The Murder City Devils / Botch - Edge Of Quarrel split

 

Label: Excursion

Year: 1999

Jocks vs nerds, punks vs heshers, mods vs rockers...the cultural landscape is pockmarked from the age old rivalries that establish our pecking orders and keep our niches well defined. But, when the "movie" Edge Of Quarrel (and I use quotes, because it's somewhere lower than a B-movie...it's like, a C-) based their narrative on a Straight Edge vs Punk schism (sorry...X Schism X) that was comically far fetched at the time, but in retrospect is even more ridiculous. The fact that the movie posits "hardcore" to mean "straight edge" and "punk" to mean "tattoos" would confuse your casual viewer for certain. Hell, your mother never could tell the two apart! But to think that wearing an Acme patch to a Trial show was some sort of red flag to the straight edge cops is wild, considering that by the time this movie came out most of the world's varsity jackets had been traded in for gas station jackets festooned in His Hero Is Gone logos, is rich. I mean, it's all in good fun, and maybe seeing your favorite Seattle scensters stumble through their stilted dialogue is worth the price of admission. Pioneer Square runs red with the blood of their fisticuffs! And where is Kim Thayil during all of this?! Seriously...how do the Grungers fit into this rift?

As we ponder this, and the many other questions the movie generates, we can collectively enjoy two tracks featured in the film. Two bangers that I suppose run the gamut from "punk" to "hardcore," but are satisfying either way.

Record oddity: I believe this is the only record that I own that has an 33rpm side a, and 45rpm side b. 

DL

Warhammer 48k - Uber Om

Label: Emergency Umbrella
Year: 2004

Last time we visited with Warhammer 48k was back in 2009 and their 'Ethereal Oracle' album. A great album mind you. The band showed a trans-Atlantic kinship with big, noisy, lurching, rabid bands like Hey Colossus, Part Chimp, Todd, and Vandal X (Belgian, but I'm going to count it on account of the pomme frites). This time around (which is...stay with me...actually further back in time) listening to Warhammer 48k I hear different influences. This time I look west from their Missouri home and see Thrones, Karp, and Dead Low Tide, with their murky thunder soaked melody. Not that this is a "feel good" pop record, far from it, it's still very twisted and sinister. It rides high on bad vibes much like the SST catalog did circa 1984-1986, but it has the chops to keep their heads above water. Despite all the waves of seemingly formless noise washing over the post-sludge rock ocean bottom, they never lose direction or succumb to  self-indulgent wankery.
Of note; "Haunted Abortion" is one of the better song titles you will hear today.
After this band, they moved to Chicago and formed Cave, which had an offshoot called Lazer Crystal, and one called Bitchin' Bajas in case you want to continue digging.
I'm already hungry for lunch at 8:39EST....am I pregnant?

*originally posted 08.14.15, reposted 11.15.22

DL

Pain Teens / God And Texas - Bondage / 1066 split 7"

Label: Rave
Year: 1991

Pain Teens offer sunburnt Texan noise warps full of bad vibes and shitty intentions. Cultish industrial bum-out that drones out on a cautionary tale of rough sex.
God And Texas offer a grungy and more blunt version of old Husker Du meeting up with Drain. Maybe God Bullies are in there somewhere too. Either way, it's rock-n-roll for animals.
Two songs, bingo bango, you're done.

*originally posted 01.15.16, reposted 11.10.22

DL

Mogwai - Mr. Beast

Label: [PIAS] Recordings
Year: 2006

It's all the Mogwai you want. The slow, epic, swelling builds. The regal, post rock towering riff dynamics. The pastoral longview across time and space. That famous Scottish optimism.
Sorry, I misspelled "dour self-deprecation", my mistake.
The guy from Envy sings on one of the songs. Which, by the way, is anyone else here old enough to remember when Envy was a hardcore band? Hell, how about when they were called Blind Justice? Cause, no joke, I knew them as this kinda straight edge hardcore band, and I didn't realize they had morphed into some sort of post rock something or other, but by the time they did I had checked out on Envy (super open minded guy that I am), and missed that whole thing. I would go back now and look into it...but...pretty sure there's an episode of COPS on television that I've only seen 8 times.

*originally posted 10.04.18, reposted 11.10.22

DL

Big Business - Tour ep III

Label: Wantage USA
Year: 2008

Three songs here, two of which would show up on the 'Mind The Drift' lp and one which is a Shocking Blue cover. I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that these are different recordings than what ended up on the album.
Is it possible to pull a muscle in your heart? Or, is there such thing as a three day long, extremely minor heart attack? I've had this pain in the left side of my chest since Sunday (today is Tuesday to all my Gregorian hustlas) that feels like I'm pulling on a sore muscle when I move in certain ways. Most notably when I raise my (double) chin up and to the right, or lift me left arm and pull it back. Seems like this could be death knocking on my door, so I sorta want to know if I should be expecting to live three more days, a month, twenty minutes? Somebody please call an ambulance.

* originally posted 08.25.15, reposted 11.10.22

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.

*originally posted 11.02.15, reposted 10.22.20, posted for final time 11.04.22

DL

White Zombie - Gods On A Voodoo Moon

Label: self released
Year: 1985

Before he was know by the Zombie surname, and before all the thunder kissing and "yeeeeaahs" that would bring White Zombie fame and fortune, they were a scrappy, noisy, underground rock band that took their cues from punk, death rock, and noise rock. And it being 1985, and the band being broke, and recording studios being in short supply, this release SOUNDS like a scrappy, noisy, underground rock band from 1985. It's raw and wobbly (this file comes from the cassette release, complete with occasional warps), but if you like your Pussy Galore mixed with Helios Creed and 45 Grave, then this one is for you.
Numero Group gave this a proper remastering and re-release in 2016, but...that shit's expensive. This version has the two extra cassette tracks not on the original 7" version.

Wonder what ever happened to these guys....(actually, one of them turned up in Dead Heavens...but the others...who knows?)

* originally posted 07.11.18, reposted 11.04.22

DL

Helmet - Blacktop

Label: Bootleg
Year: 1991

Live recording from February 28, 1991 prior to the release of 'Meantime', when the band was playing extra mean. And, bonus, they start the set with my personal favorite 'Sinatra', right into 'FBLA'...so, pretty hard to beat. And, double bonus (triple if you're keeping actual score), there are two unidentified, ostensibly unreleased songs in the set. Chances are there's a super sleuth out there who could identify them both (the first one sounds like the chorus is "Drag", the second one has some growled monosyllabic chorus I can't make out), but McGruff I ain't, so for now they remain 'Unknown'.
What are you waiting for?

*originally posted 11.28.16, reposted 11.04.22

DL

The Theory Of Abstract Light - The Theory Of Abstract Light

Label: Tortuga
Year: 2002

One half of the formidable heavy drone duo 5ive, Ben Carr further pushes away from Earth to float across the galaxy on a wave of pulsating guitar manipulations. From acoustic, to electric, to something barely recognizable as guitar, he weaves in and out of your conscious mind on the ebb and flow of a wash of sound that hints at something terrible just on the edge of you vision.
The clumsy name aside, this record is something to let take over your environment, not something you listen to "for fun". Try it out while doing whatever creative endeavor it is that you do (would you like to see my collection of charcoal nudes some day?), and let its dark ambiance ride across your mind. See what you get.

*posted 06.30.17, reposted 11.04.22

DL

El Buzzard - El Gringa

Year: 2006

Label: The Electric Human Project

Self described as a "noise metal" band, these fuckers came out of San Jose and laid waste to shit. You'd have never guessed they spawned from mid nineties screamo spazzes, Mohinder, but lo and behold, that's just what they did. Gringa was their last will and testament before breaking up and reforming as Breasts. On this record they continue to play slash and burn, loud as shit skuzz rock with heavy Unsane and Karp leanings, but this time around there's a slight late-period Black Flag vibe creeping in. The warped stoner proto-metal riffing that Greg Ginn was experimenting with round about 1985 rears it's ugly head here, and seems to fit in just fine. This is a dirty, raw, punked out rawk trip.

*originally posted 09-05-08, reposted 10-07-15, reposted for the final time 03-05-19...and then when I wasn't paying attention...reposted AGAIN 11-04-20

DL