RADIO SHOW!

This blog will now be linked to an internet radio show I'll be doing until mid-December at the end of the semester. It's every Tuesday from 7-8 PM EST at www.goucher-radio.net OR through iTunes. For the latter, select Radio, then College Radio, and finally Goucher Student Radio.

STOKED!

Sorry about the lack of stuff- DF the CH, Episode II

I was abroad in Israel for most of August and am only just now settling into my first real week of school. I've been jonesing to post this release for some time-- certainly one of the most crucial records to ever come out of Bainbridge Island, Washington, along with the Rickets' back catalog and perhaps the Humanoids' sole demo. Yes, this is the mighty MLB/Pantophobics split CD entitled Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Diet Soda.

At the time of release I was twelve years old and knew approximately nothing about music; instead of investigating the local scene, I was content to listen to mainstream rock radio, where crap like Korn were all the rage. I first heard about the Pantophobics from Justin Morgan, their drummer, who was an upperclassman at my middle school/high school. One hell of a funny guy, and one hell of a drummer; his bandmates Zach Lewis (guitar/vocals and also bass with MLB) and Ed Morales (bass/oi oi ois) were no slouches in performing the band's lackadaisacal indie rock, but even on the split's shoestring recording quality one thing is remarkably clear: Justin is fuckin' slamming the skins.

MLB were Maurice's Little Bastards. I first heard them when Justin popped their debut CD Greatest Hits into the computer next to mine in the school library one afternoon and told me that "you haven't heard punk until you've heard these guys." Seeing as how, at that point, my closest experience to punk was Green Day, he was right on. They open this album with what sounds like both bands emulating idle crowd chatter, puncuated by singer Justin Maurer intoning, "Welcome to Winslow, Baaaaainbridge Islannnd." From there, it's nine songs of off-the-wall lo-fi hardcore punk that sounds a whole lot like the Germs only with thumpy cardboard drums and lyrics about "[finding] a safe haven from my teenage anguish and hormonal induced deception" ("Ridin' On Out") and "endless proliferation of selfish materialism" ("Neon Brigade"). I really wish I'd been able to stay long enough at the Teen Center to see them play one spring Friday night, but my parents insisted on picking me up for dinner....MLB were known for their wild live set, and for Justin getting naked mid-song and remaining so for the duration of the set. Shucks...

Meanwhile, I did get to see a set by the mediocre Criminy and the totally awesome Pantophobics. They played a bunch of tunes from the split and their first song ever, a cover of Weezer's "The Sweater Song." For my first show ever, it was pretty awesome and so is their set of songs on the CD. The tunes are solid for what they are, but Justin's aforementioned powerhouse drumming really breathes life into everything. Zach's drawl has its own sort of catchiness, I suppose.

This album is quite clearly a work of friends having a blast together in the crummy studios they cut the songs in–– the bands' musical styles are quite disparate, to say the least. But this is one of those records that, for the better, sounds a lot like high school. Enjoy.




Maurice's Little Bastards/The Pantophobics- Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Diet Soda

Where are they now?
Justin Morgan is a bigtime cyclist and did some European circuits or something. He worked at the local bakery for a time. I thin he also might be in community college or the U of Washington now.
Zach Lewis went to college, if I recall correctly, after all the dudes graduated in 2002. His younger stepsister Leah was in Bainbridge punk band Bad Otis (featuring future Kalakala, Degania, and Helen Killers members), who named themselves after a Pantophobics song of the same name from this very record.
Ed Morales I have no idea about, and that's sort of fitting.
Justin Maurer moved to Portland and formed the Clorox Girls. After roughly ten million rhythym section changes, he's moved the band to London. I had the great pleasure of meeting him at a birthday show the band played on Bainbridge in July 2006. As everyone had said prior, he was about the nicest person ever and gave me an old 7" MLB recorded with their buddies the Shutups.
Sean "the" Roach, who drummed for MLB for a time and on this album, now lives in England as well and plays in Mayday Lewis.
I don't know anything about the MLB guitarist at the time, "Dequine" Fletcher.

Oh My Thoth

I've been terrible about posting consistently, and being abroad for three weeks with no personal computer as of this coming Wednesday won't help much. As such, I'm posting as much content as I can muster.

Jex Thoth, formerly Totem, are a female-fronted doom metal band with who, beyond the Black Sabbath influence, incorporate a lot of '70s psychedelic spookiness into their sound. In addition to the slightly lo-fi production, certain songs are tastefully caked with macabre keyboard melodies, adding to the already enveloping atmosphere. Plenty of folky bits, too.

These sounds could get any fan of heavier rock or metal tunes stoked, but what rams everything home for a heady-heavy grand slam are the gorgeous, haunting vocal melodies emanating from the masterful throat of Jex Thoth herself.

Let's cut to the chase: I got my hands on their new debut self titled full-length album and listened to it four times in one day. It's that fantastic.

A dude on Youtube claims to have literally found this clip from a strange, occult UK movie on TV, hit record, and played Jex Thoth's "The Banishment" over it...and it's creepy and fun in the way old horror movies can be.

Jex Thoth MySpace

Coroner Rarities

I have spoken so many words and written so many paragraphs about this brilliant trio since I discovered them years ago. Hailing from Switzerland, guitarist Tommy Vetterli and drummer "Marquis" Marky Edelmann teched for Celtic Frost on the Tragic Serenades tour in 1986, then joined up with bassist/vocalist Ron Royce to create some of the most criminally underrated technical thrash metal ever. Perhaps even more impressive than their abilities on their respective instruments was their consistent ability to keep their voice intact. Their first effort, R.I.P., shredded and ripped neoclassically with little restraint. Their last, Grin, was full of eerieness and groovy riffs. But every song from every record sounded like Coroner, no questions asked. Tommy's riffs, Ron's snarl, Marky's rock-solid rhythmic base and strange lyrics remain distinctive even today.

So I have three gems to offer the handful of people checking this place out.

Death Cult Demo (1986)
At the time, the three dudes were unsure about Ron taking vocal duties full-time, and turned to Celtic Frost's Tom G. Warrior. This thing shreds in ways only an '80s 4-track thrash demo can, and Tom keeps his trademark vocal style firm. UNGH! This has been bootlegged on CD with two additional later-era tracks from Noise Records' Doomsday News compilations, "Hate, Fire, Blood" and "Arrogance in Uniform." Both these comps (Doomsday News and Doomsday News II, respectively) can be found for cheap and are worth getting, and here at the Squidlair we keep it tr00...so you're gonna have to stick with the four-track original version.

Coroner- Death Cult Demo

1989 Radio Broadcast



This was performed on presumably Swiss radio after 1987's R.I.P. and 1988's Punishment for Decadence, but before 1989's No More Color. Be forewarned, the volume varies randomly at parts, as does quality (albeit briefly). Nonetheless, Coroner put on a great performance and for some damn reason perform that shit novelty of Hendrix cover at the end ("Purple Haze").

Coroner- 1989 Radio Broadcast

The Unknown- Unreleased Tracks 1985-95


During their European farewell tour in 1996, the band distributed this cassette to fans. It's an interesting little collection of knick-knacks; most of the cuts are ambient, experimental stuff. Not amazing, but a good listen to be sure. The extra-special part is the Grin-era live set tacked onto the end...they bust out "Golden Cashmeere Sleeper"! This tape is truly indicative of the band's expanisve pallet and creative ability.

Coroner- The Unknown

Doughboys, Part II: Crush is Fucking AWESOME

Isn't it awesome when two things you love go together great? I was hanging out with Adam Franklin from Swervedriver between soundcheck and showtime in downtown Seattle and when the Doughboys came up in conversation, he immediately revealed that only was John Kastner a good friend, but also a guitar tech for the Swervies when they played Coachella this past spring. Small world. Apparently both bands gigged together some back in the day...what I wouldn't give to have been born a decade earlier...

Crush arrived while I was still at college. Appropriately, the CD was in fact crushed, the case cracked and the lower-right corner of the case broken off. Dismayed, I gave the seller some neutral feedback and threw the album on.

Holy shit.

Better than Home Again? It's sure as shit in the same league, at the very, very least. But here, most of the band's hardcore elements are completely stripped away. In their place? Pop. Outright, catchy-as-hell vocal harmonies even more accessible than on previous records. Polished guitar tone with just enough messiness in the playing to keep things loose and fun. This is a special record, and not like Home Again; Crush is a rare record: incredibly commercial, but entirely guilt-free. The Husker Du-influenced "honest" sound of Kastner and company's vocals are hardly gone, but soaked in just enough sugar.

There's not a bad song on the record. "Shine" kicks it off with a riff that, well, shines like the summer sun. The energy has nowhere to go but up on the chorus of "Melt"-- its soaring guitars beautifully juxtaposed with the slightly subdued but still active bass fuzztone of Peter Arsenault during the verses. "Disposable" briefly takes things down a notch with a tale of a girl who's "drunk again/on Listerine" and who's "just a toothpaste cap/falling down my bathroom sink." Another phenomal chorus. "Fix Me" explodes with a riff that hits you face first. It's also ripe for photogenic slo-mo headbanging in pop-punk. Don't take my word for it, watch below.


Note John singing the prechorus just before returning to headbanging.

You get all this awesome in just the first four tracks. There's still 2/3 of an album's worth of awesome left.

So go to eBay, sort through the dollar bins and find this record. It can easily be had for under five bucks.

I'll post a song or two soon, check back.

Their Presence is Unquestionable

Atheist were a Floridian technical death metal band and one of the first to incorporate jazz elements into their sound. Their first record, Piece of Time, was a ragin' disc of death/thrash and a very promising debut. The band really came into their own, however, on 1991's Unquestionable Presence. The only traditional death metal element present was Kelly Shaefer's rasp-- but even then, he was one of the more intelligible extreme vocalists of the era. Shaefer and Rand Burkey's guitars clashed over or played with the insane bass style of Tony Choy (who recorded the lines written by original, amazingly promising bassist Roger Patterson, the unfortunate victim of a tour van crash) and the jazzy, almost melodic drumming style of Steve Flynn.

The band reunited and played a whole bunch of festival appearances throughout 2006 and 2007. I was very fortunate to meet, see, and hang out with the guys (including live guitarists Sonny Carson and Chris Baker, filling due to Shaefer's carpal tunnel and Burkey's legal troubles) at their first US show in 13 years for Baltimore's 2006 Auditory Assault Fest. Great guys, amazing set, and overall one of the best nights of my life.

The interview I did with Steve, Kelly and Tony was first published in my school's newspaper, but as of this week it's been published in the fine, long-running metal/punk/grind zine Disposable Underground, written by Richard Johnson of grind 'n' rollers Drugs of Faith. Every single issue he's ever written can be downloaded in PDF form and is worth your attention if you're into any sort of extreme music. Back in the day, he did quality interviews with Carcass, Discordance Axis, Napalm Death, Gorguts, and a bazillion more. Richard will also send you a copy of the zine free of charge, should you want a print copy.

Back to my interview, though-- it's not my best piece, writing-wise. With that said, however, the band's answers are quite awesome and quite thorough. Have a read through some of Richard's stuff, too– he's a great journalist.

If you're scratching your head wondering what the hell jazz and death metal sound like when they're mixed, try their classic "An Incarnation's Dream" on for size.

Atheist- An Incarnation's Dream

Star Wars Can Be Mixed With Goddamn Near Anything And Still Rule