Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Art for Spastics v.84

"MAY DAY!"


Download AFS v.84

...or stream it

THE REBELS – Mayday – v/a: Pogo Punks: Early Original Swiss Punk Rock ´77-´82 – no label 1979
YODLER KILLERS – Soussolrock – v/a: Springtime in Belsen – Sadist Rekords 1979
ICH BIN – A.I.N.Z. – Obéis! – Poutre Apparente *new

ICH BIN – Bodybuilding
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY – TV Got Me – 2006 Tour Demo!! CDR – Self-Released *new
CAPTAIN AHAB – Where My Dogs At? – After the Rain My Heart Still Dreams – Deathbomb Arc *new
FRIENDS FOREVER – C$ Fresh – v/a: Why Is Anything Forbidden? vol. 2 – Deathbomb Arc *new
ROSE FOR BOHDAN – Covered in Monkeys – Then Everybody Hugged “Racism Is God” – Deathbomb Arc *new
THE MALL – Advantage In – First, Before and Never Again 12” EP – Mt. St. Mtn *new
BIPOLAR BEAR – Cuzco – Cuzco/Bogota CDR – Self-Released 2005
EREBUS NYX & STYX – Izzie Fatal – self-titled – Silencio *new
WHO’S YOUR FAVORITE SON, GOD? – Beelzebubble – 4-song EP CDR – Scenery Audio Archive *new
GAPESEED – Dusty Trophy – Project 64 – Silver Girl 1997
…WORMS – Crows in My Mouth – self-titled 7” EP – Marriage *new
DEATH SENTENCE: PANDA! – Friends of Friends of Friends of Friends – Bored Fortress Singles Club split 7” w/ Silver Daggers – Not Not Fun *new

BUSINESS LADY – Slow Motion – v/a: Why Is Anything Forbidden? vol. 2
GET HUSTLE – Don Quixote & I – Rollin in the Ruins – Three One G 2005 *request
I WILL KILL YOU FUCKER – titles unknown – Educated Guidance 7” EP – Tank Crimes *new
HIPS – Get Movin’ – self-titled 7” EP – Animal Mandible *new
SIC ALPS – Microcastles – The Soft Tour in Rough Form 12” EP – Mt. St. Mtn *new
STANDARD TRIBESMEN – Picture Take – self-titled 7” EP – Borox *new

THE INTELLIGENCE – Grease 3 – Let´s Toil – Polly Magoo *new
FACTUMS – Split Screen – Second Demo CDR – Self-Released 2005
CRASH NORMAL – Bad Way to Get Fun – v/a: Tête de Bébé – S-S Records *new
LILI Z. – Blut – v/a: Tête de Bébé
FRUSTRATION – Faster – self-titled 7” EP – S-S Records *new
THE WEEGS – Two and Three Eighths – The Million Sounds of Black – Hungry Eye *new
COUGHS – Track 12 – Bent Babies CDR – Self-Released 2005
SNOWSUIT* – Helio Mix1 (Master2) – Don't Kill the Contractor CDR – No Format *new
BORIS – Blackout – Pink – Southern Lord *new
NOEL von HARMONSON – Track 5 – Born on the 4th of July – Resipiscent *new
EARWICKER – Throne of Blood – All Seeing Ear – Resipiscent *new
AT JENNIE RICHIE – Dreams That Money Can Buy – The Bicycle Considered 3” – Resipiscent *new
ARGUMENTIX – Lend Me Your Blanket I Want to Dream – Tarantula Downpour 7”+DVD-R – Trash Skull *new
ARGUMENTIX & DEAD/BIRD – The Salad Can´t Talk to Me – 2006 Tour triple 3” CDR set – Self-Released *new

This Rebels 7" provides our timely lead-off song for the evening...well, almost timely now that it's officially May 2...but this is reputed to be one of the rarest of Swiss punk records from the late-70's. And it's one of the best, too! Switzerland had a lot of bands during this heyday who were manic and rollickin' melodic punk, such as Jack + the Rippers, Nasal Boys, Fresh Colour, etc. This one was comped onto a "Killed By Death"-style Swiss-only LP called "Pogo Punks" which features a blow-up of the Rebels 7" picture sleeve on the front cover. It came out years ago, but I still see sealed copies at better stores in the Bay Area. Pick it up!

I know nothing of the Yodler Killers except they were also from Switzerland in the late 70's, and they had a 7" which was comped--both sides even!--onto the mysterious "Springtime in Belsen" LP, a late-90's collection of rare 70's Euro trashpunk in a spraypainted sleeve. These guys had a bouyant jangly sound which was 100% distortion-free.

Ich Bin is my favorite new find this week, thanks to fellow DJ Scott Soriano who brought back a limited quantity of their new LP from his trip to Paris, France. What we have here is a bizarro band from the Mediterranean island of Corsica who made aggressive and weird synthpunk in the late-80's and early-90's. This new French label smartly reissued it in its first true LP edition which is a stunner! While they essentially employed the same gear as EBM/industrial bands such as Front 242 and Frontline Assembly, Ich Bin were fascinated with the budding noiserock genre, perhaps finding their way to Jesus Lizard and Killdozer from Big Black. Some of the songs sprawl obtusely like those bands, but otherwise, there's no resemblance to any other band working at the time in the realm of "punk" or "industrial." And hence, this LP sounds as fresh as if it were teleported back from the future.

Child Pornography will have a new album soon, but this "tour demo" will tide you over 'til then. It shows them to be a more versatile band...kinda somewhere between the ultra-uplifting posi- dance party Casio(er, Yamaha)-core sound they've become known for, and the skeletal geometric forms of the A Frames.

Captain Ahab is an exciting electro/"ravesploitation" performer, and outta anyone still milking the "irony as fashion" schtick for what it's worth, Captain Ahab is getting all the best last drops on this incredible new album. Much of the music is rooted in ghetto-tech, booty-bass, and daringly mainstream techno cliché, but it's all remixed and remixed and over-remixed until it's made right again, coated in digital stardust, and oh...THE LYRICS!!! I was grinning while listening to the whole thing, even while repeating certain tracks over and over. How giddy you'll get when you hear the refrain of "Girls Gone Wild" sung through that same vocal processing that reinvigorated Cher's singing career with that terrible song about believing in life after love. This is sheeny and technology-rich, yet undeniably great like only Andrew W.K. and Girl Talk can achieve.

Deathbomb Arc's new "Why Is Anything Forbidden? vol. 2" CD is a tribute to Cash Money Records, and it just might be the raddest swipe anyone's taken at anyone's favorite rapstars, yet with a lot of care and respect, too. While most of the artists on this disc are from California's DIY experimental rock scene, there's an outstanding variety here from college-radio-friendly indie rock all the way to completely cracked noise, and some of the songs are essentially straight covers while others are merely Cash Money-inspired originals, and still some are outrageous deconstructions. You can't let this slip by you.

Rose for Bohdan's releases are all neat and great, yet they're wildly unpredictable, but guitarist/vocalist Brian Miller tells me that for this latest album, the band has succeeded in recording the best possible representation of the live R4B experience, and from having seen the band a few times, I totally agree. The bass-riffs are chunkier than Oprah's ass shitting a Payday bar (sorry!), but a hell of a lot more propulsive. Okay...don't take this the wrong way...but remember when Superchunk and Archers of Loaf were much-hyped? Sure, other than that one "Powerwalker" song by the Archers, I was also kinda bored by those bands, but you know how the most interesting thing about those bands was the bass guitar, right? Well, right now, Rose for Bohdan is showing us the direction those Tarheel bands of yore coulda taken had they not elected to become Docker khaki-wearin' bores in button-down plaid shirts. This is ecstatic, elated, and at times really explosive!

Mt. St. Mtn. is the new record label of Mark Kaiser, who ran Omnibus throughout the 90's until last year, and longtime friend and bandmate (both in Shove and more recently Gift of Goats) Jay Howell. With Jay being quite the visual artiste, Mt. St. Mtn. releases are gonna be beautiful works of art above all, and it's immediately evident when you first behold the inaugural 12-inch EP by San Francisco's The Mall. The sleeve is a stunning screenprinted textural masterpiece, and the music within is upbeat, insistent artpunk with some math-rock accessibility. Strictly algebra-level, though, so if you're a hater of ostentatiously complex math-wank Einsteins, this is probably your speed.

Bipolar Bear is an L.A. band that's related to The Pope, and they just released a new album, which I'm hot on the path for now. This song is from a nondescript two-song demo CDR, and I believe both of these songs ended up on limited-run compilations, and based on just these two songs, they specialize in noiserock with a melodicism that sweeps and soars.

I'll hafta finish this later...

Thanks for listening!
Rick

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