Scat

Easter Monkeys

Splendor of Sorrow

Scat

Recorded 1983 by Charlie Watts at Soundstage 25 in Cleveland. Tracks 1-9 originally released in defferent mixes on LP in 1990 by Hit and Run Records (the mixes here are the originals). Track 10 recorded by Mike Crossen for Terminal Records' Cleveland Confidential comp LP. Tracks 11-15 first issued on CD by Smog Veil in 2009.

Guided By Voices

Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia

Scat

***ON LIMITED CLEAR YELLOW VINYL!!! Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia was Guided By Voices’ third album, self-released by the band in 1988 in a pressing of 500. While both of the band’s earlier albums exhibit strong songwriting and plenty of vision, it is here that the GBV sound really begins to coalesce. While Devil Between My Toes is rife with contrasts, variety, and dark psychedelia, and its follow up Sandbox is a cohesive ’60s-influenced affair, Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia marries the two approaches to outstanding effect. Unsurprisingly, recording began before Sandbox was even done pressing. These sessions would yield an aborted LP titled Learning To Hunt, but after personnel changes and second thoughts, Robert Pollard shelved most of the tracks, dismissing them as too similar to those on Sandbox. Fair enough, as many of Pollard’s more recent songs were simply on another level than previously. Here are the first of the classic Pollard slow-burners, often built on a simple melodic or rhythmic figure that circles itself ever outward, accumulating heft, variation, and inevitability as the song evolves into something unexpected yet inevitable. It’s the aural equivalent to watching a butterfly grow out of its cocoon. A few things are unique to this particular LP. Original powerhouse drummer Peyton Eric returns for nearly half the tracks, while engineer and lead guitarist Steve Wilbur shines at his brightest, resulting in some of the most thoroughly rocking GBV songs to ever be cut to lacquer, such as “Earful o’ Wax,” which simply explodes out of...

Electric Eels

Spin Age Blasters

Scat

***ON LIMITED CLEAR WITH BLACK SWIRLS VINYL!!! The electric eels were the first punk band, full stop. They may not have “started” the genre, but they were the first to tick all the boxes. The eels rejected every 1970s rock convention—professionalism, virtuosity, subject matter, image. Dave E.’s caustic vocals, complete with an aggressive lisp and a head full of snot, would become de rigeur a few years after the group disbanded. Meanwhile, the songs’ focus on car crashes, suicide, neuroses, and generally hating people were as far out of the mainstream as possible. The two eels tracks that do approach the subject of romance couch it in terms of not really caring that much about it (“Jaguar Ride”) or placing it in the context of a grisly murder (“Silver Daggers”). Also consider John Morton’s signature guitar sound, a nails-on-chalkboard tone with brutally free soloing inspired more by Albert Ayler than the blues or aspirations to technical facility. Ditto Dave E.’s clarinet playing and affection for lawnmowers and vacuums during live performance. They were notoriously violent not only among themselves, but towards audiences, police, and anyone unfortunate enough to be around them when things went south. Then of course there are the leather jackets, the clothing festooned with rat traps or safety pins. And no bass player, why bother. There is simply no other “proto” band to have had all these pieces in place circa 1973-1975. Yet it is a mistake to consider the eels exclusively in such a context. Yes,...

Dark, The

Dressing The Corpse

Scat

***ON LIMITED CLEAR + BLUE VINYL!!! The Dark were a Cleveland hardcore / deathrock hybrid that in many ways was ground zero for The Guns, Spike in Vain, Knifedance, and several more beyond. For The Dark’s first ever vinyl album Dressing The Corpse, Scat has collected highlights from sessions recorded between 1981 and 1984 that range from savage post-punk (imagine Venom covering Warsaw), to raging exacto-knife thrashers, deathrock, and proto-black metal —there’s even the requisite creepy, atmospheric instrumental to open the album (“Beyond The Ice”)—which is naturally followed by “Fire In The Church.” Then things go other places, the group covered a lot of ground in its two and a half years and were always ahead of the curve. Although the band’s median age ranges from fifteen to seventeen across these recordings, the rhythm section is second to none. The guitar playing is way further afield than most hardcore bands of the era. Namesake vocalist Tom Dark howls like a wolf, and could command a stage like few others. To be fair, the band’s youth does make itself known in some of the lyrics, but otherwise you’d never guess this was just a bunch of kids—it needn’t be graded on a curve. The Dark had auspicious beginnings. They cut their teeth as The Decapitators in 1979, learning to play at the feet of the electric eels, Pagans, Dead Boys, and Cramps. After a year off, the four reformed to play only originals as The Dark, and almost immediately Mike Hudson...

Guided By Voices

Sandbox

Scat

***ON LIMITED GLACIAL BLUE VINYL!!! Even back in 1987, Guided By Voices was not content to release just one album in a year—Sandbox was released in the summer of that year following Devil Between My Toes’ appearance that February. Likewise, in similar GBV style, the sound and approach of the two albums could not be more different. Where Devil mostly mines a darker, lo-fi psychedia, along with several instrumental explorations, Sandbox is sunny, direct, has a bigger, crunchier sound, and zero instrumentals. Where Devil has a murky and impressionistic black and white photo of a rooster for a cover, Sandbox sports a full color photo of the band relaxing on a lawn on a sunny day. Let’s also recall that unlike today, in 1987 a full-color album jacket wasn’t just a little more expensive than a black and white one, it was way more expensive. Right up front, the band was communicating that this was a more commercially ambitious endeavor, while behind the scenes they rented better gear for a bigger sound, and tackled more sophisticated arrangements and honed in on the hooks and harmonies of the songs. Of all the band’s early self-released albums, Sandbox differs the most from the sound fans would later associate with the group, which is in itself a recommendation. Nowhere else will you hear the perfectly rendered three-part harmonies of “Long Distance Man,” direct Beatles quotes, or Robert Pollard reveling in his southern Ohio drawl. It’s also true that one of the more enjoyable...

My Dad Is Dead

Pow!

Scat

Here one has a reissue of a My Dad Is Dead record that never was. Recorded shortly after Peace, Love & Murder, The Pow! EP was intended to be released in the summer of 1987 on Cleveland’s St. Valetine Records, but that never quite happened. Newly signed to NYC’s Homestead Records, it was resolved that the tracks could find a home there, and they were later issued on The Best Defense outtakes compilation on that label. Now, thirty-seven years on, the EP as originally intended is being released. Like its predecessors, Pow! is an isolationist post-punk affair with Mark Edwards performing all musical duties. Pow! features three strong tracks in stunning 45RPM sound, or maybe one should just say it’s really freaking loud and sounds better than the last time around. First is a reprise of “Anti-Socialist,” a highlight from the 1985 debut album. But this is not a mere re-recording, but a new arrangement of the song with additional sections and lyrics, and a more aggressive feel with unmistakable undertones of violence (“I wanna fix ’em with my bare hands”). On the flip is the haunting “In the Morning,” in some ways a foreshadowing of the murderess later meet on “Nothing Special.” Wrapping things up is the instrumental “The Best Defense,” which is about as spritely and engaging as Mr Edwards gets during this era.

My Dad Is Dead

Peace, Love & Murder

Scat

***AVAILABLE ON LIMITED NATURAL PVC W/BLACK SWIRL VINYL!!! Peace, Love & Murder was the second album by Cleveland’s My Dad Is Dead, originally released in 1987 by Boston’s Birth Records. Like the debut, ...And He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore, Mark Edwards wrote and performed all the music on his own. While not a significant departure from that album, Peace, Love & Murder does differ from its predecessor and has some qualities that make it unique in the voluminous MDID discography. While combining live drums with drum machine is a hallmark of the MDID style, on this album Edwards introduced the Roland TR-505 into the mix, and in a bold move recorded the live drums first, which had the effect of making the rhythm tracks feel a bit more organic despite the presence, and occasionally the prominence, of the TR-505. Modal guitar tunings remain de rigeur here, but Edwards’ abilities as a guitarist display a marked increase in proficiency and imagination. While the debut album sprawls a bit, PLM is a tight and focused ten song set, buoyed by a more impactful production job by Chris Burgess. Just as the debut album had a few lighter (or at least slightly less grim) songs, so does this album, but here they shine with a bit more pop sparkle. “Babe In The Woods” and “Hill O’ Beans” would go on to be fan favorites for many years, as would the utterly harrowing unstoppable bulldozer that is “Like A Vise.” All these years...

Spike In Vain

Jesus Was Born In A Mobile Home [Expanded Edition]

Scat

Ready for some more racket from the titans of the tritone? The deans of decay? The earls of entropy? Until recently it was unknown how prolific Cleveland’s Spike In Vain were in their three year run, roughly Fall 1982 through Fall 1985. Had all the group’s songs been recorded, they would’ve filled five LPs handily. While only the debut album Disease Is Relative, compilation appearances, and a virtually unknown cassette were issued during their run, 2021 saw the band’s unreleased second album Death Drives A Cadillac pulled out from its secret lair, and 2023 will see the release of the Jesus Was Born In A Mobile Home cassette via this much expanded double vinyl edition. Upping the original’s twelve track program with an additional fifteen unreleased or rare tracks, this compilation provides a panoramic view of this mercurial, many-headed beast of absurdity, discord, and death. This release is loaded with surprises for even die-hard fans. Among other highlights, there’s a nine minute version of “Opus.” While the recording on Disease Is Relative is essentially three short songs smushed together, this later live version doubles that, with all new material seamlessly tacked onto the original. “Winter’s Black Hand” is a shocking outtake from the second album with the same insane, harrowing quality as “Children In The Subway.” There’s a 1982 rehearsal recording of “Tenement Housing,” the closest the band ever came to a straight up punk song. Or the rambling, shambling, and devastating “Drunk And Ugly Soul Food (As I Understand...

My Dad Is Dead

...and He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore

Scat

Originally released in 1986, the debut album by My Dad Is Dead is remarkable not only for its strong and varied material, but also how the aesthetic of MDID’s music was fully formed and instantly recognizable from the git-go. Here are the open modal guitar tunings, the primitive drum machine paired with live drums, the complete rejection of the pentatonic scale and related 1970s guitar techniques, and the dry, journalistic language that brings a distanced, subdued pathos to the harrowing characters and their situations. Few artists who traffic in the darker realms of the human condition do so without some degree of melodrama; Mark Edwards’s penchant for understatement and distance brings even more gravity and impact to these songs of lost souls in a dying city. All these qualities would become hallmarks of the My Dad Is Dead sound for years to come. Like Edwards’s next few albums, ...And He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore was performed and written entirely by himself, which only deepens the feeling of isolation that permeates the album.  This 2021 reissue was remastered by John Golden Sr. and is a huge sonic improvement over the original pressing and early ’90s European editions. Best of all, it includes an entire bonus LP of rare 1985 recordings that were only issued on cassette at the time. These are raw, primitive 4-track recordings that ooze with post-industrial Cleveland malaise. They include nine previously unnreleased songs, and early versions of four songs that were re-recorded for the album....

My Dad Is Dead

(color) ...and He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore

Scat

Originally released in 1986, the debut album by My Dad Is Dead is remarkable not only for its strong and varied material, but also how the aesthetic of MDID’s music was fully formed and instantly recognizable from the git-go. Here are the open modal guitar tunings, the primitive drum machine paired with live drums, the complete rejection of the pentatonic scale and related 1970s guitar techniques, and the dry, journalistic language that brings a distanced, subdued pathos to the harrowing characters and their situations. Few artists who traffic in the darker realms of the human condition do so without some degree of melodrama; Mark Edwards’s penchant for understatement and distance brings even more gravity and impact to these songs of lost souls in a dying city. All these qualities would become hallmarks of the My Dad Is Dead sound for years to come. Like Edwards’s next few albums, ...And He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore was performed and written entirely by himself, which only deepens the feeling of isolation that permeates the album.  This 2021 reissue was remastered by John Golden Sr. and is a huge sonic improvement over the original pressing and early ’90s European editions. Best of all, it includes an entire bonus LP of rare 1985 recordings that were only issued on cassette at the time. These are raw, primitive 4-track recordings that ooze with post-industrial Cleveland malaise. They include nine previously unnreleased songs, and early versions of four songs that were re-recorded for the album....

Outerwear

The Outerwear Limits

Scat

Outerwear were a more primitive, less ambitious offshoot of Cleveland's Spike in Vain, which means the rhythm section was so crappy that simple songs were a necessity and they took an inordinate amount of pride in just badly they sucked. In fact, sucking was so much the point that once the band had become "kind of good," they mummified themselves in gauze  at their final shows so their hands couldn't function nor could they see their instruments. This, along with painfully long versions of their slowest songs were enough to drive more than 200+ audience members from a hall show when opening for Social Unrest. Perhaps Outerwear's finest moment, aside from the day they were somehow allowed into a recording studio to record their 1983 cassette album, The Outerwear Limits, which against all odds, is fairly compelling. Given that Chris Marec of Spike in Vain sang, played guitar, and wrote all the songs, there's six string insanity in spades, and the morbid tales of amateur coroners and being buried alive somehow contain genuine hooks. Yes, you will find yourself singing along to "Bloody Toilet Paper," banging your head to "Fountain of Scuz," and then scratching it as you puzzle through the backwards guitar and trombone of "Piss II." But wait, there's more! Power tools! Tuba! Cello solos! Or how about the absolute worst version of the Ohio Players' "Fire" ever recorded by man? Amateur home lobotomy may become an attractive new hobby, because you'll want to remove the parts of...

Spike In Vain

Jesus Was Born In A Mobile Home

Scat

Jesus Was Born in a Mobile Home, a cassette release from the fall of 1984, represents Spike in Vain's first attempt at a second album. Recorded shortly after the release of Disease Is Relative in January 1984, the original group returned to The Island and laid down tracks for nine songs, with a focus on the band's earliest material. Most of these songs were written before those that appeared on the debut album, so the tape functions as a prequel to the debut even though it was recorded afterwards. Some of the tracks have a more traditional hardcore approach than the first album, but there is still the trademark coloring outside the lines for which the group is known. And of course it's mostly quite dark, with the majority of songs addressing death or paralyzing fear. Not long after recording basic tracks, drummer Bruce Allen announced his plans to cut ties and focus on his own group. It was decided to quickly finish the recordings anyway, release them on cassette, and try again later when another drummer was found. Since one of the songs was rejected and the rest only added up to 20 minutes, it was decided to include additional random material to fill out the tape. But what glorious "filler" that turned out to be! There's the very first performance of "Ugly and Damaged" from the band's first gig in early 1983. And "Love Isn't Hollow" from a 1981 rehearsal tape featuring Bruce completely shredding on guitar, the...

Spike In Vain

(color) Disease Is Relative

Scat

The cover art by the band’s Chris Marec tells nearly everything one needs to know about this album: a misshapen, CHUD-like figure wanders in a graveyard bearing a cross, while a mutated fish flops in a polluted ditch and a clutch of factories belch their smoke above it all. The message of the illustration is not to frighten or warn, but to celebrate and admire.Originally released in January of 1984, Disease Is Relative is an unapologetic and wholesale embrace of death, disease, and dystopia, with liberal doses of absurdism and an unrelenting devotion to anything unexpected, chromatic, or evil sounding. Sporting influences as diverse as no wave, death rock, funk, post-punk, hardcore, metal, and prog rock, this music somehow happened in the midst of a first wave hardcore scene, before there was a “post-” to be “post” of. Less surprising is that this happened in Cleveland, which also inspired a desire to recreate the feeling of the city’s post-industrial desolation in sound. There’s also some epic screaming and crazy guitar playing.The album features three songwriters (brothers Andrew & Chris Marec, Robert Griffin), who also divide guitar, bass, and vocals equally between themselves here. Drummer Bruce Allen is the secret weapon, and provides a clue to what a young Bill Bruford might have done in a band like this. And yet, beyond all odds, the end result is cohesive, cathartic, and utterly idiomatic. The distinct vibe of the album, and its sheer quantity of killer riffs, songs and performances have made...

Guided By Voices

(color) Propeller

Scat

Propeller was the fifth album by Guided By Voices, and was intended to be the group’s last. Released as a limited edition of 500 LPs in 1992, the album featured handmade covers and blank labels to keep expenses as low as possible. Their other albums hadn’t sold much, why would this one? Robert Pollard had a family to support and his musical aspirations had not exactly been a boon to their bank account.As fate would have it, the band wound up releasing an album chock full of gems Pollard had stockpiled, and for the first time sounded distinctly like the band that fans have since come to love. Propeller also marks the return of Tobin Sprout to the GBV fold, along with an increased songwriting presence. From anthem-to-be “Over the Neptune” to the effortless melodies of closer “On the Tundra,” Propeller is a hell of a ride, and remains one of the most important albums in the band’s discography.The vinyl edition has been out of print for a decade, and features different cover art than previous pressings. The CD edition has been out of print for a minute as well, and is now housed in digipak format, also with a new, unique cover from one of the original pressings. And for the first time Propeller is available on cassette.

Spike In Vain

Death Drives A Cadillac

Scat

Death Drives A Cadillac was Spike In Vain’s second album, never officially released and unheard in its final form until now. Like many hardcore bands circa ’84 and ’85, the group was ready to further expand its palette and ease off the thrash tempos. Recorded roughly a year after Disease Is Relative with a bigger budget,  the album is even more wide-ranging, and the songs are more fleshed out.“Despair grew inside her, I grew inside her. She named me Spirit Death, and this is my song” sings Chris Marec, the vocalist on half of this LP. Though less “young” than their debut, that album’s darkness lingers, but here has a more removed, observational quality, with many songs sung in character or in the third person, along with a tendency for anthropomorphic allegory. It has a bit less to do with screaming for death to come than with a growing resignation to being the other, a recognition of inescapable alienation and its relation to childhood trauma. —all with a heaping side of absurdity and a sense of wonder at the gradually unfolding endtimes.That said, many of the tracks wouldn’t be out of place on the debut, and some feature exotic tunings. Bits of roots music come into play as well—gospel, blues, and country figure to some extent in a third of the songs, sometimes in convoluted, Beefheart-esque ways, and at other times toying with genre archetypes as a cat does a mouse.

Spike In Vain

Disease Is Relative

Scat

The cover art by the band’s Chris Marec tells nearly everything one needs to know about this album: a misshapen, CHUD-like figure wanders in a graveyard bearing a cross, while a mutated fish flops in a polluted ditch and a clutch of factories belch their smoke above it all. The message of the illustration is not to frighten or warn, but to celebrate and admire.Originally released in January of 1984, Disease Is Relative is an unapologetic and wholesale embrace of death, disease, and dystopia, with liberal doses of absurdism and an unrelenting devotion to anything unexpected, chromatic, or evil sounding. Sporting influences as diverse as no wave, death rock, funk, post-punk, hardcore, metal, and prog rock, this music somehow happened in the midst of a first wave hardcore scene, before there was a “post-” to be “post” of. Less surprising is that this happened in Cleveland, which also inspired a desire to recreate the feeling of the city’s post-industrial desolation in sound. There’s also some epic screaming and crazy guitar playing.The album features three songwriters (brothers Andrew & Chris Marec, Robert Griffin), who also divide guitar, bass, and vocals equally between themselves here. Drummer Bruce Allen is the secret weapon, and provides a clue to what a young Bill Bruford might have done in a band like this. And yet, beyond all odds, the end result is cohesive, cathartic, and utterly idiomatic. The distinct vibe of the album, and its sheer quantity of killer riffs, songs and performances have made...

Prisonshake

Always Almost There Vol. 1

Scat

Always Almost There documents the original lineup of Cleveland, Ohio's Prisonshake, drawing from the dozen or so singles, EPs, compilations, and import-only albums released between 1987 and 1992. Volume 1 focuses mostly on the group's vicious, high-energy rock and roll, answering the question, "What if the Faces had learned to play in hardcore bands?" along with a good amount of genre-bending and a healthy dose of zero-fucks-to-give. The majority of tracks have been remastered from the original tapes.

Prisonshake

Always Almost There Vol. 2

Scat

Always Almost There documents the original lineup of Cleveland, Ohio's Prisonshake, drawing from the dozen or so singles, EPs, compilations, and import-only albums released between 1987 and 1992. Volume 2 hews closer to the band's more delicate, introspective side, but not exclusively so. The majority of tracks have been remastered from the original tapes.

Fox, Bill

Shelter From The Smoke

Scat

Scat Records offers up a definitive edition of Bill Fox's debut solo disc, Shelter from the Smoke, back in print after more than half a decade. Originally self-released in 1997 and reissued the following year by SpinArt, both previous versions featured different tracklists. This edition includes all songs from both versions, as well as the two tracks from a scarce 1996 Scat 7-inch. This reissue also marks the first time the album has been pressed on vinyl. Fox began his musical journey in early 1980s Cleveland with The Mice, who fused punk energy with British-Invasion-style songwriting and harmonies. He infamously dissolved the group on the eve of a European tour, then dropped out of the scene altogether, with an unfinished Mice LP in the can. In the early '90s, he began a series of home recordings which revealed a growing preference for acoustically based music, and formed the basis for Shelter from the Smoke as well as the follow-up Transit Byzantium (scheduled for a similar reissue treatment next year). Shelter also includes four electric tracks recorded with Fox's short-lived band The Radio Flyers. After a 1998 tour, Fox once again dropped out of music. Now he is performing again. For how long, nobody knows. Fox is one of those rare musicians who really does not enjoy the limelight, even declining an interview with Joe Hagan of The Believer, who went so far as to fly to Cleveland in hopes of meeting him. That and his refusal to "be on the...

Fox, Bill

Transit Byzantium

Scat

These newly remastered editions of Bill Fox’s second album are the first since its 1998 release, including the first-ever vinyl pressing. Listeners will hear a wider soundstage, more detail, and improved listenability. Recorded on 4-track cassette, the fidelity belies the sophistication and nuance of the songwriting, This adept remaster by John Golden Sr helps bring definition to the intimate, at-home feel of the album. It sparkles. Very similar in feel and quality to Fox’s debut album, much of Transit Byzantium draws from the same group of recordings. It has the same feel of musical inevitability, that the songs exist beyond time itself, their eventual manifestation guaranteed by Apollo. He could’ve given them to the Everly Brothers, or the Byrds, or the Who, but instead they were channeled through an everyman from Cleveland with an aversion to the limelight. And while a traditional folk influence colors several songs, even those possess the indelible stamp of Fox’s charismatic voice and personality. Although nearly entirely acoustic and with minimal percussion, these eighteen songs cycle through a remarkable variety of textures and moods. While much has quite rightly been written about the god-tier songwriting here (“Song of a Drunken Nightingale,” “My Baby Crying,” “I’ll Give It Away” for starters), it should also be noted that this is a guitar player’s record, though more in terms of conception than flash. Lines of harmony and counterpoint wander between parts, sublime in their invention though sometimes crudely documented.

Cobra Verde

Haven’t Slept All Year

Scat

Cobra Verde is back with their first original studio disc in five years. Haven't Slept All Year rolls out twelve songs and enough sounds to span four decades of rock--power-pop with monster riffs, bubblegum hooks, analogue synths, and whomp-and-stomp beats.   The band entered the studio soon after releasing their 2003 powerhouse, Easy Listening. It proved to be Cobra Verde's most successful disc to date, spawned three US tours and inspired raves, smiles, bloodshot eyes, and drunken stupors across the country.   One problem. When prepared to record the follow-up, they didn't want to do what so many bands would: repeat themselves and devolve into formula. So they recorded a covers disc--Copycat Killers (Scat, 2005)--and used songs such as "Get the Party Started" or "Play With Fire" as guinea pigs to explore new sounds and styles. Little did they know that what started as an experiment would also lead them to recording a cover of Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You" for The O.C. as well as an appearance on the show.   The experiment eventually led to their latest, Haven't Slept All Year, all over the map in terms of sound and style. It opens with a badass riff, then detours into wounded singalongs, glittery pop, blue moods, and raging, glorious rock. And yet it never loses its way: it's idiosyncratic and identifiable as only Cobra Verde can be.

Prisonshake

Dirty Moons

Scat

It finally happened--Prisonshake has completed their long-threatened double-album, Dirty Moons. An underground rock Chinese Democracy, maybe, but with less drama and way less money. Guitarist Robert Griffin founded the Scat label in 1989 for Prisonshake, and to some extent it has continued to exist in hopes of releasing this album. These recordings, all but one done entirely in the analog domain between 1995 to 2007, encompass both realism and psychedelia, sometimes via tape manipulation and found sound. Performances range from the completely live (even vocals) to near Bob Ezrin-levels of production, but all have an everybody-in-the-room recording at their core.  Right off the bat, one can't help but notice the guitars. This is a shameless rock 'n' roll album, where guitar solos, passion, swing, and fingertips are celebrated. Prisonshake are native speakers of rock language and have done it long enough to have their own dialect, both in terms of the individuals' playing voices and in terms of songwriting and arrangements. The group is also blessed with the sublime talents of principal vocalist and lyricist Doug Enkler, who has a rare knack for putting words to ambiguous human moments (when he isn't being a smartass), and who can hit emotional chords without being confessional or lovesick.  But make no mistake, Dirty Moons aims to stimulate all chakras with its orgy of ripping guitars, beautiful losers, and inbred songs, grown in the dark--like mold when no one was watching. Conflict is always present in the songs, sometimes even between...

Prisonshake

The Nice Price

Scat

Budget-priced teaser 7-inch for next spring's Dirty Moons double album, for which recording began in 1995! This is the group's first new release in 10 years. Maximum R&R that straddles all sub-genres while informed by old R&B and plenty of bad attitude.

Finn’s Motel

Escape Velocity

Scat

Escape Velocity is defined as the speed required to leave a body. Sounds cool, but let's be honest: this Escape Velocity is the product of a pushing-forty, married-with-children rocker named Joe Thebeau, his Affton, Missouri basement, some current members of Prisonshake, an abundance of imagination and some formidable songwriting. Finn's Motel draws on classic power pop and prime, midwestern rock (think Cheap Trick or The Replacements) but never sounds formulaic. Escape Velocity is psychedelic without the wah-wah pedals; instead sudden shifts in time and perspective take the music to new places. These songs are dynamic, unpredictable, visionary and stuck-in-your-head-for-days infectious.  Escape Velocity was written, engineered and produced in Thebeau's basement but sounds nothing like a basement recording -- thanks largely to studio savant Adam Schmitt, who mixed most of the tracks.   Expect this to have a higher profile than usual for a Scat release. The label considers it a top priority and will invest in publicity and marketing to a greater extent than ever before. In May and June, a four-song teaser for the album was distributed to fans and people really connected with it. The band will play regularly and this album is sure to be a significant 2006 release.  

Guided By Voices

Propeller

Scat

Note new cover and new price!!! Propeller was the fifth album by Guided By Voices, and was intended to be the group’s last. Released as a limited edition of 500 LPs in 1992, the album featured handmade covers and blank labels to keep expenses as low as possible. Their other albums hadn’t sold much, why would this one? Robert Pollard had a family to support and his musical aspirations had not exactly been a boon to their bank account.As fate would have it, the band wound up releasing an album chock full of gems Pollard had stockpiled, and for the first time sounded distinctly like the band that fans have since come to love. Propeller also marks the return of Tobin Sprout to the GBV fold, along with an increased songwriting presence. From anthem-to-be “Over the Neptune” to the effortless melodies of closer “On the Tundra,” Propeller is a hell of a ride, and remains one of the most important albums in the band’s discography.The vinyl edition has been out of print for a decade, and features different cover art than previous pressings. The CD edition has been out of print for a minute as well, and is now housed in digipak format, also with a new, unique cover from one of the original pressings. And for the first time Propeller is available on cassette.

Cobra Verde

Copycat Killers

Scat

“Play With Fire" was both featured in the HBO series True Blood (season 1 DVD just came out), and it's accompanying soundtrack.  What do you get when you cross Pink with Hawkwind, Brit-pop mopers, post-punk junk, disco spunk, denim and leather, spandex and polyester, fringe and feathers? Good question. Cobra Verde’s Copycat Killers might have the answer with its twelve tunes you’d never hear on a K-Tel comp, let alone during prom night. Their pot-induced rendition of Pink’s “Get the Party Started” starts the party, and the shindig continues with a kraut-rockin’ version of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” and whomp-and-stomp nuggets by the Troggs, Flamin’ Groovies and, uh, New Order. That’s not all (it never is). These Cleveland rock legends Motownify Hawkwind, perform a Bo Diddley-ized upgrade on The Fall, and reimagine the Stones’ “Play With Fire” as a stalker on an answering machine. Cobra Verde will charge across the U.S. in support of this opus, and have already toured relentlessly with the MC5 guys, Mike Watt, Breeders and J. Mascis - all CV fans. (Mascis even plays guitar in the band sometimes.) They’ve been hailed as “the last rock stars,” “pop nihilists,” “glittery rebel rebels” and “a brilliant mix of ‘70s glam, post-punk, heavy pop and balls-out rock” by Magnet, Rolling Stone, FHM, Blender, Playboy, TimeOut, Entertainment Weekly, Village Voice ‘ every place except Soldier of Fortune (and they’re even promising to get on board this time).  • Cleveland rock legends bust out covers of Donna...

Yellow # 5

Demon Crossing

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***A discography for each member of Yellow #5 would run to several pages and include significant contributions to records by Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan, Desert Sessions, earthlings?, Mondo Generator, Modifiers, Kyuss, and many, many others. It would be understandable if you expected a heavy and aggressive rock album from Yellow #5, but that's not the case for the most part.  Demon Crossing is a somewhat conceptual album inspired by the twin moons of a nasty breakup and the desire to musically re-create the atmosphere of The Circle Bar of New Orleans, the city where the group initially formed. In a flush of inspiration, Molly McGuire wrote the songs for the album over the period of a month. To help flesh out the material she enlisted guitarist extraordinaire Dave Catching, with whom she was also playing in Nola punk mainstays The Gnarltones. Not long after, both relocated to the California desert and eventually recorded Demon Crossing with the iconic Brant Bjork on the drums. The material is generally dark, often relaxed, betrays a definite R&B influence, and is suffused with melody, wit, heart and a sophisticated but not flashy musicality. Demon Crossing is a fully realized rock vision that will earn a firm and lasting hold in the hearts of music fans.  

Mice

For Almost Ever Scooter

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***AVAILABLE AGAIN!!! “Bill Fox is a sent-to-us-by-the-pharaohs songwriter, no matter what idiom he chooses, but … he was at his best in The Mice. Here he had other forces (Ken Hall and his brother Tommy) prodding and pushing him along in one way or another.… In particular, Ken and Bill were like a married couple at times, with lots of conversations at elevated volume. But when the dust settled, it worked. And they rocked. When you listen to For Almost Ever (1986), you need to remember that they were very young — especially Tommy, who was 15 at the time we recorded it.… [At] the first day of recording … Bill unveiled his amplifier. I think it was manufactured in Sri Lanka and sold through Woolworths — all five inches of speaker cranker power and six screaming watts of it: I thought we were toast. But it recorded beautifully and is still one of my favorites. And Ken was the pulse of the band, keeping it steady and moving, offering harmonies as if Bill had doubled his voice.… I was hooked.  “Nothing could have prepared me for the second sessions, when we were recording Scooter (1987). We set up and they started playing “Little Rage” as I adjusted levels. This was the kind of song every pop songwriter wished he could have done. From the seamless harmonies to the Badfinger-esque arpeggiated guitar, it was instantly amazing. And it still is.…” —Chris Burgess, album liner notes  “…Bill Fox is...

Speaking Canaries

Get Out Alive: The Last Type Story

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***Multi-instrumentalist Damon Che and pals return with their third LP. Whereas the previous album exploded across two platters, Get Out Alive implodes, applying the ancient military tactic of maximum force. The 40 minutes of music on the album were culled from more than twice that amount of recorded material, and in a few cases were spliced into new arrangements. Although tremendous guitar noise is still to be found, about half the tracks also display a surprising nimbleness in the pop arena. The songwriting isn't traditionally structured, but the melodies are instant and human. Still, this isn't another dreadful Beach Boys rehash; this is a record for fans of the electric guitar. Just as Che's drumming in Don Caballero earned him a reputation as an original voice on that instrument, his guitar playing is just as developed and strikingly expressive (and he does play drums on half the songs, too). Get Out Alive doesn't shy away from the big rock moves, but also creates a world and sound of its own without trying overly hard. So you can hum along to it, play air guitar to it, get baked to it, or just turn it up and let your ears bleed. Or do all those things simultaneously. Those interested in the more noise-oriented aspect of the band are encouraged to check out the Life Like Homes LP, which contains the original long versions of three of the songs, including all 27 glorious minutes of "Last Side of Town" (edited to six...

Guided By Voices

Box

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***The question about The Guided by Voices Box is always, "Is it different than the original?" Yes and no. It contains the same music, still contains five discs, and has pretty much the same art on the slipcase. The art has been redone out of necessity, but any visual changes are minor. Nothing from the original pressing has been lost, aside from poor-quality upside-down scans. The biggest change is a switch from five digipaks to three jewel boxes.   Box compiles the first four Guided By Voices albums, namely Devil Between My Toes, Sandbox, Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia, and Same Place the Fly Got Smashed. Each is different in character, but all are quite recognizably GBV. They were originally released on vinyl only on various invented record labels in pressings of 300 to 1000 copies.   Box also includes a fifth disc, King Shit and the Golden Boys, material on which is an equal division of the best Bee Thousand outtakes and the best tracks from the lost "shit-canned" albums Back to Saturn X and Learning to Hunt.   Includes the complete first four LPs originally self-released between 1987 and 1990, plus a disc of rarities More attractive than the first time around 

4 Coyotes

Float In The Eye

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4 Coyotes

Wishbone Fight

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A Bullet For Fidel

Don't Want Momma To Know

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A Bullet For Fidel

Last Day Of Fall

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A Bullet For Fidel

Lingers And Dies

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Big Trouble House

Bullet For A Bad Man

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Children's Crusade

Scorpio Moon

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Cobra Verde

Leather

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Gem

I Am A Tree

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Jerky

S/t

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