headbutt - solvent bassed product

released 1998

zokuchou's post reminded me that i had one the band's albums amongst all of the crap on my computer

seriously...my computer should be on that hoarding show on the tv

"barry manilow does an acapella version of the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW soundtrack...really?"
"yeah...i need to keep that because...um...you need to stop pressuring me!"

and scene!

4 bassists
2 drummers

mix that all in with some later ministry...maybe some pussy galore...and some lightning bolt...and this is what happens

and not only that...the album provides you with a little something that'll freak your neighbors out when played at top volume at 3:00am on a tuesday (check out the unlisted track)

DL: solvent bassed product

HEADBUTT - TIDDLES

Label: Dirter Promotions
Released 1994

Don't be fooled by the puddy cat as this is somewhat dark and sinister. Essentially industrial in nature and likened to the Swans & Einsturzende Neubauten. Abrasive, vocals go from singing to a strained bed of nails. 3 basses no less and sounding somewhat tribal on a few tracks. Headbutt get into some good rhythmic action here and when they get bored of that they go scrape some flesh. Perfect for dinner parties.

DL

melt banana - cell-scape

released 2003

i could be seeing these folks right now...but no...i had to go and spend money on tickets to go and see young widows (who didn't even show up...their van saw to that)

they're currently on tour with themselves

"how could that be?" you could be asking yourself

well...you see...they're also playing part of their set under the moniker of melt banana lite...which is essentially still melt banana...just with synths and samplers taking the place of the guitar (which can be heard on their new album MELT BANANA LITE LIVE VERSION 0.0)

on this album...the band stretch out beyond their usual short blasts and become a little more accessible sounding

and there's just something about the bass and guitar play at the beginning of the song "shield your eyes,a beast in the well of your hand" just gets you pumped up

all of the drums were performed by a drum machine (though there's been some speculation that sometime touring drummer dave witte played on the album in some spots)

so join me in the drinking of the laced kool-aid...

DL: cell-scape
(link fixed)

jawbox - split w/jawbreaker / your choice live series split w/leatherface

split w/ jawbreaker released 1991
split w/ leatherface released 1995

i'm posting these so i can take the opportunity to remind you folks that the band are going to regroup and play on the LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON show on the 8th of this month (they're going to perform a total of 3 songs...the one that will get televised is "savory"...and the other 2 will be available for download)

it'll be the first time they've played together since splitting up in 1997

there have been mixed reports of the band possibly doing a tour and recording another album (from bassist kim coletta)...but frontman j. robbins has said that none of that will be happening

now if you go back in time and remember me saying that the jesus lizard should be the only band from that time period that should continue touring and releasing an album...i'm going to go against myself and say that jawbox should be added to that list as well

and if you didn't already know...their album FOR YOUR OWN SPECIAL SWEETHEART recently got reissued with the SAVORY +3 EP getting tacked on for good measure (which if you go here you'll see that someone from their camp has totally been reading this blog)

you can also find the above mentioned reissue a few spaces below this

set your tivos
set your dvrs
set your (insert recording device here)

LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON...december 8th...11:35 cst (or for you other folks...the time slot conan o'brien used to inhabit)

DL: split w/ jawbreaker
DL: split w/ leatherface

the dead milkmen - if i had a gun

released 1992

"takin' retards to the zoo"
"punk rock girl"
"bitchin' camaro"

i'm assuming that you've heard of those songs

you in the back wearing the offspring t-shirt...i'm telling you now...before you're burned alive...i'd exit through that door over there

sorry folks...i don't know how that person got in here...i suppose if anyone can crash a white house party...i guess anyone can make it into the SGM offices

now...back to the business at hand

take nofx...and mix it with what the vandals would become later on in their career...and you have the dead milkmen

but totally in a good way

i remember listening to the radio back in the day...and the dj played a little ditty called "the best thanksgiving ever" (which lead into the song "bitchin' camaro) from this very album...and i just so happened to tape it off the radio...and i was hooked...and i then spent multiple hours scanning multiple music stores and pawn shops for this album (though i didn't know the title of it at the time)

then i eventually lost the tape and forgot about it and went on living my life

but for some reason...the above mentioned song snuck it's way into my head...and i then took to the internets to look for it

and to make a not so long story short...here it is

DL: if i had a gun

Die 116 - Damage Control

Label: Wreck-Age

Year: 1994

Gavin Van Vlack holds mighty sway in my home. Well, at least to me he does. I'm sure my wife and children would have no idea who, or what, in the fuck is "Gavin Van Vlack". 

Regardless of my families' obvious shortcomings in their NYHC hero-mongering abilities, I found myself in a pretty deep Van Vlack trance in the early Nineties. Shit, the dude was in Absolution and then Burn for shit's sake! Dan O'Mahony name-checks him on the legendary "Free For All" compilation! What more could you want?! He was churning out some of the meanest, burliest, and most forward thinking riffs in all of New York. Dude was single handedly, and I repeat, single handedly, changing the sound of modern hardcore music. He introduced a fractured groove to the genre, and in his wake came the "post hardcore" boom of 1991 that all but rendered the Youth Crew sound a moot point.

Yes, granted, had you already been listening to Unsane, Helmet, or Cop Shoot Cop, then you were privy to this "new" sound already. But most young men under in the influence of Revelation Records were still convinced Gorilla Biscuits was about as far as you could push hardcore music away from it's core (pun intended) characteristics.

I'm sure I'm making too big a deal out of all of this, as in, "who gives a shit about my opinion on the intricacies of contemporary hardcore music?" (although you really should, I have plenty of other theories on modern music...seriously.), so I'll quit yammering. But, should you need any further proof that this band is no joke, please see the roster of bands that either made up, or were born out of Die 116:

Rorscach, Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye, Pry, The Big Collapse, Burn, Absolution, Playing Enemy, Made Out Of Babies, Kill Van Kull, JJ Paradise Players Club, Stillsuit, Glassjaw, Shai Hulud, and  Saves The Day (ouch). I know I'm missing someone, but whatever, that's plenty. 

Just get this.  Now.

DL

Engine Kid - Live - Thurston's - Chicago

Label: Bootleg

Year: 1993

I can't for the life of me remember where I got this bootleg, and until a few hours ago, I had completely forgotten I even had it. Turns out I have a couple of those organizer books full of cds that I had misplaced in a closet in the house, and it took a fairly aggressive cleaning spree to uncover them (along with an almost forgotten Derek Hess poster...good find!).

So anyway, I put it on, and I'll be damned if this isn't a really good quality live show. The sound is fantastic, must have been straight off the soundboard. Anyone here familiar with Thurston's in Chicago? I haven't ever heard of that club, but of course, I've never spent more than a few hours in Midway and O'Hare airports (and one side trip into that neighborhood with all the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, Oak Park maybe?), so my knowledge of the greater Chicagoland area is pretty limited to the Blues Brothers, John Hughes movies, the Superbowl Shuffle, and at least one "Chi-town Heat" version of an old NWA (National Wrestling Alliance, not Niggas With Attitude mind you) Starcade event. So, not a lot of familiarity. Sorry.

But, if you're a fan of Engine Kid's breakneck dynamics, and big guitar histrionics, as I am wont to be, do yourself the honor of trying this show out. Das is good.

DL

HEDONISTS - WOMB / DEEPEST SECRET FEAR

Label: Am Rep
Released: 1993

Forum request (1). Classic release on Am Rep as part of the "Am Rep Industries" singles. As you can see this release has rather raunchy artwork by Coop. The band only ever released 2 singles which included this one (which is the better of the 2). Great noise rock on both sides and if you like anything noise rock or Am Rep related then I'd be very surprised if you didn't dig this. Some background info on the band can be found here.

DL

Melvins - Tanks - Peel Session 03.10.91

Label: Bootleg

Year: 1991

The classic line-up of Buzz, Dale, and Shirley Temple's daughter, doing it in classic Melvins style, slow and low, for the classic John Peel.

'Nuff said, yes?

Alright...four songs, including the rare Clown Alley cover "Theme", and an added bonus (not on the original 7" bootleg) Flipper cover "Way Of The World", with bits of Mr. Peel's dialogue interspersed. 

Honestly, that's 'nuff said now. 

DL

Red Expendables - Factory Issued Sealed Packaged Printed and Pressed CD

Label: Grimmwerks

Year: 1997

I had not heard this record until very recently, so my take on it is not based on any historical significance in my own life, merely, it was a curiosity I had heard about but never sought out. I stumbled over it the other day, grabbed it, listened to it, and decided to post it. 

The story goes, at the end of Cop Shoot Cop, the band had spent about $150,000 of Interscope's money recording what would be the follow-up to the album "Release". The band had mixed feelings about the process and the songs, and group founder Tod A decided the music wasn't up to par and split. The rest of the band approached Interscope with the nine songs they had, but the label refused to release the album. That marks the end of Cop Shoot Cop, but the remaining band members polish off those nine songs, and add four more and release the record as Red Expendables. There is a connection to the previously posted Book Of Knots record, but frankly, that's just what I'm told, and I can't confirm or deny anything.

Bottom line is, if you liked Cop Shoot Cop on "Release", the more streamlined version of the band, then you will like this. If it weren't "ex-Cop Shoot Cop", then it probably would have been a well respected album, but in the shadow of one of the great noise rock bands of all time, it's a little flat. See for yourself.

DL