Omega Tribe are an English anarcho-punk band, formed in Barnet, London in 1981. With the roles of Hugh Vivian on guitar and vocals, Daryl Hardcastle on bass, Pete Fender on guitar and Pete Shepherd on drums, their first EP, 'Angry Songs', was produced by Penny Rimbaud and Pete Fender for Crass Records in 1982.
Their subsequent LP, 'No Love Lost', (released by Corpus Christi Records, 1983) won the hearts of many hardened anarchos and secured their place in anarcho-punk history.
A far more melodic style, encouraged by producer and new guitarist Pete Fender (from Rubella Ballet), created a highly influential template that many other bands were to build on.
They released a cassette only live release on BBP tapes in 1984.
In 1984 Sonny Flint joined on drums, and they took on a sax and flute player Jane Keay.Pete Shepherd the original drummer switched to playing percussion.
Pete Fender departed early in 1984. Line-up changes were fairly frequent after this period and a 12" EP, '(It's a) Hard Life/Young John', was finally released in 1985 that showed a complete change of direction. By 1986, after the departure of vocalist and founder-member Hugh, the band was known simply as The Tribe. The band continued to maintain a presence on the UK live circuit for a further year or so but recording opportunity evaded them. Sonny Flint departed in 1987 and the band split in 1988.
Omega Tribe reformed briefly to play guest spot at Vi Subversa's 60th Birthday Bash at London's Astoria 2 in June 1995. A short incognito tour under the name of Charlie showed promise, but the band's members had other interests and the project was short-lived.
A compilation CD, 'Make Tea Not War', was released in 2000 on Rugger Bugger Records and a cut-down vinyl LP version was also pressed. Both albums quickly sold out.
In August 2016, Daryl Hardcastle, Hugh Vivian and Sonny Flint reunited and performed a limited number of dates between December 2016 and March 2017, including Vi Day at the 2017 AWOD Festival. At the end of March 2017, Sonny Flint left the band. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
As much a radical arts organization as a band, Negativland have made a major impact on not only the world of experimental music, but popular culture and mass media as a whole. Similar to composer John Oswald's concept of plunderphonics, Negativland coined the term "culture jamming" to describe their particular brand of subversive media manipulation. Assembling much of their work out of found and re-appropriated material, particularly easily recognizable sounds and images from advertisements and other mainstream media, the group create dense, semi-musical collages which provide surreal commentary on topics ranging from religion to celebrity culture to intellectual property issues. The group's biting sense of humor has always been one of its most crucial assets, and they've received more widespread attention for their hoaxes and media stunts than their actual music, most notably the uproar caused when the band put out a press release falsely linking a song from 1987's 'Escape from Noise' to a real-life murder, or the lengthy debacle following 1991's infamous U2 single. Undaunted by legal troubles, the band have remained tireless advocates for the reform of copyright laws, and they worked with Creative Commons in order to develop the Creative Commons Sampling License in 2004. Negativland have had an incalculable influence on remix and mash-up culture, and by the 2010s, the era of social media, memes, and "fake news," the group's culture jamming techniques had become commonplace, making their work as alarmingly prescient as ever. They continued to explore themes related to media, data, and technology on the interconnected releases 'True False' (2019) and 'The World Will Decide' (2020).
Formed in the San Francisco area, Negativland originally revolved around the talents of Mark Hosler and Richard Lyons, multi-instrumentalists with an ear for tape manipulation of all sorts. Their inspired stroke of genius was to recruit David Wills, more famously known as The Weatherman in later years, to make up the original trio. Wills, a cable TV repairman by trade, was just as obsessed with home recording and experimentation as the other two, and his wry, drawling vocals became the core trademark for many of Negativland's most notorious releases. Working with a few guests such as Peter Dayton on guitar, the trio released their debut self-titled release in 1980, notable as much for its packaging (each album featured individually wallpapered covers) as for its fragmented songs and textures. Apparently, the still-teenaged Hosler wanted it completed, in part, so he could feel he had accomplished something by the time he graduated from high school, a reasonable enough goal. Released in 1981, 'Points' featured the same general lineup, with new and notable guest performer Ian Allen, credited with tape processing on one track. However, an even more important bond was made that year, the recruitment of Don Joyce. Joyce had started a free-form radio show, "Over the Edge", on the Bay Area's KPFA station that also explored fried humor and social commentary much like Negativland itself. As a result, Hosler and company appeared one day on the show shortly after it began, and since then, "Over the Edge" has become the regular sonic testing ground for most of the band's releases, still running strong after over 30 years.
The next official Negativland album was the group's unquestionable breakthrough. 1983's 'A Big 10-8 Place', was created by the core of Hosler, Allen, and Wills, with Lyons and Joyce as guests, along with a new face, Chris Grigg. Synthesizing the band's love of aural theater and the subversion of expected pop and rock approaches, it was at once a hilarious and quietly harrowing vivisection of suburbia, winning the band new fans and a growing reputation. Allen formerly departed after that point, while Joyce and Grigg became full-fledged members. The ensuing five-piece lineup -Grigg, Hosler, Joyce, Lyons, and Wills- kept up their various explorations on the air and in the studio, not to mention irregular but creative and well-received live performances and occasional dabbling in video work. Their reputation grew to the point where they were formally signed to Greg Ginn's legendary punk label SST, a decision that would have unexpected consequences some time later.
The band saw out the '80s with two major releases on SST, not counting a variety of tape-only efforts showcasing some of the best Over the Edge sessions. Issued in 1987, 'Escape from Noise' took the scope of 'A Big 10-8 Place' to even wider levels, touching on everything from how many time zones Russia covers to a rendition of "Over the Rainbow" sung by a little girl plagued with hiccups. Maintaining Negativland's blend of wit and darker themes, it might have simply remained a cult classic were it not for the appearance of the throbbing, creepy "Christianity Is Stupid" and, a few months after the album's release, a mass murder in Minnesota committed by a teenager against his family. Having tour plans fall through at around the same time, Negativland decided to distribute a fake press release hinting that the killer had in fact been arguing with his parents over "Christianity Is Stupid," which resulted in a slew of publicity and confusion over what the truth of the situation was. Some condemned the group's actions as tasteless exploitation, but Negativland preferred to think of it as an examination of media assumptions, and the whole affair became the backbone of 1989's 'Helter Stupid'.
As if the storm of controversy over "Christianity Is Stupid" wasn't hectic enough, what the band did next was nearly enough to do themselves in permanently. With barely any advance publicity -but all too suspiciously timed to appear just before U2's long-awaited 1991 album 'Achtung Baby'- Negativland (with Lyons taking a temporary break) let a two-song single slip out in the summer of that year called 'U2'. The contents turned out to be two radically different versions of the Irish band's anthem "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," using and chopping up the original beyond recognition, as well as splicing in bits from a notorious underground tape featuring legendary American DJ Casey Kasem obscenely ranting about nearly everything.
What happened over the next few months is still the subject of legal threats on all sides: First, U2's label crashed down hard on the release, forcing it to be withdrawn after only a few days of being in the stores (all of which occurred without the knowledge of U2's members themselves, by all accounts). Kasem found out what happened as well and threw his own lawyers into the fray. Things got even more hairy for the band when SST suddenly turned on the group, with Ginn seeking to recoup his financial losses via the bandmembers (even as a follow-up EP, 'Guns', slipped out). The ensuing barrage of claims and counterclaims, documented first in the band's 1992 CD/book 'The Letter U and the Numeral 2', and then in even more detail three years later in an expanded release called 'Fair Use', found Negativland beset by legal and monetary woes that almost sank them. At the same time, what had been a joke and a dare soon became a new focus for the bandmembers, who inadvertently made a name for themselves as crusaders for both artistic integrity and a freer interpretation of copyright law in opposition to corporate control.
This fresh direction, though one which grew naturally out of Negativland's previous work, helped reinvigorate the group, which reactivated the Seeland label with the release of 'Free' in 1993. Accompanying tours found the band delivering both older hits (if you will) and extended meditations on the whole 'U2' saga (a notable though unofficial release, 'Negativconcertland', presented a typical show over its two discs). Perhaps most notable of all was Wills' live work -for any number of rumored personal reasons, he refused to tour, so the band did the next best thing and simply videotaped his parts for playback.
After further extricating themselves as much as they could from the matter, as well as completely severing all links with Ginn and SST, Negativland kept on keeping on. Joyce's Over the Edge show continued as always, with an increasing number of old and new shows edited for presentation as formal releases, though 1996 brought the departure of Grigg from the band. Negativland's next formal release in 1997 looked to be another red-flag-to-the-bull effort, though whether out of foolhardiness or calculation is unknown. Regardless, 'Dispepsi', featuring the guest contributions of newest member Peter Conheim, didn't bring down the wrath of Pepsi-Cola on the band's head, even though the cover art was clearly a riff on the company's distinctive logo, while the content explored the very concept of advertising and its potentially destructive nature. 1998 featured a follow-up EP, 'Happy Heroes', and the following year saw the appearance of a full collaborative single with British radical stalwarts (and longtime Negativland fans) Chumbawamba, 'The ABCs of Anarchism'.
The turn of the millennium ushered in a new, if generally lower-key, era to Negativland, with the group's most notable later work being a well-received tour, "True/False 2000", featuring much newer material as well as an old standby or two, not to mention some amazingly nutty between-set skits and films (and, as always, Wills only turning up on video). In 2001, the band released a sort-of bootleg, 'These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit', revisiting the whole 'U2' blow-up with numerous alternate versions (and the originals) of Negativland's most (in)famous effort. The following year saw the release of 'Death Sentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak', and in 2005 the band issued 'No Business' and celebrated its 25th anniversary by curating an art exhibit in New York City called "Negativlandland", which contained artwork inspired by the band's music, as well as Negativland music videos and original art created specifically for the event. Three years later, 'Thigmotactic', a full-fledged venture into songwriting, was released on Seeland. In 2014, Negativland and Seeland released one of their most ambitious projects, 'It's All in Your Head', a concept piece about the practice of religion and why people place their faith in a supreme being. The album was packaged in a specially repurposed King James Bible. Former member Ian Allen died from complications related to heart-valve replacement surgery in January 2015 at the age of 56. In July of that same year, Don Joyce died of heart failure; he was 71 years old. Another death in the Negativland family occurred on April 19, 2016, when Richard Lyons passed away due to complications of nodular melanoma on his 57th birthday. In October of that year, Negativland released 'The Chopping Channel', the ninth volume of CDs culled from Over the Edge broadcasts. Recorded before Joyce's death, he appears prominently on the album, and early pre-orders from the band's website were shipped out with audio carts he used during the broadcasts, as well as small samples of his cremated remains. 'True False', the first of two interconnected studio albums, was released in October of 2019, examining themes such as social media's effect on our mental health and perception of reality. 'The World Will Decide', a surrealist exploration of smart technology and security, followed a year later. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Metgumbnerbone was an obscure ritual-industrial improvisation project that centered around the collaboration between Richard and Philip Rupenus (better known as The New Blockaders, and often Organum partners), John Mylotte, and Sean Breadin (who with Richard Rupenus formed the oblique ritual project Masstishaddhu). From what little information is available about the group, Metgumbnerbone only had a couple releases back in the mid ’80s with 'Ligeliahorn' being the only recording to get beyond the short run productions of cassette culture with a vinyl release on the now defunct A-Mission Records. Metgumbnerbone is an ensemble whose recordings have become fetish objects for the most die-hard industrial fans. [SOURCE: SPUTNIK MUSIC]
Luis Mesa is a Spanish electronic pioneer now disappeared from the scene, he was a true precursor of noise. He published his first cassette in 1983 at the same time that he founded his record label IEP (Investigaciones Estudios y Proyectos). He began in the eighties with groups like Esplendor Geométrico, Macromassa, La Otra Cara de un Jardín...
He recorded with other pseudonyms such as Merz, Recursos Ajenos and Bercomice. [SOURCE: SOMN ARCHIVE]
The Lizard Train were formed in Adelaide in early 1985 with Shane Bloffwitch (ex-Risque Humour) on bass guitar and vocals; David Creese (Risque Humour) on drums, chimes and vocals; Phil Drew on guitar and vocals; and Chris Willard (Head On, Crawling Eye, Acid Drops, Revenge of the Gila Monsters) on lead guitar and lead vocals. Willard's former bandmate and then-girlfriend, Liz Dealey, formed her own band, Liz Dealey and the Twenty Second Sect. The Lizard Train's first gig was in May 1985 and their first recording was as backing musicians on Liz Dealey and the Twenty Second Sect's debut single, 'The Wailing House', in 1986.
In August 1986 The Lizard Train released their debut extended play, 'Thirteen Hour Daydream', on Greasy Pop Records. Its four tracks had been recorded in December the previous year at Adelaide's Studio 202 with Kim Horne engineering and producing. From August to October 1987 The Lizard Train undertook their first tour of Europe where the EP had gained some popularity in France and Germany. In September that year they issued their debut studio album, 'Slippery'. Its lead single, "Beauty Underground" had appeared in June and was followed in October by "Ever Been There?". Drew left in December and the group continued as a trio. They toured Europe again and then in September 1989 they started recording their second album, 'The Ride', at Bartels St Studio with Tony Elliot producing.It appeared the following year with a single, "She Gets Me".
In October-November 1991 they recorded their next album, 'Get Your Wah Wahs Out,' with Elliot producing again. By 1992 they had signed with Shock Records' label, Shagpile Records and released the album that year. In October 1993 they followed with a six-track album, 'Couch', produced by Darren McBain, Dave Lokan and Lizard Train; and recorded at Big Sound Studios in April.
In March 1995 the next album, 'Everything Moves', appeared; it was preceded by its associated single, "It all Came from Nothing", a month earlier. They were produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Breeders, The Jesus Lizard) at Mixmasters Studio in Belair. In May that year they issued a five-track extended play, 'Inertia', also produced by Albini. By that time they had relocated to Melbourne and became The Dumb Earth. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Lime Spiders were an Australian post-punk unit resurrecting the trashier elements of '60s garage and psychedelic rock with willful abandon. Vocalist Mick Blood formed the band in the early '80s with guitarist Gerald Corben, bassist Tony Bambach and drummer Ricky Lawson. The band recorded two singles during 1983 (released on the 'Slave Girl EP' two years later) and signed to Virgin Records. Lime Spiders' first album was the excellent 'The Cave Comes Alive!', but the following year's 'Volatile' was a bit of disappointment, veering closer to stultifying hard rock. The group broke up after 1990's 'Beethoven's Fist'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
The Lewd were an outgrowth of an earlier band called The Sixteen Year Old Virgins, who changed their name to The Knobs. Lead singer J. Satz Baret was formerly as "Satin Sheets," and played in the later, non-cabaret version of Ze Whiz Kids, circa 1975. Ze Whiz Kids, primarily a theater group, also included the late Tomata Du Plenty, of The Screamers.
The Lewd’s first show was in the Northwest punk Bethlehem, Vancouver, B.C. The Lewd opened for the Ramones on June 8, 1977 for an evening of pure insanitainment. They recorded and released a great three-song EP on Scratched Records in 1979. The record was a home studio recording, and included the insane "Kill Yourself." The B-side numbers, "Trash Can Baby" and "Pay Or Die" are equally great crash 'n' burn punk tunes, all with Blobbo (Kurdt Vanderhoof of Metal Church) playing bass.
In late 1979, Satz and Blobbo moved The Lewd to San Francisco and Blobbo switched over to guitar, adding Bob Clic on bass. This band recorded some demos and played SF for a nearly a year until Blobbo quit to form his new venture Metal Church, who released quite a few heavy metal albums. Bob Clic moved to guitar, and part-time model Olga de Volga came in on bass. Olga had played with other bands, including one called VS and often played Lewd shows wearing outrageous black leather outfits. The band appeared on the 1980 seven-inch, four-band EP 'S.F. Underground 2' (Subterranean Records) doing the fast-paced punker "Mobile Home."
With Christopher Reece in as drummer, they released their only LP, 'American Wino' on ICI Records in 1982. Having fully absorbed the emerging faster hardcore punk sound, this blistering document features one side of studio recordings done in Hollywood, and another side culled from a live performance at Target Video Studios. This album is a crucial document of the San Francisco early '80s hardcore scene, right up there with releases by Flipper, VKTMs, No Alternative, Dead Kennedys, etc. After the LP was released, Bob Clic left and the band fizzled out soon afterwards. Olga moved to Hawaii, and Chris Reece became a member of Social Distortion.
[SOURCE: LAST.FM]
The Keys were an English, London-based band active from 1979 until 1983. The band was formed by bassist Drew Barfield (later of the Big Heat and Los Pacaminos), guitarist Steve Tatler, Ben Grove, and Paul McCartney's former drummer Geoff Britton. Joe Jackson produced the band's only album, 'The Keys Album' for A&M, from which came several singles: "One Good Reason", "I Don't Wanna Cry" and "Greasy Money". [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Jarboe, who has always preferred to be known by her first name only, has long been recognized as one of the fiercest spirits in modern music. She is an intelligent and aggressive artist possessed of striking musical skill who has rejected the music industry's all-too-easy stereotyping and exploitation to create shockingly powerful visions. Helping strongly in this is her one-of-a-kind vocal talent, which ranges from emotive blues/gospel tones to wild shrieking -an excellent match with her wide-ranging preference in musical styles, from industrial dance to atmospheric psych-folk. Joining the band Swans two years after it came into being, Jarboe soon became the co-leader of the band with founder Michael Gira; together the pair released some of the most striking, musically extreme recordings in years, both as Swans and as the side project band Skin. While she had begun releasing solo material with 1991's 'Thirteen Masks', she became far more prolific after Swans broke up in 1997, issuing numerous self-released recordings in addition to albums for labels such as Atavistic and the End, with highlights including 2005's 'The Conduit' and 2008's 'Mahakali'. She has also collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Neurosis, Justin Broadrick, and Helen Money.
Jarboe La Salle Devereaux comes from a complex, fascinating background. Both her parents were FBI agents; her upbringing in the South included such elements of extreme American religious faith as snake-handling ceremonies, and before her direct involvement in music she participated in "unorthodox sex work," to use her own words, in various U.S. cities. She learned to play a Hammond organ as a child, and was trained in jazz and choral vocals. She became obsessed with Swans after hearing their 1983 debut full-length, and eventually joined the band as their backing vocalist and keyboard player, first appearing on 1986's 'Greed'. She credits Michael Gira for expanding her vocal technique into that of a rock singer, as opposed to her previous background. Likewise, her tenure in Swans marked their change from a caustic noise-rock group to a more melodic, atmospheric one. In addition to appearing on Swans albums such as 'Children of God' (1987) and 'The Burning World' (1989), Jarboe formed a side project with Gira called Skin (aka the World of Skin), releasing three albums and a compilation between 1987 and 1990.
Jarboe's solo career began in 1991 with the release of 'Thirteen Masks', followed a year later by a collaborative effort released under the name 'Beautiful People' with Larry Seven, who had previously worked on 'Thirteen Masks' and various Swans tracks. Her next official solo release was 1995's 'Sacrificial Cake', described as a "Swans Related Product," and released in concert with Gira's own solo debut, 'Drainland'. After this, Swans took precedence as she and Gira finished the group's farewell albums and tours. Her first post-Swans release, 'Anhedoniac', appeared in 1998. Shortly thereafter she made a trip to Israel for artistic inspiration for the follow-up, 'Disburdeen Disciple'. However, she contracted an illness while traveling and was hospitalized upon her return to America. The album appeared in 2000, as did a collaboration with Telecognac titled 'Over'. Additionally, Jarboe collaborated with Brett Smith and John Bergin as Blackmouth, and the trio's self-titled album was released that year.
Following several limited, self-released CD-Rs, including the 2002 remix album 'Dissected', Jarboe collaborated with doom metal pioneers Neurosis on a 2003 full-length. Two years later, she released two albums on Atavistic: 'The Conduit' and double-CD 'The Men Album'. Following a trilogy of Magick-themed EPs and collaborations with Cedric Victor, Byla, and Justin Broadrick, Jarboe's solo album 'Mahakali' appeared in 2008, issued with different track listings for the American and European pressings. 'Alchemic' was released in 2009, and 'The Path' (with Kris Force) followed in 2010. While Jarboe did not rejoin Swans when they reunited in 2010, she did guest on their 2012 album 'The Seer'. She continued self-releasing limited solo albums, and returned to Atavistic with 2013's 'Mystagogue', a cover-heavy double-CD credited to The Sweet Meat Love & Holy Cult. Jarboe collaborated with cellist Helen Money, releasing a self-titled album in 2015, and worked with Father Murphy on a 2017 single. Solo album 'The Cut of the Warrior' was released by Translation Loss in 2018. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
San Francisco provocateurs Inflatable Boy Clams recorded one of the greatest all-female art punk records ever made, a wrongfully obscure five-song double 7-inch EP which has garnered a cult following ever since its initial release on Subterranean Records in 1981. While the music blends simple instrumentation and captivating, quirky lyrics, the artwork looks like an early Rough Trade single, complete with posh Winogrand-esque photo of the group.
More of a performance art troupe than a traditional rock band, the Boy Clams often rotated between instruments and shared vocal duties: JoJo Planteen, Judy Gittelsohn and Carol Detweiler (the latter two both members of Pink Section), along with saxophone player Genvieve Boutet de Monvel.
It is easy to imagine Planteen dancing to "Skeletons" with its infectious bassline and kitschy organ (or even to the flip-side track "Snoteleks," which is the A-side played backward). "I'm Sorry" is the ultimate one-upmanship song that reveals that women can be sinister, too. Recommended for fans of Kleenex / LiLiPUT, Raincoats, and Bush Tetras. [SOURCE: SUPERIOR VIADUCT]
One of the first New Zealand bands to explore the world of "abused technology" -samplers, synthesizers, drum machines, and the like- the Headless Chickens formed in 1985 as a one-off project to play the multimedia event "Nitpickers Picnic." Originally dubbed The International Headless Chickens, the trio -onetime Children's Hour members Chris Matthews and Johnny Pierce, along with drummer Michael Lawry- re-formed on a permanent basis in 1986, and soon made their recorded debut with a track on the student radio compilation 'Outnumbered by Sheep'. A self-titled EP followed later that year, and the group began a tour in support of Nico.
Tragedy soon struck, however, when bassist Pierce committed suicide in August 1986. The Headless Chickens soldiered on, enlisting another Children's Hour alum, Grant Fell, as Pierce's replacement; with the addition of former Bird Nest Roys member Rupert Taylor, they became a quartet. In 1987, the Headless Chickens won a national rock music contest which resulted in a first prize award of $60,000, allowing them to record an LP and mount a national tour; ex-Children's Hour drummer Bevan Sweeney then signed on to cut 'Stunt Clown', issued in 1988 to strong critical acclaim. The single "Donka" was also an audience favorite. The following year, the Headless Chickens' roster changed yet again with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Anthony Nevison, who made his debut on the excellent single "Expecting to Fly," which helped land a contract with the Flying Nun label.
Still, because of their heavy reliance on electronics -a sound atypical of the dominant New Zealand aesthetic- the Headless Chickens initially found little mainstream acceptance. That changed with the release of 1991's 'Body Blow', the first record to feature new vocalist Fiona McDonald; the single "Cruise Control," which marked a new, slicker direction for the group's sound, reached the Top Ten -only the second Flying Nun release to earn such a distinction. The follow-up singles, "Donde Esta La Pollo" and "Juice," were also successful. Health problems forced Nevison temporarily out of the group in 1993, and after a 1994 European tour, both McDonald and Lawry exited as well; when Fell announced his own departure in early 1995, the group's continued existence appeared grim, but in 1997, they returned with 'Greedy'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Gen Ken Montgomery is a New York-based artist whose involvement in the cassette-culture and mail-art movements of the late seventies led to the creation of Generator, New York’s first sound art gallery (1989). At Generator Montgomery amassed what is now a time capsule of internationally produced art in the form of cassettes, records, zines, letters and ephemera from the days before the internet when artists collaborated and corresponded internationally by post. Montgomery has collaborated with many legends of the music/sound noise underground including G.X. Jupitter-Larsen, Scott Konzelmann (Chop Shop), David Lee Myers (Arcane Device), Al Margolis (If, Bwana), Istvan Kantor (Monty Cantsin), Michael Zodorozny (Crash Course in Science) and Conrad Schnitzler whose octophoninc Music in the Dark Cassette CONcerts Montgomery continues to perform.
Montgomery co-founded Generations Unlimited, Pogus and A.T.M.O.T.W. (Art Is Throwing Money Out The Window). Montgomery playfully thrives in a world celebrating ephemera, immersive listening experiences, book making and Lamination Rituals. He also loves making and sending postcards. Doing business as Egnekn, Montgomery is the Minister of Lamination in The Kingdoms of Elgalnad-Vargaland. [SOURCE: SONM ARCHIVE]
If The Ramones had been a road-tested biker gang instead of pop-obsessed cartoon speed merchants, they might have sounded something like The Lazy Cowgirls. Merging the buzzsaw roar of first-wave punk, the sneering attitude of '60's garage rock, the heart-on-your-sleeve honesty of honky-tonk, and the self-assured swagger of The Rolling Stones, The Lazy Cowgirls play raw, sweaty outlaw rock and roll at its most furiously passionate and physically intense; like a Harley gunned up to 95 mph, The Lazy Cowgirls may not sound safe, but they sure are fun.
Vocalist Pat Todd, guitarist D.D. Weekday (aka Doug Phillips), and bassist Keith Telligman left their hometown of Vincennes, Indiana in 1981 to move to California, hoping to get a rock band off the ground. In 1983, they finally settled on fellow Indiana refugee Allen Clark as a drummer, and began hitting the L.A. club circuit as The Lazy Cowgirls. After countless shows playing to "no one, and people from work" (according to Todd), the band caught the ear of Chris Desjardins (aka Chris D.), former leader of art-punks The Flesh Eaters. Desjardins got the band a deal with Restless Records, and produced their self-titled debut LP in 1984. The album didn't quite reflect the band's powerhouse live show, and they were soon dropped from the label. After two years of local shows and occasional touring, Bomp Records came to the rescue by releasing the band's second long-player, 'Tapping The Source', which came much closer in capturing the fire of their live show on plastic, and merged fifth-gear originals like "Goddamn Bottle" and "Can't You Do Anything Right?" with stripped-down covers of "Justine" and "Heartache." The following year, the newly-founded indie label Sympathy For The Record Industry opened for business with 'Radio Cowgirl', a souvenir of the band's high-octane live set at KCSB-FM in Santa Barbara.
Following yet another bout of long touring, the band cut the near-definitive 'How It Looks -- How It Is' in 1990, but years of hard work with little commercial reward began to take their toll, and at the end of 1991 Telligman and Clark quit the group. The Cowgirls' rhythm section became something of a revolving door for the next few years, and while The Lazy Cowgirls cut a handful of singles and EP's for various small labels, conventional wisdom had it that the band had called it quits. But in 1995, The Cowgirls re-emerged with a new album, the superb 'Ragged Soul', and a seemingly stable lineup, with Todd and Weekday now joined by Michael Leigh on rhythm guitar, Ed Huerta on drums, and Leonard Keringer on bass. The band toured the United States and Europe, but 1996 brought more personnel shake-ups, as D.D. Weekday and Ed Huerta both turned in their notices. Bob Deagle signed on as drummer in time for 1997's 'A Little Sex and Death', with Eric Chandler sitting in on guitar. By 1999, Michael Leigh had rejoined the band on guitar, and almost 20 years after leaving Indiana, the indefatigable Pat Todd began pushing The Lazy Cowgirls harder than ever, with the band spending plenty of time on the road and releasing two solid albums on Sympathy within six months of each other, 'Rank Outsider' and 'Somewhere Down The Line'. The live album, 'Here and Now: Live' was issued in summer 2001. 2004 found the band recording for a new label, Reservation Records, and releasing their strongest new album in years, the rootsy 'I'm Going Out And Get Hurt Tonight'. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
After briefly entering the mainstream pop radar in 1981 with her lone hit "O Superman," musician, composer, performance artist, and technology buff Laurie Anderson has enjoyed a public visibility greater than virtually any other avant-garde figure of her era. Her infrequent forays into rock aside, Anderson nevertheless remained firmly grounded within the realm of performance art, her ambitious multimedia projects encompassing not only music but film, visual projections, dance, and -most importantly- spoken and written language, the cornerstone of all of her work. Her recorded catalog after 'Big Science' (her debut long-player that included the oft-covered "O Superman") is wildly diverse. It offers combinations of (often electronically manipulated) spoken word, postmodern classical minimalism, vanguard rock, airy jazz, and ambient music. Using various combinations, Anderson has registered critically acclaimed albums such as the exotic 'Mister Heartbreak' in 1984 (the same year as the massive five-album document of her live opus United States), and its politically poignant follow-up 'Home of the Brave' two years later. Anderson relies on her own instrument creations, including the tape-bow violin, the Talking Stick, and voice filters. The latter was used extensively on 2010's 'Homeland'. Five years later, Anderson released the award-winning documentary film and soundtrack 'Heart Of A Dog', about the life and transition of her beloved piano-playing pet Lolabelle, juxtaposed with meditations on mortality and her personal experiences in lower Manhattan after 9/11. In 2018, Anderson in collaboration with The Kronos Quartet, released 'Landfall', the score for her multi-media presentation on Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath (her own home was badly flooded).
Born in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn, Illinois on June 5, 1947, she studied violin as a teen; relocating to New York City at age 20. She later attended Barnard College, graduating with a B.A. in art history in 1969. After earning an M.F.A. in sculpture from Columbia University in 1972, Anderson taught art history and Egyptian architecture at City College. She mounted her first public performances a year later.
By 1976, Anderson was regularly performing in museums, concert halls, and art festivals throughout North America and Europe; claiming to base all of her projects on the power of words and language, her work also emphasized visual imagery and cutting-edge technology, with pieces like 1980's "Born, Never Asked" written for both orchestra and electronics. A year later, Anderson recorded "O Superman" for the tiny New York label 110 Records. An 11-minute single built around electronic drones and featuring opaque lyrics half-spoken and half-sung (in a voice sometimes electronically treated), this most unlikely song became a smash in Britain, where it reached the number two spot on the national pop charts. Warner Bros. soon signed Anderson to record a full-length LP, and in 1982 she issued 'Big Science', a work drawn from a much larger project, the seven-hour multimedia performance "United States".
With 1984's 'Mister Heartbreak', Anderson produced her most overtly pop-oriented work, teaming with artists including Peter Gabriel and Adrian Belew; the end result even reached the American Top 100. That same year, she also issued 'United States Live', a recorded document of the complete performance spread across a five-LP set. Anderson's next project, 'Home of the Brave', was a concert film; a year later she also scored the Jonathan Demme/Spalding Gray film "Swimming to Cambodia". A proper studio album, 'Strange Angels', did not follow until 1989. The next several years were devoted to performance tours, including 1990's "Empty Places", 1991's "Voices from the Beyond", and 1993's "Stories from the Nerve Bible". In 1994, Anderson teamed with producer Brian Eno for 'Bright Red', also featuring her then-boyfriend Lou Reed (they would marry in 2008). The following year she released the LP 'The Ugly One with Jewels and Puppet Motel', a CD-R confirming her ongoing interest in the latest technology.
In 2001, Anderson issued 'Life on a String', which contained songs from her large musical theater pieces "Moby Dick" and "Strange Angels". Also in 2001, just over a week after the attacks on the World Trade Center, she recorded a live album at Town Hall in New York City (on its cover were the poignant words "New York City, September 19-20, 2001"). It was released as 'Live at Town Hall NYC' in 2002. Anderson continued her appearance schedule but didn't record for another seven years, when she began working on 'Homeland', which was released by Nonesuch in 2010. She continued to work on multiple projects, though she took time off from her work to care for her husband Reed when he fell ill in 2012. After Reed's death in October 2013, Anderson returned to work on her second feature film, 'Heart of a Dog', a meditation on love, loyalty, and loss, seen through the filter of the death of her dog Lolabelle. The film and its soundtrack album were both released in October 2015. Back in 2013, Anderson had teamed up with The Kronos Quartet on a project called 'Landfall', inspired by her experiences with Hurricane Sandy. It premiered at the University of Maryland that year and was later performed around the world. Five years later, a recorded version, developed from those performances, was released by Nonesuch.
In 2019, Anderson teamed with Jesse Paris Smith and Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal for the album 'Songs from the Bardo', an 80-minute improvisatory composition based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Smith and Choegyal met at the 2014 Tibet House benefit where they initially discussed the creation of the work. A year later, a shortened version was performed with Anderson at the annual event. The recording featured Choegyal, Smith, cellist Rubin Kodheli, and percussionist Shahzad Ismaily, who offered musical accompaniment to Anderson's narration of the primary text. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
One of the most powerful and punishing rock bands of the '80s and '90s, the Laughing Hyenas merged the deep-focus throb of The Stooges with the bluesy, scuzzed-up post-punk of The Birthday Party and Pussy Galore. At first, the band specialized in noisy, menacing dirges overlaid with the tortuous, throat-shredding vocals of frontman John Brannon, best heard on 1989's 'You Can't Pray a Lie' and 1990's 'Life of Crime'. As time passed and their lineup shifted, the Hyenas' blues connections became more and more explicit, looking back to The Rolling Stones and original sources like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters on 1995's 'Hard Times'. The Hyenas weren't quite prolific enough to take their place alongside similar indie stalwarts like Royal Trux or The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, but they cast a long shadow over the Midwest independent scene in the years that followed and would enjoy a revival after their catalog was reissued in the 2010s.
The Laughing Hyenas were formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1985 by vocalist John Brannon, formerly of iconic Detroit hardcore band Negative Approach, and guitarist Larissa Strickland, who'd been playing her instrument for a scant six months and had previously sung in a local group called L-Seven (not the L7 who later went on to grunge-metal fame). The two added bassist Kevin Strickland and drummer Jim Kimball, and quickly made a name for themselves on the Detroit-area scene. Signing with noise rock specialists Touch & Go (who had released Negative Approach and L-Seven's work), the Laughing Hyenas issued their six-song debut EP, 'Merry Go Round', in 1987 with production by a pre-NirvanaButch Vig. The full-length 'You Can't Pray a Lie', also produced by Vig, followed in 1989, and the group went on tour supporting Sonic Youth as well as performing steadily as a headliner in the Midwest.
1990's 'Life of Crime' was hailed by many as the Hyenas' most fully realized album to date, but it proved to be the original lineup's last hurrah. Kimball and Kevin Strickland both departed to form the roots-punk outfit Mule with P.W. Long in 1991. Brannon and Larissa Strickland regrouped with a new rhythm section of bassist Kevin Reis and onetime Necros drummer Todd Swalla. The new version of the Hyenas were still finding their feet when they cut the 'Crawl' EP in 1992, but further turnover ensued when Reis decided he couldn't tour as extensively as the band wanted. He was in turn replaced by Ron Sakowski, also a former member of the Necros. After honing its chemistry via heavy touring, the band finally returned in 1995 with 'Hard Times', which eased back on the force of their heyday in favor of a leaner approach more clearly informed by the blues. After touring in support of 'Hard Times', the Hyenas split up in late 1995.
In the late '90s, Brannon and Sakowski came back with the aggressive hard rock act Easy Action, which issued a self-titled debut in 2001. Jim Kimball went on to collaborate with Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison in the Denison-Kimball Trio, and signed on as The Jesus Lizard's drummer in 1996, staying in the band until 1998. Larissa Strickland dropped out of music, and passed away on November 4, 2006. In 2018, Jack White's label Third Man Records, in tandem with Touch & Go, launched a series of remastered vinyl reissues of the Laughing Hyenas' entire catalog. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
Lärm (German for noise) were a Dutch straight edge hardcore band formed in 1981, first playing under the name of Total Chaoz. They referred to their music as "extreme noise", though having nothing to do with noise rock or noise music.
Due to members being straight edge, which was something uncommon in the crust punk scene, Lärm were different from many bands at the time. Members went on to form Seein' Red and the communist straight edge band Manliftingbanner, who played in a more conventional Hardcore Punk style. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
Lard is one of several sometime-side projects helmed by the Ministry duo of Al Jourgensen (guitar) and Paul Barker (bass) -in this case, notably fronted by legendary Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra, along with, initially, drummer Jeff Ward. Founded in 1988, Lard was first brought to the public's attention via the following year's 'The Power of Lard' EP, and even more so by 1990's inaugural full-length 'The Last Temptation of Reid'. Both featured a unique blend of industrial and punk, matched with Biafra's typically political lyrics; but the band's already sporadic touring and recording schedule (this was, after all, a side project) was curtailed even further after the shocking suicide of drummer Ward in 1993. Lard wasn't heard from again until 1997's critically acclaimed 'Pure Chewing Satisfaction' LP, and then again in 2000, via the '70s Rock Must Die' EP -both recorded with Ministry mainstay Bill Rieflin on drums. Jourgensen has since stated that Lard still has one final album in them, but just when this will be recorded, and whether Barker will be involved following his 2004 exit from Ministry, remains to be seen. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]
