Zoogz Rift - "Evil Eye"/"My Daddy Works for the Secret Marines" (1982)

Here are two spotlight tracks from the "Amputees In Limbo" LP, a compilation of early Zoogz recordings released by SST in 1987. Rift was a true wacko of the 80's post-hardcore scene, releasing albums with delectable titles like "Island of Living Puke" and "Can You Smell My Genitals From Where Your Standing?" His brain-fried, perverse lyrics and heavy-psych weirdness are comparable to the early Butthole Surfers, but his most clear musical predecessors are Zappa and especially Beefheart.
This guy is brilliant and waaaay under-appreciated.

Zoogz Rift - "Evil Eye" (1982)
Zoogz Rift - "My Daddy Works For The Secret Marines" (1982)

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come - "Galactic Zoo Dossier" (1971)

This time the god of hellfire brings you... free-form prog-tastic weirdness. This is the first LP by Kingdom Come, Arthur Brown's post-Crazy World band from the early 70's. His over-the-top LSD-drenched campiness is in full effect here. It's a hard-to-find gem highly prized by psych collectors, and was even used as the name for an excellent psychedelic rock zine based out of Chicago and published by Drag City.

"Galactic Zoo Dossier" LP (1971)

John Bender - 3 early 80's LPs

Underground minimalist synth-pop from the UK... he was virtually an unknown back in the early 80's, but John Bender has been rediscovered by the blogo-spherical community as an obscuro post-punk genius. Pulsing electro melodies, hushed vocals, an atmosphere of haunted beauty and doom... all three of his albums are must-owns.

His debut LP from 1980, "I Don't Remember Now/I Don't Want To Talk About It," features a cover of Faust's "It's A Rainy Day Sunshine Girl," putting his krautrock influence on display (Kraftwerk is another obvious reference point). Download it here - it's a perfect place to start your John Bender collection. Thanks to FM Shades for posting this.

His second album "Plaster Falling" (1981) and his third "Pop Surgery" are available as one combined download here - courtesy of Mutant Sounds.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - "Next..." (1973)

This is an incredible LP, existing somewhere in between glam, art-rock, and bluesy heaviness... it has been cited as an important influence on UK punk in the 70's. Alex Harvey was truly a madcap frontman, with a demented screaming-bloody-murder delivery, and he turns in some amazing performances here. The title track is the most over-the-top moment, a completely insane cover of Jacques Brel. The rawk-sleaze of "Gang Bang" sounds a bit like the New York Dolls, while "Faith Healer" sounds somehow like modern minimalist electro before slowly building into an simmering art-rock epic. There is really nothing else like this record out there... apparently it was a big hit in the UK glam scene, but it's virtually unknown in the U.S. I just discovered it recently, and I'm pretty blown away.


"Next..."

Lyres - "Help You Ann" (1984)

A neo-psych-garage blast of energy from this 80's-era Boston band. One of my all-time faux-Nuggets... the guitar phasing here is simply out of control.


The Lyres - "Help You Ann"

You can download the whole LP "On Fyre" here - link from Sir Charlie Palmer

The Residents - "Fingerprince" (1976)

Another vintage slice of Residential insanity. As a wise man once said, their are so many meanings of W.E.I.R.D., but We Endorse Immediate Residents Deification will always be my favorite. This 1976 LP is one of their lesser-known but essential early releases, featuring highlights like the 17-minute Harry Partch-inspired "Six Things To A Cycle." The shorter tracks are also consistently awesome, and often pretty damn loud/heavy for a Residents record. One reason for this is Snakefinger's guitar, which is prominently featured throughout... the opener (and closer) "You yesyesyes" is probably their most successful collaboration, a perfect melding of the Residents and Snakefinger signature sounds.

Fingerprince - link brought to you by White Dot Music

V/A - Fluxus Anthology

An amazing compilation originally put out on vinyl in 1989, featuring music from the 1950's all the way up until the year of its release. There's early electronic music experiments, musique concrete, spoken word pieces, conceptualist jokes... it's quite a treasure trove. Highlights include La Monte Young's "Dream House" from 1973, John Cage's "Radio Music" from 1956, and a bizarre 1982 new-wave pop song attacking Ronald Reagan, sung by none other than the legendary Joseph Beuys. Yoko Ono also makes a memorable appearance, recording the sound of a flushing toilet...

Link for Fluxus Anthology
- courtesy of the blog Puzz1e

Cybotron - "Enter" (1983)

A classic post-Kraftwerk electro album from the duo of Rick Davis and Juan Atkins, the latter of whom went on to become one of the founding fathers of Detroit techno. Very influential and often-sampled... this LP is an intriguing mixture of dark synth-pop and early hip-hop sensibilities.

Link for Cybotron "Enter" LP (1983)
- thanks goes out to the excellent and highly recommended blog Zamboni Soundtracks

Negativland - The Letter U and the Numeral 2 (1991 single)

"This is American top forty. This is bullshit."

Rapidshare link for the notorious 1991 single by Negativland - thanks to Digital Meltd0wn

8-Bit Composers: Jonathan Dunn "Platoon" (C64, 1987)

As promised, more 80's video game soundtrack greatness from the composer Jonathan Dunn. This is the theme to the Commodore 64 adaptation of "Platoon," and it's a beautifully mournful and haunting work of melodic synthesizer primitivism. This track was voted #24 on High Voltage's list of the top 100 C64 game soundtracks of all time. Here's a newly-burned mp3 for your listening pleasure...

Jonathan Dunn - "Platoon" (C64, 1987)

Negativland - "Escape From Noise" (1987)

Christianity is stupid. Communism is good. Give up.

You know how many time zones they have in the Soviet Union? Eleven. That's ridiculous.


MegaUpload link for "Escape From Noise" LP (1987)
- link from A Lion's Love

Phillip Glass - "North Star" (1977)

An excellent introduction to the primo-era hypnotic minimalism of Phillip Glass, particularly for fans of rock and electronic music. Short pieces, driving rhythmic composition... in some ways comparable to fellow downtown NYC-ers Suicide.

Here's what Singer-Saints has to say about it:
"Released on Virgin in 1977, NORTH STAR, ten short pieces originally composed for a documentary on the sculptor Mark Di Suervo, represents Philip Glass's first foray into the rock world. This is a reduced edition of the original reed-and-organ driven Philip Glass Ensemble, redolent of the hands-on 70s Soho art scene. I was privileged to see this group many times throughout the 70s and will always prefer it to the later, softer soundtrack expansions of Glass's music. Minimalism is still best served raw."
Rapidshare link for "North Star" LP (1977)
- link from the aforementioned EXCELLENT album share blog Singer-Saints - check it out!

Wizzard - "Wizzard Brew" (1973)

A lost weirdo-psych-prog-metal-glam classic from the former frontman of The Move. Roy Wood's early 70's Wizzard project was mostly known for a handful of retro-50's glam-pop hits, but this debut LP is an entirely different beast. Recorded with unusually dense distortion (Wikipedia even calls it "lo-fi"), "Wizzard Brew" bursts at the seams with in-the-red heaviness and drugged-out studio effects overdoses. The centerpiece of the album is the 13-minute jam "Meet Me In The Jailhouse," which features loopy saxophone solos and blistering rock riffage. The two shorter songs I uploaded here are equally wild, sounding like nothing else recorded at the time. And you just have to love Roy Wood's evil-glitter look at this stage of his career... wow.

Spotlight tracks:
"You Can Dance Your Rock-n-roll"
"Buffalo Station/Get On Down To Memphis"

If you want the whole album, here's a blog link for a slow-but-working album share

The Godz - Godz 2 (1967)

No-wave from the 60's psychedelic era... an astounding recording to behold. This NYC group was on the legendary ESP label, and was perhaps most famous for being written about by Lester Bangs. Their first LP, "Contact High With The Godz," gets mentioned sometimes these days, and it deserves to be recognized indeed, but "Godz 2" is often unjustly overlooked. This one has brilliant rockers such as "Radar Eyes" and "Permanent Green Light," and the hauntingly minimalist masterpiece "Soon The Moon." The Godz are one of a handful of 60's bands that somehow sounded post-punk before punk ever started... I'd put them up there with the Red Krayola, Beefheart, Silver Apples, VU, etc.

Mediafire link for The Godz - Godz 2 LP (1967)

Thanks for the blog High All The Time for this one.

Magma - "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh" (1973)

Psychedelic prog-opera from France. Totally insane. This is their third and some say best album. Hypnotic and minimalist, and yet at the same time ludicrously ambitious. These guys influenced tons of people in experimental rock circles (Ruins, Flying Luttenbachers, Hella... just to name a few). Dig!

Magma - "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh" LP (1973)
link from Spiral Circus


Wikipedia explains the back-story...
"As with most of their albums, Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh is sung completely in their own fictional language, Kobaïan. It continues to describe Christian Vander's visions of an Apocalyptic future of the Earth. In the case of this record the story is of the prophet Nebehr Güdahtt. He tells the people of the Earth that if they want to save themselves, they must work to cleanse themselves and sing the "Zeuhl Wortz" — the sacred Kobaïan music — in worship of Kreuhn Kohrmahn, the Kobaïan supreme being. The people of the Earth don't believe this and start marching against him. Slowly some people begin to believe him and start marching with him instead of against him."