In Love With Those Times (Flying Nun Records 1981–1988)

 

This compilation was inspired by the excellent Matthew Goody book, "Needles and Plastic: Flying Nun Records, 1981–1988", which goes into great detail about every Flying Nun release from the years 1981 to mid 1988. All artists on this compilation are featured in the book. Finding some of the more obscure releases did prove quite difficult. I managed to find online some vinyl rips of singles/EPs which have never been reissued by the label. Big thanks go out to 'thehappyone' for some of those rips, especially the releases by Ritchie Venus & The Blue Beetles and Marie and the Atom. A handful of the vinyl rips I'm also responsible for. A few of these more obscure releases have been reissued on other labels, or self-released, such as the EPs from Vibraslaps and Phantom Forth. Other artists such as Mainly Spaniards & Scorched Earth Policy have released anthologies from which the respective tracks have come from, though some of these have been brickwalled to hell! Scorched Earth Policy probably the worst offenders here...

Among the better-known artists who have appeared on several Flying Nun compilations, I have selected a few personal favourite songs that have not been featured before on those comps. Hard to believe that one of The Clean's finest songs, "Anything Could Happen", has never appeared on any of these comps, apart from the couple of band anthologies released so far. This compilation has been a real labour of love, spending several weeks trying to find these very rare releases. Some I really would love to find some day, for example: The Jumblies – "Stuff Of Dreams", Spines – "Idiot Sun",  Not Really Anything – "Watched a World" and The Moas – "Spaz Out!"

There are some releases I did track down which I haven't included on this compilation, due to my personal dislike of them. I had the sole album by The Fold many years ago, really could not get into it, selling it soon after purchase. Listening to them just recently my opinion of the band hasn't changed at all. You also won't find here Netherworld Dancing Toys, Stiff Herbert and a few others which can be found in the book. One small surprise (for me anyway) was including a track from the much derided 2nd Gordons album. Notoriously difficult to find a copy, with good reason. It really isn't very good! Listening to it just recently though, it isn't almost as awful as I remember it, and included here is one of the better tracks.
Note: Axemen - "Womin of Love" isn't a bad rip, that's exactly how it sounds on the album! This is also one of the more listenable tracks on that album so you got off lightly...

I hope you enjoy my latest Flying Nun compilation, as ever origin of each track & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. Cheers!

Disc 1:
  1. Crystal Zoom - Dunedin Sound on 45 (3:26)
  2. The Pin Group - Columbia (3:52)
  3. Die Bilder - Girl at Night (3:12)
  4. Vibraslaps - Crooked Lines (2:56)
  5. The Clean - Anything Could Happen (2:35)
  6. Ritchie Venus & The Blue Beetles - Bleeding Heart (3:29)
  7. Fetus Productions - Fetus Productions (4:43)
  8. The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - Fish in the Sea (3:28)
  9. The Exploding Budgies - See You Around the Stones (3:12)
10. The Verlaines - Phil Too? (4:36)
11. Alpaca Brothers - It's No Joke (4:07)
12. Peter Jefferies & Jono Lonie - Thief With the Silver (2:04)
13. Marie and the Atom - Orange Towel Song (3:18)
14. Mainly Spaniards - Secretaries' Lunch Break (3:29)
15. Scorched Earth Policy - Sunset on the Loading Zone (3:23)
16. All Fall Down - Actifed Blues (4:27)
17. The Stones - Funky Conversations (3:36)
18. Ballon d'Essai - Testimony to Paradise Street (4:01)
19. Expendables - Say Cheese (3:03)
20. Gordons - Joker (2:36)
21. The Orange - No Reason to Hide (3:01)
22. The Rip - River / Chasm (3:45)
23. Bird Nest Roys - Joringel (3:18)

Disc 2:
  1. The Chills - I Think I'd Thought I'd Nothing Else to Think About (2:06)
  2. Bailter Space - El Whizzo (And Then) (4:58)
  3. This Kind of Punishment - The Men by the Pool (3:24)
  4. The Great Unwashed - Born in the Wrong Time (2:16)
  5. The Max Block - Came in a Can (2:55)
  6. Jay Clarkson - Penelope (4:28)
  7. Look Blue Go Purple - 100 Times (2:36)
  8. This Sporting Life - Difference (2:52)
  9. Tall Dwarfs - Carpetgrabber (2:03)
10. Able Tasmans - I See Now Where (1:59)
11. Axemen - Womin of Love (2:29)
12. DoubleHappys - Moss Monster (3:16)
13. Phantom Forth - March (3:54)
14. The Terminals - Turning Every Word Around (3:18)
15. Sneaky Feelings - Everything I Want (3:43)
16. Eight Living Legs - Don't Do That Near Me (4:27)
17. Goblin Mix - Coleridge (2:58)
18. Dead Famous People - Take Your Leather Jacket Off (3:05)
19. Naked Spots Dance - Governed by You (2:35)
20. Children's Hour - Slaughter House (4:11)
21. Straitjacket Fits - All That That Brings (4:12)
22. Graeme Jefferies - Prisoner of a Single Passion (4:42)
23. Headless Chickens - Run, Sheep, Run (4:04)
24. The Bats - Round and Down (2:17)

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David Cronenberg's Wife - Bursting at the Seams

 

Bio:
David Cronenberg's Wife is the brainchild of Stockport-born songwriter Tom Mayne. Having moved to London, following an undisclosed past in the north of England, Mayne formed DCW in late 2002.

Described as "where genius meets idiocy" by BBC Radio 2's Mark Lamarr, the band's lyrics combine dark subject matter with an off-kilter humour. They released their first single "I Couldn't Get Off" in 2007, followed up by two singles and their first album "Bluebeard's Rooms" in 2008. It was described in The Fly as "one of the albums of the year". Other reviews, however, were more critical of the album's dark subject matter and "repugnant imagery".

The band's second album "Hypnagogues" was released in November 2009, with a noticeably more personal feel to the lyrics and a less harsh sound, even approaching alt country on some of the tracks. The magazine NME called it "a promising work in progress" with Drowned in Sound naming opening song "Sweden" (the band's sixth single) "one of the tracks of the year", adding that "it stands so far out from the rest that it encumbers the rest of the album."

Their third album "Don't Wait to be Hunted to Hide" was released in December 2012, and features some of the band's most controversial songs, such as the album's first single "Spiked", which describes a date-rape from the attacker's point of view. The album's themes caused one reviewer to call it the "most truly controversial I’ve heard all year", adding that it may "upset and unsettle" some listeners.

The band had two previously unreleased tracks featured on Trashmouth Record's 2014 compilation "Thinking About Moving to Hastings" along with songs by Fat White Family, Pit Ponies and Warmduscher. In October 2018, they released a new EP, "The Octoberman Sequence", and their fourth album, "The Ship (Necrologies)", was released in March 2020. The album's first single, "Hannity Comes Home", was described by The Indiependent as one of the best singles of the first five months of the year.

Band members are currently singer & songwriter Tom Mayne, keyboard player Mary Boe, lead guitarist Adam Croucher, drummer Stuart Saunderson, violin player and guitarist Thomas Alder and bassist Jeremy Walton.


Not much I can add to the above. Yes, as stated in the bio several of their songs are rather disturbing, hence the album cover I conjured up, but they can be equally funny... for instance tracks such as "Sweden". This anthology includes tracks from all the albums mentioned in the bio, my 2 favourite albums by them being their debut "Bluebeard's Rooms" and their most recent release, "The Ship (Necrologies)". As usual with these anthologies, 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. My Best Friend's Going Out With a Girl I Like (3:39)
  2. Spiked (4:17)
  3. Sweden (3:53)
  4. You Should See (5:03)
  5. Fast Life, Slow Death (2:50)
  6. Nazarbayev Applause Laughing (3:50)
  7. All of Me (3:49)
  8. Body to Sleep With (2:52)
  9. I Couldn't Get Off (3:10)
10. Such a Sweet Boy (3:15)
11. Pushin' Too Hard (2:48)
12. Organ Love (5:23)
13. Suli's House (2:40)
14. Drawn Again (6:12)
15. I'm on the Booze, Mama (4:02)
16. Jailbird (Bergegrend version) (2:48)
17. Free State Congo (3:39)
18. Rules (4:03)
19. The Russian Death Song (4:40)
20. Man (6:47)

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Disco Inferno - The Past Looks Dead

 

 

Bio:
Disco Inferno formed in Essex, UK in 1989 by Ian Crause (guitar & vocals), Paul Wilmott (bass), Rob Whatley (drums) and Daniel Gish (keyboards).

After the departure of Gish (who would later join Bark Psychosis) the now three-piece Disco Inferno recorded the single "Entertainment", closely followed by their first album, "Open Doors, Closed Windows", in 1991 on the Che label. The album received positive reviews, although most mentioned the heavy influence of late 1970s post punk bands, particularly Joy Division and Wire (In fact Disco Inferno's manager, Michael Collins, had previously managed Wire during their 70's incarnation). "Entertainment", "Open Doors, Closed Windows" and the following EP "Science" would later be collected on the album "In Debt".

In 1992 the band released "Summer's Last Sound", widely regarded as the first in a run of classic Disco Inferno EPs which saw the band's increasing use of samples. The band's use of sampling combined with traditional instruments - particularly Wilmott's bass - continued on the EPs "A Rock to Cling To" and "The Last Dance" and reached its peak on their second album, "D.I. Go Pop". After the full-on assault of "D.I. Go Pop" the band opted for restraint on the beautiful "Second Language" EP which also had a new-found optimism in Crause's lyrics.

Their final EP, "It's a Kid's World'", sampled the distinctive drumbeat from Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" and added in a series of old children's TV themes to good effect, but despite critical acclaim the band attracted little commercial success and split before their final album "Technicolour" was released in 1996.


This is a band which took me several years to finally get into. I'd heard the odd song by them but never felt the urge to pursue their releases any further. About 15 years ago, I listened for the first time their acclaimed 2nd album "D.I. Go Pop" but found it rather difficult to enjoy, but I kept coming back to it over the years until finally realising what a masterpiece it was. After that realisation I gave their whole back catalogue a proper listen, kicking myself for missing out on one of the most inventive bands of the 1990s. "D.I. Go Pop" for me is by far their best album, but several of their EPs are equally rewarding. You can find most of their EP recordings on the 2011 collection "The 5 EPs", released by One Little Indian. Well worth purchasing. I guess you could say their first and third albums are more or less what you could call "normal", compared to "D.I. Go Pop".

They did actually record a song called "D.I. Go Pop", which wasn't on the aforementioned album, but appeared on their 1993 EP "The Last Dance". I think you'll find this the most insane track on this collection, but a bit like with Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica", after several plays you begin to make some kind of sense of what the hell is going on...! I posted the mix of this on hearthis the other day and it's already received over 140 listens, which I find somewhat amazing! So, no more yapping from me, I hope you enjoy this latest collection. Cheers!

  

  1. Summer's Last Sound (5:37)
  2. Fallen Down the Wire (4:37)
  3. The Atheist's Burden (3:55)
  4. A Whole Wide World Ahead (4:37)
  5. When the Story Breaks (3:08)
  6. Arc in Round (3:57)
  7. Incentives (3:27)
  8. D.I. Go Pop (5:06)
  9. Tortoise (2:19)
10. Waking Up (5:56)
11. In Sharky Water (4:39)
12. Love Stepping Out (6:17)
13. Hope to God (1:39)
14. It's a Kid's World (4:29)
15. Entertainment (4:45)
16. New Clothes for the New World (1:57)
17. A Little Something (2:55)
18. A Rock to Cling To (3:49)
19. Even the Sea Sides Against Us (3:43)
20. Things Move Fast (2:59)

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Aquaserge - Musique Polymorphe

 

Short bio:
Aquaserge’s resolutely polymorphous music draws from sources as diverse as original psych pop, free jazz, noise, vintage French film music, pataphysics, and the most adventurous side of ’60s/’70s rock (say, from kraut to Canterbury to cult Gallic bands such as ZNR). All absorbed and playfully transmuted to create their own unique, cinematic sound. Their tracks include instrumental excursions, intriguing harmonies, and pristine pop songs, always ready to joyfully burst at the seams.

Aquaserge formed in Toulouse in early 2005 and recorded their debut release, "Un". The "Tahiti Coco" EP was recorded later in the year, and released in 2008. Un & Deux, the band's first CD, was released in 2009. Aquaserge's next album was "Ce Très Cher Serge", released in 2010. Aquaserge then collaborated with American indie pop star/Francophile April March for a self-titled album, released in early 2013. The following year, saw the release of the abum "A l'Amitié" and 12" EP "Tout Arrive".

In 2016, Aquaserge signed to long-running Belgian experimental label Crammed Discs, releasing the "Guerre" EP and appearing on "16 Visions of Ex-Futur", an album of reworked versions of songs from Véronique Vincent and Aksak Maboul's "Ex-Futur Album". Aquaserge's first full-length on Crammed Discs was "Laisse Ça Être", released in 2017. The group's first live album, "Déjà-Vous?", followed in 2018. In 2021, the band released "The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge", which included interpretations of compositions by Edgard Varèse and Morton Feldman, as well as homages to Györgi Ligeti and Giacinto Scelsi.


Not much I can really add to the above opening paragraph about this rather special group, having only got into them around 5 years ago, after hearing their 2017 album "Laisse Ça Être". That's probably my favourite album by them, but as ever they're all worth getting, though maybe their latest is a bit more challenging..! This collection takes tracks from all their studio albums, apart from their debut, plus a couple of EPs and a couple of tracks taken from compilation albums. As ever, 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. La Femme de Tahiti (8:31)
2. TVCQJVD (3:49)
3. L'Ire Est au Rendez-Vous (5:38)
4. Sybarite [with April March] (3:19)
5. Les Vacances (3:39)
6. Vers le Néant (3:22)
7. Un Grand Sommeil Noir (4:23)
8. Je Viens (4:28)
9. Endormons-Nous (2:47)
10. C'est Pas Tout Mais (5:33)
11. Retrouvailles (3:03)
12. Sparklers [with April March] (2:33)
13. 1768°c (À Edgar Varèse) (6:59)
14. Les Oiseaux (2:49)
15. Si Tu T’en Vas (4:03)
16. Tout Arrive (3:10)
17. Tintin On Est Bien Mon Loulou (6:00)
18. Sillage 3 (3:49)

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Savage Republic - Figures of Considerable Repute (1982-2014)

 

Short bio:
Savage Republic is an American, Los Angeles-based post-punk band, formed in the early 1980s. The group reformed in 2002 and remains active with a different lineup. They are known for lengthy songs with an emphasis on percussion and droning guitars.

The band was originally named Africa Corps, and was formed by UCLA students Bruce Licher (guitar) and Mark Erskine (drums/percussion). They were joined by Philip Drucker (aka Jackson Del Rey), Robert Loveless, and Jeff Long. Shortly before the release of debut album "Tragic Figures" in 1982 they changed their name to Savage Republic. The group split up towards the end of 1983 with a second album partially completed. The band returned in 1985 with the album "Ceremonial", and the "Trudge" EP. Brad Laner joined prior to the 1988 album "Jamahiriya Democratique et Populaire de Sauvage", and a further studio album "Customs" was released prior to the band splitting up in 1990.

Savage Republic reformed in 2002 with original member Licher and members from the mid-1980s including Greg Grunke, Thom Fuhrmann and Ethan Port, although Licher left after a first tour. The remaining members recorded the album "1938", released in 2007. In 2012 the group released "Varvakios", intended as a sequel of sorts to their 1989 album "Customs".  Their 7th studio album, "Aegean" was released in early 2014, and their most recent release "Meteora" came out in 2021. Click here for full bio.


My introduction to Savage Republic was in the late 80s when I bought their 2nd album "Ceremonial".  Taking a gamble, never having heard them before,  it was going very cheap 2nd hand, only costing me £2. This was the original version which had vocals on most tracks, later versions of the album removed those vocals. In 2006 they brought out a special version of the album, titled "Ceremonial: Vocals and Studio Outtakes" which had many versions of most songs including remixes. I didn't mind the vocal version too much, but can understand why they removed them for further reissues. After buying "Customs", that seemed to be it for the band, which seemed a shame as I'd rather enjoyed all their albums up to that point. So I was pleasantly surprised when they reformed, finding their studio releases from 2007 onwards just as good as their earlier output.

There has already been a compilation of this band, released in 2010, titled "Procession: An Aural History 1981-2010", which also included a live recording from 2010. Definitely worth checking out, but like most band compilations I found a few particular favourites of mine weren't included, so decided to rectify that! For this collection I've taken 2 tracks each from their studio albums, up until 2014's "Aegean", plus a few EP/single tracks.

2 particular albums I'd recommend are "Ceremonial" (the instrumental version) from their earlier years, and their comeback album "1938" which is probably my favourite release by the band. As ever, 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.

01. Trudge (7:13)
02. Dionysious (2:45)
03. Pios Den Mila Yia Ti Lambri (3:43)
04. When All Else Fails... (3:03)
05. Film Noir (3:26)
06. The Birds of Pork (6:23)
07. Song for Rikki (4:16)
08. Omonoia (4:34)
09. Sparta (4:43)
10. Next to Nothing (3:21)
11. Year of Exile (9:26)
12. Moujahadeen (3:24)
13. Mapia (4:47)
14. Mobilization (3:18)
15. Siege (4:20)
16. Hippodrome (4:20)
17. Aegean (7:07)
18. Taranto!!! (3:14)
19. Caravan (17:03)

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Manerg's Beş of 2021 - Volume Two

 

 

Here's Manerg's final selection of favourites from 2021. I thoroughly enjoyed compiling this 2nd volume, I hope you all enjoy listening to it as much as I did. I will post my 3rd and final volume of highlights from the past year this weekend, and after that it will be back to "normal". As usual, info containing origin of each track is tagged in the music files and in the download file.

 

  1. El Michels Affair - Dhuaan (4:04)
  2. Kit Sebastian - Rain (2:43)
  3. Evolfo - Broken Hills (2:47)
  4. Jorge Elbrecht - The Clouds are Gone (3:22)
  5. Chantal Acda - Disappear (6:55)
  6. Chet Sounds - Off the Beaten Track (3:11)
  7. Ryley Walker - Pond Scum Ocean (7:07)
  8. Stealing Sheep & The Radiophonic Workshop - The Free Oms (3:53)
  9. Jaubi - Insia (5:14)
10. Richard Dawson & Circle - Ivy (8:52)
11. Orchestre tout puissant Marcel Duchamp - Flux (4:57)
12. Squid - Narrator ft. Martha Skye Murphy (8:29)
13. Grasscut - Windfarm (4:38)
14. Matt Berry - Story Told (2:31)
15. James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra - To Soothe Her Wee Bit Sorrows (7:26)
16. Soccer96 - Sitting on a Satellite feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis (4:04)
17. Black Country, New Road - Athens, France (6:22)
18. Sunburned Hand of the Man - Prix Fixe (4:50)
19. Ghosts of Jupiter - Northern Road (3:13)
20. Vanille - Solstice (5:12)
21. Tonstartssbandht - Pass Away (7:46)
22. Cobalt Chapel - It's the End, the End (5:26)

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