James White & The Blacks – Off White

I digress from the current formatting to share this, the second of two James Chance records from 1979. Originally released by ZE Records as a no wave reaction to disco, this is far funkier than anything the Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote, and a lot cooler.

This is the 1995 Infinite Zero reissue, the first time "Off White" had been available since its original release.and the first time it was available on CD. Apparently, there's an 8-track available, and if you want to hook up your boy as a holiday gift, I certainly wouldn't decline. It also appends the James Chance contribution to 1982's "A Christmas Record" on ZE, "Christmas With Satan", a track my mom would probably hate but one that fits on every holiday mixtape worth a damn.

Discogs

Click here to download.

The Mummies - Food, Sickles, And Girls b/w One By One

Some butthole of a friend keeps taunting me with footage of his recent attendance of a Mummies show. "Oh, look," he seems to be saying. "I am a man of independent means, able to travel long distances in my early 40s to see one of our favorite bands."

Oh, how I loathe him. The lucky fucker.

Happy Halloween from Lord Ape Mummy, direct from the tower block in the PNW. Love y'all.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Masters Of Misery - Black Sabbath: An Earache Tribute

I've been saving this for a special occasion. But my brain gets sidetracked all the time by so many things, not to mention the correct spelling of "occasion", which never looks right to me, although the dictionary and spell check tell it is, indeed, correct. And, thus, this has been hanging out on various file sharing platforms for at least a couple of years.

The time for action is now. ADHD be damned.

I was all of 15, and not much of a metal fan, when this came out as a Japan-exclusive release in 1992. Curated by the extreme metal label Earache, and released by their Japanese distributor Toy's Factory, this collects the bleeding edge of what metal was in the last decade of the millenium, all performing songs by the sainted Black Sabbath. Sabbath was on a bit of an uptick, having released "Dehumanizer" earlier that year, having reunited the "Mob Rules" lineup. But at the time to most, Black Sabbath was the band Ozzy used to front, a group that was better known for inspiring bits in This Is Spinal Tap than any music they'd made in the past 10 years.

I guess my point is that Black Sabbath, a band never known as cool up to that point, was decidedly at their most uncool. And to have so many leading lights of the underground acknowledge a key influence that was at its ebb was a very awesome thing. There aren't any duds here, a testament not only to the lineup, but also to the songwriting chops of Iommi, Butler, Ward and Osbourne/Gillan.

This has been reissued and resequenced a number of time over the years, the first time in 1995. Cadaver's cover of "Sweet Leaf" got dropped, and contributions from Anal Cunt, Ultraviolence, and Iron Monkey added, reflecting Earache's contemporary roster more accurately. It wasn't for the best, in my humble opinion. This remains the definitive version of what is still my favorite Sabbath tribute.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artist - Experiments In Audio Rocketry: A Mostly Acoustic Compilation

I'm not sure how I didn't own a copy of this until I came across one for a penny in an online auction. I was on board with 1-2-3-4 Go! from the jump, picking up copies of the Splitting Teeth 7" and the "Power Of Ten" comp when they came out. I booked a show for House On Fire when they stopped off in Baltimore during their first our, and Foundation came up from Richmond often enough that I've seen them half a dozen times. "Experiments" has a loaded lineup, headlined by Against Me!, NOFX, Jesse Michaels, and the Lawrence Arms.

Longtime readers will note a recurring theme here, wherein I correctly identify myself as an idiot. There are so many things I slept on b/c I was too punk, or too young, or too broke to dive headfirst into. It's nice that with age has come self-awareness, and a healthy sense of humor about my youthful obstinacy. it's also quite possible (likely?) that the record store I worked at in 2003 just passed this over, on account of a focus on noise rock and metal in the buying regimen.

At any rate, it's never too late to listen. This was worth waiting for.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Home Alive: The Art Of Self-Defense

Here's what I remember about when this came out, through the eyes of an 18-year-old who lived on the other side of the country from the circumstances:

• Most of the folks I knew were more interested in this for the unreleased Pearl Jam song, the live Nirvana track, and Joan Jett & Kathleen Hanna performing with the remaining members of the Gits than the genesis why Home Alive was created.
• I had no clue what sort of violence women encountered in the world at the time. I would learn.
• I remember thinking, when the promo copy arrived at the college radio station I volunteered for, that it couldn't possibly be worth listening to, on account of being released by Epic Records.
• That's a point of view that is hilarious in retrospect. How many folks got their first exposure to Tribe 8, Lydia Lunch, or ¡TchKunG! as a result of picking this up? There are so many fiercely independent artists here, not to mention the wide range of spoken word performers and poets present.

This is a pretty iconic benefit comp, all things considered, in celebration of a wonderful human whose time came way too soon. Volume 2 would come five years later on the Seattle/San Francisco label Broken Rekids. Along with a trio of 7"s that came out on local label Crash Rawk Records, it's a resounding body of support that still stands up as well as any benefit.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - PRO-CD 95.ZERO.1

My preparation for a colonoscopy prevented me from posting this Thursday; mea culpa. Here's a Friday taster for y'all.

10 songs, five artists: you know the drill. Devo, Flipper, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Alan Vega, and Alan Watts.

This makes the second of six samplers that I've posted so far. I've also posted a dozen of the 27 releases that Infinite Zero put out in its four-year history. Should I jump off the ongoing comp theme to get some more of these out these? It's not like any of it is particularly hard to find. But it is all interesting, and, hell, it should be easier to track down Iceberg Slim's album.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - A Dirty Shame (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I'd had this idea once that I would gather all the soundtracks from John Waters' filmography, and post them here, along with my thoughts on the film and sounds. Clearly, I've not followed through until now, and I don't think I'm going to do it, but better to disclose, I suppose.

This is, at this late date, the final feature from the Baltimore auteur, a development that makes me sadder every single day. While a lot of folks don't think highly of "A Dirty Shame", I like it just fine. I love the ongoing images of Tracy Ullman manning the register at a High's Dairy Store, Johnny Knoxville hanging out on Harford Road, Selma Blair flouncing about northeast Baltimore. By the time this came out, I had a few friends who'd bought houses out where this was shot. I still lived downtown, so I took joy in calling them neutersm teasing them for finding housing outside the Beltway.

"He who fucks nuns/will later join the church," the saying goes. And the author types it up in a comfy suburban apartment, overlooking a pool turning green in the fall's light.

The soundtrack reflects Mssr. Waters' taste to a T; a mix of rockabilly, jump blues, rhythm & blues, novelty cuts, and early rock 'n' roll. James Intveld's score gets represented with "Let's Go Sexin'"; fine advice, if I've ever heard it. It's all enough to make a Balmer boy miss home, to lust for a RoFo 2-piece and a roll, a trip to Sherri's Showbar, some late night hangs Holiday House.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Slaves Of New York (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

What do you think it was that lead to pay a penny (plus $1.75 S&H!) to bring this home? I've never seen the Merchant-Ivory film to which this provides the soundtrack. The only artist here I love is Iggy, and I didn't need to snag this to have "Fall In Love With Me". I don't stan P.I.L. or Boy George, and Maxi Priest & Ziggy Marley are low on my list of reggae artists I'm interested in.

That leaves a weird mix of songs that made for a nice surprise. "Buffalo Stance" broughr back memories of my first Walkman, playing the hell out of Neneh Cherry and Public Enemy and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince before I needed to use deodorant regularly. "Good Life"? Only one of the all-timer house cuts, from one of the Belleville Three. There's a pair of Arto Lindsay tracks here, both derived from the second Ambitious Lovers record. With guest spots from Vernon Reid and John Zorn, these are a duo of pretty awesome mid-80s downtown tracks, the sort of which you'd NEVER see on a major label release these days. The whole thing wraps up with a cut from French new wavers Les Rita Mitsouko, a curiousity the likes of which I found most welcome.

That Dalmatian on the cover looks like it aims to misbehave. What a naughty dog.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Northcore: The Polar Scene Compilation

Just your run of the mill Swedish punk and hardcore comp from 30 years ago, split between bands I knew already and bands I didn't.until I laid my paws on this eighth release from the esteemed Burning Heart Records.

Yeah, so I know Refused all too well, Randy, Fireside, Doughnuts, and Abhinanda. I feel varying levels of interest in them. But to discover Drift Apart or Breach here was well worth the $2 I think I spent earlier this year. Somebody like Shredhead isn't what I would seek out, what with their proto-nu metal groove thrash, but it's not bad. It's the kind of scene curiousity that existed a lot back in the 90s and seems to have died away as the internet consumes us all.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Rap-A-Lot Greatest Hits

This comp doesn't fuck around.

When it says "Greatest Hits" on the cover, it's not telling any lies. It's Houston hip-hop history, writ large, leading off with their first sons, Geto Boys. All the heavy hitters are here: UGK, Scarface, Juvenile, 5th Ward Boyz, Z-Ro. Every single cut present shows how crucial RAL was in showcasing hip-hop outside the industry strongholds of NYC & LA in the 80s and 90s. It's weird to me to see that Rap-A-Lot hasn't put out new music in nearly a decade; they were omnipresent throughout the establishment and growth of my musical taste. When you encounter that sort of tastemaker, you just kind of assume they're always going to be there, tipping you off to something new and incredible.

It's also hard to believe that I picked this up for a buck after it'd been sitting on the shelf in one of my regular haunts for a few weeks. I was glad to give it a new home.

Discogs

Click here to downlaod.

various artists - New York Ear And Eye Control

Well, it's another stupid Monday. And far be it for me to mislead you, my valued reader (there are dozens of us!), so early in the new week into believing you're getting the 1966 ESP Disc landmark free jazz recording. No, you're getting the spiritual successor, released a quarter century later by the nascent Matador Records.

This one doesn't feature Albert Ayler or Don Cherry. Instead, you receive the likes of Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, Royal Trux, and Railroad Jerk, along with more experimental sounds from Steve Fitch, Borbetomagus, Circle X, and OWT. This ultimately reads like a late-period Homestead release, which makes sense, since Cosloy probably conceived it in his last days running that joint.

It took me roughly (counts on fingers) 28 years from the first time I heard this to actually buy a copy, probably because I spent my 20s thinking Unsane was the only band here worth a shit, my 30s chasing different comps, and a fair portion of my 40s just looking for steady work. Like adult acne, some issues take a long time to clear up. 

Discogs

Click here to download.