FEX [Germany] - Subways of Your Mind (demo tape 1984)
Cum grano salis, of course.
Here's a live version from 1985.
FEX [Germany] - Subways of Your Mind (demo tape 1984)
Cum grano salis, of course.
Here's a live version from 1985.
I don't only collect music but I collect books as well. I know 'reading' is one of the most common and most boring of all hobbies but I aim for rare and forbidden books whose topics sometimes bleed into the mainstream. I don't see how the term "conspiracy theorist" is an insult in any way.
That being said, I had a copy of "Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon" by David McGowan for years but I never got around to reading it. So recently I cracked it open. A bit more mainstream than what I normally read but it was good. I grew up around that area. I have stories to tell myself.
The Internet Archive is down and may be down for a while so I included a PDF copy of this book in this download. This record and the book go well together.Enjoy the music. Read the book.
You'll laugh. You'll cry. It'll change your life.
(Yes, this is a Dylan Moran quote from Black Books)
A1 - Sunshine of Your Love
A2 - Softly I Stand
B - Sunshine of Your Love (Tired Eyes Mix)
The A-side is 6 studio tracks while the B-side is six live tracks.
1 Parasite
2 Advantage of the Average
3 And B.Y.E.
4 Love You to the Bones
5 Eastern Cowboy
6 Never to Slow
7 Asses High
8 Hard Hop
9 Another Day
10 Ears of a Frog
11 Evil
12 CO 2
...
1 Oriental Television
2 Bachelor Party
3 Beatniks
4 Uh Oh'
Chemicals Made From Dirt Flexi (1982)
1 Rapula
2 Claus Von Bulow
Chemicals Made From Dirt - Ike
1 Manikin
2 M
3 Hard
4 Beatniks Looking for Tourists
5 Protein Pants
6 Another Dinner
7 Chemicals Made From Dirt
8 Panic - No Fusion
9 Girls My Age
10 17th Century
11 Communist Calendar Girls
12 Air Raid Drill
13 Medicated Elvis
14 Uh-Oh
15 Homeless Men
16 Fast Ocean Puppet
17 Fly to Work
18 Multiple Station Wagon
19 Claus Von Bulow
20 Dr. Shockley
21 Lost in the Cave of Flying Dogs
22 Barney
23 Hiding from Bozo
24 Show World
25 Rapula
The compilation is called "Ike" but there was one song that was not included. That song is called "Ike" and I have included it in this download.
There is no mention anywhere online about this EP but from what I have heard from the vocalist's YouTube channel the song "Liar" from this CD is the same song that appeared on the album but I think it's a different mix. At least the tempo is different.
This is for those 90s punk/post-punk fans who still longed for the female fronted grunge bands like Letters to Cleo. That's not an insult. I love Letters to Cleo and I love this band here.
Incredible songwriting. Great lyrics. They edge on poppy without going over and I'm surprised they never had commercial success. They had it all figured out and were self sustaining. Any record label who knew of them and didn't sign them were foolish.
1 Distracted
2 Rescue Me
3 Grass
4 Liar
They're a three-piece rock band with a familiar style that eludes description.
The one band I can think of that they sound closest to is King's X. That might be a lazy description but that's all I got.
1 We Make it Happen
2 The Moon is Full
3 Alice Don't Cry
4 Since You Left Me Baby
5 Where is My Heart?
6 Could This be True
7 Tell Me
8 Alicia
...
At the time I got this CD I was playing the Recess Records compilations Hot Curly Weenie volumes 1 and 2* and I was looking for something similar. This didn't live up to being what I wanted it to be but there are a couple noteworthy tracks.
The inlay was printed on, what we called back in the 20th century, "typewriter paper" which wasn't made for computer printer ink so the scans look like the inlay is water damaged. It's not. A lot of things from back in the days look like this. That's why it's important for them to be preserved.
* Hot Curly Weenie vol 2 is my favorite. How do you not love beautiful songs like this?:
They were way more "alternative rock" than they were funky but the sound is still recognizable.
The high pitch yodeling vocals are hard to get used to.
1 Tearjerker
2 Positive People
3 My Brain
4 Not Gonna Worry
5 Half a Man
6 Perfect Thing
7 Get Down
8 Genie Says
9 Assistance
10 Temptation
11 Bulletproof
12 What I Do
1 Mute
2 Wake Up
3 Sunny Day
4 Who's
5 Run, Turn, Sum
6 Lost
7 The Fool
8 Jesus
...
There are lots of good songs and lots of shit songs (like most compilations). I won't say what I think are the shittiest songs on here because I try not to bad-mouth any band on my blog, but I will say that my two favorite songs are right next to each other - tracks 13 and 14.
Backwash - "Pirates" has that great late 80s/early 90s So. Cal. hardcore punk sound when the hardcore band lightened up and played a quirky song.
This is a demo version. The version on the comp is different.
...and Impossible 5 - "Anti" (I couldn't find a video for this one).
I have the Impossible 5 CD that this song came from. I'll post it if anybody gives a shit. Just ask.
They have a second CD that I don't have.
When I say mod/power pop that is just the core of their sound. There is a prominent saxophone in most of their songs and their overall sound has blurred lines that fade into blues rock and new wave and even into the paisley underground scene that was popular in California at that time.
For being a demo tape every song is incredibly well-written and the sound quality is extremely professional. There's not a filler song on this tape. One would think that these guys had experience in songwriting, performing, and recording in a studio. Personally I think this band is made up of members of the San Diego band N-E-1.
The only foundation I have to propose that assumption is that they are from the same area, N-E-1 stopped recording around this time, they look like the same band, and the song "One Two Three" is a cover of N-E-1's song "1-2-3".
1 Willy the Elephant
2 Two People*
3 One Two Three
4 Precious Friend
5 Feed the Fire
6 The Possession
*If you have ever written a song in your life you have an appreciation for great songwriting. Listen to this song. You can learn something from it.
...
The second song is a Violent Femmes cover and although the vocals are spot on they added their own flavor to the music and I applaud them for it.
1 Oh! Girlie Girl!
2 I Held Her in My Arms
3 All Around the City
...
This was sold to me as a punk-ska CD but it's not punk at all and there is only one ska song that doesn't remain ska all the way through.
This is a funk rock CD.
Not my thing but it's very rare and expensive.
Let me save you a few dollars if you ever see this CD for sale.
1 Introduction
2 Pickle Wagon
3 Elastica
4 Go Cornbread Go
5 Esclavo Del Sol
6 For the Love of Children
Maude - The Birdhouse EP (1992)
1 Fault
2 We've Ignored
3 Nothing Left
4 Bully
5 The Sprag
6 Toilet Stall Wall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maude - Grace Beats Karma 7" (1996)
1 Wooden Nickels
2 Exercise in Futility
3 Lather, Rinse, Repeat *
4 Bitter Adolescent Love Song Rejection
5 Act of God
...
* Lather, Rinse, Repeat is a re-worked version of Toilet Stall Wall
If you were part of that 80s/90s Southern California skater scene you might find this band right up your alley. They were a bit late to the party but they brought the sounds you wanted. If the 90s had a scent this band would reek.
1 Long Beach Unified
2 Money in the Bank
3 Shiva Shante
4 The Interlude
5 Another Strain
6 Up Near a Lake
7 Lying on the Floor
8 White Trash
9 Rent a Cop 1
10 Rent a Cop 2
11 Super Mex
12 S. O. G.
...
This band is from Huntington Beach, California and they put out this one CD in 2001. I don't know if they ever released anything else because they have no online presence. I can't even spell their name properly because I can't find a way of putting a tilde over an E.
Anyway, there is no track listing anywhere on this CD. Not on the covers nor on the CD itself. There are seven songs and I couldn't tell you the titles of any of them.
If you like electronic dance music/distorted guitars/goth/post-punk/with female vocals you might appreciate this.
...
The last time I went to a record store I bought 5 records that I had never heard of before. This is one of them. I think I played it once and decided it wasn't for me and I never touched it again until today. It's on clear vinyl that looks brand new and in absolutely perfect condition like it was never touched by human hands but it sounds like complete shit.
Surprisingly I really appreciated the A-side. It's standard dream-pop with twangy guitar but I thought it was really well-written and well-performed. The B-side isn't bad but I really like the A-side and I think the horrible vinyl crackling and popping somehow goes well with it.
This band put out two albums and both songs from this single are on the albums and I don't know if they have been re-recorded or not but I'm guessing that no matter what I'll prefer to listen to my crackling version over the cleaner CD version. Of course I don't have their albums but they are now on my wantlist.
EDIT: This single and both albums are available on YOUTUBE.
Oh well. I spent all that time doing the rips and scans so I'm posting it anyway. And I do like my crackly version better than the clean version. At least you get the full scans of the covers and the beautiful vinyl itself so there's that.
A - Do the Buildings and Cops Make You Smile?
B - Kathy in Her Bedroom
(It has already been blocked by Mediafire so that link is DOA)
...
1 The Hole
2 Livin' it Up
3 What Happened to Mary
4 Heart Attack Man (Beastie Boys cover)
5 RAS
...
This CD compilation was released in 1989 and it is a compilation of Swedish punk/post-punk music from 1978 - 1981.
The first song "Solglasögon" by Docent Död is probably the most well-known but my favorite song on this comp is "Sextiofem" by Grisen Skriker.
...
If you ask me what it sounds like I would say this:
I could tell people I found four unknown songs from Alice In Chains from their "Facelift" era and even the most die-hard Alice In Chains fans might believe it.
1 Falling Apart
2 Breakaway
3 California
4 The 13th Evening
...
The A-Side is a kindergarten-political song driven by bass guitar with lots of guitar effects throughout. The B-side is a great 77-style punk song.
A - Disarm
B - Destiny
Lots of good punk from the late 90s/early 2000s California punk scene.
My favorite song here is The Main - Scene Killer. The Main was started by Spencer Bartsch from early California punk band Shattered Faith. The Main released only one single but in 2021 they put out a record limited to 150 or so copies that had all of the songs that they recorded that weren't on the single. (I do not have this record.)
The song Scene Killer is about how the punk crowd itself is responsible for killing the punk scene. They make fun of ska and pop punk:
"They took my punk rock and they turned it into jazz I think / But then again they think that punk rock is Blink"
...
From the song "She's a Babe!!"
"She can make a freight train take a dirt road just to watch her passin' by..."
I'm no fan of country music. The only country music I can tolerate is the band Slim Cessna's Auto Club.
Check them out. I saw them live and I was blown away. I have seen many country music bands live and I never felt any kind of allure.
I just don't like country so don't worry...you won't see much more country music on this blog. If I happen upon some rare obscure country with no real online presence I will post it
to keep the rare stuff alive but I ignore country music when I go on music hunting missions.
1 The Truest Love I Knew
2 Mighty Biker Nation
3 Nothin's Changed
4 She's a Babe!!
5 Proud to be an American
6 Father's Heart
7 Loving You
8 The Ride
9 Guardian Angel
10 Remember Me
11 Burnin' Down the Bridges
12 The Word
13 Dying for Your Love
...