Frostbite - S/T 7"

Once No Warning dropped their 7" on Martyr Records it really kicked the doors open wide for ripping off NYHC left and right no matter where you were from - be it Toronto, Detroit or in the case of Frostbite, Wilkes-Barre, PA. Very few people I know like this band and I think the issue a lot of people have is that their direct influence was pretty clear. While a lot of these bands most likely loved classic New York Hardcore bands and wanted to bite riffs from Where the Wild Things Are or the New Breed Comp, the predominant influence overwhelmingly appeared to be No Warning, a contemporary of theirs. This is painfully obvious in the song "Pressure" where the break is a modified version of the break in "Take it or Leave it" by No Warning.

However, I love this 7" and while people may dislike it for any number of reasons, is has held up a lot better for me than a many other things I was into in 2002 and it sticks out to me more than much of what I'm hearing now. The riffs are fast and the breakdowns are hard, but not excessive and the lyrics are interesting and clever without being over the top (i.e. the line "what fucking language am I speaking" which I've always found funny and periodically pops into my head since I bought this record 6 years ago). I know one or two of these dudes went on to be in Cold World (a band that is regularly clowned or hyped based on where you're at, but has some legitimately good songs), but I kind of like Frostbite better even if they were relatively short lived and not entirely original. It is hardcore after all, what hasn't been done before?

Frostbite - S/T

Left Hand Path - The Wreckage

At the time of their existence, Left Hand Path played an important role in Chicago Hardcore. Falling somewhere in between more metallic bands like The Killer and the more stripped down punk/hc bands like The Repos and Punch in the Face, they blended hard late 80's/early 90's NYHC with 80's thrash before that style fell back into favor. Like many of the bands I've grown to love or continued to love over the years, there was a distinct progression in Left Hand Path's evolution from being a straight-forward hardcore band, into something much more representative of who they are as people. The Wreckage is the culmination of their unique personalities and musical interests - everything from Dan's straight-forward lyrics that are occasionally grammatically incorrect (i.e. "a little bit older, a little more colder") to the fast Slayer inspired riffs and the bits and pieces of New York groove.

Unfortunately, they broke up before their time, but I'd rather see a band go out on top than soldier on releasing their own version of How We Rock well after the horse has been beaten to death.

Left Hand Path - The Wreckage

Buy the 7"

Treason - Demo

In the early 2000's few bands were as influential in hardcore as American Nightmare. As such, they had their fair share of imitators, but for the most part most bands simply took cues from them lyrically, musically or from their imagery. One of those bands was Treason from the Bay Area. To me, Treason was always a pretty elusive band. For a minute, they were getting hyped all over the internet based on a a mid-tempo 30 second song called "Halfway in the Red" complete with a sound clip from a particularly questionable moment in the movie Kids. Then, they vanished before I had a chance to even get the demo and little more was mentioned of them for years to come. Fast forward five years to when I traded a Chamberlain/Old Pike 2x7" just so I could hear the demo of this band I heard 30 seconds of a few times. Shortly after I acquired it and found it still held up fairly well, I asked my buddy Matt Wilson about them. As a Bay Area core dude, I figured he would be the man to ask and as it turns out, he was able to tell me that two of the guys went on to be in Lights Out.

Musically, Treason often remind me of a San Diego, Gravity Records style band mixed with parts of the frequently overlooked and equally short lived Sworn In. All 10 songs are these short, intense bursts of fast, messy, distorted hardcore laid against decent, often melodramatic lyrics about loneliness, desperation, sex, love and hopelessness. The lyrics are the only thing that tends to remind me of AN because around that time, every band seemed to try and step up their lyrical palate beyond typical hardcore fare. Anyone into dark, early 2000's hardcore should check this demo out. The more I listen to it, the more I'm bummed they didn't get to release a proper record before they called it a day.

Treason - Demo

REPOST: Slowdive - Souvlaki Demos & Outtakes

Several people have requested I repost this so here it is.

Slowdive - Souvlaki Demos & Outtakes

Casual - Fear Itself

Most of my friends started skating around the time we were in middle school. This was when Green Day, The Offspring and Rancid started breaking on a very mainstream level and as such, my eyes were opened to punk rock. My friend Nick's sister was a few years older than us and would always play records we'd never heard in her car and give him new stuff to listen to thus giving our whole group of friends an 'in' to more under the radar stuff. A lot of her friends were skaters too so there would always be skate videos floating around for us to check out. The video that made the biggest impact on me was Plan B's "Virtual Reality." I was never able to skate because of my physical condition, but that video kind of set the bar in my mind. And as cool as I thought skating was, I was much more into digging for new music through those videos than trying to get inspiration for new moves. In "Virtual Reality" the songs that stood out to me the most were the Casual tracks in the background of Sean Sheffey and Mike Carroll's segments. I drifted away from listening to hip-hop a few years before this because punk was consuming all of my musical interest, but also because I didn't know where to find more of the laid back, jazz influenced stuff like De La Soul and Tribe I was into as a kid. Hearing Casual and others made me realize that if this stuff was out there, there had to be more.

While Casual isn't the most widely known of the Hiero crew, Fear Itself is definitely one of the best albums to come from their clique. His voice is bassy and his flow is excited, but still sounds smooth against the sped up horn samples and electric piano beats Domino is known for. Fear Itself will forever remind me of summers staying out drinking, getting into trouble and wishing I could skate in the best way. Definitely an essential 90's West Coast Hip-Hop record.

Casual - Fear Itself

Split Lip - Fate's Got a Driver

Though I'm into early Split Lip recordings for what they are, it's not unfair to say the band would have ended up a lost relic of early 90's hardcore had it not been for their decidedly un-hardcore final LP, Fate's Got a Driver. For me, this is one of the cornerstone records of mid-90's emo-core - intricate riffs that are powerful without being heavy, catchy choruses, vocals that are distinct and emotional without being whiny and of course a layout full of obscure photos of old clocks, gumball machines, steps and old 45's.

Shortly after its release, Split Lip changed their name to Chamberlain, rerecorded the vocals and rereleased Fate's Got a Driver under the new name. Vocalist David Moore's vocals are a bit stronger on this version, but aside from that, the name change and the layout are the only recognizable differences. Fate's Got a Driver is definitely a precursor for the direction Chamberlain would take as they progressed. It has always felt distinctly Midwestern in this lonely, small town way not even their Midwestern contemporaries shared and that vibe only increased as they continued to release records as Chamberlain.

Split Lip - Fate's Got a Driver

Mobb Deep - Hell on Earth

For some reason, it seems like all the best rappers from the post-Golden Age era of Hip-Hop only had one classic album worth of tracks and rode that out until they hung it up or continued coasting off past glory. Some people throw Mobb Deep into this category too, but I might argue that the follow-up to their classic 2nd recordThe Infamous is nearly on par with its predecessor. Regardless if Havoc and Prodigy attended art school, there's no denying they have a knack for penning gritty narratives of criminal life, drugs and hustling. On Hell on Earth they didn't tamper with the original formula that made them great, but merely elevated the strengths and downplayed the throwaway aspects of their first two albums. The beats are grimy and hard and the rhymes are urgent, clever and seemingly effortless. From the opening of "Animal Instinct," Hell on Earth is a beast that slays and makes me feel like a bystander to situations I've never faced in places I've never been.

Having heard Hell on Earth before any other Mobb Deep records probably has something to do with my affinity for this record, but whenever I listen to it, I think of being 16 and listening to it in my room thinking it was the hardest record ever. Someone on a messageboard I read referred to Mobb Deep as the Cro-Mags of hip-hop and while the obvious differences are apparent, there is a fair amount of truth in that statement. Both recorded two landmark LP's that helped define genres that set the standard for others to follow before falling by the wayside. Regardless of what they are doing now, this record is essential.


Mobb Deep - Hell on Earth

Mix - 4/15/08

My good friend Nyree recently asked me to recommend some music for her to check out. Since she moved to New York a few months ago I can't simply have her come over or burn her records, so I figured I'd use this forum to post mixes that she and anyone else can download. Most of this stuff is not new, but I rarely ever make mixes for people anymore so I went with a bunch of songs I've thought about putting on mixes for people. Enjoy.

01. AC/DC - If You Want Blood (You Got It)
02. The Lemonheads - Down About It
03. Duran Duran - Come Undone
04. Teenager - Alone Again
05. The Impressions - Can't Satisfy
06. Sparklehorse - Some Sweet Day
07. Beulah - All Points North
08. Leatherface - Not Superstitious
09. STAR - Exploding Order
10. Daniel Johnston - Mind Contorted
11. XTC - Ballad for a Rainy Day
12. George Harrison - Run of the Mill
13. Husker Du - Sorry Somehow
14. Iron Curtain - The Condos
15. M83 - Kim & Jessie
16. Nada Surf - No Quick Fix
17. Catherine Wheel - Black Metallic
18. Kings of Convenience - Gold in the Air of Summer

Mix 4/15/08

Hum - Downward is Heavenward Demos

I was looking through my cd's the other day and found these demos from the Downward is Heavenward sessions. Obviously, they aren't as polished as what ended up on the album, but it's interesting to hear how these songs were structured before they went into the studio to record the final product. For instance, the lyrics underwent some serious revisions and in the case of "Comin' Home," they are entirely different. If you are really nerdy about this band/record, these versions are great to have.

Hum - Downward is Heavenward Demos

The Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray

The Lemonheads are one of those bands that made a seamless transition from my childhood into my adult life. If anything, I like It's a Shame About Ray more now than I did then. Perhaps, because I grasp the lyrics about drugs, loss, love and growing up with greater understanding now than at age 11 when I first heard it. Or maybe because I really respect how they grew from a messy punk band into this incredible straight-forward rock band without ever losing that edge or punk sensibility. Whatever the reason, this record has continued to resonate with me for 15 years while many others didn't make the grade. At just under a half hour, every song on It's a Shame About Ray is as vital as the next. From the lazy dope scoring haze of "My Drug Buddy" to the budding love story of "Kitchen" and the need to play even the smallest role in someone's life of "Bit Part," no adolescent emotion or theme goes unreferenced. The songs are concise and undeniably catchy, full of hooks and some of Evan Dando's best lyrics. While I don't think The Lemonheads ever put out a bad record, there is no denying It's a Shame About Ray is their finest hour. It's one of the few records I will listen to, then immediately press repeat and get psyched to hear a song I just heard all over again.

As a sidenote, I saw them with Karl Alverez and Bill Stevenson of the Descendents as Evan Dando's backing band the day before my birthday this past year and it made me feel like a kid again. I kept my composure and didn't turn into "that guy," but inside I was bubbling over with excitement as they played literally every song I wanted to hear. It was one of the best shows I've been to in years. So, if you get the chance to see them, definitely do so. Evan Dando is a bit faded, but in between songs he just starts riffing on "Nervous Breakdown" so it's win-win.

The Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray