Absinthe 7"
Absinthe were a dirty, crusty, evil sounding hardcore band led by ex-members of Arizona legendary Groundwork and Bury Me Standing. As my previous post attests, Absinthe seemed to loosen the hold on the political lyrics of previous bands and focus more on the negative associations with mass market religion.
The sounds are lurching, powerful and caustic, like any good hardcore band should aspire to. This 7", which I had never heard, ) and in fact wasnt even aware of its existence at the time it came out) has proved incredibly difficult to track down. I have heard some people mention that they prefer the 7" over the 10" and while that is a difficult call to make I can say that these 4 songs positively seethe with grinding energy.
Big thanks to Luciferyellow (via Mike), for linking me up with this! ^_~
In other Absinthe related news, Brendan, the vocalist (or Vo-kill-ist, as some may prefer) paid us a visit and mentioned that there are plans to re-master and re-release the Absinthe discography. For anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing my damaged rip of the 10" then this should be exciting news. I personally dont need much in the way of recording quality to make me happy, but skips? No good. I am not sure when this will be released, but I will give a shout when I know.
For those that are interested, King of the Monsters Records have repressed the out of print 10" Absinthe record on white vinyl. It is available through them directly or through Interpunk for a whopping $5.50. A wholly worthwhile purchase if this is your thing.
Get pissed!
posted by blend77 at 1:28 PM
32 Comments:
yeah i ordered a copy of the absinthe 10" for the store in the big ebullition order i did a while back. it's pretty fucking rad.
we sell it for 4.50.
cheap as balls on sausage mountain.
Don't thank me, thank Mike (just in case he ever reads this). This was ripped from his vault.
ha! nice, I just put (via Mike) after your name. Hope that works...
I cant remember how much I paid for the 10". It mustve been about 5 bucks... Im wondering if my record is actually scratched or if it was the needle the died on the record player... hmmm. I do need a new needle. and I really need a whole new stereo. my receiver is shite and thats why my rips sounded so bad to begin with.
and actually, i still want to rip that 7" you gave me, so I can send it back to you, Jay. The Rollkicker Laydown.
Ha! its becoming a joke at this point. But the intentions are all good and pure. It will happen eventually.
Not to meddle in your affairs guys, but if you want the pleasure of listening to that Rollkicker Laydown 7" right now (new needle or no new needle), then head over to the fantastic Willfully Obscure blog. The guy who runs it has posted that 7" a few months ago (unless there is another 7"?!?!?!)
http://wilfullyobscure.blogspot.com/2008/01/singles-going-single-9-rollkicker.html
haha there are so many posts i've been meaning to do but always put them by the wayside and they pile up. like my top thrity records that changed my life, maybe i shouldn't start projects when i'm high and forget to realize i had already posted over half of them over the past year. coulda woulda shoulda. thanks lucifer, i had been wanting to hear a good digitized version of that 7" for awhile now. it was an awesome piece of vinyl for the ever-loving jawbox fan that i am. and with that, i'm fairly sure i have written more on your blog tim than i have in the last month on my own. oh the clikitat demo. thanks a ton for that, and the bonus of the live album in the comments was golden as well. i have wanted to hear that record again for awhile now (As it is my favorite of their releases) but lost it somewhere along the way five or so years ago and couldn't seem to locate it.
Lucifer, that is the one, thanks!
Jay, send me your addy on myspace, and I'll send that back to you in the mail sometime soon.
ha!!
I come up with all sorts of good ideas that I dont follow through with. Things I want to do with the blog that seem to fall by the wayside:
-Band Features, i want to feature newer bands, not post their albums, just songs, promote their stuff.
-A column of things i missed in the hey day that kick my ass now, like Policy of 3. I didnt really get into them until a few years ago. I had heard the same song as you, Autronic Eye back then, but I missed a lot of their stuff
- A column of things that have held up so well that they deserve to be bronzed and place in a hall with pillars. like Groundwork.
- my weekly meta/grind post.
- mixes for various moods.
- more best ofs for bands that have lots of releases, like a Built to Spill best of, or a Fugazi best of...
of course I still wish to cover artwork and reading, but where to find the time?
By the way, Lucifer, that Face Value rules so hard!!! I am going to have to post that up soon. I remember it being good, but its better than just good.
Hell, yeah, Men from the Boys!
I just googled Face Value and it seems that exactly 1 week ago they did a 20 year reunion show in Cleveland! And in the time between 1993 and this 20yr reunion show Tony Erba apparently went on to form at least 2 bands that I completely missed out on (H-100s and Nine Shocks Terror) I guess I gotta check those out? Anyone ever heard of those?
yeah both of those bands were fairly popular (well as far as popularity goes in that realm). i actually pulled the h-100s 7" out of the backroom at the record store the other day. i was pretty surprised to find it. also came across the slave one 7", the tem eyos ki/hundred years war split 7" and a ton of nothing painted blue 7"s.
Definitely gonna have to order that white vinyl... thanks for this lucifer...err mike.
Jay, more and more that record store is sounding too freaking awesome. you just keep pulling shit out of the back eh? how was your tour by the way?
Tim, sorry I still haven't found any of the other shit you are looking for either...rare drought I guess :( I'm still looking, and hopefully lucifer's friend Mike has a major collection
oh and did anyone notice Bluetip is reuniting?
damn and Shudder to Think.
This 7" and the 10" was available for ever, man!
At any rate, yeah it's good. I've listened to the 10" sort of recently, but haven't touched this 7" in forever. I remember really liking it.
Jaysus, I posted two of those records recently, if you happen to not have digital rips but want some...
I Just spent over an hour transfering this from vinyl to mp3 to post on Poet! I might post the 10" instead (i bet someone's posted this already as well).
if you have a good rip of the 10" please post it. my rip that has been floating around was pretty bad. post the 7" too, it's no harm to push this band so that people hear them...
the 10" is still awesome, but the 7" is more propulsive, definitely a churner.
So, Ryan, these were available within the last few years? I would buy the 7" if I could find it..
I may even re-buy the 10" to have a copy that isnt scratched...
@ Papstar - Man, I LOVED Shudder to Think during their Dischord years and I still listen to those albums all the time. Plus I saw them once or twice when they were touring Europe at that time, but to me they are one of those bands that just started to suck when they went to a Major label and it only got worse from album to album. That's probably one reunion I could do without... but hey, they are set to play the Virgin Mobile Festival, so that should be an intimate affair...
Awww, what the hell, I'd probably still go to seem them if they came to my neck of the woods ;-)
haha!!! funny, sven...
i wasnt a huge Shudder to Think fan, but the Bluetip reunion sounds great...
Portraits of Past reunion is comin up in August...
I was considering putting the 10" up on my blog soon. Absinthe is so good. They hold up much better than Groundwork in my opinion.
Blizend, maybe not in the last couple years...
But you've been buying records for a long time, right? There are some records that I used to see all the time - like the groundwork/unbroken split - that they seemed to repress the hell out of (or it just had a big run; or just no one bought it). And I think of the absinthe records as a couple of those (note: I mostly shopped for records inside the Ebullition warehouse, where the pickings were very plentiful). But maybe I am wrong.
If no one makes a good rip of the 10", then I will consider it. Everything from "you better believe all the bible" and on is such a nicely-stringed together series of intense tracks.
the groundwork/unbroken split is still available from the record store near my work. Generation Records on Thompson St, right below Washington Sq Park. I was completely surprised to see some of the 7"s that are still available. Heroin 7"s are still sold there too.
@ stephen, post it up, write something about it, dont holf back because I posted it, or because anyone posted it. better to promote something that is awesome three times than not at all...
although, Absinthe is good, but I completely love Groundwork. so saying one is better than the other is hard call for me.
changing the subject slightly...
who wants to come to tulsa for the recently secured la quiete/phoenix bodies show? a few day later is ...who calls so loud. what can i say...we're not pulling any punches this summer. oh yeah and brainworms/l'antietam next friday in okc and brainworms saturday here. suck it!
hehe your a trip Jay...sounds like a fun weekend. I will be finally catching brainworms in August...
XX CS
http://www.soundlift.com/band/music.php?song_id=84348
http://www.soundlift.com/band/music.php?song_id=84449
http://www.soundlift.com/band/music.php?song_id=84949
blend77-
thanks for the props & kind words.
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE UPLOAD SKULL KONTROL I AM DYING TO HEAR IT
great blog,i'll put you in our linklist.
take care,
christoph
hey man, good meeting you on friday... get my info from JXB and i'll get a rip of the another wall stuff off the DAT w/ the 4th unreleased song.
Hey. My name is Steven. I write/run a site called Subpopular.com based out of Cleveland/Youngstown, Ohio... Home of Dead Boys, Intergrity and such... I was diggin' around on the net for Heroin related posts/information and I came across your blog. I looked for an e-mail to contact you but this was the best I can do.
I'd like to chat with you further, so if you wouldn't mind hit me up at: Steven@aidemas.com
BTW, I linked your post about Heroin in my blog Subpopular.com, I hope that you don't mind.
Hey guys,
it's Brendan from Absinthe and Groundwork here...
You know, it's funny - I come here to find good stuff to listen to on occasion now, and my old music keeps popping up! Weird, but cool.
To address a few things mentioned:
The Absinthe discography will definitely be coming out, with remastered vinyl tracks, unreleased and live material, and video. We're doing on it my label, PROTAGONIST, but we're so busy releasing other stuff, I'm not sure when we'll do it. And by the way, somebody mentioned ...Who Calls So Loud, and just FYI, we're releasing a new 12"EP for them in mid-late August.
Absinthe certainly had a political agenda, however we were decidedly anti-religion and wanted it be clear. At the time, around '95-96 or so, the Christian hardcore movement was gaining a lot of steam, so I felt the need to address that in my lyrics.
The Groundwork/Unbroken split 7" is always floating around because Scott at Bloodlink has repressed it so many times over the years. It has remained popular I guess. Of course he does so without the permission of Groundwork, and without paying ANY kind of royalties whatsoever to us. Fuck him entirely.
Thanks again to everyone who has said such nice things about both of my old bands...or even just listened. I truly appreciate it.
This blog, the writing, and much of the music herein, are really fantastic. That's why I come back every so often.
PEACE!
Brendan, its always good to hear your kind words. And always good to hear the news of a possible Absinthe discography!
I saw ...Who Calls So Loud at ABC No Rio a few months ago and it was a great show. The 2x10" looks awesome all around, so I am psyched to hear more from them. Matt is such a good drummer. I am looking forward to seeing the Portraits of Past reunion later this month.
If you ever visit NYC be sure to give a shout and keep us updated on things. I have your Protagonist myspace so I will check there too. I am looking to do some more "news" oriented things; upcoming releases, shows, etc.
Thanks again!
Tim / Blend77
Awesome that someone else out there knows of these guys. That 7" is probably my favorite of all time next to Antidote. Anyway, I have a live recording of them playing Gilman St. in 97. My friend was doing sound and took a feed off the board. Email me and I'll send it to you. forkbender@gmail.com
PLEASE REUPLOAD THIS 7".. PLEASE
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