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Friday 25 February 2011

Original Aspect Ratio - A Portsmouth Compilation



An exclusive from eat junk towers............. Original Aspect Ratio was released by Elastic Fiction records in 2000 & contains an eclectic mix of bands from the uk d-i-y underground. Specifically based around the city of Portsmouth the scene at the time was healthy and vibrant, mainly thanks to local promoters working at venues such as the horseshoe, docs, the wedgewood rooms and the pyramids.  Everything from twisted folk, hook laden summer pop, ska-punk, avant garage,dark techno to psych-pop freak outs can be found here... & includes exclusive tracks from the likes of Thirst, Isla’s Milk, Mac and the awesome 16 Bronson's. 

Murmurs of Irma and the opening track by Reinhardt remain my favourite but don't discount any of the other 
tracks especially sulphervane and bonemachine.



    Reinhardt – Tattooed Eye / Bonemachine – Holy (Original Aspect edit) / Lizard Lie – Edge Of The End / Clone – Brigantia / Mannequin – The Skyscraper Scratches The Belly Of The World / Mighty Snortin’ Powder Rangers – Pompey Is Pants (And We All Want To Move To L.A. Where The Beer Is Cheaper) / Green Hornets – Turn My Back / Murmurs Of Irma – Elastic Sided Spaceship / Mac – Sleep Baby Sleep / Sulphavane – Decay / Crayon – No Smoking (live) / Isla’s Milk – Just One Thing / TV21 – Neon Hell / Nandad – Fashion Boy / Red Letter Day – Happy New Year / Transfixion – Connection / Inline Sk8ing Barbies – Changing Rooms / Bracket 22 – Matter Of Taste (live) / 16 Bronsons – Finally Aroused / Woodchuck – Taxi Driver / Thirst – Very Civilised

you can find some release info from elastic fiction here 



Wednesday 23 February 2011

McLusky - McLusky Do Dallas

I saw The Future of The Left a while back... they left me stunned, It was a fantastic gig, formed from the remnants of Jarcrew and McLusky you should check them out now as they deserve to be superstars. Here however is McLusky in all there glory.... no less thrilling, equally as entertaining and worthy of praise, a glorious racket

01. Lightsaber Cocksucking Blues
02. No New Wave No Fun
03. Collagen Rock
04. What We've Learned
05. Day Of The Deadringers
06. Dethink To Survive
07. Fuck This Band
08. To Hell With Good Intentions
09. Clique Application Form
10. The World Loves And Is Our Bitch
11. Alan Is A Cowboy Killer
12. Gareth Brown Says
13. Chases
14. Whoyouknow

Saturday 19 February 2011

Northside - Shall We Take a Trip


You can probably find this on other blog's around the web which is a lot easier than the time i tried to buy this in 1990... I lived in Barnsley and after a trawl around the 3 record shops in town ( yes people went to record shops!!) and finding it was sold out i took the bus to Doncaster where no luck was to be had either... so next it was on the train to Sheffield and eventually after a days travelling i managed to get a copy in Warp Records.... suffice to say it didn't leave my stereo for days..... not the best band of the madchester era but one of the best singles....

1. Shall We Take A Trip? (12" Version) [5:27]
2. Moody Places (12" Version) [5:50]

Wednesday 16 February 2011

World of Twist - Blackpearl



Classic World of Twist early demo tape. proper good if you don't mind me saying


01 Blackpool tower suite
02 The storm (12")
03 She's a rainbow (12")
04 Sons of the stage (12' version)
05 Life and death (12" version)
06 Sweets (barret 200 mix)
07 This too shall pass away (chat)
08 She's a rainbow (right foot yellow mix)
09 Lose my way (extended version)
10 Skidding into love (b side)
11 Space rockit (b side)

Sunday 13 February 2011

MANSUN - REVLON REVOLUTION


The year was 1995 and it was all going a bit Brit-Pop, then along came Mansun. Originally named after Charles Manson, changing the spelling saved on legal fees. Mansun were out there on their own, with a fanatical often obsessive following. A genre defying band with an extreme sartorial excellence and ellegence. Their sound ranged from; Prog to Punk and Pop to Rock, sometimes in the space of one song. They released a string of brilliant E.P’s and 3 albums before disbanding in 2003, during that time they worked with both punk pioneer Howard Devoto and dance music pioneers 808 State. Mansun filled the void left by the Manic Street Preachers after Richey’s disappearance and provided an anti-dote to Brit Pop, for that a lot of music fans were grateful. This recording is a bootleg tape featuring Radio sessions and live tracks recorded between 96-97


Friday 11 February 2011

Blaggers ITA - God Save The Cockroach

Full of punk, oi and attitude Blaggers ITA were fantastic and one of my favourites,  This 6 track ep of demo's was "released" in 1990 a full 4 years before they hit the big time with a major label record deal from EMI, 
I saw them live with the manics, chumbawamba, credit to the nation and dub war amongst others



Only 200 copies of this white label one-sided LP were pressed and mostly given away to friends. in a plain white sleeve with tracklisting on an A4 photocopied sheet Issued.
The tracks were demos recorded in early January 1990.


Thursday 10 February 2011

The Ruling Class - Tour De Force



The few years that straddled the late 1980s and early ’90s have long been considered one of British rock music’s most vibrant periods – that moment when the Stone Roses, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and the like defied the notion that ‘indie’ was, by definition, underground and underachieving. Bolstered by unassailable self-confidence and innovative sonic ideas, their albums became generational touchstones, and are now not only inextricably linked to the times in which they were created, they’re regarded as the precursors to the cultural phenomenon that was Britpop.

But that same period has also long been considered one of music’s great anti-climaxes, a dashed opportunity. The Stone Roses disintegrated amidst drugs, warring egos, and too much time and money (as did Happy Mondays); My Bloody Valentine became paralyzed by its pursuit of an indefinable perfection; and countless others lost their original, most potent vision to the tides of fashion. It was, in fact, a moment concluded by such a heartbreaking failure of collective will that its music came to sound like a frozen remnant of a lost age, never to be reexamined or pushed forward.

Until Tomas Kubowicz, that is. The Swedish guitarist and songwriter was living in his native Norrköping when, years after it had first come and gone, he heard this music for the first time. “Sweden is, musically, quite Anglo-inspired; many of my friends listened to this kind of music, and that’s the way I got hooked on it,” he recalls. “The Stone Roses was kind of an introduction – I never had any high thoughts of their debut album when I first listened to it, but when I picked up the album again a couple years later and had a listen, it totally exploded. It’s a masterpiece. I’ve never left them since.”

In 2005, Tomas relocated to Stockholm, where he met bassist Anton Lindberg. Unable to find simpatico bandmates after a year of searching, the pair moved to London in summer of 2006. “We struggled quite hard to find the right people,” says Tomas. “The music we had to offer was [perceived as] being a bit uncool in London, which was more into post-punk, thousands of sub-Libertines and Arctic Monkey bands, and also the nu-rave scene was at its peak. But I never was disheartened by it, and just continued to write songs.”

Eventually, however, they found drummer Alfonso Tammaro, and the newly solidified trio (with Tomas also providing vocals) quickly made an impression upon producer Mark Wallis, who has worked with the Smiths, the La’s, the Go-Betweens, and many others. The fruits of the band’s sessions with Mark make up their official debut, Tour de Force, a limited-edition CD/7-inch released by Shelflife Records.

While its influences are clear, Tour de Force sounds surprisingly contemporary and singular in its vision. At once dreamlike and kinetic, pastoral and urban, it’s a conception of modern psychedelic pop as the Ruling Class’ forebears intended – but never quite got around to realizing. Tomas notes that since the band’s debut was recorded, “many people think our sound is quite original and fresh.”

Yet while Tour de Force marks the Ruling Class’ debut as a recording act, it’s also a final document of the band in that particular manifestation. Eager to focus entirely on his songwriting and guitar playing, Tomas surrendered vocal duties to Jonathan Sutcliffe in December 2007, also bringing on board rhythm guitarist Andrew Needle. In the short time since then, the band has moved forward quickly: Legendary London indie label Fierce Panda is now managing the band
Marvel at Tour de Force – a rebirth, and a new way forward, for a sound whose time has come again.