Alternative Tentacles   Page 3

Voivod

To The Death 84

Alternative Tentacles

Voivod formed in 1983, with a weird hybrid of thrash metal and punk—a sound that made them stand out as a unique band from the beginning. Still together after almost 30 years, having made more than a dozen albums and toured the world, the Canadian group reaches back to the beginning of their career for their first Alternative Tentacles release. Voivod began as four friends who met in high school and decided to get together to play some heavy music. Growing up in Northern Quebec in an aluminum factory area called Saguenay (which they dubbed “Morgoth Land”), they shared a liking of Venom, Motörhead, Tank, Discharge and GBH, as well as obscure prog and krautrock bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, Faust and Can. They were scared of the threat of a nuclear war and Reagan-era concepts such as the Strategic Defense Initiative, and had a dystopian view of the future. To the Death 84 is 70 minutes of loud, blistering metal / punk. Recorded live in the band’s jam space in January 1984 with an old tape recorder and a couple of microphones, it nonetheless sounds great and hits as hard today as it did back then. This demo tape was sent to all the fanzines the band knew of at the time, and has circulated among collectors for years. The lineup for these recordings was Snake (Denis Bélanger) on lead vocals, Piggy (Denis D’Amour) on guitar, Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault) on bass and Away (Michel Langevin) on drums. The...

Hard-ons With Neil Hamburger

American Exports

Alternative Tentacles

Back in 2008, legendary Australian punk group The Hard-Ons teamed up with “America’s Funnyman” Neil Hamburger on reluctant vocals to create an improbable punk rock artifact. Recorded in Sydney, and originally released in a small pressing on the German label Red Lounge Records, it immediately went out of print and has been highly sought after ever since. Alternative Tentacles is proud to reissue this classic, which includes covers of “Committed to Suicide” by Sick Things (pre-Fungus Brains / Dirty Three) and “Six Pack” by Black Flag, as well as two originals. The Hard-Ons have recorded over a dozen albums of high-quality punk rock since 1985. Neil Hamburger has done a number of comedy titles on the Drag City label, in addition to making numerous TV appearances. His most recent achievement was getting booed off the stage at the Reading Festival, in August 2010.

V/a

Black Power And Liberation Struggles

Alternative Tentacles

To commemorate three decades of spoken word releases on Alternative Tentacles, the label has complied four budget-priced spoken word box sets for release this fall—two in September, two in October.  Black Power and Liberation Struggles features pieces by Mumia Abu-Jamal, Ward Churchill, Christian Parenti and more.

V/a

(vol. 1) Ranters, Reformers And Raconteurs

Alternative Tentacles

To commemorate three decades of spoken word releases on Alternative Tentacles, the label has complied four budget-priced spoken word box sets for release this fall—two in September, two in October.  Ranters, Reformers & Raconteurs Volume 1 features titles by a variety of iconoclastic thinkers from the archives of Alternative Tentacles.

Fuel Injected .45

Past Demo-ns

Alternative Tentacles

First and foremost, Ani Kyd is a rocker with a powerful throat. In 2005, Kyd released her debut solo CD Evil Needs Candy Too on Alternative Tentacles, co-produced with Jello Biafra. Formerly of Spank Machine, Approach the Throne and Thor (yes, that Thor!), she fronted the Vancouver heavy rock band Fuel Injected .45, whose original lineup including Ashley Blue (Strapping Young Lad), Stuart Carruthers (Tenet, Grip Inc., The Golers), Byron Stroud (Fear Factory, Zimmer’s Hole, Strapping Young Lad) and Scotty McCargar (Bif Naked).  Although the group never made a proper album before splitting up in 2004, they recorded a series of great demos, collected on Past Demo-ns—a slab of metallic heaviness that Alternative Tentacles is proud to unearth and share with the world. Fuel Injected .45 was resurrected in 2009 with a new lineup, and is currently making an album due by year’s end. The reunited band will be playing Canadian and US shows this summer in conjunction with this release.

Biafra, Jello And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine

Enhanced Methods Of Questioning

Alternative Tentacles

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine are at it again! Hot on the heels of their debut full-length The Audacity of Hype, the group—featuring Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms), Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey), Billy Gould (Faith No More) and Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle)—roars back with five unreleased rippers. CD and download versions include “Metamorphosis Exploration on Deviation Street,” a transmogrified 18-minute cover of the Deviants’ classic. The band’s twin guitar attack retains some of the space-punk overtones and spy-music-on-meth chaos of Dead Kennedys, while adding a healthy dose of Detroit-style proto-punk, flavored with Weiss’s industrial excursions into metal percussion. This is Biafra’s first full-time band since Dead Kennedys broke up in 1986, and the depth and breadth of his musical chops and lyrical triumphs are on full display on these ferocious tracks.

Dog Faced Hermans

Those Deep Buds

Alternative Tentacles

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Alternative Tentacles presents a long-awaited vinyl reissue of the out-of-print 1994 album Those Deep Buds by legendary post-punk skronkmeisters Dog Faced Hermans. This is a one-time LP pressing, on ebony vinyl, limited to 1000 copies.  Some members carry on today as The Ex, still touring and recording.  “… the group has the same questing spirit as bands like Wire, the Slits, or the Raincoats, but rather than simply recreating the work of those leaders of U.K. post-punk, the Hermans doggedly pursue their own distinct muse. Hints of Krautrock also crop up, both in trancy rhythms … and in the sudden shifts and stops in the music at many points.” —AllMusic.com  “Those Deep Buds, the band’s final studio statement to date, is its masterpiece, an unbelievably powerful and resilient record with some of the best lyrics to ever appear on a rock album.” —Trouser Press

Citizen Fish

Goods

Alternative Tentacles

One of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2011, Citizen Fish’s eighth full-length album Goods follows the success of their Alternative Tentacles / Fat Wreck Chords split with Leftover Crack. Citizen Fish formed in Bath, England, in 1989 following the splits of their previous bands Subhumans and Culture Shock. They have delivered their unique ska-infused punk rock to eager audiences while touring across the world the past two decades. Dick Lucas’s frantic vocal delivery combined with the catchy riffs and driving punk of their unforgettable live performances continues to earn the band legions of new fans and brings working class radical politics to generations of questioning minds. These guys are masters at mixing punk with ska, and they top it off with sharply observed, politically charged lyrics.

Articles Of Faith

New Normal Catastrophe

Alternative Tentacles

The classic lineup of early-'80s Chicago punk pioneers Articles of Faith have recorded together and are playing two live shows for the first time in 25 years! This five-track 12-inch EP is blazing fast and intelligent hardcore a la the band's classic What We Want Is Free EP (1982) and Give Thanks LP (1984). Recorded at Chicago's Million Yen Studios (Cheap Trick, Effigies, Local H, Smoking Popes) on July 4, 2010, these songs show the members' continuing political involvement and enduring musical chops. This lineup had not written or recorded together since 1985's In This Life LP.  New Normal Catastrophe was mixed by J. Robbins (of Jawbox and Report Suspicious Activity--the latter a collaboration between Robbins and Articles of Faith's Vic Bondi) in Baltimore, MD. The 12-inch will be available in time for the return of the original lineup to the stage at Chicago's annual Riot Fest from October 6-10, 2010. This lineup has not played live together since July of 1985!

Dalen, Zale

Terminal City Ricochet

Alternative Tentacles

Zale Dalen's 1990 film Terminal City Ricochet--one of the most asked-about Jello Biafra-related projects--is finally seeing the light of day! Never available on VHS and rarely shown outside of Canada, this dystopian vision is as timely as ever. The action takes place in one of only five livable places left on Earth, where telegenic Mayor Ross Glimore (Peter Breck, The Big Valley, Shock Corridor) is king of all media and rules as a virtual dictator. To maintain his grip on power he must stage an election, and for that he needs fresh fear. Enter Alex Stevens (Mark Bennett), a fed-up, cynical newspaper delivery boy who happens to witness Glimore run over one of his own supporters in his car and leave the scene of the accident.  Glimore and his Rove-wellian henchman Bruce Coddle (Biafra) hatch a plot to brand Stevens "the #1 terrorist threat" (based on his connection to rock 'n' roll music which, along with meat, is banned) to cow Terminal City into submission and steal another tabloid election. Stevens flees underground, where he stumbles into a resistance movement led in part by his newfound friend Beatrice (Lisa Brown) and a fugitive brain-damaged goalie from the Glimore-owned hockey team, and finds himself caught up in a plot to bring Glimore down, with the not-so-secret police (DOA's Joe Keithley and pro-wrestling legend Gene Kiniski) hot on the trail. The DVD package comes with the soundtrack CD featuring some of Alternative Tentacles' most beloved acts.   DVD EXTRAS * Original theatrical trailer * 1992 and 2006...

Rogers, Marcus

Widower

Alternative Tentacles

  For the MP3 download of "The Widower" soundtrack click  here     The Widower is a surreal black romantic comedy featuring familiar faces like Jello Biafra, Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Ani Kyd and Nardwuar the Human Serviette; this package includes an incredible previously unreleased soundtrack! With The Widower, director Marcus Rogers has created an instant cult classic. Inspired by the sinister visions of David Lynch and the colorful, comic book camp of John Waters, the film is a cartoonish world of decay in a timeless, nameless city, where the very fringes of reality are starting to unravel. This is especially true for Milton, the nebbish romantic widower who is unable to face the reality of his wife's demise... But why should he? She still talks to him.  The Widower is a creepy, kitschy comedy about love and death, blood, cops, and donuts, that has some surprisingly sweet touches among the corpses, punk rock and out-sized characters! The previously unreleased soundtrack CD features Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, DOA, The Smugglers, Chris Houston, The Astronuts, The Loudmouths, Huevos Rancheros, Bughouse 5, Coal, Thee Goblins, Elvis Love Child, The Mach III's, Sarcastic Mannequins, The Problematics and The Colorifics.  DVD EXTRAS * Original B&W short film * Making of The Widower featurette * Uncensored electronic press kit * Production stills * Coal "Alone, I Honeymoon" music video

V/a

Widower Soundtrack

Alternative Tentacles

The Widower is a surreal black romantic comedy featuring familiar faces like Jello Biafra, Joey "Shithead" Keithley, Ani Kyd and Nardwuar the Human Serviette. It’s a creepy, kitschy comedy about love and death, blood, cops, and donuts, that has some surprisingly sweet touches among the corpses, punk rock and out-sized characters! This here is the incredible previously unreleased soundtrack!  The previously unreleased soundtrack CD features Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, DOA, The Smugglers, Chris Houston, The Astronuts, The Loudmouths, Huevos Rancheros, Bughouse 5, Coal, Thee Goblins, Elvis Love Child, The Mach III's, Sarcastic Mannequins, The Problematics and The Colorifics. The soundtrack is not available as a separate CD - rather it comes bundled with the DVD or as digital download only.  About the movie : With The Widower, director Marcus Rogers has created an instant cult classic. Inspired by the sinister visions of David Lynch and the colorful, comic book camp of John Waters, the film is a cartoonish world of decay in a timeless, nameless city, where the very fringes of reality are starting to unravel. This is especially true for Milton, the nebbish romantic widower who is unable to face the reality of his wife's demise... But why should he? She still talks to him.  

Akimbo

Jersey Shores

Alternative Tentacles

***BACK IN STOCK!!!  Akimbo has barreled their way through the United States and Europe over the last decade with all the fervor of a demon army bent on conquest. Carving a path of righteousness with a thunderous sound and a menacing presence, Jon Weisnewski (bass / vocals) and Nat Damm (drums) have forged a unique and devastating sonic battle axe. The pair was joined by Aaron Walters (guitar) in 2006, and he has proven to be the defining diesel in this engine of pure, flaming, voluminous rock. Akimbo originally released the sinister and anthemic Jersey Shores on Neurot Recordings in 2008. Inspired by accounts of brutal and savage shark attacks that haunted the New Jersey coast for twelve bloody days in 1916, the band allowed the dark subject matter to fester into the grain of their instruments and recreated their sound anew. Steering away from the beer-fueled "rock for rock's sake" approach, the album explores a more mysterious and brooding territory than other releases and represents a new chapter of the Akimbo saga. With six hammering, primal, evocative, haunting tracks that transport the listener through 45 minutes of timeless fear, Jersey Shores is a new weapon for Akimbo after ten years of aggressive battle through the hallowed pits of the rock 'n' roll underground. This 180-gram vinyl gatefold reissue also marks the continued collaboration between the Seattle band and Alternative Tentacles.  "Musically, Jersey Shores functions like the greatest of horror stories, building its dread with masterful...

Dash Rip Rock

Call Of The Wild

Alternative Tentacles

Call of the Wild is a Southern party record--a tribute to all the insane theme bands that played the Deep South bar circuit back in the '70s. It mixes Stax-era dirty soul and rootsy garage punk with funky country rock and low country shag. Every song is about partying, being at a party or the characters you might meet at a party. Inspiration for these rowdy tunes comes from the Mar-Keys, Huey Smith and the Clowns, Swingin' Medallions, Doug Clark and His Hot Nuts, Southern Culture on the Skids, Mojo Nixon, Cowboy Mouth, Otis Day and the Nights, Archie Bell and the Drells and any other Southern band that has "and the" in their name. Singer / guitarist Bill Davis wrote the majority of the songs with primitive folk artist John Preble of UCM Museum ("Louisiana's Most Eccentric Museum") fame. They are studies in the art of Southern decadence and wild native abandon. In their 25 years of existence, Dash Rip Rock has played every imaginable sort of revel--house parties, pool parties, swamp parties, debutante parties, barn parties, farm parties, biker parties, cowboy parties, Mardi Gras balls, pot parties, ecstasy raves, LSD freakouts and beach blow-outs. Some were fun, wild and exciting, others creepy and terrifying. Through all the numerous days and nights of reckless drinking and excessive overindulgence, Dash never got around to making a "party record"--until now.

Git Some

Loose Control

Alternative Tentacles

Formed in Chicago in 2003 by guitarist Chuck French and bassist Neil Keener (both former members of Planes Mistaken For Stars), Git Some has morphed into the lean and mean Denver-based quartet that it is today. Loose Control is their sophomore release following 2008's Cosmic Rock (1-2-3-4 Go! Records). French and Keener take the raw-edged guitar and bass tones and riffs for which Planes Mistaken For Stars was well known and render them spikier and more rhythmically intense. Vocalist Lucius Fairchild balances soulful wails and harsh screams; his approach works well with lyrics that avoid broad statements on politics / society in favor of inward looks at a complex, dark and often disturbing personal inner landscape. Drummer Andrew Lindstrom's solid but constantly shifting foundation delivers beats that underline the structure of each song, and intense fills that contribute a sense of spontaneity and surprise.  "This band rules on many levels. Git Some makes furious metalized, messy punk rock like very few can. Upon listening to the first couple of songs from [Cosmic Rock], for some strange reason I was instantly reminded of a wilder, louder, constantly belligerent and consistently solid Les Savy Fav.... Git Some have that same careless delivery, that quirky wild abandon that's so lost in today's punk scene. Git Some's music runs like its being carried away by spirits." --Deaf Sparrow

Knights Of The New Crusade

Knight Vision

Alternative Tentacles

The Christian rock scene is replete with slick, careerist bands whose lyrics gingerly tread on the ecumenical outskirts of religious allusions in an attempt to alienate as few mainstream rock consumers as possible. It's no wonder that The Knights of the New Crusade, with their resolute unconcern for compromise (Matthew 16:26), became a flashpoint for contention in both the Christian and secular rock music worlds. Their first album, 2004's My God Is Alive! Sorry About Yours!, combined gut-level garage punk music and unrepentant Christian lyrics to make Christian rock relevant in a way it had never been before. The Pharisees of the Christian rock establishment were quick to make their disapproval known, and the Knights of the New Crusade answered with their Kierkegaardean opus Knight Beat: A Challenge to the Cowards of Christendom, a rallying cry for true disciples of Christ who were tired of the hypocritical Christianity prevalent in our society. Now, the Knights and Alternative Tentacles bring you Knight Vision: Hymns for the Invisible Church, a rich and deep tapestry displaying their spiritual, intellectual, and musical development. An Eastern mysticism may be identified amid the solid garage rock foundations, but do not let such elements obfuscate the nature of Knights' dedication to Christendom.

Fish Karma

Halloween In America

Alternative Tentacles

Tuscon's twisted troubadour of twang returns with his second Alternative Tentacles record. If the Dead Milkmen met Bob Dylan and hallucinated in the desert outside of Tucson, Halloween in America would be the result! This new album proves that Fish Karma's rusted razor wit is just as deadly as ever. He's been called everything from Neil Young's bastard brother to the most horrible thing you've ever seen in your life. His career in creative antagonism began at the University of Arizona where Fish worked with a student-run comedy troupe. The stage bug infected him and, discovering that he could neither sing nor play an instrument, he decided to begin a life in music. His concerts made him a cult figure. Byron Coley wrote in The Village Voice, "Fish is a great entertainer. Live, he strums along at whatever tempo he wants & rants & raves the funniest observations this side of George Carlin." Fish Karma's punk rock sensibilities led him to work with Al Perry & The Cattle, Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra, who said, "Fish's music is your basic Fugs-style electric grunge folk, and his lyrics feature some of the meanest put-downs of American consumer culture I've heard in years." Fish is well-known for his wry wit and humor, as well as an insatiable need to spit on all things conventional. He says "Part of my problem is that the first record I ever heard was 'My Ding-A-Ling' by Chuck Berry. I have been struggling to overcome that disability...

Subhumans

Same Thoughts Different Day

Alternative Tentacles

Legendary Canadian punk group Subhumans emerged from the 1978 font of creativity that produced DOA and The Pointed Sticks. They have been part of the Alternative Tentacles family since the infamous 1981 Let Them Eat Jellybeans compilation (VIRUS004), and played shows with Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Black Flag, and Bad Brains. Their first album, Incorrect Thoughts, was released on Vancouver label Friends Records in 1980. The band always planned to make their older material available again, but a now-defunct San Francisco label had issued an unauthorized version of Incorrect Thoughts in the '80s which substituted some remixes without the band's knowledge, included tracks which hadn't made the cut for the original album, and changed the cover art. It was an unpleasant mystery for the band, and three decades later the former owner of that label asserted ownership over the original album, preventing its re-release without an expensive and contentious legal tussle. The Subhumans decided to meet the challenge to their ownership of their own material by rerecording all of the songs from Incorrect Thoughts, which they proceeded to do at the Hive Studios in Vancouver, assisted by Jesse Gander. Original members Brian Goble (vocals), Gerry Hannah (bass), Mike Graham (guitar), and newly-recruited drummer Jon Card (formerly with Personality Crisis, SNFU, and DOA among others) got together in 2005 to record a new album of original material, New Dark Age Parade, for Alternative Tentacles (VIRUS366) and the band had been reactivated into a live entity. The intent was neither to slavishly...

Triclops!

Helpers On The Other Side

Alternative Tentacles

Adding flourishes to the formula established on their debut Out of Africa, Alternative Tentacles' flagship band Triclops! continues its assault on all pretenders to the punk / psych / prog throne. The sound on this album is varied, but one might say it's akin to fIREHOSE crossing streams with Goblin in an acid vat. There's even an acoustic bridge in "With SARS, I'll Ride the Wind" that sounds like a fever-warbled classic rock jammer. Triclops! is an acid-punk version of avant-garde classical composition with cinematic textures--an absurdist soundscape replete with comedic relief that acknowledges its own pure ridiculousness. This career suicide / cult-accepted approach to exhibitionism finds kindred spirits in envelope-pushing, progress-obsessed minds like Butthole Surfers, Slayer, David Lynch, Zappa, Heinlein, Timothy Leary, Melvins / Big Business, B. Traven, Deerhoof, Bill Hicks, Sun Ra, Fellini, Sonic Youth, and Scratch Acid. Having toured Europe and shared bills with Melt Banana, NoMeansNo, Big Business, and Jesus Lizard, these post-punk veterans' distinct sound is unmistakably Triclops!

Grong Grong

S/t

Alternative Tentacles

* Warehouse find!!!! Self-Titled LP by Australian rockers from 1983!!!! Members later went on to form Kingsnake Roost and Hack (see virus 099). Charles Tolnay, Dave Taskas, Michael Farkas, and George Klestines. Cover versions of songs by MC 5 and the Meteors. Last copies ever of this classic slab of down under wax!

Biafra, Jello And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine

Audacity Of Hype

Alternative Tentacles

***BACK IN PRINT ON LIMITED BLUE VINYL!!! In the twenty or so years since his brainchild, The Dead Kennedys, officially disbanded, Jello Biafra has made a career of spoken word gigs interspersed with musical collaborations with some of the most compelling figures in underground music. Recording projects and touring with the likes of Melvins, NoMeansNo, DOA, Mojo Nixon, and Lard (with Ministry's Al Jorgensen) among others have kept his "punk as political weapon" message sharp, but the lack of his own band made these collaborations usually short-lived and left Biafra with a ton of songs that never saw the light of day.Inspired by The Stooges gig on Iggy Pop's 60th birthday in San Francisco, Biafra laid plans for his own 50th birthday party and finally decided it was time to start a band of his own. After cramming practices for a month, the four-piece dubbed themselves Jello Biafra and the Axis of Merry Evildoers! and featured Biafra, Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms), Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey), and Billy Gould (Faith No More) The band took the stage in a sold-out two-night stand at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. Flush from that exhilarating triumph, nine months of rehearsal and writing followed; they added ace guitarist Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle), and christened themselves Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. The Audacity of Hype was produced by Biafra and engineered by hip hop producer and longtime co-conspirator Matt Kelley (Hieroglyphics, The...

Inbred, Th’

A Family Affair (legacy Of Fertility Vol. 1)

Alternative Tentacles

One of the more obscure 1980s American hardcore acts, though one of West Virginia's best-known musical exports, Th' Inbred released two LPs between 1985 and 1988 and toured the US three times. A politically pointed punk act influenced by the Dead Kennedys, Minutemen, Crass, and Black Flag, their thrashy attack morphed into jazz-influenced hardcore by the end. Critical of the straight edge youth crew mentality ("The Positive Song") and MTV, the topicality of this band is outlived by its sarcastic wit. Mocking social mores on tracks like "Scene Death," singer Art Reco calls out "nazi jocks with cash to spare" on 1985's Reproduction EP. Their musical ability set them apart from other negative vibe merchants of the era like Flipper or No Trend. The A Family Affair LP was reissued by a German label but has essentially been out of print for twenty years! Their second album, Kissin' Cousins, gets into proggier / jazzy areas a la Victims Family. The original cover art featured Jerry Lee Lewis and his child bride, tastefully blocking out their eyes. Reco's rubbery, cartoon-ish vocals give way to gravelly barking over the course of this collection, and the music exhibits a wider intrumental range than straightforward thrash. The percussion variety and space-jazzed guitar sustain pre-dates Primus' wonkiness. Drummer Billy Atwell also played in The Rhythm Pigs and released a solo album, Ferret in a China Shop, in 1988. The vinyl is split into two separate releases--the first contains the Reproduction EP and A Family Affair,...

Inbred, Th’

Kissin' Cousins (legacy Of Fertility Vol. 2)

Alternative Tentacles

One of the more obscure 1980s American hardcore acts, though one of West Virginia's best-known musical exports, Th' Inbred released two LPs between 1985 and 1988 and toured the US three times. A politically pointed punk act influenced by the Dead Kennedys, Minutemen, Crass, and Black Flag, their thrashy attack morphed into jazz-influenced hardcore by the end. Critical of the straight edge youth crew mentality ("The Positive Song") and MTV, the topicality of this band is outlived by its sarcastic wit. Mocking social mores on tracks like "Scene Death," singer Art Reco calls out "nazi jocks with cash to spare" on 1985's Reproduction EP. Their musical ability set them apart from other negative vibe merchants of the era like Flipper or No Trend. The A Family Affair LP was reissued by a German label but has essentially been out of print for twenty years! Their second album, Kissin' Cousins, gets into proggier / jazzy areas a la Victims Family. The original cover art featured Jerry Lee Lewis and his child bride, tastefully blocking out their eyes. Reco's rubbery, cartoon-ish vocals give way to gravelly barking over the course of this collection, and the music exhibits a wider intrumental range than straightforward thrash. The percussion variety and space-jazzed guitar sustain pre-dates Primus' wonkiness. Drummer Billy Atwell also played in The Rhythm Pigs and released a solo album, Ferret in a China Shop, in 1988. The vinyl is split into two separate releases--the first contains the Reproduction EP and A Family Affair, the second has...

Inbred, Th’

Legacy Of Fertility

Alternative Tentacles

One of the more obscure 1980s American hardcore acts, though one of West Virginia's best-known musical exports, Th' Inbred released two LPs between 1985 and 1988 and toured the US three times. A politically pointed punk act influenced by the Dead Kennedys, Minutemen, Crass, and Black Flag, their thrashy attack morphed into jazz-influenced hardcore by the end. Critical of the straight edge youth crew mentality ("The Positive Song") and MTV, the topicality of this band is outlived by its sarcastic wit. Mocking social mores on tracks like "Scene Death," singer Art Reco calls out "nazi jocks with cash to spare" on 1985's Reproduction EP. Their musical ability set them apart from other negative vibe merchants of the era like Flipper or No Trend. The A Family Affair LP was reissued by a German label but has essentially been out of print for twenty years! Their second album, Kissin' Cousins, gets into proggier / jazzy areas a la Victims Family. The original cover art featured Jerry Lee Lewis and his child bride, tastefully blocking out their eyes. Reco's rubbery, cartoon-ish vocals give way to gravelly barking over the course of this collection, and the music exhibits a wider intrumental range than straightforward thrash. The percussion variety and space-jazzed guitar sustain pre-dates Primus' wonkiness. Drummer Billy Atwell also played in The Rhythm Pigs and released a solo album, Ferret in a China Shop, in 1988. The CD includes both LPs, the Reproduction 7" EP, and bonus unreleased songs. The material was produced...

Alice Donut

The Biggest Ass

Alternative Tentacles

Alice Donut

Ten Glorious Animals

Alternative Tentacles

Ten Glorious Animals is Alice Donut's triumphant return to Alternative Tentacles. Formed in 1986, the band spent a decade touring relentlessly throughout North America, Europe, and Japan, building a perversely loyal following. One scribe at Creem Magazine described the Alice Donut live experience as "the most decadent punk rock-fueled all-out orgies I ever witnessed." Between 1987 and 1996, they released seven full-length albums and fifteen EPs and singles. 2004's Three Sisters, their first record after a long hiatus, was recorded as a four-piece with Tom Antona on vocals, Michael Jung on guitar, Stephen Moses on drums, and Sissi Schulmeister on bass. Original guitarist Dave Giffen rejoined the group for Fuzz, which was recorded in Brooklyn's BC Studio with longtime co-producer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans, Angels of Light, etc.) and released in 2006. Both Three Sisters and Fuzz were released by Giffen's Howler Records, but this newly invigorated band has come home to roost in the belfry at Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles (this is also Alternative Tentacles' 30th anniversary, making for even more auspicious marketing congruence). The band's eclectic mixture of hard rock and post-punk has not diluted in its time away. Mining the veins of other damaged psychedelic pop music, mid-tempo rockers such as "Mrs. Carradine" sound like a drunken Peter Murphy and "Prog Jenny" recalls "Hurdy Gurdy Man" filtered through the odd-metered, melodic Donut lens. Alice Donut's lyrics take on what they view as the perversities, odd details, and petty humiliations of life. Their lyrical subject matter focuses...

16 Horsepower

Secret South

Alternative Tentacles

16 Horsepower looms large in the Alternative Tentacles catalog, and over the entire alt-Americana musical landscape. Secret South is a cornerstone to this Denver band’s legacy, their first indie outing after departing A&M, recorded at Hamilton Glory Lodge outside Blue River, Colorado, in 2000. This album has long been out of print in America (originally released on Razor and Tie) and only available on vinyl in a very limited edition in Europe through Glitterhouse. As rural gothic goes, one cannot do much better than David Eugene Edwards and company, with their use of acoustic old-time instruments mixed with the impassioned vocals and fire-and-brimstone lyrics (excepting a cover of Dylan’s “Nobody ’Cept You”). Additional surround-sound mix of the album by producer Bob Ferbrache (Blood Axis, Soul Merchants) for this release is included on the DVD-audio format for both the 180-gram black vinyl LP and the CD. “... the result is a forlorn dustbowl saloon bar where Nick Cave woefully sinks bourbons with The Gun Club only moments after a loved one’s funeral parade.... The objective was to make a fucking brilliant album where the mood is king, the delivery is queen, and studied modern coolness is a jester that’s one misplaced quip away from being the lion’s breakfast. And, of course, they’ve succeeded.” —NME (9/10 rating)  “In just two songs, then, only one of them original, 16 Horsepower has made good on its promise of a “secret South,” and well before Edwards has gotten around to sticking the phrase in...

Turn Me On Dead Man

Sunshine Suicide

Alternative Tentacles

Those enamored of guitar solos, psychedelic heaviness, and songwriting chops may have already heard Turn Me On Dead Man's two previous Alternative Tentacles releases, God Bless the Electric Freak (Virus340) and Technicolor Mother (Virus362). They return to the Alternative Tentacles fold with their latest salvo at rock godhead, Sunshine Suicide. Sunshine Suicide was recorded over a span of two plus years at four different studios. Nick Doom's addition as guitarist leads to the twin guitar harmonies with mastermind Mykill Ziggy. Waves of heavy rock pound earholes and bend sonic antennae set to Smashing Pumpkins frequencies. Though they have always aimed to please heavy music fans, melodic hooks embed where no other band dares plant the flag.  Exploring themes they've done in the past - escapism, apocalypse, mysticism, and lust - TMODM delve further into "pop" or their conception of it. There are transitional pieces including the sitar "Vitamin Om" and acoustic meandering of "Ink Blot Butterflies". Chris Lyman of Giant Squid keeps the pace across the album, "Blue Dreamy, Amber Waves" gets into prog exploration before settling in to the riff-tastic mode. Jello Biafra even makes a quest appearance on 'Olympus Mons (Jello Shit-Storm Mix)'.  Like an aural flea market, re-tooling the past in a mystic tent, TMODM offers nuggets of glory for those seeking surprise.  Personnel: Mykill Ziggy Nick Doom Chris Lyman Kurt Statham Scott Shanks

Burning Image

Fantasma

Alternative Tentacles

Bakersfield's deathrock originators Burning Image was subject to an Alternative Tentacles "Reissue of Necessity" treatment with the CD collection 1983-1987.  Fantasma, their first new album in more than 20 years, was fuelled by the gloom and doom of life during wartime and global economic meltdown, arguably the best time for dark music to emerge. The record features ten songs birthed in this new world of pain--a return to form from "the band that refused to die."  "They pricked up my ears when I first heard them in '84, toward the tail-end of my involvement with Maximum Rocknroll radio. Hardcore ruled, so more and more of what we got in was pretty generic.... The one time MRR played a demo of 'Final Conflict,' I was floored. I had to hear more, they obliged--not one weak track on the whole tape. I then invited them up to San Francisco to open for Dead Kennedys, the Butthole Surfers, and MIA. They brought their own cobwebs and played their own sound. No one in California was doing quite what they were.  "Then as quickly as they appeared, they were gone. People who chanced on the 7-inch over the years, with its near-Amebix/Peni-caliber artwork, were left wondering, 'Who were these guys?'   "In England they might have fit right in with the Bat Cave scene. It wasn't called Goth quite yet; the British music press had the gall to call it 'positive punk.' What drew me to Burning Image was they had the punk teeth most of the Bat...

Witch Hunt

Burning Bridges To Nowhere

Alternative Tentacles

Witch Hunt have joined the ranks of the Bat with their third and finest full-length yet. Formed in 2001 as a New Jersey trio, the band soon moved their brand of aggressive punk to Philadelphia where they expanded their lineup to a four-piece and have continued to evolve their sound as abilities caught up to ideas. That progression is evident in their Alternative Tentacles debut, Burning Bridges to Nowhere, which blends the primal rage of hardcore, the melodic sense of Husker Du, and the moodiness of UK peace-punk into an album that will leave genre-purists scratching their heads and have all fans of hardcore punk walking and rocking together a little more often. Fans of Alternative Tentacles' BlackNoise imprint and groups like I Object, Nausea, and even Disaster Strikes will love this, but anyone into melodic punk with screaming female vocals will also dig it. The LP includes an insert and a printed inner sleeve, and the CD comes in a handsome multi-panel digipack.

Butthole Surfers

Brown Reason To Live

Alternative Tentacles

***Re-pressed on vinyl!!! This is where it all began for these acid casualty reality trippers. Brown Reason To Live is their very first release; it came out in 1983. Here it is on vintage thick wax. 12" vinyl, 7-song ep- their first classic slab o' wax, and still as crazed and lysergic as ever!  P.S.- And the answer to the timeless question, "what speed is this meant to be played on?" It's meant to be played at 69 rpm, of course! (But if your turntable doesn't have a "69" setting, try it on 45 instead.)  "'I am the ultimate god!' followed by the sounds of a man nearly breaking down in tears- it's one of the most emotional and honest moments in rock history. Oddly enough it's at the end of a song called 'The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave' off of the superb Butthole Surfers debut EP 'Brown Reason To Live.' It's that accidental shift from extreme bravado to mournful regret that most bands only dream of pulling off, and it's all courtesy of some of America's most drug-addled pranksters. The following 6 tracks put experimental punk on the map. No one was quite sure what to make of it. Was it psychedelia, was it punk rock, or was it just crap? But everyone was certain that it was nothing like anything else. Insane, but not cheesy, lyrics that sounded passionate while the music sometimes grooved, rocked, irritated, or just became noise... this sounds...

Pansy Division

Life In A Gay Rock Band

Alternative Tentacles

Alternative Tentacles proudly presents the DVD release of the documentary Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band by director Michael Carmona. Undeniably one of the most gay music acts in the last twenty years, Pansy Division pioneered queercore before others had the confidence to come out of the closet--and they did it all without major record label support or mainstream radio airplay. This humorous and fast-paced yet intimate portrait of the band features newly shot footage and archival footage spanning 15 years.  From their first days in San Francisco's underground music scene to a full-fledged stadium tour with Green Day and beyond, founding members Jon Ginoli and Chris Freeman overcame prejudice, near-poverty, and increasingly difficult line-up changes to keep the band together. The film also examines issues that confronted the gay community in the 1990s, as well as the adversity one encounters simply by being oneself.  Pansy Division: Life in a Gay Rock Band features interviews and appearances by Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Jello Biafra, Lookout! Records founder Larry Livermore, and Jessie "Luscious" Townley (Blatz, The Criminals, Alternative Tentacles). This documentary provides an essential history of an alternative to the 1990s alternative music. The release comes with a bonus DVD of more than two hours of live footage spanning the history of the band.  "[A] docu whose prankish DIY charms reflect the spirit of its subject." --Denis Harvey, Variety

Pansy Division

That’s So Gay

Alternative Tentacles

With Rick Warren and Proposition 8 making recent headlines, many probably thought, "Pansy Division, we need you!!" Worry not, friends: they're back with That's So Gay, their first new album in six years. Featuring a newish lineup bolstered by former Mr. T Experience bassist (and token hetero) Joel Reader on lead guitar, they've given their Undertones / Buzzcocks-inspired pop punk / power pop a few fresh twists.  While so many bands choose monotony over variety, That's So Gay is an all-you-can-eat rock buffet: take your pick from garage to punk, power pop to glam, and of course, balls-out rock. The humor and in-your-face queer content that put Pansy Division on the radar are in abundance, but songs about relationships, Bible-thumpers, and closeted politicians cruising airport bathrooms round out the album. In the interest of equal representation, Reader contributes a song about being a straight guy in a gay band ("Some of My Best Friends") and on "Average Men," about trying to avoid getting beaten up by rednecks, Jello Biafra contributes as co-lead vocalist. A series of webisode videos based on some songs will materialize on YouTube and the band's website around the release date.

Phantom Limbs

Accept The Juice / Whole Loto Love

Alternative Tentacles

When the Phantom Limbs disbanded in 2004, the Bay Area music scene lost a truly strange and marvelous spectacle. Often drawing comparisons to The Screamers or Christian Death as well as Gilbert and Sullivan and Kurt Weill, the Limbs carved out a curious place in punk with their carny organ-infused no wave deathrock.  Their sound stood out, sure, but their live spectacle was an integral piece of the Phantom Limbs experience. Singer Loto Ball (nee Ryan Hopeless) was something of a punk rock Artaud, encouraging involuntary audience participation by handcuffing himself to show-goers, hocking fake gold watches, or just covering himself in greasepaint that inevitably rubbed off on the crowd.   Accept the Juice / Whole Loto Love is two releases in one double-digipak. Accept the Juice collects the Phantom Limbs' odds and ends: tracks from out-of-print EPs (including the split with Fleshies), live tracks, and other rarities from between 1999 and 2002. Whole Loto Love includes one hour of live videos from shows in Oakland, Portland, Germany, and Poland, along with 40 minutes of interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and more.  "Awesome East Bay band ... new wave Rudimentary Peni ... the dance infection hit." --Maximum Rocknroll   "A new wave circus: a hurdy-gurdy with a really strange singer." --East Bay Express

Pansy Division (w/ Jello Biafra)

Average Men

Alternative Tentacles

A brand new 7" release, Pansy Division's first new material in 6 years.  The A-side, "Average Men," features a vocal "duet" with Jello Biafra, and is a highlight from Pansy Division's forthcoming album That's So Gay.  The B-side has PD covering the Green Day song "Coming Clean." It's been a favorite of the band since the mid '90s, when Pansy Division opened Green Day's first arena tour. The B-side is not included on the new album.

Blatz / Filth

Shit Split

Alternative Tentacles

Re-pressed on vinyl!! Has been OOP since 2014! New price. Originally released in 1991 by Lookout! Records, the Shit Split reached many a punk rocker, inspiring a legion of kids to fuck shit up! And now, after being unavailable for 18 months, this classic is back in print thanks to the granddaddy of all US punk labels, Alternative Tentacles.  Blatz and Filth exploded out of the East Bay scene at 924 Gilman Street, home to Operation Ivy, Green Day, Crimpshrine, Rancid, Jawbreaker, and hundreds more. Blatz (featuring past and future members of The Gr'ups, The Criminals, Dead and Gone, and Subincision) took a raucous, slightly more melodic sound mashed with hair-raising female/male vocals, while Filth (formed out of the ashes of Isocracy, The Vagrants, and Crimpshrine) featured razor-gargling vocals over super punk guitars. Both bands lived the life of chaos and disorder, getting arrested for nakedness or being assaulted by brick-wielding suburban tweakers. Somehow, in the studio, the two groups harnessed the destructive power of their live shows (and lives), producing a classic slab of pure East Bay punk fucking rock! Both bands live on in spirit today, if the countless patches still worn by mohicans and crusties around the world are any indication.  The LP contains the original version of the Shit Split: eight songs from Blatz, including their signature "Fuk Shit Up" and a cover of Fear's "I Don't Care About You," and seven songs from Filth, including "Scarred for Life" and their...

Biafra, Jello With Nomeansno

The Sky Is Falling And I Want My Mommy

Alternative Tentacles

** Back In Print On Vinyl After Being Out Of Print For Over 5 Years *** A match made in Canada! Eight songs inspired by the Terminal City sessions, including an alternate version of "Falling Space Junk." Also features "Bad," "Sharks in the Gene Pool" and "Chew." Released originally in 1991! Vinyl now comes with Digital Download Code!

Crucifucks

Our Will Be Done

Alternative Tentacles

Subhumans

Death Was Too Kind

Alternative Tentacles

***AVAILABLE AGAIN ON VINYL!!!  Subhumans and DOA were the two pillars of the Vancouver, BC, Canada punk scene who caught Jello Biafra's attention and were spotlighted in the landmark Alternative Tentacles compilation Let Them Eat Jellybeans. The Subhumans, first active between 1978 and 1982, were the more elusive of the two, with many out-of-print releases fetching bank on eBay and making it difficult for present-day fans to connect the dots.  Now, the Subhumans join the Alternative Tentacles "Reissues of Necessity" pantheon with Death Was Too Kind, a collection of material from the early years, lovingly remastered from original source material: the very first single Death to the Sickoids (only 500 were pressed); the Firing Squad single; the self-titled EP produced by Bob Rock, who went on to work with Metallica, The Cult, Offspring, etc.; "Look at the Dawn" and "Pissed Off... With Good Reason," two virtually lost songs (only available on the 1996 collection CD released by Essential Noise in Canada), especially remastered for this reissue from the original tapes by Jesse Gander at Hive Studios. Death Was Too Kind features the band's best-known lineup with Wimpy Roy, Gerry Useless, Mike Graham, Dimwit, and Jim Imagawa.

Grady

Y U So Shady

Alternative Tentacles

Yee haw! Southern swamp blues-rock mayhem with paint-peeling slide guitar like you've never heard, Grady from Austin, TX is a razor-sharp power trio fronted by guitar master Gordie Johnson who counts gold and platinum records on his wall from his stint in Toronto, Canada with Big Sugar. With picks on all his fingers, he rips the strings, loud as hell, through a little Fender amp for pedal steel guitars. Grady has a fiercer, more direct sound than his previous band--a perfect fit for Alternative Tentacles.  Following Big Sugar's demise, Johnson unplugged from the music industry, heading south with longtime sidekick Big Ben Richardson to live as a rancher in Texas, but the siren call of music was much too persistent: he's now one of the chief engineers at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studios with production credits that include Gov't Mule, Reel Big Fish, Black Crowes (who asked him to join the band), and Nashville Pussy.  In the past, Grady shared the stage with the likes of Rev. Horton Heat and Alejandro Escovedo. In August 2008, they head out with Nebula, the only band that would fit well with both the Reverend and High on Fire or Mastodon. Y U So Shady is a re-release of the band's self-released debut, a demo recording that became an accidental hit in Austin as fans began calling radio stations and record stores requesting songs and asking for the disc. It's been remixed by Johnson and re-sequenced by Jello Biafra.  "The soundtrack to...