Yesterday, I decided to take a trip over to Oakland to check out a record swap before meeting up with some old friends who I haven't seen in a while. Five seconds after I walked in to the backyard of the fucking fancy pizza place that was hosting the swap, I wanted to be anywhere else in the world. A lot of Oakland residents love to talk shit on San Francisco and all I could think was "Is this what you want, Oakland?" There was a sea of gelled-ass hair and cologne-soaked shits shopping at natural wood boutiques full of organic soaps or some fucking shit. There was also the usual people I see at the swaps doing their thing, but I couldn't block out the bullshit around me long enough to look at overpriced hardcore LP's. I walked outside and just laid down on the sidewalk. I had what can only be described as "a moment". As the Saturday shoppers walked around me, I just laid on a side street of Telegraph and listened to the whole CONEHEADS tape. When it ended, I got up, slammed some coffee and got the fuck out of that part of town...went up in the Berkeley hills into some nature with my friends...In the moments when I wasn't hanging out with people (on the train, walking between houses, on the train again, going to the store), this tape was blasting into my ears. It's possible that I listened to it 10-12 times yesterday.
THE CONEHEADS are from Indiana. When I lived in Indiana, I didn't know of any good current bands in the entire state besides the ones who lived in the same town as me. Granted, the people in this band (and all of their friend's bands) were probably 8 years old when I lived there. I'm glad that there's great, exciting punk coming from those places now. They sound like DOW JONES AND THE INDUSTRIALS on speed or a more manic DEVO. I was so happy to hear a RESIDENTS cover, because they're one of my favorites, but I always wish punks would cover their songs rather than say, PRIMUS. There's a buncha fuckin nerds who know way more about the Northwestern Indiana punk scene than I do, but I'm pretty sure these guys come from the same amorphous gene pool that spawned bands like BIG ZIT and OOZE. I like those bands just fine, but this tape is entirely infectious and habit forming.
It's very, very rare that I ever post a tape if I don't own a physical copy of it, but I made an exception for this one because it's so good. I swiped these tracks and pic from Suds Denim, one of the few music blogs I pay attention to. If you know where I can get a copy of this tape (preferrably from the band), please get in touch and I'll send my hard earned cash to them.