OHIO PENITENTIARY 511 JAZZ ENSEMBLE

The story is pretty simple: A couple of heads (including Sonny Rollins' nephew) were in the Ohio state penitentiary in the '60s, and they had a band with several other inmates (of questionable musical talent). The Ohio State University band visited the prison and ended up jamming with these dudes, and a few members hatched a plan to record a session with them. These four tracks were the result of that session, recorded in the prison's chapel. Meandering and overwhelmingly peaceful jazz, borrowing from classic bop and meandering through the spiritual and psychedelic sounds and influences of the time.  "Counterry Bossa Devan" and "Psych City" are the two mainstays, while "Java Man" hits hard on the organ and the horns are unleashed. "Mantra Dance" is the floor banger, with booming drums and a wildly swinging trumpet taking the lead - perhaps the most "typical" of the bunch, but perhaps the most infectious as a result. The history of the recording is as cool as the recording itself...and I can assure you that Hard Luck Soul sounds very very cool. Another artifact offered for modern consumption by the heads at Loathed Sound. 

HARD LUCK SOUL

REZILLOS

Short and sweet:

You know REZILLOS (or you should). 

You know BBC. 

You're familiar with the 1970s. 

Worth mentioning:

Four tracks.

Recorded from BCC in the 1970s...as in probably by a teenager in their bedroom late at night.

Low(er) fidelity than you might think means high(er) tension than you might expect.

Excellent DJ gaff in the middle of "Destination Venus."

REZILLOS 

I always forget that "Someone's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" is a fukkn FLEETWOOD MAC cover. How weird is that?

FOSSOR HOUSE

Super short lived and vaguely mysterious, San Francisco's FOSSOR HOUSE didn't really "come and go" in a flash," rather they lurked under the radar for a few years before fading so quietly that you wondered if they were ever really there. With this two song cassette and Performing Borders as the apparent entirety of their recorded output, a casual observer could be forgiven for missing them completely...even though it would be that consumers lost. These were '00s kids grown up as '10s young adults, and they were reaching back to the late '80s for inspiration and turning that inspiration into something distinctly theirs. MISSION OF BURMA, MOVING TARGETS, the melodic and forceful Midwest, second wave DC - FOSSOR HOUSE take what they need from wherever they find it. Most people probably knew their other bands a little better, but I dare say that this could be the one with real staying power. 

WESTERN SESSION

CHRISTOPHER DONALDSON

Noisy, monotonous and awkwardly hypnotic audio fuckery - a twenty minute journey that goes absolutely nowhere and just leaves you rooted and confused. Shit-fi manipulations punctuated by erratic percussives....Rhythm Nation basically listens like an institutional treatment. Or a cry for help. 

RHYTHM NATION

TOXIC NOSTAGLIA

North Carolina hardcore. Ripping, abrasive, chaotic, erratic, fierce, DIE KREUZEN double taps and construction, shades of FILTH but (way) faster, kinda makes you feel weird. On the inside.

TOXIC NOSTALGIA

TEMPERANCE

It was a time and a place, I guess. We played with these bands a lot on the first couple of FUCKFACE tours...down tempo, emotive (if not outright emotional) vocals and those lead guitar chords way up on the neck, all with a few chugs to keep them from sounding like straight radio rock. I think I will have an eternal soft spot for this subgenre. It's not a soft spot I am proud of and not one I can explain or justify, but it's a link to that time and that life. TEMPERANCE is an extreme example, nothing more than some guitar squeal between them and BUSH at times, and a vocal delivery that reminds me more of Billy Corgan than anything I would associate with punk and/or underground music. And yet, to throngs of young boys across the northeast....this was hardcore. Searching For Silence came out in 1995, it was the only TEMPERANCE full length after a couple of EPs and then....well, I guess they found the silence they were searching for. No other bands of note, no "ex-TEMPERANCE" on flyers after the turn of the century, no chatter on message boards about Rhode Island's most crucial emo/'core export, just a few tracks and then nothing. 

SEARCHING FOR SILENCE

Also - it looks like someone left this tape on their dashboard for a few months in 1996 while they were listening to ALICE IN CHAINS and/or PROPAGANDHI and the thing started to melt. Still sounds fine, but the shell is fukkd and the B-side doesn't play. Completists and the generally curious are welcome to scour the internet for the other four tracks....but I'm telling you they sound pretty much like the first four. I bet Daniel Gatewood loves this band. 

SELF ABUSE

Culled from a ripping TDK D60 filled with '80s Las Vegas hardcore, it's hard to figure out why someone hasn't unearthed this SELF ABUSE demo before now. Advanced North American hardcore punk from 1983, hints of 7 SECONDS/YOUTH BRIGADE melody and full speed ahead 'core that hurtles from one song to the next with a CLITBOYS-caliber fury. No titles, no info, just an internet search that led me to a few tracks on the Viva Las Vegas cassette comp, a particular affinity for the guitar tone (and riff) that start the fifth track and the obligatory pro-beer faux country closer. Also, I think one of these kids was in M.I.A., and I think I'm gonna blast Murder In A Foreign Place today, because it's been a while. 

SELF ABUSE (Las Vegas)

Someday I'll be old but now I wanna be free