Saturday, August 31, 2013

Layin' Up With Ledney



I'll be perfectly honest, I'm not a huge fan of GG's country stuff. It's not the production values or the fact that it's acoustic or anything that sadly specific; it's just... fucking... country. I'd rather it was goddamn folk like the shit Charlie Manson churns out on a regular basis (mental note... upcoming post...) Regardless, compared to most of the godawful shit out there today GG's outlaw C&W is still perfectly listenable and his lyrics easily transcend the genre he's slumming around in. Which brings me to his postumous 1993 single with the Carolina Shitkickers. Basically a one-off recording session (truthfully yet slyly advertized as his final original recorded work) with ANTiSEEN, GG does what he does with an arguably tired panache that was (to me) quickly becoming stale even back then. "Layin' Up With Linda" is the selling point - a black-humored ditty about a female who was around just a little too long. "I Wanna Fuck The Shit Out Of You" is a forgettable take on some David Allen Coe tripe. And the B-side is a passable (thanks to the breakdown in the chorus) acoustic "Outlaw Scumfuc" recorded the previous year. Interestingly, however, this 7" was released on 'Genocide fave TPOS Records and producer/bassist Malcolm Tent had plans to record a hardcore E.P. with the scumfuc upon his release from prison. Sadly "GG lost interest and then died" according to Malcolm. Pity too since Tent's band recorded the music and all the guy had to do was phone in a vocal track - it would be interesting to know if Allin had any finalized lyrics (they had song titles so who possibly?) Oh well, one can only guess. So Malcolm did what any record label with too much spare time would do and compiled all the stuff they recorded onto a limited 8-track with the original 7". The tunes would have really been a nice addition to the GG archives had they ever been completed - very Suicide Sessions feel to them. In a last coincidental note, drumming was performed by Connecticut black metal icon Paul Ledney of Profanatica and Havohej fame - his signature double bass is a dead giveaway. No pun intended. Tracks are from the original digital source so no vinyl skips or 8-track imperfections here. Check out some pics of the cassette here. Enjoy.

P.S. I just found out (June 2015!) that the name of the band was intended to be GG & The Connecticut Cocksuckers, 'natch.


Friday, August 30, 2013

Put some eggs in the goddamn skillet...



I've ranted in previous posts about the lo-fi banality of most Rap-A-Lot Records excretions and while these are technically no different, they do benefit from one of the sleaziest marketing campaigns seen in the early 90's. Rap-A-Lot at the time was riding big: The Geto Boys were back on their label (after being torpedoed into the mainstream via Rick Rubin) and they had just dropped their platinum We Can't Be Stopped. The 'Boys were hot and producer James Smith wasn't about to let that ember go out lika soldier - introducing the Baby Geto Boys, better known as Too Much Trouble. First off, their debut album cover (which not only looks ridiculous but I think is the only album cover in history that advertises another band's name more times than that group that actually recorded the album) has me wondering is anyone over 13? Maybe the midget - good ol' Bar-None - who will probably go down as the worst fucking rapper in history - has some voting rights. Yeah, I get it... he's the white dwarf antithesis of Bushwick Bill (press releases blame massive crack abuse by his mother during pregnancy) but the completely harmless ball python around his neck comes off as more sad and silly than shocking. And his skills suck so bad he's regulated to a sorry two or three lines a song... absolutely fucking pathetic. The "real" Getos phone it in on "Only The Strong Survive" to fulfill some contractual obligations but it's the rest of the album that will truly impress in that awful low rent kind of way. The Baby Getos rappers actually have a bit of primal skill - the epic "Mother Fuckin' Thugs" is unreal - their liberal profanity blows any other shit out there during that era away.  Beats are sadly sampled, the drum machine is pure version 1.0 - it's awful but amazing at the same time - the primitive shit Too $hort wishes he could still pull off.

Which brings us to the next year's Player's Choice. Is it just two of the guys now? Looking at the record cover it looks like there's been some midget-to-doberman conversions but who the fuck knows, the voices sound completely token and if it wasn't for the 60-second "Bring It On" the first side of the album would be nearly forgettable. Side B is a different story - fat sluggish beats permeate throughout -"Red Light Victim" has a cool "Mind Of A Lunatic" vibe to it and flows tight. The rest of the tunes slow it down even more and while there is probably nothing for the historical rap archives, "Let's Get It On" is a cool tune to ghetto blast around your local suburbs just to piss off all those repressed local white folk. Enjoy.

1992                                                 1993

Thursday, August 29, 2013

BAM!



Yay for me - I actually started re-linking shit tonight. Who knows why the fuck since it will probably be all gone in a few weeks but let's just pretend I have a lot of time on my hands. One unfortunate change however (for the one sad person in the world who's been following it), I'm nixing the "watching/listening" blurb at the bottom. It's oddly frustrating to keep up with without employing some annoying blog widget that keeps directing my links to amazon or some similar ilk. Anyways, a few new posts are being scribbled as I write so hopefully you'll find something worthwhile. Peace.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

No One Cares



Man, I miss Seth Putnam. Not only was he in like 5 of my most favorite fucking bands but we'll probably never have that bitter self-depreciating comedic wit again in noise music without it being completely (and slavishly I'm sure) derivative of the shit he did. While Anal Cunt basked in the drug-addled/prison-bound off-season of the early 2000's, Putnam was busy getting another band off its feet: the über-depressing sludgecore trio Full Blown A.I.D.S. 

FBA released two ridiculously limited 12" records on Limited Appeal Records which finally got compiled together (with a bonus track, 'natch) as a CD on Putnam's own Wicked Sick Records. But instead of me breaking down the 411 on the two recordings, let's hear it from the man himself (written for his label website way back in 2008...)

Regarding the Full Blown A.I.D.S. 12":

"I started the band in 1997, but didn't really get it rolling until late 2002. I got old friends Paulie Kraynak on bass (who used to play with me in Anal Cunt) and Rob Williams (who I used to play with in Siege and a couple of other bands) on drums.

The main inspiration to get this recorded was that I was asked to do a song for a Thor movie called Graveyard. So along with that song, "Throwing Cars At People On Coke With Thor," (which was also released on his CD Triumphant), we ended up recording the six other songs. We played a show about 6 months after recording it and were getting ready to record another session in October 2004 (in order to have enough material for a full-length) but it got pushed back due to me being in a coma.

In 2006, an impatient fan (and a cool guy) talked me into releasing this - and I'm glad I did because it is probably one of the greatest recordings I have ever made. I went to a really good studio instead of being cheap and going into a lesser-quality studio.

The result is this great recording which was well worth all the money spent. It was recorded by Ken Cmar, who I had worked with in the past with my band, Anal Cunt . This recording was mixed by Ken and myself and could've fit onto a 7" record, but I wanted it to be a 12". We put all the songs onto one side of the record, which I thought was a cool idea."

Regarding the Leech 12": 

"This record was originally meant to be recorded in October 2004 but didn't get done due to me going into a coma, and not being able to move for a long time (including not being able to walk for 8 months). But a lot of determination and hard work got me back to be able to function about 90% back to normal.

This session, recorded at New Alliance's new location in Cambridge, MA is a 100% analog recording, recorded on a 24-track, 2" reel machine, and mixed down to a ½" reel.  It was really important for me to have a true analog sound for this recording, because it is one of the heaviest things I have ever recorded.

The songs on this record differ from the first record. The first record was heavy punk while this one is much more doom sounding. The song "Leech" is definitely one of my favorite songs that I have ever written and recorded. It is so fucking heavy, it totally rules. I don't usually brag about songs I have written, but this song deserves it. I would say it is probably the heaviest song ever recorded.

This record was recorded and mixed on January 3rd, 2003 at New Alliance recording studios in Boston, MA. The music could be described as super heavy, tuned-down punk rock. All the songs were written in the late 1990's during a period of extreme drug use, depression, fucked-up derelicts loitering around my apartment, a tumultuous marriage, and tons of misery surrounding me constantly.  It was very inspiring creatively for writing heavy, depressing, and aggressive music.

Like our first record, this one is filled with a barrage of negative, hate-filled lyrics about very personal things. The song on side 2, "Everything" is the longest song I have ever recorded (over 15 minutes long) and was written in 1990 for a band I used to be in called George H. Brown. It is 15 minutes of pure misery... it would be a perfect soundtrack to a successful suicide attempt. I didn't overdub any of the vocals in this song - I did it all in one take. Ken Cmar (who recorded this session) considered stopping the reel because I looked as full of extreme torture-filled pain as I sounded... turning various shades of red as I exerted as much of nearly 40 years worth of anger, rage and violence that I could muster. Ken quoted, "It was extremely painful to watch him record that..."

"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is AC/DC tuned down an octave lower (for a way heavier guitar sound) with the singer from Anal Cunt screaming the lyrics. At the end of the song if you turn it up loud, you can hear Paulie saying "Yay!" triumphantly for getting the song recorded perfectly on the first take. And the song "Fact Finder," like the song, "Leech," is about someone who I tend to despise frequently for being a know-it-all parasite.

To sum up this record: if you like doom-laden, despair-ridden, suicidal-feeling, heavy, heavy shit, that's really heavy, and totally heavy, this is something you must own."    
                                     
While I'm partial to the self-titled EP, there is something so ridiculously heavy and absolutely miserable about Leech that it's amazing in retrospect it got recorded. Awesome shit. Enjoy.

 
Currently watching: Elite Squad
Currently listening to: Mistress In Disgust We Trust