Ten Thousand Leagues

Ten Thousand Leagues is a hardcore "supergroup" I guess, made up of members of Moldar/Summer Vacation, Calculator and Color Chromatic. There may be other bands involved, but I only know Jeff, Ramy and Mark. The bassist was in Lautrec. Shit is dope. You need to check this out.
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TEN THOUSAND LEAGUES DEMO 2010
recorded at The Earth Capital nov5, nov6 2010
these are the first songs we wrote as a band during the summer and fall of 2010. the s/t demo will be released on cassette tape by the different imprint collectives that are closely affiliated with this band (Kyeo Speaks, Olhar De Vidro, Destroy All Religion). these songs will also be pressed onto a 12" split record with a band soon to be announced. things should make sense by winter.

track-listing ::
1. Pieces Of Mosaic
2. Blank Scripture
3. Timepiece
4. Forfeit This Routine
5. Early Morning Eyes
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Word.



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2010 Demo

7" INCH SPLOTLIGHT: Shotmaker/Watershed Split (1994)

This will be the first post of a brand new feature I'll be doing here on Chug Life, called 7" Inch Spotlight. Basically, I'll be picking and reviewing a 7" from my own personal collection. I think these posts will be fun for me to write and also break up the sometimes monotonous full discography posts we do sometimes.

Punk, being the completely ass-backwards genre that it usually is, has become perhaps almost as unequivocally associated with the media form of vinyl records as peanut butter has become perpetually paired with jelly.

Match this with the fact that punk is a relatively small subculture, (although it's forays into the nether regions of pop culture only continue to become more prevalent as the genre itself gets a little more aged with every passing year), as well as the fact that it is, actually, still very young: whether you say '74, or '77, (or even earlier), punk has really only been around four about 35 years or so, and you might be able to get a better idea of the vinyl collecting hobbyists that are just as diehard and nerdy as your fanatical stamp or baseball card collector.

The fetishist culture that has arisen around collecting punk records has created a situation that has indelibly helped the art form survive as well as retain it's aesthetic core values. Vinyl is often held up on a pedestal, as some sort of monument to the ideal of purity and elitism that sometimes can beget an unfortunate image of the concept of punk music (which more often than not is embodied by that one shitty quasi-intellectual snobby douche bag at the show...there's at least one in every scene). However, vinyl also reflects some of the more positive and heralded aspects of punk. The concept of DIY, as well as a widespread tradition of continuing to release material on vinyl (and other dead formats) despite the rise of CD-ROM and mp3 technologies, and the attention to detail that is often associated with many band's vinyl output in terms of liner notes and artwork are all certainly recognized by many to be some of the most pleasurable and nostalgic aspects of being involved in punk culture.

And, more than probably any era, the late '80's and early '90's have come to embody the golden age of obscure, limited edition vinyl releases and handcrafted DIY workmanship. Maybe that's why I decided to start my feature with the Shotmaker/Watershed split, because it comes from and is a great example of DIY culture in that very same era; from the chunky guitars and iconic 90's emocore vocals to the obligatory black and white antique photograph and photocopied zine featuring a rant on DIY, apparently from the runner of the record label that put out this gem, Vital Communications. Let's face it, it pretty much screams 90's emo.

Shotmaker's side of the split does not disappoint, and is pretty much in line with the rest of their fortunately rather sizable discography. Chunky guitars, grimy bass, and precise drums form the band's relentless and influential sound.

"Selector" rolls right along with a tight, groovy feel and the bare-bones screamed/sung vocal approach that helps make Shotmaker such an intense, interesting band to listen to. And the trademark palm mutes are back once again on "Public Eye Opinion," that features one of the band's most melodic choruses without losing any of their heaviness and gritty approach. It's splits exactly like this one that helped make Shotmaker one of the more well known bands to emerge from the era and enjoy continued popularity due to the rise of download and blog culture.

Watershed, although clearly the far more obscure band featured on the split, is certainly not to be ignored. Their side of the 7" is an amazing emo gem, and honestly holds up just as well as, if not better than many of other early 90's groups that are more well known due to having put out game-changing records or touring extensively. It's bands like these that makes colecting hardcore and emo records so rewarding. I bought this split purely for the Shotmaker side, and was very pleasently surprised when I flipped the record over and listened to Watershed's offerings.

The first song, "Eyes," starts off with a sound clip featuring someone, presumably a doctor in a promotional or educational video, promoting the use of morphine on medical patients playing over a heady, slow guitar riff that sounds almost ahead of its time. The vocals were maybe the most surprising thing about the band for me. They don't necessarily sound like every other band from the era. They're raised high in the mix, and are incredibly melodic when they're being sung, as they are for the first half of this song. This mesmerizing melodic part gives way to a breakdown that conjures up images of 90's heavyweights like Indian Summer, Lincoln, or Moss Icon, and displays are more raw and desperate vocal style.

That sound carries over into "Stand Alone," which relies heavily on a cut-up, stop and start structure that's balanced wonderfully by a chorus you'll find yourself bobbing your head along to.

Unfortunately, the only thing I really know about Watershed is that they were presumably from Canada and this was apparently their only recorded material as a band.



Check out this great French blog too see nice picture of all the inserts and cover art for this release, including the Vital Communications zine that came as an insert in these seven inches.

* * *



Shotmaker/Watershed Split 7" (1994)

Antilles

Antilles is a Screamo band from the midwest. Their myspace says they are from Ohio but their bassist lives in Chicago at The Summer Camp. Musically, they sound like alot of the French bands (Daitro/Mihai Ederisch) but the vocals are more in the vein of New England bands like Ampere or L'antietam. I don't know all the bands that these guys are in, but I know that some of the dudes are affiliated with The Juniper Wait and Lion of The North. I recomend this to anyone who likes midwest emo tunes or some of the more melodic euro skrimz. Harrison, who runs Kid Sister Everything, sent me this really detailed description of the Antilles catalog:

Antilles/The Juniper Wait "Split"
Released by: Arclight Communications
Year: 2007
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Adam, Josh

Only released as a CD. Arclight was run by Cody Kirkendall, who was at the time in Juniper Wait and ended up playing bass in Antilles. Recorded by Rob Zajac at Waveburner Studios.

1. Mutiny Aboard the Crystal Ship
2. The Lamentations of an Empty Mind
3. (The Juniper Wait)
4. (The Juniper Wait)

Antilles "Beholder/Destroyer"
Released by: Arclight Communications
Year: 2007
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Josh

Only released as a CD. Arclight was run by Cody Kirkendall, who ended up playing bass, Pre-release cover was vellum slipcase with one color screen print, and photocopied insert. 1st official release of the record was in recycled chipboard package, with two color screen print, art by Seth Grham of Romance of Young Tigers and patch insert. Recorded by Rob Zajac at Waveburner Studios.

1. Beholder
2. Rumors of an Apocalypse
3. Plagiarized, Rehashed
4. A Means to an End
5. Pestilence & Drought
6. Eulogy
7. Destroyer

Antilles/Trifle Tower "Split"
Released by: Murkhouse Recordings
Year: 2008
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Cody

Only released as a 7", 400 on black, 100 on clear blue. Miscellaneous colored covers with the same art. Black on white were Trifle Tower's copies, brown on white are Antilles copies, grey on white covers were made for the Antilles & Mountain Asleep tour in May 2010. Recorded by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.

A1. Salvage
B1. (Trifle Tower) Criancas da Rua

Antilles "Beholder/Destroyer"
Released by: Arclight Communications
Year: 2007
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Josh

Only released as a CD. Arclight was run by Cody Kirkendall based out of Ohio, who ended up playing bass, Pre-release cover was vellum slipcase with one color screen print, and photocopied insert. 1st official release of the record was in recycled chipboard package, with two color screen print, art by Seth Grahm of Romance of Young Tigers and patch insert. Recorded by Rob Zajac at Waveburner Studios.

1. Beholder
2. Rumors of an Apocalypse
3. Plagiarized, Rehashed
4. A Means to an End
5. Pestilence & Drought
6. Eulogy
7. Destroyer

Antilles "Antilles"
Released by: Allergic to Fun (12") Kid Sister Everything (CD)
Year: 2008
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Cody

Released as a one-sided 12", 200 on black, 100 on white. Cover art by Pat from Apeshit (NY). Alex French (guitar & vocals) runs Allergic to Fun based out of Cleveland,OH, this was his first release. Harrison runs Kid Sister Everything based out of Chicago, IL, this was his fifth release. 100 CD covers burgundy on creme, 100 CD covers violet on grey. Recorded by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.

A1. Histories
A2. Of Conquest and Expansion
A3. Buying into the Fallout
A4. Vanity

Antilles/Mountain Asleep "Split"
Released by: Brightskull Records
Year: 2009
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Cody

Mountain Asleep is from Louisville, KY. 300 copies released on 'mixed garbage' vinyl 7". Brightskull Records is based out of Louisville, KY. Recorded by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.

A1. Said & Done
A2. Capsized
B1. (Mountain Asleep)
B2. (Mountain Asleep)
B3. (Mountain Asleep)

Antilles/Staph "Split"
Released by: Inkblot Records
Year: 2009
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Cody

Staph is from Chicago, IL. Inkblot records is based out of Brooklyn, NY. 400 copies released on white vinyl, 100 released on green/white splatter vinyl. The third in Inkblot's " Seven Inch Split Series. Recorded by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.

A1. New Standards
A2. Jono
A3. Standstill
B1. (Staph) Everything Above Us

Antilles "My Empathy"
Released by: Kid Sister Everything (7"), DIY (CS)
Year: 2010, 2008
Preformed by: Alex, Kevin, Drew, Cody

200 on opaque red, 100 on black. Released by Kid Sister Everything out of Chicago, IL. Originally released as a cassette by the band themselves with alternate artwork. Recorded by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios.

A1. Propensity
B1. The Shame

Below is everything they have put out except for a demo that was released for their tour with Straight, No Chaser in 2008. They are currently working on another 12" too, so be on the lookout for that shit.


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Antilles / Staph Split


Antilles / Juniper Wait Split


Antilles / Trifle Tower Split


Antilles Self Titled


Beholder / Destroyer


Antilles / Mountain Asleep


My Empathy

Straight, No Chaser

Straight, No Chaser was a chaotic hardcore band from Rochester, New York (not to be confused with the a cappella group). They played a style of hardcore similar to Louise Cyphre and Capsule, although I suppose their songs can be experimental at times what with their noise oriented interludes and breaks. I had a chance to see them play once in Lancaster, PA with 1994!, Sinaloa, We Were Skeletons, Algernon Cadwallader and Black Kites. Their set was really loud and intense, although I have to admit that I was standing pretty far in the back of the room because I smoked a bowl while they were setting up. After their set I talked to a dude who I thought was in the band, turns out he was one of their friends or something (they all looked the same). When the band came back they gave me a beer though, so that was pretty cool. I had only heard their 7" and 12" but yesterday I found out that they had a few more releases, which are available below. There is also a video down there. I highly recommend this band to anyone who is into spazzy skramz, experimental hardcore, noise breaks and wild time signature changes. Sadly, this band is no more, but you can still get their records from many distros.


Word.


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12"


7"


Demo


6 Song CD-R


3 Song CD-R


Tour Demo / LP Preview


Unreleased

D'amore

Fun Chug Life fact number 27: This is our 200th post.

D'amore was a screamo band from Philadephia, PA who were around from 2004 to 2005. It was really hard to find their tracks, and I know I don't have all of their stuff but this is what I could get. I have one LP and what I am assuming is a collection of songs recorded in 2005, because it is called "2005". Hopefully some archivist well put some more information about the band in a comment or something becuase you would think that this band would be well documented and shit. I couldn't find much on them though. Oh well. They did splits with Towers, Dawn Treader and Adonis Battlefield, but I don't have the D'amore tracks for the later two. Sorry about that. The members have played in, and are currently playing in, a shit ton of bands, most notably Towers and Algernon Cadwallader. Below is a video, their lp, split with Towers and that 2005 collection. Thanks to Andrew from Lizards Have Personalities and THIOB for the tracks. All the D'amore pictures are too fucking small, so they have been replaced with cool pictures of steam punks.





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D'amore / Towers Split


2005




Fottere Merda Sù E Amore Ciascuno Diversi

мища/Pansori Winter Tour

So my band is going on tour with Pansori this winter and we need help with some dates. It would be cool if you could either help us out or come out to one of our shows and get shitty with us. The dates and locations are as follows:

December 30th - HELP US BOOK - CT RI NJ NY
December 31st - Bear Records New Years Eve Show - The Whackiest Castle, Allston MA
January 1st - HELP US BOOK - Philadelphia or surrounding area, PA
January 2nd - HELP US BOOK - Baltimore MD


we would love to play at your house or space or whatever. fuck guarantees to death, we just want to chill. Both bands will have merchandise of some sorts to sell, as far as I know. I don't know about Pansori, but these are going to be the only shows that we are playing until our really long hot box tour this summer with Innards. If you got the hookup or know someone who does either get ahold of us on myspace, comment on this post, on email me at hey_waitress@mail.com

ps. The lineup for the Bear Records show is still very much open, so if you want to get on that shit let me or bear records know and we will see what we can do.

WORD

Dawn Treader

This is straight from Dawn Treader's Myspace:

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We are a diy punk band originally from Maryland.
We have been together since 2001.

We like playing shows and going on tour.

Discography:

We have a 2 full length albums, a split 7" with fall on deaf years, a split 12" with d'amore, and a live tape.

Coming soon:

We will have a split 7" with TRIFLE TOWER from Ft. Worth Texas and a split LP with NOW DENIAL from Boston Massachusetts.

Download our entire discography through 2009 by going to this link(provided below). Thank you very much to whoever compiled all the songs from the vinyl for us. Let us know if you want hard copies with lyrics and artwork.
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Needless to say, Dawn Treader are one of the cornerstones of Maryland punk/hardcore music, no matter how active they choose to be at any given time. Maybe we will all get lucky and they will play a random show sometime soon. I heard once that they planned to play as a ten piece or something, including multiple vocalists and strings. Their music is very driving and in your face, using an obvious punk influence as a framework to explore multiple musical avenues, as is evident by their wide variety of song structures and melodies. No two DT songs sound the same. Dawn Treader is affiliated with Osceola, Army of Kashyyyk, Pansori, The Summer We Went West, Monument and Diablero. There are also other bands I'm sure, sorry if I left anyone out.

Below are all of their tracks that are in circulation, to the best of my knowledge. Instead of having one large zip file, I broke the files up into their respective albums. Please note that I only have the Dawn Treader tracks of the splits, so if anyone has the other bands' songs it would be cool if you threw them up here. They have two solo albums, one being called "Deconstructing the Coffin" and the other is either self titled or is "The Lone Islands". Below it is labeled as "The Lone Islands". Dawn Treader's sides of the D'amore and Fall on Deaf Ears splits are also down there, as well as tracks from an unreleased split that was supposed to be with Towers. The live "album" listed is not the one listed in the above discography, but is actually a live recording of their set from December 8th, 2009 at Barclay House in Baltimore when they played with Raein, 1994!, Army of Kashyyyk and Pala.


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The Lone Islands


Deconstructing the Coffin


Songs from D'amore Split


Songs from Fall On Deaf Ears Split



Songs from Towers Split


Live at Barclay 12-8-09

Towers

So last week I was talking to my friend Paul about bands and shows and whatever when he showed me the blog he ran. My band was going to play the last show at his house in California but his landlord told him he couldn't do it or something, but it was cool because we got to play with Glasses and Comadre that day. Anyways, while I was looking on his blog I saw that Towers and Dogs of Ire played at his place on their tour this summer promoting their split. Naturally, I asked Paul if he had any of their tracks and he told me that it was fucking impossible to find their discography. He was right, kind of. It took me a little while to find out that most of their releases are not really circulating the web, but you can go onto Towers' bandcamp and download a good portion of their earlier work (any split on there only has the Towers' tracks, but its better than nothing). I already had an album called "Collections", which seems to be an earlier discography or something, but I didn't see it listed on the band's discography section of their site. I did my best in locating a large portion of their material, but alas, I couldn't find all of it. I could not find their splits with They & The Children, Dogs of Ire or U.S Funk Team, although I have the later on vinyl and will upload that when my record player gets sent to me.
Towers is a an experimental hardcore band from Philly. Their sound is comparable to Dawn Treader and Capsule I suppose; it utilizes hardcore and punk elements but throws in "weird" shit here and there. I once read that Hell Songs by Daughters was a mescaline trip put to music, but I think that that label is more applicable to Towers. I'm pretty bummed that I haven't got the chance to see Towers live yet, but hopefully that will change soon, this band seems pretty active. I strongly suggest that you download this shit because they are one of the better bands coming out of New England/The Mid Atlantic right now. Below is as much of their music as I could find and a video. BTW, they also have a song on both the 75:24 and Emo Apocalypse compilations, which can all be acquired elsewhere on here. BUY THEIR SHIT.



If you have any albums that I don't, like always, give them to me in a comment or something and I will put them up. Word.

PS. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH TOWERS BUT STREET SMART CYCLIST IS HAVING A REUNION SHOW IN BETHLEHEM, PA ON DECEMBER 26TH.


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Full Circle


Self Titled LP


Self Titled 7"


Collection


Demo/Split With The Exelar


Towers / D'amore Tracks from both bands, thanks THIOB


Songs from Split with Take Down Your Art

The Saddest Landscape

So The Saddest Landscape came out of retirement a while back and everyone flipped their shit. I had the chance to play a show with them in Delaware and I was blown away by their drummer (who I believe is a new addition?) and how fucking awesome their bassist is. Mike is one of the coolest dudes ever. I actually got the chance to kick it with him again when I went up to Boston earlier this fall, which was really cool.
I'm sure that anyone reading this knows who The Saddest Landscape is, seeing as they are one of the older screamo acts. Since they are back in action I suppose you could say that they are one of the longest running screamo bands around, but their break lasted like seven years or something. I never really got super into TSL, but I always liked their music. If you really have no idea who this band is, their sound is similair to post-rock screamo bands like City of Caterpillar, A Day in Black & White and Pianos Become the Teeth. This year alone they have released three albums as of now, two of which are splits and one is a full length. They also were featured on the newest Connections compilation. Below is everything that they have put out, as far as I can tell. They play shows and shit again, so go check that out, and please make sure that you give The Saddest Mike a high five. Heres a video.



If you have an album that I don't, please let me know and I will put it up here. Word.

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You Will Not Survive


The Saddest Landscape / Funeral Diner


The Saddest Landscape / Pianos Become The Teeth


The Saddest Landscape / If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?


Connections Pt II


I Don't Want To Miss You Anymore


The Saddest Landscape / Trophy Scars


Lift Your Burdens High For This is Where We Cross


The Sound of The Spectacle


All is Apologized For, All is Forgiven (pre '09 Discography)


A Promise Was Made


The Saddest Landscape / The Pine