Mutton - Mutton

Label: Self released
Year: 2013

The very definition of burly. An Australian noise rock band that comes hurling rocks and waving sticks indiscriminately at you, the poor listener, for no apparent reason but their own twisted enjoyment. Everything about their approach is unhinged, threatening to fall about at any moment, or simply explode the speakers straining to keep all that blunt force trauma in tact.
Whatever is happening "down under" (I mean, I know what's happening down under on my own body...and it's vile to say the least, but in this instance I mean in a geographical sense) must be in some way bizarre, cause Mutton fit into a lineage of other twisted, nasty, brutish Australian bands who've come before: Lubricated Goat, Feedtime, Scul Hazards, Cosmic Psychos, King Snake Roost, Bushpig (part Australian...still counts), Slub, and Grong Grong. Bands that sound genuinely menacing, like, in an actual fistfight you're going to get at minimum one tooth knocked out. Minimum.
Drano vocals, overdriven rhythms, and an overall gut punch of a sound...it's fucking what you want man. Trust me. If you're a Pissed Jeans fan, go for this. Again, trust me.

DL

Double Boar - Wrong / Friction Circus 7"

Label: Bovine
Year: 1993

The year and label should be enough. Should be.
If not, try the personnel:
Bob Schaeffer - Festering Rinyanons, Virgo Snakes on bass and vocals
Tim Mescher - Tar, Blatant Dissent on bass (right...the other bass)
Todd Rittmann - U.S. Maple, Mercury Players, D. Rider on guitar
Mike Waterman - on drums (I'm sure he's done awesome other stuff...please fill me in)
Brad Wood - King Kong, Tortoise, Shrimp Boat recorded it
So, there.
Only complaint you could possible lodge with management is that this is limited to two songs. Two gloriously nasty and ugly songs.

DL

Empty Flowers - V

Label: Atomic Action!
Year: 2013

You had me at "members of Cable". But truth be told, this band is made up of one half Cable and the other half Zodiak (who themselves had members of Balboa and Rosetta…will the circle be unbroken, by and by lord, by and by), and it doesn't showcase the bombast and howling rage that were hallmarks of Cable. Which stinks in a way cause I love that stuff, but in reality it's great cause..there was already a Cable and now there's something new. New is good.
Empty Flowers are coming from a different, albeit related, direction. There are all the hallmarks of the rock music you (we) like, the big guitar, the driving rhythm section, and vocals that have a sense of urgency, all the stuff that combines to make "good music" (patent pending). On this particular record, the elements take on a marked mid 90's emo (and please understand I mean the emo that isn't a bad word kind of emo…not the squealing, hand silk screened, basement, paper bag shit) bend. Like, Shiner, or Boilermaker for example. And there's another sorta post hardcore/emo band from that time frame that they share a similar sound to, but I cannot think of their name for the life of me, and it's fucking killing me! Arrgh! Bluetip comes to mind, but that's not the band I was trying to think of.
But, regardless of my oatmeal memory, the point is, Empty Flowers are capable of some really memorable moments of mature (alliteration!) rock music, that echo with sounds from your past (as well as theirs), but craft a new version of what made that music special the first time around. It's no nostalgia trip, it's simply people of a certain age revisiting some influences of a certain age that if you'll no doubt find some common ground with.
Recommended.

DL

V/A - Our Band Could Be Your Life - A Tribute To D Boon and the Minutemen

Label: Little Brother

Year: 1996

Let's start by me telling you this, and it might rub you the wrong way...but..."I don't think the Minutemen were all that great". They were "fine" I guess. And maybe I was too stupid to "get it", or whatever, but ultimately they did and/or do, very little for me. They have a handful of really good songs, and a bunch of alright songs, and fair amount of shitty songs. Not a bad record per se, just not essential to these ears.

A lot of people are way into the Minutemen, and think they were very "important" or something to that extent, and that's fine, I'm sure they are very important to some folks. No one here is saying they're no good, or that they didn't contribute to this or that, or that we can't collectively respect what they accomplished in their time on earth.

I just like fIREHOSE better, that's all.

So then why am I posting this long ass album of other bands playing Minutemen songs? Good question.

Honestly, it's not a bad question at all.

I'll have to think about it for a minute and get back to you.

There's too many bands to list, but the ones you have a better chance of ever having head of before are:

Seam

Hazel

Oswald Five-O

Treepeople

Tsunami

Strawmen

Meat Puppets

Crackrbash

Nels Cline Trio

Dos

Overwhelming Colorfast

Free Kitten

Jawbox

Thurston Moore

Joe Baiza

Unwound

The Meices

Corduroy

Lou Barlow

D Boon (hey, that's not fair!)

Minutemen (for real, that's not fair!)

*originally posted 03-23-10, reposted 04-27-15

DL

Conan Neutron and the Secret Friends - The Enemy Of Everyone

Label: Seismic Wave Entertainment
Year: 2015

Here's a good one for a Friday. A record that has an unabashed appreciation of fun and isn't afraid to pull from some reference material which includes things such as; smiles, big choruses, warm fuzz, and melody. Weird, right?

It's a mixture of things that seem very familiar, but synthesized in the way they are they take on a new life, even though you could swear you've heard this, or something like this somewhere. At some point. Start with a very solid base of mid-late 1970's power pop-esque hard rock. Think, Cheap Trick or Sweet...bands that celebrated the good times with big catchy hooks. Then layer in some mid-late 1990's post grunge kind of stuff. Think, Toadies or Local H...bands that had some dirt under their fingernails, but ultimately were playing relatively accessible riff rock. And finally, and this is the most important element as it elevates what would be mundane into something altogether enjoyable and interesting, play the previous elements through your heavy riffing thud rock record collection. Think, Melvins, C Average (second C Average reference in a week!), or Big Business...bands that troll the bottom end to drive their songs into your brain and out the back of your skull.
Make any sense? It's catchy music with a gnarly edge...it's ok to like it because it's not simple pop (even though that's ok to like too, just don't tell anyone I said that). You might just have to hear it.

If the mixed-up description I've come up with doesn't help sway you, allow me to let you in on the "secret" of the Secret Friends...maybe that'll help. Conan Neutron comes to you from the bands Victory and Associates, and Replicator...he's been featured on this blog previously...look it up. Backing him up on bass is Tony Ash from Coliseum and Trophy Wives, who you have no doubt heard of. And rounding out the trio is Dale Crover on drums, who...my research tells me is in a band called "The Melvins" or something, but I can't really find any further information about who or what that might be. So, he's a mystery. In addition, Eugene Robinson of Oxbow stops by to sing a song with the band. Toshi Kasai of Big Business produced the record, and  David Yow of Jesus Lizard went through the trouble of designing the cover art for the whole thing. So, secret friends indeed. My secret friends are mostly just losers and nerds...certainly not up to Conan's secret friend level. Gotta work on that.

DL

Henry Rollins - Hot Animal Machine

Label: Texas Hotel
Year: 1987

I shall forever give Henry Garfield a "pass" on whatever he does, no matter how ill-advised or corny it may appear (basically everything from 1990 onward). Much like his peers Glenn Allen Anzalone and Ian Mackaye, I cannot, and will not stand around and listen to you badmouth anything that they choose to do. Ever. Not gonna do it.
Henry Rollins was just too pivotal to my own personal history that he will forever be carved into the Mount Rushmore of personal heroes (along with Danzig, Ian Mackaye, probably like, Jeff Grosso and John Lucero, maybe Neil Blender, Raymond Pettibon, Pushead, Diego Maradona, and Woody Weatherman...it's a big mountain).
So, whatever, you can go ahead with your potshots about how he's a self-aggrandizing jock with no sense of humor, but I shall just wag my finger in protest and sigh deeply. I'll listen to this record and bask in my own assurance that I'm right, and Rollins will beat you up for arguing with me in the first place.

But, forget all that, let's just talk about this record for a minute. After Black Flag had taken a long walk into the wilderness not to return, Henry Rollins found the next logical outlet for his musical pursuits. A trip to England with a newly christened backup band (not quite yet the Rollins Band proper), to run through some new material, some blues vamps, and a few covers for good measure.
The band at the time was Chris Haskett (Rollins Band, Pigface) on guitar, Bernie Wandel on bass, and Mick Green on drums, and they perform what could be seen as a logical extension of the later era Black Flag material. Slower, jazzier, blues-ier, and more open, ready for Rollins to layer on his motivational speech lyrical jags. The covers included ones by Velvet Underground, Richard Berry, and Suicide.
At the same recording session, the band also recorded the Henrietta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters ep, crediting it to a "different band". These songs (including a Wire cover, and a sorta Queen cover) don't have the same tight punch the proper album tracks do, and veer into novelty territory, but regardless...just go for the ride with them.

Pettibon-esque cover art by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo

DL

Thrall - Hung Like God

Label: Reptilian

Year: 2001

If you were to see this in a record store, this cover should be retarded enough to scare you away.

If you were to get past the messianic collage, the title of the album should be retarded enough to scare you away.

If you were able to process the cover, and come to terms with the title, then a few seconds of Thrall's dunder-headed take on Killdozer rock should be retarded enough to scare you away.

But you don't scare easy do you? Nah, you don't, and as well you shouldn't. There's nothing to be scared of here, just more Thrall music to binge drink to and later black out on your cousin's couch from.

* Originally posted 09.02.10, reposted 04.22.15

DL

Honor Role - Album

Label: Merge

Year: 1997

By request, but this one should have been here a long time ago.

This record is a compilation of Honor Role's entire discography sans the first 7" (which I will post at a later date). It includes the two albums, "The Pretty Song" and "Rictus" and some other recordings. Those albums were originally released in 1986 and 1989 respectively.

The band came out of Richmond, Virginia, and evolved from a simple hardcore band into a math rock monolith, eventually disbanding when part of the group wanted to explore heavier, more aggressive music (Butterglove...which I will also post here eventually). More famously though, they went on to be Breadwinner, another math rock masterpiece of a band. Other bands that benefited from Honor Role alumni included; Kepone, Labradford, Ladyfinger, Coral, Pillow Talk, and Dynamic Truths.

Musically, the band blended the straight ahead, vaguely metallic punk of Husker Du, with the wiry art punk of say, Gang Of Four, and the moody introspection of their Dischord neighbors to the north. All in all, this yields particularly impressive results, churning up some alien and moving sounds. I remember not knowing what to make of the "Rictus" album when I first heard it years ago since it didn't have the jarring attacks found on "The Pretty Song" (which was released by Reed Mullin of C.O.C. so you know it's good), or the atonal guitar scratches. I put that record (cassette actually) away for many moons, and didn't hear it again until I was literally throwing away a bunch of tapes out of my car (since tape decks were being phased out), and turns out, surprise, it's a really great record. Slower, and more nuanced, but great.

I'd be curious to hear some one's opinions on how this one who has not heard the band before. Part of me feels that it might not stack up these days, and I'm just remembering it's impact on my impressionable brain 20 years ago. Let me know.

*Originally posted 12.19.09, reposted 07.28.12, reposted for the final time 04-22-15

DL

Ed Hall - Love Poke Here

Label: Boner

Year: 1990

By request, the second full length from Ed Hall. If you have been following this here blog for the past few months you will have already noted that we got pretty balls deep into the early 90's Austin, Texas / Trance Syndicate / Cherubs / Drain / Ed Hall / Johnboy / etc. scene a few months back. And there we described the music of Ed Hall, and I'm sure we gave a very lucid and well developed synopsis of the band and why you should invite them into you home. I'm sure we did, it's what we do. 

This particular album features the distinctive vocal "talents" of Kevin Whitley who would later go on to front Cherubs, in case that's what you need to hear before taking a chance on this.

By the way, happy mother's day to all the special ladies in my life who have had the honor of birthing my prodigy, and do my main dookie stain, the lady who brought me in to this world, Penny. Big ups!

*Originally posted 05.10.09, reposted 04-22-15

DL

Daddy Longhead - Cheatos

Label: Touch And Go

Year: 1991

Haven't posted any acid baked Texan music lately, so I thought I'd remedy that situation for you real quick. Daddy Longhead was a side project of Butthole Surfer Jimbo Young for his wealth of bizarre music. And while this is less harsh than the Butthole Surfers, you can certainly hear their fingerprints on it. I would say, take the "Texas weird" of Butthole Surfers, combine that with the guitar rave ups of Helios Creed, and then play some straight up FM radio rock in the distant background (Allman Brothers "cover" not withstanding), and you get the idea.

The three dudes on this particular recording have spent time in the following (very impressive) bands; Butthole Surfers, Big Boys, Scratch Acid, Rapeman, Didjits, Ministry, Euripides Pants, DDT, Jackofficers, Areola 51, and Honky. Pretty good right? Also this was produced by Paul Leary, and has guest drumming on a couple tracks by King Coffey, in case those band names weren't enough for you.

I will say, if you are turned off by guitars soloing, and soloing, and soloing, you might want to stay away, but if you enjoy a good six string freak out, then this one is for you.

*Originally posted 01-13-10, reposted 04-22-15

DL