09/22/15 Notes While Under Surveillance

The following notes were compiled during verified surveillance.

-Water is Electricitys: Arch nemesis.

-'Trad' replaces 'Traditional'

-When you see displays of public [real] business: "GET AN OFFICE YOU"

-Kids name; GodLove: Is that a hashtag?

-TAILGATOR

-Is a creditied newsanchor who recently did a report about a new motorcycle gang encroaching another, longstnding MCs territory maybe, perhaps, a member of a MC? Not naming names.

-Mountain Dew is a name. Not a place.

-From the movie KING OF NEW YORK starring Chris Walkin... "Im A Black Man" (see below)

- My name is "Coca-Cola"

-Please help the Sad Kids.

-HOUSE RULES.

-A blue dish that just so happens to be perfect for the portage of finger foods from party to party...

Lo-Fi City Notes And Oddness GUARANTEED

(pics by AB1 from Lo Fi City 2 release show)

Since I first immersed myself in punk-rock (with the dash), the 'compilation' was early fuel for the fire exposing myself to more bands, more songs for a great and economical price.

Killed By Death #'s Two and Three, Dangerhouse Vol.1 & 2, Centsless' Blast From The Basement, Bloodstains [Across the Midwest], Murder Punk, Incognito Records Back To Front... Trust me, I could go on to the break of dawn... The newest installment of Lo-Fi City (#2) joins in those same ranks. The bands and their sounds are diverse but at the same time, that creates cohesion. Much like the Dangerhouse compilations, one song compliments the rest and the arrangement of the CD keeps you interested and attentive from start to finish.

So, if you (like myself) always wondered what happened to a whole generation of kids that were fueled by the new designer drugs Flakka and crocodile with The Year Punk Broke bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, The Pixies and more... Well, they are doing ok! Actually, they are doing fucking fantastic! They have great bands that write great songs and you would be a fucking idiot if you just pass overtop of the Lo-Fi Noise as exhibited on this collection.

To totally be honest with you, I'm in one of the bands thats featured on this compilation... So 'reviewing' this release sorts crosses a line with me and my mission on Thwart... At the same time, if The Socials were not on this disc, it would still be a fucking great compilation. 

Firstly, my favorite bands (in no particular order... KrkGrd, Lil' Trees, Sleepy Drums, Mutt Fuzz and Flesh Pets... But the goodtimes roll with Eric Die & Jon Stout, The Night Divided, Chris Potaka, Biggest Wall, Sunny Temple, Commercial, John Mattock, Dinosaurs & Thunder, and Nanny.

There are hard copies (CDR) floating around but you can get the compilation via bandcamp as a PWYW (Pay What You Want) DL (download).

Notea:

-LFC is the new fringe minority: "Get Sum"

https://loficity.bandcamp.com/album/lo-fi-city-compilation-2

In the above picture, Nanny Singer/Keyboard/Oddist Chris Potaka goes off-script and reads from the zine Bad Day At The Plastic Minds Number Eight...

Notes: 

-Soft-Rock Hard Strikes again: Nanny reminds me of a State Fair thats winding down on its last houir of normal operation where the garbage cans are full of last-bite fried foods and smell delicious... Nanny are the background music.

-Loud, Distorted vocals: You dont wanna know what Chris is sying. You cant handle the Potaka.

-Last breth of a sad sci-fi movie: Disneys The Black Hole during the cyborg making scene.

-Over nurtured species: We call them Pets.

This show was also Jonathan Stouts Birthday. He is one of those people that you cant ever tell if they are drunk... "You sauced Jon?" I ask. "Ohhhh Yeahhhh!" he responded. Get your 'Boggin on, the eraser tip side of your number two pencil up your butt and get out there... Sleepy Drums played a good set... Depite alcohol, you couldnt see the inebriation. Lo' are those that play on their birthday. They have since released a CD-EP that AB1 reviewed a minute ago on Thwart.

https://loficity.bandcamp.com/album/lucy-ep

Butt may not have a 'marketable' name, but thats their intention... I think. Like a grain of pepper, their playing hits you fast and hard like a sorts of shock & Awe; butt with music.

Notes:

-Nervous energy: Inside their sound. Eric Die, the bass frontman  reminds me of Rob Radar from Radar Secret Service.

- Alesandros guitar work deserves a mention: Mentioned.

- RIYL: Joseph K, Crystal Stilts, Certain General. So post-punk my balls hurt.

-Easy to fall in love: With their sound... They too just released their EP... Follow the link Below.

https://butttheband.bandcamp.com/album/elvis-ep

...!

Heart of Wood by Rich W.

INTRODUCTION

Easily enough, Rich is a fellow that I have always seen at numerous punk shows not only as a fellow fan, but as a performer also. When he started talking about starting a blog but wasn't necessarily ready, I offered him a spot for whatever he wanted to write on Thwart...! until he gets in a spot to establish his own... So, that's that and read on. Thanks. -Shawn A

9-9-15  5:33 pm

I'm Richard. Rich, to my friends. 

In 1991 I served some time in prison for assaulting a nazi skinhead. Due to a mixup involving a less-than-intelligent police officer, a mix-up in paperwork, and an intractable bureaucracy , i served my time under the name Richard Wood. I was born Richard W-----. All my mail had to be addressed to Richard Wood 247-039. My laminated inmate badge said Wood Richard: 247-039. 

I'm only telling you this in order to explain why some people know me as Rich W-----, others as Richard Wood. Around 1994, i started performing, writing, and recording under the name Richard Wood. It seemed the thing to do.

Now that that's out of the way, I can tell you the thing that'll make you hate me, Ok? I cheated on my last girlfriend. Not just once...that could be counted as an anomaly and written off as a "heat of the moment" kind of thing. No... After spending 7 years together, i had an affair. I slowly, over time, fell in love with another woman...and she with me (unless she actually didn't, but we'll probably get into that later.)  and we had an actual affair over the course of many months. Those of you who wish to stop reading now and find something else to do may certainly do so. For those of you who are continuing on with me,  I imagine i will be explaining many of the circumstances involved in leading to this situation. I'm not going to try to justify it in any way. It was definitely a shitty thing to do. There are countless ways in which i could have handled things differently long before the possibility of falling for someone else even arose. But i didn't.

I'm not going to be naming any of the other players involved, but if you already know me, you probably have at least some inkling. Still... I hope to preserve their anonymity as best I can.

Sleepy Drums - Lucy Review by Andy Breighton

Sleepy Drums – Lucy, CDEP  

Just like my first sip of Kentucky bourbon on this blazing hot midwestern labour day afternoon, the infectious two chord riff from the opening track, “Tired Ties”, forces you into one of those sly smiles that says something really good is happening here.  “Tired Ties” has the kind of catchiness that can easily latch into your mind's music player for the next few hours. The following track, “Bummer”, another upbeat number with some wistful J. Mascis-ish guitar playing again pulls the listener into Sleepy Drums' realm of Pavement-like poppy and soothing abrasiveness.  “Phrase/Rephrase” while adopting a tone of the repentant melancholy of a relationship in miscommunicative turmoil still manages to grab the listener and even toss in a slight homage to the Ramones no less!  This four song EP is closed out by a somber track with nearly undecipherable vocals that seems to be a perfect closer slash come-down for this collection.  Sleepy Drums encapsulates the giddy fun pop bravado that so defined other Ohio groups like Moviola or early Guided By Voices.  So skip the umpteenth Bobby Pollard solo project/release/whatever and blow your 180 gram vinyl reissue money on this instead....and it also has a really cute dog on the cover.  (Andy Breighton)     

Lo Fi City Records

http://loficity.bandcamp.com

http://sleepydrums.bandcamp.com

TianJin Explosion

Introduction. When I post something on the Thwart FB page it's usually something I've already wrote and posted on Thwart. This time, for the short treatise following, things went the other way... I originally posted the following on FB less than a day after the TianJin Explosion occurred. I suppose it's all the banter about the Republican Presidential candidates that really got me thinking. When you hear a Republican say "We need to De-Regulate industry" they are really saying a whole lot. Read on... Thanks. -Shawn

* * *

By now you should've at least heard about the terrible explosions in Tianjin, China... One thing they know for certain is it was a chemical fire caused in part by improper storage and handling of highly flammable components... The dozen plus firefighters didn't know what they were facing which further complicated the disaster. China doesn't have regulations like the US... That's one of the reasons companies relocate there... Less regulations = more profit. US style regulations there would have possibly saved lives if not totally averted the entire problem itself... So next time you hear about how US companies are going overseas due to regulations, think about what they are really saying. Regulations are there to protect and educate the workers and their communities. I bet the people of Tianjin had some of those regulations now...

Joe Annaruma - The Doom Swooner

Man is Doomed CD

By time I was first introduced to Man Is Doomed (MID) it came by way of a new connection via a FB group called BAG... Joe Annaruma... A name that many of you may remember from another past musical group that Joe fronted called Throttle. Joe is a busy, busy man then, just as he is now.

Joe is a librarian in the tidewater region area of Virginia, where he currently operates a blog called The Thugbrarian Review. On this blog Joe expertly delivers regular book and music reviews that are well-written, solid, in-depth breakdowns of the material he features. Joe is still into music projects that tend to stay more on the solo side of things. Isolated Cockpit is one of those efforts that exist in two fields: audio and video. Links are provided below so leave Google alone for a bit...

On The Dream Killer from MID you will find similar overtones and expansions of themes first heard this on Throttles New Freaks on The Block. Imagine if The Rollins Band had less of that Sub Pop sound and a lot less attention... Because there are good, rocking music and bands everywhere. MID is one of those bands and really, somewhere, that matters.

Just as Throttle had beget MID, I'm anxious to see a small selection of what I hear friends m The Dream Killer and how it will work its way into Isolated Cockpit... This writing about MID isn't so much about the band, but really about Joe and his presence in the isolated cockpit of existence. Out there, on the fringe of the fringe there's guys like Joe Annaruma doing it in the small nooks and crannies of mainstream society where they can get stuff done in the fewer, diminishing minutes that a person can steal for themselves from life's carried sources. 

I've always said that the best musician, artist, performer, poet or whatever that's alive is someone that has locked themselves away and n their back porch or a hot studio apartment or someone who society has locked away. Well, now I know that be of those greats.,, His name is Joe and by no means is he a regular.

Check Joes Blog out:

https://thugbrarianreview.wordpress.com

Isolated Cockpit

https://soundcloud.com/isolated-cockpit