Above Ground - Pool Red Green Confuser. (Aus., Chapter). Above Ground Pool are a "supergroup" comprised of people from bands no-one has ever heard of, like the Solids, Fong, Clag and Sleepy Township. They describe their music as "drony, askew pop" and who are we to argue with them? They are the Bacharach-inclined outlet for Julian Williams, who is better known for his 90-minute improvised free noise freakouts, and this means Red Green Confuser is a very strange and compelling record. £2.75.

Autobody - 7-inch. (US, Old Gold). Lovely bit of tape collage murk, with enough warble, wacky sounds and quirky guitar lines to pull it out of the dark, ambient side of things. Think Goosewind or the Negative Kite playing Syd's Pink Floyd, that Bike ending for starters. Thses five tracks sound great at any speed. £1.00.

The Blue Minkies - You Make Me Blush. (??, No Concessions Records). Excellent 6 track EP from this bunch of boys n girls. I've lost track of the spin off genres and latest pigeon holes since the days of Riot Grrrl, this record sits comfortably along side my the likes of Skinned Teen, DQE, Growing Up Skipper, etc. £1.00

Bonecure - Braising the Brains/Did you Bring the Worms?. (USA, Union Pole). Free form skronk for guitar, drums and sax. Plus extra intensity from cornet, piano strings, slide whistle and chimes.Sounds fantastic at high volume. £1.00.

Cacophony '3 3' - Kangorama. (UK, Outsider). Post-industrial, techno, ambient, D&B. Couldn't slot this into any useful hole so I thought I'd use the lot. 2 very nice instrumental pieces of electronica, slightly soundtrack orientated. Hand sprayed sleeve. £1.75.

Can Can Heads - Cricket Okasado. (Finland, Verdura). First time I heard this bunch was on a cassette via Chocolate Monk or one of their many contemporary cassette labels that were knocking about sometime back. If you subscribe to the Ron Johnson, Minutemen, Stretch heads, Nomeansno, Gruff Wit/Dawson, Deep Turtle, Ex, Victims Family, Gag, I could go on school of rock 'n' pop you'll love this selection of 10 blasts of Beefheart inspired metal, pop and noise. Pressed on heavy white vinyl.£1.75.

Chucklehead - Mussels/Pour Yourself a Dream. (USA, Imp). "The Soul of jazz is alive" reads Imp's promotional literature and I'm not one to question that. "Mussels" softly glides through jazz/rock territory with Patti Smith vocals. Where as "Pour" starts with big pounding drums and slowly builds until you are bought to your knees by feeding back guitars. Mentioning that they're ex members of Vomit Launch may just sell this to you. £1.00.

Coping Saw - Gettin' Nice With. (UK, Hedonist Productions). A Leeds who's who with Ms Ablaze! and messers Trout and Lazor Boy among the cast. Not a bad pop record either. Full of ideas and good noises. £1.00.

Dragking - Miscegenation. (USA, My Pal God). My introduction to Dragking came via the just out 'Kill Yr Boss' CD. A marathon step through sludge rock, jazz, dub and hardcore. Miscegenation came a whole three years before and differs in no way to the CD's plethora of musical styles. Miscegenation could easily slip into the Melvins playing Nation of Ulysses or Killdozer playing Coltraine. £2.75.

Drid - Paid in cunt.  (Norway, Bon Pour La Danse). Norwegian Punk/Hardcore band that features Kjetil D Brandsdal.  Nine tracks, on lemon curd vinyl, that stick to the no bullshit, live recording process hung onto by bands of this ilk.  Contains a few rough numbers and a couple of real barn stormers.  But with number of tracks found here that’s just value for money. £2.95.

Edith Presler - 7". (USA, Little Mafia/Cactus Gum). Commendable 7" from these Swarthmore lo-fi champions. Some suitably fucked up misery, ala Simon Joyner, Paste and John Davis mixed with some Refrigerator type beats, with less angular guitar. £2.00.

Echo Troopers - They Said I Shouldn’t Care, but I Did. (Norway, Smalltown Supersound). For fans of solo Euro bedroom recordings, ala Plover, Dodes Ka Den, etc. Seven tracks of personal lyrics, lonesome guitar and distorted vocals. Wrapped in spiral bound booklet. Edition of 300. £2.25.

First Things First - Second to None. (Germany, Pit's Bull). A well seasoned act from Germany with a couple of LPs under their belts on Glitterhouse. This is their first release since some of the band left to form Schwermut Forest. The title track's an upbeat number, where as the two on the flip are a little more acoustic and experimental in their approach. With backwards guitars, fx-ed vocals and washy keyboards. £1.00.

Flemgods - Bisoncarcassearstrike. (UK, Planet). Bunch of Welsh, tj's types. Mixing up the Scottish and Japanese stop, start and scream techniques of the Stretchheads, Melt Banana and Boredoms with some more derivative British punk and thrash. Which works pretty well for three of the four tracks, which can't be bad. £1.00.

Frances Gumm - 4 track ep. (USA, Sweet Portable You). A three piece blending Pavement's more stable moments with early Mission of Burma. Lowly mixed vocals struggling through wiry guitar. £1.50.

Fruitcake - Anna Marina/Moanin' The Blues. (USA, Pit's Bull). The second 7" from Mike DeLeon's (Drunks With Guns/Strangulated Beatoffs) last project. A low-down, grungy bad trip to the garage with a vocal track so screwed you'll think it's Royal Trux's Twin Infinitives. 'Moanin' is a slow, plodding, blues trip spiced with bad piano and sloppy guitar. Just a few left. £1.50.

Gary & the Cro-magons - Under Tuteladge of Roald Amundsen. (UK, Records Records). Sort of dumb ass kids fucking around with free form rock and a four track. Pretty good I guess but I've heard much better things confined to tape. If you've got money to blow I can point you in the right direction Mr Records Records. £1.00.

Gila Monster - Schottishe Grammophon. (UK, Trade Mark Grammophon). Four brand new songs from the Scots that wooed you with that 165Hz 10" a year or so ago. Big indie guitar sounds with chirpy, pop stylings. Comes with extra art inserts by Marion Coutts (Dog Faced Hermans), Erica Smith (Girl Frenzy) and Fiona Smyth (Nocturnal Emissions) you can change the cover after every play. £1.00.

Helgoland - Dust 7" (Germany, A La Coqúe). Cut and Paste mayhem from Germany. I'm not too clear as to whether these are their own works or the results of pillaging a huge archive of television soundtracks. They sound like early Tea Culture to me. Whizzing from grind-hop to hammond-organ-beatbox jazz or just their own niche, surprise-core. The last track Rabbit brand throbs with tribal rhythm and bleeps with dancing synth melodies as if the cavemen had invented Nintendo. £2.75.

Hello Goodbye - African Nights/Pussy Cat. (Sweden, Smalltown Supersound). Lovely slice of slacker pop comes somewhere close to Bis, B52s and the Sugarcubes with the simple guitars of The Yips. You deserve this. £2.50.

Hinageshi Bondadage - Diesel Fruit My Darling. (Finland, Verdura). £2.75.
Hinageshi Bondadage - Tirez Sur Le Musicien. (Finland, Verdura). £2.75.
Dark, uncompromising soundscapes. The first 7" Diesel Fruit My Darling contains five tracks of nightmarish audio adventure created with out-of-tune guitars, heavily manipulated human voice, metals and cracked electronics. By the time HB recorded their second 7" Tirez sur le musicien the sound has matured into two long hypnotic soundscapes. That have a heavier emphasis on atmosphere than noise. Both 7"s come in full colour hard card sleeves.

Jasmine Love Bomb - An Announcement. (USA, Behemoth). Bevis meets Sebadoh underwater! Lovely purple and gold embossed sleeve too. And a really nice price! £1.50.

Lonely - My World & Welcome to it. (UK, Garden of Delights). Slow, hazy organ or autoharp strummed across by acoustic guitars (reminds me of some stuff on Plankton too). The vocals float between the worlds of Azalia Snail, Barbara Manning or in the case of the one male throated song on here Ian Masters (Pale saints). £1.00.

The Low/Her Number Thirteen - Split 7". (USA, Red Rover). The Low remind me of Summum Bonum when they, er, rock. Also something a little like Spavid. Her Number Thirteen are slower, slightly Slinty but probably have more in common with Rodan as they are prone to sudden bursts of highly energetic guitar action. £2.00.

New Bad Things - Mabel. (USA, 555 Recordings). Four newies from Portland’s top pop ‘n’ dance band. £2.00.

Mike Nichols and His Excellency - Hitch a Wagon. (Aus, 555 recordings). Poor Mike (from Crabstick and Blairmailer ) comes all the way to the UK from Australia for a well deserved break. Only to be dragged into recording this five (?) track EP with members of Hood and (ex)Boyracer. This sounds just as good as any record worthy of the Crabstick/Blairmailer, let alone Hood and Boyracer, name. Song titles include "Livin' Like a Donkey" and "Don't Relive Your Asthma!" Pity I missed the handful of live shows they did. £2.75.

Nod - I'm Around. (USA, Baby Music). From Rochester, NY. Lackadaisical guitar rock/pop in a Lux. Bags/Crystalized Movements/The Puddle meets Television style, there's some great Verlaine vocal stylings on here. £1.50.

Noggin - No Mans Land In the War Against Entropy. (USA, Ignivoumous). Two side long pieces from this noisy violin and guitar duo. Dense, minimal, guitar booming and scraping violin on one side while the other plays around with some warped sounds before diving into the familiar guitar/violin battle. Quite a mellow record for Noggin, a good place to start for those still on unknown ground. £1.50.

Oswald Five-O - A Love Supreme/Crushproof. (USA, Imp). £1.75.
Oswald Five-O - Eraser/Felony Flats. (USA, Imp). £1.75.
Three chord wonder pop from Eugene, Oregon. "Eraser" reminds me of The Photos (does anyone else remember them?) but with extra gravely female vocals. "Felony Flats" could possibly pass for Taaang period Lemonheads. You know, when they were a punk band! I think 'A Love Supreme' came before "Eraser", Imp has this policy of not assigning anything a catalogue number. This really has very little in common with the sound of "Eraser". I hear hints of early REM (Radio Free Europe) and Guadalcanal Diary hidden deep within that jagged guitar sound, especially on "Crushproof".

Panel of Judges. (Aus., Chapter). Melbourne four-piece featuring members of Crabstick, the Golden Lifestyle Band, Sleepy Township and Molasses. An amazing combination of influences as diverse as Pere Ubu, the Kinks, Lee Hazlewood and the Beach Boys. The catchiest drone-rock songs you’re ever likely to hear. £2.75.

Peloueyre - Titanic. (France, Ubik). I'm assuming these are from France given that the chosen language to sing in is French. Light, summery acoustics like a continental Belle and Sebastien or Dominic Waxing Lyrical. Very nice. Hand screened sleeve. £1.75.

The Philistines Jr - the sci-fi song. (USA, Lissy's). Fine US guitar pop. These boys just know how to find a tune. Sort of nestles in with your Pavement come Sebadoh and maybe more of Scotland's Spare Snare. Some good little snippets are buried in the background too. B-side's a cover of 'Moon River' done like Chris Knox meets the Everly Brothers. £1.75.

Plover - 4 track recordings. (Netherlands, Rotten Windmill). Singer and song writer of Dutch band Birdskin, who probably appeared for the first time solo on the first Fast Forward Festival CD. Here's four tracks that serve as a good taster for the current LP on RW. Bare guitar and sliding backing tracks fits in with fellow solo Europeans Joost Visser and Dode's KaDen. That's from somewhere near the Barlow/Partridge school of song and harmony for you who weren't paying attention. £2.00.

Pork Queen - Sunspot Gila. (Canada, Giardia). Pork Queen's debut LP 'Torso', released in 1992, was met with an enthusiastic response by the underground media. Live they manipulate tapes, turntables, guitars, toys or play violins, ukulele, drums, piano, horns, whistles, etc. Obviously you can see what makes them so appealing? This sounds like some one's been experimenting with their record player. With some way out warped scratching plus some plonking guitar. '13 ways to prevent hijack' on the flip plays at 45 but sounds just as good at 33 and throbs like alien transmissions from the bottom of the sea, with occasional jazz/blues guitar. £1.00.

Prisonshake/Figgs plus Neck Punch (US, Flipped Out Records/Philthy Rex). St. Louis vs. Saratoga Springs. Prisonshake throw down a melange of a side complete with rocked wailing, acoustic revisits, phone blurbs, locked groove madness and even a chuck berry cover. The Figgs kick back with a 4 track attack highlighting each member and yes, even a chuck berry cover. While Neck Punch’s singlecontribution is again, you’ve guessed it a Chuck Berry Cover. £2.75.

Radio City - North Sea/Bent. (UK, VHF). Dense layers of overdriven guitar, indie guitar rock, like Dinosaur Jnr circa "Bug" but without the drip singing. Yeah lots of low in the mix vocals. "North Sea" is as tight as a gnats ass and twice as catchy. There's some enticing freakouts, during "Bent", which is held together with some solid drumming. Nice clear sea green vinyl too. £1.50.

Rake - The Art Ensemble of Rake/Tell Tale Moog. (USA, VHF). Each disk from the double CD set of the same name has been remixed and compressed onto one side of this 7" just in case your in a hurry or can't cope with the full length. Hand sprayed and painted sleeves. £2.00.

Refrigerator - Suck and Run. (USA, Paperplane). Another four tracks from the 'frige that still leave me lost for words. One straight distorted guitar stomp 'The Rain On Our Street Tonight', with Allen almost mumbling over the top. 'Seventeen' returns to the blurred guitar angles of the 'How You Continue Dreaming' LP. While the final side slows right down for 'Suck and Run' before those guitars kick in on the maudlin 'A Rain too Strong to Fall' and Allen's voice gets to that lump in the back of your throat. You need it? Of course you do. £1.50.

Robotnics Crossing - Trigger Happy E.P. (Germany, BWCD). Tape cuts, electronica and a locked groove from one of Digital Hardcore’s lesser known and maybe mellower, names, they’ve appeared on one or two compilations I understand. In retro-punk poster sleeve and on great black and white marbled vinyl. £2.50.

Rinpingo Beesto - Speed of Sound. (USA, Union Pole). Not quite Olympia's rising challenge to the likes of Thela and Pelt. But a healthy start, delayed and effect layden guitar being hit with objects no doubt. Somewhere between Coits, Children at Play and the aforementioned. £2.00.

Sally Skull - Fractious. (UK, Slampt). Their debut 7" on Vesuvoius was one of my favourite bedroom punk/pop 7"s for some time. Here they return with that Girls at Our Best play Cow Punk twang. Four more songs. £1.50.

The Screaming Mee Mees - Answer Me!. (USA, Brinkman). Vegas crooner Bruce Cole, self confessed nutter and master of ceremonies on many a Siltbreeze tour releases his first 7" in years, I think. Basement guitar and drums with absurd vocals. Makes that first Damned 7" sound professional, if you think this is crazy I've sat through a whole tape of this guy locked in his basement. £2.25.

The Shaven - Upsetting Mine. (USA, Imp/Rainforest). A Three song package from a remarkable Portland three piece. The extraordinary harmonica playing on "Upsetting Mine" gives this a 60's garage feel. But there's also something in the background that reminds me of the Weddos around the time of "George Best", although I'm not sure what, perhaps it's the chords they use. Gravely vocals and a big beat make this a winner. £1.00.

Shoeface - Long Time For You/Faraway Place. (USA, Road Cone/Fartblossom). A double A-sided split single from these punksters who occasionally turn up on Shrimper. Good chunky riffs with nice gravely vocals on 'Long Time...', sort of lo-fi Discord? 'Faraway Place' is a winding, 6:40 minute, irrepressible epic. £1.00.

Sick Ducks - Bold'Or E. (France, Ubik). Maybe I can get away with calling these a French Slampt band. Packing eight tracks of energy, enthusiasm and damn fine music into 7" of hard white plastic. Up beat, dirty, surfing instrumentals hit hard, like Deluxx, while the more delicate songs resemble Daniel Johnson a little. My favourite track '3-4' is Prick Decay playing Royal Trux (Twin Infinitives), the Boredoms in your kitchen. £1.75.

Starstruck - Fondled Orange. (UK, Bosque). Three and a half tracks from the band that Everret True recently likened to the Folk Implosion. I'm not too sure what mind altering drugs Mr True takes these days but he couldn't be further from the truth. I've always felt that Starstruck would be at home on Shimmy Disc and if you've heard their 'It's fun ..' cassette you'd know exactly what I mean. Although here they've ventured into some 70's guitar action clinging dearly to those psychedelic and lo-fi roots. Actually 'Fondled Orange' sounds like Sebadoh meets the Glitter Band, okay. Orange coloured vinyl naturally. £1.75.

Strontium Dog/Noose - Strawberry Rice Cake Man/Down. (Aus, Malignant). A split single all the way from Brisbane, Australia. Strontium Dog's "Strawberry Rice Cake Man", has an early Mary Chain tempo. Strained, echoed vocals over a steady bass, Dead C. guitar, weird tapes and samples. Noose go for something that grows from a mellow droning chant, peaking with guitars sawing through your brain and returning once again to the mellow ebb. Slightly reminiscent of Bauhaus, but maybe with the guitar droning effect of someone more akin to Skullflower, Splintered or Ramleh. £1.50.

Stuntbike - Sometimes. (Norway, Smalltown Supersound). Top pop sounds from Norway's growing DIY scene. 'Sometimes' is lifted from the bands excellent debut CD, 'gone' while the remaining two tracks are exclusive to this release. If you like melancholic, laid-back, minimal, melodic guitar, running along the lines of Seam, Codeine, Sebadoh, Eric's Trip, Sonic Youth, Pavement and Spare Snare. You will love this, edition of 200. £2.25.

Summum Bonum - Song For Gary. (UK, Freek). There was so much potential with this now defunct band. That only managed to leave two tiny stains on Pop music's illustrious duvet. Absolute pure pop genius, with routes firmly in the Flying Nun camp, although at the time the band had never heard of New Zealand. File close to The Chills and The Clean. £1.00.

Tanaka Nixon Meeting. (NZ, Giardia). The first piece of real vinyl from Messrs Morley and Butt's free noise ensemble. I think this still revolves around Danny's cello and what ever else just happens to be lying around. One side has squeaky strings and rumbling noises at 45, and sounds like AMM underwater at 33. Whatever you prefer. While the flip takes on more of the squeaking with a slowly plucked guitar. £2.75.

Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments - are on The Negative Guest List. (USA, Siltbreeze). Four tracks of a snarlly-fi punk, pop type thing. Some very great riffs, especially on that opening track. Kind of an aggressive Wingtip Sloat in a slack, lethargic mood. If you know what I mean. £2.00.

Tranquil/Wrong - Split 7" Record of Modern Rock and Jazz Music. (USA, DAM/SunShip). Tranquil, on vinyl, have never really hit the same spot as their debut 'Focus of Destruction' cassette. Here they kludge around with some sort of late 80's Skullflower/Splintered riffage and a vocalist who quite frankly should've stayed at home. These guys can do so much better. But the real stars here are Wrong. With their Beefheart/surf tribute "Achy Break Beefheart" sounding like I imagine Zoot Horn Rollo or Antennae Jimmy Semens would if they'd discovered the distortion pedal's nicer side. A second piece, "Wild Up" certainly lives up to it's name and comes from the Hooker/Ware school of free music. £2.75.

Uncle Wiggly - Make You Crawl. (USA, Dark Beloved Cloud). A name you should all be familiar with by now. Strong strumming pop music with good solid drumming and irresistible charm. Very, very sing along, dead catchy and all that. £1.50.

Vertebrae - My New Home. (USA, Erl). More of this so called NYC scum rock. A couple of grungy numbers that bring back memories of early Coffin Break minus the absurd HM screaming. On piss coloured vinyl. £1.25.

The Vice Barons - 'Play!'. (Germany, Demolition Derby). Apparently Europe's hottest surf band. Labels have been queuing up to sign them. Four marvellous instrumentals with some lovely cheesy organ. Their new split 7" with Canada's Huevos Rancheros has been getting some serious airing on Peel recently. £1.50.

Warm Wires - Women are Better Than Men. (USA, Brinkman). Latest addition to the geek rock arena. These two samples of excellent pop music are a fine introduction to their long player, which is now in stock. £1.50.

White - This is a Black-Owned Business This is a Black-Own. (USA, Behemoth). Alleged commentary on the interrelationships between miscommunication, xenophobia and violence. Disembowelled guitar screech and gruff 'vocals' over a solid back beat of drums. Part of the on going Behemoth noise series of 7"s. One sided 7", packed in a box with a number of cards. £2.75.

Wilfred - Laperspective Commeforme Symbolique. (France, Ubik). Mainly solo acoustic recordings, sung in French, by Wilfred. Occasionally joined by friends that supply extra instrumentation or beats. There's also a couple of tracks on the second 7" that have a programmed or electronic backing. Overall very summery, wish I knew what he was singing about though. Another elegantly packaged record from Ubik, this time four panels of three colour hand screened prints. 2 x 7" £3.00. (P&P=2x7").

Wingtip Sloat/Mote - Split 7". (USA/Belgium, Toothpick). Debut vinyl release from this promising Belgium label. Two new ones from the faultless Sloat. Off beat pop they way you like it. Mote may not speak perfect English but crash into that laid back, big in guitars, little in tempo art rock party. Think Codeine with your wrists in tact, The Low, Movietone and whatever others. £2.00.

The Yips - 1000% Fox. (USA, Siltbreeze). Guitar, voice and drums in that Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments guitar scrawling style. Half Japanese with a bucket load of distorted guitar. Another release in Siltbreeze's you ain't too old if you ain't too ashamed series from Ohio. £2.00.

Cyanide Guilt Trip. (Int., Cactus Gum). Another label makes it's vinyl debut. Tracks from The Mountain Goats, Edith Presler, Milky Wimpshake, Little Jupiter and the mighty Irving Klaw Trio. Excellent cover art. £3.75.

Evading the Devils Darts. (Int., Catsup Plate). Great compilation from this exciting young label. With Will Simmons, Charlie McAlister, Mean Spirit'd Robots, Yak Brigade, Mark (Good Horsey), Edith Presler and Doormouse. Hand constructed sleeve. £3.75.

Fuck That Weak Shit Vol 1. (Int., Pit's Bull). Pit's Bull's international compilation series starts with this four track ep. With one a piece from Fruitcake, NTC, Birdskin (a hi-breed of Husker Du, Mission of Burma and some Flying Nun acts) and Schwermut Forest (a blend of The Ex, DFH and Bastro). £1.25.

Fuck That Weak Shit Vol 2. (Int., Pit's Bull). A very mixed bag of noises here with Clawhammer and Stokasstikats (ex Bastro) from the US, Faroutski and Neuthrone from Belgium, the UK's Splintered, Mercury 4º F from Switzerland, Hems from France and Holland's Captain Nemo. Anything from Surf to Melvin-esque sludge rock spread over four sides, fooking enjoyable! 2 x 7" £2.00. (P & P = 2 x 7").

Now Put On Your Face and Join The Race. (Int., Demolition Derby). Some rather fine Garage from Europe that should appeal to Mummies and Headcoats fans. On the four tracks there's the Squares from France, Perverts from Holland, Percolators from Germany and Belgium's very own Sin Alley. £1.00.