Carlton Melton - Chincoteague (2024)

Carlton Melton formed along the Mendocino County coastline in Northern California on the weekend of 17 July 2008, with the idea to play live, loud, improvised, experimental, instrumental, psychedelic music in a geodesic dome. Andy Duvall (guitar and drums), Brian McDougall (drums), Rich Milguitar and synthesizer) and John Steuernagel (bass) had been discussed this for many years prior to their formation, and the opportunity came to fruition after the Dome was completely rebuilt and the acoustic sounds inside were fully realized. The music is recorded live inside the Dome to analogue and digital sources using carefully placed omni-directional microphones, and all music is improvised in the sense that no one really knows who or what is going to be played at any given time. The result of the 2008 session was a self-released CD-R entitled 'Live In Point Arena', which could be purchased through their website www.carltonmusic.con. After this session the band decided that it would be great to try and make this gathering a seasonal event, but time got away from them and it was the following Spring before another session was arranged for March 2009. This allowed the band to record enough material to release the album 'Pass It On...' on their own label Mid-To-Late Records in November 2009. Surprisingly enough, before the album  was released, they were able to get together in the last weekend of June 2009, and this provided enough new material for future releases, and also some bonus tracks for a CD release of the 'Pass It On...' album, which had been picked up for re-issue by Agitated Records in the UK. 

In 2010 the band recorded two tracks which were issued om Mid-To-Late as a split single with Empty Shapes, who contributed three tracks to the release, and this became their preferred method of getting their music out to their fans, releasing split singles with Bardo Pond, Mugstar, Qumran Orphics, Kandodo 3, Mind Mountain, and the Black Elk Medicine Band between 2011 and 2016, as well as releasing their own albums when they had enough material that hadn't been ear-marked for one of their collaborations. As well as recording in their Dome, they are also a touring band, and one of their live shows was released as a 100-copy limited edition cassette in 2014, while their most recent release is a recording from their 2023 European tour, which was issued just this year. They first came to my attention with 2020's 'Where This Leads', and so I was quite late to the party and had a lot of catching up to do, but although I collected most of their albums I missed their split singles, plus their own non-album tracks from singles and EPs, and so this post collects all of those rare and hard to find recordings, both with other artists and on their own. My original plan was to add the band to my 'Best Of...' series, but with over a dozen albums released, and with an average running time per track of around 10 minutes, that turned out to be a non-starter, and so the post became a rarities collection, with over five hours of music spread over a 5-CD set. They might be something of an acquired taste for people who like their music tightly structured, but fans of out-there, experimental psychedelic space-rock are in for a treat.      

Track listing

Disc I - 2010-2011
01 Call And Response (split single with Empty Shapes 2010)
02 Purer (split single with Empty Shapes 2010)
03 Handling Snakes (single 2011)
04 The One That Got Away (b-side of 'Handling Snakes')
05 Bottle Of Heat (from the 'I'm So Convoluted!' compilation 2011)

Disc II - 2011
01 March Of The Cicadas (split single with Qumran Orphics 2011)
02 Murder Ridge (split single with Qumran Orphics 2011)
03 Slow Growth (split single with Bardo Pond 2011)
04 Company (extended version) (split single with Mugstar 2011)
05 Death Whisper (split single with Mugstar 2011)

Disc III - 2012-2013
01 Adrift (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
02 Smoke Drip (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
03 Against The Wall (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
04 Personal Space (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
05 Road Swagger (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
06 Glass Home (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
07 Mist (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)

Disc IV - 2015-2016
01 Footprints (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
02 Flags (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
03 Chincoteague (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
04 Harbinger (split single with Mind Mountain 2015)
05 Observatory (split single with Black Elk Medicine Band 2015)
06 Upon Your Return (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
07 Simulacra (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
08 Phildelayphian (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
09 Simmer (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
10 Holiday Hours (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)

Disc V - 2017-2022
01 Rememory (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
02 The Warbler (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
03 Hidden Lights (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
04 Resemblance (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
05 Morning Warmth (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
06 High Noon Thirty (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
07 Safe Place (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
08 Straitum (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
09 Chop Shop (from the 'We Love You Junzo' compilation album 2022)

Sophia Fresh - Sophia Fresh (2008)

In 2005, singers Chelle, Skye, Cole Rose and Jade Johnson formed the group Gyrlfriend, and signed a major deal with J Records, but before they could record anything the group disbanded, with Skye and Cole Rose joining with Crystal Tamar to form Sophia Fresh. In 2008 the group's manager took them to Atlantic Records and introduced them to singer/producer T-Pain, who signed the trio as one of the first acts to his Atlantic imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment. They began recording their debut album with T-Pain, and were allowed the creative freedom to record their "very high energy, very edgy and funky" music. T-Pain described Sophia Fresh as "a contemporary TLC", and despite the fact that Nappy Boy Entertainment was a digital label, it was confirmed that there would still be release physical albums. The girls first released song was when 'Lives In Da Club' appeared on the soundtrack to the film 'Step Up 2: The Streets', which was released in 2008. In November 2008, Sophia Fresh released their debut single, 'What It Is', featuring Kanye West, which was highly prasied by singer Rihanna, who said she almost wished the song was hers. In 2010 they appeared in T-Pain's animated TV show 'Freaknik: The Musical', but little was heard of their album, apart from a second single 'Do The Dance' in 2009, and in 2011 the group disbanded without ever getting the chance top release their debut long-player. After the group slpit, former member Crystal Tamar continued her solo career, releasing her debut album in September 2019, but if you want to hear the album recorded by Sophia Fresh then here it is. 

Track listing

01 Do The Dance
02 Loser
03 What It Is
04 Unda Cuva
05 Something
06 Wipe Me Down
07 Drop It
08 Change My Number
09 Just Go
10 Something Ain't Right
11 Incense & Chocolate
12 Shame On Love
13 Stage
14 Woke Up

Happy New Year 2026

 Looking forward to another year of great music.

Klaus Schulze - Janson (1977)

Klaus Schulze was born in Berlin in 1947, and started his career in music drumming in a band called Psy Free. In 1969 He met Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream in the Zodiac Club, in what was then West Berlin, and was invited to join them for the recording of their 1970 debut album 'Electronic Meditation'. In 1970 he left TD to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke, with whom he was also in the band Eruption. In 1971, he again chose to leave a newly formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album 'Irrlicht', with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music, and his follow-up album in 1973, 'Cyborg', was in a similar style, but added the EMS VCS 3 synthesizer. From this point on Schulze has released some 40 albums, highlights of which are 1975's 'Timewind', 1976's 'Moondawn' (his first album to feature the Moog synthesizer), 1979's 'Dune', and 1995's double-album 'In Blue', which featured one long track called 'Return To The Tempel', with electric guitar contributions from his friend Manuel Göttsching of Ash Ra Tempel. 

In 1976, he was drafted by Japanese percussionist and composer Stomu Yamashta to join his short-lived "supergroup" Go, which also featuring Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, and Al Di Meola, releasing two studio albums, 1976's 'Go', and 1977's 'Go Too', and the live album 'Go Live From Paris' in 1976. Throughout the 1970's he followed closely in the footsteps of Tangerine Dream, albeit with far lighter sequencer lines and a more reflective, dreamy sheen, not unlike the ambient music of his contemporary Brian Eno. On occasions he would also compose film scores, including horror and thriller movies such as 'Barracuda' in 1977, and 'Next Of Kin' in 1982. In 1977 he released the 'Mirage' album, which has been acclaimed by aficionado's of electronic music as one of his finest works. To promote the album he embarked on a short European tour, and his concert at The Janson University in Brussels, Belgium on 16 April 1977 was captured for posterity. The gig consisted of four long improvised pieces, and lasted a total of an hour and three-quarters. The sound quality is excellent, as is the music, and the only down-side is that there was an audience member with a persistent cough, who constantly interrupted the performance. However, with the aid of MVSEP I've managed to remove most of these annoyances, and while I was at it I removed the minimal applause at the end of each track, so we now have a studio quality recording of previously unreleased music from the much-missed Klaus Schulze. 

Track listing

01 Janson 1
02 Janson 2
03 Janson 3
04 Janson 4

LCD Soundsystem - A Bunch Of Stuff (2007)

James Murphy founded LCD Soundsystem in 2002 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, with the "LCD" part of the band's name stands for "Liquid Christmas Display", a play on "liquid-crystal display", and originated from the earliest iteration of the band during a live performance at a Brooklyn Christmas party where bassist Murphy and drummer Pat Mahoney were covering songs by Liquid Liquid. They began by releasing a string of singles under DFA Records, which was co-founded by Murphy, and they gained attention with their first single, 'Losing My Edge', which peaked at number 115 in the UK chart. Subsequent singles improved on that, with 'Yeah' reaching number 77 and 'Movement' peaking at number 52. The band released their eponymous debut studio album in January 2005 to critical acclaim, with the the CD version including a second disc of non-album singles. The following month, they released the single 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House', which became their first UK top 40 hit, peaking at number 29, and their most commercially successful single. In October 2006 they released a composition titled '45:33', as part of Nike's Original Run series, which was made available for download from iTunes. Despite its name, the track is actually 45 minutes and 58 seconds long, with the title being an apparent reference to vinyl speeds of 45rpm and 33rpm, although this was later denied by Murphy, who merely wanted the opportunity to create a long piece of music, akin to E2-E4 by Manuel Göttsching. 

The group's second studio album, 'Sound Of Silver', was released in March 2007 to critical acclaim, with Mixmag awarding it the title Album of the Month. The group subsequently released an EP titled 'A Bunch Of Stuff', which consisted entirely of covers, alternative versions, and remixes of tracks from the album, and which was only available as an iTunes download. The best track on there is a cover of 'All My Friends' performed by Franz Ferdinand, and recast in a full-on dance-rock arrangement that keeps racheting into higher and higher gears. The 'Sound Of Silver' version hews closely to its sources (especially New Order's 'Ceremony'), while Franz Ferdinand's radically different arrangement gets around the question of quotation and paraphrase, leaving only a grand evocation of the post-punk chill. The other highlight is at the close of the EP: a galloping live-on-the-radio reprise of 'Us v Them', played by LCD's spectacularly tight and forceful onstage incarnation. Between them, there's a quartet of remixes, none of which are quite as good as their sources, but a couple of which are noteworthy anyway, with Soulwax's 10-minute remix of 'Get Innocuous' being a jittery, slow-building jam that spotlights the analogue sequencers and drum machines of Murphy's favourite era. As it was a download only release it might have been missed by fans of the band, and so here it is to fill that gap in their discography. 

Track listing

01 All My Friends (Franz Ferdinand Version)
02 Get Innocuous! (Soulwax Remix)
03 Sound Of Silver (C2 Rmx Rev.3)
04 Us V Them (Any Color U Like Remix By Windsurf)
05 Time To Get Away (Gucci Soundsystem Remix)
06 Us V Them (Live On KRCW's 'Morning Becomes Eclectic')

Fairport Convention - Nineteen Sixty-Eight (1968)

Bassist Ashley Hutchings met guitarist Simon Nicol in North London in 1966 when they both played in the Ethnic Shuffle Orchestra, and the rehearsed on the floor above Nicol's father's medical practice in a house called "Fairport" in Muswell Hill – on the same street where Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks grew up. The house lent its name to the group that they formed together in 1967 with Richard Thompson on guitar and Shaun Frater on drums, and which they named Fairport Convention.  After their initial performance at St Michael's Church Hall in Golders Green on 27 May 1967, they had their first of many line-up changes as one member of the audience, drummer Martin Lamble, convinced the band that he could do a better job than Frater and replaced him. They soon added a female singer, Judy Dyble, which gave them a distinctive sound among the many London groups of the period. The band were soon playing regularly at underground venues such as UFO and The Electric Garden, and after only a few months they caught the attention of manager Joe Boyd, who secured them a contract with Polydor Records. Boyd suggested they augment the line-up with another male vocalist, and so Iain Matthews (then known as Ian MacDonald) joined the band, and their first album, 'Fairport Convention', was recorded in late 1967 and released in June 1968. 

At this early stage Fairport looked to North American folk and folk rock acts such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and The Byrds for material and inspiration, and the name Fairport Convention, plus the use of two lead vocalists. led many new listeners to believe that they were an American act, earning them the nickname 'the British Jefferson Airplane'. After disappointing album sales they signed a new contract with Island Records, but before their next recording sessions Judy Dyble left, and was replaced with Sandy Denny, a folk singer who had previously recorded as a soloist and with Strawbs. Denny's arrival encouraged the band to consider integrating British folk music into what had previously been an American-influenced sound, and her distinctive voice characterised their later sound. During 1968 the band toured extensively, including jaunts to Europe, where they appeared on French and Dutch TV. As well as playing tracks from their album, they also included a number of songs in their set-list which never made it to a recording studio, and so this collection brings together a number of them, recorded for European TV or UK radio stations, plus a rare studio out-take, and it includes a stunning take on 'Mr Lacey', later to appear on their next studio album. The sound quality varies considerably between the recordings, but I've done my best to clean them up so that the album has a reasonably consistent sound quality,  

Track listing

01 I Still Miss Someone (Dutch TV September 1968)
02 Marcie (David Symonds Show 18/06/1968)
03 The Quiet Land Of Erin (My Kind Of Folk, BBC 26/06/1968)
04 Morning Glory (Bouton Rouge, French TV Show 27/04/1968)
05 Mr Lacey (Dutch TV September 1968)
06 Been On The Road So Long (My Kind Of Folk, BBC 26/06/1968)
07 Violets Of Dawn (BBC Top Gear 06/02/1968)

08 Makes Me Think Of You (unknown recording venue 1968)
09 Reno, Nevada (Bouton Rouge, French TV Show 27/04/1968) 
10 Dear Landlord (Studio out-take mid-1968)

11 At The End Of The Day (unknown recording venue 1968)
12 If It Feels Good (Dutch TV September 1968)

Jessica Betts - Jessie Pearl (2008)

Jessica Betts was born on 19 July 1982 in Chicago, and grew up hoping to be a professional basketball player. After singing the National Anthem at a high school championship game, she decided to start her singing career, and shortly afterwards she signed to Warren G's G-Funk Music and Restless Records, appearing on such soundtracks as 'Big Momma's House' and 'Simply Irresistible'. She released her first single 'Get Up' in 2000, but the follow-up album, You Can't Resist', released under her first name only, was unsuccessful and she was dropped from the label and went back to the drawing board. She was fortunate enough to become a contestant on Missy Elliott's reality show 'Road To Stardom' in 2005, and eventually ended up winning the competition. Since winning the hearts and admiration of judges such as Teena Marie, Dallas Austin, Madonna & Jermain Dupri, she has grown artistically, teaching herself to play the guitar, and now incorporating her guitar skills to her dynamic image and brand. However, winning 'Road To Stardom' did not lead to the success that she was hoping for, and the 'Jessie Pearl' solo album that she'd recorded in 2008 was released only in Japan. She has been recording independently ever since, releasing her #LLcoolJess mix EP in June 2014, but to hear what she was doing after winning the reality show, here is that rare 2008 album, featuring Missy Elliott on several of the recordings. 

Track listing

01 Dealeo 
02 Jump On It  
03 Block (feat. Missy Elliott)
04 Crush
05 Whisper (feat. Missy Elliott)
06 Superhero
07 What's Your Name  
08 Moon (feat. Missy Elliott) 
09 Don't Make Me Wait 
10 Why Me  
11 I Miss You 
12 Corrupted
13 Smooth 
14 Come To Me  
15 Unique Girl 

The Outskirts Of Infinity - Song To The Goddess - The Best Of The Outskirts Of Infinity (1993)

The Outskirts Of Infinity are a hard/psychedelic rock trio from the UK, and were one of the earliest bands to release an album on Nick Saloman's Woronzow label. Saloman himself played bass with the band on the first two albums, and their debut record 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' is rated as one of the best on the label, with epic slabs of progressive rock and soaring guitar. The second album 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' is a combination of extremely hallucinogenic space rock, Hendrix-like power trio stuff and psychedelic pop. Their third album 'Stoned Crazy' was recorded live in the studio, featuring a combination of the Outskirts' own songs plus a few cover versions of Hendrix and Cream numbers. This was the first album to feature ex Ozzy Osbourne/Dirty Tricks bassist Terry Horbury, and his Jack Bruce style playing in combination with Ric Gunther's Bonham/Baker-style drumming pushed the trio up a gear in power and creativity in a live setting. The next release was 'The Altar Of The Elements', which showed a distinct improvement over its predecessor, featuring the hard rocking 'Man Of Words' and the strange 'Broken Wings', which is an epic Floyd style track. The title track is a superb heavy prog workout with spectacular guitar playing. Following on from this release came 'Incident At Pilatus', recorded in the middle of a European tour, and three of the tracks were recorded in a studio in Switzerland, while the rest were recorded live at various venues during the tour. If you like classic heavy rock with gritty vocals and screaming guitar solos, all held together by a rock-steady rhythm section, then give this 'Best Of...' a listen, and before long you'll be checking out the rest of their discography.  

Track listing

01 Gates To Infinity (from 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' 1989)
02 Gemini Machine (from 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' 1987)
03 Jupiter Jam (from 'Stoned Crazy' 1989)
04 The Altar Of The Elements (from 'The Altar Of The Elements' 1993)
05 Eastern Spell (from 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' 1987)
06 Burning Down (from 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' 1989)
07 Stoned Crazy (from 'Stoned Crazy' 1989)
08 Song To The Goddess (from 'The Altar Of The Elements' 1993)
09 Lord Of The Dark Skies (from 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' 1987)
10 Infinity...Beyond...Beyond (from 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' 1989)

Björk - The Jazz Singer (1993)

During August and September 1990, Björk recorded a number of songs with backing from a jazz trio, consisting of Guðmundur Ingólfsson on piano, Guðmundur Steingrímsson on drums, and Þórður Högnason on bass. The 'Gling-gló' album was released in October 1990 by Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, and included several covers of jazz standards, translated and sung in Icelandic. The project started when Guðmundar Ingólfssonar was commissioned by the Icelandic State Radio to record a set of popular instrumental standards, and the trio felt it would be infinitely better with a vocalist performing in the native Icelandic language, and who else could have filled the bill better than Björk, who had already put the country on the map musically with her success with The Sugarcubes. The album is mostly sung in Icelandic, as it was meant to be for an Icelandic audience, where it actually did quite well. The majority of the tracks are short but sweet jazz standards, focusing on the virtues of vocal jazz but also incorporating a bit of hard bop, Mexican salsa and even Icelandic folk into the mix. To promote the record, the trio plus Björk played some gigs around Iceland, and the one at the Hotel Borg in August 1990 was recorded, providing the two bonus tracks for the CD edition of 'Gling-gló'. As well as tracks from the album, they also played a number of jazz classics, this time sung in English, and so by extracting these and teaming them up with two other jazz standards that Björk recorded later in her career, we have an excellent companion-piece to her Icelandic-language jazz album. 

Track listing

01 Misty
02 My Funny Valentine
03 I Fall in Love Too Easily
04 You Don't Know What Love Is
05 Cry Me a River 
06 Like Someone In Love
07 Can't Help Loving That Man
08 I Remember You
09 Ruby Baby

Suzanne Vega - The Boulevardiers (1984) **UPDATE**

geofmcm and I have been having a bit of a discussion about this album ever since I posted it, in particular about the inclusion of the track 'Tom's Diner'. Although it was recorded in 1984, over two years before it made its appearance on the 1987 album 'Solitude Standing', the arrangement for the studio version was pretty much the same as the 1984 recording, and so it didn't really sit well among the other tracks, which were either completely unreleased, or in a different version to their studio counterparts. I had originally only included it to make up the running time to around 40 minutes, so I was never that worried about whether it stayed or went. As luck would have it, visitor Lukas messaged to say that he had another live recording from Vega from 1982, and when I failed to find any mention of it online he kindly sent me a copy of it. It needed some work to make it listenable, and to fit in with the other tracks, but it now sounds much better, and so I've slotted it in as track 6, in place of 'Tom's Diner'. This now makes the album a collection of songs unheard in this form, either completely unreleased or acoustic versions of later band recordings, and although 'Left On Centre' stretches the timeline a fraction for it inclusion, it never made it to one of Vega's studio albums so I'm standing by my decision to include it. Soukseek and Mega updated.   

Track listing

01 The Boulevardiers
02 Gypsy
03 Calypso
04 The Rent Song
05 Silver Lady
06 Don't Tell Me
07 Black Widow Station
08 The Marching Dream
09 Just Friends
10 Daniella
11 Left Of Centre
12 Playing

Thanks to Lukas for supplying 'Don't Tell Me'. 

M Ross Perkins - The New American Laureate - The Best Of M Ross Perkins (2025)

Michael Ross Perkins grew up in Fairborn, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, and during his early years his family lived on Titus Avenue in Dayton's Northridge neighbourhood, a few houses away from Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard. Perkins has stated that his proximity and early exposure to Guided By Voices was influential, noting that Pollard's lo-fi production technique and uninhibited vocal approach gave him the confidence to "make weird sounds" with his voice. In 2002, he began experimenting with a Tascam Portastudio 4-track cassette recorder and amassed a catalogue of original songs, and in 2007 his early psychedelic material was discovered by MGMT, who offered him a touring support slot at the time of their debut release, 'Oracular Spectacular'. However, Perkins declined due to anxiety, but he did work as a roadie for Buffalo Killers, on multiple tours in support of The Black Crowes, and this was repaid later when all three members of Buffalo Killers acted as his live backing band for a brief period. Sofaburn Records approached Perkins with a recording contract in 2015, after Zachary Gabbard of Buffalo Killers presented the company with a collection of Perkins' home recordings, and in January 2016 Perkins recorded the drum tracks for his debut release at Gabbard's analog studio, Howler Hills Farm, before completing the remainder of the album's instrumentation alone at his own home studio. 

The album 'M Ross Perkins' was released by Sofaburn in October 2016, and critical reception was enthusiastic, with Record Collector calling it "a truly great album", and others drawing notable stylistic comparisons to solo artists such as Harry Nilsson and Emitt Rhodes. After touring in support of the debut, Perkins produced a follow-up EP entitled 'What Did You Do For Summer Break', which Sofaburn released in streaming format in August 2018, and critics noted a shift to a more sophisticated and precise, pop-oriented writing style throughout the EP. While promoting the EP, Perkins performed the song 'Amazing Grace (Grandma's Dead)' on the Jerry Springer Podcast, with Springer and producer Jene Galvin calling it the best song ever performed on the show. In 2020, Ohio-based soul label Colemine Records signed Perkins to their Karma Chief imprint and released the song 'Wrong Wrong Wrong', both as a 7" single and on their 2021 'Brighter Days Ahead' compilation. Colemine/Karma Chief went on to release Perkins' second full-length album, 'E Pluribus M Ross', in March 2022, which had been recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, with Perkins again performing all of the instrumentation in his home studio. 

The album again received critical acclaim, with Shindig! giving it 5 out of 5 stars and Uncut calling it "a record full of harmonic joy". After the release of 'E Pluribus M Ross', Perkins made guest appearances on a number of Colemine/Karma Chief releases by Andrew Gabbard, playing bass alongside Karma Chief labelmate Neal Francis on 2022's 'Live in Loveland' and performing keyboard on 2023's 'Cedar City Sweetheart'. In May 2025, Perkins released his third full-length album, 'What's The Matter, M Ross?', which mixed his reverent nostalgia, self-deprecating humour, and a heavenly gift for melody, with vox pops trying to answer the title question. If you have yet to discover this intriguing singer/songwriter then here is a selection of some of his best songs for you to sample.   

Track listing

01 Humboldt County Green (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
02 Wrong Wrong Wrong (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
03 Restless Amy (from 'What Did You Do For Summer Break' EP 2018)
04 Let A Little Lazy (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
05 Tired Of Me (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
06 Hey Man/Hey Self (from 'What's The Matter, M Ross?' 2025)
07 Industrial Good Day Mantra (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
08 Bed Sheet Wing (from 'What Did You Do For Summer Break' EP 2018)
09 Local Showcase (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
10 Gone (In The Morning) (from 'What's The Matter, M Ross?' 2025)
11 The New American Laureate (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
12 Someone Else (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
13 When You’re Near Me (from 'What Did You Do For Summer Break' EP 2018)
14 Amazing Grace (Grandma’s Dead) (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
15 Funeral For A Satellite (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)

Monty The Moron - Dr. Swastika Pumpenicle's Analysis (1986)

Monty Oxymoron (born Laurence Burrow on 27 September 1961 in Cambridge), joined The Damned as their keyboardist in 1996, and continues to tour and record with them. His previous bands include Punk Floyd and Dr. Spacetoad Experience with Captain Sensible, and he also works as keyboardist and percussionist with the Sumerian Kyngs, and as keyboardist with Tim Burness. In the 1980's he made his own recordings with his uncle Damien under the name Monty The Moron, and he released a number of albums on the Acid Tapes label. He has spoken of his love of psychedelic music, whose influence he claims to have heard in pre-Oxymoron Damned albums, beginning with 1979's 'Machine Gun Etiquette', and this shines through on these cassettes, with sitar and Gong-like guitar solos abounding. While the songs themselves often echo the lyrical absurdities of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band crossed with Syd Barrett, the music is good enough to make them an enjoyable listen, even 40 years later. I'm posting 'Dr. Swastika Pumpenicle's Analysis' first, as this one appears to be currently unavailable on the net, although he is currently digitalizing his early tapes himself and posting them on Bandcamp. He continues to release his own music to this day, and only this year has recorded an album of piano versions of songs by The Damned, titled 'The Piano Plays 'Til Midnight', which was released on Damaged Goods Records.

Track listing

01 Paradoxical Intention
02 Out Of The Frying Pan
03 Sewage Song
04 British Rail
05 Institutional Blues
06 Archetypal Fish Symbolism
07 Slimy Green Frog Of The Moon
08 A Golden Tree
09 Pamela Lemon
10 Song For A Solitary Lady
11 Love Is...Emphatically Insane

The Mothers Of Invention - Live At The Ark, Boston 1969 (1969)

And now for another live album which I believe is of historical significance, as it's a newly remastered version of one of the best early Mothers Of Invention bootlegs. The performance, choice of repertoire, and overall sound quality are exceptional, and make this a no-brainer for anyone even slightly interested in live Mothers Of Invention. Circulating copies of this show were off by 40 samples, causing the stereo image to smear and lean to the right, and fixing this did a world of good, and centred and stabilized the stereo image. Fixing the muddy EQ has also really brought the recording to life, but nothing else was done to enhance the sound. This version of the show is unedited, and has several more minutes of material, as well as the correct sequencing compared to the original bootleg LP, and the 'Beat The Boots' versions. The show was recorded at The Ark, in Boston in July 1969, and includes both sides of the single that they recorded in an attempt to get the group played on the radio, as well as a superb Uncle Meat/King Kong medley, and plenty of banter from Zappa between the songs. This is certainly the best quality show that I've heard from the late 60's Mothers, and I agree with the original poster that fans of the band need to hear this.  

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Big Leg Emma 
03 Some Ballet Music
04 Status Back Baby 
05 Valarie
06 My Guitar
07 Uncle Meat> 
08 Drum Duet>
09 King Kong