Styrenes 70s Singles

Poli Styrene Jass Band - Draino In Your Veins (1975)

This was really something. What on earth was it? It's like a blueprint for something that nobody ever bothered to follow up on. I mean you can hear hints of Roxy Music and misc. prog but what is the rest? Psychedelic soul? This is the sort of amalgamation of non-overt influences that also informed Television, Pere Ubu etc. I really think Draino In Your Veins is a forgotten little psych-prog anomaly of a pop song that deserves to be heard.

 

Poli Styrene Jass Band - Circus Highlights (1975)

This is the flipside to Draino In Your Veins. It's that classic in-between scenes syndrome innit: Too late for 60s psych into prog, not quite fitting mid 70s art rock and way too early for neo-psychedelia of the 80s and 90s. Melodically reverse-reminiscent of early Mercury Rev. If this incarnation had carried on in the maverick vein of this 7 inch they might have become legendary like their contemporaries Pere Ubu and electric eels instead of just a footnote.

Styrene Money - Radial Arm Saws (1977)

Weird for weird's sake maybe but these guys were compelled to make such a record surely that counts for something. Is it a paean to naff novelty faux-psychedelic cash in singles of the late 60s?

Styrene Money - I Saw You (1979) 

Sounding almost conventional here, even endearing but I guess not many punk groups had piano led singles. It's actually more psychedelic than anything. This is why genre categories are pointless sometimes. Did the genre people ever use psych-punk as a term for this kind of thing? I Saw You is psychedelic and punk. 

 

Styrene Money - Everything Near Me (1979)

Another sort of likeable slice of music that is at the precise intersection of psychedelic and punk. I guess not unlike some stuff The Homosexuals did.

Styrene Money - Jaguar Ride (1979)

The first Styrenes thing I heard back in the day because it was on an 80s Cleveland compilation. This is supposed to be a cover of the electric eels tune but it barely even resembles that song. It strangely actually sounds closer to Pere Ubu. I wonder if they just played this by memory considering there were no actual recordings of the electric eels version available at the time. 

Eddie & the Hot Rods - Teenage Depression

Eddie & The Hot Rods - Teenage Depression (1976)

Good bit of hard-punky pub-rock. Narcotic pop at its finest, this was a top 40 hit in Britain. As the guy in the comments said "I'm 52 and still suffering from the teenage depression" 

Agnes Strange - Give Yourself A Chance

Agnes Strange - Give Yourself A Chance (1975)

This is a pretty cool bit of speedy hard boogie 75 stylee...like a British Coloured Balls. 

Blast - Damned Flame

Blast - Damned Flame (1973)

Belgium's Blast are a fun noisey blast of proto: Proto-punk, proto-thrash, proto-Motorhead and proto whatever else. The vocalist keeps it in a pop song realm making it somewhat less harsh than those future genres turned out to be though. I think they did just this one 7" single. Pretty cool.  

Elvis Presley - Burning Love

Elvis + Cowbell = The Best!

*You'll have to put this through a good system or headphones for full funky affect. The drumming on this tune is so good. 

Toshiki Kadomatsu - If You...

Toshiki Kadomatsu - If You... (1984)

A spritely piece of funky boogie from Japan. An 80s bass and saxamophone extravaganza. An 80s dancefloor anthem from a parallel world. If you want an entire other 80s of this type it's ready and waiting for you in these Japanese recordings.  

The Jacksons featuring Michael Jackson - Show You The Way To Go

"They" can smear MJ all they want but a massive part of the population know he is still the king of pop and all the unkind words in the world will not change their love for him. 

After The Jackson 5 left Motown they changed their name to The Jacksons and signed to Philadelphia International. This Gamble & Huff tune is one of the most lushly lovely tunes Michael Jackson ever did. A total nitrous oxide marshmallow: Luxuriant mellifluousness. 

Peak R&B!

Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - The Love I Lost

Great Teddy Pendergrass vocal backed by MFSB on this 1973 Gamble & Huff tune. The secret architect here is legendary veteran arranger Bobby Martin with superior strings.

The Exciters - Movin' Too Slow

The Exciters - Movin' Too Slow (1969)

We all know their ubiquitous hit Tell Him from 1962 but here's a later one from the same era as their single Blowin Up My Mind that's very fucking cool. This deep cut from the Caviar & Chitlins LP moves along at quite a pace and it's a hell of a satisfying ride. Pop perfection innit. I mean...just press play. Sometimes talking about music is dumb.

Sons Of Robin Stone - Got To Get You Back

Sons Of Robin Stone - Got To Get You Back (1974)

The Philly soul sound goodness is so good on this Bobby Eli production. Melodies in the 70s were just way more expansive and forthright weren't they? Conga, string and horn extravaganza! 

The Dynamics - Yes, I Love You Baby

The Dynamics - Yes, I Love You Baby (1966)

This is such an inspired weird little jam. I'm pretty lost for words on this one...it just seems so instinctual, like it just came out like this and there was nothing they could do about it. It's fun raw off kilter minimal funky soul with a hint of rock'n'roll or just old school unreconstructed rhythm & blues. Whatever it is, it's pretty bloody infectious. Some absolute magic is captured right here on this platter. 

Rewind.

Gwen Owens - Just Say You're Wanted (And Needed)

Gwen Owens - Just What You Wanted (And Needed) - (1966)

This on the surface sounds like just another Detroit mid 60s soul-pop number but it's also pretty insane. What is going on with the band? Sometimes it sounds like there are two bands playing and they're coming in and out of phaze. The drums are so unhinged they sound like they've dropped in from outer space or the studio next door or another song entirely. The bass also seems to be quite unruly, it wants to run off and do its own thing. It's all so deliciously spirited, I can't stop playing it. On top of all the crazy is Gwen's incredible voice. Like one of the great soul voices ever. Her timbre coupled with her restraint put her in an outstanding class. She could have been a huge star. 

The Spinners - I'll Be Around

The Spinners - I'll Be Around (1972)

ALL of the Philly soul goodness. I mean this is just perfection innit. THE INTRO: Best ever! The ecstatic keys. Congas, congas, congas! Sweet soul vocal sounds of Bobby Smith. The toe tappin' tempo. That bassline. The ladies doing back-up. The guitar. The brief but brilliant string and horn sequence. The little organ swirls too. Everything. Written and produced by Thom Bell, thank you very much.

The fact that Bell uses all those elements and I'll Be Around sounds uncluttered and deceptively lean is genius. 

Rewind!

2010: The last official year of hypnagogia

Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti - Menopause Man (2010)
I'm deleting instagram. It has become way too toxic particularly in the dysphoric state I'm in. It has to go. Anyway at one stage during the lockdowns I started doing music blog type things on there that never transferred to this here blog, so I thought I'd selvage some things before I obliterate the fucking thing.  

"2010: The last official year of hypnagogia. What a finale. The last great year in music? You can argue amongst yourselves whether these albums belong here or not.

Hypnagogia was a fairly amorphous term. It encompassed radio pop, tv noise, psych, industrial gunk, cosmic synth, obsolete genres like goth, new age, glam, dubby post-punk, electro-pop, ethnological forgeries & quirky one hit wonder new wave, Lo-fi tape hiss, ambient, woozy disco, 80s Soundtracks, pop culture detritus & a whole lot more sonic debris so long as it was all shrouded in a trippy sonic hypnagogic fog.

These aren’t ranked except for the first one as it was a game changer. Almighty leader Ariel Pink burnt off the hypnagogic fog & went spectacularly hi-fi to reveal massive glorious pop anthems worthy of FM radio’s airwaves.

1. Ariel Pink - Before Today
2. Rangers - Suburban Tours
3. Sun Araw - On Patrol
4. James Ferraro -Nightdolls With Hairspray
5. Outer Limits Recordings - Foxy Baby
6. Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal
7. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I’m Here
8. Dylan Ettinger - New Age Outlaws
9. LA Vampires & Zola Jesus - Meet
10. Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Seeping Through The Veil Of The Unconscious"

[timspacedebris Instagram - 13/7/20]

*I know, is this worth saving? Hardly...but hey instagram was all about the pictures of the album covers and I guess that's still an exceptional lil' list of good recordings though.

**Listening back to Before Today it really wasn't spectacularly Hi-Fi like I claimed, more like just a notch above his usual lo-fi. But it's th0se 4AD sessions videos that sounded most epic sound-wise. I think there was another four tunes in the set but they seem to have been scrubbed from the net...surprise surprise. 

 

Outer Limits Recordings - Smoke Opera (2010)

This is classic hypnogogia. Hypnotic lo-fi woozy glam synth fuzz smeared with trademark haze & fog. Sadly Outer Limits Recordings aka Sam Meringue died a few years back when he was only 31 years old.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal (2010)

I forgot how much I loved this at the time. This is more on the neo cosmic drone tip rather than the pop hypnogogic of the the likes of Ferraro's Night Dolls With Hairspray. It was like there was a glimmer of hope for music and society back then. Sure Returnal was in the tradition of great 60s, 70s & 90s innovative music but you felt that at some point they might go beyond the exquisite retro-pastiche motifs of Returnal and Rifts. However OPN kinda annoyed me with their following records so I dunno if they ever got there. Perhaps don't start with the uncharacteristic noise track that opens the album, skip to track 4 which is the title track but hey it's all good.

*I might come back to the other records in the top ten tomorrow...

Karen Marks - Cold Café

Hearing this on Ash Wednesday's compilation from 2012 I thought hey that sounds familiar. It turns out it was. Apparently she mimed Cold Cafe on Countdown in 1981 but the video footage remains elusive, which is a shame. Probably heard it on Melbourne community radio over the years too. Anyway this is still really insidious pop perfection all these years later.  

*All these history revisionists with their coldwaves and minimal waves and oz waves and minimal synths and blah blah, it's like they come in and take over this music and possess it and wear it like an identity and pretty soon music from your childhood and entire life doesn't feel like it belongs to you anymore. They are the arbiters of the waves and they're going to tell you about it and yet they often have it so wrong. The only wave this was in 1981 was new wave. As a ten year old it wasn't even that. It was just pop music. This has made me realise how history is very quickly removed from the objective reality of its actual time and rearranged inaccurately. How many inaccurate increments does it take until you're reading fiction? 

Tone Set - He's Got A Little Dog

Tone Set - He's Got A Little Dog (1982)

Dystopian electro from Arizona in the early 80s. The synth tone they set here is very good. Perfectly recorded analogue synthetic goodness containing a good fun rhythmic sensibility.

 

Tone Set - Cal's Ranch (1982)

The tape the above tune came from. Cal's Ranch mainly consists of synths, drum machines and reel to reel tapes of radio and telly dialogue. Who made better home recordings in 1982?

*The Mutant Sounds Blog really changed our lives (well mine at least). A lot of stuff we'd only mythologically heard of finally got to be heard. And stuff we'd also never heard of. It all happened in a very short space of time and our computers and minds were at full capacity. In their peak year 2007 they uploaded two thousand files of seminal and hard to find records. I mean they were the reason I ever bought a hard drive. There are blogs out there now pretending they have awesome collections of tapes and records but we all know they're just re-uploading Mutant Sounds files. And even vinyl on demand based the catalogue of their entire absurd rip off of a reissue record label on Mutant Sounds posts.   

Ed Kuepper - Honey Steals Gold/Friday's Blue Cheer Libertines Of Oxley

Speaking of the early and mid 90s what I love about Kuepper here is that he really is untethered to any international or local trend. He riffs on a Bo Diddley riff and salutes Blue Cheer here but it is in no way retro vomit. He's creating innovative music and this is a peak in an astounding purple patch of creativity.

  

I'm pretty sure this is some kind of new music that somehow became beloved by Australian radio and public alike in 1991. I mean what actually is going on here? How is this mammoth atmosphere achieved. What is propelling this drone? I always assumed there was some kind of cello or string instrument making that all encompassing reverberation. Ex-Laughing Clowns and Necks keyboardist Chris Abrahams is in the band for this record and I'd say he's probably responsible for the surreal air on this tune. He's credited as contributing piano and organ. But I'm still none the wiser as to what the origins of that mysterious chugging ambient sound are or am I just bad at identifying instruments. 

Early 90s Australiana innit.

Kim Salmon - You Know Me Better Than That

Kim Salmon with STM - You Know Me Better Than That (1994)

Totally forgot about this tune and the Hey Believer LP it came from. Speaking of mid 90s rock performers in Australia I mean Kim Salmon (ex-Scientists) was killing it, well he was in Melbourne anyway. Kim Salmon & The Surrealists shows were reaching levels of delirium circa 93/94/95. I recall a couple of great packed ones at The Club and one at the Punters where his pants were so low we thought they were gonna fall off. It was magic how they stayed up.

The band he had for this particular song and half of the album though was STM which contained legends Warren Ellis, Jim White and that dude from King Idiot on bass who if I recall correctly later died of an overdose. They used to play at the Great Britain a lot then later I recall attending a week-night residency many times in probably 93 at the Punters. I'm not sure the band was advertised as STM. Actually I always thought they were called The Body Electric like they were when they backed Charlie Marshall. It might have just been promoted as Kim Salmon solo actually. A lot of the live stuff didn't make it to this cd or anywhere actually. You forget that bands and artists have entire periods and phases that go undocumented.

Anyway this shit right here is peak performance from Kim. The entire group though is absolutely cooking. I'm saying this could be the finest track Warren ever collaborated on. I mean it's scintillating with its sort of Shaft-esque infectious energy. I dunno what Warren's doing here - some sort of picking at the violin. And Jim is effervescent on the skins once again. Whatever's going on with this fusion of lounge, symphonic soul, disco and swamp rock somehow they make it fresh and not particularly resembling any of those influences. The tense fluxion here makes this irresistibly pop and irresistible pop. 

You probably had to be there.

The Go-Betweens - Finding you

The Go-Betweens - Finding You (2005)

What a great tune. I ignored this era of The Go-Betweens. God knows why (well because I think band reformations are lame and they usually are). They were on a hell of a comeback roll. They used to play at a joint that was literally just around the corner from my place in the 00s. I regret not seeing them. My friends went. What was I thinking? This tune is right up there with the Grant greats Cattle And Cane, Dusty In Here, Bachelor Kisses, Streets Of Your Town, Bye Bye Pride, Providence etc. My lord Finding You is so good. There's something about this key that cuts straight to the heart. It's so emotionally devastating it's almost unbearable.

Ed Kuepper - Finding You (2007)

Who better to do a cover than our main man Ed in all his bittersweet and sour glory.

Ed Kuepper - Sea Air (1986)

Haven't heard this one since the 90s. Nobody finds despondency in happiness like Ed or is it the other way round? Or is it just life...ya know ying and yang and ups and downs and highs and lows and such. 

Ed Kuepper - Electrical Storm (1985)

The early and mid 90s in Australia really belonged to Kuepper didn't they. On the radio, on cd and in live music venues across the nation. I still think that concert he did on the St Kilda foreshore in maybe 95 is one of the best shows I ever saw. The storm clouds rolled in off the beach as he struck the opening chords of Electrical Storm and the rain threatened to shut down the entire show because danger. You can't buy moments like that. 

Blind Test: 1990-1993 UK Hardcore

Some legends doing the guessing here. I gotta say though how good does this dude Joe Nebula aka J Shotter from Nebula II look. Also just his general air is such a good vibe, something to aspire to. 

This guessing game is good fun. If you've not come across Blind Test before there's a bunch of old episodes worth watching on jungle, drum n bass, UKG, gabber, ebm and electro. 

Listening to this through a computer makes these tunes sound pretty crap. You have to listen to the hardcore breakbeats on a good system or through good headphones at maximum volume otherwise you just ain't gonna get it.

Nebula II - Seance (1991)

tune

Nebula II - Atheama (1991)

Even in this profound dysphoric mood I can still see that this tune is so fucking great. Perhaps this is the ultimate test as to whether music is frivolous or not. Maybe it's the fact that euphoria is a baked in element to a rave track such as this. Hardcore might just save your life. Sounds as fresh as Joe looks.

*Probably not the best idea to get to the end of your tether just to test out whether a hardcore tune is still relevant though. Don't try this at home.

 

Nebula II - Flatliners (1992)

Classic. 

The House Crew - Keep The Fires Burning (1991)

Spoiler alert this is the first track in the test. Wasn't Acen in The House Crew at the time? I wish they had let him elaborate or comment further about this track...anyway...The House Crew were the in-house group for the Production House label. 

DJ Biz - Losing Track Of Time (1992)

Spoiler alert part two...This is the one that nobody knew. I reckon maybe I've heard it in a dj mix before but never previously ID-ed it. Losing Track Of Time is the sort of rare lo-fi tune that would have turned up at Blog To The Old School fifteen years ago. Gotta love that it's on a label that had just five releases. Although I suspect No Limit records may have had another five releases that aren't listed on Discogs yet as the catalogue numbers jump from NL-1 to NL-7. Then again anomalies like this aren't uncommon.

DJ Biz - Losing Track Of Time (LTJ Bukem Remix) (1992)

Bukem did a remix.

Jonzun Crew - Space is the Place

Jonzun Crew - Space Is The Place (1983)

The best phonkay electro jam. The futuristic atmosphere on this still electrifies today. 

Jonzun Crew weren't just a a sequenced synthetic studio concept though, they liked to intermingle their technology with live playing making them perhaps a precursor to the original intentions of post-rock or maybe more accurately cyborg-rock. This term which never really took off was meant to categorise bands who mixed hands on real time playing with computerised and programmed technology, a man-machine music. Something about Jonzun Crew's electro funk is definitely different to most electro 12"s of the time giving them more of a timeless, swinging and expansive sound linking them to contemporaneous live funk groups like Gap Band, Zapp and Midnight Star.

*You gotta think INXS were fans as those instrumental sections in that break from 3:20 onwards bear an uncanny resemblance to a couple of tunes off their 1984 LP The Swing namely Melting In The Sun and Burn For You.     

**Space is the place now more than ever (in our fantasies) as the abolition of liberty continues in the de-civilisation of the west era here on earth. If an autistic child being arrested in her own home for wrongthink doesn't alarm you to the horrors of our dystopia what more can I say. 

Twilight 22 - Siberian Nights

Peak electro. 

Anti-nuke lyrics, industrial-style metal bashing, middle eastern synth breaks, a vocoder chorus and a prime electro beat. 1984 giving you more.  

*Breakdancing, roller skating and the possibility of nuclear annihilation. Now one of these things is back in fashion when really what the world needs more of is roller skating and breakdancing.