Something I Learned Today

I have to step away from the PC for the next week or two as my wife will be giving birth to our second child. As you would expect things are going to be hectic. Juggling two kids under two will be a challenge and I don’t see myself wiggling out of the paternal responsibilities until things settle down. In short, the wife has threatened to cut my balls off if she catches me fucking around on the computer. So there you have it. In the interim I’ve decided to link to some old posts that have been “revamped”, so to speak, so you all can kill some time while I attend to things (idea glommed from Agony Shorthand)

Angry Red Planet
The Eat
Gibson Bros.
Youth Youth Youth
The Left
Sado-Nation
Gandhi
Zero Boys
Iron Cross

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Another short entry given the late hour. Like Urban Waste, Heart Attack were part of the first wave of New York City hardcore bands along the lines of The Mob, Kraut, Ism, etc. Heart Attack’s first 7″, 1981’s God Is Dead, is held up as the first real NYC hardcore release. Featuring a teenage Jesse Malin on guitar and vocals, Heart Attack would only manage three releases before dissolving in 1984. In 2001 all of the releases and a couple of demo sessions were released as The Last War. The demo tracks are unremarkable, but this collection is essential in compiling the bands speedy first 7″, the aggro powerhouse Keep Your Distance 12″, and the melodic hardcore of the Subliminal Seduction 12″. All excellent in their individual way. Highlights:

from the God is Dead 7″
Heart Attack - Shotgun.mp3

from Keep Your Distance EP
Heart Attack - Victims Inquisition.mp3

from Subliminal Seduction EP
Heart Attack - Wheels Over Indian Trails.mp3

>> Buy The Last War
>> Heart Attack interview at Dementlieu Punk Archive

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I’ve never been too keen on the whole meme thing. Most of the ones I’ve come across require too much thought to complete coherently (i.e. they would reveal how truly simple I am). Well one year in and I get passed a pretty straightforward one from Jason at Mystery and Misery. So why not?

Total volume of music files on my computer:
The home pc has ~70 GB of music. Surprisingly my work computer has 1.26 GB - much more than I thought. WTF am I doing at work all day?

The last CD I bought was:
Unsane - Blood Run. Despite the long layoff it sounds just as you would expect it to (heavy and evil)

Song playing right now:
“American Cancer” by the Evil Queens. (you can download track on their music page)

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

Mission of Burma - That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate.mp3
the closing track from Vs. sounds so different than the rest of the album, but who cares? A great little punk rock song that I associate with some fond memories.

Dinosaur Jr. - The Lung.mp3
I remember being blown away when I first heard Dinosaur on the radio way back when. I ran out and bought You’re Living All Over Me and was very pleased. For some reason this song always makes me think of warm spring days. Which is nice.

Replacements - Can’t Hardly Wait.mp3
an outtake from the Tim sessions that was included in the largely useless “best of” compilation All for Nothing… An underappreciated anthem that always strikes a chord with me.

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance.mp3
I still have difficulty listening to Pere Ubu in anything more than small doses. When I do listen “The Modern Dance” is usually the first track played. I’ve always loved the way the sound just washes over you, and you can almost ignore David Thomas’ yelping.

Subhumans - Susan.mp3
this one used to get me all teared up. Luckily the team of medical professionals that keep me alive were able to get the medications all balanced out and now I feel nothing when I listen to this. I must be dead on the inside.

This was originally called “Five people to whom I’m passing the baton” but after realizing that these things really do kinda suck I figured I would remove any sense of obligation to continue this thing and just refer to this as
6 people whose sites I really enjoy and make a point to read daily:
Scott at Strange Reaction
Keith at Data Jockey
Tim at Disassemblyline
G at Sex Kittens Compare Scratches
Jim H at Vinyl Mine
Emerson at Old Punks

Do check them out if you haven’t already. Please, no more death threats.

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photo coutesy GSL

Anyone who has been reading these tortured ramblings for awhile knows I have a strong affinity for the “Noise Rock” sounds of the ’90’s. One of my all-time favorites was the Minneapolis godhead trio Hammerhead. After the demise of Hammerhead in 1997 bassist Paul Erickson (aka Apollo Liftoff) and drummer Jeff Mooridian (aka Deft Garlands ) carried on as a two-piece under the moniker of Vaz. Their two albums ( 2000’s Demonstrations in Micronesia and 2003’s Dying To Meet You) are both crammed with tracks featuring spaced out riffs, scifi lyrics and sleepy, low key vocals. It all adds up to some dense, moody material. Creepy (in a good way) stuff.

Currently operating out of Brooklyn, Vaz have recently added a third member, Adam Mark, on guitar. They have also finished recording their third album which will hopefully be out some time in the near future. A couple of my favorites:

from Demonstrations in Micronesia
Vaz - Blocked By Satellites.mp3
Vaz - Forgotten Classic.mp3

from Dying To Meet You
Vaz - Blue Lip Special.mp3
Vaz - Freon Suite #2.mp3

>> Buy Demonstrations in Micronesia from Load Records
>> Buy Dying To Meet You from Gold Standard Labs
>> Official Vaz homepage
>> Grunnenrocks Vaz page

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I’ll begin with what has seemingly become the default introduction to so many of these posts on this site: “There doesn’t appear to be a great deal of information on ‘insert band name here’. Here is what I know…”. Todays fill in the blank is Connecticut hardcore band CIA. I find myself still enjoying the music of CIA and fellow Connecticut bands Vatican Commandos, Seizure and Reflex From Pain. I don’t know if it is a function of geographic location, but so many of these bands were able to deliver some solid music sans the militancy and thuggery of the bigger scenes north and south along the I-95 corridor. (NY and Boston) CIA’s debut 7″ God, Guts, Guns is fine example of hardcore circa 1983. 6 tracks full of hectic, big guitar, no bullshit tuneage. After this release the guitarist and vocalist would leave to form 76% Uncertain. CIA continued on with new recruits to release an LP that, while not bad, didn’t really deliver on the potential of the 7″. A couple of tracks:

from God, Guts, Guns 7″
CIA - Who Cares & Death.mp3
CIA - Love and War.mp3
CIA - No Thrills.mp3

and for illustration purposes heres one from CIA LP released in 1985
CIA - Red Coats.mp3

As far as I know this is all out of print. Correct me if I’m wrong.

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This past week (May 18th to be exact) marked the 25th anniversary of the suicide of Ian Curtis. Here we are a quarter century later and the influence of Joy Division can still be heard in various dosages dubbed as the newest and freshest sounds of modern music. Each phase of Joy Division’s short career has seemingly left a mark, from the early post-punk sounds of Warsaw through to the dark and desolate soundscapes of Closer. While all of the bands below are “guitar” bands the material runs the gamut of the Joy Division catalog. (though earlier is more prominent, sure) In the realm of Joy Division covers I know of at least one tribute, A Means To An End, which I have not heard it in it’s entirety. Curious as to who has covered the band? Here is what looks to be a pretty detailed list of known JD covers. In my collection:

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from 2003’s Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains
New Bomb Turks - The Drawback.mp3 

from 1998’s When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again
Bassholes - Interzone.mp3

a demo version. Appears in more polished form on Grippe
Jawbox - Something Must Break.mp3

from Wine is Red, Poison is Blue
Poison 13 - Warsaw.mp3

from the Destruction of Squaresville singles comp
Jack O’ Fire - No Love Lost.mp3

from 1994’s Mystery of Kustomized
Kustomized - Dead Souls.mp3

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So, which of your JD favorites did I miss? I should note that when I originally thought this up a couple of weeks ago I had planned on including the Effigies version of “No Love Lost”. I substituted the Jack O’ Fire version instead 

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So is anyone going to the 5th annual Horizontal Action Blackout in Chicago? Shows started last night and continue tonight and tomorrow. Should be cool, what with the Pagans, Reigning Sound, Bad Times, Gris Gris, and others performing. Wish I could go. Ah, to be young and unfettered with obligations

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Now here’s a couple from some blokes you can trust. Australia’s Cosmic Psychos come across as a couple of regular fellers whose primary obligation now is to their day jobs and family. When they are playing music however you’ll be treated to some solid 3-chord aggro thats full of fuzzy, distorted bass and acidic guitar riffs. And while they haven’t released a new album in close to 8 years, (1997’s Oh, What A Lovely Pie is the last)they have been known to play the occasional gig or even head over to the US and Europe for a small tour (it has been awhile though) Allmusic has a detailed and seemingly accurate overview of the band. Check it out here. As far as I can tell the band releases (on SubPop and AmRep) are still available. If you can find it, 2001’s retrospective 15 Years, A Million Beers is a fine place to start. Give us some wah-wah, dirty:

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from 1995’s Self-Totaled
Cosmic Psychos - Thank Your Mother For The Rabbits.mp3

from 1991’s Blokes You Can Trust
Cosmic Psychos - Hooray Fuck.mp3

from the US version of 1989’s Go The Hack
Cosmic Psychos - Can’t Come In (live).mp3

from the bands 1985 debut Down on the Farm
Cosmic Psychos - Custom Credit.mp3
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>> Buy Cosmic Psychos releases from Froogle
>> GrunnenRocks has the discography
>> Vinyl Mine has a splendid writeup on the Psychos from last fall

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Social Unrest were an early hardcore band from the East Bay area (Hayward, CA. to be specific). Despite some lineup changes the band produced a solid body of work between 1981 and 1988 ( A full band history can be found here). For me the best work is that of the original lineup: 1981’s Making Room For Youth 7″ and 1982’s Rat In A Maze 12″. “Making Room For Youth” is a punk rock classic with it’s burning guitar and anthemic vocals. “Rush Hour” is a notch below but still solid. Rat In A Maze takes a more hardcore approach by shaking up the tempos and chunking up the guitar. The band would subsequently change vocalists and go on to release 3 albums of increasingly melodic material from 1985 to 1988. Sometime in the 90’s New Red Archives reissued everything on two CD’s.

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from Making Room For Youth
Social Unrest - Making Room For Youth.mp3
Social Unrest - Rush Hour.mp3

from Rat In A Maze
Social Unrest - Red, White, and Blue.mp3
Social Unrest - Thinking of Suicide.mp3
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>> Buy Social Unrest releases

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Penelope Spheeris‘ Decline of Western Civilization was one of the first “punk rock” films I ever saw, and still remains one of my favorites nearly 25 years after it’s initial release. Filmed in 1980, Decline… offers a view of the Los Angeles punk scene in one of it’s more exciting periods. Live footage is interspersed with interviews with the bands, prominent scene players, and regular punk rock kids. The highlight is the music, featuring performances from X, Circle Jerks, Germs, Alice Bag, Catholic Discipline. The Black Flag and Fear sets are particularly hot.

The soundtrack was originally released on Slash, but was reissued on CD by Rhino a couple of years ago. At this point it appears it has slipped out of print again. As for the movie itself, I’ve heard rumors that it will eventually be available as part of a 3 disc box (containing DOWC parts 2 and 3), but who knows when that will happen.

I’ve left the tracks “as is”, which means they may have some sound clips (interviews) from the movie :

Black Flag - Depression.mp3
Germs - Manimal.mp3
X- Johnny Hit and Run Paulene.mp3
Circle Jerks - Back Against The Wall.mp3
Alice Bag Band - Gluttony.mp3
Fear - I Don’t Care About You.mp3

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