Dr. Frank - Show Business Is My Life LP - 180g Vinyl (/200)

Sounds Rad (2024, Reissue)

It's taken me way too long to write about the Sounds Rad reissue of this Dr. Frank record.  It came out last year and is (sort of?) part of the Sounds Rad Mr. T Experience reissue campaign.  I'm eagerly waiting for the next entry in that series.  It's been a little quiet lately, but I keep hoping the next one announced will be Making Things With Light.  Maybe my favorite Mr. T Experience record, but definitely the one I would really like to hear a remastered and spruced up version of.

But today, we have the Dr. Frank solo record from 1999.  I remember after Love As Dead had come out there were already rumors and scuttlebutt about a Dr. Frank solo record.  Based on the recent string of acoustic songs on Mr. T Experience records, I had assumed that a solo record would be more of that with just Frank and a guitar.

What we got instead was a record of predominantly full band rock songs that to be honest, mostly don't really sound all that different from the Mr. T Experience records of the era.  I was really disappointed by this at the time and truthfully, I didn't really listen to the record all that often.  As the years went by, I didn't remember much from it aside from the "Knock Knock" song, which was admittedly fun.

When the reissue was announced, I was again kind of disappointed that it was 'taking' a spot from a Mr. T Experience album that could have been released instead.  But, I didn't have this on vinyl and figured it was time to give the album a shot again.  Especially as all of the Sounds Rad reissues have been excellent, and the die cut vinyl sleeve on this one was particularly cool looking.  And I'm glad I did, it's better than I remember it being and listening to it without a preconceived notion of what I thought it should be let me appreciate the record more for what it is.

In a lot of ways, I think it's an even stronger record than Revenge Is Sweet And So Are You, another one that I didn't appreciate as much at the time, but ended up enjoying more when I went back to it many years later.  It's more varied in sound and kind of has a ramshackle mix tape sort of vibe to it as opposed to the glossiness of Revenge.  And there are a handful of acoustic songs on here too, so it's not like that section was completely ignored or anything.

In hindsight, I should have given this album more of a chance 25 years ago, but I had less patience back then and was always looking for that next amazing thing.  A lot of times, I never found it and ignored some pretty good stuff that was sitting right under my nose.

Dr. Frank - Show Business Is My Life:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mFjGDEION3dzNaLpeg99Nt7EV_suLDB9k

Intelligent Hoodlum - Tragedy - Saga of a Hoodlum 2xLP

Hip Hip Enterprise / 25 To Life (2018, Reissue) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Following up on last week's write up of Intelligent Hoodlum's debut album, we have his follow up, Saga of a Hoodlum.  It was on this album, that he brought the name Tragedy more to the forefront.  It's also much easier to write about Tragedy than writing Intelligent Hoodlum over and over again, so we'll go with Tragedy from here on out.

I really dig the first record, but one of the shortcomings all these years later is that the 1990 production sound is a little dated to my ears.  I still like it, but I tend to need to be in the mood to listen to something of that era to really get into it.  Saga of a Hoodlum came out in 1993, which is right there in the middle of my favorite time in hip hop.  The production has caught up to Tragedy's rhymes and as good as his debut is, for me, this one blows it out of the water.

Yeah, I suppose a few of the samples are not exactly unique and if you can listen to "Funk Mode" without immediately thinking of Brand Nubian, kudos to you.  But that really doesn't hinder my enjoyment of the record at all, I'm too busy enjoying the beats and listening Tragedy uncork killer rhyme after killer rhyme.  This would be the last time Tragedy would put out an album until 2001.  I haven't heard that one, and do want to check it out, but more than anything, I lament the extended time off from 1990 to 1993 without an album.  in a time period where groups were dropping albums every year and innovation was at an all time high, I wonder what Tragedy could have done with another release in between the two that came out.

This album was not released on vinyl when it was originally released, so it's great that it finally came out for the album's 25th anniversary.  I didn't know it came out originally, so I had to backtrack and hunt down a copy.  Double vinyl is great and I really do like the new artwork, though I personally would have preferred it with the original.  Mostly because the art doesn't really fell like something that would have happened in 1993, it's too modern an aesthetic.  The original art might not look as 'nice' as this, but it's of that era and fits more with the music, I think.  Still, a great reissue and one worth looking out for.

Intelligent Hoodlum - Tragedy - Saga of a Hoodlum:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m8ujse4W-hHVq8z6V_kRs7IyRhgcmQviU

Clikatat Ikatowi – The Trials And Tribulations Of... Box Set - White / Black Splatter Vinyl

Numero Group (2025)

This is the last of the 3 recent Numero box sets I've picked up.  Like the Boys Life and Boilermaker sets before, Numero has done an fantastic job with this set.  It has all of the bells and whistles you come to expect from their releases: great artwork, great liner notes, great sound and a thorough track listing.

Clikitat Ikatowi is a band name that I think I first heard of when Mario Rubalcaba joined Rocket From The Crypt.  The band was no more at that point and I didn't back track and hunt down any of their records that I had missed.  I'm not even sure why, as I usually tend to do that.  But their scarcity or my unfamiliarity with them just made them one of those bands that I kept meaning to get to, but never did.  Numero did the hard work for me and have compiled all of their songs from their lone proper full length, an EP, their demo and compilation appearances.

It's another one of those instances where I wish I had been listening to this band all along.  I especially think that had I been able to hear them in the 90s when I was exploring bands like Unwound, Karp and godHeadsilo, I probably would have become very attached.  Honestly, they blow Karp and godHeadsilo out of the water and are every bit as compelling as the best moments of Unwound even if the sound isn't completely similar.  

They're also a band that shows quite a bit of growth from release to release.  While you can definitely tell they are the same band all the way through, they really coalesce into a tight knit unit by the time we get to their swan song, River of Souls.  Those songs have a tumultuous churning quality two them, while at the same time displaying a cohesion where you know the band is never going to lose track of the plot.  It's a sign of what a great band they were and what a jackass I have been for not listening to them all this time.

Clikatat Ikatowi – The Trials And Tribulations Of...:
https://clikatatikatowi.bandcamp.com/album/the-trials-and-tribulations-of

Intelligent Hoodlum - Intelligent Hoodlum 2xLP

 

90s Tapes (2021, Reissue) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Intelligent Hoodlum (aka Tragedy) is a name that for whatever reason I was pretty familiar back in the 90s when I was originally discovering hip hop.  I don't know why I knew his name though as I didn't have any of his records back then.  It would take decades before I actually listened to music, but it seemed like there was some sort of lore about him back them that I can't quite pin down.  This probably just reads as me rambling, but the point I'm trying to make is that I was aware of the legacy of Intelligent Hoodlum before I got my hands on his music.

This album originally came out in 1990, so it does have a sound that's probably a little dated, in comparison to the type of records that were being made in other years of the early 90s.  That isn't to say it's bad, in fact there's something that's equally charming and exciting about how the production was handled during that time period.  It feels like the beats on this album as about as cutting edge as they could have been in 1990 apart from your Public Enemys, Ultramagnetics and Tribes.  And it's over this production that Tragedy lets loose.

Lyrically, it's pretty obvious that this came out in the early part of the 90s, due to subject matter and some of the tropes that are leaned into.  But aside from that, Tragedy is among the upper tier lyricists of that type, especially as far as how his rhyme schemes flow.  Is he a Rakim or a Chuck D?  Of course not, barely anyone else is.  But in a time period where Kid N Play and Young MC ruled the roost, it's immediately apparent how much higher Tragedy floats.

90s Tapes handled this reissue and while I missed the boat on it when it originally came out in 2021, I was able to hunt down a copy at a reasonable price.  It's the best version of the record that is out there and while it may not be packed full of the bonus material as some of their other releases, they handle the album itself with the best possible care.  It's another stellar reissue.

Intelligent Hoodlum - Intelligent Hoodlum:
https://tragedykhadafi252.bandcamp.com/album/intelligent-hoodlum

Roach Squad - Roach Squad LP - Orange Vinyl

Little Rocket / Sounds of Subterrania / Waterslide / Rad Girlfriend (2025)

Roach Squad is a band made of Hugo Mudie from The Sainte Catherines, Alex Keane from City Mouse, Sim Robson from nowhere else that Discogs is aware of and Graeme Philliskirk and Frankie Stubbs from Leatherface.  Graeme and Hugo were also in Medictations with the late Dickie Hammond, and that group is what I see the most similarities to when it comes to the sounds of Roach Squad.  And that's a good thing.

When you have two members of Leatherface in your group, with Frankie being one of them, the odds are really stacked that I'm going to be interested in your band.  And Roach Squad does not disappoint, serving up the sort of gritty, melodic punk that in many ways is my absolute favorite kind of music to listen to.  It has that 90s UK vibe, with gruff, but melodic vocals courtesy of Hugo Mudie on 12 of the 13 tracks.  Now, while there is a definitely a part of me that's thinking to myself, "self, why is Frankie only singing on one of these songs," Hugo carries the vocal duties exceptionally well, just as he did with Medictations.

Frankie does step in on "I Wonder," which is a treat.  But the rest of the time he and Graeme are holding down the band with excellent guitar interplay, with those trademark riffs and dynamics that have made me a fan of this sort of thing for 30 years now.  It's a super consistent record from start to finish and while I wouldn't say that there's a specific song or two that stands above the pack, the pack of songs as a whole is pretty stellar.  An easy recommendation as one of the best albums of 2025 so far.  If you read this website even somewhat regularly, I cannot fathom you not digging this.

Roach Squad - Roach Squad:
https://roachsquad.bandcamp.com/album/roach-squad

Boilermaker – Not Enough Time To Get Anything Halfway Done Box Set - Blue Vinyl

Numero Group (2024, Reissue)

I was reasonably plugged in to a lot of music that was happening in the mid 90s.  I followed as much as I could and bought as much as I could afford.  Yet despite my best efforts, there are bands that slipped through the cracks for me and Boilermaker is one of them.  You'd think that being from southern California would have helped get them on my radar considering how much I tried to follow what was happening in San Diego, but it wasn't until many years after they stopped playing that I had even heard of them, let alone heard them.  Full disclosure, listening to this box set was the first time I have heard the vast, vast majority of these songs.

But it's records like this that I think the phrase "better late than never" was invented for.  Boilermaker is a pretty great band.  They're in that post punk, emo adjacent wheelhouse if you want to throw around genre specifications that don't really mean a whole hell of a lot any more.  What I can say, in my dumb way, is that they're a noisy rock band, that has just enough melody to make their angst palatable to me.  There are times, particularly in the vocals, that I'm reminded of fellow California cohorts, No Knife.  There are other times where the vibes feel more midwestern in nature, bringing to mind new label mates and last week's box set stars Boys Life.

As with most Numero offerings, this box set is a triumph.  Complete to a fault with all of their albums and an singles along with some demos and live material.  The box set itself is gorgeous with their usual perfectly executed liner notes book that helps tell the story of this band.  The closest thing I have to a complaint is that two of the songs are included on a bonus 7" that went out to the first 500 orders and those songs aren't part of the larger box set.  I have the 7", so I'm good - but it is a little strange to me that it feels like an add on.  I'm sure there's a reason for that, I'm just not sure what it is.  Other than that minor quibble, it's another home run from Numero.

Boilermaker – Not Enough Time To Get Anything Halfway Done:
https://boilermakernumero.bandcamp.com/album/not-enough-time-to-get-anything-halfway-done

T-Max - The Alleywalker 2xLP (/250)

 

Trumindz (2024) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

The Alleywalker was originally meant to be released back in 1993, but for whatever reason (I looked, but couldn't really find any information about why) it wasn't actually released.  30 plus years later, here it is courtesy of Trumindz Records.  I had never heard of T-Max prior to this reissue popping up and I'm grateful I was in the right place at the right time when it came out so I could grab it.  It's sold out now and I would have been bummed out to miss on this one.

In some ways, I sort of feel like the only thing I need to say about this album is that it was supposed to come out in 1993.  It has the sort of beats and production that are kind of synonymous with that year and it's everything I'm looking for in my hip hop.  The tracks are fast paced, the bass lines are real head nodders and that aggressive snare drum crack hits right where it needs to be every time.  T-Max is from Boston, so you definitely get that golden era classic sound.

Lyrically, T-Max more than gets the job done.  I sort of hear a little bit of a similarity to Ed O.G., but that just might be my brain applying someone else from Boston to T-Max's sound.  Regardless of who is is or isn't similar to, he knows his way around a rhyme and lays out some standard, but excellent tales of life and of mic supremacy.  This is definitely the sort of album I'd recommend whole heartedly to folks that like that early 90s sound and are looking to check out something that hadn't heard before.  It's a bummer it's sold out, but it's definitely worth hunting for.

T-Max - The Alleywalker:

https://youtu.be/gokFivAkvMY?si=FopaPJf-UE35enQk

Jesse - Complete Discography 2xLP - 3 Versions (UK/US, Germany & Japan)

Little Rocket / Sounds Of Subterrania / Waterslide / Rad Girlfriend (2024, Reissue)

Jesse is the Frankie Stubbs band that released records for a brief moment in time between 1995 and 1998.  It was after the initial incarnation of Leatherface and the band Pope, before Leatherface eventually started playing again.  They released three 7"s, a Japanese tour split 7" with Hooton 3 Car and a full length album that capped things off in '98.  This new double LP discography compiles everything from those releases plus a previously unreleased bonus song.

Let's start out with the music, it's flawless.  The songs album is in rarified air for me as I absolutely love it and have been pretty obsessed with everything the band was doing since those 7"s first started coming out.  It's very much a band that makes sense as being a Frankie Stubbs band, it's not dissimilar to Leatherface or Pope enough to not appeal to fans of those bands.  But at the same time, I always felt there was something a little smoother about the Jesse songs.  

Maybe it's just that they are a touch slower and more melodic than some of the more aggressive Leatherface recordings that proceeded it.  But if you had heard The Last or the Pope record, if made a lot of sense that this is where Frankie was going next.  Just flawless songs and the only complaints I ever had is that I wish the LP didn't also have all of the 7" songs on it. and we had gotten 14 brand new ones instead of just seven.

OK, let's get to the variations.  First up is the standard version on grey swirl vinyl.  It was also available on orange, blue and white vinyl.  Not sure of the pressing information on each of the individual colors, but I'm not aware of any one of them being rarer or pressed in different numbers than any of the others.

Second, we have the Sounds of Subterrania version from Germany.  This one was pressed on good old fashioned black vinyl, but has alternate, screened artwork that is just spectacular.  The picture doesn't do justice to the flap, tuck in thing that closes up the whole package.  The cover art is taken from the Indestructible 7", which also happens to be my favorite Jesse song.

Finally is the Waterslide version from Japan.  This one is on clear vinyl, that is described on the Waterslide website as being "coke blue."  It also comes with a sharp looking obi that I'm a big fan of.

I don't buy as many duplicate copies of albums as I used to.  The variant game is a game I've decided is just too expensive these days.  But for an album as important to me as this one is and the three distinct versions that were made, I just couldn't pass them up.  But hey, I'm showing some restraint.  I didn't get all four different colors of the standard version.

Jesse - Complete Discography:
https://jesselrr.bandcamp.com/album/jesse-complete-discography

Boys Life – Home Is A Highway Box Set - Clear/Blue Vinyl (/250)

Numero Group (2024)

Boys Life was a band that I originally discovered while writing for my college newspaper.  In my dealings with Cargo records, they sent me a review copy of Departures and Landfalls and I was immediately taken with it.  While I tended to prefer the poppier strains of that wave of emo, something about Boys Life really connected with me.  Or I guess it's more accurate to say that Departures and Landfalls connected with me, for whatever reason, I never hunted down their other records the way I did for most bands of that era.

Luckily, Numero has done the hunting for me.  Which is a relief as that first album in particular was very rarely available and when it was always seemed to be priced outside of my comfort zone.  This box set solves that problem by gathering up both Boys Life full lengths along side of every other song from their demo and various 7"s.  There's even some live tracks as a bonus.

It's those first two albums that are the biggest draws for me and both sound fantastic as part of this set,  I've been kicking myself that it took me so long to finally hear the self titled one as it's really great and something I really should have been listening to for years at this point.  The singles/demo part of this box set is also outstanding.  A lot of those early songs did end up on the first album, but typically different versions, so I enjoy having access to everything.  Plus there's still a solid amount of songs not on either full length.  The live material is nice to have, but I'm not really a live record guy, so it's probably the bit I'm least interested in.

Of course, Numero comes correct with outstanding packaging on this release.  Everything is given the extra primo good treatment and the accompanying liner notes really are more of a book than just notes for the albums.  If there was a label to tackle this project, I couldn't think of a better one than Numero.  There are so many bands I'd like to see them give this sort of treatment to; Seaweed, Christie Front Drive, No Knife...but they could start by doing Chisel, who thus far have only had one of their LPs reissued on Numero Group.  Gimme a box!

Boys Life – Home Is A Highway
https://boyslife.bandcamp.com/album/home-is-a-highway

Bomb Threat - Bomb Threat LP

 

 90s Tapes (2024, Reissue) 

 Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Originally released on cassette in 1995, Bomb Threat was definitely not something on my radar back then.  It's another one of those misplaced relics that 90s Tapes has leapt in to rescue and give a proper reissue to.  It's a short album, clocking in at 25 minutes and really only has six actual songs, making it one of the rare single LPs in the 90s Tapes discography.  But it's still treated with the usual respect, looking and sounding great.

Bomb Threat is a crew and the album plays more like a compilation.  Five of the six songs are helmed by specific MCs or groups and it's not until the final track that the whole unit is credited for a song.  I don't know any of the individual groups or MCs on this record, but I certainly wouldn't mind hearing more from some of them.

As I've mentioned many times, 1995 is that line in the sand year for me with hip hop most of the time.  1994 and earlier is where my heart typically lies.  If a record came out in 1995 or later, it's more of a rarity for me to connect with it.  It does happen though, and Bomb Threat is one of those time, and it really boils down to the production for me.

There are great beats on this album, and while they tend to lean towards the mellower side of the golden era, they also lean close enough to that rougher early 90s sound to grab my attention.  This is particularly apparent in the first two songs.  "Phenomenal" by Bleak may not quite be phenomenal, but it's awfully good with a killer beat that Bleak runs roughshod over.  The other highlight for me is "Sabotage" which is attributed to Lifesavas & Sly Brown Da Hornet.  Again it's the production that seals the deal for me, though everyone on the mic gets the job done on this as well.

The rest of the songs are all good, there's nothing on here that I don't like, it's just those first two that tend to steal the show every time I listen to it.  I'm not sure if any of these guys have more material from the early to mid 90s but if they do, I'd love to hear it.

Bomb Threat - Bomb Threat:
https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/bomb-threat

Bambies - Snotty Angels LP - Smokey Gray Vinyl

Spaghetty Town / Wanda (2024)

This album was sent to me along with the Peawees album I wrote about a few weeks back.  I didn't know Bambies before getting this LP, but I'm pleased to make their introduction.  This band is from Montreal and I guess has been going since 2014.  Snotty Angels is their second full length, with their first one having been release on tape only, it seems.

I was mildly trepidatious before playing this, as snotty isn't usually a descriptor used for the bulk of the bands I'm into.  I can't tell you how many times I've put on a record where the music is promising only to have it ruined by someone who absolutely can't sing in any capacity.  Luckily, that didn't happen with Bambies.  While the vocals do certainly have an element of 'snot' to them, it's not to the point where the growl takes over and the tunes become painful.  There's enough melody still coming through to carry the songs and when you add in the backing vocals, we've got some nice choruses going on here.

Musically, this is some really nice jangly power-pop-punk-garage type stuff.  I'm reminded a bit of the the two Love Boat records that came out on Alien Snatch quite a few years ago.  There's also a bit of The Cute Lepers mixed in as well.  It's upbeat, the musicianship is on point and is just a generally enjoyable record.  A pleasant bonus with another record I was already looking forward to.

Bambies - Snotty Angels:
https://thebambies.bandcamp.com/album/snotty-angels