The Lost Patrol Band - s/t

While I think it'd be terribly presumptuous to say Tony Pence is one of my top bros, he's absolutely on my Top 5 List of Musical Gurus. I can run a finger along a rack of CDs or box of 7"s at the house, and at least 30% were purchased as a result of something he's played me, or name-dropped, or pointed out in a zine. I had a dream about owning a record store; he went out and actually opened it. A good dude with impeccable taste...which is why I like to bring him toys.

Case in point: the Lost Patrol Band. There's a good chance I would have come to find these cats eventually. But shortly after he opened Celebrated Summer, I paid Tony a visit, and he was playing this. Great guitar pop? You betcha. Ex- & current members of damned near every great Swedish punk rock band? Absolutely, kitten. I had to have it. But what would stand in my way? It turned out some legal troubles over the band name led to the entire catalog being taken out of print. A low down dirty shame. But no Wayans project ever stood in my way. I pinned this butterfly down in a 3rd floor walkup in Pittsburgh last year. Asking price? $6. Beautiful.

/just finished watching The Kid Stays In The Picture










The Lost Patrol Band - s/t
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: tight jeans, "Who Put The Bomp?", stripes

Fighting Dogs - 2005 summer tour pre-release CD

(photo courtesy of the Fighting Dogs Myspace page, no credit available)

I'm rather disgusted with myself, having traded in a copy of "The Office" UK Complete Series (amongst other, lesser things) towards a copy of Transformers (amongst other, lesser things). So enjoy some late-night Philly crust, courtesy of Fighting Dogs. The crustier things in life are generally slept on here in the Mummy house. Could it be that I spent the first two years of my Baltimore punk rock being lorded over by worthless crust punx (coughCrassholecough)? No wonder I turned out a money grubbing sellout!

That said, I like this record. It's a little more Motorhead and a little less (insert generic D-beat band). I also like this because:

1. It came with a sticker.
2. It came in an envelope.
3. The songs here have mad swagger. Not like cock diesel false bravado...more like "Man With No Name"/light a match on your cheek confidence.
   
4. It was sealed with wax, a most excellent old-timey method of afixation.
5. It cost me $2 when I bought it in the fall of 2005. Hooray thriftiness! You've never let me down!
   

Fighting Dogs - 2005 summer tour pre-release CD
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: when I make Clint Eastwood references

The Fall-Outs - s/t

(photo of Zaak and Dave stolen from the Fall-Outs MySpace page)

Every town, no matter what year it is, has an outfit like this. There's this lyric in "Northern Industrial Town" by Billy Bragg that reads, "And on payday, they tear the place down/With a pint in your hand, and a bash 'em out band." Whenever I hear that song (which never fails to choke me up), I think of the Fall-Outs.

I really want to say that this is a record Greg Wunder put me onto when I was 19, but I didn't get hip until I was working with Mark Rigby at Reptilian. Tres trashy garage rock from Seattle. I believe Estrus put out two more records of Sonics-styled guitar rock that I just didn't dig on quite as much. I thought it was very cool that it looks like these guys are still around, playing gigs and probably rocking it harder than most of the kids out there.

I'm pretty stoked that it looks like I'll be able to get my turntable fixed within the week. What does that mean for you, fair reader?

• More semi-obscure 7"s from the dollar bin!
• Cruddy, totally scratched LPs from my wife's collection!
• Thrills, chills & spills!
• A more complete use of the "bullets" function!

Playlist: Listening to Matt & Kim right now. Downloaded the new Regina Spektor yesterday. Also digging on the Carbonas LP, Psyched to Die 7" & what little Narrows product I've managed to download for free.










The Fall-Outs - s/t
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: Nuggets, Conrad Uno, rotting wood in the rain

Beastie Boys - Aglio e Olio

(mmm, this looks so tasty, I think I'll make a plate)

I've been revisiting a lot of records recently that I originally picked up when I was 17 & 18. Whether this is a piss-poor attempt to recapture a last vestage of youth, or a shot at discovering what makes such recordings special in retrospect is beyond me. All I know is that I was so psyched when this record came out. You might say I was "sic-ced". I remember running into Kris Bartfeld the week Best Buy opened in Bel Air and being 3 pounds of stoked that they stocked Aglio e Olio, and I could get it for $5.00

The short story here is that the Beastie Boys released this eight song 12" on the heels of their 1994 masterpiece, Ill Communication. "Aglio e olio" is a deliciously simple pasta dish from northern Italy, if memory serves. Although AeO now sounds to me like it has more in common with Helmet than with Bad Brains, it was their return to their hardcore roots. The 18-year-old me & the 31-year-old me agree: if I were in a band, this is the cover set I'd do for Halloween this year.










Beastie Boys - Aglio e Olio
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: Pumas, fixed-gear bikes, the New York Thrash comp

Re-up: Sweep the Leg Johnny - 4.9.21.30

(I really can't remember where I stole this from)

(Re-upped. The first post from last year, now reavailable for your downloading pleasure.)

So I'm dating this girl. She's a riot grrl in 1997, so that should tell you something right off the bat. Or maybe not. But she & I get along swimmingly. We both live about 15 minutes from the Pennsylvania border in Maryland. We have a lot to do, but we spend most of our time making mix tapes for each other, hoping on the hood of my Grand Prix and shouting "Anarchy" and going to DC for shows. After all, the Ottobar was newly open, Memory Lane was a distant memory and the only thing Fletcher's was good for was the occasional H2O show.

She & I drive into DC to see Sleater-Kinney for the first time. We trek down to the old Black Cat, me terrified someone is going to break into the Grand Prix. It's probably the month Dig Me Out comes out, so we are fucking down for the show. I think Versus opened. Wow, they sucked. I'm not feeling it at all. Neither of us is legal drinking age, and if memory serves, there was no re-entry that night, so we both hawk the merch stand, furiously puffing cigarettes like only 20-year-olds can.

(Now that I think about it, maybe it was 1998. I definitely seem to recall drinking a beer.)

(But I digress.)

We end up behind the soundbooth, trying to talk over whatever P.A. music happened to be on. She had seen a flier for Fugazi's annual Fort Reno show, and we quickly made plans to attend. The music changes on the P.A. A marching band beat quietly plays. A guitar drops in for 8 bars, maybe 12. Then...fury.

"What the fuck is this?" I ask her. A shrug.

Stop. Start. Weird time signatures. Whispery vocals that barely raise over the driving rhythm. For a kid raised on harDCore and John Coltrane, this was a revolution.

"Seriously, have you ever heard something like this before-" and then I'm cut off by this skronky saxophone. And Mr. Whisper is hollerin' over the beat, and I really want to break a window out. That's how tightly by the throat this track has grabbed me.

I lean in to the soundguy. "Sorry to bug you, man," laying on my best impression of a hipster. "What is this you're playing?"

"They're called Sweep the Leg Johnny. I think they're from Chicago or something."

And that was the first time I heard Shower Scene.

I got to see StLJ live twice: once at the Ottobar, on a bill with Yaphet Kotto, the Exploder & League of Death; and out at the last Michigan Fest, where they were one of three reasons I drove halfway across the country for a show. I've heard them described as math-rock, but they always struck me as a little too aggressive for that tag.

Enjoy the reason I started this blog.


Sweep the Leg Johnny - 4.9.21.30
(click the record to DL)

RIYL: Ornette Coleman, Swing Kids, Don Caballero