husker du - 7.5.80 - longhorn bar - minneapolis,mn

grAy's posting of some husker du down yonder reminded me that i too had some husker du to post as well

just by looking at bassist greg norton's mustache...you knew they meant business

1 - picture of you
2 - don't try to call
3 - what went wrong?
4 - you're too obtuse
5 - put your past away
6 - instrumental
7 - all i've got to lose is you
8 - industrial grocery store
9 - gilligan's island
10 - uncle ron
11 - push the button
12 - mtc
13 - do the bee
14 - statues
15 - writer's cramp
16 - don't have a life
17 - sexual economics
18 - do you remember?
19 - data control
20 - lets go die
21 - statues (reprise)

DL: husker du@longhorn bar

Husker Du - Live At The Ritz 10.17.87

Label: Bootleg
Year: 1987

This particular bootleg is easy to find all over the place, but we've never posted it here, and it's about to be expunged from my hard drive, so...enjoy.
The sound quality is fantastic, the set is long, and the performance is what you want to hear from Husker Du. Songs played are culled from: Warehouse:Songs and Stories, Candy Apple Grey, Flip Your Wig, New Day Rising, Zen Arcade, Metal Circus, Everything Falls Apart, well, basically everything except the Sorry Somehow ep I guess. It's a great cross-section of their career, and a good starting point if you're looking for a "greatest hits".

DL

the shiny grey chocolate bicycle monotone experience 11.22.10

SGM would like to invite you to a sleepover

talk of boys will be had

as will the listening to of records

and then we'll all sit around and do each other's hair (wherever it may be)

and then maybe...just maybe...a dirty pillows fight in the shower

start doing squat thrusts now

1 - the dead milkmen - the best thanksgiving ever/bitchin' camaro*
2 - excessive force - finger on the trigger
3 - tom waits - earth died screaming
4 - nine inch nails - happiness in slavery**
5 - ministry - quick fix
6 - mission of burma - that's when i reach for my revolver
7 - beastie boys - live at p.j.'s
8 - beck - truckdrivin' neighbors downstairs (yellow sweat)
9 - daisy chainsaw - sick of sex
10 - silverfish - fuckin' strange way to get attention
11 - th' faith healers - hippy hole
12 - melvins - sky pup
13 - skeleton key - nod off
14 - skatenigs - horny for evil
15 - z - singer in the woods/in my mind
16 - godheadsilo - relationshit
17 - dwarves - fuck you up and get high
18 - butthole surfers - the shah sleeps in lee harvey's grave
19 - shorty - coopie and me
20 - nirvana - oh,the guilt
21 - the jesus lizard - mailman
22 - god bullies - let's go to hell
23 - nomeansno - 0+2-1
24 - local h - high-fiving mf
25 - clutch - a shogun named marcus
26 - fucked up - color removal
27 - kerosene 454 - automatic
28 - sugarcubes - leash called love
29 - helmet w/ david yow - custard pie (1)
30 - corrosion of conformity - big problems
31 - medicine - one more

*=live
**=remix
1=led zeppelin cover

DL: the shiny grey chocolate bicycle monotone experience

dinosaur jr. - spring 2009 tour 7"

released 2009

this was a little something that you were able to get once you purchased tickets to see them on...you guessed it...their spring 2009 tour

and is it just me...or is j mascis getting closer and closer to sounding like eddie vedder?

DL: spring '09 tour 7"

nirvana - 3.19.88 - community world theater - tacoma,wa

3 things go down during this show:

1: this was the first time they played as nirvana

2: this is one of the few performances with dave foster on drums

3: kurt plays a mean john fogarty

1 - floyd the barber (sound check)
2 - big cheese (sound check)
3 - love buzz (1)
4 - downer
5 - floyd the barber
6 - spank thru
7 - paper cuts
8 - hairspray queen
9 - if you must
10 - beeswax
11 - aero zeppelin
12 - mexican seafood
13 - pen cap chew
14 - big cheese
15 - blew
16 - raunchola
17 - bad moon rising (2)

1=shocking blue cover
2=creedence clearwater revival cover

DL: nirvana@community world theater

git some/in the red split

released 2007

well...seeing as how grAy posted git some's COSMIC ROCK down yonder...i figured that i might as well throw my hat into the ring as well

i was supposed to see git some last year as they were opening for young widows (but i didn't make it to the show...but i was ok with it...neither did young widows)

i was kind of stoked on this band as i'm a fan of planes mistaken for stars (but some folks aren't...that's right...i'm looking at you)...and really...this should just be considered a continuation of pmfs as it all sounds just about the same

as for in the red...if you dig some gunmoll (vocalist/guitarist mike hale fronts the band)...some hot water music (or any other band on the no idea! records roster for that matter)

DL: git some/in the red spilt

Floor - Sight Unseen

Well, Floor, the best band that no one could have cared less about until Torche made it ok to like sludge, are being celebrated with what looks to be an unbelievable 2xDVD set put out by Chunklet. The reunion show in Atlanta is here in it's entirety, as are archival pieces, interviews, and audio files of both Atlanta reunion shows (which I can personally attest to...they absolutely killed), so if the Floor box set wasn't enough, here's more crap to buy yourself for Christmas.
And while their renaissance is completely deserved, I still kinda bristle at all the squares who are jocking them now (sorry dudes, it's the elitist punker shining through), and it hurts to see their (superior) ep material (can Chelsea/Pig really be topped, ever?)being swept under the rug in favor of the later lp stuff, which not so coincidentally bears a striking sonic fingerprint to Torche, Floor is still an undeniable force. Other bands might go slower, or tune lower, but nobody else has had the sense to bury a hook that deep in the molasses, and for that Floor uber alles!

Should be well worth your lawn mowing money, that's for sure.

Pre-order information is here

Git Some - Cosmic Rock

Label 1-2-3-4 Go
Year: 2008

Off the bat, yes, this band has a fucking terrible name. A terrible, terrible name that no one should be making excuses for, just a rotten idea of a name.
With that out of the way...no, wait.
Also, let's go ahead and say that this band came about after the break-up of Planes Mistaken For Stars (speaking of bad names) and features two members of that band in their fold. A lot of people seemed to have liked Planes Mistaken For Stars, I was not one of those people. To me, they seemed disingenuous and pandering. Worse, they appeared to alter their sound from record to record not expanding on their own sound, but chasing after whatever sounds were "hot" in the fickle underground rock world, and consequently the band came off as fake. To me anyway.
So obviously with that pedigree, and this horrific moniker, I wasn't lined up at the record store waiting to purchase the new Git Some 7". And honestly, I'm not real sure how I even heard this band for the first time, but it was within the last year, and when I did I felt like an ass, or at least more of an ass then usual. These motherfuckers are good, real good. They have stripped the pretension out of their music and just goes balls out straight ahead rocking punk/hardcore. The classic hardcore touchstones are all there, plus you get them dirtied up with the Motorheads and Stooges proto punk styles, and viola, you...uh...Git Some.
Jesus, that name.
As far as contemporaries go, for some reason I kept thinking they sound sort of like The Bronx, but not exactly, just sort of. I don't really know what it is, but the sound is very familiar to these ears in a good way. Try it out.

DL

Great Falls - Demo

Label: Dead Accents
Year: 2009

Dudes (and you...the one woman there), I felt like I cheated you with that last post. Musically it was strong, but it had already been posted on the other blog, and this and that. It just made me feel like I wasn't blogging to my full potential (as completely queer as that sounds).
So, let's make amends.
Check this one out. Holy fuck! It's a duo (plus drum machine, though it's not immediately apparent), made up of one member of Playing Enemy, and one member of Kiss It Goodbye (but wasn't Playing Enemy kinda the poor man's Kiss It Goodbye anyway? No. No they weren't. They may have started that way, but over time they morphed into their own signature style of sledghammering your face in, and I approved of that methodology). And while you can certainly hear the discordant pummel of Kiss It Goodbye bleeding through, you will also, no doubt, hear some of that tried and true 90's style noise rock deep down in the distortion. Not unlike the way Black Elk marries noise rock to blistering hardcore, Great Falls takes it a little further into the world of Neurosis inspired darkness, grinding away at their riffs until the paint peels off.
I highly, highly, highly recommend you give this a listen, and if your boombox is out of the shop, order the demo in all it's cassette glory here.
I hope this makes up for my prior laziness.

DL

Loincloth - Demo

Label: Self Released
Year: 2003

Four songs of wordless metal, in the vein of someone like Keelhaul or Confessor (who has a member present). Meaning, things start and stop on a dime, tempos come and go, and songs thrash here and chug along there. It's actual metal though, so even though Pen Rollings of Honor Role/Breadwinner is playing (one) guitar, don't expect math rock or post punk or whatever, it's actual m-e-t-a-l.
Not the average posting for this blog, but what do you want me to do? I was listening to it, and thought it should be aired out on the internets again.
Also, as it turns out, our own fearless leader Ipecac posted this already over on Colostomy Grab Bag...oops. Oh well, what is it they say about great minds? Something about not feeding them after midnight?

DL

medicine - aruca

released 1992

this was a single released over in the uk

some of you may know of this band via their song on THE CROW soundtrack..."time baby III" (the band have another link to the movie as brandon lee's sister...shannon lee...is now a member of the band)

and some of you may know of this kick ass album

so if you dig some early smashing pumpkins...and the jesus and mary chain...and lush...and my bloody valentine...

DL: aruca

mr. wrong - 10.29.92 - the spectrum - winnepeg,canada

what you get here is nomeansno bassist rob wright gettin' his solo on

and that's all you get...a man and his bass

so if you're a fan of nomeansno...or the band dos (as found here)...just get to doin' what comes natural around these parts

1 - sitting on top of the world
2 - state of grace
3 - land of the living
4 - the river
5 - this wound will never heal
6 - who fucked who?

DL: mr. wrong@the spectrum

Kowloon Walled City / Ladder Devils / Fight Amp - Lose Lose Lose split

Label: Brutal Panda
Year: 2010

It's not my habit to post new releases, but this one is vinyl only, and sold out (or at least very close to being sold out) already, so I figured it was fair game. Not to mention, it's too fucking good to miss out on, and the record label has offered it up as a free download anyway. It goes without saying that if you can find it, buy it, you won't regret it.
Kowloon Walled City pick up where their lp left off, but improve on the formula of suffocatingly heavy guitar tones, and an avalanche approach to song writing.
Ladder Devils let some noise rock into their brand of sludgy post hardcore, which seems like a fine idea to me.
Fight Amp do what they do, which is a caustic destructo rock that takes old Hammerhead and gives it Billy Anderson production and less smiles per square inch.
More records should sound like this, and less should sound like whatever it is they are sounding like that's not this.

DL

So our parent's got drunk and.. you know...

We'd like to introduce you to Shiny Little Noise, our new sister blog. 

On SLN you'll get to find awesome music that wouldn't be normally featured on SGM. Dip into different genres, find new bands, hear it before anyone else does... you'll be the coolest kid on the block.

Frodus - And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea

Label: Fueled By Ramen
Year: 2001

Frodus was a strange entity back when, remember? Not because they were musically that far fetched or anything, but more because it was dudes from Battery and Enemy Soil and shit playing post hardcore math rock, and they cultivated a whole image that the were in fact a corporate conglomerate, and they had a logo that bared a passing resemblance to the Batman logo (although it was actually boosted from an old magician who hated all other magicians, and was meant to reinforce the band's desire to "control" their audience [tongue firmly in cheek]). It was just all a little off, but at the same time interesting and well played.
Live, the band exploded with energy, and their punk and hardcore roots certainly shined through, lifting the quiet/loud, start/stop song dynamics to a full, sweaty, roar. Not unlike a lot of post hardcore bands playing the basement circuit, they could be earnest on one hand, but unlike the overly serious emo squares of the day, Frodus could be cock-rockers on the other
This was their last record, and it wasn't released until two years after it was recorded and the band had broken up. That being said, recently there has been Frodus activity in the form of reunion shows and a new 7", so who knows what to expect out the band in the future. Should be interesting at least.

*Link updated....sorry about that one ya'll.

DL

National Skyline - The Last Day

Label: Self Released
Year: 2007

National Skyline came in at the tail end of the 90's and then went in 2001. Pretty quick really, which was a shame since they had a lot of promise, what with their membership being culled from Hum and Castor.
In 2007 they sorta reemerged, except they didn't really tell anybody, or maybe nobody noticed, or cared, or whatever. I'm not sure, as I wasn't paying attention. This three song ep was their first return to recording, and while it still sounds like the National Skyline from six years prior, it also sounded a little more polished or something. Like, somebody had asked them to write a song for a teen drama on the WB (is that network still around? Weren't they the clearinghouse for pointless teen dramas a few years back? If I'm wrong, I apologize, but Beverly Hills 90210 was the last teen drama I ever saw, and that was some time ago so I'm no authority), you know what I mean?
You tell me. It still has members of Hum and Castor, so I'm inclined to keep it in rotation and hope that it grows on me.

DL

King Snake Roost + Bloodloss - Split

Label: Crack
Year:1989

Haven't posted anything this old or this gnarly in awhile, and wanted to remedy the situation.
King Snake Roost are a favorite of mine because they tend to under-think their music as opposed to over-thinking it. I respect that about a rock band, cause after all, you're a rock band, not a fucking debate team. King Snake Roost mangle Alice Cooper's "Schools Out".
Bloodloss are sonically very similar to King Snake Roost, meaning, gruff, blunt, no frills. They take on, and grapple the Tina Turner classic "Nutbush City Limits".
Don't think too hard about this one, just let it be what it be, or...what you want it....to....be?

DL

We've switched email providers.

For all of you that just can't go without stalking us through email, we've switched email providers.  You may now stalk/throw garbage at us at shiny.grey.monotone@gmail.com

Truman's Water - The Peel Sessions

Label: Strange Fruit
Year: 1995

Culled from three appearances on the Peel Sessions show, two in 1993 and on one in 1994, this collection spans the ramshackle, daring intensity this band could muster. The songs are seldom linear, and often caroming all over the place. It epitomizes what "indie rock" meant in the mid 90's; one part punk, one part art rock, one part noise, and one part freak folk.
Bands seldom make a racket like this kind anymore, unless they are trying to "confront" the listener in some way, shape, or form. You'd be hard pressed to find a band that meshes catchy rock songs with jarring noise, or atonal segues, these days. That being said, you would have been hard pressed to find them in 1993 unless you were actively searching, Truman's Water wasn't exactly burning up the Billboard Charts, or playing your local sports arena, so maybe these types of bands are still mining the disparate ends of the musical spectrum to create something wholly listenable and downright interesting. Maybe I'm not searching actively enough.
Are there bands like Truman's Water slogging it out still? Who are they?

DL

v/a - scumbait 1-2

#1 released 1989
#2 released 1990

these were a pair of 7" that a label from minneapolis,mn called TREEHOUSE RECORDS put out

and seeing as how they share a city with AMPHETAMINE REPTILE...and they have some amrep bands on the compilation...that should be more than enough to make you want this

and they want you to want them

#1:
1 - bastards - shaddup (you like 'dat)
2 - cows - danny is a faggot
3 - pagans - can't explain (live)
4 - unsane nyc - burn*

#2
1 - bastards - parade
2 - feedtime - plymouth car is a limousine
3 - venom p. stinger - the day will come
4 - drunks with guns - drunks theme

*=yes...it's that unsane...they slapped the "nyc" onto their name in the beginning so folks wouldn't get them confused with a metal band that went by unsane as well

DL: #1
DL: #2

meat puppets - 6.30.81 - the mardi gras club - phoenix,az

it's the brothers meat doing what they do in front of a hometown crowd

1 - reach out (i'll be there) (1)
2 - h-elenore
3 - reward
4 - melons rising
5 - unpleasant
6 - saturday morning
7 - the gold mine
8 - in a car
9 - out in the gardener
10 - teenagers
11 - standing on the verge of getting it on (2)
12 - electromud
13 - foreign lawns
14 - losing end (when you're on)
15 - china cat sunflower
16 - bad moon rising (3)
17 - dolphin field
18 - i had a dream
19 - love offering
20 - playing dead
21 - submarine races

1=four tops cover
2=funkadelic cover
3=creedence clearwater revival cover

DL: meat puppets@the mardi gras club

The Life And Times - The Magician ep

Label: Stiffslack
Year: 2007

This one has been in near constant rotation, as it is one a few things salvaged on an iPod I exercise with, since my renewed sense of urgency to lose weight prior to my next physical. Did I mention that I have a new doctor, and the very first time I ever saw him (I went in to check and see if I had contracted Lyme Disease...I had all the symptoms, and was started to get bugged out [pun not actually intended], but it turned out to just be a spider bite), he came into the exam room, and before even looking up from his clipboard stated, "you're over weight, what are you going to do about that?". Uh, hello doctor, nice to meet you? Nice bedside manner, right?
So anyway, back to The Life And Times.
I really liked the band Shiner, even though I got to them late in the game (I thought their name was bad, and expected them to sound like Cursive or something, and wasn't interested in that), so it's natural to follow Allen Epley from Shiner into The Life And Times. His distinctive voice, and big guitar sound remain intact, and this time the rest of the band take the songs to loftier heights, making bigger, more majestic rock songs. You still hear the Midwest emo sound (Shiner, Castor), but now you also hear Swervedriver, Doves, Smashing Pumpkins (who you were hearing back in the Midwest emo sound anyway I guess), Hum (ditto), Chavez, stuff like that. Good stuff.
Also, wish me luck with my next doctors appointment. Keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't sneak a prostate exam into the mix!

DL