AN INTERLUDE OF WHACKED OUT SINGLES FROM THE BRAD LANER ARCHIVE

The selection of singles that follow come courtesy of blog friend and Steaming Coils/Medicine/Electric Company mastermind Brad Laner, though the commentary is my own (Eric's). As most all of these are as new to me as they are to you, my comments on 'em represent provisional first passes. Tons of great shit here...Dig!




BRENT WILCOX-LEISURE WITH DIGNITY, 1981, USA
You can pretty much thank Wilcox for my share of the content of this blog, as his 80's L.A. radio show FRGK (Funny Rock, God Knows...) was singularly responsible for shaping my sensibility back in my early teens. Turns out that his one-off single ain't too shabby either. The way half melodic improv ramble collides with spluttery, spastic yet spare rock fragmentation here calls to mind entirely French points of reference for me, from the art brut whimsy of DDAA, to 70's underground mutants like Barricade, Heratius & Mahogany Brain.




EAZY TEETH-CAR NOISE/HER BLADE. 1980, USA
Half cartoonish electronic boink 'n' doink between Der Plan, Akira Sakata and Morgan Fisher, half gritty lo-fi post punk instrumental churn of a vaguely Dark Day-ish disposition. All entirely winning.




GOG-THE BEATLESS E.P., SWEDEN, 1979
Mysterious and fried in the extreme, L.A. Free Music Society seems as likely a touchstone as any for the combination of Geiger counter click and splutter, lobotomized guitar and sax duals of walkman recording fidelity, transistor radio opera broadcasts and mouth-full-of-porridge mumbling found here. The Bananafish crowd oughta flip their wigs over this...




HOLGER HILLER-S/T E.P., 1980, GERMANY
Pretty far from the refined Residential vision displayed on his classic LP "Ein Bundel Faulnis In Der Grube", this debut single by Palais Schaumburg's Hiller is every bit as smurfily screwy as you'd anticipate, but it's also very spare and minimal in approach. Bedroom retardation full of naif charm.





JOHN DUNCAN-CREED, 1981, USA
For those expecting the shortwave austerity of his more well known experimental electronic work, this collection of obsessive vignettes should comes as a bit of a surprise. Recordings from this era of Duncan's work ran hand in hand with his notoriously twisted performance actions of the era. Housed in a sleeve spattered with real blood, this first single of his (following his Organic LP) finds festering pools of tape/vinyl mulch coexisting with poetic recitations, pots and pans percussion, backward tapes and extended phone calls to to Dr. Tony Grant's psychological help line. Curious stuff....




KI DI ME-MOTHER IS/ISLAMATIC, 1981, USA
Murky and bare bones, this minimal synth curiousity has a hard to finger appeal. A side is a bit Algebra Suicide-like, albeit graced with somewhat awkward vocalizing, B side sounds like pre-Human League material by The Future heard through ears full of maple syrup.




PLEBS-A COLLECTION OF QUESTION MARKS E.P., 1982, USA
Weedy and fidgety jazz punk scribble-scrabble maneuvers over plinking rhythm boxes issued on The Minutemen's New Alliance label, which sorta makes sense.




SLIVERS-RESTRAINT FOR STYLE, 1981, USA
Another punk jazz curio, this one with Will Shatter-like vocal spew dukeing it out with sax squall, rickity farfisa, and a relentless fixation on a particular scrabbly little above-the-bridge guitar noise. Nice.




THE LAUGHING SOUP DISH-TEENAGE LIMA BEAN/RAINY DAY SPONGE, 1985, USA
Primitive acid psych with a beautifully corrosive guitar tone and enough structural wobbliness and latent acid weirdity to vestigially tie this in with The Dukes Of Stratosphear and their fallout, ala Aussie psych poppers Tyrnaround. A real discovery and a helluva lot more fried than anything I woulda anticipated from the Voxx Records camp.



WILD KINGDOM-ROMA-DESTINY, FLEXI, 1981, USA
Wow! What the hell is this? Wildly elaborate and head-spinning art pop genius. Exceptionally unique, I can hear traces of Song Of The Bailing Man-era Pere Ubu, Fibonaccis and Human Hands here. You could knock me over with a feather after hearing this one! Anyone know if these cats recorded anything else?

Get part one Here

Get part two Here