Signifying Nothing

Signifying Nothing Best of 2011 Podcast

By admin on Jan. 18, 2012.

Cro Mags-We Gotta Know (Age of Quarrel)

New Lows-Last of The Rats (Harvest Of The Carcass)
Citizens Arrest-Soaked In Others Blood (Soaked In Others Blood)
Waste Management-Too Much Unity (Power Abuse)

No Tolerance-Empty Words (No Remorse, No Tolerance)
Technocracy-Aggressor (Diary of a Terrorist)
NYC Mayhem-Want Authority (Crossover Days)

Bastard-Defective Chain (Controlled In The Frame)
Soul Swallower-Burning For The Ultimate (Devoured)
Give-I Am Love (I Am Love)

Void-Condensed Flesh (Sessions 81-83)
Scapegoat-Bleach (Self Titled)
Death Evocation-Relentless (Self Titled)

Vaccine-Drug War (Crimes In Blood)
Mauser-End Of The Line (End Of The Line)
Omegas-Excessive Force (Blasts Of Lunacy)

Faith-Untitled (Subject To Change Plus First Demo)
Gasmask Terror-Dead End (Like Daggers)
Negative Approach-Kiss Me Kill Me (Friends Of No One)

Cockney Rejects-New Song (Greatest Hits Volume One)

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Best of 2011

By admin on Jan. 2, 2012.

2011 ends as a pretty strong year for new releases. Wading through the bullshit in hardcore seems to get harder and harder each year, but here is a list of the top records in various formats I enjoyed this year.

Demos/Tapes/CD
• Our Side
• Cervix
• Blessed Offal

Seven Inch or Less
• V/A-Brutal Supremacy Compilation
• School Jerks-Control
• Citizens Arrest-Soaked In Others Blood
• Death Evocation-Self Titled
• Waste Management-Power Abuse
• No Tolerance-No Remorse, No Tolerance
• Vaccine-Crimes In Blood
• Mauser-End Of The Line
• Give-I Am Love
• Gasmask Terror-Like Daggers

Longer Players
• New Lows-Harvest of the Carcass
• Soul Swallower-Devoured
• Scapegoat-Self Titled
• Technocracy-Diary of a Terrorist
• Omegas-Blasts of Lunacy

Reissues
• Cro Mags-Age of Quarrel
• Supertouch-WNYU
• Void-Sessions 81 to 83
• Faith-Subject To Change
• Bastard-Controlled In The Frame
• Adrenalin OD-Let’s BBQ
• NYC Mayhem-Crossover Days
• Negative Approach-Friends Of No One

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Reviews For The Week Of August 1st

By admin on Aug. 1, 2011.

Full Speed Ahead at their reunion show a few months ago. I didn’t even know this happened until I saw the video on YouTube…

Boston Strangler
Demo

Somewhere between Impact Unit and SSD (aka sounds like Fit For Abuse!) comes Boston Strangler. A quick five track demo of ugly 82 hardcore. More soon?

Gone But Not Forgotten
Seattle Crew Demo

Hey, this is pretty good! Somewhere near Confront and Floorpunch, this demo is good Straight Edge hardcore complete with hooded edgeman on the cover.

Negative Approach
Friends Of No One 7″
Taang Records

What is with the cover? A cartoonish drawing of what a hardcore show apparently looks like really takes away from the overall package here. I’m not surprised there is more unreleased Negative Approach (apparently there is even more), but I am surprised that the final lineup put these songs onto record. Recorded late in the band’s career, this record includes very raw recordings of some of the gnarly live songs they were playing near the end like Kiss Me Kill Me and Genocide. The versions on the Total Recall CD are some of the most incredible, ugly, music ever played (Dave Flynn: They sound like a hyena killing its prey) and these versions aren’t as harsh, but still worth checking out.

Force Fed
Self Titled 7″
Painkiller Records

Fast hardcore in the vein of Infest. I guess the term “power violence” applies here. Great stuff. Worth checking out.

Government Issue
Boycott Stabb Sessions CD
Dischord Records

Continuing Dischord’s series of reissues complete the complete sessions for GI’s Boycott Stabb record. I’ve never been a huge GI fan, alternating between finding them somewhat boring and pretty decent, but this session is good. I like some of the versions of older songs from their seven inches better on this version. This isn’t really essential, but worth picking up if you’re a fan.

Dusted Angel
Self Titled 7″
Corruption Records

Boring rock/stoner rock from former members of Bl’ast!. I need to listen to Power of Expression for the rest of the afternoon after this crap.

Our Gang
Uprising LP
Jack Roy Records

Collection of this late eighties NYHC band’s demos and other recordings. I love their tracks on the New Breed compilation, but a lot of their other material is lacking. The basic premise here is a mixture of Youth of Today and Breakdown, but some tracks work better than others. Their later, more rock/melodic songs are not interesting at all. Members of this band went on to be in Citizens Arrest and Born Against.

True Colors
Consider It Done 7″
Control Records

Not the New York band, but a band from Europe. Decent Gorilla Biscuits style hardcore that gets heavier on the melody as the record goes on. Not really my thing.

Career Suicide
Cherry Beach 7″
Sewercide Records

I have always liked Career Suicide a lot and this record is no exception. Snotty, early eighties style hardcore from Canada that never seems to bore me or let down. I think a few songs on here are covers.

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Reviews For The Week of July 18th

By admin on Jul. 18, 2011.

Talk Is Poison…one of the best bands of the past 15 years…

State of Alert
No Policy Bootleg LP

This is a pretty complete bootleg LP with all of State of Alert’s recorded material. The No Policy 7” on Dischord, the tracks from Flex Your Head, two demos, and a live set. I’ve heard all of this before, but completeists will dig having all of this in one place. Why hasn’t Dischord done a discography for them already?

Various Artists
Brutal Supremacy Compilation Double 7″
Painkiller Records

The long awaited debut compilation from Painkiller Records does not let down. Mind Eraser and Scapegoat continue to plow through their always excellent careers with a nice handful of unreleased versions of songs from each band. Hatred Surge seem to have had some lineup changes, but I am still reminded of His Hero Is Gone when listening to them. Iron Lung are a band I had heard about for awhile, but never really heard before. They remind me of some late eighties Touch & Go bands like Shellac, Butthole Surfers, etc and some of the nineties Gravity Records emo bands. Pretty decent stuff. All bands are worth your time.

No Hope For The Kids
Angels of Destruction b/w Cold Touch of Death 7”
Backwards Masking Records

This is definitely my favorite NHFTK record. The A side is a heavy, melodic song that reminds me of the Adolescents a lot. The B side is a faster song with some riffs pretty reminiscent of The Misfits. A two song single is about all I can handle from this band. I did not like their LP.

Christian Mistress
Mother of Mercy b/w The Hereafter 7″
Nasjonal Records

Fantastic Venom soaked metal from this Portland band. Great riffs and changes without become boring or tedious, which a lot of metal gets for me very quickly. A lot of people think the vocals sound like the singer of The Gits, and I can definitely see that.

Free Spirit
Free Yourself 7″
Triple B Records

One of the few impressive youth crew records of the past…oh, let’s say, 15 years or so, combine “second tier” bands like Confront and Hard Stance with a bit of Token Entry to put out a great seven inch. I think there is a lot of potential here, unlike most of the junk coming out of this genre.

The Rival Mob
Hardcore 4 Hardcore 7″
Six Feet Under Records

Members of bands like No Tolerance and Mind Eraser (including one of the illest dudes I know, DFJ…his tweets during the Royal Wedding should be taught in schools) playing hardcore somewhere between good Madball and good Ringworm. I love how noisy Doug’s bass is on this record. This sounds modern without all the stupid chugga chugga or tough guy poses.

Supertouch
WNYU LP
Horror Hotel Records

What more can you say about this? The Supertouch NYU set is, by far, the definitive recording of the band. You probably already have this from the tape trading circuit (my rip was the one frequently passed around for years it seemed), so this LP isn’t super essential. It’s a nice idea to get definitive copies of NYU sets. I’d love to see a label do a series of them.

Soul Swallower
Devour LP
Painkiller Records

Back after a multiple year hiatus, Soul Swallower follow up on their debut seven inch with more ugly hardcore in the vein of Citizens Arrest, Napalm Death, and Rorschach. There is a sense of progression here towards a more noisy, ugly, sound. Some of these songs had been on demos recorded around 2006 (one recorded with a member of DropDead), but there are new ones here too. A candidate for record of the year.

California Love
Reaping The Whirlwind LP

Members of Look Back & Laugh playing power violence in the style of No Comment, Neanderthal, and other California bands. This is pretty good, but I rarely listen to it. If you’re a big fan of this style, I would still check it out because I bet you’d like it.

Reveal The Truth
Courage 7”

Pretty generic thrashy youth crew style hardcore from this Florida band. This reminds me a lot of many of the bands on the old Voice of 1000′s compilation. If you can’t get enough of this style, you’re love this band.

School Jerks
Control 7″
Cowabunga Records

Serious early Black Flag worship from this Toronto band. Think Jealous Again era Flag. This band has been progressing quite nicely as each release goes by. I would highly recommend checking this band out.

Maggot Minded
Tape Compilation

A tape compilation with primarily west coast bands. Most bands play decent modern hardcore with the highlight being HIV (ex-members of the excellent band Cold Sweat).

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Citizens Arrest-Colossus: The Discography

By admin on Jan. 27, 2011.

Citizens Arrest
Colossus: The Discography Double LP
Nuclear War Now Records

Citizens Arrest are one of the most essential bands of the late 80′s to early 90′s period when hardcore was taking a turn towards uglier, noisier, and harsher sounds. Contemporary to bands like Rorschach, Burn, and No Comment, Citizens Arrest’s sound is equal parts influenced by bands like Napalm Death and Siege, and more youth crew oriented bands like Youth of Today or Infest. This discography contains pretty much everything it could possibly contain in a very organized manner. Their lukewarm demo (includes vocals by Ted Leo, that guy emos and post hardcores love so much) begins things, followed by one track from their legendary WNYU session. Their essential seven inch follows, which really shows the influence of early DC bands like Void and Youth Brigade, but also Siege and Infest. A variety of compilation songs comes next. Finally, their monstrous LP Colossus, finishes the discography. Heavily influenced by both Infest and Napalm Death (and other early Earache bands), their LP is the band’s finest hour. Daryl’s vocals are ugly, getting close to death metal styled sounds. I always wanted bands to cover the Utopia intro as a teenager. An absolutely essential and very influential set of recordings. It looks like this might be out of print already?

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