Nirvana - MTV Live 'n Loud 12-13-93

Label: Bootleg
Year: 1993

Hey, remember these guys? What ever happened to them? Seemed like they were poised for big success, and then...poof, they just up and disappeared Probably got feed up with trying to "make it" and just went and got real jobs. Maybe somebody let them know that there was a band called Bush that had already beat them to it (Candlebox too for that matter).

Well, anyway, regardless, there was this one time they were on television, Mtv to be precise, and they broadcast this 10 song concert. Which was pretty cool for Mtv back in those years...and would be pretty cool now, assuming they actually played music. Not too long ago a dvd collection of this show was released that has the entire set including bonus tracks and stuff. You can go buy that, assuming there are still stores that sell music (maybe Mtv.com sells music...who knows, the interweb is a mysterious and beguiling place that I tend to steer clear from), but for now right now, you can listen to these choice cuts from a band that narrowly missed their window to stardom. If only...huh?

DL

V/A - Magic Bullet Sampler - vol. 2

Label: Magic Bullet
Year: 2015

Magic Bullet has been quietly carving out an interesting niche over the past 18 years, releasing a slew of offbeat records and carefully curated volumes from bands who have defined their chosen genres. They once leaned heavily on late 90's scream bands, but have since (always, really) broadened their scope to include all manner of heavy (and not so heavy) music. Three cheers all around to a great label still fighting the good fight. Peep this compilation, and then o pick up your favorites off it (my vote goes to Meatwound and Wailin Storms, but don't let me sway your judgment).

Sweet Cobra - a house favorite here at the ole blog, super catchy, driving, heavy noise rock. This band has yet to disappoint
NY In 64 - some mid-90's post hardcore emo feel, has teeth but no tongue (instrumental). Members of East Of the Wall and You and I.
Meatwound - reason enough to download...stop, drop and roll. Burly as fuck noise rock.
Bleach Everything - straight forward hardcore ripping. If it ain't broke...
Wormwood - throw a towel over your head, and have your friend wail away with a baseball bat in a slow, rhythmic fashion. Half of the band Doomriders.
Ancient VVisdom - hmmmm...well, you can't win 'em all.
Harmonic Cross - some of the same dudes from the aforementioned Bleach Everything, this time going the opposite direction into shapeless ambiance.
Brother Dege - somber blues folk, less Robert Johnson more Dax Riggs. 
Ides Of Gemini - dreamy dark disturbances.
Wailin Storms - this band is an unexpected revelation, death rock with gusto, they channel Samhain, Christian Death, TSOL, and drag it through the hot southern sun until it blisters and bursts. Super good!
Zex - easy, breezy poppy punk played by ladies and gentlemen in studded leather jackets.
Integrity - I mean, c'mon man. It's a live version of 'Dawn Of The New Apocalypse' off their high water mark record, complete with requisite "Cleveland is violent" stage banter...exactly what you want from Integrity!

DL

American Heritage - Millenarian

Label: Translation Lost
Year: 2006

Keelhaul vs. Mastodon vs. Capricorns...essentially.
Otherwise, it's a really big, loud, brutal, twisting, complex, heavy, ugly briar patch of gut punching riff after riff after riff, accompanied by a rhythm section more akin to road construction than your average rock band. It's math rock turned up to maximum volume and run through a series of distortion pedals.
Later American Heritage eschewed vocals for the most part, and while this one is chocked full of them, it's got he most bellowing and yelling of any of their releases I can think of.
Good music to soundtrack your next backyard demolition derby themed party (which, by the way...where's the invite?)
Recorded and mixed by Sanford Parker, and mastered by Scott Hull, which only adds to the punishment.

DL

Putiferio - Ate Ate Ate

Label: Robot Radio
Year: 2008

Our Italian Bureau comes correct with another recommendation, this time the band Putiferio from...well....Italy. Padova to be exact.
We were sent their latest record, which is a relative term because it came out in 2012, but upon further listening, I like this one, their first one, better. It's got a bit more dirt under the fingernails, you know? It's seven songs, the first three aggressively building towards the album's centerpiece, the 13 minute "Putiferio Goes To War" which is an amalgamation of electronic music, off-the-wall grindy noisey, ambient soundscapes, and big hooky noise rock. Takes an investment to get through but I think you'll enjoy the fruits of your labor. The record then ends as it began, with three more tracks, one of which plays off the mellow electronic elements mentioned prior, the other two get back to the (more successful in my opinion) off-kilter noise rock attacks, albeit with detours into strange (interesting) territory.
I'm digging this one. Dig it.

DL

Towers - Towers

Label: Electric Human Project
Year: 2007

There's a million bands called Towers, and this is one of them (that I know of). They were from Philadelphia, and left this mortal coil back in 2014 for reasons unknown, but we suspect nefarious.
This Towers liked to get real up in your face, so you could smell the rancor of their hot breath on your own lips, the spittle bathing your cheeks. Thy tuned down, turned up, and proceeding with a blasting of noisy, off kilter, D-beat, blackened, aggressive hardcore. Bits of patron saints Discharge, bits of perennial touchstone His Hero Is Gone, bits of Neurosis, bits of Isis (which I get is a...bit...repetitive), and some good old fashioned hard work.
It's enjoyable the way scratching an itch until it bleeds down your leg is enjoyable. Most effective played at high volume in an open space whereupon free flailing is acceptable.
Yes, this record is slightly out of the usual genre highlighted on this blog. But let's be honest, as long as I'm the sole contributor to this hellhole for the foreseeable future, then genre concerns give way to "what is Gray listening to this morning?". Right? And c'mon guys (and that one girl), would I steer you wrong?

DL

Part Chimp - Cup

Label: Monitor
Year: 2007

Back from vacation, back in your pants.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to spend the next 44 minutes reveling in the grotesque beauty of Part Chimp, another of the "greatest bands nobody paid attention to" bands. Their ability to mask the music's true intention of pop glory under a diseased shroud of distorted glee was truly uncanny, and unmatched (sorry Torche...I still love you though).
This record collects a grip of (mostly) non-album tracks serves up all the Neanderthal stomp and punch drunk laughs that run the spectrum of Part Chimp's repertoire. Sometimes three's a Silkworm covering Melvins feel, sometimes a Teenage Fanclub covering Floor feel, sometimes a Grifters covering King Snake Roost feel....but...you're getting the feel, yes?
Play often and play loud.

DL

Volt - Rorhat

Label: Exile On Mainstream

Year: 2006

There are some folks out there who continuously and consistently turn me on to great new music that I would have otherwise missed. And in the age of the music blog, those people have turned out to be semi-anonymous or pseudonymed people far-flung across the globe. I guess that's just the way things are right now, it's sort of weird, but probably not much different from when I used to send letters out all over the place looking for demos, stickers, zines, or obscure 7"s, and remarkably, I would usually get something back in return that ruled in some way shape or form. The world is a lot smaller in this digital age, but the concept has stayed the same. Keep digging, and you'll find some pretty remarkable creativity still out there.

So, with apologies to my other favorites; Worried Well, Pinto, Fred, Cheeto, X-Angel, Mega-Leg, Lo-Res Viscera, Stormy, Batguano, our own Ipecac of course, and...well I don't want to forget anyone, so I'll just say "everyone else", I would have to nominate Arsonaut as the first inductee into the music blogging hall of fame. That guy (and I can only assume it's a guy based on the writing style and musical selections) has unearthed more and better music than any other one person I can think of. Where, or how he finds it, who knows? But I'm glad he's out there scouring the earth for more and better sounds, I'll always look forward to seeing his next post.

So aside from this being a love letter to some dude I will never meet, it also serves the purpose of reposting a record that Arsonaut first hipped me to a year or so ago on Lucidmedia back before that site hit the shitter.

Volt is a German band who come on hard and furious (that's what she said), channeling the spirit of Keelhaul, Melvins, Colossamite, King Snake Roost, and a little bit of that ole chestnut, The Jesus Lizard. It results in something that you might hear from one of the newish UK bands like Shit and Shine, Kong, or Part Chimp, so in other words, godhead. This record destroys in every way, shape, and form. If you haven't heard it already, please do, and then, after you stand back up from the ass kicking you just received, go buy/order it here.

So there you go, cheers to Arsonaut, cheers to Volt, and cheers to you all. Didn't that make everyone feel just great?

*Originally posted 02-06-10, reposted 07-23-15. Going out of town again today for a little rest and relaxation in the mountains, so I wanted to leave you with this banger of epic proportions that has been offline for some time. Enjoy it loudly and frequently.

DL

Walter Schreifels - Walter Sings The Hits Live: 03-22-06

Label: Bootleg
Year: 2006

My unquestioning and unwavering love for Walter Schreifels has been well documented on this blog over the years, and I really needn't explain it, but in the off chance you're 12 years old or from some former Eastern Bloc country that missed the late 80's and early 90's, then just read this and catch up real quick.
For the initiated, may we present this live recording made at the Nighttime Theater in Rotterdam during the "Walter Sings The Hits Tour", which was a short run of shows in Europe at the end of a Walking Concert tour whereupon he...wait for it...sang the hits spanning his career from Gorilla Biscuits to Quicksand to Rival Schools to solo material in a solo acoustic format. Which, isn't as surprising as it may have sounded, as Walter has been known to pop up here and there to do these intimate acoustic shows playing NYHC classics and his own material. The format highlights Walter's ability to entertain as both a musician and a performer. He seems very well aware of his position "in the scene" and the credibility he's banked over the years in writing and performing some of the best music of the past decades, but there's an overriding self deprecating humor to everything he does which keeps his stories and anecdotes dare I say..."sweet". He controls the crowd very well, but he's the type of artist that draws a loyal (if not huge) fan base to his shows, so everyone there is stoked to be there.
This is a guy who could sing the fucking phonebook and I'd go see him. He's earned all the praise he could ever be given, and he continues making music true to his heart, which is really all you (we, us) can ask for. Love it.

DL

Barren Womb - The Sun's Not Yellow, It's Chicken

Label: Spartan
Year: 2014

On account of that Highway Cross post down there, I figured I'd go ahead and thro this one out there for your consideration as well as they share a certain similar strain of DNA.
In Barren Womb's case, they take raucous garage rock and run it through a series of distortion pedals in an effort to warp the melody just within comprehension, but certainly buried beneath a fog of thundering bass and feedback. They play it straight on occasion, which yields a particularly Scandinavian version of rocking hardcore. Like Refused, like Division Of Laura Lee, like old Hives, like some Turbonegro. But then they will drop the "fun" and take a turn into growling Botch-styled chaos-core. Rarely are they solidly on one side of that chasm or another, they mostly ping pong back in forth taking elements from either end of the spectrum.
Barren Womb are a two piece, drums and guitar, but they've managed a full, dense sound that belies their minimal demographic. It's admirable that they can economize such that you'll never "miss" any element that you would maybe think you would ("Dude, no bass? No noise rock." Yeah yeah).

DL

Highway Cross -Open Eyes 7"

Label: Cricket Cemetery
Year: 2015

I was impressed the last time I heard Highway Cross, which was not that long ago mind you, but it tickled my fancy enough to write about it here, so for the sake of historical context please feel free to go back and read that first. I'll wait.
Back? Great.
Well then, if you liked the post hardcore bluster of the last one, then I feel pretty confident you will be able to follow the band's slight directional shift into looser, more rocking and less hardcore direction. They still keep one foot firmly in the world of punk rock (the foot that's on the gas pedal), but the other foot has taken a step back (in time) to a more stripped down garage rock rave-up sound. You'll know it when you hear it. When I hear it, I like it.
Good, hard charging, no frills, catchy shit. Dirty deeds done...

DL