Space Spotted Deer

Inspired by (or should I say riding on the coat-tails of) the should-be-more-praised I Hate The 90s comes the second record by South Korean grunge lords Noizegarden. Slavish Soundgarden fanboy moniker aside, the music sounds exactly like what you'd expect from an Asian bandwagon band jumping into the fray five years after the style they so fervently revere has departed for the cut-out bin. Still, aside from my deadpan (and terribly jaded) historical assumptions, But Not Least is a fucking solid LP from guys who obviously enjoyed what they were playing (are you listening, Jonathan Davis???) and sound more like what I wish Badmotorfinger actually ended up being. It's easy imagining guitarist/founder 윤병주 strumming a pristine 7-string Ibanez through tracks like "I Do Not Want Anymore" with a big fucking smile. His guitar work is effortless and almost sounds like Slash as he noodles his way up and down the fret with a sluggish confidence - really impressive. Sure, lead singer 박건 is a lot more melodic then the Chris Cornell-ish wailing you'd come to expect with a band like this but simply imagine Cobain singing for Soundgarden and I think you'll get the idea. There's some great feedback manipulation on a couple tunes which would never had made it into a Sub Pop release and while they were probably a decade too late to make it on this side of the hemisphere it's still a rocking 57 minutes. Enjoy.

Another Temptation

Herbal Mutilation

Keepin' it on the early 90's "alternative" tip comes Alice Donut's watershed Mule. Man, I can't tell you how many times this album stared me in the face as I repeatedly perused the "Alternative/Punk" section at my local Alwilk Records and yet I simply could not buy it. Just too much of a risk to spend my hard-earned $12 bucks on! Seriously, no one I knew had any fucking idea what the band sounded like... ironic since I lived only 25 minutes outside of Manhattan but that's another story. Decades later I finally grabbed a bunch of their music and discovered what a hesitant fool I was. Way ahead of their time, sounding like an even freakier Victims Family, Mule showcases Donut at their production-wise best. Lick-heavy proto-grunge with acoustic riffs interspersed throughout, this record eschews the "alternative" label and emerges as a pretty solid (albeit weird) party album. Nonlinear enough for the Ween/Lips fans and MTV enough for the Beck/Nirvana crew. Enjoy.

Crawlpappy

Everglade

I'm sure L7 would be tickled fucking clitoris pink to be sandwiched between two of the most misogynistic bands in musical history (spoiler alert... Anal Cunt post up next) but I've had this fucking song in my head for like the last two days and figured it needed some recognition. Solid sludgy grunge from a 50% attractive girl group (was that the typical ratio or what?), for some weird reason I am convinced it sounds like a Go-Go's single played at 33 rpm. I actually had the whole Bricks Are Heavy album this song sleazed from but it was quasi-reluctantly sold in the broke-ass post-college CD purge of 1994. Still, "Pretend We're Dead" is easily the feminine foursome's finest four minutes, a strangely catchy post-metal dirge that would have been a lot stronger without the endlessly looped whispery vocal overdubs. Sure, it's terribly overproduced for the grungy/indie attitude they're trying to portray but at the least it's still four women rocking out (and shit, sometime vocalist Suzi Gardner offered the hottie background vox on Black Flag's "Slip It In" to which I probably/definitely jerked off once or twice to). As far as this import Japanese single goes, it's worth a listen - accompanying five live tracks (two solid from Bricks and three weak from 1990's forgettable Smell The Magic) is "I Used To Love Him," a barely humorous parody of Guns 'N' Roses "I Used To Love Her" (was the idiotic furor over that lame-ass song still relevant in '92?) and the only original B-side from Bricks, "Lopsided Head". I'm surprised I wrote as much as I did about this CD-single, I think the funniest thing now that I'm listening to it is how much whomever chick is singing on "I Used To Love Him" sounds exactly like Axl Rose. Shit I gotta go to bed. Enjoy.

C'mon C'mon C'mon C'mon

Who has the nicest ass?

(Yawn) Man, this weekend kicked my ass. Too tired to dig through the archives for something witty or nostalgic to upload so I'll resort to one of the many versions I have of this proto-grunge classic. While I have several versions which all claim to be from the "actual source" - there is enough analysis out to prove nearly all of them false. Regardless, whether legit or not, it fucking sounds like a particular 18-year old Aberdeen lad and it doesn't take much to imagine Kurt writing exactly this type of material. "Class Of 86" is a fantastic song - my favorite on the demo and so totally fucking on point. "Sound Of Dentage" and "Vaseline" are excellent as well. Sorry about the low kbps - I'm too exhausted to dig through CDs for anything better... considering the 99th generation source it probably came from it probably doesn't matter anyway. Enjoy.

Clone Clone Clone

Minneapolis Mud Rock

Fourth LP from cult noise rock four-piece Cows. Obscure and unheralded outside of their urban bubble, they slugged it out in the Twin City trenches for over a decade before breaking up in 1998. A strange amalgam of jazzy freestyle, random feedback noise, rambling poetry and grunge rock, the Cows carved their own niche. Though he'd probably hate the comparison, lead singer Shannon Selberg had his GG vibe going on as well - live shows had the potential for violence - especially against those fans in the front row - spit, boots and the occasional mic stand were all potential weapons. As a disclaimer, if you're expecting something linear, the Cows can get tough to listen to at times (though not without a generous modicum of charm) - tracks for beginners include the approachable "Hitting The Wall" and "John Henry" (imagine very lo-fi grunge) and the Melvins-ish "3-Way Lisa". The Butthole Surfer-esque title track is my favorite - a strange trippy trumpet-filled instrumental soup of chaos. Perfect for your next Oxycontin overdose. Enjoy.

Mooooo

Joyce

What a great band name. Mix some early 90's Fudge Tunnel, Soundgarden, Melvins and Nirvana and let it marinate for 15 years and you got Murdervan. Cool retro-esque grunge or post metal or whatever you want to call it from the hick barrens of Connecticut, their debut full-length is a solid 40 minutes of Shit there's even a song that sounds like the fucking Cure. The band broke up in 2010 only to reform a year later and that's the last we've ever heard from them. The opener "Ten Years" is fucking amazing. Enjoy.

Cold Electric

2013 and beyond...

Well, finally got enough into the New Year to start seeing the "Best of 2012" lists wrap up. I dunno, I'm finding it hard to even find shit in the present day that I'm even remotely excited about. One of the things that this download media world robs you of is the physical feeling of popping a new CD you just dropped $15 on into your player and praying that you dig it. Keeping that shit from getting too scratched. Sifting through the liner notes and reading the bands' "thank you's" to see if they mention another band that may be worth listening to. Well, instead of rambling on like an old pathetic codger, I figured I'd list the seven bands that actually made it past the "listen to more than once" cut and earned some of my hard gotten cash on Bandcamp or whatever... Note that some of these albums/bands may not have actually done anything in 2012, but this is when I caught up with their groove...

Asilo. I've mentioned these guys enough on this blog, but they deserve it. Double bass-guitar sludge sickness that makes me want to snort blow and jerk off to The Taming Of Rebecca.

Unsane. Sure these guys have been around for a fucking century but 2012's Wreck kills. Riff-heavy noise rock from the guys who nailed the sound down in 1988 and haven't changed a fucking thing. Their cover of Flipper's "Ha Ha Ha" is the best thing I've heard all year.

Fuckheads. Another band I've already mentioned on the ol' blog. Who knows if they still exist but their trio of demos and tour tapes over the last couple years are nothing short of amazing. Wicked fast Siege-influenced Boston HxCx that couldn't be done better.

Throng Of Shoggoths. I really jumped off the sludge wagon once the almighty Sludge Swamp disappeared from the net but somehow I discovered the demo from these guys. A solid thirty minutes of doom-laden H.P. Lovecraft worship. Amazing.

Shit Happiness. I cannot say enough about this incredible band from Russia. 2011's Chords EP is probably the best thing I've heard in years. Grungy, dirty noise rock with enough time signature changes to make your stuck-up 311 fanboys proud. Sadly, drummer Igor Garshin passed and the band has been on stalemate since... hopefully they can continue on. I would love to hear some more shit from these guys.

Love Sex Machine. Thank god. Filling the void left by the demise of the Abominable Iron Sloth, Lille, France's LSM are easily the sickest sludge band to sleaze over the pond. Ever. Fucking amazing record. I cannot give them more praise. Buy this one NOW.

Orphan. Yet another huge loss in the music world, Brendan Majewski, the "guy" in this ridiculously huge guy-girl two-piece noise rock unit passed away in 2011. I picked up their sophomore effort Decapitated Lovers a few months ago and it absolutely slays. What a shame. Their debut is just as amazing, well worth some hard-earned duckets... 

Well, that's about it. Hopefully 2013 can compete. A few new bands that I'll actually want to listen to instead of constantly hitting the "forward" button on the ol' iPod is all I'm asking for. Fingers crossed...

Currently watching: In The Soup

Currently listening to: Boris Absolutego+

River City Sampler

Stumbled upon this local obscurity last night, a 1993 snapshot showcasing five bands from RVA trying to catch up with what Seattle was then usurping the MTV market with. Nothing immediately standout, but all the bands have a good track or two except for Schwa - what the fuck man - "Our God In Heaven" is probably the worst song I have heard in a long time. Each band has a style that can probably be compared to a more popular grunge/post-metal band from the era (The Technical Jed = Toadies, Burst Into Flames = Breeders, etc.) but it's still good listening - and what the fuck else were they gonna do at the time? I gotta say I was actually pretty into a few of the songs, especially "Cartoon Train" and "Candy's Gone." Each of the bands have since faded into nothingness or spawned some other moderate local efforts but nothing hugely notable. Regardless, it was a nice find in the endless stacks of CDs collecting dust in grocery bags around the band room. 

Sample Me

 
Currently watching: Monster A Go-Go!

Currently listening to: Children Of Gaia I Pray To Watch You Bleed

17 Nussbaum Road

Hindsight is always 20/20 and I'm glad someone had that back in March 1987 when they pulled out a cassette deck and recorded some Aberdeen three-piece's set at a local house party. Jamming a bunch of Zeppelin tunes as well as a few originals, the gig was the band's first and lasted nearly 50 minutes. Of course non of this would matter if in fact the band hadn't eventually become what some believe to be the most influential musical group since the Beatles. Nirvana in embryo, in tiny Raymond, Washington (pop 3000) - drummer Aaron Burckhard only lasted through the rest of the year before Kurt fired him and house owner Tony Poukkula played rhythm guitar on the two Zeppelin jams (the incredible "Heartbreaker" can be found on the With The Lights Out box set). An amazing snapshot of a band; 4 years later they were the biggest thing in the world, yet here they are, three 20-year old guys jamming in front of friends for some keg beer. Drink up.

If You Must

 
Currently watching: Survive!

Currently listening to: Anal Cunt Fuckin' A

Fuck "Possum Kingdom"

OK, OK, don't fucking get all bent out of shape, I actually like "Possum Kingdom" - I just wanted to piss off all the goth/Twi-hard dorks out there Googling their favorite song. Losers. Fort Worth's Toadies were one of those bands that got jinxed by a hit single. By the time they finally recorded their 1994 debut full-length they'd been kicking around various incarnations of these songs live and on various EPs for almost 5 years. The practice clearly paid off, Rubberneck is absolute gold, with almost every track a keeper (in my opinion, "Possum Kingdom" is actally one of the lesser tunes). Nice hooks and grooves as well as great lyrics (gotta love "Velvet") make this an essential post-grunge masterpiece. They've released some inconsistent follow-ups since and have recently (circa 2008) reformed with a new lineup. Check 'em out when they come to your town.

I Burn

 
Currently watching: Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!

Currently listening to: Big L Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous