Artist: Kajun SS
Title: $40 Quartet
Year: 2004
Label: Die Slaughterhaus
Tracks: 1.) German Kajun, 2.) Automobile
Kajun SS was King Louie Bankston's first band upon moving back to New Orleans from Portland and would represent a big step in his musicianship and songwriting style. The simplified scuzz of Persuaders and 10-4 Backdoor would be replaced by a more complex, southern classic rock style and the previously minimalist lyrics would now yield much more verbose storytelling. This style would eventually follow Louie into the Loose Diamonds, Black Rose Band, and Missing Monuments.
The rest of the band was rounded out by former Persuaders co-conspirator Jason Craft, Chad from Scripts, and Paul from Die Rötzz. They would release a 12" later in 2004 and then pretty much be done, issuing some unreleased tracks in 2007. This record originally came out on Atlanta's Die Slaughterhaus and then had a couple pressings on Jay Reatard's Shattered Records. "Automobile" was originally recorded by Alan Lee Shaw's The Rings in 1977.
Sample: here
Artist: Jack Oblivian & The Cigarillos
Title: Drinking Women's Milk
Year: 2008
Label: Ghost Highway Recordings
Tracks: 1.) Drinking Women's Milk, 2.) 15 Beers
Jack Oblivian is one of my favorite musicians of all time. I previously posted some hard to find and unreleased Tearjerkers tracks but don't have too many other options for this blog because much of his catalog is available for sale digitally.
Here is an obscure release. It's not great but if you missed out on it in 2008 you don't have many other options. The Cigarillos "band" is only drummer Rob T. and these are some of the more minimalist, quieter songs you'll hear Jack sing. I have no idea who Rob T. is and what else he has done. This was the first release for the Spanish label Ghost Highway Recordings. The label now has over one hundred releases.
Sample: here
Artist: The Okmoniks
Title: Live On KXCI
Year: 2002
Label: none
Tracks: 3.) Sorority Club Song, 4.) I'll Let You In, 6.) Video Game Attraction, 8.) Cry A Little Longer, 9.) Next Worse Thing, 12.) Barracuda Girl, 14.) Locked In The Trunk Of Your Ford Blues, 16.) Can't Be Trusted, 18.) You Took What I Ain't Got, 20.) It's All Over Now, _.) Lawbreakin' Kind, _.) Talk About Girls
Here is another digital find from a long time ago. As far as I can find out, this was from September of 2002 with Gwen on drums. KXCI is a community radio station in Tucson. The track listing is as I found it. I don't know if this is an incomplete set of 20+ songs or a complete set with jacked up numbering. Most of these songs are on records. I've never seen any vinyl with "Video Game Attraction" but I have seen reference to it being issued on a cassette. "Talk About Girls" is the classic by Tucson's The Grodes, notably covered by The Lyres.
Sample: here
Artist: The Okmoniks
Title: Rustle Up Some Action With
Year: 2003
Label: In-Fi Records
Tracks: 1.) Sorority Club Song, 2.) I'll Let You In, 3.) Next Worse Thing, 4.) Barracuda Girl, 5.) Lawbreakin' Kind
Now onto the second Okmoniks 7" with their second drummer, Gwen, who would later go on to to play bass with Scared Of Chaka and The Dark Places. The actual vinyl release for this only has the first three songs. Sometime ago I found a digital copy that had two extra, otherwise unreleased, songs tacked onto the end. I assume the band recorded all five at the same time, pared them down for this release and then someone posted the entire session for posterity from a CDR, but who knows.
Sample: here
Artist: The Okmoniks
Title: Take A Spin With
Year: 2002
Label: In-Fi Records
Tracks: 1.) You Took What I Ain't Got, 2.) Little Bit More Hate, 3.) Locked In The Trunk Of your Ford Blues
The Okmoniks are probably best known as the band Nobunny was in before he started being a frontman with Sneaky Pinks and Nobunny, but The Okmoniks had a pretty good thing going before Justin even joined them. I think they are among the only good contemporary straight up garage bands. In case you don't know, the name of the band is a reference to the TV show ALF. This is their first release from 2002, two years before the Nobunny era, with original drummer Sarah.
The axis of the band has always been couple Helene (vocals, organ) and Sammy (guitar). They started out in Tucson, Arizona, and for the time they lived there had Sneaky Pink Trent on bass and a few different drummers. About 5 years after this record, Helene and Sammy moved to Oakland, right after completing their only LP, and the band hasn't been too serious since. They do play out sometimes, reunited with Justin on drums and Nobunny family band member Jason Testasecca on bass, but this lineup has not recorded anything.
Sample: here
Artist: The Spaceshits
Title: Full Fisted Action!
Year: 1996
Label: Sympathy For The Record Industry
Tracks: 1.) Betty Page, 2.) Aw Yeah!, 3.) Riff Randall, 4.) She's Fine, 5.) No Time For You, 6.) Can't Be True, 7.) Icepick
More Spaceshits. This double 7" was the first record I ever bought by them. Their cover of Supercharger's "Icepick" is not noted on the sleeve nor record label.
Sample: here
Artist: Eric And The Happy Thoughts
Title: Cheese And Crackers
Year: 2008
Label: none
Tracks: 1.) One More Fish (Fishin' Around), 2.) Never Gonna Do It, 3.) Ride Ride Ride, 4.) Indiana Girls, 5.) Back Of The Line, 6.) Bad Days, 7.) Happy Thoughts, 8.) Sweet Dirty Love, 9.) Black and Blue
More Eric LaGrange. The Happy Thoughts was his band just after The Romance Novels, and his first time handling lead vocals. Most people's first introduction to them was a single on Bubbledumb Records with "Never Gonna Do It", "Ride Ride Ride", and "Indiana Girls". I downloaded this sometime around then but don't know much about it. I assume it was some sort of demo CDR. I don't know if it had a cover or what it looks like, so I used the cover from the Bubbledumb 7".
In 2011 the band dropped the "Eric" and called themselves just The Happy Thoughts and released an LP on Hozac Records. All 9 of these songs are on there and 3 others.
Sample: here
Artist: The Dirty Lovers
Title: Teenage Love Bomb
Year: 1991
Label: In The Red Records
Tracks: 1.) Teenage Love Bomb, 2.) All I Want
If you are like me and started buying Teengenerate records before the internet age, you made it your goal to figure out the original artists who did all the covers they recorded. Most of them were not too difficult as they're now considered rock & roll and punk standards, but The Dirty Lovers were a bit more unexpected. You won't find "All I Want" on a Killed By Death or Bloodstains comp. It was only released six years before Teengenerate's Savage.
Here's what I can tell you about The Dirty Lovers. They rocked Australia in the late-80's with a straight forward, fun punk sound uncommon pretty much everywhere in the world back then. Tragically, two of their members died in a car accident following a gig in 1989 and that was it for them. The Australian label Dog Meat Records would release a 4-song EP titled "Shanty Tramp" in 1990, which I unfortunately do not own, and then In The Red Records optioned an American release with the previously unreleased "Teenage Love Bomb" on the A-side and carried over "All I Want" from the Dog Meat EP.
There has been talk for years of In The Red or Rigid Records from Australia issuing a discography release with upward of seven completely unreleased songs but it has yet to materialize.
Sample: here
Artist: Various Artists
Title: Chloroform
Year: 1999
Label: Mangrove Records
Tracks: 1.) Cock Scratch "Wrong Idol", 2.) First Alert "Dear My Sweet Radio", 3.) The Young Ones "I Waiting For Your Miss", 4.) Engine Boo "Space Invader", 5.) Tonight "Papa Mama", 6.) The Knocks "Traffic Jam", 7.) Registrators "Radio Man", 8.) The Knocks "Don't Call For Me", 9.) Engine Boo "Fall Down", 10.) First Alert "I Wanna No More Lies", 11.) Registrators "Pogo Machine", 12.) Tonight "Flatterer", 13.) The Young Ones "Suck Me...", 14.) Cock Scratch "Make Your Face"
I've mentioned this a few times; now here it is. You get two great songs by the pre-Intimate Fags and pre-Private Ways group Cock Scratch, the only two songs I've heard from them. (They have an impossible to find Japanese 7" I've never heard.) You get two raw, early Young Ones tunes. You get possibly my favorite Tonight song and then possibly my least favorite. You get one non-LP track from prime era Registrators and one of their best LP tracks. I don't have anything informative to say about The Knocks but they are good, too. First Alert and Engine Boo I can do without but others like them.
Sample: here
Artist: The Young Ones
Title: Till You're Down
Year: 2000
Label: KOGA Records
Tracks: 1.) Till You're Down, 2.) Sixties
More millenium Japanese punk. This is The Gimmies' first release. They would shortly after release a 7" on Screaming Apple but it is not as good as this one. I have a Japanese CD from some time after that I will post.
Sample: here
Artist: The Young Ones
Title: Fear
Year: 1999
Label: Pogo 77 Records
Tracks: 1.) Fear, 2.) Brains
Here's the 7".
Sample: here
Artist: Various Artists
Title: Ad Vice
Year: 2000
Label: Mangrove Records
Tracks: Firestarter 1.) Slum Rock, 2.) Trashy Dreams, 3.) Johnny Moped Was Right; Intimate Fags 4.) Talking In My Head, 5.) We Are The Thorough Cheap Boys, 6.) Shoot Craps; Radio Shanghai 7.) (You Look Out Through) Instant Emotion, 8.) Artificial Life, 9.) Frustrated Town; Zymotics 10.) (Oh My) Tic, 11.) Dirty Punk Man, 12.) I Wanna Go To Play School; Private Ways 13.) Information Disk, 14.) She's Gone Again, 15.) I'm In Safety
I previously mentioned the Chloroform comp that introduced a lot of people to the lesser known Japanese bands of the mid-90s. Ad Vice is sort of a follow up with a bunch of new bands from the next mini era of the early 2000s. This comp was of particular interest because I believe it has the first recordings from Firestarter with Fifi, Fink, and Sammy reunited for the first time since Teengenerate.
After that you get Intimate Fags, which were kind of a continuation from Cock Scratch, who had a run of domestic releases on Rip Off Records. Radio Shanghai has its fans and pushed things in the pop/wave direction. Zymotics were a continuation of Bou Sou Nezumi, who had a well-regarded scuzz garage 7" from 1996 and were also on the A World Full Of Friends comp LP on Repent Records from 1997. Lastly is Private Ways, which continues in the pop/wave direction with Radio Shanghai.
Sample: here
Artist: Registrators
Title: I Call Your Name
Year: 1995
Label: Wallabies Records
Tracks: 1.) I Call Your Name, 2.) Teenage Heart, 3.) Television Screen
Registrations should not need too much of an introduction. I feel like most people regarded them as the second best Japanese punk band of the 90s after Teengenerate. This is one of their prime singles. "I Call Your Name" and "Teenage Heart" ended up on the singles comp but their cover of Radiators From Space's classic "Television Screen" didn't make the cut. Here you go.
Sample: here
Artist: The Young Ones
Title: self-titled
Year: 2003
Label: Needle Records
Tracks: 1.) Diseased Kid, 2.) Fear, 3.) Wasted Time, 4.) I Know, 5.) Don't Like Your Action, 6.) Radio One, 7.) In Cross Bar Hotel, 8.) Wild Eyes, 9.) I'm Me
Japan Month continues. You may have first experienced The Young Ones from the excellent Chloroform comp on Mangrove from 1996 and possibly gotten their "Fear" 7" from 1999. You might know that bassist Azumi has been playing with The Raydios since 2007 and drummer Suzuki since 2012. The Young Ones were part of the last wave of good, legitimately punk Japanese bands before everything melted into pop.
This CD-only release was pretty elusive. Run by Masa from Cock Scratch (!!!), Private Ways, and Small Speaker, Needle Records releases for the most part did not leave Japan. I think I bought this from Japanese-American label Nice & Neat a long time ago.
Sample: here
Artist: Supersnazz
Title: The Barba Rockets Patrol
Year: 1999
Label: Time Bomb Records
Tracks: 1.) Barba Rockets Patrol, 2.) Tell Him, 3.) Static, 4.) Barba Rockets Patrol (Karaoke Version)
Here's a Japanese-released CD-EP from the Kanako/Shoe era. "Tell Him" is the Exciters classic written by Bert Russell.
Sample: here
Artist: Tonight
Title: 1978
Year: 1997
Label: Freaked Out Frequencies
Tracks: 1.) 1978, 2.) Animal Call, 3.) Germ Girl
Here's their other full 7". This one is a little more melodic than the first one. "Animal Call" is a Bags cover.
Sample: here
Artist: Tonight
Title: Search My Face
Year: 1996
Label: Wallabies Records
Tracks: 1.) Search My Face, 2.) That's A Farce, 3.) Boston Babies
I haven't done a Japanese record in a while. Tonight had a short run in the mid-90s and while their sound is harder than what I normally go for, they approach it with a more wild rock 'n' roll style than pissed off hardcore, so I can still get into it. This is their first release. "Boston Babies" is a Slaughter And The dogs cover.
They shortly after released a split 7" with Gyogun Rend's, another solo 7" on Freaked Out Frequencies, a few comp tracks, and then that was it. None of their releases have any credits so I have no idea if any of their members went onto other groups.
Sample: here
Artist: The Horribly Wrong
Title: Bleeding For You
Year: 2005
Label: Eradicator Records, Spin The Bottle Records
Tracks: 1.) Aiming For You, 2.) Do The Move, 3.) 2nd P.A., 4.) Blood Up To My Waist, 5.) Living Nightmare
I vaguely remember The Horribly Wrong existing in the mid-2000s, but lumped them in with all the midwestern speed garage bands I didn't care about like Catholic Boys and never gave The Horribly Wrong a chance. Years later as I discovered Natural Child, I learned that Seth Murray was previously in The Horribly Wrong, so I gave them a chance and dug it.
This 7" is the only record that came out while they were a band. They recorded an LP, but that didn't come out until 2009, a few years after they broke up.
Sample: here
Artist: Lover! / LiveFastDie
Title: Split
Year: 2008
Label: Douchemaster Records
Tracks: 1.) Lover! "Booger In My Asshole", 2.) LiveFastDie "Sick As Shit Of Shit"
After sparingly singing his own songs with Knaughty Knights in the early 2000s, former Reatards and Lost Sounds drummer Rich Crook officially became a frontman with a slew of recordings under the Lover! moniker in 2006. Rich played everything himself and in concert the "band" was a collection of whichever mid-south musicians didn't have anything else going on at the time. Then in 2010 Rich moved to Chicago and formed a more permanent group.
This LiveFastDie track is one of the few singles tunes that didn't make it onto the Hit Stains comp.
Sample: here
Artist: Jumpin' Beans And Willie
Title: The Milwaukee Sessions
Year: 2002
Label: Ball Records
Tracks: 1.) She's A Real Tomato, 2.) It's Alright By Me, 3.) I've Tried It (It Don't Work), 4.) High Roller, 5.) Louie Louie, 6.) Can't See Straight, 7.) I Want It From You, 8.) Calling Christ, 9.) Stay Off My Lawn, 10.) End This Time with You, Part I, 11.) End This Time With You, Part II
Here's the LP. I don't like this nearly as much as the 7" I posted earlier, but since this is limited to 100 copies and you probably won't find it anywhere else online, here you go.
Sample: here
Artist: The Cave Weddings
Title: Last Time
Year: 2010
Label: Bachelor Records
Tracks: 1.) Last Time, 2.) Never Never Know
This is the other Cave Weddings 7", partially recorded in Albany with the original trio before they broke up and supplemented by members of The Midwest Beat in Wisconsin, after the band broke up.
Sample: here
