A completely essential compendium offering a window into a fascinating trajectory of the 80's L.A. underground music scene, whose stable of associated artists has largely been obscured by the the L.A. Free Music Society crowd's doings. Aside from the occasional overlap (like Steaming Coils, whose early membership split the difference between these parallel universes and who are surprisingly absent here), there was very little in the way of overlap between these contemporaneous scenes, C.O.M.A. (the California Outside Music Association) and it's associated label Rotary Totem Records representing a somewhat more art rock oriented orbit (often with distinct R.I.O. affiliations) then L.A.F.M.S.'s more anarchic and crude attitude/approach and it's a sensibility that had a profound formative effect on my young ears, Rotary Totem-sponsered gigs amounting to some of my earliest concert going experiences in my early/mid teens. There's reams of extraordinary work at hand here, from the The Motor Totemist Guild's archly fey and lopsided gem "Farmer Without Strings" (very much in the spirit of their debut LP) to the plangent garage prog fury of The Underpeople's ferocious "Zontar: The Thing From Venus", the devastating R.I.O. angularity of 5uu's contribution (also featured on their debut LP) and Dogma Probe's late-Fibonnacci's-like "Thirteen" to the single finest tracks that either Cartoon or Newcross would ever commit to tape, this is an absolute must have.
I MADE A MISTAKE WITH MY INITIAL POST OF THIS LP, WHICH DIDN'T INCLUDE TRACK 4. HERE'S A NEW LINK FOR THE COMPLETE LP:
Get it Here
Eric,
ReplyDeleteTrack 4 is missing from V/A-A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO COMA, LP, 1985, USA
If a repost is possible, with Track 4, most greatly appreciated.
Many thanks for your GREAT work here.
Jeff
Oh my GAWD, someone else remembers COMA! I tried to find some info about 'em last year and came up sadly shorthanded.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, LAFMS were more active in the '70s, so far as organizing events, releasing recordings etc w/the LAFMS imprint. COMA were active in the mid-to-late '80s, appearing on local radio shows to promote their events, putting out records like this, so maybe not so much overlap.
mr fab-LAFMS personnel were plenty active during the mid 80's from my memory of the scene, though I'd agree that at that point, COMA were more agressively promoting their artists through the L.A. underground. Ground zero for both sets of artists and my big introduction to the whole shebang (and really my introduction to weird music alltogether) was Brent Wilcox's seminal FRGK (funny rock, god knows) radio show, which completely shaped my sensibility.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear this, as your and Jim's posts of LAFMS alumni (Human Hands, Gothic Hut) have been blowing me and my bandmates' minds (and my budget, as I just had to get some of these gems on record...)!
ReplyDeleteI have a question to ask you about Steaming Coils but It'll have to wait until later- gotta run errands at the moment.
the download doesn't work
ReplyDelete