HEX - Demo - Tape - 2007

Today's post is brought to you by Erik Ruin, who previously contributed a top ten list to the blog a few years ago. I think this tape is incredible, but wanted a different perspective on it, so I asked Erik for his take. Many, many thanks to the members of HEX for sending over the digital files when my machinery was having issues. 

   Heavy music on non-traditional instruments has a seriously mixed track record. It can tend toward simple novelty- (think APOCALYPTICA or even worse) but it can also lay bare nuanced dynamics and complex compositional structures that are often obscured to those- like me- who have trouble looking beyond the standard genre tropes (wailing guitars,machismo, long hair, etc.). It’s into this latter camp I’d put viola/tuba/drums trio HEX, alongside luminaries like Portland’s DISEMBALLERINA and Providence’s BELLOWS.

  According to violist Jackie Beckey- “Andie, Aaron and I were all hanging out around this time and interested in creating heavy music on nontraditional instruments. I'd been experimenting with this for awhile and was hoping to start a project with someone who shared this vision. Aaron--a fellow classically trained orchy dork punk on tuba--was the obvious choice for a bandmate. We were both interested in creating heavy music influenced by non-western music, such as African drumming. Aaron and I were also into geeking out about poly-rhythms, exploring tonality by amplifying acoustic instruments and using instruments with incredible amounts of sustain to play heavy music.”

   The first and last songs of this tape begin with lengthy tuba drones rich in texture and atmosphere. From there it gets more rocking, with Jackie alternating between heavily reverbed pizzicato plucking (kind of a trademark of hers) and sawing riffs. At times, it reminds me of stoner rock transcendalists like SLEEP or even 70’s Swedes PARSON SOUND (a direction Jackie and Andie would take further with their project MYRRH) but it also breaks out into galloping sections that are not too dissimilar to their Minneapolis contemporaries COUNTY Z (ed. note: there is so much CZ on this blog and you should definitely seek it out) and ROTTEN LIVING. The cover sports paper-cut artwork by “Dragon-face” Dan Nelson, virtually de rigeurin the scene at the time (see also DOGS, THIEVES, DANGER BOY & THE ROAD VULTURES, etcetcetc….)

   HEX was relatively short-lived, beginning and ending in 2007. As far as I know, this is their only recording. They did go on a two-month tour, which Jackie remembers as “the best tour I've ever been on. Luke Holden toured with us the entire way and performed at every show as the hilarious "Body McFartin" human fart machine opening act. Because we kind of didn't fit into any specific musical genre, we played a lot of weird shows--opened up for a D-beat band in Dallas, performed with the art-punk band TEENAGE WAISTBAND in Providence, and performing during an intermission for a psychedelic play in Kansas City.”

    They so impressed my friend Dan Schleifer at their Providence show that he formed his own tuba-drone metal band, the aforementioned BELLOWS (who also ruled and are also sadly broken up)

    All the members of HEX have gone on to do a bunch of stuff– Jackie formed the more melodic yet still driving BRUTE HEART and is now mainly focused on soundtrack work. Tuba player Aaron moved to Pittsburgh where he’s playing in two great bands- tuba with brassy LUNGS FACE FEET  and bass with heavy weirdos COME HOLY SPIRIT(alongside Gina Favano of the much-missed JOHN DENVER'S AIRPLANE). Andie went on to play drums in the brilliant MOTHER OF FIRE, then in a variety of scrappy punk bands and is a brilliant painter.

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WORK//DEATH - Interstitial - Tape - 2012

   WORK/DEATH is an entity that has been sitting on the back burner of Remote Outposts for quite some time now...not because it's any less important or sonically pleasing than other tapes on this blog, but because I just don't know how to talk about it. I don't really know how to tell you why this might be relevant to your life or even life-changing, but I really, truly think it is.
   I remember one night, Pars and I were trying to explain the importance of WORK/DEATH to a friend, which is always an exercise in futility, because if people don't like something, they just don't like it...and that's fine. If you were to combine both of our explanations into one big glob, it would go something like this: WORK/DEATH is noise, but it's more than noise. It's calculated. It's intentional. It's no fucking joke and there is no fucking around. Also, to some extent, it's the modern day equivalent of classical music for our era.
   I didn't really "get" WORK/DEATH until I saw it live. Scott, the core member of W/D, stepped up to his mess of pedals, keyboards, homemade gear and wires to start his set without fanfare. Watching him compose for the next 25 minutes, creating a wall of noise that completely enveloped every inch of the room, floored me. Many times when I see people create noise music live,  I'm bored to goddamn tears and I can't wait for the idiot with the fucking pedals to stop wasting my time. That feeling doesn't even begin to surface with WORK/DEATH.
   This tape may not be the best start for your journey with WORK/DEATH, if this is your first time hearing them, but this is what I'm giving you. I got this one delivered to me in a stack of tapes from Providence, RI. When I opened up this tape for the first time, a toenail fell out. It seemed fitting, somehow.

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As of now, this is the extent of the WORK/DEATH internet presence. 

Scott told me in an email that he believes that part of the process of listening to music is engaging and interacting with the physical object. I agree. His tapes are sometimes difficult to track down, but maybe you can send some money to Three Songs Of Lenin at P.O. Box 29680, Providence, RI 02909 and see what you get. 

You can also order one of his LP's right here

I'm still upset that I didn't get to see him play in a 19th century mill or completely annihilate a piano in a Rhode Island alleyway. .

PIG HEART TRANSPLANT - "Land Of Marred Normalcy" - Tape - 2007

   I JUST DRANK WAY TOO MUCH COFFEE AND I'M FREAKING OUT!! Anyway, This is perfect for the anxiety-inducing part of a major coffee buzz, but maybe not in the way you might expect. PIG HEART TRANSPLANT is/was the project of my neighbor, Jon Kortland, who is one half of the rumbling mind-fuck that is known as IRON LUNG. Just about everything those guys touch is unstoppable and this tape is no exception. Noise, digital static, tape manipulation, fucked up guitars, industrial landscapes and howling cacophonies all combine to provide a deeply challenging but satisfying listen. I was listening to this on headphones once while trying to go to sleep in a pitch black boxcar and got so freaked out that I had to turn it off. Music can move one in many ways and that is one of those ways that I truly enjoy.

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   Sorry for the lack of consistent updates lately. Real life has been really real and extremely busy with non-digital happenings as of late. I'm going to make a more concerted effort to update this more regularly and I'm even going to pay more attention to improving the writing. With this entry, the blog has been viewed over 200,000 times, which means that someone somewhere might be paying attention. Thanks to longtime readers, supporters and people who just stumbled upon this and enjoyed it. Thanks also to naysayers, critics and shit-talkers. It takes all kinds to make the world go round. See you soon. 

IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT - "Thanks" - Tape - 2006

   As I'm sure I've said before, IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT is one of my favorite bands. Years back, they were getting ready to go on a tour and their drummer, Don broke his leg. Rather than call the whole thing off, Don learned how to use a combination of percussion and electronics, which ultimately sent the band to a new plateau of weirdness. That trajectory took them into a later tour where they would play sprawling hour long sets, employing the use of hand made horns, staticky radios, tape loops, half-broken amps and miscellaneous debris. The results could be hypnotic, challenging, abrasive and cleansing.
   I got a ride down to a show of theirs in Kentucky during this time and was dropped off at the bar hours before they even arrived. At the time of the show (8 hours later), they were the only musical act scheduled to play. They took their time setting up and the clientele of the bar eyed them warily. As they hit their first notes of the night, a huge Midwestern storm started brewing in the neighborhood. The doors to the bar were wide open and sheets of rain started pouring in. I looked at the middle-aged, burly, biker-style bartenders standing there...arms crossed, not batting an eye or making a move to close the doors. About five minutes into IPCP's set, every paying customer in the bar got up and left, deciding to brave the potentially tornado-inducing storm rather than listen to this band. I looked around. I was left alone with the band, the guy who set up the show, my friend Christina (who lived there and actually came to see the band), Stella (IPCP's roadie, who was laughing at the predicament) and the still-stoic and immobile bartenders. The band did not bat an eye and played their full set. It was great and the insane storm added an extra element of dreaminess to the whole thing.
   At the conclusion of their set, there was an awkward silence after our smattering of applause died down. We were then left with these burly dudes at the bar after driving out their entire clientele. I looked over after a heavy silence and one of 'em said "So, do ya'll like SUN RA and BEEFHEART or something?" Tension broken. The guys loved it and were happy to talk to some other weirdos. Drinks were on the house. The other act was the promoter, Kris, doing a "DJ set", which meant that he would put a record on and let the entire thing play. Then, he would flip it and listen to the other side. (I just now realized that I have told this entire story before in an earlier post. Oops. I am now senile).
   On that tour, IPCP had a mailing list and they said that if you signed it, they would send you free stuff. A lot of bands used to say that, but I never got any free stuff from them. At the conclusion of their tour, the band actually did send this tape out to people who signed the list or set up shows for them. It's called "Thanks" and it compiles live sets, field recordings, jams, talks about botox and random sounds. Listening to this reminds of that night and makes me miss their challenging sounds. I think the thing I love most about the band is that they were somehow always a year ahead of me. What that means is that every time a new LP came out (and they have a lot), I would listen to it and think it was pretty good. I wouldn't quite get it and it wouldn't really hit me, but something let me know that I had to hang onto it. Within a year, that record would become indispensable to me. The same thing happened with this tape. It's pretty out there and it's also really, really good.

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There's also a 12" out there called "Thanks II" that is more stuff like this, more field recordings and  moreeeeee weeeirdddddd. 

VISITOR - "III" - Tape - 2012

   LOOK, IT'S MUSIC!! I know I have been pummeling you all with top ten lists, but as I stated before, I like lists a lot and there's still a few more to come (if people get them to me in time). For now, let's get back to the music. Longtime readers may remember that I posted an earlier VISITOR tape way back in 2011 that had little-to-no info. Other readers may think "I already knew about that band and didn't need your paltry download, fool." Either way, here is another mysterious tape by this down-tuned Minneapolis doom outfit, which was released by Lighten Up Sounds in late 2012. Two drummers and one guitarist play two 15 minute songs that build up from ambient sounds into massive, swelling riffs. No vocals. Perfect for working on stuff in your room, staring into the abyss from a cliff, getting sucked into a vortex, dying a slow death or, uh, getting stoned, I guess.
   Graham plays the guitar, also plays in BLOODWALL and he will cut a mono lathe of your band (or four LP drone project) over at 2208 Records. Jefferson plays the drums and also does stuff with 3 MOONS and THE SPACECHRISTS. Andie plays the other drums. He also spends time in MOTHER OF FIRE, which is a band that I like a whole lot. I would go so far to say that I am obsessed with them at the moment. Enjoy this one.

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   If you would like to get the actual source recordings rather than my beautiful tape-hissy download, you can head over to Lighten Up's Bandcamp page. The tape quickly went out of print so don't try to order it.

  Also, just to let you know, Mediafire is a slowly sinking ship. I would say that if you ever thought about downloading anything on this site, now is the time to do it before all of the links disappear. I moved over to Zippyshare, which is currently confusing and frustrating. I might change to a different file sharing service again. Or maybe I'll just stop doing this altogether.

SWORD OF THE ANCIENT - "Head Of The Tide" - Tape - 2007

   Many of the sounds I put on here are harsh, abrasive, fucked up, angry and defiant...because I like that kind of music. I also like sounds that are beautiful, indescribable, meditative, experimental and noisy. That is where bands like SWORD OF THE ANCIENT come in. But first I have to ask myself, "Are there other bands like SWORD OF THE ANCIENT?" Some of you may remember when I posted their first tape over a year ago. This tape finds the band stripped of one member, moved over 15 states away from their former home of New Orleans, a lot more subdued and a little more lush, but still strange, hypnotic and captivating. Some of the moments on here sound like they could have come straight out of the brains that wrote the first RESIDENTS record. In addition to changing their locale from a harsh, violent city to a beautifully calm seaside village (which sounds evident in their sound), it also sounds like the band switched from coffee to drinking loads of tea between their two tapes. It works. I think this tape sounds best driving across eastern Montana at 4am when everyone else in the car (van, truck, etc) is asleep or at home alone in the dark, but you can do whatever you want. 

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Updated 2013

POOP TROOP - Compilation - Tape - 2001

   This tape was compiled by Dan B (of IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT and VILLAGE OF SPACES) to showcase some of his and friends' bands who play noise, outsider sounds, lo-fi dance music, drone, punk and more. The physical tape starts off with MARGARET MOTHER OF THIEVES, but I didn't add them on this download since it's just the same songs from their demo, which you can find by clicking on that link above. So, your download starts with COUNTY Z, who are still one of my favorite bands of all time. Their one and only song on this comp sounds like it was a rehearsal improv jam and it is a definite "work on some stuff in your room and let this drift out of the speakers" kind of song. They are followed by HARRY FROM HAWAII, who drone out some fucked up, blown out "dance music" for total fuckin freaks. The one time I saw them (I think it was them), they featured Drew on noise. He was wearing a full-body foam outfit with a huge helmet made out of sheet metal with contact mics all over him. The mics were running through an overflowing table full of pedals and Drew was banging on the helmet with drumsticks. I found out later that the  jagged edges of metal were cutting into his head the whole time and that his jumps and hops were not for effect, but were produced out of sheer pain!
   Next up is IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT (another all time favorite) who also jam it out for a bit in that improv, droney way that they do. Dan B told me that they have hours of this stuff on tape somewhere. They are followed by UKE OF PHILLIPS (who has evolved into VILLAGE OF SPACES) and their brand of gutter-country/acoustic-noise. New Orleans' THE FOREHEADS play 3 songs that are the closest you will get to a standard punk band on this tape, even though nothing about them is standard. Occasional IPCP member, Stella plays guitar and yelps some vocals here and there. Merrydeth plays drums and does a fair share of the singing. Icky rounds out the rhythm section on tuba. They did a tour or two (I would've loved to have been their roadie) and put out a split 7" with THE NAZIS FROM MARS on Raw Sugar Records before breaking up.
  HUL (not to be confused with the Danish band HUL) is just Don Godwin (of IPCP, Vector Set and much more) playing sleepy, lo-fi electronic music. Two of these songs were recorded in a Motel 6 in Lubbock, Texas. C/O NOAH CANNON closes out the tape with a mess of drone, noise, soundscapes, tape manipulation and more. I have a 90 minute tape of theirs and like the stuff on this comp, it can be meditative and wash over you.
   Most of this tape will not sit well with many of the people who like the bulk of the stuff I put up on this blog, but that's okay. This is my trip. Get into it. Plus, I'm still getting over being sick and sometimes you don't feel like excitedly writing about punks getting wasted and penning the best song ever about killing Marines.

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This is from the collection of Erick Lyle.

DRAW THE LINES - Olympia Music Compilation - Tape - 2011

   I was tricked into buying this tape, but that's okay because it's really good. You see, I ran into the band DOGJAW a couple of times and our bands even played together in Seattle last year. I like them a lot. They play slow, driving, droning music with two intertwining female voices that are both haunting and commanding. I saw them play at a great house show in SF and wanted to buy something by them. I bought this tape without looking at the track listing and then later realized that it was a compilation of bands from their hometown of Olympia, Washington. Their guitarist, Meg offered my money back when I said something about it, but I decided to keep it because DOGJAW are quality folks and I would expect them to have some quality shit with them on their tour. I was right.
   DOGJAW opens up this tape with two sprawling, beautiful, epic songs that break the ten minute mark (combined). They are followed by CRUDE THOUGHT who blast through 3 fast, driving punk songs. Bay Area locals may be happy to know that CRUDE THOUGHT will be in the area at the end of February with the ultra-hyped (all deserved) HYSTERICS. (also, DOGJAW will be here again in March). Next up is ANASTATICA, who I initially wrote off as being kinda dramatic and hokey, but then they grew on me immediately and became one of my favorite songs on this comp. It's super stripped down, DIY, feminist black metal. Unfortunately, they broke up, so my hopes of headbanging to these songs live, ever so slowly and forcefully are now dashed. They remind me of the best parts (read: all of it) of the acoustic songs by DOOMSDAY CAULDRON. Next up, I feel like DOGJAW (the organizers of this comp, I believe) is trying to pull one over on me by throwing in a French band called BIT PART. They're from France, right? Is there an Olympian BIT PART? I don't know, but whatever nationality they choose, they are fast, punk and great. Side two starts of with HARK HOW THE BELLS, which takes a few songs from their demo, which you can find by clicking on that link. PITTED YOUTH follows it up with a dirge-y, screamy approach that rules. I regret not watching them when my band played with them, but I was just too sweaty and tired to deal with anything (because I'm old). MARGY PEPPER is kinda minimalist and reminds me of early K Records stuff. BROKEN WATER closes out the tape with a ruling song that sounds like it could have been out an outtake from "Daydream Nation" with elements of MY BLOODY VALENTINE, which I'm sure they're not too happy to hear, but that's what it sounds like to me. Deal with it.

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If you'd like to get your own copy of this tape, don't hesitate to write to dogjawolympia@gmail.com and they will hook you up.

JACKWACKER - "Things From Inside Your Body" - LP - 2006

   In 2005 or 2006, I hitched a ride to Louisville, KY to go see IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT play at a little neighborhood bar. They were the only band on the bill and they played a great, sprawling hour-long set that literally cleared the room of every paying patron in the building. They had opened up the doors to the bar and the torrential downpour outside was blowing into the building. We thought that the burly biker-looking bartenders and door-guy were gonna be pissed off that the band had driven away their customers and left them with a weirdo band, their friend (me, who wasn't buying anything), the guy who set it up (Kris) and the one other spectator (hi Christina!). After playing the last note of the set, the dudes at the bar, who had been staring sternly the whole time with their arms crossed, asked "So, are you guys into SUN RA and BEEFHEART?" It turns out that the guys at the bar were stoked to hear improvisational noise and skronky sounds. They didn't give a fuck that we ran everyone off and they gave us a lot of free drinks. We went back to Kris' house afterwards to see his insanely huge record collection and talk nerdy about FRED LANE and DAVEY WILLIAMS until the wee hours. He said that he helped with a collective called Black Velvet Fuckre that had just put out a triple LP by his group VALLEY OF ASHES that had already sold out before it even got pressed. I knew that this guy must be up to something good if he can manage that.
    After getting back home to Bloomington, I found this LP by a band called JACKWACKER and bought it for these two reasons: They were a local band from the early 90's and Black Velvet Fuckre had put it out. When I got home, I was not prepared for the weird, mega-distorted, totally fucked onslaught that greeted my ears. At first, I couldn't really tell what the hell was going on, but I knew that I liked it. The band consisted of only two guys, but it sounded like three or four. The guitarist was playing a guitar that had 3 bass strings and 3 guitar strings on it. The drummer was playing...well, a drum set. There was some intermittent howls and yelps, but most of the vocals were minimal. Some hacks in the music journalism field keep comparing them to LIGHTNING BOLT, but I don't really think it's an apt description. For one, they predated LIGHTNING BOLT by years and they were far more minimal, more jazzy and way more drone-y at times. A lot less freak-out and a lot more straight-up improv.
  I had a really hard time finding out any info about them when I got this record. From what I could tell, they lived in Bloomington, Indiana in the early 90's and recorded a lot of these songs live in basements around town. Then, they moved to Madison, WI and recorded the rest before breaking up. I asked people around town if they knew anything about the band and no one really did. I asked old-timers and lifelong residents, but no one I asked had ever even heard of them.
   I played 3rd guitar (!!) in a doomy sludge band called GOURMET SCUM and we were invited to play with a lot of other folks on a local radio show where each band was asked to do one original song and one cover by a local of any era. We chose to "interpret" a JACKWACKER song ("Hashslinger") live and in front of an audience at a downtown auditorium. After our ramshackle barrage of drop-D sludge, a guy walked up to me, said he appreciated the JACKWACKER cover and he didn't think anyone remembered them. I asked if he ever saw them and it turned out that he was the drummer, Rob. He said that they played a lot around Bloomington, but no one ever seemed to "get" them or appreciate what they were doing. After moving to Madison, they broke up after a year or so and life led Rob back to Bloomington, where he stopped playing punk/noise and got more into free-form jazz and improv. I didn't ask him much more about it because he seemed wholly uninterested...and there was a noise nerd around town who kept completely fucking hounding him for info...so I backed off (also, after this show, the noise nerd assumed we were a JACKWACKER cover band and was trying to get us to play shows as JACKWACKER, which we never did or acknowledged...because we were our own band.)
   This record came from out of nowhere for me and I am really glad to see that this kind of noise was going on in the Midwest in the early 90's. It's destructive, cathartic, and insane. I love it.

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FLAKMASK - "Exploring the Magnetic Poles" - Tape - 2007?

   I think this group consists of weirdos from IxPxCxPx and COUNTY Z, but I'm not really sure. That part is fairly unimportant. The part you'll want to know is that this is about one full hour of droning noise, tape manipulations, screeches, skronks, knob turning, pedal manipulation and fully analog messes. They also have some more records and tapes that you can pick up from Trd Wrd. This is perfect for clearing out by brain after reviewing terrible pop-punk records at the magazine that I write for...who would never review anything by this band.

FLAK MASK DL

50 MILLION - "This One's Pretty Cool, But I Like the Old Stuff Better" - CD - 1995

   I've already explained who 50 MILLION is and I've told you how much I love them, so I'll tell you about the first time I saw them, which is when I bought this CD.
   To be honest, I wasn't going to go to their show in Huntsville, AL back in 1997. I didn't know who they were and they were playing with some pretty crappy bands, but the flyer proclaimed "50  MILLION from San Francisco, featuring ex-members of J CHURCH". I loved J CHURCH, so I went to the show just to see 50 MILLION. (tangential side note: Wade from 50M played drums in J CHURCH for less than a year or so and recorded with them on "The Procession Of Simulacra - The Map Preceeds the Territory" 10", which coincidentally is the first record I ever heard by them.) I was more than a block away from the show and heard this loud, low booming voice of a guy talking somewhere. As I got closer, I realized that the voice was coming from this long-haired guy in front of the venue and he was talking a million miles per hour to one of my friends and telling her she had beautiful eyes. He turned to me as I walked up, saw the HICKEY patch on my jacket and introduced himself as "Shellhead". I found out that he was good friends with the guys from HICKEY (who had rolled through town a few months earlier) and they had told him to look for me and some of my friends. It was sweet. I met his brother Wade (the drummer on this tour) and their friend, Bloomie (the bass player). Shell continued to hit on my friend (very sweetly and not at all creepy, I might add. My friend was enjoying it and talking to him all night). It turns out that she was the ex of "J", this bruiser/greaser who had a reputation of starting fights with touring bands, young punks that were smaller than him and anyone who said anything slightly negative to him. He was a fucking jerk. I was afraid of him because I was young and scrawny. He had fought HICKEY, the SPAWN SACS and even tried to beat up my friend Ivy when she had a broken foot and was hobbling around on crutches. World class jerk here.

     Anyway, "J" was lurking around in the shadows, glaring at Shell talking to his ex while getting drunker and surlier. It didn't help matters that when 50 MILLION took the stage, they played a HICKEY song and dedicated their sweetest, sappiest songs to the woman. 

   As far as their live show went, I was sold. They played everything from awesome pop-punk to metallish dirges to feedback-laden experimental noise. They were pretty fucking amazing that night. Also, they set up all of their equipment in front of the band's stuff that played before them, thereby trapping it back there so that the douchey, crappy pop-punk band that played before them had to wait until they were done so that they could load out. I remember watching the members of that band stare helplessly and hopelessly as 50 MILLION played a 10 minute version of "She Is a Monster", making it drag slower and slower until Shell was laying on the floor, making his guitar feedback and Wade was playing something like 5 beats per minute. It felt like vindication for having to watch that crappy band's piss-poor excuse for pop-punk for 30 minutes.

   Anyway, at some point during the set, Shell tackled me in a faux wrestling match and we rolled around on the floor in a fake fight. "J" took that as his cue to attack and ran up to kick Shell in the head a couple of times, which he defended as protecting me (totally ridiculous, since that dude threatened me numerous times). After the show was over and 50 MILLION had packed up, Shell was talking to the woman and "J" made his move. He started pushing Shell around and threatened to kick his ass for trying to steal his girlfriend. Wade ran up, jumped between them and threatened to kill the guy, telling him that he would cut his head off. (a little background: Wade had parts of his head shaved off. He's an old Texas bad-ass covered in homemade tattoos and has a nasty disposition, but a heart of gold. On this tour, he looked like a completely deranged, sadistic, escaped mental patient.) "J", for the first time ever, looked genuinely scared of someone. I left with 50 MILLION in their van and found out that Wade had a machete tucked into his pants the whole time. He had fully intended to cut off "J"'s head if he didn't back off. As Wade was driving to my house, he calmly said "I'm glad I didn't have to blow his head off with the shotgun". I turned around and the shotgun was right behind me.

   I bought this CD from them at the show, even though Shell told me that it sounded nothing like their live show. I thought it was weird that a band would put out something that was wholly unrepresentative of their sound but I bought it anyway and it bummed me out when I listened to it for the first time. Over time, it quickly grew to be my most favorite thing that the band has ever put out. It's a collection of home recordings by the two brothers that dates back as far as the mid-70's, but mostly sticks to the early-to-mid-90's. A lot of the songs were started by one brother who recorded his part and then sent the master tape through the mail to the other brother to finish. It includes now-classic songs like "Baltimore", "Burn Away", "Egg in the Face", "Evergreen" (which Matty Luv of HICKEY once called "the saddest song ever written") and 22 more. 50 MILLION were (and are) a brilliant band that encompassed the hopes, dreams and ultimate failures of being broke and hopeless, but found solace and comfort in that and learned to be proud of and celebrate their lives, no matter what. They were also drug-addled, drunk and unapologetic, but who wasn't? I'm so very happy that they made it out of the 90's Mission punk scene alive.

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   ...and here is the reason I didn't use "J"'s real name in the story. You may wonder, "Why would you use an alias for some jerk who beat up all of your friends?" Well, a few years after leaving Huntsville, I went back to visit for a few days. Some friends and I went out to the river to hang out and drink a few beers. On the way, they said they were gonna pick up "J" to go with us. I said "uhhh...what the fuck dudes? I don't wanna hang out with this macho fuckwad" (or something like that). They just said it was cool and picked him up. After a couple of drinks, I said "I need to talk to you" and pulled him aside. After all of these years, I had gained some self-confidence and decided to tell him how I felt. I tore into him about how demeaning it was that he beat the shit out of young punks, how fucked up it was that he threatened women with violence and what my friends across the country thought of him. I told him how angry I was at him for all of those years and how much I wanted someone to just beat the living shit out of him. Then, I braced myself for the beating he was about to give me. He didn't. He stood there and listened to everything that I had to say and then he told me that I was right and that he was sorry. I couldn't believe it. This guy had never shown any remorse in the moment or admitted any signs of weakness or apology. He explained that he grew up fighting as a means of survival and as a way of life. As he got older, he didn't see any other way of living and fighting became his only method of solving problems or disputes. He told me that he wasn't happy during that time and worked a lot on changing his behavior to become a better person. He didn't expect me or anyone else to forgive him for all of the harm he had caused so many people, but he wanted me to tell those people that he's really sorry and he wishes that he could make up for it somehow. So, if you ever lived in Huntsville or came through there in a punk band in the 90's, it's highly possible that you know who I'm talking about...and if he fought you for some stupid reason, he's sorry. The rest of that night hanging out with him was great and memorable. I even hugged that motherfucker at the end of the night. Life is strange.

If you want to order stuff by 50 MILLION and many other great bands, please visit STARCLEANER.

CRUDE HILL - "On Stiltz" - Tape - 2007

   I saw CRUDE HILL play a cramped basement in Indiana back in 2007 and I remember thinking that they sorta sounded like "Noise Cumbia" or "Experimental World Music". Once I got this tape into the player, I realized that I was wrong and there was something else going on entirely. This 40-something minute tape (split into 6 sections) explores improvisation, noise landscapes, experimentation and droning bliss.

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Features members of  TEENAGE WAISTBAND, FORCE FIELD and URDOG.

RUSSIAN TSARLAG - "Let Your Dreams Touch Air" - Tape - 2007

    When I lived in Indiana, I used to tell people that RUSSIAN TSARCASM (this band's former name) was my favorite local band, which was true. One day, I realized that I didn't even know if Carlos (the brains and braun behind this project) knew how to play any instruments at all. You see, RUSSIAN TSARCASM was more of an experience and performance than a sonic onslaught. Sometimes, it could be dangerous, like the time Carlos jumped into piles of broken glass and ran into the crowd screaming and bloody. It could be confusing, like the time he just sang along to a recording of a toddler singing accapella. He was swinging a hammer the whole time and at the end of the song, he smashed some glass bricks with cassettes taped to it. Afterwards, he said "I have some tapes for sale" and he tried to sell the bits of broken cassettes to people. Once, RUSSIAN TSARCASM played 12 shows in one day in 12 different outdoor locations. I only went to the last one and it consisted of a shirtless Carlos being dragged around by his legs while I ran after him and spit on his chest. Another time, he played a show in a basement for 24 hours straight. I went to it about 16 hours into the show and he was in the basement alone chanting in a pile of glass with a steak taped to his chest.
     After saving his money from working at a Rally's drive thru (Carlos said he took the job so he could see how "normal people" lived), he took a logical step for once and moved his weird ass out to Providence, RI. It created a void in the Bloomington noise scene that could never be filled. Carlos changed the name of the band to RUSSIAN TSARLAG and actually started playing instruments It was mostly Carlos playing a stand-up drumset and singing his songs which brought new meaning to the word "minimal". He put out some tapes and an LP or two (I can't keep up). One of his LPs featured a BEACH BOYS cover song and it was paid for with a grant...which basically means that the state of Rhode Island paid for some weirdo to interpret Brian Wilson.
     This tape is hard to explain and I'm not going to try. Fuck it.
                                  RUSSIAN TSARLAG

VISITOR - Tape - 2011

    There is absolutely no information with this tape. No song titles, no band member's names, no vocals and no fucking thanks list. There is almost one full hour of droned-out, down tuned, multi-layered, fucked up brilliance though. There's 3 tracks on here (possibly 4, but it was hard to tell) and all of them meld into one great piece (peace) that will melt your afternoon away. This tape was left for me on the windshield of the tour van in the rain and it seemed fitting.

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   Features members of THIEVES and THE SPACECHRISTS