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Los Microwaves - "Radio Heart" b/w "Coast To Coast" 1979





 Los Microwaves - "Radio Heart" b/w "Coast To Coast" Time Release Records/Soundchaser 1979


Our third installment of this platter party takes us out of the ape-ified German disco funk jungles of the last post, and moves us three years north on the time scale, flat into the punk and new wave revolution! This particular obscurity comes from my "1970s and 1980s Punk/Post-Punk/New Wave/Power Pop" box. If anyone ever plans on having a banger and needs a DJ with a fair number of punk and new wave records, drop me a line!

What to say about Los Microwaves.... Well, it appears to be a short-lived side project for a few members of another experimental new wave band called Baby Buddha. Los Microwaves is definitely more accessible and pop-oriented, while Baby Buddha has more of a Tuxedomoon or Suicide vibe to them. 

Anywho, I first saw this record advertised in the back pages of a Flipside fanzine from the late 1970s, or maybe early 1980s. I don't recall. This was a long time ago. Either way I had no idea what it sounded like until the internet came along, but the name of the band stuck with me. Lo and behold I stumble across a copy of the single for a couple of bucks one day, and boom. Full circle. I guess Soundchaser is a subsidiary of – or at least somehow connected to– the great '80s punk label Posh Boy, because Life After Breakfast, the album that this single is taken from, as well as the group's subsequent two singles, are all on the Posh Boy imprint. 

As far as the band itself is concerned, I know nothing other than that they formed in either San Jose or San Francisco, California. Depending on where you look for info, apparently. They toured behind their single album, Life After Breakfast, until 1983 and then broke up. 

You can't really tell from the scans, because my scanner does this weird thing where it washes out bright and fluorescent colors, but the sleeve is actually bright yellow. The picture sleeve and the label both reflect that great late 1970s new wave aesthetic, replete with Zipatone patterns, geometric shapes and that sweet, sweet, made-with-scissors-glue-and-a-Xerox-machine Dadaist snazz.

At this point Los Microwaves and Baby Buddha have had their music re-released and it's available on most streaming services, including bandcamp of all places. Despite this and appearances on various punk/new wave compilations, they're still relatively unknown outside of new wave genre enthusiasts. So if this angular, minimalist, early Devo-meets-B-52's-by-way-of-The Rezillos type of thing is up your alley ('cuz it is up mine, in a BIG way!) then I urge you to check out more!

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