I was thinking about what I thought was a good album that maybe some people hadn't heard before and thought of this one Raein album. Their last one, called Natri di Altri Padri. It's a really good example of what a lot of European emo sounds like. But then I decided I shouldn't really put up the best example, I should put my favourite example.
So here's this band La Quiete. It sounds like maybe 4 or 5 guys who are thin and at most 5'10 but with beards, yelling about I don't know what because it's in a foreign language. These dudes sound like a hardcore band or maybe even metalcore band, that have been shrunken and become diminished in every way. Instead of being extremely dark, they're probably just singing about girls. Instead of being crushingly heavy, they sound like spastic punk. Instead of being fat, muscular or heavily tattooed they're a bunch of little dudes with good attitudes and maybe a couple tattoos.
That whole thing didn't make a lot of sense but really the whole thing's like 18 minutes long. I'm just gonna say my favourite song is the last one, Super Omega, because as well as being rad it'll make you listen to all the ones before it too.
I haven't been able to figure out if this is still being distributed, but I've bought these guys music on ebay before at least.
Most Vancouverites will know of Chad Loewen through his output in In Stride.
"Come on you stupid fuckers... Bow to me!"
But since their offical "break up" in 2005, he's gone on to preform in many stylistically diverse acts. Citizen Grade, Dichotomy, and most recently Consequence Crew.
Though one has gone on without much recognition: Romantika.
Chad does vocals, "two Australian hippies" did vocals and bass and drums, Daniel from Siren Songs, and Daryl from Lush Veg played guitar.
Its really groovy, Eastern European style punk. Think Anders Angest and Svart Framtid with a goth tinge.
For those that don't know, Mac Demarco is the soul behind former lo-fi pop outfit Makeout Videotape, but now he's man enough to brandish his birth name like a true singer/songwriter. Makeout Videotape put out a lot of material and pretty much all of it was great but it wasn't quite this. On here we finally get that mid-fi, bitter-sweet beauty that we always long for when listening to post GBV pop music. Mac is not rich so I didn't bother looking for a way to download this but you can sample it at his bandcamp HERE and order a tape on Green Burrito Records HERE. I think the vinyl is coming out soon on Captured Tracks!
Reality 86'd is the fabled and hard to find documentary of Black Flag's last ever tour which ultimately led to the band's dissolution. Featuring the flag, Painted Willie (Markey's band) and Ginn's new instrumental project Gone. It's weird to watch knowing about the tension between Ginn and Rollins, the fact that one of the greatest bands of all time was on its last legs and that the landscape of hardcore and independent music had changed so drastically around them but still they were soldering on in the van just like they had hundreds of times before... People talk shit about the late-period flag but honestly, the music is still killer and they were obviously still a monstrous live band. It's a shame it had to end but hey, at least we have a document of it.
YO, YOU EVER BEEN TO SPACE? I HEARD IT'S SOME INSANE SHIT, I HEARD THAT OLD SPICE LOOKING DUDE RICHARD BRANSON, WHO PROBABLY SMELLS LIKE ZZ TOP'S "ROUGH BOY", IS WORKING ON MAKING SPACE TRAVEL A REALITY, WELL FOR THOSE OF YOU PULLING KANYE WEIGHT THAT IS. ANYWAYS IF THEY EVER MAKE IT AFFORDABLE TO PLEEBS LIKE YOURS TRUELY I WANT TO CALL UP RICHARD .D JAMES' CREEPY ASS MUG AND SOME OF THOSE CHICKS WITH HIS FACE AND PLAY THE SHIT OUT OF THIS WHILE WE CRUISE THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE. THIS RECORD IS NOT AS ESOTERIC AND WEIRD LIKE SELECTED AMBIENT TRACKS VOL II BUT IF YOU'RE A DUDE WHO LIKES DUDES WHO MAKE INTELLIGENT ELECTRONIC MUSIC THAT ISN'T A GLITCHY IDM NIGHTMARE THEN GET ON BOARD THE MINDFUCK EXPRESS TO CHILLOUT TOWN AND LET ME KNOW HOW THE MOON LOOKS.
THIS RECORD IS SOME SERIOUS SHIT, BUT WHO THE FUCK IS MOBB DEEP YOU SAY? WHO'S THIS CORNY ASS MOTHERFUCKER TAKING AWAY FROM THE USUAL ONE ON ONE YOU HAVE WITH A DUOTANG FULL OF KANYE PHOTOS? OH THIS DOGG IS REAL? LIKE THE PROBABILITY THIS CAT ROBBED SOME PEOPLE AND THIS BEING TRUTH IS ACTUALLY QUITE HIGH? OR IS IT LIKE SOME CAM'RON 'TRUTHINESS' WHERE THESE CATS, ONE HAVOC AND ONE PRODIGY, WENT TO NYC ART HIGHSCHOOL TOGETHER IN THE LATE 80'S AND BEGAN TO FASHION SOME OF THE EARTHIEST SHIT AROUND. EITHER WAY THIS IS SOME TRUE HELMS DEEP SHIT. FUCK IT, THEY SHOULD HAVE JUST CALLED THEMSELVES THAT, MOTHERFUCKERS AT LEAST SOUND HARDER THAN A URAK-HAI. SARUMAN WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER EQUIPT TO DEAL WITH SOME MOTHERFUCKIN ENTS IF HE HAD THESE TWO TO SMOKE ALL THEM TREES.
I can't quite put my finger on why I became so interested in Victoria's emo scene in the early-to-mid-90's. I know I learned about one of the major bands, Render Useless, when my boss gave me their discography CD at a show a year ago and I guess I just started compiling music from there.
Unfortunately for Victoria the only pre-2000 punk band from there that really made waves was Dayglo Abortions. Not because of their music, they just put out an a-politically offensive record cover that happened to be seen by the wrong censorship crusader.
Of course some people remember Neos as the fastest hardcore bands of the 80's. They probably weren't, but I digress.
No, Victoria didn't find it's niche in the beer-swilling mess that was non-edge hardcore, but a little later in the 90's.
Following the release of Shiner's debut tape "Slightly Polished" in 1993, Dave Brown's Slow to Burn records funded every band worth listening to in Victoria. With the arrival of one Chris Iler, a former Torontonian (Who ran a college radio show in 1984 with a future member of Crisis of Faith, who went on to make a killer split 7" with Chokehold!) and his label Fans of Bad Productions, these artists received larger - though still painfully limited - distribution through two compilation albums (Fuck the Commonwealth, and Go!)
I think that's enough background... Now the songs!
1. Shiner-Burnt the first Slow to Burn release. The vocals are derivative of the larger trend in rock n' roll at the time, but an important band, nonetheless.
2. M Blanket-Kid Collision
the first band of Dave Wenger, the most noteworthy participant in the scene at this time. Though most of M Blanket's discography sounds like a really awkward mix of Jawbreaker and Rancid, I think this song is the best hint at Dave's potential.
3. Ache Hour Credo-Smegma My favorite Dave Wenger project. After M Blanket's dissolution he formed AHC. Because of tension in the group only two songs were officially released on the Fans of Bad Productions compilations. However they were able to record a demo, and it is fantastic. After AHC broke up he started Daddy's Hands, a great post-punk/indie band.
4. Breakwater-Eleven
Basically Republic of Freedom Fighters, but with Dave Wenger instead of Casey Mercer (Yes, Frog Eyes Casey Mercer). Like most of the early bands they only recorded a demo and a few songs for the FOBP comps. However they also released a FANTASTIC split with Closure, from California. This song was their side.
5. Republic of Freedom Fighters-Year of the Rat
What a band! Despite only lasting only a year, they were the only early band who recorded enough material for an LP. Plus a whack of splits.
6. Benchwarmer-Weirdo
Sup-Poppy indie, their 7" "Pud" was a pretty popular release on Slow to Burn. I've included them here because they were the predecessor to...
7. Render Useless-Generation Gap
The group that started it all. This still-influential group has the biggest catalog of them all I think. (Their discography CD has 25 (!!!) songs) This song is off of their split with Miracle of 86.
8. Gus-Dom Fights Chris
Born Against worship featuring Steve McBean, who sings in Black Mountain! Their other releases were a little more weird. I have one of their tapes, I'll post it as soon as I can rip it. It has a Crucifucks cover on it!
9. Wrought: Ironsmile-Valentines Day
The latest release I could find, though I don't know much about the band itself. They put out one 7" and a split, not on Slow to Burn, though! Possibly a sign that the scene was starting to grow?
The Victoria music scene is by no means dead. It's still small, all inclusive, and churning out great bands every few months. Just listen to bands like Gutless, Watcher, Six Brew Bantha and No Eulogy just to name a few. You can pick up Render Useless' discography CD, Watcher's 7" and a whole whack of other great bands (Damages, Mouse Ear, Deadsure, ect ect...) at Clue 2 records.
Well, rather than wait around for the newbies to make their first posts, I'll share this with you. For the uninitiated, Grief are one of the most crucial sludge bands of all time. They existed from 91-01 and only got better with age. This is their first record and the name really says everything there is to be said about the music contained within. The guitar tone is devastating.
Yeah, I'm posting some jazz. Get over it... if you want to. This is Miles in 1970, definitely entering into the era in which he was obsessed with rock and soul music but still a jazz player at heart. This shit is very not jazzy. It sounds at first like it's going to be a blues jam, then Miles shows up and starts blowing over everything in the way only he's capable of but you also get some cool shit from John Mclaughlin and Herbie Hancock, who apparently wasn't supposed to be on here but was in the building during recording and just showed up to lay down some organ. If you're new to Miles, don't start here unless you're tempted by what I've written above. This is one of his more atypical albums, of which there are many.
Well, this is the chunk's debut album. It's all of the things debut albums normally are in comparison to later works: looser, a bit more punk, raw recording but the genesis of why Superchunk are so awesome is all here. Some killer songs that have been lost in the sands of time (aka ones they don't play live!) This is basically pop-punk filtered through late 80's indie, if you haven't heard this band yet.
This is some nice, cleanly-recorded and produced pop-punk that never gets too polished to be annoying or risking the songs losing their sense of urgency and sincerity. The band is not well known to me but according to wikipedia they shared members with The Ergs and it definitely sounds like it. Short-ish songs, lots of lead-melodies and repetitive rhythms. I dunno... If you like pop-punk then you'll dig it but if not, this probably isn't the record to change your mind.
This is a Guided by Voices EP from 95. Of course people who don't know it look at the track listing and think "why would I want to listen to an EP with two songs that are already on Alien Lanes?" Well, because they're re-recorded full-band versions that absolutely dwarf the originals in every way. A good Toby song at the end and there it is. Six excellent GBV songs in one handy little 7"
This is one of those albums you want to listen to when you literally can't find comfort in anything. Not to say this is a happy album, it's very much the opposite, it's just the sonic equivalent of that feeling. David Bazan (aka Pedro the Lion) is a christian and a lot of his songs, on this album especially, are lent their fair-share of emotional weight because they're about the things that tempt him to sin, the things that have made him sin and feeling like shit. Something we can all relate to. Obviously this is uncool because Bazan is an outspoken christian and the music is definitely not edgy, falling somewhere between Low and Death Cab for Cutie's first few albums... but if sad, guitary and existential singer-songwriters are your thing then hey, I'm not stopping you.
I'm just listening to this record for the first time... HOLY SHIT! This rules so hard! you and your lame attitude don't even know. Saxon are always counted among the more important NWOBHM bands but clearly these guys are less interested in their contemporaries and more interested in sounding like a biker-obsessed version of the Scorpions trying really hard to sound like Van Halen! So good. If I had parties, I would play this record all night.
Poppy, catchy, raw, clever, bittersweet... just a few adjectives to describe this record. This band is hard to classify exactly because they combine a lot of influences that aren't incredibly distinct from one another when combined in the way this band is capable of. Superchunk, Guided by Voices, late 70's power-pop... Those are what I hear anyway... maybe some garage rock too but I hate that shit so I pretend it's not there. The whole thing easily sounds like it could have come out of North Carolina in 1994 but instead it's Denton, Texas in 2007. Oh and obviously it has cool guitar parts. Why else would I listen to it?
Infest are one of my favourite bands and even before I really knew much about them or had heard more than one song, there was this mysterious pull they had. The ultra-gritty xeroxed covers, the howling singer who sounded like John Brannon with the rage-knob on eleven and the fact that a punk band was willing to play such agonizingly slow breakdowns. Once I heard Slave, I knew I'd finally found the hardcore band I had been fantasizing about! Of course this band is insanely popular and I'm sure for most punk fans it's hard to hear something like this and see it as any different from the countless other bands that played this way... but that's beside the point!
Infest did this first. Siege? Sure, they were playing this fast in 84' but not with this precision, intensity or conviction. As far as I'm concerned, Infest were the final death rattle of american hardcore. After them there is nothing truly innovative or genre defining (maybe Feel the Darkness). There are countless great hardcore bands from the 90's and beyond but game-changing, they are not. This is where hardcore terminated. Infest killed it and they did so in the most glorious way possible. I hope I haven't set the bar too high but if you've never experienced Infest, you must do so ASAP. I've included links to my favourites of their catalog.
p.s. Don't talk to me about Fucked Up because I don't care
Some things take a long time and for me, one of them was the Eagles. Marred by permanent uncool status by everyone, including the most ironic hipsters, (strange considering every douchebag with a mustache and a fixie will go on about how Fleetwood Mac is supposedly amazing but mention this band and you will get scoffed) the Eagles have never been given a fair shake by the music-snob types who decide what is and isn't good these days... if you are one of the aforementioned douchebags, I do not apologize because the Eagles and the Mac sound exactly the fucking same just the Mac have Stevie Nicks and her legendary cocaine-up-the-ass tales to boost them into hipster favour... fuck I hate cool people.
Point is, this is some golden 70's rock n' roll right here. Due to all the bullshit, I basically never gave the band a chance until finally one night my friend and I were driving around at 2AM and he says "hey, I know you hate the Eagles BUT you should give this album a listen. It's a concept album about two brothers, one good, one bad and their trials and tribulations!"... Don't ask me why, but I felt compelled to just sit back, turn up the volume and listen without prejudice. Long story short, this album is great and so are the Eagles. Still too douchey to give em a chance? Fine, I'm sure there's some great new minimal-techno from France that's just begging to have its ass sniffed
Cold saturday, sitting at home watching playoff football after walking to the gym with my dad only to realize it closes at four on saturday. Somehow along the way, the intro to Pailhead's "I Will Refuse" got stuck in my head, probably because I've watched Misled Youth about a million times... and musically speaking, the coldness of that song matched how my body felt while wearing shorts in three-degree weather
For those who don't know, Pailhead was a one-off collaboration between Ian Mackaye and Al Jourgensen... but do not fear, this isn't any of that "Jesus Built My Hotrod" bullshit Jourgensen is known for. This sounds more like Ministry's "Stigmata" with Ian Mackaye and a lot of reverb. Six songs and it's done so even if you hate it (which is likely) you won't feel like you could have spent your precious minutes listening to some Japanese hardcore or some shitty garage-rock.
Nothing I will say about Burzum or his music hasn't already been said. He used to be a nazi and still espouses racist ideologies through his music and writings. As a result of tensions between he and a bandmate, he stabbed said bandmate 23 times and left him to die in the stairwell of his apartment. He very likely burned down several churches in Norway in the early 90's. He is a genuinely fucked up human being and luckily for us relatively normal folk, he is one of those fucked up people that happens to enjoy creating music we can listen to from a safe distance.
This album is one of his most bleak efforts, yet it still retains some semblance of black metal (after this he went to jail and solely made music using keyboards for racist reasons... I'll let you figure that one out). I do enjoy listening to Burzum's music for it's extremity and atmosphere however, I do not condone his actions or see any logic in his beliefs. I know it's cool to listen to music made by morally depraved people (Death in June, Anal Cunt, GG Allin, etc) and Burzum definitely falls into that category but don't be just another hipster turd who pretends to be a moral nihilist that thinks racism is "soooo funny" or whatever shit will make you seem mysterious at art school this week... be someone open minded enough to listen to music made by extreme individuals for music's sake... not for fetishizing that extremity as some personal badge of intellectual superiority. this has been a poo
Well fuck. It's been a long time. I've been going through some hellish personal stuff in the last month and for some reason writing about records that have already been written about more times than necessary just didn't seem all that important, but... Here I am alone at 11:44 PM, jacked on coffee, listening to DYS and looking at that little tab on my browser that reminds me I have a music blog that I haven't done anything with in a long fucking time...
so back to what's important in life! D.Y.S. were part of the militant Bawston crew of the early 80's and I'll SS your D if you don't think they sound a hell of a lot like their brethren in Jerry's Kids and yes, SSD. Maybe a tad more sloppy than those bands so they end up sounding a bit more fun while still preaching the values of the edge... bro. If you don't like hardcore bands with "youth" in their name, then you won't like this but hey, if you don't like Youth of Today then you don't like hardcore.
