Mixy Mix Mix

This time round we'll run through 42 songs by  18 different artists in just under two hours. Time for hardcore and sonic youth influenced noise!

http://www.multiupload.com/WNNEW4J7U9

We get things off to a skate punky start with Abserdo who play a darkened hardcore with an awesome skate feel. Easily my favourite song title in this mix is Hit Cops With Skateboards. Fun stuff.

Then we move back in time a little for some Sonic Youth influenced noisy post rock from Broken Water. Say What's On Your Mind reminds me of newer Sonic Youth but focused on grafting strange textures together than just random noisy noodling. Even the instrumental Heal seems like they're still talking.

Then we shift into the first of two emo bands here, Candle. They put out a pair of records in the early 90's and their singer went on to scream for Yaphet Kotto. If you like 90`s emo you'll be down with this.

You can get back on your skateboard again with a pair of tracks from lo fi hardcore skate punk outfit Cerebral Ballzy. I hate the hipster audience they seem to attract but Sk8 All Day is a better skate punk song than most of what has been labelled that for about five years. Minor Threat and Bad Brains is all over this awesome stuff

Now over to Germany for some hardcore courtesy of Carol. I imagine this is baloney but to make up for having such an girly name they have a really tough, thick guitar tone. I may say this a lot but this screaming really sounds like the man's being dragged to hell groin first. Awesome stuff that is almost Beyond Belief (I can not believe how lame I am)

Things get noisy but stay punky with a split 7" from Assassins 88 & TV Colours. Assassins 88 play a lo fi punk pop with drums that try and smash your head into little bits while TV Colours throw some programmed drums, walls of guitar and wailing vocals at you until your begging for mercy on the floor. Thoroughly lo fi and thoroughly ass kicking.

We step slightly into some emo for one track from a Discord post hardcore emo band called Bluetip. Their first album was produced by Ian MacKaye and if you don't know that is you really shouldn't be reading this lol. More from them on a mix in the future I  can almost promise.

We stick with the emo thing but get noisier and and head to Richmond Virgina for some Action Patrol. Emocore more than just emo I would say, makes me think of Shotmaker and Ache Hour Credo. Good stuff. Also, they were complete goofs.

Things get screamy for a song with the awesomely named Yossarian Is Drowning. They were from Britain and played emo violence with a twinkly touch. Think maybe Monument with moments of Loma Prieta if that makes any sense.

We head back to Germany for a pair of tracks from Akephal who play a sludgy thick hardcore with an emo edge to them.

Things get arty for a little with San Diego's  Clikatat Ikatowi. This stuff is a little weird. There is screamo, post hardcore and art punk all fighting tooth and nail for supremacy over the rest of the band. Always interesting and usually pretty good.

Things get much less experimental with Arson Our Savior. They play metalcore which at times is reaching for a more melodic place than you would expect. If you didn't know these kids where 18 and this was their debutep you would be forgiven for not caring. I hope they can progress enough as artists to fulfill the potential I'm hearing here.

Things get a tad more musically interesting if not audible with Son Skull. Time for some more lo fi hardcore punk, this time from Olympia Washington and fronted by a lady. Sweet stuff that is a tad noisy for me. I like thick heavy hardcore not frantic, feedback filled screaching hardcore. Still good though.

Things get even more experimental with Altered States. These two untitled songs are almost ambient but they build and change too much to be that. Experimental post rock something or other. Not sure what to call it but these are the best songs on their EP.

And then we're back to hardcore with Walls from Portland/Seattle. Yup. Hardcore. Fun times.

Pentimento on the other hand do seem to be having fun. You kinda have to be if you're playing pop punk. Doesn't work if you're all angry and pouty. So if your down from this hardcore this should help.

Then from Toronto we have more noisy hardcore from Urban Blight. Maybe you can hare bands like  Agnostic Front, Negative Approach, Straight Ahead but I just hear misanthropic hate commit

And we finish with another track of heavy, evil hardcore from Selfless. Dark and evil. nuff said.

Man that was more taxing than I had initially thought. I'm going back to bed. Hopefully when I wake up mediafire won't be such a dick and let me upload my file

Arch Enemy -Khaos Legions

Arch Enemy are a melodic death metal band formed in Sweden in 1996. In 200 they replaced original singer Johan Liiva with Angela Gossow. This year they released their first album of all new, original material in 3 years called Khaos Legions. And it's quite good.

There are more overt references to Anarchy than I can remember which is kinda cool. There are more instrumental, acoustic breaks than I would like but it is what it is. There are a couple of really great, anthemic metal songs that kick ass the way Arch Enemy usually does. It's a thoroughly solid album.

I do have one minor complaint that it kind of seems like Arch Enemy is treading water. While these are solid songs and the music is well played and as always sounds awesome but there's nothing particularly new or innovative. The songs are good but they do feel a little bit like any of the other songs Arch Enemy's written  in the past years. Solid metal with nothing fundamentally wrong but a tad underwhelming for the first new material in 3 years.

(there was a download link here but the dmca got to me. You'll have to find your own source. Maybe buy it?)

Best Friends! In Dudero

Much thanks to Andrew who besides from screaming and playing guitar in Lizards Have Personalities runs this awesome blog http://andhowmanywishesuntilthestarsfall.blogspot.com/ Sometimes our tastes don't match up as well as I'd like but he posts a lot of awesome music. I must thank him for turning me onto the awesomeness that is Best Friends!

They are a two piece punk band from Philadelphia and they play a really cool positive version of emo punk, accent on the punk. One dude drums, the other dude shouts/screams and plays guitar.

The album that really got my interest this morning is an almost all Nirvana cover album they did in  2008 called In Dudero. It's pretty awesome. The run through 7 Nirvana songs that I recognize and one that I don't.

It is interesting to hear these grungy rock songs put through a frantic filter by an energetic two pair of punks. They bring their positive energy and good time summoning punk rock to the powerful and emotional songs that Kurt wrote some twenty years ago.

I thought I had something more to say but apparently I don't. Enjoy the punk.

Xerxes EP`s

There is an interesting new trend in hardcore that seems to be bubbling up. It's a move to slightly tempter the sheer aggression of hardcore with the emotionality and dynamic change of screamo.
 
The latest band to grab my attention and refuse to let go is Xerxes. To date they have released two EP's, Homeward Carries No Direction and Twins, both released last year


















Generally speaking the instrumentation is typically hardcore. Lots of raging guitars and pounding drums. At least on Homeward the guitars have a more epic quality to them than usual. They rise and fall with more and different emotion than is typically garnered in a hardcore anthem.

The singer is decent though nothing spectacular. His is that gravelly, whiskey shout that's becoming more commonplace. Not gruff but there's more than a little gravel in his larynx.

The thing that keeps me replaying these 9 songs are standouts like US 60. The singer is shouting desperately and you can feel the demons on his heels so when the guitars don't really come in till about halfway but never explode in the expected climax it feels like there is something different going on.

The last two tracks from Twins are great example of the screamo influence. Over sludge like drums and just one screeching guitar tone the singer shouts "comes back to me" like a man possessed. That leads directly into Tuesday which has the most ferocious shouts on the album. The guitars build, alternating sludgy and chugging to build to...nothing. The middle of the track drops out to just bass. They take their time bringing everything back so when they do your head separates from your neck.

This is hardcore. And if you don't listen to screamo or don't like old school (...) 90's emo then you might not notice the subtelties and just gloss on by. That's fine. Lot of people don't see how Touché Amoré`s Marching To The Beat Of A Dead Horse has a major screamo influence on it. I`m not saying that Xerxes is on that level yet though they do draw from a well in the same general area.


If you like hardcore you should check this out. If you like screamo you should give this a listen but be a little wary. I`m looking forward to more material to see the path they choose.

Time For A Mix

Since last i posted on this blog I have finished another year of school and moved to a new house. My old laptop's screen is 80% dead and it's only a matter of time before it gets the Office Space treatment.

So here's another mix I made. It might seem a tad more eclectic than they usually are but that's just a figment of your imagination.

We start off with a pair of tracks from one of the few original OG gangsta rappers, Ice Cube. The songs  The Wrong Nigga To Fuck With and Vaseline put you in a very aggressive mood while still maintaining a lyrical dexterity many rappers would literally kill for.

Then we take a short detour into one of the strangest bands I have ever heard of. They're called Animals On Coke and their debut ep is called When Comedians Have Abortions It's Not That Funny . They play experimental power violence that is incredibly weird. It's not really my cup of tea but the song Diet Coke Head is particularly good.

Then we shift into some classic underground screamo. Ursa Theodorus existed as a band from 2008-2009. My favourite song of theirs is called Oceonographer

Now it's time for some nice melodic straight up ahead punk.  The New Enemy plays melodic punk with skate speed. And even better, they're Canadian. We have two songs here Tim Horton Hears A Who & Black & Blue (Collars). The singer has a great halting shout on the second song.

Bob Tilton where an English band from the 90s, when emo wasn't a bad thing. Here we have just one song from them, but trust me there's more to come and they're great.

From the 90's emo scene in Britain we fast forward to the modern underground punk scene in Philidelphia where Bubonic Bear make their sludgy, punky music. They are a punk based two piece that plays hardcore and sludge in equal measure while adding in awesome screams. I want to say that its power violence with sludge but I'm not sure if that's right at all. These four songs make up their Half Length released last year.

From a two piece playing sludgy punk we head back across the pond to check out Crash Of Rhinos. They play 90's emo with a more screamo sensibility and a small dosing of post rock to lengthen the songs. The songs are a little long for my liking but they are rewarding.

We head towards the experimental  side of things with a track from Heavy Heavy Low Low. They also play grindcore, adding a lot more hardcore and screamo than usual which means I am very much on board. Also, the song is called Meathole and that's kinda cool.

From experimental grindcore we head to some twinkly emo courtesy of Dads. Their new ep  Brush Your Teeth ;) is quite good if your into the whole Twinkle Daddie thing. Also, if you like emotional music this will be right up your alley.

The focus on emotions continue as we head back across to the ocean to England for  four more songs from Bob Tilton. Currently my favourite line of poetry ever is  from Butterfly "If I hold the needle steady, we can sew our eyes shut." The other songs are equally emotional and take you on a roller coaster through dynamic changes and awesome playing.

Hope you enjoy