Alpinist

THE FUCKING REIGNING KINGS OF CRUST. If you have never listened to Germany's Alpinist then you are a fucking idiot. This shit is the bomb. Literally. My speakers are exploding with doomy crust goodness, and have been almost all day.

They just did a tour here in America, I don't know for how long or anything but they did it with Masakari for a split LP they recently put out. Homeboys were up here in Olympia at New Direction Fest, but I didn't have twenty buxx. I wanted to get a ride down to where the show was so I could just sit outside and scowl, but I couldn't even get a ride. Disappointment life.

Honestly, for real though, this is crust. All of their albums are a brutal onslaught of punk shit and some of the heaviest shit you have ever heard. Riffs for days and days. And days. Sometimes its almost speed metal, which is awesome as fuck. EVERYONE WHO IS READING THIS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU LIKE CRUST/DOOM/HEAVY AS BALLS YOU NEED TO GET THIS SHIT BECAUSE YOU WILL ENJOY THE FUCK OUT OF IT. Remember Tempest, who I posted a while ago? Well, its like that except way more brutal in every way. Again, THE FUCKING KINGS OF CRUST.

Below is everything they have ever put out, technically. They did a compilation album which was the tracks from Lichtlærm and Minus.Mensch, so posting that would be redundant. Got a video down there from their recent tour over here, so check that out as well (half set?). Go pick up as much of their stuff as you can find because these dudes are awesome.



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Demo


Alpinist / Intoblckmirror European Tour Split


Alpinist / Finisterre


Minus.Mensch


Lichtlærm


Alpinist / Masakari

Friends For Life Records - PDX2011

So a kid I met a while ago has a label based out of Portland called Friends For Life that is putting out zines and tapes. He was telling me that he is going to be putting out some new jaints from Carrion Spring and Leaster Freemon in the near future, so when those are out you should pick them up if you are into those bands. They just put out a compilation/teaser/sampler whatever that is similar in idea to the 75:24 compilation put out by Tickle Butt. They put it up for free download but also put this shit on tape, which is the labels first release. Friends For Life are also doing a distro, and if you buy this sampler you get a free hand screened Oker cd.

PDX2011 is a compilation tape made up of 14 bands that are all friends from the Portland area. The Tracklisting is as follows:

1. Carrion Spring - Scumfuck Angel
2. Wild Guess - Card
3. Cower - Exit 296B
4. Forest Park - Portland
5. Desert of Hiatus - In The Spirit of The Spirit That Will Tell Us Why We Exist
6. Kotten Dik - I Had A Dream Once
7. Zoogirl - B-Day
8. Duck. Little Brother, Duck!
9. Sloths - Seasonal Depression
10. Girlfriends - Brobocop
11. Pardee Shorts - Livejournal Pt. 2
12. Logs? (labeled as "Friends For Life Records") - 4
13. GrandFather - Song 3
14. Oker - 1

Alright so all the bands on this compilation are good enough to give the album at least one complete listen. Alot of genres are on this release, and you may very well not enjoy some of the songs. I think that out of all the bands on here the ones that really stuck out for me were Sloths, Cower, and Oker. I have the Oker cd and have been meaning to post it up here, but this song is so good. I'm calling it so hard: Oker is going to be a big deal, and I hope it is sooner rather than later. As for Cower, I had heard about them alot from people and this was my first time listening to it and I was disappointed with the fact that I couldn't really get into it. On the other hand, like Cower I have heard alot about Sloths, and that shit blew me away. Was not expecting that at all and I really really dig it. Kotten Dik is tight as shit too.

Overall this is a super solid compilation. I think that everyone, no matter what their preferred style of music is, will be able to find some shit on here that they really enjoy. Alot of dope stuff going on in Portland and it seems like no one is really giving them too much attention on a national scale. Some real talent is kicking it in PDX these days and I'm stoked on all those dudes right now. Really good people, really good times, please please please download this and then buy it from FFL's big cartel. Only like 125 of these things are going to be made and if you wait around you probably aren't gonna be able to get your hands on this shit. Keep a look out for Friends For Life Records in the tape and zine world. Word.


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PDX2011

Antioch Arrow

"For those who have never heard or seen Antioch Arrow, it is a pretty impossible task to describe them to you. Because while listening to them on record or live you are for the most part baffled at what is happening. While some critics have dismissed their creations as ludicrous and simply too weird, other critics and their fans hold them in the highest regard for exactly those reasons. An Antioch Arrow album or performance is an overwhelming art explosion of noisy poems sprayed in your face in one minute bursts. Sort of like someone emptying cans of Mace in your eyes. These stinging chemicals are saying something to you which really makes you think once you can see again, and you sure as hell won’t ever forget the experience. From 1993-1994, Antioch Arrow took the San Diego art hardcore scene to the highest apogee imaginable, and it was beautiful." - Last.fm

So I really couldnt think of anything that would top that description. Got all their stuff and a dope video below.



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Antioch Arrow / Candle Split


Gems of Masochism


In Love With Jetts


The Lady is a Cat

Mass Movement Of The Moth

I'm going home in a week, and I don't think I'm going to bring my computer. If I don't then I wouldn't be posting anything for two weeks, so until I leave I'm going to try to do a post every day.

Mass Movement Of The Moth are from D.C, which I did not know until I looked up their information. I actually really lucked out with this one because I had a few of their releases and what-have-you but I remember back when I first got their stuff I couldn't find a few releases. Recently someone made them a website that had their discography up for download and shit. You can check it out here. I ended up just redownloading everything directly from here, but I re-uploaded them to my mediafire just in case for whatever reason their links die or something.

Anyways, Mass Movement Of The Moth was around from 2004 to 2007 and in that time released 7 albums. The album "Beyond" looks like a collection of unreleased stuff, which I would imagine was put together after the group disbanded. The music they played is kind of hard to describe. Its heavy and kind of experimental I suppose, but it is also really groovy and stuff at times while still being pretty dark ("Stuck in the Segue" off the split with The Catalyst has a brooding march for the second half of the track and while listening to it my room mate said it sounded like "some Cthulhu shit"). If you want to call it screamo you can (happens all the time here on the internet), but I wouldn't really say they are a "screamo band". All in all they are a post-hardcore band. They incorporate so much shit in each of their tracks and use so many different dynamics that it makes every song sound different, which is always very enjoyable. I like that they can essentially play whatever the fuck they want and it turns out really good, you know? Sometimes bands try to blend genres and shit in their songs and it doesn't really work out.

The split with The Catalyist is very produced and experimental post-hardcore. The split with Sing! Sing! Prison! is hard and rough around the edges, but still incorporates some weird shit. The Polar split is way gritty and groovy hardcore. Funually has remixes and demos and stuff. Finale and finally are different versions of the same album, both really heavy. Outerspace is complex and dynamic, but not as heavy as most of their other stuff, this album is more post-hardcore.

So yeah, download these tracks if you don't have them already and support the band as best as you can. Their website has links to distros and stuff so make sure you snag some of their merch. It's a shame they broke up because they would have been really dope to see live.

Here is a video of a show in D.C that they played with Ampere, Das Oath, and Hot Cross in 2006.


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Two Thousand And Six Six Six (Mass Movement Of The Moth / The Catalyst Split LP)


Beyond



Finale


Finally



Funally


Outerspace



Mass Movement of The Moth / Polar Split 7 Inch


Mass Movement of The Moth / Sing! Sing! Prison Split 7 Inch

PG.99 D.C REUNION SHOW

So in case you have not been near a fucking computer for the past few months, Pg.99 recently did two reunion shows. One was at Best Friends Day and the other was at The Black Cat in D.C. The BFD show had like Strike Anywhere and Converge on it and the D.C show had Thou and Circle Takes The Square on board. I didn't go to either because of school, but NPR surprisingly gave a few fucks and showed up to the gigs. NPR interviewed the Taylors a little before BFD (link in article below), and at the D.C show they were kind enough record the entire thing. Below is a link to the spot where you can listen to Pg.99's set, and there are two links next to the article where you can hear CTTS and Thou. Shit is pretty dope. For a live recording the quality is pretty good, good enough at least. The Best Friend's Day set is below. Word.




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PG.99 NPR STUFF

Love Like… Electrocution

Love Like… Electrocution was an Australian band that was around, roughly, from '02 to '06. The band is made up of members of Slackjaw and St. Alban's Kids. Their sound sounds similar to the other emo-violence bands around that time, like Kodan Armada or Tunes For Bears to Dance To. You know, sometimes were screaming sometimes were singing kinda thing. LLE had two vocalists I think, which is one of the old-school aspects I wish people would bring back.

While their sound is pretty EV, their post-hardcore/emo roots run pretty deep and create a constant backdrop to whatever they are doing. Some of the instrumentation sounds like Hot Cross and the more technical post-hardcore bands. It is a shame that when recording they focused so hard on bringing the vocals to the foreground when the instruments, which should be brought up to be able to be fully appreciated, are left dangling in the background.

Old school gem, Love Like... Electrocution are no more but leave us with some great shit. As far as the band goes, they never really left general Australia, only making it out as far as New Zealand to tour. While in Australia they got to play with some pretty big bands, according to their Last.fm. I don't like to do this, but below is a video of just one of their songs. It isn't live. This way you can at least hear a song before you download their stuff, but if you don't download this then you are a fucking idiot. Unless you already have it, then that's cool.

I managed, after much stress and frustration, to find all of their recordings. Their first release was an EP called "She Was Red Hot". Then they did a full length, self titled, which was "She Was Red Hot" plus some new tracks. After that they did a demo, followed by a tour split with This Night Creeps. The split took forever to get a hold of. If you like This Night Creeps I have their full length which I can link in a comment or something. Anyways, download all their stuff below and then go on your favorite message board and try to buy some of their vinyl or cds. The LP isn't that hard to find.



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She Was Red Hot


Love Like… Electrocution (self titled)


2004 Demo


Love Like… Electrocution / This Night Creeps Tour Split

Wild Guess

Wild Guess was a band from Portland, OR that was made up of members of Kidcrash/Logs and Oker. Alex and Paul from Logs switched instruments and started playing chiller music after Logs was done. Because all of the members travel the band has been around for a while but has not been too active. They actually played their last show at my house with Ten Thousand Leagues. Unfortunately there was no video.

Wild Guess sounds like Logs but more chunky and grown up. It isn't wild or heavy or chaotic or anything that would make them a hardcore band. They are not a hardcore band. They are a driving punk band, but at times you can hear parts that sound like Logs. They only recorded four songs, as far as I know. I would not be surprised if they recorded an album but are just sitting on it like they did with Hogz. I really enjoy their recordings, but live they blew me away.

Jared, the drummer, is in a band called Oker that is on tour right now with Kidcrash. Yes, Kidcrash is doing a little tour or something. I don't know any details about these shows or I would post up dates. I don't know if the new Kidcrash is available yet either. I also don't know what the deal is with Wild Guess music on a physical medium. All I know is that Paul is going to Turkey for college and Alex makes heads and stuff for his company called Science. His business partner also has the hookup for tubes and amp parts. You should check it out here. Alex used a Hellhawk when they played my house and that shit sounded so good.

No videos, just the EP. Download it and keep a lookout for these dudes other bands. If you can think of a way to support them then do that. Sorry I don't really knowhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif shit about this band and have no links to a website or anything. All I could find was a bandcamp. Word.


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Wild Guess EP

Edhochuli

If you have not heard of Edhochuli (read Ed Hock You Lee) then you are missing the fuck out. Named after a football ref who fucked over the Pittsburgh Steelers, ED consists of members of the sorely missed Outclassed. I think they all were in Outclassed at one time, but I'm not 100% sure. They hold it down for Pittsburgh really hard along with their dudes Worn Out Tigers & Who Goes There.

Alright, so musically this shit is off the chain. It of course sounds somewhat similar to Outclassed because they share so many members but they have perfected their own sound that separates them from their former band. While there are still Jon Ahn's crazy bass parts and over all good time rock and roll riffs, Edhochuli seems to be more rock and roll than Outclassed was.

Their first Demo, which was just two songs that sounded like they were recorded live at a practice on a computer, were raw and heavy as shit. You can only hear the vocals on two parts of the whole mini demo which are buried deep in fuzz. Kinda metal, the two songs incorporate a lot of high end guitar work and fist pumping rhythms. Total Black Sabbath style.

The second Demo thing, which is called "Edhochuli Is One Word", was produced alot better. It sounds like there was some time and effort put into the production of the tracks which is really nice because you can actually hear all of the parts that are going on. You can also hear the vocals very clearly. I like how they still use similar feedback to Outclassed's final EP. The first song is pretty metal, creating a dark atmosphere that turns very brooding towards the middle. The track is slow and rolls along with so many rock riffs. Guitar solos too. The second song is a re-recording of one of the 2 song demo songs. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs, but I think I like the 2 song demo more although they sound very very similair. The third song is another metal as shit song that starts off slow, gets heavy, and then gets real heavy and punk before it kind of chills out at the end. Song four showcases their dynamics as a band really well in my opinion because it has so many parts that are different. Second to last song is the club banger and the last song is in my opinion the best song on the track. The guitar parts of that last track are so fucking good. This song is also on the 2 song demo and fucking rules on that release too.

Over the years I have kind of gotten to know some of these guys from going to see Outclassed, their close relationship to alot of Baltimore kids, and the fact that I have been able to play shows with Edhochuli. Hanging out with the Pittsburgh kids will produce one of the most comfortable out of town hangouts you will ever experience. Homeboys know how to party. Edhochuli just recently released a split with Amaget which is being put out by Riotous Outburst records. I do not have the tracks to that split, but you can listen to both side of the split here. They are also going to be doing a split with Pansori, but I don't know whats going on with that. When I get it it's gonna get posted though.

Edhochuli is on tour right now, doing two months across the U.S. I don't know how up to date their tour schedule is, but all their dates can be found here. Go check it out, see them when they roll through your area and help them out as much ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs you can. Good times will be had. Hook 'em up with a show too, because they hold Pittsburgh down really fucking hard. Below are both their demos and a video. SUPPORT THIS FUCKING BAND.



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2 Song Demo



Edhochuli Is One Word.

The Reptilian + Jowls

So first off I just wanna say that I was originally gonna just throw up some Reptilian, but after waiting on that dope split they did with Jowls I figured I might as well just throw Jowls up on here too. I met The Reptilian for the first time in South Bend at that Generic place, and then crashed at Russ' house for two nights. Dudes hang hard as fuck and hold down Kalamazoo really fucking hard. Russ lives at this spot called "The No Fun House", which ironically turned out to be pretty fun. One of the room mates, and I hate myself right now for forgetting his name (Shawn??) books shows at The Strutt and runs a small label (have not forgot to post your shit btw). Party animals kinda, these dudes hang hard as fuck. Really invested in the Mid West scene and true to the game.
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Jowls, on the other hand, are strangers to me. They are a new band, a two piece, that formed from the ashes of Victor! Fix The Sun. I met them one time in Maryland way bahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifck in the day but I didn't really kick it with them. I had heard that those dudes were in a new band but did not hear it until Dantilian told me about this hot new split they were doing. I looked em up and found their EP, which is pretty cool. It is called "Cunt Punch", and I know that that title might offend some people or piss them off but whatever. Def def def worth checking out (it is below).

Anyways, The Reptilian. They are pretty much the embodiment of the recent midwest sound. You know what I'm talking about, but would probably just attribute it to "the kind of music Native plays" or something. Native got big doing this stuff, but, The Reptilian have been doing this shit for quite some time. Longer, I don't know. Better, thats up to you. They do all that tapping stuff and have the shouty vocals. The bass is super driving and present in the mix. The Reptillian are kind of really groovy and bouncy, but have some heavier parts. Their older stuff is a little dirtier and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrough around the edges than "Boy's Life EP". Their drummer sings, and he has some Magic The Gathering cards hanging out in his house for decoration which I really hope are first editions.

So below we have a little smorgasbord. We got both The Reptilian's albums and both of their splits. As an added bonus you can also get Jowl's EP or whatever it is. They (Jowls) just got signed to Dog House Records and are doing an LP or something so watch out for that if you like Jowls. Download all this stuff I have so graciously given you and then later go buy it from the bands and labels so there can be more.

Le Reptilian (good luck finding nothing but David Icke videos when you youtube them)


Jowls offical big boy video


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Jowls - Cunt Punch


Jowls / The Reptilian Split


The Reptilian - Full Health


The Reptilian - Boy's Life EP


The Reptilian / Boy Problems / Lautrec / Osceola

Park Jefferson

Park Jefferson are from Michigain. More or less this is the creative outlet of Nick Stuntsman of Merchant Ships / Mid West Pen Pals fame. A good bit of their material is acoustic, I don't know if he plays solo shows under this moniker but I would imagine that he does most of the writing.

I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that this band is really influenced by Pennsylvania stuff like Street Smart and Algernon. They do, however, still retain alot of their mid-west background. Their material is not the most original, but, it is still pretty really dope. The acoustic and electric tracks are good, although the quality of the acoustic songs are better than the electric. The Bicycle Sunday split songs were done well.

I think they are on "hiatus". Go figure, a Merchant Ships band breaking up. Don't worry, they will more than likely get back together. I would imagine Nick is going to keep on making songs.

Everything form their bandcamp is down there. Don't have Bicycle Sunday songs from that split, but I'm sure you can get em if you want em. Acoustic video below. Word.




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Childhood



Acoustic EP


Better Boy



Park Jefferson's songs from the split with Bicycle Sunday