Homework #10. Indie American experimental, postpunk and No Wave from the letters A, B & C (H2D CD#70): Homework #9 & 10 are the only volumes that will carry over from the original Homework series. Theoretically #9 is "punkier" and #10 is more "experimental" and they're both mostly from LPs but you need it all anyway. Enjoy a[nother] spectacular survey of the artistic and the accidental, the homely and the home-made, the involuntary and the visionary, the unselfconscious and the unbelievably cool... with the Adults, B People, Cardboards, Carsickness, China Shop, Culturcide, Bound & Gagged, Band of Susans, Arms of Someone New, Bomis Prendin, Black Cat Bone, Brain People, Blue Trapeze, Robin Crutchfield's Dark Day, Chemicals Made from Dirt, Crash Course in Science and the August Sons. 20 tracks. Get it at the store

Homework and Teenline are Back!
The first three fully-remastered volumes in each of the Teenline and Homework series feature better sound, a few new tunes, and lots more info and links from bands.

Homework #101 (American punkwave, D.I.Y., indie post-punk & experimental: R & S: '76-86) Home-made classics 1976-1986. Screaming Urge plays the series' theme-song, Realtors, Rentals, Red Asphalt,. Re*cords, Really Red, Radio Free Europe, Sneakers, Readymades, Social Climbers, Special Affects, Spanish Dogs, Mike Runnels, Secrets of Loveliness, 17 Pygmies, Real Wigs, Small Change and Screaming' Mee-Mees. First time on Homework for Speed Limit & the Rhythm Machines and a second Spanish Dogs track. 27 tracks.
Homework #102 (from the letters S, T & U: '77-86) More bent treasures and approximate pop classics from the Stroke Band, True Believers, Tiny Desk Unit, Student Teachers, Tommy Dog, Tom & Marty Band, Styrenes, Tidal Waves, Marc Thor, Two-by-Fours, SST, Teenage Boat People, Story of Failure, Tanks, Tenants, Underachievers, Telefones & Twinkeyz. 25 songs.
Homework #103 (from V-to-Z: '79-84). More unbelievably cool grooves from the usual assortment of the underrated, unhinged, undisciplined and unknown. Zoomers, X-X, Velvet Monkeys, Yo, Vores, Voodoo Idols, XXOO, Y Pants, Wild Stares, WKGB, V:-, Xmas Eve, Zoo Types and Blake Xolton 23 tunes. Includes a never-released Zoomers track from 1979. Buy'em now!

Teenline #101 (R & S powerpop & pop-rock: '76-86) Amazing pop. Featuring our title track, from the Shivvers, the Reruns' classic "Since You Gottta Cheat" AND a hot remastered track from their rare second 45, Screen Test (ex-Flashcubes), Sgt. Arms (Bill Lloyd), Real Kids, Rockers, Regular Guys, Riff Doctors, Sex Clark 5, Rattlecats, Responsible Teenagers, Service, Romantics, Saucers, Scott & Marc, Shoes and Radio Alarm Clocks. 26 tracks. (This is exactly the same CD as the last version of Teenline #1, so please do NOT buy it if you have a copy of #1 already!)
Teenline #102 (All-American powerpop & pop-rock, all from the letter "S": '79-85) The magnificent Speedies, Strand, Spongetones, Skunks, Sidewalks, Sighs, Secrets, Squares, Squirrels from Hell, Side Effex, and the Shy and new tracks from the Shambles, Smart Remarks and Shane Champagne. 23 songs.
Teenline #103 (all from the letter "T": '76-85) Tearaways, Tyrants, Toys, Trouble Boys, Tweeds, 2 Minutes 50, Tools, Tiny Voices, Taxi Boys, Third Floor Strangers, Justin Trouble, Trademarks, 20/20, Torpedos, Tuff Darts and Marc Thor. New material from the Transformers and the Trend [from Kennett, Mo]. 23 tracks. Get the new/old Teenlines at the store

Steve Treatment -25 "A"-Sides / Your Friends Are in the News double CD (Messthetics #202/203) "All my songs are 'A' sides." 140+ minutes of brilliant DIY'n'roll from 1977-1979 including all of Steve's singles, plus later highlights of his incredibly colorful career, including almost all of the songs that were headed for Steve's never-released LP. We couldn't afford the full-color 16-page booklet we were hoping to bring you, but it's all really handsome anyway. (We've also put a few choice color pix online in our S.T. gallery.) The bio, meanwhile, covers Steve's interactions with Marc Bolan, the Swell Maps, the Moors Murderers, Derek Jarman, and Paul McCartney's brother-in-law ...among others.

Chemicals Made From Dirt -Ike CD (Homework #203) Long Island's lords of artwave ranged from straight-ahead punkwave to loopy 50s- and 60s-popculture manifesti, but it's all genuinely unlike anyone else you've ever heard: 1978-1983. They called it "an avant absurd experiment...We liked the idea of breaking down meaning to the point of abstraction and then reinterpreting it based on personal associations and meaning rather than having any absolute meaning. Eventually we got stuck in our own muck, but of course we always were!" Tracks from their 45, one for the never-released Live From CBGB Vol. 2, and three studio sessions, all in glorious hi-fi...(And naturally, because it is on H2D, all 70+ minutes of it's loaded with first-rate hooks.)

The Keepers -In the Meantime CD (Teenline #206) Crystalline 60s-flavored powerpop and poprock from a band that in almost any other place at almost any other time should have been major popstars. They were pals (and a brother) of the Cavedogs from central Ohio who followed their mates to Boston at the height of the garage-rock scene. The 'Doggies made good, of course, but the Keepers' more intricate arrangements and even more hummable hooks went nowhere in Beantown. They recorded a 7-song EP and a radio show in Dayton, then two fabulous demos in Boston at the not-yet-legendary Fort Apache and an hour-long radio concert on the eve of their breakup. Here's 73 minutes of their best: We guarantee you'll love it.

Toxin III -Iraq. Iran. (Again.) CD (Hyped to Death Archives #202) Crowley, Louisiana 1979-1981. Punk bashing of the first order (and our all-time favorite punk logo: note that these guys hailed from several miles deeper into the woods than David Duke's old stomping-grounds, where taking such liberties with th'beloved stars-and-bars was not without its risks to life and limb...). "I Rock I Ran" remains an all-time classic, and remixed/remastered versions of Duke Is Dead/Poor Sid and others should be taking their places in the punk parthenon shortly. Here's all of the EP, a couple studio sessions and a live radio broadcast. Originally planned as a co--release with Rave-Up Records, who are temporarily even more backed up than we are... FYI, Toxin III is a strain of anthrax that was rumored to be in circulation during the Iran-Iraq war, then used against Saddam's own citizens ten years later...and then of course getting mailed around the U.S. by disgruntled domestic terrorists around the time that T3 leader Chris Cart and I started getting together on this project... Timely.

The Zoomers -Exist CD (Homework #204) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1979-1981. Stunning warped pop. Way too smart to be "outsider music," but probably too drug-addled to be anything else. Along with their phenomenally-rare 45 (which leads off Homework #103 [formerly #5]), the three of them made up a 12-song cassette as well called "Exist" Here's both (with lots more to come). This is how Zoomer's account begins: "The last thing I remember about The Zoomers was driving down the levee road on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, tripping my ass off on LSD in my Dad's Lincoln Continental drinking Papst Blue Ribbon beer by the 12 pack and throwing Zoomer 45s at whatever we could hit and that wasn't much, except for that rather large dog that later turned out to be a cow (it's amazing how much everything looks the same at 100 mph). But like my Mom always said it's the thought that counts, anyway at the end of a 3 day acid bender, thinking was the last thing on my mind."

Digital Dinosaurs -Extinction: 1979-82 CD (Messthetics #207) The 'Dinosaurs were leading figures in the cassette-swapping world of turn-of-the-decade D.I.Y. "Extinction" is selected by the band from most of their nine cassette releases, but they did 45 tracks and appeared on countless collections as well. Here's "Red Fire Engine" and several other utterly splendid/stellar DIY romps, but there's also a bunch of really pretty ballads, and a fair chunk of material where we find the 'Dinosaurs expertly and effortlessly channelling the spirit of the late, great Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band. Th'CD includes song-by-song commentary, photos and pix of their incredibly-handsome DIY cassettes... More color pix & cassettes & info here.

The Sidewalks -Rhythm Kids CD (Teenline #205) Milwaukee 1980-1982. The Sidewalks (famed for "(Keep your Hands off) Natalie" from Teenline #102/#2) complete studio sessions. They arrived on the scene a bit later than the Shivvers and Spooner and the RPMs (not to mention the Shoes) and as a result they had more than a little trouble getting into the few southern- and central Wisconsin clubs that still supported pop bands. But the lyrics are smart and the music is terrific straight-ahead garage-pop. Fifteen tracks from the single and three studio sessions: we hadta rescue and remix a fair amount of this from aging reels, but you'll dig the results... Also a "bonus" Sidewalks web-page with full lyrics, extra commentary and another photo or two...

The Regular Guys -Jayhawk Pop CD (Teenline #202) 1979-1982 poprock from Lawrence, Kansas. The 'Guys starred on Teenline #1 ["It's a Secret"/"Too Dumb"], so here's those and the rest of their terrific 1979 EP (Trouser Press picked it as their #9 record of 1980). Plus 12 never-released studio recordings and some hot live material from1979-1981. 27 tracks of twangy/jangly/rockin' total pop (and a token punksong from their days as the Victims!). (Liners here.)

Vast Majority -What Do you Want to Be CD (Hyped to Death Archive Series #201) Vast Majority were highly-politicized stalwarts of the Houston punkscene with emphasis on the "do it yourself" part. They and AK-47 played their first gigs on the same Yippies-sponsored bill (Really Red was there, too) in April '79. A couple months and some personnel-changes later they recorded their only record- a stunningly angry (and inept) punk manifesto called "I Wanna Be A Number." What Do You Want to Be? adds a fourth studio cut (previously on Sacred Cattle), a blazing live radio broadcast, and a high-energy assortment of live and rehearsal tapes. (The "Archive Series" bit, btw, means that some of the sound-quality is not exactly Live at Budokan). An essential document. (liners)

Still in-the-works:

Breck & Scott -Echoes in a Warehouse CD (Teenline #103). Original Orbits members Scott Krueger and the late Breck Burns' heartbreakingly pretty guitarpop sessions from after the Shivvers broke up.

Also online is Johan Kugelberg's Top 100 DIY singles of all time, from Ugly Things #19.

See our reviews page for more.