this is my guilty pleasure. cheesiest vocals. cheesiest guitar riffs cheesiest keyboards but the the solid bass lines and drum programming give me a boner. aww who am i kidding? all those cheesy attributes give me a boner too. i might get clowned for the rest of my life for this one but hey... i know you like something "worse".
bring out the cosmopolitans, the olives, those lil' wienies and some cigars. 'cause we're gonna lounge like a mu'fucker. oh yeah! chaise lounge chairs and all. all the guys shooting the shit about how we've been bangin' our secretaries and how we like allen ginsberg. the girls talkin' about how they've just remodeled their living rooms. which i think is code for how they're boning the milk man. that handsome devil. BUT ITS ALL GOOD! because "Nega Do Cabelo Duro" is playing in the background. and in a couple of minutes we are all gonna fuck the shit out of each other and then realize what a horrible mistake it was. because that look stan was giving me while i was on top of his wife, while he was under bills, told a story. a story of how these days were over. a story about how he can't take this anymore. about how he was gonna get the rifle over the mantel and start blasting away. starting by standing behind me and shooting the top of my head and her face with the same bullet. turning around and taking out poor bill and my wife. listening to the newly made widow scream out "holy shit!.. that was a great album. who brought it over?" "oh, jimmy did. i should have thanked him. it's super cool." and than they walk over the bloody mess, naked. go towards the terrace. hold hands. then fly away.
bump this shit all the way up on your car stereo! bump this shit all the way up on your house stereo! bump this shit all the way up when your baking cookies! let everyone around you know that heaven doesn't apply to the likes of you. that your idea of paradise is having your flesh torn off by hooks on chains flying towards you from an abyss surrounded by cenobites. bump this shit all the way up when little kids are playing in your neighbors yard. bump this shit when your djing a quinceañera in huntington park. bump this shit as loud as it goes on your ipod while riding your bike with a bunch of hipster dickheads. after all... satan thinks you're cooler than them. plus he rides a skateboard. >:^)
these awesome guys come for the land of my parents. MEXICO! Monclova, Coahuila Mexico to be exact. they are masters in the art form of 90's style college indie rock. resembling great bands like dino jr, los planetas and the lily's. plain and simply they just fuckin' tear it up with beautifully crafted pop songs. listen to their new album "Mas Mejor" and take a peek at what the Mexican underground has to offer as of late. oro!!!
Canada is the best thing to happen to the states since Mexico. bringing us sugar, zinc, precious metals and Constellation Records. buying gybe's "slow riot for new zero kanada" was the best purchase ever. it came with two amazing tracks, an unusual case and a mail order catalog for constellation records. on this piece of paper i came across names like do make say think, exhaust, hrsta, sofa and FLY PAN AM. fly pan am was a punk band disguised as a super cool artsy fartsy band. check out this live recording. check out the screams towards the end of "bruelz suivant, suivante!". they're black metal howls!
this is probably my favorite band of all time. the perfect blend of shoegaziness, punk, experimentation, sweetness, aggressiveness and pop that has the power to make my broke ass fly to nyc for two nights and one day just because i'm always scared that i'll never see them again. when i first saw them here in l.a., i went to both spaceland shows and drove the next night to see them in san diego at the casbah with my friends nana, adrian and eric (pastilla). i just couldn't believe that these icons of my life were actually here! in california! that they would play shows in small clubs and i would gleefully be there. the shows were imperfect technically (gear busting up, bass player ((not andy))falling over because he was too drunk, awkward silences after applauses) but perfect in the sense that it allowed me to see that they were just human too. that they, these gods in my mind, had the same kinda problems at shows that i had come across. sure its silly to think that they wouldn't but you have to understand that they truly were and still are the coolest shit ever to me. the music they have made is a soundtrack to many a happy time in my life. i could play their records anytime and it would just cheer me up. i don't think theres anything else that can guarantee that. besides "Start Today" by Gorilla Biscuits but thats another story...
you can download most of their stuff from their website. check it out. you won't be sorry, i promise.
quite possible my favorite american black metal album of all time. this monster came out in 1996 traumatizing me with its raw as fuck recording (the way the black metal sounds best with few exceptions) and vampyric/satanic content. the way mr. ford expresses his voice is truly other-worldly. you need this if you are a true black metal fan. it's horns.
'CONTACT KISS' is a very special album by a canadian duo by the name of GIRLS ARE SHORT. they went and recorded a bunch of songs and had some local teenagers from Mississauga contribute vocals . a very nice mix of swirlies' type guitar strumming , samples, live and programmed drums. what kind of music is this? well... the best kind! overall an elctronic upbeat sound filled with uplifting vibes that you can dance to and take over the world with.
SOUTHPACIFIC'S CONSTANCE is one of the best shoegaze albums ever. PERIOD!!!!! i really don't want to try to describe this perfect piece. just listen and fall in love.
this is probably my favorite band out there right now. Feu Thérèse are from Montreal and came from the ashes of Fly Pan Am, my previous favorite band out there until they broke up. the mix of old synthesizers, steady but interesting still drums, spacey delayed guitars, funky bass and deep french vocals with the occasional higher pitch in the background is what i consider to be the closest perfect dark pop music ever. you just have to listen to it. i haven't listened to sometime this good yet since it came out.
this is a great gem. this collection of singles from the uk's '78-'82 scene is a poppy pogoin' party ready to happen. artsy fartsy punk with good upbeats. thanks, carl, for sharing.
Tracklist
01. Mark Beer - The man man man 02. Glaxo Babies – This is your life 03. Contact – Constant beat 04. I Jog & The Tracksuits – Redbox 05. Gerry and the Holograms - Gerry and the Holograms 06. Brian Brain – Jive, jive 07. They must be Russians – Don´t try to cure yourself 08. Moondogs – Imposter 09. Thomas Leer – Private plane 10. Cult Figures – Zip Nolan 11. Monochrome Set – Eine Symphonie des Grauens 12. Henry Badowski – Making love with my wife 13. Weekend – Drumbeat for baby
heres a band out of the land of power violence. POMONA, california! these weirdos came with the usual drum, bass, guitar attack but with a special weapon... a pair of twins on vocals!!! (does a pair of twins mean 2 sets of twins? i just meant 2 brothers. ) i love this recording. the songs are short as most p.v. songs are. the kick drum makes me want to put on my bootsy collins outfit on. (bet you thought i didn't have one of those, did ya?) the fact that they gave props to happy bees amongst the likes of bruce lee, the cities of pomona and southgate, AxRxM (i'm guessing "fuck waffles!" is about them. no lyric sheet.) and leocum makes me very proud. besides the song "happy bees" which makes me biased "the kill" is my favorite! the way one of the twins screams out "yayayayayayaya!!!" in the beginning reminds me of a young Yamantaka Eye of the boredoms.
what can i say about these boys? well... maybe that they're not boys anymore but MEN!!! she's dead!!! first played with them when it was eddie, omar, sergio and al in a lil' cafe in san berdo called LYRICS about 8 or 9 years ago. (they had to be around 14 or 15 years of age) they set up and i was like, "look at these kids! i bet its some blink 182 stuff..." boy was i wrong! these guys played with a fury that took me by the balls. fast, aggressive, noisy (which i don't think was their intention at the time) and bratty. as if someone didn't serve them pancakes that morning and they've been butt hurt ever since. the second time we played together was in my basement room when i lived with my parents. this room was about 6 feet wide by 11 feet in length! there was about 20 people in that room!!! that was the night al grabbed my lil' brother albert's ass thinking it was his girlfriends. i think my brother was touched, no pun intended. AxRxM has been through some line up changes adding the very gifted tom on bass at first and switching off to drums when al joined the army. sergio left to new mexico then to arizona for a good 3 years or so but is now back in cali to resume guitar duties and to pursue film school. eddie and omar have been the backbone of this party on wheels since jumpstreet. its hard to believe that they were a bunch of straight edge kids when we met them. i blame it on carl for peer pressuring them to smoke buds and drink 40's. but that combination go's so well on a windy fontana night in a garage thats full of guitars, drums and mics. every chance i get to play with them it's an honor. they are and forever will be or lil' brothers. FONTANA HARDCORE POR VIDA!!!
this is one of my bands that is now defunct. a couple of three things about this band... it started out as an idea to create a band that sounded like EMPEROR! brutal, fast, loud, melodic but with daytime pbs kids type of lyrics. you know... wholesome shit. so me and my girlfriend at the time, sunny, started to get to work. i came up with the songs and she came up with the lyrics. (it ended up sounding like GRIDE) we recorded some demos (me on guitar/programming/vox and she on bass and back up vox) and showed it to my co-she's dead band mate, carl, and he agreed to play drums. YAY! we played a handful of shows with great responses. but i bet that had something to do with the fact that we would bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit punch and lollipops to the shows for people to enjoy. free of charge of course. :) we ended up recording a demo of the same five songs plus a new one with real drums at tom a.r.m's house, a block or two away from disneyland. how appropriate. both recordings are here. that drawing was made by eddie a.r.m. we love A.R.M!!! fontuky happy hardcore. represent!
so let's say you like neurosis. let's say you like my bloody valentine. let's say you like... the captain and tennille? yes! you just might love this beautifully loud and powerful offering from a married couple in georgia.