Wicked! Wicked! Wicked! & Squasm (1991) - Dweebs

Another tape from the Rowville Hard Rubbish collection, this cassette had two demos from Dweebs, as well as tracks from Proton Energy Pills and Tumbleweed on it. Up first are the Dweebs tracks..

There's little info available on Dweebs, aside from their well-stocked Facebook page, with plenty of amazing period era photos (zipped here for archival purposes). They supported Fugazi at the Hull/EVs, Cosmic Psychos (whom they also covered) and best of all they came from MULGRAVE!

Wicked! Wicked! Wicked! was apparently their first demo tape, and was released sometime around 1991. I've put 1991 as the date of release for both of these, but it's probably a year or two out (can someone please correct in the comments?). Devron Schwind has put these up on SoundCloud for your enjoyment. The image above was taken from his posting to the aforementioned Dweebs Facebook page. However, the dub I've uploaded is missing the last two tracks ('Keep On Keeping On' and 'Brass God') so better hop over there and have a listen.

Later came their second (?) offering, Squasm. I couldn't find any reference to this release elsewhere on the net, though there are pictures of the tape itself on the Facebook page. Artwork above taken from an image submitted by Evan Rock Richards.

For more history on Dweebs, have a browse at the aforementioned page!

Wicked! Wicked! Wicked!
1. My Baby        1:50
2. Gone        3:03
3. Stimulation        2:50
4. Something Stupid        1:34

Squasm
1. Cake        3:48
2. Bumblebee        2:22
3. Squasm        3:16
4. Russ' Fishtank        2:21
5. VB Man        2:23
6. Smell        3:48
7. Breakfast Cereal        1:44
8. Nuckles        3:00

Wicked! Wicked! Wicked! & Squasm (1991) - Dweebs

Crawling Low (1992) - Blind Mesiah

Kind of grungy, kind of punky. Sometimes the singer sounds a little Ian MacKaye, a little Rollins. The overall sound ranges from Dinosaur to Danzig. This came out of a big pile of tapes that I pulled off the side of the road in ROWVILLE of all places. There was a lot of local material dubbed onto various cassettes that I'll be putting up, as well as episodes of Rage taped onto VHS, all kinds of stuff.

Ostensibly a demo tape, it's roughly recorded.

As the liner notes (included in the .zip) state:

"BLIND MESIAH evolved in late 1991 from ex-members of The Aphids, Legend Killers and Ursula's Dream. We have since strived to create an intense, dynamic and original guitar rock sound. This is the first installment in our quest for sonic fulfillment.

Recorded: May 1992 Australian Audio College, Preston
Engineer: Matthew Barker
Alex: Vocals     Dave: Guitar
Elliot: Bass     George: Drums
Marcus: Guitar/Backing Vocals
Management: Simon Howard (03) 561 1275
All songs by Blind Mesiah"

I couldn't any ready reference to Blind Mesiah on the net, nor The Aphids or Ursula's Dream, so there you go, the obscure of the obscure. Can one of you readers please enlighten us in the comments?

I did pick up a handful of references to Legend Killers - their guitarist was Paul Waste, a 3PBS announcer, which may explain this reference in Phil MacDougall's bio. There's even a song of theirs on YouTube:

This was ripped using the same setup I used for the Popsicle 2 tape. I have applied a bit of EQ as the left channel has overloading the interface below about 150 Hz. Otherwise, the recording has not been processed.

Beware, there is a bit of Zeppelin worship.

Side A
1. Amelia        4:40
2. Little Man        4:21

Side B
3. Any Life        3:02
4. Cry From Crawl'n        3:27
5. The Deep Low        4:03

Crawling Low (1992) - Blind Mesiah

Mint 400 (1995) - Ammonia

Major label debut from Perth band Ammonia. Excellent post-grunge with some proto-emo moments. Sometimes comes across as a much more bearable Oasis.

I had a bit of a dive through the Internet archives but not a lot comes up in the zine circles. Hopefully I'll add a little more research as I come across it.

1. Ken Carter        3:55
2. Drugs        3:27
3. Sleepwalking        3:10
4. Face Down        5:09
5. In A Box        2:35
6. Suzi Q        2:37
7. Little Death        5:24
8. Mint 400        2:17
9. Small Town        2:25
10. Burning Plant Smell        3:07
11. Z-Man       2:37
12. Million Dollar Man        3:57

Mint 400 (1995) - Ammonia

Peculiar World (1998) - Litany

The first upload of 2018, from a track encountered on the Rock n Roll High School Vol. 4 comp previously uploaded, is this offering.

Much of the history surrounding this group might be garnered from the aforementioned RnRHS page. Litany was a band featuring RnRHS founder Stephanie Bourke on drums and vocals. They bridged a range of styles, sometimes playing straight garage indie followed by something bordering on power metal. This breadth is quite refreshing and the album is very listenable.

See period era reviews here and here.

1. Madrigal        3:43
2. By Myself        4:37
3. Aurora        2:53
4. Labyrinth        3:12
5. When You Gonna Stop        3:53
6. Rome        3:41
7. Schubert        1:10
8. Bad Faith        3:49
9. Cathedral        4:51
10. Buy Me An Ocean        3:45
11. Rapunzel        3:32

Peculiar World (1998) - Litany

Popsicle 2 (1995) - Various Artists

The first cassette comp. that I'm uploading here. It piqued my interest because side 2 starts with a Sandpit song that I'd never heard of before (and had a release date about 6 months prior to their debut EP Lessons in Posture being released).

Just playing on the stereo now, it's an excellent indie comp.

The Beat street press magazine logo is on the back of the inlay, so I assume they were the responsible party.Most of the bands were fairly well-known and pleasingly have available catalogues today. Rail opens, followed by Autohaze (still going today) and Dollop, with the Hatfieldian Rubher (Jane Gazzo) closing out the side. Side 2 starts with the interest-piquing Sandpit track (more rudimentary and less melodic than what was to appear on their debut, but hints towards 'Die 501' in the chorus), The Earthmen, Snout and Header. Following up that Header lead gave this blog, which should prove of interest to you, as well as this Soundcloud set of rare live material from more (Perthling?) Aussie 90s bands. 

For the nerds out there, the signal path used in digitising the tape: Technics RS-B66W deck with line-out into a Tascam US-800 USB 2.0 interface, captured at 24 bit, 44.1 kHz and sequenced in Audacity. I have not applied any equalisation or other processing, and I'm not shelling out $4,458 for Celemony Capstan, so you get what you get from a 22 year old cassette, wow, flutter and all.

N.b. the mp3 files are 160 kbps, if you need higher res let me know. The tape artifacts are worst at the start of the comp, but at least there's decent frequency range (response is lumpy) throughout. Lots of <100 Hz listening to the digitisation on AKG K240s.

Popsicle 2 (1995) - Various Artists

Losin' Your Marbles (1995) - Fur

Like Diolene, Sandpit and Gerling, another band of the Fellaheen Records stable. They amassed a fair following in the 1990s, and like some of their labelmates were the subject of fan sites.

Losin' Your Marbles (1995) - Fur

SmokeStack - Discovering Newcastle (1998) - Various Artists

Surprisingly okay comp. from a government arts initiative in Newcastle. Not all Chili Peppers-esque alt. rock! Ranges from buzzy, jangle pop (Jetson) that somehow prempts Courtney Barnett, to Morrisettisms (Brooke Harvey), to the expected Tool wannabes (Zero One) to screamy brat punk and hardcore (Twin Psyche and Le Bonk). See the shred of the comp's accompanying webpage here.

Disclaimer - I couldn't find any data other than ''97' listed beside a name on the inside, so I actually have no idea if this was released in 1998 or not. If you know better, please tell me.

Also, many of these bands have short bios that can be found here.

When I think of Newcastle I think of Bloody Fist.

1. Jolly Frog    2:44    Jetson
2. Rap Song    3:49    Flat Earth Society
3. Strawberry Jam    4:22    Charlotte's Soiree
4. Dandelion    2:09    Melvin Starr
5. Shiney Car    3:04    Brooke Harvey
6. Morrisseyesque    4:14    Scott Fiddes
7. Mr. Teen    3:30    Supersonic
8. Calling Me    3:37    Zero One
9. Me    3:39    Analagy
10. Permanently Pissed    2:06    Twin Psyche
11. A New World Order    4:00    Human Tribe
12. Split    1:46    Le Bonk
13. Way To Peace    6:46    Limen 10

SmokeStack - Discovering Newcastle (1998) - Various Artists