Built on a Weak Spot

I think at some point after I posted the other Crown Roast single someone asked about this one via e-mail or something. So to if that person is still out there, here is the Three Course Meal single. Much like the George 7-inch (you can still grab that one here), this one is quite the ripper as well. The a-side treats you to two pretty solid blasts of noise-punk. However, in my opinion the b-side is the clear reason to hear or own this single thanks to the largely destructive and ugly tune “L-Pill” that consume most of this side of the wax. As many of you probably already know, former Crown Roast member Craig Clouse does similar noise making in the behemoth that is TODD. You can also find him doing even further bizarre things Shit & Shine, whom are incredibly good as well. In the meantime though, take a step back in time to listen to this precursor. It’s mighty enjoyable.

Crown Roast – Three Course Meal [MP3]
Crown Roast – Vertravlich [MP3]
Crown Roast – Codebook [MP3]
Crown Roast – L-Pill [MP3]

You can actually still pick this single up at Little Deputy it appears. If you enjoy it, well throw down the little cash that they are asking for copies of this. Enjoy!

I honestly can’t remember the last time I was in Columbia, MO. Probably the very last time would have been just driving through en route to St. Louis. Judging by the musical output coming out of the town these days, my lack of visiting may very well have to be altered. One of these bands enticing me to make that 2 hour trip is Heater, which is comprised of already notable Columbia bands Jerusalem and the Starbaskets and CAVE. Both have released material that have been more than welcome to these ears. But anyway, back on topic, Heater are Columbia super group of sorts going in a pretty different direction, however maintaining their pretty strict DIY approach. Their record God and Hair was just recently pressed onto vinyl and released courtesy of the great Chicago based Permanent Records. They’ve also been responsible for records from CAVE and Sneakers (whom also are represented in Heater). With God and Hair, the members have adopted a bit of a lo-fi indie-rock/pop sound that would have probably fit pretty nicely somewhere in the middle of Homesteads catalog in the mid to late 80′s. Plenty of stuff here that reminds of the brighter moments of Sebadoh or the earlier years of Big Dipper. It’s just an upbeat and pleasant album to listen to, while still keeping it rough and vaguely punk at times that keeps it from getting a bit too mushy and being just another summery feel good record. There is no reason this shouldn’t be on turntables year round.

Heater – Beside Me [MP3]

If you’re interested in picking up a copy of God and Hair, then hit up Permanent Records and get one. Pressing of 500 and the label is saying a second pressing is unlikely. So don’t miss out. Enjoy!

Brooklyn’s Pollution probably doesn’t need much of an introduction really after a slew of pretty smoking releases over the past year or so, the n.s. Drugs 7’’ in particular popped up on these pages in December actually. At the time that single had me pretty excited for what these guys were up to and then I managed to hear a live cassette they put out through Vinyl Rites that completely sold me with nine tracks of ripping noisy hardcore (download the entire thing over here). Now out of nowhere they already have a new self-released LP to tout about titled ®SMUT that delivers in the same vein of some of their recorded live material, in that it’s straight up break neck paced dirty hardcore. There just isn’t a way you can listen to this record and not get incredibly pumped up listening to it. Seriously, listening to this thing not long before I decided to jot all this down knocked me out of a Taco Bueno induced coma…so thank you Pollution. But seriously, ®SMUT will no doubt put a smile on the face of those who have been following the band. The riffs are plentiful and the raw production emits a sort of energy that really captures a “live” vibe, and so far that’s the setting in which this band really shines. To have a record like ®SMUT that can harness much of that is quite the accomplishment and most certainly makes for a great record.

Pollution – Signal.Control [MP3]

If you’re interested in picking this up, the band currently has copies for sale through their own label site, c6recordings. I would certainly suggest hitting them up for a copy as distros seem to be going through them fairly quickly. Enjoy!

Time still seems to be an issue as of late, evidenced by the lack of activity here over the past few days. However I have been enjoying this little five song EP from the Long Beach, CA trio Tiny Lungs. They definitely have their heart smack dab in the middle of 90’s indie/pop-punk, and as Sound as Language put it…they are certainly among a populous of groups that are channeling and/or influenced by the enduring Superchunk. However, there is a rawer sound at play here…and while I am not sure if it’s intentional or just a byproduct of the recording itself, I definitely like it. The guitar tone sort of hints at a Midwestern vibe at times too, which for me is certainly an exciting attribute. For some reason I thought I’d heard of these guys before, but this EP seems to be all they have to their name so far. Whatever they do next I’ll surely be checking out.

Tiny Lungs – Cop Heart [MP3]

For those interested in a copy of the EP from Tiny Lungs then you better act quickly as this was put out by Mountain Man records in a small run of 100. Definitely pick it up if you dig the tune posted above.

Really I don’t know how many times I’ve said it or will end up saying it on this blog, but it definitely deserves to be repeated that the state of Texas certainly knows how to throw out some superb noise. Black Congress is yet another fine example of some of the outright surging noise-rock that is continually created in the state, these guys in particular calling Houston their home. Not sure if this is their first release or not, guess it doesn’t really matter as it surely sounds like they’ve been going at this for quite awhile now and come to find out they have as the members have all been in various other bands over the years. This two song 7-inch here is an absolute rager, with the A-side “Davidians” somewhat reminding me of past noise making unit Slug, albeit if they had a bit more of a hardcore slant to their sound. The B-side “London’s Burning” takes those hardcore tendencies a bit further but continues to pound and drown the listener with more grit and distortion. For all of 8 minutes this thing is one very pissed off nasty affair. One of the coolest singles I’ve heard this year probably, and can’t wait to hear more output from these guys.

Black Congress – Davidians [stream]

You can pick this up currently through the Team Science if you enjoy what you hear. Definitely comes recommended.

I am sure that Kalamazoo, MI’s Randy Thunderbird are probably a bit tired of being compared alongside the likes of Banner Pilot, Jawbreaker, etc. However when you are able to nail the midwestern pop-punk sound as well as Randy Thunderbird have on their debut How to Talk to Kids About Robots, I’d say it’s probably a good thing people are jumping to some of those more notable groups of the genre right off the bat. With that, Randy Thunderbird are determined to make a mark for themselves with this album and I imagine if more people get around to hearing them they will certainly latch on for this rather quick, albeit pleasant album. Lord knows it’s full of the sort of characteristics that has made this sort of music so much fun to listen to in the past, with plenty of hooks and the rather blunt and nonsense approach to lyricism. Most bands will never be attributed to reinventing the wheel with this, however there is reason that it has become as timeless as it has over the years and albums like How to Talk to Kids About Robots are a perfect reason as to why, it continues on with a proven formula for success when backed by a strong group of members with the ability to lay down a set of no bullshit catchy tunes. Definitely give this a listen, especially if you’re a fan of solid pop-punk. This should hit the spot.

Randy Thunderbird – Leaps & Boundaries [MP3]

You can pick up How to Talk to Kids About Robots from Bermuda Mohawk. Definitely do so if you enjoy what you hear above.

It seems just as soon as I got into Philadelphia’s own Algebra of Need they were gone, which was kind of a bummer. However, members have since been focused on other projects which also happen to include the recently mentioned Thinking Machines. The focus of this post though is on another new project featuring both members from Algebra of Need and Thinking Machines eloquently named Fuck Attack!. You may or may not like the name, however I believe if you’re into some noisy grimy sounding punk then there is at least a good chance you’ll like the music. Even more so if you enjoyed Algebra of Need, as this sort of has the same tone but sounds like it is on amphetamines along with being muddied up further. With that, you can expect six songs in just less than nine minutes. All of which is straight to the point loud noise-punk that hits the spot.

Fuck Attack! – Oh Yeah! [MP3]

For those interested in hearing the rest of the bands debut EP, you’re in luck as the band has it up for free download via their MySpace. So if you like what you hear posted above then be sure to take a small amount of time and grab that!

Probably should have had this mentioned among my favorite singles this year, however kind forgot that it got the vinyl treatment thanks to Desensitized Records. I keep thinking of it as a cassette, which is what it was originally released on/as. But yeah, let me clear it up now and say that this SHOULD have been listed as well, because this thing rocks. Pollution does some good old fashioned nasty hardcore/noise-rock through five songs on this 45, although for those lucky enough to have the cassette version…it contains a pretty great cover of the Lush song “Downer”. They get points for that choice alone. Things on the A-side get loud and have a bit of an AmRep-ish ugly quality to them and there is not a bad thing to say about a song as head stompingly heavy as “Fuck Hope”. The B-side mixes in a more standard hardcore number with “Reds” followed by an interlude/noise piece of sorts with “Ashes III”. Pollution doesn’t stop there and figures to cover more ground by turning up the metal a bit for the final song “D-IX”, just listen to the riffing. No matter what they choose to do, they seem to be doing it rather well. This shouldn’t be missed.

Pollution – Fuck Hope [MP3]

The band also has a 12” floating about through Feast of Tentacles that if you can get a copy of that, would be much recommended. For the n.s. Drugs 7”, it would appear that both Deranged and Sorry State have copies of these still available in their distros. Get on it while they are still out there.

I’ve mentioned Sideshow at length on the blog awhile back. For a bit more information on the bands background you can view that post here. To quickly recap however, Sideshow was the band fronted by Caulfield Records founder Bernie McGinn and the band was actually pretty much the catalyst for starting the label altogether really. With fellow members Paul Tisdale and Rich Higgins the band released a couple albums, EP’s, and singles during their run through the 90’s. However before they were known as Sideshow the band was called Peer Puppet and their first single and the first for Caulfield was actually pressed as such with that name. However, a name change occurred and thus all the labels needed to be altered, which resulted in black permanent marker crossing out the Peer Puppet name and a freshly stamped Sideshow took its place above it. This single is also quite interesting as it shows the band as a quite different one from what people would come to hear on later singles/albums/etc. These four songs are pretty much straight up hardcore/punk with very little resemblance of what they would go on to do, however the single remains to be a neat glimpse into where everything began. So, for your listening pleasure I bring you Sideshows debut single. Enjoy!

Sideshow – Out of Mind [MP3]
Sideshow – If the Shoe Fits [MP3]
Sideshow – If No One [MP3]
Sideshow – Blame Me [MP3]

Both of Sideshow’s albums are still available through Amazon used here and here, definitely pick them up…although I would listen to the tunes in my previous Sideshow post for a better representation of what they were like. However if you enjoy it, definitely give them a go!

This album from Pygmy Shrews came in the mail a couple or so days ago, just in time for it to get tossed on the player for the weekend. I’ve come to determine that it basically rips after many listens at high volume, eardrums be damned. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a band that also happens to feature members from fellow Brooklyn acts Zs (guitarist Ben Greenberg) and Drunkdriver (drummer Jeremy Villalobos). Not to be forgotten among the mix is bassist Tia Vincent who also lends her excellent vocals to a number of the albums tracks. In fact her vocals during the bands more spontaneous noise outbursts throughout the album often make me think of Picasso Trigger, which certainly isn’t a bad thing.

On first listen The Egyptian comes off as an impressive blast of noise for twenty five minutes for sure, but to leave it at that is undermining some of the fine work taking place behind that rough exterior. Greenberg makes this record that much more interesting by interjecting flurries of guitar riffs and noodling that if you blink you may just miss due to many of the songs brief run times. No matter, fans of noisy blown out rock will likely find something to enjoy on The Egyptian. Excellent stuff from this relatively new group that bring a bit something different to the table. Check out the tune below.

Pygmy Shrews – Deep Xuxa [MP3]

Wantage just put these up for sale the other day for anyone that is looking to pick up a copy. Definitely recommend it. Also, be on the lookout for a new 7-inch from the band on Fandeath here shortly. Enjoy!