AM Research Results [fact.] (Page 2 of 9)

You digging dem Swedish garage heroes, Gert???

Sure, no problem, pal! Glad you like it. I think they stand out as a very raw sounding band. They were very loud live and I think that they were in the studio as well....at least it sounds like it.

Btw, I can't import your mixes to my computer, I can play one of dem but can't import. Doesn't work on da hi fi either...:(

Please do if possible....I'd really like dem!

Nope! Sorry, maybe it's just me being stupid...? I dunno...I look into it again...

The New York City-based trio Uncle Wiggly originally formed in 1989, and consists of members William Berger (guitar and drums), Michael Anzalone (bass and guitar), and James Kavoussi (drums and guitar), with all three sharing vocals. Mixing concise alt-pop tunes with some retro psychedelia straight out of the '60s, Uncle Wiggly issued their debut album, He Went There So Why Don't We Go, a year later on the independent Austrian label Nur Sch Records, before signing on with Shimmy Disc, which issued the trio's next two releases: 1991's Across the Room and Into Your Lap and 1992's There Was an Elk. The trio issued a 12" EP titled Non Stuff in 1995, as well as their fourth full-length release overall, Jump Back, Baby, in 1996.

Last edited by Markus (2010-08-12 03:07:58)

Few of punk rock's founding fathers could have anticipated the extreme to which Half Japanese took the music's do-it-yourself ethos. Founded by brothers Jad and David Fair, Half Japanese was quite probably the most amateurish rock band to make a record since the Shaggs, all but ignoring musical basics like chords, rhythms, and melody. However, the brothers made that approach into a guiding aesthetic, steadfastly refusing to progress in their primitive musicianship over a career that lasted decades. David Fair's article "How to Play Guitar" outlined the Half Japanese philosophy: if you rejected conventional ideas about fingering, tuning, and even stringing a guitar, there were no limits on how you could express yourself on what was, after all, your instrument. The band's proponents (who included Kurt Cobain) saw them as the epitome of a pure, unbridled enthusiasm for rock & roll, the ultimate expression of punk's dictum that rock should be accessible to anyone who wanted to pick up an instrument and play. Detractors found them gratingly noisy, borderline unlistenable, and too self-conscious and willful about their naïveté. That naïveté extended to their lyrical outlook too, not just their technical abilities; when they weren't singing about horror movies or tabloid headlines, most of their songs were about girls, veering between innocent longing and wounded sexual frustration. Early on, with less outside influence, their work was more chaotic and cathartic; as time passed, David Fair became a sporadic contributor, and the prolific Jad built a core of semi-regular backing musicians who brought a rudimentary sense of songcraft to the proceedings. Jad and David Fair formed Half Japanese in their bedroom in the mid-'70s. Accounts differ as to exactly when (somewhere around 1975-77) and where (either Michigan or their eventual base of Maryland; the family apparently moved around a lot). It is known that the brothers made their first home recordings in 1977, issuing their debut EP that year, Calling All Girls, on their own 50 Skidillion Watts label. Several homemade cassettes circulated in the underground, which resulted in a deal with the small British independent Armageddon. In 1980, Half Japanese became the first band in history to release a three-record box set as their debut album; 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts collected some of their earlier home recordings, while throwing in barely recognizable covers (the Temptations, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan) and sound experiments cobbled together from guitar noise, electronics, and odd effects. Yet their primary influences were clearly the minimalism of the Velvet Underground and the innocence of Jonathan Richman, with some Iggy Pop angst at times. Over the years, 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts became something of a cult legend (helped out by its scarcity), and foreshadowed the lo-fi movement of early-'90s indie rock. A second album for Armageddon, the aptly titled Loud, followed in 1981; it matched the brothers' atonal squall and stream-of-consciousness compositions with a supporting cast of free jazz musicians. The Horrible EP — a collection of songs paying tribute to horror movies — followed on Press in 1983. Around that time, Jad Fair began a concurrent and equally prolific solo career, releasing records under his own name, and in collaborative side projects well into the '90s. Moving to the Iridescence label, Half Japanese took a musical step forward on 1984's Our Solar System, which flitted between rock and improvised chamber jazz while using different musicians in different contexts. Some of those musicians — multi-instrumentalist John Dreyfuss, guitarist Don Fleming (also of B.A.L.L., the Velvet Monkeys, and Gumball), bassist/guitarist Mark Jickling, and drummer Jay Spiegel among them — would continue to work with Half Japanese in the years to come. Featuring many of the same musicians, the follow-up, 1984's Sing No Evil, was an even greater concession to accessibility (relatively speaking, of course) with its improved sense of songwriting and structure; it's still acclaimed by many as one of the band's best works. Iridescence subsequently went under, and the band revived its 50 Skidillion Watts imprint with help from an avowed fan, magician Penn Jillette. In 1987, David Fair took a temporary leave of absence to attend to his family; for the remainder of the band's existence, he would come and go as time permitted. Recording without his brother for the first time (as Half Japanese), Jad Fair worked with Shimmy-Disc label honcho Kramer on 1987's Music to Strip By, which spun off the single "U.S. Teens Are Spoiled Bums," and continued the trend toward greater musicality. David Fair returned for 1988's upbeat Charmed Life, which earned some of the strongest reviews of Half Japanese's career. He departed once again by the time of the more experimental follow-up, 1989's The Band That Would Be King, which found Jad Fair backed by Kramer and free improvisation gurus John Zorn and Fred Frith, along with several semi-regular bandmembers. The loose, spontaneous vibe carried over to the next album, 1990s uneven We Are They Who Ache With Amorous Love, which appeared on the New Jersey label T.E.C. Tones. It featured a large cast of Half Japanese cohorts past and present, including the musicians who would anchor the '90s lineup: guitarist John Sluggett, Swiss-born drummer Gilles-Vincent Rieder, guitarist/bassist Mick Hobbs, and bassist Jason Willett, plus longtime supporter Mark Jickling. 1993 brought Half Japanese the greatest visibility of their career. Longtime fan Kurt Cobain — a champion of innocent, amateurish indie rock acts like the Vaselines and the Raincoats — invited Half Japanese to open the East Coast leg of Nirvana's In Utero tour. A documentary film on Half Japanese, titled The Band That Would Be King, after their recent album, was released to art-house theaters by director Jeff Feuerzeig, and T.E.C. Tones also reissued 1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts as a two-CD set. In the meantime, Half Japanese released a new album, Fire in the Sky, on the Safe House label. One of the most straightforward rock records in their catalog, it boasted a guest appearance from one-time Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker, who sometimes used Half Japanese as a touring band, and frequently welcomed Jad Fair as a guest on her own records. 1995's Hot continued the rock-oriented approach of its predecessor; the same year, Safe House released a double-disc, career-spanning retrospective, the ironically titled Greatest Hits. The following year, Jad and David reunited under their own names to record the album Best Friends. 1997 brought Heaven Sent, which appeared on drummer Gilles Vincent's own Kitty Kitty label; its title track — the product of a session for Amsterdam radio — was over an hour long, and was believed to be the longest "song" ever released. The same year, Half Japanese signed with Alternative Tentacles and issued Bone Head. In the years that followed, Jad Fair's flood of recorded material finally began to slow to a trickle, although he did continue his work in the visual arts (his paintings were exhibited periodically in Europe). After a four-year absence, Half Japanese finally returned in 2001 with their second album for Alternative Tentacles, Hello.

interesting.....was planning on listening to this at some point this weekend

By playing pure and simple rock & roll without making an explicit issue of her gender, Joan Jett became a figurehead for several generations of female rockers. Jett's brand of rock & roll is loud and stripped-down, yet with overpowering hooks -- a combination of the Stones' tough, sinewy image and beat, AC/DC chords, and glam rock hooks. As the numerous covers she has recorded show, she adheres both to rock tradition and breaks with it -- she plays classic three-chord rock & roll, yet she also loves the trashy elements (in particular, Gary Glitter) of it as well, and she plays with a defiant sneer. From her first band, the Runaways, through her hit-making days in the '80s with the Blackhearts right until her unexpected revival in the '90s, she hasn't changed her music, yet she's kept her quality control high, making one classic single ("I Love Rock 'n Roll") along the way.

Jett was born in Philadelphia, PA; her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 12 years old. By the time she was 15, she had formed her first band and was performing around town. Kim Fowley, a Los Angeles record producer, discovered the band at one of their gigs and became their manager; soon, he renamed the all-female group the Runaways and secured them a contract with Mercury Records. The band released three albums that never had much commercial success in America, yet were very popular in Japan; the group was popular in both the Los Angeles hard rock and punk scenes, which led to Jett's production of the Germs' first record, (GI). The Runaways group broke up in 1980 and Jett moved to New York to begin a solo career.

Teaming up with producer/manager Kenny Laguna, Jett independently released her self-titled debut album in 1980 in America, since no labels were interested in signing her. The record was a more traditional rock & roll record than the punky Runaways, yet it retained her previous band's defiant attitude. The record sold very well for an independent release, leading to a contract with Boardwalk Records, who reissued the album under the title Bad Reputation; it soon climbed to number 51 on the American charts.

Jett formed the Blackhearts between Bad Reputation and her second album, 1981's I Love Rock-n-Roll; the group included guitarist Ricky Byrd, bassist Gary Ryan, and drummer Lee Crystal. Released at the end of 1981, I Love Rock-n-Roll became her greatest success, sending her into the Top Ten. Originally the B-side of an Arrows single, the title track was an enormous success, spending seven weeks at number one in the spring of 1982. The follow-up single, a version of Tommy James & the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover," went Top Ten as well; a single of Gary Glitter's "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)," taken from the Bad Reputation album, reached number 20 in the summer of 1982. Album, released in 1983, went gold yet had no hits that compared with either "I Love Rock 'n Roll" or "Crimson and Clover."

Jett starred in Paul Schrader's 1987 film Light of Day, which featured the Top 40 title song, yet she didn't have another Top Ten hit until 1988, when "I Hate Myself for Loving You," taken from the Up Your Alley album, hit number eight; the album became her second platinum record. After the album's success, her career had another slow period, with 1990's all-covers album The Hit List making it to number 36 and 1991's Notorious failing to chart. Between Notorious and 1994's Pure and Simple, a new generation of female rockers came of age and everyone from hard alternative rockers like L7 to the minimalist, riot grrrl punk rockers like Bikini Kill claimed Jett and the Runaways as an influence. As a consequence, Pure and Simple received more press and positive reviews than any of her albums since the mid-'80s. In 1995, Jett recorded the live album Evilstig with the remaining members of the Gits, a Seattle punk rock band whose lead singer, Mia Zapata, was raped and murdered in 1993. Jett reunited with the Blackhearts for the 1999 album Fetish, and in 2006 Sinner, a return to her punk roots (and ten of whose 14 songs were found on the 2004 Japanese-only record Naked), came out.

Brainville is a collaboration between Shimmy Disc founder Kramer and three of the legends of Canterbury rock, Gong founder Daevid Allen, Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, and Pip Pyle, who drummed for Gong, Hatfield and the North, and National Health. Despite three of the musicians having made their names during the psychedelic and progressive rock eras, the band's music has a contemporary sound. Kramer collaborated with both Allen and Hopper on two albums each and so it was only a matter of time before he collaborated with both at once. The most logical choice of drummer would then be Pyle, who has played frequently with Allen and Hopper over the last three decades.

When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water (frequently shortened to WPWSALNTW) was an American experimental psychedelic rock band from New York City active from 1986–1996. The group's recorded output consists solely of cover versions of older pop, country, swing and rock songs performed in obtuse arrangements.

The group formed in 1986 around vocalists Kim Rancourt and Joe Defilipps (who also played trombone) and guitarists David Raymer and Bob Meetsma. The band based its repertoire around deconstructive cover versions of other artists' songs, alternating between precise and loose arrangement techniques resulting in renditions that were "not exactly affectionate tributes, but not complete jokes either". [1] The group thus held the double-identity of art rock and party band. Featuring bassist Mitch Strassberg and drummer Ron Spitzer (of Band of Susans), the group's 1987 debut EP found them covering Ray Davies and reciting the Gettysburg Address.

Their second EP, 1988's Uncle Ben, was their first with bassist Dave Rick (of King Missile, Bongwater and briefly Yo La Tengo) and drummer David Licht (of the Klezmatics, Bongwater, Shockabilly and Eugene Chadbourne's band). The record also marked the beginning of their work with Shimmy Disc, a like-minded New York-based experimental rock label run by Bongwater leader Mark Kramer who frequently played on the group's recordings. This was followed by 1989's Bobby, their first LP, composed entirely of Bobby Goldsboro covers. Keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Xefos (also of King Missile) played extensively on the record as a guest and joined the group as a full-time member shortly thereafter.

In 1991, the band released Porgy, an album of material from Ira and George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. WPWSALNTW's last LP, 1994 Bill Kennedy's Showtime, was composed of songs by obscure or semi-obscure 1960's Detroit rock bands (as Rancourt grew up in the area during that time). Talk of an album of material popularized by Louis Armstrong arose as plans for the band's fourth LP, but the record never materialized, and the group fell into inactivity.

Rancourt and Rick next co-founded the group Shapir-O'Rama, who played original music. The band recorded several albums, including two with Jad Fair. Rancourt currently plays in a group called JFK with Andrew W.K. and Don Fleming.[2] Defilipps plays in a band called Gravy, and other members have also remained musically active.

Ernest Noyes Brookings is another character who emerged from the world of the Duplex Planet, a 'zine that David Greenberger started in 1979 that documented the conversations and activities of the residents of the Duplex nursing home. In 1980, Greenberger, the activities director of the nursing home, encouraged the 82-year-old Brookings, a former machine parts designer, to write poetry. Noyes produced several hundred poems and Greenberger executive produced several albums of Noyes' lyrics set to music by artists such as XTC, Morphine, Ben Vaughn, Peter Holsapple, the Young Fresh Fellows, Fred Frith, and dozens more.