The Church Steps

I am currently really loving Sic Alps so I figured I would check out what Mike Donovan was up to before he started that band.

I have to say that although I don't think I would personally go that route, I do appreciate that Dial was a label that exclusively put out lathe cuts from New Zealand.

I was way less hip to what was happening in San Francisco after I moved away so I never really knew about this stuff until recently. When I was in 6th grade I went to outdoor school and if you showed up late to anything you were forced to stand in front of everyone and sing a song that included the words "better late than never, better never late", which seems an appropriate thing to mention now.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Church Steps.

The Church Steps/Iran (Dial)

1. Drugs
2. D.C.




















Brisbane Cats (Static Caravan)

1. Brisbane Cats
2. Bright Lice
3. Chicago's Lightest Jaz

Black Cat #13

I wanted to like this band and obviously gave them a number of chances before deciding that this sort of music just wasn't for me. The records were shelved for some years and not listened to again until recently.

I was surprised to find that my opinion had indeed changed over time. The truth is that I quite enjoyed these records. I do have a soft spot in my heart for Canadians, and although they are from The Great White North I don't think that fact is clouding my judgement.

I never saw them, for one reason or another. These things happen.

I believe people in this band went on to perform in such groups as The Sick Lipstick (who I did actually see once in Brooklyn), Death From Above (1979 or otherwise), etc.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Black Cat #13.

Black Cat #13 EP (King Of The Monsters)

1. Wrist Toward Elbow
2. The Girl With The Wire Skull
3. Ingest With Water
4. Push The Panik Button


















I Blast Off! (31G)

1. I Blast Off
2. I Sleep With Astronauts
3. Pink Dolls Wink
4. War #1


















Black Cat #13/International Strike Force (Radio One)

1. My Smile Is Pink
2. Ingest With Water (Mono Remix)

Dark

Round The Edges came out in 1972 in some ridiculously small number, which I would say bodes well if I didn't already know that it is fantastic. Seriously, private presses from the early 70s are generally pretty radical. I have been really into listening to psych records lately and these two seriously do not disappoint.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Dark.

Round The Edges (Akarma)

1. Darkside
2. Maypole
3. Live For Today
4. R.C.8.
5. The Cat
6. Zero Time
















Artefacts From The Black Museum (Acme)

1. Maypole
2. In The Sky
3. Wasting Your Time
4. Could Have Sworn
5. I'm Not Sad
6. RC8
7. All Through The Night
8. Maypole #2

Codeine

I don't think I had listened to any of these singles before preparing them for this post. The verdict? Amazing. I may not be in the mood to listen to this sort of music all the time, but if you are into it then this stuff is pretty radical. I am currently trying (and failing) to think of a band who has a more appropriate name as well.

If you are a fan of Codeine, please do yourself a favor and read the essay that my good friend, studio engineer extraordinaire, and Aa drummer Josh Bonati recently wrote on The White Birch.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Codeine.

D (Sub Pop)

1. D
2. Pea
3. Second Chance




















Pickup Song b/w 3 Angels (Glitterhouse)

1. Pickup Song
2. 3 Angels





















Realize (Sub Pop)

1. Realize
2. Broken-Hearted Wine





















Tom (Sub Pop)

1. Tom
2. Something New





















Working Holiday: March (Simple Machines)

1. Ides






















Afternoon Delight: Love Songs From Sub Pop (Sub Pop)

1. Castle

These Are Powers

Most of these records feature the now defunct lineup with Ted McGrath, the only exception being the split with The Creeping Nobodies. The Terrific Seasons EP is basically the first side of Terrific Seasons, but produced as a tour CDr. The cassette was later reissued as a limited run CDr, but without the untitled Side B. The pamphlet was handed out at some of their early shows.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, These Are Powers.



These Are Powers Pamphlet (Self)

These Are Powers CS (Self)

1. The South Angel
2. With All My Might
3. Creme Teeth
4. The Question Is
5. Hoop Snake
6. Untitled
















The South Angel EP (Self)

1. The South Angel
2. Sick Anvil (Club Happy Best Vs Murdatron Remix)
3. South Angle (FMold Sacrifice Fly Remix)
4. The South Angel (Walter Gross Remix)


















Silver Lung (Elsie and Jack)

1. Silver Lung
2. Funeral Xylophone
3. Crows Of Troy



















Terrific Seasons EP (Self)

1. You Come With Nothing
2. Makes Visible
3. Cracks In The Lifeline
4. Shells For A Dead Chief
5. Little Sisters Of Beijing

















These Are Powers/The Creeping Nobodies (Army of Bad Luck)

1. Cockles

Richard Hell & The Voidoids

Music is much more interesting because of this man.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, 2 singles by Richard Hell & The Voidoids.

Another World (Stiff)

1. Another World
2. Blank Generation
3. You Gotta Lose



















The Kid With The Replaceable Head b/w I'm Your Man (Radar)

1. The Kid With The Replaceable Head
2. I'm Your Man

Kenickie

On the strength of the one song on the Elastic Jet Mission compilation, I decided to purchase the rest of the Kenickie singles discography and share it with you. Luckily most of it can be had pretty cheaply, as they are deleted releases not much in demand.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Kenickie.

 Elastic Jet Mission (Slampt)

1. Rebel Assault






















The Camden Crawl (Love Train)

1. The Gary II






















Catsuit City (Slampt)
1. Rama Lama Lama
2. Private Buchowski
3. Come In
4. Snakebite
5. My Nites Out
6. SK8BDN Song
7. Perfect Plan
8. Jellybean















Skillex (Fierce Panda)

1. How I Was Made
2. Come Out 2Nite
3. Scared Of Spiders
4. Acetone

















Punka EP (EMI)

1. Punka
2. Drag Race
3. Walrus
4. Cowboy

















Millionaire Sweeper (EMI)

1. Millionaire Sweeper
2. Perfect Plan 9T6
3. Kamikaze Annelids
4. Girl's Best Friend

















In Your Car (EMI)

1. In Your Car
2. Can I Take U 2 The Cinema
3. I'm An Agent




















In Your Car (EMI)

1. In Your Car
2. Private Buchowski
3. Killing Fantasy


















Nightlife (EMI)

1. Nightlife
2. Kenix
3. Skateboard Song




















Nightlife (EMI)

1. Nightlife
2. "J.P."
3. Eat The Angel


















Punka (EMI)

1. Punka
2. Lights Out In A Provincial Town
3. Waste You




















Punka (EMI)

1. Punka
2. We Can Dream
3. Brighter Shade Of Blue


















I Would Fix You (EMI)

1. I Would Fix You (Radio Edit)
2. Packed In
3. I Would Fix You (Mint Royale Mix)


















I Would Fix You (EMI)

1. I Would Fix You
2. Rough Boys & Modern Girls
3. I Would Fix You (DJ Downfall Mix)

















Stay In The Sun (EMI)

1. Stay In The Sun (Radio Edit)
2. Hooray For Everything
3. Stay In The Sun (Fridge Remix)


















Stay In The Sun (EMI)

1. Stay In The Sun
2. Save Your Kisses For Me
3. Stay In The Sun (Maxwell Implosion Influenza Mix)

Api Uiz

One of the dudes from this band was nice enough to put on a show for my band in Paris recently, and then find us our own apartment to stay in for the evening. Amazing!

I didn't realize he had been in this band until I noticed all the flyers featuring various spellings of the name in the bathroom. He admitted it under questioning. I saw them play with The Good Good at The Woodser a few years ago and quite enjoyed them.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Api Uiz.

Api Uiz/The Good Good (Self)

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. 4

Iran

I don't know too much about this band, other than the fact that it currently features Kyp Malone. I don't know whether it did at the time, or who else was in the band as there are no credits.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Iran.

Iran/The Church Steps (Dial)

1. The Music Plays Itself
2. San Digeo

Ainigma

This record was made by some pretty heavy German teenagers in the early part of the 1970s. I have recently been quite fascinated with that decade, as it seems like it was a pretty weird time to be alive. Sometimes there is nothing to be done except make a heavy psych record with plenty of organ, apparently. I wholeheartedly approve.

This was another record that I got turned on to whilst working at Midnight Records. Really amazing stuff here. This is a reissue but who can afford originals in this economy?

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, Ainigma.

Diluvium (Amber Soundroom)

1. Prejudice
2. You Must Run
3. All Things Are Fading
4. Diluvium
5. Thunderstorm

Fashion

I picked up two of these singles when I was most recently in London, only to discover after examining them that I was missing the middle one. However, I was fortunate enough to find a copy of it on the cheap at the WFMU record swap and thus now you can listen to the first three catalogue numbers of Fashion Music.

I quite enjoyed these. The late 70s was a pretty killer era for music, all told. New Wave, Post Punk, call it what you will. I love it all, etc.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, three singles by Fashion.

Steady Eddie Steady b/w Killing Time (Fashion Music)

1. Steady Eddie Steady
2. Killing Time





















Citinite b/w Wastelife (Fashion Music)

1. Citinite
2. Wastelife





















Silver Blades (Fashion Music)

1. Silver Blades
2. Silver Blades (A Deeper Cut)

The Slushpuppies

This record featured a young Mac McCaughan, before he formed the band he is much more famous for, Superchunk. It was recorded during the late 80s and makes me a bit nostalgic probably because it sounds so dated.

That is not to say that I did not thoroughly enjoy this record, as I did. I love double singles, and I found yet another one that failed to disappoint.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Slushpuppies.

Blacklisted (Meat)

1. Blacklisted
2. Calendar
3. This Long
4. Sleep
5. Lost At Ten

Bette Davis And The Balconettes

I haven't been able to find out much about this band, unfortunately. They hailed from Manchester and featured three girls and two boys, if the photo from the Damaged Good website is to be trusted.

These records are all totally amazing. There is so much good stuff here, and it makes me glad that I went through the trouble of tracking down all five of these. Consider yourselves lucky that now, at long last, you can listen to all of this digitally.

It is still hard for me to believe that they never released an LP.

If you like any of that boy/girl English stuff (Huggy Bear, Red Monkey, etc.) then you will love this. I know I do.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, five singles by Bette Davis And The Balconettes.

Paul Power T-Shirt b/w Shopping On The Internet (Baby Boom)

1. Paul Power T-Shirt
2. Shopping On The Internet




















0898 b/w I Wanna Be Your Moog (Baby Boom)

1. 0898
2. I Wanna Be Your Moog




















Bette Davis And The Balconettes EP (Slampt)

1. Celebrity Fuckers
2. God Of Hate
3. Feed My Ego
4. Like Me, Be My Friend


















Shergar b/w White Food (Damaged Goods)

1. Shergar
2. White Food




















Surf, Surf, Kill, Kill b/w Big Pussy Sound (Damaged Goods)

1. Surf, Surf, Kill, Kill
2. Big Pussy Sound

Longstocking

I saw Longstocking once, at Jabberjaw opening for Sleater-Kinney, if memory serves. They were great.

This is a request from a long time ago that I am finally getting around to filling. Sorry for the wait, these things get lost in the shuffle sometimes.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, 3 sides of Longstocking.

Will You Stay? b/w Something Else I Can Never Change (K)

1. Will You Stay?
2. Something Else I Can Never Change





















Longstocking/Team Dresch (Sub Pop)

1. Never Nowhere