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HR016 — Where To Now? #2— Various Artists — C90 — 1985
HR016 — Where To Now? #2— Various Artists — C90 — 1985
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REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
The second ‘Where To Now?’ volume opens with If, Bwana, which is the solo project of Al Margolis, who ran the Sound Of Pig tape label. It’s an anguished onslaught of deep space alien howls and moans, anchored by a radiophonic hip-hop pulse.
Chris Phinney’s Mental Anguish chimes in with what is relatively sedate stuff for Mental Anguish. We’ve got a trio of keys, one that lays the foundation with a blend of drone and cosmic symphonic drift, and two that tastefully parallel one another with a dual melody.
Konstruktivits return with a cool combination of spacey electro beat and jamming psych guitar that freeform solos.
Mystery Hearsay is Mike Honeycutt’s solo project and features an exploration with a cosmic mixture of electronic spaceship engine room mechanics and a multi-layered chorus of clanging bells.
All I can tell about Anonymous is from the contacts list which says c/o Olea Artistries in Salt Lake City, UT. The music is characterized by symphonic prog rock, with robot narrative voices, operatic choral harmonies, high intensity symphonic prog keys, orchestral piano, but also harsh electronic keys. Lots of thematic twists and turns that at times sounds like ELP, but with a noisy experimental edge. Interesting.
Skoptzies surprise with some fairly straightforward jamming and nicely melodic hard rock, accompanied by more offbeat experimental electronics and effects. Some really cool wailing guitar soloing too.
Attrition (England) were one of the stalwarts of 1980s cassette culture, releasing a stream of albums, appearing on countless comps, and are still active today. Their ‘Day I Was Born’ is a nifty vocal number, being a Goth/Industrial avant-pop song with a tinkling keyboard melody and jamming saxophone.
Red Christmas is another band from the Huntington Beach, CA based Purple Robe Records label who contributed two bands to ‘Where To Now? #1’. Once again, it’s pretty mainstream rocking stuff, in this case being overtly Christian, singing about Jesus leading the way.
Algebra Suicide (Chicago, IL) were the duo of Don Hedeker and the late Lydia Tomkiw. Their core style was a simple yet charmingly seductive combination of keyboard, guitar, drum machine, and Lydia’s spoken word yet part sung vocals. They really sounded like no one but themselves.
Side B opens with Memphis band Viktimized Karcass, who delight with nearly 10 minutes of jamming, fuzzed up, spaced out hard rock with screaming and oscillating electronics and whacked out ranting and zany efx’d vocals.
C. Allen Parker is another from the Salt Lake City based Olea Artistries. It starts off with high intensity symphonic prog, though the prog keys are accompanied by some fun and crazy sounds and effects. But it soon abruptly shifts gears, transitioning to a lilting acoustic guitar driven folk-psych vocal number, which then once again changes its mind and becomes sound exploratory with lightly pulsating drones, an ominously atmospheric synth, and weird effects, but then quite slowly and nicely brings the acoustic song back into the mix. Lots of very interesting ideas here.
The second entry from Attrition ups the intensity ante with a skittishly grooving industrial synth-pop song with potent vocals that are like a cross between Nina Hagen and Bene Gesserit’s Nadine Bal, and a cool call-to-prayer horn adds a little spiritual vibe to the proceedings.
Sombrero Galaxy was the duo of Al Margolis and Jay Hernandez. It’s very different from Margolis’ If, Bwana. This is an atmospheric song with a rocking beat, classic New Wave synths, and a soulful rock singer.
We’re treated to another song from the always wonderful Algebra Suicide. This one consists of a pleasant soloing guitar melody, their trademark drum machine beat, and Lydia’s spoken/sung word delivery. I like how the guitar starts to get more aggressively rocking as the synth comes in to take over the melody until the song abruptly ends.
From Milwaukee, WI, F/i were veterans of the 1980s cassette underground and occasionally release albums today. Space Rock, electronic noise, experimental, and mish-mashes of all those things characterized the prolific F/i. Their three entries on this compilation are rhythmically noisy, harshly space rocking, and more densely experimental, noisy, sound exploratory. GREAT band!!
Wrapping up the set is another contribution from Mystery Hearsay, which goes in a different direction than the first, being an experimental percussion symphony of clangs and bangs.
INTERVIEW with CHRIS PHINNEY by Kranitz
JK: The Skoptzies track on Vol. 2 took me by surprise. In my review I said, “Skoptzies surprises with some fairly straightforward jamming and nicely melodic hard rock, accompanied by more offbeat experimental electronics and effects. Some really cool wailing guitar soloing too.” Was this the same guitarist that had been on other Skoptzies tracks?
CP: It had to have been. Is there a title? JK: ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’. I wrote that song. I wrote that song at 3:32 in the morning and that’s why it’s called ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’. And the next day we recorded it.
JK: It’s a damn good Skoptzies track.
CP: Dave (Grave) was there and he helped me with bass on that song.
JK: There’s another band here from that Purple Robe Records label, Red Christmas. And it’s kind of mainstream like the other bands from that label on Vol. 1, but this is overtly Christian. They’re singing about Jesus leading the way.
CP: Yeah, they were all the same folks but different bands.
JK: And you’ve got two artists from this Olea Artistries label in Salt Lake City. One is just called Anonymous, and the other is C. Allen Parker.
CP: C. Allen Parker got mad at me on that track. He said I made it sound like shit on the compilation. I’ll always remember C. Allen Parker, just like I’ll remember another guy if we ever get that far (laughs).
JK: Well both him and Anonymous, their music has a symphonic prog rock quality to it.
CP: Oh yeah, it’s some good shit man.
JK: And you’ve got Attrition included, who were one of the more ubiquitous bands in the 80s.
CP: I got in touch with the dude who ran Attrition (Martin Bowes). We had a good relationship for a long time. They networked like crazy.
JK: And Algebra Suicide. I loved that band because they always sounded like nobody but themselves.
CP: Exactly. Good band.
JK: And of course F/i, who you know I’m a huge fan of.
CP: I used to be in touch with Richard (Franecki) a lot. We used to trade a hell of a lot of tapes. He was reviewed in Malice as well. But we also traded tapes.
The second ‘Where To Now?’ volume opens with If, Bwana, which is the solo project of Al Margolis, who ran the Sound Of Pig tape label. It’s an anguished onslaught of deep space alien howls and moans, anchored by a radiophonic hip-hop pulse.
Chris Phinney’s Mental Anguish chimes in with what is relatively sedate stuff for Mental Anguish. We’ve got a trio of keys, one that lays the foundation with a blend of drone and cosmic symphonic drift, and two that tastefully parallel one another with a dual melody.
Konstruktivits return with a cool combination of spacey electro beat and jamming psych guitar that freeform solos.
Mystery Hearsay is Mike Honeycutt’s solo project and features an exploration with a cosmic mixture of electronic spaceship engine room mechanics and a multi-layered chorus of clanging bells.
All I can tell about Anonymous is from the contacts list which says c/o Olea Artistries in Salt Lake City, UT. The music is characterized by symphonic prog rock, with robot narrative voices, operatic choral harmonies, high intensity symphonic prog keys, orchestral piano, but also harsh electronic keys. Lots of thematic twists and turns that at times sounds like ELP, but with a noisy experimental edge. Interesting.
Skoptzies surprise with some fairly straightforward jamming and nicely melodic hard rock, accompanied by more offbeat experimental electronics and effects. Some really cool wailing guitar soloing too.
Attrition (England) were one of the stalwarts of 1980s cassette culture, releasing a stream of albums, appearing on countless comps, and are still active today. Their ‘Day I Was Born’ is a nifty vocal number, being a Goth/Industrial avant-pop song with a tinkling keyboard melody and jamming saxophone.
Red Christmas is another band from the Huntington Beach, CA based Purple Robe Records label who contributed two bands to ‘Where To Now? #1’. Once again, it’s pretty mainstream rocking stuff, in this case being overtly Christian, singing about Jesus leading the way.
Algebra Suicide (Chicago, IL) were the duo of Don Hedeker and the late Lydia Tomkiw. Their core style was a simple yet charmingly seductive combination of keyboard, guitar, drum machine, and Lydia’s spoken word yet part sung vocals. They really sounded like no one but themselves.
Side B opens with Memphis band Viktimized Karcass, who delight with nearly 10 minutes of jamming, fuzzed up, spaced out hard rock with screaming and oscillating electronics and whacked out ranting and zany efx’d vocals.
C. Allen Parker is another from the Salt Lake City based Olea Artistries. It starts off with high intensity symphonic prog, though the prog keys are accompanied by some fun and crazy sounds and effects. But it soon abruptly shifts gears, transitioning to a lilting acoustic guitar driven folk-psych vocal number, which then once again changes its mind and becomes sound exploratory with lightly pulsating drones, an ominously atmospheric synth, and weird effects, but then quite slowly and nicely brings the acoustic song back into the mix. Lots of very interesting ideas here.
The second entry from Attrition ups the intensity ante with a skittishly grooving industrial synth-pop song with potent vocals that are like a cross between Nina Hagen and Bene Gesserit’s Nadine Bal, and a cool call-to-prayer horn adds a little spiritual vibe to the proceedings.
Sombrero Galaxy was the duo of Al Margolis and Jay Hernandez. It’s very different from Margolis’ If, Bwana. This is an atmospheric song with a rocking beat, classic New Wave synths, and a soulful rock singer.
We’re treated to another song from the always wonderful Algebra Suicide. This one consists of a pleasant soloing guitar melody, their trademark drum machine beat, and Lydia’s spoken/sung word delivery. I like how the guitar starts to get more aggressively rocking as the synth comes in to take over the melody until the song abruptly ends.
From Milwaukee, WI, F/i were veterans of the 1980s cassette underground and occasionally release albums today. Space Rock, electronic noise, experimental, and mish-mashes of all those things characterized the prolific F/i. Their three entries on this compilation are rhythmically noisy, harshly space rocking, and more densely experimental, noisy, sound exploratory. GREAT band!!
Wrapping up the set is another contribution from Mystery Hearsay, which goes in a different direction than the first, being an experimental percussion symphony of clangs and bangs.
INTERVIEW with CHRIS PHINNEY by Kranitz
JK: The Skoptzies track on Vol. 2 took me by surprise. In my review I said, “Skoptzies surprises with some fairly straightforward jamming and nicely melodic hard rock, accompanied by more offbeat experimental electronics and effects. Some really cool wailing guitar soloing too.” Was this the same guitarist that had been on other Skoptzies tracks?
CP: It had to have been. Is there a title? JK: ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’. I wrote that song. I wrote that song at 3:32 in the morning and that’s why it’s called ‘3:32 A.M. Rain’. And the next day we recorded it.
JK: It’s a damn good Skoptzies track.
CP: Dave (Grave) was there and he helped me with bass on that song.
JK: There’s another band here from that Purple Robe Records label, Red Christmas. And it’s kind of mainstream like the other bands from that label on Vol. 1, but this is overtly Christian. They’re singing about Jesus leading the way.
CP: Yeah, they were all the same folks but different bands.
JK: And you’ve got two artists from this Olea Artistries label in Salt Lake City. One is just called Anonymous, and the other is C. Allen Parker.
CP: C. Allen Parker got mad at me on that track. He said I made it sound like shit on the compilation. I’ll always remember C. Allen Parker, just like I’ll remember another guy if we ever get that far (laughs).
JK: Well both him and Anonymous, their music has a symphonic prog rock quality to it.
CP: Oh yeah, it’s some good shit man.
JK: And you’ve got Attrition included, who were one of the more ubiquitous bands in the 80s.
CP: I got in touch with the dude who ran Attrition (Martin Bowes). We had a good relationship for a long time. They networked like crazy.
JK: And Algebra Suicide. I loved that band because they always sounded like nobody but themselves.
CP: Exactly. Good band.
JK: And of course F/i, who you know I’m a huge fan of.
CP: I used to be in touch with Richard (Franecki) a lot. We used to trade a hell of a lot of tapes. He was reviewed in Malice as well. But we also traded tapes.