Karp - Suplex

Label: K
Year: 1995

This was posted years ago on this blog and subsequently disappeared slightly less years ago from this blog.
So here it is again. In all it's glory. A classic of Melvins worship that equals and/or surpasses Melvins at times in their sludgy thud damage (with a side of wink and nod). Not that they were a one trick pony, but to ignore the similarities would be disingenuous. Their Pacific Northwest DNA was inevitable, but they also got weird the same way some of their friends on the Wantage USA label did (Early Humans, Last Of The Juanitas, Vaz), with ample doses of warped noise rock pulse and dirt rock skuzz. It's a near perfect marriage of all the good things about terrible music. Loud and relentless and strange and fun.
I love this record so much, that if it were legal, I would make her mine in a Biblical sense (by having sexual intercourse with it).

DL

Fugazi - Live - Washington DC - 08.26.99

Label: bootleg
Year: 1999

An abbreviated (due to meteorological constraints) hometown Fort Reno set, showcasing Fugazi as they continued their transition into what would be their final studio album, arguably away from the post hardcore groove of the first couple of albums, or the frenzied feedback workouts of the mid-period albums, and into a graceful maturation. Not to imply there was ever any immaturity to the band at any juncture of their creative arc.
I, as a fan, was admittedly losing some interest in Fugazi by this point, and seeing them less and less live when they would come through town. But, listening back, that was a real mistake on my part, as the later material strikes just as deep and carries the same intense weight as anything off the first 12", maybe I just wasn't in the right place to hear it then.

Best band of the 1990's? Probably, right?

DL

Genki Genki Panic - Litanies Of Surf

Label: self released
Year: 2017

We will always pay tribute here to our friend Chris (last name withheld for legal reasons) and his Chattanooga based musical misadventures, as they are always weird and different and fun. He's yet to disappoint (musically that is...I'm sure his parents would tell you different).
This time around the surf/horror/shit show of Genki Genki Panic manage to sound simultaneously more polished and professional AND more ripping-ly noisy. The songs bounce around from campy surf to creepy crawl amateur haunted house (meaning the haunted house is run by amateurs, and therefore dangerously out of code, not that the music is amateurish), to spaced out Persian shorebreak, to a teasing glimpse into Chris' noise rock past pedigree. The underlying current (the undertow?) is still surf music, but the band continues a trajectory away from traditional Del-Tones sounds, passing by Man-Or-Astroman on the way, and onto some new amalgam of reverb-y strangeness. Like, who says you can't flirt with black metal, or noise rock, or chugging funk (potential new band name...hold up), and still stay true to your mission statement of: Stay creepy, be dank at all costs.

Essential.

DL

Sebadoh - Harmacy

Label: Sub Pop
Year: 1996

Posting this one in case you:
a) never gave Sebadoh a chance
b) stopped paying attention after their 'III' album
c) need reminding that 'Ocean' is a legit perfect song.

Ramshackle indie rock at its best. From introspective, delicate pieces to drunken punk blasters, it's all covered. Plus the band always gives you your money's worth...nineteen songs on this record.
You know all this.

DL

Godflesh - Live Dublin 12-10-01

Label: bootleg
Year: 2001

Last Godflesh show before they reassembled and picked up crushing where they left off thirteen years prior.
They get down to business and unceremoniously grind out seven songs of relentless assault.
Requiem
Defeated
Deaf, Dumb, Blind
Voidhead
Spite
Crush My Soul
Christbait Rising

DL

Hyena - Demo

Label: Scavenger Of Death
Year: 2017

Show of hands; who here gets super stoked on the prospect of a new "ex-Bukkake Boys" band?
I'm raising my hand. They were a personal favorite of mine, as they knew how to maraud through a fucked up, noisy version of first wave hardcore with aplomb and zeal. Nasty style.
So now we get three quarters of the parent-unfriendly-named Bukakke Boys bolstered by the addition of Jesse Smith, easily one of the nicest and most talented guys to grace the Atlanta music world, and who is possibly most well known for his power pop songwriting in Gentlemen Jesse And His Men, but lest we forget was also a member noise rockers Some Soviet Station, emo violence band The Kossabone Red, post hardcore powerhouse Paper Lions, punk stompers GG King, Cops, Gaye Blades, and Carbonas, not to mention kinda-country/kinda-70's Rolling Stones band The Weight (that sentence would benefit from either better writing, or editing, or punctuation or something). Jesse has put in the time.
But expecting a tempered version of the Bukakke Boys was an incorrect assumption on my part, as it turns out. Quite the contrary actually. Hyena puts the pedal down from the start and never let up. They rifle through an album collection full of Poison Idea, Negative Approach, Infest, and Black Flag, and come out the other side with seven screeds splattered on the wall in phlegm and sweat.
Essential.

DL