Pell Mell - Endless Open Motion

 

Bio:
Pell Mell were an American instrumental group whose music could be seen on some levels as a forerunner of post-rock, sharing its eclecticism and fusion of acoustics and electronics, but shying away from its more self-conscious avant-gardisms and free-form qualities. Formed in the early 1980s in Portland, Oregon, they developed a distinctive sound built around interlocking guitars, steady rhythms, and an absence of vocals that allowed their compositions to unfold like scenes from an unwritten film. Their work often carried a sense of motion and landscape, suggesting open roads, shifting light, and the passage of time. Not wanting to be pigeonholed as mere revivalists, they switched up their attack with touches of funk, punk, Krautrock, dub, and vintage ambient, among other sources, which resulted in an atmospheric, effects-laden sound that was certainly aided by its creators' production prowess. Across releases culminating in albums like "Interstate", Pell Mell refined a style that was both understated and emotionally resonant, helping to lay groundwork for later instrumental and post-rock acts. Though never widely commercial, they earned a devoted following for their ability to convey atmosphere without words, creating music that feels at once intimate and expansive, perfectly suited to long journeys, both literal and imagined.


I first had the idea of compiling a Pell Mell anthology several years back, finally getting the kick up the backside to go for it thanks to a compilation of instrumentals, "Syncopated Musings From The Nineties", posted on the wonderful  jonderblog blog a few weeks ago featuring 3 tracks by the band. You can find a link to them in my blog list. Much more prolific than me, you'll find loads of highly original and diverse compilations to enjoy. https://jonderblog.blogspot.com/

This isn't an all all-encompassing anthology, there's a few compilation tracks/b-sides which I don't possess, but this does include tracks from all their studio albums and their debut EP from 1981. The majority of tracks included here come from their final 3 album releases, which I think feature their strongest work. As for my favourite Pell Mell album, I'd probably go for their one major label release, "Interstate" from 1995. As usual, origin of each track & year of release is tagged in the music files and noted in the download folder. I hope you all enjoy this latest anthology. Cheers!

 

  1. Spy vs Spy (2:51)
  2. Estacada (5:01)
  3. Ether (4:33)
  4. Flood (6:57)
  5. On Approach (2:56)
  6. Blacktop (3:20)
  7. Conversation (4:15)
  8. All This and More (3:05)
  9. Sky Lobby (3:50)
10. Swoon (1:54)
11. Par Avion (4:10)
12. The Devil Bush (2:15)
13. Vegetable Kingdom (6:26)
14. Upstairs (3:25)
15. Field of Poppies (2:35)
16. Nothing Lies Still Long (4:06)
17. American Eagle (2:20)
18. Red Rhythm (6:02)
19. Cinecitta (5:22)
20. Smoke (4:04)

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Slovenly - The Shape of Unease

 

Short bio:
Emerging from the vibrant Los Angeles underground scene of the early 1980s, Slovenly quickly aligned themselves with SST Records, joining the ranks of genre-defying acts like Minutemen and Saccharine Trust. While rooted in post-punk, Slovenly’s sound was distinct—jagged guitar lines, off-kilter rhythms, and abstract lyrical explorations defined their music, eschewing hardcore’s aggression in favour of cerebral tension and melodic dissonance. Their lineup, solidified around Tom Watson (guitar), Steve Anderson (vocals), and Rob Holzman (drums), evolved through six albums between 1984 and 1992, carving a subtle but enduring place in the SST catalogue.

Slovenly never courted wide attention, and that was part of their appeal—their music felt like a quiet rebellion against both punk orthodoxy and mainstream accessibility. Over time, their work has earned a cult appreciation for its restless invention, poetic lyricism, and emotional restraint. Their final album, Highway to Hanno's, remains a fitting capstone: mature, moody, and uncompromisingly them.


As I mentioned in the "Slivers From the Spine" SST compilation, here's the Slovenly anthology I'd been thinking about. I also stated that they're rather an acquired taste. If you’re after straightforward verse/chorus/verse structures, this band probably isn’t for you! Steve Anderson's vocals can be a stumbling block for some too; he's often compared to Ian Curtis, another singer who tends to divide opinion. Sure there's similarities but I think Anderson shows more variety, even in his off-key moments!

Compiling these tracks, it was tough deciding what to include, and what to leave out. I'm sure there'll be some comments regarding about what's missing, I can only apologise but after a lot of deliberation this is how it panned out. My favourite Slovenly album, "Riposte", features most heavily here, 6 tracks in total, but I have included tracks from all of their album/single/EP releases. 

The majority of these tracks are ripped from vinyl, some by me (tracks from the albums "Thinking of Empire" & "Riposte"),  the other excellent vinyl rips I found from various sources. Big thanks to those who took the time to rip these hard to find records. Tracks from the last 2 album releases are ripped from CD. As ever, origin of each track & year of release is tagged in the music files and noted in the download folder. Hope you enjoy this one. Cheers!


  1. Dialogue (5:04)
  2. Movement (3:01)
  3. Temp. Struct. (2:34)
  4. Old/New (3:20)
  5. What's It Called (3:02)
  6. Instability (3:33)
  7. Seeking Equilibrium (3:58)
  8. Now (2:23)
  9. Emma (2:09)
10. Enormous Critics (2:32)
11. Today or Ck (2:59)
12. On the Beach (3:41)
13. Running for Public Office (3:56)
14. The Way Untruths Are (4:13)
15. Plug (2:41)
16. Where Are My Friends (4:55)
17. To Tito With Love (2:49)
18. Distended (2:56)
19. On the Surface (3:00)
20. A Year With No Head (2:59)
21. Even So (3:35)
22. No Shore (3:02)
23. Cartwheels of Glory (2:57)
24. Prejudice (2:21)
25. Sleep From the Eye (2:10)

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Slivers From the Spine (SST Records)

 

Hello again! This latest compilation is in celebration of SST Records, one of my favourite record labels from the 1980s. It's by no means a definitive overview; rather, it features tracks from SST releases I personally bought back in the day. I thought about including something from Opal’s "Happy Nightmare Baby", but the version I picked up was released on Rough Trade in the UK, so it didn’t feel quite right for this comp. Also no Henry Rollins era Black Flag are here, the only release I bought of them was "The First Four Years", which covers their early stuff before Rollins joined.

Some albums I still cherish, notably the albums released on SST by Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, Volcano Suns, Screaming Trees and Slovenly. I really should do a Slovenly anthology one day, they're a bit of an acquired taste but I've loved every album they released. Maybe a Volcano Suns collection too, that'd be quite a noisy affair! Another possibility is Pell Mell, in fact the final SST album I bought was their 1991 release "Flow". Like most of my comps, this one’s a mix of some better-known bands and a few more obscure ones that you might not have heard of before.

Jusf for the fun of it, I posted this mix to ChatGPT and asked them to write up a description of the contents. Here is the result!
"From the vaults of America's most relentlessly uncompromising independent label comes a collection so raw, so real, and so recklessly non-commercial… we’re amazed it exists at all.

Presenting a once-in-a-lifetime sonic journey through the hallowed halls of SST Records, where melody feared to tread and song structure was merely a suggestion. This essential anthology assembles the all-stars of underground iconoclasm: the blinding fury of Black Flag, the melodic mayhem of Hüsker Dü, the sunbaked surrealism of Meat Puppets, the econo-genius of Minutemen, and the art-damaged charm of Slovenly—bands so ahead of their time, they’re still broke.

This collection crackles with the unfiltered electricity of an era when indie meant indigent, and “tour support” was just sleeping on a stranger’s floor.

Are you ready for 80 minutes of music that changed everything, and sold almost nothing?
Then step into the van, crank the volume, and embrace the noise.

SST: Sounds So Tremendous. Or Something."

Not bad, I must say! As usual origin of each track & year of release is tagged in the music files and noted in the download folder. Hope you enjoy!


  1. Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown (2:05)
  2. Hüsker Dü - I Apologize (3:36)
  3. Angst - Red Wing (2:43)
  4. Minutemen - The Glory of Man (2:57)
  5. Saccharine Trust - We Became Snakes (5:21)
  6. Würm - I'm Dead (3:24)
  7. Bad Brains - Sacred Love (3:36)
  8. No Man is Roger Miller - Calling the Animals (3:56)
  9. Lawndale - Interstellar Caravan (2:49)
10. Das Damen - 555 (ESP With a Fender Version - Long Mix) (6:07)
11. Screaming Trees - Transfiguration (3:55)
12. Slovenly - The Way Untruths Are (4:16)
13. Volcano Suns - Noodle on the Couch (3:56)
14. Dicks - Rich Daddy (2:27)
15. Sonic Youth - Shadow of a Doubt (3:32)
16. Trotsky Icepick - Big Dreams (4:03)
17. Pell Mell - Aero (3:54)
18. fIREHOSE - The Candle and the Flame (3:11)
19. Descendents - Impressions (3:06)
20. Meat Puppets - Away (3:25)
21. Dinosaur Jr. - Lose (3:07)
22. Grant Hart - Twenty-Five Forty-One (4:40)

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Labradford - Accelerating on a Smoother Road [1993-2001]

 

Bio:
Founded in 1991, Labradford consists of bassist Robert Donne, guitarist/vocalist Mark Nelson, and keyboardist Carter Brown. Their music style is experimental ambient and post-rock, although their first releases were much more related to dark drone rock.

An early press release compared them to: Neu, F/i, Spacemen3, Gate, Dead C. & Jim O'Rourke. Their first full-length album, "Prazision LP", was released by Kranky in 1993. By their third full-length album, the eponymous release of 1996, Labradford began to infuse their music with sampled and real time percussion traces, at times faintly delving into actual syncopation. By 1997, the group broadened and varied their sound with their fourth release. On "Mi Media Naranja", the group maintained their distinctive identity, adding a string section, Fender Rhodes electric piano and slide guitar to the trio's sound bank.

1999's release, "E Luxo So" features contributions from a string quartet as well as a guest on dulcimer. Subtle blips of percussion and samples interweave through blurry guitars, bubbly electric piano and plangent organ and some gorgeous piano. In 2001, the band released their sixth album, "Fixed::Context", recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago and engineered by Steve Albini. This album found the trio stripping off the string trios of the last two albums and working with interlocking sound sources and modifiers; Carter Brown's vintage synthesizers, organs and electric piano; the distinctive Duane Eddy plays Satie guitar of Mark Nelson and Bobby Donne's four and six string basses. Though the group has not officially disbanded, they have not released another album since.


Won't say too much here, don't want to bore you with my witterings! I've never been a big fan of drone/ambient music but I've enjoyed listening to Labradford since I bought their first album back in 1993. I subsequently bought all their following albums on release, even managed to see them play live back in 2000, and still listen to them quite frequently even though it's been several years since their last album. Favourite album? That would be their self-titled from 1996, which also includes my favourite song by them, "Pico". "E Luxo So" comes a close 2nd though.
For this collection I've featured my 2 favourite tracks from all 6 studio albums, plus a compilation track and a b-side single. As usual, origin of each track & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. I hope you enjoy!


  1. Accelerating on a Smoother Road (4:12)
  2. V (6:24)
  3. Comfort (6:12)
  4. With John Morand and Assisted by Brian Hoffa. (5:34)
  5. Pico (5:46)
  6. Up to Pizmo (6:15)
  7. Balanced on It's Own Flame (4:01)
  8. S (6:14)
  9. The Window (4:31)
10. Leta O'Steen. Design Assistance by John Piper. (7:41)
11. C. of People (4:52)
12. Columna de la Independencia (4:28)
13. Scenic Recovery (4:50)
14. David (6:35)

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Shellac - Be Prepared

 

Bio:
Shellac, from Chicago, Illinois, consist of Steve Albini (guitar and vocals), Bob Weston (bass guitar and vocals) and Todd Trainer (drums and vocals), formed in 1992. Their music genre has been classified as noise rock, post-hardcore and math rock, but they describe themselves as a "minimalist rock trio."

Shellac has a distinctive, minimalist sound based on asymmetric time signatures, repetitive rhythms, an angular guitar sound, and both Albini's and Weston's surreal, bitingly sarcastic lyrics. Songs typically do not have traditional verse/chorus/verse structure and the arrangements are sparse, to the point where some describe them as "amelodic".

Writing for Drowned in Sound, Benjamin Bland stated: "Big Black and Shellac are surely the two most influential 'noise rock' groups there have ever been. Hundreds of bands have sounded like them, and in all probability so will hundreds more. Who can blame them? When a shadow that large looms over an entire subgenre of music, it’s hard not to be influenced by it, let alone ignore it altogether."
John Robb, music critic and frontman of British post-punk band The Membranes, called Shellac "the finest rock band on the planet. This is the rock band that the rest of us in our bands [...] have had to measure ourselves against and if we are found wanting then we have to cower behind rocks and attempt to revive our measly offerings until they measure up."


I'll keep this bit relatively short... I've been a fan of Steve Albini since I first heard Big Black in the mid 80s, and his subsequent bands Rapeman (Albini later expressed regret at the name of the band, saying "it was a flippant choice", calling it unconscionable and indefensible) and of course Shellac. If I were to compile my favourite 50 songs of all time, I'm sure Big Black's "Kerosene" and Shellac's "Wingwalker" would be in that list.

This collection features tracks from Shellac's 5 studio albums so far (from 1992's "At Action Park" up to "Dude Incredible" in 2014), plus various singles/EPs and one compilation track. Favourite album? That would be "Excellent Italian Greyhound" from 2007, and features the most heavily here. Not the most prolific of bands, I guess his production work with many other acts over the years has kept him quite busy, but I hope Shellac surprise us with a new album at some point in the future.

As per usual, info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. I hope you enjoy this latest collection!


  1. The End of Radio (8:24)
  2. Doris (3:11)
  3. Copper (1:45)
  4. Prayer to God (2:26)
  5. Riding Bikes (5:23)
  6. Killers (1:24)
  7. Spoke (2:13)
  8. The Rambler Song (2:54)
  9. Pull the Cup (4:12)
10. '95 Jailbreak (4:30)
11. Squirrel Song (2:36)
12. Disgrace (2:40)
13. Dude Incredible (6:00)
14. Kittypants (1:57)
15. Billiard Player Song (3:45)
16. A Minute (3:37)
17. Song Against Itself (4:13)
18. Gary (3:57)
19. Be Prepared (3:59)
20. Il Porno Star (5:12)
21. Wingwalker (4:59)

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Big Dipper - Lifetime Achievement Award

 

Bio:
Big Dipper formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in 1985 by bassist Steve Michener and guitarist/vocalist Gary Waleik (both formerly of Volcano Suns), guitarist/vocalist Bill Goffrier (formerly of The Embarrassment) and Waleik's cousin Jeff Oliphant on drums. They released one mini-album and three albums between 1987 and 1990, before splitting up. The band reunited in 2008. They were described in a New York Times article as "musical contortionists: they love to toy with extremes, juxtaposing ferocious guitar noise with celestial vocal harmonies or planting a delicate melody in jagged rhythm".

Their first release was the 1987 mini-album "Boo-Boo", issued by Homestead Records. Their first full-length studio album, "Heavens", released later in 1987, was later described by AllMusic as "one of the finest American indie albums of its era". Their second album, "Craps", followed in 1988. Big Dipper signed to Epic Records for 1990's "Slam". Michener left the band, and they continued with various players for two years, splitting up in 1992 after releasing the "Approach of a Human Being" single (1991, Feel Good All Over) and recording more than an album's worth of material.

In 2008, Merge Records released "Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology", a 3-disc collection of Big Dipper's Homestead recordings, with additional material including the unreleased tracks recorded after Michener left. This renewed interest prompted the band to reform for some live shows in April 2008. In November 2012, they released their first new studio album in 22 years, "Crashes on the Platinum Planet", on Almost Ready Records.


Here's another band Manerg introduced me to back in the late 80s, and for that I'm very grateful. Big Dipper were one of my favourite bands back then, well at least up until their major label release "Slam". Many people regard "Heavens" as their best album, for  me I think "Craps" just shades it, and why tracks from that album feature the heaviest here. Regarding the album "Slam", I remember the excitement on purchasing it, though somewhat concerned by the awful record cover. Well... let's just say on first listen I thought the record cover just about summed up the contents of the album, it was bloody awful! I think I played it twice, and then got rid of. It was such a crushing disappointment after their previous releases on Homestead.

Go forward to 2008 and the "Supercluster" anthology on Merge, reigniting my love for the band, especially the several unreleased tracks which would have most likely been their 4th album, "Very Loud Array", after being ditched by Epic. This would've definitely been a return to form after the overproduced rather flat "Slam", and maybe they wouldn't have sadly split up. It still took me several years to even try and listen to "Slam" again, but once I did it surprisingly wasn't as bad as I remembered. Sure there are many weak songs, but on closer listen I found at least half a dozen tracks that really are quite good!

This anthology comprises mostly of tracks from "Supercluster", plus 3 tracks from "Slam", and the odd EP/compilation track. Focusing on their recordings from 1987 to 1992, I decided at the last minute to include a 'bonus' track from their 2012 comeback album "Crashes on the Platinum Planet", an album which stands up very well to their earlier Homestead releases. "Supercluster" was originally a limited edition release of only 5000 copies, but can now be found easily on bandcamp. I recommend you purchase it, there's hardly a dud on it.


  1. You're Not Patsy (2:28)
  2. Mr. Woods (3:09)
  3. Meet the Witch (3:53)
  4. San Quentin, CA (2:17)
  5. Impossible Things (3:00)
  6. Wrong in the Charts (2:58)
  7. Making Plans for Bison (2:00)
  8. Restaurant Cloud (3:10)
  9. The Insane Girl (3:37)
10. Lou Gehrig's Disease (3:47)
11. Approach of a Human Being (4:30)
12. Man o' War (2:40)
13. Slam (2:49)
14. Faith Healer (3:01)
15. Ron Klaus Wrecked His House (5:02)
16. Extraordinary Worm (3:24)
17. Homosapien (4:29)
18. Which Would You Rather? (featuring Ellie Marshall) (2:40)
19. Younger Bums (2:56)
20. Semjáse (4:34)
21. Life Inside the Cemetery (3:42)
22. Silentium (2:39)
23. The Monsters of Jazz (2:41)
24. A Song to Be Beautiful (4:05)
25. Untitled (2:08)
     "bonus track"
26. Robert Pollard (4:13)

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