various artists - Mojo Presents: Studio One Selecter (The Originals)

There's still a lot of ink that could be spilled about Studio One and its heart, Coxsone Dodd. After all, do we music lovers elevate his name to the status of Berry Gordy, Jerry Moss, Jac Holzman, or Moses Asch? We should; Dodd gathered the legends for 20+ years and put them on wax, shared it all with the world to experience.

This sampler, assembled by Soul Jazz Records head Stuart Baker for Mojo back in 2005, eschews a lot of the expected hits ("Simmer Down" excepted) for a survey that spans the progression of JA music. Starting with the Skatalites and Delroy Wilson in 1964, moving to Jackie Mittoo and rocksteady, pop reggae with Lloyd Williams, then dub, roots, deejay, and lovers rock. It's a pretty grand spin any time of the year, but now, in late June, on the second-longest day of the year, I think it's perfection over 49 minutes.

Discogs

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various artists - Made In Britain: Mojo Presents The Sound Of A New England 1977-1983

"I don't want to change the world/I'm not looking for a new England/I'm just looking for another girl." What a perfect chorus. What a great song.

And this freebie, tacked onto the cover of September 2005's cover of Mojo Magazine, is chock full of songs like the Billy Bragg classic quoted above. Some, like "Too Much Pressure" or "The Modern World", are ones I've known by heart since long before this comp landed in my hands. Then there's deeper cuts, like the cuts from the Ruts and Soft Cell compiled here, that I came to when I finally landed myself copies of the full-lengths they originally appeared on. Then there's music from Alien Sex Fiend and the Meteors, who I'd never in a million years buy a record by. Yet, here, I found it all pretty compelling, which, knock ME over with a feather. Also, there's a Pop Rivets cut present. I probably should be a bigger Billy Childish fan.

The point? Ah, yes, the point. The point is that this 21-year-old is jam packed with pretty amazing 40+ year old songs, all of which where created by people who were in their early 20s, and probably just wanted to get laid and make music (not necessarily in that order). And that's pretty awesome for this old man. Just keep writing, keep chopping...you'll get there soon enough.

Discogs

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The Oakland Faders – Scion CD Sampler Vol. 12

I wish I came across more of these Scion A/V releases in the wild, because the rare times I cop them, they always bring me joy.

This twelvth volume in the hip automaker's promotional series is a mixtape from turntable collective Oakland Faders. They bring some great beats to this 68-minute mixtape, kicking things off with jazz-funk god Roy Ayers. This is a who's-who of mid aughts backpack hip-hop; everybody from Ghostface Killah and Talib Kweli to MF Doom and Lyrics Born show up. There's a 45 King track that locks in on me at minute five; DJs Shadow and Q-Bert also provide minute-long features that remind me why I continue to celebrate their catalogs. This one's just a good reminder of how creative things were in hip-hop 20+ years ago, and a perfect "drive around with the windows down" listen...as long as gas doesn't cost $5 a gallon.

Discogs

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various artists - Energizer Titanium Technology Presents

This sampler, a recent discovery in a tranche of the missus' CD collection, reminds me of Joston's sponsoring the validation sticker on Bart's Hullabalooza ticket on "The Simpsons". Like, what better way to show the kids your battery is the coooooooool battery than to sponsor a sampler of Island Def Jam's finest artists, circa 2005? Still, it's always big fun in my house when I discover an item that wasn't previously listed on Discogs, and this one fits. Add in tracks from Fall Out Boy, Thrice, and Juelz Santana, and this is legitimately a keeper.

Discogs

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various artists - Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

It feels weird to realize it's been 20 years since I last bought a Tony Hawk video game. But that fact dawned on me as I started writing up this soundtrack, which is the only thing I remember immediately about playing THAW on my 360. The soundtrack was released by Vagrant Records, and contains fourteen bands you'd associate with that era of mainstream punk rock, playing 14 classic punk and hardcore tracks. It's all very America-focused; the players drawn the the U.S., and the Buzzcocks the only band that didn't originate in the U.S.A.

So, is it any good, twenty years on? Well, there's a bunch of SoCal punk/HC represented: Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, the Adolescents, Fear, T.S.O.L., and Black Flag all have classic songs from their catalogs appear. And the bands performing those tracks sync up pretty well, with Alkaline Trio playing "Wash Away" and Senses Fail playing "Institutionalized". No surprises here...unless you're surprised that everyone acquits themselves pretty well. I mean, didn't Rise Against perform as Black Flag in a movie around this time?

It's on the less expected cuts that this becomes more than the sort of thing you'd get as a freebie at Warped Tour or a cheap-o sampler at Hot Topic. My Chemical Romance cover the Misfits' "Astro Zombies", which is very on the nose and yet still pretty great. Ditto to Fall Out Boy playing "Start Today" by Gorilla Biscuits, the only post-1986 song on the comp, and very well suited to a group of hardcore lifers who somehow put out #1 records in the aughts. Thrice squeeze two Minor Threat songs into their single track, the Bled (who I barely remember) play a deep cut Bad Trains track from "I Against I", and Thursday contribute the aforementioned Buzzcocks song, a very energetic "Ever Fallen In Love". My favorite remains Hot Snakes' cover of "Time To Escape", a Government Issue track originally released on "Joy Ride". It feels a bit incongruous for Mssrs. Froberg, Reis, Wood, and Rubalcaba to pop up here, just as it's an equally odd contribution catalog-wise, but, for me, it's a highlight. Not to mention it's the last song released by Hot Snakes for nearly 13 years.

To answer my earlier question: yeah, both in the rearview AND today, this is pretty decent. There are a couple of duds here (which I won't call out by name), but swap out the 2005 covers with the originals and it's not too far off from the mixtapes I skated to in 1993. Which seems to be the point of this soundtrack in the first place...to recall those pre-X Games years where you'd tear ass around town to build half pipes and ramps that might only last for a few days before getting torn down, soundtracked by tunes made by kids just like you. 

Discogs

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Daphne The Painted Lady - s/t

I turned this one up at a Value Village in September, mainly taken in by the handprint on the cover and lack of immediately-identifiable information online. This turned out to be a really fun discovery. This Los Angeles trio dates from around 2005 (aka the Myspace years), and plays a brand of indie pop along the lines of that dog., the Anniversary, or Karmella's Game. There's a few live tracks on YouTube, but, otherwise, the collected work of Emily, Laura, and Joe might be lost to the age, save for this post. So enjoy this one; it's a recording that should be remembered.

Discogs

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various artists - Beggars Group Spring 2005 AAA Radio Sampler

Two songs each from the National, the Mountain Goats, Stereolab, Natascha Atlas, and Electrelane, with a bonus cut from Scout Niblett. And if you're familiar at all with any of those bands, then you know what you're walking into here.

It's a pretty solid sampling I would have been happy to spin on the AAA radio format I DJ'ed for back in the 90s. I would have been stoked to play Stereolab instead of, I dunno, Dar Williams. And being of dad age, the National and Mountain Goats fit my demographic to a tee.

Discogs

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Re-up: Calico Ghost Town - demo

Re-up, 2025: I guess the link broke at some point, but Tracy very kindly checked in with a comment below requesting a re-up AND providing a clarification. Pretty cool to hear from old buds back east. Please disregard any references to Stephen Brodsky or Cave-In b/c, as Tracy notes, that was a different project all together. Still a great demo, and Tracy remains a super rad human!

Calico Ghost Town was a project band created by Tracy Wilson (ex-Dahlia Seed) and Stephen Brodsky (Cave In), where in they tape traded ideas and 4-track demos over the course of half a decade. While they never got an official release (not even artwork), they did get hosted on the Dahlia Seed website (sadly defunct now) for at least a couple years, where I very happily acquired them.

While most folks would probably snag these based on their Brodsky association, I held onto them because Tracy was always such a kind heart to me. I was working my first buying job back in the late 90s, and Tracy was my Caroline Distribution rep, so we'd end up chopping it up and talking about hardcore and emo. She was the cool older cousin who'd make me the occasional mixtape and make sure I got good promos, even though the chain I worked for never ever did any co-op with Caroline. Even a quarter century after the fact, it's still inspiration to share when I can.

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various artists - Art Of The Underground 2005 Sampler

It's 2005, and your faithful servant is a newlywed, trying and failing to make a go as an indie promoter in Baltimore and, in retrospect, in the throes of a major depressive episode that would wax and wane but never really go away until the start of Obama's first term. I was listening to a lot of what Alex Kerns was putting out on Art of the Underground. First amongst equals was the Buffalo trio Lemuria, formed by Alex with Sheena and Doug, with only a demo and 7" to their names but already grabbing my attention with their tuneful Superchunk-style punk. I also loved Out of Vogue and Robot Has Werewolf Hand, a pair of Buffalo local weirdo hardcore bands with 7"s out on the label.

All three appear on this sampler, a survey of the first dozen or so releases on AotU. They're joined by Erik Petersen, who made folk punk par excellence out of Philly, and Albany's Kitty Little, who had a pair of dudes from John Brown's Army making super fun indie rock. The rest of this didn't make much of an impact on me back then, but 20 years distance has refreshed my taste for mid-aughts DIY indie. I spun this one a few times after recently re-ripping it and thought, "yeah, this one's worth sharing."

Discogs

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various artists - CMJ Presents...Phase Five NZ Music Sampler 01

OK, so I have a gap when it comes to music from New Zealand. I know Flying Nun a bit, the Clean, the Dunedin sound. I think I owned a Chris Knox tribute CD long before I had a clue who he was. I am by no means an expert, or even possess intermediate knowledge. Hell, I have Music of New Zealand open on Wikipedia as I write this, just to have a point of reference. Like, I just learned that "How Bizarre" by OMC, a record I've never owned but whose black and white and red cover is burned into my brain by a million dollar bin encounters, is the best-selling New Zealand pop song of all time.

I'm guessing that was the whole point of the Phase Five series, a government-funded collection that ran 12 volumes from 2007 to 2009. This first one was a penny snag on eBay for me several months ago, but I think it fell behind a sofa cushion or something, b/c I only turned it back up this week. The Mint Chicks and the Phoenix Foundation are the big hitters here; both bands are the types of which I would have happily seen time and time again during tihs period. That's not to say that the other artists here are slouches. Pluto, Gasoline Cowboy, and Dimmer don't have great names, but I found their sampling of songs to be perfectly cromulent. Two songs each; if you get the CD, there's videos available also. It's a fitting relic of a pre-YouTube world, and a great use of national cultural funds.

Discogs

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various artists - Tomorrow Will Be Worse Vol. 4

Well, that was an unwelcome bit of news.

So why not wash the political developments of Tuesday out of your brain with the aptly-named fourth volume of "Tomorrow Will Be Worse"? A snapshot of the waning days of fastcore, featuring six bands from the US and Japan, this was the final volume of the influential series from Covington's Sound Pollution Records. And it captures one of my favorite eras of punk rock, chock full of blazing fast sounds, perfect for circle pitting and skateboarding and flipping the brim of your baseball cap up.

For me, Vöetsek is still the stand out here. This was Scotty Tankcrimes and Athena of Six Weeks Records, and if you know anything about the records they've put out, you know they have expert taste in punk rock. That doesn't diminish any of the other bands here. Orlando's RunnAmuckS is the other "big" name here; they are still playing out and releasing records (as of last year, at least). No Value, the Sprouts, and Fasts all hailed from Japan, and are all bands that I'd happily have bought 7"s from back then. Finally, there's Michigan's Threatener, featuring members of xBrainiax and Saturday Looks Good To Me, a combination of related bands that tickles me to no end.

You want the advice of a white cis male, speaking from a place of privilege? You cannot change the path of a nation. You can change the path of your town, your neighborhood, your street, your building. Take a little time over the coming days to think about what matters to you and how you can help build the world you want to live in. Or download this, turn up your speakers, and circle pit in your bedroom until you get dizzy and pass out. There's a fair chance I'll do both.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Southern Soul (15 Righteous Tracks)

The heat bubble has landed in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm currently sweating at 9:40pm-ish on a Sunday night, which seems quite unjust. After all, did we not move here to spend nine months out of the year in darkness and gloom, in damp and dank? I spent my childhood in the South, in 120% humidity, far away from any water. Just. Sweatin'. And hearing sweet, sweet soul music playing on a lot of radios.

Which leads me here, to this April 2005 giveaway from Mojo. Almost 20 years on, so many of these greats who then here are now gone: Tina Turner, Etta James, Little Milton, and Don Varner amongst them. Death comes for us all; I know this. But it really seems hard to believe that these giants no longer walk the Earth, that all I have left are increasingly soft-focus memories of backseat rides with the windows down, Sam & Dave playing on a tape deck, the smell of my granddad's Viceroy cigarettes and off-brand vodka and freshly tarred pavement.

The heat will break in a few days, the 90 degree noons disappearing for another year. And I'll file this one away in a box for storage for another decade or so. And all that will remain sharp are a few bars of the Mar-Keys, an Eddie Floyd chorus. And that's ok.

Discogs

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various artists - MLB: Music - Games - Baseball

Let me make this clear: this is probably one of the worst things I'll ever post here. But I stopped by one of my local favorite on Friday after work, ostensibly to pick up some massively discounted CDs during their moving sale. Mission accomplished: I grabbed this, a copy of Górecki's Symphony No. 3, and a few other things I didn't feel at all shy about paying 10 cents or so for. Total bill: $0.83 for four CDs, a cassette copy of Tori Amos's "Under The Pink", and something by Portland's the U-Krew. It's possible I thought I was buying a U-Men tape; who can say?

But this is a fucking tragedy. A sampling of songs that appeared in 2005's baseball video games, this is the worst of the worst walk-up music I've ever heard. Camden Yards was good for using old school hip-hop and contemporary garage rock for the likes of Larry Bigbie and Luke Scott. Why couldn't that taste translate to MLB Baseball 2005, or 2K5, or even Slugfest? Instead, there's a Nickleback signing, a couple of Christian rockers, and a Finnish symphonic metal band. None of this screams, "coming to the plate: Melvin Mora" to me.

I washed the taste of this one by ordering Scat's last in-stock copy of "Bee Thousand", and watching the Orioles take 2 of 3 from the Phils. Onward and upward.

Discogs

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various artists - Off Target: A Coalition Records Sampler

I've written a bit about a Coalition Records release before, but this sampler, which came out nearly 20 years ago, serves as a pretty great survey of what this Dutch label was. Inspired by the likes of Lärm and Seein' Red, Jeroen and Marcel helped set the trend for the turn of the century with a ton of über-fast hardcore releases. As the initial wave of power violence petered out, they then got weird with Mark McCoy and Nate Wilson in their post-Charles Bronson/Devoid Of Faith bi-continental outfit Das Oath.

It's tough to overstate how special the early aughts were for hardcore. There was still the cultural push against over-commodification, but that was running headlong into the possibilities, good and bad, of what the internet could be. The world was shrinking in a lot of good ways, to the point where it was easier to discover the more obscure parts of the scene than it'd ever been. But it still felt small; you felt like you could still be a part of it.

And that's what listening to this reminds me of. It's the first few years of the Art Space, bands coming from all over the world and playing in that dank-ass basement. It's Mark living in Tony's spare room for a few months...like, why did Mark McCoy even come to Baltimore? It's the natural progression from being pen pals, one letter at a time, to being email mates, sharing tips on what bands to check out and zines to read and, hey, did you check out this new website? It was a world of possibilities, in spite of 9/11 and the War on Terrorism and Bush's America.

I digress. Short/fast/loud. It's still pretty damn rad. And with 35 songs, a hell of a bargain, whether it's 2005 or 2024.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: I ❤ NY Punk!

Clear definitions meant a lot more when I was younger. A younger Ape would say, "hey, the ain't punk!" "These bands are from New York City!" "That wasn't part of the CBGB scene!" And I wouldn't have been wrong. Bad Brains and Stimulators probably hew closer to hardcore, Television, Blondie, the Contoritions aren't your typical "three chords and a holler" types. The Real Kids (Boston), Destroy All Monsters (Detroit), and Bad Brains (D.C.) all made their names outside of NYC. The New York Dolls, Mink Deville, and Suicide were Mercer Street and Max's Kansas City players long before "Punk" was a magazine, much less a genre. 

But I've grown into more of a "let people enjoy things"-type of person in my dotage. I don't have time to quibble; I just want to listen to the Dictators, the Heartbreakers, Jayne County, Suicide. If I do have a gripe, it's that a lot of these cuts are drawn from inferior live tracks; cheers to fair amount of ROIR representation, but I wanna hear the 1977 single version of "Rip Her To Shreds", not a version broadcast on TV in 2004. I suppose that's the price you pay to get that iconic Debbie Harry photo as a cover, and a collection of real solid songs from the first wave.

Discogs

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various artists - Get Up Kids Last Tour Sampler

This one's pretty straightforward, like a handshake from an Elk.

Back in the good ol' days of 2005, the Get Up Kids decided to call it a day.

They went out on a final tour (as was the custom at the time), taking some of their buds from Kansas out on the road with them.

The gang at Blue Collar Press put together this sampler, featuring each band on the tour plus Matt Pryor's new band for kids.

I presume this ended up in my collection as a result of Mrs. Mummy having attended at least one or two of those shows.

I've been listening to a fair amount of GUK's more contemporary work, so it made sense to me to share this with y'all.

See? Straightforward. Like the answer to the riddle "Would you eat the moon if it were made of spareribs?".

Discogs

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various artists - Thrasher Skate Rock Vol.12: Eat The Flag

It has not been a good day. Or week.

My living situation, never a bright spot in my life on even the best days, has turned very shit over the past 10 days or so. To make a long story short, there's a good chance that, in a week, we may be evicted. We're doing what we can do, which hopefully will take care of the current situation, but who knows? I live in a very expensive part of the country, so even finding a decent place to live going forward will be impossible. Add in a long-standing diagnosis of major depression, anxiety, ADHD, and a possible executive dysfunction disorder issue, and, yeah, things are pretty fucked.

So while I submit a ledger of rental payments and start browsing governmentjobs.com, I'll play this in the background, and harken back to the days where I didn't have to worry about much more than finding a decent curb to skate and not bailing. "Eat The Flag" was the first Skate Rock comp in 12 years, and the only one outsourced by Thrasher to a third party (the now mostly-deactivated Volcom Entertainment). As a result, this one feels a bit more Warped Tour adjacent than previous editions; no doubt, this is thanks to the presence of Alkaline Trio, Gnarkill, and Riverboat Gamblers. But make no mistake; this one is still bona fide. I'd argue it's more listenable than other editions. Pressing this on a DualDisc was an inspired choice for the era. Yeah, this content is probably on YouTube now, but 18 years ago? Slapping this one in your PS2 and hitting play to watch video of Duane Peters and Turbonegro fits really well with the whole premise of Skate Rock.

Discogs

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Razors Edge - MAGICAL JET LIGHT

Guys, if you like fast hardcore from Japan, then you're going to like this, Razors Edge's fourth full-length.

If you like this, then, well, there's other records I've also shared.

And if you don't like fast hardcore from Japan, well...get with the program.

Discogs

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Regulations - Regulations

Prelude: Today is the fifth anniversary of the last show at Charm City Art Space. It closed a year after I left Baltimore, replaced by a tattoo shop that I assume is still there (?). I've already written about them before; I'll write about them again. But seeing as how they were doing their second American tour behind this release when I saw them in 2007 at CCAS, I guess it makes sense to write about this now.

If you don't get revved up by the opening chords from Marcus Axelsson's guitar on "Anna's Eyes" from Regulations' self-titled record, then you probably don't like punk rock, and should probably just put this down.

Everybody associated with this record is on fire here. Regulations have really hit their stride here, channelling Dangerhouse Records through Umeå skatepunk. Dennis Lyxzén co-produced this slab with the band and released it on his Ny Våg Records; you may know him as the singer of Refused, the Lost Patrol/Invasionen, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, and AC4. This was a co-release in Europe with Kick N' Punch Records in Denmark, who also put out records from Amdi Petersens Armé, Gorilla Angreb, and Hjertestop (amongst others) over their 21 releases in the aughts. Felix von Havoc put this out on his eponymous Minneapolis label, in the middle of a year where he put out the second R.A.M.B.O. record, a pair of reissues from the Finnish hardcore band Riistetyt, and the second Kylesa record.

More than anything, it's this record, along with the "Electric Guitar" comp that came out around the same time, that got me paying much more close attention to European punk rock. It was such a good year both domestically and internationally, but 2005 was the first year I made a conscious effort to seek out European releases. At the time, I thought it was just because I was a newlywed living with my father-in-law to save money for a house I couldn't afford. Turns out I got a lot more out of that newfound interest in Swedish crust than I did out of the house.

Discogs

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various artists - Keats Rides A Harley

Nothing big going on today, right?

I went out to pick up food, prescriptions, and #0 mailers yesterday, and made a quick lil stop at a thrift store along the way. It's rare that I don't find something cool there, and this visit was no exception. There was a copy of this live U2 fan club release, a copy of the "Stand Alone Complex" soundtrack, and a couple of other things I'll end up putting up for sale online. Not a bad haul for $2 a CD.

But the find...THE FIND...was a reissue of one of those early 80s comps I've heard about for years and years, but never seen in real life until yesterday. "Keats Rides A Harley" originally came out in 1981 on the Urinals' Happy Squid Records. Hell of a lineup for 1981: the Gun Club, the Meat Puppets, Leaving Trains, 100 Flowers, and Toxic Shock (who became Slovenly) all appeared on this comp of SoCal (and one AZ) outsiders. It's not a particularly rare record; in the liner notes for the reissue, it's said that 2,000 12"s were pressed. But I'd never come across the LP or the CD reissue until now.

The reissue came a quarter century later, courtesy of Warning Label in Massachusetts. It was a wide expansion of the original record, with a second cut from each band on the original comp, as well as the first ever reissue of 1980's "The Happy Squid Sampler". This addition is cool for its additional Urinals song, an early iteration of Trotsky Icepick, and this really weird synth cut by Phil Bedel. It is, as one of my British friends would say, "a mad curious sitch". I appreciate its strong weirdo punk vibe; so different from what I'd anticipate hearing if I was handed another punk record from 1981.

This is the part of the blog where I'd tie everything I've just written with what's happening in the world today. All I have to say is, if you're an American and registered to do so, go vote today. Stand in line for a few hours. Tilt at the windmill that is our political system. Do it because it's one of the few choices you still have left. Like Ms. Apple once said, "This world is bullshit." Go with yourself. Be a goddamned oddball and make something happen, even if the results aren't immediate. Who knows? Maybe forty years later, someone will write about the little thing you did that had a real impact. Like a record, like a vote.

Discogs

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