ROIR
Neil Cooper founded NYC's ROIR as a cassette-only label twenty years ago. The label has released a pretty amazing amount of truly pivotal underground albums spanning a number of genres including punk, indie, dub, reggae, industrial and more. Luckily they have released a good portion of their catalogue on CD, unforgettable titles by Bad Brains, Flipper, MC5, New York Dolls, Television, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, The Skatalites, and many many more.
Bad Brains
Hardcore spawned from punk rock in the early '80s as a more violent and more aggressive form of the underground, and DC's Bad Brains were among the most influential and pioneering hardcore groups ever, mixing reggae with their lightning fast bursts of rage.
Bad Brains
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1982
Badawi
Badawi's distinct brand of music delves into the surreal with a heavy blend of Middle Eastern percussion and deep Jamaican dub. Good for that out-of-body experience you've been waiting for.
Soldier Of Midian
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2001
MC5
The Motor City Five took their native Detroit and the rest of America by storm during the late '60s with a propulsive and frenzied brand of blues-based garage rock that incorporated the far-left politics, anger, and excitement of the era, laying the groundwork for the birth of punk rock a decade later.
Babes in Arms
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1983
Martin Rev
Martin Rev is best known for his collaboration with Alan Vega in the influential early electronic duo Suicide. His damaged, minimal keyboard work has remained commercially obscure, but has gained popularity thanks to the resurgence of '80s-styled electronics.
Martin Rev
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2002
To Live
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2003
The Styrenes
The Styrenes have been making f*cked-up records since 1971. If you've never had the pleasure of hearing them, imagine Pere Ubu backing Syd Barrett and check it out.
It's Still Artastic
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2002
Terrorists
New York City's Terrorists offered one of the first instances of the hybridization of punk and reggae, teaming up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites to create loose organic grooves that seemed to capture the essence of two different islands -- Manhattan and Jamaica.
Forces 1977-1982
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2001
