Drug Punk

Mystery Ship-S/t EP (2012)

2012-03-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Back when I was a teenage wasteoid punkrocker, I hated classic rock, to the point of yelling at friends who liked Led Zeppelin when we'd get drunk. But with age comes wisdom, they say, or in any case maybe more self-consciousness. Somewhere around 20, when I started smoking weed, I decided Neil Young was a'ight, and since then I've even been known to countenace "Immigrant Song" on the jukebox.

Enter Seattle's Mystery Ship, a buncha dudes blasting out unpretentious good times rock. What immediately leaps out at you when the needle drops is the watertight song construction: the guitars are perfectly in tandem, the vocals phrased just right, and the rhythm section is solid (Tripp's drumwork demonstrating just how important tight drumming is to a band's overall sound).

"Lady from Alexandria" is built around a massive guitar lead and lockstep drumming, with Alex singing about, uh, scientists, I think...they are called Mystery Ship, after all. It's the guitars that set this apart, with the bridges worthy of Sabbath.

"Medusa" is more heavy rock, swaggering along while Alex completely nails the Neil Young tone. "Wide Eyed Girl" is my favorite song here: a driving, old-time rock 'n' roll raveup perfect for arrhythmically dancing around your room in an alcoholic daze, while "King Frong Blues" goes in for heavily baked electric blues.

Most of the music I listen to doesn't come close to the production quality and songwriting capabilities of this EP, which is all the more impressive since it's a DIY release.

Check out Mystery Ship if you're in the Northwest; if not, listen to EP, and get a copy, here!

Crimson Scarlet-Sanctuary 7" (2011)

2012-03-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

The idea of a goth punk band like Crimson Scarlet hailing from Santa Barbara is wildly implausible-isn't it too nice out for the black rain jackets, most of the year?

Whatever, Crimson Scarlet cruises through two tracks of crisp, well-constructed death rock/goth/whateverthefuck on this 7". I'm not really an expert on the genre-really, the Mob is where it starts and ends for me-but the record's a good argument for quality over quantity: "Sanctuary" has a driving, catchy surf riff, and "Two Kinds of Red" goes in for a dirge-y somnolence that for some reason reminds me of Southern Death Cult, despite the female vox.

Fans of Cemetery will prolly dig this album, which you can hear and buy here.

Jimmy Files-The Nazz LP (2011)

2012-03-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Birmingham, Alabama's Jimmy Files drops eleven tracks that vary wildly on this, I believe his first, outing. Opening with a churning, crunching bit of garage hiss ("Low Lane"), the album shapes up a bit on "sad eyes," with identifiable guitar lines and an offbeat rhythm. "Sad Buddha" showcases the synth-ier end of the album: droning, distorted guitar notes hum around synth yawnings and muttered asides that are indecipherable.

The second half of the album feels like a series of half-sketched ideas, with pulsing beats and thoroughly trashed distortion everywhere. "Alien Kids" is the best track here, with a coherent rhythm (as in, it sounds like it's trying to fall apart), and sort of reminds me of Horrible Houses. "Be a Lover!" is, frankly, self-indulgent acoustic wankery.

Overall, there's some interesting stuff on here, and if you're into the sort of lo-fi scuzz frequent on Drug Punk, you'll prolly dig it. Peeps it here.

Alone and Forsaken X: It's not funny anymore.

2012-02-28T19:24:00.001-08:00

*Edit, 3-1-12: I fixed the mediafire link, it should work now.*

*Obligatory preface where I apologize for not posting any of the music that's piled up in my inbox, and promise to post new stuff soon. Life's a killer, y'dig?*

We're at the tenth installment in the Alone & Forsaken mixtape series, which either means I'm an industrious little fella, or that my life hasn't taken a noticeable turn for the better, can't decide which. Hoohaw, whatever, here ya go.

1. Iggy & the Stooges-Search and Destroy
2. Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers-Born to Lose
3. Husker Du-59 Times the Pain
4. Kitchen's Floor-Lander
5. Flipper-Ever
6. The Repos-Half a Hole
7. Cold Sweat-Fuck the Flock
8. Loser Life-Hating the Sun
9. Rancid-the Bottle
10. Jawbreaker-Jinx Removing
11. Royal Headache-Girls
12. The Observers-Down on Today
13. Leatherface-Not Superstitious

Drosofile-Mal b/w "Your Roberts" 7" (2011)

2012-02-22T14:29:00.002-08:00

"I was a teenage zombie...." pt 5 (in a semi-occasional series)

"Waddaya wanna be around other people for? Most of 'em suck anyways...."-barfly friend of Lester Bangs

For those of you who haven't figured it out by reading this blog regularly, I like getting drunk. A lot. As many of you know, getting wasted often involves a dizzying low at the end of the night.

Last week's dizzying low consisted of lurching mindlessly around a disgusting bar while Fear's "I love Living in the city" blasted on the PA. I had been drinking cheap beer all night, but then my caveman of a friend convinced me to take a few shots of vodka with him.

At this point, things spun out of control and everything morphed into a spiraling torrent of burbling shit, with lights blinking around me, peoples' words turning into ritualistic incantations of impending doom, and the music losing all rhythm and becoming a grey sludge of dissonance. After stumbling away from the girl I've been sweet on for three months, mumbling "water...gurgle...beer...gurgle....call me...gurgle...," I ended the night puking on my friend's front lawn. I think I killed his flowers.

This two-song EP from Gay Par-ee may in fact have been what they started playing at the bar after I drank that vodka: relentlessly churning, miserable, frustrated, stupid and self-destructive noise that sticks in your brain and refuses to leave except via a bowel movement. Obvious references are Brainbombs and Billy Bao, and I might like Drosofile almost as much as Brainbombs...

Also, there's something massively appropriate to the songs being sung in French: it just makes the scenes of debauched hell more believable, I guess. It also reminds me of the all-time champion of Francophone punk, Kickboy Face. The spiralling, record-stuck-on-repeat guitar chord(s) of "Your Roberts" is the coolest thing I've heard all week. Sounds like the whistle a bomb makes on its plummet target-ward.

Enjoy here, fuckers. SDZ Records, the people responsible for this atrocity, live here.

Crude Thought-Demo

2012-02-21T10:26:00.003-08:00

I just had the extreme pleasure of seeing this band play live. Generally speaking, if there's a bill full of bands you really like, the one that you don't know will either be a soundtrack to another cigarette or an out-of-left-field surprise that flips your shit. Seeing Olympia's Crude Thought fell solidly into the latter category. This is fucked up, bad attitude hardcore wrestling with a bad trip. It's fucking brilliant.

The show was a rager. I have yet to see any show that involves Hysterics (who are on tour with Crude Thought) not be a rager, so no surprises there. But the true standout of the show, and the band that I cant' seem to stop talking about, is Crude Thought. I picked up a tape copy of their demo, whose Youtube reproduction is below. This is, of course, the most alienated and degenerate method for experiencing something truly outstanding. Go get your head rocked by these fools live and then pick up a tape and be happy. I'm fucking happy.

Thorir Georg-Januar CS (2011)

2012-02-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

February is always the worst month of the year for me. It's dark, cold, all the holidays are over and, generally, it's a great time for unproductively stewing in your own misery. At some point after New Year's, Joy Div and Prurient monopolize the turntable....so this was utterly appropriate for President's Day weekend: cold, remote synth blues from Reykjavik.

After a track of dissonant, humming ambient drone, Georg segues into "Skiptir Engu," an eye-opener mingling relentlessly strummed acoustic guitar and a shuffling drum beat. It manages the difficult trick of sounding glum and uplifting at the same time. That's the paradox of this album as a whole: this is bleak, bitter music coming from lonely place, but there are glimmers of light strewn throughout the gloom.

The album alternates ambient interludes with pulsing, synth-driven tracks fleshed out by distorted guitar and Georg's hollow, frigid vocals. I don't know what Georg's singing about, but I get the feeling that I wouldn't understand it even if I spoke Icelandic: the vocals are mixed deep beneath the drums and guitar, so it sounds as if Georg is singing from the bottom of the sea. The sound is of a man attempting, desperately, to communicate some sort of inner anguish, and failing, but resolutely trying again. The best track is "Ekki Vita," which floats along in crystalline slow motion: a hovering beat and hollowed out synth notes punctuate Georg's lost words.

It's not perfect, of course. The ambient interludes break up the natural cohesion of the synth tracks, and don't add much in recompense. Nevertheless, this is a dark, complex album that cheers you up instead of leaving you stewing in your misery.

Check out Georg's tumblr page, where you can download "Januar," here.

Acid Kicks-Live at Sick City EP

2012-02-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

Philly's Acid Kicks rang in the new year with a sweet live set at the Silk City. This set features songs off the self-titled EP, as well as some sick unreleased stuff.

If you liked the EP I posted back in September, you'll dig this: deep, heavy bass riffs and sepulchral vox...hot shit.

Listen to, and then buy, it here.

Grazhdanskaya Oborona-Everything is going according to plan LP (1988)

2012-02-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

If you don't know who Grazhdanskaya Oborona is by now, you haven't been paying attention.

My favorite GrOb album is probably 1985's Optimizm, but this one has one of Egor Letov's best compositions, "Everything is going according to plan," the album's eponymous track, while Egor really croons it outta the park on track six.

The album downloads with Cyrillic songtitles, but a friend was kind enough to translate 'em for me-if some of the song titles sound strange, don't be suprised, I think they're colloquial Russian.
Big ups to Vaslav the Red for translating!

According to plan//Download!
Latinized/translated song titles:
1. Prologue
2. Which sky?
3. System (as in, "fuck the system!")
4. Judas will be in Heaven
5. Your own shit doesn's stink
6. Keep on keepin' on
7. Someone got lucky
8. Society Memory (Vaslav says this was the name of an Russian ultra-nationalist group formed during the USSR's dissolution)
9. Noodle
10. Second Echelon
11. A person is a wolf to other people
12. Forest
13. Suicide
14. The state
15. One time
16. Everything is going according to plan
17. Final
18. That's what kind of sky!

Raspberry Bulbs-Finally Burst demo (2009)

2012-02-10T20:58:00.002-08:00

"I was a teenage zombie..." pt. 4 (in an occasional series)
Two (unrelated) stories.
The first time I traveled abroad was to Athens, Greece in 2006. Not knowing what ouzo was, I drank half a fifth of this foul liquorice-flavored Greek 151 my first night there. After stumbling around the tourist-trap areas of the town for a few hours, I passed out in a puddle of my own vomit somewhere near the Choreigic monument, and woke up to find a junkie trying to lift my (empty) wallet. When confronted, he mumbled some nonsense about trying to "get clean in Thessaloniki...." and scurried off.

The first and only time I had a house party as a highschooler was a beautiful disaster. We went through a few cases of Mickey's, godknowshowmuch weed and other downers, and generally destroyed my parents' house. I was prodded awake at 8 am the next day by a friend whispering, 'dude. The cops are outside.' Thinking this some cruel joke, I staggered to the door and was confronted by Chicago's finest. Some asshole had filed a missing persons report on one of the party's denizens, and said delinquent had been tracked to my house...there are good ways and bad ways to spend a June afternoon, and a particularly bad way is to be sitting in a CPD detainment cell 'cause one of your friends is too stupid to call home once a week.

Raspberry Bulbs is as stupid as both those stories were, but with a certain majesty only a member of Bone Awl could possibly bring to stupidity. If stories of my youthful adventures didn't sell you on this garagemetal piece of brilliance, then nuts to you!

Raspberry Bulbs lives here.

Opus Null-Vas Nepe EP (2011)

2012-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

I should start this review by apologizing to Opus Null for taking so goddam long to post this....life has a way of kicking you in the ass when you think you're gettin' ahead, y'dig?

This is the second Opus Null release to grace Drug Punk's pages, and it's a marked improvement. Their demo felt like an energetic but sloppy gesture at first-wave LA punk (that's my main reference point for synth-driven punk-aficionados of the history of Hungarian punk, contact me). This is a lot more polished, in a good way. The album opens with a spaced out synth bit ("Prologus") that throws you off balance for the second tune, a mixture of desperate, churning hardcore and shambolic good-times rock.
The rest of the songs showcase a similar mixture of influences, making good use of synthesizers to offset the 1-2, 1-2-3-4 thrash parts.

This still feels like a demo, but there's a great debut 7" lurking in Opus Null's sound, and they deserve international attention.
Really, this is a shitty review that doesn't do justice to the band, so I'm gonna wrap this up by saying that this is a good collection of tunes, so check it out!

For shows, release info, et. al., go here.

Pink Reason interview

2012-02-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

Pink Reason needs no introduction to Drug Punk readers, and as it happens, I'm terrible with introductions. Anyways, Kevin Failure was gracious enough to do an interview with me via email in January, and these are the results. All pictures taken by Kevin on Pink Reason's 2011 European tour.

Drug Punk [DP]: 2011 was an eventful year for you-a full European tour, the first album in several years, marriage, and a child. What’s the future look like for you, and Pink Reason?

Kevin Failure [KF]: I find it difficult to predict specifics with accuracy, but I'd guess that the future of the band will by and large resemble its past. I don't really work in a linear way. I'm usually working on multiple projects at any given time, which are all in varying stages of "completion." I plan on releasing at least a couple different things in 2012. One is an album that a friend and I have been working on in my basement the past couple of months. I've also been planning on going to the studio soon with the band to record a 7" any day now. My buddy Harry Howes, who runs Last Laugh and Almost Ready and I are gonna be releasing future Pink Reason records on Savage Quality.

Other than that, I've been noticing a lot of gray hairs lately.

DP: Most of the reviews I’ve read of “Shit in the Garden” reference Joy Division

as an influence-what were you listening to when making the album? Did it

effect the album’s sound?

KF: Well, that album was recorded over a period of like six years, so, I listened to a lot of music during that time. Not much Joy Division, though I love the band.

I don't think what I'm listening to at any particular time has much direct relation to what I record. But who knows, really? I'm as inspired by Neil Young as I am the Minutemen, or Axemen, or Dead Moon.

It'd be easier for me to explain the events and circumstances that influenced the album, but I figure people can just listen to the album themselves for that.

DP: What were some highlights and ruts of your European tour? I heard you spent some time in jail in Berlin...

KF: Yeah, but that was not one of the highlights. I did spend fourteen days in Moabit maximum security prison in Berlin. The facility was used by the Gestapo in the 1930s, so it was kind of like a very realistic museum. I guess in some parts of Eastern Europe you can pay money to experience a re-enactment of arrest and interrogation by the Stasi or KGB. It's like a twisted amusement ride or something. In fact, I was sent a quite a hefty bill myself afterward. In the end, it would have been cheaper to stay in a hostel.

Considering the tour was over two and a half months long, and that I was traveling for all but a couple weeks of it alone and by train, I could easily fill a book with memorable experiences. Far and away the happiest moments for me were back in Russia where I was able to visit with my family there. These are not blood relatives, but the family that took me in as their son, brother and nephew there. It was very emotional for me.

The last night I was back in Kurgan, my buddy Denis, whose family I had lived with there, got ahold of our friend Lyosha. Denis, Lyosha and I played together in a band called Anastasia (Anesthesia) and I played my first show with them in a village outside Kurgan in '92. It was my first time seeing Lyosha in twenty years. After a nice dinner and drinks we gathered with our friend Pasha by the river that ran along the outskirt of town. Our parents used to scold us for swimming there when we were kids, because it was so polluted but nobody swims there now. We had some bottles of booze, and an acoustic guitar and did as young men in Russia tend to do when drinks have been poured and there is an acoustic guitar around and we sang songs. I had to catch a plane to Moscow the next morning, but we slept through the alarm and had to drive all the way to Tyumen (home of the great Chernozem - a great Russian punk band that features former members of Yanka's Great Octobers) to catch the only other flight that day from that region of Siberia to Moscow. That evening I went out by myself to the Victor Tsoi Wall (Memorial site for the late singer of Kino) off Novoi Arbat and drank by myself until I got tired, went back to my friend's house and in the morning stopped by the statue of Mayakovsky to say good bye to my spiritual homeland. Spilled plenty of tears along the way.

DP: Any favorite cities to play, in Europe or the States? I’ve heard that

Budapest has a pretty good garage scene going, what was the show like

there?

KF: Budapest was great! I spent a week there and it left a pretty deep impression on me. I had some shows fall through in the Ukraine, so I wrote my contact in Budapest and asked about coming by early. I took a night train from Krakow, Poland to Budapest and he met me in the train station. On the way back to him and his fiance's flat, we stopped at a little bar called Mister Beer, which was a good sign, since back in the day in GB [Green Bay, Wisconsin], the boys and I used to drink Meister Brau since it was only five bucks a twelver at the gas station down the street, and after a few of 'em we'd often convince whoever was around that Meister Brau was German for Mister Beer. Good times. And I had plenty in Budapest as well. I felt very much at home and bonded pretty deeply with many of the people I met there. I met one guy who during the mid-80's, as a young punk, forged a passport, hopped a train across the border and made his way to the US where he applied for political asylum and became a US citizen. I was also able to do a lot of research there and had the chance to interview the singer of QSS who were part of the first wave of Hungarian hardcore. Great musical history there. Beautiful place. Amazing people.

Prepotto, Italy was another great place to play. I'm not sure I've ever played one that could come close to top it, experience-wise. The venue itself was a small family restaurant built on the side of a mountain overlooking Slovenia. It was solar-powered, there were horses wandering free and young children running around. The concert was a benefit for legal expenses incurred by all those gathered when the region elected a right wing government who destroyed their community space/concert venue/art studio/hostel they had run for years. Everyone who came - and there were about thirty or so adults in their mid-30's to mid-40's - donated thirty euros to the cause and were provided with literally the most amazing meal I've ever had in my life. Several courses of the most amazing and delicious home made food ever. Gnocchi, salads, steaks and a never ending supply of homemade wine as well, and this was supposed to be the best region for wine in the country. Amazing. Magick. It was so fucking inspiring and proved right everything I believe in regarding DIY.

As far as the States are concerned. I like Miami a lot. Lafayette, IN is fun too because I got good friends there who care, and they're down for the cause.

DP: Were you able to get much research done for your prospective book on

Soviet-era punk? Did you make any contacts in other former Iron Curtain

countries?

KF: I did learn quite a bit along the trip. I'm still figuring out how to apply the knowledge to something useful, and while a book might realistically be a ways away still, I have been writing about punk rock and dissident culture in Eastern Europe. Best way to find out more is to check out the zine Overdosing In Republican World. That's how I'm currently disseminating my writing.

DP: On that note, do you have any sense of what the underground music scene is

like in Russia, these days? Has the growing dissatisfaction with Putin’s

autocracy generated any sort of cultural response?

KF: While I'm a bit embarrassed and ashamed to admit it, I do not know as much as I would like to about what's currently happening music-wise in Russia. I do know some, but not enough to comment with any confidence. I will continue to strengthen the connections I made there this last time and learn more about what's going on now. You should be able to look to the zine in the future for more on that as well.

I can't really comment on what's going right now in reaction to Putin either. Unfortunately, I haven't had much contact with my friends over there since my return and it's often very difficult to get an accurate picture of what's going on, just by watching the news. I think there is a lot of dissatisfaction, but what it means, what it will lead to and whatever else is really hard to say. I think a lot of people don't care for Putin, but I don't know there is someone else they would prefer either. Same shit that's happening all around the world.

DP: Have you ever felt hounded or trapped by your past-in the sense that your

audience, or critics/reviewers, want to frame your work solely in terms of

your well-known, youthful adventures?

KF: If that happens, it's my fault. I like stories. It's a family thing. Both sides. I got a big mouth. My grandpa always said "If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit!"

DP: One sound I’ve heard echoed on some of your work (especially the “Cleaning

the Mirror” material) is Songs:Ohia. Are you familiar with Jason Molina’s

work?

KF: A friend of mine years ago thought the same thing about those same recordings, and made me a mixtape with the song “Two Blue Lights” on it, which I am very fond of. I've never seen any of his records in stores.

DP: I’ve always considered your work to be folk music in a certain sense, but I

doubt most of us were expecting the extended banjo solo of "You canít Win."

How’d that come about?

KF: You mean on "I Just Leave?" That's all banjo on that song, and I play a solo on it. I recorded that song in Lafayette about four years ago. The kids from TV Ghost had pretty much taken over this girl's stepmother's house when the parents were out of state for an extended period. Everyone was like squatting there, trashing it while partying all the time and the girl's dad had a bunch of acoustic instruments like banjos, acoustic bass and stuff like that. I ended up holing up in the basement one day when everyone else was upstairs and recorded that song using all acoustic instruments and no guitars. Doesn't sound like it though. “You Can't Win” has banjo on it too, but no solo. That's the oldest song on Shit In The Garden and was recorded during the same period in Milwaukee in '04 as “Slate Train” and “Up The Sleeve.” My buddy lent me his computer to record with, and I just used whatever instruments I could find, which is why “Slate Train” has a broken toy guitar I found in someone's trash and “You Can't Win” has that 'lil flute solo - I found a plastic recorder in a dumpster. The banjo and mandolin belonged to people in the neighborhood.

DP: What’s the song “Winona” about? Any particular experiences along the

Mississippi that it memorializes?

KF: I used to go to shows in Winona[, Minnesota] in the 90s at Holzinger's Lodge. Shit was always insane. Kids there were cool. I became friends with the dudes from the Lushworkers. A few years later my band Hatefuck went to play a show there, and it was real gnarly. It was an outlaw show, and the kids just jacked the power using a bolt cutter to remove the lock. There was a three legged dog. Little kids with mohawks. Dude's huffin' JB Weld. Everyone shit faced. Train hoppers and drunk punks. People hanging from the rafters. Fights. It was pretty much heaven.

After the show, some of the kids involved in setting up the shows approached us and our buddies in Hell On Earth, who had each gotten paid three bucks, and asked us if we wanted to chip in on a barrel of beer. We said sure, and we gave them all the money we had. Someone led us to Latch Island, which is on the Mississippi between WI and MN and I guess was a kind of [a] legal no man's land where during the 70's all these people built houses on pontoons out on the water and started a kind of alternative community. They had some hassles and a kind of legal standoff at some point, but they're legit now I guess, or about as legit as that kinda place can get. It's about as gnarly as that show was, in its own way. Anyway, the kids dumped us off there, said they'd be back soon to take us to a party, but they just ditched us all. It was beautiful. A cosmic joke. As my old buddy Shaun Failure would say "Punk means never having to say you're sorry!"

DP: Any future recordings or US tours planned? You're living in Columbus these

days, right? What's the scene like there?

KF: I'm sure I'll eventually make the rounds of the states again. I don't know when. Got other priorities at the moment. Columbus is alright. It's low key. I can see the Cheater Slicks any month of the year, at least once, usually. I dig that. Decent record stores. My drummer Rich lives in the house behind me, and our bass player Shawn lives a couple blocks away. My favorite place to play in town is close enough that we've walked all our gear down there before. I don't really have to worry about anyone judging our performance because I can't remember the last time we played to more than five people here. It's pretty nice. I haven't been super stoked on anything going on here lately, but it comes in waves. There's a good foundation here, powerful traditions and I'm guessing shit is gonna start livining up around spring.

Congenital Death-demo CS (2011)

2012-02-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

Philadelphia's Congenital Death blasts out seven originals and a DRI cover ("Couch Slouch") on this demo tape. I'm quite out of tune with this end of the punk scene, so I can't give much context for 'em.

They sound, however, like the bands I used to listen to when I had a skateboard: DRI (duh), Siege, Thulsa Doom. Fast, tight instrumental sections with a screeching vocalist who may or may not have hit puberty yet (Heresy, eatcher heart out). I basically divide bands in this genre into two groups: those who can actually pull off the stop-on-a-dime instrumental time changes, and those who can't. Congenital Death is in the former category, and it's a pretty good demo. I don't have a lyric sheet in front of me (left it at the office, go figure), but I think they're singing about, uh, politics and lifestyle choices.

Anyway, pretty good stuff, and worth a spin, which you can do here. Pick up the tape over at Ranch Records. Congenital Death is playing Smash it Dead Fest in March, so check it out if you're in the Boston area-from what I understand it's a benefit for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC).

Amstetten Bedroom Punk-vxcfsxa

2012-02-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this is a joke. I don't know if most people would like this (well, that's a lie. Most people would hate it). I don't know if you wanna read this.

I do know that this is the sort of stupid, pseudo-surf-noise I like to listen to when I get home at the end of the night, and am stuck in a limbo between stimulants and downers. I do know that those of you who like your surfiness mixed in with some pulsing noise, but are a bit too stoned to get into Brainbombs' groove, will dig this.

Atrociousnoiseholocaust.

That is all. Stay tuned for a Pink Reason interview, Hermanestra, Acid Kicks live, et. al. reviews. Y'know y'want it.

Alone & Forsaken IX: She talks to rainbows

2012-02-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Whenever possible, I'm gonna end every mix themed around crushes with a Raincoats song.

1. Heavy Times-Good Looker
2. The Brat-Swift Moves
3. The Vaselines-Rory Rides me Raw
4. Bass Drum of Death-I Could Never be Your Man
5. Ramones-I Wanna be your Boyfriend
6. Dead Moon-Can't Help Falling in Love
7. Elvis Costello-Sneaky Feelings
8. (Young) Pioneers-Port Authority Goodbyes
9. Jawbreaker-Do You Still Hate Me?
10. Husker Du-Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill
11. Black Tambourine-For Ex-Lovers Only
12. Electralane-The Greater Times
13. Beach House-Gila
14. The Raincoats-In Love

Dig it....or else.

The Band in Heaven-s/t 7" (2012)

2012-02-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

The Band in Heaven's at it again, this time with a proper vinyl release of their "Seven Minutes in Heaven" material by Hozac Rex. The first two songs should be familiar to Drug Punk readers-I posted on the Seven Minutes in Heaven tape a few months ago. The third one, "Sludgy Dreams," is a sorta chopped 'n' skrewed remake of "Sleazy Dreams."

Since the first two songs have already been released, the question is whether the alternate take on "Sleazy Dreams" warrants buying the record. I'd say yes, especially if the "Seven Minutes" EP is outta print. It's completely different, indeed, a slogging, fogged out concoction whereas "Sleazy Dreams" felt like a sick mixture of garage and industrial. Slowed down to sludge metal levels, the song floats in a syrupy haze, with the vocals taking on a mantra quality.

But don't take my word for it, check out "Sludgy Dreams" via the faintly disturbing video BIH just dropped: "Sludgy Dreams."

Cop the 7" from Hozac, or via the Band in Heaven's bandcamp page.

Kent State/At the Heart of the World split CS (2012)

2012-01-31T12:44:00.000-08:00

Wrapping up the Kent State tape series, this one features Bodymore, Murdaland's At the Heart of the World. You really need to be on different drugs to dig the two sides: I'd recommend booze and weed for KS, but break out the Valium and 'shrooms for ATHOTW.

The Kent State tunes veer away slightly from the shoegaze bent of the previous two tapes, in favor of the jangle-pop displayed on the Walk Through Walls EP. "Past Lives" is wasted fuzz pop, while "Last Meal" sounds like something that one of the original Slumberland Rex bands coulda made. I wanna say that Nick's going in a Brianjonestownmassacre direction with "Big Iron Door:" chanted vocals, maracas, lightly-strummed acoustic guitar, etc.

At the Heart of the World is quite a departure from the Kent State side, and the split tape series as a whole. Instead of Nirvana worship (Airlooms) or orchestral dream pop (Doleful Lions), we get three chunks of vicious, sadistic noise a la peopling or Dominick Fernow's various maladies. I don't dig this stuff too much these days-turns out it's a bad idea to embrace one's inner demons-but I like these three crunching, lurching slabs of disgust with humanity. I think that the three songs are remixes or alternate takes on the same programming.

Dig it here, dear fux.

Bad Indians-The Path Home 7" (2011)

2012-01-28T13:55:00.000-08:00

I'm mostly familiar with Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti, MI's noise scene, but apparently wolverines can bang out garage just as well as sadistic drone.

From the opening, trilling guitar notes to the humming "oooo"s of the close out, this 7" is note-perfect garage rock in the great tradition of ? & the Mysterians. The first track is ultra-lo-fi, hum-worthy pop that coulda been recorded in a Seattle garage ca. 1964. "All Over Now" frames pretty, throwaway female vocals with a romping big beat and surf guitar, while the vocals for "So Long Sam" are a perfect recreation of the snarling, snide tone popularized by Mssrs. Jagger, Burdon, et. al.

This is one of the funnest records I've heard recently, and I highly recommend you pick it up via Bad Indians' bandcamp page. The Indians are playing in Chicago, next Saturday (Feb. 4th), with Heavy Times at a "secret" loft, the address of which is 1542 Milwaukee Ave. GO!

I'm reposting this from the tinygrooves blog, which you should check out, if you haven't already.

It's all over now.

Kent State/Airlooms split CS (2012)

2012-01-27T22:38:00.000-08:00

This is the second installment in the Kent State split tape trilogy. KS delivers three more of their trademark wasted dreampop. If MBV's "Loveless" had a cinematic quality to it, KS' stuff on these tapes is episodic: I find that it accompanies wasted nights spent aborting bottles of cheap red wine and downing painkillers quite well. I really dug the howling guitar denouement of "Interest Position."
Kent, Ohio's Airlooms smashes out two tracks of churning alt-rock ca. 1993-94. I really can't make up my mind on them. The lazy guitar riffs and shambolic rhythm section are endearing, but sometimes the singer seriously overdoes the Kurt Cobain affectations. The vocals sound a lot better on "No One" than "Cheyanne." Best in small doses, especially if you listen to a lot of Nirvana. They're a lot closer to KS' sound than the other bands in the split series, Doleful Lions and At the heart of the World, so it's a natural transition.

You can download, and then buy, the tape over at Kent State's bandpage.

Teenagers-demo CS (2012)

2012-01-23T19:54:00.000-08:00

Warsaw's Teenagers blew me away with their two-song demo in December. This, consisting of those same two songs ("I want to know" and "leaving home") plus 3 new tunes, is simply rad.

I don't like to indulge in gushing about a band, but Teenagers is pretty much everything I look for in a surf pop band: short, melodic guitar lines; meaningless lyrics sung/hollered in an almost-harmonic way; and rolling drums that move like a wave.
The first two songs, "I want to know" and "leaving home" are a concise statement of Teenagers' appeal: simple and pleasureable, they're superficial in the best way possible. "All my friends are gone" almost sounds evil, prolly 'cause of the guitar tuning. "I don't care" is a put-down song in the best Nancy Sinatra tradition: dude left, fuck 'im, who cares, right? Right.

Revel in Teenagers' raditude here. Stay tuned for more info on this band, they're amazing and this demo is at the top of my list of 2012 releases (it's only January, but so what?).

*edited, 1.31.12.* Also, check out the lumberjack vibed vid for "All my friends are gone:"

Kent State/Doleful Lions split CS (2012)

2012-01-20T20:43:00.000-08:00

As a lot of you prolly know already, Nick from Kent State is inaugurating the new year in fine fashion by dropping a triad of split cassettes on us.

This one, with Chapel Hill's Doleful Lions (now based in Chicago), is an auspicious start. Whereas KS' previous release, Walk Through Walls, wore its Guided By Voices influences on its sleeve (to the point of covering "Pimple Zoo"), they're going for a heavier, washed out sound on this tape. The guitar is a lot less colossal than the heroes of this genre-Dinosaur, Jr., MBV-but the slurred vox, blurry guitar, and echoed drumming all make me think of flannel, long hair, and bad downers. "DNA" may be my favorite KS tune: artfully wasted double-tracked(?) guitar, hazy J. Mascis-esque singing, and an artfully wasted sensibility really set it apart.

Chapel Hill/Chicago's Doleful Lions have been around since 1996; this is the first I've heard by them. "Solar Christmas" and "Night Castle" are clean, undistorted, tightly constructed pop tunes. The arrangements are beautiful, and somehow remind me of this rich girl I accidentally fell for in high school.

KS and Doleful Lions together are a good antidote to January depression. Pop this on, turn on your sunlamp, and get wasted, bro.

You can download the tape for free, and buy it for $5, on Kent State's bandcamp page. Or you can save some cash and buy this with the other two tapes in the split series. Which I'll be reviewing in the next week or so.

Fuck SOPA!

2012-01-17T21:17:00.001-08:00

Couldn't figure out how to blackout my blog for the day, but if you're an American citizen, please email spam your congressperson!:

http://sopastrike.com/strike/

Stable Boys-This is "2 Songs" CS (2011)

2012-01-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

Stable Boys delivers two extended tracks of delightfully ramshackle garage punk on this cassette.

Both song titles ("Dioenning It" and "schwartz illustrated! 666") are rather mysterious, and whatever these dudes are howling about is artfully hidden behind a scree of distortion and thunderous drumming. "Dioenning It" is fairly straightforward garage punk: semi-melodic guitar leads, time-keeping rhythm section, semi-harmonized howls acting as a fourth instrument.
"Schwartz illustrated! 666" gets a bit weirder. It sorta has a screamo structure, but garage content, if that makes any sense: off-putting instrumental sections, yowling yowls, a plodding bridge, and an extended instrumental conclusion that sorta drifts off into feedback ether.

I don't know too much about this band, but this cassette has me intrigued enough to check out the physical copy, which you should do too-you can buy it from Ranch Records, here. Or check it out online at their bandcamp page. Stay tuned for a review of their 7" EP.

Alone & Forsaken VIII: Morning in America

2012-01-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

After all that year-end madness, and in lieu of posting something from the numerous new releases piling up in my inbox, here's some old American hardcore standbys from the Era of Reagan.

We are the sons of Reagan....

1. Reagan Youth-Reagan Youth
2. 7 Seconds-Fuck your Amerika
3. Middle Class-Insurgence
4. Really Red-Modern Needs
5. The Dicks-Dicks hate Police
6. Social Unrest-Rush Hour
7. Bad Religion-Fuck Armageddon, This is Hell
8. Adolescents-No Way
9. T.S.O.L.-Property is Theft
10. Circle Jerks-Live Fast Die Young
11. The Proletariat-Purge
12. N.O.T.A.-Propaganda Control
13. Negative Approach-Can't Tell No One
14. The Teen Idles-Commie Song
15. Artificial Peace-Artificial Peace
16. Youth Brigade-Moral Majority
17. Septic Death-Terror Rain
18. Citizen's Arrest-Death Threat

Druglust/Ratface split CS (2011)

2012-01-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

Yet another heaping dose of ugly East Coast punk...
....this time from Pittsburgh. Drug Lust plays barebones, downtuned, raw punk: sorta like a caveman howling down a cavern on a particularly gusty, torrential day. The recording's a bit muddy-I think this is a live set-but the essence is audible: squalling, trashed punk with a snarling frontman.

Ratface goes for a more propulsive hardcore sound. They've been called "Pittsburgh's Anti-Cimex," which isn't far off the mark: heavy guitars, d-beat pummeling, and a singer who sounds like he's snarling in a wind tunnel. No doubt snarling of war, atrocities, and general human decrepitude. They sorta remind me of Born/Dead's later work.

Victim of a bombraid. I think the tape is out of print, but you can find a copy of Ratface's "Cursed by the State" cassette here. Will post a link for the bands and/or how to get a copy of the tape when I get more info.

2011 Best Of

2012-01-05T23:40:00.000-08:00

Let me start this by saying that, although I run a music blog, I'm pretty thoroughly isolated from most happenings in the music world: I either like something or I don't. I can't afford to buy much new music, and I don't go to a whole lotta shows.

The point is that this list is extremely limited, and probably won't match most of your (the reader's) favorites for the year. Fuggin' deal with it, bro.

I. LPs

Royal Headache-s/t:
2011 was Royal Headache's year. Most of us Yanks missed 'em completely on their US tour, but followed up their stellar debut 7" with this magisterial piece of garage pop. If you've ever wandered the streets of your hometown, broken up over some girl or guy, alone and forsaken, this is your fuckin' album. But the sad parts ("Honey Joy," "Down the Lane") are balanced by jaunty tunes ("Psychotic Episode"), and the result is the most emotionally visceral punk LP I've heard in years. Hell, I even like the instrumentals.

Sold out, but keep checking the RIP Society Tumblr page-there's supposed to be a repress coming this month.

Total Control-Hedge Beat:
I haven't heard their EPs, but Total Control won me over completely with their debut LP. The first song, "Love Performance," is brilliant, and would redeem the rest of the album if it sucked-but it doesn't. This is weird, tightly constructed and intelligent post-punk played by people who know the genre inside and out. Find out for yourself.

Sold out, but apparently gonna be re-stocked, here.

Pink Reason-Shit in the Garden
Despite its rather wretched title, this one surprised me twice: first with how much of a departure it was from PR's previous work, and second by how much it grew on me after repeated listens. From the twisted electro beat of "Holding On" to the extended banjo solo of "You Can't Win," it sounds like Kevin DeBroux's tentatively moving beyond the doom 'n' gloom of his past-what direction he's headed in is anyone's guess, but this LP bears careful, repeated listening. Do it.

Buy it here!

Piresian Beach-Fuck Your Mind

"Fuck Your Mind" was a marked departure from PB's 2010 EP: less pummeling drumwork and savagely direct guitar lines, more weird ass guitar haze that, you eventually realize, is an infectious hook. Whereas most bands doing the shoegaze revival bit today go for the colossal riffage of My Bloody Valentine, Piresian Beach is mining the pysch-garage vein sketched out by a far older crew of bands, as featured on the Nuggets comp. The band sounds tighter, the hazy, shimmering quality is still there, and this LP is great for smoking weed to: what more do ya want?

Piresian Beach lives here.

Bass Drum of Death-GB City

I got into this late-like, December late-but holy fuck! This thing smokes. Swaggering, absurdly overconfident garage blues from Oxford, Mississippi (home of one William K.). Jingle-jangle whizzbangs blowin' outcha amps, swiggin' Schlitz while trying to finagle seven minutes in heaven. Y'dig?

More info here.

Other hot LPs: Natural Child, 1971; The Men-Immaculada; Maria Minerva-Sacred and Profane Love

II. EPs

The Band in Heaven-7 Minutes in Heaven
"Sleazy Dreams" might be my favorite rock song of the year. An absolutely slamming, hypnotic beat and a relentless guitar line, cold as ice vocals. "If you only knew" sticks it to the complacent listener by diving into Brian Jonestown-esque raga territory. Try and keep up with The Band.

Bash yer head in.

Broken Water-Peripheral Star EP

Broken Water sounds more confident with every outing. On this, their third proper recording, the Daydream Nation-era Sonic Youth references are more fluid, the MBVisms more natural, than ever before. Great for a rain-drenched, stoned out day spent staring off into, uh, space.
Buy it.
BW's bandcamp.

Elvis Depressedly-Save the Planet, Kill Yourself

This is not an uplifting, goodtimes album. Butcha already knew that, right? Mr. Depressedly wears his emotions on his chin, and happened to bang out one of the best EPs I heard this year. Apparently the cool kids are into "witch house" instead of chill wave these days, and ED was billed to me as witch house. Whatever else this is, it's deeply felt, at times painful music that swirls in and out of your ears, challenging you to engage with it as something more than whateverthefuck house.
Check it out.

Crazy Spirit-I'm Dead

Crazy Spirit's my favorite among the new crop of NYC-area noise terrorists (Perdition, Nomos, Omegas, et. al.). Their demo and first EP smoked, but "I'm Dead" finds them branching out into...uh...blues, with "This World is Not my Home." These three tracks showcase all the elements that initially got us all into the band, while hinting at much larger ambitions.

Buy here.

Dirty Beaches-Practical ESP Ost
I feel like a jerkoff for listing this one, since it was limited to 100 cassette copies, but that's not my fault.

This is four songs of delicate, haunting ambient soundscapes that float in and out of your ears on wings of ether. One of my friends used to cry whenever he heard Sigur Ros' first album. That's not quite the case with this EP, but I come pretty damn close. Dirty Beaches is the band to watch in 2012.
Shit's sold out, duh. I'll post the file at some point soon.

Other hot EPs: The Ropes-s/t EP, Keep Shelly in Athens-Hauntin' Me, Weed Hounds-Beach Bummed, Niva-Feverish Dreams, No Hope Kids-s/t, Okinawa Lifestyle-Under Water

Other shit I don't feel like making a complete list for:

Top Three demos (that I heard): The Ropes-Demo II, Cemetery, Kontaminat, Wild Child

Best 'Zines: Overdosing in Republican World, Feel the Darkness, No Thanks (Fuck Everything)

Ramlord/Condensed Flesh split CS (2011)

2012-01-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

I figured that it's ppropriate to start the new year on Drug Punk with a little heavy-hitting sludge from the bleak wastes of New Hampshire. Ramlord and Condensed Flesh turn in the sort of bludgeoning, melodic doom/crust that all the kiddies were trying to play back in the early '00s: Tragedy, call your office. Then the hipsters picked up on it, sometime 'round 2006, and everything went (even more so) to shit.

Most bands in this genre put me to sleep at an alarming clip, but I threw this on in the hopes of working through a nasty hangover and cold the other day, and, while it didn't dissipate said maladies, I'm still spinning it.

Ramlord and CF go straight for the throat with brooding, savage, heavy hardcore a la Artimus Pyle. Ramlord sounds more versatile than Condensed Flesh-the first track, "Restrained," is probably my fave: the fast-slow dynamic works well, and the ghoulish barking doesn't sound cheesy.

Condensed Flesh is harder to get a feel for, mostly 'cause their side is a live mix: the tape hiss is like a fourth instrument. From what I make out, they're doing the From Ashes Rise/Tragedy/et. al. thing: I'd like to catch 'em live.

You're next!

As far as I know, the tape is still available from Stimulation Addict Records, check it out! Ramlord lives here, Condensed Flesh here.

New Year's Eve: Highs.... [a mix, again]

2011-12-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so I promise f'real that I'll be posting new music, including all the albums that've been piling up in my PO box and email box, soon. But in the meantime, it's New Year's Eve and I have a date with any and all substances that come my way....said substances may include a bit of dancing, and I'd imagine you'll be having a similar night, y'dig?

In that spirit, this is some music to get mad crunkface to.
Lonely for the high scrapers....

1. TV Girl-I don't care
2. Les Sins-Lina
3. DannielRadall-Soulman
4. Niva-Ghost in my Head
5. Blank Dogs-Collides
6. No Wave-Clearing
7. Keep Shelly in Athens-Cremonia Memories
8. Okinawa Lifestyle-Black Sea Shark
9. Clive Tanaka y Su Orquestra-Brack Latin
10. Alejo Gui-Fuck
11. Waskerley Way-Pombo Pombo Pombo
12. Korallreven-Honey Mine
13. gngsgns.-wlknthnght
14. Luminary Youth-Darjeeling Temptress

Lost Cherrees-A Man's Duty, A Woman's Place

2011-12-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

Man, I just threw this on at random as I'm sitting around my room trying to figure out something to do with my day off besides drink coffee and read stuff on the internet. Good story, right? Anyway, I was knocked to my proverbial feet (definitely stayed seated, thank you very much) by how fucking outstanding this EP is. It's the sophomore effort of Scottish anarcha-feminist punk band The Lost Cherrees and, if I do say so myself, stands out as a breathtaking platter of boundary-pushing, hip-shaking postpunk interwoven with a cutting feminist critique. One of the first female-fronted UK anarchopunk bands of the 1980's (A Man's Duty...was released in 1984), TLC (tee hee) was quick to establish themselves in the genre, rising up to number 4 on the UK indie charts and playing shows with the likes of Conflict, Flux of Pink Indians, Hagar the Womb...I'm sure it's all written on the back of a jacket somewhere. And John Peel thought they were hot shit. That dude had some fucking TASTE.

The the thing that stands out about this band to me, at least on this record, is that they take the rhythmic engine that was propelling pogoing pub punks listening to Blitz and The Varukers, and used it to create driving but sophisticated pop songs.

With the lead-off track 'Blasphemy,' TLC establishes an almost doomy atmosphere, but with hooks and rhythm that no doubt packed more than a few mid 80's British dancefloors. Shit's in league with Siouxsie herself, IMO. '

'No Trouble' picks up the ambiance a little bit as the band cruises through UK Postpunk Aptitude Test #6782: Competence with Basic Reggae. Probably the least interesting song on the record, but it's catchy and the guitar solo about halfway through adds a sort of surf/psych tinge that keeps things interesting.

'Living in a Coffin' is perhaps the standout track of the EP. It's fast but relentlessly catchy, at times almost resembling a seriously darkened and reverbed-out second cousin of pop punk. But on the whole this is unquestionably the more artsy/postpunky wing of the UK anarchopunk scene of the 80's getting fucking explosive.

'Sexism's Sick pt. 1' kicks off with one of the best post-punk hooks. Ever. Period. The song after that is pretty basic (though things get a little weirder in pt. 2) but it really doesn't matter. It's just one of those tunes that holds up on its own and can be played again and again and still sound good. Luckily, in the hands of TLC we also get to hear it creatively fucked with and, most impressively, turned into a tuneful, crunchy bridge/chant "Break down the wall/Bridge the gap/Sexism's sick!" Word!

'Sexism's Sick pt. 2' makes a perfect cap. Apparently not satisfied with simply making an uber-catchy driving postpunk song, TLC takes its basic chords and fucks it up a bit more, this time with wistful acoustic guitar plucking going into rough n' tumble fuzz-drenched madness. This massive EP closes with manically bouncing drums and bass overlaid by a guitar tone akin to the robo-buzzsaw effect on display in Blitz's 'Someone's Gonna Die' and wailing vocals carrying messages about feminist struggle that would be impressive from a band today, let alone in 1983.

A Man's Duty, A Woman's Place

Carburetor Dung: best of 2011 mixitup

2011-12-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

I hate making lists these days but, good interweb pundit that I am, my Top [insert number here] lists will be up at some point around the New Year. In the meanwhile, here's a mix of some of my faves from the Lester Bangs school of noiseschlock to tide all you weirdoes over...happy boozin'!
smash it up!

1. The Band in Heaven-Sleazy dreams
2. Shoppers-I
3. Art Fad-.......
4. Piresian Beach-Take Me
5. Catholic Spray-Kiss the Smack
6. Kent State-Walk Through Walls
7. Whatever Brains-the Fisher
8. Bass Drum of Death-Nerve Jamming
9. Natural Child-A Man Makes His Own Way
10. The Alright Alreadies-Disconnected
11. Royal Headache-Eloise
12. Triptides-Beneath the Sun
13. Sex Church-Dull Light
14. Horrible Houses-Midlands
15. Sarongs-Police Chase
16. Acid Kicks-Masonic Tide
17. Opus Null-Alkotmanyos anarchia
18. Broken Water-Kansas
p.s.-I think that the Broken Water track actually is from 2010, but, uh, I got the record it's taken from this year...sofugginwhatyeah?

Metro Decay-Ypervasi LP (1984)

2011-12-24T14:32:00.000-08:00

The computer I'm typing this entry on is from 1995, and I'm frankly amazed I was able to upload an image of the cover, so there ain't no verbal or lyrical fireworks in this entry, folks.

Anyways, Metro Decay's 1984 LP Υπέρβαση is a classic of Greek new/cold/whateverwave. Dudes gigged around Athens a lot in the '80s, opened for The Fall, Birthday PArty, etc.
"Εισαγογν στην κίνηση" is probably my favest track on heer: they totally steal the structure from Joy Div, but throw in some Greek instruments to give it a MD-unique feel.

The version I'm posting butchers the Greek-script track titles; they're posted below.

Merry Xmas, folks.

"Υπερβασν" was recently re-released; check out an interview with the band from last year here.

1. Μαύρος Κύκνος
2. Ανάμεσα Σε Δύο Κρεσσεντα
3. Το Ταξίδι
4. Εισαγωγή Στην Κίνηση
5. Απειλή
6. Παιχνίδια Στην Επιφάνεια
7. Το Πάγωμα Του Πάθους
8. 'Έβενος
9. Υπέρβαση
10. Λίμπιντο

2011-12-21T21:33:00.000-08:00

Now Slaying in The Bay 2

Stressors

Stressors is a group of upstanding young gentlemen from the suburbs surrounding the East Bay and, like their forebears of the 1980’s, they are busily showing up the city kids by playing fast, loud, mean hardcore steeped in discomfort and frustration. I have similar feelings about this band that I did growing up and seeing Chicago acts like The Repos, Fourteen or Fight or No Slogan: these dudes play straightforward USHC “the way it was meant to be done” but go beyond just nailing a time-honed formula. There’s a dark, ugly abyss rolling the always-satisfying combinations of breakdowns and scissor beats that makes Stressors stand out from the crowd of decent-to-good USHC acts around today. These dudes are making a profoundly fucked contribution to modern hardcore. Awesome.

Wild Moth

Noisy and wistful pop cranked through tortured amps cranked to maximum awesome. Wild Moth wastes no time in making with a cacophony of hooks and croons whose assault on your eardrums leaves a sticky residue in your brain. Pretty, almost bubblegum components are thrown together in a manic frenzy. The result is an absurdly satisfying fusion of big, lush songs played with a bare bones DiY fundamentalist aesthetic. More plz?

Your Enemy

Overwhelmingly fast and brutal grind from Oakland’s Lower Bottoms, Your Enemy, simply put, slays the motherfucking shit out of anyone within earshot of their brutal sensory assault. Featuring 3 members with a pedigree that includes such varsity-level sonic destructors as ThousandsWillDie and Circle of Eyes. They’ve got a demo up online for your listening pleasure, as well as their half of their upcoming split with HumanxWaste, a band soon to be featured here.

Bruxers

Bruxers is a new band out of San Jose who, as their first recordings are still getting ready to come out, have already made a name for themselves smearing audience’s faces in their nasty encrusted death metal around the bay. Truly unholy and rotten, Bruxers combine the brutal tonalities and breakneck speeds of old-school death metal with gnarly, doomish crust sensibilities and a raw, DiY aesthetic. This shit is absolutely not to be missed. Watch for their recordings on Deific Mourning and Gay Scientist Recordings in 2012.

Home for the holidays, or, Terror Boys: A mix.

2011-12-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

*bands/people who have sent me music in the last week: I'm slowly working my way through it, your stuff will be up at some point soon.*

I'm catching a plane in an hour for my ancestral homeland of Chicago, which I haven't been back to in over a year. When there, I usually revert to the affective state I was at when I moved out, i.e., I become a taciturn, mindless drunk brimming over with meaningless vitriol.

So what better way to celebrate devolution than by throwing on some classics about violence, unemployment, Thatcher and....violence? NONE:

DO YOU FEEL ALRIGHT?!?

1. Blitz-Someone's gonna die tonight
2. The Clash-Career Opportunities
3. The Newtown Neurotics-Kick out the Tories
4. Decry-Falling
5. The Mau-Maus-Society's Rejects
6. Uproar-Rebel Youth
7. GBH-Sick Boy
8. Culo-Toxic Visioms
9. Filth-Banned from the Pubs (Peter & the Test Tube Babies cover)
10. TDA-TDA
11. The Partisans-Police Story
12. Cro-Mags-Hard Times
13. Minor Threat-Stand Up
14. Intensified Chaos-Intensified Chaos
15. Negative Approach-Ready to Fight
16. Ultimo Resorte-Violencia
17. Criminal Damage-Anesthesia

Horrible Houses-Midlands EP (2011)

2011-12-19T16:47:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is the third Horrible Houses release I've reviewed for Drug Punk, and I still can't get an angle on what dude is up to or going for. I've also decided that this is a good thing.

The obvious influences-John Fahey, Guided by Voices, maybe some White Light/White Heat-era Velvet Underground-don't at all explain the end product. On this, the HHs' third[?] release, they've really found their groove. The previous two releases had highs and lows, but the three tracks on "Midlands" are focused and fine tuned.

"Out of Tune Piano for Meadow Man" (I love the song titles from this band) is probably the best cut out of the three. Opening with muttering and a minimal, warbling guitar line, it segues quickly into HH's trademark, myopic lounge jamming: hazy guitars, monotone drumming, and casually worded, throwaway vocals.

I still haven't managed to get all the way through "Tempel [sic] Jam," but it moves through several stages, from raga-esque droning to scratching guitar treble.

Anyways, if you've been reading this blog for awhile, you've probably heard Horrible Houses already. This EP doesn't move in a new direction so much as refine and purify what was already happening. Get into it, if you haven't already, here. Horrible Houses lives here.

The Observers-So What's Left Now? LP (2005[?])

2011-12-17T23:16:00.000-08:00

"I was a teenage zombie...." pt. 4 (in a semi-occasional series)

The following account may or may not be a conflation of two different events. Don't make no nevermind nohow, noways....

Mid-way through high school, I fell in like with a well-read (she knew of Burroughs!) girl from Chicago's south 'burbs. All I knew about the south 'burbs back then was that Screeching Weasel was from the general vicinity, so she musta been cool, right?

Naw, no dice. First time we did an all-day hang, we wandered around Chicago, so young and uncool, we couldn't even score street drugs. What a dismal situation...ended up making out by the river. Don't ask which one. We were stone sober. The next time we hung out, we went to the beach, then to some rich kid's house by the beach, where I proceeded to get so bombed on downers and anti-depressants that this girl made out with a friend of mine (I think...I was on A LOT of vicodin and xanies)for 15 minutes while I sat across from them, so wasted I couldn't move, let alone protest. My friend drove me home that night with the counsel of "dude, forget about it." Words of wisdom.

Awhile later, we were hanging out at a friend's house. Shit was ok...she wasn't making out with my friend, right? Wrong. We smoked a spliff, drank some wine...did some dancing, even! Washed Out, Okinawa Lifestyle, all that good shit! Talked about life, love, and other such hippy nonsense....by time we got to the bar, I was 2 grams and a bottle 'n' a half of wine into the evening. By the time she disappeared with a different friend, I was too wasted to do other than lean against the bar's wall, chain smoking and incoherently mumbling self-pitying garbage ("why does HE get to have her...but I don't?!?") to a friend who courageously heard me out. I vaguely remember passing out to Pink Reason blasting from my speakers at full volume, dreaming of Xanax. Hey you! Got some Xanax?

This is probably the best punk LP of the '00s. It has everything: heroin-level addictive hooks, brutally introspective-yet-social lyrics, jaunty bass lines....Fuck you! Like it!

Art Fad-Vatos LP (2011)

2011-12-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

I had just gotten home and was headed beerward when this tidbit of Potato State garage crossed my desk. Since I was gonna close the night by playing Blitz at top volume, per the last five nights, I figured a little variety was in order....

....Caldwell, Idaho (where the fuck is that?)'s Art Fad (best clever-dumb band name I've heard this year?) blares out coupla 7-8 tracks of scratchy, trebly, hollered surf rock from landlocked climes. I can't imagine what life's like in Idaho-the very name conjures up images of Snakes (Rivers or otherwise) and radical Republicans....but this shit's good, dude.

The songs sorta melt into each other like sequences in a downer binge (think MDMA-Vics-Cods), and the singer just hollers clipped phrases over insistent percussion, and the result is something I'd like to see in a basement, 10 beers into a weekend bender. The minor-note soloing on the seventh track is particularly sick.

Shit was recorded by one of the masterminds behind Teens, for what's it worth. Fuck you, listen to it!

Cemetery-demo CS (2011)

2011-12-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm obviously re-posting this from Terminal Escape, but it's justified for two reasons: 1) I've known the singer since high school, which means cronyism demands I draw attention to this; 2) this is one of my favorite demos of 2011.

Awhile ago, I was ranting about the sad state of neo-post-punk. Death/goth punk has also been making a massive comeback lately,
and Cemetery knows their history inside and out, but this isn't a mere nostalgia trip. These hard-drinkin' dudes from my hometown drone out 6 tracks of grinding, lightly distorted and atmospheric death punk a la Christian Death, et. al. "Reptile Walk" is a blaring, hellishly well-done call to arms for all of you who rock bullet belts to the goth prom. "Voices in the Ceiling" and "Voices in the Walls" nicely cap off each side with atmospheric, synth-drenched mood-setters.

What really sets Cemetery apart from the competition is the songwriting. These guys have constructed 6 tight, remarkably well-executed songs, not just a squalling mess dumped on cassette tape. The guitar is especially cool, confirming my suspicion that guitarists in this genre owe a lot more to Dick Dale than, say, Tommy Iommi.

GET INTO IT! Hang out with Cemetery here. Stay tuned for info on their first record....

Police Repression in Indonesia

2011-12-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

So some of you have already heard, but for those of you who haven't, earlier this week police in the Indonesian community of Banda Aceh conducted mass arrests of all the punks they could find.

They're being subjected to "moral re-education," which means humiliation, illegal detainment, and general deprivation of basic human rights by the state.
You can read about it here.

Aborted Society Records is doing a MIXTAPE CHARITY DRIVE that you should totally participate in.

Send mixtapes (cassettes or CDRs in slip cases) with as much music as possible crammed on by December 30th to:
Aborted Society Records
attn: Mixtapes for Aceh
1122 E. Pike Street #1377
Seattle, WA 98122-3934
USA

Kent State-Walk through Walls EP (2011)

2011-12-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

I have to respect anyone brazen enough to cover Guided by Voices, and a classic like "Pimple Zoo," nevertheless. Kent State does it pretty well, and they do shoegazey, chainsaw pop pretty well, too, on this, their third EP.

Featuring members of Baltimore's Deep Sleep, Kent State blasts out seven tracks of slouchy, buzzy, '90s-worshipping noise pop on "Walk Through Walls." The best track is "Secrets for Sale," a wonderfully echoing, reverb-drenched slacker jingle-jangle perfect for summer days spent sippin' lemonade (or winter days wishing it was summer and drinking Jim Beam).

Like I keep sayin' on dis heer blog, the various strands of '90s underground rock-shoegaze, jangle pop, grunge, etc.-are back with a bang these days, and Kent State is doin' it well...check it out if you've worn out the grooves on your copy of "Alien Lanes" from excessive play.

Kent State lives here; you can buy the EP here.

Teenagers-2 song demo (2011)

2011-12-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

Any music critic at some point has to face the arbitrariness of taste. For example, there's no essential, objective reason that I absolutely love these two songs, whereas I find Best Coast's whole catalogue offensive, and couldn't get past the schmaltzy schlock quality of Tennis' first LP.

So don't get pissy with me if you think these two songs are just more surf-garage nostalgia. They are. But there's something to them that makes Teenagers rise above the legion of bands quarrying the Phil Spector sound for all it's worth...the vocals have an open, naive quality that fits the music exactly, and the instrumentation is almost note-perfect girl-group garage: minimal guitar chords and a rollicking beat.

Teenagers is from Warsaw, a city not noted for its surf or beaches, but they've captured the California sun in musical form remarkably well here.

Winter is well upon us in the northern hemisphere, but Teenagers' demo is gonna be keeping me warm until the New Year. Check it out, here!

Alone & Forsaken VII: I don't live today [...maybe tomorrow].

2011-12-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

"When your late night friends leave you/in the cold grey dawn..."-The Rolling Stones

Hope and despair are the same damned thing. Hope consists of winged flights of absurd elation, detached from any tangible reality, that feeds on its own momentum until something triggers a crash-landing back in reality.

Despair, similarly, is a sucking void that, left to its own devices, separates you from reality and drags you down its twisting path of blackness until, ideally, one of your friends smacks you over the head and forces you to start interacting with the world again...
In that spirit, here's another chartbuster in the A&F series. I may have already put some of these songs on previous mixes, but ask me how much I care.

"Hush, little thrush...."

1. The Wipers-Doom Town
2. Middle Class-Out of My Hands
3. The Mountain Goats-Hellhound on my Trail
4. Neil Young-Tired Eyes
5. Rosa Eskenazi-That'll Teach you [Για να ξερής Αλανιάρα]
6. Tom Waits-Innocent When You Dream
7. Sun Kil Moon-Heron Blue
8. Songs:Ohia-The Black Crow
9. Pink Reason-Thrush
10. The Rolling Stones-Loving Cup

Peopling-s/t EP (2011)

2011-12-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to review this thing for weeks, ever since it showed up in the mail, and I apologize to the guy behind Peopling for my sluggardly ways.

Anyways....Peopling is a one-man operation outta Brooklyn. This 6-song ep is somewhere between Dominick Fernow/Prurient-style savagery and fucked up, bedroom synth punk. Usually Peopling verges closer to the former, but on the opener, "come home eccentric," there's a trashed synth beat lilting along with the warbled voiceovers. "Regprog" is simple, hulking, lunking, clunking power electronics; sorta like what Fernow might make on a softer day.
I think that "summer such and such" is the best song on here: strummed acoustic guitars leaven the usual squalling hiss, and there's some cool found-sound type burbling in the background....

I really don't listen to much power electronics these days, but this EP was versatile enough to hold my interest. Unlike most power electronics albums, it's appropriate for smokin' weed on the beach as well as nodding out in a heroin haze.

CHeck dude out, and BUY THE EP, here.

Kontaminat-2011 demo

2011-12-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

Punk bands in 2011 generally boil down into two groups: those who are young, inexperienced, and eager to learn-as-they-play (Culo, Birth Deformities, et. al.) and those who, like Kontaminat, have been doing this so long, punk is in their DNA.
Hence, it's no surprise that this demo fuckin' slays. Whereas they seemed headed in a crushing, Framitid-style wall of noise in the live videos I've seen, on this demo Kontaminat has headed in a direction closer to Deathreat than Kochi City Madness. Everyone's favorite Chicago HC hearthrob, Mike Thrashberg, has mutated into Joe Denunzio's (Ebro's?) ghost on this demo: harsh, admonitory barking rides a wave of unrelenting, but refreshingly well-mixed, US hardcore.

I don't have a lyric sheet in front of me, but with titles like "Tenure Hellstorm," you can't go wrong. The mix is relatively clean, which is great 'cause all the instruments pull their weight-the guitar fuzz on "Team Player" is closer to post-punk than hardcore butchery, and I love Pat's bass riffing, especially on "Costume." In short, Kontaminat is one of Chicago's best new HC bands, and you should, uh, getcha punk on and catch 'em on the 27th. Details to follow.

They say it's lonely at the top.... I'm reposting this from One Track Hell, which I cordially thank for boosting the volume on the recording. Contact the band, and try to scrounge a copy of the tape, via THIS!

Hedge Fund-demo 11.11 (2011)

2011-12-02T23:19:00.000-08:00

Hardcore punk has reached an interesting point in the last few years. As the grunge/shoegaze revival gathers steam, there's a temptation for bands to jump ship to the sunnier climes of MBV-/Nirvana-worship. Despite musical disparities, I see the whole "mysterious guycore" thing as riding the wave of '90s fetishism percolating of late: "oh cool! these guys were in bands in the (late/mid-)90s! They must be cool!"

Hedge Fund, a new band from Boston, straddles the line between HC and sloppy, gazey mucky muck. This four-track cassette demo is essentially hardcore punk played with a grunge attitude (or grunge played with a punk attitude). The opener, "Locutus" (sick Star Trek ref., no?) mines the vein Thulsa Doom quarried ages ago-piledriver drumming and overloaded guitar chugging.
But the next three tracks go in for the sort of fuzzy, squalling, meandering guitar I associate more with new bands like Psychic Blood as much as traditional HC name checks like Siege. It makes for some interesting listening: straightforward, shrieking intensity mixed with more complicated, grinding sludge.

Y'know ya love it. You can buy the radness here.

Bootblacks/Monozid split 7" EP (2010)

2011-11-28T22:41:00.000-08:00

I hate Interpol. Those bastards didn't respond to Peter Hook when he submitted his CV to them, when they were looking for a new bassist! MOre broadly, I despise the revival of the dancey end of post-punk over the last decade, in anodyne, safely depoliticized, rhythmic form for the moronic suburban masses. Those bastards don't deserve Gang of Four. They deserve Miley Cyrus, or whatever it is that civilians listen to (is Miley Cyrus a musician, even?).

Like Talking Heads said, "this ain't no party/this ain't no disco." At its best, post-punk was dangerous, provocative, nerve-wracking, and, yes, funky. But there was always a message and a point behind the sinuous basslines.

So I was pleasantly surprised when that "post punk" the guy from Leipzig's Monozid used in his email linking me this split meant "post punk like The Pop Group," not "post punk like Gang of Four/some dance band." Brooklyn's Bootblacks churns out two taut, threshing floor tunes built around pummeling drumwork and laser-wire guitar. Monozid grinds out the sort of frantic, anxious, declamatory buzz dance that I associate with mid-period Ex or The Pop Group. The guy's voice is suitably hollow, the guitar dense as steel wool, especially on "Shame of the Nation," where it sounds like a howling insect.

The post punk revival in the States has, for the most part, produced a heaping pile of hipster shit, with Pitchfork media buzzing over the pile, leering away. But these two bands convinced me that, even at this late date of the 2010s, people can still do something worthwhile with off notes, stutter-step drumming and leading bass.

Check it out here. Monozid lives here. Bootblacks live dissa way.

Alone & Forsaken VI: November.

2011-11-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

I've been wired on cheap speed and bad beer and worse coffee for the last fort-eight hours. So I hereby legally and officially disclaim any responsibility for this post. It's all on you, as Bane said in some shitty song about unit pride I loved when I was a teenager (I wish mofos on livejournal had catalogued their show in Chicago in 2003...stagedives and bro-downs with bullet belts, eat yer heart out!).

Some of y'all might take offense to the fact that Beirut is included on this mix, and follows Joe Strummer, nonetheless. Fuck you. I ain't comparing Zach Condon to the venerable Strummer legend, far from it-no one's gonna match Joe. He's a hero in deez heer parts. I just happen to think "East Harlem" sounds real good. Deal.

Go away, blow your brains out!...November.....

1. Pink Reason-Winona
2. Tom Waits-November
3. Grazhdanskaya Oborona-Ej, babica blevani!
4. Joe Strummer-Good Times Role (Rude Boy outtake, Joe Strummer solo!)
5. Beirut-East Harlem
6. Glass Cake-Friend Forever
7. The Mekons-Garage D'or
8. The Scrotum Poles-Night Train
9. Elvis Depressedly-Turn Blue
10. Dirty Beaches-North West Sea
11. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis-Moving On
12. Popol Vuh-Selig sind die, die da hungern
13. Eluvium-Requiem on Frankfort Ave.

p.s.-Bands/musicians that have been sending me stuff-I'll post reviews of your material soon, shit's been hitting the fan here at Drug Punk HQ lately.

(Young) Pioneers-We March! 7" EP (1995)

2011-11-22T17:31:00.000-08:00

Please don't misunderstand this. I'm not going folky on ya, nor am I a huge (Young) Pioneers fan...in fact, I find their LP downright obnoxious. The whole folk punk movement was and is fucking stupid; back when I was 17 or so, I was real into dressin' all in black and acting like I was part of some sort of political movement.
I wasn't. Even more so than most sub-niches of punk, folk punk was and probably always will be a haven for overprivileged white kids (like micelf, natch!) who feel super-duper guilty about being...uh...white and overprivileged...and take it out by dressing like hobos and signing about...being hobos.

But this EP Is fucking great. In fact, Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer's Mescaleroes work aside (which really ain't part of the American folk punk schtick anyways), this is all you need to hear from this end of the punk spectrum. (Young) Pioneers specialized in poorly-constructed, ramshackle and "heartfelt", mildy distorted anthems about...uh...whatever Vermiform Rex bands sang about. Politics? Point is, usually this was an annoying formula but for whatever reason these four songs are majestically inept, instead of just boring and smug.

The guns of New Year's Eve. I bought this off Martin, the singer for crudos/Limp Wrist, when Straightjacket Nation toured the States...good luck scroungin' a copy, and no, youse cants haves mines!

Culo-Toxic Vision EP (2011)

2011-11-19T13:22:00.000-08:00

Ever since these guys crawled out of Elgin back in 2008 or so, my friends can't stop raving about 'em. Elgin, for non-Chicagoans, is a benighted suburb somewhere out in the cornfields west of Chicago. I'm guessing it's a boring, intellectually crippling place to grow up in.

This EP spouts anger and frustration out of every pore, like a lonely alcoholic on a Saturday night. The first few tracks are atonal thrash, with the guitar and drums careening into brick walls completely removed from each other. Slowly, coherence starts to emerge, especially on the last self-titled track: the "Discharge-meets-Ramones" comparison I keep hearing from Chicago friends finally makes sense on "Toxic Visions."

This EP bears out my friends' claims that Culo is one of the hottest new(ish) HC bands in Chicago...they're not reinventing the wheel, but they know exactly what they wanna do, and they do it perfectly. Bash in a few brain cells and get in the circle pit, dipshit.

Tired, bored, angry. Buy it! Over at Deranged Rex.

Raw Nerve-Midnight EP (2011)

2011-11-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

He took another drag of his cigarette.
"Sounds familiar. Just the same old routine...it's like Sally Timms said, in that Mekons tune, back in the '80s...what was it? Oh, yeah. This. 'But if I never see you again, I'll die....
Whatever you want, you'll never find the beginning of it. That's why you'll always be too late...Whatever happens, it'll be the thing you didn't want to have happen. Whatever doesn't happen will be the thing you want. Take your choosing. As you like. You always get what you don't want. Now you're talking just like me. It's an eye for an eye, as we move over the darkness...."
"Yup, cycle of shit. What are we doin' tonight?"
"dunno. Ain't shit to do."

....oh, yeah, Raw Nerve's Midnight EP. It's good. It's loud. It's noisy.

"These things happen. Mistakes are made." This is out of print. Buy other shit on Youth Attack!, support the cause. Whatever that is.

Fuseism-Keep Movin' 7" EP (2011)

2011-11-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

I should start this review by saying that I'm not an expert on contemporary emo, and certainly not the international scene. I was a bit surprised that emo (in its original, Revolution Summer, post-harDCore sense) caught on across the pond, since it seems like such a quintessentially bourgeois, American indulgence.

That aside, this 2-song EP ain't too shabby. One of the things I couldn't stand about Rites of Spring was the whiney vocals that were mixed way too high. Fuseism (is this a new ideology? Budapesters,let me know) thankfully keeps the preachy/confessional stuff to a minimum, and bangs out some good mid-paced punk. The singer certainly sounds like RoS/Embrace-era Ian MacKaye, but his voice is more one of the instruments than the show-stealer, which gives this EP a leg up on some of their mid-'80s influence. The opening guitar riff on "Believers of Fuseism" especially caught my ear, although the song drags a bit at the end.

Are you a believer in fuseism? Check out their bandcamp page for more info, and on how to pick up a physical copy of this. I really dig Fuseism's aesthetic sensibility.

Punk, que punk? Y Ahora que? Compilation (1983)

2011-11-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

The older I get, the less I understand how I was able to imbibe such heroic amounts of booze as a young'n....I feel about as lively as a wet ferret hung out to dry by a fur trapper, and half as smart.

So, dear reader, I'm dumping this on you: a 27-track compilation of early '80s Spanish (Catalan, Murcian, Galician et. al.) punk...there ain't a dud among them. It sounds like all the bands recorded live into a boom box, but whatevs.

I'm re-posting this from Robert's original on Terminal Escape. Hopefully this is justified (hangover aside) by how good the music is, first of all. Also, I re-formatted the tracks so that the individual bands appear as the "artist," which should make it easier to find more information on each band, for those who want to.

Ahora que!

Alone & Forsaken V: The Guns of New Year's Eve.

2011-11-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

I got falling-down drunk tonight and won't remember most of whatever it was I did tomorrow. In that spirit, this installment in the A&F series wallows full on in the moronic '90s revival currently sweeping the nation.

Whereas everyone else (including me, usually) is fixated on shoegaze and grunge, this mix goes trawling through the monument to quiet, defiant failure that was the '90s punk scene.
I haven't listened to most of this stuff since I was, at the oldest, 17. Looking back, the early '90s were a much more innocent time in the punk scene: these bands wore their hearts on their sleeves, unabashedly and without the violently nihilistic, sneering tone that's dominated DIY punk since the early '00s. Los Crudos should be on here somewhere, but I lost their discography a long time ago. Two of the songs are not from the '90s, but thematically and emotionally belong there. The last one is a surprise. Dig it.

...I shoulda been kissing you....

1. Jawbreaker-Kiss the Bottle
2. Crimpshrine-Second Generation Junkies
3. Smoking Popes-Not that kind of girlfriend
4. Fugazi-Merchandise
5. Operation Ivy-the Crowd
6. (Young) Pioneers-The Guns of New Year's Eve
7. Filth-The List
8. ihatemyself-Conversations with Dr. Seussicide
9. Some Velvet Sidewalk-Cat & Mouse
10. Black Tambourine-For Ex-Lovers Only
11. Crash & Brittany-It is Chemistry
12. Lorelei-Sometimesmethinks
13. Glass Cake-Foster City
14. Electrelane-To the East
15. a surprise.

Psychic Blood-Strain 7" EP (2011)

2011-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

It seems like the cultural necrophilia vulture has full alighted upon the late '80s/early '90s. Like any revival wave, this one has had some ups and downs. The last time I was in Olympia, I saw a certain band, which shall remain nameless, shamelessly referencing....Staind. Seriously? What the fuck?

Psychic Blood lands quite opposite that strain of stupidity. I've read a lot of stuff calling them "shoegaze," but I don't think that fits. Both these songs are a bit too dynamic for them to fall among the MBV acolytes. The title track opens with a massive, rolling riff that eventually melds into contorted drumwork and snarled, echoing vocals-kind of like a grunge song if those assholes in Seattle were angry more than apathetic.

"Drudgefest" is just that: in the best grunge tradition, Psychic Blood melds fast punk aggression (especially in the blown out guitar) with slamming, brooding metal. The whole thing sorta just melts into squalling contortions towards the end.

This is a lazy review (I've been reading about this crap for 8 hours, gimme a break!), and I'm not doing Psychic Blood justice. They definitely tip their hat to more than a few Touch & Go/SST/Sub Pop luminaries on this EP, but their tightness and aggression really set them apart from most of this current wave of wanna-be-Seattle '91 kiddies.

You can download the "Strain" EP here. Or don't wait for the download and instead get high while listening to it on Soundcloud. If your copy of Tiger Beat magazine (do they still publish that thing?) hasn't arrived yet and you need some new teen heartthrobs, doods have pictures here.

Now Slaying in the Bay

2011-11-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

I hate loading stuff onto Mediafire and also happen to live in a magical fairy land where each morning the sun rises and shoots supernatural rays of awesome at the ground, incarnating rad new bands wherever they land. This combination of factors has led to the creation of "Now Slaying in the Bay," an excitingly irregular feature where I will get my blurb on about rad bands playing around recently. Now, without further ado, the first installment of Now Slaying in the Bay:

Lycus-This band, both live and recorded, is a truly destructive sonic force to be reckoned with by anyone with a predilection towards the heavy/crushing/plodding end of the musical spectrum. Lycus plays melodic, even lush, funeral doom that is as decadently slow as it is calculatedly excessive in its brute heaviness. I think there are still copies of their Demo MMXI tape floating around out there, and if you can grab one, it’s one of the best ways around to spend a few bucks. If not, or whatever, or something, kvlt, uhhh, anyway you can listen to it at their Bandcamp.

Whirl-My friend and I saw this band play live the other day. “They sound like falling in love” was the immediate review. That pretty much sums it up when it comes to SF shoegaze fundamentalists Whirl. They’re overwhelmingly huge; I believe I counted 3 guitarists, a bassist, keyboardist, and drummer. Their pop hooks are so fucking sugary sweet you can’t stop taking them in until you’re in a coma, and they’re too catchy to get out of your brain for more than a few minutes. It’s almost too much, but it’s not, so it’s damn good. Stream their entire Distressor LP at their Bandcamp!

Swamp Witch- If you do drugs and like droning, tortured doom metal, then you’ll probably understand why the concept of chopping and screwing a droning, tortured doom metal track is a thoroughly good one. Swamp Witch has now done us all the courtesy of incarnating that concept as a reality, forever etched into the B side of their debut tape release Gnosis. On the A side, SW lumbers through three massive slabs of humidity-putrefied drone doom for the truly wretched. Tapes just sold out, but the whole A side is streaming at the Swamp Witch Soundcloud and can be downloaded here. The B-side version of the title track, as chopped and screwed by DJ Dreemz, can be found on Youtube.

Connoisseur- Like the finest hardcore bands of the 90’s, Connoisseur’s lyrics speak for themselves in absolute terms. All you need to know is they are straightforward doomy grind with lots of blast beats and slow parts. Now for the quotes:

“What if one day/A burrito ate you?/Think about it.”

“Hand me a beat bong/And pay with your life/Broken glass shards caked in resin…”

“When life has you on the edge/And you think you’re going to fall/Smoke marijuana.”

“I’ve smoked more weed than you’ve/Ever seen in your life/Fuck you…”

Now, look inwards. Based on your reaction to these quotes, you now know whether you like this band. I think they fucking rule, and they’ve started playing new songs live that are above and beyond what’s recorded on the Stoned Back to Life demo whose tracks you can listen to at their Soundcloud. If you’re not high now, you never were.

The Repos/Fourteen or Fight Split (Gloom, 2004)

2011-11-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

First of all, can I just comment on how amazing this cover is? I can only say that I wish more hardcore kids were rockin' DIY '70s stoner metal jeans these days instead of crotch-crunching designer denim.

On that note, if you're familiar with this blog, you're familiar with my love of The Repos. Not much to be said about their side: seven retarded, magisterially executed tunes about...uh...whatever.
Not many people outside of Chicago remember Fourteen or Fight, which is a shame. They were just getting started when I began going to DIY shows; I saw them maybe 3 or 4 times. They were great. No fuss, no muss, no fancy art school shit; these guys belted out direct, barebones hardcore with Frank's desperate, earnest vocals cresting the

riffs.

Light up that bong, and dive into this fucked feast from Gloom. It's long out of print...be an aggressive collector, and try EBay.

Sarongs-s/t CS (Prison Art/Velidox tapes, 2011)

2011-11-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

Like the work of DNA, who deconstructed rock 'n' roll into twitching bits and glued it back together with twisted rhumba bridges, Sarongs' first album is a series of precise arguments as much as a collection of songs. Almost unique among the slew of bands that have resurrected no wave in the last few years, Sarongs keeps the distortion to a minimum, and the result is a remarkably versatile album.
"Pedestrians" begins as a fairly straightforward post-punk tune, but chops up into two or three distinct parts. "North Face" jerks the listener in the other direction, into frantic drum fills and yelped vox-the singer sounds like he's trying to jump out and away from the rest of the band, and the song's held in place by the sneering female chorus line. It's like hearing two people get in a screaming match with an epileptic fit going on.

This would be a very boring release if "surf+no wave song arrangements" was the only thing going on here. Not so. On the last two tracks, "Mineral" and "Goodbye Horses," Sarongs veers into truly fucked, truly evil ground. Using sustained, pulsing guitar, plodding drums, and plaintive vocals, both songs create a distinct sense of lurking menace....like the feeling you get walking home late at night, with someone following you just out of sight.

Sarongs is up to no good on this, and it fuckin' rips. Winter's just around the corner, and this is a good soundtrack to curling up under a filthy blanket with a bottle of peppermint schnapps, hiding from the cold and your demons.
Listen to it and BUY IT here. Check out Prison Art tapes, too.

Brainbombs-Urge to Kill LP (Load, 1999)

2011-11-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

"I was a teenage zombie..." pt. 3

My first year of high school was noteworthy for the cast of freaks, druggies, and general n'er do-wells whose constellation I entered immediately upon matriculating from Catholic elementary school. I was a spry young lad with brain cells to spare, and boy, was I sparing with them that first year!
One of these characters, whom I'll be referring to as Ally, was extra-special special. She had arrived in Chicago from Nowheresville, Midwest (i.e., Indiana), and alighted upon my fair 'burg with a vengeance. By which I mean, this girl raided her father's medicine chest each morning for a cocktail of...what didn't she have? Codeine. Valium. Adderal. That antihistamine that rednecks use to make meth. Dayquil. Nyquil. Oh, and just for good measure, a Sunny Delight 20 ounce screwdriver.

Sometimes, Ally would share her bounty with me. One sunny Wednesday morning, we got started early. Popped some Valium at 10 am, an Adderal each at 11, and split the screwdriver over lunch. By 12:30, life was melting all around us. Nothing the teachers said made sense, the other kids kept telling us to stop drooling, and apparently Ally started nodding off in the midst of a chemistry set while I was ranting like a machinegun about Jorg Haider (yes, Jorg Haider). This merry day was brought to an end when Ally swandived into a bleacher during gym class. I made my escape out a back door and spent the rest of the afternoon hiding in the bathroom, mumbling to myself about globalization in a drugged fog.

The Urge to Kill LP is the history of that day on record. I just didn't realize someone had predicted it so accurately, a year before it happened! Listen to this and understand Billy Bao.

Mass murder on a scale you've never seen. Dee Brainbombs lives here. You can buy this LP here.

Alone & Forsaken IV: In a lonely place.

2011-11-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

"Hidden cracks that don't show/they just constantly grow..."-Elliott Smith, "2:45'

It's finally almost cold enough to start rockin' ye olde black
leather motorcyle jacket out in these here parts, so it's probably also time for a small dollop of misery to start emanating from yonder mediafire files while you sip some box wine and sink deeper into autumnal malaise, dontcha say?

Enjoy, dear fux.

The Cure-The Hanging Garden
Xeno & Oaklander-Shadow World
The Hands of Cain-In a Dark Cell
Metro Decay-Iaonio (itunes butchered the song title, sorry)
Total Control-Love Performance
Twent Four Hour World K 7
Mushy-Kether
Joy Div-Isolation
Autumn-Not Afraid to Die
Iggy-Tiny Girls
Blank Dogs-Racing Backwards
Maria Minerva-California Scheming
HTRK-Fascinator

Ultratumbados-MMVII demo (2007)

2011-11-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

Ultratumbados was just getting started when I left Chicago for sunnier climes, and I only saw 'em a coupletwotree times. They killed it, always. I first heard them mentioned as "that band that just does Warsaw covers," and they shared members with Population.

This demo contains nary a Warsaw tune, although there is a sick take on my favorite Eskorbuto song. This, their LP-length demo, still surprises me three years later for its snotty, fresh blast of songwriting and how well these guys threw '77 punk and goth into a melodic stew all their own. My faves iz "Soy un Elegido," with its pummeling drumwork, and the hollow guitar tones on "Desnutrido Como un elefante."

Peeps dis shit if you like your punk melodic, your goth rockin', and/or your guitarists large.

Mierda! Only fifty copies of this were made, but contact the band here, and you should be able to find copies of their 7" and, I think, LP(?).

Natural Child-1971 LP (2011)

2011-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

I should start this review by remarking that, from everything I've read, the early '70s were a remarkably awful period for pop music. There were gems, sure, but I don't really think fetishizing the era of Yes and EMerson, Lake and Palmer makes much sense. Punk happened for a reason, people.

But whatever. This LP is one of my favorite rock albums of the year. Spanning the full spectrum of Stones worship from ballsy swagger ("Hard Workin' Man") to pseudo-tender ballads ("Let it Bleed"), Natural Child is a perfect soundtrack to a nice evening spent reflecting on the deeper mysteries of Wittgenstein's Tractatus while knocking off that bottle of Rebel Yell you've been avoiding for so long.

White boy, this is what I gotta say.... Check out Natural Child's blog or dis heer to pick up the LP and for tour info.

*By the by-"natural child" was the polite term for "bastard" back in dee day. Are these Natural Children implying they're Keith Richards' unacknowledged progeny?*

Some Velvet Sidewalk-Pumpkin Patch 7" (1991)

2011-10-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

Like most people who know of them, I first heard Some Velvet Sidewalk in that grunge documentary, Hype!. Generally I'm not a fan of twee or the whole K Records thing, but SVS burped out some pretty sweet lo-fi slop back in the early '90s. These songs all indulge in some of that infamous K Records cutesiness, but the last one, "The Real World," has one of the most wicked guitar lines I've heard recently.
This is a pretty good accompaniment to a cold, gray fall day (which is what almost every day is like up in Olympia....).

How I wanted to have some fun.... All of SVS's work is out of print, as far as I know, unfortunately.

Opus Null-Dagasztott semmi demo (2011)

2011-10-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, the cover is incredibly retarded, even more so that whatcha usually see here on Drug Punk. Moving past that, this ain't too shabby at all. I know very little about Opus Null; this turned up in my inbox a few weeks ago.
These ten tracks are standard lo-fi punk fare: basic drums, fuzztone guitarlines, chanted lyrics in Magyar. Starting with "Vasutas," they throw in some wicked synth riffing that fleshes out the thrashing quite nicely.
Opus Null isn't the most original band I've ever heard, but so fucking what? I'd listen to this over Youth Attack! mysteriousguycore any day 'o' the week.

Magyar misery. For more info on Opus Null, go here.

The lyrics and song titles are in Magyar, but someone (thank you!) very kindly translated 'em for me-here they are in English, for those who care:

1. Fucking Thomas Joseph

2. ( roughly: someone who participates in public life / something that is a part of the public life )

3. Railroad worker

4. Dear Rousseau

5.Antiage

6.Hello Furkó dot

7. Youngster

8. Fucking Fat ( geci means "cum," but in slang Hungarian uses it as "fucking" is used in English )

9. Szijjas (Proper noun? Roughly it means: someone who has a belt or something that has a belt )

10. Angular momentum

The Band in Heaven-Seven Minutes in Heaven EP (2011)

2011-10-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

This is some of the raddest garage psych I've heard all year. "Sleazy Dreams" is a rampaging, precisely honed piece of howling fuzz that grabs attention with a killer guitar line and never lets go.
"If you only knew" jerks you around in another direction altogether; swirling, whirling psychedelica that verges into Brianjonestownmassacre territory...that's how fucking good The Band in Heaven is on this release.

Feels like heaven.... I think this is still available on Norse Korea. You should buy it. Now.

Shoppers-Goodbye to All That. CS (2011)

2011-10-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is all over the internet, but there's a good chance non-Stateside peeps haven't heard 'em yet, so there ya go. Rochester, New York's Shoppers are one of my top 5 "bands I started listening to this year." Noise punk has been making a a big revival lately, and this tape does have a consistently abrasive tone. But underneath the throbbing itch are melodies and intensely emotional lyrics....no realities of war or free speech for the dumb, here, rather songs about ugly situations and problems with no solution.
In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that Shoppers sound like Rites of Spring, if RoS weren't pseudo-profound mopes, and instead had even an ounce of subtlety.

Hit me harder. I think this cassette is still available from the band, you can contact them here. While you're at it, pick up their debut LP, Silver Year. Majestically trashed, emotional punk (yeah, fuck you, I just used that phrase on Drug Punk!).

TV Girl-S/T EP (2010)

2011-10-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

I'm too hungover and tired to bother review something new today, y'dig?

These are songs about boring hedonism and not givin' a fuck. Best throwaway line: "I smoke a pack of Reds and drink a six pack every day/I wanna stay sane and there ain't no better way...."

When I was younger I used to listen to big important bands like Aus-Rotten and think I identified with their songs. These days, my horizons are a bit narrower...you will love this EP if you've ever woken up dazed and confused on a Sunday morning, with someone you don't recognize next to you in bed....the sex was shit, but it's better'n'nothing, right?

Hahaha. Check out TV Girl's other rad shit at Band camp. Due to possible legal troubles, this one may not be around long, so grab it1

Horrible Houses-Songs for Halloween EP (2011)

2011-10-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

ESL [English Second Language] teachers are always told that Scandinavians speak better English than most Americans. Apparently this talent for absorbing things I thought to be essentially Anglophone extends to Americana, too.

The dood who does Horrible Houses is Swedish, but these songs sound like ? and the Mysterians if, instead of hailing from Chicago, they were a bunch of downed-out druggies playing in a Missisippi lounge band ca. 1971. No, not southern rock, but monotonous, droning garage interspersed with shimmery guitar notes, old-timey fiddles, hurdy-gurdys, and found sounds. No context, no flash, just relentless fidelity to the groove.

This is the second Horrible Houses recording I've reviewed for DP, and the project still doesn't make any fucking sense to me. Ironic wink-wink, nudge-nudge? Anarchonistic avant-garde? Uniquely Swedish take on Cpt. Beefheart's ramblings?
You be the judge. Amble on over to dude's band page for contact info, and maybe to find physical copies of his stuff.

Alone & Forsaken III: "God Says 'Fuck You.'"

2011-10-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

"All alone. No one to talk to. Come over here so I can talk to you."-Lou Reed, introduction to Please Kill Me

Yup, it's another installment in the chartbusting, record-setting "Alone & Forsaken" series over here at Drug Punk Aitch Kew. This one rides a steady wave of brooding misanthropy until culminating in the gurgling bloody mess that is Billy Bao and Brain Bombs. Electric Eels are almost civilized in comparison!

Get stupid.

The Ramones-Now I wanna sniff some Glue
Negative Approach-Negative Approach
Sex/Vid-Authority of Scripture
Cult Ritual-Hunger Pains
Coughs-Life of Acne
Cold Sweat-Dead End Decision
Flipper-Ever
Blight-Be Stupid
Billy Bao-My Life is Shit
Brain Bombs-Slutmaster
Filth-Today's Lesson
Pigeon Religion-Huge Bummer
Electric Eels-Sewercide
Running-Klassic Rok/Classic 'Ron
Scratch Acid-She Said
Absum-side A of Discography CS

Royal Headache-s/t LP (2011)

2011-10-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

"I was a teenage zombie..." pt. 2

...later on that same winter, there was a party at the Black Hole, a filthy apartment in one of Chicago's low-rent districts, with piss-stained couches, empty beer cans everywhere, and massive Confederate flags on display.

I spent much of this party in the corner guzzling Milwaukee's Beast with the anarchapunk girl mentioned in the last post. Shit was goin' good. We talked about Fleas & Lice and vegan recipes for like an hour....ah, youth, eh?

At some point, we adjourned to the beach, because it was obviously a great idea to hang out on the lake at 3 AM in the dead of winter. While the rest of our friends tried to get a joint going in defiance of the wind, I made a move. Total repulsion. "Whoah, what the fuck are you doing?" "Uh...I dunno..." "I can't do this." "Why not?" "Because I have to go on the swing set." And then she sat on the swing for awhile. I think I finished off the night slamming the rest of the Beast while blasting "Realities of War."

I wish that this LP was out then, so I coulda drunk myself into oblivion to it insteada Discharge. Royal Headache wouldn't have made that situation any less retarded, but certainly they'd be a better soundtrack to teenage humiliation. The singer's wistful moan really sticks in your mind after the needle lifts, and the bouncy riffs offset the melancholy under the surface, especially on "Honey Joy," my favest baddest assest track eva.

This is really happening. BUY THE FUCKER! RH is best Aussie band I've heard since Eddy Current Suppression Ring.

Das Nembutals-Like a Raging Lebensborn EP (2011)

2011-10-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

"I was a teenage zombie..." pt. 1

I spent much of the years 2003-04 drinking bad beer and getting into trouble with a punk crew I shall refer to as the Kids of the Black Hole. Mid-way through the winter, I fell in like with one of the anarchapunks in the crew. She had everything! Silly-colored hair, a bad attitude, and serious drug problems!

The first time we hung out was at a bad loft party somewhere on Chicago's north side. Halfway through a terrible Screeching Weasel cover band, she dragged me into the bathroom. Assuming we were gonna makeout, I was happy as a heroin addict with a fix. That's when she sprinkled some crushed Valium on a bowl fulla weed and started smoking, then handed it to me. After a few minutes of this madness, my head started spinning. As we emerged from the smoke-filled bathroom, we fell over each other and arose to find the cops busting up the party.

My head felt like this EP when I climbed out from under said anarchapunk gal, blitzed on bad weed, worse beer, and crushed downers, to be confronted with some of Chicago's finest: fucked up and painful in a way that made perfect sense. It's a side project from the fine folks who do Piresian Beach.

LISTEN TO IT HERE, fux.

Chrome Jesus-Anti-Aquarian CS (2009)

2011-10-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

I've been reading about land disputes in medieval Tuscany all day, so I have about as much energy as a medieval peasant. So I'll cut the shit and just give you whatcha want, music-
Digging potatoes.

This is a 200-copy tape Wes Eisold, Cold Cave boywonder, put out a few years ago. Noisy, cluttered, clanging electronic noise with beats buried underneath. It's a lot closer to the Prurient end of things than the direction Cold Cave's gone in since. Hospital Productions released it...good luck finding it for less than $50 or so, these days.

Catholic Spray/Piresian Beach LIVE, Budapest, 14.10.11

2011-10-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is easily the dumbest-coolest show flyer I've ever seen. I wanna send it to my anarchist friends back in Chicago to finish burning my bridges with the political punk scene.

More important, however, is the event it advertises-
Catholic Spray is playing with Piresian Beach in Budapest tomorrow (October 14th) night. It's by far the coolest thing going on in the Danube River valley, I assure you. If I was in Hungary, I'd start my booze binge now so as to be ready for this thing.

Info for those who can't read the poster:
Trafik Klub
Mikszath ter 2.
1000 HUF

See RNR666 or foldalatti.eu [both in Magyar] for more info.

GO!

Catholic Spray-Fruits of the Moon LP (2010)

2011-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Most of the current crop of garage-beachpop contingent here in the States can't get over or past trying to sound like they're a long-lost Phil Spector side project. Across the pond, however, a lot of the better Euro garage groups skipped that junk 'n' headed straight for the Nuggets collection.

Mining the Nuggets vein for all it's worth, Paris' Catholic Spray dropped this 7-song collection of snarling, snotty blues punk last year. The lead guitarist gets off some sweet licks, and I love the singer's voice: the lyrics are unintelligible, but he gets over with the pure force of his howling. The trashed dual-harmony vocals on "The Only One" make it my flimflamfaveotune.

Frogfuck killjoy! Check out the CS webpage for tour dates and more albums....

Layne L'Heureux/Blood Noize split CS (2011)

2011-10-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

First of all, I apologize to these guys for taking so long to post this.

After several listening sessions, each of which left me more conflicted than the last one, I have decided that I like this recording. But it's a weird sorta liking, lemme tell ya....:
Layne L'Heureux's three tunes sound like they could have been recorded in a Seattle/Portland/Olympia basement ca. 1993. "Disease" is almost as good as the Dinosaur, Jr. song I think he ripped off. I will be listening to these for a long time.

-Blood Noize is a different beast altogether. The first two songs sound like each band member is playing a different song at the same time. It's hard to listen to music that's going in three directions at the same time. They almost pull together a real song on "Water Visions," and finally get it together for Billy Bao-esque noise slop on "The Eagle Strikes at Dawn." In fact, the singer gives Mattin a run for his money: he sounds like a goblin being kicked in the ass by a swamp witch while mucking out her privy.

The entire Blood Noize side sounds like each band member came into the studio with a different idea of what each song sounds like, refused to listen to the others, and resolutely insisted on playing their own version, until they all lost interest and stopped playing. It's the most amusing piece of dumbness I've heard in a long time.

Dive in and swim. Check out Blood Noize's inspired stupidity here. Layne L'Heureux's rex live here.

Rational Animals-Perception becomes reality 7" EP (2009)

2011-10-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

There's not much to say about this band that ya don't already know. Heavy, drug-addled hardcore from the theoretical physics thinktank otherwise known as Rochester, New York. Their debut EP is a lot rawer and direct than this year's Bock Rock Parade LP. One of the better east coast HC bands right now, f'sho'.

Get wicked, bro! After getting wicked, buy the 7" over at Feral Kid Records.

These guys totally woulda loved Rational Animals, if only they could tour the Stone Age:

Alone and Forsaken II: Lost Highway

2011-10-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Back from a crisis-induced hiatus, I bring you the second installment in the Alone & Forsaken mixtape series, which will no doubt fizzle out after this mix.

Rza, Pink Reason, Gil Scott-Heron and the Mekons all on one mix? I can hear you thinking it: Sheer hubris, utter stupidity! Maybe, but I've been listening to this one nonstop for the past week and the songs have all woven themselves together in my brain. Love it or hate it, fuckers.

...all alone and lonely....

1. Rza-Dead Birds theme
2. Pink Reason-Dead Friend
3. The Scrotum Poles-Why don't you come out tonight?
4. My Bloody Valentine-Sometimes
5. Beach House-Turtle Island
6. Glass Cake-Foster City
7. cldscp-Sade
8. The Magnificent Arrows-If I had a little love (rehearsal take)
9. Joe Strummer-No Reason (from the Rude Boy soundtrack)

10. Α. Κωστής-Αδυνάτισα Ο Καημένος

11. Gil Scott-Heron-I'm New Here

12. Elliott Smith-2:45 am

13. The Mekons-Lost Highway

Triptides-Tropical Dreams LP (2011)

2011-10-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

There's virtually nothing I can say about this band that the album cover doesn't say for me. Triptides is probably the most talented band yet in this beach-garage-nostalgia wave we're still going through.

All seven of these songs are mindblowingly pleasant. I hate the beach, personally, but then again, this band's from Bloomington, Indiana: "landlocked sandrock." The hooks are catchy, the vocals dissolve in a coastal shimmer, and this thing really makes me just wanna surf. Even though I don't skateboard, let alone surf. Whatever. I think this is the sort of stuff everyone in California was listening to circa 1965.

SANDROCK! Check out the band's website, and buy their albums! YES!

Genia Tous Xaous-s/t LP (1986)

2011-10-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

"you have to deal with it/it is the currency...."-The Clash, "Hate and War"

The first thing I read on Al-Jazeera today was coverage of another chapter in the murder of the Greek working class, so I figured I'd post the first LP by Γενιά Τους Χάους (lit. "Generation of Chaos").

The fellas in Γενιά bring us 11 well-constructed, mid-tempo goth-punk anthems addressing...well, my modern Greek dictionary is failing me on most of these song titles. They sound pretty pissed off, though, and I'd imagine early-'80s Greece could only seem like a good place in comparison with the current situation there. My guess is a song titled "Μαύρο, το χρώμα της στέρησης" ("Black, the color of deprivation"[?]) is even more relevant in 2011 than in 1986. The music's consistently good, with solid production and atmospheric guitar.

kατεβάζω/download! This is long out of print...and if you're in Athens, you should probably be smashing windows, not record-shopping, anyway.

Busy Signals-S/T LP (2007)

2011-10-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who drink to hide from their problems, and those who drink to enhance whatever good times they're already having. Usually I fall in the former group, but this LP makes me wanna be part of the latter.

Sweet as that Bazooka Joe you're chewin', the Busy Signals were one of my fave live acts when I lived in Chicago. Monster-size guitar leads, a perfectly arranged rhythm section, and dual vox: the Signals have (had?) everything you ever wanted in a garage band. They weren't the most original group I've ever seen, but this is a blog called "Drug Punk," after all.

I think I love you.... The LP is still available, buy it!

23 Skidoo-Ethics EP (1980)

2011-09-29T23:57:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school, some of my friends were in a ska band called 23 Skidoo. I would call them bad, but for me, "ska"is another word for "awful."

Calling themselves "23 Skidoo" got them a heaping mouthful of rebuke from my friend and co-worker at the record store I was employed at. 17-year old ska kids that they were, they had no idea what he was talking about and went on with their Mountain Dew chugging.

This is that. 23 Skidoo's first release is a classic example of UK post-punk's genre-bending. The first tune goes by in a blur of crisp drumming and scratchy guitar, while "Another Baby's Dream" is a decent take on dub, although it lacks the looming menace of, say, The Congos (23 Skidoo were English, after all). Not too shabby for a band that usually gets shuffled behind A Certain Ratio, Throbbing Gristle, et. al. in the post-punk roster.

We've got no reason to panic.... Apparently, you can buy an original on EBay, if you're so inclined.

Alone & Forsaken, vol. I: scuzzfuck

2011-09-29T00:03:00.000-07:00

Shit's been hitting the fan lately at Drug Punk HQ, so this one is short. At some point soon I'll be posting the second volume in what might be an ongoing series of "Alone and Forsaken" mixes.

The dancehall's nearly empty now....

1. Aerosols-You're Wrong
2. Mau-Maus-Just Another Day
3. Cro-Mags-Hard Times
4. Amebix-Winter
5. Pigeon Religion-Dead Boss
6. Crazy Spirit-This World is not my Home
7. Adolescents-No Way
8. Ramones-Now I wanna Sniff some Glue
9. The Observers-Expiration
10. The Gits-Another Shot of Whiskey
11. Shoppers-I'm So Loveable
12. Dead Moon-My Escape
13. The Cracks-I Want Out
14. Negative Approach-Nothing
15. Jawbreaker-Kiss the Bottle

I'm so nice, I'm even including that shitty picture from one of Rome's sleazepit streets!

Oldwyoming.-When Debord met Salinger[...] EP (2011)

2011-09-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

Last November, I drove from Chicago to Portland, via Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. It was fucking terrifying. Proud Chicago native and city boy that I am, I had no clue how vast Amurikuh is. Wyoming by itself is so fucking big and empty that I developed a weird sense of reverse claustrophobia after the first day. The middle of the USA was not meant for human habitation, and Wyoming frowns on intruders.

It makes sense this project features that state prominently. It's perfect music for a long road trip: the kind where you're driving for so long, you don't notice how much the landscape's changed 'til you get out to take a piss. The three soundscapes drift in and out of focus, sort of like Eno's ambient work, but this is as American as illiteracy: I can only see this kind of drone coming from the desolation and isolation of the U.S. heartland.

..I do get bored. Contact oldwyoming via Last.Fm for more info. He takes some good pictures, peeps his tumblr page, too.

Show review: Grass Widow, Pink Reason, The Raincoats (9.21)

2011-09-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

Instead of musical piracy, I bring you a review of a show I'll be kicking myself years from now for not attending, which happened last week in the D, brought to you by the guy who does Monogamy (he took that blurry picture of Pink Reason, too):

There are very few shows that I can think of where, after describing the line-up, someone asks, "All in one show?" Certainly [this] is applicable to a bill consisting of Swimsuit, Grass Widow, Pink Reason, and THE Raincoats. Needless to say, any one of these bands could hold a show on their own merit.

First up was Swimsuit, who just recently released an LP of what they described as "ten perfect songs". That statement is correct. They played essentially the style of music you would expect from a band named Swimsuit, and it rules. Next up was Grass Widow. They were excellent. There's really not a lot to say about Grass Widow--in the best way. It's kind of like when you pick up an atlas. It says "atlas", you open it up, see some excellent/intricate/catchy maps, enjoy it, and head out on your way.

There is a paragraph break here for no real reason. Or maybe it's because Pink Reason were such a stark contrast to the bop of the prior two bands. This lineup was star-studded. Mr. Matt Horseshit on guitar, Rich Horseshit on drums, Someone I Didn't Recognize From Another Band But Had A Powerful Grasp Of The Concept Of "Grooving" on bass, and Kev Failure himself on guitar and vocals. Literally half of all Drug Punk posts are about Pink Reason, so you should know that this was enjoyable. They played 4/6 songs from Shit In The Garden, sprinkling in some old hits as well and even a free-form jam. They closed with "The Song With No Name". Good times.

Finally, the Raincoats took the stage. They are old now. We are all aware of this. They look like the people who migrate about this time of year to my tourist town and buy coffee without tipping. But, and this is where they depart from that mould, the wisdom of age has enhanced them. The together parts are far more together, the sloppy parts are even sloppier. There was some kind of noisemaking device used. Everything fell apart together at the same time then resumed at the same time and fell apart and resumed and then it was over and I walked out smiling.

Soft Drinks-Pop Stars in Their Pyjamas EP (1981)

2011-09-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

Lots of people think that "anarchopunk" always and everywhere has consisted of a bunch of black-clad idiots twisting stupid noise out of their instruments, while just barely avoiding alcohol poisoning.
A lot of people forget, however, the weirdo end of the early '80s anarchopunk scene. Rudimentary Peni spearheaded the "we're into reading Bakunin but also getting destroyed on acid and vodka" end of the Crass scene, and this 2-song 7" is a product of RP's drummer and a few other freaks who happened to know Nick Blinko.
The only thing I can really compare this to is Sleeping Dogs: retarded, synthesizer-based music somewhere between ranting synthwave and electronic punk. Dig it or not, it's certainly an oddball gem.

So erotic..... Check EBay for this, but I'm guessing there's like 200 copies worldwide. If you wanna know more about Rudimentary Peni, check this out.

Urban Blight-Total War 7" EP (2010)

2011-09-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

Like many people, I didn't trust this band initially. Parroting not only the name, but also the logo of Urban Waste? Sheer hubris, thought I. I started re-considering around when they dropped that DJ single-lookin' EP.

Several years on, and I've changed my tune considerable. UB shreds. Blasting the standard mid-'80s US hardcore stylings, the production really sets this EP apart. Y'know that ugly vibe you get listening to a mixtape whose songs were recorded with the "recording level" knob flipped to the red zone? The whole thing sounds like that. It almost gets to noise rock levels at times. The overall impression is a harshness unusual in hardcore these days. Oh, and it has the best throw away chorus I've heard in years: "Total war/total war/total war/1, 2, 3, 4!' Iggy, eat yer heart out...

Total war. Buy it here.

Purling Hiss-Lounge Lizards EP

2011-09-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

This is almost as lo-fi as the Bad Banana demo, putting it high in the running for lowest-fi rock record of the incipient decade. Most of these songs sound like Mike Pollize (Birds of Maya, Holy Mountain) recorded direct into a boombox. Nevertheless, under the mud, this is a tasty treat indeed.

The downed-out dirge "Voices" opens Lounge Lizards, and it's classic scuzz rock: squalling, sludgy riff, minimal drumming, bombed out vox...what more can ya ask for? "The Hoodoo" almost gets up enough energy to classify as boogie, with Pollize crooning about meeting down the street...my favoritest track, though, is "Been Teased," with a big bad guitar riff straight outta a lost Dead Boys demo. The last two tracks just sorta slog along, and sound like half-finished ideas, but overall this is a sweet debut.

Get into it. I stole this from the Tiny Grooves blog, which you should check out. Then, grab the physical vinyl over at Mexican Summer Rex while it's still available! Permanent Records recently released an LP by dood, grab that, too. See the Purling Hiss page for tours, releases, et. al. Where's my beer?

"In the flat field I do get bored:" a(nother) mixtape

2011-09-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Yes dear readers, I present you with another installment in my semi-occasional mixtape series. By "semi-occasional," I mean, "whenever I'm too tired, busy, or lazy to post something new." Smarties that you are, you'll see the threads connecting these tunes right quick.

Enjoy!...or not.

1. Maria Minerva-A Little Lonely
2. Blank Dogs-Northern Islands
3. Brigade Internationale-Remember my Death
4. Gil Scott-Heron-Me and the Devil (Robert Johnson original)
5. Led Er Est-Drosophilia Melanogaster
6. Martial Canterel-Nightfall in Camp
7. Chromagain-Satisfied
8. Xeno and Oaklander-Cold Forever
9. Carol-Breakdown
10. Pretty Poison-No Tears
11. The Cure-The Love Cats
12. The Middle Class-A Skeleton at the Feast
13. Waskerley Way-Pombo Pombo Pombo
14. HTRK-She's Seventeen
15. Keep Shelly in Athens-Fokionos Negri Street
16. Clive Tanaka y Su Orquestra-Lonely for the High Scrapers
17. Koralleven-Shine On

Acid Kicks-Life Dreams 7" EP (2011)

2011-09-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

This blog isn't exactly famous for hosting texture-heavy music. I'll usually side with a sledgehammer over a rapier for good times. So this three-tune EP by Philly's Acid Kicks threw me for a curve: the production's amazing, and the music actually expands and contracts, although the structures are basically PR-level simple.

Acid Kicks specialize in carving out grooves so heavy, they might be chiseled out of the Mines of Moria. While the three bass guitars respectively sculpt, reinforce, and clobber home the ambience, the drums set up a kraut rock-style beat that wends and winds through space. The breezy trumpets that pop in and out of each track reinforce the heavily-drugged, magic carpet ride feel of the tunes.

I'd like to see the Kicks live, as I can't tell how much of this EP's sound is due to the stellar production, or the band itself. Either way, this is some heavy, blissfully zonked out stuff, and I look forward to more of it.

Check it out on Band Camp. The 7" is well worth purchasing, as the cover is gorgeous: on a par with Do Make Say Think, aesthetically.

Artimus Pyle-Fucked from Birth Lp (2004)

2011-09-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

The later the night grows, the darker the sounds. Cicadas, drunken lovers, Artimus Pyle....
...I only saw these dudes once, at the Subterranean in Chicago. They played with Bloody Minded and Dropdead. My favorite moments of that show were:
1) [non-musically:] Being stuck in the pit behind some asshole whose bag had "Straight Edge" and "Fuck Marlboro" patches, but who bummed a cigarette off me, post-show.
2) [Musically]:
2a) Bloody Minded's brutal assault on all those idiot hardcore kids' tender, fragile ears.
3a) Artimus Pyle's unrelenting, brooding deluge of heavy, growling hardcore. If the atrocities of Abu-Ghraib had a voice, it would be this LP.

Relax/have a drink! Prank did a second pressing of the LP, BUY IT! Jensen, the drummer, went on to form Iron Lung. Robert's now in No Statik, among many other projects.

*I can't remember what year this was released. I'm saying 2004 because this band really sums up the Bush years for me: brutal, grinding, and dark as the night. *

Peligro Social-No Religion LP (2006)

2011-09-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

I've been up on Adderal for two days! Typing up medieval court records! They're fucking boring! In fact, they put me to sleep! That's why I'm on Adderal!

So I put on this record! Sometimes Peligro Social rips off The Clash!
Now I have a fucking fever, and I can't sleep! Shit's gettin' crucial! Time has stopped but time keeps speeding up! Between the drum beats and the guitar riffs of Peligro Social, dunno if it's '77 or '82!
I don't understand what PS is singing about! But I think that I agree!

Fuck religion! Fuck a future! Download this album, then buy the LP from No Options Records! Email the dude who runs it, and he'll sort out the details! Good night!

The Smoking Popes-Get FIred LP (1993)

2011-09-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

I don't expect anyone outside of Chicago and under the age of 30 to know who the Smoking Popes are. Standbys of the early-'90s Chicago pop punk scene (Screeching Weasel, Bollweevils, etc.), the Popes' work has aged better than their contemporaries, especially this, their debut LP.

Melding saccharine vocal phrasing, so-obvious-they're-retarded-riffs, and a charmingly discreet rhythm section, Smoking Popes eschewed the high-pitched whining that afflicts almost all post-Buzzcocks pop punk. Instead of sneering at everything like their major booster, Ben Weasel, the Popes sang songs about love and being lazy twentysomethings.
Look at the cover of Get Fired, and you get a pretty good idea of who the Popes were and what they were up to: four normal schlubs playing basic rock 'n' roll. No pretenses, no irony, no bullshit. They also wrote one of the all-time greatest slacker anthems, "Not That Kind of Girlfriend." The chorus says it all: "I don't wannt fall in love/'til I'm thirty-five...."

"And you're not helping..." Buy the LP direct from the band, here. They're playing a few dates in the upper Midwest in October, check 'em out if ya get a chance!

Eskorbuto/RiP-Zona Especial Norte split LP (1985)

2011-09-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

Another Spanish[/Basque] '80s punk classic, well-known but neglected by most Yankee punx. Eskorbuto ("Scurvy") was, by all accounts, one of the most notorious Basque/Spanish punk bands-numerous arrests, a violently confrontational attitude, and death-by-heroin for two of the three original members...uplifting stuff.

Eskorbuto bashes out 8 tracks of snide, mid-tempo punk. It's quite similar to the sound that crystallized on their classic LP, Anti-Todo ("Anti-everything"). Altogether they're one of my favorite '80s bands, and they sorta give you a sense of Billy Bao's historical context.

I can't find much, not reading Spanish, about RiP. But their 4 tracks blaze by in a rush of clipped drumming and ripping guitar that's close to Never Again-era Discharge, without slavishly imitating their English brethren.

Mierda! Mierda! Munster Records released a sick re-issue of this split a few years ago, with extra tracks and a 'zine. BUY THE FUCKER!

Ultimo Resorte-Cementerio Caliente EP (1982)

2011-09-14T00:14:00.000-07:00

Ultimo Resorte needs no introduction for Spanish/Catalan punks, I'm guessing-they bridged first-wave Spanish punk with hardcore in Barcelona. Around New Year's I was talking to a Latino punk from NYC, though, and when I mentioned liking Ultimo Resorte he did a double-take and looked at me weird-"I didn't know white people knew about Ultimo Resorte!"

So, my fellow crackers, here ya go. This EP has a unique sound, especially in the guitar. It's really dirty and guttural, and on "Violencia" the guitarist uses a distortion effect that sounds terrifying. Yet the band always maintains some sort of harmony under the grime: "Johnny Mofeta" even has a wicked, sinuous bass line. The whole thing sounds trashy, mean, and urgent, just like punk should.

Oh, and the singer, Silvia, was hanging out with and photographed Sid & Nancy in 1979. It resulted in a fistfight between her and Nancy...big surprise, huh?

Llama la muerte.... La Vida es un Mus Records put out an excellent discography that you'd be a fool not to purchase. There's an excellent English-language bio of the band on Kill from the Heart.

Horrible Houses-Dead Cattle Volcano LP (2011)

2011-09-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

By way of an introduction:
Hey, you know gun for the ps2? where you start in montana, hunting elk with kris kristofferson, and end up in new mexico? it's like when your bathroom isn't there in the morning. i think you should not listen to my band. same mail day after day, shower after shower before taking a bath, we're like that.

Er, exactly. The first few times I listened to this, I hated it. It actually offended me. Figuring that music capable of offendng me must have something goin' for it, I persisted. It's fuckin' good!

Y'see, I woke up with a skullcrusher of a hangover on Sunday, still drunk at 3 pm, and blasted this all afternoon. Horrible Houses didn't cure my hangover, in fact the relentless cymbals-guitar combo made it worse. But it did make for a pretty good soundtrack to an afternoon spent laying on the couch with a pillow over my eyes, hiding from reality!

The last two tracks are the best. The opening guitar lick for "Haunted RIvers Family Tapes" sounds like a lost John Fahey riff gone electric, and the drumming is almost, dare I say it, fluid. "A Whore's Lament" seems to be just that, a folksee account of, well, a whore set to a jangly riddim. If your idea of a hangover cure is blasting one-tone garage fuzz, you'll dig Horrible Houses.

Today you're gonna be sick/so sick... Or, if downloading a zip file is unbearable, check out the Horrible Houses' Soundcloud page!

No Thanks fanzine, issue 7

2011-09-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

I'm very happy to announce that issue 7 of Mike Thrashberg's zine, "No Thanks" (formerly "No Thanks//Fuck Everything") is now available c/o Drug Punk. No Thanks, along with DX's Distort, is probably my favorite current English-language 'zine.

This issue features a lengthy interview with Lebenden Toten; an Antisect retrospective; a re-print of the final Los Crudos interview; and a whole lotta other sweet shit.

We're also distro'ing past issues, including my personal fave, issue 3, featuring an interview with Dan from Distort fanzine, and interviews with The Brat and Deskonocidos.

Those in the US, send $3 to me at:
Joe Figliulo
PO Box 12740
Santa Barbara, CA

Peeps abroad-the shipping cost varies by country, so email me and I'll get back to you w/how much it costs.

Lebenden Toten-Near Dark LP (2009) [or, Winter in America]

2011-09-11T00:34:00.000-07:00

"Of course there is hope, all the hope in the world. Except not for us."-Kafka, ca. 1923

"it comes late at night/without warning/it's near dark..it's near dark"-Lebenden Toten, "Near Dark," 2009

So a decade ago the CIA engineered simultaneous attacks on "civilian" targets, and ~3,000 people died. Who gives a fuck. This is nowhere close to the ~500,000 children whose deaths the U.S.A. directly enabled via medical and food sanctions on Iraq from 1991 to ~2001.
But I do give a fuck, if only because I have to live under the consequences of this post-modern Reichstag fire. While things have become inestimably worse for Afghans and Iraqis, conditions in the USA since 9/11/01 have become unbearable, too. The gutting of what small welfare state existed in this country, pre-Ronald Reagan. The beginning and continuance of 2 full-scale (Afghanistan, Iraq) and many small-scale (Pakistan drones, Phillipines "counter-insurgency," the bin-Laden assassination) wars, the rise of a violently nihilistic, extreme-right wing party, the ascent of a corporate oligarchy. The knee-jerk, violent hatred of non-white immigrants. The planned assault on public education and the Supreme Court.
It's not that the U.S.A. was a great country before 9/11/01. But since all of my teenage-to-adult-life has been spent under the sign of the Twin Towers, this has become my frame of reference.

So I bring you Lebenden Toten's Near Dark LP. Eleven years ago, I would have said that the ideas this LP expresses were conspiracy theories: a military-corporate dictatorship of the U.S.A.; the presidential elections as a reality TV show. All of this, a joke in 2000, is reality now. Personally, like Adorno, I still sometimes feel "...shame that there is oxygen to breathe in hell." But mostly I just don't care anymore.

"This ain't no party/this ain't no disco": Serious music for serious times mixtape

2011-09-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

So we all know what tomorrow is, right? You got it, kiddies! The 38th anniversary of the U.S. government-backed coup that overthrew Chile's democratically-elected Salvador Allende! Yeah!

To celebrate the eve of such a gloriously awful occasion, I offer thee this mixtape. Turn off the lights, turn up the volume, and sulk while meditating on the evils of real politik and Henry Kissinger's many crimes.
Or just turn it up and getcha Saturday night drink on. Whatever.

I know it don't thrill ya....

Track Listing:
Cro-Mags-World Peace (demo version)
Dead Boys-Sonic Reducer
Negative Approach-Lead Song

Circle Jerks-Live fast, die young
Artificial Peace-Wasteland
Svart Framtid-Religios [sic] Terror
Sex//Vid-Nests
Rational Animals-Perception Becomes Reality
Smoking Popes-Let's Hear it for Love
Nohopekids-The Lone Surfer pt. 2
Triptides-Beneath the Sun
The Brian Jonestown Massacre-Malela
Broken Water-Dead Light
Dinosaur Jr.-In a Jar
Neon Piss-Golden State Advantage
Elvis Costello-Welcome to the Working Week
The Clash-Protex Blue
The Cure-Killing an Arab
The Proletariat-Marketplace

Thee Source ov Fawnation-This is Psydust CS (2011)

2011-09-09T00:20:00.000-07:00

I started listening to noise music several years ago, when the numbing ritual that is hardcore punk began to grow stale. Initially thrilled by the sheer brutality of Chicago acts like Bloody Minded and their ilk, the premise quickly wore thin. Turns out that people pressing buttons to produce a horrid racket isn't much more interesting than 1-2-3-4 punk idiocy.

Thus Thee Source ov Fawnation, Olympia's newest, meanest shitpsych extravaganza. Unlike most of the drooler drone I was nodding out to ca. 2007, Brian and Pearson weave electronic pulse-level beats, oddly soothing vocal tracks, and short, sharp bursts of white noise to create something approaching what Popol Vuh might sound like if they were starting out now, in our post-techno, post-power electronics times. It sounds retarded in print, but somehow works quite well. Hell, I've been blasting it for an hour straight, sober the whole time!

Get into it. For a larger view of the truly excellent cover art, click here. West Coast folk, take note! This is limited to 35 copies they'll be selling on their upcoming tour, the dates of which are:

09.14.11 House Show | Boise, ID
09.15.11 House Show | Salt Lake City, UT
09.16.11 TBA | Las Vegas, NV
09.17.11 The Castle | Los Angeles, CA
Summer Fun Time Society & DUM DUM present...
+++DEAD SUMMER+++
+ Luna is Honey, KILLKILLKILL, Jung Hollywood, WMX, Pulse Out, The Flytraps, Tleilaxu Music Machine

09.18.11 White Lotus Collective | Long Beach, CA
09.20.11 TBA | Los Angeles, CA
09.21.11 Lot 1 | Los Angeles, CA
The Spread presents...

09.24.11 Zool | Oakland, CA
Record Label Records Fest
+ Wisp, Terminal 11, Xanopticon, Scuzi, Kush Arora, William S. Braintree, DJ John Yoo

09.25.11 House Show | Portland, OR

Flyers

2011-09-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

Mediafire isn't working for me today, so, as a consolation prize, here are a few flyers I drudged up from my files. If you want better resolution pictures/bigger files, check out my shitty photography page here. As soon as mediafire starts workin', I'll have some marvelous shit to getcha mouth waterin', trust me.

Pink Reason-Borrowed Time 7" (2008)

2011-09-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

If you're familiar with this blog, Pink Reason needs no introduction. Kevin Debroux's output over the last ten years or so has stood the test of time, and remains of consistently high quality. People bitch about how it took him so long to follow up Cleaning the Mirror, but given the toxic sludge of shitty indie releases clogging the internet and record bins, is it really grounds for complaint, especially when the follow up was as good as Shit in the Garden was?*

This 7" blazes past in 3:25. "Borrowed Time" is a scorcher: a blown out, amped up guitar riff and Debroux's signature drawl. "We'd call for help/but we ain't got a dime..." Amen, brother. "Scared Shitless" lacks the first track's drive. Shambling along, guided by a washed out drum beat, "Shitless" is a bit closer to Debroux's previous tunes, as he intones the mournful chorus-"paranoia, my only friend." But overall, this, along with "Desperate Living," is a lot faster and noisier than previous and subsequent PR.

Rock the fuck out. This is, of course, long out of print. If you haven't purchased the Shit in the Garden LP, though, BUY IT!-contact the band here.

*Despite the shite title.

"Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves:" a mixtape

2011-09-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! Another weekend, another few trillion brain cells zapped. I spent last night gettin' blackout drunk to the sweet sounds of Boxes and Branes. No serious injuries this time (last time in Olympia, the drummer from Weird TV beamed my buddy in the chin with a full beer can...ouch!), just a crippling hangover that I made this mix while suffering through. Enjoy!

Let it blurt!

1. The World/Inferno FriendshipSociety-Zen & the art of Breaking everything in this room

2. Weird TV-Sufrir

3. 86 Mentality-86 Mentality

4. Amstetten Bedroom Punk-Mesekeksz

5. Running-Right Lane Leaning

6. Lebenden Toten-Near Dark

7. Crazy Spirit-The Burning Churches

8. Raw Nerve-Downer (Nirvana cover)

9. The Observers-Lead Pill

10. Natural Child-Hard Workin’ Man

11. Purling Hiss-The Hoodoo

12. The Brian Jonestown Massacre-Notif you were the last Dandy on Earth

13. Guided by Voices-Watch meJumpstart

14. No Joy-You Girls Smoke Cigarettes?

15. Shoppers-Hit Me Harder

16. Warsaw-Novelty

17. ΟraMηδeν-Aφιερωςη

18. Middle Class-The Call

19. Tam-French Made Simple

20. Girls at Our Best-Politics