closer - within one stem

Although readers of this here blog may not know it, closer's 2018 debut record, "All This Will Be", was one of my most unfuckwithable, favorite, most-listened to records of the past five years. No foolin'! It's tough to make a screamo record (or ANY punk record, for that matter) that makes me want to shake my ass and lose myself in the music, but a song like "Hardly Art" takes me back to the late 90s...to clap alongs and group leaps at the drop and mic piles in dim basements with shitty PAs. It evokes bands like Envy, Majority Rule, and Funeral Diner.

And, by Gawd, Ryann hits the drums so goddamned hard it almost hurts. Frontperson of the year, in my humble opinion. And I've never seen them live.

So I'm wrapping up my evening when an e-mail comes through. "New releases from closer", reads the subject line. Cue a badly Photoshopped meme of my head on Philip J. Fry's head, screaming at Bandcamp and the good folks at Lauren Records to take my money. "within one stem" is their new LP, a split release between Lauren & Middle Man Records here in the States, as well as five European labels. I respect the spirit of cooperation that brings this new record to me. The pre-order of 500 first presses on "natural" clear vinyl is live now, and available via closer's Bandcamp site. The full record comes out March 12, but the first song, Side B's "angry flood", is available for download when you preorder.

Get it, or regret it later.

Daniel Striped Tiger - Certain Stuff

When my now ex-wife and I split up after San Diego ComicCon in 2009, I moved back in with my best friend and former roommate, and immediately reconnected with old friends at Charm City Art Space. While there were plenty of bands that I'd kept up with during my marriage, I'd somehow missed out on screamo becoming skramz, and this whole scene of kids of playing freaked-out post-hardcore with such abandon and heart. I'm not sure why it grabbed me so hard as I neared 30, but I think it had something to do with the sincerity I saw onstage and heard on records.

Somehow, I'd missed seeing Daniel Striped Tiger each time they played the Art Space. I was fully aware of who they were: one of those Clean Plate bands that'd come down from Massachusetts or New Hampshire, blaze through for 25 minutes, eat a plate of food, then blow through, only to return three months later. I just took it for granted that they'd be back. And, of course, they didn't. Because disappointment was something I was at peace with, and the cosmos knew I could hang.

"Certain Stuff" collects all the non-LP releases from DST in one handy-dandy 5" optical media disc for their 2009 tour of Australia. At the time, it was the only way to get the tracks from their split with Teenage Cool Kids. I got a rip of this in 2011 from a fellow Art Space member. I've probably listened to "The Great Bust On Antarctica" and "Never In A Million Years" 200 times since getting this. It slaps. It's a shame these folks didn't last another few years, or record for labels that lasted until the Bandcamp era. Bands like Daniel Striped Tiger run the risk of falling into the cracks, being lost to all but the few with deep Discogs pockets. They were fucking magic. Maybe magic should fade away...

Fun fact: one of the guys from DST is in Parquet Courts. I learned this trivia in the course of writing this post, and I...well, I don't feel any more compelled to listen to Parquet Courts.

Discogs

Click here to download.

Pageninetynine - live at Best Friends Day, RVA, 11 August 2011

Pageninetynine, circa 2002 (from the Pageninetynine Facebook page)

There are two great things that have come from Sterling, Virginia. One is the comedian, writer, actor, and reason to be on Twitter Patton Oswalt. I'm a fan; I celebrate his entire catalog.

The other is the subject of today's post. Their name is Pageninetynine (or Pg. 99, or Page 99), and even if they hadn't blown up among a certain type of punk rock listener in the years after their initial break-up, they'd still be one of my favorite bands I've ever seen. As time passes, I can only recall fragments, like a montage of amazing moments. There was the last show at the old Ottobar, where Blake or Chris got passed amongst the crowd and kicked a hole in the the ceiling that remained even after the Talking Head moved into the location. There was the last Wilson Center show, and the stage flexing under the weight of a hundred kids pulsing to "By the Fireplace In White". There was the night that they and Majority Rule played with Cro-Mags and Most Precious Blood at the "new" Ottobar; every security guy was onsite to ward off a skinhead vs. hipster brawl that never took place. I also seem to recall them opening for Earth Crisis at St. Andrews in College Park, and a bunch of barbeque jokes being made. So many Reptilian shows, and shows where they were the second of six bands on the campus of Johns Hopkins, and sticky basements in the DC suburbs because there was NO WAY the 9:30 Club was going to let these freaky kids play that stage.

Were they really only a band for six years? There's no chance that was the case; it simply cannot be true, no matter what the historical records say. They were just a ubiquitous part of the scene; the guys from NoVA that fit in so well with what was happening in Baltimore at the time. And they played with such heart, such passion, that one couldn't help but become not just a fan, but rabidly so. Then, one day, it was done, splintering into Mannequin and the Malady and Haram and Pygmy Lush.

Do you remember that time, when you were young and before Green Day was on MTV, when you'd see another kid in a Misfits t-shirt or wearing a painted leather jacket and you'd immediately talk to them? Because you had found a kindred spirit, and there weren't a lot of them out there. It's still like that when I wear the old Reptilian "Document #5" t-shirt I got the week the records showed up in the store. I can't really wear it comfortably anymore because I'm probably 100 lbs. heavier than I was then, but when I DO squeeze into it, I occasionally get that native nod, and every once in a great while, I'll make a new friend. There are far too few shibboleths left in the world, riddles that, upon solving, open up something memorable and previously unseen. Pageninetynine was like that for me.

They've reunited now twice, mostly recently in 2018 and 2019 as a series of benefits for local charities in each town they played. Their first reunion, which I regrettably bailed on, saw them play the Black Cat in DC and at Best Friends Day, the annual Richmond outdoor show every year. It occurred to me that the 2020 BFD would be coming up in a few weeks. Here's that Best Friends Day set from 2011. I honestly cannot remember where I got this initially.

Love your friends. Die laughing. Fucking A right.

Click here to download.

125, Rue Montmartre - 125, Rue Montmartre

Still from "125, rue Montmartre" (1959)

This record came out right around the time I started getting really into Get Up Kids and Braid and embracing the whole "sad emo kid" stereotype. There was little chance of me catching it at the time; it was a white label release by two German labels. But I keep coming back to the 125, Rue Montmartre 7" regularly since downloading it over a decade ago. They were contemporaries of the better known Yage, and really only existed for two years. This falls in that sweet spot of Euro emo-core/screamo/skramz that would, within 5 years, be on that cutting edge of progressive punk and hardcore.

That is a ridiculous sentence. It would be less ridiculous to liken this to a more jangly Dahlia Seed. The incredible German reissue label Thirty Something Records co-released a discography 12" last year with Jason Teisinger's recently revived Belladonna Records. The first press has all but sold out, but there's a second pressing on coke bottle clear vinyl coming later this year. So treat this like a taster, and order that record now.

Discogs

Click here to download.

What didja buy: Bandcamp Friday in June

Sniffany and the Nits (photo by Upset the Rhythm)

To be perfectly honest, I hadn't planned to buy more than one or two things this past Bandcamp Friday. Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men...

Let's start by saying something about Death Domain, the release that spurred me to action. Dark Entries, the folks behind the great Patrick Cowley reissues, pinged me with a notice that there were copies of the "Ethidium Bromide" 7" available again. I never got one of these when they were originally released back in 2009, so it seemed like a great chance to grab one. It also spurred me to grab the latest Death Domain jam, "CDC-PSA", a COVID-19 jam if I've ever heard one. No, seriously; Adam has sampled a coronavirus public service announcement and laid it on top of a tense synth-punk snare sound and bubbling keyboard. It's cool to play these three tracks back to back, if only to get a sense of the musical progression present 11 years out. Here's to a fella who I first met due to his Robocop fandom.

I also figured it was high time I picked up the latest record from Baltimore's Curse. I got to book some of Jane & Logan's early shows in Baltimore, and with their regular touring, they're friends from home that I actually get to see from time to time. "Metamorphism" is their third full-length, and first on Fake Crab Records. These folks have been making doomy synth-punk for eight years now, and, dare I say, this is a real breakout for them. This one is less of a cacophony than their previous records, but retains a lot of the slinky ooze that I've always found so appealing about them. I didn't want to make the comparison, but I've listened to this twice since picking it up, and it actually reminds me of Björk's "Homogenic", especially in Jane's vocal phrasing. I also picked up Curse's 2018 split with Cincinnati's Street Sects, for good measure. I'm glad I did; Street Sects' name has popped up around me for years, but I've never had chance to listen to them until now. Their two songs have a real Big Black meets Xiu Xiu vibe. I think I might be in love.

I've always trusted Chris and Jon from Fake Crab's taste in releases; they've put out some great releases over the years, including 2018's Bustdown tape and a pair of Eyelet records that knocked me on my ass. So I took a wag on their final 2019 release, the self-titled 7" from Tokenized. What I didn't know at the time is that this is the newly-renamed band formerly known as Joe Biden. It is little wonder that I loved these four songs. These folks have dropped some of their more PV tendencies and released a four-song EP that reminds me a lot of early Poison Idea. Do they deserve the comparison? Fuck yeah, they do. I would stan this hard if I still lived in the 410.

I wrote about Manuela Iwansson as my comeback post for "Primitive Offerings" back in April. Go back and read it to get up to speed. Go ahead, I'll wait. Night School in the UK is now hosting the digital download for her 2018 12", "Dream Lover", as well as doing mail-order for that 12". I hope this means that we'll be getting a new record this year. I stand by my earlier comparison to Pat Benatar, and add a healthy dose of Berlin. I also stand by my earlier opinion that a total of $40 for six songs across two records is a fucking INSANE price to pay, so I'll stick with digital only on these. I hate being a little crybaby about this, but it really grinds my gears.

Sticking with UK releases that I'm too cheap to buy physical copies of: I've been meaning to check out London's Static Shock Records for a minute. The team at Sorry State Records always recommend their new releases, and Iron Lung is a good US source to pick up their records. So I downloaded the new EP from Powerplant, and I did deem it most good. The marketing text is pretty spot on: this has a strong early 80s synthpunk/new wave vibe, with some damned delightful crooning on "A Spine". I mean, if you're going to wear an influence on your sleeve, Devo is a pretty good one to do so with. I'd be remiss if I didn't note that there's a cassette edition available out of Dreamland Syndicate in Warsaw; it's pricy to ship into the States, but you can always combine your order with the Powerplant LP from last year to amortize the shipping.


One of the joys of Bandcamp is discovering something you'd never otherwise discover, simply by typing in a few keywords. I've been trying to pay greater attention to what's going on in Australian punk since getting the Chats 10" a couple years back, so I picked up the demo from Perth's Gaffer. Coming from the same label as the recent Cold Meat records, I guessed (correctly) that I'd enjoy this. The music here reminds me of my favorite Damned songs, as well as Baltimore post-punk bands like the Fuses and the Miss, while the vocals are straight-up barks. This would fit right in on the early Frontier Records catalog...if they were from L.A. instead of western Australia.

I like a good gimmick. If your gimmick is to play snotty-nosed pogo punk, I'm probably going to enjoy your schtick. If you throw in "vocalist dressed as a nurse", you'll not only have my curiosity, you'll have my full attention. And so it was that I learned about Sniffany and the Nits. This Brighton group released a pair of recordings in the past six months, chock full of feminist fury headlining UK-82 revival tracks. I grabbed the earlier of the two, last December's "I Love You (...But You've Got Nits)" cassette. What can I say about this? Well, if Vice Squad had a decent sense of humor, or Crass's "Penis Envy" was less musically adventurous, maybe they would have sounded like this. I hope that these folks lean into the lo-fi aesthetic, because it all sounds very dangerous and vital coming from a blown out speaker.

Kansas City's Warm Bodies has been on their bullshit for a few years now, making what is charitably described as "weirdo jazz punk" and getting some decent word of mouth. I picked up 2019's "UFO EXTREMO'S", just for shitz and gigz, and I think it might be my favorite purchase from Bandcamp Friday. There's a ton of tape manipulation and freaking out and brain riot going on here; it's a lot for 10 minutes of recordings. I definitely feel like I smoked some Sherm during and after listening to this. I have a feeling that, live in action, these folks are all over the place in the best possible way. I just hit me, on my fifth listen: this gives me a real Wrangler Brutes/Mika Miko vibe. It's just delightfully weird and I want to hear it all the time.

I capped out my purchases for Bandcamp Friday with a little bit of Canadian screamo/skramz. I started following Middle Man Records in Indiana after they released my favorite record of 2018, Closer's "All This Will Be". It'd been on my wish list for a minute, so I picked up the second and final full-length from Toronto's La Luna. This is exactly what I'm looking for when someone tells me I should listen to a modern emotional hardcore band. Vanessa Gloux's vocals here are outstanding; powerful, right to the edge of shrieking at times. The rhythm section does its job, pushing out a throbbing low end, which guitarist Nicholas Field rides to create some really fascinating sounds. This style has always been a favorite for me, going back through La Quiete, Majority Rule, Spitboy, and Current. "Always Already" will be a mile marker for screamo for years to come.

And that's what I got. Now I'm broke. The next Bandcamp Friday is in two weeks, on June 19. Judging by this month's response, and the ongoing social awakening worldwide, I'd guess a lot more artists are going to climb on board and get music posted, tout en suite.

You And I - The Curtain Falls

You hear a record and it immediately makes you think, "Man, I wish I'd have put that out." "The Curtain Falls" is one of those for me.

I have no clue how I never saw You And I play live. Their heyday very neatly coincided with the first big wave of my traveling to shows. They played with a lot of my friends during their lifetime. And yet, even though I bought records of theirs new upon release, I never actually got to see them. Hell, I don't remember them ever playing south of Philadelphia, which I KNOW can't be the case.

So, yeah, it dawns on me I've been listening to this record for over twenty years now. That makes me feel old. Yet there's nothing dated sounding about "The Curtain Falls". This totally fits in with anything getting released on Zegema Beach today. I'll chalk that up not only to a sound that still sounds vital, but also to the outstanding production from Geoff Turner. That's why I think's cool that Repeater Records, who put out those great City of Caterpillar reissues a while back, is releasing a discography double LP in the next several weeks. I really appreciate that this is going to be available again.

Call it screamo, call it skramz, call it hardcore, call it whatever you want to. It still feels honest, sincere to me.

Preorder the discography here.

Click here to download.