Something I Learned Today

more blood and gore today. Well, just blood

Bl’ast - It’s In My Blood.mp3
Bl’ast were a group of Santa Cruz skaters that absorbed all of the lessons that Black Flag could teach and then took it to the next level. Using Flag’s Damaged as a starting point, the band layered varying rhythm shifts, unique guitar sounds, and powerful drumming that resulted in satisfying hardcore.

Anyhow, this is the album closer from the 1987 album of the same name. I pulled this out a couple of weeks ago and while I don’t love it like I used to, I can still appreciate how good the band sounded, especially in comparison to other stuff from the same time period. And while the Black Flag influence is appreciable on some of the bands earlierwork, I never considered them derivative. And what the hell, after Damaged Black Flag produced a lot of dreck. I find this more refreshing than anything recorded by Flag after 1981, but I’m opinionated like that.

I was never really big on the Zero Boys. Vicious Circle was always hailed as a lost classic, a legendary hardcore record made by the best band to never get out of the Midwest. When I first heard it a 15 years ago I could only scratch my head and go “huh?”. Poppy hardcore, a bit pedestrian for my tastes. Some great songs ( “Civilization’s Dying”, “Living in the ’80’s”) but generally kind of lackluster. Given that I’m not sure why I took a chance on the split 7″ with Toxic Reasons that was released on Selfless Records. Needless to say I’m glad that I did. This was a harder, rougher Zero Boys, featuring tracks recorded after Vicious Circle for a never released album. “Blood’s Good” is a ripper, opening with a rumbling bass and drum line before a thick guitar riff kicks in, this song is way over the top. A classic. “Blood’s Good” and the 5 other tracks from these sessions were booted onto a 7″ around the same time as the Selfless release. My favorites:

Zero Boys - Blood’s Good.mp3
Zero Boys - Black Network News.mp3
Zero Boys - Seen That Movie.mp3

>> Buy Zero Boys releases
>> As far as I know this material is out of print. If I’m wrong please let me know

A new week, so why not some new music from Portland, Oregon’s the Hunches

The Hunches - Frustration Rocket.mp3
Hobo Sunrise the latest album the Hunches, is set to be released tomorrow on In The Red. An advance copied was leaked several months ago, but I decided to hold off on putting up a song. Comparisons of the band to the Birthday Party or Laughing Hyenas are unavoidable, due mostly to vocalist Hart Gledhill throaty growl. Hobo Sunrise is much like a continuation of 2002’s Yes.No.Shut It. LP, an intentional lofi recording that mixes noisy one-note guitar, larynx grinding vocals, and the occasional pop melody. This one has a few off kilter moments though ( “Intellectual”, “Surgeon’s Girl”) that are new. “Frustration Rocket” has an immediate kick in the face feel, an uptempo song built around feedback with a pop twist at the end. My favorite track on an album that is growing on me.

An outtake from one of the headliners at tomorrow’s Underground Garage Fest in NYC. $20 to see The Stooges, NY Dolls, the Strokes, Bo Diddley, the Raveonettes, and a whole bunch of others? How can you go wrong?

Iggy & The Stooges - Scene of the Crime.mp3
So Iggy has gone and reunited with the Asheton brothers. The good news is that all reviews of the reunion have been very positive. The downside is that the band is sticking only to the first 2 albums. In short, no Raw Power tracks. I guess that means you won’t be hearing this one tomorrow evening. “Scene of the Crime” is an outtake from the Raw Power sessions. Why it was left out I’ll never understand. Deliciously raw with Iggy shouting “I need an ALIBI!” over a searing James Williamson lick ( and some background piano). 3 minutes of pure Stoogified bliss.

“Scene of The Crime” was released on Year of the Iguana, one of the myriad Stooges rehashes that have been put out over the years. A couple of unreleased gems, some live stuff, some demo. IMO the best of all the comps out there. Make sure you have the 3 proper albums first, though.

yeah, I’m feeling pretty lazy today so I figured I’d just keep this thing centered in Texas

A Feast of Snakes - Know Your Name.mp3
A Feast of Snakes is a conglomerate made up of players in the whole trash/blues sleaze rock scene. Featuring former members of the Necessary Evils, Fireworks, Blacktop, and the Reds, the band churns out low-fi swamp rock with distorted vocals, some nasty slide guitar, and plenty of voodoo beats. This one is taken from the 2002 eponymous effort on In The Red records. There isn’t a ton of info on this band and I’m not sure if they are even still around. They also have 7″ available on Dropkick. Wish I had more to give you. As it stands I know of only 2 releases by this band, 12 tracks in total. Maybe less is more?

I was inspired by the talk of the Butthole Surfers and the Hickoids to dig out some crazed Texas damage myself.

Scratch Acid - Monsters.mp3
something odd must have been in the south Texas water in the 80’s that caused the young ‘uns to turnout so god forsaken wrong. Case in point Scratch Acid. Featuring David Yow and David Wm Sims ( later Jesus Lizard ) Scratch Acid was responsible for putting forth some seriously twisted songcraft. Yow howls about dark things while Brett Bradford lays down sun damaged riffs. The band managed to release a self titled 12 ” in 1984, a full length (1986’s Just Keep Eating) and a final 12″ ( Beserker ) in 1987 before disbanding. Touch and Go Records had the good sense to package them all up on one CD entitled The Greatest Gift .

“Monsters” is a manic track from the bands 1984 debut and may represent the band at their deranged best. Yow is completely unhinged here, and the guitar matches him lockstep. Just plain crazy.

It was one of those days where I couldn’t decide which track to post, so you get both. “Crazy Dan” is mellower than “Monsters” and has become one of my favorites over the years.

Scratch Acid - Crazy Dan.mp3
One of the creepy “ballads” that the band pulled off. “Crazy Dan” is the album opener from Just Keep Eating. It creeps along with a sublte menace and an odd kind of beauty. I simply had to include it.

Additionally:
An excellent review from Delusions of Adequacy
Photos at Idle Time

You can find another track from the Greatest Gift at the Southern Records site

Cannibal

Yesterday I name dropped the Pagans. Today I figured I better deliver the goods.

Pagans - Street Where Nobody Lives.mp3
The Pagans could very well have been Cleveland’s finest rock &roll band at their apex in the late 70’s. The band issued a handful of singles consisting of snotty, spitting punk, but imploded before ever managing to record an album proper. While subsequent live albums were issued, they failed to live up to the promise of the singles. An excellent first person account of the mayhem written by singer Mike Hudson can be found here.

Many of the singles and additional studio tracks were re-released in the late 80’s on the long out of print “Buried Alive” LP. Tim Warren at Crypt Records has made it his personal mission to keep the Pagans in print, releasing two separate CD’s - Shit Street and Pink Album Plus - that deliver all the studio and live tracks you could hope for.

The track here is from the band’s second single, released in 1978. Both tracks are killer ( B-Side is “What’s This Shit Called Love?”) making this the bands finest moment. Gritty guitar, driving bass, an instant classic.

The following songs are available for download from Crypt Records Radio page:

Six and Change
Real World
Eyes of Satan
Cry 815
I Don’t Understand

I was in the mood for something new(ish) today. Hopefully you are too.

FM Knives - 20/20.mp3
I was listening to this in the car this morning trying to think of some way to describe the FM Knives with out invoking the Buzzcocks. It can’t be done. In my mind it sounds like Pete Shelly singing for the Boys ( or Pagans, depending upon the song ) with the drummer from the Cosmic Psychos sitting in. Does that help? Nah, I didn’t think so. This is from the Sacremento based group’s 2003 album Useless and Modern. 35 minutes of incendiary pop-punk with a definite edge. I don’t know what it is about this CD that keeps me playing it over and over - the catchy vocals, wiry guitar, the constant cymbal play, I dunno. As I’ve said before, I’m not a big fan of poppy music, as most of it is too cloyingly sweet for my unrefined palette. But sometimes something just sticks out.
I’ve heard a rumor that the band is no longer together. Can anyone confirm?

The band has a couple of freebies on their website, so do check them out.

I just wanted to take a moment to say a big “thank you” to my fellow bloggers who’ve been kind enough to drop a line, leave a comment, or link this here blog thang.

Vinyl Mine - One mand digging through his vinyl collection and posting about the highlights. A compelling read!

Scissorkick - Offerering an excellent mix of today’s overlooked new bands, some oddities, and some old gems. An excellent look and feel melded to insightful writing. Check it out.

Mystery & Misery - A fellow upstater, links to scads of new independent and underground music on a daily basis. So thorough that it puts me to shame.

Lost Bands of The New Wave Era - A blog representing quality over quantity. One band a week of lost “should have been huge” music. Detailed, a definite labor of love.

Spoilt Victorian Child - From the other side of the pond, touching on new indie, old favorites, a little bit of everything. A great read and the best looking sidebar I’ve seen out there.

An Idiot’s Guide to Dreaming - Another excellent blog from the UK, featuring an eclectic mix of rock and avant-garde with a nice dash of humor. Is that sidebar a British thing?!??

Nobulog - From Japan, featuring some old HC, skate, Asian, indie, underground - you get it! Lot’s of interesting notes and info on things I’de never heard of before. Quite a cool guy!

Totally Fuzzy - a fantastic blog with so many links to different kinds of music that is futile for me to try and some up. Chock full of tons o’ stuff.

Tofu hut - One of the first mp3 blogs I came across, a collaborative effort with so much stuff ( music and info ) that it makes my head spin.

Thanks again to everyone. I encourage everyone who visits these sites to LEAVE A COMMENT, these people are devoting a ton of time, energy, and desire to get the word out on excellent music. Feedback is the fuel which keeps us going.

And as always, support the artists showcased by buying the music, going to the shows, etc.

Cheers!

a new live one from two producers and a human thud machine.

Shellac - Radio Song (live).mp3
The song listed is not officially titled as such (to my knowledge), but I’ve seen it referred to that way so why not? I originally planned on posting my fav song “Wingwalker” a couple of weeks ago only to discover Simon at Spoilt Victorian Child had beaten me to punch. Reading the post I was intrigued to hear the new songs. After some searching I was able to track it down.

From what I gather the song seems to be some kind of modern communications rant with Albini screaming “Can you hear me now?” over and over. The instrumentation is from the Shellac school of repetition, slow and heavy akin to “Prayer To God” ( music wise ) and “Didn’t We Deserve A Look…” (but shorter)

So when will the new album be available? “2007″ according to Bob Weston, but let’s hope he is being facetious - it’s been 4 years since 1000 Hurts and the fans are itching for something new!

Here is great page detailing most of Albini’s exploits in Shellac/Rapeman/Big Black:

Action Park