SECRET SAUCES RADIO #016

Here are some notes on the sixteenth Secret Sauces Radio show, which can be listened to on Mixcloud here...

SECRET SAUCES RADIO INTRO IDENT

Some Kind Of Monster sample

In 2001, Metallica's bassist Jason Newsted focking left the band, just before they were about to record their next LP. Initial recording sessions at the Presidio barracks proved fruitless, and James Hetfield soon entered rehab for a long period. Upon his return, the band started their next LP from scratch as a three piece with producer Bob Rock on bass, eventually coming out with the dogshit album 'St. Anger' in 2003.

Luckily for us, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky were there to document it all - the recording sessions, the arguments and the therapy sessions. It makes it even more entertaining that the end result was easily Metallica's worst album. It's one of the greatest music films of all time (whether you're a Metallica fan or not), and all of the samples in this 'show' are clips of Lars Ulrich from that film. This clip is the legendary "HE FOCKING LEFT THE BAND!"

1) SEBADOH - Zone Doubt

From Sebadoh's 1996 sixth LP 'Harmacy', the final record to feature drummer Bob Fay. Harmacy is still yet to receive a nice deluxe edition with lots of extra goodies, like much of the rest of the band's 90s output - maybe next year for its 30th anniversary? This track is written and sung by Jason Loewenstein.

You can buy recent Sebadoh and Jason and Lou stuff on Bandcamp here.

2) WEDNESDAY WEEK - Anyone Like Me

This track is taken from the legendary 1983 comp 'WarfRat Tales', featuring "nine more LA bands... when you thought you'd heard them all". The other eight bands included on the comp are The Last, The Leaving Trains, 100 Flowers, Earwigs, The Rain Parade, The Question?, The Point, and Hector And The Clockwatchers. You may be familiar with many of these bands, and this comp (much like the similar 'Keats Rides A Harley' comp released on Happy Squid in 1981) features exclusive early recordings of them, not found elsewhere.

All tracks (excluding the two cuts from 100 Flowers) were recorded by Vitus Mataré at Lyceum Sound in Mar Vista, CA. The comp was released on the WarfRat Grammofon label, which had previously released the 'Up In The Air' 7" by The Last in 1982, and subsequently released a 7" by The Question?, an LP by The Point and a 12" EP by Wednesday Week in 1983. The label was resurrected in 2018 to release the 'Birthday Wishes' 7" by Danny And The Doorknobs.

In 2005, Avebury Records (run by Kelly Callan, drummer of Wednesday Week), reissued WarfRat Tales on CD with 13 extra tracks (and four more LA bands covered, too)! It's a great set and well worth checking out. WarfRat Tales has offspring too - 'Son Of WarfRat Tales: Last Notes From Pompeii' was released on CD in 2021 with 20 further Vitus Mataré productions from the '80s and '90s. It was limited to 300 copies and wasn't for sale, so good luck getting one!

3) THE BREEDERS - London Song

From the 2002 'comeback' record for The Breeders, the imaginatively titled 'Titled TK'. With Steve Albini back recording the band and only Kim and Kelley remaining from the so-called 'classic' lineup of their last LP, 'Last Splash' in 1993, this album seems to be a bit overlooked but is well worth your time. There's even a new recording of 'Full On Idle' from 'Pacer', the only album released by Kim's band The Amps in 1996.

4) YO LA TENGO - Double Dare

This is taken from Yo La Tengo's sixth LP, 'Painful', released in 1993 as their first release on Matador Records, who they are still with today. In 2014, a nice deluxe reissue was released entitled 'Extra Painful' which included a bonus disc of rarities, and a code to download a third disc of rarities. Why didn't they just make a third CD? It's worth seeking out however.

Some Kind Of Monster sample

Another clip from Some Kind Of Monster, this one sees Lars saying the word 'fuck' with increasing intensity, including into the face of a freshly-rehabbed James Hetfield.

5) DINOSAUR JR. - Budge

From the third Dino album 'Bug' released in 1988. Their final release for SST, and the final with the classic J/Lou/Murph lineup until the big reunion for 'Beyond' in 2007. This was also the first album of theirs to only be released under the 'Dinosaur Jr.' name - their two previous LPs were originally under the name 'Dinosaur', until they were forced to change it due to a lawsuit from the San Francisco supergroup 'Dinosaurs'.

I would highly recommend seeking out original SST CDs and LPs of 'Bug', as the mid-2000s reissues on Merge/Sweet Nothing are brickwalled to fuck and sound horrible. I believe the recent reissues on the band's own Baked Goods Records use the same shit remasters.

6) MARS CLASSROOM - Man! Wine! Power!

Mars Classroom are a trio consisting of Gary Waleik, Robert Beerman and Robert Pollard, and their only release was the 2011 album 'The New Theory Of Everything', released on CD and LP on Pollard's 'Happy Jack Rock Records' label. It's long out of print and very hard to find, and I hope that it gets a reissue some day. It's a good record that any Guided by Voices fan should track down.

7) PROTOMARTYR - Modern Business Hymns

From 'Ultimate Success Today', the fifth album by Detroit, Michigan band Protomartyr, released in the pandemic days of 2020 on Domino. The album's name comes from the last words sung(?) on this track. It's a great record, as all of Protomartyr's are. They are playing shows in celebration of 10 years of their third LP 'The Agent Intellect' in November in the UK and Europe and you should buy your tickets here.

8) MEMORIALS - Lamplighter

Memorials (or MEMORIALS as they insist on capitalising their name) are a duo of Verity Susman and Matthew Simms, who you may know from their work in bands such as Electrelane and Wire. They have collaborated on film soundtracks for a few years now, and released their debut LP on Fire Records in October 2024. It's great and you can get a copy here.

9) FINAL CONFLICT - The Lines Have Faded

Minneapolis hardcore band Final Conflict released their only proper record, an eponymous 7" EP, in 1983 on Hüsker Dü's Reflex Records. It was produced by Bob Mould and engineered by Steve Fjelstad. In 2010, Havoc Records reissued the 7" which was nice. No CD release though. They recorded a demo cassette in 1982 which is impossible to get a physical copy of but it does exist online and is well worth checking out for lots of songs not found on the 7" EP. - vocalist Noel Morgan (aka Boneman) states in the comment of that YouTube vid that lots of the song titles are wrong, and that their original drummer was Grant Hart from Hüsker Dü! I didn't know that until now.

10) RIOT/CLONE - Chumbawanka

A nice diss track against the annoying Chumbawamba, authors of one of the worst songs of all time, Tubthumping. They caused quite a stir in the anarcho-punk underground when they signed to EMI to release the 'Tubthumper' album in 1997. Many of the bands from that scene saw it as a sell-out move, and as such the 'Bare Faced Hypocrisy Sells Records... The Anti Chumbawamba EP' was released as a 7" in 1998 (Chumbawamba's 1986 debut LP was entitled 'Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records'). The original 7" lists 7 tracks, but only 4 appear - there was a coupon inside you could return to Ruptured Ambitions records to receive a cassette with the other three tracks on.

Ruptured Ambitions have fewer than 10 original copies of the four song 7" left on their Bandcamp page, and you can get a download of all 7 tracks with it. Get the vinyl + download for £9 or just the download for £4 - here. Profits are donated to Rape Crisis.

11) RED CROSS - Clorox Girls

The teen babes recorded six tracks for the Posh Boy comp 'Siren' in 1980, but those songs proved to be the most popular on the comp so were separately released as a 12" EP (total running time - 6min 22sec) on Posh Boy, in the generic label 'party' sleeve. It wasn't until after the band's debut LP 'Born Innocent', which was released in 1982 on Frontier Records, that the actual Red Cross humanitarian movement caught wind of them, and forced them to change the name to Redd Kross - I guess that message wasn't passed on to Posh Boy though, as they reissued the 12" in 1985 with a picture sleeve for the first time, and still credited it to 'Red Cross'. By 1988, they got the message and reissued the 12" as 'Anette's Got The Hits' with new artwork and now credited to Redd Kross.

In 2020, Merge Records reissued the EP (credited to Redd Kross, with the title as 'Red Cross EP' plus new artwork) with the 1979 four-song Joe Nolte produced demo, and a live recording of 'Fun With Connie' from earlier that year when they were known as Tourists. This 11 track expanded edition has a running time of 12 minutes!

12) EMILY'S SASSY LIME - Dippity Do-Nut

The palendromic Emily's Sassy Lime were a teenage band from Southern California that were active for a couple of years in the mid-90s. They could barely play their instruments (they didn't even own any) and they never rehearsed, their recordings are extremely lo-fi... but it's fun to listen to.

I picked up the three-track Dippity Do-Nut 7" for a quid unheard in an Oxfam Bookshop (back before they got volunteers in to check prices on Discogs, bastards) in St. Albans when I was about 10 because I thought the artwork looked cool and I recognised 'Kill Rock Stars' label from the sleeve notes of Nirvana's Incesticide. What a little fucking nerd. I've never come across an Emily's Sassy Lime record out in the wild since then.

Some Kind Of Monster sample

Another classic scene from Some Kind Of Monster which shows the final moments of the doomed Presidio sessions. After a long day recording a fruitless jam with a bizarre drum beat causes James Hetfield to ask Lars for a more 'solid' beat, a defensive Lars says that what Hetfield is playing is 'stock'. They argue, Kirk Hammett looks like a sad child, Hetfield storms out with a door slam and is not seen again until leaving rehab many months later.

13) BARBICAN ESTATE - White Jazz

From the first LP by Barbican Estate, 2021's 'Way Down East'. They're from Tokyo but have since relocated to London (where the Barbican Estate they take their name from is). You can buy their records on Bandcamp here.

14) FKA TWIGS - Keep It, Hold It

From FKA twigs' 2025 album 'EUSEXUA', which is set to receive a deluxe edition soon, entitled 'DELUXUA'. Fun.

15) FRED ABONG - Frogs

From the latest album by Fred Abong (Throwing Muses, Belly), 'Holy Hints', which was released on Moochin' About Records. You can pick it up on CD here which includes a bonus disc of the 2024 album 'Mess Kit' too. The 2024 album 'Blindness' was also put out by Moochin' About on CD with a bonus disc of the 'Homeless' EP, get that here. And for (most) of Fred's other solo records, you can visit his own Bandcamp page here.

Some Kind Of Monster sample

Bob Rock rolls over his office chair over Lars Ulrich's bare foot and he's furious about it. Watch the clip here.

16) GRIAN CHATTEN - Last Time Every Time Forever

From Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten's debut solo LP 'Chaos For The Fly', released on Partisan Records in 2023 just before Fontaines signed to XL and have become one of the biggest bands in the world. This is a nice record if you've not heard it.

17) MF DOOM - Hey

From MF DOOM's debut solo LP, 1999's 'Operation: Doomsday'. This album has been reissued a bunch of times with various different sleeves, but as far as I'm aware only one version has bonus tracks, the 2011 double CD edition with original 12" versions and instrumentals galore. RIP DOOM.

18) THE HUMAN CONDITION - The End

This is essentially a dubby post-punk instrumental cover of 'The Width Of A Circle' by David Bowie, but is completely uncredited on the sleeve. The Human Condition were a short-lived trio of Jah Wobble, Jim Walker and Animal, and they released two live cassettes in 1981 and 1982. This track is from the 'Live In Europe November 1981' tape. Both tapes have never been reissued and exist only on cassette - apparently Jim Walker vetoed a CD reissue. No idea why.

Thanks for listening and reading. New 60 minute music mixes are uploaded to Mixcloud every Tuesday and I will post accompanying notes, with pointless, excruciating trivia and endless links for you to enjoy.

See you next Tuesday!