Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Make A Joyful Noise

Merry Fuckin' Christmas.

Assholes.

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

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!!!

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...

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)

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

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

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!