JFA - Valley Of The Yakes lp

The first time I heard JFA was their Blatant Localism ep released in 1981. At that time, not knowing anything of the band, with the record title of Blatant Localism and the unrelentingly full speed ahead tempo of all but one song I was presumptuous with my initial evaluation. These guys are unabashed SoCal Nardcore skate punks, I thought. This record's gotta be on Mystic right?

Turns out I was a little off. JFA is full throttle hardcore and a bit more than unabashed skate punks. They are more skateboard uber alles or fuck you! Have no doubts about their feelings on this friends. The two sacred requisites to be a JFA band member were 1. You have to skate. and 2. You have to want to play fast. I think years later militant edge and vegan bands took their cue from predecessors like these. Secondly JFA isn't a Nardcore band. They aren't even from California and were not working with the Mystic record label. The only affiliation JFA has ever had with Mystic is one song on Mystic's '83 compilation lp We Got Power. The truth is they are from Phoenix, AZ and mostly released records on Placebo. For the more tedious bunch of you JFA is still active and pretty much all you could want to know can be found via their website.

Valley Of The Yakes picks up right where Blatant Localism dropped off. Releasing again on Placebo Records and outside of the noticeable difference in recording sound the song writing is so similar that you could swap songs from one record to the other and probably get away with it. Despite, I think Valley Of The Yakes songwriting is a tad more mature than their debut ep. Here less than 50% of the songs are under a minute. They obviously put some more thought and work into this release. Even so the lp is still hardcore at hill bombing speed. As much as I love fast as fuck, angry hardcore (as it should be) it is pretty easy to lose focus on full length records. Hardcore is way more compatible with the 7" format. It's tough for faster hardcore bands to grab your attention and keep it for the full course of an album. Throw this on while making a sandwich and it will fade to white noise after two songs for you. But wait just one second. Jodie Foster's Army circumvent that fault here by stepping out on a limb showing they have other interests than just ripping your face off and something I think is an accidental anomaly.

Outside of skating and playing as fast as possible JFA wants you to know they have a penchant for surf rock despite the dry desert land they hail from. They snap out two extremely well done cover songs that stick out like a sore thumb that is some how completely enjoyable.
The A side closes out with the recognizable Walk Don't Run by THE VENTURES. Early into side B they smack you upside the head once again going into Baja by THE ASTRONAUTS. Not only do these covers disrupt the album in a perfect way to keep your Attention Deficit Disorder ass in line they really shine for these Southwest punks. Killing three birds with one stone is quite the feat. You are still paying attention, JFA says they have broad horizons and the musicianship is pretty surprising here. Obviously they aren't limited to the assaulting three chord weapon of choice. As for that anomaly I mentioned, The second track on Valley Of The Yakes titled The Great Equalizer has me dumbfounded. It's a great song and, maybe it's my mid-western Detroit punk rearing, possibly my favorite song out of the album. This song is much meatier and angrier sounding than anything else they have written. Equalizer aligns closer to something an east coast band would have written. If you stand this song up alone I could easily see anybody pigeon holing as some pissed of shit from Boston. That could just be me, who knows? Download the bitch and make your own opinions.


HINCKLEY NEVER FUCKED JODIE FOSTER

CLICK THE PICTURES BELOW AND READ THEM!

DON'T JUST SKIP TO THE DOWNLOAD BECAUSE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE YOU WILL FUCK UP THIS POST FOR EVERYBODY ELSE.







THOU THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED

RENALDO & THE LOAF - Songs for Swinging Larvae lp

Hard to write about something so near and dear to my heart. Words don't fail me as much as trying to pare down the sheer amount of love I could gush about this LP. How do you succinctly write a couple paragraphs about something that changed your parameters about what music was (and wasn't)? (sniff, sniff) DAMMIT! I love you Renaldo and the Loaf.................
I stumbled upon Renaldo and the Loaf (hereafter refered to as RatL) by way of a little set of videos called "The 1 minute movies" released by the RESIDENTS. I was already oddly fascinated by the Residents brand of un-music and eager to lap up anything they, or their record label, RALPH records put out. A friend of a friend made a trip to visit his sister at Parsons (sniffy art school) in NYC and brought back a vhs tape full of what became my obsession with this weird music for years to come. Within the group of losers and outcasts I hung out with at school, this video had become legend, like that of some mythologized snuff film, before most of us ever got a chance to see it. The owner of the said tape, again, a friend of a friend, wasn't willing to show just anyone the video. It got to be built up like he had captured a murder or images of Satan on that tape and not just anyone could see it. Finally, after some convincing, and the pledge to never tell anyone where we'd seen it, the video was played after school one day.

ERASERHEAD was the first thing on the tape and although creepy, I thought at the time, it was about an hour too long. Next were 2 short films made by some students at Parsons, both pretty forgettable (which I did). The last things on the tape were the earlier mentioned, 1 minute movies, by the Residents. WOAH, I was completely blown away. Like I said, I was already a fan, but getting to see moving images of these weirdos made quite an impression. Up to that point, I had only my young, very un-expanded brain to conjure up my own images of what the Residents were. Other than the music, and arresting graphics on their records, not much was know, including the identities, of the "people" that made this strange noise. But, enough about the "Eye Ball Guys" as my son calls them, I'll save my Doctoral thesis on them for another post.

One of the long video montages was titled Renaldo and the Loaf "songs for swinging larvae". I thought maybe this was a Residents"joke" band or the like, as I had never heard of them. For the next 5 minutes and 33 seconds, I was pinned to my chair with the genuinely disturbing images that flashed across the screen. I can honestly say that NOTHING ever made me feel that unsettled before. That video, which I later learned was actually 3 separate songs, was seething with imagery and ideas that society deemed taboo. Check em' out for yourself and prepare to be creeped. The music captured the precise feeling and look of the video (or vice-versa) and I was dumbfounded to find out who Renaldo and the Loaf were.

Two of the songs, along with several others, ended up being released by Ralph records as Songs for Swinging Larvae by the band Renaldo and the Loaf. I was pretty happy to see and actually hold a copy of this, fearing the videos I had seen were some elaborate hoax perpetuated by the Residents. Nope, RatL were actually a real band, from the U.K. and here was their debut LP. The first thing about this LP that smacked me in the face was the deranged art on the cover. Handsome chap courting the sexy insect lady? What the....... I couldn't wait to play this thing, as the artwork and anticipation were killing me. As soon as I could get it on the turntable, I did, and boy was I FLOORED!! Two songs from the video were there, but there was so much more. The songs oozed and squeaked out of my speakers, the next one weirder than the last. I sat, again, dumbfounded by what I was hearing. Even though the Residents had prepared my ears for disparate sounds of the avant garde, this was like hearing an inanimate object speak.These were the sounds of being held captive by a race of miniature people, breathing helium and entertaining you by tapping, tinkling, scraping any object within reach. These sounds were as exhilarating as they were ominous and I was hooked. Were these sounds, indeed, made by normal human being like you and I?

In the pre-internet days, it was sometimes hard to find out about your favorite artists, especially those who were purposely mysterious and this pretty much summed up everything on Ralph records. If you got on their mailing list though, they sent you propaganda about the stuff they were releasing. This was the entry from the spring 1981 catalog about the release of Songs for Swing Larvae: No synthesizers, no political stance, no great philosophies, no created images, just normal, inquisitive people who delve into their own world for inspiration and diversion. This is an album of primitive modernism, energetic, obnoxious noises, manic, high-pitched vocals, and sweet brilliance. Songs for Swinging Larvae is startling. Though if you know anything about Ralph at all, you're liable to realize right of the bat why Renaldo and the Loaf fits into the Ralph family: they're not afraid to be attached to the future. Still. no great amounts of information contained in that, but at least some light had been shed. I came to terms with simply enjoying this LP without knowing much about the band. It was only years later, through a couple of short zine interviews, that I knew anything at all bout these guys. Now in the Google age, I've found out every bit of minutia surrounding these fellows that I could ever possibly want to know.

Doesn't change anything though.....I still feel the same simultaneous pleasure and dread when listening to this as did the first time the secretive video tape was played all those years ago. Looking back, now I understand why the owner of the video tape was so reluctant to show just anyone what it contained. Even now, with our over-stimulated, over-technologized appetite for more, these videos are still pretty risky and taboo.......

Boom Boom Crash Crash

MAINSPRING - August 23 1994 - April 5 1996

I shared this with a friend this morning. So while the fucking download is up I may as well post it here.

I often feel that after the birth of emo and all that revolution summer stuff Detroit had an awesome and progressive emo/screamo scene through the 90's. Maybe one of the best. With all those closet dust collecting 7"s in every town anywhere who knows. This is a fucking weird ass time for emo or whatever and I just know that I was hearing a lot of play off the original bands going in all directions in most reaches of the dirty mitten (michigan).

I could post something more aggressive or screamo like Jihad or some shit (their split with ottawa was reissued recently. Get that shit. ottawa kills on that record.) I could up something more avant garde and experimental like Constatine Sankathi. But I fucking ain't doing it today.

I've been up for far too long doing far too much stuff so this is plain and simple MAINSPRINGs discography as far as I know with some live tracks. Thank you Cass Records.



Fucking, whatever...

CRASS - You're Already Dead 7" single

I figure there isn't a whole lot about CRASS anybody could say that hasn't been said already. With their seemingly love/hate relationship with music fans it is undeniable that CRASS is one of the most influential punk bands of all time. I must admit their sheer ineptitude with instruments is great. It allowed them to cultivate their own unique sound. I am not going to get into the same love / hate with their politics in the post. If anybody wants to duke it out on that subject go for it in the comments.

Now you probably wonder why bother making a CRASS post at all. Everyone and their mom has already heard CRASS. Well for starters this presents the songs in their original format. You're Already Dead in it's original format stands out particularly. As best I recall "Nagasaki Is Yesterdays Dog End" only appears on the CD Best Before... 1984 outside of this single. The song is changed for the Best Before CD. So here you get it in it's original form. The last reason I can think of to bother making posts about CRASS is for the layouts of their original vinyl releases. They are all remarkable in one way or another. Sleeves unfold into panel upon panel of their diatribes and manifestos and the awesome artwork of Gee utilizing every imaginable space. I am particularly fond of full on poster sized Gee collages versus the microscopic crap on all the CD's. So there you have it.


THEY WON'T FUCKING LISTEN

HUMAN EYE - Self Released Tour cd-r

I am sitting here hoping that a fair number of you that follow this blog... wait, does anyone give a shit about this nonsense we post? Yeah, followers or stumblers upon this little upload shop with shitty opinions and stories attached I hope you have at least heard of HUMAN EYE. If you have heard of these freaky humonoids but have yet to really feel the band out don't use this upload as your measuring stick. That would be like reading Cliff's Notes right before the test. This is more for the fanboy company.

In 2008 HUMAN EYE hit the road for a while right around the release time of their second album, Fragments Of The Universe Nurse. Accompanying them on this exploration of time and space was this self released cd-r. It boasts three songs and each cd is hand made so every one is just a little different. Vagobon sounds like they hit the studio for this recording. I haven't heard it anywhere else but this tour cd. Maybe it was a Universe Nurse reject? The very beginning of the song sounds like some They Came From The Sky stuff. That doesn't last long before it just melts into laid back jammy acid tripping experimental no wave. Next up is Serpent Shadow. Probably recorded on a good old 8 track in the basement judging by the sound. Maybe it is just coincidence that They Came From The Sky has song of the same name? Maybe this is the missing link in HUMAN EYE's creative process? All I know is this Serpent Shadow sounds nothing like the one on the album. The only common ground I can find between the two Serpent Shadows is maybe a few lyrics out of this demo version transferred to the LP song. The last number is Universe Nurse recorded live in Denmark. Excellent sound for a live recording. Has a nice HUMAN EYE "freak out" for a few minutes before they break into the song.

It's too bad they only made 50 of these suckers. Maybe they underestimated the supply and demand? If you managed to get your tentacles on one of these it is no doubt a cool release to have for the HUMAN EYE addict. Besides who doesn't like a cd jewel case held shut with duct tape.

SPACE CULTURE

ABUSE - Mordare 7" ep

This is some straight up, good 'ole face pounding raw noisy d-beat hailing from Sweden. The Mordare ep probably isn't going to make your top 20 raw hardcore records of all time list. Bands like this are a dime a dozen but this 7" ranks up there in that "Check this dollar bin destroyer I found!!!!!!!" category.

Naturally ABUSE has that unique Swedish raw d-beat sound going on. There are a few things that are atypical in ABUSE's sound. The guitars are more fuzzed out and noisy than a lot of your other favorite Swedes. Think ANTI-CIMEX Anarkist Attack. They also went to the other end of the spectrum for vocals. They ditch the deeper, guttural vocal and singer Zambone sounds more like Bob from DROPDEAD. Actually they sound identical.

Not to worry all the studs off your leather jacket yet. There is still enough MOTORHEAD inspired rocking d-beat to make you slosh more of that beer in your hand on the floor and your fellow punx than down your gullet as you mosh around like a drunk punk should. I could have skipped all this shitty writing and just said if you like CRUDITY then this is right up your alley. Why not be a pain in the ass though? Even though ABUSE is long gone somebody in the band still keeps an updated Myspace and Facebook page for the band if you care.

Mordare was released by Ben's pre-Armageddon label Crust Records in 1996.

MAKE NOISE NOT MUSIC

VENOM - Manitou Cassette

Somehow, it always comes back to heavy metal for me. Even when I was barely a teen trying to earn my punk merit badges, at least five of my toes were firmly planted in the cauldron of metal. I always deftly straddled the fence when it came to choosing allegiance to one side or the other. You gotta remember though, this a time when both heavy metal and punk, although microscopic sub-genres of the big picture in music, were still divided. Metal heads, which came directly from cro-magnon like hard rock fans, despised the punks and usually did anything they could to fuck with them (especially where I grew up). Punks on the other hand hated the head bangers right back, but having smaller numbers, didn't usually do too much to retaliate.

So what the fuck does this all have to do with the mighty VEMON you ask? Well. early on, they were the common denominator between both genres, for me. I don't mean that venoms music took me to some secret place in my head that wasn't understood or explored without them. I mean, this was the band that made NEITHER side (metal or punk) wanna kick your ass for what you were listening to. With the knowledge (and a few records) of bands like vemon and motorhead, you (or at least me) could navigate both crowds successfully and without being bloodied or bruised. I mean, it helped too that I was way into both scenes and had a better record collection than most of the lunkheads that wanted to beat me up, but I digress.....

So fucking VENOM, the retarded court jesters of metal. When I heard their first lp not long after it came out I thought, "fucking sloppy.drunken discharge". The noise, yeah NOISE, that came out of the speakers that first time almost made me blow a load in my pants. I couldn't believe the three guys on the back of the lp, who look like Swedish prog rock homos by the way, could pull off such a glorious din. It sounded like a pack of twelve year olds trying to play the first discharge single on newly stolen equipment. Every note on that lp was somehow, sloppily perfect and I proceeded to wear the fucking grooves on that lp to dust. I was hooked and thusly bought everything these geniuses put out (except the 6 live Lps that all came out within a year)

Eventually, the quality or their records got as thin as bassist Cronos hairline. I think it was a combination of them believing their own hype and learning to play their instruments, but "At War With Satan" was the last, truly great venom lp (their third of too many). Nowadays, every real and wanna-be corpse painted choad smoker, claims venom were the black metal "originators". I call bullshit on this theory. Look, there is no doubt vemon were pretty early in putting satan and metal together, but I'm quite sure it was just for the shock value and not to kiss the goat. These boys fancied a pint and some tits way more than any serious satanic shit. Probably even took a couple pages from black sabbaths "how scare people with dark imagery and still have time for a beer" manifesto. I guess if singing about satan (and pussy) the earliest gets you called originator, than so be it (I personally think it was BATHORY who blueprinted bm) All that "who created what" shit is totally subjective anyhow.......

This cassette was released right around the same time as At War.... with a bonus song not on the vinyl and the interview. Fuck, the interview is the only thing that makes this worth sharing (alright, the songs a pretty good too). I love how Neat records, who put this out, totally make the "not our views" disclaimer in the liner notes. Probably because venom talk so much shit about other popular metal bands of the day, mainly manowar. This is venom at their dumbest, drunkest and best. Like the cool uncle that used to come to your house for the holidays, drink too much, call your mom and dad assholes, make up, drink more, then slip a fiver under your pillow before he left............

Many punches and kicks......... Refreshed Link 1/15/14

THRASH OF THE TITANS I - LP Compilation

Through the mid 90's and into the early 2000's metal-core/mosh and fast thrashy hardcore bands were the thing to do. There really were not a lot of bands doing anything different. This record is of the fast thrashy hardcore nature.

This is also a period of time when many people felt putting out comps. was irrelevant with the internet now in many households around the world. Getting your hands on media could be achieved with a few strokes of the keyboard. For fucks sake I am writing this on a blog! Zines weren't exempt from this phenomenon either.

I ask, how many mix-tapes or cd-r's do you remember making during this time period? Compilations are a record label's mix-tape and in threat of dying at this time. Even now they don't seem as common or as relevant as they were in 1984.

I still like seeing comps. around and mix trading with friends. Thrash Of The Titans is a great example of why compilations are still relevant. This is a showcase of a ton of raging bands on one platter.

Thrash Of The Titans I was put out in 2000 by Know Records with 1,000 pressed I believe. Here are what bands graced this comp. with some songs.

DS-13
CAPITALIST CASUALTIES
BEYOND DESCRIPTION
ANAL CUNT
SCARRED FOR LIFE
RUIDO
DEAD NATION
HIRAX
STRONG INTENTION
LACK OF INTEREST
INSULT
D.R.I.
MK-ULTRA
FLACHENBRAND
CRIPPLE BASTARDS
FUCK ON THE BEACH
TRAGATELO

http://www.mediafire.com/file/5ov5cibat8fssiu/Thrash%20Of%20The%20Titans.rar

COLERA - R.I.P. Redson

There was always a plan to post about COLERA here. I didn't really want the reason for showing some COLERA love on here to be because of somebody's death.

Edson "Redson" Pozzi formed COLERA in Sao Paulo, 1979 making them one of the first hardcore punk bands to come from Brazil. Through their lifespan COLERA released numerous albums, a few EPs, a split LP with RATOS DE PORAO and appeared on tons of compilations. They did three tours of Europe and remained active from 1979 all the way through to the present day. Thus making them one of the longest running hardcore punk bands from Brazil.

Unfortunately this may have all come to an end . Lead vocalist, guitarist and founding member Redson died today from a heart attack at age 49. A blow to the punk world for sure.




In honor we're all gonna blast some fucking COLERA for Redson, fuckers! Below I have uploaded their split 12" with RATOS DE PORAO and their live European Tour album.
Rest in punk Redson.

RATOS SPLIT
LIVE IN EUROPE

CHEAP TRAGEDIES live from Cleveland

Now that I have upgraded computers, converters and camcorders I am back to getting videos on line. Plus Youtube allows files up to 20gigs now. No more chopping live sets into a billion different videos to keep the quality. I will be doing sets as a whole and may even take down all the old posts and upload them again as one piece. So here is the first of 130 some odd sets I will start tackling.

STRETCHHEADS - Five Fingers, Four Thingers, A Thumb, A Facelift And A New Identity LP

The most bizarre punk noise band to ever come out of Scotland and probably best punk band from Scotland ever. I am pretty sure these guys were a bunch of spazzes suffering the most severe case of ADHD. I don't think Ritalin was part of their diet either.

The lyrical subject matter covers topics you are likely to hear from the mouth of your favorite schizo crackhead bum. The vocals have best been described as "reminiscent of nothing so much as Sesame Street's Grover with electrodes affixed to his genitals". There is a definite KILLDOZER influence and super choppy guitar riffs with Rimbaudesque drumming bring CRASS to mind as well. STRETCHEDS has managed to take both those influences and play them heavier and faster. I'll be damned if you can tell what the guitar is playing, if anything at all, through 90% of this disjointed noise bomb. The bass, although heavily fuzzed out, is enough to keep your bearings on the riffs. There are even some studio effects and trickery tossed in. Something that sounds like a phone ringing, bursts of electronic hum and some free jazz saxophone.

STRETCHHEADS have a solid spot as one of the quintessential twisted avant-garde punk bands. If you disagree I think you're dumb. Now go blast this and have a seizure.

1,000 copies released in 1988 by Moshka Records

IF IT'S NOT SCOTTISH IT'S CRAP!