… and then there are bands who would just leave you wondering, how the fuck they managed to pass through the music circus unnoticed. BRAILLE PARTY from Maryland had a couple of tracks on two comps (“Bouncing Babies” and Flispside Vol. 2″) and this LP and that was it. Never-heard-of-agains of the finest sort, although this LP has so much potential, it’s scary. Three fine young men who obviously only needed to pick up their instruments and it turned out to be, well, forgimme the term – art.
“Welcome to Maryland” is a mixed bag sui generis. Combining seemingly simplistic harmonic structures, heavily relying on the great voices of the lads (Bassist and mastermind Matt Riedl and drummer Gerry Rolfe; Lou Gigger hits the 6 strings of mayhem and destruction) with short outbursts of Hardcore-speed, without ever sliding into the lands of Hardcore. This LP has been freaking me out since I first bought it and it’s always been a divider: Few would get infected by it, most would ignore it, except maybe for the fast songs (like the overwhelming “Over my dead Body”). I’m not sure, and I’d love to hear about that from one of the band members if they ever come across this, whether I’m right or not decoding the whole concept of this as pure lustful irony, making around with styles, throwing it all together and just enjoying themselves delivering the goods. Every song comes off so lighthandedly, as if it was nothing, giving the album a phenomenal easy yet sad atmosphere. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS would always come to my mind when trying to describe BRAILLE PARTY. Of course, a slight psyched 60s surf feeling gets through too. Bloody hell!
So if yer into HC, dude, don’t download the full LP here. For the sake of learning something from this site, give it a few spins, will ya, maybe starting with the B-side songs which are a bit faster generally. And don’t let the first and arguably weakest song, “Welcome to Maryland”, discourage you. “We must think of Sysphus as a happy man”, you know.
Find more (much rawer!) BRAILLE PARTY on the fab :30 Under DC site.
PS: And now somebody please re-release this!
51 Comments
hey man thanks a bunch for this! it’s amazing!! never heard of this band before but it’s incredible it’s from 1984!
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Dude… I’ve been dying to hear this for years. That song on the flipside comp is awesome. Thanks!!
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This album is amazing, but the zip appears to be missing 3 tracks.
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Ack, didn’t even notice some of the tracks are combined in one. Cheers!!!
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How bout posting UFO’s first album?
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That’s actually a good idea, Eddie!
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Really great stuff. Thanks for hipping me to it!
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Just picked up UFO’s “Strangers in the night” double live LP the other day, actually– kills anything by any band with mohawks.
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This is to Eddie:
“I am Mr. Hardcore, Hardcore, USA” etc. (song by Stark raving Mad)
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i’m all about the phenomenon album, personally.
doctor doctor, pleeeeeeeeaz
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Thanks for this awesome record. I gave you a link on my site and posted another one of them. But theres not one picture of the band in the whole net…… Greetings from germany
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The missing tracks are -13.,19.,20.
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So..why dissension cover arts don’t’ appears here in the site ?I send a email about tht
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the missing tracks are together with others.The album is complete.Seven & Freee Enterprise for ya–Halt! Who goes there? & Braille Party–Visiting Dignitaries & Ice Cube’s Chance.=)
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Insanely great stuff! I understand why you labeled it Peter Pop ha ha
. Always wondered if these guys did anything except the Let It Burn track on Flipside Vol. 3 which is the only thing I’ve heard from them before you uploaded this marshmallow.
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UFO’s first album is considered obscure becuz it’s never mentioned by the so called rock critics. UFO had an element of punk anyway and just the name itselfs rivals any band name such as Headcleaners, Anti-Cimex, Crossed Out, Dropdead, Raped Teenagers.
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My Uncle had a cool poster of UFO (the one with a UFO spelled out in blaster flames under the ufo) in the garage.
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Eddie, Raped Teenagers? Who the hell name a band Raped Teenagers?? Brrr…
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Dean Reply:
October 30th, 2011 at 19:06
Steve Albini
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I own this, but hadn’t listened to it in years… thought it was too ‘poppy’ at the time and it never settled into the rotation.
It has aged extremely well! Agree with you that this belongs in the coulda/shoulda pile… A really fine record.
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I own it too. I can’t download this at work but I’m guessing I have to agree with Otto. Have to pull it out and listen to it.
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you have no idea how much i love u for posting this
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Thanks to this post I ended up buying a copy off of someone, such a great record.
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I`ve had a crappy copy of this on tape for years, thanks so much. Does anyone know where I can get anything by the early Dutch band “Outrageous”?
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hey… love this record. matt was killed…no… maybe lou… was killed in a car ax like 10 years ago… amazing act… this record is a real DC treasure…
saw them live once…and that was a rarity… in baltimore in 87.
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Yes, it was Lou who was killed in the accident 20 years ago (summer of 87, about a month after he turned 21).
Lou, Matt & Gerry very very good friends of mine. I used to play in other bands with all 3 of them.
Thanx for this download (category “death rock” tho?), I just had a box of LPs go missing in the mail and this was one of them
Matt, if you’re out there I miss ya bud!
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Thanks, really enjoyed this. Only one bone of contention though, the title track is bloody superb with those harmonies in the chorus and corking bass and guitar!
MW
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Hey Oppression/Depressio! You’re probably one of those people who wore a mullet in the 80s and started listening to hardcore in the early 90s!!!
You couldn’t even hold my jock strap!!
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DonoftheDead! I saw your webpage and I remember you from back in the days! You used to take pictures at Cathay, Olympic, SM Civic, Vex, Florentine Gardens, Stardust, Starlite, Orphanage, Music Machine, Perkins (did i forget anywhere else?).
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Peter, Raped Teenagers put out some great records and killer tunes on comps. You should know!
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Great post. Been meaning to rip it for awhile now.
Lou was a good friend of mine. It was a shattering experience when he died. Amazing guy. Incredible guitarist. I used to have a casette of Braille Party 4-track demos that I liked better than the lp. wish I hadn’t lost them. Got some of Lou’s 4 track stuff still. Maybe it should be posted.
Matt is still around. Probably still working at a bookstore. Last I knew he had a project called Syst. He’s a brilliant guy.
Hi Drew. Erica L. mentioned you recently.
Wolfgang
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Hi everyone, this is Matt from Braille Party – not dead! Hi Drew & Wolfgang!
I am still playing music (always have, though I went into a long & unproductive tailspin when Lou died) – Veal LLC (solo), The Nifongs (original band) and Dead Heat, who do songs from 1965-73 and actually make a little money now and then. I live in Raleigh NC and work in the county library/play a lot of music.
Thanks for all the kind words everyone. If anyone wants to know more (what I can recall) – ask! I would saw off an arm to change the drum sound on this record – heavily gated, and we all hated that sound. The cover too – we didn’t pick it (long story). In fact, BP was a long, long story overall. There was a 2nd LP in the works, some tracks can be found (along w/some demos) at the :30 under DC site. My email is braillepartyAThotmail.
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Hi Matt – thanks for the comment! Would you mind telling us the story behind the cover artwork etc.? How did you guys manage to write such original material? Any plans of rereleasing this properly?
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Hi, is this Oskar? Well anyway, the cover was “foisted” on us by Derrick Hsu (a very nice man who was somewhat hard for us to figure out at the time). The details are somewhat murky, but BP were known for not giving a shit about things until it was too late. We had a “record release” party scheduled at DC Space and had let the cover details go for so long that he just kinda rolled with it without asking anybody. We hated it – saw ourselves as serious and that cover was NOT serious. I’m not sure the band would have ever agreed on what we wanted, either – we were serious but is “serious” Big Black/Scratch Acid (Lou) or Joy Division/Severed Heads (Me) or God-knows-what (Gerry)? There were supposed to be guitar solos and other stuff too, but we dawdled SO long that Derrick started to run out of money and had to move on to whatever release was going to bankroll him (was it GI? Crippled Pilgrims? I cannot recall) for his next few projects. So, he took the album out of the boxes and we were kinda like: “wait, what is that? Whe haven’t even finished recording!”. In the end it was good for a laugh for all, but at the time we were really upset. Let’s face it, it cost $$$ to record then and Derrick did us a favor. We’d do it all ourselves now, but times we different and we were quite poor.
You think this was original, you should have heard some of the more unfinished (or worse – unrecorded) stuff that we were doing near the end. How did we write it? It was the conscious fusing of what we all liked, which was a wide swath of… music that wasn’t punk at all. Tossing everything we liked into the DKs (one band we all agreed on) blender and then lopping off the more ungainly parts. And, may I also say, we were all deeply into drugs during the whole thing. I don’t say it proudly or anything, but there is no denying it either. We were the antithesis of whatever else seemed to be going on in DC, it seemed, with none of the “glam” elements that drug bands tended toward. Oddly austere and oddly oversaturated with ideas and textures too.
I assure you, our versions of “I Would Die For You” and “Running Up That Hill” were ugly indeed. But still musical and faithful in their way to Prince and Kate Bush. By the time Lou died we had evolved into a very specific form of VERY fast (2x the speed of most things on Welcome to MD) and angular math-rock with harmonies on every song, like a revved-up NoMeansNo, maybe. After he died, I attempted to keep the name alive with a couple other musicians, but you know…it wasn’t the same and I was depressed. After a while I realized I just didn’t like anybody very much (that has passed, now I like everybody). I turned into a recluse for a while!
I wouldn’t know how to do an official rerelease and demand seems to be quite limited! Worth thinking about, though. Sorry to go on so long but it’s a pleasure because no one ever really asks. Thanks, check out my stuff @ veal.multiply.com or myspace, drop me a line or whatever. And if anyone knows the whereabouts of Gerry Rolfe please fill me in. matt
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p.s. – Lou and I were VERY into TMBG and called their Dial-A-Song so often that we eventually met them. THAT we agreed on!
We loved their dabbling and squishing-together of styles (it appears to have served them well through the years) and pained-yet-festive lyrics.
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Thanks so much for the info, Matt. My name is Erich, I live in Switzerland and run this blog. As you can read in the posting, I’m a long time, well, how you call it – fan?, of BP and it always puzzled me how such a band couldn’t get more popular. when in the late 80s or early 90s I first heard TMBG, I immediately thought of BP and I’m happy to read this association of mine wasn’t completely unjustified.
I think you really should try and talk to some guys about a
possible rerelease. MAybe I’m just as mistaken as I was 20 odd years ago, but how on earth could anybody into clever music not like Welcome to MAryland?
Since you mentioned math-rock: Have you ever heard these crazy metal math bands like Watchtower or Spastic Ink (both from Texas)? Weird and highly entertaining shit, I tell you, at least if you don’t get put off by shrieking vocals (Watchtower). Or then Dillinger Escape Plan’s “calculating infinty” album. If you don’t know these, check them out when you have time.
Would lve to hear the later BP! Are there tapes around?
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Hey Erich, thanks – I LOVED Watchtower and actually own music by them – Dillinger Escape Plan I’m not so into but I will revisit them on your rec.
At the time the album was too soft for the HC crowd and, well, I guess just unlistenable for any other crowd. You’re right, times have caught up with (and passed) Braille Party’s sound. If you have any suggestions who to talk to, write me – I’m not AGAINST the concept per se, but it’s also avail for download so many places that I question what a “legit” release is, these days. It’d be cool if it could be an all-encompassing retrospective or something, but just releasing Welcome to MD seems…I dunno, kinda skimpy!
Take it easy man – and thanks.
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Matt – maybe the right person reads this here and gets in touch with you. I will however try and do my best in spreading word about it. If you want me to take down the album, drop me a line and I will remove the download!
That’s great about you being into Watchtower (I visited them in 86 in Texas and saw them in their reheearsal room – unearthly, I tell you, unearthly!). You need to check out Spastic Ink then! And, haha, I’m not into Dillinger Escape Plan either, jut thought I would be more appropriate maybe
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How great thou art! I had dowloaded this a while ago mainly because of the writing but then had the zip sleeping til finally I listened to it yesterday. Agg! (Amazing! Gorgeous! Genius!) Immense. Beautiful. Great to read Matt’s stories too. Thanks to the band & buddhist love, Admin!
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finally someone remembers BP and i always thought they were a bit different than others of the time (and place). great and just thanks for this public service!
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Matt! Drew!! LTNS kids. this is sandy, of sandy/priscilla/dennis & jonathan back in the day. I still have my copy of this and would gladly buy a re-release. Keep me posted.
love you guys, it was a time.
sandy
cascobayboaters@live.com
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I picked up my copy of Welcome To Maryland at (I think) Penguin Feather in 1986, probably while playing hookie from high school in scenic PeeGee County. I wound up working in the record biz soon after; I’m almost positive that it was released on cd before Dutch East India tanked–but my copy is on vinyl and sounds just fine, thank you. Would be nice to see it reissued…and the first song is a fine tune; the lyrics are a hoot, but only make sense if you’ve lived inside the Beltway
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well, im glad someone else is alive who digs the hell out of this record. i was around dc with my bands ten below and the now in the mid to late 80s and I loved these guys. in fact, suffice to say it is my favorite dc album from the period for the sheer melodic angles on things. i know the du were raging at this same time but these ideas of BP were down a different path-though they were as fast and hard. i just like the whole feel of it all. i used to drive some of my local musician pals mad by always citing this record.i think its absolutely true that not everyone got it. but for those of us who did, it was kinda like the VU in the small dc way. Hell, I managed the penguin feather downtown-i probably sold it to her, we played that album, the fall and king stir grav (monster dc label reggae comp) for about 2 years on m street. I loved BP but i agree it was a minority view. Shame. Its a classic in my household.
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Hi everyone. Hi Sandy!!
I wish I had known the widespread depth of appreciation that existed for BP at the time of BP!
Anyway, just thanks for saying such nice things, all of you.
matt (braille party)
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Hi Matt, I’m Gerry Rolfe’s daughter. Quite funny that I came across this page. I have Welcome to Maryland on my computer and I was searching to see if the album art was online and, well, here I am!
Dad is doing well. We are currently living in Calvert County, MD. He still loves music and jamming out, but unfortunately he has not played the drums in quite some time (had to sell his set when I was pretty young, didn’t have a lot of money at the time). I’ve tried to get him to play Rock Band (I figured he’d be good at it) but he gets pissed off at the drum pad because it’s “not natural” lol Anywho, thought I’d give you that little bit of info. If I can get your e-mail address I’ll have him drop you a line (or maybe I’ll just get him to post on this site in the morning). Good to hear your music is still appreciated. I know I always liked it… even though I was a little biased
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I have to thank my daughter for finding this site ( she keeps me alive with new music somewhat like Matt used too when we played together). Miss you Matt. Tried to locate you several times to say hello but couldn’t get any response. Glad you’re not dead (makes a lot harder to talk to you). I’m still living in Md.(Calvert Co.)and working to support Kathy and my girls(Jen and Melanie).I still listen to BP on my computer and on disc. I wish the second album had come out, although I had a friend of mine try to aquire the tracks from Derrick and he would’nt let go of them. Want to shout out to Drew, who posted here, glad to see you’re still out there. I don’t play music at this point in my life, but it still is a driving force in what I listen to. I can still play but, whew am I out of practice. Interesting that you ended up in Raliegh as I have a nephew who lives there. I’ll send a message to your website later. I’m at renfew12@comcast.net. Holla!
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I had downloaded this before, and listened to part of it, and then switched to something else because it didn’t really hit me (I suppose I wasn’t in the right mood,) but I played this again today and it was incredible and hit me hard. That guitar sound, combined with the harmonies and songwriting…this is excellent stuff. Are there any other bands that sound anything like this (I get the feeling this is relatively unique?)
I also enjoyed the first song…Actually that’s what piqued my interest when it came on, and it just got better from there.
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i’m into hc and dude i did. and i loved it. i like the first song mor some reason but the album is just great.
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Absolutely THE MOST underrated DC rock album of the 1980′s. Braille Party’s shows where often far better than anything a studio can record, but the combination of the anarchic Matt and the mercurial Lou onstage created a tension that sometimes blew up and sometimes blew out. In contrast to the careful, ritualistic HardCore of Dischord bands at the time, Braille Party offered a fun, yet thoughtful, journey through music and yourself. Velvet Underground, indeed.
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I have this LP and I completely agree that they are incredibly awesome…
Ahh, the obscure wonders of the DC post hardcore scene..
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Man, my past is coming back with a vengence! Just discovered this spot. I used to hang with BP. Was good friends with Lou and went to most of their shows and practices!
Great to hear the props to the album, etc. Too bad noone really noticed then. They had their fans though. It was all getting too cool around then and BP just didn’t fit in. Too much vanity and the scene(s) broke apart.
My heart is still broken over Lou’s death after all these years. Would love to connect with you Matt, wherever you are! I’m on Facebook now (finally I guess) and connecting with Maryland again.
Cheers to bold and creative bands and great people.
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I was a friend of Lou and I loved Braille Party. Lou was so nice, I miss him. I lost my vinyl records from DC years ago. It would be nice to get the music back again.
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