A BROKEN HEART FOR EVERY GUITAR IN NASHVILLE

 

I feel like this one could have just as easily been compiled by some LA hipster trying to front as a country expert by releasing DIY mix tapes. This is to say: A Broken Heart For Every Guitar In Nashville is an absolutely stellar comp with artists you know, artists you love and artists you didn't know you needed. The FREDDY FENDER cut (one of my favorites from a criminally underrated singer) would be at home on a Barrio or East Side Story collection, you've got Willie and George mingling with Wilma Burgess and Jack Scott. THE STATLER BROTHERS' track is a shock to my system and the tape starts to fail just before you start to cry, B.J. THOMAS delivers an all star performance with "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" and if I start talking about the BARBARA MANDRELL contribution then I won't stop so.....so I'm just gonna stop. 

A BROKEN HEART FOR EVERY GUITAR IN NASHVILLE

TOPSY TURVY // PUTRID SCUM

 

Today is everything yesterday was not - metaphorically and sonically. UZI RASH defied convention while these two bands personify it. Bombastic and terrifyingly brutal howling rage/crust from Indonesia....both bands fit the bill perfectly.

LIBERATE OUR MINDS FROM THE MALICIOUS INTENT OF FILTHY SCUM
RESURRECTION

UZI RASH

 

A couple of days ago I was riding to work listening to an episode of Maximum Rocknroll Radio (#1958, in fact) and I actually thought that "this is this shit that led to the shit like UZI RASH." Not saying I'm correct, but that's what I thought. Pure and unconventional "anything goes" sounds as rooted in experimental freakouts as they are in hardcore and/or art punk. There's a drunken swing called "Mabel" that follows "I'm A Trashbag" and if that doesn't give you the general idea here then.....well, maybe listen to more outsider music, eh?

BANANA LEAF BOOJI LIVE

DENIM

 

What happens when smart punks play ignorant Oi!? DIY mutants have been answering this question (repeatedly) for a solid decade and if they don't stop soon I might start shaving my head. Wait - I already do. Might shave my beard but also probably won't do that....but I might start listening to skinhead music with some (more) frequency. Because DENIM do the thing that so many "traditional" skinhead bands don't seem to be able to pull off - DENIM do the thing that smart punks do when they play skinhead music; they make the shit sound punk. Knuckle dragging skinhead music with a knuckle dragging hardcore sounding singer? I'm fukkn here for it, punk.

NO REMORSE • SKIMASK JUSTICE

.....and I need to clarify: "Ignorant," "Knuckle Dragging" and "Skinhead" are all terms of endearment in the context of this post. These descriptors are meant to contextualize the sounds, not the caliber or qualities of the people making them...

TERRITORY

 

This dude who works with me brought me this tape and a vegan BLT hoagie sandwich from Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, he brought the sandwich from the east coast, and it was (still) delicious. Also this TERRITORY tape is a blown to shit DBeat beast....so I won twice. You only win once - you're just gonna have to trust me about the sandwich.

WAR FOR...?

LAMICTAL

 

I swear the tapes do this band no justice. There are a few tapes, and they are all killers - top notch inadvertent CCTV/SNOOPERS worship. Raw and determined no-fi treble rebel quirk-punk of the highest order; fast, furious and relentless. Will LAMICTAL ride a wave to super stardom like they should? Saw SNOOPERS on the Warfield marquee on my way to work this past week, but somehow I feel like these LA punks are gonna stay punk. 

••••••

Alternate write-up: "Four minutes of magic."

DOCTOR'S ORDERS

MAE WEST

 

You might not think that this shit is important....you also might be wrong. "Why Don't You Come Up And See Me Sometime?" said Mae West. Said the woman who slurred "When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better" and a thousand other quotables. In a way, this listens like a salon Americana version of a Reiko Ike film....but maybe that's the tail wagging the dog (without the blatant sex). Check the key solo in "Frankie & Johnny" and just known that West was light years ahead of her time. 

 

NAUGHTY BUT WISE