Hummingbird - Diamond Nights

Artist: Hummingbird

Album: Diamond Nights

Release: 1977

Label: A&M

Tracklist:

1. Got My "Led Boots" On

2. Spirit

3. Cryin' For Love

4. She Is My Lady

5. You Can't Hide Love

6. Anaconda

7. Madatcha

8. Losing You (Ain' No Doubt About It)

9. Spread Your Wings
10. Anna's Song

Hummingbird was an interracial, British funk band from the mid-1970s. Yes, I know that that combination of elements already has a lot of things going against it and you're probably expecting some dad-funk, but...well, actually the final album by these limey bastards, Diamond Nights, is chock full of straight-up dad-funk. That doesn't mean, however, that it's necessarily bad. On this album, the band alternates between some hard funk moments and total soft rock, dad-funk moments. Songs like "Anaconda" and "She Is My Lady" will make you think you're waiting on-hold with Comcast, but there are some real gems that make up for that. The opener of "Got My "Led Boots" On" is pretty awesome funk with walking basslines and scorching guitar solos. The uncontested winner of this record is the "You Can't Hide Love," which is complete with one of the coolest, psychedelic-tinged keyboard solos I've ever heard. This song alone is worth downloading the entire record. And hey, if you're a dad, you've actually got a lot of "good times" to celebrate with this record!

Download Here

-Adam

School Jerks - Control 7"

Artist: School Jerks

Album: Control 7"
Release: 2011

Label: Cowabunga!

Tracklist:

1. Screamer/Control

2. Ready To Die

3. Moral Addiction

4. Ugly Minds, Ugly Faces

5. 4-F

Toronto's True Gods of Savage HC are back with a bang, this time with their third and, just maybe, best 7" offering yet. What makes this particular 7" of theirs standout is that its production values are much better than the past two 7"s. Still, this is far from clean, but it's nice to have a slightly fuller sound to their songs. The songs themselves are also amongst their best and I would say that it rivals their first 7".

If you haven't heard School Jerks before (shame on you), they could totally fit in on the west coast in 1981, both in style and recording quality. Two areas that really make the band stand apart from their contemporaries is that the drums are amongst the tightest and most interesting around, and that the vocalist is completely unhinged. I really mean that too; I've never seen him without blood on his face or with more than one shoe on at a time. I hope he doesn't step on anything nasty! Also let it be noted that "4-F" is my favorite School Jerks song yet. So catchy!

Check this out if you haven't already heard it. Also, these are mp3s straight from the band, not a vinyl rip. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Download Here

Buy Here

-Adam

New Katorga Works Release: CREEM - Good Riddance b/w I Hate You 7"

Artist: CREEM

Album: Good Riddance b/c I Hate You
Release: 2011

Label: Katorga Works


Tracklist:


1. Good Riddance

2. I Hate You

We've been busy here at Katorga Works (hence the inactivity on I Could Die Tomorrow) and we'd like to present to you yet another release of ours. This particular 7" is from a hometown band called CREEM, which actually features ICDT poster/KW labelmate/Natural Law guitarist/Ayn Rand-enthusiast Colman! Anyway, here is our stupid description of the record:

"Members of Nomos and Natural Law combine forces to being you the best Boston band not from Boston. The band plays early 80s style hardcore not unlike Last Rights or other Choke projects with a heavy dose of Blitz influence in there. These two songs are their newest and best material to date, with no clear winner emerging between the hardened "Good Riddance" and the anthemic B-side of "I Hate You." This is the first of a planned series of 7" singles for the band."

We're really proud of how this turned out. This is also our first of six releases that we hope to have out by the end of August, the others being the Wiccans LP, the Rational Animals LP, a Pollution 7", an Avon Ladies 7", and the Weed Hounds LP (two years in the making!!!). Also with this release comes a huge distro update, so be sure to look out or some new, amazing records there, including some from Hank Wood and the Hammerheads, Perdition, the Men, Cult Of Youth, Lust For Youth, Contrepoison, Neon Blud, the Wankys, and more!

Download Here

Buy Here

-Adam & Colman

Anhedonist - The Drear

Artist: Anhedonist

Album: The Drear
Release: 2010
Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. The Insatiable Hole
2. Despond
3. Ouranophobia

Seattle death/doom metal quartet Anhedonist have everything going for them.  In the first place, this fantastic demo tape has already sold out, and is now available on limited vinyl.  Second, they’re already doing a pretty-close-to-full US tour, with certain eastern dates featuring them opening for the likes of Hooded Menace, Negative Plane and up-and-coming giallophiles Ilsa.  Oh, and lest we forget-- when was the last time a band got on the roster of a festival as kvlt and serious-busiiness as Rites of Darkness on the basis of a three-song demo?  Come December, they’ll be playing alongside an incredible bunch of bands including Mortuary Drape, Demigod, Mournful Congregation, Root and Tribulation among many more.  Not too shabby, to say the least.

And on their sole release, Anhedonist have recorded more than your ears’ worth-- at over half an hour, The Drear is longer than many other full-lengths released in recent years.  While the music itself doesn’t reinvent any wheels, this is almost certainly not what the band is trying to do.  Rather, they tacfully blend the mournful, sickly melodies of My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and their ilk with the more recent, bleak stylings and incredibly low tuning (G# !) of funeral doom such as dISEMBOWELMENT and the aforementioned Mournful Congregation.  Under the subterranean growl of frontman VB, guitars lumber and ominously ring out, but also flexibly etch tuneful single riffs.  Yet Anhedonist aren’t trying to constantly suffocate-- they know how properly imbue their songs with just enough light to conrast the dark.  Halfway through “The Insatiable Hole,” the guitars drop out to make way for shimmering clean tone, round bass and careful drums.  Yet everything is still going in one direction: down.  When the heaivness kicks back in, VB’s screams sound far more anguished than the growls the song opened with.

While this tape is sold out, Parasitic records has re-pressed it on LP in a limited run of 500.

Additionally, Anhedonist are on tour right now and you should damn well see them!  Dates are below with the download and buy links.

Download Here
Buy Here

Remaining May/June Tour Dates:

-Thursday, 19th, New Orleans, LA @Siberia
w/Pallbearer, Grave Ritual

-Friday, 20th, Nashville, TN @Rutledge
w/Pallbearer, Loss

-Saturday, 21st, Chattanooga, TN @Anarchtica
w/Pallbearer, Otis Reaper, and 2 TBA

-Sunday, 22nd, Asheville, NC @The Get Down
w/Hour of 13

-Monday, 23rd, OFF

-Tuesday, 24th, Harrisonburg, VA @house show
w/Ilsa +2

-Wednesday, 25th, Washington, DC @TBA
w/Ilsa, Oak, and Midnight EYE

-Thursday, 26th thru Sunday, 29th, OFF

-Monday, 30th, Philadelphia, PA @Blockley Pourhouse
w/Hooded Menace, Ilsa, High Priest, and Oak

-Tuesday, 31st, Brooklyn, NYC @Union Pool
w/Hooded Menace, Negative Plane, Ilsa

-Wednesday, June 1st,  Indianapolis, IN @The Melody Inn
w/Kata Sarka, Coffinworm +1

-Thursday, 2nd, Milwauke, WI @River Horse
w/ Kata Sarka

-Friday, 3rd, Lansing, MI @Mac's Bar
w/Kata Sarka, Wastelander, Genocya

-Saturday, 4th, Ft. Wayne @The Brass Rail
w/Kata Sarka, Deep Coiler +1

-Sunday, 5th, Lawrence, KS @TBA
w/TBA

-Monday, 6th, Denver, CO @Old Curtis Street.
W/Acephalix, Undergang, Dodsfalla, Roskopp

-Tues, 7th, Salt Lake City, UT @South Shore
w/Acephalix, Undergang, Yaotl Mictlan

-Thursday, 9th, Seattle, WA @The Black Lodge
W/Society Nurse, Acephalix, Undergang

-Asa

A.R. Kane - When You're Sad 12"

Artist: A.R. Kane
Album: When You're Sad 12"
Release: 1987
Label: One Little Indian

Tracklist:

1. When You're Sad [Long Version]

2. When You're Sad

3. So Far Away

Over the years, A.R. Kane have become one of my favorite bands. At this point, they'd probably make a "top five" list, if I were ever to haphazardly construct one. I completely stand behind all of their material sans a few remixes and a good portion of their last LP, New Clear Child. It ain't great. Who cares, though, when the band started off incredibly strong, though, with this 12" single, When You're Sad.

This 12" is one of my favorite dream pop records. Unlike some of their later, poppier stuff, this is completely drenched in feedback and white noise. The single features two versions of the title track, a "regular" version and a "long" version, the long version being quite different in that it's not only longer, but is a bit more stripped-down. Both versions of this song are masterpieces of the genre and it would be fruitless for me to decide upon one as being greater than the other. "So Far Away" ends the 12" perfectly on a somber note, with a track a little less upbeat than the other two.

Not all can appreciate this band, but I feel like their early singles are very much up the alley of anyone who likes 80s noise pop stuff like Jesus and Mary Chain and early Cocteau Twins. It's one of my favorite singles ever, at least.

Download Here

-Adam

NYC: Upcoming Shows in May/June

Here are more shows happening in the NYC area. Many of these are booked by the fine people at Hardcore Gig Volume, Undead Gig Volume, Dan-O with the Van-O, Girl/Queer shows, Mosh Pit City, and the less-than-desirable Stolen Sleeves Collective.


May 6th:

Slobs (sick hardcore punk from Montreal. members of 0megas)
Panzram (disgusting two-piece from FL. ex-Merkit)
CREEM (GET CREEMED with Nomos and Natural Law alumns)
Cervix (female-fronted raw punk attack)
Syphilitic Lust (Brooklyn, primitive black metal like Hellhammer, kinda. Members of Pollution and Battletorn)

@ The Stolen Sleeves Collective

$5, 8pm, NO BOOZE



May 6th:

Boneblack (montreal)
Death First
Theses Days (mems of Hiretsukan)

@ The Acheron
$7, 8pm



May 6th:

Shellshag
Twat Sauce (TN)
Homewreckers
Surrogate Activity
Aye Nako

@ The Silent Barn
8pm



May 7th:

UNDEAD GIG VOLUME #34
Amelia & Marcus' Birthday Bash

Brain Killer
Germ Attak
Nomad
Lost Tribe
Panzram
Slobs

@ The Acheron
$7, 8pm



May 7th:

The Measure (SA) (last show ever)
Big Eyes
Bad Banana
Death First

@ Death By Audio
8pm



May 10th:

Napalm Raid (Nova Scotia)
The Dipers
Cauldron (914 thrash)

@ Tommy's Tavern
$5, 8pm



May 14th:

Masakari
Black Kites
Grudges
+1tba

@ ABC No Rio
$7, 3pm



May 15th:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #160

A.N.S. - Thrash punk from all over, Tank Crimes
Seasick - Hubcity Hardcore
Sickoids - New Punk band from Philly members of Government Warning and Witch Hunt
Long Pigs - Local Hardcore Punk

@ The Acheron
8pm



May 18th:

RVIVR (WA)
Shellshag
Aye Nako
Worriers

@ 538 Johnson
8pm



May 21st:

Dawn of Humans (return to NYC gig)
Brain Killer (Boston fucking kill!)
Earthpig (Boston punk CONFUSion)
Long Pigs (Mateo's dick)

@ ABC No Rio
3pm



May 21st:

Scapegoat (mean as shit fucking violence from Boston!)
Perdition (split 7" release & Toxic State 7” release)
Crazy Spirit (return show / 7” release)
Nomad (youMAD)

@ Ask a fucking punk (and no, don't email ICDT because we're not punks and don't know)
$5, 8pm (show over by midnight)



May 23rd:

Nazi Dust (Tampa hardcore heroes, on tour)
Brain Slug (LIHC)
+2 more

@ The Stolen Sleeves Collective
$5, 8pm
May 27th:

FREEWHEEL BOOKING PRESENTS

Doom - UK Crust
Dropdead - Rhode Island
Teargas - Brisbane, Australia

@ Europa
$10/$12, 6pm



May 24th:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #154

Miasmal - Metal from Sweden
Hatred Surge - Brutal Violence from Texas
Mammoth Grinder - HC punk Metal from Texas
Innumerable Forms - Metal from Boston/Austin, Members of Mind Eraser & Mammoth Grinder
Internal Rot - Grinding Violence from Melbourne, Australia

@ The Acheron
8pm



May 31st:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #157

Tragedy - T-Beat pioneers
Citizens Arrest - Hardcore!
Teargas - Brisbane, Australia
Night Birds - Catchy Hardcore Punk from NJ/Brooklyn

@ Europa
$10, 8pm



June 7th:

Brilliant Colors
+more

@ The Stolen Sleeves Collective
$5, 8pm



June 9th:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #155

0MEGAS - One of my favorite Hardcore bands! MONTREAL.
Dry Spell - Hardcore Punk from RVA
Mad World - Also from Virgina
DBCR - Brooklyn

@ The Acheron
8pm



June 11th:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #161

RZL DZL - From Detroit, Party Time!!!
Face Reality - From Detroit on Youngblood Records
Build and Destroy - Members of RZL DZL from Detroit

@ The Acheron
5pm



June 11th:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #156

Kieltolaki - Hardcore Punk from Finland, X-Selfish
Brain Killer - Boston
Nomad - NYC

@ The Acheron
9pm



June 12th:

Run With the Hunted (Arizona HC Panic Records)
Black Kites (Jersey metallic HC)
Grudges (Brooklyn Grind)
Rattling Cages (Brooklyn Hardcore)

@ The Stolen Sleeves Collective
$5, 8pm, NO BOOZE

June 15th:

Milk Music (BEST BAND)
The Men (Brooklyn punks, new LP on Sacred Bones)
Nude Beach (NAIDEAU!)
The Marsh Hens (four harsh men, Brooklyn's best kept secret)

@ Don Pedros
8pm



June 15th:

See You In Hell
xbraniax
Grudges
Mutant Supremacy

@ The Acheron
$7, 8pm



June 17th:

HARDCORE GIG VOLUME #159

Origin of [M] - From Japan, ex-Gudon (!!!)
Agitator - Brooklyn Punk
+ more tba

@ The Charleston
8pm, 21+



June 19th:

Werchandise comes to NYC

Merchandise (Post-Punk from Tampa, first real tour)
Pollution (Brooklyn hardcore veterans)
Lotus Fucker (DC noisy hardcore)
Shoppers (Queer Art Punk from Syracuse)

@ Death By Audio
$7, 8pm, All Ages



June 20th:

mWerchanov comes to NYC

Merchandise (YOU KNOW)
White Lung (Vancouver punk attack on Deranged)
Nu Sensae (two piece on tour with White Lung)
Hubble (solo guitar symphonies)
Ascensions (Brooklyn drone w/ help from The Men)

@ The Gutter
$5, 8pm, 21+ (possibly)



June 25th:

Pink Coffins
Distress Signal
Death First
+2tbd

@ 538 Johnson, #210
8pm

New puzzle pieces Releases: Four Eyes and Bad Banana EPs

Since shameless self-promotion is the name of the game around here, I figured I'd join in on the fun. Breaking the pace of the Katorga Works gentlemen, puzzle pieces is a little more about being a wimp, being a queer, being a girl, or just being into pop punk. With that, I bring you the first two puzzle pieces records releases:

Four Eyes - Towards The End Of Cosmic Loneliness 7"

Artist: Four Eyes
Album: Towards The End Of Cosmic Loneliness 7"
Release: 2011
Label: puzzle pieces

Tracklist:

1. Back To Life
2. Pilgrim
3. Carol Stream
4. SOS

I've plugged Four Eyes before, and I'm doing it again. With their second EP, Four Eyes bring more emotionally raw indie rock in the vein of Dinosaur Jr. with a dose of twinkle in their riffage. Recorded this time with Justin Pizzoferrato, Towards The End Of Cosmic Loneliness has a bit more of a lo-fi feel than their first record, but they stick to what they do best: writing short, catchy pop punk songs.

Artwork by Paige Young.

Download Here
Buy Here



Bad Banana- Cry About It 7"

Artist: Bad Banana
Album: Cry About It 7"
Release: 2011
Label: puzzle pieces

Tracklist:

1. Cry About It
2. Teleport Tonight
3. Boys With Girlfriends
4. LeAnna

With Cry About It, Bad Banana tame the frequencies of their demo without compromising any of its urgency. The Crutchfield sisters-- joined here by Kyle from Big Soda-- continue their '90s-inspired, stop-and-go pop punk. Songs of drunken friendship, whining, and so forth.

The A-side packs a somewhat cynical punch with both tracks clocking it at under two minutes, as on the record's title track Katie mocks "if it makes you feel better." "Boys with Girlfriends" provides a change of pace, sounding almost more like a P.S. Eliot song though providing the same pop hooks of Bad Banana. "LeAnna" may be my favorite track track of theirs yet. As "ANXIETY" rings in, Allison has solidified her status with me as an awesome pop-punk writer. The best moments of the record come as everything drops with "we go DOWNTOWN/you buy the first round" and "create a detour/create the future." Song writing credits go: Katie, Allison, Katie, Allison, which I find somewhat evident as each twin sinks into her own style.

Artwork by Jason Roy. Letterpressed at the Bow & Arrow Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Download Here
Buy Here

There is also a package deal where you save a bit on shipping. Aside from puzzle pieces records releases, I'll have a growing distro stock, so far including 7"s from Merchandise, Vegetable, Pink Nightmare, Billy Raygun, and more to come.

P.S. Other blogs, feel free to share the download links, just please use ours and include a link for purchase. That would be much appreciated!

-Catherine