Post Punk Nuggets

Today's tunes are taken from a couple of recent purchases, both compilations of music from the late '70s and early '80s.

7" Up! - Singles Only! UK 78-82 is out on Crippled Dick Hot Wax, and is a great collection of British obscurities. There are some well known names like Monochrome Set, Thomas Leer and Glaxo Babies. There are some unknowns too - I Jog & The Tracksuits, Gerry & The Holograms and They Must Be Russians' Don't Try To Cure Yourself, a ditty about venereal disease. Brian Brain's Jive Jive is a quirky new wave tune with a bouncy bass line and loads of scratchy guitar. This is one of the first bands drummer Martin Atkins was in - he went on to drum for PIL v1.0, as well as Killing Joke and Pigface.
Weekend were made up of singer Alison Statton, fresh out of indie cult heroes Young Marble Giants, and jazz instrumentalists Larry Stabbins and Simon Booth. They recorded one album before splitting, with the guys going on to form Working Week after this project ended. To my mind the resulting sound of Weekend was a jazzier, bossa nova infused Young Marble Giants. Drumbeat For Baby is a lovely bit of pop with jazzy overtones and some smokin' sax.

New York Noise Vol.3 - Music From The NY Underground 1979-1984 comes from killer UK archive label Soul Jazz and continues the tradition of excellence of the first two volumes. This one is compiled by electronic musician Stuart Argabright who recorded with NYC electro minimalists Ike Yard, then as Dominatrix, as well as Death Comet Crew and Black Rain. Where the first two volumes have had a rockist bent, this one clearly favors the electronic experimentalists of the scene like Dark Days, Implog and Suicide's Martin Rev. There is also rock skronk, courtesy of UT and James Blood Ulmer, and the Judy Nylon cover of Jailhouse Rock is great - dubbed out slow mo with delightfully off key vocals. Sticking with the electronic mood of the set I'm sharing a couple of the compiler Stuart Argabright's works. Ike Yard's Loss is skeletal electro, with minimal touches of keyboards and FX and that spooky white boy drone. Dominatrix were a far more commercial undertaking who achieved notoriety with their classic 12" The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight. City That Never Sleeps is leftfield breakdancing music that conjures up riding a grafitti covered subway train through NYC.