Electric Love Muffin: Playdoh Meathook (1987)

Back in the mid to late eighties, college rock was a force. A lot of this wasn’t shoe gazing shit or the crap that got passed off as indie in the nineties either. No, it was more like college rock was the kissing cousin of the musical family’s black sheep, punk rock. So what you usually got from college rock was honest, rollicking tuneage that was just a bit more restrained, refined if you will, than punk.

Electric Love Muffin is a pretty good representative of this restrained, refined approach to music. This Philly quartet demonstrate that bands can be able to play their instruments and still make upbeat music. And don't let the silly name fool you: this is pretty earnest stuff from a band that by all accounts should've been huge.

Image is from discogs.com
　
ELM’s MySpace page: www.myspace.com/betterstartrunning

Information on the band can be had here: ELM info

1. Backstreet ride
2. I should have
3. Look for me
4. This time I’m gone
5. Blackness that could be blue
6. The muffin march / One year removed
7. Tomorrow’s regrets
8. Magna opus

This is missing a Beatles cover because they, being the most overrated band ever, suck.

Download it here: Electric Love Muffin

Belching Penguins: Draft Beer...Not Me (1986)

So, does a belching penguin sound like early DRI? In this case, there are remarkable similarities: fast songs with an anti-authoritarian attitude come to mind, though these Penguins burp a bit more melodically than those thrashers from Texas did.

A quick glance at the song titles gives you a basic idea of what their subject matter is about: militarism, drinking, cops, amongst other things. Come to think of it, just a quick glance at the record cover should give you a clue about where they're coming from; a skeletal Reagan pouring beer leaves little to the imagination.

"Dead People Can't Drive" absolutely rocks, with its solid hardcore tuneage and the great line, "Watch out for that Cadillac, the driver’s got cataracts." Being from Florida, it must have been a daily occurrence to dodge cars driven by folks who were no longer able to get behind the wheel. Come to think of it, that happens here as well.

Enjoy the music :)

The image is from Last.fm.

Demos can be had at Going Through The Motions blog: Belching Penguins demo

MySpace: www.myspace.com/belchingpenguin

1. There’s gonna be a war
2. Better off dead
3. Dead people can’t drive
4. Money well spent
5. Shitfaced
6. Box lunch
7. My friends
8. Forget the world
9. You suck
10. Brain damage
11. Governmental screwover
12. Anorexic
13. Suburban life
14. We’re the cops
15. My girlfriend is in porno
16. There’s no food
17. Theme of the Belching Penguin
18. Our children are missing
19. Hangover

Download Belching Penguins here: Belching Penguins

The Guns: 1984 demo

This demo has everything that makes you want to go out and deface public property; it’s just so angry and defiant. Take the angry alienation of Black Flag, some monster metal power and combine it with the righteousness of youth and you get the wallop that The Guns deliver. The fact that The Guns were three high school kids from Cleveland makes them all the more impressive.

I think lots of folks will agree that their sound is best epitomized by "I'm Not Right". It's a real hit, so much so it was used in a documentary about Cleveland punk rock. "I'm Not Right" spits out adolescent alienation like only the best punk rock songs can: it's short, doesn't fuck around and drenched in animosity.

Future Shock blog has mondo info on this band: Future Shock

The Guns have a MySpace page, where I procured this image:

http://www.myspace.com/theoriginalguns

1. Support

2. Close Up

3. One True Desire

4. I'm Not Right

5. Parasite

6. Wasted Talent

7. The Chair

8. Shut Up

9. Kill Preps

10. Outta Glue

11. Locked Inside

12. Green Grass

13. Rotting Away

Note: The last two tracks, "Your Mistake" and "Symptom of the Universe", are missing from my copy.

Download them here! The Guns