First And Foremost

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Make A Joyful Noise

2011-12-22T16:03:00.007-05:00

Merry Fuckin' Christmas.

Pinebender - The High Price Of Living Too Long With A Single Dream

2011-12-11T11:14:00.006-05:00

Ahhh Sunday morning. The aroma of coffee. The crispness of cool morning air. The slightness of a hangover and the aversion to anything overly extreme or unmelodic. That's not to say this Chicago three piece can't crank it out. Oh they do. Plenty of amp worship going on here. Plenty of dynamics too which is what makes this a perfect Sunday choice. All the melody and melodrama with none of the guilt of feeling like a complete pansy.

Starting in 1997, these guys definitely pick up the torch dropped by their fellow home staters HUM. A good marriage of emotional indie (soo nerdy...they use words like hypoxia and photosynthetic), 90's alternative (though this album didn't come out til 2003) and crushing guitars amidst lumbering, almost lazy rhythms. Vocals at times remind me of later day Small Brown Bike. The song "For The Love Of Everything" reminds me of Dinosaur Jr. and some of the more somber moments bring to mind Chokebore and slowcore legends Codeine. If none of those name drops grab ya...well, I just don't know about ya then.

You can buy this album for $3 from Lovitt Records here as well as their most recent full length "Working Nine To Wolf" which I believe I originally found out about here.

Enjoy!

9-volt Tongue video megapost!!!

2011-10-23T19:05:00.005-04:00

I'm gonna take it easy on myself for my first real post back and just make it all videos. Cop out? Yep! Whatthefuckever. As I've stated both here and here, this band was a staple of my youth. I never got to see them a shit load but their style shaped both my future tastes in music and style of playing. And the New Years Eve show I talk about here... the first couple of videos are from that... I think...maybe not... Anyway, I don't wanna toot my own horn but I like to think that I lit the fire under this bands ass just a little to start making some of this shit available.

ENJOY!

Life happens...

2011-10-22T15:34:00.002-04:00

And sometimes it's not always fun. I won't bore you with details but the events over the last year and how many ever months have made me abandon this blog for awhile. Well, that and not having a computer. That said, I'm up and running again and should have my opinionated ass showing up around here a little more often than once a year.

Kittens - Doberman (re-mastered....sorta)

2010-04-16T11:27:00.006-04:00

Well, it goes like this... My iPod has died from "complications" after a long, troubled battle with Garbageitus (ie: iPod cancer). Needless to say, I'm back to burning cds for my listening pleasure for the time being. I've been on an Kittens kick again lately so it was time to get tah burnin'.

Now, this cd has been posted various times on the internet at higher traffic sites (namely here and here) but if you've "checked out" those versions you've noticed something. It was either a bad dub or the recording was pretty rough and slightly unmastered (at least by todays volume levels). Since the speakers in my car suck I decided to be proactive and do something to the copy I found on the net. More or less, I just took the individual tracks and "mastered" them (using the term loosely, of course) in Garageband, recompiled them and *voila* here ya go! A louder, sorta remastered version of "Doberman"!

If you don't know about Kittens first off, I'm sorry and secondly, you are missing the fuck out! Kittens were a three piece noise rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba that owned and were fairly unknown in the States up until what seems more recently. An amazing mix of the Melvins, Jesus Lizard, Unsane, and Fudge Tunnel that actually aged very well and virtually sounds better with time. They fit nicely in the confines of the style while carving their own sound and niche. Later they would come to incorporate some elements of country music that would further define their unique take on what AmRep was known for. Speaking of...how AmRep never released an album by these guys is weird to me. Strange given the fact that Winnipeg and Minneapolis are less than 8 hours apart.

Any way, some of these tracks show up via different versions on "Lo-fi Classics and Other Rarities" though I think I prefer these ones. Stand out track here is definitely "Jack Knife" though they all completely satisfy. I included two versions of "Hocus Pocus", one being the original I downloaded just so you could run a comparison if you were curious. There was talks of actual remastered, reissued cds and possibly a dvd release on Cursed singer Chris Colohan's label High Anxiety though now little info can be found on the matter. There is a Kittens Myspace page with a bunch of video that looks like it gets checked once in a while.

Here's a video for before mentioned "Jack Knife":

"Gotta face, gotta face, gotta face like a.... gotta face like a jack knife."

Enjoy!

Mog Stunt Team - 555 and King of the Retards

2010-02-25T11:20:00.006-05:00

Shit! Almost a month has gone by with out some much as a squeak around here. Better make it a tasty ass post then...

"Enigmatic Detroit, Michigan based trio, which was formed in the winter of 1995. They released two full-lengths – 1996 “555″ on Small Stone Records and “King Of The Retards” on AmRep in 1997.

Nothing was heard from them since, with some reports suggesting that the band died in a van crash and other reports suggesting that they simply changed their name to El Guapo Stuntteam." -As lifted from our friends over at "I Heart Noise"

I think this sums it up nicely (though I'm not so sure about that El Guapo Stuntteam or died in a van crash part). As you can see this band wasn't around too long but they seem to make a name for themselves within that amount of time. Especially with the whole "John Tesh is an alien" thing. I never had the chance to catch these guys live but from what I've seen through Youtube, they looked like they put on a rolickin' good time! Their song titled "Boredoms vs. Sabbath" fits as a nice description of their sound. That coupled with the covers of Kiss and Motorhead (featured in these two releases) and a heavy handed dose of Detroit influence via the Stooges and MC5.

Did I mention they dressed in homemade stuntman/astronaut costumes? It fit right along with their irreverent lyrical content. Not nearly as angular, Mog is more straight up punk rock n' roll with out being completely outta place with the rest of the AmRep fair. Still noisy, still fun. These albums have definitely aged nicely and are well worth a first or re-visit.

Here's the vid for "Boredoms vs. Sabbath":

And here's a vid for "King of the Retards":

Here's one for "Avenger":

Here's a video showing some of the "hub bub" they got from the "john Tesh is an alien" stuff:

Here's a trailer for a documentary about the "demise" of the band that will hopefully see more light of day with a dvd release:

Another, slightly different trailer can be found here: http://www.imgonnadoituntilthedayidie.com/

ENJOY!

MixedWithLove

2010-01-25T14:10:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note to plug my dear friend Chantal's new blog MixedWithLove. You may remember her from the Morsel post a couple posts ago. She's also a designer extraordinaire, an amazing song writer, a great mother, a Jill of all trades and my all around ace in the hole. (Not to mention one of my nearest and dearest friends.) On top of all that, like it wasn't enough, she is a mighty fine crafter of mix tapes. Her new blog is dedicated to some she's made in the past (a couple of which posted were for me) and I'm sure will be updated with newer ones frequently. I haven't asked her yet but maybe (just maybe) she'll let me throw my hat in the ring with her as well and post some of my comp concoctions.

Any way, pop over there and get yo mix on!

9-Volt Tongue - It's Lonely at the Top

2010-01-18T23:51:00.011-05:00

YYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck yes!!! I'm so stoked! If there was anything I could've hoped to gain from doing this blog it would've been one thing...and it's happened! Did you see the post I made a while ago? The 7" by a band called 9-Volt Tongue? The one in which I begged and pleaded for a copy of their demo tape I lost some 10 to 12 years earlier? Well, some how 9-Volts drummer (referring to himself as Navin) stumbled upon and left a comment on that post. A couple of emails back and forth later and *voila* here ya go!

"Satan Drives a T-Bird" starts with one of the best sound bites ever! It's also one of 9-Volt's catchiest and heaviest due to dynamics. A straight up heavy as hell, mid tempo rocker! Next, "Get Down and Choke on Me" brings a heavy dose of their down-tuned, swaggering punk RAWWK boogie! (as well as another classic song title!) "I Left My Jimmy Hat in Yo Butt" follows and damn it, this was the song that stuck with me the most from this for all these years. It was just so heavy and fucking raw! I remember this song always killed live! This song is pretty appropriately named I suppose... Rounding things out, "Breathing Heavy for the Wong Girls" is another perfect example of 9-Volt's signature four bar sludge punk which starts with a very Entombed "Wolverine Blues" sounding riff. Did I mention the killer fuck solo? So good!

Have you noticed how many times the word heavy was used in that last paragraph? Hmmm...

The sound quality is pretty lo-fi and the files are small but fuck it! I'll take what I can get! Besides, it punk rock at heart anyway. I'd like to thank Navin so much for checking out the blog but most of all for hooking me up with one of my favorite recordings ever! It brought back an ass load of memories and, right behind the two Jesus Lizard reunion shows I went to, made my year! Like I said before Navin, if you have any more 9-Volt Tongue recordings you'd like share we'll be here waiting...rather impatiently.

"That shit ain't mine... Don't know how it got there."

Morsel: Raise the Noise Floor

2010-01-17T17:34:00.013-05:00

Howdy, readers of First and Foremost.

Usually, I’m reading this blog…or working on the graphic end of things. So just a quick word on me: I’m Chantal, an old friend and fellow musician of this awesome blog’s author; Ben. As a fellow guitarists and music junkies, we’ve shared about a billion cups of coffee and even more opinions on bands—local, global, imaginary, whatever.

In fact, Ben asked me to write about a band that I saw about 15 years ago in Ann Arbor, Michigan…and the funny part is, after relentlessly searching for the album for a year or so (remember, folks, these are the good old days of poring over REAL records in a store—you know, the ones you can touch), he was the first one to find and give me their CD! Wonder if he knew how long winded I'd be? Haha. Without further ado, the tale of the band in question…

_________________________________________________

In 1996 I traveled to Ann Arbor to a little club downtown. I’m pretty sure it was called “The Basement” (didn’t every town have one?). It was the basement/parking garage for a series of buildings downtown and had sort of a maze-like quality to it. Walking through the corridors and around the beams you were never sure if you would find indie kids sharing liquor or transients. I mingled with both for plenty of shows there.

Anyhow, I had never heard of any of the bands before and wasn’t incredibly interested in too much of what I saw, so I had wandered down some corridors and was hanging with some kids, smoking cigs, chatting. The next bad started sound checking and I was pretty damn sure that I heard a flute. Being a flautist myself I was immediately interested. Ten seconds later I heard a buzz saw. Aha. Attention grabbing. I wandered back in and what I had heard was the 4-piece band Morsel preparing for their show, which was 30 minutes of somewhat mathy, grungy, post-punk/prog juiciness that included super flangy vocals, guitar, flute with distortion and…yes, bandsaw solos. Beats a pentatonic scale any day of the week, my friends!
Vocals were fantastic; the perfect mix of female-led (Miriam Cabrera) screaming, breathy, minor-melodic and screaming. I was immediately hooked. As a woman and a musician I am actually ALOT more critical of females in music; so a love-at-first-listen connection was quite rare for me.

Turned out they had recently signed to Choke Records (Chicago). Already a fan of the label (Ben is as well—in fact, the player this month is sporting other Choke gems like Jaks and Phil Beddow), I thought it was a perfect fit for them. They released the album Noise Floor which was super tasty. A few years later, the label crumbled (boo-hoo) and they released an EP with Small Stone records out of Detroit. Didn’t dig that record as much, though it had a few decent tracks.Other releases followed, but none that intrigued me much.

I still rock Noise Floor all the time though…and it turns out that no matter how many years pass, when I put it in…I listen to the whole CD all the way through. Somehow it is like Thai food to me…the perfect combination of every flavor. Power tools included. It is heavy, minor-melodic and even has a few sweet instrumentals with trumpet, flute and interesting twists.

Here’s a track from Noise Floor for anyone interested. Know that it kills me to choose one, but I'm too lazy to include more. I’ve also added more links at the bottom.

MORSEL
Noise Floor
"Motorcaid
Choke Records, 1994

Morsel on Myspace
Wiki On Morsel

Link removed per band request. You can now purchase a digital copy w/ a bonus track at their new Bandcamp site here.

Deadclownpile - S/T

2009-12-02T09:55:00.001-05:00

Do you like Unsane? Of course you do and so do these guys. Once again, another band that I don't know and can't find much information about. The members names aren't even listed in the credits for fucksake. Ahh well, what I have determined is that they were from Lansing, MI (maybe?) and were on the genre spanning Detroit label, Overture Records.

Like I said, Unsane-ish. Most cetainly in the way of carnival barker, bullhorn vocals and moments of plodding, cheese grater groove. Where they mainly stray is in the drum department. Where Unsane is more tribal, DCP is more straight forward and punk. I guess the same could be said for the guitars...less blues, more punk. These guys would've fit perfectly on a bill between aforementioned Unsane and maybe Drive Like Jehu.

Anyway, this cd rips and still holds up almost 15 years later. Stand out tracks are "Snap Crackle Pop", "By Design", "More", and the closer "Choke". Sure it's sort of a one trick pony but with half the songs being less than 2 minutes long, none seem to wear out their welcome really. I'm seriously amazed they didn't get more renown.

Enjoy!

Pride Parade - Dose

2009-11-16T12:26:00.009-05:00

First off let me give credit where credit is due. Shiny Grey Monotone turned me on to these guys awhile back and have just posted the same album I'm about to a week ago. If you haven't checked out that blog yet, do so as they are my favorite blog of that style on the net.

On to Pride Parade... as I said, I downloaded this last week over at SGM and love it. Pride Parade is a band from Athens, GA and from my best descriptive assessment have a Mule meets Red Red Meat by way of Young Widows sound. In other words, Mule's country noise rock vibe mixed with Young Widows modern take on noise rock. The Red Red Meat comes in via the vocals and more of the indie rock/Sub Pop moments. Over all, a good, well rounded rocking band with some earnest, well written songs.

As a bonus, this is also a "guilt free" download and by that I mean the link I'm providing will take you to the bands website where they themselves are offering this album up for free download. They also have a "Donate" button as well as a vinyl pressing available to those that can spare a dime.

So go on... take a chance and download it. The band want you to. If you don't like it, nothing lost but who knows, you may just discover your favorite new band.

Enjoy!

Cromwell - 7" tracks

2009-11-11T16:44:00.000-05:00

Here I go talking about shit I don't know about again. Well, in all fairness there is not much info on this band that I can find via thee ol' inter-web. I do know they came from Detroit, had only a hand full of releases (only 7" I believe) and that there are a boat load of bands that aren't them named Cromwell. I also know I saw them once amongst a swarm of old drunken polocks and really liked them. It could of been one of their last show for all I know because I don't remember getting another chance to see them again.

Cromwell started off , from what I gather, sometime in the mid-90's and kinda had a noise rock meets hardcore thing going on. Think maybe Deadguy-ish but less metal. There might be an affiliation to the Detroit band Bog Blast (maybe none more than by label). By the time I saw them with my own eyes they had a different singer/guitar player (Vince Williams of The Christpunchers and currently of Year Of The Pig). It was also this line up of the band that can be found on the split 7" with Detroit legend heavyweights Thoughts of Ionesco.

So what I present you is three 7" and, to the best of my knowledge, the extent of the bands released material. First off is their debut 7" on Anti-Music followed by their split w/ the Atlanta band Scout. Lastly is Cromwell's contribution to the above mentioned split with Thoughts of Ionesco. Overall a cool old band that, from what I can tell, never got much due beyond the confines of Detroit.

Enjoy!

New layout, new leaf!

2009-10-21T09:21:00.004-04:00

Hey there! If you're reading this it means you haven't erased me from your bookmarks yet due to infrequent posting. It also means that your enjoying (and you know you are) the new layout donated by my dear old friend (and hopefully future contributer...hint hint) Chantal! Hopefully this new layout will breathe a little new life into this blog (ie: make me get off my ass and post more frequently).

I do have some post coming. Honest! It just becomes such a process to transfer vinyl to cd that I get to lazy to do it. Some are not on record, so for those I have no excuse. That being said, I'll quit being a lazy ass and get some stuff up soon. I have some nice unsung, MI jems in the the works too that should please...someone anyway. I know I enjoy 'em!

Also note the player at the top right hand side. I'll try keeping some of the things I post on there for your previewing pleasure.

So...once again, if you follow this blog even a little, thanks for coming back. If you're new here, stick around because more is on it's way.

Fall is here... a leaf will turn.

Tad - Oppenheimer's Pretty Nightmare b/w Accident On the Way to Church

2009-08-04T12:54:00.005-04:00

Inspired by the Brothers of the Sonic Cloth post over at Mindgrinder (which also included some Tad b-sides I didn't have) I'm finally get this up here. TAD...you should know him, you should love him. This ->HERE<- is their final release musically as TAD the band and a fine one at that. As I stated in my previous Tad post, there were talks of releasing a discs worth of some unreleased, post-"Infrared Riding Hood" jams (like maybe "Mummified Cop" from the Tad myspace?) but with BotSC in what seems to be full swing who knows how long that could take to see the light of day. Hopefully this is just a teaser of what that disc could have in store. This is a vinyl rip I did so it does have some scratches and pops but it's cool, right? We'll just call those "character noises".

Screw it! For the hell of it I'll throw in the two songs from "Live Alien Broadcast" that to the best of my knowledge have never been on a proper studio release as well.

the Jesus Lizard - Peel

2009-07-15T12:04:00.010-04:00

If you know anything about a Jesus Lizard show you know this, it's sweaty and drunken. Believe me, there were plenty in Nashville last night filling this criteria. Drunk bumps into me, I in turn bump into girl next to me. Whoops! NO big deal. She than has the nerve to turn to me and say, "Your arm is sweeaty!"

Well, excuse-fucking-me princess! Do you have any fucking clue at all as to where the fuck you are?! You should've felt the dude that bummed me!

I just calmly turned to her however and replied, "No, I think it's you."

Zing bitch!

Just be luck then you weren't this guy...

Last night I felt 16 all over again.

Today however, I feel twice that and in pain.

The show last night at the Exit/In was phenomenal further sealing the fact that they were the best live band of the 90's! Dare I say Dave Yow may very well be...fuck that...IS the best frontman since Iggy Pop and a band that original and tight (and shiny) has been sorely, SORELY missed for the last decade and change. I was lucky enough to see them a hand full of times in the mid-nineties and they always left me standing with my mouth agape. The closest it got to a religious experience for me was going to a JL show. Last night was no exception. It's no wonder these guys seem to be just as influential now as they were two decades ago when they first came out.

So here are some John Peel sessions dating back to their original hey day of '91 and '92 in honor of last night. Not sure how terribly hard to find these are but I'm pretty sure they've never found their way onto a proper release. I can't even remember where I got them anymore to be honest.

In true Jesus Lizard "one word title" form, we'll refer to this simply as "Peel".

Here's video of their set opener "Puss" last night. Oh Mr. Yow, yer such a cut up with yer jokes and yer antics!

9-Volt Tongue - I Eat Evil (Like A Shovel Full of Shit) b/w Foaming Anal Cleanser

2009-07-02T09:33:00.010-04:00

Here's the 9-Volt Tongue 7" I talked about in the Jaks post. God I loved this fucking band! They were down tuned, heavy as hell, loud as fuck and, as you can tell from the titles of this 7", totally obnoxious. What every good rock band should be!

Growing up an hour and a half north of Grand Rapids didn't really make me a local so my knowledge about this band is limited. Attending shows there happened sporadically due to the long-enough drive and the memories are hazy at best due to the amount of pot smoked on the way. What I do remember (I think) is that they opened for the Jesus Lizard in Detroit once and did shows in some sketchy ass buildings and basements over by the Reptile House (as well as IN the Reptile House). Two of 9-Volts' members were from the GR punk band Wheelchair Motherfuckers as I learned here. I remember their singer, Hans, being some what small guy and best described as "wiley". I think I remember he had some weird patch of hair on his shoulder that he would expose and the bass player would lick and...umm I dunno... Must've been good pot!

Anyway, after this 7" they released an awesome 5 or 6 song cassette that I almost played til it broke and now can't find anywhere. I heard they record a full CD after that (maybe with a different singer) that went unreleased.

As always, info on this band via the internet is limited (non existent). Though a Myspace search did reveal some dumbfuck band from Battle Creek, MI that has compromised the moniker. Artist Direct had a little blurb but that was it. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment. As I stated before IF YOU CAN GET ME A COPY OF THEIR CASSETTE OR ANY OTHER RECORDED MATERIAL PLEASE CONTACT ME.

...damn I miss that tape.

Did I mention this 7" is on translucent brown vinyl with red streaks in it? If only they some how could've added corn...

...like a shovel full of shit.

Twitch - Medicine Ball

2009-06-25T09:30:00.006-04:00

Ahhh...where to begin.

At the tender age of 13 this was easily one of my top 3 favorite bands. Right behind Nirvana and Tool I suppose. (Hey, cut some slack, I was 13 after all.) At the time Kalamazoo's Twitch was easily the most promising band playing in west Michigan, if not all of MI.

What really set Twitch apart from their proggy, art-metal leaning K-zoo brethren was their more rock based verse chorus verse song structures and the amazingly unique croon of vocalist Chris Bryers. It was heavy and original enough for the metal guys and musicians, noisy and simple enough for the grunge kids, and yet still accessible enough for the college rock crowd. I'm sure Bryers' vocals helped with the later as well. There was a warm honesty in his almost "Peter Gabriel via Satan" voice that I'm sure wet a panty or two. (If I remember correctly, the one and only time I got to see them he got hit in the face by the bra of an over enthusiastic female.)

Based on the strength of their self released "Homewrecker" EP they got signed to Grass Records. Based on the strength of that Grass release "Beaten Senseless and Giddy With Love" they got signed to RCA. What happened from there remains a mystery to most. I remember reading a review of the advanced copy of "Medicine Ball" in a local music rag. I think it even showed some art work (be it small) that I never saw again. Rumor had it that RCA could only keep one of their MI signings (the other being the one hit blunder Verve Pipe. Fucking "Freshmen"!). Subsequently, Twitch was dropped and this EP went unreleased. From the sounds of it there was a whole other albums worth of material recorded that got shit canned as well. As it seems to happen too often in situations like this, this prematurely ended a band that had yet to peak in popularity or potential.

I got this on cassette tape at one of thier (last?) shows in K-zoo. I'm not sure if it followed being dropped or if it was during them floating in label limbo. It did seem like they were selling these out of spite either way. Just a hand dubbed 90 minute tape with a Xeroxed lime green sleeve that simply read "TWITCH - Medicine Ball".

I'm throwing in their contribution to the Grass Records tribute to Frank Sinatra ("Pretty Colors") and the b-side to the Jedi 7" ("Wick") just to fatten to zip and sweeten the deal. More info on Twitch can be found here and here. "Homewrecker" and "Beaten Senseless..." are available on iTunes. I suggest you get them both. They are phenomenal. Chances are good though that if you're here getting this from me, you own both and already know that.

Philo Beddow - S/T EP

2009-06-11T14:11:00.005-04:00

I mentioned this band a while back in the Jaks post and I'm finally getting around to posting it. Like I said in that post, I think they played that same Grand Rapids show as Jaks if I remember right. Regardless, Philo Beddow was yet another great and "unknown outside of MI" band. I remember seeing them another time at an in-store performance during one of Ann Arbor's notorious Hash Bash weekends. They had Craw stickers all over there stuff which made perfect sense. I believe they played together quite a bit. Philo Beddow definitely rock in a very similar way. Imagine Craw mixed with Quicksand maybe? Weird, right? I know but it worked well. I think they had more hooks and were overall more accessible than Craw.

Pop-Craw?!

Anyway, finding info on this band anymore is not easy. No Myspace and as you can see I had to take a picture of the cover just to present it here. I believe they had a 7" out before this that I don't have and it appears they put an album out a bunch of years later that really sounds nothing like this.

Here ya go "Knucklehead"!

My next couple of posts are gonna shed some light on some MI bands that I feel have been long over looked. I'm not sure what it is but it seems that there are so many great bands there that, for some reason, go virtually unnoticed outside that region. Lack of touring? Maybe. Lack of giving a shit? More likely. Lack of quality? No. I don't think so anyway...

KENmode - Extending Common Courtesy Throughout The Evening

2009-06-09T17:42:00.006-04:00

This band rules! The album ("Mennonite") this song is from was one of my favorite releases last year! It's more than post-worthy but I'm pretty sure the band self-released it so you should buy it from them here.

Non Compos - The Rats Know Him & Smile When You Hate

2009-05-08T13:34:00.010-04:00

Recently, a friend of mine emailed me asking about a band he was sure he heard from me and that he hadn't heard in a long time. Great...this ought to be fun. Let the guessing game begin! He then said the only thing he could remember was a line that repeated over and over... "I see the stars in your eyes...I see the stars in your eyes".

Easy! Non Compos!

I knew nothing of this band when I bought "The Rats Know Him" except it was on Tortuga Records and was some how affiliated with Hydra Head. At the time that was a stamp of approval in my realm and I was left with my jaw dropped. Shit...left with my jaw ripped straight off my face lying on the floor! Ahhh...the satisfying sound of hate. Noisy, heavy, sick and unforgiving...in-fucking-tense. Kind of like the most demented aspects of Today is the Day; the honed, chaotic perfection of Deadguy; and the filthy, sludgy goodness of Cattlepress all rolled into one. This makes "broootal" hardcore metal bands these days look like uninspired pansy assed chumps. (I know, I know, that's not saying all that much anymore.)

It's hard to find much info about this band via the ol' inter-web. They were from Burlington, Vermont and I guess they used to wear orange prison jumpsuits and black masks when they played live. (Easy up, this is before those d-bag Slip-Not turds!) After taking in the greatness of "The Rats..." I discovered their earlier album "Smile When You Hate" on Wonderdrug (when they still had the "Mentis" attached to their name) which is also great, though not the classic I feel that "The Rats..." is. I talked to some of the Tortuga guys at a Krazyfest a long time ago about them and they said they we're trying to talk them into doing another album. More recently I heard rumors of a reunion and new album via their Myspace. Yet, even that was a while ago now and seems unlikely to happen.

"Thank you and die slowly."

Here's a video for the song "58", the opening track from "The Rats Know Him".

Torche - "Across The Shields" video

2009-05-03T20:40:00.004-04:00

This makes me giggle.

Across The Shields

Jaks - Here Lies the Body of Jaks

2009-05-01T08:22:00.009-04:00

I first found out about Jaks the good "ol' fashioned" way... live. I saw them on (I believe) a New Years Eve show (95/96-ish?) at the Reptile House in Grand Rapids, MI opening for my local favorites at the time 9-Volt Tongue. (As a quick side note I'd like to say that I have a 9VT 7" that'll make it's way on here eventually but unfortunately I lost their killer demo tape along the way. If you some how stumble upon here and have a copy of said 9-Volt Tongue demo tape please, please, PLEASE contact me!) I remember thinking Jaks were really weird. Different from anything else, locally anyway, and also thinking they were just plain "weird".

In retrospect, Jaks pretty much spews forth the Jesus Lizard/The Birthday Party flame just to turn around and piss it out with vinegar. No surprise that two of their recorded efforts were indeed "recorded" by the one and only Steve Albini. Live they were complexly bombastic yet sloppy and, well...creepy. I remember the drummer being really good and singer Katrina Ford doing one of the best Dave Yow vocal impersonations. Not in a "girly" way either...just period. Shit, she sounds like a dude for the most part. Only in recently discovering The Birthday Party have I noticed how much they borrowed from their sound as well. Especially in Jaks "eerier" moments. The vampire themed lyrics don't hurt those eerie aspects either. There's something strangely vaudevillian going on here...huh.

Huh?

Anyway, these guys (and girls...sorry); alongside Morsel, Mule, Wig, and Philo Beddow (who I believe also played that same said show and will also be covered here soon); made up a pretty cool Ann Arbor, MI scene at the time. I think two (the Albini ones) of the three releases covered on this Three.One.G collection were on the tiny, short lived, Chicago noise rock label Choke Inc. Records (home to the likes of Craw and Milkmine) which makes perfect sense.

Oh yeah, I also threw in a couple of tracks I found on random compilations. One I found on itunes from a comp I couldn't find out much about. It does sound live though. The other is apparently a cover of a Sesame Street song.

"Here" lies the body...

Lamont - Muscle, Guts and Luck & Thunder Boogie

2009-04-20T09:34:00.012-04:00

Happy "4/20" everyone! I haven't partook in "the act" in a long while now but I still have a fondness for the celebration... as unconventional as my method may be anymore.

That said, nothing screams "Drunk on whiskey and beer, grillin' and rockin' the fuck out on a nice night in the hills of TN" to me more than the jams of Lamont! Well, OK, in all fairness I haven't been here all that long so I'm sure some would beg to differ but from what I've experienced this evening, they fit like a camouflage, thrift store trucker hat! (Too cliche?)

Lamont is a three piece from Massachusetts that no longer exists and as far as I'm concerned, didn't get the proper due they deserved when they did. That is unless you consider getting a song on a Tony Hawk video game "making it". Straight up, no frills, AC/DC worship with some boogie woogie shred to stand out. Infact, the title of their full length "Thunder Boogie" sums it up perfectly. Hard "rawk" with a heavy enough dose of blues, honky tonk, rockabilly and cowpunk to satisfy without the corniness and pretension that usually follows suit. Actually, the rockabilly/cowpunk aspect supplies a lot of the interesting tempo shifts. Oh, and did I mention the grooves?! It seems like these guys are friends with Scissorfight which doesn't surprise me much either. Their singer strangely reminds me of Mark Arm. I dunno, whatever?!

Yeah yeah, they didn't reinvent the "R-n-R" wheel but fuck it! It's Rock-n-Roll man! Throw this on and start partying already! Shit, if you want reinvention, go force yourself to listen to some of the garbage people are calling "indie" today...

Just sayin'.

Not to be confused with the newer, fruity shit-fest Swedish band of the same name. Who let that happen? Talk about your "garbage indie"!

For fucks sake people, "RAWK!!!"

The singer looked exactly how I thought he would. Not sure why I thought as much but...

Melvins - The Maggot

2009-04-09T12:40:00.008-04:00

Sorry for the lengthy delay. Solid internet is finally up and running. In true bitter irony however, the day the net went up my external HD went DOWN! As in, "To the floor" down. Needless to say, a lot of music went bye-bye!

Any who...

Do you love this album like I do? When it came out in '99 did you jams this til you puked! (Oh wait, that was my early 20's partying!) Did it make you bang your head so hard you strangely resembled King Buzzo on a less than humid day? Me too my friend! This is easily one of the top Melvins releases in my book as it's pretty fucking solid throughout. Every track owns right down to the Fleetwood Mac cover of "Green Manalichi (with the Two Pronged Crown)". The only bad thing that could've ever been said about this album is the way the Melvins; with all their "wit, humor, wisdom and glory"; broke each song into two (count 'em...2) individual tracks.

Why was this a problem you ask? Well, at the time I suppose it wasn't. Put the CD on, listen through it...no problem. But you see, in the "Dark Ages" of the late 90's, before the time of Ipods and the like, I had a 400 disc CD player and liked shuffle. Here in lied the problem. You'd be rockin' along to "AMAZON" and then somewhere in the middle *POOF* next song! LAME! Now with Ipods and my persistent inability to choose only one Melvins album to listen to at a time (Come on, it's like your own personal jukebox!) it seemes like even more of a bummer no one has fixed this.

That is, until now!

Thanks to Garageband and my lack of anything better to do, Melvins fans (and fans of the act of shuffling) can now rejoice! I present to you "The (fixed) Maggot"!

Let me make you an offer you can't refuse!

2009-03-06T00:00:00.005-05:00

Sorry I haven't been doing much here lately. Still no substantial internet at the new house...trying to get settled in. Some shit is in the works though and it'll be flowing down the pipeline soon. Until then...

Whoa! Look at his face!!!

Yeah, his face sucks!!!

HAHAHAHA

This is gonna be me 50 odd years from now.

2009-02-07T11:54:00.003-05:00

Maybe this guy should join the Breakfast At Sulimay's clan.

F1rst & 4oremost Best of '08!

2009-01-18T00:33:00.017-05:00

I've finally compiled my Best of '08. Yeah yeah, I know, we're a couple weeks into '09. Oh well, better late than never and well, perfection takes time. So, without further ado, I present you...in no particular order (drum roll please) my top picks of '08.

Like you care.

1) Disfear-"Get It Off" from "Live The Storm"

This album is a relentless mix of brutal punk and good ol' rock-n-roll which I guess the kids call "D-Beat" these days. I assume, from the sound of it, these gys are the kings. Shit, what do I know? I call it "Fist-Pumpin' Kick-ass!"

2) Ozenza-"Hot We" from "Hear Was Here"

What do you get if you mix Queens of the Stone Age, Failure and...oh...I don't know...Harkonen or Unsane or something? This Grand Rapids, MI rock unit, of course. Their long time comin' debut did not disappoint. A perfect marriage (*pun intended*) of riff rock melodies and noise rock meanderings.

3) KENmode-"The Pioneer" from "Mennonite"

AMREP worship done right! These Winnipeg, Manitoba noise rock bad boys make good. Written and recorded in two weeks so it's more stripped down compared to old but none the less effective or vicious. Have you ever heard Kittens?

4) Suicide Note-"No Waves" from "Empty Rooms"

These Chicago noise-core gone indie-core favs come back after a couple of years of silence with a much more focused, yet just as varied (yeah, I said that!) release than their last "Too Sick To Dance (Forever Fucked)". Welcome back (Thank you!)

5) Torche-"Healer" from "Meanderthal"

Numbero uno on most best of '08 lists. I can not disagree. This album jams! In every single sense. Perfectly mixing anthemetic vocal melodies with solid fuckin' riffs man...RIFFS! I might be the only one but I swear I hear hints of Page Hamilton in there...

6) Broadcast Sea-"Heavy Heavy" from "Wounded Soldier"

Debut album from this Texas-based unit. They would fit excellently on tour with fellow list dwellers Young Widows and Transistor Transistor so I think that says something...at least in my world.

7) Fight Amp-"Bound and Hagged" from "Hungry For Nothing"

Crusty, sludgy, noisy, filthy and delicious! This three headed morsel (three vocalist, 2 male and 1 female) took a slight turn from there D-beat past to greener, more dynamic pastures. Think a less psychedelic Kylesa (Hungry For Nothing was recorded and produced by Kylesa's Philip Cope after all) with a similar pounding bombast and low end pummel. One of my most cranked albums of '08!

8) 5ive-"Kettle Cove" from "Hesperus"

It's ironic to me that the title of 5ive's third full length (and first album in quite awhile) has a name that sounds like an STD. Ironic because this is the most catchy I've heard this band sound. This instrumental psyche-metal duo seems to have streamlined things a bit (or at least cleaned up the production) without sacrificing any of the pedal hopping. This album "jaaamms" in that early-70's "Can't see yer hand in front of yer face from all the dope smoke" sort of way.

9) Bison (bc)-"These Are My Dress Clothes" from "Quiet Earth"

Stoner-ish, thrashy metal from Vancouver, British Columbia in the vein High On Fire and Mastodon with moments of old Anthrax thrown in for good measure. I suppose that's not too odd considering Bison was formed by an ex-member of the Canadian skate-thrash band S.T.R.E.E.T.S. Sure, this does sound like what you might expect from a band named after a giant hairy animal but fuck it! Crank it, fist pump and chug a beer!

10) Gods and Queens-"Untitled 3" from "Gods and Queens"

I've read that G&Q's guitar player/singer Jaime Getz (ex-Lickgoldensky) is hard to get a long with. Maybe in a band situation, that is true...or maybe he's just a man of vision. A man who knows how he wants things he's involved with to sound. Gods and Queens sounds like exactly that. This band follows more in line with his criminally short lived, post-LGS collaboration with Mike Hill (ex-Anodyne, current Tombs), Versoma. There is something very vulnerable about this. Hopefully not so vulnerable that it can't stick around longer than the prior.

11) Black Elk-"Stab" from "Always A Six, Never A Nine"

I'm so glad people started ripping off the Jesus Lizard again. This Portland, OR band slash and burn (and step it up) on this, their second record and follow up to the equally scathing yet not as precise '06 self titled debut. Jagged, noisy rhythms with a more crushing take on AMREP destruction pave the way for psycho-babble screeching and full-on man-howling. My girlfriend's not a fan. Maybe that's a reason to like it...

12) Able Baker Fox-"Stuttering" from "Voices"

From the long distant collaborative writing effort between members of Small Brown Bike and The Casket Lottery comes the straight up indie-rawking Able Baker Fox. Tight, quality post-punk (or post-hardcore...whatever) with some great har-MAN-izing (Can I copyright that?). You can hear echoes of the members prior bands on "Voices" and if you're a fan of said bands, this will not disappoint.

13) Rebreather-"Sugarcord" from "Sunflower"

This some what under the radar OH stoner rock band is on again with this wrongfully overlooked, triumphant return of an album. Seamlessly blending sludgy, doom ridden stoner rock with the hypnotic, grandiose melody of HUM would seem to be no easy feat but Rebreather make the idea sound like a no brainer. This album sets the bar for stoner peers and I hope gets the attention it truly deserves.

14) Intronaut-"Cavernous Den Of Shame" from "Prehistoricisms"

Progressively sludgy...psychedelically jazzy...tribally heavy; all this and then some could be said about this bands sound. This technically proficient four piece can not only confound but they also know how to write memorable riffs and songs. Featuring one of the best and most creative bass players in metal, Joe Lester, this album can punish and then lull at the drop of a hat. Though not as memorable as 06's "Void"; "Prehistoricisms" is still a solid release and what I hope to be one of more in a long catalog from this prog-metal act.

15) Transistor Transistor-"Pillar Of Salt" from "Ruined Lives"

In 2008, this is how a punk album should sound and feel. Confused, desperate and fed up; the lyrics actually seem to be about being in an overlooked punk band. Ironically, I'm a little surprised I didn't see this on more "Best of '08" lists. In the final year of the tyrannical George "Dubya" Boosh, this should be the youth of America's calling card. Scathing, reckless abandon is abundant on this more focus follow up to '05's "Erase All Name And Likeness".

16) Harvey Milk-"Skull Socks and Rope Shoes" from "Life...The Best Game In Town"

This long running, until recently over looked, Athens, GA dirge metal band often gets compared to the Melvins. Rightfully so, Harvey Milk does dredge the same mucky musical pond. (And member pond; one time Melvins bass player Joe Preston joined them for this recording.) Harvey Milk is more "southern blues man" serious however. I read this album kinda plays out like a greatest hits and I can agree with that. This album is gooood! The Melvins put a new album out in '08. You don't see that on this list, do ya?

17) Young Widows-"Old Skin" from "Old Wounds"

This is probably my most played album of '08. Though the half studio/half live feel was a little hard to get used to, this highly anticipated follow up to their debut "Settle Down City" did not disappoint. Shellac meets Jesus Lizard meets Fugazi meets "Rid of Me" era PJ Harvey meets Nirvana or something. Bass driven noisy rock featuring well written songs. Yes, actual songs! In other words, it's good...damn good.

18) Capricorns-"Seventh Child Of A Seventh Child" from "River, Bear Your Bones"

I've stated that I'm sick of instrumental metal yet embarrassingly I keep finding instrumental metal bands I like. Though they maintain similarities to the textured flourishes of a band like Pelican, these Londoners seem to do it in more of an amped up heavier way. Think maybe Baroness as an instrumental band. I hear a good understanding of 70's British prog and metal too. Damn you Capricorns, you fuckin' jam! Thanks for making me eat my words!

19) Graveyard-"Lost In Confusion" from "Graveyard"

Whooaa maan, retro. This is 08's answer to last years "The Alchemist" by Witchcraft. No surprise, I think the two have toured together in Europe. Very authentic sounding 70's worship.

Someone payed attention to their parents record collection and apparently someone had some cool fucking parents.

20) Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan-"Come On Over (Turn Me On)" from "Sunday At Devil Dirt"

Kind of like a modern day take on Johnny Cash/June Carter duets. I pretty much love anything Mark Lanegan does. He truly can't be fucked with. This is their second collaborative effort and follow up to 06's "Ballad Of The Broken Seas". I think I like this one better. Their voices are both pleasantly haunting and complement each other nicely. This is a great album for a Sunday morning; sipping coffee, frying up some eggs and trying like hell to shake off the beer induced, heavy metal debauchery from the night before.

Well, there ya go! I hope you enjoy the comp!

"F1srt & 4oremost Best of '08!"

Hopefully '09 will bring more frequent posting from more contributers. I started this with hopes of making it sort of an online take of an old school zine. We'll see. Maybe it'll just continue to be me throwing around over inflated opinions.

Cheers!

Stupid shit I've heard since moving to the south: Vol. 1

2009-01-14T08:29:00.006-05:00

So, I was in a discount book store a couple of months ago, right after I moved down here. You know, one of those last ditch effort places that attempt to sell currently irrelevant, formerly "relevant" auto biographies on some jack-off in the senate or I dunno, some super sweet, ultra-conservative religious books on tape. Anyway, as in the south, this establishment had the local country station on the radio just cranking out what I assume to be the "hits". I assume this because my knowledge on the genre is, we'll say, limited at best. That and the cashier was "going for it" by audibly singing along.

The announcer came on in all his cheese ball, radio voice splendor and gave his spiel, "If you have any drive time requests...". Usually the banter would've just blended into the back ground but since Dolly Parton Jr. over there made me notice, I was listening.

Announcer: "Let's go to the phones and get another request. Hi there caller, you have a request you'd like to share with us?"

Caller: "Yeah, I sure doo!" All excitedly twanged out, of course.

Announcer:"Great! What can we get on for ya then?

Caller: "I don't know...anythang!" Once again, very enthusiastically twangy.

Announcer: Understandable confused, "Anything?!"

Caller: As blissfully ignorant as ever, "Yeah, I don't care, anythaang!"

I didn't listen to what was said after this as it was one of the dumber exchanges I've ever been subject to hearing. I was in "idiot shock". If I had to guess, I'm pretty sure it was stupid.

Now, I and the rest of the United States of America could be confused about this; I always thought the point of going through the motion of physically making the effort of dialing the number of a radio station on the telephone DURING a request hour AND waiting for what could be upwards of ten minutes on hold was to have a song to tell the station to play!?! Who fucking calls a radio station without one idea what they'd like to hear?! Better yet, who couldn't just pull a song out of their ass on the spot even if they only listen to the radio gingerly puttering around on a daily basis?! I mean shit, she listened closely enough to catch the stations phone number to call, right? Really? Not one song idea? Really?!

REALLY?!?

Hum - Fillet Show *plus b-sides and rarities

2008-12-19T16:08:00.008-05:00

In honor of Hum's upcoming New Years Eve and New Years Day shows at the Double Door in Chicago I'm gonna post their virtually unknown first album. I only very recently found out about these shows and tried to get tickets but of course, to no avail. This album is also another recent discovery. I've known about it for a while now but only acquired it as of late. I think the first thing you'll notice right off the bat is some one else takes over lead vocal duties other than Matt Talbot on a couple songs. Those also tend to be the songs that sound least like what people came to recognize as Hum's sound. Also, the lush drone, expansive song writing and almost metal-like wallop is traded in for more of a poppy, stripped down indie-punk sound more similar to that of their neighbors in the Poster Children (who will show up on here eventually). I'm very glad they developed the way they did. This is by no means as essential as "Electra 2000" is, that being the first album from the "quintessential" line up. This is however kind of a neat glimpse into where this band started out if you are a fan and a nerd like myself.

"Fellatio???"

Also, I'm gonna include the most relevant b-sides and rarities I acquired from h-u-m.net. If you're a fan and haven't ever checked that site out, do so. From what i can tell it's a fairly well maintained fan site. There are some full demos, videos and wallpapers for download and other info that might be worth a look.

"It's the waste of a song..."

For your viewing pleasure we have a video for "The Pod". The first song off their major label debut "You'd Prefer An Astronaut". Shit, I didn't even know a video for this song existed!

If you are one of the lucky ones who gets to see this on New Years...bite me. (I remember seeing this 120 Minutes and being amazed by their drummer. He hits hard as hell!!!)

Tad b-sides and rarities

2008-12-19T09:57:00.010-05:00

Tad is the shit! You should really know this by know. The whole ax wielding, ex-butcher/lumber jack insano redneck mystique rules! Sheer genius! I mean seriously, who wouldn't want to party with (or listen to jams by...) this guy?!

Redefining heavy in the age of Sub Pop, Tad should have been huge. (No pun intended.) Tad was the human embodiment of the sound he created. Taking their name from the main man himself, the sheer girth of their sound was only ever rivaled really by the Melvins. Squealing, belching, grunting, riffs just throbbing...it truly does sound like a fucking maniac beating his guitar with a rack of lamb ham-fistedly into oblivion. Especially on this older, more primal sounding stuff. That's not to say there is no musical value here. Tad truly had an amazing ability to combine a real "wam and thud" mentality with a pop sensibility and some descent vocals. They always "tongue in cheekly" played so beautifully into the persona created that you couldn't help but smirk along and sell the legend with 'em, sweatily head banging the whole way. I mean fuck, the guitars sound like a fucking chain-saw!

This is a collection of early 7" b-sides and compilation contributions I entitled "Kills Roaches Dead". The title is lifted from the back of a Tad shirt I got when I saw them open for Soundgarden on the "Superunknown" tour in high school. This might not be absolutely everything but it's all I could find and I think honestly, it's a pretty comprehensive collection. Missing are some of the post-"Infrared Riding Hood" 7"s. I read recently here that there is a plan in the works to release those songs and other unreleased recordings from the time right before Tad called it quits sometime in '09.

Here's the infamous "banned from MTV" video for "Woodgoblins" playing up the lumberjack thing. They were deemed to ugly for MTV's sensitive eyes. hahahaha

Here's Tad performing live on some random talk show or something.

Here's a teaser trailer for the Tad DVD that's out entitled "Busted Circuits and Ringing Ears".

It is highly recommended!

Stompbox - Stress *plus some b-sides

2008-12-15T14:03:00.011-05:00

I by no means feel like I'm reinventing the wheel or revealing some great secret here by posting about this band. I've seen it a couple other places (shit, their own bass player has it posted on his blog) but for me not to would be weird because this album was one of my favorites growing up and is still one I love to jam on more than an occasional basis.

I've heard it said that they sound like "Neil Fallon fronting Helmet" and i guess for the most part this could be true. Imagine further maybe if "Inhaler"-era TAD and Page Hamilton started a band and invited early Clutch's Neil Fallon and Iron Lung of Scissorfight to trade off on vocal duties. However, unlike the other bands I've mentioned so far, Stompbox had way more of a bouncy "moshable" quality. Maybe it was that hometown Boston hardcore influence sneaking in.

I first discovered this band on Headbanger's Ball and was instantly hooked by there ultra heavy, down right hammering, staccato groove. It also didn't hurt that I was completely stoned and their singer resembled some grungy, bellowing burn out that would always be down with "puffing a J" with ya. There was always something very tongue in cheek about this band that

I admired. Could've been that they had songs called "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "Fool For The City" that had nothing to do with the classic rock originals. For the most part the album maintains it's heavy, head bobbing riffathon giving way to frequent melodic "grunge like" vocal tendencies. Even though Stompbox play some "lunkhead-ish" type of metal I think some real solid musicianship shines through. I remember reading the vocalist was the original choice to front Geezer Butler's GZR project. It would've been a lot cooler if he did.

"I AM NOTHING..."

Like S2R in my previous post...Stompbox was another fantastic band that was scooped up in the post-Nirvana signing frenzy, slated to be the next "Big Thing", was improperly pushed, failed to put up winning numbers and was subsequently dropped. I spent years after trying to find anything else recorded by this band as this was there only "proper" release.

Recently, much to my surprise, I came across the only previously read about "Travis" EP on iTunes. Even more surprisingly, through blogging around, I acquired unreleased tracks from the "Stress" recording session as well as some rare comp tracks. Most of the tracks are re-recorded songs from the "Travis" EP but there's a couple I hadn't heard along with a Gang Green cover "Alcohol" (b-side to the Halloween Day Massacre 7") and a cover of the Tree (another awesome Beantown band!) song "Question Abuse". I've compiled those plus the only un re-recorded "Travis" track "Lobotomizer" and another single b-side I had here under the fitting title "Now, What's It Worth".

As always, you can find a shit load of copies of "Stress" here for cheap or in bargain bins across America.

Here's the "No Woods" video I saw on wheeed. A lot of people feel that Disturbed ripped off the verse riff. I couldn't agree more!

Here's a interview with the previously mentioned bass player, Patrick, telling what happened post-"Stress".

This is mother-fucking hilarious!

2008-12-10T13:19:00.006-05:00

I think i just swallowed a tea bag?! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Season To Risk - In A Perfect World

2008-12-08T10:44:00.028-05:00

Grunge-y 90's noise rawk/The Jesus Lizard worship from Kanass City, MS.

Swept up in what was the "Grunge" signing/feeding frenzy of the early 90's, Season To Risk seems far too ugly for a major label. Maybe Colombia big wigs just figured their melodies would get sweeter with time. No wonder they didn't know how to push this band. This is the second full length from this criminally underrated act and their final LP for Colombia. With producing credits going to Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Helmet, Unsane, Swans) and art credits going to Derek Hess, it only further complements S2R's rawest and darkest release. I remember not being overly fond of it myself at first being a big fan of their self titled debut. It was just so noisy and hard to distinguish the bass from the guitars. Oh, but how it grew on me like some sick, puss filled boil. It seemed to speak to my drunken, alienated, misguided late teenage self. You know, it still speaks to the early 30's version of that same asshole to this day. "Absolution", "Terrain Vague" and "Time Bomb" seem to stand out though I feel every song on here is a keeper. Grinding bent guitars, jagged, distorted bass rhythms and tight snappy drums lend themselves nicely to Steven Tulipana's poetic, fuzz box, carnival-barker ranting. Aptly titled "In A Perfect World"...indeed, in a perfect world this would be huge.

Myself and a friend of mine at the time drove two hours in a snow storm to see them on tour for this album. Due to the weather, we ended up being the only two there. Well, besides the three misdirected middle agers that were sitting at a table in the back of the bar. The fact that they were only there for drinks and "atmosphere" became evident when they got up and left half way through S2R's second song. They played to "us" that night. The show might as well been in my living room. They played our request of "Snakes" off the first album and obliged us the favor years later at a far better attended show in the same town. Even though we almost died twice on the way, it was so worth it and remains to be one of my favorite concerts to this day.

"...you will always feel this way."

There are also 127 copies on Amazon for a $.01 so pick up a hard copy you slacker!

"Bloodugly" video

"Jack Frost" video