Happy Happy Hardcore

Netlabel culture

2011-11-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

Re-reading Ed's (not really) recent posts on shitcore got me thinking about a related topic that I cultivated quite an interest for a few years back. As the internet proved itself to be a a) game-changing outlet for people of all types, backgrounds, interests, and skills to exhibit said backgrounds, interests, skills and b) an (arguably) truly libertarian and anarchic playground for self-expression, easy distribution and subculture-breeding, lots of new paradigms cropped up. New avenues for business, for publishing, for networking, for computer games began to breed rapidly. We all know the story.

Netlabels are one of many stories that make up the annals of fringe internet culture. Let's assume they first came into existence in the late 1990s. In essence, they release music for free in completely digital formats. This means no costs other than a modest amount of server space. Pair this with all manners of "difficult" electronic music, and you have a match made in heaven. It's a way for a small group of like-minded individuals to bond over a common interest (aka, what the vast majority of the non-commercial entities on the internet are all about). You see similar paradigms in other media: independent video game developers, amateur photographers, DeviantArt, SoundCloud, the blogosphere in general. People not only want to make their art, but they want to share it and not necessarily for profit. They just want to share it. And they want to be part of a community. That's what forums are for. That's what social media is about.

The biggest difference here isn't that it's a self-selecting community, or that it's a fringe interest because it hasn't picked up steam. It's definitely both of those. The biggest difference is the afore-mentioned nature of the music: difficult. It's abstract, often obscene, often with low fidelity sound, highly repetitive, grating, annoying, silly, offensive. It already draws from the most abrasive and fringe styles of music: breakcore, grindcore, industrial, noise, power electronics, 8-bit, chiptune, death metal, black metal, drone. It's a community that never ever wants to be popular or well known. It's even a community that often will deny it's affiliations with any of the aforementioned styles/genres (especially that of breakcore, which I'll get to). It's a community without a center, without a cohesive style-guide. You can "distill" it because then you'd just get something that sounded like a better-known artist of one of the styles many of these artists freely and playfully draw from. You can't take gabber-infused 8-bit noise and make it sound good. I guess if you really wanted to and really wanted to force the public at large to accept these strange noises, you'd really have to get some really polished producers and some A-level vocal talent to make some really catchy hooks over what would have to be really dumbed-down, antithetically stripped netlabel music. That said, one of the joys of the "style," if we can call it that, is that there is no style.

There are moments of incredible bliss, of melodic and stylistic perfection scattered throughout these badly tagged (often the ID3 tags for genre read "Blues"), perversely sarcastic albums. Smack in the middle of an album of hectic, chopped up, fuzzed out breakbeats set over pornographically guttural pitch-shifted vocals, there can be moments of shockingly thoughtful and complex beats and/or melody/harmony. It's these joys alongside the hilarious ridiculousness of the totally spastic gabber-fuzz-bullshit and absurdist song titles/album covers that make these artists worthwhile. That, and my belief that no artist isn't worthwhile, they're just worthless to me or to you or to whomever. So you do end up with moments that really could be even minor underground hits if they were distributed in "real" or "legitimate" or "normal" avenues. But they're not. They're released in hard-to-find, intentionally badly-designed and visually grating websites reminiscent of something a fourth grader would have made using nothing but HTML back in 1997.

Two things to consider at this point in this...essay...rant...piece of writing...let's go with that: Two things to consider at this point in this piece of writing: a) didn't Ed already write this a few months back and isn't all of this just shitcore? and b) who gives a crap, most of the music sucks.

To the askers of the first question: yes, it basically is shitcore. But shitcore tends to have less emphasis on harsh noise and power electronics and more emphasis on speed and sheer strangeness. But if you want to call a spade a spade, go ahead, I won't stop you. Sonically speaking there is very little difference between the average output on say Shitwank (Australian shitcore artist Passenger of Shit's label) and say...Trashfuck Net, among the more well-known of netlabels. And there are a million labels in between that do a combination of free digital releases and purchasable physical releases in styles similar to either of the aforementioned labels.

As for the second part, I'm not really sure. The people who make it are in a spectrum from those who genuinely care about their craft and see their work as part of a sociological, musicological, political trajectory or chronologically-evolving network and those who make it to piss people off and laugh about it: the musical equivalent of Youtube trolls. And then, there are plenty of people who just suck at making weird and/or bad music and their output can't even be listened to by so-called enthusiasts of the style. And this happens in every genre all the time. And then finally there are those who simply don't have an ear for this type of music and wouldn't or couldn't understand it's merits if they hit them in the face. Like any type of art.

At some point, I'll put a list of my favorite netlabel releases

For more:

http://trashfuck.blogspot.com/

http://dramacore.com/

http://www.sickmode.org/

http://lovetorturerecords.tk/

http://www.archive.org/details/netlabels

Playlist #2

2011-11-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

When Nat and I decided to bring back this blog as somewhat of a method of forcing ourselves to actually write instead of dicking around on Gchat and talking big about how we're gonna start some sort of awesome blog and THEN start writing, we decided that it would contain a few main things:

Terrible run-on sentences, apparently.
Wanky art history major-style prose (that's him, not me. I'm actually quite engaging).
Playlists of what we're listening to recently.

Well that means that it's my turn to write a playlist...EVEN THOUGH I THOUGHT WE WOULD BE WRITING THEM TOGETHER YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD. I also thought that we'd be doing individual songs instead of albums, but communication has never really been one of my strong suits (seriously, just ask my girlfriend! Heyoooo!). Anyway, here's a list of what I've been listening to lately. At some point in the future we'll probably do some sort of thing where we make actual playlists and put them on mediafire or whatever for people to download, but that's, like, hard.

The Olivia Tremor Control - The Sylvan Screen

Yea, I've been getting back into a lot of the Elephant 6 stuff that I was so obsessed with in High School and ditched so unceremoniously a few years later for grinding electronic noise. I guess The Olivia Tremor Control had kind of an effect on my future music tastes, what with their penchant for dense found sound/noise sculptures and complex instrumentation. In fact, whenever I'm asked to describe them, I say "they sound like The Beatles, if they were less talented and Yoko Ono was actually talented." I keep expecting people to laugh at that, because I think it's funny, but no one ever does. Anyway, I've put this song on every time I've gotten in my car for the past, like, three weeks. It starts off slow with some, umm, nature sounds, but it soon changes into one of their ballsiest tracks, with crunchy guitar riffs punctuated by sparse banjo picking and beautifully harmonized vocals. Good stuff, pitch-perfect pop with enough complexity to bear up under repeated listens.

Drink Pairing: Tecate, outside on a fall night with people you don't hate.

Madness - House of Fun

Another band that I'm revisiting after a long hiatus. When I was real young, my dad basically had four bands which he played on a rotating basis on every car trip: Madness, Squeeze, The Clash and Led Zeppelin. Madness is probably the one that stuck with me the most, especially this song, with it's rollicking, carnivalesque chorus and non-stop catchy energy. I was stuck a few towns over on a rainy day last week waiting for my car to be repaired, and ducked into a small record shop. While there, I found an old Madness compilation album in the used bin, bought it, and have been bumping this shit nonstop ever since.

Drink Pairing: Bitter, with several soccer fans with shaved heads and boots who are being kind of casually racist, but it's ok because no one seems to mind and they're doing goofy dances.

Nirvana - Oh The Guilt

Seriously, I'm a fucking nostalgia fiend these days. I used to be one of those creepy Nirvana (let's be honest...Kurt) obsessives, but kinda outgrew it around the time my acne began to clear up. But I still hold a soft spot in my heart for them, and after having a fairly intense argument with a loved one about their merits, spent a few hours listening to a few of my favorites, this being chief among them. I mean, seriously, for a b-side this is a ball-crushingly awesome song. With its intense-as-all-hell guitar riff and abstract, gritty vocals, its kind of surprising that this got buried in the archives instead of blowing up the charts.

Drink Pairing: The tears of everyone who made fun of you in middle school.

Venetian Snares - The Identification Circles Levitate

New Snares EP. Abstract reggae-based glitch. Nuff said.

Drink Pairing: Lots and lots of weed, with a whiskey chaser for anger.

Toecutter - Come on Barbie

Toecutter has always ridden that knife edge between being too cutesy and lo-fi and being too ADHD and complex. Honestly, probably like 99% of breakcore artists either carve themselves a comfortable niche on either side or fall pathetically off this edge and slice themselves up the taint and into the vitals. He's one of the few who can walk this line, with crusty pastiches of cheesy pop standards holding their own against bare noise and mind-numbing chopped breaks, making his pop culture-addled deconstructions something more than the sum of their parts. Mix that with the awesome video for this song, and you have something which I can totally watch every day.

Drink Pairing: An overpriced vodka cocktail.

Well, there you go. Yea I made a playlist which is only, like, five songs long. What, do I have unlimited time to write a bunch of stuff that no one is gonna read anyway? Shit.

On Weird Music, Part 2

2011-11-01T06:16:00.000-07:00

So last time I left you all wondering“this kid clearly thinks Taylor Swift is a) awesome and b) weirdmusic.” Part A is true. Part B is not. Fear not loyal (hah!)readers.

Let's take a step back and go back tohigh school. As most kids did, I grew up idolizing the rock and rollstars of my parents' generation, thinking that they were not only thebees' knees, but that they were only thing really worth delving into. I honestly didn't delve much into music from later than 1995 otherthan some metal (Tool, System of a Down). I still thought I wasfucking cool (knowing full well that a) I wasn't and b) no one elsethought I was). That said Bob Dylan bored me (and still does), JimiHendrix was too much for me and Nirvana didn't really register untillike the summer after 9^th grade. So I was basically justpumping The Clash, Madness, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, TheRamons, The Sex Pistols, The Grateful Dead, Creedence, Crosby StillsNash and Young until around 10^th grade.

In 8^th grade I haddiscovered Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiraland that had a huge impact on me. I couldn't believe the outrightand blatant sexuality and perversity of the album. It was dark,depressing and scary. From the pulsing, throbbing synths, to thecrass lyrics and the excruciating noise buildup in “Hurt,” thiswas brand-new sonic territory for me and it instantly became afavorite.

In 9^thgrade this awesome punk rock girl came to our school and we instantlybonded over feelings of alienation from the majority of the school. She quickly became a staple in our group of misfits and nerds. Shegave me all this awesome music that I instantly fell in love with: The Adicts, Dead Kennedys, X-Ray Spex, The Stooges, amongst others. This was also brand-new territory for me. The last three are stillamongst my favorites and regularly get spins (if you can call itthat), especially X-Ray Spex. X-Ray Spex had this incredible energyand Poly Styrene's vocals are so shrill and angsty, yet verging onsoulful that I just couldn't get enough. It's really a shame theyonly released one full-length.

It wasalso in 9^thgrade that I got my first dose of hardcore punk. Another punk rockgirl who later became another of my closest friends was also wearingLeftöver Crack t shirts and was always talking about them. So Iwent out and got their first album. I HATED IT. I couldn't deal. It was fucking scary. So much noise. So much anger. What was goingon. I loved the Sex Pistols, I loved the Stooges. Why was this sodifferent. I thought it was punk rock. I wasn't wrong. I justwasn't aware of what punk meant then. When I came back to it around12^thgrade I was hooked. It's raw, it's all over the place. It's gotclassical interludes, death metal breakdowns, hilarious samples, realanarcho-punk grit and surprisingly great musicianship. It's almostthe perfect hardcore album for me in that it's not just “loud fast”but “loud, fast, and smart.” Smart lyrically, smartinstrumentally; a very thoughtful album that I can't tell if it wasmeant to be smart or just ended up that way.

11^thand 12^thgrade things started changing. I discovered indie music for thefirst time. Of Montreal, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Walkmen, TheStrokes, Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party. The big names sure,but for me this, again, was brand new territory. It wasn't all forme (and still isn't), but I do love a great indie pop album. AndNeutral Milk Hotel routinely brings me to tears. It's beautifulstuff. Interpol too was a huge influence on me. Their first albumwas just such a great New York album. Made me feel at home somehow. It was dark, but well-crafted. Of Montreal would later greatlyinfluence my pop sensibilities, especially during sophomore year ofcollege and the year after college. Satanic Panic in the Attic andSunlandic Twins are great psych pop albums.

But weSTILL haven't really gotten to the crux of all this. More next time,kiddies.

Comingup: Throbbing Gristle and Kraftwerk; How Experimental Music ChangedMy Life.

On Weird Music, Part 1

2011-11-01T00:13:00.000-07:00

One question I seem to never tire ofbeing asked is “why do you listen to such weird music?” I've neverhad a good answer. And I'm usually drunk when I'm asked it so Ireally can't make anything connect. But I really do like thequestion, and I think maybe I like it because I don't have an answerand it forces me to constantly evaluate my interests and ideas. Which is something no one does nearly enough. People need to stop,breathe, re-evaluate and either make alterations or decide the paththey're on is the right one for them and continue on. Either way isfine, as long those considerations are made and accounted for everyso often. Be a crazy-ass murderer. Just WANT to be a crazy-assmurderer. Don't do it because your parents pushed you to follow intheir footsteps.

Back to the topic at hand. Music iswhat you make of it. Music sets the mood, it sets the tone of theday, of the hour. Really fun music can be great. It can also bereally boring. Or really grating. Or just not what you need. Sometimes you need to be depressed. Sometimes you need to feel likeyour brain is being slowly and inefficiently worn down by therhythmic ripping of a dull cheese grater. Sometimes you need to getangry. Sometimes you just need to dance. Sometimes you need to feelas insignificant as possible. And sometimes you just need to getLAID.

But what about when you're not lookingto “set a tone” or get some drunk chick to feel sexier than sheprobably looks. What about when you're just at home. Alone. Nothing to do except listen to music. No real mood to set. Nodepression to feed or stave off. I'm rarely trying to completelynumb myself. Everything I listen to ends up being a lesson. Alesson in myself, in the world around me, in my friends and who theyare and why they're like that, in forces greater than we can know. Music has this incredible power to not only shape our moods anddefine our emotions but to give weight and viability to concepts andideas. It's more than just feeling good. I know this sounds stupidbecause it always does no matter how it's said or who says it butmusic is truly mind expanding in ways that few other things are.

By mind expanding I mean to say thatmusic can show you not simply new paradigms with which to createmusic, but full-fledged maps of social, political and philosophicalrealities. Sound itself is simply a medium, stuff, material, in thesame way that paint and paper scraps are the “stuff” of paintingand collage respectively. A red dot means nothing on a canvas untilyou ascribe meaning onto it. Even a fully-realized, figurativepainting means shit without some context. The less context you giveit then it becomes the audience's job to interpret. The more context(aka, “meaning”) you impose the less interpretation and the moreconcrete it becomes. That's not to say that the best figurativepainting doesn't have loads of hidden messages and interpretablecontent. It just means that it's more outwardly understandable. With sound it's very much the same. The more easily-apparentstructure that's imposed the more easily interpretable it is. Thatdoesn't mean that great music isn't well structured and seeminglynondescript. It's the interpretation of subtleties, the hiddenmessages, the slight differences between one song and a similar songthat make one or the other more or less interesting.

With modern, radio-friendly pop music,there's rarely much to talk about. Bump-bump-bump-bump. Thatdoesn't mean I don't listen to Britney almost every morning (theseare hard facts, people). But at the same time for some people theyfind a lot of pleasure in listening to nothing but pop music. Musicthat speaks on a very simple, but emotionally/psychologicallyresonant level.

Taylor Swift is a great example. Shemakes really sweet, beautiful (let's not call it country, becauseit's not) pop music that's heartfelt and emotive. She talks aboutissues that most of us have endured or at least fantasized about(also we've all fantasized about her so it's not hard to think ofyourself—if you're a guy—as the guy in each of her songs): badbreak-ups, new crushes gone bad, budding romances, and theuncomfortable truth of seeing your ex move on whether you have ornot. It's powerful stuff and she's got a killer voice and a greatset of producers that really help build beautifully sappy pop gold. I listened to her new album CONSTANTLY for about 4 months. Ilistened to it in the car. With friends (yes, in a room full ofguys). Playing Call of Duty. Writing job applications. Cookingdinner. Me and a couple friends got hooked to that shit. And that'sbecause it's great. It's silly, it's cheesy, but it really allowsyou to visualize the stories and the stories really connect. And sowith pop music you have the heartfelt music and the strongstory-based lyrics to draw you in. Either that or a great hook, acatchy beat and some awesome synth or guitar work to get GROOOOOVIN'.

More on this in part two, in which I talk about the stylistic origins of my tastes.

On TV Shows and Background Music...Part One in an Ongoing Series of Appreciations

2011-10-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

Since I first became interested in music (ehh...9th grade or so), I've always loved hearing shit that I recognize on TV. I remember getting a giddy rush of pretentious high-school-music-nerd delight running down my spine when I heard Rapture Rapes the Muses playing in the background of some episode of MTV Cribs. "Well," I proclaimed to no one in particular, since I was awkward, highly unpopular and usually alone, "it looks like someone at MTV has some taste in music." And I promptly high-tailed it to an E6 message board, finding that I wasn't the only scrawny 15 year old who had heard the ten second keyboard riff.

Anyway, since then I've always gotten something of a pretentious thrill out of recognizing snippets of respectable music on the tubes. So I've figured that I would call it out and give credit where credit is due, in a regular series (aka just this one post) of articles highlighting the best of background music.

And the first show to be highlighted: Top Gear UK. Not only is this the best show ever (fuck you Nat, just admit it), but it also has this awesome habit of using really high-level, complex electronic music to buffer its standard car-porn shots.

For example, skip to 2:19 in this video (can't figure out how to do the whole automatically start at a certain time thing when embedding video, so bear with me here):

That's "Nightlife" by Amon Tobin! No shit, they had the taste to throw in one of his jazziest, most melodic and wonderfully creepily reverb-drenched tracks. Bloody fucking brilliant.

And they get even nicer, check this one out (audio starts later, but just watch the whole thing, I know you're not busy):

Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix)! Aphex Twin! Perfect music for watching some car go screaming down a track. Sheeeiiiit, I used to bump this monster back in the day when I was crawling through rush hour traffic to try to make first period...it's just straight up driving music.

Those are the only two examples that I'm gonna bother to demonstrate, but just today I've heard them play a few of my other favorite Amon Tobin tracks (Saboteur especially), Windowlicker, and some Boards of Canada.

Get nice BBC, get nice.

And...we're back // Playlist #1

2011-10-31T00:29:00.000-07:00

Hey. So we're back. For now. I'm in India, Ed's back from China. We're both bored and disappointed in ourselves for letting this get away from us. We're using this as a platform for talking again. We're gonna take a slightly different approach and we've made a pact to update 5 times a week (each), no matter what. So that's like 50 posts a month. The format is definitely not the same, but the sentiments are. Fuck off. Get stoned. Take a nap. Rinse. Repeat. Sooooo. Without any further ado. I'm gonna go do the last part and pass out. Before I do that, I will leave you with some choice music nuggzzzzzzzszszzszszzszszszszszszszszsz. No. I am not high. I'm not gonna provide mediafire links this time; you can do that on your own, it's too easy. I might in the future, but not now.

Poison // Into the Abyss // 1987

Nope, not THAT Poison, but a super angry German thrash/black metal demo from the late '80s and early '90s. Long songs (nothing below 7 minutes), excellent musicianship and song structure, and just really fun, riffy angst. These guys sound pissed as fuck. I'm usually not much of a thrash guy, but the vocals take this above and beyond the typical thrash sound that I can really groove to it. By groove I mean sit in bed (I'm sick) and rock the fuck out. Plus there's awesome moments where it completely drops out and builds up in this maniacal, devilish way. It's awesome. Go find an mp3 of this four-track demo. Here's a taste:

Choking Victim // Crack Rock Steady EP // 1994

I woke up to this today. It was awesome. A total classic. Anti-establishment ska-hardcore at its best. Silly, irreverent, angry, and not afraid to be outspoken, these guys set the standard for American anarcho-punk in the mid-90s. As many of you probably know, a few of them went on to start the hugely influential Leftôver Crack circa 2000. This is the entirety of their first EP in a single, 9-minute youtube video.

ACxDC // He Had It Coming // 2005

These guys sadly split up before they could release a full-length, but this is just such a killer fucking first attempt. Grindcore/powerviolence at its absolute best. Star Wars Imperial March breakdowns, laughably over-the-top anti-Christian sentiments and completely unintelligible vocals with some killer start-stop timing and super-short songs. 8 songs, not even 10 minutes. Every second is worth it. This is one of my most played albums ever. EVER. Fortunately for us, they just released a second EP called The Second Coming. They're both free at their bandcamp. But the first one is better. Listen below:

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://acxdc.bandcamp.com/album/he-had-it-comin-ep"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;He Had It Comin' EP by ACxDC&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

OMG OMG NEW VENETIAN SNARES ALBUM COMING

2010-06-17T01:56:00.000-07:00

So, according to Wikipedia--a newspaper of record, I assure you--Aaron Funk's new record, My So-Called Life, "sees Funk returning to concepts explored as early as 2005, revisiting themes from such albums as Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett and Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding," two ridiculously wonderful albums. I guess this mean that we, or at least I, can enjoy some wonderful orchestration, dense textures, and fucking ridiculous breakbeats.

I, for one, am down in a big way.

There are two tracks on his myspace, both hearkening back to the Funk of old. Of course I've loved everything he's done in the past few years, but my true affections will always lie with the orchestral complexity of Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett--which is pretty much entirely responsible for making my musical tastes what they are today--and the neo-jungle complexity of Detrimentalist--which pulled me back from the brink of becoming a fully-fledged Joanna Newsom fan and reminded me of just why I love breakcore.

Check this shit out: http://www.myspace.com/venetiansnares

Shitcore Part 3 - In Which Something of Substance Will Maybe Finally Be Written

2010-06-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

So: From whence Shitcore?

Let's start in the 50's. Think about 50's Rock and Roll: a bunch of skinny white men standing stock-still on a stage, playing undistorted guitars, singing vaguely sexual/subversive lyrics to throngs of screaming teenage girls. You see, this was considered a moral outrage, to be so far beyond the pale as to be a scourge on society, a gaping wound through which the invisible bacteria of Communism could enter and wreak all sorts of malignant mischief.

In retrospect, this was all not only not subversive, but was actually rather stupid. Take a gander, for example, at some of the lyrics to Bill Haley and His Comets' non-hit "13 Women (And Only One Man in Town):"

I had two girls every morning Seeing that I was well fed And believe you me, one sweetened my tea While another one buttered my bread Two girls gave me my money Two girls made me my clothes And another sweet thing, bought me a diamond ring About forty carats I suppose Well, thirteen women and only one man in town There was a-thirteen women and only one man in town It was something I can't forget Because I think of those thirteen women yet Well, thirteen woman and only one man around

So...nuclear apocalypse, only people left on earth are 13 women and one man...and what is lacking? Sex. Fucking. Anything which is even slightly morally repugnant (at least not from a feminist view, but that point of view is safely ignored). Don't even get me started on how much more racy (again, relative to the 50's) the African-American music that all this was stolen from was. That was considered to be a moral H-Bomb of Soviet proportions, and was safely kept away from the nation's fragile young white women with a vigor usually reserved for homosexuality and meth.

Regardless of how lame all this was, it is interesting in the context of this discussion for being the first time (discounting the 20's, because those ended in such a spectacular fashion that their cultural developments were largely irrelevant post-1929, at least in my opinion) that threatening culture was viewed as a mass-marketable cultural development in its own right. Namely, this kicked off a rapid succession of generational conflict, in which young people embraced pop-culture which, at least superficially, appeared to be just subversive enough to assure them a distinct, rebellious identity. This was only in its fetal stages, of course, being far away from any sort of genre which produces lyrics like this:

Bash my intestines up my anus!

Diarrhea from my penis!

Diarrhea
A A A A A A...

Diarrhea on my penis!

Obviously, there are a host of cultural and technological developments which made such music possible. So, we have to jump forward (ignoring the 60's and 70's, which sucked...I don't care how you feel or what you think or what your stupid yuppie parents told you, the 60's and 70's sucked, they were stupid and unproductive and we're all worse off for them, you fucking tie-dye wearing wannabe douchebag protoyuppies) to Plunderphonics, which in my mind is the logical fork in the road where electronic and experimental finally branched off into their two closely related, yet quite distinct, camps: the masturbatory and the fun.

Plunderphonics was the first genre truly dedicated to repackaging other music, to taking that which other people have made and mashing it together as a sort of aesthetic prerogative, turning pop culture into something obscene, exposing a sort of incongruously disturbing/absurd quality to pop that isn't quite obvious when viewed on its own terms. Simply put, it was both masturbatory and fun. If you are--as is quite understandable--bored with my overwrought prose, then check this shit out as a sort of oasis in the desert of wanky liberal arts undergrad bullshit that I'm spewing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJjXxbl2to

That is John Oswald's seminal (haha...semen) song "Dab", a pastiche completely sampled from Michael Jackson songs. Simultaneously experimental, pretentious, and entertaining in a sort of novel way, it was copyright infringement as artistic statement, a realization that the old could be transformed into the new without being derivative or subject to an easily described hierarchy of aesthetic/cultural development. Instead of following such a clearly defined path, it branched off at a a sharp right angle and defined a new niche from which a whole new hierarchy could develop. This goes far beyond the sampling of rap music, this is no Chuck D pretending to be in court being yelled at by "The Man" for using other people's music.* It is from here that I trace the beginnings of the wildly complicated electronic music scenes that seem to pop up every couple of weeks.

From these beginnings, there are several genres and subgenres of electronic music that are integral to the development of Shitcore: 8 Bit, Jungle/Ragga Jungle, Digital Hardcore and Breakcore. 8 Bit can be saved for last; that is probably the most peripheral, and is most important for its effects on the internet-based Breakcore/various other -core sub cultures which have popped up over the past few years. Of primary importance are the -cores; which are the most direct spiritual descendants of the ideals underlying Plunderphonics and the most virulently in your face (I hate that term) genres to gain even a modicum of popular awareness since the early days of punk.

Let's start with Jungle, which marks the beginning of lo-fi break cutting at high speed and mind-numbing complexity. The history of Jungle has been written time and time again, if you're here (and I doubt anyone is), you probably don't need me to tell it to you. Also, I am lazy, and have no desire to do so. Suffice to say, this is where it all started. Jungle was where cheesy Europeans with ill-advised dreadlocks first started to deal sampling as a means of creating uber-complex rhythms and beats that were, to say the least, acquired tastes. Where people first began to seek out largely ignored (at least in the west) foreign genres and combine them with modern technology and already established western genres to create something both familiar and novel. It is from the high tempos, rolling snares, and oddly sequenced everything that we move to the -cores.

Digital Hardcore...what is there to say that isn't obvious when one listens to just one overly sincere, disgustingly German ATR or Ec8or (or whatever, they're all the same) track? Think amens that no one even bothered to clean up or make interesting, sampled metal guitar tracks, sincere ultra-left wing rants calling for revolution without ever offering a coherent reason why disguised as lyrics. Trashy, stupid, confrontational, confusing in the extreme...I don't care what people who actually know what they're talking about say, this is where Breakcore started. Of course, it would be a few years after the advent of Digital Hardcore that digital music technology would get to the point that anyone with a decent computer, an internet connection and no qualms about stealing software/music would be able to make passable music without any sort of real training, and disseminate it without a label or hitting the pavement with a vengeance; but in DH one sees the beginnings of individuals being able to make sincerely fucked up music within small niches, and to view true (no matter how lame) subversion as a efficacious niche within a stagnant and homogeneous pop culture. That last sentence was terrible and pretentious: DH was fucked up, stupid, hardcore, and delightful. All told, within it wank and sincerity met entertaining and hardcore, setting the scene for the widely varied and usually fun-as-all-fuck breakcore scene.

***It's late and I'm tired. Tomorrow, or whenever, a few overwrought paragraphs about breakcore and 8 bit, then I'll actually do some research on shitcore and wrap this ill-advised venture the fuck up.***

*Chuch D might have the most blatant victim complex in the history of popular music; a rich motherfucker who just loved to pretend like he was being constantly held back. I mean, he's cool and all, and It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back was fucking ill from first to last, but come on.

Shitcore Part Deux - From Humble Beginnings

2010-06-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ok. I'm back from Pittsburgh (for the love of God, never drive all the way across PA...just don't), back from work, and a few whiskeys deep...time to actually finish what I started for once.

Type "shitcore" into Google. Does anything useful show up? No. Nothing. No one really seems to know, or at the very least care to put into words, the who, what, when, where and why of Shitcore. In a way, that is what makes it so interesting; one must walk a mile in the moccasins of experimental coprophiliac noisecore to truly understand it, viewing its birth less as the painless c-section of most musical genres* and more as a back-alley abortion sought by scared teenagers in response to the failure of genres which make most people plug their ears and look at you askance to be truly, uncompromisingly uncompromising. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE ALERT: There are thus two problems to be confronted. The first, obviously, is to situate Shitcore in some sort of continuum starting with the earliest avant garde electronic pioneers* and incorporating punk, breakcore, metal, noise and the innumerable other -core's that pop up every couple of weeks on the internets. The second--and to my college-addled brain, most important--problem facing us, is to figure out whether or not it is pretentious. Does being intentionally bad, intentionally unlistenable, etc. etc. naturally make a certain type of music pretentious? To what extent is Shitcore derivative, and does that really matter? Am I a douchebag?*

***TOMORROW OR MAYBE LATER TONIGHT: A poorly researched article on Shitcore's pretentious ancestors.***

* A.k.a stolen from black people and marketed well.

* Who I will actually mostly ignore in favor of starting with Plunderphonics (you'll see...), since (with the exception, at times, of John Cage) that really marks the beginning of wanky electronic experimentation having a sense of humor.

* Yes

Inside the Wonderful World of Shitcore - Part 1

2010-06-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago, I was hanging out with some friends on my back porch. In order to shift the conversation away from a heated and terribly misinformed argument between two people about the legal intricacies surrounding an underage person throwing out empty beer cans being stopped by cops and given an underage citation (don't ask), the topic of "favorite driving music" was proposed.

I, realizing the shitstorm I would be walking into if I chose to give a completely honest answer to this question, hemmed and hawwed somewhat, acknowledging out loud that my answer would seem to be pretentious. You see, my favorite thing to listen to while driving is Shitcore. Specifically the godfather of Shitcore, a certain Passenger of Shit. I'll be posting an album of his, but if you don't want to be downloading a whole bunch of stuff then here is a quick taste.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhzZQtmU1UA&feature=watch_response

I know what you're thinking: "wow...you are pretentious. Ass, go get some skinny jeans and an ironic mohawk and write for Pitchfork where you and the rest of the hipsters can pretend to like things that are inaccessible." Hear me out though. This shit is brutal. I mean, it's like unadulterated, balls to the wall brutality without a shred of self-consciousness. As a complicated means of self-justification, let us take a walk down Shitcore lane, exploring the many wonders of one of the more, umm, unique of the homegrown, largely internet-based subcultures on the fringe of the electronic music scene.

***Because I have to get my shit together and start a 6 hour drive across the entire godforsaken hellhole that is Pennsylvania, Part 2 will come in a few days and will attempt to flesh out just how the hell Shitcore came to be***

The New Boxer Rebellion

2010-06-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

So, since no one has posted here in, like, years, I figured it was time to bring it back with something epically irrelevant.

What I stumbled upon today, in one of my unemployed, bored-as-all-fuck internet rambles, is nothing short of the opening salvo of the East-West cultural war that has been inevitable since Marco Polo introduced Asia to Original Sin and opium. Literally. Imagine Eurovision, the quintessential example of why I am ashamed of my European heritage vs. whatever one should call Chinese pop, which makes me regret studying Chinese instead of, I don't know, Korean? I'll stop trying to be witty, and just let this speak for itself:

German: Dschinghis Khan - Moskau

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQAKRw6mToA

This should be familiar to most connoisseurs of internet-meme videos, but it's so perfectly European that it merits consistent repetition.

Chinese: Da Zhang Wei - Fendou

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTE5MzcyOTA0.html

This might be the best thing ever. I mean, they both have great dances, but this one is polished and ridiculous in ways that are beyond my comprehension. It just makes me happy; so, so happy.

I'm trying to figure out which one is better. If anyone but Nat would see this (HI NAT! REMEMBER HOW I POSTED THIS SAME THING ON YOUR FACEBOOK WALL LIKE AN HOUR AGO?) then I would ask people to vote. In lieu of that, I will instead cast my vote for the Chinese one, as an attempt to curry favor with the Chinese government because I'm kinda in their pocket. Also, because of that dance move where they do the mashed potato but do a little butt waggle, and it's just like nonstereotypically cheesy in a way that just blows Russian-style kicks out of the fucking water. Don't think this is a blowout though, look at the facial hair of the guy from Dschingis Khan...it's fake, but I love it when people jab at Russians.

***OVERWROUGHT LYRICAL ANALYSIS UPDATE***

So at first I thought that the lyrics of the Chinese version were just a translation of the lyrics of the German version, but the truth is significantly more funny, and wayyyy more Chinese.

奋斗，奋斗，为了理想而奋斗

为了将来而奋斗

WOW吼吼吼吼

奋斗，奋斗，为了欢笑而奋斗

为了真爱而奋斗

WOW吼吼吼吼

奋斗，奋斗，为了追求而奋斗
为了目标而奋斗

WOW吼吼吼吼
奋斗，奋斗，为了信念而奋斗
为了明天而奋斗

WOW吼吼吼吼

Struggle, struggle, struggle for ideals/dreams/perfection

Struggle for the future

WOW (bellow of an animal/of rage repeated 4 times)

Struggle, struggle, struggle to laugh happily

Struggle for true love

WOW hou hou hou hou

Struggle, struggle, struggle in stubborn pursuit

Struggle for goals

WOW hou hou hou hou

Struggle, struggle, struggle for beliefs

Struggle for tomorrow

WOW hou hou hou hou

Ok, thats all that really needs to be looked at. What makes this so funny, to me at least, is how fucking sincere it is. I mean, its a cheesy cover of one of the most delightfully cheesy songs ever to be passed down from the people who gave you the Holocaust, who love David Hasselhoff (sp?), and who are entirely culpable for Atari Teenage Riot. The German condition is, and has been for years, to traffic in the most mindboggling sincerity (that is not a compliment), and to pursue that sincerity with a vigor and efficiency unmatched in the Western world.

So, to out-cheese and out-sincere the Germans is a hell of an accomplishment. This cover is kinda the lowest level of mindless synthpop, which for no discernible reason is turned into a vehicle for a kind of superficially uplifting didacticism. Think about what the lyrics to a song like this would be in America (and it would totally be a huge fucking hit)...probably something about dancing, Lil' Wayne would make an 8 bar guest appearance which would either be completely incomprehensible or an in-depth analysis of just how much money his clothes (which, rest assured, are very nice clothes) are capable of concealing at any one time, Timbaland would grunt over the beat in a crude and disturbing facsimile of spoken word poetry...you get the point. I'm reminded of a line from the novel Please Don't Call Me Human, in which a parody of a Chinese intellectual says something along the lines of: "American entertainment is just as didactic as ours, but at least it's entertaining." What I'm getting at is that this song is entertaining as all fuck, but--except for the fact that, after writing it like 20 times earlier, I've come to realize that "struggle" is a hilarious and extremely fun to hear word--the lyrics are so incongruous and unintentionally hilarious that it basically ruins the song...making it so campy and overly sincere that it just can't be taken either seriously or as any sort of good, escapist fun.

Or maybe I'm just trying to show off the fact that I know Chinese. Did I mention that I know Chinese? Do you? Thought not.

On a final note: seriously, think about how funny the word "struggle" is. Just think about it. Say it aloud once or twice. Stuggle. Uggle. Ugg ugg uggle. Strug. HA.

DJ Club Sauce - 2009 - Enter the Bloghouse

2009-10-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Another awesome mashup set by a friend (previously known as DJ One Oscillator) with some amazing samples. Really well produced (no this isn't just a plug for a friend, he's awesome). Unfortunately, chicken strips aren't included with this one.

DJ Club Sauce - 2009 - Enter the Bloghouse

Basshunter - 2006 - LOL <(^^,)>

2009-10-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Okay. I know. Not particularly "hardcore" as in "br00tAL!!" but probably the only thing on this blog that's ever going to come close to happy hardcore. Here's a Swedish dude who's living the dream of every pudgy, acne-ridden 1337-speaking loser out there. He makes the most absurd trancy pop music ever with lyrics about Warcraft 3 mods, IRC chats and Ventrilo, everyone's favorite VoIP client. It's just utter dorkiness. It's absurd. It wouldn't be good if the videos weren't littered with the most absurdly beautiful Swedish women. Don't believe me? Check these babies out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7iU0GGVco8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OzWIFX8M-Y

Plus in his English-speaking videos he uses a half Norwegian, half-Iranian pornstar to play his girlfriend. It's amazing.

Basshunter - 2006 - LOL <(^^,)>

Burnt By The Sun - 2003 - The Perfect Is The Enemy Of The Good

2009-09-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

You ever had that feeling where you take way too many uppers and it is physically impossible to focus on anything for more than 30 seconds? Where the only thing you wanna do is to listen to the most insane music in existence? Well, I found myself in that predicament one recent evening at 4 in morning and I made a bee-line for this album. Put succinctly, this album fucking owns. I remember hearing the tune 'Forlani' back when it came out and absolutely hating it. But it somehow reemerged in my life this last year, and thank god it did. I probably listen to this at least once a week. Its pretty much just an string of awesome fucking riff after awesome fucking riff, brilliantly arranged to keep you on your toes. The first three tracks alone are worth the price (shhhh...) of the album. This is one of the only albums that leaves me wanting more every time.

'purchase'

Pink Floyd - 1970 - Atom Heart Mother

2009-09-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Though I love their earliest material, I still think their work from Atom Heart Mother [1970] through The Dark Side of the Moon [1973] is the best and most exciting work of their career. These albums sweep around the listener, melodies and themes creep in and out, changing and morphing during the journey through the albums' bloodstreams. Atom Heart Mother is a jollier, sillier album than others, but that doesn't mean it isn't serious. Kind of in an opposite mode from Meddle, the longest song is first, followed by a series of (relatively) shorter songs. This title first track is huge, epic and awesome. It's typical Pink Floyd fare and that's awesome—it's really good. But I think the middle three songs are where this album really shines. They're low-key and downplayed...even the last track, an epic noise-filled, psychedelic ramble loses the epic feel of the first track. "Summer '68" is a great ode to free love and psychedelia. "If" is a heartbreaking ballad about losing love and friends. "Fat Old Sun" is just a beautiful little song that brings back some of the themes from the first track. A smash hit of an album and the first to really move away from their more psychedelic leanings (though still preserving much of that).

Pink Floyd - 1970 - Atom Heart Mother

Type O Negative - 2009 - Slow, Deep and Hard (Remastered)

2009-08-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

Every time I consider retiring Type O as my favorite band, they somehow always manage to re-emerge in my life and put me back in my place. Case in point, this summer, with my faith wavering, I picked up the reissue of Type O's debut, "Slow, Deep and Hard," and was summarily floored by it. This is, without a doubt, one of the heaviest CDs I have ever heard, both musically and lyrically. Old school crossover thrash riffs blend seamlessly into and out of dirges the likes of which aren't heard this side of the grave. The lyrics relate one man's descent into depression and violence and are pretty chilling. This CD is completely unlike their later works, but is nonetheless a superb album. Best. Band. Ever.

*Ive never heard the original, so I dont know how the sound quality compares. Also, Ive left the bonus track "Hey Pete" off because it adds nothing to the album

download

The Bad Plus - 2004 - Give

2009-06-21T14:28:00.001-07:00

Since this blog tends to lean toward the harsher music varieties, it may seem odd to see a jazz post. But fuck it, the Bad Plus rock harder than half the "rock" bands out there. One need look no further than "Dirty Blonde" to see just how much energy this trio brings. The cover of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" equals, if not, dare I say, exceeds the heaviness of the original. This is not just about rocking, however, as the Bad Plus perfectly conjure that smoky lounge atmosphere on tracks like "1979 Semi-Finalist" and "Neptune (The Planet)." If youre wary of jazz as being a pretentious, pseudo-intellectual music form, or if youve just never listened to jazz in the first place, I highly recommend you check out this album. Its a gateway drug.

download

We're 6 Months Old!

2009-06-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know there hasn't been much activity on the blog in the last weeks (I would like to blame it entirely on my contributors, but I haven't been doing jack shit either and have mad free time to kill, I should get back on this)....BUT! We turn 6 months old today!! Yay!

That means that we've been in the back of your minds, popping up in your Google Readers, sitting in your Temporary Internet Files folder, and (hopefully) making our way into your music libraries for SIX WHOLE MONTHS! Yay!

Thank you all, keep it strong. Long live the punx. Love the love.

So on that note, I leave you with a single parting word:

Yay!

Acid King - 1995 - Zoroaster

2009-05-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

What's sweet about this is not only does this band provide some of the heaviest, bluesy psychedelic metal around, but the lead singer and guitarist is hard-rocking, motorcycling, bad ass chick. She's got a voice that every wannabe metal band wants to have but doesn't because they suck and she doesn't. Great songs here with some really infectious riffs. A new find on my part and I'm thoroughly impressed. It's great stuff to rock out in the kitchen with--I love strumming away on my air-spatula, adding that doom-laden, riffy marijuana love to all my most recent kitchen experiments.

download: Acid King - 1995 - Zoroaster.zip

Alec Empire/Panacea - Hetzjagd Auf Nazis Remix (1997)

2009-05-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Years ago, in a magical and far off land known as Germany, there lived a peaceful and tolerant race of people known as the Germans. This country was renowned throughout the world for the preternatural tolerance and patience of the population, and the almost negligent manner in which social and political life was conducted. Surely, they were an example to us all. NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENED. But if you cut a German, do they not bleed red? How, for so many hundreds of years, have they suppressed the all too human urge to run amok all over Europe in a bloody rampage predicated on the whim of a weak chinned mad-man and his neo-pagan delusions?

Well, in a communal act of self-restraint fit for the gods themselves, they turned inward to a life of culture and refinement, occasionally deigning to release upon the violent masses of humanity teeming at their border a small taste of the years of pent up rage and aggression...IN MUSICAL FORM! Yes, that is why we have Rammstein. And David Hasselhoff. And Nena. AND, most importantly of all, that is why two ridiculous German men, self-styled respectively as Alec Empire and Panacea, exist to offer up two of the breakcoriest Rammstein remixes that ever did exist. If you know anything about these two then I really need to say no more, but suffice to say that Alec Empire is the man who turned yelling nauseatingly sincere left-wing rants over distorted amens from something that I did in High School when I was alone in my basement into something of an art form, and has some sort of inborn ability to make the simplest thing fucking hardcore. And Panacea...what to say about Panacea...maybe just take a look at the picture on his wikipedia page...I think that just about sums him up nicely.

I guess I haven't really said anything about the music itself, but fuck if it isn't any more than a product of its place, time, and creators. Man, its just straight-up by the numbers breakcore done really really well, but it has that little extra something...that germanness that just puts it over the edge of heaviness. It's like taking a shit on a nun; just so fucking German.

first track
second track

Genghis Tron - 2003 - Laser Bitch [Demo]

2009-05-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

Genghis Tron's first ever release. Includes two tracks from the Cloak of Love EP and an otherwise unreleased track ("'Penultimate' Just Means Second to Last, You Pretentious Fuck"). More great stuff from an awesome band. Schizo and crazy and fun as hell, your parent would be disturbed and will try and send you to an insane asylum if they hear you listening to this. :)

Genghis Tron - 2003 - Laser Bitch [Demo]

Droon - 2007 - Cripplefight Remixes

2009-05-03T19:24:00.001-07:00

Hilarious breakcore stuff here. A great track based around a South Park sample with great techno melodies, and the standard (but great) chopped-up breaky goodness typical of the genre. To make it even better, three of the genres best DJs have provided their remixes of the song (Shitmat, Ladyscraper, and Duran Duran Duran) and the shitshow just gets shittier (shitty meaning good--get with the times, will ya?). Not much more to say.

Droon - 2007 - Cripplefight Remixes

Goatsnake / Burning Witch - 2000 - Split

2009-05-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

Awesome awesome awesome. Burning Witch's tracks are particularly incredible. The shrieks of the vocals are so brutal, so fucked up. Both of these bands are made up of Sunn O)))'s founding members so you know you can't get much better than this. Really crazy dissonant, horrifying soundscapes to make you feel nothing but that incessant sense of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!! Again, I'm really impressed by Burning Witch, they really go all out.

Goatsnake / Burning Witch - 2000 - Split

Giant Squid - 2006 - Metridium Fields

2009-04-23T06:14:00.001-07:00

Ah, spring. The sun is shining, birds are singing, flowers are blooming. What better time for some doom? Giant Squid is awesome for three reasons: 1) Their name is "Giant Squid," 2) they sing about sharks, and 3) they sample the best movie ever (Ill leave it to you to figure out what movie it is). Giant Squid dont play prototypical doom, however. In fact, theyve got a lot in common with the post metal movement, with long songs that start off quietly, slowly build and tease, until it finally all comes down in a crushing crescendo of heaviness. A dual female/male vocal approach, strings, and general shanty-town feel of this album makes for a truly unique listen.

download

Record Store Day

2009-04-18T20:40:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I'm a failure. Today was Record Store Day, the one day EVERYONE ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET WITH THE RESOURCES TO DO SO should go to a record store and FUCKING BUY SOMETHING. Seriously. If you did your part, well done. Muchos kudos to you. To all the rest of us who fucked up, try and buy something in the next few days. Or the next week. I know no one has money right now, but the way to fix things is to start invigorating the economy. Go fucking buy some shit, and it might as well be music. Especially since the music industry is hurting big time. And unless you absolutely have to, try NOT to buy something from Sony or Columbia or Universal or Warnes Bros. And buying from iTunes DOES NOT COUNT, dipshit, so none of that lip.

nat out

ps, check out the links:

http://www.recordstoreday.com/Home

Artist Quotes (really interesting)

Watchmaker Double Feature

2009-04-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, since a series of fairly asinine events has left me in a bit of a sour mood, I figured it was the perfect time to post this. Watchmaker play such caustic, misanthropic, hate-filled grind that even the coldest, grimmest black metal will sound like Duran Duran by comparison. CD titles like 2003's "Kill.Fucking.Everyone" and 2005's "Erased From the Memory of Man" should give you a clue to what's in store. This shit will melt your face faster than that acid blood from Alien. Get your shotgun ready, we're out for blood.

download

Boris- Pink 2005

2009-04-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

'Pink' is undeniably...groovy. To be brutally fucking honest, I hate describing anything as groovy 'cause it brings back memories my hippie friends trying to convince me to put on 'Dark Side' while we're rollin' in my 6-4.

Anyway, 'Pink' is an albums of varied sounds- the title track lets you know that Boris is fucking with some groovy (damn it) riffage. 'Blackout' is a sort of throwback to the drone doom that Boris is so good with, and 'Electric' is just intense. This is the album that made Boris popular to the masses- and though it's not my favorite, nor is it even close to their heaviest, 'Pink' is still a more-than-worthy Boris album.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yxdynymfeae

Agoraphobic Nosebleed / Insect Warfare - 2008 - Split

2009-04-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

A great split. Both sides rock fucking hard. ANb kinda has a little story going on its side while Insect Warfare just goes crazy. I kinda prefer IW’s stuff a bit better. Not really sure why.

http://www.mediafire.com/?myzdwf2z1t2

Boris- Heavy Rocks 2002

2009-04-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Unlike the more drone doom influences on earlier albums like 1998's Amplifier Worship or their 1996 debut Absolutego, Boris' 'Heavy Rocks' is more in the vein of punk-influenced stoner rock. There's definitely a sort of retro feeling on this album; I mean, check out the cover- it's orange, with some psychedelic-styled text (the orange sort of reminds me of Can's extremely fantastic 'Tago Mago'). The title track 'Heavy Rocks' is pretty much indicative of the more groove-based style that the rest of the albm follows. In any case, this is a more (traditionally) melodic album- but fast, loud, and distinctly Boris. This album is fucking good and comes highly recommended by me.

In other news, my new goal is to put up what I have of the Boris discography since I already put up Amplifier Worship and this album, so expect a bunch more Boris posts in the future.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3glyzylm2um

Boris- Amplifier Worship 1998

2009-04-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite Boris albums. Heavy-as-fuck, droning but wildly interesting 10+ minute creations from one of the best drone doom bands around. 'Hama' and 'Kuruimizu' flirt with the more abstract drone influences, whereas 'Huge' and 'Vomitself' are brutally sludge-y. I don't know what else to say- put this in your '1000 albums I must fucking am out to before I die' list you have in your drawer.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xhojlaynmct

Radiohead - 1991 - Manic Hedgehog

2009-03-30T00:54:00.001-07:00

Radiohead's first real release when they were called "On A Friday." A terrible name but an interesting find. Great versions of "Thinking About You" and "You." A cool thing for a Radiohead freak, but not clearly not essential. Oh, and if you can't read what it says on the cover (which I'm pretty sure was a paper bag) it's "Work sucks."

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?k0jqzdn43ky

The Dillinger Escape Plan - 2004 - Miss Machine

2009-03-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Mathcore is an understandably love-it or hate-it genre. With its heavy use of complex time signatures and frequent harmonic freak outs, mathcore is not for everyone. With Miss Machine, however, the Dillinger Escape Plan have done the impossible: make a catchy, accessible mathcore album without eschewing the musical complexity or spazziness that the genre is known for. Far from "dumbing down" their sound, DEP have struck the perfect balance between technicality and accessibility. Mathy guitar noodling abounds everywhere, but never at the expense of memorable song writing. Awesome jazz interludes sit side by side with sing along choruses. Where prior DEP effort Calculating Infinity was lost among its own technicality and follow up effort Ire Works is just too damn poppy, Miss Machine is a fantastic assemblage of noise and hooks.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zhoumym3nzv

ISHITNOISE

2009-03-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

It's true. I do.

AND SO CAN YOU! The Noise Wiki is a great site to find bands you nor anyone you know has EVER heard of. Their names are offensive, crude, cryptic, and strange; their music follows suit; and this website attempts to catalogue them all. From the post-industrial, to the minimal noise, to the fat kid who plays with tapes (not to mention himself) down the hall in your dormitory, there's a decent chance you'll find a bit of everything. It's a cool site, but they're also severely lacking in details and info. So help 'em out. They're really bizarrely political about it too. It's kind of hilarious. Good shit.

Ayat - Six Years of Dormant Hatred

2009-03-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

I think if Ayat had waited seven years to release this instead of six, they probably would have blown themselves up by now. Which, unfortunately, would not be a totally unexpected event in their hometown of Beirut, Lebanon. Ayat plays a damn solid black/thrash hybrid, with a chunk of punk influence thrown in for good measure (Ive heard their sound also described as industrial, but these ears did not pick up on that). There are some riffs in here that will stick in your head for days, as well as some gang chants catchy enough to have you singing (shrieking?) along to within a few spins. Furthermore, Ayat throws in some wacky ambient shit here, notably at the end of Fornication and Murder, as well as the final track Such a Beautiful Day! (The Exaltation of St. Francis). Ayat clearly restrain themselves to no preconceived notion of what black metal should sound like, and are altogether better for it.

mediafire is fucking with me right now, but heres a link you can download it from:
http://ins-vast.blogspot.com/2008/12/ayat-lebanon-six-years-of-dormant.html

Genghis Tron - 2006 - Dead Mountain Mouth

2009-03-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

As per request (by my fellow contributor, but a request nonetheless), here's Genghis Tron's first full-length release. Great opening track, full of wack-tarded drum programming. Still kind of feels like one of their less-polished releases but it's slightly more evolved with songs like "From The Aisle" which show their move towards more structured songs, with varied stylistic and thematic elements. The build up to that song is particularly awesome with the dark, lyrical processional that suddenly cuts to silence. You think it's gonna come back super fast and crazy but when the guitars kick in, they're subdued and slow, pushing for a grinding, churning effect. Plus we even hear bits of guitar solos (something not entirely typical of the band) with some awesome screaming in the background. And then it fades out in absolutely beautiful fashion. The album art is sick--the little inverted crucifix on the ground in the foreground is kinda hilarious as it really doesn't fit the tenor of the band at all other than them being metal.

download: Genghis Tron - 2006 - Dead Mountain Mouth.zip

Genghis Tron - 2005 - Cloak of Love [EP]

2009-03-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Genghis Tron's first official release, mostly categorized by some super heavy riffs, some ill techno-y hooks and rather chaotic sound-mush. More fun than Dead Mountain Mouth but less interesting than Board Up the House. It's very clearly their first release as it's all over the place, never really sticking to one sound or one style consistently. Not that a band should be grounded in one thing, but it's just not very polished and when put up against their newest release, it's flaws really come out. But it's still hella fun and "Laser Bitch" is just so freaking good that it's totally worth downloading (or buying...hell yeah, buy this shit...I should be plugging you guys to be buying all of this stuff anyway) just to delete the other four tracks.

Oh, and they went to Vassar, where I go...so BIG UPS VASS! BIG UPS GENGHIS TRON!! BIG UPS PO-TOWN HARDCORE!

download: Genghis Tron - 2005 - Cloak of Love [EP]

HORSE the Band - 2006 - Pizza [EP]

2009-03-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

So this EP is just so silly I thought everyone should have a listen. Basically these guys got so obsessed with Lou Malnati's (yes friends, Lumelnatis...don't worry if you don't get this, only a handful of peeps will appreciate it) deep dish pizza in Chicago that they took time out of their schedule to write 5 songs about how awesome pizza is. I would tend to agree with them...pizza fucking rules. But I've never had Lou Malnati's.

Anyway, it's not bad either. The keyboards are the most hilarious part as they really do sound like video game music. These guys invented the term "Nintendocore" which is basically a conflation of metalcore and video game music. They got the hooks, they got the jokes, they got the rage and they got the ill fucking keyboard. It's good shit. Check it, son!

plus, there's an ill cover of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme...how can you go wrong?

download: HORSE the Band - 2006 - Pizza [EP].zip

Pelican - 2003 - Australasia

2009-03-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

At the intersection of doom metal and post-rock there is a throne, and upon that throne sits Pelican. Or maybe they built the throne. What is post-rock, anyway? Explosions in the Sky? Pelican are kind of like them, with the long, gradually developing songs that handle all sorts of dynamic changes. And the crushing, repetitive riffs are akin to doomers like Earth. But without question, Pelican are doing their own thing, which is becoming more and more common these days, as genre classifications slide into irrelevance.

Critical pontification aside, this is Australasia, and it’s heavy and monstrous and beautiful. No vocals, just down-tuned guitar and bass and ridonkulous drums, pummeling you into the motherfucking ground. The songs flow seamlessly, so I encourage listening from beginning to end. This may be emotionally taxing, but it will also be really rewarding and maybe even life affirming (dig Angel Tears). If Australasia turns you on, so will the rest of Pelican’s catalogue, which is really consistent from release to release.
- sfs
dl:http://www.mediafire.com/?4zmz2ummmc5

Nine Inch Nails - 1992 - Broken [EP]

2009-03-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

Released about three years after Reznor's first album Pretty Hate Machine, Broken is a radical break from the previous release's synthpop sensibilities and really opens up ground for what would become the sounds so reminiscent of his later work. Really angry stuff here. My favs are "Wish," "Happiness in Slavery," and "Last." Also a really strange release in that in some version there are actually 99 songs (the last two tracks are called "Track 98" and "Track 99" respectively) and each track not labeled in the tracklisting is a single second of silence. We see his use of silence, out bursts of anger and a huge emphasis on swear words, violence, sexual deviance, etc. Truly first in line in his "industrial" work (though from a purely technical standpoint, his music never becomes actually "industrial" until Ghosts I-IV--nothing really implements the requisite ambient and minimalist and noise for true industrial music until then (almost 20 years after his first release)).

download: Nine Inch Nails - 1992 - Broken [EP].zip

The 13th Floor Elevators - 1966 - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

2009-03-01T13:22:00.001-08:00

So I know this is decidedly “unhardcore,” but this band has been steadily reaching the upper echelons of my most played music since I first downloaded them a few months ago. One of the first bands to describe their music as “psychedelic,” this album has been rather influential to a number of scenes (most obviously the psychedelic music world) including punk rock for their simple rock and roll hooks and wacky showmanship. A far cry from the traditional psychedelic sound, their jugband-sound (no seriously they use an old-timey jug) creates an atmosphere I’d rather call “wacky” than “psychedelic.” Also, these guys were at the forefront of the drug legalization movement in the 1960s (I mean how could they not when they self-ascribe the “psychedelic” label all over the place) and were huge acid heads. Some good covers of rock and roll staples (Gloria, You Really Got Me, You’re Gonna Miss Me). The best track is “Don’t Fall Down.”

download: The 13th Floor Elevators - 1966 - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.zip

Total Fucking Destruction - 2008 - Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction

2009-03-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

John Zorn may have pioneered jazz-grind with his Naked City project, but Total Fucking Destruction have mastered it. Stepping up their game considerably from 2007s mediocre Zen and the Art of Total Fucking Destruction, drummer Rich Hoak and his merry band of pranksters have, in Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction, delivered something truly bizarre and unique. Almost every song on here is instantly memorable, due to a combination of intelligible (and intelligent) lyrics and truly vicious melodies. Opener "Bio-Satanic Terroristic Attack" will have you running for the hills, shouting the lyrics the whole way, while both followups "Monsterearth Megawar" and "Non-existence of Self" deliver some infectious riffing.

Things get really interesting on "Grindcore Salesman," where the guitar melody morphs from a brutal crush into a jazzy little ditty that wouldnt sound out of place in New Orleans. The ability to switch instantly from grinding destruction to bluesy guitar harmonies is really what sets this CD off from other grind albums. Hoak does a masterful job of setting the pace, blasting away when the moment suits, but effortlessly switches to subdued kit work when the song calls for it (see "Let the Children Name Themselves, nary a blast on the entire song). The guitarist, when not churning out delicious melodies and riffs, is capable of some truly spacey work, floating ethereally above the rhythm section like the Northern Lights over the Arctic Circle. Even the bass has its place on the album, maintaining an audible harmony between the at-times breakneck drumming and occasionally kooky guitar work.

The lyrics, too, are a pretty interesting read. Im told that they tell the story about a child soldier, but I must have missed that, as they seem to be a much less specific, but no less important, call to action. Its the typical political rant, urging you to break free of the status quo, but are nonetheless delivered in an over-the-top ranting style, which makes them enjoyable to listen to. Many songs are comprised solely of a single lyric yelled over and over again, lending the whole album a mantraesque feel, and is ultimately responsible for the discs' memorableness. My only complaint about the entire effort is the final 7 minute long experiment "Last Night I Dreamt We Destroyed the World." Its a too long psychadelic trip with lots of feedback that makes the seemingly interesting monologue indiscernible. It closes with a pretty solid piece of music, and could have been made stronger if the lead up had just been cut. That being said, Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction is like nothing Ive ever heard before, and I cant imagine hearing anything like it in the future. Except for the next TFD release.

-Pete

download: Total Fucking Destruction - 2008 - Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction.zip

2009-02-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

HEAVY HEAVY LOW LOW - 2006 - Everything's Watched, Everyone's Watching

I listen to metal for a lot of reasons, and one of them is just to get really pumped up. Going to the gym to lift and get swoll? Try this on for size. HHLL are a mathcore outfit, a little on the scene side, but definitely the real deal. They've got the hooks ("Kids, kids, kids", "tell shannon her crafts are ready") to keep you coming back, the vocals are really crazy and animated, like the guy just kind of goes all over the place, and he knows when to just say "fuck it" and breathe into the mic like he's unaware that he's making music. They're not so avant garde and dissonant that they never give you any huge cathartic breakdowns, so you'll probably get more listens out of it than your average number 12 looks like you or daughters record.

Apparently HHLL put a new record out last year - I don't got it yet. It's probably not as good as everything's watched though. - sfs

download: Heavy Heavy Low Low - 2006 - Everything's Watched, Everyone's Watching.zip

A Thank You

2009-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

So this is for everyone who has stuck with the blog and convinced that it's a good idea to continue. I know it's only been a month, but this has been such a dream of mine and I'm just glad I finally decided to do it and even happier people have responded so positively to it.

284 downloads from the site thus far! Way to go! Let's keep getting more music out there, where it should be! IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE! Music is not for industry bigwigs, or solely for the artists or the labels or anything. It's for us. And honestly, we should have complete access to anything and everything that has at one point been released to the general public. Fuck copyrights, fuck copy control, fuck the RIAA, fuck the PMRC, fuck Tipper Gore, fuck the FCC, fuck everyone who doesn't want us to get access that which we want.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Music can change the world, but only if we let it.

Tool - 1992 - Opiate [EP]

2009-02-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

Though clearly not one of Tool's better releases but the two live tracks really make up for everything. They give the listener a taste for the band's sense of performance style and stage presence. Maynard's attack is ruthless and vicious (he verbally attacks an audience member at one point--it's freaking hilarious) and it's grungy and raw and visceral. Great stuff, but not the same super progressive, trippy, psychedelic metal consistent with their later albums. Also, it has lot of the same songs from the Toolshed 72826.

download: Tool - 1992 - Opiate [EP].zip

Tusk - 2007 - The Resisting Dreamer

2009-02-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

So if you're gonna download one thing by Tusk, get this. Really intense grind/experimental/noise/electronic rock. Feels like being ripped apart by a helicopter only to be pieced together again like a puzzle. From jazzy to punky to noisy and synthy. If you like Genghis Tron, you'll enjoy them. Slightly different (less synths, more grind, more bass and drums).

download: Tusk - 2005 - The Resisting Dreamer.zip

Tusk - 2005 - Get Ready

2009-02-18T10:31:00.000-08:00

These guys rock. It kinda sounds like a million other things going on right now, but somehow these guys really capture a certain something. Though this isn't their best release, this in conjunction with their next album (The Resisting Dreamer), show an amazing progression towards super-dissonant, jazzy, loopy grindcore. It's all over the place, but it really begins to make sense if you put a bit of dedication into it.

download: Tusk - 2005 - Get Ready.zip

Venom - 1982 - Black Metal

2009-02-11T00:26:00.001-08:00

One of the defining metal albums (and the one to give the black metal genre its name). This British metal band would influence countless American thrash metal bands throughout the '80s. The title track, "Teacher's Pet" and "Buried Alive" are good tracks.

download: Venom - 1982 - Black Metal.zip

Scratch Acid - 1984 - Scratch Acid [EP]

2009-02-11T00:10:00.000-08:00

Classic '80s noise-rock. Kurt Cobain was a big fan. Really buzzy and fuzzy and weird and punky. Angry as shit.

download: Scratch Acid - 1984 - Scratch Acid [EP].zip

Vsnares (Venetian Snares) - 2002 - 2370894

2009-02-10T23:48:00.000-08:00

A compilation album of typical Venetian Snares breaks. Great stuff. "Fuck Toronto Jungle" is great.

download: Venetian Snares - 2002 - 2370894.zip

Metallica - 1986 - Master of Puppets

2009-02-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. This is a beast of an album. Seriously one of the heavy metal classic of all time. Even if you don't like Metallica, if you haven't given this album a chance, you should try it. The opening track ("Battery") has the best freaking intro and the rest of the album is just so monumental it's barely worth mentioning. You'll see what I mean when you throw it on. I'm not really sure what else to say, but the best track on the album is "Orion." It's completely instrumental and just huge. It's one of my favorite songs of all time. Try it. You'll like it.

download: Metallica - 1986 - Master of Puppets.zip

Radiohead - 2001 - Amnesiac

2009-02-07T13:39:00.000-08:00

So it might not have the instant gratification while still being incredibly complex and deep that OK Computer might have, but this their magnum opus, in my opinion. From the demure digital-waterdrops of musical texture in the opening track to the dissonant shock-waves of jazz-inspired horns and complex drum-lines of the last track, this album is a journey. It's not a journey for all though. It gets really weird and goes to some really intense places. It's almost like avant-garde neo-classical digital jazz-rock in it's complex arrangements and variety of themes and influences. "Pyramid Song" is a long, drawn-out, trippy-as-fuck dream sequence. The song ebbs and flows and goes in and out of making sense both lyrically and musically, much like how dreams rarely make sense and then there are intense moments of clarity.

download: Radiohead - 2001 - Amnesiac.zip

Rosetta - 2007 - Wake/Lift

2009-02-05T12:52:00.000-08:00

Unlike The Galilean Satellites, Rosetta has learned to fine-tine their formula, making for a more well-structured and well-organized, and thus more monumental, album. "Red In Tooth and Claw" is a massive tower of a song that provides an awesome first exposure to the organically evolving soundscapes constructed through the rest of the album. As a whole, the album really is huge. Even in it's quietest, most intimate and serene moments, there's this towering sense of cosmic, emotional drama. In the ambient piece, "Tenet Nosce" (something like 'find yourself' in Latin), there is this emotional and heavy sense of self-discovery. Though it never really builds up, there is this forceful spinning sensation of blind, unconscious grasping for meaning. It really works very well as a whole because it creates a sensation of up and down, big and small, loud and quiet, atmospheric and monumental, ambient and thrash. It's an album of polar opposites. It's much more well-crafted and well thought out than their first album (though Tenet Nosce gets a bit boring) and it's an album that you might actually want to put on over and over again. Little details come out upon repeated listens that are very rewarding and thought-provoking (and, moreover, just really damn cool to listen to, let's get honest). "Monument" is hands-down the best album on the track, but all three parts of "Lift" make for one spectacular listen.

Rosetta might have an uphill battle to gain dominance of the Neurosis/Isis universe, but if anyone can do it, it's these guys. I've invested so much heart to these guys over the last year and a half, I just hope they keep at it and don't lose their touch for immaculate, spacey, atmospheric metal or whatever you wanna call it. I think these guys are one of the most interesting and defining bands of the current decade and I can't wait until their next album comes out...whenever it does.

download: Rosetta - 2007 - Wake/Lift.zip

ps, I don't think I've ever put so many labels on one album. I just really don't know what to classify it as.

Wanna help out?

2009-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

So I'm having a blast doing this alone, but I originally had the notion that this could be a collaborative effort. If anyone wants to help me out, leave a comment or send me an email (demnevanni@gmail.com). If you go to VC, it would be even awesomer. If you wanna write reviews or talk about music, or make music lists, or whatever...i don't care. But if you're interested, just holla at me.

Nine Inch Nails - 1996 - Quake Soundtrack

2009-02-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you played Quake, but I fucking loved that game. It was scary as hell, really fun and really long with one awesome and freaky level after another. I remember how awesome it was when you realized you had to teleport into the final boss in order to kill her. Or when it would rain with blood after you killed a bunch of people with a single grenade. Or when I first got the thunderbolt which just shoots pure lightning. Fucking awesome! Fucking HARDCORE! ARGHHHH!! ARGHHH!!!! GRRR!!!! ARGGHHH!!! well, enough of that...the album is okay. It's hard to listen to because it's really very repetitive. But it does fit well with the game. It's clanky and gritty and industrial (it really does sound like a machine at points) and droning and spooky and provides a good background to your steady prowl through hell and back. But it's kinda hard to listen to. Truly recommended if you like Quake, NIN, or ambient music. It's also nice if you're just looking for wacky, scary music. It's also good for sleeping. No really. I actually put it on quite regularly with the sole intention of listening to the first song (which I actually really like) and passing out before it ends.

download: Nine Inch Nails - 1996 - Quake Soundtrack.zip

of Montreal - 2008 - Skeletal Lamping

2009-02-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

So I asked my friend to write a piece for the blog and this was the product. If anyone wants to participate, let me know! I want people to help out. Especially if you go to VC, it would be super easy to coordinate...hmmm...i should make a new post. Anyway:

Most Delicious Sandwiches of 2008: Skeletal Lamping

Jarring transitions. That’s the centerpiece of like 90% of the critical appraisals of Skeletal Lamping. They usually say something like: the record doesn’t hang together well enough; it’s not cohesive.
FUCK YOU. Okay, so maybe I should calm down a little. But this is my pick for best of 2008, jarring transitions and all. Kbarnes talks about how he doesn’t want to be predictable, he doesn’t want the listener to be able to finish his musical sandwiches. And you can’t finish the sandwiches, not at first anyway. You choke on them a little bit, and you can’t eat the whole thing in one sitting.
Listen to it LIKE EIGHT TIMES. Get high and listen to it. Get crunk and listen to it. Before you know it this electrofunkpop pastiche will become your life. This is of Montreal’s Kid A, don’t be swayed by the lukewarm reviews. Just eat the damn sandwich(es).
- SFS

download: of Montreal - 2008 - Skeletal Lamping

Tool - 1996 - Aenima

2009-02-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

Tool's second full-length album, this album showed the world what they were capable of in terms of song-writing talent, instrumental virtuosity (specifically that of Danny Carey, whose drum lines just keep knocking my socks off, even 9 years after I first heard this album), and the vast, immersive soundscapes they create in this masterpiece of metal. Seriously though, if I had to make some sort of top 10 list this would probably be in there. Definitely in the top 20. And I'm not talking about the albums I think are the greatest ever, better than everything else. I haven't listened to everything else. Just the stuff that has helped guide and shape my music interests and the music I put on most frequently.

What makes this album great is just how listenable it is. It starts off with the single "Stinkfist"'s crazy bassy-guitar line that devolves into a single line of bleating feedback. The vocals are first subdued and removed (a theme present throughout the entire album) but they then break free during the breakdowns and choruses and Maynard's ability to rage at the powers that be and his own personal demons is exhibited the final buildup. Leading up to this the bass and guitar twiddle away in their own private madnesses while the drums provide this helicopter-grinding effect in the back ground. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger and each instrument pushes into new territory with each expansion. Finally, dejected and angst-ridden, Maynard, with the rest of the song following just seconds behind him, fade out into static.

This just provides the tiniest sample for what the rest of the album does. Despair, rejection, denial of emotion by outside forces, and madness are just some of the themes. There's a great industrial/noise track towards the end called "Die Eier Von Satan" which is a cookie recipe spoken in German for making hash cookies over a recorded pneumatic drill. Great, dark stuff. They really show just how much metal can do, how small and how large it can get. Maynard just has a beautiful, ethereal voice almost unfit for metal it's so lush. And then there's the ambience of the album. Oh man, the ambient/muzak interludes are the fucking BEST! Much in the time-honored tradition of progressive rock, Tool rarely has one song simply end and another start. There's always a build-up and a fade out, an interlude, long stretches of silence, static and ticking. They even break one of the the songs ("Eulogy") right in the middle and just throw in this bizarre ambient intermission for about 10-15 seconds only to throw the listener right back into the mix where things had been totally cut-off by the intermission. This suck-in and spit-out is a strange and rather startling addition but it gives us some insight into the band's whimsy and desire to really be seen as something other than the typical metal band. Maynard's other work (A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) shows his appreciation for more than just metal and more than just rock and his work in Tool shows his ability for really stretched-out, prog-inflected, anger ridden ambient-poetry slam-metal.

In short: you want this album.

'nuff said, I'm out

download: Tool - 1996 - Aenima.zip

Boards of Canada - 2005 - The Campfire Headphase

2009-01-31T13:09:00.001-08:00

These guys really know what they're doing. They do this great mix of ambient noise and swirling sounds with minimal techno and danceable grooves while staying fresh and weird and fun. This isn't really their best effort, but it's strong and fun and has some really solid tracks. "Dayvan Cowboy" is especially awesome--it builds up really well and is approached in a slightly different manner than most of their other songs, built around a couple of slowed-down, atmospheric guitar riffs. That and '84 Pontiac Dream are my favorite tracks from the album.

download: Boards of Canada - 2005 - The Campfire Headphase [Part 1].zip
download: Boards of Canada - 2005 - The Campfire Headphase [Part 2].zip

snares (Venetian Snares) - 2007 - Sabbath Dubs [EP]

2009-01-31T12:57:00.000-08:00

OMG! This shit is sick. It doesn't really matter what you're into, this shit is awesome. Really slowed-down and dubby with some really nice effects. Really spacey and trippy. Great stuff.

download: snares - 2007 - Sabbath Dubs [EP].zip

Nirvana - 1992 - Hormoaning [EP]

2009-01-31T12:51:00.000-08:00

Not too much to say here. Some decent Nirvana stuff here including a nice version of Aneurysm (not the same as on Incesticide) and one of Molly's Lips.

download: Nirvana - 1992 - Hormoaning [EP].zip

Alice in Chains - 1990 - Facelift

2009-01-31T01:19:00.000-08:00

download: Alice in Chains - 1990 - Facelift.zip

Alice in Chains - 1990 - Jar of Flies [EP]

2009-01-31T01:18:00.001-08:00

download: Alice in Chains - 1990 - Jar of Flies [EP].zip

Alice in Chains - 1992 - Dirt

2009-01-31T01:15:00.001-08:00

download: Alice in Chains - 1992 - Dirt.zip

Best of '08

2009-01-26T23:35:00.001-08:00

No I'm not doing just one single list, but two. The first is a "Best of new music from 2008" and the second is a "Best of what I actually listened to in 2008" which I think is a rather more interesting list. These will be coming in the next few days. Check back soon.

Temple of the Dog - 1991 - Temple of the Dog

2009-01-26T23:26:00.000-08:00

This album is a gem. A supergroup that actually made some great music (even if they only made one album). Hunger Strike and Say Hello 2 Heaven are probably my favs. I dunno what makes this album great, but it really is. I think a big part of this album's success is the fact that all the musicians got together not to create the "next Pearl Jam album" or the "next Soundgarden album"; they got together to create some music in honor of their mutual friend Andrew Wood, lead singer of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, who had died earlier that year of a heroin overdose. It's a grunge classic.
download: Temple of the Dog - 1991 - Temple of the Dog.zip

Alice in Chains - 1995 - Alice in Chains

2009-01-26T23:05:00.000-08:00

download: Alice in Chains - 1995 - Alice in Chains.zip

Fecal Matter Demo

2009-01-26T19:52:00.001-08:00

So here's a demo by Kurt Cobain's first band, Fecal Matter. Some really raw punk with some crazy, psychotic vocals by Cobain. Really great for any Nirvana-head, but limited appeal for most others (unless you really like weird, heady, bizarre-o hardcore punk.

download: Fecal Matter Demo.zip

Rosetta - 2005 - The Galilean Satellites

2009-01-26T17:11:00.001-08:00

Okay this is the best (or at least the most promising) new band I've found in a little while. They do this awesome, trippy space-metal tinged with sludge, ambient, noise, industrial--there's really no good description of it. But it's freaking sweet. The lyrics are ridiculously hard to decipher but they're really cool (there's this plot about an astronaut going to space and doing all this crazy stuff--haven't really delved too much into the lyrics). Another cool thing about this album is that the first disc is the main music while the second disc has 5 songs of equal length to those on the first disc and are meant to accompany the first disc with extra sound effects, spoken word and other ambient samples.

What really gets me are the elaborate and precisely timed drumlines, the beauty of the slowed-down, almost ethereal chords and the Sunn O)))-esque ambient interludes and background effects. The combined effect is an amazing, soap-operatic masterpiece. I'm not sure if it's because I've listened to this album too much or whether I think the second album is actually better, but the second album (Wake/Lift) is a much more polished, well crafted effort. Galilean Satellites is a bit scattered and a bit repetitive, but then again, that's kinda the desired effect. Plus it's beautiful, so it doesn't really matter.

download: Rosetta - 2005 - The Galilean Satellites [Disc 1].zip
download: Rosetta - 2005 - The Galilean Satellites [Disc 2].zip

Boris - 2003 - Akuma no Uta

2009-01-26T13:12:00.000-08:00

Fucking ridiculous stoner metal. Starts off weird and doomy, then gets all stonery, with nice, heavy, bluesy riffs that carry you away. Really reminds me of a lot of groundwork for stoner metal Black Sabbath established in the late '60s, early '70s.

download: Boris - 2003 - Akuma no Uta.zip

Agnostic Front - 1986 - Cause for Alarm

2009-01-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Fucking sweet crossover punk/thrash from NYC. Short and sweet.

download: Agnostic Front - 1986 - Cause for Alarm.zip

Gang of Four - 1982 - Songs of the Free

2009-01-26T12:20:00.000-08:00

A great album that really uses a lot of sounds that would go on to describe a large swath of alternative rock and indie rock bands for the next few decades. A real precursor to much of the garage rock bands of the late '90s and early 2000s. Really great punk rock sound that pushes the punk borders into new territory with goofy, mocking lyrics ("I love a man in a uniform," sung in a silly, swoony, almost disco-y way). Every time a song from this album would come on shuffle, I had to stop and check out what it was. Really awesome stuff.

One thing I really like about the band is how they embrace a lot of different styles or concepts not necessarily native to punk (funk, blues, dub, minimalism) and apply them to a very specific form of punk rock. They can get abrasive, but never hardcore, usually sticking to more dancy, yet biting abstract-pop-punk riffs. They love using female back-up singers which adds both idiomatic stylistic flavor and ironic juxtaposition with their lyrics and underlying punk sounds.

download: Gang of Four - 1982 - Songs of the Free.zip

Agent Orange - 1986 - Secret Agent Man [EP]

2009-01-19T18:04:00.001-08:00

Some more great surf-punk from the Cali hardcore gods.

download: Agent Orange - 1986 - Secret Agent Man [EP].zip

Agent Orange - 1982 - Bitchin' Summer [EP]

2009-01-19T15:23:00.000-08:00

Four great tracks from the CD reissue of their first album, Living in Darkness that all showcase the band's hardcore meets surf-punk style. This is some classic shit, man. My favorite is a great rendition of the epic surf-rock anthem, "Miserlou," by Dick Dale. Really great stuff. Miserlou is something those not attuned to punk would like; it's just been ingrained so deeply into the American consciousness that anyone can get into it.

download: Agent Orange - 1982 - Bitchin' Summer [EP].zip

Radiohead - 1997 - OK Computer

2009-01-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, everyone has this album. But why shouldn't I put it up? It's just so good. It's breadth of content and audio-lyrical themes is so vast and the combined effect of the entire album is so powerful, expressive and ultimately truly beautiful. Though not my favorite of Radiohead albums (and I really could talk about Radiohead for a while if I wanted), it's probably their masterpiece (though In Rainbows gives it quite the run for its money) in terms of cohesion, accessibility and progression.

download: Radiohead - 1997 - OK Computer.zip

YMCK - 2004 - Family Racing

2009-01-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

A really cute, goofy Japanese chiptune/pop album. The whole thing sounds like a nintendo game. If you're familiar with the Katamari Damacy games, then I think I it sounds like the music from those games. Track 3 is particularly great. It's really good and just incredibly cute.

download: YMCK - 2001 - Family Racing.zip

cLOUDDEAD - 2001 - cLOUDDEAD

2009-01-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

Great, weird hip hop album made by two white guys. Really nice and ambient.

download: cLOUDDEAD - 2001 - cLOUDDEAD.zip

The Beatles - 1967 - Magical Mystery Tour

2009-01-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

A crazy, wacky album and my favorite Beatles album. Right in line with their musical trajectory after Revolver in 1966 and Sgt. Pepper's earlier in '67. (Hey, NPR is playing the Beatles as I write this.) This album really is like a circus and no matter what they had in mind, it really made huge leaps and bounds for psychedelic rock and noise music as the Beatles throw everything they've got into the album from traditional "musical" sounds to trippy, wacky noises and recorded sounds.

Even though it is one of their weirdest albums and is kind of a sleeper hit when compared to the likes of the white album, Help!, Abbey Road, etc., it is chock full of many of the bands most successful and endearing classics including "I Am the Walrus," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," and "All You Need Is Love."

To summarize, a great album showing the Beatles' willingness to change and use all sorts of a weird and wacky sounds more than simply the sound-collage of "Revolution #9" in a truly psychedelic and musical manner.

download: The Beatles - 1967 - Magical Mystery Tour.zip

Sunn O))) - 2005 - Black One

2009-01-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

review to come

download: Sunn O))) - 2005 - Black One.zip

...And We're Back

2009-01-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Phew!

I checked my mediafire account and suddenly it's all back to normal. Weird. Fret not, the cleansing power of metal/me being a jedi (haha) has restored balance to the world.

SOME SERIOUS ISSUES. Ever had a fart that smelled like weed?

2009-01-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

Alright all you punksters and noiseheads, we're experiencing some technical difficulties. Somehow my mediafire account crapped out sometime between last night and this morning and I'm not sure why. Basically everything I uploaded is gone and I'm scared. But stay vigilant! We will prevail! The power of the HHH (OMG! SO MUCH H!).

VC PUNX!!

2009-01-13T22:30:00.000-08:00

So this is for my glorious brothers and sisters of doom, death and all things hardcore, with a bit of blood and mosh thrown in:

http://vcpunx.blogspot.com

All Vassar kids who love all things heavy and obnoxious (you know who you are), check them out. They're doing their darndest to bring the best punk, metal and generally crazy-ass bands they can to Vassar campus. Spread the word and love the love.

ps, kill cops. ;)

Punk Mix 2, part 2

2009-01-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

Here's the second part of the first punk mix.

Atari Teenage Riot - Destroy 2000 Years of Culture
Angry Samoans - Inside My Brain
Blood Circus - The Outback
INDK - Moonwalk Mafia
Bad Religion - No Control
Agent Orange - Secret Agent Man
Agression - Grind Kings
Dead Kennedys - Take This Job And Shove It
Dead Boys - Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth
Gang Green - Another Wasted Night
Dayglo Abortions - Ronald McRaygun
Genghis Tron - Laser Bitch (exfoliating gel scrub remix)
MDC - Corporate Death Burger
Circle Jerks - World Up My Ass

Punk Mix 1, part 1

2009-01-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

So here are some prime cuts of punk, crossover, crust, and the like (even one sweet screamo song). Part 2 is coming as soon as I can (hopefully later tonight)

Black Flag - Drinking and Driving
Amebix - Axeman
Balboa - Kaddish
Electro Hippies - Satanic Warmonger of the Abyss
Buzzcocks - Sixteen
Cro-Mags - Eyes of Tomorrow
Discharge - Protest and Survive
Bikini Kill - Suck My Left One
The Stooges - Little Doll
Choking Victim - Choking Victim
Minutemen - #1 Hit Song
The Misfits - Last Caress
Black Flag - Six Pack
Leftöver Crack - Born to Die
Buzzcocks - Just Lust
Gang of Four - I Love A Man In Uniform
Aus-Rotten - Fuck Nazi Sympathy
The Germs - Communist Eyes
Apartment 213 - Endless Killing

Album vomit

2009-01-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

Black Flag - 1984 - Slip It In

Black Flag's first album that really demonstrates its shift towards punk/metal crossover. The title song is awesome and the second half gets really experimental and sludgy.

download: Black Flag - 1984 - Slip It In.zip

Dead Boys - 1977 - Young Loud and Snotty

A great oldies punk album from New York City's heyday.

download: Dead Boys - 1977 - Young Loud and Snotty.zip

Jane's Addiction - 1988 - Nothing's Shocking

The best Jane's Addiction album. 'Nuff said.

download: Jane's Addiction - 1988 - Nothing's Shocking

Leftöver Crack - 2001 - Mediocre Generica

Super fucking hardcore. Lots of screaming, anti-globalization themes, and some really awesome riffs. Plus some hilariously irreverent classical interludes. Great crusty ska-punk. Highly highly highly recommended. Get ready to fucking kill some cops.

download: Leftöver Crack - 2001 - Mediocre Generica.zip

Metallica - 1987 - The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited

Haven't actually listened to this yet, but it's some rare Metallica shit if you're interested. It's all covers of old metal songs.

download: Metallica - 1987 - The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited.zip

Black Flag - 1985 - The Process of Weeding Out [EP]

2009-01-12T10:18:00.001-08:00

A crazy EP, basically created with a general intention of stretching the notions of what could and couldn't be considered hardcore punk. Before I go any further I should mention that the entire thing is instrumental so if that turns anyone off, this is your moment to run in fear (but seriously, Henry Rollins doesn't make a single appearance). For those who are still with us, check it out. It's wierder than a lot of Black Flag's other stuff, but it's a good listen. Greg Ginn's guitar is crazy as ever, harmolodic as always. I think it's cool because they clearly know they're pushing past true "hardcore punk" into new territory. One could seriously argue whether or not this is proto-post-hardcore or some other ridiculous term for hours, but I'm not gonna get into that (although I will admit I'm generally a huge proponent of genre categorization and whatnot, here it's just not important). It's Black Flag. It's a significant departure, but it's still Black Flag and it's very listenable.

download: Black Flag - 1985 - The Process of Weeding Out [EP].zip

Some fun links

2009-01-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

awesome anime site

stopgoodtv.com

Whopper Sacrifice

Flame

Pink Floyd - 1970 - Meddle

2009-01-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

My favorite Pink Floyd album. A really spacey, wacky album yet very groovy and fun. Has a nice warpy feel to it.

An incredible album that combines a lot of different elements from noise to rock and roll, weird ambient interludes and typical Pink Floydian sampling. The first half of the album serves as a primer for the epic second half and is incredibly absorbing. It opens with the driving, nearly psychotic bass line of “One of These Days,” firmly establishing a number of the core aspects of the album: its wackiness and psychological depth, its predominant rock undertones and a significant step away from much of the earlier material that had been alluded to in Atom Heart Mother (over the orchestral and operatic nature of much of their work to come and the crazy psychedelia of their first two albums). Unlike Dark Side of the Moon, this album is heavily based on its two sides as distinct entities, the first side mostly being a collection of shorter songs and the second side dedicated entirely to the mammoth “Echoes,” a 23-minute epic chock full of Beatles’ lyric references (“inviting and inciting me”; “across the sky…..”; a submarine is referenced in the first stanza. The lyrics are vaguely evocative of much of the Beatles’ trippiest songs, “Across the Universe,” “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” “Yellow Submarine”) and built around a single ‘ping’ heard consistently throughout the song.

In many ways the album is a lovely exercise in duality, with each half presenting a slightly different, yet equally crucial role in establishing the tenor of the album. The first side houses a more complex set of themes, styles and sonic vocabulary but only because the second side is simply a single massive song, though it effectively combines many of these original themes from the first side and expands upon them. In a way, the first side acts as an album-in-mini in which the band explores new ground, showing off its developing stylistic upheaval from a spacey, brilliant but rather untethered psychedelic rock band into a firmly rooted progressive rock band. That said, the band’s flair for the goofy (the sweeping guitar flanges of “San Tropez”), offbeat (the recording of the crowd in “Fearless”) and scary (the psychosis of the ‘protagonist’ of “One of These Days”) never subsides. I find that the first half really seems like a cohesive larger piece, where the listener (or maybe it’s just me) hears the songs as eliding into one another to the extent that I often can’t tell the difference between them unless I give it a bit of thought. Similar ideas are explored in Dark Side of the Moon, though in that album each song is so drastically different from one another and its really the borders of the songs that crossover and fade into one another rather than the general textural guidelines.

In Meddle, the songs aren’t really connected or linked thematically, but each one is generally built around similar underlying principles: lots of repetitive guitar work; a slowly developing and unfolding structure; an exploration of minimal AND orchestral rock arrangements; noise sampling and ambient loops. Though the sounds are vastly different, the songs are vaguely reminiscent of one another and work quite well hand-in-hand. It shows the band exploring a lot of new material and really establishing itself as a progressive rock band. What’s more, a lot of the sonic images and themes touched on in the first half reemerge and evolve within the second half. It’s almost like the band is showcasing its newest achievements in the first half in order to highlight how they can best be implemented in the second.

“Echoes” itself is ridiculous. Ridiculously long, ridiculously good, ridiculously prophetical (of both later Pink Floyd albums and future developments in progressive, experimental and largely instrumental rock). It’s also very simple (I mean it’s got a lot of complexities and intricacies, but the core is simple), built around a single “pinging” sound and the titular theme. It constantly seems to fade in and out, thematically departing, yet always “echoing” back. And in many ways it seems to be a echo of the first half of the album, yet in a more evolved (or, for lack of wanting to sound belittling of the first half, grandiose). “Echoes” itself is a masterpiece of complex instrumentation and one of Pink Floyd’s most ambitious pieces at any given period of their career. Like the first side it is heavily based on strange ambient loops and heavy repetition of almost every part. The whole album thus becomes an echo of itself on every level of structure, detail, texture and lyrical themes.

Basically if you’re going to have a Pink Floyd other than Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall (neither of which are even in my top three, I only mention them because EVERYONE has them), just fucking download it. Actually, go out and buy it. Always buy albums. Especially this one. It’s a masterpiece

Pink Floyd - 1971 - Meddle.zip

First real post! (DJ One Oscillator)

2009-01-08T08:06:00.000-08:00

So here's an ill mashup of a bunch of nice shit, mixed and mastered by a good friend. Check it out:

DJ One Oscillator - 2009 - Break It Up Mash.zip

Setlist:

Carl Lewis – Break It Up

Digitalism – Apollo-Gize (Fred Falke Edit)

Digitalism – Magnets

Chris Joss – Get With It

Gorillaz – El Manana

Talking Heads – Life During Wartime

Miguel Toro – Cure (Oil of Mars vs. Samim Mix)

The Pixies – Hey (Diplos Devil Remix)

Britney Spears vs. Martin Solveig – I want circus (Matt Green Mashup Mix)

Radiohead – Exit Music (For a Film)

Phonique – Andres

My Morning Jacket – Wordless Chorus

Coldplay – Violet Hill (Cryptonites Remix)

Michael Jackson – Thriller

Greg Di Mano feat. Tommy Snyder – Gloria

Phonique – Cats n’Cars

Boys Noize – Deny Selected

Boys Noize - & down

Aphex Twin – Kesson Dalef

Terminal 11 – Counter Clockwise Chant Pattern

Ratatat – Shempi (Zongamin Remix)

Of Montreal – Id Engager

Lil’ Wayne – Lollipop (LAZRtag Remix)

Madison – Lollipop

Miley Cyrus – See You Again (Pauly Remix)

DJ Danny Diggz - A Milli-Pop (D-N-S Bass Mix) (Mixshow Edit)

We Couldn't Find Him, But We Found His Spoon.

2009-01-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Happy Happy Hardcore!!

This is Vassar College's first dedicated music criticism blog, made for anyone who loves music and wants to talk about it. There's no real format or content restrictions; we're gonna be talking about all sorts of music and I hope you all like it. Email me at demnevanni@gmail.com or nahomer@vassar.edu if you have suggestions or want to contribute. Pretty much all you need is Blogger account and I'll link you up with the HHH!!

-Nat Homer