The Kill-A-Watts-Seven Inches Of Rock

I love the internet. Back in the day if you wanted to release a bootleg you had to have your master tape taken to acetate, then send it off to a pressing plant. You’d have to pay to have all of the vinyl pressed, and then figure out a way to move all of the product so you could make your money back. Nowadays, if there’s some unreleased music you want to get out to the masses, you just do a blog post. The Kill-A-Watts were a kickass garage/punk band from Wisconsin. I booked these guys a show at the Looney Bin back in the late 90’s, and was made into an instant fan. They had a manic, rough garage sound along with strong male/female vocals. Both of their full-length albums (“Electrorock” and “Circuit Breaker Love”) are still in print and well worth having, but I feel they were at their best on the seven-inch format. Unfortunately those are all now out of print, hence the need for this illicit compilation. The Kill-A-Watts broke up in 2004, but two of the members soldiered on for a few years in the Devoesque electronic band The Monitors. You also might want to check out this live clip of the band at their prime-as well as playing great music they had some of the best moves I’ve ever seen.

1. Get Real Wild
2. Won’t Give Me
(from an unreleased demo tape circa 1999)
3. Mutant Brain
4. Treat Me Like A Jerk
(from the Mutant Brain 7” 2000)
5. Dig These Kids
6. Snotty Bastard
(from the “Dig These Kids 7” 2001)
7. Yor A Bor
(from a split 7” with the Catholic Boys 2002)
8. Microwave My Heart
9. The More That I Know You
10. Primitive
(from the “Music For Haters Vol. 4” 7” 2002)
11. Breakn’ Me Up
12. Girl’s Living Dead
13. Let’s Get High Voltage
(from the “Let’s Get High Voltage” 7” 2002)
14. Quit Tryin’
(from the “Then And Now” 7” 2003)

Enjoy

Teddy And The Frat Girls-I Wanna Be A Man 12” EP

This experimental Florida band started out playing under the moniker Sheer Smegma around 1980, and released a 7” entitled “Social Suicide”. For reasons understood only by the band, they changed their name to the less offensive “Teddy and the Frat Girls”, and Alternative Tentacles re-released their EP under that name as a 12” record in 1982. I remember when I first got into punk around 1990 Alternative Tentacles still had this record listed in their mail order catalog, and damn do I wish I’d picked up a copy. It’s a wild ride, with repetitive minimalist music and a screechy female vocalist reciting demented and disgusting lyrics. The record hits its peak on the title track, a scathing and humorous denunciation of the male gender in general. As far as I know, this was the band’s only release. I’d really like to see a “Where are they now” report on these characters.

1. Clubnite
3. Alophen Baby
3. I Wanna Be A Man
4. I Owe It To The Girls
5. The Eggman Don't Cometh

Enjoy

Nomeansno-Wrong CD

I like all of the music I post on my blogs. But there are only a few things that I post that shake me to my very musical soul. The album “Wrong” by Nomeansno is one of those. Released in 1989 by Alternative Tentacles, it perfectly captures a mix of harsh precision playing meshed with disturbingly poetic lyrics. Alternating between head banging and melodic, silly and terrifying, “Wrong” is by far the best release by the eclectic Canadian act. A reissue of the CD was put out in 2005 with two extra tracks. Unfortunately the band got into a dispute with Alternative Tentacles owner Jello Biafra not long afterwards, and their entire A.T. catalog went out of print. I’ve heard rumors of plans to reissue the CD on another label or perhaps re-record the entire thing (!), but until such a time comes I’m proud to post it here.

1. It's Catching Up
2. The Tower
3. Brainless Wonder
4. Tired of Waiting
5. Stocktaking
6. The End of All Things
7. Big Dick
8. Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue
9. Rags and Bones
10. Oh No! Bruno!
11. All Lies
12. Life in Hell
13. I Am Wrong

Update: Seeing that the album is now available as a download on Amazon for the low price of $6.99, I'm removing my download link. Go ahead and pay for it, it's worth it.