Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Split Week Day 4: John Q Public / Product Four - Split


Today's split features John Q Public, from Gainesville, and Product Four, from Alberta. John Q Public offers 5 songs and Product Four a mere 2. John Q Public's side sounds like an early Blink 182 in the instrumentals, with a bit more screaming in the vocals (imagine if Mark Hoppus was covering Pennywise). They sing about adolescent days: getting kicked out of school, hating the government, that kind of thing. Product Four's first song is about crooked promoters and kids at shows. The song is catchy and jumps around in style. Their second song is an aptly-named "Too Long." It's under 4 minutes, but it feels like it goes on forever. In the words of NOFX "It's got back-up vocals in just the right places."

Buy this release from Middle Man Records
Download @ 320kbps

The ID3 tags incorrectly list Product Four as "Public Four." Feel free to fix them. Or not.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Split Week Day 3: Dare Dare Devil / Exxon Valdez - Banzai


Today's release comes from France. Both these bands (particularly Dare Dare Devil) have that heavy French sound which is influenced heavily by their accents. The cover seems to be an ongoing battle for top billing, which is strange because Exxon Valdez can't keep singing about how they "don't care about the things you do." Exxon Valdez finishes their side with a few hardcore songs, which are much stronger than their less hardcore stuff. Dare Dare Devil plays fast, and remind me a bit of Tagada Jones, though not as brash. The bands also cover one of each other's songs, which I always think is cool (though less so when I don't know any of the songs anyway). As a sidenote to people in charge of pressing records: don't ever press 2 sides at different speeds. Why would you do that?

Discogs Link
Download @ 320kbps

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Split Week Day 2: The Eccentric Souls / Squirt - Split


This split from 1992 features The Eccentric Souls, whose only release this is, and Squirt, who put out another 7" in their career. The Eccentric Souls took Side A to question what they'll be like when they get old (a topic covered much better by the Descendents years later on Everything Sucks). Their sound is pretty standard, but fun, and the bass line is pretty solid in the song. Squirt sounds kind of like a punk ZZ Top (only instrumentally and not vocally, sadly) and perform their song "Young Man Blues" about all the hardships of growing up in 1992. The mixing on this release is kind of atrocious, but luckily if it's so bad that you really hate it, they give you an address to write.

Discogs Link
Download @ 320kbps

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Split Week Day 1: The Drugs/The Drugs - The Drugs vs. The Drugs


Seriously, how many times can you put the word 'drugs' in a release? This split features 2 bands both named The Drugs, from Brazil and Holland, and was put out by an Italian label. Released in 2003 (though the songs are as old as 1999), this is an interesting release. The first side features the Brazilian band, whose songs are good, even if they drone on a little long. The Dutch Drugs offer a hint of psychobilly in their 2 songs. I picked this up at Recycled Records in San Francisco. The guy who sold it to me was definitely on Drugs.

Discogs Page
Download @ 320kbps

Thursday, September 13, 2012

A week of splits starts on Saturday

You heard that right - 7 days, 7 splits, at least 14 bands. It starts on Saturday because that's when weeks start now.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Baby Tapeworm - Oh Mommy It's...


Today's pick comes (again) from the $1 box at Academy Annex. Just by the cover alone, I knew I needed to rip this record. The music itself is kind of all over the place, like the band didn't know what genre they wanted to play. The first side is super funky, which isn't bad, though the drummer and the bassist seem to be on repeat. The second side starts with a lovely Christmas ballad about Frosty the Snowman experiencing various parts of NYC for the first time. I think it has 2 refrains? The last song tells the tragic story of a mother being attacked by moths, over and over (the telling, not the attack). Bonus points for the lead singer being named Maximus Dogbitch.

Download @ 320kbps

Friday, August 31, 2012

Yellow Scab - Tuna Town


I got this record as part of a bundle of most of Intensive Scare's back-catalog (someone had acquired almost everything that was left and was selling it off). This (almost) all-female group from New York didn't put out much music (though they did do a pretty cool cover of Blondie's One Way or Another, complete with 5-7 key changes) in their career. Nevertheless, this 7" serves as a reminder that punk doesn't always have to be about politics and how much the world sucks, sometimes you just have to have fun. Song topics on this record include: fish, drugs, romance, and peeing into other people's mouths. They play fast and loud, and Erika's brash singing voice carries out well.

Discogs Link
Download @ 320kbps

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Regret - Punk Since Ten


This may be, in terms of musicality, the worst record in my collection. The singer can't sing, the guitar is out of tune, and the drums are generic. But, in a way, that's what makes this 7" so great. Released in 1994 on Middle Man Records, this appears to be (as far as my research can tell), the only release by the band. They hail from Punta Gorda, Florida (as evidenced by the hand-written address on the inner sleeve) and play what is best-described as fan punk. You can tell they were into Green Day and Minor Threat and try to emulate them in their songs. I also like the labels of the record itself, which list songs popular at the time (Side A lists 2 songs from Offspring's Smash and Side B 2 from Green Day's Dookie) with the band's name printed over them. Here's a picture of the A Side label:


Download @ 320kbps

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Desiderata - Desiderata



This release from 1991 features Amanda Mackaye, the sister of Minor Threat and Fugazi member Ian. It was released on Dischord and is the only release ever put out by the band (though they also appear on the Give Me Back compilation released the same year). For fans of Fugazi, Spitboy.

Discogs Link
Download @ 320 kbps