U Get So Damn Sexy, Lemme Get The House Key

Bangs - I Know U Like (Ft. Clik Fablice)

Beats: like whoa
Flow: for days
Dance moves: slammin'
Asians: hired
Clik Fablice: there
Bean Bags: cold lampin'

From the dude who brought previous bangers like:

Bangs - Take U To Da Movies

Bangs - Meet Me On Facebook

Check Out: Col.lapse

A good local hardcore band I just discovered recently. I see a lot of bands described as sounding like Dag Nasty, which mostly just means they end up sounding like melodic hardcore. These guys do a fairly accurate job with the Dag/DC sound, without being completely derivative. One song does remind me a lot of Egg Hunt. Nothing wrong with that. They fit in well with fellow modern revivalists Give and Remission if you dig later 80's hardcore that didn't involve finger pointing and sportswear. Oh, and getting stabbed in the back.

You can check out a few tracks from their album Última Esperança below. I debate posting the entire album because I'm not sure how many people outside of Spain are actually going to track down an LP only release, or download an album that's all sung in Catalan. But you can pick up the LP from B-Core Records or download it from Amazon, eMusic or iTunes.

SNFU - Better Than A Stick In The Eye (Cargo, 1988)

I'd be hard pressed to remember the name of any punk/hardcore band members, even singers, since, oh, say the 90's. Maybe due to downloading, maybe old age or maybe the fact that bands don't have the same longevity or impact that they used to.

A band with longevity and impact up the wazoo is SNFU. And Chi Pig is a name and singer that's hard to forget.

Like with most bands in the 80's, I first heard about SNFU through Thrasher Magazine. Apparently the band first came together through skateboarding as well (Chi Pig has even started to resemble Animal Chin a bit). Never having heard them, I picked up their second album If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish on cassette and loved it right away. Not quite crossover, they were definitely heavy and tight as hell, mostly thanks to the dual guitar work of the Belke Brothers. But the heart of their unique legacy was, and continues to be, Chi Pig's maniacal lyrics, energetic stage presence and artistic vision for the band. Their discography is a consistent display of cool cartoons, paintings and photos. Their first album was infamous for "borrowing" a Diane Arbus photo, forcing the band to change the cover art right before heading out on tour.

The last time I saw them live was the mid 90's, but even then they were an explosive ball of energy. The Belke Brothers were still in the band and Chi was doing his signature headbang, and bringing out props and puppets throughout the night. My favorite memory of the show is when Chi picked up a half full cup of water and flung it like a rocket across the venue, hitting my friend right in the head. Something about it just made sense.

So the album I'm actually sharing is their third album, Better Than A Stick In The Eye. If you didn't know, each of their albums has a 7 word title. I've heard people say that this album doesn't compare to their first 2, but those are the kind of people who don't like anything past a band's first 7". While a little more metallic than their other albums, to me this is a perfect progression from If You Swear. Really, between their first 5 albums (including Something Green And Leafy This Way Comes), I don't think I could pick a favorite. They're all great in their own way.

The CD is really quiet and a little muddy sounding, so I tried to brighten it up a little and boosted the volume. Sounds way better, I think.

If you haven't seen the documentary about Chi Pig and SNFU titled "Open Your Mouth And Say...Mr. Chi Pig," you should check it out. There's also a section on them in the documentary, "Let Them Know - The Story Of Youth Brigade and BYO Records." Or just look up some of their old concert footage on youtube.

SNFU - Better Than A Stick In The Eye (R) (vbr 0)

Driver's Seat, Yeahahahah!

Sniff 'N' The Tears - Driver's Seat

One of the only good things about the second season of The Walking Dead was hearing this song during a random scene. Actually the end of the season got a little better, but the rest was like Little House On The Prairie, only with more drama and less death. Hopefully next season they hire T-Dog to babysit Carl so that a) T-Dog gets some lines and b) Carl stops going missing! Just get eaten already! You and your dumb hat!

Grimes, Or "Grimey" As He Liked To Be Called

Grimes - Oblivion

I can't say that most of her other songs are knocking my socks off, but this song and video are pretty fun. This description is pretty accurate and funny though: "Her music sounds like a baby voice goo goo gaa gaa-ing over some bleep bloop music." Haha!

Also, check the dude at 1:58.

Intense Degree - War In My Head (Earache, 1988)

Although I generally don't like Florida (ask JGoon his thoughts on Miami), I've had some good memories of visiting the St. Petersburg/Tampa area for the past 25 or so winter holidays. But these days, most of the things I liked about the area are gone. The local arcade closed down, the flea market doesn't sell the Winger anymore, Evos went from all vegetarian burgers to "humanely raised beef" (sellouts!), it's hard to find other 37 year olds to skate with...

There were a few great record stores there too, but of the ones I frequented, only Disc Exchange in St. Pete remains. And I've long since depleted their stock of rare punk and hardcore records. I used to always take a day trip to Tampa that involved the SPOT (Tampa skatepark), Evo's and a bunch of record stores. Vinyl Fever, a long running alternative/indie record store was the latest to close. My favorites though were Sound Idea and Ace's Records.

Sound Idea was a great punk store that many people were probably familiar with from their MRR mailorder ads, the owner's label, Burrito Records, or his bands, Failure Face and Murder Suicide Pact. They always had a great selection and they had shows in the back room sometimes. I was supposed to see Municipal Waste there one time, but they didn't show up because apparently one of the band members had burned himself doing flaming shots the night before.

But the real gem for me was Ace's Records in Tampa. Tampa was the home to death metal in the 90's and Ace's was renowned as one of the best metal stores in the country, if not the world. A lot of metal musicians worked there too. Although I've never really been a fan of death metal, Ace's carried enough thrash, rare imports and hardcore to keep me browsing for hours. They had a vinyl section in the back where they had an insane surplus of cheap, sealed thrash, crossover, hardcore and punk records that I would spend most of my Christmas money on.

Which brings me to Intense Degree. (Finally, eh?) This is one of those records I picked up just based on the look of it. From the sticker description, a song called "Skate Bored" and a singer who looked a little like Tommy Stupid (The Stupids being another fave band I discovered from Disc Exchange), I figured I'd like them. With ultrafast drumming and grindcore-like speeds, they resembled early DRI or Siege musically, but the vocals were a little more melodic, similar to The Stupids, which made me like them even more. Plus the recording was super clean for this style of hardcore. If you like any of their fellow countrymen like Heresy, Ripcord or Concrete Sox, this album fits in nicely. I've picked up their other records over the years and if I remember correctly, they're not quite as fast or as good as this debut, but I should revisit them.

Too bad I can't revisit Ace's anymore.

Intense Degree - War In My Head (v0)

This is the CD version with bonus tracks from the North Atlantic Noise Attack compilation.

For My Gramps

One song that reminds me of him, and one to remind myself:

Lawrence Welk - Adios, Au Revoir, Aufwiedersehn

The Damned - Life Goes On