Mo-Dettes - Dark Park Creeping 7'' (1980)

I remember hearing this for the first time on the Richard Skinner radio show, sitting with my ear pressed against my hissing transistor radio; I instantly fell in love with it. I thought white mice was a good 7'', but, to me, this is the Mo-Dettes crowning glory. I still can't work out why they weren't huge. How can the Belle Stars still, today, be a name that people of a certain age know, yet the same people answer "who" when you mention the Mo-Dettes.

I owned all the Mo-Dettes releases and remember standing outside volume records having a conversation with a mate about how good they were and another lad saying, but they're a Mod band. Mod/Punk/New Wave...who cares to me they were just a great band and I was in love with their music and their singer Ramona Carlier.

Enjoy.

Music

Bloody Mannequin Orchestra - Roadmap to Relolution (1984)

BMO came onto my radar via a compilation tape I copied from a mate, tbh, as often happened in those days when discovering certain hardcore bands, I had no idea what to make of them. At first I was perplexed at the chaotic noise, it seemed to have no melody or real structure, but after a few listens it clicked. When I got the chance to own this I snapped the sellers hand off. If you've not heard these before then prepare yourself as they are as about as far from an instant hit as it's possible to get....BUT they have a saxophone player and that's worth 90 points in my book.

They sprung into life in 1982 and over the coming months replaced a few people until getting a stable lineup. Names you might know from the band were Sharon Cheslow (guitar) who'd previously been in Chalk Circle, Colin Sears (drums) and Roger Marbury (bass). Sears and Marbury both later formed Dag Nasty with Brian Baker & Shawn Brown. Colin Sears was also in Alloy and the early incarnation of Fugazi. The band were completed by Alex Mahoney  (vocals) and Charles Bennington (Saxophone).

BMO sound nothing like any of those bands, so enjoy or hate whichever it is you feel after getting it. I would strongly advise that you don't give it one listen as it takes a few to sink in. I still love this record.

Music

Don't let the bastards grind you down!

Fortified with some nice comments and supportive mails I'm going to plod on and see what occurs.

Another one bites the dust

Mediafire have locked my account after receiving two violations. Both the violations refer to TINY bands that most people on the planet won't have heard about and who sold so few records it's unreal.

When these small bands are released it's in a "limited" run of 1000, so the other 2-3k people in the world who might like the music don't get to hear it. One of the violations I received was for a band who are NOT in print...so what's the point of reporting me? Either make the music available or fuck off.

Both the infringements raised against me came from "Contact Email: herve.lemaire@leakid.com " so feel free to tell this guy he's a cock. 

I started this blog coz I'd been online since '96 and had still not seen a few gems appear and wanted to help people become aware of those bands. However, having said that, since I started I've always struggled with the moral issue of posting music. The artists who produced this music are the ones who put in the work and are the talented ones, so naturally they deserve to earn money of the back of their hard work. I genuinely tried to avoid posting things that were still in print by searching a few places before pressing the post button. I can't lie and pretend that I didn't knowingly post some that I knew were available, but I either tried to post a taster or just wanted people to get to know the band as they were still too obscure.

I don't like sites that post new music and still spend alot of money buying music; around £1000.00 last year. To post new music, to me, is like killing the golden goose; you're helping to kill the thing you supposedly love. If artists can't make money to live then why bother, they may as well go get a "real" job like the rest of us. I know this to be true as a couple of bands I featured have been in contact and told me that's why they stopped. Real talent destined to tread the same 9-5 path as most of us.

I still struggle with the moral aspect of music blogs, but can't help feeling the music industry is missing out. All we have now is an industry obsessed with boy/girl bands who dominate the charts; or stupid fucking rap music - the worst genre ever, oh, and least talented. The labels don't invest anymore, they just want instant results and instant returns. Then when the artist no longer brings in the cash they're disposed of. Exposure to punk, metal, rock bands is so hard to get and I'm not talking about utter pop shite like 30 seconds to mars, I mean real music. I'm not a 12-20 year old so I'm not going to like the throw away music that's fed on Sky TV, so for people like me blogs offer a way to keep up-to-date with obscure music that isn't on Tv or in the few mags that cater for adults.

So where do I go from here?

To be honest I think, sadly, 13th floor is dead. I really cba to find somewhere else to post the old links and mediafire was so user friendly.

A huge thanks to all the people who sent mails of support, you really made me feel like I was doing something worth while. Also a HUGE thanks to all the artists who contacted me, allowed me to continue posting, give me extra info on the band, but most importantly for creating the music in the first place. All the bands I've featured have become the road map of my life. I play their music and I'm instantly transported back in time and place; that's priceless.

cya

Neil

P.S. Buy music and support the bands.