Not the "trailers for sale or rent" Roger Miller.
This is Mission of Burma, Destroy All Monsters, The Din, Spronton Layer Roger Miller.
Oh? you say.
Oh! I sez.
Taking its name from an album by Roland Kirk, Rip Rig & Panic kicked it off in 1981. They evolved from Bristol's The Pop Group. In fact Rip Rig & Panic was The Pop Group minus Mark Stewart, for all that encompasses.
Rip Rig + Panic was a high-spirited jazz-funk fusion band with art-punk sensibility.who leapt around stylistically from track to track. Tranquil piano solos provide contrast to screeching sax, Arabic & Far Eastern elements against the hard-edged vocals of a very young Neneh Cherry or Ari Up (Slits) on God.
Attitude, the band's most accessible album, comes closest to standard song form, while maintaining a zany eclecticism, keeping the show rolling with deft musicianship & oddball humor.
Raymilland formed in the summer of 1978 in St. Louis. The band consisted of: David Sundberg - guitar; Rick Buscher - synthesizer & vocals; Greg Black - bass; & Bob Trammel - drums. Although starting out playing covers by the Buzzcocks, Damned, & Ultravox, their original influences & ideas leaned more toward the no-wave bands of NYC or the more experimental bands from the UK.
A self-produced demo cassette recorded & distibuted to attract label interest or procure live gigs was so influential that Wax Trax Records sold bootleg copies in their Chicago retail store. Although the band was constantly recording; there was only one 7" forthcoming.
This is the original 7" of this legendary St. Louis band named after that man with the X-ray eyes...Mildly darkish, postish, punkish, synthish, rockish post-wave.
Roots of Madness was a psyche folk free improv band formed in San Jose, CA in 1969 by Geoff Alexander & Don Campau including Joe Morrow, Jim Kulczynski, & David "Dave Dolphin" Leskovsky.
Geoff (known as "The Gumball Greek" after his patent family heritage & orthodontry problems) had just begun to experiment with the band's sound in 1969. It consisted of Electric Trumpet, Short-wave Radio (tuned to WWV - Denver), & Proctological Tubing. The melody base was an obvious borrowing from the blues-guitar style of the late P.P. McFeelie. In fact RoM proudly claims brotherhood with this obscure Ebo City musician who died tragically of Phlebitis shortly after recording "You Are My Sunshine" included here for your comparison.
"It was Don who was our great inspiration," sez Joe through his speaking tube (an early unfortunate bout with Kyphosis made it impossible for Joe to use his larynx. Doctors fashioned an experimental plastic reed which is inserted directly into his duodenum. Thus the piercing sound in some of the compositions as Joe 'plays' with his voice as if it were a flute). "Don was an inspiration because of his willingness to play piano with only one arm."
Joe is referring to Don's tragic experience at age 5 when he lost one arm in a player piano ratchet. Ironically, it is the player piano that Don favors the most, hitting it (pounding it, really) with his one remaining arm.
Several critics have come to point out that Roots of Madness is probably part of the South Bay Delta Blues Confluence, rather than the Ben Lomond Blues School as represented by Blind Joe McBlind. I wouldn't know. But I do want you to open up your ears to some of the swingin'-est, smarmiest, satinyist music since Holst hung up his act.
This has been brewing since October last.
On an Abu AMA share, I mentioned a vague connection between Abu & Spiral Tribe. It was more a connection to Mutoid Waste Co., which is a German sub-set of Spiral Tribe. Frenz of NSS Richard sez:
"Thank you. Talking about 'vague links to Spiral Tribe' I would love a deep dive into network23 and a lot of things Spiral Tribe related".
I have been working on that idea ever since & decided I just needed to wrap it up here & now. Because of the breadth of material from these crazy ravers, this turned into quite the adventure.
Spiral Tribe is an arts collective & free party Sound System formed in 1990. It organised free parties, festivals. raves in the UK, then later Europe in the 1990s. The three founding members of Spiral Tribe/SP23 were Mark Harrison, Debbie Griffith & Simone Feeney.
In late 1990, Mark Harrison with his brother Alexander, friends Debbie Griffith, & Simone Feeney hired some sound equipment. They put on a pair of squat parties in North London called De-tension at the Skool House. These were the first where the name Spiral Tribe was used & identified as a collective. Margret Thatcher's regime had decided to crack down on illegal music gatherings. Under the guiding of Tory MP Graham Bright, the acid house-targeted 1990 Entertainments (Increased Penalties) Bill raised fines for unlicensed parties from £2,000 to £20,000 with the possibility of six months jail time for organisers.
By spring of 1991 Spiral Tribe had bought their own Sound System. That summer they set up at the Longstock free festival in Hampshire. The Tribe rolled up with their four-&-a-half-Kilowatt rig, rocked Longstock 'til the end & then never went home again.
In fact, between their 1990 humble beginning & 1994 the collective organised over 30 free parties, raves, & festivals in both indoor/outdoor locations. Spiral Tribe were true pioneers, creating a rougher style of Techno that would become the backbone of the illegal rave scene in the early to mid 90s. The Sound System combined pagan beliefs with New Age traveller culture turning their raves into teknivals. After a few years inactivity, the collective reformed in 2011 as SP23 & continues to organise events.
Spiral Tribe was involved in the infamous Castlemorton Common Festival, the UK's biggest illegal rave. Sound Systems including Spiral Tribe, DiY, Bedlam, Adrenaline, & Circus Warp congregated in Malvern in Worcestershire in May 92. They created a temporary mini rave-town...an organic, unorganised, five-day party for an estimated 20,000-50,000 ravers. Following Castlemorton, many of the Tribe were arrested, their vehicles/Sound System impounded. Soon, the term 'rave' became part of UK law with the 1994 Criminal Justice Act.
If you are new to Spiral Tribe this is an ideal place to start.
On the 4Hero - Parallel Universe share Tierra del Fuego Frenz Diego sez:
"A remarkable but obscure record, Good stuff yeah. At this stage 4h were becoming Jacob's Optical Stairway".
Great segue to some more fantastic music. Jacob’s Optical Stairway’s self-titled release is often thought of as Parallel Universe 2.
Carrying the science-fiction theme of 4hero's Parallel Universe over to their Jacob's Optical Stairway side-project, Dego & Marc Mac crafted an album of understated breakbeats with high strings, heavy synthwork, in addition to vocals by a soul inspired Samantha Powell. The duo also enlisted Detroit hero Juan Atkins ("the original pioneer of Detroit techno") as well as raver & electronica star Josh Wink to work on two tracks: "The Fusion Formula" & "The Naphosisous Wars," respectively. Jacob's Optical Stairway is, if possible, an even more streamlined, lush drum'n'bass project for the duo than previous releases.
I chose to share the Reinforced Rcords 2021 reissue because of the bonus 7"...
Enjoy,
NØ
On the same Cop Shoot Cop share, Friendsound shared a link to the band's Suck City EP & sez:
"Loving the Cop Shoot Cop, lots of cool memories (some Babyland next?)".
Babyland was an American performance-based independent electronic junk punk band from Los Angeles, California, featuring Dan Gatto performing vocals/electronics & Michael Smith on percussion. The band released six studio albums before disbanding in 2009:
Babyland's music is a blend of extremely fast, unwavering beat & creative, sometimes junk electronics, a crazy switch-back of varying structures & tempos. The punk joins the junk culture of bad synths, power tools, broken sequencers, & found noises in a shiny trashcan of style.
Live they are notorious for their "fire" shows. They would dump motor oil into steel drums, light it up, then play the drums with galvanized pipes. The venues filled with billowing, choaking black smoke & jumping flames dancing to crazy beats while Dan Gatto wailed out his crazy-energetic vocals.
Hot worms... Not everyone will survive, but if you can make it through their debut, then you'll be left wanting more.
Near the end of October I shared a radio show hosted by Richard Sen. A friend of mine Delmar was particularly taken with Richard's sound & asked if I could share more of his music.
Cop Shoot Cop seemed to elicit numerous memories from Frenz of NSS. Old Frenz MrDave sez:
"Love this band (and Firewater too)!'
Firewater was founded by singer/instrumentalist Tod A(shley). in New York City in 1995 after the breakup of his previous group Cop Shoot Cop. Firewater was a world punk musical collective incorporating diverse elements of world music with punk rock. They have also been labeled gypsy punk because as well as including cabaret, ska, jazz, & folk they used Eastern European influences such as klezmer or gypsy music.
Tod A remained Firewater's only consistent member, acting as singer-songwriter as well as bassist/guitarist. Throughout their fluctuating line-up, the band has occasionally featured numerous notable musicians, including Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, Yuval Gabay of Soul Coughing, David Ouimet of Motherhead Bug & Foetus (good tie-in, right), Jennifer Charles of Elysian Fields, & Hahn Rowe, Tamir Muskat, Ori Kaplan of Gogol Bordello/Balkan Beat Box.
In January I shared a final installment of Cop Shoot Cop. I suggested that on Release, CSC were channelling their inner Thirlwell.
Richie Muster commented:
"You mention Foetus/Thirlwell; you haven't by any chance anything lurking down the back of your sofa, have you? I have bits and pieces, but not much."
JG Thirlwell is a composer/producer/performer born in Melbourne, Australia. He moved to London in 1978, then relocated to NYC in 1983, where he has been based ever since.
Thirlwell seems fond of using various nom de musique for his musickal output. In recent years he has released many of his works under his own name. He first began releasing under the Foetus variants, of which there are at least eight, starting with Foetus Under Glass, then moving toYou’ve Got Foetus on Your Breath, Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Foetus Interruptus, Foetus Corruptus, with more variations until simply Foetus.
He also records & performs under many pseudonyms including Manorexia, Xordox, Steroid Maximus, Baby Zizanie, Hydroze Plus, Clint Ruin, & Wiseblood.
I was at a complete loss as to how I could do a good cross section of such craziness. Then I remembered a great idea that I shared in October 2024 called Pitch Black - First of All. I made a compilation of the first song from all of Pitch Black's releases. It was one of my favorites that I have compiled over the years. This would be a perfect way to showcase this vast expanse of Foetus. Then I had an even better idea...two volumes, one of Foetus & one of JG Thirwell releases & all his other variously named projects.
I have listed the iteration of Thirlwell et. al & the source album for each track. If anyone is interested in any individual releases, you can let me know in the comments.
As I mentioned when I shared Red Seal at the end of January, once more I ended up biting off more than I could chew this month. I had built up a stovetop full of back-burner posts that were replies to folks who had commented at one time or another about previous shares. I had probably sez at the time:
"I'll get around to it when I can".
Well, the ole round to-it just keeps on spinning & I guess the time is NOW. Plus I've been trying to finish up the Musick that Needed Work series that seems to have been dragging on forever (only since 2015...ten frigging years...). I'm finally up to R this month.
Between these two categories I have again over-done it. I'm not complaining, though. Working on this mess, finding music to share with you all, has been keeping me from dwelling on other more darkly negative situations. I'm focusing on the musick & hope it can impart some delight for visitors here.
So on to Suggestions from Commentors...
On the memorial post at the time of David Lynch's death, Rico (Mister Kien) left a tremendous comment. In it he sez:
"I haven't seen Prolapse on your blog yet (but Blurt yes!)"
I replied that I had simply overlooked Prolapse as I am wont to do with numerous bands that deserve sharing that have simply slipped my time-worn mind. Prolapse - Pointless Walks to Dismal Places was always a favorite of mine. I'll start there & try to remedy my (pro) lapse.
Prolapse were an English indie rock band formed in Leicester, England active from 1992 to 2000. The group's sound was a mixture of punk rock, krautrock, & shoegazing styles. The band's sound was also characterised by the alternating, contrasting vocal styles of Linda Steelyard & Mick Derrick ("with the aim of being the most depressing band ever").
