COLOGNE DROPOUTS - " Ein Absturz In Die Kölner Underground-Szene Vol. 1" (1988)

I think this various artists "Cologne Dropouts" cassette from 1988 might have been the first tape I ever got from Guido Erfen and his S.H.M. label. It was also one of the first tapes I received with alternative packing. You can see the outline of the plastic box glued inside where there was also a booklet with pages about each participating band. The full name is "Cologne Dropouts - Ein Absturz in die Kölner Underground-Szene Vol. 1" and proves what a hotbed of Indie Music Germany is, or at least was! The artists involved were Zerlett (Whom I've been told is most likely the same *Zerlett*  who later became a very well known bandleader on Gemany's biggest late nite tv show), Wirtz, & Stahl, Dumb But Deluxe, Meadow Meal, Akak, The Absurd, Sektor, White Jam, Sack, Atletico Rheinland, S.C.R., Interface Crew, The Dirk Hartung Combo, and the song I have for you by....

The Scrap Yard - "Back On The Street"

RAY CARMEN - "Bubblegum Buddha" (1993)

Ray Carmen is a very talented pop musician from Ohio. I've got quite a few of his tapes, so if you stick around long enough you'll get a good earful. This particular tape was called "Bubblegum Buddha" and was released in 1993. All the music on the tape was written, performed, and produced by Ray, except for two songs! If you are too impatient to wait on me to get around to it, you can check out more of Ray's classy tunes on his Bandcamp page. As a matter of fact, you can download this whole tape and more, and here's a sample of a good reason why you should!

Ray Carmen - "Out Of Your Hair"

JOHN EBERLY - "Moke" (1990)

John Eberly is from Wichita, Kansas, and his band was called Mumbles (One of my favorite band names), and he also made music with his brother as The Eberly Brothers, a great name that he could also lay claim too unlike The Beagles. This tape was called "Moke" and I think John told me that the cover drawing he did was of an ex-girlfriend. Written, performed and recorded entirely by John Eberly himself in September of 1990 at Electric Mumbleland Studios.

JOHN EBERLY - "Liquid Days"

ix - ex - splue - "The 36 Steps To Innocence" (1988)

This 1988 tape by ix-ex-splue titled "The 39 Steps To Innocence" was sent to me by Guido Erfen, my friend who ran S.H.M. Tapes out of Köln, West Germany. West Germany, because this was still before the wall came down! If there are more than 39 steps to this recovery process, I don't think I'm going to make it!

ix-ex-splue - "Brought Up To Kill"

BOB BUNCE - "Don't Try This At Home" (1992)

Bob Bunce is from Rochester, New York. He's a very versatile and talented musician, so it was hard to just choose one song from this 1992 tape, but I like this one. It's about a dog!

The other musicians included Jonah Washnis - harmonica, Ethan Lyons - saxophone, Ed Anna - saxophone. Everything else on this song is all Bob! ........."We're all stuck here for a while....Let's try to work it out." - Rodney King..

Bob Bunce - "Miles Child"

ROLL 'N' PINZ - "Roll 'N' Pinz II" (1988)

Almost exactly 28 years ago I sent one of our tapes to Thingsflux Music in Miramar, Florida, and this tape called Roll 'N' Pinz II was what I got in return. I don't remember much more than that! The liner notes on this tape state "These Roll 'N' Pinz performances were recorded live on a cheap portable cassette recorder later in 1980." With Steve Hoffman - vocals, lyrics, songwriter, Manuel Franco - guitar, songwriter, James Garcia - drums, Ron Linton - sax, trumpet, and Art Ricks - bass. Side 2 was mostly a reconfiguration of the band recorded in 1987 and calling themselves The D.A.'s with Steve Hoffman still up front and Dimthingshine on drums. If I recall right now, I ended up getting three vinyl albums from Dimthingshine too. I'll have to find those too one of these days!

ROLL 'N' PINZ - "Girls"

SPARSE - "Unknown Songs for Unknown Souls" (1995)

For various reasons my posts have been a little sparse of late, so it seems fairly appropriate to start this month off with something from a band called Sparse. I don't have much more than that. I've looked through all my old letters and stuff, and I can't find anything. There's also no information on the tape insert except the date, and credit that the cover was done by the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. It's Munch's version of "The Madonna," which I'm sure they had permission to use. Edvard Munch is also notoriously famous for his painting titled "The Scream."

SPARSE - "Heat/Violence"