Wednesday 30 December 2009

Teens For Decency - The End of Decency (1997)

Teens for Decency

We posted the first TFD tape quite a while back. For this outing, they're sporting a new bassist and drummer (Corey Martens went onto infamy with Helvis). The first side of this tape are studio tracks, but it's the second side, recorded live at the Night Gallery, that gives a better taste of hee-haw punk rawk flavour of these guys, as well as showing off Ian Doig's penchant for telling very strange historical tales.

As an aside, this tape is another we've borrowed from the CJSW archives. We'll be back at CJSW tomorrow, on our pal Adam Kamis' show, the Failed Pilot (12-2 pm MST), playing some of our favourite tapes. Which means it'll be a solid two hours of Primrods. And maybe a bit of Brass.

Phosphorescent rocks!

Monday 28 December 2009

Nine Miles to Morgan - Nine Miles to Morgan (1998)

Nine Miles to Morgan

We've partly traced the Scott Bennie arc, through Rosco Pecoe and Splitsville. This is probably one of the bands he was best known for, and we're fond of them, despite the emo tag.

The old Gauntlet has an archived article on Nine Miles to Morgan you might want to read.

Or you might just want to hit the download.

Update: we were way wrong with this. Apparently there was a pre-Bennie configuration of Nine Miles to Morgan, headed up by Al Fraser. Just goes to show: never trust anything you read in the Gauntlet. Or here.

Sunday 27 December 2009

Spy Lemon - Spy Lemon (1993)

Spy Lemon

We had not idea what a Spy Lemon was, until we happened upon the art for the Anything that Happens compilation. It looks like Spy Lemon evolved from Delusions of Reality, who we saw here earlier.

Well, that's one puzzle solved.

Wednesday 23 December 2009

Various - CJSW Christmas (1993)

We here at the CCPS have been oft-accused of being grinches, among other things. We're trying to turn over a new leaf (really!), and would like to offer this seasonal gift.

Many years ago, CJSW persuaded several local bands to record Christmas tunes with Bobby McAlister. We dug this out of a mysterious box in a CCPS member's basement earlier this year, and have waited patiently for an appropriate time to post it. No j-card, since this wasn't an official release. But our notes indicate the track list is:

1. Sky Suspended - We Three Kings
2. Plaid-Tongued Devils - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
3. Holly Jolly Christmas - The Parkades
4. Santa Claus - Pussy Monster
5. What Child is This - Edward and Life
6. Silent Night - Red Autumn Fall

It's a bit of a weird mix of stuff, the garage rock of Pussy Monster up against the britpop of Red Autumn Fall.

But that's Calgary for you.

Sunday 20 December 2009

Sky Suspended - Stop Staring at the Ground (1994)

Sky Suspended

Sky Suspended-2

We've been a bit lax with posting over the past few days, mostly because of the usual seasonal eating/drinking cycles we've fallen into here at the CCPS. So we're pleased to present this for your consideration, the second Sky Suspended tape.

Sky Suspended prompt us to ask several questions. First, how did Aaron Booth turn from this (we'll call it Disintegration-era Cure) to the sensitive singer-songwriter type? Second, how did Aaron Smelski go from bass with this to shoegaze guitar with Hot Little Rocket and heat-ray? And finally, what is up with all the Teddy Boys on the inner sleeve?

Maybe it's not for us to know.

Saturday 19 December 2009

Poplydia - Poplydia (1993)

We really don't know/remember much about Poplydia, all we have is a vague association of these guys with the mid-90s Britpop scene in Calgary. The missing j-card isn't helping. We believe guitarist Craig McCaul went on (eventually) to play with the Cape May.

The liner notes of the Play compilation tell us that "Poplydia singlehandedly disprove Pete Townsend's theory that good musicians can't make good rock music."

Them's fightin' words!

Thursday 17 December 2009

Anne Loree - Anne Loree (1991)

Anne Lorree

We'll take things off in a different direction here. Anne Loree is probably best known for writing Jann Arden's breakthrough hit, and - according to the Wikipedia - was also a member of Jr Gone Wild. We didn't know that last part, never would have guessed it. We suspect this is her first tape; we seem to recall that "You're So Artistic" got a lot of airplay on CJSW.

Anyways, we saw Anne Loree play a show about a year and a half ago. She reminded us of a piano teacher we once had. In a good way.

Wednesday 16 December 2009

Merkins - Bon-Bardo (1995)

Merkins

This is the second tape we have from the Merkins. It's less muddy than yesterday's posting, thanks in part to a midnight session at Sundae Sound. Jeff tells us that "Bizarro" was put down in one take. Which is the opposite of what at least one of us at the CCPS did in a similar midnight session (the individual in question may have spent the entire 8 hours recording a song that was one and a half minutes long).

Anyways, we're drifting from the main point of concern with this tape, which is the cover art. We've seen a lot of appropriation in terms of imagery here at the CCPS, but this is the first instance where we've seen a cover outright stolen.

But, really, it's not about the art. It's about the music. Which is a sort of art, so we suppose it is about the, uh, art.

Tuesday 15 December 2009

Merkins - The Merkins

The Merkins

We had been emailing with former Merkins drummer Jeff Sulima at the tail end of the summer, in another ongoing saga of a band member who hadn't kept a copy of his bands tapes. Thankfully, the CJSW archives have ended that dilemma, and we're pleased to present this first tape from the Merkins.

We remember the Merkins for two main reasons: their name, which caused much mirth for the permanent adolescents among us here at the CCPS; and the band's musical ability. The drone-y songs on here are a bit muddy, but so's our memory.

Get wiggy!

Thursday 10 December 2009

25 Cent Peep Show - Substance Test Pilot (1993)

25 Cent Peep Show

We've just spent the past two hours staring at computer keyboards here at CCPS HQ, trying to figure out when the cent symbol was removed. It doesn't help that we've been drinking rye and listening to this, the second tape we've found from 25 Cent Peep Show. Just like the one we posted a while back, this proto-Puritans recording is good and sludgy. We're puzzled by the date on this - it bears the same year as the other tape we've featured here, but the extra-sludgy sound leads us to suspect that this was the first of the two, maybe before they had enough money for a better recording? Or maybe its the second of the two, and they had ceased caring about things like audio quality?

Who knows?

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Calliope - Calliope (1994)

We're still pretty pleased that we haven't yet had a cease and desist from Universal Records for posting Zuckerbaby's debut album a few months back. Never ones to play it safe, we're pleased to present tonight's tape, which is sadly lacking any cover art.

However, there's a wealth of internet knowledge out there, reminding us that before they were Zuckerbaby, Reed Shimozawa and Andy Eichhorn headed up the "groove oriented" Calliope.

We have our own suspicions about what that's secret code for, but we'll leave it to you to listen and decide for yourself.

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Zoo Story - Generation Whatever (1995)

Zoo Story

Uncovering Zoo Story Play Their Hits in a Toilet was a highlight of our summer, so we were quite pleased to find another Zoo Story tape in the CJSW library. Although this one doesn't have a year of release, it does provide insight into the band's membership. It also contains a pile of songs from the tape we first brought you - a trick we've seen from more than one band.

Do the monkey!

Update: Thanks to Cathie for filling in the date for us!

Monday 7 December 2009

Public Service Announcement: CJSW's 25th Anniversary



You heard about this already, right? CJSW is turning 25 next year, and to celebrate the milestone, they're having a bit of a party on January 23. With a couple of our favourite disbanded bands, rebanded for one night: Color Me Psycho and Wagbeard. We were hoping for a Primrods reunion, but only because we have to find fault with everything.

Shinolas - Shampler (1995)

The Shinolas

Now, as much as we like Brass around these parts, we like The Shinolas infinitely more (our mathematics expert came up with a formula to describe this, but he made the mistake of writing it on the back of the office copy of Beatroute, which someone threw on the fire last night). This four song tape adds to our ongoing fascination/obsession with this garage rock trio. Most notable is "Passed Out (at the Door of Your Heart)," which alone is worth the price of admission.

Which, in these parts, is free.

Sunday 6 December 2009

Brass - Brass (1992)

Brass

Brass-2

A funny thing happened when we went to pay our CJSW funding drive pledge the other week. It turns out Music Director Myke Atkinson has been following our ramblings over here, and offered us a chance to dig through what's left of the station's tape library. Years of heavy airplay and theft (we suspect mostly theft) mean that sadly there's not a whole lot left in the library, but we're always happy to root through tapes.

What this means for you, dear reader/listener, is that we've got a pile of stuff coming over the next few weeks. A few oddities mixed in - things we didn't know existed and also some that we've been looking for.

We're going to start with this, assumedly the first release from Brass. Why? Well, why not.

For a good time, call Todd!

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Purge - Purge (1994)

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Scan-091107-0003

We know nothing about this, other than it came from Donovan's plastic bag. It sounds very much like you expect early 90s alt-rock to sound like. You can almost see the flannel shirts.

But you can get it here.

Sunday 29 November 2009

Kilgore Trout - The Trout are Out II (1993)

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Scan-091107-0006

Just before we run off to put our head in a watermelon, we thought we should share another tape. We haven't had too much (any?) representation from the folk scene here in our collection, so this tape from Kilgore Trout is a welcome addition. We have vague memories of Kilgore Trout, so thankfully Northern Journey fills in the blanks for us:

The Calgary musical troupe Kilgore Trout describe themselves as being composed of "working stiffs and students." Lori Hogg is a general practitioner studying to be a psychiatrist, Bob Brennan is an engineer working on a Ph.D., Gail Korchinski is a systems analyst, Kari Strutt and Jackie Bell are writer/editors. They are joined by their passion for music. The material on their debut album, One Voice Starts..., is drawn from a variety of sources from traditional ballads to the Trout's own brand of "folk and roll." The soaring vocals, frequently joining in two-, three-, and four-part harmony, highlight the group's solid songwriting. Kilgore Trout disbanded in 1996.

Go fish!

Monday 16 November 2009

25 Cent Peep Show - The Lights that Freeze the Minds of Animals (1993)

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There's some faulty wiring over here at the CCPS, and we often get 25 Cent Peep Show confused with Staasi Quartet, even though the two are, well, completely unrelated. Why did we lead with that? How is it relevant to this tape? We don't know, we're just trying to hit our minimum word count, like some second-year English Lit major.

Back to 25 Cent Peep Show. This would basically mutate into (Shoutin' Abner Pim and) the Puritans, which then became the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir. This is good, angular, primal stuff.

Thanks again to Donovan's magic Safeway bag for this one.

How come the cent symbol isn't standard on keyboards anymore? We're clearly too lazy to go looking for it.

Friday 13 November 2009

Glider - Popsicle (1994)

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We may have been a bit flippant (Us? Flippant? Ha! Never!) when we posted Glider's Umbrella EP. While we're not quite sober enough right now to take back what we said back then, we will say that this tape has got us in a pretty good mood. We actually didn't realize there was a second Glider tape until Donovan Watson flipped it our way (at a skatepark! in a Safeway bag! fantastic!).

Get it here.

Saturday 7 November 2009

Zen - Zen (1993)

Zen - Zen

Zen - Zen (inside)

We're puzzled by this second Zen tape, because (a) the cover art is almost the same as Words of Reason and (b) there are at least a couple of the same songs on both tapes. But this one was clearly recorded at a different time so...?

We don't understand. But that's par for the course.

Zen - Words of Reason (1992)


Zen - Words of Reason

Zen - Words of Reason (inside)

One of side benefits of having screwed up the links to our artwork earlier this week (aside from having gotten rid of our completely incompetent intern - no, you cannot use us as a reference, Mr. Linkdeleter) is that we've just realized we never posted a couple of tapes. That's what happens when you're, well, not really paying attention.

So here's Zen. In all their hard rock glory. Vocalist Rob Kelly was in Joker, but this is more - well, early 90's alt.metal.

Monday 12 October 2009

Church of Doug - Cigarettes Whiskey and Wild Wild Women (1988)

Church of Doug

We're mildly jealous of our friends over at Golden Rock right now, because they've been the lucky recipient of a bunch of tapes that had been carefully stored in the trunk of a car. You should pop over there and grab the live Legendary Few tape they've posted, as well as this - the solo offering from sometimes-Golden Calgarian Doug Smith. We're told that each of the actual cassettes was customized by Doug himself; the copy originally obtained by Golden Rock (via the Coughin' Nails' Murray Grieg) boasts the scrawl, "watered down 3 for 1 drinks are Satan's ploy to destroy live music--Rev. Doug '88."

We really like the Golden Calgarians, but they were a vinyl-only outfit. It's good to have an excuse to talk about them.

Saturday 12 September 2009

Various - It's Only the Trees (1997)



Well, looks like these folks' attempt to get through an entire year of compilations didn't pan out. We don't know of a fourth in this series - it ends abruptly with their fall compilation.

And it's a weird mix, with the only identifiable Calgary content being Joe McCaffery solo (as Rot Gut, playing a stripped-down version of "Brains," the opener of Straight's sadly-neglected second CD, Palm Springs), Ian Doig's Parkades and Jeff Kushner.

And, for some inexplicable reason, Nardwuar's Thee Goblins.

Various - The Sizzle and the Cake (1997)



Apparently, the folks who put this out were trying to do something seasonally-realted with these, doing one compilation a quarter. Their summer compilation brings together some Shinolas (yay!), alongside a few bands we haven't seen yet on this blog - the Bittermen, Pretty Girls Dig Graves (featuring BeATroute/Blacktop Fiver Brad Simm) and Georgia Asphalt.

Various - Beginning to Bloom (1997)



This is an odd thing that we almost forgot about. It's the first of a series of three compilations of (mostly) Calgary bands. It was accompanied by a 'zine-type booklet. Remember 'zines? Crammed into a crappy 10 cent copy shop, huffing toner? Good times.

You might be interested in this because of its inclusion of Airship One, Massive Ferguson and Roscoe Pecoe's Scott Bennie (listed as Lifeboat).

Get it here.

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Shinolas - Passin' the Gasoline (1997)

Shinolas - Passin' the Gasoline

We had every intention of giving the CCPS team the month of August off, and taking time to bask in the sun/drown in the rain, but a surprise package in today's post has us scrambling to assemble the troops and post this newest addition to our archives. Now, we've been accused (quite correctly) of shamelessly gushing over anything of the garage rock persuasion. What can we say, we like what we like. And we LOVE the Shinolas.

So it's a pretty happy day when head Shinola Pete Link surprises us with this, which is either the second or third tape of four that the guys did. You'll want to grab this for a couple of reasons: first, "Bad Libations"; second, "Kiss Me With Filthy Lips"; third, "Ironic Seducer"; and fourth... uh, because it's gonna be a rainy few days ahead, and you might as well hunker down with some garage rock.

We have a very funny Shinolas-related (barely) story that we'd like to relate. We were meeting a donor at Tubby Dog a few months ago, and on seeing the pile of tapes we had in front of us, the proprietor of Calgary's finestest hot dog establishment asked (snidely), "who do you think you guys are, Tom Atkinson?" We shuffled a copy of Pigeonhole to the top of the pile of tapes. The proprietor shook his head in pity and walked away.

These are the things that we here at the CCPS endure to bring you the goods.

Friday 31 July 2009

Various - Anything That Makes Sense (1992)

Anything That Makes Sense-front

Anything That Makes Sense
We had forgotten about this compilation until Curtis Ling sent it our way. Our ill-named Head Researcher wants to say this is a precursor Metanoia, but we're too busy teasing the Head Researcher about his title to focus on backing up his claims.

Regardless, this brings together a whole bunch of our favourites into one big, sludgy pile. Not the sharpest quality on this tape, but hey, it's a tape, remember? Besides, a pile of these tracks you probably already have, if you've been diligent about downloading prior posts.

Get it hereabouts.

Thursday 23 July 2009

Agony Pipe - A Real Brew Ha Ha (1993)

Agony Pipe - A Real Brew Ha Ha

Agony Pipe - A Real Brew Ha Ha
... And here's that missing Agony Pipe tape.

We were digging through the Muretich archives, and found an article about Agony Pipe by... some guy who's not James Muretich, written a few months after this tape came out:


Sheesh, it's a good thing we're all incompetent over here, or someone would get fired for the ongoing inaccuracies and oversights.

Agony Pipe - Lost in the Briars (1991)

Agony Pipe - Lost in the Briars [Front]

Agony Pipe - Lost in the Briars [Inside]
We honestly had no idea there were three tapes from Agony Pipe (at least, we now presume) until Curtis Ling passed this one our way. We enjoy the photo from the Calgary Independent Music Festival, the Sled Island of its day. Really! This Facebook group reminds us that the awkwardly titled CIMF turned into Highwood. Was that where we saw Lorrie throwing his guitar around?

Anyways, one of our eagle-eyed/drunk editors has just noted that we forgot to post the second tape we have.

We do that fairly regularly, don't we?

Wednesday 22 July 2009

Field Day - Hot Wax (1993)

Field Day - Hot Wax

Big thanks to Curtis Ling for passing this our way - this (we think) completes the set of tapes that Field Day released. It also makes us wish we could head down to the Republik for a drink or two. Or three.

It also reminds us of this great video:



Filmed at a gas station just north of Calgary which is, sadly, no longer.

We would also like to note that Field Day's Wikipedia page has been updated to include their first tape, Pet. We like to think that because of the good/half-assed work we're doing here. We also suspect that the photo that shows up on that page - a j-card, no less - was borrowed from here. Well, that's fair enough - we here at the CCPS certainly do our share of borrowing, too.

Get your wax here.

Monday 20 July 2009

Day After Tomorrow Band - Because Sometimes it Hurts to Breathe (1999)

The Day After Tomorrow Band

The Day After Tomorrow Band-2
In an odd coincidence, Chris vanderLaan contacted us just as we were getting ready to post this. He tells us that there were two batches of this tape, one batch that was blue and was okay, and one that was clear and was "the worst dub job of all time."

Guess which batch this is from!

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Guilt Trip - Guilt Trip (2000)

Here's another from the archives of Casey Lewis. What can we tell you about this? Not much, unfortunately. But this page over at Interpunk has a bit of the story.

Get their tape here.

Tuesday 7 July 2009

Corta Vita - The Corta Vita

The Corta Vita

We're not sure of the year of this tape, but we're going to suggest 2000 or 2001. Recorded with donor Casey Lewis, this tape is full of angular, scream-heavy punk. What the kids sometimes call screamo, we're told.

Again, this is only what we've been told.

Saturday 4 July 2009

Serial Heroes - Hi-O! We're Serial Heroes! (1995)

Serial Heroes

A while back, we posted a Serial Heroes tape that Dan Izzo found for us. Casey Lewis unearthed another for us! It's much as you'd expect. Raw and gritty.

Kind of like the bacon and pancakes we had at the mall's Stampede breakfast this morning.

Thursday 2 July 2009

Zuckerbaby - Zuckerbaby (1997)

Zuckerbabby

Zuckerbabby-2
Since Zoo Story took us down to the bottom of the alphabet, and since we just made reference to them, here's another thing we'd forgotten existed in tape format. Zuckerbaby bested the Primrods by not just getting signed and recording a record for a major label, but also getting it released. You have heard that unreleased Primrods record, haven't you? Wait, we've managed to get distracted by our love for the Primrods again. Primrods, Primrods, Primrods.

Sigh.

There, that's a bit better. Where were we?

Oh, right. Zuckerbaby. This quartet played radio-friendly, alt-power pop. And they had good haircuts. This is the first of two major label releases they put out. Apparently, once you get on a major label, it gives you the power to make insanely long and bewilderingly-folded j-cards for your tapes. So insane and bewildering that we can't fold it up again. If anyone out there knows how to fold this j-card up again, please let us know.

Please, Universal (or whoever owns the rights to this now), don't sue us!

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Zoo Story - Sing and Play Their Hits in a Bathroom (1994)

Zoo Story - Sing and Play Their Hits in a Bathroom

We've been looking for some Zoo Story for a while, so thanks a gazillion to Blaine Kyllo for unearthing this. Zoo Story kick off the incredibly faulty CJSW/Saved by Radio compilation 90.9 With a Bullet, and a careful reading of the liner notes tells us that this band was brothers Jeff and Greg Kushner. Blaine seems to recall that Dianne Kooch was also part of this, can anyone out there confirm this? That 90.9 compilation is pretty much useless for any detail on the bands it includes. Plus, no Ninth Configuration, no Quitters (or even Straight), it's not in chronological order (Pussy Monster before the Vindicators - really?)... and track 14 on side 1 is pure shite.

Anyways, this is pure gold. Sloppy garage pop which does sound like it was played in a bathroom (the mix is all drums, bass and vocals - which works). This is our recommended download of the month. We're going out on a limb saying that, we know.

But you probably don't think much of these little write-ups anyways.

Kush - Peppermint (1995)

Kush - Peppermind

Another Jeff Kushner release, this one falls right between the two we've posted already. This one's more of the same psych-pop goodness. Big Bang Theory's Case Caulfield plays bass on this, Zuckerbaby's Reed Shimozawa contributes guitar. The four quick songs on this kind of leave us craving more.

Or maybe we're just craving a Peppermint Aero.

Jeff Kushner - Astray (1997)

Jeff Kushner - Astray

A while back, we posted another Jeff Kushner tape. This is another batch of great psych-inspired pop that Blaine Kyllo was good enough to send our way. This is much more low-fi, which makes it a whole lot cooler in our books.

Get it here.

Monday 29 June 2009

Mediaucracy - New Western Empire

Mediaucracy

This tape comes to us via Casey Lewis, without the jcard. We managed to steal the artwork from elsewhere on the interweb, saving us from the no jcard tag. But we still don't know much about these guys - the contact on the tape is Mark Vermin, who we think is/was/will ever be Mark from Inquisition/Martyr Index.

But we're a bit damaged after Sled Island. We're not sure about much right now.

Thursday 25 June 2009

Jigsaw - Melodiya Sampler

Ah, here's that other Jigsaw tape. Don't know why we didn't post it when Col. Cam Hayden passed it to us.

We were probably just being lazy.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Chapter 16 - Victimless Crimes (1997)

Chapter 16 - Victimless Crimes

Here's another from Chapter 16, courtesy of Casey Lewis. We're going to assume this is the same lineup as the other two tapes of theirs we've profiled. We tried to read the booklet included with the tape to verify this, but we couldn't get past the anti-war on drugs/pro-NORML diatribe.

A crime, indeed.

Sunday 21 June 2009

Jigsaw - Jigsaw (1995)

Jigsaw-2

A while back, we received (but didn't post for some strange reason) a two-song demo for this band. We didn't know much from that release (it didn't have a j-card, of course). But now, thanks to Casey Lewis, we have a full tape from these guys. Clayton Hayes went on to start up the Gigposters.com... and that's all we can pull together right now.

Get the full length tape here, while we go try to figure out what happened to that other tape.

Saturday 20 June 2009

Silent Terror - Cowcore

Silent Terror - Cowcore

We can't quite put a date on this one, but we believe this is from some time in the mid- to late-80's. Silent Terror also appear on the legendary Calgary Compelation, We believe there's a link between this band and Six Feet Under, but we can't verify that right now - one of our favourite sources, the esteemed but neglected Punk History Canada, has taken its band info pages down due to hacking issues.

Get it here.