ZERO POINT - Hooligans With Cheap Guitars 2006

Putting Denmark on the map with Zero Point, they were formed 1979 in Århus, but it all started a long time before that and is one of Denmark’s oldest and longest running Punk-Rock bands. The band was originally formed by Henrik Lund and Steen Thomsen and has been through several line-up changes since then. After releasing two EP's, a ten song tape and some compilation stuff, plus recorded some studio takes there never got a proper release and playin' more than 200 gigs (after that they lost count), among them gigs in England, Germany, Spain and Norway, the band called it a day and split in 1987. In 2002 Steen reformed the band and in the official program for 2002's “Holidays In The Sun” Festival in England they where voted among “THE BEST PUNK/Oi! BANDS IN THE WORLD EVER”!!! In 2003 they did their “comeback” gig at the Antifest in the Czech Republic in front of a 5000 + crowd. Since then they have played the Punk-Aid Festival 2004 in the U.K., the WASTED Festival 2005 in the Netherlands, done gigs with bands like The Toy Dolls, D.R.I. and been headlining their own 25 Years Anniversary gigs in Denmark (supported by very special guests: FOREIGN LEGION from the U.K.). This compilation contains all the 1979-1987 releases and recordings.

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V/A - Rough Mixes From Switzerland 10'' 1981

This compilation came out on the Hamburg label Konnekschen and was 1981 a real good record. It was very difficult to get some Swiss plates because they were published in small editions and the distribution was rather poor. So with this release the German punk community noticed that in the cozy alpine republic exists a few bands which are damn good and so more attention spilled accordingly to our neighbours. One mistake, Chaos were from Vorarlberg/Austria and they released together with The Sick a split EP on the famous swiss label Off Course Records, both tracks here, dirty '77 punk at its best. Followed by the Sick tracks which are also fuckin' cool, this EP rules and nowadays traded at prohibitive price. Side B kicks off with the Zurich punks Sperma and they released a few records on Another Swiss Label and their debut 12'' is complete on this record. Love their snotty sound and the dialect, original Schwizerdeitsch, beautiful and for me the best songs here. Last two tracks are from Rudolph's debut 7inch, tempo bit out but 'No Claim With Bluff & Swindle' is a hymn and maybe the most famous swiss punk song. You have now found here four rare 7inches and what remains to do now?

     

1.Day Douldt - CHAOS

2.Get Out Of My Pocket - CHAOS

3.It's Never Too Late - THE SICK

4.Switzerland - THE SICK

5.Guns Of Navarone - THE SICK

6.Radio - SPERMA

7.Schmier - SPERMA

8.No More Love - SPERMA

9.B.O.F.S. - RUDOLPH DIETRICH

10.No Claim With Bluff & Swindle - RUDOLPH DIETRICH

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V/A - British Underground 1977-1982

Subtitled as the Best of the UK Punk New Wave. Well, this lies in the eye of the beholder or? Anyway, this small flame is the first Volume of this Mini-Serie and this unofficial release was comin' out on Chaos Wrecords in 1982 and it's full with a decent mix of both music styles. I realize there are a lot of UK comps and this is of course for me great, I love the early UK sound and I'm always fascinate when I get a copy of a record which is brand new, even when I know the songs. Minus points for the loveless design, no inserts, no info. So check the following orange button for details. Was bleibt?, a decent platte with cool and varied stuff. But € 50,- I wouldn't pay for. Have fun with this, Aloha!!

1.Instant Tunes - XTC

2.Cold Beat - THE SOUND

3.Whatever Happened To The West? - ANOTHER PRETTY FACE

4.Adult/ery - THE SCARS

5.Where Were You? - THE MEKONS

6.Damaged Goods - GANG OF FOUR

7.The Missionary - JOSEF K.

8.Let's Submerge (Live 1977) - X-RAY SPEX

9.Drums Over London - DISCO ZOMBIES

10.Looking At You - THE CIGARETTES

11.Spend The Night Alone - FATAL CHARM

12.Firing Squad (Live 1979) - PENETRATION

13.Novelty (Live 1979) - JOY DIVISION

14.Blue Boy - ORANGE JUICE

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IDEAL - Bi Nuu 1982

What I have written about Kraut also applies to this fantastic band. All albums are real Sahnestücker and the first two I haven't not ripped (Oopss!) - The final studio album also shows that Ideal from Berlin are still a fantastic German punk band and that their first record was not the non-plus-ultra. Ideal was for me not a pure NDW band because they understand to put personal & socially critical lyrics in melodic, sometimes aggressive music. I would describe it maybe as 'Schlager', hahahaa... and fuckin' hell everytime I listen to their plates again their music loses none of its relevance and wakes a whole lot of memories. The brilliant live record Zugabe mentioned here again which shows the energy from the band live. Always a good choice & a real pleasure.

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KRAUT - An Adjustment To Society 1982

I can't get enough of awesome music and I know words like Killer or Classic I often use but folks, the following record is one of them without exaggeration. I remember, I download their Unemployed EP years ago on kbdrecords and I was entranced immediately. Clear that I immediately burned a compilation of great 7inches and these belonged to unseen. An Adjustment To Society is the debut record by Kraut on Cabbage Records and is packed with sixteen mid-tempo Punk jewels. Right from the start hit after hit and I have rarely enjoyed thirty minutes so much, believe me. Short info: Kraut was a New York City punk band formed in 1981 by original members Davy Gunner (vox), Doug Holland (guitar), Don Cowan (bass) and Johnny Feedback (drums). They released in their five years two EP's and three albums plus in 2004 "Live At CBGB'S" on New Red Archives. In 1986 the band broke up, Doug Holland went on to play for New York hardcore band the Cro-Mags. Here you will find a few reviews to this platte which fit excatly. And now: Listen!!

- Big Thx goes to Fredrik -

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ESKORBUTO - Eskizofrenia 1984

Now another classic record and I wanna quote a lots of info from the grandiose KillFromTheHeart page: Eskorbuto were among the most popular of the "Radical Basque Rock" movement, despite the fact that they were constantly fighting against those who defended the term. The band was born at the beginning of the 80s in the slums of the Margen Izquierda ("Left River Bank", Bilbao), they managed to become local legends before they even recorded anything. Their nihilistic attitude, the members' strong personality (especially Iosu's) and their catchy tunes, helped them gain many followers both in the Basque Country (Euskadi) and in the rest of Spain. Their first LP Eskizofrenia ("Schizophrenia") was surrounded by a lot of controversy (including arrests, censorship...), which in a way helped the band in increasing their popularity. Musically, the record is their fastest and probably their "freshest" one. It cannot be considered hardcore, but this album stands out among its contemporaries (more influenced by Oi) because of the anger and aggression of the vocals. Their following work was a split LP with RIP (which I think is the first ever Spanish split LP), in which both bands sound pretty similar and share clear political lyrics, even though you can see a strong Discharge influence on RIP.

A year later they released their second record, called Anti-Todo ("Anti-Everything"). The title was not meant to define the band's stance, but rather that of the whole society. Here the drumming is real (on Eskizofrenia they used a drum machine) and they worked much more on the songs; in fact, many regard this one as their best record. After releasing the Impuesto revolucionario live album("Revolutionary Tax"), and the Ya no kedan mas cojones Eskorbuto a las elecciones EP ("There are no more balls, Eskorbuto to the elections"), they released what was probably their most personal album, Los demenciales chicos acelerados ("Speedy Mad Guys").The combined songs on the record supposedly tell a story, creating what they call a "rock-opera", but to be honest, I don't think that even the band really understood the story's plot very well. But what this record does have is songs full of pessimism and unmatched hatred. Here there are no political ideas to defend and no typical street posing, this record just tries to show the dark side of life.After reading their lyrics, it's not hard to understand why two of them found their death through heroin (the biggest enemy of punk), leaving behind the illusions and energy that should be part of every band.

After this record, Eskorbuto's musical career goes steadily downhill, they managed to released two more records with Iosu and Jualma but they were far from the sincere anger discharged in their previous works. Their drummer, the original lineup's sole survivor, assembled other various musicians and kept releasing records under the name Skorbuto. A few months after going out this album, during the follow-up promotional tour, in March of 1992, Iosu leave the band again but health problems. After two months at the hospital, Iosu Expósito died in May 31 of that same year. Pako and Juanma reformed Eskorbuto with a new singer/guitarist Urko Igartiburu and continued working on a new album, but five months later, in October, Juanma pass away. Along with the band La Polla Records, Eskorbuto has been very influential in the Spanish punkrock.

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PARAF - A Dan Je Tako Lijepo Počeo 1980

Moving to Ex-Yugoslavia and meet Paraf, together with Pekinška Patka one of my favourite band and this is their debut record on RTV Ljubljana with fourteen sophisticated jewels.

Paraf was a punk rock and later post-punk band from Rijeka, Croatia, known as one of the pioneers of punk rock in the former Yugoslavia. Following the expansion of punk rock in Europe, teenagers Valter Kocijancic (guitar, vocals), Zdravko Cabrijan (bass) and Dušan Ladavac "Pjer" (drums) formed Paraf in 1976. They played their first gig at Belvedere in Rijeka on December 31, 1976. The band's early live appearances were at Rijeka high-school parties along with the bands of similar musical orientation, Termiti, Protest and Lom. During the late 1978, the band started performing frequently, even outside Rijeka. They played in Ljubljana, Belgrade, Zagreb. The band also performed at the Novi Sad BOOM festival, as well as an opening act for The Ruts concert in Zagreb. In 1979, they released their debut single "Rijeka", a cover version of the Ramones song "Chinese Rocks", but Kocijancic signed as the song author in order to test the Yugoslav critics of the time. Despite the intention, it was the Dzuboks magazine journalist Petar Lukovic who recognized that the song was a cover version. The band also appeared on the various artists compilation album Novi punk Val 78-80, released by ZKP RTLJ in 1980, with the song "Narodna Pjesma" ("Folk Song").

After several delays, the band debut album A Dan Je Tako Lijepo Poceo... (And The Day Started Out So Nicely...) was released by ZKP RTLJ in the Spring of 1980. Due to provocative lyrics, the album was classified as kitsch product, and thus liable to additional taxation, despite subsequent changes to some of the lyrics as well as the selection of a different album cover. In line with the punk rock ideology, the band addressed several topics which were at the time new to the Yugoslav rock: the songs featured ironic usages of communist slogans, mocked, at the time, one of the most popular bands, Bijelo Dugme, in the song "Pritanga I Vaza", insulting the police in the censored version of "Narodna pjesma", and dealt with social themes typical for a port city. The album was produced by the band's close associate Goran Lisica "Fox", assisted by Igor Vidmar. (source: parafrijeka.blogspot)

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V/A - WienmusikK 1981

Last post for this month and it belongs to our dear nice neighbors, this fine and rare compilation is one more a great punk/synth/avantgarde release from Austria which came out via Schallter Records. Very weird noises and electronics plus a few punk tracks can be heard and it's again, like Die Tödliche Dosis record, a interessting mix of the early underground scene from Austria's beautiful capital city Vienna, varied, charmin' and for all those who like to discover new music styles just right. Although no big hits on it but absolutely worth hearing. And this is the tingly stuff for this awesome Blog! - Hell Yeah!

1.Radio Radio - TOM PETTINGS HERTZATTACKEN

2.Push - MINISEX

3.Spy - STANDART OIL

4.Du Brichst Mein Herz - ROSACHROM

5.You're Trying To Tell Me - NOVAK'S KAPELLE

6.Fühlen Sie Die Macht - ERNSTE JUGEND

7.Ist Gut - LEIDER KEINE MILLIONÄRE

8.Get Away Dark Side - ROTER ROT

9.La Plage - FLAMINGO

10.Neapolytaner - GELBE ZONE

11.Die Straße Ist Nass (Ich Tu, Was Ich Will) - HOTEL MORPHILA ORCHESTER

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V/A - Double Shot 1991

An interesting record is the cooperation between the Greek label Wipe Out! Records and the Belgian Boom! Records which had in early nineties this idea. The chance for bands from both countries to snag a little attention. Musically very quite varied, whether punk, alternative, ska and wave - everything therewith. I would say the perfect sound for a train or bus ride, coz you won't go quick aggressive, you know. Artwork and infos are even cool and so overall a double shot of firing songs.

1.Amaradina - FLOWERS OF ROMANCE

2.The Farm Of Madness - PANX ROMANA

3.Jericho - NO MAN'S LAND

4.Nocturnal Love - DIRTY SAINTS

5.Need - BRUSH

6.The Midnight Bar - MELTING ASHES

7.Mean Mutha Fuckin' Man - THE MIDNIGHT MEN

8.Blow Your Head Off - HIBERNATION

9.Gimme Trash - THE SPANKS

10.Off The Wall - THE JAPS

11.Salt - EXCESSIVES

12.Your Turn To Blow - KRIS T. & DSE

13.Always Doing Things - CANDY DATES

14.I've Made Up My Mind - THE STOICS

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THE DIRTY SCUMS - Dirty Songs 1985

Punkband The Dirty Scums was formed by Dirty Pik around Christmas 1981 and the bands first gig was played on 6.March 1982 and since then one of Belgium's oldest, most active and most independent punkrockband. In 1984 and 1985 they published their own fanzine that contained articles as well on music as on politix. The band sprayed all over the Flemish part of Belgium and became one of the main bands of the second Belgian punkboom together with others like Zyklome A, Capital Scum, Sponky Business, etc. In 1985, The Dirty Scums released their first album which was then the second album of this Belgian punkscene (the first one was made in 1984 by Zyklome A). It was the first album in a long line of products which were all released on their own independent label Dirty Records. It contains twelve so-called '77 Punk songs, one of which ("Martens, Jij Ouwe Rukker") becomes a culthit. The album was recorded in a rush time, which wasn't very good for the quality of the recordings, but the album sold quite well in Belgium. Live, they brought a great atmosphere among the punks in the audience and especially their music and lyrics are there to sing along, no macho stuff, born in the gutter/the streets, ordinary boys which found their own style. Yet, they don't lose heart and will pursue to death.

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