Glazed Baby - Ancient Chinese Secret

Label: Atomic Action
Year: 1999

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (and if you're reading this from some country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving, first of all, I'm sorry, and second of all Thanksgiving is the day we celebrate our glorious tradition of immigrants commandeering and subjugating this great nation away from it's aboriginal inhabitants. And we eat turkey and things before going Christmas shopping. Pretty much that's it, but it also means a few days off work [unless you're a poor person, then you're just screwed...much like those aboriginal inhabitants referenced earlier], so that's nice), I certainly did. Managed to remove another tree from my front yard with my bare hands (I'm incredibly strong...like an ape or something) which gave me a real sense of accomplishment, as well as a gaping hole in the landscape against the façade of the house. I'll need to remedy that in the Spring time, with either a mid sized evergreen tree (possibly a Colorado Blue Spruce or a Columnar Norway Spruce) or a small understory flowering ornamental (tree form Viburnum maybe? Coral Bark Japanese Maple?)...but I'll decide this Spring and see what the nursery has to offer.
Sidebar: didn't we post this record before?
A near perfect soundtrack to ripping anything out by the roots. Big, ugly, burly, and fucked. Perfect.

DL

Bauhaus - Go Away White

Label: Bauhaus Music
Year: 2008

Mixed feelings on bands who decided to come out of hibernation for the cash grab and then take it a step further by releasing new material. Like, part of me feels that, "hey, by writing and releasing something new, at least that means the reunion tour wasn't a total cash grab, maybe these dudes felt that they still had something important to say". And the other part of me feels like, "you guys have a pretty untouchable legacy of a back catalog, why risk shitting on that by reforming to try and continue with the music you last left off with in your twenties?". Could go either way.
And here it does.
There are a handful of really good songs on this record, and as you should be well aware, a really good Bauhaus song is really, really good. But there are also a couple clunkers as well. Unfortunately. Which shouldn't come as much of a surprise if you believe what they claim; that the entire record was written and recorded over the course of 18 days. Eighteen days isn't all that long to come up with 10 fully fleshed out songs on the spot, so I commend them for managing that feat in and of itself, plus being able to get 6 or 7 corkers in the batch. Supposedly this was knocked out as a series of first takes, which I'm not sure I totally believe (I'm pretty sure even GG Allin overdubbed and went back to retool songs in the studio [that is, when he wasn't recording via jailhouse telephone]), but it makes for a neat story.
The whole reunion aspect of it aside, it's a really strong record that I slept on, and I think most other folks did as well.
And speaking of the reunion. As I am still a spring chicken, vibrant and full of life, I never had the opportunity to see Bauhaus in their original incarnation. So when they reunited in 1998. my wife and I jumped at the chance to see them in San Diego (where we laid our heads at that point) and I'm glad to say it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. They brought the gloomy goods, and they did it with panache. So, bully for Bauhaus, right?

DL

Kilara - Southern Fried Metal

Label: Crimeth Inc.
Year: 1998

Fuck it, right? Keep it going. More feedback, more bass rumble, more tar soaked riffs, more burly bellows. If it ain't broke...something or other.
Crimeth Inc was kind enough to consolidate all of Kilara's random non-lp material (with the exception of the Hellchild split songs) from their 7", their split with Inquisition, two demos, and they even threw in a couple previously unreleased jams, just cause.
The song "Surpass Onry" is an absolute master class in clenched jaw nihilism. Perfect.
Not everything can, or should, be nice all the time. Sometimes you need nasty.

DL

Kilara - The Funeral Fix

Label: Rhetoric
Year: 1997

Sorry (not sorry) if this jolt of southern sludge groove is hitting too hard at whatever hour you may be receiving it, but, it's what I'm in the mood for today, therefore, it's what WE are in the mood for.
I'm always pretty good for some swampy, humid, swinging, nasty southern dirt. Blame it on Buzzov*en (nay, Sewer Puppet, as they were known back then), for taking the psych damaged hardcore of Amebix and Neurosis and slowing it to a Sabbath crawl and exposing it to an impressionable kid (me...I was the impressionable kid) at a time when he (still talking about me here) was looking for heavier, louder, weirder, meaner sounds than the standard punk and hardcore fair he had been subsisting off of. It spoke to the Corrosion Of Conformity side of his (my) brain.
Kilara are absolutely in that lineage of bands who can only have been berthed in the southeastern United States of America (they are from Richmond after all, the capitol of the Confederacy); Eyehategod, Cavity, Sourvein, Buzzov*en, Floor, Weedeater,  Rwake, Seven Foot Spleen...you get it, yeah?
The dudes responsible for this racket had been or would be responsible for a thousand other rackets in: Hail!Hornet, Alabama Thunderpussy, Avail, Pg. 99, Axehandle, Birds Of Prey, The Mighty Nimbus, City Of Caterpillar, Ghastly City Sleep, and on and on.

It should go without saying, but: maximum volume yields maximum results.

DL

Blunderbuss - Blunderbuss

Label: self released
Year: 2006

This is a curious tale, this Blunderbuss tale. They were a band in Pittsburgh who started out in the late 80's. If they emerged fully formed, or from the wreckage of any previous groups is not known at this point ("this point" of course, being a reference to my head). They put out 3 7"s and a full length on Homestead all in the 1992 to 1995 range. And remember, Homestead Records were a big label ("big" meaning they put out records by Big Black, Squirrel Bait, Dinosaur Jr, Swans, Sonic Youth, and Nick Cave...so, not "big" as in "your mother has heard of Homestead", more like "big" as in "the music director at your local college radio station wore a Homestead t-shirt".), but Blunderbuss didn't get a lot of traction outside Pennsylvania. And so, like most bands who don't get much traction, they broke up. And then they decided breaking up was hard to do, so they didn't. They got back together to give it one more shot, and recorded and self released their self titled album. Which was being sold direct from a website being operated by vocalist Ben Matthews, so if you didn't know Ben Matthews, and chances are you don't, then you were probably unaware of the existence of this record. Until the improbable Escape Artist Records, who stepped in a year or so later and re-released the album. Coincidentally, it was one of the last things Escape Artist did release, so it didn't really go anywhere, and I'm not sure Escape Artist's usual fanbase knew what to do with Blunderbuss (you'll kindly remember that Escape Artist made their mark putting out Isis and Playing Enemy and Time In Malta and stuff like that). But wait, this record got a THIRD release in 2014 as part of a full discography survey assembled and released as the (brilliantly titled) "Cutout Bin of the Digital World" by Coolidge Records. You'll be excused if you still weren't aware of it, but at this point you're time's up, you gotta hear it.
Not instrumental, there are vocals on most songs, but the vocals aren't a prominent feature, and when they do show up they're reminiscent of maybe Bob Mould, or John Mohr of Tar. Which could explain why I hear both Husker Du and Tar influences on Blunderbuss. I also hear Crain, a little Six Finger Satellite, some Hurl, and pieces, the less mathy pieces, of Don Caballero. Good things to hear.
Most recently, three quarters of the band joined up with Gene Doyle (formerly of the second version Don Caballero, with he and Jeff Ellsworth of Blunderbuss replacing Pat Morris and Mike Banfield) to form Broughton's Rules (one would assume named after the lead track on this very album) and put out a record on Relapse.

DL

Heat Dust - Heat Dust

Label: The Flenser
Year: 2015

Marketed as "nihilistic post punk from NOLA", which, based on context clues, might be deceiving. They may be geographically rooted in New Orleans, but there is no remnant of any sort of NOLA styled swampy Sabbath poaching, so the city tag is a bit misleading.
The nihilism may very well be intended, or implied, but there is no spiteful spewing of venom or anything like that.
The post punk tag, yeah, I'll give them that. It's very post punk, and worth distinguishing that we are saying post punk not post hardcore. Trivial to all who are not nerds, but, needs to be mentioned.
So then, what is this record of not "nihilistic post punk from NOLA"?  I would say they are a very well structured, dark and gloomy, death rock ride. They pull in a lot of Killing Joke and Joy Division to give their songs a tension and overall foreboding aura. Beastmilk did it very successfully, and I think you could draw a fair comparison between the two bands. Royal Thunder do it as well, although they flavor their version with a blues thump that Heat Dust forego (truth be told though, my vision may be obscured by seeing Royal Thunder perform last night), but both bands create a similar mood of dread. Heat Dust also inject needed energy into the album here and there by increasing the tempo and allowing more light to flesh out the tunes ("Seeking a Praxis" for example) which keeps the record from becoming "one note", you know? Those songs remind me a little bit of All The Saints, if that does anything for you.
All in all, I'm really enjoying this one. Chances are you will as well, and no doubt you can certainly find better ways to describe it than I just did.

DL

Godheadsilo / Hammerhead - Split 7"

released 1993

you know the bands

you love the bands

hammerhead does "moby dick"

godheadsilo does "bereft mission rescue no.43"

be prepared to have your mind and speakers blown

*Originally posted 04-25-11, reposted 11-19-15

DL

Ovlov - am

Label: Exploding In Sound
Year: 2013

Am I just really late to this band, or had they flown under everyone else's radar as well? Yes, I admit I'm late enough that they already broke up, which is truly unfortunate. Really unfortunate actually, because they are one of a small handful of bands who have synthesized elements of 90's indie rock into something that harkens back to those sounds but remains contemporary and fresh. Nostalgia without being annoyingly nostalgic.
Specifically, they have taken Dinosaur Jr's slacker guitar histrionics and married them to My Bloody Valentine's more straightforward, yet still bombastic, material, and seasoned liberally with some of the more melancholy moments of Archers of Loaf. It all results in music that is fun and catchy and all that, but it still has drive and muscle and power. That's a tough balance, but Ovlov had it nailed. It's the perfect sound sometimes. A lot of the time.
Sorry I missed this one.

Goddam this good shit!

DL

V/A - Duck and Cover

Label: SST
Year: 1990

Has this not been posted here before? Weird, I thought it had been.
Ok, well, short version: the SST roster (as impressive as it was) offers up cover songs in their respective styles. Results vary, but with a crew this heavy, rest assured.

Husker Du cover The Byrds, and does it so well I had no idea this was a cover until years later.
Meat Puppets cover Little Richard (or maybe CCR, depending on your mood) and give it a proper high desert freakout.
Black Flag cover The Kingsmen to great effect. You've heard this a million times, but you'll hear it a million more and still get a charge from hearing Dez scorching through it.
Volcano Suns cover MC5 and manage to sound basically like MC5. Surprise.
Saccharine Trust cover Black Flag. How cheeky! Their live version gets lewd and loose, but they nail the basic idea and shine a light into Black Flag's oft overlooked black humor.
Revolution 409 cover The Osmonds and give it a Redd Kross (no surprise as Revolution 409 is essentially a continuation of that band) styled punk warping.
Dinosaur Jr. cover The Cure, and essentially give a master class in "How To Cover A Song". Essential.
The Leaving Trains cover Cliff Nobles and Co. which is a nice rambling pop jam.
Stone By Stone with Chris D. cover Eric Martin Band (future Mr. Big vocalist!) and give it the quintessential late 80's "college rock" bravado.
Minutemen cover Van Halen and, like Dinosaur Jr., manage to give an iconic jam an whole new feel that rivals the original. (this is the really short version of the cover)
Descendants cover The Beach Boys and you'd be hard pressed to not think this was a Descendants original (minus the guitar "solo").
The Last cover The Shirelles and maybe it's not necessary?
Trotsky Icepick cover Magazine and I dig. Never was a Magazine fan (or really a Trotsky Icepick fan if I'm being candid), but this is all well and good.

DL

Mama Tick - Torture b/w Lode 7"

Label: Bovine
Year: 1993

Bovine did no wrong. Mama Tick did no wrong (and I'm even including an ill-advised slap bass intro to this very 7"). Together forever they do no wrong. Wrong  forever.
Two more songs, two more frantic doses of bug-eyed berserker. Best appreciated at maximum volume with at least four beers already to your name (I don't care what time of day it is).
Somebody should start a band that harnesses this strain of music for today's children (mine included...I mean, fuck, they listen to pretty terrible shit...they would benefit from something this ugly [present company excluded of course]).
Get bent this weekend.

DL

Mama Tick - Amphetamine Reptile Research and Development 7"

Label: Amphetamine Reptile
Year: 1992

More requested Mama Tick. Manna from heaven.
Two songs, both a healthy 6+ minutes in length, both will clear the office break room should you decide to soundtrack your coffee roundtable discussion with co-workers this morning. I mean, maybe you work somewhere "cool", where it's acceptable to have manic noise rock screaming at you, and if so, bully for you. Are you hiring? I'll update my resume.

DL

Mama Tick - Gimmie The Five Bucks

Label: Dubious Honor
Year: 1994

A request (a couple requests actually, but one yesterday) to re-post the Mama Tick discography from a few years back is prompting this one today. The answer to the request is: No. Sorry. It's a pain to assemble those discographies and I don't feel like doing it right now. That being said, any fan of Mama Tick is a person (most likely a man person) who I feel a certain kinship with, and a certain obligation to. We are a small but dedicated community, and we must look out for one another.
So, here's the one and only full length mustered up by the mighty Mamas. Nine songs of loose and wild noise rock that epitomize all that was good with rock music of this vintage. Loud, weird, messy, heavy, fucked. What else do you want?
I'll post the Bovine and Amphetamine Reptile 7"s tomorrow, because I'm just that nice a guy. Or something.
Hail Mama Tick!

DL

Godflesh - Godflesh ep

Label: Swordfish
Year: 1988

The sound of living deep inside a coal mine. The feel of seeing your third grade teacher naked on the side of the freeway. Total eclipse of the heart, total collapse of the brain.
This record still destroys as efficiently today in 2015 as it did in 1988. Still feels alien, cold, and merciless. Feels alive.

DL

Mama Tick / Faucet - Crust Busting 7"

Label: Noise Vacuum
Year: 1994

I think that technically we have posted this record within the confines of both the Mama Tick discography and Faucet discography...but, who's counting?
Mama Tick are a personal favorite of mine. When they sang "Make beautiful music, for beautiful people", I just knew they were talking about me. We clicked.
Faucet are similar to Mama Tick in the "who?" sort of way, as well as in the "fucking great" sort of way. Not one of those bands that people talk about these days, but they should be, they are just as good as most any other "good band" you liked back in 1994 (or in retrospect [assuming you have moderate to good taste that is {but, you're here, so you must be ok at least}]).
Two songs. Full power. Fuck light, eat speed.

DL

Noxagt - Noxagt

Label: Load

Year: 2006

File this one under Norwegian Math Damage. If you have the space on your shelf that is. I realize Norwegian Math Damage can be a pretty crowded genre.

If you like Oxes, and you like Harvey Milk, then you can probably find the middle ground between those two bands here. This album is their third, but the first one to feature guitar (the previous utilized viola in place of where guitar "should be"), and seemingly the most straight-forward. I would venture to also say it's their best yet, but like I said, there's a shit-ton of Norwegian Math Damage to sift through out there, so the jury might still be out.

*Originally posted 09.16.10, reposted 11.10.15

DL

Colossamite / White Tornado - Split 7"

Label: Free Land
Year: 1998

what you get here is some good ol' fashioned noise rock

you already know and love colossamite

so that brings us to white tornado...they were from italy...they released a full length titled FROM HAND TO MOUTH in 1997...along with 2 splits (this being the first...and the second being a post split split with oxbow called OXBOW MEET WHITE TORNADO in 2000)

so yeah

you get a song from each

*Originally posted 12.2.11 (by Ipecac...hence the punctuation), reposted 11.06.15

DL

Harvey Milk - Live - The Earl - 06-17-08

Label: Bootleg
Year: 2008

Yes, Harvey Milk is heavy. And slow. And fucked up. And quite possibly (and self-admittedly) self-indulgent. But. BUT. Have you ever given the band's musicality it's fair shake? The density of bombast sometimes overwhelms what are actually very intricate and well crafted songs, and songs that are wildly difficult to pull off live. Have you ever tried playing that slow? It's fucking hard! You should run your own band through 'Crush Them All' at your next practice and see how it turns out...let me know.
Creston Spiers is a phenomenal guitar player, his leads are impeccable, his tone is beyond gnarly, and he manages to play vulnerable while at the same time rummaging through the dark recesses of your skull to unsettle your very core. Stephen Tanner writes wildly ambitious music that echoes his own personal black humor, ominous and suffocating balanced with spacious and delicate, anchoring it all with an unholy low end rumble. And Kyle Spence...I mean...fucking come on! The Atlanta/Athens music scene has been spoiled by an embarrassment of riches of incredible drummers over the years (Jerry Fuchs, Kip Thomas, Ed Livengood, Jason Griffin, Travis Owen, James Joyce [yes, THEE James Joyce], and for fuck's sake, goddamn Brann Dailor, just to name a few), but for my money Kyle is the best. He's in the Bonzo tradition of swing/pound, swing/pound, and that kills me every time. Plus, let's not overlook that Joe Preston happens to be on stage holding down second guitar at this show (and on the album preceding it), and his track record need not be under scrutiny.
Point being, Harvey Milk can fucking play.
The setlist for this show is a steamroller. Actual memory from he show: standing there bathing in the volume and a random stranger next to me turns and says "can you believe we're seeing this?!". Indeed. It's fucking unreal.

This set as recoded and originally posted by the fine folks at Southern Shelter, who we've big-up'd before, but will never stop doing so. Their dedication to cataloging Georgia music is insane. Peep it here
Photo above by Mike White / Deadly Designs, check his stuff out here

DL

Hammerhead - New Directionz

Label: self released
Year: 2015

This whole internet music thing is wild. I'm not totally understanding it, because I'm baffled that a couple months ago a band who I have been enjoying (you could even go so far as to say "loving" [being vulnerable this morning]) for many years now has quietly released an album of new material out into the world. Shouldn't I have gotten a fax about this?
Regardless of it's manner of delivery, it's still new Hammerhead music, and for that I will be eternally grateful. Any and all Hammerhead is welcome in my home. Always has been, always will.
You had better hurry though, because as of my purchase there are only 26 copies of this record left.
Those sneaky bastards.

DL

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime

Label: Interscope
Year: 1994

Posting this not so much for you to hear, assuming you've owned it for years and years (but if not, hey, here you go, prepare yourself), but more as an excuse to pose the following question:
Who were the "best" band of the 1990's?

Was it Drive Like Jehu? Could make a pretty solid argument.
Was it Fugazi? Unwound? Archers of Loaf? Nirvana? Craw? Sunny Day Real Estate? The Jesus Lizard? Quicksand? Chavez? Harvey Milk? Lungfish? Kyuss?

I'm literally asking. Who released nothing but quality, life-changing songs? Who didn't overstay their welcome and get boring?

DL

Crust - Sacred Heart of Crust

Label: Trance Syndicate
Year: 1990

Set the oven to "Fucked" and bake up another chilaquile layered with blues damage, warped honky tonk noise, industrial throb, and general raucous-n-roll. Sprinkle with mescaline prior to serving.

This is the record that started Trance Syndicate down a long and illustrious...and pockmarked, and dusty, and by all accounts unsafe...road.

Crust would earn money by passing a collection tray at shows. Shows that praised the Sacred Heart of Crust, a debauched and  grotesque idol to noise. Beats the ole, "we have shirts for sale in the back" shtick. You'll hear the martial preaching theme run through this release, albeit preaching for that which is unholy and obscene. Church should be this fun.

If you've gotten this far in life without knowing what Crust sounds like, and find yourself on the fence as to whether or not this is a record you're prepared for, my best assessment would be: (old) Cop Shoot Cop mixed with Ed Hall mixed with a little bit of Feederz and a little bit of (old) Butthole Surfers. Unsanitary at best.

DL