DISKORPORASI

Raw DBeat crust massacre. Six fierce tracks recorded in 2001. Five more recorded in 2013 with determination, analog distortion in place of precision. The new(er) stuff is an exercise in blown out ramshackle DBeat, but that early session is an absolute steamroller not to be missed. 

WORLD STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

ROYAL JELLY

 

I was talking to a co-worker a couple of weeks ago about the time he was asked to join John Cougar's band right before Cougar recorded American Fool. We've traded stories in the past, so I was kinda surprised that I hadn't heard that tidbit before but I guess it's good to hold a few morsels in reserve - shit, I just heard about the Janie Lane solo tour a few months ago. Anyway, conversation ensued and someone (me) looked the dude up on the internet and checked his curriculum vitae and saw a new (to me) band listed so I asked, "What's up with ROYAL JELLY?" His face lit up and he smiled, "Of all my musical projects and bands, and all the touring...ROYAL JELLY is still my favorite." They were a short lived would-be supergroup in the mid-1990s, but they were super to the wrong group of folks and the suits never figured out how to market them. You've got a band who could've (should've) been playing with BECK, JANE'S ADDICTION, BLIND MELON and the like, even infringing on grunge territory here and there. ROYAL JELLY could have dominated alternative radio (and "Ceiling" made a legitimate, if brief, radio splash)....but you still have to sell the shit. The kids who were listening to alt-rock radio in 1994 did not give half a fuck about a new project featuring ex-members of MONTROSE, KROKUS, FOREIGNER and KINDOM COME, and the butt-rock set probably wasn't grooving on the modern sounds of ROYAL JELLY. And this is why, thirty years later, I'm asking the drummer for crew calls and we're working to see which teams will be on projects that will carry over to the following work day. Life is a weird one. 

CEILING // SKY

IVY

 

Mid-decade Big City freak style on full display with Public Access, capturing two IVY offerings from 2013 & 2014. The "Hooks? Yes. Fidelity? No." model is an extremely effective one, so much so that I found myself revisiting the EPs to see if I liked them as much as I enjoyed feeling this distortion pierce my skull. Fun fact? I didn't. Now I do. It's all about "What You Know," you know? Then feel the guitar on "Antsy" for the win.

PUBLIC ACCESS

MINOR THREAT // BAD BRAINS: MIX TAPE

 A couple of weeks ago I posted some crucial live BLUE CHEER over on Escape Is Terminal. The tracks were taken from a couple of different sets recorded in 1968 and took up one side of a commercial blank tape, leaving the other side for a killer collection of tracks featuring BLUE CHEER offshoot MINT TATTOO and some Spanish garage slammers. Keeping with the same theme today, there are two wild sets over on the other blog from MINOR THREAT and BAD BRAINS - neither recording (or band) should need any introduction, but both were pulled off of a Philadelphia radio broadcast from 40 some-odd years ago....and someone had some space left on the flip side of their commercial mix tape. What follows is a casually curated mix that opens with two ubiquitous (and undeniable) classics and rolls into US hardcore and UK punk standards. For those among you who thought the perfect weekend afternoon mix tape didn't exist. 

MINOR THREAT // BAD BRAINS: MIX TAPE 

W.N.A.

 

Visitors who snagged the Tribal War cassette back in November are likely salivating seeing another release from East Java's WORLD NASTY ANARCHY pop up on these pages, and to those wise folks I simply say: You're welcome. As always, there's something truly special about bands who punch above their weight, and that described Born To Be Free perfectly. W.N.A. deliver with frustrated fury instead of competent confidence, and listen to "Struggle For Life" and you won't want to hear them any other way - blistering, raw, hardcore/crust/grind with no frills offered and no fukks given....wipe that drool off your chin.

BORN TO BE FREE

NEGATIVE PRESS

 

"Prison Girls" is actually the start of the second side, but this one came to me wound first side second and who am I to contradict fate? In this case, fate was a great decider.....the deliberate dirge of the two tracks on that flip are formidable and set the table brilliantly for the blown out JESUS LIZARD cum grunge punk that dominates the would-be first side. See what I did there? If you're confused, don't be. Also don't be dissuaded by the completely annihilated in the red replication, because NEGATIVE PRESS was meant to be listened to destroyed, you know?

NEGATIVE PRESS

WET

 

Maybe Uncle Nick can shed some light on this distorto-grunge punk juggernaut, but until that happens I'm just gonna sit over here and squirm around and feel uncomfortable and chair mosh the afternoon away. The bass is so fukkd like the early PNW shits from 35 years ago, the vocals are perfect irreverent '80s SoCal beach punk and the riffs are....well, the riffs are really good y'all. Really good. "Focused" is the choice cut for those who need to focus on one piece instead of the whole. See what I did there?

WET