“Suicide Jockey” by Tyla Gang

Published on December 4, 2007 in 70s and rocknroll. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

279855.jpgA mishmash of 70s styles. I first fell in love with Tyla Gang because of their enigmatic rambler “Styrofoam,” which Stiff released on 45 in 1976, and I heard on an early Stiff Records compilation. Buy that song.

This song is equally as confusing as “Styrofoam”, but endearing in how it pulls together the sounds of Thin Lizzy, Frampton, Santana, Stooges, Buffalo Springfield, and Alice Cooper into one strangely subdued song about suicide. Y’all hear all of that?

The bside, “Cannons of the Boogie Night,” however, does not live up to the promise of its title.

Tyla Gang, “Suicide Jockey,” from the Skydog Records 45 (1977)

“Dr. Follow’s Dance,” by Gary Bartz & NTU Troop

Published on December 4, 2007 in 70s, funk and single. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

bartz.jpgAnother jazzy funk number posted mostly for Sam. I love the bassline on this one.

It’s great music for standing in line, and gives even the most mundane event a nice little exciting soundtrack. A little short, though.

Gary Bartz & NTU Troop, “Dr. Follow’s Dance,” from the Prestige 45 (1973)

Lots of information on Gary Bartz at his website (wot no myspace?), & another great track (w/ vocals) posted at Groove Provider.

“The Cat (Extended Version),” by The Essence

Published on December 4, 2007 in 80s. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

cat.jpgThere’s something about The Essence that has me always defending them in my heart. An unstudied ear might consider them just a ripoff of the Cure, due to the strikingly familiar lead vocals, but I think there’s something a little more rocking here. The sounds are fuller and everything seems a little less delicate.

This particular track has a hint of the sounds that make the New Model Army and U2 songs of the same era so good. Once again, we learn of an upcoming re-release from Myspace. Cherry Red’s putting it out.

The Essence,”The Cat (Extended Version),” from The Cat EP on Midnight Music (1986)

“Sound Alarm,” by Polyrock

Published on December 3, 2007 in 80s, electronic, experimental and rocknroll. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

poly.jpgGreat new wave from NYC. I really love the use of warm, light keys in all of this band’s music. This album was produced in part by Phillip Glass, which may be why it sounds so fresh still.

I just found out that this album, as well as their album Changing Hearts were re-released by Wounded Bird this year. I think I’ve picked up all of their discs in the dollar bin, but I urge you to get the cds. That way you don’t have to deal with any surface noise. & check out Wounded Bird’s tons of other great 60s, 70s, and 80s re-releases while you’re at it.

One of the things I love about this record sleeve beyond the awesome colors and typography, is the portraits on the back… it seriously looks like 5 of the 6 are the same person in different clothes and poses:

poly2.jpg

Now that’s a look. Find more tracks on their myspace page.

Polyrock, “Sound Alarm,” from the Polyrock LP (1980)

“Funky Snakefoot,” by Alphonse Mouzon

Published on December 3, 2007 in 70s, funk and jazz. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

snake.jpgTrippy, uptempo police-chase jazz-disco on Blue Note. A great beat, but I I kind of get the feeling the only thing that can dance over this is some film credits shooting in from either side of the frame, and then, on a freeze frame on the grille of some 70s American car:

THE FUNKY SNAKEFOOT
©MCMLXXIV

Mouzon is the drummer, if you couldn’t tell from the lead in. There’s a lot going on here, and I really like the delay on the saxophone and the little bass stabs.

Alphonse Mouzon, “Funky Snakefoot” from the Blue Note 45 (1974)

“We Don’t Need No Carpet Baggers,” by C.U.B.S.

Published on December 3, 2007 in 80s, electronic, experimental and funk. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

cubs1.jpgThis has to be one of my favorite songs, and it always gets people looking around. I bought this disc from Vinyl Ink before its beloved owner George passed away in 2002. I always made the trip out to Silver Spring when I was in the DC area, and when I moved up to NYC, I was a constant mailorder customer of the store.

I wish I still had the little description sticker he so thoughtfully put on every disc– I’m sure it was full of adjectives and namechecked A Certain Ration or PiL. Anyway, this is another group about which I know next to nothing. Mutant Noise recently posted one of their singles, but details seem to be few and far between. Any details would be appreciated. This track, the opener, is my favorite one on the album, but all are worth a studied listen. I’ll post more Music+Noise releases soon.

C.U.B.S., “We Don’t Need No Carpet Baggers,” from the Maroi Bwana Oi LP on Music+Noise (1983)

“What I Got, I Got (Ain’t Gonna Lose It)”, by Maurice

Published on December 2, 2007 in 70s, funk and single. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

maurice.jpgGreat fuzzy funk vocal track from 1971. On “My” records. Notice how me-centric that label is… they want you to sign your name on the actual record so everyone knows it’s yours.

I don’t know anything about this record apart from what’s on the label. It looks like Maurice may be “Maurice Rice,” who has the writing credit, by googling is poweless to learn anything.

Maurice, “What I Got, I Got (Ain’t Gonna Lose It”, from the My Records 45 (1971)

“Up in Daisy’s Penthouse,” by Jody Harris and Robert Quine

Published on December 1, 2007 in 80s, experimental and rocknroll. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

dsc_0009.jpgOn the heals of my Raybeats post is the Harris/Quine project I alluded to. Robert Quine, who I learned had died on at trip to Subterranean Records a couple years ago, was, like the Raybeats, a very influential musician. He did stints with Richard Hell & the Voidiods, in Lou Reed’s band, with Lydia Lunch, James White & the Blacks, They Might Be Giants, Material, and many more.

This is a nice landscapy track with a nice little lofi drum machine beat. Background music for some, I suppose.

Jody Harris and Robert Quine, “Up in Daisy’s Penthouse,” from the Escape LP on Lust/Unlust (1981)

Here Quine is onstage with Lou Reed, smoking and playing “Some Kinda Love” with Italian chatter overdub!

“Holiday,” by The Odd Numbers

Published on December 1, 2007 in 90s and rocknroll. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

dsc_0006.jpgI bought this 7″ at a WAX show in 1993 or 1994… WAX’s singer, Joe Sib, who had started Side 1 Records, put it out. It’s amazingly tight-sloppy mod indie rock from when that seemed like a fresh, new idea. I really like the guy’s nearly-British accent. The B-side of this disc has a great cover of “Ever Fallen In Love,” which was the first I ever heard of the Buzzcocks.

Whenever I play this out in public someone always comes up to me to tell me that it was their favorite song in some skate video they saw in high school.

I have a full-length album on CD of these guys called Retrofitted for Today, that also has some great cuts on it, but they’re much more polished and lack the energy of this track. It appears that they’re still together, and putting out records.

The Odd Numbers, “Holiday” from the Side 1 records 45 (1993)

Totally unrelatedly, the reason we were at the WAX show, is that my high school friends and I became big fans of theirs after they sneaked us into Trees in Dallas to see fIREHOSE play on a school night once. They were opening, and we happened to be the only folks at their instore performance downtown that afternoon (fIREHOSE was supposed to be the instore performer) Since we weren’t old enough to get in to the show that evening, they told us to come back before the show so we could carry their gear in. WAX later had mild fame with a Spike Jonze video for Souther California, off of their second album, 13 Unlucky Numbers. Also, their drummer Loomis sometimes pops up in Jackass videos.

“The Big Country,” by the Raybeats

Published on December 1, 2007 in 80s and rocknroll. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

raybeats.jpgI put the Raybeats up there with the Fleshtones in terms of solid, high-energy acts from the early 80s that never really got their due. This track is from the Raybeats’ follow-up to the legendary Guitar Beat (which was re-released on a now hard-to-find CD in 97). “The Big Country” is a standout on It’s Only A Movie due to its more abstract, filmic approach– the rest of the tracks, in line with most of the Raybeats material is much more R&B/Surf-guitar oriented and up-tempo.

The band itself is comprised of some very important musicians who were highly influential, but seem to have flown mostly under the radar when it comes to their actual names. Jody Harris, one of the guitarmen in the group, teamed up with the late Robert Quine to record under their own names (more on that later), and also played with the Contortions, and eventually the Golden Palominos. Pat Irwin, also in the Contortions, has links to John Cage and William Burroughs, and eventually did some production for Love Tractor and ended up in the B52s. Check out more band history on their embryonic site.

The Raybeats, “The Big Country,” from the It’s Only a Movie LP on Shanachie (1983)

What I find remarkable about this track is that it sounds like it could have appeared on some of the late 90s Tortoise-crew records. This song actually comes to mind when I think of Tortoise’s TNT, and I can’t force myself to remember a note of music that actually appears on that.

Guitar Beat is a much more solid album, more in the party vibe than It’s Only A Movie. You should pick it up both if you see them. They’re strangely expensive online, but seem to pop up all the time in dollar bins.

Here’s a video of “Jack the Ripper,” also from It’s Only A Movie