Various – Earcom 1 [LP] (1979, Fast Product)

 

'Earcom 1' was a 12-inch compilation issued by the Edinburgh independent label Fast Product in 1979, catalogued as FAST 9A. It was the first instalment in the label’s 'Earcom' series, followed later that year by 'Earcom 2' and 'Earcom 3'. Rather than simply collecting previously released material, the record was used to introduce several newer and less established acts working around the emerging post-punk and DIY scenes. Contemporary advertising described it as a “Giant EP” featuring “24 minutes of mutant pop.”

 
The record opens with The Prats, the young Edinburgh group made up of Paul McLaughlin, David Maguire, Greg Maguire and Tom Robinson, who contribute three tracks: “Prats 2”, “Inverness” and “Bored”. Their primitive, deliberately awkward approach fitted perfectly with Fast Product’s interest in bands that could make something distinctive without conventional musical polish. The Prats had been influenced by groups such as The Slits and The Mekons, and their appearance on 'Earcom 1' was followed by a John Peel session in 1979. 

The Blank Students appear twice with “Fun At The Fair” and “Background Music”. The group came from the same loose Scottish experimental/post-punk environment that Fast Product was documenting, and their contributions sit somewhere between punk minimalism, primitive new wave and deliberately eccentric performance. John Peel played “Background Music” on his BBC Radio 1 programme in May 1979, shortly after the compilation appeared. 

Graph contribute “Drowning”, one of the more experimental pieces on the record. The group were associated with Sheffield and used electronics and treated conventional instruments in their performances. Contemporary coverage placed them alongside Cabaret Voltaire, noting their use of films and slides during live shows and describing “Drowning” as part of Fast Product’s 'Earcom 1' project. 

The remaining tracks come from The Flowers, another Scottish group who contribute “Criminal Waste” and “After Dark”. John Peel picked up both the band and the compilation very quickly, playing “Criminal Waste” in May and June 1979 and “After Dark” in July. The final track, “(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures”, is credited to Simon Bloomfield and Tim Pearce, giving the record an additional experimental element beyond the four main groups.

 
Fast Product had been established in Edinburgh in December 1977 by Bob Last, Hilary Morrison and Tim Pearce. The label's first release was The Mekons' Never Been in a Riot' single in January 1978, and its catalogue quickly expanded to include 2.3, The Human League, Gang of Four, Scars and other artists who were helping shape the transition from punk into the more fractured sounds of post-punk. 

Last and his associates approached the label as something broader than a conventional record company. Fast Product combined records with fanzines, unusual packaging, photography, graphics and deliberately unconventional promotional ideas. The label used terms such as “mutant pop” and “difficult fun” to describe its approach, while its releases reflected the DIY attitude that had developed around punk but pushed it towards electronics, experimental music, conceptual presentation and new forms of pop.

 
'Earcom 1' also fits into Fast Product's numbering system in an interesting way. FAST 8 had been the 1979 Scars single 'Adult/ery', while FAST 9A was 'Earcom 1', followed by FAST 9B for 'Earcom 2' and FAST 9C for 'Earcom 3'. The second volume featured Joy Division, Thursdays and Basczax, while the third came as a double 7-inch set. 

The physical presentation of 'Earcom 1' was also part of the project. Original copies came with a four-page booklet and an embossed circular insert, while some editions were associated with an additional pink flexi-disc featuring material by Jo Callis. The combination of unusual packaging, new groups and deliberately limited presentation was very much in keeping with Fast Product's way of treating the record as an object rather than just a carrier for songs. 

 

Label: Fast Product – Fast 9a, Fast Product – F9Ax/1, Fast Product – F9AX/2 

Series: Earcom – 1 

Format: Vinyl, LP, 45 RPM, Compilation 

Country: UK 

Released: 1979 

Style: Lo-Fi, Punk, New Wave, Minimal, Synth-pop, Experimental, Post-Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 The Prats – Prats 2 2:02 

A2 The Blank Students – Fun At The Fair 2:08 

A3 Graph – Drowning 5:03 

A4 The Blank Students – Background Music 2:03 

B1 The Prats – Inverness 1:50 

B2 The Prats – Bored 1:17 

B3 The Flowers – Criminal Waste 3:47 

B4 The Flowers – After Dark 3:45 

B5 Simon Bloomfield / Tim Pearce – (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures 1:30 

 

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Zones – Stuck With You [7''] (1978, Zoom Records)

The 7" single “Stuck With You / No Angels” was the debut release by Glasgow new wave and punk group Zones, issued by Edinburgh-based Zoom Records on 17 February 1978 as catalogue number ZUM 4. The two tracks capture the band at their most immediate and punk-leaning, before their sound became more polished and distinctly new wave on their later Arista releases.

 
Zones had emerged in late 1977 from the remains of PVC2, which itself had grown out of the earlier Scottish pop group Slik. When Midge Ure left PVC2 for London and the Rich Kids, bassist Russell Webb, keyboard player Billy McIsaac and drummer Kenny Hyslop remained together and brought in guitarist and vocalist Willie Gardner. Gardner had previously played with Glasgow group The Hot Valves, and was also a cousin of Scottish rock singer Alex Harvey. With Gardner replacing Ure, the new line-up became Zones.

 
“Stuck With You” is a compact, energetic number that still carries some of the rough-edged momentum of PVC2, while “No Angels” on the B-side shows the group beginning to move towards the sharper, more melodic new wave sound that would develop over the following year.

 
The record also benefited from the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who played “Stuck With You” repeatedly. Peel's support helped put Zones on the wider British new wave radar and led to the band recording two sessions for his programme in 1978. The first was recorded in May and included “Sign Of The Times”, “Away From It All”, “No Sense Of Humour” and “Tough At The Bottom”; a second session followed in September. 

 
There was plenty of activity around the band during this period. Zones played alongside groups such as Magazine, and by 1979 they had also supported Iggy Pop. A contemporary review of their eventual album noted that the group had already built an audience through these support slots and Peel sessions. 

 
The single also marked an important moment for Zoom Records, the small Edinburgh label founded in 1977 by Scottish music entrepreneur Bruce Findlay, who was also behind the Bruce's chain of record shops. Findlay established Zoom as an outlet for the emerging Scottish punk and new wave scene, with the label's early catalogue including The Valves, PVC2, Zones, The Questions and Nightshift. “Stuck With You” was the fourth Zoom single, following releases by The Valves and PVC2. 

 
Zoom was operating right in the middle of the burst of independent British labels that appeared around the punk explosion of 1977. By July 1978, Arista had moved in with a licensing deal for Zoom's catalogue, giving Findlay's label considerably greater distribution while allowing him to retain involvement with the artists and their promotion. A contemporary Record Business report described Findlay as an unusually active record dealer running his own label and quoted him describing Zoom as an unapologetically pop-oriented label whose repertoire was intended to follow what was happening around it. 

 
The Arista connection quickly changed Zones' recording career. Their next single, “Sign Of The Times / Away From It All”, appeared on Arista in July 1978, followed by “Looking To The Future / Do It All Again” in May 1979. Their only album, 'Under Influence', was issued by Arista in June 1979 and was produced by Tim Friese-Greene. A final Arista single, “Mourning Star / Under Influence”, followed in July. The band also contributed “New Life” to the soundtrack of the film "That Summer!". 

 

The Zones story was short-lived. After the 'Under Influence' period the group split in 1979, with the members moving into several different Scottish musical circles. There is a small correction worth making to the usual shorthand description of their later careers: Russell Webb and Kenny Hyslop joined The Skids, while Hyslop subsequently moved into Simple Minds, replacing Brian McGee and playing on the group's 1982 single “Promised You A Miracle.” Billy McIsaac later continued working as a pianist and bandleader, while Willie Gardner pursued solo work and subsequently became associated with Endgames. 

 

 

Label: Zoom Records – ZUM 4 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single 

Country: UK 

Released: Feb 1978 

Style: Punk, Power Pop, New Wave 

 

Tracklist:  

A Stuck With You 2:33 

B No Angels 3:01 

 

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Doof – Exist [10"] (1982, Namedrop Records)

The 10" 'Exist' by Doof landed in 1981–82 as one of those wonderfully baffling records that seemed to exist completely outside the normal music industry. Built around the partnership of Paul Platypus and Philip Johnson, the record came out on the tiny Namedrop Records imprint and immediately carved out a place in the strange corner where post-punk, cassette culture, dadaist humour and bedroom experimentation all collided. The music drifts between half-formed pop ideas, tape manipulation, spoken passages and lo-fi fragments that sound as though they were captured in a living room with whatever equipment happened to be available. That roughness is part of its appeal, giving Exist the feeling of a private document accidentally released to the public. 

 
Doof emerged from the fertile UK DIY underground of the early 1980s, a scene where homemade cassettes, self-published fanzines and tiny independent labels mattered far more than commercial success. Philip Johnson had already been active in cassette culture and experimental circles, while Paul Platypus was involved with several interconnected projects that floated around the anarcho-punk and DIY network. Together they created something that felt less like a conventional band and more like an ongoing art project, full of surreal ideas and deliberately skewed approaches to songwriting. Their work has often been described as dreamlike and disorienting, with tracks unfolding according to their own strange logic rather than any obvious structure. 

 
Namedrop Records was just as unconventional as the music it released. Run by Johnson and Platypus, the label became home to a small circle of like-minded artists including Doof, Philip Johnson's solo recordings, Cold War and later Twelve Cubic Feet. The catalogue was tiny, but it captured a particular moment in British underground culture when people were pressing records in small quantities simply because they felt compelled to document what they were doing. The label's releases shared a handmade quality and a willingness to ignore the boundaries separating punk, experimental music and outsider pop.

 
What makes 'Exist' so fascinating decades later is how completely it reflects that environment. It doesn't sound polished, fashionable or calculated. Instead, it captures a period when independent music could still be genuinely unpredictable, when a pair of friends could assemble a collection of odd sounds, package it with a booklet and put it out into the world with no concern for commercial expectations. Records like this became cult favourites precisely because they felt so personal and uncompromising. For collectors of early DIY post-punk and cassette-culture oddities, 'Exist' remains one of the more intriguing artifacts to emerge from that scene.

 

 

Label: Namedrop Records – NR1 

Format: Vinyl, 10", 33 ⅓ RPM 

Country: UK 

Released: Feb 1982 

Style: New Wave, Punk, Experimental, Noise, Post-Punk, Sound Collage, Industrial 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 (Treat Me Like) The Man I Am 3:45 

A2 Brighton, Pt. 1 2:45 

A3 Nine Years Old 6:30 

B1 Brighton, Pt. 2 2:27 

B2 On It In It 5:30 

B3 (Treat Me Like) The Man I Am 5:02 

 

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Various – Darker Skratcher [LP] (1980, Los Angeles Free Music Society)

 

'Darker Skratcher' is one of those records that feels like a time capsule from a very particular underground moment in Los Angeles. Released in 1980, it captures the anything-goes spirit of the Los Angeles Free Music Society, a loose network of artists and musicians active since the early 70s who treated sound as a playground rather than a craft to perfect. 

Rather than sounding like a carefully sequenced album, the record plays more like a window into a scattered, hyper-creative scene. It jumps between primitive electronics, fractured punk, tape experiments and offbeat spoken pieces. Tracks such as “Cleanliness and Order” by Boyd Rice and Daniel Miller lean into minimal synth territory, while contributions from Jad Fair, Human Hands or Airway drift between playful pop fragments and total abstraction. The flow is unpredictable, almost like tuning into a collage of parallel broadcasts. 

Many of the contributors came straight out of the LAFMS orbit, where projects like Le Forte Four, Foundation Boo or The Doo-Dooettes functioned as fluid identities rather than fixed bands. People moved freely between names and ideas, recording whatever they felt like without worrying about technical skill or genre boundaries. That openness gives the record its charm, moving from catchy lo-fi moments to completely unhinged experiments without warning. 

There are also a few connections to scenes that would become more visible later on. 45 Grave appear here in an early form that still leans toward punk, and Dennis Duck would later be part of the The Dream Syndicate. Monitor links the record to the broader art-punk and performance scene tied to zines and mail-art culture, where boundaries between music, visual art and concept pieces were pretty much nonexistent.

 
The LAFMS “label” operated far outside traditional industry structures. Releases were often pressed in small quantities, packaged in a DIY way and circulated through personal networks rather than formal distribution. It was less about building a catalog and more about documenting activity as it happened, even if that documentation felt rough or incomplete. That approach ended up influencing later underground movements, especially cassette culture and noise scenes.

 
What comes through strongest on 'Darker Skratcher' is that sense of a community creating its own rules in real time. It’s chaotic, uneven, occasionally funny, sometimes surprisingly catchy, and deeply rooted in a pre-digital era where experimentation thrived in small, self-made circles. 

 

Label: Los Angeles Free Music Society – LAFMS#12 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation 

Country: US 

Released: 1980 

Style: Industrial, Punk, Experimental, Art Punk, Post-Punk, Experimental Rock, Minimal Wave, Netherlands

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Boyd Rice & Daniel Miller – Cleanliness And Order 2:45 

A2 Jad Fair – XXOO 0:30 

A3 Vetza – Stale Puppy-Dog Tails 1:30 

A4 The Rick Potts Band – Platform Swimfins 3:00 

A5 Monitor – Guardian 2:05 

A6 Doodooettes – Pork Had Better Behave 2:05 

A7 45 Grave – Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood 2:37 

A8 NON – NON-Watusi 

B1 Foundation Boo – Nap 2:10 

B2 Airway – Perpendicular Thrust 3:45 

B3 Dennis Duck – Davey The Worm 3:00 

B4 Le Forte Four – The Lowest Form Of Music 3:08 

B5 Human Hands – I Got Mad 3:00 

B6 Bpeople – The Other Thing 2:38 

 

Other Versions: 

'Darker Skratcher' (LP, Compilation) - Frizz Bee (LAFMS #12) (Netherlands,1980)

 

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The Untold Fables – Every Mother's Nightmare [LP] (1985, Dionysus Records)

The Untold Fables sit right in that mid-80s pocket where punk energy collided with a renewed obsession for ‘60s garage sounds. Their album 'Every Mother’s Nightmare', released in 1985 through Dionysus Records, captures that moment perfectly -fuzzed-out guitars, Farfisa-style keys, and a raw, slightly chaotic vibe that feels both retro and urgent. 

 
Coming out of the Los Angeles underground, with figures like Paul Carey and Robert Butler involved, they were plugged into the club circuit that helped define the garage rock revival. This was a scene built on rediscovery -bands pulling from 'Nuggets'-era influences and mixing them with punk’s stripped-down aggression. The result was a sound that felt familiar but louder, faster, and a bit more reckless.

 
The record itself is packed with short, punchy songs driven by simple riffs and relentless rhythm. Tracks blur into each other in a way that almost feels intentional, like the repetition is part of the charm rather than a flaw. The production doesn’t clean things up too much either -it keeps that live, slightly unhinged feel where everything sounds like it could fall apart but never quite does. “An ear splitting release. Some of the songs sound the same but that can be expected because of the genre. A wonderfully noisy album with alot of energy.” That description hits the mark. It’s loud, rough around the edges, and more focused on attitude than variety, which is exactly what makes it work. 

 
Around that time, Dionysus Records, led by Lee Joseph, was becoming a central hub for this kind of sound, documenting bands that were keeping garage rock alive in a new decade. Releases like this one turned into cult favorites, passed around by collectors and fans who were deep into the revival scene.

 
'Every Mother’s Nightmare' doesn’t try to polish or modernize the formula. It leans fully into distortion, repetition, and energy, which is why it still resonates with anyone who’s into that raw, back-to-basics approach to rock. 

 

 

Label: Dionysus Records – ID 8603 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album 

Country: US 

Released: 1985 

Style: Garage Rock, Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Girl Of My Own 2:06 

A2 Let Me Know 2:40 

A3 Other Fish 3:33 

A4 I'm Rowed Out 2:36 

A5 Revenge 1:59 

A6 You're Hated 2:00 

A7 Don't Need You No More 3:21 

B1 It's A Cryin' Shame 2:12 

B2 Gone My Way (Now You Go Yours) 2:40 

B3 Get The Picture? 2:07 

B4 I Want My Woman 2:25 

B5 I'll Be Gone 2:09 

B6 Rockhead 3:39 

 

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Pitfall / Six Minute War – Live [Cass] (1980, Finger In The Dike)

There’s something especially compelling about the murky edges of early punk, where documentation is scarce and releases feel more like artifacts than products. The split cassette by Pitfall and Six Minute War, released around 1980–81 on the obscure Finger In The Dike label, sits firmly in that territory. It’s the kind of tape that feels less “released” and more circulated -passed hand to hand, dubbed, traded, and half-forgotten except by those who know exactly why it matters. 

On one side, you get Pitfall, a Dutch band capturing some of their earliest recordings. The sound is raw even by the standards of the time -stripped down, urgent, and unmistakably DIY. There’s a loose connection to the wider Dutch anarcho-punk scene, with echoes of bands like The Ex or the Rondos, but Pitfall feels even more embryonic here, like you’re hearing a band still figuring itself out in real time. That immediacy is part of the charm; nothing is polished, and nothing is meant to be. 

Flip the tape and things get even rougher. Six Minute War’s contribution is a live recording from London, likely around 1980, and it sounds exactly like you’d expect: chaotic, fast, and barely contained. The songs blur together in a way that makes track divisions feel irrelevant, just short bursts of political punk delivered with minimal ceremony. It’s less about individual tracks and more about capturing a moment -a snapshot of a band operating at full urgency in a live setting. 

The label behind it, Finger In The Dike, is almost as elusive as the tape itself. This release is generally considered one of their first, if not the very first, and it reflects the spirit of early cassette culture perfectly. Before vinyl was an option for many of these bands, tapes were the medium of choice -cheap to produce, easy to duplicate, and ideal for the growing network of fanzines and tape traders that connected underground scenes across Europe. 

What makes this cassette particularly interesting is that sense of connection. A Dutch band on one side, a London band on the other -it’s a small but telling example of how punk scenes were already communicating across borders, long before the internet made that kind of exchange effortless. You can hear the shared ethos in the noise, even if the recordings themselves are worlds apart in geography. 

 

Label: Finger In The Dike – hole 001 

Format: Cassette, C60 

Country: Netherlands 

Released: 1980 

Style: Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Pitfall – Aha 

A2 Pitfall – Pitfall 

A3 Pitfall – The Raper 

A4 Pitfall – Statements 

A5 Pitfall – Is This Me Or Is This You (Sham 69) 

A6 Pitfall – The Army 

A7 Pitfall – Makeup 

A8 Pitfall – Soldiers Fighting 

A9 Pitfall – Borin' Place 

A10 Pitfall – Commercial Rules 

A11 Pitfall – Beatenup Pogo! 

A12 Pitfall – Skinrash 

A13 Pitfall – Stuff Like Hell 

A14 Pitfall – I Wanna Get 

A15 Pitfall – Hitler's Fan 

A16 Pitfall – TV 

A17 Pitfall – Put In Prison 

A18 Pitfall – Sid Sod 

B1 Six Minute War – Bigwig 

B2 Six Minute War – Progress 

B3 Six Minute War – Stike Labelled 

B4 Six Minute War – He's Dead 

B5 Six Minute War – Guitarist 

B6 Six Minute War – Sell Out 

B7 Six Minute War – Nurses 

B8 Six Minute War – Tony Pike 

B9 Six Minute War – Strontium 90 

B10 Six Minute War – Protect & Survive 

B11 Six Minute War – Youth Culture 

B12 Six Minute War – So Sad 

B13 Six Minute War – Silver Machine 

 

Notes:  

Pitfall side recorded live Op Zolder 21/9/80 

Six Minute War side recorded live in Cassandra, Londen 

 

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Kinetic Ideals – Angular Sky / Fade Away [7''] (1982, Mannequin Records)

 

'Angular Sky / Fade Away' is a two-track release that leans heavily into Kinetic Ideal's signature blend of shimmering synths, moody atmospheres, and emotionally distant vocals -the kind of sound that sits somewhere between nostalgia and late-night introspection. 

“Angular Sky” opens things up with a crisp, driving rhythm and icy melodies that immediately pull you into that classic minimal wave headspace. It’s sleek but not cold, with just enough warmth in the production to keep it from feeling sterile. There’s a hypnotic quality to it, like watching city lights blur past a car window at night. The vocals drift rather than dominate, adding to the track’s detached, almost cinematic feel. 

On the flip side, “Fade Away” slows things down and sinks deeper into a more melancholic mood. It trades momentum for atmosphere, wrapping you in lush pads and a sense of quiet longing. The track feels more inward-looking, like the comedown after the rush of the first song. It’s subtle, but that’s exactly where it hits hardest -nothing is overdone, and the restraint works in its favor.  

 

Label: Mannequin Records – MANEP2 

Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM 

Country: Canada 

Released: 1982 

Style: New Wave, Punk, Post-Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A Angular Sky 6:44 

AA Fade Away 7:34 

 

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The Hook 'N' Pull Gang – Pour It Down Yer Throat / Gasoline [7''] (1987, Bitch Hog Records)

 

The Hook ’N’ Pull Gang were a short-lived indie/garage rock band from Edinburgh, Scotland who briefly surfaced in the mid-1980s UK underground scene. Like a lot of small bands from that era, they left behind only a tiny recorded footprint, but the little that exists has become a curiosity for collectors of obscure British indie singles. The group mixed raw garage-rock guitars with a surprisingly soulful vocal approach, giving their sound a slightly unusual edge compared to the jangly indie bands that were dominating the UK at the time.

 
The band reportedly grew out of a friendship between drummer and vocalist Eileen MacMullan and bassist Alan McDade, who started writing songs together before bringing guitarist Rita Blazyca into the lineup. Early press coverage described their music as loud and gritty, with a “wall of sound” guitar attack and vocals that leaned more toward soul than punk. Their songs also carried a streak of dark humour and slightly macabre imagery, something that was reflected in the band’s name. According to contemporary interviews, “Hook ’N’ Pull” was a reference to the notorious body-snatchers Burke and Hare, whose crimes in 19th-century Edinburgh became part of local folklore. 

 
Their only widely known release is the 7-inch single 'Pour It Down Yer Throat / Gasoline', which came out in 1987 on their own tiny DIY label, Bitch Hog. The record feels very much like a product of the independent cassette-and-demo culture of the time: rough around the edges, loud, and unapologetically raw. The A-side, "Pour It Down Yer Throat", is a snarling, swaggering track driven by thick guitars and a vocal performance that sits somewhere between garage rock attitude and deep soul phrasing. On the flip side, "Gasoline" leans into the band’s heavier side, with a darker, slightly more aggressive feel.

 
Around the time the single appeared, the band were starting to get a bit of attention from the UK music press and were playing occasional showcase gigs in London. Some reviewers picked up on the unusual mix of styles, describing the band as pairing big, thrashing guitar backing with vocals that sounded almost like they belonged in a soul band. Despite the early buzz, the momentum never really turned into a full breakthrough, and the group faded from view not long afterwards. 

 
Today the single survives mostly as a small oddity from the late-80s indie underground. Because it was self-released in small numbers, copies don’t turn up very often, though when they do the price usually isn’t extreme. For collectors of obscure UK garage or DIY indie records, 'Pour It Down Yer Throat / Gasoline' remains one of those fascinating little artifacts from a scene where dozens of bands briefly flared into existence, pressed a record or two, and disappeared again.

 

 

Label: Bitch Hog Records – BITCH 1 

Format: Vinyl, 7", Single 

Country: UK 

Released: 1987 

Style: Goth Rock, Punk, Indie Rock, Girl Group 

 

Tracklist: 

A Pour It Down Yer Throat 2:16 

B Gasoline 2:36

 

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feedtime / King Snake Roost – Buffalo Bob / More Than Love [7''] (1988, Aberrant Records)

 

The split single 'Buffalo Bob / More Than Love' from 1988 is one of those great little artifacts from the Australian underground, the kind of record that perfectly captures how tight and collaborative that scene really was. It pairs up feedtime and King Snake Roost, two bands who shared stages, influences, and a general love for loud, stripped-down, no-frills rock.

 
What makes the record especially cool is the concept behind it. Instead of just contributing their own tracks, each band covers the other. feedtime takes on “Buffalo Bob,” originally by King Snake Roost, while King Snake Roost returns the favor with their version of “More Than Love,” a feedtime song. It’s less of a split in the usual sense and more like a conversation between the two bands, each one filtering the other’s material through their own sound. 

The feedtime version of “Buffalo Bob” leans hard into their signature style -slow, pounding, repetitive, and almost hypnotic. There’s a kind of blunt-force groove to it, like a blues riff that’s been dragged through mud and distortion until it becomes something raw and primitive. On the flip side, King Snake Roost’s take on “More Than Love” is rougher and more chaotic, pushing the song into noisier territory, with a sharper, more aggressive edge that hints at the direction noise rock and early grunge would take in the following years. 

Both bands were central figures in the late 80s Australian underground. feedtime had been around since the late 70s and built their reputation on a minimalist, blues-infused take on punk that felt completely out of step with trends at the time. Their music was repetitive in a deliberate way, almost trance-like, and later on it would be recognized as a major influence on the grunge and noise scenes that exploded in the US.

 
King Snake Roost, coming out of Adelaide in the mid-80s, were a bit more abrasive and chaotic. Their sound had more in common with the harsher end of American noise rock, but they still shared that same DIY spirit and obsession with raw texture. They even made their way over to the US and worked with Butch Vig before he became a household name, which gives you an idea of how connected these scenes were becoming. 

There’s also a live element to their relationship that adds another layer to this record. The bands played together often, and it wasn’t unusual for members to jump on stage with each other. At times, King Snake Roost’s Peter Hill would even perform “Buffalo Bob” live with feedtime, blurring the lines between the two groups even further. 

In the end, this split isn’t just a couple of songs pressed onto vinyl -it’s a snapshot of a moment where a small, noisy scene was cross-pollinating in real time. You can hear the shared DNA, but also the subtle differences in approach, and that’s what makes it such a satisfying listen, especially if you’re into the roots of noise rock and grunge.

 

 

Label: Aberrant Records – MORETHAN1BOB 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM 

Country: Australia 

Released: Feb 19, 1988 

Style: Garage Rock, Grunge, Punk, Pigfuck 

 

Tracklist: 

A feedtime – Buffalo Bob 

B King Snake Roost – More Than Love 

 

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Exhibit A – Distance [7''] (1980, Irrelevant Wombat Records)

 

"Distance" is one of those tracks that feels like it slipped through the cracks of music history. Released in 1980 by Exhibit A, it sits right in that fascinating moment when punk was mutating into something colder, moodier, and more experimental. You can hear that shift clearly in the song -it trades raw aggression for atmosphere, leaning into tension, space, and a kind of emotional detachment that defined a lot of early post-punk.

 
The track itself is pretty minimal on the surface, but that’s part of its charm. The guitars are sharp and a bit jagged, the rhythm feels steady but slightly hypnotic, and the vocals come off distant, almost deliberately disconnected. It’s not trying to be catchy in a traditional sense -it’s more about creating a feeling, a kind of sonic mood that lingers rather than grabs you immediately. There’s a quiet intensity to it that rewards repeat listens, especially if you’re into that darker, stripped-back sound. 

As for Exhibit A, they’re one of those bands that never quite broke through but still managed to leave a small imprint on the underground scene. Like many groups operating in the late ’70s and early ’80s, they were part of a wave of artists experimenting beyond punk’s limitations, pulling in influences from art rock, dub, and early electronic music. They didn’t have a long or particularly high-profile career, and documentation about them is pretty scarce, which only adds to their mystique.

 
What makes Exhibit A interesting is how representative they are of that era’s DIY ethos. Bands like them often released singles on small labels, played local circuits, and disappeared before getting any real mainstream attention. But that doesn’t mean the music wasn’t compelling -if anything, it’s often more raw and exploratory than what was happening in the charts at the time. “Distance” is a perfect example of that: understated, a little eerie, and very much a product of its moment. 

Over the years, tracks like this have found a second life among collectors and fans digging deep into post-punk’s lesser-known corners. It might not be a classic in the traditional sense, but it captures a specific mood and time so well that it feels like a hidden gem waiting to be rediscovered.

 

 

Label: Irrelevant Wombat Records – DAMP 2 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, EP 

Country: UK 

Released: 1980 

Style: Punk, New Wave, Minimal Wave, Post-Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A Distance 

B1 Platform 6 

B2 Bollards 

 

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Wasted Lives / Big Black Puppets – Divorce / False Hopes [7''] (1979, Spoken Records)

 

This 7″ single, Wasted Lives / Big Black Puppets – “Divorce” / “False Hopes,” is a split release from the very early Vancouver punk scene. It came out in 1979 on Spoken Records and is a classic example of the DIY, small-run singles that were popping up around Canada at the tail end of the ’70s punk explosion. Copies are scarce today, which has helped give it a bit of cult status among collectors of early Canadian punk.

 
On one side is Wasted Lives with the track “Divorce.” The band was short-lived but packed with people who would go on to play important roles in the Vancouver scene. Members were connected to bands like D.O.A., Modernettes, UJ3RK5, Corsage, and Private School, making Wasted Lives something of a brief but intense crossover project. “Divorce” is raw, fast, and straight to the point -very much in line with late-’70s punk energy. 

The flip side features Big Black Puppets with “False Hopes.” They were also part of the same Vancouver punk and new wave ecosystem, contributing to a scene that was energetic but not always well documented outside the region. Their track balances aggression with a slightly more angular, art-punk feel, fitting right in with what was happening locally at the time. 

Overall, the single is a snapshot of Vancouver punk in its formative years, before many of these musicians became better known in other bands. It’s historically interesting, musically rough around the edges in the best way, and now considered a pretty desirable piece of Canadian punk history. 

Label: Spoken Records – none 

Format: Vinyl, 7" 

Country: Canada 

Released: 1979 

Style: New Wave, Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A Wasted Lives – Divorce 

B Big Black Puppets – False Hopes 

 

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Kilgore Trout – Stick It In The Bank Man [12''] (1986, Hits $ Corruption)

 

 

 

'Stick It In The Bank Man' is a 12-inch vinyl EP released in 1986 by the British alternative/indie rock band Kilgore Trout. This was their debut release and came out in the UK on the small independent label Hits $ Corruption. Like a lot of mid-80s indie records, it had a fairly limited pressing and was never reissued, which is why it’s now a bit of a collector’s item. 

The record features four short, punchy tracks that capture the band’s raw, slightly scrappy indie sound. Alongside the title track (sometimes simply listed as “Bank”), the EP includes “Quality Control,” “English Never Listen,” and “Right Boys.” The songs are all around the two-to-three-minute mark and sit firmly in that post-punk/indie crossover style that was common in the UK underground at the time. 

Kilgore Trout were active in the mid to late 1980s and were based around Nottingham and Sheffield. The band was largely driven by Chris Trout, who wrote most of the material and often handled multiple instruments. Although they never broke into the mainstream, they picked up some attention on the indie circuit and received radio play, including support from John Peel, which helped them gain a small but loyal following. 

 

Label: Hits $ Corruption – HAC.002 

Format: Vinyl, 12" 

Country: UK 

Released: 1986 

Style: Alternative Rock, Punk, Post-Punk, Noise Rock 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Quality Control 2:19 

A2 English Never Listen 2:34 

B1 Bank 2:25 

B2 Right Boys 2:12 

 

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2 Timers – Living For The Week End [7''] (1979, 2 Timer Records)

2 Timers were an American new wave rock group who formed in New York in late 1977. By early 1978 the group had relocated to London, England. The line-up in March 1978 was: John Warnick (vocals), George Fury (bass), Johnny Jones (rhythm guitar), Audie Willert (lead guitar) and Jim Morrison (drums, former member of Tuff Darts). Notably, their 'Now That I've Lost My Baby' single was produced by ex-Gong member Mike Howlett (OMD, Sting, Revillos, etc.), and that's probably why it also sounds very British and of it's era. They self released a second single, 'Living For The Week End' in 1979, but that was it for these guys. 

 

Label: 2 Timer Records – none 

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single 

Country: US 

Released: 1979 

Style: Power Pop, Punk 

 

Tracklist: 

A Living For The Week End 3:23 

B The Good Die Young 2:10 

 

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Various – Bands That Could Be God [LP] (1984, Conflict Records, Radiobeat Records)

This is not an out-and-out masterpiece of an early Eighties Boston / coastal New England region compilation, but it has enough goodies on it to make it worthwhile. And, equally important, the collection itself makes for another key puzzle piece in the stitched-together panorama of the time and place. The Throbbing Lobster compilations would be an example of another.

 

In 1984, this was probably a big opportunity for most of the artists listed, as none of the groups except Sorry, Salem 66 and The Flies had released their own recordings to date. Most of the bands then achieved their breakthrough just under two years later. In this respect, therefore, it is an album with almost groundbreaking qualities. The recording quality is also very reminiscent of lo-fi at times. However, if you like this kind of thing, you'll be very well served here. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]

 

 

Label: Conflict Records – CON 001, Radiobeat Records – RB 003 

Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation 

Country: US 

Released: 1984 

Style: Alternative Rock, Punk, Avantgarde, Hardcore Punk, Post-Punk, Emocore

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Busted Statues – Blue Cheer 3:32 

A2 Moving Targets – Changing Your Mind 2:40 

A3 Deep Wound – Time To Stand 1:42 

A4 Sorry – My Word 1:25 

A5 The Outpatients – Light Blue 1:48 

A6 Moving Targets – Waiting For The End 1:37 

A7 The Outpatients – Fight 2:09 

A8 Beanbag – Harassment 2:10 

A9 Christmas – 100 Million Flowers 3:40 

B1 Christmas – My Little Book Of Lies 2:03 

B2 Salem 66 – Sleep On Flowers 4:07 

B3 Moving Targets – Selfish 1:51 

B4 The Flies – The Plunge 1:54 

B5 Busted Statues – Nautical 3:57 

B6 Deep Wound – You're False 0:39 

B7 Beanbag – Cat's Pajamas 4:06 

B8 Sorry – One More Step 1:34 

 

Notes:  

Recorded throughout 1983 @ Radiobeat Studios, Boston except tracks A9 & B1 recorded @ Downtown Recorders and tracks B2 & B4 recorded @ Baker St. Studio. 

Mastered in January 1984 @ K-Disc, Hollywood. 

Includes a single-page, double-sided 8.5"x11" info sheet. Some copies additionally include individual pages for all the bands, with the exception of Deep Wound, stapled together with the info sheet to form a 10-page booklet. 

"The Conflict Compilation". 

 

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