V/A Propeller Product Prop 4-1 2xLP
Here’s one that I wasn’t expecting to see reissued! The Boston (well, Allston)-based label Propeller Product put out a string of unassailable singles for local post-punk bands over the course of two brief years in the early ’80s, in addition to a 1981 compilation cassette featuring ten acts in the general Propeller orbit. The problem was that the tapes all had a manufacturing defect that made them impossible to play without an overpowering screeching sound, and rumor had it that the masters went missing soon thereafter—the songs would later circulate informally and in varying degrees of audio quality thanks to the internet, but this vinyl edition is the first time that the entire comp has really been properly presented. It’s pretty much wall-to-wall hits: CCCP-TV’s two tracks (“Downtown Address” and “Follow It Through”) are primo geeky, no wave-adjacent skronk in the COME ON/UJ3RK5 ballpark, and PEOPLE IN STORES stalk smoky, late night back alleys with sax-laced slowburners “Cheap Detective” and “Cat and Mouse.” “Something in Your Eyes” and “The Law” from ART YARD go toe-to-toe with Boston heavies MISSION OF BURMA in terms of razor-sharp, anthemic yet dissonant hooks, V;’s “Ich Liebe” is stern, rhythm-driven post-punk that’s more Berlin than Boston (a stark contrast with the simmering, SLITS-ish reggae beat of their other track, “In the Suburbs of the City of Pain”), “No Escape” by WILD STARES strangles a guitar Andy Gill-style while simultaneously bashing a xylophone, and their “China Song” snaps from a driving, minimalist beat to a more stilted and angular stop/start. “Let’s Be Creative” is the only recorded appearance of CHINESE GIRLFRIENDS, flailing from off-kilter DIY pop (think early K Records) to a collapsing art-punk jumble; the similarly one-off “Midge” from WHITE WOMEN is a breathless rush of seesawing, Rough Trade-ready femme-punk. The NEATS would later devolve into bland college/bar rock in the mid-’80s, but at this point in time, they were crafting great, darkly psychedelic garage nuggets in a Paisley Underground-like fashion, evidenced by the DREAM SYNDICATE-esque “Do the Things” and “Another Broken Dream.” Last but not least, DANGEROUS BIRDS’ moody “Catholic Boy” echoes Odyshape-era RAINCOATS by way of early Kim Gordon-helmed SONIC YOUTH, and the band’s keyboardist/guitarist LORI GREEN also contributes three solo cuts of skewed pop that include a totally bizarro cover of GENE PITNEY’s ’60s tearjerker “Town Without Pity.” A crucial document of one of my absolute favorite time/place-centered music scenes—you need this, truly.