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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Trouble Funk - Live

Here's another record that I can't understand hasn't been reissued again. It's one that I'm forever grateful to Henry Rollins for turning me onto. And it's one that I listen to, front to back, whenever I miss living in the DMV.

The almighty Trouble Funk is who I'd play a stranger who didn't know what go go was. Specifically, I'd give them the live record I share here, originally released as a double, white label LP by the band, then reissued on Infinite Zero in 1995, along with a compilation of their early singles. This scene existed on a parallel track to DCHC, and the best of it is just as rare to find, existing today on crumbling tapes and limited dub plates. It's important to remember that Minor Threat's final show in 1983 was headlined by Trouble Funk (and supported by Big Boys). That's not as weird a concept as one might think; it's two localized scenes, propelled by DIY and alternate performance channels.

If you find yourself travelling this week for the holidays, listen to this one in sequence, and see if it doesn't get your ass moving.

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 - The Future Looks Brighter

Turned this up a few months ago, and even though I own a couple of these on vinyl already, and had everything but the Symbol Six cuts on my hard drive, I couldn't pass this up on CD for a couple bux. Collecting is an illness; a, at times, delightful one, but it leads to moments like these when you end up with several copies of the same recordings.

But what recordings! This Posh Boy sampler, inspired by and partially derived from 1981's split release with SST, "The Future Looks Bright Ahead", compiles:

• Social Distortion's songs from the original 1981 sampler, plus the three additional songs on the otherwise-unreleased "Posh Boy's Little Monsters" 12" and their contribution to "Posh Hits Vol. 1"
• Shattered Faith's "I Love America b/w Reagan Country", their cuts from "Bright Ahead", and their offering from "Rodney on the ROQ Volume 2"
• The entirety of Redd Kross's 1981 "Red Cross" 12"
• Channel 3's "CH3" 12"

This is an embarrassment of riches. And if you're at all familiar with early 80s LA punk & HC, you know all these by heart. But if you don't, I'll just say this is worth downloading for Redd Kross alone.

But that's me; a Virgo with a sick record collection.

Discogs

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various artists - The U.S. Of Oi! (+6 Bonus Tracks)

I found this one sitting in the midst of a clearance section in a Half Price Books a few years back, and actually debated for a minute spending the $2.99 it would cost me. B/c, to be fair, Oi! in the late 80s could lean a bit dodgy. But I'm glad I snagged it, and generally surprised this has never had a more recent reissue, shitty cover and all.

This is the 1993 CD reissue on Step-1, featuring the original 1988 Link tracks, as well as six additional cuts. What's on it? "U.S. of Oi!" starts with a classic Warzone track, then follows it up with Atlanta's Moonstomp. There's three songs from Youth Defense League, all coming from the same time period as their track on "New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is". Anti-Heros and the Kicker Boys, also coming out of Atlanta (Oi!-lanta?), contribute tracks from their 1988 LPs on Link, while the Uprise, Immoral Discipline, and the Bootboys all chime in with bops from their respective demos and 7"s from the time. The bonus tracks include tracks from Uprise-related bands the Mad Hatters and Boneshakers, as well as Detroit's Grievance Committee.

It's 21 boot blasts total, lager fueled and an under-heard classic. If you're a student of the mid- to late-80s American Oi! scene, you probably already own this, or the source material for a lot of these tracks. But it you're like me, someone who's curious what was happening in DC at the same time as Revolution Summer, or alongside the youth crew revival in NYC, this is a record worth checking out.

Discogs

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Alan Vega - New Raceion

It's the end of the month, and I'm clearing the decks with the record that's been living in my Mediafire files for the longest time. It's time to share Alan Vega's 1993 album, "New Raceion".

At the risk of seeming like a dick, I've run out of things to say about Vega's early 90s output. I'm glad it exists; it's not anything I listen to regularly (unlike the 1st Suicide record). Here you go; "enjoy" it.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Contortions - Buy

Fuhhhhhhhhhhhh...this record is sooooooooo good. Like, "knock your dick in the dirt with the ants and cocaine" and "slap yr mommy" good. Without a doubt one of the highlights of no wave and the Downtown scene and definitely probably my favorite James Chance recording. At least for today.

Words escape me. Skronk away.

Postscript: I didn't know it when I wrote this, but the masters at Superior Viaduct just announced a vinyl reissue of "Buy" is coming in June, all for the measly cost of two sawbucks. This is a MUST own.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Louise Huebner's Seduction Through Witchcraft

Imagine walking into even the freakiest of record stores or secondhand stores and asking for this. "Please, do you have a copy of Louise Huebner's 'Seduction Through Witchcraft'?" Having been that person, I can tell you; nothing makes me feel like more of a pervert than trying to track down a copy of this landmark ambient recording, featuring a sixth-generation witch once honored by L.A. County. It's like an illustration of a thick-lensed, bulbous-nosed, stooped, trenchcoat-wearing masturbator come to life, creeping about looking for tips and tricks on how to finagle the interest of the disinterested. Even the most liberal minded are sure to look like they've smelled a fart, with only imagination available to determine why ANYONE would want...what, is it a book? A record? A pamphlet?

But the kink shaming is SOOOOO worth it.

Not so much for the spoken content, although it has a seasonal quality that suits this time of year perfectly. Nah, it's the team of Louis & Bebe Barron that makes this a terribly underheard record. They created the soundtrack to "Forbidden Planet", the first all-electronic film score, and still as influential a bop as any reel o' tape as exists.

Anyway, I'm kinda glad I can now restrict my weird record searches a bit, now that I own this.

Discogs

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James White And The Blacks - Sax Maniac

The older I get, the closer I get drawn to mutant disco.

There's something delightfully weird and, dare I say, special about that scene, so well documented by the likes of ZE Records back in the early 80s. This one didn't come out on ZE; it came out on Chris Stein' Animal Records, alongside Iggy's "Zombie Birdhouse" and the Gun Club's "Miami". A hell of a trio, if you ask me.

So, anyway, it's after midnight, and I have "God Told Me To" streaming on the TV, and Mr. Chance's version of "That Old Black Magic" stuck in my head, and maybe, just maybe, I'm longing for a New York City I only got to see the very tail end of. Fuck it; it's either this, or contort myself.

Discogs

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Matthew Shipp Trio - Circular Temple

As these things typically go nowadays, I've finished work around 2-3 in the morning, and I've had too much caffeine to comfortably go to bed, so I figure, "I'll just kick out a couple hundred words to burn my brain down a bit, then off to bed like a good boy," to do it all over again in 6 hours. But there's something to be said, something stuck in my head, demanding to explode, before the eyes get heavy and the brain quiets down.

I've been picking up the Infinite Zero reissues from the mid-90s wherever I can find them for a decent price. I'm down to only having a dozen left to pick up, and, had I not just spent a bunch of money on today's Vinegar Syndrome flash sale, I'd probably snag a couple more this weekend. My most recent acquisitions are a disc I'm holding for Halloween and this, pianist Matthew Shipp's third record as a bandleader. It's a free jazz take on what makes listening to Thelonious Monk so great, which I suppose is why I like this a lot. I often get lost in the avant garde from this period, but this grabs me in a way that few of Shipp's contemporaries from the late-80s do. Sadly, long out of print...so here it is for your Friday pleasure.

Only super cool kidz will own this on cassette. Duh.

Discogs

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Monks - Black Monk Time

End of the month. Summer's turning towards fall. How about a slapper of an album?

Rather than go on about one of the great garage/proto-punk records of all time (a task undertaken by far more vested and interesting types than myself), let's talk about this specific version. You get the original LP, released on International Polydor in Germany back in 1967, along with the two non-LP singles released alongside "Black Monk Time". There's also an interview with two Monks by Mike Stax from Ugly Things Magazine. Not to mention: it was the first time this was available from a Stateside label. Thanks again, Rollins!

I have a hard time understanding why this isn't steadily in print.

Discogs

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Alan Vega - Power On To Zero Hour

The second of four Alan Vega reissues on Infinite Zero, this has, throughout time, become probably my favorite of his solo records. Those ideas that felt less developed on "Deuce Avenue" feel fully formed on "Power On To Zero Hour". It's him, Liz Lamere, and 10 songs worth of pre-Guiliani NYC ugly beauty, all gospel organs and soft hiss and dark songs.

It's a great record for a grey Monday.

Discogs

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Motörhead ‎– No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith

The old joke goes, "Who'd win in a fight: Lemmy, or God?" "Trick question: Lemmy IS God!" I heard it for the first time when I saw "Airheads", where Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler cover a Reagan Youth song while Michaels McKean and Richards chew the scenery. A fine film, if you're asking.

One of the greatest (and loudest) shows I ever attended was Iron Maiden, Dio, and Motörhead: the sixth date of the American leg of the "Give Me Ed… 'Til I'm Dead World Tour". LIVE at Merriweather Post Pavilion in scenic Columbia, Maryland. I was finishing up college, working at a bar and trying to figure out what I was going to do with the next year of my life, when it was decided that the bar's ownership would treat us to tickets to this show. Now, I never grew up a metalhead, but everyone loves (or should love) Lemmy, and Philthy Animal Taylor all but invented D-beat, so I rented a van for the lot of us, put the only straight edger in our crew in charge of driving, and off we went. Just about everyone had tied one on before the show started; we staggered in as a wobbly group of a dozen punks, skins, and metal heads. It was still daylight when Motörhead hit the stage and absolutely PUMMELED us while we stood in the eighth row. I've never seen a room fill up so quickly once they started playing. By the end of their set, we were all agape, whether it was the first time or 20th time we'd seen them. We were just brutalized, regardless of our individual level of experience with the band. It was as good as feeling as the highest high, a state of euphoria I've not often reached.

Everything after that was just gravy. Dio was amazing (totally changed my opinion on him) and Maiden...well, Maiden was MAIDEN. They were great. But it was Motörhead that left the lasting impression. I went from being familiar to being a true fan, the kind that waxed poetic as each member of the classic trio passed along over the past ten years.

I'm not even sure if "No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith" is a fair representation of what I saw. After all, it was recorded over five nights between the release of "Ace Of Spades" and "Iron Fist", in the midst of their truly heroic run of releases on Bronze. Over 20 years would pass until I'd see them in the summer of 2003. But I'll be damned if it didn't earn its #1 chart position, via one of the greatest live albums of all time. The copy shared here is the Roadracer 1991 US reissue. It includes five live tracks that didn't appear on the initial Bronze release, four of which were released on 1980's "The Golden Years" EP. Two of those would be omitted from future pressings, so it's a nice version to pick up.

If Lemmy is God, and I'm told Lemmy is dead, than the corollary should be that God is dead. I prefer to believe that Mssrs. Kilmister, Clarke, and Taylor have all ascended to a higher plane, where they are now laying waste and teaching the true meaning of white line fever.

Discogs

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101 Strings - Astro Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000

Remember, like, a month ago, when I was all, like, "Hey, I have all the Scamp Records releases now. I think I'll do a write-up and post about each and every one!" Hey, good times, right? Whatever happened to that?

What happened is a combination of: A) my external hard drive, which holds the vast array of my MP3 collection (and, yeah, don't think I don't get a little douche shiver every time that phrase comes up), has disappeared in one of five different places in Mrs. Ape's and my apartment; B) the hard copies of each release are spread across any number of 14 X 14 X 14 boxes in one of my storage units (that's right, units, dude); and C) I cannot be arsed to tear either the apartment or my storage units apart to rectify the situation.

Did I write that run-on sentence to justify the use of the phrase "cannot be arsed"? Damned right, I did.

So I replaced my beater, 128kbps listening copy of SCP 9717-2, 101 Strings' "Astro Sounds From Beyond The Year 2000" with a physical CD the week before last, not only to honor my commitment to you, the kind reader, but also because it was a decent price, and the seller had a copy of that Mission To Burma comp that I posted a few days back. And now I have good cause to post one of my favorite space-age/Now Sound records of all time.

This exists as one of those grail records that would turn up in more thrift stores than record stores, because as any crate digger knows, hitting a vein of 101 Strings records means you're about to dig through a fat stack of budget mood music. When I've talked to buds about this in the past, and shown them the cover, they've all collectively slapped their heads. They've seen it, handled it, even, but few ever actually bought it. Those who did snag it immediately encountered truth in advertising, a record consisting of psychedelic instrumentals, swinging, modern sounds...the kind of stuff your grandparents got loaded and spouse swapped to.

I love this shit so much. It's so much cooler than most of the rest of 101 Strings' extensive catalog; hell, I'd put it up against the best of Esquivel are far as being "far out" and "outta sight". It presages everything from Isaac Hayes' "Hot Buttered Soul", to AIR's score for "The Virgin Suicides", to the various beats of Danger Mouse, all the way up to J.G. Thirwell's most current work. The good folks at Modern Harmonic did a nice reissue of this in 2017; it was the first American vinyl reissue in nearly 50 years. However, I copped this because the 1996 Scamp release, albeit not on vinyl, came with three extra cuts from 1970's "The Exotic Sound Of Love", which has yet to be reissued since its original release. One can only hope that day comes in the near future...or I just turn one up while mining one of those veins of otherwise garbage vinyl.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Mission Of Burma - Mission Of Burma

My first exposure to Mission Of Burma was via Rhino's "Faster & Louder" series back in 1993, which might as well just serve as my Rosetta Stone for the music I'd obsess over during next three decades. The first volume remains imprinted in my brain; it's the mixtape from the older brother I never had. It's hard to overstate the impact of hearing "Pay To Cum", "Dicks Hate The Police", "Get It Away", and, yes, "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" all in the same place. Add in the cover art by Gary Panter, the photos by Ed Colver, Jenny Lens, and Glen Friedman, and suddenly I had a checklist of things to look for when I went to a record store, or when I started exploring modern art.

My second exposure to Mission Of Burma came a couple years later, when I turned up a cherry copy of Ryko's "Mission Of Burma" double LP for some stupidly-low amount of money at one of the numerous record stores that used to dot Fells Point. Maybe I paid $12 for a copy that didn't look like it'd ever been played and still had the obi strip on it. Ryko was still a couple years away from their comprehensive remastering program, and all that Ace of Hearts material from the 80s was out of print, so I snagged this, alongside a copy of "London Calling" and "Q: Are We Not Men?" for less than it'd cost to get a newly-pressed copy today.

There's been a couple rounds of reissues since then; the aforementioned 1997 Rykodisc remastering campaign, and Matador's consolidation of most of the Burma catalog in 2008. Matador has kept those records in print in really nice editions on vinyl, including a really sick copy of "Signals, Calls, And Marches" on orange wax that they released with Newbury a few years back. But this, comprised of their contemporary material released before their 1983 breakup, as well as a pair of live cuts and unreleased cuts, still lives near and dear to my heart. When I saw a seller who I was ordering another record from had it for a few bucks on CD, well, I knew what to do...

Discogs

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Alan Vega - Deuce Avenue

It's possible that it took me a long time to explore Alan Vega because this was my first exposure to him.

"Deuce Avenue" is a weird record, a melange of slithering Suicide-style synths, Vega's free-form scatting, crooning, and beatboxing, and drumming and programming by his wife Liz Lamere. Shit, there's definitely time where Vega's channeling the Bomb Squad's beats. He hadn't made a full-length since "Just A Million Dreams" in 1985, a much more accessible record by any measure. This one came out on the French label Musidisc, his home for this and his following three LPs.

Infinite Zero would reissue it in 1995 to what I have to guess was an indifferent scene, alongside Vega's next record, 1991s "Power On To Zero Hour". I was non-plussed at the time; I'd been given an Infinite Zero sampler with "Jab Gee" and "Bad Scene" on it, and, BOY HOWDY, I almost always skipped over those tracks. I just didn't get it. Now, I can listen to this, and I can draw parallels to the Providence noise scene on the early aughts, to the J.G. Thirwell catalog, to all the iconoclastic shit that finds its way onto my iPhone. It clicks with me now in a way that just couldn't happen 26 years ago.

Fun fact: the Infinite Zero reissue wraps up with the only complete version of "Wacko Warrior" by Vega, previously only available in a truncated form on a 7" that came with Sniffin' Rock #12. So completists...have at it.

Discogs

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Flipper - Sex Bomb Baby

If you need Flipper explained to you, you're probably in the wrong location.

This is the first CD release of the original 1988 Subterranean record, released on ol' Hank Garfield's Infinite Zero Recordings. It compiled all of Flipper's early non-LP tracks, including the classic "Sex Bomb" and "Love Canal" 7"s, both of which serve as the Rosetta Stones to every bit of pigfuck I've been listening to over the past 25 years. It also served as a memorial to former Flipper bassist & vocalist Will Shatter, who had died in 1987 of a heroin overdose.

What's odd to me, when I look at the Flipper discography, is realizing how many of their records have entered and exited my collection. Selling your records off in your 20s and 30s might as well be a rite of passage, but it dawned on me that I've owned all of their Subterranean releases on vinyl at one point or another. Yet none still live in my collection. Such is life.

I've no clue why the cover art for this was redone by then-contemporary bassist John Dougherty, but I like it more than the O.G. Steve Tupper cover. It's heretical, I'm sure, but it's not like these guys ever stood on ceremony.

Discogs

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various artists - Solid Gold, Coxsone Style

I found myself a fine little find today, amidst a post office/Starbucks run. This here is a 1992 expanded CD release of a 1971 Studio One compilation, all featuring tracks produced by Coxsone Dodd. For $2, I got myself a healthy dose of John Holt and Jackie Mittoo, of Alton Ellis and the Freedom Singers. Hell, I even got extended mixes of songs by Dennis Brown and Delroy Wilson, and didn't even have to pay extra for the privledge.

This is, by far, my favorite era of reggae. Whether it's releases on Trojan that were recorded with the export market in mind, or the antecedent to lover's rock, or just monster sounds from the island, there's just SO many qualities tracks and singles, leading to banging comps like this one. It's unfortunate that there's a ton of Heartbeat releases that have gone out of print; as I've gotten older, I'm really drawn to their reissues, even with the shitty replacement artwork. It makes a body want to work out a licensing deal or three...really restore and reissue some of Sir Clement's deep cuts.

Discogs

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Robert Mitchum - Calypso - Is Like So...

I've been planning for months to start a new series, focused on the 90s reissue label Scamp. Scamp was an imprint of Caroline Records, focused on easy listening, lounge, bossa nova, middle-of-the-road, tiki, and other 50s and 60s curiosities from the greater EMI label family. Why, you might ask, would a blogger of punk and reggae be drawn to lounge music? Probably for the same reason why these reissues came into existence in the first place. You get older, and no matter how much you might love three chords and the truth, you just don't necessarily want to listen to it all the time. Not to mention it, but I, like most of you, have been stuck inside for most of the past ten months, and you gotta collect something, right?

I'll be sharing these passports to excitement weekly, according to catalog number, every Friday, just in time for you to pull out the liquor and mixers, put a new download on the speakers, and enjoy your own throwback happy hour. If nothing else, I've committed to 23 more blog posts. It's good to set goals.

First up is SCP 9701: the 1995 reissue of Robert Mitchum's 1958 debut, "Calypso - Is Like So...". Originally released by Capitol Records, the record was inspired by Mitchum's interactions with the calypso scene in Trinidad during the filming of "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison". As far as actors making records goes, it's in my top five all-time. Whereas this would sound like crass appropriation in someone else's hands, Mitchum obviously gives a shit, and sounds so smooth doing it. It's clearly a white guy singing a white version of calypso; there's little to no innuendo present, something that makes listening to the likes of Mighty Sparrow so much fun. But there's real passion present, and Mitchum's singing voice is so strong.

Say what you will about the music, but don't you dare front and act like Robert Mitchum doesn't look like the coolest motherfucker alive on that cover. I've had two drinks all year, and I'm ready to climb off the wagon and onto that stage to split a rum and get eyebanged by the star of "The Friends Of Eddie Coyle".

You'll still find this regularly in thrift store bins, although I've never seen a Capitol pressing that hasn't been beat to hell. The Europeans are much more hip to what a great record this is; if you're looking for a vinyl copy, I definitely recommend snagging the 2010 Bear Family pressing, who cut a DMM disc on 180g wax. It sounds hella good. Surprisingly, this Scamp release is the last American release to date of this underheard classic, and one of only a handful of CDs that have come out over the last 40 years. But that's the point of writing about it, right?

Discogs

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"Mississippi" Fred McDowell - Live At The Mayfair Hotel

I'm not sure why exactly it started, but I got it in my head recently that I was going to start collecting all the Infinite Zero Archive releases. For the uninitiated, Infinite Zero was an imprint that operated under American Recordings from 1994 to 1997, serving as a reissue label. The releases were chosen by Henry Rollins and Rick Rubin, a duo who, regardless of how you feel about their own music, have pretty fucking impeccable taste. I mean, if in 1994 you're going to launch with Devo, the Contortions, and Gang Of Four, you're WAY ahead of the curve.

So I've been slowly accumulating what I didn't already own. There are a couple of Alan Vega reissues, adrift in Postal Service limbo. I've had my eye on a copy of "Black Monk Time", not really wanting to drop $12 before Christmas on something for myself. And I snagged this lil 5" slab of aluminum last week, having appeared in a local record store for less than half what I would have paid online.

Fred McDowell was 55 (so the liner notes say) and had been playing the blues for nearly four decades when he was "discovered" and exposed to a greater audience by Alan Lomax in 1959. He was a master of slide guitar, an influence on the Rolling Stones, and a mentor to Bonnie Raitt. It was on his second trip to the UK that "Live At The Mayfair Hotel" was recorded. It's a nasty-ass record, with McDowell playing a biting electric guitar, so much heavier than his earlier Lomax field recordings or his sides for Arhoolie. "Live" had originally been released across two records on the eastern British blues/R&B label Red Lightnin' in the mid-80s, but was remixed and compiled together for the first time here.

I can't speak with any level of scholarship about the blues; I definitely don't have any authority on the subject. But I do know what I like, and I like this. I can hear the roots of Fat Possum on this record, of the Gun Club and the White Stripes. If you come across a copy in the wild, definitely snag it.

And, yeah, as I grab more of the Infinite Zero releases that are out of print. I'll post them up. It's only fair.

Discogs

Click here to download.