Wildlife Documentaries was formed in the early 80s after
the original Saints split.
Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay returned to Australia,
Hay joined The Hitmen, and Kuepper formed Laughing Clowns.
Chris Bailey remained in the UK and set about assembling a
new version of The Saints that initially included Hay on drums
(who returned to the UK briefly).
After that, Hay formed this jazz-inspired combo
Wildlife Documentaries back in Sydney. Described as a "steel skeleton with a heart of brass"
they released this EP on M squared in June 1982.
And that was it, shame really because this band had a
wonderful sound very much in the same vein as the
Laughing Clowns. After the end of this band Ivor rejoined Bailey in The Saints
during 1985.
[SOURCE: THAT STRIPED SUNLIGHT SOUND]
Vocoder was formed in 1981 in Zaragoza. Antonio Laval and Ildefonso Olarte, young high school classmates, together with Antonio Tenas, from Radio Juventud, formed this group inspired by the "Movida Madrileña" and the synth-pop. With the incorporation of Pilar Pellicer they have a positive response of Neon Danza (Discos DRO) that leads them to record the EP 'What Happens Now' in 1984, 'Mindanao' EP in 1985 and the LP 'Vocoder' in 1987, published in several countries of South America. [SOURCE: GRUPOS NACIONALES NUEVA OLA 80]
From the clothes they sport and the cars they drive to the design of
their record jackets and the music inside -yeah, from any angle but
that of real time, The Untamed Youth are a ’60s band. In an era of drum
machines, Fairlights and Exposé, many might find the concept of a
hot rod/surf combo from Columbia, Missouri to be frivolous or downright
silly. But the fact is this hearse-driven quartet has made an LP
unrivaled in recent memory for pure dancing and drinking enjoyment.
Authentic co-production by Billy Miller and Andy Shernoff (Dictators) captures the supercharged atmosphere
created whenever the Untamed Youth fill a teen club or tavern. Why
debate the modern relevance of motorbikes, girls, guitars, Pabst Blue
Ribbon, bikinis, and Elly May Clampett? Their praises may have been sung
before, but rarely so eloquently. [SOURCE: TROUSER PRESS]
Founded by Paul Rixon (The McTells) and Gillian Elam in 1983 in Hertford, UK, Bi-Joopiter existed originally as a cassette-only recording label, though later they embraced vinyl.
Paul Rixon was also in the The Twins and Rig Veeda with
Bi-Joopiter co-founder Gillian Elam. This cassette is a bag full of songs. Exploration through feedback
and chime bells. Tunes to hum or play as loud as can be over the
trees. A trip to the stars. [SOURCE: SO TOUGH! SO CUTE! AND TOO CUTE TO PUKE]
Label: Bi-Joopiter – bijoop 010
Format:
Cassette, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1986
Style: Shoegaze, Slacker Rock, Twee Pop, C86, Indie Pop
Tracklist:
A1 Baby Comfort
A2 Everytime
A3 Oh Yeah, Oh No!
A4 Way Back Home
A5 This Child
A6 Sail The Frosty Seas
A7 Shy Girl
A8 Falling
B1 Be There
B2 Never Mention
B3 Creep
B4 Mickey Mouse
B5 Sign Of Life
B6 King Moins
B7 Kansas
B8 Life Of A Dog
B9 Away
Notes:
Cassette came in a tiny cloth bag with screen printed title and illustration. Cassette-cover is hand colored
Beat studio guru Mike Mangino (Pink Noise, The Poptards) and Chris Shepard (The Poptards) formed Smersh as an experimental big-beat techno/industrial project and began releasing cassettes in 1981. Smersh recorded improvised cuts every Monday night, released countless cassettes on their own label, Atlas King, and were featured on more compilations than you can track down. They never played live, never played the same track more than once. 'A Murder of Crows' was released on their Atlas King label in 1984. It was released after 'Hothouse Bodies in a Cool Culture', and features the tracks "Judy Mach 7" and "Hunter Killer", which were featured on a split 7" single with Penny Cillin in 1985. "Hunter Killer" is also noted for its appearance in the video game "Fucker Gamer Scum Get Stabbed" and also on the Smersh compilation LP 'The Beat From 20,000 Fathoms'. An album something between Chrome and Suicide, very hard to find only released on cassette. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
Razar formed in Brisbane in late 1977 out of the ashes of two high school cover dance bands -Crossroads and Royal Bandit. Their home, Queensland, was fast becoming a police state and Brisbane was it's experience - a punk city. Members: Steve Mee (guitar), Marty Burke (vocals), Bob Wackley (bass) and Greg Wackley (drums). Members of the "second generation" of the Brisbane punk movement expanded from 1978, they benefited from radio airplay, specially with their track, "Task Force (Undercover Cops)" (1978). Razar were described them as a "Youthful and popular punk outfit which attracted a lot of attention due to their controversial material." The lyrics of "Task Force" dealt with the Queensland Police special branch, or "Brisbane's notorious undercover police." Razar, and most high-profile Brisbane punk groups, received intense scrutiny from the local constabulary with their venues often raided and closed. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Label: His Master's Voice – PRS 2645
Format:
Vinyl, 7", EP
Country: Australia
Released: 1979
Style: Punk, Punk Rock
Tracklist:
A1 Money 2:44
A2 Self Destruct 1:37
B1 Shutdown Countdown 2:24
B2 Here Is The News 2:00
Notes:
Originally released without picture sleeve. Copies sold by the band in 2002 come with a later-made picture sleeve and insert.
Chris Phinney
is the founder of the Harsh Reality Music cassette label and a long-time home taper from the 1980s onwards. Chris revived the label in 2011 and it has been active ever since.
It produced about 350 releases during its original incarnation, including numerous compilations as well as material by the likes of Big City Orchestra, Violence And The Sacred, Viktimized Karcass and Nomuzic.
Hal McGee
is an American experimental artist and producer, active since 1981. With Debbie Jaffe, McGee operated the Cause And Effect cassette label and distributor in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the mid-1980's, McGee recorded works as a member of Viscera, solo as Dog As Master, and in collaboration with If, Bwana and JABON.
McGee moved to Florida in 1988, where he operated the Electronic Cottage label out of Gainesville, simultaneously with an Electronic Cottage Magazine into the 1990's. This was restarted as an online zine and community in April 2018.
In the mid to late 1990's, McGee released dozens of cassettes of homemade experimental music, solo and in collaboration with Jeph Jerman, Brian Noring (EHI), Big City Orchestra, Emil Hagstrom (Cock E.S.P.), Charles Rice Goff III and others. He also produced a series of "Tape Heads" cassette compilations on his own HalTapes label.
Label: HalTapes – HT 069
Format:
Cassette, Album
Country: US
Released: 1996
Style: Experimental, Ambient
Tracklist:
A1 The Ouzing Of Wormy Sounds Through A Close-Meshed Wire
Otomo Yoshihide is a Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist. He mainly plays guitar, turntables, and electronics. He first came to international prominence in the 1990s as the leader of the experimental rock group Ground Zero, and has since worked in a variety of contexts, ranging from free improvisation to noise, jazz, avant-garde and contemporary classical. He is also a pioneering figure in the EAI-scene, and is featured on important records on labels like Erstwhile Records. He has composed music for many films, television dramas, and commercials. In 2017, Otomo became the 2nd Guest Artistic Director of The Sapporo International Art Festival 2017.
With the exception of 2 tracks, this is an entirely solo album that sees Otomo experimenting with various odd instrumentation. The behemoth opening track, "Religion-4", is the first. Otomo plays the turntables, tapes, and radio on this piece. It's pretty much straight up noise music, you can hear wailing, beeping and harsh turntable scratches for the first few minutes and not many other discernable sounds, as it crashes and screeches its way throughout its early duration. Despite of the sound sources being use here you can only barely at moments make out what the hell you're hearing. A voice, a drum beat, junk noises, occasionally peek through the chaos only to disappear as fast as they entered. About 11 and a half minutes in is the most recognizable sample with loops of a monologue, which also marks things getting a bit less harsh, but still very noisy and nonsensical. Things come down in the last couple minutes of the track with the sampling becoming much more noticeable and less overwhelming, more sparse, before one final WOOOSH finishes off the track. This takes up the entire A-Side of the cassette and is an absolute trip to listen to, apocalyptic and destructive, but oddly meditative, also proving Otomo's mastership at the art of Turntable Music. A great jam that will surely please those who enjoyed Otomo's more noisy works.
Kicking off the B-Side, the "Guitar Solo Improvisation" is exactly what the name suggests. Otomo had a different technique compared to the custom made noise guitars of his work with Ground Zero or the noisy, pedal soaked arpeggios that mark his New Jazz records. Indeed, Otomo doesn't play with seemingly any effects whatsoever. Just a tight jam that emphasizes dissonance, atonality and seemingly random plucking above the noise and feedback of his latter day output. So demented in it's chaos that it would make even Derek Bailey blush. Definitely an extremely cool solo.
"Religion-3" returns with all the instruments featured on "Religion-4" but with the addition of a violin and vocals. It opens with radio tuning sounds that sound kinda like a geiger counter before the violin just gets absolutely destroyed, being abused so badly, it sounds like high pitched static. Otomo also does these weird gurgling vocals over it and there's random samples going on in the background while he breaks the poor thing. Very amusing in it's absolute cacophony and impressive that Otomo can juggle all these instruments at once.
"Sax Of A Kind + PB Radio '84", despite the name, actually does not contain any kind of saxophone. Weird name but alright. The shortest track by far, there's three credited guitarists (including Otomo) as well as a bassist, a drummer, and Otomo on "tape recordings". Also according to the liner notes, the tape recordings are sampled from a radio. Otomo sure loves his radios even when he is not playing them. This is basically just a recording of a (sadly normal) jazz cover intertwined with japanese spoken word radio. It is a cool cover and the radio does add a bit of Otomo wackiness to the otherwise normal sounding jazz.
"Religion-1" has the same instrumental lineup as "Religion-4", with the addition of a synthesizer. It's very noisy and high pitched all the way, with the radio providing an ear piercing backing for the aforementioned sci-fi noises. A curious little noise piece.
The most confusing track is probably "Religion-2", for which the only credited instruments are the tapes and "electric springs". There's basic tape loops in the background while the springs provide a metal scraping sound, kind of like the violin on "Religion-3" but with a lot more tremolo. If a violin and spring sound similar on an album then you know you have a master noise maker at hand.
The final track, "NS-500", is a full on free jazz jam that clocks in at 8 minutes, the longest on the B-side. The standard lineup of bass, drums, guitar and tenor saxophone are on display here, with the addition of Otomo playing with toys. The bass is easily the loudest thing in the mix, and it is some very solid playing indeed. The drumming is very energetic, constant rolls and fills throughout the whole thing, the guitar is for the most part random plucking similar to the earlier "Guitar Solo", and the saxophone is very Zorn-esque indeed, piercing highs and squeals that sound like a dying pig. The toys can occasionally be heard but for the most part are drowned out by the drums and noise. The closest comparison is the Ground Zero debut, but a lot noisier and with fewer instrumentation, and without the vocals of our beloved Yamatsuka Eye. Still, a great free jazz jam. For those that looked for more stuff akin to live Ground Zero however, this will definitely please your ears.
A very grainy album that shows us what the 80s sounded like with Otomo, combining a few jazz jams with straight up noise, this is probably the best we are going to get of that for a while. Until his early tapes get rereleased, this will stand as the finest document of a young and crazy Otomo who has yet to fully develop his techniques, but there is an undeniable charm to this whole tape that makes it more than a novelty and rather a very enjoyable listen. If you heard 'We Insist?', and wanted to hear what Otomo was doing years before any of that was recorded, give this album a go. It will not disappoint. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
