Nomad - Shigiru 7"

Artist: Nomad
Album: Shigiru 7"
Release: 2011
Label: Vinyl Bloodbath

Tracklist:

1. Kogeki Kaishi

2. Shi Ne

3. Deguchi Nai

4. Ashita Wa Nai

5. Zembu Uso Da Ta

6. Tataka-e

Nomad's debut 7", Shigiru, is the latest entry in the "New York On Top" unofficial series here at ICDT. This particular band, comprised of Perdition (the Great) and Cervix folks, is one of my current local favorites, even if they don't play shows nearly enough. The band sticks to the essential elements of the noise punk formula and really do nothing to hide their worship of raw crust classics such as Confuse and Disclose and that's part of their very charm. Guitarist and vocalist Tye's echoed vocals in Japanese are not Nomad's only link to their Eastern brethren; their brand of ultradistorted punk insanity is so sincere in that they take their love of their influences to levels rivaling Japanese contemporaries such as D-Clone and System Fucker. OK, maybe that's veering into hyperbolic territory, but still...

While this EP is awesome in its own right, the band is releasing a 7" flexi of even better (written and recorded) material, so be on the look out for that. While I personally hate flexis (especially in 2011), this band's favorite Japanese records were released on this format, so I suppose it makes sense for them to do it. I GUESS :/

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-Adam

Escape The Day - Ghostless

Artist: Escape The Day
Album: Ghostless
Release: 2005
Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. Hallways
2. Ghostless
3. Days
4. The Hour Undone
5. If I Told You
6. Still
7. This Wave’s Length
8. Last Words

The stories behind the making of albums are often as affecting as the music contained within.  Would AC/DC have seemed as ragged if Bon Scott’s pre-vocal tracking ritual (doob, line of blow, bottle of whiskey) wasn’t public knowledge?  Doesn’t Loveless seem more strange because of the insane studio tales of Kevin Shields and his obsessive methodology?:  What about that one supposed time where ODB did the horizontal mambo with a lady on a studio’s kickdrum, then used the recorded rhythm for a beat?  These tales, whether true or not, affect how we listen to records.

Escape the Day’s Ghostless is one such record.  A very musically knowledgeable friend of mine first told me of this band and album a year ago.  He’d begun corresponding in 2004 or 2005 with EtD’s Florian Rehnse.  Over the subsequent months, many letters were exchanged, culminating in my friend receiving a huge box of EtD merch, CDs and rare compilation records from Florian.  After this came a note in which Florian wrote that he would soon be taking his own life, and that he appreciated everything my friend (who’s in a band of note) had written, sent, and recorded.

While technically unfinished from the point of view of Florian’s collaborator, Lars, Ghostless is nonetheless the band’s only release, distributed for free and dedicated to the love and life of his friend and bandmate.  While the band does consider itself post-rock, there is nothing here that even remotely resembles the peak-and-valley dynamics and EitS/GY!BE worship one might assume.  Rather, as said by Lars on the band’s fanpage, the music is “for lonely walks, hangovers or just falling asleep.”  And indeed, Ghostless’ eight tracks are perfect for times of, well, escape-- whether to solitude, sleep or sobriety.  Greyness abounds.  Clean guitars intertwine with a haunting, jangly clarity, not even touching a distorted sound until halfway through the record.  Sullen piano melody and the ebbs in and out like a tide.  Whispery vocals tell of loss, vulnerability, and distance.

Let this record soak in, revel in the duo’s expressions of sorrow, and honor the dead.

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-Asa

CREEM - Demo CS

Artist: CREEM
Album: Demo CS
Release: 2011
Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. Sick Of You

2. Wasted Time
3. Problems

4. A Mean Day

Have you ever wondered what the combination of Blitz and Slapshot would sound like? Probably not, but curious minds from Brooklyn's Nomos and Natural Law have come together to exhibit just what that may sound like. Playing definite early-80s Boston-worship, CREEM plagiarize their way through the beantown hardcore goodbook (Negative FX and SSD come to mind, at least on the opener "Sick Of You") and come up with an amazing four-song demo. The vocals, in particular, stand out with a certain gruff ferocity with interesting vocal patterns. And don't worry, kids, there's plenty of chorus pedal!

Are you hard enough to be in the CREEM CREW? If so, get this tape and keep an eye out for a soon-to-be-released 7" single.

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-Adam

Doughboys - Whatever

Artist: Doughboys
Album: Whatever
Release: 1988
Label: Cargo/Spahn Ranch

Tracklist:

1. Tradition
2. Stranger from Within
3. Can’t Find the Day
4. The Forecast
5. You’re Related
6. I Remember
7. Senseless Murders
8. You Don’t Know Me
9. I Don’t Wanna Know!

All good things must end, and my postings of my favoritest pop-punk band, Montreal’s Doughboys, is no exception.  While I wouldn’t say I’ve saved the absolute best for last, I’ve certainly saved one of the more obscure releases; upon investigation in the mid-2000s, drummer Brock Pytel discovered that the master tapes had burned in a warehouse fire sometime before.  There will be no remaster.

Whatever is the Doughboys’ very energetic, if slightly unoriginal debut LP.  It’s not hard in the least to hear the blatant influence of future tourmates the Descendents and Husker Du (and, occasion, perhaps their fellow Canucks The Nils).  Combining the youthful brashness of the former with the honesty and major-key melodies of the latter, John Kastner, Pytel, Jon “Bondhead” Asencio and Scott McCullogh rented gear in order to cut these nine songs and tour pretty darned nonstop.  While the quartet’s tunes aren’t as rock-solid as they’d eventually become, these tracks are still abuzz with energy.

“Tradition” blazes out of the gate, with Kastner quipping “I’m more at home/here out on my own/competing foes/why don’t we just get out of here?”  “Stranger From WIthin” doesn’t drop a beat and continues to narrate his struggles as guitars careen everywhere.  While McCullogh’s leads never proved as strong as his longer-lasting successor Jon Cummins, his licks in songs like “Stranger” still stick very well.

After “The Forecast” rounds out the opening four tracks of faster, Kastner-penned snottyness, we get a taste of the Husker-like songwriting split the Doughboys had.  Brock Pytel, more than capable of singing lead from behind his kit, nails “No Holiday (From Living) with a soaring chorus.  And not unlike the Hart-Mould dynamic, his gritty croon and thoughtful lyrics seem more contemplative than Kastner’s throaty vocals and equally powerful adolescent aggravation: “There’s no holiday from living/There’s no shelter from it all/There’s no escape from dying, no one sees you when you’re standing tall.”

With Pytel once again at the helm, the band returns to faster speeds on Side 2 with the sole single for the record, “You’re Related.”  The video is particularly awesome. Rounding out Whatever are a pair of breakup songs (Kastner’s “I Remember” and Pytel’s “You Don’t Know Me”), the seemingly-political “Senseless Murders” and “I Don’t Wanna Know!” whose initial chord progression seems curiously similar to “Celebrated Summer.”  But if a band apes a really good band they idolize really well, who’s to complain, really?

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-Asa

Merchandise - Es Muerte 7"

Artist: Merchandise
Album: Es Muerte 7"

Release: 2011
Label: Drugged Conscience

Tracklist:

1. [Untitled Track]

2. Dallas (Silver Jews)

For Record Store Day 2011, mWerchanov and Drugged Conscience quietly dropped this newest piece of uniquely-Tampa kitsch. Limited to only 50 copies and intended for their RSD show with Blank Dogs. Apparently, Blank Dogs fans are idiots and most of these didn't actually sell at that show, but were made available for mailorder before selling out in a matter of hours. Obviously, most people won't be able to own this, so that's where we come in!

This release is very much so a Record Store Day release, the A-side being an original and the B-side being a Silver Jews cover. The untitled A-side is one of Merchandise's most challenging moments, a song based around a sample of a single guitar riff from Heresy side-project Meatfly. "I Locked the Door," this is not. It's Werch's most cacophonic moment. It took me a bit to come around to it, but once I did, I realized that there is a fully-formed and very rewarding song hidden underneath all the immediate clatter. Still, my favorite moment on the 7" is their inventive cover of Silver Jews' "Dallas." It's one of their finest moments as a band, a fragile pop gem with bubbling synths and Carson's punk crooning.

Who knows where Merchandise is headed to next, but both of their post-LP 7" singles have really blown me away and I absolutely cannot wait for their upcoming material. Until then, enjoy the digital version of this 7" and, if the most strikes you, watch the video the Werch Rockerz made of "Dallas."

wMerchanov - Dallas(Silver Jews) from Id House Vid. Group on Vimeo.

Download Here

-Adam

P.S. Eliot - Sadie

Artist: P.S. Eliot
Album: Sadie

Release: 2011

Label: Salinas

Tracklist:

1. Talk

2. Cross Eyed

3. Sadie

4. Asphalt

5. Pink Sheets

6. Untitled

7. Shitty And Tragic

8. Jesus Christ

9. Peach

10. Diana

11. Dead Letters

12. Mood Ring

13. Watch On Mute

Do you remember the creative energy you had when you were really young? You’d run around outside with near-endless energy, have a constant desire to draw, think about crazy ideas or stories constantly, and ultimately had access to that “spark” whenever you needed it. I know this was pretty much my case when I was a youngin’, but now I spend my days in front of a computer eight hours a day (though admittedly, at a job I enjoy) and when I get home I want to do nothing.  This isn’t my white whine about my life being horrible (it ain’t), but rather I’m trying to make a point here-- when you grow up, that drive isn’t around so naturally anymore. You gotta work to maintain it, to keep it healthy, to stay inspired and push yourself.

And P.S. Eliot have managed to do this with an incredible consistency in their short lifespan as a band.  In addition, they’ve maintained their identity with aplomb. Their Bike Wreck!!! demo was a few songs of lo-fi fun with some serious lyrical skill lurking underneath the distortion and tape hiss. A few months later, Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds saw the sisters Crutchfield bringing in new bass talent and a second guitar, and now their hinted-at songcraft talents were far more clearly on display, thanks to a cleaner production job.  While many (including but not limited to Adam) complained of the total change in audio quality (and thus, to some degree, aesthetic), the tunes-- eloquent tales of romance, friends, and good ol’ life -- stood on their own, no matter the method they were captured to tape/a hard drive with.  Spring 2010’s Living In Squalor 7” EP found the band in an angrier, more intense place than prior material. The melodies still stuck in your mind, but the angst itself was hardly sugar-coated.

Which brings us to Sadie, a record that in some ways is  a bigger step of departure than any previous record-to-record difference in the aforementioned three releases. While the previous albums were anythng but childish, there is an unquestionable air of poise on Sadie that wasn’t as present before-- just the right amount of confidence.  Bouncy midtempo (“Sadie,” “Asphalt,” “Jesus Christ”), the band’s proven strength, abounds as before, but in addition to the quality of everything on Sadie is the variety contained within.  “Pink Sheets” waltzes steadily forward, with just the right amount of sway.  “Untitled” might be so because of the aggravation it contains;  Katie opens by telling the song’s subject to “take your name off the list/your static presence goes unmissed.”  Towards the end of the record, “Diana” introduces a quieter, coolly contemplative side of PS Eliot as she sings in more of a darkened whisper over a sole clean guitar.

But while Katie is basically the primary songwriter, it’s the whole band that brings these works to life.  First and foremost, Allison is to be lauded for her drumming on this release.  While she’s steadily improved over the past few years, her playing on Sadie stands head and shoulders above anything the band’s done previously.  You can hear the confidence in her hits.  Katie, of course, holds her own lyrically as always.  But her singing  approach seems markedly more inventive and dynamic here, as well.  Everything somehow lodges in your brain more than before.  Her  decision to double her vocal tracks in select places is tastefully executed, and only thickens and sweetens the whole mix.  Katherine Simonetti’s bass playing and tone has gone from boominess on Living to having some grit here thanks to some solid distortion.  The now-departed Will Granger’s lead guitar seems to be mixed somewhat softly in the mix, but still gels perfectly.

“We’ll cut off all this mess,” sings Katie on “Diana,” “If you wanna take me/I will surely go.” Like a last day with your friends before school or work or some other huge responsibility looms, Sadie feels like a bittersweet departure or transition.

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-Asa

New Katorga Works Release: Hoax - Self Titled 7"

Artist: Hoax
Album: Self Titled 7"
Release: 2011

Label: Deranged/Katorga Works

Tracklist:

1. Fagget

2. Endgame

3. Dead Weight

4. Leech

We here at ICDT are proud to announce the Katorga Works release of debut 7" from Western Massachusetts ruffle duffs, Hoax. Following in line with their demo, this 7" includes 4 tracks of buzz-saw guitars, bludgeoning drums, and breakdowns that scream "kiss me on my bloody head." This record is officially and objectively "way better than the demo" both in terms of songs and sound. Featuring a new, punishing drummer. Art by Jaybo and E. Kohlman. Features a double-sided, six-panel fold out, 19.5" by 13" standard paperweight poster. A slick looking record.

This is a split release with the legendary Deranged Records in Canada. The band is also going on tour tomorrow, so, if they are coming to your city, be sure to go see them and pick up this record from them!

4/15 Cleveland w/ Salvation, Masakari, Flies, Leech Bed
4/16 Chicago w/ Raw Nerve, Salvation, The Ropes, Risk
4/17 St. Louis w/ Sweet Tooth, Cobrangutan
4/19 Columbus w/ Vile Gash
4/20 Pittsburgh w/ Drug Lust, Amarock, + more TBA
4/21 Detroit w/ Bad Indians, Telephone Callers, Curious Mystery
4/22 Toronto w/ School Jerks, Molested Youth, Total Trash
4/23 Syracuse w/ Shoppers, Hunger Pains, Lake Forest

We at Katorga Works also have a large distro update, featuring records from: Arctic Flowers, Bloodclot Faggots, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Cider, Death First, Francis Harold & the Holograms, Free Clinic, Gasmask Terror, Government Warning, GRIDS, Gun Outfit, Host, The Log Jammers, Low Threat Profile, Milk Music, Neo Cons, Night Birds, No Comment, No Comment, Nomad, Noose, Noveller, Picked Clean, Pig Heart Transplant, Pollution, Reckless Aggression, The Rival Mob, Ruined Families, School Jerks, Shock Value, Slobs, Sucked Dry, Sweet Tooth, Thieves, unFact, Warchildren, White Walls, Worlds, Yadokai.

Hope you enjoy!

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Buy Here (From Deranged)
Buy Here (From Katorga Works)

Omegas - Blasts Of Lunacy

Artist: Omegas
Album: Blasts Of Lunacy
Release: 2011

Label: Parts Unknown

Tracklist:

1. Modern Glory

2. Psycho Circles

3. Kill For Control

4. Disgusting Fun

5. Blasts Of Lunacy

6. You Ain't Nuthin

7. Excessive Force

8. Peasant Dance

9. Absurd Visions

10. F.S.O.M.

11. Slam Skank
12. Sex Hero

Montreal-based, lords of slam-skank Omegas have to be one of the best bands in hardcore at the moment. Their brand of anthemic hardcore gives devotion to their NYHC influences with a uniquely snarky street punk attitude, all of which is filtered through a little crazy, making the title of their debut LP, Blasts Of Lunacy, all too appropriate.

If you've ever been to one of their live shows, you know that they consist of pure aggression, unmatched excitement, and, unsurprisingly, copious amounts of slamming, skanking, and general pitting. Despite being chaotic and near-incomprehensible, they're one of the best live bands around and, until this point, I didn't think the band quite captured that greatness on record. I absolutely loved their 7", Sonic Order, but I felt the style of production bled some of the energy from the incredible songs on it. However, with this LP, the full-bodied recording manages to strike a nice balance between the raw, demo recordings of Psycho Dives On Slam Skank Anthems and the oddly clean Sonic Order.

Blasts of Lunacy is twelve tracks of hardcore wizardry. This particular release sees the band emphasizing their NYHC influences even more than on previous material. With this 23-minute LP, the band has proven that it is able to maintain momentum through an entire full length and that their particular brand of over-the-top hardcore, that for some reason that I cannot explain, never veers into stupidity or inane absurdity. When a band is able to get you to chant "Taste the street meat" or "You got your first shocks of manhood," they must really have something special going for them. These sound ridiculous, but they fit the context of the band's aesthetic, the songs themselves, and their respective records.

The band delivers hit after hit, banger after banger. It would be pointless (and unnecessarily boring) to analyze each track on here, but I will say that my favorites (as of now) are "F.S.O.M." (the new "Street Meet"), "You Ain't Nuthin," and the band's credo, "Slam Skank." Ultimately, this is definitely one of my favorite LPs to come out this year and I can't see why this won't be considered one of the best hardcore records of the year. It's just too addictive.

Parts Unknown has just released this mammoth of an LP. If you live in the U.S., you can pick it up from them or various distros. If you live outside of the U.S., you can purchase from No Way and Painkiller.

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-Adam

Red Alert - Third And Final 7" EP

Artist: Red Alert
Title: Third And Final 7"
Release: 1980
Label: Guardian Record N' Tapes

Tracklist:

1. Third and Final
2. Border Guards
3. Sell Out
4. District Boredom

If you're at all familiar with income tax debates you undoubtedly have considered the dubiousness of the so-called  "double tax"; the tax on both earned and unearned income generated by investments (trust funds, stocks, and so on.). The fact is that people are taxed for all sorts of things like food, property, and general purchase. It is only ever REAL INCOME that is affected. If the majority of your wages escape income taxation when you file, whatever you hold on to is taxed again when you go to buy a shirt, a sandwich, whatever it may be (depending on your state/country of course). In any case, I was having a conversation last night about the current tax rate of those earning $200,000 or more. It hovers, I think, around 35%. Of course, many people would have this already comparably low tax rate for the wealthy driven down even more -- absurd. Especially given that the dividend tax rate in the U.S. (something like 15%) is already low.

So we're all taxed. Over and over and over again. Taxing dividends is just one more dip in the pocket. It just so happens that the people who most benefit from non-earned income (trust funds, stocks, etc.) are "at the highest levels of income" (From the Wall Street Journal quoted by Citizens for Tax Justice). Support equality promoting tax functions!

Now all of this decidedly un-punk conversation made me mad. I had to listen to what I thought was appropriate. This is a wonderful 7" from 1980. The first release by the U.K.'s Red Alert, before their ventures with the No Future institution. I bet that you haven't heard as good a street punk song as "Sell Out" or "District Boredom" in ages. Seriously awesome stuff.

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-Colman

Drop Nineteens - National Coma

Artist: Drop Nineteens
Album: National Coma
Release: 1993
Label: Caroline

Tracklist:

1. Limp
2. All Swimmers Are Brothers
3. Skull
4. Cuban
5. Rot Winter
6. Martini Love
7. 7-8
8. Franco Inferno
9. My Hotel Deb
10. Moses Brown
11. Superfeed
12. The Dead
13. Royal

Adam is, surprisingly, right about a lot of things.  He helped hype one of the better hardcore releases of the past few years.  He’s the biggest shoegaze scholar I know, especially for someone who was in diapers when that whole scene happened.

But there’s simply some areas where Adam’s totally wrong, and that’s in his praise of the Drop Nineteens first album, Delaware, calling its single “Winona” awesome among other offenses, and calling National Coma “tepid indie-rock.”  This is simply and empirically untrue.  The band’s second album shits all over that stupid attempt at aping MBV.  It shits all over Adam.  It even shits all over Weezer and their first two dumb records which are held in the hearts of millions of whiny kids, most of whom haven’t realized how completely awful the Rivers Cuomo And His Swinging Douchelords Band have become.

Whether the triumphant drum intro to “Moses Brown” or the stirring lyrical choices of “Cuban,” Drop Nineteens proved on this record that they weren’t some dumb cookie cutter indie band, or merely the shoegaze jocks they were on Delaware.  "7-8" even demonstrates that early on, hip-hop elements could be easily fused with twee sounds!  A cohesive, stunning piece of ‘90s obscurity, National Coma is a tremendous work by a truly versatile band.

Pinkerton? Nah, brah. National fucking Coma.

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-Asa