Monthly Archives: July 2008

Bippp: Obscure French New Wave

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Born Bad Records released BIPPP in 2006. This is an enjoyable collection of French “synth wave” recorded between 1979 and 1985. The quality of these tracks is fairly consistent across the board both in the songwriting and recordings themselves. For a longtime fan of obscure new wave, this is a real treasure trove. You can practically taste the quaaludes.

“Ping Pong” by Act and “Touche pas mon Sexe” by Comix are standout tracks. Both are described in other circles as “Devo-esque”, which seems to be the favorite term used by reviewers who lack the imagination to describe these bouncy synth masterpieces any other way. Personally, I’d just say that they make you want to snort cocaine and bounce your cranium around like you had a bobble-head. The short version–if you like music that goes “boingy-boingy-dingy-dingy-blip-blop-bleep,” this is for you.

It certainly works for ME. Especially when they aren’t singing in English. I think that’s the best part of all…I prefer NOT to know what they are on about. It’s just more fun that way. Visit the BIPPP Myspace page to hear some tracks from this one. It’s distributed in the USA by Everloving Records, for which I thank them profusely.

Gang of Four Damaged Goods EP

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Gang of Four is a favorite from way back. I got my start with this band by picking up the compilation CD, A Brief History of the Twentieth Century. Once I heard the Damaged Goods track, I was hooked. As a bass player myself, I was amazed at the athletic playing of Dave Allen, and later tracks like Cheeseburger and the blistering live version of What We All Want.

Dave Allen recently offered up a lovely zip file of the three songs from the GoF vinyl Damaged Goods EP in a post on his excellent blog, Pampelmoose.com. I’m a complete fan of the site for a variety of reasons, but mostly because Dave’s a character and I enjoy the posts by him and his contributors. I’m also a bit hooked on the Portland music scene.

As the songs offered in the Pampelmoose entry are ripped from vinyl, they TECHNICALLY fit here, thought I’d much rather chase down the original record and pop it on the turntable. MP3s are fun, but I do love the size, smell and artwork of the good old stuff. MP3s just don’t have any distinctive features whatsoever except the audio itself. Me, I enjoy the whole package. The searching, the finding, the fondling…all of it. But I digress. Have a listen to these great tracks and see what hooked me so many years ago.

The Prima Donnas 7″

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The Prima Donnas were new-new wave long before The Epoxies or any of that lot came along. In fact, I was lucky enough to scoop up this now-out-of-print 7-inch in 1998, ferchrissakes! The Prima Donnas were described gamely as “punk rock without guitars” but really, you don’t need such descriptions. It’s a two-song romp with “She Had Alien Written All Over Her” and “Break Your Fuckin’ Head” both scoring high marks for energy, enthusiasm and fun sing-along-harmonies in goofy brit accents.

 Originally released on Peek-a-Boo Records, this is now available as a download from emusic.com. I highly recommend searching for this single in any Texas record store, especially near Austin and San Antonio. The Prima Donnas later released both songs from the vinyl on the full-length Drugs, Sex & Discotheques, which is full of great moments including one hilarious chant at the end of Reagan’s Dead:

“Reagan died/but his clone survived/run and hide/mass suicide”

Buy this CD with extreme haste, especially if you have a love affair with cheap synth tones. I love this CD and am quite pleased to own the single. If memory serves, Peek-a-Boo was located in Austin, but the website now lists a California contact address. Regardless, I will always associate The Prima Donnas with Texas, as that’s where I got hooked on them—in that scortching, evil 100+ heat. 

Sadly Sold Out: Seventeen Bubblegum Smashes by Pink Filth

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While it’s true that I was a member of the Texas bubble-wave band Pink Filth in 2001 until it dissolved, I didn’t actually record much with the group. We played tons of live shows, and if memory serves I had a songwriting credit or two, but when Seventeen Bubblegum Smashes came out, I wasn’t even in the picture. Too bad, as this album is so much fun…great versions of Quick Joey Small, Box on Wheels, and Chewy Chewy just to name a few.

You can find this oddity only as a used item in some San Antonio and Austin record shops, but if you can locate it, it is well worth the price. I own this one, but can’t get in touch with the other Pink Filthers to post an MP3 for you to sample. The moment they say yes, I will. Normally my policy is to post an MP3 as a promo for the bands and remove upon request, but my friends in the ‘Filth have always preferred to be asked first on the good old stuff like this. Can’t say I blame them when it’s an album of covers, but the world really should hear this record.