This band, and more specifically, their mouthpiece Ian Svenonious, seem to be a pretty polarizing affair. You either thought, "how clever", or "what a horses' ass". Those who thought the band were clever then fell into two further camps, those who thought, "how clever...I wonder if Cops will be a rerun tonight", or "how clever...I should commit this bands philosophies into a new religion, tattoo it onto my body, and mimic their every move". There were a lot of those people mimicking their every move too. A lot. Surely, if you were of the right age, the right cultural predisposition, and had the attention span to follow the (admittedly well written) thesis of the band, then chances are you would be impressed that they were, at the very least, doing something original in the realm of post-hardcore, or at the very most, injecting a much needed shot of energy into a flagging scene.
This particular record was culled from sessions the band entered in to record their third album, after guitarist Steve Kroner left the band, those sessions were abandoned, and only the six songs on The Embassy Tapes were salvaged. They also added four live tracks to round out the record that was released well after the band's dissolution. The sound is fairly raw, but the energy and intent is all there.
Here's something new, well, relatively new as far as this place goes anyway. The first "proper" full length from the kings of blown-the-fuck-out noisecore (they had a cassette release before this one...but...do you even still have a cassette player?). And when I say noisecore, I mean goddamn noisy shit. They play a mix of speedy hardcore and stomping early nineties rock but pin the proceedings comfortably in the red, resulting in a devastating barrage of nastiness. It should appeal to fans of the Hawks record, Clockcleaner, Nudibranch, Flipper, Antioch Arrow, Coleman (holy shit, did I pull that one out of my ass or what? remember the girl who sang for that band would bash her skull against the floor while they played and would finish he set with huge knots on her forehead? jesus), Drunks With Guns, Dazzling Killmen, humidity, jackhammers, or sticking your head out the window of a car driving 75 miles per hour down the freeway straight at a brick wall. If those things float your boat, you should try this record on for size. If you're bothered by thoughts of "high fidelity", or the lack of a bassist, then do yourself a favor and skip this one.
The record is still very much in print, and can be ordered direct from the label.
Sorry, I had to do it. I had to add some more Karp. They are one of my most favoritest bands ever.
I remember years ago asking a friend (before blogging) for some new heavy music to listen to and he suggested Karp. So I borrowed Suplex from him and my life was ruined soon after putting the fucking cd in the stereo (yes, a cd. before ipods). This started my Karp obsession collecting everything they ever committed to tape. I even have a set of Suplex buttons.
Enough rambling (yes, rambling. Before Jesus ever rambled)... wait just a fucking second. Where's that fucking documentary?!! Somebody get on this shit now.
with a title such as it has...you'd be un-american to pass this up (as well as not liking such things)
this would be the "ever present football player rapist" the butthole surfers refer to in their song pepper (if it were a person)
if you like lyrics written by the guy wearing the denim jacket (even in pe class) that sits in back of the class...the mentors...a little gg allin...maybe a little ramones....perhaps some of the cramps as well....the misfits if they were all about the trailer park rather than the graveyard....
and who doesn't want to see a blood-caked midget sodomizing a stuffed rabbit? (if you don't...see above mentioned un-american business)
I was going to post some Wurm today, but then I noticed somebody posted that in the discussion board area, and then I was thinking about posting Saint Vitus, but decided to lay off the SST for a minute. We can always come back to it, it'll always be there for us.
Instead, how about that elusive last full length by Kansas City's Season To Risk? Good idea right? I say "last full length", but I think they are still a functioning band, just on hiatus or something. They've contributed to some compilations within the last couple of years, so who knows. I'd like to see them make a full comeback and bring their scraping noise rock with them.
If you were a fan of their first two full lengths, then you'll like this one too, even though some of the melodies might catch you off guard. While, they always had some catchy elements buried beneath the din of the older material, those melodies come to the surface on this one, but rest assured, it's still a burly slab of heaviness. Like, you know how Helmet has some melody and some actual singing (Page's Ozzy voice, not the drill sergeant bark) but that doesn't take away from the crushing blow of the attack? Yeah, well same thing here.
This is a highly underrated band, both when they were active and now in retrospect, which is real puzzling. They have consistently delivered the goods over the years, but you seldom hear their name mentioned along side the other noise rock champions of the past decade or so. What the fuck man? Mention their name already!
Well, now I feel bad. Now I feel like that last post was a waste of time. Now I feel like I should make up for it by posting something that hasn't been posted quite as much all over the damn place.
Certainly this is by no means a "Shiny Grey Exclusive", but I haven't seen this particular bootleg in more than one or two other places. So, there's a decent chance you hadn't happened upon it yet, and it'll be new to you.
Karp, performing live on the radio in Olympia, Washington, pounding out their hits and being generally goofy between songs. The sound quality is what you would expect from a community radio broadcast, good if not great for a bootleg.
Sure does seem like Karp is more popular these days then they ever were during their brief existence. Maybe it's a case of hindsight being 20/20, or maybe it's just the popularity of Big Business bleeding out to the member's former endeavors, but for whatever reason you can't help but trip over all the Karp shit littering the internets. So why not add to the mess? Yes. Bless this mess.
Our compatriot Fred posted this at his excellent blog Mindgrinder awhile back, but I didn't notice or forgot or something until I just googled "Karp" to get an image for this post and stumbled upon it. Oops. Oh well, I said it was a mess of Karp shit didn't I? My apologies to Fred. Oh well, kill all redneck pricks.
Hot on the heels of the Black Flag mega-post, I thought we'd keep the SST ball rolling with one of my favorite label releases, the first Saccharine Trust record, their mini-lp "Paganicons". I like this one because it still sounds like it "belongs" on the SST roster, it is effectively a punk record, but you are hearing the beginnings of a band about to go of on a wild trip. They would eventually go on to play improvised jazz-informed music before calling it quits in 1986 (apparantly they are back together and playing shows now...who knew?), but at this time you get a pretty unique blend of styles that I would still consider "accessible" for your average hardcore fan. If you like later Black Flag, the Minutemen, Redd Kross, 45 Grave, Dead Kennedys, older T.S.O.L., or the non-surfy Agent Orange stuff then you'll probably get a kick out of this one.
Jagged, sharp, driving, noisy punk rock. Does that seem right? Right enough.
well...it's saturday...the heat is being hot...there's the sounds of an auctioneer wafting in through the window ...and it looks like there's a storm a-brewin'...so what better thing to do than supply all of you with a little black flag
and this is by no means an exhaustive discography...i'm sure there are things out there that have been put out on labels in germany and sweden and whatnot...but this is a pretty damn decent go at it (and though i suppose it could be considered a black flag release...i didn't include the MINUTEFLAG collaboration they did with the band the minutemen...though you can find it here as well)
what can be said about these guys that hasn't already been said....
they started out as your typical run of the mill "skate rock" band called panic (later changing their name in 1978...and going through multiple singers)....then eventually morphing into a visceral east coast version of the doors (thanks to hank rollins)...and by the end of it all they'd become a free form jazz punk jam band
in my opinion (not that any of you actually care about such a thing) black flag were the first real punk band (though most/all will argue that it's either the ramones or the sex pistols)...my point being that the sex pistols were just the next step on the punk rock evolutionary ladder (though sticking with the typical punk "3 chords and an attitude" thing...but were really nothing more than a punk boy band...they were put together after the band's manager saw a ramones show and thought "oi...i can do that too")...as for the ramones...i'm just gonna go ahead and say it: I'M REALLY NOT ALL THAT MUCH OF A FAN (same goes for the sex pistols...actually...i can only tolerate one of their songs all the way through...that one being their cover of the frank sinatra tune "my way")...the ramones have more than one decent song amongst their discography (just to mention a few: "beat on the brat"..."cretin hop"..."the kkk took my baby away")
ah...i'm getting away from my point (once again)
black flag possessed that snotty little brother that likes to throw bricks through the screens of old television sets and throw beer bottles at police cars (and once the car comes back...takes a piss in the back of it once he's arrested...and calling your parents at 3:00am just to say "hello dad...i'm in jail...i like it here...it's nice") and lighting shit on fire (sometimes literally) and hating your parents because they don't get you attitude that none of the other bands really possessed at the time...they're also considered the first hardcore band...and they were really the first d.i.y. band (they were the first band to book their own tours)
but enough of my rambling...you just want the music
damaged demos (released 1981...contains songs that would be put on the DAMAGED album with dez cadena on vocals) DL: damaged demos
licorice pizza 7" (released 1981 as a promo for the DAMAGED album by a record store chain of the same name (sans 7")...featuring a 5 piece black flag and the earliest recordings with hank on vocals) DL: licorice pizza 7"
everything went black (released 1983...a compilation of the 3 singers that came before hank...which would be keith morris/ron reyes/dez cadena...the album got greg ginn and chuck dukowski some jail time for releasing it...i'm not going to go into the whole story...google's there for a reason) DL: everything went black
the first four years (released 1983...this is a compilation of pre-hank black flag material...it's pretty much the NERVOUS BREAKDOWN/JEALOUS AGAIN/SIX PACK eps...the LOUIE LOUIE 7"...and various other songs that were put on compilations) DL: the first four years
family man (released 1984...this was the band's first foray into the instrumental realm...as well as hank's first foray into the spoken word world...the only time the entire band come together is on the song "armageddon man") DL: family man
slip it in (released 1984...the woman hank is being all "hey baby" with in the title song is future L7 vocalist/guitarist suzi gardner) DL: slip it in
live '84 (released 1984...the first official live black flag album...and yes...it's better than WHO'S GOT THE 10 1/2...that's right...i said it) DL: live '84
the process of weeding out (released 1985...the title can either mean that they were "weeding out" hank as he's nowhere to be seen on this album...or the "wedding out" could be looked at as a reference to all the pot most of the band was obviously smoking during the making of the album...as you can plainly hear as the band goes into full on jam band mode) DL: the process of weeding out
in my head (released 1985...the last studio album from the band...the band's sound is more experimental and rock orientated complete with fade-outs...sounding more like greg ginn's instrumental band gone...which opened for black flag during their '86 tour...hank ended up taking gone's bass player andrew weiss and drummer sim cain for his rollins band...this put a bad religion releasing INTO THE UNKNOWN look on most folk's faces) DL: in my head
spray paint live 7" (released 1986...bootleg...could've very well been recorded at the same show the police story live 7" was recorded...dez on vocals) DL: spray paint live 7"
who's got the 10 1/2? (released 1986...the other official black flag live album...and i've already said what i needed to say about this...and just in case you're wondering...it's kira) DL: who's got the 10 1/2?
wasted...again (released 1987...a best of compilation) DL: wasted...again
i can see you (released 1989...some left over material from the IN MY HEAD-era) DL: i can see you
annihilate this week (released 1990...it's made up of a song taken from the band's final show..and 2 found on the WHO'S GOT THE 10 1/2 album) DL: annihilate this week
the complete 1982 demos+more (released 1996...this was originally released in 1982 during their not being able to record anything new legally...so the band went in an made a secret demo of songs that would later get used on the MY WAR and SLIP IT IN albums...and this was the only time drummer chuck biscuits (who has also played in samhain...the descendents...subhumans...circle jerks...just to name a few) played in the band...and the +more is an interview and a small set the band played at the radio tokyo recording studios...and this is the only place you can find the songs "what can you believe" and "yes,i know") DL: the complete 1982 demos +more
and now we've come to the end of our journey
and see...you didn't get pelted in the head with a microphone...and you were never in any danger of almost seeing "little hank" through a tiny pair of sweaty shorts
aren't you glad you sat through it all until the end?
and at least you weren't this kid...this was hank being hank....enjoy
![[shiny grey monotone]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipd6KiHDAbQRs8CrRmxCtqbg5yoSbtwAR2w4FDFERXJfP-Wgf3Cz4jKCnaAK371bePkk6lKYG-xjoKhUdF7yW1blhH6YjV-KoEofpS4GD9XwZyDKQbxxbHb3Q5NFTmvea6ecFdMdVZWqoj/s854-r/1.jpg)
