Die or D.I.Y.?: In Phaze

Showing posts with label In Phaze. Show all posts

Friday, 18 September 2020

Marine Girls ‎– "Beach Party" (In Phaze Records ‎– 002 1/2) 1981

Once upon a time,back at the Birth of the Indie Sound,which was specific to the British Commonwealth only. We find four sixth formers from Essex taking Young Marble Giants' minimal de-butched rock and putting it through the mangle, squeezing out everylast piece of alpha-male rubbish and flushing it.Also obviously influenced by the Raincoats' demasculated post-punk they were spotted by Indie group numero uno The Television Personalities,who released this on their own Whaam records as a proper LP.

Ok, so Tracey Thorn went on to adorn the coffee tables of the Thatcher 'loadsamoney' generation, but this was one big v-sign,middle finger, to all those butch punkers who,instead of destroying that uber macho Rock nonsense,carried it on,but with a sillier haircut. The Marine Girls were the unwitting pre-cursors of an indie pop future,you can't get Twee-er than this,but,oh, how they tried!

Kurt Cobain was a fan,as he allegedly was of Young Marble Giants also........again.....was he actually listening?

It's not his fault,just another victim of the American need to 'Rock Out Maaan'.This is also why the american Indie route led directly back to where it all came from.....Rock,but this time renamed 'Grunge' for some unfathomable reason.Long hair was back and feet on monitors,calls for seeing hands in the air were heard. In the beginning of the post-punk period,as Punk never really happened in the USA, all the groups wanted to be Devo before they reverted to type,so all the American groups were herky jerky Devo-a-likes,before eventually mutating ,maybe via hardcore, into Dinosaur Jr....which was thee proto-grunge band or what(?); or The Jesus Lizard,who were still Devo really,but Rocked Up and dressed down.

Meanwhile there were no Grunge groups in the UK,post-punk had gone pop,and all that was left were just twee indie bands,and nothing else until Ecstacy hit in '88....and we all know what happened then don't we.Stll living with the consequences today. Just thousands of types of 'Metal' and 'Hip Hop' are the dreadful result of all this chaos.

Recorded at the In-Phaze garden shed.

Tracklist:

A1 In Love
A2 Fridays
A3 Tonight?
A4 Times We Used To Spend
A5 Flying Over Russia
A6 Tutti Lo Sanno
A7 All Dressed Up
A8 Honey
B1 Holiday Song
B2 He Got The Girl
B3 Day Night Dreams
B4 Promises
B5 Silent Red
B6 Dishonesty
B7 20,000 Leagues
B8 Marine Girls

DOWNLOAD on the count of twee HERE!

Monday, 14 September 2020

Bona Dish ‎– "EP" (In Phaze Records ‎– IP 010) 1982

So, we've established that The Shaggs were the first 'Indie' group, Subway Sect Guitars, Beefheartian syncopation, charityshop elegance, twee vocals,and all that the Velvet Underpants contributed were the Sunglasses apparently?

That's until some smart arse finds a group obscure Patagonian herdsmen whom the Shaggs ripped off,both musically and satorially. There's one for every genre,like, apparently, some black dudes from Detroit called, Death, invented Punk Rock as we know it.....just that they only played a couple of empty gigs in 1974 and made some incompetant demo's that accidentaly sounded.... well.... 'punk'? They were just trying to sound like The Stooges, but they were even more incompetant than that lot even. Generally the rule of thumb is that your style of music,especially 'Rock' music, usually gets a name during the lifetime of its originators; anyone before that event is something else.

For me it was either Subway Sect or The TV Personalities wot done the Indie thing first,as much as I wish it was The Shaggs.

Bona Dish were there at its inception, and this cassingle is a rather good example of what creature was swimming about in the Indie primordial soup at the beginning of the 1980's

Tracklist:

1. 8 AM 3:15
2. Sand 2:06
3. Fractured Heart 3:04
4. Normal Day 2:30

DOWNLOAD an extended bona HERE!

Saturday, 12 September 2020

Bona Dish ‎– "On C30" (In Phaze Records ‎– IP003) 1981

As discussed on the previous post, what was and what wasn't 'Post-Punk';putting my revisionists hat on again, one came to the conclusion that there wasn't any Post Punk until it got a name.

This third Velvet Underground album inspired 'Post-Punk' cassette, on the legendary 'In-Phaze' DIY label, could have a claim to be the first 'Indie' band on record? It could have been titled Bona Dish on C86 if only they had a pop music crystal ball and saw the near future.

The acronym 'C86' itself conjures images of twee light weight pop,with a Velvet Underground leaning, but that actual cassette was full of the more spikey end of the independent music scene in the UK at the time.....I mean, Bogshed were on it for Lou Reed's sake!?Again betraying another fake scene as invented by the British music press,still desperate for another Punk Rock.

Who were the first Indie band then?....Well obviously it was the post-cale Velvets, a 'Proto-Indie' band if ever there was one;but, compared to the UK Indie sound they were virtually Heavy Metal when put alongside stuff like Bona Dish. Clean Guitars, Beta-male rhythm section,twee girly singers, fringes, apathetic and proud. Was Indie nothing more than well-played UK DIY,or post-punk with a rosy outlook?....the answer may well lie on this C-30.

Tracklist:

A1 Mutation
A2 Challenge
A3 Intense
A4 Jungle
B1 Actress
B2 Girl
B3 See - Line Woman
Β4 Etc.

DOWNLOAD a dishy boner HERE!

Thursday, 21 May 2015

Portion Control ‎– "Private Illusions No.1" (In Phaze Records ‎– POR CON 005) 1981

Before Portion Control became a proto-EBM band,or even worse,'Electropunk(?)', they made some fine DIY minimal synth cassettes. This being one of the most obscure. Twenty minutes of quality unsequenced,non-computerised analogue electronics shrouded in tape hiss. This sounds far more futuristic than their later efforts (later = after 1984). To forget the past is to forget the future?

Tracklist:

A1	Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
A2	Double Vision
A3	White Cubes
A4	Power Studge And Crust
A5	The Mote In Gods Eye (The Arm That Was Cooked Good)
A6	Go For The Throat
A7	Slim Waters
A8	Experimental Stress Project
A9	Torrid Tale
A10	Rouge Trooper

DOWNLOAD your first private illusion HERE!

Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Portion Control - "I Staggered Mentally" (In Phaze Records CP007) 1982

Most old skool Industrial Bands have suggestive names that point in the direction of the sexually repressed humour of bedroom ridden (old) skool (sic) boys.
Lets see, we have Throbbing Gristle( slang for penis), Whitehouse (porn Mag), Surgical Penis Clinik, Nocturnal Emissions (technical newspeak for wet dream), amongst many more.
Then ,by logical progression, does Portion Control refer to ejaculation control? (apparently its bizarrely something to do with food portions!?)
Just a thought, 'cus i've ran out of stuff to say about Portion Control.

When I bought this album I didn't like it, for what reason I haven't the foggiest!....but now I listen with objective ears, and declare it a masterpiece of in your face electronic thuggery.Although those cringingly bad vocals are still omni-present! Ah well.....Nobody's perfect.

Track Listing:

He Is Patriotic