Tuesday 31 August 2010

Menno Klassen - Asharpi Happi (1993)

Alongside the Son of a Thousand Fathers tape we borrowed from our pals at CJSW, we also managed to grab this solo offering from Menno Klassen. While we've got a year, we don't have any indication as to who else was involved with this thing. We're doubting the same cast as the Fathers, mostly because of, well... really, we don't have a valid reason.

Monday 30 August 2010

Son of a Thousand Fathers - CJSW Demo

Following close on the heels of the tape that Allen Baekeland lent us, we were pretty excited to find another Son of a Thousand Fathers tape in the CJSW archive. This tape doesn't have any indication of band membership, but we assume it's the same folks - it certainly is the same loose, improvised fare as the first tape. Right down to a false start on track six.

Sunday 29 August 2010

Great Uncle Bull - Great Uncle Bull (1998)




We were been pleased to feature the work of Shoutin' Abner Pim and the Puritans on here a while back, and now, thanks to the CJSW library, we're able to present the other piece that makes up the puzzle that is the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir.

Great Uncle Bull was Vlad and Judd from the Agnostics, along with Julie Kerr (and maybe others?), doing some great, foot-stomping blues/bluegrass that certainly is an early indicator of the ground the Agnostics would plow.

We note that Judd appears to be taking a bit of a break from the Agnostics, which has the band playing with the great Jackson Phibes - we caught them at the Ship and Anchor, and their combination is amazing, highly recommended.


As is the tape at hand today.

Saturday 28 August 2010

Free Radicals - Self-Titled (1998)



We've got one last Free Radicals tape to share with you. We're intrigued by the idea of these guys paired with uber-perfectionist Bobby McAlister, and also the fact that they've got a track that's apparently been mixed by the infamous Whitey Kirst.

We've been clicking through a few more of the sites linked from the Free Radicals' posthumous myspace, and we're getting confused as to whether Curtain of Habit came before or after the Free Radicals. Maybe both? This is probably something we should know, but don't.

Friday 27 August 2010

Free Radicals - Free Radicals (1994)




So here we have a properly yeared released from the Free Radicals. Even better, a hand-written note from the band that indicates they were considering a name change and held their cover of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" ("Wanna Be Your Dog" on the tape cover and label, simply "Be Your Dog" on this note - we appreciate the economy of their re-titling) to be one of their strong inclusions on this.

Now, not to get overly picky, but we far prefer their Stooges cover to the Undertones cover that shows up on the flipside of this tape. We agree with John Peel that the original "Teenage Kicks" is worth (at least) 28 stars - we're going to give the Free Radicals' version just a fraction of that.

Anyways, we're sure these guys didn't want to be remembered for their choices of covers - though you have to admit, we've seen very few tapes thus far with many covers (we're not talking j-cards, we've seen piles of tapes without j-cards). In a lot of ways, it adds to the gritty, screw-it-all attitude that pervades this tape.

Or maybe that's just the drum machine?

Thursday 26 August 2010

Free Radicals - Just Another Day/Choker



We're going to take a quick tour, starting with this year-less, Letraset-emblazoned tape from the CJSW library. The Free Radicals apparently sprang at least partially from the ashes of Curtain of Habit. We don't think we ever saw these guys in action - it appears, from reviews of their live shows, that we would have remembered them. Although, honestly, there's a lot we've burned out of our memory.

This tape is pretty rough - side one is your basic 4/4 garage punk (we wish more bands would play 3/4 garage punk), and side two - apparently a Yardbirds cover - is, well, really, really rough.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Weep, O' Mine Eyes - A Beautiful Memory Lingers (1989)



A while back, Richard Reynolds was kind enough to slide us some 80's underground electronica, which has helped us to get a fix on this tape that we found in the CJSW archives. We're enjoying the dark, dark atmosphere of this - and wishing the Warehouse was still open.

Well, okay, maybe that's going too far...

Tuesday 24 August 2010

A-Team - Futurehop: Moustache 2051 AD (1995)



We've always enjoyed the A-Team (their show at CJSW's 225th Anniversary Party last January was a highlight for us), so we're equally thrilled to find this tape in the CJSW archives. Sure, these seven songs also show up on their compilation CD, Non Merci, but... the fact that this is an unlabelled tape with a makeshift j-card (so long and pink!) make this a pretty special find.

Sunday 22 August 2010

Inquisition - Rise and Shine

We're not sure why the CCPS Posting Committee has selected this tape, one of the recent ones we borrowed from the good folks at CJSW, as the first to post from said batch of borrowed tapes. We have yet to find anything definitive about the membership of the Inquisition - and since this tape is missing its j-card, we're still stuck.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Exceptions - The Exceptions (1996)



This tape helps us clear up some of the mystery surrounding these two posts. We're guessing that somewhere along the line, the Exceptions discovered that their name wasn't all that unique, and then also decided that their front man was hot shit.

Of course, that's only a guess.

Thursday 12 August 2010

Danno - Is This Life? (1990)



We're not sure who Danno is, or how he amassed the collection of motel keys on the cover of this tape. Listening to this tape, we imagine him driving around in a t-top Firebird, shirt unbuttoned and hair blowing in the breeze. Romancing the ladies, breaking hearts with his oh-so-sauve style. Yeah, this is pretty '80s.

But not without its charm.


Wednesday 11 August 2010

Friendo - Friendo (2009)



We woke up this morning, and we were wearing skinny jeans. We're worried that if we keep this up, we're going to want to buy a fixie. So one last post from Bart Records, then we've got some of the old, questionable tapes that you've come to expect from us.

We're not sure what to say about Friendo, other than that they're good. Um, yeah.

Sorry, we got distracted by this really sweet fixie that someone just rode by on... can we maybe talk tomorrow?

Get this from Bart.

Update: Looks like these tracks (and more) are available at the Friendo bandcamp.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Topless Mongos - Topless Mongos (2010)



We don't know quite how this has happened, but suddenly we're bought into this whole tape-buying-hipster-movement. Actually, we do know why - Topless Mongos are one of our favourite local acts (full disclosure: we've only seen them once - but apparently they're playing Calgary's upcoming menstruation celebration, so we're looking forward to seeing them again there), and... hell, look at that illustration on the inner cover. Dilbart! Violating Garchie! This is better than Dig!

Well, almost. The cover of this tape claims to have four songs on side one. Ours only has two. But still, that's better than what we're giving you. Which is none, because you need to go buy this for yourselves.

Okay, since we've had a request.... here it is!

Monday 9 August 2010

Grown-Ups - I Can't Win (2010)



We're being slightly revisionary and splitting last week's Grown-Ups post in two. Why? Mostly to increase our post count.

But also because one of our operatives accidentally bought this tape last night, when he should have been at home getting a good night's sleep on a school night.

We were laughing at him this morning, but after seeing the amazing ET-themed inside photo on this, no one's laughing.

Phone home!

Update: these tracks (and more) are available from the Grown-Ups bandcamp on a free compilation of their entire recorded output.

Sunday 8 August 2010

End Orphans - End Orphans (1988)




In among all of the Golden Calgarians-related tapes that Allen Baekeland lent us was this oddity, a band that was the brainchild of Matthew DiCastri. File this one under bedroom goth, and put it next to your Funeral Factory tapes.

Speaking of which genre, if anyone has the first Dixie's Death Pool tape, can you lend it to us? That's one of the ones we lost in a move somewhere among the years...

Saturday 7 August 2010

Gas - Wheat is Your Mantra (1994)



We think we were looking for GASP, and somehow ended up finding this tape by Gas. We have no idea who was in this band, whose sound fits pretty much exactly what you'd expect from the early 90's Calgary alt-rock scene.


Update! Thanks to Lorrie Matheson and Brooker Buckingham for filling out the membership. Looks like this was a continuation of Gaudhed.

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Grown-Ups -Grown-Ups (2009)



We're trying to find time to get down to Ye Olde Tubbye Dogge this evening for one of their rock and roll spectaculars (and mayhaps one of our favourite things, the Sumo Dog), so it's probably fitting that we give this first little tape from one of tonight's bands a bit of a nod. For those who haven't seen the snotty punk rock of Grown-Ups, we highly recommend grabbing this, which the band has made available for download via their myspace (you might have to skim the page to find the link).

We like these guys so much, we bought a weird, frisbee-like piece of plastic of theirs.

Update: you can also get these tracks from a free compilation of their full recordings on bandcamp.

Sunday 1 August 2010

Son of a Thousand Fathers - Son of a Thousand Fathers




We're not sure of the year of this tape, nor of the exact circumstances that brought this about. We note that Son of a Thousand Fathers make an appearance on the 1986 Calgary Compelation, which makes us re-consider our initial impression that this was a one-off recording.