BLOODWALL - "I Have Seen The Loc Ness Monster In A Hole Where Two White Walls Collide" - CD-R - 2010

   I posted a tape by BLOODWALL back on Christmas when I was in a really, really bad mood. I feel better now and BLOODWALL still sounds good. I've been working on more and more art stuff in my room lately and I find this it helps if I listen to music that is either fucked up and noisy or just doesn't have any words (or all of that).  BLOODWALL satiates that need for the latter. This release is a little more complicated than the last one I posted, incorporating cello, guitar, drums, bass and more...all played by Graham, who is the one man behind this musical project. I like it a lot. That's all.

DOWWNNNNLOOOADD

Find more by Graham on his Soundcloud page

Get him to produce your own mono lathe-cut record right here.

BLOODWALL - "Guitar Tape" - 2011

   I had a pretty light-hearted, fun tape lined up for today, but then I thought "fuck it". Fuck your stupid holiday. You see, I haven't celebrated this weird holiday in earnest since I was a teenager and even then I was only in it purely for the gifts. I mean, I just don't understand it. I don't believe in God (or Satan even). Santa is a really weird person that was made up so that you can learn to lose faith in your parents and believe that they're just gonna lie to you about everything for the rest of your life. And how many people got trampled in a Wal-Mart this season? Whatever. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood because this time of year always puts me in a bad mood and my dad is 3000 miles away and currently hooked up to a ventilator as he slowly fades away from this mortal coil. So, I'm gonna be spending the holiday drinking iced coffee (because I live in a godless city that doesn't completely shut down) and hanging out with incredibly depressed senior citizens,because that's what I get paid to do. Hooray.
   I will also be listening to BLOODWALL, which is just my friend Graham playing layers of guitar on this hour long tape. The first side is all acoustic and reminds me a little bit of John Fahey at times if he lived in a cold house in south Minneapolis with a dirt yard. The second side is electric and is both plaintive and meditative. You'll like it or you won't. I truly don't care if you do, but I love it. Live, BLOODWALL sometimes plays behind a wall of amps to the accompaniment of noise, radios tuned between stations and other odds and ends. The results can be truly hypnotic.

DOWNLOAD

Graham also plays in VISITOR and can put any noise you want on a mono lathe-cut record over at 2208 Records.

If you truly enjoy the holidays or think that making your kid believe in Santa is worthwhile, don't let me ruin your parade. It takes all kinds to make this world interesting.

NEON PISS - "Rarities 1979 - 1987" - CD-R - 2013

   This past Sunday, our band NEON PISS played our last show at 924 Gilman Street as part of "This Is Not A Step - 20 years of More Than Music." In its earliest incarnation (well, as far as this year's fest goes), the fest was supposed to be a benefit for Sarah Kirsch before she passed away from complications with fanconi anemia (I didn't capitalize that because I don't think we should give that kind of dignity to the things that kill us). We agreed to play the fest on the same day that Sarah lost her life.
   The fest ended up being a benefit for Sarah's family, the SF Trans March and The Pacific Center for Human Growth (with the money being allocated specifically for transgender clients). Initially, I had my doubts with how the whole thing was being organized: the fest was dominated by bands populated by cisgender people. I wondered what it must be like as a transgender punk to come to a fest that supposedly has your lifestyle in mind but does not actually include bands with members who are trans. At one point, I told the organizers that our band would happily drop off of the fest if our spot would be given to any band that included trans members. Obviously, that didn't happen. I also talked to people who took issue with the fest being on the same weekend as Pride and people who thought that the workshops were weak. About a month before the fest though, I decided to stop complaining and just go for it. It takes a ton of hard work to set up an event of that size and scope. No matter what you do, you are going to have detractors. I believe that the organizers have their hearts in the right place and did a lot of good work. While I was truly a little embarrassed (no, really) to be on stage when our slot could have been given to voices who aren't straight white guys, I still believe that we all need to be allies to each other if we actually want to be any sort of real fucking change in this floating shit heap that we somehow magically inhabit. Every day, I see the absolute worst examples of human garbage walking this planet that just make me want to die, but this past weekend at the fest, I felt like everything was kind of okay for just a little while. Bands raged. There was an open mic on stage for anyone to utilize to say anything that was on their mind. The mic was mostly utilized by queer and trans people who said some really real shit that straight ears needed to hear. Being open and vulnerable in front of a crowd like that is an incredibly hard thing to do and I wish I had half the strength that some of the people on that stage did.
   I felt the need to say something when our band played, even though the thought of speaking in front of large groups makes me wanna puke. I said something along the lines of...

 "No one in out band was ever a friend of Sarah Kirsch but her life touched all of us immensely. I never even met her. We are in awe of her strength and determination. I admired her full commitment to the power and importance of DIY...to her commitment to punk and hardcore. I feel saddened that she never got the chance to live her life in the identity that she showed to us near the end of her life. I think that one tiny thing that we can learn from her is that we need to treat others with the respect they deserve because we don't really know how much time we have on this earth. I think it's really easy for people like me, straight cis men, to treat transgender people with respect....or to treat anyone who doesn't come from a place of privilege with the respect they deserve....and if I can do that, so can you" blah, blah, we are a band, this is our last show....

   If you picture a nervous guy staring at the ground and insert about 45 "uhhh"'s, you'll get the picture. Anyhow, It was a fun show and I feel very, very lucky to have shared space with such amazing people in such a long-running institution as Gilman. Speaking of lucky, I am also incredibly lucky to have been able to play music and travel with my bandmates Kyle, Barker and Bryan. I'm still amazed that we got to make music that we enjoyed making and people actually took the time to pay attention to us. I know that's probably not a big deal to many of you, but it means a lot to me. 

  We decided to put out this CD-R a day before our last show and only have it available at the show for the cost of 25 cents. There's no insert or even a cover. We thought it would be funny....maybe just to us. Here's what's on it:

 1. The one and only song by The MUNI MEN, our fake Oi band. We wrote and recorded this song in about 5 minutes at our practice space and it shows. Kyle played drums. Barker played guitar, Bryan played bass and I played that hot guitar lick.

 2.  Practice weirdness. Sometimes, people buy weird pedals.

 3. A NEWTOWN NEUROTICS cover that we played (badly) at a squat show in Hamburg, Germany just because our friend Laura came all the way from Berlin to see us and she likes that band a lot. "No man is a cow"

 4. A very early version of "Close The Door" 

 5. Us losing our minds on a 27 hour drive across the top of the country. Sounds best on headphones.

 6. "Burn" on the Grand Manor piano in Chicago.

 7. "Burn" recorded by Kyle at our practice space with different lyrics from the version on our 7".

 8. We had some extra time at the studio when we recorded our 7" so we told Stan to just roll the tape and we shit out this weird song that just sounds like the theme from Roseanne. Stan couldn't believe that we used our time to do this. To be fair, neither could we.

 9. A song that was never fully realized. No lyrics. Recorded at our practice space. 

 10. We were losing our minds (again) as we drove into NYC while listening to Harold Camping. Shit happens. 

 11. Another song that never made it out of the practice space. No lyrics. 

 12. Another stab at the Roseanne theme, but now with a bullhorn. 

 13. "Paranoid" as interpreted by freaks. Just be glad we didn't include our 10 minute version of "Born to Be Wild"

 14. A 28 minute remix of our song "Close The Door" that Kyle and I collaborated on. Best listened to on headphones...in the dark.

Download NEON PISS

  Thanks to people who humored us and bought a CD-R for 25 cents. Thanks to everyone who helped us out in our time as a band. You can download all of our releases on our Bandcamp page for free or by donation. You can buy our records from Vinyl Rites, Cut The Cord That... and Deranged. Stuff can be bought from us on Bigcartel (not much is left). 

  Other bands we are in: Barker plays in WET SPOTS and HUFF STUFF MAGAZINE (their new album is great). Bryan also plays in THE NEW FLESH, who just released an awesome LP and are getting ready to tour both US coasts. Kyle is working on stuff with COLD BEAT and is constantly twisting knobs in his room. I started a hardcore band that doesn't have a name and has only practiced four times, so who knows? 

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.

DOWNLOAD IT

   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. 

DAN B'S MIX TAPE - 2005

   Back in 2005, a package showed up in my P.O. box from Dan B (from IMPRACTICAL COCKPIT / UKE OF SPACES / Trd Wrd Records) with this tape inside. There was no insert and no track listing. Just the instructions on the front and the tape. What I found on the tape was strange and entrancing: Tiki music, weird lounge, something that sounds like KORLA PANDIT on too many pills, EUGENE CHADBOURNE, MALVINA REYNOLDS, DREAMLAND FACES, radios between stations and phone calls. I still play it frequently in my room when I'm trying to keep busy and it helps. Maybe it will help you out too.

DOWNLOAD

Track listing left blank intentionally. 

HICKEY - "The Ultra Heliocentric Underworld Of The Most Evil Terrifying and Naked Cult Of Hickey. Rare and Unreleased, Unstoppable Rock!!" - 1998 - Tape

   If you're at all familiar with this blog and many of the artists that I've shared on it, I don't need to tell you why HICKEY is important. I discovered punk through THE MINUTEMEN and THE RAMONES. It was because of HICKEY (along with BLACK FORK, BIKINI KILL and 50 MILLION) that I became fiercely attracted to the DIY aspect of punk that keeps me going today and their influence still informs just about every musical decision I make. It's kinda ridiculous.
   I copied this tape off of my friend Ivy way back in the late 90's. Initially, I was not that into it and preferred the band's piles of 7" EP's and their unfuckwithable LP. As time marched on, the songs on here kept creeping into my life and many of them became some of my favorites by the band. HICKEY was known for having a remarkable live show. Sometimes, they played all of the "hits" back to back. One time, I saw them and they just kinda jammed for a long time. It wasn't bad. The 3 members became an intuitive, unstoppable unit that was not afraid of experimentation and going out on a limb...even when it failed. I think some of that comes across on this tape.

  The tape starts off with a couple of unreleased (?) songs and then delves into the band's epic cover of MANOWAR's "Kingdom Come". That song originally appeared on the Probe Records compilation "Death To False Metal", but this is the original six-and-a-half minute version with an extended jam (p.s. it rules). Next up is a weird version of "Last Nite on the Planet" with Shell (I think..it sounds like him. Edit: It's Aesop) making pro-wrestler comments throughout. The next few songs are by HICKEY MILLION, who you can read about if you follow that link (and yes, you can download the file on that page when you get to it). The rest of the side is filled with jams, cover songs (SQUEEZE, DAVID BOWIE, GUNS N ROSES, STOOGES), alternate takes and interviews with teenagers at a live HICKEY show. Side 2 (or for you, song #21) kicks off with a radio promo and goes straight into a live set on KDVS in Davis, CA. There's more jams, a really cool duet with Matty and Allison Wonderslam, more cover songs (AVENGERS and SABBATH) and that damned trumpet they stole from VOODOO GLOW SKULLS all those years ago.
  I'm still constantly impressed by the amount of stuff that this little band recorded in their brief lifetime...and how much of it is really great! I mean, there's still more, although the further you dig, the sadder it gets. Drug addiction is not pretty, folks, so let's just stop here and enjoy this great band and all the years of inspiration they have injected into our lives.

Download HICKEY Oddities

(Just to warn you, this is a large file. 230mb)

Thanks to Ivy Jeanne for the source tape (mine is thrashed).

Thanks to Aesop for giving the green light and drumming on these recordings.
Thanks to MRR for digitization help.

Thanks to Chubby, Rizzler, Wade and Shell for making it out alive.

Thanks to Matty Luv for everything. R.I.P.

...and since Valentine's Day is right around the corner, why not check out this live HICKEY set from V-Day 1997?

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.

Download VISITOR

   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.

"Sounds Of The Mission" - Tape - 2012

   This might possibly be the weirdest post on the blog thus far because it's not music and it's not a story, but then again, it's its own story. Let me explain....
   Back when I lived in Indiana, I would try to work on projects late at night, like writing, drawing, reading or sewing together a weird stuffed animal that made growling sounds and had a contact mic inside of it. Most of the time, my house and neighborhood were quiet...eerily quiet. It was so quiet that if I had my window open, I could hear someone's footsteps walking down my street from a block away. I could listen to music, but when I was writing, I found it to be too distracting. I just wished that I had a recording of street sounds to play in the background of my room; something a little ambient and somber. Specifically, I wanted any of my friends in San Francisco to record themselves walking down Mission Street from 24th Street all the way to 16th Street, which is one of my favorite corridors in the city. I wanted to hear the street vendors selling DVD's of movies that were still in the theaters. I wanted to hear the sounds of mariachi music, the buses, people speaking Spanish and the general sounds of a vibrant city. Much like my requests for anyone to ship a Cancun burrito to me overnight, this tape was denied as well. It wasn't until I made my way to the city that I was able to make this tape, even though I can now just open my window and hear it live, 24 hours a day. Maybe this will be welcome to someone else who lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Maybe I just outed myself as a total fucking wingnut who doesn't make any sense. Either way, whatever.
   The tape starts out underground at the BART station at 24th and Mission and continues as I ride the escalator up to street level. It continues as I cross Mission Street and head north towards 16th Street. It ends with a lap around both plazas at the 16th and Mission BART station. It's just insanely exciting, I swear. Put it on in the background...or don't.

Download Sounds of the Mission

First three minutes are a little rough because I didn't realize the tape recorder was so creaky. It gets better.