:: Available items from this Label ::
Bent Wind / Sussex
(Vinyl LP – Ugly Pop)
The Holy Grail of Canadian rock, this raw, murky slab of heavy psych was released by local indie label Trend in autumn 1969 and immediately sank without a trace. Over the decades, however, obsessive fans and collectors of the era’s unsung greats gradually came to recognise the obscure Toronto band’s genius.
Bent Wind / Sacred Cows b/w Castles Made Of Man
(7″ Vinyl – Ugly Pop)
Legendary 1969 Toronto garage psych, back in print for the first time in 43 years !
Bent Winds 1970 LP Sussex is perhaps the rarest Canadian record there is, but before dropping that massive set of heavy psych, they debuted with a small-run 45 that hit hard with a pair of considerably more straight-forward garage psych rockers. Released on the tiny local Trend label in 1969, this single marks the transition from mid-60s garage to the heavier rock to come.
Zoom / Sweet Desperation
(Vinyl LP – Ugly Pop)
“Bored of cover bands and Toronto’s stagnant bar scene, Chris Haight and John Hamilton formed Zoom in 1976, inspired by such pre-punk touchstones as the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Bowie and Sparks. The band quickly set to gigging locally, but were soon caught up in the punk scene that exploded to life around them. An obscure but seminal 1977 45 — arguably Toronto’s first punk record– was their sole release before the band dissolved as Haight joined the Viletones and Hamilton began drumming for the Diodes. Despite their duties in two of Canada’s leading punk bands, however, the pair didn’t want great songs like ‘Schoolgirl Hitch Hiker’, ‘My Baby’s Got No Brains’ and ‘They Only Come Out At Night’ to go undocumented, so they entered the studio in 1978 to get this stuff on tape. Produced by Bob Segarini and BB Gabor, and with musical contributions from members of The Ugly, The B-Girls and The Curse, the session captured a pretty special time in Toronto music history. It seems especially poignant that it would then remain unheard for decades. In 2014, Hamilton, who had gone on to an illustrious career of his own but had never entirely forgotten Zoom, located the tapes and had them professionally baked and restored. A trove of photographs, flyers and graphics was similarly uncovered, and now Ugly Pop is very pleased to announce a 13-track LP.”