Back in inaction

Today I did my first solo radio show with WMTS. Urusei Punk Rock!! got off to a rough start. I didn't get to bed until 5:30 last night, as I was working on my computer. I then had to be up at 9 for the show... that didn't happen by the way. I got there late, had forgotten my iPod with the show's play list already made out, so I ran the show using CDs and records. This is not a big deal, it just means your board is tighter than a band of sun dried raw hide around your neck. I was scatter brained, hungry and tired as hell, but I made it work. 

If you're wondering, I play pop-punk and hardcore on my show. I'll be recording it next week and will upload the recording in two parts. I'm gonna try and see if I can somehow record on my computer which will let you hear it all, uninterrupted. Doing a 2 hour show on CD-R means there's a gotta be something missing, and it get freaking expensive. 

Anyway, today is my birthday, so here's so stuff for you because I'm feeling magnanimous. This was one of the hidden gems I got 5 months ago when the station pitched out its library. Fucking morons... I was incredibly angry. so much great music was just thrown away. This is a CD from Books Lie, a Brooklyn band that stuck around for a couple years longer than most hardcore bands seem to do. They were still jamming out their brand 

of hardcore as late as 2004, and thus far I've not been able to find out

 much more since then. They were wanting to head over to Japan, but since they disbanded in 2005, I very much doubt that worked out for them.  

The music really reminds me of the stuff coming out of San Diego in the early 90's. Antioch Arrow and Heroin come to mind. This CD is the Hall of Fame of Fire EP and a bunch of old 7"s so you get a good bit on this one. That said, if you piece it together right you can hear the band's evolution. this is of course true with most discographies or collections, but this one isn't in order, so I figured I should state that. I don't know why I felt the need to state that, or justify it. Welcome to meta-blogging? Anyway, the chronological order is as follows-

9, 11-14, 16(I Felt Like Such a Loser Until I Realized I am Already a Winner); 15(Split with Living Under Lies); 17-18(Empathy 7"); 1-8--  and no info on what track 10 is... must be one of those B-sides I hear so much about these days There's a weird electro track that is better off ignored. I'm guessing they are there to punctuate the sections of this collection as the end of the titular EP is also one of these oddities. 

This is on Level Plane. I really dig their roster. If labels like Dischord and Gravity captured scenes at a special place and time, level plane seems to be a who's who of the last 10 years of this music, what ever you want to call it. 

I'm not including art work on this one, as you can google it. Enjoy.

Also, Bad Skulls' has launched their new site with more awesome shirt designs for every kind of hardcore  music you can think of, and more importantly- Posters and records(mostly Look Back And Laugh stuff, but that's more than OK)

Books Lie:

Brooklyn, NY

1999-2005

Hall of Fame and Fire CD

Level Plane Records 61

2004

Indian Summer Live

I won't be making any posts until next week, and I am trying to space out the life of my record collection as I don't have the funds to acquire new titles as often. Yes I could pull rips from other sites, and I just may from time to time, but I would like to try and keep my posts of 10+ year old music somewhat fresh in that maybe it hasn't been posted before. Anyway, as I really want to get one more post in before the new year, (I haven't been this excited about a project in a while) I'm putting up some Indian Summer sourced from the wonderful archive that is Youtube.

PART 1


Indian Summer is a band that has always intrigued me, yet I knew relatively little about, other than that they were from Oakland, did not name their tracks, and dude from Fourfa liked 'em. I began to look into them some last night in anticipation of writing this post and found out that they were comprised of ex-Mohinder members, and all the members are still making music of somesort. That's about it. everything else can be heard in the music. Loud/Soft dynamics to the extreme.

PART 2

Some people say Still Life are the masters of this, but I always thought Still Life neglected the softer aspects. Indian Summer embrace them the way a child hugs a plush, or the way I would embrace a cashmire sweater. For me "Angry Son"(a.k.a. Woolworm, remember- no track names) is one of the most soul crushing songs I've ever heard, outside of some select Julia and Navio Forge offerings. I personally feel between "Angry Son" and "Reflections On Milkweed" you can get what you need from Indian Summer, and can see where they really shine, but with tracks like "Truman" and "Orchard" you can really hear that Mohinder heritage come through.

PART 3


I hope that you enjoy this nice little live set from 1993. Please enjoy your New Year's Eve. Maybe I'll post something for you befor then, but you know how it is. Expect things to slow down after January, as I'll be in school again.

TTFN

Indian Summer
Live at Pitzer College
10/31/1993

Rye Coalition- Teenage Dance Session

First of all, I have no idea if I have the band's name right for this release. Rye Coalition, during their history, are some what like John Mellencamp, in that while always being the same band, they have just various monikers for their project, such as Rye, Rye and the Coalition, Rye Coalition, Rye Co. etc. This 7" is labeled Rye and the Coalition, but for ease and consistency with future posts, Rye Coalition is my choice.

Some of you may only be familiar with Rye Coalition's latest offerings of garage-ie hard rock generica. Its really not bad for what it is, but compared to what Rye Coalition started out as, its pop trash. Troubleman Unlimited number 4: Teen-age Dance Session will not disappoint those of you who know what TRU records is all about.

The record is Rye Coalition's second or third release, coming out in 1994. Rye Coalition was playing a some what mathy brand of post-hardcore at the time. There is something a little poppy about the riffs that makes things interesting. Its very subtle. I've had this record for well over a year and half and only just noticed it as I was writing. Occasionally, the effects take over and are fairly distracting. The vocals are pretty clear even when yelled and screamed. No throat shredding blasts of guttural noise, but just some scratchy wails here and there that build out of eerie whispers.

At just over a minute and a half, "Sensation" leaves me wanting more song, and "Baby Puts Out Old Flames" really doesn't make much of an impression with me, and for some reason, the lyrics seem to have certain level of sarcasm in the delivery. The highlight is defiantly "Algebra of Need", a 3 minute piece on the perils of hard drug abuse ending with tirade against the police. Fun for all, right? I must not be sharp enough to make the connection ._.


All in all, the 7'' is cohesive and has a certain wit about it. The back of the cover has a short "review" that reads like the back of an old Herb Alpert LP. Certainly an interesting record, but by no means influential.

While Rye Coalition's current brand of rock is normally anathema to my ears, the New Jersey septet must be given some credit in that they still play with the original line up. Few bands of their sort have managed to do so over a 15 year period of activity.

Rye Coalition
Teen-Age Dance Session 7" EP
Troubleman Unlimited- TRU004

Out of Print

Nothing Dies With Blue Skies- Split 7" with Friction and Cap'n Jazz

This record, in some ways, symbolizes a turning point in the relationship between emo and hardcore. While often thought of being initially part of the same music scene, in the mid 90's there was a fairly dramatic shift with bands like Christy Front Drive, SDRE (and those bands hoards of clones) pushing the genre toward more mainstream markets with big indie rock sounds. While markedly showing more hardcore tendencies, Chicago's Cap'n Jazz mixed emotive hardcore with a heavy dose of mathy indie sounds.

Friction was a hold out from the hardcore roots of the style(though you may not notice if this is the only track you ever hear of theirs. The majority of Friction's output was a faster, sometimes heavier, melodic hardcore. They had an LP (I think) on another label, and i see on Ebay from time to time and occasionally you can grab their other Shakefork release, the Makeshift EP, on there as well.

This split, however, fell into the trap of many hardcore and emo records of the early 90's, in which the band broke up before its release and the label folded later that year, meaning the record did not get any real distribution. That said, I only know of one copy to sell on Ebay, and it apparently is rare enough to garner a hefty sum of money. The Cap'n Jazz track is from another recording session, and its not that strong, and its fairly poor in sound quality. And since its also available on their Analphabetapolothology discography, its really not the gem of this record.

That goes to the A-side. Friction's song has such a since of finality, that I think has only been bested, in my listening experience, by Julia's recording of "Our Last Song". Its just gorgeous and unlike some last records, the band pours their hearts into it and you can just feel the urgency in their voices. I personally think this one of my all time favorite songs, of any genre, and it certainly one of the jewels of my small record collection. It is with great pleasure that I present to you Nothing Dies with Blue Skies.

Nothing Dies With Blue Skies - Split 7"
Friction- Transit; Cap'n Jazz- Rocky Rococo (Butterfly Version)
Shakefork #10
7" 45rpm on black vinyl
out of print