Weed Hounds - Beach Bummed 7"

Artist: Weed Hounds
Album: Beach Bummed
Release: 2010
Label: Iron Pier

Tracklist:

1. Beach Bummed
2. Skating Away From The Cops

This fine lil' 7" is a hallmark in the oddly-named Weed Hounds' fledgling career. The Brooklyn quartet's demo was well-loved here, mixing just the right amount of Feed Me With Your Kiss-era MBV in with (apparently) the influence of Slumberland records artists (although Adam would be better fit to comment on that).

Beach Bummed logically evolves from this, offering fresh sounds on each side. The opening title cut keeps the feedbacky guitars fully intact, but adds suitably summery-sounding (it's alliteration week) vocal melody. Which leads to the next article of maturation: Laura's voice. The confidence is audible and a great step ahead.

"Skating Away From The Cops," with its title evoking a very fun image, knocks this record out of the park. It makes me really hope that the band has jammed ICDT Shoegaze Record of All Time, Pigment by little-known Czechfolk The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, because Weed Hounds embrace the same simple but truly effective idea they did: that a little bit of pop-punk/post-punk drive can really energize a song and push it all forward. The swirling guitar sounds and vocals in "Skating Away" are perfect equals, and are perfectly propelled by the rhythm section-- you know, the part of the band that always gets overlooked in shoegaze bands.

I'm not often one to pick 7"s for top records of the year, but I can say without a doubt that this release is definitely going to be in my list come December. And be sure to check out their summer tour dates starting on the Fourth of July in Baltimore.

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-Asa

Man Is The Bastard - Abundance Of Guns 7" [Original Version]

Artist: Man Is The Bastard
Album: Abundance Of Guns 7" [Original Version]
Release: 1992
Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. Regression To Birth
2. Mocha Rebirth
3. Semen In The Eyesocket Of Thomas Lenz
4. Slave To The Bean
5. The Iron Room
6. Incoming
7. Volatile Cocktail
8. Tumult Being
9. Abundance Of Guns
10. Suttee

This post is inspired by both my semi-recent acquisition of this 7", as well as seeing Bastard Noise last night! In case you've been living under a rock, Bastard Noise has recently begun playing with live instrumentation again and it's incredible. Their split with The Endless Blockade is near-perfect and they have just released a new LP, A Culture Of Monsters, that, while I have not received it in the mail yet, will surely be a favorite of mine for the year.

Their second 7", Abundance Of Guns, doesn't sound anything like how they are now, but it's one of the best of the so-called "powerviolence" releases and, in my opinion, ranks only behind Thoughtless as being their best release. The version of the 7" many people are familiar with was released on an Italian label S.O.A., but the band initially released it on their own with both a different cover (as seen above) and an additional track. Why "Regression To Birth" was omitted from the repress is beyond me, as it's one of my favorite Bastard Noise tracks, with the signature squelching from Jeff Nelson floating atop eery female vocals.

The rest of the 7" stands as Man Is The Bastard's most intense "conventional" material. It's the most hardcore of their releases, with a bunch of short, sludgy bursts of unbridled aggression, with the misanthropic Eric Wood and co. ranting against neo-colonization, the military-industrial complex, and a European bootlegger responsible for the Neanderthal/Blantat Yobs split 7". The band slows things down with "Tumult Being" and "Suttee," the former of which is their best sludge moment.

Why it's taken me this long to post any MITB is beyond me, as they're my favorite band (along with the Smiths lol). Still, this is as good a place as any to start on the most interesting punk band of the 1990s (and ever!). Be sure to seek out Thoughtless, though. And the Capitalist Casualties split LP. And Sum Of The Men.

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-Adam

Slapshot - Step On It/Back On The Map [CD Reissue]

Artist: Slapshot
Album: Step On It/Back On The Map [CD Reissue]
Release: 1990
Label: Taang!

Tracklist:

1. Step On It
2. Chameleon
3. No Time Left
4. You've Lost It
5. Show The Way
6. The Same Mistake
7. No Friend Of Mine
8. I've Had Enough
9. Could It Be
10. No Guts No Glory
11. Rise And Fall
12. Hang Up Your Boots
13. Enforcer
14. Chant
15. In Your Face
16. Might Makes Right
17. Gilligan
18. Back On The Map
19. Addiction
20. Where There's Smoke
21. It's Happening Today
22. Chip On My Shoulder
23. Moment Of Truth
24. Killing Frost

Slapshot is probably my favorite band. This hasn't always been the case. But for the past year they have been my most-listened-to hardcore artist. It is a fortunate fact of history that their discography is by and large widely available in repress form and the original CDs abound on Amazon. Maybe not a collectors dream but pretty rad if you ask me. Their songwriting is on-point. While some of their songs may be counted among the most decimating calls-to-mosh in history, they could probably comfortably be listened to by fans of the Jam...

The above record is a reissue CD version of two classic Slapshot records, 1986's "Back On The Map" EP and 1988's "Step On It" LP. In their day, the reputation of Slapshot preceded itself. Jack "Choke" Kelly had previously held the vocalist role in both Last Rights and Negative FX. Bass player Jonathan Anastas had helped write DYS's "Brotherhood". Probably the most famous Slapshot anecdote is that prior to having played their first show the band was described as being a "great live act" in Mike Gitter's zine "xXx". Slapshot's reputation preceded itself. And for good reason.

Slapshot's sound borrows more from Last Rights than either Negative FX or DYS. This is kind of odd considering that--to my knowledge--Choke did not play a song writing role in Slapshot (this is a guess though). The first thing that stands out about Slapshot's debut 12" "Back On The Map" is it's speed. Most of the songs are at half-tempo compared to Last Rights and an even smaller fraction of the speed of Negative FX. The opening riff to "Back On The Map" is a dark creepy-crawl that sends tingles down my spine. When the song picks up it is surprisingly "oi". From the tempo, to Choke's vocal patterns and the content of the song ("we're gonna' get back what we had!") to the barely harmonized gang-vocals in the chorus it sounds like a skinhead anthem.

The album fluctuates from 77-style sounding punk like the song "Addiction" to songs like "Where There's Smoke..." which is a mid-tempo hardcore song emblematic of the best of 80s hardcore and Boston in particular. All in all the record sounds classically punk. The production is raw, the tempos varied. Slapshot's "hardness" comes almost entirely from Jack Kelly. Even when Choke is offering up some actual melody--which he does here with maybe surprising frequency--his voice is still gurgling and shredded. This is good introductory material to what is a fairly extensive discography.

Oh! Might I suggest that you all download this (buy it from Taang! too, probably, because I bet the CD includes some cool bio stuff). Put on "Killing Frost". Now run and open up your windows, or turn up your car stereo or your headphones. Good song for long summer days.

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-Colman

Boards Of Canada - Twoism 12"

Artist: Boards Of Canada
Album: Twoism 12"
Release: 1995
Label: Music70

Tracklist:

1. Sixetyniner
2. Oirectine
3. Iced Cooly
4. Basefree
5. Twoism
6. Seeya Later
7. Melissa Juice
8. Smokes Quantity
9. 1986 Summer

When I want to chill out with the bros (but most times by myself), I always recline into some Boards Of Canada. Sometimes I drive to BoC - it’s great. Some of BoC's best material, the Twoism 12" is basically your classic downtempo ambient electronic EP with subtle wibble wobble wind instrument effect on the synth and classic hip-hop beat. It has its light and dark sides, but all in all it’s ambient chillout with some interesting sounds. “Basefree” would have to be the most interesting song of the album. It’s the only one without the familiar characteristics of the other songs. It’s definitely a dark, isolated, and solemn piece composed with a repeating scratchy, similar to Aphex Twin techno beat. The beat also pauses in the middle and changes up. This song might be the only song in your way of taking a nap, haha. My favorite song on the album would have to be “Melissa Juice”. So juicy. Tangy.

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-Johnny B

Coroner - The Unknown: Unreleased Tracks (1985-95)

Artist: Coroner
Album: The Unknown: Unreleased Tracks 1985-95
Release: 1996
Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. Oriental Vortex
2. Der Mussolini [Remix]
3. Octopus
4. Old Man Bickford
5. S.W.A.T.
6. Theme For Silence [Original Vesrion]
7. Grin [No Religion Remix- Instrumental]
8. Twenty Eight
9. Time Vortex/Back to '88
10. Spectators Of Sin
11. The Invincible
12. Host [Instrumental]
13. Benway's World [Original Version]
14. Golden Cashmere Sleeper (Part One) [Live]
15. Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis) [Live]
16. Status: Still Thinking [Live]
17. Metamorphosis [Live]
18. Internal Conflicts [Live]
19. Grin (Nails Hurt) [Live]

My birthday arrived some six months early this year when it was revealed that cult Swiss metal band Coroner would be reuniting for Hellfest 2011 in France. In celebration, I'd like to share this tape, a collection of goodies the band sold during their 1996 farewell tour in Europe.

Side A gives the listener a solid look into the trio's journeys into ambient spacing tracks, electronic music and found sounds. If nothing else, these give great indication of the band's many musical interests. "Octopus" blinks and bubbles with a fitting aquatic feel; "Old Man Bickford" features a bluesy shuffle underneath William S. Burroughs' sharp spoken prose. "S.W.A.T." fittingly feels like a soundtrack to an awesome PM Entertainment action film. Elsewhere, the instrumental techno remix of Grin's title track and a cover of DAF's "Der Mussolini" channel Tommy Vetterli's piston-tight guitar chug through techno tunes-- and it works!-- while "Oriental Vortex," "Twenty Eight" and "Time Vortex/Back to '88" all explore spacy soundscapes. Finally, the exploration ends and we indeed take a time vortex back to 1986's Death Cult demo tape with Tom Warrior on vocals for the pleasingly raw thrash of "Spectators of Sin" and "The Invincible."

Side B, on the other hand, gives you the qualities of Coroner that, if a fan, you know and love. With the exception of the unsettling "Benway's World (Original Version)," the remaining tracks are live, recorded quite clearly straight from the board at, according to Metal-Archives, the "Coroner-funeral" show in their home of Zurich. The setlist is short on the highly technical material of their first three albums, but big on awesome. The band open with the haunting first half of "Golden Cashmere Sleeper" and then launch headfirst into the eerie grooves of "Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)." Every song is lively, tight, and churning with aggression. Dudes may sound aggravated and clearly wanting to get things done and over with after years of little press recognition and troubles with the notoriously-shoddy-but-awesomely-rostered Noise Records, but their path to the finish line is paved with the almost-blast beats of Marky Edelmann at the finale of "Grin (Nails Hurt)." Several trigger pulls of a beltfed machine gun punctuate the set, marking the demise of one of the most underrated, forward-thinking heavy bands ever formed.

Welcome back, Ron, Tommy and Marky. Even if no new music is made, you'll be validating the lives of longtime fans the world over when you hit the stage next summer-- this author included.

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-Asa

Ink & Dagger - Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Dagger Through My Philadelphia Heart

Artist: Ink & Dagger
Album: Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Dagger Through My Philadelphia Heart
Release: 1997
Label: Initial

Tracklist:

1. The Road To Hell
2. Shadowtalker
3. Caretaker
4. Full Circle
5. The Changeling
6. Frigid Shortcomings
7. Newspaper Tragedy
8. Bloodlust
9. My Ladylove
10. Crawler

Holding the distinction of being the best vampire-themed band the ever-diverse and vast hardcore world has ever produced, besting even the incomparable Bring Me the Horizon, Ink & Dagger remain one of my favorite 90s hardcore bands. Or, at least based their first two 7"s, Love Is Dead and Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Dagger Through My Philadelphia Heart, which is collected here on a CD of the same name as the second EP.

The band is known not only for its blood-soaked hardcore, but perhaps equally for its members. Their vocalist, Sean McCabe, was a notorious junkie, threw yogurt at Earth Crisis and eggs at Hare Krishnas (lol), vomited on Christmas trees (is this xtreme?), and falsely reported the death of a fellow musician on a certain messageboard, only months before actually dying himself in some shitty motel from an OD. Oh, and this guy was in the band. [Note: please view comments for more accurate takes on the half-truths I'm reciting above.]

Still, their best feature was their sound. While the band occasionally trips over the goofiness of mid-90s hardcore (why is it all so bouncy???), it's mostly excellent stuff with incredible guitar interplay and appropriate heaviness. Every song on this is solid, but there are many standouts. The organ-drenched "The Road To Hell" sets things off perfectly for the comp with an "evil" count-off performed under a faux-goth atmosphere, "My Ladylove" features male-female vocals spouting off pre-Twilight teen vampire romance, and "Bloodlust" and "Full Circle" feature two of the album's best vocal moments. For the time period from which they emerged, the band's sound holds up incredibly well.

For me (and most others, I assume), this collection is the definitive Ink & Dagger release. I like some parts of The Fine Art of Original Sin, but it, as well as their crappy later stuff, doesn't quite capture the black magic found here. Spooooooooooky.

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-Adam

Pollution - ®SMUT

Artist: Pollution
Album: ®SMUT

Release: 2010

Label: c6recordings

Tracklist:

1. smut sts

2. division of

3. fee$

4. signal.control

5. unreported conditions

6. ashes IIII

7. rww

8. cons

After three stellar releases including n.s.Drugs, 120608 and nasty.DNA, Brooklyn's resident punk/metal mutants, Pollution, have released an LP that promises to be on my top ten list for 2010. ®SMUT is a very mature chaos. Here are eight songs of treble heavy, complex but straight ahead anthems rhapsodizing, so far as I can tell, filth. If you are a fan of the band you won't be disappointed.

Each of these eight songs is characteristic of the Pollution sound. They fluctuate between up-tempo, chord driven punk and spastic poly-rhythms with single-note guitar screeches. Track three, "fee$" (it might be my favorite), is a mid-tempo punk anthem that demands mosh. This song is a driving and only consists of a few chord changes but remains exciting because the guitarist plays with space in very dynamic ways, allowing notes to carry and bend and has double tracked simple, but dark and rich sounding harmonies. ®SMUT is equal parts thrashing punk riffage (see stellar opening track "smut sts") and moody hardcore meditations ("ashes IIII," which is such an awesome song). Another standout for me is "unreported condition" which starts out with a spastic bizarre time-signature and then becomes a evil sounding stomper that will make you want throw horns and bang your head. Careful of whiplash, many metal heads don't have health care.

This is truly an amazing and dynamic record. Not sure which distros will have copies of this for much longer, but you can order it by emailing the band directly, who self-released it.

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-Colman

The Super Friendz - Slide Show

Artist: The Super Friendz

Album: Slide Show

Release: 1996

Label: Murder

Tracklist:

1. Up And Running

2. No Good Reason

3. Stop-Start

4. Two Songs

5. Prattle On

6. Everything Writes Itself

7. Fooled At First

8. Forever A Day

9. Absurd Without It

10. Slow-Motion Blues

11. Citizens Banned

12. Star In One

13. Evening Sun

14. The World's Most Embarrassing Moment

A few months ago, I journeyed into a wig-tastic record store in Manhattan that had almost nothing but reggae, dub, and backpack hip-hop. Still, much to my excitement, I managed to score this record, Slide Show by the Super Friendz, for only five dollars! It was that or pay the eBay price of $40 for this Philly hardcore comp, so, naturally, I chose indy rawk! I regret nothing...

I wrote about the Super Friendz once before about their Sticktoitivness comp, but this is their prime material. As I wrote last time, their sound sits comfortably and confidently between the punky guitar interplay of Television and more classic rock and pop sounds. Still, it sounds very uniquely Canadian. On this record, primary songwriter Matt Murphy (if I am getting his name correct) contributes his best Super Friendz songs. Starting with the bombastic "Up And Running" (which may be their best song), Murphy's songs, which range from the Laurence Sterne-referencing "Stop-Start" to the doo-wop inflected "Everything Writes Itself," remain incredible throughout the entirety of this almost-fifty minute album.

Unfortunately, the rest of the members can't quite keep pace. While on their previous material, the other members have certainly proven that they can write incredible pop songs, they are far from pitching a perfect game on this one. The album is front-loaded with the other members' best songs on the album, like "No Good Reason" and "Two Songs," which actually rival Murphy's, but when the album reaches the halfway point, their songs began to drag and become a bit boring. If only about ten minutes were shaved off of this album, it would be perfect. Still, it's one of the best Canadian albums of the 90's and some filler shouldn't prevent one from enjoying all the magic it has to offer!

Download Here [Link fixed! Track 11 was corrupted]

-Adam

Various Artists - Ghostly Swim

Artist: Various
Album: Ghostly Swim
Release: 2008
Label: Ghostly International

Tracklist:

1. Michna - Triple Chrome Dipped
2. Dabrye - Temper
3. The Chap - Carlos Wendy Walter Stanley
4. Dark Party - Active
5. Tycho - Cascade [Live]
6. JDSY - All Shapes
7. Deastro - Light Powered
8. Matthew Dear - R+S
9. FLYamSAM - The Offbeat
10. Cepia - Ithaca
11. Aeroc - Idiom
12. The Reflecting Skin - Traffickers
13. School Of Seven Balls - Chain
14. Ben Benajmin - Squirmy Sign Language
15. Kill Memory Crash - Hit + Run
16. Osborne - Wait A Minute
17. Milosh - Then It Happened
18. 10:32 - Little Blue
19. Mux Mool - Night Court

Sorry I’ve been gone for a while. I’ve been lost getting music, washing and destroying my ipod, and deleting horrible metalcore from my external that my friend had given me. Btw, metal Adam has metal for me? Actually, more like quirky twee pop Adam has metal, which doesn’t make sense. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of instrumental hip-hop, trip-hop, chillout, and ninja tune. This is all the cause of my roommate and good Ethiopian friend Biruk, who had introduced me to Bonobo’s Black Sands (a perfect album and you all should check it out). This album had led me to so much more good electronic. It’s a shame though, since most of the stuff that I found are new releases and can’t be reviewed/shared for fear of legal retribution. I apologize, but I will post some awesome Youtube videos at the end of this review to preview some of the stuff I’ve found. I will look into Bonobo’s earlier albums and see what’s good.

Anyway, I remember watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network all the time in high school. They had some really cool shows like Harvey Birdman, Venture Bros, ATHF and Sea Lab 2021. I remember back in the day they had these breaks in between commercials and the shows. They almost acted like a weird and entertaining “public announcements” that let you know when the commercials were over. Other than having a very funny and random message, they had the best music playing behind in the background. They had mostly instrumental hip-hop and obscure-goofy-dancey electronic. Ghostly Swim is a compilation of some of the music showcased during their programming and I feel that it’s a good representation of the good interlude-esque music that I enjoyed so much back in the day. Some good shit here, guys. They have some more compilations on their website and you guys can download them for free! Tell me what you think.

Lone – “Interviews at Honolulu” (Really cool video from The Fall (Tarsem Singh 2006))
Lukid – “Western Swing”
Bonobo – “Kong”

Download Here

Dancing with you always,
Johnny B

Slavescene - Fuck Off Away From Me 7"

Artist: Slavescene

Album: Fuck Off Away From Me 7"

Release: 2009

Label: Deranged

Tracklist:

1. Fuck Off Away From Me

2. Shit Gait

I suppose it's high time for me to post this 7" from Tampa's Slavescene. Fuck Off Away From Me was the beginning of the band's newer and much-improved sound that was also featured on their second demo tape. Gone are the effects-laden vocals from Heaven Only Knows, which are replaced with more organic and desperate caterwauling. The music itself has much more in common with Deep Jew than their previous, more hardcore-oriented sound.

The A-side track, the hilariously-titled "Fuck Off Away From Me," is one of the more simple songs the band wrote. It's a stomper that, while only two driving chords, is one of their most effective punk songs. Still, it has nothing on the B-side, which is probably the best song the band wrote. The slow jam "Shit Gait" is a noisy mess of drunken cacophony that is so unhinged that it feels like it will teeter off-balance and into oblivion at any moment, much like going up against Titan in a round of Duel on American Gladiators.

There is considerable growth to be found on Fuck Off Away From Me, which allows for a great leap of improvement in their dumb, yet exhilarating sound. I had this post somewhat ready for months, but never got around to finalizing my thoughts on it until now, so my apologies for not posting these straight-from-the-source mp3s! Still, better late than never (and better than a vinyl rip,) especially when the material is this good. I believe the second pressing of this 7" is still available from Deranged, so get on that before it goes out-of-print forever.

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-Adam

Big Drill Car - CD Type Thing

Artist: Big Drill Car
Album: CD Type Thing
Release: 1989
Label: Cruz

Tracklist:

1. 16 Lines
2. Clamato #11
3. No Need
4. Brody
5. Green Fields
6. Diamond Earrings
7. Reform Before
8. Head On
9. Swanson
10. About Us

I post this record not just because it's been inexplicably out of print for ages, or just because I love it. Type Thing is a feel-good record of pop-punk songs about friends and girls and love that reeks of the sunny California the band called home, and now is the perfect time to jam it. Not just because I swan-dived into four days of death metal at Maryland Deathfest VIII, but because it's summer, dammit.

The band hung around with other groups in the early-90s-dreadlock/long hair-pop-punk crowd-- aka labelmates All and good buddies and ICDT faves the Doughboys. And like those bands, their exuberance and humor shines through almost effortlessly. BDC took the All formula of propulsive bass lines, catchy guitar riffs and a fairly nasal singer belting honest lyrics and added their own touches. Vocalist Frank Daly's pipes simply soar well beyond the abilities of Scott Reynolds or Chad Price, especially in tunes like the classic "In Green Fields." Bob Thomson's bass playing gives the songs plenty of bounce, and sometimes Mark Arnold likes to add in tasty lil' solos to add fun touches to the bite-sized (only one is over three minutes!) songs on the record.

Use this album to have some fun. I'm trying to...full-time job starts Monday. Yay real world!

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-Asa

Lorelei - Asleep 7"

Artist: Lorelei
Album: Asleep 7"
Release: 1993
Label: Slumberland

Tracklist:

1. Mostly I Sleep
2. Float My Bed

Lorelei's The Bitter Air 7" is one of the best shoegaze/indie pop discoveries I had ever made. Three perfect, breezy and dreamy gems sung with ethereal female vocals. My dream record. Once I escaped its trance, I immediately sought after more Lorelei material. I found out they had both an LP and a 7" on Slumberland and began to fist-pump violently. I purchased both, received them in the mail and, because of my short attention-span, threw on the 7" first. The music began and something truly terrible happened. The music coming out of my stereo was clearly not that of Lorelei, but some imposters. GONE was the shoegaze sound. GONE was the female vocals. GONE was my interest. I took it off and buried both releases away into my record crates for eternity.

A few years later, after the trauma had somewhat subsided, I decided to revisit the records and found that they're actually awesome, this 7" in particular. For me to truly enjoy Asleep, I had to accept that it was a different band. Members had left or switched places and their musical interests lied elsewhere away from what they had created with The Bitter Air. Their sound now rested more comfortably in the post-punk realm and these two tracks are excellent representations of that sound. "Mostly I Sleep" is practically one long, noisy crescendo that is both hypnotic and bombastic. "Float My Bed," which is exclusive to the vinyl version of this (there is a CD version with more, less-impressive tracks,) possesses more of a song structure than the A-side and is worthy of the pop gem award 2k1993.

Anyway, this one goes out to the open-minded listeners who really loved The Bitter Air. It will certainly disappoint some, but it's still a great record. The band has also reformed, apparently, and is playing shows around the D.C. area, so look out for that if you're a local.

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-Adam

Conversions - Spineless Wonders

Artist: Conversions
Album: Spineless Wonders
Release: 2010
Label: Ride The Snake

Tracklist:

1. Boiling Point
2. Consolation Prize
3. Specifics
4. The Front Lines
5. Passing Through
6. No One Is Watching
7. Adverse Reaction
8. Cause And Effect
9. Projectiles

I've joked before that the Conversions were a screamo band, to which Chris said, "By accident. We just tried to play post punk fast, but then we discovered that if you speed up post punk, it's screamo." Releasing their first LP on Level Plane just sort of added to that. I don’t think mocking a certain genre does much good, but I’ll just say I don’t really think that’s the best classification for the Conversions. Maybe I’ll go with Stretcheads worship? Post-punk/hardcore? Who really cares?

It’s hard for me to not get a little bit nostalgic writing about this band. The Conversions played at the first punk show I went to in Boston. Spineless Wonders was recorded a few years ago, but after some label complications, it just came out this spring. And a lot has changed since its recording. For starters the Conversions broke up. More than that, I think the scene they were a part of has transformed in a lot of ways. At the same time, you can go see Vile Bodies—the same line-up aside from vocals.

Sentimentalities aside, I think this is probably the best-recorded Conversions record. (The 7” and their split with Witches With Dicks are out of print, but I believe you can still find Prisoners’ Invention.) Spineless Wonders has more depth than the Conversion’s other recordings, such that you can more easily tell why this band often defied classification. You can hear the thickness of the bass and guitar—every scratch. At the same time, however, with the vocals lower in the mix, the band seems somewhat subdued. I’ve written before about how I think Terry is a dynamic frontwoman, and I don’t think you get her energy as much on Spineless Wonders. The five-minute “Cause and Effect” drags on a little bit, but other than that, coming in short bursts, Spineless Wonders brings it. I’d count “Boiling Point,” “Specifics,” and “The Front Lines” as favorites for the album. Overall, I think this is probably the most cohesive Conversions record, well worth the value Ride the Snake provides.

Download Here
To Buy, paypal $13 to orders@ridethesnakerecords@gmail.com

-Catherine

New Katorga Works Release: The Wankys/Lotus Fucker Split 7"

Album: The Wankys/Lotus Fucker Split 7"
Release: 2010
Label: Katorga Works/SPHC

Tracklist:

1. The Wankys - Princess Wanky
2. The Wankys - Don't Make Me Laugh
3. The Wankys - Fuckin' Bankers
4. Lotus Fucker - The Meaning Of Alchemy
5. Lotus Fucker - A New Path Is Opened

To preface this post, I would like to say that this is not a review, but a "news" post about the first release for the label I'm doing with my good friend and fellow ICDT contributor Colman, which is called Katorga Works. Obviously, we would like you to buy a copy of this 7", but we believe all music should be free, as well as want we as many people as possible to hear it. Plus, we don't want to look like complete hypocrites! Anyway, this is a dream first release for us and it's been great working with the bands. To keep things as objective as I can, I will post the descriptions written by SPHC-head and Lotus Fucker frontman, Kamikaze Dan:

"One side: Elderly English gentlemen churn out three songs of systematically perfect Swankys-worship. Braindrill guitars and obnoxious vocals wailing the greatest lyrics ever penned by man. Two short/fast/loud ragers, their meanest songs yet, and one mid-paced ode to Princess Wanky, every noisenheimer's wet dream.

Other side: Record/mixed/mastered in one day at Charm City Art Space in Baltimore. A two song statement about the unity and continuity of our existence and the world around us. As we are parts of a larger whole, so are we wholes composed of multiple parts. Everything is interlinked, interdependent. There is no "begin" and "end"; it's all the same. The music is still one giant wall of fucked up noise and distortion, punky beats and rabid vocals, fits squarely into the "raw hardcore punk" category.....but more of an emphasis on dynamics and repetition than on the previous LP."

This is available now, as well as with copies of the Chaos Destroy (released solely by SPHC in conjunction with this split,) the Lotus Fucker LP, the Silent Way LP, three Wankys releases available on their tour with Lotus Fucker and Chaos Destroy, as well as, randomly, some copies of the upcoming ®SMUT LP by NYC's Pollution.

Follow the link below for individual mailorder. For wholesale/questions/concerns, please email katorgaworks@gmail.com

Download Here
Buy Here

-Adam

Final Conflict - Self Titled 7"

Artist: Final Conflict
Album: Self Titled 7"
Release: 1983
Label: Reflex

Tracklist:

1. All In The Family
2. The Lines Have Faded
3. Your
4. Self-Defeated

While a plethora of acts shared the name, the Midwestern, U.S.A.'s Final Conflict towers mightly above the rest, despite only having released one, four-song 7" that was produced by thee Bob Mould. This Final Conflict EP sounds like Cows And Beers-era Die Kreuzen mixed with United Mutation, all sung by a tougher-sounding Rebel Truth vocalist. Or something. Released in 1983 on Reflex, it came out around the same time as many 80s hardcore classics, like Mould's own Metal Circus, yet has suffered from an odd bout of obscurity, which is strange considering these four songs sound just as vibrant as anything created by their peers.

Less than a week ago, at Chaos in Tejas, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this 7", like the first two Willful Neglect 12"s, has been repressed by Havoc and that there are still copies available. These two releases, both engineered by Steve Fjelsted, are classics that are not to be missed.

Download Here
Buy Here

-Adam

No Knife - Drunk On The Moon

Artist: No Knife
Album: Drunk On The Moon
Release: 1995
Label: Goldenrod

Tracklist:

1. Be Mini
2. Ginger Vitus
3. Habits
4. Punch 'n' Judy
5. At The Heart Of The Terminal
6. Kiss Your Killer
7. Ephedrine
8. Small Of My Back
9. ...If I Could Float...
10. Titanic
11. Daniels

In the 90's, I used to volunteer at a community college radio station. It didn't broadcast, except into the school cafeteria, but we got to chill and be part of the staff, ordering records and talking to labels. I got a stipend to work there one semester, and for some reason, the station manager, who happened to be a techno DJ, hated me, gave me bad reviews, and I got fired, even though I knew he was requesting techno CDs from labels for the sole purpose of taking them home to use them in his DJ sets. So I did what anyone in their youth would do: take revenge. I backed up my mom's SUV, and took almost the entire punk/hardcore/indie vinyl collection, and most of the CDs.

Which is where I got a promo copy of Drunk On The Moon by San Diego band No Knife. After getting pummeled by Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein and brought back down by Tigermilk, I sat in Montgomery County traffic and let No Knife wash over me so much emo/alt goodness. It was a sound so comfortable yet surprising at the same time. It's as though the push and pull of the era was focused into taut equilibrium; the angular-isms were relaxingly smoothed out. Not to say that it was a complete pop-ification of the genre (not unlike going from Nothing Feels Good to Very Emergency)- we have drummer Ike Zaremba and producer Mark Trombino to hold down the fort, giving No Knife the post-hardcore, later-era Jawbox, Drive Like Jehu-style edge that made them (on their first two albums) one of the best, yet underrated, post-hardcore/emo/alt bands of the 90's.

I found it hard to find Drunk On The Moon on the internet, so here you go, ripped from my personal CD copy that I got in 1996. You should definitely also download Hit Man Dreams.

Download Here

-Joe