28-24

Four on the floor

Ad Rock's out the door

MCA's in the back 'cause he's skeezin' with a whore...

Go fucking Pats

Music Sucks

20 years after they invented a musical genre with their inaugural 88 Song EP, Mike Mahan, Seth Putnam and Tim Morse dusted off the cobwebs and re-recorded the twenty-minute blast of blur that started their (in)famous ride as one of the most polarizing bands in heavy music history. Per Mr. Putnam:

"Since 2008 was the 20th anniversary of Anal Cunt, we got the original lineup back together and only did shows with this lineup all year and only did songs from the 1988-1990 period. This CD was recorded the way original Anal Cunt stuff should be recorded. We just borrowed a recorder from someone, pressed play and didn't stop until we were done. We didn't stop the recorder to take any breaks, or re-record mistakes or anything gay like that. What you get here is over 21 minutes of pure, raw Anal Cunt style blurcore. We tried recording it a couple of days earlier on some gay computer recorder which Tim assured me would be fine, but ended up sounding like Richard Simmons trying to pick which Polyphonic Spree song he wanted to hear on the jukebox at a gay bar. So we threw that recording away, and tried again 2 days later with a different recorder that Tim borrowed from someone else. It sounds exactly the way the original lineup of Anal Cunt is supposed to sound, like a ferocious, violent, holocaust. The only thing that sucks about it a little is the little recorder couldn't handle my vocals like it should, so it's a little weaker than it sounded in the room when we recorded it, but it came out good enough. If you like the sound of Anal Cunt's Another E.P. then you'll love this - because it is much heavier, and more like an audio sledgehammer to your face.  If you didn't like the sound of Another E.P. then go inject some more of Bruce Vilanch's cum into your veins, faggot."

I'm fine with admitting I was a pretty hardcore A.C. fan back in the day, I was one of those sorry souls who slapped down three bucks at Newbury Comics every time they released a new 7" even though I knew it was going to be the exact same power chord noisecore. Sure, the 7MON split was over-produced, Another E.P. was under-produced, the Meat Shits split interspersed some surf rock riffs and the Unplugged E.P. was, well, unplugged, but all in all it was the same ol' noisy stuff. So at least I knew what I was gonna get with 110 Song CD. Not quite a feedback-laden lo-fi assault as Another E.P. (my personal fave from the blur era), it's still a respectable throwback to the good ol' days by guys who were pushing 40 at the time for chrissakes. Tight and fucking insane as ever, it's too bad there will probably never again be a band who randomly mashed two dozen riffs together and made a career recording it over and over again. Enjoy.

Wicked Sick

Razor blade included...

I don't if this technically qualifies me as weird but there have been like 3 or 4 albums I've bought in my lifetime that came with a razor blade. This 7" is one of those exalted (offhand, others include GG Allin's Illegitimate Kids cassette and one of the Abruptum albums) and is probably my favorite. As usual, this was one of the "alternatives" in a Relapse Records order that fucking blew away the token grindcore tripe I had intended to order (sorry Dead Infection). While "Sleep" is a good but not great Dystopia track; "Lifeless" and especially "Fucked Upstairs" are easily my favorite Grief songs. I like Grief but their albums tend to get a bit looooong at times (yeah, yeah I know it's doom metal...) but these songs are amazing. I played the downtuned power chords to "Fucked Upstairs" half of my senior year in college so I could bang gothy art school sluts by pretending it was my own miserable song. I guess the joke is on you bitches! Except for that HPV. Enjoy.

Dismal

Snail Trail

Adolf Satan's eponymous debut was a wicked awesome slurry of down-tuned sludgecore and frantic ranting by poet/madman Larry Lifeless; easily one of my favorite albums of the last ten years. Their three-song follow-up, 2007's Ooga Booga Cab Company had a tough act to follow but succeeds by being even more lo-fi and crazier than its predecessor. Self-produced, self-released and recorded on what sounds like a tape deck, Lifeless's manic depressive shrieking is is taken to another level on this one. The grooving sludge is there as well, much in the style of their full-length so if you like those kind of scale-progression power-chord punch-you-in-the-fucking-face riffs look no further. Enjoy.

 

Inject The Venom

Crust O' Christian

Don't get me wrong, I love Disrupt but they are somewhat guilty of sameness... as in every song sounding the exact same. While their full-length Unrest is really an amazing accomplishment, at 50 minutes it wears thin around song #10 or #11. So let's just say I like 'em in small doses - and a 3-song 7" is ideal. Like many other bands on the ol' blog, I first heard Disrupt on Ax/ction's seminal Apocalyptic Convulsions compilation (see here) and promptly grabbed the first record of theirs I stumbled upon. Well wouldn't ya know, this split actually has the song from Convulsions (the epic "Crock-O-Christian," albeit an alternate recording) so I knew I'd at least like a third of it. Little did I have to worry, the other two tracks are amazing slabs of furious as fuck New England crust. The opener, "Equalize," is a three-minute slow-paced breakdown - a refreshing change of pace to their manic riff-frenzies while "Trying My Trust" is Disrupt doing what they do best, packing a dozen grooves into 90 seconds. My favorite release by this sadly defunct band, enjoy. Oh by the way, I didn't bother including the other guilty party on this split, Finland's Tuomiopäivän Lapset. They suck.

Doomsday Children

Bahstun Screamo

Defunct Boston screamo. Nothing too original but you're usually guaranteed two or three solid songs on an album like this. "Stop Motion Aesthetic" and "Commotion Strange" are those songs. Manic, ear-splitting emo-core that all seems a bit silly when you stop and think about it. Still, in case anyone's paying attention, this is the 2002 re-release on Iodine Records with a couple bonus live radio tracks. Enjoy.

His Talk, Her Teeth

Boiling Point

New school Massachusetts hardcore from J. Geils' hometown of Worcester is definitely influenced by the then-dominant metalcore sound of Hatebreed, Red Chord and that ilk but has enough of a Sheer Terror influence to differentiate it from the rest of the Jasta clones. "Choke" is my favorite track on this 10" - fifteen minutes of angry fucking fast groove-heavy hardcore. Good shit.

Nothing Means Nothing

Black Mass

Uneven sophomore LP by Boston sludge-meisters Upsidedown Cross. While still a lot better than anything else coming out of the area at the time, when compared to their 1991 eponymous debut it's significantly tougher to listen to. Let's just say more harsh. I don't know if it's overdubbed or not, but the high-pitched lead guitar really grated my nerves at times (of course it wouldn't surprise me if that was the intended point) and the songs are also longer as well which can become tiresome (I think Taang! originally released this gem as a double LP). Anti-lyricist Larry Lifeless rambling his trademark poetry with drunken abandon is the reason you need to have this record, a true audio snapshot of a tortured artist. "Sleazy Mary" is the standout track, a miserable blasphemous rant over an absolutely sick death/sludge/doom cacophony. Probably the last song recorded at the album session when everyone was just drunk, tired, pissed and hated each other's guts. Enjoy.

Blasphemy

Boston OG's

Ten wonderful minutes of old-school hardcore from way back in 1983, the debut 7" from New England stalwarts Psycho sounds a lot more like the poppy punk Ramones then the noisy grindish hardcore they'd eventually degrade to. Perennial vocalist/guitarist Johnny X gives his gravelly voice a rest on this one so one-shot crooner Mick Keddy can fulfill the vocal duties - a rather pleasant change of pace. Straight, no-bones punk from a working-man's band who has consistently been doing it for the past 30 years. Fucking amazing.

Lights, Camera, Ax/ction

Snotcore

Seminal release by Beantown hardcore mainstays The Freeze. Thumbing his nose at pretty much every facet of mainstream America, the snide, ultra-condescending vocals of Clif Hanger are like a fucking cheese grater on your balls. The music is fast, high-treble Boston hardcore in the vein of Gang Green and their ilk. "Go Team Go" is my favorite - a hilarious jab against the ruling jock society that I'm sure were the antagonists of Hanger's teenage memories. "Duh Family" is a close second - a typical Freeze anthem championing the anti-Reagan family - the house is a ghetto in a fine neighborhood... they all should be shot... Yes they should!  Enjoy.

Go Pats Go

I Got An Office Job For The Sole Purpose Of Sexually Harassing Women

Occasionally I'll drive the wife's car to the sto' and not feel like putting on the iPod or scanning for some sports so I'll deal with whatever pop radio she's been tuned to. I'm usually prepared for an absolutely miserable barrage of the worst fucking music ever but occasionally a really agonizing shitstain of a song floats above the rest. Today that polished turd was "Same Love". It wasn't the painfully rudimentary white-boy lyrics vying for KRS-One-ish "edutainment". It was sitting through the the talentless "she keeps me warm" caterwauling chorus that truly made me want to vomit. Ugh. Time for some racist, mysogynistic, homophobic, genocidal, xenophobic, hilarious Anal Cunt to get that terribly annoying shit out of my head. Life is fucking hard and generally fucking shitty. Get over yourself and move on.

Connor Clapton Committed Suicide Because His Father Sucks

Go Away

Hells yeah, another band I would have never heard of 'cept for the ultimate compilation of the early 90's - Ax/ction Records' Apocalyptic Convulsions. Boston's Facts About Rats easily claimed the trophy for catchiest tune on the record - a forlorn pop punk single "Still Want You." To be honest, the song seemed completely out of place on a compilation rife with blur, powerviolence and grindcore but it actually remains my guilty favorite to this day. Up until recently I could find absolutely no information on the band save for a few vague details - how pleased I was to finally discover their only other release - a 3-song 7" from 1992. And what a nice surprise, 3 songs in the "Still Want You" flavor - sweet punky odes to terrible relationships. The title "I Don't Wanna Get Involved With You" is the standout - a better-than-the-original cover of an old Queers song with some great Misfits-ish "wah-ah-oohhh" elements that really shine. The other tunes are solid B-sides - would love to have heard some more from these guys. Enjoy.

Oh-Wah-Oh-Wah-Ah-Oooohhhh

Six Songs (take 2)

On the opposite end of the musical spectrum from the previous post is 'Genocide fave Anal Cunt. While most of A.C.'s blur releases have found new light on various CD compilations, one has escaped the public for far too long. Originally recorded in 1990 and released on Slap-A-Ham's 1991 Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh! -The Record- compilation, Six Songs showcases what these guys were best at. Enjoy these 32 seconds of fastcore genius.

Untitled x 6

For Those About To Rock...

Following in the footsteps of the FBA post the other month I thought I would share their final release, Viral Load, a (mostly) live double album showcasing the band in all its sludgecore glory. The first dozen or so tracks are live tunes recorded at the bands' final gig on December 20, 2009 at Church in Boston. Up next are a few new songs recorded sometime in 2010 that are fucking miserably brutal and were most likely just demos but sans lead singer/guitarist are solid enough to make for a gritty split. Minimalist, depressing and arguably better than the retro direction Anal Cunt was going in at the time, it's too bad Putnam didn't stay alive long enough to see this band through. Try to enjoy.

Leech

No One Cares

Man, I miss Seth Putnam. Not only was he in like 5 of my most favorite fucking bands but we'll probably never have that bitter self-depreciating comedic wit again in noise music without it being completely (and slavishly I'm sure) derivative of the shit he did. While Anal Cunt basked in the drug-addled/prison-bound off-season of the early 2000's, Putnam was busy getting another band off its feet: the über-depressing sludgecore trio Full Blown A.I.D.S. 

FBA released two ridiculously limited 12" records on Limited Appeal Records which finally got compiled together (with a bonus track, 'natch) as a CD on Putnam's own Wicked Sick Records. But instead of me breaking down the 411 on the two recordings, let's hear it from the man himself (written for his label website way back in 2008...)

Regarding the Full Blown A.I.D.S. 12":

"I started the band in 1997, but didn't really get it rolling until late 2002. I got old friends Paulie Kraynak on bass (who used to play with me in Anal Cunt) and Rob Williams (who I used to play with in Siege and a couple of other bands) on drums.

The main inspiration to get this recorded was that I was asked to do a song for a Thor movie called Graveyard. So along with that song, "Throwing Cars At People On Coke With Thor," (which was also released on his CD Triumphant), we ended up recording the six other songs. We played a show about 6 months after recording it and were getting ready to record another session in October 2004 (in order to have enough material for a full-length) but it got pushed back due to me being in a coma.

In 2006, an impatient fan (and a cool guy) talked me into releasing this - and I'm glad I did because it is probably one of the greatest recordings I have ever made. I went to a really good studio instead of being cheap and going into a lesser-quality studio.

The result is this great recording which was well worth all the money spent. It was recorded by Ken Cmar, who I had worked with in the past with my band, Anal Cunt . This recording was mixed by Ken and myself and could've fit onto a 7" record, but I wanted it to be a 12". We put all the songs onto one side of the record, which I thought was a cool idea."

Regarding the Leech 12": 

"This record was originally meant to be recorded in October 2004 but didn't get done due to me going into a coma, and not being able to move for a long time (including not being able to walk for 8 months). But a lot of determination and hard work got me back to be able to function about 90% back to normal.

This session, recorded at New Alliance's new location in Cambridge, MA is a 100% analog recording, recorded on a 24-track, 2" reel machine, and mixed down to a ½" reel.  It was really important for me to have a true analog sound for this recording, because it is one of the heaviest things I have ever recorded.

The songs on this record differ from the first record. The first record was heavy punk while this one is much more doom sounding. The song "Leech" is definitely one of my favorite songs that I have ever written and recorded. It is so fucking heavy, it totally rules. I don't usually brag about songs I have written, but this song deserves it. I would say it is probably the heaviest song ever recorded.

This record was recorded and mixed on January 3rd, 2003 at New Alliance recording studios in Boston, MA. The music could be described as super heavy, tuned-down punk rock. All the songs were written in the late 1990's during a period of extreme drug use, depression, fucked-up derelicts loitering around my apartment, a tumultuous marriage, and tons of misery surrounding me constantly.  It was very inspiring creatively for writing heavy, depressing, and aggressive music.

Like our first record, this one is filled with a barrage of negative, hate-filled lyrics about very personal things. The song on side 2, "Everything" is the longest song I have ever recorded (over 15 minutes long) and was written in 1990 for a band I used to be in called George H. Brown. It is 15 minutes of pure misery... it would be a perfect soundtrack to a successful suicide attempt. I didn't overdub any of the vocals in this song - I did it all in one take. Ken Cmar (who recorded this session) considered stopping the reel because I looked as full of extreme torture-filled pain as I sounded... turning various shades of red as I exerted as much of nearly 40 years worth of anger, rage and violence that I could muster. Ken quoted, "It was extremely painful to watch him record that..."

"For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" is AC/DC tuned down an octave lower (for a way heavier guitar sound) with the singer from Anal Cunt screaming the lyrics. At the end of the song if you turn it up loud, you can hear Paulie saying "Yay!" triumphantly for getting the song recorded perfectly on the first take. And the song "Fact Finder," like the song, "Leech," is about someone who I tend to despise frequently for being a know-it-all parasite.

To sum up this record: if you like doom-laden, despair-ridden, suicidal-feeling, heavy, heavy shit, that's really heavy, and totally heavy, this is something you must own."    
                                     

While I'm partial to the self-titled EP, there is something so ridiculously heavy and absolutely miserable about Leech that it's amazing in retrospect it got recorded. Awesome shit. Enjoy.

"Brother, you MUST!!!" - Rob Williams

 
Currently watching: Elite Squad

Currently listening to: Mistress In Disgust We Trust

No Sensei! No Sensei!

Wicked awesome party band from Massachusetts. Their 2005 eponymous debut has been a staple at nearly every Memorial Day party I've thrown for the last six or seven years. It's completely retarded and lifts a shitload from similar bands like Zebrahead and 311 but c'mon who at your pathetic shindig isn't going to dig "Dojo" where the chorus lifts Kreese's dialogue word-for-word from Karate Kid. And weirdly, "Balls Vagina" always is a hit. I guess I gotta start getting a cooler group of friends. Anyways, I was actually in touch with the guys in the band a few years ago and they were cool as shit. Just sent me a ton of swag like I was their only fan in the world - I guess it was nice to hear someone finally say they didn't suck. They just got a bandcamp page with a new(ish) recording from 2012 - glad to hear the new tune guys - go fucking Patriots.

Just Rub Your Legs

 
Currently watching: Zero Dark Thirty

Currently listening to: MDC Millions Of Dead Cops

Good ol' angry-as-fuck HxCx

Thanks to the fucking sweet blog No Beast So Fierce I got introduced to Boston's Fuckheads earlier this summer and I've hardly let a day go by without my assaulting my ears to their incredible Siege-esque demo Fueled By Vice. Five minutes of wicked fast, wicked distorted madness. Can't find goddamned shit about the band other than they've released some live recordings over the last couple years and seemed to tour around New England with some regularity back in 2011. I've uploaded all the stuff of theirs I could find and hope to hear some new sounds soon from these crazy fuckers. They've got a blog with only the most bare-bones shit on it and it hasn't been updated in forever but ya never know... Enjoy.

Empty

 
Currently watching: Shallow Grave

Currently listening to: The Doors The Doors

All Togethah Now

Solid compilation CD released in 2000 by the mighty Fudgeworthy Records out of Woburn, MA; the brainchild of Charlie Infection whom you may know as the other half of the seminal Ax/ction Records and drummer for Bay State mainstays Psycho, Bulge, Gonkulator and Cancerous Growth. Admitting to the loss of all his master tapes in the liner notes, nearly everything on the comp is ripped directly from vinyl so don't expect any hi-tech digital remastering here. Scratches, cracks and pops abound which only add to the charm - there is some rare ass shit showcased here and is without a doubt some of the best transfers you'll find of this material. Included are a few batches of Anal Cunt songs, GG Allin's "Legalize Murder" from his Freaks, Faggots days, Bulge's "Fartmaster," some obscure Meat Shits tunes, fast Boston hardcore, black metal, grindcore, noise, etc. etc. ad nauseum. A bunch of great music from a great label. Enjoy.

If It Ain't Fudgeworthy... It Ain't Shit

 
Currently watching: The Rite
Currently listening to: KoЯn The Path Of Totality

Third Time's A Charm...

First off, my lazy non-posting ass got burned for being lazy and not posting. I had planned to upload Pathology's brutal Awaken To The Suffering tonight but discovered both The Living Doorway and Slamming Brutal Death beat me to the sucker kidney punch by a cunt hair. Like my bank account these days, a day late and a fucking dollar short, no? So I decided to fall back on a guilty pleasure - the final statement by Boston rapcore homiez Reveille - 2001's Bleed The Sky. I've waxed poetic of Reveille in the pages of this blog before; easily my favorite rap/metal band; to me they had enough of a snotty Bah-stun punk vibe to make their oft-cheesy nü metal sound work. And the guitar playing is hands down amazing. Their riffs fucking roll up and down the neck like nothing I've heard before or since. I caught Reveille opening for fellow nü-metallers Primer 55 at a club downtown many a year ago (on the fucking Wednesday before Thanksgiving, no less) and was amazed by how damn young they were! Christ, I was almost embarrassed shaking their hands after the set, worried they'd be like "who the fuck was that old dude?" But enough of whatever quarter-life crisis issues I was dealing with at the time - this album absolutely rules. Poetic, heavy, kitschy and weirdly Irish (listen to it and you'll kinda hear what I'm talking about), Bleed The Sky is an amazing 70 minutes. "Plastic" has got to be in the top 10 of the most amazing songs ever recorded - it is that epic and easily worth the download. 

Hope Wears Away

Currently watching: Dexter (Season 5)
Currently listening to: Luigi Russolo Die Kunst Der Geräusche

18 Years Ago Today...

June 19, 1993. Anal Cunt performing 11 classic minutes of blur at Wilmer's Park in rural Brandywine, MD. Featuring both John Kozik and Fred Ordonez on guitar accompanying Tim Morse on drums. Seth is drunk and hilarious, Tim wants to pick a fight with the crowd while John and Fred jerk off their guitar necks in perfect harmony. And then you get the token Cletus redneck sound guy (in cut-off jean shorts and a big ass mesh tractor cap) who cuts them off at the end. Video was ripped from a pretty good VHS source tape and is better resolution then most of the copies you'll find on YouTube. In m4v format ready for Quicktime or your iPod. Happy Father's Day.

One Two Onetwothreefour!

 
Currently watching: Last House On Dead End Street

Currently listening to: Rollins Band The End Of Silence