Lubricated Goat - Paddock Of Love (1988)

Lubricated Goat are a Noise Rock / Grunge band from Australia (Perth / Adelaide / Sydney). Lead by Stu Spasm (Later in Crunt with his then wife Kat Bjelland)  with Guy Maddison (Bloodloss / Monroe's Fur, and post 2001 bassist for Mudhoney), Brett Ford ( from kryptonics and X another great Aussie band), and Pete Heartly (also from kryptonics). These guys are raw,  abrasive and noisy a perfect fit for am-rep records. They made a few ripples when they appeared on Andrew Denton's T.V. series Blah Blah Blah and performed In The Raw naked. There was a short doco made about it that was played at Meridith or something but I haven't been able to find it on-line. Not the album for everyone but there are some folks out there who I think will get a real kick out of this.

Lubricated Goat - In The Raw (Nude Censored Version)


DL: Here

Pain Teens - Destroy Me, Lover (1993)

The Pain Teens are an Experimental / Noise Rock band from Huston, Texas who made it onto the wonderful and unfortunately ill fated Trance Syndicate label (run by King Coffey - Butthole Surfers). Their sound spans a fairly diverse range that's often serene, eastern, and floaty but then also equally capable of being gothy, grungy, industrial, trash. You get a real mixed bag with this one even a cover of The Story Of Isaac (Leonard Cohen) makes it in but it's an amazing ride. If your into dark heavy guitars and layered tape loops / samples this is probably for you. 

Also worth noting that they do an awesome cover of 'you only live twice' (dare I say the best bond theme) check it out here... and yes it is almost exactly the same as midnight cowboy but considering they're both written by John Barry  I feel he earned his two paychecks with the one masterpiece anyway. 


Pain Teens - Prowling 

DL: Here

The Lounge Lizards - The Lounge Lizards (1981)

The self-titled debut album from The Lounge Lizards is a demented tongue-in-cheek take on jazz, played with a punk attitude. If you just read the word 'jazz', and have been scared off by the thought of 7 minute drum solos and clichéd love lyrics please don't go; this not your usual jazz band. What you will hear is sleazy swing, noise, some funk and a ballad called 'Ballad', all delivered in a chaotic and manic fashion. Most of the songs were composed by saxophonist John Lurie who hasn't been as active as he used to be due to illness, however, you might already know him from the television series Fishing with John or a few Jim Jarmusch films. Lurie also composed some of the music for the film Get Shorty.

One more thing worth mentioning is Arto Lindsay's approach to playing the guitar. Over the course of the album I think he plays about three 'normal' notes while the rest of the time is spent treating the guitar like a percussive instrument and making abrasive, twangy noises. Imagine somebody furiously trying to break amplified guitar strings with a fork and you'll get the idea. 

The Lounge Lizards (on this album) are:

John Lurie: Saxophone

Evan Lurie: Keyboards

Steve Piccolo: Bass

Arto Lindsay: Guitar

Anton Fier: Drums

The Lounge Lizards - Do the Wrong Thing 

DL: Here

Huns - Live At The Palladium (1979)

Self confessed arseholes, The Huns were a punk band with more attitude than musical talent no one can deny that. To take a direct quote from the bands drummer Tom Huckabee "We were mean, arrogant, pedantic, petty, pious, selfish, whiny, insensitive, greedy, lying, effeminate, lazy, lecherous, inconsiderate, self-aggrandizing, vindictive pricks". This combination of massive egos and riotous behaviour led to arrests and the early demise of the band (prior to ever recording a LP). Thankfully there is this recording and a 7" floating around that are both worth checking out. The Huns produced some high energy, artless, trashy songs that have earned them a place in Texas punk history amongst The Dicks and The Big Boys. 


Check out this article if you want to know more, it's written by Tom Huckabee: Link 

Huns - Glad he's dead 


DL: Here

Pussy Galore - Dial 'M' For Motherfucker (1989)

If you like music that's noisy, stompable and just don't give a fuck this album might become you favourite plastic love toy. Pussy Galore was one of John Spencer's earlier bands, and by my reckoning still the best (gotta say earlier boss hog is a pretty close second most of the time and I'll definitely be posting Drinkin' Lechin' & Lyin' later).This one was originally going to be titled "Make Them All Eat Shit Slowly" but certain record clerk stiffs deemed it too rude for the shelves, so a sticker saying Pussy Galore "New Album" accompanied the titleless front cover for a while, with it's interior revealing the full title "Dial 'M' For Motherfucker". 


Its blues with more attitude than a pissed off honey badger, and according to Dr. House the track "Kicked Out" is capable of inducing seizures in epileptics. So you might want to put your helmet on for this one.


Pussy Galore -  Eat Me

DL: Here

Die Haut - Head On (1992)

This album is amazing if not for the music (which definitely is amazing)  for the names contributing vocals. Here's the list: Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth / Free kitten etc.), Alan Vega (Suicide), Debbie Harry (Blondie), Jeffrey Lee Pierce (The Gun Club), Kid Congo Powers (The Cramps / The Gun Club), Blixa Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten), Cristina Martinez - (Boss hog / Pussy Galore), Anita Lane - (Birthday Party / Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds), and Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus and the Jerks etc.)


If your not sure why this album is great now do your self favour and check out all the bands aforementioned, they're all brilliant.


Die Haut / Jeffrey Lee Pierce -  Breaking In Your Day Dream

DL: Here

Six Finger Satellite - The Pigeon Is The Most Popular Bird (1993)

These guys were the first band to lead me into the synth punk freakout of the 90's and consequently Brainiac, however this album I would say isn't part of the genre. It's much more guitar derived but still defiantly holds a similar approach to music, if you think of Primus but more angry, screamy and paranoid you probably wont be too far off the mark. The album was original released over two records that were made available to the public 4 weeks apart, the CD release has all the tracks in the same place though. There's a little experimental track usually heavily involving synth's and effects between each track which can be a little frustrating at times but you'll quickly learn to accept it as the majority of the tracks are real banging. Laughing Larry was definitely the track that had me hooked for more so check out the youtube link if you wanna know what's up.


Six Finger Satellite - Laughing Larry

DL: Here

The Birthday Party - Drunk On The Pope's Blood (1991)

The Birthday Party is the brain child of Rowland S. Howard and Nick Cave, definitely two of  the greatest figures in Australian underground music. The original release of this album was a split with Lydia Lunch. The birthday party's side consisted of 4 live tracks (Including a cover of Loose), Lydia's side was called "The Agony Is The Ecstasy" containing a 16 min song by the same name. The CD re-issue of this album (which I've posted) has the 4 original Birthday Party tracks and a hand full of bonus material in place of Lydia Lunch's side. There are a couple of different versions of songs a few demos and to top it all off 2 recordings by the Tuff Monks - "After The Fireworks", and "After, After The Fireworks" (which as far as I know is the only track recorded by the band "After, After The Fireworks" being a reversed remix of the first track). The Tuff Monks consisted of Rowland S. Howard, Nick Cave, and Mick Harvey and three members of another iconic Australian band The Go Betweens (Robert Forester, Grant McLennan, Lindy Morrison). 

One my favourite Birthday Party moments, definitely worth adding to the collection if your a fan. 

The Birthday Party - Pleasure Heads 

DL: Here 

The Ventures - Live In Japan '65 (1995 ... Duh U.S. release)

As far as Surf Rock goes it doesn't get much better than this. A pristine quality recording of one of my favourite Surf Rock bands and as the name suggest Live in Japan 1965. All the wet guitars, drum rolls, and bumping bass lines you could dream of. It's quite a musical journey running 29 tracks long but there's never a dull moment. The recording includes a brilliant cover of the them song for Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, a hand full of Ventures classics including Out of Limits, and a re-work of Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5 titled Rap City. 


I highly recommend this album if you like surf, or even considered it a genre you might like to dabble in.


The Ventures - Out of Limits


DL: Here

Bikini Kill - Pussy Whipped (1993)

I'm a big fan of 90's grungy stuff so naturally that includes Riot Grrrl. As far as the genre goes I think its pretty hard to ignore this album. Raw, dirty and energetic with a 3rd wave feminist twist definitely a must listen for anyone who has fond memories of the 90's or likes strong female vocals and The Dead Kennedys. To all the Riot Grrrl's / fans of Riot Grrrl's out there, if you haven't got it yet, get it now.


It's worth a mention that members of this band went on to form / came from: Le Tigre, The Go Team (not to be confused with 'The Go! Team' a UK act I'm sure you've all heard of), The Frumpies, The Julie Ruin, The Casual Dots, and there's a few more I'm sure you can find out about for yourself. It's also probably worth mentioning Rebel Girl made number 27 on the Rolling Stone Magazines list of most excellent songs of every year since 1967.


Bikini Kill - Sugar


DL: Here

Tactics - My Houdini (1980)

Being an Aussie I thought it might be nice to kick this blog off with some Australian flavoured post-punk madness. This is the first full album release of the Sydney band (originally from Canberra), although it was a song of there first E.P. 'Long Weekend' called Standing By The Window that caught my ear (heard it on a comp called tales from the Australian underground - singles 1976-1989 which is well worth a look into) this album made it into my top 20 quickly. Full of sharp stabs and witty cuts, it's a cleverly composed mess of wet clangy guitars, sleazy sax, energetic miscalculated timing and a vocal screeching comparable to David Thomas (Pere Ubu, Rockets from the tombs, etc.). Tactics could pass as the sound track to Ian Curtis's dancing.


You might like this album if you like the idea of Pere Ubu and Devo having a bastard child who's better of than most in a enthusiasm/limb count kind of sense.



Tactics - No More Talking


DL: Here