Shifting - It Was Good

 

Label: Permafrost / Constant Disappointment / Gabo / Assos 'Y' Song / Whosbrain 

Year: 2020

From the "Almost Best Of" file.

Really good, gritty noise rock out of Dublin. I can't tell if the band is just a duo of two brothers, or if there are other accomplices aiding and abetting, but regardless, they make a hell of a lurching racket. In reality, this one maybe should be on the actual "Best Of" list...it's super rad.

DL

Labor Hex - Nothing Is Real

 

Label: self released

Year: 2019

From the "Almost Best Of" file, and as an added bonus, also from the "Oops, This Came Out In 2019' file.

High energy post hardcore that skews possibly more "hardcore" than "post", but that takes the Rites Of Soring template and runs it through a beefy backline, with a more gruff vocal delivery. Has a few elements of 1994, when the hardcore world was under the influence of Quicksand. All comes together nicely.

DL

Carnivorous Bells - The Upturned Stone

 Label: Human Headstone

Year: 2020

From the "Almost Best Of" file.

Free form anarcho-post punk weirdness that covers a lot of ground, but all of it off the beaten path, and none of it in a straight line. 

DL

Faucet - Bitter Insane Melting

 

Label: self released

Year: 2020

From the "Almost Best Of" file.

An all encompassing, scathing record that sounds genuinely "weird" and "unhinged". Lots of layered sounds that recall a punk format, but that veer into a bleaker, more ominous realm. Good shit for bad times.

DL

Barren Womb - Lizard Lounge

 

Label: Loyal Blood

Year: 2020

From the "Almost Best Of" file. 

Scandinavian rock that remains off kilter enough to stay interesting, but familiar enough to stay satisfying. Riff forward, as it should be.

DL

L.O.T.I.O.N. Multinational Corpoation - Alphabrain

 

Label: Sub Pop

Year: 2020

From the "Almost Best Of The Year" file comes this two song ep of techno-industrial-punk for your enjoyment. It's basically the soundtrack to the scene in the late 80's movie where the "good guy" has to go into a dark, seedy nightclub full of cyber-punks dancing to some sinister DJ. This is the music playing as he tries to push his way through the throngs.

DL 

Throttle - Shoot Out

 

Label: Reproductive

Year: 1995

It's December in my part of the world, which marks the end of a particularly bizarre year (assuming you keep your calendar Gregorian on dat ass), which marks the beginning of my own personal slog towards recognizing the "best" music of the previous 12 months. It honestly is a weird tradition, but being a slave to cultural constructs, I feel obliged to carry it on. So, this will be the last post of old music of the year. The next posts will be a series of records that came out this year that were really good, but not quite "Best Of" material. Then sometime around Christmas I should have my shit together enough to trouble you all with the actual "Best Of" BS.

Until that time, let's go out on a banger. Shall we?

In my opinion, which is currently the only one that matters here (by default, not importance), this blog was built for records like the one posted here and now. It's a band who flew under the radar of bands already flying off scope. But a band who trafficked in some seriously burly and necessary noise rock bluster. The kind that should have been more readily heard back when it was current. The kind that would appeal to fans of bands like La Gritona, Green Magnet School, Slughog, and similar degenerate types. Not that you're a degenerate per se, it's just that you're not exactly "prom material", you know? (that being said, I actually went to both my junior and senior proms, plus I was on the homecoming court my senior year! Big man on campus alert!)

Throttle is an apt name for this band, as that is the effect of the music. Fucking essential!

DL

Silver Salute - Happy Eyes

 

Label: Amphetamine Reptile

Year: 1995

Two guys from the band Vertigo walk into a bar...in Minneapolis...and probably order a couple Hamm's. End of story.

Fast forward to those same two guys, still in a bar, still in Minneapolis, probably still drinking a couple Hamm's. But this time they are joined by their buddy Mike Phillips. This time they brought their instruments. And this time they belt out two pounding rockers in the grand tradition of Minneapolis Hamm's drinking, noise rockers. From Man Sized Action, to Replacements, to Cows, to Guzzard, to Janitor Joe, to Gnomes of Zurich, and on into present day bands like Blind Shake keeping the torch burning.

Honest to goodness rock music. Should be easy...but it's not, else more folks would be doing it. So, when you find it, go with it. 

DL

Mercury 4F - You Throw Me Up

 

Label: Bovine

Year: 1994

First off, I do not know how to make the fahrenheit symbol on a computer keyboard that this band employs in their name. I'm certain the method is a quick Google away, but honestly, who the fuck has the time? And do I really want my wife and kids seeing that I'm researching how to type the fahrenheit symbol? Talk about embarrassing.

Regardless, I wanted to get this posted in time for you to have it to play tomorrow at your Thanksgiving fest. If you are not an American person, or an ex-pat of some lineage that celebrates Thanksgiving, then...I don't know what to tell you. I guess, just go to your neighbors house, change the name on the mailbox to your own, cough in their faces, and declare it your dominion by divine right, or something. Then make a big meal, argue with your weird conservative uncle, and go to sleep at 5:00pm on the couch, drunker than you should be in the presence of your parents.

Nothing REALLY says "I'm thankful" quite like lumbering Swiss caveman noise rock, and Mercury 4F deliver the goods!

Save me the tofurky wishbone!

DL

The Meices - Words b/w One Hand

 Label: Word Of Mouth

Year: 1993

This is as close to pop-punk as you'll catch me. Had I not seen the band live, lo those many moons ago, I probably would not have thought of them as "that band that was a lot like Seaweed", and instead would have said, "is this band from Orange County...and was that a Poison riff?!".

But in reality, they do have enough grit to their sound that they avoid any comparisons to Strung Out, and they stick to rocking and not trying to be cute. It's good. I swear. If you like a newer band like The Dirty Nil, then this one is right up your alley. If you like an older band like Seaweed, then you'll be alright.

Plus, I told in the last post that this was coming!

DL