NME/Rough Trade C81 & C86 Cassettes

Two essential post-punk cassettes from the 80's with plenty of noise, no wave, & even some dub thrown in. The track lists speak for themselves - a lot of these you'll know, some you won't. I like the first comp better, but that's just me. Jangle jangle jangle.

C81

Side one

1. "The "Sweetest Girl"" – Scritti Politti (6:09)
2. "Twist and Crawl Dub" – The Beat (4:58)
3. "Misery Goats" – Pere Ubu (2:26)
4. "7,000 Names of Wah!" – Wah! Heat (3:57)
5. "Blue Boy" – Orange Juice (2:52)
6. "Raising the Count" – Cabaret Voltaire (3:32)
7. "Kebab Traume (Live)" – D.A.F (3:50)
8. "Bare Pork" – Furious Pig (1:28)
9. "Raquel" – The Specials (1:51)
10. "I Look Alone" – Buzzcocks (3:00)
11. "Fanfare in the Garden" – Essential Logic (3:00)
12. "Born Again Cretin" – Robert Wyatt (3:07)

Side two

1. "Shouting Out Loud" – The Raincoats (3:19)
2. "Endless Soul" – Josef K (2:27)
3. "Low Profile" – Blue Orchids (3:47)
4. "Red Nettle" – Virgin Prunes (2:13)
5. "We Could Send Letters" – Aztec Camera (4:57)
6. "Milkmaid" – Red Crayola (2:01)
7. "Don't Get in My Way" – Linx (5:15)
8. "The Day My Pad Went Mad" – The Massed Carnaby St John Cooper Clarkes (1:46)
9. "Jazz Is the Teacher, Funk Is the Preacher" – James Blood Ulmer (4:03)
10. "Close to Home" – Ian Dury (4:13)
11. "Greener Grass" – Gist (2:32)
12. "Parallel Lines" – Subway Sect (2:38)
13. "81 Minutes" – John Cooper Clarke (0:13)

C86

Side one

1. Primal Scream - "Velocity Girl"
2. The Mighty Lemon Drops - "Happy Head"
3. The Soup Dragons - "Pleasantly Surprised"
4. The Wolfhounds - "Feeling So Strange Again"
5. The Bodines - "Therese"
6. Mighty Mighty - "Law"
7. Stump - "Buffalo"
8. Bogshed - "Run to the Temple"
9. A Witness - "Sharpened Sticks"
10. The Pastels - "Breaking Lines"
11. Age of Chance - "From Now On, This Will Be Your God"

Side two

1. The Shop Assistants - "It's Up to You"
2. Close Lobsters - "Firestation Towers"
3. Miaow - "Sport Most Royal"
4. Half Man Half Biscuit - "I Hate Nerys Hughes (From The Heart)"
5. The Servants - "Transparent"
6. The Mackenzies - "Big Jim (There's no pubs in Heaven)"
7. Big Flame - "New Way (Quick Wash And Brush Up With Liberation Theology)"
8. Fuzzbox - "Console Me"
9. McCarthy - "Celestial City"
10. The Shrubs - "Bullfighter's Bones"
11. The Wedding Present - "This Boy Can Wait"

Download
c81 side 1
c81 side 2
c86 side 1
c86 side 2
All mediafire

THE GAR - S/T

One of the problems that comes up pretty often with Chinese music is that people seem to expect it to be derivative. When people hear "Chinese indie rock" I guess they get to thinking ,"awwww look how cute some chinee learned to read pitchfork and decided to make a album," which is the only reasonable explantion for some of the descriptions and comparisons that these bands garner. The Gar, who just released their debut album on Maybe Mars, are some of the worst victims of poor generalization that I've encountered. Every blurb I've read about this band throws Television and Pavement's names around which is startlingly inaccurate and is going to disappoint listeners who are expecting that sound.

In reality, this album represents a pretty exciting hallmark in Chinese music because it's some of the first music I've heard that draws noticeably from other Chinese bands. You might think of that as a given but you have to realize that 20 years ago, rock music didn't even exist in China. China got rock from the United States and Britain and Chinese bands have been taking their inspiration from the already well-developed scenes in the west since then. In the past four or five years, however, Beijing's scene has really erupted and it's beginning to seem like the bands there don't really need the rest of the world.

The Gar sound to me like they occupy a musical niche somewhere between the catchy-yet-slightly-dissonant Carsick Cars and the pure pop sensibility of Hedgehog while adding some atmospheric post-rockish instrumentation into the mix. Altogether you get a product that's dramatic without being corny and is most likely going to be recognized as one of the best things going forward in China's constantly evolving scene.


The Gar - S/T

Tracklist:

1. Seabird
2. Cat
3. Circle
4. Prince's Revenge
5. Two Moms
6. Interlude
7. Love for Life
8. Big
9. Tell Lei
10. New Order
11. Monkey D
12. Tail