DUKE ELLINGTON

 

See my MINGUS post from a few weeks back to understand my association with and introduction to jazz. Maybe DUKE ELLINGTON is different because anyone who listens to music should know who he is even if they don't fully appreciate his place - but that doesn't change the fact that the shit is brilliant, you know? He's not just a name though. The Duke is a legend for a reason. There are countless collections labeled "Best Of..." and this is just one of them. Maybe it's not the best, but you should start somewhere. Why not here?

THE BEST OF DUKE ELLINGTON

BATTOSAI-A

 

Lo-fidelity raw fastcore blast mania - this is exactly the shit that we freaked out about then, and this is exactly the shit you need to listen to now. Blast "Television Shit" and tell me you aren't on our side? Well, I'll tell you that you aren't on our side. Lunes drawn, motherfucker. 

A DISCOGRAPHY FROM 2003-2010

BLOODSHOT

 

If you go to the Ironthread Records bandcamp and check the description of this BLOODSHOT tape, it simply reads: PRIMITIVE HARDCORE....and while I crank these seven brutal minutes and slam a second cup of coffee, it's hard to imagine a better way to describe BLOODSHOT. Appropriately fuzzed out and desperate machine gun repetition punctuated by gloriously deliberate squirmy down-low mid tempo riffs that never seem to last as long as you want them to. As you need them to. So, if you're like me? You listen again. I think a third cup of coffee is in order - not so I can conquer my day but so I can better prioritize the things to not give a shit about vs. the things I need to destroy. 

WHO'S THE MAN BEHIND THE MIRROR?

GUN SLAUGHTER // GIMP

 

GIMP: Brutal and powerful PV/Grind from Phoenix. They make shit different in the Sonoran Desert. 

GUN SLAUGHTER: Brutal and powerful PV/Grind from Vancouver. Five songs, three minutes.

YOU: Curious, intrigued, eager....hungry.

ME: Piece of shit.

GIMP // GUN SLAUGHTER

BANGUN DARI MIMPI BURUK YANG INDAH

 

More like this please? Thank you. A breathtaking collection of raw fastcore, mince/grind, noise, shit-fi and punk, all delivered with a brilliantly honest lack of fidelity. DESTRUCT, PROJECT BABI NO.9, DEVIATED SYMPHONY, DIRTY MOUTH, NOISE FOR VIOLENCE and more, all hailing from Yogyjakarta. Shit just feels real, and the next 42 minutes of your life are about to get a lot more brutal. 

BANGUN DARI MIMPI BURUK YANG INDAH: A SOUNDTRACK FROM A PRINTMAKING

SPILTH

 

Rescued this bad boy out of a cardboard box in an attic closet a few months back. You're welcome. 
•••

Tough to describe SPLITH, even more so with two decades of hindsight. On their face, they could have been a heavy alt proto metal (read: pre Nü Metal) juggernaut, but they came from and existed in the DIY punk realm...where they also didn't quite fit. I feel like I saw them several times and they seemed (at the time) not quite realized (whatever that means). That was with my ears then. I'm listening with today ears today though, and this SPILTH shit is (was...and also is) something special. You're gonna hear things that you are familiar with, from WHITE ZOMBIE to NEUROSIS, but the way these kids took would-be sludge and/or groove metal riffs and made them something completely unique? And made it feel like they belonged at crust and metal shows at the Covered Wagon in 1996? That was something I couldn't appreciate at the time. They were always a force live, and while I listen tonight in a cold apartment with a cat purring contentedly by my side...I am grateful that I was able to see a band that was this ahead of their time while they were still in their time. Three of these tracks were on the 1995 SPILTH *!% EP, and two of them I can't find anywhere else, so naturally I wonder what else was in that box in that closet in that attic....but I can't go back.  

SPILTH

AVERSIO HUMANITATIS

I wish that I could share the Sentient Ruin description with you....instead I will just offer the sounds. 

What are the sounds? Apocalyptic and bleak black metal from Spain. 

Those are (these are) the sounds...and they are (they were) gorgeous. 

LONGING FOR THE UNTOLD