Musick

I first heard Exit-13 on the amazing Ax/ction Records Apocalyptic Convulsions compilation 10" (of which I've previously ranted on and on about); their tune "Only Protest Gives A Hope Of Life!" was a weird yet cool lo-fi grindcore mishmash which took a lot of listens to decipher. The neat breakdown at the end instantly had me hooked - seeing the involvement of S.O.D. fave Dan Lilker on bass was a clinch as well. I added their second full-length as a "alternative" on a random Relapse Records order and whaddya know - Ethos Musick showed up on my doorstep a few weeks later. Man, I can't remember what I originally ordered but who cares, Ethos is a fucking amazing album. Kinda like what Brutal Truth was beginning to do, Exit-13 brought a whole level of technicality, intelligence and maturity to grindcore. It wasn't simple speed, screaming and blastbeats (a la Napalm Death) anymore. Adding strange tinges of jazz, dissonant time signatures and enough vocal effects to keep a pornogrind band going for a decade; Exit-13 really raised respect for the genre. The song themes focus on protest-heavy topics: pro-animal, pro-vegetarian, pro-environment, pro-marijuana, anti-establishment; it reads like a college sophomore's hippie mantra. They've released bunch of other singles and such but none touch this one on either production value or entertainment. A final note: skip the last track on the album, per the CD cover:

   Track #13 was digitally mastered with continuous overlevel indication (OL) at the request of the artist/Producer, this CD is not in accordance with Sony-Phillips Red Book Specification, nor is this practice advisable in the process of CD manufacturing.
   Relapse Records, their affiliates and/or associated manufacturing facility will hold no responsibility for power supply component, recording, processing, loudspeaker or other, transducer, malfunction/failure and/or destruction of referenced audio playback system. Please exercise extreme caution when utilizing this Compact Disc on consumer grade high fidelity playback equipment.

You've been warned...

Facilitate The Emancipation Of Your Music Collection

A Small Victory

My previous nostalgic waxing notwithstanding, Faith No More is a band I have so been into at points in my life that to just hear a specific song of theirs can spark really exact memories of my highschool, college and beyond. It still baffles me how they never became the hugest band of the era, the fact that "Epic" a catchy-yet-cheesy raprock anthem is still their greatest Billboard claim to fame still chafes me to no end. Regardless, caught up in the wave that Patton and the boys were forging, I bought every fucking CD-single that the band released. Domestic or import. Australia, UK, Japan, you name it. Buy them for the bonus stuff: live tracks, remixes, occasional outtakes and rarities - some international releases contained the exact same songs as the U.S. version but had different cover artwork - and I tried to get them all. Years later as the realization that a decade of reckless credit card bills eventually have to be paid off dawned on me I dug into my considerable CD collection and wandered down to the local Buy/Sell record store to try and eke out 25% of what I originally paid for them to help in my war against Visa's debt collection department. I sold a lot that day but I remember the guy behind the counter pushing my big stack of Faith No More CD-singles back across the counter to me with the condescending comment: "Can't sell 'em. I have no faith in Faith No More." (like how he did that?) Shit, I thought I was gonna net at least $100 alone for those fuckers! Oh well. Long story short, all these years later I'm glad I still have that stack (and, somewhat more importantly, debt-free but that's another story). Spanning the entire Slash Records era from Introduce Yourself to Album Of The Year, I compiled all the bonus CD-single stuff into a complete album. I ignored the live stuff since it's mostly taken from Live At The Brixton Academy anyway and instead left you with a bunch of cool remixes, extended and radio edits, unreleased tracks, polka covers of Dead Kennedy songs and "Das Schützenfest." Enjoy.

Ashes To Ashes

Rudeboy's Arrivin'

Gotta give credit to my brother. Blackest fucking white boy out of Morristown, NJ and the main artery to what was breaking in the hip-hop world to our little neck of suburbia. I was listening to Incantation and Regurgitate. He was into Big L and Da Bush Babees. Hoping to relight the Jamaican wave started a few years earlier by quasi-MTV heroes the Fu-Schnickens and Das EFX; the Babees tried to break out in a world that someone named Dre had taken over with his brazen Clinton-sampling and some dude named Snoop. They failed. Enjoy this unheralded classic of mid-school hip-hop.

Swing It

Humble Beginnings

Purely out of curiosity fueled by the completely DIY album-cover I picked up the second indie release of Memphis hip-hop outfit Three-6 Mafia. Disappointed? Absolutely. Amazed that they are one of the biggest rap acts in the world right now? Absolutely. I was hoping to have found a hidden treasure before the band was influenced by a major label, instead Mystic Stylez showcases sluggish, tired horrorcore beats that haven't aged well. "Big Bizness (Screwed)" and "Break Da Law '95" are the only tracks that I can stomach. Try to enjoy.

666

Pussy's All That

I hadn't heard of Red Hot Lover Tone until I grudgingly dropped some bucks for M.C. Serch's mediocre post-3rd Bass solo effort Return Of The Product. Jesus how fucking white can I be? Regardless, his pretty cool tune "Back To The Grill" featured a bunch of other rappers who were totally eclipsed by a young Red Hot Lover Tone. His first eponymous album is pretty fucking good but I thought I'd link his second effort, 1995's #1 Player. A little more mellow then his initial LP, Player is a lot smoother and the best material features a bunch of other rappers including Big Daddy Kane ("In The Game") and the Notorious B.I.G. and Pharoahe Monch ("4 My Peeps"). It's amazing hearing BDK sound better then he ever did and Biggie fucking destroys as usual. Solid second (and final) album by a rapper who probably came along just a year too late...

4-Star Bitch

Let's Get Drunk

From the land of the Raiders and Too $hort comes an unexpected kick in the teeth - Oak-town's Instant Asshole. 16 minutes of blistering old school hardcore that makes you glad you started listening to the shit in the first place. "Problems" and "Secret Wino Headquarters" are such fucking awesome songs that I simply cannot get over it. So slap this sucker in and pretend it's 1982 all over again.

Fuck Reagan

Snackfood

Fucking awesome two-song E.P. from these Chicago sludge metal mainstays. Imagine spinning a brutal death metal 45 at 33 speed and you will kinda get the idea of what absolute bleak dirge to expect. Pounding riffs to mesmerize and rape your soul accompanied by the most pained vocal screams I've heard in a long while. Fucking bleak ass shit. The boys are still hard at it with their present style a chaotic mix of sludge, grind, hardcore and powerviolence. Check 'em out.

Bleed

Am I Shit?

Well here's one for all the old-schoolers everywhere. Straight out of Modesto, CA comes everyone's favorite proto-pornogrind band, the Meat Shits. The early 90's was a productive time for the band, releasing a half-dozen DIY cassette demos followed by a bunch of ep's and 7-inch splits. 1993's Make Me Cum falls in between their earlier noisecore sound and the more refined "movie sample+blast of grind" they would perfect with Ecstasy Of Death. Terribly lo-fi in production but a solid preview of the genius(?) to come. Enjoy.

Make Me Cum

What A Magical Fucking Day

Really cool 2008 demo by this experimental sludge duo from San Antonio. The guilty pair are the prolific Ryan and Jacob of both Intestinal Disgorge (brutal death) and Hordes Of The Morning Star (black metal) infamy. Normpeterson reminds me a lot of Black Mayonnaise - lots of huge riffs interspersed with feedback and assorted noise nonsense - with just enough of the latter to not be boring (or get annoying). Vocals are pretty minimalist - think Alien Jourgensen on "Scarecrow." "Traffic" is easily my favorite track - almost two non-stop minutes of an absolutely sick riff that is impossible not to get hooked on. The band folded a few years ago but all their demos are still available here for free so check 'em out. Enjoy.

Ahideoussprawlingasphaltabsurdity

What's in a name?

Don't let the handle fool you. No gorenoise/pornogrind nonsense here. Instead prepare for some bitter sludgecore courtesy of this Devonshire four-piece. The band managed to release two solid demos before splitting up in 2006. Demo I has a bit more of a stoner vibe to it, kinda reminds me of Hail!Hornet in a way. Demo II finds the band deteriorating into a bleaker sludgecore sound - think Fistula and some of the early Sloth big bass stuff. Significantly darker and harsher then their 2003 recordings - vocals have been reduced to acrid screams through a continuous wall of feedback. Fucking awesome stuff. And I don't know if it's just me but song "III" on the second demo sounds a lot like a sludge version of GG's "Beer Picnic." Just sayin'

Rose

Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!

WARNING!

While listening to this record, do not

attempt to operate heavy machinery,

use firearms, eat glass, drink Mop N

Glo, tell Ian MacKaye that you think

Poison Idea is "hella funny", consume

brandied fruitcake, taunt a yak, become

obsessed with Buddy Ebsen, get any

sort of tattoo depicting livestock, or get

some idiotic idea about putting together

a 7-inch compilation with 41 bands!

If you are tempted to pursue any of the

aforementioned activities, please

consider an alternative, such as

sending money to this cute guy so he

can put on some clothes (or take them

off if the price is right).

41 Bands! 64 Songs!

7 Words

Man, Adrenaline was one of the coolest records to hit in 1995. Way way way before the nü metal genre got stale (shit, Life Is Peachy was still a year away), the Deftones proved how far ahead of the music world they were; "7 Words" and "Engine No. 9" still stand today as some of my favorite songs... ever. I drifted away from the band after White Pony (2000) and have been pretty ignorant of anything they've released since but man... that summer of '96 was all about Chino and the boys. Here's an unofficial compilation of demos the band recorded throughout 1992 to 1994. Enjoy.

Demo

Hey whitey, wanna get your ass kicked?

Stumbled upon this CD completely by chance browsing the "Misc. A" section at the ol' Tower Records years ago. The album cover grabbed me and I took a risk. Pleased to discover ex-A.C. guitarist Scott Hull was on board, the drum machine admittedly took a few minutes to get used to (which is like 6 or 7 songs on this album) but the hyper grind quickly became addictive. "The Withering Of Skin," "Pagan Territories" and "Torn Apart By Dingos" are my stand out faves - fortunately the album is short enough not to become too tiresome. I've got a few other Nosebleed releases and none have ever quite been as cool as this one so enjoy.

Chump Slap

They're here...

Not much info out there on Carol Ann. A sludgy crust three-piece from Phoenix, they'll probably be most remembered for sharing a split with fellow Arizonians Noothgrush. They actually released another 7" and while it's nothing you've never heard before it's some fucking solid hardcore and well worth a listen. According to Discogs there's a self-released cassette (demo?) floating around out there which I'd love to hear - until then check out their sadly limited discography below...

2 x 7"

Six Songs (take 2)

On the opposite end of the musical spectrum from the previous post is 'Genocide fave Anal Cunt. While most of A.C.'s blur releases have found new light on various CD compilations, one has escaped the public for far too long. Originally recorded in 1990 and released on Slap-A-Ham's 1991 Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! -The Record- compilation, Six Songs showcases what these guys were best at. Enjoy these 32 seconds of fastcore genius.

Untitled x 6

Six Songs

Corrosion Of Conformity is one of those bands that I was kind of a poser about. I had all their albums (up to their awful Blind LP which was just the final nail in the coffin) but I really never gave them much of a listen and pretty much just wanted to justify having a couple shirts with their cool radiation/skull symbol on them. I mean, shit, I actually dug the crossover Technocracy release the most even though it was hated by their old school fans. As the years went by though, I eventually gave C.O.C.'s whole catalog a listen and, while I dug the old stuff way more than anticipated, there was something about the singer's voice that irritated me. Wasting my paycheck at the Princeton Record Exchange years later I came upon their 12" extended play Six Songs With Mike Singing: 1985. Seven minutes of blistering hardcore with founding bassist Mike Dean absolutely slaying the vocals. The songs blow the Eye For An Eye versions out of the water - and this record is the only C.O.C. release still in my collection today. Essential.

Eye For An Eye

Number Two

Unfortunately this isn't an album by the hilarious (and vastly superior) Indian band of the same name. Instead I introduce to you 1990's Flipside Record stalwarts Anus The Menace from California. Playing wicked abrasive punk akin to The Fall (shit, the vocalist sounds exactly like Mark Smith), Number Two has its moments but can get really annoying real fast. There's definitely some Flipper influence in there yet the funniest thing about this album are the occasional spoken word intros. You've been warned.

Yeah Right

Cuntpuncher

Mean-spirited deathcore/brutal death metal from Cologne, Germany. Awaiting The Fist is exactly what I want in heavy music: relentless riff-heavy slam with growly gutteral vocals. This little fucker of an e.p. starts off strong and does not quit for its 20-minute running time. The breakdown in "Postmortem Facefuck" is simply amazing. The band is still at it and their sound has evolved into a more "typical" brutal death metal groove, solid but nothing special. Check 'em out at their prime in 2008.

Beg For It

Tales From The Sexside

Oh boy, here we go again. Straight back from Houston's 5th Ward is Choice, the most unintentionally hilarious female rapper in hip-hop history. I've rambled about her past in a previous post so there's little need to revisit, suffice it to say that her sophomore release Stick-N-Moove (yep, that's how it's spelled) is primo so-bad-its-good fodder for your next party. The beats are typical drum machine dreck and her lyrics are of the priceless "Bullshit talkin', steady talkin' all that bullshit" variety that just ramble on and on. The token sex rap "Tales From The Sexside" is an absolute riot and her kinda safe-sex anthem "HIV Positive" will simply leave you slack-jawed. Is it really a safe-sex song when she's just complaining that the guy could have fucked her instead of a sleazy ho with AIDS? Regardless, "Thank It's A Game," a duet with then-Geto Boy Big Mike, is easily the best track on the album; a ridiculous he vs. she battle that is as inane as it is funny. The profanity is overwhelming and none of it really makes any sense but you gotta give credit to Choice for being such a good sport. Another guilty pleasure low-rent classic from Rap-A-Lot Records. Enjoy.

Moove

I Destroy

An uneven sophomore release from West Coast sludgelords Abominable Iron Sloth hampered in part by recording delays, financial issues, stolen gear and typical band member flakiness. Initially recorded as a 4-song ep titled Americana, founding member/guitarist/vocalist Justin Godfrey felt the release would be stronger as a full length and quickly began penning songs with new drummer Andre Sanabria (Blownupnihilist). After loads of delays (including a Myspace petition for donations) The Id Will Overcome was released in spring 2010. The verdict? Well, album starts off amazing. "I Destroy," "A Nation Of Ignorants," "Slugs In A Salt Circle" and "Two Black Helicopter" comprised the original ep and are absolutely killer. A perfect sequel to their eponymous 2006 album, the recording is raw and gritty; Sanabria's drums sound like atom bombs and Godfrey's vocals are totally fucking psychotic. Yet from that point on the album falls a bit flat. There's nothing particularly bad about it, the songs simply lack the discordant 'Sloth style that makes their other stuff so great. The recording is a bit too clean, no real time-signature changes to keep it fresh, the tunes sort of just plod along and come off reeking like filler (especially the dirge "Heterodox Nonconformists" - c'mon guys). Even a Charles Manson cover (lifted from the LIE album) is a bit disappointing. Regardless the openers are the real diamonds on Id and are definitely worth a listen - especially "I Destroy" - probably the greatest heavy song ever written.

Parasite Hilton

Give a little squeeze...

Digging through the 'Genocide archives last weekend I unearthed a quintet of random tunes culled from the coolest show ever. Some from the movie, some from the show; all more witty than anything you will ever come up with so just stop trying. Trey Parker fucking rules.

How do you do?

What'd you say your name was?

Way back when, when music was cool and Mike D had his own record label (Grand Royal for all the freshmen), the Beastie Boys added a buncha cool bands to their entourage including DFL, the Moistboyz and Ween(!). Also among this eclectic cartel was an all-girl funk quartet named Luscious Jackson. Featuring an ex-Beastie (circa the 1982 hardcore years) named Kate Schellenbach on drums, Luscious made phonophile history by claiming the auspicious spot as Grand Royal's inaugural release. The band spans a mix of styles on their debut 7-song ep, from cool Digable Planets-ish hip-hop to more folkish Indigo Girls-esque rock 'n' roll. You can probably guess I'm a fan of the former. The trip-hop flows real tight and sultry vocalist Jill Cunniff is pretty hot in that geekish sort of way even all these years later. Enjoy.

Let Yourself Get Down

Brutal Death Satisfaction

Yeah, yeah, I know, another brutal death metal post. Going all the way back to 2007, NJ's mean-spirited Waking The Cadaver offers a solid debut album that easily rises above the offal usually floating in their genre. Perverse Recollections... is technically impressive and will competently satisfy even the more jaded riffhounds out there but it also reeks of a cool discordance that has kept my CD in regular rotation years after similar bands have bit the dust. And "Type A Secretor" is probably my favorite brutal track ever - that one alone makes this a keeper.

Pigtails Are For Face Fucking

Look Out Fresno

First off, I fucking hate country music. That being said, it's been far too long since I have seen a decent rip of this seminal lo-fi classic anywhere so I decided it was time to grit my teeth and reintroduce Jon Wayne's half-assed attempt to cut a C&W record to the world. And who am I fucking kidding, the album absolutely rules. A Texas ('natch) friend of mine enlightened me to its existence - according to Austin urban legend the band is actually the Butthole Surfers drunk as fuck in a recording studio playing some improv material. And if you listen closely... it's not too far-fetched imagining a drunken Gibby slurring his way through the setlist and the picture on the back cover kinda looks like Gibby as well. Yet, I've heard from someone who actually saw the band play live definitively state that it was in no way the Surfers, although "I wouldn't put it past those guys to hire a bunch of half-assed musicians to play for them while they stood in the crowd and had a laugh." And shit - there's been a couple live vids on YouTube since then to snuff out all the mythology as well. Regardless, sit back and prepare yourself for a strange trip down a tired, dusty, whiskey-soaked road of off-key, out-of-tune, primitive cunt-ry music that only gets better as the band gets drunker. I'm amazed the pissed-off engineer (who bitches at the band the whole fucking time) actually saw this one through. "Texas Wine" is easily the standout but nearly every track holds its own - the title track, "Mr. Egyptian," "I've Got Texas"... an amazing 50 minutes. Just don't let your truck end up in the drink... Yip.

No Go Diggie Die

Murder Murder Suicide

After years of searching I was happy to finally find Loinen's evasive split CDr with fellow countrymen MurhaMurhaItsemurha. Was it worth the wait? Well, yes and no. Loinen's opener, "God Of Plague" is a raging sixty-second blast of screaming sludgecore - wonderfully lo-fi in extremis. Brilliant shades of their early material. The second track, "Plant" is a strange, quasi-industrial (?) loop-heavy dirge with lots of samples and screams that left me feeling a bit empty. Oh well, making up for it is the hilarous noise/tardcore awaiting on the flip side. MurhaMurhaItsemurha sound like a even more retarded Sockeye and are just as entertaining. Lots of weird screaming, experimentation and nonsense - one track, "Epätietoisuus Eläimistä" (loosely Google translated into "Uncertainty About Animals") is simply the sound of someone eating. Solid stuff. Enjoy.

Shoot Me Too

San Jose Sludgecore

One of the cooler things about split records is discovering the "B-side" band is actually better then the one you bought the record for (a la my Vaginal Massaker post a couple years ago). Such is the case with California grinders Deadbodieseverywhere. Bought the vinyl for the Noothgrush and was instead wowed by the Dystopia-like sludge/crust on the flip side. Great, great stuff. I eventually found another split of theirs (this time with the instantly forgettable Utter Bastard) which isn't quite as good (a bit more grindcore-ish and unfortunately more muddier production-wise) but still completely listenable. Deadbodieseverywhere managed to sleaze out a few more releases before splitting up in the early 2000's but I've yet to hear 'em. Enjoy.

Splits

Alcoholocaust

First off, fucking great band name. Comprised of members from equally bleak sludge acts Offense and Destino/Entierro, this Spanish foursome impress with an admirably discordant demo. Very Eyehategod-ish at points drowning into quasi-brutal death metal - there are also some solid groove metal riffs here and there to keep it interesting. The band has gone on to release a full length which actually sounds somewhat rawer then the demo versions of the songs you'll find here. I'll let you be the judge on which is better - check 'em out here.

P.S. I finally caved and added "sludgecore" to the list of labels, I'll probably go back and update a few older posts for all you neurotic music completists out there.

Get Your Freak On

Anal Rhinoceros?!?!

2005 saw the emergence of the immediately catchy "bulldozer fuckin' grindcore scum band" Anal Nosorog from Moscow. Lo-fi and stupid but oddly addictive with their proto-brutal death metal techno-ish "reeee"s for vocals, the band's first two ep's instantly made a stir around most of the cheapo Eastern European mp3 sites at the time. There's nothing particularly groundbreaking (or talented) on either Fat Putrudity or Beautiful People but AxNx does what they do surprisingly well and have kept with it long enough to carve their own niche in grind history. A solid full-length entitled Condom Of Hate was released in 2007 and the group actually had Anal Cunt frontman and 'Genocide fave Seth Putnam visit the former Soviet capital as guest vocalist for a string of live shows. AxNx picked up a surprisingly good-looking female vocalist soon after and ventured into Burzum-ish pro-white Nordish territory (with a heavy dose of national socialism) for their swansong(?) album, 2009's Gazavat. They've been silent ever since and personally I prefer the "Vagina Says" days so here ya go. Enjoy.

Fat                                                            Beautiful

For Those About To Rock...

Following in the footsteps of the FBA post the other month I thought I would share their final release, Viral Load, a (mostly) live double album showcasing the band in all its sludgecore glory. The first dozen or so tracks are live tunes recorded at the bands' final gig on December 20, 2009 at Church in Boston. Up next are a few new songs recorded sometime in 2010 that are fucking miserably brutal and were most likely just demos but sans lead singer/guitarist are solid enough to make for a gritty split. Minimalist, depressing and arguably better than the retro direction Anal Cunt was going in at the time, it's too bad Putnam didn't stay alive long enough to see this band through. Try to enjoy.

Leech

Women Comics...

Easily the most awkward comedy album in history, Dice's The Day The Laughter Died captures the polarizing comic at his best (or worst depending on your point of view) in front of a completely shell-shocked audience. Recorded in 1989 at NYC's Dangerfield's (owned by the late great Rodney), producer Rick Rubin limited the show's advertising to intentionally attract an unsuspecting audience totally unprepared for the profanity-laden assault that awaited them. It's a two-hour slice of anti-comedy - a perpetually Marlboro-sucking Clay incessantly heckles the audience (many of whom leave), half of the skits are built around the poor shlubs who naïvely sat too close to the stage. There's a great part when a disgusted couple he's busy harassing decide to leave halfway through the show and an unapologetic Dice responds:

"Did you like the jerk off segment, what was it that threw ya? The ass-eating? The uh... I dunno maybe it was something I said that annoyed 'em?"

Fucking classic. Of course the show does drag at times and his improv occasionally falls somewhat flat but there are more gems on this one then all his other material combined. His excited rant about the (sadly definct) smut clubs on 42nd street still gets me rolling to this day.

Hour Back...                                                       Get It?

Fun With Fudge

Man, for like six months in 2010 I had such a hard-on for brutal death metal - absolutely could not get enough of it. Big problem though - it gets real repetitive real fucking fast. There's only so much you can do when your guitar is fucking downtuned to C (strings just danglin' off the neck) and the vocals sound like the last time I ate Taco Cabana. Songs blur into one another without a single noticeable trait and before I knew it I found myself skipping any song on my iPod that started with some token horror movie sample. That being said, The Mung's Splatter Sessions rises a bit above the rest of the clichéd muck - tight riffs and a somewhat mixed approach to the usual excremental gurgling vocals. Solid sick splatter.

Oink Oink Oink Reeeeeee