Subway Sect: "Nobody's Scared b/w "Don't Split It" 45

I'll be the first to admit that V. Godard's flung some real dogshit on the music-buying public, but I'll be doubly damned if this single isn't one of the best UK punk artifacts in existence. The production here's mind-blowing, particularly the guitar -- rakish, trebly strumming that really sticks in the ear, and as Godard's wail floats and echoes on top of those chords, it's just too much. On "Don't Split It," my favorite SS tune, the band scoots dangerously close to the UK DIY sound as performed by someone like the Homosexuals, 'cept way better, because we all know that the Homosexuals aren't really even that good. They definitely aren't this good. But who is? Not many.

Oil Tasters: "What's in Your Mouth?" b/w "Get out of the Bathroom" 45

Yes, Guy Hoffman and Richard LaValliere were both ex-Haskels (already through with said group by the time the Oil Tasters had cut this single, I think), but if you're expecting anything even closely resembling "Takin' the City by Storm," you're something up the wrong etc.

The 'Tasters' claim to infamy was guitarless avant-punk -- bass, vox, sax, drums -- and this single's a pretty good testament to their throbbing, percussive stab in the dark. "What's in Your Mouth?" almost approaches a Chancesque hate-funk level of simmer-'til-combustion (w/out the skittish guit), but the flip, "Get out of the Bathroom," really steps the mess up a few notches. Opens with a descending bassline that divebombs face-first into R. LaValliere's howl, sax unfurling itself and getting real uncomfy as Hoffman pounds the shit out of his kit and R's bass jerks in and out of consciousness. By the time we've reached the "C'mon, c'mon," it's LIGHTS OUT, folks. And the snickering juvie lyrics are only the icing on the cake, o' course. Great lil' WI artifact and certainly worth your precious time tracking it down.