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!

Deadclownpile - S/T

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

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

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!

the Jesus Lizard - Peel

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!

Twitch - Medicine Ball

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

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

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.

Jaks - Here Lies the Body of Jaks

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...

*Link removed*

Season To Risk - In A Perfect World

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