Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Music Underground Archive at the Bethlehem Area Public Library, a collection of recordings from several decades of punk, alternative and underground rock bands from Bethlehem and beyond.
Some audio tracks may contain offensive lyrics. Listener discretion is advised.
Notes: Many of these bands have had their works collected and digitized by Frank FOE, who compiled demo tapes and published albums under his record label F.O.E. (Freedom of Expression). From the 2000s to the present, Chris “Reject” and his Bethlehem-based label Square of Opposition has taken up the mantle of publishing albums for the Lehigh Valley underground scene, as well as punk and hardcore bands from all around the USA. They were both kind enough to donate their recordings to BAPL, as was Lance LaBar’s Bethlehem-based Killer Tofu Records. Killer Tofu Records has released a wide variety of punk, indie, electronic, and experimental bands from the Lehigh Valley. We are thrilled to preserve and showcase this unique collection here!
This collection includes professionally recorded CDs, digitized 7″ vinyl records, lo-fi demos, recordings of live shows, homemade tapes, and sessions literally recorded in somebody’s basement. (Ray’s basement, to be exact.)
Music can be streamed here or downloaded for your personal collection. To download a song, click the menu icon at the top of the music player to expand the list. A download icon will appear on the far right end of each track. You can also show your appreciation for a track by hitting the Like button or sharing the track on Facebook and Twitter.
To support this project and projects like it, make a donation here!
The Ick
1990s indie punk rock from the Lehigh Valley.
Jessica
An early 1990s hardcore band from the Lehigh Valley that included former Forthright members.
Last Cry
The first known Lehigh Valley punk band to feature a female vocalist. Last Cry was active in the mid-1980s; their first live show was an opening act for the Descendants in 1986. Lehigh Valley Archives compiled these tracks from different versions of a demo tape that Last Cry recorded between 1985 and 1986.
Manbeast
Loud and heavy Lehigh Valley music from vwyrd wurd records.
Mr. Yuk
Drunken, aggressive Lehigh Valley hardcore from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Mugface
The first Lehigh Valley band from the “emo” offshoot of the hardcore movement that began in the mid-1980s.
Nooner
A Lehigh Valley pop rock band that was active in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Their full-length album The Concept Factor (also known as The All For Nothing Sessions) was recorded at Westwire Studios from September 2000 to February 2001.
Plow
Punk rock from Delaware that became “adopted” members of the 1990s Lehigh Valley scene.
Robosphere
Hardcore band from Nazareth, active 1989-1991
Robot Attack
Hardcore from Allentown, active from 2001-2005.
Russian Meatsquats
Hardcore/metal legends from the Lehigh Valley, active in the 1980s.
Sledgehammer
Metalcore (heavy metal + hardcore punk) from the Lehigh Valley. Active in the late 1980s & early 1990s.
Rock/punk with members from Vermont and Bethlehem. Includes ex-Mr. Yuk. Released as a 7″ record by FOE Records. Recorded at Low Tech Studios in Burlington Vermont in July of 1995.
Spunk Tank
Pop-punk from the Lehigh Valley, active in the 1990s.
Strychnine and the Rat Traps
Rock/punk/metal from the Lehigh Valley, active in the 1990s.
Swinesallys
Energetic hardcore punk with the added power of rock. From Bethlehem, active in the 1990s.
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