Catching Some Zzzzzzs

Thought I'd leave you with this last post before I go catch some Zzzzzzs. I set out to post musick from each letter of the alphabet & I finally made it to Z.

Since this is Zero_ii's blog & he's a Z, I thought I better end on a high note. Now I'm a Nothin', which is like a Zero. In fact I use the Ø as my symbol (NØ) & I did model my nom de plume after another Zero named Earl. But when I set out to accomplish somethin', well I see it through to fruition. Hence Nothin' Sez Somethin' or in this case, does. I finally got this alphabet thing licked (but man is my tongue dry). Without further ado...

Zru Vogue - Zruisms 1980- 1984

Zru Vogue is an American independent band composing, recording & producing ethno-electro avant-pop surrealist rock for postmoderns.

Zru Vogue formed in Palo Alto, California in 1980, when two musicians, Andrew L. Jackson & Rick Cuevas got together with friends Tom & Nancy. Their musick was inspired by pop, punk & dada. They began experimenting by mixing up: African tribal & Middle Eastern rhythms; ambient; British-influenced avant-garde rock; minimalist electronics; & funk-rock guitars.

Their name came from a ‘zine headline “Zero Risk Unobtainable”. Andrew wrote a song with that title, then another called “Z.R.U. Part Two”. Somewhat randomly the ZRU was coupled with Vogue, thus Zru Vogue.

Zru Vogue’s first single, Febuary 1981's “Nakweda Dream b/w Cumulonimbus” on San Francisco label Adolescent Records was critically acclaimed in the alternative press. Sub-Pop magazine named it the best independent single of 1981. The first 3,000 copies sold out within months, mostly by mail order & another 3,000 were pressed & distributed.

From 1982 to 1984, Zru Vogue released an album (Zru Vogue, The Album [1982]) & an EP (Zru Vogue Now! / Possibly Imagined / The Artist [1984]). In 1985, Zru Vogue disbanded. The core duo of Rick Cuevas & Andrew L. Jackson made solo records through the late 80s & 90s.

Relocated to San Francisco, Andrew & Rick resurrected Zru Vogue in 2002, adding drummer Patrick Coyne to the line-up. They have released four albums of new material since 2004: Beautiful Again (2004); Unlimited Enjoyment Instant Gratification (2005); The Exile (2006); & their latest, Eleven Eyes (2009).

Zruism 1980-84 includes the complete studio recordings of Zru Vogue from 1980 to 1984. The musicians here are: Andrew L. Jackson (known then as Andrew Finkle) - guitar & vocals; Rick Cuevas - guitar & bass; Tom Sanders - bass; Nancy Miller - drums, Max Tyrell - multi-instrumentalist, with Zelda Blue (80-81) & Lawan Angelique (83-84).

Year of Release: 1998
Label: Zru Vogue
Genre: Dream-pop, Art-funk

Tracklist:
Cumulonimbus
Nakweda Dream
Do the Zru
The Dream Stops
Loubella Extendables
Pretty Girl
Exploring the Underworld
For the Time
Ubuhuha
Big Fish Swing
Now!
Possibly Imagined
The Artist

Download: Zru Vogue - Zruism 1980-84
Download Size: 144MB (ripped at 320 Kbps)

Zmiya - Somamdenlo

Zmiya is a band from Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. They began as a more basic French hip-hop electro unit before altering their sound, becoming a very Eastern & Arabic sounding band. Their music is a world musick mix of traditional influences & modern electronic rhythms. Most of their songs have a peaceful shamanistic feel. Zmiya blend ethno with electro, using a diverse range of traditional instruments from around the world, such as: oud; hurdy-gurdy; didjeridoo; balaphon; arghoul; & kora mixed with subtle electro beats & samples.

Somamdenlo was released in 2004 by the Prikosnovénie label, also located in Nantes. It is currently out of print.

Zmiya here are: Jerome Ettinger - vocals, arghoul (a double-pipe, single-reed woodwind instrument that consists of two tubes: a melody pipe with between five & seven holes & a longer drone pipe) & programming; Sebah - kora (African lute-harp), guitar, & programming; Julien Bonvoisin - bass; Matthieu Rousseau - drums; along with four musickians from Cairo on vocals, percussion, rababa, arghoul, & kawala. Female & male vocals alternate throughout the album.

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Prikosnovénie PRIK087
Genre: Tribal, Electro

Tracklist:
Somamdenlo
Magical Time
Desert
Douma
Al Mostafa
Zmiya
Terra Nova
Redjah

Download: Zmiya - Somamdenlo
Download Size: 71.4MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Zillatron - Lord of the Harvest

The electronic spawn of Godzilla is about to funktify your fuzzface. Yes, indeed, it is none other than Bootsy Collins in one of his many various personalities...this time Zillatron Fuzzface Bootsy, the Lord of the Harvest (of souls, we might ask???).

Describing the musick on this album is no simple matter. There are elements of metal, funk metal, funk, hip-hop & some leftfield type stuff as might be expected with Bill Laswell, Buckethead, & Bernie Worrell having their hands in this album. This is one of the earlier projects featuring these cats, much in line with later releases by Praxis or other Bill Laswell releases. Fans of Bootsy's work with Praxis should definitely enjoy this, but it still packs enough straight forward funk punch for more diehard Rubber Band fans.

A great concept for Bootsy has him playing bass as only he can. The theme of paranoia, both from within & without, is excellent. An extremely ambitious project utilizing: some heavy HEAVY fuzz bass; funked up guitar sounds from Buckethead; vocal samples from the film Naked Lunch; & other high weirdness. Zillatron lays down a coherent (if chaotic) landscape of funk fused with almost industrial music. It is very futuristic-sounding 'Cyberfunk' with snatches of techno, rock, & spaced-out ambient sounds all vying for supremacy. All the weirdness is capped off by a real zinger of a song, the hauntingly beautiful finale "The Passion Continues", a song that reverently references some great lines from some great ParliaFunkaRubber songs of the past.

Take the time to really listen to this album, both musickally & lyrically. You will not be disappointed.

"This Record is Dedicated to Eddie Hazel - The Maggot Brain of Funkadelic"

Zillatron is: Bootsy Collins - bass, sampler, & vocals; Buckethead - guitar; Bernie Worrell - piano, organ, & synthesizer; Bill Laswell - noises; Brenda Holloway, Debra Barsha, Kristen Gray, Momma Collins, & Patti Willis - backing vocals; & Grandmaster Melle Mel & Umar Bin Hassan (of the legendary Last Poets) - rapping & chanting. Recorded at Greenpoint Studio & Bootzilla Studio.

Year of Release: 1993
Label: Rykodisc RCD 10301
Genre: Funk Metal

Tracklist:
C.B.I. Files (Central Bug Intelligence)
Bugg Lite
Fuzz Face
Exterminate
Smell the Secrets
Count Zero
Bootsy & the Beast
No Fly Zone (The Devil’s Playground)
The Passion Continues

Download: Zillatron - Lord of the Harvest
Download Size: 99.6MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Zwell - Open Air

Zwell is the performance name for Jean Libert, of Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées, France & a constantly changing cast of supporting characters. Libert was born in Lille, France. He sang in rock bands in another life & now plays in his kitchen among pigs, dragonflies, & beer. He uses boom boxes, synths, guitars, bells, street sounds & vocals to create his own brand of outsider musick.

Here he gets by with a little help from his friends: Antonio Mas - Spanish guitars; Karine - vocals, bass & keyboards; Marc Dechaumont- mandolin; Gian Lucca Houalla - drums; & Yves Alain for all the rest.

This is all I know about Zwell, so just listen & enjoy.

Year of Release: 1999
Label: My Dining Room Records
Genre: Outsider

Tracklist:
A Fairy Tale
Beat Boxes
Colma Train
Dirty Tricks
Fly Even Higher
I Married the Sun
Open Air
White Shirts
Mezzo il Mare
Mumble Doll
Peeling the Lichees
Trini Lopez
In the Moon
Spin Doctors

Download: Zwell - Open Air
Download Size: 91.5MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Zyce - Transgressive

Zyce is a progressive psytrance project created by Nikola Kozik from Nova Pazova, Serbia. Since he was quite young, Nikola was interested in music. He gained experience playing in numerous rock, reggae & metal bends in his native Serbia. After years of playing, Nikola found himself gravitating to electronic music.

Nikola is a prolific artists. Aside from Zyce, his progressive trance solo project, he is involved in: Vertex , a progressive house project with Slobodan Gacesa; Zyce & Fox, a psytrance collaboration with Petar Lisica as part of the Tesserac Tstudio organization; & Ectima, a progressive tech-trance unit with Dalibor Delic (aka Flegma). He has released musick on labels such us: Spin Twist Records; Mikrokosmos Records; IONO music; Blue Tunes; Plusquam Records; & Synergetic Records.

There is a very fertile Progressive scene of his home country Serbia. Although his first material using the Zyce name was released as recently as 2008, it stood head & shoulders above much of the other musick in its genre because of both its technical & creative skills. Now only two years later, he delivers his second studio album. I usually don’t post things that are this contemporary, but this is an artist who deserves to be heard.

Transgressive utilizes solid melodies while plowing a distinctive acoustic furrow, creating a very laid-back & dreamy atmosphere. Nikola plays guitar, bass, keyboards, & drums with equal ability. Far from being claustrophobic, the 10 tracks on this album feel like a tender spring breeze against the listener's face.

Year of Release: 2010
Label: Spin Twist Records SPN1CD034
Genre: Progressive Trance, Psychedelic

Tracklist:
Blue Body
Earth in the Flame (with Flegma)
Hush
Nemesis
Intoxicated (Zyce remix by Martin)
Off-duty
Basic (remix)
Wonderland (with Nok)
Absorb
Moon Riders

Download: Zyce - Transgressive
Download Size: 148MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

ZZZZZZ - Holeigans

ZZZZZZ is a musical project by the band's only member, artist Tomas Johansson of Stockholm, Sweden. The music had been growing for a few years as intangible ideas & thoughts in Tomas’ head.

At Liljevalch's (Sweden's most renowned art gallery) 2000 Spring Exhibition, Tomas Johansson was exhibiting three paintings: "Which hole is the way out?"; "Holeigan Spiral"; & "The Bump" which depicted holeigans sitting in their holes. They were large paintings with an alien character as central figure. The whole concept was built on a simple ‘expressionlessness’ which, in its simplicity, became extremely expressive.

This expressive expressionlessness became the central concept that led to the creation of this musick. These Holeigan figures also illustrate the cover. The music is not really about the holeigans, but was created in the holeigans spirit...minimilistic & clinical with a pinch of humor in a juxtaposed calming yet desolate feeling.

Tomas’ musickal background is as a bassist in Swedish heavy & death/trash metal bands, but his influences span over a much broader spectrum, including a heavy dose of German ‘krautrock’ such as Kraftwerk. This musick has in fact been described as ‘ Kraftwerk meets Monty Python.’

All the songs on the CD are produced, composed, arranged, performed & recorded by Tomas, except the final bonus track "ZZZZZZ (L’Babe remix by Lizette)" which is produced, arranged, performed & recorded by Lizette von Panajott. Lizett also is responsible for the mix of the album. Mastering was done by Henrik Jonsson at Polar Studios, Stockholm, Sweden.

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Blue Lemon International
Genre: Experimental, Electronic

Tracklist:
The Operator
Hole
The Bump
Love
Electromonominimilistic Dimension
ZZZZZZ version 2.0
Another Mind
Something Nothing
ZZZZZZ (I´Babe Remix by Lizette) - bonus track

Download: ZZZZZZ - Holeigans
Download Size: 141MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

So adios all my DM friends, bedwise is rightwise now, right right right.

New Christs - Dropping Like Flies EP (Double 7")

This little gem was originally posted on the first Ausrock blog, which was removed by blogger. It hasn't reappeared on the new blog, so I thought I would post it here as requested.

The New Christs were originally formed by Radio Birdman and New Race vocalist Rob Younger after he was offered the support spot on Iggy Pop's Australian tour of 1984. The other members had played in groups such as Celibate Rifles, Lime Spiders and Hoodoo Gurus. The tour proved a success and the band stayed together, recording the two singles Like A Curse and Born Out Of Time for Sydney independent label Citadel Records. These releases gained universal acclaim for their tough and uncompromising nature. With the prospect of an album deal and European tour, the other members instead chose to return to their former interests. Younger was left to pursue a career producing some of the finest upcoming Australian alternative bands.

In 1986 Barracudas bass player Jim Dickson returned to Australia from the UK and together with Younger started a new line-up. Featured were Charlie Owen, a gifted but as yet unknown guitarist and drummer Louis Burdett who soon left to be replaced by Nick Fisher who had played with Ed Kuepper and Wet Taxis. This line-up released a series of hard hitting singles Black Hole, Headin' South, Another Sin and the EP Dropping Like Flies. These tracks were compiled under the title Divine Rites, whose European release allowed the group to tour there for the first time.

Track List:
1. Dropping like Flies
2. Dead Girl
3. I Swear
4. You'll never catch my Wave

Download: New Christs - Dropping Like Flies EP
Download Size: 20MB

A.K. Klosowski & Pyrolator - Home Taping Is Killing Music

"Demented pop music from the very early days of sampling"This album was passed on to me by one of my friends on last.fm If you are reading this Metawirt, thank you very much for introducing me to this wonderful gem, as well as all the other music that you regularly recommend. Metawirt was also kind enough to set up a last.fm artist page, which unfortunately didn't exist until he created it. To my knowledge this is the only project that A.K. Klosowski worked on. There are two bonus tracks included which are a collaborative effort by Klosowski and T. Eckart. I am unsure if these were included on the original release, or if these were included on a reissue. If any of you have any more information on this release please pass it on. I haven't been able to dig up much information on this project, and I'm short on time at the moment, so I will pass on the information that Metawirt posted on last.fm:

"In 1984 Pyrolator (aka Kurt Dahlke, specialist for music & computer and early part of “Fehlfarben”, “Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft” and later part of “Der Plan”) teamed up with A.K. Klosowski for the groundbreaking sampling experiment Home Taping Is Killing Music:
Demented pop music from the very early days of sampling. Numerous artists are credited as being the sample sources, but good luck to you finding them." - Metawirt

Year of Release: 1984
Label: Captain Trip
Genre: Electronic, Sampling, Sound Collage
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Overtüre
2. Österreich
3. Tschak
4. Hammond
5. Agana Wudiov
6. What Made You So No Good
7. Heimat
8. Dahomey
9. You know, I Need...
10. ZV9
Bonus Tracks by A.K. Klosowski & T. Eckart
11. HiFidelity
12. China First On Mars

Download: A.K. Klosowski & Pyrolator - Home Taping Is Killing Music
Download Size: 58MB

Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Unnoticeable in a Tiny Town, Invisible in the City

Representing the letter Y is a group from the magickal Arctic Rim country of Norway.

Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson is a Norwegian post-rock band. The band came to be when a group of four journalism students got together at the Bodø University College in the fall of 2003. During the following year they recorded a series of songs in a yellow bomb shelter in Bodø. At first their musick was an amalgam of various styles & influences, but as they continued working together they realized they were most aligned with the longer dreamy post-rock tunes exemplified by “A List Not to Be Read at Your Wedding". Working in that vein, they soon had written six lengthy tunes which ended up on their début album Unnoticeable in a Tiny Town, Invisible in the City which they released 21 May 2005 on their own new label, How is Annie Records.

These songs are haunting & skygazing epics combining electronic elements with soothing layers of dreamy guitars & pounding yet jazzy intricate beats. This is post-rock with a pop feel laced with spoken, sung & screamed vocals. One can dance to these tunes or be lulled to sleep, they are at the same time beat-driven & dream-inducing.

Earlier this year YPOFH released their second album, this time self-titled...a continuation of the old-school emo & modern post-rock found on this, their first release. The new album is their first release to be sold in the U.S. So for anyone who missed their original offering, I serve it up here with four bonus tracks for your listening pleasure, down to the wire with letter Y.

The original members of Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson are: Gjermund Arne Jappée - guitar & vocals; Torbjørn Endal - guitar & vocals; Audun Hoem Hagen - bass; & Morten André Samdal - drums.

Year of Release: 2005
Label: How is Annie Records HIA003
Genre: Post-rock

Tracklist:
Van Gogh Kept Painting Himself Because He Was the Only Model He Had
Yet We Continue to Build There, the Structure
How Odd to See These Lamps Still Burning
I've Got a Picture of You Boss
A List Not to Be Read at Your Wedding
We May Be Remembered by What We Did When We Sat Down
bonus tracks
Jazzsangen
Zimbabwe Optimist Sailing Team
Game, Set, Match
Our Doorhandles Stopped Moving Years Ago

Download: Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Unnoticeable in a Tiny Town, Invisible in the City
Download Size: 143.6MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor

Representing the letter Y is a group from the magickal Pacific Rim country of Japan.

Yellow Magic Orchestra is a Japanese techno-art-pop group. They are highly innovative & influencial in the world of electronics, similar to Kraftwerk. The band was formed in 1978 by Ryuichi Sakamoto collaborating with drummer Yukihiro Takahashi, who had previously worked with the art rock group The Sadistic Mika Band & bassist Haroumi Hosono, who had already released four solo albums & was a well known producer. The initial concept was to set high tech Kraftwerk type arrangements to the sort of exotic faux orientalism of Martin Denny. It was originally supposed to be a sort of experimental one-off project, but after the success they encountered they decided to continue, getting together a full band, touring & doing more albums.

Solid State Survivor is their second album, following quickly at the heels of the first self-titled release. It was not released intact in the U.S. until the Restless CD in the 1992. Some of its contents wound up on the US LP X∞ Multiplies but three tracks never came out in the US on LP. Although Yellow Magic Orchestra is considered more a synthpop band, they never dropped their original Prog sophistication.

The musick on this album is fantastic, beginning with “Technopolis” which was written by Sakamoto. Probably the most well known song is “Rydeen” which was written by Yukihiro Takahashi. The title song “Solid State Survivor” features guest guitarist Makoto Ayukawa of Sheena & the Rokkets fame. The lyrics are by Chris Mosdell & all three YMO members do vocal work.

Year of Release: 1979
Label: Alfa Records, Inc ALR-6022
Genre: Synth-pop

Tracklist:
Side A -
Technopolis
Absolute Ego Dance
Rydeen
Castalia
Side B -
Behind The Mask
Day Tripper
Insomnia
Solid State Survivor

Download: Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
Download Size: 73.5MB (ripped at 320 Kbps)

Geinō Yamashirogumi - AKIRA: Original Soundtrack

Iwas delighted to discover that I hadn't already posted this soundtrack. This is easily one of the most unique soundtracks of all time, and it happens to be my personal favorite. Don't make the mistake of judging this album by it's cover, thinking that it's just the soundtrack to some silly cartoon, as that would be a serious lapse of judgement on your behalf. Those of you who haven't had the pleasure of listening to it are going to be in for a real treat. I'm not a fan of anime or manga, but there are two exceptions, those being "Ninja Scroll" and "Akira". Fortunately for you all I happen to have the soundtracks to both, with the latter being presented to you now.

For those unfamiliar with Akira, it is a 1988 anime film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, based on the manga comic bearing the same name. It has since become a massive cult classic, influencing a great deal of the anime/manga art and animation that would follow in the years to come. The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo in the year 2019. Rebuilt from the ashes of World War 3, it's a technological dream of computers and soaring science, mated to the social nightmare of corrupt politicians, a rampant military and an oppressed working class. Add to this the rise of a powerful breed of psychics (or 'psionics') capable of various degrees of telepathy and telekinesis, and somehow linked to a top secret military project known as Akira. The film tells the story of Tetsuo, who begins developing psychic powers but doesn't understand what is happening to him or the responsibilities that come with such godlike power.

The soundtrack was recorded by Geinō Yamashirogumi (芸能山城組), and composed and conducted by Shoji Yamashiro. Geinō Yamashirogumi is a Japanese musical collective founded on January 19, 1974 by Tsutomu Ōhashi, consisting of hundreds of people from all walks of life. They are known for their faithful re-creations of folk music from around the world, as well as their fusion of various traditional musical styles with modern instrumentation and synthesizers. In the early 1980's the group saught to incorporate computer-generated sounds into their music. The MIDI digital synthesizers of that time were incapable of handling the tuning systems of traditional gamelan music, so the group taught themselves to program these synthesizers in order to modify their equipment. Their fusion of traditional gamelan and electronic music captured the attention of Katsuhiro Ōtomo, who commissioned them to create the soundtrack of Akira. The soundtrack is built on the concept of recurrent themes or "modules". Texturally, the soundtrack is a mix of digital synthesizers (Roland D-50, etc), Indonesian chromatic percussion (jegog, etc.), traditional Japanese theatrical and spiritual music (Noh), European classical, and progressive rock.

The soundtrack was recorded in 1988, and released in 1990 by Demon Records. You can no longer find it to purchase on the Demon Records website. A few versions of the soundtrack have been released over the years. "AKIRA: The Original Japanese Soundtrack", consists of only four tracks. I haven't had the chance to listen to it, therefore I'm unable to describe to you what extent it differs, aside from the number of tracks and length. "AKIRA: Original Soundtrack" consists of 10 tracks, and contains voices and sound effects from the film, as well as music which was additionally re-recorded for the soundtrack release. "Kaneda", "Battle Against Clown" and "Exodus From the Underground Fortress" are actually part of the same song cycle. "Symphonic Suite AKIRA" is the same as "AKIRA: Original Soundtrack", only the voices and sound effects are absent.

I have no doubt that those of you who have been following this blog will enjoy this, as well as anyone who happens to stumble across it. As I mentioned before, my knowledge of anime is virtually nonexistent, but if any of you could recommend some soundtracks in a similar vein I would be very grateful.

Year of Release: 1990
Label: Demon Records
Genre: Soundtrack, Experimental, World Fusion
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
1. Kaneda
2. Battle Against Clown
3. Winds Over The Neo-Tokyo
4. Tetsuo
5. Dolls Polyphony
6. Shohmyoh
7. Mutation
8. Exodus From The Underground Fortress
9. Illusion
10. Requiem

Download: AKIRA: Original Soundtrack
Download Size: 122MB

XXX Rated

This sucka is triple X rated.
& mostly 78rpms.
Well, really three entries under the letter X & two are from 1978, when punk rock was one year old (according to some...although punk mentality has been around in musick for much longer). So dust of your Doc Marten's & your pogo sticks, kiddies. (Yeah I'm kinda giddy, only two more letters in this alphabet soup.)

X-Ray Spex - Live at CBGBs March 17, 1978 bootleg cassette

Poly Styrene & X-Ray Spex were something of an anomaly, a female fronted band of the original British ‘77 punk movement with no real antecedent & no real parallel. Their sound, style & energy were strictly their own. They were always one of a kind. They never took themselves too seriously, yet had enough ability & unique attributes to make their own way. They were the epitome of the punk movement...start playing live shows after just one practice, release a few singles, one album, & have a personal point of view.

In March of 1978, X-Ray Spex played a short residency at CBGB's. This recording came from their March 17th show. Judging by musick levels & audience noise, this was probably recorded through the soundboard. 12 songs, 2 encores & pretty good sound for what it is.

“It’s 1978, & the crowd at CBGB’s are belligerent, maybe expecting Malcolm McLaren’s media demon juggernaut The Sex Pistols to fire off a trade mark drunken set. Poly’s on stage in a leather apron. She’s got her hair curled in 1950s schoolgirl ringlets, a couple of dominoes pinned to her lapel & a golliwog doll hanging round her neck. Into the chaos, over the puking & fighting she yells out, “Some people think little girls should be seen & not heard, but I think…” & there’s a pause, the crowd pull in closer & Poly yells again, “Oh Bondage, Up yours! One, two three, four". The Spex break into their furious sax driven hit. The place goes wild. For a moment it seems the kids are listening. It seems like somewhere in the nihilism & self destruction of late 70’s punk, there’s room for a young girl from Brixton with something important to say. Poly flaps her arms and bounces around the stage, hot & hip despite herself, leans into the mic, “Chain-store chain-smoke / I consume you all / Chain-gang chain-mail / I don’t think at all” . Stop, freeze frame. Hold her steady now. There she is on the right, mid-verse, iconic in black and white, twenty one forever.”

Year Recorded: 1978
Label: bootleg
Genre: Punk

Set List:
Artificial
I'm obsessed with you
Let's submerge
Identity
Plastic bag
I live off you
Germ free adolescents
I'm a poser
Genetic engineering
I'm a cliche
The day the world turned dayglo
Oh bondage up yours!
Artificial (encore version)
Identity (encore version)

Download: X-Ray Spex - Live at CBGB’s 17 March 1978 bootleg
Download Size: 107MB (ripped from audio cassette at 320Kbps)

X - Adult Books b/w We're Desperate 7" 45

Not much needs to be said here. The first single released by Los Angeles band X. Exene Cervenka on vocals, Billy Zoom on guitar, John Doe on bass & vocals, D.J. Bonebrake on drums. Essential.

Year of Release: 1978
Label: Dangerhouse D88
Genre: Punk, Indie Rock

Tracklist:
Side X -
Adult Books
Side Z -
We´re Desperate

Download: X - Adult Books b/w We’re Desperate 7“ 45
Download Size: 12.1MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

Xmal Deutschland - Tocsin

Xmal Deutschland - Tocsin

Xmal Deutschland formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1980, originally an all-female band.Founding members included: Anja Huwe - vocals; Manuela Rickers - guitar; Fiona Sangster - keyboards; Rita Simon - bass; & Caro May - drums. Their first single, "Großstadtindianer" was released in 1981 on the ZickZack label. About this same time, Rita Simon was replaced by Wolfgang Ellerbrock. In 1982, a U.K. tour opening for the Cocteau Twins resulted in a label deal with independent label 4AD Records.

Xmal are masters of eerie, gothick musick sung in their native German, with beautiful bass driven melodies & searing, though icy, guitar lines.

Tocsin, Xmal Deutschland's second full-length album is arguably the bands creative high point. It is undoubtedly less bleak than their first record, but by no means saccharine. These songs are somewhere in the middle ground between the neo-psychedelic 4AD tradition & the more aggressive sound of Xmal’s earlier offerings. The tension created by the disparate styles serves the band well. This is some tasty blend.

The line-up here is as listed above with the exception of: Peter Bellendir - drums.

Year of Release: 1984
Label: 4AD CAD 407
Genre: Goth Rock, Synth-pop, Minimal

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Mondlicht
Eiland
Reigen
Tag fur Tag
Side 2 -
Augen·blick
Begrab Mein Herz
Nachtschatten
Xmass In Australia
Derwisch

Download: Xmal Deutschland - Tocsin
Download Size: 85.5MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

DJ Chaos X - Live Mixxx (2006)

DJ Chaos X is one of the many aliases of Yamantaka Eye, better known as one of the founders of the noise rock group Boredoms. I posted an album "Planetary Natural Love Gas 19999", by DJ Pica Pica Pica, which was very well received here, so I thought that I would share yet another Yamantaka Eye release. In my opinion the album released under his DJ Pica Pica Pica alias is overall a much better album, although those who prefer rock may favor the DJ Chaos X release. You can find the DJ Pica Pica Pica album here: http://digitalmeltd0wn.blogspot.com/2010/02/dj-pica-pica-planetary-natural-love-gas.html

The DJ Pica Pica Pica release was an extremely eclectic album, featuring every genre under the sun. While "Live Mixxx" is also a well rounded release, it primarily leans toward a more rock oriented approach, featuring rock, punk rock, and experimental music. The Beatles, Suicidal Tendencies, Dow Jones and the Industrials, and Bad Brains are a few of the artists sampled on the album. The tracks on this album are very short in length. There are 45 tracks in just over a 50 minute time span. Each track averages a little over a minute in length, although there are several that are well under a minute.

To the best of my knowledge the tracks do not have names, so I will not be providing a track listing. Although if I am mistaken I would greatly appreciate it if someone could correct me and provide a proper track listing. I do know that very few CDs were issued for this release, but I don't have any figures for the exact amount that were released. The album is now out of print, and extremely difficult to find a physical copy.

Before I close this post, I would also like to ask everyone to please take the time to leave a comment. This isn't something that I normally ask people to do. Although it is always very encouraging and appreciated whenever you readers do post a comment, it doesn't upset me when a post doesn't receive comments, as it does with many other bloggers. If I'm not receiving many comments, I take it as a sign that I need to do a better job selecting material to share here. The reason I am asking everyone to take the time to comment is to let me know if there is a particular genre that they would like to see featured more on Digital Meltd0wn in the future, and if everyone enjoys the most recent material posted here, or if you prefer the material that I posted when I first started this blog (Punk, Psych, and Garage Rock). To those who will comment, I would like to go ahead and thank you in advance. I hope you all enjoy this rare gem.

Year of Release: 2006
Genres: Experimental, Punk Rock, Sound Collage
Bitrate: 192kbps

Download: DJ Chaos X - Live Mixxx
Download Size: 71MB

Dinah Washington - September in the Rain

Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones on August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Shortly thereafter her family moved to Chicago, the city she always called home. Although her first recording was “Evil Gal Blues” & although she will always be known as the”Queen of the Blues”, Dinah always objected to that sobriquet. She always felt her singing was more jazz-infused gospel.

She was never an obedient servant to the written structure of a song, always breaking through the mechanical quality of its contours, altering the melody & meter - melodically, rhythmically, & emotionally - to make it more than it began & truly her own. Quincy Jones vividly describes Washington's style, saying she "could take the melody in her hand, hold it like an egg, crack it open, fry it, let it sizzle, reconstruct it, put the egg back in the box, back in the refrigerator & you would've still understood every single syllable."

But the singer's musical gifts went hand in hand with her wild & extravagant personal life, fueled in part by her own deep-rooted insecurity. Married seven times, Washington battled with her weight for years, She heavily used numerous prescription medications, primarily for dieting & insomnia. Even though she sings “I don’t need clothes or furs," in “As Long as I’m in Your Arms", she burned through her recording profits buying shoes, furs & automobiles in an effort to lift her spirits.

On the morning of December 14, 1963, Dinah's eighth husband, Dick "Night Train" Lane, famed defensive back for the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Cardinals & Detroit Lions found Dinah non-responsive. She was later pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy showed a lethal combination of secobarbital & amobarbital had contributed to her untimely death at the age of 39. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose.

Tracks 1, 10, 11, & 12 were recorded in late 1960 in New York City with an unidentified orchestra. Fred Norman conducted track 10 on Oct. 5-7 & was replaced on tracks 1, 11, & 12 by Nat Goodman on Nov. 12. The rest of the tracks were recorded in Hollywood, CA in January 1961 with Belford Hendricks (who arranged all the songs) conducting & featured: Dinah on vocals; Rone Hall & Barney Kessel on guitars; Red Callender & Jimmy Rowser on bass; Ernie Freeman & Joe Zawinul on piano; & Earl Palmer on drums.

Year of Release: 1961
Label: Mercury Records MG 20638
Genre: Vocals

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
September in the Rain
Without a Song
This Heart of Mine
As Long as I’m in Your Arms
With a Song in My Heart
Softly
Side 2 -
I Can’t Believe that You’re in Love with Me
I Was Telling Him about You
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
I’ll Never Kiss You Goodbye
I’ll Come Back for More
Tell Love Hello

Download: Dinah Washington - September in the Rain
Download Size: 71.2MB (ripped from nearly 50 year old vinyl at 320Kbps)

X-Legged Sally - Slow-Up

X-Legged Sally was a Belgian avant-garde group that fused elements of funk, jazz, progressive rock and classical to create a truly remarkable and unique cacophony of sound. They played a pivotol role in helping to establish the indie scene in Belgium during the late early 90's. The first track that I had the pleasure of hearing from the group was "Hair", which I discovered on Youtube, and also happens to remain my favorite track by XLS. "Hair" was included on the album "The Land of the Giant Dwarfs". Even though you won't find it on this album, I included a youtube video for "Hair" to give you a preview of the group's sound before you download the album, although one should keep in mind that they have a very eclectic approach to their albums, and no one song can accurately represent the group's sound as a whole. Upon searching for more information about the band, I was shocked to discover that the majority of their discography is currently out of print. Only Eggs & Ashes and Killed by Charity appear to still be available from Sub Rosa.

X-Legged Sally consisted of members Peter Vermeersch, Paul Belgrado, Pierre Vervloesem, Danny Van Hoeck, Peter Vandenberghe, Bart Maris, and Michel Mast. In 1990 the band first appeared on the radar by contributing a track to the compilation "Live at the Knitting Factory Vol. 4", which helped the band members to establish a relationshiop with the New York downtown scene. The next year the group would go on to release their debut album, Slow-Up, which would solidify X-Legged Sally's reputation, and help to change the face of the independent Belgian music scene. Fortunately for us during the time the group was together they were active, releasing five studio albums and one live album within a 6 year span. In 1996 the band held a farewell concert, and officially disbanded the following year. Each of the members would eventually go on to work on their own respective projects. Peter Vermeersch founded A Group (together with Pierre Vervloesem), and later the Flat Earth Society, while Eric Sleichim started Bl!ndman, and Pierre Vervloesem featured in a lot of bands and has a productive solo career.

I have only found this album posted on one other blog, that being the legendary Mutant Sounds blog; however, it was only a low quality rip at 128kbps. It pleases me to be able to deliver a much higher quality rip at 320kbps. I was also recently greeted with a rather pleasant surprise when I stumbled across a comment that E-mile left on the Jazz Archives blog, where he posted links for the majority of their discography, so if any of you would like to see more of their albums posted here in the future, please leave a comment and let me know.

I had initially intended to post a track by track review, but it started to become increasingly obvious that I wasn't going to be able to finish before I have to go to work. Since I promised a friend that I would have this posted today, I'm just going to share a more professionally written review from Allmusic:

"It's easy to see why Bill Laswell was impressed when Peter Vermeersch sent him the demo from Belgium. This band was hot, hotter in fact than pretty much anyone the big, bad N.Y.C. producer/bassist was working with at the time. So X-Legged Sally was invited to record at Laswell's Greenpoint Studio in Brooklyn, and Slow-Up is the result. The band's debut full-length nearly overflows with energy, a sax-driven riff feast with full-tilt forward momentum from the rhythm section and no-holds-barred solos from reeds, guitar, and keys -- all packaged in 15 concise tunes (mainly instrumental and mainly penned by bandleader/clarinetist/saxophonist Vermeersch) that reveal how hooks, melodies, and straightforward harmonic and rhythmic foundations can be an asset even in the world of avant-prog music. The band's avant tendencies are balanced expertly with the plain satisfaction of nimbly executed unison and harmony lines, memorable themes, and the oft-displayed ability to accelerate from a standstill to light speed (and vice versa) in the blink of an eye. And while Vermeersch and company bring a certain Euro-style artfulness and serious avant jazz chops to the proceedings, the down and dirty influences of funk, blues, and even screamin' rock & roll (check out manic shredder guitarist Pierre Vervloesem's lung-tearing vocals on "Bacon & Eggs") crop up all over the place. Envision the members of Parliament/Funkadelic suddenly finding themselves on-stage with King Crimson running through those crazy stop-and-start unison passages in "21st Century Schizoid Man." That's what a lot of Slow-Up is like. But if the CD were merely fast, faster, and fastest music 100 percent of the time, it would ultimately be a bit of a bore -- like a Hollywood big-budget action movie with five or six too many chase scenes. Slow-Up isn't that; Vermeersch expertly modulated the program and he knew when to slow down, as in "Down at the Dinghy," a lovely little tango performed by the band's three reedmen with everyone else sitting out. And "Blackhead Blue Blues" is as moody and low in its slow groove as the blues can be, that is until Vervloesem unleashes a torrent of notes from mysterious depths right out into the stratosphere. Still, hard chargers like "34th Street," "Turkish Bath," and "Memphis" are the biggest stunners, with high-spirited energy, compact structures, and grooves that won't let go. If there's any fault whatsoever to be found, it's actually with Laswell's production, which is a bit bottom-heavy. The reeds could've been punched up when the entire band is cranked and cooking; perhaps Laswell forgot to tweak the knobs from one of his atmospheric ambient/world/dub productions. Or maybe the band frightened him and he ran out before he could tweak anything (naw, he was back producing Killed by Charity during the band's next U.S. visit). At any rate, it's a minor quibble. Slow-Up is a masterpiece of avant prog and should be in the CD collection of anyone who appreciates, say, New York's Doctor Nerve or Montréal's Les Projectionnistes. - Dave Lynch, All Music Guide"

Year of Release: 1991
Label: Sub Rosa
Genres: Avant-Garde, Avant-Prog, Jazz-Rock, Funk
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
1. Ffwd
2. Zippo Raid
3. Xls
4. Down at the Dinghy
5. Bacon & Eggs
6. 34th Street
7. Blackhead Blue Blues
8. Lacto B.
9. Fuck & Coffee
10. Turkish Bath
11. Little Hearts
12. Liquid
13. Pinocchio
14. Memphis
15. Ongennaam

Download: X-Legged Sally - Slow-Up
Download Size: 151MB

Digital Meltd0wn Now On Facebook

I finally decided to break down and create a Facebook page for Digital Meltd0wn @ http://facebook.com/digitalmeltd0wn. I created a personal account a few years ago, and I just didn't feel as if Facebook had been developed enough at that point to warrant further use. I decided to give it another chance after hearing many people rave about its usefulness. After exploring it for several hours yesterday, I realized that they have made vast improvements to the service. I created an account for Digital Meltd0wn, as well as a personal account, a few days ago.

Since last.fm has been a continuous disappointment lately, and there seems to be a mass exodus from Myspace, I plan to focus the majority of my social networking activity on Facebook, and here are a few ideas you can expect to see implemented soon. Updates from both this blog, as well as the Digital Meltd0wn Music Aggregator/Blogroll, there. I also plan to publish a mirror of the Digital Meltd0wn Blogroll in it's own tab, display the most recent posts from our music blog aggregator RSS feed in a separate tab, and upload some interesting music videos and pictures. I hope you all enjoy these features, and please recommend me any ideas you may have to make the page better.

Since I'm behind on the Facebook learning curve, I was hoping that some of you who are more familiar with the service could offer me some advice and recommendations. I'll be doing my own research, but I hope that some of you can help to quicken the learning process for me. I've put together a wishlist of sorts for Facebook. If some of you could spare the time to provide me with some recommendations I would greatly appreciate your willingness to help. Here is my Facebook wishlist:

• Useful music/blogging related applications
• Applications/tutorials for customizing my page
• Interesting Facebook music groups
• Independent artist/labels on Facebook
• Music bloggers on Facebook
• Interesting people who enjoy sharing music recommendations

Again, I would be extremely greatful if any of could could help me with any of the things listed above. I look forward to seeing some of you on there, and hopefully exchanging music with you in the discussion group.

Digital Meltd0wn @ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Meltd0wn/7777757521
My Personal Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=785217519

Survive-All Fallout Shelters - Radio Ads from the 1950's

This album consists of 9 short radio advertisements from the 1950's for a brand of nuclear fallout shelters called Survive-All. I picked this up from the Dinosaur Gardens blog years ago, and thought it would be very fitting to share here. Looking back in hindsight these advertisements are morbidly hilarious, yet they also provide a bit of disturbing historical insight into the fears that hung over the heads of the average American family during the 1950's Cold War era, and corporations which hoped to capatalise on their fear. The download size is very small at only 6.4MB, with each track averaging roughly 30 to 50 seconds in length.

"Nothing lends itself better to a fear-based advertising campaign than your family’s radioactive death. So when the Mort Kridel Advertising Agency was asked to create a radio ad campaign for Survive-All Fallout Shelters, they did their best to scare the Wonder Bread crap out of nuclear families everywhere. Tense horn stabs and canned explosions bracket sales pitches like:

"Radioactive fallout, that deadly by-product of a nuclear attack, will kill literally millions of unprotected families in the event of an atomic attack. Is YOUR family protected? Do YOU have a fallout shelter?

Each Civil defense approved, basement-type, Do-It-Yourself fallout shelter includes: A complete fully-stocked first aid kit! Extra strength saran and rayon bunks! A radiation meter and individual dosimeters! Civil defense approved, FHA approved, no money down, five years to pay! Economical… but Priceless!"

These are ripped from the original LP that would have gone to radio stations from the ad agency. There are 6 long versions and 3 shortened versions, each fairly different. Since it was promotional there was no record cover, but a scan of the record’s label is included. No year is evident, but since the zip code is two digits, it’s presumably pre-1963, and I would guess late 1950’s. - ECC of Dinosaur Gardens"

Year of Release: Unknown | Most Likely Late 50's
Label: Mort Kridel Advertising Agency
Genre: Commercials, Radio Ad
Bitrate: 192VBR

Track List:
1. Maximum Protection (General)
2. Comparison
3. Value
4. Equipment
5. DYS
6. Maximum Protection (Steel and Concrete)
7. DYS (short)
8. Maximum Protection (Steel and Concrete) (Short)
9. Maximum Protection (General) (Short)

Download: Survive-All Shelters - Radio Ads
Download Size: 6.4MB

Plan 9 From Outer Space Soundtrack (Retrosonic Records)

This out of print release of the Plan 9 From Outer Space soundtrack was the sole release by the now defunct Retrosonic Records label. There are several versions of the soundtrack available from other labels, which include dialogue and sound effects, but what makes this release unique is that it contains only the library/production music from the movie itself. I will refrain from discussing the movie itself at length since their is a considerable amount of information about it available on the internet. For the uninitiated, it is a 1959 science-fiction/horror movie directed by Ed Wood, which eventually became a cult classic based on it's reputation for often being cited as "the worst film ever made".



I had intended to post this once I was able to discover the artists responsible for each track; however, my search efforts ended in vain for the most part. My quest for information about the Retrosonic label also hit a dead end. Apparently this is the only album Retrosonic Records released before going under, and I couldn't find any information about them on the internet. Unfortunately, for decades there was very little information available about the musical cues featured in the film, and the mystery behind them was only recently solved. In fact, a great deal of the information that was available beforehand was actually misinformation that was intentionally circulated. These individuals aimed to make a profit by claiming to possess this knowledge, and published fake liner notes attributed to Ed Wood. The fact that a cue sheet for the music was never filed only confounded the problem even further. Fortunately, I was able to find this rather lengthy article, which provided some valuable info about the music featured in the soundtrack It makes mention of a few of the composers behind the music, although it falls short of identifying the individuals responsible for each track.

According to the Paul Mandell, the author of the article, Ed Wood hired Gordon Zahler to compile the music for the film. The tracks featured on the soundtrack consist of production music Zahler selected from both the Impress and Video Moods music libraries. The soundtrack is a great example of one that exceeds the quality of the film it was created for. The musicianship is top-notch, and is the only eerie or suspenseful aspect of an otherwise unintentionally comical movie. The Retrosonic release contains nearly all of the cues used for the movie, although there are a few that are conspicuously absent. It also contains a few cues that were excluded from the film due to the minuscule budget Ed Wood was working with. The sound quality is excellent, especially when one takes into account the age of the recordings, and the download provided is ripped from CD at a 320kbps bitrate. I hope that you all enjoy this obscure gem as much as I do.

Year of Release: 1996
Label: Retrosonic
Genre: Soundtrack
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
01. Prelude
02. Main Title
03. The Shadows of Grief
04. Gravediggers
05. Lost Roses of Her Cheeks
06. Tragic!
07. Police Squad
08. I'm a Big Boy Now, Johnny
09. Patio Talk: Jeff & Paula
10. Clay Stalked and Killed
11. Plan 9 Interlude
12. The Bell Has Rung
13. Saucers Over Hollywood
14. Col. Edward's Big Decision
15. Saucer Fire
16. Your Pillow Beside Me
17. The Old Ghoul Walks
18. Mac Calls Paula
19. Cemetery Chase / Clay Rises
20. The Old Ghoul Retreats
21. Graveyard Marionettes
22. Kelton Lights a Match
23. Drop Your Electrode Gun!
24. There's Something Out There
25. Clay Abducts Paula
26. Eros, do We have to Kill Them?
27. Someday it'll All be Gone
28. Kelton & Larry Enter Ship
29. Fight / Fire / Finale
30. God Help Us in the Future

Download: Plan 9 From Outer Space Soundtrack
Download Size: 84MB

Idiot Flesh - Tales Of Instant Knowledge And Sure Death

Idiot Flesh was a band formed in Oakland, CA in 1985 under the name Acid Rain. They made their debut with the demo album "We Were All Very Worried" which was released on tape only in 1987. They changed their name to Idiot Flesh prior to the release of their first album.

Their first album entitled "Tales of Instant Knowledge and Sure Death" came out in 1990, three years after their impressive demo cassette which didn't featured that really elfish atmosphere which was present in their 1990 release. The lyrical and musical world of Idiot Flesh is truly an absurd and playful panorama of the theatres and circuses. These jugglers really knew how to entertain the abstract senses of the abstract public. During concerts they were giving puppet and pantomime shows beside acrobatic attractions as well. They also played on various strange instruments (castanets, marimba,..) including household items like trash cans, saws, etc. The album is a catchy avant-garde rock masterpiece with morphing bass vibrancies, funky guitar rhythms and the harmony of classical instruments. The atmosphere of the album is full of musical gags and playful melodies often resulting in comical pictures.

After the group disbanded in 1998, the members of Idiot Flesh would go on to work on solo projects or join other bands, most notably Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

Year of Release: 1990
Label: Vaccination Records
Genre: Experimental/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Bitrate: 192kbps

Download: Idiot Flesh - Tales Of Instant Knowledge And Sure Death
Download Size: 68MB

Back From Vacation

Ijust returned from my trip back home to visit family and friends in Tennessee. I had a fantastic time while I was home, and can honestly say that it's the most fun I've had in years. I was able to spend a lot of quality time with my son, family, closest friends, and even a few old friends that I thought I might never see again. The flight home was the first time in my life that I've ever ridden in an airplane, and I was every bit as fascinating as I thought it would be. I celebrated my 30th birthday on the 9th, which didn't turn out to be as depressing as I anticipated :). I also had some time to rest my mind, which I have desperately needed to do. I've been averaging at least 13 hours a day between work and school every day since October of 2009, and it was beginning to overwhelm me a little.

I look forward to getting back on track here where I left off with my plans for this blog, and updating the DM blogroll. I've made mention of an official announcment regarding a huge project that we are in the process of organizing. I had hoped to make an announcement regarding it before I went on vacation. My partners, Sab and NØ, have been focusing on taking care of some important personal responsibilities, and I wanted to wait till we are all doing well before I make such a huge announcement.

Over the next couple of weeks I will probably post no more than a couple of albums a week, as I will be busy preparing for the upcoming project and updating the DM blogroll. My posts in the near future will consist of re-ups, so if you notice a dead download link for an album you would like to have, please don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Vacation Time

I will be flying home back home to Tennessee very shortly to visit my family and friends for the next 10 days. I had planned to leave you all with a surprise, but I have to leave a day earlier than I originally anticipated so I don't have time to post the surprise now. I plan to take my portable harddrive, which has a ton of music on it, but I don't know if I will be making any posts or not. NØ has been going through some hard times lately, so I'm not sure how much he will be able to post during my absence. Sab should be back from her own vacation shortly, so perhaps she may treat you all to some music from her collection. When I return I will be making a long overdue announcement involving an upcoming project for this blog. It will be the most significant project that has ever been posted on DM, and I'm not sure if anyone has ever attempted anything like this within the music blog world. I know you all will love it, and I can't wait to share it with you. In the meantime, if my companions are not able to update this blog, I would like to remind you all that I run the Digital Meltd0wn Music Aggregator/Blogroll @ http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com where you can find thousands of great music blogs of every type. I'll see you all shortly. Take care.

Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black

Well V is for Victory & here it is also for Vincent...Sweet Gene Vincent. Here’s one that I don’t think you’ll find elsewhere on the Interweb. Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black from Magnum Force in Shepperton, Middlesex. This one’s from 1982, ten years before Magnum Force launched their great Rebel Heart series.

Round 1 is studio tracks recorded between 1965 - 1970, some Vincent usual suspects like “Be-Bop-A-Lula” & some rarer material like “The Last Word in Lonesome” or “Pretty Girls”. Round 2 is a private ‘live’ recording from 2 May 1971 with Gene & the Houseshakers. The Houseshakers were a British rock 'n’ roll band that formed at the end of 1969, active in the early 1970s, who backed Gene Vincent on two of his European visits.

This might just be an album for completists in some folks opinion, but in my opinion...more Gene...MORE GENE! As Steve Aynsley remarks on the album notes, “We are privileged to re-live some of the excitement of a sadly bygone era, & if the recording quality (live tracks are less than studio quality - NØ) is not quite as we have become used to, excuse us because these items are precious & unique.”

Year of Release: 1982
Label: Magnum Force MFLP-016
Genre: Rockabilly

"Gene Vincent & The Houseshakers in the recording studio in 1971.
From left to right: rear - Graham Fenton (vocals), Jimmy Walls (bass),
John Earl (saxophone), Terry Clemson (guitar - ex-Downliner Sect);
front - Les Warren (drums), Gene Vincent (lead vocals)."

Tracklist:
Round 1 -
Rocky Road Blues
Say Mama
Pistol Packin' Mama
Be-Bop-A-Lula
The Last Word in Lonesome
Pretty Girls
Bluejean Bop
Round 2 -
Say Mama (live)
Baby Blue (live)
Rocky Road Blues (live)
Good Golly Miss Molly (live)
Whole Lotta Shakin' (live)
I'm Movin' On (live)
Be-Bop-A-Lula (live)

Download: Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black
Download Size: 87.5MB (ripped from much-loved vinyl at 320Kbps)

VA - A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych

Update: Here is re-up three of four of the "A BLANK Dose of BLANK Psych" series, which was originally posted almost four years ago on Digital Meltd0wn. For those interested in having the complete series, I will be posting the last installment of the series, "An Overdose of Hard Psych" tomorrow. Apparently I never got around to posting a track list for this around the time I originally posted it. Things obviously haven't changed much, because I have precious little time on my hands now. I have my college finals to study for, but I'm going to go ahead and put a track list together for you all since I love you people.

I apologize for taking so long to finally deliver on this. For those interested, I posted the companions to this several months back, actually it may have been more than a year ago. They can be found here - An Overdose of Heavy Psych, A Deadly Dose Of Wylde Psych, and A Lethal Dose Of Hard Psych.

I'm short on time right now, but I'll add the track list as soon as I return from work. Enjoy!

Label: Arf! Arf!
Genre: Psychedelic
Bitrate: 192kbps

Track List:
1. Unknown - Intro
2. Misty Wizards - It's Love
3. Capes of Good Hopes - Lady Margaret
4. Freeborne - Land of Diana
5. The Id - The Rake
6. Flowers - Tea Company
7. Truth - P.S. (Prognosis Stegnoisis)
8. Ballroom - Baby Please Don't Go
9. Teddy and His Patches - Haight Ashbury
10. Picture - Evolution
11. Gurus - It Just Won't Be That Way
12. Mongrels - Good Good Man
13. Wildflowers - More Than Me
14. Chris Carpenter - This World (Is Closing In On Me)
15. Childe Harold - Brink of Death
16. Jk & Co. - Fly
17. Masada - A Hundred Days And Nights
18. Crescent Six - And Then
19. Attic Sound - Look Straight Through You
20. White Room - Thoughts of Yesterday
21. Chimps - Fifth Class Mail
22. Chris Carpenter - Waterfalls
23. Fourth Way - The Far Side Of Your Mind
24. Unknown - Mystery Track
25. Rock Revival - Venus 2038

Download: VA - A Heavy Dose of Lyte Psych
Download Size: 104MB

VA - A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych

This is a reup that was originally posted on DM back in 2006. I will be posting "A Heavy Dose of Lyte Psych" tomorrow.

Here's the 4th installment in a series of obscure psychedelic rock compilations released by Arf Arf. I have 3 out of the 4 installments, one of which I have already posted (A Lethal Dose of Hard Psych). I also have "An Overdose of Heavy Psych", which I will be posting next. I'll try to find out the name of the remaining album, and post it if I'm able to find it. Here are the notes that were included:

Trip on out to 26 excessive tracks (over 78 minutes) of sparkling ’60s psychedelic acid reign. Presented here is elusive American psychedelic rock at it’s best—from the savage to the sublime, massive to the mesmirizing, and futuristic to flashbacks.

Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych is another wild compilation from Arf Arf that digs up 26 tracks of long lost American psychedelic acid rock from the mid-'60s. These tracks were recorded during an era when garage bands switched from "Louie Louie" and "Gloria" to a darker, yet no less inept, age of acid-influenced sludge. During the 78 minutes of Deadly Dose, listeners are introduced to beyond obscure bands with names like Chocolate Moose, Peacepipe, Lime Frost, Nite Watchmen, and Sweet Cherry. Most of these tracks sound like a combination of the Music Machine or Count Five with Barry Melton or Jorma Kaukonen on electric guitar at their most hallucinogenic.

Label: Arf! Arf!
Genres: Psychedelic, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
01.Sound Apparatus - Travel Agent Man
02.Finch - Nothing In The Sun
03.Nite Watchmen - Mimic Jester
04.Sweet Cherry - Funny Things Floating
05.Peacepipe - The Sun Won’t Shine Forever
06.Moon Dawgs - Keep On Pushing
07.Blue Creed - Need A Friend
08.Chocolate Moose - Take A Ride
09.Pawnbrokers - Realize
10.Christian Brothers - Feeling Bad
11.Oscar And The Majestics - House Of The Rising Sun
12.Liberation News Service - Mid-Winter’s Afternoon
13.Wet Paint - Glass Road
14.Waters - Mother Samwell
15.Chaparral Trio - Roxanne
16.Lime Frost - Post Bellum Blues
17.Leather Pages - Accept Me For Who I Am
18.The Blues Inc. - And Is
19.Wildwood - Plastic People
20.Portraits - It Had To Be You
21.(Mikes) Mijal & White - I’ve Been You
22.Tea Company - Come And Have Some Tea With Me
23.Angel Angel Down We Go, Attack - School Daze
24.Attack - School Daze
25.Mass Temper - Gravedigger
26.Johnny Thompson Quintet - Color Me Columbuth

Download: VA - A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych
Download Size: 146.6MB

VA - A Lethal Dose of Hard Psych

As requested, here is a repost of one of the earliest psychedelic comps to be posted on Meltd0wn. I will be uploading the companion albums "A Hard Dose of Lyte Psych" and "A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych" next.

This is another great compilation I found on DC++. Let me know if you all like this type of stuff. If so I have a few more like this that I could upload. Here are the notes that were included with the album:

"With twenty-three very rare singles, originating from all over North America, from 1966-70 (dates are not given for a couple but they certainly fit the time frame), this is very much in the Pebbles garage compilation mentality. The key difference is that the focus is on a later era -- only two to three years later on the average, mind you, but a significant difference when we're talking about the sixties, when styles and sounds changed very quickly. It logically begats another difference between this and your average garage compilation: there is much more weight given to hard, even heavy, guitar rock and psychedelic lyrics.

Featured on this 70+ minute collection is the more bombastic and harder slice of '60s American Psych. You'll find a glorious deluge of overdriven fuzz guitar, swirling surreal sounds, hallucinogenic lyrical content and superb songwriting. As with our previous two installments, fans of Vernon Joynson's Fuzz Acid & Flowers book will discover plenty of massively cool testaments from this by-gone era. Changin' Tymes: Blue Music Box, Catfish Knight And The Blue Express Deathwise, Bondsmen: Our Time To Try, Flower Power: I Can Feel It, Adam: Eve, Aardvarks: Subconscious Train Of Thought, Factree: Kaleidoscope, Light: Back Up, Dutch Masters: The Expectation, Sidells: Watch Out Mother, Zoser: Dark Of The Morning, Tom Dae Turned On: I Shall Walk, Cardboard Box: Come On Baby Legend: Enjoy Yourself, Crystal Rain: Hey Ma Ma, Sound System: Take A Look At Yourself, Lovechain: Step out Of Your Window You Can Fly, Inner Light: Temptation, Mammoth: Mammoth, Lazy Nickels: 35 Design, Enoch Smoky: It's Cruel, Haymarket Riot: Leaving, Mind Garage: Asphalt Mother.I believe this is the third in Arf Arf's psych comp series, adding Hard to the previous Heavy and Light discs.

As with those collections, there are plenty of songs here that will make you cringe and thank your maker that the performers are now safely away from the public ear somewhere in the working sector. Then there are bands like Bondsmen ("Our Time To Try"), Mind Garage ("Asphalt Mother"), Legend ("Enjoy Yourself") and Enoch Smoky ("It's Cruel") that had exactly what it took to open for Iron Butterfly back in the day, and these songs are what makes being a garage psych fan a pleasure. Taken as a whole, Lethal Dose is, at the very least, interesting, a hodgepodge of everything from spirited fuzzfests from groups with dubious vocal skills to absolute mind-expansion from groups from which a contact high can somehow still be obtained just by listening. For those of you who collect garage gems from obscure bands of the 60s, this is all moot. You'll snag it regardless. For the casual fans, I recommend this as an entertaining artifact and a 70 minute mind trip. - D.J. Johnson"

Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
1. Blue Music Box - Changin' Tymes
2. Deathwise - Catfish Knight And The Blue Express
3. Our Time To Try - Bondsmen
4. I Can Feel It - Flower Power
5. Eve - Adam
6. Subconcious Train Of Though - Aardvarks
7. Kaleidoscope - Factree
8. Back Up - Light
9. The Expectation - Dutch Masters
10. Watch Out Mother - Sidells
11. Dark Of The Morning - Zoser
12. I Shall Walk - Tom Dae Turned On
13. Come On Baby - Cardboard Box
14. Enjoy Yourself - Legend
15. Hey Ma Ma - Crystal Rain
16. Take A Look At Yourself - Sound System
17. Step Out Of Your Window You Can Fly - Lovechain
18. Temptation - Inner Light
19. Mammoth - Mammoth
20. 35 Design - Lazy Nickels
21. It's Cruel - Enoch Smoky
22. Leaving - Haymarket Riot
23. Asphalt Mother - Mind Garage

Download: VA - A Lethal Dose of Psych
Download Size: 165MB

Major Updates to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator

Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator
http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com

Hopefully most of you are already aware that in addition to this blog, I also run the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator. I wanted to inform you that I have just completed the first couple of phases of a major update. Over the last week I have made a number of updates to increase the quality of the blogroll, improve the RSS feed, and enhance the functions of the site as a whole. Here is a list of some of the recent changes:

Changelist:

Removed 250+ spam comments

Removed all dead blogs from the list

Updated urls for all of the blogs that have relocated

Added several dozen blogs

Added RSS feeds for blogs to the master RSS feed, which delivers updates from all of the blogs on the blogroll

Added "Followers" and "Latest Blog Updates" to the sidebar section

So far I have only completed two phases of what will be a six phase update, so there are still several more updates to come. Right now I am going through the comments section and adding the blogs that qualify to the list. This will take some time as there are several hundred comments. I have written a couple of more detailed posts concerning the changes to the site on the site.

I am trying to make the blogroll/aggregator the most valuable resource for finding underground and out of print music that I can. I hope that you will approve of the changes being made, and that it will serve as a valuable tool in your ongoing quest to discover great music. Here is the url:

Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator
http://music-bloggers.blogspot.com

This one's for U

Unsane - Unsane

This alphabetical challenge is driving me unsane...New York City's Unsane, that is. If you’re not familiar with them, then where the fuck have you been? They play aggressive noise rock. In their earliest incarnation as a power trio, Unsane have a driving rhythm section, a screaming Telecaster howl, & distorted vocals. This line-up included: Chris Spencer (vocals, guitar); Pete Shore (bass); & Charles Ondras (drums). They began playing NYC low-life clubs in 1989. It was at clubs like CBGB's that the band developed their trademark sound.

This, their self-titled debut, was recorded 16 January 1991 at Fun City & released on Matador Records in 1991. The cover is a photo of a decapitated man lying across train tracks, which sets the tone for the seething aggression of this album. In 1992, Unsane's drummer Charles Ondras died of a drug overdose & thing would never be quite the same for the band. Before the band released their follow-up album, Matador compiled & issued a collection of Unsane's early singles/compilation tracks, called Singles: '89-'92. It is perhaps Unsane's defining moment.

Year of Release: 1991
Label: Matador OLE 009-1
Genre: Noise, Hardcore
Bitrate: 320kbps

Tracklist:

Side A -
Organ Donor
Bath
Maggot
Cracked Up
Slag
Exterminator

Side B -
Vandal-X
HLL
AZA-2000
Cut
Action Man
White Hand

Download: Unsane - Unsane
Download Size: 84.55MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

A Couple of Important Announcements

I have a couple of important announcements to make. First of all I would like to apologize for my recent inactivity here on the blog. I didn't even realize how long it had been since I made a post until a friend of mine pointed it out. I would also like to thank NØ and Sab for shouldering the load and continuously updating the blog since that time. From now till the end of July I will be working on re-uploading albums that no longer have working download links. I will upload these in the order they were reported to me by the visitors of this site. I was also make my best effort to post albums with a higher quality bitrate if they are available.

The reason for my recent inactivity is because I have been wrapped up in the planning phase of a very major project for Digital Meltd0wn, and I have been carefully making preparations to ensure that we are able to pull it off smoothly. I will be making an announcement regarding the project in roughly one weeks' time. We are very excited about this project, as it is something that hasn't been attempted by any other music blog, at least as far as we know. Check back in shortly for more details concerning the project, and in the meantime, if any of you run across any posts that have dead download links, please click on the "Report a Dead Link" option on the main menu and leave a comment.

Rev. Louis Overstreet - An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet

Allow me to apologize in advance for the short review. My time has been divided between working on the upcoming project for this blog, updating the DM blogroll, college, and work, so I haven't had much time to focus on writing a lengthy review for any new albums. I had been looking for this album for some time before "" was kind enough to fill my request last week. Thank you once again , for making it possible for me to listen to this gospel gem, and share it with the visitors here also.

What we have here is a gospel recording released in 1962, which captures a very upbeat set of performances by Rev. Louis Overstreet, his four songs, and the congregation of St. Luke Powerhouse Church of God In Christ. I should point out that this is a vinyl rip of the original recording released by Arhoolie, and not the reissue released by Mississippi Records. What makes this recording unique from other gospel recordings of the era is the electric guitar, played by the good Reverand, that is featured throughout. It helps to give the performances a more down and dirty rock 'n' roll feeling to it all. Those who follow this blog know that I despise most mainstream religions; however, music like this transcends the religion itself in my opinion, and I can't help but be captured by it's energetic soulfullness. I hope you all enjoy this album as much as I did, and if you do, please take the time to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Year of Release: 1962
Label: Arhoolie
Genre: Gospel
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
1. Holiness Dance
2. Working on the Building
3. Yeah Lord, Jesus Is Able
4. I'm On My Way
5. I'm A Soldier In The Army Of The Lord
6. Get Ready, I'm Gonna Move
7. Is There Anybody Here
8. Getting Richer

Download: Rev. Louis Overstreet - An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet
Download Size: 62MB

The Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out

Edit: This was actually one of the very first albums I uploaded for Digital Meltd0wn almost 4 years ago. I'm in the process of uploading several albums which no longer have working download links. If you happen across any albums that you would like to see reuploaded, now would be a good time to report the dead links. You can find the link to "report a dead link" in the main menu. For those who haven't heard it, I hope you all enjoy this little gem from the DM vaults.

The Chocolate Watchband's debut album, No Way Out was also their most heavily Rolling Stones-influenced album, but appreciating the album and what's on it (and what's not) requires some explanation -- especially as an original vinyl copy could set you back $100 or more. Released in September of 1967, No Way Out came at the end of the band's first 15 months of existence, a period that encompassed the recording and release of four singles of generally extraordinary quality, and as good as anything heard from any garage band anywhere during that period. Just two of those single tracks, "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" and "No Way Out," ended up on the original ten-track LP, but even they could (and should) have been the core of an immensely powerful LP. Instead, out of the remaining songs, only two -- the group's nicely cranked-up version of Chuck Berry's "Come On" (obviously influenced by the Rolling Stones' debut single, which was, itself, a good trick, since the latter had never seen a U.S. release in any form) and the psychedelic Bo Diddley-based "Gone and Passes By" -- were recorded by the entire group and released in the form intended. The other six tracks included Watchband recordings, such as "Let's Talk About Girls," "In the Midnight Hour," and "Hot Dusty Road," on which lead singer David Aguilar's vocals had been replaced by those of session singer Don Bennett (co-author of the band's single "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)") and also embellished with extra instrumental overdubs; two instrumentals, "Expo 2000" and "Dark Side of the Mushroom," recorded by a group of studio musicians put together by engineer Richie Podolor; and, finally, the bizarre "Gossamer Wings," a psychedelic digression by Bennett and company that used the band's basic track from the 1966 single B-side "Loose Lip Sync Ship" as its jumping-off point. So what's here is not really representative of the Chocolate Watchband that was seen in the movie Riot on Sunset Strip, or heard on those four killer singles in 1966 and early 1967. All of that said, No Way Out is still an extremely impressive and enduring album that nicely straddles the garage punk and psychedelic genres; the Watchband's "Come On" still gets this reviewer's pulse bouncing to Chuck Berry's beat, and it and the other three finished band cuts are still highly potent, slashing, exciting, clever pieces of music. "Gone and Passes By" and "No Way Out" are sharp works of psychedelic punk music, the former mixing sitar music with a shimmering Bo Diddley beat to superbly seductive effect, while the latter is built on a twisting, jagged blues- and raga-based lead guitar line that recalls the late-1966 vintage Jefferson Airplane's work. And "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" is a stirring, even threatening anthem to youthful defiance. The record is still an essential '60s album in any collection.

Year of Release: 1967
Label: Tower
Genre: Psychedelic, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
1. Let's Talk About Girls
2. In the Midnight Hour
3. Come On
4. Dark Side of the Mushroom
5. Hot Dusty Road
6. Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)
7. Gone and Passes By
8. No Way Out
9. Expo 2000
10. Gossamer Wings
11. In the Midnight Hour
12. Milk Cow Blues
13. Psychedelic Trip

Download: Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out
Download Size: 68.6 MB