THE PROLETARIAT - Soma Holiday 1983

New stuff for me: The Proletariat, punx from Southeastern Massachusetts, whose heyday was during the 1980s, when they were active in the early Boston hardcore scene, sharing the bill with many of the best punk and hardcore punk acts of the time, despite their recorded output having a decidedly non-hardcore aesthetic; the Proletariat show more strongly the musical influences of early British post-punk bands such as The Jam, Buzzcocks and Gang Of Four in their fractured guitar sound. Tired of the pompous bands of the 70’s with their elaborate stage shows they gravitated towards sparse presentation, preferring to let the music and lyrics stand on their own. Between November 1981 and March 1982, they recorded material at Boston's Radiobeat Studios and brought a couple of songs as reels for airplay on local radio stations, the band gained national exposure via the excellent This Is Boston, Not L.A., a compilation of bands from the local scene released by Newbury Comics' Modern Method Records, a self-released limited seven song tape EP called 'Distortion' followed shortly thereafter. Four songs from this demo surfaced on vinyl along with fourteen more songs to comprise the band's first record 'Soma Holiday', Steven Blush, author of American Hardcore: A Tribal History said: "The Proletariat played offbeat post-Punk with Hardcore intensity and a radical twist. Frontman Richard Brown wrote oblique lyrics, part Ginsberg, part Mao.. 1983's Soma Holiday LP came off light years ahead of its time." In 1984, the band return to Radiobeat Studios to record another album and an early version of "An Uneasy Peace" brought the band international attention via its inclusion on the P.E.A.C.E. compilation from R Radical Records. Later that year, before their second album was completed, many line-up changes accelerated the end of the Proletariat and shortly after performing a pair of final shows on 1.July 1985 with Italian band Raw Power @ the Living Room rock club in Providence/Rhode Island, the band disbanded.

- Great Thx to Fredrik - 

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DIE BLUMEN DES BÖSEN - Übermut Werde Spaten 1995

80s punk combined with wave influences, that's the sound of Die Blumen Des Bösen, founded in 1992 in the southwest German province and named after the poetry book of the same name by Charles Baudelaire. They could never describe their music and the influences are varied: punk, new wave, C-86 guitar pop and much more. Striking in the early years was the tender voice of Marty. Over time it came to frequent cast changes, including Marty left the band and was replaced by a male successor. Despite all the changes, they were productive over the years, released a total of three albums and gave concerts in Germany and France. After a last tour in Germany fall 1999 as opening act of the Fliehende Stürme, it became quiet around the flowers. In 2000 they finally withered and 3/4 of the members founded the new band Dot-Commando. Übermut Werde Spaten is their debut album on Kaktus Records and we enjoy fifteen melancholy beats, including a nice cover of a Cure song in Spanish, plus an awesome one from Loonatik which is written by the Blumen and presented in their version, grandiose! Altogether a very nice album what the four recorded in my opinion.

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THE STALIN - Stop Jap 1982

Original published on Climax Records this is the second record by Fukushima's band The Stalin and my copy is an unoffical one but that doesn't matter, is just as cool. Formed 1980 by leader and vocalist Michiro Endo, Atsushi on guitar and Jun on drums and their first single "Dendou Kokeshi" comes out via Political Records the same year. Tam replaced Atsushi on guitar and on X-Mas 1981 they released their first full-length album (half studio/half live) Trash. They toured immense, they had a couple line-up changes and released many singles and albums, among them a live record, and the band split up 1993. In 2001 there was a special Stalin concert entitled "One Night Dream". Michiro Endo performed with Keigo Nakata (ex:The Stalin) on drums, Shinichi Suzuki (Pulling Teeth) on guitar and Katsuta on bass. Other bands and artists also performed and paid tribute to the group, including Loopus, Cobra, Panta and Kenzi. The show was recorded and released as the Hakike Gasuruhodo Romanchikku Daze!! video in June 2001. The concert coincided with the release of the 365-A Tribute to The Stalin album, which has some of the bands that performed covering Stalin songs. Stop Jap is full with fifteen first-class snotty punk nuggets and is one of the best record from the land of the rising sun.

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THE MIRRORS - Dark Glasses 7'' 1978

Last post in 2017 and there is something new from the Wanted list and it's the second single by the Mirrors, a short-lived combo from South Wales, and on these recordings involved: Gary (vocals + rhythm guitar), Alan (bass), Bree (lead guitar) and Trevor (drums), released by the small London-based label Lightning Records. On the a-side we enjoy a lumbering four minute piece who monotonous pulls its laps and I can permanent listen to this fuckin' rhythm. They play exactly the drive as I love it, sure for some boring and uninspired but this soft bluesy melody listen I seldom and the four gentlemen do it very well. On the flip-side is a pleasant 2:30 mid-tempo KBD powerpop/punk goodie which rounding the record out. On compilations not often represented but Cure For Cancer was taken for the Young Raw Sounds UK #1 (Zeus Records, 1997) record, only bands/songs from Lightning releases and highly recommended. Enjoy or endure the music!

I wish you all a nice New Year's Eve and thanks to all who helped me this year, sent good music, gave some comments and we face the 2018 challenge!  

- Great Thx to Bristolboy -

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TROTSKIDS - A Mort!...A Fond!!... 1986

Francophone punkrock between snot and hymn is comin' from Brittany and released via Terminal Records this is the 'second' Album by the Trotskids from Rennes. They play the typical hard fat French Punk sound and with this record they emphasize this in every way. I like this slab because I love an decent Oi! sound and the production is well rough. The band formed 1982 in Rennes by brothers Doumé (vocals) and Félipé (drums), Ivan (guitars), Ruff (bass) and occasionally Nono as second drummer. After many gigs their vinyl debut was made on the Chaos En France #1 compilation and in 1984 their first album with six songs was released via Chaos Productions. Chaos #2, line-up changes, a tape (4 Fois En 10 mn!!) followed inbetween until A Mort !...A Fond !!... comes out and in June 1987 the band split up for reasons of musical divergences.

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ATTAQUE 77 - Dulce Navidad 1989

Christmas is over but this record is currently running up and down because.... A bit info from wiki: "Attaque 77 is an Argentine punk rock group and were formed 1987 in Buenos Aires as a group of friends who got together to play their favorite songs, most of them by the Ramones, their favorite band and the one that influenced them the most. They started writing songs in the same punk rock style, lyrics with proletarian content (about exploited factory workers, etc.), and wore denim jackets, which became one of their hallmarks in their beginnings. Currently, only three members continue performing and recording. When they were just starting, they played the more traditional punk rock and in those years, the band became more popular by virtue of a more melodic style. High points in the band's history include the album El Cielo Puede Esperar in 1990, with the first band's big-hit "Hacelo Por Mí" and performing their first gigs at the Estadio Obras in October 1991." - Many records have since been released and the band is still active and touring decent and maybe a new album will follow.

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NEONBABIES - s/t LP 1981

Ahhh.... fine stuff now from the Neonbabies: they came together at the beginning of 1979 in Berlin. Among its founding members were the sisters Inga Humpe ("DiLemma") and Annette Humpe ("Anita Spinetti"). The group made its first appearance in the spring of 1979 at the Gasthaus an der Havel and the gigs were the highlight of the concert season 1979/80. Later they were able to make their first recordings at the senate's own Beat Studio with Nikolaus (guitar), Conny (bass), Toni (drums) and Reinhard (saxophone). The first EP (I Don't Want To Loose You) came out early 1980 and includes a first version of the later Ideal killer Blaue Augen, in autumn then the 2nd EP Nervös. The band were now an integral part of the Berlin music scene and were worshiped as cult. 

In early 1980, Annette Humpe founded the band Ideal and was replaced by singer Petra (Miko) but she was only heard on the debut album and this was released on the Berlin independent label Good Noise Records in 1981 and sold ca. 16.000 times, Nikolaus said: ''We were never ideologically defined. Good Noise said: we make the record with you - and then we signed a contract for a plate". The music is a cocktail of early german punk (KFC or S.Y.P.H.) and New Wave & Pop. 

In 1982, Dave Hutchins produced the 2nd album (Harmlos) @ Conny Plank Studio which was released on Ariola Records, followed by a tour through Germany. After the quit of Nikolaus, he was replaced by Toni Kambiz, the group engaged Drafi Deutscher as producer of the 3rd 7Inch 'Ich Bin Ein Mann' but the sale was very much less, far far behind expectations. The last album '1983' was recorded with Gareth Jones in Berlin Hansa Studios and also appears at Ariola. A short time later, the group broke up. Conny left and Inga participated around the project DÖF which was produced by her sister and the single Codo became a great fuckin' hit! With Eiskalte Engel the last Neonbabies 7Inch was done and it was a remix of the title Engel from the 3rd album and was considered as farewell gift for the fans. Enjoy now fourteen crunchy poppy bubbles from album #1.

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ABWÄRTS - Beirut, Holiday Inn 12'' 1982

Abwärts is a German punk combo from Hamburg, founded 1979 by Frank Z. (vocals, guitar), FM Einheit (keys & percussion, drums), Mark Chung (bass), both left the group in 1982 to join Einstürzende Neubauten, and published with "Computerstaat" & "AmokKoma" two records that are on my Top Ten list of German punk records. Dissatisfied with the support provided by ZickZack, they now wanted to work more professionally and offer the next album to a major label. The work began fall 1981 in the Hamburg Hafenklang, a month of self-financed & produced studio recordings followed by a week of mixing in the London Townhouse studios and at the end of the year the album Der Westen Ist Einsam was finished and offered to various record companies and finally Abwärts signed at Phonogram. The reviews were shitty and in my opinion wrongly but that was the 80s journalists scum and Punk were Abwärts since already no longer. But it works for them and Mercury released then this 12'' with a new version of "Beim Ersten Mal Tut's Immer Weh" plus three more fine tunes, less punk and more Wave style, but worth hearing and as comparison you'll find their last ZickZack 7Inch "Roboter In Der Nacht" within (after that record, the hamburgers became uninteresting for me). Be nice to each other in your crisis area!

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HUVUDTVÄTT & PICNIC BOYS - Split EP 1981

Huvudtvätt existed from 1981-1984 and were formed by brothers Mats and Torulf Nilsson. After the demise of Sundsvall's famous (and orthodox) punk band Massmedia in 1980, the two brothers moved to Linköping to study and they were eager to play again. It was originally planned as a solo project by Mats, but it resulted in Huvudtvätt (HT). With new influences from the US hardcore scene and England’s Discharge, they step towards in a wild/tougher style and they were noticed in the clubs. All the song titles have a cleaning theme and the ambiguous lyrics were humorous but serious at the same time. The band also appeared as Headcleaners, whose name came from a cleaning cassette and their music was as rough as HT, but the social critical English words were written primarily by Janne and they released one or two 7Inches via the Uppsala label Malign Massacre. On stage Huvudtvätt only performed once during their career. - From the Picnic Boys came the B-Side with two classic KBD tunes. They were a three piece combo (also Sundsvall) and that's all info I have for you. These both tracks are damn cool and I think this is all they pressed on vinyl. Unfortunately, I think a full length would become a killer LP.

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MARIA.023 - s/t EP 1979

Tokyo punk from Maria.023 with their lone record which was released via Gozira Records. Four friggle mid-tempo tracks with a brilliant crazy voice and I don't understand a single word even though they have english lyrics.. famos. What should I say? listen

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