Something I Learned Today

One of the indelible memories of my youth was seeing a hellacious show with Soulside, Swiz, and Hunger Artist in a church basement in Rochester. Soulside and Hunger Artist were great, but Swiz was on another level. Something about their energy and passion hooked me - I was converted to a life long fan on the spot.

Swiz had the quintessential DC sound - melodic and powerful with a jagged edge. Listening to this now I hear the sounds of their more well known DC brethren: small hints of Ignition and Fugazi, big doses of Can I Say era Dag Nasty. No real surprise on the last one, as vocalist Shawn Brown was the original singer for Dag Nasty before being booted in 1986. Soon thereafter Swiz was born. The band would release a 7″ and two albums on Sammich before calling it quits in 1990. Jade Tree would compile these releases, along with two posthumous 7″ of vault material into the excellent 32 track discography No Punches Pulled. A sampling of the material:

Swiz - Lie.mp3
Swiz - ‘Toon.mp3
Swiz - Sunstroke.mp3
Swiz - Black.mp3

Endnotes:

WFMU DJ extraordinaire Mike Lupica has an excellent post highlighting the NYC hardcore band Go! and the ABC No Rio scene, complete with MP3 accompaniment. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

After Friday’s blasphemous offerings I figured I had to get myself right with the big boss man. I needed something, I dunno, ecclesiastical. No MxPx or Relient K or assorted ‘Jesus Loves You’ here so I’m forced to go on band name alone. Hence, the Saints. Anyone unfamiliar with this Australian act can get up to speed here. In essence the Saints were propelled by the tandem of singer Chris Bailey and guitarist Ed Kuepper. Their catchy, guitar heavy first single - 1976’s “I’m Stranded” - landed them the label “punk”. (though they would shed the associated restrictions of the genre soon enough) Their first album (I’m)Stranded was marked by a relentless guitar sound and rough vocals. It rightly deserves a position in the list of top punk albums of the ’70’s.

The Saints relocated from Brisbane to London after the release of (I’m) Stranded and released their second LP Eternally Yours. Adding horn arrangements, acoustic guitar, and sneering vocals on top of the sharp guitar work resulted in a eclectic, well balanced album with bite. Eternally Yours is a gem - my favorite album by the Saints.

The original lineup disbanded soon after the band’s subdued third LP, 1978’s Prehistoric Sounds. Bailey would later resurrect the band in various forms, but the fire from the period of 1976-1978 would never be recaptured. Some songs:

From (I’m) Stranded:
Saints - Wild About You.mp3
Saints - No Time.mp3

From Eternally Yours:
Saints - Know Your Product.mp3
Saints - This Perfect Day.mp3

Odd and Ends:

He is risen! No one loves like he loves you, kids. It’s the end of another Holy Week, and why not enjoy some light dinner music as we wait for the resurrection?!??

BGK - Pray for Peace and Kill for Christ.mp3
crazed Dutch hardcore. Lead track off of 1983’s Jonestown Aloha LP

Feederz - Jesus…mp3
If you find yourself offended by this one, well then the Feederz have done their job. From their 1980 debut 7″ (later on Let Them Eat Jellybeans)

Pegboy - Jesus Christ.mp3
closing song from 1993’s Fore 12″

Black Market Baby - Downward Christian Soldiers.mp3
The opening cut from their classic 1983 LP Senseless Offerings

Sugar - JC Auto.mp3
my favorite Sugar track. This is the live version from the Besides collection.

*I’ve totally sealed my eternal fate with this one, especially that Feederz track.

Some time towards the end of the ’90’s the city of Buffalo started producing some mighty cool rock and roll the likes of which upstate NY had not seen before. Bands like the Blowtops, the Baseball Furies, the Tyrades and a host of others all built around the Big Neck Records scene. My favorite of these were the Baseball Furies. Playing a raw and snotty brand of punk rock the Furies garnered quite a bit of recognition in the underground garage/punk scene.

Forming in 1996, the Furies have released 3 singles, a 10″, and two LP’s. Each release has been another step in the bands evolutionary process. While the early releases were noisy and dangerous sounding, the recent albums have been marked by cleaner production and a calmer, more melodic sound. The band relocated to Chicago a couple of years ago, but continue to deliver the goods. Their latest release is 2004’s Let It Be. A couple of tracks from various releases:

Baseball Furies - Last Man.mp3
the closing track from 1999’s 10″ All American Psycho, released on Flying Bomb records.

Baseball Furies - I Hate Your Secret Club.mp3
released as a 7″ on Estrus, and as part of the 2002 LP Greater Than Ever

Baseball Furies - Taking Turns At Ground Zero.mp3
the lead track from 2004’s Let it Be LP.

Etc:
>> More mp3’s from All American Psycho can be found on the Flying Bomb sounds page
>> A couple of mp3’s from the band’s 7″’s and Greater Than Ever are available at the bands page on Big Neck
>> Photo courtesy of Fallout Records
>> Buy Baseball Furies releases

For a while there in the early 90’s German “reissue” (*cough* bootleg *cough*) label Lost and Found was on a roll, releasing a slew of way cool,long gone hardcore releases. One of my favorites from this time was the Outside Looking In LP of unreleased material by Artificial Peace. Artificial Peace were an early DC hardcore band that later morphed into the more melodic Marginal Man. Their two year run in the early 80’s was captured on only few releases: 3 tracks on the seminal hardcore comp Flex Your Head, a split single with DC band Exiled (Fountain of Youth Records 001) and a single track on the Bouncing Babies compilation.

Sometime around 1991 Lost and Found put out Outside Looking In which compiled songs from two studio sessions in 1981 and 1982. 24 tracks of short and fast aggro. The CD release packaged these tracks along with Marginal Man’s Double Image album and another looted demo by Assault and Battery (pre-Artificial Peace) Bootleg bonanza! Perhaps a legit reissue of this material will appear someday? In the meantime:

Artificial Peace - Outside Looking In.mp3
One of my favorite tracks from Flex Your Head

Artificial Peace - This Means War.mp3
From the 1981 sessions that spawned the Flex Your Head tracks

Artificial Peace - Someone Cares.mp3
from the 1983 split 7″ with Exiled. I’m not sure if these tracks were included on the boot, the sound is different in terms of mix, production, etc. This would be re-recorded by Marginal Man for release on Double Image

Artificial Peace - Frustration.mp3
From the 1982 recording sessions. This was released as part of the 1984 DC comp Bouncing Babies

photo courtesy the Memory Hole

March 19th marks the two year anniversary of the US led invasion of Iraq. I try to keep my personal politics off of this space, so I’ll keep it brief. 

Numbers:
1600+ coalition deaths (1500 US)
~17,000 Iraqi civilian deaths
$156 Billion in cost

Songs:
Anti-Heros - National Debt.mp3
A song about the Vietnam War, but it fits the current situation as well. From their 1988 LP Don’t Tread On Me
Who would’ve thunk the most poignant anti-war song I would turn up would be by the Anti-Heros?

Bad Religion - Fertile Crescent.mp3
from the 1991 split w/ Noam Chomsky that MRR released.

Really Red - War Sucks.mp3
a 5 minute dirge from their posthumous 1985 LP Rest in Pain.

Toxic Reasons - War Hero.mp3
The version from their 1982 debut LP Independence

Soulside - War.mp3
a reworking of Bob Marley’s “War”. The lyrics are from this speech by former Ethiopian leader Hailie Selassie I.

I’ll admit I picked up the 1988 debut by Boston’s Bullet LaVolta simply because it was on Taang! While I was initially disappointed that they didn’t play typical metallic hardcore, I soon came to love this release and their full length follow up The Gift. Bullet LaVolta straddled the line between metal, hard rock, melodic punk (for lack of a better term) and big guitar indie rock. Although that may sound like a hellish stew it really worked nicely. The material is chocked with soaring hooks and big melodies which serve to distract from the occasional wanky guitar solo. All in all, Bullet LaVolta crafted a powerful and memorable brand of music.

The tracks below are from the first two releases on Taang!. A second album would be released on RCA in 1991. Swandive was slicker sounding and more rock oriented but still enjoyable. A couple of tracks:

From the 6-song debut 12″
Bullet LaVolta - Baggage.mp3
Bullet LaVolta - Dead Wrong.mp3

From The Gift
Bullet LaVolta - Underground Well.mp3

Round-up:
>> An interview with Bullet LaVolta from Noise for Heroes
>> Buy The Gift

I’ve heard it said that Negative Approach’s 10 song debut 7″ may just be one of the finest moments in American hardcore. Who am I to argue? I put this one on for a listen recently (after reading this) and the majority of this material still smokes. The debut 7″ and the follow up LP Tied Down are both ferocious slabs of quick, no-holds barred hardcore. John Brannon perfected the angry hardcore vocal. All latter day impersonators should be paying royalties to him. In a “less is more” day I’ll get right to the material:

Negative Approach - Can’t Tell No One.mp3
The lead track and an all-time hardcore classic.

Negative Approach - Nothing.mp3
The nihilism of the hardcore movement summed up in under 2 minutes

Negative Approach - Whatever I Do.mp3
A short, sharp blast of negativity.

Notes:

The thing I dig about P2P programs (Soulseek, exclusively) is that they are the modern equivalent of the old practice of swapping tapes. It takes some searching and patience, but once you find the right people the results can be rewarding. The amount of way cool, long gone shit people are willing to swap is amazing. For example: Empty Skulls, a compilation tape of US Hardcore from 1984. I picked up the Empty Skulls Volume 2 - The Wound Deepens comp long ago and began a fruitless search for volume 1. When I found a clean rip on Soulseek I had to get it just to satisfy my old curiosity. 16 bands, 42 tracks all told. My favorite tracks:

Outpatients - G.P.D.mp3
Fast and furious hardcore from western Massachusetts. Bass player Scott Hellend was also in Deep Wound.

CIA - Violence.mp3
HC from Connecticut. pre 76% Uncertain

Out of Order - Concerned.mp3
Rough Chicago hardcore - released a decent lp in 1985 that has been reissued by reissued by Victory

Impact Unit - My Friends The Pit.mp3
Famous for being the first band for Bosstones Dickie Barret. Hyper Boston thrash

No Direction - ????.mp3
Powerful mid-tempo song from this Oklahoma band, but I have no idea on the particulars of the song. Hell, even KFTH has a blank. Info?

Rights Of The Accused - Guns of Youth.mp3
more speedy Chicago hardcore - there’s an unfortunate glitch in this file at the :23 mark, but don’t let that mar the song. Band history over at Punk Vault

N.O.T.A. - Moscow.mp3
Some melodic hardcore from Tulsa’s finest. This track is from the Live at the Crystal Pistol demo.

Other bands of note on the compilation: Corrosion of Conformotity, Stalag 13, and Septic Death