Zootcase - We Make it Happen (1996)

 How to describe this one? It's perched on the edge of those early 90s white funk bands but the vocalist and possible band leader is black so "WHITE-funk" doesn't work. They have a slight heavy metal vibe but all of their songs are mellow paced. They do have one blues song but they don't come across as a blues band despite what this eBay seller says. ($168.99? Come on now.)

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

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Archita - TNT (2001)

  Archita (are-KEE-tuh) was a ska band from Torino, Italy. They released their one and only full-length album "Barrio Ska" in 2004 and you can hear it HERE but this is their
demo CDR from 2001. There are 8 tracks on this one and only one was on their album. This was released in very limited numbers and quite hard to find.

All Lyrics are in Italian. "A Casa di Mil" is an instrumental with a catchy piano refrain
and "Puzzle Mix", well, I thought there was something wrong with my CD rip so I ripped it a few times on different devices and it seems that's just how it sounds.  


1 Skatafascio
2 Waiting For
3 TNT
4 Everything's Alright
5 Puzzle Mix
6 Babylon Style
7 A Casa di Mil
8 Bikini
9 Skatafascio (Remix)

 

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The Subterraneans - Subterranean Observation (1981)

I recently did a post about The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet and it was mentioned that this band was suspected of being the band we're all looking for.

This band and album can confidently be marked off the list. This is not it.

The Subterraneans were a punk/post punk/ experimental new wave band. This is probably their only recording and even though I really like this sort of thing I think they could have practiced just a little bit more before recording it.
It was recorded "live in the studio" which may have been why they're falling a little short in my opinion. There are some creative moments and I think they would have been great live.

1 Empires Must Fall
2 The Observer
3 Overdose of Time
4 The Kind of Love I can Afford*
5 Sweet Spider Music
6 Having Fun in the City
7 Blame
8 Good Manners and Style
9 In the Wee Small Hours

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*Discogs has this as two separate songs but there are only 9 tracks on the tape, not ten.

The Pictures

The Pictures was a British band who released very little.

I first heard of them from the Unicorn Record's 7" compilation "The Phase III Mod Bands" song "My Home Town" which, for me, stood out above all of the other songs and bands in that series. I tried tracking down anything else they might have released and only found three other songs: "Down My Street" from a limited flexi they did with the band The Off Beats (I have their album as well. I'll post it if anybody gives a good-God-damn), the song "Don't Leave Me" from the compilation "Diverse...if Nothing Else" from 1986 which also included songs from The Risk and The Gents, and "Strange Thing" from the Unicorn comp "Unicorn One...Beyond Tomorrow" from 1987.

Then I struck gold when I found a copy of this tape. I have to wonder how many copies of this gem actually exists. There are only four songs and two of them were previously released. The two that I didn't already have were amazing and I must admit that I'm confused why these weren't the ones the band promoted.

Hear "Catch 22" from the demo tape.

Anyway, here is (what I believe) every song this band ever recorded:

The Pictures demo tape (1986 - or 1987)
1 Pictures
2 Down My Street
3 Catch 22
4 Don't Leave Me
 *Down My Street (from the vinyl - crackles galore, but no tape hiss - same version but this was included for comparison)
*My Home Town
* Strange Thing

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