A classic from 1981 surrounded by several crucial bonus tracks from the same era. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear ..read more

No, it's not Chanukah or any other special occasion, so why am I featuring something by The Windbreakers?  Am just fulfilling request is all.  Plus, this is one of the only titles involving Tim Lee that hasn't seen a digital reissue.  Without the involvement of longtime (and recently deceased) partner Bobby Sutliff, A Different Sort is true to it's title in that it takes a different tack than the preceding Terminal (1985) and Run (1986) opting for a slightly subtler approach.  There's no shortage of crunchy guitars, albeit the going here isn't quite as angsty as ..read more

I marvel that there was a time when major labels would have the gumption (and purse) to simply take a chance and release something seemingly on a lark.  If not necessarily a full length album by some thoroughly unknown quantity, at least the occasional compilation featuring unproven artists of that ilk, including those doggedly left-of-center.  The ten-song various artists foray dubbed Downtown NYC, released with ostensibly little fanfare in 1988 was just such a record, and a strikingly eclectic platter at that.  Downtown NYC is not one of those legendary time capsules, like sa ..read more

Indie rock, 2002 style.  **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear ..read more

Not to be confused with the British Mission U.K. (in fact, this Maryland-based quartet may have been responsible for forcing them to graft "UK" to the end of their moniker) this crew ironically sported a vividly evident Anglophile stripe themselves.  Definitely not full-fledged goth in the classic sense, Mission still managed to water down the likes of Bauhaus, with a vocalist in tow (David Jon Cawkwell) whose pipes nonetheless suggested discernable shades of Peter Murphy.  The Last Detail is passable, even satisfying on "What Goes Around," and more so on the positively punky "Inter ..read more

Power pop-adjacent from 1991. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear ..read more

What better way to commemorate another Record Store Day in the books than with a visit to a preceding RSD release?  Perhaps the only reason I never got around to featuring Cleveland's long departed Human Switchboard was because their catalog more or less became available via the handy Who's Landing in My Hangar? Anthology collection in 2011. Oddly enough as seemingly thorough as that album (and it's attendant bonus downloads, if I recall) was that wouldn't be the final H/S reissue in the pipeline. Naturally, you took note of this records original 1977 copywrite date, and although this co ..read more

Chilled-out, smooth-as-glass pop from 2019. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear ..read more

I've had a full week to get my act together and rip some new (or more accurately, used) vinyl...but alas, I never got around to it.  Which is why I had to scrounge something up from my hard drive, specifically a fan-made compilation of b-sides and rarities from Tacoma WA's finest sons, Seaweed.  Over the course of five albums Adam Stauffer and Co. were an integral staple of my '90s soundtrack, bearing a distinctive roar that was never quite punk or grunge, but easily appealed to both sensibilities.  Adroit masters of the two minute form, they parlayed the buzz built-up on Sub P ..read more

From 2016. **Please do not reveal artist in comments!** Hear ..read more