various artists - This Comp Kills Fascists Volume 2

The follow up to 2008's "Volume 1", this one matches the intensity of its predecessor, and, frankly, is needed now more than ever. This one has homeys from back home on it: Triac, Drugs of Faith, and Strong Intention were regulars on bills I booked and shows I attended. There are true heavyweights present as well, with Apartment 213, Despise You, Vöetsek, and Lack of Interest all turning in superior offerings. It was my first exposure to Hummingbird of Death and Marion Barry. They still get turned up and blasted hard whenever they come on the old headphones at work orat work. Put this on and bash a fash.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - This Comp Kills Fascists, Vol. 1

I had intended this to be posted on Monday, January 20th, but having a move thrust upon me kind of threw things out of whack, Instead, you get a a few days late.

It's taken forty-seven years, but I can wrap my brain around why someone might embrace fascism. And by "someone", I mean a normal human. A person who 30 years ago might have resided firmly in the middle class. That stability no longer exists. The world has gotten faster, the sensory input amped up, and still no answers present themselves. In the ensuing madness, I can understand why anyone might turn to a strongman, someone providing easy solutions to difficult challenges. Fuck the immorality or cognitive dissonance that comes along with accepting giving in; the trains might run on time, and you might get a deserved bite of the apple, a taste of the good life that you've been told is your birthright.

But it's all bullshit. It always has been, and, especially now, it will continue to be. After all, I lived through 2017 to 2021. I remember what has already happened; I can anticipate what will come.

A lesson I took from a life in punk rock is that you can do it yourself. You can start your own band. You can release your own record. You can publish your thoughts. You can create and distribute and connect and evolve. The scale is irrelevant. Whether you make 25 copies of a fanzine, or you start a mutual aid society in your town, you reject the dominant message that you cannot and embrace the message that you can.

i guess what I'm getting at here is that this is not a time for whining, or despair, or surrender. It's a time for regroup and realign. Figure out what sort of world you want to live it, and set about creating it. I promise there are others who feel the same way, and want to help. What your President, your MP, your Premier, your Prime Minister, and the men who back them, doesn't change what you can do at home.

Anyway, here's a comp from 2008, embracing Conflict's message to see who's who. Let's not be afraid to fight for a better world with this as part of the soundtrack.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Ugly Music...For Ugly Minds

Another Sunday has come, and I have nothing in the queue, so let's fall back to an old favorite.

Relapse has ALWAYS had samplers worth holding onto. There are bands who I've never owned a record but, yet I can still still recall the samples used or the opening blast beat or riff from their track on "Spectrum Fest" or "Fast Forward" or "Contaminated". These led to my first exposures to Merzbow, Human Remains, Repulsion, and Benümb. I'm lucky that it expanded my mind and didn't melt my brain.

"Ugly Music...For Ugly Minds" finds Relapse celebrating its Sweet 16 with the sort of eclectic roster that we'd all come to know and love by that point. There were doom metal pioneers Pentagram, label mainstay Bongzilla, soon-to-be-major-label-megastars Mastodon, and the late, great Nasum; all names well known in the metal underground. But there were also contributions from also long-time Pittsburgh math rockers Don Caballero, Seattle thrashers Zeke, and techy instrumentals from Dysrhythmia and Zombi. There's an obligatory Dave Witte appearance in the form of southern "supergroup" Birds of Prey. In all, it's 19 tracks worth of the sort of sounds that are still well worth the $5 or so I'm sure this retailed for.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - The U.S. Of Oi! (+6 Bonus Tracks)

I found this one sitting in the midst of a clearance section in a Half Price Books a few years back, and actually debated for a minute spending the $2.99 it would cost me. B/c, to be fair, Oi! in the late 80s could lean a bit dodgy. But I'm glad I snagged it, and generally surprised this has never had a more recent reissue, shitty cover and all.

This is the 1993 CD reissue on Step-1, featuring the original 1988 Link tracks, as well as six additional cuts. What's on it? "U.S. of Oi!" starts with a classic Warzone track, then follows it up with Atlanta's Moonstomp. There's three songs from Youth Defense League, all coming from the same time period as their track on "New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is". Anti-Heros and the Kicker Boys, also coming out of Atlanta (Oi!-lanta?), contribute tracks from their 1988 LPs on Link, while the Uprise, Immoral Discipline, and the Bootboys all chime in with bops from their respective demos and 7"s from the time. The bonus tracks include tracks from Uprise-related bands the Mad Hatters and Boneshakers, as well as Detroit's Grievance Committee.

It's 21 boot blasts total, lager fueled and an under-heard classic. If you're a student of the mid- to late-80s American Oi! scene, you probably already own this, or the source material for a lot of these tracks. But it you're like me, someone who's curious what was happening in DC at the same time as Revolution Summer, or alongside the youth crew revival in NYC, this is a record worth checking out.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Fighting Dogs - s/t

I wrote about Fighting Dogs all the way back in 2009, and have been sitting on this, their first and only full length, for about five years. So, in the spirit of clearing the decks, here you go: a quite good hardcore-bordering-on-crust record out of Philadelphia, circa 2004. Two thirds of this lineup played in R.A.M.B.O., as well as Virginia Black Lung, which is how I came to check out Fighting Dogs in the first place.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Jimmy Smith - Prime Time

Jimmy Smith had just crossed 60 when he cut this slab of hard bop in Hollywood in 1989. That's probably the most "Downbeat" sentence I'll ever write.

On a scale of listenability, it's in the lower range. I'll listen to this less than, say, "Maiden Voyage", but I'll listen to it more than "Love Scenes"

Dare I say this is a perfectly cromulent record?

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - The Philadelphia Sound

One of my favorite 10" releases of all time. Purchased mostly for the two early-era Paint It Black tracks, kept for the early exposure to Dave Hause (via the Curse). The Knives Out cuts also slap, and I remember very little of the Go! For The Throat songs, but, hey, six out of eight is a pretty damned good percentage.

I remain pretty sad about the fate of the CD sampler/benefit compilation/scene report. There's really no reason to put the work in to compile something like this, not when Spotify playlists seem to be what a lot of folks would rather listen to. "The Philadelphia Sound" remains a really cool snapshot of where things were just north of me in my mid-20s, highlighting the bands we'd host every weekend, or trek up I-95 to go see on our days off.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Paint It Black - demo

I think I got this at Paint It Black's second show; a last-minute addition to a Baltimore matinee that I wasn't working, but if it was on a Saturday, I was almost certainly going to attend, regardless of the lineup. Checking out Dr. Dan and Dave's post-Kid Dynamite band ended up being the focus of a day that, if faltering memory still serves, was otherwise full of mediocre mosh metal. It was a bonus that Andy Nelson from Affirmative Action Jackson was in the band, too.

There was a ton of good stuff happening in Philadelphia at the time, and this demo still reminds me why we'd drive up I95 for shows. Lots of dudes consistently topping their earlier bands and riding a cresting wave of DIY into greater attention. THIS is what I wanted to hear.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Midiron Blast Shaft - Igneous Assertions

I'm pretty certain that Friday show was the first time I had seen Pg. 99, Pig Destroyer, and Midiron Blast Shaft. I don't think there were more than 75 people at either show. Chew on that for a second.

I dashed off a quick post about my favorite forgotten Reptilian band, Midiron Blast Shaft, almost 12 years ago on the heels of my next door neighbor setting his house on fire with a lit cigarette, rousing my ex-wife and I from a sound sleep and into the yard for 3 hours. Thankfully, my justification for revisiting this, the first Midiron Blast Shaft record, is simply the entire world sick and/or on fire. Great timing.

Chris X always had a soft spot for noisy bands from his hometown of Philadelphia, and this quartet of wig-wearing guitar humpers fit the bill to a T. There's some tasty Shellac worship at play here on their first album, along with the barely-intelligible vocals that were Midiron's trademark. The songs here are pretty straightforward compared to "Starts Fires In Your Pants"; it sounds a lot more Ink & Dagger than it does Cherubs, but it's still pretty damned good. There's enough sexy in these jams to make you want to sniff a couple poppers and get wild in a bathroom stall.

The Midiron Blast Shaft tree takes some interesting turns after their 2002 break-up. Members would spin off into Fight Amputation and Gunna Vahm, and would later turn up in Philadelphia's Faking, who've been making some pretty bad-ass noise rock of their own in recent years. At any rate, if you're feeling this, you absolutely should snag their second and finest record, "Starts Fires In Your Pants", from Reptilian Records - STILL a quality purveyor of devilishly fine rock 'n' roll like Grandpa used to hump to.

Discogs

Click here to download.

None More Black - None More Black

None More Black, live at the Fest 7, 2008 (screencap by BlankTV)

I'll let you in on a little secret: I like the post-Kid Dynamite bands a lot more than I like Kid Dynamite.

Is it because I saw both None More Black and Paint It Black within weeks of each other on their first out of town shows? Is it because there wasn't overwhelming hype behind both bands when I saw them? They were just normal-ass bands, down from Philly, playing second support on hardcore matinees. They did, however, have superior pedigrees, and the new music ripped.

I want to say that None More Black wasn't even a full-time band when they came to Baltimore with this slab in hand. There was talk Jay was going to sing for Beau from Kill the Man Who Questions's new thrash band (which eventually became R.A.M.B.O.). So to see he and his brother Jeff show up, playing music more akin to something from No Idea than Havoc was a very pleasant surprise. There was more than a little Dag Nasty influence present, which I'm always going to get hyped for.

500 of these were pressed, all on black. None of the three songs here appeared on any future NMB releases; the band definitely slowed their tempo a bit once they signed with Fat a couple years down the road. I'd suggest going back and celebrating their entire catalog with a listen.

Discogs

Click here to download.

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