Part Chimp - I Am Come

Year: 2005

Label: Monitor / Rock Action

Overlooked band from Glasgow, Scotland, and that's a real shame because they kill. They are completely fantastic, and this, their second album fucking slays. They are on Mogwai's label, and you may hear that influence on the opening track, but once you get on from there, it's just rocking, catchy, driving, quiet/loud, goodness. I think someone somewhere described them as "Pavement covering Black Sabbath", which isn't too far off. There's some crazy psychedelic metal in there, some pure pop indie rock, some creeping sludge, and some good old fashioned grungy noise rock. Teenage Fanclub versus Torche? Chavez versus Todd? 

I'm surprised this band isn't huge. Of course, I'm surprised I'm not huge either, but that's sort of another issue I suppose. 

DL

Shameless Self Promotion - Volume 2

Here we go again...Sonn Av Krusher is playing this Saturday night at the Drunken Unicorn in beautiful Atlanta, Georgia. If you live in the area, and like any of the music posted on this blog, come on out and peep it. Should be a great show, with a good mix of bands.

More music posts on the way soon.

Happy Thanksgiving you turkeys.

Glazed Baby - Karmic Debt

Year: 1994

Label: Red Decibel

Here's something you need in your life, what with the holiday's approaching and all. Something to turn on when you're ready for the guests to leave. Something to turn on when you need something suffocatingly heavy to pull you out of a nog fueled hallucinogenic fog. 

This band came out in 1991 in New Bedford, MA with the goal to be the heaviest band ever. They make a valiant effort. As a three piece they manage to concoct some pretty convincing sludged out noise rawk. Neanderthal drumming, squealing pig guitars, and a bass played as blunt force trauma. This is fucking gnarly music. Music for all those Mama Tick fans out there. Where my dogs at?

If it helps, members of this band went on to play in Unsane, Season To Risk, Shiner, and Every Time I Die (what?! can that even be right?) among others. 

If you like Mama Tick, Unsane, Melvins, Loudspeaker, dirty, nasty, distorted, mean music, you will like this. Promise.

DL

GoGoGo Airheart - Exit The UXA

Year: 2002

Label: Gold Standard Laboratories

I remember liking this band when I (and they) were residing in San Diego, and their wirey post-punk was a nice relief when confronted with a bill of four or more Locust styled grindcore bands all vying to tear your face off. It was pleasant to have a band with a little more rhythm, more subtleties, and panache. So then fast forward to me moving away from San Diego, and the band eventually petering out in 2005(?), and I had all but forgotten them. I came across this record in my collection the other day, and thought it was pretty good. Granted, there's more dub influence than I care to tolerate, but generally speaking, they deliver a pretty good English post punk meets American art rock conglomeration. Songs are thin and nervous, and tend to twist and turn when you least expect it. 

It's something a little different, but since we haven't been posting much lately, I figured I owed you all something. Peep it.

DL

Glifted - Under And In

Year: Martians Go Home

Label: 2002

First off, I must apologize for the lack of posts recently, but some unforeseen changes in my professional life have forced a shift in priorities as of late, and thusly I have not been very motivated to "blog" as it where.

But you don't care do you? I probably wouldn't.

So then on to Glifted. A duo consisting of Tim Lash of Hum, and T.J. Harrison of Lovecup out of Campaign-Urbana who produced the first piece of music to rival My Bloody Valentine, since the release of the watershed "Loveless". And I mean that. This is a true shoegazing monster in that My Bloody Valentine vein, hypnotic, pulsing, droning waves of thick guitars with the disembodied, distant vocals swelling over the music. It's sort of Hum + My Bloody Valentine + Mercury Rev. It's strange music, maybe not "rock" music per se, but it's definitely heavy, and it should appeal to followers of this blog. 

Let me know what you think.

DL

Worst Case Scenario - The Complete Works

Year: 1997

Label: Vermiform

In 1994 in the city of Olympia, Washington, there beget a hardcore band who striped all pretense from that genre and played it bare bones. Screaming, scratching, noisy, abrasive, and to the fucking point. People seemed to dig that. They released a few records in their short lifespan on the very popular labels, Troubleman, Lookout, and Vermiform. People seemed to dig that. The band featured Justin Trosper of Unwound / Young Ginns fame. People seemed to dig that.

Listen, if you like any of the following bands, you will at the very minimum find this interesting: Unwound, Nation Of Ulysses, Born Against, Antioch Arrow, Circus Lupus, Heroin, Universal Order Of Armageddon, Wrangler Brutes, Monorchid, The VSS...shit man, can I stop? You get the idea?

DL

Hum - Electra 2000

Year: 1997

Label: Martian Go Home

Huge, epic, massive, thick, gigantic, expansive...uh what else is really big? Titanic? Sure.

This second release out of Champaign, Illinois band Hum's catalog galvanized the sound that would propel them into Cadillac advertisements over a decade later. It was originally released in 1993 on 12 Inch Records, with a slightly different running order, and was then re-released in 1997 on Martian Go Home, which is what you have here. 

The guitars are blankets of sound, warm and enveloping, while the rhythms ebb and flow. The vocals are layered on in a smooth sheen, never competing with the forward progression of each song. If you took the emotional dynamics of Sunny Day Real Estate, and filtered it through the blissed out bombast of old Smashing Pumpkins, this would be the result. You've probably heard this band, so I'll leave it at that. If per chance you never caught them the first time around, do yourself a favor and get this. I haven't heard a band play like this since.

After Hum, the members went on to form a grip of bands in the Champaign-Urbana scene cannibalizing other local bands like Castor, 16 Tons, and Love Cup in the process of concocting; Centaur, Open Hand, National Skyline, Gazelle, Glifted, Balisong, and more one-off projects. Point being, if you like Hum, you can peep these other bands to hear the different elements of that band dissected and magnified. If anyone is interested, I have Glifted, and National Skyline stuff I could post.

DL

Die Kreuzen - Die Kreuzen

Year: 1984

Label: Touch And Go

We've referenced this band before on this blog, so I thought we should let you in on the real deal. First wave American hardcore that was an early proponent of melding the sped up punk attitude with some sped up metal riffs. They would later evolve into a slower proto-grunge (or is that post-classic rock?) rock band, but on their debut album they play it short and fast. 

Like most of those original hardcore bands, Die Kreuzen carved out a unique sound and approach to the genre, making this album easily identifiable versus, say, Circle Jerks, or DOA, or Big Boys. I'd say their closest sonic peers would be Void, COC, Feederz, Geza X and a touch of Black Flag. Good stuff.

I tacked on the 1982 demo for good measure.

I'm going to make this quick, and I'm gonna warn you ahead of time...this one won't be up for long. Do what you will.

DL

Non Compos Mentis - The Rats Know Him

Year: 1999

Label: Tortuga

Ah yes...ugly music. Sweet, sweet, nasty, ugly music.

Hailing from Burlington, Vermont this band was riding the crest of that "Hydrahead" sound of the late nineties. You remember that sound? It was the amalgamation of the mid-nineties screamo sound (Still Life, Mohinder, Angel Hair, etc) with jarring technical metal and it was made most famous by Converge. I think, and I believe I stated this opinion on this very blog earlier, that Converge are a bad Today Is The Day cover band. I only mention that, not to bag on Converge (and I doubt my feelings on the subject either way will effect that band's fan base), but to give a frame of reference, and assert that Non Compos Mentis are better than Converge, they are better than fellow Vermonters Drowningman as well. They compare to say, Cable. Does that mean anything to you? It's meant to be a compliment, as Cable were a great band. How about Deadguy? We all know Deadguy, yes? They have some similarities to Deadguy.

Maybe this is a bit metallic for this blog, and maybe it would have gone better on Colostomy Grab Bag, but I was already here posting the Pipe record, and frankly, it doesn't seem that CGB is getting the traffic that Shiny Grey Monotone is, so you'll have to contend with it here. Rest assured though, I feel confident you can handle it. I wouldn't have set it out here if I didn't. 

DL

Pipe - Six Days Till Belus

Year: 1994

Label: Jesus Christ

Here's a gem that feel through the cracks of modern rock history, even in their hometown scene of Chapel Hill, Pipe never received the recognition they deserved. Of course, they were competing for attention against some of the heavyweights of the nascent alternative rock scene of the time, Superchunk, Archers Of Loaf, Polvo, and Thinking Fellers Union among others. What set Pipe apart from those others was a much more raw, straight ahead punk sound tinged with a blue collar / drag strip vibe, and a confrontation attitude that most likely helped keep them in the minor leagues. 

I was living in Athens, Georgia by the time Pipe got going, and my first exposure to them was catching them in Atlanta as the "ex-Small" band. I was a fan of Small (or Small 23 as they were being forced to go by) because they were a springboard for Archers Of Loaf, my favorite of the Chapel Hill bands. While Pipe did have some hooks and bouncy bass lines, they mostly snarled and spit their way through a Rocket From The Crypt (but rawer) / Dead Boys (but meaner) / New Bomb Turks (but heavier) inspired set that included lead singer Ron Liberti knocking a couple folks in the chest with the butt of the mic stand (do you realize how much that would fucking hurt?) without ever missing a beat. That's professionalism folks.

The band released two more albums after this one, then split in 1999. The lead singer and guitarist have formed a new band called The Ghost Of Rock, which I've yet to hear. 

I think that if you like Mudhoney, New Bomb Turks, Thee Mighty Caesars, or Rocket From The Crypt, you'll be into this one. It's great catchy punk, with a beefy guitar tone, and scratching vocals. Hot shit.

DL

lungfish - feral hymns

released in 2005

plodding
repetitive
minimalistic

if you ever wanted to have something in common with your cool/hip/happening english teacher...this is a good place to start

and you might just want to go out and buy a turtle neck...and get yourself brushed up on some frasier

this is a snake handling preacher grabbing onto his pulpit and raving against a sludgy bass

if you're down with anything that has anything to do with the dischord label...this is for you (they're the second longest running band on the label...following fugazi)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/7zyx6s

bodychoke - cold river songs

released in 1998

the band's final release...the title is very fitting

if you like your depression and anxiety with a little more piss and vinegar rather than "if a double-decker bus crashes into us/to die by your side/is such a heavenly way to die"...this is for you (that's right...i went the smiths all over yer asses)

this album would be driving said double-decker bus

if you'd like to give the band's second album a listen (five prostitutes)...you can find it here as well

this is what would happen if neurosis and the birthday party and the jesus lizard invited roger waters over to their house for a jam session

this would turn steve albini into morrisey

http://www.mediafire.com/?2bljmzbtmbn

fIREHOSE - big bottom pow wow

released in 1993

this was a promo that was released in support of what turned out to be their last album (1993's mr. machinery operator)

it's pretty much mike watt talking to fellow bass players flea (red hot chili peppers)...cris kirkwood (meat puppets)...and les claypool (come on now...do you really need the band names?)...along with some fIREHOSE stuff (both live and studio)...and dinosaur jr's j mascis even makes an appearance (playing guitar on the live then unreleased song "formal introduction")

http://www.mediafire.com/?eyoskd4notw

the robot ate me - they ate themselves

released in 2003

not only do we here at the shiny grey monotone like to expand the front of your dirty jeans...we like to expand the mind a little bit too (but not too much...don't want to push out all the porn and gramma's coleslaw recipe)

now i know...this may not appeal to the inner "pig fucker" in most of you...but still...you need to give this a try...it's a little different...a little bit of a change...but dammit...change can be good...just look at socks...and underwear...and ac/dc

this is essentially a one man band fronted by a guy named ryland bouchard...and i witnessed this man live a few years ago...he spent the entire duration of the show on the floor...all of his instruments were in a few boxes scattered in front of him...and he barely looked up at anyone...it was as if he were in his bedroom and the audience were nothing more than the posters on his wall...and it was one of the most intimate and best shows that i'd ever been to

so if you can appreciate strange nursery rhymes and accordions and drum machines and beck and the flaming lips...this is totally your bag

and now...you can go back to the sounds of your parents nagging you to go and look for a job (here's a helpful tip: buy a newspaper with the change you found in the couch...get yourself a pen...and just circle a few help wanted ads...and if you're lucky...your mom will fall for it and be impressed that you're showing some initiative and make you some pancakes for dinner)

http://www.mediafire.com/?zycmdjzbmlq

Oneida - Anthems Of The Moon

Year: 2001

Label: Jagjaguwar

Here's a great band that you don't hear about all that often for whatever reasons. They had a brief moment of semi-notoriety when music journalists were lapping up anything from Brooklyn a few years ago, which happened to coincide with an uptick in interest in all things dubbed "psychedelic rock".  Oneida was in that Williamsburg scene, holed up in their compound building their own instruments, making field trips into the woods to gather sounds, and quietly making some very loud and and very original music. 

There's a lot going on in this album, and the moods shift from spastic to soothing while never sacrificing the intensity that runs throughout. I guess this does qualify as "psychedelic" in that they base most songs on simple, catchy bones, then flesh it out with seemingly incongruous sounds, patterns, and drones. The results can be disarming if you're only casually listening, but if paying attention, the whole thing coalesces into a uniform attack. 

Supposedly, most of this record was the result of the band going out into the woods of New England where they would record the sounds of nature as well as their own songs. From those expeditions they pieced together the majority of the album, including the screams of a screech owl which show up on "Almagest". Shit's no joke.

DL

Oxes - Oxes

Year: 2000

Label: Monitor

Not to be confused with the ep of the same name, this is the Oxes' "Oxes" full length. Got that? Great.

Baltimore's pride and joy, after John Waters one would suppose, released their debut album of riff-centric math/noise rock to an unsuspecting world, not yet prepared for their version "rowdyism", a combination of bombast, humor, and self-importance. A lot of people hated it. A lot of people thought it was lame when Oxes showed up playing on top of large boxes in these little clubs around the country. A lot of people thought they were dicks for releasing a split with Arab On Radar without any prior knowledge, consent, or even participation from Arab On Radar. A lot of people have strong opinions about the band. 

I like it, but then again, I'm kind of a sucker for this type of thing.

It's a slightly more metallic take on the classic noise rock formula of cyclical, off kilter rhythms, paired with aggressive riffing. If it ain't broke right?

DL

Shameless Self-Promotion vol. 1

I debated whether to use this blog to further my own nefarious pursuits, and finally decided that after all the free music, the least you guys (and I'm still hoping for that girl or two) to drop what you're doing, and get to Atlanta every so often to see the fourth or possibly fifth best band in the city. It's not asking much is it?

If you happen to live in or around Atlanta (Georgia, that is), come on down to the Star Bar in Little Five Points this Thursday, November 6th for a free, repeating FREE, show with Sonn Av Krusher. You may or may not be disappointed.

Thank you for your time, and we will commence with more music posts shortly. 

GO VOTE!

I almost forgot...

get off yr. asses and GO VOTE!

See A Verge

Link below is fixed.

Requests are on the way.

Boilermaker - Boilermaker

Year: 1998

Label: Wrenched

This post was unfortunately spawned by the sad news earlier this week that bassist and lead singer of Boilermaker died after a lengthy battle with cancer. R.I.P. Terrin Durfey.

Although  Boilermaker had ceased as a band many years ago, Durfey had gone on to play in The Jade Shader and Pinback, and more importantly the musical legacy of Boilermaker continues to influence bands that write earnest, heartfelt music. If you ever liked Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, old Jimmy Eat World, or any of the actual emo (not the current incarnation) rock of the middle 1990's then you'll dig this one for sure.

The guitarist was from Spanakarzo, if that helps at all. 

I used to live in San Diego, but Boilermaker had wound things up by that time, so I never got to see them play. I did catch the band Electric Nazarene a couple times which was the stoner/space/doom rock band that the guitarist and drummer from Boilermaker went on to do. They were excellent as well. In other trivia, I lived for a summer in Isla Vista, California during the height of the Heartattack fanzine / Ebullition records eras, and found myself doing record reviews for said fanzine. That was where I first heard Boilermaker, when I got their album "In Wallace's Shadow" in my pile of things to review. Needless to say, I was floored, the instrumentation was dynamic and powerful, the vocals were tuneful and magnetic, you could actually sing along. For my money, there were two bands operating at the same time that nobody really remembers, but who were better than anyone else at this style, and that's Boilermaker and Castor. I'll get some Castor up here at some point, but for now, listen to Boilermaker and sing along. 

DL