[Past-Blast] [Blank Generation- August. 2001]

Reviews from Blank Generation originally published in August 2001 Note: Images added to certain reviews for cosmetic purposes in 2013

Bugatti Type Thirty-Five "Winner" CD

So Joe re-does the Blank Generation border before he escapes to the Vermont wilderness for his apocalyptic survival training camp... Joe fears nuclear Armageddon and trains once every two months with a Vermont survivalist group called VSU or The Vermont Survivors Union for short. To each their own I suppose.

So, I see that the picture of Le Tigre gives way to... THE BREEDERS? Hmmm! Interesting! Here Joe makes a BOLD statement about the state of modern music. Here, on a web-zine, or whatever the kids are calling these fucking things now, that covers a wide variety of underground rock and roll music Joe embraces his college radio past and shows love for the Breeders! That takes balls! Cheers to Joe! I remember the conversation Joe and I had about not forgetting our roots. I’m gonna grow...grow up to be...be a debasser!!!!!

So, I’m enjoying a nice glass of ice with generic cola yesterday evening and when I finish my third can I see something on the bottom of the glass like dirt... Like I was at the beach and set my glass down in the sand... I just assume that, whatever it is, it is on the bottom of my glass, so I take my hand and wipe at the bottom of the glass. Something’s wrong because the dirt don’t wipe off. Hmmm… A mystery… Behold, the dirt is in fact a form of bacteria that has began to grow in the glass because, you see, I’m home alone right now.... I’m all Mcaully Caulkin up in this mug. Julie is deep-sea fishing for marlin in the Gulf of Mexico so that means I’m on 'Bare Minimum Needs' mode around the house. I do my best to utilize the same dishes over and over washing them after each use so a large pile doesn’t build up. That included the glass. You see, I spent the previous nights at my parents house so as I could enjoy an actual home cooked meal that didn’t include opening a can of something, a pouring motion and the chirp of a microwave set to 90 seconds. Have you ever noticed that the beeps and blips of appliances, like microwaves, sound like birds? I have.... Anyway, so basically his glass, which I remember had about 3 ounces of generic Kool-Aid left in it, his glass, had began growing a mold of sorts that was impervious to my washing of the glass. I did wash the glass but what I’m getting at is Joe is doing the smart thing, training. He is waiting for the nukes but what he should fear is biologic mold-entities like in the bottom of my glass. Tough fuckers...

So I walk into Cody’s Cafe here in Cincinnati. I’m supposed to be in Atlanta dropping Julie off to her parents and taking in some record shops like Wax and Facts... Her parents decided to come into town for a few days. This meant that I had a chance to see another appearance of Kill The Hippies. When I got to the show though KTH hadn’t arrived yet.... I spy a "pop-punk" band called District 22 which aren’t that bad really. They have some pretty decent songs and are still loose enough and new enough to become a band I might actually like. I tell them to buy "Shit Streets" by The Pagans and stick around for Kill The Hippies. If they take my advice their lives will be changed starting on this night. When I saw KTH for the first time, it changed my life.... After District 22 there’s another local, The Hypochondriacs, a truly amazing band. They are still relatively young but have been writing some tough songs lately and have beefed up to Death-from-above status. Mix early Bikini Kill with Black Flag. Need I go on? THEN! Bugatti Type 35! They had been passing through or something and needed a show so the promoter of this show just sort of latched them on to this show. I didn’t really know what to expect, but from song to song I just kept getting more and more into their set. Due to the arrival of KTH and the fact that I am really worrying about them going out west on their most recent tour because I saw their automobile and gosh, it putters up the hills in The Cincinnati, so I would hate to see their "Blue Tuna" as its called, Minivan take on the Rockies. I’m scarred that they will wreck or something and die. I mean, Kill The Hippies are legends. If there were room after room of important people, KTH would definitely be sitting in the room marked LEGENDS AND HEROS... Greatness of the same caliber as KTH is destined for disaster. You see, I know how I’m going to die. Its going to be a car wreck and when I go, the other Socials are going with me. The last line to our song "Closer to Death" reads, "Hey baby, The Socials gonna crash." Well, I know it doesn’t say anything about death there but trust me, I NEVER wear my seatbelt. So I will probably die.... When I die, good riddance to bad rubbish. If anything happens to KTH, I will fall apart.

So, Bugatti Type 35 were fucking shit up. The crowd multiplied after each song. The Cincinnati crowd was doing the Cincinnati thing and sitting around bobbing their heads or like me, listening to the other room absorbing as much KTH as I could, while I could. About 2/3 of the way through their set I found myself checking out their merchandise table. I want their CD but it said $8. I only had a five-dollar bill left in my pocket. If I hadn’t had that 7/7 earlier I could have had enough money for a CD but NOOOOOOOOO!!!! I had to be the bigwig, the HOTSHOT if you will, and order a mix drink... I tried for a Slow Gin Fizz but the bartender didn’t know how to make those. I didn’t want to take a step DOWN and JUST settle for a beer so I went another step up, in a positive direction, in the mix drinks department, and got a 7/7. I snapped some pictures and came up with the bright idea to go out to my Gobo (car) and grab as many different Issues of The Neus Subjex as I could find and offer up my last five-dollar bill and the handful of Neus Subjex's in turn for a promise of good write ups in The Neus Subjex and Blank Generation. Yeah, yer getting all my rock and roll secrets here. I’m not one to really try and "scam" bands, especially touring ones, but fuck, I needed this CD, I just knew it would be good. My instincts told me so and my instincts were right! This CD is amazing.

When Bugatti Type 35 were finished I pulled the band in for a group shit, uh, sorry about that, I mean group SHOT (you know, with a camera) and told them my name and my affiliation with The NEus Subjex AND Blank Generation. They hadn’t heard of either but I told them that I would really like to write about them and their CD, and if they could trade me a CD for my last five dollar bill and a handful of Neus Subjexes then I could guarantee that they haven’t heard the last of me. They looked at me like the obvious weirdo I am and handed me a CD I handed them my last five-dollar bill and my odd assortment of Neus Subejxes and it was good!

So I listen to the CD almost exclusively in the Gobo because I went through a car wash and it snapped off my antenna. BP Oil is supposed to contact me sometime about getting it fixed, so I sorta have to sit next to the phone in anticipation.... I got a call from the local Cincinnati newspaper just the other day... You see Cincinnati has two main newspapers and the ironic thing is the same people own both. Yeah, I know, really cool and everything.... So this kid (that sounded like he had a tongue ring in) called and asked if I was interested in ordering a subscription to the newspaper. I told him I would love to buy a subscription IF he could answer one question for me. I asked him who the original drummer for The Sex Pistols was... I figured since it sounded like he had a tongue ring there was a small chance he was a skater or something and actually might know the answer. When he told me he didn’t know I told him, "Well, sorry, it doesn’t look like I’m going to get a subscription then."

Bugatti Type 35 sound like a mix of Queens of the Stone Age, The Kelly Deal 6000, and The Breeders. You see, that’s where all of this ties together. The choice in picture for Blank Generation, the remembrance and honoring of roots in alternative rock, and the discovery of Bugatti Type 35! Wendy, the guitarist and vocalist said that this CD is their "old" one and that a new one was just around the corner. She said that I could expect to see that one sometime in the mail... So like, I’m waiting... Record reviews boil down to one thing and one thing only- you SHOULD or you SHOULD NOT buy said release. Band IS or band IS NOT worth your time.

Bugatti Type 35 IS worth your time.

You SHOULD buy this release.

So fucking seize the day or something.... (SAB)
(btype35@aol.com)
($10 ppd. BT35 POB 3254 Madison, WI. 57304-0254)

Nervebreakers "Hijack the Radio! - Lost American Punk Rock Nuggets Volume 15" LP

Ok, now here is a fucking resource. Back in Cleveland, I will say back in 1998 or so, I was at a record store called Riot 101 in the heart of some neighborhood that had signs with English AND some sort of Arabic scribble or something all over... I was once again fulfilling my role in The Socials opening up for The Spent Idols... I remember the night distinctly because Riot 101 had shows AND was a pretty kickass record store to boot. I bought a Nervebreakers CD released by Get Hip called "We Want Everything." To make a long story short I wasn’t too impressed with what I heard. I didn’t run out and trade in the CD or anything, but it was something I just sort of shelved and continued to ask myself, "What’s the big fucking deal about THIS band?" Sure, "Girlfriend is a Rock" (also included on this LP) is a pretty decent song, BUT it failed to carry the band to the legendary status that they seemed to have achieved in all the liner notes I read. THEN I see that Rave Up had worked their magic and I saw that Rave Up’s re-issue had some stuff I had yet to hear from the Nervebreakers.... Wow, after one listen I see now why The Nervebreakers hold the place that they do with so many re-punk connoisseurs. The LP starts off with a signature hit of theirs that I had only heard mentioned in liner notes before now called "Hijack the Radio" then took me through track after track of impressive Texas punk. "I’m So Flipped", "My Life is Ruined"... The intense "I Love Your Neurosis"... On side two, a live show from a Dallas venue called DJ's New Wave Cafe of decent quality and featuring some songs I am more familiar with like "I've Got A Problem", and "Strange Movie", but the tune that really gets me is the last track, "I Wanna Kill You". It has a quirky Unnatural Axe "Creeper" feel to it. As the lyrics are sang and the song progresses, I believe the words I hear from "Tex's" mouth! All in all, looking in retrospect, Rave Up had a shaky beginning with many of its earlier releases being hit and miss, love'em or leave'em, but here lately they have really bucked up and been putting out some very impressive releases. Maybe it’s because they seemed to have been dipping into the Texas pot a bit more... Whatever, as far as I’m concerned keep it up, loving every minute. (SAB)
(web.tiscalinet.it/raveup)
(Rave Up Records)

Jack Oblivian "So Low" CD

I got this CD in the USED bin at my local independent record establishment. This establishment is known as Shake It Records. So, like, yeah... Just this past weekend I heard the Oblivians for the first time... Being that this guys name IS Jack OBLIVIAN I must ASSUME that he was in the Oblivians, or at least a big fan or something. It doesn’t matter to me really… I always figured in some way or other that they, meaning The Oblivians, were probably a pretty cool band but yet one that I just never showed any time to for some reason. Yet one more band I’m getting into AFTER THE FACT! What else is new? Just add yo'self to the list!!!! Really though, it’s not how many people you amaze when your actually around that matters, what matters is that you stand the test of time. The fact that I can now get a hold of a release from a band like the Oblivians, AND DIG IT, is actually cooler in some ways than supporting the band as they existed because AFTER-THE-FACT-FANS of bands KEEP THE FLAME ALIVE.

KEEP IT REAL.

STAY REAL!!!!

On the back of the CD a caption said 'Home Recordings 1991-1998' with Jack Oblivian himself being the common denominator in each song with a wide array of special guests. One name I notice right off the bat is Alicja Trout, in some pre-Lost Sounds action I suppose. Interesting… Very interesting… Well since I liked the one song I heard on a friend, who goes by Microbe's, comp tape, and when I saw this disc in the selection of used CDs looking all neoteric and shit with what I suppose is Jack Oblivian himself against a black tile wall wearing some "punk" rock sunglasses with a rather New York sorta smurk on his face, but sporting a all-natur-el, all greased hair-don’t that takes things I don’t understand to the limits. Obviously, Jack Oblivian has STYLE! I figured what the hell....

The Disc starts off with a combination intro track bleeding right into "Midnight Hour Queen" I suppose this is one of the older tracks reaching back to 1991 or the newest track being from around 1998 or so. I say this because judging from the sound of the song, it’s New York wavy art-punk in a way that could have easily been underground and fresh in 1991 as it would in 1998, or hell, even here, in the new millenium of the oh-oh's with our rocket cars and moving sidewalks. New motherfucker! NEW!!!!

"Midnight Hour Queen" is the sort of track that maybe SHOULD have been playing in the nightclub scene from Mad Max. When that weird rail-thin alien like lounge singer is singing "Ride the Licorice Slide" song directly to Mother Goose. The singer distracted him and allowed the outlaw biker gang to cut his brake lines on his MFP cycle in the parking lot causing him to be in a near fatal wreck the next day. Great fucking track… Slutty art punk rock and/or roll…

"Midnight Hour Queen" is clearly my pick of the release. I was hopeful that the whole release would be as tough and catchy but alas, it was not. This track set a high standard for the disc that would not be topped through the rest of the release. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the release has its moments.... The Title track itself, "So Low", amazed me and sort of had a Tom Waits feel to it. The following track, "Downtown", and later, on "side two", a track titled "Human Being" peeks the Abnoxious-o-meter, but failed to top "Midnight Hour Queen."

Sounding 60ish/Sonics-esque at times.... Blues-Damage ala R.L. Burnside other times... Rip Offish punk rock and/or roll and then even sporting a sort of Talking Heads art-punk like structuring and delivery too, Jack Oblivian shows on this release that he really is one talented motherfucker. He has style too. I am hoping I can find a copy of the LP version now because really, the cover art is some of the best I have ever seen. If you passed this up the first time you saw it, for whatever reason, then back that azz up to the new millenium. (SAB)
(Sympathy for The Record Industry)

Selby Tigers "South Then West" CDEP

Wow! This is a band I have been watching for a while. I got their LP because I ran out of stuff to get one day when I was really in the mood to buy records. When I am in the mood to buy records, I do exactly that- Buy Records. Sometimes it turns out for the best, other times it doesn’t. That’s the risk I realize I take every time I get into one of those moods. On the day I bought the Charm CityLP, the risk was well worth it. A friend told me that I would like them but I doubted him, for whatever reason. It’s only befitting that the Selby Tigers would be a band that I would watch closely, and after this CDEP, would be an avid fan thereafter.

What I thought the Selby Tigers needed was a direction. I felt that the Selby Tigers could go one way or the other with little or no notice. Those ways being the middle of the road alterna-pop or the direct opposite, Neoteric. I didn’t sell the Tigers short though. I hung in there with them with my hopes and prayers. Like their namesake, I felt like I was flying right beside them because really, doesn’t a band name like Selby Tigers make them sound like a fighter Squadron, ala "The Black Sheep Squadron?" That, OR a squad of cheerleaders. Since the last time I checked, a fighter squadron had more killing potential, I choose that.

Tac-net Communication Part One:

"Control Base Apha-9 to The Selby Tigers... Come in Selby Tigers." "This is Selby One Control. Go ahead." "Uh, yeah... We have a situation Selby One. On Vector Omega sixer five to your current position there’s a column of Alterna-Pop troop carriers and on Vector Gamma Niner niner there’s a column of Hunter Killer Armor moving fast. Both are live shoot-at-will targets Selby One. We’re rallying other units as we speak but choose which you are hunting..."

>to be continued!

So, next up was the 'Year of the Tigers" CDEP. Six songs… Sounded like they made their decision as to what direction they were heading in. Lets pick up with the Tac-net Communication.

Continued - Tac-net Communication Part One:

When we last left The Selby Tigers they were facing a big decision....

"....We have a situation Selby One. On Vector Omega sixer five to your current position there’s a column of Alterna-Pop troop carriers and on Vector Gamma Niner niner there’s a column of Hunter Killer Armor moving fast. Both are live shoot-at-will targets Selby One. We’re rallying other units as we speak but choose which you are hunting..." "Roger that Control. Since the tanks are more of a threat we’re sixing on their coordinates as of…now. Set!" "Copy that Selby One. We’re rallying the Jimmy Eat World Squadron as back-up ready to launch on your mark." "Roger Control. Standby" "Copy Selby One. Happy hunting."

>the end?

So you get it huh? No doubt about it, after listening to "South Then West" I am assured that the Selby Tigers are heading in the rougher direction. The neoteric one…

This CD features five tracks and a short intro track called "Fuckkin' Go" that apparently has some sort of significance to the band and that’s all. It’s an inside joke that I neither understand nor see the reason to share with countless others on a disc, but you know what? That’s even more of a reason to do something like that! Every track is really worth multi listens really, with my favorite being "Cutting School" which I remember as a radio single on 97X (bam, the Future of Rock and Roll) but didn’t get to stick around at radio sets end for the performer.

The Selby Tigers came into town again recently and I had to pass yet again. I suppose the way they set up their tour they are always coming through on days that are totally inconsistent with my work schedule. Regardless, one day I will get to see the Tigers and when I do, its victory!

Happy hunting!!! (SAB)

ENDNOTE: Extra special thanks to Shake it Records for giving me this CD for
free for reasons I have yet to figure out.
(PO Box 27293 Mpls. MN 55427)

Skunks "Earthquake Shake - Lost American Punk Rock Nuggets Volume 17" LP

Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and Destroy!
Stretch and

You guessed it,
DESTROY!

So everyone, including yours truly with beloved strawberry sauce poured over his mid-section, is wondering exactly how much re-punk is exactly out there? Shouldn’t the 'Killed By' scene be running dry by now and rearing to a sorts of Australian Mad Max world where biker gangs in the hopes of avenging their beloved leader, The Knightrider ("Look up into the sky...") and hijack tankers full of Rave-Up releases to feed the hunger for wasteland justice.

Real punk-rock is a sacred commodity nowadays. More sacred than gas-o-line, and in the long run, better to die for…

Yeah, I’m facing the facts here, and don’t think its because this LP is weak in anyway; its not. This Skunks installment has just as much gumption and power and GET UP AND GO NOW as any of my favorite Rave Up Releases... The Skunks FULLFILL... It’s just that with that Killed By Hardcore LP that came out.... That thing just doesn't look as exciting to me. I’m the kind of person who believes that just as separation of Church and State exists, so should the separation of Punk-Rock and Hardcore. But I have my hands full with the Neoteric Punk/Wave and can’t shy from it, and its course long enough to explain to you the differences and aesthetics of punk-rock and hardcore and prove to you that The Necros on their "Better Never Than Late" 7"EP is more punk-rock than hardcore and how Sick Pleasure are more hardcore than punk-rock per say. I’m not ready to draw lines like that now even thought they do exist in my head.

I like punk-rock. I like hardcore too, don’t get the wrong impression by what I am saying. I loved "Boston Not LA" JUST as much as Dangerhouse Volume One, But Dangerhouse just seemed to have a lil' something that appealed to me more. I just saw that Killed By Hardcore LP and saw it as a beginning to the end. As the 80’s reared its ugly head, it seemed almost everything got faster, and louder and more aggro. You can even hear it on the Bloodstains and Killed By volumes that are out there. I see this Killed By Hardcore LP as being the spark which will unleash compilation after compilation of what I am guessing will be mediocre hardcore. But this new era of Killed By Hardcore will get its calling card too.... Just wait until Youth of Today appear on a similarly aesthetically correct LP. You gotta break down the walls eh?

So OUR time has come. But yet still, the diehards are out there. Keeping the flame alive. Rave-Up is a station. A castle… A sentinel if you will, keeping the flame of punk-rock alive. Everyone passes over records like this because of the thought that everything GOOD was already released, but that isn’t true. Everyone passes over these records thinking "Oh, Maude, Rave Up isn’t going anywhere!!!! I will get that Skunks LP someday, but right now I’m going to buy The White Stripes new LP."

Lemme tell you something, The White Stripes suck. They are nothing but Led Zeppelin rip offs and they don’t even do no kick ass ballads like "Communication Breakdown." The White Stripes LP was JUST IN, BRAND SPANKIN' NEW the day I bought this record and I’m damn glad I got what I did.

People should get this record and be like "Wow, fuck! This is some rad shit" as opposed to getting a White Stripes LP and saying "They look so hip and cool in their outfits, I’m glad they wear them on EVERY RECORD...." While we’re talking about the White Stripes, it’s been circulating that they are trying to come off as a brother and sister combo in all their press releases but they were once husband and wife, I HEARD. So that makes them fucking incestial Romans or something if they are still fucking each other. Knowing them they have an "open relationship" or some shit that enables Blowjobs and titty-kissing or whatever girls do with guy groupies… Or hell, maybe they are more European than I thought, and are hip, crazy, and the cool thing in Hollywood, Bi-sexual. If the White Stripes are bi-sexual, watch out, its hitsville baby! No one can resist well-dressed and matching bi-sexuals who say they are brother and sister but are really estranged lovers.

Sounds like fucking Romeo and Juliet or something. Make me fucking puke. Make me fucking vomit because I see no Leo DiCaprio. I see no Claire Danes. I see no John Leguizamo. BULLSHIT.

So this LP, in true Rave Up fashion, features a side of studio tracks, which we will call side 'A' as in "anarchy", and a side of live tracks on what we will dub side 'B' as in "banarchy." The studio tracks consist of some pretty impressive songs like their "hit" and title track plus a rager called "Gimme Some" and "Top Ten." The live material is of decent quality including two repeats from the studio side. The Live tracks also include a version of "Sister Ray" which does nothing to set a gage of The Skunks really, because they have more of a up from power punk feel to their sound. Energetic, spastic and numbing in its delivery, Rave Up once again proves that just because "punk rock" is still around here, in the year twenty Oh one, we have strayed terribly from our course and are in need of correction.

But what can you do? I pulled up next to this kid yesterday who was in full "FAST AND FURIOUS" mode with these weird hydraulics that made the front end and back end of his car raise and lower with command. I laughed and told him he was fucking rad. Shit like this kid is even MORE reason to use records like this to rekindle the rebellion because really, it is a fight. I’m a rebel hot sauce baby! FUCK OFF or something... (SAB)
(web.tiscalinet.it/raveup)
(Rave Up Records)

Strokes "The Modern Age" 7"* & "Hard to Explain" 7"**

*This is a single vinyl version of the CDEP I reviewed earlier on Blank Generation. The vinyl gives the songs a warmer feel, as vinyl releases usually do to music, but it’s missing a third track, "Barely Legal", that isn’t on the vinyl version. If yer like me, then you will go out and get this 7" because even though you have the songs already, you NEED them on vinyl too.

**So I pick up the two newest issue of The Neus Subjex at Staples (where I do my printing because they have the best price). There’s a lot of battles to be fought when it comes down to Mom and Pop or Local businesses versus chains like Staples, but the fact of the matter is no matter how many times I pay up to twice the cost per photocopied Neus Subjex, it’s not like I have full-heatedly joined the battle, so to say because wherever I go to get The Neus Subejx done (be it Staples or the local copy shtick down the road) I’m still driving there in my General Motors car with gas I bought from some larger than life gas refinery. I live in Ohio. I’m as independent as possible, but when a amplifiers speaker suddenly blows when your playing through it, AND you do the responsible thing and replace the speaker (THE SAME WAY you replaced the speaker in your own amp when you blew that) and that takes all your money for the week, you will go to Staples and do your zine which is better than doing no zine at all…

So yeah, this discussion is important because The Strokes are not on an independent label AND I DON’T FUCKING CARE. NOT ONE FUCKING BIT. All I know is that from the first moment I heard "The Modern Age" I have flipped about this band’s sound.

On their new single, which leads the vanguard because I found out today the import of their full length CD JUST arrived at Shake It Records and yes, I have secured myself a reserve copy that I will pick up on Wednesday so I have something that I have really anticipated to listen to on my special weekend.

On side A of the new single you have "Hard to Explain" which is a real surprising track. This song solidifies the theory I had been developing about The Strokes- they are a "feel good" band. Their songs are stories and episodes of lives and tragedies. You get no beginning, you get no end; on songs like "Hard to Explain" you’re dropped off in the middle to wonder about the pre's and post of the story. The Velvet Underground/Lou Reed sound is there, but with the keyboards and stiff drums which dropout in a couple key points of the song leaving the bass giving a catchy little twist to the song, they remind me of the Cure, EARLY Cure. Wait, what does it matter? I have yet to hear a truly repulsing Cure song really, and number the Cure’s earlier songs as some of the best art-punk songs ever written (I.E. "Grinding Halt", "Cairo" and of course, "Standing on a Beach"). Just as tides have changed and Joy Division are seeing some better opinions in certain circles, we, with 'we' meaning the Neoteric Directorate (you know who you are) have a LONG way to go with the Cure.

The side B track, "New York City Cops" features even more of that great story telling. I listen to the song and try to picture the scene being sung about in my head. I have a pretty good imagination really, thank god, so I really just get lost in this track. The song is upbeat and not only features that same ol' Lou Reed comparison and that new Cure comparison, but I’m going WAY out there and saying that I am hearing some Iggy Pop solo stuff in here too. No, not Stooges.... I said Iggy's SOLO stuff dumb-ass. I, for one, see Iggy's solo career as just as inspiring as his work with The Stooges. I feel "New York City Cops" could easily be on an LP like "New Values."

Yeah, Shake It Records said they have sold like twenty of the first CDEP, which is a pretty good amount for Cincinnati really. Hell, just standing around inside Shake It Records Chip Slob told me I should buy a book that just came in about the Who that I remember browsing at when I was over his house once. I done had both these singles in my "to buy" pile and while he talked to me I was preparing to play "Modern Age" for another store patron that I knew and asked what was around that was worth buying. I told Chip that if he would buy a copy of "Unknown Pleasures" by Joy Division, I would buy that book about the Who. No Dice... Chip wasn't that BRAVE.

So I place "Modern Age" on the turntable and CRANK IT UP DUDE. JB, Shake It proprietor, instantly begins a form of half dancing much like myself. When I hear the Strokes and when JB hears The Strokes too, it’s time to move! That guy who I played "Modern Age" for ended up getting a copy of that CDEP. Today I called and reserved my import copy of the new full length. "Fuckin' A JB!!!" I tell him, "I will be down there on Wednesday to pick it up!" We talk for a minute about how cool the release is (he was listening to it) and I ask him "So it’s THAT good huh?" "Yeah" he responds, "The Strokes are going to save rock and roll."

"I know" I responded, "I know…" (SAB)
*(Beggars Banquet/XL Recordings 580 Broadway suite 1004 NYC, NY 10012)

PIX: Mr. Pilgrim and The Mudlarks 08/24/2013 at The Chameleon

All pictures and brief commentart by Shawn Abnoxious

MR. PILGRIM                                                 Christopher
                                 Its all about the pedals! More Pedals!

MR. PILGRIM                                                          Ryan
                please note the beer and whiskey atop his amp.   

MR. PILGRIM                                                               Tim
                                                 Love watching this guy play

MR. PILGRIM                                                                               Atop Ryan's Amp, This is my favorite shot of the night.

Ladies and Gentlemen... THE MUDLARKS
L-R Todd Lothar, Lamb, Maxx Cold, Jimmy D

THE MUDLARKS                           Lamb on Vox+Bass

Hold The Line!                       Todd,Lamb and Jimmy D
THE MUDLARKS  hinted at a new full-length release coming soon.

Jim Swill: Embedded Cincinnati Artist into the Shitty of Lost Angles

Visit Jim Swill, The New Cincinnati Kid.

In pro-communicado with Cincinnati's meanest artistic son-of-a-bitch, Jim Swill I asked him for an update on his relocation to sunny Los Angeles. This is what he said... Following is another stellar video that Jim made...

"Oh yeah sure, well I made it to LA and have begun filming a larger project due to the immense stimuli and overwhelming population. I'm pretty settled in an working independent, selling books and shirts but also performing..."

Jim will keep THWART posted on his progress to negative stardom and other fine Swill-ism's.

My Front Yard will Make You Hot, My Backyard will Drive You CRAZY! (Playlist 08/25/13)

Fuck...

I ran out of excuses to NOT mow the lawn so guess what? I mowed it. Yes, the mower can mulch empty beer cans. Just sayin' is all. 

You know the drill : Bold= from Greater Cincinnati Bold & Italic= from Ohio Proper

Family CLINIC "Visitations"
Shadow DELTA 5 "Singles & Sessions 1979-81"
What We Need Now
Something Fierce    Don't Be So Cruel
Louder Than Birds (Part II) 1000 ARMS "Separation Is Natural"
Tabletalk [Album Version] Adam & The Ants Dirk Wears White Sox (Remastered)
Wise Up BIG BOYS "The Skinny Elvis"
Twisted Light The Black Angels Indigo Meadow
Trouble At The Cup BLACK RANDY & THE METROSQUAD "Pass The Dust..."
Fists Of Rock Busy Kids Best of the Busy Kids
Gary Floyd BUTTHOLE SURFERS "Psychic....Powerless....Another Man's Sac"
Disintegration The Cure Disintegration (Remastered)
Dim Star Theme DIM STARS "Spurts: The Richard Hell Story"
The Fat Angel DONOVAN "Sunshine Superman"
KYEO FUGAZI "Steady Diet Of Nothing"
5.45 GANG OF FOUR "Entertainment!"
Sandpaper Tounge GREEN FORMICA TABLE "Buses & Planes" (+4)
Wolf Dick KASPAROV "Tiny Machines" (final mixes unmastered)
My Pussy's Gonna Make You Hot, My Cock Is Gonna Drive You Crazy
                                                                                         KILL THE HIPPIES "Erectospective"
Neon Toilet KILL THE HIPPIES "Erectospective"
Xtina as I Knew Her Lee Ranaldo Between The Times And Tides
Patty Lee LES SAVY FAV "Let's Stay Friends"
Linda Blair Was Born Innocent THE MOUNTAIN GOATS "We Shall All Be Healed"
Junk NOMEANSNO "The Day Everything Became Isolated and Destroyed"
It's You PJ HARVEY "Uh Huh Her"
Gnomes - High Plasma Drive
There Will Never Be Another Day THE PRETTY THINGS "Emotions"
Hymn Of Praise PRINCES OF DAHOMEY "African Tribal Music & Dances"
Would You Believe? ROXY MUSIC "Roxy Music"
Evil Ways SANTANA "Santana"
Jigaboo Jump Silver Abuse Busted At Oz
I Am Leaving Sleepy Drums Spooky
04 Put A Bullet Thru The Jukebox Slickee Boys Here To Stay
Dying Young These Days Something Fierce Don't Be So Cruel
02 50 sets of bee stings SOMETIMES
King Killer of MurderTown THE SUNDRESSES "Barkinghaus"
Cheating Death SWEAR JAR "Cuss"
Narcissist Artist SWEAR JAR "666 In The 513"
When You Stop Loving Me Thee Headcoats Elementary Disc 2
Half Off Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments Straight to Video
Days On The Mountain TOM VERLAINE "Words From The Front"
Hot + Alive trins-trans Darth Vadar
Marooned WIRE "Chairs Missing"
Too Late WIRE "Chairs Missing"
She's Gone X (Australian) "At Home With You"
El Salvador X (Australian) "At Home With You"
T.V. Glue X (Australian) "Live At The Prince Of Wales"

Meanwhile, Nine Years Later... Phratry Records: A Good Thing Going.

It seem just like yesterday out of the ashes of other projects Jerry Dirr began talking up Phratry Records. In the punk-rock scene anybody can do it, with it being a substitute for anything imaginable. Band, zine, book, record... store.

This isn't news to you is it? 

Here we are, NINE years later and it seems that Phratry Records is a self-made love-rich success story that you just cant throw enough support behind or say enough good things about. Trust me, I've tried.

Mustering up a verily impressive catalog, with strong self-defined direction and uncompromisable aesthetics, Phratry is what it is all about in its rawest purest form! as a testament to those aesthetics, Mr. Dirr is allowing THWART readers to download a label retrospective. One song from every release that Phratry has released* as free mp3 downloads cutting through the chase, no need to seek out a cryptic download code, Thwarts got the goods!

Go HERE to download the Phratry Audio Sampler



PHRATRY RECORDS 
NINE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOWCASE
 (see invite via fb HERE)

SATURDAY AUGUST 24
Knife The Symphony
Bear Claw
Smoke Signals...

FRIDAY AUGUST 30
The Strongest Proof (reunion)
Mala In Se

SATURDAY AUGUST 31
Arms Exploding (reunion)
Swear Jar

All shows @ The Comet
4579 Hamilton Avenue
Northside, Cincinnati, Ohio 45223

Free admission / 21+

*except the newest one, from JOE 4

Socials "The Beast Bites" Feedback from MRR #364

Get your own copyof MRR HERE

Get Bit HERE

Sat. 08/24/13 Soft Rock Nite @ Chameleon

Prevrat "Traffic" Video

If Public Image Ltd. were to form today, it would sound like Prevrat. Flexxing the Situationist theme, "Traffic" has that Second Edition feel... "PopTones" Part II.

Prevrat (Bandcamp)

(Facebook)

(You Tube)

The Day My Future of The Left T-Shirt Got Me High (Short Story)

Note: This isn't me in the pic.
this pic is for reference only

It happened just as the... "Fair" was coming to an end... I saw a guy at a table on the other side of the room buy a CCCP shirt complete with sickle and hammer, so I went to see if there was one for me to buy. There wasn’t.

Damn.

So on the way back to my table, which I was packing up, I saw another table’s vendor drinking a beer from a contoured, plain brown bag. That was daring, brave and beautifully criminal.

"Hey man, that’s awesome!" I said making a motion of holding and raising a 40 ounce to take a swig. I introduced myself and he reciprocated. He asked about my shirt. I was wearing a FUTURE OF THE LEFT T-Shirt that I’m afraid to wash (shrinkage) so every time I get home and I’m wearing this shirt it directly goes back on a hanger.

He acknowledged my description and critique of the shirt, band and song reference ("You need Satan more than Satan needs you ").

"Cool man..." he said. Looking past me then bringing his focus to me, eye to eye and asked, "You wanna get high?"

Of course the answer was yes. I had sampled marijuana once again after 'everything' to see how it affected my diagnosis with, among other things, neuropathy. It worked great. It allowed me reprise from the insistent pressure and zaps that oral medication only softened. Marijuana ceased the feeling of neuropathy’s contradictive feeling. In fact, I felt free for want of a better word. I felt as if a door opened to an unused, or busy part of my brain dealing with nerve pain. Like my creativity increased to levels I hadn’t seen in years, if ever before. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING had a deeper artistic meaning.

I would like to say it was around this time that I decided to grow my hair out but I don’t think it was.

So I told my comrade, XXXX, about how XXX and I were gonna go get high (and when I said high I paused and said it with the highest pitch sound I could emphasizing and decoding the word). XXX was confident about smoking behind a forbidden area behind a screen in back of the room. I suggested XXXX attend too, so he did.

We went behind the screen unnoticed... I think... I don't know, didn't care really. We three acted like it was natural and allowable for us despite signs sating differently. I explained how pot affected me positively with my diagnosis. XXX really embraced that and gave me the first hit.

I took a good pull. Instantly I felt better and as usual, I held in the smoke and said "This is some good shit" one of the two things I purposely said every time I got high years ago. XXX took a pull. XXXX wasn’t sure if he took a hit or not suggesting the pipe was spent despite the fact he exhaled smoke like he was a blond Irish dragon. Wow, that has to be a first. Too high to notice you were high. Wow. XXX inspected the pipe... There was some green left. He lit the lighter pulled again... Passed the pipe and lighter to me. I was still laughing at XXXX's 'phantom' high. I took a second pull... Sating my next big line while holding in the smoke:

"Shits... creepin'... hard"

I exhaled and began a coughing spell that had definitely alerted anyone who didn’t know that there were some guys getting high where they shouldn’t even be standing. But we three didn’t care. We were in our own dimension already

XXXX declined a second hit... The pipe was now spent. We thanked XXX who got me to stop coughing by patting me on my back laughing himself. XXXX helped me finish packing up stuff and we split.

XXXX went to get his car. I stood just outside the event waiting for XXXX. An older lady asked me if the fair was upstairs. "Yes" I told her "Just go up these steps but be warned, there’s so many ghost up there, you cant tell whose alive and who is dead"

She turned and walked up the steps. "Good luck up there." I said.

She didn’t respond.

Standing on the street corner after dragging my merch there next to an alley waiting for XXXX I wasn’t to sure if I was having a non-pain headache with aura or I was high really really high. Everything looked like an instagramed image. I wasn’t too sure if I was even just floating a couple inches off the ground or what. I grasped onto the brick side of the building for a moment just as XXXX showed up. "Whew, that was cloe. i thought I was going to float away" I said. Or I thought I said it. or was I just thinking it? Together we loaded up the stuff the whole time with him and I giggling like school children. It felt good to laugh even though we both didnt really know what was so funny.

"I think I had a psychedelic moment a few minutes ago" I told him.

"Me too... I think" XXXX responded. "Am I talking?" He asked.

"Yeah..." I said and tried my best to sound reassuring but I wasn't certain really.

Joe Walsh was wailing through "Life Has Been Good to Me So far" on the radio

We drove away giggling at every line Joe belted like we knew all the inside jokes that were camouflaged with allusion.

I’m just looking for clues at the scene of the crime

Its good to laugh.

Going into explanation about pot-induced paranoia I suggested to XXXX that really, paranoia was just an 'enhancement of the moment' and to ride with it not against it.

"You realize that just as you are finishing telling me this, the song "Paranoid" is playing on the stereo?"

My whole 'just ride with it speech' lost its ground with XXXX and honestly, it was a sort of strange coincidence. "Yeah... Thats weird."

"The classic rock radio station is reading our minds!" I said in my best radio DJ voice. XXXX didn't laugh. Was I talking or just thinking that?

"Man, I’m really fucking high" I said. XXXX agreed.

"I’m gonna have to stop at the house and chill for a bit before I take you home. I’m too high to drive." Said XXXX and I agreed. "I need to chill out and drink some whiskey to help take the edge off this high"

I agreed but questioned "You do realize, of course, that you are going to turn to whiskey to help you thru this intense high right?"

"Yeah, I know,” acknowledged XXXX "Sorta fucked-up in a way isn’t it?"

Like I said, or thought... It felt good to laugh.