Sunday, November 22, 2020

The Hi-Techs


For a long time I have listened to the new wave band Personal Effects. I love them and I think I have everything they ever recorded.

 Not too far back in time I was listening to a compilation record called "From the City that Brought You...Absolutely Nothing" and I thought the stand-out song on that record was a song called "Pompeii" by a band called The Hi-Techs. I never heard of The Hi-Techs before then. I had no idea who they were. But, thanks to the awesome power of the internet and Discogs, I immediately found out that The Hi-Techs was a band that preceded my beloved Personal Effects and was made up of members of that band. 

I had to find out what else they recorded and it amounts to this - two 7"s and the song from the comp.

I present to you here both 7"s, the song from the compilation, and the first EP by the new incarnation of the band called Personal Effects. 


The Hi-Techs - Boogaloo Rendezvous 7" (1980)

A - Boogaloo Rendezvous

B - Subscriptions (are My Subscription)



The Hi-Techs - Screamin' You Head 7" (1981)

A - Screamin' You Head

B - A Woman's Revenge


The Hi-Techs - Pompeii (from the compilation)

 


 

Personal Effects - Personal Effects EP (1982) 

1 So Hard

2 Magic (I've Been Waiting)

3 Low Riders

4 Love Never Thinks

5 Don't Wake Me

DOWNLOAD both Hi-Techs singles, the song from the comp, and the Personal Effects EP



Wednesday, November 11, 2020

The Investigators - The Investigators (1991)


 Everywhere this record is listed it is described as a ska record. 

It is not a ska record. There is not one single second of ska anywhere on the record.


What it is, is more mod with hints of soul, jump-blues and a little bit of swing. It's very horn-heavy and inspired greatly by television crime dramas.


1 Ironside

2 All My World

3 Something New (From Now On)

4 'Cause I'm Walking

5 Investigators

6 Sweet Little Girl

7 Keep On Fighting

8 Soul Party (Keep On Moving!)


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Tuesday, October 27, 2020

va Meeting part 1 and 2


This is a compilation of Dutch new wave/pop bands. Very few of them recorded anything else. Jamback Affair released two albums (which I have if anybody decides they need to hear them). 

 

Zzipp has a 7" that I really love so I was looking for anything else they may have recorded and I found this series. I bought the first volume but the seller sent me the second volume by mistake. I decided to keep it and I bought the first one later.

There are a few good moments but nothing too captivating in either one.

 

Meeting (1985)

1 Jamback Affair - Peachy

2 Jamback Affair - 

3 Jamback Affair - The Party

4 Zzipp - You're Better Off with Me

5 Zzipp - Masochism

6 Zzipp - Groupie

7 Simplex Novum - Innerworlds

8 Simplex Novum - Scratches

9 Simplex Novum - Changing Times

10 Zenith - Division

11 Zenith - Thoughts

12 Zenith - Reminiscence

 


 

Meeting II (1986) 

1 Between The Sheets - Quasimodo

2 Between The Sheets - Nobody's Born to Lose

3 Between The Sheets - Somewhere

4 Crystal Dark - Observer

5 Crystal Dark - Roman Insanity

6 Crystal Dark - Colorful Ambitions

7 Jane Kelly - Desires

8 Jane Kelly - Heartbreaker

9 Jane Kelly - Endless Dream

10 The Big Sleep - Blue Moon

11 The Big Sleep - Skies are Burning

12 The Big Sleep - Just Before the End


DOWNLOAD Meeting and Meeting II


Saturday, October 17, 2020

The Eighty Eights - Top of the World (1981)


 1 She Fell in Love with James Bond

2 Tragic Accident

3 Time Machine

4 Top of the World

5 Light Year

6 Channel Misery

7 Sorry Wrong Number

8 Mutiny

9 Don't Call Us

10 Checking Out

11 What Would Your Mother Say?

DOWNLOAD

Monday, October 12, 2020

The Fabrics [Finland] - Complete Discography

The Fabrics existed only for a few years but they released a lot of material in that time. 

The band was started in 1979 by Tommi Läntinen who has since been in many other bands like Boycott, Rin Tin Tin, the blues-rock band Tommi & Hombre, Tom Dozen, and Kokoelmilla, not to mention a whole lot of solo releases.

Less than 4 years later the band broke up after releasing two albums, four singles, and a cover of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'".

Both A and B sides of two of the singles are on the album Tonight so they weren't included in this download. Here's what is in this download:

Look at This (1980) - 9 track ska influenced debut.


Factory 7" (1980)

 


Tonight (1981) -
12-track full length that had their biggest hit "Summer is Fading"

 


Eskimoes and Chinese 7" (1982) 

Their final release before Tommi Läntinen and keyboardist Kim Trapp recorded another album as the band Rin Tin Tin.


DOWNLOAD all four Fabrics releases along with the song "Gimme Some Lovin'"


The Rin Tin Tin album "Swazi-Beat" sounds like it very well could have been The Fabric's third album. I was able to find it on a blog called AOR Night Drive but the link is from 2012 and a bit iffy so I re-upped it to Mediafire. 


 

DOWNLOAD Rin Tin Tin - Swazi-Beat (1984) 

 

 

As we are in day two-hundred-and-something of our two-week lock down to 'slow the spread' and 'flatten the curve', you have to appreciate that the guy on the cover of Tonight is respectfully wearing a mask.



Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Jambon Street - Epatite Virale 7" (1983)


Quirky 80s new wave rock with a bit of 50s-throwback saxophone. They were from Italy and both songs are sung in Italian. This might be the only thing they ever released.

Is it good? Is it bad? Who knows. But it is rare. That's what counts here.

A - Epatite Virale

B - Lettera


DOWNLOAD

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Bleistift - Bleistift (1981)

There is a 7" record from the Netherlands released in 1980 called "17 to 7 on 33" which was 7 bands who paid for the release by paying per minute. There were two bands who had a song that was exactly 1 minute long and the other 5 bands had songs that were exactly 3 minutes each. So 17 minutes by 7 bands at 33 rpm.

I no longer have this record and I really don't remember what it sounds like but I remember I wasn't very impressed with any of the bands except for this one. Bleistift ('Pencil'). I kept their song "Looking Swell" and found out they had one album. I don't think the album maintained the same quality of that first song but it is what I was expecting.

New wave guitar rock. No keyboards or horns. Up-tempo but too mellow to be punk. Not gothic enough to be goth. Too much structure to be 'experimental' or 'art rock'.  A voice that takes some getting used to. You know, the kind of stuff I post on this blog.

I included "Looking Swell" with this download. 

1 Utang
2 Ambition
3 Mirrors
4 Wishing Having
5 Refuse to Wait
6 French Movie
7 Gun
8 Eyes of Children
9 Showroom
10 Reggae Sessie
* Looking Swell

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Saturday, May 30, 2020

Quad Pi - Quad Pi 7" (1981)

A1 - In Near You
A2 - Dhicks
B1 - Mortville
B2 - Laugh Line

Hear "In Near You" HERE.

DOWNLOAD

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Atila

Atila was a California band that was something between no-wave and anarcho-punk with influences from every genre. Dub, country, funk, disco, Middle Eastern folk music. It's all there. It's noisy. It's terrible but, at the same time, enjoyable.

Their first release from 1981 was a self-titled 5-track 7" that was re-released as "Rocker" with a different cover.

The second release from 1982 was a 4-track 7" simply titled "2" (pictured above).

They released their first album in 1983. It was called "International Sandwich" and it was more a study in different styles and sounds than a serious attempt at songwriting.
Then they released their final offering in 1985. It's an 8-track album that has some of their best stuff. It's called "Looking for Love".
They had three songs on compilations but all three are available on these four recordings here so I believe this is everything the band ever released.

DOWNLOAD



Sunday, April 5, 2020

va 91X Local Heroes

This is a compilation of local bands from San Diego from 1984.

1 Glory House - You'll Always be There (The Reading)
2 D-Fendants - Empty Pockets
3 Laws of Motion - Massive Doses
4 Shades of May - Distant Memories
5 Mojo Nixon with Skid Roper - Ain't Got Nobody
6 Marty Eldridge - Purple Heart
7 The Neat - In a Daydream
8 Playground Slap - Pictures of Age
9 The Beat Farmers - Lost Weekend / Happy Boy (live)

I'm not a big Mojo Nixon / Skid Roper fan so I don't know a lot about them but I think this song is unique to this record. I know Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper released a lot of other music and the Beat Farmers were pretty prolific but few of the other bands did anything else which is a shame. Laws of Motion released a 12" EP called "Check it in the Mirror". Shades of May only ever released that one song but they later changed their name to Red Flag and they have been releasing music continuously since their first album in 1989. 
The Playground Slap released an EP which is included in this download.
1 I Felt the Wind Blow
2 Thirst
3 The Ocean
4 Blue Funk
5 There's Repetition

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Monday, January 20, 2020

Tune Out's Favorite Tunes of 2019

1 Black Mirror - Leather
2 Trauma Harness - Bat Barn
3 Growth Spurt - Bedroom
4 Dengue Fever - One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula
5 The Glow in the Dark Cabaret - Shine, Oh Boy, Shine
6 Warm Red - Yeah, Man
7 No Sabes - Terminal Strike
8 Alter De Fey - Elisa Lam
9 Clay Allison - Paul Says
10 Sun Dog - Surf in D Minor
11 Last Night - People's Lies
12 Cape Weather - Never Says
13 Negative Space - Eternal Rotation
14 The No-Counts - Sleep Forever
15 Gesture - Dignity
16 Plastic Mackeral - Blown Away
17 Sue and the Namies - Coke Bros.
18 Beach Towels - Stereo Girlfriend
19 Thee Dead Black Diddley - Lust
20 Endless Column - Catching Up
21 Conditioner Disco Group - It's Okay to be Alone
22 Sharkmuffin - Serpentina
23 Pig Frenzy - Consent = Creeps
24 French Vanilla - All the Time
25 Tame - Molars
26 Jack Oblivion - Lone Ranger of Love
27 Los Coejos - Yesterday
28 Goodnight Gunfight - Creepy

DOWNLOAD