Cheer-Accident - Babies Shouldn't Smoke

Label: 1993
Year: Complacency

Math noodle? Art jam? How do you describe what Cheer-Accident do, or have done, or maybe are currently thinking about doing some more? Maybe "prog rock" is the best way to articulate the twists and turns as this hyper rhythmic machine careens along it's way. It's one of those records that you might find yourself completely immersed in a song, or even part of a song, to then be brought back to attention via something completely different, or in some cases, completely terrible. That unevenness is the hallmark of Cheer-Accident....blissful moments of perfection tempered by passages of bland drivel. I'm sure there are legions of fans who eat up every single note, but there are also fans of Henry Cow who eat up every flugelhorn fart that guy sees fit to release (I'm guessing there's a flugelhorn in there somewhere...but at some point it all just bleeds into on big "jazz turd" and my ears stop working). If you get down on Yona-Kit or Brise Glace, then you are probably ready for this (and you probably already own it).
Try it out.

DL

Joe 4 - Njegov Sin

Label: Whosbrain / Fidel Bastro / Geenger
Year: 2012

This record was sent to our attention via a member of the band, and we (the royal "we" mind you) are sure glad he did. We certainly do appreciate this Croation bands take on Tar/Crain/Janitor Joe/Arcwelder/Shellac styled noise rock, and we also appreciate them going the extra mile of having the record recorded by Steve Albini and mastered by Bob Weston. We give them points for authenticity. We also appreciate that they have the good sense to sing in English so that we can (sorta) understand what exactly they're yelling about. We give them further credit for nailing the Bob Weston gurgling bass tone.
I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better representation of pure, unadulterated noise rock (in the Biblical sense) circa 2012, that hearkens back more closely to the pure, unadulterated noise rock (in the Koranic sense) circa 1991, which makes you feel all pure and unadulterated (in the Toral sense) circa right now.

DL

Tar Halos - Tar Halos

Label: N/A
Year: 2012

Brought to our attention via the eagle-eared James Joyce (yes....THE James Joyce), the Tar Halos have released an 8 song digital record ahead of their Volar Records vinyl debut in the near future, and since one of the Tar Halos is a Mr. Josh Bohannon, friend of the blog (and of the poor as well, he's very charitable), and a guy with an impressive discography in his own right, it seemed natural to hit this up here.
Unlike the previous thunder boogie of Bohannon's work with Electric Nazarene, Tar Halos brings together a survey of post-punk that connects the dots between Halo Of Flies, Chrome, Kraftwerk, Joy Division, Trans Am, The Ex, even a U.S. Maple or two. From track to track the variety is what will bring you back in for multiple listens to explore the depths of weirdness the band plumbs.
Honestly, this is one of the more interesting and rewarding records I've heard in a good minute...highly recommended. Most highly.

DL

Swans - Cop / Young God

Label: K.422
Year: 1992

You already know this, but I will say it anyway, the album Cop was released in 1984, as was the 12" ep Young God, but in 1992 those records were remastered and repackaged into a single package.
You also already know this, but I will say it as well, Swans (at least these early recordings) make no attempt at helping you feel "good". They make feel bad music for bad feeling people, all boom/thud/crash/grumble/squall (repeat until tape runs out or nosebleed becomes life threatening, and only then pause long enough to insert live ammunition into nostrils to control discharge), with nary a chorus, or optimistic swell in sight. This is industrial music as filtered through a downtown NYC squat ripe with malcontents. No Wave era art students, post punk agitators, and functioning addicts. Bleak, absent of any light, covered in tar, defiant, and ugly.
This record is my personal favorite of the (lengthy and convoluted) Swans discography, probably because it seems the "heaviest" in the traditional sense of the word. It's basically Killing Joke and Godflesh taking turns hammering on the back of your neck with a crowbar (wrapped in a towel of course...don't want a mess on the carpet).
You already know that though.

DL

Kilslug - Necktie Party 7"

Label: Self Released
Year: 1983

Here's a riddle: What's black, white, and red all over?
Here's the answer: Flipper, Rusted Shut, and Feederz in a blender.
Huh?
Music such as Kilslug is a direct hard wire connection from their instruments to your brain (the old reptilian, prehistoric part...not the esoteric, high school graduating part), bypassing all reason and heading straight to fight-or-flight zone. Your parents would hate Kilslug, music nerds will "respect it", but people who have a strong desire for sounds that do not compromise in their full frontal attack to not fucking compromise as they're attacking you full on, from the front...those people need a band like Kilslug to deliver the goods. No pretense, no exceptions, just maximum volume, maximum hate, maximum satisfaction. They took the nihilism of the O.G. hardcore, and slowed it down, beefed it up, and ended up helping to write the template for noise rock.

DL

Fight Amp, Hawks, Whores - Live - ATL. October 25

Your attendance to this show is mandatory, there will be a headcount upon arrival, and truancy is punishable by banishment from this blog (I know, I know, drastic measures). Amnesty is only allowed to those outside of a 300 mile radius of the Atlanta city limits, or those in active labor (over 5cm dilated you fucking posers!).
 All others shall be front and center (when not at the bar ordering my drinks for me...if weather permits a gin and tonic [Millers, Hendricks, or Juniper Green are acceptable, all others are for Philistines only...wise up], or if there's a nip in the air a bourbon and ginger might do the trick, and under worst case scenario [economic downturn...I get it], a decent lager will be allowed. Just pool your resources and surprise me.) and having their faces turned inside out.

Bring it.

Nazti Skinz - Live - Headline Records

Label: Bootleg
Year: 2002

The mysterious Nazti Skinz captured in a rare (also mysterious?) live appearance, this one at Headline Records in Los Angeles, California. As the story goes there were only 5 live shows ever by the band, and this one was second to last. Maybe that's true.
One half of the band Wrangler Brutes, without any prior notice that they would become one half of the band Wrangler Brutes in the near future, playing fast, loose, and wild hardcore. You can imagine the veins in their necks were on permanent "bulge" setting.
Six songs that scream by in eight minutes (including stage banter).

DL

Stand Alone Concept - Broken Sleep In A Minor Key

Label: N/A
Year: 2012

Somebody said something about this blog needing more "noisepop", and then somebody else sent me their "noisepop" project via Facebook, sooooooooooo why not?
This is a one-man champagne jam playing what I would describe as Lou Barlow playing covers of Elliot Smith while a Syd Barrett record quietly drones on in the background. So, you got your fractured pop tunes coated in a goodly amount of lo-fi skuzz. Seems like something I would have heard in Athens, Georgia circa 1994, when easy access to 4 track recording unleashed a wave of sensitive dudes, their acoustic guitars, and Guided By Voices record collections. In Athens it was the nerds who eventually made up the Elephant Six nonesense (not a fan, huh?), your Neutral Milk Hotels, Olivia Tremor Controls, Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't See...that stuff.
I'm no authority on this type of thing, although I do love me some Elliot Smith and Jeremy Enigk, but for my money this buries any Jeff Mangum pity party bullshit.
Endorsed.

DL

Penthouse - Gutter Erotica

Label: World Domination
Year: 1997

The debut lp from the group known by their United States alter ego, Fifty Tons Of Black Terror (damn you copyright infringement!), with a membership including Tim Cedar (Ligament, Action Swingers, Part Chimp, Die Munch Machine), Graem Flynn (Black Moses), Charlie Finke (The Cesarians), and John Free (The Gin Palace). You caught that Part Chimp thing there, right? Should be enough to warrant a look-see, yes?
Hows about I tell you that this record has some of the wildest, unhinged, bug-eyed, noise-blues put to tape? Kind of like Birthday Party meets The Jesus Lizard meets The Immortal Lee County Killers, meets a busted Rat pedal.
It's really loud, really blown out, really ugly. Basically, it's really something you'll really like if you really give it a try. Really.

DL

Lincoln - Lincoln 7"

Label: Art Monk Construction
Year: 1994

The second self-titled 7" from the band of the same name (like the word "Lincoln" much?). As Phil Fay Fock aptly pointed out, this was when the band "went all thrift store greaser", and moved away from the overtly heavy, chunky sound of their first 7", and began incorporating a more overt post-hardcore sound, taking cues from the Louisville and Washington D.C. scenes around their beloved West Virginia home. So, think Crain, Bitch Magnet, Rites Of Spring, Hoover (whom they did a split with), stuff like that.
It's good, just short (....and, that's what she said).

DL

Rodan - Aviary - 8 Track Demo

Label: Self released
Year: 1993

Here you go, cassette only, 200 released, precursor to the "Rusty" album, and 12 songs (albeit 2 of which are instrumental "found sound" type crap, which, note to future bands: is entirely not necessary). You get those two pieces, you get the six songs from "Rusty", in their infancy, you get a song which ended up on the Half Cocked soundtrack, one from a Simple Machines compilation, and two from "How The Winter Was Passed" 7". The sound quality on each one being far better than what would probably have happened had your band plugged in and rocked out your best material in 1992, into an 8-track machine. It's Rodan, and so by default probably better than most other things. Not everything of course, there's plenty of "things" out there better than Rodan, but relatively speaking, and within the small world of underground music, Rodan make a strong case for themselves.

DL

Brutal Juice - Brutal Juice 7"

Label: Man's Ruin
Year: 1996

Two songs, the last two songs they ever released actually, by a Texas band not affiliated with the lauded Austin scene, but the much less celebrated...Denton scene. A scene not known for too much. Maybe the Toadies were from there abouts? I don't really know. The Toadies were terrible, and I know very little about them, but I'm pretty sure they were from Dallas or something. Just trying to make connections, man.
Of the two tracks here, one is pretty good, I like it, the other one...sounds like something I don't quite understand. You probably will though...smarty pants.

DL

V/A - Shiny Grey Monotone Radio - Show 5

Label: n/a
Year: 2012

Number five in the Radio Show series, and it's a nasty one. Starts off swinging and only gets burlier as it lumbers forward on a mission to pulverize. It finally takes it's foot off the gas briefly about two thirds of the way through, but that respite only heightens the full throttle beating it delivers until the final scree of feedback closes out the proceedings after 54 draining minutes.
The observant (or compulsive, or nerdy) may note that this version of the compilations was the first to offer a few "couplets", or pairing of songs, based on some random trivia or another. Shared membership, geographic locale...my rationale knows no consistency, but maybe you'll pick up on it. Maybe you won't care (probably advisable) and you'll just enjoy it for what it's worth.
The bands are:
Craw
Glazed Baby
Loudspeaker
Shallow, North Dakota
Crawlpappy
King Snake Roost
400 Blows
Love 666
Pride Parade
Brass Castle
Silkworm
Boilermaker
Hum
The Raymond Brake
Pipe
Worst Case Scenario
The Great Unraveling

DL

The Great Sabatini - The Royal We

Label: Self Released
Year: 2012

This six song felonius action, has been generously offered up by the band for free, and I believe you to be remiss, and darn near insulting, if you don't take them up on it.
And why wouldn't you? You enjoy being pulled out from under the warmth of your down comforter by your ankles, dragged through your own home, out the front door, and tossed unceremoniously into the trunk of a waiting 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (last year they manufactured the "Second Generation" Cut Supreme, and arguably the definitive body style), right? Is that Mastodon you can barely make out playing on the car stereo through the backseat? Or maybe KEN Mode? Fight Amp? It's hard to tell with all of the road noise, plus the exhaust fumes are starting to make you sleepy anyhow, and with the anxiety mounting as your mind races thinking about where or when this car trip will end...well, it's just hard to concentrate. Your captors certainly were rough with you, never once stopping to consider that maybe you would have gone willfully on this hellride through the permafrost of the outer suburbs of Montreal. Maybe you would have appreciated sitting in the front seat (it's a nice naugahyde bench after all, plenty of room) with your four new friends, in the relative comfort of the heat. You think they would have asked prior to removing you forcefully from your position (fetal no doubt) in the trunk and set about giving you the heave ho over the sheer wall of this recently abandoned rock quarry (you never even knew this place existed...it's really quite beautiful, and a spot that on any other occasion would have been ideal for a picnic with a close group of friends, followed by a late afternoon swim in the tranquil azure waters below...waters your plummeting body are quickly approaching). Honestly, their actions are bordering on just plain...THUD, ROLL, BOUNCE, IMPALE, BLEED.

The band is on tour n-o-w-...go see them!

DL