Succeeding Where Celtic Frost Failed

Fast-forwarding 16 years from the last post, this split series continues with an outstanding pair-up from last year.  Side A is (I believe) the second outing from San Diego bros, Death Crisis.  From their name, you probably guessed one band members were in previously.  DC are hardcore for the fan of bullshit-free bands like Out Cold, but whose ADHD is lighter on the "AD" and heavy on the "H."  Tried, true, but still relevant themes of media brainwashing and apathy are strongly represented, as well as a new one: douches who bring their dogs to hardcore shows.  While I've never experienced this first hand, I can understand their irritation (but for the record: my dogs do/did like hardcore... still wouldn't bring them to shows though).  Death Crisis also have out a 7", and another split 7" with 80's San Diego D-beaters, Diatribe; a burgeoning website can be found here.

Side B brings perennial FE favorites, Same-Sex Dictator, in what might be their most primal form.  These two tracks were written and performed straight from the brain stem, and given the option of fight or flight, I'm thinking SS-D choose the former every time.  In describing the band's inimitable and incredible LP, Justin (drums) felt that his band was more caveman than the proggy descriptors I used.  If you've heard the "Descend to Syncope" tape then you know what he means, and on this outing the band has gone positively neolithic!  It's also possibly their most blackened offering, considering the faster speeds, atmosphere, and less-than-sparkling production values.  This time the lyrics take a blunt ivory implement to the skull of themes like system moochers ("I'm Not Paying for Your Failure") and the Orwellian/Kafka-esque world we drones inhabit ("Removed By Paperclips").  The split is still available in two formats, so I'm supplying my crappy vinyl rips for a limited time.  Yes, music is digitized, but real people are putting in real time and resources to make this all happen.  Please support them.

Buy the vinyl here
Death Crisis digital tracks here
SS-D digital tracks here (awesome Eyehategod and Joy Division bonus cover tracks available!)

Vinyl rips here.

Fuck Corn, This Is Rice!

This one goes out to Lardass, the man behind Impure Lard! Rice was a quirky hardcore band that used guitar noise, speed, and a trombone, and managed to break hardcore wide open for the rest of the nineties. For more info, go to Rice's blog and learn about their history and recent reunion. For a more complete Rice experience, seek out their "Fuck You, This Is Rice" collection. Or, for now, download their 7" and split 7" with Bumblescrump.

Rice 7"s (The split was clean, but the 7" had a lot of scratches, etc.)

Song Of The Week: "Time Bomb" (Titanarum)

Since I'm stuck here, I might as well focus on the good things in my little coastal habitat (especially since this whole economic crap is making me a little skittish about moving...). So other than Bümbklaatt, I really could think of no other current San Diego bands that get me going; that is, until I discovered Titanarum! This band is fairly unique, but draws upon the tradition of raging thrash and old school hardcore (that must be the "Spastis" part of their motto) as well as the jarring start-stop dynamic of more "mathy" bands (hence the "Progressivus" portion). If you're at all familiar with The Neighbors, one of SD's all time finest, then you may meet the machinegun-speed screaming and conversational lyrics like a long-lost friend (same vocalist). Several tracks on the "Spastis Progressivus Aggressiorum" 7" concern themselves with the speaker staying a misfit for life-- "Time Bomb" being one of these. It also runs the gamut of all the band is capable of in the music department as well. This is one hell of a talented and sincere band, and I only hope they'll stick around long enough for me to finally get up off my ass and see them! San Diego may never be known as a "hardcore city," but as long as bands like Titanarum pop up every once in a while, I can feel at least a little less embarrassed about coming from here.



"Time Bomb"


Buy this 7"

Song Of The Week: "The Trail" (Three Mile Pilot)

This song of the week arrives a little bit late. I'm probably the only one who noticed, but since I started doing this as a way to be consistent I feel like an explanation is due. Last night, I was fortunate enough to witness the long-awaited return of possibly the best band San Diego ever produced-- Three Mile Pilot. I furthermore have no Internet connection in my house for time being. So I sit here in public, stealing some one's WiFi connection, and the choice for the week seems all too obvious. The band didn't play any tracks from their singles, sadly, so I've chosen "The Trail" to compensate. On few other tracks is the dimly lit corridor to Three Mile Pilot's world more accessibly and alluringly rendered. I can't imagine that too many of the visitors to this blog will find this form of rock appealing at first. Start with the bass work. 3MP features the most talented bassist I've ever had the pleasure of seeing perform (I've seen him with Pinback, but it just wasn't the same...). Then, follow their fragmented and enigmatic narrative into parts of the human psyche for which you've previously never known entry points.

"The Trail"

I recommend everything the band did, other than their first album. The material they played from their upcoming record was a little disappointing, but it had its moments.

A Whale's Vagina

vs.

Okay, now that I have your attention... since the inception of the FE blog one year ago today, I've been wanting to do a San Diego mixtape. The purpose? To prove to myself that San Diego doesn't (completely) suck. It does, but as a music lover I have to do something to make existence in this musically/culturally retarded part of the world tolerable (until I make my escape...). The most appropriate analogy for the music produced in this town is a geographically accurate one: It's a desert. But, as you make your way across it, you're bound to find some oases which are all the sweeter for being so rare. As much as I complain, some of the most important music (at least in my life) was born of this land of dire scarcity.

So what does this mixtape hold for the brave few who venture to download it? Not an easy answer. There's a little something for everyone... I've included Tijuana as part of the San Diego area in order to include the crusty bestias, Bümbklaatt and Coäccion, you'll get plenty of speed and brutality from the likes of Crossed out and The Neighbors, some of that often maligned chaos of the Gravity Records crew from Heroin and Clikatat Ikatowi, a whole heap of the idiosyncratic and sometimes downright nutty rock experimentations from Creedle, Drive Like Jehu, Last of the Juanitas, Tarantula Hawk, and lots more noise besides. I was going to assemble two volumes: hardcore and rock. But that wouldn't do much to open up musical boundaries. So here it is. It's a mess, but it's teeming with genius at many points. Hopefully you'll discover some new favorites.

25 tracks, 21 bands

The Bands:

Battalion of Saints, Drive Like Jehu, Crossed Out, Bümbklaatt, Three Mile Pilot, The Neighbors, Spanakorzo, Heroin, aMiniature, Find Him and Kill Him, Last of the Juanitas, Second Story Window, Coäccion, Hot Snakes, Gehenna, Swing Kids, Tarantula Hawk, Run For Your Fucking Life, Clikatat Ikatowi, Spring Break, Creedle.

Link has been removed.

No new posts for about a week. I'll be traveling around Oregon (a place to which I may one day make my escape), but don't let that stop you from leaving a comment. I had to exclude a lot of bands from this mix in consideration of file size and low attention spans. I just wanted a good representation of talent and diversity, both new and old (and plenty of personal favorites). Feel free to bitch and complain that I didn't include your favorite SD band, or offer suggestions, stories, new favorites...

More 7" Comps That Don't Suck Vol 4: "Our Voice Pro-Choice"

The "Our Voice Pro-Choice" 7" (Hands On Records, 1993) consists of half Utah bands and half non-Utah bands, and was a benefit for the Utah Pro-Choice Coalition (they probably needed all the help they could get!). As you can probably guess, the Utah bands are virtual unknowns (unless you're from Utah?). However, the two out of state bands (Born Against and Heroin) would become quite influential within the nineties modern hardcore pantheon.

Synopsis:

1. Anger Overload- "Waiting." I have not heard anything else by this band, and I'm not sure I would want to. They played metal with hardcore leanings that just doesn't do it for me.

2. N.S.C. - "Choice No Choice." NSC play old school punk not unlike The Avengers. Their track is not original, but still quite good and catchy.

3. Born Against - "Resist Control." BA need no introduction. "Resist Control" is a good example of their earlier, more straight forward material. This song is also compiled on their "The Rebel Sound of Shit and Failure" singles collection, and was originally a Life's Blood song. As the story goes, the release of the "Our Voice" comp. was delayed due to Sam McPheeters "misplacing" BA's layout for the insert behind his stereo. The comp. was thus completed after Clinton was sworn in, making the Bush Sr. imagery dated even for the record's own time of release.

4. Heroin - "Comes to Mind." San Diego's seminal gods of emotional and chaotic hardcore offer a very early track. If memory serves, this track did not make it onto the Heroin discography. While not as good as the band's later work, it is still great to hear this one... a real piece of modern hardcore history!

Download the Comp.