God and Texas...
And I am back. All I have to say about my week long absence is stealing someone’s e-mail/blogger account is totally not cool and that Google’s support is pretty worthless really in dealing with the whole matter. Investigation “inconclusive”…thanks Google for relaying that information after the whole week that it took you to figure that out. But yeah, everything’s good now and it’s back to updating the blog.
I’ve wanted to do this post for awhile, but right about when I had decided to finally throw up some tracks from the mighty God and Texas I ran into all the aforementioned trouble, such shitty timing. Anyway, now I can finally do that and hopefully turn some ears on to those that may have never had a chance to hear this fine Athens, Ohio noise-rock/punk band from the early 90’s. In total, the band released four albums and a couple singles, along with a split with the Pain Teens, which the song featured on it “1066” would appear as a bonus track on the bands second album. However, it’s those first two albums that I want to really bring into focus here in this post because those two albums, Industry Standard (1990) and History Volume One (1992), are probably a couple of the most straight ahead noise-rock albums that I’ve ever heard. Incorporating elements from mid to late 80’s punk/hardcore and taking it from there and giving it the maximum riffage that it could possibly withstand and voila, God and Texas were born. At least that’s the way I like to think of it.
Their first album Industry Standard has the lo-fi and raw production qualities that graced their first single, which is partly why I love listening to it. There is just something about that raw and overblown wash of almost white noise that I will never ever get tired of and Industry Standard really caters to that love of mine quite nicely. However, while it’s a bit on the rough side there are plenty of parts of which are done with enough clarity that everyone can still hear the bands strongest points, which is the riffs and hooks that are thrown in while the band continues forth with reckless abandon, absolutely ripping through twelve songs.
Their second album History Volume One is actually the one that everyone should pickup since the CD version also contains Industry Standard as a bonus, along with the aforementioned track “1066”, featured on the Pain Teens split. While featuring a cleaner sound, History Volume One makes it very hard to decide which one is indeed better. There isn’t really much to say about the music that I didn’t already mention with Industry Standard. The band was at the top of their game here. The sound is thicker and although I’m a fan of the noisier recording of their first album, on History Volume One it makes a point as to what suffered and listeners were missing due to the lower quality production on Industry Standard.
Anyway, the band would go on to release two more albums, Criminal Element and Double Shot respectively and then call it a day. Do check out the tunes below, especially for those that haven’t had to chance to hear this band. It’s some great stuff.
Industry Standard:
God and Texas – Grist for the Mill [MP3]
God and Texas – Shit House [MP3]
God and Texas – Purge [MP3]
History Volume One:
God and Texas – Amalgamator [MP3]
God and Texas – Hell on Earth [MP3]
God and Texas – 1979 Under God [MP3]
Unfortunately I think everything by the band is pretty much out of print these days. Their last two albums can be had on Amazon for pretty much nothing, but it’s a bit harder to track down a copy of History Volume One.
UPDATE: Thanks to Dirk in the comments section for pointing me towards eMusic for anyone wanting to get a copy of History Volume One, and there is occasionally physical copies that pop up on good old eBay if you're not satisfied with MP3's.
I’ve wanted to do this post for awhile, but right about when I had decided to finally throw up some tracks from the mighty God and Texas I ran into all the aforementioned trouble, such shitty timing. Anyway, now I can finally do that and hopefully turn some ears on to those that may have never had a chance to hear this fine Athens, Ohio noise-rock/punk band from the early 90’s. In total, the band released four albums and a couple singles, along with a split with the Pain Teens, which the song featured on it “1066” would appear as a bonus track on the bands second album. However, it’s those first two albums that I want to really bring into focus here in this post because those two albums, Industry Standard (1990) and History Volume One (1992), are probably a couple of the most straight ahead noise-rock albums that I’ve ever heard. Incorporating elements from mid to late 80’s punk/hardcore and taking it from there and giving it the maximum riffage that it could possibly withstand and voila, God and Texas were born. At least that’s the way I like to think of it.Their first album Industry Standard has the lo-fi and raw production qualities that graced their first single, which is partly why I love listening to it. There is just something about that raw and overblown wash of almost white noise that I will never ever get tired of and Industry Standard really caters to that love of mine quite nicely. However, while it’s a bit on the rough side there are plenty of parts of which are done with enough clarity that everyone can still hear the bands strongest points, which is the riffs and hooks that are thrown in while the band continues forth with reckless abandon, absolutely ripping through twelve songs.
Their second album History Volume One is actually the one that everyone should pickup since the CD version also contains Industry Standard as a bonus, along with the aforementioned track “1066”, featured on the Pain Teens split. While featuring a cleaner sound, History Volume One makes it very hard to decide which one is indeed better. There isn’t really much to say about the music that I didn’t already mention with Industry Standard. The band was at the top of their game here. The sound is thicker and although I’m a fan of the noisier recording of their first album, on History Volume One it makes a point as to what suffered and listeners were missing due to the lower quality production on Industry Standard.Anyway, the band would go on to release two more albums, Criminal Element and Double Shot respectively and then call it a day. Do check out the tunes below, especially for those that haven’t had to chance to hear this band. It’s some great stuff.
Industry Standard:
God and Texas – Grist for the Mill [MP3]
God and Texas – Shit House [MP3]
God and Texas – Purge [MP3]
History Volume One:
God and Texas – Amalgamator [MP3]
God and Texas – Hell on Earth [MP3]
God and Texas – 1979 Under God [MP3]
Unfortunately I think everything by the band is pretty much out of print these days. Their last two albums can be had on Amazon for pretty much nothing, but it’s a bit harder to track down a copy of History Volume One.
UPDATE: Thanks to Dirk in the comments section for pointing me towards eMusic for anyone wanting to get a copy of History Volume One, and there is occasionally physical copies that pop up on good old eBay if you're not satisfied with MP3's.
Labels: noise-rock
posted by Jonathan at
1:07 AM
3 Comments:
God and Texas are indeed one of the great unknown bands of the 90's. I had the pleasure of seeing them live three or four times, and they did not disappoint. Unfortunately, I lost my "Fuck that weak shit" G&T shirt a few years after they broke up.
The sound on Criminal Element was basically a stripped down version of History. The last song was a departure, with a prominent saxaphone. Double Shot was more bluesy and laid back (at least for G&T), with the sax on almost every track. The front man/guitarist and the drummer went on to put out a few middling blues albums as "Cash Money".
Anyhow, I'm here to tell you that you need to get down with eMusic.com. They're a great resource for obscure indie bands. History Vol. 1 is
available there.
DRM-free 192K mp3s for about $0.30 each (cheaper if you get a year's subscription). You can't lose.
Hey thanks! I never thought about them being on eMusic. However, it does seem like they have a lot of stuff on there that I wouldn't think they would have.
Kudos on the great post! As probably about the best rock band of the last 20 years, I am continually amazed at how few people have heard (or even heard of) God and Texas!
I just went through the process of iPodding their first two LP's, but I may have to try eMusic, as all my 7inchers are in storage and I haven't heard 1066 in years.
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