Spotlight: Curmudgeon

Spotlight: Curmudgeon
Curmudgeon is a new 3-piece hardcore punk band from Boston, MA that
rests comfortably in both the realms of crust and power violence.
Their singer, Krystina is a CT native that most notably did time as
the vocalist for Ripshit. In April, she put out the new Curmudgeon
material entitled, “Human Ouroboros” as a cassette on her label: We
This tape features eight songs that average about a minute in length.
The songs have a similar pattern, sludgy, slow-headbanging part into
blast beats. I dig it. The vocals are yelled in a way that you can
actually make out what is being said, which is a refreshing change in
a sub-genre where you often have to question whether what’s being
screamed and what’s written on the lyrics sheet are the same thing.
The entire demo is streaming on the bandcamp page linked here:
<p>&amp;lt;a href=”http://curmudgeon.bandcamp.com/album/human-ouroboros-tape”&amp;gt;Human Ouroboros Tape by Curmudgeon&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;</p>

Live Music: F*ck#d Up Music at Popeyes Garage

Live Music: F%ck!d Up Music at Popeyes Garage
This post is a guest post by our friend Kryssi (Colorguard, Gramery Records, Popeyes Garage). Thanks Kryssi. Check these shows out.  Check out all that happens down at Popeyes Garage.  Josh and I (Rick) will be in Baltimore this weekend so we’ll be missing at least one of these, but if you’re around you should do your best to attend. All words forthwith are Kryssi’s (and actually do reflect the views of this store, ha):


FUCKED UP MUSIC
A series of 2 shows at Popeyes featuring highly abrasive, other-worldly, or just plain fucked up music.

Sunday May 29th Italian free-jazz/psych group Jooklo Duo will be joining noise guitarist Bill Nace and sax player Paul Flaherty for a performance at Popeyes Garage. The chaotic duo, featuring Virginia Genta on sax & David Vanzan on drums, most recently released a 7” on Northern Spy titled “The Warrior”.

Here’s a pretty excellent video:

and their website:
http://jooklo.altervista.org/

Also playing will be Mittimus featuring members of Hat City Intuitive from Danbury, CT and Broadcloth, a trio from New Haven featuring member of An Historic and Dr. Caterwauls C of CC.

Tuesday, June 7th another harsh free-jazz outfit, Tiger Hatchery, from Chicago will be coming to Popeyes. The aggressive trio features Andrew Scott Young, Ben Billington (Quicksails, Moonrises), and Mike Forbes. They have an awesome LP on Pizza Night, as well as some other cool releases on Fag Tapes and Gilgongo Records. It’s their second time at Popeyes, and they were sick the first time so that’s kind of a guarantee. Go to their website, it plays a blistering jam: http://www.polarenvy.com/thc.html

Also playing will be Colorguard and Dasen, two solo noise projects from New Haven.

20th Of May 2011 Update

20th of May 2011 Update of New and Key Restocked Items
at Redscroll Records
LPs & 12″s
______________________
Acephalix “Interminable Night”
Against Me! “Total Clarity”
Baldwin, Matt “Night In The Triangle”
Barn Owl “From Out Moths A Perpetual Light”
Bee Mask “Canzoni Dal Laboratorio Del Silenzio Cosmico”
Bible, Jeremy & Jason Henry “Vryashn”
Black Order “Electropolis #5 (One Base, Precious Beast, Lost Afternoon)”
Blank Dogs “Collected By Itself: 2006-2009 (+ D/L)”
Boys Next Door “What’s The Storey? Live At Storey Hall RMIT Melbourne Australia December 21 1978”
Cantu-Ledesma, Jefre “Shining Skull Breath”
Clap “Have You Reached Yet?”
Coffey, Dennis “Dennis Coffey”
Colourmusic “My ________ Is Pink (+ D/L)”
Darkest Hour “The Human Romance (+ D/L)”
D’Eon // Grimes “Darkbloom”
Dietrich, Don / Ben Hall “Spitfire”
Dinner At The Thompson’s “Off The Grid”
Dream Syndicate, The “The Days Of Wine And Roses (180 Gram)”
Eno, Brian “Before And After Science (Import)”
Fair, Jad “Beautiful Songs: The Best Of The Best Of Jad Fair (+ D/L For 109 Smash Hits)”
Fell, Mark “Manitutshu*”
Iceage “New Brigade (2nd Pressing On Dais)”
Jesus And Mary Chain, The “The Complete John Peel Sessions”
Jesus And Mary Chain, The “Honey’s Dead (180 Gram)”
Kid Congo And The Pink Monkey Birds “Gorilla Rose (+ D/L)”
Levy, Barrington “Bounty Hunter”
Love Inks “E.S.P.”
McGuire, Mark “VDSQ – Solo Acoustic Volume Two”
Moore, Thurston “Demolished Thoughts (Ltd. Ed. Colored Vinyl + D/L)”
Neud Photo “Open-Air Cinema”
Nilson, BJ “Vinyl”
No Problem “And Now This”
Nodzzz “Innings”
Obnox “I’m Bleeding Now”
Pearl Jam “Live At Melbourne Park Australia March 5 1998 (Show #126)”
Pink Reason “Sh!t In The Garden (+ D/L)”
Reinhardt, Jonas “Music For The Tactile Dome”
Rubble “The Farewell Drugs (+ D/L)”
Vampire Weekend “White Sky”
Various Artists “Bustin’ Out 1984: New Wave To New Beat Volume 4 (Cabaret Voltaire, Front 242, Dub Syndicate, Skinny Puppy…)”
Various Artists “Nigeria 70: Sweet Times (Afro-Funk, Highlife & Juju From 1970s Lagos)”
Wet Hair “In Vogue Spirit”
Hip-Hop LPs & 12″s
______________________
Atmosphere “The Family Sign (Clear Vinyl + D/L)”
Celph Titled & Buckwild “Ninteen Ninety Now: The Instrumentals (+ Bonus Beats)”
Madlib “Beat Konducta Vol. 3: In India”
Zavala “The Dark Time Sunshine Vessel Instrumentals (Ltd. Ed. White Vinyl)”
Electronic LPs & 12″s
______________________
Africa HiTech “93 Million Miles (3xLP + D/L)”
Aquarius Heaven “7 Days”
Black Van “Moments Of Excellence (Feat. Holy Ghost! / Aeroplane Remix)”
Boxcutter “The Dissolve (+ D/L)”
Daedelus “Bespoke (Ltd. Ed. + D/L)”
Fidan, Tolga “We’re Strangers Now”
Forrest, Jason “The Everything”
Hyetal “Broadcast (2×12″)”
J:Kenzo “The Roteks / Protected”
Kitbuilders “You Trashed My Mind”
Kolombo “Waiting For / Rescue Me / Waiting For (Michael Mayer Mix)”
Laid Back Vs. Soul Clap “Cocaine Cool / The Soul Clap Remixes / Bakerman Soul Clap Edit / Instrumental Mix”
LCD Soundsystem “London Sessions”
Mark E “Stone Breaker”
Tejada, John “Unstable Condition / The Living Night”
7″s
______________________
Banana Splits, The “The Tra La La Song”
Burning Love “Don’t Ever…”
Foundation “At Your Mercy”
Johnson, Syl “Myth 45s (5×7″ Box)”
Sleep∞Over “Casual Diamond”
Title Fight “Flood Of ’72”
Weekend “End Times”
White Fence “Harness / The Pool”
CDs
______________________
A Storm Of Light “As The Valley Of Death…”
Africa HiTech “93 Million Miles”
Allen, Tony “Afro Disco (2xCD)”
Across Tundras “Sage”
Against Me! “Total Clarity”
Blitz The Ambassador “Native Sun”
Hyetal “Broadcast”
Liturgy “Aesthetica”
Moore, Thurston “Demolished Thoughts”
Neek The Exotic & Large Professor “Still On The Hustle”
Sabi/Kiyo “71:36”
Unthanks, The “Last”
Various Artists “Brand New Wayo (+ Book)”
Various Artsts “Delta Swamp Rock (2xCD)”
DVD
_______________________
Ghostride The Whip (Documentary about the Bay Area hip-hop hyphy movement sparked by Mac Dre)
Magazine & Book
______________________
Hit The Ground Stumbling (Book)
Wire #328 June 2011 (We lowered our price on this)
Reviews
_____________________
The Banana Splits The Tra La La Song 7″

“The Banana Splits Adventure Hour was an hour-long, packaged television program that featured both live action and animated segments. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and ran for 31 episodes on NBC Saturday mornings, from September 7, 1968 to September 5, 1970. The series costumes and sets were designed by Sid and Marty Krofft and the series’ sponsor was Kellogg’s Cereals.[1] The show was Hanna-Barbera’s initial foray into mixing live action with animation.”
Wiki 
I honestly didn’t even realize that it only had 31 episodes or that it aired in that time frame (a couple decades before I saw them). I remember them re-airing these Saturday mornings when I was a kid. I guess 31 weeks worth is enough for most of one year. I swear it seemed like a lot more. Guess not. So, this song is all about the hook (“Tra La La”). As a kid it’s easy to identify with (fun repeated sounds) and easier to remember. And it starts with a food count off (“One banana, two banana, three banana, four.”). So perfectly poppy rock and well, it’s performed by big old muppet type characters (2 dogs, an elephant and a monkey… errr, a dog, a lion that looks like another dog, a gorilla that looks like it could also be a monkey and an elephant that would be hard to confuse for anything else). Fun!  Oh yea, and there’s a song on the B-side too! Bonus! (Insert laughter and more fun.)
[Reviewer: Rick]
Defeater Empty Days & Sleepless Nights 2xLP/CD
Defeater is a hardcore band from Boston, and to no surprise are on Bridge 9 Records. What sets this band apart from other bands playing similar styles of hardcore is Defeater tells a story in each album. Each album tells a new story of a post World War II family, and their struggles coping with the war and internal struggles with family.
Empty Days & Sleepless Nights is separated into two sections: Empty Days. which is emotionally driven, sometimes technical hardcore and Sleepless Nights, which consists of four acoustic songs that finish up the album. I personally enjoy the Sleepless Nights portion of the album more, and I feel that it can appeal to a wider audience than the Empty Days portion can.
This release comes on CD, and a nice double LP gatefold package with a screened D side.
[Reviewer: Sean]

Noose It’s Your Time 7″
Vegan straight-edge hardcore from Chicago. These dudes are on React! Records and sound way more akin to early 80s hardcore (SSD, Negative Approach) then they do their labelmates. The recording quality is dirty, which I love. The microphone sounds like it’s buried deep down the singers throat most of the time. X-swatches, Football jerseys over hoodies, & stylish moshing.
[Reviewer: Josh]

Out And About: Brazen Betties 2nd Birthday Street Fair

Out And About: Brazen Betties 2nd Birthday Street Fair 
Us small business owners have got to stick together, you know?  Well, whether you know or not we do.  Our friends in the Northwestern corner of the state have a pretty cool event going on tomorrow.  We were actually invited to take part.  Unfortunately, we could not logistically make that happen for ourselves.  Fortunately, there are plenty of great vendors and general goings-on at this to keep anyone’s attention.
“In celebration of our 2nd birthday we are going BIG and BRAZEN…once again! Like last year, we are shutting down a block of Main St. to celebrate street fair style! Expect great music …, a fashion show,CT Roller Girls, hula-hoop contest, a handful of hot rods, 20+ vendors, live music, food, a Zombie Crawl by Artwell Gallery & sooo much more to be announced!!” – Julia Sloan (Owner/Designer)

Spotlight: Cold Snap (UN-UK)

 Spotlight: Cold Snap
Cold Snap, from central CT, plays left-of-center, slow, noise-rock influenced hardcore. They sound like Unsane. You want to bang your head, but you can’t. Ben’s my dude (on bass). Jack (vocals) will punch you or get punched. Mario (guitar) lost mad weight; he’s a sexy Portuguese fellow. Al D. (drums) is of many bands (Pale Horse, Brass Caskets) and screen prints (Shop Shogun). They have a long ex-members roster, but it wasn’t until this line-up that they finally hit their stride.

When asked about their sound, Ben had this to say, “I’m trying to sound as twinkle-free as possible.”  We like that idea because the opposite sounds like Phish and I don’t think Phish and hardcore mix.

Here’s a clip of them playing live:

They are playing the Converge show that we posted about previous to this so there is a nice way to check them out live soon (though tickets for that will be all but gone – something like 30 left).  

The image posted at the top is the cover art from their 7″ released by Hot Air Press in 2009.  Be on the lookout for a split 7″ with another CT band (that Al D. also drums for) in the near future.  They also have a 7″ coming out on Get Young Records out of MA.  Sounds from that first 7″ are here:
<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://coldsnap.bandcamp.com/album/godspeed”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;godspeed by cold snap&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

UNDERGROUND MUSIC & CULTURE