Sorry it’s taken a month, but I’ve been meaning to recap Happy Refugees visit to the great city of New York in these United States, for their first time ever on these shores not to mention their first time even playing together since the mid 80s! To celebrate the release of Acute’s reissue/compilation Return to Last Chance Saloon, they decided to fly trans-atlantic and have an adventure and did they (we) ever!

Things started with a bang when they were invited by Crystal Stilts to open up for their EP release party at the Knitting Factory on Friday December 9th. I’d love to embed the video of that performance but I’m having technical difficulties so you’ll have to click on over to livestream.com to check it out, where it should be up for a few months at least. Crystal Stilts were amazing, as were openers McDonalds, which featured members of Cause Co-Motion and Oxford Collapse. Also important that night is that I had my first fried chicken sandwich from the Commodore across the street.

The next day, Saturday the 10th, our favorite radio station WFMU aired Terre T’s Cherry Blossom Clinic featuring a live session recorded by Happy Refugees. Terre T always hosts great bands, and we (Acute) brought The Nightingales out for a session many years ago. This time we actually took the right PATH train so things when swimmingly. You can hear the entire show, including an 8 song set by the band online at Cherry Blossom Clinic. There are also links to go to each individual song if you’re feeling impatient. Here’s a picture from above:

Many thanks to Terre T. for having the band on, Dave Amels of the Reigning Sound for engineering the session, and Acute’s good friend Paul Bruno of The Unblinking Ear for helping out.

If that wasn’t enough, there was still one more show. Saturday night, December 10th, Happy Refugees headlined a show at the Cake Shop. Josh from Regal Degal helped brainstorm a pretty interesting bunch of artists. The night started with the mysterious and unique Suspensors, followed by the Felt-loving Sapphire Mansions and alternate-universe next big thing (in a superior universe), Regal Degal. If that wasn’t enough, DJing and selecting between sets was DJ iDeath (Andrew from MGMT) and none other than myself, playing some of the bands faves and some likeminded sounds from the 70s and early 80s. Another great night all around and a great surprise that Joly from Punkcast offered to come and shoot some of Happy Refugees set. He edited together and posted two songs…the classic Hamburger Boy:

and a special treat, the otherwise unrecorded What’s Your Appeal:

So thanks to Andy at Cake Shop, and all the dudes from Suspesnsors/Sapphire Mansions/Regal Degal and DJ iDeath and Joly! The next morning we capped things off with brunch at Roberta’s, because I wanted to make sure Happy Refugees got some good food and didn’t just eat bad NY pizza, and that was the end of a pretty exhausting and pretty awesome rock-n-roll weekend. A great way to celebrate the release of the album and to end the year. Speaking of which, Return to Last Chance Saloon made a few year-end best of the year lists despite only being out a couple of weeks, such as Jim Allen’s The Best Albums You Didn’t Hear This Year, Evan “Funk” Davies of WFMU’s #5 reissue of the year, a top 10 reissue of the year from Chris at Kim’s, number 3 top album of the year from Zan Emerson at Le Poisson Rouge,  and one of the reissues of the year from the excellent Straight to Video blog. They also made an appearance on a great playlist from France called Foggy Girls Club, well worth checking out.

So a week or so ago there were quite a few events (and posts) about Happy Refugees visit to NYC, which I will be re-capping soon, including clips and links and all sorts of fun. In the meantime, I realize I never told you (the internet) about my last 4 Viva Radio shows, all of which are currently available to stream in the archive for my show, Pyjamarama. Just click there, select a show from the pulldown menu and hit start! Here’s the shows in reverse order, and boy are they awesome.

What Use
1. Tuxedomoon-What Use
2. Can-Spoon
3. The Lines-Nerve Pylon
4. Colin Newman-We Means, We Starts
5. Robert Rental-Double Heart
6. Clock DVA-Resistance
7. The Box-Water Grows Teeth
8. Moebius-Countramio
9. The Fakes-Look Out
10. Metropak-OK Let’s Go
11. Visitors-Moth
12. Marc Riley-Favourite Sister
13. The Fall-Leave the Capital
14. Thomas Leer & Robert Rental-Monochrome Days
15. Simple Minds-I Travel
16. Throbbing Gristle-AB/7A
17. Ultravox-Hiroshima Mon Amour

In A Vision
1. Virgo Four-In A Vision
2. Psyche-Elements
3. Julio Bashmore-Ribble To Amazon
4. PIRI PIRI-Disgo
5. Underground Resistance-Amazon
6. Oni Ayhun-Oar 003-B
7. Omar S-Psychotic Photosynthesis
8. Reel by Real & Shake-Serene
9. Yellow Beach Balls-Like Ecstasy Comes Down Like the 66

Babble
1. Neu!-Neuschnee
2. John Maus-Believer
3. Rema Rema-Rema Rema
4. The Yummy Fur-Colonel Blimp
5. Felt-Birdmen
6. David Bowie-Teenage Wildlife
7. The Associates-When You Were Young
8. Robin Gibb-The Worst Girl in this Town
9. The Who-See My Way
10. 21-645-Babble
11. La Dusseldorf-Geld
12. Faust-Lauft..Heisst Das Es Lauft Oder Es Kommt Bald..Lauft
13. Harmonia-Watussi

Multi-Track Suggestion
1. Vangelis-Multi-Track Suggestion
2. Severed Heads-Lamborghini
3. Vogel-Guten Morgen
4. Plus Instruments-Paradise
5. Kevin Harrison and Steven Parker-Distant Truth of English Dreams
6. Harmonia-Deluxe (immer weider)
7. Harald Grosskopf-Emphasis
8. Robert Görl-A Ist Wider Da
9. Food Pyramid-Last Shuttle to the Red Planet
10. Ryan Garbes-Boys are Back
11. The Beach Boys-Let Us Go On This Way
12. Bron Area-You Would Be Amazed
13. An Bene and Pierre Lambow-Celestial

Just a quick break from all things Happy Refugees, who’s successful visit to NYC is now done (recap and links soon). Tonight I’ll be joining South Brooklyn’s finest BYOV music selecting/listening party Monday Night Vinyl Club to celebrate a visit from another bunch of old-school rockers, Rocket From the Tombs…better known as the pre-punk prior to the post-punk of Pere Ubu (and punk of Dead Boys). Me and my old Jaguar Ride bandmate Nate the K of the Burn it Down parties will be playing records up front sometime around after the band, probably 10 or so. We’ve got a whole bunch of proto-punk, mid-70s longhaired weirdos, Cleveland stuff, Akron stuff. San Francisco stuff. New York stuff. MC5 to MX-80. Blue Cheer to the Bizarros. Mirrors all the way to the Styrenes. Come on down for the show, or if you’re cheap, hang out up front and celebrate monday the only way you can, with anger and frustration.

Bell House, December 12th, 8pm-1am, 149 7th st, Brookland

Happy Refugees are here in NYC. Here’s a partial itinerary, and since some of the events include the electronic broadcast of sound and vision, this should be of interest to people worldwide. I’m going to try to make this concise.

Thursday, December 8th
Kev and Max’s Pizza Party on EVR will be celebrating the release by playing some selections, plugging some shows, and hosting Happy Refugees themselves…in one form or another, unless they can’t make it, in which case they will come up with something entertaining. Tune in online from 4pm to 6pm.

Friday night, December 9th
Knitting Factory Brooklyn 361 Metropolitan, Williamsburg
Crystal Stilts
Happy Refugees
McDonalds

Happy Refugees set will be broadcast live (est. 9pm) on livestream, and streamable from there afterwords.

Saturday afternoon, December 10th
Live set to be broadcast on the radio on Terre T’s Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU, between 3pm and 6pm. Tune into 91.1 fm in NYC, 90.1 in the Hudson Valley or check it out online at www.wfmu.org.

Saturday night, December 10th
Cake Shop 152 Ludlow St, L.E.S.
Happy Refugees
Regal Degal
Sapphire Mansions
Suspensors
Special guest DJ DJ iDeath, playing late night tales with Kevin Pedersen and Dan Selzer (this guy.)

So that’s it. Come on out to one of these shows. I KNOW you didn’t see them play in 1984.

“Happy” to say Return to Last Chance Saloon by Happy Refugees is out today! Ordering information, samples, photos, PR copy and other goodies can be found here. Figured I’d take this chance to promote their upcoming visit to NYC and give a little background about the release.

To celebrate this long-awaited (by a few) release, Happy Refugees reunited and are coming to NY for a couple of shows.

Friday December 9th they will be playing at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn, where they were graciously invited by Crystal Stilts who are celebrating the release of their new EP. Crystal Stilts count among the aforementioned “few” who had been lucky enough to be exposed to Happy Refugees during these years where their records were rare collectibles. The affinity makes sense. They will be joined by McDonalds, the band. More information can be found at the Knit and at the Facebook event page.

Then, Saturday the 10th, first they will appear on Terre T’s Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU.

Later that evening, they will be headlining a show at Cake Shop, where they will be joined by one of my favorite young bands (obviously most of my favorite bands are old), Regal Degal, and their friends Suspensors. More info at yet another Facebook event page.

But if they were so obscure, just how did Acute Records discover Happy Refugees? Good question! Many many years ago, there was a time when the internet did exist and it was possible to quickly reach strangers in far off lands, but there was a shortage of what’s called “bandwith”, so while you could electronically talk to people, it was not yet quite possible to simply send music and other media quickly over the wires. I don’t remember how I came into contact with the record dealer Steve in the Netherlands, (rec.music.marketplace.vinyl?) but I did. Now back in those days, record dealers would make mix tapes on cassettes of things they thought you might like to buy. Steve made me such a mix and it contained the classic Hamburger Boy by Happy Refugees. Steve had been in touch with the band, so a few years later when I finally decided it was time to try to reissue it, he got me in touch with them. And only 5 or 6 years later we have Return to Last Chance Saloon! Steve meanwhile is still spreading the news at his blog Low Down Kds and selling the goods here. Thanks Steve.

As we roll out this release, it’s been really interesting to hear people’s response. This is definitely one of those “I can’t believe I’ve never heard this before”, “where has this been hiding”, “you’ve changed my life” kind of releases. This isn’t post-punk-era barrel-scraping. This is a fully formed awesome record without a bum song. The references that people dig up have been interesting. Lots of comparison to the likes of The Fall, Marc Riley, Nightingales and Mekons, all favorites. DIY favorites like Swell Maps, Homosexuals, Desperate Bicycles. The early Flying Nun/New Zealand scene. Velvets and Stooges, Reed and Cale and Iggy solo. OK, I needed to get that lame name-dropping referencing out of the way. Taken on their own, Happy Refugees are a great rock band and Return to Last Chance Saloon is a great, shambolic, emotional and catchy rock album. Check it out, meet them on Facebook and come see them in NY.

You are going to hear a lot in the next few weeks about Acute’s next release, Return to Last Chance Saloon by Happy Refugees, starting with this. We made a little slideshow video for the song that started it all for me, Hamburger Boy. See it here, see it on youtube, please forward and post it, live it and love it. We’ve also put up the release page here:

Happy Refugees – Return to Last Chance Saloon

so check that out to read some promo blurbs and get 3 free songs as a taster. Heck, may as well post them here as well…

This is Cold

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Hamburger Boy

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Warehouse Sound

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The record comes out November 29th, I’ll post again when that long-awaited date arrives and will update that page with ordering information.

You will also be hearing a lot about this because not only has this been REMASTERED…not only is this being REISSUED, but Happy Refugees have REUNITED and they’re going to play two shows in New York City early in December to celebrate the release. Friday December 9th they have been graciously invited to open up for Crystal Stilts at the Knitting Factory for their EP release party (on Sacred Bones) where they will be joined by McDonalds. Then the following night for those who can’t brave Brooklyn or prefer more intimate basement spaces, Happy Refugees will be headlining at Cake Shop with Regal Degal, Suspensors and maybe more.

So consider this the first shot over the bow. There will be a few more posts with more detail and a whole lot of facebook info, so make sure you check out Happy Refugees and Acute Records on facebook.

I made a mix for a French website. It’s not for dancing. More a college radio style collection of post-punk styled stuff, a bunch of uk lost generation type tracks and 2 songs from upcoming Acute releases, The Trypes and for the first time online, a track from the unreleased Lines material. Stream it here and read about us in french. Otherwise you can download it directly:

New Clothes for the New World
Tracklist below.

Been busy in Acute land. Disco Zombies LP came out late last month and has been doing well. Good reviews, airplay from respectable radio stations, demand out-stripping supply and, apparently, like all good music, “Big in Japan”. Getting ready for the Happy Refugees records Return to Last Chance Saloon coming late November. They’ve got a facebook page set up, which is a good place to learn about things such as their upcoming visit to New York to play with Crystal Stilts in early December. I’ll have more information on the Acute site soon, if you’re press/radio/retail types looking for info on this (or any of our releases), please get in touch! If that wasn’t enough, we’ve begun working on our next release, The Trypes, who, like Happy Refugees, have gotten back together to play some shows. More news soon!

In the meantime, check out the aforementioned mix. Here’s the tracklist:

1. Seefeel – Faults
2. Locust – I Become Overwhelmed
3. Design for Living – Red Ribbon Day
4. It’s Immaterial – A Gigantic Raft (in the Philippines)
5. The Raincoats – Balloon
6. Family Fodder – Silence
7. Disco Inferno – New Clothes for the New World
8. Pram – Dancing on a Star
9. Broadcast – DDL
10. AA – Society Stinks
11. Home & Garden – (please) Fix My Horn (my brakes don’t work)
12. The Lines – Raffle
13. Broadcast – Microtronics Thirteen
14. Din A Testbild – Die Siebziger
15. Camberwell Now – Speculative Fiction
16. Broadcast – Microtronics Fifteen
17. Conrad Schnitzler & Gregor Schnitzler – The Shark Eats Ice
18. Positive Noise – Ghosts
19. Broadcast – Still Feels Like Tears
20. The Trypes – (From the) Morning Glories
21. Robert Wyatt – A Sunday in Madrid

As you can see above, we’re having a little record release party as part of my monthly party Dazzle Ships. We’ll be joined by Kevin from What’s Your Rupture?, who used to DJ with me at Plant Bar on monday nights back “in the day”. We’ll be playing tons of awesome punk/post-punk/DIY/art-punk/new wave madness. More vintage late 70s/early 80s 7″ singles than you can shake a stick at. And be careful with that stick, some of these records are expensive. I’ll also have a handful or pre-release copies for sale, so get one before everybody else can…when it comes out a few days later.

Kevin happens to be working on a really cool reissue, which I may not be able to talk about, but it’s another in an amazing list of awesome reissues from that period. You know, when Todd and I started Acute, there weren’t many people reissuing this kind of music (LTM being the major exception). It was too recent and there wasn’t much interest. By the early 2000s there was a sort of post-punk revival, which meant lots of hardcore kids discovered Gang of 4. In a short period of time there was a flurry of activity and interest and many of the big acts were reissued and compiled. Soul Jazz, DFA, Domino and other great labels helped bring back some of the sounds. But by 2004 people were saying it was all over. Everything of “worth” had been rediscovered, the trend passed and people moved onto new sounds. Psyche-folk revival! (e.g.). I remember standing in the basement of a NY bar/club talking to Simon Reynolds about his soon to be published book Rip It Up and Start Again, and our long in the making Fire Engines compilation Hungry Beat. We both worried that the time had passed. That’s not to say we were concerned with following trends or that these subjects weren’t still worthy, just that the marketing “buzz” of being tied into the “hot” post-punk revival of the early 00s might not exist anymore.

Surely his book created a bump of interest, and somehow more labels were getting involved, more essential records were getting released. We continued to release a CD every year or two. Some got written off as yet more barrel scraping, while others were proof that the barrel was deeper than previously suspected (by some). There’s often an amazement that there is/was something so good that had become so obscure. There’s a fine line between cult favorites of appeal to fanatics and stuff that could be said to be just quality music all around. I’m glad both get’s reissued, I’m just surprised at the incredulousness of some that there’s still stuff worthy being (re)discovered. Maybe people have to dig deeper, maybe the gems need a bit a more polishing, but people are still digging up folk, soul, rock etc, stuff that’s way older than this period we’re talking about. Combine that with the simple fact that there was an absolute EXPLOSION of releases following punk, that between 1976 and 1984 or so the amount of records that came out is mind-boggling, you’d have to dedicate a lifetime to come close to becoming an expert. Why that happened, and why it died down (if it really did..it did, but also changed, is another topic for another post).

And “post-punk” cycles in and out of trends and spotlights. For a while everything seemed to be going minimal-synth, and if you could call it cold wave maybe you’d get a couple bucks for it on Discogs but nobody wanted to hear disco basslines and funky guitar and art-school angst! But then it seems to turn back in this direction. Maybe the synth stuff was getting too expensive! And you suddenly have a younger generation drawing on C86 sounds, which I think contributes to yet another wave of interest in the late 70s/early 80s stuff, because C86 is a pretty clear continuation of that stuff.

Now we’ve got our first vinyl releases coming out shortly. Disco Zombies next week, Happy Refugees late November, the Trypes after that and even more stuff. In the meantime there’s been great reissues coming from all kinds of places, including some new ones this week and past and upcoming releases I just learned about, enough to have me excited for the reissue scene in general, excited enough to want to list a bunch of them and suggest everyone check them out. Here’s a few. I started out describing each one then WordPress ate that draft(I blame Safari in Lion) so i gave up.

Social Climbers-Social Climbers on Drag City/Yoga

Art Yard-The Law/Something In Your Eyes on Ride the Snake

The Embarrassment-Sex Drive/Patio Set on Last Laugh Records

The Styrenes-Drano in Your Veins/Circus Highlights and The Mirrors-Shirley/She Smiled Wild on Violet Times

UV Pop-Just a Game on Sacred Bones

The Distractions and the Wild Swans on Occultation

Martin Newell’s Songs for a Fallow Land on Fixed Identity

Jeff & Jane Hudson, The Servents, Nick Nicely, Charles De Goal, The Wake and the Monochrome Set all on Captured Tracks

The Raincoats reissuing their own records.

That’s just a few recent releases. What am I forgetting or don’t know about yet?

Plus all the great more synth oriented stuff on labels like Medical Records, Dark Entries and Minimal Wave. The occasional relevant reissue from DFA or Soul Jazz, And there’s the longer running labels like Cherry Red, Overground, LTM that continue to put out great stuff. And of course Hyped2Death, where some of us learn about this stuff in the first place. Point being…there’s still a lot of great stuff out there, some that people have been waiting years to be released again, some deserving of reappraisal and some nobody’s ever heard in the first place!

Acute Records, after 10+ years of CDs, has finally released an actual record. It is out later this month. I’ll write more about it closer to the release date, but I’ve posted the official record page here, featuring some background info, photos, free downloads etc. Check it out! Anyone who wants more information, please get in touch!