Young Marble Giants ‎– "Colossal Youth Demos" (Self-Released) 1979

Meanwhile,back in South Wales, we present some super-claustrophobic demos from Cardiff's own introspective minimalists, Young Marble Giants. A lesson in how to stand out from the crowd by doing the opposite of the rest of the hive.
The rest of the country were either reinventing Heavy Metal,playing funky post-punk,or slipping into hardcore sameness.
YMG were flirting with testcard music,clean sounds and space.
Alison Statton's plain, natural voice is a perfect focus for the music,and reminds one of the clean austere singing of folk legend Shirley Collins.
The sound of these demos suits the Giants probably a tad more than the hi-fidelity recording of the official Rough Trade album.Like we're shut inside a cupboard listening to them through the closed door.
Real greatness.

Tracklist:

1 Have Your Toupée Ready 1:09
2 N.I.T.A. 4:28
3 Brand-New Life 2:54
4 Zebra Trucks 1:33
5 Choci Loni 2:14
6 Wind In The Rigging 2:38
7 The Man Shares His Meal With His Beast 4:24
8 The Taxi 2:04
9 Constantly Changing 2:06
10 Music For Evenings 2:57
11 Credit In The Straight World 2:12
12 Eating Noddemix 2:02
13 Radio Silents 2:53
14 Hayman 1:28
15 Loop The Loop 3:04

DOWNLOAD these colossal demos HERE!

Chorchazade – "Death Is Eeklo" (Unreleased) 1988

We have a short break in our stay in South Wales, and briefly return back across the Severn Bridge to Bristol via Penzance, as some kind person has provided us with the missing Unreleased Chorcazade album from the famed mass group extinction year of 1988. The strangely titled "Death Is Eeklo".
Here,they sound like a intriguing mix between early Felt and a Josef K 45 played at 33rpm, although the Slint parallel remains.
Production values are up on the "Made To Be Devoured" album.As are the number of unfathomable words like 'Eeklo' and the unpronounceable group moniker,which is apparently pronounced thus: Cork-ah-zayde!?

Tracklisting:

01) Night Ferry
02) Laughing Gasman
03) Amorous Gasman
04) Wheel
05) Treacletime
06) Checkered Soul
07) Smiling Wessex Ghost
08) Neat Around Nought

DOWNLOAD is eeklo HERE!

Young Marble Giants ‎– "Final Day EP" (Rough Trade ‎– RT 043)

The best thing to come out of Wales is normally the M4 motorway right?.......but, whats the best record ever to come out of Wales?
Tom Jones's "Delilah"?......no.......that Manic Street Preachers tune?.......definitely fucking NOT!.....Catatonia's "Road Rage", which is a strong contender as thee WORST song ever written....so it isn't that?!
I think you've already guessed, as this post is about The Young Marble Giants' colossal apocalypso ode to the creeping shadow of the nuclear holocaust.
If there was ever a video made for this, it should show devasting explosions vaporising children in slow motion. The contrast with the peace and tranquility of this darkly beautiful tune, would ram home the message better than any of the recent slew of post-apocalypse movies that seem to be de rigueur these days.
My favourite nuclear attack scene (everyone has one don't they?) happens to be from a BBC production called "Threads"from 1984 (click here to watch it),an epoch when total annihilation could have happened at any second. The moment when it goes silent as ET burns in the intense heat is just one part that would fit nicely in any video for "Final Day".
Thankfully, YMG came from an era when we didn't have any video's for songs by outsiders such as they. They could maintain that long lost aire of mystery that absolutely nobody has anymore. I was shocked to find out that the YMG's were real people, so alien was their sound,and they looked ever-so slightly android-like on the dim half-light cover of their lone album.
Such stealthy power in so short a song,and such a short lived group.

DOWNLOAD finally HERE!

Various Artists - "Messthetics #104: South Wales D.I.Y.'77-81" (Hyped2Death) 2008

Well if you liked "Is The War Over?(a Cardiff Compilation)", you're gonna like this.
A kind of  'Best of...' South Wales DIY compilation on that Hyped2Death cd-r label that did such a great job at reintroducing the British to their own forgotten culture. Rather like what the Brits have always been doing to the Americans since 1963.
Now we all wish that these same Americans would erase their culture from the last twenty years,that introduced such heinous crimes as Nu-Metal,Rap Metal,modern R&B,99% of all Rap nonsense, Dubya,Trump,Jay Zee,that other twat who i forgot the name of,Kanye West......OMFG...the list would go on but my brain is shutting down to protect my cerebral cortex from permanent damage.
This cd-r,however, has some absolute classics on it.......Notably The Czechs 'Suffocation', which seemed to have a drum kit comprising only of a Snare drum; and The Crash Action Winners' wonderfully incompetent  version of The Red Krayola's 'Hurricane Fighter Plane'......were they the welsh 'Prats'?...I say, yes.....yes, they were the Welsh Prats. I know Wales is full of prats, but in this instance I am referring to the group of Scottish pre-teens who made a classic session for the John Peel Show, and, from before that, appeared on Fast products 'Earcom 1' compilation.
There is another appearance by future Young Marble Giants as 'Table Table', and many other,ambitionless proto-indie castaways.
Them were,unequivocally, THE DAYS! 

Tracklist:

1 –The Czechs - Suffocation + 44 Seconds
2 –Current Obsessions -Fish
3 –What To Wear-The Robbery
4 –Tax Exiles - (I Don't Believe In) Miracles
5 –The Flying Brix- Uniform (I Don't Wanna Be Different)
6 –Immortal Invisibles - No Zip
7 –Spitfire Boys -Funtime
8 –Decadent Few- There's A Place
9 –The Sane - Arnold Palmer
10 –Discount Chiefs- In A Different Light
11 –Table Table- Magic Moments
12 –Crash Action Winners - Hurricane Fighter Plane
13 –Reptile Ranch- (Don't Give The) Lifeguard (A Second Chance)
14 –Addiction - Violence
15 –The Boy wonders- He Man
16 –Hugh Volk- Talk Of Town
17 –Decadent Few - Burning Caroline
18 –Ralph & The Ponytails - James Bond
19 –Janet & Johns - I Was A Young Man
20 –What To Wear - We're The Martians Now
21 –Ralph & The Ponytails - Splendid Stories
22 –Discount Chiefs- Smell Of Fossils
23 –Puritan Guitars- Making It
24 –Tax Exiles- Rough In The Valley

DOWNLOAD from the welsh valleys of DIY HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Is The War Over? (a Cardiff compilation)" (Z Block Records ‎– ZA1) 1979

After Cornwalls' king of obscurity, Chorcazade,its only right to stay firmly in the south-west of the uk, and cross the Bristol Channel with another one of those local scene compilations that were definitely 'a la mode' in 1979 on that '...Isle full of Noises'...('The Tempest ActIII, scene II).
'...Be not afeared..."(The Tempest again!....i'm so well read ain't I???)This one is from Cardiff,which is in Wales just over the Severn Bridge from Bristol(where one of the best local comps came from,"Avon Calling").
As with all of these compilations, it is full of plodding student post-punk bands,'missed the bus' punk groups, and various spotty bedroom dwellers.
The lyrics are, naturally,full of sixth form philosophy, and art foundation course politics.The prize goes to The Riotous Brothers with this charming couplet: 
"Let's Blow up the Coloureds, let's blow up the Whites,lets blow up the politicians,just like Airey Neave"....I assume it was some crass attempt at being Ironic? The use of the word 'Coloureds' especially,places this firmly in a past where racism was accepted as part of normal life. At least we knew who the racists were back in them days.
Its not all like the Riotous Brothers on this record however.
Reptile Ranch at least show some competence, with an early Fall/Spherical Objects sound;mainly thanks to the cheapo organ which is always a winner.Its mainly the work of 'Spike', future leader of Welsh Indie-café Jazz crossover muzak legends, 'Weekend';with Young Marble Giants'chanteuse Alison Stratton churning out her classically passionless vocals.
But....of course, the main attraction of this collection are 'The Young Marble Giants' themselves. Post-punk deities, and inventors of 'Slo-Core', a decade before 'Low' were even married to each other.
The two YMG tracks are different,rawer, versions to those included on their Rough Trade album, "Colossal Youth".One of the truly great post-punk groups.....enjoy the silence.

Tracklist:

Black & White Side:

1 –Addiction-Violence
2 –Addiction-Stampede
3 –Addiction-Seek & Search
4 –Mad Dog-Killer
5 –Mad Dog-Someone Here Must Like Me
6 –Test To Destruction-Passive
7 –Riotous Brothers-Airey Neave
8 –Riotous Brothers-No Justice

Colour Side:

1 –Reptile Ranch-Waterhole
2 –The New Form - On The Edge
3 –The New Form - Boy
4 –The New Form - Blockhead
5 –Beaver-Mac The Knife
6 –Beaver-Kleptomania
7 –Young Marble Giants-Ode To Booker T
8 –Young Marble Giants-Searching For Mr. Right

DOWNLOAD some wails from wales HERE!

Chorchazade ‎– "Made To Be Devoured" (Get Ahead Records ‎– GET#1) 1987

Proto-Post Rock is the made-up genre for this deeply buried and deeply good lost album from another lost British group. Pre-dating the very american Slint to the claims of inventing Post-Rock by a couple of years at least.
This is one of Slint producer, Steve Albini's, favourite albums,which suggests an undue influence on those tiny giants of post-rock , by the giant of american alternative rock himself. He was always whipping out his copy of "Made To Be devoured" in the control room apparently; explaining the undeniable parallels with that "Spiderland" album.
But you won't find Chorchazade doing sell-out(in both senses of the word)tours performing "made To Be Devoured" in its entirety to packed audiences of middle-aged bankers, oh no. I doubt the individuals involved even remember,or care, they were in such a bizarre group as this at all.......at least I hope not.

Tracklist:

A1 Pie Maker
A2 Half A Crown
A3 Beak (Concise Version)
A4 Felix Rex
B1 It Aint Because
B2 Twain
B3 Tom Dander
B4 Out Of This World

Made to be DOWNLOADed HERE!

Chorchazade ‎– "Crackle And Corkette EP" (Crackle And Corkette ‎– Crack One) 1985

"Indie" was supposed to be music for misfits,but even within these ranks there were outsiders.None more so than this Cornish bunch of outcasts with an unpronounceable name....Chorchazade??? WTF!? 
Impossibly obscure and from Penzance,on the most isolated tip of England.This is a weird kind of Aspergers Syndrome Rock, that doesn't seem to care if anyone ever listens to it;the last thing they seemed to want to get is attention or love.With a name like Chorchazade they were destined to get what they wanted,and they certainly got it..... total obscurity!
The music they somehow managed to write,is a bizarre form of Outsider-post-indie,or an even more autistic form of proto-post-rock,making Slint look like Metallica in the process.
They did however manage to perform sporadic concerts in Britain and Europe from 1977 to 1988, often supporting such luminaries as the terrible James, Marc Riley and the Creepers, A Certain Ratio, The Blue Aeroplanes and The Brilliant Corners.
They eventually released this 12 inch EP which John Peel played a track off;but said that he 'wished the group had a simpler name, like the Moody Blues’' and never played another of the group's recordings.They also played at the Glastonbury festival in 1988, but only on the 'warm-up' Thursday. It rained heavily and the only sound between songs was the buzz of scrambling motorbikes in an adjacent field. The group’s manager(they had a manager???) and one of their girlfriends(They had Girlfriends?????) stood alone, watching from under a large golf umbrella.
Chief Chorchazader Chris said:"At the end though, the last few songs, when the sun came out and all these people wrapped in bin liners appeared from nowhere, nodding their heads and shaking the rain out of their hair. We had back stage passes for the whole festival but we went home as soon as we'd finished playing. We played the Ashton Court festival a few times of course, when it was free, before it turned into the total shit that it is now. We even played second to last on the main stage Saturday night once. The review in the paper said we 'went down like a fart in a spacesuit.' It was true too, all those people expecting a dance and a good time and everything. Hmmmm."
In 1989 the band apparently, recorded an album called 'Death Is Eeklo' and went on a short tour of Belgium to promote it. The group’s minibus was found, empty, in a lay-by a mile or so outside of Waterloo like an Indie Marie Celeste. Half eaten baguettes, a cigarette still smoking in the ashtray. The tour was not completed and the album was never officially released.In 1995 a benevolent caretaker rescued hundreds ( estimated to be 75% of the total number originally pressed ) of the group's vinyl records from a skip outside a Bristol music distribution factory. A lot of them have warped and look like shallow black bowls now. If you own a Chorchazade record, you have a very rare thing.

Tracklist:

A1 Aah,You Are,As Light As A Feather 5:03
A2 Where There's Brera 3:05
B This Is His 8:13

DOWNLOAD to make your headphones crackle HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "C-86" (New Musical Express ‎– NME 022) 1986

Amazingly,five of the Ron Johnson stable appeared on the Iconic 'Indie' compilation "C-86", as released/compiled by the NME.

Indeed we also find Bogshed nestled in amongst such pale floppy fringe wearers as The Wolfhounds, the Bodines and other jangly foppish nonsense.

I'm surprised to discover that the tape that defined an Indie Era of jingly jangly tweedom, did in fact have some very non-jangly groups included.

Primal Scream open up the proceedings sounding, for all the world exactly like the very shit Stone Roses, three years in advance of all that 'Madchester' crap.

Of course Primal Scream would become one of those very same ,terrible bandwagon jumping combo's of 1989. Of the rest only The Soup Dragons would join them in making dance/indie crossover awfulness; which is a shame because I quite liked early Soup Dragons......I'll admit......in fact i quite enjoyed a lot of this tape!?....which is strange, as I regarded this stuff (Ron Johnson acts excepted), as the enemy,rather than the NME.

30 years removed,one now finds this jangly indie pop refreshing,and charmingly youthful.Unlike me.

Tracklist:

1–Primal Scream Velocity Girl 1:22
2–The Mighty Lemon Drops Happy Head 2:42
3–The Soup Dragons Pleasantly Surprised 2:05
4–The Wolfhounds-Feeling So Strange Again 1:41
5–The Bodines-Therese 3:09
6–Mighty Mighty-Law 3:40
7–Stump-Buffalo 4:30
8–Bogshed-Run To The Temple 3:28
9–A Witness-Sharpened Sticks 2:30
10–The Pastels-Breaking Lines 2:59
11–The Age Of Chance-From Now On,This Will Be Your God 3:12
12–Shop Assistants-It's Up To You 2:38
13–The Close Lobsters - Firestation Towers 1:48
14–Miaow-Sport Most Royal 2:54
15–Half Man Half Biscuit-I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart) 3:46
16–The Servants-Transparent 2:36
17–MacKenzies-Big Jim (There's No Pubs In Heaven) 2:34
18–Big Flame-New Way(Quick Wash & Brush Up With Liberation Theology)1:37
19–We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It-Console Me 1:24
20–McCarthy-Celestial City 2:59
21–The Shrubs-Bullfighter's Bones 3:48
22–The Wedding Present-This Boy Can Wait 4:00

DOWNLOAD to see and hear 1986 HERE!

The Membranes ‎– "The Gift Of Life" (Creation Records ‎– CRELP 006) 1985

The ironically titled "The Gift Of Life", was, funnily enough, an early release on Alan McGee's  nascent Creation Records.....Yes, the label responsible for such crimes against culture as Primal Scream, The Boo Radleys,and the despicable Oasis, yet also responsible for such Modern Pop wonders of the world like the early JAMC singles and MBV's "Loveless".
What The Membranes were doing on a label such as that I can but guess; part of McGee's 'throw enough shit at the wall then something will stick' philosophy.....then when it sticks(Oasis), he could sell out his independent spirit to some awful conglomerate.
I Once met McGee doing an embarrassing DJ set in Manhatten, and I managed to pass myself off as that bloke from the Boo Radleys to ponce free drinks......sucessfully I may add.Also embarrassingly, my cohort in Scouts Of Uzbekistan slipped him an early Scouts demo cd, which he promised to listen to......needless to say we weren't signed up to his new 'Poptones' label.....thank fuck. 
Also on that night were Poptones' new signing 'Outrageous Cherry', who played a set with the lady bass player obliviously unplugged for the first four tunes...one of the evenings highlights.
As for The Membranes, they still sound like they are trying to turn some very ordinary post-punk tunes into some deliberately detuned shambles, and call it noise; the Florence Foster Jenkins's of Post-Punk Britain.
As for "The Gift Of Life",both the album and the state of the human existence; it's the kind of gift you'd want to come with the receipt included so you can get your money back.
Luckily, the download is free, unlike actual Life itself.

Tracklist:

Shot By My Own Gun 4:49
I Am Fish Eye 3:19
Dreadful Sound Engine 4:19
Green And Ghostly Land 8:27
More Skin And Bone 5:30
Mr. Charisma Brain 3:49
Barbed Snake Fish Thing 5:17
Chewing The Fat 3:05
Typical Male Penis 2:44
Fireface 1:30
Gift Of Life 6:39

DOWNLOAD this gift of membranes HERE!

The Membranes ‎– "Crack House" (Criminal Damage Records ‎– CRI MLP-105) 1983

The Nightingales and The Membranes were probably the earliest flowering of the Ron Johnson template. The Membranes being closely associated with fellow outsiders Bogshed.

Mike Bryson of Bogshed once explained their approach to the noble art of songwriting as "We start out being totally out of order and out of key and we turn things like that into a pop song. Most people try to do it the other way round."

The Membranes fitted very comfortably into the latter, 'Most people try to do it the other way round', category.

I was never very keen on The Membranes.They never seemed to have that genuine off-kilter x-factor that the other bands effortlessly had; they always seemed to be trying too hard to be shambolic.

Also John Robb wore,and still does to this day, his shirt collars up,like Eric Cantona and Tony Grieg!?....something that always invokes suspicion.

Tracklist:

Get A Head 4:45
The Throat 4:08
Attraction For The Easy Life 4:46
Myths And Legends 6:37
Kick Out 3:44
Kafka's Dad 4:34

DOWNLOAD through the semi-permeable cyber membrane HERE!

Bogshed ‎– "Brutal" (Shelfish Records ‎– SHELFish 4) 1987

Here's Bogshed's first album part two, aka the second album, but the same as the first. Chock full of 'shambling' discordant alternative pop, executed to perfectly imperfect standards.
I always had a problem with this album,mainly because it had a glossy colour cover. Something that suggested pretensions towards popularity, which of course was total bollocks in the case of Bogshed, who couldn't have been more unpopular, even with John Peel listeners!
"Brutal" is comfortably the equal of "Step On It",there's just too much of it; perhaps Bogshed are another group who should have stuck to EP's? 
Never mind 'Geoffs Big Problem', Bogshed's big problem was how to move on from their formulaic composition's to something else......not that they should have.Their back catalogue is not far off perfect, and they stopped doing it at the correct time.
What did we get in place of all this Ron Johnson style stuff......yep.......bloody 'Madchester'!!!!....we didn't know how privileged we were.

Tracklist:

A1 Raise The Girl
A2 Geoff's Big Problem
A3 Old Dog New Dance
A4 No To Lemon Mash
A5 I'm The Instrument
A6 Oppertunatist Knocks
B1 People Equal Greedy
B2 Sing A Little Tune
B3 C'mon Everybody
B4 Uncle Death Grip
B5 Spring
B6 Loaf

DOWNLOAD brutally HERE!

Bogshed ‎– "Step On It" (Shelfish Records ‎– SHELFish 2) 1986

Bogshed, as brilliant as they were,and like many other similar alternative pop groups,had a tendency to repeat themselves, and very often only had one full length album in them.....and I suppose this is it? The Fall have more or less repeated them/him selves for thirty odd albums,only the constant reshuffling of personnel adding an accidental force for change. This method is not a guaranteed or desirable direction for most artists, so they fizzle out. And Bogshed did "Step On It 2" and fizzled out. 
Endlessly repeating yourself is,however, a sure way of creating a career in anything. Just look at U2,Damien Hirst,J.K. Rowling and van Morrison. Anyone with any integrity would just stop when they've done it.......Bogshed stopped.

Tracklist:

A1 Mechanical Nun 3:02
A2 Run To The Temple 3:31
A3 Adventure Of Dog 1:58
A4 Tommy Steele Record 3:23
A5 Jobless Youngsters 3:05
A6 Tried To Hide But Forced To Howl 2:49
A7 Packed Lunch To School 2:28
B1 Summer In My Lunchtime 2:38
B2 The Fastest Legs 2:18
B3 Oily Stack 2:13
B4 Hell Bent On Death 2:57
B5 Thunderballs 2:23
B6 Can't Be Beat 3:12
B7 Little Car 0:48

DOWNLOAD and step on it HERE!

Bogshed ‎– "Let Them Eat Bogshed" (Vinyl Drip Records ‎– DRIP 2) 1985

Any record with a song called "Panties Please" on it has to be good right?
Bogshed's debut release on John Robb of the Membranes' Vinyl Drip records has six Bogshed classics of the same high standard achieved by all of their rather marvelous tunes.
The cover boasts a couple of typical drawings by Bassist Mike Bryson;who still churns out cartoons and caricatures to this day (check out his site here) ; but nothing surpasses the gravelly disjointed basslines he laid down with Bogshed. 
Such lo-fi but melodic eccentricity the like of which we'll probably never see again, Probably because they've been ignored from the second after they split up,30 years ago, in the face of massive public indifference.

Tracklist:

A1 Panties Please 3:27
A2 Spencer Travis 1:54
A3 Fat Lad Exam Failure 3:08

B1 Slave Girls 2:15
B2 City Girls 1:56
B3 Hand Me Down Father 4:00

DOWNLOAD your panties HERE!

Bogshed - "Peel Sessions 1985-88" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

A collection of Bogshed's greatest work.Which, as per usual, was recorded at the BBC. Full of alternative pop classics such as "Champion Love Shoes", "Six To One and Likely" and "Raise The Girl".
This group should,and would, have been reasonably popular with the great unwashed masses if these same masses were not distracted to less sophisticated activities via the poisonous mind controlling compound MDMA.

Tracklist:
01 Packed Lunch to School [27-10-85].
02 Oily Stack[27-10-85].
03 Hell Bent on Death[27-10-85].
04 Can't be Beat[27-10-85].
05 The Fastest Legs [25-02-86].
06 Adventures of Dog [25-02-86].
07 Summer in My Lunchtime [25-02-86].
08 Morning Sir_Little Car [25-02-86].
09 Tried and Tested Public Speaker [15-07-86]
10 Champion Love Shoes [15-07-86].
11 Little Grafter [15-07-86].
12 Gather in the Mushrooms [15-07-86]
13 The Gourmet Is A Baby [14-04-87].
14 Raise The Girl [14-04-87].
15 I Said No To Lemon Mash [14-04-87]
16 Loaf [14-04-87].
17 Six To One And Likely [18-10-87].
18 Into Me [18-10-87].
19 From The Stubble To The Rubble [18-10-87]
20 Duck Fight/U.S. Bands/Wally Walla. [18-10-87]

DOWNLOAD a bog full of peel sessions HERE!

Bogshed - "Demo's and Rareties 1985-87" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

Then we had the crop of groups who should have been on Ron Johnson Records instead of The Sewer Zombies and The Ex.
The most shining example being Bogshed.
Cheeky northern monkeys who were incorrectly portrayed primarily as a comedy turn in some quarters.Originally called "The Amazing Roy North Penis Band" upon their inception in 1984, one could easily see why they flirted with the 'Novelty Act' category.
Their shambling, bass led sub-discordant modern music hall tunes, were certainly catchy,and could even induce an urge to sing-a-long-a-bogshed.
So here's a collection of demo's, compilation tracks,rare singles and unreleased stuff to prove their part in the 'Death To Trad Rock' story.
Unfortunately on the subject of death, Bogshed Singer and excellent lyricist, Paul Hartley, died over ten years ago, so the prospect of any nostalgic reformation of Bogshed is a sad non-starter; especially as drummer, Tristan King followed him to peel band valhalla a few years later.Don't it make you feel so incredibly mortal?

Tracklist:

01 Hand Me Down Father ('Raging Sun' Compilation)
02 Runner On A Blunder(imminent comp)
03 The Amazing Roy North Penis Band (Cherry Red Comp)
04 Gathering Change(Aborted Cherry red Compilation)
05 Hold Up Your Hands, I'm Coming To The Market (cherry red Comp)
06 Lodger Problem(Aborted Cherry red Comp
07 Porridge In The Clothes(Aborted Cherry Red Comp)
08 Too Many Personalities(Aborted Cherry Red Comp)
09 You Are This(Aborted Cherry red Compilation)
10 Hand Me Down Father (Demo 1985).
11 Packed Lunch to School(Demo 1985).
12 US Bands (Demo 1985).
13 Slave Girls(Demo 1985).
14 Panties Please(Demo 1985).
15 City Girls(Demo 1985).
16 Fat Lad exam Failure (Demo 1985).
17 Spencer Travis(Demo 1985).
18 The Amazing Roy North Penis Band (Demo 1985)
19 Stop Revolving (Unissued Single 1987)
20 Your Science, My Sound (Unissued Single B-Side 1987)
21 Excellent girl (Final Single Release 1987)

DOWNLOAD from the toilet bog to your own private shed HERE! 

Boredoms ‎– "Boretronix 1" (? Ltd. ‎– ?001) 1988

I said I didn't have "Boretronix 1", but now I do, thanks to the lovely Bleak Bliss blog, who seems to always have everything I don't have......in music terms at least.

Happily, this is the best of the Boretronix series, and is a bit more listenable than the later two cassettes. Primordial Boredom at its very zenith.

Tracklist

A1 Hard Core Nunk 3:04
A2 Boil Out UFO 2:48
A3 Meat Bag 2:17
A4 Chago-Hosh-Moop 1:54
A5 Human Bad 2:46
A6 Hipless Peer Group 2:40
A7 Now 2:47
A8 Club Gom 5:51
B1 Rising Vegas Gas-Moskeet 1:53
B2 Blah Men 2:35
B3 Mega Coke Mix 1:10
B4 Hatefull 88' 1:42
B5 Auck Off 1:44
B6 Euck You Earhole 4:32
B7 Web Wig 3:25
B8 Eyehole Turfers 2:34
B9 Hook Around 2:55
B10 Frying Buttcave 1:07

DOWNLOAD some very early boredom HERE!

Scorn ‎– "Vae Solis" (Earache ‎– MOSH 54) 1992

We are getting in really dodgy territory now, 1992. A truly terrible year for music. Awful sampling abuse, Dire drum machine conformity, Really shite Effects units. DJ's in their forties treated like some kind of messiah. We even started to accept and even enjoy our conformity.A Huxley-esque concept made fact, if ever there was one; and its even worse today.
A resident of the 'Chill Out' area, I managed to escape the vast majority of the atrocities being committed in these dance concentration camps, and lost myself in the bizarre world of Easy Listening, which was one interesting bi-product of club culture.
However, Metal ,as the only mainstream alternative to clubbing culture, was mutating into the only partly subversive counter culture activity.This was the start of the couple of hundred sub-genres of 'Metal' that exist today.
Earache was largely responsible for quite a few of those, one being Industrial Metal, as purveyed by Godflesh (featuring yet another ex-Napalm Death member Justin Broadrick) in the late eighties, from a recipe originally concocted by the rather good Killing Joke.
More Ex-Napalm Death members Mick Harris and Nic Bullen, joined in the fun with their 'Scorn' Project, which was a brutally effective unit for the first album or so,before the irresistible influence of club culture watered down the racket into some kind of over programmed trip hop nonsense.

Tracklist:

1 Spasm 2:49
2 Suck And Eat You 3:48
3 Hit 7:36
4 Walls Of My Heart 7:02
5 Lick Forever Dog 6:29
6 Thoughts Of Escape 5:18
7 Deep In - Eaten Over And Over 8:28
8 On Ice 8:00
9 Heavy Blood 5:41
10 Scum After Death (Dub) 5:54
11 Fleshpile (Edit) 5:15
12 Orgy Of Holiness 4:48
13 Still Life 4:13

DOWNLOAD and get an earache HERE!

Boredoms ‎– "Boretronix 3" (? Ltd. ‎– ?004) 1990

If it wasn't for japan, i don't think there would have been anything worthwhile to listen to in 1990. All the UK was too interested in was being 24 hour party people.....now that's real 'boredom'.
The USA had just 'invented' Punk Rock.....again......except without any style, sporting long hair and lumberjack shirts. As for the rest of the planet, as usual, forget about it.
There was one exception...Japan.It seemed everyone in Japan were like The Boredoms, and a torrent of Noise Rock escaped like radioactive gas  from some secure institution near Fukashima.
Either that or it took 45 years for the real mutations from the atom bomb blasts to bear fruit.
This cassette is a field recording from that very same fictitious radioactive institution the night when everyone refused their medication.

Track Listing:

Side A - Untitled (23.56)
Side B - Untitled (24.00)

DOWNLOAD more boredom HERE!

Boredoms ‎– "Boretronix 2" (? Ltd. ‎– ?002) 1989

Yamatsuka Eye, another of the guests on John Zorn's various Grindcore projects, notably Naked City, was in the Boredoms of course. So as they are popular chaps, i've dug out an obscure cassette release from early in their reign.
Its a churning and nutritious soup of the Boredoms in rehearsal, jamming, and just generally mucking about. Often sounding like the tape's being chewed up by the cassette deck. No need for the pencil remedy,....it actually is supposed to sound like this.

Track Listing:

Side A : Untitled (25.20)
Side B : Untitled (25.26)

DOWNLOAD to alleviate the boredoms HERE! 

Azag-Thoth ‎– "Shredded Flesh" (Self released Cassette) 1987

A highly regarded self-released tape from a prototype Unseen Terror line-up, including Shane Emburey (Although he denies all knowledge of it!), and Pete Giles, who was in War Hammer with Shane,and Unseen Terror.
It seems like straight forward Death Metal to me,and only the slightest hint of the mutation that was to come for the UK metal/hardcore crossover scene.Calling this proto-grindcore is stretching it a bit.

Tracklist:
A1 Circle Of Maniacs 0:50
A2 Shredded Flesh 2:51
A3 Life After Death 2:11
A4 Social Suicide 0:45
A5 Blood Sucking Freaks 2:11

DOWNLOAD some shredded flesh for breakfast HERE!

Unseen Terror ‎– "The Peel Sessions" (Strange Fruit ‎– SFPS069) 1988

Here's the legendary Peel Session by Unseen Terror, with guest vocalist Mick Harris on lead growling.
This benefits from having real drums as miked up by a real drummer/ producer, Dale Griffin.This was a lost art in 1988, forgotten in favour of samples and drum boxes.
Unseen Terror were more or less a studio band, and only played live once as far i can remember; so this is where they were at their very speedy best.
A classic.

Tracklist:

Incompatible / Burned Beyond Recognition 2:25
Oblivion Descends / Divisions 3:45
Voice Your Opinion 3:10
Strong Enough To Change / Odie's Revenge / It's My Life 3:55

DOWNLOAD this unseen but very much heard session HERE!

Unseen Terror ‎– "Human Error" (Earache ‎– MOSH 4) 1987

The opposite end of the scale for snobbery and pretentiousness are a large majority of Metal categories, especially Grindcore and Speed Metal. Who would you sooner go and have a beer with? John Zorn or Unseen Terror?
I have been privileged to have a pint with Shane Emburey(drummer for Unseen Terror) and the rest of Napalm Death back in the day, and what a bunch of thoroughly decent and unpretentious chaps they were. Not had a similar experience with Zorn, but was briefly in his geekness's presence at the Knitting Factory's 10th birthday party for Shimmy Disc.....i was drunk, he was aloof.
'Human Error'was one of those early Earache Classics that appeared from apparently nowhere.Its relentless high velocity metal, and under-produced fuzz were certainly more interesting than the other so-called speed metal groups of the era. The drums were either played on one of those horrible Simmons kits, or sample triggers; and sound slightly unusual to say the least; but they were easier to record i guess. A real kit,thankfully,makes its appearance in the bonus tracks (Tracks 21 and 22 are from the "Diminished Responsibility" Compilation. Tracks 23 to 26 are Unreleased Rehearsal tracks.)
They were to get better, and as usual it was up to the BBC to capture them at their best in the Peel session that they recorded in 1988, with Mick Harris on vocals.

Tracklist:

1 Unseen Terror 3:34
2 Oblivion Descends 2:20
3 Divisions 1:51
4 Death Sentence (Of The Innocent) 2:18
5 Nermal 0:11
6 Ignorant Scene 1:38
7 Uninformed 2:02
8 Expulsion Of Wrath 1:45
9 Garfield For President 0:43
10 Burned Beyond Recognition 1:19
11 Winds Of Pestilence 1:28
12 Hysteria 1:41
13 In A Shallow Grave 0:58
14 Odie's Revenge 0:16
15 Deliverance 2:19
16 The End Product 2:20
17 To Live And Learn 1:34
18 Charred Remains 1:18
19 Beyond Eternity 1:37
20 Garfield Strikes Again 2:18

Bonus Tracks:
21 Expulsion Of Wrath 3:13
22 Beyond Eternity 1:37
23 Scarred 0:49
24 Walls 0:42
25 Human Error 2:11
26 Within Without 1:24

DOWNLOAD without human error HERE!

Naked City ‎– "Torture Garden" (Earache ‎– mosh 28) 1991

Jazzers, in general,aren't the most open minded of musicians, and do tend towards some rather unpleasant displays of intellectual snobbery......as we all do in different levels; I myself have been guilty of this Darwinian concept.......I do however reserve the right to call stuff like most Hip Hop, modern R &B,Boy Band Pop, and U2, Shit, both intellectually and morally.
John Zorn seems to be from the open end of the Jazz spectrum, along with Joey Baron(drums),and Bill Frisell (gtr),who seem to dispel the myth that Jazzers can't play metal.
(That said, Zorn was witnessed patronising an audience in my home town of Leicester on the Naked City Tour, by suggesting that such a provincial audience would prefer it if he played some Be-Bop; which he promptly did, and followed it up with some sneering comment afterwards.....prick!..i'll have him know that Napalm Death,the group he copied, also came from such provincial places as this, in fact just 20 miles down the road near Coventry...nobodies perfect i suppose?)
The jazz trendies are joined by proper people, Fred Frith,late of 'Henry Cow'on bass, and Yamatsuka Eye from the Boredoms, to provide some very daft vocals.
Whatever the Intellectual genius that John Zorn thinks he is, this style of music was shamelessly ripped off from brummy grindcore legends Napalm Death, with added alto sax, and musicianly polish.
The lower Manhattan art set are probably blissfully unaware of this, and would no doubt be heavily traumatised to discover such an unpleasant fact.
This album collects together all the wildest Naked City moments onto one twelve incher, and is an utterly superb avalanche of madness.....in sustained short spurts of machine gun fire.

Tracklist:

Sado Side
A1 Blood Is Thin 1:00
A2 Demon Sanctuary 0:38
A3 Thrash Jazz Assassin 0:45
A4 Dead Spot 0:31
A5 Bonehead 0:51
A6 Speedball 0:37
A7 Blood Duster 0:13
A8 Pile Driver 0:33
A9 Shangkuan Ling-Feng 1:14
A10 Numbskull 0:29
A11 Perfume Of A Critic's Burning Flesh 0:24
A12 Jazz Snob Eat Shit 0:24
A13 The Prestidigitator 0:43
A14 No Reason To Believe 0:26
A15 Hellraiser 0:39
A16 Torture Garden 0:35
A17 Slan 0:23
A18 Hammerhead 0:08
A19 The Ways Of Pain 0:31
A20 The Noose 0:10
A21 Sack Of Shit 0:43

Maso Side
B1 Blunt Instrument 0:53
B2 Osaka Bondage 1:14
B3 Igneous Ejaculation 0:20
B4 Shallow Grave 0:40
B5 Ujaku 0:27
B6 Kaoru 0:50
B7 Dead Dread 0:45
B8 Billy Liar 0:10
B9 Victims Of Torture 0:22
B10 Speedfreaks 0:29
B11 New Jersey Scum Swamp 0:41
B12 S & M Sniper 0:14
B13 Pigfucker 0:23
B14 Cairo Chop Shop 0:22
B15 Fuck The Facts 0:11
B16 Obeah Man 0:17
B17 Facelifter 0:34
B18 N.Y. Flat Top Box 0:43
B19 Whiplash 0:19
B20 The Blade 0:36
B21 Gob Of Spit 0:18

DOWNLOAD nakedly HERE!

PainKiller ‎– "Buried Secrets" (Earache ‎– MOSH 62) 1992

A Godflesh/Napalm Death/Last Exit supergroup with special guest star, John Zorn on Sax abuse.
You won't find any other Godflesh or Napalm Death record on the coffee table's of any self-respecting Jazz Snob.Sneaking in by the back door as PainKiller, most of this record would be skipped over by most pseudo-intellectual Jazz fakes, and then scramble for cover under the nearest John Coltrane double bootleg.
Anything with a saxophone in it gets labelled 'Jazz',like any punk band with a sax was immediately rubber stamped as 'Jazz Punk' (eg The Cravats).
So PainKiller is ,obviously, 'Jazzcore'.
A more correct epithet is improvised noise; there's as much rock,and Dub in there as there is jazz, but it is definitely improvised.
It has its musical moments, but mostly its like filling your ears with sonic caustic soda.......in a good way.

Tracklist:

Tortured Souls 1:54
One Eyed Pessary 1:51
Trailmarker 0:08
Blackhole Dub 3:29
Buried Secrets 6:13
The Ladder 0:22
Executioner 2:48
Black Chamber 2:29
Skinned 0:54
The Toll 7:26

DOWNLOAD this buried secret HERE!

Pain Killer ‎– "Guts Of A Virgin" (Earache ‎– MOSH 45) 1991

The gore-fest continues with this unlikely combination of Grindcore and Avant Garde Jazz, that gave birth to the sub-genre of,yes, 'Jazzcore'!?
Excellent paint stripping stuff it is too.
Lower Manhattan jazz-bo trendies, John Zorn and Bill Laswell heard Napalm Death, and like envious children wanted to have a go themselves. So the best place to start was to poach Napalm Deaths drummer and lead screamer, Mick Harris, and release it on Earache Records.
A bludgeoning napalm attack on the senses if ever there was one.Zorn's treated sax caterwauling is nothing short of being on the receiving end of a flame thrower whilst cornered in a concrete bunker.
Could be the best release on Earache by a country mile?
It also contravened the laughable 'Obscene Publications Act' for the cover, and was subsequently banned, and replaced with an edited facial shot of the sliced up female in question.
No such censorship is allowed on here however.

Tracklist:

1 Scud Attack 3:07
2 Deadly Obstacle Collage 0:21
3 Damage To The Mask 2:43
4 Guts Of A Virgin 1:19
5 Handjob 0:10
6 Portent 4:00
7 Hostage 2:24
8 Lathe Of God 0:56
9 Dr. Phibes 3:00
10 Purgatory Of Fiery Vulvas 0:26
11 Warhead 1:12
12 Devil's Eye 4:37

DOWNLOAD you gutless virgin ,HERE!

Carcass ‎– "Reek Of Putrefaction" (Earache ‎– MOSH 6) 1988

I haven't listened to, or rather endured, this  for about 25 years! It certainly stuck out in the album racks at the record shop. Mainly due to the crass collage of post-mortem photo's that adorn this charming recording.
Certainly a classic of the early Earache releases, and featuring Napalm Death's own Bill Steer, exorcising his obvious need for gore.......Grindgore anyone?
Its all very low end mushed up grindcore doom,recorded under a mudslide; most likely a mudslide that engulfed a school full of children.
These are the kind of kids you'd find in the sixth form common room huddled in the corner swapping Dostoevsky and Yukio Mishima novels.
The Earache sticker on the cover kind of sums it all up......all for £4.99!

Tracklist:

Faecal Disarticulation Side:
A1 Genital Grinder 1:28
A2 Regurgitation Of Giblets 1:18
A3 Maggot Colony 1:32
A4 Pyosisified (Rotten To The Gore) 2:47
A5 Carbonized Eye-Sockets 1:06
A6 Frenzied Detruncation 0:54
A7 Vomited Anal-Tract 1:38
A8 Festerday 0:19
A9 Fermenting Innards 2:29
A10 Excreted Alive 1:17
A11 Suppuration 2:14

Anal Disgorgement Side:
B1 Foeticide 2:38
B2 Microwaved Uterogestation 1:22
B3 Feast On Dismembered Carnage 1:23
B4 Splattered Cavities 1:49
B5 Psychopathologist 1:15
B6 Burnt To A Crisp 2:37
B7 Pungent Excruciation 2:26
B8 Manifestation Of Verrucose Urethra 0:58
B9 Oxidised Razor Masticator 3:06
B10 Mucopurulence Excretor 1:05
B11 Malignant Defecation 2:10

DOWNLOAD and reek of putrefaction HERE!

Napalm Death ‎– "Hatred Surge" (Self Released) ‎– TDD3 1985

Before the Grind took hold, our buddies in Napalm Death were carbon copy Anarcho-Punks; they were even featured on Crass Records' "Bullshit Detector Vol.3".
However,the band information on this post is in fact wrong! The line up on this tape (also left to right in the picture on the tape cover) was future GodFlesh,Jesu and Head Of David supremo Justin Broadrick on Guitar, Nick Bullen Vocals and bass and Mick Harris on Drums. The line up listed was the original line up before Mick joined and became the "Grindcore" legends we know today.It even says so on the cover flap..."The Line Up has Changed And So has Their Musical Style". Although one song, "Instinct Of Survival" did survive by instinct, to appear on "Scum" and in the "Peel Sessions",as a revamped and shorter beast altogether.

So, in fact, Napalm Death hold the record for the longest time a band has existed without any original members, 1985 to present day.I think that even beats Fairport Convention(?), and Dr Feelgood? 

I do like the idea that No-one is bigger than the band,a bit like football clubs, but without the transfer fees.

Tracklist:

A1 What Man Can Do 2:48
A2 Instinct Of Survival 2:47
A3 Abbatoir 3:45
A4 Control 2:35
A5 Sacrificed 1:37
A6 So Sad 4:33
A7 Caught In A Dream 2:14
A8 Private Death 2:08
A9 Cheswick Green (Live) 2:01

DOWNLOAD some proto anarcho-grind HERE!

Napalm Death ‎– "The Peel Sessions" (Strange Fruit ‎– SFPDCD049) 1987/88

Twenty Five 'songs' in 20 minutes?!Now, that's either value for money or a total rip off!
In my humble opinion it's excellent value for money, and the only Napalm Death/Grindcore record you would ever need.This genre can't get any better than this? A bit like Hip-Hop never got better than Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back". After these two records, they, and their shameless imitators should have just called it a day.These two, seemingly polar opposite groups are black and white versions of the same thing I guess?

Tracklist:

Session 1 - 13/09/1987:

1 The Kill / Prison Without Walls / Dead Pt.1 0:55
2 Deceiver / Lucid Fairytale / In Extremis 1:45
3 Blind To The Truth / Negative Approach / Common Enemy 1:05
4 Obstinate Direction / Life / You Suffer Pt.2 1:55

Session 2 - 08/03/1988:
5 Multi-National Corporations / Instinct Of Survival / Stigmatised / Parasites 4:10
6 Moral Crusade / Worlds Apart / M.A.D. 3:35
7 Divine Death / C.S. / Control 3:20
8 Walls / Raging In Hell / Conform Or Die / S.O.B. 3:15

DOWNLOAD the final word in grindcore HERE!