New Order “Brotherhood” 1986. Factory Records/Qwest Records promo copy. New Order’s fourth LP released almost exactly 40 years ago. Synth-forward post-punk, the album went to #9 on the official UK album chart (#1 on the indie chart) and to #117 in the US. New Order released just one single from the record, “Bizarre Love Triangle” – it hit #4 on the US Dance/Disco charts and #5 in Australia; it only went to #56 in the UK.  A new mix of “Bizarre Love Triangle was included on the 1994  The Best of New Order and that went to #98 on the US Hot 100. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the song was ranked #204 on its “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list, considered by many as an example of a synthpop masterpiece. While “Bizarre Love Triangle” was the only official single from Brotherhood, the single “State of the Nation” (US Dance chart #4, UK #30) was included on the CD release as a bonus track; it is not on the vinyl release. A 2024 extra super-duper re-release (has all the tracks plus a ton more) also has the single-only/Pretty in Pink soundtrack “Shellshock” (released in early ’87). Besides “Bizarre Love Triangle,” which is excellent, my top picks include most of Side B (the synthpop side): “All Day Long” and “Angel Dust” transports me square to the dance floor in an alternative club in the late 80’s. Side 1 is great, too, though slightly less techno/pop: “Paradise” and “Weirdo” are definitely danceable but both feel more angular and experimental. The bass on “Broken Promise” is amazing – another great dance track. 

The Ghost Wolves “In Ya Neck!” 2011. Pau Wau Records, mini-album on white vinyl. The Texas two-piece’s first release. Bluesy with more than a touch of punk and rockabilly attitude (their Bandcamp bio describes them as “The Cramps from the crypt met up with the Ramones and take all the cocaine Hasil Adkins left on the floor).” It’s been 10 years since we’ve The Ghost Wolves perform (and they’ve been busy: farming, having a couple of kids, running an animal rescue plus continuing to make records and play shows) but I remember them being a wild ride. For whatever reason I either didn’t take photos of that show up at Mile of Music or accidentally deleted them off my phone. Bummer. Anyway, this 6 song mini-album (not an EP and I don’t know what the difference is) is a great example, in bite-size, of their hard driving blues style. My top tracks are the rocker “Broke Joke,” the stripped down, buzzy lo-fi banger “Big Star” and the country-blues dancing encouraged “Snake and the Jake Shake.”

Monkey Bar “Monkey Bar” 1990/2021. Rockhaus records, limited release of 200. Today, September 7th, is our friend, Monkey Bar’s bassist and former Rockhaus Guitars owner Greg Kurczewski’s 65th birthday (second from left on the LP’s cover). He’s back in Milwaukee from Washington DC (where’s lived for over 20 years at this point) this weekend and we got dinner Friday night and plan to head out to his family’s lake house this afternoon for the Labor Day holiday (photo is of Joe, Greg and me at Vanguard on Friday). The band was an alternative rock grungey garagey lofi band out of Milwaukee active from 1988-1993 with Greg on bass, Steve Wahlen (who was in a a zillion Milwaukee bands including Einstein’s Riceboys in the early 80’s, Figgy Figgy and Cherry Cake, both in the mid-to-late 80’s, and then too many more to list 80’s through the 2000’s) on vocals; Rusty Olson (Rockhaus owner after Greg moved, in Couch Flambeau, F/I and others) on drums; Tim Taylor (Buck Byron & The Little Seizures, Ghostly Trio) on guitar, and Bobby Friedman (owner of Sound Sound Studios) on keys and sax.

Monkey Bar’s first album was recorded in 1990 at Grunert Sound (from what Greg tells us this was Chris Grunert’s basement) onto a 4-track cassette in 1990 but wasn’t released until 30+ years later. They released just one more record, in 1997 (That’s It which is likely an after-the-fact comp however Couch Flambeau’s Jay Tiller is credited with drums on a couple of the tracks that appear on both the S/T and That’s It so not entirely sure of the timeline of multiple recording sessions). Some of the tracks that appear on both include “Kill Chevy,” the bluesy “Going Blind,” Existence” the hard jangle-rocker “Sick on the Porch” and a couple of others. (Sadly “Die Kreuzen” isn’t on Monkey Bar so I’m not sure if it’s a salutatory ode or a snide slap.) My top track is the slowish grungy ass-shaking rocker “I’ll Be There.” “Math Song” is fun, too, with an excellent bass groove. Some tracks are a bit hard to listen to like “Love Hate and Pain” which is really strained – think a tinny version of a painful grunge ballad. Same with “Petrol” which has the bones of an anthemic rocker (great beat, solid bass-line, respectable guitar solo) but falls short because of the tortured vocals. As Greg wrote in the note he attached to the album when he sent it a couple years ago “The vocals are cringe worthy at times, but here you go!”