Los Microwaves - Radio Heart b/w Coast To Coast 7"

Watched the hell outta Mister Rodgers' Neighborhood and Sesame Street as a kid, I think we all did in the 60's and 70's, along with Saturday morning cartoons. There's been internet rumors that Fred Rodgers was some kind of special forces elite killer in Vietnam and that he wore long sleeves to cover up his tattoos, but they are false (unfortunately for those that like a little irony).

 

This one, from 1979, is the 2nd 7" from these guys/gal. Not sure why I got it, the cover is very bland (maybe minimalist is what they were looking for), but I think I was hoping for something along the lines of the Plugs, as the band seemed to be made up of latinos (if last names are any indication).  Outta Frisco originally but they ended up in New York.  That's about all I know except that this music has 79' written all over it.  They fit into that grey area in between Punk and New Wave like a lot of bands did at that time.  The keyboards kind of lean them into the New Wave area for me, but even with that it's got kind of disco synth vibe and really they're not snotty enough for me to call them punk (I'm tired of trying to pigeon hole music anyway).  I'm not even sure I like the two tunes here, they're both very repetetive and dated.  But if quirkiness counts for anything, then they have it made, and something nostalgic in me about the late 70's makes it worthwile.  Have a feeling that even as diverse as I am around here this one may not appeal to the five guys who come around and comment (300,945 thousand unique hits and I'm lucky if I get a comment or two).  Maybe this will stir up a little negative response.  Dig it or don't... Radio Heart Coast To Coast

 

I was curious about what the first 7" sounded like, so I hunted that down and found it at an interesting site called Pukekos.  The first tune is more of the same, maybe a little popier, while the 2nd one is like a Santana meets New Wave thing (and not just because of some Spanish lyrics).  Like I said before, dig it or don't but at least you can tell your grandkids that you've heard Los Microwaves... I Don't Want To Hold You Forever

 

MK9 - s/t 7"

This has to be one of my greatest GIF discoveries. I'm like a European explorer during the age of discovery...discovering places that were already occupied and claiming them for myself. If you've ever spent any time on a computer that is acting up or worse yet crashed, then you should be able to relate to the gory details of this wonderful little animation.  Moral of the story...the computer always gets the best of you. Nothing worth mentioning in my life...all is quiet. The world is still the way it is, beautiful and ugly at the same time.  We continue to watch a lot of movies, mostly of the blood and guts variety but also those high dollar mainstream action flicks. The Mechanic wasn't too bad although it wasn't balls to the wall, but I'm a sucker for Jason Statham with his balding-ness and his approach to that condition...shave your fucking head (as opposed to a toupee, the comb-over, a hat for every occasion, spray paint, etc.). Not a bad sound track too which is always a plus for any flick and pulled this French/African ditty (perfect for a New Orleans setting) out of the mix...dig it Nuru Kane - Goree Today is the anniversary of Elvis' death...35 years I believe.  I was with a Cuban baby sitter that day and I remember her saying "aye Dios mio, Elvis se mudio?"  One of the two songs from Elvis' first recording in 1953... Elvis Presley - That's When Your Heartaches Begin Was going to post something else that I've been working on in the Humboldt vein, but I'm waiting for some liner notes from a buddy. Not wanting to wait too long to post anything, for fear of losing the therapy that this place provides me.  Anyway the rip here represents the first time I listened to this thing.  I picked it up not too long ago because the cover was interesting, the year of release was 1981 and the seller claimed that it had come from KROQ during his/her tenure there as some kind of staff support.  On top of that was that it had a cover of Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" a tune later covered by the Butthole Surfers in a masterful way.  Did some searching and MK9 is a tough one, tons of hits for Mortal Kombat 9 and a 9mm called MK9 by Kahr Arms.  There was a 2000's band called MK9 and a recent Underworld Records but neither are the same.  Otherwise there were several of these for sale for anywhere between $20-40 (no way I paid that much).  As I said this rip represents the first time I listened to this and my first impression is that I kinda dig it.  It doesn't blow me way like Devo's stuff from that time but it's similar, maybe even more no wave-ish in an artsy kind of way.  "Run Machines" could have been on a soundtrack for an early 80's, B space movie, while their cover of "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is unique and listenable.  All in all not a bad little score and probably the first time this has seen the light of day since the 80's. Run Machines Hurdy Gurdy Man

 

Captain Sensible - WOT! b/w Strawberry Dross

Wanted to get this done on 4/20 but oh well.  My son asked me yesterday, where that came from and if there was any significance to the numbers.  As heavily as I was into that particular activity at one time, I had no clue.  The first time I heard of it was from this character "Tro" in college and I just figured him and his friends made it up. Wikipedia says differently though. I don't think any of my hommies around here are too deep into the rap thing, but even though I don't count 'stoner' on my resume anymore, I can really groove to that kind of sick bass and the almost slurred, muted lyric. Missy Elliott was doing a lot of producing/writing type shit for other people when she came out with this one and believe me I'm no expert in this genre, but I remember when the video came out in 1997.  The video was a trip and was one of the first with that kind of style that you saw more of later in hip hop music. Yeah, I know, I spent a lot of time drunk sitting around watching nonsense in the late 90's, but check the video.  Educate yourselves my rap-a-phobic brethren. Speaking of stoners, my old bro Match (don't mean to 'out' you man, but let me know if you want me to edit this in case you ever want to run for president) hit me hard with a serious fuckin' blast from the past with this tune, Beat Happening - Red Head Walking The tune ties together that circa 1990 indie pop college thing that a lot of my friends back then had going. Anybody into Beat Happening?   That was the only tune I really got into of theirs, but here 20 years later maybe I need to explore them a bit.  Kinda from that same period, maybe a few years earlier than that particular tune, it reminded of another band.  I was not into them at all even when their first album came out and for the strangest reason it wasn't until I watched "Unplugged" that something sparked.  It was probably a subconscious thing because of the addition of Pat Smear, but since then I've come to appreciate them and close my eyes to the long line of hipsters that have claimed to be fans.  So again circa 1990-1, one of my house mates, Shawn, and my bro that I've mentioned several times around here, Jefe, have this band that practices a couple of days a week in the garage.  I don't remember anything except that they played this one song over and over.  I didn't feel it then, but now I know that is a bad-ass tune and they did a fucking superb job with it.  Nirvana - Negative Creep I tripped out when I found out they covered this, Nirvana - Seasons In The Sun.  For all you early 70's soft rock fans, you are very familiar with the original, Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun.  One of my Aunts had that on 7" and I use to "rock" out to that when I was about 7 :-) Speaking of old bros, Ed started up a Garden Weasel Myspace that somebody out there may want to check out.  Already have 71 profile views and 11 listens to the first tune and lots of friends, ha, ha.  Reminds me how there were hordes, take your pick, of better singers in the Humboldt County scene at the time, but the rest of the guys fucking rocked in the band and I had a hell of a time doing it with them.  Thanx Ed.

My wisdom for the week?  Told my buddy at work today, "it's complicated simplifying things".  Profound huh?  Should have gone on to do my my masters, maybe even a doctorate.  Professor Hrabe has ring to it.

When I first was exposed to punk in about 1979 with Rodney on the ROQ, I never did catch the bug for some of the heavy weights like the Sex Pistols or the Damned (the Clash was an exception).  Rodney did play that stuff a lot but I was more about Black Flag, Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys and Crass.  Over 30 years later I don't know why I never really caught that bug.  Of course now that I'm older and wiser (yeah right), that stuff is starting to be explored again.  My friend Fernando and I were talking about that recently with the passing of Malcolm McLarren and really he knows mountains more about that kind of stuff and music (and philosophy) in general than I do.  I'm trying though.  So this guy Captain Sensible is an important part of all that and really for anybody exploring early English punk it could be a good place to start.  Known, most importantly for his role in the Damned, but he's a character that's been doing all kinds of shit for a long time.  Before the Damned he was in several bands, including Johnny Moped and interestingly enough, I think after he left they had some seriously great tunes. Johnny Moped - Incendiary Device was their hit and rightly so, that's damn good song. I guess a close second would be their, Johnny Moped - Hard Lovin' Man but damn that Incendiary Device tune is hard to beat. As I said though, I don't think Mr. Sensible had anything to do with that tune (I could be wrong) and really Johnny Moped is worthy of deeper investigation, but I don't actually have anything by them so you just get the samples that I stole from somewhere else. Speaking of stolen samples and Mr. Sensible, he was a big part of what is considered the first UK punk vinyl from his band the Damned, The Damned - New rose For some reason way back when I didn't Like New Rose too much and too be honest with you that Incendiary Device tune has it beat, but it's still a fine example of a sound that inspiring, was emulated and I guest just plain old copied. Long about 1982, the Captain was doing his own thing in addition to being in the Damned, some probably called it selling out (maybe to be fair we could call it artistic freedom, like he gave a fuck or owed anybody anything anyway), when he came out with a pretty silly tune. Gotta say though that when I saw the video, at 13, I just thought it was the funniest thing in the world. Remember though that a year later I thought that the video for Safety Dance was hilarious (fancy a live video for Safety Dance?).  Still kinda think it's funny, but what do I know, I'm brain damaged.  So anyway the video inspired me to pick up the single in the used bin back around that time.  Most of you guys know the tune and aren't going to listen to it here, so I won't waste my time or yours writing anything more about that.  What's interesting is the B side, which may be demo type stuff for the Damned album "Strawberries".  It says on the 7" it was recorded in his living room and really it's like 7 or 8 eight little ditties.  I think it's worth a listen, but I'm feeling pretty idiotic right so... Strawberry Dross

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pqC563bX_w&w=560&h=315]

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance (extended 'club mix') 12" single

It took an old bro of mine, Brian, to remind me that as of Novemeber 24th, I've been doing this thing here at Mustard Relics for two years now. Fucking flew by, almost too silly to say time flies when you're having fun, but I guess in this case it's true. Yeah I've whined some about the lack of comments here and there, but I'm wise enough to know now that making your way through my heaps of rambling musings can be as pleasant as cleaning vomit out of carpet. The rambling is as much for me as for anyone else, I get off on putting my thoughts to paper no matter how chaotic, dense or unimportant they may be. Therapy. Something besides rotting my mind and body from the inside out. I don't know if it's constructive or productive outside the confines of my own brain. Even still, real. Anything that has something to do with music is well worth serving. The music here is not always the rarest or even mind blowing sometimes, but for the most part it represents my attempt, to not only share the best of my collection, but to explore and learn more about what is/has been out there. One thing I can say is that around here the music has been varied enough to satisfy the many emotions that swirl around us. It would be difficult, in all modesty, for a person not to find at least one post that was worthwhile. You have to have found at least one tune to have dug on. The site has evolved since the beginning and I hope it continues to evolve, but it will always be a tribute to the variety of music that can be found out there. Even in the ugliest of music that reflects the very real ugliness of our world, there is a beauty in how the artists, who may not describe themselves as artists, string their notes and words together. I've gone on and on again (and ever after), so I will just say that I hope that some of you out there have gotten something out of this place besides me. You guys, the ones who have commented and stuck with me, have made me grateful. It's something extra to turn this whole thing into a dialog as opposed to my own monologue.

"Crazy crazy chain we're strung up again Umbilical cord around the neck and pain is sane Crazy crazy chain gagged & bound inane Crazy crazy chain label underachieve & plain Black statue looms in doomsday rooms Rap fetish worship motivation life-span trap" - Rudimentary Peni

I was a fiend when I was drinking at my heaviest, like this animation except I wasn't that suave and I always drank straight from the bottle.  At various points during each day I of course wasn't very lively, you might say, near death... Gotta remind myself of that sometimes because I can get envious of my friends who can casually drink. Okay, the industrial/techno musings and samples here were not exactly hugely successful, but I got a little more up my sleeve and after this I will keep my exploration into those genres to myself (for a little while at least).  I've already learned that just within the Techno genre there is, Minimal, Acid, Hardcore, Ambient, Ghetto and Trance, but I'm sure there is more. And it's not just about Industrial and Techno, but there is also Chicago House, Synth Pop, Big Beat, Electro Punk, Rave, and Back Beat, just to name a few. So to rap this up, Jay mentioned The Prodigy in the comments and I had totally forgotten about them. They were big time there for a little bit in the 90's. Huge in that they took some of those styles to the top of the pop charts. So I went off on this wild tangent to see if I could find any of the tunes I remembered them playing because there was one that I knew really liked. Listened to alot of their shit and even though certain tunes were called out as hits I didn't recognize any of them. As you may know I love the early stuff that bands put out, such as demos, because they give you a reference point as to the original inspiration of the band. I found that for these guys in their, What Evil Lurks 12" (featuring demo tracks) from 1991. A lot different than they would later become but still worth a listen, because this is what was going on in this underground scene at the time. Check those tracks, What Evil Lurks We Gonna Rock Android Everybody In The Place (original mix) So after a shit load of listening to the first 30 seconds of a ton of songs, that really didn't jump out at me, I finally found the tune I was looking for off of The Fat of the Land album. Even if the video was a little silly and I remember them playing it live to some fashion show on TV, this tune is grisly. See if you remember it and tell me you dig it. Breathe Anyway I found one more tune that I remembered hearing back in the day (probably during my brief stint as a shit faced drunk idiot at the dance clubs on Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach, Calif.) This one was cool for all the controversy it caused. The vocals sound a bit like Flavor Flav of Public Enemy. Oh well here's that. Smack My Bitch Up I've been very dissatisfied with my record collection lately, for several reasons I won't go into, but I'm trying to remedy that with new purchases. Maybe I'm just not feeling nostalgic, I don't know. After going through most of the old stuff I ran across this that I've had since about 1982 when it came out. You know that growing up, even though I looked like a stoner and then later a skate punk, deep down inside I was really new wave. Ha, ha, not really but I'm not asshamed to say that there were a few tunes out there that I really dug. Soft Cell's Tainted Love, Gary Numan's Cars, and The Cure's Boys Don't Cry... Now I really never knew much about Men Without Hats except that they had a really good video that used to get a lot of air time back in the early 80's. I wasn't a big MTV watcher (for those youndger people, MTV was very different back then compared to today). I read the above link and I had always thought they were from England or Scotland but they're from Montreal Canada. If you haven't heard the song Safety Dance by these guys, I don't know what to say except that (for some of you unfortunately) I am about to turn you onto them. There is something about the singers voice that's deep and warm, in contrast to what I always though was a somewhat silly song. Who would have thought it was about bouncers not letting people 'pogo' in the clubs back in the day. Read more about that here, kind of interesting. Some of you may think I'm an idiot for posting this, especially when you stack it up against some of the other stuff posted here, and maybe I am, a wierdo at the very least. I know, but try to dig the tune anyway, if it doesn't make your heart warm then you are the spawn of fascist and a gnat. Safety Dance Unfortunately, even though I tried to find some other good tunes, nothing else by Men Without Hats does anything for me. Blah. The other two songs on this single reflect that, sad. I Got The Message Antarctica

Romeo Void - Benefactor

 This one was kind of on a whim because of a comment my buddy Fernando had made on a Voetsek post I had done a while back.   On another site there had been comments about how the singer of Voetsek had problems with her weight and was not stereo typically beautiful (fat and ugly).  Fernando had said,  "What I did some days ago instead, when seeing this post, was checking the pic and then thinking of Romeo Void, because the gorgeous Voetsek singer reminded me of that old wave interesting band (old wave? haha).  And then I went for Romeo Void stuff and re-discovered a band I hadn’t listened to for ages."  In fact, in that review of Voetsek the main focus was on her appearance and not her ability to sing.  Anyway, long story short, I decided to take Fernando's lead and check out Romeo Void as I did remember the singer from the video for Never Say Never which is the only tune I was familiar with.  That tune went way back to the early 80's for me when New Wave was a sin in my circle and you could have rocks thrown at you for listening to it, so you did it in secret. There actually weren't that many tunes in that genre that did anything for me back then but that one did, at least I still remember it.  I did my usual and started with Wikipedia who had this to say, which wasn't much, but I'm a creature of habit sometimes and seem to always check there first (not that they are the ultimate authority but definitely a good start).  I then went to see if I could find anything of their music on the web and found their second album Benefactor.  While looking around in general I came across some stuff from an awesome blog I've been familiar with for a long time Kill Your Pet Puppy.  Great place to go if your interested in, even though he's not limited to, late 70's and early 80's English stuff.  Incredible site, just wish he would separate his tracks and label the MP3s. That can be fixed and actually if you get anything out of this post, check out the history represented in his blog. Anyway Romeo Void was mentioned in one of his posts as being influenced by a band called the Bush Tetras.  Check out what he has to say there and then give one of their tunes a listen. Bush Tetras-Too Many Creeps Now that tune definitely is similar guitar wise to Never Say Never, Romeo Void's big hit and actually I kind of liked it better.  Speaking of that tune, I found out when reading that the version on Benefactor was not as good as the version on a 12" single they had, so I made it my mission to find that version.  I couldn't find that on any blogs until I came upon Systems Of Romance.  Really good reading there and they mention the difference between the two versions but I couldn't download the tune. I went and found it elsewhere for you to check.

Never Say Never (12" version) The rest of the album really didn't do anything for me although Chinatown was kind of cool.  So all that for an album most will probably not listen to or care about, but if you're curious,

Never Say Never Wrap It Up Flashflood Undercover Kept Ventilation Chinatown Orange Shake The Hands Of Time S.O.S.

 

The Flying Lizards

 Just one of my first 7"s, that was sort of a precursor of getting into punk rock.  Big label stuff but still a classic in my book. EDIT: Sorry, links to tunes deleted for fear of the copyright police...they were damn good too.  Go give your money to itunes or something...