GREG HARVESTER - Best of 2012 in MRR

LP's

  FROZEN TEENS – LP

    There are a lot of records on this list and I like them all pretty equally… except for this one. I listened to this LP more than anything else this year. Everything about it is perfect, from the opening bravado of “Been A While” to the staggering, lilting closing of “Bury Me Alive.” It’s excellent melodic punk at its absolute finest. I’ve been waiting years for this record and I was not let down in the slightest. Perfect. (Do Ya Hear We / Mauled By Tigers)

 MIND SPIDERS – “Meltdown” LP 

 I knew this would be good since the band includes half of the MARKED MEN, but I didn’t know it would be this good. Completely flawless synth-pop with melodies that won’t leave your head for days or weeks on end. It should come with a warning label stating that. It takes a special kind of band to make music that seems so simple still sound so fresh, addictive and vital. (Dirtnap)

 NO STATIK – “Everywhere You Aren’t Looking” LP 

 This Bay Area band’s first 12” last year was pretty unstoppable, but they somehow put this thing out and managed to hone their sound into something meaner, more destructive and completely unfuckwithable. When I first got this home, I cleaned my room to Side A, which is a side-long ambient soundscape thing (which, for the record, I’m completely into). When I dropped the needle on Side B, I just sat and stared at the record spinning around, mouth agape. This destroys. (Prank)

 SICKOIDS – LP 

 Sick band. Sick record. Sick live show in Oakland. Sickoids. Everything about this record is sick. (Residue)

DOGJAW “Slow To Build” LP

 DOGJAW’s slow, brooding, howling record sounds like a rainy Pacific Northwest afternoon. They’re the kind of band that is sure to have a stocked tincture shelf and a hot mug of tea at the end of the night. These are my people. (Rumbletowne)

BAADER BRAINS – “New Era Hope Colony” LP

A triumphant, exuberant, beautiful work of art that leaves me speechless. (Ebullition / Clean Plate / Empyre)

ALABASTER CHOAD – “Crash Of The Limburger on Bebusland” LP

 First off, my pal E.R. Conner bought this LP off of their stand-up bass player, Orson when he was randomly selling it on the street downtown in order to buy cat food. Secondly, this band is completely indescribable, but I think they are amazing. True freak music for fucked up queers and weirdos. (Self-released)

EXCUSAMWA – “Excusez-Moi” LP 

 There is absolutely no other band like FAT DAY and I have been mourning their loss for a long time now. This band is not FAT DAY, but one of the members is in this band and there are screeches, skronks, tempos and bonkers-style songwriting that makes me feel the same as the aforementioned band. This music is uncomfortable and strange. I love it. It also includes a board game, which is insane. (100% Breakfast)

LEATHERFACE – “Mush” LP

 An important band. An important record. I’m glad someone finally released it on vinyl, even if it is a “bootleg”. (Bootleg)

 HICKEY – “Various States Of Disrepair” 2xLP 

 Yes, this is a reissue, but this band helped to shape my views on DIY punk in ways that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Every song on here is a classic. If you don’t like HICKEY, I probably don’t like you. (1-2-3-4-Go!)

EP'S

 REPLICA – Flexi 

 Perfect Bay Area hardcore that is fierce as fuck. Seriously, every time I see REPLICA, I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to live in a town with a band that is this great. I get the same feeling when I listen to this flexi version of their demo. (Radical Punks Never Die)

 CLEANSING WAVE – “Tread On” EP 

 This noisy crust band from Massachusetts isn’t afraid of melody and gets better every time I see or hear them. This record rules. (PRGNT)

 FUTURO – Sair De Mim EP

 My friend Juliana saw me at a record swap and pointed out this record in her distro . She said “I bet you’ll like this.” I bought it without knowing anything about it and I love it. Raging, ragged melodic punk that is fierce. (Spicoli / Nada Nada / Bandcamp)

 NO STATIK – No Hospice – EP 

 “No Hospice” is my favorite hardcore song of 2012. It’s dark, brooding, confrontational and venomous. It sounds like the earth being annihilated. The flip side, “Clean Swift Sunshine” is not a snoozer either. (Prank)

 NO STATIK – Never Be A Martyr – EP 

 Did I mention yet that I like NO STATIK a lot? Did I also mention that they played the single best live set of any band that I saw this year? Well, they did. Prank Fest 2012. This EP rips. (Prank)

 THE WAR GOES ON – “This Shitty Life” EP

 Tough, snarling street punk from members of NO HOPE FOR THE KIDS. It doesn’t quite pick up where NOFTK left off, but I don’t need that in my life, you know what I mean? New anthems for the new times. I want more of this….way more. (New Dark Age)

 PERMACULTURE – “Swallow What You’re Given” EP 

 Perfect sounding, precise peace punk that stayed with me since the day I first heard it. (Inflammable Material)

 DEAD MOON – “Too Many People” EP

 DEAD MOON is my favorite band of all time. I don’t trust people who dislike them. They could trot out practice tapes pressed onto vinyl from now until the end of time and I swear they’ll be on every top ten list I ever write because they live, breathe and play rock and roll better than you or any of your friends will ever make in any of our lifetimes. Period. End of story. (Mississippi Records does not need a fucking website)

 MÜLLTÜTE – “Zweite” EP

 Highly destructive two person punk from Germany that is rough around the edges, but so great! No songs over 2 minutes! Plus, they named their band so that Americans would sound stupid saying it. (HeartFirst)

 FOREIGN OBJECTS – “Mammonism / Fable” 45 

 FOREIGN OBJECTS were consistent and fierce in their short time as a band. They did not release one bad song. As usual, everything is over too quickly, but it’s so good that I don’t even care. (Cut The Cord That…)

 TAPES!!

LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS 

 These freaks put out a three song demo that has been destroying my ear drums since I put it in my tape player months ago. Manic, falling apart, ugly punk.

 DISPLEASURE 

 DISPLEASURE spread bad vibes a mile wide, made me feel all of my feelings and then they broke up. It was the perfect length of time for a great punk band to be together, but I’m still mourning the loss.

 TREPANNING “Live At WFMU” 

 Bouncy, synthy, loose indie-punk that makes me long for a New York that no longer exists.

 ADULTS – “Vol III” Tape 

 These Oaklanders put out three caustic tapes of fast melodic punk blasts in less than a year. Not one of them is any less than brilliant. This one might be my favorite. Free Matteo!!

 LIGHT BRIGADE 

 Arty, angular, precise-yet-loose punk that sends shivers up my spine.

 FULL SUN – “Bare Floor” 

 My friend, Jeff’s one man band where he expertly writes the catchiest, most hook-drenched pop you can imagine.

MUTANT VIDEO – “Head Scan Pt 2” 

 Some of the most uncomfortable sounds I’ve ever heard. I was listening to this on headphones in a darkened boxcar in the middle of nowhere and I had to stop because it creeped me out really fucking bad.

THE NEW FLESH 

 Total new dark age music to make you dance around your room and feel like shit in the best way.

 INDEX 

 Four songs. No bullshit. One of the best new bands in the Bay Area.

SAD BOYS 

 You can get pissed off about this if you want, but 2012 pogo-punk just sounds like mid-90’s pop-punk and I am totally okay with that. Total headache music! Shit your parents will hate.

GRAHAM - Top Ten Of 2012

   Graham has weaved in and out of my life through the last heap of years playing in bands like THIEVES, VISITOR and BLOODWALL, creating vast walls of sound, contemplative rumbles and meditative raga-like improvisations. He's also never been anything less than humble and welcoming as a friend throughout the years. He's currently working full-time out of his room, wrestling a mono  lathe to make one-of-a-kind records for people all over the US and beyond (including me). Get in touch with him at 2208 Records to set up your own weird order.

GRAHAM'S TOP TEN OF 2012

This is a list of things and processes people around me have created as results from commitments to creativity, autonomy and any way to make free time completely rule in as many ways as possible throughout the year 2012.

 10. Lathe Cutting.
     There are these clear hand cut records that are known for not playing, sounding weird and being used as a vessel for some of the more misunderstood and possibly unlistenable musical ideas people have invented and enacted. These records and the processes surrounding them have changed my life. Over the last year I've learned how to hand cut lathed records and have had to re-approach every idea of what is possible or acceptable in the world of independently released music. I have never found anything so inefficient, frustrating and prone to resulting in unusable artifacts to be so rewarding. The ability to use an antiquated piece of technology to make as many or as few records as I want or can is amazing to me. This has been the majority of my 2012, cutting records. This is all I do now, ask anyone I know.

 9.Club Med Turns Five.
    Five years of rock, roll and late night goings on. To have an all ages space that encompasses almost the entire scope of music for this long is a phenomenal accomplishment and necessary asset for bands and musicians both locally and nationally to have a venue in Minneapolis. The five year show was a partial recreation of the first show featuring a Jose´Bove reunion set. It ruled.

 8. Ecstattic Studios 
     This fall I recorded at Ecstattic Studios, Ali Jaafar's (Hollow Boys, Zombie Season) recording studio built in the attic of his house. Having retired from his old job working at the guitar shop (Twin Town) he's created and curated a library of amps, mics, keyboards, drum hardware, effects pedals and what-have-you making it possible for bands to make higher end recordings while being in a nonsurgical, low pressure home studio. It was great to work in someone's "in home empire" and have whatever piece of equipment necessary and functional at arms reach.

 7. Sign Painters 
    This is a book and documentary by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon about contemporary sign painters. Faythe is an old friend of mine and has been working on this project for several years. There's a handful of people in this book who I've known for at least 12 years as friends, customers and sign painters who have maintained and updated signage on two restaurants, an art school and a several other buildings I've had connections to in Minneapolis. When I got this book it was great to see the tangible results from years of work put in by people I know creating the content of the book and the book itself.

 6. Yeti Record Mobile
    Yeti Records took their south Minneapolis storefront and packed it into an RV. In an era where brick and mortar stores are more and more challenged to remain open and operational this is one of the better solutions I've seen and it looks really cool. They've taken the RV to different events and shows as a traveling record store. In the past they've hosted shows in their basement and now attend shows as a record store on wheels.

 5. Million Brazillians
     I have several friends in the guise of Million Brazillians . In 2012 the Million Brazillians/Rotten Apples , Dyngia Jazz tour was one of the best shows I got to play and attend. Outside of the music, there are background processes and stories that elevate the sounds presented past being merely rock and roll into an intangible and unnamable form of sonic voodoo. There were also huge swords.

 4. 3 Moons
     Jefferson Zurna has created a lot of music. I have played in bands and spent hours making endless sonic experiments with him. As a one man band he has created anthems and droning ragas incorporating traditional acoustic instruments with a vortex of astral snake charming circuit melted knob turned wizardry. In the end of the summer the 3 Moons tour came from the west coast to Minneapolis bringing the Well Dweller release complete with one of the catchiest songs I've heard in awhile.

 3. Lighten Up Sounds 
     Matt Himes (Mole Hole, Shep and Me) has been releasing hand made tapes as well as records for a long time. This last year he was relentlessly productive. Every time I would see him he had another project in the works with different, more creative and more intricate packaging and production techniques for any number of sonic styles ranging from straight up noise to melodic smoky folk. He disassembled clear tape shells to insert mirror imaged transparencies to palendromically label the SAGAS tape and went so far as to color match and paint the insides of clear norelcos to match the lipstick on the image of the HOUSE OF BATS tape. He hand copied an 8-track release from 8-tracks collected over years! He released two tapes for me and is constantly creating and strengthening world wide distro and production connections. Check it out for yourself.

 2. Hard Times Cafe turns 20
     The Hard Times Cafe has been a collectively run Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant, open at least 22 hours a day almost every day of the year for the last 20 years. I've spent the last seven years as a co-owner and a cook and am completely amazed and impressed that an idea set into motion longer ago than many of the restaurants clients have been alive is still unfolding and working. It was a good party.

 1. End of the World's Fair
    Friends of many of ours gathered on top of a mountain in North Carolina this last summer to catch up for the month of August. The event was hosted by Dave and Janet of Medicine County Herbs on their land "the Last Resort". There's more to say than I can write. I saw a lot of old friends and it was awesome to see everyone healthy and alive.

MARS - Top Ten of 2012

   I met Mars as the shyest of shy solo performers in a college town in the Midwest. Since that time years ago, Mars has gone on to write tons of songs with intense pop hooks that I can't get out of my head in bands like FLEABAG and (currently) AYE NAKO. For such a shy person, Mars has a laugh that is alarmingly loud and intensely infectious. The Bay Area was lucky enough to know him for a short time but is a little bit sadder now that he lives on the east coast.

MARS' TOP TEN OF 2012

A lot of 2012 was a shit stain (excluding the following): 

 *Gender Failure: The way Rae Spoon and Ivan Coyote told their stories, which a lot of the time felt like my own stories, about growing up queer and experiencing many "gender failures" -- I can't even explain. I cried and laughed a bunch. The performance totally blew me away!

(ed. note: This video is excellent)

 *Speedy Ortiz - "Sports" Ep: I never find bands post the year 2000 that I can get into wholeheartedly. Speedy Ortiz is the rare exception. It's probably because I have a strong penchant for "alternative/indie" bands from the 90s and they sound like they could've been one. Last spring, I had the pleasure of playing the most wild ass show with them in Hadley, MA involving a dusty garage, kids spitting on each other, thrashing around, and crowdsurfing their friend who is usually wheelchair-bound. I met Sadie (the singer/guitarist) back in 2011 when we played with her old band, Quilty. She writes the kind of songs I wish I was writing. When I brought the EP home, I lied on my bed, belly down, intensely reading the lyrics as the needle on my record player wore out.

 *Frank Ocean - "Channel Orange": By autumn, I gave in after months of avoiding this one. I was flabbergasted to hear a modern mainstream artist have such powerful and thoughtful lyrics on top of interesting musical compositions and a wonderfully smooth voice. I'd like to point out that he mentions Little Rock, AR (where I'm from). Bad Religion makes me shed tears every time with the damn swelling of the bowed instruments and the passion in his voice singing about unrequited homo love.

 *that dog. at Music Hall of Williamsburg: Speaking of the 90s...Last May, that dog. played their first NYC show in 15 years. I parked it at the front of the stage to get a good look (and they were looking good!) and just geeked out and annoyingly sang along with every song. They played all the hits! Watching them banter was a kick in the butt to work on my own stage presence.

 *Big Freedia at Santos Party House: Never have I seen so many asses shake at once and nowhere else have I seen someone booty bounce wearing ass tassles while crowd surfing.

 *Alice Bag on Violence Girl tour: I got to see her twice on her book tour. Really inspiring to watch her sing/read/talk. She was traveling with a friend, who I am pretty sure was named Angie, who gave me off her own shirt, a brown-skinned vulva pin she made out of felt, lace and a zipper.

 *Jonathan Richman at Bell House: How is he so good at stage banter, playing the guitar standing with no strap and swinging it around, and writing the kind of songs that make me feel nice? It was great watching him, but it took great concentration to forget how uncomfortable I felt among the thick crowd of awkward normal straight people, especially the couple perpetually knocking into me while they made out. Ask Joe -- I ran to the bathroom several times to puke.

 *Nightmares about Satan: There was a 3-month period that destroyed me in which I had nightmares almost every night. A number of them starred the Devil herself, an attractive, well-dressed blonde woman. She was horrific, but I liked it in a way. The only sequence that had any lightheartedness went like this: Me and Joe were tied up and burning inside of a roaring fire, watching our friends get lashed and beaten by the Devil. I turn to Joe and say, "Wow! I didn't realize she was such a babe."

 *Your Heart Breaks - "Harsh Tokes and Bong Jokes": Clyde is one of my favorite musicians. These songs make me feel blue, but I like it.

 *geek denial: My love of video games and sci-fi rubbed off onto my younger brother. After I moved out, he took it to another level that we never went to together. He makes weapons and costumes for these videos where he and his friends kill zombies and shit. When I visited home last summer for the first time in years, I told him I thought it was cool that he's into larping. He barked back at me that he absolutely DOES NOT do larping. Here's a photo of one of his handmade swords:

RYMODEE - Top Ten of 2012

  I'm pretty sure that Rymodee thinks I'm gonna use this space to say something snarky about his old band once again, but I'm not. Truth be told, there was one day when I listened to the song "Johnny" by THIS BIKE IS A PIPEBOMB upwards of 40 times in a row because I thought it might be one of the saddest songs ever written (then I listened to "I'm So Depressed" by Abner Jay in the rain and that song won). He wrote a solo album (also kind of depressing in tone) that I could not stop listening to one winter. I don't mean to make the man sound like a sad sack, because he's not. I've been stuffed into s small van for weeks with the guy and did not get sick of his company. We've drank whiskey and yelled really loud. We've drank tea and had quiet conversations. We've eaten the dried out weed of a joint on the side of the road in the middle of the desert for no apparent reason. I'm really excited that he moved to my side of the country, but I still never see him. He's also on the search for a new band to play in, so if you're interested, head on up to Mendocino. If you need references, look no further than BRAINBOW, VERY VERY SNEAKY, TRIGGERMORTIS (Actually, the guitarist is some dude named "Old Dead Steve", but he looks eerily like Rymo) and the aforementioned bands. 

RYMODEE'S TOP TEN OF 2012

   i don't really consider myself current in the area of music appreciation, or any other type of appreciation, so forgive me. this is going to be slightly personal. probably the biggest thing to happen to me this year and the hardest to do was reconciling with my family. my family is pretty weird. i don't want to put too much of my life up on the internet, but maybe this is good...my dad died about 15 years ago. my mother immediately decided to move to some small town in indiana, marry some guy 20 years older than her and stops talking to me and my sister, except for me calling her on her birthday, and christmas. after about ten years of her never calling me back, i just gave up. my sister and i have never been very close. neither of us did anything hurtful to each other, but we just aren't close like brother and sister should be. last month i got a wild hair up my ass and called my mom and told her i was sick of it and felt abandoned during a delicate time in my life, and it was probably one of the main reasons why i had become a drunk, emotionless asshole. she said she was surprised to hear from me and surprised to hear that i cared. we're not perfect now, but we call each other once or twice a week, and even sent letters to each other. this might not seem like much, but after fifteen years, it's really uplifting and emotional to have your family call you just to see what's up.

    the next thing i can think of is that i learned to say "sure, why not?". I had been living in chattanooga for three years and i really loved it. i worked with my friends, i could tour without fear of losing my job, and there was a giant crew of punks in town my age and they all played fucking fantastic music. i think at one time there were twenty bands comprised of 35-50 year old punks and i think every damn one of them was mind blowing. i also worked with penguins! i held them, played with them, fed them, painted with them, made sure their babies were safe, and i loved every minute of it. i'm getting off track, so i'll generalize by saying that i was very happy there. well, one day i was just minding my own business with jesse jane in mendocino. she had, for almost a year, tried to get me to talk to a luthier in town that was a friend of her family. i often entertained the idea, a far cry from building a giant bass out of a dozen tin cans and a handrail, but still something i thought i could grasp onto. fuck that though, right? i'm finally happy, and i'm in THREE BANDS! besides, i really hate change. i really do. most of it is really completely pointless, and most of it is completely pointless. well, one thing led to another, and i said "sure, why not?" and i up and met the dude and we hit it off pretty well and even shot the shit for a few hours (and i don't really do that). it's not something i can make happen all the time. (i'm still a grump) but whenever i catch myself about to say "no" for no good reason, i make myself say "sure, why not?".

    the third thing i can think of is that i'm a luthier apprentice living in a barn in the woods.

    #4. i found out way too late in my life that i like ANTISEEN and PENTAGRAM. i had written ANTISEEN off about 50 years ago after deciding (i can't remember why) that they were just racist rednecks and assholes. recently i found an ANTISEEN 7" at a thrift store, and since it was a sub pop single, i thought i would sell it to some dumb shit head. that dumb shit head isn't going to get my ANTISEEN record, he doesn't deserve it. if it weren't for a documentary i accidentally watched on the singer of PENTAGRAM, i wouldn't know, or even care to know, anything about them. i have never seen or heard an album. never heard anyone even talk about them. i vaguely remember seeing their patches on some metal dudes jackets. the documentary was moving (i heard it made mike wilson's mom cry) and i instantly fell in love with the music.

    #5 them DICKS reissues are pretty fucking great.

    #6 sometime this year, without even making a decision about it, i just stopped drinking like a god damn maniac every day. don't get me wrong, if you show up on the porch of the barn with some whiskey, we're going to scare off the local sasquatch population, but i just don't feel like doing it all the time any more.

     #7 that HICKEY record is real nice.

     #8 i actually recorded some solos, and it wasn't nearly as terrible an experience as i thought it might be.
 
     #9 ya'll heard them NIGHTMARE BOYZZZ records yet?

    #10 TBIAPB final tour. i will call it the catalyst of closures. jesus fucking christ!

MIKE STOLTZ - Top Ten of 2012

    I think Mike first entered my life playing a treble-y bass for the much missed REACTIONARY 3 and just being the nicest guy every time I saw him in Gainesville, FL. Later, he could be found destroying eardrums and confusing Midwestern audiences with TEENAGE WAISTBAND. Mike also makes 8 and 16 millimeter films. Although I realize it's problematic and untrue to say this about anyone, I feel like Mike is always smiling and in a good mood. As we get older, as punks, it's easy to get drawn into a rut of negativity and pessimism, but just about every time I run into Mike, he has something good to say. He always appears to be excited and energized about the new projects he is working on, even when his new projects land him in many people's least favorite city, Los Angeles, California.

MIKE'S TOP TEN OF 2012

    In the past 18 months I packed up and moved out to Southern California for grad school. I spent most of the last 12 years or so living in small towns where I could bike to anything of interest in 20 minutes or less. Now I split my time between the canyons at the edge of the high desert, suburban hell, and the gigantic parking lot that is Los Angeles. I like it so far, but I am still adjusting. One of the biggest changes is not being a part of a tight-knit DIY music scene on a day-to-day basis, so most of my top things from 2012 will reflect that.

 TOPS for 2012 

 (In no particular order) 

 1. THE WILDNESS by Wu Tsang
    This was one of my favorite movies I saw in 2012, and probably the hardest to describe. I will say that its essential viewing for anyone interested in how punks/artists/freaky people can navigate working with and within different communities, and how to take responsibility and follow through when things don't work out exactly as planned. It's totally whacked out in a great way too, with a hallucinatory neon sign that narrates much of the film, wild performance art, the filmmaker helping start a legal clinic for undocumented trans people, and really good music.

 2. Standup Comedy (?!?!)
    When I first got to an L.A. I saw a friend from Providence. I asked her what bands she was into out here because I was itching to go to a show. She told me "I don't really go see music here, I'm into standup comedy now." I was a little surprised but I trusted her judgement so I decided to go check out some for myself. Of course like any entertainment ("punk" music included) there are all kinds of lame trappings that go along with standup. So much comedy seems to be about starting a career in the entertainment industry, boring dudes working out their issues by discussing "shocking" topics, etc etc. I was lucky enough to have a few people show me the scrappier standup shows in town, free nights where comedians are working out their material, usually in the back of a restaurant or a tiny little room, where there's just a donation can near the entrance and a cooler full of beer for the taking (sound familiar?). The good comedians are the ones that talk about real shit, class issues, gender, race, sexuality, and make everyone laugh the whole time. Some of the best I got to see this year were: Kate Berlant, Ron Funches, The Lucas Brothers, Aparna Nancherla, Kyle Kinane, etc etc. Best comedy night: POWERVIOLENCE happens every Sunday at 9:30pm, $5 donation

 3. El Velador (The Night Watchman) by Natalia Almada
    Natalia Almada grew up in Sinaloa, Mexico and returns to the area to film the crypts and tombs of fallen drug cartel lords. On the surface this is a portrait of a fancy graveyard, where not much happens other than workers making sure the grounds are tended to, but she manages to transform these images into an allegory of how Mexico has changed in the last decade or so and how we are all complicit in the violence there.

 4. Space Shuttle Endeavor in LA
     Okay, it's fucked up that they had to remove hundreds of trees to move the space shuttle along Crenshaw Boulevard, and in general the space shuttle is a sort of weird mascot for the war machine, but it was also really crazy and cool to hang out on the street all day waiting for this thing that had been TO OUTER FUCKING SPACE AND BACK to roll down the road. Los Angeles is a huge city with a ton of people in it, but since I have lived here there haven't been many opportunities to gather outdoors for long periods of time. The space shuttle ran 5 hours later than expected, which meant I hung out in the parking lot of M&M Soul Food with a big ass movie camera. Across the street kids from the Lulu Washington Dance Theater did a wild choreography show with space suits and flying bodies on wires. Everyone was enjoying the sunshine, chatting up their neighbors and no one seemed to notice that the main event was behind schedule. When the sun was setting the shuttle finally rolled through and it was hard to believe it even fit down the street, it was so big it felt unreal.

 5. SACCHARINE TRUST / MIKE WATT AND THE MISSING MEN
     A beautiful L.A. day. Walk down the street and get some tacos, meet up with a couple of friends, get on the gold line metro, walk through a sprawling free downtown arts festival to the "old guys" stage and watch SACCHARINE TRUST tear through a set in the middle of the day. Really great to see Raul on drums for Mike Watt too, who knew their rock opera would be so good?

 6. WOODEN KIMONO 7"
     This is the solo project of Lauren Likely. She was a winter roommate at a house I lived in a few years back in Providence, where she taught me how to exercise without being a jock or a gym psycho. A year later she came back for another winter and we made a movie together. She's a great visual artist, you can see her inky drawings in the pages of NUTS! as well as numerous album covers of Olympia bands. I hadn't seen her in a while so when I got this record I was excited, though not sure what to expect. The four songs here are dark loner jams, beautiful singing accompanied by only a metronome and psychedelic scraping guitar.

 7. BAADER BRAINS LP 
    RIP Sarah Kirsch. You are missed by many. I have to admit I hadn't really followed Kirsch's bands lately, The records were either hard to get ahold of or just weren't my thing musically. I am so happy I ordered this record when it came out though, its a perfect mix of recorded skits and driving punk rock, totally inspiring, and a great object all around. I especially love the Procyon Proclamation that comes in the sleeve: "We will leave behind the Nostalgia Industry's cold crippling of our imaginations. Let them wade in the rubble as we establish a new home where can begin anew. Let us shatter the overly precious images of ourselves whose reflections lull us into passivity. Let us leave it all behind, in a torrent of vitriol and fire. Leave the vultures and self-anointed cultural coroners to circle frozen corpses."
     I'm going to jam the song "Sensations Fix" off of this record now

 8. Michael Yonkers live
     I had no idea if this would be good or not, the Michael Yonkers record I jam most often is nearly 40 years old. I was expecting some sort of dad-rock but instead Yonkers got onstage wearing a t-shirt with his own name on it, and belted out a crazy set on his handmade fucked up guitar, which he ran through a bunch of digital puke filters, and belted out his songs at top volume. He even played "Microminiature Love"!

 9. the war by James Benning
   This is basically a compilation film of all the videos produced by Russian performance art group, Voina. Cop cars getting flipped, impromptu punk performances in court rooms, penis graffiti on drawbridges, etc etc. A good flick!

 10. BROWN SUGAR "Sings of Birds and Racism" LP / XYX "Teatro Negro" lp / GRASS WIDOW "Internal Logic LP / THE LOOM OF RUIN by Sam Mcpheeters / SCAM #9 by Erick Lyle.

These are all good things that came out this year that I enjoyed a lot. Check 'em out!

MEG MARTIN - Top Ten Of 2012

   I started running into Meg as a casual acquaintance in Olympia. She was always coming and going...busy...getting shit done, which is how I like to be at home too (at least in theory). When she slowed down long enough to have a conversation, I found a caring friend, an open communicator and someone who has a thirst for knowledge, which is how I wish I could be. Also, since this is a punk blog, she plays guitar and sings with her friends in DOGJAW, who put out one of my favorite LP's of the year.

MEG'S TOP TEN OF 2012

The Things That Got Me Through. 2012 - "It's A Wash".

1. HOT TEARS - Live @ Labia Majora, Olympia, WA
      Molly Fischer (SONGS FOR MOMS, FISTING CRYSTALS, generally a total bad ass activist) played a show in the Labia Majora living room in the fall and I just cried through the whole set. This has been a really hard year and she has a way of making me stop and sit with whatever I am dealing with, which is not one of my greatest skills. She performs in a different dimension and I feel so inspired by her.

 2. Recording DOGJAW – Slow To Build LP, upstairs at PUNKALL in Olympia, WA
     Playing music with Kendra and Joey enforces the most important parts of myself while simultaneously changing me on levels I do not understand. We are fucking psychics and making music with those two is like running into the ocean for the first swim of summer.

 3. Attending the National Harm Reduction Conference in Portland, OR with 3 other members of the Emma Goldman Youth and Homeless Outreach project (EGYHOP).
      I was re-inspired about the importance of political activism, radical direct service and the true change that can come with a long fight. This was my second Harm Reduction conference and I was amazed by the dedication and risks people have taken into making this world less fucked. Its kind of confusing there because there are like all these bad ass activists mixed in with like total normy researchers and social workers. I am a freak that is also a social worker so this confusing aspect of the conference is not particularly new to me, unfortunately. However it is still really funny to talk about all the sketchy (and really, really cool) things we do out of a moldy bike trailer every night without anyone telling us what to do - all while sitting on a panel in a fancy conference room of norms (to be fair there were some serious bad asses in that room too). Things are never stagnant, we are always in motion and at the conference it was clear that this is exactly where I want to be moving. I am so proud of EGYHOP.

 4. DISPARATE live @ Le Voyeur in Olympia, WA.
      DISPARATE is a relatively newer band in Olympia and I am so excited about them! The first time I saw them it was with DOGJAW and SECRET LOVER (wild band of really great people from Worcester, Mass with some serious moves). I am so inspired, excited and appreciative of the integrity I see in DISPARATE. Maria’s voice is so powerful and she just gets huge when they are performing!! I love how much space she takes up and they are fast and weird and political and one of the best new bands in Olympia for sure.

 5. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD TO CANDYLAND/TOYS THAT KILL live @ Fest 11 in Gainsville, FL.
       So, I went to Fest for the first time ever in 2012. I was expecting to get in some fights with people while selling merch for RVIVR because that tends to happen sometimes.., BUT I had so much fun!! People were not actually that shitty and I saw so many cool people and a few good bands! ANYWAYS we were on bad behavior the last night because even in the best case scenario, one can only tolerate Fest for so long. For example, there was this fucked up sign hanging in one of the bars that was read “fight fest aids! whiskey shots, emergen c, ear plugs” (fest aids is like some fucked up thing people say there about getting a cold at fest). So we slapped a sharpied paper towel on top of the word AIDS that changed it to say “fight fest homophobia, racism” and then it fell down which was cool (because I mean fuck that shit) and then we ran out to go do so much dancing at the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD set and got all woo woo about the underlying darkness of those songs. Then we had to run over to catch TOYS THAT KILL in a fully packed sweaty, smoky bar and we were all in wild moods-then Joey the Joester smashed this tiny light bulb on the ground in the middle of the bar... he was a wizard among mortals that night. Why was there suddenly a tiny light bulb for him to smash?? I don’t know, but I am so glad it showed up.

 6. Queer Rock Camp 2012 showcase Olympia, WA. 
    This year was the second session of QRC and I have volunteered both years as a food coordinator of sorts and keyboard instructor. This year brought a whole new set of challenges because we doubled the number of campers and, in a lot of ways, we got overwhelmed by all that came up. I am endlessly inspired by rock camps everywhere and I was just so goddamn pleased at the showcase to have such liberated bands as SANDY THONG AND THE BUTT SLUTS, THE RESERVOIR TIPS and FINGERBANG, just to mention a few. I am also so proud and impressed with the organizing collective and their ability to dive in to such a huge project and pull it off. This is truly changing the world.

 7. Willie Mae Rock Camp 2012 Showcase.
      Molly Fischer and I were lucky enough to go to the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls last session of the summer in NYC. I helped with the keyboard class and band managed the OCEAN COOKIES! I had never band managed the teenagers before and it was really cool. I can’t believe I have the opportunity to tell these people all the things I wish someone had told me when I was in high school. It is the ultimate honor. Also WMRC does a really good job of prioritizing anti-oppression and anti-racist programming and are always looking for ways to improve their programming in those ways. They run a really good camp.

 8. Future Virgins, Zippers to Nowhere, Kimya Dawson, Dogjaw in the Sylvester Park gazebo in Olympia, WA.
    The Chattanoogans were coming through with a show in Seattle and Portland so we squeezed in a day time show in between! It was so fucking fun and I rented out the Sylvester Park gazebo (its free!!) in the middle of downtown Olympia. It was outside, I flyered the community mental health program nearby and so many street kids were there and a bunch of housed kids/folks and neighbors and punks and it felt like a real ass community event...Not to mention how good those bands are and I was in bed by 10, which rules.

 9. Realizing That Punk Saved My Life.
    OK so this one is like “duh” for most people since they were like 12 or whatever, but I think I just finally let myself own it for the first time. Over the past 5 years I have had the chance to seriously connect with my community in a way that I’ve never experienced before as the common show goer in towns I have lived in. I have played music with people for like 8 years by now but I never actually considered myself someone that plays in bands. A lot of that can be attributed to a shitty, demoralizing former relationship, but point is, I never took ownership over my freak lifestyle like I have in 2012. Like so many of us, I have depression, anxiety and many bi-polar tendencies that are majorly enhanced with the use of substances. While I still struggle with that shit on a daily basis, it is like a fucking speck in a sea of sand compared to the strength and support I feel in my life. Looking back now I see all the ways I have come into my power since moving to Olympia 5 years ago but I never truly realized how much I need my community to survive until this year. Playing music, EGYHOP, and the DIY punks have truly saved my life. So, thanks for that!

10. Re-evaluating my sobriety.
    I got trashed on Thanksgiving because I was so stressed out and I kept yelling about how 2012 was “a wash” and that how nothing matters and we are already fucked and stuff like that (age old rant). I drank/smoked weed like a handful of times this year and got legitly drunk a couple of those times too, which wouldn’t be that weird, except that I before that I had been virtually substance free (other than coffee) for 4 and a half years. 2012 was a reminder that it is important that I still don’t regularly use booze/drugs to run away from my less desirable sides. I know that I can’t handle casually drinking/getting high but it is ok that I slip sometimes to get the fuck away from my life without it taking me down--the cool part of this year is that I really don’t want and seriously don’t NEED to get fucked up to function and live an overwhelmingly meaningful life. So that’s an important reminder I was grateful to have in 2012... We are endlessly capable! Even with this. And, maybe in the end, 2012 wasn’t a total wash after all.

SPOONBOY - Top Ten of 2012

   I could almost write the same intro for Spoonboy's list as I did for E. Conner. He also traveled with us on that school bus and I also made fun of his band. The thing is, he's still in the same band and over the years, they have become better and better. MAX LEVINE ENSEMBLE have become tighter, way more political and a band that I can get behind 100%. Spoons is a good guy. Full disclosure: back when I wasn't too fond of his music, I was subleasing a room in his house. He came home from tour and was practicing songs in the living room at 3 am. I started to storm down the stairs to yell about how I had to work at 8 and he needed to shut the fuck up. When I got there, I realized that I had the damn song stuck in my head and I just started laughing about getting so dramatic. I asked him to knock it off, but to please play that song one more time. I went back upstairs and laid down while he played the song one last time. At the end, almost in a whisper, he said "Goodnight, Greg" I whispered back "Goodnight Spoons" and fell asleep. It was perfect. I love this guy.

SPOONBOY'S TOP TEN OF 2012

 For me, 2012 was about not believing in Mayan prophesies but living it like the world was gonna end anyway. i thought i'd include non-music events in my list, but when i started brainstorming i thought of more than 10 music things that were worth mentioning so i'm just sticking with that. not in any hierarchical order:

 10. SICK FIX - VEXED LP finally, finally a record that represents how fucking tight, heavy and intense this longtime dc hardcore band is. Michelle is one of the angriest and fiercest vocalists in punk for sure, but unlike many other angry front people, her anger is substantive with smart lyrics about sexual assault, child + animal abuse, gentrification, government repression, etc.

 9. AZEALIA BANKS ahhh! definitely my favorite new hip hop artist this year, she released a killer EP and mixtape and jaaammmmin videos like this one and this one and this one… (p.s. i wrote this before i heard anything about her feud with angel haze, which i won't comment on since it happened in 2013…)

 8. THE TAXPAYERS - GOD FORGIVE THESE BASTARDS LP/NOVELETTE this record definitely took the taxpayers in a jazz-influenced dog-faced hermans/crass-y direction which i like on its own but what i love is that it's an accompaniment to a short book by the same title to which the album plays like a soundtrack to some future film noir adaptation. The book is a collection of stories written by taxpayers' singer rob morton from the perspective of a recently-passed homeless man named henry turner. it weaves together themes around the darkness of drug addiction, mental illness, and abuse with ideas about forgiveness and hope in a thought provoking way. very cool.

 7. BAADER BRAINS - NEW ERA HOPE COLONY LP i loved this band for a long time pretty much just because they have the cleverest name in punk, but only got into their first LP "the complete unfinished works of the young tigers" early this year and loved everything about it. the fact they created a whole revolutionary history complete with manifestos and references to historical events is such a refreshing dose of politicized creativity in a more and more apolitical punk scene. then lucky for me, "new era hope colony" came out this year and took it to the next level with more please inform the captain style samples and political art, etc. i would have included this record no matter what, but 2012 saw the loss of the prolific sarah kirsch, RIP, whose bands just got better and better over her lifetime, with baader brains being no exception. she will be missed.

 6. ONSIND - MILDRED, MARGIE, ANNIE, CLARICE EP these guys write the smartest catchiest acoustic anthems. this ep is the musical equivalent of feminist critique for these four movies: one flew over the cuckoo's nest, fargo, misery, and silence of the lambs. check out this cuuuute video!

 5. THE AMBULARS/ MICHAEL CANTOR the ambulars and their guitarist michael cantor are two of dc's best kept secrets. (they all moved away from dc recently, but whatever). the ambulars released their first full length "dreamers asleep at the wheel" after teasing everyone by recording it for basically FOREVER but it was totally worth the wait. and mikey's beautiful low fi debut solo EP "bless all this debris" became my go-to chill out record. the songs "teenage hate" and "bless all this debris" were definitely two of my 2012 superjams.

 4. SWEARIN' - S/T LP if we're talking about albums i listened to over and over and over again this year, we're probably talking swearin'. best of 90's worship.

 3. FRANK OCEAN/ COMING OUT 2012 was a great year for queering up pop music (see also, azealia banks), and frank ocean's moving coming out letter was a big part of it. his single "thinking about you," was easily the best r&b song this year, and his contribution to jay z & kanye west's "no church in the wild" makes the song. it's also definitely worth mentioning that 2012 saw Laura Jane Grace of Against Me coming out as trans in an inspiringly public article in rolling stone, which was exciting and educational as it sparked important conversations for punks and non-punks everywhere. i don't think against me put out any records this year but whatever.

 2. RUMBLETOWNE RECORDS i didn't want to fill my whole list up with bands from the pacific northwest but basically any record rumbletown records put out this year could have been a bullet point, with records from erica freas, dogjaw, divers, and agatha. also, technically not a rumbletowne release, but in the same family, molly from songs for moms blew everyone away with her new solo project hot tears and she just released an EP that you can check out online heeere.

 1. POP MUSIC also, i didn't want to just rant about pop music on a punk blog, but i wasn't the only one who noticed that top 40 radio was kinda givin' it this year. i was particularly fixated on these singles from nick minaj, gotye, carly rae jepsen, taylor swift, and macklemore. no shame in it.

SKI - Top Ten of 2012

Frozen Teens photo by Ryan Maddox.

   Ski has been consistently playing in many of my favorite bands over the years. His current band FROZEN TEENS put out the one record I have listened to more than any other this year. We've shared tour vans, late nights and many of the same obsessions. We also share a love of the quick beat. He spends his time in Minneapolis, playing in great bands, living with his partner Stella ( I think I was there when they got together many years ago) and caring for his beautiful daughter, Ursula.

SKI'S TOP TEN OF 2012

   When Greg asked me to do a top ten, my mind went blank. I listen to a lot of music and I buy a lot of new records ( Minneapolis has great record stores), and I try to keep an ongoing list in my head of a top ten just in case I ever have to make a list. So, of course, the first time I get asked to do one, I can't remember anything that came out last year! Well, here's what I could come up with in a night after my daughter went to sleep. (In no particular order)

   LEGENDARY WINGS   "Making Paper Roses" (Dirtnap Records) I didn't hear this until late in the year, but it hit that right spot. I guess this is a demo they sent to Dirtnap Records, and the DR guys liked it so much, they put it out on vinyl. Lo-fi garage pop doesn't fully explain this. Influences are form everywhere, from The Who to The Beat to the Marked Men (maybe that's just a progression?) Hope to see them live in 2013!

   My friend and bandmate, Wil Olsen, moving back to Minneapolis in the fall. Having a member of your band leave town for an unknown amount of time, not knowing if this is it for the best band you've ever played with, definitely leaves a hole in your heart. The couple months Wil was away living the life in Kansas City were rough, but he's back and we're writing and playing, and the world didn't end on Dec. 21st! Thanks be to the rock! 

   My daughter, Ursula, took her first steps. Ursula was born on May 6th, 2011 and she took her first independent steps on September 8th, 2012. Watching the look of accomplishment on her face dwarfs everything that happened last year.

 - CHRIS WOLLARD & THE SHIP THIEVES  "Canyons" (No Idea Records) Chris Wollard's first album that came out a couple years ago is one of my favorite albums of the last ten years. It makes me want to sit on a sandy beach at sundown sipping a michelada and smoking a joint. This record feels like straight bourbon in a smokey Southern bar. I love his voice, and knowing the guy for ten some years, I like to listen to where the layers of guitar take me. I listen to this record all the time. 

 Scam #9 "DAMAGED, The Story of Black Flag's Classic First Album!" Important punk history written by a punk. This is how we need to tell our stories. I like how Erick's introspective narrative touches on the local L.A. history and how we (punk culture) shook it up. Sometimes it's hard to remember and keep in perspective what punk bands went through to lay the ground work for us in 2013 today. Know your history kids! I will definitely be showing this to my daughter to teach her about our culture. Best zine I read all year. 

   Do Ya Hear We! Fest This is the first time I've been to Chattanooga since my daughter was born. This is my extended family. My friends I've met in this town are so important to me and such a huge part of making me who I am today. So, coming to a family reunion, seeing great friends from all over the country, watching my favorite bands, and being able to play to all of them, well, what wouldn't be better? (If Stella and Ursula were there, yes!) 

  BOB MOULD "Silver Age" (Merge Records) My first introduction to Bob Mould was his band Sugar and the album was "Copper Blue". I was in 9th grade and liked it, but it wasn't punk enough for me at the time, so I didn't love it. But the album kept coming in and out of my life for the next twenty years and I realized it's one of my favorite albums of all time! Last year he re-releases it, tours playing the full album, and he writes a new record that could have been the third Sugar album! This record is a rager, and seeing him play was a definite highlight of my year. 

  WILD CHILD "EP" (Fashionable Idiots Records) This is a newer Minneapolis band, and probably one of the best in town right now. Young. Angry. Uncompromising. This is their demo finally on vinyl. Seeing them destroy basement shows to killing a sold out crowd at a big club (doing a tag team set with locals Brain Tumors), makes me feel like I am an audience member in an old video from the 80's watching Black Flag or Minor Threat! I predict big things for them in 2013!! -

 Dancing with Stella to THE SPITS while they played "All I Want" Stella (my partner for 11 yrs.) and I don't get to go out much anymore, especially together (since we've had a kid), so this was a rare night. We went with some friends to downtown St. Paul to see the Spits and OFF! We both totally let loose, and when the Spits kicked in with "All I know is I wanna be with you", I grabbed Stella and we moshed everyone down!

 And then we shook it up to OFF! which brings me too... - OFF! "LP" (Vice Records) My favorite type of hardcore played by the people who were from the "golden" age of said "core". Everytime I hear this I start twitching back and forth, spasmadically dancing. And it's pissed off! Gives me hope that I can still rock the fuck out when I'm in my 50's! Hopefully I don't rant so much though.