My favorite NYHC record besides the Burn 7". I have read that the guy who drew the cover art for it once beat Raybeez up for attacking a Puerto Rican family. Did it really happen? Seems plausible, right? Is there any story from that time / place that wouldn't seem plausible?
Of course Dischord's discography gets a little dicey starting around 1994, but there are quality nuggets to be found in there and this is one. Bluetip formed after the demise of Swiz and featured the drummer from Worlds Collide and Battery. Real solid, accessible post-hardcore with strong playing all-round. The nice thing about Bluetip is that if you dig around a little bit you can assemble their discography without paying more than like $3 for anything.
Domini Inferi were Ryan Förster's pre - Conqueror / Revenge band. This track from 1994 is their only recording and it's a great piece of ancient, decrepit death metal. Warhate respond with four short bursts of staggering speed and violence from 1998. NWN still has copies of this, and it's worth having for the layout and packaging alone. But in the meantime, get your Superion fix here:
For years I heard people say "You haven't really heard Chain of Strength until you hear the 7"s, not that LP hatchet job on Rev". And I believed them, but when I finally heard the mixes on the 7"s I was still struck by just how much better they were. Everything hits harder, rages more, and there are some parts and effects that were omitted entirely on the LP. So here are my rips of the 7"s; They're loud and clean and I hope they do the material justice, because words like "classic" and "seminal", though justified in their use, do not.
Have you ever had all of a band's records but one, and you just never got around to checking that other one out, and then when you finally do it just steamrolls everything you knew about them? Yeah. What a rager.
If you can call five songs a discography, that is. Carol was a hardcore band from Bremen, land of great hardcore. They had a brief run in 1996-97; I'm not sure what other bands, if any, the members did. All Carol did was a 7" on Per Koro, a split 7" with Stack and one compilation song. The song on the split, "Pandemonium", is head and shoulders above the rest. It's a towering, swarming fucking MENACE of a song. Dare I say it's the best piece of hardcore to come out of Germany in the '90s? Oh, I think so. The rest of their material stands up to it just fine, but man. That song. Man.
Two similar slabs of haunted drone/ambient/noise that carry a sense of loss and malaise. Recommended.
A half-hour of squealing shuddering lurching howling madness. Fuck you.
This is too good a record to not be on here. Especially Harnessed in Slums. There is a genuine eccentricity to Archers of Loaf that's never forced or contrived or "quirky" or "arty", and is tempered by a certain hookiness.
Candle was pre - Antioch Arrow and Clikitat Ikatowi. I think this 7" is a good example of the things that '90s emo bands did right. Two driving songs that remind me of Grain or Amber Inn or maybe even Breakwater at times. Lots of good energy and just the right amount of teenage incompetence.
A record with a very free-jazz-oriented lineup playing less skronky and more hard-bop. most of this sounds closer to early-60s Blue note than a lot of the madness that was coming out on BYG/Actuel at the end of the decade. In fact, Moncur lead two sessions for Blue Note in '63 and '64 and they're both well worth tracking down, especially Evolution. But back to the record at hand; The bigger chunk of the record finds the band in a fairly laid-back mode. I really like Dave Burrell's piano on this record, he keeps it simple nearly to the point of being ambient at times. "Space Spy" finds the other players weaving in and out of an endlessly repeating motif from Burrell. "Exploration", as the title hints at, is a little more out there. I couldn't find eny evidence of this existing on CD, but this rip is clean as can be.
This is one of my favorite records ever. Go ahead and make fun of me. If you came of age in the '90s, you might remember The Refreshments for their one hit. They also did the theme for King of the Hill, which has them (or whoever owns their publishing) set for life. The Bottle & Fresh Horses is their second album, and it was a total flop. Nobody cared. It didn't spawn another pop hit and they broke up soon afterward. But it rules! It's hooky, poppy '90s alternative rock with a big country twang. The lyrics have a keen sense of humor, but it always seems to serve a more wistful and jaded purpose.
Well, I scored this at a local record store today and I'm pretty pleased about that so here it is for all to enjoy. These bands should require no introduction.
Criminally underrated and un-talked-about heavy hardcore from Connecticut in the late '90s. One of the angriest sounding bands ever. Most stuff comes and goes on the ol' Ipod, but this is a permanent fixture.
This Swedish death/thrash classic may be best remembered for being ANTI-MOSH 001. But it is also remembered for ripping unbelievably hard from front to back. I think that you can hear plenty of this record's influence on Euronymous in "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", which came out four years later. Listen or pose!!!!
These Oslo rockers list their influences as Black Flag and Black Sabbath. End result: I lost track of how many great riffs happened on this record. Great vocal performance, stellar artwork and a really organic production. Recommended!
Deeply layered drone from a guy with ties to Phill Niblock and Rhys Chatham. Absolutely, absolutely wonderful. One of the best albums of 2010 with a bullet.
I wasn't really planning on putting this up here, but the June Paik song is the best hardcore song I've heard all year. I thought they were really spinning their wheels on the last 10" but the new new track is a beast! This is still in print and available from React With Protest, Adagio 830 and the wonderful IFB Distro among others. Go fetch.
Life At Theses Speeds were part of that spate of indie-influenced punk bands running around in the early-mid 2000s (Sinaloa, Stop It, Malady etc etc) and were criminally underrated. I think their discography should be state-issued to anybody thinking about starting an indie rock band. "See? You can do it and still have guts!" This is their first full length and the delivery is a little more aggressive than on subsequent outings, but the end product is great as always.
Unless you sit around listening to shitty street punk all day, you've probably heard a lot of very talented musicians. But how often do you hear a real virtuoso? Not just some guy who shreds on a guitar real good, but somebody that defies you to believe that they're even playing what they're playing? Gonzalo Rubalcaba is that dude. This is the then-27-year-old pianist's second public appearance in North America after being isolated in his native Cuba previously. This captures him playing in a trio with the ubiquitous Charlie Haden on bass and Paul Motian on drums, but the focus is on Rubalcaba all the way. By the time he finishes the first cut - Monk's "Well You Needn't" - you're left gasping for breath and grasping for adjectives at the sheer force of it all. He come out on FIRE, launching run after run with astonishing clarity and creativity, breaking out some Cuban rhythm and displaying classical delicacy where required. Unbelievable.
Wolf's Lair Abyss seems to get short shrift in the Mayhem discography, and understandably so. It was the follow-up to a record that couldn't possibly be followed up (De Mysteriis dom Sathanas) and preceded one that bitterly divided the band's fanbase (Grand Declaration of War). You can feel both of those albums trying to pull Wolf's Lair Abyss to their side. In the futuristic touches of the intro and the cold, mechanical production you can hear where the band is headed but in many of the riffs - most notably much of "Ancient Skin" - you can clearly hear where they have been. I think Wolf's Lair Abyss is better than just a transitional album though. As with every Mayhem release there is a lot of thought and creativity put into it and they have certainly never been afraid to take risks. Bonus points for a stellar layout on the CD from Mr. Stephen O'Malley himself.
Channel featured Nate Newton pre-Jesuit and pre-pre-Converge as well as Brian Benoit pre-Dillinger Escape Plan and played chunky, mid-paced hardcore in the vein of Groundwork and Chokehold. This is their first 7" from 1994. This is here more as a matter of historical curiosity than anything, but I wouldn't have posted it if it completely sucked. I think "Justice" in particular is a pretty solid jam.
A strange entry from a strange band. Many prefer Urfaust's first LP, the excellent Geist ist Teufel, to this but I can't get this one into my ears enough right now. Urfaust play very simple, stripped down, melodic sort-of-folky Black Metal with mostly clean vocals that give way to strange howls and histrionics at points. The vocals may be a sticking point for many; IX's voice is very much unpolished but he's always in key. The drums can barely keep up with the simplest beats and there are some musical decisions that work but are kind of baffling (ie. the arpeggiated guitars for the entirety of "Verflucht das Blenden der Erscheinung"). Verräterischer, Nichtswürdiger Geist's four BM tracks are accompanied by 3 of the most sophisticated and well recorded classical pieces I've ever heard come out of a metal band. Unlike most would-be classical composers in metal, Urfaust veer away from too much obvious melody or soundtrackiness (that's a word now) and present largely minimal work somewhat in the vein of certain 20th Century works by guys like Giacinto Scelsi or Henryk Góreck. Not on the same level of sophistication obviously, but still... So you have this weird juxtaposition of very weird metal and weirdly brilliant classical music and it's not for everybody at ALL, but fuck if I can't stop listening to it.
I was rummaging in a hard drive for something else and found a few Stars of the Lid live sets that I don't remember ever downloading. How excellent! So here's one from Leeds in May of 2008. Graceful and sublime. Plus they open with a version of Arvo Part's "Fratres".
A bigtime grower. So at first I thought this was a decent melodic crust record, but as I listened more I realized it was way better than that: It's a fusion of that From Ashes Rise style with a fat dose of Uranus / '90s Bremen HC thrown in, and it's fucking potent. This made more sense when I found that Jeniger morphed into the most excellent Zeroid.
A blistering black thrash assault from these Chilean masters! Think 'De Mysteriis...', Absu and Blasphemophagher duking it out with a touch of that special over-the-top South American evil. Strongly recommended. TOTAL SUPPORT!!! AAAAAAAAAARGH 666!!!!
It's okay if you're too cool to like Lyle Lovett. He's old and he puts stuff out on major labels and maybe your dad likes him or something. You're not missing out on much, just great songs with tasteful arrangements.
A very interesting new comp LP from the Ajna Offensive. They still have a few left and have promised a CD version eventually, but here's my LP rip in the meantime.
The Slang side is one minute long and they spice up their ripping Japanese hardcore with just a touch of Swarm / LFD heaviness. They steal this one for me. Mind Eraser respond with two Mind Eraser songs. They're kind of in this zone now where you know exactly what you're getting when you buy their records, good though it is.
If you're only up on Comets On Fire's Sub Pop releases (which are great), these two limited-run LPs may come as a shock to the system. Actually, they're pretty much a shock to the system anyways. Both eschew the recent studio materials' polished bombast (yeah, I wrote that) for raw, unadulterated ROCKING. These are live/rehearsal quality recordings, but that does not prevent them from tearing a hole in your head.
A little weird to think that this is the guys from the great Drift but it's been like 15 years and things change, ya know? I have trouble describing Complications' sound. Not that it's necessarily ultra-original, just that I don't really listen to much like this. I hear mid-period Die Kreuzen and some other Touch & Go bands, and maybe some Killing Joke. Rest assured that there are great songs on here though!
Walls rule, as I hope you know. I didn't see them on this tour, but I picked the 7" from somewhere. two new originals and a Die Kreuzen cover from one of the best live bands in hardcore.
I've posted some other Resurrectionists stuff, why not this? Resurrectionists give us their tightest and most brutal output to date; fantastic. On the flip side, BOW359 continue on their quest to become Welcome the Plague Year 2.0. This is probably their best stuff yet, but I'm not convinced that I'll ever hold them to be a really great band.
Schoenberg disciple René Leibowitz once called Sibelius "The worst composer in the world". Serialists are often dickfaces though, n'est ce pas? Besides, Morton Feldman, who people actually remember, apocryphally had Sibelius' back. All I know is that I really like the second and fifth symphonies. The climax of the final movement here is a monster. Sure it's not the most challenging or complex work that classical music has to offer but there's more to it than that, yes? This is a 1960 recording with Herbert von Karajan conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. Get cultured.
Eh, I guess I'll bring the blog back for a while.
Phill Niblock is known for his use of looooooooooooooong tones. I've heard a couple of his pieces that are just an instrument playing a single note for 30+ minutes until it detunes itself. Not interesting, really. This guitar-drone piece kinda plays off the same theme, but I really like it. The disc contains two different interpretations of the same 30-minute work. One by Rafael Toral and one "massed" version featuring Alan Licht, Kevin Drumm, Lee Ranaldo, and Thurston Moore that evolves slowly, almost imperceptibly, but above all satisfyingly. It took me forever to dig this one up, so I'll spare you the trouble.
I spent a lot of time not getting Ayler, but I'm starting to come around. I encountered a lot of the later material first but I'm realizing that the early stuff smokes. This is one such example. A live Dutch radio set from 1964 with a lot of immensely powerful and aggressive playing, but which remains extremely expressive. Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on bass and the great Sunny Murray destroying the drums.
MASSIVE demo from this UK Death Metal horde. They do a great job at balancing the rawness of an older DM band with the clarity and precision of more modern DM. Indeed, the recording is far beyond demo quality. The material on here is totally crushing too, especially the minute-long breakdown in "Rotten Flesh Crucifix" that makes me want to slam my head through a wall.
I'd like to think that I'm not jaded, but the fact is that at this point there's only one or two occasions a year where I hear something new that puts my head on a swivel, makes me stop what I'm doing and just marvel. This is one. Dispirit is the new John Gossard (Weakling, Asunder) band. I'm no fanboy when it comes to those other bands and it doesn't bother me at all to say that this is better than either. The music falls somewhere between Mr. Gossard's above-mentioned bands. It combines the slow meandering menace of Asunder and the majestic fury (and a couple of Emperor riffs) of Weakling under a gauzy, near-psychedelic production. The sound quality is more than acceptable for a demo recording. Strongly, STRONGLY recommended.
My favorite Jayhawks record. Great songs, great arrangements, great everything. Except for the cover art, which rivals Leatherface's "Dog Disco" for the Worst Ever Album Cover By A Respectable Band. Also, I feel like the chorus in "The Man Who Loved Life" should have been in a James Bond theme of some sort.
I saw Paal Nilssen-Love play with the Scorch Trio a few years back and I still haven't figured out what I witnessed. Offonoff finds him forming a power-free-jazz-improv group with Massimo Zuma on bass and Terrie Ex on guitar. It's a wild one! Songs explode, shudder, creak, and resurrect themselves time and time again. More dynamic than Flying Luttenbachers, more fun than Peter Brötzmann, just a crazy ride from start to finish.
One of a very few good things to come out of the whole "post-metal" craze of a couple years ago. If you've listened to even a couple of Cult of Luna clones, this will be familiar territory for you. Just seems like a little more care and effort was invested in these songs. The label still has copies of this for a whopping $4. Looks like the also have the last Capital LP which was a pretty sweet record, but I digress.
Ignore what you see above. The rejected Helloween album cover is the only blemish on what I consider to be a perfect album. On their 1990(!) debut, Hellwitch were in a remarkable creative groove, effortlessly blending furious thrash with technical and progressive death metal. It's like a maddened Slayer-Cynic-Nocturnus combo. Every member gives a bravura performance on this LP - you can't help but get caught up in the sheer energy of it all. And they gracefully balance on the oh-so-narrow line between technicality and accessibility. The songwriting is engaging and they had the good sense to keep the record at a lean 25 minutes. I wouldn't change a single second of that runtime; every one of them is exhilarating.
I have some reservations about posting this, but here it is. My first reservation is that this music is impossible to describe verbally. There is nothing like it. I don't care how much weird stuff you've heard or what you're into, I PROMISE you that you've never heard anything like this. From Wikipedia: "His approach to audio technology is to use it as a platform from which to launch otherwise impossible musical performances". This gets you in the ballpark, but you'll just have to hear it to understand.
Black Metal from Japan. This has that ultra blown-out, barely coherent sound that seems to be popular with the kiddies these days. I usually view that aesthetic as being kinda gimmicky, but Deathchurch makes it work for me. Maybe it's because Japan has a rich history of hyper-distorted barely coherent music. Maybe it's because Deathchurch actually seems to have some chops to back up the noise. Either way, this is some serious hatred being spewed.
Angry, no-frills hardcore punk from these Tennessee boys. Features half of the From Ashes Rise lineup, and could reasonably be described as a far less melodic FAR. Objectively this is a pretty average record, but it just has that je-ne-sais-quoi that makes me rock it hard.
I decided to revisit this recently after a number of years, expecting it to sound terrible. Much to my surprise it's aged pretty well. This band wanted to be One Eye God Prophecy sooooo badly, which is a sentiment that I condone and encourage. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Magic Bullet still had copies left. If they do, scoop one and help support Brent Eyestone's expensive football card habit.
Dense, mildly unsettling Black Metal from France, the official home of unsettling Black Metal. Cendres operate at a slow-to-middling pace and create a sound thick and mysterious, like seeing forms through the mist in a swamp. They do a brilliant job of using low fidelity to their advantage in creating something that's a little uncomfortable to listen to, as opposed to just doing it because Darkthrone and 100,000 Darkthrone clones did it. I don't know who's in this band, but they sure as fuck know exactly what they're doing.
