WRITE OFF- TERROR COMPOUND DEMO

Full disclosure, I'm not very "cool" in the traditional sense of the word. I wear the same thing almost every day, I don't party (unless getting drunk in a park counts), I watch Two and Half Men reruns and I work the counter at a gas station that belongs to a billion-dollar corporation.

Having a job like this means I get (have) to interact with the largest possible cross-section of people in this city. Entitled people who yell at me when their credit card is declined, angry people who threaten me through bullet-proof glass when I'm working the night-shift, smokers with no patience for my attempts at small talk and the worst: people who refuse to follow instructions clearly written on the pumps so they don't have to talk to me. Those are just the assholes though. One bright spot is the location. We're right next door to one of Vancouver's busiest and most-popular rehearsal spaces so I get to talk gear and music nerd stuff with the occasional stranger. One such stranger I've become acquaintances with is a man named Bubba.

Bubba walks with a cane, has a massive mane of greying hair and a beard to match, always buys orange juice and has Sleep and Winter patches on his vest (A+). I assumed he just lived in the area but one day he came in and had a bag from a nearby music store with some swank new mics in it. I asked him about recording and that got the ball rolling. Bubba is the singer for an awesome new hardcore band here in the city and their name is Write Off. This is straight up, in your face 80's styled hardcore with modern vocals that remind me of Look Back and Laugh. The real spike in this punch bowl is that the guitars are tuned to drop-D, something totally foreign to retro-hardcore, and it adds a subtle modern touch to the music that sounds slightly unlike anyone else currently playing this style. Anyway, Bubba gave me the demo the other day and it kills. Ten songs in nine minutes. Enjoy!!!

p.s. the above video is Write Off jamming in their rehearsal space!

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SEAM- THE PROBLEM WITH ME

Seam rule. Classic Touch & Go circa 93. Strains of Slint and Bitch Magnet (obviously since Sooyoung Park fronted that band as well) but with a more melodic approach reminiscent of the indie-tinged emo that would soon become all the rage. Very beautiful guitar playing with a nice amount of crunchy parts and big choruses to break up the beautiful monotony. More bands should waste their time trying to rip off bands like this that people have forgotten about instead of trying to rip off the Black Lips, because hey, THAT BAND IS STILL PUTTING OUT RECORDS!!!


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MY DAD IS DEAD- CHOPPING DOWN THE FAMILY TREE

My Dad Is Dead has quickly risen to the top of my non-existent but very important list of bands-that-should-be-a-big-deal-but-no-one-gives-a-hoot-about. Formed by drummer Mark Edwards after the dissolution of his previous outfit, MDID hit the ground running despite the fact that Edwards recorded his first album after only playing guitar and writing songs for about a year. This is about six years after the debut and believe me, you will be in awe of how masterful and tasteful someone can be at their instrument after such a relatively short period of time.

I'm not sure where MDID lies musically. Elements of goth, post-punk and psych-rock are constantly tugging at one another but it's all focused on so perfectly by Edwards' songwriting which is distinctly late 80's/early 90's indie rock. I don't know what it is but I will call it genius and I will call it catchy as hell!

Also I love this lyric:

"Give me a cross... and I will carry it/ Show me a feeling... and I will bury it"

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SIGHTLINES- SUMMER EP

Sightlines are a local pop-punk band featuring the songs of Eric Axen (also of Hermetic and formerly of Painted Youth, who have both been featured on the blog before!) and this is their first EP! It smokes. Not "smokes" in the "riffage" or metallic sense of the verb but more in the sense that this is 100% efficient and catchy pop-punk that wastes no time fucking around, unless that fucking around constitutes fun. Also this is not the cheesy, leather-jacket-ramones-shirt-pink-converse kind of pop-punk but more like Eric's Trip trying incredibly hard to sound like Jawbreaker. Anyway, the songs rule and will be stuck in your head just like a new crush.

GET IT NOW!!!

AT THE DRIVE-IN - RELATIONSHIP OF COMMAND

I listened to this gem of poppy, spaced-out post-hardcore for the first time in about five years today and it has not aged as poorly as I assumed it would have. The guitar playing still sounds like beacons from distant satellites, the melodies still worm into your brain like robotic-insects intent on harvesting your sanity, and the rhythm section still drives the songs but the heaviness of the drums and bass was lost on my younger self... Oh yeah, the vocals are FUCKING PERFECT! I don't know how to accurately describe them but for this type of music, it's exactly what I want. 'One-Armed Scissor' is still the jam

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SCREECHING WEASEL - ANTHEM FOR A NEW TOMORROW

Oh wow, it's been totally sunny outside and amazing and pop-punk is obviously the best thing to listen to. I'm sure you've all heard this before, but whatevs. Grab a six-pack and sit in a park with IMO their best record blaring thru yr earphones. Pop hooks a-plenty shrouding some well-crafted and often dark lyrics. So I guess you can like it even if shit ain't all hot dogs and slurpees right now.

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HUSKER DU- METAL CIRCUS

Just a classic EP for this fine Monday. As a whole, I like this one way more than Zen Arcade, but that's just my shitty opinion so whatever.


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MAHRIA - S/T

Ffffftttt- and a low whistle... Another flare shot into the gaping webby void...

Well heya folks. Thanks to the invitation (and grooming) of Sensei Cam, I'm here to toss my borrowed cents at the feet of all you bloggist taste-makers / recommendation-takers. Nice to meet you.

Let's kick it off with something current: Edmonton's MAHRIA. I seriously can't get enough of this record. A punishing, tortured, female-fronted work sitting at that perfect intersection of emo and post-hardcore. Soul-crushing primal yelps, wickedly melodic guitar interplay, and some of the hugest production I've heard in a long time. The track "Justification of an Old Man" is particularly devastating. Available for free on Bandcamp.

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Oh yeah, and I just found out that THEY PLAYED IN VANCOUVER YESTERDAY AND I HAD NO IDEA. FML. If you went to that show, post here and tell me how awesome it was so I can feel shittier about myself.

BLACK FLAG- LIVE 84'

If later Flag still makes you scratch your head then look no further. This is what later Flag is all about right here. Just before Kira left and Greg Ginn had his bong fused to his lips. If you don't like this, then you don't like late Flag... Hey! don't worry about it man!


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IRON LUNG- SEXLESS/NO SEX

Disclaimer: If you do not like loud, angry, dissonant, and punishing music then it's very likely you won't like this.

Now, first things first... HOLY SHIT! I slept on this band for so long and I have no idea why. I listened to this album on the way home last night and it is so perfect. Not perfect in a broader sense of music, just perfect for what it is. The music made by this two piece is so perfectly untainted by any aspirations of success, popularity, notoriety, or any other desire that can often compromise the important aspects of good extreme music. I really got a sense that these guys are only doing this for themselves. This is pure modern powerviolence with such a perfect dose of harsh-noise and slower-parts to break up the wall of fury. PERFECT! PERFECT! PERFECT!

The songs totally bleed into each other but it's in such a perfect way that it feels like one continuous piece of music. The riffs are so atonal and percussive that none of the songs have an identifiable key or even a melody and alternately, could all be in some magical, imperceptible key that normal humans can't actually hear. The playing is flawless, the vocals are perfectly angry and they never veer too far into metal territory. This is exactly what modern powerviolence bands need to look to. No more angry frat boys taking off their shirts and playing grindcore with more tempo changes and calling it powerviolence. THIS IS POWERVIOLENCE!!! All hail the Iron Lung!!!

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