Sunday Quickie #1: Bandcamp Punk Sampler

Hure (2012)

Hey, what's the craziest thing you can imagine? If it's two German guys wrapped in electrical tape, wearing gimp masks, and playing what can only be the future of rock'n'roll, then imagine no longer, my Clean, Nice, Quiet friends -- for here is...Hure!

Hure's first EP was put out on a cassette label in Germany a couple of months ago. They're gonna get back to me and let me know how to get ahold of it.

Meanwhile, you can listen to more Hure on their Soundcloud page.

Hure means whore in German!

The Pacers: "Steer Stomper" (1965)

Merry Christmas...to me! I hit a gold mine -- or rather, a wax mine -- on our holiday visit home. My dad (to the left, circa 1963) found a bunch of his parents' old 45s.

Here's the Pacers' "Steer Stomper," the B-side from their 1965 45 "Short Squashed Texan" (which can be heard courtesy that embedded Youtube video). The Pacers were the backing band for Sonny Burgess, a rock'n'roll pioneer from Arkansas. "Steer Stomper" is an instrumental. Go Hogs!

Steer Stompers

Download: Steer Stomper

CNQ X-Mas Mixtape

Merry Christmas/Happy End of the Mayan Long Calander! Here's a little mix for either/or.

First up is a German 45 I got from The Vintage Freak. It came sans sleeve. It's on a label called Polydor, #21 470. All the text is in German which I dunno much of at all, and there's no date. Five songs, mostly chimes.

Klingender Advent: O Tannenbaum

Download:O Tannenbaum

Next up, from Realistic's "Christmas Wonderland" (51-3032), is John Gary's "Winter Wonderland," which I think was originally released in '64:

John Gary: Winter Wonderland

"Christmas Wonderland" was originally released in '84 but this is from the '85 re-issue. Sorry about the skip in the end.

Download:John Gary: Winter Wonderland"

From 1965's "Firestone presents: Your Favorite Christmas Music Volume 4, comes "Ding Dong Merrily on High," by The Young Americans, which is probably also the name of a punk group circa 1982. This album is also heavy on Julie Andrews but she's not on this track, I don't think.

The Young Americans: Ding Dong Merrily on High

Download: Ding Dong Merrily On High

Courtesy Grand Prix Records, 1967" Gene Autry sings "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer":

Gene Autry: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Download:Gene Autry: Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Finally, from Dot's 1959 release of Pat Boone's "White Christmas" (DLP 3222):

Pat Boone: Santa Claus Is Comin To Town

A Pat Boone Christmas might be a little too white. Nevertheless, happy end of the world!

Retaliation: An Ancient Wisdom

Here's a sharp tune from the German death metal band Retaliation I contacted on facebook last night, thinking they were the Swedish Retaliation. Marc from the German Retaliation was nice enough to send me an mp3 and okayed me sharing it on here. I'm not sure what year they put this out, sometime in the late 2000s, I think.

An Ancient Wisdom

Download: An Ancient Wisdom

Exhumed: Gory Melanoma (1998)

Exhumed is an American death metal band, formed in 1990. I bugged founding member Matt Harvey to see if he minded if I posted this track and he did not mind. "Gory Melonoma" is from a 7" split called Pray for War/Tales of the Exhumed, which Exhumed did with Swedish grindcore act Retaliation, put out by an Italian label called Headfucker. I like the EC Comics-inspired cover art for Tales of the Exhumed, and that's the main reason I picked it up for $3.00 over at the Half-Price Books in Dallas.

Regarding the two Exhumed songs on the split, Metal Archives notes:

"Recorded during the same session as Totally Fucking Dead. Originally planned to be included on Gore Metal, but ended up not being allowed to, as both were written entirely by Ross Sewage."

Gory Melanoma

Download:Gory Melanoma

I couldn't find any current contact info for Retaliation, but I did accidentally contact a German Technical Death Metal band on Facebook also called Retaliation. I think it's solid metal, check it out after you're done here.

Funky Drummer, Agent 86, and Franz Nicolay (2012 & 1982)

Funky Drummer is from Germany, I think. Beatheads.net has this to say about Funky Drummer:

"Solid downtempo/instrumental hip-hop release by Funky Drummer. Very smooth and well produced tracks with lots of melody and change-ups...definitely worth checking out!"

I wound up listening to a few tracks and agree with the above. Here's the happy sounding opening track:

Check out what appears to be the distro for Funky Drummer, Free Crates, after you're done here.

Cool: The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Best of KBD Punk 1978-1988.

This Agent 86 song is from that KBD comp. According to their myspace page, Agent 86 "is one of the oldest consistently gigging punk bands to still write and record new, original material." Pretty cool:

Here's a neat collection of cover tunes from Southampton, UK's Cats? Aye! Records. Why does Southampton only have one h in the middle? Franz Nicolay is a cool cat I'd never heard of, turns out he was in The Hold Steady for a while. Rainbow Connection always makes me tear up:

Meanwhile: CNQ Bandcamp New Rock Mixtape Volume !

Everything in life should be 38 seconds long and loud:

IMO, a three minute song is just like, why are you keeping me for that extra thirty seconds? Regardless, I like the garage sound of this uptempo ditty from Mebourne, Australia:

From Edmonton, California, I read a review of Mahria that called it emo. Which to me, has negative connotations. But I don't mind this song:

I appreciate a kdb aesthetic, with a garage recording feel, an awesome hook, and a short and sweet approach to song length. Guitar noodling doesn't do it for me, and I like it when I get to fist pump.

This is closer to it:

These two songs are pretty much what I'm talking about:

Awesome Swedish crustpunk:

Finally, some bitchin' metal:

U.S. HC Now! Part II (2011-2012)

More catching up! Here's three hardcore punk bands I found on bandcamp this summer that I liked. I contacted them, and they were cool enough to get back in touch with me, and then I never got around to my second hardcore sampler. What a dick move! Speaking of which --

Dick Move is from Boston and seems to be defunct as of this writing:

Coincidentally, female-fronted Cerce is also from Boston, and also awesome as all get-out:

Sucked Dry is a fast and noisy three piece from Kansas City:

Raoul Martinez And His Orchestra: "Cha Cha Cha" (1960?)

No wikipedia entry on Raoul Martinez. Couldn't find any bio info through a Google search either.

This eight song (!) 45" was put out by Precision Radiation Instruments, Inc. Back in 2003, the guys over at Both Sides Now Publications wrote a great little history of PRI. According to the piece, PRI started out selling cheap geiger counters back in the 1950s when there was apparently an Alaskan "uranium rush" -- who knew? -- and then when the bottom fell out of that weird little market, the company merged with record company Tops Records.

Fascinating music history on all these Both Sides Now links, so I highly recommend a look-see at that site after you're done here. The PRI/Tops/Mayfair discographies they provide look like really cool sounds with neat cheesecake covers. I'll have to keep my eye out for the label from now on when I'm digging.

Here's the discogs entries for the coolest of the bunch -- If the Bomb Drops and Voodoo.

Meanwhile the LP (L 1659) of "Cha Cha Cha," featuring a young Mary Tyler Moore on the cover and released in 1959, is readily available on the Internet, and comes in both black and yellow vinyl. But Google couldn't help me find the EP I have (pictured in the scan above, featuring the same shot from the LP of Mary Tyler Moore as "Mary Tyler Morales"). I have this 45" in my possesion courtesy of my lovely wife's collection, and I assume she snagged it from her parents' collection when she moved to college.

The EP is not listed on discogs, on 45cat, nor in Both Sides Nows' PRI discography, which ends at a special issue SPL-1 - "8 Full Big Band Tunes," and they're not sure the date that one was put out, looks like probably 1960. This one I have is SPL-4, so I assume it was put out later, as some kind of repackaging of the full-length LP from '59.

Here's what eBay has in way of Raoul Martinez sound, just "Cha Cha Cha" along with a couple of other LPs, all put out by Tops. Interesting to note there's also a Raoul Martinez CD, a 1998 release put out by Pickwick, the company that bought out PRI/Tops/Mayfair in the 60s.

So, presented for your studied reference, three tracks from this excellent, and apparently hard to find, 45". Vamos a bailar!

Scampion Cha Cha

Download:Scampion Cha Cha

Mi Musica Es Para Ti

Download:Mi Musica Es Para Ti

Los Tamalitos De Olga

Download:Los Tamalitos De Olga

Hip-Hop Sampler Numero Dos

Sometimes it's kind of a hassle to post an MP3 from a record. Here's some new music from ReverbNation and Bandcamp. I've been on a listening kick across the blogosphere tonight that's had me listening to Nederbeat, Ghanan Highlife, Nigerian Disco, and plain old Swedish and American punk. So I'm gonna end the night with some palette clensing hip-hop. A.Dd+ is from Dallas, and Stephanie Salvo is from Austin and pretty good looking. Je$us is in a group called Lux Pack. I think they're from Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Kydd (2012)

Some catching up -- I'd contacted Austin, Texas MC Kydd back in the summer to ask him if I could feature his track Russian Roulette (featuring GLC, Max Frost and Tank) on my bandcamp Texas hip-hop sampler I did a while back. He got back with me and turned me on to his latest single, "The Masons," featuring Dallas' own Slim Gravy and Paris P of A.Dd+. Both songs are featured and available for free download on Kydd's The Righteous LP, released in July.

Long story short, I didn't get to featuring Kydd's work on that sampler, so here it is on its own. This is cool stuff - fire one up, if that's your thing, and enjoy the laid back beats, the trippy production aesthetic, and the whip smart lyrical flow.

Cfit: Triage (2011)

Cfit is a seven piece rock outfit from Dublin, Ireland that Ireland's Hot Press has compared to Interpol and the National. Upon a couple of listens to the tracks on their available for free album Triage, I'd say that's on the mark, as the overall feel of the album is a little melancholy (without being overly saccharine or mopey), but what wowed me about the tunes on Triage was something the gang over at mp3hugger.com put best:

"The wide-eyed appeal is in the song writing which veers between classic song structure to rampant experimentation."

With that in mind, I'd say fans of Broken Social Scene and Los Campensinos! will be well pleased with the sounds on this album. I know I was. The lead singer has an Ian Curtis thing going on with his voice that is also pleasing to the ear.

Check out these two awesome tracks from Cfit, then go over to their bandcamp page and, even though it's free, shell out ten euros for the album. They deserve it!

Dead Elvis: "5 Song EP" (1990)

For fans of fun punk rock, I think this Dead Elvis EP (put out by Revolt Records, but see below) is definetly something you want taking up space on your computer. I got in contact with the guy who did the righteous artwork for the sleeve, awesome as heck cartoonist Derek Yaniger, and it turns out he was also the drummer for Dead Elvis, under the moniker Squirmy Rooter. Derek was nice enough to share some beer soaked memories about DE and some cool pics and art for the band as well.

Here's what Derek said about Dead Elvis, who operated in Atlanta in the late 80s and early 90s: "Them's was crazy days! If my brain had not fermented in cheap beer for 8 years I could probably lay some memories on ya".........We produced the 7" ourselves so Revolt was just somethin' we came up with.........I don't think we put out any other wax under the Revolt name, but I'd have to ask Jet (guitarist and lead singer)......We called our particiular brand of noise "Drunk Rock".....we spent more time creating T-shirts and stickers and posters than we did practicing....We were really just into getting smashed, chasing punk rock girls and pickin fights with the other bands in town......We did manage to get a few nice gigs....we opened for Danzig, Murphy's Law, Social Distortion and the Ramones.....We were about the only true non-skinhead punk band in Atlanta in those days.....We were known for our wild shows where we spit beer on the crowds, lit stink bombs and ripped up stuffed animals, trashing every club we played......good times."

Righteous rock history. I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- I love this hobby. I was hoping some of the other band members (Jet Terror on vox/guitar, Chris Mills on guitar, Ernie Danzig on bass (catfish and tuna) and Squirmy himself on the stix) would get in contact with me too before I posted this, but they didn't and that's cool, I'm just happy to have the info Derek shared above, and his permission to share this raucous EP. My favorites are "Elvis Had A Big Dick" and "Beercore." Really fun stuff. Don't forget to check out Derek Yaniger's awesome website, featuring his art and such for sale. It's serious pro work -- Derek has his own art book called Wildsville and has worked for Cartoon Network and Marvel Comics! BAD ASS.

So, recorded at R.W. Studios in Norcross, GA, engineered by Rick Ware and "hairstyles by Hiney Boy Hair Studio," without further ado, check out Dead Elvis!

I Wanna Be

Download:I Wanna Be

Got No Right

Download:Got No Right

Elvis Had A Big Dick

Download:Elvis Had A Big Dick

Beercore

Download:Beercore

Fuck Off

Download:Fuck Off

Shotgun Solution!

A quick shout-out to one of my favorite music blogs, Shotgun Solution. Along with the seemingly defunct Crud Crud, Shotgun Solution was a direct inspiration for Clean, Nice, Quiet.

Today, in lieu of what I should be doing (cleaning the apartment), I've been catching up with Frank's awesome shares. Great punk and powerpop from the late 70s and the 1980s that will add class and cred to yr holiday mix tapes - er, CDs - er, dropbox shared folders.

I'll be posting some fun punk rock from Atlanta, 1990 along with some new rock from Ireland here soon. In the meantime, everybody go over to Shotgun Solution, check out Frank's great shares and be sure to thank him!