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.

The Boys Next Door

It took me a few years but I finally, in the last year or so, have learned to appreciate the genius of Nick Cave. I'm still a little unsure about my feelings concerning his later period solo work (as well as grinderman) but The Birthday Party has quickly become one of my favorite bands, which in turn has lead to me falling in love with their first album released when they were still called The Boys Next Door. For those unfamiliar, "Door Door" was released in 1979 and features a very different side of the band. Here you'll find no awkward rhythms, no squaky guitar and no dark howl and tortured vocals from Cave that became such a large part of their sound just a year later with the release of their second album, instead you see the band at its most poppy playing post punk with (relatively) straightforward songwriting full of poppy hooks coupled with a more subdued (yet still incredible) Nick Crave crooning away. Yes, its definitely not The Birthday Party which may upset some people but i think that's what makes it so great, its one of the better examples of (some incredibly written) 70s punk/post punk.


I can't recommend this album enough, download it now!

DOWNLOAD!