Luis Mesa is a Spanish electronic pioneer now disappeared from the scene, he was a true precursor of noise. He published his first cassette in 1983 at the same time that he founded his record label IEP (Investigaciones Estudios y Proyectos). He began in the eighties with groups like Esplendor Geométrico, Macromassa, La Otra Cara de un Jardín... He recorded with other pseudonyms such as Merz (with José Manuel Mesa, Alfredo Alvarez and Oscar Mayoral), Recursos Ajenos and Bercomice.
When Pink Military split up in 1981, singer Jayne Casey formed the more electronically oriented band Pink Industry along with Ambrose Reynolds (who had played with Casey in Big In Japan in the 1970s, and was an early member of Frankie Goes to Hollywood), the duo initially using several other musicians, later becoming a trio with the addition of Tadzio Jodlowski. The band's first release was the 'Forty-Five' EP featuring lead track "Is This The End?", released in February 1982. The band's debut album, 'Low Technology', was released the following year, reaching number 12 on the UK Independent Chart. A second album, 'Who Told You You Were Naked', followed later the same year, and peaked at number nine on the Indie chart. Between 1982 and 1984, the band recorded four sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. After a two-year gap since their previous release, the band returned in 1985 with the 'New Beginnings' album.
'New Beginnings' is haunted. Not haunting, it's far too unassuming and slight for that, but haunted. Everything about it sounds like a recorded echo, making the album feel like its own ghost striving to make itself known but only succeeding at being felt. Pulling that off in short bursts is hard, but sustaining the same overall feeling for a full album would seem almost impossible. At its best it's also incredibly beautiful and surprising on top of all those things -the mournful sax on "What I Wouldn't Give" and the skeletal desolation of "The Beech" stand out immediately, as does the proto-Autechere (of all things) feel of the title track -but for the most part it's merely trance-inducingly listenable. Not quite a lost classic but certainly worth keeping around. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
Ohne Unter Titel was an Neue Deutsche Welle and experimental band formed in Berlin. Members were Nina Hagen (vocals), Kiddy Citny, Leffy Leffringhausen (aka Lefty Flamingo, co-founder of Das Cassetten Combinat, co-owner of Combinatsstudio and musician member also of Frau Siebenrock Combo and Lemmy Und Die Schmöker), and Manon Pepita Duursma (also in Malaria!, Matador and Mutabor!). Also Known As Ohne Untertitel, O.U.T., O.U.T. Production or OUT Production, all their releases were issued by Das Cassetten Combinat, a very shortlived but influencial german cassette label, production company (O.U.T. Production), studio (Combinatsstudio) and shop from West Berlin, run mostly by Kiddy Citny and Leffy Leffringhausen in 1981, but also sometimes by other members of Ohne Unter Titel.
Label:
Das Cassetten Combinat – 0113, Das Cassetten Combinat – 81023
Format:
Cassette, C30
Country:
Germany
Released:
1981
Style:
New Wave, Experimental, Synth-pop, Minimal
Tracklist:
A1 Fremde Sprache
A2 Genius
A3 Kraft Und Mut
A4 Keine Zeit
B1 Bin Ich Denn Im Urwald
B2 Blondes Ding
B3 Sonie
B4 Fragen Über Fragen
Notes:
The catalog number is listed as "0113" on the cover. It is actually "81023".
The tracklisting on the cover is different from the actual appearance of the individual tracks. The listing here on discogs reflects the actual running order and appearing tracks.
In the driving "I Live Alone," Ann Prim's machine-gun vocal echoes a monotone Greta Garbo by way of Marlene Dietrich. The band had a powerful presence live in concert, and lots of angst that gets subdued when translated to vinyl in a studio. Good production work by Ann Prim and A. Kirby, who goes by the name of Kearney Kirby, became the trademark of these warriors. Everything is so serious with November Group -"Night Architecture" sounds and feels contrived, but that doesn't take away from its beauty. Whether Prim and Kirby were doing this as a calculated business move (which MCA recording artist The Rings appeared to be doing before them) or if these songs emerged because it was their art at the time, isn't the point. For what it is, it is very good. Where an instrumental version of "Put Your Back to It" might have been fun, actually putting an instrumental like "Night Architecture" on a disc is a bit redundant. All this techno rock seems to work well sans vocals on the dancefloor anyway -and the voice takes so long to kick in on "Heart of a Champion" that side two is very much like one long dance mix. "Heart of a Champion" is excellent, though it shows the group's limitations; of all their material it sounds the most dated. This is Devo in a very serious light. "Heart of a Champion" is "Whip It" with a longer chorus. It is the first track, "Put Your Back to It," which is the hit. This is the original long version of a song they would re-record for their A&M Records disc, 'Work That Dream'. Don Foote on vocals and bass, and Alvan Long, the drummer who appeared on the first November Group EP, left for their own group shortly after this. Although not very original, these are good sounds worth finding and dancing to again. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
New Jersey native Dave Wyndorf was already a rock & roll veteran by the time he formed Monster Magnet in 1989, having cut his teeth with little-known punk band Shrapnel (also featuring future punk producer Daniel Rey on guitars) in the late '70s before retiring from music altogether. But after teaching himself guitar, Wyndorf began assembling Monster Magnet with a handful of fellow New Jersey natives, vocalist Tim Cronin, guitarist John McBain, bassist Joe Calandra, and drummer Jon Kleiman. Fusing their metal, punk, space rock, and psychedelic influences, the band developed a sludgy, feedback-heavy hard rock sound that helped them stand out from the era's burgeoning retro-rock movement -also counting The Black Crowes, White Zombie, and many others.
This is Monster Magnet's very first release only available on cassette, that they released on their own label, Cool Beans, in 1989. Essentially it is a collection of 4 track demos, with several of the songs being re-recorded for later albums. For these recordings, Monster Magnet was a three piece consisting of Dave Wyndorf, John McBain, and Tim Cronin. Their debut owes a huge debt to Hawkwind, psychedelia and drugs. They even cover Hawkwind here ("Brainstorm"). It is a noisy stew of abrasive trippy rock. Some of the vocals are questionable but, altogether, this is quite a journey for psych lovers of all stripes. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
Label:
Cool Beans – none
Format:
Cassette, Limited Edition
Country:
US
Released:
1989
Style:
Space Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock, Jam Band, Punk Rock, Noise Rock
Tracklist:
A1 Lizard Johnny 6:44
A2 Black Wawa 3:14
A3 Eight Ball 5:23
A4 Brainstorm 5:24
A5 Freak Shop USA 4:30
B1 Tab 22:05
Notes:
This is the track listing and cover art for the second release of the tape, which includes "Freak Shop USA".
This was not on the original edition as it was recorded later for release on a Circuit 7" single.
To many the band Last Few Days is just a complete mystery or simply some group who toured with Laibach and then promptly disappeared soon afterwards. This is not particularly surprising for a band that consciously left little mark during their existence. They were a band that deliberately avoided releasing their material and kept a limit on their live performances, they also had a very low profile though it was increased briefly after the Laibach collaborations. Most people attending their concerts had little very idea who they were, simply enticed along by the ambiguous posters or simply a night out. The concerts themselves bizarrely lasting all through the night (with a mixture of music and movies), still going at 7AM and not quite easiest sort music to be listening too either. They made heavy use of megaphones, guitars often played with broken bottles, drum unrelenting and brutal, delivering rather harsh and bewildering but occasionally rhythmic apocalyptic music. The three main members of Last Few Days were Daniel Landin (aka D. Styme), Si Joyce (aka Si Gross) and Keir Wahid (aka K. Warhead and K. Fraser). They were regularly helped out by Fritz Haaman (aka Fritz Catlin) who also performed with Laibach during the joint tour, and occasionally by Sam Mills, both members of 23 Skidoo. Last Few Days returned as a pop outfit in 1990, with a core of Keir and Si.
This album was recorded live throughout Europe during 1983 and 1984. Because of the interest in Last Few Days, they sat down and waded through 100 hours of tape slimming it down to around 24 hours. On a blisteringly hot day in June 1986, K. Warhead and S. Gross from Last Few Days sat in a small box with Dave Henderson, a pile of cassettes, an equalisation unit that no-one understood and a Revox…this is the result.
Kuruki was almost a solo project, by Ghent-based musician Gerry D'Haeyer. The single 'Crocodile Tears', printed in 1981, was fun and interesting, a one hit wonder. Then followed three 12" ('Such A Liar', 'Action' and 'Souvenir, Souvenir') and 'Just A Cat' in 1983, which was recorded with Alan Gevaert and Chris Whitley of A Noh Rodeo, and a full-length album in 1984, 'TV Scape'. Gerry D'Haeyer later went on to play drums with blues musician Roland Van Campenhout.
Expectations were high for Jools Holland's solo career when he first left Squeeze in 1980. Even though Holland was theoretically only a support player in the Difford & Tilbrook-fronted band, his flair for the spotlight was obvious in Squeeze's live shows, as well as on the occasional B-side or album track in which he was featured. Throw in the swinging 'Boogie Woogie 78' EP (Holland's solo debut, made while he was with Squeeze), and it seems that everything was leading up to 'Jools Holland and the Millionaires' being an accomplished and fun full-length debut from the U.K.'s favorite piano-pounding hepcat. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out that way. For whatever reason, Holland chose to downplay his rock & roll and boogie-woogie strengths for large portions of this record, and instead focused on creating Squeeze-style new wave pop. Not that there's anything wrong with that in theory; the problem is that in actual practice, most of the songs on 'Jools Holland and the Millionaires' lack Squeeze's pop savvy and catchy hooks. (Not to mention musicianship; while the Millionaires' lineup is perfectly adequate, the guitars and drums of Squeeze stalwarts Glenn Tilbrook and Gilson Lavis aren't easily replaced.) Further undermining the already somewhat patchy material is an uncharacteristically thin production job by Glyn Johns; the one track produced by Pete Wingfield, a romp through "Bumble Boogie," absolutely sparkles in comparison to the rest of the record. Overall, while there are a few fun songs and performances dotted throughout the LP (especially "Bumble Boogie," "Dynaflow," and "One More Time"), 'Jools Holland and the Millionaires' ultimately has to be classified as a rather disappointing release that's recommended only to Squeeze and/or Holland completists. Luckily, Holland would rebound from this and go on to create work (both as a solo artist and with a re-formed Squeeze) of a much higher caliber. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Label: I.R.S. Records – SP 70602, I.R.S. Records – 70602
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1982
Style: Blues Rock, Pop Rock, Ska, New Wave
Tracklist:
A1 Like I Do To You
3:00
A2 Goodbye World
3:20
A3 Dynaflow
2:12
A4 Waiting Game
3:08
A5 Let Me In
2:58
A6 Driven To Drunk
4:14
B1 Bumble Boogie
2:43
B2 Pineapple Chunk
3:36
B3 One More Time
2:59
B4 Much More Hope Than Me
4:00
B5 When I'm Through
3:20
B6 Glad You've Gone
3:40
B7 First Drink Of The Day
3:03
Notes:
UK version (A&M Records – AMLH 68534
- Released: 1981) does not contain the single "Bumble Boogie".
Other Versions:
Netherlands version (A&M Records – AMLH 68534
- Released: 1981) contains the single "Bumble Boogie"
