Wednesday, March 31, 2021

GAJOOB ISSUE #9 - SAMPLER #1 (1993)

Winter 1993 was a cold and lonely time but Bryan Baker kept on cranking out the Gajoob's. He hasn't quit yet, and you can read all about it on the GAJOOB MAGAZINE HOMEPAGE.
This sampler tape included a lot of stuff, and the cover was done by my pal Gary Wray, who also has a whole lot going on right now that you can read about right HERE! 
 
The cut I chose came off of this 1991 tape by KREL a space rock band from Manchester, England. These guys weren't exactly home tapers that's for sure, and played some interstellar stuff from some other universe, in a Hawkwind kind of way, so it's no wonder they are not still together. This tape was released on Carl Howard's "audiofile'" label.
If you want to read all about them, there's a massive biography on this Discogs page
.......KREL.

Monday, March 29, 2021

JOHN BARTLES - "Omnibus Of Unpopular Concepts"

John's got a bad habit of not putting the date on his stuff, but I think I got this some time in the late 1990's or early 2000's. He's not picking up the phone number I have or I'd ask him. This CD is called "Omnibus Of Unpopular Subjects," and contains a variety of excellent material, enough that I had a hard time making a choice between the ode to clearing land the natural way called "Bringin' In The Goats," or the always fun "F.M.F.Y," or this fabulous ballad called.............
 
                    JOHN BARTLES - "Where Only Elvis Can Smell Us"       
 TURN IT UP!!!
It's good to see that a lot of John's work is finally showing up on Discogs, and this release even made a very interesting and comprehensive list called "Buses On Covers" that you can check out right
HERE!!!          

Friday, March 26, 2021

AMAZING THRIFT VOLUME SIXTEEN - "Me & Treflan" (1992)

 
The cassette scene of the 80's was much more than just that. Besides the home produced tapes, and the D.I.Y. magazines, there were art projects, mail projects, and things like the "Amazing Thrift" compilation series put together by the Mad Genius Michael Gonzales, and his OOH OOH Music label in North Canton, Ohio.
 
 This series of tapes were compilations put together by people Michael knew or corresponded with that included cuts found on records found in thrift stores, hence the title, and some of the songs are even more than amazing when you've got guys like Joe Newman of The Rudy Schwartz Project picking them out!
 
 The songs chosen by Joe for this tape include a cover of "Up, Up And Away" by Rajput & The Sepoy Mutiny, a handful of commercials, an outlandish cover of "Something" by Sonny And Cher, and more, but my favorite among the bunch has got to be this wondrous ode to herbicides!!


Wednesday, March 17, 2021

ZAZERAC VIDEOS (2021)

A couple of weeks ago, I put together two videos for John Sanders of Zazerac, and yesterday somebody left a comment on the post I did for John Sanders' song "People's Park," asking for more, so by request, this goes out to all the Anonymous people in the world!


Here's "James Brown (Slight Return)" by Zazerac 

 

And here's "Double Naught Spy" by Zazerac

And here are two more ways to enjoy the music of John Sanders and Zazerac!

Jazz Music Archives

Reverberation

Saturday, March 13, 2021

HERMANOS GUZANOS - "Nectar Cuts From Beyond" (2021)

On December 4, 1987, I mailed off our first tape "The Worm's Turn," to "Yecch Tape Products" in Stover, Norway, and here it is 34 years later, and we finally have a vinyl LP thanks to Matas Labasauskas and Oscar Olias in Vilnius, Lithuania, and their "Big Band Alone" label.

 
It's been a long journey and a weird trip!
Matas and Oscar picked out the tunes, and did all the artwork, and if you want more information on how to order it, then go right here!

Thursday, March 11, 2021

DA VINCI'S CRADLE - "Demo Tape" (1992)

I was basically a tape trader and home taper, but after doing it for a few years, and slowly getting our name out there in lots of Indie magazines, and airplay on some college stations, I would sometimes get unsolicited material myself. I had this tape by Da Vinci's Cradle in my collection, and I couldn't remember why, because it sounded so polished and commercial, and it wasn't anything like I normally got.

 
So the other day I was going through a box I have of old correspondence, and I found this letter and it all came back to me like "the kiss at the end of a wet fist." We had been sometimes calling our home-spun label "Guzbro Music," and this band was searching for a record label. I've dug around as much as I could to find out any current info on Da Vinci's Cradle, or any of the members, but all I have been able to find is that maybe Dave Burgett, the keyboard player and the guy who sent me the tape might be a Seventh-Degree Black Belt and Tai Chi instructor in Valencia, Ca, because one of his bios said he used to be a musician, but I don't know for sure. So here you go!

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Time Paradox" (2021)

Today marks the release of a new album by Chris Phinney and Ed Drury titled "Time Paradox." Chris and Ed are a veritable snowball right now. These two guys are rolling downhill so fast, there's no way in Hell to stop them! And here's the amazing thing, they're not just banging these out to try and set some new Guinness Book of World Records entry, instead, each and every one of these tunes is full of thought and purpose, and meaning. Weird concept, I know, kind of like a pair of dachshunds in a time machine!
 
I think my favorite tune from this release is the title song, but I like this one a lot too!
CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Rain Delays"
  You can check out the whole Harsh Reality Catologue right here, but if Chris stays in this vein, he might have to change the name to Harmonious Reality Music soon! (But I doubt it!)