THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION

So where to begin with a band and a guy who has had a LONG career in underground music. Jon Spencer has been involved in many musical projects but most famously has played in guitar noise legends Pussy Galore however I'm not here to give you a history lesson I'm sure most of you readers are astute enough to know your history on this guy and his many projects let's deal with the longest running and most succesful the mighty BLUES EXPLOSION!

Formed in 1991 in New York JSBX (as they will be reffered to for the rest of this post) have been around for nearly 25 years Jon Spencer backed by the IMMENSE talents of Drummer Russell Simins and guitarist Judah Bauer (there is and never has been a Bass Player in JSBX) have been peddling their slightly hip hop flavored RAW garage/blues for nearly 25 years I first heard them in about 2000 when a good friend of mine played me their 1996 album "Now i Got Worry" at that time i had no idea there was music like this the extent of my "garage" rock knowledge at the time began with The Stooges and ended with MC5! However i just remember hearing the track "Identify" (a fast paced almost hardcore sounding number) and being completely floored however being slightly out of character for these guys after hearing the rest of the album I was completely addicted!

Investigating further I discovered that they had had quite the career and managed to just catch up with their back catalogue around the time of their "Plastic Fang" album in 2004 which was a stunning and rocking album chock full of great tunes! I have been pretty much keeping up with them since though not the most prolific of outfits of late having only released 3 albums in the following 13 years to date!

So I am gonna take the easy way out here (still trying to stick to shorter write ups more music and also I am not as familiar with all the history of this band as i normally am with posts on here this time it's really just about the GREAT music) so if you haven't heard JSBX I suggest you get cracking on these downloads if you want more info try wikipedia there's a page on them here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Spencer_Blues_Explosion

Ok so my main reason for doing this post apart from the fact that JSBX are one fucking howling raging force of nature in the garage blues world is because back in 2010 their 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th albums were all reissued and massively expanded however aside from the initial flurry of available downloads these seem to have quickly disappeared from the internet and after my external drive died I had a damn shitty time trying to find them and replace my copies so i decided that at least if i did this post they would be available online again as the actual releases though worth the money are a bit expensive especially when you already own most of them and have shelled out the cash once already for them! So onto your links

Year One - This is a compilation of ALL the first recordings done by JSBX these were originally released back in 1992 as the albums "Crypt Style" and "Jon Spencer Blues Explosion" however this "Year One" CD compiles all those sessions onto one handy disc and includes sessions produced by both Kramer (Of Bongwater fame) and Steve Albini.

Extra Width/Mo' Width - This is NOT taken from the expanded version unfortunately as i cannot lay my hands on a copy of the 2 CD re-issue however this contains both albums in full ripped from my own CD though they were released separately they were recorded all at the same time in 1993

Orange/Experimental Remixes - This is the 2CD reissued version "Orange" comes with 7 Bonus Tracks culled from various B-sides and a VPRO session "Experimental.." comes with a further 5 remixes from the "Acme" era

Now I Got Worry - Due to the fast short and furious nature of this album this has been massively expanded but even with all the bonus material this has managed to all fit on one CD! this issue comes bolstered with a further 12 tracks of b-sides/unreleased studio tracks and 4 radio ad's for the album.

Acme/Xtra Acme - so the original releases of these albums were confusing as hell they were released with different colored covers and titles in every country round the world each with different track lists but however the entire "Acme" sessions have been pulled together on this massive 42 (!) track reissue this is definitely one of the high points of their career and contains most of their best known songs and in my opinion some of their best as well!

Plastic Fang (Expanded) - Now this release is actually unique to this post as I put it together! I discovered that there were no less than 15 versions of this album over as many countries and each county had a slightly different tracklist also there was a Japan only CDEP called "Fang Plastique" which had some exclusive tracks for Japan from the session couple this with the multiple singles/B-sides etc as per usual JSBX style it was confusing but thanks to my trainspotting I managed to source pretty much all the "Plastic Fang" era material so if you live in Europe the original album had 12 tracks my version here has a tasty 18 tracks all the B-sides and the exclusives from the Japanese EP

Damage : I felt this to be another High point in JSBX career i really liked this album when it came out in 2004 however it was the best produced thing they had done so far and quite slick for their usual raw sound! I'm afraid there's no bonus material here as there was little to be had mostly remixes.

Meat And Bone : after an 8 year hiatus JSBX were back with a new album and was it any good? well to be honest i didn't think this album was all that great kinda lackluster and a bit disappointing nothing truly terrible just didn't move me.

Jukebox Explosion : between 2002 and to date 2012 JSBX have done 7 x 7" singles with exclusive A and B sides for Italy's IN The Red Records in 2007 enter the compilation "Jukebox Explosion" this contains all 12 A & B sides from these 7"'s plus a further 6 tracks of whose origin i have no idea but be assured this is one GREAT compilation! as i said there have been 7 of these 7" singles and only 6 are compiled on this CD in 2012 they did a further 7" "Gadzooks/Tell Me That You Love Me" I have given you a separate link for that below next to Meat And Bone as the tracks were recorded at that session and appear as bonus tracks on the Australian issue of the Meat And Bone CD

In 1999 JSBX did a collaboration with The Dub Narcotic Sound System I know nothing about that band but the album is called "Sideways Soul: Dub Narcotic Sound System Meets The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion In A Dancehall Style!"
That's pretty much all you need to know! it's a pretty decent listen but not one of my most played JSBX projects!

So Onto your last 2 links Firstly in 2014 JSBX sneaked a 12" out for that fuckin godawful yearly "Record Store Day" with a very good take on the Def Jam records 12" sleeves of the 80's the 12" contained a medley of the Beastie Boys : She's On It and Jack The Ripper (don't know who did the original) backed with "Audio Vacation" a very fucked up take on 80's hip hop JSBX style!

And lastly in the interim while this post has been sitting in the vaults waiting to go BANG these boys only released a new album so hot off the press your last link is to "Freedom Tower No Wave Dance Party 2015" the latest offering from these guys and is it any good? HELL YES! this is a serious return to form for these guys I have been listening to this album a lot since i got it and I have to say it's the best thing they have done since "Plastic Fang" go check it out if you might have lost faith in these boys as a few folk did with 2012's "Meat & Bone" then this will restore you t a fully functioning JSBX fan!

I'm not gonna claim this to be a complete Discography as JSBX have been going far too long and been far too prolific and confusing with their music to claim every scrap is here but at a mighty 255 songs and some 14 hours i really think if this ain't enough you're a bigger geek than I am!

This band are abundantly talented and unique although sometimes under the sheer volume that may be hard to see but without a doubt NO ONE plays the blues like these guys and i find their take on it pretty consistent and always a pleasure hope you enjoy this almost complete discography of one of the best blues based bands on the planet!

Year One - Mediafire

Extra Width/Mo Width - Mediafire

Orange/Experimental Remixes (Remastered & Expanded) - Mediafire

Now I Got Worry (Remastered & Expanded) - Mediafire

Acme/Xtra Acme (Remastered & Expanded) - Mediafire

Plastic Fang (Expanded) - Mediafire

Damage - Mediafire

Meat & Bone - Mediafire

In The Red Records Jukebox Series #7 7" - Mediafire

Jukebox Explosion - Mediafire

With The Dub Narcotic Sound System - Mediafire

She's On It/Jack The Ripper (Def Jam) 12" - Mediafire

Freedom Tower No Wave Dance Party 2015 - Mediafire

THE KABINBOY UPDATED

The Kabinboy from Ireland were an instrumental band who existed from 1998 -2001 and were oft compared to the likes of Neurosis but i don't see that comparison at all and I'm a huge fan of Neurosis and anything like them, though i wouldn't be surprised to see them playing on the same bill, I can't really describe them as, being damn heavy and instrumental there's not much to compare them to and they have a fairly unique sound, I do feel they have a slightly Stoner/Sludge type vibe to them but that again is not 100% accurate and selling them short. 

They released 2 x 7"'s, 2 x split 7"s,a split CD and a 10" and that was them done & gone and due to the fact that most of their records or songs did not have any titles and were instrumental and the fact they were quite short lived and obscure it's almost impossible to find any info on the net about them..... unless you happen to be a trainspotter like me! I discovered these looooong after they were split up tho I was aware of them at the time they were around in the late 90's but back then there was no internet access like there is now so if you couldn't find it on a distro list or get to a gig then you were screwed plus they were quite popular on the underground at the time so it was impossible to get your hand on the records! 

Anyway with much searching and a bit of buying i managed to round up of their tracks from downloads, vinyl rips and a rip of their awesome split CD with John Holmes (Another GREAT UK hardcore band that split up) This kinda thing is what this blog is all about putting things up that are obscure and rare and took me days and hours of surfing to find and/or buy so that you can have them with the click of a mouse! You could call Kabinboy hardcore or metal or whatever you like but they are one of those rare bands that really can't be pigeonholed. All i know is they created a big buzz when they were going and i can assure you it's well deserved.

About this file it contains everything they released, Here's your tracklist...


1 & 2 - Untitled 1st 7" 1998

3,4 & 5 - Untitled 10" EP 1999

6 - Split 7" W/ The Large Mound 2000

7 - Split 7" W - Redneck Manifesto 2001

8 & 9 - "The Hated & Debated" 7" 2000

10,11,12 & 13 - Split LP/CD W/ John Holmes 2001

14 - 2 Live tracks recorded 27/2/98 From "Alive In Ireland" Compilation CD 1998

 They are taken from my own vinyl rips a couple of downloads i found online a 320kbps rip of the split with John Holmes a youtube video that i ripped mp3 from and 1 track I managed to buy a download of from amazon of all places! anyway I put it all together ran them through an equalizer to clean up the sound as best i could then made a CD and ripped it back onto the computer so this file is all at 320 kbps. All the tracks are tagged "Untitled" (cos they are) but I've put in brackets after each track what release it comes from etc some of the tracks aren't sparkling quality but that's the joy of vinyl i guess? But this collection is a million miles from unlistenable i assure you! Not being too conceited here but from my what my research tells me this is the the only place  you'll get a full and decent quality discography of this great band anywhere on the net trust me I tried before putting all the work in to make one myself and I want to keep great music like this around for other people to discover with ease as it seems a real shame to me that a band with great songs and an original style that lasted such a short time but left such a brilliant set of music should be consigned to the dusty basement of music history. If someone from the Kabinboy reads this post if you have the masters of all this stuff you should put together a discography of decent quality and put it on bandcamp or something I am sure I can't be the only person who would want to see this great music released in decent quality! But in the meantime here's my version ENJOY....

The Kabinboy Discography - Mediafire

BACK FROM THE GRAVE VOL 1- 10

So where to begin, I know very little about this series I basically stumbled across the recently released Vol 9 & 10 of this series whilst looking for other stuff on a new albums download website on the cover of the album it had the tagline "RAW BLASTING  MID 60's PUNK" on the cover and my curiosity was piqued and i thought why the hell not. I am a fan of 60's Garage and Rock 'N' Roll type stuff when it's done well. So whilst i waited on my download i discovered that "Back From The Grave" is a project of Crypt Records home of the greatest Garage Rock that exists and responsible for unleashing such titans as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Oblivians on the world so my hopes were high! (look for BIG posts on both these bands soon as I had completely forgotten how great JSBX & Oblivians are)  I also discovered that Vol 9 & 10 were a sort of re-launch of the series the last release had been Vol 8 having been released back in 1992. So download completed let's see what it was all about I hit play and was i disappointed? HELL NO! Whilst the tag line of "RAW BLASTING  MID 60's PUNK" may have been a bit overblown it has to be said there are some utterly great tunes of 60's Garage Rock 'N' Roll on there.

So before I say anymore let me tell you a bit about what I've posted here.... So Obviously when I discovered i really liked these Vol 9 & 10 comps I decided to do a bit of research into Vol's 1 - 8 so from what i can gather it was a vinyl series started by Crypt in 1984 however in 1994 they decided to reissue Vol's 1 -8 on CD but due to their being more space on CD than a 12" vinyl they mixed the comps together some tracks were omitted etc and to me it sounded like an unholy mess!!! But after i looked them up and went looking for downloads I found that the absolutely brilliant Surfadelic blog (Check them out HERE this guy knows his stuff and definitely lives for this music! he has presented a veritable library of lost & rare 60's surf and garage music tell them Dave at Under The Surface sent you) and he had posted Vol's 1 - 8 ripped from original vinyls! JOYYYYY!!!! So i downloaded those and I then had the whole set however much as i am/was grateful for that post after extracting them i discovered that 1 : they were at 128 kbps 2: they were completely untagged other than the file itself having the name of the band and track that was it!!!! So i had 8 albums 2 of which were doubles 164 tracks with no tags, titles,numbers nothing!! so i spent the best part of 6 HOURS(!!!!) ordering, Tagging , finding covers etc etc and now I present them to you here....

So I can't claim to know anything about any of the bands on here I have no idea who they are where the music was sourced from or anything all i know is there are some great band names and some great music on here I was going to try and describe it to you but I'm at a loss for descriptive terms or reference points here but I described it to a friend thus...

"y'know how there's some great 60's bands that have those 1 or 2 rocking gems in their back catalogue? well imagine if there was a whole series of albums where EVERY song is one of those gems"

 there's some great fuzzed out guitars snotty vocals crazy subject matter and some bands are as fuzzily heavy as some of the "Rock" that would come along at the tail end of the 60's/Early 70's however without the macho posturing and histrionics. Best reference i can give you is if you have heard the awesome "Nuggets" compilation well take that as a reference point and dig deeper for the rawer, sloppier garage end of things and there you have it the "Back From The Grave" series here's an excerpt from wikipedia...

"Unlike many garage rock compilations, the Back From The Grave series focuses exclusively on the rawer and more aggressive side of the genre. Psychedelic rock is categorically excluded. The series also includes very few pop or folk oriented songs. As a result, the albums are primarily populated by louder songs that are characterized by fuzztone guitars, rough vocals, and are clearly influenced by groups such as Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, the early Kinks, and the Pretty Things. The lyrics and performances tended to focus on anger, lust, and cheating girlfriends, matching the often chaotic music. According to the liner notes, the songs were recorded by American groups, between 1964 and 1967"

However do not expect all of these bands to tear out of the gate like The Stooges on steroids, whilst some of them do a lot of this is fairly melodic 60's rock and a product of the more known bands of the time influencing them. I heard multiple "rip offs" of more famous 60's standards in among the more original pieces So there you go if you are a sucker for that 60's recording and instrument sound that many bands try to emulate and fail to and you just can't get enough of it then shit here is just shy of 200 tracks of primo garage rock that is just completely addictive as it is completely great!

So as I said Vol's 1 - 8 are taken from vinyl whilst the crackle and pop of the vinyl is not really audible whilst listening on a stereo i did notice it just slightly more when listening to it on my mp3 player however considering these are literally unheard of 60's bands and i have no idea how they were found/sourced i personally think it adds to the charm of these great songs also do NOT be put off that Vol 1 - 8 are from vinyl and are only 128 kbps because believe me they are terrific quality as if they had been trashy in any way i would not have posted them. Vol 1 - 6 are single albums Vol 7 & 8 are double albums. Vol 9 & 10 are single albums and are taken from CD at a tasty 320kbps.

Before I go i cannot stress enough how great it is that Crypt Records managed to unearth such a vast library of unheard gems as there are very few repeats of bands through the series so where they found this stuff or even that they knew it existed is a testament to the conviction of music fans who just really wanted to share music they love with the world,that being the primary reason I do this blog. So that being said and in that spirit here I am sharing it with you just utterly BRILLIANT stuff, thoroughly enjoyable and just great FUN! Enjoy....

Vol 1 - Mediafire

Vol 2 - Mediafire

Vol 3 - Mediafire

Vol 4 - Mediafire

Vol 5 - Mediafire

Vol 6 - Mediafire

Vol 7 - Mediafire

Vol 8 - Mediafire

Vol 9 - Mediafire

Vol 10 - Mediafire

THE KIDS

So... I happened upon The Kids by pure chance a friend of mine on facebook posted a youtube video of one of their songs and i was curious about this Belgian punk band and i looked them up and lo and behold they were utterly brilliant!!!

As I've literally just got onto this band a few weeks ago I can't claim to have much knowledge about them at least no more than anyone else could find with a quick google search! What I can tell you is they were formed in Belgium in 1976 by Ludo Mariman and 2 brothers named De Haes the younger of which Danny on bass was only 12 when the band formed and was not even allowed into some venues to play their gigs because of this!! They released 2 albums in 1978 their debut "The Kids" and a second "Naughty Kids" They had a career beyond that had quite a few albums and singles but I have yet to investigate those and thought I'd stick to what was released during the original period of the punk explosion.

What i can tell you is these guys play some of the best frenetic fast paced garage punk I have ever heard this is every bit as good as anything released by their British peers there's no denying this is definitely punk but there are far more nods to stuff like the Stooges or The Ramones or the Buzzcocks than the more yobbish stuff however "Facist Cop" does smack of ripping it's chorus off from "E.M.I." by the Sex Pistols!!! anyway don't let the use of the word "Punk" put you off this is some great catchy and memorable stuff these guys should have been huge this is more like a high speed MC5 or something there's definitely a huge blues/rock 'n' roll influence on their music except obviously played a helluva lot faster!!!

So it took me a while to source decent downloads of their albums but i managed to snag debut "The Kids" at 320kbps but 2nd album "Naughty Kids" is only at 160kbps but is really good quality and WAY better than the vinyl rip I had before. "Naughty Kids" has a bonus track from their "No Monarchy" 7" and as a further bonus you get the "Never Mind the Pistols Here's The Kids" EP with 5 live tracks from 1978 and a bonus previously unreleased studio cut "No Work"  and that pretty much rounds up their 70's work as I say i have yet to venture beyond that however i am considering buying the 6 CD Kids "Anthology" so you can sure bet if I do I will update and expand this post! Yeah they ARE that good!

All I can say is if you like the sound of this just give em a try I normally avoid anything tagged "punk" however these guys are just utterly great and have been getting heavy rotation round here plus I feel the "garage" tag suits them much better they have more in common with bands like Radio Birdman than the Pistols or something!! It's free so if you check em out what have you lost? 2 mins to download an album 1 min to listen and decide if you like it or not? 3 mins ?? not a lot to ask when they could be your new favorite band and if you're here reading this you sure as shit know they wouldn't be here if they weren't good!!

So here you go some high energy rock'n'roll/garage/punk, think what you will but it shocks me that something this great was happening in Belgium in the 70's and I'm only hearing about it now!! GO GO GO!!!!


The Kids - Mediafire

Naughty Kids - Mediafire

Never Mind The Pistols... EP - Mediafire

GOOD FOR YOU

So does anyone remembers the SST posts that started this blog (All killed by those 4shared bastards) well if not Then recap.... I've no love for Greg Ginn as a person his alleged mismanagement of the SST bands, Back Catalog and recordings themselves etc effectively killed what started as a very bright, new and innovative hardcore/guitar/punk label! By the end of the 80's you were lucky to get 1 gem in 5 from SST when there was a time when EVERYTHING SST released was essential, then there's the abortive rebirth of Black Flag in  2013 and the awful album and it's cover! Anyhow I could go on forever but I won't it has to be said tho having been the only consistent and original member of Black Flag that and some of his other work like his 3 solo albums and the first 2 Gone albums to name but a few well for the most part... I utterly love the sounds this guy gets out of a GUITAR! He has done his fair share of utter crap as well I mean there's little beyond the late 80's and the early 90's in his catalog up to the standards of the stuff i mention even the Gone albums he did were bad! So it's 2013 and Greg Ginn is back with a collaboration with Mike Vallelly called Good For You, Now it's been no secret that Vallely has wanted to work with Ginn after replacing Rollins for Black Flag's 2003 Reunion shows as a benefit for cat rescue operations! Back in 2002 Vallely also put together the short lived Mike V & The Rats they did release 2 EP's both scorching retro early 80's hardcore style with MORE than a nod to Black Flag to say the least as Mike V lays down his best Rollins-isms studiously learned over this ragged hardcore! Well worth checking out if you like that kinda thing? (See My Post On Mike V & The Rats HERE ) So I digress......

So Mike Vallely & Greg Ginn here as Good For You in 2013 with album "Life's Too Short Not To Hold A Grudge" LP so is it any good or is it another one of Greg Ginn's prolific turds? well the answers to those questions are YES! and NO! respectively! I first heard this album on Spotify being unable to hear it any other way as it's so far only seen vinyl release and i didn't think much of it it seemed to be a bit droney and skronky and no real groove to it however I misjudged this completely i think i wanted to hate it cos of the people involved and also because i had to listen on Spotify and I hate streaming! So I dismissed it as crap and forgot about it.... However i decided whilst locating the latest Black Flag album recently i decided to have another go at the damn Good For You album while I'm here and as i managed to get a download of it I decided to give it another chance! FUCK I am so glad I did! This is Ginn's finest album since the early 90's! Firstly Mike Vallely is in great voice here and uses it very well to pretty much distill every Black Flag singer's style and use each's style where appropriate as the music shifts tempo and style. (aggressive Ron Reyes/Keith Morris early Black Flag style for the loud parts, Rollins style for the rocking parts you get what I mean) And Ginn's riffing FUCK well firstly while it has got that classic Ginn Dissonance all over it, it's also got the same unashamedly "Rock" feel to the riffs as the "In My Head" / "Loose Nut" Era of Black Flag albeit "Rock" filtered through the brain of Ginn! I personally think if you like the Instrumental and more "chance taking" stuff Black Flag did towards the end and during the Rollins - era then there's a pretty good chance you will like this! Yeah it's really that good even when it shifts uptempo to an almost early hardcore pace whilst it's not as good as the more rocking stuff and sounds just a little trite is still way good enough to not have you reaching for "Skip Track" Whilst it doesn't display the same danger, grime and insanity as Black Flag it still has that familiarity to it and there's quite a few uptempo moments on there that hark back to Ginn's earliest punk guitar thrashing allbeit with a more confident and controlled feel of someone with near 35 years playing under his belt! And another thing how the fuck does he keep coming up with this stuff seeing as how he is 60 in June! And one final note with riffs as good as the ones all over this album WHAT the actual fuck happened with the new Black Flag album?

SO I have waffled long enough I think I need to wrap this up here, All I can say is there's a download here check it out it'll cost you nowt but a bit of your time, If your one of the people who came here for the classic SST stuff then here's 1 new SST release you won't want to miss! 1 Solid fucking album DAMN YOU GINN!!!!!!

UPDATE

So Don't even ask my how I found out about "Full Serving" (pictured above) I think i was looking for something on Ginn or Vallely or Good For you and found out that Good For You had done a 2nd album "Too!" which was a double album!!!  and as i had loved "Lifes Too Short..." I immediately went looking for "Too!" online as a further double LP of GFY jams was just too good to miss! I had no luck finding a download to "Too!" and resigned myself to the fact that it was one of those SST vinyl releases I'd never het to hear however just as i was about to give up i discovered that SST hand very nicely compiled a Good For you TRIPLE CD entitled "Full Serving"  containing everything they had recorded in 2013,As I am a sucker for bands compiling all their shit into one handy package i of course immediately hit BUY IT NOW and within 2 days I had the set in my grubby little paws!!!

So what you get are the "Lifes Too Short..." Album and "Too!" plus the b-side to their "Fucked Up" Single all re sequenced and mastered for CD over the first 2 discs (Meaning the 34 tracks don't run in the same order as the albums they have been put together in a different running order specifically for this set but as it would appear all the music was recorded in the same place at the same time so there's no jarring differences in sound quality) but it doesn't end there as there is a further 3rd disc containing 6 bonus tracks exclusive to this set making this 40 tracks and some 2 & 1/2 hours of sheer Greg Ginn guitar insanity! If you have read the blurb above I have nothing more to add to my musical descriptions all i can say is that this collection is a close as you are ever gonna get to Black Flag (Rollins - Era) without a time machine! And i for one am more than happy to have 40 tracks of it.

So Here's your updated link i have ripped it at 320kbps as usual and as far as I am aware this is NOT available anywhere else on the internet to download otherwise i wouldn't have had to buy it!!!! Go get yourself some serious CLASSIC SST style goodness I swear if this had been released anytime around 1983 - 1985 it would be held in as high esteem as any other SST release of the time just cos it was recorded some 30 years later doesn't make it any less classic in my mind if only the rest of that era of SST bands could come up with something this good now!ENJOY....

SST390 - FULL SERVING - Mediafire

THE BLOOD OF HEROES & SUBMERGED

(I couldn't find a picture of the band but I did like this piece of art from the inner of their latest album)

Ok so this post is a bit out of left field here and another one of those ones that I am putting up here more for the internet than just my specific audience! We have two artists that are linked so one justifies the other read on.....!

The Blood Of Heroes came to my attention because it was a project featuring Justin Broadrick (See posts On his remix work HERE & as Jesu HERE) who readers will know i am a big fan of however upon investigation I also found among others I hadn't heard of at the time Bill Laswell was also involved and as he is a MASTER of the bottom end i was sold! However when their first self titled album was released it was a real shock to me blending elements of Drum 'N' Bass, Dub, Industrial, Justin's Trademark Guitar and occasional vocals plus a serious bottom end provided by Bill Laswell's organic along with Kurt Gluck (aka Submerged) & Lynn Standafaer (aka Enduser) Electronic bass making for some serious speaker quaking!!! Most of the vocals throughout the album are provided by Dr. Israel who I know nothing about but who appears to come from the New York Illbient/Drum 'N' Bass scene and his rough mc/dub style vocals work well with the other elements.

I'm going to say right now that this is not the kind of stuff I would normally post on here and without Laswell & Broadrick's involvement this would be more of a  standard Drum 'N' Bass type album however the mix of the Organic and Electronic elements works in this bands favor and of course Justin's guitar work is stellar and heavy and he has never made a secret of his love of breakbeats (see some of Godflesh's later work and his side project for evidence) but if like me you are open minded and willing to give something new a try then these are definitely for you. Plus all the members of this band whether primarily or occasionally have been involved in making electronic music as well as playing in bands.

I have given you both of The Blood Of Heroes albums (their self titled album from 2010 and the more recent "The Waking Nightmare" from 2012) to date plus the Remix album "Remain" which accompanied their self titled debut which features remixes by Justin Broadrick, Bill Laswell, Enduser & Submerged (all 4 are members of The Blood Of Heroes) plus further remixes by the likes of Dälek (awesome producers/artists in their own right) and due to the involvement of 4 of the members is more of a de-constructing/re-interpretation of the album than a standard remix affair and works really well.

I am trying to broaden the scope of the blog and not just post heavier guitar based stuff all the time as i have said many times to say my tastes in music are wide ranging is an understatement and i do go through phases of listening to different music and if i like it enough it merits inclusion in this blog and i felt it was long overdue that some electronic based music was represented and the involvement of Justin Broadrick and Bill Laswell in this project made this an ideal starting point!

So I will can the chat and let you check this stuff out for yourself here's your links......

The Blood Of Heroes - Mediafire

Remain - Mediafire

The Waking Nightmare - Mediafire

So this leads me nicely to the 2nd part of this post which is what i was referring to at the start about this post about it being for the internet rather than readers of this blog so i shall explain further.... basically The Blood Of Heroes part of this post was put here because I actually wanted to a post on Submerged (aka Kurt Gluck pictured above) however i felt without The Blood Of Heroes part it would make less sense as to why I am doing this post!

As The Blood Of Heroes is made up of people who all have careers in their respective fields of music and i was already aware of the work of Justin Broadrick and Bill Laswell i decided i would check out the work of the other members as I liked the music behind Blood Of Heroes a lot so this led me to discover Submerged, now let me be clear Submerged are a straight up Drum 'N' Bass project and is the main moniker for the majority of Kurt Gluck's musical output now whilst i like most people who have had a lifelong passion for music, since it's major breakthrough in the late 80's/early 90's it would be impossible to have avoided dance/electronic music it seeped into almost every part of musical culture and still does even to this day and I was heavily involved in that scene through the mid - late 90's and still have an interest in it today however i am extremely choosy about what i like and rarely if ever check out anything new (most of the dance/electronic music I like is stuff i was into at the time and not really anything recent) however I did decide to check out Submerged as i liked the name and figured if Justin and Bill would work with him he must be doing something pretty good! and i was right although he does make Drum 'N' Bass/Breakbeat type music he does it with a wholly different and unusual approach and has a dark and nasty edge to it which appealed to me immensely.

When i started looking for some Submerged music I could only find "Pay" downloads (at the cost of $10/£6.50 an album) so i used this nifty little site I have as a last resort for finding individual mp3's if i can't find a rar of an album and i had to download almost all of the music in these links track by track from there then i had to pay for "Ghost Dope" (though at nearly 2 & 1/2 hrs long i think the $10 was justified) so as i said this is a "give it up for the internet" here's all the (digitally) available Submerged stuff free of charge so you don't have to spend the best part of 2 days like i did finding the mp3's compiling them etc....

So what you get below are his two "stand alone" albums "Before Fire...." and "Stars Lights..." plus "Ghost Dope" which is a 2 & 1/2 hour compilation of tracks culled from his vast back catalog of 24 12" vinyl releases (the 12" being the primary format for Drum 'n' Bass and dance music) then a further compilation from the vaults "Violence As First Nature" which has a further 15 cuts from his back catalog and also comes with a bonus DJ mix featuring all these tracks plus another 13 tracks seamlessly mixed by the man himself. However it does not end there purchasers of "Before Fire..." were given a free download from the label (Ohm Resistance) entitled "Before Fire...Supplemental Material" which has a further 2 tracks plus a 31 min track by someone called Robert Mariani entitled "Astral - Cassette Tape #01 (1985)" I cannot find any information about what relevance this artist or track bears to Submerged or the album but it's in there should you wish to check it out. And "Stars Lights..." contains a bonus remix of one of the album tracks.

So just quickly i want to say that there is a lot of regular if above average drum and bass type stuff here mainly on "Ghost Dope" which is not surprising as it is culled from 12"'s mainly targeted at a club environment however both his albums plus the "Violence As First Nature" comp contain some insanely nasty,grimy and intense stuff which puts me in mind of some of Aphex Twin's more crazy stuff and his cutting up of beats is just nuts as well as some of the intense bass,noise and just general electronic brutality that borders on the industrial. I have listened to it on my mp3 player this week and it was just great so that's why I decided it was worth blogging I really feel you don't have to be out of your head on drugs on the dancefloor to enjoy this stuff it is varied and interesting enough to stand listening to at home.

So here you go my first posting of purely electronic music I have spent more of this post justifying and explaining why i posted it rather than describing the music I guess that's just my personal guilt that i have posted so much heavy stuff here that I feel like I had to explain also i don't really know how to describe the depth of a bass tone or how good the TB303 waves and 808 beats are I only know i liked it a lot, it provoked a positive response and that's why it's here, In closing i will refer you to a qoute from the very 1st post on this blog .....

"The main thing is to have no expectations of this blog because even I don't know what I'm gonna put on here yet you can expect to find anything from acoustic and experimental music to jazz and grindcore whatever I'm enjoying that i think is worth sharing I'll put it on here I place no labels on myself or my music tastes."

So there you go more justification ha ha here's hoping i don't lose the majority of my readers and some people will enjoy this crazy music....

Ghost Dope - Mediafire

Violence As First Nature - Mediafire

Before Fire I Was Against Other People - Mediafire

Starts Lights The End - Mediafire

THE KOOLAID ELECTRIC COMPANY

SO this band were a bit of a surprise discovery for me I downloaded a compilation called "Reverb Conspiracy Vol 1" it was billed as "A European Psych collection co released by Fuzz Club Records and the Reverb Appreciation Society" I was mainly after the download for the exclusive Dead Skeletons track on it (See my post on Dead Skeletons HERE) however after downloading I had it on in the background whilst doing something and one song really grabbed me so I checked the track list and the song was "Dreams" by The Koolaid Electric Company so a quick net search and i discovered they had an album out called "Random Noises And Organised Sounds" and a further net search netted me a download of it but it was so good i managed to get in touch with them through their facebook page and i manged to purchase one of the very few remaining copies of it from them and as it's completely out of print and very hard to come by for a reasonable price I asked for their permission to upload the album for you guys and they were kind enough to let me do so.

It would appear that at least one member of this band is from the long standing indie/shoegaze band The Telescopes but I have to be honest I didn't pursue information on this further but i suspect the fella i've been in touch with on Facebook Dave "Rusty" Gryphon would be the one.

So why all the fuss? well as you all should know i am a huge fan of the current wave of modern psychedelic music or "Psych" as it's referred to and most of it is borne of a similar template krautrock-ish passages and loud guitar freakouts however these guys were approaching the "Psych" sound from a completely different and altogether British angle whilst still having plenty of the hallmarks of psychedelic music these fellas are leaning more towards the sounds of Loop (See post HERE) Ride, (early) Jesus and Mary Chain etc and a bit of the style known as "Dream Pop" think Mazzy Star (See Post HERE ) etc and also there's hints of 60's garage/pebbles type stuff as well this is all wrapped up in loud effected guitars, and makes each song standout as different from the next and keeps things interesting whilst most psychedelic bands tend to slam you to the wall with intense builds and extended guitar freak out these guys happily drift along lazily and dreamily and whilst they still have great builds and are more than capable of some good loud guitar in the right places it's more of a shimmering guitar ride that whilst still plenty loud is a far more relaxing affair than their contemporaries and is just so lush it will melt your spine! I defy anyone to not be bowled over by the sheer beauty of this album. I know there is quite a bit of "Shoegaze" revival going on these days but the way these guys blend it with their psychedelic influences is just genius and this album has been one of the best things I've heard this year (although it has been out since 2011!!!)

So below I have a given you a fully authorised link to their album uploaded by me at 320kbps from my CD I cannot stress enough that you should check this album out I am listening to it right now as i type this article and the acoustic strumming and effected guitars of the intro to the track "home" just made me stop, go limp and go ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's a truly beautiful listen track after track of just great songs that are also completely memorable every time I hear a song I go"Ahhhh I remember this one it's great"  then the next one comes on and I go "Ahhhh I remember this one it's great" A truly terrific album 9 songs of utter aural delight and worth 50 minutes of anyone's time at least anyone with a heart and a brain and a love of great music... Enjoy!

The Koolaid Electric Company - Mediafire

LECHEROUS GAZE

This is a completely redone version of the old post I decided that it needed re-doing rather than updating because firstly they have had a GREAT new album out since it was originally done and secondly because I just them live!

So...Anyone who reads this blog regularly should know that i am a huge fan of Annihilation Time so when they broke up and 3/4 of the final version of A.T. formed Lecherous Gaze my expectations were high but at that time (2010) firstly I didn't like the name and secondly I just couldn't get into them to start with I had hoped they'd keep their Black Flag/BL'AST! edge and i just didn't hear it and found their new more rockin' style just a little too "rock" for what I had wanted/expected!

So though I kept up to date on what they were doing and thought they were kinda "OK" they were never really a favorite especially when they had a change of vocalists. However last year I dunno how it happened but after I heard they had a new album in the works and were touring I decided to have a re-visit and lo and behold the clouds parted the sun shone upon me and i finally "got it"! I have since purchased the EP and both albums on CD and decided it was time for a proper post! So the high praise this band receive in this post is a product of my re-visit!

Lecherous Gaze were formed by ex - Annihilation Time (See My Post on them HERE ) members Graham Clise (Guitar), Chris Grande (Bass) along with Noel Sullivan (drums) who played drums on the last Annihilation Time album "III - Tales Of The Ancient Age" Their original vocalist Lakis Panagiotopulos (Who bore an uncanny vocal resemblance to Glenn  Danzig) only appeared on their debut Demo/EP and was replaced shortly thereafter by Zaryan Zandi I mention this straight away because originally i couldn't understand how their vocalist had gone from smooth toned Danzig style to sounding a lot like a manic Captain Beefheart!! And thought it best to save you from the same confusion.

They released their "Audio Testament" demo (pictured below) with original vocalist Lakis Panagiotopulos in 2010 this would later get tweaked and re-issued as the "Lecherous Gaze" 12"/CD the only recording to feature their original singer. It's a cracking debut taking off where the last Annihilation Time album left off but a bit less on the punk side and adding a bit more garage and 70's rock which is pretty much sets the standard for everything to follow.

At this point I think there's little to be had from going through each LG release individually as whilst they have had a few EP's between the debut and 1st album and a couple between  the first and second albums they have been a fairly consistent unit there's been no groundbreaking changes in their sound since they started they have just continued to release consistently good records and just got better and better at what they do so in the spirit of shorter write ups more music here's a quick breakdown of your links.....

"EP's" this is the original link from the original post and it contains the debut "Lecherous Gaze" EP but also contains their "Bagagazo" EP "Born On A River" 12" "Animal Brain" 7" and their tracks from the 3 way split 12" with Danava and Earthless now originally I had thought that these were worth having but it turns out that apart from their debut EP ALL of the others contain mostly tracks that would later turn up on their albums and they are exactly the same versions as the album versions however there are 2 tracks in there that don't appear on the albums "Feathered Fish" from the "Bagagazo" EP and "Get You Some" from the 3 way split so if you, like me, want to be completist then these tracks are definitely worth having plus you most definitely NEED their Debut EP so don't skip it!.

So that being said I have given you their 2012 debut album "On The Skids" which is a great debut and is a non stop rock 'n' roll wild ride I have to be honest as i said near the start that it took me a while to get into the new vocalists "croaky" Beefheart style but the music is just unbelievably great there are not enough bands blending the best of 70's rock with a healthy dose of Stooges/MC5 craziness and a dash of grimy early USHC and these guys by far are the best at it I said in my original post on these guys that i figure even if Annihilation Time had kept going this is what their next album would have sounded like anyway. This is tight and well played, the musicianship is impeccable and it shows that the core of this band have been playing together for quite a while and it can't be said enough how great a guitarist Graham Clise is he is a non stop hot rock lick machine! Whilst this is an excellent debut their latest album from this year "Zeta Reticuli Blues" takes the template and just makes it even better the songs are even more rocking and memorable and they even do a cover of old blues rock standard "Baby Please Don't Go" and their version is just scorching all i can say is if you thought "On The Skids" was good then this will blow you away! As far as I can tell this is the only place this is available for free on the net because I tried for months after hearing it was being released and after it was released and in the end had to give in and buy it ha ha!

So there you go the complete story so far and having seen them live recently it's obvious these guys LOVE what they do as they certainly looked like they were enjoying playing as much as we were enjoying watching them so i doubt this is the last we will hear from them and personally I can't wait for more! Enjoy!

EP's - Mediafire

On The Skids - Mediafire

Zeta Reticuli Blues - Mediafire

And just for fun here's some pics me and my Girlfriend took with our phones of Lecherous Gaze live at the Blade factory Liverpool....

SNAKEBiTE

I Have often mentioned the fact that I had a renewed interest in Hardcore in the early millennium and it led me to discover a lot of great bands who were either short lived or just disappeared completely without at trace one of those great bands was SNAKEBiTE. I have often used them for reference in other posts but i never really thought about the fact that having only had 2 x EP's about 13 years ago that most folk wouldn't have a clue who they were. I had often wanted to rectify this but i only had vinyl rips of their 2 EP's and they were fairly atrocious quality but recently I came across a bandcamp page which had both their EP's uploaded and from what I can tell the source wasn't vinyl and they sounded a lot better than my own rips. So here I present you the "discography" (does 2 EP's count as a discography??) of this great short lived and overlooked band!

These guys were, if memory serves me, from New Jersey in the USA I got interested in them because they had an ex member of Down In Flames but then discovered one of them went on to be in Forward To Death and another member was in a short lived but excellent Hardcore band called Survivors who again did one EP and that was it. I also mentioned in various posts that the internet was in it's infancy/dial up era back then and often labels would have small websites and they would offer 1 or 2 tracks from each release they had for download and i used to download everything and make mix CD's of it to listen to then decide what stuff I wanted to buy and that's how i came across these guys, they were on Don Giovanni records who started out releasing mainly hardcore but have become quite a big underground/Indie type label but at the time their current releases were SNAKEBiTE, Kamikaze, Talk Hard and a couple of others and they were all so good I bought all the EP's.

So I got these 2 Ep's mainly on the strength of the Down In Flames connection however I was quite surprised when I heard them because instead of the Fast thrash i expected what i got was some GREAT mid paced/Fast hardcore with more than a nod to the likes of Poison Idea. What i like most about these guys is tho they have quite shredding and Intense vocals the music is nice and chunky has a classic old school feel while still managing to sound contemporary rather than retro also the songs they wrote were very memorable with great riffs that get your head nodding and just stick with you for days!

So in the link below you have their 1st EP "Every Bad Idea Is A Good Idea" and 2nd "Feel The Buzz" there's only 4 tracks on each and the total playing time of both is a mere 15 mins however it's a seriously great 15 mins and i find it criminal that these guys never did anymore music as although according to discogs.com all of the members are in other bands SNAKEBiTE were one of those frustratingly short lived bands that just make you go ARGGGGHHHH why did you break up when you were SOOOO good!

I Hadn't listened to these in a while before i got this post together and it has struck me that these guys are in quite a similar vein to recent hardcore revivalists Obliterations so if you like that sort of thing then these guys are definitely for you. So now anyone who follows all the posts on here can download these EP's and make sense of the comparisons I make when I mention these guys! Both EP's are high bitrate not quite 320 but high enough I have separated them into individual folders for each EP withj the correct artwork etc so go download and enjoy this GREAT band.



SNAKEBiTE EP's - Mediafire

OBLITERATIONS

Ok so Obliterations are a new band from California that I was only alerted to about a couple of weeks ago because a friend of mine is trying to put a gig on for them in Liverpool so i decided to check them out luckily I haven't missed out too much by these guys so I'm quite glad to have found out about them now! Featuring members of Black Mountain, Saviours,Bluebird,Yaphet Kotto to name but a few I have to be honest having only heard of Stephen Mcbean of Black Mountain who is in the band i didn't know what to expect I kinda thought maybe some sort of cool Psych/Stoner type stuff but I was WAY off the mark these guys play an absolutely ferocious modern take on old school American hardcore not unlike maybe a supercharged version of Annihilation Time ( see my post on them HERE ) however that being said it's not without it's modern touches as well! They list their influences as simply Black Flag and Black Sabbath! and to be honest when starting a band what more do you need? and seeing as those bands happen to be my 2 favourite bands then I am automatically gonna give a thumbs up before I've heard a note!!!

So Far these guys have only released 2 x 7" EP's 8 tracks total but they have an album out called "Poison Everything" on Southern Lord on 14/10/14 which i will add to this post when it comes out. But for now here are their 2 EP's in one handy package Their self titled debut EP from 2013 and latest EP from this year "The Hole" what you get is 8 tracks of loud distorted everything turned up to 10 dirty nasty hardcore however as i say this is hardcore looking back to early 80's California (think early Black Flag, Circle Jerks etc) with some more slightly "Rocking" touches (think early 00's hardcore like Suicide File or Snakebite or something along those lines) I post a lot of this retro hardcore type stuff on here and I genuinely feel there is not enough of it around but I only pick the best of it to put on here as it's not easy to capture that "Dangerous" feel of the early 80's USHC you can pillage Black Flag riffs as much as you like but unless you really know your stuff you're just wasting your time these guys however have taken that sound and feel and brought it kicking and screaming into 2014 and added their own spin on it without taking too much away from the core sound! This is intense loud and nasty hardcore done the way it should be without going crazy on the speed or adding heavy guitars or whatever! Having found these guys was a real pleasure for me and I hope you readers will enjoy them too I cannot WAIT for the album!

On a final note here's some trainspotting for you....  if you doubt these guys credentials as a hardcore band you may be interested to know that although Stephen Mcbean is best known for his Alternative/Stoner band Black Mountain and his Acoustic alias Pink Mountaintops I just found out that he was also in an old Canadian hardcore band called Mission Of Christ who did one demo tape and a split EP with Fratricide (Fratricide would later do a couple Of EP's and record a split album with Neuroot for the legendary Pusmort records which never got released) And i remember very clearly that back in 1987 that Fratricide/Mission of Christ split EP was a highly sought after 7" by many collectors of hardcore myself included I eventually got a copy and it was a great EP! So there you go it may have taken him a long time to come back to hardcore but like every other fan of that kind of music you never lose your love for it!

*UPDATE* So as i mentioned these guys were preparing to release their debut album when i did this post and I promised I'd add it when I got it but try as i might i could not lay my hands on it pre-release! It was killing me cos i have played the 2 EP's to death, so "Poison Everything" carrys on where the EP's left off again if you have read the rest of this post then you should have a good idea of what they sound like however unleashed from the confines of the EP format and given a whole album these guys have exceeded even my expectations this is an utterly shredding killer of an album aside from the influences i already mentioned that i heard through the EP's on this album i hear touches of Motorhead in places and the title track is a slow sludgy groove with such intensity that it easily matches the more ferocious faster tracks with ease and even the faster tracks are faster than some of the tracks on the EP's ! also notable is the other longer slower track on this album "Shame" which is a super crushing jam with a groove that is like Greg Ginn  jamming with Celtic Frost circa 1985!!! Sound insane? well it totally works and completely floors me! This album has enough originality, variety and twists and turns within it's chosen style that although the majority of the 13 tracks are fairly fast paced they are memorable and stick in your head which is unusual for most hardcore. These guys are masters of their craft and this album is a real killer! Southern Lord are just killing me these days with the quality of their current bands and I hope they continue to release bands like this and Baptists among the many other gems they have uncovered! Again this is definitely one of my top 5 best of this year YEAH it's THAT good! Enjoy....

Obliterations EP's - Mediafire

Poison Everything - Mediafire

P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S.

Well I discovered this band through Brad Boatright's (From Ashes Rise etc) Audiosiege download label he had a load of stuff up for free download mostly things he'd been involved in the engineering or mastering of (Audiosiege is also his studio) as an offshoot of the awesome Moshpit Tragedy website, most of the other stuff that he had put up had been on the heavy hardcore/crust side of things but these guys were a different proposition altogether featuring Kelli Haliburton on bass who is known for bands like Detestation and Severed Head of State among many other crust legends and Dean Johnson who played drums for Poison Idea during their most revered 83 - 86 period ("Pick Your King", "Kings Of Punk" & "Record collectors are..." era) and 3 other fellas who are new to this band! This is classic catchy memorable loud and distorted punk fucking rock with a nod to Motorhead and a Stooges/MC5 edge to it. Now don't be put off by my use of the word punk rock when i say that I'm thinking (again) the slower stuff by Poison Idea and the sorta garage/punk/metal crossover bands that were popular in the 90's like Hellacopters or Glucifer not gobbing spitting obnoxious oi oi shit! As I've grown to dislike most Punk music in my later years! Anyway this is loud thick and in your face stuff that will have your head bopping in a second!

This file contains the CD version of their album which has the whole album and very neatly adds their 1st 4 7" singles as bonus plus an extra track of them covering "Evil Woman" which i would attribute to Black Sabbath but  Sabs version is also a cover but I can't remember who did the original!!!So that's 18 tracks and 50 mins of music! anyway it's a really good quality direct download and back to you so no probs with quality! Go get this and have a rocking time with something a bit different from the pack!

*UPDATE* OK so a user of this blog mentioned that the original link i provided for this album was dead Thank you anonymous user for that I really like when people alert me to dead links otherwise i can't fix it!

I was recommending some music to a friend of mine recently and said he should check out P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. and as the link was down as luck would have it I uploaded it for him but I had just also acquired the recent P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. Mexican Tour CD Which compiles all the material since the 1st album which amounts to 8 tracks taken from 2 x Split EP's a 7" and a flexi.

So below is your link to a file containing the CD version of the album with the Bonus EP's AND the Mexican Tour CD (pictured above) so that brings you bang up to date with everything that has been done by this band so far, and believe me the 8 new tracks are every bit as good if not even more ferocious than their predecessors! It's a 150mb file but even with an average internet connection you should be able to download it in about 5-8 minutes. Enjoy....

P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. - Mediafire

MORE HAMILTON HARDCORE ( LEFT FOR DEAD, THE SWARM & RUINATION )

 Ok so as you know I've been posting a bit of hardcore these days and recently i did posts on Bands related to the scene revolving round the city of Hamilton, Ontario in Canada (have a look at those posts on Haymaker, Cursed and Pick Your Side HERE) It's a fertlile scene and an incestuous one, the main players have been on the scene from what would seem to be it's inception and have been in various important and influential bands both in their hometown and globally. I have to admit this all started with the band Haymaker for me (see the link above their post is there)  and though I was vaguely aware of that bands history my knowledge is/was lacking a bit and the "Family Tree" of the scene is way too complicated one to get into but if you wish to do your own research as i did you should got to http://www.discogs.com/ and type in any of the band names from this post or the linked post and click on some of the members names to find out who's in what band etc. I have already done this and discovered that the 3 Bands that this post is about all pre-date Haymaker and feature members of that band so that being said and once again in the spirit of "shorter write ups more music" i will let you decide if you want to do your own research I've given you the links so that just leaves me to give you a brief overview of what's here and why!

LEFT FOR DEAD - First off it has to be said that Chokehold were probably the band that started the whole Hamilton thing however their omission from this post although they are important for historical reasons is simply because i do not like Chokehold's music and I would not be able to give them an enthusiastic write up and this blog is for sharing music I like so even tho this post is about the history of the other Hamilton bands i have posted I would feel fraudulent uploading and sharing something on here i don't like so onwards... After Chokehold some of their members went on to form Left For Dead who to my mind were the first of the Hamilton bands to produce that really dirty,heavy, sludgy nasty sound that endears me to that scene so much, their brief existence from 1996 - 1998 produced a mere 18 tracks that were used on 2 separate split 12"'s and a split EP there was also a live 12" but I haven't included that because I don't own it and it's a vinyl only release! Left For Dead play in a similar vein to Haymaker heavy downtuned guitars fast hardcore with the occasional blast in there too, fronted by Chris Colohan (who fronted all 3 bands in this post) who's shredding yet youthful sounding vocals suit the music perfectly! Their brief yet explosive discography was remastered recently and I bought it so now that I had a 320kbps rip from CD I decided to share it with you, I had some pretty ropey vinyl rips of their stuff but it wasn't till i purchased this CD that i truly got why this band are so revered and why their influence on hardcore in their local scene and globally is so important! But the story doesn't end there i dunno what's going on over in Hamilton but 2013/2014 saw both Left For Dead and Haymaker return with new EP's Left for Dead's 2013 EP "1" contains 8 tracks of their trademark face ripping hardcore and shows that these guys have not lost any of their passion for hardcore in the years since they last played together and is utterly blinding!!! The link below contains the discography ripped from my own CD and separated into it's relevant releases all tagged with artwork and it also contains latest EP "1" which i got a vinyl rip of it's not as great quality as the other stuff due to the source but hey this is hardcore you can't expect the best quality all the time!!!

Left For Dead - Mediafire

THE SWARM (A.K.A. KNEE DEEP IN THE DEAD) - Next up we have another short lived band The Swarm this was unwittingly the first Hamilton band i heard I bought their "Parasitic Skies" 10" simply on the strength of a review i read and when i heard it although it wasn't in line with what i was into at the time It was heavy and aggressive and i loved it! Carrying on pretty much where Left For Dead finished this has quite a similar sound to Left For Dead, Thick heavy Guitars great vocals (again by Chris Colohan) etc and if you liked Left For Dead then you will love this, They released only "The Parasitic Skies" 10" a split EP with Morser, a split Pic Disc EP with Force Fed Glass and a final EP "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Dead"between 1998 and 1999 and they were gone! The split with Morser was added as bonus tracks on the CD version of "Parasitic Skies" it was recorded at the same time as "Parasitic.." so in your file you get Parasitic Skies with the tracks from The Morser split all together then separate folders for the Vinyl rips of the split with Force Fed Glass and "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Dead" the latter 2 aren't the best quality but i include them in the file for completions sake, In fact even the CD rip of "Parasitic Skies" is a bit quiet even tho it's a 320kbps rip straight from my own CD I suggest you turn it up loud and let the discography of this brutally heavy hardcore band annihilate you!

The Swarm (AKA Knee Deep In The Dead) - Mediafire

RUINATION - And lastly we get to Ruination who are a different prospect from the first 2 altogether I'm not sure what is going on with this band as they seem to have had their base in Ann Arbor Michigan USA (once the home of The Stooges!!!) However as well as being fronted once again by Chris Colohan (maybe i shoulda called this post Chris Colohan??) they also feature one Mike Haliechuk better known as 10,000 Marbles guitarist for Canadian hardcore superstars Fucked Up but also notable is the fact they have Ebro Virumbales in their ranks who has served time in such hardcore legends as Charles Bronson, Los Crudos and Punch In The Face and has quite the Rep in hardcore circles! Ruination only existed again a short while between 2000 and 2001 and released 2 EP's a Split EP with They Live and contributed 3 tracks to the "Deadly Sins" 7" Box set comp on Hater Of God records and they were again gone! As for the music well this time around it's a completely different style to the previous 2 bands these guys play more straight up Hardcore/Fastcore which is a perfect representation of the time it was recorded and reminds me of some of the better bands from this time such as The Rites (see my post on them HERE ), Cut The Shit, Snakebite (see my post on them HERE) etc. there's not a great deal of this kind of hardcore i like but these guys are definitely among them it's well played tight and infectious stuff! The link below contains their discography ripped from my own CD and as it's such a short discography i have left the bonus full live set that is extra on the CD in there as well I have lumped all their comp tracks together in one file tagged as Comp tracks plus the 2 Ep's and the split all separated into their own folders with relevant artwork. Enjoy

Ruination - Mediafire

I wanted to say this write up and post is not really up to my usual standards but I did promise shorter write ups and more music these days and i am trying to stick to that, and linking together the history of the various members of these bands and the other Hamilton bands would be futile because i would just be regurgitating what i learned myself recently from discogs.com and i have given a link to that site many times and again in this post so you can do your own research the reason is not simply laziness it's because it's great fun to find out things for yourself and I am here to share the music mainly more than give in-depth histories as i would never claim to be an expert i'm just a decent standard trainspotter of music!!! I can't claim to have been in on the ground floor where these bands are concerned (with the exception of The Swarm who i came across by chance in 1999 and had no idea they would relate to music i would get into years later) i backtracked these bands simply by looking for more music like Haymaker!! one of the main reasons for doing this post and this has become a recurrent theme is when i did do my research and got downloads of Ruination and Left For dead I could only get 128kbps downloads which were shit quality and really detracted from what is cheaply recorded music anyway so because i liked them i wanted to share them on here especially as it linked to other posts I had done and I went off on the net and luckily both bands had discography CD's available so i bought both for my own pleasure and so i could do the bands justice by uploading better quality downloads here than were available online when i was looking for them and this is not the first time i have bought CD's with the idea of uploading them for my blog so that would be mainly for YOU the reader!!!! So I hope you enjoy some vintage hardcore and that after listening to these bands will see why they are important and why people still talk about them now! Hope you enjoy it!

*UPDATE*

So This Morning I was just browsing my blog as i do checking for any spelling mistakes etc and i decided it was a bit cruel of me not to give you more info on the Hamilton scene with these posts so i quickly put together a list of the main players and what bands they are in. Unfortunately without a serious research of my CD's and google i can't tell you who plays what instrument as some of them have played instruments in one band sung in another etc but here's my list of who is in what band (note Burning Love are a current Hamilton band who play a heavy brand of early USHC/Garage influenced hardcore i have not done a post on them yet and Our War were a short lived project by members of Haymaker etc again not featured on here as i don't have the one EP and  demo they did) also some of these guys are in multiple other bands that i know nothing about and have yet to investigate so I'm only mentioning bands I know about that they are in not everything also seems like a couple of them have played in Fucked Up at one time or another but I can't confirm when or on what they played. this is the basics...hope this is helpful.....

Jeff Beckman – Chokehold, Left For Dead, Our War, Pick Your Side

Matt Beckman – Chokehold, Left For Dead

Chris Ansley – Chokehold, Pick Your Side

Christian Mcmaster – Chokehold, Cursed, Haymaker, Left For Dead, Our War, The Swarm

Curtis Gordon – Haymaker, Left For Dead

Sandy ??? – Chokehold, Haymaker

Chris Colohan – Left For Dead, Ruination, the Swarm, Cursed, Mature Situations, Burning Love

Mike Maxymuik – Cursed, Left For Dead, The Swarm

This is just the basic info I got from linking bands and names on discogs so DO NOT fucking push your glasses up your nose and give me a fucking "I think you'll find such and such was in such and such a band briefly..." my info comes from discogs so any mistakes are theirs not mine if you think my info is no good go start your own blog I've no time for geeky fucking know-it-all's tho any pleasant conversation is welcomed :-)