Negative Reaction ‎– "Negative Reaction" (Terse Tapes ‎– trs012) 1980

Australia did a good line in Dark Industrial, and Negative reaction are a fine example of the lesser known part of the thriving early 80's Aussie Industrial sub-culture.
What have Australians got to moan about one may ask? Sunshine,large open spaces,high standard of living....er....sunshine.
Well, for one, its a country full of loudmouthed 'Jocks',whose overcompetitiveness tends to annoy somewhat. So no wonder the pale young boys of Australia seeked solace in the dark pleasures of Industrial culture. Eternal sunshine can be a real downer also,not to mention the heat of the long antipodean summers.Overexposure to such a climatic strait-jacket can lead to a longing for the grey skies of the mother country, The UK, and the cleansing properties of rainfall.

Tracklist:

Jubilee 3:25
Frustrate Flats 1:13
The Desert 8:04
Mass Culture 5:03
Street Paranoia 3:29
Dead 2:44
Theme 1 6:10
Vietnam 10:58

Live at I.C.E

DOWNLOAD positively HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "A Terse Sample" (Terse Tapes ‎– TRS002) 1980

I suppose this was the Austrailian 'Weird Noise ep"? An actual vinyl release from Oz's Fuck Off Records Equivalent, Terse Tapes.A thing of great beauty.
The only place outside of the UK to achieve this kind of DIY sound was, for some reason Australia? It had it all, muffled under a duvet acoustics, cheapo instruments, a noticable lack of ambition or commercial instinct,musical ability optional,and an inate desire to be experimental or stop doing it.
Every tracks a winner from these obscure antipodeans.
Maybe it was because no band or group in Oz had the slightest chance of making it in the commercial pop arena, so they might as well do whatever the fuck they wanted, rather than move to London like AC/DC and The Saints did!.A bit like Germany in 1971, which spawned 'Krautrock'. The Uk's excuse was the opposite to that. There was so much commercial pop and Rock that your poxy pop group got drowned by the shear quantity of it all....so, if no one else was gonna do it for you, you had to do it yourself, for yourself and yer mates. Of course, like in everything else, redneck America was ten years behind everyone else, and 'invented' cassette culture just as the rest of the world were stopping.Bless 'em.

Tracklist:

A1 –The Wet Taxis - Donny And Marie | Polio Baby | Riso Riso | Max And Peter Marmite Jar
A2 –Mindless Delta Children - Go Go Dancer P.V.C. Apron
B1 –Agent Orange - The Uncle Song
B2 –Rhoborhythmaticons - Knife And Fork

DOWNLOAD from down under underground HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Mysterious Kitchens" ( Terse Tapes ‎– TRS004) 1980

Another Terse Tapes cassette compilation, this time featuring a load of impossibly obscure Australian DIY bands; the better known of which would be The Wet Taxis.
It's a mixture of classic bedroom DIY, minimal synth, and aussie Industrial.
as normal with Terse tapes, its all good.

Tracklist:
A1 –In Church - Saving Souls
A2 –Pissy Relay Switches - Diskettes
A3 –Pissy Relay Switches - The Snack Chip
A4 –Pissy Relay Switches - Good Times
A5 –Pissy Relay Switches - Good Times Too
A6 –Holiday Funn - Each Tick
A7 –Holiday Funn - Sounds Familiar
A8 –Holiday Funn - Schplatt!
A9 –Headless Corpses - Axe Murderers
A10 –Lamington Lady - Untitled
A11 –The Nobodies - Introducing
A12 –The Nobodies - Play It Again
A13 –The Nobodies - Carry My Books
A14 –The Nobodies - Nothing Like It
A15 –The Nobodies - I Don't Care
A16 –The Nobodies - Lassie Come Home
A17 –2 Man Submarine - Machines That Walk
A18 –2 Man Submarine - Being Boiled 

B1 –Mr And Mrs No Smoking Sign - Come Home And Have Your Tea
B2 –Wet Taxis - Feel The Carat
B3 –Wet Taxis - Inflate Your Baby
B4 –Wet Taxis - Harmonix One
B5 –Wet Taxis - Joy Of Life
B6 –Wet Taxis - Dare You?
B7 –Wet Taxis - Make Cake
B8 –Rhino Rhino RH+ - Mr. Hat
B9 –Rhino Rhino RH+ - RFMOD
B10 –Rhino Rhino RH+ - In The Soup
B11 –Rhino Rhino RH+ - My Mother The Car
B12 –Rhino Rhino RH+ - Utensil
B13 –Japanese Gene Kelly - How I Lost My Drumstick But Went To The Shops And Bought Some Soap And It Was Real Exciting
B14 –Burt Blanka - Ya Ya Twist Electronics
B15 –Mindless Delta Children - All Clones Look The Same To Me

DOWNLOAD some mystery to your kitchen HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Fire On Boat" (Terse Tapes ‎– TRS006c) 1980

A C90 compilations from Terse Tapes (ran by Tom Ellard of Severed Heads) featuring UK DIY bands/Artists from the midlands compiled with Mark from....poor lad....Coventry.

This is why we find bands from Northampton,Nuneaton, Coventry and beyond on an Australian cassette label.

There are brief, but very worthwhile forays into the north via Liverpool with the Legendary Phillip Johnson,and Edinburgh with Josef K frontman Paul Haig,doing a very raw version of Josef K tune 'Pictures'.Not forgetting south Humbersiders,and DIY foundation stone layers, Instant Automatons, and chums, Alien Brains!

Not to mention some pre-fame Eyeless In Gaza stuff.

We also have something from DIY legend Gary Ramon in his WeR7 incarnation, and fellow Color Tapes stablemates 'Lives Of Angels',appearing here as the Body Electric.

Its ALL enrobed in that classic DIY small room ambiance,lashings of  fuzz and hiss; played on the cheapest equipment possible.

A classic compilation on a classic DIY Label.


Tracklisting:

A1 –Rota Rhythms - The Age Of The Fun Cassette
A2 –PR5 - Private Armies
A3 –Dave Carson - Crashing And Gasping
A4 –Paul Haig - Pictures
A5 –Philip Johnson - Nothing
A6 –Philip Johnson - Holiday Train
A7 –Paul Reekie - Drugs At School
A8 –A.D.H. - Ruins/Drive
A9 –Ron Crowcroft Lock/Unlock
A10 –WeR7 - Disquiet Music 2
A11 –The Ordinary - Fight The Good Fight 

B1 –Religious Overdose - 25 Minutes
B2 –Body Electric - Red Suit
B3 –Martyn Bates - Engine Failing
B4 –Douglas Barrie & Stuart Wright - March
B5 –Kevin Harrison - The Boy Was Dead (Ambulance Song)
B6 –Alien Brains - 2 Minutes Of Alien Brains
B7 –The Instant Automatons - Brains Under Glass
B8 –Eyeless In Gaza - By Proxy
B9 –Disintegrators - Disintegration (Excerpt)
B10 –Tony Clough - Isolation 1
B11 –Excitement Pathetix - Fun Cassette

DOWNLOAD the fire off boat HERE!

Tom Ellard -"80's cheesecake" (Terse Tapes - Terse 17) 1982

Before any anoraks jump in, yeah this is the re-released CD-r version,which was an expanded version (beefed up with tracks from "Snappy Carrion" also from 1982) of the original tape,which I don't have.So there you have it.
Tom Ellard, from Severed Heads, did a solo minimal electronic tape shocker!? A jolly clever escapade,with a plethora of speech samples,on tape,backed up by lo-fi beats and minimal synths.Could have been made today instead of 33 years ago.

Tracklist

01	Anthem 82	4:24
02	Bullet	2:44
03	Mount	2:15
04	Eats	2:41
05	Word	3:15
06	Cross	3:23
07	Blame	3:11
08	Hold	1:53
09	Our Work For Love At Home	5:21
10	Power Circles In Paris	3:09
11	These Are The Words	5:58
12	Touch	2:57
13	Brain	5:44
14	Hair	6:00
15	The Louis Armstrong Story

DOWNLOAD some tasty cheesecake that isn't past its sell by date HERE!

The Wet Taxis - "Taxidermy" (Terse Tapes TRS008) 1981

The Wet Taxis are from Australia, although you'd never guess it. No hints of sporting prowess here, no beach culture, surfing or mention of Barbecues!
They sound like a sort of antipodean ,less funny, version of Danny and the Dressmakers, but more tooled up in the instrument department.
They later turned into a very competent garage rock combo......how boring.
But this tape is up there in the pantheon of chaotic bedroom rock recordings, competing with "200 Cancellations" as the most sprawling epic of DIY cassette rock.
The best tape I've heard from OZ.

Apparently this was Assembled from bits off 1,000 Cassettes! This makes the Homosexuals seem to have the production rate of Scott Walker!

Classic DIY Instrument List:
Compurhythm - Guitar + Effects - Bass + Effects - Vocals - Minipops - Noise? - Kazoo - Clarinet - TV Game - Wineglasses + Tapes - Piano - Utensils - Home Made Oscillators - Amp Hum

Track Listing:
A1 Dare You (Live)
A2 But Mono Never Dies
A3 Wind Up Toys
A4 Max And Peter Marmite Jar
A5 Felate Your Baby
A6 Miniamata
A7 FP219
A8 Theme For A Bitch
A9 The Worm Has Turned
A10 Untitled 1/2/3
B1 Vomit
B2 Nun Strike
B3 Cerebral Damage
B4 My Boy Lollipop
B5 Untitled (Live)
B6 Make Cake (Live)
B7 Boom (Live)
B8 Rhythm
B9 Doll Hospital
B10 Polio Baby
B11 Fingernail Biter

B12 Rubber Balunes
B13 I Must Have Drunk Too Much Rum


DOWNLOAD some taxidermy HERE!

Anne Cessna and Essendon Airport - "Talking To Cleopatra" (Innocent Records 7" NON 3) 1980

I noticed that Essendon Airport were on the Terse Tapes compilation , "One Stop Shopping", and this in turn reminded me of the classic one-off electrolurch single, with Anne Cessna. An absolute classic if ever there was one. Crackling circuit board bending outsider dance classic.Released in a Limited edition of 500.
"A hit single with no target to hit. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship." according to official Australian Innocent label 1981 catalogue.
I like their attitude.

Track Listing:

A		Talking To Cleopatra
B		Lost In Madagascar

DOWNLOAD this Aussie Classic HERE!

Various Artists - "One Stop Shopping" (Terse Tapes TRS009) 1981

This is Terse Tapes version of Monty Python's 'Instant Record Collection Idea', again only matched in shear scale and ambition by Danny and the Dressmakers massive conceptual rcok (sic) opera '200 Cancellations'.It also reminds me of the 'Deleted Funtime' compilation on ,yes, Deleted Records.......and if anyone has a copy of that tape could they please either sell it to me or donate some mp3's to this blog. My copy was taped over sometime in 1985....this happened then, it all seemed so disposable!?
This collection is worth it just for the band-names (eg, The Somersaulting Coincidences,The Alan Bamford Musical experience, etc), which display that illusive wanton lack of ambition, which we at Die or DIY? prize very highly as the only honest way forward for human creativity.
As much as i admire artists who release hundreds of albums, all sounding pretty much the same; there's something attractively enigmatic about the acts that briefly exist for one single moment, buried away on an impossibly obscure comp like this. Like a sub-atomic particle sparking into life in the Hadron collider for a nano-second then disappearing back into the darkness as a mathematically proven entity.
And Yes, I wish I'd called my group The Jean Paul Satre Band !!!

Download the full booklet, Slug Fanzine, and newspaper articles in a convenient PDF file here!
(NB, Download the tapes at the bottom of this post)

Credits: Compilation arranged by Tom Ellard 1980-1981
5 album equivalent.
In a Festival of Quasi-Normalcy.
Booklet by Terse Tapes - Slug Magazine
Released as two C90 cassettes, and one C60 cassette in March of 1981 wrapped in a photocopied catalogue made by John Laidler of Slugfuckers/Bleeding Arseholes/Rhythmyx Chymx fame. A three-cassette survey of the Australian post-punk, and experimental underground. Roughly 900 hand dubbed copies were made.
On the cover of the magazine there are some misspellings; Ernie Althoff is listed as Ernie Altoff, The Oroton Bags are listed as Ze Oroton Boys.

Track Listing:

A01     Agent Orange  –     We Eat For You        
A02     Agent Orange  –     Now        
A03     Alan Bamford Musical Experience –  An Old Joke        
A04     Ernie Althoff –     Free Form Vocal Trio        
A05     Art Throbs –     Room With A View        
A06     Bathroom Beansi –     Little-Washer-By-The-Ford        
A07     Bathroom Beansi –     The Visitor        
A08     Bleeding Arseholes –     Funky Number        
A09     Bleeding Arseholes –     Nice Song        
A10     David Chesworth –     Be Mine Or 13        
A11     David Chesworth –     Piece For Chord Organ        
A12     Graeme Davis –     Cassettes Are Driving Me Crazy        
A13     Disneyland –     Pineapple        
A14     Disneyland –     Giligan's Island        
A15     East End Butchers –     Butchers        
A16     East End Butchers –     Assassins        
A17     East End Butchers –     Psychiatrist Takes Wine        
A18     Essendon Airport –     Guitar Duet        
A19     EST –     Fascinating Womanhood        
A20     Graeme Gerrard –     Rotations
       
B01     Holiday Funn –     Near Enough        
B02     Holiday Funn –     The Bells The Bells        
B03     Holiday Funn –     Saying Prayers        
B04     Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed Up Zombies, The –     Space Is The Place    
B05     Institute Of Dronal Anarchy –     7 Rare Dreamings Extract        
B06     Invisible Boys –     Oh Baby        
B07     Invisible Boys –     Song For The Deaf        
B08     Invisible Boys –     Pretty Void        
B09     Invisible Music –     Finished Stavinsky And Funky Havanis        
B10     2 Johnnies, The –     Experience        
B11     2 Johnnies, The –     Advice To A Dead Marxist        
B12     2 Johnnies, The –     Truckdriver        
B13     J.P. Sartre Band –  Songs Of Dead Philosophers        
B14     Junk Logic –     Yellow Bean        
B15     Klu, The –     Weekend In Warsaw        
B16     Laughing Hands –     Untitled        
B17     Lazlo Toth –     Kilgamesh        
B18     Lazlo Toth –     Ghost Train        
B19     Limp, The –     Tombeii The Mist        
B20     Limp, The –     True Hawaii        

C01     Lunatic Fringe –     Daddy        
C02     Mice Against God –     Untitled        
C03     Mindless Delta Children –     Go South        
C04     Mindless Delta Children –     Snappy Tom Time        
C05     Multiplicative Inverse –     Untitled        
C06     Music4 –     Biorhythms        
C07     Negative Reaction –     Untitled        
C08     Painkillers  –     Disney Punk March        
C09     Pastel Bats –     Arabise        
C10     Person Brothers –   Worried Man        
C11     Pissy Relay Switches –     Ho! These Teeth        
C12     Pissy Relay Switches –     Telephone Man        
C13     Pissy Relay Switches –     Animal Einstein        
C14     Rhythmyx Chymx –     Summer Song        
C15     Rhythmyx Chymx –     Throb        
C16     Saxophone Caper –     He'll Never Be Logical        

D01     Scattered Order –     Fun        
D02     Paul Schütze –     Untitled        
D03     Severed Heads –     Untitled        
D04     Shane Is Dead –     Untitled        
D05     Slugfuckers –     Gormange        
D06     Somersaulting Coincidences –     Untitled        
D07     Stutgarters –     No Fixed Address        
D08     Sunday Painters –     Terminal Ward        
D09     Swinging Hogs –     I Got Brains        
D10     Sydney Quads –     Untitled        
D11     Systematics –     Sunny        
D12     Systematics –     Marine Boy        
D13     Tame O'Mearas –     Collision        
D14     Tame O'Mearas –     Bah!        
D15     Teese And Tattersall –     Duets For Violin And Clarinet

           
E01     Peter Thin –     Tesseract        
E02     Tch Tch Tch –     Entertainment Division        
E03     Paul Turner  –     Austerity Measures        
E04     Use No Hooks –     Passion In My Feet        
E05     Wet Taxis –     Brown Owl        
E06     Wild West  –     Locking        
E07     Wild West  –     Pelican        

F01     Mesh  –     Untitled        
F02     Oroton Bags  –  Spontaneous Combustion        
F03     ZGlutz –     Warts        
F04     Nervous System –  Bertolucci        
F05     Nervous System –  One        
F06     N-Lets –     Untitled        
F07     A Word From The Editor –     Untitled 

DOWNLOAD Tape one HERE! or HERE!
DOWNLOAD tape two HERE!  or HERE!
DOWNLOAD tape three HERE! or HERE!

Severed Heads - "Side 2" (Terse Tapes TRS005) 1980

This cassette is a variation of the intended second side of the first Severed Heads album "Ear Bitten". It is devised as free-form experimentation and loop based edited from live performances and studio tracks. Parts of this ended up on the compilation album Clifford Darling, Please Don't Live In The Past in 1985.
It comprises of more 'everything but the kitchen sink' sampling/tape loops all slapped down in a garbled melange of found sound.Its great!
The highlight for me is the tape of a misogynistic hubby shouting, "Where's me dinnah!", hilarious.


Track Listing:

A1		With This
A2		Dou One Rom
A3		The Man Of My Dreams [Live]
A4		Arrangements Byrne [Live]
A5		Nazi Beach Party [Live]
A6		Fingerbowl Murray [Live]
A7		UOU [Live]
B1		Pretend Supermarket [Live]
B2		You Thought You Think
B3		Chip Carter [Live]
B4		Chanel 0
B5		34 Pin-Stripe-Bus
B6		Hello Donald, Merry Christmas

DOWNLOAD side 2 HERE!