various | huggy nation/kisser boy kisser girl

i've posted a couple of tracks from this before (in 2006!), but never ripped the whole thing, so here it is in all its glory. this is still one of the best compilations i've ever heard, partly because it contains some fine songs, but mainly for the spirit and energy it conveys. i bought it from a then rare visit to rough trade in covent garden and was immediately inspired to do it myself. the whole concept is so rough & ready, it was hard to listen to it and not want to have a go.

anyway, for the uninitiated, this comp encapsulates the emerging brighton riot grrrl scene, with huggy bear at its epicentre, featuring:

huggy bear
blood sausage ("fuck you & your underground" is probably still my favourite song from that scene)
ascension
the legend!
furbelows
mambo taxi
limpstud
mambo taxi
gabby lionheart
noosong
derv

the tape is full of snippets of film dialogue and uncredited music, some of which is identifiable and some not. as such sometimes it's hard to say when a track finishes and another begins so i just stuck with the official tracklisting. anyway...

tape released by soul static sound in 1992.

get.

the element of crime | the things you do for love

rowdy one-off release from a riot grrrl supergroup, featuring members of linus, huggy bear, blood sausage, skinned teen and sister george.

according to skinned teen's layla "chris wrote the lyrics crouched down in the tube station we were waiting for bratmobile to come. the studio was toe rag [later made famous via jack white's patronage], which is the same place a lot of billy childish/holly go lightly stuff was recorded, really rad old equipment and atmosphere too. it was a drunken party style recording, songs all written on the spur of the moment."

sounds like they had fun.

7" released by soul static sound in 1993.

get it.

bikini kill / huggy bear | yeah yeah yeah yeah / our troubled youth

it was slagging this record off in kylie fanzine that got me in touch with andy from linus. and while much of what i said at the time was complete bollocks, i still don't think this is a very good record, with most of the blame lying at the feet of bikini kill. "white boy" is great, but the rest, let's be honest, is pretty crap. huggy bear were a far superior band, more inventive, more subtle, more melodic, blending raw nation of ulysses-style punk, bubblegum pop and lo-fi vulnerability.

sorry about the skip at the beginning of "jupiter re-entry". i honestly can't be arsed with re-ripping it. blame my creaking floorboards.

lp released by catcall in 1993.

white boy, don't laugh, don't cry, just die!