Monday, November 29, 2010

V/A - Mystic's COPulation 1984

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This is a fucking great Mystic comp, the most exciting contributions for me being the Dr. Know track (god it's awesome) and of course, America's Hardcore's track, one of the only actual releases from the band aside from the "It Came From Slimey Valley" comp track. Also I found myself really enjoying some bands that never caught my attention in the past. I had never really been gripped by any of White Flag's material, maybe I was just intimidated by their huge arsenal of releases, but this track is awesome. Their first Flipside comp track really let me down. Also Wurm's track on this record is really catchy and I have never liked that band. Is it just me or is Agression's "slammin' at the club" just "Locals Only" with different lyrics? Other stand out tracks are Sado Nation's, S.V.D.B's, Authorities, and Manifest Destiny's rippers. The whole comp is good and includes some other more well known bands like Black Flag, Government Issue, and Ill Repute. A great concept for a comp.

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V/A - End the Warzone 1986

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To be honest, this compilation is really only worth it for the Straight Ahead tracks. I would attribute that to my extreme bias and love toward Straight Ahead but really... The Larm tracks are alright but nothing special. The Attitude Adjustment tracks are great (Bombs is one of my favorite tracks off the Dead Serious Demo Tape) but honestly you would get a better example of the band from their demo tape or their American Paranoia lp. The Pillsbury Hardcore tracks aren't the greatest considering one is a poor cover of Negative Approaches 'Ready to Fight'. They definitely have better material. The Straight Ahead demo material is where my heart lies.

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JFA - Blatant Localism EP 1981

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Young kids from Arizona playing fast and crazy skate punk. I never get tired of this record. Got a copy from Double Decker records in Allentown on tour for $20. The guy was selling off his collection. If you like young, fast, and snotty give it a listen.

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The Germs - Lexicon Devil 1978

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Everyone is familiar with this release. Great record, every track is awesome, LA's own.

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YDI - A Place In The Sun 1983

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Most everyone is familiar with YDI's A Place In the Sun 7", Crazy and abrasive Philadelphia hardcore. If you like hard negative approach-esque hardcore that is played sloppily with clean guitar tone with a good balance of dirge and break-neck stop and go you will love YDI. Watch live footage, Jackal is nuts. Also, people hate pretty hard on their metal lp Black Dust but I quite enjoy it. Goofy with some Venom moments.

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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Hated Youth - Hardcore Rules 1983

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Holy shit, the first track will hook you. I heard this band from their split with Roach Motel and this 7" definitely blows all those tracks out of the water. Hated Youth is fast, snotty, raw hardcore punk from Florida. Awesome stuff. Read the story in the insert, it's pretty goofy.

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Rebel Truth - S/T 1983

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My introductions to this band were comp tracks, specifically those off the Charred Remains tape and a comp dedicated to Tim Yohannan of MRR. Interesting stuff, I often describe it as a 'spooky' Agent Orange; just listen to 'Child Hosts the Parasite' and you'll see what I mean. Solid, underrated hardcore punk from Sacramento circa 1980. Great lyrics. Nice little reissue score.

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Unity - You Are One 1985

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This record is fucking great. Orange County's answer to DC's Minor Threat. Here's another record I have artwork from tattooed on me. Although it is often criticized for Dubar's vocals and lyrics I feel they're more honest than cheesy, although songs like 'love' are pretty damn cheeseball. Also any time you talk about 'the distant battle torn dove of freedom' on a hardcore record you'll probably get criticized... Anyhow, this record fucking rules.

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Hands Tied - S/T 1996

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So as you may have guessed by now my selection of what to put up is entirely arbitrary. It could just be by chance that i thought of the record, it may follow logically that it come after the last post, it may be what I'm listening to, or it could just be a totally random choice. Most often I will put up random hardcore releases because I feel I am well 'listened' in most hardcore punk sub-genres from the late 70s up until the mid to late 90s. My taste is all over the place so chances are people won't like everything I put up.
Sorry about that diatribe, here is New Jersey's Hands Tied. Fronted by Tim of Mouthpiece I feel the opening track of this EP beats any Mouthpiece song hands down. Don't get me wrong, I love the slow depressing mouthpiece more than most but holy shit, 'nothing can compare' (haha get it) of anything they've written to the opening track of this record. I love it. If youth crew hardcore is your genre and you haven't heard this record, you're in for a treat.

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Burn - Last Great Sea 2002

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So rumor has it this record was recorded a bit after the s/t but wasn't released by rev until almost ten years later. Burn went on many hiatuses and reunited often throughout their short lifespan as a band. This record and Cleanse came out when I was getting into contemporary hardcore so I was definitely intrigued by them and listened often. My favorite Burn record fluctuates often because I love them all so much for different reasons but it seems most often to be Last Great Sea. There's almost a themed progression from the first track to the last. New Morality kicks it off politically poignant, tales of shatou fuses these politics with emotion, and last great sea ends in a slow, sad depressive self indulgence. I love it.

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1. New Morality
It's the new morality
Programmed media is all we see
Refuse to question
We believe the lie
Worship the only thing that currency buys
For god and government
For the rich and the affluent
The church and state support the upper class
With greed deceit and prejudice
Who set that standard
Who made the call
For so many to have nothing
And so few to have it all
And how can you resign to say
Everything is fine when a man is only seen as a dollar sign
Eradicate the deviant
Deviate the education educate with
Ignorance for the protection of our nation
Illegalize diversity
Remove it so no one can see
Out of sight and out of mind
Making sure the public eye is blind
Refuse to see we can only be
A casualty of the major immorality
If they talk should we listen
Haven't I asked this before
And in reality none of us are free
And they'll be no end to this war
Leave it all up to fate
And we'll spend our lives on our knees
Fight back
Those who don't remember the past are only forced to repeat it again and again
We've all seen this before
And those who remain will end up mopping up the blood of the killing floor

2. Tales of Shatou
Two children are born into this world
The thrill exceeds
From rival sides of the tracks each other's counterpart
One has the world but the world has the other strung up by the collar
To keep him where he is forever and a lifetime
So he'll die alongside his brother
Who is dying from inflicted disease and cannot fight
Mentally lynched into his addiction that controls his life
Mean while on the other side
There's no tears from any eyes
One mother laughs the other cries
The scars are real there's no disguise
Fates twisted idea
They'll always be trapped here
While some of the rich just laugh and smile
The poor are trapped in an insane asylum vial
Life goes on
On the sweeter side a child nurtured grows intelligent and strong
On that more familiar side something somewhere always has to go wrong
But is it a mistake
Life goes on

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Burn - S/T 1990

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Well here it is, I wore the grooves down to almost nothing on this record. Burn will always sit as one of my favorite bands. I don't listen to them half as much as I used to but I dedicated pretty much my entire forearm to artwork from this record. Moving into more abstract and interesting hardcore, this was the record that hooked me. The main thing for me was the lyrics, so very poignant and capable of being interpreted on so many levels. I interviewed Chaka once a super long time ago. He made a lot of comments on my take of the lyrics to "Shall be Judged". I saw it functioning on both an animal rights and a social/economic/ecological justice level. He was definitely good at the whole personal is political thing dealing with large social issues and individual emotions. I loved it. It really resonated with me. To this day I have collected every single Burn record pressed including a nice little test press. I used to listen to it religiously now I pass it on to you.

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Beyond - No Longer At Ease 1989

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This is one of the more creative hardcore records I've heard to emerge from NY in the close of the 80s. In a time and area where thugcore ran rampant, Beyond delivered intelligent lyrics and music that was all over the place. I don't know where it falls really, I see elements of youth crew, the speed of hardcore punk, and even areas of borderline prog rock. Also yes, this is where Olympia's Ancient Head got their name. Burn turned me on to Beyond. "My mind you won't destroy"

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Goddamn I wish my scanner was bigger, all of the images are cut off including the lyrics, you'll just have to deal with it.

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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

SS Decontrol - Get It Away 1983

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One of the best records ever. I honestly like this better than "Kids". Short and sweet every track fucking rules. Get It Away gives me goosebumps and every band in the world has covered Glue. This is probably one of the most expensive records I own as well, original on XClaim! scored for $16 off a fool. Ends with a nice little Buzzcocks cover Springa style.

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