Trash - Trash It Up

Trash - Trash It Up
1998.07.25
Night Gallery UKCR-1071

The Night Gallery label was sick. In the early years they supplied us with some serious underground new wave and up and coming metal and the murky gothic-esque stuff in between. Around 1990 they started pressing cds with a combination of these same sounds, some serving as repressings of their earlier vinyls. This cd came much later and it actually does not mention Night Gallery anywhere on it, but it uses the same UKCR catalogue system and two of the members of Trash were in Jango, who had their "It's Not Your Business" cd released by Night Gallery in 1991. I'm usually expecting a sort of generic hard rock from releases like this, and some of you may feel like that's what you are getting.. but i was actually pretty overwhelmed by the vibe here. the production is CRISP and these guys fucking rock. everyone is tight and locked in, the groove is happy and upbeat. It gives me vibes of Tri-forces' Heat Guy J soundtrack tunes, mixed with happy The Pillows vibes. If you put that in a hard rock blender you're doin alright. Dig deep. Find gems.

Buy It.

Basilisk Glance - At A Glance

Basilisk Glance - At A Glance
1998.03.11
BGL01-1

When you dig around in the pits of the 100 Yen bins (figuratively speaking) long enough you start turning up groups like Basilisk Glance. Definitely worthy members of the early wave vk movement. If you dig oldschool vk these guys have some bait on their hook. The group didn't contain anyone of any particular consequence that i am aware of. they didn't go on to be in 24 other groups, like many members of the vk scene do. But they did release a decent portfolio in a few years. Production is a little suspect on this release, with the vocals up front and a bit muddy or overpowering at times, like during the more aggressive "神聖化サレタ凌辱", and the drums sit way in the back, obviously digitally sequenced. guitar is a little fuzzy. but this is all charm of the sort of lo-fi diy low budget rock stars, you know? i can dig it. There are not many songs that jump out as stand-out singles here, but the overall vibe of the album as a whole is very satisfying, with lots of ups and downs and momentum and atmosphere.

Buy It.