The Coconut Coolouts are probably the best partyband on the planet today, and I'm happy to present them this week as my special guests on this week's AFS. To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).
Music starts about 7:00 into this 2-hour file. The Coolouts set starts about 24:00 in.
HAMMER DAMAGE // Laugh // v/a: Killed by Death #9 1978 GG ALLIN & THE JABBERS // Don't Talk to Me // Always Was, Is and Always Shall Be // Black & Blue 1980 MR. CURT // I'm Going Blind // Write Down Your Number 7" // Euphoria 1978 CAPTAIN 9's & THE KNICKERBOCKER TRIO // I Ain't Takin' No Bath // Sophie's Tiki Lounge 7" // Heartpunch/Burnt Toast 1991 COCONUT COOLOUTS // Headfull of Stones // Party Time Machine // Haunted Horse/Xeroid *new COCONUT COOLOUTS // Spinaround ~ live in Studio A COCONUT COOLOUTS // Chocolate Money COCONUT COOLOUTS // Pizza Regret COCONUT COOLOUTS // Swim COCONUT COOLOUTS // Twins COCONUT COOLOUTS // Spell It Out, Dummy COCONUT COOLOUTS // I Want to Come Back from the World of LSD MYSTERY GIRLS // Under My Tongue (LSD Is Fun) // Under My Tongue 7" // Kryptonite 2005 TYVEK // This One or That One // Still Sleep 7" // What's Your Rupture? *new SUN CITY GIRLS // Esta Susan en Casa? // Horse Cock Phepner // Placebo 1987 BUTTHOLE SURFERS // Rocket to the Moon // Hairway to Steven // Touch & Go 1988 *request UNNATURAL HELPERS // My Brother's Been Kissing My Girlfriend // v/a: Babyhead // S-S Records 2004 *request TYVEK // Flashing Lights // Fast Metabolism // self-released 2007 *request SOCKEYE // Pave the Earth // Barf on a Globe // Mortville 1999 RESINEATORS // Underage Girl (Get Out!) // Don't _____ With the Fantasy // Siltbreeze 2001 LIL BUNNIES // Carrot Belly Bunny Rock // 1st 7" // Moo-La-La 1995 *request SEA PIGS // Christian TV // Freaktard 7" // Very Small 1993 SCRATCH BONGOWAX // Because I Hate You // Sock It to Me Baby 7" // Scratchtone 1995 PEECOCKS // Pussy Minstrel Show // Pussy Minstrel Show 7" // Arf Arf 1989 BROWNSVILLE STATION // Rockers and Rollers // self-titled // Private Stock 1977 *request DONNY DENIM // Rock 'n' Roll Love Affair // Hey You! 7" // Radio X 1999 *request TIGHT FITS // Bulldozer // Full Frontal Attack 7" // Pure Filth 1995 FE FI FO FUMS // Electrofize Me // Electrofize Me 7" // Boom Boom 2004 THE STATICS // Burgers & Fries // Rat City // Rip Off 1994 DER SUBMARINE RACERS // Space Burrito // Space Burrito 7" // Spin the Bottle *new TRADITIONAL FOOLS // Milk Man // Live at Wizard Mountain cassette // Wizard Mountain Tapes 2007 *request TRADITIONAL FOOLS // Street Surfin' HEAD // Tireshreddin' // Street Level Assault // Evil Clown 1994 *request EVAPORATORS // Stop! Look! Listen! // v/a: Teenage Zit Rock Angst // Nardwuar 1995 THE MANTS // Bow to Your Masters // The Mant from UNCLE 2x7" // Lance Rock 1997 ARMITAGE SHANKS // Punk Tune // I Know What You Need 7" // Hangman's Daughter 1996 ASBESTOS ROCKPYLE // Skinhead Glory // Industrial Religion 7" // Warpt 1984
To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).
Music starts about 6:45 into this 2-hour file.
TYVEK // Frustration Rock // Summer Burns 2X7" // What's Your Rapture? *request *new J CHURCH // Chemicals (live) // v/a: No Idea fanzine #11 // No Idea 1994 BE BAD // (I've Got No) Positive Vibrations // Vision Correction // Divorce *new MAGIK MARKERS // Circle // Boss // Ecstatic Peace *new ALASEHIR // Separate from History // The Philosophy of Living Fire // Siltbreeze *new AINOTAMENISHIS // Theme // Live'418 // Holy Mountain *new SHEARING PINX // 7992-XNIP // Night Calls CDR // Isolated Now Waves 2007 TERRESTRIAL // side B // self-titled cassette // self-released *new JUNIOR MAKHNO // 60.2 Emasculator // The Theatre of the Macabre 7" // Bruit Direct 2007 JUNIOR MAKHNO // Vector Z (feat. the Subzero & DJ Kaissa) ROTER STERN // trk 5 // L'Afrique Revisited 12" ep // Was Soll Das (recorded 1980-2003) MYDOLLS // In Technicolor // In Technicolor 7" // CIA 1981 VISIBLE TARGETS // Mechanical Man // self-titled 12" EP // Park Avenue 1982 OLD TIME RELIJUN // Daemon Meeting // Catharsis In Crisis // K Records *new J.P. HERRMANN // Catch the Mouse // demo CDR // no label *new J.P. HERRMANN // Dead Water Dead Light J.P. HERRMANN // Labyrinthitis TALBOT TAGORA // side B // Sleepy Heads cassette // self-released *new EAT SKULL // Leave the Universe // Tour Tape // Palto Flats *new PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT // Rather Dull // Magic Flowers Droned // Siltbreeze *new FRANCIS HAROLD & THE HOLOGRAMS // Mirror of Fear // demo CDR // no label *new BASSHOLES // Hey OJ // Hey OJ b/w Rout 7" // In the Red 1995 HUE BLANC'S JOYLESS ONES // Obliging Macon Midle // Arriere Garde // S-S Records *new THE STOOGES // Dirt // Fun House // Elektra 1970 JOY DIVISION // New Dawn Fades // Unknown Pleasures // Factory 1979 ECHO WEST // title unknown // v/a: The Perils of Paradise 12" EP // Elitepop *new WERMUT // Nicole // v/a: Hoera! Een Hex Voor Thuis! // Hex Grammofoonplaten *new THE ACTOR // Covergirl // Covergirl 10" // Enfant Terrible 2005 (orig 1982) SNAKEFINGER // The Model [Kraftwerk] // Chewing Hides the Sound // Ralph 1979
Three shows happened in Sacto this year where I took a look behind me and saw every single face smiling or laughing simultaneously. One was Tyvek at the DAM House with Cheveu, and the others featured the Coconut Coolouts at Fools Foundation in Sacto and at a superfun wedding in Seattle. Seriously, not a single person was left looking bummed or even expressionless. I’m not sure I’ve seen that happen since a Nar show at the Loft about 11 years ago.
It made me wonder what would happen if both Tyvek and Coconut Coolouts played at the same show? Now we can find out because this week, the bands are touring the West Coast together with the very awesome living legend garagepunk duo, Nice Smile.
Catch them near you...
Tue 10/23 in Vancouver, BC @ Pub 340 w/ Defektors and Master Apes 21+ Wed 10/24 in Seattle, WA @ the Funhouse 21+ Thu 10/25 in Portland, OR @ Dunes 21+ Fri 10/26 in Davis, CA @ Delta of Venus w/ the Bananas all ages Sat 10/27 in Oakland @ Stork Club (Budget Rock VI fest) w/ the Real Kids, the Pets, the Dutchess and the Duke, Harold Ray, Hex Dispensers, Haunted George, and South Bay Surfers (starts at 2:00 p.m.) 21+ Sun 10/28 in San Francisco @ The Hemlock Tavern 21+
Tyvek have made the best 7" (actually double-7") of 2007 so far with "Summer Burns"...you need to get it! Great, catchy and clever songs in the indomitable "messthetic" (British DIY 1977-1980) spirit...think Desperate Bicycles, Swell Maps, and hundreds of awesome unknowns of scruffy/scrappy melodics. People fall in love with this band. http://www.myspace.com/tyvekmusic
Coconut Coolouts are a phalanx of stand-up drummers, guitar, bass, keys, and partyhardy singsongy songs with ex-Charming Snake folks. Banana suits, maybe? Superfun personalities, cheery dispositions, but rocks out like crazy, too. Seriously, this is one of the premier partybands of recent memory. New CD just out! http://www.myspace.com/coconutcoolouts
Nice Smile is a guitar/drum duo featuring Seattle legend Rob Vasquez, formerly of awesome bands like the Night Kings, Chintz Devils, Man-Tee-Mans, Gorls, Nights and Days, etc. Adam Stonehouse of the Hospitals told me that Rob Vasquez was his #1 musical influence. Rob really is a masterful dude with clever, yet primal riffing. Some of the best two-man garage since the "budget-rock" heyday. http://www.myspace.com/nicesmile
And, of course, you all know and love the Bananas, right??!!!
Do you need to see visual proof that this show will rule? Okay...
:TYVEK "Mary Ellen Claims" live @ Passout Records, NYC
TYVEK "Buildings Burning" live @ Passout
TYVEK/CHEVEU tour DVD trailer (see DAM House footage in there!)
COCONUT COOLOUTS "Pizza Taxi" live @ Funhouse in Seattle
To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).
Show starts at minute 4 of this 2-hour file.
Psychedelic Horseshit's Magic Flowers Droned is the album of 2007. Truly the most wild and wonderful lo-fi recording in recent memory...astounding! Wait for it to drop on October 23 or buy it from the band on their November tour. Trust me on this!
THOMAS FUNCTION // Blasphemer's Union // Relentless Machines 7" // Dusty Medical *new BLANK DOGS // Stay Alone // demo recording/mp3 // no label *new PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT // New Wave Hippies // Magic Flowers Droned // Siltbreeze *forthcoming PSYCHEDELIC HORSESHIT // Crystals EAT SKULL // Waiting for the Hesitation // Oct 2007 Tour Tape // Palto Flats *new SHAYNE CARTER & PETER JEFFERIES // Spark Off a Wire // Knocked Out or Thereabouts 7" // Flying Nun 1992 PETER JEFFERIES // Come Down Easy [Spacemen 3] // Live to Air 7" // Imperial/What Was Music/Blackbean & Placenta 1997 PETER JEFFERIES/ROBBIE MUIR // Catapult // The Fate of the Human Carbine 7" // Xpressway 1989 THE CURBFEELIERS // Bald Electrician // Viking Praire Schooner 7" // Lather 1995 HEY BUDDY & THE PALS // I Want My Hat // Summer Vacation 2k7 CDR // self-released *new HUE BLANC'S JOYLESS ONES // The Ballad of Soloth Sar // Arriere Garde // S-S Records *new HUE BLANC'S JOYLESS ONES // My Disdain THE WIPERS // Our Past Life // 3 CD Box Set // Zeno 2005 (orig 1982) *request THE WIPERS // No Fair MICHAEL YONKERS w/THE BLIND SHAKE // Here's What I'm // Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons // Nero's Neptune *new LUDLOW // Rohypnol // Gold Paint 7" // self-released *new FESTERING RINYANYONS // I Don't Wanna Know // Flatlander Recluse // Bovine 1995 NIGHT OF PLEASURE // Bitch Pitch // Godard vs. Trufault 7" // Columbus Discount 2007 EL JESUS DE MAGICO // X-mas At Wounded Knee // Funeral Home Sessions 7" // Columbus Discount 2007 LITTLE CLAW // Polar Bear // self-titled // Ecstatic Peace *new DOGBOWL // (Here Comes) The Man With the Plucked Out Eyes // Blue Fur Bosom Girl 7" // Vital Music 1992 NOTHING PEOPLE // In the City // In the City 7" // S-S Records *new WOODEN SHJIPS // Losin' Time // self-titled // Holy Mountain *new YELLOW SWANS // Mass Mirage // At All Ends // Load *new EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN // Armenia // Strategies Against Architecture // Mute 1991 (orig 1986) EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN // Armenia II (orig 1989) SWORD HEAVEN // Town Hag // Entrance // Load *new SWORD HEAVEN // Tomb Ark // v/a: Pisspounder 3xLP // Deathbomb Arc 2007 16 BITCH PILEUP // trk 1 // Make Like a Fetus and Abort/Make Like an Abortion and Feed Us // self-released 2005 KEVIN SHIELDS // Motor Hands // v/a: Thrash Sabbatical LP+2x7" // Deathbomb Arc *new
AFS v. 152 didn't happen this week because I went on an impromptu vacation to Portland and Seattle on the long weekend. On Saturday night, Fuzzbox Flynn and I saw Coconut Coolouts play at the wedding of a couple crazy (and crazy-in-love) friends, Kimberly and Brian, and it was truly the most fun I've ever had at a wedding. On Sunday night, we made it to a PDX house-show just in time to catch Leslie Keffer administer a self-massage via waves of drone (I saw a little drool beginning to break over her lip), and a nice set by Unicorn Hard-on. Thanks to Calamity Janie for subbing AFS this week. My bones were too tired after the ten-hour drive.
EAT SKULL has been a favorite here on AFS since I received their first demo back in May, but I haven't ingrained his into your brain already, they are the ex-Hospitals/Gang Wizard/etc. band with a jangle-pop heart soaked in scuzz. There's a similarity in spirit to Times New Viking, I think (that could also be because Rob from Eat Skull was in Hole Class with Beth from TNV). Fistpumping singalongs, like an amped-up, gnarly version of The Clean or something. You should've already got the first 7"...Too late? Not if you see this band on tour. And not if Davis and Sacto don't wipe the merch table clean first. I think we might do it. That record's pretty good, but wait 'til you hear the 2nd one on Skulltones. "Dead Families" is a song of the year candidate.
Tues 10/9 in Davis on Freeform KDVS, live in Studio A stream it live: http://www.kdvs.org/ btw 8-10 p.m. Wed 10/10 in Sacto @ 2309 L Street house party w/ MAYYORS (ex-FM Knives/Karate Party/Sexy Prison/Sores/etc.) Thurs 10/11 in SF @ Hemlock Tavern w/ Scout Niblett Fri 10/12 in Oakland @ 21 GRAND w/ Greg Ashley & the Impediments Sat 10/13 in L.A. @ The Scene w/ the Lamps and Sic Alps
Eat Skull has special merch for the tour, including a cassette tape and t-shirt. I've heard the tape which has four exclusive songs which are definitely sweet and very vinyl-worthy. As a bonus, the October 1981 demo cassette of Reno's all-girl HC band The Wrecks is included on the B-side with a xerox of the cover photo, songlist, and liner info. You may have heard The Wrecks screech out "I Like to Shoplift" on the legendary Not So Quiet on the Western Front 2xLP. One other song ("Punk Is an Attitude") was comped by Grand Theft Audio onto the High Road to Obscurity CD about ten years ago. Now you can hear these and all the other songs by this amazing proto-riot grrl band...10 years before Bikini Kill, and arguably as good or better. 95% of riot grrl records don't seem to stand up well a decade later, but had this record been released in that era, it would have become iconic, and we would remember it as a shining example of the movement's music. Do not pass this tape up!
The Eat Skull tape cover is also the same as the t-shirt...an outstanding blend of styles between metalhead math-class dropout doodle and prison tattoo art.
TAD // Glue Machine // Salt Lick // Sub Pop 1990 *request CHURCH POLICE // Robots // 7" // Dolor del Estamago 1996 (orig 1982) *request CHURCH POLICE // Gourmet Cooking // Gilligan's Wings 7" // Skulltones (orig 1982) *new SNAKE APARTMENT // No Raises This Quarter // Paint the Walls // Parts Unknown *new CLOCKCLEANER // New in Town // Babylon Rules // Load *new SIGHTINGS // Through the Panama // Through the Panama // Load *new MOUTHUS // Century of Divides // Saw a Halo // Load *new YELLOW SWANS // Endlessly Making an End of Things // At All Ends // Load *new SWORD HEAVEN // Sights not Long Gone // Entrance // Load *new KITES // Army Corpse/Superman 2 // Hallucination Guillotine/Final Worship // Load *new ICK // title unknown // v/a: The Perils of Paradise 12" EP // Elitepop *new SOLITAIREN EFFEKTEN // Wir Lieben den Tag // self-titled 10" // Enfant Terrible *new TWIST NOIR // Loneliness // self-titled 10" // Kernkrach *new (orig 1985) AFTER THE SNOW // Rich in Thought // Fracture // Enfant Terrible 2006 QEK JUNIOR // 1/0 // Wohnanhänger 7" // Kernkrach 2007 FACTUMS // See Inside // See Inside 7" // Polly Maggoo *new FACTUMS // Inside Out BLANK DOGS // Housefly // Yellow Mice Sleep 7" // HoZac 2007 BLANK DOGS // Leaving the Light On // Diana (The Herald) 12" // Sacred Bones *new SPIDER // Spiderlili // Charlie 7" // HoZac 2006 *request MATTRESS // In Your Pocket // In Your Pocket 7"+CDR // Malt Duck *new TICKLEY FEATHER // Sex Face // split 7" w/ Bermuda Triangles // CNP *new *request TALBOT TAGORA // Sleepy Heads // Sleepy Heads cassette // self-released *new YIKES // Carol Ann // Whoa Comas/Blood Bombs // Kill Shaman *new MICHAEL YONKERS w/ THE BLIND SHAKE // Don't I Get // Carbohydrates Hydrocarbons // Go Johnny Go *new EAT SKULL // Dead Families // Dead Families 7" // Skulltones *forthcoming DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE // Dog Love // Back in the Village 7" // Disordered/Lo-Fi *new METH TEETH // Bus Rides // To My Good Friend CDR // self-released *new
Los Llamarada were outstanding live at the DAM House in Davis on Saturday, September 15, but they were especially stunning and sublime on this live performance in Studio A at Freeform KDVS the following day. I've included this performance in its entirety on this week's program. It was enhanced by a piano being available. Thanks to Andy Pastalaniec for engineering.
To DOWNLOAD this program, CLICK HERE (archived for 10 weeks).
DER SUBMARINE RACERS // Space Burrito // Space Burrito b/w Skatebored 7" // Spin the Bottle *new DIGGER & THE PUSSYCATS // Timebomb // split 10" w/ the Magnetix // Every Night Is a Saturday Night *new RAXOLA // Kill Your Son // self-titled LP // Radio Heartbeat *new (orig 1978) HUBBLE BUBBLE // I Wanna Die (but not Right Now) // self-titled LP // Radio Heartbeat/Daggerman *new (orig 1978) HUBBLE BUBBLE // Faking // Faking // Radio Heartbeat/Daggerman *new (orig 1979) THE LAMPS // Javelin // self-titled LP // In The Red *new THE INTELLIGENCE // Sailor Dive // Deuteronomy // In The Red *new THE INTELLIGENCE // The Receptionist LEADERS // Crime Passionel // Synthesizer Sketchez & 4-Track Demos // no label *new DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE // I'm Blue // The Pink Scream EP 12" // Shake Appeal *new DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE // Hippy! // Elev to Mezz 7" // Daggerman *new D.STOP // Traitement de Choc // Traitement de Choc 7" // Autoprod 1982 DEAD HEAT // Damnée Petite Sophie // Damnée Petite Sophie 7" // ??? 198? TWIST NOIR // Ein Paar Tränen // self-titled 10" // Kernkrach *new (orig 1985) HAIRCUT MOUNTAIN TRANSIT // Winona Rider Voice-Over // v/a: Thrash Sabbatical LP+2x7" // Deathbomb Arc *new SIGHTINGS // Debt Depths // Through the Panama // Load *forthcoming MOUTHUS // Armies Between // Saw a Halo // Load *new *** LOS LLAMARADA // Live in Studio A, Sunday 09/16/2007 (48 mins) *** I Remember the Rest Julia Got Out Never Found the Head The Very Next Moment A Chance to Become Transparent Walk Look Climb The North Is Death I'm Sorry [Peggy Lee] Sometimes Nothing Changes Second One Is Here! WOODEN SHJIPS // Shine Like Suns // self-titled CD + bonus CD // Holy Mountain *new
I remember the first time I heard "Space Burrito" by Der Submarine Racers because it provoked such a fit of hilarity on my part; I'm pretty sure that was the last time that my drink came out through my nose. For all I know, this record and a Reed's Extra Ginger could do more harm to your mucus membranes than a sack of speed. It's been a year since that first listen on MySpace, but now the record's finally here, and the joke is still plenty funny. Just think if Darin had svengalied a budget-rock band led by Gilbert Gottfried instead of The Donnas..that's pretty close to Der Submariners' ballpark (I feel dangerously close to a Dan Quisenbury joke). Trashed-out, ultra-adenoidal, snotty, and fun.
Digger & the Pussycats sounds like it's at least a trio by name, but this Aussie two-man group tears a swath wider than most full-bands with hard-chargin' raw garagesleaze. Their thundering caveman drums and guitar like a killer bee swarm breaks no new ground, but they disturb the familiar soil very vigorously. On the flip, The Magnetix from France dish some cryptic cavestompers with some sweet organ riffs, making this split 10" a sure pleaser. Digger & the Pussycats have come to the States for a long tour which swings west in October.
9/24 NYC @ Fat Baby 9/25 Charlottesville, VA @ Atomic Burrito 9/29 Memphis, TN @ Gonerfest 9/30 Nashville, TN @ Alley Cat Lounge w/ Sweet Velvet 10/2 Chatanooga, TN @ TBA 10/5 Columbus, OH @ Cafe Bourbon Street w/ Grave Blankets 10/6 Lafayette, IN @ Zooleggers w/ the Mans 10/7 Three Rivers, MI @ Paisano's 10/8 Chicago, IL @ TBA 10/10 Omaha, NE @ O’Leavers Pub w/ the Boxed Elders 10/11 Denton, TX @ J & J’s Pizza 10/12 Austin, TX @ Beerland w/ John Schooley vs. John Wesley Coleman + Hex Dispensers + Pumpers 10/16 Tucson, AZ @ Vaudeville 10/17 Las Vegas, NV @ Divebar w/ the Mapes 10/19 Portland, OR @ Tonic Lounge w/ the Flip Tops & Pathogens 10/20 Olympia, WA @ Le Voyeur 10/22 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse w/ Ape City R&B 10/23 Portland, OR @ Ground Kontrol w/ Holy Shit! 10/25 Oakland, CA @ Stork Club, Budget Rock VI Showcase! w/ Husbands, Les Hormones, & the Cormans
...and then off to Korea!?!?! I'm definitely gonna try to catch them at Budget Rock VI.
Belgium had some of the best punk rock in Europe in the late 70s, and their three Bloodstains Across Belgium volumes were among the best of the entire series. Raxola and Hubble Bubble were two of the bands from that particular time and place who made an outstanding album, and now these records have been faithfully and legitimately reissued. The sound is certainly an upgrade from the bootlegs that came out about ten years ago. Hubble Bubble's second album Faking is a bit more of a powerpop record, but there's still a few nuggets for the punks, so you might as well get that, too.
Once again, we hear The Lamps, and if I haven't persuaded you to buy this new LP or CD in the last few weeks, "Javelin" is my new point of attack. Also new from In the Red and finally on AFS this week is Deuteronomy by The Intelligence. Early reports that it was "not as weird" or "cleaner sounding" almost had me worried that I'd be bored with it. How could I have second-guessed the songwriting of Lars Finberg? I'm ashamed of myself. Indeed, these songs all rule as they no less than inch toward pure pop perfection; actually, some of these songs even leap in that direction rather daringly. It's a growing album, too. Five listens in, and I'm especially enjoying it now.
I think I've shown you most of the Leaders' bag o'tricks from their first demo now, so surely all you label bigwigs must be drafting your contract proposals now. Get in early on the sneeringest art/synth/weirdpunk duo since the '78-'83 heyday.
Dan Melchior's never made a bad record, but his last few have been so incredible. My enjoyment and intrigue are ratcheting up to a whole new level even as he becomes seemingly more prolific. The Elev to Mezz and Pink Scream EPs are top-notch, comprising eight of the best examples of songcraft you may hear in 2007, and there's a new EP on Plastic Idol just around the corner. Plans are also coming together for Dan und Das Menace to tour, hitting the west coast in the first week of November. Surely, it's been said too often by lazy reviewers that Dan's music is "like the Country Teasers," and while I'd definitely recommend these records to any Teasers fans, such a one-sentence review is not a fair summation, and it does little to alleviate the confusion that exists about the man's music.
Most recordgeeks became familiar with Dan when the Broke Revue was anointed briefly as an up-and-coming "it" band in NYC, shortly after the time that Dan came to the States from his native England, where he had worked with Billy Childish and related projects such as Holly Golightly. The Revue even opened for much-hyped midmajor stars as Interpol, and my guess is that it looked like too much too soon for cred-conscious scene-honchos to hitch up to the bandwagon. I was skeptical, too. Probably a year or more went by before I learned that the Broke Revue's album on the In the Red was actually really good! And there were a buncha other records that came out around then by Dan which for me got lost in the shuffle, never bought, never heard. I thought I had him pegged as a bluespunker. I respected him for the raggedy edge and a unique singing voice, but I was afraid he was a little too prolific, and I felt late to the party after missing so many records.
Nowadays, Dan's music has become even more diversely influenced, and while it surely seems to share many influences with the Country Teasers, I also get the sense that Dan's got a subscription to the Messthetics series because The Pink Scream and Elev to Mezz sound as if they'd fit right into that (albeit, his music's blues edge is still more palpable than any of those British DIY bands of 1978-1980). There's keys and synths in there in places, even the occasional disco beat, but it's never the least bit cheesy, and like the Teasers' main man Ben Wallers (here's where the comparison does indeed ring very true), Dan's lyrics are enthralling enough to command close attention.
Next up, here's a couple of mysterious synth/wave records from France from the early to mid 80s. These are from Jacque's home stash, so thanks to him for letting us hear them. According to the site linked in the playlist beneath their band name, D.Stop also had this LP...
Anyone got a spare copy? I'm a payer for it...The promise of the single must be investigated! Dead Heat is even weirder, more minimal starkness with near zero melody and absurdly slow and sped up vocals. I can find no information anywhere about them. What does anyone know? Please tell!
Kernkrach just plucked this forgotten nugget of minimal synth/wave from Germany by Twist Noir, and unlike so much industrial music of that era (by 1985, it seemed that over 90% of industrial had become so homogenized that it was split into two camps: dancey EBM and metal-tinged industrial rock), this still sounds pretty fresh. If it's dated at all, it's a shining example of some of the best darkwave from the original heyday. The female vocals are sexy and cool, but not nearly as emotionally detached as most Germans on the cusp or splitting the uprights of EBM. Even the synths and beats are not as unflinching...maybe more like mid-era Tuxedomoon plus more aggression. The packaging is awesome as you should expect from Kernkrach; the 10" cover has spare graphics plus four daggerlike shards from a broken mirror. One shard has fake blood on the tip. Handle this with care.
Truly, Los Llamarada are such a miraculous band, and we feel lucky to have had them visit us ever so briefly. I realize that two of the members probably never want to get back on an airplane again, so unless we west coasters plan on next year's SxSW (which is never conveniently timed for me to take a vacation), we may never see them again. But this I pledge: If they get enough time off next year and fly out again in Summer 2008, I will drive them up and down the West Coast. It's really a shame more folks didn't get to see them.
New from Deathbomb Arc is this Thrash Sabbatical compilation, an imposing space-taker with a 12" and two 7-inches in an overlarge pizza box that's been spraypainted and screened. But I said it's a space-taker and not a space-waster. Within the grooves are some awesome sounds including extreme ends of the spectrum of the "New Noisy L.A." scene, plus three sides of Thurston Moore solo work. There's even a masterpiece of a post-riot grrl punk rock song by Barrabarracuda as heard last week on AFS v. 148 along with an ear-scouring stunner by Kevin Shields with help from Amy Vecchione of Yuma Nora, Gang Wizard, et al. This week, we hear Haircut Mountain Transit, bringing to mind the ferrous static sheetnoise of P16.D4 from two decades back. The pacing is well-done on these discs, so the variety is never too much to bear all at once. I like to think of Thurston's side as audio antacid to calm your stomach from the discombobulation of the whacked and cracked.
Haircut Mountain Transit is part of the ungodly dudecircle of L.A. noise artists collectively known as Men Who Can't Love. I saw them on July 3, 2005, at Food Hole in Portland, and it was like a harshnoise-style reenactment of Lord of the Flies...all neck-yoking moshpit mayhem. The premise behind a Men Who Can't Love show is that they are five or six individual members who each perform solos ranging from 30 seconds to five minutes. They simultaneously set up at once in different corners of the staging area, and the show begins when one member is forced to perform by all the others. It appeared to me that a "go" button was pushed, setting off wildly unstable circuitry, and then the "it" man would struggle to hit his "stop" button while his bandmate adversaries tried to prevent him from reaching it. His solo would continue for as long as everyone could block him from the button. Their mountain of speakers peaked just a few inches from Food Hole's ceiling, so it was quite frightening when the top speaker caught fire. (Yuma Nora played an awesome set right after that, and there was more burning plastic smell about midway through. I'll never forget that show.) Thrash Sabbatical's got a whole side of Men Who Can't Love, and it's essentially like listening to a Men Who Can't Love live show. The variety of sounds from the most extreme harshness (probably Privy Seals) to the most subdued and songlike (Solitary Hunter's folky bit) is very wide.
The new album by Sightings is due to drop just in time for their mid- to late-October tour of the Eastern U.S. and Canada, and through five listens, I'm certain now that this is THEE BEST Sightings album. Load CEO, cook, and bottle-washer Ben described their previous Load effort, Arrived in Gold, as "[dematerializing] any trace of guitar, bass and drums into proton dust floating microns on top of the speaker cone." On Through the Panama, Sightings' metal shavings, scrapings, and outright manglings are just as alien-weird, but they're oddly complimented by the sheeny gloss from Andrew W.K.'s production. This time, your speaker cones are gonna have a botox boost and the lushest, most luxurious moisturizer after they've received their most violent dermabrasion yet. Just as most power-electronics and harsh-noise sounds best with ultra-hifi recording, Sightings, perhaps the most extreme and harsh of the world's rock bands, also sounds great with high production value. This week's track selection is such a strange dichotomy of tonally correct singing (as much sweetness as the band can muster) over an atonal bed of nails and gauntlet of industrial furnace blasts that is more timbrally rich than anything I've heard all year.
The new Mouthus album on Load is a big winner, too! I'll have more to say about it next week.
There was a runaway rumor about Los Llamarada that they were all teenagers. I think it started from Siltblog's review of their SxSW performance, and then I probably did most of the running away with it. Llamarada's singer/keyboardist Sagan surmised that "Maybe he thought we were so young because it was such a dark room." And now that it turns out that they are actually academes who met in psychology class, I think they seem even more mythical.
The following night at the Delta of Venus, the Wooden Shjips capped off "Davis Feats of Strength II" with their strongest performance I've seen to date. Whereas the larger spaces and formal stages they've performed on feel so unlike their practice room, the Shjips said that the cozy Davis café felt more familiar to them than any venue they've played so far. Certainly, I've never seen them look more comfortable and less tentative. Here's some video that Brian Faulkner captured during the show...
THE MAGNETIX // No Feel Pain // split 10" w/ Digger & the Pussycats // Every Night Is a Saturday Night *new MATT K. SHRUGG // All I Do Is Write These Songs // The Weird Shit... CDR // no label *new THE PIZZAS // Hideous Fashion // MySpace mp3 *new UNNATUAL HELPERS // Becky Is a Bummer/Milk Break // self-titled CD // self-released *new METH TEETH // Boring Artifacts // To My Good Friend CDR // self-released *new GHOST ECHOES // So Good, So Fast // demo CDR // no label *new BLANK DOGS // Planets // Diana (The Herald) 12" EP // Sacred Bones *new LOS LLAMARADA // The Very Next Moment // The Very Next Moment 7" // S-S Records *new BLIND SHAKE // Honeytown/Lap Dog // Rizzograph // Learning Curve *new SHAUN FAILURE // Needles // mp3 *new HAMMERHEAD // Zesta // Into the Vortex // Amphetamine Reptile 1994 *request THE NEW FLESH // Dog // Dog 7" // Terra Firma/Human Conduct *new BURMESE // Headmaster // Men // Load 2004 KEVIN SHIELDS // Paved Fury // v/a: Thrash Sabbatical LP+2x7" // Deathbomb Arc *new PRIVY SEALS // Somniloquy // v/a: Thrash Sabbatical LP+2x7" BARRABARRACUDA // Stone Cold Steve Austin at the Cold Stone Creamery // v/a: Thrash Sabbatical LP+2x7" DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA! // Mr. Chip/Mrs. Fancy Lady Friend // Festival of Ghosts 10" // Upset the Rhythm 2007 FOOT VILLAGE // World Fantasy (feat. Weirdo/Begeirdo) // Fuck the Future // Deathbomb Arc 2006 FOOT VILLAGE // Follow Your Heart // v/a: Pisspounder 3xLP // Deathbomb Arc 2007 HEAVY WINGED // A Stretch of Time // We Grow // Not Not Fun 2007 ETERNAL TAPESTRY // Woodland Spirit // Altar of Grass CDR // Solar Commune *new MICHAEL YONKERS // The Answer // Grimwood // De Stijl *new (orig 1969) SUISHOU NO FUNE // In the Moonlight // Writhing Underground Flowers // Lotus Sound *new SHEPHERDS // part 1 // Bush Babies 7" // DNT Records *new U.S. GIRLS // Jungle Jokes // Introducing... CDR // self-released *new OHIOAN // untitled // Ohioan and Adam Gnade CDR // Native Kin *new
Last night on Exodus: the Return Home hosted by DJ Oddy Knocky with special guest DJ Klinger, the Unnatural Helpers played a short, but sweet set live on the air, and now you can hear a whole eight songs of their clever smart-yin/dumb-yang garagepunk. The set begins at about the 67-minute mark of this two-hour program.
Download the mp3 AT THIS LINK within the next 10 weeks, or stream it AT THIS LINK before September 18, 2007.
This is the cover of their new self-titled CD.
We'll be hearing from it tonight on AFS v. 148, as well as catalog highlights from the stars of this weekend's "Davis Feats of Strength" II, including the brand-new 7" by Los Llamarada from S-S.
Here's Oddy Knocky's entire playlist...
DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA! // Yao Yao Tou LOS LLAMARADA // Lies BOYS CLUB // Gotta Get it Right THE COATHANGERS // Parcheezzi TERRIBLE TWOS // Reluctant Love HOME BLITZ // Thin Ice HOME BLITZ // Feeling Cold THE FOXX // Frenchie BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW // Dandelion Gum ALGEBRA MOTHERS // Strawberry Cheesecake ALGEBRA SUICICDE // True Romance at the Worlds Fair ALGEBRA SUICIDE // Please Respect Our Decadence THE UNITS // High Pressure Days BLANK DOGS // She's Violent Tonight ALGEBRA SUICIDE // An Explanation for that Flock of Crows ALGEBRA SUICIDE // Little Dead Bodies MEGAWEAPON // Tranceformers 1 THE 1990s // Arcade Precint
UNNATURAL HELPERS // Live in Studio A
DIRTY PROJECTORS // Gimme Gimme Gimme [Black Flag] MICE PARADE // Swing ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD // Lucien CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN // Take the Skinheads Bowling CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN // Sometimes WICKED HEMLOCKS // To Be Extremist WOMEN & CHILDREN // Born TP YACHT // I Love a Computer DIRTY PROJECTORS // Obscure Wisdom LAS VEGAS CLUB // W.W.M.D? (What Would Moses Do?) WOMEN & CHILDREN // Virginia Creepers CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE // International Spy BEAT HAPPENING // I Spy
You've been hearing a lot of Algebra Suicide because poet/vocalist Lydia Tomkiw passed away last week. RIP.
Saturday, Sept 15 @DAM House 503 E Street in Davis (map) 7:00 sharp (ends @ 10!), donate $3-10, all ages Food + Beer + N.A. drinks are FREE...come hungry!
Los Llamarada Monterrey, Mexico's teen sensation of psych/weirdpunk Captain Ahab L.A.'s boffo-funtime ravesploitation rulers Foot Village L.A.'s all-drum HC edutainment for the geographically curious + debut of the Mayyors Sacto/Davis supergroup of ex-FM Knives/Karate Party/Sexy Prison/Gift of Goats/etc.
And finally...
Sunday, Sept 16 @ Delta of Venus 9:00 p.m., $5, all ages
Suishou no Fune Deep psych mindbenders from Japan Wooden Shjips Ur-groovin' SF psych wizardry Numinous Eye SF third-eye stimulators feat. Mason Jones San Francisco Water Cooler Straight outta Fiddletown psych-pop shimmerers
Sometimes you wanna thank your lucky stars for Davis, CA!
And you do know this is all because Freeform KDVS is in this town, right?
This week we begin with the best song from Brother Love's first record, a one-sided 12" of killer kiwi psych that begins with an authentic breezy West Coast '67 vibe but gradually coalesces into something heavier. We heard the first half of this last week, but I had to fade it out due to time constraints. By request, it's leading off so that you can enjoy it in its entirety. While his name has remained fairly obscure, Brother Love championed on throughout the 90s with the help of His Far Out Space Nuts and into the 2000s with the Free Association, and he's back to being solo, with a new album in each of the last two years. Reportedly, he's gone into a more C&W direction.
Also by popular demand, I've flipped the Vibrations cassette of Eternal Tapestry over. We heard the galvanic psych jam of side A a couple weeks ago (on AFS v. 144) which I have hailed in other dustier corners of the internet as the most rewarding patience test in recent memory, invoking positive comparisons to recent outings by Acid Mothers Temple. One of our listeners was bummed to discover that the supply of 100 tapes has already run out at Not Not Fun, but he wanted so badly to hear side B that I've also answered his request to play it in its entirety. Better not wait once that Mystic Inductions LP drops on Not Not Fun. It's due out sometime in the fall.
I've been long overdue in playing some Edgar Broughton Band on AFS. These anarchist proto-metallers grew outta the UK's psych scene of the late 60s and became proggier as time wore on. Surely fans of current bands like Danava and The Sword should dig out E.B.B., but for me, their finest material happened on their debut album, Wasa Wasa, and early singles ("Evil" was also the A-side of their first) such as "Out! Demons, Out!" (a rewrite of The Fugs' "Exorcising The Demons Out Of The Pentagon") and "Apache Dropout" (a sorta mash-up of "Apache" and Captain Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie"). Along with the Deviants, Groundhogs, and pre-TG art terrorism by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, the Broughtons should be considered as one of the most important and influential protopunkers of the UK.
My top recommendation for this weekend if you are in or near Sacramento is to go Sunday night to the Stoney Inn and eat the ½-lb. smothered burger and chase it with a very fine rock 'n' roll show featuring the Unnatural Helpers and Replicator. Elsewhere, you can catch the Helpers from Seattle on their west coast tour, and bring $5 extra to buy their brand-new 7"...
Saturday, 9/8 in Portland @ Clinton Street Pub Sunday, 9/9 in Sacto @ The Stoney Inn, 1320 Del Paso Blvd Monday, 9/10 early show (7:00) in SF @ The Hemlock Tavern Tuesday, 9/11 on-air (7:00-9:00) on Freeform KDVS, 90.3 FM in Davis Wednesday, 9/12 in L.A. @ The Echo Friday, 9/14 in S.F. @ Bottom of the Hill Saturday, 9/15 in Chico @ Off Limits
It's about damn time that we got this Annihilation Time 7" which actually came out in late 2006. This might be just about the best band to infuse hardcore with hard-chargin', ballsy blazin' riff rock since Death Side, Lip Cream, and the mid-period Poison Idea of nearly 20 years ago. Maybe Uncurbed did it best, but Annihilation Time is not merely a sped-up Mötörhead. Rupture might also take the cake for rockin'est HC ever, but we'll visit that later in this post. I will not be missing A.T. the next time they rip through this area.
Next up is another selection from the new album by Halifax, Nova Scotia's Be Bad, who to my ears sound like they might've been listening very recently to records dating back to the death of HC/emo circa 1997 through that scene's prolonged death-rale as heard on labels like GSL and Three.One.G; throw in some of the last 12 years of neo-no-wave on Skin Graft and Troubleman, but then trip into some of the more expansive psychedelic sounds that we old dudes scratch our beards to. This is an exciting intersection of styles for me to contemplate because I'll admit to being a fanboy of all that "kid stuff" and the many (often redundant or superfluous) "post-" and "-core" -fixes a decade and thirty pounds ago, and now here I am lookin' like Grizzly Adams lyin' on the couch listening to the Cherry Blossoms to get me more relaxed. I'm very familiar with the road Be Bad is travelling, and copping a phrase from the O.G. beardos--"The journey is the destination, man"--I gotta give these miscreants major credit for having arrived already. Vision Correction is a very strong album, a sharp sinister onslaught of spartan but muscular rhythms as sexy as the most menacing moments of the A Frames. Night Wounds and Duchesses are two more comparisons, but Be Bad are more heavy-handed on the downstrokes like post-HC that's still truer to HC. The lushness of the production showcases these tasty guitar textures very well but steers clear of any aftertaste of excess gloss. Effects send guitars and vocals sometimes soaring into the ethers, swirling out or fluttering, but there's still a lotta powerful wallop. I'll hafta show you on a future AFS, but track 7 locks into a motorik groove for the longhaul, and track 8 more than just dabbles in the acid...it's the one full-on psych bliss-blast. This is definitely a band to watch.
Last week, Ryan Wells wrote a great post for Static Party blog on the Get Fucked, Cunt EP by Rupture, positing this 7" as the antithesis of punk's P.C. movement which was peaking in the mid-90s just as these loathesome west Aussie scumbags were wantonly plummeting to depths of amorality rarely achieved. Go read it today. Four of the six songs on this record can be heard at links below the post, including "Herpes Fuck Farm" and the exceedingly criminal "Let's Go to the Primary School." I've played "I'm Insane" for you this week, and it's one of the two songs that you won't hear at Static Party. Strangely enough, it's also the only song on this EP that's playable on the radio at any hour.
The new Lamps album is still ruling me every week as I listen at home. As much as I liked the first 12" on In the Red, I think this one steps the game up bigtime and splits the goalposts between two of my all-time fave bands, Feedtime and The Intelligence. Leading lamp Monty Buckles also makes some of the finest videos for primo garage/artpunk bands that you might ever see on YouTube, but if you never saw this Lamps video when it was new at Victim of Time, watch it now...
When the Terrible Twos ripped through the west coast, I had hyped them as being an ex-member or two of the Piranhas, but apparently they are not related to that band at all. I had heard the ex-Piranhas thing last year when their "Plunderball" single had come out, and I've probably reported that here a few times since then. So, this is my retraction...sorry. I do strive to maintain accuracy here. So, this is a different new 7" besides their awesome Radical Tadpoles EP, and while their keyboards seem to be buried or indistinguishable or perhaps absent on this record, these three songs on A+A (a.k.a. "Alcohol + Adderal") are so raucous they take your breath away. Wild stuff!
more notes and reviews later, I hope...stay tuned!
NIPPLE VIOLATOR // I Wanna Die // Double Suck // Bloody Stump *new PRIMITIVE TRIBES // Shred of Effort // Some Bouncy Anthems 7" // no label 1994 PRIMITIVE TRIBES // Fuck If I Know // While No One Was Looking 7" // 201 Records 1994 FEEDTIME // Nobody´s Fault But Mine // Shovel // Aberrant 1986 NIGHT KINGS // Bug Weed // split 7" w/ Yummy // Regal Select 1993 NIGHT KINGS // Bum // Bum b/w Ain´t No Fun 7" // In the Red 1992 NIGHT KINGS // Death // Increasing Our High // Sub Pop/Super Electro 1993 UNNATURAL HELPERS // Heavy Sugar // Earwax 7" // Dirty Knobby *new THOMAS JEFFERSON SLAVE APARTMENTS // Bottle Island // split 7" w/ Monster Truck Five // Datapanik 1991 TV GHOST // Bird Flu // Atomic Rain 7" // Die Stasi *new THE FRUSTRATIONS // Halfway on Fire // Glowing Red Pill // X! Recordings *forthcoming TERRIBLE TWOS // Reluctant Love // Radical Tadpoles 7" // X! *new STEPPIN' RAZORS // Shoot Myself // split 7" w/ Deadly Companions // no label *new STEPPIN' RAZORS // Cut Me Deep (excerpt) CHURCHBURNERS // Born-Again Virgin // v/a: Ideas Change dbl. cassette // Greentape *new CHURCHBURNERS // Sluts Fucking Suck MONSTER MONSTER // Ghost Sounds // Tight! 3" CDR // Greentape *new BLACK PUS // Altar Rat // DBA Tape Club split c20 w/ Foot Village // Deathbomb Arc *new PYRAMIDS // Dissolve // demo CDR // no label *new SIR RICHARD BISHOP // Amphetamine Ivory // Vault - Vol 1 // Azul *new GHOST TO FALCO // The Force // Like This Forever // Below PDX *new U.S. GIRLS // Don´t Understand That Man // Introducing... CDR // no label *new BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN // State Trooper // Nebraska // Columbia 1982 PINK REASON // Thrush // Cleaning the Mirror // Siltbreeze 2007 LOS LLAMARADA // I Welcome Tomorrow // The Exploding Now // S-S Records 2007 MALIBU FALCON // untitled // How Is Hell Fact Met? All of Them Witches/Boa Constrictor 2xCDR // no label 2004 EAT THE PEOPLE // Slow Death [Leather Nun] // self-titled CDR // no label 2004 EAT THE PEOPLE // White Dwarf ART LESSING // Badly // The Plastic Couch // Electric Eggplant 2006 DEAD C // Max Harris // DR 503 // Flying Nun 1987 BROTHER LOVE & HIS FAR OUT SPACE NUTS // Opium // Every Garden Grows One // New World of Sound 1993
DEATH SIDE // Stop It!/Overcome Yourself // All Is Here Now 7" // HG Fact 1994 TOTALITÄR // Multinationella Mördare // Multinationella Mördare 7" // Crust 1987 KANSANTURVAMUSIIKKIKOMISSIO (KTMK) // Turvamusiikkia // 666 // Barabbas 1985 KANSANTURVAMUSIIKKIKOMISSIO // Luontoon MONOSOURCIL // Hauts Couteaux et Manteaux de Fourrure // one-sided LP // Gaffer/Steak au Zoo/Down Boy *new MUTATORS // Glass // Paper Words 7" // The Broadway to Boundary *new ART THIEVES // Mona Lisa // rough demos CDR // no label *forthcoming on Hozac after final mix GOD'S GIFT // People // These Days 7" // Newmarket 1979 CHURCH POLICE // Gilligan's Wings // Gilligan's Wings // Skulltones *new (orig 1982) SNAKE APARTMENT // Pigs Is Pigs // Paint the Walls // Parts Unknown *new ARKY // Yes No More // v/a: Hey! Hey! Sauerkraut Balls! CDR // Teen Action *new LEADERS // Rub You Wrong // Synthesizer Sketchez & 4-Track Demos CDR // no label *new MUDBOY // Whirlpool Window // Hungry Ghosts!: These Songs Are Doors // Not Not Fun *new BROTHER JT // Get on With It // Third Ear Candy // Birdman *new BROTHER JT // I Am the Blob ANDREW DOUGLAS ROTHBARD // Indigo // Abandoned Meander // Peaking Mandala *new PLANKTON WAT // Visions // Other Worlds CDR // Solar Commune *new FURSAXA // Seven Stones // Maidenstone 7" // Mt. St. Mtn. *new MAMMAL // Drifter in the City // Lonesome Drifter // Animal Disguise *new SPARKLE GIRL // Hexis // split 7" w/ Slicing Grandpa // Soccer Mom Ebonics *new PARALLEL PARAMETERS // Sub-Tract // Look a Baby Wolf CDR // Teen Action *new WOODEN SHJIPS // part two // Sol '07 7" // Sick Thirst/Holy Mountain *new YVES/SON/ACE // Liars // No Taboos CDR // no label *new SCHNEIDER TM UND LUSTFAUST // Sweet Divorcee // The Girl Who Cried... 7" // Mirror World Music *forthcoming KAYAK // Reason for It All // See See the Sun // Harvest 1973 TWIN // The Tower [or: War] // split 12" EP/3" CD w/ Mikaela's Fiend // S.A.F. *new MUSIC MACHINE // The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly // The Ultimate Turn On // Big Beat *new (orig 1967) SYZ // Complicated // Complicated 7" // HoZac *new BPEOPLE // Can Can´t // self-titled LP // Faulty 1981 DEADBEATS // Kill the Hippies // Kill the Hippies 7" // Dangerhouse 1978 BLACK RANDY & THE METROSQUAD // San Francisco // Pass the Dust, I Think I'm Bowie // Dangerhouse 1979
R.I.P., Chelsea of Death Side, Paintbox, and other bands. Passed away on August 17, 2007. He was truly a guitar-great of hardcore, alongside titans like Dr. Know and Pig Champion, and if you don't believe that, then watch this...
In the 90s, my radio shows usually focused pretty squarely on hardcore punk, and the playlists often revealed my penchant for the Japanese and Scandinavian bands. I pretty much had a subscription to Vacuum Mailorder, having bought at least one copy of every new title that Vacuum picked up from about 1996-1999, and I'd often wipe the Six Weeks table fulla Scandi-crust, Japcore, and South American HC clean at Gilman shows. Many a time, I'd go to Gilman in spite of the bands specifically because I was fiending for those records. It was an exciting time in hardcore, I thought. The powerviolence era was beginning to run its course (yielding to gnarlier sounds like Dystopia, Bastard Noise, later Suppression, and Gasp), the death-rale of emocore was loogeying all over (giving us strange new musical concepts by bands like Get Hustle, The Locust, and locally in Sacto, the Yah Mos and Popesmashers (both bands were the primary precursors to !!!), and the international network of noisecore tape-traders was fractioning into a substratum of porn-grind degenerates and others with more original trajectories, resulting music by the likes of Sloth, Gore Beyond Necropsy, and Damage Digital. Just as all of these HC subgenres were sacked by revolutions, donning masks and devouring atavistic elements of no-wave, embracing free jazz, noise, and other improvised music, there was also a rather credible revival of thrash that paid tribue to the heyday of the early to mid 1980s, led by bands like DS-13, Exclaim, Tear It Up, etc.
Through it all, Totalitär raged relentlessly just as they had since their beginnings in 1985, and they are still the crème de la crustpunk to this very day. Had their scorchin' Vi Är Eliten been released earlier in the year, I'd have surely included it in my top full-lengths of 2006. Here, we hear the Swedish masters from their first 7". Somehow, I never knew until a few months ago that Totalitär shared members with the Brainbombs.
Back when my pre-AFS program was rather more HC-obsessive, the name of the show--"Säätekin Suklääkuoretettua Paskaa"--was a Finnish lyric, an indictment of pop radio by the incredible Radiopuhelimet. I'd learned of the band when I was a regular listener of Karl Ikola's radio shows on KDVS in the early 90s. They started in 1986 as something of a Beefheart-damaged hardcore band that rose from the ashes of the short-lived KTMK, or Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio. On their only LP--available from the band for free download HERE--KTMK were like kindred spirits with Aussie groups from the Aberrant label such as Venom P. Stinger, Feedtime, etc.
Today it's not very common for me to feature new HC bands on AFS, but I've just found the new one-sided LP by France's Monosourcil, a band related to another one of today's best and most original HC bands, Death to Pigs. Monosourcil still attacks with a lotta might, but their guitar leads are prone to splintering into spidery angularisms and treblephonic scrapes. The record comes with a CDR of the same songs inside.
From Vancouver, Canada, the Mutators have just released their second 7", and their first with new singer Lief. Having witnessed the band on tour opening for the A Frames and Sexy Prison at the Charred Doghouse here in Davis, I was amazed at how aggressive and imperious her vocals were. Surely, she's the most combative female voice I've heard since...I dunno, maybe Lydia Lunch or Diamanda Galas? Lief could be almost as quarrelsome, but without the divaesque posturing. The sparse and stark attack of drummer Justin and guitarist Brody have ratcheted up the ferocity to match the glasseating vokills, and now they're doubly destructive since last year's debut vinyl. This lineup should re-record the "My War" cover.
The latest band to try to out-Flipper Flipper is a group of presumed Chicagoans repping Uganda on MySpace, the Art Thieves. These extra-pugnacious and scuzz-caked sounds bear the bloody flavor of the Brainbombs, too, but these villians are still clever enough to add to the mythology of DaVinci's magnum opus. This is played off a CDR of rough mixes of material intended for a future 7" release on the so-far infallible HoZac label. HoZac records sell out in the blink of an eye during the brief pre-ordering period, so start patrolling the HoZac label blog everyday until an announcement is made. As for out-Flippering Flipper...No band can really out-Flipper Flipper, okay? Or out-Brainbomb the Brainbombs. But this rates as highly as any band that has tried since Billy Bao. Suffice to say that the Art Thieves rule.
Last time I played this great, brooding God's Gift song, I talked over the whole damn thing, so let's hear it again with less talking.
Speaking of bands that tried to out-Flipper Flipper, the first to make a serious attempt might've been the Church Police, who rose briefly in the early 1980s from perhaps the most reviled of Bay Area edge cities, Concord, California. Most of the few people who know the band are only familiar with their contribution to the definitive Bay Area hardcore document, the Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation. "The Oven Is My Friend" (later covered by Sebadoh on their Siltbreeze 7") was one of the two great weird songs to grace that LP (the other was Flipper's "Sacrifice"). Even fewer people noticed in the mid 1990s that the enigmatic Stomach Ache Records released a 7" (cooperatively with RRRecords) of rambling freer-form songs by the Church Police with minimal sleeve info. I stupidly sold that record away about six years ago, but "Robots" was a song so memorable that I can replay it in my mind whenever I think about it, and "Killing Myself to Live" might be the best song title ever.
I doubted that any other Church Police songs existed, so I was so pleased when Ry of Snake Apartment--who runs the very tasteful Skulltones imprint--delivered a copy of Gilligan's Wings in person to KDVS. These recordings from 1982 are of plenty good quality, and the songs are much more coherent than the rather rambly mysterious 7". Rumor has it that this is an appetizer for another label's full-course retrospective release.
When Snake Apartment were interviewed here on the AFS that was lost to archive glitches, I asked them what their reaction was to a lazy internet diss, wherein a message board maven said: "They're another one of those ClockJeans bands." Another? Are there that many bands like Clockcleaner and Pissed Jeans that they constitute an "ilk"? The band sorta just smiled wryly and let Ry answer: "Those are good bands, but I don't know what they mean by that. We like to think of ourselves as something more like Church Police and weird stuff like that. Or maybe we are just like Tad." (I've been thinking since then that it's about time we revisited Salt Lick or God's Balls here.) Just check the burrowing basslines and vocal reverb-drench, which are both hallmarks of the excellent Paint the Walls. That is actually a lot like Church Police!
Next up, here's a defunct band called Arky with personnel ties to the amazing Sword Heaven. Two Arky songs are featured on Hey! Hey! Sauerkraut Balls!, a spraypainted CDR compilation of Columbus (OH) noise bands ranging from splattery scattershot noiserock thuggery such as this to spastic foilchewing mayhem and dog-whistle ambience. Arky were more songlike than, say, Dynasty or Deep Jew, but kinda in the same realm. The CDR comes in a screened pocket of sewn-together velour, as pictured above.
Now, enjoy another blast of primo synthsleaze from the Leaders. It's all in bad taste to rub you the wrong way. Like that time at a basement show when Martin pissed in an empty bottle of Blackthorn cider and broke it against the wall. Except that time, I was the adult in charge of the party, so I forgot to laugh, especially as I stayed late to clean up the mess with my bare hands because no upstairs tenants could be found to unlock the closet which had a mop inside. Here, the unapologetic Leaders have the same flagrant rudeness. And while it's taken me this long to laugh about picking up those piss-soaked shards with my fingers, the sneery snideness of the Leaders and their buzzsaw guitar's shattered melody have me feeling immediately tickled. You'd be really smart to tell us that your label has already contacted them about putting this on vinyl.
THE FRUSTRATIONS // Streak of Luck // Glowing Red Pill // X! Records *forthcoming TERRIBLE TWOS // Radical Tadpoles // Radical Tadpoles 7" // X! *forthcoming ARTIFICIAL LIMBS // Mechanical Bull // self-titled CDR // Eat *new LEADERS // Bad News Bitch // Synthesizer Sketchez & 4-Track Demos CDR // no label *new CATATONIC YOUTH // I've Had It // Piss Scene CDR // Fuck Jazz *new EAT SKULL // Things I Did When I Dyed My Hair // Seeing Things 7" // Meds *new HORNET LEG // We're So Ugly // August 2007 Tour CDR // self-released *new UNNATURAL HELPERS // Out of Touch // v/a: The Black Garfield Comp CDR // Haunted Horse 2007 TYVEK // Frustration Rock // Summer Burns 2x7" // What's Your Rupture? *new COCONUT COOLOUTS // Swim // The Spinaround b/w Swim 7" // Heads Up *new COCONUT COOLOUTS // Weekend // Advance Tracks CDR // Xeroid/Haunted Horse *forthcoming WAX MUSEUMS // Rambo Knife // Rambo Knife 7" // Rehab *new WAX MUSEUMS // Traffic Violation // Traffic Violation 7" // Douchemaster *new HOME BLITZ // Something 2 Do // self-titled CD // Gulcher *new CHINESE PUZZLE // Dadat // Inside/Outside // Rebus 1980 CHROME // Chromosome Damage // Alien Soundtracks // Siren 1977 *request SLICING GRANDPA // Daddy O Strangler // split 7" w/ Sparkle Girl // Soccer Mom Ebonics *new xNOBBQx // A1 & A2 // Sunshine of Your Love // Siltbreeze *forthcoming CORE OF THE COALMAN // Occurence of a Reboring Outcrop at the Bed Level // Anxiety // Resipiscent *new FAMILY BATTLE SNAKE // Lamber // v/a: Dynasty Gang Zine 2xCDR // Kaleidoscope Gang/Dynasty Zine *new ETERNAL TAPESTRY // Vibrations // Vibrations New Dawn cassette // Not Not Fun *new ETERNAL TAPESTRY // Mystic Induction // Mystic Induction // Not Not Fun *forthcoming INCA ORE // side B // split c31 w/ Leslie Keffer // Cherried Out Merch *new NO AGE // Dead Plane // Weirdo Rippers // Fat Cat *new YVES/SON/ACE // Liars // No Taboos CDR // self-released *new PYRAMIDS // Switch // demo CDR // self-released *new FACTUMS // Bomber // See Inside 7" // Polly Maggoo *new TV GHOST // Atomic Rain // Atomic Rain b/w Bird Flu 7" // Die Stasi *new SYZ // Mountain Moon // Complicated 7" // HoZac *new BE BAD // Vision Correction // Vision Correction // Divorce *new MUTATORS // Paper Words // Paper Words 7" // The Broadway to Boundary *new ART THIEVES // Mona Lisa // rough demos CDR // no label *forthcoming final mix on HoZac 7"
The Frustrations and the Terrible Twos swung through Davis on tour, and despite playing a poorly attended show in the livest echo chamber ever, both bands poured their souls into it and brought much Michigan mayhem to the Basement Gallery below the UC Davis Art Building. With ex-members of the Piranhas, the T2's were especially unbridled, careening into pratfalls and pulling rockstar poses which were all the more convincing with their atavistic mustaches that were ripped from trading card photos of late-70's MLB relief pitchers. I could barely tell what was going on because of the shabby room sound, but when others up and down the West Coast declared them "best touring band of 2007 so far," I could certainly believe it. The T2's do bear out their Piranhas roots with the keyboard spazz, but they do sharpen their assault and improve on their previous band's spidery guitar cleverness.
Here's more crazed keyboard-driven punk from Artificial Limbs. Some of these songs were on a demo CDR that has appeared on earlier playlists, but others are new to my ears. Surely, there should be plans to unleash some vinyl soon. 'Til then, this CDR with something of an official-looking cover shall whet your appetite for frenetic lo-fi synthpunk steeped in trash and thrash.
The Leaders from Portland are yet another band including Muzz from the amazing Meercaz (formerly of the Observers and other bands). They just sent a full-length album's worth of well-rendered demos on a custom CDR. Some tracks are hard-charging snot-soaked synthpunk scorchers like this "Bad News Bitch," which I say is comparable to Rock Bottom & the Spys or Red Asphalt giving the old Freestone neg-viber a run for its money. Other songs play it cool and clever--yet still low-brow--mining much the same arty weirdpunk waters patrolled 25 years ago by the brasher bands on Subterranean Records, e.g. Beelzebub Youth. This band and these songs are positively vinyl-LP-ready. This CDR is not available for consumers, but if you run a discriminating record label, why don'tcha beg 'em for a copy?
On the heels of "secret" bands claiming third-world residency on MySpace like Blank Dogs, Lady Doctors, Spider and such, Catatonic Youth are among the latest bands to mysteriously mythologize their seemingly miraculous existence, but it looks pretty certain that these guys are from Seattle. Shall we go on believing that the February tour of Slovakia is gonna happen regardless? The two songs on their CDR-EP have become instant KDVS hits, and "I've Had It" has surely been adopted as a themesong for everyone in Davis who's unfortunate enough to get hungry after 10:00 p.m.: "Nothing in this town/Nothing in this town/Nothing in this town/Now, I've had it!!! I've had it!!!" You can only get excited about Crepeville or Woodstock's so many times before going back becomes drudgery. As negative as the lyrics are, this band sure sounds bright and chirpy, and if that's not enough of a WTFpwner for your mind to wrap itself around, now see your first visual image of these "Youths" breathing insidious mold dust into a Stooges classic...
Despite forming in Portland just four months ago, Eat Skull already have a brand-new 7" EP out, and it's as brilliant a record as many persistent endurers could ever aspire to release after years of jelling together. The songs are absolutely superb for their spirit, hooks, and chemistry, and while the productions sounds quick, nasty, and spontaneous enough for a band that just came together, these three songs (two on side A at 45 rpm, one on the 33 rpm flip) are perfect food for discerning cravers of shrill treblephonic explosions with hearts of pure pop. Fans of The Intelligence and Times New Viking oughta seek this record out. But does the Meds label even have a website? A second 7" is reported fast on its heels!
It wasn't my intention to make the playlist so Portland-centric, but Hornet Leg come from Rip City, too. Stripped down to a guitar/drum duo featuring Chris Sutton from Nudity and Spider & the Webs, this band is quite a bit rawer and more elemental than his other bands. This special tour-edition CDR is entirely live and captures the energy and soulfulness we experienced at the Delta of Venus last week, but it doesn't have the full sound I'd like to hear from an official recording in the future. The drummer's rugged whomping action made her quite entertaining to watch, but her power is largely missing from this CDR. But this is a band to watch out for!
Unnatural Helpers are a cousin branch of the A Frames family tree and are also intertwined with Kinski. They are coming this way in a couple weeks for a short West Coast tour which shall visit Sacramento at the Stoney Inn (1320 Del Paso Blvd.) on Thursday, September 9 with Replicator. The band is more straightforward than other bands in the family, but still plenty great, and if anything, that should only help make them even easier to like. I'm reminded of many a Sacto 90's Loft-scene favorite when I hear them. Get a second opinion and hear songs from a recent live show on the latest http://www.lemon-session.com/ blogpost.
Get ready to hear a lot of hubbub about this year's outstanding Budget Rock VI festival which takes over the Stork Club in Oakland for the last weekend of October. Amazingly, the Trashwomen are reuniting for a performance, and the Real Kids headline back-to-back nights, but the bands I'm most excited for are two of the engaging and enjoyable party-time bands that I've seen within the last year...or ever!Tyvek and the Coconut Coolouts are hands-down THEE funnest bands I've seen play live, and perhaps only Mika Miko can hold a candle to them as merrymakers. I've been at shows where these bands have played, and I've noticed each and every person in the venue simultaneously wearing a smile or laughing. It's so rare that you might ever see that. Both bands hit Budget Rock on Saturday, October 27 after playing Sacramento or Davis (venue pending after Fools Foundation shutdown) on that Friday. Both bands are the perfect one-two punch. Stand-up drummers only!
A rumor has come from within the Tyvek camp that after the band has played down the coast from Seattle to the Bay Area that three of the members will continue to tour in their other band, Mountains and Rainbows back up to the Northwest in an RV. That is not confirmed, but I hope to hear that it will certainly happen soon. Both M&R singles are pretty great, and the image of Tyvek drummer Matt Z singing "Knock Me Out" (from the A-side of their Cass 7") in a frisky falsetto looks priceless in my imagination.
When I saw that the upcoming double 7" of Tyvek was gonna be songs I'd already heard dozens of times on CDRs and on mp3s over and over since March of this year, I was almost bummed, but now that this fantastic EP is in my hands and spinning on my record player, this is pure bliss. The records sound better than previous versions of the same songs, and again it's wrapped in a sleeve that fits their atavistic DIY aesthetic to a tee. This is essential!
The Coolouts have released a 7" single to tout a brand-new dance that you will wanna try. Is this the best new song about a brand-new dance since the Jetpack introduced "The Throwdown"? Other songs exist on a CDR comp which also includes songs by the aforementioned Unnatural Helpers, Partman Parthorse, and other Seattle funmakers, and a CD is still due out soon, I believe. And tell me this movie of the Coolouts doesn't spell a ton of fun...
The Wax Museums continue their bombardment of 7" records, and while the first still remains my favorite, they still haven't made a dud song yet. Come to think of it, though, I think you could still fit all of their songs onto one tightly packed 33 rpm 7". You might clock 'em in at 13 minutes tops. One more minute, and that might as well be called a full-length album in punk rock (see "Group Sex" by the Circle Jerks). But how much fun is one LP when you're a freak for 7" collecting? Perhaps no band has ever aimed to please those crazy undersexed shut-ins more than the Wax Museums.
Home Blitz have been critical darlings of us blognerds and collectors of the Messthetically-inclined DIY scruffpop and scuzzpunk for almost two years now, and their CD from Gulcher compiles both 7" records with material from a 12" and a split cassette plus a few previously unreleased. The music is essential, but the slim envelope sleeve and the accompanying loose 8½x11" one-sheet is certainly a letdown. I'd have liked to see the one-sheet material joined together with some other notes in a proper fold-out insert for an LP, or at least a CD in an Arigato-Pak. But maybe that's just the way I feel based on having kept up on a complete Home Blitz collection. The records and the tape have all had great and clever songs, and they've been packaged keenly enough. But if you've missed out on all the greatness, you need to play catch-up and get this CD. I'm not sure if anyone has pulled off this savant-pop/slop style with more earnestness since the Blub Krad comp from L.A.F.M.S. or early Half Japanese. Truly a joy to listen to!
As long as DIY bands and artists keep me amazed, I will keep doing radio and extreme-blogging as a tribute to them. In case you are an old classmate looking for me, yes, this is "Rick Ele" here.
If you have material available in any format, please send it to...
KDVS Radio, ATTN: Music Dept, 14 Lower Freeborn Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA (Please don't send it to my personal ATTN; you can trust KDVS Music Directors to get the good stuff added to the largest and best music library of any radio station this side of the Mississippi! And there are dozens of other really excellent DJs here who will play the good stuff if you send it!)
...wanna get in touch about anything else? rickele(AT)gmail(DOT)com
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