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.