Drain The Sky - Haunted By Rivers LP on Level Plane Records

Trudging through the doldrums.
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Tom Waits - Bone Machine LP on Island Records

Dead and Dirty

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Gray Matter - Food For Thought + Take It Back on Dischord

The most amazing thing about punk rock is that there are literally millions of bands. Each group tweaks their individual knobs, making amazing (and some terrible) sounds that I will never, ever hear. The sheer magnitude of this growing plague is astounding. That's why I love to re-discover a band I might have only had a brief passing with. This time it's Washington D.C.'s Gray Matter. They were on Dischord in the 80's, broke up, and reunited briefly in the 90's. Everything I've heard by them is good, but this album, and the Take it Back EP in particular, is full of tight playing and well thought-out song structure and far exceeds their other efforts. Contemporaries like Rites of Spring come to mind when lead vocalist Geoff Turner spits emotional rants about personality defects and lost relationships (case in point - from 'Burn No Bridges': "Is there really such a thing as a waste of time?") over bar-rock turned up too loud. This band rests somewhere on the edge of punk rock and rock and roll with a hard lean towards the former. This EP is a punk rock gem and should be respected as such!
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Them Crooked Vultures - s/t on RCA

My Father has never supported my efforts as a musician. Even when I got my first drum set at 10, I can remember my Dad telling me I needed to play more sports. So I did what he said, and spent that whole year and several after it playing football, basketball, volleyball, soccor and running track/cross country. I never stopped playing drums though. Soon I picked up guitar too. My Dad still discouraged it, saying I'd never make it as a legitimate musician. Maybe that's true, but it's the only thing I really care about doing. Writing is fun and fulfilling in a similar way, but with all this Columbia bullshit going on right now I don't feel a huge urge to do it every day like I used to. My Dad has never backed anything I've done that he didn't do first. He came to all my cross country meets but has never seen me so much as strum a string or hit a cymbal on stage. If he did, it was on accident and I'm sure he's forgotten it. There is a large generational gap of about 50 years between us, and while that does contribute to our overall problem quite a bit, it does not excuse this man from being a shitty father. He's got 8 kids! You couldn't figure this shit out before I came along? Apparently not, because all of my siblings have expressed their aggravations in one form or another regarding my Dad's ''skills'', or lack thereof, as a father. I've learned to roll with it, as he expresses his hatred of my lifestyle regularly, and I know that my Mom and Sister will always have my back. It'd just be nice to have him on my side, because despite all this I do respect him as a person. He's done some good things for Northeast and is a phenomenal athlete (he probably gloated a bit too much though, naming himself ''the Legend",) and is an intelligent, if completely insane, individual. He was nice enough to allow use of his clinic for shows a while back but I think this was a ploy to get my Mom back, as he had never taken any interest before, and has continued to do so. Scer and Big Willy said it best I guess- parents just don't understand. I don't want to rub it in his face so much, but I would like to prove him wrong. So I will thrash til death. Oh and Kansas City- book my fucking band already!

Here's a good record that some of my heroes made recently. I've read mixed reviews, but if you haven't heard it, it fucking jams. It's fun, it rocks (no one rocks anymore!), the riffs are solid and I can't wait to hear what else they come up with. Apparently they will be recording another record before the end of the year!
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The Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca on Domono Records

If life is a game I'm losing pretty bad right now. Turns out I did not actually achieve my B.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia College in 2007. I know- weird, right? I got all dressed up like an idiot, heard my name mispronounced and walked across that stage like all the other regular jackoffs but I guess I was just fucking with everyone. HAHA! Jokes on you! Oh wait, it's on me. Apparently I am short 7 hours. Mind=boggled. I took ONE class my last semester because I was told it was the last one I needed. What a FANTASTIC WASTE OF TIME that semester turned out to be. Oh, and speaking of wastes of time, I guess I know why I haven't been able to get a single job interview in the last year. I have to take three of what's called a CLEP test to compensate for the hours. It'll be easy, but I shouldn't have to do this. Why didn't my adviser tell me? Why'd they let me walk? Grad school is now even further away. I applied last fall. I feel fucked with and I hate it.



At the beginning of 2009 I made a resolution to listen to different music. Obviously, since then, I've encountered a lot of bands and records, new and old, I might not have otherwise. This is one of the better new bands I came across. They took my interest because my friend Lauren told me they did an entire album of interpretive Black Flag covers. I had the chance to see them at the Granada towards the end of '09 and was even more impressed. It's one of those bands with several uniquely talented musicians who all unleash at once in a frenzy of disjointed guitar riffs and cascading sirens bouncing off the walls. It's beautiful, exciting stuff.

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Leatherface - Dog Disco on BYO Records

This record is great. Not as good as Mush but still amazing. It's Leatherface! Look at that ridiculous record cover! That is a blatant and inaccurate visual representation of both the band and the record. I will go see them this year.

For anyone interested, here is the line up for this year's Chaos in Tejas Fest. May 27th-30th at Emo's in Austin, TX...


THURSDAY
crow (!!!)
talk is poison
X ( Australia)
the Spits
wasted time
kyklooppein sukupuuto
ty segall
mind eraser (!!!)
grass widow
mother of mercy

FRIDAY
bastard (!!!)
subhumans (?!?!?)
the marked men (!!!!!!!)
world burns to death (!!!)
walls (!!!!!!!)
rival mob
kim phuc
vaaska

SATURDAY
poison idea (?!?!??!?!)
the pist
quintron and miss pussycat
inquisition (not KC's Inquisition, but a metal band from Colombia)
iron lung (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
bone awl
slang (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
masshysteri
leatherface (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
volahn
morpheme
waste management
la urss
acephalix
deskonocidos
viper
mind spiders
teenage cool kids
dead to me
ninja gun
shanghai river

SUNDAY
rorschach
bastard noise
morne
yellow tears
young offenders
underground railroad to candyland
the hex dispensers (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been workin' for my old man this week...and I do mean old. It'll be over soon. Update with link later!