I have moved

Yes, I have moved to wordpress. I won't be posting here anymore, but you can follow me on my newest blog here: https://thesonicmosquitosoup.wordpress.com/

Lots of great obscure music to come.

Cheers!

Pravda Tape, 1982, Desperate Times

 Found a cheap and used copy of this rare gem over the internet about a month ago. I'm talking about the Pravda Vol 1, a compilation tape released by Pravda Records in '82. Having a lot of free time on my hands I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to digitize it and share it with my readers. 

 The label was born in 1982 in the home of Desperate Times Magazine in Seattle’s University District. It was founded by Dennis White and Maire M. Masco, both publishers for the Desperate Times, a magazine that was covering the punk scene of Seattle as well as international bands that played the local bars.

 Pravda's catalog featured some of these local acts covered in the zine. In one year period, Maire and Dennis, put together the Mr. Epp EP, "Of course I'm Happy.Why?", a Student Nurse single and the Pravda Compilation tape, an artifact of Seattle's new wave/art rock/post-punk scene.

 Another important mention would be that Dennis White also managed Dadastic! sounds in the recent years, doing a great job in releasing obscure music. Check it out, maybe some of the releases are still available for buying/download here.

 Now back to the tape! Sunworm opens and ends this, over-half-hour, audio time machine in a gloomy manner field with accelerating rhythm sections, squeaking guitars and a monolithic voice. Sunworm also contributed with a song on "The Public Doesn't Exist" compilation and shares John Rogers as common member with Student Nurse. John also made appearances in other art rock/experimental bands such as Steddi 5 or Audio Letter.

 Spectators were a pleasant surprise, especially with the song "Idiot Culture". Rapid-i also, and a bit more experimental. Besides being on this compilation, Joe Despair And The Future haven't released anything to my knowledge. You can see some photos from two of their gigs on Mike's Leach site.

 Student Nurse are contributing to this compilation with only one song and that's a shame because I love them and it seems impossible to get my hands on any of their releases.

 For some reason the Billy Shaffer song volume is kind of low, but I've uploaded it here anyway. Billy Shaffer was the art director for Desperate Times. This is an acoustic/folk track that comes from a home-made tape of demos he recorded.

 Mr. Epp is probably the most expected band on the compilation. They are, after all, the godfathers of grunge! Steve and Marks' band before Green River. Actually the term of "grunge" was first coined in the second issue of Desperate Times, in a letter sent by Mark himself, describing Mr. Epp's music as "pure grunge, pure shit".

Pravda Compilation Tape, everyone! Enjoy!

A1.Sunworm - Someday (We Will Meet)

A2.Spectators - Fine Line

A3.Billy Shaffer - Hair Dyed Green

A4.Rapid-i - Each Second

A5.Joe Despair And The Future - How The West Was Won

B1.Mr. Epp And The Calculations - Mowhawk Man

B2.Student Nurse - Recht Op Staan (Version)

B3.Spectators - Idiot Culture

B4.Rapid-i - New Style

B5.Mr. Epp And The Calculations - Mr. Epp Talks To Youngsters

B6.Sunworm - Kronos

Much appreciation for the small record labels!

Wow, you haven't seen me in ages, right? Well I'm still here! Now, you've probably wondered what happened and why I've stopped writing on this blog. Mostly there were personal issues, but all of that stuff is gone now, and I'm here once again. Lately I've started collecting vinyl records. And not just grunge, but also anything related to noise rock, industrial, punk, post-punk, garage etc. Discogs it's a great site, especially if you live, like me, in Europe. I can find a lot of obscure Northwest punk related bands and I don't have to necessarily order them from USA, with those killing shipping taxes.

But enough of that...I will give you one of my latest acquisitions. The Metal Ribbons compilation. This is a 7'' released in '91 on the Tacoma's label Meat Records. I have no idea who own this label but it released some pretty obscure bands. It's a pity their catalog is rather small.

This compilation features Big Satan Inc, A.M.Q.A, Fitz of Depression, all from the WA state and the hardcore band Slag from Tucson Arizona. Now I won't bother covering this last one...actually, come to think about it, I won't cover any of them. Big Satan Inc, and Fitz of Depression, each deserve a post of their own, right? And you can read a fine piece on A.M.Q.A. here.
Meat Records release mostly 7''s, and besides the ones already mentioned above, other bands signed here were Treehouse (Olympia/indie band), Seaweed, Superchunk, what else...Oh, The Fuckers who were supposedly Seaweed's members in disguise and few more others. Like I said, some obscure stuff here!!!

Fitz of Depression's song is also featured on their first album released on Meat Records as well.

So go bellow and click on the links, download them and put them on your phone, drink ten beers, go to work, pee in the subway, and get your ass fired...Don't do that, I'm just kidding!!!

Side A--------> click here for download
Big Satan, Inc -  Zymo Genetics
A.M.Q.A. - Sinister

Side B--------> click here for download
Fitz of Depression - Everybody And Their Dog
Slag - Alive 

These Streets

Grunge goes on theatre! Wait, what?! 
Yes,"These Streets" is an original work of theatre created by Gretta Harley and Sarah Rudinoff. Gretta also played in Maxi Badd and was the co-founder of the Home Alive organization.
The story centers on five musicians who share a house in the Greenlake neighborhood from 1989-1994. It was inspired by over 25 interviews conducted with the women musicians who were an integral part of the Seattle music scene and whose stories and songs have been overshadowed by the familiar bands and retrospectives.
"These Streets" will also be featuring music from bands such as: Capping Day, Hammerbox, Maxi Badd, Kristen Barry, The Gits or Danger Gens, and will have its premiere at ACT Theatre in Feb/March 2013.


You can read more about the project, by downloading the dossier: These Streets - Dossier


Facebook page here

The Sound Of Young Seattle Vol. II

Thanks to David Kulczyk, The Sound Of Young Seattle Vol II is now available in mp3. The cassette came out in 1985, and was produced by David and Grant Eckman (The Walkabouts). The cover design was made by ex-Feast member Jane Higgins.

Note:

Allison Maryatt - Couldn’t find much info except that she recently played guitar and sang in Slippage, a band that also featured Jack Endino on bass and Scott McCullum (Skin Yard, Gruntruck) on drums. Myspace here.

Bundle of Hiss - Kurt Danielson’s band before TAD. The band’s membership at the time included Kurt Danielson (bass), Kurt Schonberg (vocals), Jeff Hopper (guitar), and Russ Bartlet (drums).

Dwindles - changed their name into Pure Joy shortly after.

Melting Fish - a new wave/post-punk duo featuring brothers Glenn and Mike Slater.

PMA - stands for Pozitive Mental Attitude. Green River opened for them in 1984 at a private party in Capital Hill. That was Green River‘s first public performance.

Scary Rhythm People - An improvisation made by members of various bands such as The Walkabouts, A Western Familly and other bands featured on this compilation.

Allison Maryatt - The Search

A Western Familly - I am Rain

Bundle of Hiss – Metamorphosis

Dwindles - Rebecca's Mother

Feast - Baby Teeth

Gary Heffern - Unwanted Children

Melting Fish - Urameshiya (Ghost Chant)

PMA - Dreams to Waking

Vivasection - Another Day

The Walkabouts - A Certain Gift

Scary Rhythm People - Soundtrack to the film Away

Feast: 500 Foot Grunge Fiends

After an exhausting day of research I’ve managed to put together only a short abstract on another Seattle mysterious band. Sure you can find some articles on Feast, but they all contain the same little information. From what I’ve read, I’m thinking Feast resembles Bundle of Hiss in some ways. They inspired a whole generation of bands, droving from their early post-punk sound to a heavy hybrid known as “grunge”. Didn’t leave much of a recording history, but everyone (over 40 years old) remembers the band’s intense live shows that colored the Seattle scene for more than a half of 80’s decade.

The band was formed in the early 80’s and was originally called Feast of Friends. The founding members were Tom Mick on vocals, Dan Blossom on guitar and Jane Higgins on bass. The line-up also included musicians such as Dan Peters, Reed Hutchinson, Rolf Berteig, Darrell Myers and Kevin Evens and probably a few more…who knows. By the end of their existence the band manage to put out a demo cassette in a limited number of 50 copies. They split at some point in 1988 but will reunite 20 + years later. Yes, Feast did some reunion shows recently, with line-up including Reed and Dan sharing guitar duties, Tom on vocals, Rolf on drums and former Room Nine’s member Scott Boggan on bass.

We can only hope that Feast members would eventually put out a compilation CD of everything they’ve recorded. But until then ------>

500 Foot Jesus

Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin cover)

Cheers!

The Sound of Young Seattle

The Sounds of Young Seattle came out in 1984, cassette only, and was put together by local musician David Kulczyk. Described as the “psychodelic bastard children of the Seattle Syndrome” the two volume compilations ( the second one was released in 1985) are documenting a post punk scene that grew around the Pioneer Square dens.

The first volume, the only one available in mp3, so far, features some darkish psychedelic tunes from A Western Family, Big Boat, Crypt kicker 5, Dr. Bombay, Life In General, Ministry Of Love, PMA, Room Nine and Feast Of Friends (would later become Feast).

A Western Familly - The Umbrella Theory

Big Boat - Free Willed Social Animal

Crypt Kicker Five - Ya Ya Love Song

Dr. Bombay - In A Time Machine

Feast of Friends - Emotions

Life in General - Desperate Reminiscence (Live)

Ministry Of Love - Dancing On Air

PMA - Obsession

Room Nine - Seas Without a Shore

Note: David A. Kulczyk played guitar in A Western Family, a band that formed in 1983. The band’s line-up also included John Massoni on vocals, Liz Schmoe on bass and David Thierry on drums. After releasing two cassettes, “A Western Family” and “Music from Tiger Mountain”, the band called it quits. It was 1985. Some of the remaining members went on to form A Weather Theater.

And also a couple of A Western Familly tunes

Persian Carpets

Behave