Mindfunk - People Who Fell From The Sky (1995)

Since their second album I linked here has a shedload of downloads, I thought I'd load up their third. If you need to know more about them look at the embedded link.

Music

Report Suspicious Activity - ST (2005)

I wouldn't normally post a, fairly, recent release, but this just begs to be heard. Any band comprising the following musicians can't go un-noticed, yet they remain a well kept secret. It would be nice if that were to stop: -

Vic Bondi (Articles of Faith, Alloy)
J. Robbins ( Government Issue, Jawbox etc)
Darren Zentek (Kerosene 454)

I have a huge soft spot for both Vic and J, so this punk "super group" is a wet dream. They've so far released three records, this is their first from 2005. It IS absolutely what you'd expect from a band with Vic and J in it, punchy, catchy, powerful punk/pop/hardcore. They've lost none of their passion or ability to play really hard hitting music with great lyrics and inspired musicianship. It's a shame that so many of their contemporaries settle for second best and are happy to go through the motions, this just sets them apart.

It's easy to pick out who wrote which songs with Vic Bondi still spitting out his thought provoking lyrics like a raging teenager. I really miss lyrics like this, but they're not done for show. The harmonies and dynamics they can throw into a song is staggering. Even when they slow down, which isn't often, they still manage to grab your attention and keep you hooked into the song. There isn't a bad track on this album and Vic is clearly still pissed off!

I think their third album is the best of the lot, but if you haven't heard them then this mini masterpiece is a great jumping off point. They added Erik Denno (Kerosene 454) for their 2nd and 3rd releases.

I'd strongly encourage people to go out and buy their albums as they really deserve to be supported. I've bought mine and happily play them to death. Alternative Tenticles

Under the Hill....

Get off your ass and start moving
Let's see you spit
Summer's here and the time is right
For throwing a brick

You're aware the world can't help you
You're gallons of piss
You're older than I was at your age
And I'm younger than this

I'm not over the hill, you're under it.

Vic Bondi

RSA My Space

Mediafire

Double-o - ST (1983)

Collecting records way back when was a huge delight and also a huge disappointment as you unearthed a new gem/steaming pile of shit. This falls into the former category. It was also a steal as a mate was offered it before I got the chance, the idiot said no. I treasured this 7'' for years  and only played it once, to transfer it to tape, until I was forced to sell it a few years ago.

A band made up of D.C. royalty: -

- Eric Lagdameo "Eric L."
- Bert Queiroz
- Jason Carmer
- Richard Moore

Everything about this 7'' is perfect, from the great thick cardboard sleeve to the musicianship to the great songs. I'd have given my left nut to have seen these guys live.

I still can't understand HOW these guys were not on 20 years of dischord???? Mediafire

Chris Bald - Infinity (1991)

The Chrisbald 96 a band who comprised the following people at one time or another: -

Chris Kirschten  (Chris Bald)
Christina Billotte (Autoclave, Slant 6)
Jerry Busher (Fidelity Jones)
Jon Kirschten (Rain)

Chris cut his teeth as bass player in Faith before swapping one singing brother for another; Alec MacKaye for Ian, and effectively renaming Faith, Embrace. What a great album they produced; I clearly remember having their demo tape stuck to my head for over a year.

After Embrace called it a day, he moved onto Ignition and released some great material. This is nothing like those bands, but I like it none the less.

Music

Rain Like the Sound of Trains - ST (1994)

Back to these fellas and their self titled album from '94. If you like the 7'' this is better imho.... why don't they make music like this anymore?

Find out for yourself music

Scream - Live at Van Hall (1988)

Scream were a firm favourite of mine and really need no introduction...but here goes.

Formed in 1981 by Pete and Franz Stahl, singer and guitarist, together with Skeeter Thompson, bass and Kent Stax, drums. They would soon be recognised as one of the foremost hardcore bands and released the timeless "Still Screaming" album in 1983. With the addition of Robert "Harley" Davidson they realeased the equally, if not slightly better, "This Side Up" album in '84. A weak, in my opinion, 3rd album, Banging the Drum, followed just before Kent left the band.

He was replaced by Dave Grohl, previoulsy of Mission Impossible, who played on their 4th and 5th albums, No More Censorship and Fumble. The band called it a day in 1990 with Pete and Franz forming the excellent Wool and Dave going on to.......well we all know that right!

I had the good fortune to see these in around '88 with Generic and White Flag supporting. A mate videod the whole night and I still have a copy of the gig on tape......I'll have to get that transferred to dvd some day. It's a great watch as Scream put on a blinding performance.

This gig was recorded in Amsterdam in '88 and is long out of print. Mediafire

Black Market Baby

You would think it's impossible to document the punk/hardcore development of Washington DC without mentioning Black Market Baby. However, if you read American Hardcore - A Tribal History by Steven Blush, apparently it's not. This would then, obviously, also apply to the film of the same name....worth seeing all the same.

I've got to say that Blush has gone from an ill-informed buffoon to a complete moron in his lastest venture.,..I'd urge people not to buy his stuff. He doesn't deserve to make a living off the backs of others hard work.

Now if you read Dance of Days by Mark Andersen, a book of recollections made by people who were there at the time, you'll see this isn't quite right. Black Market Baby were a very important band in DC and are one of my all time favourites.This book is fantastic and if you like hardcore you should buy it, it's a great read.

This band just cannot be ignored. They're more in a punk tradition than hardcore, but have been slotted into either category by many....including me just then. :) They influenced and encouraged the younger punks who would later form the well known bands. They provided the inspiration for John Stabb to name his group Government Issue, from their World at War song.

Being that much older then many of the DC punks they didn't follow the straight edge ethos, but got pissed as farts and were rowdy as hell. Although this could probably apply to Boyd more then the rest of the band :) They were formed out of the ashes of some premium DC bands, D-Certs, Snitch, The Penetrators, Trenchmouth. The driving force behind getting the band together was Boyd, and thank god he did.

To be honest I didn't know who they were when I got my copy of Potential Suicide, but I sure as hell found out after I played it. I devoured any snippet of information about them in the fanzines I imported, but sadly nothing more appeared to be released. Then one day whilst working in a town 40 miles away I wandered into a local market and found a stall selling punk stuff. Here's an album called "senseless offerings" by Black Market Baby, I flip it round and it's the same band.  This album is an all time favourite and I played it into the ground. It's still a firm favourite and an absolute hardcore classic, in the true sense of the term.

Many, many years later I bumped into Boyd on a forum and he kindly supplied me with a couple of cd's.  One of his post BMB band, the Vile Geezers and one of his current bands demo Rustbuckit, both of which are great. I'd feel shitty if I was to load any complete album up here as Boyd and his band mates deserve the cash, so I've grouped together a few tracks to give you a taster.

If you spend some money this year buy "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda" a compilation of their stuff...REALLY worth it ---> Here It's really cheap...BUY IT!! This is a retrospective compilation containing all thier recordings including senseless offerings.

Their website is here and it has some nice freebies and good stories on it.

This year's prophet is quite simply one of the best tracks ever recorded by any band anywhere. Music here.

Silly Killers - Knife Manul (1982)

I loved No Threes, such an awesum record label with so many classics. This is one of them. I really can't remember how I got the record all those years ago, but I'm really glad I did. Mediafire

Life in the old dog yet..........

Sooooooo real life sucks, full stop! :)

I'm not quite dead yet and will continue to drop the odd post or three on here over the next few months until my job decides to hoof the stuffing out of me agian.