GHOSTFACE KILLAH- IRONMAN

I'm feeling lazy today so I'm going to review the album that's been in my car for the past week. Ghostface was quick to join in on the flurry of Wu-related solo LP's released following their debut LP. This album reveals itself, especially with years of listening, to be the most straight-forward, as opposed to RZA's Gravediggaz or Meth's very dark LP Tical, of that first wave of Wu-releases. Moving on... The Wu really had something magical going on from 93-96 and if you enjoy 90's rap, especially that of the 'fuck-you-I'm-better-than-you-so-is-my-crew-and-don't-even-try-to-front-because-we-will-out-cool-you-or-actually-kill-you' variety, then this is a must!

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RAZOR- VIOLENT RESTITUTION

Given that death-metal was already alive and well in 1988, this will seem very tame to some of you. However, this is about as raw and evil as thrash gets. Razor were from a shithole town in Ontario, never got any of the attention or praise of other thrash bands, put out as many great albums as Metallica, Slayer and Testament and more than Exodus, Anthrax or Megadeth. A shame really. This is as good as Reign in Blood, The Legacy, Peace Sells and better than Bonded by Blood. I'm not just saying that. This is a truly amazing and oft-ignored band.

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MIDDLE CLASS- OUT OF VOGUE

blah, blah, blah. hardcore. 1978. no shit? yup, 1978. its not that amazing but there a million KBD-loving assholes who will tell you otherwise. If you like hardcore then definitely check this out. Has a weird vibe. Kind of like they had no idea what they were doing. First song is pretty cool

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SLAYER- HAUNTING THE CHAPEL

Slayer are a band that people like to talk about, but I don't think many of those people actually listen to anything other than Reign in Blood or whatever songs of theirs have made their way onto guitar-hero. So here's one of their best. This should erase any doubts you might have had as to why people love this band so much.

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R.E.M- RECKONING

R.E.M. are a band that kind of shot their indie-rock-godfathers status in the foot by becoming mega-platinum rock stars in the 90's, which is really unfortunate. They were one of the token indie bands of the 80's that refused to do anything they didn't want to do and made four absolutely flawless albums before making it big and making some slightly less than flawless albums. Too bad

This, their second album, is my favourite. Its just a very somber, guitar-driven pop album with very strong 60's influences but it never loses its very modern feeling due to the songwriting and vocals. Its a really unique record and once I gave it a few listens, I was a fan for life. The first track is amazing

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PSYCHED TO DIE- STERILE WALLS

I like hardcore just as much as the next guy who likes hardcore but these days its hard to distinguish a lot of current bands from one-another and for me, it feels like the great ones are few and far between. Thankfully there are blogs that do so for us and MRR usually doesn't waste their time covering bands that aren't worth hearing. One band that came to my attention about a year ago, via that fine rag, is Psyched to Die.

Basically this is straight-up Angry Samoans worship. Guitars just barely pushed into overdrive, songs with choruses that you can sing and its all pretty catchy. If you like songs about hating society but also want them to get caught in your head, this is good.

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THE GORIES- HOUSEROCKIN'

The Gories emerged from the mean streets of Detroit in the late 80's and released some of the most badass garage-rock records this side of the late 60's. Warbly, minimal, catchy and hair-raising. All the qualities of genre classics by The Sonics and The Wailers. Mick Collins would go on to form The Dirtbombs, but really, this is where its at. No garage band will ever be this good again.

p.s. If you're thinking of starting a garage-rock band, don't.

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MAYYORS- DEADS

Mayyors. These guys were very angry, very weird and very... Mayyors? This EP came out in a very limited edition with handmade covers that had actual muddy-bootprints all over them! They also sell for ludicrous amounts of money on ebay. Cool stuff though. Reverb-drenched vocals, Guitars that sound like synthesizers that have been left out in the sun and an absolute beast of a drummer. Too bad they called it quits.

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STONED

Linked HERE is a documentary that was brought to my attention today. A pretty recent documentary on the American doom/stoner-metal underground from the 70's onward. Lots of great interviews, archival footage and, oh yeah! GREAT music!

GENTLEMAN JESSE & HIS MEN- S/T

The best way I can describe this record is to paraphrase the way it was reviewed in an MRR year-end list.

'So many other power-pop records that came out this year were phenomenal but this record edges them out for one simple reason. it actually sounds like a power-pop record from the 70's'.

It doesn't sound modern at all. Great songwriting, great Elvis Costello vocals and perfect guitar-tone. Music to woo by

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DEATH STRIKE- FUCKIN' DEATH

Death Strike were one of the first bands to take the thrash template, realize how sweet those Hellhammer demos were and give themselves a name with 'death' in it, forever cementing their place in the 'who-created-death-metal?' debate. All that aside, this album was reissued some years back and thank lucifer... this slays. The thing that really sets this apart from a lot of records that occupy this tiny niche of metal is the Motorhead influence. Lots of mid tempo parts, simple song structures and for death-metal, pretty fucking catchy. Did I mention its called 'Fuckin Death'?

If that doesn't make you really excited then don't bother

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BROKEN WATER- WHET

Broken Water are my favourite band currently operating out of Olympia, where good bands seemingly form every other day. To describe them would be a disservice to the quality of their songs and the sound of this LP. All I will say that is that they pay homage to the late 80's SST roster better than I ever thought possible. Please go see them when they come to your town!

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JAWBREAKER- 24 HOUR REVENGE THERAPY

Hey, its my birthday. I'm posting this because I love it even though you've probably already heard it and also love it... or hate it. pop-punk, good lyrics, cool music...blah blah blah. I'm lame. I'm not punk and I'm telling everyone

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KARP- S/T

Ladies and gentlemen! Now entering the ring, weighing in at a metric-ton, from TUMWAAAAATER Washington, the one, the only, KAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRP!

Welcome to Monday Night RAW. My name is Jim Ross and this is Karp's self-titled LP from 1997. This album has amazing instrumentation. Everything you could want in a raging rock-record is right here. Tight, furious drumming. Fuzzy-all-the-time bass playing and oh yeah, some of the best chugga-chugga riffing EVER! The one-two of 'Bacon Industry' and 'Forget the Minions' is too good to be followed but oh yeah, they do. Sludgy, Rockin', Punishing and oddly, catchy! Oh yeah, they were on K... this still makes me scratch my head... oh yeah!

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CODEINE- FRIGID STARS

Having a shitty summer? Listen to this one. It won't make you feel better but you'll have something to soundtrack the shittiness. I used to listen to this with all the lights off... I can't really listen to it anymore. Its like reading pathetically sad journal entries from when I was seventeen. That aside, this is one of the first 'slow-core' records and features some of the most dispassionate-vocals that still manage to make you feel so much. The guitars 'aint too shabby either

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SHOES- BLACK VINYL SHOES

I love power-pop. A lot of it is too cheesy for its own good. Most of it is not as good as Cheap Trick's first five releases. Shoes are an exception. and exceptionally good one! but seriously, This is a really cool power-pop album. Recorded at the band's house in Zion, Illinois! This is fifteen songs of sugary-goodness that will have you tapping your feet and thinking about mushy-stuff, which is what I do all the time anyway.

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MARTIN NEWELL- SONGS FOR A FALLOW LAND

Martin Newell is something of a musical nomad. Years of failures vastly outnumbering his successes lead to him retreating to the studio for the entirety of the 80's and releasing inadvertently lo-fi pop music exclusively on cassette (before that was something that every shit-head with a laptop was doing). The music on this cassette is very similar to Guided by Voices but still sounds unmistakably of it's time and place (the mid 80's/England). I like it

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MEGADETH- LAST RITES

This right here is the first thing Dave Mustaine laid to tape after being booted from Metallica, probably still living in a pool of his own vomit. Opinions on this infamous split are like assholes...
regardless, I like to fantasize about Mustaine remaining in Metallica and all the awesome contributions he would've likely made on those first four albums. A guy can dream

Anyhoo, this demo is essentially Mustaine trying to 'out-Metal' Metallica, which at the time was basically impossible but hey, he does a pretty good fucking job.

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HUSKER DU- FLIP YOUR WIG

Husker Du are a legendary band and really, enough has been written about them already so I'll spare you any boring details other than the fact that a lot of people consider this to be their first weak album. Lunacy!

I'm firmly in the camp that considers THIS to be second only to New Day Rising. I think the Huskers were really a pop-band at heart and this is their coming-out party. Aside from an obvious goof, this album is PERFECT and it only gets better with each listen. Mandatory

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APARTMENT 213- VACANCY

Of all punk's bastard-children, I think I love powerviolence the most. Particularly the heap of great records the genre produced in the early 90's. I dunno what it is. Its too extreme to be called hardcore yet not metallic enough to be called grind. It exists in some bizarre, perma-fried nexus between punk and metal. Really, doesn't that sound like the perfect music?

Since countless blogs have posted material from Infest, Man Is The Bastard, and Spazz I thought I'd share a slightly lesser-known gem from Cleveland's Apartment 213. Not much information on these guys aside from the Dahmer reference... not exactly music for when you're stoked on life. Get psyched on hate!

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HARRY PUSSY- WHAT WAS MUSIC?

Harry Pussy rule. They rule a thousand times harder than 99% of musicians that have ever tried or are currently trying to make truly 'free' music. 'Free' from any influence or notion of what constitutes music. This is amazingly spastic, loud and impassioned sound for just two, sometimes three people. Like any good noise-oriented music, it involves a certain amount of patience but once you stop waiting for the chorus, the change in rhythm, the repetition of a part or a discernible melody, the music will really open up to you. I Don't Care About Sleep Anymore


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SILKWORM- ITALIAN PLATINUM

Enjoyed this on my bus home tonight. Very good late-night rain music, save for a few songs. Silkworm, like many of the bands I post, took awhile for me to warm to. If you're new to the boys then I don't recommend starting here but instead with their classic album, Firewater. One of the greatest guitar-bands there ever was. Sadly they called it quits after their drummer was killed in a horrible and strange auto-accident in which he was hit by a woman attempting to commit suicide.

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THE VERLAINES

The overwhelming amount of indie-pop to come out of New Zealand in the 80's and 90's can seem very intimidating given that no one band is given 'flagship' status and there aren't very many album-oriented groups from the era. No one wants to dive into a two-song 7"... at least I know I didn't. I had heard snippets of The Bats and The Clean but nothing jumped at me the way I wanted it to. At some point I had downloaded Bird Dog by The Verlaines but really, I just found it boring.

So, after a period of ignoring kiwi-pop my friend had told me that The Verlaines were miles-above the rest of the New Zealand bands and said Bird Dog was their best. I believe I told him it wasn't for me so he told me to check out their earlier records, Hallelujah All The Way Home and Juvenilia, a singles compilation. Wow. I was hooked immediately.

Imagine pop-music pushed to it's conceptual and instrumental limit while never losing any of it's melody, emotion or sincerity. The music on both of these records is in a league of it's own. I've never heard anything quite like it and I don't think I ever will. The guitar sings up and down the frets, all the while never calling attention to itself. The bass doesn't simply double the chords. Instead, it functions as a melodic counterpoint to the guitar in a way that few bass players are capable of. Really the only ordinary quality is the drumming, which is still great, just not quite as much as the strings. I have nothing but the highest praise for this band and maybe you will too!

Hallelujah All The Way Home

Juvenilia

PENTAGRAM- RELENTLESS

This is a bit of a no-brainer but as this popped into my mind, the idea that some people may not have heard this also came to mind. Satan-calling, Sabbath-worshiping, dope-smoking, heavy-riffing, creepy-vibing. This record has it all. Pentagram are a truly-great and under-appreciated band till this day. Be Forewarned!

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CHRIS BELL- I AM THE COSMOS

For a long time Big Star were a band who's appeal I just didn't understand. Countless 'most under-appreciated bands of all-time' lists, constantly mentioned amongst great ahead-of-their-time bands like MC5 and New York Dolls and still on Allmusic's genre listing of proto-punk?

Upon first hearing 'Feel' I was immediately disappointed. I wanted everything I'd read, not the sugary 70's pop I was given. Needless to say, I left Big Star alone for a long time. Some years later I was getting into Cheap Trick pretty heavily and decided Big Star were worth a revisit. Oh what a fool I was for sleeping on them all those years. Some of the best pop-music ever committed to record.

So, a couple of months ago I saw that 4 Men With Beards had reissued this album by Chris Bell, one half of Big Star's chief songwriting-duo, that I had never heard of. Knowing that label's pretty reliable selection in the material they see fit to reissue, I opted to make a spur-of-the-moment purchase and I was not disappointed.

Much in the same way that Big Star's last original album Third was a sharp left-turn into sadsville, I Am The Cosmos is basically a heroin-soaked car ride to the edge of a cliff in the middle of the night. Bible in hand, of course. Bell would die shortly after the majority of these songs were completed, while driving home from the restaurant he worked at...

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