Big Cheap Motel
(Siltbreeze - SB115) LP $13.00
The first of Siltbreeze's Axemen reissues is the trio's difficult third album from 1983. Rarely heard outside the Southern Hemisphere, this montage of rough-and-ready live performances and Peterboro Studio recordings teeters on the precipice of chaotic genius alongside such stalwarts as Alternative TV / Hear & Now's What You See Is What You Are and 1/2 Japanese's Loud. With a reproduction of original insert and original cover design. Edition of 500.
Sac Tap Nut Jam
(Spacecase) Used LP $8.00
The first new full length in twenty-one years by this New Zealand quartet with 1980s releases on Flying Nun and a string of reissues on Siltbreeze reunites Steve McCabe and Stu Kawowski with Dragan Stojanovic (who played on 1987’s Derry Legend) and brings in William Daymond. Like The Swell Maps, The Axemen sound is hard to define and defies easy categorization, but don’t let that compel you to withhold a warm welcome for the Beatles / Dylan pop of Stojanovic’s “These Days,” nor to McCabe’s post punk-influenced “Doctor’s On Speed Dial” as well as his inimitable voice and stream-of-consciousness lyrics at the forefront on “Google That Girl.” Black vinyl. Edition of 500.
Scary! Part III
(Siltbreeze - SB119-SB120) 2xLP $17.50
The second of Siltbreeze's Axemen reissue series, Scary! Part III originally saw light as a cassette-only release in 1989. Unlike the hyper-punk-charged Big Cheap Motel, Scary! operates from a gestalt concept and sensibility. While on the surface the contents might sound fragmented, ruminative, or obfuscatory, dig deeper (or listen better) and you'll see (and hear) the mystifying ooze lactating out of the four sides not as individual, insurmountable constructs of bizarreness, but as a coherent pattern of brilliant phenomena. Novice ears that have made it though this Bunyanesque giant find themselves making comparisons to a mixture of S.Y.P.H., Royal Trux, and Ptose.
Three Virgins
(Siltbreeze - SB122-SB123) 2xLP $17.50 (Out-of-stock)
Setting up shop in Christchurch's State Trinity Centre over Easter holidays 1985, The Axemen went to work recording every sound and second that could be captured during the legendary lost weekend. Fueled by enhanced adrenalin (Tiger Blood) and super human zeal (Adonis DNA), The Axemen chewed up dozens of reels of tape, assaulting all those who entered the erstwhile ecclesiastical chamber with a barrage of splendiferous blabber 'n' croak. The resultant eighty-eight minutes sound like a mutant hybrid channeling of Trout Mask Replica, Exile On Main Street and Tago Mago. Includes free download card.