Buzzoven vs Buzzkill

Seven Inch Friday: This little punk rock story is probably one of my favorites although I probably won't do it justice; it's funny none the less. It's the story of how the whole New Brunswick NJ scene got a Buzzov•en t-shirt but first about the music...

This here 7" has three grunge pot smoking epics that came out in 1992 sometime out on the Santa Rosa CA label Kirbdog Records. The band originated out of North Carolina and was led by Kirk Fisher. He was the guy behind the violence. The instigator of sludge metal. Fans of the melvins/eyehategod know exactly who these guys are. They always used horror film samples in-between songs, real smoke and the slower the rock distortion groove the better. After lots of touring and small releases they made it to Roadrunner records and were later promptly dropped. I had the opportunity to see them several times and witnessed first hand their asinine antics of lighting fireworks and kirk pulling a gg allin drawing blood on himself or throwing bottles of bud across the room; then giggling about it like little girls when the victim could not figure out who it was. I thought it was obvious. One time at the Brighton (photo below) Kirk got upset because Sebastian Bach was asked to leave so he wouldn't get beat up. Sounds funny but apparently he had the good pot. Kirk had his priorities.

mp3 Hatebox
mp3 Fade / On Your Knees



The most notable of nights happened when they decided to get in a fight with Buzzkill (NOt the uk band) after playing The Melody in New Brunswick. Now Buzzkill (formerly Butthead ) with just Dan and Bruce are 12 1/2 feet tall combined. The smelly pot smoking hippies did not stand a chance. For all their stupidity and getting pummeled they decided after being kicked-out of the party by force to take their vengeance on one of the party goers cars. In the end Kirk ended up in a orange suite for a few days in the New Brunswick lock-up and they left behind a whole box of T-shirts. Anyway, be sure to update your calender Sat Dec 26th 2009 as Buzzkill are playing The Court Tavern for a reunion show along with Prosolar Mechanics and The Stuntcocks. Bring back the 90's man.

Bonus:
Mp3 "Rock and Roll Gas Station" from the album UP on A/T
Mp3 "This place sucks" Tooth & Sole
Mp3 "Dirge" from the debut I feel like myself again

Hot Summer Rock Mix

I'll be honest. I'm still working on my summer mix of course but one quick gander and sure enough there is some good stuff out there. Heather from Fuel Friends never dissapoints with her take. I'm not quite sure where she finds the freakin' time but she is the hot one third from the left above. Vinyl district has a few choice tracks to grab. Mars needs guitars also has a good set of summer songs. Anyway here are some to add to your mix not in any particular order, rhyme or reason other than to annoy your friends.


Here's to summertime, summertime, summer:
Mp3 Summer Here Kids - Grandaddy from Under the Western Freeway
Mp3 Celebrated Summer - Husker Du off of New Day Rising
Mp3 Endless Summer Of The Damned - Bauhaus from Go Away White
Mp3 Summertime Blues - Stones - Made in the Shade 1978
Mp3 Summer of Protest - The Dears - Protest Ep
Mp3 Summer Teeth - Jeff Tweedy Live at the Vic Theater, Chicago, IL, 03-05-2005

Related for summer fun:
Summer Surf and Turf driving mix 2009
End of Summer Playlist 2008

Arizona the glowing bird band

Album Review: Glowing Bird by the band known as Arizona. I had a dumb idea for a comp the other day which would feature 50 bands from 50 states. Probably do-able but you would end up with some crap. Although we're a little late to the game we are always weary of a band falling through the cracks. The good news is that these guys would be a good opener for said project. No doubt about it.

Studio geeks beware of the state of the band Arizona currently 3/4 parts Asheville North Carolina and 1/4 part of course Brooklyn. One band guy is still holding on apparently. Pretension aside, this band has none, this review is about the art of making an album. Something that is missing these days in 9/10 of the releases out there. More than likely because it's so easy to make a record on a computer but composing one like this is a whole other level. It's obvious they worked hard at the knob twiddling to create the ear candy on this shinning release borrowing
some from the reverb playbook with their brand of folk-electronica guitar rock and things that sounds like a melotron and um' talent? Yes, it's a damn fine release put out by echo mountain records with so many layers of feel good harmony in the vain of yes the Beatles (on the McCartney side), Sunny Day Real Estate, and contemporaries Okkervil River. A complete pleasure to listen to the two singers trade the lead role seamlessly that they seem as one. At times they get a little proggy and southern rock with their guitar jamming but it's ok we forgive them for thinking big and letting it rip on the title track. They are best on the last couple simple ditties like "The Fairly Light" and "Whiskey Or Wine" which is mollusk-esque(Ween) but I say just go for it all. You can't go wrong.

Mp3 Heath - BUY SOME
Mp3 The Fairly Light

Joe Strummer Love Kills

So did Farrah Fawcett get trumped or what? When one large icon dies it's always a good time to remember some of the others who were nothing but good souls. Joe Strummer (1952–2002) was always true to his roots and the origin of rockn'roll. Thus his 50's look I would say. Part of legacy brings the Strummerville Foundation which strives to enable folks the opportunity to create music who may not have the chance.

"Love Kills" was the title track for Sid & Nancy movie soundtrack. Being as I totally missed 7" Friday yesterday I'm giving you a 12" LP on Sunday. Here's the dub mix promo of said song which I found in the bins at the Princeton record exchange. If you want some nostalgia check out this Out of Control T-Shirt from the good folks at worn free. I have a red one and so should you if they are still available. They have some cool stuff.

MP3 Love Kills Dub version [buy some]
BONUS:
MP3Silver & Gold with the Mescaleros
MP3Straight to Hell Cover by Lily Allen who Joe was a godfather too. Strangeness.

7 Inch Friday: Baxter vs Unsane

Seven Inch Friday: Noise pollution sometimes can be seen as good thing. The east coast was fortunate to have plenty of bands stricken with the need to play fast and loud with the vocals and melody playing a backseat. Enter the Toms River New Jersey band Baxter and Unsane from NYC.

Although they were around for short blip in time the punk rock continuum they put out one hell of 7 inch on their own make-shift label Velocipede. Mark (vocals/Guitar) and Daneal(drums -later to play in Aviso'Hara) were the Jersey shore's king and queen of indie. This blistering inferno of a band was known to play 4-5 sets tops and then cut the chord. Mark would later go on to form The Trans Megetti and put out a couple releases on Art Monk Construction and full length on Southern Records. Photo by your's truly.

Baxter an accident waiting to happen Velocipede 7"
mp3 car twenty seven - Side 1
mp3 simba - Side 2
mp3 superstar

BONUS: The Trans Megetti (pictured above) mp3 - "Opposite of Techno" (Courtesy of Southern)

Now onto one of the most morose record covers I own by a band that made a interesting turn post-hardcore.

mp3 - Concrete bed A side
mp3 - El Mundo - B Side
This is probably a little tasteless considering the Cobain reference below but then again I feel this is the premise. The music of the UNSANE should scare you out of your gore. Chris Spencer(Guitar.vox) and team were big time into horror flicks and the german Glitterhouse(GR0090) label were more than willing to accommodate. Now for some this straight forward display of rock was everything the new york noise scene stood for and umbrella'd like Foetus, the Swans, Sick of it all, etc. I saw them open for Crash Worship once (more on them sometime) and the unsane just made such a awesome wall of sound. Delivered with a scalpel precision which was only to be washed out by a literal flood and fire by CW. Amazing show. I remember Allen Ginsberg's boy punk rock lover David Greenberg cowling over them one time. I didn't get it at first but then I was like this rocks to holy hell. Damn. Don't expect a melody to catch you. Just let the molten guitar power grab ya which is akin to electrifying a vacuum cleaner sucking the air right out of you right to the end.

Unsane @ Wetlands NYC - More fanzeen rock scene photos up on the facebook

Past 7 Inch Fridays:
Jesus and Mary Chain vs North Elementary and Pistolero
Superconductor vs Mudhoney and George Clinton
Monster Magnet Glitterhouse seven inch

Day of the dead Kristen Pfaff RIP Janitor Joe

Kristen Pfaff RIP 1967-1994: There were few bass players in the Alternative scene in the early 90's who used distortion and in particular chick bass players who were as killer as Ms. Pfaff. Enter Kristen who died of a heroin overdose some 14 years ago in a bathtub today. Safe to say grunge got the best of her and with that an era of great music. The exact details are not known but one thing is for certain it's fairly obvious who introduced her to the black tar of death after joining Hole. One being a Courtney Love for whom Kristen had played with for a brief while and played bass on Live Through This. Ironic huh? A few months prior Kurt Cobain had met his demise with a shotgun and according to her obituary on myspace was hit hard by this loss and trying to get out of dodge before it got her. Sadly, this was not the case. As the back story goes. Mysteriously, El Duce from The Mentors also died under questionable circumstances per the documentary Courtney Killed Kurt by British documentary director Nick Broomfield. He had claimed he was offered to rid Mr. Cobain for $50,000 so she could get his money allegedly because Kurt was planning on divorcing the crazy lady. He claims he did not take her up on the offer and then 10 days later poof or so the story goes and then later El Doce ran into a train. It would seem she got somebody to do her dirty work huh?. Maybe Hoffa knows. Anyway, I love a good conspiracy and this has never been proven so who knows if time will tell the truth. Like who cares about heroin addicts right? Looking in the future to today Ms. Love is still twisted and forever (i hope) paying a penance for the evil she spreads and we hope Francis Bean gets to be normal. Her crazy train looks like something real sexy-scary these days straight out of the movie Brazil and one of her most famous song lines was one of Kristen's. See the Janitor Joe track called "Limited edition" who's lyrics go -"You've made your bed you'll lie in it, You've made your bed you'll cry in it..." Sound familiar rock fans? Her bass playing was awesome showing no mercy and was a true talent not like the blond poser killer. Enjoy the few Janitor Joe tracks posted here.

Bass tasters by Janitor Joe:
mp3 "Limited Edition" from Big Metal Birds lp

OXO Records 7"
mp3 "H'Mong Today, Hung Tomorrow" Side 1
mp3 Prone - Side 2
mp3 Big Nose Side 2

BUY SOME JANITOR JOE

Jesus and Marychain vs North Elementary and Pistolero

On this rainy seven inch Friday we have "What is the sound of somebody scraping the underbelly of a jumbo jet" which is how Ethan Stein(RIP) from Captn' Video, WRSU's Overnight Sensations and his New Brunswick NJ band Leather Studded Diaphram(LSD) once described The Jesus and Mary Chain to me and I've been quoting him ever since because he was so damn right. More on him later but he was always good for long music chats till his unfortunate self destruction. This one goes out to you my friend.

This is, from I can tell, the first jesus and marychain release that came out in oh god 1981? I need to get a loop out to actually read the 7" label but I'm going with it till somebody corrects me. This was later to be followed up with the must have PSYHCOCANDY full length debut by JAMC. I discovered them in highschool before going to college and it was one of those life changing bands that basically broke a lot of sonic rules and were a perfect companion to Day Dream Nation and New Day Rising as those type of get-up and go or go to bed and smoke pot records(either way worked). Anyway, this has got all the killer feedback that can make you want to stick a fork in your ears in order to scratch inside the part of your skull. You eventually get used to it when chorus parts kick-in. Enjoy.
A Side: Upside Down - BUY JAMC
b Side: Vegetable Man(Sid Barret cover)


Before school lets out we bring you North Elementary a hook filled indie rock band from Chapel Hill NC who has a new full length out called Not For Everyone, Just For You on Eskimo Kiss records. NE remind me of grandaddy meets the big rock of Blue Tip in a can filled with dreamy lyrics and reverb. As a limited edition promotion you can get a split 7" with their friends Pistolero from Atlanta which reminds me of the warmers/cloud cult mixed with something hooky and smartly mod. Dig it. If you don't have a record player just go to their site as they are giving you the tracks (oh hell linked below for your convenience) for free of course. I love the split tradition. I wish more bands did this more often but it totally helps if the songs are good and herein is the case. Thanks. Keep them coming!

EndlessSummer (NE covers Pistolero) - Great song. Dig the big oasis type bass groove, which then picks up in to this awesome live lou reed jam circa rockn'roll animal machine.
Fuzzy TV Delay (pistolero covers NE) Big drum beat and keys layered in a hand clapping pastiche of what is a minimalist nation of Ulysses style all their own.

Emusic is going to obscure the indies with Sony BMG

So I opined on my tech/life blog the other day about SonyBMG screwing the Emusic pooch with the coming of a mostly lame catalog from the behemoth label that has such great chart topping artists like Jefferson Airplane, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Faithless, Kelly Clarkson, Dolly Parton, Judas Priest according to last.fm. Ok I of course like Cash and sorta is like blasphemy or communism not like Elvis but C'mon. Really?

Which if you take a close peak at the metrics on last.fm there it equals 420 Million unique listeners for the combined fans of those groups who scrobble their music from iTunes alone! Holy F*ck batman! That is a lot of freaking band equity. There will invariable be a few issues they will have to deal with this marketing conundrum.
(1) They might start crashing because of the boon of new subscribers. Which in most cases is a good problem to have but much better to grow steadily than over night.
(2) They will or in process of obscuring the indies and fans who have helped build up emusic for the past 7-8 years (see the thread). New music fans take risks with on all these artists because of the low entry cost. Angry user will need to appeased one way or another.
(3) Financially, sorta supporting point above, the indie 00' band hey day is in serious jeopardy. There is huge set of emerging artists that will be competing with releases older than 2 years. You know that will change once the price point start to turn over fast there could be roll back. These are just mp3s in the over-all scheme of dismal cd sales there are lessons to be learned from the past. Remember the beta and VHS war? Lower quality always wins for mass distribution with right price point (So markety i know). Slowly emusic may (hopefully not) start to obscure these artists for moving volume. If I were them my immediate course of action would be to segregate the "Majors" in the charts like they do in record stores sometimes (remember those?).

Personally, I am going to be on pins in needles as this fiasco unfolds PR nightwares get sorted out. I'm not going to up my emusic subscription and I'm not going to cancel it either. I've been a loyal customer since Jan05. It's still the best deal out there these days and people gotta eat. It will slow my support and consumption of the indies since I'll only be able to afford on average 3 albums a month as opposed to 5 and half a month in previous plan in this new budget. I would have preferred a subtle 10-20% rent increase but oh'well. Quite a slow down in my music consumption. Again, not that I always downloaded my whole 65 tune subscription previously. Emusic secretly loves that kind of customer with their use it or loose it rule. Which was a great revenue stream for them. Lets see what happens for now there was a Alice Cooper song I wanted to buy... Seriouly it's bit of sell-out but somebody had to give my only hope is that it benefits all the little guys in the long run or short run. Somehow.



Mp3 - The Big Sell-Out - Bongwater - BUY SOME WHILE IT'S CHEAP

Free Electric State vs Steel Panther

Traditional Tuesdays have been the record industry day to discover "new" music. A tradition I kind of like because it helps break-up the week and you also always knew what day to hit up the record store for music.

I'm going to pass on two groups to you today that are totally not related but yet still by-products of the 80's. One is from Durham, North Carolina called Free Electric State. The second is a metal glam band from LA that Dave Witte turned me on to called (Wait WTF. What did he say?!)There is no contest Steele Panther wins this duel despite all the internet hype but at the risk of just not giving a shit about any integrity at all and going straight to Vegas Death to All But Metal. They will probably blow-up for real by the time their record is available in the U.S and hosting the mtv music awards(predictably) but get some below anyways and enjoy the ride.

Free Eletric State - s/t - Free high-fidelity Download
First up. Shirlé Hale formerly from Gerty has this doomsy vocal style always reminiscent of Siouxsie and the banshees backed by husband David Koslowski (ex-Liquor Bike). The band basically has this verve /blur guitar rock going on. If you're a fan of the 80's and rock guitar parts that respect the vocals like eve is to adam all respects are paid to said musical genres and dreamy bass parts. Be sure to catch them live these folks have a whole closet of good taste.
01. mp3 - Hawk
02. mp3 - On & On - Get the cd single from their site | Fan FES on Facebook


You know when you made fun of Jerzy glam bands on the radio and you just made up your own dumb "gay" lyrics to some really stoopid rock ballad. Guess what? You don't have to do that anymore with Steel Panther. No second guessing the lyrics in this SNL inspired rock skit. All the teenage funnary is all there for you one dumb-ass cliche after another teenage parody.
1) mp3 - Community Property - Super poser ballad - "If you were hooker, you'd know I would be happy to pay, If suddenly you were a guy, I'd be suddenly gay... hook...but my c*ck is community property" C'mom people. You will be cranking this in no time on your way down the beach.
2) mp3 - Death to All But Metal (album version) - Holy crap I can't even quote this without laughing but lets just say your genitals, butts and making fun of the record industry will all be addressed frequently. I literally can't stop playing it. This is so bad it is good.

Related posts: Good Rocking Tonight, Backstage videos and Steel Panther Music videos featuring Sarah Silverman, Vince Vaughn and Katie Morgan

Bonus tracks ripped freshly from vinyl (because I love):
I'm the Man(uncensored version) - Anthrax - in ode to the PMRC
Beautiful Girls - Van Halen - II -because it's a great album
Deuce (Kiss Cover) - Redd Kross - Teenage Babes from Monsonato (1984 - Gasat Anka Records) for Cheeky alternative record snob types who have no sense of humor.

What's Sonic Youth got to do with the Dustdevils?

Nothing really is the answer, unless you consider SY the only band of it's type of which case you live in a very narrow universe.

So the other night a post caught my eye on mog by a mogger posting a Live Bush tetras video at the knitting factory, which i have scratched up, i mean really scrappy 7" copy of "Things That Go Boom in the Night" (i think), and was then subsequently chatting with my friend Jim about Danceteria and couple bands from the past including Mission of Burma and the one other bands that came up during the conversation were of course the Dustdevils and I said holy hell I just ran into this band accidentally again...blah,blah,blah. Seriously file Dustdevils with your noise bands on the farther end with neurosis and live skull as far as I am concerned. SY is a pop band compared to this drug smuggling outfit or least in the middle of their output. for the most part Dustdevils are a really noisy rock band founded by English Guitarist Michael Duane and Aussie vocalist/guitarist Jaqi Dulany. They started the band in the Mid 80's in the UK then transplanted themselves to NYC. With a inconsistent line-up of now well known NY scenesters playing in the band on and off again up until the late 90's where they toiled their brand of sonic pollution. The exact dates for these things are not so important sometimes if the discography overshadows it in the annals of rock history. Probably a foot note (if that) for some but for others a major part of a scene along with thinking fellers union, Fly Ashtray, Wider, Gerard Cosloy Matador owner, and Crown Heights among other band folk; all whom did time as part of the Dustdevils. I can't even keep up but this trouser press discography review does a good job naming names. Now seriously, you really need to be into dissonant guitars and feedback that creates this aural landscape to enjoy it. The later stuff gets all trance and mixxy but you'll like it. I have.

Here are a few choice selections:
Mp3 - Young Moss Tongues - from Geek Dip (Matador 1989) where you really get that SY comparison to something could have easily been on EVOL and you would be none the wiser.
Mp3 - Encient - from Rhenyards Grin (Rouska/Fundamental -1987) - This album starts does hit part of pop department alla throwing muses a whee bit but i think it has to do more with production and more apparent song structures. I honestly start with this one then work you way up or down.
Mp3 - Receiver - From Extant EP (Matador - 1996) Recorded in 1993 sometime and released posthumously after for good parting of Duane and Dulany.

Live dustDevils Video
Grab just about the whole Dustdevil discography for yourself here or buy some somewhere if you can find some. They're better than drugs kids.

Superconducter vs Mudhoney and George Clinton

Throwing a couple things at ya this on 7" Friday from the grunge and funk variety.
First up is a group called Superconductor from Vancouver, B.C. Canada that featured 10 freakin' band members at times that came out on Scratch and boner Records (catalog number BR30) out of California (same label as the Melvins) in the very early 90's. On this release they had (7) seven guitar players, (2) two bass players and (1) one drummer nicknamed on the 45 as follows: Dream Whip (G), It's on You (G), Thighmaster(B), He who is named (G/V), Flying Fist(G), Noise Annoys(G), El Impacto (D,V,bontempi), Sweet Bitch (B), Alan Smithee(G) and Delicious Warm on (G). This particular release was called Heavy With Puppy, produced by Don Gordon and band, engineered by Ken Marshall in Nov of 1991. The photo above is by Mike Ledwidge and group photo below by Mark Critchley from the inside cover. Now I suppose you're going to find out what this sounds like if like loud raunchy guitar music. I was always impressed how tightly they could play together and not sound like a washed out mess. Then again I never got an opportunity to see them live but always enjoyed their releases when I could find them. Enjoy the noise man.


Mp3 - This side: Bushpilot - Superconductor
Mp3 - Baby Side: Satori Part One - Superconductor

Printed on baby side it says "Smoking during pregnancy can harm the baby"

The bonus for today is a cover of "Pump It Up"(Elvis Costello Cover) by Mudhoney that was a 7" promo for the movie PCU. The flip is George Clinton doing a track call "Stomp". Fun stuff. Enough said.

Mp3 - Pump it up (cover) - Mudhoney
Mp3 - Stomp - George Clinton

I dig the Hold Steady for everything they are not

Major leage props to pitchfork (yes I know who knew this day would come) for posting 7 songs from their festival on their TV channel of the hold steady playing live. Damn. These guys were nerds. Nobody was paying attention to them years ago in their earlier incarnation of Lifter Puller. I had their cd back in the zines daze and thought they were just another rocknroll band too. Now they are doing the same thing on south and main from Brooklyn usa and still killing it 4 albums in. Drinking budweisers and talking at you live before happy hour starts. Check them out when you get a chance. If you dig the replacements and ac/dc and kiss. Chances are they will be as drunk as you are but still be able to hold their tune drinks above the bar as they have learned from the mistakes of their former masters and on their own. To repeat this is a bar band so you're going to need to know the words because there are a lot of them.

Find some Hold Steady tracks on hype-non-standard
or
mp3 - Atlantic City (Spingsteen Cover)
mp3 - Constructive Summer - Stay Positive

or better yet buy some on emusic (better idea).

Music for haters, liars and cheaters

I did a rant about a social network for karma police site on my life/tech blog today called Ventma.com which didn't work when i tried to login to vent! ha! The site did inspire some songs about liars, haters and cheaters though.

Anybody know any good tattle-tale or whistle blower songs? I'm sure this is just the tip of the proverbial ice-burg.

Listen to some hate for now:
Liar - Built to Spill - mp3 from you in reverse
Cheater - Bubblegum Thunder
Hateful - The Clash - London Calling
Hate Paste - Archers of Loaf
I am the Jury - Moistboyz

OK that is it. Enjoy.