Jam Sessions...

Alan Douglas gets a lot of flak for his handling of the Jimi Hendrix archives. Oft-criticized for going overdub-happy on posthumous releases Crash Landing (1975) and Midnight Lightning (1975), the recent "official" re-releases by the Experience Hendrix crew show how ahead of his time Douglas really was. One thing casual Hendrix fans don't understand is that a lot of Jimi's recorded material were simple down-and-dirty jams - full of mistakes, wandering solos, missed cues and unexpected nadir mixed in between all the genius. I can't imagine being presented with reels of this material (a la Douglas) and being expected to splice the stuff together into something coherent enough to stand up to Hendrix's legendary "true" studio LPs. I personally think the recently released Hendrix compilations, all claiming to be "original" and "digitally remastered" (ugh!) sound vastly inferior to the 70's records - really amateur in a lot of ways (of course purists will claim these are the way "Jimi would have wanted it", blah blah - in reality these were at best demos to Jimi and would probably have never seen the light of vinyl). Douglas wasn't interested in simply releasing raw rehearsals, sessions outtakes or jams as is - he was trying to piece together "real" songs and understandbly needed session musicians to glue those loose ends together. With all that being said, 1980 saw the release of Nine To The Universe. Culled from jam sessions at NYC studios the Record Plant and Hit Factory throughout 1969; musicians ranged from Mitch Mitchell to Band Of Gypsys' Buddy Miles and Billy Cox to organist Larry Young and guitarist Jim McCarty. Douglas pulled hours of material and edited them down to a cohesive 40-minute album showcasing some of Hendrix's jazziest jams - wonderful stuff. There are bootlegs floating around out there which contain the full uncut recordings but in my opinion these are bogged down by technical glitches (drop-outs, pops, mic switches, etc) as well as simply running on for too long - the jams tend to get a little boring. Douglas really did this material a favor and should be commended for it (compare "Easy Blues" on this release to the version on the recent People, Hell & Angels and you'll see what I mean). Ripped from original vinyl - enjoy.

Remember

Currently watching: Classic Albums: Who's Next

Currently listening to: Coffins Sewage Sludgecore Treatment

Грязь поколений

The few and far-between bands that actually get in touch are easily the best thing about doing a blog. I was happy to find in my inbox the other day an email from the sludge Russian 2-piece Electricjezus. Influenced by all the bands that matter, the two guys just put the finishing touches on their debut album Mud Of Generations. Recorded entirely live on analog equipment from different years and countries (old Soviet synthesizers, pianos, used ride cymbals, broken crash cymbals, pieces of metal for hi-hats, old microphones, etc etc). All work together to give the album a welcome fuzzy, lo-fi tape hiss kind of ambience; that is when lead vocalist Ruslan Frolov isn't screaming his guts out. Awesome shit - not only worth a listen but a few of your hard-earned bucks. Check 'em out here and enjoy.

Download

Currently watching: The Galaxy Invader

Currently listening to: Guns 'N' Roses GN'R Lies

Jumpin' the shark...

Oh man, how the blog has fallen... No, but seriously, summer is coming and it's time to pretend we're 25 years old and big nü metal fans again, right? Limp Bizkit sure are doing their best to pretend it's still the beginning of the millennium with their 2011 release Gold Cobra. The original five-piece gets back together after almost a decade to create an album that could easily be a bonus disc to their breakthrough opus Significant Other. So, how do the matured Bizkiteers sound? The SAME! There's nothing new on Cobra, actually there's a lot that's terribly old - and sadly it's once-charismatic frontman turned media scapegoat Fred Durst. Regardless of what shit the world gives him, he still has a better life then me or anyone reading this, yet Durst still sounds like he's struggling to find a groove. One song he sounds like Butthouse from the Limbomaniacs (Seriously! Check out "Shark Attack") and on a LOT of others he channels little Drew Simollardes of the sadly defunct (and superior) Boston band Reveille. A lot of Vanilla Ice-ish sounding rap from his Hard To Swallow days. And I don't care what anyone says but during "90.2.10" Fred sounds like fucking Missy E on that annoying-as-fuck "Get Ur Freak On" song. While his lyrics are generally weak (c'mon Fred - still rhyming "gat" with "baseball bat" - Jesus what fucking decade are we in!?!?) you gotta to love a song where the chorus is "Douche Bag - I'mma fuck you up... Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Up". Solid. The second half of the album gets a little thinner... lots more experimental shit which is welcomed but gets kind of... boring. And ignore "Killer In You" - that is probably the worst song I've ever heard in my life. Simply awful awful awful. Moving forward, for those who are wondering how the fuck this disc ended up in my collection, I saw it as a 1¢ used CD on Amazon and could not help click "Add To Cart". Another win for the internet, I guess. I never thought I would ever acknowledge Limp Bizkit's existence after "N 2 Gether Now", still... I'll grudgingly admit I got my money's worth. So, in closing, if you're looking for some inane background music for your backyard Memorial Day party you could do a lot worse then this motherfucker. Shit, half the people will think you're streaming some 90's rock station and the other half will be too drunk to give a fuck. I'll be in the latter. Enjoy.

Splash

 
Currently watching: Red White & Blue

Currently listening to: The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin

Jeff Hanneman 1964-2013

R.I.P. You will be missed.

 
Currently watching: The Wire (Season 1)

Currently listening to: Organized Konfusion Organized Konfusion

Get the fuck up...

Amazingly still out-of-print thanks to record company ownership bullshit, Pharoahe Monch's debut stands as the last great rap record of the 90's. Not only is it ridiculously sleazy, offensive and fucking hilarious, Monch breaks out as an amazingly tight rapper, immediately comparable to Eminem (then basking in his "My Name Is" glow). Of course the standout track is "Simon Says" - sampling an old Godzilla (Mothra?) opening anthem to maximum effect - Monch creates a song you could freestyle to for hours. Other standouts include "Behind Closed Doors," "The Next Shit" and "Rape". Even the sort-of silly "The Ass" raises a dry smile as the least cynical track on the album. Featuring the instantly forgettable (but ample) Apani B. Fly - the song is reminiscent of Cube's "It's A Man's Word" as Monch and Fly one-up another on what the other side really wants. My only real complaint about Internal Affairs is the annoying "BuckBuckBuckBuck!" sample of his local borough boys that he drops way too many times. We get it Mr. Monch... Queens represent!

Rawkus

Currently watching: Alligator

Currently listening to: Guns 'N' Roses Appetite For Destruction

Broken Lung

Per their bandcamp bio, Hogslayer are a UK sludge quintet based formed in 2012 featuring members of British deathcore forerunners Shaped By Fate and sludge/doom instrumentalists Zonderhoof (the band's name is actually lifted from a Zonderhoof song). That's all well and good but what really caught my ear was the Abominable Iron Sloth-ish left-hook crunch of their 2012 demo. Absolutely skull-crushing sludge nonsense that makes you want to punch random strangers in the face. The band has been busy re-recording the songs via 9-track and they sound fucking tight but I dig the raw demo shit. Regardless, you be the judge - enjoy.

Demo

Currently watching: Dark Star

Currently listening to: Jimi Hendrix People, Hell And Angels

Holy fuck!!! A new post!!!

Yay for me - got a new fucking post up. About time - no? Well, I won't bore you with any long slavish idol-worship of American Violence - aside from a great name they play the tightest beatdown deathcore I've heard since Gat-Rot sadly vanished from the planet (or have they? I just updated their post... bwah hah hahhhhhh). No but seriously, the three minutes of anger in AV's 2012 Demonstration is fucking awesome. Christ it's taken twenty years but someone finally honed the downtuned 7-string B sound like Korn circa '92. Brutal. Angry. No fucking guitar solos. Facebook. Bandcamp.

Ignore False Idols

Currently watching: Through The Looking Glass

Currently listening to: Jimi Hendrix Live At The Fillmore East

2013 and beyond...

Well, finally got enough into the New Year to start seeing the "Best of 2012" lists wrap up. I dunno, I'm finding it hard to even find shit in the present day that I'm even remotely excited about. One of the things that this download media world robs you of is the physical feeling of popping a new CD you just dropped $15 on into your player and praying that you dig it. Keeping that shit from getting too scratched. Sifting through the liner notes and reading the bands' "thank you's" to see if they mention another band that may be worth listening to. Well, instead of rambling on like an old pathetic codger, I figured I'd list the seven bands that actually made it past the "listen to more than once" cut and earned some of my hard gotten cash on Bandcamp or whatever... Note that some of these albums/bands may not have actually done anything in 2012, but this is when I caught up with their groove...

Asilo. I've mentioned these guys enough on this blog, but they deserve it. Double bass-guitar sludge sickness that makes me want to snort blow and jerk off to The Taming Of Rebecca.

Unsane. Sure these guys have been around for a fucking century but 2012's Wreck kills. Riff-heavy noise rock from the guys who nailed the sound down in 1988 and haven't changed a fucking thing. Their cover of Flipper's "Ha Ha Ha" is the best thing I've heard all year.

Fuckheads. Another band I've already mentioned on the ol' blog. Who knows if they still exist but their trio of demos and tour tapes over the last couple years are nothing short of amazing. Wicked fast Siege-influenced Boston HxCx that couldn't be done better.

Throng Of Shoggoths. I really jumped off the sludge wagon once the almighty Sludge Swamp disappeared from the net but somehow I discovered the demo from these guys. A solid thirty minutes of doom-laden H.P. Lovecraft worship. Amazing.

Shit Happiness. I cannot say enough about this incredible band from Russia. 2011's Chords EP is probably the best thing I've heard in years. Grungy, dirty noise rock with enough time signature changes to make your stuck-up 311 fanboys proud. Sadly, drummer Igor Garshin passed and the band has been on stalemate since... hopefully they can continue on. I would love to hear some more shit from these guys.

Love Sex Machine. Thank god. Filling the void left by the demise of the Abominable Iron Sloth, Lille, France's LSM are easily the sickest sludge band to sleaze over the pond. Ever. Fucking amazing record. I cannot give them more praise. Buy this one NOW.

Orphan. Yet another huge loss in the music world, Brendan Majewski, the "guy" in this ridiculously huge guy-girl two-piece noise rock unit passed away in 2011. I picked up their sophomore effort Decapitated Lovers a few months ago and it absolutely slays. What a shame. Their debut is just as amazing, well worth some hard-earned duckets... 

Well, that's about it. Hopefully 2013 can compete. A few new bands that I'll actually want to listen to instead of constantly hitting the "forward" button on the ol' iPod is all I'm asking for. Fingers crossed...

Currently watching: In The Soup

Currently listening to: Boris Absolutego+

Merry Muthaphukkin' Xmas

Yeah, I know this is technically a repost but it's worth it... nothing brings "happy holidays" to mind like Eazy-E, right? Pretty much everything on this "maxi-single" (remember those?) kills but the festive finale really blows up the yule log. So get that 'ho under the mistletoe, grab a 40 and get some Christmas pussy. Enjoy.

Ho Ho Ho

 
Currently watching: Slither

Currently listening to: Method Of Destruction U.S.A. For M.O.D.

Where's the goddamn drum machine?!?!

Shitty fucking night. Fucking stupid waste-of-my-fucking-time garage band has finally broken up. Fucking band rehearsal was a disaster tonight and the shit that's been building up for months finally exploded. I'm fucking done with the fucking pissing and moaning about "direction" when no one can agree on a fucking song or style to play to. I'm tired of lead singer syndrome and especially tired of big pick syndrome... especially when outside of our tiny rehearsal space no one cares about our loser fucking band. I'm fucking glad it erupted and ended - I'd rather spend the time recording my own shit then sitting behind the drums for 4 hours each week while clowns discuss what frequency they should tune at. We're playing fucking hardcore!?! Who gives a fucking motherfuck about your fucking harmonic tuning!?!? Ugh. Anyways, enough of my vitriol. If you're a fan of Bungle it's probably because you're a fan of Faith No More and got to a point after the release of The Real Thing where you were like "where did this Mike Patton guy come from?" Here's the last demo from the band that stuck together through thick and thin. Meaning, their charismatic lead singer joined another band and scored a top ten song which let him sign his old band to the same record label and then the rest is history...

Squeeze Me

 
Currently watching: Attack Of The Giant Leeches (2009)

Currently listening to: S.O.D. Speak English Or Die