SUPER JUNKY MONKEY (Japan)

SCREW UP
-CD
1994 (Tristar)





"A couple more exports like this and the image of Japanese women as the timid flowers of a repressively patriarchal garden will be gone forever...random elements of hip-hop, metal, thrash-funk, punk, dancehall and pure noise and load them all into a blast furnace from which...emanate in discontinuous blasts of loudly aggressive this'n'that...Super Junky Monkey bring the chops and enormous flexibility to their funhouse vision of modern music." - Ira Robbins

"Holy mother of metallic-thrash-funk-meatloaf! Rage Against the Machine meets Steve Vai at a Tokyo rap show. Super Junky Monkey works to great degree on the light-speed thrash of "Decide," the slo-mo stutter rap of "Popobar" and the furious Megadeth-ish "Buckin' the Bolts." The group layers its choruses much like Quiet Riot used to, so a course in Berlitz isn't necessary to join in on the fray. Boredoms fans with a hip-hop itch will also take to Super Junky Monkey. The funk and metal is on point, lethal as ebola, scattered as a tear-gassed riot." - TSI




"Super Junky Monkey were a gutsy innovative band of four young women, active between 1991 and 1999. Singer Mutsumi “623” Takahashi, guitarist Keiko, Shinobu Kawai, and drummer Matsudaaahh!!, released the first Super Junky Monkey album, the all live indie album Cabbage in 1993. The album showed their unique furious yet fun brand of jazz, funk and hip-hop spiced grunge rock, which some compared to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine. The band had serious chops as musicians, often played intricate and sometimes odd musical parts, and had a dynamic front person in Mutsumi. The band and the album gained critical acclaim, which resulted in their second album, 1994’s Screw Up being released by Sony, which did not in any way tame the band’s adventurous character or provocative lyrics, often in English.

In 1993 Super Junky Monkey played CMJ’s Music Marathon in New York and went over quite well. In 1994 the then leading English language magazine in Japan, Tokyo Journal named them “band of the year”. In 1995 the band released the EP AIETOH, and played the Foundation Forum, a “hard music” convention held in LA, where they were perhaps the most talked about band of the event. They also had their first American release in 1995. The band continued with Sony for two more albums Parasitic People and Super Junky Alien, which were progressively weird and wild. The band continued to split their time between the US and Japan, and in 1996 again played in New York.

The band’s future became unsure when Mutsumi became pregnant and took time to have her child, and in 1997 the band was basically inactive. However things started to pick up again in 1998, including playing dates in Japan with American all-woman punk band L7, and the band again began recording demos. On Dec. 24, 1998 the band was to play their last show with the original line-up. To the shock and sadness of many, esp. within the indie music community, Mutsumi’s body was found outside her apartment building on Feb. 5, 1999. It was unclear whether she had jumped or fallen, but in any case this was to be the end of Super Junky Monkey." - Keith Cahoon


"This is an amazing record. It starts with a roomful of crazed tap-dancers screaming in a cappella. Then the band throws musical changes at you till you have no idea what’s coming next. That’s where they keep you, too. Rock and funk are the main styles, but they bounce between them a good deal, and if something else gets wedged in between, it’s OK. The rhythm section is especially impressive. Songs flip through styles and intricate rhythm changes like you’re in an audio kaleidoscope, and the energy doesn’t settle down till the ping-pong ball stops bouncing. This one’s a masterpiece." - Rock of Japan

Mutsumi ‘623’ Takahashi--vocal
Keiko--guitar
Shinobu Kawai--bass
Matsudaaahh!!--drums

Tracklist:
01. Shukuchoku No Choro Wa Chirou De Sourou
(Old Man On The Nightshift With Prostatitis)
02. Zakuro No Hone
(Bone Of Pomegranate)
03. Kioku No Netsuzou
(Fabrication Of Memory)
04. Buckin’ The Bolts
05. Bakabatka
(All Stupid)
06. Tamage--Shiyoumae
(Tamage Before)
07. Ukatousen
08. Popobar
09. Where’re The Good Times
10. Revenge
11. Decide
12. Get Out
13. Tamage--Shiyougo
(Tamage After)
14. We’re The Mother
15. Shower
16. Fuji Funka Sunzen
(Mt. Fuji About To Erupt)


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CHICKASAW MUDD PUPPIES (USA)

WHITE DIRT
- CD
1990 (Wing)





"All right, what is it? Sounds like Mojo Nixon's got a cold or Tom Waits is at his megaphone again. Lots of beating on something - but that don't sound like drums - and whoever's on the harp sure can wail a bit. These Pups got the mean ol' bottleneck Delta blues, all hot and vaporous, and it sort of makes sense that Michael Stipe co- produced this short LP's worth of tunes, as atmospheric and demonic as it all sounds. Adding to the mystery are the rather odd, mostly one word, song titles; check out: "Lon Chaney," "Raven" and "Frogmore." - Jim Caligiuri


"Pretty much nobody knows who the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies are anymore. It's a goddamn shame." - Andrew Tsks


"The Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, a duo from Athens, Ga., play a quirky, neo-primitivist version of Delta blues. but the group is actually about much more than playing music. The singer Brant Slay and the acoustic guitarist Ben Reynolds have taken the idea of Delta blues and blown it into a full-scale, three dimensional enterprise that includes stage props, clothing, specialized instruments, lyric topics and production techniques. The Mudd Puppies do blues as modem-day folk art.

The Mudd Puppies begin by decorating the stage like an old Southern porch or backvard. "Right now we're into clotheslines." Mr Slay said in a recent phone interview from Georgia. "On our last tour, it was quilts hanging from jute twine, and il turned into flannel shirts, overalls and union suits or clotheslines." Mr. Slay sings sitting in a rickety rocking chair, and the duo will bring on different Instruments, like a harmonica and washboard, or found objects to use as percussion. They dress In floppy hats, overalls and clunky work shoes.

On record, the band similarly tries to re-create the atmosphere and spontaneity of a 1930's front-porch jamboree. Mr Slay's voice growls and then jumps in little whoops and hollers.." - Karen Schoemer, N.Y. Times


"It may not be easy to say what genre of music Chickasaw Mudd Puppies play, but one thing's for sure: it's a lot of fun to listen to...

My copy of "White Dirt" was dubbed 13 years ago, and has been stored coverless in a milk crate with a lot of other coverless tapes for at least a decade of that time, which necessitated 10 minutes of digging before I found it. For all that, the damn thing still sounds really good. It's a bit muffled, but the production on the original recording was raw enough that it doesn't make that much difference. The album starts with "McIntosh", a rollicking, upbeat tune backed by skiffle-sounding percussion, heavy on the speedily brushed snare. Ben Reynolds plays an electric guitar, but his riffing is descended from a time when country and rock n' roll were far closer to each other than they are now. Meanwhile, Brant Slay's frantic harmonica solos and absurdist lyrics that pile up non-sequiturs about "a three-leg alligator layin' in a wallow" and "a great blue heron boxing with his shadow" without ever assembling them into any coherent narrative give the overall impression of hearing a radio station that's being beamed in from the bayou swamps of Venus or something. It's completely out of nowhere. It also fucking rocks.

The other songs on "White Dirt" vary in intensity, from similarly upbeat tunes like "Lon Chaney", which tells the story of the famous silent-film actor, but still from the perspective of the insane alien swamp creature who narrates "McIntosh" (sample "Lon Chaney" lyric: "Laugh that ol' laugh or he'll get slapped, the eyes are connected to the brim of your cap") to mournful country wails like the percussion-less "Skinny" and "Prison," which features a violin and at 3:57 is twice as long as almost every other song on the album. The entire thing is over in less than 25 minutes, and by the time it's over you just want to hear the whole thing again." - Andrew Tsks


Ben Reynolds (guitar)
Brant Slay (vocals, harmonica, percussion)


Tracklist:
1.McIntosh
2.Skinny
3.Lon Chaney
4.Lookout
5.Frogmore
6.Prison
7.Raven
8.Ponky Knot
9.Sailor, Beat The Blood Out


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The FIENDS (Canada)

LIVE From Thunderbird Radio Hell
- FM Broadcast
2006 (bootleg)






"It's time... to blow your mind... with a creepy crawly mess of sixties-inspired fuzz'n'farfisa courtesy the Fiends, the perfect soundtrack for midnight garden raids & grave robbing expeditions..." - VOX Magazine


"Live at Thunderbird Radio Hell happens every week on CiTR 101.9 Fm in Vancouver B.C. Canada. For almost 20 years, touring and local bands have been put to tape while gigging in the staff lounge and enduring the various hosts, namely Nardwuar, Evan Symons and the more subdued current hosts (Irene, Kelly and Ben). The list of bands is impressive (especially to those mid 90's Vancouver-philes like myself): Thee Headcoats, Bum, Cub, Daddy's Hands, DB'S, Gaze, Gob, July 4th Toilet, Maow, The Spaceshits, Submission Hold, The Tonics, The Evaporators, The Smugglers and... Destroyer." - David

The FIENDS:

Greg Gory

Frodo

Rieuwert

Zippy

Pete


Tracklist:
01 - Zombies Have Feelings Too
02 - Writing On The Wall
03 - Night Of The Sadist
04 - Quit Pickin' On Me
05 - Meet The Fiends
06 - Gravedigger
07 - 2's A Crowd
08 - Shameless
09 - Jack The Ripper
10 - Bad Woman
11 - Interview Hell
12 - Night Time
13 - We've Got A Show
14 - No More
15 - Help Wanted
16 - 1 Step Closer


Download (192 Kbs, 59 Mb)
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The Fiends are playing Friday April 13th at:
The ANZA Club
3 W. 8th Ave
Vancouver BC

TEENAGE HEAD (Canada)

TEENAGE HEAD
-LP
1979 (Interglobal)





"This line-up of people had ripped T-shirts and their hair was insane and they had safety pins in their ears and in their noses and it was really wild. And they were lined up way down the street for this band Teenage Head. And I looked at that line-up and looked at where I was going and figured there was something really fucking wrong with what I'm doing. That's when I got a band together." - Tom Wilson


"Hamilton, Ontario, Canada actually is the rock'n'roll capital of North America. Here's just one reason why." - Roy Harper


"Named after a Flamin’ Groovies record, Steeltown’s Teenage Head was created in the 70s by then-high school friends Frank Kerr (Frankie Venom) on vocals, guitarist Gord Lewis, Steve Mahon (Marshall) on bass, and drummer Nick Stipanitz. Disgusted by the disco and prog rock that were so popular at the time, they formed a garage band, practicing every Saturday morning. The band’s practices were obstructed by a neighbourhood curmudgeon, who would consistently call the police whenever the boys plugged in. The same cop would come by each week, stay for a few songs, and offer encouragement of the “keep it up!” variety. Teenage Head’s first live show would be held in their high school cafeteria, and their fellow students loved it. They were the soundtrack to many teenaged, drunken Saturday night parties. With two years of practice and school behind them, the band was ready to play out. When they moved to Toronto, the difference between them and other bands in the area was that they could actually play. Their sound was basically punked up rock n’ roll on speed, with nods to new wave and rockabilly, influenced as much by Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent as the New York Dolls and The Stooges." - Christina Whipsnade



"Teenage Head’s 1979 self-titled debut is a wonderfully bratty blast of youthful abandon crammed into 10 of the tightest rock ‘n’ roll tunes that this country has ever known. These four kids came out swinging, hammering away on their instruments until you could hear the blood dripping right there in the music. The songs are linked to the same kind of filthy grooves that gave birth to the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols, and tracks like “Ain’t Got No Sense” and “You’re Tearin’ Me Apart” define the sound of four kids with nothing to go for but broke.

And they do go for it, forgetting about safe and easy in favour of fast and reckless. “Top Down” kicks down the doors with pounding chords and a snarling vocal, while “Lucy Potato” opens up wide for a speedy drum breakdown just before a ragged-ass Chuck Berry solo from guitar slinger Gord Lewis. Singer Frankie Venom might say it best in “Curtain Jumper,” a tune about a rock ‘n’ roller who hides in his basement shunning the daylight, singing “happiness to me is dancing, shagging, and dying.” Now, that’s about as rock ‘n’ roll as you can get." - Eden Munro

Frankie Venom (vocals)
Gord Lewis (guitar)
Steve Marshall (bass)
Nick Stipinitz (drums)

Tracklist:
1. You're Tearin' Me Apart
2. Ain't Got No Sense
3. Bonerack
4. Picture My Face
5. Lucy Potato
6. Little Boxes
7. Curtain Jumper
8. Top Down
9. Get off My Back
10. Kissin' the Carpet


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RED AUNTS (USA)

#1 CHICKEN
- LP/CD
1995 (Epitaph)






"In your face screeches. Crude blasts of feedback. Discordant and vicious energy blasting from a frantically lit stage. These are the things that little girls are made of. Sugar and spice can take a hike." - Jordan Marshall


"Yowsa! This all-female punk band's energy will singe the hair right out of your auditory canals. They're faster than L7, more frightening than Babes In Toyland and more ferocious than a legion of Riot Grrrls. In fact, they'd probably kill you if you called them Riot Grrls. The pounding drums, whipsaw guitars and bad attitude on "#1 Chicken" also pummel most of the Aunts' Epitaph brethren into the ground too. Just when many punk bands are slowing down and making their sound more accessible, the frenetic pace -- 14 songs in 23 minutes -- and malicious glee of Red Aunts are a rejuvenating shot in the arm ... with a rusty nail." - Heather Phares


"An evening spent with the Red Aunts is about as soothing as a soak in a tub of raw sewage. The Southern California band's brand of unfiltered music is toxic, especially when the vocals hit the piercing pitch of a three-year-old throwing a temper tantrum...this foursome takes a sharp claw to every riot grrrl/foxcore cliché it can shred. Starting with the old one-chord-wonder punk credo, the Aunts add a progression or two, smother it with distortion and top it off with din-singing by either bassist E. Z. Wider (Debbi Dip, aka Connie Champagne) or one of the guitarists, Angel and Sapphire (Terri Wahl and Kerry Davis, aka Louise Lee Outlaw and Taffy Davis). Abrasive as their mix is, the Red Aunts generate a vital energy and humor absent from many indie bands." - Marlene Goldman


"Three hundred words on #1 Chicken? Subtitled "14 Songs, 23 Minutes," there ain't even 300 words on Red Aunts' first Epitaph release, but no matter. Named for a hometown Long Beach restaurant, Chicken is a greasy screechfest -- part catty, part country, part Courtney. Think Silverfish on speed, the Supersuckerettes, or a sexy X: "Detroit Valentine" rhymes "head" with "dead" and "gun" with "run"; "Peppermint Patty" (evidently dedicated to Patty Hearst) surfs along blissfully; reeling off pot synonyms seems the sole purpose of "Mota."

It's not until "Willabell," a four-chord, one-minute cyclone in which EZ Wider screams, "Hop in the back seat, baby/ And hold on tight/ I'm gonna floor it sweet thing/ And fly you like a kite," that a glimmer of the Aunts' best attribute -- stand-out performances, say, the one that won S.F.'s heart like a cheap carnival toy last year -- shines through. See, Angel, EZ, Cougar, and Sapphire know that if you're an honest punk band, it doesn't matter how fat your wallet is, whose label graces your record, or whether you sit down or stand up to pee. What does matter is that you toss an extra verse into "Teach Me to Kill" so Angel can peel off her Telecaster and leap into the pit, slam with men twice her weight, and climb back onstage to light the cigarette still perched behind her ear. That shit makes me wet!

In an era when punk is traded like a commodity and female artists like P J Harvey vamp for MTV's Vaseline-smeared cameras, Red Aunts march in, raid your fridge, vaporize your damage deposit, and leave you for dead in a heap on the floor, eardrums hissing and a smile on your face. How'm I doin' wordwise? 298? Not bad." - Colin Berry

The Red Aunts:

Angel (Terri Wahl) : guitar, vocals
Sapphire (Kerry Davis) : guitar, vocals
E.Z. Wider (Debi Martini) : bass
Cougar (Leslie Noelle) : drums

TRACKLIST:
1.Freakathnon
2. Tin Foil Fish Bowl
3. Hate
4. Detroit Valentine
5. Krush
6. Satan
7. Roller Derby Queen
8. Willarell
9. When Sugar Turns to Shit
10. Poker Party
11. Peppermint Patty
12. Mota
13. Number One Chicken
14. Netty


Download (192 Kbs, 31 Mb)
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GUITAR WOLF (Japan)

LIVE!!
-CD
2000 (Ki/oon Records)





"Decked out in black leather, dripping with adrenaline, and straight outta Tokyo, Guitar Wolf come out swinging with what is possibly the noisiest, fuzzed-out, garage punk ever." - Rhapsody


"Seiji, Billy, and Toru have a grasp of very loud, very fast, and very, very dirty rock that verges on the stupendous." - Brian James



"What is that horrible noise? It’s over an hour of GUITAR WOLF live, and they’re out to destroy your eardrums, and that’s just to start with! This is assembled from four different gigs, but half of it’s from their last show at CBGBs. It wasn’t their best show, and it doesn’t matter, ‘cause this band rocks! It’s recorded like you’re on the stage with ‘em. Duck! Seiji’s gonna do another lead! New songs and classics are all battered to within an inch of their lives! This is the way GUITAR WOLF was meant to be documented. You’re not gonna believe it!" - Rock of Japan



"Guitar Wolf...started out as a garage-punk trio nearly 20 years ago, and that's what they still are today. Over the course of nine albums, they've honed the already sharp sounds of punk and early rock into an even more potent din, cherry-picking everything they like from musical history (Link Wray, The Standells, The Ramones, Joan Jett) and discarding the rest.

If it's possible to imagine, Guitar Wolf are even rawer and more immediate than the forebears they're so openly honoring with the same barre-chord progressions and two-note guitar solos. Each of the group's records induces the same vaguely nauseous, clammy-palmed thrill of hearing rock 'n' roll for the first time, that sense you're coming into contact with something sexy and dangerous. The records have been mastered at the highest volume possible, meaning there's really no way to turn them down without just turning them off. Go deaf or lose out, your choice." - Jonathan Marx



Seiji “Guitar Wolf”--guitar & vocal
Toru “Drum Wolf”--drums
Billy “Bass Wolf”--bass & vocal (sadly, died March 30, 2005)


Tracklist:
1.Okami Wakusei (Wolf Planet)
2.Jet Generation
3.All Night Buttobase!! (Roaring All Night!!)
4.Ryusei Noise (Shooting Star Noise)
5.Reizouko Zero (Refrigerator Zero)
6.Jack The Ripper
7.Wild Zero
8.Rock ‘n’ Roll Etiquette
9.Missile Me
10.Kawasaki ZII 750 Rock ‘n’ Roll
11.Summertime Blues
12.Kasei Twist (Mars Twist)
13.Too Much Junkie Business
14.Machine Gun Guitar
15.Ramen Shinya 3-ji (Ramen At 3AM)
16.Kick Out The Jams
17.Rumble


Download (160 Kbs, 75 Mb)
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