HUNGRY EARS EAT...TREPANNING!

Cruising the Free Music Archive I came across and instantly fell in love with Brooklyn’s TREPANNING from a broadcast on WFMU's DISTORT JERSEY CITY show. Initially some of the wanka-wanka guitars on "With Love, Patty Hearst" reminded me of THE REGISTRATORS but after closer listens on devices with better fidelity than a Nook, TREPANNING come off as a peace treaty between synthy-driven THE EPOXIES and ample parts RIP OFF RECORDS-esq garage punk with Mike Hudson from THE PAGANS singing giving the songs like "Take Thus Body" an eerily dissonance. There are catchy pop overtones in there somewhere right behind a minimal BUZZCOCKS-ish guitar lead on "Young River" too... Bearing teeth for the bite. You will bleed blood motherfucker.

The Free Music Archive offers this session for a free download of seven songs plus an interview.

I have been in contact with the band and intend to remain in touch whether they like it or not.

TREPANNING BLOG

DOWNLOAD THE SESSION/VISIT AND SUPPORT THE FREE MUSIC ARCHIVE

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DAVID BAY LEAF b/w BATT LION (Split) 7"

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LIONS CARE RECORDINGS CHRONICLE THE THEMES OF DARKNESS AND DEEPENING DESPERATION OF NORTH EASTERN OHIO WITH SOUND (PART II)

Originally I wanted to put all the separate parts of my LIONS CARE RECORDINGS ranting reviews in one big long nearly unreadable column but I didn’t see the need to test you further. I’m going to dangle you over the side a bit. Let you feel the nothing below your feet. Let you feel the deep chasm below pulling at you and your gaze meeting mine and you begging for salvation.

What does one plus one equal?

Up first on this beautifully crafted whatever wax you have available for cheap vinyl record are DAVID BAY LEAF, the protector, the savior, the victim and the reason. These two songs quite honestly are some of the most interesting songs I have ever heard. Reeking of post-punkness if puke, yeah...VOMIT could possibly be buttery delicious there would be collection vessels outside of every college bar and the worlds food shortage would no longer be a fear, it would be a forgotten nightmare. It takes a devotion to unknown conceptual ideas to survive in modern Ohio. You gotta have your angle, you gotta have your weapons ready to use. You got to wear your superstitions on your sleeve and make room for eating meals that should be taken with utensils, by hand. It takes a hands on approach.

DAVID BAY LEAF is possibly bad for your health. Nothing about their songs should be right but then again, you can have a hard time putting fucking perfection into words. Isn’t that right 'yo'?

Striking with the fury and precision of a mix between ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN if Ian Curtis was more mysterious and a bigger fan of THE SWELL MAPS and DESPERATE BICYCLE. I think J.G. BALLARD wrote of the coming of DAVID BAY LEAF but you will have to read everything he wrote before you find it because it will evade you until the very last sentence. J.G. BALLARD was a prophet.

DAVID BAY LEAF… The night will burn! The night shall not live to see the day! I’m fine with that…

Any motherfucker with a record collection can spout off how a band sounds like. I do it every time, all the time and fucking jazz incorporated (figure that one out, I dare you). But which words choose to flow out if that so-called spongy thing called a brain in relation to the bands an their songs are just as important even if the description of the music is so vague as not being relayed. "Shawn, you don’t say what it sounds like" boo-hoo motherfucker. You don’t want a music review; you want a fucking music catalog! You get what you deserve. You get enthusiasm, the pancakes basic. Don’t fuck it up Dixie cup. I’m eventually going to get to the point of not mentioning a band or any song they do in a review. I have been working up to that my entire career of covering 'music'. BATT LION. This decade or maybe less, I don’t know yet because I’m reaching out right here, right now by saying this 'era' is the era of BATT LION... BATT LION join the ranks of PERE UBU, THE PAGANS. THE SLOBS and KILL THE HIPPIES as being a seminal band(s) of a moment. The juxtaposition of guitars gathers conceptual geniuses not seen from a single band since THE MINUTEMEN. The two incantations (songs) (jams) from BATT LION here represent pure design and development of a greater ultimate plan. There is a plan. Jazzy... Jangely like a PORTER WAGONER song. Manically genius as if "War Pigs" by BLACK SABBATH (which incidentally is thee best Sabbath jam)... The soft rock hard, hard rock harder thing applies here too... BATT LION are like BAD COMPANY mixed with GRATEFUL DEAD who grew up on the rough side of the river. Jean jackets with no sleeves 'FTW' blazoned on back...

Where was I? Oh yeah, IN YOUR FUCKING FACE!

BATT LION have built upon what you had and will take it over the top for the trip all the way down hill. The songs from their side of the split complete the story if one guy, an arsonist and how he brought the city of Youngstown Ohio to its fucking knees. If BATT LION (emphasis on the BAT) don’t do it, someone else will have to and I don’t fucking trust them one bit. They will fuck it up. BATT LION are doing their destiny. Every era has a soundtrack and trust me, with BATT LION you are witnessing the greatness of a band moment by moment.

A while back I was asked by Zachie Braun to contribute to his new Zine, RANDOM OLD RECORDS, which I am definitely going to do... I was asked to write about a 7" that changed my life and perception of music. I chose KILL THE HIPPIES "Will Not Overstimulate" EP... That record defined punk-rock to me. Defined a time. Well, this split 7" as a complete package,  does in 2012 what that record did in 1998 for me. It sets a course. If you listen to just one thing I ever say... You would have already gotten and continue to cherish that KILL THE HIPPIES record, but if I could have just one more chance or choice that you would listen to from me it would GET THIS FUCKING RECORD RIGHT NOW!

Do not delay. Do not pass go and collect $250.There is no strategy to the board game Monopoly. I will one day sit atop a hill and watch Youngstown die before the rest if the world. This split 7" will be the soundtrack.

So, answer me... What’s your answer?

What does one plus one equal? Anything I want it to be? Don’t be cute you fuck. This is not a time for cuteness. We are at war. (#TotalWarRising)... WHAT DOES ONE PLUS ONE EQUAL?

No matter what you say, your answer is wrong.

One plus one equals two middle fingers right back at you.

DAVID BAY LEAF

BATT LION

LIONS CARE RECORDINGS

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HONOR CODE "Got Me By The Balls" 7"EP

First thing's first, always first. If it was the last thing then it would be last. Duh. Verily special thanks to Gunther 8544 who slid this my way... Thanks Gunny, your the man. If it’s the Reds and Orioles in The World Series and the Reds lose, I’m still a winner wearing an Orioles cap... HONOR CODE (HC) hails from the Tidewater region of Virginia (Virginia Beach) and share members with KBD rippers and heralds of THE CANDY SNATCHERS mantle DEATHTRIP. HC are a thrash-hardcore pick-sliding three piece. As you can surmise from that compounded description, this shit is fast... This shit is intense... Snarled angst rules supreme. This shit is the kind of stuff you expect skaters to listen to while their ripping pools or ramping half-pipes or doing whatever skaters do. This hand-numbered slab of battleship grey vinyl delivers six pick sliding "Pick Your Kings" era POISION IDEA jams mixed with the snottiness of THE CIRCKE JERKS... I wanna say something about how this reminds me of JFA too but that’s only because JFA is one of those bands that you expect skaters to know like the fresh pain of their scabbed elbows. Teen angst replaced by 20's something angst on the lyric sheet. That’s an awkward time too when you really think about it and deserves as much emotional outlets as any other 'phase'. In conclusion, this ones a winner.

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MADAME MACHINE "Snakeface" (+2) 7"

Madame Machine are a three-piece band from Louisville Kentuckee. No, I didn’t just spell Kentuckee wrong… That’s how it’s supposed to be spelled. The historic way. The Daniel Boone way. Three songs on this slab of wax. The A-side… And this is exactly where I fell in love with this band. Right from the start… On this A-side… You see, its ‘traditional’ for the A-side of a single, or EP as the case may be, to be the ‘hit’ of the release. The song that makes you wanna hear more. The song that gives to the reason to flip the record over to hear what else. The motivation of the listener is judge with each needle hitting the record. Will the record be flipped when the side is done, or will it be removed? There’s a choice… Madame Machine uses this A-Side as even further of a test by making “Snakeface” an instrumental. I’m not the biggest fan of the instrumental song. There are whole bands and records devoted to instrumental work. I usually don’t like them because most bands have an interesting quality of their lyrics… Most are at least halfway decent and add to the over all meaning of the song. I could spend hours and thousands of words interpreting “Snakeface” musically to what it means with out lyrics. But… When an instrumental is use as in this case, cleverly… I fully endorse it. “Snakeface” fucks you up. As far as instrumentals go, it’s good. It’s rocking. Your wondering the whole song long when the vocals are gonna kick in if you are new to this band… At the end of the song any new fan would be left wondering is the band is one of those kinds of bands… An instrumental one. Me? I knew better. The bassist for Madame Machine, Salena Filichia, was once in the amazing band GREEN FORMICA TABLE and before that MARCU BROWN… So I checked the band out on the social media sites and spied some You Tube Vids of them… But this trick of the A-Side instrumental, I admire that. Right away, the listener is tested and sussed out. You flip the record or you don’t. You’re in it to win it, or your back tracking to the LZ. It would have been just as easy to turn the double B-Side of this release the double A-Side and let “Snakebite” be the official throwaway B-Side. Beautiful how it all turned out… It really is. Madame Machine has guts. Madame Machine has balls. Madam Machine has a scar on their hand from when they were a baby and got burnt with a cigar… AS AN INFANT! That’s fucking tufff (yeah, with three ‘f’s what’cha gonna do?). “Crystal Ribbons” (see You Tube video below for a performance of this song) gets you going on the B-Side… Great song. Good, driving guitars. Solid drumming. Sang-spoken vocals sounding sly and snarling. Even condescending at times. You hear the whistle and you’re over the top on the trench because it’s an automatic reaction. You are supposed to feel like you may not make it back to that trench again. “Crystal Ribbons” gives you that realism that you are in it to win it because you don’t rise from the trenches thinking you will make it back alive. You assume you will die a non-heroic death but you go anyhow. The backed with (B/W) B-Side, “Great Shame” leaves you. It drops you off and you feel as if you want more. Expertly crafted, superbly listenable… Noise Pollution (label) has a winner here! This record draws a line, takes a stance and leaves you thirsting for more. Some bands live their entire existence in frustration because they struggle to get gigs; at their gigs it’s a struggle against the crowd. Bands like Madame Machine are out there doing what they do not caring if you buy another beer or get their music. They sing more at you than for you. If you listen closely. You can hear the whistle. Don’t rise thinking you will come back… Rise to the occasion because you wont make it back.

From NOISE POLLUTION  PO Box 72189 Louisville, KY.40272

Madame Machine on Facebook

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