal the name of the producer of their latest album, Nursing Home (2011 Merge Records) Steve Albini has teamed up with this most recent project of post-punk pastiche to record and produce a raw, tastefully ironic pop record, and I just recently got it on Vinyl. Here’s the video to the album’s opening track, “In Dreams Part II”:

Let’s Wrestle is a three-piece indie rock group from England that formed in 2005. They began releasing singles in 2007 and have recorded 2 full length albums since; the first release I listened to was their Ep, In Loving Memory Of... (2008 Stolen Records), thanks to a friend from OK. I think that Ep is my favorite of their discography, and it reminds me most of the early TV Personalities sound. Here’s the video to the track, “I Won’t Lie to You”:

That’s some really good, stripped-down Lo-Fi rock’n’roll!! But my favorite song of the release is the song, “Man with Pica Syndrome.” They made a video for that track as well:

Let’s Wrestle is a lot of fun. It’s raw, ironic & humorous, while at the same time, heart-felt & real. They’re good for any party as well; definitely add to the library, and start with the ep...

let’s wrestle in loving memory of

http://www.mediafire.com/?ymiuzzzo42w

Hipsters meet your Godfathers: Dan Treacy & Ed Ball of the Television Personalities & Teenage Filmstars

Television Personalities playing live

So the story begins at the discount bookstore. I was flipping through records and came across the popular Teenage Filmstars album Star (1992 Creation Records).  The price was right, so I purchased it.  I’ve always been a fan of Dan Treacy’s and Ed Ball’s post-punk project, Television Personalities, but so far, the later reincarnation of the artists’ side project (Teenage Filmstars) has proved disappointing, but why??  I like loud, fuzzy, textured psychedelia as much as the next person, and the band explores such aesthetics to the point of sheer fetishization. The obsessive fetishizing of 60s culture isn’t what bothers me, however; in fact, I probably participate in this social practice.  I think the problem is I’ve listened to the Television Personalities for many years now, and I love their campy, minimalist take on post-punk rock.  And that’s what’s missing from their later project...

Here’s my favorite track on the later Teenage Filmstars album; it’s entitled “Kiss Me”:

It’s good psychedelia for sure, ahead of its time in relation to the recent, neo-psychedelic revival.  But it doesn’t have the enduring quality of their previous, more kitschy approach to Lo-Fi, garage-style post-punk.  Their more known project, Television Personalities, began releasing singles as early as 1978.  Their debut album, And Don’t the Kids Just Love It, was recorded in 1980 and released in 1981 on Rough Trade.  It’s rawness, minimalism, and irony is almost too much, and as a result, it’s an awesome album!!!  Check out the opening track, “This Angry Silence,” of their debut full length:

It’s like early Beatles-y Brit Pop mixed with the irony of post-Sex Pistols music culture.  In other words, it’s the songs of innocence and songs of experience all in one pop song formula.... Incredible!

The Television Personalities were (or are... I think they’re technically still together?....) the brainchild of Dan Treacy and Ed Ball.  They were an English group that was very much part of the emerging Punk (and later Post-Punk) music scene.  In the early years, they released singles under several varying band names: Television Personalities, Teenage Filmstars, The Times, The O Level....  By the time of their debut album, they seemed to have settled on 2 names for separate projects: TV Personalities and The Times.  Later, they re-formed under the name previously (but briefly) used, Teenage Filmstars.  I have always preferred the early material of their project, TV Personalities.  Here’s another great track, “Geoffrey Ingram,” from the 1st album:

The band continued to release more albums through the 80s, each release moving more and more away from their post-punk roots, exploring instead sounds of the previous decade: namely the psychedelic 60s.  My favorite moment in this transition of sound was captured beautifully in the following video, a clip I recently discovered when surfing the ole net.  The song is called “The Painted Word,” and it’s from their 1985 album of the same name (Whaam! Records):

Oh my God!  That video just made my day when I discovered it.  21st century hipsters eat your heart out. You can’t get more ironically pastiche or self-consciously campy than that!  Davie Crocket hats are as hip as it gets! (Ricky, you know what I’m talking about.... sorry, inside joke for a friend of the blog....)  In fact, this video (and not the aforementioned record purchase) is what really inspired this post; I had to share it with my small world; hope it warms your heart as well.

Here’s one more track from the debut TV Personalities album; it’s called “Silly Girl”:

If you like raw, Lo-Fi post-punk - like recent acts such as Let’s Wrestle or Art Brut - early TV Personalities albums are for you, especially the first one.  Check it out and feel free to comment.

Teenage Filmstars:

http://www.mediafire.com/?loemjkmzjdz

Television Personalities:

http://www.mediafire.com/?lnwmrygqss2

Happy Halloween! Claw Hammer dressed up as Devo! Wicked!!!!

Claw Hammer

Claw Hammer was a Noise Rock band from California that recorded records and played shows from the late 80s until the year 2000.  In good noise rock fashion, their name was taken from a Captain Beefheart tune.  They released six albums and some Eps and cassettes, mostly on Sympathy for the Record Industry but later on major labels such as Epitaph and Interscope.  Their 2nd album covered entirely Devo’s 1978 classic, Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!; Claw Hammer’s album was cleverly titled Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Not Devo! (1991 Sympathy for the Record Industry).  A year before, the group released an Ep, Double Pac Whack Attack (1990 Sympathy for the Record Industry), which featured covers by Devo, Patti Smith, Pere Ubu, and Brian Eno.  One quickly gets a sense of the band’s formative influences when reading this list and considering their name. Here’s the band playing Devo’s famous track, “Mongoloid”:

You can imagine the rest of the album, just raw, rockin’ interpretations of Devo’s New Wave classics.  Definitely check it out as well as their Ep:

Q: Are We Not Men; A: We Are Not Devo!

http://www.mediafire.com/?8fnomfg91n7

Ep - Double Pac Whack Attack

http://www.mediafire.com/?8is9k3hg32ftyf6

Happey Halloween everyone!!  Feel free to comment and enjoy!!!

What Do You Get When Steve Albini Records the Jesus Lizard Playing Bitches’ Brew? The Answer is The Giddy Motors.

The Giddy Motors

The group doesn’t really have anything to do with the Jesus Lizard; the Giddy Motors formed in South London in 1999. The band did play loud, dissonant rock and roll, however, that reminds one of certain bands of the noise rock/post-punk tradition. There was a heavy jazz influence as well, and the first thing I thought when listening was wouldn’t it be cool if Jesus Lizard covered Miles’s Bitches’ Brew! Someone tell David Yow to get on that! But seriously, this is a really amazing, underrated rock band. They only released two albums on FatCat Records, Make it Pop (2002) and Do Easy (2006), and then disbanded shortly after their 2nd release. Their 1st full length is an absolute essential, and one reason for this was the producer, legendary Steve Albini. If you like the idea anything Albini, this is definitely worth checking out. Here’s the track, “Hit Cap,” from Make It Pop:

One can hear the obvious jazz sensibilities in the above track, but the band didn’t always incorporate such influences. Sometimes they played straight-up noise rock. Apparently they made a video of the song, “Magmanic,” from the same album, and it demonstrates their heavier styles of rock and roll. Unfortunately, the video copy from YouTube has poor sound quality; I apologize if it’s too much:

If you like what you hear, definitely check out the entire album. It’s an Albini-production essential!

http://www.mediafire.com/?jf85havvddb39iy

Celebrating Labor Day through the Anthems of the Rust Belt Part 2: Home of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame

When referencing Detroit's influence on Rock music, one immediately thinks of 2 other industrial centers that rivaled the motor city as the hot bed of Rock'n'Roll angst: New York City & Cleveland, OH. Like Detroit, Cleveland also witnessed a kind of hard rock renaissance that seems intimately tied to the city's "rust belt" economy & history. Like Detroit there is so much material from the Ohio state to explore, but I will focus on a trinity of interconnected projects: Rocket from the Tombs, Dead Boys, & Pere Ubu. But before that, let's look at a short-lived, legendary project that later influenced Stiv Bators, frontman of the band Dead Boys:

electric eels

In terms of irony, negation, & disorderly conduct, Cleveland's the electric eels were as punk rock as anything else circa 1975. They were a short-lived project that only played 5 live shows, but apparently the live antics of someone like Anton (of Brian Jonestown Massacre) had nothing on the electric eels; they were known for fighting each other or the audience and often had run ins with the police. In spirit of Punk, they were uncompromisingly offensive. (For example, examine the free usage of swastikas on the album art below. This is something the Dead Boys will model in their image as well. Stiv Bators obviously got many ideas by watching eels' frontman Dave "E" McManus.)

(Dave "E" McManus of the electric eels on right)

Although the electric eels are cited as one of the early Proto-Punk bands of the Cleveland Rock scene, their music explores more than sped up, stripped down bluesy rock'n'roll. McManus was said to be influenced by Ornette Coleman and other Free Jazz performers. The electric eels definitely experiment with song form, and one can hear anticipations of what later becomes noise rock in their material. They never recorded a full-length album, but many of their songs have been collected on the CD release, The Eyeball of Hell (which collects recordings from 75-76; don't know year of release nor the label, however. If someone knows, please comment!). The recordings are raw single takes of some rowdy garage rock free jazz with some punk rock attitude. Check out the track "Agitated":

It's pretty raw & rowdy. Like stated before, McManus & the eels were a great influence on another young Cleveland rocker, Stiv Bators. You might hear it in the above track. They're a great addition to any Proto-Punk library. Definitely listen to the whole collection.

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?zynygz3ky0d

Rocket from the Tombs

Rocket from the Tombs were contemporaries of the electric eels and had a similarly short-lived career. Like the eels, they were only together for a couple of years, and they too never recorded any studio albums during that time. Many of their recorded songs have been collected on a CD release as well: The Day the Earth Met the Rocket from the Tombs (Smog Veil Records 2002). Unlike the electric eels, the members of RFTT went on to form other much more successful projects, most notably the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu. Stiv Bators, however, was not in this band; the most notable lineup was Cheetah Chrome, Johnny Blitz, Peter Laughner, and David Thomas.

Here's a track off the above mentioned collection:

Their recordings are pretty raw as well, but that's what is to be expected from 70s underground Proto-Punk. Definitely check out the entire collection; Dead Boys & Pere Ubu fans will recognize some of the songs. Both bands re-recorded selections from the RFTT catalog.

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?yltm1jnyomm

Dead Boys: When Cheetah Chrome and Johnny Blitz left RFTT, they joined singer Stiv

Bators to form the group Frankenstein. They later renamed the band Dead Boys and eventually moved to NYC. The Dead Boys are considered one of the major 1st wave American Punk bands. Stiv Bators took much from the live antics of Steve "E" McManus and Iggy Pop and performed many memorable (and controversial) shows at clubs like CBGBs. He was known for cutting himself on stage, for instance. (I would have just stuck to the peanut butter personally...) Like the electric eels, Stiv and the crew would often make us of provocative forms of pastiche, sporting swastika signs for instance. When I first discovered them as a 13 year old pimply kid with a skateboard, I naively thought: "Holy crap! these guys are skinhead nazis!" So I never explored their music for a brief period of time. I wasn't too keen on semiotics and the creative signifying practice of negation at that point in my East Texas experience.

Dead Boys released their 1st studio full length, Young Loud and Snotty, in 1977 on Sire Records. On that album, they re-recorded the song "Sonic Reducer" (as well as other RFTT songs), which became a favorite pick for classic Punk Rock mixtapes.

Here's a great clip of Dead Boys performing at New York's CBGB's:

Dead Boys released a 2nd album from Sire Records in 1978 called We Have Come For Your Children. The recording experience supposedly caused the band to break up. There was pressure from the Corporate label to tone down their "disturbing" image to make possible more marketability in the mainstream. Sound familiar? So they called it quits soon after the album's sessions. Despite its history, it's a punk classic as well. Both albums are great for any classic Punk collection.

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?1uddzx1yyew (YLAS)

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?mjdizzwtotc (WHCFYC)

Pere Ubu

When Cheetah Chrome and Johnny Blitz left RFTT eventually to form Dead Boys, Peter Laughner and David Thomas started a new project as well: Pere Ubu (David Thomas still performs as the act today...). Like their source's name, their artistic vision directed them towards the more experimental side of things. (Their name comes from the avant-garde play Ubu Roi by French proto-Surrealist Alfred Jarry.) The group formed in 75, and over the years, their music has explored genres such as new wave, post-punk, electronica, and noise. Their discography is overwhelmingly large, but their early period has gained the most attention from critics and popular listeners alike. Their first album, The Modern Dance (1978 Blank Records), received much praise from various rock critics. It's definitely an essential for Post-Punk & (even) Garage Rock enthusiasts. Here's the track "Street Waves":

Pere Ubu immediately released their 2nd full length, Dub Housing, in 1978 on Chrysalis Records. One can hear the band's departure from Garage-like sounds towards more experimental elements of Post-Punk & New Wave. Check out the track "Navvy":

The band continued to release albums, and like stated before, David Thomas (the only constant member) is still active today. An earlier post made mention of Mayo Thompson & Red Crayola/Red Krayola of Houston, TX. In 1980, Mayo Thompson joined Pere Ubu to record the album The Art of Walking (Rough Trade Records). If you liked Mayo's material and the above videos, you should definitely check out this album as well.

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?avjzxtjjbz0 (TMD)

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?ykoghjmutct (DH)

dl: http://www.mediafire.com/?cha36mthn4sr37o (TAOW)

Once again, there are so many other bands one could mention in this posting. Perhaps later I'll post something on the super-group Lords of the New Church. But for now, Happy Labor Day and enjoy the music!