Going Through the Motions

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Violent Society/The Boils split 7" Download
2007-11-03 06:56:00
This is from 1996 on Schuylkill Records. I don't know anything about Violent Society except what I've learned from the short Wikipedia article about them (which lists this record as having come out in 1998, though it came out in 1996). Apparently they were together for over a decade and toured with some big bands, but this is all I've got by them. I assume they're named after the Special Duties song, who they also happened to do a split with later on. Their tracks are solid examples of late-90s hardcore punk, but nothing compared to the Boils . The Boils are one of those bands that make me hate punk rock. They've been around for a long time and put out tons of great records, but they still get outsold by all the fucking Punk Core Records or Bridge9 bands or whoever is hot at the moment. They had a couple other splits before this 7" I haven't tracked down, but the maturity of the band so early on is surprising. I'd suggest getting one of their more recent records The Ripping Wat...
More About: Download , Split

Hardcore Is a Festering Sea of Bullshit Part II
2007-11-01 03:26:00
This is sort of a knee-jerk reaction to a comment posted today on this post. There's going to be a lot I leave out, and it might not "flesh out" alright, but it's in one draft, save for links I'm posting within the blog to give some people who don't know some of the bands we're talking about more information. You should probably read the comment before reading this. I ask that anyone with thoughts on this (on any side) to please add them in a comment. I don't think the ratio of good bands to bad bands is any worse today than it's ever been. There have always been a few great bands of any era and a thousand copy cats filling up the void. People talk so much about how great the 80s were, but looking at the literally thousands of bands on flyers that I've never heard of, or hearing all these random obscurities pop up that are usually awful, points to tell me that the ones who are famous are famous because, for the most part, they were just better. Sure, there are some really am...
More About: Bullshit , Part , Hardcore , Erin

News You Should Know
2007-10-29 18:55:00
Police in Lansing, MI are in training for any disaster, and conducting mock disasters to establish logistics. Included in their scenarios is apparently a zombie attack. They've decided upon chainsaws as their chief form of defense.A hunter in Pennsylvania who set up a camera to photograph deer claims to have accidentally photographed a child Bigfoot . OK, that's it.
More About: News , Zombies

Joy Division, Billy Bragg
2007-10-29 03:59:00
I always loved videos of Joy Division because they don't look anything like they sound, to me. Ian Curtis is so skinny and awkward and his voice just booms out of his tiny little voice box. There's also the fact that even when he makes an effort to dance and "put on a show" I guess, he still looks depressed and desperate as hell. I guess this video comes from a movie about Joy Division, but I never heard of it. I never was a very active Joy Division fan, so the fact that I've never heard of it doesn't mean it's really all that obscure. And while we're on the subject of awkward British dudes, here's an absolutely ancient video of Billy Bragg doing "Between the Wars" on Top of the Pops. Apparently it's a big deal that he's playing live instead of lip-syncing, as that was what they usually did, I guess. I don't know, I never saw the show before.
More About: Punk , Folk

Profane Existence
2007-10-27 04:49:00
I know I haven't been updating much lately. Not because of a lack of interest, I've just been ridiculously busy and haven't had to time to do much. I just wanted to draw attention to those of you into the whole thrashy hardcore side of things. It appears that Profane Existence is in some money troubles. I know a lot of you are wondering why you should care since it seems that a lot of the people that read this regularly aren't into their politics (and neither am I), but they're an important label/community for DIY and need to be supported. Profane Existence will help just about any DIY band or label with distribution without asking any questions. They believe in autonomy and building a community outside the "industry" and have taken more steps to make that a reality than any other single entity I can think of. And if you're just in it for the music, think about the fact that Profane Existence is responsible for bringing the majority of the foreign hardcore releases to the US a...
More About: Punk , Hardcore , Crust , Thrash

V/A-The Best of Oi! Records Download
2007-10-21 17:47:00
(NOTE: I was drunk when I made this post). This record was in my 'to-be-posted' pile, but HXCPunksn Skins beat me to it. The Best of Oi Records is a good representation of the late 80s Oi! scene, if a little biased. Roddy Moreno of the Oppressed started the label by putting out ads in all the punk zines that read "Oi! bands wanted, neither red nor racist". The result was a run of 16 records, mostly English material, and some great stuff from the late 80s. Obviously, the best stuff came out of the US bands the label decided to issue. I think that since the US scene remained pretty patriotic, Roddy wrote them off as nationalists (which is retarded). As a result, the US scene wrote anyone leaning left as commies and refused to support the "red" skinhead bands. Further proof that the skinhead scene is full of bullshit drama and I'm allowed to call it out because I'm a skinhead so FUCK YOU if you think I'm just hating on "your" fencewalking scene (I SAID IT!). The download is availa...
More About: Download , The Press , Skinhead , The Best Of

Flash Attacks-Revenge of the Fruitflys 7" (Circle F)
2007-10-19 04:47:00
Korova played with the Flash Attacks a few years ago at a skatepark in Birmingham. It was a pretty good bill. It was us when we were a three piece (between guitar players, lasted like two shows), Skeptic? with the original line-up, a Nashville band called Public Offence (who went on to do small tours with a bunch of Punk Core Records bands and then break up, which was followed by several very tragic events involving almost every person to have played with the band that I don't feel the need to go into), and the superstar line-up of APA with members of No Holds Barred, Anti Heros, Condemned 84, and the Templars filling in. Flash Attacks were pretty good. I was a little drunk, but I remember them as a four-piece and they had that scumfuck sort of swagger, and I'm positive about the "Bite It You Scum" cover they did that night. I also remember one of the more lasting impressions they made, which was introducing Birmingham to the "chainsaw" hardcore dance move, which is apparently a Je...
More About: Review , Circle , Revenge

Bitter Bois-Self Titled 7" Download
2007-10-16 02:41:00
Late 90s Oi from Finland. I seem to remember a lot of people making a big deal out of this band after their appearance on Punk s, Skins, and Herberts (I'll probably put those tracks up here sometime). These songs would be great if they were shorter, but they get a little tiresome. "Bastards in Blue", the A side, is a great anti-cop anthem that's everything you'd expect it to be, plus about 45 extra seconds. This record was pressed by a German label called Blind Beggar Records and the original pressing was on white vinyl. Their page for the record states that it's a "double A side record" and both sides should have "Bastards in Blue" on it, but I ripped this 7" myself and so I know for a fact it's a two song record. Weird.Don't know much else about these guys. They put out one more 7" that I don't have, but that's about it. Any other info?Enjoy!Download Self Titled 7"
More About: Bitter , Bois , Skinhead

Dead Kennedys 1978 Demos Download
2007-10-15 13:34:00
I'm not 100% about this. I've got several different "versions" of this, but this has the most tracks (17), all of which appear in the other versions (most of the others that I've found have been 6-9 tracks. There are three versions of "Forward to Death" on this, though, and two sound identical. Everything else seems to be in order, though, so for the sake of digital completion I've included both, against my better judegement (maybe they just nailed it twice?). I think this may actually be two seperate demos, "Cold Fish" and "Dreadlocks of the Suburbs", put together in one file. Who cares? It's awesome, and there are four songs here you've never even heard of before, so download it!Download 1978 Demo s
More About: Punk , Dead

The Peacocks-Touch and Go LP (I Used to Fuck People Like You In Prison)
2007-10-12 02:56:00
I don't even know why I'm bothering to attempt to review this because if you've ever heard the Peacocks from Zurich you already know that they're incapable of writing a bad record. They're the only band I can think of that's been around well over a decade (I think closer to two) and manage to make every album better than the last one. Honestly, I'm a little scared of new Peacocks records because it means I appreciate the former one a little less. See, the Peacocks are one of those bands you sort of grow up with. Their last LP, It's Time For... is about growing past punk rock and all the bullshit, but appreciating the outlet more than ever. "Older Than Punk " is the perfect jaded old schooler anthem. I will never forget their show in Chicago last year. It's one of just a couple of times I've seen a band and sang along to every word to every song and was still disappointed that they left certain songs out of their set. Touch and Go is a lot less poppy than It's Time For.... ...
More About: People , Prison , Fuck

Reagan SS-Universal and Triumphant (Rebel Sound)
2007-10-10 03:04:00
I let this sit for almost a month after listening to it the first time. It was too good. After their last 7" delivered on my hopes, I was expecting even more out of this, and I honestly couldn't believe it was even better than I expected. I'm too much of a skeptic.This doesn't sound like their 7"s. This is much more matured. This is more nuanced and it's even darker than their earlier stuff. They put time into putting this together as a solid LP instead of a compilation of some stuff they were writing at the time. This record flows from fast to faster to heavy and sludgy and back to warp speed again. It's all the best parts of Rollins era Black Flag with all the best parts of Minor Threat with none of the bullshit. There's nothing else to even say about this. It seems like Reagan SS reviews are the shortest ones I write, and there's a reason for that. There are only so many times and so many ways you can say something fucking rules. If there is one band that I feel defines un...
More About: Punk , Review , Sound , Rebel

One Last Shot-From Riches to Rags (SSR) (w/download)
2007-10-07 23:18:00
I popped this in after it came in the mail the other day and had it on the background while I was chasing my son around the house. I guess I immediately decided I wasn't really into it. One of the problems with listening to things peripherally is that you don't really soak up what's going on with it, and in this case, not paying attention to this record makes it sound kind of stale. I gave it another shot driving to work the next day and realized I'd made a mistake. This band walks a really fine line between metal and punk, and they set themselves apart from a lot newer metal bands by proving that they can really can play. I can compare them to Reagan Youth, but that's more in a plain aesthetic sense, the fact that they mix metal riffs with punk vocals and song structures, rather than pointing to how they actually sound. You can hear Sabbath in their sound, you can hear some Anthrax, some Scorpions, and an array of other metal bands, but it would be misleading to call them a me...
More About: Metal , Download , Shot , Riches