Friday is a good day for...

DEATH METAL!

Carcass - Heartwork (1993)

As it goes, Metal got me into Hardcore, and in a strange twist of the plot, Hardcore got me even more into Metal. If you have been following over the past few posts, Hard Rock got me into Heavy Metal, which led to me to Thrash and Speed Metal (I never mentioned my love of the song Painkiller by Judas Priest or Caught In A Mosh by Anthrax), which led me to Sick Of It All and Biohazard. The road gets hazy through this section because I got into Fugazi and DC styled stuff as well as Slint and early Post-Rockish stuff like Tortoise and Rodan around the same time I was hunting for the entirety of the Revelation Records catalog. It was maybe towards the end of 94 that my Hardcore worship was fully blossoming. I had moved into the realms of early emo, which I still cant remember calling emo, though the word was tossed around with bad connotations by jockish hardcore kids. It was in this time period of being into multiple facets of hardcore that I began to note the similarities between metal and hardcore and, as though a light from on high was shone upon my world, Converge entered my life.

Its a meandering road, this travel through tims day of hardcore reckoning. But nonetheless it was my friend Dan who purchased the Halo In a Haystack LP on Earthmover Records that began a link that to this day cannot be broken. Now I have told this story before, so I wont recount that one again, but after the sale of Halo in a Haystack I was only left with a dubbed cassette copy with the xeroxed artwork fashioned into cassette size. Of course this is one of the few tapes I still have in my possesion. I eventually added some 7"s to the other side, Barritt, Channel, and later in the future, the Execute demos (Execute was a Vermont band with Todd Henig from Seven Years War on drums and a local snowboard kid, Jon, I think, on vocals. I'll get that up one day, along with Barritt who were awesome) Where the hell am I going with this?!?!

Oh, well, I just mentioned Vermont and that is where part 2 of this story takes place. I went to college in VT in 95 where I met Jim from Albany who loved Snapcase as much as I and introduced me to the Albany scene of One King Down, Withstand and Stigmata. The next year I became friends with Brendan who not only shared our love of all things hardcore, but even more so was seriously into Death Metal. He introduced me to the Converge 7" with Saddest Day on it and needless to say I was addicted. It was full circle for me. Liking Thrash and Metal and then Hardcore and then finding this ultimate blend of the two.... it was a revelation.

Converge still rules to this day. I consider them more Death Metal than hardcore in fact, but thats all relative (they call themselves, "Aggressive Music"). What counts is that Hardcore made me like metal, and specifically very heavy, churning, fast metal, even more than I did before.

So it is with that story, however inane, that I present you with Carcass's 1993 masterpiece, Heartwork. I know most of the readers wont latch onto this, but really, its an insanely good album full of catchy riffs and blistering tempos. The opening chords are heavier than most hardcore and there are some breakdowns that make it clear where bands like Overcast, Unbroken, Starkweather and Converge got some of their inspiration. If you like those bands I just mentioned then you should really do your best to make it through the first four songs at least. Do something while you listen; read, work on the computer, paint or make out with someone. In fact, yeah. Make out with someone while listening to Heartwork. That is your homework for the weekend.

Happy Friday!

Awesome

You all know I dont post many videos, but I could not pass this up. You must wait for this to load and then watch the whole thing with sound. Its unbelievable stuff!


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

The best part is this was made by the same person who did the video for the La Quiete song from their 2006 7". I believe Gabba just posted all three of the La Quiete videos on his awesome blog Hardcore For Nerds.

Here is the La Quiete video.


la quiete from blu on Vimeo.

Please check out their site and drool at the fantastic work these guys put out.

blublu.org

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In other news, I added some new blogs to the side links ---------->

If I am missing any that fit within the content presented here than don't hesitate to tell me. And don't take it wrong if I don't put it up right away. I get sidetracked.... a lot.

ALSO!!!!

Sweet Baby Jaysus made an awesome mix tape on Burning Down the Dreams of Forever that pretty much made my morning. If you are looking forward to tomorrow being a good morning than I suggest you take a little stroll over that way and grab that mix and ensure yourself a good mood.

Seaweed

Seaweed - Four (1993 - Sub Poop)


Seaweed - Weak (1991 - Sub Plop)

I started snowboarding in 1991. It was a glorious thing to experience. I bascially learned how to snowboard on golf courses. This may sound weird, but the only mountain we had near us was called Big Birch and, let me be honest, there was nothing big about it and I dont really recall any Birch trees, but that part is of minor significance. The main point is that it should have been called Big Bump. I got some better snowboarding in on my front yard then I ever did at that paltry mountain. But credit is due where credit is due; along with my friends Joe and Fooch and another friend from high school, Dan Hickey, we made the trek to learn snowboarding. I believe Dan was the only one who had been before. Joe and Fooch and I were deep into skateboarding at this point so it seemed a natural progression to throw the same moves down while moving very fast on a slippery downward slope. This turned out to not be a bad thing and we all picked it up within the afternoon. Except for Dan, he already knew what was going on. That night we went to the old folks home and used the hill to try out some more carves. This also proved useful and quite more so because it was free and only a walk away from the house. Thus began out snowboarding lives.

That winter was great. In fact, we had lots of good winters in the early 90's. Not really sure what happened, but its of no consequence to me (excuse the extreme ecological incorrectness of ignoring what many call Global Warming), this is a story about snowboarding, and somehow, the band Seaweed. So fast forward a few weeks and one of us came up with the great idea of to hit the Mount Kisco golf course. This was probably Joe as he and his dad did landscaping and plowing and he was privy to lots of hidden areas of the great expanses of tiny Northern Westchester. So we head out there and sure enough there is a hill. Kids are sledding and we begin snowboarding. It was tiny, but it made for an easy hike back up and it was endless fun. Especially when we started making jumps. Now, which one of decided to venture into the golf course, i dont know, but it was surely inspired by one of the sand traps that we encountered on our first day there. They made natural jumps and were capable of giving you quite a pop into the air. So begins our 18 hole adventure of snowboarding.

In an effort to move this along, I will say that the first year of my snowboarding career took place mostly in that golf course, slogging with our boards, hitting every sand trap we could. Sometime just setting up on the high side of a sand trap and treating it like a mini bowl. After all, we were skateboarders and it was hardly a stretch to think of snowboarding as incredibly similar. So sand trap after sand trap, grinding bushes covered in snow, shooting through trees, I only wish I could do that now without getting arrested.

So, in a similar vein as my experiences with Thrasher Magazine playing tastemaker to my unbridled enthusiam for all things punk and hardcore, Transworld Snowboarding entered my life and, aside from offering pretty pictures of places I wouldnt visit until over a decade later, it offered a wonderful music section which I frequently would skip to first to see what was new.

Enter Seaweed. The biggest draw for checking out Seaweed wasnt that they were punk. That was a given. Thats most of what Transworld and Thrashers music sections consisted of. The biggest draw for me was the fact that they were from Tacoma, WA. I was born in Tacoma, Washington, exactly one day after my father died in an Air Force accident. Saving the specific dates for myself, it happened on the 11th while my mom was in the hospital and the 12 I was born into this world. Needless to say, my Bronx born mother was now alone with a new child in her care and a family that was very far away. So my tenure in Tacoma and the west coast ended shortly after it began and we moved to Yonkers where my grandparents could help my mother get back on her feet and take care of me when the need arose. This was an agreeable decision to my unformed mind and I happily remember this as my life. I am a New Yorker, born and raised just over a half our out of NYC. But I was born in Tacoma, and this is where a great rift happened that I to this day have not figured out. It was draw that could not be ignored and before I knew it I had ran to the store and purchased Four by Tacoma's very own Seaweed. Somehow I felt my dad would be proud.

It's no suprise that music and skating or snowboarding go so well together. Fluid motion, pushing yourself, pulling off sweet moves like in the BMX movie RAD or Breakin' all deserved proper soundtracks. Seaweed was the most inspiring soundtrack to go snowboarding to. It was perfect in every way. It was upbeat, melodic punk, with great vocals, great lyrics, not too much or too little of anything. In fact, I will go so far as to say Seaweed made me a better snowboarder. How, I couldnt tell you, but I'm laying claim to the truth of that statement. Of course Seaweed didnt prevent me from destroying my knee, but maybe thats a whole other matter. I dont hold it against them. Seaweed still rules these many years later. And the link with Tacoma? Still hits every time, gives me chills of nostalgias and mysteries I dont quite get. I imagine my father smiling.

Quicksand

Quicksand - Slip (1993)


Quicksand - How Soon Is Now [Smiths Cover] (1993 - B side from the Dine Alone Single)


Quicksand - S/T EP [only one song, Clean Slate] (1991)

Nothing gets me hotter and hornier more than Quicksand. And frankly, you can take Manic Compression and stick it where the sun dont shine. Eh, its good, but nothing close to the power of Slip. The funny part is when I first purchased Slip, I didnt like it. It wasnt heavy enough.

I entered middle school with a healthy dose of classic rock under my belt. (Thanks mom!) and this in turn led to a middle school obsession with hard rock music, namely Motley Crue. I really didnt think anything could be better than Motley Crue. That is, until Guns and Roses came along with Appetite for Destruction. Now, my young mind couldnt grasp all the stops this band had pulled out; It's So Easy meant nothing more to me than "ease of use", like, "that math test was easy!", and I certainly only thought of Mr Brownstone as some cranky old man that lived next door and clearly couldnt put up with these young ruffians rocking out all the time. Ha! Yeah, I think around that time my friend Wayne attempted to get me into Slayer - Reign in Blood and that was just too soon for me. The satanic cover art scared me. I come from a catholic family. The fear of god was born in me and took many drugs to finally be quelled forever, but in middle school, evil was ever present. The few kids smoking pot, the even fewer girls having, gasp! sex!. These were different times, the very end of different times as it turns out. But I digress.

So Slayer was out. Megadeth and Metallica? They were in. Metallica especially. I was getting into the sound of palm muted guitars and Metallica had them in spades. It was around this time that I started listening to Seton Halls WSOU Pirate Radio. The metal shows were on late at night and me, being a youngun, had to hit the hay on the earlier side. So I would set up a tape and dub one side of a tape hoping to get something good. The next morning I would be all excited and head to the bus stop with my monolithic walkmen, which was about the size of an average lunchbox and I would be all giddy as they played bands like Overkill, Iron Maiden, King Diamond and the likes. These were great times. (Consequently I revisited Slayer around this time and found much to like and little to be scared of. I just needed to ease myself into it. I even think it was my fast growing love of Slayer that helped me digest Converge only a few short years later)

The most memorable of these occasions was when I heard a spot by a band called Biohazard; "We are Biohazard, from Brooklyn, NY and you are listening to WSOU Pirate Radio." They sounded so badass. The song was Blue Blood and in that same show they played some Sick of It All. I should mention that this is now falling around the end of 8th grade. Motley Crue, as epic and amazing as they were, had fallen by the wayside in favor of heavier music. It only took a few hardcore songs for me to develop an obsession with heavy and fast palm muted guitars mixed with attitude. I was also starting to become more serious about skateboarding. So this angsty badass sound resonated in me even more so than ever.

I owe a lot of my musical discoveries to Thrasher Magazine. Without them and WSOU I probably would have never of heard of hardcore or punk music. Or maybe just much later than I did. I didnt have an older bro or sis to get me into things, so Thrasher was my sibling. I couldnt go on line and surf the net to find out more about Sick of It All or Biohazard, and I didnt have anyone to ask, but it was clear that my life could not go on unless I had a real solid copy of this immense sound. It was almost as if it were a dream, I didnt really hear it, and I half expected it not to exist.

It must've have been the incredibly shitty Bazaar Mall in Mount Kisco, New York that produced the fruits of my searching labor. There I found a tape of Blood, Sweat and No Tears. The faux shattered glass graphic with the photos of people going apeshit and the awesome type face. I was kinda scared, but I purchased it with my friend Fooch. (I still have that tape. One of three that I can let go of) I can say with almost complete honesty that I never looked back from that day. Hardcore was what I wanted and all I could do now was find more and skate like no tomorrow. This led the march to bands like Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, Dag Nasty and The Circle Jerks. Between my friends Fooch and Joe, we amassed a nice little cluster of bands. Fooch tended towards the more brooding and brought in Type-O-Negative. Joe tended toward the punkier and introduced us to NOFX, Pennywise and Green Day and I managed the straight and narrow, searching in vain for Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits.

It wasnt until 1993 that I found the holy grail of musical existence. And that came in the form of Trash American Style. A one stop shop for everything underground. They even preferred to work on a barter system! They had 7"s from bands I never heard of, LP's and CD's, used and new, and stickers and anything a little punk grommet could want (and a lot of GG Allin stuff as well, which always irked me). The first thing I bought was Youth Of Today's Break Down the Walls. I went back maybe a week later and bought Start Today and thus ensued a weekly habit of purchasing records from every band that sounded cool, had a cool record cover, or was on a label that I knew was good. I ordered catalogs from every label that I could and ordered as much as my meager bookstore job would allow.

But back to the matter at hand. We're still in 1993, and obviously I had heard that Walter Schreifels had a new band. Not so new in 1993, but still new to me and most of the world. I bought the tape with Fooch again, and I remember giving it a listen for the first time in Irvington NY. We were being hooligans and doing really bad graffiti and I just wasnt into it. I felt like I had wasted my money. Where was the punch? Where was the heavy? In any case, I found the song Freezing Process to be pretty intriguing and I slowly started getting really into it. I think Unfulfilled was the next song to catch my ear and my friend Joe was all excited about Too Official and Transparent. Thus began our love affair with Quicksand.

We went to see them play with Rage Against the Machine in NYC in the fall of 93. I had hurt my knee earlier that year and pounding around that night I did what has now become the bane of my existence and popped my knee cap out. My enthusiasm outweighed my pain and I managed a hobbling bounce for the rest of the show. State of the Nation played that show as well, and of course I purchased that too. (wonder what ever happened to that album?) It wasnt until early the next year that I got to see Quicksand again, this time headlining, with Orange 9mm and Foundation opening for them (the old band Foundation, not the new one) Well that was a hell of a show! My knee didn't pop and I got all frenzied while Chaka and the guys from Foundation got all frenzied too. I really felt like a part of some amorphous powerful being of angst and change. It was immense and I still cant stifle the smile that comes to my face when I think of how that opened up the world of hardcore to me. Not just in the sense of songs and listening, but the fact that other people were into this, other bands were like this and the shows were cheap, you just had to pay attention and find them and maybe travel a little bit. Man, Quicksand set off some of the best days of my life. Skatebording, seeing shows, buying records. That was the life.

Enjoy these. I have never heard another band like it my life. And even if I did, it doesnt have that history attached to it. I want to be 75 years old and still smile about it, listening to Freezing Process or Unfulfilled and getting my creaky bones moving again.

Sparkmarker - Products and Accessories

Sparkmarker were a great band from Vancouver who managed a very precise blend of NYC post hardcore crossed with DC post hardcore. They existed for the better part of the decade from 1990 - 1997 when they packed it in and moved on to other things. One thing that always struck me about Sparkmarker was the singers voice. It was and still is very unique in the realm of hardcore and punk. He sings, but he kind of yelps at the same time. I dont mean that as any negative aspect, yelping, in this case, works really well. The songs are rhythmic and more to the point than a band like Quicksand and heavier and more visceral than a band like Soulside who they kind of remind me of at times.

I first heard of Sparkmarker from the Land of Greed, World of Need comp from Trustkill Records. It was a compilation of bands covering the Embrace album song for song. And while lots of people froth over the mention of Embrace I never really liked them all that much, preferring instead to listen to these cover version, many of which are better than the originals. Current, Sparkmarker and Avail by far had the three best covers, followed closely by Beltaine, Groundwork and Lifetime and even Rancid had a great track. (In fact, if you use the useful little search field up on the top left, you can type in Land of Greed and the file is still linked up. I think it was the second post I did. Its worth having.)

Nonetheless, hearing the Sparkmarker track and being obsessed with Quicksand made me want to hear more and thus this band entered my life. Lots of bands get described as sounding like Quicksand, but with the exception of this band and maybe Shift in their earlier years, no other band really sounded like them. Except for maybe Never Only Once from Vermont, but how many of you have heard that? Its a good EP. I should upload that too.

Dive

Dive were an awesome hardcore band occupying space and time around the Boston area in the early to mid 90's.

I know very little of this band. Supposedly members went on to perform in bands Get High, Overcast and the Dropkick Murphys. The only band I know out of those three is Overcast, and they were some seriously awesome early metal core. Dive is way more old school hardcore oriented. I wouldnt go so far as to label them an old school band by any means as they also share alot in common with some ebullitions early stuff, like the Downcast and Struggle 7"s, but they have a fast hardcore sound that is undeniably awesome and somewhat influenced by bands like Boston counterparts DYS and Slapshot. So you kinda take that mentality and then throw in a breakdown like the one in Hate Comes Easy from the Downcast 7" and maybe add in some melody that might take you over to an area like Burn once occupied around the same time, and come to think of it, I think of Burn often while listening to Dive. Especially the Force Five 7" from Moo Cow records. Like maybe Burn if they came from Boston.

Yeah, whatever, you should listen to it. It rules. This is the Moo Cow Records 7", the Figure Four Records 7" which shows a lot more of a melodic tendency and a song from the Over The Edge Compilation which came out on Endless Fight Records, which is the only song I had heard from them until more recent years. For some reason I found myself listening to Force Five in particular a lot lately and thought others might appreciate hearing them again. You can still buy that 7" from Moo Cow Distro for $3.50, so dont go getting any crazy ideas to spend tons of money on one.

On a side note, I am pretty tired of hardcore in general. Of course I still like the music, but the whole hardcore thing is really fucking lame. The way people treat each other, the way people play know it all, the elitism of young people who feel that this is their punk rock. Its just stupid. I like the little community we have here, and its been awesome talking with you guys and meeting some of you. Frankly, the biggest issue is I am running out of records to post. I have this awesome Barritt 7" I want to rip somehow, and a few more posts, but this page may be nearing the end.

We all knew it couldnt last forever.

more news to come...

La Famiglia

This is a pic my friend Joe took of us last night. About a block away from our new place. Lara is holding Mugsie. Shes one year old. I am holding Mo and he is two years old on the 15th of this month.

This is the fam. Dont mess with us. We'll fuck you up. ^_~



I have some posts coming up tonite. are you psyched? cuz I am...

Request - Dive - Help

Hey all!

I just moved from one part of Brooklyn to another. This is an incredible thing as I now not only live near the Brooklyn Museum, The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and Prospect Park, but I also now have a back yard with our very own tree, whom we named Harold. My girlfriend Lara and I enjoy naming our plants as if they were pets. I understand this may seem odd, but if you saw the character these plants have then you would understand. We have a Split Leaf Philodendron who is very hearty and gigantic. His/her name is Phyl. We have one of those trees that look like palms which we named Matthew Gerald and we have a banana plant which we named Super D. We also have two giant palm things that refused to accept any names and thus go by the joined and extremely un-clever name of Palms. So now we have Harold and hes a beaut!

What I intend to say is life has been busy but the pay off is immense. So with that said, on to the topic of the day.

I have two things, or three that I am planning. One of these concerns the awesome band Dive from Boston circa the early 90's.
I want to make a somewhat comprehensive post of their stuff. The only problem is the rip of the Moo Cow Records Force Five 7" has an incredibly bad hiccup in the middle of the second song.

Here is the cover of the 7" I am looking for...



I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can give me a proper rip of that song, titled "With Forgetting and Reforgetting" or a rip of the whole 7" as it will be consistent. I have the Figure Four records 7", the Moo cow 7" and one song from the awesome Endless Fight Records comp (which you can still download here).

I would also love if anyone would like to share some info or stories of this band as I only know they are awesome and from Boston. I only had the Endless Fight song from back in the day, so my knowledge of this band is lacking at best.

My friend Sean and I are going to see Brainworms and ...Who Calls So Loud (ex Funeral Diner) tomorrow afternoon at ABC No Rio. Should be awesome. Sean also wants me to post some swedish hardcore. So I was thinking of making a post of Abhinanda, Shield, Spawn and Refused. Sparkmarker and Avail to follow.

Hope everyone is well!

Thanks for all the comments. You guys are the best readers on the net!

Seven Years War - Ranks Of The Common People (1995?)

While in college at a little school in Burlington, VT I was introduced to one of the smallest and coolest hardcore scenes known to the genre. Moo Cow records was the flagship label and, looking back, it seems they were actually quite influential in their own right. They released records from Grey Before My Eyes, Dive, Disembodied and they also released Burlingtons own take on Ebullition records, Seven Years War. The extremely political Seven Years War released only a smattering of things, this full length being one of them. Previously they released the John Brown 7" with the amazing song Convenience of Ignorance (which was later covered by the punk band Heckle which was formed by an early member of Seven Years War.)

Seven Years War sounded like Groundwork covering Chokehold. (Or maybe Chokehold covering Groundwork.) So what that means to you is jagged and/or chaotic sections of furious ultra political hardcore backed with maniacally heavy breakdowns of a similar ultra political nature. Simply put, the descriptions dont do too much justice, because the War had their own sound of sorts. While on one hand they tended toward basic metal, on the other was a math-rock powerhouse blanketed within the harsh folds of hardcore ideology. It was always fun to see them play because the music intrinsically had power that made you want to move, but it was hard to actually get a groove going, and then they drop would a ton of bricks on your head and the whole dance floor would erupt, like, "Finally!!! I can windmill to this!!!" Lol!

But it was a sight to see. When they pulled out the whistle and screamer Jonathon Hughes was blowing that thing like his head was going to explode, man. I wish I could convey some experiences to video. Just hook a cable up to the ole noggin and download memories. And they were skinny, well read college kids from UVM just hamming it up all serious. I unfortunately dont have the lyrics anymore as I relinquished my hold on many of my CD cases as they were super cumbersome after years of moving, but needless to say there is nothing funny about any of the lyrics and they, like so many other, thought they could change the world. Themes of anti-imperialism and natives rights run rampant and riffs galore will make you a firm believer that you too can change the world with a whistle and a guitar.

My bet to you, wonderful readers, best readers on the net, is if you like the description above, if you like Groundwork, Chokehold, or early Ebullition records releases, then you will eat this shit up and smile while you chew. Chances are Hibakusha will make you want to mosh in your living room, Caged will make you jump up and down, Native Crown will make you want to go say sorry to Native Americans and Nrubaidem will make you froth at the mouth.

PS. Moo Cow Records still exists and they have releases coming out this year. Go pay them a visit.