Atari Teenage Riot - Live At Brixton Academy 1999

Artist: Atari Teenage Riot

Album: Live At Brixton Academy 1999
Release: 2000
Label: Digital Hardcore Records

Tracklist:

1. Live At Brixton Academy 1999

Live At Brixton Academy 1999 is a document of the final Atari Teenage Riot live action, supporting Nine Inch Nails at one of the largest shows of the band's career. 1999 was a tumultuous year for ATR. Their latest record, 60 Second Wipe Out, had not been as well received as their previous records, and members of the band, particularly head provocateur Alec Empire, found themselves exhausted and stagnated. Internal tensions also took their toll on the other members: Hanin Elias became pregnant, Carl Crack was suffering from psychosis resulting from extended drug abuse, and members of the band were arrested during an anti-WTO protest in Berlin.

These tensions were manifested in a harsh, manic, and devastating 26-minute noise set at the last show of their British tour with NIN, which was later released as a limited edition CD on the band's Digital Hardcore label (Apparently a video of this set exists as well; contact the blog if you know anything about this.) Live At Brixton Academy bears little resemblance to their more "conventional" songs, closer to industrial music, power electronics, or Metal Machine Music than their punk-inspired roots. Instead of shouting slogans over brutal four-on-the-floor dance beats, the members of the band elected to get behind their electronics and spray their audience with sonic tear gas. In 1997, ATR were joined by German-Japanese noise artist Nic Endo, who contributes layered and textural waves of punishing synthesizer squall to this release.

While this document is not representative of the rest of ATR's (excellent) catalog, in many ways it stands out from their other releases. As aggressive as songs like "Start the Riot" and "Destroy 2000 Years of Culture" are, they can only do so much to provoke a riot. Live At Brixton Academy is the sound of a riot in progress.

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-CB Radio

Taylor Bow - Hate Fuck 7"

Artist: Taylor Bow
Album: Hate Fuck 7"
Release: 2007
Label: Hospital Productions

Tracklist:

1. I Thought You Only Dated Nice Guys
2. Dead Girl/Smoke Another Cigarette
3. Smoking
4. Hate Fuck
5. Dark Girl
6. Save You
7. Only Good For One Thing
8. Let's Watch The Tape
9. Stark Girl
10. Untitled Outro

This EP was seemingly overlooked by the “hardcore” community since its release in April 2007. Now two years later with an LP on the horizon from Youth Attack it seems this mysterious NYC thrash unit is all the rage. Lead by Dominic Fernow (Prurient/Hospital Productions) Taylor Bow spews out ten tracks of vile hardcore fury in just over five minutes. The deranged and perverse lyrics add a somewhat Power Electronics feel to the mayhem. My only real problem with this band, and 7", is the stupid band name. If you are not a pervert, then you may not know that Taylor Bow is an unintentional amateur porn star. It’s about as cool of a name as Charles Bronson… All of that aside though, this EP is twisted and fierce and you should be kicking yourself if you “judged a book by its cover” two years ago.

:Link Removed:

-Evander Holywar

Foreign Objects - Demo

Artist: Foreign Objects
Album: Demo
Release: 2009
Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. Fixed Failure
2. Decline
3. Lost Time
4. The Long Way
5. Fable

Foreign Objects are a relatively new Massachusetts band who have been tearing shit up since playing their first show in February. Foreign Objects is Terry from Conversions on vox, Meghan from Ampere on bass, Melissa from Red Thread on guitar, and Dan from Libyans holding things down on drums. (If you need a little more star power, this was recorded by Will Killingsworth.) If I had to pick which of these heavy hitters Foreign Objects sound most like, I'd probably say Conversions (more so on their demo than on their LP or 7") or maybe Conversions crossed with Libyans, but really they're doing something entirely different.

Boston has a lot of awesome bands these days (check out Chris Strunk's scene report from the June MRR for some names), but Foreign Objects definitely keep things fresh. You get a lot of straight-up punk/hardcore and pop-punk here, but they take a more angular post-punk approach that's super catchy (dancing a little bit in my chair right now). I love a ton of bands from Boston, but I really can't think of any doing anything similar right now (or in other cities off the top of my head). If you were into Conversions, Terry still brings it but more melodic and less shrieking this time. Really awesome vocals- reminds me of Kathleen Hanna on Bikini Kill's 12" EP. "Fixed Failure" and "Fable" are the real gems to bookend this tape.

This demo is short, sweet, and one of the best of 2009. Certainly worth seven minutes of your time... or an hour if you want to listen to it over & over again. They've got a 7" coming out this summer, so keep your eyes peeled.

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-Catherine

Koro - Self Titled 7" (A.K.A. 700 Club EP)

Artist: Koro
Album: Self Titled 7" (A.K.A. 700 Club EP)
Release: 1986
Label: Self Released

Tracklist:

1. 700 Club
2. Selfless Johnny
3. It's OK
4. Government
5. Dear Sirs
6. Blap
7. Nauseous
8. Acid Casualty

Koro's only [Edit: not entirely true] official release, this S/T 7", is one of my favorite 80s hardcore releases. I'm pretty positive I'm not the only person who holds this EP in such high regards, as I constantly see it referred to as legendary in the great, internet annals of history. After listening to this 7", it's easy to see why: these Tennessee natives crafted one of the most raging pieces of thrashy hardcore. Every single song is a winner, the band plays so incredibly tight, and the production and sound of this EP is probably the most vivacious I've ever heard. The one-two punch of the military protest "Dear Sirs" and the cowbell-laden "Blap" alone possess enough energy to disintegrate the listener if somehow harnessed into some sort of laser pistol. Seriously, though, I won't keep naming highlights when every song is perfect, but let me just point out how the ending of "It's OK" is one of the best I've ever heard. OK? Enough talk, time to rage.

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-Adam

Cult Ritual - Self Titled LP

Artist: Cult Ritual
Album: Self Titled LP
Release: 2009
Label: Youth Attack

Tracklist:

1. Holiday
2. Horror Sale
3. Ugly Years
4. Lude
5. Nailed
6. Failed
7. Saturday's Blood
8. Last Time
9. Cancer Money

Rarely does a piece of music come along and completely decimate me in the way in which Cult Ritual's debut LP does. I hate to speak in what seems like total hyperbole, but this album has completely destroyed my conception of what modern hardcore can be and where it can go. Cult Ritual has reached greatness in the past, especially with their astonishing 2nd EP, but neither they nor any bands in recent memory have attained the supreme in the ways that they have with this album.

One of the first things I noticed about this album was how the band employed new and interesting additions to their sound. First and foremost, the guitar tone is warmer than anything they've used in the past. This means the album may not be as visceral (in a purely aural sense) as the 2nd EP (thanks to the great work of Carson), but it is no less intense or affecting. It's definitely the best sound from the band, thus far. Also noticeable is the appearance of "noise" interludes. This may sound annoying to some, but they work extremely well in maintaining the atmosphere the albums possesses.

The LP opens with "Holiday," which begins with swathes of cold, electronic sounds and snippets of voices, as well as a sample from the 3rd EP, before erupting into feedback and, eventually, into the fast, noisy hardcore for which the band is known. What follows on the A-side are five of the most furious tracks of thrashing hardcore the band has done. It's hard to pick highlights from these, especially when they are uniformly flawless and flow together so well, but one could focus on where the blitzkrieg ends with the one-two punch of "Nailed" and "Failed." The former finds that band at its most violent, but the latter is probably the highlight of the entire A-side. "Failed" begins in the same aggressive manner as "Nailed," but halfway through, the song blossoms into the unexpected with disgustingly beautiful guitars and the refrain of "Just crush my face." This emotional outburst floored me upon my first listening.

The song flows into "Saturday's Blood," which begins with three minutes (!!!) of nothing but the same, simple drum part. Normally, I would be pissed off by this sort of thing, but after the climax of "Failed," it's a necessary reprieve. The song eventually bursts into the full band playing, but it's a slower, more flowing Cult Ritual. This song, like the rest of the album, possesses the quality of a sort of controlled chaos; Instead of an all-out assault, the band plays with a real precision that sets it apart from its peers.

The B-side opens with the soft strumming of delayed guitars with tremolo and an uncomfortable sample from Andy Warhol's Trash (Paul Morrissey, 1970). Guitars twang (a lot on this side of the album) while a monotone voice quickly recites the title of the song, "Last Time," over and over, tripping over his words. Being the second of the two five-minute songs, the song slowly envelops the listener into it. Like the rest of the album, this song contains absolutely phenomenal lyrics. The song then merges into the final, epic song, a reworked and re-recorded version of "Cancer Money." The original is great, for sure, but the LP version is far superior in its hailstorm of feedback, auditory shrapnel, and ultra-heaviness (five-minute mark), all before slowly fading out into unknown depths.

Unlike this drawn-out write-up, the album hovers around the thirty-minute mark and is, despite being a hardcore record, the perfect length for this sort of LP. This review probably won't do anything for the band being labeled a "hype band," nor do the ridiculous eBay auctions of this LP (If you were one of the people who paid $172.50 and $102.50, then you make me sick.), but that sort of thing doesn't matter when the band is as good as Cult Ritual. It is truly amazing to see how far this band has come from their first demo. This is not only the best hardcore LP of the year (props to Punch, though), but the year's best LP, period. I've been listening to this album habitually for about three months and my opinion has yet to change: I can say with confidence, barring any freak accident, that I do not see anyone coming close to being able to scale the monolith that is the Cult Ritual LP.

Download Here
Buy Here [Sold Out]
Cult Ritual U.S. Tour [Already Happened]

-Adam

Punch - Self Titled LP

Artist: Punch
Album: Self Titled LP
Release: 2009
Label: Discos Huelga

Tracklist:

01. Don't Start
02. Fuming
03. Get Back
04. Ol'Factory
05. Right Of Way
06. If Not Me
07. Been Here Before
08. We're Not In This Together
09. The Bad Times
10. Make The Good Times That Much Better
11. If You Can't Now, You Never Could
12. Break A Leg
13. Rewrite
14. Mending Is Better Than Ending
15. Not So Posi After All
16. Feminists, Don't Have A Cow

First off, I gotta say thanks to the Brown Brown Blog for the mp3s of this. It's an awesome blog detailing lots of East Bay bands, of which there are many that are worth your time. Check it.

Punch (that name!) came roaring out the gates with the quite good Eyeless 7", but nothing could prepare us for the pure excellence that is their debut LP. For those of you who do not know them, Punch is female-fronted hardcore from the Bay Area and MY GOD are they good. Mixing infuences ranging from powerviolence to youth crew, this is some of the best fast hardcore (I refuse to seriously use the term "fastcore") I've heard in a very long time. Seriously, this shit is amazing. While certainly relying heavily on their speed and intensity, Punch is not a one-trick pony, as their song structure is flawless, the songs never get boring or repetitive, there is a proper amount of (get low get) slow parts, the lyrics about veganism that are clever and insightful (not so much the biking parts, though), and, most importantly, they bring the mosh.

For those of you who are tired of the "artsy" or "weird" (used as uninspired pejoratives) hardcore trend we're currently in, Punch is for you. Actually, Punch is just for everyone. Ignoring the existence of the Cult Ritual LP, this album is definitely the best hardcore release of the year, thus far. The initial pressing of this is already sold out, so make sure to pick up the tour pressing from the band on their current tour!

Download Here

-Adam

µ-Ziq – Lunatic Harness

Artist: µ-Ziq
Album: Lunatic Harness
Release: 1997
Label: Planet Mu

Tracklist:

1. Brace Yourself Jason
2. Hasty Boom Alert
3. Mushroom Compost
4. Blainville
5. Lunatic Harness
6. Approaching Menace
7. My Little Beautiful
8. Secret Stair, Pt. 1
9. Secret Stair, Pt. 2
10. Wannabe
11. Catkin And Teasel
12. London
13. Midwinter Log

This guy totally looks like my high school friend of both Adam and I who is a literary nerd and wears those goofy prescription glasses that darken when sunlight hits them. Mr. Paradinas probably wears those very same nerdy prescription glasses. I lol’d when I saw this picture.

Mike Paradinas, a.k.a. µ-Ziq (pronounced “music”) seems to be a pretentious individual who goes by several names like: Jake Slazenger, Kid Spatula, Gary Moscheles and Tusken Raiders. He is a well-regarded electronic artist from London, England, who has risen in the modern electronic community to co-produce with Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) on Mike & Rich - Expert Knob Twiddlers.

Lunatic Harness reminds me of Squarepusher’s complex instrumental sample chopping mixed with new wave synthetic keys. The basis of each track is a very complex chopped drum sample and heavy bass underneath beautiful synth melodies. Some tracks get a little too complex for dancing, but it still sounds amazing. The album is a mixture of extremely uptempo jams and slightly downtempo ambient. The ambiance puts you in this weird position of relaxation, which motivates you to move about. Some pieces are overly complex and heavy, but the style changes with the mood of each piece and this album is very bipolar. It’s like being in the same room as a guy in a lunatic harness; you don’t know what to expect, but you know for sure the next couple minutes he might start bouncing off the walls. Beware of the intense percussion, it may be a turnoff if you are used to the simple ambient beats.

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-Johnny B

Gas - Oktember 12"

Artist: Gas
Album: Oktember 12"
Release: 1999
Label: Mille Plateaux

Tracklist:

1. [Untitled Track]
2. [Untitled Track]

For those of you in the dark, Gas (a.k.a. Wolfgang Voigt of Kompakt Records a.k.a. one of the best labels ever!) is one of the best ambient techno acts to ever exist. While not my favorite release by Gas (that would be either 1997's Zauberberg or 2000's Pop) , the Oktember 12" is still one of my favorites of the genre.

One of the things that separates Gas from his peers is the quality of his sound. While by no means a negative thing, lots of the minimal techno and ambient music that I've encountered over the years tends to sound cold and lifeless (though, this may just be because I have an affinity for dark ambient), but many of his releases are absolutely captivating in the ways in which they envelop you with their warm tones and ethereal presence. I don't think I've experienced electronic music as organic as Gas.

This particular release, which came out a few months before and a single for Königsforst, is one of his lesser-known works and acts as a transition from his more darker works to thelush soundscapes of his later period. The first track on this is the same as the opener to the full-length. From my count (which is probably wrong), the beat appears to be 4/4, but this is not your average, cheesy 4/4 techno beat and is instead heavily buried, all while being augmented by absolutely haunting, teutonic melodies. This song is great, but the b-side is the main reason to check this release out, as it is not only exclusive to this 12", but is mindblowingly good. This track is captivating in the way in which its precise and delicate (read: slow) pacing unwraps itself to the listener and, by the end, the way it exposes its gorgeous and masterful core. This is what a Gas song should do. Shit, this is what ambient music should do.

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-Adam

Libyans - Welcome To The Neighborhood 7"

Artist: Libyans
Album: Welcome To The Neighborhood 7"
Release: 2008
Label: Shock To The System

Tracklist:

1. Welcome To The Neighborhood
2. Cough It Up
3. Higher Standards

For those unfamiliar, Libyans are a punk band from Boston. They've got two 7"s and a 12" so far with a bunch more stuff on the way. Welcome to the Neighborhood is their first release and is notorious for the use of the title track in Rock Band (I still have yet to play this game). They're one of the best bands in Boston these days, so look for their big tour this August and peep them on the cover of the upcoming MRR.

Reading about Libyans, you most often see comparisons to the Avengers and other Dangerhouse bands, which, for this release at least, is pretty fair. "Welcome to the Neighborhood" is a true punk single. It's catchy as fuck (there's a reason it's on the video game), but never cheesy. It echoes all of the stuff they're compared to without being derivative. While it's easy to dwell on this song, as fun and great as it is, I don't think it really does the band justice.

The B-side gives you a better taste of what Libyans are like live and on their 12" (I think that record is my favorite so far). They've got a rougher edge (I bet Liz could take Penelope Houston in a fight), sometimes more akin to deluge of No Way releases or even This Is Boston, Not L.A. "Cough It Up" and "Higher Standards" are still easy to sing along to, but with a slightly faster pace and harder vocals. Some sweet riffs on the former. While "Welcome to the Neighborhood" may be on more of my mixes, I prefer side two of their first 7" and the harder Libyans in general.

This is well out of print now, but check out their new 7" and the aforementioned 12" as well as other releases on drummer Dan's Shock to the System Records.

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-Catherine

Weed Hounds - Demo

Artist: Weed Hounds
Album: Demo
Release: 2009
Label: Crooked Direction

Tracklist:

1. Embrace (More Or Less)
2. In The Afternoon
3. Save Me From My Lethargy
4. Best Friends

The first demo by NY band Weed Hounds was an extremely pleasant surprise for me. Posted on what shall remain an unnamed messageboard (lol), I downloaded it out of vague curiosity due to the band's self-description of "for fans of my bloody valentine, swirlies, dinosaur, etc.," which I found out was certainly true, especially with the last two bands. Honestly, I have a hard time categorizing this stuff. It's not quite shoegaze, but it's not quite "standard" indie stuff. Maybe it's just Psychobilly. Who knows? What I do know is that these four songs have been on constant rotation on my iTunes for the past week and a half and show no signs of giving up their position.

This demo is super-solid and flat-out awesome. The band's sound possesses many of the elements I love in my music like this: lo-fi production, wirey and noisy guitars, alternating male and female vocals, etc. Real talk, these songs rule. I find myself most attached to "Embrace (More Or Less)" and "Best Friends," but every song has its moments. This is not to say the demo is perfect. Some of the tracks, especially "In The Afternoon," drag on a little too long and would be better around the three or four-minute mark instead of being five or six minutes. Also, while not related to the music, I'm not the biggest fan of the band's name, though it's better than Weed House, which I keep accidentally calling it.

Editing room-phobias and sub-par (yet endearing) name aside, this is demo is well worth checking out. The band is releasing this as a cassette VERY soon on Crooked Direction, as well as a new split 7" with the band Dude Japan on Rok Lok Records, which I'm very excited about. Get this demo and then get stoked on Weed Hounds, as this band has a lot of potential that they hopefully won't squander.

Download Here
Buy Here or wait a few weeks and paypal $6.50 to crookeddirection@gmail.com. Make sure to check the label's Myspace before ordering to make sure the tape is available. Totally worth it!

-Adam

Glossectomy - Unreleased Album

Artist: Glossectomy
Album: Untitled
Label: N/A
Release: N/A

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Unknown
3. Infanticide
4. Meningorrhagia
5. Outro
6. Unknown
7. Behold The Stuck Limbs

I don't know about you, but I came here to fucking mosh. And aside from Fury of V, nothing makes me want to mosh like the brutal slamz of Glossectomy, Japan's finest wigger slam band. Unfortunately, they never actually released anything! All we have to remember them by is this unfinished, untitled, incomplete recording which was to be their debut full-length. If you're not familiar with slam metal, I can't think of a better way to get acquainted then through this record. It has all the trademark elements of slam: sewer-sludge guttural vocals, a pingy snare that would make 311 jealous, and of course a never-ending stream of crushing slam riffs. Like most other Japanese slam bands, they strip the genre down to its most essential elements, with no melody, hooks, dynamics, or other frills that would get in the way of slamming.

Their slamz are so brutal that they can actually cause convulsions! For example, look at the poor dude at around :25 in this video.

Glossectomy is also notable for their pioneering use of wiggerish arm movements. In this video, the singer for another Japanese wigger slam band called Vomit Remnants demonstrates his style.

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-Sergeant D

Only Living Witness - Prone Mortal Form

Artist: Only Living Witness
Album: Prone Mortal Form
Label: Century Media
Release: 1993

Tracklist:

1. Prone Mortal Form
2. Root
3. Voice of Disrepair
4. Silo
5. Veracity, Tenacity and Aspirin
6. Slug
7. Twitching Tongues
8. Nineveh
9. Darkly
10. December
11. Prone Mortal Form (1992 Demo)
12. Twitching Tongues (1992 Demo)
13. Window 4:45 (1992 Demo)
14. Nineveh (1992 Demo)
15. Slug (1992 Demo)

Whenever I ask someone if they've heard of Boston's Only Living Witness, I usually get weird reactions. A scene vet friend of mine immediately asked if they were "jesuscore." Hardly. Formed in the early 1990s by ex-members of thrash metal band Formicide and the vocally gifted Jonah Jenkins, Witness were the perfect mixture of rock'n'roll, metal and hardcore. Plenty of bands-- especially in today's metalcore/deathcore-heavy "scene"-- claim to do similar things. But one listen to Prone Mortal Form reveals these Masshholes knew how creatively meld Sabbath stomp, Megadeth-tight rhythms, swingin' two-steps, incredible vocals and pastoral interludes into a sound that was the basis for one of the most underrated records in underground music's history.

Any other barker could've shouted over the beefy-but-nuanced music churned out by Eric Stevenson, Chris Crowley and Craig Silverman. It would've been a good hardcore record. But what sends OLW to the top is undoubtedly the talent of singer Jonah Jenkins, whose singing never sacrifices melody for all-out intensity or vice versa. His voice doesn't need a good cop/bad cop dynamic-- it's just one grizzled, badass cop who knows how to meld both styles together.

Coupled with the soaring power of Jenkins' vocals are the words he uses it to sing. Cryptic, narrative and often a tad verbose, many of the song lyrics are based on The Beast of War, a film about a Gulf-era Russian tank stuck behind enemy lines in the desert. Others such as "Voice of Disrepair" concern life experiences like an encounter with a crazed homeless man ("We grew to reek of martyrdom/and mutual misanthropy") or the beauty of Jenkins' then-girlfriend ("Darkened shroud of morning/Simplified in face and stature/Blessed in the storming/Sweetness of a subtle feature,") in the wall-crumbling finale of "December." Altogether, the whole record teems with catchy riffs, tight musicianship, and an inherent sense of intelligence questioning the darkness surrounding every song theme.

This band and album can appeal to damn near anyone. Thanks to our buddy Lo-Res Viscera for posting this in the first place a long time ago.

Buy here in a set with OLW's second record for five bucks!
Download Here

-Asa

Piebald - We Are The Only Friends That We Have

Artist: Piebald

Album: We Are The Only Friends That We Have

Release: 2002

Label: Big Wheel Recreation

Tracklist:

1. King Of The Road

2. Just A Simple Plan

3. American Hearts

4. Long Nights

5. Fear And Loathing On Cape Cod

6. The Monkey Versus The Robot

7. Karate Chops For Everyone But Us

8. Rich People Can Breed

9. It's Going tO Get Worse Before It Gets Better

10. The Stalker

11. Look, I Just Don't Like You

12. Sex Sells And (Unfortunately) I'm Buying

Fuck pop-punk week. Original members do what they fucking want.

Straight out of Andover, Mass (the same scene that produced Converge), comes Piebald. They started off doing the post-hardcore/emo thing that was all the rave in the 90s. After perfecting that sound twice (Sometimes Friends Fight and If It Weren't For Venetian Blinds, It'd Be Curtains For Us) they decided to move on to a more pop-punk sound.

We Are The Only Friends That We Have is youthful, yet very adult in execution. The lyrical content ranges from the love between a man (myn) and a van and stalking people. The musicianship is off-time yet poppy. Basically, Piebald does whatever the fuck they want on this album and it works out in a hilarious manner.

This album means a lot to me. It was in constant rotation when I was touring with my friends' band a couple years back and has been my summer jam ever since. And it is what I listen to whenever I'm feeling bummed and not in the mood to be entertained by Seth Cohen's self-indulgent banter.

Download Here

-Trey

Japancakes - Loveless

Artist: Japancakes
Album: Loveless

Release: 2007
Label: Darla Records


Tracklist:
1. Only Shallow
2. Loomer
3. Touched
4. To Here Knows When
5. When You Sleep
6. I Only Said
7. Come In Alone
8. Sometimes
9. Blown A Wish
10. What You Want
11. Soon

Let's be real: covering My Bloody Valentine takes a certain amount of bravery. The end result can turn out interesting, especially given the band's focus on guitars and atmosphere over lyrical content, or they can sound pretty drab. But Japancakes deliver on the constantly-difficult balance that amazing covers demand: equal parts original angle and homage to the original.

In lieu of covering "Only Shallow" or "When You Sleep" like several bajillion YouTube musicians, the Atlanta-based post-rock band opted to cover the record in its entirety, bringing forth the soothing minimalist melody in their rearrangement for bass, cello, drums, piano and slide guitar. They manage to put their unique stamp on each piece. "Touched" becomes an actual song instead of the whalefuckery of the original, while “Soon” is so pedestrian that it’s easy to see the band playing on a street corner. "Sometimes," with its guitar pulse transposed to sustained piano chords and its vocal melody to stringed instruments, is even more contemplative than the original everyone's loved since the release of Lost In Translation.

It's like watching a remake of a favorite movie, if remakes ever did the original justice.

Buy Here
Download Here

(That's the first and last time Pitchfork gets any linkage from us at ICDT-- that review is by a friend.)

Corrupted - El Dios Queja 10"

Artist: Corrupted
Album: El Dios Queja 10"
Release: 1995
Label: Tag Rag

Tracklist:

1. Hay Que Joderse
2. Reñir A Existencia
3. Sisto

For El Dios Queja to standout amongst the massive and almost-flawless discography of sludge masters Corrupted is truly a feat. This 10" is probably my second favorite release from the band, trailing only behind the perfect B-side of Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos, which is probably the heaviest material from any band ever. Ever.

Back to the El Dios Queja, the EP kicks off with "Hay Que Joderse" and its militaristic drumming followed by a pounding and driving groove for the next five minutes. "Reñir A Existencia" is more of the same, with Corrupted delivering more of its standard (read: classic) filthy, sludge sound. The B-side is one, fifteen minute long song entitled "Sisto," which is slightly less conventional in structure compared to the other two songs. It's even slower than the flipside, all while relying more on waves of feedback. It unwraps itself slowly to the listener, but intead of any massive climax, the song instead fades out into oblivion.

Corrupted rules. If you don't like this, you don't like sludge.

Download Here

-Adam

Coming soon...

Hopefully, some of this happens...

-Cult Ritual LP will be posted in a few weeks. We want to wait a little to allow the label and the band to sell more of it. It blows everything they've done out of the water, so you should buy it before it goes out-of-print, which will be soon, especially since the mailorder version is sold out and the tour version is almost there.
-Slices 7" on Home Invasion.
-Divisions "Fin" cassette on Human Crush Recordings
-Drunkdriver - Born Pregnant LP and possibly more new material...
-Weed Hounds demo
-Possibly some huge noise (Incapacitants, Sutcliffe Jügend, etc.) boxsets in one convenient link (no multiple rapidshare links)
-This
-Awesome guest posts!

Vaccine - Demo

Artist: Vaccine
Album: Demo
Release: 2009
Label: Self Released

Tracklist:

1. Rat Race
2. Ward Of The State
3. Clear
4. Family
5. Murder

Fuck the past, fuck the future. David Carradine may have bit the fucking dust, but edgeviolence band Vaccine is here to pick up the pieces. Vaccine is yet another east coast supergroup, featuring hardcore trendsetter Will Killingsworth (Ampere/Orchid/Failures/Laceration) on bass, Joe Shunsky (Think I Care) on drums, Matt Swift (Relics) killing guitar & some dude named Matt McKeown yelling presumably dirty words. Sonically this reminds me of fellow Western Massholes, Aerosols, and the mighty MK-Ultra in some ways, but more so brings to mind shows of yesteryear at my local K.O.C. hall. This was released as a demo tape limited to 100 and sold out fast, but the band was nice enough to give away mp3s of it for free. Five tracks in a mere two minutes. I just put it on repeat and play it until I'm dizzy, smashing my head into the wall.

Download Here

-Evander Holywar

Northern Cross - Masters Of Electricity CS

Artist: Northern Cross
Album: Masters Of Electricty CS
Release: 2008
Label: Callow God

Tracklist:

1. [Untitled Track]
2. [Untitled Track]

Definitely one of my favorite noise releases of last year, Northern Cross' Masters Of Electricity tape is a wondrous exercise in cold, harsh electronics. The group is comprised of Kris Lapke (the oft-brilliant Ash Pool, Alberich) and Geoff Mullen (who runs the Providence label Rare Youth). Both sides of this cassette are extremely dense (though, not too abrasive) excursions into oscillating and layered white noise. It is quite the workout, but both songs hover around eleven-minute mark, meaning they are just long enough without becoming tedious or causing in sensory overload in the listener. This tape manages to be relatively harsh without relying on forced synth squelches, violent, manipulated percussion, or whatever other "brutal," played-out techniques are often employed by clowns these days. These two pieces pulsate with chilling atmospherics and revel in the undying clutch of the tundra.

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-Adam

God Is an Astronaut - All Is Violent, All Is Bright

hi guys
we at lucidmedia love "post-rock"
even though its a blanket genre for bands that are spacey and don't have vocals
we just suck at its plentiful teet, long and hard
like a malnourished baby calf that has only recently been reunited with its mother
only the calf is hipsters, and the cow is great tuneskis
these guys, though they can write an awesome song
hooks and stuff
almost choruses
you know, shit most "post-rock" bands can't do *glares at eits*
its like kevin shields having an lsd orgy with the gy!be members, only more catchy and not as psychedelic

buy here
dl here

-jed of nifelhiem

Velocity Girl - I Don't Care If You Go 7"

Artist: Velocity Girl
Album: I Don't Care If You Go 7"
Release: 1990
Label: Slumberland/Summershine

Tracklist:

1. I Don't Care If You Go
2. Always

The best Velocity Girl 7" happens to be their first release as a band and one that does not even include the vocals of Sarah Shannon! Instead, future Unrest member Bridget Cross was the original vocalist of the band would be handling vocal duties on I Don't Care If You Go, one of the first Slumberland releases. Cross' vocals, while certainly different, are pretty much as effective as Shannon's. Her lone singing contribution on this 7" (and only one of two songs for the band, the other being "Clock" from the What Kind Of Heaven Do You Want? 7" compilation on Slumberland) is the bouncy title track, which is one of Velocity Girl's best songs. The b-side, "Always," is sung by one of the male members of the band and, in terms of quality, it matches up with the a-side. Instead of being energeti indie pop, however, it's slower, hazier, and just more dream pop that most Velocity Girl. It's great. All hail indie pop!

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-Adam

AZ - Doe Or Die

Artist: AZ

Album: Doe or Die

Release: EMI

Label: 1995

Tracklist:

1. Intro

2. Uncut Raw

3. Gimme Yours

4. Ho Happy Jackie

5. Rather Unique

6. I Feel For You

7. Sugar Hill

8. Mo Money Mo Murder (Homicide)

9. Doe Or Die

10. We Can't Win

11. Your World Don't Stop

12. Sugar Hill [Remix]

I still stand by a statement I made eight years ago: "90s east coast hip-hop is the best genre that ever happened." Even the second rate material of that era is miles ahead of 95% of hip-hop that has happened since. A very forgotten movement was mafioso rap. Rappers such as Kool G Rap (the first one to do it), Raekwon, Nas, AZ, Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt only), and Biggie made their lives on the street making selling weight sound more like the life of a mobster.

AZ came into the rap game on a great note. He was first featured on his best friend's, Nas, most critically acclaimed album (you should know what that is). As all rappers do, after Nas got big he "put on" his friends. AZ was first up to bat and dropped Doe Or Doe.

Like almost all New York rappers, AZ was a Five Percenter. His rhyming sounds like if Nas was a member of Wu-Tang (yeah, it's that good). To back his flow, this album has great beats from a lot of solid, but small producers from the 90s (Pete Rock, L.E.S., N.O. Joe, Buckwild.) "Sugar Hill" was the obvious single on this album and carried this album to gold status.

Yeah, I'm back.

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-Trey