Decidedly more swing than their 2011 demo or even the (excellent) full length platter from the following year, 2013's Listen Once And File demo (OK, it was really just a tour tape and maybe that wasn't the proper title) burns from start to finish. I feel like the vocals didn't really settle in until after the first full length (check last year's Z2 - Judgement Daze for complete realization of place and purpose), and then ZEITGEIST parted ways just when they had shit dialed. Hey man...finish on top, I guess? Gritty punk with overt rock 'n roll overtones throughout - glad I got to see them in the flesh.
Showing posts with label pittsburgh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pittsburgh. Show all posts
25 June 2017
31 December 2013
DRUG LUST // RADIUM GIRLS
Two years ago NO STATIK played in Pittsburgh. On the way to the show we had a spirited discussion about punks using, wearing or celebrating the rebel flag (to my non-USA friends, this is the flag that represented the Confederacy during the US Civil War, and the Confederacy were the ones who, among many other complicated and arguably virtuous ideals, supported slavery, and that flag in modern times has come to represent a primarily right wing ideology). It was stated by one van dweller that any punk seen wearing or celebrating the rebel flag on our tour might be met with some sort on confrontation. Without going into details, our van political conversation ran first into someone else's inside joke at the show that night, and a few months later I got this killer fukkn tape in the mail. And this was the return address:
===============================================================
And a while later, even though I never got around to posting the DRUG LUST tape, this banger showed up on my doorstep. RADIUM GIRLS are grating high end hardcore, disjointed and wholly original in the same way that MUKILTEO FAIRIES made you perk up and go "...the fuck?" I want to hear a full studio recording bad, not because I feel like anything is missing from the demo, but because I want to know how much more they are capable of. And just to seal the deal, this was the return address:
(if you know the reference, then you know what I mean)
NEW YEARS EVE in New York City? Are we fukkn insane? Find out at The Acheron with LA MISMA, GRUDGES, PERFECT PUSSY and CREEPING DOSE. And tomorrow, you should join me for the Coney Island Polar Plunge, because stupidity is better when you are surrounded by other idiots.
27 June 2013
ILLEGALS
I often get tapes in the mail at TEHQ; I gotta admit that it's one of the perks of this whole gig. But to be blunt: even the good ones are almost never this good. Pittsburgh's ILLEGALS are near flawless midtempo USHC. Full of attitude, full of swagger, intense as shit and screaming for an elbows high creepy crawl circle pit...heads banging, fists in the air pogo madness fills my cloudy brains (yes, both of them), this is absolutely THE shit that keeps me stoked. There are band comparisons that are justified, but I feel like they would dampen my enthusiasm and make it seem like I am so stoked simply because ILLEGALS kinda sound like some other band that I already like. No. I am so stoked because I came home from seeing a shitload of bands and this tape was waiting for me and I just wanted to see more bands. I wanted to see this band. Ugly and fierce hardcore punk...you need it
15 April 2013
RATFACE // DRUG LUST
Two of Pittsburgh's most irreverent exports team up on this cassette. DRUG LUST take classic Iron City punk rock and shove chaos up its ass, while RATFACE crank out more of their top notch rage. Both of these bands keep getting better (need to throw the DRUG LUST demo up here, dude mailed me a copy months ago and it rrrrrrips). Get into it.
28 January 2013
EEL
More noise-not-music bands are going to start incorporating actual noise and power electronics, and it is going to be awesome. Pittsburgh's EEL are certainly not the first, but they take the chaos over the top in a glorious manner - urgent pogo punk is treated to an insistent barrage of mindfuckery and over indulgent manufactured sound. Howling vocals are buried under hollow guitars and a wash of electronics while the rhythm section pound out comically simple punk anthems. Confused? Just look at the title of their demo.
19 July 2012
ZEITGEIST
Kevin sent me a copy months ago and I've been jamming ZEITGEIST regularly ever since. Equal parts THE GITS, LA FRACTION (obviously and especially in Tilley's vocals) and THIS IS MY FIST but with undeniable political USHC roots, this demo is just a taste of what their new LP has to offer. I listened to the LP a couple of times tonight and realized I hadn't gotten around to sharing the demo...I'm pretty slow sometimes. The demo is great, and the record rules. I suggest treating yourself to both.
Every road I take seems to lead uphill // I'll find a moment's peace within the next cheap thrill
26 September 2011
RATFACE // DESPERATE HOURS
You surely know the drill by now - a noisy drunken hardcore assembly recorded live on the radio from Pittsburgh's RATFACE (and yeah, for those keeping track, the band features dudes from ANNIHILATION TIME and FLAK) backed with a noisy drunken hardcore assembly from DESPERATE HOURS, who hail from the oh so very hippie beachside college 'burgh of Isla Vista. Or maybe they are from Santa Barbara, which is really just the insanely wealthy version of Isla Vista, but either way they rule. Have a good week.
28 June 2011
SHIT MAYOR
I can't even pretend to describe this. I can only say that SHIT MAYOR are awesome, and that the two song, seven minute investment required to discover whether or not you agree with me is a rather wise gamble. Maybe this is somebody's idea of an inside joke, or maybe some modern day outcasts managed to create a demo that sounds like a garage punk version of 1000 HOMO DJs, and either way I am smitten.
06 May 2011
IRON LUNG MIXTAPE
Other bands have dabbled with collecting the music of their friends and associates in the form of a familial mix tape, but it should come as no surprise that IRON LUNG have perfected it. One track each from 20 bands, and not a clunker in the bunch. There are IRON LUNG related projects (WALLS, PIG HEART TRANSPLANT, COLD SWEAT, SOCIETY NURSE), Iron Lung Records artists (WHITE WARDS, BIG CRUX, SLICES, EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING), and Terminal Escape alumni (SELF COM, RUNNING FOR COVER, KIM PHUC) alongside SOLUTIONS (the best band hardcore band you have never seen), MENTALLY CHALLENGED, MIND ERASER, Aussie synth punk from TOTAL CONTROL, LORDS OF LIGHT lounge offshoot STUDIO GEORDIE and tracks from two of my bands, OPT OUT and VACCUUM. The SELF COM and MENTALLY CHALLENGED tracks are easily my two favorite, but I assure you that the next 40 minutes of your day are going to be filled with excellent music from across the sound spectrum. Get a copy if there are any left, and if you've missed out then let's hope you have learned a lesson about what happens when you snooze.
21 February 2011
RATFACE
RATFACE take their cues from UK raw punk masters instead of re-filtering Japanese sounds that are themselves variations and amalgamations of primitive UK punk. Confuse(d)? RATFACE aren't. Pure and powerful chaos dominated by blown out drums and the requisite vocal effects (which sound bizarrely like Alan Vega) - often the guitar is all but completely buried, but it doesn't diminish the impact. Yeah, that's the singer from ANNIHILATION TIME.
05 August 2010
FREE CLINIC
Terminal Escape minions seem to enjoy the noisier and more fukkd side of punk, and it is in that spirit that I offer Pittsburgh's FREE CLINIC. These songs are damaged art sludge with vocals worthy of MELT BANANA comparisons, guitars that conjure up Ginn on PCP, and a vibe that makes me understand why people like FLIPPER so damn much. Seven torturous dirges...you will start to question music by the end of "Mouth," but the simplicity of the approach and the expertise of its delivery is unquestionable.
20 September 2009
ICON GALLERY
Pittsburgh's punk scene has given us many fantastic bands through the '00s (BRAINHANDLE, CAUSTIC CHRIST, F.L.A.K., KIM PHUC, and the list goes on...). Years back, there was APHASIA (who later morphed into DIE SCREAMING), who were good, but always seemed to me like they were almost able to combine their differing influences and ideas and turn themselves into a truly great punk band. Well, after the demise of DIE SCREAMING, 1/2 of the band started ICON GALLERY, and let there be no doubt that tremendous success has been achieved! This is their first recording from 2007, and these four songs manage to put together one of the most unique vocalists I've ever heard with a complete powerhouse on guitar, and the result is simply fucking beautiful. The guitar is the focal point for me (I'm perhaps in the minority here, Chani's vocals are out of this world and impossible to ignore, but the guitars are so fucking great), classic '80s US Midwest hardcore style riffing (think HUSKER DU, ARTICLES OF FAITH, but completely original) and leads that come out of nowhere and then fade seamlessly back into the song. ICON GALLERY has released two vinyl slabs (one of which is this cassette demo) that both made my top 10 releases last year...I'm just thankful that this one was a tape first, so I get to share it here.
28 August 2009
KIM PHUC
Kim Phuc was the young girl featured in what is probably the most famous Viet Nam War photo ever taken (likely among the most famous photos ever taken anywhere), you know, the child running naked down the road, her body burned by napalm? Yeah, her. KIM PHUC are currently an incredible genre bending band from Pittsburgh. Equal parts DICKS and SCRATCH ACID played through molasses as the soundtrack to a John Waters film. They have a couple of records, get them, they rule. And this is their demo, it also rules.
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