Latest release: 31 Jan 2014
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BLACK HUMOR - 'LOVE GOD, LOVE ONE ANOTHER'
Formats
SV001 - LP
Details
Handmade silkscreen jackets. Second pressing now available. BLACK HUMOR was an experimental rock band from San Francisco in the early 80's. (Not to be confused with "blackhumor," alias of noise artist Frazer Hall.) They released just one, very hard to find LP on Fowl Records in 1982. Only 1,000 records were pressed, each with unique handmade covers: thick slabs of paint, collage, parrot feathers, dirt, whatever else happened to be laying around their Tenderloin flat. Many of these have since gone for high, collector prices or ended up in oblivion. Existing in a parallel universe to other bands of the era, BLACK HUMOR's music is filled with jarring images of urban decay and desperation, bass-driven melodies, and layers of dissonant guitar and percussion. And perhaps the only known recording of a parrot that was taught to say "Fuck You." This first time reissue uses the originally intended artwork for the album cover. Fully authorized and mastered from the original analog tapes. Includes new insert with liner notes by singer George Miller and engineer Tom Mallon. "BLACK HUMOR is perhaps THE band / lp from that era of SF that seemed to fuse equal elements of FLIPPER / CHURCH POLICE, FACTRIX / MINIMAL MAN and FUCK UPS / SICK PLEASURE to forge a release that was all their own." Tom Lax (Siltbreeze)
Tracks
1.Undancing In The Dirt
2.Next Step
3.I Should Have Let Him Die
4.Hometown Vigilante
5.Zebra Killers
6.You Can Have It
7.Dull Peoples Rights O.K.
8.Burn The Welcome Mat
9.Neo-Hippies
10.Kill Them
11.Refugee Suicide
12.Aufwiedersehen Juden
13.Karen Ann
14.Too Stupid To Die
Press
Audio & Video
NOH MERCY - 'S/T'
Formats
SV002 - LP
SV002CD - CD
Details
Formed in San Francisco in 1977, NOH MERCY was comprised of only two women: Esmerelda and Tony Hotel. The band's motto was "No Boys On Guitars" as a reaction against male-dominated rock 'n' roll. They didn't need boys or guitars. They harnessed the angularity of DEVO, the punk/poet attitude of PATTI SMITH, and the art spectacle of ROXY MUSIC, all ground down to a minimalist core of voice and drums. Their only two previously released songs "No Caucasian Guilt" and "Revolutionary Spy" have long been considered essential recordings within Post-Punk/No Wave collector circles and by fans of other late 70's "girl" groups, such as X-RAY SPEX, THE SLITS, and THE RAINCOATS. This album contains almost entirely unreleased material, unheard for over thirty years. Recorded by Fluxus artist and electronics genius Tommy Tadlock (TUXEDOMOON) during their peak in 1979. As prescient as bands come, NOH MERCY preceded the defiant queer rebellion of Riot Grrrl and the frenetic art minimalism of the early 21st century by decades.
Tracks
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FACTRIX - 'SCHIENTOT'
Formats
SV003 - LP
SV003CD - CD
Details
Arguably the most prescient band of the entire late 70's San Francisco underground, FACTRIX released just one 7-inch and two pioneering LP's in the early 80's. Formed in 1978 by Cole Palme (one-time member of the LAFMS group AIRWAY) and Bond Bergland (later of SAQQARA DOGS), the two initially called themselves MINIMAL MAN and performed a handful of shows along with Patrick Miller (who would go on to have a great solo career under the MM moniker). Soon they enlisted bassist Joseph T. Jacobs (BAY OF PIGS) and emerged from their Mission-district basement with their own unique take on the burgeoning English and New York post-punk scenes. The results were throbbing walls of damaged electronics, grim lyrical musings, droning bass, piercing guitar, and a modified Roland CR-78 played at 1/4 its slowest speed. FACTRIX's sole "studio" album, 1981's Scheintot, is a dark, moody, and penetrating work that grows more contemporary every year. Genuinely disturbing at times and often disorienting, it filters the influence of peers such as CABARET VOLTAIRE and DNA through the sonic and structural sensibilities of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. An underappreciated masterpiece of the early industrial/No Wave era, Scheintot is a record that compels the listener to lift the needle from the run-out groove and listen again and again. Julian Cope describes it best: "FACTRIX's Scheintot deserves to be experienced several times, preferably in the darkness and in a state of near exhaustion (and/or informed by psychoactive chemicals)." This first time reissue comes from the original analog source. Liner notes by Julian Cope.
Tracks
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Audio & Video
FACTRIX/CAZAZZA - 'CALIFORNIAN BABYLON'
Formats
SV004 - LP
SV004CD - CD/DVD
Details
California Babylon is a far more sparse and caustic offering than FACTRIX's debut, Scheintot, documenting their live collaboration with notorious artist MONTE CAZAZZA, who along with recording for THROBBING GRISTLE's Industrial label also coined its "Industrial Music for Industrial People" motto. Originally released on the seminal Subterranean Records in 1982, California Babylon remains one of the best collections of violent guitar and primitive machine-noise resonance ever released. Featuring a musical treatment of the Brion Gysin permutation poem, "Kick That Habit Man," with avant-garde percussionist Z'EV backing the band. This first time reissue comes from the original analog source. LP with archival inserts
Tracks
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Audio & Video
THE AVENGERS - 'WE ARE THE ONE'
Formats
SV005 - 7"
Details
THE AVENGERS emerged as one of the best bands from San Francisco's first wave punk scene in 1977. Their first 7-inch remains an essential artifact of punk rock in the late 70's. Originally released on the seminal Dangerhouse label, the EP's three tracks feature visceral sonic attacks, lyrical manifestos of self-reliance, and classic anthemic choruses. Cover photography by Marcus Leatherdale on two unique picture sleeves. The black vinyl standard edition comes with the "crucifix" design.
Tracks
1.We Are The One
2.I Believe In Me
3.Car Crash
Press
Audio & Video
THE AVENGERS - 'PAINT IT BLACK'
Formats
SV006 - 7"
Details
THE AVENGERS' second 7-inch packs a 1-2 punch that tears through the Stones' classic and unleashes the menace that was only hinted at in the original. The B-side "Thin White Line" is a musical punch in the gut with the pay-off of lead-singer Penelope Houston's excellent "Don't talk about the blood running down my chin" lyric.
Tracks
1.Paint It Black
2.Thin White Line
Press
Audio & Video
THE AVENGERS - 'TEENAGE REBEL'
Formats
SV007 - 7"
Details
"Teenage Rebel" remains the anthem for every disaffected youth on the planet. Not included on THE AVENGERS' infamous Pink album, this song is a two-minute package of pure adolescent vitriol. Backed with "Friends of Mine," a declaration of solidarity for the punks of San Francisco. Recorded in 1978 at the famed Iguana Studios on Folsom Street.
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Audio & Video
GERMAN SHEPHERDS - 'MUSIC FOR SICK QUEERS'
Formats
SV008 - LP / DVD
Details
Formed by Stephen Scheatzle and Sandy Stark (aka Mark Hutchinson), the GERMAN SHEPHERDS grew out of San Francisco's art-punk scene in the early 80's. Their first single, "I Adore You," is a lost minimal synth nugget with an unforgettable rhythm box pattern, and their second, "THC," features Stark's menacing and child-like vocals. Music For Sick Queers (orig. 1985) brings together these and more beautifully disturbing songs, electronic noise reminiscent of Allen Ravenstine (PERE UBU) and the best of THE RESIDENTS, SUICIDE, and PSYCHIC TV. While more tracks would appear on compilations, such as, Mykel Board's infamous You'll Hate This Record Record, the GERMAN SHEPHERDS themselves virtually disappeared as their self-released album was out-of-print for decades. After years of searching the catacombs, Superior Viaduct finally caught up with only surviving GS member, Stark, and uncovered the band's secret history growing up in Ohio. This first time reissue comes from the original master tapes, full-length LP + special bonus 7-inch containing previously unreleased material. Includes archival inserts and digital download card. "A masterpiece of minimal synth combined with experimental and noisy synth punkish elements!" – Mutant Sounds
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THE SLEEPERS - 'PAINLESS NIGHTS'
Formats
SV009 - LP
Details
THE SLEEPERS broke up at least once before their first show on Christmas Day 1977 at Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco's center of the underground universe. While intensely unpredictable singer Ricky Williams played in other bands such as CRIME and TOILING MIDGETS, THE SLEEPERS were on their own rock-n-roll planet somewhere between punk, post-punk, and psychedelic. As Joe Carducci wrote in Rock And The Pop Narcotic, "THE SLEEPERS were an awesome powerhouse live. They were an appropriate refinement of THE STOOGES, and what JOY DIVISION might have developed into had they the balls." 1981's Painless Nights is their only album. In fact, it is one of the few full-length LP's to come out of San Francisco during this era. From the opening tracks "When Can I Fly?" and "Walk Away" (featuring Alex Gibson and Tom Recchion of BPEOPLE), Painless Nights captures THE SLEEPERS' fluid and volatile sound. Guitarist Michael Belfer's (TUXEDOMOON) lofi-textures and incisive riff's serve as perfect counterpoint to Williams' improvisational lyrics. Perhaps if the band had not broken up for the last time soon after its release, this amazing record would be even more known today. First-time album reissue comes from the original analog source. New insert with liner notes by Joe Carducci.
Tracks
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Audio & Video
100 FLOWERS - 'S/T'
Formats
SV011 - LP
Details
100 FLOWERS (previously known as THE URINALS) were a power trio whose sole 1983 album is an enduring document of the Southern California underground. Based in crime-ridden '80s Los Angeles against the backdrop of juvenile hardcore and vapid hard rock, 100 FLOWERS crafted a sound that rests between the inspired bursts of THE MINUTEMEN and the pastoral jangle of THE DREAM SYNDICATE with similarities to the equally oblique MONITOR and THE GUN CLUB (who even included a URINALS cover in their set). The trio wielded a gripping visual aesthetic and hyper-literate lyrical content that reflected their art-school backgrounds, while a ferocity and frustration borne out of their bleak urban environment permeates their songs. Strains of UK post-punk can be heard on "All Sexed Up" and skittish tension on "Presence of Mind." A far cry from the beach punk and surf rock of their contemporaries, album closer "California's Falling into the Ocean" contains all of their signature qualities: off-kilter delivery, subversive sentiments, and an irrefutable pop sensibility that reflects their immersion in LA's burgeoning Paisley Underground scene. The band splintered shortly after the release of this album, but time has only intensified the urgency of 100 FLOWERS' music. In 1996, the band reformed as THE URINALS, releasing a CD of new material in 2003. "Cool musicality with critical intelligence. And they thrash on a high level." Thurston Moore "This stuff both ignites my pilot light and blasts my boiler." Mike Watt
Tracks
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Audio & Video
MARTIN REV - 'S/T'
Formats
SV012LP - LP
Details
In 1980, shortly after SUICIDE's second full-length, MARTIN REV released his first solo album on preeminent No Wave label Infidelity (Lust/Unlust). Uninhibited by the trappings of a collaborator, Rev was freed to explore his most experimental and pop leanings with dirty synths, dark melodies, and dream-like textures, and produced a masterpiece of modern alienation that captures a uniquely New York landscape. Echoing other electronic forerunners such as SILVER APPLES and KRAFTWERK, and foreshadowing the work of APHEX TWIN and AIR, Rev's solo outing rests firmly in the lineage of unnerving sounds from the furthest fringe of maladjustment. First-time vinyl reissue. Insert includes new Rev interview by musician / critic Alan Licht.