Signifying Nothing

Signifying Nothing Podcast January 7th 2012

By admin on Jan. 6, 2012.

United Youth-Fuck Your Standards (Demo)
Vaccine-Patriot (Crime In Blood)
Infest-Break The Chain (Slave)

Lethal Aggression-Newcaster Lies (Life Is Hard…But That’s No Excuse…)
Staring Problem-Scattered Pieces (Pissed Human Dick)
Give-Life Unknown (Self Titled)

Bl’ast!-Look Into Myself (The Power Of Expression)
Crow-Occupied Japan (Vertigo)
Cro Mags-Do Unto Others (Age Of Quarrel)

The Rival Mob-Raw Life (Raw Life)
Black Flag-I’ve Heard It Before (Blasting Concept Volume One)
Mauser-New Threat (End Of The Line)

No Hope For The Kids-Cold Touch of Death (Angels of Destruction)
Overkill-Hell’s Getting Hotter (Blasting Concept Volume One)
Hatred Surge-Brutal Supremacy (Brutal Supremacy)

Siege-Conform (Demo)
Siege-Walls (Cleanse The Bacteria)
Siege-Grim Reaper (Demo)

Christian Mistress-Mother of Mercy (Mother of Mercy)
Blasting Concept-Wake Of The Spudnik (Self Titled)
State Of Alert-Public Defender (Bootleg)

Free Spirit-Selfish (Free Yourself)
Mind Eraser-The Way Is Shut (Brutal Supremacy)
Soul Swallower-Absolute Power (Devoured)

No Tolerance-Sentenced (Demo)
Discharge-Two Monstrous Nuclear Stockpiles (Never Again)
Rest In Pieces-Toys R Us (My Rage)

The Mob-Common Criminal (The Way It Was)
Confuse-Hate War (Japan One)
Cause For Alarm-In Search Of (The Way It Was)
Gil-Find Your Real Self (Japan One)

Antidote-Real Deal (The Way It Was)
Kuro-Selfish Cow (Japan One)
The Abused-Nuclear Threat (The Way It Was)
LSD-Just Last (Japan One)

Bad Brains Live In Philadelphia PA 1982
Fearless Vampire Killers
The Big Takeover
Joshua’s Song
Right Brigade

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Reviews For The Week of August 15th

By admin on Aug. 15, 2011.

A 1965 performance of Naima by John Coltrane.

Antidote
Thou Shalt Not Kill 7″
Bridge 9 Records

Along with Infest, when I got into hardcore there wasn’t another band talked about in such mysterious and hushed tones as Antidote. The record was expensive, but the music was great. There was a bootleg 12″ of it with other early NYC eps (Cause For Alarm, The Abused and either The Mob or Urban Waste), but for most people, this was a record to get on tape, which I had a really nice dub from a virtually mint copy in 1997. Obviously, Antidote influenced the youth crew sound, especially Youth of Today, combining the early NYHC sound with the guitar playing of UKHC bands like Discharge. Some pretty stupid lyrics (not really “racist,” just idiotic), with some righteous lyrics, plus perhaps the best artwork on any hardcore record this side of the Age of Quarrel make this one a keeper. If you don’t own an original or one of the other reissues of this, definitely pick this one up.

Invasion
La Caza LP
Deranged Records

Somewhere between Amebix and Discharge come Spain’s Invasion. One of the best records of the past decade, Invasion are noisy, but also very tuneful. I listen to this one all the time.

Hands Tied
Through The Wreckage 7″
Livewire Records

Released for their reunion shows last summer, this ep shows some progression from their first record in 1996, but there is also something lacking about these songs. I think my problem here is that they both drag to the three minute mark almost, but could lose 30-45 seconds each easily. They’re aren’t bad songs, just not something I am enjoying. What I am looking forward to is hearing the finally recorded Gagged & Bound ep songs, which were live favorites during Hands Tied’s second lineup with Geoff TDT, Dan from Ressurection, and Matt Smith of Rain On The Parade/Shark Attack.

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Reviews For The Week Of July 25th

By admin on Jul. 25, 2011.

Mind Eraser at some Scion sponsored gig. I giggled at how DFJ bums out the bouncers.

Blessed Offal
Self Titled Tape

Death metal coming highly recommended by friends who dig this stuff. While a few songs go on forever, Blessed Offal keeps them interesting with enough changes of pace to not lose me. This is pretty good.

United Youth
Demo

Decent 88 style hardcore that goes by in the blink of an eye. I see a lot of potential for an ep. Keep going.

Vaccine
Crimes In Blood 5″
Painkiller Records

I am glad this is a 5″ because there is about three minutes of music here. I don’t think a single song goes over 30 seconds. Vaccine fit somewhere in between Infest and No Comment, playing blazing fast hardcore with some changes within those brief songs. This is excellent.

Black Flag
Live At The On Broadway CD

Huh, this is totally weird. I’ve had pieces of both of these sets (the debut of the “My War Demos” lineup) for about 13 years, but only parts put together to make one set. Even weirder: It was labeled “Los Angeles 1983,” not even the right city/year. This obvious bootleg (hello, poser alert, on the wrong song titles) puts out very nice soundboards of two Flag shows from 1982 at the On Broadway in San Francisco. My Rules and I’ve Got To Run are brand new songs, and some of the My War songs are played as well. Obviously, this is essential material from Black Flag, but I’m not sure if you want to support the bootleggers.

Bl’asting Concept
Self Titled LP
It’s Alive Records

Our old friend Fred Hammer put this one out on his long dormant It’s Alive label. Not surprisingly, because of their name, this band must be big fans of Bl’ast!, Fu Manchu, and Annihilation Time. Heading more towards the rockier sound of the latter two bands, I lost a bit of interest when listening to this one. I think there is a big audience for a band like this right now, so I’m sure you will check it out for yourself.

War Hungry
Self Titled LP
Six Feet Under Records

Somewhere between Iron Age and…Life Of Agony (? Seriously? People like that crap?) comes the new record from PA’s War Hungry. This is pretty metal and would have fit in with all the Roadrunner Records bands the kids in my high school who were into “hawd” bands dug. I’m glad I stuck to Floorpunch and Voorhees. This is definitely not for me.

Mauser
End Of The Line 7″
Vinyl Rites Records

Burly Discharge/Anti Cimex inspired hardcore from the cess pool of Florida. This is a genre filled with lots of garbage, but this stands out as an essential modern piece of d-beat hardcore.

Whirl
Distressor Tape
Bridgetown Records

As if D-Beat and youth crew hardcore being genres filled with garbage was annoying enough, shoegazer is another genre where the good is heavily outweighed by the bad and vastly overrated. A friend told me Whirl were very much in the vein of Slowdive, so I checked this out. “Sounds like Slowdive” indeed! This is beautiful, dream like, shoegazer ala Slowdive. After a soundbite from Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, Whirl slam into some fantastic music. Seven songs is a perfect length for this, leaving the tape at its ending before any hint of boredom, a big problem with this genre, ensues.

The Rival Mob
Raw Life 12″
Lockin’ Out Records

The Rival Mob are one of the best bands out there today. Somewhere between Madball, youth crew hardcore, and Ringworm, they sound fresh and interesting without anything silly or outside the realm of hardcore. Great stuff.

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Ferret’s Review: Coke Bust-Degradation

By admin on Apr. 1, 2011.

Coke Bust
Degradation 7”
Grave Mistake Records

Shit, yes! Just buy it.  Straight Edge cats from DC shredding though 6 songs in 6 minutes.  Total thrash mayhem ala Infest type grooves and speed. Standout track is “Deathbed” – I could play this all day!

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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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