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This Friday was a big one for La Vida Es Un Mus / Sealed as they announced three new releases for pre-order! The biggie, of course, is the long-awaited reissue of Rudimentary Peni’s The E.P.’s of R.P. LP, which compiles the band’s legendary first two EPs… literally two of the best punk/hardcore records of all time. If you’re looking for something new to you, Sealed Records digs very deep with this reissue of the 1983 demo from Aylesbury’s Effigy, an obscure but killer group who played post-punk informed anarcho punk (or vice versa). And if you’re looking for something new, La Vida Es Un Mus brings us the second album from Prisonnier Du Temps. We have limited color copies available for Rudimentary Peni and Prisonnier Du Temps as usual, but unfortunately due a mix-up at the pressing plant, we only have black vinyl for the Effigy LP. It still sounds great though! Read on for the official descriptions.
New releases from Rudimentary Peni, Effigy, and Prisonnier Du Temps up for pre-order on La Vida Es Un Mus / Sealed
Rudimentary Peni: The E.P.'s of R.P. 12" (Sealed Records)
Unavailable since its original release on the CRASS side label Corpus Christi in 1987, the much bootlegged compilation The E.P’s Of R.P. finally gets an official reissue on Sealed Records.
The LP collects both RUDIMENTARY PENI 7” releases pre-Death Church LP, completing the trilogy of RUDIMENTARY PENI’s first era recordings before their first hiatus.
The A side contains the band’s stunning debut. A breakneck 12-song 7” EP recorded in 1981 at Street Level Studios and originally released on the band’s Outer Himalayan label. From the first track RUDIMENTARY PENI pull you in and aurally assault your ears creating the template for many to follow. It’s abrasive, sharp, intricate with supreme musicianship and a unique dark sense of humour. They created a perfect, demented universe of twisted, poetic and needle in the red punk often imitated and truly never matched.
Flip over for the follow up, the 11 track 7” Farce that was originally released in 1982 on CRASS Records. Like most records on such label it benefits massively from John Loder’s engineering and Penny Rimbaud production. Farce never lets up the intensity with twisted melodies, a locked in rhythm section and Blinko’s much copied anguished vocals that he sings like his life depends on it. It energetic, manic and 40+ years later nothing comes close to both EP’s.
While both EPs were originally packed in Nick Blinko’s artwork, he created a masterpiece of dark and intricate art with microscopical detail to house their collection. You can literally get lost for hours in it. This reissue replicates it, adding a new printed inner-sleeve and lyric insert.
Effigy: Burnt Offerings 12" (Sealed Records)
The early 80’s in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was hardly the place where music dreams came true. It had an amazing venue called Friars which was on the touring circuit, but very few local bands. There was the VICE CREEMS fronted by Kris Needs and there was the notorious yet terrible SORE WILLIES. EFFIGY came from the ashes of the SORE WILLIES and formed in 1983. EFFIGY came fully formed and instantly became popular in the local area, where they put on a weekly night at the Uptown Coffee Bar. The band hardly left Aylesbury though, and when they did it was to play in nearby High Wycombe and Bicester. They played bigger gigs with everyone from ALIEN SEX FIEND, BILLY BRAGG, UK DECAY, THE SCARS and SPIZZ. The band recorded one 5 track demo in October 1983 and it is simply unbelievable that it has never been re-released, but then again the bands legacy seems to have banished without a trace, with literally no mentions anywhere. Making their demo one of the hardest ones from 1983 to track down, or even hear, since it is not even uploaded on YouTube.
EFFIGY’s sound is so instant. It’s driving, tight female fronted post punk with hooks, style, and had it been released at the time would have made them a household name. Think a straight ahead version of SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, early X-MAL DEUTSCHLAND, THE A-HEADS or the SKELETAL FAMILY but with a more pop edge. The songs lyrically were around the obsession with paganism and old black and white horror films, the name EFFIGY was taken from a book Roger was trying to write about witchcraft and the Pendle witch trials called Effigy of Isobel, which was never completed (due to his very low attention span) but a song on this recording did emerge.
The release comes with a lyric sheet, a new interview with the band and as much archive as we could dig out, which in this case wasn’t much.
Prisonnier Du Temps: Prendre Le Pouvoir Par La Force 12" (La Vida Es Un Mus)
This is the second album from PRISONNIER DU TEMPS, and from the cover alone you can tell that its sole member, Jacky Cadiou, wanted to surprise and not just deliver a pointless follow-up. You can already feel a desire to break the usual codes just from that image.
Breaking the rules is exactly what he does across these eight new tracks. There’s a lot of boldness here, and a clear urge to move away from a French Oi! scene that’s becoming more and more uninteresting. This record pushes beyond that boredom and goes much further. It’s no less angry or brutal, both in the music and the lyrics. But alongside that violence, there are plenty of catchy, infectious, and overall anthemic moments. This is far from dull, simple minded Oi!. That sense of daring opens the door to huge, epic melodies that might bring to mind CRIMINAL DAMAGE, and if we’re talking Portland bands, you can also hear the wild melodic intensity of TRAGEDY and POISON IDEA all driven by a raw, bulldozing post-punk hardcore sound.
You can really feel that this album was created out of Jacky Cadiou’s need to release his anger against those who oppress us. It’s the frustration and pain of the forgotten turned here into music: “The world moves forward with its eyes closed and Gaza burns, forgotten… In pain and tears, children fall unarmed…” With this second album, PRISONNIER DU TEMPS delivers the record you didn’t expect but absolutely need. (Nico)