Fantomas - Directors Cut

In many ways, "The Director's Cut" is the most accessible Fantomas album-- Brainchild of vocalist Mike Patton, Fantomas is a band in the style of John Zorn's Naked City-- effortlessly moving between genres and sounds with a hardcore metal feel to hold things together, but like Naked City's "Radio", this one opts for more coherent feels on a per track basis. This allows a listener unfamiliar with this sort of style the chance to find something to latch onto-- one of the things that can make Fantomas' work difficult is that the style shifts when you're getting the hang of it, this one is a bit more coherent, style shifts have more palpable melodies to work with-- the opening track best demonstrates this, "The Godfather" theme, stated on an accordian, then reprised in spectacular death metal fashion, moving into a relatively straightforward waltz with a reprise of hardcore noise. Throughout, Patton shows us his vocalization abilities, alternately screaming and humming as appropriate.

One other thing about Fantomas that bears mention-- they're traditionally an over-the-top band, with theaterical elements in the music heavily emphasized, this album is no exception, take the middle of the album, with the totally over-the-top "Cape Fear", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Devil Rides Out" covers. And Patton skips track 13, just in case sonic theatrics was not enough. Although nothing will probably compare to the intonation Patton pulls out for "The Omen (Ave Satani)"-- so theatrical as to border on goofy, but somehow it manages to work.

Overall, this is a superb (if a bit short) album, definitely worth checking out.

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Dark Meat - Universal Indians

Dark Meat is another huge band that plays swaggering southern soulful blues tinged rock. I dont know exactly how many people are in this band, prolly about 13. anyways in modern terms they are crusty hippies, but the music is so fucking good. there are horns, a myriad of back up singers, a couple drum sets, bunch of guitars and bass, and vocals that take you back about 20-30 years, when rock was rock and it wasnt some cliched rudimentary "art" form. Universal Indians starts off with a beautiful female acapella then finds it's way into a drunken funeral dirge. the rest of the album is great rock in a long forgotten southern style. Dont let the hippies shit throw you off, because the music is what counts.

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Gorch Fock - Lying & Manipulating

Whats not to like about a 7 man band? Gorch Fock hail from Austin TX, and are easily in my top 5 favorite band category. 2 drummers, 3 guitar players, a bass player and a singer who does everything from huff paint, swig turkey and even sing from his trusty trombone. They are a live show juggernaut that you wont get to see if you havent already. this band plays music in the same ball park as the Butthole Surfers, Jesus Lizard, and Nomeansno. such a great band do yourself a favor and get this. my favorite track is jefferson davis pinkus.

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Bastardmaker - 5 Finger Stud

Bastardmaker is not me, however I wish it were so. Bastardmaker is a country band from Portland, Oregon. This is for fans of hank III, those poor bastards, wayne "The train" hancock and Josephus and the jonestown massacre. from what I gather this guy loves the devil, speed, and hates his mom. just get it and enjoy. (fixed for those of you who tried before)

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The Snake Trap - At Home in a Hostile World

The Snake Trap are an Austin TX Trio that defy explanation. they are instrumental in the vein of lebanon, green milk from the planet orange etc. ... Since I cant explain things like this very well, just do yourself a favor and check this out.
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Hatred Surge - S/T

Hatred Surge are a loving bunch of guys/gal from Austin TX. The easy comparison is mammoth grinder, but it's a rather generic comparison, and I wouldnt want to rob them of their own identity. HS makes music that is boiling over with a seething rage that is often tried, but rarely achieved. they are crusty, grindy, doomy and definately make you wanna skin your mom and wear her as a coat. that was dumb I know, but still these guys are for a lack of better terms heavy as shit.

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David Bowie - Aladdin Sane

I Know everyone has heard of david bowie, but amongst my circle of douche bag friends I feel that he is judged entirely by his post disco career, and they fail to even see if the man's reputation is even warranted by checking into his pre disco catalog. anyways here is one of my favorite bowie CD's.

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Apes - Ghost Games

Forgoing lead guitar for shambling, sinister organ licks, DC post-punk outfit the Apes strike a strange middle-ground between minimalism and maximalism. Lacking guitar accompaniment, Jeff Schmid’s drums and and Erick Jackson’s bass tend operate in spare cages of plunging rhythms and blurting stabs, and when the keys afford them some space, the whole feels crisply open. However, organist Amanda Bynes doesnt allows herself to be constrained by the others’ rhythms, she surges past and breaks free, letting her organ swell to fill every gap with psychedelic squeal. It’s a decent formula, and Ghost Games moves well. New singer Breck Brunson, whose vaulting falsettos and snarling incantations put the cramped range of all too many post-punk vocalists to shame.

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Cream Abdul Babar - The Catalyst To Ruins

Catalyst to ruins hits you immediately like ton of something that weighs a ton. Cream Abdul Babar are heavy in many ways, very southern, very punk, and to me they are pretty much the cream of the crop as far as stoner metal bands go. think kylesa, fight amp, and black tusk and youre there. speaking of those bands I may need to put something up by them if I havent yet.
anyways if youre into the southern stoner metal scene at all, youll love this. I know I do

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Zeni Geva - 10,000 light years

Zeni Geva comes from Japan, the band’s name roughly translates into “Money Violence” and it’s the brainchild of one Kazuyuki Kishino, better known as KK Null. The band has been described as a “power trio”, with KK Null on guitar, occasional vocals and general dementia, Mitsuru Tabata on guitar and, as of 2001, drummer Masataka Fujikake. Their music is not easy to pinpoint, though, as the band has forged since 1986 a very idiosyncratic and lonesome path in the annals of heavy music. The best description I can give to Zeni Geva’s style is that it’s the bastard offspring of a gangbang with Slayer, King Crimson, early Helmet, latter-day Black Flag, Motörhead and Loop taking part, after having consumed vast amounts of speed and psychedelics.

Does it sound bizarre? Hell, bizarre is Zeni Geva’s middle name. Does it sound heavy? Oh, man, you can’t even begin to get how heavy. “10,000 Light Years” is like a flood of sound, breaking the levee of conscious perception and moving towards the subconscious with the power of a rabid pit bull and the grace of a katana slicing feathers in the air. The music contained in here has incalculable density, although it’s been played by only three people and recorded in an almost “live in the studio” way. Each and every song contains a myriad of details, hidden over, under and in between its very ugly and disturbing surface.

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Sea Of Thousand - The Church Of Total Collapse

Somewhat of an Austin Texas super group. with members of Employer, Employee, Cardinale, and who went on to form warwolf, and ratking. This record is so fucking heavy, and without the use of any double pedal moments. there are not many band to compare these guys to, but these guys take southern grove oriented metal and turn it up on it's dick and just hate you with it so hard. It is so so so hateful. the guitars are heavy and bluesy all at the same time. The drums are both pummeling and well reserved considering the how heavy this slab is. I defy you to find vocals more poignant and hateful than these. craig moore is to me what mike patton is to so many other people but for the metal side of things. anyways I cant say enough about this album. it's so god damned heavy, this is by far one of my favorite records ill put up here. now listen to it and then find it and buy it.

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Daniel Johnston - Fun

Daniel Johnston may be a bitter pill to swallow for some, and like fine chocolate for others. I fall into the second category. He tackles the same issues every musician has covered love, drugs and Satan, but seemingly from the view point of a very opinionated 10 year old boy, which can be both good and bad. Good because of the conviction that he pulls from, and bad from the naivete that spills over like a busted dam. however all in all Daniel is considered a pop music genius, and with other geniuses surrounding him, Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers on guitar and Willie Nelson's sister Bobby on piano a lot of creative pop music is made on this album. I picked this album because it has two of my favorite tracks by this man-boy "genius", rock and roll EGA, and Catie. Also for those not in the know, Daniel is certified crazy, like most Texas musicians with a cult fallowing he is paranoid schizophrenic and from what I understand that personality trait was put into high gear after a hand full of acid in conjunction with a Butthole Surfers show which could be a life changing experience for anyone.

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Witch S/T

If you come into this record with preconceived notions, thinking this is a side project of J Mascis and that it will bear any similarities to his solo work with the Fog or Dinosaur jr you will be mistaken. This is a band of it's own, a smoldering entity with a true 70s inspired sound. A mesmerizing cloak of blue cheer and black sabbath-esque tunes, featuring dark enchanted lyrics, and guitar solos to make your head spin right off. Pick this up, turn down the lights, and watch the shadows dance to their evil delight
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Mammoth Grinder - Extinction Of Humanity

Chris from mammoth grinder asked that I take down Rage and ruin, and replace it with this instead. So for those who checked out rage and ruin know what youre in for.

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Negativland - Dead Dog Records

One of their best -- hunt this down. It's available in the book "FAIR USE" and is 45 minutes of awe-inspiring, laughter-inducing, ear-cringing sample-happy splatchmalarkey relating to the U.S. Copyright Act in regard to music. Only a couple of points get tiresome. Most of it is ear candy for the mind. Mmmm. I could go for some ear candy right now.

Two other things I'd like to say about why I like this so much: (A) The unbelievably hilarious way that they keep mixing in nanoseconds of well known popular songs like "Stairway to Heaven" -- so that your mind knows that it's heard something familiar, but it just can't quite place it! And (B) the way that they present BOTH sides of the issue. Of course it's obvious which side of the fence they're on, but it's really cool of them to present the other side's arguments too. GREAT!!!!

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Pissed Jeans - Shallow

For better or worse I think did it backwards with Pissed Jeans. When "Hope for Men" was released almost two years ago I picked it up based on a review I read that said they sounded "My War" era Black Flag and the Jesus Lizard. When I see music journalists using either of these bands for reference points I am almost always skeptical and rarely interested. Keeping all this in mind I would have to say Pissed Jeans are the real deal. Even though it took me forever to get Pissed Jeans debut "Shallow" I think it is my favorite of their two full length records. Although its a short record it really delivers a lot of quality tunes in about the same time period it would take for you to watch an episode of the Fresh Prince. This is the type of record where one song gets stuck in your head and when you listen to it you decide to start it from the beginning and let it play to the end.

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Seaweed - Four

The most under rated band of the 90's in my opinion. "Four" is old school hardcore refined and polished to a gleaming, pop shine. This album got Seaweed a major label contract. Kid Candy made it to MTV. Seaweed was emblematic of the bright moment for American alternative music between '89 and '94. Stephanie OD'd, Mia was murdered, Kurt killed himself, and people decided that the Northwest musical aesthetic wasn't happy enough, I guess. Bring on Weezer!





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Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

This has always been my favorite Soundgarden record. I am a fan of their later work (especially Superunknown and Badmotorfinger), but this record contains a rawness and vitality that their more polished later stuff lacks. Louder Than Love straddles the two major periods in Soundgarden's career: their earlier, less-metal sounding work (e.g. Ultramega OK and Screaming Life/Fop) and their later more-metal sounding work, epitomized by the aforementioned Superunknown and Badmotorfinger. Louder Than Love contains the elements of both of these periods.

it's the band's most unapologetically heavy disc, with Badmotorfinger a close second (I think that the production on Badmotorfinger helps it sound as heavy as it does). The production on this album is a bit murky, but it completely adds to it's charm as far as I'm concerned. When you hear the double guitars come crashing in at the beginning of "Ugly Truth" you know the 80's are pretty much over forever.

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Oxbow - Narcotic story

Oxbow is one of the rare bands that exhibits such a glacial lack of compromise, from the start settling into a style that's harsh at best, and using music outside of their bubble as base componentry rather than outright influence. Never "metal" but nearly always "heavy,” Oxbow knows its history, having used blues conventions as crude scaffolds for cerebral noise rock of the most disturbing order. But if it's at all a hidden agenda of Oxbow's to destroy, or at least disfigure, "the blues" in order to save it, The Narcotic Story brings them one step closer to fruition. A vestige of the blues – of the sort evocative of some stinking deep-south abattoir – remains. But the record's eight songs are imbued with a desperate, film-noir quality, emphasizing orchestration beyond guitar, bass and drums. The band flirted with similar textures on 2002's An Evil Heat, but here there's less reliance on the typically "heavy.” The occasionally mathy Zeppelin riffs that stumble and slide, and stop-and-start rhythms are in shorter supply overall; the metal has largely been smelted out in favor of tension. Toggling between dissimilar themes over the course of the longer pieces continues to be an Oxbow hallmark, perhaps in more of a traditional fashion than a sudden edit-like jump. The transitions between the delicate and the bludgeoning are allowed to develop less jarringly in dynamic-laden numbers like "Time Gentlemen Time" and "A Winner Every Time.”

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Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician

Easily one of the most bizarre, nightmarish, acid-drenched albums ever to bubble up from the gutter, Locust Abortion Technician will make you redefine the meaning of "wierd." This is the Butthole Surfer's best and most avant-garde album, filled with tapeloops, slowed/sped-up/reversed vocals and sfx, sludgey distortion and chaotic song structure. It is a crazy, schizophrenic mess that will get inside your head. I love it. The Butthole Surfers prove to be masters of the studio, as they create "music" that you would think spilled out of an insane asylum from a freaky netherworld.

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