Monday, February 6, 2012

The Janitors - Worker Drone Queen EP [2012]


I was hipped to these Swedes by the always classy Ongakubaka blog, and they have kindly asked that their EP be put up here as well. I'm only too happy to oblige. The Janitors are from Stockholm, and they play a sinister, churning sort of psychedelic music they call 'evil shoegaze boogie woogie,' or alternately, Stökpsych (I was calling it psvensk psych in my head, their names sound much cooler). These jams aren't particularly groundbreaking conceptually, but they lay down the groove so well that that could hardly matter less. This is a band with a very well-developed sense of craft for this type of music. The bass is so simple and so good, and the feedback assaults are ecstatic. I've been listening to this EP repeatedly, the riffs have stayed firmly implanted in my brain, and I don't want them to leave.

You can download this EP at the Janitors' soundcloud, where you can also hear their equally good Sick State EP. The downloads are offered as high-quality wav files, which is awesome, but I posted an mp3 link for those of you with more limited disk space/ipods. Worker Drone Queen will be coming out on wax soon, so get ready to order some before they run out!

Janitors website
Do it again

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Drosofile - Mal [2011]


This is another submission, this time from a label all the way over in Paris! I know very little about the punk stuff going on in France (though I do dig this band The Anals, check them out). This single has a relentless sort of rhythm and austere melodies that evoke the death march of the daily commute, to a job you hate, for a boss you want to kill. I don't know French but the lyrics that are in English are appropriately dreary. Both songs play up the "dirge jam" aesthetic. I dig this a lot.

Check out the video for the a-side:


The folks at Permanent Records in Chicago said it better than I can:
The folks over at SDZ have pressed up a little gem of a single here in the form of Drosofile's first single. These two cuts sound like the result of habitually smoking weed outta coke cans and we can't get enough. Seriously, two songs of Drosofile is simply, not enough – but it’s all we got so here’s to hoping these duders are following this up soon with a full length. If you dig tasty guitar licks and primal drum thuds mixed with air raid siren keyboards and misanthropic French bellowing and are a fan of the Anals, DAF, Colour Buk or any of the La Grande Triple Alliance Internationale De L'est collective's projects than you should probably pick this one up pronto.
I won't post a mediafire link for this one, since it's streamable on the SDZ bandcamp (there's a jam of a 7"  from Dan Melchior and a sweet 20-song comp tape, plus more! -- browse it all). Both the digital purchase and vinyl are very reasonably priced, so buy it if you like it. The timing is good, what with the euro being so shite: the digital purchase of Mal comes out to less than three bucks. So get it now while it's cheaper for you. Besides that, the vinyl's being offered at a sale rate.

Thanks again to Nick at SDZ for bringing this stuff to my attention.

Streaming/digital download
Get a physical copy

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Pink Reason - Stork Club, Oakland CA [2007]


Here's a quick set from Pink Reason for ya. I just found this from a google search today, and I don't know where it came from [edit: it's from here], but it's four songs from the reigning king of damaged, self-loathing drug-punk. Includes his cover of Agent Orange's 'Bloodstains,' as well as a "coffehouse version" of the song 'Going Home,' which was featured on one of those World's Lousy with Ideas compilations.

I made up the cover art on GIMP so if you think it sucks that's why ('coz I made it, not 'coz of GIMP). If you liked Shit in the Garden, download this, why don't you?

Shortly after I posted this, the cool fellow over at Drug Punk posted an interview with Kevin from Pink Reason about what he's been up to recently. Check it out!

My train is losing steam

Jay Reatard - Night of Broken Glass [2007]


Here is a sweet little EP by the late great Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr, aka Jay Reatard. The title track is a freakout ostensibly about the Kristallnacht (heavy shit, man), followed by a bubblegum synth-garage tune in a transition that is disorienting to say the least. The third song, 'All Over Again,' continues in a similar vein, and Jay shows how good he was at such twisted pop. The EP closes with 'Feeling Blank Again,' which is more or less classic Reatard nervous angularity. This record is a great way to spend eight and a half minutes of your life.

This came out on In the Red Records but I can't find a link to order it from them.

Buy it, if you're a collector snob and want to pay $50 for 4 songs
It was the first, but it's not the last

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Cülo - Life Is Vile ... and So Are We [2011]


It's the last day of January, the sun is down, and it's 55 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside in central Illinois. Climate change or not (yeah go ahead, deny it, you AGW-denier --or person who understands that unseasonably warm local temperatures are not necessarily representative of a larger global tren-- oh shit, a digression within a digression), it's fucking hot outside. Maybe it's my Midwestern brain requiring me to wear layers in winter regardless of actual temperature, but I've been sweating more than necessary over the past few days. So here's something to get you steppin' and sweatin', too.

Life Is Vile... compiles a bunch of tapes, demos, 7''s, etc. by this venerable Chicago punk institution. Basically a First Four Years equivalent, and -- dare I say it? -- just as essential. Twenty-five songs in just under twenty-six minutes. If you're into Cülo you probably have this record already, or at least many of the songs on it. (By the way, if a Latin dude ever asks you if you're "into culo," make sure you understand the context of the question before answering).

To give a rough idea for the uninitiated, they sound like the Ramones on PCP (uncreative analogy, sue me). Watch this set by them, from a gig I really wish I'd gone to. [Also available by the same uploader from the same gig are sets by Skrapyard, Hoax, Crazy Spirit]


Witch In Her Tomb - S/t Cassette EP [2012]


And now for something completely different. Another friend of mine made this. I don't know anything about metal, and doubly so for black metal. Usually I just find it irritating. The blast-beat hi-hat in black metal tends to sound tinny as hell and makes it hard to hear anything else. Well, not here. This is some pretty hi-fidelity shit, and it is oh so good. In an attempt to get in the right mindset, I sat in my closet with the lights off, headphones on, and let myself be pulled into the abyss. Witch In Her Tomb manage to sound melodic without sacrificing any rawness. There are no song titles, just Satori-style (or perhaps Fushitsusha-style, if you prefer) Roman numerals, and the tape works as a single continuous piece. Still, my favorite songs are probably the two at the end, "V" and "VI" (the last minute or so makes for one of the best-sounding feedback workouts I've heard in a while). This is black metal for people who dig hardcore punk -- the vocals sound a bit like Raw Nerve at times. Very much worth checking out, even if you'd normally stay away from this kind of fare.

The first run of 25 tapes sold out pretty quick, but I hear they'll be making some more. This is on Crippled Sound Records out of Urbana, Illinois. A digital copy can be downloaded for free at their bandcamp site (below).

Buy Witch In Her Tomb on Crippled Sound [currently sold out, check back soon]
Everyone's insane and I'm my only hope

Sunday, January 29, 2012

BBR - Definitions EP [2012]


Here's something a friend gave me. Undulating, lush electronic sound-forms flowing over beats that resemble a comfy couch in my mind's eye. I don't know a whole hell of a lot about electronic music outside of krautrock stuff, but I certainly know that much of what I hear at parties is pretty shite. This, though - this is something I could dance to without even having to be drunk. There is quite a little bit going on in these recordings, but as far as influences go, I'll give it to you straight from the horse's mouth:
My background hasn't always been electronic music, and I never really played an instrument when I was younger, so now that I'm officially "into" making electronic stuff, I feel like I'm constantly catching up with bands I should have known about and genres I need to get "schooled" in. Getting that out of the way, I'd say the things I'm most interested in are acts from the Los Angeles beat-scene, like Shigeto, or Tokimonsta, and the new wave of UK electronic music, sometimes referred to as post-dubstep, or future garage, like Mount Kimbie, SBTRKT, Sepalcure and some others. Star Slinger and Clams Casino are hip-hop producers that are pretty inspiring as well, one for his danceable, Soul/RnB infused beats, and the other for his really atmospheric, cinematic kind of tracks. It's strange because the hip-hop scene is one area where EDM producers could really make an impact and help evolve the culture, and a few have, as I just mentioned. I've actually been in contact with an MC named Vulkan the Krusader, and he's used one of my tracks, Cali-Dome as the single on his newest mixtape, so trying to break into working with people like that is something I have in mind for the future too. I tried to make the EP have elements of all those things, and it worked out somewhat, but I'm still narrowing down my sound and wondering what direction I'll take things next. The only thing I don't want to do is become known for doing one thing and following some kind of fad.
For many of you, dear readers, dubstep (or post-dubstep) is probably a dirty word. But take heed, this isn't some capricious pseudo-electronic bullshit. This music connotes to me a sense of wonder at all that is new and good in the world, like viewing the stars for the first time. Have a listen and get into it, man:

Listen to/Buy Definitions on BBR's bandcamp [name your price]
Hear more BBR on soundcloud

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Steve Bjorklund: Strike Under + Breaking Circus [1981~1989]


Live at Tut's, Chicago, ca. 1981
Here is some Chicago punk history for you. Steve Bjorklund formed Strike Under in 1980 after the end of his first band, which was apparently a garagey, protopunk sort of group called the Rabbits. Strike Under consisted of Steve, his brother Chris (later of the Effigies), Pierre Kedzy (later of Naked Raygun), and Bob Furem, who later played in Da. Their first show was at Northeastern University, and through 1980 and 1981 they played the usual places such as Tut's and Oz.


Their only proper release was 1981's Immediate Action 12" EP, which is notable for being the first record from Wax Trax, back before it was a powerhouse of industrial music. The songs are melodic without sounding too polished. Is this the so-called 'Chicago Sound?' I dunno, but it's pretty clear to me that the songs 'Sunday Night Disorientation' and 'Elephant's Graveyard' make this EP worth having. Long out of print. You can read a great Coolest Retard review of this record, as well as a review of Da's Dark Rooms 7'' and a Strike Under interview, in the Dementlieu Punk Archive.

a pretty stacked night, this one
Strike Under also had two songs on the 1980 Busted at Oz live comp, which I will probably post eventually. Also, in 2010 there was a sort-of reunion of Strike Under, as part of the Busted at Oz reunion shows. Vic Bondi from Articles of Faith was one of the dudes in the 'Strike Under covers band,' as it was called. The performance was taped and can be acquired at this wonderful blog.



After Strike Under broke up, Steve kept at it, forming Breaking Circus in 1983. Their first gig was at the Cubby Bear, back when they would regularly book punk bands. They released The Very Long Fuse EP in 1985, and Steve Albini designed the cover art. It's very much an '80s record, sort of like post-punk plus folk plus drum machine (later, when the band relocated to Minneapolis, the drummer's spot was taken by Todd Trainer, who you probably know as the drummer for Albini's Shellac). Famously includes '(Knife in the) Marathon,' which is one of the catchiest songs ever. I defy you not to get it stuck in your head.


For the hell of it, I also put up a single that Mr. Bjorklund did in the late '80s, after the demise of Breaking Circus. It was put out under the band's name, but appears to be only Steve and a drum machine. The A-side is a very bare take on Naked Raygun's 'Home of the Brave,' and the other is a UK Subs song, again quite transformed by Bjorklund's arrangement. I'm pretty certain it's out of print.

Tomorrow morning I just will not get up [1981]
An unidentified third-world athlete was wrestled to the ground by security [1985]
Jeanie walks out on the home of the brave [1989]

This Heat - Made Available: Peel Sessions [1977]



This album is a good introduction to This Heat, if you haven't heard Deceit already (which I recommend seeking out). Made Available consists of two 1977 BBC sessions done with the incomparable John Peel, who dug the band's bridging of krautrock sonics, world musics (before that term was pillaged of all meaning), tape magics, pioneering electronics, 'truly' jagged rhythms, and subversive politics. These guys were way ahead of their time, as evinced by the body of work they had produced by the year of 1977, when most people were making a bigger deal about 'White Riot' (which, much as I like it, sounds like 'classic rock' compared to this).

The standout songs on here are 'Horizontal Hold' (superior to the version on their first LP, in my opinion), 'The Fall of Saigon,' and the early version of 'Makeshift Swahili,' which would be laid down again on the aforementioned Deceit.

I dunno, this music is all over the place. It is the ultimate '77 punk record insofar as it sounds so unique. But enough of my incoherent babbling, try it out yourself.

Buy the 2006 UK CD/LP edition on discogs
Buy the 1996 UK CD edition on discogs
Buy Made Available on Amazon
We ate the TV

Monday, January 9, 2012

Barn Owl - Lost in the Glare [2011]


Here's one from 2011 that I have just recently starting getting into. This album was the perfect soundtrack to my night drive up the length of Indiana: dark, brooding, a bit creepy (a particularly manic and noisy passage started up right as I was passing through a field of wind turbines -- which, in the darkness, appear as devilish rows of pulsing red orbs -- scary stuff), simultaneously cosmic and earthen. Barn Owl's foreboding, finger-picked intertwining guitars ride on the drifting keyboards in a manner reminiscent of Ash Ra Tempel, and especially Manuel Göttsching's solo stuff. It's drone-y but hardly unexciting; on the contrary, in the right setting this album is positively cerebral. Your assessment of the album art is in this case a pretty good indicator of  how you will feel about the music. Barn Owl have put out a slew of albums and EPs since 2007 or so, and what portion of their work I've heard has been consistently good. Highly recommended.

Buy Lost in the Glare on Thrill Jockey
The darkest night since 1683

Friday, December 30, 2011

Grazhdanskaya Oborona - Svet & Stulja [1988-1989]



This is a band I have hinted at on this blog a couple of times, so I figured I had better post something from them. Гражданская Оборона (English: 'civil defense,' or abbreviated GrOb 'coffin') is the most famous and probably the most influential of the 1980s Soviet punk bands. The only constant member was Egor Letov, who was active right up to his death in 2008 (many of his friends, bandmates, etc. ended up committing suicide in the '80s and '90s). I don't speak Russian, but the songs seem to be about anarchism, running from the KGB (they had Letov committed to a mental institution in the mid-'80s), totalitarianism, depression, feelings of powerlessness, and all that kind of stuff you'd expect to hear from a punk band from a country with an overtly repressive government.  Musically, it's lo-fi punk (most GrOb recordings were recorded to tape on boomboxes in various apartments and kitchens) with chord changes and melodies characteristic of Russian folk music. Letov has an extremely expressive singing voice, and, like a good deal of other Russian punk musics, he communicates a desperate pathos commensurate with the fucked-up conditions in which he lived. Complete and total outsider music.

Egor was seriously prolific in his lifetime, with most of his earlier work coming in the form of homemade tapes traded among the Russian punks. My own collection of his stuff doesn't even scratch the surface, but this is a  double album of two live performances (which, you must understand, were risky and infrequent events) from 1988 and 1989 in Novosibirsk and Moscow, respectively. It's as good an introduction to GrOb as any, and the songs are all great. If none of this intrigues you, I have no idea what would. I'll finish by saying this band is one of the inspirations behind Pink Reason, who I recently posted. Here is a WFMU show on which Kevin Failure of PR plays GrOb and a bunch of other great Soviet underground bands, and shares some knowledge. The Russian sites linked below are pretty readable using Google Translate, so have at it.


GrOb official site (Russian)
GrOb fansite (Russian)
Polish blog with more GrOb albums
Everything is going according to plan

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Some records I enjoyed in 2011 MEGAPOST

This is not a top ten. I'm not ranking them or anything. I'm really pretty slow about getting hipped to new music every year, but here are a dozen or so that I have been digging throughout 2011. Buy all of these.

1. CAVE - Neverendless

More tight motorik grooves from Chicago's best krautrock enthusiasts. The first and last songs are my favorite ones on here. I'll defer to the wonderful review in the Chicago Reader from a couple months back, since I can't write a better one.

CAVE on Drag City
On the rise

2. Peaking Lights - 936

This album just feels good to listen to (especially in the summer, or when you're trying to pretend it's warm). I first saw Peaking Lights at Bitchpork a couple of summers ago, and have been digging them ever since. This is probably the album from 2011 I have played the most. Repetitive, bouncy dub basslines with psyched-out, homemade synths and pretty words. If that doesn't sound like much then you don't know what you're missing.


3. Death Grips - Exmilitary

I'm not gonna pretend to be some connoisseur of rap music, but this mixtape is pretty sick. You've got rhythmic extraordinaire Zach Hill making fucked up beats for MC Ride to spit all over. The ridiculousness is turned all the way up for the whole set, and it is pretty damn intense. Critics are all saying this is hardcore punk pretending to be rap, which I guess isn't too inaccurate. If Black Flag samples are cool to you, or if you enjoy lyrics about being fucked up on DMT and listening to Sonic Youth, you should probably get this. I put up my own link but it appears to be free from Death Grips' website. Here's a video:




4. The Psychic Paramount - II

Holy christ, what an album this is. Like the CAVE album above, the song titles are pretty much indecipherable, and the emphasis is on the extremely tight instrumentation. Besides liking some bands such as Tortoise, I have no idea what the term 'post-rock' is supposed to mean, but it has apparently been applied to the Psychic Paramount. Regardless of what you take away from that description, know that these dudes most certainly know how to rock. II is noisy, psychedelic, incredibly rhythmic (the songs were composed on drums), and easily one of my favorite albums of 2011.


5. Pink Reason - Shit in the Garden

Pink Reason songs often sound like they're recorded on the comedown from a heroin binge (see the excellent Winona 7" for prime examples). And that's cool. But this year Kevin De Broux (sometime member of Psychedelic Horseshit) put out something bigger. Shit in the Garden definitely sounds more produced than most of Pink Reason's previous work, but not in a bad way. Just sounds like Mr. De Broux spent more time putting this one together. There's electronic glitch-beats, soaring pop anthems, swirling psych-punk guitar, banjo, and equal doses of bitter and sweet throughout. This album reminded me of some of Egor Letov's early '90s stuff (Egor who, you ask? I'll post later), which makes sense since Kevin lived in Siberia for a couple of years in the '90s (and is compiling info for a book on Soviet-era Russian punk while touring Eastern Europe). Listen, this record is really good.


6. The Spits - V

If I tried to write too much about the Spits, it would come off as unnecessary intellectualizing. For those who don't know, the Spits are a punk band. They play punk music and they play it well. If you dig the Ramones and Misfits, then there's nothing not to like here. Seriously, just look at the cover art.


7. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin, Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres

What we have here is a brilliant (free-?) jazz concept album about an 18th-century slave who manages to get herself freed, and all of the agonizing shit that happens prior to that. It ends on a hopeful note but I won't spoil anything, since I can't tell it as good as Matana. The playing is good, and runs the gamut from bouncy swing 1920s jazz to cosmic free jazz with prepared guitar, but the thing everyone will really like about this record is Roberts' fierce storytelling vocals. This record is punk as fuck, and my stupid review can't possibly do it justice.


8. Tom Waits - Bad as Me

He's still good. Overall, I'm not really familiar with Tom Waits' recent stuff, but my dad burned me a a copy of this CD so I've been digging it. It's a mix of Beefheartian blues free-kouts, soulful laments, and rocking the fuck out. There's even an aside of 'Auld Lang Syne,' just in time for your depressing plod into the New Year. My favorite song on here is almost definitely the Iraqistan-vet dirge 'Hell Broke Luce.' My god, it's Tom Waits, why are you still reading this? Just get it.

How many ways can you polish up a turd (DMCA'd)

9. Dirty Beaches - Badlands

This, I believe, is Taiwanese-Canadian Alex Zhang Hungtai's first proper record as Dirty Beaches, although he did release some instrumental stuff under the name. Badlands is a minimal, lo-fi, washed-out perversion of 1950s rockabilly. Songs of isolation, empty highways, and dirt, coming out sounding like Alan Vega singing for Les Rallizes Dénudés (the song 'A Hundred Highways' is, in fact, just like Rallizes' 'Night of the Assassins'). What's that, a Suicide reference AND Rallizes? It must be good...

10. Iceage - New Brigade

Basically everyone ever thinks this record is amazing. With that kind of hype, one must wonder: is it actually good? As far as I can tell, it is very good. Iceage sound a bit like Wire playing hardcore, or like if Jay Reatard was from Denmark instead of Memphis. I was so pissed to have missed their Chicago date this past summer (Raw Nerve was opening, I believe), because they're supposed to be even better live. In any case this sub-25 minute post-punk blast is something you probably have already, but check it out if you haven't. New Brigade has been confusingly in and out of print all year (selling like fucking hotcakes, man), so I just posted an insound link for those of you cool enough to buy it. 


BONUS: Great EPs and 7"s of 2011

1. Cülo - Toxic Vision

Cülo never fails to impress, and this is probably my favorite record they've put out so far (that new split with Tenement is pretty tight, though). I guess 'Brain Cavity' and the titular track are my favorites, but it's sort of pointless to pick because it's a short record and all the songs are great. It has been many a morning these past few months that Toxic Vision was the thing that got me out of bed to bike to class. Some of the best hardcore Chicagoland has to offer.


2. Broken Water - Peripheral Star

Broken Water are a spaciously-noisy post-punk band from somewhere in the Pacific Northwest (Olympia? Portland? I forget), and this EP was their follow-up to 2010's Whet, which was also great. Peripheral Star is a winning combination of pop brilliance and punk aggression with male-female vocals and Sonic Youth sheets of noise. 'Stop Means Stop' is straight-up riot grrrl.  The last song is sung in Japanese, so that's pretty cool.

Peripheral Star on Perennial Death (scroll down a little)

3. Poor Choice - Teenage Love is Beautiful

Hardcore that's not too (read: unlistenably) hardcore and punk that is plenty punk. All the songs except for the title track are less than one minute, and cover such topics as hating work, playing D&D, and being at house shows (or so I think; the lyrics are rather unintelligible). The music itself is just perfectly executed, and the bass throws mud and shit all over the place. I regularly listen to this on repeat; if you play it 6 times it makes for a great LP.


4. Tyvek - Time Change

Tyvek sounding like Tyvek in three quick garagey punk bursts. As usual, the fidelity is fucked and the instruments are trashed. This was a 7" from their tour of Europe or something. In any case it burns as well as any other Tyvek release.

Nothing is wasted (DMCA'd, and let me say a special FUCK YOU to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.)

5. The Outs - We Are the Outs

This is one that I posted earlier in the year, but if you didn't get it then you should get it now.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

John Cooper Clarke - Innocents 7" [1977], Post-War Glamour Girl 7" [1978]



Here are a couple of fantastic singles by the Bard of Salford, Greater Manchester's punk-poet himself, John Cooper Clarke. He's probably best known (if he's known at all) for his a capella rapid-spat poems, but on these records he's backed by a group which called themselves the Invisible Girls. Clarke's lyrics are great as one might expect, and the backing band doesn't sound tacked on, instead straddling the border between krautrock-influenced post-punk and good old '77 rabble, managing to find themselves in disco territory without sucking, on the second record's A-side.

In the 1980s Clarke spent a lot of time being addicted to heroin with the famous Nico, so maybe that will pique your interest. He's also in the 1982 film Urgh! A Music War, which is worth finding for his performance as well as those of the rest of the underground bands in it.

Mr. Clarke performs to this day, so you should go see him if you get the chance.

Here's a video of one of his poems:


Bring back hangin', for everyone
Outside of the take-away, Saturday night
Official site

Mutant Sounds in the Wire magazine

I'm a big fan of the blog Mutant Sounds, so it was pretty cool to read this article in the Wire written by one of their contributors. Good stuff about the value of sharing music via this vast series of tubes.

Speaking of music in tubes, check out this psych duo jamming in the Chicago subway:


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

VA - Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus [1978]



You're cool, right? You like the Fall, right? Joy Division? Here's a 1978 10" comp of Manchester bands, including some of the first recordings by the aforementioned two bands (when Joy Division was called Warsaw) and more. My favorites on this are probably the spoken-word raps of John Cooper Clarke [I'll probably post some more of him later], or the black-up jam "Macka Splaff" by reggae punks Steel Pulse. Oh, there's also a Buzzcocks song, and although I'm less interested in them, it's a good song. This short album plays through really well.

I used ta believe everything I read
But ya can't get a nipple in the Daily Express [file is slightly mislabled, should say 1978]
For record nerds/snobs