TAANG RECORDS by V/A

Hand-picked and lovingly curated and annotated by label founder Curtis Casella, Taang! Records: The First 10 Singles.Consists of ten 7-inch records; a 24-song CD; and a 24-page liner notes book, all housed in a deluxe outer case. It tells the stories of the artists who built one of the most impressive music catalogs in all of American punk and hardcore. Each 7-inch is housed in a full recreation of its original sleeve, and all musical selections are also found on a CD included in the set. From snot-nosed Gang Green anthems like “Alcohol” and “Terrorize” to the Lemonheads’ melodic, proto-alternative “Glad I Don’t Know” and Slapshot’s instant moshpit creator “Same Mistake,” these 10 groundbreaking singles are what made Taang! an undeniable force to be reckoned with. Taang! Records [an acronym standing for “Teen Agers Are No Good!”] was formed in 1984, as an outgrowth of and support system for the explosive Boston punk and hardcore scene that produced SS Decontrol [SSD], DYS, Jerry’s Kids, the F.U.s and so many more. Like its counterpart in Los Angeles, SST Records, each new Taang! platter unleashed a sonic fury and inventiveness that made the ‘80s one of the most unique musical decades of the 20th Century. As Casella says in the set’s liner notes: “There was no real record label [for punk music] in Boston at the time. At least none that I felt were representing Boston properly. That’s where I stepped in.”