All This Sunshine is Just Going to End

It's time for another piece of that candy of nostalgia, wrapped in a shoddy DIY wrapper and tainted with just enough poison and broken glass to give you a slightly "off" feeling for a while.  This backhanded, backward glance is dangled before us by Rights Reserved once again, a band resolute to drag you behind the house and shove your face in a steaming, shameful pile of memories best left alone.  As promised, I'm offering the band's split with Assfactor 4 as a starting point.  Rights Reserved are in what I consider their prime on these two tracks, holding back none of their prodigious angst in neither the music nor lyric department.  The only other song of theirs that matches these would be the one on the 400DayHeadache comp. While their LP is full of heartfelt and emotionally charged material, none quite compare to the power of these three songs.  On the other side, Assfactor 4 make one of their earliest vinyl appearance before going on to dominate the modern hardcore "scene" of the nineties.  The two tracks offered mark a transitional point between the members' time in Tonka and Unherd, and the solidification of the A-4 sound on their later 7" and LPs.  Essential for fans, plus the mood meshes well with the RR tracks.

I also mentioned that I would post Rights Reserved's other EPs, and while I am a lazy-ass, jaded, distracted son of a gun, I'm no liar.  Many bands have enjoyable early material that shows them working out their ideas; RR's early 7"s are fine examples of that.  The band mixes and alternates between indie rock, punk, and melodic hardcore, like, well, small town youths trying to find themselves and having fun doing it.  With no small measure of talent, I might add.

Rights Reserved 7"s

Amber Are These Days

Institute first blipped on my radar a few years ago during a random search for Damad, but this post can be credited to eastcobb for finally getting me to upload the goods. Institute materialized from the same vapors as Damad, Kylesa, Karst, etc., but opted for a more expansive sound. The same dark universe is seen tinted through colder, slightly industrial eyes, kindred spirits of which might include early Counterblast, In Nomine Christi, and Christdriver. The voice samples and noise effects add a nice layer to the mix, but for me it's the hypnotic rhythms and driving metal riffs that are the real flesh. I'm posting my own rips of the one vinyl piece I own by the band ("Two Shadows") and tracks from "The Piano Player" which I downloaded from the band back when they made available both records to the public.

Institute

"Two Shadows" LP (Yellow Dog Records, 2001?) ripped @ 320.

"The Piano Player" (@ 192)

Calling the Waffle House Home

Mr. Nuclearpowergrind requested anything by pre-Assfactor 4 bands Unherd and Tonka. Mike at Twisted Tracks stepped up and posted the Unherd LP, and after some searching, I managed to track down some odds and ends. We start with the Tonka 7", a collection of four high-energy, youthful tracks bathed in DC post-hardcore, but hung to dry in a more southern clime. The cover design indicates either the band's affinity for early Jawbreaker, or a mere coincidental resemblance to a certain album of theirs. Tonka wasn't as fast or hardcore as Assfactor, but they nailed this style damn well, as did Unherd.
Both bands contribute solid offerings on the "Stupid by the Grace of God" comp, which showcases four South Carolina bands. In addition to Tonka and Unherd, we're "treated" to some syrupy pop-punk by way of Toast, and a helping of "cereal-core" compliments of Bedlam Hour. I thought "Frankenberry Mosh" might be a silly fluke in their discography, but the photo on the back depicts one member wearing a Cheerios box on his head. Good thing this never became a trend.
Finally we arrive at another Unite and Fight Records release, the "Please Stop" comp., relevant here for its two solid Tonka tracks, and curious for its inclusion of Orange County peace punkers, Media Children! Demise play decent old-school hardcore, but I'm not too fond of Officer Friendly's track.

Get all three records HERE

Unforeseen Disasters

Another exhumed time capsule of the nineties, the "Unforeseen Disasters" comp offers an almost complete sampling of what was going on in that decade. Specifically, this one was planted in the loamy catacombs of The South, even more specifically, Georgia and the Carolinas. Of greatest interest for me is what I believe to be an exclusive track from Damad, which represents one of their earliest vinyl outings (along with the In/Humanity split). The same can be said for Initial State's "Die Silent," but that track also appears on a No Idea comp and on the band's own LP. In/Humanity, Quadiliacha, Blownapart Bastards, and El Toro each bring an eclectic tidbit to the gathering, making this shindig short, but hotter than Georgia asphalt.

"Unforeseen Disasters" (Passive Fist Records, 1994)

The Kindness Of Others

Finally! I've been looking for the missing link to my little collection of In/Humanity splits forever, and now I at least have it digitally. This is all thanks to Mike (& wife), who's one of the coolest guys I've never met! If you know these bands already, the '90's screaming madness supplied by both will surely make your day. Shit, just the track title, "Dork Side Of The Farce" made mine. As a bonus, Mike threw in In/Humanity's long lost "Intolerable" 7"; you know, the one the band disowned. It's pretty hilarious to contrast this to their later work... night and day! You can still get the other In/Humanity splits here, and the Bonescratch 12" here (although I plan to re-rip that sucka soon).


Big thanks again to Mike and Co.

Get both EPs here






And, while I'm using other people's rip donations, I'll go ahead and re-post the massive Mine LP ("Tetanus"). I've been meaning to re-rip my copy, but bass player, Christian, found the original post and sent us these nice clean rips before I had a chance. Thanks a million, Chris! If you like you're hardcore smart, metallic, and brutal, I highly recommend! In another related coincidence, the Pope recently posted Mine's 7".

Get "Tetanus" here.

Oh, The In/Humanity!

I was putting off doing this post, hoping to find a cheap copy of In/Humanity's split with Bonescratch first. Nope. Not happening. If anyone has a copy they want to sell me, the e-mail address is to the right. To my knowledge, In/Humanity did only three other splits, the diversity of their split-mates providing testimony as to how difficult it is to pinpoint and categorize In/Humanity's sound.

The first offering is, I believe, chronologically first as well. It's their split with fellow southerners, and modern sludge masters, Damad. Although I'm not the biggest fan of most early Damad, the songs herein are two of their most evil! It's great to hear such early material from these boys and girl, even though, as you can imagine, the production could be better (especially in the vocals). The track "Tinnitus" is an exclusive(?) and "Slow Heal II" is a variation on a theme the band would continue with on the "Rise and Fall" LP. Flip it over, and this time around, In/Humanity offer a very primitive version of their rackety and sardonic madness. Two noise tracks, two "music" tracks... definitely a sign of what was to come...

Back Cover

(Scroll down for download link)

In/Humanity shares this next split with fellow South Caroliners, Premonition. I picked this up when I saw In/Humanity in SD (with Huasipungo) around 1996, so the cover art and insert are a little different than some versions. Premonition play emotive, yet upbeat punk rock, sharing stylistic kinship with the more energetic moments of Car vs Driver, Policy of 3 and Still Life. I actually enjoy their approach to this style, but unfortunately their track on the Inchworm Food Not Bombs benefit comp is the only other output I know from this band. Leave a comment if you know where else to find Premonition stuff.

When I first heard the In/Humanity side, I wasn't sure at what speed to play these two tracks. Sure enough, the insert was no help; the band encourages us to play them at whatever speed we will! In keeping with this assertion, I have ripped them at both speeds. Believe it or not, they actually do sound fine either way! (Which means you get 3 versions of the song "Bud(d) Dwyer Superstar" in one download!)

Here's the (literally) cut and past insert In/Humanity included for this version of the EP. It was created from an actual '70's rock album sleeve. A little help in identifying the band would be much appreciated.

(Keep scrolling for download link)

Finally, as if you're ears and patience haven't been tested enough, here's the final installment: The In/Humanity/Half Life split. Half Life are from Japan, and play metal that fuses the better aspects of two different coasts (Japanese metal and NYC moshy stuff). Although not my usual cup 'o Joe, there's some pretty righteous metal picking going on here with traditional Japanese vocals. Only one song from Half Life on this one, unfortunately.

In/Humanity offer an original with an outstanding title, "Kill the Cop Inside," and a re-recorded version of "Budd Dwyer Superstar." Nice tracks, but still not as good as the band's later work.

Back Cover

Congratulations on making it this far. I didn't realize that these EP's (ripped at 320) would make for such a big file. This one's for the fans, though. It's near 100 MBs, so get your favorite beverage, put on your favorite In/Humanity or Damad LP, and....

Download all three eps.

Born Under The Shit Sign

In anticipation of the In/Humanity reissues, it's time for a post of some of their out of print (and now permanently deleted?) material. The "Your Future Lies Smoldering at the Feet of the Robots" 7" is a good place to start, showcasing three "mature" and fairly well recorded tracks. For those unfamiliar with the band, they were a difficult animal to classify. Gasp, GOB, and Born Against are good starting reference points, with special emphasis on the snide humor of the latter two bands. The true origins of course, date back to the primordial soup of the early Gravity/Ebullition Records sound which blew the chaotic and creative possibilities of hardcore wide open. There's a fair amount of chaos on these tracks, but the band knows exactly what it's doing. The lyrics are brilliant critiques of our decaying world, but unfortunately the printing is too small to reproduce easily in this post. As most people know, the singer went on to form The Guyana Punchline.

As mentioned before, Prank Records is repressing In/Humanity's second full length "The History Behind the Mystery," and reissuing their long out of print first LP "The Nutty Anti-Christ" (Passive Fist Records) this fall. He will apparently not be repressing the singles collection, so in partial consolation I'll be posting three of In/Humanity's four split EPs in the next post (tomorrow?).

Download

Old Promo Poster

"What Are You Pointing At?"

Here's the first in a pair of compilations I'll be posting this week put out by Very Small Records in the late eighties/early nineties. I'll always remember Very Small for its/his eclectic punk output, and snide/silly sense of humor (see cover design to the left). The 10" you see here was released in '89 and then repressed in '94 (on Too Many Records... really it's the same label). "What Are You Pointing At?" is a classic, featuring early work from Econochrist and Screeching Weasel, as well as four good, slightly more obscure bands. Yes, the Econochrist tracks have already been compiled on their essential discography CD (Ebullition Records). These two are among the band's earliest recordings, and display punkier, more melodic songwriting than on the later, more discordant and angry material for which they would become legendary. I'm not sure about the availability of the other bands' material. Screeching Weasel drop two catchy, fast pop-punk jams, one of which, "I Wanna Be a Homosexual," may be their catchiest and funniest of all time. The rest of the troop, Vapor Lock, Schizoid, Dissent, and Bazooka Joe, come from different parts of the country and each play their own style of '80's hardcore and/or punk with energy and panache! I think you'll like this one... and if you have any info about the last four bands, definitely don't hesitate to help out and leave a comment!

Download It

Back Cover & Track List