Friday, August 31, 2012

pressgang - "admit nothing, blame everyone, be bitter" (1996?)




this is, i believe, the first release from the hugely underrated and massively obscure pittsburgh band pressgang.......for those that dont know, pressgang were a politically oriented melodic hardcore band who were active in the mid-late 90s........they managed to record a decent amount of material as evidenced by this "7, an lp (which i reviewed a couple years back ) a split 7 w/1985, and their final "7, titled "self destroyed" (which i also reviewed here)........soundwise, they started out sounding like a mix between verbal assault and john henry west, as the band progressed, the sound got more chaotic and noisy, almost crusty at times, but those weird melodic riffs, that for me, were the bands trademark, never went away.........anyways this is  snapshot of a band just starting out, the drumming on this record is crappy and is a drag on the whole sound, but the songs themselves are great, musically (drums aside) and lyrically on point......fortunatly the drumming got much better on later releases and might actually be a strong point of this band by the time they recorded the last "7...........the female vocals, which featured sporadically throughout the rest of this band's catalog, are absent here....maybe she didnt join the band till after this was recorded? who knows.........in any case, this is a great record/band that a great many people are ignorant of, luckily, im here to make sure you get a taste..




pressgang - admit nothing, blame everyone, be bitter.





Sunday, August 26, 2012

behind closed doors discography (1995-98?)




FUCK!........thats all i can say......one of baltimore's best kept secrets of the 90s and simply one of the best bands to have ever played that out of control fall on the floor "emo" style.......i'll go so far as to say this shit towers above its contemporaries......fucking intense.....musically its san diego style filtered through a dirty ABC no rio lens..........some east coast kids taking the gravity style, stripping it of any arty pretensions and making it tough as nails and fucking turbocharged.......the kind of songs guyver one (a great band, bless their souls) MIGHT have been able to write if they werent so obsessed with spacey effects and weird samples........gravity records style with the attitude of a left for dead or deadguy........anyways the only thing i lament here is that there are only three songs here......three fucking songs.....luckily each one is a masterwork of the style (IMO)......two of them were on a one sided lp released by vermiform records......the other was on a comp "7 on reptilian reocrds......im not sure if there are other songs out there, if there are i sure as hell fucking want copies because this band is the absolute tits! its this kind of stuff that energizes me and makes me wanna play music myself.......right up my alley! check it out for yourself.......



behind closed doors discography

Friday, August 17, 2012

rhythm of black lines - set a summary table (2001)



so im back..........had a huge emotional blowout yesterday and im still recovering from that.....things are still bothering me...........but ill leave that for another post (if i ever feel like talking about it) ....so i thought id do a review to get my mind off of the shit that went down.........this is the second release from this austin unit........the first one was magnificent, but this one somehow improves upon the formula.....the sound here is tighter and more focused while still keeping the melodic qualities of the first album......almost every song is a burnished gem.........its amazing that these dudes could put out such great tunes and then totally shit the bed with "human hand, animal band".........i know alot of people love that record, but im not one of em........the first two will always be superior in my eyes......excellent music for any occasion, driving, chilling, doing laundry......check it out.



set a summary table



Friday, August 10, 2012

globsters "totally punk" "7 (2010?)






ive been wanting to review this for a looong time, but i was either always forgetting, or just never got around to it for one reason or another.......well ive finally done it, im reviewing the first globsters ep.........globsters are one guy, adam brewer who hails from the little hamlet of hazard, a small coal town tucked away in the appalachians of eastern kentucky.......musically its just adam, his guitar and a beatmaker....fast, raw punk with  frantic vocals.....now at first glance, you might think "well there are tons of bands or even single individuals who have been doing this thing for years (ie: andrew lersten aka violently ill/bunnyskulls) how is what adam is doing any different?" well its different because adam just sings about what hes feeling or the personal expiriences hes had in his life (as opposed to the run of the mill personal political shit most bands of this ilk pump out) its really pure and genuine, not contrived or forced like not just punk, but quite a bit of all music is these days......talking about this record and how i feel about it brings out mixed feelings in me......on one hand it deserves a hell of alot of praise and everyone should be gushing about how good globsters are, but on the other hand, i feel kinda like the art gallery guy when  he was patronizing jimmy wickert on that episode of king of the hill where peggy was making propane bots......i feel like maybe im patronizing adam or talking down to him and thats the LAST thing i want to do.....so i guess theres a little guilt there too........anyways enough of my self inflicted guilt trip, this is just a great album, perfect friday music, so download it and fuckin rock!  i really need to see adam do his thing in person, so hopefully adam, if your reading this, come play the DAAC in grand rapids (or better yet merlot mansion in marquette!) i need to see you!


ps: adam was on tour earlier this year and has a new(ish) record out that you should all check out!




globsters - totally punk

Thursday, August 9, 2012

upset / rubbish heap split 7 (1999)




holy fucking shit!  why did i not check this record out sooner?!  this is what "mosh" is supposed to sound like (at least to my ears). two bands, one belgian, one german, one i know well and one whos records ive seen over the years but never checked out because of lukewarm reviews in certain publications (HaC).......lets start with the one i dont know well:  upset were a band from wolfsburg germany who put out several "7s & split "7s in the late 90s........apparently they were a very politically oriented band from the looks of their packaging and the few lyric sheets ive been able to read.......musically their song  "abyss of despair" is a noisy, moody, moshy masterpiece.....comparisons do not come easy here......just really nice and thick and perfectly moshy......i really need to hunt down the rest of their releases pronto because this is some superior shit...........on the flipside we have rubbish heap, whos lp i jammed on a daily basis in 1999/2000 and still do today (or would if i could get another download since it was wiped out by mediafire...thanks assholes)  these two songs here "die alone" and "imperfection" are perhaps their best songs period, even better than anything on the lp or the other "7s.........just perfect noisy moshy stuff with a more distorted, fucked up edge.......maybe a tiny bit like "a safe place" era coalesce.....a totally excellent record all around......if your at all into the bands/styles mentioned, you need to hear this.......




upset / rubbish heap split 7

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

sled - s/t lp (2008)





i figure its high time to do another sled post! this is the first lp that came out back in 2008. big burly ornery stuff, like a pissed off boar rooting around in the dirt for food......as mentioned in my review of their latest lp, ex assfactor 4 dudes still pissed and playing great music in their 40s.....this record is a bit more "metally" and less overtly assfactor 4-ish than "parasitic host" and it rips in a pretty straightforward way....in any case, their one of the best bands playing any kind of music today and i would love to see them live (small chance of that since ive heard they all have kids/steady jobs and touring isnt in the cards) cop this shit immediatly!






sled -s/t lp




Saturday, August 4, 2012

campbell trio - campbell trio sings the blues (2011)




ive been busy restoring as many links as i can in the last week or so, so some records are accessable again (psychic blood lp, all shoppers records,, troubled sleep demo, marjan crash, ect)

now on to the record. campbell trio (full name of the band is the bruce campbell punk rock trio) hail from porto alegre brazil and they play emotionally charged modern hardcore (alot of people love to call it "screamo" nowadays) in the vein of alot of bands from the early 2000s.......touche amore could and should take notes from these dudes on how to play this style properly. this record just brims with passion and energy. rockin and rollin and probably falling on the floor and breaking instruments.....ive been kinda burnt out on stuff like this for a while, but these guys are good enough to overcome my indifference to the vast majority of recent bands playing this style. i sincerely hope that they tour the US ASAP cause id looooove to see how these songs translate live..







Thursday, August 2, 2012

chispa - obstinator "7 (1999)





my first review since the mediafire bullshit went down........I'm still in the process of recovering my music and re-upping links, but it will be a while before I'm anywhere close to done restoring everything........anyways today I'm taking on the one and only (unfortunately, although there was a split cd with enfold that they had with them on their us tour years ago, but it was these same songs if memory serves correct)) release from hamburg germany's chispa..........this has been one of my favorite "7's over the years and it remains so today........chispa played a uniquely "german" style, not quite in the realm of the usual per koro bands IE: systral/morser/carol (this record was a split release between per koro & bloodlink)  but  more of a hyperactive stop and go and blast huge disjointed chunks of metallic riffage type deal.....very akin to loxiran (who may have shared members with this band? the guitar work is almost identical in places)  anyways they played a style that seems to have been totally forgotten today, which makes this record all the more enjoyable.......i had the privilege of seeing these dudes do their thing live on their US tour with enfold in 2000 or thereabouts at a show in indiana (i believe usurp synapse opened) and to say they were intense would be an understatement......top ten live band for me easy. they were supposed to record an lp for scortched earth policy, but that  never got finished apparently.......bummer, because these 5 songs are pure perfection and i would give my right nut to hear mre chispa material......




chispa - obstinator