Government Issue - Live

I probably don't need to go into too much detail about Government Issue or G.I., as they were often known. They were founding members of the Washington, D.C. hardcore sound, much of their material released on the seminal Dischord Records. Early on their musick was straight forward hardcore. They later progressed into a more melodic song-focused outfit, often with lyrics critical of the short-sighted behavior of the scene they aided in creating. Given the long running nature of the band, many participants in the DC hardcore scene had gone through G.I.'s membership. Government Issue featured Brian Baker of Minor Threat & Bad Religion, as well as Mike Fellows of Rites of Spring along with many others. G.I. became one of the longest-running bands in the DC hardcore scene. After numerous line-up changes, the band broke up in 1989.

Mystic Records Presents: Government Issue Live is a great slab of musick, covering the bands 1982 - 1985 period. Most discographies of Government Issue don't even list this album & I have not found it posted anywhere else. The band at this time consists of: John Stabb - vocals; Tom Lyle - guitar; Marc Alberstadt - drums; & a number of bass players including Lenny Leonard, Rob Moss, Mike Fellows, & Mitch Parker.

Year of Release: 1985
Label: Mystic Records MLP33144
Genre: Hardcore Punk

Tracklist:

Side One:
1. Interview
2. Familiar¹
3. Time to Escape¹
4. The Next Time²
5. Fun & Games²
6. These Boots are Made for Walkin'³
7. Hall of Fame⁴
8. Reflections⁵
9. Notch to My Crotch⁵

Side Two:
1. Interview
2. Hall of Fame ¹
3. Understand⁶
4. Teenager in a Box⁶
5. G.I.⁷
6. Hour of One⁸
7. Dead Dog⁹
8. Any Final Comments

Interview Side One & final comments Side Two courtesy WCTV, Baltimore, Maryland 1981.
Interview Side Two courtesy WMUC, university of Maryland, Baltimore 1981.

¹ King Kong's, Adelphi, Maryland June 21, 1984
² C.E. Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania February 23, 1985
³ Newton Theater, Washington, D.C. June 24, 1984
⁴ Upper Deck, Minneapolis, Minnesota August 3, 1983
⁵ Pierce Hall, Washington, D.C. April 6, 1984
⁶ Glenmont Recreation Center, Wheaton, Maryland February 25, 1984
⁷ Wilson Center, Washington, D.C. February 25, 1983
⁸ Wilson Center, Washington, D.C. October 22, 1982
⁹ CBGBs, New York City July 30, 1983

Download: Government Issue - Live
Download Size: 66.2MB (ripped from 24 yr. old vinyl at glorious 320Kbps)

Grimple / Logical Nonsense - A Darker Shade of Grey (split LP, 1994)

Continuing on my trip down memory lane, today I present one of my favorite split LPs of all time. I first heard Oakland, California's Grimple when I visited my cousin in Arizona back in the mid-90s and I returned home with a cassette dub of a cassette dub of a cassette dub of Grimple's first LP entitled "Up Your Ass". The sound quality was heinous, but it was fuckin' punk rock. When I stumbled upon this split LP in a Cincinnati record shop I nearly pissed. Upon listening I was a little put off by how they had seemingly abandoned the melodic punk hardcore sound of their LP for a much more evil hardcore sound. But it was so hair-raising and goosebump-forming that I instantly fell in love. I mean there is a friggin' Celtic Frost cover here that is even better than the original. "Blasphemer" you say, listen for yourself.

Now taken that at the time I was extremely excited to hear more Grimple, I went right to their side for first listening, even though they are actually side B. The evil pissed-off sound of the Grimple side couldn't prepare me for the intensely disturbing dark hardcore of the Logical Nonsense side. All of my friends hated it because of the aesthetic choice of using distortion on the vocals, but I was hooked. It is a pretty sick 16 minutes of hellish pleasure for me. To this day the song "A Reigning" still gives me the shivers, and icing on the bloody cake is the spoken word by Wendy-O Matik at the end. Simply superb. If you want some brutal, apocalyptic hardcore, I also highly recommend their final LP "Expand The Hive".

Year of Release: 1994
Label: East Bay Menace
Catalog #: EBM 002
Genre: Hardcore Punk
Media: Vinyl
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Track List:
A1 Logical Nonsense – Legion
A2 Logical Nonsense – Razed
A3 Logical Nonsense – A Reigning
A4 Logical Nonsense – Before The Act
A5 Logical Nonsense – The Crushing
A6 Wendy-O Matik – Death Awaits Us

B1 Grimple – Layed Back
B2 Grimple – Infierno
B3 Grimple – P.C.
B4 Grimple – Darker Shade Of Grey
B5 Grimple – System Fukers
B6 Grimple – Crucified
B7 Grimple – Forever Fuked
B8 Grimple – Dethroned Emperor (originally by Celtic Frost)
B9 Grimple – No Return

Download: Grimple / Logical Nonsense - A Darker Shade of Grey (split LP)
Download Size: 82 MB

Death Side - Wasted Dream (1989)

Death Side are old school Japanese hardcore of the so-called "Burning Spirits" variety, which is a live show series that has been running for over twenty years at a Tokyo club. Speed and over-the-top riffmania saturate this amazing and relentless record. This stuff continues to influence so many bands. No wonder. After I first heard Death Side, I was addicted to them for months and I always come back for another fix eventually.

Trying to find Death Side albums outside of Japanese record stores is a waste of time. The band is highly regarded in the world of hardcore punk, yet their material is so hard to find. I think it has something to do with the sentiment in the Japanese scene that what is past is past and musicians want to be recognized for what they are working on currently. I can understand that, but this stuff should be heard. However, what I cannot do is be responsible for any physical injuries you might attain listening to Wasted Dream. Enjoy, folks!

Year of Original Release: 1989
Year of Reissue: 2002
Label: Nucleus/R
Catalog #: DS-03
Genre: Hardcore Punk, Thrash
Media: CD
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Track List:
1 Death Side
2 Mirror
3 Cut The Throat
4 Warning
5 Give And Take
6 Circulate Pain
7 Nothing For Others Pride
8 Laugh Til You Die
9 Wall
10 I Live Just My Life
11 Wasted Dream
12 Evil Dreaming
13 Devil In The Hell
14 Never Say Die
15 Political Power
16 Life In Box
17 The Lowest
18 It's Not Only Joke

Download: Death Side - Wasted Dream
Download Size: 96 MB

Zero Hour - Zero Hour EP (1994)

I first heard this 7 inch many years ago. I remember being instantly captivated by how unique and downright chilling this recording is. To this day I have never heard anything that sounds like it. Come to think of it, I think I refused to return the record to my friend. (Sorry, Dustin. I was just trying to survive.) These four songs are dark and powerful hardcore punk with an otherworldly tinge. Part of the chill-inducing power comes from the amazing female vocals by Whisper. Let me tell you, there is no whispering on this record. The urgency and emotion of her performance is contagious. It is one of those records where you are immediately compelled to grab the lyric sheet, because you just have to find out what these people are so worked up about. The other reason for the record’s strange sound is the guitar. It’s in the way it is tuned and distorted that always gives me goosebumps I think.



Zero Hour dropped this 7 inch EP and then a split LP with a band called Apeface. After that they slipped into obscurity. I love that I get to share this amazing recording with you folks. I honestly can’t overstate how these four songs helped me cope over the years. Phenomenal stuff.

Year of Release: 1994
Label: Spiral Records
Genre: Hardcore Punk, Crust Punk
Media: Vinyl
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Track List:
A1. The Image of Man (3:02)
A2. I'll Never Forget (2:48)
B1. In Shackles of the Human Skin (3:09)
B2. One of the Living (3:41)

Download: Zero Hour - Zero Hour EP (1994)
Download Size: 33 MB

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow (sampler, 2010, -V0 Bitrate)

I went to see this band play last night at the BackBooth in Orlando, FL and I'm so high from the experience that I thought I would promote them by giving you fine people some sample tracks from their 2010 work Spiral Shadow, an amazing headphone album. I was a little disappointed that more people didn't come to the show, but then again, it was Orlando.

I had heard of Kylesa, but had not gotten around to listening to them for some reason until a few weeks ago. I am so glad I listened to them when I did, because I would have missed that phenomenal show. Kylesa hail from Savannah, Georgia and are dubbed sludge metal, which combines parts of doom metal and hardcore punk. What came through to me the most with the live performance was a healthy hardcore punk spirit powering a heavy metal band that likes to add some nifty psychedelic sounds into the mix. The percussion was awesome, too. This band is apparently very hardworking, and has been touring like crazy all over the world these passed few years.

I just upped three awesome tracks for your sampling pleasure. "Cheating Synergy" begins with some soothing synthesizer and is then interrupted by an angry blast of hardcore, but it becomes clear that this is not your ordinary hardcore, because it is nuanced with electronic effects and it is breathtaking. "Distance Closing In" is a plaintive piece with some excellent guitar work and spoken vocals by guitar player/singer Philip Cope. We get some nice singing from guitar player/singer Laura Pleasants on the chorus, then a really great and energetic percussive build-up from the band's two drummers. "Drop Out" is a mammoth of riffs, percussion and pyschedelic soundscapes, punctuated with impassioned vocals.

If you love it like me, buy the CD or the LP here. Oh, and GO TO THE SHOW. You won't be sorry.

Songs:
Cheating Synergy
Distance Closing In
Drop Out

Download: Kylesa - Spiral Shadow (sample).
Download Size: 22MB

Watch the trippy video for the first song on the album. It's called Tired Climb.

Misfits - Halloween 7'' Single (1981 - FLAC)

On October 31st of 1981 the Misfits would release a 7" single that would serve as a new defining Halloween anthem for almost all who heard it for. This happens to be one of my favorite Misfits songs, right alongside "Bullet" and "Die, Die My Darling". Only 5,000 of these were released on Danzig's own label, Plan 9 Records. Since this is a Halloween "Countdown", I want to make sure that I get this posted before October 1st passes. I'm sure you all have become accustomed to me posting Wikipedia articles lately due to my lack of available time to write an adequate review, so I hope you all won't mind yet another.

"Halloween" is the fifth single by the horror punk band the Misfits. It was released on October 31, 1981 on singer Glenn Danzig's label Plan 9 Records. 5,000 copies of the single were pressed on black 7" vinyl, some of which included a lyrics sheet.

The "Halloween" single was the last Misfits release to include guitarist Bobby Steele. Both songs on the single had been recorded in August 1980 for a planned album. During the sessions bassist Jerry Only was grooming his younger brother Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein to join the band, and Doyle recorded his own guitar tracks and overdubs separately in addition to Steele's. The tracks were mixed in September, but in October Steele was ejected from the band in favor of Doyle and the planned album was scrapped. Five of the songs were released as the 3 Hits from Hell EP, while "Halloween" and "Halloween II" were released as a single. In 2001 Caroline Records announced attempted to release the complete sessions as 12 Hits From Hell, but production was called off after Danzig and Only expressed concerns with the album's layout, packaging, liner notes, mixing, and mastering. The lyrics to "Halloween II" are in nonstandard Latin, translating to:

Ancient formulas of exorcisms and excommunications
That witches and those made wolves believe
I maim now the demon clothed in wolfskin
Having to hide in the hollow of a tree
I say werewolves can change shapes

Following the band's breakup in 1983, "Halloween" was reissued on the 1985 compilation album Legacy of Brutality with overdubbed guitar and bass tracks recorded by Danzig. The original versions of both songs were re-released on Collection II in 1995, and all of the versions were included in The Misfits box set in 1996, along with the original studio recording of "Halloween II".

Mudhoney included a sample of "Halloween" in their 1988 cover of Sonic Youth's song of the same title on the "Touch Me I'm Sick"/"Halloween" split single. "Halloween" has been covered by several other bands in subsequent years: AFI covered the song for their All Hallow's EP (1999), and Dropkick Murphys recorded a version for the compilation Back on the Streets: Japanese/American Punk Unity (2000) which was later re-released on Singles Collection, Volume 2 (2005).

Danzig re-recorded "Halloween II" with his post-Misfits project Samhain. This version appeared on November-Coming-Fire (1986) and Live 85-86 (2001). "Halloween II" has also been covered by Tenebre on the tribute album Hell on Earth: A Tribute to the Misfits (2000) and by Cradle of Filth on the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and Thornography (2006), though Cradle of Filth's cover is based on the Samhain version. - Wikipedia"

Year of Release: 1981
Label: Plan 9
Genres: Horror Punk, Punk Rock
Bitrate: FLAC / Lossless

Download: Misfits - Halloween 7" Single
Download Size: 32MB

Black Flag - Damaged

Year of Release: 1981
Label: SST
Genre: Hardcore

1. Rise Above
2. Spray Paint
3. Six Pack
4. What I See
5. TV Party
6. Thirsty and Miserable
7. Police Story
8. Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
9. Depression
10. Room 13
11. Damaged II
12. No More
13. Padded Cell
14. Life of Pain
15. Damaged I

While my previous post, "Just West Coast", was a collection of microtonal compositions performed on guitar and harp, This west coast harcore band also made interesting use of microtonal intervals and odd tempo changes. Greg Ginn, the guitarist and only constant in the band throughout the years, was a fan of freeform jazz and made heavy use of microtonal structures in his guitar solos. This, their debut studio album, was simply astounding. The raw, heavy, garage sound pumped out by the band, accompanied by Henry Rollins howling vocal assault cut straight to the bone. Essentially, this seems an album of protest songs aimed at the lazy, disaffected youth of the day...songs about misery, pain, desperation and self-destruction. The band toured relentlessly during the eighties, put out several independently released albums and inspiring local bands to never give up. There influence seems to continually spread. I have asked myself, over the years, why Black Flag? What does it mean to fly a black flag? I believe the following quote sums it up nicely.

"Why is our flag black? Black is a shade of negation. The black flag is the negation of all flags. It is a negation of nationhood which puts the human race against itself and denies the unity of all humankind. Black is a mood of anger and outrage at all the hideous crimes against humanity perpetrated in the name of allegiance to one state or another. It is anger and outrage at the insult to human intelligence implied in the pretenses, hypocrisies, and cheap chicaneries of governments.

Black is also a color of mourning; the black flag which cancels out the nation also mourns its victims the countless millions murdered in wars, external and internal, to the greater glory and stability of some bloody state. It mourns for those whose labo r is robbed (taxed) to pay for the slaughter and oppression of other human beings. It mourns not only the death of the body but the crippling of the spirit under authoritarian and hierarchic systems; it mourns the millions of brain cells blacked out with never a chance to light up the world. It is a color of inconsolable grief.

But black is also beautiful. It is a color of determination, of resolve, of strength, a color by which all others are clarified and defined. Black is the mysterious surrounding of germination, of fertility, the breeding ground of new life which always evolves, renews, refreshes, and reproduces itself in darkness. The seed hidden in the earth, the strange journey of the sperm, the secret growth of the embryo in the womb all these the blackness surrounds and protects.

So black is negation, is anger, is outrage, is mourning, is beauty, is hope, is the fostering and sheltering of new forms of human life and relationship on and with this earth. The black flag means all these things. We are proud to carry it, sorry we hav e to, and look forward to the day when such a symbol will no longer be necessary."
~Howard Ehrlich

Download: Black Flag - Damaged
Download size: 31 MB zip file

Himera - Zudwa

Hello everyone. Here is something realy special and rare. This is a Russian cult underground rock band -Himera. A few words about it. In Russia 90's was a really bad and very very difficult time, especially for musicians. It was a time of great economic defolt in country, it was a time of big decline and poverty. No music instruments in shops , often musicians was made an effect pedals like distortion by themselves , soldering the microcircuit. There was only one concert club in whole Saint-Petersburg city- "Tam Tam" . Of course this place was underground and forbidden. So at one evening you could see on the stage a hard-core band , then a folk music , after it some ragamuffin guys , and the right after that a nazi skin head punks. Can you imagine that mix?
Front man lead singer , guitar player, songwriter of Himera was Edik Starkov. He was a very unusual person , and like most rock genius he had a mental deviations. He also was very poor. He lived right in the "Tam Tam" . He gave a gem there than he slept there. One day Edik has not come on band rehearsal. He was hung up on the second floor of a building where the Himera has rehearsed. The band was rehearsing and not suspecting about that that their frontman is a floor above hung up. As usual Himera has not achieved popularity. They disbanded some days after Edik's death.
So give it a try. The fifty percent of Himera feature was Edik's lyrics. Its very sad that you can understand it , and I haven't much time for translating it. I've just translate a titles of songs. But other fifty percents was their unusual sound. The line up was - drums, guitar and violoncello. A guy with violoncello carried out functions of bass player. And some times Edik played a little horn. I can't describe a genre of this music. It is noise , avant-garde hardcore, alternative punk, etc. with strong shaman psychedelic shade.

Year of Release: 1994
Genre: Noise-rock, alternative
Bitrate: 320kbps

Track List:
01-Sail
02-Handle
03-Total_Jazz
04-Control
05-Karma_of_the_World
06-ZUDWA
07-Captain_Nemo
08-Delirium
09-Hord
10-Into_Heaven
11-Rubber_Plants
12-Water-Fire
13-Jirmaida

Download: Himera Zudwa