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Alternative Tentacles

  • Butthole Surfers 'Live PCPPEP' - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Butthole Surfers 'Live PCPPEP' Vinyl LP - White

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    Alternative Tentacles

    Butthole Surfers 'Live PCPPEP' Vinyl LP - White

    £10.99

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    Live and naked for all to bear witness; nothing more needs to be said! Recorded at the Meridean in San Antonio, TX in 1984. 7 songs in all.

    Butthole Surfers are perhaps the most perversely confrontational and calculatedly outrageous American post-punk band. Their stage shows have included everything from backdrop projections of auto accidents and sex-change operations to androgynous nude dancers, crude pyrotechnics, and the incessant gross-out shenanigans of singer Gibby Haynes. (At an early show he removed the dress he was wearing during a performance and-depending on who tells the story-either simulated sex or had sex with one of the band's dancers.) Though the Butthole Surfers'music combines the noisy, avant-garde tendencies of late-Seventies no wave with the throbbing, distorted drive of hardcore, much of it is informed by classic, psychedelic rock.

    Haynes, whose father hosted a children's TV show in Dallas under the name Mr. Peppermint, met Paul Leary in 1977 while attending San Antonio's Trinity College. Four years later, Haynes, then doing graduate work in accounting, and Leary, son of the business school's dean, formed a band. They became Butthole Surfers when an announcer mistook one of their song titles for their band name. In San Francisco in 1981, the Surfers met the Dead Kennedys'Jello Biafra, who signed them to his Alternative Tentacles label. The band's self-titled first album contained the legendary dada-hardcore anthem, 'The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave.' Between 1982 and 1985 the Surfers went through a succession of bass players and drummers. They toured constantly, perfecting their bizarre show by adding dancers, sometimes two drummers, and cultivating a hard-core cultish Deadhead-style following. Membership stabilized with the addition of King Coffey on drums in 1983.

    In 1985 the group signed with Touch and Go, and its music got even weirder and more depraved. Haynes'gut-wrenching sleaze and pseudo-Satanic ranting hit an all-time low on such songs as 'Lady Sniff' (Psychic - ¦ Powerless - ¦) and 'Sweet Loaf' (Locust Abortion Technician's spoof of Black Sabbath's 'Sweet Leaf'), while Leary's inventive lead guitar chugged and meandered around newly added instrumentation such as acoustic guitars, piano, organ, violin, and strange effects, like speeded-up and slowed-down vocals, and tape manipulations. Rembrandt Pussyhorse stands as one of the most 'out' psychedelic albums of the post-punk era, featuring snaky, Middle Eastern-like instrumentation and drones, twisted folk melodies, avant-garde improvisation, industrial noise and feedback, and gastrointestinal sounds. Haynes'attempts to shock include deranged laughter, Exorcist-like growls, and lyrics such as 'There's a creep in the cellar that I'm gonna let in - ¦ and he really freaks me out when he peels off his skin.'

    After appearing on the first Lollapalooza Tour in 1991, the Surfers signed with Capitol. Two years later the band released its major-label debut, the slightly more accessible Independent Worm Saloon, produced by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. In 1993 Haynes also formed a side band with actor Johnny Depp called P. The Butthole Surfers'music has received radically mixed reviews, with underground observers generally applauding the envelope-pushing experimentations, and many mainstream rock critics put off by the band's constant arty attempts to shock. Through it all, the group is among the few Eighties fringe acts to rise from independent to major-label status with its core audience and sound intact. Formed 1981, San Antonio, Texas

    Tracklisting:
    1. Cowboy Bob
    2. Bar-B-Q Pope
    3. Dance of the Cobras
    4. The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave
    5. Wichita Cathedral
    6. Hey
    7. Something
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  • Jello Biafra 'In The Grip of Official Treason' Spoken Word Album #8 - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Jello Biafra 'In The Grip of Official Treason' Spoken Word Album #8

    £20.99

    Tracklisting:
    CD 1:
    1. Fat Mike Speaks
    2. Punk Voter Battle Cry
    3. Die For Oil, Sucker (T.W.O.T. Addition)
    4.Ass Clowns In Toyland

    In The Grip Of Official Treason - Psalm I
    5. Junk Mail From Hell
    6. Der Gropenführer Pütsch
    7. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Cash
    8. Brown Lipstick Voodoo Ritual
    9. Forgotten Recent History Lessons
    10. Votes Disappear Like Magic

    In The Grip Of Official Treason - Psalm II
    CD 2:
    1. Big Jim, The Cyber Crow
    2. Your Child Left Behind
    3. The Faux FEMA Follies
    4. Witness For The Persecution
    5. Holiday In Guantanamo
    6. Weapons Of Mass Distraction
    7. Mr. Hat's Mr. Hat
    8. Go Down On Me, Moses

    In The Grip Of Official Treason - Psalm Final
    CD 3:
    1. The Lord Is My Sheep
    2. The Last Big Gulp
    The Bigger Ka-Boom, Parts 667 â ' Doomsday
    3. The Terror Of Tinytown's Big Adventure
    4. Iraqnophobia
    5. The Curse Of The Wolfman
    6. Bloodbath And Beyond
    7. Pirates Of The Reconstruction
    8. The Flute And The Cobra
    9. And All I Got Were These Lousy Freedom Fries
    10. The Simplest Way Out Is Out
    Deleted Scenes
    11. Red State / Blue State Statik Attak
    12. American Idle
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  • Jello Biafra With The Melvins 'Never Breathe What You Cant See' - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Jello Biafra With The Melvins 'Never Breathe What You Cant See'

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    This time, the root of Biafra's frustration-- aside from the threat of global terrorism, the Bush administration's response to the threat of global terrorism, and, uh, yuppies in Cadillacs-- is personal: The Melvins approached him about a possible collaboration after witnessing the supposed Dead Kennedys "reunion," which-- after a series of inter-band legal disputes-- occurred without Biafra at the helm.

    The Melvins are ideal musical foils to Biafra's maniacal persona, and show an admirable willingness to subdue and camouflage their normally obtrusive sound.

    The band members' great admiration and respect for Biafra's work are evident in the album's malleable arrangements, which strike a perfect balance between the Melvins' grimy post-alternative metal and classic Kennedys-style California punk.

    Tracklisting:
    1.Plethysmograph
    2. McGruff the Crime Dog
    3. Yuppie Cadillac
    4. Islamic Bomb
    5. The Lighter Side of Global Terrorism
    6. Caped Crusader
    7. Enchanted Thoughtfist
    8. Dawn of the Locusts


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  • Kylesa 'Time Will Fuse Its Worth' - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Kylesa 'Time Will Fuse Its Worth'

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    Alternative Tentacles

    Kylesa 'Time Will Fuse Its Worth'

    £18.99

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    A1. Intro
    A2. What Becomes An End
    A3. Hollow Severer
    A4. Where The Horizon Unfolds
    A5. Between Silence And Sound

    B1. Intermission
    B2. Identity Defined
    B3. Ignoring Anger
    B4. The Warning
    B5. Outro

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  • Los Infernos 'Ž'Rock And Roll Nightmare' - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Los Infernos ââ'š¬oe½'Rock And Roll Nightmare'

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    Tracklisting:
    Side A:
    1. We Gotta Get Out
    2. Gimmie The Gun
    3. Start
    4. It Brings Me Down
    5. Nightmares
    6. Time

    Side B:
    1. Nowhere Fast
    2. Dead And Gone
    3. Loaded
    4. Demons
    5. Rise And Fall
    6. When I Was Young
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  • Phantom Limbs 'Applied Ignorance (reissue)' - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Phantom Limbs 'Applied Ignorance (reissue)'

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    Alternative Tentacles

    Phantom Limbs 'Applied Ignorance (reissue)'

    £12.99

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    Oakland's mysterious Phantom Limbs inflicted their psychotic art-goth-punk debut on the world back in 2001 - and to celebrate their reunion Alternative Tentacles is proud to reissue 'Applied Ignorance' with brand new art by singer Hopeless and the addition of 2 previously unreleased tracks recorded live on KALX Berkeley in 2001!

    Prodded by pitchforks to see them, Jello Biafra thought they were the strangest band he had EVER seen at Gilman St. that the crowd went stark raving nuts for. A cross between the Screamers and Gilbert & Sullivan gone terribly wrong. Eerie, grinding keyboards mixed with driving bass, thundering drums, wall-of-sound guitar and frantic, desperate vocals.

    The Phantom Limbs subjected West Coast punk, goth, metal, and indie audiences alike to their psychosis with equal appreciation from the late 90's thru the mid-00's. Like a carnival sideshow, The Phantom Limbs thrived equally on the awe and anxiety of the crowd.

    Their music is a swirling amalgamation of old school punk, deathrock, and no wave mixed with the theatre songs of, say, Kurt Weil. Like so many of the great Alternative Tentacles'bands, they were a must-see live. Their live shows became stuff of legend with singer Hopeless invariably naked or covered in grease paint, duct tape, wrapping paper or substances of unknown origin.

    Crowd interaction was mandatory, with Hopeless sometimes going so far as to handcuff himself to unsuspecting fans. The members of The Phantom Limbs had previously lent their talents to such cult faves as The Boyscouts of Annihilation, Anal Kitties, Scurvy Dogs and Black Ice, and since splitting in the 2000s have created new musical madness with (among others) the Loto Ball Show, Altar De Fey, and Malditos.

    Tracklisting:
    1. Piss On Them Lightly
    2. Shut Up Old Man
    3. Unhinged Face
    4. Minutes Collector
    5. Shake A Baby
    6. Hot Knives And Hornets
    7. Jointly Stranded
    8. Somebody Twisted Your Arm
    9. Shut Them Out
    10. How Calm You Are
    11. Murder Us Windpipes (Live on KALX 2001)
    12. Romance (Live on KALX 2001)
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  • Voivod 'To The Death' - Cargo Records UK

    Alternative Tentacles

    Voivod 'To The Death'

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    Alternative Tentacles

    Voivod 'To The Death'

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    VOIVOD formed in 1983, with a weird hybrid of thrash metal and punk; a sound that made them stand out as a unique band from the beginning. Still together after almost 30 years, having made more than a dozen albums and toured the world, Voivod reach back to the beginning of their career to their 1984 demos for their first Alternative Tentacles release.

    Voivod began as four friends who had met in high school and decided to get together to play some heavy music. Growing up in Northern Quebec in an aluminum factory area called Saguenay, which they named Morgoth Land, they shared a liking of Venom, Motörhead, Tank, Discharge and GBH; as well as obscure prog and krautrock bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, Faust and Can. They were scared of the threat of a nuclear war and Reagan-era concepts such as the Strategic Defense Initiative, and overall had a dystopian view of the future.

    To The Death 84 is a double album/single CD, 70 minutes of loud, blistering metal/punk. Recorded live in the band's jam space in January 1984 with an old tape recorder and a couple of microphones, it nonetheless sounds great and still hits hard today. This demo tape was sent to all the fanzines the band knew of at the time, and has circulated among collectors for years. The lineup for these recordings was Snake (Denis Bélanger) on lead vocals, Piggy (Denis D'Amour) on guitar, Blacky (Jean-Yves Thériault) on bass, and Away (Michel Langevin) on drums.

    The track listing includes songs from War and Pain, their debut album, and 6 others, including a Mercyful Fate cover and two Venom covers. This demo did its job: soon the underground world was aware of this strange vampire warlord from the cold, Voivod.



    Tracklisting:
    1. Voivod
    2. Condemned To The Gallows
    3. Helldriver
    4. Live For Violence
    5. War And Pain
    6. Incantation
    7. Buried Alive / Suck Your Bone
    8. Blower
    9. Slaughter In A Grave
    10. Nuclear War
    11. Black City
    12. Iron Gang
    13. Evil
    14. Bursting Out
    15. Warriors Of Ice

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