Something I Learned Today

If you like loaded, pounding, repetitive riffs, banshee vocals, and the occasional 9 minute marathon then this is the shit for you. I’m feeling lazy today (today? how about the past two weeks) so I’m going to cut and paste from the wikipedia writeup on Washington state’s noisemongers Karp:

Karp was a rock band from Olympia, Washington, that formed in 1990 and lasted until 1998… Karp managed to mix the terror of hardcore, The Melvins, and Black Sabbath with an ear for pop-influenced song assembly. The band name is inspired from a newsletter/zine that bassist Chris Smith put out in highschool and is an acronym that stands for “Kill All Redneck Pricks”

Karp would release three full lengths (1994’s Mustache Ride, 1996’s Suplex, and 1997’s Self-Titled LP), with a singles comp (Action Chemistry) released in 2001. Bruising, punishing stuff here - one listen to “Bacon Industry” is proof All releases are recommended if this is your thing, Self Titled LP and Action Chemistry are my personal faves. Take a listen:

from Self-Titled LP
Karp - Bacon Industry.mp3
Karp - Bastard in Disguise.mp3
Karp - Spelling Trouble.mp3

from Action Chemistry
Karp - Freighty Cat.mp3
Karp - I’d Rather Be Clogging.mp3

from Mustache Ride
Karp - Flourpus.mp3
Karp - Me Big Mouth.mp3

from Suplex
Karp - Get No Toys.mp3
Karp - Schotzie.mp3

Notes:
** Pic from Karp page@myspace
** Drummer Scott Jernigan died in 2003.

Fulfilling a request I received recently, this is the 1993 compilation Set it On Fire! A Tribute to the Scientists. Man, I used to love these themed based compilations, but at some point it got played out for me. This one is pretty solid, both then and now. At the time it served as both an introduction to many cool bands (Cheater Slicks, Mono Men) as well as a primer on the weird, wild sounds of the Scientists. I actually heard this before I heard any of the Scientists actual releases, prompting me to seek out the Subpop compilation disc Absolute (the only Scientists material readily available in the latter half of the 90’s) . Nowadays, you can (and should) pick up the two Scientists compilations out on SFTRI - Blood Red River and Human Jukebox.

But back to this comp - 12 songs, 12 bands of the noise/garage/trash persuasion originally released on the Dog Meat label out of Australia. There’s alot of hits on this one. My choices here are the Slicks, Mono Men, Mudhoney, and Sugar Shack, but really, there ain’t a stinker in the bunch.

Cheater Slicks - Set it on Fire.mp3
Honeymoon Killers - Murderess in a Purple Dress.mp3
Mono Men - Swampland.mp3
Stump Wizards - Bet Ya Lyin’.mp3
Star Spangled Banana - Frantic Romantic.mp3
Walkingseeds - Nitro.mp3
Mudhoney - We Had Love.mp3
Sugar Shack - Hell Beach.mp3
Vertigo - Pissed on Another Planet.mp3
The Philisteins - Teenage Dreams.mp3
Laughing Hyenas - Solid Gold Hell.mp3
The Sunset Strip - It Must Be Nice.mp3

Essentially a repost of my original Gandhi post from August 2004. A comment on a recent podcast post asked if I had any additional Gandhi tracks, the answer to which is “yes”. Short primer - Gandhi was the Page Hamilton project from 2002-2003 who recorded this 5 track demo. “Enemies” and “Everyone Loves You” ended up on Helmet’s 2004 Size Matters album, while “Money Shot” was later released on the 2006 Helmet release Monochrome. I prefer these versions to the Helmet ones, but I’ll still take Strap It On any day.

Gandhi - Everybody Loves You.mp3
Gandhi - Just Like Me.mp3
Gandhi - Money Shot.mp3
Gandhi - Enemies.mp3
Gandhi - Blacklight.mp3

I’m hoping to find some time next week to get some new (i.e. not reposted) posts up. Shit’s been crazy, here’s one reason why

It doesn’t smack you in the face or hit you over the head, but if you give it long enough eventually Breaking Circus will burrow into your brain like a parasite. Adjectives to describe the din include: terse, sharp, jagged, sinister. Musically akin to Roland from Big Black sitting in with Fly on a Wire era Effigies (that all could be suggested by the common locale of Chicago). Former Strike Under guitarist Steve Bjorklund was the mastermind behind Breaking Circus, releasing The Very Long Fuse in 1985. In ‘86 Bjorklund moved up I-94 to Minneapolis and began working with the Rifle Sport rhytm section of Flour and Todd Trainer. Two more recordings followed in 1987 - the simmering The Ice Machine LP and the 6 song zenith Smoker’s Paradise. Enjoy the beauty of “Knife in the Marathon”, the sharp cut of “Eat Lead”, and everything in between:

from The Very Long Fuse
Breaking Circus - Precision.mp3
Breaking Circus - (Knife in the) Marathon.mp3
Breaking Circus - Christian Soldiers.mp3

from The Ice Machine
Breaking Circus - Song of the South.mp3
Breaking Circus - Took a Hammering.mp3
Breaking Circus - Where.mp3

from Smoker’s Paradise
Breaking Circus - Three Cool Cats.mp3
Breaking Circus - Shockhammer 13.mp3
Breaking Circus - Eat Lead.mp3

It’s been a crazy week between work, home, travel, and feeling sick as a dog. As a result you get more lazy blogging. Found on freesofree.net, the below is a wild sounding live set from the original (and now reformed) line up of Dinosaur Jr recorded in 1989 at the Blue Note in Columbia, MO. The setlist is choice mix of the band’s first three LP’s, heavy on the You’re Living All Over Me material. This is a warts and all recording - the sound drops out on “Bulbs of Passion” and “The Lung” grinds to a halt because of an equipment error - but around “Kracked” the shit kicks into high gear and you’re treated to some mighty Mascis freak outs. This isn’t as crisp a recording as the JayLouMurph live boot from the same time period, but I prefer this for setlist alone. Mega bigness from a band at the top of their game:

Dinosaur Jr - Bulbs of Passion.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - In A Jar.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - The Lung.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Kracked.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - No Bones.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - The Post.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Freak Scene.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Raisans.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Lose.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Tarpit.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Yeah We Know.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Severed Lips>Sludgefeast>Chunks.mp3
Dinosaur Jr - Mountain Man.mp3

I’m feeling pretty lazy today, so I’m just going to point you over to the MP3 page on the Butthole Surfers site. I won’t waste anyones time talking about the ugly lawsuit against Touch & Go, or the fact the band hasn’t released a worthwhile record in close to two decades. I generally liked the bands mid ’80’s material, particularly Psychic PowerLess…Another Man’s Sac and Hairway to Steven. But I loved the late 80’s Double Live “official” bootleg for it’s stripped down presentation of the band. To capture the live Butthole Surfer experience I never got to witness first hand I would drop acid and listen to this album. The first time I heard it on acid I was dumbfounded. The second time, I think I cried when I got to “The One I Love”. Soon thereafter I stopped taking acid. I lost the album after I let a shortlived girlffriend borrow it (I think she dated me just to get the record). Luckily, you can get the whole, expanded edition - 29 tracks in total - direct from the band right here. My favorites are below:

Butthole Surfers - Graveyard.mp3
Butthole Surfers - Florida.mp3
Butthole Surfers - Gary Floyd.mp3
Butthole Surfers - Creep In The Cellar.mp3
Butthole Surfers - I Saw An X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas.mp3
Butthole Surfers - Strawberry.mp3

In my original Hammerhead post I wrote “I’m going to save their albums for future discussion” . Well, 1 year, 10 months, and 18 days later I’m stepping up with the goods. Hammerhead were the shit, my favorite among so many top notch bands in the Amphetamine Reptile stable. The trio of Paul Sanders, Paul Erickson, and Jeff Mooridian got together in Fargo, North Dakota in the ‘89/’90 time frame and evenutally migrated to Minneapolis after cutting their debut LP. 1993’s Ethereal Killer was 33 minutes of edgy, guitar shredding post-hardcore nirvana that I played the shit out of. All 10 tracks are killer, but here are two:

Hammerhead - Blow-by.mp3
Hammerhead - Vegas Incident.mp3

1994’s Into The Vortex was darker, heavier, and more refined. I recall being initially disappointed upon it’s release but now I realize that this is the great step forward. Sanders spews pure bile, a scary thing on a number of these tracks. Erickson’s cuts have a heavy scifi vibe that balances things out. All in all, a masterpiece

Hammerhead - Swallow.mp3
Hammerhead - Brest.mp3

Duh, The Big City was Hammerhead’s finale, and displays the fractures of band coming apart. Sanders left the band at some point before the album was released, and plays on only 8 of the 12 tracks. Erickson played the guitar on the remaining cuts, and the best results, featured below, foretell what was to happen when Erickson and Mooridian regrouped as Vaz.

Hammerhead - Earth (I Won’t Miss).mp3
Hammerhead - Mune.mp3

Notes:
>> Buy Hammerhead releases
>> Rumor of an AmRep singles comp from the man himself
>> Anyone have the mp3’s from Paul Sanders post Hammerhead groups moreRAM and Fly Republic? (I have some of the FR stuff)

Although the news has now become fairly well braodcast on other outlets I still wanted to take a moment to remember Larissa Strickland. Details are sketchy, but Strickland apparently OD’d on Xanax last month. I didn’t know you could do that, but whatever. Strickland was the lead singer in early 80’s Detroit band L-Seven, but is better known as the guitarist for the Laughing Hyenas. Her unique playing style helped define the Hyenas raging noise/blues post “whatever” sound over the course of a dozen years. Noisy and tortured, yet oddly beautiful. Lullaby and Goodnight, Larissa…

L-Seven - Clear Vision.mp3
Laughing Hyenas - Playground.mp3
Laughing Hyenas - Dedications to the One I Love.mp3
Laughing Hyenas - Candy.mp3
Laughing Hyenas - Everything I Want.mp3

Previously posted - L-Seven, “Public Animal #9″, and Covers - Stolen Tapes 92-94

Other tributes:
Metro Weekly page
Punk Vault (Lots of great comments)
Last Days of Man on Earth
Chunklet

Laughing Hyenas Myspace page

I said in the previous post that I would post the Shellac/Mule single if anyone wanted it and I’ll be dipped in shit, a couple of you actually bellied up and said “sure”. So here it is, the split single released in 1997 on “Laff ‘n Go”. One song apiece from Shellac and Mule, previously recorded tracks reworked with a “soul sound”. What does that mean? Nice and mellow, man. Nice and mellow. Not the best representation of each band, but worth a listen:

Songs removed by request of label - material being reissued soon!

If I had known that so many choice blogs would be going belly-up in double time I wouldn’t have started this whole blog obituary thing. So instead, to honor the recently retired Dressed For The H Bomb I’m going to throw out some Mule. You don’t find a lot of PW Long fans out there, so I was much obliged when Malfeitor sent me some rips of Long’s pre-Mule band Wig. Thanks, man. On with the show

So I originally posted about Mule way back in July 2004. Back then I had only a small amount of disk space and transfer, so I was limited to one song per band. Now, with more space and transfer than I’ll ever use I’ll give you some more of one my favorite mid-90’s bands. Hailing from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mule rocked a mix of country, blues, and plain ‘ol ass-kickin’ aggro best described as a “hellish backwoods racket”. I can’t remember who originally penned that description, but it was apt. Mule was propelled by singer/guitarist PW Long’s throaty growl and trebly guitar and the powerful backend of ex-Laughing Hyenas Kevin Munro and Jim Kimball. From 1991 through 1995 Mule delivered 2 albums, 2 singles, and 12″. Their 1993 debut LP is damned near perfect, a fine soundtrack for getting liquored up and causing trouble. 1994 saw the band issue the powerfulWrung 12″ and the more subdued If I Don’t Six. Specific material aside, the common theme here is Mule’s ability to lock on a groove and just rock the shit right out of it. Take a listen for yourself:

From their self-titled LP
Mule - Mississippi Breaks.mp3
Mule - What Every White Nigger Knows.mp3

from Wrung
Mule - We Know You’re Drunk.mp3
Mule - The Rope and the Cuckold.mp3

from If I Don’t Six
Mule - Hayride.mp3
Mule - Pent.mp3

from the I’m Hell single
Mule - I’m Hell.mp3
Mule - To Love Somebody.mp3

Notes: