KLEENEX AKTIV - Weisse Rosen 7'' 1982

Kleenex Aktiv was a follow-up of the legendary punk heroes Dirt Shit from Vienna. The original bandmembers from 1981 where Rolli Rostig (vox), Billy Nutella (guitar), Harry Müller (Bass) and Ronnie Urini (drums). The Band was the best sounding pogo punk band until 1982/83 when they changed to New Wave/Pop, a result of the cooperation with a major label. The fast and faster drums of Ronnie and the massiv guitar & bass of Rolli & Harry sounded like an explosion in the heart of Vienna. Their concerts where legendary, but they never found a way to record a song in a studio that met the expectations. In 1982 they recorded this 7'' on Panza-Platte Records which is not really bad and shows how great they're potential are. In 1985 the band broke after a lousy second 7'' called "Hilfe" which is a bit too poppy, not bad but not comparable to this one. Check them on Es Chaos Is Die Botschaft! and Heimat Bist Du Großer Söhne and the mega three record compilation De Guade Oide Zeit.

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LAST FOUR (4) DIGITS - Big Picture EP 1980

Pretty synth punk record by the Last Four (4) Digits from Indianapolis, who released this great EP in 1980 on Hardly Music Records. I can't find any info about the band so I use Joe Stumble's liner notes from his unfortunately defunct Last Days Of Man On Earth blog: "The Last Four (4) Digits morphed out of a late ’70s punk band entitled Joint Chiefs of Staff and broke up shortly after the release of this EP. Practitioners of self-coined “abstract commercialism”, they reunited in 1982 as Last Four (5) Digits and had a moderately successful string of shows on the East Coast. The best songs on this EP are the most overtly-experimental, namely Coughing Up Blood and City Streets. Another Sex Crime is very reminiscent to me of Eno-era Roxy Music and Fast Friends is probably the least interesting track. All in all, this is a solid release and yet another reminder that you don’t need to live in the “centre of the universe” to create challenging and entertaining art. This is probably even more true today than it was in 1980." So what I think, with "Fast Friends" & "City Streets" are two damn exceptional tracks on it. The band is also represented Killed By Synth #1 and Early Indiana Punk & New Wave: The Crazy Al's Year(s) 1976-1983, both sampler I can only recommend.

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THE VALVES - It Don't Mean Nothing At All 7'' 1979

"...The Valves are vital and undiluted amid the rock'n'roll fallout." (Sounds 11.11.78) - The Valves were one of the early punk groups from Edinburgh, Scotland. The band, chronicled in Henrik Poulsen's book 77: The Year of Punk and New Wave, featured Dave Robertson as Dee Robot on vocals, G. Dair/Teddy Dair aka Gordon Dair on drums, Gordon Scott or Pada on bass guitar and Ronnie Mackinnon on guitar. The band was originally called Angel Easy and were a pub rock group. They released three singles and then broke up in 1979, with most of the members quitting the music business. Both songs are catchy as hell and the last sign of life from this superb pub-punk band, released on Albion Records. Represented on numerous compilations, worth mentioning: Bloodstains Across the UK, Kilt By Death and England Belongs To Me # 4 (coming soon).

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MODERN ENTERTAINMENT - s/t EP 1980

Early post-punk wave band and I absolutely have no further information about them. What I know is that two band members went to Berlin an founded Exkurs and they released an Album in 1981 called 'Fakten Sind Terror'. This record here is assuredly the only Modern publication, released via Iron Curtain Records in two different sleeves. Two sets to their music: Minimal Wave sound mixed with snotty garage guitars that reminds me strongly of the legendary KFC (delicious) and with "Mutual Affections" is a terrific Killed By Death classic present. Even though the songs does not spray the '77 spirit but they still have charm and I really like all the four songs. It's simply completely different and a rare record. So reason enough to post it in this theater. What I'm talking about at all, you will be suck the music anyway.

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LIFE...BUT HOW TO LIVE IT? - Burn EP 1991

Life... But How to Live It? was a Norwegian punk band, formed in the summer of 1988 in Oslo. The members all frequented Blitz, a squatted building in the middle of Oslo, where many other notable Norwegian hardcore bands such as So Much Hate and Stengte Dører had their base in the late eighties. They split up in 1994, but played one concert in 2002 celebrating Blitz' 20th anniversary. This is their 2nd EP with three great punk tunes, female vox and the Beatles cover of "Norwegian Wood" is awesome. Enjoy!!!

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V/A - .EP. 1985

Another rarity from the house of Fredrik's small music box is this little compilation EP with, of course, four Swedish punk bands that are relatively unknown to me. Probably appeared in small copies and today traded for a lot of money from collectors, such is life. The first track crashes off with brisk melodic punk rock with a rough voice, next, another snotty solid track with some breaks and again with a rough voice (is here the same singer on the mic?), the third one is a cool poppy tune with a light, catchy rock sound and a long guitar solo and with almost four minutes the longest song (no rough voice), also fine and last but not least: Tredje Könet from Stockholm with a pretty '77 punk tune. All sung in Swedish and one more lost nugget that has surfaced again.

1.En Dag I Åmål - SLITA FICKA

2.Svinen - POJKFAN TRILSKAS

3.Betong - BROILERS

4.Människor I Nöd - TREDJE KÖNET

- Special Thx to Fredrik -

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NAME - Die Name Schallplatte 7'' 1980

Obscure band from Reutlingen with their only release. This 7inch has three different covers and each record was limited to 500 copies. Sure there's absolutly no info about the band in the web so I translate one review I found: "As modest as the simple title and the length of the single: the A-side takes nevertheless still 2:05 minutes but the B-side has to be content with 1:42 minutes. A pity, because what the Reutlinger NAME here offers is best groovy Pogo. Hard pounding bass-drums-guitar basis over the singing and square Synth figures run. The only mangle is that the lyrics are almost incomprehensible. The meaning of the words of the A-side was also closed after four listening completely. Breaking at least the B-side some lines through: "I slept with her, she is having a child of mine ..Where is the period?....where?...Why I have no rubber used, why she's not take the pill?" With regard to the spread of new music in southern Germany, the single from NAME, Rolf (bass, vocals), Klaus (drums), Schilly (guitar, vocals & synth) and George (guitar, vocals) is a true pioneer. This is after all the first record on which the music of the much too sparse punk and New Wave bands in Reutlingen/Tübingen has been scraped into grooves and thus can finally be disseminated. Recorded at Atlantis recording studios in November 1980, the distribution runs over Moderne Musik in Hamburg and the band itself. For all modern people, which now has turned the Mouth watery, this plate is highly recommended." (Source: Punk-Disco). Both songs have this what we called now kbd sound and they're fuckin' awesome. Pflichtdownload!!!

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PRLJAVO KAZALIŠTE - Moj Je Otac Bio U Ratu 7'' 1979 + Crno Bijeli Svijet 7'' 1980

Next post brings us to Yugoslavia and I give you some wikipedia info:

Prljavo Kazalište (meaning in Croatian language: Dirty Theatre) is a rock band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes. Founding members included: Jasenko Houra (rhythm guitar), Zoran Cvetkovic a.k.a. Zok (lead guitar), Nino Hrastek (bass) and Tihomir Fileš (drums). Its first vocalist became Davorin Bogovic, although they were thinking about taking Davor Gobac (later of Psihomodo pop) instead. All of them, except Houra, previously played in another band called Ciferšlus (Zipper), but after he joined them to form a new group, they opted for the name Prljavo Kazalište after an episode of the satirical Italian comic book Alan Ford, which was very popular in the former Yugoslavia. In its early beginnings, Prljavo Kazalište's was a Punk band, although they initially wanted to sound like The Rolling Stones for whom they maintained a great admiration. The group performed live for a first time in 1978 at a gig organized by the magazine Polet where they were noted for their furious punk image and stage performance. In the same year, Prljavo Kazalište released its first single, the punk rock sounding Televizori for the major record label Jugoton.

In 1979, Suzy Records released their 2nd single 'Moj Je Otac Bio U Ratu'. That song was included in the great Novi Punk Val compilation which was compiled by Igor Vidmar, along with Pankrti, Paraf and other prominent artists of the former Yugoslav Punk scene. In 1979, they released their first eponymous album, produced by Piko Stancic, for Suzy Records. It was promoted when the group performed as a support act of the Yugoslav band Bijelo dugme at a concert held at the JNA Stadium. During the recording sessions, Zoran Cvetkovic left the band and was replaced by Marijan Brkic. The album soon came to prominence all over the former Yugoslav federation for its social commentary and provoked the then-ruling one-party system, additionally because it also featured probably the first gay-themed song in Yugoslavia titled 'Neki Djecaci (Some Boys)' (followed later by "Retko Te Vidam Sa Devojkama" by Idoli). The authorities valuated the album as "šund" ("Kitsch") and hence they imposed higher taxes on its sale price, while the records considered "truly artistic" enjoyed a reduced tax rate.

Both 7inches are quite cool and I recommend a listen to their albums.

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SNFU - She’s Not On The Menu 7'' 1987

SNFU (She's Not Fuckin' U) is a Canadian punk rock band formed in 1981 in Edmonton, Alberta and later relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. They have released nine full-length albums and are cited as a formative influence on the skate punk sub-genre, as well as the punk rock scene at large. From their founding in 1981 by lead singer Mr.Chi Pig and brother's Marc and Brent Belke, the band has broken up and reformed numerous times, each time gaining more and more loyal fans along the way eager to share the gospel of SNFU with the next generation. This 7'' was self-released by the band, 500 pressed with silk-screened covers. Side A recorded 1984 and is another mix of the original song (which is much better as this), side B from December 1982. Saw them 2009 live here in Frankfurt and they were fuckin' brilliant - You Need This!!!

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PINPOINT - Third State 1980

A very underrated album is the full length by Pinpoint which were formed by Arthur Billingsley (AKA Arturo Bassick) in 1978 after he left the Lurkers, compiled by David M. Allen (bass) and Hugh Griffiths (drums) and it's really a shame that this LP received not much attention at the time of its publication. So for this we are bloggers here to change that. They released overall with the album three 7inches and the most known is their debut single Richmond, all on Albion Records. This album has ten great songs on it, a perfect mixture of fast punk numbers (Blind Eyes, Dark & Red), cool synthesizer smasher (Family Life, Waking Up To Morning, Drowning In The Wave Of Life) and simply great wavie tunes (Listen To The Snow, Hospital, Third State) and a fine ballad (Somebody Told Me). This brilliant record receives my full score and belongs in every punk collection. Compilation featuring the band on Killed By Death #1010011010 and Pure British Pop For Raw People Vol.1 and there is a complete collection CD with all their recordings out which you can order here. So enjoy the 'Third State' and have a sunny time.

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