April 18th mix

Finally. Here it is. There has got to be something you'll like in this one. Let me know if megaupload works for you folks. I only hope these things will load into your itunes or windows media player or whatever in correct order. If not I guess you can still hear them or maybe just burn them to a CD. As always, if you have any questions let me know. I love this stuff and really enjoy sharing this music. However, as I've stated before what you won't find here are full albums of readily available in print stuff. I'm a member of a DIY punk collectively run record store. I hope you won't need any further explanation of why I'm not into putting up entire albums.

Quick track list:
1. 999 - Fun Thing
2. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Strange Dream
3. Killing Joke - Turn To Red
4. Complications - This Is Where It Ends
5. Les Thugs - Flags
6. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Icons
7. The New Bloods - The Secret Life
8. The Bollweevils - Rodney
9. Masshysteri - Tvivel
10. Needles - Twisted Vision
11. Sex Vid - Exorcism
12. Crime Desire - Nadir
13. Acid Reflux - Old Timer
14. Ten Volt Shock - Planned But Abandoned
15. Loisirs - Congratulations
16. ABC Diablo - Superlative People
17. Wounded Knee - Hands
18. Walls - The Crawl
19. Second Wind - Knock On Wood
20. In The Red - Cut Your Eyes
21. Christie Front Drive - Away

In detail:


999 - "Fun Thing"

Finally got the "Biggest Prize In Sport" LP 2 weeks ago. Man, I've been missing out. If there is one thing I've been listening to a lot lately, it's been power pop. From 999 to newer stuff like the Busy Signals, I can't get enough. I love this song!

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - "Strange Dream"

Found some mp3's of this on a random blog a while back. I'd always heard of this band but to this day never seen or heard a single record of theirs. The Joy Division comparison is obvious but then there are some Big Black elements to it. Wow! This is off of their "Talk About the Weather" LP. If anyone has got a copy of that please let me know! I'm always up for trading or buying!

Killing Joke - "Turn To Red"

Whoops. There is almost a skip in there. An interesting one here from an obscure early single. A lot of odd dub / reggae experimentation to it. I definitely like this better than "Nervous System" which is the A-side. They were still a little ways from finding their sound in my opinion. I can't recommend their self titled LP enough!

Complications - "This Is Where It Ends"

Ex-Born Dead Icons. Expect to see a much more from this Complications demo posted here. This shit is so good it blows my mind wide open! This was recorded years ago and released on some CDrs and never went to vinyl. That is a fucking shame. Rumor is they weren't happy with the recording! Hey guys, it's still only a demo! I've been trying to track these songs down for so long. It's great to finally have them. I was flipping out over their 7" on Feral Ward last year but these songs are possibly even better. An LP is in the works for later this year on....you guessed it! Feral Ward!

Les Thugs - "Flags"

Hey! French is these guy's first language but always sing in English just like Complications. A perennial '90s favorite, Les Thugs!!! This is from what ended up being their last LP, "As Happy As Possible" released in very early 1994 on Sub Pop. I remember well since my old roommate, Scott Stopyak bought it at Crazy Bob's back in downtown Jackson and we played the shit out of it at our first apartment on Milwaukee Street. What a dump! I've got a question for people out there: Was this ever released on vinyl? I remember ads saying it was at the time (Scott bought it on cassette) but haven't seen it in over 14 years of searching!

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Icons"

I love the intro to this song. I was foolish and didn't get into this band until 4 years or so ago and didn't really start seeking out their vinyl until recently. This is off their second LP, "Join Hands", Not available on vinyl any longer I don't think but it was reissued and possibly remastered on CD early in 2007, I believe. Shouldn't be too hard to come by. You should get it!

The New Bloods - "The Secret Life"

Something new on Kill Rock Stars! These three ladies are from Portland and play post-punk that falls somewhere between the Au Pairs and Guts Pie Earshot. This song has been stuck in my head for the past two weeks! They put out a 7" that I've been on the lookout for since their interview in Maximum Rock n Roll 7 months ago. We've got this at Noise on both LP and CD. Apparently they only pressed 500 and that was silly because it totally sold out just like I thought it would. A repress on gold is on the way from Kill Rock Stars.

The Bollweevils - "Rodney"

I picked up this Bollweevils "Chicago" 7" a month or so back. I had this song "Rodney" on a tape I'd made of the old MSU student radio show "Punk Is Dead". I think I'm pretty close now to finding every single piece of vinyl that I'd liked that they'd played on that show. I'd almost forgotten about this song. Somehow it's still available through Dr. Strange Records! Only a buck! Sorry, no cover. Just the vinyl. Here. Yeah. Slowly turning back on to the pop punk of the '90s. Sorry, no Schleprock though.


Masshysteri - "Tvivel"

Hot and new from Sweden on Feral Ward. Most people already know the drill. This is basically 3/4 of the Vicious. Their name was actually a song off the last Vicious 7". I can't get over the fact that the guitarist used to be in the Doughnuts. You can pick this 7" up at Extreme Noise or from Feral Ward.

Needles - "Twisted Vision"

Another hot new one. Not sure about the availability of it any more though. I underordered it for our store and barely got a copy for myself. Anyway, this is Martin from Limp Wrist / Los Crudos and members of Talk Is Poison. Say no more. Totally ripping hardcore. Maybe Feral Ward has copies. Ebullition does not. It's on Lengua Armada but he still doesn't have a website as far as I can tell.

Sex Vid - "Exorcism"

Hard to mention this band without bringing up some degree of the hype surrounding them. It's worthy of the hype though. They are from Olympia and have released 3 7"s. Not sure what the early one was called but the second one, "Tania" is already getting to be a tough find. My friend and fellow volunteer at Noise, Brad snagged a couple copies of it and passed one onto me. Anyway, this is off their new 7", "Nests". It's in stock at Noise for the moment. Ebullition may still have some. Bistro Distro is already out. I just checked! Damn, that was fast!

Crime Desire - "Nadir"

This band has slowed it down since the last time around and the singer, Colin has toned down his trademark high-pitched vocals too. I thought the vocals were endearing. Most people referred to them as "that band with the vocals" though. This song is great and I expect it will be on the new s/t LP that should arrive at Noise next week. Everyone else should pick this up direct from Colin's label Life's A Rape or through Ebullition or Vinyl Junkie or something. Or.... or...

Acid Reflux - "Old Timer"

A song off their first 7" on No Way Records which was their demo pressed to vinyl. I've barely gotten a chance to listen to it or their newest one also on No Way. They got behind a ton of stuff I've bought or mailordered recently. So I don't know if this is really the best song off the record or not.

Ten Volt Shock - "Planned But Abandoned"

My favorite band from Germany if not all of Europe these days. Members used to be in the band called Kurt. I believe they broke up some time in '03 or '04. This new band is tighter and faster and that's actually not a bad thing. This is from their new-ish split 7" with the French band Loisirs, who also have a song up next. Not sure how many copies of this split made it to the States. I got mine from my friend Rich's Bakery Outlet distro. Thanks Rich!!! The rest of you may have to check in with X-Mist for this one.

Loisirs - "Congratulations"

Loisirs is French for "entertainment". This is off their aforementioned split with Ten Volt Shock. I love finding all these Euro bands I had no idea previously existed. Apparently, they've been around for quite some time now. It seems unlikely that Stickfigure would still have their stuff in stock but that's the first place I'm going to look. Otherwise, I might have to go in with you on an order from X-Mist! Quick before postage rates jump again in May!!! Shit!

ABC Diablo - "Superlative People"

Scored this 7" off Ebay last month for a measly $15 and domestic postage. It was from the dude who runs 1-2-3-4 Go! Records out in Oakland. He just opened up a all-punk record shop out there. Best of luck to you! Back to the record. Totally sick German metal / HC from the early '90s. I thought I'd never find this record! I actually bid all the way up to $45 but no one countered with any more than $15! Fuck yeah! If you dig these guys you'll probably have to wind up looking on Ebay for their stuff. All OOP and the labels who put them out are all long gone.

Wounded Knee - "Hands"

Another used bin score at Noise. $6. Another early to mid '90s band but from Luxenbourg. Not sure how much else they released. I recently got a 7" comp called "Close Your Eyes And See Death" off of someone on Viva La Vinyl and these guys were on there. Also there is the old "Illiterate" Ebullition comp they were on too. You can still get that one in our used bin from time to time or from Ebullition. Huh. I just found out that the label this was on was a sub-label of X-Mist. Hell yeah. Great label!

Walls - "The Crawl"

Members of Iron Lung and Cold Sweat here. Totally pulverizing mid-paced hardcore that brings to mind Rorshach, Deadguy and Dead & Gone all together. They just put out an LP on Painkiller. We've still got copies at Noise.

Second Wind - "Knock On Wood"

Finally got this missing piece of harDCore history a few weeks ago for $25 at Noise. This is Steve Hansgen (Minor Threat) and Bert Queiroz's (Untouchables, Youth Brigade, Rain, etc) mid 80's band. Minor Threat and Marginal Man influences to it but not quite as good. Still worth checking out for sure.

In The Red - "Cut Your Eyes"

Mike Hale formerly of Gunmoll's new band out in California. In The Red's new album just made it into Noise on CD a few weeks ago. I expect the vinyl on Kiss Of Death in a few weeks. I'm going to place a No Idea distro order next week. This song is actually off a split CD with the band Genrevolta (har har).

Christie Front Drive - "Away"

Probably the "hardest" CFD song. Yeah, I know that's not really saying much but that's what I think when I hear this. Probably too poppy or indie for most folks these days but I still love the shit out of their records. Sadly, it's all OOP these days. Their old label Caulfield closed up for good a few years back and not even the label's distributor, Lumberjack Mordam Music Group carries their CDs anymore. Lemme know if you want mp3's. I've got all of them I think. I had a show all booked for Eric from CFD's new band, the 101 at the 720 Space in the summer of 2006. The rest of the tour fell through so they had to cancel. That would've been a cool show. Oh well.

LINK: Here at megaupload.


That's it for this week. We'll see what I can come up with next week. Any questions or requests please hit me up either here at newgranadampls@gmail.com or my regular e-mail prisoncity@hotmail.com

*If downloading these off the internet doesn't work for you then please hit me up for a CDr copy of it

A couple of the Rikk Agnew LP tracks for you and more.

Hey. I'm finally back with some of the Rikk Agnew LP tracks. I'm going to start the MP3 mixtape entries this week. I'm accumulating records at an insane pace these days. I'm even piling MP3s on my computer faster than it can keep up. Since I have two OS I don't have as much room on my hard drive as I thought I was going to need initially. I should be buying an external hard drive here relatively soon. Not just to pile more stuff on but to back it all up as well.

1. Rikk Agnew - O.C. Life
2. Rikk Agnew - It's Doing Something

Here they are via RapidShare. Any questions on how to do this sort of thing just hit me up at prisoncity@hotmail.com or leave a comment below.

Like what you hear? It's in stock now on vinyl at Extreme Noise. You can also pick it up here direct from Frontier.


This week the long awaited final Dystopia LP came out! It's self titled and has 6 new songs and a cover of an old song by the band Carcinogen which drummer Dino used to be in back in the early '90s. I haven't really gotten a good thorough listen to it yet. It's the same pummeling, misanthropic, deranged metal / hardcore you've come to expect from these guys. More on it later. I'm just sad I traded off their split LP with Skaven years ago for the Born Against / Man Is The Bastard 8"! I've seen that 8" so many times in the past 8 years since and never seen the Dystopia / Skaven LP again!!! Tyler Stoddle, you got the better trade that day. Oh well. If anyone reading has got that split LP, the split 7" with Grief or the split with Suffering Luna please get in touch about my trade list!

You can pick up the new Dystopia LP right now at Extreme Noise in MPLS. The CD is also now available but we won't see it at the store for 2 more weeks. For the rest of you it's available direct from their label Life Is Abuse. It's going to be available in Europe from Skuld.

Other sweet stuff this week:

* Battletorn / MGT 7" - Totally sweet Japanese tour 7" limited to 200 that I picked up from Omid Battletorn before they left for tour! Thanks Omid!!!

* The Busy Signals s/t LP - I never thought power pop would do it for me. I was wrong!

* Beefeater - Need A Job 12" - Picked up in a trade from Jonas S. over in Switzerland. Too bad he lost track of his Bullet LaVolta "Swandive" LP. That was my first choice in our trade. Bummer. Anyway, this copy is a British pressing (domestic was on the Bad Brains' old label Olive Tree) on Wet Spots and I think it's in better shape than the copy I traded off to my good pal Leo in Italy. Jonas sent me some other stuff along to make up for the bum deal but the majority of it looks like Extreme Noise "discount dungeon" material. Hacksaw 7", Chalkline 7", etc.

* Planes Mistaken For Stars - Fucking Fight 7" on Dim Mak - Still holding out on this. I will probably trade it. This band has always been hit or miss on vinyl. Live they always stole the show.

* Kaaos / Cadgers 7" - I'm no expert on the old Swedish stuff but I've never heard a bad record by Kaaos.

* Cross Laws - Ancient Rites 7"

* Bury The Living - All The News That Is Fit To Scream LP - Used score for $4.50. Why did it take me so long to get this? I still need to sit down and give it a thorough listen for sure. The singer was and may still be a professional wrestler back in their home state of Tennessee.

* Contra - Boys Club Anthems LP - I've got a track or two by these guys in my Itunes library off of a sampler CD that their old label, Traffic Violation put out. Very good stuff.

Anyway, more on these records and even songs posted from them for you to download in the coming weeks. Honest.

Endnotes:

Just listened to the Uranus / His Hero Is Gone 12" for the first time in well over a year the other day. Still so affecting. His Hero Is Gone just fucking give me the chills. So many imitators out there but no one comes remotely close to this band in either innovation, brutality or intelligence. Uranus were no slouches either. The words that always came to mind were "bulldozing" or "steamrolling" whenever this band was mentioned.

Won a D.I. - Team Goon 12" on Ebay last weekend in further Rikk Agnew related news. $10.06 for a later Triple X Records pressing which really isn't so bad since it's got 3 more songs than the original on Revenge Records. I just want to ditch the cassette I've had of it since 1992!

Take care everyone,

RYAN

Rikk Agnew "All By Myself" LP

I'd like to turn the spotlight on a little known early hardcore punk record by Rikk Agnew. Recently I came across an updated "vinyl in stock" listing from the distributor Lumberjack Mordam Music Group that included several titles which I believed to be out of print. Lists like these are usually an exercise in futility with most distributors. You run through them and check through all the stock in your store, make a list and hopefully this stuff will show up. 8-9 times out of 10, they don't. So when I saw two old Frontier Records titles, Redd Kross' "Born Innocent" LP and Rikk Agnew's All By Myself LP I was intrigued. I've never actually seen either LP before. I've seen shit tons of lousy Redd Kross records and CDs. Never any solo Rikk Agnew though. I'd have never known he released a LP if I hadn't been searching the Flex US punk / hardcore discography site years ago compiling a new record want list. Funny thing about that entry (which gave the LP an 8/10) is that it lists him as an ex-member of D.I. multiple times while making no mention of his most popular band, The Adolescents! I did a little more research on this LP and have always kept an eye out for it. I figured it was long gone and for the most part forgotten.

The day finally came around and the LP showed up at our store!

I threw it on to see for myself and on the first song (hear it for yourself right here) O.C. Life, I was sold. Word is getting around at our store and all the Adolescents fans are checking it out. You should too. All music on the LP is written and played by Agnew, thus the title All By Myself. Recorded in 1982 at the age of 23 just after he'd left the Adolescents but before he'd joined the first incarnation of Christian Death. It's the classic Southern Cali hardcore punk that you'd expect from this guy. A few upbeat Adolescents style songs, a few moody slower ones that bring to mind the Christian death stuff, a surfy one that brings to mind "Kids of the Black Hole" a little bit, perhaps due to the tone of the lyrics and an odd pop song called "Everyday". That one is pretty good but it just doesn't fit here I think. I highly recommend this LP!



As I had promised a month or so ago, there will be MP3 "mixtape"s here soon enough. I completed one in late August but had a few setbacks. Both technically and in my personal life. I am going to run through and re-rip probably 3/4 of what I had finished. I've got tons of ideas for the next several and I haven't slowed down in my record purchasing at all recently. If anything I have been buying more records than ever. Lately it's one of the things that has kept me in positive spirits. When things get shitty I just buy records. Seriously, sitting here in my room listening to the music I love on a good stereo with my cat at my side really pleases me.

Here's one for you.....

A little over a week and a half ago I received complimentary tickets to the Shriner's Circus in my P.O. Box. I thought this was more than a little odd. They weren't necessarily addressed to me but the "boxholder". See, just a few days prior I had been down at Minneapolis City Hall along with other concerned citizens and members of Compassionate Action for Animals protesting for a citywide ban on circus performances that include wild animals. Anyway, the whole ordeal simply reinforced my distaste for politics. Obviously the ban didn't pass. Further details are here on the Star Trib's page. My ward's representative went on to say that he "didn't find anything wrong with the circus." Kidnapping wild animals (or perhaps breeding them) for a life of slavery, abuse and other cruelty sounds perfectly fine to me too. Fuck you Robert Lilligren.

Jackson Michigan. Tomorrow.

The birthplace of the Republican Party.

Tomorrow. I arrive at 10:50 or something. Wish me luck.

Repost from my other blog thing (as promised).

The following is the stuff I wrote earlier this year. I don't know how I wound up with 2 blogs. Anyway, you can expect the "mixtape blog" thing to start here soon. I finished up one edition earlier last week but then received some not so constructive criticism and then put it all on hold. Fuck it, though. It's done. I like it. Perhaps you'll like something I post. That is really all I care about.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Don't ever go in business with me. You'll lose.

Last night's show, just like the 3 preceding ones was semi-poorly attended. Who really knows what it is. Perhaps it was propagandhi. They played a $12 / $14 show at the Triple Rock with lesser known bands from their record label G7. I know there were some other shows happening. Anyway, there were enough folks to come out to spare the show the sort of embarrassment of the last few. History definitely came through not only with much needed supplies (paper towels, soap, toilet paper, etc.) for the space but with a bunch of people to see them at the end of the night. The touring bands got a decent cut of the cash. Not too much but there really wasn't a whole lot to go around. Times are tight. The space's number one fan, "Boris Parsley" of the MRMB fame came out to the show and baked 4 pizzas from scratch. Aaaa-mazing! The resulting heat from the oven made the space near unbearable though. I really wonder why the AC in the building isn't working this year. It did last year. Fucking place was like an ice box for last summer's shows. I talked with the space's coordinator, Chris H today for like 10 minutes but completely spaced mentioning the cooling system. Fuck.

Tomorrow night is Loser Life. However there is a massive crust show for free over at Memory Lanes. Massive. Did I mention it's free. I'll be back to give you the low down on that on Tuesday morning.

Jessica and her 3 cats are all moved in. Happy days are in store for all of us. As soon as Rabies can adjust to having some new friends.

Oh yeah, I picked up some records at the VFW hall record show on Saturday.

* Rorschach - Protestant LP $5 to trade. Unfortunately the cover is slightly torn. I hate trying to trade off blemished records. I will likely sell it to Noise now. Bummer. It could've been a rad trade.

* Gang Of Four - Yellow 12" $3. I'd say it's about a VG. I'm going to hang on to this copy and trade off my other copy that I bought at Hymie's years and years ago. Definitely a score.

* The Stone Roses s/t LP - Sealed for $10. Works for me. I always liked that song "I Want To Be Adored". Ever since 9th grade. Still really catchy stuff. In my head allllll day long at work.

* Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre - Metal Gods 7" $5. Not bad. I picked up on this band way too late. Troubleman was way too hip of a label for me to care about there for about 2 or 3 years. Then once I started ordering it for the store I tuned back in. Still digging around for like all the earlier Glass Candy vinyl.

* Glass Candy - Love on A Plate / Johnny Are You Queer? 7" $5.

Listening to...

Hot New Mexicans - Wah... 7"
Glass Candy MP3's
Ruination s/t 7"
Superchunk - Cool / Fishing 7"
Giant Haystacks - We Are Being Observed LP
Sinaloa - Fathers and Sons LP
American Cheeseburger - demo 7"
Disclose / Framtid 7" - alright it'd been a year since my last Disclose record! Framtid rips too. Why didn't I ever buy their 7" when it was in print?!? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? (insert D-beat here....)

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Much sadness. Much happiness.

I have lived with my friend Joe Rizzo for what I believe would be exactly one month short of four years today. Joe took Bjorn's room at the 2555 Emerson Ave S (the S is very important part of the address to remember! Ask former resident Josh C. or members of Hot Cross and Transistor Transistor) house. It feels like a very short time ago. In the course of a 32 year life I suppose it is. The time had come though. In my mind I had thought once the time had come for Joe and his longtime girlfriend and dear friend of mine, Lindsay, to move in together that I would be a part of the happy family. With my lovely feline offspring, Rabies the cat, in tow of course. It was not to be though. At first I felt kind of hurt and slightly scared. No way did I think Joe and I would be roommates forever. I had to figure something else out. Thankfully, I had well over 6 months to figure something out. I get along with most people pretty well and I think I've had extremely good fortune with roommates. At this point in my life I would prefer to only live with very close friends of mine. I thought perhaps by the time Joe moved out that maybe Emily and Yasmine may move again or need a roommate. I don't know why I didn't think of my newest best friend Jess first! She'd been living in St. Paul for over a year and she often talked about wanting to live here instead. In this particular neighborhood to be precise! So here we are. It's all worked out. Very sad to see Joe go. Overjoyed, ecstatic, outta my mind happy to have Jessica and her wonderful cats join Rabies and my own family.

Other notes:

* I just got through listening to Fields Lay Fallow's "One Hundred Years Of High Rises..." 12". No one sounds like this anymore or they're just not getting it right. Anyway, they really had the 400 Years sound down. I never got to see the band and I'm not even really sure how long they were around. Ex-Spirit Assembly and pre-Tiny Hawks. I plan on doing YSI style download links on here in the future. So you can listen along if you care. Or laugh at me for being a "stuck in the '90s hardcore kid".

* I don't know. It seems like there is just too much olive oil being added to the Wedge deli's vegan basil walnut pesto.

* The rest of the day's playlist:
Right now:
Television - Adventure LP
New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies LP
Tranzmitors - Look What You're Doing / Teenage Filmstar 7"
Shitlickers - Cracked Cop Skulls 7" boot
Alloy - Eliminate LP

How Am I Supposed To Watch Your TV???

It's a total nerdy record collector thing to be sure or is it something else? I've started inserting scraps of paper inside all my record sleeves with the date I listened to the record. I sort of think it has a bit to do with my computer's Itunes feature. Itunes lists all the music imported onto your computer and lists the date that each individual song was last played on in addition to how many times. Maybe this will lead to me listening to things more often or it'll make me ditch stuff I haven't listened to in years (not very likely). Who knows?

That's all I've got tonight.