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From 1992. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear

Got a very early Aztec Camera piece for you tonight.  So early in fact that AC front-man Roddy Frame was a mere fifteen years old when this set was performed.  As such, the man in question had not hit his proverbial prime (but would do so a couple years hence at a still fairly precocious age on the marvelous High Land, Hard Rain ) but what makes this recording so unique is how spartan and minimal it all sounds.  Chalk this up in part to how prominent the vocals and guitars are in the mix, virtually drowning out any semblance of bass   Also note the percussion - audible, but not the least bit dominant and hardly on an even keel with Roddy's performance.  Sonic characteristics of this particular gig aside, AC were well on their way to establishing a signature sound - cozy and strummy, with a yearning romantic penchant that would echo for decades to come.  And, best of all, this nine-song set features a number of non-album tracks that would never make...

So...this one wasn't exactly a magnum opus.  Another of my "bought it for the cover" endeavors, and the skate punk I was sure was awaiting me turned out to be relatively nondescript rock with a mildly loungy undercurrent.  Definitely not antiseptic radio pap mind you, but 'frisco's  Model Americans don't take us very far.  The quintet's finest attribute by a long-shot is frontman John Lee's chiming guitar tone, which borders on jangly at moments.  An array of pedestrian saxophone outbursts crop up frequently, and oddly enough don't sound terribly misplaced.  The money shot here is clearly "Radioland," a song that should have led the album off, but was instead shoved to the back end.  Kind of a mellower Tommy Tutone thing happening there.  I suppose a distant second would be the synthy "Life Indoors" which warns the listener about the hazards of inanimate objects.  01. Changing My Mind 02. Lake of Fire 03. Public Gardens 04....

Well, it looks like another blog (I'll let you figure out which one) got the "jump" on this one before yours truly, but I had such a pristine copy of this record I thought I'd go to the trouble of offering my rip.  Perhaps it was the alternate spelling of their name or this co-ed duo's post-modern poise that set me up with the impression that the Bunji Jumpers were artsy, brooding types with an oblique axe to grind, but...not so much.  The brunt of A Two Z is actually not heavy-handed darkwave or even ostentatious new romantic.  "Be Brave" and "These Days" function just fine as forward-thinking pop highlighted by Eva Dilcue's graceful yet impassioned croon.  "Comrade" is more angular, punctuated with brass that I don't mesh with so well, whereas the concluding "Bigblackboots" points squarely to the Bunji's peacenik ideals, something I can certainly get behind.  This is a damn neat record. Bunji Jumpers had th...

From 1998.  I may have shared this before, but considering how much more it's sunk in with me over the past few years that gives me adequate license for a rerun.  One of the most transcendent indie rock albums to ever grace my ears. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear

Much ado has been made of Sonic Youth's 1988 double album Daydream Nation - and virtually every scrap of praise and critique has been true.  This week marked the thirtieth anniversary of it's release, sparking many a commemoration in social media.  Daydream Nation was my introduction to Sonic Youth.  Both the video for "Teenage Riot" on 120 Minutes, and it's 'album of the year' designation on at least a dozen critics polls (including the coveted Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll) was all that it took to usher me into a store to purchase a cassette copy.  Despite the sweet, near-melodic charms of "Teenage..." much of the remainder of Daydream was an acquired taste.  By and large it didn't take long to incubate with me.  Acclimating to Thurston Moore's and Lee Renaldo's intricate latticeworks of feedback, ear-shattering dissonance, and con-caved sonic motifs was a right of passage for folks like myself back then, much to the chagrin...

Would you believe another blog got to this one a good fifteen years before I did?  For starters they didn't share the whole record, but they did disclose a kernel of info that would have been lost on me otherwise.  Contoocook Line contained in their humble four-piece lineup future Pavement drummer Steve West , who for some unspecified reason goes by the moniker of Jonah West here.  Hmmm. Anyway, C/L hardly sounded like a logical precursor to Stephen Malkmus' soon-to-be hallowed slack attack.  As the piece on Vinyl Mine notes, Contoocook had more in common with REM (think, Life's Rich Pageant but with less zest) at least on some of Oliver's Garden's livelier cuts.  The chaotic album sleeve, not to mention intermittently rambunctious song titles, belie a fairly garden variety, DIY college rock record with too many sleepy (and even folky) underpinnings for it's own good.  Fortunately, OG awakens from it's slumber for a handful of peppier respites like ...

Stark Raving were a Connecticut export whose lone record, Sniveling and Whining came courtesy of Incas Records, one of my favorite indie imprints of the '80s.  Thing is, this fast(ish) and loose co-ed punk trio would have been a more suitable fit for SST, particularly among that label's stable of second-tier acts.  They're a bit on the ramshackle end of the spectrum, and their charm begins and ends there.  Sniveling and Whining produces the occasional gnarly tune, like "Too Much to Take" and the relatively ambitious "New Highways," which vaguely resembles what X were attempting around the same time. 01. Andy's Brain 02. Job With no Future 03. Guns 04. Too Much to Take 05. Crazed New World 06. New Highways https://www13.zippyshare.com/v/XoJ4lI4i/file.html

From 1980. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear

Alright, I practically had to take a day off from work to lasso this one all together.  Per above, 71 tunes, three hours of content spread across two packed cassettes, and limited to a mere 500 copies.  Between digitizing, separating tracks, scanning artwork and the rest of it this took up a good six hours or so of my time.  I hope it was worth the effort, but in hindsight what's on here may be of limited appeal.  You can chalk that up to the Wiener Dog Comp's relative lack of star-power, or it the very least, a roster of veritable unknowns.    The backstory to this one is pretty simple - a benefit album to cover the expenses of a dachshund's large (and evidently lifesaving) veterinary bill.  Burger Records was a relatively fresh indie imprint at the time (and now something of a fixture).  The idea was to get every band on the label (and beyond) to contribute an exclusive song, making it an extra enticing label "sampler" as it were.  To my ...

Word went out on Sunday afternoon that John Wicks , who had been battling cancer on and off for the past few years, had tragically succumbed to the disease and passed away in hospice.  As was expected, dozens of social media posts and blurbs from online news outlets touted his inarguable claim to fame as co-founder of The Records and author of the band's signature piece "Starry Eyes." While those details might not be particularly revelatory to you and me, The Records themselves were in fact a sheer revelation for a good lot of us.  Through Wicks and the three near-perfect albums issued during the band's original late '70s to 1982 inception ( Shades in Bed , Crashes , and Music on Both Sides ), I made a conscious effort to delve deeper into power pop in general (albeit, my discovery of the Records and the genre didn't happen until the mid-90s).  Better late than never, and as it turned out there was a lot more to unearth, including dozens (at minimum) of ba...

From 1996.  I'm pretty certain a good 30% (or more of you) have heard this one, but to anyone who hasn't, try to set aside some quality time - say a little over an hour. Hear

By the time the Doughboys turned in 1993's wonderful Crush, this celebrated Montreal crew with an ever-evolving lineup had graduated from melodic hardcore to something a little more down-tempo on the continuum, still resembling punk, while gracefully sidestepping grunge.  The subsequent Turn Me On was to be their parting shot, and given the band's continuing development it's kind of frustrating that was the case.  Still capable of pulling off ferocious, and visceral slammers like "Nothing Inside" and "My Favorite Martian," John Kastner and Co. indulge in a little dumb fun to boot on the looser "Diamond Idiot."  The more subdued yin to the Doughboys characteristically raucous yang turns up in spades as well, on the not-quite-ballads "It Can All Be Taken Away" and Everything and After."  Turn Me On was the most varied, and perhaps polished record they had tracked to date, but a slightly mellowed Doughboys never yielded the ki...

So I haven't exactly been generous this week.  That will have to wait 'til tomorrow...unless you're looking for some revived links, which I have for you below. The Buck Pets - Rares CD , 1987 demo tape , later demos Pipe - singles Halflings - singles No Knife - singles Vivid - singles The Trypes - demos Romantics - Bomp Blues Drowners - Destroyer & World Record Player Fools Face - Tell America Scott Wilk and the Walls - s/t   Rapture of the Deep - Under Quabbin ep Native Tongue - s/t ep Tobin Sprout - Waxnails ep Sugarplastic -  Ottawa Bonesaw , Radio Jejune , Polly Brown ep , Primitive Plastic , Sheep 7" , demo Monsterland - Loser Friendly ep & At One With Time ep Senator Flux - The Criminal Special & Storybook The Fiendz - Wact Mega City Four - Magic Bullets & CD singles Teeze - s/t ep Numbers - Add Up Cactus World News -  Spin radio concert Space Needle - Panic Delaney 7" Metal Flake Mother - Beyond the Java Sea ...