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LAGHETTO Sonate In Bu Minore Per Quattrocento Scimmiette Urlanti (co-release from 15 different European labels: Bar La Muerte / Donnabavosa Records / Anemic Dracula / Shove Records / Riot Records / Hurry Up! Records / Finebeforeyoucame / Smartz Records / Nothingcity / Radio Riot / Kick Promotion / Cervello Morto / Produzioni Sante / 8mm Records / Vacuum Studio) $10 Intense, straight-up metal/hardcore from Italy--or so it seems at first. Almost every song takes an odd turn or makes a little dip into something closer to prog, avant, or folk. The lyrics are all in Italian, without translation, but there are notes "explaining" each song in pretty vague ways. Some titles that might give a clue: "Ninja Core," "Armageddon in Casa Lapenta," "S.S. Napoli Football Players 1982-1989."

LAST MAN STANDING (Zolla Productions) $10 2001 release from hard-rock band fronted by ex-Thundertrain singer Mach Bell.

THE LOST DOMAIN Something Is... (Rhizome; Australia) CDR $11 Rhizome: "Long awaited first non-self-released (& therefore slightly 'available') title from legendary yet mysterious Brisbane outfit. Forming as the Invisible Empire in the late 1980s, this band--circling around the figures of David McKinnon and Simon Ellaby--has slowly refined their muse over the following 15 years until recenlty reaching a peak form of non-linear, startlingly original folk-drone templature. While existing parallel to spirits like Jackie-O Motherfucker and the No Neck Blues Band, The Lost Domain both predate and supercede those outfits. The slow ring of guitars drenched in blues and rock form, little toy instruments as sidereal presences, organ hum and splutter, Kraut propulsed percussion, and wasted mumble vocals--the new sound of Australia, defined and redefined. Collects together two titles previously micro-released: 'Alain-Fournier's Dream' and 'Malcolm Mooney For President.'"

LOTUS 2.0 (co-release from Breathmint/Carbon RecordsRen/Audiobot/Human Conduct/Little Mafia/Ignivomous/Roger Records/SNSE/Sunship/Yelpco) $8 Constantly shifting cut-and-paste techno madness from Mat Rademan (Breathmint boss) and MP Lockwood (a.k.a. Radio Shock). Get up on yer hind legs and boogaloo in the year 2525. Woof-woof! Glitch-glitch! Tinkle-tinkle! Riff-riff! All right! (Yeah, I dig.)

LUV ROKAMBO Do the Glimpse (Public Eyesore) CDR $9 Two Japanese guys use guitars, keyboards, and their voices to stir up a chaotic yet droney hornet's nest of ritualistic improv and spazzy musical gestures. The mood is glowin' with somethin' 'r other, seemingly somber interludes still spilling over with ecstatic sparks 'n curious tongues. Public Eyesore catalog sez: "Morioka avant-guru Toru Yoneyama and Tokyo's Osam Kato together again with their most refined effort yet. A continuation of the themes expressed in earlier albums, Luv Rokambo continues to be one of the few truly off-beat, yet imaginative groups around. Yoneyama's possessed wails and chanting over jagged nowave slide guitar and irregular percussion. Difficult to say the least, Luv Rokambo is like no other."

THE MACHINE GUN TV Go (Public Eyesore) CDR $8 Intense, goofy, heavy noise "pop" by a Japanese "trio"(the third member is a TV set). Released 2005.

THE MAGIK MARKERS A Panegyric to the Things I Do Not Understand (Gulcher Records) $11 So, you know, I was listenin' to the radio back in '76--surprised to hear the title track from Patti Smith's Radio Ethopia, when the LP was brand new and I hadn't got my copy yet. "Radio Ethiopia" (the track) was this amazing surge of pure sonic madness--total free blow-out--and it left my head reeling. Then I heard the full album, otherwise devoid of the free thing--and I was bummed. Well, 30 years later, here's the Magik Markers. This trio sounds like its ABCs of R&R begin with "Radio Ethiopia" + the breathless free-rock orgasm of the Stooges' "L.A. Blues" + the most open moments of the first Godz LP on ESP-Disk. Of course, a zillion other things've come along in the meanwhile. The Magik Markers were bathed in hardcore as young'uns, and they came of age in the wake of the Dead C, Harry Pussy, and a worldwide noise scene that touches any and every other alleged genre. But at the heart of the Magik Markers is something much older: rock and roll. You know, R+R as envisioned down at the pub by Mark Smith & the Fall--except you can't remember the chord changes. Let's twist again like we did the first time we heard Suicide's "Rocket USA." Drummer Pete Nolan can scatter and merge in a way that you could say references Sunny Murray's free breakthroughs with Albert Ayler, but just as often sounds like he could be playing "Louie Louie" in a '65 garage band. Somewhere behind and beneath the clang and dissonance of guitarists Elisa Ambrogio (also vocals) and Leah Quimby (bass axe), I still hear the distorted blurry notes of Paul Burlinson with the Johnny Burnette Trio--the murderous licks of Pat Hare with Howlin' Wolf. And in between: everything from West Coast Quicksilver/Dead/Love to dark heavy Velvets/Zep/Sabbath/PiL. But remember, these young studs take out all the "fancy" stuff: no songs, no scales, nothin' but room--lots of rhythms, tons of sounds and noises (although don't mistake the MMs for a power-electronics assault squad), even a few recognizable English words. Yeah, the words. They seem spontaneous, but offer tantalizing hints at the magik behind the musicians: "You're my American woman. You're my American thighs. It's a dark night in Vegas. It's a dark night in Vegas" . . . "I am not compassionate. I don't like mercy. I will take your life" . . . "It's a shy, arthritic sky" . . . ?! In spite of their punk roots, the Markers' form tends toward extended breakdowns: this disc is divided into two "sides"--two long tracks--the first running to 19:41, and the other is 19:38. No rules is the rule here. For instance, dig the near-acapella section on the first "side"--whistlin', odd voices, clappin', just an occasional rattle or beep--very casual and simple but mesmerizing. Then there's the part on the second "side" where it sounds like everything is moving in outta-focus slow-mo, like after you've drank waytoomuch cough syrup (DXM)--'n yr legs 've turned t' melted, oooozing plastic. But my favorite part (swoon!) is when Elisa begins an erotic gutter-cat rant: "I'm your ramblin' rose . . . I'm your Sister Anne," obvious references to the MC5. Imagine THAT band jammin' with Yoko Ono--and yer about halfway to here. Elisa raves against the torrent of Quimby's roaring feedback and Nolan's exploding skins in an intuitive way that recalls Patti Smith's lost-in-the-whirlpool moments and/or Damo Suzuki's most tongue-driven gestures with Can. Whew. Formed in 2000, the Magik Markers have moved from New England to Kentucky to NYC--who knows where next? They've played around the U.S. and western Europe, including gigs with alt-rock heavies like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. The trio has released various CDRs and cassettes on their own Arbitrary Signs label, as well as an LP of "early" material for T. Moore's Ecstatic Peace, and CDR releases for Slippy Town, Imvated, and Apostasy. For their first manufactured CD release, the Markers have landed on the Gulcher imprint--it somehow makes sense that this group of out-crowders would end up with the same label that spewed MX-80, the Gizmos, and other weirdos onto an unsuspecting world. The strange thing is this time the world might be paying attention! Ssshhhhhh--pass the peace pipe--turn up the amplifiers.

MALE Grosseinsatz 1977-1994 (Captain Trip Records; Japan) 2CD $20 German punk band, heavily influenced by the Clash. This double CD includes their 1979 album  ZENSUR & ZENSUR, plus six raw'n'noisy tracks from '77, a single from '79, an EP from '81, and four tracks from a 1994 reunion.

MANDOG Big Wednesday (Captain Trip Records; Japan) $14 2004 disc from Japanese trio led by guitarist Keiichi Miyashita, who describes his music as "instant composing." Miyashita, bassist Takayuki Enomoto, and drummer Yasunori Kubo improvise six "instant compositions" filled with stormy, distorted, swirling, open-ended music that sounds not too far removed from early guitar-oriented Krautrock. This stuff is raw and dirty--no dainty psych-rock retro-isms here.

BILL McCARTER/STALINGRAD SYMPHONY Secrets/Struggle (Gulcher Records) $10 In the small town of Vincennes, Indiana, way back yonder in the punk-blossomed year of 1978, local musician Bill McCarter decided to do like everybody else in the world and record his own homemade EP. So, he wrote some songs, bought a 4-track reel-to-reel tape deck, and talked some of his musician pals into playing along. Among those pals were future Lazy Cowgirls members Pat Todd, Keith Telligman, and Allen Clark. Also on board was Mark McCormick, who later played with Telligman and Clark in my band Crawlspace. Everything went very well with Bill's recordings--except he never got the EP released! In 1979, Bill moved to L.A. around the same time I relocated there from Alabama. We had met in early '77 while Bill was hangin' around the Gizmos/Gulcher non-scene in Bloomington, Indiana. He gave me a cassette of the music he had recorded the year before with his friends in Indiana. I thought the music on the tape was wonderful, although nothing like the hardcore and chaos that was beginning to consume the L.A. scene and my own musical head. Still, it was hearing this tape that inspired our musical collaborations, which led to Crawlspace. Bill's unreleased EP, which he called Secrets, sounded obviously influenced by the Velvet Underground, like anybody with taste in the late 70s. But there was a lot more happening. The first thing that struck me was the strange Midwestern-Anglo vocal style--here was a guy who had spent a lot of time in his bedroom listening to Syd Barrett, Nick Drake, Brian Eno, and other assorted UK imports. The vocals were mostly stuck under the band's sound, which pulsated along in a Velvet-y way, but had strong hints of a small-town "country" vibe. Bill was a huge fan of that very early English-house-in-the-country rock like pre-metal Humble Pie and Led Zep III. The opening track, "Lady In White," also displays a strong connection to the Byrds, circa 5D and Notorious Byrd Brothers. "Is It Pleasant?" is kinda like middle-period Velvets at their most rocked out, with Mark McCormick goin' psycho on guitar. Bill's spoken lyric on this one is my favorite of the bunch, showing off a very dry and warped sense of humor. One of Bill's "secrets" (?) is that he had lovingly assembled a collection of Charlie Chaplin shorts he liked to watch on his Super-8 projector. Remember how Big Star sounded kinda spacey when they weren't rockin'? That's what "I Hear The Blue Sky Sing" brings to mind--although it kinda rocks (or at least chugs). The final of the four Secrets songs, "(Don't Know) What To Say," is like waitin'-for-the-man Velvets + ride-a-white-swan T. Rex + C&W guitar licks. Beautiful! During the 1980s, mostly before Crawlspace got off the ground in 1987, Bill was a fixture at Lazy Cowgirls gigs in L.A. He appeared at the beginning of each show as the Reverend Billy Ray McCarter, delivering a short "sermon"/intro before the band roared through its post-Ramones punk thing. From 1985-1989, Bill was a full-time Crawlspace member, and appeared on the various things we released at the time. Then he seemed to disappear. Actually, he moved from L.A. to Oxnard, which is similar to disappearing. But in 2001, the McCarter phoenix again rose from the ashes in the form of a very unexpected CDR release called Struggle under the name Stalingrad Symphony. For second guitar and bass, Bill called on L.A. friends Michael Leigh and Leonard Keringer, from the then-current edition of Pat Todd's Lazy Cowgirls. Just to make things a bit more confusing, Keringer also played with Crawlspace in 1987. Bill's long-time Vincennes friend Robert Kemp, who also played on Secrets in 1978, came out to play drums. And what did this group do together when they went into Earle Mankey's studio? Nothing like Secrets, that's for sure. Instead, they whupped up a pretty intense 40-minute piece of improv and free-rock sprawl. Gulcher Records has collected the never-released Secrets EP and the barely circulated Struggle CDR on one groovy compact disc that should bend back your jaded ears real good. This is high-quality stuff, brothers and sisters--nothin' like the snake oil that now poisons our collective R&R water supply. Dig.

DEANO MERINO Baby Crocodiles (Dual Plover; Australia) $12 Home-brewed (not)pop songs from Australian dude with mad guitar skills, unpretentious lyrics, upbeat outsider vibe, touches of hiphop 'n surf 'n several other stylistic references.

MEXICAN BLOOD BROTHERS (Old Gold) CDR $7 Old Gold catalog: "a vicious three-peice dual guitar drum  attack from ben young, jimmy young, and ben lawless, recorded live at  the eyedrum in 2000. heated and sweaty, like the lions at atlanta zoo.  cover stolen from lamp post in amsterdam." Limited edition of 50 copies.

MIDWICH 3 Days In, 4 to Go (Carbon Records) CDR $8 This is another big gob o' zoned excellence from Rob Hayler outta Leeds, England. Minimal braniac roots + techno sexy vibes + the eternal drone = feel good down in the electronic dirt. Handmade silk-screened sleeve; limited edition of 75.

WITT MILLS Dust Collection Agency (Old Gold) $10 Edition of 500. Enhandced CD with 50 minutes of music + 5 minutes of film. Old Gold head Ben Young: "for those who didn't know him, witt mills was an amazing and talented fixture of atlanta's underground, spinning sludgefeast on wrek - blowing hiss with charlie parker - feeding backwards through bass amp wonderland - or singing sweet pop confections laced with irony and the heaviest of confessional splendour with legion of doom and other groups. not to mention the films, the mathematics, the hilarity. an irreplaceable presence. who passed away in a tragic 2000 kayak accident. he had been working hard on this dust collection agency project prior to his death, sending us sprawling, allegedly unfinished versions from portland, while unbeknownst to us recording ever different newer efforts. - DCA, which he intended for old gold, forms the basis of this diverse and fascinating compilation, which also includes the film short 'she makes me dizzy and confused' playable on computer. with long reminiscences by friends and colleagues, cover designed by henry owings, 50 so minutes of pop, noise, drone, pranks and psychedelic waterfalls." This is good stuff.

MING Versus the Great Satan (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Third release in Carbon's 10th anniversary CDR series. "the anonymous force of Ming, in the great battle for the hearts and minds of all beings everywhere, from the Great Satan." Low-hover drone 'n scrape recorded in Lower Hutt, New Zealand and Tampere, Finland. Lower Hutt? Hmm--Birchville Cat Motel territory--and we all know that Finland has its share of tribal-drone freaks. Get the idea? Mmmmmmm--clnnnngggggg--"1 2 3 4 we don't want your fucking war!" Turntables, live loops, tapes, field recordings, ukelele, ebowed strings. Rrrrrrrrrrr.

MORE Sweet Killers (Old Gold) CDR $7 Long, spacious improv and raw jam from Atlanta-area bunch headed by Old Gold boss Ben Young. Nice field-recorded "Farm Intro" (chirp chirp). Recorded 1994-2001.

MORE La Luba Mia (Old Gold) CDR $7 Here's a fine collection of noise rock, deep hover, and free clang by Steve Pomberg, John Armstrong, Marshall Avett, and Ben Young, recorded 1994-2003. Great cover photo. Limited edition of 50 copies.

DENNIS MOST & AUDIOLOVE Live at the El Cid, December 1976 (Captain Trip Records; Japan) $12 Dennis Most and his 1976 band perform five originals (including "Excuse My Spunk," which was released on single in '79 by Most's band the Instigators), plus cover versions of songs by Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, Arthur Lee & Love, Zappa & the Mothers, the Bobby Fuller Four, Johnny Rivers, Henry Mancini, the Standells, and the Bubble Puppy.

MOTH The Secret Tapes (Rhizome; Australia) CDR EP $9 This is the same CDR that was mistakenly listed here with the title FILES. Rhizome: "The third of the Moth trilogy & thus the final Moth title mops up home-recorded snippets from the period 1997-2003. A few tracks saw the light of day on  the '33'16' CD-R micro-released in an edition of 7 in 1999, but most cuts previously unavailable and unheard. This time strictly solo, no collaborations, 'Files' hovers through minimal guitar tinker to weightless drones and the closing, surprisingly melodic, piece. Short and sweet."

MOTORAMA No Bass Fidelity (Vida Loca Records/Bar La Muerte; Italy) $12 Three-piece all-girl punk band from Italy. Lots of no-frills energy, cool detours into noise and blues power, genuinely hot-shit hard-rock guitar gestures that rise above the cliches. Dig. Produced by Bugo.

THE MUSIC ENSEMBLE (Roaratorio) $12 Roaratorio catalog description: "The first documentation of this important free improvising group, featuring Roger Baird, Billy Bang, Malik Baraka, Daniel Carter, William Parker, and Herb Kahn. Existing during the heyday of NYC's Loft Scene, their name has often been cited as a crucial stage in the development of its members -- the seeds of such current ensembles as Other Dimensions In Music and Test can be found here -- but their singular music has gone largely unheard, save by those who were present at their concerts. This CD has been compiled from archival tapes recorded by Roger Baird; one complete performance from Brooklyn's Kingsborough College, on 24 April 1974, and excerpts from a concert at the Holy Name School Auditorium, on 15 February 1975. Packaged in a mini-LP gatefold sleeve, with liner notes by Parker, Bang, Baird, and Carter, paintings by Marilyn Sontag, and a reproduction of the poster for one of the shows, this is the recording debut of one of jazz's greatest 'lost' groups."

MX-80 We're An American Band (Family Vineyard) $11 This is a great one, my favorite MX-80 album since Out of the Tunnel. Where most artists using slice'n'dice computer techniques come across as cold and calculated, these Midwestern/San Fran mutants take to such matters like a 1950s robot suckin' on a can of oil. It just makes 'em more slippery and wise. "No Brainer" opens the proceedings with goofy scary spoken samples and Bruce Anderson's searing guitar--just perfect. And then the title track--Rich Stim literally speaks the lyrics to the Grand Funk hit, backed by flamenco guitar, Marc Weinstein's snail-trail drumming, and a background drone--hilarious yet oddly sincere. How far down can they go? "Mr. Watson" tugs you deeper, and then the next tune is, yes, "Hell"! On the latter, Bruce shoots out little pellets of knotted guitar gnarl while Rich raps cynically about afterlife dualities. Like several of the songs here, "Susan" features prominent acoustic guitar (is that Jim Hrabetin?). The simple riffing is built up with background textures and sampled vocals into something kinda pretty (maybe like the Susan in the title?). MX-80's political/cultural sympathies are on full display for "Don't Hate the French." Rich's deadpan defense of Amerika's favorite Euro whipping boys is right on target and very nice to hear in this stupid time of increasing xenophobia. That's Rich's better half Angel Corpus Christi on background vocals. And hey, that's Dale Sophiea behind the cut'n'paste control panel throughout--making song-sense of all the performances, sounds, and samples. I assume the Fidel-lookalike also adds some bass guitar here and there. "You Turned My Head Around" is a love song, where we find the narrator's hatred of a barking dog swayed by affection for its owner: "I love your ass so much/I even love your dog." Rich pulls out the sax for "Give It Up"--always nice to hear--while the group sails and plods. "Cry Uncle" features Rich's super-white rapping against something that sounds a bit like sci-fi reggae. "So Clear," released as a single a couple years back, has surreal verses and a hooky chorus, but it's still way down in the down. How do these guys sound so cheerful and so miserable at the same time?! Their holiday classic "Christmas With the Devil" (from Gulcher's Xmas Snertz comp) is also included. "Lights Out" rants against energy hogs, something the MX-80 gang has been doing for thirty years now. You can blame George W. and his filthy-rich pals, but don't blame it on this band! And it all closes with "(I'm) Flying." 13 smash hits from a real world we can only dream of inhabiting. Yeah, like I said, this is a great one. Released 2005.

MYND MUZIC Imagine This (Lone Starfighter Records) $10 Psychedelic rock from Texas, 1994.

NAMASTE BAND Ekata (Captain Trip Records; Japan) $11 Worldbeat-type rock band from Nepal.

NAMASTE BAND Sandesh (Dexo Music Centre; Nepal) $11 Worldbeat-type rock band from Nepal.

NAMASTE BAND Himalayan Feelings (Namaste Cultural Studio; Nepal) $11 Third album by worldbeat-type rock band from Nepal. Released 2001.

THE NEW RACE The First and the Last (Total Energy) $10 Reissue of LP documenting the 1981 tour by band that consisted of Ron Asheton (Stooges) and Dennis Thompson (MC5) with Deniz Tek, Rob Younger, and Warwick Gilbert from Radio Birdman. With one bonus track ("Loose"). Liner notes by Deniz Tek.

NON-STOP Paris to Berlin (Initiates International) $10

THE NORDIC MIRACLE  We Shall Provide (Humbug; Norway) $12 Bio: "Verging on the edge of pain there is always pleasure. After years of wild live and studio assaults from the 'Trondheim Scene', the crooner noise duo TNM rise like a phoenix from the ruins of dead noise projects like Origami Replika, Sultans Of Swing, Lasse Marhaug Band, Climax Of Copenhagen and Herb Mullin. Pulling out every trick from the golden book of extreme sound performance, TNM offer you the ultimate listening experience. Sexy cascades of well-directed energy will grab you and make you shiver. The music of TNM is based on unique themes for every performance, stretching from J. S. Bach to George Harrison." Released 2003.

FUMIO NUNOYA & DEW Lost Blues Days Vol. 2 (Captain Trip Records; Japan) $14 Live recordings from the 90s by early 70s Japanese psych-folk-heavy band.

NUUJ Plays Sad Songs for Gurls (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Nineteen home-recorded multi-track guitar instrumentals from Hilkka member Nuuj. While hardly "pop" in the usual sense, the "songs" here do adhere to a low-key, melodically simple approach that's warmer and far less abstract than what happens with most loner-in-a-living-room solo-guitar things. Yup. Recorded 1997-2001. Limited edition of 75.

NUUK Nachts In Schwarzer Seilbahn Nach Waldpotsdam (Traumton Records; Germany) $11 With Max Goldt (Foyer Des Arts).

OLD BOMBS Zero (Veglia; Belgium) CDR $11 Glitch-rock, destroyed sound sources, and unstable rumbles from a trio with memebers of Monotract and Fukktron. This is their fourth release. With a bonus track of Old Bombs 1, originally released on cassette by White Tapes. Handmade sleeves. Edition of 60.

CHAD OLIVEIRI End User (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Glitched recordings, surface noise, tape hiss, lopsided loops, drones, and more. Chilly sounds--like North-European electro-acoustic stuff--but moving faster, with nervous American energy. Limited edition of 75, numbered and packaged in white cardboard CD folders and inserts.

OPTICSP Blocks (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Joe Tunis explains: "Blocks consists of feedback loops generated with analog equipment. Signals were generated with a synthesizer, combined through an effects processor which fed the signals back into itself. Also, recording signals for ADAT recorders were fed through a mixing board, processor and then back then back into itself therefore creating a loop. All of the sounds on this recording were generated in real time and were only manipulated to combine tones. There is no signal processing outside of the real time system." Edition of 100.

OUTERDRIVE Hallucinations (mar/ino) $10 "outerdrive formed about four years ago. i met joshua in one of my classes at wayne state university in detroit. one day i asked him if he wanted to get together and play some music. he agreed and brought along his brother who i hadn’t met at the time. from day one, we never discussed notes or keys. our music has always been improvisational. eventually we started inviting other musicians over to add new sounds into the mix. we met geoff through a mutual friend. the first time we played with geoff was amazing. his intense visual sound and ear for dynamics allowed the band to explore even deeper into uncharted territory. geoff adds the sci-fi horror show aspect to our smooth and subliminal psychedelia. this disc was recorded in colorado in the garage of our house and the rosevelt national forest. all tracks were recorded live to two tracks and are 100% improvisational. this music was never played before it was recorded and has never been played since. -- scott hill, november 14th 1999." Numbered first edition of 250 copies.

OVO Vae Victis (Bar La Muerte; Italy) CD EP $10 19 minutes of what the Bar La Muerte catalog describes as "an explosive mix of grindcore and improvisation . . . chaoscore?" Drums and guitars pound, sax screeches, Stefania screeches, the room clatters, the band clangs, the entire disc seems to wobble--and it sounds good. This edition of Italy's ever-groovy OvO consists of Stefania Pedretti and Bruno Dorella plus Jacopo Andreini (Bz Bz Ueu, Enfance Rouge, Nando Meet Corrosion, etc.) and Capoccia (Concrete, Los Vaticanos, Comrades, etc.). Released 2001.

THE PANICS 1980-1981: I Wanna Kill My Mom!!! (Gulcher Records) $11 After the original Gizmos were long gone, and Dale Lawrence was leading the late-edition 'Mos in Bloomington, this band of high-school goofs appeared on the "scene." They released one inspired slice of teen punk in 1981. "I Wanna Kill My Mom," "Best Band" ("We're the best band in Bloomington/And we buy our drugs on the courthouse lawn"), and a cover of the Ted-era Gizmos' "Tie Me Up, Baby!" use the raw elements of Anglo punk, the Ramones, and second-hand garage-isms to create a burst of greasy kid stuff that has the same feel as early Red Cross on Posh Boy or the Shirkers' great "Drunk and Disorderly"/"Suicide" single. This disc contains the Panics' one 7-inch; their cut from Gulcher's 1981 Red Snerts comp LP; '81 demo of lo-fi art-damage punk from a Panics off-shoot called Johnny Esad & the Music Killers; an entire live set from '80 comprised mostly of covers (Ramones, Kinks, later Gizmos, Sex Pistols, most of the cover songs from The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle); four songs from a 2000 reunion show.

P:ANO When It's Dark and It's Summer (Hive-Fi Recordings; Canada) $10 Somber pop-like stuff from a Canadian bunch led by songwriter Nick Krgovich. The arrangements are surprisingly tight, with an emphasis on acoustic instruments. But there are also touches of synth beep and guitar feedback.

PENGO & THE LAUNDRY ROOM SQUELCHERS Miami Made a Mess of Me (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Detuned sound-findin' horn-bellowin' cymbal-tappin' spaciousness, clatter, and brain damage that comes in a handy air-sickness bag with special little sticker and hand-scrawled art. Limited edition of 100. Carbon catalog explains: "In August of 2000 upstate New York's purveyors of avant garde drone Pengo, played a series of shows in Miami, Florida with free jazz legend Arthur Doyle. One of the bands that Pengo also played with was the infamous Laundry Room Squelchers. The final night of Pengo's stay in Miami was spent playing a show and then heading downtown to EyeQ radio. There they played live over the radio and were then joined by the Squelchers for a bombastic and over the top two band jam session."

JERRE PETERSON Tumbleweed (Captain Trip Records; Japan) $12 Solo CD by sometime Blue Cheer member and brother of Blue Cheer mainman Dickie Peterson. Released 2000.

PIN PIN SUGAR Latex Duellos (Bar La Muerte/Megaplomb; Italy) $12 Precision skronk and heavily angled not-jazz from a rippin' Italian trio of guitar, bass, and drums (plus sax and electronics added on a couple tracks). Mostly instrumental, with some well-placed rock-like vocals, feels like the mutant chillen of Don Van Vliet and Robert Fripp turnin' this stuff into delectable almost kinda sorta pop music. Super slinky guitar spasms leap outta weird time changes worthy of a few real head scratches. Feels like another train to loveland, kids. Yeah.

PLAYGROUND (Playground Productions) $9 1996 CD by current Blue Cheer guitarist Andrew "Duck" Macdonald's band

PLAYGROUND . . . And the Gods They Play (DMZ) $9 1998 CD by current Blue Cheer guitarist Andrew "Duck" Macdonald's band

POLIO Concrete (Humbug; Norway) CDR $11 Humbug catalog: "Before relocating to the UK earlier this year, Mr. Wright finished this fourth Polio release back in Christchurch, New Zealand. CONCRETE is an apt title; these are digital deconstructions of recordings made live in a bunker (apparently before an audience as distant chatter is heard on the last track), and to my mind there's a palpable sense of weight, gravity. Exquisitely layered and hallucinatory. Drone music supreme."

prpGROUP Babylard/Penfruit (RPP; UK) CDR $11 This disc contains the first two EPs, from 2001/2002, by the Leeds-based trio prpGROUP (Ashley, Cloughy, and Riz on drums, bass, guitar, electronics, etc.). prpGROUP is a ROCK group--full of noise and dirt and outside visions--but ROCK nonetheless. They use the basic elements of R&R aggression and non-song spontaneiety to beat down the walls in a very satisfying manner. The guitars and bass sometimes churn away like metal--and there's plenty of great skittering polyrhythmic un-funky funk-like propulsion--and fields of pure spacewarpnoise--but this doesn't sound like what you think from that description. Explosive (non-)punk (non-)metal (non-)prog (etc.). This is real real real good, pummelheads. And just the right non-idiot vibe, with an understanding of the difference between noise that moves and infantile screaming (this is NOT the latter). Right fuggin' on! Here's the prpGROUP statement of purpose: "prpGROUP rose phoenixly from the still steaming entrails of RANCID POULTRY, discarding the latter's fixation with freerock improv and setting our sights on building a monstrous scuzzriffing weirdscape machine (ie: RP with all the boring bits taken out). We have come to rescue music from the prettified wallpap of noodling nincompoops and the vacuous pantomime posturings of nu-metal ninnies. Remember, rock is hardened dirt, pressed till it melts--hot and oozing--or crackles with piezo-brilliance." prpGROUP catalog description of BABYLARD: "tumblingriffsong; razorthrub electro-melange tribalism climaxes and arrests, plunging into stomping bassbounce spazzmoog and jerkguitar; cerebrasive mental-floss twanged by uber-riff drops you into an insectinfected chasm and swings you back out again just before twatting you down hard on the coldsteel tundra." prpGROUP catalog description of  PENFRUIT: "fridgic squeal slices into preposterous proggist polyrhythms; dysdisco beats mutate into rockistposturings then explode digi-shards through falling scaffolding; punkprogriffage, dictaphonedub then earwax clears for atonally beautiful livewire dancing over a warm dronebath."

prpGROUP Snib/Sun Pie in a Custard Sky (RPP; UK) CDR $11 Third ('02) and fourth ('03) CDR EPs, together on one disc, from prpGROUP. And that means more big blasts of post-everything ROCK from this white-hot Leeds trio. Riff-a-rama, rock-solid grooves, total space attack--the relaxed parts come acorss like ultra-hypno-Krautrock. Git gone. prpGROUP statement of purpose: "prpGROUP rose phoenixly from the still steaming entrails of RANCID POULTRY, discarding the latter's fixation with freerock improv and setting our sights on building a monstrous scuzzriffing weirdscape machine (ie: RP with all the boring bits taken out). We have come to rescue music from the prettified wallpap of noodling nincompoops and the vacuous pantomime posturings of nu-metal ninnies. Remember, rock is hardened dirt, pressed till it melts--hot and oozing--or crackles with piezo-brilliance." prpGROUP catalog description of SNIB: "jackbooted punkrautstomp anchors barely controlled korgmoog squeal; percussion scutters over a quagmiric herzpool hunting maudlin electrospurts; noxious japyelp blues slashstumble; vibromantic soundscape; organous phasescrub; klatteritualistic beatbox and snarefrub summon primaudial spectres." prpGROUP catalog description of SUN PIE IN A CUSTARD SKY: "blisterfinger buzzbass spattered over sheets and splinters of tetanus-soaked rustguitar and yompimg drumlumps, fractures into tonechonks snarestorms and rimchatter, then a galumphing rubberwire tomthrob pecked at by electroncloud flutterbeaks."

prpGROUP Soilpipe (RPP; UK) CDR EP $8 Hey, what's that?! Sounds like the unreleased follow-up to Black Flag's instro EP THE PROCESS OF WEEDING OUT. No, man, it's the fifth EP from Leeds out-rockers prpGROUP. 22 minutes, eight "songs." Truth is, it quickly leaves Flag country, adding high-end guitar (or synth?) dweedle and a machine-like drum beat that veers closer to Krautrock--but still sounds like prpGROUP. Then it does other things--never stop movin'. Larks tongue 'n heavy meddle----screamin' blue reds 'n blacks----guitars devour yer head. More! prpGROUP statement of purpose: "prpGROUP rose phoenixly from the still steaming entrails of RANCID POULTRY, discarding the latter's fixation with freerock improv and setting our sights on building a monstrous scuzzriffing weirdscape machine (ie: RP with all the boring bits taken out). We have come to rescue music from the prettified wallpap of noodling nincompoops and the vacuous pantomime posturings of nu-metal ninnies. Remember, rock is hardened dirt, pressed till it melts--hot and oozing--or crackles with piezo-brilliance." prpGROUP catalog description of SOILPIPE: "krimzoid stringslash lurches into miasmic tinkle, boingbass and blattery soaked in cybervoids and caustic laminates, chaotic rock interjection preludes pounding polymetres hack/slice/jerk and stringstrangle swell fuzzstorm, chug-chug-kwoosh- chug-blannggg, mellifluous mellotronics and cheeky peeps send you off to sleeps..."