Remains of the Day - Hanging on Rebellion

Awesome melodic crust from Portland, regrettably broken up, but all good things end. Excellent atmosphere, wonderful violin and exceptional lyrics make for some of my favorite crust. Definitely for fans of His Hero is Gone style hardcore.
~MK

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Pretend - Bones in the Soil, Rust in the Oil

I know nothing about this band! I know they're from California. I know they released Bones in the Soil, Rust in the Oil themselves and sold out of it within weeks of it's release. Other than those 2 facts they remain a complete mystery to me.....I do however love this record. Imagine the Kinsella brothers playing their take on Japanese jazzy post rock like Toe or Mirror and you have a pretty good idea of what this album sounds like. It maintains all the noodley goodness of bands like Owls or Joan of Arc, but manages to sound much more progressive and smooth. Very relax and chill record with understated soft vocals and an awesome grooving vivbe. It's actually a great record for this crummy rainy (and snowy?!!) day in May. Thanks to Mr. Frena for turning me onto this!
~AB

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Science of Yabra - Check The Sound

Intense! That's all I really can say about Portland's Science of Yabra. Rocking and rolling hardcore with enough swagger to get your hips shaking and loud enough to have your head aching. Fifteen minutes of the most engaging punk rock I've heard in a while. Not much else to say....just go download this! Cool? Cool!
~AB

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Oroku - Living Through The End Time

Oroku was a band from Seattle featuring a member of Garmonbozia. They played very heavy hardcore/crust and made excellent use of the cello. Definitely a west coast classic. If you don't already have this, now is the time
~MK

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The Newfound Interest in Connecticut - Tell Me About the Long Dark Path Home

The Newfound Interest in Connecticut was/is a band from Toronto that took elements of various different genres and created something that at times maybe wasn't perfect, but always passionate. There is a certain air of youthful energy on "Tell me About The Long Dark Path Home" that makes some of the mistakes, missed notes and sloppiness mean that much more to the listener. Music is a living breathing creature with a heart and soul that is fucked up and rough and raw; this record is all those things. It feels alive. Records like this remind me why I love DIY/independent music so much. There are no contrived notions of fame or fortune, just really rad music made with honesty, love and respect. It's interesting to listen to a band and know NOTHING about them. I don't know who was in this band, what they played, what they went on to play....the mystery sort of adds to the entire experience.

~AB

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Nyet To The Neins - Homely Architexture

AB: Super special post for today...our good pal Aaron from the great plains decided he needed to get in on the festivities and sent us a little piece of Saskatoon rock history. More posts to follow from Aaron? Who knows.

It isn’t often easy to find a band who is truly dedicated to the spirit of rock ‘n roll in the most legitimate way. In order to truly be dedicated, one cannot afford to care about anything else nor can they compromise themselves in any way. Nyet to the Neins were a band from Saskatoon, SK made up of young men who understood this and as a result, became a force that was only concerned with rocking as hard as they fucking could. Live shows often caused injuries for the band and forced audiences into very uncomfortable social and physical situations. They refused to make compromises. They received up to three or four tickets in a week from police for noise complaints. They were kicked out of bars on tour after their first song because they refused to turn down the volume of their amps. This was a band that didn’t care about you or themselves or anybody. They only cared about rock ‘n roll.

They went through several member changes throughout the four years they were together, only did one poorly-booked west coast tour and released this unbelievable EP.

P.S. Make sure to listen during the song IT’S ESCAPE for when Craig yells, “My balls will see the sun!” Apparently that line became their mantra.
~AS

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Waxwing - Demo Tape

Not sure how difficult this is to find....I haven't really looked. Regardless I stumbled upon Waxwing's first demo today, and I figured a lot of people would be stoked on this if they hadn't already heard it. I won't really get into who Waxwing is/was....I think most people already know the deal. This tape rip just seemed to good to not share. If you for whatever reason don't know who Waxwing is, download this if you like mid 90's emo like Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, Christie Front Drive, etc.
~AB

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Special Noise - S/T

My old band played with Special Noise a few years ago on a bill labeled as "Math Vs. Emoz", my band being on the emo side, Special Noise falling into the math category. While hanging outside the hall waiting for the show to start, this mid 90's fairly weathered and well traveled Honda Accord with Ontario plates rolled up, and proceeded to pour out a drum set, a large cab, 2 heads, 2 guitars, a skateboard, a full size road bike and 4 dudes. It was like some sort of strange punk rock clown car. Funny thing is, Special Noise only has 2 members, but they had been picking up people along the way. Anyways, anyone who can tour across the country in a Honda Accord with that much stuff is A-OK in my books!

Of course they played their set and killed it. Super fun start-stop mathy rock that doesn't take itself too seriously. The drums are really killer on this record, they really keep the beat going when the guitars are off doing weirdo stuff. Sort of reminds me of 1994 and Tiny Hawks, but a bit more fun and poppy. Maybe I'm just making that comparison because of the 2 member limit. ...who knows, I'm terrible at this stuff. These gents are from Montreal via Halifax, so you hear a lot of the Halifax pop influence in their tunes, perfect for summer hang outs and bike rides. I hope this band comes back soon!
~AB

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Kevin Rips: Calvin Johnson - We Wil Bury You

AB: Actual name of this record: "We Will Bury You: female new wave/punk 1977-1982" (Wouldn't fit in the title bar)

"Make no mistake. There was a difference..."

Since I've kind of become known as a tape guy, I figured it would be fitting to get some of the best tapes out of my collection and share them with everyone.

On my trip to Washington to see Tubers, we ended up in Olympia. I had known about the Calvin Johnson mixtapes prior, so I was determined to track them down. Luckily, my pal and I had the most wonderful tour guides and we ended up hitting every record store in Olympia. Thus, we managed to track down the one place that had the tapes available. I bought a few of the mixtapes, but this one is easily the best. Both my pal and I had ipods absolutely full of jams, but on the trek back to Alberta, the only thing that got played was this tape. It pretty much got us through a really gnarly snowstorm around Golden.

Calvin Johnson, well known indie rock super-star (Beat Happening namely) and founder of likely the most important US indie label next to Dischord (K Records), apparently has one really great record collection. This tape is certainly proof of that. "We Will Bury You" collects mostly rarer and unknown songs or versions of forgotten all-female (or at least female fronted) punk or new wave bands. There really is an embarrassment of riches here. I can't believe no one had shown me any of these songs before! Highlights include the amazing horns on the 45 only Raincoats jam "Running Away", and the earlier version of the Bonnie Hayes jam "Shelly's Boyfriend" as the band The Punts - which is basically GoGos but way awesomer. But I still think the jam is the Jane Aire & the Belvedere's song "Yankee Wheels", which is played slightly faster on this tape, but definitely caused me to rewind the thing over and over... and then ebay all their 45s. Though lately, I've been rewinding that Moroccos song quitre a bit. Probably the only low-light amazginly comes from the only band I was aware of previously: The Slits. If you want to inspire some ladies to pick up instruments, I think this tape should really do the trick! Any sexist remark pertaining to their ability to attain songwriting jam awesomeness will be silenced but this tape.

Kind of unfitting to most of the stuff we've put up on GGS, but I really want to share it with everyone (considering mail-ordering them is insanely expensive - and you know I know what it costs to release a tape). And considering it's the best thing ever. Shout out to my room-mate for actually ripping the thing and doing such a mighty fine job. Pick up those instruments, ladies - write those jams!
~AB

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Rorschach - Autopsy

Rorschach was a band from New Jersey from 1989-1993. They recently reformed and if you get the chance to see them, take it. They are unreal.

Autopsy came out on Charles Maggio's (vocals) own label, Gern Blandsten. It runs the gamut from sludgy metal infused hardcore to strange mathy, almost industrial (think Swans) punk with bizarre chord shapes and unique rhythm patterns. Rorschach, in my opinion, laid the ground work for a lot of contemporary metal/hardcore bands and is owed an incredible amount of respect. They're not an unknown band but they definitely don't get the due credit that I think they deserve. They're not just that band with that guy who went on to be in Shai Hulud.
~MK

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