been awhile

so, as you might have noticed if you actually read this website, we've started neglecting things around here quite a bit. Sometimes life just takes hold but i'm trying to get back on track and get back to work on this.

and to start things off, i've amended the Swimsuit post i made quite awhile back to include their 7", they have since my post also released a full length lp/tape, a live tape and a triple tape box set, all of them are quite fantastic but out of respect for the band i wont be uploading any of them, i have however uploaded the mp3s of the 7" since it is now out of print, so enjoy!

Swimsuit - Dolphins/Heart Love 7"

More Chicago Hardcore..

In 1998, I ended up starting a band with Brian Ryder (ex-Everlast, ex-Yellow Road Priest and he ended up in Trepan Nation after This band), A dude named Mike (He became pretty involved in Animal Rights after he stopped doing bands and for the life of me, I cannot remember his bands), Jody Minnoch (ex-Everlast, ex-Hinckley, and he even toured with Disembodied for a summer but never recorded with them he later ended up singing for TUSK). We only practiced with Mike 2 or 3 times and then We asked Jay Mast to play with us (ex-halfmast, ex-XPlagued with RageX, ex-Extinction and he later did Arma Angelus and Holy Roman Empire). We started writing music that sounded a lot like Damnation AD and even had a bit of a Groundwork influence on one or two songs. After a few practices we asked our friend Neeraj from Extinction (he later did these 2 bands called The Hope Conspiracy and The Suicide File and then later Sweet Cobra and Holy Roman Empire) to play with us. Everything clicked and eventually we decided on the name Sever The Cord. This band is definitely in my top 3 bands I ever played with. Jay was a great songwriter and Neeraj was a great guitarist, Brian was an amazing drummer, Jody was not only a great vocalist but one of the most captivating frontmen I have ever witnessed-so Yeah, a great band. Eventually, Neeraj let us know he was moving to Boston with some dudes from Harvest to start a band-we all know how that turned out. Then I think Jay decided to leave the band due to him having a baby and feeling that the band was taking away from his responsibilities-I also think he lost his job but can't remember.

They re-formed as I was getting ready to leave for the east coast. I also didn't have any musical equipment anymore and I was young and sad so I was hard to be in a band with (probably hard to be friends with). So I was asked if it was ok if they reformed without me, I said yes.


http://www.mediafire.com/?bsn4cmrygyfcxvq


These 3 songs are taken from the split 7" with Suicide Note. While I am not on the recording, these were songs that I had played multiple times and am proud of even if I wasn't on the recording. If you like heavy hardcore with a bit of a rock vibe at times, you know, like Damnation AD, Unbroken, etc,check it out. I think you will like it. I know I do.


yup.

Chicago Vegan SXE

I moved to Chicago in the Late 90s to hang out with some friends and be involved in a scene that had similar musical tastes to what I had at the time. There were about 3 or 4 bands from this scene-Race Traitor, Xculture of violenceX, but the one that still stands up for me more than any of the others was Extinction. While technically they were not a vegan edge band (their drummer liked cheese too much) they were really the figureheads of the Vegan Mosh scene in chicago at the time. Which is funny since they were not a super Mosh-y band. An acquaintance of mine from the detroit area said they left him cold because it sounded like "downtuned old school hardcore". They honestly reminded me a little of Outspoken, Unbroken and Damnation AD (if only for the fact they tuned so damn low). There was a definite New Age records influence in the music. Anyways, if any of what I am saying appeals to you, download this shit. It's good. This has the lp and the "what you have created..." 7" (the last 4 tracks). The lp is good, but man, the 7"... SOOOOO GOOD! It also has the track (cease) from the "the difference between us" compilation which may be one of my favorite songs by them.

If it makes any difference at all, different members went on to form The Hope Conspiracy, Suicide File, Sweet Cobra, Suicide Note, Arma Angelus, Fallout boy and Holy Roman Empire (I am sure I am missing some bands).


http://www.mediafire.com/?6x6its637b0ss67

Concrete Sky.

Holy shit, I'm finally posting something! My excuse for such woeful slacking is that I've been too busy being a miserable grad student, but I don't want Micah to hate me anymore, so here's a fine album for yr listening pleasure. Flower was a late '80s/early '90s band featuring Richard & Ed Baluyut (later of the wonderful Versus), playing moody, dissonant post-punk in the the Mission of Burma vein. Concrete Sky is an anthology of Flower's complete recordings, including 1988's Concrete album & 1990's Hologram Sky, put out by the venerable Simple Machines label. For all you indie rock geeks out there, you might recognize "Torch Song" from Unwound's cover of it on a split 7" with Versus (hey, family tree!), not to mention Tsunami's rendition of "Beauty, Pt. II" from the Simple Machines Inclined Plane 7" compilation. Essential listening for anyone interested in the 1980s American underground scene (Our Band Could Be Your Life, anyone?).

Listen up!

unpleasant dreams...

I think this is probably the first thing I have put up here that is actually recent.

Den is like an unpleasant dream and I mean that as a compliment. Unpleasant in the sense that you had a dream that you finger banged a dog or something. I dunno. Not that I have ever dreamed anything like that but I imagine I would not be stoked to wake up and know my mind came up like that. Hell, I guess my mind did come up with that comparison.

Well, anyways, Den is a new band from Chicago. Imagine a little dinosaur rock like Black Sabbath(they do cover Symptom of the Universe) or maybe even Blue Cheer. Then throw in a little Godsheadsilo or Man is the Bastard . Finally if you throw in a little bit of the noisy Boner records bands from the 1990s and some bands from Touch & Go circa the early 90s you are probably getting somewhere.

So yeah, get into it. They are a good band and it would be nice if people took attention.


http://www.mediafire.com/?wjwcb3lrpw1pbc0

Pikadori

Today is March 15th 2011, 9 years to the day that a band that means the world to me, released their first (and only) album. The band is Pikadori and their untitled album literally changed my life and had a pretty tremendous impact on lil ol 19 year old me.

I think if i tried to put into words they would fail me, all i can say is Pikadori are one of the most important bands I've ever experienced.  I was lucky enough to get to do my very first tour with them as well as multiple weekends and one off shows here and there, as a result i eventually become relatively close friends with them which lead to me becoming friends with alot of their friends and even touring with said friends and then even moving to Pittsburgh,PA because i loved these people so much.

Tours end, bands break up, friends lose touch, people move away/on, but in the end you're luckily left with more memories than you even have time to share and of course, the music. There's nothing much more that i can say except, LIVE THE LIFE!

Thank You Joel,Joey,Jason and Jacob.

DOWNLOAD

As an added bonus, here for your enjoyment is their entire set from 9 years ago.

part 3.

Saginaw hardcore...

I think I was 18 or 19. My band was invited to jump on a show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The show had a bunch of crust bands from Grand Rapids, a local christian metal band called Bones Of Adam, who, I'm sure were there for comedy relief, Naked Agression and,oh yeah, Hellbender also just sort of jumped on the bill..

Anyways, at that time, my old band was more concerned with "going off" then actually playing. We were going to show these kids we perceived as being out of touch with what was going on in contemporary hardcore/punk what it was all about. Why? Because we were young and arrogant. By the first song, most of the drums were strewn across the stage and a marshall head fell on my head.

Anyways, at that show we met these 2 kids-ben and jim. They had just moved to Grand Rapids from the Bay City/Saginaw area. They were stoked to meet kindred spirits, as were we.

They started coming down to shows in Kalamazoo and we would hang out with them up in Grand Rapids and eventually we ended up doing a split 7" with them.

Bev Clone, in my opinion, could have been huge. Unfortunately, they never were able to put together a tour and broke up after recording a final demo, which was great.

Here is the Bev Clone discography. The first 7" is pretty much just them doing Fugazi Worship, the split 7" material was dark and ugly hardcore, not unlike Union of Uranus. The final demo is a mix of the darker and ugly hardcore of the split 7" and the more chaotic Gravity records bands of the mid 90s.

I will always have fond memories of Tom, ben,Jim,Karl and Scott. Even removing myself from the ties to the band I find myself really digging this band..

Tom and Ben are in a band, that, in ben's words, is a mix of Southern rock and "screamo" (?) Karl and Scott are raising families and jim does Tristeza.
http://www.mediafire.com/?17ca4qnib4zmb5m

...so yeah. Check it!

Thrash Metal Magazine-where it all started..

I think I was 13 years old, may have even been 12. The grocery store in my shithole little town had a magazine called Thrash Metal. Liking metal and wanting to find more bands that sounded like Anthrax and Metallica either me or my little brother bought it. Yes, there were features on metal bands, but what I remember most were features on bands like Agnostic Front and Excel. There was also a small feature on this band called Bl'ast!. All of these bands seemed very intriguing and I was curious what the difference between this "hardcore" music and speed metal was. Anyways, here's Bl'ast's first lp Power of Expression. You probably already have it but if you don't do yourself a favor and get it. They do "damaged" era black flag almost as well as black flag did it, intense jams, occasional long songs, little train that could drumming. You get the deal.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jgmjdnmdgtm

I wanna be adored.

Not much to say today.. Just want you to enjoy this wonderful little piece of british-ness.

Seriously, a great record.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/jyn7pkelxaavewo/stone%20roses.zip

Earth People-New York and California

It was a trip back from Canada New Years Day 1997 with some new friends from Chicago that I was first introduced to Dr. Octagon aka Kool Keith aka Dr. Doom,etc.etc.. I still love his work. Not much can be said, who knows how mentally ill Kool Keith is and how much of it is him just being "weird"-what I do know is that this record is pretty terrific. If you haven't heard this yet and like rap/hip hop please do yourself a favor and check this out!


http://www.mediafire.com/?xgmjhnzqmmg

working class jams????

I remember when this compilation dropped the review in MRR was pretty good but they thought the title of the cd was a little stupid-and rightly so. Jawbreaker, Friction and Buzzoven don't necessarily scream working class to me in my mind. But never mind all of that because this is a really good sampler. Very diverse-the allied recordings way. Besides being a gifted graphic designer, John Yates put out some really great records throughout the 90s. We have most subgenres of punk/hardcore represented and, in most cases represented well. We have the fast hardcore (strait up), sludgy metallic hardcore(buzzoven), artsy metallic hardcore (scrog), poppy "emo" (Jawbreaker, Friction,radon), A band that includes an ex-member of Crass (schwartzeneggar) who's song "happy hour" is just terrific, crusty drunkard punk (unamused and Pissed) and I guess sxe hardcore is kinda represented by Nations on Fire, etc.etc. Anyhoo, great cd and I didn't see it anywhere else online so download it if you like any or all of these bands, it's worth a listen. Now it's time for me to get back to preparing a bulgogi tofu recipe.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xka5acz6q9385ss

OK?

OK? was a newer band ('08-'10) from California that played Anarcho/Peace Punk in the vein of Dirt/Crass (as if it weren't totally obvious from the artwork). I don't really have much to offer as far as info is concerned since i don't really know much about them other than they share members with Crime Desire, rarely played shows and to my knowledge they only released these 2 singles on Life's A Rape Records out of California.

Oh, and they (along with fellow Californians, Surrender) do one of the best jobs I've heard in years at pulling off the whole Crass Records sound.


(Sorry about the varying volume of these mp3s, i didn't rip them, but i had several rips of them and tried to use the best quality ones)

Enjoy.

Albert Ayler - New Grass

It's been awhile since i contributed. the main reason being that there hasn't been anything jumping out at me lately that i felt like i should share.Then it occurred to that I've been listening to this album alot, so why not write about it.

Albert Ayler is best known for what is often described "space bebop" or experimental/improv free jazz. The best example of this, as well as his most well known recording is "Spiritual Unity" which features Gary Peacock on bass and the incredible drumming of Sunny Murray. Its a pretty amazing and groundbreaking record, that's definitely worth checking out (as is his entire discography, really)

I've decided to focus on one of Ayler's later releases, the poorly received and often reviled "New Grass" a recording which many of his diehards seem to view as the worst of his work. The reason for that being that it is Mr. Ayler's attempt at returning to his early R&B roots, the thing for me that makes this record so incredible is that there's still that heavy dose of the squakey free jazz influenced tenor sax that was such a large part of his later career.  So, to the diehards it sounds like an attempt at something commercial but to the somewhat untrained ear such as mine (that has a relatively minimal knowledge of free jazz) It sounds like a weird mish mash of the two, with shaky/warbly attempts at R&B vocals focusing on themes such as spirituality and love laid over somewhat subdued piano/drumming and funky basslines which is then coupled with Ayler's signature searing often blistering tenor saxophone leads.

Despite the songs of praise,love,spirituality,unity etc that made up such a larger part of his career there's an underlying sadness about the record, as the album was made just two years before Albert Ayler took his own life.


All in all, it makes for a really interesting album that's definitely worth checking out.



Enjoy!

When I was 14........

So when I was 14 years old, my 2 favorite bands were Overkill and Exodus. I will never forget my dirtball 14 year old self and a friend showing up to a middle school dance and requesting they put on my casette of Overkill's "fuck you" ep (which had the letters scratched off). They did it and me and my friend decided to push mosh in the middle of this gymnasium floor. God, how idiotic we must have looked-2 fat longhairs bumping into each other and me,of course, eventually falling down (so graceful). Somewhere along the way, I mostly forgot about Overkill through my punk rock/hardcore years (although I did go to see them in 1997 or early 1998 and they were good, but they played too much stuff I didn't know since I fell out of touch with them after Years of decay). Anyways, I've revisited them in the past couple of years and they are still awesome. I'm upping the "fuck you and then some" lp. It's pretty rad, it has the cover of "fuck you" plus the live stuff that was on the original plus some live stuff that wasn't on the original ep (like the sabbath cover). But the raddest thing is the Overkill ep, which in all honesty I had never heard before. It's great heavy metal that's heavy as hell. Maybe it's just me but I feel like it almost sounds like Candlemass (yeah, that heavy) http://www.mediafire.com/?4fa63dlp990pw82

...and now for my most favorite band circa 1988 and 1989 EXODUS!!! Yeah, with age, Fabulous disaster is not as good as Bonded by Blood or even Pleasures of the Flesh in my opinion. But this record will always have a special spot in my heart (as I'm sure is the case for many people my age). I remember there was this show on the local college radio station called WHIPLASH and it was the window to a world that seemed millions of miles away but I wanted to be a part of so badly. I remember hearing Cajun hell and I was sold but then I heard the toxic waltz and I think that may have been the best song I had heard in my life at that time (what young teen isn't a sucker for a gimmicky song?). Anyways, zetro era exodus will always have a special place (and time) in my heart. These days I'm more likely to listen to the first 2 lps than this record or Impact is Imminent but when it comes down to it, Exodus just rules. Anyways......... DO THE TOXIC WALTZ!!!!

http://www.mediafire.com/?jmd02tjga4k

Shadow season..

So, I actually am somewhat unsure of the specifics of the history. I know it's a dude or 2 from Turning Point doing a little bit more dc-influenced hardcore. What I'm not sure is if it was post turning point or during their existence. In any event, this is a really good 7"-I may even like it more than Turning Point. It's pretty typical of that time frame when the late 80s sxe kids were branching out and listening to brit pop and the dc revolution summer stuff that they may have shit on when it initially came out-at least that is the vibe I get. Anyways, enjoy.........


http://www.mediafire.com/?zkmgt1mjziy

punk rock is about friends...

(425 davis)
It was the fall of 1995 when my friends Joe, andy,brandy and myself moved into 425 davis st in the student ghettoes of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Joe and me needed a space for our band to practice and andy wanted to take a year off before he went off to school at University of Michigan. There were so many great memories that came from this house. We spent our time talking about politics and records and straight edge,we were doing a food not bombs chapter. We were,to put it simply, living the life.Joe and my band were getting ready to put out our 2nd 7" and were playing shows on the reg despite our guitarist getting ready to move to milwaukee. Andy's band, inso grey had just started out of the ashes of the RENOBS (get it, boners spelled backwards). Renobs were a goofy high school sort of poppy punk band, you know the type (if not, most of their songs were about preppies and jocks and norms of all kinds and HOW THEY SUCK). The Renobs were moving towards a more cap'n jazz sort of sound and then they discovered that their friend marissa wanted to be in a band. At this point they started taking more of a turn towards the sounds of anasarca and other freakout emocore bands of the 90s. Needless to say, everyone in our crew of friends were pumped and excited for the band. I wanted to do as much as I could to let people know about them and would send their demo to penpals across the united states and abroad.

I don't remember how many shows they played, but it wasn't a lot. They were about to play detroit fest 1996 when marissa let them know she wasn't going to do the band effective immediately and they played their final show the day before the fest in the living room of 425 davis with constatine sankathi, decay, My ear is bleeding and Guyver one (yeah, I know most of these names mean absolutely nothing to you). At the time, they had an offer to do a 7" on anima records but it kinda just was forgotten due to them no longer being a band (I can't recall but I believe it was a pretty big bummer to the rest of the band). They did end up putting 2 of their songs from their demo on the anima records food not bombs compilation that was released the summer of 1996.

When Micah asked me if I wanted to contribute to his blog I got really excited to make stuff available that most people either haven't heard or have barely heard. Like it or don't like it, I want people to hear it still. I haven't heard most of these songs since 1996 and the memories are coming back like a flood to me. It reminds me of just how important you and your friend's world that you share together is when you are in your late teens early 20s. How many crazy life changing things happened during this time in my life, some good, some bad, but all important. This is for Andy Cornell (one of my dearest and most loyal friends), adam, dusty, andrea and marissa. In the words of Judge "those days are gone but they're not forgotten" .

edit: I was missing the 4th song from the demo.. It is now there. Download it again, if you wish.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sso5eo4bs2vjn4g

I'll make it a career of evil.

So I am reading a book called This Ain't The Summer of Love:Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk. It's a pretty good read, very academic and for that reason at times so overthought that it's hilarious but still, a good read. Anyways, it touches on how in the 70s punk and metal weren't always diverging but at times meeting somewhere in the middle. Not something I've never thought about but I couldn't have written a huge chapter on it. They cite the Runaways and the Dictators as being two really good examples-and they are. However, this started me to thinking about 2 other bands, that in my opinion, are good examples of heavy metal bands who were pretty punk themselves.

The first BLUE FUCKING OYSTER CULT!!!

I'm not really talking about "don't fear the reaper" but the first 3 records had just as much in common with the mc5 and the stooges as it did Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. I'm putting up my fave BOC record "secret treaties"-it's a great record, not super serious but, you know, not goofy. My fave jams are "career of evil" and the little nazi airplane that could "ME 262". But it's all good stuff. Garage-y but still heavy. It's as if the mc5 were better musicians and had a dark sense of humor. I dunno... Check it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?nurh0maama6cm98

Next is boston's finest (prior to dys and ssd, of course) DMZ. I know they are more associated with 70s punk but it's very much in the vein of early Blue Oyster Cult. The songs sound like the munsters theme with heavy guitars and some maniac shouting over it all. If that doesn't sound cool to you. Well, I feel sorry that you can't enjoy the finer things in life.

http://www.mediafire.com/?byi3bb0l7qyy4bj

OK. Enjoy the big dumb jams. I know I do.

1990s dance party.

A trip back to yesteryear with the great It's For Life compilation. What we have here is Lifetime before they decided to be a pop punk band, One of my alltime fave edge bands, Ressurection (sic) and a who's who of 90s east and west coast edge bands such as Mouthpiece, Strife, mean season, flagman-you get the idea. My favorite songs on this are the songs "submerged" by Reveal and the Ressurection live version of "why?" but if you're into this style, it's an all around good compilation and a pretty good representation of the era and subgenre when sxe hardcore was in it's early adult years. So check it out (or don't).

http://www.mediafire.com/?5gh6xbjs5hdzpu3

Admiral!!!

So I was in High School and my friend Dietrich told me about this band our Friend Joe had just seen at Club Soda. They were called Admiral. Kalamazoo Michigan figurehead Joel Wick had put together a benefit show for homeless people or animals or maybe both (?). Anyways, Laughing Hyenas, Circus Lupus and several other bands played. As I previously stated one of the bands went by the name of Admiral. In Joe's words, the singer looked homeless and their performance almost made him cry-which was pretty absurd to my 15 year old ears. Anyways, as I was slipping out of metal, this was one of the first contemporary hardcore/punk bands I was to hear on a mixtape dietrich made for me. Needless to say, I thought they were great. Emotional and intense without seeming to be playing a card of some sort. It just seemed legitimate and, unlike some bands to come along later it still seemed steeped in that world of hardcore punk from a musical standpoint. Anyways, here's both of their 7"s and a live set that they played in Washington, DC courtesy of the emoisdead group on mediafire. If you haven't you should check them out, lots of good stuff.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xd4weq5da6dxuzz

Bastard

i haven't really done a post about a hardcore in awhile, mainly because nothing has really jumped out at me that i felt like i should post about, then tonight i decided to pop in this album and give it a listen and knew instantly i had to make a post about it, i decided to keep the post pretty short because i know there's already quite a bit of info out there about this band (especially on mp3 blogs) but hopefully this will reach some new ears.

Bastard were a (now somewhat legendary) crusty hardcore band from Tokyo. In the late 80s and early 90s, they self released their "Controlled In The Frame" 7" ep and "Wind Of Pain" lp as well as a couple comp tracks, all of which are collected on the "No Hope In Here" Discography cd.

Bastard's sound is, easily put, what Tragedy (and all the watered down tragedy rip offs) wants to be but can't seem to pull off as well as they'd hope. So, that means you take the standard Discharge style d-beat with some crust but add in alot more speed, some really rad thrash metal guitar solos, gnarly gutteral vocals and even a lil melody (ala Paintbox) and there you have it, one of the best d beat/crust/hardcore/whatever bands of the last 20 or so years.

I have but one complaint and that is that there isn't enough! this entire discography is only about 35 minutes which means by the time you've really started enjoying it, it's over. So, anyway,  I'm not gonna go on and on about standout tracks or certain things i enjoy about this band because everything about this is great and this collection is ESSENTIAL!

Enjoy!

Bastard "no hope in here" discography

Tree Wave

A few years ago I ordered a Cynthcart for my Commodore 64 which basically turns a C64 into an amazing 3 note polyphony synth. Ordering the Cynthcart also introduced me to Tree Wave. Paul Slocum is the extremely talented man behind both of these projects.

Tree Wave is a dream pop, shoegaze, electronic noise outfit from Dallas Texas. Tree Wave consists of Lauren Gray, Paul Slocum, two Commodore 64s, an Atari 2600, a Compaq Portable II, and a hacked Epson dot matrix printer (all driven by Mr. Slocum’s code that produces Soft female & male vocals over washed out computer noise).

Unfortunately this project is on hiatus. Check out the two links listed (Tree Wave’s 10” & the Cabana EP).

Official Site

Tree Wave 10”

Cabana EP

Swimsuit

Swimsuit are a newer band (been around just under a year) from MI/NYC (me thinks) featuring various veterans of the MI music scene, the most prominent being Fred Thomas, formerly of Saturday Looks Good To Me,Lovesick,Flashpapr (a band very near and dear to my heart, but ill save that for another time) and currently of City Center. In their short time as a band they've managed to release two (now sold out) tapes and most recently a 7"

The music is mostly instrumental lo fi/surfy/dream/twee pop (buzz words!) stuff drenched in tape echo/reverb/chorus, somewhat equatable to certain parts of SLGTM, but by no means a continuation, Swimsuit can definitely stand on its own with no points of reference to former bands really needed. As much as i really enjoy the instrumental songs the real standout ones are those that have vocals, "Evaporation" has become a mixtape staple ever since i heard the demo a few months back, the reverb soaked female vocals overtop of the surfy twee pop (with a bit of Black Tamborine) makes for 1:58 seconds of pure bliss that leave me wanting more even though i can't imagine the song getting better than it is. The other non instrumental track on the demo, "Sunlight" has some nice sparse vocals that feature Fred most prominently.

The demo is by far my favorite release, short and sweet (which works perfectly for my limited attention span), the "peace gull" tape has a nice flow but sometimes i feel like the cymbals get a little too distorted and other times i think the flow is a lil too nice i kinda zone out on it, its still great though and certainly worth a listen. the first show recording sounds fun and kinda sloppy and basically what first shows are supposed to sound like, so whenever i listen to it, i get that feeling of the nervous energy that playing a first show brings and it makes me very happy. I just ordered the 7" which apparently has an Albert Ayler cover on the b side, so i'm very excited to hear what that's like.

I could go on and on and make less and less sense but i really just wanna go drink orange juice and listen to bad hardcore right now.

so without further ado:


5 song Demo Tape

'Peace Gull" all instrumental Tape


Recording of First Show

update!
Swimsuit - Dolphins/Heart Love 7"  

Fred Thomas' City Center Blog (loads of mp3s etc)
Life Like Tape Label (Order the new 7", Only 300 of em, so don't sleep on it)





Swimsuit at Glasslands November 12 2010

J. Roy Stalcup

For my first post I had to choose J. Roy Stalcup (1903-1990). J. Roy Stalcup was an amazing banjo player from North Carolina that was known for his distinct two finger style. I really got into Stalcup after becoming frustrated trying to learn to play banjo. I could never play clawhammer or frailing style and could only pick with my thumb and forefinger. After a few Google searches I came across Stalcup. Stalcup intrigued me because he really did not fall into the trap that an instrument had to be played in any certain manner. A master of multiple tunings, his rough voice over a slightly out of tune banjo is endearing.

This recording is filled with stories, amazing folk, and a time when songs were learned from family and community and made your own. Stand outs for me are “Stay all Night”, “Back in The Country”, and “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss”.

J. Roy Stalcup (Songs & Stories)

Merchandise

i realize its been awhile since my last but i had planned on having multiple contributors for the blog and as of yet none of that has reached any sort of fruition, but i digress.


Merchandise is a somewhat newer band from Tampa,Fl that features members of some more recent hc bands such as Divisions,Nazi Dust & Cult Ritual. Merchandise however is a far cry from those bands. Instead, what Merchandise creates is a mish mash of post punk, goth, shoegaze and a lil wipers all ran through a heavy layer of distortion and lo fi recording techniques.

The band has several releases out but today i've decided to focus on my favorite two:

"(Strange Songs) In The Dark" is the band's recently released full length, which opens up with "Loss" a song i actually think is a bit of stinker, so i usually skip over it when im listening on my computer...luckily its followed by two incredible songs in a row "I Locked The Door" and "Foolish" but really the whole thing is incredible.

Up next is the "Terminal Jagger Janes Addiction Addiction Box Set" Cassette which came out in 2009 (or maybe it was 2010, i get it all mixed up) but is sadly now out of print. "White Walls" is one of the bands faster songs and shows a bit more of the Wipers influence i mention earlier, though the standout songs on this tape for me are "I Know The Light In Your Hall", which at the moment i believe may be my favorite song by any current band, its immediately followed by the equally amazing "What I Want/What I Wanted", the great thing to me about these two songs is that they're both over five minutes long each and yet they manage to stay interesting the entire time and keep your attention (which for me, with my years of untreated ADD, is no small feat) as if no time at all has passed.

alright i could go on for way too long, just do yourself a favor and download these now

Download Both Releases (as well as a couple others, which are also great) on the band's website
Buy 'Em Here and Here




Merchandise - I Locked the Door from Id House Vid. Group on Vimeo.