{"title":"Scat Records","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"peace-love-and-murder","title":"Peace, Love and Murder","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeace, Love and Murder\u003c\/i\u003e was the second album by Cleveland’s My Dad Is Dead, originally released in 1987 by Boston’s Birth Records. Like the debut, \u003ci\u003e...And He’s Not Gonna Take It Anymore,\u003c\/i\u003e Mark Edwards wrote and performed all the music on his own. While not a significant departure from that album, \u003ci\u003ePeace, Love and Murder \u003c\/i\u003edoes differ from its predecessor and has some qualities that make it unique in the voluminous MDID discography. While combining live drums with drum machine is a hallmark of the MDID style, on this album Edwards introduced the Roland TR-505 into the mix, and in a bold move recorded the live drums first, which had the effect of making the rhythm tracks feel a bit more organic despite the presence, and occasionally the prominence, of the TR-505. Modal guitar tunings remain de rigeur here, but Edwards’ abilities as a guitarist display a marked increase in proficiency and imagination. While the debut album sprawls a bit, PLM is a tight and focused ten song set, buoyed by a more impactful production job by Chris Burgess. Just as the debut album had a few lighter (or at least slightly less grim) songs, so does this album, but here they shine with a bit more pop sparkle. “Babe In The Woods” and “Hill O’ Beans” would go on to be fan favorites for many years, as would the utterly harrowing unstoppable bulldozer that is “Like A Vise.” All these years on, the album’s closer “Fireball” has become oddly relevant and chilling. Sung from the POV of a mass shooter to a droning riff that evokes Middle Eastern modes, the narrator intones, “I’m gonna go out in a blaze of glory \/ today’s the day I’m gonna make it to the headlines.” The whole album has remarkable cohesion and pacing, as well as variety, and, not to mention ,what a god-tier track “Breakdown” is. So grab a black overcoat and “Open Wide.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Scat Records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50466418458955,"sku":"2003517","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/getImage.php_14f519e9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727312582"},{"product_id":"dressing-the-corpse","title":"Dressing the Corpse","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Dark were a Cleveland hardcore \/ deathrock hybrid that in many ways was ground zero for The Guns, Spike in Vain, Knifedance, and several more beyond. For The Dark’s first ever vinyl album \u003ci\u003eDressing The Corpse\u003c\/i\u003e, Scat has collected highlights from sessions recorded between 1981 and 1984 that range from savage post-punk (imagine Venom covering Warsaw), to raging exacto-knife thrashers, deathrock, and proto-black metal  -there’s even the requisite creepy, atmospheric instrumental to open the album (“Beyond The Ice”) - which is naturally followed by “Fire In The Church.” Then things go other places, the group covered a lot of ground in its two and a half years and were always ahead of the curve. Although the band’s median age ranges from fifteen to seventeen across these recordings, the rhythm section is second to none. The guitar playing is way further afield than most hardcore bands of the era. Namesake vocalist Tom Dark howls like a wolf, and could command a stage like few others. To be fair, the band’s youth does make itself known in some of the lyrics, but otherwise you’d never guess this was just a bunch of kids - it needn’t be graded on a curve. The Dark had auspicious beginnings. They cut their teeth as The Decapitators in 1979, learning to play at the feet of the electric eels, Pagans, Dead Boys, and Cramps. After a year off, the four reformed to play only originals as The Dark, and almost immediately Mike Hudson of the Pagans wanted to manage the band. Included here is a demo Hudson recorded just three weeks after the band’s first practice. Hudson only lasted a year, but it was a hell of a start. The majority of the recordings on \u003ci\u003eDressing The Corpse\u003c\/i\u003e are culled from the band’s 1984 album \u003ci\u003eScream Until We Die\u003c\/i\u003e, which was not released until 2006 when Grand Theft Audio did a comprehensive double CD version of it. Included here are a few of the best non-album tracks from that release as well. Previously unreleased tracks include the aforementioned Hudson demo, as well as a previously unknown second demo from early 1982, ably representing the pre-thrash version of the band.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Scat Records","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50469511037259,"sku":"2006353","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50469511856459,"sku":"2006354","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/getImage.php_17915902_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727361936"},{"product_id":"sandbox","title":"Sandbox","description":"\u003cp\u003eEven back in 1987, Guided By Voices was not content to release just one album in a year - \u003ci\u003eSandbox \u003c\/i\u003ewas released in the summer of that year following \u003ci\u003eDevil Between My Toes’\u003c\/i\u003e appearance that February. Likewise, in similar GBV style, the sound and approach of the two albums could not be more different. Where Devil mostly mines a darker, lo-fi psychedia, along with several instrumental explorations, \u003ci\u003eSandbox \u003c\/i\u003eis sunny, direct, has a bigger, crunchier sound, and zero instrumentals. Where Devil has a murky and impressionistic black and white photo of a rooster for a cover, \u003ci\u003eSandbox \u003c\/i\u003esports a full colour photo of the band relaxing on a lawn on a sunny day. Let’s also recall that unlike today, in 1987 a full-color album jacket wasn’t just a little more expensive than a black and white one, it was way more expensive. Right up front, the band was communicating that this was a more commercially ambitious endeavor, while behind the scenes they rented better gear for a bigger sound, and tackled more sophisticated arrangements and honed in on the hooks and harmonies of the songs. Of all the band’s early self-released albums,\u003ci\u003e Sandbox\u003c\/i\u003e differs the most from the sound fans would later associate with the group, which is in itself a recommendation. Nowhere else will you hear the perfectly rendered three-part harmonies of “Long Distance Man,” direct Beatles quotes, or Robert Pollard reveling in his southern Ohio drawl. It’s also true that one of the more enjoyable aspects of the record is finding all the places where the band’s future is indeed foreshadowed. Simply put, Guided By Voices just can’t help but be a little weird, even when attempting something like a power pop album. At the close of the opening track, Pollard announces, “Ladies and gentlemen! Back by popular demand for your entertainment and spiritual enlightenment...Electric Jam Soul Aquarium!” a truly “wtf is happening here” moment. Or the stripped down gloom of “Trap Soul Door” - a track that could be right at home on nearly any later GBV album wherein Pollard intones, “Just one spark can start a hell of a fire.” Little did he know how true that statement would become.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Scat Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":50482742034763,"sku":"2006356","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP - Glacial Blue","offer_id":50482742985035,"sku":"2006358","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Sandbox_bd2dafa6_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727555498"},{"product_id":"shelter-from-the-smoke","title":"Shelter From the Smoke","description":"\u003cp\u003eScat Records offers up a definitive vinyl edition of Bill Fox’s debut solo disc, \u003ci\u003eShelter From The Smoke\u003c\/i\u003e, back in print after more than half a decade. Originally self-released in 1997 and reissued the following year by SpinArt, both previous versions featured different tracklists. This edition includes all songs from both versions, as well as the two tracks from a scarce 1996 Scat 7-inch. Fox began his musical journey in early 1980s Cleveland with The Mice, who fused punk energy with British-Invasion-style songwriting and harmonies. He infamously dissolved the group on the eve of a European tour, then dropped out of the scene altogether, with an unfinished Mice LP in the can. In the early ’90s, he began a series of home recordings which revealed a growing preference for acoustically based music, and formed the basis for \u003ci\u003eShelter From The Smoke\u003c\/i\u003e as well as the follow-up \u003ci\u003eTransit Byzantium\u003c\/i\u003e (also being concurrently reissued). Shelter also includes four electric tracks recorded with Fox’s short-lived band The Radio Flyers. After a 1998 tour, Fox once again dropped out of music. Fox is one of those rare musicians who really does not enjoy the limelight, even having declined an interview with Joe Hagan of The Believer, who went so far as to fly to Cleveland in hopes of meeting him. That and his refusal to “be on the internet” has probably only helped the growing cadre of music fans who sees his solo albums as mysterious, lost classics. Or perhaps they just delight in the ringing sound of Fox’s perfectly pitched voice or his deft lyricism. Either way, Fox’s two solo albums are jewels not to be missed by anyone who enjoys traditional songcraft or iconic vocalists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Scat Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Yellow","offer_id":50483577454923,"sku":"1111252","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0060c667-47c1-4048-a460-cfa4b1cfa9b8_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727569642"},{"product_id":"jesus-was-born-in-a-mobile-home","title":"Jesus was Born in a Mobile Home","description":"\u003cp\u003eReady for some more racket from the titans of the tritone? The deans of decay? The earls of entropy? Until recently it was unknown how prolific Cleveland’s Spike In Vain were in their three year run, roughly Fall 1982 through Fall 1985. Had all the group’s songs been recorded, they would’ve filled five LPs handily. While only the debut album \u003ci\u003eDisease Is Relative\u003c\/i\u003e, compilation appearances, and a virtually unknown cassette were issued during their run, 2021 saw the band’s unreleased second album\u003ci\u003e Death Drives A Cadillac \u003c\/i\u003epulled out from its secret lair, and 2023 sees the release of the \u003ci\u003eJesus Was Born In A Mobile Home\u003c\/i\u003e cassette via this much expanded double vinyl edition. Upping the original’s twelve track program with an additional fifteen unreleased or rare tracks, this compilation provides a panoramic view of this mercurial, many-headed beast of absurdity, discord, and death. This release is loaded with surprises for even die-hard fans. Among other highlights, there’s a nine minute version of “Opus.” While the recording on Disease Is Relative is essentially three short songs smushed together, this later live version doubles that, with all new material seamlessly tacked onto the original. “Winter’s Black Hand” is a shocking outtake from the second album with the same insane, harrowing quality as “Children In The Subway.” There’s a 1982 rehearsal recording of “Tenement Housing,” the closest the band ever came to a straight up punk song. Or the rambling, shambling, and devastating “Drunk And Ugly Soul Food (As I Understand It)” from an early 1985 radio session. Along with other live recordings of songs that never saw the inside of a studio and a few more outtakes, Jesus also gathers stray songs from compilation albums with much improved sound. The majority of the tracks here were mastered from the original reels, while others had to be rescued from cassettes. Veteran engineer John Golden has done a knockout job dealing with the wide variety of source materials, lending it cohesion without sacrificing the skullsplitting rawness of some tracks.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Scat Records","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50483640598859,"sku":"2003503","price":42.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Brown LP","offer_id":50483641090379,"sku":"2003514","price":47.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/getImage-1.php_38a372eb_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727571033"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/scat-records.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}