various artists - Bumped By Karaoke (Datapanik's Greatest Hits, Vol. II)

A roundup of your usual early 90s Columbus-area suspects makes up this second volume of Datapanik's greatest hits. There are tracks from TJSA, New Bomb Turks, and Gaunt. Girly Machine, Pica Huss, Greenhorn, and Monster Truck Five had all appeared on both early Datapanik 7" releases and the lovely "Shave The Baby" comp (you can download it here). But there are a number of shooting stars making an appearance here, with names like The Boy Scout Love Triangle, G-Spot Tornados, Stupid Fucking Hippie, and Appalachian Death Ride. Folks made some unfortunate choices when naming their bands in the late 80s and early 90s. Kyle Ryan is not impressed.

What's cool about this release? It's almost completely cuts exclusive to this record. The Turks' songs all appeared on "Destroy Oh Boy", although my untrained ear thinks these may be different recordings from that classic record. The Apartments offer a trio of recordings that were only available on a Datapanik promo-only record. And that's it; you won't find these songs anywhere else.

So start your weekend with a dash of trash. Break out a half rack of cheap domestic and turn this up load. Good luck with the neighbors.

Discogs

Click here to download.

various artists - Shave The Baby (Datapanik's Greatest Hits: Volume 1)

My old lady (with whom I celebrate 12 glorious [?] years today) attended grad school at THE Ohio State University, and is forever twisting my arm to relocate to Columbus, a place she describes as a promised land of inexpensive housing and Cincinnati chili. Personally, the Buckeye State always seemed like a place to dry through/fly over to me, but I find myself regularly drawn to Columbus's musical output, so maybe...just MAYBE, I should listen to her and start looking at packing up the family and heading back east.

Datapanik Records was a going concern for a handful of years in the late 80s and early 90s (with a welcome but sporadic return in the aughts), but they turned out some quality shit. Call it gunk punk or trash punk or garage, but their 15 or so 7" releases during that time are top to bottom qual-li-tee rock 'n' roll records. The New Bomb Turks, Gaunt, and Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments are the big "names", although I'm pretty fond of Monster Truck Five's side of their split with TJSA. There's also an unlisted Great Plains track tacked onto the end, a welcome treat from a weirdo rock band that far too people remember.

In 1993, Datapanik and Engine (a division of Blackout! Records, doncha know?) put out the first of two compilations, gathering the first nine 7"s on the venerable label. There are a few things missing; Boys From Nowhere's tracks from their split with Two Hour Trip, one of Gaunt's cuts from the split with New Bomb Turks, probably something else I haven't figured out yet. You won't miss them. In fact, forget everything from that sentence. The comp is great, grand, terrific, a guaranteed wake & bake classic.

There's a second volume that Datapanik put out around the same time; it's in the mail, and I'll post it once it arrives.

Discogs

Click here to download.

The New Bomb Turks - Drunk On Cock

It's a clever pun. A fun record cover. A weird format (the veritable 10"). Four originals and a Queers cover. It's the Turks. It's on the same label as a bitchin' Datapanik comp and the Deadguy "Work Ethic" EP. It's Saturday morning after 3am. I have nothing more to offer than this fine slab o' wax (or CDep).

Discogs

Click here to download.

Scrawl - Travel On, Scrawl

I made a reference in yesterday's post to Rock For Choice; specifically, the Fugazi-headlined nights at the Sanctuary Theater in WDC. Reading about those shows was how I got turned onto Scrawl. Just like "thank you"s in liner note, and record reviews in the back pages of zines, show recaps were the way a 14-year-old found out about bands in 1992. Someone plays with someone you liked, you checked them out (see also: L7, Bikini Kill, Nation of Ulysses).

I think Scrawl is a dramatically overlooked band, ripe for reevaluation now that we're around 25 years away from the Great Punk Buy-Up of the mid-90s. They had horrible luck with labels. Their first two full-lengths came out on Rough Trade, just as that label went tits up via bankruptcy. They recorded a killer EP, "Bloodsucker", with Steve Albini, only to have said EP quickly go out of print for nearly a year. They teamed up with Simple Machines (the little label that could!) to reissue "Bloodsucker" and put out a new full-length, which got them a deal with Elektra. Which brings us here.

"Travel On, Scrawl" is a promo-only EP released ahead of Scrawl's fifth LP, "Travel On, Rider". Half the EP was cut at Studio Black Box in western France with Albini; the other half with Jeff Powell in Memphis's Ardent Studios. There are two songs from "Rider" present, as well as a demo for "Everyone I Saw Tonight" (later to appear on 1998s "Nature Film). I'd be terribly remiss if I didn't mention the medley of "Stranglehold," "Cat Scratch Fever", and "Dog Eat Dog" also appearing here. The Nuge is a shitposter and sounds like a lunatic, but all three of those songs slap. In Scrawl's hands, they're even better.

Scrawl: they were better than most bands they played with. They were more than just "foxcore", or whatever unimaginative label that was slapped on women in bands back then. I'd love to see a reissue program. And if you want better words, I highly recommend reading Stephen Burt's piece on Scrawl at At Length.

Is that a monkey riding a dog on that cover? Who can say? I've already said too much to too little effect. This blog is over!

Discogs

Click here to download.

New Bomb Turks - Nightmare Scenario (the old and the new)

Typically, I'm reluctant to share a record when there's a perfectly good alternative to purchase; in this case, for a wonderful cause. But here's a chance to compare, contrast, and see how goddamned good the original version is.

Back in August, Columbus' pride and joy, the New Bomb Turks, created their own Bandcamp page, and posted the original mixes of 2000's "Nightmare Scenario". Their fifth LP, as well as third and final release for Epitaph, "Nightmare Scenario" was the first Turks record I ever purchased. I know, I know...but they weren't playing basement shows or getting written up in HeartattaCk or Profane Existence. I just didn't know any better at the time.

As the story goes, the team of Davidson, Weber, Reber, and new drummer Sam Brown (ex-Gaunt) embarked to Detroit for a four day recording sesh with Jim Diamond, master of ceremonies of legendary studio Ghetto Recorders. As Lance Forth notes on the Bandcamp:

Over four days and nights, the band enjoyed their easiest and most fun recording session – the only break being a jaunt over to a bar to see a reunited Real Kids, their first show in years, which floored the band and only added more mezcal to the fire.

Final mixes were left to Jim Diamond, and by the time he forwarded them to the band, overdub ideas had hatched, and about half the record was remixed with local studio wiz, Jeff Graham, in Columbus. A middle ground was eventually found, and what resulted was Nightmare Scenario (Epitaph Records, 2000) – the fifth album in their six album/three compilation catalog, and the one the band believe is their best.

Did 22-year-old me have any clue any of this was going on? Hell, no. I just had finally discovered a band on Epitaph worth hearing. "Automatic Teller" and "Spanish Fly By Night" are still on my list of garage rock DJ go-to's, getting tons of spins on the radio and at parties. I liked what I heard, I still like it...

...but I gotta say, I think I like this one more. Diamond's mixes are raw as hell, like tossing lighter fluid onto a hot grill. It's been 20 years since the initial release, but here's a record that sounds alive, vital, like the spit you shoot into the eye of someone who's been kicking the hell out of you.

The "Diamond Edition" got released back on Bandcamp Friday in August, and I'm kinda bummed I've missed it for four months until now. Old pal Henry Owings revamped the original Eric Wheeler photograph for a all-new, spare cover. All proceeds generated by the digital release will be donated to Black Queer & Intersectional Collective and Columbus Freedom Fund. So, it's really a simple thing: download the original, long out-of-print, then go drop a bit of coin towards a pair of good causes. It's the holidays, for cripes' sake. And let's hope 2021 sees a physical release!

Discogs

Click here to download "Nightmare Scenario".

Click here to download "Nightmare Scenario (Diamond Edition)".

New music from Lydia Loveless

Lydia Loveless (photo by Megan Toenyes)

It never ceases to amaze me how solutions to life's little issues just present themselves. For example: I had no clue what to write about today, and was futzing around on Bandcamp, just killing time listening to Mikey Erg. I notice that Lydia Loveless did backing vocals on a song on his new EP. "Hey, I wonder what she's been up to?", I ask. Sure enough, Lydia has a record called "Daughter" coming out in September. Nice country!

This is Lydia's fifth full-length, and first since 2016's "Real" on Bloodshot Records. She's gone fully independent on "Daughter", and judging by the two preview cuts available on her Bandcamp, it might be her finest work yet. Her lyrics are cutting, her vocals melancholy. There's a world-weariness present here that reflects her recent divorce, the state of the nation, and the chaos of modern life. "Love Is Not Enough" is a mid-tempo jam that wouldn't be out of place on Top 40 radio in the early aughts. It leads off with a great set of lines: "Talk to me/Tell me how it feels to always see everything in a major key/When I’m drowning in ennui". "Wringer" sounds like post punk played by a bluegrass band. I'll be playing these a lot over the next month. The record also promises guest spots from Laura Jane Grace and Nora Barton. I can really relate to this theme of using failure or endings to reassess and reassert one's identity.

"Daughter" comes out September 25, and preorders are live on Loveless's Bandcamp page. "Daughter" is available as a download, CD, or two colors of vinyl. Folks who preorder the vinyl will also get a lyric sheet hand-typed by Lydia herself. Pretty cool!

Listen to the first two preview tracks below: