Three Epics - Part One: Salmon 1

Today I am starting a six part series sharing the works of three different bands. Each of the three is difficult to pigeon-hole into a particular genre. They each have their own unique styles that have created epic aural works.

All three are adjacent to Dub in some ways & that brought them to my attention over the years. While some bands stick to one recognizable style throughout their career (which can be good or bas) & some bands wear numerous guises (which can be bad or good), these three all speak through a voice true to their talents without falling into repetition.

I will try to begin at their beginnings with the sounds that first caught my ears & then travel through their wonderous diversity. All I can say is plunge in anywhere, beginning, middle, or end. Listen in any order you deem suitable to your mood. But most of all, Enjoy.

The first group in this series is Salmonella Dub.

Last Dubtember I began the month with two of their Dub Plate offerings, which you can find here.

.

Salmonella Dub is a Dub outfit from Christchurch, New Zealand formed in 1992 by members of Golf Course Alligators. GCA would use lighthearted Dub covers of Nancy Sinatra, The Orb's Little Fluffy Clouds, Public Enemy, even Fred Daggs "Larry Loves Barry" to win over skeptical audiences. They took the name Salmonella Dub because of these "bad-taste" Dub cover versions. At the time in New Zealand, Dub/roots/reggae freak-outs weren't in vogue. Grunge & dance music held sway. In the early 90s, New Zealand's liquor licensing laws changed, allowing pubs & clubs to stay open late, totally revitalizing the country's live music scene. The members of Golf Course Alligators (Andrew Penman - guitar, Mark Tyler - bass, & Dave Deakins -drums) officially became Salmonella Dub. In the early days they lacked money for cassettes so they raided the bins of a record store, finding discarded copies of things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles albums to serve as their early tape stock.

Dub for Straights is an early self-released  CD from Salmonella Dub. All tracks were recorded live at Bob's Magic Carpet Studios in August 1993 except ''Reggi Flute'' recorded live at the Dux de Luxe 10/03/1993 & ''We the Dub Yore'' recorded in 1994. David Wernham, the band's engineer tidied up versions recovered off old cassettes & put them out on CD.

 

Salmonella Dub - Dub for Straights, self-released DUBCON0030, 1994.
all decryption codes in comments

Cinncinati Kid    
Dub for Straights    
Shabba Dub    
John Banks    
Horses Arse    
We the Dub Yore    
Regi Flute

 

 

 

 

To prepare for their first, self-titled album in 1994, Peter Wood - trumpet, keyboard & Conan Wilcox - saxophone, percussion were invited to join the band. Salmonella Dub was released through the independent label Curious Records.

 

 

Salmonella Dub - Salmonella Dub, Curious Recordings, 1994.

Orbital    
Cock the Roach    
Trumpet Dub    
Cincinnati Kid    
Wee the Dub Yore
Orbital (Yasmin Dub)    
Pigmy    
Pukaki    
Meantime    
Chuff    
Ceremonial Dub    
Industry in Africa    
The Final Calling    
Bad Acid Hysteria    
Chuff the House    
Lost Soul (Acid Dub)    
bonus tracks -
More Dub Crazy    
Final Out

 

 

 

 

Following quickly from this album the band released Dub Tom Foolery, a 7 track EP mixed by Mike Hodgson of Pitchblack.

 

Salmonella Dub - Dub Tom Foolery EP, Curious Recordings CD002, 1995.

Panza    
Daisy Fields (Part 1 & 2)    
Tom Foolery    
Panza Dub    
Dub for Straights    
Orbital (Projector mix)
Sundeck Dakking

Enjoy,
NØ

Smeg II: Wiping Off the Rest

Here's a full length from the same year as the lat 7". 

 

Smegma - Ism, Tim/Kerr Records TK92CD027. 1993.
all decryption codes in comments

Tickner's Hideaway
Emergency Plan "B"   
Exterminate   
Hoedad
Rock it Harder   
Jungle Nausea   
Walkie-Talkie   
It's Going Good
Modern Living   
Magnifying Glass
Prattle
3 BHit   
Voxx (Wild mix)   
Exotic Hayride   
Flashback

 

 

 

 

33 1/3 is Smegma's tribute to their 20th century avant-garde out-jazz influences. The title references both the revival of passionate vinyl listening in the 21st century & also Smegma's celebration of their long hard slog of 33 1/3 years of being one of the most free thinking original American underground groups.

 

Smegma - 33 1/3, Important Records IMPERC137, 2007.

Percrash   
Glossolalia   
Antics   
World of Plugs
The Door   
Not Right   
Up There

 

 

 

 

 

With the release of Mirage, Smegma has recorded a stunning masterpiece with four of the original members (Ju Suk Reet Meate, Donkey Flybye, Ace Farren & Oblivia) working together again for the first time in many years, keeping alive their unique brand of old school primitive, avant/garage music. The CD was recorded at a Smegma house party in Portland, September 25, 2010 & includes a bonus 1974 original Pasadena unreleased recording.

 

Smegma - Mirage, Important Records imprec311, 2010.

World of My Own   
Mirage   
F-85 Turborocket   
Oh Yeh   
That Party of Wales   
Quiet on the Set Rioux I (March 16,1974 previously unreleased)

 

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

Smeg 1: Dripping with Smegma

As I mentioned in the cheese-like post from last month, I've got plenty of Smegma & I'm not ashamed to admit in. In fact, I'm willing to share it with you here. 

 

Smegma was founded in Pasadena, California in 1973, but moved to Oregon two years later. At the onset, they were part of the Los Angeles Free Music Society (LAFMS). LAFMS formed in the 1970s as a loose-knit experimental music collective & multimedia publishing vehicle. Originally started by teenage Le Forte Four members Chip Chapman, Joe Potts, & Rick Potts, soon joined by Tom Recchion of Doo-Dooettes, LAFMS incorporated free improvisation, modular synthesizers, tape music, sampling, musique concrète, homemade instruments, noise, mail art. & avant-rock in permissive anarchic sessions at the Raymond Building & at Poo-Bah Record Shop in old Pasadena. 

 

Poo-Bah Records, with its import bins & backroom jam space, attracted the pseudonymous artists forming the initial incarnation of long-running collective Smegma. Early members Ju Suk Reet Meate, Dennis Duck, Cheez-it Ritz, Big Dirty, Amazon Bambi, & Dr. Id contributed to various LAFMS compilations & combos before several core members relocated to Portland, where they recorded their debut album Glamour Girl 1941. 

 

Smegma - Glamour Girl 1941, Los Angeles Free Music Society LAFMS#08, 1979.
all decryption codes in comments

Side A -
Difference
1980 A.R. (After Radiation)
Prowing Nose
Die Wo-Wo

Side B -
I am Not Artist
Ladies Nite at the "Ortho Lounge"
Half a Billion

 

 

 

 

Beyond its roots in LAFMS, Smegma would help shape the early Portland punk scene in the late 70s alongside Wipers & Neo Boys. Back then, virtually nobody thought it was cool to be in a band made up primarily of non-musicians, much less one that combined fried free improv moves with nods to straight 1950s rock & roll.

Ju Suk Reet Meate sez:
     "If we played at a party in the 1970s, there would be a riot. People would hate us, and be physically threatening! People didn't put up with weirdo shit."

Here are a few singles... 

 

Smegma - The Whey/Fish Story 7", Ignorance is Bliss Bliss 3, 1991.

Side A - The Whey
Side B - Fish Story

 

 

 

 

Smegma - Boils & Carbuncles/Found & Lost 7", Tim/Kerr Records TK917-007, 1991

Side A - Boils & Carbuncles
Side B - Found & Lost 

Smegma - Thicket 7", Sympathy for the Record Industry SFTRI169, 1993.

Side A - Thicket
Side B - Vox

 

 

 

Smegma pt. 2 tomorrow.

Enjoy,
NØ

5AD: The Rest of Request

Fellow blogger Mooz requested Various - Shaving the Pavement

This is one I didn't have. 

I reached out to friends & thanks to Reb Jukebox & Cosmas, here it is in glorious FLAC. This was a compilation of 4AD artists. The cassette was given out at the "Shaving the Pavement" tour, spring 1996. 

 

Various - Shaving the Pavement cassette, 4AD PRO_C8096, 1996.
all decryption codes in comments

Side A -
Ladykillers
Tinkerbell - Lush
Where is the Love
Mercy (KCRW acoustic) - Mojave 3
Screaming
You Said (Electric version) _ Scheer

Side B -
Team Player - Liquorice
Small Heads - Lisa Germano
The Devil _ Heidi Berry
ESP Summer _ His Name is Alive
Halfway to Madness - Tarnation
Pacer - The Amps

 

 

 

 

Not a request but a suggestion from DownUnderground. Great fellow blogger that deserves these next three... 

 

Lush - Spooky, 4AD cad2002cd, 1992.

Stray   
Nothing Natural   
Tiny Smiles   
Covert   
Ocean   
For Love   
Superblast!   
Untogether   
Fantasy   
Take   
Laura   
Monochrome

 

 

 

 

Lush - Ladykillers CD1, 4AD BAD6002CD, 1996.

Ladykillers
Matador
Ex
Dear Me (Miki's 8-track home demo)

 

 

 

 

Lush - Ladykillers CD2, 4AD BADD6002CD, 1996.

Ladykillers
Heavenly
Carmen
Plums & Oranges

 

 

 

 

 

Longtime Frenz of NSS Five Guns West requested Throwing Muses - The Fat Skier.

For this vinyl, A side is 33rpms while B side is 45 rpms. Also, the version of "Soul Soldier" here is a different version from the one on their self-titled release.

Here's my best shot...

 

 

Throwing Muses - The Fat Skier mini-album, 4AD MAD706, 1987.

a -
Garoux des Larmes   
Pools in Eyes   
A Feeling   
Soap & Water   
And a She-Wolf after the War   
You Cage   

b -
Soul Soldier

 

 

 

 

 

Last one, made it just under the wire. Brian requested some 4AD Wolfgang Press which can be found here & here or one somewhere in this mess. But here's the Xymox - Blind Hearts 12" request.

 

 

 

Xymox - Blind Hearts 12", 4AD BAD711, 1987.

Side A-
Blind Hearts
A Million Things

Side B -
Scum (Dance mix)

 

 

 

 

 

Oops!

Jonder dropped his request after-hours, but because he's a personal friend of mine, I'm going to make this exception...

 

 

His Name is Alive - Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth, 4AD CAD2101CD, 2001.

Nothing Special   
Interlude   
Happy Blues
Solitude
Write My Name in the Groove   
Your Cheating Heart   
Our Last Affair   
One Year   
Interlude   
Karins Blues   
Are We Still Married   
Some Day My Blues Will Cover the Earth   
Last Time

bonus track -
Some Day My Blues Will Cover the Earth (Ectomorph Electro Storm mix)

 

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ

5AD: Visitor Requests

These are the requests I have received for additional 4AD releases.

The first requests are from Frenz of NSS Marky D. He asked for some Gang Gang Dance & U.S. Girls. These are the ones I have to share... 

 

Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact, 4AD CAD 3107CD, 2011.
all decryption codes in comments

Glass Jar
∞
Adult Goth
Chinese High
MindKilla   
∞ ∞   
Romance Layers (vocals by Alexis Taylor)
Sacer   
∞ ∞ ∞   
Thru & Thru

bonus track -
Mindkilla (Lee Scratch Perry remix)

 

 

 

 

Gang Gang Dance - Kazuashita, 4AD 0079CD, 2018.

( infirma terrae )   
J-TREE
Lotus
( birth canal )
Kazuashita
Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)   
Snake Dub   
Too Much, Too Soon   
( novae terrae )
Salve on the Sorrow 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Girls - Half Free, 4AD CAD3520CD, 2015.

Sororal Feelings
Damn that Valley
Telephone Play No.1
Window Shades
New Age Thriller
Sed Knife
Red Comes in Many Shades
Navy & Cream
Woman's Work

 

 

 

 

U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited, 4AD 00046CD, 2018.

Velvet 4 Sale   
Rage of Plastics   
M.A.H.   
Why Do I Lose My Voice when I Have Something to Say?   
Rosebud
Incidental Boogie   
L-Over   
Pearly Gates   
Poem   
Traviata   
Time

 

 

 

 

U.S. Girls - Heavy Light, 4AD 0208CD, 2020.

4 American Dollars
Overtime
IOU
Advice to Teenage Self   
State House (It’s a Man’s World)
Born to Lose
And Yet it Moves / Y se Mueve
The Most Hurtful Thing
Denise, Don’t Wait
Woodstock ‘99
The Color of Your Childhood Bedroom
The Quiver to the Bomb
Red Ford Radio

 

 

 

 

U.S. Girls - Bless this Mess, 4AD 0506CD, 2023.

Only Daedalus
Just Space for Light
Screen Face
Futures Bet
So Typically Now
Bless this Mess
Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo)
R.I.P. Roy G. Biv
St. James Way
Pump
Outro

 

 

 

Next, Frenz of NSS FlaccusMUC requested B. C. Gilbert, G. Lewis – 8 Time. It is basically the 1988 reissue of the Cupol single, the 3R4 EP, & two additional songs. Here goes... 

B.C. Gilbert, G. Lewis - 8 Time, 4AD CAD16CD, 1988.

Like This for Ages   
Kluba Cupol - Cupol   
Barge Calm
3.4...   
Barge Calm II   
R   
Ends with the Sea
Hung Up to Dry Whilst Building an Arch 

 

 

Request pt. 2 tomorrow

Enjoy,
NØ

Totally

        Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post.   Back in Bumfuck again. Just a little update before I get back to 4AD. 

 

Here's a picture of The Eclipse Party Wagon. Borrowed from a Mennonite Shyster from Altoona. 

 

29 foot, sleeps five, full shower & bathroom, stove & microwave, all the comforts of home away from home. We partied down.

Sunday was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky. Woke up Monday to total overcast & rain clouds brewing. Started raining about 10:30am. By 1:00pm we were getting a bit apprehensive, so we whipped up a Crowleyan Sun chant, chanted & did a Sun Dance. Figured if primitive peoples could do weather magic, so could we. About 1:30 the clouds started breaking up & by the beginning of the eclipse process shortly after 2:00pm, it was nearly clear sky. Had eclipse glasses & I had bought a sheet of lens material & made lenses for our binoculars, so we had a perfect view of the proceedings. There was a bit of high altitude haze so the contrast of light & dark wasn't 100%, so no Ripple Effect unfortuneately. But at total eclipse we threw off the glasses & watched the ring & beads & solar flares with unshuttered eyes. It was an incredible, once in a lifetime event for me.

I thought instantly of primitive humans observing this event & understood the unexplanable awe it must have instilled. With all the knowledge I had, it still was overwhelmingly powerful. The temperature dropped twenty degrees in minutes & was very freaky.

So glad I got to experience the whole thing once before I slip off this mortal coil. 

& with that segue, back to 4AD in a few.

Enjoy,
NØ

See You in a Few

 

Just a brief note. 

I'm heading up to the Path of Totality on Lake Erie. Be back sometime after the Total E. I'll finish up with 4AD when I get back. That gives everyone a few extra days if you've got any 4AD request. I'll try to sum things up then & then trudge onward.

For now, I'll leave you with this, from Sailor Song by Ken Kesey...
     "Greer was right about the weird silence. The gulls were silent. The wind. It's like the silence that preceded an eclipse of the sun. He and Jeannie drove to Mexico to watch the last total eclipse of the twentieth century...everybody pulled over to the side of the road, drinking and jiving, watching the sun across the sagebrush being eaten away like a big cookie...Then just before it goes total a thing happens. It's called the Ripple Effect. Sheets of grey light suddenly come fluttering across the ground toward you, like butterfly wings going a thousand miles an hour. Waves of cold grey flame. Even when you have prepared yourself by reading about the Ripple Effect, and halfway understand that it's caused by Einstein's bending of the sun's rays around the moon so they synch up on the earth with other yet unbent rays - Gravity's Rainbow - you still are not prepared for the Effect's impact. Nobody is prepared. No thing. For miles around every entity sucks in its breath and goes dead quiet. Singers, drinkers, birds, donkeys, dogs; the cells in the flesh and probably the charged particles in the cells. Dead quiet. An awe beyond theories and explanations."

I want to experience that...

See you on the darkside of the sun,
NØ

4AD: The Rest of 4

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas, 4AD Cad0012cd, 1990.
all decryption codes in comments

Cherry-coloured Funk    
Pitch the Baby    
Iceblink Luck    
Fifty-Fifty Clown    
Heaven or Las Vegas    
I Wear Your Ring    
Fotzepolitic    
Wolf in the Breast    
Road, River, & Rail    
Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires

 

 

 

 

Red House Painters - Self-titled (Rollercoaster), 4AD dad3008cd, 1993.

Grace Cathedral Park    
Down Through    
Katy Song    
Mistress    
Things Mean a Lot    
Funhouse    
Take Me Out    
Rollercoaster    
New Jersey    
Dragonflies    
Mistress (piano version)    
Mother    
Strawberry Hill    
Brown Eyes

 

 

 

 

The Breeders - Last Splash, 4AD CAD3014CD, 1993.

New Year    
Cannonball    
Invisible Man
No Aloha    
Roi
Do You Love Me Now?    
Flipside    
I Just Wanna Get Along
Mad Lucas    
Divine Hammer
S.O.S.    
Hag    
Saints    
Drivin' on 9
Roi (reprise)

 

 

 

Lush - Split, 4AD CAD4011CD, 1994.

Light from a Dead Star
Kiss Chase    
Blackout    
Hypocrite    
Lovelife    
Desire Lines
Invisible Man    
Undertow    
Never-Never
Lit Up    
Starlust    
When I Die

 

 

 

 

Lisa Germano - Geek the Girl, 4AD CAD4017CD, 1994.

My Secret Reason    
Trouble    
Geek the Girl
Just Geek
Cry Wolf
...A Psychopath    
Sexy Little Girl Princess
Phantom Love    
Cancer of Everything
A Guy like You    
...Of Love & Colors    
Stars

 

 

 

 

Mojave 3 - Ask Me Tomorrow, 4AD CAD5013CD, 1995.

Love Songs on the Radio    
Sarah    
Tomorrow's Taken    
Candle Song 3
You're Beautiful    
Where is the Love    
After All
Pictures    
Mercy 

 

 

 

 

note: Because of the depth of the 4AD label & the length of time they have been around, I would like readers to chime in with any request they might have for anything I have not shared. If I have it I will share it in a final 4AD Requests post (but ya better be quick now because I’ve got to get it ready by tomorrow).

Enjoy,
NØ

4AD: The Best of 4

Ivo Watts-Russell moved to Los Angeles in the mid 90s resulting in the label being largely run from California for the rest of that decade. Ivo sold 4AD in the late 90s to give himself time to further his interests in book publishing. Since then his involvement in 4AD has mostly been on a consultancy level, for catalogue releases. Ivo currently lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico with his dogs.

Here are some of my picks from 4AD up until the exit of Ivo. Let’s start with one he's in...

 

This Mortal Coil - It'll End in Tears, 4AD CAD411, 1984.
all decryption codes in comments

SIDE ONE -    
Kangaroo
Song to the Siren
Holocaust
Fyt
Fond Affections
The Last Ray

SIDE TWO -
Another Day
Waves Become Wings
Barramundi
Dreams Made Flesh
Not Me
A Single Wish

 

 

 

 

Cocteau Twins - Treasure, 4AD CAD412, 1984.

SIDE ONE -
Ivo    
Lorelei
Beatrix    
Persephone    
Pandora (for Cindy)

    
SIDE TWO -
Amelia    
Aloysius    
Cicely    
Otterley    
Donimo

 

 

 

 

 

Dead Can Dance - Spleen & Ideal, 4AD CAD512, 1985.

this side -
De Profundis (Out of the Depths of Sorrow)
Ascension    
Circumradiant Dawn    
The Cardinal Sin
 

over -
Mesmerism    
Enigma of the Absolute    
Advent    
Avatar    
Indoctrination (A Design for Living)

 

 

 

 

 

This Mortal Coil - Filigree & Shadow, 4AD DAD609CD, 1986.

Velvet Belly
The Jeweller
Ivy & Neet
Meniscus
Tears
Tarantula
My Father
Come Here My Love
At First, & Then
Strength of Strings
Morning Glory
Inch-Blue
I Want to Live
Mama K (1)
Filigree & Shadow
Firebrothers
Thaïs (1)
I Must Have Been Blind
A Heart of Glass
Alone
Mama K (2)
The Horizon Bleeds & Sucks its Thumb
Drugs
Red Rain
Thaïs (2)

 

 

 

 

 

Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, 4AD CAD705, 1987.

Side A -        
Anywhere Out of the World    
Windfall    
In the Wake of Adversity    
Xavier

    
Side B -
Dawn of the Iconoclast    
Cantara    
Summoning of the Muse    
Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers)

 

 

 

 

 

Pixies - Surfer Rosa, 4AD CAD803, 1988.

Side One -
Bone Machine    
Break My Body    
Something Against You    
Broken Face    
Gigantic    
River Euphrates

Side Two -
Where is My Mind?    
Cactus    
Tony's Theme    
Oh My Golly!    
Vamos    
I'm Amazed    
Brick is Red

 

 

 

 

 

Pale Saints - The Comfort of Madness, 4AD cad0002cd, 1990.

Way the World Is    
You Tear the World in Two    
Sea of Sound    
True Coming Dream    
Little Hammer    
Insubstantial    
A Deep Sleep for Steven    
Language of Flowers    
Fell from the Sun
Sight of You    
Time Thief

 

 

 

 

 

note: Because of the depth of the 4AD label & the length of time they have been around, I would like readers to chime in with any request they might have for anything I have not shared. If I have it I will share it in a final 4AD Requests post.

Enjoy,
NØ

Public Service Announcement

That loving smile, smiling down on us from the other side now. 

 

R.I.P. Keith LeBlanc

 

Go here for some KLB tastes.

 

Rapper's Delight & upward,
NØ

3AD: 23 Envelope pt. 2

The Breeders - POD, 4AD CAD0006CD, 1990.
all decryption codes in comments

Glorious
Doe
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Oh!
Hellbound
When I was a Painter
Fortunately Gone
Iris
Opened
Only in 3‘s
Lime House
Metal Man

 

 

 

 

 

Swallow - Blow, 4AD CAD2010CD, 1992.

Lovesleep
Taste like Honey
Sugar Your Mind
Mensurral
Peekaboo
Lacuna
Oceans & Blue Skies
Follow Me Down
Halo
Cherry Stars Collide
Head in a Cave

 

 

 

 

 

Red House Painters - Down Colorful Hill, 4AD CAD2014CD, 1992.

24
Medicine Bottle
Down Colorful Hill
Japanese to English
Lord Kill the Pain
Michael

 

 

 

 

 

Liquorice - Listening Cap, 4AD CAD5008CD, 1995.

Trump Suit
Team Player
Keeping the Weekend Free
Drive Around
Cheap Cuts
Trump Suit Edit
Jill of All Trades
No Excuses
Breaking the Ice
Blew It

 

 

 

 

 

His Name is Alive - Stars on E.S.P., 4AD CAD6010CD, 1996.

Dub Love Letter
This World is Not My Home
Bad Luck Girl
What are You Wearing Tomorrow
The Bees
What Else is New List
Wall of Speed
Universal Frequencies
The Sand that Holds the Lake in Place
I Can’t Live in This World Anymore
Answer to Rainbow at Midnight
Famous Goodbye King
Across the Street
Movie
Last One

note: Because of the depth of the 4AD label & the length of time they have been around, I would like readers to chime in with any request they might have for anything I have not shared. If I have it I will share it in a final 4AD Requests post.

Enjoy,
NØ