Hidden Gems: Download Ultra Sonic Edukators' 'Lost Album' For Free

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 25, 2013 4:20PM

There's a good chance you never heard of Ultra Sonic Edukators and that's a pity. Outside of Uniform—well, another band you probably never heard of—they were the closest thing Chicago had to a really great Britpop band. As Britpop as a bunch of Chicagoland city dwelling and suburban kids could be at least. But to the ears of this Blur-ophile and many other anglophiles in the city, they were a welcome addition to the Chicago music scene. They only existed for a few years in the mid-aughts but the rowdy sometimes-septet was known for raucous live shows with a ragged charm while their recordings captured the band's true talents, exposing the terrific pop songs that lay within chaotic live performances.

In their time Ultra Sonic Edukators only released one album and a few EPs, and while the album Armageddon Is In My Room was available on iTunes for a while, it was in a different version than the band self-released a few years earlier. Basically there was no way to really track down the band's catalog unless you were actually there to buy the releases at the shows before the band disbanded around 2009. Granted, the point of their dissolution has always been fuzzy and the group's Facebook page said they were going back into the studio, but that post was in 2010. And then Armageddon In My Room disappeared from iTunes and we assumed the band was gone for good.

So imagine our surprise when we stumbled across a mysterious Bandcamp page hosting yet another version of Armageddon In My Room, only this one seemed to have just about the band's entire catalog in one place; from what we can tell it's only missing one song off the Bad Blood EP. While that was a treat in itself the page also included like to two songs attributed to Z, whom we figure is Z-Force the pseudonym of the band's singer, and one of them is dated March 2013. So does this mark a return for the band? Is Z simply clearing the closet of the band's catalog (and if so, where is "She Do," dude)*?

Whatever the reason we're pleased that the material is finally out there as a free download so stream the music below if you're uncertain of these words, but we know you're gong to want to grab the whole thing.

UPDATE: We just heard from "Z-Force" and he said, "I have put a new band together with a few of the former Edukators and drummer from the Redwalls. We're going by "Z" and set to release an album titled Spacesick in Mid-November."

You can be sure we'll fill you with more details as that release approaches.

UPDATE II: Z also told us that the rhythm section of the Edukators have a band in Nashville named Los Colognes who have just put out an album and who will actually be in town to play SPACE late next month.

We love it when mysteries get solved and we find out bands we liked but had lost touch with are still out their making music in new incarnations.

* "She do" has since been added to the album for download,