Welcome

elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black


Well V is for Victory & here it is also for Vincent...Sweet Gene Vincent. Here’s one that I don’t think you’ll find elsewhere on the Interweb. Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black from Magnum Force in Shepperton, Middlesex. This one’s from 1982, ten years before Magnum Force launched their great Rebel Heart series.

Round 1 is studio tracks recorded between 1965 - 1970, some Vincent usual suspects like “Be-Bop-A-Lula” & some rarer material like “The Last Word in Lonesome” or “Pretty Girls”. Round 2 is a private ‘live’ recording from 2 May 1971 with Gene & the Houseshakers. The Houseshakers were a British rock 'n’ roll band that formed at the end of 1969, active in the early 1970s, who backed Gene Vincent on two of his European visits.

This might just be an album for completists in some folks opinion, but in my opinion...more Gene...MORE GENE! As Steve Aynsley remarks on the album notes, “We are privileged to re-live some of the excitement of a sadly bygone era, & if the recording quality (live tracks are less than studio quality - NØ) is not quite as we have become used to, excuse us because these items are precious & unique.”

Year of Release: 1982
Label: Magnum Force MFLP-016
Genre: Rockabilly

"Gene Vincent & The Houseshakers in the recording studio in 1971.
From left to right: rear - Graham Fenton (vocals), Jimmy Walls (bass),
John Earl (saxophone), Terry Clemson (guitar - ex-Downliner Sect);

front - Les Warren (drums), Gene Vincent (lead vocals)."
Tracklist:
Round 1 -
Rocky Road Blues
Say Mama
Pistol Packin' Mama
Be-Bop-A-Lula
The Last Word in Lonesome
Pretty Girls
Bluejean Bop
Round 2 -
Say Mama (live)
Baby Blue (live)
Rocky Road Blues (live)
Good Golly Miss Molly (live)
Whole Lotta Shakin' (live)
I'm Movin' On (live)
Be-Bop-A-Lula (live)

Download: Gene Vincent - Dressed in Black
Download Size: 87.5MB (ripped from much-loved vinyl at 320Kbps)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

VA - A Heavy Dose Of Lyte Psych



Sunday, June 20, 2010

VA - A Deadly Dose of Wylde Psych



This is a reup that was originally posted on DM back in 2006. I will be posting "A Heavy Dose of Lyte Psych" tomorrow.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

VA - A Lethal Dose of Hard Psych



Friday, June 18, 2010

Major Updates to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blogroll/Aggregator

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

This one's for U

Unsane - Unsane



This alphabetical challenge is driving me unsane...New York City's Unsane, that is. If you’re not familiar with them, then where the fuck have you been? They play aggressive noise rock. In their earliest incarnation as a power trio, Unsane have a driving rhythm section, a screaming Telecaster howl, & distorted vocals. This line-up included: Chris Spencer (vocals, guitar); Pete Shore (bass); & Charles Ondras (drums). They began playing NYC low-life clubs in 1989. It was at clubs like CBGB's that the band developed their trademark sound.

This, their self-titled debut, was recorded 16 January 1991 at Fun City & released on Matador Records in 1991. The cover is a photo of a decapitated man lying across train tracks, which sets the tone for the seething aggression of this album. In 1992, Unsane's drummer Charles Ondras died of a drug overdose & thing would never be quite the same for the band. Before the band released their follow-up album, Matador compiled & issued a collection of Unsane's early singles/compilation tracks, called Singles: '89-'92. It is perhaps Unsane's defining moment.

Year of Release: 1991
Label: Matador OLE 009-1
Genre: Noise, Hardcore
Bitrate: 320kbps

Tracklist:

Side A -
Organ Donor
Bath
Maggot
Cracked Up
Slag
Exterminator

Side B -
Vandal-X
HLL
AZA-2000
Cut
Action Man
White Hand


Download: Unsane - Unsane
Download Size: 84.55MB (ripped at 320Kbps)

Monday, June 14, 2010

A Couple of Important Announcements


Saturday, June 12, 2010

Rev. Louis Overstreet - An Evening With Rev. Louis Overstreet



Tuesday, June 01, 2010

The Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out



Edit: This was actually one of the very first albums I uploaded for Digital Meltd0wn almost 4 years ago. I'm in the process of uploading several albums which no longer have working download links. If you happen across any albums that you would like to see reuploaded, now would be a good time to report the dead links. You can find the link to "report a dead link" in the main menu. For those who haven't heard it, I hope you all enjoy this little gem from the DM vaults.

The Chocolate Watchband's debut album, No Way Out was also their most heavily Rolling Stones-influenced album, but appreciating the album and what's on it (and what's not) requires some explanation -- especially as an original vinyl copy could set you back $100 or more. Released in September of 1967, No Way Out came at the end of the band's first 15 months of existence, a period that encompassed the recording and release of four singles of generally extraordinary quality, and as good as anything heard from any garage band anywhere during that period. Just two of those single tracks, "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" and "No Way Out," ended up on the original ten-track LP, but even they could (and should) have been the core of an immensely powerful LP. Instead, out of the remaining songs, only two -- the group's nicely cranked-up version of Chuck Berry's "Come On" (obviously influenced by the Rolling Stones' debut single, which was, itself, a good trick, since the latter had never seen a U.S. release in any form) and the psychedelic Bo Diddley-based "Gone and Passes By" -- were recorded by the entire group and released in the form intended. The other six tracks included Watchband recordings, such as "Let's Talk About Girls," "In the Midnight Hour," and "Hot Dusty Road," on which lead singer David Aguilar's vocals had been replaced by those of session singer Don Bennett (co-author of the band's single "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)") and also embellished with extra instrumental overdubs; two instrumentals, "Expo 2000" and "Dark Side of the Mushroom," recorded by a group of studio musicians put together by engineer Richie Podolor; and, finally, the bizarre "Gossamer Wings," a psychedelic digression by Bennett and company that used the band's basic track from the 1966 single B-side "Loose Lip Sync Ship" as its jumping-off point. So what's here is not really representative of the Chocolate Watchband that was seen in the movie Riot on Sunset Strip, or heard on those four killer singles in 1966 and early 1967. All of that said, No Way Out is still an extremely impressive and enduring album that nicely straddles the garage punk and psychedelic genres; the Watchband's "Come On" still gets this reviewer's pulse bouncing to Chuck Berry's beat, and it and the other three finished band cuts are still highly potent, slashing, exciting, clever pieces of music. "Gone and Passes By" and "No Way Out" are sharp works of psychedelic punk music, the former mixing sitar music with a shimmering Bo Diddley beat to superbly seductive effect, while the latter is built on a twisting, jagged blues- and raga-based lead guitar line that recalls the late-1966 vintage Jefferson Airplane's work. And "Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)" is a stirring, even threatening anthem to youthful defiance. The record is still an essential '60s album in any collection.

Year of Release: 1967
Label: Tower
Genre: Psychedelic, Garage Rock
Bitrate: 256kbps

Track List:
1. Let's Talk About Girls
2. In the Midnight Hour
3. Come On
4. Dark Side of the Mushroom
5. Hot Dusty Road
6. Are You Gonna Be There (At the Love-In)
7. Gone and Passes By
8. No Way Out
9. Expo 2000
10. Gossamer Wings
11. In the Midnight Hour
12. Milk Cow Blues
13. Psychedelic Trip


Download: Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out
Download Size: 68.6 MB