Featured Acts:

17 Pygmies, Abecedarians, Afterimage, Animal Dance, Atila, B People, Beat-E-O’s, Choir Invisible, Christian Death, Danny & the Doorknobs, Dogma Probe, Fibonaccis, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Gleaming Spires, Green on Red, Human Hands, Iron Curtain, Kommunity FK, League of Nations, Life After Death, Martyr Complex, Monitor, Nu Beams, Null And Void, Oingo Boingo, Outer Circle, Perfect Imperfect Circular, Plebs, Rand Kennedy, Savage Republic, Shadow Minstrels, Sparks, Standard Of Living, Steaming Coils, Suburban Lawns, The Squad, Wall Of Voodoo, Wet Picnic, Wild Kingdom, Zolar X.

Suburban Lawns, Janitor 12″ (Suburban Industrial, 1986)

Disk 1

Savage Republic, Tragic Figures (Independent Projects Records,  1982)

Disk 2

So here’s the distillation of my “post-punk” anthology of Southern California bands. I’m having a hard time finding a truly accurate title for the comp, since many of the bands are from the county but from places with very particular scenes, like Pasadena and Long Beach, and a few are from outside of the city altogether (but within a two-hour drive). And to call these “post-punk” bands is not entirely accurate; many of them are “new wave,” “darkwave,” “deathrock,” “art rock,” even something like “freak folk.” Oh well.

Some older bands are included, like Zolar X and Sparks, since they might be the strongest native influences (outside of Zappa or Beefheart and local groups like LAFMS and COMA) and seemed somehow to respond the post-punk/new wave phenomenon. I’ve included early tracks by bands that have gone on to produce hits, like Oingo Boingo and Wall of Voodoo, since they just seemed part of the scene back then and are certainly strange enough (and also more original than a lot of the Devo/Cure/U2 etc imitators that I’ve come across). Some acts, like Missing Persons, Berlin and the Motels, for all their presence on the scene, were quite commercial from the start and are so well known that I’ve skipped them.

Of special note is the first track, by Wild Kingdom, since this is their only studio track and was released as a flexi-disk insert in a short-lived music magazine called No Mag. It’s pretty amazing — I can’t find anything else by them except an appearance on Peter Ivers’ New Wave Theatre which isn’t very good (but you get an introduction to their eccentric drum kit). The band was almost entirely Chicano, and one of the guys even sports an exaggerated Elvis-pompadour.

Other bands I could only find single studio tracks for are Dogma Probe (who also has a great video), the Beat-E-O’s (who kind of remind me of the Homosexuals), and Animal Dance, whose track was retrieved from the Radio Tokyo compilations that appeared in the 80’s. Other live, more dissonant, tracks by Dogma Probe appear on their website.

The groups that managed to record and A and a B-side include the Nu-beams (though an entire live bootleg appears on the net) and the Squad (or “S Squad”) which I retrieved from the CD of the Keats Rides a Harley compilation. Bands that have 4-8 song EPs to their credit include Shadow Minstrels (this is their slowest, most conventional track but give it time), Plebs (forgive me for this one), In Living Color (a bit of an imitation “Madchester” band in my mind, right down to fake, Richard-Butler-esque English accents), Standard Living (whose track here seems to anticipate that George Michael single I can’t remember the name of), Wet Picnic (fronted by the well-known Argentine film composer Gustavo Santaolalla) and Human Hands (though they’ve put out posthumous LP compilations and have started recording again).

Perfect Imperfect Circular, Bill Shifflette’s project after Null and Void, didn’t release anything, and though these tracks seem rough, the songs veer from hook to hook, with no looking back, much like the earlier band, if with a little more soul. Rand Kennedy has a lot of comp appearances and a cassette only collection, “Scenes from Redemption,” all of which sound roughly like this one — spoken word over background beats. League of Nations put out a single EP that sounds something like a stripped down Another Green World (an earlier project was titled Oblique Strategy), that is, sans Phil Collins and Robert Fripp. Afterimage, probably one of the more conventionally “post-punk” bands here, only managed an EP and a few singles as well, though their tracks can be found on all sorts of comps.

I’m not sure I can take Atila all that seriously — their records are terribly under-produced, but they managed to put out two full-length LPs, the first of which, International Sandwich, featured lo-fi imitations of music styles from around the world. Monitor was a weird, Throbbing Gristle-like art collective called World Imitation Productions that decided to become a musical act. A nicely designed .pdf outlining the history of the band appeared somewhere on the web but I can’t find it, so you’ll have to settle for this. They also have a strange appearance on New Wave Theatre.

One of my favorite acts here, Outer Circle, who managed 2 EPs, was fronted by Steve “Spit” Spingola, who appeared on New Wave Theatre as part of an act called Heroic Struggles, which was quite hilarious (it’s since been deleted). All of their tracks are really great but for some reason I’ve only included one. Martyr Complex used to include the “All-American Jewish lesbian folksinger” Phranc, but she doesn’t appear on their album; the band also went by the name of Nervous Gender, and featured Paul Roessler of the legendary LA synth-punk band the Screamers, whose videos for “122 Hours of Fear” and “Vertigo,” are priceless. Fronted by the legendary, late Tomata Du Plenty, The Screamers never recorded an LP, possibly due to unrealistic ambitions (an interview with Jon Savage).

Danny and the Doorknobs, something of an underground super-band (composed of members of 100 Flowers, The Last, Leaving Trains, etc.), transformed into Trotsky Icepick and a had a career well into the nineties. I’m sure many readers are already familiar with Christian Death, first fronted by Rozz Williams, who then left only to form a band called “Christian Death” several years later while the first one was (and still is, fronted by Valor Kand) active. Kommunity FK only recorded 2 LPs in the 80s but seem to have reformed; they also belong to the “deathrock” category though I’m really suspicious of these taxonomies.

Iron Curtain, a band that can mix leaden drum tracks with depressing lyrics and So-cal harmonies, was an act from Santa Barbara, fronted by Steven Fields who is still active with an act called Cosmic Love Child. “Legalize Heroin,” the only track to break the 1987 cut-off date, was a solo track but really feels like Iron Curtain’s swan song, and is I think the most accomplished (and enigmatic) thing they released. Null and Void, another one of my favorite acts, released a smattering of LPs, cassettes, singles, etc. of varying quality. I’m still trying purchase a copy of their first LP, which I’ll soon snatch off of Ebay. I think some members of this act went on to play with Berlin.

Savage Republic has a substantial discography, mostly long, percussive-heavy, unchanging but atmospheric, Middle Eastern or African tinged instrumentals that must have been amazing live. Their cover designs, titles and general iconography are really great. The poppier, more synth-heavy side of some of their members appeared as 17 Pygmies; this track reminds me of a long-lost 80s band Torch Song who were featured in the same issue of Debut as The Smiths. Green on Red is known as a “Paisley Underground” band, but this track, from their first EP, seems to me strange enough to belong on a post-punk compilation.

The Fibonaccis has a fairly substantial discography and seems to vary between somewhat campy but virtuoso, Casio-keyboard send-ups of traditional music styles and really elegant art-rock songs; with a little more edge, they would have been perfect for John Zorn’s Tzadik label or onstage at the Knitting Factory back in the 90s. Another “art rock” act is BPeople, who were among the more visible on the LA scene; Alex Gibson went on to form Passionel and then record as a solo artist. On the fringes are the most “arty” projects, Steaming Coils and Freshly Wrapped Candies, the majority of whose output resembles LAFMS improvs with tape effects. I’ve considered including more of this type of material but some of it seems so aggressively anti-song that it broke the spirit of the collection.

The Abecedarians were known well enough to catch the attention of Bernard Sumner (of Joy Division) who produced their first single “Smiling Monarchs” for Factory, the flipside of which is “Benway’s Carnival” (included here) and neither of which are very emblematic of their work. More typical is the brilliant “I Glide,” with its minimal lyrics and subtle transitions in the guitar lines. Chris Manecke used more delay than the Edge, but unlike the latter’s band, the Abecedarians thrived on their apsergersy stoicism.

Another band, Gleaming Spires, also benefitted from exquisite production by a UK-associated American, Stephen Hague, on the beautiful track included here. They might best be known for their track “Are You Ready For the Sex Girls?” which ended up in the soundtrack for Revenge of the Nerds and sports a really funny minimal video that can be seen on YouTube. Formerly the Bates Motel, this duo formed the rhythm section to several Sparks EPs; much of their catalogue is still available for purchase at Posh Boy Records.

The Suburban Lawns were probably the first post-punk, or New Wave act, from LA to get national attention when the Jonathan Demme-directed video for “Gidget Goes to Hell” was played on Saturday Night Live in 1979. Their first LP spawned “Janitor,” which has a pair of appearances on Youtube, the first a proper video and the second an appearance on New Wave Theatre, in which Su Tissue is practically catatonic behind the microphone. The band split as they were recording their second LP for IRS, which is too bad since the released tracks demonstrated substantial growth in song-writing and production. This band had everything, a legitimate sound, lots of chops, stage presence (Su Tissue was early on the Grey Gardens bandwagon), etc; it’s surprising to me the work hasn’t been remastered for CD. 

Volume 2

Abecedarians, Android, Atila, Bad Religion, Boxboys, BPeople, Christian Death, Cindy Lee Berryhill, Cipher, Deadbeats, Fibonaccis, Fourwaycross, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Geza X And The Mommymen, Gleaming Spires, Green on Red, Human Hands, IQ Zero, Jobriath, Knife Lust, Kommunity FK, Life After Death, Null And Void, Outer Circle, Passionel, Perfect Imperfect Circular, Primal Danse, Rikk Agnew, Savage Republic, Shadow Minstrels, Steaming Coils, Suburban Lawns, The Egyptian Lover, The Plugz, The Plugz, The Screamers, The Weirdos, Trotsky Icepick, Zoogz Rift.

Abecedarians, Eureka EP (Southwest Audio Reproductions, 1986)

Disk 1
1 Steaming Coils — Singing Notice (1991) 3:12
2 The Plugz — El Calvo Y La Cruz (1981) 2:57
3 Cipher — Harmonic 33 (1981) 3:07
4 Geza X And The Mommymen — The Paranoids Are Coming (1982) 3:11
5 Bad Religion — Chasing the Wild Goose (1983) 2:50
6 Null And Void — All The Old Humans (1980) 3:36
7 Life After Death — Isn’t It Time (1985) 2:57
8 Suburban Lawns — Baby (1983) 3:59
9 Rikk Agnew — 10 (1982) 2:58
10 Atila — De-pre-ssion (1985) 4:38
11 Trotsky Icepick — Mar Vista Bus Stop (1988) 3:03
12 Abecedarians — Smiling Monarchs (1985) 6:47
13 Android — Perpetual Motion (1982) 5:28
14 IQ Zero — Zero Gravity (1981) 3:09
15 Outer Circle — Broken Children (1982) 7:02
16 Primal Danse — Insomnia (1982) 5:00
17 Perfect Imperfect Circular — From The Ocean Above (1986) 4:09
18 The Plugz — Touch For Cash (1981) 2:40
19 Fibonaccis — Crickets (1987) 4:32
20 Knife Lust — Shrivel Up (1979) 3:10
21 The Screamers — 122 Hours of Fear (1978) 3:32

Zoogz Rift, Island of Living Puke LP (SST, 1986)

Disk 2
23 Christian Death — This Glass House (1984) 3:10
24 Shadow Minstrels — Popular Song Of The Hour (1983) 4:23
25 Suburban Lawns — Not Allowed (1981) 2:20
26 Green on Red — A Tragedy (1981) 4:20
27 Kommunity FK — The Vision And The Voice (1985) 3:48
28 Human Hands — New Look (1982) 2:44
29 Boxboys — Separate Rooms (1980) 3:12
30 Savage Republic — Mobilization (1982) 3:21
31 Abecedarians — Soil (1986) 6:08
32 Gleaming Spires — How To Get Girls Thru Hypnotism (1982) 3:56
33 Outer Circle — Blind Venetians (1982) 1:39
34 Zoogz Rift — The Breather (1986) 4:22
35 BPeople — Give Up (1980) 2:02
36 Freshly Wrapped Candies — Fa Fa Fa (1987) 3:11
37 Deadbeats — Brainless (1979) 2:31
38 Fourwaycross — Apologize (1985) 4:18
39 Rikk Agnew — Everyday (1982) 4:30
40 Cindy Lee Berryhill — Headin’ For The Border Line (1987) 3:56
41 Earwigs – Freedom (1981) 2:47
42 The Weirdos — Helium Bar (1991) 3:22
43 Passionel — I Found You Crying (1984) 3:25
44 The Egyptian Lover — I Cry (Night After Night) (1984) 5:04
45 Jobriath — Heartbeat (1974) 2:45

This new set starts with a track well out of my date range from the great band Steaming Coils, but I though starting with some carnival sounds would give some symmetry to the collection, pointing back to the Wild Kingdom track from the first group. We then move into The Plugz, one of the great first-generation punk bands of LA, from their mellower second album Better Luck. A Mexican-American band, the Plugz incorporated a variety of musical styles into their work, one of the rare LA bands that seemed to want to do that, Tito Larriva being an excellent and ambitious songwriter whose since moved on to score a few films.

Geza X is something of an LA legend, perhaps best known as a producer, though his early band The Deadbeats recorded some classic tracks (one included here), and he himself was a pretty compelling, if very strange, performer with his band The Mommymen. Rikk Agnew is another legend of sorts, being a member of Adolescents and recording with the first incarnation of Christian Death. These two tracks are taken from his first solo album, All By Myself, on which he played all the instruments. These might seem out of place in a “post-punk” collection being largely rock music — the second, slower track could have been a b-side from an early Kinks single — but in fact I think this LP is a bit uncategorizable and somehow bridges punk with something more melodic, even a bit grandiose.

Acts that appeared on the first collection include Suburban Lawns (one seemingly inspired by the percussion of Eno-era Talking Heads), Null and Void, Life After Death (where the Roland Butler really comes out), Trotsky Icepick (formerly known as Danny & The Doorman — sucks when you hit on a great name for your band just after the first album release), Abecedarians (including their Bernard Sumner-produced first single, released by Factory), the Fibonaccis, Atila (again, not sure if this is a great track or pointless), Human Hands, Green on Red (sounding more Lou Reed-ish than ever), Savage Republic, Gleaming Spires (produced by Stephen Hague), Shadow Minstrel and Freshly Wrapped Candies. My choices from the Kommunity FK and Christian Death catalogues haven’t been terribly inventive, but so there.

The Outer Circle track here starts a bit slow but leads into a killer slide guitar solo and ends with 4-minutes of synthesizer bliss. The second track I’ve included is, I believe, in 5/8 time, which I’m only guessing based on the drummer’s countdown at the beginning. There’s also another BPeople track, and a sweet, sincere bit by Passionel, Alex Gibson’s project after BPeople folded. I’ve also included another unreleased track by Perfect Imperfect Circular, Bill Shifflett’s project after BPeople.

So that leaves the newcomers, who include the Earwigs (I’ve only been able to locate 4 tracks by them, two of which are actual songs), Cipher (an instrumental that is pretty haunting, though most of their work involves Siouxsie-ish vocals), and Primal Danse, who only managed an EP with Enigma Records (and doesn’t even appear on Discogs). The track from Knife Lust appears on a collection of Devo covers created by radio station KROQ which appeared (I believe) even before or in the same year as the release of the Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

IQ Zero managed to release a single (can’t find much else about this band) whereas the synth- and vocoder-drenched Android (full name: Android A 21st Century Band), most of whose tracks border on kitsch, managed a single and an LP. Boxboys were the first ska band in LA, and inspired a mini-movement here leading to the more prolific Untouchables.

That leaves the track from the inimitable Zoogz Rift, mostly known for wild, often beautiful, often profane Beefheart-ish work. Fourwaycross are little late in the chronology, and most of their work seems to edge toward prog-rock, with a few tracks sounding like mid-career Pink Floyd.

I’ve also included a track from Bad Religion’s often maligned (even by the band itself), but often hotly-defended second LP, which introduced synthesizers into the equation. The track from The Screamers is from a series of demo sessions, and might best be heard in conjunction with the video. The Child Molesters were really an LAFMS-based conceptual band, a fake punk-band led by a bunch of guys who didn’t much like punk (hence the Nazi garb in the photo below). They’re kind of like a cross between the Fugs, witch their obscene humor, and The Homosexuals, at least in inspired offensiveness of their band name.

That leaves the folk singer Cindy Lee Berryhill with a track taken from on of the Radio Tokyo compilations, and which I think is weird enough (and not quite as retro as might first seem) to include in this collection. The Weirdos are usually associated with the first wave of punk acts though they mostly considered themselves an “art” band (their if-then-else project of industrial instrumentals would seem to bear that out). The Egyptian Lover is a DJ coming out of the electro-funk scene in LA and is often considered a forerunner of hip-hop.

The set closes with an anachronistic cameo by Jobriath, the ill-starred solo artist whose first album was so over-hyped and glammed out (a little late in the day) that it completely bombed. He released another LP (which his label practically refused to promote) and eventually succumbed to AIDS in 1983. I kind of think of him as the forebear of vulnerable, histrionic acts like Antony and the Johnsons and (from a skewed angle) Kiki & Herb. Morrissey label Sanctuary released a best of, Lonely Planet Boy, in 2004.

Volume 3

Featured Acts:

17 Pygmies, 45 Grave, Aurora Pushups, Blissed Out Fatalists, Bone Cabal, Burning Image, Cathedral of Tears, Cipher, Drowning Pool, Freshly Wrapped Candies, Gleaming Spires, Human Hands, if-then-else, Infantry, Johanna Went, Kommunity FK, Marina La Palma, Marnie, Mnemonic Devices, Monitor, Neil Young, Null And Void, Outer Circle, Partly Cloudy, Party Boys, Peter Ivers, Phranc, Pompeii 99, Pop Art, Puppies, Rand Kennedy, Readymades , Shadow Minstrels, Shiva Burlesque, Steaming Coils, Stiv Bators, Subjects, The Cramps, The Fontanelles, The Gun Club, Transport, Wog

Kommunity FK, The Vision and the Voice (Independent Project Records, 1983)

1 Kommunity FK — Incompatible Disposition (1983) 2:48
2 Neil Young — Transformer Man (1982) 3:23
3 Party Boys — Nora (1986) 3:53
4 Drowning Pool — Festival of Healing (1987) 2:56
5 Peter Ivers — Sweet enemy (1974) 2:46
6 17 Pygmies — Suit Of Nails (1985) 3:35
7 Gleaming Spires — Are You Ready for the Sex Girls? (1981) 3:59
8 Marina La Palma — Mi Ni Parolas (1984) 2:51
9 Blissed Out Fatalists — Everything & Nothing At All (1987) 3:03
10 Phranc — One O’ The Girls (1985) 4:58
11 The Cramps — Green Fuz (1981) 2:08
12 Infantry — The Call (1987) 3:50
13 Monitor — Amphibious (1981) 3:10
14 Wog — I Had a Notion (1988) 5:54
15 The Gun Club — Devil In The Woods (1982) 3:05
16 Outer Circle — My Mona Lisa (1984) 3:53
17 Pop Art — Never No (1987) 2:31
18 45 Grave — Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood (1980) 2:38
19 Stiv Bators — Evil Boy (1979) 3:17
20 Puppies — Mechanical Beat (1981) 2:45
21 Human Hands — Jubilee (1981) 3:59
22 Cathedral of Tears — Calm Storm (1984) 3:00
23 Mnemonic Devices — Marriage Of Convenience (1982) 3:42
24 Freshly Wrapped Candies — Cherry Tomato (1989) 2:22

Party Boys, Daddyland (Nate Starkman and Sons, 1986)

Disk 2
25 Shiva Burlesque — Arabesque (1990) 5:14
26 Pompeii 99 — Android Police (1982) 3:00
27 The Fontanelles — Passion Kills (1987) 2:57
28 Steaming Coils — Carne De Sol (1991) 2:59
29 Drowning Pool — The Italian Pop Song (1990) 5:37
30 Rand Kennedy — Smith’s Room (1983) 2:24
31 Null And Void — Un Sedatif Ce Soir (1980) 4:34
32 Cipher — Body Chemistry (1981) 2:09
33 Marnie — Everyone Loves Olga (1988) 3:09
34 Monitor — Mokele-Mbembe (1981) 3:23
35 The Gun Club — Preaching the Blues (1981) 3:59
36 Subjects — Augie (1982) 2:36
37 Transport — Body Buildings (1982) 3:49
38 Bone Cabal — I O Betulah (1983) 4:34
39 Shadow Minstrels — The Guest (1983) 2:30
40 Partly Cloudy — Bus Ride (1987) 3:16
41 Aurora Pushups — Angels on Runway (1978) 2:54
42 Readymades — Terry Is A Space Cadet (1977) 4:18
43 Burning Image — Time Is Running Out (1984) 4:09
44 Party Boys — I Love You (1986) 3:22
45 if-then-else — Sidewalker (1981) 5:23
46 Johanna Went — Slave Beyond The Grave (1981) 2:50
47 Peter Ivers — In Heaven (1977) 1:46

While it’s never quite clear where the Cramps should be placed, geographically, they were originally from California and did record most of their records here, hence their inclusion. I never listened to them when I was younger but am now a huge fan. 45 Grave are often credited with starting the deathrock movement with their cover of “Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood,” and I prefer the earlier, Darker Skratcher version to the glossier one from their LP. Pompeii 99 is kind of an earlier manifestation of Christian Death, joinging Rozz Williams after Rikk Agnew departed; this is one of their goofier tracks.

What I know about the rest of the bands here — Blissed Out Fatalists (who seem to have stolen a page from Jesus and Marychain’s playbook), Infantry (I really wish I had a better version of this track), Puppies (from San Diego), Cathedral of Tears, Shiva Burlesque (who actually have a substantial catalogue), Mnemonic Devices, Subjects (who I think might be from San Francisco…), Transport, Bone Cabal, Readymades and Burning Image is so pathetically little, I’ll just let you hear the songs and Google them if you want to learn more. I can tell you that if-then-else is basically The Weirdos doing an all synth album, and there is a nice post about Wog over at A Viable Commercial. Their LP sounds like it was recorded in a bedroom with a Casio keyboard, but actually many of the tracks are pretty compelling.

I’ll be slowly working on a volume 4, most likely the last one, over the next couple of months — new bands appear all the time the more I dig — so please stay tuned.

Volume 4

Featured Acts:

Abecedarians, Angel Of The Odd, Autumnfair, Christian Death, Eddie & The Subtitles, Ethyl Meatplow, Fender Buddies, Gothic Hut, Grey Obscurity, Information   , League of Nations, Los Illegals, Marina Swingers, Marnie, Newsbreak, Noble Gas, Nocturnal Education, Nu Beams, Opus, Peter and Mary Saving Grace, Pompeii 99, Psi Com, Red Wedding, Slow Children, Standard Of Living, Steaming Coils, Tex & The Horseheads, The Cramps, The Fibonaccis, The Nerves, The Rotters, The Runaways, The Salvation Army, The Untouchables, Vidiots, What Is This, Wog.

The Marina Swingers, I’m a Swinger 12″ (L.A.X., 1979)

Disk 1

Steaming Coils, Breaded (Nate Starkman & Son, 1991 [recorded 1987])

I’ve had a few backchannel exchanges with a music publisher and photographer about the ethical nature of this project. I’m really just trying to create interest in this period of music, and with luck some of the bands might find renewed interest and income through more conventional, commercial channels. If you are an artist whose tracks appear here and would like it removed, please write to me and I’ll remove it immediately.

This set starts with a true rarity from the Marina Swingers, who have since reformed and are distributing new tracks on their MySpace page. Another rarity, from a band that also only ever released a single, is from the proto-grunge Opus, about whom nobody seems to know anything except that they had an exception cover design for their single. The Rotters, pretty much a “punk” band with (I think) fake English accents, show up with a single that was banned from KROQ for understandable reasons.

There’s some relatively lo-fi New Wave here in the form of Grey Obscurity, Newsbreak, Wog, Nocturnal Education, and Information as well as some more polished work by Slow Children (who had a few hits in their day) and League of Nations, and a haunting track by Autumnfair, yet another offshoot of Savage Republic, and from whom a CD comp of their work (no LP was released) is commercially available.

In the LA post-punk retro category are the Cramps (with a track they probably recorded in New York), Tex & The Horseheads — one of my favorite recent discoveries, whose lead singer Texacala is a total original (Google her images since I’m no longer posting photos here) — and Eddie and the Subtitles. Actually, this last band’s first album jumps from proto-hardcore to Orbison-esque crooning to Wire-esque art punk to rockabilly to some things completely undefinable from track to track. This was one of Rikk Agnew’s favorite bands back in the day, which is excuse enough to include three tracks of theirs.

On the more purely avant-garde side are a very quiet, beautiful track from Marnie Weber (a little late in the chronology), some interesting nonsense from Peter and Mary Saving Grace, about whom I can discover nothing (except that they might be from San Francisco), a noisy track from Standard of Living along with a hypnotic cover, Fender Buddies (the only track of theirs I could locate),  Vidiots (who have also revived and have a MySpace page), and yet another little gem from Steaming Coils. Angel of the Odd was a strange band led, in their later years, by the late performance poet Cecilia± — yet another woman (along with the smattering from the last set) who crossed over from performance to quasi-pop music.

Red Wedding was brought to my attention by members of Outer Circle and Dogma Probe. Their first EP was recorded over a single weekend with one vocal take, but I think it sounds great, while their second one is more polished  and atmospheric but less quirky. Michael and Spider from this band, known as the “first openly gay punk band” in Los Angeles, are still making music through a variety of projects.

Gothic Hut was the musical project of Posh Boy graphic artist Kevin J. Walker. I haven’t yet heard the two LPs that followed their debut, which resembles more the music of pre-punk art bands from the U.K. and Germany, but they’re on the way. Ethyl Meatplow was a band known for their “sexually explicit, burlesque-inspired”live performances that turned off Kim Gordon, and had a minor hit in 1993 with “Ripened Peach,” which is worth checking out on YouTube.

Bands you’ve seen before include Nu Beams, The Child Molesters, Pompeii 99, Christian Death (the Rikk Agnew version, whose work is sublime on this track), and Abecedarians with a track that didn’t appear on either of their EPs. I’ve included one of the Fibonaccis more mischievous tracks which perhaps sounds more like what they were known for, quirky, polished lounge music (just verging on novelty act).

The band What Is This? was closely related to the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in the day and swapped a lot of members before settling down (I think Flea might have even played for them). This is an unbelievably gorgeous track. The Untouchables were the first Los Angeles ska band (after the Boxcars, who appear in an earlier set) and set off something of a mod revival here. Los Illegals are, along with the Plugz and the Brat, the best known Chicano punk bands from this period, led by muralist Willie Heron who might be better known for being a part of the artist collective ASCO (recent retrospective at LACMA).

Noble Gas is an act I discovered while reading blog comments for the band Android (who appears earlier) who shared studio space with them back in the day. Just as I was reading their website I got friended by Mike “Molecular Persuader” Lutgen, one half of band (his wife Lily “Thetaloops” the other), who have since moved on to New Jersey. Mike digitized one of the tracks from their first published cassette “Invaders from Earth,” which I’d love to hear in its entirety.

Lastly are the bands most of you have heard of. Psi Com was Perry Farrell’s first band before Jane’s Addiction, while “Hanging on the Telephone” was the hit song by Blondie, here performed by the band that wrote the track. I love this Runaways song so tossed it in here since I doubt there are any more “arty” tracks by them available. The Salvation Army is an early version of The Three O’Clock, a band usually associated with the Paisley Underground (their singer, Michael Quercio, coined the term) but whose dedication to that very British form of mod-pop I think borders on pathological (which means, good).

I don’t know how much longer I can leave this material up before I get into serious trouble, so please download soon! I hope to have one final volume in about a month, so stay tuned.

Volume 5

Afterimage, Angst, Anna Homler, Beat-E-O’s, Berlin, Blood on the Saddle, Cambridge Apostles, Christina, Cyrnai, Dark Arts, Dogma Probe, Doll Congress, Eddie & The Subtitles, Ex-Voto, Factory, Geza X And The Mommymen, Gothic Hut, Idle Lovéll, Laws of Motion, Le Forte Four, League of Nations, Marnie Sounds, Ministry Of Love, Minutemen, Oingo Boingo, Opal, Peter Ivers, Rainy Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rhino 39, Rik L Rik, Screaming for Emily, Screams For Tina, Sleeping Dogs, Suburban Lawns, Surf Punks, The Dickies, The Last, The Prime Movers, The Quick, Trees, Wet Picnic, Zoogz Rift.

Eddie and the Subtitles, Dead Drunks Don’t Dance LP (13th Story, 1983)

Disk 1
1 Rainy Day — Soon Be Home (a Quick One While He’s Away) (1984) 4:9

2 The Dickies — Attack of the Mole Men (1979) 3:41

3 Doll Congress — Concrete and Clay (1982) 4:23

4 Zoogz Rift — The Great Apes Ate Grapes (1979) 2:34

5 Marnie Sounds — Coquette, Circus Girl (1991) 5:48

6 Eddie & The Subtitles — Shoot Up And Dance (1983) 2:32

7 The Quick — My Purgatory Years (1976) 5:17

8 Geza X And The Mommymen — Isotope Soap (1982) 2:18

9 Blood on the Saddle — I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again (1983) 1:42

10 Beat-E-O’s — Arabian Reggae (1981) 3:37

11 Le Forte Four — The Lowest Form Of Music (1980) 3:9

12 Suburban Lawns — My Boyfriend (1979) 1:39

13 Surf Punks — Can’t Get A Tan (1979) 2:44

14 Afterimage — Out Of Breath (1990) 3:46

15 Cambridge Apostles — Can’t Fight The Feeling (1983) 4:17

16 Oingo Boingo — I’m Afraid (1979) 3:32

17 Ministry Of Love — Nuclear Stone Age (1987) 3:26

18 Cyrnai — Waydom (1985) 3:40

19 Opal — A Falling Star (1987) 1:25

20 The Prime Movers — Pieces (1984) 2:56

21 Gothic Hut — There Has To Be An Answer (1982) 3:14

22 Screaming for Emily — The Love (1987) 4:43

23 Berlin — A Matter of Time (1980) 4:7

24 Laws of Motion — Check It In The Mirror (1984) 4:43

The Quick, Mondo Deco LP (Mercury Records, 1976)

Disk 2

25 Zoogz Rift — Idiots On The Miniature Golf Course (1979) 0:32

26 Sleeping Dogs — Same Old Song (1982) 1:32

27 The Last — She Don’t Know Why I’m Here (1979) 3:29

28 Doll Congress — Easy to Touch (1982) 3:17

29 League of Nations — Illuminas (1984) 4:3

30 Ex-Voto — The Devil’s Work (1990) 4:11

31 Dark Arts — Rivers (1986) 4:59

32 Anna Homler — Karu Karu (1987) 2:18

33 Rik L Rik — Meat House (acoustic) (1981) 1:31

34 Minutemen — Polarity (1983) 1:48

35 Beat-E-O’s — He Waiting (1981) 2:56

36 Angst — Pig (1983) 1:43

37 Dogma Probe — A Word of Warning (1982) 3:17

38 Peter Ivers — I’m Sorry Alice (1976) 4:8

39 Zoogz Rift — Locked Out (1988) 2:10

40 Screams For Tina — Nightmare (1986) 3:1

41 Trees — India (1982) 3:4

42 Idle Lovéll — I Can’t Wait (1984) 4:1

43 Rhino 39 — Marry It (1981) 2:26

44 Eddie & The Subtitles — Tonight (1983) 2:19

45 Wet Picnic — Cocktailed Sky (1982) 5:24

46 Red Hot Chili Peppers — Lovin’ And Touchin’ (1989) 0:36

47 Factory — Vapor Lock (1987) 2:6

48 Opal — Happy Nightmare Baby (1987) 2:57

49 The Quick — Over The Rainbow (1977) 3:10

50 The Dickies — Nights in White Satin (1979) 2:55

51 Christina — Surprise! (Is that all there is?) (1980) 5:41

Some tracks here are not by LA bands, but Sleeping Dogs features Carolyn Fok (who is Cyrnai, included below), an LA-based musician and artist who must have traveled a lot, and their single EP is amazing. The track by Christina, who was from New York, is the closing track on the first Rodney at the ROQ compilation, and is a cover of a Leiber and Stoller song (they were, of course, nearly sued for this). Rainy Day was an ephemeral band spearheaded by David Roback made up of many of the Paisley Underground stars before they were stars; this cover of a Who song — really just a fragment from “A Quick One” — is from their album of covers, mostly beautiful if a little drowsy versions of songs from the 60s.The Oingo Boingo track is the first one they ever released as “Oingo Boingo” (before that they were the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo and more of a whacky music theatre act that made an appearance on The Gong Show), featured on the obscure compilation LA In (it’s also where I discovered the Surf Punks, kind of setting the template for the Red Hot Chili Peppers). Angst was originally from Boulder and then settled in San Francisco, but they were very much on the LA scene back in the day, recording their first tracks for Happy Squid here in Hollywood, then a slew of albums for SST.

Other things to look out for are the songs by the Quick, Dennis Cooper’s favorite “punk” band (they feature prominently in his literary magazine Little Caesar). The first track is from their only proper album, produced by the notorious Kim Fowley (you might remember him from the Runaways movie), and really sounds like nothing else — a little glam, a little New Wave, some elements from the Sparks, and a bit of the AM “power pop” feel that seeped into a lot of work in LA. The Dickies were the first punk band to be signed to a major label in LA; their early sound was very Ramones influenced, but they outgrew that pretty quickly. I included a Berlin song because it was produced by Dan van Patten who was behind the Null & Void tracks featured heavily here; this one features their replacement for Terri Nunn, who had left the band temporarily to pursue acting. It also features a deliriously overblown operatic synth-drenched opening.

I’m going to update this blog soon with album covers and photographs that I can get permissions for. But for now… enjoy.

Volume 6

 

Christian Lunch, Unreliable Sources (Alternative Tentacles, 1990)

Middle Class, Homeland (Pulse Records, 1982)

Disk 2

Volume 8

20/20, 3D Picnic, 5uu’s, Agent Orange, Ann DeJarnett, Artiphax, Battery Farley, Bulimia Banquet, Cigarettes, Del Rubio Triplets, Demolition Gore Galore, Doubting Thomas, Dr’s Rx1, Drowning Pool, Invisible Chains, Irritators, Jane’s Addiction, Kommunity FK, Los Illegals, Luther Davis Group, Mind Games, Minutemen, Mr. Epp And The Calculations, Motor Totemist Guild, No Right No Wrong, Pilgrim State, Saint Vitus, Schematix, Scott Goddard, Starforce 1, Steaming Coils, The Bangles, The Death Folk, The Motels, The Toons, The Witch Trials, Transport, Vagina Dentata, Vicious Fish

A Beginner’s Guide to COMA (Rotary Totem Records, 1985)

Disk 1
1 The Motels — Art Fails (1981) 2:58
2 The Death Folk — Hobos (1989) 3:36
3 20/20 — Alien (1981) 3:42
4 Saint Vitus — Clear Windowpane (1987) 3:19
5 Starforce 1 — Space Agent (1981) 3:34
6 3D Picnic — Dizzy (1989) 2:00
7 Invisible Chains — Old Speak/New Teeth (1986) 2:14
8 The Bangles — Going Down to Liverpool (1984) 3:43
9 Steaming Coils — 4/10 (1987) 3:12
10 The Toons — Video Games (1982) 2:46
11 Demolition Gore Galore — Long Gone Blonde (1986) 4:17
12 Irritators — Voodoo Boogie (1981) 2:55
13 Ann DeJarnett — Eyes (1988) 3:36
14 Schematix — Second Story (1980) 2:30
15 Scott Goddard — Cowpunk (1984) 4:53
16 Vagina Dentata — Golden Boys (1984) 5:32
17 Doubting Thomas — Fourteen Or Maybe 8 (1987) 5:30
18 Cigarettes — Oh Oh Oh (1978) 2:55
19 Vicious Fish — Foreign Cities (1982) 4:00
20 5uu’s — The Birth Of Compromisation (1985) 3:02
21 Los Illegals — The Mall (1983) 4:33
22 The Motor Totemist Guild — Farmer Without Strings (1985) 4:06

The Toons, Looking at Girls (Rhino, 1982)

Disk 2
23 Agent Orange — Blood Stains (1980) 1:46
24 Battery Farley — New Deals (1985) 4:07
25 Drowning Pool — Weaving Petals (1987) 3:43
26 Luther Davis Group — You Can Be a Star (1979) 4:40
27 Mind Games — Don’t Take The Car (You’ll Kill Yourself) (1981) 2:05
28 Del Rubio Triplets — Chica Chica Boom Chick (1989) 2:40
29 The Witch Trials — The Tazer (1981) 6:20
30 The Motels — Only The Lonely (1981) 3:28
31 Artiphax — Mystery Eyes (1985) 3:34
32 Mr. Epp And The Calculations — Mohawk Man (1982) 2:53
33 The Bangles — How Is The Air Up There (1982) 2:52
34 Kommunity FK — Is It Your Face (1990) 6:17
35 Bulimia Banquet — Naked Movie Star (1986) 2:03
36 Transport — Isotope Tan (1982) 3:14
37 No Right No Wrong — Girls Girls Girls (1986) 2:34
38 Dr’s Rx1 — Crunch (1983) 5:11
39 Minutemen — The Anchor (1983) 2:34
40 Pilgrim State — Fuck Society (1983) 0:44
41 Irritators — Whack the Dolphin (1981) 4:20
42 Jane’s Addiction — Thank You Boys (1988) 1:04
43 Battery Farley — Flag Waving Idiots (1985) 3:44
44 Invisible Chains — Sal Mineo Youth Growing Up (1986) 3:57
45 The Toons — Mind Death (Sally Only Had One Eye) (1982) 6:38

The Motels’ third album, after the relatively minimally produced self-titled debut and Careful, neither of which produced national hits, was the highly experimental Apocalypso, produced by Val Garay, hot off of the success of producing Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes.” The album was rejected by the label and sat on the shelf for thirty years, only to be released last year on colored vinyl and CD. Some of the tracks reappeared on the more commercial sounding All Four One, which produced their first big hit “Only The Lonely,” but I prefer this earlier version, along with this grittier version of “Art Fails.” They probably made the right decision to scrap this album as they wouldn’t have made a dime off of it, and now they are lucky to have had it in the kitty for us retrophiles to buy later.

Another famous act whose sound changed dramatically was the Bangles. I was surprised to read that they were associated with the Paisley Underground since all I ever knew of them was “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Manic Monday,” which are both pretty solid pop tunes but could never be called underground. I just assumed they were a label concoction. These two tracks, both covers, show the transformative talent the band had (the songs themselves are nothing special), not to mention savvy with harmonies and some nice guitar work. “How is the Air Up There” is a cover of a pretty obscure 60s track by Changin’ Times – they also knew their history – while “Going Down to Liverpool” features a very odd, completely non-sensical but cute video starring Leonard Nimoy as a sexually repressed chauffeur driver (not a huge stretch).

Also on the commercial end of things is this track from Ann DeJarnett, the lead singer (and violinist) for Mnemonic Devices who appeared earlier in this series sounding rather Siouxsie-esque. Here, she’s obviously shooting for mainstream success, but it eluded her despite her striking resemblance to Cyndi Lauper on her EP album cover. Dr’s Rx1 is another mainstream act, kind of a pop funk act in the Herbie Hancock mode that uses a lot of the sounds and stylings of the Ghostbuster’s theme song. I found this album in a used LP bin and only bought it for the great cover and the fact that their representation was in Los Angeles. I actually don’t know where they come from, and the text on the back is so small and illegible, I was barely able to make out the name of this track. It has period charm. I tossed in an uncharacteristic ditty from the first Jane’s Addiction album, just for fun.

Bulimia Banquet again makes an appearance here with another track from Eat Fats Die Young, the giddily offensive “Naked Movie Star.” This track by Kommunity FK is probably the last they recorded before their long hiatus and appeared on the comp Viva Los Angeles II. This is much more commercial, even a bit soulful, than their LPs, though a bit too long for my taste (the lyrics just run out of steam halfway through). Catchy, though. I’ve included another track from the prodigious Minutemen, and will move on to fIREHOUSE – Mike Watt and Ed Crawford’s band and after D. Boon’s death in a car accident – for my next collections. I’ve also included two earlier tracks from the ominous Battery Farley, the first a New Wavey bit that could have been from their LP Dressed for Obscurity, the second a raunchier, “political” one that has obtained some infamy with its many comp appearances (in the same obnoxious spirit of this track, “Bagman on Sunset,” performed live in a studio with an underaged androgynous synth player and never released on vinyl).

Other bands who have previous appeared are Doubting Thomas (not the Skinny Puppy side project), Cigarettes (this is the B-side of their only single), the Chicano punk band Los Illegals with an unusually subdued track, the “original” Drowning Pool (another beautiful vocal track from Satori, available for purchase), Schematix (you now have 2/3 of their complete output) and Transport, who answers Geza X with their own variation on the “isotope” theme. This track from Steaming Coils is from their LP the Tarkington Table, and might be incorrectly titled – it’s pretty difficult to tell where one track ends and the other begins on this LP. It points forward toward the song forms and harmonies of their masterpiece Breaded, though much of the record seems largely improvised or at least more loosely constructed.

The late Scott Goddard was the force behind the Surf Punks, who appeared earlier in this collection. This is a pretty mischievous, sophisticated piece of pop – he put out quite a bit of work, all of which appears on a compilation You Break It, You Bought It, available for digital download. Not nearly as prolific is Vagina Dentata, Pat Smear’s band after the demise of the Germs – they only recorded this one track, Smear’s first attempt at rendering the song “Golden Boys” which he and Darby Crash had written together. I prefer his solo version (which appears in Vol. 7) but this one has some terrific demonic drive. The song has actually gone on to be covered several times by acts such as the Dickies and Pavement, but I think the two Smear versions are the best. Death Folk is another post-Germs Smear project, an actual folk collaboration with Gary “Celebrity” Jacoby (who himself coverd “Golden Boys”). Smear has an amazing singing voice, and can cut through all sorts of guitar noise by being just off-key.

Among the bands I know nothing about except the few shreds of information I’ve found on blogs (you’ll have to do your own research on these) are synth-instrumentalists Starforce 1, Mind Games (who only released a single), the somewhat cloying (unless you really love poppy New Wave) Artiphax, Vicious Fish (also commercial sounding despite the great Breton-ish name), 3D Picnic (I included a track of theirs earlier), Mr. Epp And The Calculations, No Right No Wrong, and Demolition Gore Galore, though this latter does appear on the Celebrity Skin-produced compilation Let It Bleat: Six L.A. Bands, released just on the cusp of the hair band invasion of Los Angeles. That’s all bad enough, but I also don’t know anything about the Irritators, though I paid a pretty hefty (for me) sum for their single “Whack the Dolphin,” based on my enthusiasm for the title and cover art. I’ve included both tracks here – let me know if it was worth it! There’s another single floating around out there called “Gotabona” (another variation on the masturbation theme?) which is selling for nearly over $200 – I think I’ll pass, but I’m really curious. “Whack the Dolphin” was packaged in a water-proof plastic case with a flap, I guess for retail under water.

The Toons are a real curiosity. They actively aped the sound of the Beach Boys – most L.A. bands acknowledged the debt through occasionally complex harmonizing, even in punk songs! – but injected their lyrics with a lot of weird, puerile humor which that sentimental slug Brian Wilson would never have approached. This first track really evokes for me that crazy glee that us young’ens felt for the first video game arcades in the 70s, while the second is some sort of odd mixture of the sci-fi hallucinations of early Bowie and the horror-kitsch of 45 Grave. Another fun discovery was St. Vitus, who are probably very famous in some quarters – they are one of the foundational doom metal bands – but was news to me. I imagine the guys from Spinal Tap paid pretty close attention to their sound and lyrics – I love the way the guitars are layered on this track. The Witch Trials was a one-off collaboration between L.A.’s Christian Lunch, the Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra and other Bay Area figures – somewhat unlistenable but amusing the first time around.

Jeremy included a track from 20/20 – the incredible “Yellow Pills” – in the last set. This one is taken from their second album and is not quite as brilliant but is in the same mold. Pilgrim State was a one-off art-hardcore act that included the protean Brad Laner – “art-hardcore” in the sense that I don’t think any of the members particularly liked hardcore at all, and if anything wanted to take the piss out of it. But I have this theory (as Redd Kross’s spoof hardcore act Anarchy 6 seems to support), which is that you can’t parody hardcore – unlike, say, heavy metal, new wave, lounge music, even punk – without simply being hardcore. It just sounds like hardcore no matter what, there’s just not enough room for ironic distance. (Is “Fuck Society” successful as a spoof title?) The only solution would be to do a hardcore song that is 40 minutes long and takes two sides of an album. Just an idea. Both sides of the Pilgrim State LP end with a locked groove – where the needle just spins forever in a circle, a favorite technique of another LA-associated radical, Boyd Rice – as you can hear on this track. It took me a while to figure this out, as you’ll hear.

Invisible Chains was an act featuring Carla Bozulich, later a founding member of Ethyl Meatplow (featured earlier in these volumes) and singer/co-founder of two bands I never heard of, The Geraldine Fibbers and Evangelista. These two tracks somehow link the percussive minimalism of a lot of underground acts in L.A. and the space-jazz elements of someone like Sun Ra, if you can imagine that. Sal Mineo, by the way, is the actor who played Plato in Rebel Without a Cause. A real tragic figure, he had a hard time getting work after being a child star, was one of the first actors to come out as gay publicly, and was stabbed to death by a pizza deliveryman-slash-thief at the age of 37.

I ripped this track from the Del Rubio Triplets from one of the Rodney on the ROQ LPs. Actual triplets and born in 1921, they were about 60 when they recorded this. Jeremy included The Luther Davis Group on the first version of his set from the last collection, but then nixed them for the final cut – that’s about as much as I know about the act, which only produced a single. Not brilliant, perhaps, but I’m interested in obscure black acts from this era as well, even if they are not in any way “post-punk.” Agent Orange is a very well known hardcore band – this is their first A-side, and was produced by Dan Van Patten who did work with the amazing Null and Void (all over my earlier volumes), Ann DeJarnett, the Beat-E-O’s (I’ve included their entire output in these collections) and a bunch of other obscure acts. He also played on and produced Berlins’ first LP before moving to Belize to, it appears, hang out at bars (living off of royalties from “The Metro,” no doubt). He’s something of an unsung hero in these collections, too bad he didn’t hang around.

Lastly are two acts associated with COMA – aka the California Outside Music Association, the more classically and/or jazz-inclined sister organization to LAFMS. Dogma Probe and the Rhythm Pigs, from earlier in these volumes, appeared on their only compilation, a Beginner’s Guide to COMA. Motor Totemist Guild, the brainchild of James Grigsby, performed work that wouldn’t feel out of place in a survey of light early Modernist orchestral work, while the 5uu’s (who are not-surprisingly easy to Google, unlike X or Q) used more jazz instrumentation and rhythms. But they obviously liked each other a lot, because the two bands eventually combined (after recording a collaborative LP together with their separate names) and released a pair of LPs as U Totem. I’m really coming up short on ways to describe their music, and their history has twists and turns that will be described more fully in a book-length work by Charles Michael Sharp on experimental music communities in LA that is coming out soon – so you’ll have to wait until then to learn more.

Volume 9

100 Flowers, 17 Pygmies, 20/20, Afterimage, Alfalfa, Ann DeJarnett, Celebrity Skin, Chas Smith, Che Blammo, Dennis Duck, Extruders, Fourwaycross, God And The State, Hilary, Hundredth Monkey, Jetzons, John Trubee, Johnny Chingas, Lotus Lame And The Lame Flames, Luther Davis Group, Marc Monroe, Mark Lane, Moebius, New Marines, Nick Paine, Owned By the Public, Page Croft, Passionel, Penetrators, Q, Red Temple Spirits, Subjects, The Deadbeats, The Pandoras, The Romans, The Signals, The Three O’Clock, The Tikis, The Tweezers, The Wake, Tiger Lily, To Nije Sala, Urinals

Che Blammo, Rock Moderne 7″ (Permanent, 1982)

Disk 1
1 Urinals — Surfin’ With The Shah (1979) 2:42
2 Lotus Lame And The Lame Flames — Bad Sex (1983) 3:40
3 Passionel — Make Like You Like It (1985) 3:56
4 Ann DeJarnett — Baptism by Fire (1987) 4:09
5 Che Blammo — Stupid for Your Love (1981) 3:07
6 Hundredth Monkey — Mute Lament (1986) 4:50
7 The Pandoras — Hot Generation (1984) 2:16
8 Fourwaycross — When Will You (1985) 3:46
9 100 Flowers — All Sexed Up (1983) 2:43
10 God And The State — My Name Is Mud (1985) 2:42
11 The Deadbeats — Let’s Kill More Hippies Like We Did Last Summer (1996) 2:34
12 17 Pygmies — Drunkard (1988) 3:00
13 The Tweezers — Loveable and Fearless (1985) 4:30
14 Q — Sushi (fragments) (1982) 1:54
15 John Trubee — Blind Man’s Penis (1976) 1:41
16 Extruders — Street Avenger (1981) 3:35
17 Solid State — Owned By the Public (1982) 7:16
18 Celebrity Skin — Introduction (1991) 3:09
19 Marc Monroe and Silentype — Shovelin’ The Snow (1982) 4:04
20 Urinals — Dead Flowers (1979) 0:56
21 100 Flowers — 100 Flowers (1983) 1:09
22 Page Croft — You Hold Nothing (1978) 3:49
23 Alfalfa — Lucky Guy (1985) 3:32
24 To Nije Sala — Dog Trail (1989) 4:08
25 The Wake — Lion’s Heart (1985) 1:59

Moebius, Moebius (Moonwind Records, 1979)

Disk 2
26 Dennis Duck — Dennis Duck Goes Disco – Intro (1977) 1:27
27 Hilary — Goose Step, Two Step (1983) 3:37
28 New Marines — I Like Baseball (1980) 2:31
29 Tiger Lily — Die Laughing (1984) 3:42
30 The Three O’Clock — Mind Gardens (1981) 2:43
31 Mark Lane — Sojourn (1981) 6:41
32 Subjects — I’m Mechanical (1982) 3:18
33 Penetrators — Sensitive Boy (1979) 3:27
34 The Romans — Big Neck (1983) 1:46
35 20/20 — American Dream (1981) 4:56
36 Jetzons — You (1982) 3:19
37 Nick Paine — Solid State (1985) 3:23
38 The Tikis — Junie (1981) 2:04
39 Moebius — Money (1979) 5:31
40 100 Flowers — Our Fallout (1983) 2:29
41 Luther Davis Group — To Be Free (1979) 3:55
42 Afterimage — Strange Confession (1984) 2:47
43 The Signals — Person to Person (1984) 2:43
44 Johnny Chingas — Phone Home (1982) 8:37
45 Hilary — Drop Your Pants (1983) 3:25
46 Red Temple Spirits — Lost In Dreaming (1988) 4:46
47 Chas Smith — October ’68 (1982) 4:44

Notes for Disk 1:

I thought I had included some tracks from 100 Flowers earlier in this series but I actually hadn’t. They are probably the most significant and quintessentially “post-punk” band in Los Angeles, having a sound that can waver between Gang of Four chunky white funk, Wire’s clipped song structures and enigmatic lyrics, the more typically LA Dada puerility of their song titles and subjects (the first version of the band, formed when the members were still students at UCLA, was the Urinals — and it’s the name they use now!), the also very-LA layered primitive percussion, and even in their DIY publishing aesthetics — their label, Happy Squid Records, was responsible for getting a number of underground acts some attention, especially via their compilation, Keats Rides a Harley, an expanded CD edition of which is still available.

Volume 10

Arrow Book Club, Bakersfield Boogie Boys, Claude Coma And The I.V’s, Concrete Blonde, Deviation Social, Dream 6, Ethyl Meatplow, fIREHOSE, Funeral, Gary Kail & Zurich 1916, God And The State, Great City, Hilary, Holly and Joey, Joe ‘n’ Mike, Josie Cotton, Magnolia Thunderpussy, Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Nadia Kapiche, Pat Smear, Q, Radio Werewolf, Systems of Romance, T.S.O.L., Tender Fury, The Alley Cats, The Coupe De Villes, The Crowd, The Go-Go’s, The Halibuts, The Rave-Ups, The Rub, The Wake, Thelonious Monster, Twisted Roots, UXA, X

Pat Smear, Ruthensmear (SST, 1987)

The Rub, Bikini Gospel (Happy Squid Record, 1987)