Hole Dweller - Flies The Coop

Hole Dweller - Flies The Coop (2019)

This is the sorta sound that I was expecting from the previous post's Gnometopia by Eldergleam. Even though this album has been termed "Comfy Synth" it's still pretty much "Dungeon Synth" ie. it isn't dissimilar to Burzum's ambient tracks or early Mortiis. Flies The Coop would have been called black metal or dark ambient back in the day. In the last fifteen years however many of these recordings dating back to the early 90s have been retro-actively categorised as Dungeon Synth. Then in the last five years a few current divergent micro-genres have emerged from that including "Winter Synth", "Dino Synth" and "Comfy Synth". The type of music in these new categories is pretty self explanatory and perhaps a bit stupid.

In the comments of this Hole Dweller video I notice a lot of nerdy references to gaming, tech, hobbits, pipeweed etc. but it's just good synth tunes to me. Like church organs emanating from a Norwegian woods, these pastoral synth jams sometimes become haunting and at other stages quite anthemic. 

Eldergleam - Gnometopia

Eldergleam - Gnometopia (2023)

So I came across this somewhere on the interwebs and thought well thats the best album cover ever. Hoping it was gonna be some kind of cute black metal crossed with something like Tubular Bells or at least some classic old school dungeon synth. That wasn't to be. It's eleven minutes of simple wobbly synth ambience which is lovely enough while it's playing. Apparently this is part of the recent "Comfy Synth" genre which is actually related to "Dungeon Synth" which was a 90s black metal micro-genre. Anyway there is a childlike innocence here to match the cover, perhaps just not matching what the band logo promised. I guess it has a retro science/kids telly vibe which in turn makes it a somewhat distant cousin to "Haunty-logic" music. I mean this is much closer sonically to Paddy Kingsland than say Depressive Silence.

The New Breeds - Girl In Love

New Breeds - Girl In Love (1966)

This group didn't even release a single in the 60s. The New Breeds only had one recording Girl In Love which appeared on a 1966 compilation album that was never commercially released. Hillside Album No. 1 was a promotional sampler for a bunch of Columbus Ohio bands that was used to try and get gigs. Then this tune wasn't rediscovered until it appeared in 1998 on the brilliant Teenage Shutdown Volume 6: I'm Down Today compilation. 

Hearing something like this you might assume half the 80s Flying Nun roster, The Blue Orchids, The Moles or The Beta Band were big fans but Girl In Love wasn't in wide circulation until 1999 long after The Moles Tendrils & Paracetamol or Beta Band's The Three EPs had been released. 

A moody garage classic: The rolling jangles, atmospheric organ and to die for enthusiastic gloomy harmonies all add to the el-cheapo lo-fi bargain basement Beach Boys charm of this record.

One of the best 60s tunes you never heard...unless of course you have.

The Riots - I Can Go On

The Riots - I Can Go On (1966)

Premium moody garage. Swirling horror movie organ with menacing guitar strums and a dark bass tone weave their black magic and yet the doomed melodic vocals are somewhat uplifting. You gotta ride the doom to escape the gloom... I think I just made that up. Timmy's discount aphorisms: I'm giving them away. 

The Outsiders - She's Coming On Stronger

The Outsiders - She's Coming On Stronger (1965/6?)

Then sometimes you just need an insane rave up where everything's in the red. A manic stomping beat with spirited crowd chorus vocals to shake off your cobwebs. A wild energetic burst of sound to obliterate your mind for a moment, well, two minutes and eighteen seconds of moments.  

This is The Outsiders from Tampa Florida not to be confused with The Outsiders from Cleveland or The Outsiders from The Netherlands. This lot recorded two 7" singles on Tampa's Knight Records.

The Innsmen - I Don't Know

The Innsmen - I Don't Know (1966)

Another charming slice of pre-Velvets moody & broody teen beat garage that really sounds like it coulda been an 80s or 90s Velvets-damaged lo-fi indie tune. If you told me Lou or Sterling or Dean had played on this I wouldn't have battered an eye. 

The Innsmen were a bunch of teenagers from Edsel Ford High. They were another Michigan group who did just the one 7" single in 1966 and that was their recording career done but... 

...this kid's lead break lives forever! 

Keggs - Girl

Keggs - Girl (1967)

Then there's the other side of garage rock, quite often literally the flipside. These groups would put a garage rocker on one side and a slow sad tune on the other. One Teenage Shutdown compilation's sub heading summed it up nicely calling it "Moody and Brooding Teen Misery Garage Rock". A lot of this stuff is pre-Velvets proto-indie slow-fi.  

This tune Girl by Keggs is a fine example of what we're talking about. A wide eyed and innocent break up song with an atmospheric tone set by the minimalist low key instrumentation that really is a blueprint for the twee-core of Jonathan Richman. 

For creating such a seminal tune Keggs really get fuck all recognition. Anyway it's a crackin' tune whether it's part of the narrative or not innit.

The Enfields - I'm For Things You Do

The Enfields - I'm For Things You Do (1966)

Then sometimes a song just insidiously inserts itself into your life. This was on a 60s garage mixtape youtube video along with like 35 other tunes. It was a very lo-fi, almost unlistenable version but I got drawn back to it time and time again. Then I had to find a better version and after several fidelity upgrades I think this one on @musicmastersdrumtracks2428 channel is the best. I'm For The Things You Do hasn't got the most monstrous fuzz or the most insane neanderthal snarls or a gimmick to sell you. No it's just sweet, subtle and sneaks into your consciousness. All of a sudden it's one of your favourite tunes from the 60s.

Very bloody noice mate!

Rewind again and again.

The Mondels - You'll Never Come Back to Stay

You'll Never Come Back To Stay - The Mondels (1967)

So if you love some 60s garage rock and freakbeat but haven't been paying attention for a while you might find that there are a bunch of tunes out there that weren't there before. I'm always amazed that the crate diggers keep finding more old stuff. Like I've also just realised there was an essential book on 60s garage published in 2012 called Teenbeat Mayhem which I disappointingly missed. Now it's sold out and going for absurd prices. Anyway the last ten 60s tunes I've posted were originally compiled in the late 70s and early 80s. Then they got further compilation appearances in the subsequent decades.

You'll Never Come Back To Stay by The Mondels made its first compilation appearance in 2000 on Teenage Shutdown: I'm Gonna Stay (Target: Fuzz!). So this one and done 1967 seven inch single from The Mondels was waiting in the wings for thirty three years before being rediscovered. 

So here's a terrific little teen fuzz and scuzz number that's done and dusted in under two minutes. They really nailed the devastating "my girlfriend left me and I'm gonna die if I don't get her back" tone here.

Groundhogs - Cherry Red

We interrupt this virtual 1966 with something from 1971 because, bless his soul, Tony McPhee singer and guitarist of the perpetually underrated Groundhogs has passed away. 

Speaking of The Quest's high pitched vocals in a psych setting (see previous post) here's a similar aesthetic five years later. It's heavy psych avant-blues guitar pyrotechnics with an array of classic vocal tones including that infectiously insane high wailing falsetto. A metallic pop epic that never gets old. Somehow it always remains fresh, exciting and a blast every time. My favourite tune of my year of birth. 

Peak 1971. It doesn't get better than this!