Social Climbers Re-issue

Any ex- (or current) Hoosiers on this string will remember this record all over the used bins of Bloomington in the 80's. By that time, we were all on to our own thing, and this little gem was slipping totally through the cracks. I myself ignored it, for the most part, until I played it on the local music show I was doing on WQAX.

Genius.

Apparently, someone from Drag City agrees with me on this.  From the press release:

"It's almost 1980. Soho, New York is fertile with young, no-wave punks getting sharper and increasingly angular: Branca, DNA, Teenage Jesus, Contortions, Suicide, et al, as well as the groups they would spawn. Coveted and revered bands for many today, this music was peripheral at the time. Unheard by most save for the underbelly, these were artists living free and dirty, trying to outdo each other. Within the periphery of this periphery, Social Climbers made sounds that were of their environs yet remarkably unique, leaving an indelible stamp on the scene while somehow managing to slither undetected out of all the history books. A downtown New York art band as much as any other, Social Climbers also claimed midwestern roots and actual musicianship that many of their contemporaries lacked, and in trade dismissed and essentially protested the snotty pretensions that drove many others within the scene. Social Climbers are an absolute post-punk blueprint: fat bass (often two), guitar, drum machine (dubbed "the monkey"), feverish vocals, and organ. Their lone, self-titled album is agitated and impossibly wild, yet danceable and composed. Gulcher Records initially released the album as a triple 7". Their record was barely picked up by the local underground rock distributor, as is common in a crowded scene, and the group disbanded in 1982. Their one artifact is as earnest as it is fractured and terrifying. Mostly, it's just fucking cool. And it's here, again, sounding as relevant today as it did when it was of the moment; perhaps, even more so. And the CD contains two bonus tracks!"

Oh, and try to find that used Gulcher vinyl now.