LIMBS BIN

 

Noise is violence, manifested as five minutes of power(ful) electronics. 

A GLASS OF SOUR QUINCE

PHOENIX BODIES

 

If it hadn't been for the split with SHIKARI I might have missed PHOENIX BODIES completely...but thankfully I didn't. Even so, I barely scratched the surface, and I'm grateful for the folks at Bullwhip for compiling some of the early essentials in one convenient format (hint: it's a cassette) because this is a shit I (still) need in my life. Kinda can't believe that HIGH ON CRIME never crossed paths with them because this kind of technical screamo/violence is exactly the shit that permeated that era and region (this is where Dave is probably going to tell me that we played with them....such is my life) - chaotic ultra-intensity that channels early century metallic emo but is still close enough to BORN AGAINST to stay honest. As the title suggests, this tape captures the first two years of PHONIX BODIES....a half hour of what I needed, what I missed, what I would have loved. A half hour of what I want. 

THE FIRST 2 YEARS

ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE

 

Recorded in 2011 like a throwback to 1994 New England political crust, ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE are a band I would have loved to have seen in the early '00s when that era was still fresh on my mind. Hell - I would have loved to see them in any era, but I feel like 2002 was probably the sweet spot for these tracks getting under my skin. Churning metal-tinged ferocity with perfect guitar tone/s, and there's something about the way this dude barks that really makes me want to crank some MANKIND? this morning. Then again...isn't there a part of me that wants to crank some MANKIND? every morning? We got this tape (likely available in your local bargain bin in 12" vinyl format) and a two song slammer a few years later and then....poof. That's all, so appreciate what you've got. 

ANOTHER SOCIAL DISEASE

TRENCHES

 

Look, you'd be forgiven if you missed TRENCHES. Their run was a scant couple of years in an early 'teens era that was packed with notable heavyweights and scene darlings. They popped up in Oakland around 2013 and maybe only ventured out of the Bay a couple of times. Their pedigree made people perk up (REPLICA, HUNTING PARTY, NO BABIES) and with good reason, but fukk there were so many fukkn popping up and popping in and popping out and just poppin' that it was easy to skip one unintentionally here and there. But this is why we immortalize things, and this is why we revisit. TRENCHES left the world with just two demonstration cassettes that demonstrate what they could have done had they stayed the course or just simply stayed around. Six songs in just under five minutes here (plus another four released the year before)....ten songs is all you need to remember or to make you wish you had paid better attention. Or to make you wish you had been there. 

TRENCHES

PRESENT ELECTRIC

 

Brilliant Bay Area dream pop from the hand of Kevin Linn of SAD EYED BEATNIKS. The reference is important, as PRESENT ELECTRIC kinda lands like a deconstructed version of Kevin's primary project. Psychedelic missives and carefully crafted songs that remind me of ROGER MANNING and GLUE (the Oklahoma GLUE...the only GLUE that matters), The Continuous Monument almost sounds like interlude-as-album. Another should-be smash hit from the folks at Paisley Shirt....I have yet to be disappointed. 

THE CONTINUOUS MONUMENT

DECEMBER 1984

 

Thirty-nine years and eight months ago, some motherfucker was absolutely owning the DJ booth at KALX and I'm eternally grateful to Pat for documenting and holding onto the set. You know the deal by now - some punk, some schmatlz, some rock 'n roll, some blues. A time warp. A snapshot. A window into another past. A piece of another life. 

KALX - DECEMBER 1984
•••
For those interested, there are limited volumes of the curated Copy Wright series available from my little cassette label Escape Cassettes. Volumes 15 & 16 are currently in the works.  

HAROLD TURGIS

 

There are few joys as pure as the feeling of hearing a new and wonderful thing for the first time. Not knowing what you're going to get or what you're about to experience and just letting the sound wash over you. Sometimes it energizes, sometimes it soothes - the best ones do both of course. It's even better when there's a bit of mystery beyond the average unknown, when you listen for the first time without expectation or context, and this was the case when I opened a box from London a couple of months ago. I knew it was from a fellow from HYGIENE and I like the HYGIENE records I have, but all the note said was that these were "...three tapes I released." HAROLD TURGIS went on first and I couldn't have been more engrossed - gloriously minimal and painfully deliberate electronics that border on ambient but are too consistently interesting to fade into the background. If the entire tape were the nine plus minute "Bewitched" with it's stilted fade out ending? I would have been chuffed. Instead The Sentinels is a solid half hour (plus) of glorious modern adaptations of primitive electronic sound. It's mesmerizing and it's beautiful and "Zeethra" (which tapes up the entire second side) will make you weep if you listen deeply. And now my only complaint is that I'm going to listen to Satellite (the other HAROLD TURGIS tape in that box) with expectations. Very high expectations. 

THE SENTINELS