various artists - Tromeo & Juliet (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

When I saw the other day that James Gunn had yet another movie open #1 at the box office, I was reminded, yet again, that he made his bones writing "Tromeo & Juliet", Troma's beloved take on Shakespeare. So it led me to bust out this shiny slab of aluminum. I bought it b/c Troma and Unsane, I kept it b/c Motörhead and Superchunk and Meatmen and Wesley Willis. Hell, they even managed to wedge a song from Gunn's band, the Icons, on here.

This is not going to show up on a listical of iconic 90s soundtracks. But I'd suggest that it should be recognized as part of the canon. While there's little here that is exclusive to the soundtrack, it does offer a wide swath of "alternative" rock from the late 90s, from a deep cut from Sublime to music from the Ass Ponys and Supernova. Plus: Brujeria!

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: 1-2-3-4! (The Roots Of The Ramones)

It's coming up on 30 years since the Ramones broke up; we're in the sixth decade of having them on the planet. What a pivot point. Everything that came before was garage rock or proto punk or beat. Everything that came after was punk, the new wave. Knowing what we know now about the interpersonal politics of the band, it's amazing to me that we got more than a couple of singles, much less 22 years of turning a 33rpm world up to 45.

Like most Mojo giveaways from this period, "1-2-3-4!" is pretty well curated, snagging 15 tracks of predecessors and contemporaries. As fellow music psychos, you probably have a number of these tracks already. If you're here reading this blog, you don't need me to tell you that Television, the Shangri-Las, and Love are fucking incredible. Placing Ronnie Spector singing a Joey composition and adding a track from Leslie West's pre-Mountain garage back are nice touches. Does T.Rex fit here for me? I dunno, but maybe you have some insight. It's all led off with a Ramones rarity: the Stones' "Street Fighting Man", performed with ex-Heartbreaker Walter Lure.

Good art doesn't need to be groundbreaking or proficient. It also needs to have heart, be authentic; talent is always a plus, but that's all subjective. And, subjectively, the Ramones distilled their influences and surrounding into something truly great. And this is still a good way to hear what contributed to that greatness.

Discogs

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various artists - Music For TV Dinners

I wrote about the second "Music For TV Dinners" about a year ago. That one seemed to be pretty popular. And I came across a grip of 90s Esquivel! CDs at the local Half Price Books last weekend (owned 'em all already), which inspired me to revisit this first volume, which, oddly enough, I only snagged a copy of about two months ago.

But it was worth the wait, right? Allow me to apologize for not properly dating each track contained herein. You'll find some names in common between the two volumes; Laurie Johnson and Johnny Pearson are the two that I key on. This one surveys the KPM and APM library music catalogs, and, to me, it whets my appetite for space age, lounge, tiki, and other atomspherics that all faded away as synths, beats, and dissonance all filled the scoring space. It's the sound of the late 50s and early 60s, our themes for better living through technology!

It's a vibe, as the kids say. Beats the hell out of what's happening in the world right now.

Discogs

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various artists - Nothing's Quiet On The Eastern Front

I've been digging through boxes of CDs at the storage unit, looking to (re)rip stuff that I haven't listened to in forever and write about. I've come across unlabeled CD-Rs, a few of which I'll share here in the coming weeks. There's been a ton of promo CDs and demos. And there's stuff like this, which I should have never forgotten about in the first place.

I picked this up via mailorder from Revelation Records, along with a Texas Is The Reason long sleeve t-shirt and a Youth of Today tee, with the $100 my mom gave me for my 19th birthday. "Nothing's Quiet On The Eastern Front" was released by Reservoir out of Queens, New York, and documented the extreme hardcore, grind, and power violence that was coming through the Northeast in the mid-90s. I'm pretty sure I snagged this because Suppression was on it, and they were from southwestern Virginia, as well as fukkin' nuts; a very appealing mix for me, since I was a recent transplant from SWVA. I knew of Brutal Truth as well from being on Relapse, but the rest of it was a mystery at the time.

This one was a huge ear opener. I was diving fully into the relatively sedate sounds of contemporary hardcore and emo, and "Nothing's Quiet", like its West Coast namesake from a decade plus before, served as an immediate scene report of bands to check out. I immediately fell in love with Albany's Monster X & Devoid of Faith, who shared Nate Wilson, whose Gloom Records' releases were all must purchases in the coming years. Dropdead from Providence were already five years into their ongoing, illustrious career, and their two contributions were twin hammers to my forehead. Assfactor 4 had an amusing name, came from the Deep South, and made hardcore more in line with Born Against than Sick Of It All; of course I dug them.

And those are the highlights for me. Which is selling every other band present here short. Unfair, but it's the deal.

It's not fun to consider that I've owned this over half my life, yet listen to it infrequently. For the places it led me, for the labels and bands and showspaces it took me to, it should be up there as a more regular spin. But here's to fixing that, and cranking C.R. and Black Army Jacket while bombing down I-5 all summer long.

Discogs

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various artists - Spin This V

I've been laying pretty low on purchases since the first of the year. But I broke edge a few days ago; a record nerd can't stay out of the thrift store for long. I stumbled across this now-31-year-old sampler from Spin Magazine, and immediately flashed back to seeing the video for "Undone (The Sweater Song" in my neighbor's den for the first time. His folks kept the shades well drawn, so what natural light made it in had this yellow tinge to it. We stopped what we doing at the first beats from Patrick Wilson; it was unlike anything we'd ever heard up 'til then. Fuckin' Weezer, man. Always brings a smile to my face.

Plus: Mazzy Star! Frente! covering New Order! Major label Meat Puppets! Morphine! Guided By Voices! Plus a bunch of stuff that 30 years on I still don't recognize outside of a radio station giveaway bin. Kinda perfect for this space. I can never resist throwing a buck to a animal rescue or a job's program in return for something like this.

Discogs

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James White's Flaming Demonics

This is the last of the mid-90s reissues of James Chance's records, re-released by Infinite Zero. Let's face it; it's my least preferred Chance release, but it's still pretty damned good. And if you're stopping by here, you're probably a degenerate completist like I am, so you'll download it anyway.

I passed up a very nicely priced Japanese pressing of the Contortions' "Buy" over the weekend, along with Eno's three 70s art rock records on Editions EG. I brought home pretty of good stuff, to be fair, but those are the ones I've thought about since Saturday. C'est la vie; life will go on.

Discogs

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various artists - The Groups Of Wrath: Songs Of The Naked City

This one was hanging out on a low shelf, all by its lonesome, when i came across it a few months ago. And the title on the spine gave me doo-wop or jazz noir vibes. So imagine my surprise to discover this was a compilation originally compiled by Marty Thau, owner of Red Star Records and NYC new wave impressiaro. Any look at the emergence of punk and new wave is going to gain my interest; the selections herein grabbed my attention:

• A pair of cuts from the New York Dolls' second LP
• Two Thau-produced Ramones demos from 1975
• The first Blondie single on Private Stock ("X Offender" b/w "In The Sun")
• One of my all-time favorite 45s - Suicide's "Cheree" b/w "I Remember"
• Two contributions each from Bloodless Pharaohs and the Fleshtones, both originally appearing on 1980's "Marty Thau Presents"
• A dynamic duo from Richard Hell & the Voidoids' 1982 LP, "Destiny Street"

There's a good chance that you're like me, and you already own a fair amount of these in their original forms, or as reissues, or part of other compilations. But it's nice to share something like this, with very distinctive curaation, and some Bob Gruen photography on the cover, with someone who hasn't discovered this era yet. I probably would have lost my mind if I had gotten this on cassette in 1991; so many groups I now find influential all gathered in one place, the same year I discovered Sonic Youth and Nirvana and Public Enemy. It's pretty cool to think about, which is why my niece is getting a copy of this in the mail in time for Thanksgiving.

Discogs

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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

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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

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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

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various artists - CMJ New Music Monthly Volume 25: September 1995

I have been debating when to write about this, what it means to me. Posting a few days before my 47th birthday seems as apropos as any.

As for what to say...well, I've written and deleted about 2,000 words so far. Awfully verbose for an otherwise terse typist, but there's a lot of feeling wrapped up in this freebie from the third year of CMJ New Music Monthly giveaways. It was, indeed, my introduction to Letters to Cleo and Ben Folds Five. That pair of 90s alternative mainstays were key bonding points between the missus and I during our early courting. Urge Overkill and Cracker were getting regular airplay on WHFS, along with Big Audio Dynamite. I'll admit: even at this late date, I still have fond memories of Hagfish's "Stamp", one of the best songs from 1995 about cunnilingus. Even cuts from Folk Implosion and S.C.O.T.S. are stuck in my head 29 years later.

This one's important for track 9. My upbringing exposed me to showtunes, soul music, and country, with a smattering of contemporary pop/rock. But jazz was something I just never encountered until that day in late summer 1995 that I picked up this issue of CMJ. Hearing the second part of "A Love Supreme" was like a lightning bolt from heaven. From those first notes plucked by Jimmy Garrison, I was hooked. I've written a few times about John Coltrane and what his music means to me, Well, this is the Rosetta Stone. This is the thing that unlocked so much; my obsession with Coltrane, my love of free jazz and the avant-garde, my introduction to the vast catalog of Impulse! Records.

Discogs tells me I currently own five copies of "A Love Supreme": cassette and vinyl copies from the mid-80s on MCA Impulse!, a vinyl pressing from 1995, the 2002 Deluxe Edition on 2xCD, and my most recent purchase: the 3xCD "Complete Masters" from 2015. Honestly, that number feels a bit low; I feel like I have to have at least another two CD versions kicking around, and there's a reel to reel that I've been sniffing around about for the past six months. I have a problem; whatever...it's my version of a mid-life crisis.

Anyway, there's Malfunkshun on this, too.

Discogs

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various artists - Amateur Soundtrack - A Film By Hal Hartley

"I am a star / A Hal Hartley movie / I read my lines / Straight faced in the mirror"

 Kind Of Like Spitting, "Your Favorite Actor"

Here's another Matador soundtrack from the mid 90s, this time from Hal Hartley''s fifth film, 1994's Amateur.

Does it feature Martin Donovan? You bet it does.

Is Parker Posey in it? She is not.

It does star Isabelle Huppert, a secret crush of mine, as an ex-nun named "Isabelle" who gets wrapped up in criminal hijinks spining out of her new career as a pornographer.

Did you get all that? I was told recently I had a way with log lines, but I dunno.

This is one of the places where Liz Phair, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus Lizard could comfortably rub elbows back in those days. And I find the Ned Rifle/Jeffrey Taylor score to be a pretty great appendix to what would have otherwise been a decent Lollapalooza 1995 sampler.

8/10. Now go watch the movie. You're going to have to find a physical copy, tho; it's ain't on streaming here in the States.

Discogs

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various artists - D.U.M.B. Rock: The Hollywood Tapes

Focusing one's attention on cheap comps allows one to take some risks and discover sounds you would have never encountered otherwise, Case in point: this 1993 compilation of NYC sounds, featuring liner notes from contemporary Maximum Rock 'n' Roll columnist George Tabb, whose writing I took a liking to in my first years of punk rock discovery.

This one came out on Celluloid, a label I've always found curious for the breadth of their releases. Their early US releases were a who's who of Downtown sounds: Bill Laswell, Alan Vega, Phase2, and Grandmixer D.ST. They put out a few Fela Kuti records in the 80s; I think the first things I owned on Celluloid were "Hustlers Convention" and "This Is Madness". By 1993, Celluloid was on its last legs, having been sold for a dollar in 1989, and mostly existing as a catalog label by this point. I can only speculate, but Vital Music, who'd released the other "Dumbrock" comps, probably piggybacked on Celluloid's transcontinental distribution reach in order to get this one in as many hands as possible.

"But is it any good?" you ask. Good question; you be the judge. I don't feel like it was a buck poorly spent on my part. And that's all the insight I'm willing to spend on this one.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: I ❤ NY Punk!

Clear definitions meant a lot more when I was younger. A younger Ape would say, "hey, the ain't punk!" "These bands are from New York City!" "That wasn't part of the CBGB scene!" And I wouldn't have been wrong. Bad Brains and Stimulators probably hew closer to hardcore, Television, Blondie, the Contoritions aren't your typical "three chords and a holler" types. The Real Kids (Boston), Destroy All Monsters (Detroit), and Bad Brains (D.C.) all made their names outside of NYC. The New York Dolls, Mink Deville, and Suicide were Mercer Street and Max's Kansas City players long before "Punk" was a magazine, much less a genre. 

But I've grown into more of a "let people enjoy things"-type of person in my dotage. I don't have time to quibble; I just want to listen to the Dictators, the Heartbreakers, Jayne County, Suicide. If I do have a gripe, it's that a lot of these cuts are drawn from inferior live tracks; cheers to fair amount of ROIR representation, but I wanna hear the 1977 single version of "Rip Her To Shreds", not a version broadcast on TV in 2004. I suppose that's the price you pay to get that iconic Debbie Harry photo as a cover, and a collection of real solid songs from the first wave.

Discogs

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various artists - Music For TV Dinners: The '60s

Back during COVID Year One, when I was just barely backing off the throttle of a post a day during the revival of this here blog, I made an ill-fated, poorly-executed decision to write about and share the entire Scamp Records catalog. Scamp was a Caroline imprint, executed in the mid to late 90s to reissue a bunch of EMI's easy listening catalog and exploit the lounge revival. I'd been coming across a few of them for super cheap, and thought "here's a fun topic to revisit."

(A brief explanation for my younger readers: somewhere in the early 90s, Gen X'ers rediscovered tiki bars, fruity drinks, and Esquivel in their quest to move on from R.E.M. and legitimize kitsch and camp. Some of it was thirsty as hell, but it opened the door to appreciate the fun parts of 50s and early 60s exotica culture. And there are definitely parts still worth appreciating.)

At any rate, even though I shit the bed following through (click the Scamp tag to see how well I did), I did continue acquiring Scamp titles, to the point where I'm just missing one release and one promo. I've almost done it, kind reader. I've bought a gaggle of CDs that have been out of print almost since I graduated high school. It's a high point in a low life. Some people share pictures of their kids; I'm stoked to share records that have been out of print for almost 30 years.

So here's "Music For TV Dinners: The '60s". It's library music from the incredibly deep Barry Music Co. catalog. The publishing was all held under EMI Music Publishing, hence it's available to be mined for this comp. Maybe you didn't know you needed a record of music that all sounds like it was the soundtrack to late 60s British television. Let me assure you, dear friend: you absolutely DO need this music.

Discogs

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various artists - CMJ Presents Certain Damage! - Volume 38

I posted another "Certain Damage!" sampler a couple months ago, and while that one was good, anytime you can lead off a mix with My Bloody Valentine/Hole/Pixies/Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet...well, that's a good-ass moment in music. Add in killer tracks from Black Sheep, Matthew Sweet, Manic Street Preachers, Dead Can Dance, Sinead O'Connor, and Enya, and you got a real stew going, doncha?

Discogs

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various artists - CMJ Presents Certain Damage! - Volume 30

When i think of CMJ, the College Music Journal, I think of going to the cool bookstore as a teenager, copping "New Music Monthly", and learning about what the kids a few years older than me were into. I didn't know about publicists or the politics of major labels or the world of college rock; I just knew I was getting drawn into something that didn't play on the radio in southwestern Virginia. It wasn't covered in "Rolling Stone" or "Spin", aside from the occasional 50-word review. And when it did show up on MTV, it was in the "120 Minutes" ghetto, banished to late, late night.

Not that I got cable that far out in the boondocks.

"Certain Damage!" was the precursor to the NMM samplers that I'd swipe out of Borders. I've turned up a few of these recently, all dating from the days before Lollapalooza. Volume 30 here has the last great Replacements song, a Redd Kross cut, the Jane's Addiction song you'd actually hear on the radio in the daytime. There's also a Hank Rollins side project, an appearance by both Fred Firth and Henry Kaiser on the same track, and the first house track I remember hearing (Soho, "Hippychick").

This was what the College Music Journal thought was worth hearing, the month of my 13th birthday.

Discogs

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various artists - Discos Matador: Intended Play 2007

Initially, I thought I'd do an unexplained list, ranking each year's Matador releases from inception through today. But CHRIST, that's 33 years of records, man. That's a long way to go for a bit.

Let's just say that 2007 was a pretty decent year. I like that Ponys record an awful lot. Matador released a great Times New Viking 7" ahead of the following year's drop of "Rip It Off". The Cave Singers put out their first full length. Shearwater joined the label with a deluxe reissue of 2006's "Palo Santo", and Lavendar Diamond & Love Of Diagrams dropped their first Matador records.

The big one for 2007 was the New Pornographers' "Challengers". Is it represented on this sampler? No, dear reader, it is not. But there's a cut off Cat Power's "Jukebox", which ended up coming out the following year. You get a live Mission of Burma track, a Yo La Tengo track, and, most importantly to me, a pair of Earles & Jensen prank calls. That's right, gang. Bleachy is BACK in town. He's going down to the Checkers to get himself a grip of Big Bufords, y'all!

Also present: a 22-year-old Pavement cut, if you're into that sort of thing.

Discogs

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various artists - Doo Wop - Under The Covers

I wasn't really paying close attention when I picked this up for a two spot. I just saw Little Anthony & the Imperials, "Earth Angel", Frankie Lymon, "Blue Velvet", The Flamingos, "For Sentimental Reasons"...and my reptile brain said "gimme".

This 1997 comp raids the vaults of Roulette Records to bring you familiar names singing familiar songs in unfamiliar ways. I'm not super familiar with the history of doo wop, but it's interesting to me to hear songs that have always existed in my mental ether. There's also the tangental involvement of Morris Levy, a record industry character/scumbag of the illest repute. I'm a sucker for anything related to the early, scuzzy days of American pop music.

Remember: there are no mistakes. Only unintended results.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Change The Beat

The subtitle here is "14 Tracks From Madonna's New York Scene", which, if it's not a good selling point for ya, then, homey, you've come to the wrong place.

Herein is a sampling of what you might find playing in the DJ booth at Danceteria, back when Ms. Ciccone was still modeling and working through demos of her first record. My pockets are a bit light and my septum a bit fragile for the sort of pharmaceutical intake these jams call for, but I'm not certain that's even necessary to appreciate the likes of ESG, Delta 5, Judy Nylon, and Funkadelic all showing up to the same party.

It's just good jams for 68 minutes. And who amongst us is having too great a life to want that?

Cool cover photo, too.

Discogs

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