BASTRO vs BITCH MAGNET
May 27, 2008
BASTRO and BITCH MAGNET were two of the most short lived groups of their era to produce such an explosive form of rhythm driven post hardcore. Both bands were highly productive between 1988-1990 releasing three albums apiece, each laying the blueprint for the coming decade’s noisier brand of independent rock… or ‘math rock’ as it often became referred to.
BASTRO continued through until late 1991, these last recordings released posthumously as a live collection entitled ‘Antlers’ . The Peel Session uploaded below was broadcast on the 20th January 1990 & features an awesome version of ‘Ben Brown’ with live drumming. Also uploaded is the split 7″ with CODEINE which sees BASTRO doing a fairly typical blast through interspersed by CODEINE who provide the songs sparser passages. The flipside is CODEINE doing a cover version of some kind.
01 BASTRO -i-come-from-a-long-line-of-shipbuilders
04 BASTRO -nothing-special-incomplete
BITCH MAGNET ran through until 1991 also, ending with the punk blast of the ‘Sadie’ single which is uploaded below along with the ‘Valmead’ 12″. I’m not certain if there were two versions of the ’Sadie’ single as the one uploaded on the CHUNKLET blog (along with some live rarities) is backed with ‘Ducks and Drakes’ from the Ben Hur album. The version below has a Misfits cover track and is credited as being released in 91??? If anyone can clear this up please do. Side A of the ’Valmead’ 12″ features the title instrumental and ‘Pea’ a collaboration with CODEINE. It’s kinda to be expected what this sounds like, I’m not the biggest CODEINE fan mind you. Sooyoung Park, BITCH MAGNET’s vocalist & bass player resurfaced in 1992 fronting the band Seam who shared the track ‘New Years’ with CODEINE.
02-bitch-magnet-with-codeine-pea
03-bitch-magnet-big-pining-live
04-bitch-magnet-navajo-ace-live
bitch-magnet-where-eagles-fly (misfits)
BONUS! I upped the BITCH MAGNET live set from the Pyramid, NY in 1990. No link to mediafire it’s now available permanently below! This is the sound of a band firing on all cylinders, if only more had followed their lead.
01-track01 02-track02 03-track03 04-track04 05-track05
06-track06 07-track07 08-track08 09-track09 10-track10
Here are the permanent mp3 links for the BASTRO live Enger 6.9.1990 set & the above photo is of a Sing the troubled beast promo poster I recently aquired.
01-pretty-smart-on-my-part 02-floating-home 03-tallow-waters
04-filthy-five-filty-ten 05-guapo 06-shoot-me-a-deer
07-tobacco-in-the-sink 08-i-come-from-a-long-line-of-shipbuilders
09-live 10-demons-begone 11-live 13-short-haired-robot
Thank you so much for the live Bitch Magnet set!!
The BM sadie/eagles 7″ was stuck in with some copies of Ben Hur. Said something like “genius marketing ploy #342″ on the label… a giveaway for vinyl loving fans.
Thanks for posting all of the tasty files!
Both the Bitch Magnet and Bastro live sets are gone. Can you please re-up them? Thanks.
Fucking thanks.
Thank you ever so much! Both the bands meant a whole lot to me during the late eighties, early nineties. Apart from Rodan, Slint and a couple of peers we didn’t get anything beter in those days (any days come to think of it)…
This reminds me of both the occasions I had the opportunity of seeing Bastro and Bitch Magnet live in Belgium (albeit not at the same time!). Together with the gigs of the Nations of Ulysses (also in th Democrazy joint) and Drive like Jehu probably the best live performances I ever came across.
Cheers and thanks again.
Oh for a decent copy of Bastro’s split 7″ with My Dead is Dead!
Wow… thanks for the live Bitch Magnet. One of my life’s regrets is not having seen them live when I could’ve.
Thanks for posting all this stuff, especially Bitch Magnet/Codeine-Pea. One of my all time favourites.