The Ramones - It's Alive (1979)

Hey ho, let's go!

One of the top 5 live rock albums of

all time, this finds the Brudders at the

top of their game.

Playing a set list that draws on the

first 3 albums, they speed through 28

tracks in 54 minutes - it's powerful,

infectious stuff, machine gun playing

that rocks like a bastard but still keeps

the sing-a-long groove that they specialised

in.

A fitting tribute to all the dead members -

One, Too, Trew, Four!

Buy

Jarboe - Mahakali (2008)

This is one intense album.

Jarboe - earth goddess, ex-Swans, shamen, preacher,

mystic - an all round scary lady.

To listen to this is to descend into the depths of her

brain - thunderous tracks, shrieking vocals going to

a whisper, acoustic guitar, pianos, post-metal and

sludge - think heavy Swans, this is the nearest you

will have to a bad acid trip without actually ingesting

anything!

Fuck knows what genre to call this - you might not

like it but there is not much stuff that will sound

like this......... well, there probably is in the doom/

sludge world but I wouldn't really know.

LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST.

There is a fantastic review of this album and what

it all means + a history of Jarboe at the Re-Gen review

Buy

Hoodoo Gurus - Stoneage Romeos (1984)

Some Australian summer sounds.

The Hoodoo Gurus play a mixture of

1960's power pop, garage punk, hard

rock and funky psychedelic wimsy.

Nothing ground breaking but every

now and then I like to give my ears

a rest and listen to tuneful stuff.

Listen

Band Info

Buy

Twilight - Monument to Time End

Black Metal.

2 words to strike fear into my heart.

I've tried, God knows I have tried with

various albums but after 2 or 3 tracks,

the unrelenting barrage of sonic onslaught

turns my brain to jelly and I might as well

be listening to white noise.

But.....

I have read so many reviews of this album

- all that say that Twilight have created

something that goes outside the black metal

genre, I had to give it a go.

Of course, the vocals sound like a zombie

pig trying to shout without the use of

human vocal chords but no worse than

the heavier passages from General Lee,

Generation of Vipers, Mouth of the

Architect etc. In fact huge chunks are

like Post-Metal - the heavy bits!

There are synth parts of ambient

drone, clean choir like backing vocals

and slow, cleanish guitar lines that

could fit in on Pelican or Explosions

in the Sky albums - some very palatable

post-rock soundscapes.

Not for the faint hearted but if you

have ever dabbled in ear bleeding

post-metal, give this a Listen

Band Info

Buy

Refused - Best record review ever?

Had to post this.

Classic album from Refused - The Shape

of Punk to Come always gets name checked

by hardcore bands as essential listening.

Saw this review on holyfuckingshit40000

and had to share.

SAW THIS IN A SHOP WITH "THIS FUCKING ROCKS" STICKER ON IT SO TOOK IT TO COUNTER AND SLAMMED IT DOWN AND SHOUTED AT DUDE WORKING THERE "HOW MUCH?" WHEN HE ANSWERED I SAID "NOT THE PRICE DILLWEED, HOW MUCH DOES IT ROCK?" DILWEED'S ANSWER IS LIKE SHRUG, "I dunno, a lot?" WHICH WINDS ME UP 'COS HE'S BEING A PUSSY ABOUT IT AND I SAY "I WANT IT TO ROCK MY SOCKS CLEAN OFF MY FEET, IS IT GONNA DO THAT?" AND HE'S ALL LIKE, "Yeah it will." SO I'M LIKE, "YEAH I'LL TAKE IT."

GET IT HOME AND PUT IT ON, TURNING IT UP AND SOME GUY STARTS TALKING TO HIS 'BABY' ABOUT FASHION AND I START THINKING 'WHAT KIND OF NANCY BULLSHIT HAVE I GOT INTO HERE?' BUT THEN SOME NOISE STARTS HUMMING AND I START THINKING 'WHAT KIND OF NOISE RUBBISH HAVE I GOT MYSELF INTO HERE?' AND THEN AFTER A MINUTE OF GETTING ANGRY COS I GOT BURNED INTO BUYING SOME ARTSY RUBBISH THE BAND KICK IN ALL JABBING RIFFS AND YELLING TIL THEY'RE HORSE AND I GO WILD, SMASHING UP THE ROOM WITH PART ANGER AND PART HXXXXX JOY. MAN, THERE'S LIKE A PIT GOING IN MY LIVING ROOM AND IT'S JUST ME AND I'M TEARING INTO SHIT AND THE CURTAINS ARE FALLING DOWN AND MOM'S YELLING FROM HER BED BUT I PRETEND LIKE I DON'T HEAR HER CRIES COS I'M GOING APE SHIT ROCKING OUT AND BEING ALL HXXXXXXCORE AND SHIT.

BUT SOON I'M GETTING ANGRY AGAIN COS, YEAH, THEY KNOW HOW TO ROCK OUT THESE BOYS DO, SO WHAT I WANNA KNOW IS WHY THEY GOTTA KEEP INTERRUPTING MY SLAM DANCING WITH SOME TECHNO BULLSHIT OR SOME QUIET BITS AND EVEN, GET THIS, A VIOLIN!! I MEAN, I'M THERE ROCKING OUT LIKE I KNOW HOW AND THEN THERE'S THIS FUCKING VIOLIN, AND YEAH, IT'S PLAYING A QUALITY BIT OF A TUNE, BUT WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF SOME OF MY CREW WALKED IN AT THAT MOMENT AND SAW ME ALL SWEATY AND BLEEDING AND LISTENING TO A FUCKING VIOLIN??? I'D HAVE TO KILL MYSELF OR ALL OF THEM AS THE SHAME OF IT ALL WOULD BE TOO MUCH.

SO IT WAS TOO STOP STARTY AND ONE MINUTE I WAS SLAMMIN' ROUND THE LIVING ROOM WITH MOMMA HOLLERING AT ME TO TURN IT OFF AND BRING HER HER MEDICATION AND THE NEXT MINUTE THEY'RE SINGING WITH NO DISTORTION ON THE GUITARS OR DOING SOME JAZZ OR SOME SHIT, SO I MARCHED BACK TO THE SHOP AND SLAM THE CD DOWN IN FRONT OF THAT SAME WUSSY MOFO AND SAY "MY SOCKS ARE LIKE STILL ON DUDE!" AND HE SIGHS AND TAKES IT FROM ME WITH NO QUESTIONS AND SAYS, "you wanna swap it for something else or do you want cash?" SO I WAS ALL LIKE, "CASH OF COURSE, I AIN'T BUYING FROM A SHOP THAT HAS STICKERS SAYING 'THIS ROCKS' ON STUFF THAT DOESN'T."

SO HE SAYS, "you didn't like it too much then, I didn't think you would." AND I SAID "WHAT THE FUCK'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? I LIKE SOME OF IT, THEY JUST NEED TO KEEP IT INTENSE ALL THE WAY THROUGH NOT JUST WHEN IT SUITS THEM." AND HE SAYS, ALL COCKY LIKE "well, Refused made this album to move the hardcore scene on as they thought that it was stagnating and lacking ideas and made for people like you who were all about an image and a particular lifestyle rather than open mindedness and expression. They did it, I think, but sadly there will always be people like you who were left behind. I mean, does it get much better than when they come back in after the jazz section on "Deadly Rhythm"? That bit sounds like a brutal attack, it's insane! Or, or the violin intro to "Tannhäuser"? When those drums come in it's epic, really groundbreaking for a hardcore record. But, if you didn't like it....."

I BARELY GIVE THE GUY TIME TO OPEN THE TILL BEFORE I LIFT IT RIGHT UP FROM THE COUNTER PULLING ALL THE WIRES OUT WITH IT AND CRACK IT OVER HIS HEAD THE PRICK. THEN I PUT IT THROUGH THE WINDOW AND KNOCK OVER A COUPLE OF SHELVES WORTH OF CD'S BEFORE STAMPING ON THE GUY'S HEAD AND LEGGING IT. AS I LEFT I HEARD HIM SHOUT "Philistine!" I'M GONNA GO HOME AND LOOK THAT FUCKING WORD UP TO WORK OUT WHETHER THAT LITTLE QUEER HAS GOT ANOTHER VISIT COMING OR NOT.

Comets on Fire - Bong Voyage (2003)

Limited to a 800 limited pressing,

this early Comets on Fire album

show them playing at full noise

rock jam mode.

A live recording, this is sonically

intense music that pays no attention

to categorizations .... guitar freak outs,

wailing vocals, electronic squalls and I

think there is a saxaphone in the mix.

More chaotic than Avatar or Blue Cathedral,

this will clear your ears - Listen

I posted the wrong link, this has now been fixed.

Band Info

Buy

The Folk Devils - Goodnight Irony (1987)

The Folk Devils came from the swamp lands

of West London. They played wired, spikey

amphetamine rock'n'roll laced with a healthy

dose of punk.

Songs like the feedback drenched "Evil Eye"

had pounding riffs but also took cues

from the guitar work of PIL and other neu-wave

innovators.

They had - to my ears - a very English sound.

Suppressed anger with the government of the

day - (Thatcher) + a sense of impotence at

the lives they lead came pouring out into

the music but taking an ice cold fury rather

than yobbish punk.

Short lived but left a great album - Listen

Band Info

The Ocean - Heliocentric (2010)

Heliocentric is the first of two companion

albums to be issued in 2010. Anthropocentric

will be released at the end of the year.

This is wildly ambitious post-metal.

Enormous distorted guitar which goes

from Meshuggah-like math attack to

melodic prog metal fading away to

economical use of strings, horns and even

some piano.

Vocals go from a roar to clean and the

songs stand out with shifting dynamics and

melodic sequences combined with bowel

shifting heaviness.

Listen

Band Info

Buy

Red Dwarf - Stand Still (2009)

I cannot remember where this

came from! I cannot find any

band info anywhere but I think

it was a download from their

site that no longer can be found!

Red Dwarf are either Spanish

or from Portugal - where ever

they come from, this album

is a brooding slab of instrumental

stoner / post-rock heaviness which

reminds me of early Kyuss.

It's only 30 mins long but a great

play - Listen

Pigslab - The Jazz Disco Atrocity

From a CD-R, the sunny weather has made me dig this

out.

Ambient dub for people who do not normally like this

sort of thing, Pigslab play a mixture of The Orb with

elements of early Sabresonic.

Using much heavier drums than normally heard and

sticking to trad rock verse and chorus - Play

At the Soundawn -Shifting 2010

Hard album to describe but I will do my best.

Italian Post-Rock that ebbs and flows but mostly

on the heavy side with hardcoreish vocals interspersed

with cleaner ones.

What makes this stand out is a sparsely used trumpet

that never overpowers - it only adds to the layers

of sound.

Very atmospheric - very good - best to listen all

the way through without any interuptions.

Listen

Band Info

Buy

Vaya - At the Drive In 2000

After seeing so many Omar Rodriguez Lopez

albums on Veins Dried Out I had to give this

a spin.

This EP came out just before At the Drive In

released "Relationship of Command" and

has remained (in my opinion anyway), the

high point of their career.

Despite only 7 tracks lasting just under

25 minutes, each track embodies the frantic

punk/prog spirit they have become famous for.

Every song has its own personality -blah, blah,

blah ...... just Listen

Buy

Dark - The Jam 1975

Also known as The Basement Tapes,

this is a single 24 minute track of live

guitar jamming, starting from soft picking

and ending in fuzzed out underground, full

on psych freak out.

While nothing can ever touch the Earthless

guys for this sort of thing, 35 years ago this

is the sort of thing that would influence lots

of later day bands.

Dark are a band with hardly any info at all -

but I am sure there are people who know -

their record label (Kissing Spell) seem vague

about details ..... anyone care to share?

Of course not - what am I thinking of !

Give it a Listen

Band info

Buy

Sam Gopal - Escalator 1968

Yep, that handsome brute on the far left

is Lemmy. Pre "Rocking Vicars" and

Hawkwind, Sam Gopal - song writer

and bongo player, gathered a band to

play his music.

Mr Lemmy was drafted in to sing and play

lead guitar. This album is a fine example of

psych rock and hippy lyrics that hold together

really well + Lemmy is playing some shit hot

leads. It's just a shame that there was no

drummer pounding away behind the songs.

There is also a song "The Dark Lord" that

would later turn up in Hawkwind and

Motorhead as "The Watcher".

Listen

Buy

Head of David - LP 1986

A heavy sounding band with Justin Broadrick

in before he went on to form Godflesh and

Jesu, Head of David were signed to Blast First

and are described as Industrial Rock/Stoner.

I can also spot bits of Killing Joke/Sabbath/

Sonic Youth.

Using a drum machine as a noise weapon, murderous

bass and uber heavy guitar, riff after riff pound

away in a thrilling mixture of power and scuzz.

Go on, give it a Listen

Band info

Buy

Mouth Of The Architect - The Violence Beneath 2010

Fantastic EP from the post-metal masters.

2 studio tracks, a live one + a cover version

of a Peter Gabriel song - In Your Eyes.

You either love this band or hate them -

kinda like a Marmite deal here - you know

the score by know. A fantastic stop gap until

the next album comes out - Crush me!

Buy

Be Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim 1974

I brought this album when it came out purely because

of the cover ..... a skull guitar! My 14 year old self was

severely impressed with that.

Luckily the music was good as well. I always played this

along side "Ziggy Stardust". A hybrid of Glam/Rock/Pop,

Bill Nelson could match Mick Ronson riff for riff and his

solo playing was a soaring celebration of effortless, tuneful

expression.

The songs could not all match the tracks from Ziggy - in fact

little else would ever come close to the Bowie masterpiece but

the fact remained that Be Bop Deluxe had an album that was

in my mind anyway, almost as good as anything that came out

in '74 but somehow got overlooked.

Oh yeah, my CD version has 3 extra live tracks on it. Listen

Buy

Vee Dee - Further 2004

Not sure where this CD came from - the band

appear to be named after a S.T.D. - and

any band with a dubious name will always

be found in Doug's collection.

On the other hand, they are from Chicago and

any punky band within a hundred mile radius

of that city will be owned by Cindy.

Thanks to one of them..... Vee Dee play melodic

punk, kinda in the same vein as Social Distortion

or Naked Raygun but I can also hear 60's

nuggets psych, bits of the Misfits and some

great lead guitar which almost spill over into

Dead Kennedys area.

Listen

Band Info

Buy

Monolith - Eclipse 2008

Hey, I like Post-rock ..... mostly instrumental

passages, slowly building up to a crescendo

of noise and power.

Hey, I like Post-metal ..... mostly instrumental

passages, quickly building up to a crescendo

of noise and power and then a beardy, scary man

starts to shout his bollocks off.

Monolith somehow combine the best of both

worlds, long intros that lull you into a blissed

out state, almost "Mono" like and then before

you know it, thundering "Rosetta/Mouth of the

Architect" type head explosions of power.

Go on, give it a Listen

Buy