the united sons of toil - hope is not a strategy

released 2007

following the trail that was laid by the austin,tx band we'll go machete...i was contacted by the singer/guitarist of this madison,wi trio that goes by the name of russell hall (who could be the bastard son of steve albini and page hamilton)

he told me that he was impressed by the blog after he'd found it because of the we'll go machete review...and he wanted to add his band to the list as well

so i responded back...told him that i dug his band...and that i would be glad to put one of his band's albums on the blog (they have 2...this being the first...the second album being 2008's UNTIL LIONS HAVE THEIR HISTORIANS,TALES OF THE HUNT SHALL ALWAYS GLORIFY THE HUNTER...which i have as well...and if anyone is interested...i'll post it in the future)

and the music...ah the music...it did my soul some good to hear it...it would seem that wave of new old "college rock" that i made reference to back in the we'll go machete review is coming a few steps closer to drowning out all of this stuff passing itself off as music nowadays (we'll just call it an enema)

during these 8 songs i heard a little bit of everything: quicksand...at the drive in...unwound...shellac...fugazi...jawbox...and even a bit of unsane (which automatically brings in some helmet...aka "unsane lite")

so if you like any of those things...do i really need to tell you what to do?

DL: hope is not a strategy

and the obligatory myspace-ing: peep it

"the treaty of new echota" (a taste of their second album)

Chokebore - Motionless

Label: Amphetamine Reptile

Year: 1993

And now back to our regularly scheduled noise rock...

Back a few months ago we posted the final Chokebore record, so why not bookend their career now with their first album? Nice right? I thought so.

While the last album was all about unsettled moods, washes of sound, and those creeped out signature vocals, their first foray into the world is more aggressive, but still hints at the disturbing feelings to be concocted later in their lives, and the vocals are still...well, they're still Chokebore vocals. They will probably be the thing that you either love or hate about the band, because the music is not going to be the issue, you'll like that. It's elements of traditional rock, think The Fluid, with some grungy grunge, think Screaming Trees or maybe Nirvana, and some arty noise rock, think...uh...just think. Good stuff. The vocals are some of the more distinct of the Amphetamine Reptile catalog, and to me, perfect for the music, but for some people they are too "whiny" or something. You listen, and let me know. 

Regardless, this one is a keeper and should be in your record collection one way or another.

DL

Angry Samoans - 1978 Demo

Label: Bootleg

Year: 1978

With all this talk about punk being dead or punk being alive or punk being on ice, I felt the need to unleash this lil nugget of forgotten punk greatness. The first aural rumblings of Los Angeles' most offensive hardcore/garage band (until the Mentors I suppose) demonstrating their penchant for mixing the acid rock of Roky Erikson with the punk outs of X, and the beginnings of the Circle Jerks styled speed they would eventually run with for their first two (and most hardcore) albums. Personally, Angry Samoans are up their with Black Flag, Circle Jerks, TSOL, and the other primo LA first wave hardcore bands, but somehow they don't seem to get the same credibility as the others. Maybe it's because they were writing about goofy stuff (although, "T.V. Party" ain't exactly rocket science), or they were offensive, or maybe they weren't "tough" enough to quite fit in. Whatever the reason, Angry Samoans seem to slip through the cracks, and it's a damn shame because this demo, and their first two albums are essential. After that they started going downhill...fast, and possibly that's why their legacy isn't as revered as some of those other bands (but then, what about T.S.O.L.'s weird hair metal record, and Circle Jerks post "VI" have been wretched as well...so that argument doesn't hold water either). Shit, I don't know.

DL 

dead kennedys - 12.15.84 - river theater - guerneville,ca

earlier today i shot up out if bed bathed in a cold sweat screaming the words "THEH ITHINT ANY DEAD KENNEDYTH ON THE BLOGTH"

and then i began to wonder why the pillow was shoved that far into my mouth...but i didn't think about it too long because the answer could've only been a bad one

moving on

but yes...there isn't any of the dead kennedys on this blog...yeah they get mentioned and such...but no dk nonetheless

so i'm remedying that fact right now....though the best time to do so would've been on the 4th of july (but nooo...i had to post some atomic bomb footage instead...i blame toby keith)

what can be said about the dead kennedys?...they were (in my opinion) the last of the great political punk bands...they were one of the first punk bands to have an african american in their ranks (in the form of drummer d.h. peligro)...guitarist east bay ray was one of the first to bring the jazzy/surf guitar into punk music...bass player klaus flouride was one of the fastest bass players in punk rock...and then there's jello biafra and his voice...it was/is very unique to the genre (or any other for that matter...i was listening to one of his spoken word albums on a walkman once and this girl took them from me and asked what it was i was listening to and then proceeded to put on the headphones...10 seconds later she took them off and asked me "is that guy retarded?"...ah kids say the darndest things)...and he brought a dose of black humor into the punk rock

as the saying goes: "punk is dead"

and i'm inclined to agree...it died with the dead kennedys

don't even get me started on that "new" dead kennedys thing...but all i can say this "there's always room for jello"

know what i mean?

oh yeah...the music....

1 - intro
2 - take this job and shove it*
3 - hellnation
4 - dear abby
5 - when ya get drafted
6 - buzzbomb
7 - this could be anywhere
8 - mtv get off the air
9 - drug me
10 - winnebago warrior
11 - i spy
12 - jock-o-rama
13 - i kill children
14 - goons of hazard
15 - kill the poor
16 - police truck
17 - rawhide
18 - i fought the law (and i won)

*=johnny paycheck cover

DL: dead kennedys@river theater pt.1
DL: dead kennedys@river theater pt.2

happy 4th of july

(feel free to insert your favorite toby keith song here)

four hundred years - transmit failure

released 1998

these folks mix all of the intensity of both rites of spring and fugazi (and if you didn't know any better...you'd think guy picciotto fronted this band)

once the band split up in 2000...vocalist/guitarist daron hollowell and drummer ash bruce went on to join the experimental band bats and mice (which also includes members of milemarker...men's recovery project...and sleepytime trio)

DL: transmit failure

fucked up - let likes be cured by likes

released 2004

this band from the fabelled canadas are single handedly keeping hard core/punk rawk alive...and doing it better than the current new old school bands (ie: terror)

and for all you nerds out there...this was a limited release one-sided live 12" (only 300 were made...and i know that doesn't really matter here because it's posted on a blog...but now you have something to talk about at your next cocktail party)

so put this on...crank it up...and you'll feel like your right there in the action (and you won't have to worry about windmills or karate chops or drunk guys that go by the name "bro")

1 - intro
2 - generation
3 - colour removal
4 - black iron prison
5 - no pasaran
6 - a light that never comes on
7 - last man standing
8 - zezozose
9 - circling the drain
10 - police
11 - endtro

DL: let likes be cured by likes

murder-suicide pact - demo

released 2009

this is a 14 song "demo" (remember when a demo was about 3-4 songs recorded on what sounded like a tape deck in a garage/basement? boy...the times they are a-changin')

ok...pick out a black flag song (i suggest "police story")

then go and get a fan

turn it on and lean down behind it

then scream the lyrics to mentioned black flag song through the fan

and that's what this is all about

tell me you don't automatically think of "black coffee" in the opener "pretty good pretty bad"

this will take you to redondo beach in 1981

you can also find the band's SELF-TITLED album here inside the walls of this blog (twice)

DL: msp demo

Brainiac - Bonsai Superstar

Label: Grass

Year: 1994

Can you believe that there hasn't been any Brainiac posted on this blog before? I mean, what the fuck, right? I had never put any up here because I assumed it had already been covered, but then whilst looking back in the archives, I noticed...no Brainiac. For shit's sake dudes, we gotta do something about that, it's embarrassing. For reals.

I suppose we could have put up any of their records, as they're all really good, but I chose their second full length, as I have a particular soft spot in my heart for it (or maybe that's a heart murmur...I don't know, I'm not a doctor). If you missed out on them during their active years, then I guess you could describe them as noise rock, filtered by the quasi-danciness of Girls Against Boys (Eli Janney did produce this), and layered by synthesizers and Moogs. It yields a distinctive racket, but one that rewards time and time again. 

After the death of lead singer/keyboardist Tim Taylor in a car accident, the band broke up and the members went on to Enon, Model/Actress (with Curtis Mead from Split Lip [small world huh?]), Shesus, and sort of The Breeders. 

DL

The Raymond Brake - Never Work Ever

Label: Hep-Cat

Year: 1996

Every so often you just gotta get back on some of that ole indie rock shit, n'ah mean? And, for my money, the great state of North Carolina (Camel City...big ups!) churned out some of the best, and some of the most memorable of that indie rock back in the heyday of the stuff...the early and mid-90's. I mean, you couldn't walk ten feet without tripping over a band playing rockin, catchy, quirky indie rock in North Carolina. Sure, Chapel Hill got lots of the kudos, but Greensboro, with it's own liberal arts university in town had a sweet little scene as well. A lot of those bands were more abrasive, more primitive, or more artsy-fartsy than the bands centered around the Cats Cradle down the interstate, but The Raymond Brake could have easily competed with the Polvos, Archers Of Loafs, and Superchunks of the day. I think the easiest comparison would be Grifters, but that's me being pretty lazy and I'm sure you can come up with something better. 

Come up with something better because, I gotta go get my grill ready for some 4th of July all-American, independence-ass cooking out tomorrow.

DL