Beating Up Hippies For Their Drugs At A Phish Concert

Beatles covering a classic Anal Cunt tune, looks like Ringo really had those blast beats down back in the day!

Even If You Don't

More house repairs and all the CDs are slowly getting shoved into storage.... but I just revisited this great Ween video for White Pepper's "Even If You Don't". Directed by the Southpark boys Trey Parker and Matt Stone, it's one of the funnier vids I've seen in a while. Maybe it's because I tried to learn Queen's "You're My Best Friend" for a girl I used to date once and in the time I was teaching myself the song she started fucking some other dude.

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Heaviness

One of my favorite albums over the last decade was Abominable Iron Sloth's self-titled masterpiece. 21 minutes of complex time signatures, screaming vocals and comic-book geek goodness. I saw Justin and Andre play as the 'Sloth last year at a tiny sushi bar in Richmond, VA. Even as a two-piece playing for twenty minutes they destroyed more than most bands can in an hour. The fans have been waiting for Abominable Iron Sloth II for almost 5 years and on 4/20/10 it will finally be a reality. Can't wait. But in the meantime, there was a point in 2007 where band member issues had poor Justin change the name (back?) to Indomitable Iron Sloth. I guess those troubles have dissipated since the band is back to its other name but during that time they previewed a demo version of "A Nation Of Ignorants" on their myspace page for the upcoming album (then-titled Americana). Even recorded through a cassette deck it sounds huge.... enjoy.

Indomitable No More

For God Sakes Jim!

During my senior year in highschool a few of the guys in my grade got together and formed one of the better local funk/punk acts that I've seen before or since. The year was 1990, the band was Juan Valdez And The Spanish Flies, and twenty years later the songs are still catchy and original enough to compete with today's glut of garage band material. I was lucky enough to be friendly with a few of the guys and get this cassette of their studio sessions, as well as record one of their rehearsal jams for an upcoming show opening for the now-legendary Bouncing Souls (also from my highschool). Good tunes ("Ode To The Lonely" to this day is still one of my favorite anti-redneck rants), good jams and good memories. Rock on Juan.

8.2.14 update: Here's a brand new, completely unofficial quasi-remastered rip of the original cassette with a significant focus on retaining the thump of the bass (after all it is a funk band). Sounds as good as DIY home stereo dubbed demos can... amazing this fucker is nearly 25 years old.

What Do You Do?

Texas II

I was going to call this post "Texas" but then realized the almighty Cosmic Hearse had already used that title for Jon Wayne's first album, Texas Funeral. Oh well. And like most sequels, while the anticipation may be higher, production better, etc, etc... you can never quite attain the accidental greatness of Part One. Such is the case of Two Graduated Jiggers, Wayne's uneven sophomore effort. I salivated when I first got this relatively elusive album in my hands... 21 tracks! And then I listened to it. It's the same Wayne, sure, just not as brilliantly bargain-basement, funny, or catchy. While the first album is an alcoholic unrehearsed country one-take dirge in front of a confused and irritable sound engineer, the second is... carny music? There is so much going on, so many overdubs, inserts, effects, skits and samples that none of the songs ever get a chance to develop a hook. Especially with the vocals... all of Wayne's "yips" and cackles that made you guffaw on Funeral are done ad nauseum here to the point where it actually gets annoying. There are a few stand outs, "Las Vegas Audition" for the most part is untouchable and "Texas Jackin' Ledge" is probably the closest thing to a radio hit he'll ever have. For these tracks alone this album is worth it, for the rambling Wayne-isms it gets a little long in the tooth. I'd rather listen to Funeral all over again. Twice.

Abu Dhabi Dumb

Lucifer comes to Louisville...

Going over some of these blogs and digging into my music collection, I've come to the realization that I've had the tendency at certain points in my life to buy up everything associated with whatever band I was really into. Stumbling upon Kinghorse's self-titled CD is a perfect case in point. Late 80's had me in full Misfits/Samhain mode - Glenn Danzig hadn't got annoying yet and when I discovered this Louisville, KY band's debut LP was produced by the guy (you should actually see the back of the CD cover, Danzig's name is in huge banner headline print) I had to have it. They have to be great... right? Well, maybe not so much. Surprisingly, the album sounds a little thin, from what I've read Kinghorse had a really insane live show and I can't say it's captured here. The music is fine, pretty standard post-heavy metal thrash, nothing too original. I'm not sure what Danzig brought to the table here (other than his name and Pushead), yeah, it's sorta dark and brooding in the November Coming Fire style (and just as poorly recorded) but that's it. Lead singer Sean Garrison was a regional Fiend Club president back in the day and a previous incarnation of Kinghorse called Maurice opened for Samhain several times so maybe they were just old friends. Regardless, the band has achieved significant cult status around its hometown, good for them. I've thought of selling this CD many a time over the years but am glad I've held onto it, funny snapshot into my "gotta have everything Danzig" phase of 1990.

Rumpledforeskin

Danbury, CT DIY

TPOS Records was started in 1984 by Floridian punkers Malcolm Tent and his buddy Santo in order to release their band, Broken Talent's first 7" (the name is an anagram for The Piece Of Shit - a self-published zine by the duo). The label eventually relocated to Connecticut and continues to this day to shine as a true diamond in the DIY music scene. For its 100th release in 1994, TPOS put together a giant tome entitled Destroy All Mediocrity which included a 12", 10", 7", cassette, zine, little poetry book and other assorted odds and ends. The Mop Tape is that cassette, a collection of tracks that never seemed to find the light of day. Per Malcolm's liner notes:

THE TALES BEHIND THE MUSIC:

"Cockroaches" is from the LETHAL YELLOW 7" that was originally slated for release as TPOS 009. The YELLOWS backed out, deciding to release the record on their own, short lived label.

"Hallowe'en" is the unmixed, unedited version that we toyed with as fodder for a 12" single.

"I Wanna Be Your Dog" probably would have been on TPOS 037, had any of the bands gotten around to submitting tracks. (UNYN became ONION, by the way.)

"Calf...Yeah" may or may not be on the Thom Mystery project someday.

"Dream" probably would have been on TPOS 051 had I not lost interest in the whole thing.

"Pulse" was originally going to be the A-side to TPOS 070.5, but the boys made a last minute decision to use "Vampires" instead.

This tape was originally going to be 60 minutes long. Maybe for TPOS 200 I'll include the mop material from The Mop Tape. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this really good stuff that fell out of the bucket.

There ya go, some great music from some great bands, every track oozes its own style and charm. The label is still around, so some of these tunes may have found themselves onto other releases - check 'em out and support independent!

Dream

No One Here But Us Chickens...

Rarely does one encounter a two-piece that is just a bass and drums combo. While admittedly a huge fan of Ween (and almost everything they do) my apprehension was high when I saw this record, I wasn't sure what bassist Dave Dreiwitz was going to accomplish with only a drummer backing him up. Boy was I wrong. With a thunderous down-tuned bass that almost defies logic in its heaviness paired with Scott Byrne's booming percussion, Instant Death surf the boundaries of pop, funk, sludge, fuzz and noise with their middle finger firmly inserted up their ass. Goofy lyrics and vocals make this one a real treat - no one's taking this one too seriously and if you do you're missing the point. Enjoy.

R.I.P. Scott Byrne

Campfire Death Metal

Macabre has been one of my favorite bands for a long time. Not only are they incredibly underrated musicians (honestly, I think Dennis The Menace is the best drummer I have ever heard bar none) but their albums extolling serial killer exploits are witty, funny and extremely well-written. What other band could pull off a Tommy-like rock opera about Jeffery Dahmer without missing a beat? On Morbid Campfire Songs, the trio (performing as the Macabre Minstrels) belt out five acoustic jams adapted from the works of poet/musician Shel Silverstein (mass murder parody lyrics added by the band, 'natch). Fans of Trey Parker's Cannibal! The Musical will enjoy "In The Mountains", a similar retelling of Colorado cannibal Alferd Packer's ghoulish story although "Found A Peanut" is my favorite track. The songs work so well they can almost pass as children's music - so grab your acoustic guitar, learn these ditties and be the hit at your next family camping vacation.

Cat Came Back

Latvian Pride

By 1996 House Of Pain had definitely worn out their welcome in the rap world. Their 1994 sophomore effort Same As It Ever Was (while an incredible release) didn't strike #1 single gold like their first album did, a major falling out with old pals Cypress Hill drove producers away, and Everlast converted to Islam, a religion whose teachings contrasted starkly with the pseudo-Irish-hooligan lifestyle of the band, causing significant conflict between members of the group. Out of the mishmash came Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again (yep, that's a typo on the album's front cover) - a forgettable look at what happens to a great band when they piecemeal a record together. To be honest, Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again doesn't just not sound like a House Of Pain album, it barely can be called one. The more significant rapping duties are covered by a up-and-coming duo called the Scheme Team (Divine Styler and Cockni O'Dire) in lieu of Everlast and Danny Boy. What a mistake. The two founding rappers actually sound like guest appearances on this album. Sadat X and Guru submit legitimate guest appearances to try and add some life - but the beats are weak and it just seems to fall apart. So why am I posting this do you ask? The same reason I actually like Phantom Menace a decade after Jar Jar Binks made me want to puke in my movie theater seat. Once you get past shattered expectations and obvious bad creative decisions, the flick is not too bad. It'll never be great, but that's OK. So take a listen to Truth, for the second time.

Forgive

The Birth Of Rap

There was a point in my life (namely the early 90's) where I was buying every CD I could lay my hands on that I thought had something to do with N.W.A. and their version of gangsta rap. So if something accidentally stumbled into the "rap" section of my local Alwilk Records and it looked legit, $15 bucks later it was mine. I had seen Hustlers Convention hanging around in the "Misc D-L" section (or whatever) and was wary. Sure it had some kinda hard sounding songs like "Four Bitches Is What I Got" and "The Shit Hits The Fan Again". It was copyrighted 1990 so it had to be part of the new wave - although it was weird that The Source had no mention of it. I eventually bought it and what a surprise. Firstly, it was not what I expected - no gangsta rap here. And it was not a product of the 90's - it is actually a 1973 album finally seeing a CD release years later. So what did I buy? The best way I could describe Hustlers Convention is to imagine if someone spieled a 70's blaxploitation movie (The Mack definitely coming to mind) over Kool & The Gang funk. Yep, Lightnin' Rod (a.k.a. Jalal Nuriddin) smoothly raps an entire story of Sport and his boy Spoon complete with a supporting cast, sound effects and a nice little moral jab at the end. It's an amazing journey, completely addictive from start to finish. Buddy Miles (of Band Of Gypsys fame), Brother Gene Dinwiddie and Kool & The Gang (I wasn't making that up) provide the background music like a film score. Forget "Rapper's Delight", Hustlers Convention deserves to be in every hip hop library as a testament of the genre's true beginning. Jalal (who eventually became a member of the equally influential Last Poets) still plays music and has a few more solo albums to his credit including Doriella Du Fontaine in which he raps over a fantastic Jimi Hendrix/Buddy Miles jam session. Check it out.

Cop Some Fronts

A Is For Anal Massaker!

After putting up an Anal Massaker 7" the other week, how could I not go ahead and upload this one as well... I bought this split almost twenty years ago and now I got little Cookie Monster toys lying around every room in the house. Hopefully my son won't grow up to be in a knock-off German blur three-piece but you never know...

Nachladen

Death Metal 101

Incantation's debut LP is, quite simply, the best death metal album ever. The first time I heard them was on a Relapse Records compilation album - and it's been a love/hate relationship ever since. They've had fantastic albums like the above and Upon The Throne Of The Apocalypse; and then they've had CDs of utter swill as generic as any nameless band in the death metal scene. Fuck that new shit, don't be fooled into thinking Onward To Golgotha is anything but incredible. Huge, grinding riffs, gurgling vocals before the "ree, ree" took over everything, double bass and enough evil and Satanism without sounding hokey or schtick. Incantation redefined a genre saturated with too many Obituary and Cannibal Corpse clones. Enjoy the doom.

Onward

Tha Muthaphukkin' Real Eazy

Since we're coming up on the 15-year anniversary(!) of Eazy-E's passing, I thought it high time to share one of the rarer (and finest) recordings of his career. Culled from the excellent Eazy-Duz-It, this obscure cassette single contained two fantastic remixes of "We Want Eazy" and "Still Talkin'". Extra verses and better beats helped these two tracks easily surpass their album originals. I'm sure they're on one of his many posthumous compilation CDs but at the time twenty years ago (and in my present-day music collection) they were cassette-only so enjoy this archaic stuff from their original magnetic tape sound recording - hiss included.

UPDATE 9.6.13: Fuck that muddy tape hiss, I've just relinked below to a great, clean, crisp copy - enjoy!

Remix My White Ass

White People Only For The Next Five Minutes Please....

The Beastie Boys dropped a bunch of singles off of their seminal Check Your Head (1992) album; all released on maxi-CD singles with great bonus track, remixes and the like. "Gratitude" was the last single to be released and came with a few live tunes ("Gratitude" and "Stand Together") as well as a remix of "Finger Lickin' Good". But the real treat is the unreleased Zamboni anthem "Honky Rink". Nice synthesizer funk, phat bass and humorous skating-rink-PA vocals make this a real treat.

Thank You

Don't be fooled by the cover... no evil here

The band's bio on Black & Blue Records' website says this NJ Aquanet atrocity "pioneered Black Metal". Really? That's surprising since the band themselves describe their sound as "Gothic New Age Speed Metal" - and this was back in 1990. Well, to be honest, neither genre label is correct - Northwinds was one of the many post-heavy metal bands floating around NJ club circuit back in the late 80's. Ridiculous hair, ridiculous outfits and, most notably, a ridiculous sound. Cheesy generic metal with an absolutely awful lead singer (think the worst Overkill song you've ever heard) wailing through each song. It's a glam band trying to be "hard" by singing about PG-rated Gothic horror instead of chicks and it just falls flat, absolutely no originality anywhere. And the token Satan references are neither scary or silly, just retarded as the singer tries to James Hetfield-growl his way through the lyrics. But the crème de la crème is the last track, "Generic Mosh Song In E - Song One, Part V, Poser Boys Die!" Yeah, we get the joke, your mouth will drop open in amazement when you hear this one.

Get the Hairspray

Filthcore

Hailing from Chicago, CorpseVomit's 1996 release Bastards Of Foreverfilth (a CD pressing of their second demo) is a solid excursion in pre-deathcore basement metal. Gurgles and growls accompany standard post-thrash chugga-chugging; while nothing incredibly original today it was definitely on the cusp in the mid-90's. Unfortunately (as with most Wild Rags releases), the production quality isn't stellar but for a demo whaddya expect? Interestingly, I discovered that while CorpseVomit officially broke up in 2002, the members went on to form a Slayer cover band called Hell Awaits in 2009. No shit.

Grrrrrrrrrr

Hit me again...

Another random collection of live material from brothers Gene and Dean Ween, this compilation has some real gems. A wonderful, 30-minute rendition of Pink Floyd's "Echoes", an Allman Brothers medley, and nice covers of "War Pigs" and "Stella Blue". It's a shame the mp3's are rather crappy ("Echoes" is at, get this, 32 kbps... really?!? 32?) but the music still shines through, including a requisite "Poopship Destroyer" dirge and some relatively obscure Ween originals ("Shalom Absalom" and "Junky Boy"). Enjoy another taste of a band who is obviously playing for fun - they're gearing up for their East Coast tour as I write this so catch 'em if you can!!!

You Know What To Do

Bootleg Boston Blur

Since my last post had me putzing around the "Anal" section of my CD case, I decided to revisit this rarity. From a watershed blur band who hates bootlegs, Harmonized Noize doesn't sound too bad, I'm lucky to have gotten it on an actual CD(!) before the glut of iffy mp3's and blogs oversaturated the web. As far as I can tell it's ripped from the soundboard, yeah there's some tape hiss and all but overall it's OK. Track 1 (live in Germany) sounds a bit cleaner than Track 2 (live in Holland) but there's a lot more audience banter taking up time (as well as Seth playing harmonica and doing his best/worst black face impressions). Contradictory info abounds on the actual sources of the material, some argue both shows are in Germany; regardless, both are from 1991 when Anal Cunt was supporting their (awesome) Another E.P. release. They mostly play their classic blur material we all know and love but throw in a few surprises such as the "Riverbottom Nightmare Band" cover from Another E.P. and "Shit Scum" from Seth's other musical(?) project. For the completists out there, Mike Mahan's live banter from Everyone Should Be Killed's "Shut Up Mike" ("we'd, um, like to thank, uh, Satanic Malfunction....") is from the Holland show - kinda cool to hear it unedited. Solid gigs, funny banter, and you gotta laugh at the confused German guy yelling "Scheiße! Scheiße!" throughout the set.

Guy Lombardo

German nuttiness...

Anal Massaker are the less-produced, more retarded, not as witty German version of Anal Cunt (they even have a song called "Another A.C. Song") - they surfaced around 1989 and thanks to Schnauf Records got a few 7-inchers released to solidify their status as early blur pioneers (or plagiarists depending on which side of the Atlantic you are on). I can't tell if the record is recorded live or in a room with a bunch of friends, there is definite applause but it seems too sparse to be from a live gig. Or maybe that was the extent of the grind audience back then. While terribly recorded, mixed and rehearsed, Bis Wir Schielen has a definite charm, a good groove starting off each 30-second blast of noise. During this recording they were a 3-piece; guitarist/founder Toni Mastropaolo has since converted the band into a more annoying noisecore solo project (y'know the ones with the one-track 948 Songs releases). Too bad, a throwback old-school A.C. vs. A.M. 7" record would have really started the 2010's off right.

Blah!!

Rollin' wit Lorenzo

M.C. Ren was the best voice in N.W.A. Sure, Cube could write, Dre could produce and Eazy got all the best lines but Ren just sounded the coolest. During the excessively public N.W.A. split, Ren quietly released this first solo effort which really solidified his skills - unfortunately soon after he suffered a brutal throat injury after being involved in a near-fatal car accident. Although rehabilitated, the surgeries changed his voice forever so these 6 songs are the last testament of the "old Ren". Great stuff.

Check it

Mmmmm.... Creamed Eels

Funny shit.

Home Repairs

Hey folks, my apologies for the lack of posts during the last few days... lots of home repairs and construction trying to get the ol' casa on the market. Please bear with the interruptions and the music will be back as soon as possible!!!

Mean Murderous Metal

 

Have you ever seen I Spit On Your Grave? Great flick, but seriously, when you're done fast-forwarding through it you gotta admit there is absolutely nothing redeeming about it. No humor (not even black humor), no real "message", and even the "hick rapists get it in the end" plot line leaves you smacking with a somewhat bad taste in your mouth. You sort of feel filthy just for watching it. Same with Fornicator's self-titled LP, one of the more obscure hatecore bands off of legendary black-metal label Moribund Records. Kinda sounding like the gay sons of the Raunchous Brothers, ANTiSEEN or Cocknoose, they have the southern metal twang to them amid the obligatory horror movie/CNN samples. But what the hell, ya gotta love any band pulling out a GG Allin cover!

Rape Me

No, it's not a Godzilla movie

 

Gotta love the Flaming Lips - their tenth (!) album is one of their best... a pseudo-concept album alluding to giant-Japanese robots, melancholy, science-fiction, love and a member of the Boredoms. As weird and as mesmerizing as all of their work, Yoshimi is a a lush and haunting electronic symphony, as strange as it is wonderful. Beneath the sunny, computer-generated atmospherics and the campy veneer of talk about gladiator-style clashes between man and machines with emotions, the album is actually a somber rumination on love and survival in an unfathomable world. Dig the heaviness.

Fire!

Size Ain't Shit

 

One of the cooler things about doing a blog is revisiting music you wouldn't normally be listening to. For some reason, I've been pulling out a lot of my old rap CDs lately and finding some excellent diamonds in the rough. The other day I posted Choice's somewhat lackluster debut and hinted at the greatness of the above album, The Geto Boys. Def American producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin discovered the Houston-based quartet, hosed off the Rap-A-Lot mediocrity, and created a near-perfect rap album. My only complaint is "City Under Seige" - what were they thinking with that??? Interestingly, this album caused a whole lot of controversy when it was released in 1990 (Warner Bros. actually balked at pressing the CD); and while still arguably shocking today, it is no match to some of the sadistic, murderous, hateful mysogyny you can find anywhere (including this blog!) There's more brutal stuff on prime-time CSI these days then what the 'Boys talked about in "Mind Of A Lunatic". Wow, how times change. Dig it

Fuck 'Em

And just when you thought it was over...

 

Probably my favorite rap album of all time, 6 Feet Deep (or Niggamortis if you live in the UK - a way better title) is the debut album by NYC 's the Gravediggaz, a virtual supergroup of rappers: Stetsasonic's Prince Paul (The Undertaker) and Frukwan (The Gatekeeper), Wu-Tang's RZA (The Rzarector) and Too Poetic (The Grym Reaper). Part of the relatively small "horror-rap" wave of the early 90's, the Gravediggaz and their ilk (Flatlinerz being the most notable partner in crime) helped assure white suburbia and the uptight suits in the PMRC that armageddeon was truly upon us. Black people rapping??? About HORROR movies?!?!? What could be next but the judgement of mankind? But in reality, this is an amazing album, rhymes are flowing and beats are huge, definitely each rappers' best work in my opinion. Suicide, LSD, murder, grave-robbing; it's all covered in just over 52 minutes. They've released some albums since (and Too Poetic sadly passed on in 2001) but none equal this debut. Enjoy.

Rest In Peace