Vancouver Independence (1980)

Pretty forkin' cool sampling of the early Vancouver scene. Even though my favorite Vancouver bands of the time AKA, and UJ3RK5 aren't on it. Si Monkey with UJ3RK5 Frank Ramirez on vocals are my pick of the compilation with a couple of weird minimal synth tracks. M.E.C. play great art-punk here, with some of the Hawkwind influence intact. Droogs are like The Sleepers meets The Doors and their "Nuremburg '34" is great! Metros "In With the Crowd" is very solid powerpop. No Exit is low-fi raw punk the KBD crowd loves. The B-sides have a good ska thing going on, I love early ska. The Subhumans are doing their melodic tuff-guy punk, but had they not been twenty years before their time, they'd have made a million maybe. Also we have Singing Cowboys who don't sing in their new wave rodeo. Yeah I included the insert.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/oz7da015ppcl314/Vancouver.rar

No Aid - Charlie Wutz / TV 06131/701 (1980)

Rejoice freaks, here's a truly Dada inspired minimal / no wave trip of the Neue Deutsche Welle perspective. Complete with the headache guitar tone, thumpy bass, hiccup vocalizing, and some surprisingly friendly synth sounds.      

http://www.mediafire.com/download/1lua4fmkx4uglzq/No+Aid.rar

Conversion - Interference / Collector (1980)

First class herky-jerky art-wave postpunk from New Jersey. Fans of avant-prog / RIO might appreciate this as well. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Clive Smith also had a major role in writing the music for the desperately weird new wave film Liquid Sky!

 http://www.mediafire.com/download/2v7c297qj6t72ux/Conversion.rar

The Moderates - Fetishes (1980)

Super fun English postpunk jangly pop. Sounds like The Monochrome Set colliding with The Petticoats in an all night shake down. The Moderates also had a track on the great Street to Street - A Liverpool Album compilation, did a John Peel session, and put out a couple singles after this EP. 

http://www.mediafire.com/download/io3ezv7nvj1c10j/Mod.rar

Glass - New Colours / Sweet Entropy (1980)

Very fine artwave / postpunk 7" from England. In fact this was the first release from Glass Records, that putout a large slew of indispensable sounds in the 80's. Recorded in '78 and '79 though not released until '80. There's some info here. Discogs has a blurry scan of the insert, my record didn't come with here. That tells the tale of this record and the band written by drummer and Glass Records head honcho Dave Barker. The singer songwriter of the band Ciaran Harte later recorded a classic minimal synth 7". The band also released a hard to find cassette with a bunch of songs. Also super double bonus info: John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees fame, helped produce the b-side. Which is easy enough to figure out looking at the back cover, heh.
  http://www.mediafire.com/download/u3jhrb94d4518v6/Glass.rar

Plastic Idols - Adventure / Remix (1980)

Plastic Idols from England, not to be confused with the Texas band. This was the second release from the Stoke-on-Trent label Clay, that became well known for hardcore bands Discharge and GBH. But this here is a great postpunk 7" with the synth mixed to the foreground.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/8ocnoo08b6zrpt6/PlasticIdols.rar

Seven 7 inch records

A super smorgasbord post with a little something for everybody. Brought together only because I own the vinyl (except two donations from friends), but don't have any of the picture sleeves.

 B.O.P. - Ouch / Bob Rachet / Mother's Agony (1982)
Synth driven new wave with some Devo quirkiness. The songs on the b-side are pretty cool!

 Blackmail - A Game For All The Family (1978)
A four song DIY EP that's real prog-rock influenced. More infos here. 

 

 Brand New World - Six Feet Under / Monster Love (1983)
Sorta novelty style new wave, think Dr. Demento or polished Marina Swingers.

 The Eighties - No Cruising in an Era of Limits / Letter to Loretta (1980)
Top notch paisley underground power pop jangle produced by Geza X. 

Klingons - Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde / The First Question (1980)
Fantastic energetic UK postpunk. Covering an underrated Who song, and a great original tune. Check out Discogs for the pics.

 L.O.K. - Fun House / Starlet Love / Tell Me (1979)
Real killer Stooges/New York Dolls inspired garage-punk. The guitar player/producer also played with Wayne County. My record seems to be some kind of early release promo. More scans on Discogs.

  Psyche - Never Laugh / The Prisoner (1982)
Synth heavy UK gothic postpunk. Discogs has more scans with the lyrics.


Hear it all here.

Sad Among Strangers - Sparks Fly Upwards / A Better View of Baxtor / The Gongs (1980) Here Comes the Caesars / I Know Nothing of the Jungle (1980) It's So Good It's Incest / My Kind of Loser (1981)

Led by Lyndon Morgans, this UK band cranked out some great catchy tunes. Blending new wave/post punk and glam rock together, with vocals that remind me early Peter Gabriel. "Here Come the Caesars" for example is a killer track!
http://www.mediafire.com/download/12nt3jg76ljndkm/SAS.rar

The Divorce - Friends and Celebrities / Family (1980)

New wave art pop from the Netherlands. Sounds like something from Object Music by way of The Legendary Pink Dots. Two great post punk oddities with synth buzz around the extremities. The two main players Mark Glynne and Bart Zwier also put out an LP, called Home Comfort. Which you can listen to courtesy of the most exalted Mutant Sounds.  

http://www.mediafire.com/?1w681blknfjp2jy

Zeitgeist - Shake-Rake (1980) Touch (1980) Ball of Confusion (1981) Stop (1982)

Originally from Cornwall then London. Post-punk with two vocalists alternating male/female. Read the whole history here. Similar to A Certain Ratio, etc. In the sense that they started out with moody post punk explorations and got more and more dance friendly as the years went by, culminating in their last 7" not included here. They cover Ball of Confusion which is nice and all, but I find their own tunes a lot more engaging. I inclued the Shake-Rake 7" which I had previously posted here. Since someone had it taken down, claiming it's a Japanese anime!

 http://www.mediafire.com/?rfx68jq6do997zx

1-2-3 - Cocks and Lions (1980) Allo (1981)

Innovative dynamite art-punk warbles from England. The song Allo is especially kick-ass. Bringing to mind Cravats type brilliance.
 http://www.mediafire.com/?2g4w4a5luvwgk38

Extro 2 - Cruciform Man / Fast Car (1980)

Don't know much about Extro 2 except they were from somewhere on the British Isles, and this is a porky prime cut record. The dichotomous nature of this single makes it all the more interesting. Fast Car is a nervous manic and yes fast ditty about a ghost car or somethin'. Whilst Cruciform Man is spacey slow and creepy. With somethin' of a minimalist prog feel. If such a thing can exist, it should exist more often.
http://www.mediafire.com/?fexzgelvf2gl2yn

Toto Lotto - White Walls / Cut a Slice / Toto Lotto (1980)

Compelling art punk from Frankfurt, Germany. White Walls menaces then drops deposits of no wave sax skronk, while Cut a Slice is a bit of sarcastic quirk, and Toto Lotto unleashes the furious frenzy. Mutant Sounds has a mostly live Toto Lotto tape here. Brotbeutel has more info and dead links here.
 http://www.mediafire.com/?2mdllflpw8kwuku

Big Hair - Puppet on a String / Lies (1980)

Post punk artizans from England. Go about deconstructing a tepid 60's love song into some herky jerky art-spazz fun. The flip side is similar. Sounding very much like Fresh labelmates Family Fodder. Posted a few years ago on the seemingly now defunct Swinging Singles Club blog. I ripped this from my own copy for those who may have missed it.
http://www.mediafire.com/?445eppzhzht967h

Clive Oxford - For Your Future Entertainment / Fading Star (1980)

Spacey DIY minimal synth from the UK. The a side is an instrumental version of the b side. Where the singer in monotone recites a litany of what are ostensibly fading stars. Musically the spaced out tranquilizers will have you meditating sowiesoso on another green world.
http://www.mediafire.com/?59dj7l82u5rb4h8

Out On Blue Six (1981) The Pinkies (1981) The Room (1980)

Three singles from bands that are on the two Armageddon Records compilations. Featuring bands who played regularly at London's Moonlight Club between August 1979 and October 1981. Check out the comps here and here.
All good to stupendously great post punk songs.
 http://www.mediafire.com/?om6tr8mr58k3i56