Various Artists - Murder Punk Vol 2

OVERVIEW: THE VIEW FROM THE OUTBACK CELLAR

If you thought early American hardcore was feral, you aren't ready for the absolute switchblade savagery on Murder Punk Vol 2, thrown into the world by the ghost-label Murder Punk Inc. (MPI 002). Originally surfacing as a mythic underground artifact in 1991 and re-dropped in 1997, this 25-track monster zeroes in on the raw, blood-soaked golden era of Australian punk from 1977 to 1980. This isn't just a tracklist; it’s an audit of hyper-rare independent singles and completely self-funded 7-inch EPs that were originally pressed in editions of a few hundred copies for paranoid kids dodging cops in Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney.

What makes Murder Punk Vol 2 an absolute holy grail for crate-diggers is its total dedication to archiving. Instead of giving you just one teaser track per band, this bootleg gives you complete, unedited EPs in their absolute entirety, mostly ripped directly from scratchy, original vinyl. It acts as a beautifully grim, photocopied monument to a scene that was entirely geographically isolated from London and New York. Because they were cut off from the rest of the punk world, these bands grew up weirder, meaner, and packed with a distinct, garage-born venom that you simply couldn't find anywhere else on Earth.

Various Artists - Let Them Eat Jellybeans! 17 Extracts From America's Darker Side

OVERVIEW: THE EXECUTIVE ORDER FROM THE UNDERGROUND

Slapped together and spat out in 1981 by Jello Biafra’s own Alternative Tentacles imprint (VIRUS 4), this compilation is the ultimate, definitive blueprint of the North American underground. The title itself is a venomous, razor-sharp jab at newly elected President Ronald Reagan and his infamous sweet tooth—a literal "let them eat cake" for the thousands of bored, pissed-off kids trapped in America's decaying suburban sprawl. It wasn't just a record; the original vinyl pressings came packed with a massive fold-out insert tracking every single active punk band across the US and Canada, effectively acting as a national directory for the emerging DIY counterculture.

What makes this record an absolute legend is its schizophrenic, two-faced sonic assault. Side A is the holy grail of early 1980s hardcore punk, capturing the genre's absolute titans right as the scene was mutating into something faster and more aggressive than anything that came before it. Flip it over to Side B, and the record completely ditches the circle-pit orthodoxy, plunging headfirst into a murky, avant-garde swamp of minimal synth, weirdo art-rock, and anti-nuke post-punk experiments. It is a brilliant, messy, uncompromising snapshot of a subculture completely untamed by major label dollars or genre rules.

Various Artists - Every One A Classic!!! Vol. 4

OVERVIEW: THE VIEW FROM THE BASEMENT

Listen up, vinyl junkies and bedroom rebels. Every One A Classic!!! Volume 4 is a glorious, middle-finger-in-the-air bootleg CD dropped by the shadows over at Punk, Mod, Powerpop (PMP CD004). This isn't your sanitized, major-label "Best of 1979" compilation sold at supermarket checkouts. No, this is an absolute goldmine of deep-underground, "one-and-done" 7-inch singles pressed in quantities of 500 by teenage misfits between late '77 and '81, then forgotten in damp garages until some beautiful maniac rescued the master tapes.

This fourth volume is a wild sonic collision where the razor-wire spit of provincial UK punk crashes headfirst into the hyper-melodic, tailored-suit rush of the mod revival and power pop explosions. We aren't talking about London elites or bands with record contracts; these are small-town heroes and bedroom dreamers from the cracks of Great Britain. It’s living, breathing proof that when the DIY bomb went off, the fallout hit every garage, youth club, and independent press from Scotland down to the south coast.

Gravity Kills - Superstarved

⚡ THE HIT RECON: THE SWAN SONG

By the dawn of the new millennium, Gravity Kills were bloodied but unbowed. After enduring grueling legal battles, the collapse of their relationship with TVT, and the departure of founding drummer Kurt Kerns, the band resurrected themselves on a new label, Sanctuary Records, to drop Superstarved on March 19, 2002. Recruiting replacement drummer Brad Booker, the St. Louis trio-turned-four-piece set out to reclaim their territory in a music scene that was rapidly moving away from industrial rock.

The album's production cycle was notoriously plagued by freak accidents, most notably a horrific studio mishap where keyboardist Douglas Firley literally crushed his hands under a falling custom-built, 150-pound steel keyboard rig. Despite the fractured bones and label turbulence, Superstarved emerged as a lean, hyper-focused, and incredibly slick electronic-rock hybrid. It would ultimately serve as the band's final studio testament before they quietly went on hiatus in 2003, closing the book on one of the most resilient industrial acts of the era.

🖨️ THE FINAL WRAP: GRAVITY KILLS DISCOGRAPHY RETROSPECTIVE

Looking back at the trajectory of Gravity Kills is like reading a field manual on the rise, mutation, and eventual burnout of the 90s industrial rock movement. They weren’t pretentious art-school theorists; they were midwestern sonic engineers who looked at a wall of machine code and figured out how to make it groove. From an accidental hit tossed onto local airwaves to a slick, millennial swan song, their brief catalog serves as a masterclass in how to bridge the gap between heavy, moshpit-primed alternative metal and sweaty, strobe-lit underground dance culture.

Guilty Single (1996) Raw industrial loops meet massive pop hooks. The absolute lightning-strike blueprint for their entire career.

Self-Titled Debut (1996) Lean, claustrophobic cybernetic aggression. A gold-certified, 39-minute time capsule of mid-90s alienation.

Manipulated (1997) Full-scale techno, Goa trance, and jungle breakbeat invasion. An essential remix document that completely surrendered rock to the rave.

Perversion (1998) Filthy, sludge-ridden, guitar-crushing arena stomp. The band's heaviest, rawest, and most uncompromisingly hostile statement.

Superstarved (2002) Neon-lit, chrome-plated electro-clash industrial pop. A flawlessly clean, hyper-focused swan song that proved they could evolve.

What ultimately separates Gravity Kills from the endless sea of late-90s Nine Inch Nails clones was their absolute refusal to compromise on melody. Even when Matt Dudenhoeffer’s guitars were chopped into mechanized rhythm blocks or Jeff Scheel was shredding his vocal cords over punishing drum programming, the songs always retained an immediate, infectious emotional core. They built a human heartbeat directly inside the cold casing of the machine. Whether you prefer the gritty basement angst of their self-titled debut or the polished cybernetic assault of Superstarved, their discography remains an essential, explosive chapter in alternative music history.

Gravity Kills - Perversion

⚡ THE HIT RECON: THE REBEL YELL

If their debut was a warning shot, Perversion was a direct hit. Released on June 9, 1998, via TVT Records, Gravity Kills' sophomore effort arrived shrouded in controversy and sheer attitude. The band originally fought to title the record Whore, a move their label immediately panicked over and vetoed. Striking back with just 48 hours left before manufacturing began, they landed on Perversion, packaging the disc inside an aesthetic layout covered in cheeky, mock "Safe Handling Instructions".

To anchor their changing sonic vision, the band teamed up with legendary industrial co-producer Roli Mosimann (renowned for his gritty work with SWANS, Foetus, and Marilyn Manson). Stepping away from the hyper-clean pop sensibilities of their debut, the St. Louis outfit delivered a dark, uncompromisingly heavy record designed to tear faces off in a live arena. It was loud, abrasive, and completely unapologetic.

Gravity Kills - Manipulated

⚡ THE HIT RECON: THE DIGITAL MUTATION

Forget everything you know about standard studio albums, because on April 1, 1997, Gravity Kills delivered a full-scale industrial-dance carpet bombing with Manipulated. Released via TVT Records just a year after their debut, this record wasn't a collection of new songs. Instead, it was an explicit acknowledgement that their guitar-fueled angst belonged just as much to midnight warehouse raves and strobe-lit underground clubs as it did to headbanging rock crowds.

Rather than letting the original tracks gather dust, the band threw the master tapes straight into a meat grinder, inviting the absolute royalty of 90s alternative and electronic production to deconstruct their signature sound. It became a gloriously unhinged soundscape where cyber-punk grit shook hands with Goa trance, breakbeat jungle, and distorted industrial techno. In true zine fashion, this was the ultimate sonic middle finger to the purists who demanded rock bands stick strictly to their six-strings.

Gravity Kills - Gravity Kills

⚡ THE HIT RECON: CYBER-ANGST UNLEASHED

When Gravity Kills dropped their self-titled debut album on March 5, 1996, they weren't just riding the coattails of the 90s industrial explosion—they were weaponising it for the masses. Following the lightning-strike success of "Guilty," TVT Records locked the St. Louis four-piece into the studio with legendary alternative producer John Fryer (the genius behind Nine Inch Nails, Filter, and Stabbing Westward). The result? A lean, mean, 39-minute digital beatdown that went on to shift over 500,000 copies, proving that underground industrial noise could conquer suburban stereo decks without losing its razor-sharp teeth.

This record is a beautifully claustrophobic time capsule of mid-90s alienation, paranoia, and cybernetic fury. Musically, it’s built like a tank: Matt Dudenhoeffer’s heavy, metallic guitar riffs collide head-on with Douglas Firley’s glitchy, chopped-up synth loops, while Kurt Kerns' relentless drum programming drives the whole machine forward. Frontman Jeff Scheel ties the chaos together by alternating between skin-crawling whispers and full-blown, throat-shredding choruses. To cement their newly minted cyberpunk street cred, they even packed the track "Blame" with a brilliant sound sample pulled straight from Geinoh Yamashirogumi’s score for the legendary 1988 anime masterpiece, Akira.

Gravity Kills - Guilty

⛓️ REWIND: THE BIRTH OF A BEAST

Gravity Kills didn’t just knock on the door of the 90s industrial scene; they kicked it clean off its hinges with "Guilty." The legend goes that this track was bashed out in a mere three days back in '94 for a local St. Louis radio compilation, but the raw, volatile energy locked inside those reels was too big for college airwaves. Blending the absolute crunch of distorted guitars with a filthy, loop-driven synth underbelly, it was the perfect sonic weapon for kids who thought Nine Inch Nails was getting too soft. By February 13, 1996, TVT Records snatched them up, dropped the official maxi-single, and watched the track detonate worldwide.

Suddenly, these midwestern industrial outsiders were everywhere. "Guilty" hijacked the airwaves, peaking at No. 24 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and infiltrating pop culture like a digital virus. It became the definitive cyber-anthem of the late '90s, famously soundtracking the dread of David Fincher’s Se7en and providing the high-octane, tribal-industrial adrenaline rush for EA Sports' legendary NHL '99 intro sequence. It was raw, it was corporate-unfriendly, and it was entirely unstoppable.

Girls At Our Best - Peel Session 12"EP

THE ARCHIVAL HOLY GRAIL

📻 FROM THE BBC VAULTS TO THE WAX! Although Girls At Our Best! had already burned out and vanished into the post-punk ether by 1982, John Peel never stopped playing them. In June 1987, the ultimate archival salvation arrived when Clive Selwood’s legendary Strange Fruit Records officially pressed the band's sole session from 17 February 1981 onto a beautiful 12” vinyl EP (SFPS029). Featuring the classic lineup of Judy Evans (vocals), James Alan (guitar), Gerard Swift (bass), and Carl Harper (drums), these recordings captured the band in the prestigious Langham 1 Studio under the production guidance of Mott the Hoople's Dale Griffin.

The release became an instant staple for alternative crate-diggers, comfortably climbing to No. 27 on the UK Indie Chart. It acted as a stark, glorious reminder of the band's sheer brilliance, bridging the gap between their chaotic early singles and the sophisticated pop structures of their full-length album. Packaged in Strange Fruit's instantly recognisable textured grey-and-white graphic sleeve, this EP gave fans a completely raw, unpolished, and completely vital look at the Leeds legends playing entirely live without the studio safety nets.

THE Girls At Our Best! MANIFESTO: A POST-MORTEM AJ REVIEW

THE LEEDS ANOMALY: POP AS A SUBVERSIVE WEAPON

⚡ LET’S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. While the rest of the post-punk class of 1980 was busy dressing in funeral blacks, staring at their shoes, and droning on about urban decay, a bunch of art-school outsiders from Leeds decided to drop a neon-pink atomic bomb on the underground scene. Girls At Our Best! didn’t just reject the mainstream pop industry—they completely reinvented it on their own terms. Armed with razor-sharp satire, jagged guitar lines, and a fiercely independent DIY ethic, they proved that pop music didn't have to be vacuous, and punk didn't have to be miserable. Across four incendiary 7” singles, a legendary John Peel session, and one near-flawless studio album (Pleasure), they executed a perfect smash-and-grab raid on alternative music before vanishing back into the Yorkshire fog.
They were the ultimate antithesis of the stuffy, male-dominated rock status quo. Fronted by the spectacular Judy Evans—whose vocals hopped frantically between a soaring, operatic "choirboy" lilt and a deadpan, anti-fashion sneer—the band carved out a sonic space that was entirely their own. Backed by James Alan’s scratchy, desert-pop guitar textures, Gerard Swift’s bouncy, driving basslines, and a revolving door of powerhouse drummers, GAOB! wrote anthems for the cynical dreamers. They gleefully mocked the CIA, the fashion elite, consumer complacency, and "fast boyfriends," leaving a legacy that remains a vital, shimmering blueprint for generations of independent musicians who followed.

THE UNDYING SONIC AFTERLIFE: FROM TAPE-TRADING TO RIOT GRRRL
🔊 WHY DO THEY STILL MATTER? Because without Girls At Our Best!, the landscape of independent pop would look radically different. Their DNA is instantly traceable through the C86 cassette movement, the indie-pop explosions of the late '80s, and the fierce, uncompromising energy of the '90s Riot Grrrl revolution. Bands like Heavenly, The Primitives, and Huggy Bear openly drank from the well of GAOB!’s hook-laden defiance. They didn’t achieve commercial ubiquity, but they achieved something far greater: an undying, holy-grail status among crate-diggers, underground tastemakers, and anyone who understands that three minutes of vinyl chaos can change your life.
Their brief, spectacular lifespan is exactly what makes their discography so pristine. There are no terrible late-career reunion albums, no embarrassing corporate sell-out tours, and no watering down of the formula. There is only a handful of perfectly pressed pieces of vinyl that sound just as vital, frantic, and necessary today as they did spinning on a cheap turntable in a cramped Leeds bedroom 46 years ago. Girls At Our Best! arrived, showed us exactly how brilliant indie music could be, and stepped off the stage at the absolute peak of their powers. Total, unadulterated pop-punk perfection.

Girls At Our Best - Fast Boyfriends 7''

THE CURTAIN CALL FOR THE LEEDS ICONOCLASTS

💔 THE FINAL PLASTIC! Dropped on 28 November 1981, "Fast Boyfriends" (UR6) marks the bittersweet finish line for one of the greatest, most short-lived bands of the post-punk era. Released via Happy Birthday Records right on the heels of their sole studio album, Pleasure, this fourth and final 7" single caught a band existing in absolute peak creative form just before burning out entirely. The lineup remained steady from their previous strike, featuring the brilliant Judy Evans on vocals, James Alan on guitar, Gerard Swift on bass, and D. Carl Harper on drums.

Produced once again by Laurence Diana, the single acts as a poetic bookend to their meteoric trajectory. In a fantastic nod to their own underground mythos, the band ingeniously engineered the track so that the final outro riff from their iconic debut, "Getting Nowhere Fast", seamlessly loops back to become the opening intro to "Fast Boyfriends"! It was a self-referential DIY masterstroke that showed the group knew exactly what kind of legacy they were leaving behind. For those squinting at the dead wax, the run-out matrices are famously etched with "FAST OI-FRIENDS" on the A-side and "NO BUFFET" on the flip.

Girls At Our Best - Pleasure

THE LEEDS UNDERGROUND’S CROWN JEWEL

💿 THE BIG ONE! After setting the underground ablaze with three killer singles, the Leeds art-punk mavericks finally delivered their definitive statement in October 1981 with their debut and final studio album, "Pleasure". Released via Happy Birthday Records (catalog number LBR1), this 11-track masterpiece captured a band operating at the absolute peak of their imaginative powers. The lineup—Judy Evans (vocals), James Alan (guitar), Gerard Swift (bass), and D. Carl Harper (drums)—crafted an expansive sonic playground that successfully bridged the gap between raw, jagged post-punk and shimmering, accessible pop.

The record didn't just satisfy the band's fiercely loyal cult following; it was a bona fide critical triumph, rocketing to No. 2 on the UK Indie Album Chart. Backed by brilliant, punchy production from Laurence Diana, the LP effortlessly packaged their biting social critiques into a sleek, widescreen format. Wrapped in a vibrant, strikingly colourful sleeve that perfectly mirrored the music inside, Pleasure proved to the music press that Girls At Our Best! were far more than just a singles band—they were brilliant architects of alternative pop.

Girls At Our Best - Go For Gold! 7''

STRATEGIC SHIFT & THE OLYMPIAN LEAP

🏆 STRIKE THREE! In May 1981, the Leeds phenomenon returned to completely tear up their own blueprint. Crawling out from under the heavy wing of Rough Trade, the group signed a sleek new deal with the freshly minted Happy Birthday Records. They also finally locked down a permanent rhythm anchor, drafting in former Expelaires skin-basher D. Carl Harper on drums. The result of this new era was "Go for Gold" (UR4)—a glossy, high-stakes anthem that didn’t just chart, but absolutely exploded, peaking at a massive No. 4 on the UK Indie Chart and spending a staggering 13 weeks on the grid!

The transition wasn't just a business move; it was a sonic manifestation of a band hunting for the big time without losing an ounce of their signature, cheeky DIY subversion. Produced by Laurence Diana, "Go for Gold" pushed their unpretentious Leeds magic into a pristine, cinematic widescreen. Accompanied by rave reviews across the music press, it solidified Girls At Our Best! as absolute essential listening, catching the ears of everyone from daytime radio to a fiercely dedicated John Peel, who openly declared his obsession with the release on air.

Girls At Our Best - Politics! 7''

THE SECOND JOLT FROM THE LEEDS MAFIO

🔥 ROUND TWO! After leaving the indie scene completely stunned with their debut, Girls At Our Best! refused to let the fire fizzle out. In November 1980, they dropped their highly anticipated sophomore strike: "Politics!" b/w "It's Fashion!" on their trusty Record Records imprint (RR2). With original drummer Chris Oldroyd moving on, the band drafted in Paul Simon (fresh out of Neo and Radio Stars) to bash the traps and help steer their next sonic evolution. Backed by the mighty distribution web of Rough Trade, this sleek piece of plastic didn't just crawl into the underground consciousness—it smashed right into the UK Indie Chart Top 15, peaking at an impressive No. 12.

This wasn't just a local victory, either; the record holds the legendary title of being the very first Rough Trade distributed single to be simultaneously unleashed on both sides of the Atlantic! Boasting a vastly improved, crisp production profile courtesy of Laurence Diana, "Politics!" proved that the Leeds crew weren't an accidental one-hit wonder. They were a sharp, calculated, and beautifully subversive indie-pop engine hitting their absolute stride, sealing their place as John Peel’s new favourite sweethearts.

Girls At Our Best - Getting Nowhere Fast 7''

 FROM LEEDS WITH LOVE & LIPSTICK
💥 BOOM! Out of the bleak, rain-soaked post-punk landscape of Leeds in April 1980 came a burst of pure, unadulterated energy. Girls At Our Best! burst onto the scene with "Getting Nowhere Fast", their seminal debut 7” single on Record Records (RR1). Fronted by the magnetic Judy Evans alongside James Alan (guitar), Gerard Swift (bass), and Chris Oldroyd (drums), this wasn't your typical gloomy post-punk dirge. It was an instant jolt to the system—so potent that the NME immediately crowned it Single of the Week, catapulting these outsiders straight into the UK Indie Chart Top 10.
Wrapped in an iconic, DIY flipback sleeve designed by Evans herself, the record became an immediate underground blueprint. It proved you could be razor-sharp and fiercely independent without sacrificing massive, infectious pop hooks. Though the band’s original flame burned bright and short—disbanding after just one studio album—this debut 7” remains a definitive, holy-grail artifact of the 1980 indie-pop explosion.

The Flying Lizards - The Flying Lizards

Dropped on the public in December 1979, The Flying Lizards is a monumental monument of art-school subversion. Rather than riding the commercial coattails of their smash hit "Money," David Cunningham and his revolving doors of London avant-gardists delivered a full-length manifesto that utterly destabilised the line between pop music and conceptual sound art. Recorded for pennies on a cheap four-track tape machine in a cold garage, the album is a clanging, jittery blueprint of DIY post-punk, industrial minimalism, and heavy dub sound collage.

Every rule of traditional recording was gleefully broken here. Cunningham prepared grand pianos by stuffing telephone books under the strings, used rubber toy lizards for percussion, and slashed up tape loops with razor blades to disrupt the rhythms. Fronted by the chillingly detached, posh, deadpan vocals of Deborah Evans-Stickland, Vivien Goldman, and Loïs Lane, the album strips away all rock 'n' roll warmth to expose the cold, bureaucratic heart of consumer capitalism. It remains one of the most brilliantly confrontational, deeply strange debuts in British music history.

The Flying Lizards - TV 7''

Riding high on the completely accidental, chart-smashing success of their "Money" cover, David Cunningham and his cohort of art-school subversives returned in January 1980 with "TV". Rather than serving up another easily digestible, novelty-adjacent radio hit to appease the Virgin label bosses, the collective leaned directly into absolute avant-pop weirdness. Co-written with Vivien Goldman and the experimental duo General Strike (David Toop and Steve Beresford), this 7" stands as a gloriously jittery, lo-fi critique of modern media, consumer desire, and domestic complacency.

They managed to blag their way onto Top of the Pops with this track in February 1980, dragging their clattering, kitchen-utensil percussion and icy, detached aesthetics straight into British living rooms. The single didn't fly quite as high as its predecessor—stalling out at No. 43 on the UK charts—but it solidified The Flying Lizards as absolute legends of deadpan, Leftfield post-punk who refused to play by the mainstream's rules. It is the ultimate anti-pop single, wrapped in a deceptively bouncy New Wave package.

The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want) 12''

This is the big one. In July 1979, The Flying Lizards took Barrett Strong’s foundational 1959 Motown anthem, "Money (That's What I Want)", and utterly re-engineered it into a global, chart-crashing New Wave masterpiece. It became a massive Top 10 hit in the UK and stormed the US Billboard charts, all while sounding like it was recorded in a basement on a budget of loose change. Mastermind David Cunningham notoriously prepared a grand piano by jamming telephone directories across the strings to completely deaden the resonance, leaving nothing but a dry, clattering, metallic spine for the track.

While the standard 7" took over the radio, it’s the heavyweight 12" pressings that stand as true monuments of post-punk studio destruction. Cunningham transferred the tracks to a four-track tape machine and sliced them apart with razor blades, stretching the track times out to create magnificent, spatial mutations. This wasn't just a pop song anymore; it was a subverted disco-not-disco weapon that became a permanent fixture in legendary NYC underground clubs like CBGB's and the Peppermint Lounge.

The Flying Lizards - Summertime Blues 7''

Talk about absolute art-school terrorism. In October 1978, avant-garde composer David Cunningham and a rotating collective of London creatives under the moniker The Flying Lizards dropped a cover of Eddie Cochran’s rockabilly anthem "Summertime Blues". Recorded on borrowed equipment for a measly £20, this 7” single was initially rejected by multiple labels before Virgin Records took a gamble on it. Instead of keeping the original's sun-drenched teenage rebellion, the group entirely hollowed it out, delivering a cold, calculated slice of post-punk minimalism that completely subverted the language of pop music.

The secret weapon here is vocalist Deborah Evans-Stickland. Ditching any semblance of rock 'n' roll swagger, she delivers the lines in a flat, posh, aggressively bored monotone. Backed by clattering percussion and abrasive noise, it transformed a beloved piece of Americana into a dystopian, deadpan critique of consumer culture. It was a shocking blueprint for the band's massive 1979 breakout hit "Money," establishing them as absolute legends of the UK's Leftfield and industrial scenes.