SRR-43 QUITE RIDICULOUS NONSENSE “A Failure…” 7″
Perhaps you’ve noticed that things are quite ridiculous these days? Almost non-sensical? In 1984 Dan Foley did too. Same bullshit, different times. In Montreal, Dan wrote, recorded and self-released the Quite Ridiculous Nonsense “A Failure” 7”. He had no distribution. He played no shows. Through word of mouth he sold about half of the 500 copies and threw the rest in the garbage after years of staring at the unsold copies. Some people must have been paying attention as the record did show up on Kugelberg’s Top 100 DIY singles list (albeit listed as being from the US) where Kug said “Most ace industrial wank of that rare late 70’s variety. Wildly entertaining experiments in four track flatulence and transistor radio static” which I guess is about right. I’ve heard others say it sounds like Suicide recorded in a bedroom. I hear a bit of Jimmy Smack, a bit of The Four Plugs and think it would sound right at home on The Thing From The Crypt comp. Dan himself said he was influenced by early PIL and Cabaret Voltaire at the time. Basically think “It was easy, it was cheap, go and do it” circa Montreal 1984 made with only a beat box, a bass guitar, and some whirring and beeping household appliances for good measure. Now, in 2025, Sweet Rot and Celluloid Lunch are pleased to re-issue “A Failure” with a one time pressing of 300 copies. Although the text on the front says “pay no more than $500”, original copies are encroaching on that price but we are actually selling the re-issue for a lot less than that because we are so nice. Lovingly re-mastered by Josh Stevenson at Otic Sound.
Songs
A:
General Attitude
Appropriate Blocks
B:
Boredom
Identity Crisis
Release Date: July 2025
Pressing Info:
1st press:
300 on black
Reviews:
From Tom Lax/Silbreeze Records
Surprising/not surprising reissue of the summer. @celluloidlunchrecords & @sweetrot have teamed up to resurrect the sole 7” release by Quite Ridiculous Nonsense. I remember back in the early 80s going into Third Street Jazz & coming across this. Geoff, the store buyer asked me, ‘do you know these guys? One of’em dropped these off the other day.’ I had no idea what he was talking about, but loved the name & there were two copies, so I grabbed the other for my buddy, Bernie. Timeline wise it shares a similar je ne sais quoi with the Bunny & The Lakers lp (also reissued this year), another “difficult” Canadian treasure. But QRN seem to have a wealth of unreleased material & it’d be swell to see a compendium of that realized (on vinyl) one day.
And to think this singular & excellent record would have probably languished in cultish obscurity were it not for a certain list penned by a foppish dandy at the turn of the century (before 100$ was the new 10$). But fate works both ways this time. Great stuff! #canadiancontent