DO YOU COMPUTE

11 RECORDS for 2011

killingtechnology — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:09:54 +0000

ALARIC - s/t (20 Buck Spin)

YOUNG WIDOWS – ‘In and Out of Youth and Lightness’ (Temporary Residence)

HELMS ALEE - ‘Weatherhead’ (Hydra head)

NASA SPACE UNIVERSE - ‘Across Wounded Galaxies’ (Shogun Recordings)

BIG’N – ‘Spare the Horses’ 10″ (African Tapes)

RED FANG - ‘Murder the Mountains’ (Relapse)

AMERICAN HERITAGE – ‘Sedentary’ (Translation Loss)

CITY OF SHIPS - ‘Minor World’ (Sound Study records)

PART CHIMP/TORCHE – split (Chunklet)

VOIVOD – ‘Warriors of Ice’ (Sonic Unyon Metal)

SCREAM – ‘Complete Control’ 10″ (Side One Dummy)

A solid year for some interesting releases from both new and old alike. Extra mentions: The Bitch Magnet reissues, Office of Future Plans album on Dischord & the Atriarch CD came out this year but I haven’t heard either yet. Also the first BIG’N LP ‘Cutthroat’ was repressed in an edition of 200 by X-MIST. Oh and the Shiny Beast discography CD finally saw release on Little Mafia.

.end now

killingtechnology — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:36:00 +0000

I had some reservations as to posting this or not… I’ve avoided anything relating to ‘pimping your shit’ but I’m guessing some people may be interested in hearing the band I play guitar in called .end now. Since I’m writing the riffs the music is in many ways relates to the bands I have posted here. These tracks were recorded back in September 2010 by our friend Guy in his makeshift studio. After some persuasion he finally mixed them in May 2011, we weren’t allowed to assist. All the same he did a good job and they sound pretty sturdy for the hundred quid we paid him for recording four tracks. At some point in the future we will make physical copies which will sound/look much better and include the other two tracks from that session (one is a Failure cover). Until then see what you think…

Agnes

Iris

CRAW – Map, Monitor, Surge

killingtechnology — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:27:25 +0000

Massively overlooked band that grew through the same period of 90′s ’noise rock’ that was popularised by Helmet, Jesus Lizard, Shellac et al. In fact Craw share few similarities beyond the surface references, the nearest band I can think to categorise them alongside would be Season To Risk. Both bands favour strange time signatures, odd spoken/sung vocals & dissonant guitar lines.

’Map, Monitor, Surge’ is their third album recorded by Steve Albini and Bill Korecky at Mars studio (Integrity/Ringworm) in 1996. This is the first appearance of Will Scharf (Keelhaul) on drums and he maybe accentuates their abuse of meter change and twisting song patterns. It is rare that any song part is repeated twice and any verse/chorus format is abandonned. It can be a disconcerting and difficult listen which is why they didn’t get much noteriety, their last album however was released by Hydra head in 2002 which was a profile boost. I detect some definite later Black Flag influence in the guitar lines on ‘Killer microbes devour Cleveland’ and the general ’avant garde’ vibe. The Craw website had basically everything they ever recorded on it available for free download, unfortunately it seems to have gone kaput… so seek out their albums instead!

TIDE OF IRON – Bill Cosby video

killingtechnology — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:22:45 +0000

My good friend Rob Woodcock sings/drums in the band TIDE OF IRON. They have a demo out shortly and just put this video together which rules. I thought I’d share it here so if you like Unsane/early Helmet/AmRep noise check it:

THE FAITH – Subject to Change

killingtechnology — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:58:04 +0000

More of a proposition than a post… I need a copy of this 12″, can anyone out there hook me up? I know there were six pressing or something stupid but you hardly see any copies of it. Hopefully it will be in Dischord’s ‘to do’ list for 2011. Released in 1983, the lineup is basically pre Embrace with Alec MacKaye on vocals not his brother. I was always one for the Void side but I think these days I’d go with The Faith, Alec MacKaye is an underated force within D.C. history… probably kinda hard to live up to a brother like Ian though! This is the last post for a while…

EDIT: Dischord reissued ‘Subject to Change + demos’ in September this year!

IGNITION – 7″s

killingtechnology — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:47:00 +0000

The IGNITION lineup is probably my favourite of all D.C. bands… Alec MacKaye was in The Faith, Chris Bald (also The Faith) plays guitar here after being bassist in Embrace, Dante Ferrando was in Gray Matter & Chris Thomson played bass on the first Soul Side record and went on to sing in Circus Lupus. Apparently they played the shortest set in D.C. legend with Chris Bald smashing his guitar and amp in the first song. I had a Chris Bald 86 7″ somewhere but can’t remember what it sounded like at all? Something that caught my attention here with these 7″s was their packaging and the benchmark they appear to set for DIY hardcore sleeves on into the early 90′s (Ebullition especially). I would say they had a big effect on Vermin Scum records also, the first Ignition sleeve is a self glued paper sleeve (like the Mahpiua Luta 7″) & the second (above) looks similar to the ‘Memorial’ 7″ with the use of Oriental dragon imagery.

I bought the ‘Complete Services’ CD in the mid 90′s simply because of the label and it was cool that Dischord did those low priced CD containing two albums or an entire discography. At first I wasn’t that struck on the music but I really liked the lyrics which is usually the total reverse for me. I wouldn’t really call Ignition ‘emo’ at all, the music is still punk but the lyrics are very personal and matter of fact. There are so many great lines it’s hard to pick . The ‘Complete Services’ CD is out of print but Dischord repressed the ‘Orafying Mysticle of’ 12″ last year. These two 7″s were pressed as a 12″ by Southern Studios in 1988 after the band would have toured Europe. I’m not so sure this will ever see a repress so I ripped the original 7″s, I think they are possibly my favourites out of all 80′s D.C. hardcore.

CIRCUS LUPUS – Misc. tracks

killingtechnology — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:48:23 +0000

It would be safe to say that CIRCUS LUPUS along with NATION OF ULYSSES & JAWBOX headed a definite progression for Dischord at the start of the 90′s. During the 80′s it can be said that D.C. bands were consistantly setting the benchmarks/trends within hardcore. Although with band’s like CIRCUS LUPUS this type of ‘post hardcore’ was running in unison with the Midwest Touch & Go bands. The same can be seen with JAWBOX aligning themselves with the AmRep scene (Tar, Helmet). I think what I’m trying to say is that there was a greater distance between the more insular D.C. scene of the 80′s & the crossover seen in the newer wave of 90′s post hardcore.

’Tightrope Walker’ was the bands first 7″ on Cubist productions and most probably comes from the excellent 1990 Demo while their base was still in Madison, WI. ‘Pacifier’ is from the Lever 7″ compilation on Simple Machines released in 1991. ‘Heathen’ is from the split picture disc 7″ (Dischord/Skene) with Trenchmouth released in 1992. The ’Pop Man’ 7″ was released on Dischord in 1992 after ‘Super Genius’ & ’We are the one’ is an Avengers cover and was recorded a few weeks before the ‘Solid Brass’ session. Not included here is the version of ‘New Cop car’ recorded in 1992 from the Compulsiv 1 7″ compilation released on Compulsiv music. If anyone has an mp3 of this track please leave a link, I’d love to hear it.

ANTIMONY – Phantom Itch

killingtechnology — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:27:35 +0000

ANTIMONY were 3/4 of CIRCUS LUPUS and released this album ‘Phantom Itch’ on Double Deuce in 1995. It was recorded during Summer 1994 and mixed Fall 1994 in Montana. Quite a pedigree with regard to the recording credits since it was produced by J. Robbins and mixed with Ian MacKaye. After CIRCUS LUPUS broke up Chris Thomson briefly sang in LAS MORDIDAS before forming Monorchid. The music here sounds similar to a continuation of ‘Solid Brass’, the bass sound is more full on but the guitar is still trebley and fuzzed out. I can also detect elements of mid period Jesus Lizard. The vocals often seem like an afterthought to the music and probably a reasonable argument to have been an instrumental band? Another long lost D.C. obscurity you need to hear along with those Seven League Boots recordings.

KING FACE – I Believe / Come the Sun 7″

killingtechnology — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:03:40 +0000

KING FACE were a band that never particularly caught my attention. Someone copied me a tape years ago that had their self titled 12″ on it & I never gave them a second thought. In my quest for the holy D.C. family tree I reinvestigated knowing only that Mark Sullivan (vocalist) was Bobby Sullivan’s brother, the two later joining together in SEVENS. If you like this 7″ and also need stuff by SEVENS you can still buy it all here, I recommend them all highly and it’s great Akashic still sells them. This 7″ is a one off as they reformed briefly in 1997, shame because I’d love to hear an album of this kinda stuff… awesome soulful D.C. rocking.

SEVEN LEAGUE BOOTS – 12 Songs

killingtechnology — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:06:30 +0000

SEVEN LEAGUE BOOTS were the band that Bobby Sullivan sang in between SOUL SIDE ending and RAIN LIKE THE SOUND OF TRAINS forming (so approximately 90-92). If you’ve read this blog for a while you’ll know I’m a big fan of RLTSOT/SEVENS and that end of the D.C. spectrum. I’m not sure where the other guys in this band came from but they blend together punk, funk & reggae quite nicely. They only released one 7″ and a CD which also includes the two single tracks. If you like BEEFEATER, KING FACE or BAD BRAINS then give this obscure piece of D.C. history a shot:

2011?

killingtechnology — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:33:24 +0000

So, WordPress sent me a helpful overall summary of this blog in 2010 and I have been deciding how to approach continuing it into 2011. Over the past month I have posted something nearly every day, there was a stack of stuff that has been neglected elsewhere. It was a case of getting it out there and I feel that, for the minute, I’ve pretty much posted up everything I’ve wanted to (last few still to come). I have noticed people are using it as more of a resource/archive which has been my intention all along. From now on I will upkeep the links and maybe add in extra retrospective info. I think it would be interesting to include some interviews in future… not sure yet? if anyone has suggestions let me hear them?