50holehead | climax tailings

...and suddenly 2 months have gone by... anyway, hopefully you've downloaded the may queen in july comp and enjoyed one of the standout tracks by 50holehead - in which case, here's a whole album of the same quality.

tim whalen was an american living in tokyo. possibly he still is. i have no idea. at the time he had his own label (didn't everyone?), semi-roar, releasing his own stuff alongside the likes of italy's onq, argentina's reynols and nottingham's warser gate. he would also send me little clear plastic bags that i used to package later releases in. handy.

this was my 50th release.

tape released by kylie productions in 1999.

get.

various | the may queen in july

this is the best tape compilation i did, and i never bloody released it. i spent 2 years compiling it, was very excited about it, but then its completion coincided with the collapse of my tiny empire in 2000. oof.

anyway, at 2 x c60 it's a monster - 42 tracks in all - and it's basically dedicated to four-track pop, so expect lots of hiss along with the tunes.

and there really are plenty of tunes to be had here, from:

::: charlie mcalister
::: father
::: southern charm pageant
::: remora
::: crayola summer
::: inca eyeball
::: girlboy girl
::: mad planets
::: courtis
::: werewolves on hashish
::: in tundra
::: tegan fraid (age 3)
::: hood
::: caleb fraid
::: 50holehead
::: jalopy
::: michelle glaw
::: fink
::: plundershop
::: warser gate
::: smirkworthy
::: elk
::: catkins of jazz
::: food
::: november 1959
::: frank peck
::: will simmons
::: drekka
::: i hail taxis
::: cocker spaniels
::: ring
::: mandorris
::: crosseyed
::: my place in space
::: shy rights movement
::: swingset
::: wagstaff
::: princeton reverbs colonnial
::: george willard
::: fernando

2 x c60 nearly released by kylie productions in 2000.

part 1.
part 2.

father | night classes

as promised, here's a third father tape, and the last one i have, and indeed the last one i know about. anyone know if there were others?

the eagle-eared will spot a few duplicate tracks on this one to the other two, though slightly different versions.

quality.

at some point i'll rip the 555 7", though i suspect someone else has beaten me to it.

tape released by cakehole in 1996(?).

get.

father | dancing major

only just getting round to posting this one because for a long time i couldn't figure out the tracklisting, but finally i've realised where i was going wrong and now it's all sorted. give this a listen and you may understand my confusion.

anyway, i released this one, and very proud of that i am too. father were brilliant. if you've got the 555 7" of the same title then you should know what to expect: brilliant pop songs poking through a thick layer of hiss and warped time signatures.

sadly i did this rip a long time ago and it's only at 128k, but then somehow that seems appropriate anyway.

i've got some more father stuff, including the night classes tape and one or two tracks destined for a compilation that never made it. on their way.

tape released by kylie productions in 1995.

get.

various | neon signs in a dralon sky

the first release from fisheye, the label from paul wild, who ran the distro of the same name. for a while there fisheye was the best source of decent underground tapes, records and zines in the uk. and the label released some quality stuff too.

unsurprising then that this cassette represents a pretty decent snapshot of that scene, with sounds both noisy and tuneful from the uk, us and down under.

it features: children at play, paste, tea culture, prick decay, brown tower, omit, the shadow ring, hood, scaredy cat, calvin party, goosewind, wizard ho ho, moist, refrigerator, polyp, 70 gwen party, derv, lichtenstein girl, superfluous, bucknalls, jack geek, my deviant daughter, earl + osram, the golden mile and w.o.r.m.

for a full tracklisting view the discogs page.

tape released by fisheye in 1994.

get.

culver/total | untitled

limited to just 50 copies, this is an early collaboration between lee stokoe and matthew bowers, 3 pieces of superb atmospheric noise. i remember lee telling me at the time that he liked to lie down and let the noise wash over you, revealing itself in layers, and i can totally see what he means from this.

i subsequently offered to release a 7" by the duo, but sadly the kylie empire collapsed before this happened. i still have the master though so perhaps i should post it up here.

tape released by matching head in 1996?

get.

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.

various | deliberately lo-fi

this is the first thing i ever released, and in time-honoured tradition it's a mixed bag, with some bands you probably know (hood, boyracer, 70 gwen party) and tons that (perhaps rightfully) you don't.

listening back now for the first time in a long time, on balance i'd say it's not bad for a first effort. not great, but not terrible either. a bit like the label as a whole.

this was ripped from the master tape, but still very much lives up to its title.

tape released by kylie productions in 1995.

get.

in heaven | aquanova

i was sent this tape to review in '93 (i think), and i liked it straight away. i don't know anything about the band except they're from devizes in wiltshire (uk), and as far as i can tell this tape comprises all the songs they released. meller welle produkte released a 7" with 3 of the songs, plus i included the title track in my first ever release, "deliberately lo-fi" (which i'll get round to ripping eventually).

anyway, they have a very early 90s sound - think early bark psychosis, slowdive, butterfly child with added haze and distortion - and while it may have dated a little, regular visitors should realise this is right up my street.

tape self-released in 1993.

get.

richard youngs | motorway

i don't think i've ever heard a richard youngs album that i haven't loved, and this is no exception. they always make me feel so calm for some reason, even though many of the sounds are quite unsettling. maybe it's his use of repetition or maybe it's the spacey atmosphere he creates, rather like john clyde-evans.

tape released by chocolate monk in 1994.

grab it with grabbing hands.

various | way-out: the sound of um

the point of this compilation was to collect a bunch of bands whose music makes you go "umm!". in reality this means a whole bunch of noise from the tape underground, a genre that i dabbled in as "label boss" but never fully embraced. let's face it, the scene was completely overwhelmed with dodgy noise bands - people recording any old distorted shit and calling it music - that you had to work hard to find the good stuff.

i think i got some of both here.

::: cefodie - two years today
::: children at play - sandhopper ina storm
::: culver - replace position
::: expose your eyes - acceptance feature
::: expose your eyes - acceptance feature no 2
::: hoom - headwaters
::: the infant cycle - -
::: kjetl d brandsdal - joustra
::: labrador - wot a downer
::: lee milan - untitled
::: melanchthon - different kind
::: mlehst - 100 ways of saying no
::: phlegm - ringing [i did this - it's rubbish]
::: realm of dreams - alien grounds
::: schizoid wikler's - pink punker
::: schmrtz - play it again sam
::: shimmer - space
::: sideboard radiator - china in your hands
::: the speeding peters - insulin kens
::: tenmaka - nice man
::: tuob & leigh smith - blyth, lexi & syd
::: wand packer - wave theme
::: zarathustra - klasikal

get it.

various | cosmic

definitely not your run of the mill tape comp this. i don't have any other releases from the label and can't tell you much about it, other than it's french. i can't even remember where i got this from. but no matter, a quick look at the tracklisting should make it clear that you want to have a listen.

tape released by paperplane in 1995.

::: avocado baby - angel queen party
::: dump - don't worry baby
::: les molies - car boot sales
::: milky wimpshake - knife attack
::: golden starlet - 4th best babe
::: dragibus - ramamliff
::: the yummy fur - modno-coyote
::: god is my co-pilot - careless love
::: peu importe - apres l'orage
::: fraid starsky - once i'll go to disneyland
::: dode's ka-den - everything
::: mr. kubyak - chanson pour les enfants
::: yximailoo - association of pa n' ma whom their chold runs away #2
::: refrigerator - tourists
::: clair - tense
::: wilfried - pussy galore
::: dragibus - jules et jim
::: avocado baby - another girl another planet
::: six cents and natalie - just one
::: serge comte - xavier
::: hem - you will anyway
::: dump - ceilings
::: kim - mk ballad 2

un.
deux.

john clyde-evans | delf songs

a collection of recordings made on a borrowed 4-track over a week that demonstrate very clearly what jce brought to those first few hood releases (this was recorded in the same year as "silent '88"). fragments of songs, ethereal and distorted, with scraped violins, jangled guitars, clarinet, keyboards, even a bit of singing now and then. all with this layer of hiss that turns the 4-track into another instrument almost, giving it a dreamy quality that i miss from latter hood records (though i still love them).

this and the [for ht/rp/j&s] album are the only jce releases i have - if you have any others then please let me know; i'd love to hear them.

tape released by cakehole in 1996.

get it.

various | skinless wonder: slampt city punk soul explosion

whether it's a coincidence or a direct response, newcastle label slampt rode somewhere close to the crest of the uk riot grrrl movement all the way from meldon terrace to my hot little hand in the rough trade shop in covent garden. their third release, this compilation captured the appeal of the label: raw, immediate, unpretentious, lo-fi, cheap as fuck fun.

while pete and rachel could cometimes be accused of taking these things far too seriously (check the first red monkey lp liner notes and photos for instance), at this early stage in the game they mixed the polemics with a highly infectious enthusiasm. and some tunes!

::: delicate vomit - check out boy
::: unscene - schadenfreude
::: avocado baby - parachute drop
::: seacat - sleeping bag
::: pussycat trash - our option
::: boy heart soup - baby milk action
::: stickfuck - charmed life
::: roundabouts - shellsuit boy
::: ballerina pink - waterlung
::: lumpsuckee - fireball jumping
::: avocado baby - carpet stain remover
::: delicate vomit - popstar
::: pants - special
::: roundabouts - porno cinema
::: razorbladesmile - ext
::: lumpsucker - true stories
::: pussycat trash - vroomism
::: delicate vomit - i hate you
::: mudbath - mudbath
::: ballerina pink - happy stupid
::: tadpole - fabrice pussycat
::: pants - pants
::: clefthanger - marmitesegacorkdwellinghouse (a tribute to the mighty bum gravy)
::: avocado baby - groovy shoes
::: boy heart soup - soup of the day
::: pussycat trash - un soul less
::: ballerina pink - doll eyes
::: stickfuck - carry on up the cemetery
::: las calamares - theme from tadpole

tape released by slampt in 1993.

get.

various | the condition of muzak

the beauty of the tape compilation is that you had 90 minutes to stuff it with whatever you fancied. sure that means there's normally a fair amount of crap to wade through till you find the oysters, but so often the oysters aren't where you'd expect.

cakehole was one of the better tape labels, one that seemed to actually have some kind of quality threshold. and this comp was their fiftieth release, a kind of "state of the label" release if you will. and if the title is anything to go by, then clearly we need to redefine our expectations of what is actually music.

::: cakehole - intro
::: rarb terb - even steven's
::: realm in dreams - as the scalpel cuts
::: hood - worrying about getting old
::: father - sex & ten
::: bleekmen - h-bomb versus a-bomb
::: they have stayed too long in the forest - sulky nectar
::: eastnmoor ambient group - extract
::: strip - mary 1
::: gary & the cro-magnons - untitled i
::: i hail taxis - me nag nug's a-naggerin'
::: stewart walden - song from the back of ian's record collection
::: children at play - the swollen testicles of jesus christ
::: splendid palatial retreat - difficult 2nd novel (a rock opera)
::: crayola summer - monkey island
::: the mike hunt set - living off the fat of tape hiss
::: children at play - wok noise
::: kostas d'lary - caruso '95
::: bovine over sussex ne - rok & choc
::: father - frog balloon
::: the starfire lounge - redwood yard
::: scooter - all these people
::: gary & the cro-magnons - untitled ii
::: stonebody - freak not born
::: rosa lee state - clip twist (holding one's breath mix)
::: johnnie mitchell - contact
::: drug masturbation - oh yoko (ono is the nigger of the world)
::: bleekmen - fluffer
::: orange sunshine - the truth about carrots
::: i hail taxis - you've made your bed
::: geoffrey sick - improvisation for xaphoon & tape xaphoon
::: peter buckley - a long time ago
::: culver - lectchin
::: vileda - night birds
::: novemberer - census '66 (appropriate music no. 1)
::: stewart bloody walden - snare hater

tape released by cakehole in ???

side 1.
side 2.

various | i'll procrastinate tomorrow

for a while it seemed like every tape comp featured boyracer. indeed, when i was putting together the inaugural tape comp on kylie, i wrote to stewart asking if he'd like to contribute and he sent me some stuff, commenting that i happened to catch him in a "yes" phase, he gets so many requests.

as this is a sticky release, boyracer are not the only attraction here - check the live mambo taxi, hula hoop and spatula songs.

::: boyracer - this has gone on too long (demo)
::: evil wiener - we're both crazy
::: mambo taxi - belgium blues (live)
::: corradi kid - this time
::: spatula - break
::: murray torkildsen - stop talking football
::: hula hoop - tula (demo)
::: johanna's house of glamour - only lovely love

tape released by sticky records in 1993.

do it now.

father | nature boy

father are best known for the "dancing major" 7" they released on 555. when i say best known, i mean amongst about 50 or so people. father never bothered the brit awards judges.

which is a shame, as they had pop chops a-plenty. but they also did all their recording using a cheap tape deck - none of this fancy 4-track business for them. clearly inspired by the off-the-cuff pop genius of guided by voices, they came across as a band for whom this songwriting business was thoroughly effortless, an exercise in pure, rackety joy, the noise an end in itself and not a career-building occupation.

they released a handful of tapes and that solitary 7". digitising the tapes is a bugger because there are so many bloody songs, the sequence of which doesn't necessarily correlate to what's written on the insert. but i think i've got this one right.

so sit back and enjoy the sound of a group of friends having a brilliant time.

tape released by no-fi home recordings in 1995.

i wouldn't mind some cake right now.

gene | demo

the first of a bunch of tape rips, this demo turned up on my doormat like a bolt from the blue. the accompanying scribbled note from automatic pr described it simply as "poptastic", and they weren't lying. the tape features rougher versions of "for the dead" and "left-handed", their lack of polish not diminishing the songs' charm a single jot.

you can read the interview i did with martin back in the day in speeder.

interestingly (though possibly only to me), my copy is actually taped over what appears to be a demo version of "don't just disappear", a single by breathless.

tape released in 1993.

the new smiths.