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ANOTHER ODDS ZEN ENDS

Yeah, I know that I promised to do away with these post headings last week, but this particular sprinkle of an idea seemed to fit the content snattily enough to let one run for at least another week. If you must, call it an oleo of various items that have crossed my path o'er the past week, things that probably would fizzle out on their own yet somehow have a cohesiveness when all scrunched together like undigested fiber in my rectum. Some video here, reviews there and who knows what else by the time the bastid actually sees publication. I know you'll find something here to loathe as well!

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Simply Saucer-EXIT 190/209

Got this e-mail from Bruce Mowat telling...no, DEMANDING me to review the following youtube featurette:



Maybe you can review it yourself and I am interested in your opinion, but rather than shirk from my doodies I'll still letcha know what I think of this 'un. And what really can I say other'n the music is fantabulous u-ground avant punk of the best post-krautrock variety, reminding me of all of those things I loved about the late-seventies lurch into avant garde inclinations back when those punksters' German roots began showing (heck, they even look like the Can-sters did circa 1990!). Caveat, the visuals do tend to detract from the music at hand (as anyone who hadda suffer through MTV in the eighties could tell ya) but I find them pretty creepy (in a nice way) in themselves, particularly when the action is sped up so that Edgar and co. look like they've contracted St. Vitus. (As Kenneth Anger said, having music accompany visuals is fine and dandy, but not the other way around.) Still it's strange watching the weird computerized manipulations making these guys do spazz antics one minute then dabble at their electronic gadgetry the next all coming off like one of those strange middle-of-the-night dreams where you suddenly wake up and have to rush to the bathroom. An official release of the music (perhaps accompanied by similar soundscapades) would be quite welcome, dontcha think? And I think they will appear a lot sooner than any of us would expect too!

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The Senders-"The Living End"/"No More Foolin'" 7-inch single (artist's label)

"Can't O.D. on R&B." That was the Senders' motto, though from what I've heard these guys were o.d.ing on a lotta other stuff that was floating around En Why See in the late-seventies! But all kidding aside, the Senders were one of the many "should have's" who didn't quite make it as big as the "sure have's" which is a shame because this bluesabilly bunch (along with the Zantees and Fleshtones) were doing something than most of the groups who were also doing something different in a modern, seventies jaded fashion. Now I gotta admit that I have nothing against these more moderne practitioners nobow, but sheesh who but the most myopic lover of modern decadence and phony compassion would admit that in many ways perhaps 1959 was an all 'round better place to be than 1978!

You may have seen these guys mentioned all over the pages of THE NEW YORK ROCKER and other meaningful fishwraps of the day, and their first 12-incher for the Max's Kansas City label did get a writeup in a recent issue of my very own disposable asswipe t'boot. There was even a live at CBGB's album done by a reformed version of the group that the ugh-like Midnight label released in the late-eighties but let's not talk about phony Frenchies and instead concentrate on this beaut. Presumably (unless there's another slab wallowing around out there) this is their first circa '79 that sorta slipped by the collective memories of many a late-seventies single collector probably because it got lost in the (new) wave of too many self-produced records that I sure wish I coulda gotten my hands on, only it wasn't like Systematic Records could make all of this available to us!

Kinda Feelgood-esque with the better moments of all-white r&b tossed in, with a good portion of the best of the fifties which gave thrust into the maelstron of the late-seventies underground mind. Imagine what the Heartbreakers woulda sounded like in 1959 and you might get an idea, but as usual why should any of you rely on half-baked hyperbole!

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Rude Buddha-RECORDED LIVE "OFF THE BOARD" cassette (CBGB)

Brad Kohler really laid into me back when I reviewed an old Rude Buddha album a few years back especially when I trounced upon this group back when they were actually alive and kicking. He says that I gave these guys (and gal) a "good writeup" while I only found it to be "tepid" and for the life of me I can't even recall reviewing this group's material back when it came out so long ago which must only go to show you what kinda sieve-like memory I have! Maybe one of you snide and loathing readers can refresh my memory but really, I don't remember lending ear to this group until maybe the past year or so!

Maybe Kohler is right about me becoming an old softie fanabla. Frankly I don't find any of this CBGB "Off The Board" live recording to be gnu wave-y offensive at all. In fact this Charlottesville Virginia group does their eighties angular wave rock pretty artistic-like, without the cheap pratfalls into coy cliches that befell many a similar-minded band. They weren't "amerindie" either nor was there the patented lameness in their sound that typified a lotta the underground rock that seemed bred of the late-seventies art brigades. If I hadda compare Rude Buddha to anyone it would be the New York group Kilpig, one of the few groups of the mid-eighties who seemed to have a direct line from late-seventies innovation filtered through a good six years of nice try in the face of indifference.

I remember when ads for these "Off The Board" tapes were flooding the underground press back '86 way, and from a good quarter-century vantage point I only wish I bought up a whole lot more of 'em back when the gettin' was good! Hilly Kristal always had an off-kilter yet etapoint sense of which groups were worth giving the ol' promotional push even with their limited commercial potential, and his choices in promoting the talent he thought needed the additional "rah rah" were for the most part pretty intelligent even if you "serious" alternative rock-type music aficionado's'd never given 'em the time o' day. I mean, even those groups made up of ex-Shirts members like Jing and Chemical Wedding had potential (even if Jing's eventual album was an outright new-wave-meets-Billy-Joel woofer), and I only wish that I had splurged for the entire run of 'em 'stead of popped out only for the Damage and Ed Gein's Car ones like I did. Keep an eye out on this blog for reviews of other tapes in this series, some which I might even dish out upwards of $5.00 for via ebay!

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HOLD ME WHILE I'M NAKED

Since it was "taken down" awhile back I thought I'd re-post this recent upload for ya! A filmic masterpiece that I know won't be appreciated by some, but I'll take this gulcheral excursion over CITIZEN KANE and John Waters anyday!

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Sorry there's not much to rant about here. Maybe next time, but I seriously doubt it.