16 no name new wave bands from the minds of many celebrated cretins across america and beyond, such as Joe Suss (Nancy, Muff Divers), Rik (Pigs, Mongoloid), Jake Robertson (Ausmuteants, Leather Towel), Arielle McCuaig (Janitor Scum, Glitter), and many many more! Curated by Lumpy, with screen printed jackets. I'm very proud of this comp.
Our take: Lumpyâs first compilation LP! I think that I say this every time we get in a halfway decent 12â compilation, but I have the utmost respect for anyone who is able to pull off one of these things, because the amount of work involved in coordinating all of the different contributors is really excruciating. Anyway, Iâve been listening to Horrendous New Wave a lot and the thing that sticks out to me is how it kind of undercuts the very idea of what a compilation LP is. The compilation is, at its core, a marketing tool⌠itâs a way to introduce people to new bands, a function that reached its most brazen incarnation with the budget-priced label sampler compilation. However, Horrendous New Wave doesnât introduce you to any new bands, because none of the bands listed on the jacket actually exist. If youâre in the know, you might be able to identify contributions by certain people (Joe Sussman of Muff Divers / Dangus Tarkus / Nancy, Scott Plant of Droidâs Blood / Broken Prayer, folks from Lumpy-affiliated acts like Natural Man and Ms. Lady, Warm Bodies, Gibbous, and Janitor Scum), but the packaging on the record is absolutely no help in figuring out these connections, nor does said information seem to be accessible anywhere online. You donât even really know what the conceit or point of this compilation is⌠are the artists giving us their interpretation of ânew wave,â or is that something that was added after the fact to tie it all together? Itâs altogether unclear, and while Iâm sure some people will find this frustrating, I actually think itâs really cool. It reminds me of listening to compilations in the pre-internet era, when you couldnât just Google a band you were interested in and check them out on YouTube or buy their record on Discogs. I remember getting a copy of the American Youth Report compilation when I was in high school (mail ordered from the catalog that came with my copy of Bad Religionâs Recipe for Hate), but it was another ten years before I would hear more tracks by Modern Warfare, Legal Weapon, or the Flesh Eaters. I guess that what Iâm trying to say is that, as a person who is kind of addicted to contextual research, the fact that Lumpy has taken away my ability to gratify that impulse leaves me free to take each of these tracks solely on their own merits, of which they have many.