re-up'd: Big Black - Sound of Impact [1986]

This is probably thee best recording of Big Black, and just goes to show what an unstoppable force they were as a live act. It was recorded in 1986 In Minneapolis, Clogland (Netherlands?), and Muncie, Indiana. There is a wealth of information available about this official 'fake bootleg' from the badass site Les Dementlieu Punk Bibliotheque, with this synopsis:

Compiled from four or five different soundboard recordings, this LP is a quality product^TM, despite appearances to the contrary. It also comes with a nifty booklet of photos and misc. crap to keep you amused when you aren't listening to the record.
This was also supposedly the cause of Big Black's break with Blast First. The idea for its release was conceived during their first visit to Europe in early 1986 (when they were being wooed by Blast First), and appeared in October or November of that year. The album was supposed to be released like a scummy bootleg--no contact info, no band name on the record, a fake record label (Walls Have Ears), in a numbered edition of 1000 copies. When that 1000 copies sold out, 500 more numbered copies were pressed with the band's permission. Then in 1990 (I think) an unnumbered and unauthorized edition of 500 was pressed, and when they started turning up in US record stores Albini threw a shitfit, and even claimed he was going to burn the $5000 Paul Smith had offered him as payment for the unauthorized repress. I don't know if Steve actually did burn the money, but he sure left Blast First in a huff, taking Big Black, Rapeman and Arsenal with him, as well as scuttling the planned Last Live video and album.

In addition, the back cover is covered in black box transcripts from planes that crashed. You can read them all at the above linked site.

The songs on this record are definitive versions; they are in just about every case superior to the studio versions. The titles are all changed, 'bootleg-style,' but if like Big Black you'll probably recognize them all. The version of 'Jordan, Minnesota,' here given as 'Toytown Daddy Oh!' is legitimately terrifying and disgusting. There's lots of good Albini stage banter and storytelling throughout, so you know you want to listen to this. Easily my favorite thing by Big Black.

Has anybody heard of the Yanomamo Indians?

re-up'd: Algebra Suicide - Real Numbers [1988]

Algebra Suicide were a post-punk duo from Chicago, active from 1983-1993. They ended up on a few international compilations in the '80s, and even made it out to Europe for a tour in 1990. This CD is two long tracks, each a live set recorded at Links Hall in 1988. It is really good. Lydia Tomkiw recites off-the-wall, strangely familiar poetry while Don Hedeker conjures ethereal accompanying textures on the guitar and administers the drum machine. Here he is saying a few words about this particular recording and performance; I'll defer to him since he says it best. Lydia left this world in 2007 after a long bout of alcoholism and declining health. You can read touching tribute to her written by Sharon Mesmer here.

This is a fantastic, mostly forgotten bit of Chicago music history. Don't put it off because of the long track lengths. See, I've given you the set list right here, so no complaining:

"Here, the only things being tortured are the lawns"
Plastic Crimewave writes about Algebra Suicide

re-up'd: Аквариум - Акустика [1982]

Here's an album I've really been digging lately. Russian folk from the last decade of the Soviet Union. Aquarium (alternately known as Akvarium) was formed in 1972 by Boris Grebenshchikov and Anatoly Gunitsky. The band spent the first decade or so of its life doing mostly apartment concerts -- house shows with high political stakes in a country where "rock and roll" needed explicit state approval to play in the official concert halls. Aquarium is much more of a folk band though, in the style of бард "bard" music, which had since the 1960s referred to original music (one name for the genre is самодеятельная песня, literally "do-it-yourself song") by musicians who worked outside the Soviet musical/cultural system. From Wikpedia:

The first six years of Aquarium's history lacked cohesion as Grebenshchikov and his various bandmates followed the Soviet equivalent of the hippie lifestyle: playing apartment jams, drinking the low-quality port wine available from the Soviet stores of the time, and intermittently travelling to remote gigs, even hitchhiking on rail freight cars.

The album Akustika was made at the start of the '80s, just before the state music industry started allowing this kind of stuff to be more widely disseminated. It contains a dozen-plus real pretty folk numbers, mostly on acoustic guitar plus bass, violin, and the occasional flute. In contrast to a lot of the kitchen-recorded stuff by Yanka Dyagileva or Grazhdanskaya Oborna, this album is fairly high-fidelity (and a lot less noisy than GrOb), thanks to Grebenshchikov's access to academic recording facilities. The songs clearly demonstrate the influence of Bob Dylan on Grebenschikov, and Allmusic associates Aquarium with the likes of Neil Young, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, as well as Dylan of course. By the second half of the decade Aquarium were selling millions of records, which speaks to the popularity they garnered in their first 15 years of existence.

Boris G. is a huge name in Russian music, and when you hear his voice and songs it's not hard to understand why. Check out this video of Aquarium in what looks like a TV performance from 1986:

I should mention that I was turned onto this stuff by fellow St. Petersburghers Sonic Death (a band I can't recommend enough), who did a few Grebenschikov songs on their Boris Session EP, released in the summer. Needless to say the material is good and their take on it makes for some righteous jams.

Buy Akustika on CD at UkrMedia
My house is already not my home

mediafire

"The file (Toothpaste [1983] Toothpaste EP.rar) violates the MediaFire Terms of Service. Due to it being distributed from your account, it has been removed. Also, a Strike has been placed against your account and can lead to a termination of service."

Yeah, well, mediafire caved long ago and this was bound to happen. They've been picking at my files for months and months. I'd been planning on a  migration to adrive or somewhere, but it's gonna take some time to gather everything I've put up thus far. That said, I can't imagine who could be legitimately making claims about that Toothpaste EP. The 'label' that released it, Schwa, was just a dude from Silver Abuse putting out SA/Toothpaste records. But none of that matters, the claim was probably made by Atlantic or 20th Century Fox or some other rotting 20th-century culture hoarder.

At least a lot of the stuff I post is freely available through bandcamp or youtube. The rest seeps through the cracks ...

VA - Busted at Oz [1981]

Okay, this was getting kind of hard to find online so post it I shall. Early document of the old Chicago punk scene, which centered around a handful of bars, such as Le Mere Vipere, Tut's, the Cubby Bear, O'Banions, and OZ, that would spin new punk and reggae records and book groups other than cover bands. Opened in 1977, OZ was the place at which many Chicagoans were introduced to the likes of the Fall, Black Flag, and Hüsker Dü (the infamous "blue paint show" was here). These songs were all recorded live over the period of March 9-11 1981. Side one opens up with the earliest recordings of Naked Raygun, back when they were a  bunch of freaks and didn't do 'woah-ohs' in their songs. Then you've got a couple tracks each by the Subverts, Strike Under, and Da, which don't appear on their records. The Silver Abuse songs include a Urinals-meets-Pere Ubu pisstake cover of Skrewdriver's "Antisocial." The two Effigies tracks are the most straightforward material on here; pretty good midtempo '80s hardcore but I prefer the weird stuff.

Anyway, I don't know if it's a matter of hometown sentimentality or what, but I return to this comp pretty often. Some people even consider it a 'classic' of sorts.

I saw a woman, gasoline, she burned herself to death

Kowabunga! Kid - Surf Witchery b/w Wolf Luv CS [2012]

Since I saw these wolf luvvers the other night, I thought I should share their tape with you. As you can probably tell from the cover, this was released for the occasion of All Hallow's Eve. The title track is the tale of a witch who surfs in the moonlight, set to a mid-tempo hardcore beat sure to have you stomping across the room. On the other side is a instant-classic murder ballad about a wolf who solves the problem of unrequited love by killing all the friends of his beloved. On this release K!K incorporate black metal howls into hook-laden, lo-fi pop tunes so intuitively I'm still scratching my head in confusion. Throw this on when the moon gets full and see what happens.

Listen/download here. This tape is part of a Halloween Cassingle series, released in conjunction with southern Illinois bands Lumpy & the Dumpers and Trauma Harness. All good! Lumpy's tape features a cover of fellow Bellevillers Max Load, whom you might remember from a Killed By Death Compilation (#17?). Check them all out at Spotted Race.

Lumpy and the Dumpers - Demo [2012]

Continuing my series of "favorite tapes of 2012" posts, I present to you Lumpy & the Dumpers. Coming from the southwest corner of Illinois (in the vicinity of St. Louis), they exude all the boredom and disgust you'd expect to be felt in such a place. When they played in Champaign with Dirty Work last month, the singer (and a couple punks in the crowd) were flinging themselves around wearing nothing but diapers made of tissue paper. Needless to say the ensuing crowd action resulted in said diapers dissolving in to fine flakes of confetti.

Anyway, onto the tape itself: it consists of three zit-poppin' punk songs in a mid-tempo KBD style, so get ready to dance like an idiot with snot hanging out your nose. They're all jams but the standout to me is the first song, about getting addicted to huffing eel goo. Oh, the humanity! Do yourself a favor and get this tape for cheap, or on Lumpy's bandcamp for free

Lumpy & the Dumpers will be playing in Urbana on Feb 22 and Chicago on February 23. Both bills are pretty stacked, so come rock out and rub puke in yr eyes.

Contact Lumpy:
Lumpy and the Dumpers
21 W Garfield
Belleville, IL 62220
"Please send teeth, nails, slime, mulch, or rubber cement."

Hintergrund - Nemesis [2012]

Hintergrund is responsible for some of the haunting, art-damaged noises currently emanating from Columbus, Ohio. Undulating tones that drift along for light years, punctuated at times by more rapid cosmic radiation. This is some quality drone-y, noisy stuff utilizing loops, prepared saxophone, and circuit bending. No songs shorter than six minutes, titles like "As the Elk Lays Down to Die" (an eleven-minute séance with synths and gods-know-what-else overlaying each other to form chords that are simultaneously unnerving and musical) -- those of you who will like this probably already know who you are. For ambient music, though, it really does reward active listening as there is a well-executed sense of dynamics throughout. Compared to the dark, brooding mood intimated by the album title, for example, the galactic-scale disinterest of "Empty Space" or "Circuit" sounds practically joyful.

This would appeal to folks who are into stuff like Barn Owl or Hanetration. You can stream Nemesis on soundcloud, or snatch it here. Get comfy, pack the pipe, and prepare to explore the dark expanses of yr mind.

Dirty Work - Tour Tape [2012]

In case it was not yet clear to you that Kansas City harbors some of the wildest hardcore around: enter Dirty Work with an elbow to your gut and cinderblock flying dangerously close to your face. Seriously, each of the three times I've seen these guys since last September has surely ranked among the more chaotic and violent shows of 2012. But too often bands hide weak songwriting behind their live antics; not so here. I defy you not to get "Bloody Concrete" stuck in your head. You won't be able to resist strutting around your room and jumping off your bed into the wall. Its lyrics are insufferably juvenile and full of self-loathing, which suits the music perfectly. The rest of this tape keeps the madness at cranked up through its five minutes, leaving you reeling in a manic stupor with bruises you'll be discovering for days.

Chicago DIY label Eat the Life put out both the tour tape and the Dirty Work demo. You can hear/download both on bandcamp. And stay tuned, because EtL will be releasing Dirty Work's vinyl debut sometime soon!

HURE - EP [2012]

I got an email some time ago from one of these maniacs asking to share their EP, so here you go. This is also from Berlin, but it couldn't possibly be more different from the Faurholt stuff I posted yesterday. Bludgeoning, relentless, hate-filled noise attack by dudes who wrap themselves in duct tape to play live:

So about three seconds of that video should give you an idea whether or not it's for you. Ever been to a show where a noise group comes on and half the room clears out? This is something like what we've got here. I like losing my mind to noise stuff like this, because i.) my ears have a masochistic streak; and ii.) after being subjected to screeching feedback gusts and blunt drum-machine beatings for an extended length of time, anything resembling 'conventional songs' sounds positively refreshing. Anyway I'm down with the madness that is Hure, and perhaps some of you are too.

You can hear the EP on Hure's soundcloud page, and order a copy of the EP on cassette here.

Jacob Faurholt - Geek Love Is the Best Love [2012]

Take a listen to Jacob Faurholt's music and you'd probably assume he's holed up in some medium-sized town in Ohio, laying down finely-crafted Americana in a bedroom. You'd only be half right, because it's beaming to you from a Dane in Berlin. Anyway, regardless of location, these songs are real well-realized, mostly wistful ballady tunes of past lovers and their associated nostalgia -- you know, music for when yer feelin' down and want to stay there a while. Hints of Daniel Johnston and the whole Dylan/Young school of singer-songwriters are apparent (when he sings "I'm guided by voices, not the band" it sounds like he's channeling the capital-B Band as well as Robert Pollard's group). I've been spinning this EP quite a bit the past couple months, and it definitely rewards repeated listens.

Geek Love Is the Best Love was released in association with Raw Onion Records. It's up for free on bandcamp, along with a slew of releases going back to 2005. So if this is your kind of thing, dive on in.

Ooze - Tape 8/9 [2012]

I got the chance to pick up this tape in Chicago over the holidays, at their show with Poor Choice (whose 7" I wrote about in my end of 2011 list) and Kansas City's Dirty Work (more on them later). Ooze have been playing together quite a while without releasing anything, honing their craft in the basements of Chicago and Northwest Indiana. So it's no surprise that the songs on this cassette pierce the mind like a fine shank. Seven ripping punk tunes in five minutes that will have you singing along dumbly to the 'do-do-do-do-dodododo' vocal track low in the mix. The songs are hardcore pace but in contrast to many hardcore bands' tendency to channel rage and no other mood, Oooze lays out some chord changes on side 2 that sound fucking triumphant. One of my favorite tapes of 2012. Ooze roolze.

These files aren't my rip, but I did attach song titles to them. Really, though, you should pick up a physical copy, 'coz there's more sounds on the tape than what's on this digital version.

the lunar crooner

Harshist - Mythologies CS [2012]

This here is one of my favorite tapes of 2012, hands down. Truly I have waited too long to post it. Ten minutes of psych-punk tunes that reek of societal anguish. The music carries vibes shared by post-punk types like Shoppers or the Pop Group. I hear the latter band's influence especially on the last song, "Poison God," which opens up with a chord straight outta "She Is Beyond Good and Evil." Seriously can't recommend this band enough, and if they're any indication, there's some radical stuff happening Hawaii these days. Peep a couple of the songs in this live video from last summer:

Go to their bandcamp to listen to/buy Mythologies as well as an excellent radio set just released this month. Once you've heard the tape you'll need to hear the full set; the stretched-out noise passages really complement the groovy punk stuff. Do not sleep on this.

http://harshist.tumblr.com
http://diyhawaii.tumblr.com

Bernays Propaganda - Igraj Slobodno! [2012]

Bernays Propaganda are a band from Skopje, Macedonia. Since 2007 they've been creating post-punk music you can -- gods forbid -- dance to, with words you can -- if you know Macedonian -- raise a fist and get pist with. Any band that names itself after the dude who applied psychoanalysis to marketing in order to transform propaganda into the public relations industry is going to have a fairly up-set view of politics; but few things are as aggravating as a political band whose lyrics don't go beyond lazy sloganeering. Thankfully these folks write more from a perspective of personal struggle in the context of social and political relations, and are much better off for it. Musically, they are punk rock for the Club, weird as it feels to say; they lie somewhere among LCD Soundsystem, early Liars, or Soviet rockers like Kino.

Igraj Slobodno! is an album of remixes, collaborations, and covers of Bernays Propaganda songs from their previous two full-lengths. The people sitting in on this are as varied as they are esteemed. My favorite track is the version of "I Care Not to Know" by cult breakpop act ZEA (aka Arnold de Boer, lately also singer of the Ex): a glitchy, acoustic skeleton of the original which underpins the paranoid vocal. Other highlights are the two versions of "Buldozer" by Gang of Four's Mark Heaney and "the oldest active Macedonian jazz band," Sethstat. Each take the tune to very different places: the former makes it into something you might hear at a rave, the latter a stomping jazz number with cool vibraphones and a brass section. Overall a real great set if you aren't instantly averse to dance floor stuff.

This one is available from bandcamp for free, as hinted by the translation of the album title: play freely! Check out the original versions of the songs on the other two albums up there, as well as a song from their forthcoming third full-length, Zabraneta planeta.

Ø+yn - He resucitado en la montaña [2011]

I've sat on a lot of submissions over the past year, so over the next week I'll be trying to get them posted with some sort of regularity. The music that people have thought to send me in 2012 runs he gamut from downer bedroom pop to raging basement punk with much noise, electronics, and general freakiness in between. So without further ado:

Okay, so this one actually came out in late 2011, but it was sent to me back in August of 2012 so it fucking counts. Ø+yn (pronounce it 'Omasin') play music for you to get weird to in the Sierras de Córdoba. Combining acoustic instruments and percussion with electronic drones, these freaky Argentine folks conjure up Hindustani-influenced raga jams punctuated by the holy howls of their (and your) ancestors. The album has a globe-searching, improvisational vibe not unlike some of This Heat's stuff, but Ø+yn take it in wholly different directions. I especially dig the shamanistic interpretation of acoustic/electric violin, with its haunting melodies that dissolve into drifting feedback wisps. The songs are in the six- to eight-minute range, giving you plenty of time to explore. Drink some ayahuasca and get into this!

He resucitado en la montaña was released by Winebox Press, with some pretty-lookin' wood packaging. Get at them to see if they have any copies still available. Catch Ø+yn on soundcloud and bandcamp for more freak folk jams.

Murmullo de cascada abrasiva