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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Summer Reruns

I have to step away from the PC for the next week or two as my wife will be giving birth to our second child. As you would expect things are going to be hectic. Juggling two kids under two will be a challenge and I don't see myself wiggling out of the paternal responsibilities until things settle down. In short, the wife has threatened to cut my balls off if she catches me fucking around on the computer. So there you have it. In the interim I've decided to link to some old posts that have been "revamped", so to speak, so you all can kill some time while I attend to things (idea glommed from Agony Shorthand)

Angry Red Planet
The Eat
Gibson Bros.
Youth Youth Youth
The Left
Sado-Nation
Gandhi
Zero Boys
Iron Cross

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Monday, May 30, 2005

Heart Attack

Another short entry given the late hour. Like Urban Waste, Heart Attack were part of the first wave of New York City hardcore bands along the lines of The Mob, Kraut, Ism, etc. Heart Attack's first 7", 1981's God Is Dead, is held up as the first real NYC hardcore release. Featuring a teenage Jesse Malin on guitar and vocals, Heart Attack would only manage three releases before dissolving in 1984. In 2001 all of the releases and a couple of demo sessions were released as The Last War. The demo tracks are unremarkable, but this collection is essential in compiling the bands speedy first 7", the aggro powerhouse Keep Your Distance 12", and the melodic hardcore of the Subliminal Seduction 12". All excellent in their individual way. Highlights:

from the God is Dead 7"
Heart Attack - Shotgun.mp3

from Keep Your Distance EP
Heart Attack - Victims Inquisition.mp3

from Subliminal Seduction EP
Heart Attack - Wheels Over Indian Trails.mp3

>> Buy The Last War
>> Heart Attack interview at Dementlieu Punk Archive

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Friday, May 27, 2005

The SiLT music meme

I've never been too keen on the whole meme thing. Most of the ones I've come across require too much thought to complete coherently (i.e. they would reveal how truly simple I am). Well one year in and I get passed a pretty straightforward one from Jason at Mystery and Misery. So why not?

Total volume of music files on my computer:
The home pc has ~70 GB of music. Surprisingly my work computer has 1.26 GB - much more than I thought. WTF am I doing at work all day?

The last CD I bought was:
Unsane - Blood Run. Despite the long layoff it sounds just as you would expect it to (heavy and evil)

Song playing right now:
"American Cancer" by the Evil Queens. (you can download track on their music page)

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

Mission of Burma - That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate.mp3
the closing track from Vs. sounds so different than the rest of the album, but who cares? A great little punk rock song that I associate with some fond memories.

Dinosaur Jr. - The Lung.mp3
I remember being blown away when I first heard Dinosaur on the radio way back when. I ran out and bought You're Living All Over Me and was very pleased. For some reason this song always makes me think of warm spring days. Which is nice.

Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait.mp3
an outtake from the Tim sessions that was included in the largely useless "best of" compilation All for Nothing... An underappreciated anthem that always strikes a chord with me.

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance.mp3
I still have difficulty listening to Pere Ubu in anything more than small doses. When I do listen "The Modern Dance" is usually the first track played. I've always loved the way the sound just washes over you, and you can almost ignore David Thomas' yelping.

Subhumans - Susan.mp3
this one used to get me all teared up. Luckily the team of medical professionals that keep me alive were able to get the medications all balanced out and now I feel nothing when I listen to this. I must be dead on the inside.

This was originally called "Five people to whom I’m passing the baton" but after realizing that these things really do kinda suck I figured I would remove any sense of obligation to continue this thing and just refer to this as
6 people whose sites I really enjoy and make a point to read daily:
Scott at Strange Reaction
Keith at Data Jockey
Tim at Disassemblyline
G at Sex Kittens Compare Scratches
Jim H at Vinyl Mine
Emerson at Old Punks

Do check them out if you haven't already. Please, no more death threats.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Vaz


photo coutesy GSL


Anyone who has been reading these tortured ramblings for awhile knows I have a strong affinity for the "Noise Rock" sounds of the '90's. One of my all-time favorites was the Minneapolis godhead trio Hammerhead. After the demise of Hammerhead in 1997 bassist Paul Erickson (aka Apollo Liftoff) and drummer Jeff Mooridian (aka Deft Garlands ) carried on as a two-piece under the moniker of Vaz. Their two albums ( 2000's Demonstrations in Micronesia and 2003's Dying To Meet You) are both crammed with tracks featuring spaced out riffs, scifi lyrics and sleepy, low key vocals. It all adds up to some dense, moody material. Creepy (in a good way) stuff.

Currently operating out of Brooklyn, Vaz have recently added a third member, Adam Mark, on guitar. They have also finished recording their third album which will hopefully be out some time in the near future. A couple of my favorites:

from Demonstrations in Micronesia
Vaz - Blocked By Satellites.mp3
Vaz - Forgotten Classic.mp3

from Dying To Meet You
Vaz - Blue Lip Special.mp3
Vaz - Freon Suite #2.mp3

>> Buy Demonstrations in Micronesia from Load Records
>> Buy Dying To Meet You from Gold Standard Labs
>> Official Vaz homepage
>> Grunnenrocks Vaz page

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Monday, May 23, 2005

CIA

I'll begin with what has seemingly become the default introduction to so many of these posts on this site: "There doesn't appear to be a great deal of information on 'insert band name here'. Here is what I know...". Todays fill in the blank is Connecticut hardcore band CIA. I find myself still enjoying the music of CIA and fellow Connecticut bands Vatican Commandos, Seizure and Reflex From Pain. I don't know if it is a function of geographic location, but so many of these bands were able to deliver some solid music sans the militancy and thuggery of the bigger scenes north and south along the I-95 corridor. (NY and Boston) CIA's debut 7" God, Guts, Guns is fine example of hardcore circa 1983. 6 tracks full of hectic, big guitar, no bullshit tuneage. After this release the guitarist and vocalist would leave to form 76% Uncertain. CIA continued on with new recruits to release an LP that, while not bad, didn't really deliver on the potential of the 7". A couple of tracks:

from God, Guts, Guns 7"
CIA - Who Cares & Death.mp3
CIA - Love and War.mp3
CIA - No Thrills.mp3


and for illustration purposes heres one from CIA LP released in 1985
CIA - Red Coats.mp3

As far as I know this is all out of print. Correct me if I'm wrong.

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Friday, May 20, 2005

Joy Division Covers


This past week (May 18th to be exact) marked the 25th anniversary of the suicide of Ian Curtis. Here we are a quarter century later and the influence of Joy Division can still be heard in various dosages dubbed as the newest and freshest sounds of modern music. Each phase of Joy Division's short career has seemingly left a mark, from the early post-punk sounds of Warsaw through to the dark and desolate soundscapes of Closer. While all of the bands below are "guitar" bands the material runs the gamut of the Joy Division catalog. (though earlier is more prominent, sure) In the realm of Joy Division covers I know of at least one tribute, A Means To An End, which I have not heard it in it's entirety. Curious as to who has covered the band? Here is what looks to be a pretty detailed list of known JD covers. In my collection:



from 2003's Switchblade Tongues, Butterknife Brains
New Bomb Turks - The Drawback.mp3

from 1998's When My Blue Moon Turns Red Again
Bassholes - Interzone.mp3

a demo version. Appears in more polished form on Grippe
Jawbox - Something Must Break.mp3

from Wine is Red, Poison is Blue
Poison 13 - Warsaw.mp3

from the Destruction of Squaresville singles comp
Jack O' Fire - No Love Lost.mp3

from 1994's Mystery of Kustomized
Kustomized - Dead Souls.mp3



So, which of your JD favorites did I miss? I should note that when I originally thought this up a couple of weeks ago I had planned on including the Effigies version of "No Love Lost". I substituted the Jack O' Fire version instead

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Horizontal Action's Blackout

So is anyone going to the 5th annual Horizontal Action Blackout in Chicago? Shows started last night and continue tonight and tomorrow. Should be cool, what with the Pagans, Reigning Sound, Bad Times, Gris Gris, and others performing. Wish I could go. Ah, to be young and unfettered with obligations

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Cosmic Psychos


Now here's a couple from some blokes you can trust. Australia's Cosmic Psychos come across as a couple of regular fellers whose primary obligation now is to their day jobs and family. When they are playing music however you'll be treated to some solid 3-chord aggro thats full of fuzzy, distorted bass and acidic guitar riffs. And while they haven't released a new album in close to 8 years, (1997's Oh, What A Lovely Pie is the last)they have been known to play the occasional gig or even head over to the US and Europe for a small tour (it has been awhile though) Allmusic has a detailed and seemingly accurate overview of the band. Check it out here. As far as I can tell the band releases (on SubPop and AmRep) are still available. If you can find it, 2001's retrospective 15 Years, A Million Beers is a fine place to start. Give us some wah-wah, dirty:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
from 1995's Self-Totaled
Cosmic Psychos - Thank Your Mother For The Rabbits.mp3

from 1991's Blokes You Can Trust
Cosmic Psychos - Hooray Fuck.mp3

from the US version of 1989's Go The Hack
Cosmic Psychos - Can't Come In (live).mp3

from the bands 1985 debut Down on the Farm
Cosmic Psychos - Custom Credit.mp3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>> Buy Cosmic Psychos releases from Froogle
>> GrunnenRocks has the discography
>> Vinyl Mine has a splendid writeup on the Psychos from last fall

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Monday, May 16, 2005

Social Unrest

Social Unrest


Social Unrest were an early hardcore band from the East Bay area (Hayward, CA. to be specific). Despite some lineup changes the band produced a solid body of work between 1981 and 1988 ( A full band history can be found here). For me the best work is that of the original lineup: 1981's Making Room For Youth 7" and 1982's Rat In A Maze 12". "Making Room For Youth" is a punk rock classic with it's burning guitar and anthemic vocals. "Rush Hour" is a notch below but still solid. Rat In A Maze takes a more hardcore approach by shaking up the tempos and chunking up the guitar. The band would subsequently change vocalists and go on to release 3 albums of increasingly melodic material from 1985 to 1988. Sometime in the 90's New Red Archives reissued everything on two CD's.

--------------------------------------------------------------
from Making Room For Youth
Social Unrest - Making Room For Youth.mp3
Social Unrest - Rush Hour.mp3


from Rat In A Maze
Social Unrest - Red, White, and Blue.mp3
Social Unrest - Thinking of Suicide.mp3
--------------------------------------------------------------

>> Buy Social Unrest releases

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Friday, May 13, 2005

Decline of Western Civilization


Penelope Spheeris' Decline of Western Civilization was one of the first "punk rock" films I ever saw, and still remains one of my favorites nearly 25 years after it's initial release. Filmed in 1980, Decline... offers a view of the Los Angeles punk scene in one of it's more exciting periods. Live footage is interspersed with interviews with the bands, prominent scene players, and regular punk rock kids. The highlight is the music, featuring performances from X, Circle Jerks, Germs, Alice Bag, Catholic Discipline. The Black Flag and Fear sets are particularly hot.

The soundtrack was originally released on Slash, but was reissued on CD by Rhino a couple of years ago. At this point it appears it has slipped out of print again. As for the movie itself, I've heard rumors that it will eventually be available as part of a 3 disc box (containing DOWC parts 2 and 3), but who knows when that will happen.

I've left the tracks "as is", which means they may have some sound clips (interviews) from the movie :

Black Flag - Depression.mp3
Germs - Manimal.mp3
X- Johnny Hit and Run Paulene.mp3
Circle Jerks - Back Against The Wall.mp3
Alice Bag Band - Gluttony.mp3
Fear - I Don't Care About You.mp3

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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Cheater Slicks


photo courtesy In The Red


I'm scratching my head trying to come up with concise and accurate way of describing the Cheater Slicks sound to those unfamiliar. You know, something about two guitars and a drummer, or how the there's a melodic undercurrent buried under the noise and sludge, or shit, just the reputed loudness of the band. Screw it, I'll just go with the self description from the band's website:


Cheater Slicks is a three-man garbage band from Columbus, Ohio, who play dissolute, pounding rock for drunks, burnouts and other losers in life with little else to cling to. Tom Shannon (gtr, vocs), Dave Shannon (gtr), and Dana Hatch (drms, vocs) have held onto their desperate delusions for nigh on 18 years, releasing 8 or 9 albums and occasionally touring the toilets of North America and Europe, generally living on hope.



Personally my favorite albums are the Forgive Thee double set(1997), the Skidmarks compilation (1998), and Refried Dreams (1999). Their most recent is 2002's Yer Last Record. Tough to pick only a couple, but here goes:

Cheater Slicks - Spanish Rose.mp3
from 1995's Don't Like You

Cheater Slicks - In This Town.mp3
A desolate sounding cut from from Refried Dreams.

Cheater Slicks - Dark Night.mp3
from the unreleased first album in 1989. Issued as part of the Skidmarks compilation

Cheater Slicks - Ghost.mp3
fulfilling a request, from Forgive Thee This is a long one at 7+ minutes

>>>> Buy Cheater Slicks releases

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Punk Fucking Rock!

Hey! Closing in on the one year anniversary of SiLT and I finally received my first "Cease and Desist" request. And cool, it's from one of my all time favorite bands, The Effigies!

=======================================================


From: "mail" mail@effigies.com
To: music blogger
Subject: Don't Use Effigies Tracks On Your Blog Anymore
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 22:04:51 -0400

Please don't post any Effigies tracks (including the ones from "Busted at
Oz") on your blog @ http://somethingilearned.blogspot.com/
If you go back and reactivate previous months entries, do not activate
Effigies tracks.

Thank you,The Effigies
http://www.effigies.com/
Send mail to: mail@effigies.com
To subscribe to the effigies newsletter send a note with the subject:
"subscribe" to effigies-news-request@effigies.com

======================================================
So that's that. The files had already been removed from the posts in question, as I only keep things available for a month or so. If you've downloaded any Effigies tracks from this site please make sure you delete them from your computer. After that, take a hammer and smash your computer into a million tiny pieces. Finish the job by dousing the remains in kerosene and setting afire. Burn, motherfucker, burn (inspired by the SVC disclaimer)


It's not that I mind being told to remove copyrighted material. That's fine. I guess it's to be expected when you do this kind of thing. Scott has received the same correspondence. He articulates his thoughts (which are essentially the same as mine) in much better fashion I could.

And oh yeah, please subscribe to our newsletter.

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Monday, May 09, 2005

Urban Waste

Another short one due to lack of info. Urban Waste were part of the first of wave of New York City hardcore bands that included the likes of Heart Attack, Kraut, The Mob, etc. The band released one 8 song 7" in 1982 on Mob Style records before splitting. What to expect? Fast and furious hardcore with a nasty guitar sound and some flipped out vocals (especially on "Ignorant"). KFTH has a review that sums it all up nicely. The record has recently been reissued on CD by Mad at The World records, but it has been booted several times over the years. 3/4 of the band went on to play briefly as Major Conflict, but that was 1983. Beyond that I have no idea what became of the band. If anyone has info on the band, subsequent activities, etc then clue me in. I can't seem to find shit on these guys.
Select tracks:

Urban Waste - Police Brutality.mp3
Urban Waste - Public Opinion.mp3
Urban Waste - Ignorant.mp3
Urban Waste - Reject.mp3

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Friday, May 06, 2005

For Mom, With Love


It completely slipped my mind that this Sunday is Mother's Day (translation - I'm fucked). Crap, I have to hit the stores for gifts, cards, and cakes. Too much to do, too little time. Forgot to send a card or flowers? Direct mom here for a little Hallmark sentiment:

Angry Samoans - In Love With Your Mom.mp3
a live cut from Return to Samoa CD

The 7-10 Splits - I Love Your Mom.mp3
coming clean to your friends can be a bitch. Goofball punk from Milwaukee

Cows - Mother (I Love That Bitch).mp3
a heart felt ode to mama, from 1987's Taint Pluribus, Taint Unum

Stiphnoyds - Mom's a Fake.mp3
from their one and only 7", compiled on the History of Portland Punk Volume 1

Misfits - Mommy, Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight.mp3
the live version from Walk Among Us

Nihilistics - Love and Kisses.mp3
from their 1982 debut. There's something touching about a boy writing a song about his mom

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Wednesday, May 04, 2005

New Bomb Turks

New Bomb Turks - duh


Here's a band that I've been meaning to write about since day one. I'll let the critics and other music snobs debate the merits and the historical impact of the New Bomb Turks. Regardless of what they say I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to look long and hard to find a band that rocked harder in the 90's. From 1992 - 1995 the Turks released a couple of smoking punk rock albums (Destroy Oh Boy! and Information Superhighway Revisited) and more singles than a collector nerd can keep up with (check out the list). No shit, the New Bomb Turks have three singles and odds and ends compilation discs out. Quite a feat, and that still doesn't capture everything. Sure, the later albums on Epitaph and Gearhead weren't as remarkable as the first two, but even the weakest albums had their moments thanks to vocalist Eric Davidson and that loud & gritty guitar sound rendered by Jim Weber. Shit, I don't have enough space to post all of my favorites. I thought it would be easier to dish out some of the covers they performed, but I still had some hard choices to make. The results:

covering their punk rock roots (Nervous Eaters, The Left, The Queers)
New Bomb Turks - Just Head.mp3
New Bomb Turks - Fuck It.mp3
New Bomb Turks - This Place Sucks.mp3

covering their contemporaries: (Gaunt, Thee Headcoates)
New Bomb Turks - Jim Motherfucker.mp3
New Bomb Turks - Youngblood.mp3

covering their elders: (Aerosmith, Rolling Stones)
New Bomb Turks - Chip Away The Stone.mp3
New Bomb Turks - Jivin' Sister Family.mp3

Stuff:
>> Buy New Bomb Turks releases
>> Supposedly a DVD is in the works. Any info?
>> As far as I know the band isn't "officially" broken up, they're just taking a break. They played a show in Cleveland a month or so ago.

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Monday, May 02, 2005

The Victims

It's Murder Punk Monday here at SiLT. The Victims were a three piece from Perth, Australia that existed for a brief time between 1977 - 1979. 1978 saw the band release their full body of work - a single and a 5 song EP known as the 'No Thanks to the Human Turd' EP. Speedy, raw Ausie punk, it doesn't get much better than this. These have been reissued in various forms (my copies are from the Murder Punk comps). If you can find it, All Loud on the Western Front includes the two releases and one unreleased track "Perth Is A Culture Shock". Guitarist Dave Faulkner has been fronting the Hoodoo Gurus for the past twenty something years.

from the first single:
Victims - Television Addict.mp3
Victims - (I'm) Flipped Out Over You.mp3

highlights from the 5 song EP:
Victims - High School Girls.mp3
Victims - Disco Junkies.mp3