Saturday, December 26, 2020

EBU'S MUSIC SAMPLER - "Vol. Songs & Sounds 1" (1991)

"Ebu's Music Sampler Vol. Songs & Sounds 1" was a various artist's compilation project by Carsten Olbrich in Frankfurt, Germany from February 1991. 
Ebu is still doing his thing on the radio today, and can be found at either:
or
 
My tape is numbered 000034.

I'm pretty sure I got this because John Bartles' song "President's Head" was on it, and we provided the backbone of the music for that song.

One of the more unusual but interesting tunes on this tape was by Klimperei from France who are Christophe and Françoise Petchanatz playing minimal music on a variety of instruments including toys.

The title of that song translates to "It Was No Big Deal," and even though I couldn't find a tape that the original song was on, I did find it on this split CD with Sebastian Gandera released three years later.

That CD can be found on their Bandcamp page, and here's where you can find the whole story and what Klimperei is still doing today.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

JOE SHMOE - "Still Goin'" (2014)

 While "Cool Yule" was sweet and sentimental, Joe Shmoe is salty and sassy and not for kids, because, he doesn't give an F, and this year why should anybody?

Not strictly a Christmas CD, this album has songs to offend every holiday and then some!
So get ready to "Impress your friends and family this holiday season,"
 but bring some air freshener because Joe Shmoe is still goin.' 

Monday, December 21, 2020

COOL YULE - "Various Artists" (1996)

 "Cool Yule" is a various independent artists CD of all original Christmas music. That whole concept would be a difficult sell even if you had thousands of dollars in promotion and advertising, so you have to give Rich Arithmetic an A for effort, and the music's good too!

Personally, I like various artists releases, but apparently most people don't for some reason that I have yet to understand. As you can plainly see, there was a lot of talent on this CD.

A lot of the music on the CD is sweet and sentimental like a Christmas record should be, but my favorite song out of the bunch was one that rocked a little harder.
                  JOHN T. BAKER - "The Night Before" (And No, it's not a Beatles cover)
(c)Hortones, 1982-2020)
 If you would like to get your own copy, you can contact Rich Horton, the Producer of this CD at richiro51@yahoo.com. He just might still have a couple of copies left!

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING IN THE 80's and 90's

These are a bunch of random publications I pulled off the shelf, and they run from music review rags like this "Baby Sue Music Review" from 1993 put out by Stephen M. Fievet and Donald W, Seven in Decatur, Georgia, to cassette catalogues and comics.
Our tape collaboration with Michael Gonzales called "Hermanos Gonzales" was called "a fun tape" by Don Seven, and got a full five-baby sue rating.

 "Ear Noises" was a mini music review mag that was based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was the Fall '92 issue. The 'letters to the editor' section is hilarious and contains letters from bands that didn't like their shitty reviews.

"Gajoob" magazine #4 from 1989 used these words to describe our music, "bits of political cynicism and world-weariness."

 
"Honko In Cheap 3-D!!" was an eight page mini-comic by Bob Supina. The 'cheap 3-D' effect was circles drawn that you could cut out and stick your fingers through to simulate legs, or, uh fingers!

"MISC" number 30 was a mini-comic from 1989 put together by Randy Paske and Bob Pfeffer from Minnesota.

This was the "Mystery Hearsay" 1991 catalogue put out by Mike Honeycutt in Memphis, Tn.

This was another tape catalogue from 1991. This one was from Michael Gonzales's "Ooh Ooh Music label in North Canton, Ohio.

"Metro Riquet" number 6 from 1989 was put out by Francoise Duvivier in Paris, France. It contained articles and reviews. Although based in France, it was mostly written in English with an emphasis on reviewing other indie publications!

The "Lil Rhino Gazette" was an industrious project of interviews and a massive amount of reviews of tapes and records etc. The home base was Arlington, Texas, and this 1994 issue was # 24.

"The Monthly Independent Tribune Times Journal Post Gazette New Chronicl Bulletin" was a free 8 page magazine "to which no superlatives apply," in their own words. There's a couple of one page cartoons, and a couple of short articles. This is issue #56 from 1987.

Also out of North Canton, Ohio, this catalogue was Ray Carmen's "Pop! Productions" offering in 1996.

"Teen Punks in HEAT" was a mini-sex mag out of Prospect Hills, Illinois. I don't remember who sent it to me, but it was mostly a project of  Ben Weasel. It contains some sleazy pictures, video reviews, interviews, and comics by Ace Backwards. You had to be 18 to get a copy! The cover illustration was by Paul Russel.

This was issue #14 from the Fall of 1993 of the "Baby Sue Music Review." This one had a Guzanos review written by Don Seven, and I quote, "The songs range from raunchy to rocky to noisy to weird." Too bad we never had a bus for him to ride on!

I'll wrap this up with issue # 6 of "Ear Noises" from 1990. This one had a review of our tape "UFO Executives" in it that claimed our song "Bald Man" was worth the price of admission alone. There are also a number of interviews, including one with our pal John Bartles.

Saturday, December 5, 2020

TAPE REBEL 6 - "Storemage" (1988)

 The "Tape Rebel" series was a labor of love put out on Winfried Pickart's Weed Music label in Germany. Winnie is no longer with us, but if you were ever lucky enough to communicate with him, then you know what a great guy he was!

There was quite a formidable line up on this tape, but I'm going to play you the first cut by a band out of Germany called Storemage.

I found this image of Storemage on Discogs from an early tape, but this song wasn't on it! The members were Dirk Morgenstern on Bass and Vocals, Toni Fontanella on Drums, and Andreas Kürschner playing Guitar. Because of the vocals, I think they sounded a lot like Ween.
Andreas Kürschner currently has a band named Kuersche, and is still playing today!

I did find out that this song was on this Storemage LP from 1988 called "Jon Dave Tomson."
You can find this record for sale, but if you don't live in Germany, then the postage will eat you alive!

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

CHRIS PHINNEY & ED DRURY - "Doors in the Broken Mirrors" (2020)

Let's get this month off to a good start, and I got it for you right here! "Doors in the Broken Mirrors" by Chris Phinney & Ed Drury is their latest in a marathon pace of an album a month for a few months now, and the real problem is, they just keep getting better! They take misery and despair and turn it into awe and joy, or some bullshit like that!

There are 20 cuts (Four of them are hidden unless you download the whole package) on this release including "In Other Worlds, Hold My Hand," and Ed's guitar work is genuinely amazing, and you never know where Chris's spacey synths are going to take you! Add in the instruments from all over the world that Ed plays like the Didjeridu, Tibetan Bowls, Nature Recordings etc. combined with Chris's production, and you will never know where this trip is headed!

There's lots of good stuff here, but my favorite by far is this tune called "Holy Roll." 
"Black Magic Woman" was written by Peter Green, but made famous by Carlos Santana, "Holy Roll" sounds like Peter Green playing a Santana song! How cool is that?
Give it a listen and see if you agree!
You can download the whole package at the Harsh Reality page on Bandcamp for a dollar, and there's even an option to give it as a gift. You really can't go wrong!
Do it HERE!