Live At Mama Stel's

Quick Fix (Live)

Raw and immature, yes.  Still brilliant.  Inconsistent and unpolished, yes. Still beguiling.  Imagine a teenager gripped with musical ideas learning to activate the resources around him: his younger brothers, aluminum sheets, some sort of horn, a mini cassette tape recorder, an acoustic guitar. One gets the feeling from the lyric "I don't know, don't say anything," that the young fledgling has oh-just-a-few pent up emotions and has found a secret space for release.  Then the teenager grows up considerably, revisits the old work, finds himself at a friend's house (chez chubbyFlea) with a TASCAM 4-track recorder, and weaves the old antics into a new fabric with advanced guitar composition, recordings of speeches by artists and yogi, and insertions of music of interest (Sabalon Glitz, Tortoise).  This is the result.  Alternative title: BOLKS-ISH. Visual art by snuckdoodle.

By the Side of Your Nausea

ALL TRACKS BY ROMAN J. Raw and immature, yes. Still brilliant. Inconsistent and unpolished, yes. Still beguiling. Imagine a teenager gripped with musical ideas learning to activate the resources around him: his younger brothers, aluminum sheets, some sort of horn, a mini cassette tape recorder, an acoustic guitar. One gets the feeling from the lyric "I don't know, don't say anything," that the young fledgling has oh-just-a-few pent up emotions and has found a secret space for release. Then the teenager grows up considerably, revisits the old work, finds himself at a friend's house (chez chubbyFlea) with a TASCAM 4-track recorder, and weaves the old antics into a new fabric with advanced guitar composition, recordings of speeches by artists and yogi, and insertions of music of interest (Sabalon Glitz, Tortoise). This is the result. Visual art by snuckdoodle.

Don't Bother to Listen

ALL TRACKS BY ROMAN BOLKS. Raw and immature, yes. Still brilliant. Inconsistent and unpolished, yes. Still beguiling. Imagine a teenager gripped with musical ideas learning to activate the resources around him: his younger brothers, aluminum sheets, some sort of horn, a mini cassette tape recorder, an acoustic guitar. One gets the feeling from the lyric "I don't know, don't say anything," that the young fledgling has oh-just-a-few pent up emotions and has found a secret space for release. Then the teenager grows up considerably, revisits the old work, finds himself at a friend's house (chez chubbyFlea) with a TASCAM 4-track recorder, and weaves the old antics into a new fabric with advanced guitar composition, recordings of speeches by artists and yogi, and insertions of music of interest (Sabalon Glitz, Tortoise). This is the result. Alternative title: BOLKS-ISH. Visual art by snuckdoodle.

Casiopeia

Yo, this track is fire! Right from the start, you’re hit with a flow that’s raw, unpredictable, and crazy unique. The energy in the lyrics is insane—lines like “Dracula, Spectacular” and “Clear the air, life ain’t fair” have this gritty, street poetry feel that pulls you in. It’s like a wild ride through a late-night brainstorm, filled with sharp wordplay and dope punchlines.

The rhyme scheme just goes hard, and there’s this rebellious edge that makes you wanna replay it. The whole vibe feels like spoken word with an underground rap twist, full of intensity but with moments that make you pause and think, too. Mad respect for the creativity and the way you mix humor with real talk. This track has serious personality—if you’re into raw, unfiltered bars with a unique style, this is a must-listen. 💯

Undocumented Documents (PBODY SPECIAL)

if it hurts your ears that means you're listening

RedAletALERTed(anylastwords)_ - 1_8_25, 8.26 PM

Demo tape from some of the loudest, heaviest rockers ever to criss-cross the city of Chicago.

Demo on Cassette

Under the Yellow Moon

The folks at WHPK must have regretted inviting Chicago natives Barrett Heaton and Levon Washington back from San Francisco to play with their new band.  Very rarely has this studio hosted such a mess of saxophone, sound samples, improved mumbles and conflict.  But here it is folks, here it is.

08 Kumquat

An absolutely confounding assemblage of radio snippets, guitar and ambient sounds into something somewhat resembling discrete works of art.  Not to be taken lightly.  Much credit due to Patrick Shanahan for various lyric contributions.  Original raw and refigured material dates from 1993-1998, compiled in suburban Chicago, San Francisco, and Aix-en-Provence.

TASCAM DR-07X

01 Headless Horn Invasion

One reviewer noted that with a band name like "Kill" he expected a little economy in the presentation of the music (Benjamin Evans). However this presents as a sprawling mish mash of unleashed musical madness.  Starting with the looping compositions of founding guitarist Barrett Heaton, the band charged in to take each motif to new heights, and new lows.  Recorded with live takes in the now non-existent Dog Patch Studios near North Ave on Ashland in Chicago, it was engineered and mixed down by Stelios Valavanis with encouragement from the band hanging out in the console room.  From there the tracks were taken to Japan where Barrett arranged and interwove them with various sound collages and added vocal tracks.  This is one for the ages.  Roman Bolks on bass/guitar. LV Washington on drums.  Crusty Lawson on saxaphone/vocals. Spammy Jammy the Kill Maiden contributed lyrics and vocal delivery.  James Warden with cameo vocals. Chubbyflea hopes you enjoy.

01 She Had A Rat

The vocals did not shine through in the original TASCAM live recording, so we have added some vocal parts. We hope you enjoy these.

Casiopeia

chubbyFlea

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