Fantomas - Director's Cut

Sorry for the delay.. My internet connection was down for a while. Here's Fantomas - Director's Cut, as requested by Karla Verde.

Track List:
1. Godfather
2. Golem
3. Experiment In Terror
4. One Step Beyond
5. Night Of The Hunter
6. Cape Fear
7. Rosemary's Baby
8. Devil Rides Out
9. Spider Baby
10. Omen
11. Henry Portrait Of A Serial Killer
12. Vendetta
13. Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion
14. Twin Peaks
15. Charade

Download: Fantomas - Director's Cut (53.6MB)

VA - Storming The Citadel - Volumes I & II

In the 1980s, Australian independent music, especially the Detroit inspired, garage style guitar driven pop, attracted some fanatical attention in Europe. Music fans in countries like France, Holland, Belgium and Spain were rabid about some of our bands. As a result, many of them sold a lot more records over there than they did at home. And, with bands like our own DM3 and the Chevelles, that interest continues today.

One such fan was Divine Rites Webmaster, a 38-year old computer programmer from Strasbourg in France. He started his own label, Divine Rites Records, and his very first release was this double 10" vinyl job called Storming The Citadel, which was limited to just 700 copies. It is a tribute to John Needham's Sydney label that was the early home of the Died Pretty, the Stems, the Trilobites, the Lime Spiders, the Screaming Tribesmen, the Bamboos, the Dubrovniks, the Moffs, the New Christs, Wet Taxis and a bunch of others. Several current Australian bands like Challenger 7, Asteroid B-612, Indignation, the Panadolls, Sheek The Shayk and Perth's Jack & The Beanstalk (doing the Spiders' Slave Girl), along with a couple of European and US outfits, will each tackle a favorite song from the Citadel catalogue.

The tapes were mixed by Rob Younger who, as virtual house producer for Citadel in the '80s, oversaw most of those bands' early sessions. His own bands Radio Birdman and the New Christs are still with the label today, as are DM3 and the now returned Died Pretty. (Year of Release: 1998)

Track List:

Volume I:
1. Jack & the Beanstalk - Slave Girl (Lime Spiders)
2. Challenger 7 - Move A Little Closer (Screaming Tribesmen)
3. Hunchbacks - Virginia (Bamboos)
4. Sheek The Shayk and his Royal Camels - Liquor Fit (Lipstick Killers)
5. Mother Jones - Sad TV (The Visitors)
6. Indignation - Sister's Life (Porcelain Bus)
7. Tension - A Legacy Of Morons (Trilobites)

Volume II:
1. Panadolls - Voodoo Slaves (Minuteman)
2. Pyramidiacs - Don't Talk About Us (Someloves)
3. Backsliders - Savage (Fun Things)
4. Louis Tillett & Charlie Owen - Headin' South (New Christs)
5. Asteroid B-612 - Mirror Blues (Died Pretty)

*Original Artist In Parentheses

Download: Storming the Citadel - Volumes I & II
Download Size: 83.4MB

William Van Huss - Love Songs For The Chemically Dependent

'Love Songs for the Chemically Dependent' was released in 2005 by William Van Huss, an independent artist and musician. He originally posted this on his personal blog Psyche Zenobia, where you can find a few other albums to download as well as some poetry. The following excerpt is taken from his blog:

I put this out in June of 2005 just before leaving for Holland. That was my deadline. Most of these songs were written just after the breakup of Murder Weapon and recorded by me at my apartment in Johnson City, Tennessee on a Fostex MR-8 with the help of Audacity for editing and mastering. Since I didn't have an actual band at the time, and wasn't really interested in putting one together, I enlisted the help of several friends from other bands to play with me on these tracks. I was pretty happy with the finished product. I consider this an album that documents a very transitional period in my life. There are a couple of catchy rockers and a couple of slow songs (a new thing for me) and a couple of extras. I'll talk a little about each track:

1. From Outer Space 2 U - I wrote this during Murder Weapon and even performed it a few times live with MW. The opening sample is from the Atari classic Berzerk. It also features theremin, which I used extensively with MW. Chad Horton plays drum and he and friend Marcus Banks did the hand claps. All other vocals, guitars, and theremin were done by me.

2. Someone Else - This was the last one written and recorded for the album. Chad on drums, myself on guitars and vocals, and Billy Woodleif on lead guitar. Billy stopped by while I was recording and kindly offered his talents to me in exchange for a toke or two.

3. The Man Who Cried - An attempt at a murder ballad turned into a folky love song. This one is just me on vocals, guitars, and Casio.

4. Leaving - This one was written during the Murder Weapon time but never played by the band because it was too slow and we couldn't break stride to slow down that much live. Fred Hartley and I play guitar and I sing. This and Castles were recorded the same night and not meant to be finished versions but after a while I got used to them and decided not to spend any more time on them.

5. Castles - Fred and I on the other track from the same night. This one was originally a poem that I thought might work better as a song. I still really like the chorus here but as a whole I never was satisfied. I included it for it's honesty and it's place in my life at the time.

6. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man - Obviously a cover of the Prince song, this one was recorded straight live with Chad on drums and Fred on lead. I played guitar and tried to scream loud enough to be heard.

7. The Lonesome Death Of Mary Kelley - This is from a live show with Murder Weapon. Brad Ward on bass and Mark Dollar on drums.

8. The Facts Of Life - The day this was recorded Brett Hale had showed up to record Murder Weapon at my house in Bristol, Virginia. When the rest of the band didn't show I decided to make use of our time by recording something so Brett, Wayne, and I did this. I wrote the lyrics down and hummed the tune and we winged it. Wayne on drums and Brett on guitar. We also did "Night of the Vampire" by Roky Erickson that night but I'll save it for later.

So there you go. Download it and let me know what you think.

Download: William Van Huss - Songs For The Chemically Dependent (20MB)

Just Got Back From Florida

I just got back from the Down on the Farm music festival in Florida. The trip was twice as far as I've ever been away from home. I suppose you could say I've lived a bit of a sheltered life. I wasn't familiar with any of the bands that played, but they put on a great show regardless. While I was there I did volunteer work for an organization called Clean Vibes. I had a great time and met a lot of interesting people along the way. I plan on going to the Bonnaroo music festival next year, so if any of you plan on going and would like to meet up, or are interested in working at the festival, just leave me a comment on here.

I had intended to post and let everyone know that I was leaving and wouldn't be able to post any albums during that time, but I had too many things to do in order to prepare for the trip. I'm going to take the night off, but tomorrow I'll resume uploading albums.

I also wanted to say thank you to those of you who joined the Digital Meltd0wn group on last.fm We've passed the 15 member mark and now have our own charts. The forum is also beginning to stir, and the group radio has a diverse selection of great music to listen to.

The Ramones - The Ramones

With the three-chord assault of "Blitzkrieg Bop," The Ramones begins at a blinding speed and never once over the course of its 14 songs does it let up. The Ramones is all about speed, hooks, stupidity, and simplicity. The songs are imaginative reductions of early rock & roll, girl group pop, and surf rock. Not only is the music boiled down to its essentials, but the Ramones offer a twisted, comical take on pop culture with their lyrics, whether it's the horror schlock of "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement," the drug deals of "53rd and 3rd," the gleeful violence of "Beat on the Brat," or the maniacal stupidity of "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue." And the cover of Chris Montez's "Let's Dance" isn't a throwaway -- with its single-minded beat and lyrics, it encapsulates everything the group loves about pre-Beatles rock & roll. They don't alter the structure, or the intent, of the song, they simply make it louder and faster. And that's the key to all of the Ramones' music -- it's simple rock & roll, played simply, loud, and very, very fast. None of the songs clock in at any longer than two and half minutes, and most are considerably shorter. In comparison to some of the music the album inspired, The Ramones sounds a little tame. It's a little too clean, and compared to their insanely fast live albums, it even sounds a little slow, but there's no denying that it still sounds brilliantly fresh and intoxicatingly fun. (Year of Release: 1976)

Track List:
1. Blitzkrieg Bop
2. Beat on the Brat
3. Judy is a Punk
4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
5. Chain Saw
6. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
7. I Don't Wanna Go DOwn to the Basement
8. Loudmouth
9. Havana Affair
10. Listen To My Heart
11. 53rd & 3rd
12. Let's Dance
13. I don't Wanna Walk Around With You
14. Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World

Download: The Ramones - The Ramones (26.2MB)

Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight

Since the last Hot Snakes album I posted was well received, I thought I would follow it up with this one. I suppose I probably should have posted this album first, since it is their debut, and the previous album I posted was their sophomore release.

Few albums provide an immediate jolt like Hot Snakes' debut. For a rocking good time, this band is pretty tough to beat. "Automatic Midnight" is aggressive, in-your-face, and extremely fun to listen to, coming off sort of like Nirvana with loads of swagger instead of self-conscious angst. While Hot Snakes' sound is loosely classifiable as punk or hardcore, the band transcends easy genre labels with tight, focused songwriting, razor-sharp musicianship, and a stunning level of rhythmic heft. Rick Froberg screams with such urgency his vocal cords sound like they could snap at any moment, and the band behind him is a marvel of intensity and efficiency.

The concise opening double shot of "If Credit's What Matters I'll Take Credit" and the title track (total running time: about four minutes) proves the band to be noise merchants of the highest order, with Froberg's fierce shout joined by a pummelling wall of guitars, piledriving drums, and basslines that sound like nukes going off. It doesn't let up from there, either: "Automatic Midnight" is pure adrenaline from start to finish, perfect for waking up on a hungover Sunday morning (or so I'm told). The album's best song, the woozy "Salton City," wavers and staggers like a drunk, propelled by a surprisingly intricate drum beat from Jason Sinclair. If you're into indie music, you owe this album a listen. Highly recommended. (Year of Release: 2000)

Track List:
1. If Credit's What Matters I'll Take Credit
2. Automatic Midnight
3. No Hands
4. Salton City
5. 10th Planet
6. Light Up The Stars
7. Our Work Fills The Pews
8. Past Lives
9. Mystery Boy
10. Apartment 0
11. Let It Come

Download: Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight (28.8MB)

Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Panther Phobia

I snagged this from the TWILIGHTZONE! music blog (link below and in sidebar), which I consider the best music blog on the net. I would like to thank RYP, who runs that blog, for introducing me to so many wonderful bands, and I hope he won't mind if I use the description from his blog, as I'm pressed for time at the moment.

Yeah, it's your world now: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Doo Rag, the Gories, the Gibson Brothers, Fat Possum Records and Rooster Blues, the Flat Duo Jets, Southern Culture on the Skids. Sure they rock. They all rock. And when they were rocking in their mamas' arms (about nine months after we balled'em), Tav Falco and his Unapproachable Panther Burns were shaking all over. These were wreckabilly, juntabilly, psychotropic evenings long before such genres were termed, when the difference between the Panther Burns and Charlie Feathers was mostly age and a few notches on the volume knob of a Vibroverb amp. Okay, and Charlie knew how to play.
Tav on the band's end of the '70s noise rock origins: "Here was an art form I could participate in by just picking up the instrument, like a Kodak Instamatic camera. It was the feeling and aesthetic that mattered, more than musicianship or virtuosity. I didn't feel hindered by my lack of conventional guitar knowledge. I just went into it full tilt."

Before applying his vision to the guitar, Tav Falco was a filmmaker and documentarian. He amassed knowledge of regal Memphis area musical greats and championed their work even before he could replicate it. (He has since gotten down with Jim Jarmusch and collaborated filmicly with Kenneth Anger, and had roles in several films, including "Great Balls of Fire" and "Highway 61." His movie appearance in the current retro-release of "Downtown 81", featuring Jan Michel Basquiat, resulted from the Panther Burns' movements on the East Village No Wave art scene in the 1980s.) Among the talent whom Tav Falco and his Panther Burns have brought to greater renown: R. L. Burnside had yet to record an album when Panther Burns began covering his songs. (Tav's 1974 footage of R. L.'s juke joint is a compelling document of a world that is slipping away.) Charlie Feathers hadn't gigged in years when Panther Burns made him a regular guest on their stage. The great rockabilly songs of Cordell Jackson ("Dateless Night," "She's The One That's Got It") found a new audience and the guitarist herself has enjoyed a second career since the Panther Burns turned the spotlight toward her. The Sir Mack Rice omnibus had receded to a couple hits before the Panther Burns revived his more outre tracks: "Tina The Go Go Queen" and "Ditch Diggin'" among others. Long before master musician Othar Turner and his Rising Star Fife and Drum Band were known to the world, the Panther Burns enlisted their talents on the band's first LP (1980's Behind the Magnolia Curtain). In the lean years of the early 1980s, the Panther Burns brought regular work to Alex Chilton and Jim Dickinson, both of whom played with and produced the band.

Tav: "The Panther Burns are the missing link between the earlier forms of swamp blues' unbridled howl and the psychological onslaught of the new millennium. We are, essentially, the ditch diggers in American music."

Named after a legendary plantation located still off 61 Highway in the lower Delta, the Panther Burns began their art actions around 1979 in a Memphis cotton loft, grew through the 1990s to a home in Vienna (and in Paris where their tango performance attracted international notoriety), and with this brilliant Panther Phobia have returned to the mythic Memphis garage of their origins. Recorded and mixed in Memphis, Tennessee, by Msrs. Jeffrey Evans (former Gibson Brother and the talent behind the '68 Comeback) and Doug Easley (producer and host to the stars at his studio, Easley Recording (901-323-5407)), Panther Phobia heralds a return to the tumultuous and exuberant tones and groans of the Panther Burns's landmark Behind The Magnolia Curtain. The music is organic, like a landlord's eviction squad. Drums pound like irate neighbors at the door. Slow songs snake like a chick passing out on 'ludes. You will lock your doors when you hear this record, you will bar your windows. Blood will flow from your nose, your lungs will itch. You will get a divorce, a speeding ticket, eleven twenty nine in the workhouse.

Tav: "You may have heard of the comedia del'arte, the peripatetic theater troupe of the 15th century, well the more rustic American version is the Panther Burns' staging of what we term antler del'arte. In other words, Panther Burns are the last steam engine train on the track that don't do nothing but run and blow."

Track List:
1. Streamline Train
2. She Wants To Sell My Monkey
3. Going Home
4. Once I Had A Car
5. The Young Psychotics
6. Cypress Grove
7. Wild Wild Women
8. Cockroach
9. Mellow Peaches
10. Panther Phobia: Manifesto!
11. This Could Go On Forever

Download: Tav Falco's Panther Burns - Panther Phobia (70.2MB)

TWILIGHTZONE! Music Blog

The Stooges - Fun House

The Stooges' first album was produced by a classically trained composer; their second was supervised by the former keyboard player with the Kingsmen, and if that didn't make all the difference, it at least indicates why Fun House was a step in the right direction. Producer Don Gallucci took the approach that the Stooges were a powerhouse live band, and their best bet was to recreate the band's live set with as little fuss as possible. As a result, the production on Fun House bears some resemblance to the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" -- the sound is smeary and bleeds all over the place, but it packs the low-tech wallop of a concert pumped through a big PA, bursting with energy and immediacy. The Stooges were also a much stronger band this time out; Ron Asheton's blazing minimalist guitar gained little in the way of technique since The Stooges, but his confidence had grown by a quantum leap as he summoned forth the sounds that would make him the hero of proto-punk guitarists everywhere, and the brutal pound of drummer Scott Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had grown to heavyweight champion status. And Fun House is where Iggy Pop's mad genius first reached its full flower; what was a sneer on the band's debut had grown into the roar of a caged animal desperate for release, and his rants were far more passionate and compelling than what he had served up before. The Stooges may have had more "hits," but Fun House has stronger songs, including the garage raver to end all garage ravers in "Loose," the primal scream of "1970," and the apocalyptic anarchy of "L.A. Blues." Fun House is the ideal document of the Stooges at their raw, sweaty, howling peak. (Year of Release: 1970)

Track List:
1. Down On The Street
2. Loose
3. T.V. Eye
4. Dirt
5. 1970
6. Fun House
7. L.A. Blues

Download: The Stooges - Fun House (46.3MB)

Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me

A blitzkrieg fusion of hardcore punk, Sonic Youth-style noise freak-outs, heavy metal, and melodic hard rock, You're Living All Over Me was a turning point in American underground rock & roll. With its thin, unbalanced mix, the album sounds positively menacing and edgy.

(Lou Barlow's bass barrels forward over Murph's clanking drums, with J Mascis' guitar twisting pummeling riffs and careening, occasionally atonal solos. It established guitar heroics as a part of indie rock, bringing the noise of Sonic Youth into more conventional song structures. Also, Mascis' laconic, self-absorbed whine was a distinct departure from the furious post-hardcore rants, or the mumbling Michael Stipe imitations, that dominated indie rock. While the songwriting is occasionally uneven, the best moments of You're Living All Over Me -- "Little Fury Things," "Raisans," "In a Jar," and Barlow's proto-Sebadoh "Poledo" -- retain their power, and it's possible to hear the record's influence throughout alternative rock.
(Year of Release: 1987)

Track List:
1. Little Fury Things
2. Kracked
3. Sludgefeast
4. The Lung
5. Raisans
6. Tarpit
7. In A Jar
8. Lose
9. Poledo
10. Show Me The Way

Download: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me (53.6MB)

last.fm Digital Meltd0wn Group

I apologize for the recent lack of updates, but I've been working long shifts at work lately. I'll be putting up a few albums later tonight after I get off of work.

I wanted to take this time to invite all of you who use last.fm to join the group that I have made. It's for people who visit this blog, and anyone else who happens to have eclectic taste in music. So far we have seven members, but hopefully that number will increase soon. We need at least 15 members in order for last.fm to generate charts based on our listening habits.

If you're unfamiliar with last.fm then I highly recommend that you check it out. In my opinion it's the best music related site on the net, and a great tool for discovering new music. For future reference, you can find the link to the last.fm DM group and my profile page in the sidebar of this blog.

last.fm Homepage - http://last.fm
My last.fm Profile - http://last.fm/user/Zer0_II
Digital Meltd0wn Group - http://last.fm/group/Digital+Meltd0wn

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum

The trio of Blue Cheer who consisted of bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson, guitarist Leigh Stevens and drummer Paul Whaley were one of the psychedelic sixties loudest bands. "Vincebus Eruptum" released in 1968 was a solid album full of garage rockers complete with distorted guitars, pounding drums and wailing vocals.

They were heavier than their hard-rock contemporaries, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple. Blue Cheer's influence can be seen in many of the heavy bands that followed, such as Black Sabbath, who released their album two years later. The Cheer were primitive, and kicked it out thick and heavy with a true sense of rock and roll. "Vincebus Eruptum" is raw, agressive distortion and feedback drenched blues-rock. "Outsideinside" is just as gutsy but trippier and more sophisticated comparably (Even some piano tastefully blended in with the sonic mayhem.) Much is made of the fact that these guys were not great musicians, and the sound quality of the recording was primitive. However what they lacked in technical capability, they more than made up for it with their energy.

"Vincebus Eruptum" is considered one of the albums that helped to usher in a new heavy metal sound, and inspired numerous bands in the years to come. If enjoy heavy fuzz drenched psychedelic rock, this album would make a great addition to your collection. (Year of Release: 1968)

Track List:
1. Summertime Blues
2. Rock Me Baby
3. Doctor Please
4. Out Of Focus
5. Parchment Farm
6. Second Time Around

Download: Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum (36.5MB)