I Ain't In A Slump, I Just Ain't Hitting

Of all the Boston Crew-type HC bands that went metal back in the '80s (which was pretty much all of 'em), I think that Jerry's Kids ended up making the best "post-XClaim!-era" record with "Kill Kill Kill", which in some ways has a sound that isn't all that separated from "Is This My World?" --- sure, some of the lyrics are dumber, and there's a bigger "metal" sound to the drums and guitars, but the songwriting in general tends to fall back onto straight hardcore thrash and a few of the songs on "Kill Kill Kill" wouldn't have sounded at all out of place if they'd been recorded back when "Is This My World"?" was being made. The F.U.'s, on the other hand, not only changed their name (to Straw Dogs) but changed their sound entirely, and "We Are Not Amused" is pretty much a straight-up commercial metal/hard rock record with barely a trace of punk to be found at all, other than Sox' vocals of course. It's not a great record all the way through -- the quality level really drops off after the top four or five songs -- but the guitars pack way more of a punch than any of the rock slough released by SSD or DYS (for instance), and it also has some of the best drumming I've ever heard on a hard rock record. I say that there's not much punk involved, but I suppose it takes a punk to take pot shots at all the phony "sign of the devil" Mötley Crüe crap and hit the target as dead-on as "Carnival In Hell" does. I'm not exactly sure what the slags against John Sex Bomb and the Anthrax Club on the thank you list/lyric sheet are all about, but I'm guessing it probably has something to do with a show that the F.U.'s tried to play at the old Stamford Anthrax years ago. At least, I think I read about it in a book somewhere.

Straw Dogs -

"Carnival In Hell"

"The Hunger"

"In Deep"

"Trigger Finger"

I Don't Know Right From Wrong

I bought this as a present to myself for $2 because it's Peter Dayton, frontman for Boston monsters La Peste, being helped out by members of the Cars (Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes); I mean, there's no way that could not be great, right? If you've heard the studio tracks at the end of the La Peste collection that Matador put out a couple of decades ago (a couple of which Greg Hawkes also played on, if I remember correctly) then you kinda already know what to expect from this. If you haven't, then nod your head and just go with it. La Peste's "Skin Tight" gets re-made as a new-wave power-pop song and is the top of the class here; it probably would've made for a nifty KBD-styled 7" 45 had it been released with "Perfect Wave" -- somewhat of a surf instrumental -- on the flip. The other two songs on here aren't anything special, although the extra-flabby ballad "Stuck on The Same Refrain" is probably what set this 12" up as probably nothing more than a resume for a record deal. If you don't own any La Peste stuff then try to track down the "Better Off Dead" single, it was recently re-issued twice and thus is fairly easy to buy online.

Peter Dayton -

"Skintite"

"Perfect Wave"

If You're Gonna Be An Artist You Gotta Draw The Line Somewhere

One of the things that I find amusing about the legacy of Big Dipper is that they're now being portrayed -- or, at least, back when all the reissues were coming out -- as this sort of whimsical underground band that no one had ever heard of, when in fact they were a favorite band of a lot of people back in the '80s, myself included. I guess "unknown band" these days (post-internet) is shorthand for "the college sophomore intern at PopMatters never heard of them", which -- in this case -- makes me wonder what those people would think if they ever somehow stumbled upon an Embarrassment record. "Wait, there's a band that's even older than Big Dipper, with some of the same songs and even one of the same guys in it? That's it, I quit." Don't even think about the Volcano Suns, jesus.

I'm pretty sure that I saw Big Dipper at least a couple of times while they were still around, although the only time that I remember was at TT's in Boston, where Peter Prescott was in the audience, standing in the back of the room and glaring towards the stage with a "you stole my band" look on his face. Actually, Peter was there, but I could just be making the 'glaring' part up. Anyway, enough of me talking -- do you want to hear some songs from Big Dipper's third record, "Craps"? It's a fairly excellent album, if I say so myself. I think it was maybe the next one that was kind of bad.


Big Dipper -

"Ron Klaus Wrecked His House"

"The Insane Girl"

"Stardom Because"

"Hey! Mr. Lincoln"

"The Bells of Love"

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History Doesn't Repeat Itself, But It Rhymes

Good band (membs. of Priests/Downtown Boys/Neonates/etc), catchy song. Those rhythms are like a punch in the gut, so tight. You could likely slot this under "stuff that sounds like '78-'81 DIY post-punk", but stuff this good doesn't need me throwing any more words at it, so I'll just exit stage right gracefully here. Probably the best new song I've heard this week.

Fake Best Of 2015

Flemmings -

"Get Away From Me Right Now"

TV Ugly -

"QC"

Surveillance -

"Horrible Morning"

Estrogen Highs -

"Lover Lover Lover"
(Leonard Cohen cover)

Disipline -

"Sanctuary of Pain"

Time Flies Like An Arrow, Fruit Flies Like A Banana

"When it came out we couldn't give the things away, but now it sells for five hundred dollars
The only records that you buy are on eBay - this box of records oughta send my kids through college
Don't put your records out 'cuz no one's gonna care, when a record's only good because it's rare"

-- "Killed By Death", Head
If you dig the awesome, super-poppy a-side -- which is a Fatal Charm cover that Kurt from the Fastbacks plays on -- you should check out a Boston band called Conmen (they've got a new single out).

Head -

"Spend The Night Alone"

"Killed By Death"

Maybe I Could've Gotten Somewhere If My Aim Were Straighter

Negative Trend minus (-) everyone who went on to form Flipper = Toiling Midgets / PiL-inspired post-punkness. This single is from a later lineup that featured Mark Eitzel of American Music Club on (serious, dramatic) vocals. There was also an album released on Matador around this time which supposedly features some quality obtuse rockness, but I don't have it. Hello, Discogs....


Toiling Midgets -

"Golden Frog"

It Must Be Always Night, Otherwise They Wouldn't Need The Lights

Here's the first 7" from Total Control, a band that went on to achieve some notice afterwards (or so I've heard), although it figures I'd be the guy to like their earlier, more rock-like stuff. "Stare Away" is actually the best song on here, so I'm leaving it off so you'll be encouraged to go out and buy this thing on your own, or just download it from another blog, whatever. The front cover and back cover are both the same shade of grey, by the way, it's just that one side is a picture taken with a camera vs. scanning the other side on a scanner. Or, you can blame Jerry Garcia, if you'd like.

Total Control -

"Total Control"

"Meds"

When Everything Is Coming Your Way It Means You're In The Wrong Lane

I was pretty psyched to find this at Deep Thoughts (record store in Cambridge) the other weekend -- "Early Singles", a collection of Bimbo Shrineheads (aka Shrinnirs) stuff that I'd otherwise hadn't heard, for the most part, or even had any idea that it had existed. The package is pretty funky -- an LP jacket spray-painted black so heavily that it became soggy and warped, a tape reel box affixed to the front with a booklet and some papers inside, and almost no mention of the band name anywhere -- so it's no wonder that most people wouldn't know what this was, even if they saw it in a store. For a near-20-track LP, pretty much everything on here is fairly prime avant-rock; now that I'm finally getting the chance to hear all of this stuff, I'm realizing that this is a band that carried a really high on-base percentage, for sure. Figures that I had to go record shopping in Massachusetts to find out about a Connecticut band.


Bimbo Shrineheads -

"Implosion"

"Slabs"

"How To Get Fucked Up The Ass With a Flag and Smile and Be Really Happy and Grateful"

"Separating Your Face From My Windshield"

The Thing I Hate Most About Writing Is The Paperwork

Out now - Incremental Decrepitude #4

32 quarter-sized pages of blatherings, featuring a discussion with Bonus McGinty on
some heavy matters related to all-time personal faves Dredd Foole and The Din / Volcano
Suns. Edition of ten (10) copies printed; if I thought you might be interested and
I had your current address, a copy is already in the mail on its way to you. No
further copies are available.

The Future Ain't What It Used To Be

This was the next single that The New Christs put out after the "Born Out of Time"/"No Next Time" 7-inch, and while it doesn't live up to the explosion that was the previous single -- as if anything could, since "Born Out of Time" is practically my favorite Aussie 7" of all time -- it still lays quite a bit of rubber in its own right. As before, the b-side rocks harder than the a-side, which adds some handclaps or exaggerated snare hits into the mix, like this was a Soul Asylum record or something.

The New Christs -

"The Black Hole"

"Addiction"