Monday, June 27, 2011

I Don't Even Like You All That Much



My three favorite punk bands (meaning pre-1980) are probably Crime, Pagans, and the Australian X, so I'm gonna go ahead and write this up anyway, even though the copy I have is all beat to shit. It didn't bother me as much when I bought it, because I got it for practically nothing, but now that I'm trying to post it for the blog I'm wishing that I had a better copy.

Anyway, this is the first re-issue of the Australian X's "Aspirations" LP, which is really one of the best records ever made. The rips I made aren't worth downloading, but I'll post them as listen-only samples anyway, so you can at least check out what are two of my favorite parts on the record: the fake spit at the beginning of "Dipstick", which is so ridiculous that it almost makes me laugh every time I hear it, and the absolutely murderous way that the drums and bass kick-start the beginning of "Present". (Don't bother listening to the rest of the files, it's not worth it.) The drums and bass on this record sound so bad-ass, it's friggin' unbelievable.

If you haven't heard this record before, then you should hunt it down right away. You can hear the whole thing here, on the ever-loving Biannual Haircut (you should also grab X's "Home is Where The Floor Is" EP while you're there, it's almost as excellent), and then besides a couple of CD re-issues-- one of them on AmRep-- there's also the newest vinyl re-issue of "X-Aspiriations" which came out last year, if you can find it and feel like dropping 25 bucks on it.




X (Australia) -









16 comments:

fantom said...

A great one indeed. Hadn't know of the EP before though, so appreciate the pointer.

Lightning Baltimore said...

A definite classic, but I actually prefer their second album, At Home with You.

Have you heard either of the live albums from the '70s? Live at The Stagedoor Tavern / Sydney / 8 July 1978 has fairly abysmal sound but is a pretty vicious show. Live at the Civic '79 has much better sound but is a much shorter show. The 2002 reunion show live album is a keeper, btw: Evil Rumours.

Anonymous said...

A real classic here. I first became aware of X when feedtime covered 'I dont wanna go out'. Had the good fortune of picking up an original of Aspirations a couple of years later.
Crime, Pagans and X. I might just throw in Radio Birdman, Wire and The Kids (Belguim) to keep 'em company.
Cheers VV

Brushback said...

Love the first The Kids LP, I went on a streak about a month ago where I was listening to it constantly. Wish I owned it, I just have it on my computer.

Civic '79 is pretty great, nice and loud -- those live versions make really good companions to the studio versions on "Aspirations", I think it's pretty essential for getting the full picture of the band... haven't heard those other live albums you mentioned, though. (or, At Home With You, either!)

ib said...

So. You have elected to run on Facebook, have you ? Well. I have to confess I toyed with the idea for long enough too. Kind of pointless to lie down in in the road in front of a runaway train.

Faceturd. Ha.

And just why do the f@ckers make it so difficult just to instal a simple button ? Infuriating flirting, if you ask me. I hardly even know which URL is legitimate and which is some far eastern scam.

ib said...

Anyway. I'm enjoying the improved sidecar content here.

I probably should have framed this by email, instead of weighing in on a tangent, but I've been attempting to muster the resources to makeover my own shit too so I might as well continue irritatingly quite off topic.

Re your 'ad policy': couldn't agree with you more. As for that Vox issue; I never could figure out myself how to opt for listening only, and I doubt it makes for any appreciable degree of self-protection. My archives are by now a tangle of dead links and server issues in spite of my best intentions.

On 'Bad Writing': love it! Where did that come from ? Unsure of the provenance, but a recent trawl through some of my own back pages made me f@ckin' blush.

Brushback said...

The "Bad Writing" section has been there since last year some time, I almost thought about making it its own seperate blog since it's been easy to find so much stuff to put there (except that the badwriting.blogspot address has already been taken)...

I've just been using Facebook like Twitter, posting odd rants and stuff. The content on the Facebook is totally different from what's on the blog (well, for the most part)..

I only just found out how to do listen-only files with Box.net (thanks to the guy from Black Mamba Beat, actually), so I might start going back and re-assembling some of the older posts that had their Vox files taken down. Or maybe not... might be too much work, for a blog that nobody reads anymore.

ib said...

Well, you know, people through the centuries have suffered from Attention Deficit Disorders. Couldn't even stop the proles from fidgeting in church one damn day a week.

Or in the Ducking Stool.

I don't know. There is a lot of aggravation in maintaining a blog, of course. I'm not sure how much Facebook is a departure from that; I can understand why all those individuals commit FB suicide after the novelty of inviting 'friends' to wtch them pissing up the wall begins to pale.

Then again. I have not deleted my own FB profile as yet. Just never really figured out where to go with it. Like some kind of Totalitarian recreation space, with everybody milling around aimlessly and colliding into each other like so many skittles.

Twitter. Well. Fuck that.

It's all I can do just to keep with sweeping out my cave. Remembering to charge the cell phone.

I know this is a recurrent theme...

If and when I go, I think I'll chose to pull the plug. Rather than linger in the ether for the pack rats to scavenge.

Brushback said...

Oh, I definitely have got half a foot out the door already (which is why I'm re-starting the paper zine: something to keep my hands busy).

Twitter sucks too, it's just that there's a pattern to what I've been posting on Facebook and it's basically what everyone else is posting on Twitter. So I guess I'm using it wrong.

ib said...

Oh. I'm partial to a rant, or too. It's the act of registering a Twitter account - the jumping through hoops - which does not appeal.

I remember you mentioning your intention to return to paper just recently. Keep me in the loop. If it comes together, I will be glad to subscribe.

Brushback said...

There will be no subscriptions-- in fact, there will barely be any copies (I'm going to make each issue by hand, maybe 25 - 40 copies at a time, either on my printer at home or on the copy machine at Staples).

You're in line to get one, of course, because the name -- Incremental Decrepitude -- was your inadvertent creation.

ib said...

Well, all right!

Limited Edition, eh ? Yeah. Google and Faceturd can go fuck themselves.

Brushback said...

Yeah, by putting months of labor into a paper zine that only 10 people will read, I'm really "sticking it" to The Man... *wry grin*

Estrogen Highs and Dead Uncles interviews have already been completed (my thanks to those guys), I just gotta finish transcribing the tapes and then write the rest of the pages. Shouldn't take me any longer than two years. *fake chuckle*

Lightning Baltimore said...

You're going to hand-number the paper issues, right? Will you be using different color papers? Can you guarantee these limited editions won't just end up compiled together for a lower price at a later time?

:-P

Brushback said...

Ha ha ha! Yeah, it's going to be hand-painted onto a cassette O-Card in a limited edition of seven.

Brushback said...

^
Youth Attack