Introducing Total Life Society!

Clevelander Matthew Wascovich began his TLS label in 2008 as a vehicle for his Scarcity of Tanks crew, eventually releasing 10 albums, many of them doubles at that, as well as other Wasco-fronted groups of musicians under different names. All have that essential Cle thing of feeling like things could go off the rails at any minute, accompanied by fearless playing, and MW's surreal, urban tales. Matthew enjoys working with a variety of people both locally and around the country - some well known, some only known to diehard collectors. He values collaboration among individualistic players, a thread that runs through the entire discography.

TLS prioritizes art over commerce so the releases can be pretty hard to find. We hope to make that a little easier. Here's what we've got, much of the catalog is out of print so these are the most recent titles:

  • *FLOWERS DESTROY "Hawks Listen" LP/CD $20/$10 Just released last week! A bit more melodic than SoT. Wasco is joined by Doug Gillard, Norman Westerberg, Jonny Bell, and Raul Morales here.

  • *VICIOUS FENCE "Primitives" & "Dropout" 7"ers (2019) $7 each

  • *SCARCITY OF TANKS Dissing the Reduction CD (2019) $12

  • *SCARCITY OF TANKS Hinge CD (2018) $10

  • *SCARCITY OF TANKS Garford Mute CD (2017) $12

More detail & links to preview/purchase here.

Guided By Voices Same Place the Fly Got Smashed LP

LP #4 from 1990, the one everyone has been asking for since we began this series! Quite understandably, it’s a damn fine album with key tracks like Drinker’s Peace, Pendulum, Mammoth Cave, and is one of the darkest in the GBV catalog.

 

ELECTRIC EELS Spin Age Blasters 2LP

The electric eels were the first punk band, full stop. They may not have "started" the genre, but they were the first to tick all the boxes. The eels rejected every 1970s rock convention - professionalism, virtuosity, subject matter, image. Dave E.'s caustic vocals, complete with an aggressive lisp and a head full of snot, would become de rigeur a few years after the group disbanded. Meanwhile, the songs' focus on car crashes, suicide, neuroses, and generally hating people were as far out of the mainstream as possible. Continued blurbage & track listing on item page

It’s been several years since any of this material was commonly available. Our mission was to put together the best, most definitive collection ever assembled. Nearly every key track is here in its best version, properly mastered by John Golden, and sequenced with an eye towards both flow between tracks as well as individuation between sides. A true monster of an album. Available on black vinyl or metallic silver wax, order here. An additional variant - clear with black swirls - may also be available at finer record shops.

Head over to the shop to see what else we’ve been up to lately. You’ll find more recent reissues from Guided by Voices, My Dad Is Dead, Spike in Vain, The Dark, as well as other back catalog stock still on hand.