No Tunes, Just Arts.

This is sort of a request from GabbaGabbaHey from Hardcore for Nerds. He made some record covers for some of the hard to find 7"s he's come across, and since a lot of these old hardcore records are so DIY (and pre-internet frenzy) they are near impossible to find good jpegs of the OG artwork.

These three were by his request, so I figured I'd put them up here for all to see. If you Control-Click (or Right Click as some of you are PC users) the image you can view it full size and read the lyrics and see the artwork real nice. They are small enough to use for your iTunes too, so have fun with them.

I had so many awesome 7"s at one point and during some fit of stupidity I sold almost all of my vinyl when I went to college. It wasnt even so much that I didnt like those particular records as much as I was trying to downsize. I made dubs of alot of the stuff I liked but didnt feel the need to have on vinyl (which are cumbersome at times) but over time almost all of those dubs either broke or disappeared. I often regret selling all of those records, but for some reason, I saved a few of my most favorites, not knowing that over a decade later people would still be talking about them, let alone consider them benchmarks of the genre.

So. Heres three to get you juiced.

Indian Summer 7"





This 7" is so freaking good. Most notable for having the song Angry Son. I got this off my friend in 94, when he decided he didnt like it anymore. He gave me some other great records that are all gone. But I cherished this one from the day I first got it from him. As you may know, Indian Summer never named their songs.

3 Tracks:
A1 - Arent you Angel
A2 - Untitled (Millimeter?)
B1 - Angry Son

Ordination of Aaron / Indian Summer Split 7"





I was never a big fan of OoA, but Indian Summers songs on this were worth the purchase. I didnt scan the lyrics for OoA, and as far as I can tell the lyrics under the header "Eulogy" arent for the song on the 7". So, no lyrics, but you get a nice Indian Summer poem. The last insert is from Yuletide Records and pretty much encapsulates the cheesiness that was to become known as emo.

A1 - Ordination of Aaron - Battle of Tippecanoe
B1 - Indian Summer - Eulogy (Ive always called it "Eulogy" even though the lyrics dont match, but the disco calls it "Touched By The Wings of and Angel" so its really up to you.
B2 - Mellmak / Truman (Again, the insert says Mellmak [the fictitious homeworld of ALF, if any of you remember that show] and he sounds likes he says Mellmak, but the disco I found calls it Truman, go figure.)

Maximillian Colby 7"




How I fell in love with Max Colby. Oh, it was such sweetness. Shortly after I got this I got the Max Colby / Shotmaker split, which to this day remains one of the best records in existence. But these two of these three songs are definitely Max Colbys two best songs. Man, this band was good. I also ended up with the Sleepytime Trios first 7"s but those are long gone too. Damnit. Thank god for CD Discographies.

A1 - Sparcly
A2 - itt
B1 - Sifelaver


roll........

This is it.

This is a bunch of stuff that I wouldve gotten around to posting. I am taking a break from the computer for a bit. Of course I will still be on, but mostly just to bullshit and see whats new. Mostly I just have a bunch of things I really need to do. I'm getting a new dog tomorrow, and on top of that it being summer, and, importantly, I need to absorb a good deal of the stuff I have picked up over the past few months. It has been a fever pitch of music frenzy.

Alot of this stuff is in conjunction with the mid 90's hardcore posts we've been getting into lately, and this is most of what I have left from that era. I am sure there is more, and there are one or two things I'll probably post here or there, but this is the majority.

Also, I can't find good artwork for most of these, so we're getting down to bare bones here. If anyone has some decent artwork they can provide that would be cool.

Downcast - LP (1991)
The LP was kind of a let down after the ferocious debut 7". But most of the problem lies with the second half of the album, as the first half is pretty strong. There is a bit more metal and even the songs that dont work as well have some pretty awesome parts which make this still a worthy effort.

Union of Uranus - To This Bearer of Truth
I'd say if Orchid were influenced by one band it mustve been UoU. Their style of screamo seems to be the beginning of the frantic, almost grind like screamo of the northeast. UoU were from Ottawa Canada and shared the scene with fellow label mates Shotmaker whom they also share some similarities. This might be the whole discography, but I am not certain. They were an even more elusive band than Shotmaker.

Frail - Make Your Own Noise
PA hardcore that was also ont he beginning edge of scream-your-head-off emo style. They had a nice chaotic style, but could still lock down into a sick groove. A bunch of skinny kids on stage, ripping shit up, getting frantic with their guitars. Good stuff. They had some stuff on Yuletide as well as Bloodlink and a song on the Ebullition come Some Ideas Are Poisonous.

Guyver-One - 7"
Super frantic early screamo from none other than San Diego. Very similar to Swing Kids, Antioch Arrow, Clikatat Ikatowi and Heroin (theres gotta be something in the water there). The funny thing about this record is the Grandmaster Flash and Sugar Hill Gang records playing in the background of the recording... Very similar to the Indian Summer song Angry Son, with the Bessie Smith record playing... Funny, and then the band cuts your entrails out with a swift razor sharp blast and youre not laughing anymore.... until the next break when you can hear more old school hip-hop. Yay.

Native Nod - Today Puberty, Tomorrow The World
They are a personal favorite of mine. Native Nod is Chris Leo, Ted Leos brother. They are another band with a slinty spidey sense of when to ratchet up the tension. Leo's lyrics are mostly spoken word until he begins to explode from the neck up. Back to Mimsey from the Bread 7" is one of my favorite songs from this era. It would go on a "Best of Mid-90's Hardcore That Isnt Syracuse Hardline, Old School or NYHC" list. Tangled is also a classic emo track. This is their disco.

Assfactor 4 - s/t LP
Wonderfully fast and to the point hardcore punk from Georgia. Assfactor 4 are somewhere closer to Los Crudos in style. Shorty fiery blasts with screechy vocals.

Julia - Unknown Bloodlink records album
Julia had a member of Unbroken, who were nothing at all like them. Julia was more like Portraits of Past. One of the first bands to add a decent amount of post-rock in to this style of hardcore, paving the way for bands like A Day in Black and White and City of Caterpilar. They also share a fair amount of influence from mid 80's DC sounds.

Merel - Discography
Another originator of the scream your head off style, but with far more driving power than the blinding frenzy of much of ehat is considered emo hardcore. Quite a bit more force and power too, yet still retaining a good balance of melody and experimentation.

Mohinder - Discography
Pre-Indian Summer band. A little more frenzy than the subdued approach of Indian Summer though.

Ordination of Aaron - Discography
Can you tell I'm losing steam. More good emo for dat ass.

Policy of Three - Discography (Disc 1)

Policy of Three - Discography (Disc 2)
likewise... alot of this stuff shares components of the DC scene, whether from the revolution summer stuff to the early 90's discordant stuff. DC really helped form the face of hardcore, and its ripples can be felt through most of the bands on this list.

Current - Discography
Definitely for Current. They even did a cover of Embrace for the Land of Greed comp. (You can find that in the first three or four posts in the archives.. Its the whole Embrace album covered by hardcore band. Some really good bands and really good covers...) Current has a lot of sound in common with both Rites of Spring and Embrace, yet still have a more discordant punk sound that sets them apart from being just clones. The Coliseum album was pretty good, and this is the whole Disco...

Spitboy - True Self Revealed
Spitboy is great punk hardcore from Ebullition. Sometimes it reminds me of Econochrist, but there is a bit more actual singing, some of which sounds like Jello Biafra. It gives a much more punk edge ala Dead Kennedys of course, and even has some Black Flag in its blood.

Orchid - Chaos Is Me
Orchid are about the craziest you can get with the fall-on-the-floor style of screamo. It heavily toes the line of Grind, yet also has a dynamic influence from UoU . Most of it is skittering and top-speed. They manage to weave a great deal of emotion into these short songs and leave you and themselves completely exhausted. It is also easy to see why they are such a divisive point for hardcore. They can be too much at times, but they also can scalp you with a shitty recording and leave you wanting more. "How do they do that?" its all about the delivery man. These guys are no slouches either. Half the band went to Brooklyn and started Panthers, (ahem whoo kinda suck) and the others went on to try to destroy screamo all together in Bucket Full of Teeth (look in the archive), perfect political hardcore punk in Wolves, try to one-up their previous work in Ampere and also find time to experiment with a more Boston style (meaning early Hydra Head / Converge) in Transistor Transistor. I am sure these guys will never tire of trying to chop peoples heads off with sound.

Indian Summer Discography

Seeing as how this is the beginning of a new blog, I will take the opportunity to give you a small idea of what I am up to. This blog is a place for me to give homage to all the things that are amazing and creative in this world, artists that break the boundaries of what is considered music and art. I have a very healthy obsession with music so I plan to offer exposure to bands and musicians I find to have contributed something important to the evolution of music. I also work as an artist in NYC so I would like to introduce artists that I find relevant, or maybe even some classics that have be influential through the years. I may also share other oddities and curiosites that I come across in everyday life. But for now, let's continue with the music.


Indian Summer is an emo band. Oops, I said it, "Emo". The word that has everyone spouting opinions and criticisms. I'm not going to take the time to explain to you what emo is, you either know, or think you know, or you don't care. Its somewhat relative anyway. If you really want to find out, check here. Either way Indian Summer are without a doubt one of the best and shining examples of that form of music; from the quiet-loud dynamics and whispered-screamed lyrics, all the way down to the lo-fi quality and even Bessie Smith records playing in the background. 9 songs of chaotic screamy emo hardcore, the sum total of their recorded career. All of their stuff is out of print, including this discography, so take the opportunity to grab this one for your collection.

Guyver One - 7"

This is exactly the cheesy kind of shit I write sometimes... I hope you all at least get a laugh out of it once in a while...

"Super frantic early screamo from none other than San Diego. Very similar to Swing Kids, Antioch Arrow, Clikatat Ikatowi and Heroin (theres gotta be something in the water there). The funny thing about this record is the Grandmaster Flash and Sugar Hill Gang records playing in the background of the recording... Very similar to the Indian Summer song Angry Son, with the Bessie Smith record playing... Funny, and then the band cuts your entrails out with a swift razor sharp blast and youre not laughing anymore.... until the next break when you can hear more old school hip-hop. Yay."

I mean, really... 5th grade writing level. haha!! Okay. I have yet to see the artwork for this 7" anywhere and it has always been one of my favorites. So I finally scanned it myself (on my new work scanner!) and am sharing it all with you. Click and view art for 700px artwork (700pixels?!?!? Yes. I know. Outta control). Ive included a link to the album, which may or may not have the hip-hop snippets in between the songs. If it does not (because there is a copy floating out there sans hip-hop samples) then let me know, and I will up my copy which does contain said samples by the Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash.

And while youre at it, please stop by Hardcore For Nerds and check out his blurb on the band and a link to their full length, which is worth hearing, but just okay when compared to the 7".

Now for some art, which regrettably is missing the awesome acetate insert with red printing. I had it hanging on various walls since 1995 and have long since lost it. It was another Guyver One pic (the comic) and was bookmark sized.


Front Cover


Back Cover


Inside Cover 1


Inside Cover 2


Insert Side 1


Insert Side 2 w/ Lyrics


7" Sleeve and Record

Guyver One 7" (1995 - Inchworm Records)

zen and the art of mix tapes #004

zen and the art of mix tapes #004 - the politics of produce

heres an entry from sweet baby jaysus on his blog

his entry...

I love making mixtapes, it seems no matter how old i get i still revert back to the slow process of stop, start, record, rewind. Hours spent sitting in front of the stereo, a pile of records by my side trying to figure out that perfect transition. I had been planning on making a mixtape for this platform for a couple of weeks now, but just hadn't gotten around to it yet, that was until this morning when i woke up and took a jaunt down to our good friends at Zen And The Art Of Face Punching and noticed Maize was on the same wavelength the only difference was he had the follow through. So now i have to pony up, and i couldn't be happier to be a part of it.

Side One
01.Solitary Man - Controller 7
02.Ballad of a Thin Man - Jamie Saft Trio (Feat. Mike Patton)
03.No Pussy Blues - Grinderman
04.Burn It To The Ground - In/Humanity
05.Sliding - Franklin
06.Last Train To Satansville - Swervedriver
07.Heart-Shaped Glasses - Marilyn Manson
08.New Years - Asobi Seksu
09.Mountains Made Of Steam - A Silver Mt. Zion
10.She Is Beyond Good And Evil - The Pop Group
11.Food Stamps And Drink Tickets - Hickey
12.I Don't Wanna Marry You - Dios Malos
13.Pity City - Headlights
14.Within Your Reach - The Replacements
15.Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty
Side Two
01.Losers Of The Year - Pinhead Gunpowder
02.Up On The Sun - Meat Puppets
03.Revolution - Spacemen 3
04.(Unknown) - Julia
05.Rock 'N' Roll/EGA - Daniel Johnston
06.Disengaged - Fuel
07.Down Inside - Monsula
08.River Deep-Mountain High - Ike & Tina Turner
09.Someone Great - LCD Soundsystem
10.Thank Me With Your Hands - Panthers
11.The Open Book - Mates of State
12.The Blues - Guns 'N' Roses
13.Reflections On Milkweed - Indian Summer
14.Caffeine or Me? - Karate
15.Ain't No Sunshine/Lonely Avenue (Live) - Isaac Hayes