Debut LP From The Legendary Garage Revivalists In 1984 On Voxx. A Combination Of Primitive Mid-60s Garage Punk With RnB And Blues Influences. A Great taste Of Fuzz!!!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The Tell Tale Hearts - S/T ( Voxx 1984 )
Debut LP From The Legendary Garage Revivalists In 1984 On Voxx. A Combination Of Primitive Mid-60s Garage Punk With RnB And Blues Influences. A Great taste Of Fuzz!!!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Frantic V - A Long Play With... ( On Stage Records 2004 )
After A couple Of Glorious 7"s On Various Both Greek And International Labels, The Ultimate Kings Of Shake Up North Came Back With Their First Long Player! Its Groovy...!!!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Jesus & Mary Chain - Barbed Wire Kisses ( WEA 1988 )
If B-Sides Are Always Better, That's The Real Deal. The Most Importand Band Up North Delivers A Complication Of B-sides And Outakes To Blow Your Mind.
Hailing from East Kilbride, Scotland, Jim and William Reid were young, unemployed, and disgusted with the music being released in the early 80s. In 1983 they recorded two-man demos but record companies couldn't care less.
Like the Velvet Underground, their most obvious influence, the chart success of the Jesus and Mary Chain was virtually nonexistent, but their artistic impact was incalculable; quite simply, the British group made the world safe for white noise, orchestrating a sound dense in squalling feedback which served as an inspiration to everyone from My Bloody Valentine to Dinosaur Jr. Though the supporting players drifted in and out of focus, the heart of the Mary Chain remained vocalists and guitarists William and Jim Reid, Scottish-born brothers heavily influenced not only by underground legends like the Velvets and the Stooges but also by the sonic grandeur and pop savvy of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. In the Jesus and Mary Chain, which the Reids formed outside of Glasgow in 1984 with bassist Douglas Hart and drummer Murray Dalglish (quickly replaced by Bobby Gilespie), these two polarized aesthetics converged; equal parts bubblegum and formless guitar distortion, their sound both celebrated pop conventions and thoroughly subverted them.
In late 1984, the band issued its seminal debut single, "Upside Down," a remarkable blast of live wire feedback anchored by a caveman-like drumbeat; the record made the Mary Chain an overnight sensation in the U.K., as did their nascent live shows, 20-minute sets of confrontational noise (performed with the band's members' backs to the audience) which frequently ended in rioting. The follow-up, "You Trip Me Up," further perfected the formula, and led to their 1985 debut LP Psychocandy which gift-wrapped sweet, simple pop songs in ribbons of droning guitar fuzz. After a two-year layoff (during which time Gillespie exited to form Primal Scream, and was replaced by John Moore), the Jesus and Mary Chain returned with Darklands, a dramatic shift in approach which stripped away the feedback to expose the skeletal guitar pop at the music's core. After a sprawling 1988 collection of singles, B-sides, and demos titled Barbed Wire Kisses, they emerged with Automatic, which introduced a more tightly coiled brand of feedback while jettisoning Moore's live drums in favor of synthesized beats. After another long absence, the Mary Chain (minus Hart) resurfaced in 1992 with Honey's Dead, and earned greater U.S. visibility thanks to a spot on that summer's Lollapalooza lineup; the first single, "Reverence," also won them renewed notoriety at home when Top of the Pops banned the song because of its opening lines, "I wanna die just like Jesus Christ" and "I wanna die just like JFK." With 1994's gentle, largely acoustic Stoned & Dethroned, they even reached the U.S. pop charts thanks to the lovely single "Sometimes Always," a duet with Mazzy Stear's Hope Sandoval. Another collection of scattered sides, The Jesus and Mary Chain Hate Rock 'n' Roll, followed a year later, highlighted by the single "I Hate Rock 'n' Roll," a scabrous swipe which reclaimed the pure noise attack of their earliest work. Moving to Sub Pop, they returned with Munki in 1998. William Reid left the group during the subsequent tour, and in 1999, the Jesus and Mary Chain officially disbanded. ~ (Additional Text: Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide)
Friday, November 10, 2006
Dream Syndicate - The Days Of Wine And Roses ( Ruby Records/Slash Records 1982 )
Debut LP And "Paisley Underground" Classic From The Incredible Dream Syndicate.
The Dream Syndicate, formed by guitarists Steve Wynn and Karl Precoda and bassist Kendra Smith, acted as the natural bridge between the Television (and the new wave in general) and the new generation of psychedelic rockers. Their first album, Days Of Wine And Roses (1982), conveyed, more than anything else, the synthesis of Bob Dylan and the Velvet Underground that had been the hidden theme of the new wave. Echoes of the Rolling Stones, the Stooges and the Doors increased the hellish atmospheres of Wynn's confessional trips. While Wynn was lost in his existential panic, Precoda and Smith lifted the music to a majestic level. When Smith left, the "acid" quotient dropped, and the band opted for the quieter jamming of Medicine Show (1984), a presage of the new sound of Out Of The Grey (1986), reminiscent of Neil Young's neurotic country-rock; but Wynn was still the only songwriter capable of making his lyrics bleed. Ghost Stories (1988) closed the semicircle by almost embracing R.E.M.'s folk-rock. The combination of abrasive guitars, dramatic tension and crude realism coined a language that would inspire countless bands of the 1980s. (Additional Text From: www.scuruffi.com)
Saturday, November 04, 2006
The A-Bones - The Life Of Riley ( Norton Records 1991 )
"Full blown 50's garage crank filled with more surf than Maui in December, more alligator skin than the finest luggage and more kick than a donkey in heat... tantalizingly horny."
The A-Bones were a Brooklyn-based five-piece that approached the sloppy greatness of rock & roll's past with a beer-addled enthusiasm that had nothing to do with "oldies" or "nostalgia" and everything to do with the primal impulse to play music that's fast, loud, and wild. Named for a tune by the Trashmen, the A-Bones were led by vocalist Billy Miller and drummer Miriam Linna, who previously bashed it out in the Zantees and were also the brains behind wild-assed pop culture journal Kicks and label Norton Records, both of which reflected the same frantic attitude as their band. (Filling out the lineup were Bruce Bennet on guitar, Mike Lewis and later Marcus "The Carcass" Natale on bass, and Lars Espensen on sax.) The A-Bones kicked off their career in 1984, and two years later they released their first record, a 10" EP called Tempo Tantrum, with the album Free Beer for Life! following in 1988. They lent their services as a backing band to such unsung rock & roll legends as Rudy Grayzell, Hasil Adkins, Johnny Powers, Ronnie Dawson, Roy Loney, and Cordel Jackson, released a fistful of singles on various hyper-cool labels, and released five full-length LPs for Norton before finally calling it a day in 1994. The group played occasional reunion shows over the next decade, though, and in 2004 recorded a new tune (with backing vocals from the 5.6.7.8's) for a 20th anniversary retrospective, Daddy Wants a Cold Beer and Other Million Sellers. (Mark Deming, All Music Guide )
Friday, November 03, 2006
Stereolab - Refried Ectoplasm ( Duophonic 1995 )
Stereolab are an English-based band whose style, mixing 1950s-1960s pop and lounge music with the "motorik" beat of krautrock, was one of the first to which the term "post-rock" was applied. They are noted for the use of vintage keyboard instruments like Moog synths and Vox and Farfisa organs. Stereolab are also notable for founding their own record label, Duophonic records, with a grant from UK charity The Prince's Trust. The band are often referred to as "The Groop" by their fans (and in the title of their song "The Groop Play Chord X" on the album Space Age Batchelor Pad Music).
They were founded in 1990 by songwriters Tim Gane (guitar, keyboards), formerly of the band Mc Carthy, and Laetitia Sadier (sometimes credited as Seaya Sadier; vocals, keyboards, trombone, guitar), who is from France and sings in both English and French.
Combining an inclination for melodic '60s pop with an art rock aesthetic borrowed from Krautrock bands like Faust and Neu!, Stereolab were one of the most influential alternative bands of the '90s. Led by Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier, Stereolab either legitimized forms of music that were on the fringe of rock, or brought attention to strands of pop music — bossa nova, lounge-pop, movie soundtracks — that were traditionally banished from the rock lineage. The group's trademark sound — a droning, hypnotic rhythm track overlaid with melodic, mesmerizing singsong vocals, often sung in French and often promoting revolutionary, Marxist politics — was deceptively simple, providing the basis for a wide array of stylistic experiments over the course of their prolific career. Throughout it all, Stereolab relied heavily on forgotten methods of recording, whether it was analog synthesizers and electronics or a fondness for hi-fi test records, without ever sinking to the level of kitsch.
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