Lexicon Devil was started in 2000 by Melbourne-based music writer Dave Lang. The label's original purpose was simply to reissue the long-lost recordings of Milwaukee space-rockers, F/i, but quickly snowballed into a virtual imprint for archival Wisconsin avant-rock, post-punk and hardcore: Vocokesh, Oil Tasters, Boy Dirt Car and the Tar Babies. Lexicon Devil now boasts a catalog of nearly 25 releases, with titles from Italy's Jennifer Gentle, the UK's Vibracathedral Orchestra, Australia's Candlesnuffer and a series of new albums documenting the post-stoner desert-rock scene centered around Gary Arce and Mario Lalli: Ten East, Yawning Man and Dark Tooth Encounter. Lexicon Devil has enjoyed wide coverage in the likes of Dusted, The Wire, MOJO, Pitchfork and WMFU.
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LEXDEV 027CD
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The Kent-based UK trio known as Honey Ride Me A Goat have been around since the early years of the 21st century. In that time they managed to release several slabs of vinyl and various CDs, record with ex-Soft Machine bass-God Hugh Hopper just before his untimely death, befuddle most music writers and critics with their stop-on-a-dime musical chops mangled beyond comprehension in a no wave-free jazz-influenced instrumental power trio format, and bedazzle countless observers at any of their many shows over the years. Their music is an unholy melding of the scratchy, post-punk shards of guitar scrapes from D. Boon and Arto Lindsay, the disjointed rhythms of Beefheart, the psychedelic jazz-wail of Joe Baiza and James Ulmer and sheets of sound not heard since Rudolph Grey was releasing his wares. HRMAG capture "that" sound and throttle it sideways: songs veer left and right, flow from jazz-like jams to claustrophobic, repetitive, airtight rhythms in a heartbeat; some songs fall apart, others never stray from an ass-tight compositional sound. It's not "math-rock" and it's not free-jazz. HRMAG have carved their own musical path. Udders is a best-of compiled by the band, consisting of tracks taken from their scarce vinyl releases of yore, as well as one newly-recorded (and previously-unreleased) track. Limited to 500 copies.
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LEXDEV 030CD
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The duo known as PIVIXKI are a unique combination of two distinct talents: two hard-working veterans of the Melbourne (and indeed international) music scene. Multi-instrumentalist and keyboard player within the band, Anthony Pateras, has a CV big enough to fill three press releases. Working within the musical realms of modern composition, improvisation, electronics, avant-rock and noise, he's composed for major orchestras, played with a multitude of collaborators (including the likes of Oren Ambarchi, Christian Fennesz, Tony Buck, Han Bennink, Dave Brown and violin virtuoso Richard Tognetti), performed in everything from seedy dives to concert halls the world over, released his music on a multitude of labels (including two acclaimed CDs on John Zorn's Tzadik imprint) and is currently the composer-in-residence at the Australian National Academy Of Music. Max Kohane has been playing in bands since he was 12 and touring since he was 16. He's infamous for his dynamic, intensely fast and technical drumming style and has earned a rep as perhaps the best skin-hitter in Australia's hardcore punk scene. He's played in the likes of Far Left Limit, George W. Bush, Terra Firma, Cut Sick, grind kings Agents Of Abhorrence and crust-punkers ABC Weapons. In that time, he's managed to play shows in places as far flung as Macedonia, Japan, Indonesia and the U.S. The beauty of PIVIXKI lies in the clash of these two musical cultures, though the willing experimentation of Pateras and Kohane has seen fit that there is no clash at all. PIVIXKI's debut, Gravissima, recorded by U.S. expatriate Casey Rice, sees an amazing melding of sensibilities. Nominally a piano/drums duo, the band expands their sound with percussive flourishes and the addition of organ and electronic keyboards into the mix. Some of the songs are short, fast and cut to the point; others organically develop over several minutes like soundtrack pieces, occasionally feeding through the creepy, picturesque qualities of Italy's horror-music legends Goblin, or the seething musical soundscapes of France's avant-prog troupe, Magma.
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LEXDEV 028CD
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Lexicon Devil is mighty pleased to be releasing the debut, uh, mini-album from Melbourne's Chrome Dome. The band, started by keyboardist/vocalist Shaun South in 2008, went through various line-up configurations before finally settling in as a three-piece in 2009 with ex-Brisbane-ite Andrea Blake similarly on vocals and keys and power-violence percussionist extraordinaire Bryce Sweatman (also from young hardcore/noise outfit Pathetic Human) on drums. That makes the line-up consisting of vocals, keyboards, samples and drums. No guitars. Influenced by legendary cult bands of yesteryear such as Nervous Gender and the Screamers, as well as Suicide and Melbourne's own Primitive Calculators, Chrome Dome have nailed down the sound of 21st-century synth-punk to a fine art. Like their forebears, Chrome Dome "rock" like a garage band and sing songs of love and despair: they just don't use any guitars. Their songs are at times frenetic, splintering with nervous energy, while others drone with depressive introspection. They're a wild mix of live and programmed drums, high-pitched synth freak-outs and ominous bass notes coated with both hyper-driven screeches and gloomy, goth-laden vocals. Best of all, Chrome Dome have the songs -- they're not "improvnoise" nor are they an art project. Chrome Dome is seven tracks at just under 20 minutes, all housed in a black & silver wallet at a nice price.
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LEXDEV 024CD
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Lexicon Devil presents part three of three in their reissue series documenting the great works of New York's '80s avant-garde group, The Scene Is Now. TSIN were formed at the dawn of the 1980s by Philip Dray and Chris Nelson, a band born from the ashes of no wave trio, Information (the third partner of that outfit being Rick Brown). Influenced equally by the ragged avant-folk sounds of the Holy Modal Rounders and The Fugs, the screech of DNA and Mars, and the traditional Americana of Bob Wills and Hoagy Carmichael, TSIN instantly set themselves apart from the pack. Their music was an indefinable mixture of the old and new, the impenetrable and the accessible and the weird and wonderful. Some folks compared 'em to the Red Krayola or Pere Ubu, some to SST outfits such as the Meat Puppets and Slovenly, and some people even hail them as the world's finest no wave jug band. The point is this: between the years 1984 and 1988, they released three magnificent albums on their own label, Lost (the last two being in co-operation with the Twin/Tone label), which have been out-of-print for a dog's age and had never seen the light of day on compact disc. Until now. This is their extremely rare 1985 debut, Burn All Your Records. Recorded in 1984, BAYR was laid to tape when the band was still musically pretty raw and yet to blossom into the melodic powerhouse they became over their subsequent two LPs. From an almost amelodic chaos through to a streamlined pop band in three shakes. On BAYR, The Scene Is Now were tearing out a ramshackle brand of Dada-infused post-no wave folk-rock which was part DNA, part Fall, part Fugs and equal doses of Pere Ubu and the Red Krayola. BAYR is 20 tracks of primo slop-pop in just under 40 minutes. It's the sound of four NYC gentlemen kicking against the pricks in Reagan-era America. It's some of the best hardly-discovered underground rock 'n' roll made in the 1980s, and it's finally available again, remastered from the original tapes and featuring a full-color, 16-page booklet with liner notes by Wire/Uncut scribe Jon Dale and Dave Lang and a wealth of exclusive photos from the period. And, yes, it does feature "Yellow Sarong," as later covered by Yo La Tengo.
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LEXDEV 025CD
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Lexicon Devil presents part two of three in their reissue series documenting the great works of New York's '80s avant-garde group, The Scene Is Now. This time around, the label reissues their sophomore album from 1986, Total Jive. TSIN was formed in the early '80s by Philip Dray and Chris Nelson, born from the ashes of no wave outfit, Information (documented in Thurston Moore and Byron Coley's No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980 book). Joined by Dick Champ and Jeff McGovern, they went on to release three LPs in that decade which remain amazing and scarcely-heard gems from underground America. With a sound which was distinctly New York -- equal parts Velvets/Feelies strum, angular geekoid rock a la Television/Talking Heads and choppy avant rhythms straight from the no wave -- the band also melded influences from such disparate sources (The Fall, Minutemen, Bob Wills) that they remain a tough band to musically pin down. They truly are/were a unique blend of the avant-garde and the traditional. Total Jive was originally released on the band's own Lost label in 1986, manufactured and distributed by the Twin/Tone label. Roughly half of the tracks are produced by downtown wiz-kid, Elliott Sharp, and it has never been issued on CD before. This version is fully remastered from the original master tapes and features a 12-page, full-color booklet with never-seen-before photos of the band from the period, as well as liner notes by Lexicon Devil honcho, Dave Lang. The 1980s produced a lot of great underground sounds from the U.S.A., and The Scene Is Now is certainly one of them, begging for some much-deserved 21st-century recognition.
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LEXDEV 023CD
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This is the debut full-length release by Yawning Sons, a unique collaboration between musicians from different sides of the Atlantic. In July 2008, Californian desert-rock veteran Gary Arce (Yawning Man/Ten East/Fatso Jetson/Dark Tooth Encounter, etc.) was flown out to the UK to produce an album by the Kent-based instrumental riff-rock quartet, Sons Of Alpha Centauri. On the first day of working in the studio, it was clear that a new direction was to be taken: Gary and the band would work together and write and record their own collaborative album within the space of a week. The week's work bore fruit in the form of seven incredible instrumental tracks whose sound was caught somewhere in the dreamy musical netherworlds of Yawning Man, Sonic Youth, Can and Pink Floyd. Over the course of the next few months, more additions were made to the recording, including extra guitar overdubs from Arce, as well as vocals from Scott Reeder (Kyuss/Obsessed), Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson) and Wendy Rae Fowler (Mark Lanegan Band/UNKLE/Earthlings?). The results are sublime. From the soaring vocals of Fowler on the opener, "Ghostship - Deadwater," which has the fuzz 'n' sheen of Loveless-period My Bloody Valentine, to Reeder's drone-laden vocals on "Garden Sessions III," which are like a blend of 'Floyd and '80s Meat Puppets, through to the extended guitar workouts on the Lalli-helmed "Meadows," right on through to the chiming guitars and metronomic drums on the closer, "Japanese Garden," Ceremony To The Sunset will be a revelation to fans of the artists involved, and will appeal greatly to lovers of Kraut/psych/post-rock as well as those in love with the arid, heat-shimmering, soaring, high-lonesome sound of desert-rock. Includes a deluxe 16-page, full-color booklet on glossy paper-stock with plenty of photos of those involved.
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LEXDEV 026CD
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Between the years 1984 and 1988, The Scene Is Now released three magnificent albums which have been out of print for a dog's age and have never seen the light of day on compact disk -- until now. This exclusive Lexicon Devil CD reissue of the band's third album, Tonight We Ride, has been fully remastered from original tapes by the band. Some folks compared them to the Red Krayola or Pere Ubu, some to SST outfits such as the Meat Puppets and Slovenly, and some people even hail them as the world's finest no wave jug band. The Scene Is Now (TSIN) were formed at the dawn of the 1980s by Philip Dray and Chris Nelson, a band born from the ashes of no wave trio Information (the third partner of that outfit being Rick Brown). The beauty of TSIN lies in their deceptive simplicity. What at first appears to be a straightforward, rootsy rock tune twists and turns throughout its lifespan into something completely different, keyboard lines and guitar licks darting out to and fro and seemingly pulling in different directions. The Scene Is Now remain -- as indeed they still exist -- one of the great post-Beefheart harmolodic American pop bands. Influenced equally by the ragged avant-folk sounds of the Holy Modal Rounders and the Fugs, the screech of DNA and Mars, and the traditional Americana of Bob Wills and Hoagy Carmichael, TSIN instantly set themselves apart from the pack. If you like the music of their fans -- Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo (who covered an old TSIN track on their Fakebook LP) -- the music of their peers -- Mofungo, Pere Ubu, dBs, Fish & Roses, The Feelies -- or the sounds of their acknowledged influences -- Sun Ra, Red Krayola, Minutemen -- you'll love the music of The Scene Is Now. Their music was an indefinable mixture of the old and new, the impenetrable and the accessible and the weird and wonderful. Certainly the most accessible of the three, this album features the added talents of ex-dBs Will Rigby and Pere Ubu wunderkind Tony Maimone, expanding the TSIN clan to a family of six. Playing it 20 years after its original release, it still stands tall as one of the great, virtually unknown albums from 1980s underground America.
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LEXDEV 011CD
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Originally released by Lexicon Devil in 2002. Verdure is Donovan Quinn, who resides in Walnut Creek, deep in the East Bay of San Francisco. He's performed his songs with the Skygreen Leopards (collaborating with Glenn Donaldson) and can currently be found performing solo, occasionally being joined by various friends and collaborators under the umbrella of the 13th Month. His Verdure alias draws influence from heavy collaboration with the Jewelled Antler Collective, that loose-fitting West Coast group of artists known for bathing themselves in the glow of free-improv, rustic Americana, backwater psychedelia, electronic experiments, the outlaw spirit of classic '80s hardcore, and ghostly, folk-inspired sounds. Cross & Satellite Station is a strange beast to pin down. It could be called acid-folk or ramshackle pop with a nice, lo-fi mix of aching vocals, strummed guitars, tape loops, thundering organ, scattered percussion and the odd sample here and there. When the electric guitar breaks into that fuzzed-out solo on "Pope Innocent X," or when Donovan bursts into the chorus on the mesmerizing "Sun's Gonna Come Take Over My Sky," it might make you remember that the "new weird" zeitgeist spawned some true gems. If you've ever dug the sounds of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Skip Spence's Oar, Nikki Sudden/Epic Soundtracks, Syd Barrett at his most unhinged, or Jandek at just about any point in his recorded life, then you'll dig this.
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LEXDEV 012CD
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Originally released on the Lexicon Devil label in 2004; a reissue of their obscenely rare 1999 LP on the Roaratorio label, with three bonus tracks. Vibracathedral Orchestra started in 1998 with the core 5-piece line-up of Neil Campbell, Bridget Hayden, Michael Flower, Adam Davenport and Julian Bradley. Between the five of them, a musical CV would read like a history of UK underground experimental music from the last decade or so, with members having been involved with the likes of Richard Youngs, Simon Wickham-Smith, Sunroof, Skullflower, and others. The sound and aesthetic of VO is based heavily on percussive, improvised, minimalist drones that occasionally bear heavy resemblance to everything from very early Velvet Underground (and proto-/post-Velvets projects with John Cale, Angus MacLise and La Monte Young) to Popol Vuh and Amon Düül to essential UK cult artists like Third Ear Band and AMM. With a massive array of percussive, stringed and toy instruments (bells, recorders, flutes, mandolins, violins, whistles, organs, etc.), the band soon began wowing people over with their limited self-released CD-Rs and occasional live shows. So, in the intervening years, with a smattering of "real" releases on VHF under their belt, and various limited vinyl releases elsewhere, comes this Lexicon Devil CD. My Gate's Open... was originally released on the Roaratorio label in 1999 in an addition of only 250 copies. Not only is the album considered by many fans to be their finest work, but the CD contains a bonus three tracks from the same recording session that until now have remained unissued. Musically, it all scorches in that patented Vibracathedral style: monolithic sheets of organic, repetitive drones that arch into quieter, more subtle territory, rhythms and grooves. This expanded edition is certainly an excellent place to start in exploring the world of Vibracathedral Orchestra.
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LEXDEV 013CD
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Originally issued by Lexicon Devil in 2005. This is a special one-time-only CD, limited to a pressing of 500, of a rare live meeting of minds: power trio Nishinihon (featuring Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple) and Hiroshi Nar of the legendary collector-scum/'60s/'70s Japanese uber-psych/garage destruction unit, Les Rallizes Denudes. Nishinihon are the amazing scorch 'n' burn three-man unit who've scarred eardrums for several years now with their acid-rock meltdown. Since his departure from Rallizes in 1978, Hiroshi has kept himself busy with a myriad projects running the scope of no wave, garage punk, Dada-rock and the occasional guest playing on an Acid Mothers disc. Suffice to say, his discography is as long as your arm and much more interesting. Hiroshi Nar with Nishinihon (which said 5 times with a belly of booze can be a great game) celebrates exactly that: a one-off live meeting in Japan in December of 2001 between these musical titans. With Hiroshi penning three of the four songs present, there's definitely a heavy musical similarity to Les Rallizes; both "20 Yen For Each Additional" and "Machiko" possess that crawling, stumbling vibe of his previous band's best '70s work, the combination of his guitar twang and stuttering garage stomp resulting in a kind of Crazy Horse/Quicksilver hybrid. Even more explosive, are the furious guitar explosions of "Are You Lady?" and "Peep Up," two short(er) ditties that get straight to the point and drive it home in a most Stoogely manner. As it says on the back cover of this release: "Do you wanna teste this fuckin' sweet wonder rock world, Brother?" Hell, yes. Last copies available...
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LEXDEV 019CD
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Ten East's debut, Extraterrestrial Highway, was originally released in 2006 on Alone Records and is now available exclusively on Lexicon Devil. In terms of mining the pipeline of instrumental, multi-layered, psychedelic desert-rock with a heavy-assed backbeat, Ten East has the supergroup line-up to die for. On this record, Ten East are: Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson, Sort Of Quartet), Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man), Brant Bjork (Kyuss) and Bill Stinson (HOR, Greg Ginn). Their sound is caught somewhere between jazz-like improvisation and rock-solid riffery. Taking inspiration from punk, blues, psychedelia, surf and jazz, the band's sound ably demonstrates creeping influences from such artists as SST standard-bearers Black Flag, Meat Puppets and the Minutemen, as well as The Ventures, Captain Beefheart, Brian Eno, ZZ Top and the improvisations of Monk and Dolphy. In the band's most current line-up, Bjork has left the band, and none other than Greg Ginn himself has replaced him on bass. This is not merely stoner rock, this is a slab of instrumental fury which will blow brain cells.
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LEXDEV 017CD
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Originally released by Lexicon Devil in 2005. Candlesnuffer aka David Brown is one of the lynchpins of Australian experimental music, a man whose discography and involvement in the local avant/jazz/rock circuit stretches back to the late '70s and the famed "little bands" scene which spawned such notables as the Primitive Calculators, Essendon Airport and Tch Tch Tch. In the past ten years we've seen a bevy of releases featuring Brown in various guises: there's the Bucketrider CDs on Dr. Jim's, his project with Sean Baxter; his duo with Japanese guitarist KK Null, Terminal Hz, and on and on. Apsomeophone is Candlesnuffer's second CD release, and the title is taken from the name of one of French musique concrète pioneer Pierre Henry's studios -- Apsome -- and it's fitting, as Apsomeophone is, in a sense, a tribute to the groundbreaking works of the great concrete musicians of yore -- a series of irreverent odes to contemporary classical composers. However, Apsomeophone brings together the worlds of "composition" and rock, a meeting point of low- and high-art, a collision of the electric and the acoustic (and the occasional electro-acoustic). In it ye shall find moments of Derek Bailey-esque guitar destruction, looped guitar twangs, repetitive, percussive chimes, drones, Japanese film samples, doom-laden power chords and out-of-nowhere noises leaping and disappearing in a moment's notice -- all cut and spliced with a masterly precision. If this was released in '68 with a Wergo label stamped on its LP sleeve, you'd probably skip a few meals to grab it. It's spiced up with some handsome, minimalist artwork with liner notes by Anthony Pateras.
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LEXDEV 021CD
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Dark Tooth Encounter is the name of the new music project out of California from Yawning Man/Ten East lynchpin, Gary Arce, and drummer extraordinaire, Ten East's Bill Stinson. Although joined by Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Obsessed, etc.) and Mario Lalli (Across The River, Fatso Jetson, etc.) on almost all of the tracks on this debut, the approach is much more experimental and cerebral than many of the players' previous work, sounding like an update on the classic '70s art-rock of Brian Eno. With Gary supplying guitars (including lap steel) throughout, as well as keyboards and electronics; metronomic beats, angular guitar and fuzzed-out bass, Dark Tooth Encounter remain a unique proposition. Purely instrumental and aided by the astonishing production and studio work of Mike Shear, their music is a mixture of several different elements. There are two almost rootsy-sounding tracks with "Weeping Pines" and "Engine Drone" (a 9-minute epic that brings to mind the acid-fried guitar workouts the Meat Puppets once perfected); a breezy space-rock number such as "Deep Sleep Flower," which borders on My Bloody Valentine shoegazer territory; the minimalist, aggressive drive of "Radio Bleed"; and the quieter, plaintive passages in "Alloy Pop" and "Hyper Air." Anyone with an interest in post-punk instrumental rock will get a kick out of Soft Monsters. Their sound incorporates small elements of the players' other outfits, sure, but there's also hints of math-rock, prog and shades of country-rock and psychedelia. DTE have already caught the ears of Ash Ra Tempel's Manuel Göttsching and Pell Mell's Steve Fisk, both of whom wish to work with the band in the future, but for now you have Soft Monsters, an album sure to be loved by stoners and art-rockers alike.
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LEXDEV 022CD
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This is the second release by the Los Angeles-based Ten East. Ten East started up in the mid-'00s as a semi-improvised outfit. They caught the ears of Alone Records out of Spain, who released their debut Extraterrestrial Highway (now re-released by Lexicon Devil). The line-up here is a veritable stoner-punk supergroup: Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Sort Of Quartet), Mario Lalli (Across The River, Fatso Jetson) and Bill Stinson, and joining them are Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Obsessed) on bass; Bryan Giles on guitar (Red Fang) and Greg Ginn (Black Flag, Gone) on guitar and organ on almost half the tracks. Recorded at Ginn's SST studio over several months, The Robot's Guide To Freedom sees Ten East branching out in heavier, more aggressive territory than their first release, as well as tempering the brute attack with forays into more ethereal space-rock and '60s/'70s-style psych jams. The music is a perfect encapsulation of the scenes these individual members helped create: the ferocious punk squawl of Ginn's frenetic, free-jazz-inspired riffs which set California ablaze some 25 years ago, combined with the scorched desert-rock of stoner pioneers Yawning Man, Fatso Jetson and Kyuss. The music of Ten East is dense, multi-layered and worthy of many repeated listens. Lead songwriter Gary Arce has the knack for penning a totally non-generic riff -- such riffs born from his love of the guitar work of Ginn, Eno, Steve Fisk, surf music and Tom Verlaine -- and creating a truly lyrical piece of music, one which makes one forget that Ten East don't and likely never will require a vocalist. Anyone into the sounds of the manic prog freakouts of early '70s King Crimson, the surf twang of the Ventures, the spaced grooves of Guru Guru and Amon Düül, or the peyote-fried guitar work of primo Meat Puppets will find something in this music.
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LEXDEV 009CD
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Originally issued by Lexicon Devil in 2003. Milwaukee's Boy Dirt Car were their good city's preeminent punk-noise-industrial outfit who roamed the state and country from roughly 1981 'til 1989. Formed by the disgruntled duo of Eric Lunde and Darren Brown after being inspired by a local cacophonous Glen Branca gig, they decided to gather a group of fellow miscreants from the Milwaukee punk scene with a mission to create a truly inspired, ungodly, riot-inducing racket. Roping in, amongst others, Dan Kubinski and Keith Brammer from local hardcore kings, Die Kreuzen, they formed Boy Dirt Car. With a sound approximating some sort of bizarre stew of Throbbing Gristle, early Sonic Youth, Birthday Party, AMM and Einsterzunde Neubauten, they set about documenting themselves through a slew of self-released cassettes. Playing the circuit with everyone from Fred Frith to Flipper to Shockabilly to Screamin' Jay Hawkins(!), BDC caught the ear of noise aficionado, Ron Lessard, of the famed RRR label out of Massachusetts, who released the 1986 split LP with fellow Milwaukee space-rockers, F/i. Winning praise from the hipsters and running through a few pressings for its troubles, the band went and did it again in 1987 with their debut full-length, Winter. Both of these have been out-of-print for almost 15 years and never been given the CD treatment, until now. So why bother with Boy Dirt Car? For the simple reason that they are one of the great missing links in '80s U.S. punk-noise underground culture. Listening to the CD is like revisiting a time in history that really drew a line in the sand: are you with us or not? It was a time when "getting in the van" was all a "challenging band" could do to survive; a time when Whitehouse and Black Flag were one and the same; a time when "industrial" meant more than some New Romantic reject churning out z-grade speed-metal riffs with a drum machine. It's all part of a link to a puzzle, and Boy Dirt Car, as obscure as they may seem, were truly one of those great links that need reinvestigating. "...Boy Dirt (Car) share a member w/Die Kreuzen, are all pals w/Steve Albini and are often referred to as America's Einstug. That's not the most accurate thing in the world, but they are damage of an industrial nature and they don't suck. Not at all." --review of the BDC/F/i split LP, Forced Exposure, Winter 1987
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LEXDEV 003CD
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Originally issued in 2001 by Lexicon Devil. Boy Dirt Car may hardly be a household name in the world of pop, but for noise aficionados worldwide, those three words conjure up visions and dreams of a time when the words "noise" and "industrial" really meant something. Starting out in Milwaukee in '81 with the duo of Eric Lunde and Darren Brown, they eventually settled into a semi-stable quartet line-up that also featured Dan Kubinski and Keith Brammer of local hardcore kings, Die Kreuzen. With a string of albums on the RRR label (there's also a boxed set in there) and even an appearance on the seminal Sub Pop 100 LP, BDC made their stamp in the underground, but then sadly called it quits in the late '80s, while individual members pursued other projects. Amidst this mess and turmoil lay Heatrig, their swan song and finest moment, left unreleased until now. The BDC "sound" is not easy to pin down. There are some graspable elements in place: the metal-banging clang of Neubauten, the drones and scrapes of Nurse With Wound or early SPK and the uncategorizable "rock" stew that made Die Kreuzen such a fine band in their day, though mainly BDC remain BDC. Forever and always.
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