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HAIR AND NAILS III (Public Eyesore) CDR $8 Recorded '99 & '00 by Hair and Nails (Walenska & Dino).

EMILY HAY & MARCOS FERNANDES We Are (Public Eyesore) $10 Public Eyesore catalog: "Emily Hay and Marcos Fernandes' new collaborative CD offering WE ARE, captures the capricious nature of improvisation as they move from rhythmic interplay to ambient textures and globally informed grooves to sparring electronics. Anchored by their duets, this collection of studio recordings boasts several trio explorations with renowned bassist Lisle Ellis and a quartet featuring Ellen Weller on winds and Al Scholl on guitar. On this recording, Hay uses voice, flute, piccolo and piano, Fernandes provides percussion, phonographies (or field recordings) and samples while Ellis adds a wide palette of sounds with his bass and laptop electronics The musicians shift between acoustic and electronically processed instrumentation, complimenting and contrasting each other as they create their various sonic spaces which are often abstract yet remain direct and primal." Emily Hay lives in Los Angeles, and has worked with various avant, art rock, and improv ensembles: U Totem, the Motor Totemist Guild, Otherparts, I Am Umbrella, the Rich West Ensemble, and others. Marcos Fernandes is based in San Diego, working as performer, producer, and curator; he is a founding member of the Trummerflora collective.

THE HELLBENDERS Pop Rock Suicide (Dead Beat Records) $7

THE HELLBENDERS / SAFETY PINS (split) (Dead Beat Records) $7

THE HI-GOD PEOPLE Nega the Eight Headed Serpent (Varispeed Recordings; Australia) $14 Improvised not-rock from Australia. They use mostly basic guitars/keyboards/drums to explore longish themes that flash on 1967 Pink Floyd, early Art Ensemble of Chicago (when the percussion comes in), minimal repetitions, just about the whole of post-WW2 outsider music. Fans of the Dead C and Sandoz Lab Technicians will feel right at home.

HILKKA I Can't Hear My Teevee! (Early Material) (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Early stuff from the Rochester NY post-punk/post-rock/math-rock/noise-rock trio that included Joe Tunis and Nuuj. Carbon catalog: "a collection of very early recordings from Hilkka. includes some alternate recordings of previously released tracks, unreleased studio recordings, live tracks, as well as recordings from the very first rehearsal, and some collage re-works. a mix between math-rock and noise-textures. it's a mess! [packaged in a clear jewel case with a transparent tray card (liner notes), along with metal screen material in the tray.]"

HILKKA/LIFT In Cooperation With Gravity (Carbon Records) CDR $8 Two mid-90s outsider rock bands from Rochester, New York. The real stand-out is Hilkka, who manage to break down and rise above their own self-imposed conventions. It's also the band that launched more recent non-"rock" sounds by Joe Tunis and Nuuj.

HOLLYDRIFT This Way to Escape (Public Eyesore) CDR $9 Public Eyesore catalog: "New works by Middleton Wisconin's Mathias Anderson. Subtle and secluded compositions incorporating gently flowing mechanical noises, drifting whines & drones, slowly evolving loops, and highly processed found and incidental recordings."

HOLLYWOOD SQUARETET Tet-Offensive (Gulcher Records) $10 Why did Albert Ayler cross the road? To get to the OTHER side, motherfucker! This stupid, stupid universe we live within is a tea party always awaiting creative upheaval. Assholes like George W. make with lots of upheaval--but no creation. And the streets are littered with schmucks who have ideas but no FREE WILL with which to turn the crapple cart on its ass side. Then there are honest-to-pete free men like the Hollywood Squaretet who are willing to git down, turn your head around, and make it to that OTHER side. "Welcome to the Fuck You Lounge," as drummer-ranter Larry Copcar states so eloquently. "What is the password?" he asks. "FUCK YOU!" answer his bandmates. Bandmate number one is MISTER Todd Homer on the upright bass and (occasionally) alto sax. Yeah, he's the dude who was the bass guitarist with the ORIGINAL Angry Samoans (negativity personified), and later in his career, co-leader of the wonderful Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band (101% positivity). With the Squaretet, Todd reclaims the (self-)righteous indignation of the Samoans, but retains the PRO-gressive urges of Mooseheart Faith (what a trick, huh?). And then there's MISTER Kenny Kawamura playing various saxophones like a man possessed--except free men can't be owned, so this is ALL his own fault. Do NOT blame it on the bossa nova, baby--blame it on the super nova sailing through this cat's noggin. Kenny has been involved in his share of outsider projects, including Fellaheen, Beekeeper, and Chic Empowerment Center. He has also worked on various indie-film soundtracks as a multi-instrumentalist. Okay, we'll call this stuff "free-jazz," but I don't remember Ayler or Dolphy or Shepp peppering their material with comedic insults or spazzy guitars (courtesy of guest stars Mikaleno, Gil Chinn, and Mooseheart Faith's other mainman Larry Robinson). That's because Larry Copcar is equal parts Elvin Jones and Rodney Dangerfield--Sunny Murray and Sam Kinison! Under his "real name" (shhh), Copcar spent much of the 80s doing stand-up comedy (he even appeared on HBO specials). And in the 60s, he played in various garage bands, releasing a single on Roulette Records in 1968 with the Bougalieu. Are you there yet, music fans? This trio (and its extended variations) is like a Lester Bangs wet dream: the ESP-Disk jazz catalog forced into fusion with the satiric fuck-you of ESP "rockers" the Fugs and the Holy Modal Rounders. Don't misunderstand me--it's the sonic collision between these three players that makes room for the humor, not the other way 'round. But it's all one big ball of improvised L.A. chaos. Charles Bukowski shakin' hands with Charles Mingus. Somebody's mama with her skirt up 'round her waist and a very cold beer goin' down the other end. Kenny, Todd, and Larry cracklin' like a summer storm, and then the hail starts fallin'--hard. You are there now, in the heart of the confusion and the too-high smirks. Did you say fuck ME? Well, fuck YOU! Blow, babies, blow!

HOME BLITZ (Gulcher Records) $11 Home Blitz is 21-year-old Daniel DiMaggio from  Princeton, New Jersey. He recorded and released his first two singles on his own. When the first one showed up in my mailbox in '05, it was just what I was waiting to hear. The underground had drifted so far into abstract space that I was longing for something direct and simple. That first record was a magic whirl of early Modern Lovers, Big Star, and Flamin' Groovies circa '72--but with a casual no-fi vibe that sounded closer to the first couple Harry Pussy singles. Huh?! Yeah. Just about (non-)perfect! On this new Home Blitz CD release, Gulcher Records has collected those first two singles (way out of print), material from a cassette release, a new HB 12" EP, and two otherwise unavailable tracks. From the first single, "Apocalyptic Grades 2005" is a  powerpop/postpunk hybrid with guitars that sound like the Fall circa '78 covering the Flamin' Groovies. On the very bratty "AC S.S.," it sounds to me like early Screamin' Mee-Mees crossed with early Modern Lovers. But my favorite from that first 7" is "Hey!" It comes on as if Big Star's RADIO CITY had been recorded under the more addled conditions of Alex Chilton's LIKE FLIES ON SHERBERT. It starts like a great noise-drenched powerpop anthem--"I got the gift that keeps on givin'/It's called electric guitar!"--but soon stops midstream. "I gotta get some gum," the singer complains. It picks up again after the song's imaginary bridge. A second guitar comes in--melodic and overloaded like a perfect 1969 Lou Reed guitar fill. The second HB 7" was LIVE OUTSIDE, released in '06. On this one, Daniel dragged his instruments and battery-powered amps onto the street in front of his house and "performed live w/o audience on the corner of Mercer and Hibben Streets, Princeton, NJ." Is it the first powerpop field recording?! "Stupid Street" has Daniel narrating his own song, describing his surroundings, before he suddenly spits out the first line of the song, "Hey girl, I'm gonna cut your spine!" So sweetly vicious. "Feeling Cold" again documents the Home Blitz street scene, this time purely in song. Like, it's November in Jersey, and yer freezin' yer ass off recording on the sidewalk! It's a perfect Modern Lovers/Half Japanese-style pop tune, with maybe one of the all-time great fallen-apart guitar solos. "I feel like ridin' bikes tonight/But mine's been in the shop all day." The next Home Blitz release was a 2006 split cassette (with Friends & Family), which shows Daniel's interest in more overt "experimental" sounds: de-tuned guitars, ambient rumbles, electronic squiggles, free clatter, instrumental introspection. But even in this setting, he comes up with a tune like "Benches"--just acoustic guitar and vocals, with a bit of overdubbed electric leads--which reminds me of Big Star's version of Loudon Wainwright's "Motel Blues."  There's also a cover of Public Disturbance's "Bored" (don't know the original), which sounds nothing like the punkrock I expected. Instead, it comes across like a darkly shimmering psychedelic ballad. And "GT Performers" is a frantic punkrocker (no noise) about "takin' chances and makin' friends." From the upcoming 12" EP on Parts Unknown come five more winners. "Right Cut Even" (Rick Derringer having a powerpop breakdown), "Little League" (autobiographical angst hammered home by verses of Beefheartian power blues and a couple choruses of powerpop explosion), "Flying" (with cool bursts of mid-70s double-lead unison guitars), "Something 2 Do" (more Beefheartian angles + L.A. hardcore circa '81 + Pistols-influenced UK powerpop), and a cover of Slade's "My Town" (whacky!). Rounding out this CD collection is a much wilder 4-track version of "Little League" and the otherwise unreleased "A.F.F.," one of the best tracks here. Again defying logic, Daniel turns a very personal tale into an excellent blast of powerpop/punkrock with stuttering freejazz sax and several odd time changes. The story itself seems like a mystical revelation from younger years or maybe just an imaginary childhood friend: "Well, there's an actual physical feeling living in the air/And I'd like to make it feel at home but you know I'm scared" . . .

HOT HOT HEAT / THE RED LIGHT STING (split) (Ache Records; Canada) $10