UV Prom: Field of Vision 1-sided 12"

Sometimes it’s nice to just hear some good old-fashioned guitar-based post-punk. A record does not always need a lot of frills (or even a lot of originality) to be top-notch material. This record – the sole release by North Carolina band UV Prom (not to be confused with UV Pop!) is a perfect example of US post-punk done right. I’ve had this for at least 10 years or so and completely forgot about it until I found it stored away in my parents’ closet during a recent visit.

The band liberally grabs elements from UK luminaries like Echo and the Bunnymen, early Killing Joke, The Chameleons, add a bit of punk sensibilities (especially with the chanted "HEY"s in the first song - it almost reminds me of an oi band). They combine these elements on an excellent four-song one-sided 12”. The music is certainly familiar, and the band does not really take any chances or experiment too much – but in this case that works to the record’s advantage, as all four tracks flow together perfectly, and there is not a bad track among them.

It’s a shame the band never released anything else, as their imitation of their musical heroes is quite excellent. I believe this band has yet to be “discovered” by anyone, as copies still regularly float around online for pretty cheap.

UV Prom: Field of Vision 12”

1985, Centograph Records

A1 Mobile Home Murder

A2 Upper Room

A3 Funhouse

A4 Pink Cell

Get it here! - new CLEAN rip courtesy of Frankie Teardrop at Systems of Romance!

Factual: Psychotic Romance 12" & Your Way 7"

Here are two of the three releases from Factual. They were from the surprisingly fertile new wave/synthpop scene of
Nashville, TN - a scene that, in the early 80s, contained bands such as Calculated X, Dessau, and Warm Dark Pocket (whose EP, by coincidence, was just shared by Vanilla Face on his absolutely wonderful Crispy Nuggets blog!).
Factual released three records on their own Faction label before breaking up. After breaking up, synth player/vocalist Rob Earls formed the aforementioned Warm Dark Pocket. Faction were a great electropop band, with synths and drum machines galore, and vocals that were the perfect mix of melancholy and urgency. They knew how to play synths AND write great songs. This band definitely deserves more recognition - download these and see why. Both of these records were released on transluscent colored vinyl (the 7" was red, the 12" was blue), which is kinda cool for record snobs. Faction's last records was a 12" called For the Song, which also had a remix of Psychotic Romance. I've never heard either song - if anyone has this to share, I would love to hear it!

Factual: Your Way 7"
1982, Faction Records
A1 Your Way
B1 Think To The Beat


Physchotic Romance 12"
1983, Faction Records
A1 Psychotic Romance
B1 Institutions
B2 Wire And Chrome
B3 Standing Alone

Download both records here!

The Popular Sex: Powers of Suggestion LP

Here is yet another unknown US synth LP from a mysterious Atlanta-based duo called The Popular Sex. All the songs were conceived between 1976 and 1981, mainly in Eastern Europe. Each track includes the year and the city or country of conception on the back cover. The LP starts out with songs from 1977-1979 that focus on simple drum machine beats and synths, with some great electropop songs like Power of Suggestion and some minimal synth gems such as You Want Happy and When We Were Lovers. Side two takes things a bit differently, with female vocals and more driving and full-sounding songs, from the electrifying electropop of Mad Heat to the synthpop Blondie knockoff of My Heart Beats Empty. There are a couple duds here and there, but for the most part this is a great, if eclectic, synthpop album. It even comes with a large foldout lyric poster with a early computer generated psychedelic art! It doesn't necessarily fit the music (neither does the album cover, I suppose), but that adds to the charm. A google search turns up several copies of this one for sale - it may not be hard to find (yet), but perhaps that's just because nobody has heard it yet? Check it out, there's bound to be a song or two that you like!


The Popular Sex: Powers of Suggestion LP
1984, Wild Carbon Software
Tracks (with year and place of conception)
A1 Powers of Suggestion (Ural'sk, 1977)
A2 Muscle of Steel (Krakow, 1977)
A3 You Want Happy (Bucharest, 1979)
A4 My Life Is Good Again (Ibaden, 1979)
A5 When We Were Lovers (Sarajevo 1978)
B1 Mad Heat (Dresden, 1980)
B2 My Heart Beats Empty (Prague, 1979)
B3 No Idea (Istanbul, 1976)
B4 Expedite (Sofia, 1979)
B5 This May Save Your Life (Moscow, 1981)


Click here to download this record!

Lung Overcoat: Climbing the Hill EP, 7", and more!

Lung overcoat is a band that will be forever linked to another similar band in my mind, Necropolis of Love. I found each band's 12" EP (Climbing the Hill from Lung Overcoat, provided here, and "The Hope" EP from Necropolis of Love, which can be found on this great post-punk blog here.) on the same day over a decade ago. Both bands were from the USA in the early to mid 80s, with a decidedly UK post punk/goth sound.
I found the two records about 12 years ago, back before music blogs were even a glimmer in the Internet's eye, and the both were extremely mysterious. There was no info on either band on the net back in those days, and I had to fill in the blanks myself. Did they release anything else? Did they go on to form other bands? Did anyone else in the entire world know of their existences? (answers: yes, no, and yes, although at the time it felt like I had discovered a band that was all my own).
Lung Overcoat now has a myspace page, but they are still criminally underrated. This is the kind of unknown band that post punk fans long to discover. While you may not feel that this band is your own hidden secret the way I did so many years ago, you can surely appreciate the great dark post punk sounds herein. I've included the band's entire output - a 7", a 12" EP, a song from the first "Doctor Death" compilation on C'est la Mort Records, and even a demo song. Enjoy...

Internal Silence 7", 1983, Scolex Records

A		Internal Silence
B		Past Lives

Climbing the Hill EP, 1986, Scolex Records

A1		Sickroom
A2		Voice In The Box
B1		Life In Holes
B2		When Dreams Drag On

Download everything here!