Wednesday, June 25, 2008

SINGLE-MINDED, Vol. 2 - Columbus Edition, Pt. 2

Address change in effect, Dave. Thanks for the tough love. I'm pretty sure all of my records have made it into my clutches safely and kept away from the young "hood rats," as you call them. The damage that could be done to their fragile young psyches should some incredibly depressing, limited-edition colored vinyl accidentally fall into their hands! The children, my god, the children!

Pink Reason
"Winona" 7"(Woodsist), "Borrowed Time" 7" (Fashionable Idiots)
The A-side's stark, stately march towards desolation is some truly inspired gloom. It makes you feel every painful step, the deathly slow pace forcing you to look your shitty future in the eye the whole time. "I know the joke's on us, my friend" Kevin Debroux intones, and you know he's right. The B-side includes taut live favorite "Give it Away." It has the most ineffably catchy chorus I've ever heard. Try singing along with it. It's tricky.

In other, slightly-less-overwrought news, PR have another new 7 out alongside this one, "Borrowed Time" b/w "Scared Shitless." As much as I love the instantly memorable A-side, which reminds me of nothing so much as the Russian punk rock Debroux has claimed as a major influence on his band, I think that "Scared Shitless" is the clear favorite here for me. "Paranoia ... my only friend," Debroux wails over a thundering disco beat echoing from deepest hell. Paralyzing existential dread has never been so very danceable.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Laura, change the fucking address and we need more basement shows.

yeah, so laura if you want people to actually send you shit to review then you might want to change the address on the top of the page there. i'm sure the old house is just flooded with 7"s and LPs right now, so you might want to go check it out before some little 8 year old hood rat steals all of those artgay limited edition pink vinyl nerd ass records and sells them for some shwag ass weed that his big brother is hooking him up with. i'm just sayin'.

so, we need more basement, living room, backyard, roof or whatever the hell shows in columbus. I think its the summer of the house show. bourbon st. may never reopen, but i think this is a great time to take advantage of that fact and put together as many house show/party events as we possibly can. you know, do it for the kids. i wanna be a kid again.

june 19th- plexi 3, fighting weight and outer spacist@ saltair 2 -71 W. Tulane. Party!!!

june 30th - nobunny, okmoniks, grave blankets, night of pleasure@ tba house, maybe saltair again. Party!!!

July, August etc.- A lot more partying and house shows.- i will promise you Windcatcher, Daycreeper, prob. Unholy 2 'cuz Turco wants 'em, Northwest Ordinance, and any other band who wants to party and play a badass house show in Columbus.

here's one record I like that I was a bit lukewarm on initially:

Headache City- Teenage Grease 7"- F'n rocks dude.

Friday, June 13, 2008

SINGLE MINDED, Vol. 1 - Columbus Edition, Pt. 1

I am going broke here, people. The glut of quality releases this spring is killing me. People are either gonna have to start sending me records to review for free, or I'm gonna have to order the collective musical community to turn off its gushing spigot of creativity. Here are some singles I DID get for free, hence the glowing reviews below. Just kidding. I'm reviewing them glowingly because they are good and important, AND because I got them for free.

UNHOLY 2 - "Kutter" 7" (CDR)
If there are two things, holy or unholy, that the Unholy 2's Chris Lutzko enjoys, it's pro wrestling and Pussy Galore. If there are two MORE things I know he enjoys, it's a good afterparty and ... pussy galore. All of these influences can be heard on his band's debut 7" on Columbus Discount. It's faux-aggressive posturing on the one hand, but on the other, it's a genuinely raucous good time. The A-side's screechy intro is Melvins-style sludge, and on first listen way too long, but then you see the logic as it builds into a raging sleaze anthem of mosh-pit proportions (seriously, I can see the crowd down front at Lollapalooza '91 going nuts when they hit the chorus). Is the flip, "Porky's," about bad-boy hijinks with the guys? Who knows? Lutzko himself says in a recent interview, "The A-side is about how girls can't rock. The B-side lets you know where you can find 'em." Crass-ish skittering drums propel Lutzko's ranting about (pick one): Amerikkka, girls, Israel, Planned Parenthood, your sucky band, his band's awesomeness, partying, pro wrestling, and/or girls. It may not match the bombast or sheer sonic pain of their live sets, but until they spread their gospel of smut to your town in person, this virgin white (the color, not the vinyl) 7" release will do.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Just a quick note ...

... to let you know that we'll be back soon with more scintillating, action-packed music commentary than you can shake a stick at (how did that phrase come about? what IS this stick, and what does shaking it at things DO?). There's a glut of new singles just waiting--begging!--for us to determine their relative artgayness or lack thereof, and we won't let them (or you) down. In fact if Mr. Artgay (that's you, Dave) wants to take the lead on this one, I won't mind. I know he's got a stack o' wax and a gall bladder full of bile he's just waiting to unleash on you. If that's not where bile is stored, well, sorry, I didn't do so well in biology.