We've been flicking through Welly Artcore's brand spanking new, brilliantly in-depth book, 'Nefarious Artists' to see how many of the five hundred plus compilations he has written about we might actually know of, or own. And alarmingly, it's not many!
There's such an abundance of obscure early punk samplers, indie new-wave weirdness, and noisy hardcore blasts in this excellent book that you'll be digging into it time and time again, and still barely scratch the surface.
There's four hundred and twenty-four pages of explanation, discussion, history and inspiration here, opening a new world of alternative bands, and showing off the cover art, from the beautiful to the striking, through the angry and the ugly, over page after page.
Welly's full title for this masterpiece of post-punk rarity is 'Nefarious Artists: The evolution and art of the punk-rock, post-punk, new-wave, hardcore punk and alternative rock compilation record' but even that doesn't begin to cover it. And he's not even touched on the numerous cassette compilations that were passed around the scene at the time. (Maybe that's another book?)
A quick flick through this book doesn't really do it justice, but here's a video anyway...
"Long before online streaming the compilation became the most effective way to access new punk sounds. 'Nefarious Artists' is a field study of over 500 punk and post punk compilations."
It's a veritable 'spotters guide' of punk rock obscurity. We suggest you buy the book, then try to find them all and listen to one each day!
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