The Noseflutes - "The Ravers e.p."(ZRON19) & " Heartache is Irresistable e.p." (ZRON28) Ron Johnson Records 1986 & 1987

The Ravers 12" (Ron Johnson-ZRON 19-1986)
1. The Ravers
2. Leg Full Of Alcohol
3. Catcheel Maskhole
4. History Of Heart Disease
5. Serving In Paradise














Heartache Is Irresistible 12" (Ron Johnson-ZRON 28-1987)
1. Heartache Is Irresistible
2. Rotting Honeymoon
3. Hanging A Scarface
4. Thousand Pound Coat
5. Body Hair (Up In The Air)


Ahhhhhh,the Noseflutes......well I likes them;I know not many people do.I dunno what they did to make themselves so unpopular.They are funny,made excellent disjointed tunes with beefheartian overtones,and were sort of shadowy cousin to the Nightingales,whom everyone loved! These 12 inchers are superb,"the ravers" , a peel session, being particularly enjoyable.
They had a marvellous knack of giving their records incredibly amusing titles too.....see "Several Young Men Ignite Hardboard Stump" lp,and "Zib Zob and his Kib Kob" lp.
Go on,give 'em a chance.


DOWNLOAD The Ravers here!

DOWNLOAD the irresistable ep HERE!

The Mackenzies - Two Ron Johnson Singles (ZRON 9 & 15) and two Peel Session 1986-87.

The Mackenzies were brilliant at scratchy manic white boy non-funk,and released one stellar single in 1986 and recorded the (allegedly) most repeated peel session ever (7 times!), then.....obviously took the musical poison that was Ecstacy,and got corrupted by the remix and dance beats???!!!
The first Ron Johnson single, "New Breed" fulfilled the promise of the peel session,but the follow up somthing had gone badly wrong! It had one great track on it,but,it got repeated and discofied,the other tracks were similarly crap too.Then they released another single as the MKZ's, which had another two versions of "Mealy Mouths" on it....that was too shit to post on this blog.
But we have the best of the brief career of the Mackenzies below,check it out 'cus it was so good.

1.New Breed

2.Dogs Breakfast

(1986, Ron Johnson ZRON9)

1.Mealy Mouths

2.Trouble

3.Mealy Mouths (Radio Edit)

4.Jim Jam

(1987, Ron Johnson ZRON15)

DOWNLOAD the Mackenzies 2 singles here!

The Mackenzies did 2 Peel Sessions in 1986, both are fantastic,and show the world what might have been.
1st (10-2-86)

1.New Breed
2.Man With No Reason
3.Give Me Averything
4.Gobstopper

2nd (30-7-86)

5.Milk
6.Big Jim (There's No Pubs in Heaven)
7.Mealy Mouth
8.Jingle (Slight Return)

DOWNLOAD the Mackenzies - Peel Sessions here!

Jackdaw with Crowbar - " The Peel Sessions" (June/October 1987)

This is where i first heard Jackdaw with Crowbar, i think my mouth fell open during "Turkey Shoot" and didn't close 'til it had finished by some ten seconds,followed by a mixture of hysterical dribbling and giggling. Then i heard "crow" from their debut on Ron Johnson, and i thought i had discovered the most insane group since the Residents. But they couldn't keep it up, their sessions and two ep's stand as a testament to a captured moment in time when they hit the motherlode.

1st (3-6-87)

1.Iceberg
2.Ignorant
3.Turkey Shoot
4.Amarillo

2nd (12-10-87)

5.Tightrope
6.Stomach Pump
7.Sailor Soul Survivor

DOWNLOAD Jackdaw with Crowbar - Peel Sessions Here!

Jackdaw with Crowbar - " Hot Air " l.p. (ZRON 33) Ron Johnson Records) 1988

This was comfortably the worst Jackdaw record(the penultimate release on Ron Johnson), over-produced, over played, under performed, and too many tracks we had heard already,rehashed to fill up the album. It was 1988 and most of the underground bands were starting to lay down their instruments, pick up maracas and tambourines, wear stripy tops, take ecstacy,and dance badly to 'funky' drummer beats. Not that i am accusing Jackdaw with Crowbar of doing this,but the general climate lead to interesting groups toning themselves down and making dancey versions of their toons.....the worst atrocity of which being the 'remix'! Never in the field of human creativity has there ever been such an awful cop-out as the dance re-mix......and they were ALL fucking crap!
Now i've got that out of my system, "Hot Air" is a mixture of professional sounding Dub reggae tracks, standard jackdaw fare such as the excellent "Turkey Shoot" (more bird obsession ditty), and pointless reworkings of older material("FUSA","Iceberg"). I have to say when the reggae stuff comes on these JWC records (same as i do with the Bad Brains records),i skip 'em;if i want to listen to dub reggae i'd have played King Tubby,or Scientist wouldn't I!?
Not the best place to start on your JWC adventure,but still better than 98% of the throng out there.
Check out the Peel Sessions for your best JWC experience.(see above)

1.Travesty of C(ro)W

2.Banjoid Festi

3.Sultan of Pickle, Son of Bran

4.Scrape

5.New Right Wing

6.Turkey Shoot

7.Iceberg

8.Amerillo

9.Stomach Pump

10.Sailor Soul Survivor

11.FUSA

DOWNLOAD Hot Air Here!

Jackdaw with Crowbar - " Sink,Sank,Sunk " e.p. (ZRON 31) Ron Johnson Records) 1988

More great unhinged lunicy from the nutters who were/are Jackdaw with Crowbar; with their second release on Ron Johnson.Stand out track is "Sunk by an iceberg", then let down by the naive/obvious politics of "Amerillo" and the annoying "Fuck America", which is as subtle a messenger as the (moronic) Exploited's "Fuck the USA"......but, still a great record from a reat band,on a great label.

1.Sunk By an Iceberg

2.Red Star Loco

3.Amerillo

4.Fuck America

DOWNLOAD Sink Sank Sunk here!

Jackdaw with Crowbar - " Monarchy,Mayhem,and Fishpaste" e.p. (ZRON 24 Ron Johnson Records) 1987

Jackdaw with Crowbar were undoubtedly thee most bizarre group on Ron Johnson.When I first heard the song "Crow" from this e.p.,it was one of those "wot the fucking hell was THAT!!!!???" moments. Sort of an off kilter drunk version of Van Vliet meets a....well...chicken!
And this remains probably my favourite ron johnson song, its completly nuts.

1.The Night Albania Fell on Alabama

2.Siren

3.Crow

4.Fourth World

DOWNLOAD Monarchy,Mayhem,and Fishpaste here!

Twang - " Sharp!" (Ron Johnson Records ZRON 14) 1986 + ( peel session 12-2-1986)

This is fantastic, tight as a cheese cutter, visceral white youth funk, spat onto a seven inch disc of poly-vinyl chloride. Joe public missed these boys,like most of Ron Johnson's stable. Also included in the download is their first and only Peel Session,which is just as good. -plus a track on a give away split flexi disc too!(apparently there is a nouveau-scally group called "The Twang" about these days.....DO NOT confuse the two....The Twang are shit,but TWANG (minus "The") are great)

Sharp 7" (1986, Stet/Ron Johnson )

Sharp
Eight at a Time

Split Flexi (1986, Lyntone)

Twang! - What's the Rub?
Laugh - Take Your Time, Yeah!

1st Peel Session (12-2-86)

Eight at a Time
Cold Tongue Bulletin
Big Dry Out
Law-Suit Man

DOWNLOAD Sharp and the First Peel Session Here!

Twang - "Kick and Complain E.P." (Ron Johnson Records ZRON 22) 1986

Diy success lead to a slew of independant labels in the 80's, which due to their apparent sophistication, were never looked upon as DIY ,but gained the awful label....."Indie"....which gives off the odeur of floppy fringes, jangly guitars,and fey spotty pale youths; such as Orange Juice and the like.
But,there were exceptions,one being the magnificant Ron Johnson Records, that existed from about 1985 to 1989-ish. Hardly a single crap record was released by Ron Johnson, therfore i am gonna endevour to post the best of ron on my blog.
First, i will deliver probably the most overlooked band on Ron Johnson's roster, that is Twang.
A manic scratchy white boy funk combo ,from god-knows where(and i dont wanna know where!).This is their second release,and a differnt version of their debut 45 ,"Sharp". This kicks Arse.

Download Kick and Complain here!

The Shaggs - "Philosophy of the World" (1969)

To celebrate american independance day heres some Outsider DIY, from the Wiggins family of New Hampshire. What inspired these monstrous ginger mingers to create such a miesterwerk of falling apart music is beyond me. Apparently their father(Austin Wiggins Jr.) had the idea, somthing to do with a gypsy's prediction after she read the palm of his ma.
It is no coincidence that this was released in the same year as the work of art that is Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica", they share many of the same musical qualities,achieved by methods at opposite ends of the methodology spectrum. Van Vliet really had too much to think, and the wiggins sisters literally didn't think at all. They both created absolutely new musics that have not been surpassed since.
Both of these artists wrote tunes where all the members of the group played in different time signatures,beefheart deliberately, the shaggs accidently due to incompetence.
Now begins the argument of wether a child or Monkey's abstract painting is as worthy of praise as Jackson Pollock's "Lavender Mist".
Either way, the Shaggs total lack of conventional musical abilty, is both charming and fascinating in equal measures. A great case of Free your mind and your ass will follow.Learn from this all yee who try to create music by regurgitating the past, empty your mind and feel the force.(and don't go to the dark side like U2)

DOWNLOAD this philosophy HERE!