Higher Standards Don't Mean Anything

On Friday I got my hands on my copy of the "Judge's Cave" box set, which is four cassettes of mostly New Haven bands along with an old school cut-and-paste zine inside a spray-painted box. I haven't listened to any of the tapes yet (so far I've only opened the box a couple of times to check the zine out), but this thing is awesome. I mean, how could it not be; there's one side of Medication tracks, recorded with a full band for the first time ever. There's eight tracks from the aborted Sudden Walks LP, and I know I didn't write a lot when I posted the two Sudden Walks 7"-ers a year ago, but they're literally two of the best singles to come out of Connecticut in this century. There's also a live recording of Ehreizig and one side of tracks from Permanent Feels, which are two of Stefan's (Estrogen Highs) side projects. (There's a second stand-alone Ehreizig tape out now, by the way, to go along with the first one that came out at the end of '08). Only 66 of these sets were made, so if you're at all into good CT shit like I am, you should seriously try to grab one right away at myspace slash neverheardofitrecords.



The Libyans were great, and brought along some cool merch of their own; an etched, one-sided single housed in a clear sealed cellophane envelope, and then also what I'm guessing is a tour edition/test pressing of their upcoming 12" on Sorry State. For the hell of it, I'm posting two rips from the 12" below (sounds kinda loud and fuzzy, like your ears are pressed up against the speakers-- the way I like it), plus "Paralyzed" from the one-sided single, which is from a download that the band themselves were giving away not too long ago, since I don't think I'm ever gonna open the envelope. Libyans are sorta in-between Foreign Objects and Social Circkle, to mention a couple of fellow Boston bands, but harder-sounding than either one of them, with some really poppy songs that sound a lot like the Fastbacks or the Muffs alongside some ripping thrash-type ragers. I'd actually passed up on seeing Libyans a couple of times before, including a couple of months ago when they played the Whitney House and I left before they went on. They're totally worth seeing live, though, and this was easily the most pit action I've ever seen at a Fucking Discovery Zone show (though admittedly I've never been to any of the really hardcore ones). The Libyans feinted covering The Descendents and Wire but didn't follow through in either case, though they did cover "Beverly Hills" by the Circle Jerks. All in all, it was a pretty entertaining set, even though Liz' mic kept going dead.

I missed the two opening bands, but caught The Marshes, who were playing a couple of reunion sets over the weekend after being dormant for 10 years. If you don't remember The Marshes then you also probably don't remember the mid-to-late 90's, and the whole mess of fake-indie bands and labels that first sprouted up thanks to the Nirvana/Green Day factor. Not to hold The Marshes responsible for the sins of an entire decade, but seeing them in a basement playing on a DIY punk bill (I guess the Libyans asked them along) seemed a little odd to me, like watching Dan Barry humping Byron Coley's leg, though not enough that I didn't stand there and take some pictures. What little else I know: Colin Sears (ex-Dag Nasty, Alloy) is the drummer for The Marshes, and the last three songs they played on Friday were probably their best ones, don't ask me to name them though.


Libyans -

"A Common Place"

"Blood and Rust"

"Paralyzed"

I Wouldn't Piss On Your Body If Your Heart Was On Fire

Speaking of the greatest rock outfits of the past quarter-century... super-crackly bootleg/Monkees Fan Club edition of the "Winged" 7" that was originally given away with one issue of Forced Exposure or another; this (a Cramps cover and a Urinals cover) plus the "Headburn" EP should be all it takes to convince anyone of the beauty and greatness that was Halo of Flies... includes a reworked "Ballad of Extreme Hate" tacked onto the end of side two, which has never been mentioned in any of the discographies I've seen (perhaps they didn't recognize what it was). There you go, I solved that mystery for you.





Halo of Flies -

"Human Fly"

"I'm a Bug"

"Ballad of Extreme Hate"

We Totaled Your Car

I think the cover photo on this one-- the fourth or fifth "official" Drunks With Guns single, depending upon where you look it up-- is the same photo that's on the back of the first Drunks With Guns single, which I have right over here but I'm not gonna bother getting up to check... in any case, DWG are easily one of the top five or fifteen greatest rock outfits of the past quarter century, by any normal way of thinking... non-essential tidbit: the name, Drunks With Guns, was said to signify how in America "anyone can get their hands on a gun, a car, and a six pack in 20 minutes"... fukkin'-A right... "Drug Problem" in this case means you bought a bunch of drugs that didn't work... lotsa "increased rhythmic skill" on this one-- in fact, Schooly D should've maybe sampled some DWG drum/bass lines instead, and saved himself a pile of trouble.




Drunks With Guns -

"Drug Problem"

"DWI"

"A Beer"

CT Indie House Party Type Deal

...at the house of one of the CT Indie/Inclined Plane dudes, in one of those way-out-in-Northern-CT type towns where they still make trees instead of Dunkin' Donuts. The Field Recordings played, as well as another band, Slam Donahue, who I totally missed because I was in the front room messing with the turntable (there was this Besnard Lakes LP that, admitted sheepishly, I was actually getting into). The Field Recordings had already played at the Elm City PopFest in New Haven earlier in the day, though I had skipped that and instead drove around in the sun all afternoon getting ice cream and pizza. And then after dark we meet at people's houses with plugged-in instruments and make noises to comfort ourselves. I was enjoying The Field Recordings' set a lot, and I think I was one of the first ones to turn around and see the two cops standing at the top of the driveway. So here's a song from The Field Recording's first EP, which they don't play live anymore.


The Field Recordings -

"Wait, What's That From?"

I'm Getting Pretty Good At Waking Up And Getting Dressed

Friday night was probably the third or fourth time that The Slow Death (in one form or another) have played in the area over the past year or so, including once already this year back in February, which might seem like a lot for a band from Minneapolis but that's okay because they're a damn good band. Friday night at Whitney House they were actually impressive as hell; you can't overestimate what Mikey Erg adds with his drums and backing vocals, plus they've got a handful of new songs that are all at least 8 or 9 on a 10 scale, and the Whitney House acoustics had everything sounding nice and thick as usual. Really, no matter how many times you might've seen these guys (and I guess they tour a lot, don't they?), it's well worth it to get out and see them again with the current line-up. The Slow Death have recorded four new songs on a demo CD-R that they brought with them; all of the songs are up right now on their MySpace page (myspaceblahblahblah/prettyboythorson), plus I hope they don't mind that I'm gonna post one of them here.

The Dead Uncles set was weird, mostly because at different times I couldn't hear one of the mic's or one of the guitars, which you'd think would mean a crappy set but it wasn't-- it was most likely my favorite Dead Uncles set so far. It's actually the most tuneful that I've ever heard them, even without any Replacements covers (not that I've ever heard Dead Uncles do a Replacements cover, it's just something that I keep hearing about). Sean Murphy even sang one song with them, and it wasn't that bad, it had words and everything. Dead Uncles have some new product on the way soon, too, which oughta be nice. Not that I've heard any of it or anything, but I can still guarantee you that it'll be better than Deadlights.


The Slow Death -

"The Opposite of Jesse's Girl"

Dead Uncles -

"Blind Reiterations"

I Can See What You Dig

It seems kinda funny to think about it now, but there was a time back in the '80s when MRR wouldn't touch bands like this with a stick, and would dismiss a lot of excellent garage/noise punk as being college rock or some such shit (re: the infamous "Birthday Party-ish minimalist rock" review). I say funny, because it seems like a lot of what MRR covers now is stuff that either would've been ripped to shreds back when the zine was in its 80's heyday, or wouldn't have even made it into the magazine at all. Not bitching, just making an observation. I've actually gone back to occasionally reading MRR again, although there's nothing in it anymore that's quite on the level of one of those mid-80's scene reports written by one of the 15-year-olds from Negative Element. And then there's this Head single. I think I posted a Head single once before, didn't I? Oh, and the MRR thing is just something I was thinking about because I referenced something similar when I wrote a review about Head in Brushback #4, ages ago (re: the infamous "Ben Weasel-tongue-kissing, pink-wearing pansy" review). Didn't make much sense to anyone back then, either.




Head -

"Theme of Head"

"Do You Remember Me?"

"I Can See What You Dig"

I've Gotten So Good At Talking No One Knows What I'm Trying To Say

I'm guessing no one wants to hear me go on again about the time I went to Cousin Larry's in Danbury back in January to see The Field Recordings, and how it didn't work out (a quick summary: band cancels due to circumstances, performs an improvised two-man acoustic set as a replacement). Things went pretty much as planned this past Saturday, though, to the point that The Field Recordings put up the kind of set worthy of their potential, even if it started off a bit lethargically. It took a wide-open version of "Fixed Points" to get things back on track again, followed a bit later by a new song bearing a hefty rhythm/melody line which might be their best song so far, even if I can't tell you what it was because it doesn't even have a title yet. A vicious "Awkward Circuit Boards" became another high point, finally finishing off with some sort of noise/improv jam type thing, although it wasn't really psych/noodly at all as you might be thinking, more like The Field Recordings impersonating Drunkdriver and ending with some broken strings and Jared knocking half his drum kit to the floor. Not to fall back on hyperbole too much, but one of the things I've learned over the years is to be around a potentially great band while they're in their ascent is something rare, and right now The Field Recordings are writing their own chapter in a book that no one's even reading. Hence their recent plan to record a batch of songs to cassettes individually, so that whichever copy a person ended up with, they would have the only one that existed. I don't know if they ever went through with the idea, but sometimes you want to be clued-in to a band just for the attempt.

Actually, I think that idea became the "At Dawn!/At Dusk!" cassette, one of the songs from which ("Framing Happiness") I've posted below; it's a limited edition of 50 which you can only buy from the band at shows, or you can download most Field Recordings stuff through their web site (here) or bandcamp page (here).


The Field Recordings -

"The Awkward Circuit Boards"

"Framing Happiness"

I've Been Painting Crosses On Your Garden Gate

Away From The Pulsebeat was a shitty fanzine out of New Jersey back in the late '80s, pretty much in the same category as Chemical Imbalance in that they included a 7" with each issue and generally followed along with whatever Forced Exposure and Conflict were doing in their reviews section. AFTPB's "thing", apparently discovered mid-stream, was that every record from Australia was great, much like that other '80s zine from Ohio, the one that gave everything on 4AD a great review, although you can't remember the name of it because it sucked anyway.

My copy of AFTPB #2 is long gone (*wait, I found my copy-- it still totally blows), but I've still got the 7" that came with it. Though most of the artists on the 7" are pretty swank, the material doesn't quite live up to prospects (the Redd Kross cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" is downright laughable). Still, I don't think the Feedtime track is available anywhere else, and the Nikki Sudden track hits a nice little uptick at around the two minute mark. This record's been flopping around in a box without a plastic bag or picture sleeve for 20-plus years now, just like when I first bought it, so be aware that it can be a bit crackly in parts.


Nikki Sudden -

"Flower Bed Romance"

Feedtime -

"Take the Buick"