Asylum Party - Picture One

Artist: Asylum Party

Album: Picture One
Release:1988
Label: Asylum Yield

Tracklist:

1. Julia
2. Together We Fall
3. Sweetness...of Pain
4. Before the Smile
5. White Light

Call me trendy, but recently I’ve really been getting into ‘80s goth/post-punk/coldwave and the like. Asylum Party are easily one of the best bands I’ve ever heard come out of the land of snootyness and baguette, and this EP is a gem perfect for the icy, grey environs of winter.

“Julia” was and still is a song that demands repeat listens the moment after it first graces your ears. It also sets the tone for the duration of the record-- the droney floating of the drum machine’s clicky ostinato, Cure-style chorused bass tones, dreary guitar melody, lushly ‘80s keyboards and the right amount of heart and coldness in the vocals. “Together We Fall” offers despair where “Julia” had yearning, honest love; “Before the Smile” is easily the best song on here with a bassline that sounds like a Faith outtake and a solemnly gorgeous chorus. Not even an awkard cowbell sample at every fourth bar of “White Light”’s verses can take away from its pleasant darkness. If you’re into the aforementioned genres  and are a quality-over-quantity person when it comes to songs and record lengths-- which, if you read ICDT, you probably are-- this is a crucial bunch of jams.

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-Asa

Shock Value - Yellow Peril 7"

Artist: Shock Value
Album: Yellow Peril 7"
Release: 2010
Label: No Patience

Tracklist:

1. Green Machine

2. The Only Way Is Up/Nothing Life

3. Ah! Real Monsters

4. Nothing

5. Dead Society

To preface this review, let me say that this will be the first review of a series of four focusing on releases from Australia's No Patience Records, run by a "bloke" named Lewis.

I choose this 7", Shock Value's Yellow Peril, first because it's kind of the black sheep of the batch, not only in sound (this is straightforward, Boston-style hardcore as opposed to noisy punk), but that the members of the band are a family of Laotian immigrants to Australia. Fuck yes.

SS Decontrol is the first band I feel most people use to contextualize this band's sound and I'm not inclined to disagree, though the vocalist sounds BURLY-as-hell. I'm pretty sure the songs are both about being a jock and hating jocks, but I'm scared of their lyrics sheet because there are too many skinheads on it. Actually, on "Green Machine," the band sounds like they've unintentionally rewritten "Nada" by Olho Seco and it rules. "Nothing Life" is the hit.

Maybe because I'm a hardcore kid at heart, I like this the best out of all four of the records.

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-Adam

Long Pigs - Self Titled 7"

Artist: Long Pigs
Album: Self Titled 7"
Release: 2011
Label: SMRT

Tracklist:

1. Cut Off

2. Worms

3. Abetment To Suicide

4. No Tolerance

5. Negative Pattern

6. Death Is Death

This is the debut vinyl release from this Brooklyn hardcore band by the guys who run the inimitable Toxic State Records. Staying true to their demo, this EP contains six songs of desperate bleak noisy hardcore, only the recording is far superior to that of the almost-unlistenable demo. While I certainly enjoyed the demo, I had kinda wished the production values were higher and often wondered what these songs would sound like with a better recording.

Well, my prayers (which, according to Will from Rational Animals, happen five times a day) were answered! This sound is just as noisy and maybe even a bit more ear-piercing, but the drums and bass sound fuller and hit harder, while the vocals are just as snotty as ever. The 7" takes the best songs from the demo and throws some newer, better songs to the fray.

This comes highly recommended. You should also buy it, as the packaging is next level.

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-Adam

And Nothing Else To Do

Just letting everyone know that we'll be resuming our regular programming (we've been pretty good lately, right?) after the new year. Not only will we have a plethora of new reviews, but we'll also be posting our top ten lists of 2011 sometime in January. Thanks for your continued support!

David Allen Coe - Penitentiary Blues

Artist: David Allen Coe
Album: Penitentiary Blues
Release: 1968
Label: SSS International

Tracklist:

1. Penitentiary Blues
2. Cell #33
3. Monkey David Wine
4. Walkin' Bum
5. One Way Ticket To Nowhere
6. Funeral Parlor Blues

7. Death Row

8. Oh Warden

9. Age 21

10. Little David

11. Conjer Man

My first experiences with David Allen Coe involved Colman forcing me to listen to some of his more notorious material while packing records. It wasn't particularly pleasant, though I did find myself laughing at how much Colman enjoyed those recordings. I was completely ignorant to his earlier material until my friend Trevor played me the title track of his 1968 debut, Penitentiary Blues. I was actually more shocked at how this sounded than by his x-rated/racist material.

First off, it's outlaw country only in theme. Musically, it's far more bluesy than his most of his records; blues aficionados, like my mother, would even say that this record was more indebted to Chicago blues than classic outlaw country. While there are moments of embarrassing cultural appropriation, there is also a heavy element of realness to this. When Coe is singing about prison blood tests, suicide, copious drug use, and saying his goodbyes to his dead girlfriend, it is pretty emotionally heavy, which is something lacking in his other material.

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-Adam

Thee Cannibals - Suburban Sex 7"

Artist: Thee Cannibals
Album: Suburban Sex 7"
Release: 2006
Label: Cowabunga

Tracklist:

1. Suburban Sex
2. 714 Mentality

3. Born For Hell

Although this record isn't to old, it definitely reminds me of a better time in southern California punk and hardcore. Now, I am good friends with the parties responsible behind Flat Black records, but I have to say that for me some of the bands that were on Flat Black were not nearly as good as their contemporaries: Harpoon Guns, Street Trash, and this band, Thee Cannibals. Unfortunately, these bands got little to no exposure outside of southern California while a lot of the generic Flat Black bands did, giving people the impression that southern California was a musical wasteland of 16 year old skate rats who play generic riffs and pump out boring 7”s with skeletons on the cover. Thee Cannibals were different than that. They had a great fuzzy punk sound that really reminded me of “Darby Crash Rides Again” era Poison Idea. Their live shows were always violent and unpredictable. The drummer would have his own microphone just so he could talk shit on the people in attendance, and in the middle of a song would throw his floor tom at whoever was unlucky enough to be standing near him.

With a 1000 copy press run, odds are this ripper is lurking in a dollar bin near you. Nick Sick over at Cowabunga really found a diamond in the rough and to date this is still my favorite record he ever released. A few demos and rehearsal recordings of Thee Cannibals exist somewhere, but this 7” is easily their best material. Forget what you know about southern California punk and hardcore and give this a spin. I really hope it can shed some light on one of the most underrated and often overlooked punk scenes of the last few years instead of being remembered as the breeding ground of unlistenable generic hardcore.

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-Branden

D. Vassalotti - Book Of Ghosts

Artist: D. Vassalotti
Album: Book Of Ghosts
Release: 2011
Label: Vinyl Rites

Tracklist:

1. L'Incipit

2. Death Will One Day Rob Us All

3. Imaginary Boy

4. L'Ange De L'Assassinat

5. Graves

6. Jacob's Ladder

7. Mirror

8. The Last Days Of Hart Crane

9. That Misery Of Yours

10. Beatrice

I will try (and, ultimately fail) my hardest not to rant and rave and gush about this record, even though it is my favorite record of 2011. For those unaware, David Vassalotti is the one of the most talented people to emerge from Tampa's surprisingly fertile music scene and is known for his contributions to many punk and non-punk acts to grace the American circuit in recent years, my favorite being Merchandise, unsurprisingly.

After his first vinyl release under the moniker of ( ), D-Vaz returns with Book Of Ghosts, a far more complex and literary (someone went to college!) work than his last single. The A-side of the record has all of the "hits" on it in that it contains the most accessible and traditional songs on the record. "Death Will One Day Rob Us All" kicks off the record in classic David form with an incredible guitar line, "Imaginary Boy" has the best guitar solo of 2011 in it, and, while some might be put off by the acoustic fragility of it, "L'Ange De L'Assassinat" is heartbreaking.

After the bass-heavy "Mirrors," the B-side kind of throws traditional song-structure to the wayside and is far more difficult to penetrate, but once this has been accomplished, it's clear to see that this side is just as good as its predecessor. "That Misery Of Yours" reminds me of a more fractured and discordant, yet more royal version of "Mass Production" by Iggy Pop. It's truely hypnotic and it's a song like this that makes me curse the time limitations of vinyl.

This record is filled with Dave's brilliant guitar flourishes and shy vocals. Vinyl Rites described this record as sharing a similar atmosphere to that of Felt and I'm not inclined to disagree at all, only this record is clearly the work of someone far less narcissistic than Lawrence of Felt, for better or worse. I cannot recommend this record enough, it's a real thing of beauty and, until I finally listen to my copy of Bastard Noise's Skulldozer, this is the best record I've heard all year.

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-Adam

New Katorga Works Release: Warrior Kids - Les Enfant De L'Espoir (30th Anniversary Edition)

Artist: Warrior Kids
Album: Les Enfant De L'Espoir (30th Anniversary Edition)
Label: Katorga Works (Originally 77 KK)
Release: 2011 (Originally 1985)

Tracklist:

1. Personne

2. Ceux Qu'on Oublie Jamais

3. Ville Morte

4. Soldat De La Paix

5. Rafale

6. Nouvelle Jeunesse

7. Marseille Tombe

8. Cirage (Le Menteur)

9. Adolescent

10. Espoir

11. [Untitled Track]

We here at Katorga Works are proud to announce our most exciting release to date: the reissue of a classic French skinhead classic,  Les Enfant De L'Espoir by Warrior Kids. Here is what we have to say about this previously-too-expensive-to-own record:

This is the official U.S. reissue of the classic debut LP from Marseilles, France's Warrior Kids. This comes at a very crucial time, as it marks this classic skinhead/oi band's 30th year of existence. Appearing on various classic oi compilations, the original incarnation of Warrior Kids released a 7" single and this phenomenal LP, Les Enfant De L'Espoir. Warrior Kids remain one of the archetypical French oi bands, alongside Camera Silens and Komintern Sect and this long out-of-print/expensive LP is now made available to the record buying public once more. Remastered by Josh Bonati. Comes in a beautiful gatefold jacket with 24"x12" poster.

In conjunction with the release of this record, the band is going to be coming to the U.S. in May/June, touring all the way down from NYC to Austin, TX for Chaos in Tejas, and then back up into Canada. Here is the tentative schedule (bands and venues will be filled in ASAP):

5/18 NYC
5/19 Boston, MA
5/20 Easthampton, MA
5/21 Providence, RI
5/22 NYC
5/23 New Brunswick, NJ
5/24 Philadelphia, PA
5/25 Washington, DC/Baltimore, MD
5/26 Richmond, VA
5/27 Raleigh, NC
5/28 Atlanta, GA
5/29 New Orleans, LA
5/30 Houston, TX
5/31 Austin, TX (Chaos in Tejas)
6/1 Austin, TX (Chaos in Tejas)
6/2 Austin, TX (Chaos in Tejas)
6/3 Austin, TX (Chaos in Tejas)
6/4 Denton, TX
6/5 Oklahoma City, OK
6/6 Kansas City, MO
6/7 Chicago, IL
6/8 Toronto, ON
6/9 Montreal, QC

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So yeah, we implore you to check out this magnificent record. Unlike our other releases, this one's already stood the test of time! If you're a store/distro/label and are interested in wholesale copies, hit us up at katorgaworks[at]gmail[dot].com, or if you just have any general questions. Thanks!

-Adam/Colman

Siamese Twins - Demo CS

Artist: Siamese Twins
Album: Demo CS
Release: 2011

Label: Self-Released

Tracklist:

1. Illusion

2. We Fall Apart

3. Don't Forgive Lightly

4. Broken Pieces

5. Ascension

6. Siamese Twins

This is the best demo I've heard in as long as I can remember, so much so that I've been listening to it almost regularly for the past two months. Siamese Twins consists of three ladies from around the punk block playing vaguely gothy, post-punk tunes. At least, that's what the production strives for and succeeds at. I might just be looking for this, but when I listen more closely, I get a sense that the songwriter(s) has a gift for writing solid indie pop songs, as well. I wouldn't hesitate to label this dark twee.

Vocal duties are split between two members, one of higher (Liz) and one of lower register (Meghan) and I think both are great. Meghan's vocals are naturally strong, while Liz gets a LITTLE wild with her melodies. I know some might be turned off by some of the more eccentric vocal melodies of hers, but I happen to think they're solid and, on occasion, gorgeous.

While I did say that this was the best demo I had heard in a minute, I won't pretend that it's perfect. The quality of songs isn't entirely consistent, with half of the songs being just pretty good, while the other half are incredible. It's kind of a shame, because my least two favorite songs on the demo are the ones Meghan sings on ("Illusion" and "Broken Pieces"), but that falls on the songs themselves and not her vocals; They're pleasant, albeit unremarkable. That being said, when the Twins hit their stride, they're unstoppable. "Don't Forgive Lightly" and "Siamese Twins" tower over the aforementioned weak moments and "We Fall Apart" is undoubtedly my favorite song of the year.

I cannot recommend this enough. Be on the look out for a 7" out soon on Labor of Love. I myself cannot wait!

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-Adam

Reagan Youth - Youth Anthems For The New Order [Original Mix]

Artist: Reagan Youth

Album: Youth Anthems For The New Order [Original Mix]
Release: 1984

Label: R Radical

Tracklist:

1. New Aryans

2. Reagan Youth

3. (Are You) Happy?

4. I Hate Hate

5. Degenerated

6. U.S.A.

7. (You're A) Gonowhere

An undisputed CLASSIC punk/HC record from NYC! I will be completely honest I was never really big on NYHC, but this record ALWAYS clicked with me. Maybe it was the bands political message or the fact that it was HC with a healthy dose of punk. For whatever reason, whenever I think of classic NYHC I go for this record.

Unfortunately the folks who reissued this classic (New Red Archives) BUTCHERED the mix!!! The original 12” has a rough and tough mix, while the mix on the reissue takes away all the punch. A shame really, as the reissue has unreleased songs from the same recording session. It should be a crime to mess with original recordings no one has heard yet!

So I present to you, in all of it's full raw glory, “Youth Anthems For The New Order” the way it was meant to be heard.

For you collectors the first press sleeve has a “rough” texture, the second press has a glossy texture. There is a bootleg floating around, but I haven't heard it to compare the sound quality. Don't be fooled!

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-Branden

Felt - Ballad Of The Band 12"

Artist: Felt
Album: Ballad Of The Band 12'
Release: 1986
Label: Creation

Tracklist:

1. Ballad Of The Band

2. I Didn't Mean To Hurt You

3. Candles In A Church

4. Ferdinand Magellan

I've been on a huge Felt kick lately. Every so often I become completely obsessed with them for about three months and then forget about them for over a year, only to continue the cycle and hit them hard. During this current obsession, my most listened to record of theirs is actually a single and not a full length.

Proof that 1986 was their best year (Forever Breathes The Lonely Word came out this year), Ballad Of The Band is a perfect pop single. The A-side consists of two of their best songs, period. The title track is essentially the indie pop equivalent of a diss track, tackling the departure of their guitarist Maurice Deebank. It's definitely the stronger of the two, but "I Didn't Mean To Hurt You" cuts just as deep, especially to all of us out there who are shitheads in relationships and then feel guilty! The B-side is actually comprised of two instrumentals, but filler they are not. Instead, they exist as piano-driven minimalist pieces. There's a definite Satie vibe going on, though it's a bit more busy than his work. Long story short: I'm not skipping this side.

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-Adam

Dan - Where Have All The Children Gone?

Artist: Dan
Album: Where Have All The Children Gone?
Release: 1987
Label: Meantime

Tracklist:

1. Ploppy's Revenge
2. Deliverer
3. Into The Field
4. Conversation
5. Cut The Cord
6. Possession
7. Pressure Point
8. The Cull
9. Lust Is Greed
10. Office Boys And Cats
11. I Think I Should
12. Wall Of Fear
13. The End

DAN is an odd band out among self-styled anarchist bands of their day. Two years before Rudimentary Peni was beginning its descent into more overt madness, a year after Uncarved Block, Where Have All The Children Gone? is a strange record. DAN's style fits American Hardcore, early metallic punk sounding guitar elements and "anarcho-punk" into a neat hardcore package. Where Have All The Children Gone? is an incredible record with back-to-back memorable songs that highlight excellent guitars, powerful vocals and a political edge. If you're a fan of '80s hardcore that leans toward the melodic, political aesthetics, or post-punk this is a must listen. DAN released several singles, a few LPs and appeared on many compilations. All-in-all a great record that has endured the more the than two-decades since its release. My favorite songs are "Deliverer", "Into The Field", "Possession" and "Lust Is Greed".

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-Colman

The Creamers - Slow Burn 7"

Artist: The Creamers
Album: Slow Burn 7"
Release: 2011

Label: Secret Beach

Tracklist:

1. Slow Burn

2. Gut Reaction

3. Glass Eyes

4. ID Me

Finally, a band that actually sounds like Black Flag. Kidding! For some reason, I thought that starting the review off with that would be funny and I was clearly mistaken.

Anywho, the Creamers are a relatively new punk band from Austin, TX, a city that has long forgotten how to mosh. Still, the Creamers refuse to let that stop them from knocking beers out of unprepared hands, much to the dismay of the elderly. In actuality, the Creamers aren't REALLY a moshy band at all, but instead are a very melodic (in the vein of old TX punk) hardcore punk. I feel as if KBD as a descriptor gets thrown around a lot with their name (I am just as guilty of this, on a flyer, specifically), but that's not entirely fair to either party.

The Creamers are hard to pin down soundwise, but I feel like two things really stick out: the incredibly melodic and all-over-the-place guitar lines and the strong yet snarky vocals and their accompanying rhythms. Admittedly, when I saw them live in NYC, they left a lot of us a bit confounded as to what we just saw, but after hearing them recorded, I get it and love it. The title track is the best example of this band's sound, which even features a hard mosh part. As good as it is, "Glass Eyes" is the strongest song on the record and one of my favorite punk songs of the year.

Can't stop listening to this 7".

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Buy 1st 7" Here

-Adam