Sanctuary

It’s been a while since a decent wave of goth-tinged punk has circulated, so this succulent swipe of darkwave punk from Santa Barbara was a welcome surprise. While cheesy, costumed goth groups are as common and dull as your local Hot Topic, it’s a rare treat to find groups or scenes that really do it well and avoid being a formulaic, melodramatic joke. The amazing stuff coming out of the Bay Area at the turn of the century comes to mind, exemplified by bands like the Phantom Limbs, The Vanishing, Sixteens, and Black Ice. They had theatrics, but it wasn’t their focus and there was an earnestness to what they did that made their music so compelling. Most of all, they never veered into the comicbook tones of horror punk, which certainly isn’t a bad thing — just not as rare or powerful. Crimson Scarlet’s music eschews the synthpunk of those scenes and pulls its inspiration from the deeper goth veins of Siouxsie & The Banshees and mixes it with punch of SoCal deathpunk like TSOL and 45 Grave, bringing a straightfaced and sincere take on this form into a contemporary setting. You can check out the two killer tracks on this 7″ on their Bandcamp page or pickup the beautifully packaged crimson scarlet-colored vinyl from Cool Summer Records.

LINKS:

Crimson Scarlet on Bandcamp
Buy Sanctuary at Cool Summer Records

Buzzov*en - Revelation: Sick Again – (HydraHead)
When they were around, these North Carolina freaks were the band at the far end of sludgy, heavy, underground metal. New Orleans’ Eyehategod were more visible and hyped as the South’s heaviest, but for me, Buzzov*en was the real deal. Grim, fucked up and plagued by an existence as extreme as the low-end punch of their music, this band existed (tenuously) in a league of its own. Here’s an official reissue of their swansong LP in all its glory, complete with tons of movie sample lead ins and unrelenting, time-perfected heavosity.

Chalk Circle – Reflection – (Mississippi/Post Present Medium)
Deep from the depths of the early ’80s DC punk scene comes this postpunk shock that’s forceful, amazing and way ahead of its time. Kudos to Mississippi and PPM for compiling these tracks and bringing Chalk Circle to light. The recording quality and playing varies a lot, but the spirit of their scrappy, earnest sound can’t be dampened.

Cheap Beer - Various Artists – (Replay Records)
It’s easy to bag on local scene compilations since they generally end up being about 80% crap. And I can name a handful of Lawrence/KC comps that fit that exact description. With that said, you can really appreciate the exceptional quality of this LP put out from the punkrock tastemakers at the Replay Lounge. If you question the state of Kansas punk in the year 2011, just check out some of the killer tracks captured here from bands like The Mouthbreathers, Spook Lights, Fag Cop, Nature Boys, Dark Ages, Up The Academy, Muscle Worship, Jabberjosh, This Is My Condition and more.

Coalesce – Give Them Rope – (Relapse)
When this monster was originally released in 1997, I’d pretty much chalked up Coalesce as some sort of nu metal band. A colossally stupid assessment, for sure, almost as colossal as the mighty riffs found on this, their much-touted debut LP. And while I still prefer some of their later releases, it’s great to get the definitive package that includes the controversial remixed version (read more about that here) along with the original version that redefined heavy.

Short, Fast & Loud #24 – 10″ compilation (Six Weeks)
Although a good percentage of this comp is unmemorable and indistinguishable from leagues of like-minded bands across the globe, the sheer spirit and continued inertia of the SF&L scene is always worth a listen. With a mix of long-running outfits like Brutal Truth and Lack of Interest to some of the more recent heros of speedcore like Extortion and Wasteoid, this blazing 10″ lives up to its namesake, while the zine documents of how this scene has practically become its own genre.

Skullflower - Carved Into Roses/Infinityland/Singles 3xCD- (VHF)
A massive 3-CD Skullflower reissue collecting the squalling range of mid-1990s releases that transition from freeform noise to chugging hypno-drone. The history of Skullflower is well documented with dozens of CD and LP releases that range from essential to mildly interesting. This collection captures one of the band’s more interesting periods in a completist’s snapshot with some harder-to-find singles on one disc, and 2 of their LPs from this period on the other discs.

Spits - Spits – (Slovenly)
With their fifth eponymous LP out in 2011, it was about time their 2000 debut got reissued. Looking back, it’s amazing how fully developed The Spits sound was straight out of the gate. They were born weird and have remained weird. Classic stuff from a band that’s anything but classic.

Terror Visions - World of Shit – (FDH)
Although this Jay Reatard project was ultimately treated as a footnote along with his other Screamers/synthpunk influenced groups (Nervous Patterns, Angry Angles, etc), Terror Visions did carry some clout as evidenced by this reissue, inserting the overamped, way out of control energy of The Reatards into the synthpunk realm. I never saw Lost Sounds as a new wave band, despite the tag always being thrown at them, but compared to Terror Visions they were.

Black Bug

Double Negative - Hardcore Confusion Vol. 1 – (Sorry State)
This longtime NCHC group’s first two in a series of four 7″ releases came out in 2011. Of course both volumes are shredders, but this first installment has some of their tightest songs yet, especially “Writhe” which takes the roar of their debut LP and channels it into the crafted, churning song structures of their second LP. Can’t wait for the next volumes.

The Dreams - Body of Michael 7″ – (To Roccoco Rot)
This 3-song tour 7″ continues The Dreams’ track record of delivering quality jams. Like their digital singles and the excellent Morbido album, this single features their peculiar brand of psycho dub weirdo jams including the chillicious “Afrikaner Dub.”

Manipulation – 2 – (Sorry State)
A year wouldn’t be complete without at least one totally ripping hardcore 7″ and thanks to Sorry State records we’ve got one of the most raging ones right here. Like their first 7″, this one goes for the throat with a relentless barrage of escalating riffs and maniacal vocals.

Mouthbreathers - Anxiety – (In The Red)
Killer garage punk with a huge guitar sound, turned up to eleven and crackling raw electricity. Players include dudez from Rooftop Vigilantes and Blood on the Wall. Loud, brash, catchy, and perfect for drunken singalongs, it’s hard to keep this one off the turntable.

The Nature Boys - Rabies 7″ – (San Huevos)
The debut release from these Kansas punks flows with the rollicking ease of The Minutemen and the raw intensity of The Alley Cats’ male/female vocals. The Nature Boys take early SoCal punk as a starting point and ramp it up into a frenzy that’s too much fun to ignore or forget.

Pop. 1280 - Thirteen Steps - (Blind Prophet Records)
Each Pop. 1280 release gets nastier and more primitive, but not in the way you may expect. Instead of amped up volume and distortion, Pop. 1280′s songs recoil into monotonous, riffless dirges that taunt more than roar. Even with the texture and artsy elements stripped from the sound of their killer Grid EP, Pop. 1280 ups the ante with this solid 2-song single.

Soft Moon - Total Decay 12″ EP – (Captured Tracks)
If you love Luis Vasquez’s ultra-atmospheric darkwave, you’ll be pleased to know that 2011′s Soft Moon offering measures up to the tidal wave of amazing records he put out in 2010. As a reader of this blog, you’ll also be pleased to know that he veers into noisier territory on Total Decay — a fitting title that hints at the restrained squall that adds interesting texture to his enveloping and seductive sound.

Ty Segall - Spiders 7″ – (Drag City)
Not only is Ty Segall prolific, but his output is always top notch. And even better, he’s never afraid to venture into new territories, like the heavy slow-mo sonic burn of this awesome 45. The sludgy buzzsaw guitar is so slow in fact that I had to be sure that my turntable was at the right speed. Chalk up another golden single to the staggeringly awesome Ty Segall discography.

Cheveu – 1000 – (Kill Shamen)
Technically this was released in 2010, but it was late late December 2010 at least and I don’t even recall seeing it until a few months into 2011, so fuggit we’re gonna call this a 2011 release. In any case, it would have secured a place on the 2010 list because it’s as brilliant as their previous LPs and twice as catchy. Many reviews of this brain melter claim that it’s their most accessible and conventional release yet, but I don’t hear that. There’s less cut-up lo-fi audio scrap, sure, yet it’s anything but conventional. It’s got enough crackling energy and unexpected turns along inserted into some killer riffs and Cheveu’s unique brand of garage punk hijinx. There’s even a Vanilla Ice cover that’s gotta be heard to be believed. I usually can’t bring myself to rank top 10 lists, but for 2011 this was definitely album #1.

The Chewers – Every Drop Disorganized – (self-released)
It took almost a year to determine whether or not this album was weirdly brilliant or just plain weird. Beginning with the odd name and goofy cover art, this band’s deliberately off-kilter fuzzy bluespunk goes from weird to weirdly brilliant, somehow existing within a universe where TFUL 282 covers Killdozer‘s most lumbering numbers while floating in a Xanax haze. An acapella ode to pancakes? Two-minutes of primitive grunting? If that doesn’t make sense to you, than The Chewers probably won’t either. But if you seek a 42-minute diversion from normalcy, chew on this for a while.

Crystal Stilts – In Love With Oblivian – (Slumberland)
Although it hasn’t been as hyped quite as much as their early EPs and debut album, the Stilts’ sophomore effort pushes their alluring sound into even more interesting territory. Adding some echoes of classic psych (“Sycamore Tree” rings like a lost Silver Apples track) and the detached cool of The Velvet Underground, In Love With Oblivian cements Crystal Stilts status as mandatory listening.

The Get Up Kids - There Are Rules (Quality Hill)
For the longest time I’ve wanted to like this band. They’re local heros and many trusted tastemakers insisted that they were worth my time, but ugh, I just couldn’t get past their formulaic and predictable mix of nauseating, saccharine-sweet pop-punk. With this record I’m finally on board. The songwriting maturity and aged grit on There Are Rules is all aces, with layers of artfully textured sound and unexpected turns that never gets dull or predictable. If your eyes roll at the mention of this band, you owe it to yourself to give the Kids one more chance.

GG King - Esoteric Lore – (Rob’s House)
While GG King’s singles took this ex-Carbonas rocker’s sound into slightly gnarlier territory, Esoteric Lore turns the gnarly knob (please note: there needs to be a band called the Gnarly Knobs) up even further with 17 tracks of raging punk. Like hearing How Could Hell Be Any Worse-era Bad Religion, The Germs, and the Circle Jerks for the first time, Esoteric Lore instantly feels like a classic. It sounds kickass right from the start and continues to deliver after many spins.

Iceage – New Brigade – (What’s Your Rupture)
If you took the punchiness and catchiness of The Futureheads with sped-up Gang of Four angularity and injected some hardcore intensity, you’d have something close to what this Danish quartet has created with their debut record. Unlike anything else within the genres it straddles — punk, hardcore, post-punk, indie rock, alternative what have you — Iceage takes the best qualities of all of them and pushes them together in ways that demonstrate some masterful songwriting skills. New Brigade delivers a fresh sound well deserving of the hype.

The Pheromoans – It Still Rankles – (Convulsive)
After a handful of promising singles, this UK band serves up a proper album of rambling, baffling, so clever it’s stupid scrap punk that aligns with the trajectory of The Fall to The Country Teasers to The Guinea Worms. Initial spins seem clumsy and inept, but their spontaneous and witty methods soon reveal themselves as an entertaining if ramshackle listen that becomes more fun with each listen.

Thee Oh Sees – Carrion Crawler / The Dream - (In The Red)
I’m guilty of being wowed by the ‘new’ and will sometimes lose interest in a band I love just being distracted by whatever’s got my attention at the time. Many times I’ve found myself at the record store with a new, unknown band’s record in one hand and a longtime favorite band’s newest release in the other, struggling to decide which to go with. Take a chance with a new band, or go with the known? It’s hard to go with Thee Oh Sees since they’ve had a staggering amount of output, but holy shit they continue to rule and this LP sits right up there along with The Master’s Bedroom is Worth Spending the Night In, Help, and Warm Slime.

Total Control – Henge Beat – (Iron Lung)
Sharing members with Aussie garage punk heros U.V. Race and Eddy Current Suppression Ring, this side project has gelled into something on par or greater than the sum of its parts. Cool and detached with heavy electronics and a plenty of perfectly refined guitarwork, Henge Beat has roots in ’80s synthpunk greats in the vein of Gary Numan, Killing Joke, and Joy Division but stretches that sound into a contemporary space. Like the GG King album mentioned above, this record has a timeless quality that promises to make Henge Beat a new classic.

Watch It Sparkle - Rocket Surgery – (Like A Shooting Star Records)
After seeing this Seattle band’s killer set at the Replay last spring I found a new favorite band. Luckily they were touring to support their newly released album, which promptly made its way to my turntable and heart with a savvy mix of guitar-driven mod punk and nervy vocals. Read more gushing here.

LISTEN TO TRACKS FROM THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2011:

43

A number of great bands in the ’90s were unfairly dismissed as Fugazi clones, and this suburban Chicago group might be the best example of just how great some of these groups could be. Gauge was a young band, which may have kept them from getting the respect they deserve, but they toured hard and put out a body of work that’s well worth a listen, especially this 6-song EP, their final release. Gauge definitely took some inspiration from Fugazi and the dynamic punch of early emo/post-hardcore, but their sound was distinct with throaty vocals and an earnest, utilitarian method of achieving a dramatic punch. At times they’re tense and gnarled, while other times hushed and subdued, offering a slightly math-rock inspired take on what Boys Life and Christie Front Drive were doing around the same time. If you dig this, you’ll also want to check out some of the bands that sprung from Gauge, like Traluma, Haymarket Riot and Euphone.

LINKS:

Stream “43″ on Bandcamp

Hollywood Blood Capsules

Two bands in the mid-90s were often described as “The Jesus Lizard with female vocals” and strangely enough:

1. Both had the word “jack” in their moniker
2. Both came from college towns
3. Both featured female vocalists with the last name of a U.S. President.

Despite these intriguing similarities, neither really got the attention they deserved outside of their respective hometowns. Considering the novelty and force of each band, it’s puzzling to imagine a time where the output of these groups could be so utterly overlooked and unnoticed. Read more about Athens’ Jack O Nuts here. Like Jack O Nuts,  Ann Arbor’s Jaks employed snaky, propulsive bass and tensely clashing minor key guitar shards — but to a slightly more gnarled degree. And while Jack O Nuts’ Laura Carter had the David Yow-ish howl of a crazy person, the Jaks’ Katrina Ford (who would later go on to Love Life and Celebration) forces the sketchy thrill of a carnival sideshow through a blown-out transistor mic, half rambling, part singing and part screaming. It’s a rambunctiously noisy and fun album with a slight gothic tint. You can find it and their earlier singles collected on the Here Lies the Body of Jaks collection released on Three One G.

DOWNLOAD

Jaks – “Dumb Waiter”
Jaks – “Spider”

LINKS:

Jaks on MySpace
Buy Jaks “Here Lies the Body of Jaks” discography CD at Three One G

(Germo) Phobic

Friends and family rarely understand what drives a person to spend countless hours sifting through cubic acres of vinyl in dingy record stores, cataloging and obsessing over music that most people find more worthless than the series of descending pricetags stuck on its jackets. And we’re not talking about collecting. That people can sorta understand. There’s a point to finding something rare and worth a lot of money. For me, however, it’s been hard to explain the thrill of finding something I wasn’t really even looking for, something I stumble across randomly that totally hits the spot — something makes all the searching worthwhile. Whether it’s rare and valuable or worth next to nothing, I could care less. As long as I continue to find music that kicks ass buried in those dingy record stores, you’ll find me happily flipping through the stacks in search of my next fix. This somewhat hard-to-find sophomore album from Tanner is a perfect example. Their debut LP Ill-Gotten Gains found a coveted place in my collection alongside other San Diego greats like Hot Snakes and The Night Marchers (both featuring Tanner’s Gar Wood) and I’ve picked up some of their singles when I’ve come across them. I didn’t even know they had another album, so when I came across this I knew it’d be worth checking out. I was right. This one picks up where their debut left off with tight, punchy riffs solidly played over earnest vocals and hooky songwriting, maybe even better than they did on their first LP. It’s a smoker that will keep me searchin’ for the next batch of quality tuneage.

DOWNLOADS

Tanner – “AKA Meltdown”
Tanner – “Booty”
Tanner – “2 Parts Gas”

LINKS

Official Tanner site

Deprogrammer

Here’s a classic example of a totally underrated record that’s quietly slipped into the abyss of dollar bins and cheap-ass used vinyl stacks without nearly enough respect. True, it’s hard to get excited about mid-paced hard rock-style punk — there’s nothing particularly outstanding or novel about it — but goddamn, you will not find many records that can soulfully stomp along as solidly as this one does. I nabbed it for a dime at a college radio vinyl selloff (thank you KRUI) on account of it being a Mystic Records release, expecting some inept Z-grade hardcore bashing, ala labelmates RKL, Dr. Know, Ill Repute, etc., but this record is a million miles from Nardcore or the mega compilations put out on the label. Initially I was disappointed by it’s relatively mellow demeanor, but after years of sporadic spins it’s slowly worked its way into my tinnitus-wrecked skull. Style-wise it fits somewhere between the Dead Boys and Joy Division. It’s moody without being too gloomy and has enough snarl to elevate it above the typical hard rock drivel.

DOWNLOAD

Deprogrammer – Deprogrammer LP (37.3mb ZIP file)

LINKS

Download Deprogrammer’s s/t 7′ at KBD Records
Deprogrammer post at Punk Business Manager blog
Deprogrammer post at Glorify the Turd blog

Rocket Surgery

I had the good fortune of stumbling upon this raucous Seattle quartet after they were bumped into an opening slot of a Human Eye show in Lawrence last March. Their live show kicked ass, culminating with singer Justin scooting across the floor on his back, recklessly strumming his guitar, right into the handful of lucky bystanders subjected to their snappy mod-style garage punk. If you don’t find your head bobbing or your body outright flailing to their Billy Childish/Modern Lovers-inspired trash rock, than you’re about as useless as a limp dick on prom night. Lucky for you, their sound has been pressed onto a killer 7″ and this 10-song CD, so you can experience the Sparkle any damn time you please. I find the need to Sparkle every couple of days.

LINKS

Watch It Sparkle on MySpace
Watch It Sparkle on Bandcamp
Video for “Your Heart Will Throb Hard”