The Reporters - Computer world / I wanna know (7" single, vinyl rip). 1982.

   This is the 4th release of legendary Creep Records. The Reporters were the side project of Kostas Pothoulakis who at the same time was playing for Villa 21. 

   Faraway from the raw dark sound of Villa 21, The Reporters were much more "new wave" - wide use of synthesizers and melancholic atmosphere. They released this single and an LP ("Bare Hands", 1983) both under the Creep label.
Kraut rock and english darkwave are the leading influences but the band managed to create a distinctive sound due to Kostas vocals and the use of synthesizers.
You can download the "Bare Hands" LP in this blog and i suggest you to do it now!

   Both records are dark synth/wave masterpieces with all the originality of the '80's.

 A magical single from a magical era!

Download  here

"Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease" (v.a. LP, vinyl rip). 1984.

   Summer's here in Greece at last! So being away from the dark mood of winter it's time for some fun! 

   This excellent '80's compilation contains some of the best psycho songs ever! Wild psychobilly, garage punk and a lot of screams!    Some songs became famous by The Cramps but here are the original versions (Love me, Surfin Bird, The Crusher, She said). From 1960 to 1984, from The Trashmen and The Sonics (Psycho!!!) to The Gun Club and The Cramps, everything here is fantastic.

A perfect soundtrack for the summer.

Tracklist

1.  The Phantom - Love me (1960)

2.  The Trashmen - Surfin bird (1963)

3.  The Sonics - Psycho (1965)

4.  The Novas - The Crusher (1964)

5.  The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralysed (1968)

6.  Hasil Adkins - She said (1964)

7.  The Meteors - My daddy is a vampire (1981)

8.  Jimmy Dickinson and The Cramps - Red Headed Woman (1984)

9.  The Meteors - Radioactive kid (1981)

10. Tav Falco and The Panther Burns - Dateless night (1978)

11. The Gun Club - Jack on fire (1981)

12. The Geezers - Folsom Prison Blues (1984)

13. The Sting-Rays - Catman (1984)

14. The Guana Batz - Just love me (1984)

Download  here

The Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story (LP, vinyl rip).1984.

   Tribal psychobilly blues is the best way to describe the Gun Club's energetic death rock, but the band's career seemed doomed from the get-go due to leader Jeffrey Lee Pierce's reputation as an unreliable wildman, and well-publicized bouts of drunkenness dogged him throughout his career. 

   They formed in Los Angeles in the early '80s, but later picked up and relocated to the Lower East Side, resting more comfortably around the New York downtown set and Pierce's mentors, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein.

   The line up of this third album features guitarist Kid Congo Powers (from The Cramps) and  bassist Patricia Morrison.    The screaming rawness at the heart of the band's debut, "Fire of Love" , had been replaced by a dry, moaning lonesome, percussion heavy desert sound, space and echo float through the mix like a ghost through Pierce's slide guitar playing. Bass drum and tom-toms fuel the attack with a basic, primitive nocturnal energy (from Allmusic). 

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Big Black - He's a whore / The Model (7" single, vinyl rip). 1987

   While punk rock was always supposed to be about pushing the envelope, few post-punk bands seemed willing to go quite so far to creatively confront their audience as Big Black.   The group's guitars alternately sliced like a machete and ground like a dentist's drill, creating a groundbreaking and monolithic dissonance in the process. 

   Their use of a drum machine, cranked up to ten and sounding a tattoo that pummeled the audience into submission, was a crucial precursor to the coming industrial music scene.

   Big Black was a group who maintained firmly held ideals when it came to doing business; they paid for their own recordings, booked their own shows, handled their own management and publicity, and remained stubbornly independent at a time when many independent bands were eagerly reaching out for the major-label brass ring (from Allmusic).

   They released two LP's ("Atomizer", 1986 and "Songs about fucking", 1987). Both of them are punk masterpieces. 

   This single contains two killer songs from "Songs about fucking". "The Model" is a noisy punk cover of Kraftwerk's '70's classic.

Download   here

Cpinalonga - Penance / Rachel (7" single, 1989 recordings, vinyl rip). 2012

   Cpinalonga is a dark ambient/electro duet from Greece. They released two LPs back in the '90's, "Bid Time Return" (1990, Poeta Negra records) and "The 13th relation" (1994).

   "Their name has been borrowed by an island east of Crete. This little island has a long story of wars, conquests, Venetian castles that now seems totally haunted. Changed conquerors and names too, as in the ancient times it was called Kalidon, the Venetians named it Spinalonga (means "long thorn" in Latin). 

   The most recent shocking fact about Spinalonga is that it has been one of the last leper colonies in Europe in the years 1903-1957. It is said that the lepers used to enter this island by a gate called "Dante's Gate". Really imposing!!!" (from Ten Thousand eyes blog - in this post you can download both LPs from Cpinalonga).

 

Crete - Spinalonga, "Dante's gate". 1918.

    This 7" vinyl single was released this year and it contains two previously unreleased songs. "Rachel" is recorded live. Both songs will impress anyone who loves dark electro!

Download  here