various artists - No Idea & Fueled By Ramen: You Can Taste That Something "Special"

2001 was a very good year for music to come out of Gainesville. No Idea put out all-timers from Planes Mistaken for Stars, Ruination, Gunmoll, and celebrated their 100th release with a tri-colored slab of wax that I still love to pieces. Fueled By Ramen released Frodus's final full-length, EPs from Cadillac Blindside, the Impossibles, and Jersey, along with records from the Stereo and Blueline Medic. Trust me when I say these records were EVERYWHERE. And we were happy for it.

But I hadn't seen this sampler until I added a copy for less than a buck on a recent Discogs order. That blows my mind, considering how many goddamned copies of "Back To Donut!" I ended up owning over the years. The samplers I'd get with my No Idea orders were crucial not only for guiding my listening, but helping me decide what I wanted to book and travel to see over the next five years. So it seems really weird that I wouldn't have had a copy of this until 2026.

Discogs

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various artists - Round One: Rawkus vs. Astralwerks (Mixed by Q-Burns Abstract Message)

I have a special place in my heart for samplers like these. Most of them aren't nearly this good, nor are they constructed so well. The selections come from contemporary releases from Astralwerks and Rawkus, who both were on fire in 2001. The weak spot is Q-Burns Abstract Message, and his contribution isn't really bad at all. His mix isn't really more noticeable than beat matching and letting a sextet of big beat, house, and hip hop do its thing. If nothing else, this is a great excuse to really dig into the Rawkus catalog. Association with the Murdoch family aside, they put out some all-timers back in the aughts. I really should pull that Pharoahe Monch debut LP out and give it another spin.

Anyways, thanks POWERade for your off-brand rehydrating drink and Cornerstone for putting together the sampler. AND the digital camera you sent me in early 2002 for doing street team stuff in Baltimore. Love, me.

Discogs

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Pilot To Gunner - Games At High Speeds

At some point in the summer of 2000, Dave from the Oranges Band, who I knew through punk rock and would later work with at the Ottobar, informed me that TOB would be opening for Lifter Puller at Brownie's in NYC. Would I like to tag along? Of course I would; I was no dum-dum. To see Lifter Puller in their home away from home, at a classic indie club that I'd never visited before...well, that was a treat too delightful to pass up. So I wedged myself into their van's loft (hangers-on do not get a seat), and off we went to Manhattan.

Pilot To Gunner opened up that show, and I'd be lying if I said they made a major impact on me at the time. It was emo-derived indie rock, not so dissimilar from what was coming out on Equal Vision or Deep Elm at the time. I remember thinking they were probably on their first record with a major label, a la Jimmy Eat World or Shift. It wasn't until after their set, when I took a look at their merch table, that I discovered they were actually on Gern Blandsten, home to Rorschach, Chisel, Native Nod, and a bunch of other North Jersey/ABC No Rio hardcore and hardcore-adjacent outfits. I wished I'd paid more attention, I thought, right up until the Oranges Band started their set.

This one would get reissued by Rykodisc under their Arena Rock imprint, alongside Pilot To Gunner's second full-length. I uncovered my CD copy, obtained sometime before 9/11, just recently, gave it a spin, and found it a perfectly reasonable flash back to the days when I was physically able to fit within a 24" tall space for 3 hours to go see a band. This is a pretty good one, it turns out.

Discogs

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various artists - Clancy Eccles' Reggae Revue At The V.I.P. Club (1970-1973)

This third release of Clancy Eccles'-produced reggae from Jamaican Gold is more historical curiosity for me than quality archival release. But you'll get boss sounds from Lord Creator and Third World, a few more Dynamites contributions, and Tyrone Taylor covering a Sly & The Family Stone classic, inna reggae style. And the liner notes are pretty damned fantastic. So ignore the graphic design that is better suited for a truck stop rack of greatest hits in the aughts, and give this one a spin. Satisfy your curiosity and scratch your reggae itch.

Discogs

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various artists - Clancy Eccles' Rock Steady & Reggae Revue At The Sombrero Club (1967-1969)

I long ago reached that stage in my collecting where if it looks interesting, and it's cheap, I'm guaranteed to buy it, no matter the presumed quality. So it was that I turned up a dollar copy of this last year while I was digging through an otherwise-boring pile of 90s pop and alternative CDs. Of course Clancy Eccles' name is going to stand out to me. And if it ends up being a bunch of lo-fi live recordings from the dawn of reggae? All the better.

Not so fast, reggae fans. These actually seem to be a bunch of super-deep Eccles-produced cuts from 1967 to 1970, a number of which hadn't been collected in 2001. The first of four volumes that would emerge on the Dutch Jamaican Gold label in 2001, what's great about this is being able to listen to the mutation from rocksteady into reggae, and to hear someone like Lee "Scratch" Perry performing in front of a group of artists who you otherwise wouldn't associate him with. There are other names who I own a bunch of records by: Alton Ellis, Busty Brown, and Theophilus Beckford. And a few that I've never encountered before. It's all tied together with the backing of the Dynamites, augmented by folks like Jackie Mittoo, Lyn Taitt, and Ernest Ranglin. This was a welcome discovery in the dollar bin, and a perfect play when it's in the 30s outside, even on a cloudless day.

Discogs

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various artists - O Melhor Da Bossa Nova

Just kinda picked this up on a whim a few months ago, and it's been hanging around my "Share" folder for a while, so, here you go. Three discs of Brazilian bossa nova, liberally salted with songs both performed by and written by ol' Tom Jobim. Enjoy your weekend.

Discogs

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various artists - Gern Blandsten: The First Nine Years

Gern Blandsten was one of my favorite labels of the 90s and aughts. Along with labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, Lengua Armada, and Gravity, the records Charles Maggio put out made up the deep underground of my teens and early twenties, a very strong counterpoint to the punk from Epitaph and Fat that was creeping above ground, or even the sounds bubbling out of Revelation or Victory. In short, when I picked up a Rorschach record, a Native Nod 7", or a Chisel release, I knew it was something very distinctive from anything I'd turn up at a Borders or Sam Goody. And, like all the great HC labels of the 80s, it was very locally focused and made up of friends all growing together. This was achievable and approachable.

This survey works back through the history books, leading off with the likes of Radio 4, the World / Inferno Friendship Society, and Ted Leo, all of whom would gain greater acclaim post-9/11. Dälek's hard progessive hip-hop flows into the Yah Mos big, emotive hardcore sound which flows into the math rock of the Impossible Five. By the final third of this sampler, the listener is back in the ruins of ABC No Rio and the basements of north New Jersey, mixing Weston's pop punk with the Dischord-colored post hardcore of Garden Variety and the proto-screamo of Native Nod. These bands were all on the same bills together; it was all punk, and it was a great time to see six wildly different musical styles for $6 in a high school gym or a church hall.

Discogs

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The Afrika Korps - Music To Kill By

I wouldn't typically dive into KBD territory, but having gotten this 2001 reissue for a fantastic price a bit ago, I couldn't resist sharing it. The Afrika Korps were a DC-area proto-punk/garage band active in the late 70s. When I first encountered them, it was along with other pre-Dischord punks like the Slickee Boys White Boy, and the Chumps on mixtapes and comps like "30 Seconds Over DC". It was all more new wave than hardcore, which meant I wasn't going to dig it until I was older, but tracks like "N.Y. Punk" and "Jailbait Janet" appealed to me in that scuzzy way that Iggy and Turbonegro did. The older I get, the more I dig it.

This reissue came out on the esteemed, long-lived Gulcher Records of Bloomington, Indiana back in '01, It's topped off with a slew of outtakes from their initial recording sessions, and four tracks from a 1977 show at Cantone's in Boston. This would be followed up a year later with the complete Cantone's set, a 2005 reissue of the Korps' second LP "Hellow World". cBased on how much I dug this one, I'll no doubt be following the link above to pay full freight on those two discs in due time.

Discogs

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unknown artist - Rude & Crude Sound Effects

It's the end of the year, the last post, so why not have something stupid you can use to fill out your mixes in 2025? I bought this solely for track #11, "Bunch Of Perverts". I had to know what a bunch of perverts sounded like.

Although this is also worth downloading for "Baby Farts In The Bath", "Elephant Fart", "Marv Albert Bite", and "Pooh Pooh Man 2". Realistically, these are as creatively named as any Anal Cunt record you may come across.

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various artists - Sympathetic Sounds Of Detroit

It was Meg White's 50th birthday a few weeks ago, and it reminded me of the first time I heard the White Stripes. And the Dirtbombs. And Clone Defects, Bantam Rooster, the Detroit Cobras.ymp

It was 2001's "Sympathetic Sounds Of Detroit", compiled, produced, recorded, and mixed by Meg's "husband" and bandmate, the former Doc Gillis. If the goal was to put together a humdinger, then consider it a success. Longtime readers can guess which bands I favor here, but there's not a dud in the entire bunch. Even someone like the Von Bondies, who I otherwise never dug, really bring it on "Sound Of Terror".

(It's the Dirtbombs and D.C.'s, for the record.)

Discogs

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various artists - Bifocal Media: Kampai Compilation

The Bifocal Media folx have always had my admiration, as well as a fair amount of my punk rock dollars, over the 20+ years I've been aware of them. I first crossed their paths with their first release, a video zine called "The Actuality of Thought" that I picked up at Reptilian and had the likes of Piebald, Braid, and Spazz on it. 'Twas a murderers row of what was punk in 1998, and a great way to get introduced to the bands I'd obsess over for the next half-decade.

They showed up in my life a few years later as they shot thousands of feet of digital video in suburban Detroit at the last Michigan Fest. Jamie and I drove out from Baltimore to rep for Oxes, to see Hot Snakes live (they weren't going to play east of the Mississippi ever!), and to interview a bunch of bands for my radio show. We watched John from Sweep the Leg Johnny climb into a drop ceiling and fall into the crowd during "Bloodlines", Vaz clear the room in a mid-afternoon noise set, hung out with Death Cab for Cutie. And the Bifocal crew was there to document it all.

These North Carolina dudes didn't just record the turn of the century punk rock scene on video. They also put out a bunch of great, under-recognized records, headlined by the Ladderback and Goner from Raleigh. Their first and only comp, "Kampai", came in 2001. It had an early appearance from future legends Strike Anywhere; the White Octave, featuring Stephen from Cursive, also had just released their first record on Deep Elm in past year. Serotonin, Crash Smash Explode, Secret Life of Machines, and Legend Of The Overfiend would all release records with Bifocal during the label's 11-year existence. As they write on the discography page for "Kampai", this was Bifocal Media's contribution to the Great Compilation Pile of the Late Nineties/Early Aughts.

While they haven't released a record in (checks Discogs) fifteen years (!!!), Bifocal Media stays incredibly active with their limited edition t-shirt collabs. I own a bunch of these, and they are both comfy AND fashionable. It's a great way to pick up a Thomas Hazelmyer, a Chris Shary, a Brian Walsby and wear it around town. I say, check 'em out.

Discogs

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Ladd

various artists - Select Cuts From Blood & Fire

I feel bad that I missed my last posting slot. Outside of my professional life, I tend towards not being disciplined. So it's important to me that I follow through when I commit to doing something; whether that's posting twice a week, or following my Reminders app religiously, or just being on time. And when I fall short, it stings, no matter how banal or unimportant in the greater scheme that task might be.

But I don't feel that bad.

Now that that's out of the way: on to the music. In this case, it's a cheapy pickup from eBay. Whenever I see "Blood & Fire" on a record, my brain perks up. I'm a huge fan of what the now-defunct Mancunian reissue label put together during it's 15-some-odd year history. And when I can snag one of their out-of-print releases for a buck or two, all the better. So a late night scroll turned this guy up without an awful lot of information. I didn't consider cross referencing what this was on Discogs; it was going for $1 plus shipping, fer Crissake! Just pull the trigger.

So I did, and it arrived, and I was pleasantly surprised. Select Cuts was a sub-label of noted remixers Echo Beach, It paired contemporary artists with older catalogs and let them go off with remixes. The results, as I've come to discover, are pretty solid. There are names I know (the Orb, Stereo MC's, Transglobal Underground) remixing artists I love (Horace Andy, King Tubby, the Congos). Simple as.

This isn't something I would have ever sought out, but it's something I'm happy I stumbled across. Rabbit Rabbit, everyone.

Discogs

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unknown artist - Science Fiction Sounds

I'm grumpy, because I'd rather be watching "Aliens" for the millionth time instead of "Trixie Motel" Season Two. That's not very on brand for Pride Month, but I was a sci-fi dork long before I knew what an "ally" was and the parades were family friendly. And now I'm getting yelled at for not realizing that Trixie and David's new porch was flooding, and thinking Mrs. Mummy was talking about friends of ours back East.

So here's a CD's worth of "pew pew" and "zoom" sounds. I'm not sure where or when I picked this up, but it's the rare item in my collection that isn't on Discogs and that I haven't added myself. I guess I couldn't see the appeal in typing 70 tracks worth of titles.

Click here to download.

various artists - Troubleman Mix-Tape

I look at this and think of the old adage, "How you goin' to keep 'em down on the farm when they've seen the big city?"

How are you going to keep the kids from getting even freakier with their sound after they've been on the bleeding edge for years? When they've gone off to college and broken edge and read Baudelaire and taken modern lit and political science and moved past three chords and the truth?

You can't. You never have been able to. It's how we got this comp, 52 tracks from folks who had populated your 7" collection back in the 90s but were ready to reintroduce disco and no wave and free jazz as the  new century dawned and before the world went to shit, all filtered through this lens of basement shows and fanzines. DIY as an ethos, art as a goal. Tell the story however you think fits the moment.

It absolutely shows that it took Mike S. 4 years to put this one together, because it is more than a kwal-lit-tee compilation. It's a perfect mixtape.

Discogs

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various artists - Japan For Sale Vol. Two

If Japan is for sale, then I guess I'm buying.

I've been on a buying spree lately. I found a few solid penny CD auctioneers on eBay, plus I'm still in the thrift stores 2 or 3 times a week. It's made a bit of a dent in the bank account, so I think it's probably tijme to cool it, at least thru the end of the year. I have a ton to listen to, a ton to box up; no need to add to it unless it's the deal of the century.

Or I can just recognize that I treat anxiety with retail therapy sometimes.

ANYWAY...

I copped this one for less than a buck on the basis of it having POLYSICS and Puffy Amiyumi on the comp and some very fun Shag artwork, Clearly, it doesn't take much for me at that price point. But here's the second of four snapshots of the SonyMusic Japan family at the turn of the millenium. This one's fascinating to look back at, especially with how strong a force K-pop is now around the world. It makes me wonder how such a diverse music culture fell out of view.

Shit, I'm probably just musing on account of subscribing to Crunchyroll and watching a bunch of anime.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Flying Side Kick: Home Alive Compilation II

I hope it's not too obvious that I'm burning off the rest of the comps on my Kraken so I can start fresh once they're all gone.

Shit, I queered the deal.

Today, I learned that Home Alive ended as a non-profit back in 2010, but still teach self-defense here in the Seattle area. I'm glad to hear it.

This was one of the first times I heard the Gossip, Dead Moon, Clarissa's Wierd. I bought it mostly to benefit the non-profit, but it opened me up to a few incredible bands.

Discogs

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various artists - Farewell Fondle 'Em

I've been listening to this at work and in the car a lot lately; possibly making up for not having owned a copy until late in 2022. Someone dropped a stack of millennial backpack hip-hop off at the thrift store near my gig right before Christmas. I took full advantage and took it all home.

This one celebrates Bobbito, whose late 90s radio show with Stretch Armstrong remains a high water mark for hip-hop, and his Fondle 'Em record label. In five years, Fondle 'Em helped break MF Doom, MF Grimm, Cage, the Arsonists, and Yak Balls. It served as the spiritual predecessor for Def Jux and offered a home to rare KMD recordings and an outstanding Kool Keith/Godfather Don collaboration (the Cenobites). In short, everything Bobbito put out was the balls.

This here is a mad solid sampling of what came out between '95 and '00. I'd love to be able to sit here and say I was totally juiced in and collecting everything Fondle 'Em put out. But you can probably guess, by looking what I write, that it was a lot of 80s hardcore, a not small amount of modern indie rock, and the occasional Rawkus release at the time.

Better late than never, I suppose.

Discogs

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various artists - Farm Sanctuary Benefit Compilation

Clearly, it bothers me that this record is old enough to drink legally. Although, it won't, what with the sXe representation present herein.

Anyhow, it's a nice slice of East Coast DIY, circa 2001, courtesy of the Mountain Collective, home to the bleeding edge of hardcore, screamo, crust, and other far-out version of punk as diametrically opposite from the contemporary Warped Tour paradigm as the Guardian is from the New York Post. How's that for an evocative sentence.

Here's to taking bands like Frail seriously, to coming up with ways to help an urban garden thrive, to scratching a handgrip into that hundred-foot wall you've been screaming at for years, hoping it'd fall. If demolition doesn't work, erosion will.

Discogs

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various artists - Supersonic Sounds from the "Fuck You" Movement

When I was a wee slip of a youth, full of piss and vinegar but still discovering myself and what my taste was, I picked up a comp tape from the counter of the local Record & Tape Exchange. I think I snagged it because one of my classmates' bands had a pair of songs on it. Very heady stuff at the age of 16...I knew people who made records!

It was all Roanoke bands, circa 1992-94, and while I've misplaced the tape, and no one's every listed it on Discogs, it was the first time I'd heard Swank, a ska-punk band of some renown who'd eventually put out a pair of recordings on the pre-Fall Out Boy version of Fueled By Ramen. It was also the first time I'd encounter Suppression, local audio terrorists who broke my brain more than just a little bit. How the hell was I supposed to get anything out of the Dave Matthews Band or Metallica or the goddamned Red Hot Chili Peppers when I'd just gotten my first sip of grindcore?

I wasn't aware of it immediately, but Suppression had a label they self-released on called Chaotic Noise Productions (C.N.P., as the literature goes). And while I never targeted their records, I ended up with more than a few over the years. From early cassette releases like the Cripple Bastards comp and the Agoraphobic Nosebleed demo to something more recent like the "Eardrill" comp tape, I'd cop something because I heard it'd be strong and extreme, I'd open it up, get my mind melted, then see that mailing address of Roanoke, then late Richmond, VA.

This one came out in 2001, during what might be called "the middle period" of C.N.P. The only release from the label that year, it's a goddamned cacophonous comp, featuring a bunch of noisy motherfuckers just going for it. When the most conventional track comes from Charm City Suicides ("covering" Reagan Youth), you know you're in for something nearly opposite a Def Jam street sampler or the current NOW! comp. There's a pair of Kojak tracks, a quartet of Suppression cuts, a little something from Bastard Noise that clocks in at (checks track length) 9 minutes?!? There's a monkey man making a man monkey suck his banana on the cover. This isn't for kids, ya know?

One last anecdote: P.C.P. Roadblock contribute three songs here, just one of a handful of appearances they made on aluminum, wax, or magnetic tape during their existence. I don't recall the other bands on the show, or even the instigating circumstances, but I remember them playing the most antagonistic set I've ever seen in my life at the old Ottobar, ending with at least two band members getting kicked to the floor during their set, and a Rubbermaid trash can getting lobbed at them. There's nothing really to take away from that, other than to note that's what you're getting yourself into here.

Discogs

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The Stuck Ups - The Stuck-Ups

I'll keep this quick, as the dog will only lay in my lap for so long without being petted.

The Stuck Ups were a turn-of-the-millenium garage punk quartet from Seattle who did two full-lengths for Long Gone John, as well as making an appearance on "Dirtnap Across The Northwest". This, their first LP, is a pretty damned good release from the mid 600's of the Sympathy catalog, slotted right between "White Blood Cells" and "Lack Of Communication". It's a relic of that time when stripped down punk and power pop was getting a lot of well-deserved attention from the general music-buying public. Salad days, my friends.

The dog stirs. Back to my official duties.

Discogs

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