various artists - CMJ Presents Certain Damage! - Volume 3

Here's a look back to when people still thought the Red Hot Chili Peppers were edgy, when college rock meant you could loop Fields of the Nephilim, Robbie Robertson, and Kool Moe Dee together, and funk metal was the next big thing. Truth be told: I kept this because I found the cover art so goddamned charming. The Cabaret Voltaire song is pretty solid, Lion was on the "The Transformers: The Movie" soundtrack, and I'm not sure I'll ever get Bryan Ferry solo. 1987 was weird for music, man.

Discogs

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various artists - I Give You The Head Of Corporate Rock And Roll Vol. I

If you're like me, and an interest in public radio intersects with a love of punk rock, then this one's for you, pally.

Recorded live on air at KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles, "I Give You The Head Of Corporate Rock And Roll Vol. I" is a snapshot of the West Coast's edgier left of the dial bands, just as "Nevermind" was starting to really break through.to 14-year-olds like me. Not that I would have heard this, residing, as I did, on the literal side of a mountain in Moonshine Country, Virginia.

But I probably would have enjoyed this immensely in 1992. Calamity Jane, who I've written about here before, provides a cut. Long Gone John's taste is well represented, with Oiler, the Humpers, and Trash Can School all chiming in. Kyle Ryan would probably be stoked to see Anus the Menace, Bulimia Banquet, and Sandy Duncan's Eye contributing cuts. And operating at the center of this fuckin' sick Venn diagram are Distorted Pony and Mudwimin, making circus music for little monkeys like yours truly. There's even a Man Is The Bastard connection, as former PHC bandmate Bob Durkee's band Shoeface can also be found here.

L.A. seems like it probably was fun in 1992.

Discogs

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various artists - Buddyhead Presents : Gimme Skelter

Boy oh boy, do I miss Buddyhead. I miss the scuzziness, the grime, the medium drugs and the late nights. I miss gossiping about your friends in bands and pissing off the Gen X'ers that came before. I miss that period before some folks got into heroin, some folks got into religion, some folks got into the suburbs. They were massive nights and low key days, fueled by Satan, Grey Goose, Sparks, and Gatorade, disco fries and Adderall.

Discogs

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ka

various artists - Lonely Is An Eyesore

I was sincerely stoked to turn up a $2 copy of this in one of my usual haunts a few months ago because, hey, it's winter time. It's time to listen to This Mortal Coil whilst wearing a cable knit sweater in the dark. Winter! Grey skies! Light winds! Howling wolves!

I have a much greater appreciation of these sorts of recordings now than I ever have before in my life; a strange development, considering it's the first time in my adult life where I've felt like my depression has been under control. This is a soundtrack to being in your early 20s, thinking the deep thoughts all alone and feeling just more than a little miserable. So explain to me why I'm digging this so much now than I'm twice as old and pretty much content to turn my brain off for hours at a time.

I skip over Throwing Muses every time it comes on. Still don't get into any of their music; I'm totally into Kristen Hersh's and Tanya Donnelly's solo recordings and other bands, tho.

Discogs

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various artists - Cleanse The Bacteria

I really shouldn't have to explain why this record matters, why I hold it such high regards, why it sucks that it's not readily available. This is the good shit, from a time where the conventional wisdom was that punk was dead, hardcore was something to outgrow, and maybe this whole music thing could make some bread if you just took the hard edges off your sound. Yeah, C.o.C. and 7 Seconds ended up on major labels within five years, and Pushead was designing Nikes within 10, but the whole damned enterprise here is a quarter century ahead of its time. You have a handful of America's finest, Poison Idea and Siege joining the aforementioned bands from Raleigh, Reno, and San Fran. There's also a great sampling of international talent, from Swedish (soon-to-be) legends like Mob 47 and Crude SS, to Japan's the Execute, to deathrock from the likes of Part 1 and Holy Dolls.

My physical copy is the "standard" Pusmort release I copped from Disk Union about 10 years ago during my first trip to Japan. What I'm sharing here has lived on my various computers since the early aughts, and includes the songs from the mailorder-only extra 12". This includes Poison Idea's ripping cover of the Stooges' "I Gotta Right", as well as six other songs. There are a few wild ass bootlegs circulating of this; I wouldn't mind laying hands on this edition, featuring what appears to be a green ink silkscreened cover along with green-tinged center labels on the vinyl. Gnarly.

Discogs

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various artists - Manifestation VII

A lot of people will tell you that you need to have experienced Manifestations 1 through 6 to truly understand Manifestation VII.

I say, just dive right in. You'll still get plenty out of this regardless of context or history.

Discogs

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Grand Mal - Binge Purge

From Grand Mal Bandcamp

Moving to Baltimore in 1994 synched up nicely with my budding education in punk and hardcore. It was easiest to get into Dischord's releases; every record store had Fugazi and Jawbox records in them, and it wasn't tough to throw some well-disguised cash into an envelope, shoot it down to Beecher St., and in a few weeks open a box with an Ignition 12" and a Hoover CD inside. As I worked my way through the catalog, I ended up snagging copies of "Flex Your Head" and "State of the Union", both of which gave me a checklist of older DC bands to check out.

So I hear Government Issue for the first time, and start seeking out their other records, which is how I learned about Fountain of Youth Records. Despite only being in existence for four years from 1983 to 1986, Fountain of Youth released a lot of really killer records that existed outside the borders of the Dischord orthodoxy. One of those releases that I've grown to love 1985's "Binge Purge" from Grand Mal, a DC punk band with a hard deathrock edge to them.  I feel like this is a strong East Coast counterpart to Christian Death, circa "Only Theatre of Pain".

"Binge Purge" is one of those hidden treasures that you can still turn up for $10 or less. It's easy to see why this record is unjustly overlooked; Grand Mal split up around the time this 12" was released, with members moving on to more recognized bands. Malcolm Rivera is probably the best known, as he'd go on to play guitar in the Velvet Monkeys and Gumball, as well as come to notice as a prominent historian on the subject of 8-track tapes. Joe Aronstamn and Marc Lambiotte would move on to start Holy Rollers, who put out a trio of underrated records with Dischord during the late 80s and early 90s. Meanwhile, the rhythm section of Don Diego and Linda LeSabre would split off and found Death Ride 69, a pretty great goth/industrial band whose second record got reissued in 1999 and played a ton by my girlfriend at the time.

Originally, I had planned to post a link to my ripped copy of "Binge Purge". But in the course of looking for performance pictures, I discovered the Grand Mal Bandcamp page. So I'd suggest heading over there and downloading this. They've also posted up the Würm Baby demo from 1982 ("Apologies" comes from that session) and a live set from 1984 featuring some songs they never recorded in a studio. Let's face it: you're probably due to do something productive with your day. Go check it out.

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