Oddities and Enmities

Hiatus

2009-07-16T01:52:00.003-04:00

This blog has been/is on hiatus for a while. It contains music mini-reviews, playlists, and some videogame reviews I did for a media class in school.

More later.

Review

2008-05-09T06:11:00.000-04:00

Ecstatic Sunshine
Way
"Herrons"

Their last album Freckle Wars was often criticized for becoming monotonous as it went on, but nevertheless I think it was still something new and fantastic. This new EP takes a different approach to album structure, sporting 30 minutes of music over 3 tracks instead of 12. I think the problem here is that I’d much rather skip over a track than however many minutes of annoyingly repetitive music because I end up feeling like I’m missing something. Fortunately, the repetitiveness pays off by melding flawlessly into new movements within the songs, where you begin to hear certain elements reintroduced in different ways. I like to see albums that play out like a learning experience—teaching you one concept before moving onto the next—incorporating what you’ve learned into what you need to figure out, and though it probably isn’t too intended and more of a side effect of drone-like music, Ecstatic Sunshine work on a similar premise with Way.

MART590e - Sins of a Solar Empire

2008-05-08T07:40:00.006-04:00

Let's just go ahead and start this by saying that it should have won an award simply for its interface. Sins of a Solar Empire, developed by Ironclad Studios, bears a striking resemblance to its developers' Homeworld roots. It certainly looks and feels like Homeworld at a glance; however, it is not Homeworld. Sins of a Solar Empire is essentially a real-time 4X game.

Sins plays out in a full galaxy (or multiple galxies), drawing closer comparisons to games like Master of Orion. There are 3 races, each pegged with their own theme, boiling down to either diplomacy/colonization (Advent), economy/military (TEC), or technology/travel (Vasari). Unfortunately, there's no single-player campaign, but the game does support single-player skirmishes. The real focus is Ironclad's free online service where up to 8 players can go at it. There are probably more than 50 different game-types, some with objectives, others with the age-old prospect of beat-the-other-guy-first.

There is an alliance system similar to Master of Orion, but given the game's simple economy, I think it falls a little short. Where Homeworld had us constantly mining asteroids, Sins has a system where you build a mine on a resource and it acts like another structure in your empire, becoming upgradeable with specific research. In the game, there is metal and crystal, and a fluctuating public market where players can put their resources up for a price. This works much better in multiplayer than single-player, but also factoring in are pirates.

Pirates have a stronghold in the center of each galaxy, and are deployed throughout as bounty-hunters. Players can place bounties on one another, and the pirates take the highest bid, setting out on their mission at certain intervals. Pirates announce when they begin taking bribes, and when the bidding ends. At this point, the person with the highest bounty quickly shouts, "Oh, fuck," and does everything they can to prepare for the oncoming wave of annoying bee-like (apologies for that link) pirate fleets.

Fleets are all combat-centric. You won't find any salvage corvettes or dockable motherships in Sins. Certain ships have non-combat abilities like colonization, but this is more of a formality, as the game puts it onto both the small scout ship and a powerful capital ship. I mean, it has to be in there somewhere, right?

One of the most interesting parts of the game is that each race gets a mega-weapon. Advent get a propaganda cannon, which when fired at a specific planet, adjusts its loyalty (plus or minus depending on if it's a friendly or hostile planet). Vasari have a portal which warps in ships from around the universe. TEC have the coolest mega-weapon, though. The Novalith Cannon. It fires a destructive beam across the entire fucking universe, capable of hitting absolutely any planet.

The game has a lot going for it, but its design is not terribly deep. In fact, you may find yourself at the end of the tech tree, wondering, "That's it?" The genius behind it is in how well everything opposes one another. The game isn't rock-paper-scissors, it isn't how fast someone can build something, and it isn't about how many asteroids you can snatch up from the get-go. There's a crafty way around any obstacle, and according checks and balances.

All in all: Pirates will fuck your shit up, big time.

December 04, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2008-02-03T15:27:00.001-05:00

01. Cinemechanica - Brain Trap - The Martial Arts (Hello Sir 2006)
02. Watchers - (We've Got) A Witness - Vampire Driver (Gern Blandsten 2007)
03. White Rainbow - Mystic Prism - Prism of the Eternal Now (Kranky 2007)
04. 33.3 - Quilted Giraffe - Self-Titled (Aesthetics 1999)
05. Unwound - Nervous Energy - Fake Train (Kill Rock Stars 1993)
06. Fursaxa - Black Haw - Alone in the Dark Wood (Eclipse 2007)
07. Black Swan - Altered - Demo (Self-Released 2007)
08. Blank Dogs - In a Web - Sweet Rot (Self-Released 2007)
09. The Units - I-night - Warm Moving Bodies (415 1979)
10. Desperate Bicycles - Holidays - New Cross, New Cross (Refill 1978)
11. Dow Jones and the Industrials - Can't Stand the Midwest - Self-Titled EP (Hardly Music 1980)
12. Factums - The Night is Freedom - Alien Native (Siltbreeze 2007)
13. A-Frames - Black Forest III - Black Forest (Sub Pop 2005)
14. The Pink Noise - Wicked Wasteland/Peter Pan World - Soundtrack (Self-Released 2007)
15. The Anals - Wake Up, You're Dead - Self-Titled 7" (Phil Scrotum 2006)
16. TV Ghost - Atomic Rain - Atomic Rain (Die Stasi 2007)
17. Daniel Striped Tiger - Disconnection - Capital Cities (Clean Plate 2007)
18. Envy - Thousand Scars - Abyssal (Temporary Residence 2007)
19. Ashtray Navigations - Hey Sunflower Motherfucker - Four More Raga Moods (Ikuisuus 2006)
20. Mouthus - Armies Between - Saw a Halo (Load 2007)
21. GHQ - Untitled 4 - Seven Sisters (Self-Released 2007)
22. Lorelei - Quiet Staid Debt - Everyone Must Touch the Stove (Slumberland 1994)
23. No Neck Blues Band - Live Your Myth in Grease - Qvaris (5RC 2005)
24. Racoo-oo-oon - Black Branches - Behold Secret Kingdom (Release the Bats 2007)
25. The Skull Defekts - Unholy Drums Are Singing - Blood Spirits and Drums Are Singing (Conspiracy 2007)
26. The Music Tapes - What the Single Made the Needle Sing - 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad (Merge 1999)
27. Anne Laplantine - Comment c'est a la Radio - Nordheim (Groom 1999)
28. Aphid Ant Constructions - For Fiery Hearts - Originary Presents (Shake Got the Beets 2004)

November 20, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2008-02-03T02:25:00.000-05:00

01. The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick - Goat (Touch and Go 1991)
02. The National Acrobat - Triangular Wheel - TNA: The Complete Recordings (Initial 2004)
03. These Arms Are Snakes - Deer Lodge - Easter (Jade Tree 2006)
04. Amanda Woodward - Dans le Cas Ou les Flammes - La Décadence de la Décadence (Level-Plane 2004)
05. An Arrow in Flight - One Bold Stroke from Right to Left - Filling the Sky (Coldbringer 2004)
06. Ampere - Wormwood, Radiation - Split LP w/ Sinaloa (Ebullition 2006)
07. Black Eyes - Some Boys - Shut Up, I Never (Dischord 2002)
08. Former Members of Alfonsin - Itty Bitty - Split LP w/ Project Hate (Phyte 1998)
09. Fag Static - Another Day Another Name - Demo (Self-Released 2007)
10. Thank God - It's Like Fire on Fire - Split 10" w/ Monarcs (Mashnote 2006)
11. Jacob and I - Shadout Maps 3 - Shadout Maps (Self-Released 2007)
12. Hand-FED Babies - Simon - Self-Titled EP (5nakefork 2005)
13. The Creeping Nobodies - Red Weather - Augurs & Auspices (Deleted Art 2007)
14. Matias - Only My Hands Went Free - The Split Leaf EP (Self-Released 2007)
15. Tree Creature - Molten Tropics - Odyssey (Barbarian Tapes 2007)
16. Fur Elise - Ghost Tropic - The Pines (Stickfigure 2007)
17. Giant Lion - Children - Nature Split (Deadbird 2007)
18. Parade - Slow Tuesday - The P EP (Self-Released 2004)

November 13, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2008-02-03T01:42:00.000-05:00

01. 33.3 - Latex Matrix - Self-Titled (Aesthetics 1999)
02. Telegraph Melts - Indigo Azure Cyan - Illium (Absolutely Kosher 1999)
03. Tulsa Drone - The Plague - Songs From a Mean Season (Perpetual Motion Machine/Dry Country Records 2007)
04. Wata - Angel - She's So Heavy (Diwphalanx 2007)
05. Ai Aso - Islands - She's So Heavy (Diwphalanx 2007)
06. Miscarriage - Untitled - Infected Orgasm (Heavy Psych 2007)
07. Arab on Radar - 7.2 - Stolen Singles (ThreeOneG 2003)
08. Gay Beast - Mama, Wrap My Coffin In The A.I.D.S. Quilt Cuz It's Cold In Hell - Disrobics (Release the Bats 2007)
09. Rolo Tomassi - C is for Calculus - Self-Titled (Holy Roar 2006)
10. Belong - Red Velvet or Nothing - October Language (Carpark 2006)
11. Small Sails - Corners - Similar Anniversaries (Other Electricites 2007)
12. Japandi - 3 - Tour CD (Self-Released 2003?)
13. Library Tapes - Leaves Abstract In A Village Plunged Into Mourning (Feat. Colleen) - Feeilngs for Something Lost (Resonant 2006)
14. Ghastly City Sleep - Suchness - Self-Titled (Robotic Empire 2007)
15. The Wind-Up Bird - He Waited and Waited, and Now, at Last, in the Stillest Hour of Night, the Sounds Got Busy Once Again - The One Am Radio / Wind Up Bird Split (Alone/Paramnesia 2002)
15. Resplendent - Stately & Graceful - Am I Free? I Am Free (Mixx Tape 2005)
16. Tom Burbank - The Chop - Famous First Words (Planet µ 2006)
17. Kemialliset Ystävät - Superhimmeli - Self-Titled (Fonal 2007)
18. Corsican Paintbrush - Mutable Earth - Aquarian Hymns (Digitalis 2007)
19. Talibam! - Lunch Break At Naan - Ordination of the Globetrotting Conscripts (Azul Discografia 2007)
20. Lichens - Vevor of Agassou - Omns (Kranky 2007)
21. Polliné - Continue a Hymn - Parallel Canvas (Boxcar 2000)
22. Siouxsie - One Mile Below - Mantaray (Universal/Decca 2007)

November 06, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2008-02-03T00:51:00.000-05:00

I've been way behind on posting these. At the very least, it'll increase my hits from Google, right? Whether or not you actually listen to this shit is irrelevant.

01. Alasehir - Nazca - The Stone Sentinels (Archive 2007)
02. MV & EE - Get Right Church - Eye in the Pines (Child of Microtones 2007)
03. Red Favorite - Routine - Self-Titled (Spirit of Orr 2006)
04. Coach Fingers - Late Night Westtown - No Files on Frank (Locust 2006)
05. Matta Llama - Thetan Cruise - Self-Titled (Mad Monk 2007)
06. Alligator Crystal Moth - Mother Stars - Magic Swamp Kingdom (Foxglove 2005)
07. Plastic Crimewave Sound - Far In-Out - No Wonderland (Eclipse 2006)
08. Indian Jewelry - Lesser Snake - Invase Exotics (Monitor 2006)
09. Softwar - Psychic Shake - Self-Titled (Digitalis 2007)
10. Spectre Folk - Italian Tv 1 (Don Cherry) - Papa Smurf Smiles Down On Us From Heaven (Abandon Ship 2007)
11. The Phantom Family Halo - Electric God in Your Galaxy - The Legend of Black Six (EMI 2007)
12. Voice of the Seven Woods - Second Transition - Self-Titled (Twisted Nerve 2007)
13. Amps for Christ - AFC Tower Song - The People At Large (5RC 2004)
14. Jackie-O Motherfucker - Northern Line - Liberation (Road Cone 2001/ATP 2005)
15. Grails - Soft Temple - Burning Off Impurities (Temporary Residence 2007)
16. Gutevolk - Ao To Kuro - Tiny People Singing Over the Rainbow (Noble 2007)
17. Anna Ranger - Guitar - Above and Under Ground (Plastiq Musiq 2005)
18. Rocketship - People I Know - Hey, Hey, Girl (The Bus Stop 1994)
19. Cruise Control Pills - Here for the Show - Self-Titled (Bees Make Honey 1996)
20. The Music Tapes - Song for the Death of Parents - 1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad (Merge 1999)
21. Hi Ho, Six Shooter! - It Don't Mean a Thang, If it Ain't Got That Twang - A Brief Discourse On Death and Dying; or, the Gravedigger's Muddy Shovel (No Signal House 2005)
22. A Plan So Crazy It Just Might Work - Trio (Rebels in the New World) - Self-Titled (Self-Released 2004)
23. Year Future - The Hidden Hand - The Hidden Hand (GSL 2004)

MART 590e - Raw Danger!

2008-02-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

So I'm taking this Media Arts class where one of our assignments is to play a video game every week and then write about it. Might as well use this blog since it already exists, so yeah.

This week: Raw Danger!, a PS2 budget title from Agetec.

I first heard about this game on the Something Awful forums, and what I'm writing here simply echoes much of what's already been said.

Raw Danger! is actually the sequel to 2003's Disaster Report, a game where players had to escape a city hit by an earthquake. This time around, however, it's all about escaping the safest and most advanced city in the world as it faces a flood disaster. In order to survive, players have to avoid water and keep their body temperature up while climbing, jumping, and crawling their way to safety, all while keeping an ear out for emergency broadcasts and crossing paths with other flood victims. Sound familiar? Oh, right.

First of all, Raw Danger! does more things right than it does wrong, and that's what makes it special™.

You can play as 6 different characters whose paths all cross, and where the decisions you make affect the lives of each character. Do you help your coworker or do you leave her to drown because she has an annoying voice? The choices can actually be much deeper than that, but they don't have to be. The sheer amount of options is impressive. The game can be the ultimate be-a-dick simulator or white-knight story, and while certain games never escape these two extremes, Raw Danger! allows for a lot of grey area simply due to the overlapping stories. One character may leave someone to die, but as you play the next character, she may find the co-worker from another perspective, and have to make a decision based on some other character's choices. It doesn't necessarily play out as if you have to continually outsmart yourself the entire game, but it does flirt with the concept a bit.

The most interesting aspect of the game? None of it involves combat. You explore the city, talk to people, drive vehicles, create makeshift survival tools from items you scavenge throughout the game, solve puzzles to reach safety, and (oh, no) collect fragments of your memory to rebuild your identity. Okay, so that's one strike against the game.

Mechanically, though, there isn't much to argue about. The biggest complaint is the lack of polish and production value. Oh, and the localization is kind of funny:

In the future, everyone in America is blonde. Call me a temporal conformist.

Anyway, Mass Effect can go to hell. Raw Danger! is the deepest game I've played this year. You want character interaction and choices with consequences? You want branching paths and multiple endings for EACH character in the game? Then hop to, and drop $10 on Raw Danger!

Also, I didn't really mean that about Mass Effect. I'm sorry, baby.

Special 90s Hardcore Fundraiser Show Playlist

2007-11-05T17:46:00.000-05:00

A long playlist. I omitted the NYHC and East Bay stuff and focused on a lot of lesser known bands. I also ran out of time to play the rest of the Council Records and Bloodlink stuff. And apologies to Eurich for not playing them.

01. Antischism - Scream - Discography (Prank 1998)
02. Initial State - Feast - Abort the Soul (Prank 1998)
03. .fuckingcom - Earth Mover - Self-Titled (Prank 1998)
04. A//Political - Free Trade in Death - Planting the Seeds of Revolution (Crasshole 1997)
05. Iconoclast - Battlefields - Discography (Ebullition 2002)
06. Los Crudos - Illegal y Que (Live Studio Session) - Discografia (Lengua Armada 2001)
07. Insult to Injury - Traitor - The Things Kids Say (Three Day Hero 199x?)
08. Tonka - Butterknife - Stupid By the Grace of God (Assorted Porkchops 1991)
09. Unherd - Blue - Self-Titled (Assorted Porkchops 1993)
10. Assfactor 4 - Deliri-Loco - Self-Titled (Old Glory 1995)
11. Salvo Rain - Jonsong - Shanked 7" (Self-Released 1995)
12. Marion - Favorite Patient - Self-Titled (KFLR-USA 199x?)
13. Eagle Bravo - You Said It, Chairman - 1/2 (Gridsector 199x?)
14. Cornelius - Terraforming - Discography (Assorted Porkchops 2001)
15. Palatka - Another Sort of Blacklist - End of Irony (No Idea 1999)
16. End of the Century Party - Ask My Exorcist or My School Psychiatrist - Discography 1993-1999 (Coaxt 2004)
17. In/Humanity - Super Plan B - Your Future Lies Smoldering at the Feet of the Robots (Stereonucleosis/Coalition/Prank 1997)
18. Index for Potential Suicide - How To Build a Silencer for a Semiautomatic Weapon - Sex, Violence, Whatever (Alone 2005)
19. End of the Line - Guilt - Self-Titled (Ebullition 1993)
20. Antioch Arrow - Somba - In Love With the Jetts/Lady is a Cat (Gravity 1997)
21. Clikatat Ikatowi - Too Simple - Orchestrated and Conducted By (Gravity 1996)
22. Angel Hair - Space Ape - Pregnant with the Senior Class (Gravity 1997)
23. Heroin - Meaningless - Self-Titled CD (Gravity 1997)
24. Honeywell - Expectafeelis - Electric Kool-Aid (Monotone Supersounds 1994)
25. Mohinder - To Satisfy - Everything (GSL 2001)
26. The VSS - Lunar Weight - Nervous Circuits (GSL 1997)
27. Drive Like Jehu - Caress - Self-Titled (Cargo 1991)
28. Swing Kids - Forty Three Seconds - Discography (Three One G 1998)
29. Guyver-One - Nine Pints - Obsessed With... (Inchworm 1996)
30. Universal Order of Armageddon - Desperate Motion - Self-Titled (Gravity 1994)
31. Gauze - Essa Hoi Sassa - Kao O Aratte Denaoshite Koi (XXX 1997)
32. Uutuus - Maailman Politiikkaa - Systeemin Rattaissa EP (Genet 1993)
33. Unhinged - Won't Be My Shelter - Resisting the Murder of Self EP (Nabate 1993)
34. Nausea - Battened - The Punk Terrorist Anthology Vol. 1 (Alternative Tentacles 2001)
35. Doom - Days Go By - Fuck Peaceville (Profane Existence 1995)
36. Hiatus - No Answers To Lead Me - Old Fashioned Shit for Consumers (Ataque Sonoro 1995)
37. Spazz - Not Even Phased - Crush, Kill, Destroy (Slap-a-Ham 1999)
38. Capitalist Casualties - Worker - Self-Titled (Slap-a-Ham 1997)
39. Econochrist - Behave - Discography (Ebullition 1999)
40. Code 13 - Criminal Empire - Complete Discography 1994-2000 (Havoc 2000)
41. Destroy - The Revolution Will Not Be Analog - Necropolis (Sound Pollution 1994)
42. Man is the Bastard - Volatile Cocktail - Abundance of Guns (S.O.A. 1992)
43. Rorschach - Lightning Strikes Twice - Autopsy (Gern Blandsten 1995)
44. Deadguy - Apparatus - Fixation on a Coworker (Victory 1995)
45. Born Against - Mount the Pavement - Patriotic Battle Hymns (Kill Rock Stars 2003)
46. His Hero is Gone - Automation - Monument to Thieves (Prank 1998)
47. Infest - Terminal Nation - No Man's Slave (Deep Six 2002)
48. Phobia - Blood Sport - Means of Existence (Slap-a-Ham 1998)
49. Crossed Out - Crown of Thorns - 1990-1993 (Slap-a-Ham 2000)
50. Amber Inn - Leave With Dignity - All Roads Still Lead Home (Ebullition 1998)
51. Torches to Rome - Young Arsenal - (Ebullition 1997)
52. Portraits of Past - Implications of a Sinkhole Personality - Self-Titled (Ebullition 1995)
53. Reversal of Man - Pieces of Eight - Discography CD (Schematics 2005)
54. The Nation of Ulysses - You're My Miss Washington, D.C. - 13-Point Program to Destroy America (Dischord 1991)
55. Hoover - Distant - The Lurid Traversal of Route 7 (Dischord 1999)
56. Jawbox - Tracking - Novelty (Dischord 1992)
57. Circus Lupus - Pacifier - Super Genius (Dischord 1992)
58. Fugazi - Smallpox Champion - In on the Kill Taker (Dischord 1991)
59. Unwound - New Energy - The Future of What (Kill Rock Stars 1995)
60. Four Hundred Years - Thicker Than Water - Suture and Other Songs (Lovitt 1999)
61. Frodus - The Misaligned Men of Flomation - Conglomerate International (Tooth & Nail 1998)
62. Sleepy Time Trio - Dear Hands, - Memory Minus (Lovitt 1998)
63. The Monorchid - Distortion - Let Them Eat (Lovitt 1996)
64. Young Ginns - Score - Self-Titled (Honey Bear 1998)
65. (Young) Pioneers - We Don't Believe in Criminals - Free the (Young) Pioneers Now! (Lookout 1998)
66. Anasarca - East Bunk Hill - Discography 1994-1997 (Second Nature Recordings 2001)
67. Policy of Three - 1 Percent - An Anthology (Ebullition 2005)
68. Frail - Obscene Jigsaw Puzzle - Make Your Own Noise CD (Bloodlink 2000)
69. Current - Continued Rantings - Discography (Council 1998)

October 30, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2007-11-02T17:42:00.000-04:00

01. Woods - Silence is Golden - How to Survive In/In the Woods (Release the Bats 2006)
02. Jack Rose - Kensington Blues - Kensington Blues (Tequila Sunrise 2005)
03. The Tower Recordings - Lunar Discotheque - Furniture Music for Evening Shuttles (Siltbreeze 1998)
04. Ignatz - Degradation of the Best - They are Quiet as Mice (Bennifer Editions 2006)
05. Blues Control - Frankie's Problem - Self-Titled (Holy Mountain 2007)
06. Noxagt - Histrionix - Self-Titled (Load 2006)
07. Times New Viking - Lion and Oil - Present the Paisley Reich (Siltbreeze 2007)
08. Death Sentence: PANDA! - New China Blazers - Live Recording
09. My Cat is an Alien - C1 - Landscapes of an Electric City/Hypnotic Spaces (Ecstatic Peace 2002)
10. Magik Markers - Body Rot - Boss (Ecstatic Peace 2007)
11. Pink & Brown - Black Pearl - Shame Fantasy II (Load 2003)
12. So So Many White White Tigers - We Shoot Arrows - Self-Titled (Weird Forest 2005)
13. Night Wounds - Allergic to Heat - Allergic to Heat (Corleone 2007)
14. Epic45 - The Stars In Spring - May Your Heart Be the Map (Make Mine Music 2007)
15. Sharks Keep Moving - Cashmere, Washington - Desert Strings and Drifters (Second Nature Recordings 1998)
16. Japancakes - Double Jointed - Giving Machines (Darla 2007)
17. Landing - Loft - Brocade (Strange Attractors 2005)
18. July Skies - Coastal Stations - Dreaming of Spires (Rocket Girl 2002)
19. Discolor - Sparkle Plenty - III (Mimaze/Lizard 2001)
20. Koushik - Battle Rhymes for Battle Times - Be With (Stones Throw 2005)
21. Haiku D'Etat - Coup de Theatre - Coup de Theatre (Decon 2004)
22. Dr. Octagon - Aliens - The Return of Dr. Octagon (OCD 2006)
23. Dabrye - Piano - Two/Three (Ghostly 2006)
24. Hieroglyphics - It's About Time - Over Time (Hieroglyphics Imperium 2007)
25. Yellow6 - I Loved You More Before I Knew You Loved Me - Painted Sky (Resonant 2007)
26. Arc Lab - Flood Case - One Five Zero (n5MD 2007)
27. The Octopus Project - Mmaj - Hello, Avalanche (Peek-A-Boo 2007)
28. Flying Lotus - Massage Situation - Reset (Warp 2007)
29. Health - Lost Time - Self-Titled (Lovepump United 2007)

October 23, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2007-10-24T16:10:00.000-04:00

Download, um, this, uh, show, um...

01. The Field Mice - Fabulous Friend - Snowball (Sarah 1989)
02. Paddington Distortion Combo - Humming Lost Song - Songs in D-struction (actionpop! 2006)
03. Blank Dogs - It Was - The Doorbell Fire (Sweet Rot 2007)
04. Tar...Feathers - Mother of Three - Rumours Travel Fast (Release the Bats 2007)
05. Blockhead - Insomniac Olympics - Music By Cavelight (Ninja Tune 2004)
06. Pre - Scenes from a 1963 Los Angeles Love-in - Epic Fits (Skin Graft 2007)
07. Coachwhips - Thee Alarm - Bangers vs Fuckers (Narnack Records 2003)
08. Six Finger Satellite - Dark Companion - Severe Exposure (Sub Pop 1995)
09. This Moment in Black History - Tape Don't Lie - It Takes a Nation of Assholes to Hold Us Back (Cold Sweat 2006)
10. Burning Star Core - Operator Dead...Post Abandoned - Operator Dead...Post Abandoned (No Quarter 2007)
11. Growing - Lightfoot - Vision Swim (Troubleman Unlimited 2007)
12. Tim Hecker - Aerial Light-Pollution Orange - Mirages (Alien8 2004)
13. Heller - St. Jean - Soundtrack for Variable Fiction (Ytterbium 2006)
14. Anne Laplantine - Pour - Nordheim (Gooom 2000)
15. cLOUDDEAD - 3 Twenty - Ten (Mush 2004)
16. Bohren & der Club of Gore - Crimson Ways - Black Earth (Ipecac 2004)
17. Sublux - Trail Guide to the Soul - Becoming Innocuous EP (Selective Focus 2005)
18. The Robot Ate Me - We Ate Each Other - They Ate Themselves (Swim Slowly 2002)
19. ES - Sateenkaarisuudelma II - Sateenkaarisuudelma (K-RAA-K 2005)
20. Lau Nau - Kivi Murenee Jolla Kavelee - Kuutarha (Locust 2005)
21. Hala Strana - Wedding of the Blind - Heave the Gambrel Roof (Music Fellowship 2007)
22. The North Sea - Take It From Me Brother Moses - Exquisite Idols (Type 2007)
23. Area C - Outside the Flaming Body - Haunt (Last Visible Dog 2007)
24. Paavoharju - Tavataan 12-7-2004 - Tuote Akatemia/Unien Savonlinna EP (Miasmah 2006)
25. Aidan Baker - I - I Will Always and Forever Hold You in My Heart and Mind (Small Doses 2007)

October 16, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2007-10-20T00:48:00.000-04:00

01. Lungfish - Organ Harvest - Indivisible (Dischord 1997)
02. Echo is Your Love - Peace Song - Humansize (If-Society 2006)
03. Milemarker - Virtual Sex - Ominosity (Eyeball 2005)
04. Cinemechanica - Bruckheimer - The Martial Arts (Hello Sir 2006)
05. Wooden Shjips - We Ask You to Ride - Self-Titled (Holy Mountain 2007)
06. Death Chants - For Good - Self-Titled (Time-Lag 2006)
07. Six Organs of Admittance - Attar - The Sun Awakens (Drag City 2006)
08. The Durutti Column - Birthday Present - Sporadic Three (Kooky 2007)
09. Ecstatic Sunshine - Tuscan - Freckle Wars (Carpark 2006)
10. Tar... Feathers - Build Me a Wreck - Make Way for the Ocean Floor to Fall to the Surface (Adagio830 2006)
11. Odawas - Beware - Raven and the White Night (Jagjaguwar 2007)
12. Espers - Mansfield and Cyclops - II (Drag City 2006)
13. Letters Letters - We'll Make Our Home - Self-Titled (Type 2007)
14. Arve Henriksen - Black Mountain - Strjon (Rune Grammofon 2007)
15. Badgerlore - Duet - We Are All Hopeful Farmers, We Are All Scared Rabbits (Xeric 2007)
16. Fennesz + Sakamoto - Mono - Cendre (Touch 2007)
17. Odd Nosdam - Hollow Me - Untitled Three (Anticon 2005)
18. White Rainbow - Warm Clicked Fruit - Prism of the Eternal Now (Kranky 2007)
19. Zaimph - Jeweled Hand - Mirage of the Other (Gipsy Sphinx 2007)
20. Stars of the Lid - Another Ballad for Heavy Lids - And Their Refinement of the Decline (Kranky 2007)
21. The Skull Defekts - The Secret - Blood Spirits and Drums Are Singing (Conspiracy 2007)
22. Psychic Ills - Vice - Early Violence (The Social Registry 2006)
23. Mouthus - Armies Between - Saw a Halo (Ecstatic Peace! 2007)
24. GHQ - Untitled 1 - Seven Sisters (Arbitrary Signs 2007)
25. Shearing Pinx - Blood Corridor - Poison Hands (Gilgongo 2007)

Wildebeest

2007-10-16T01:42:00.000-04:00

It seems like every day more and more punk rock kids are picking up acoustic guitars and writing folk songs. I see 2007 as a sort of culmination of this since it's had some pretty major releases from Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music and Tim Barry of Avail. Of course, there's always Plan-It-X Records for all your folk punk needs and the kids down in Gainesville who used to be in hardcore bands.

Matthew Winn (Wildebeest) is a musician who started out in Athens, GA and moved up to Brooklyn. I first came across his music thanks to another singer-songwriter who's also familiar with the quaint, southern town. A lot of his music borders the folk punk lines, but the gems are his more understated songs like "Tractors" where the real folk influence takes over even when it's played live with his band. Don't get me wrong, the trumpet, drums, and feedback are wonderful and deafeningly pleasing, but there's a more intimate feeling to his solo songs. So far he's released a full-length and a couple very limited EPs that you'd be lucky to get your hands on. His upcoming album Dead Pets was recorded in a cabin in the Catskill mountains, but until that is let loose, we're going to have to settle for some awesome live performances.

"Host and Hostage"
"Tractors"
"Tractors" (Solo)
"Animals"

From If You Make It:

By the way, do you hear some Unwound in that or is it just me?

Review

2007-10-14T21:58:00.001-04:00

Alaska the Tiger
The Truth About Earthquakes
RIYL: Slint, Unwound, Shellac, Lungfish
"Hater, Lover, Fucker"

Alaska the Tiger are a recently defunct band from Columbia, South Carolina. Hopefully you got around to seeing them play because otherwise you missed out. Big time. Columbia has a long history of being bashed for lack of a good rock scene, but the truth is that the city has always had incredible bands. Of course, my word is only as good as far back as the mid 90s go with bands like Assfactor 4 (All right, Tonka and Unherd. Anyone remember Marion?) because that's about as far back as I'm familiar with the music scene here. But living in California, names like In/Humanity still stuck out among our Drive Like Jehus and Antioch Arrows. And still today, Columbia continues to be rewarded and adorned by bands like Alaska the Tiger (to the ignorance of most it sometimes seems).

The Truth About Earthquakes is a 3-song EP that sounds like a whole bunch of my favorite bands, and that always puts a smile on my face. Slint and Unwound are no doubt the inspiration for the band's gloomy sort of indie rock sound. Alaska the Tiger are one of the more unique bands I've heard from Columbia, but in way of bands with their influences stemming from Unwound (as well as bands whose members write for the Free Times), I treat you to Death Becomes Even the Maiden, another Columbia great with a lot of history behind it.

3 songs may not be much to discuss, but it's plenty of room for a band to let out anything they want. The overwhelming clutter of buzz and feedback, the quiet-but-tense vocals and loud-but-melodic high energy music recalls this history. It really doesn't matter if Alaska the Tiger don't play something we’ve never heard before. It’s people playing what they want to play, and it’s really fucking good. Alaska the Tiger are another proud Columbia memoir, and The Truth About Earthquakes is a conspiracy to make you smile.

October 09, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2007-10-13T17:33:00.000-04:00

01. Efterklang - Mirador - Parades (The Leaf Label 2007)
02. Mom - The Gradual Instant - Little Brite (Pancakes for Mattie 2007)
03. Woods - How To Survive In - How To Survive In/In The Woods (Release the Bats 2006)
04. Kattoo - Place 8 - Places (Hymen 2004)
05. Khonnor - An Ape Is Loose - Handwriting (Type 2004)
06. Mahogany - Mantissa - Connectivity! (Darla 2006)
07. Chihei Hatakeyama - Towards a Tranquil Marsh - Minima Moralia (Kranky 2006)
08. Howl On, Despicable Wolves - I Just Want Us To Be Clean - Self Titled EP (Makeshift Origami 2006)
09. The Deep and Holy Sea - The Warning Light of the Moon - Demo (Self Released 2006)
10. Hop Along, Queen Ansleis - Bride & Groom Hot Air Balloon - Freshman Year (Self Released 2005)
11. Jason Choi and the Sea - What'd Ya Call Me - Sampilation (Team Grizzly 2007)
12. Aphid Ant Constructions - Rest Assured - Demo (Self Released 2005)
13. Flower Travellin' Band - Satori Part II - Satori (Atlantic 1971)
14. Raccoo-oo-oon - Antler Mask - Behold Secret Kingdom (Release the Bats 2007)
15. Watchers - S.I.S.I.A.I. - Vampire Driver (Gern Blandsten 2007)
16. Pivot - Incidental Backcloth - Make Me Love You (Sensory Projects 2005)
17. Dirty Three - This Night - Cinder (Touch & Go 2005)
18. Egypt Is The Magick # - The Astronomer's Stone - How Many Pieces Of The Puzzle Can The Mind Go Without? (Sound@1 2000)
19. La Rumeur - A Minuit L'égorgeur - Nous sommes les premiers... (EMI 2003)
20. Mindflayer - Azaglians Troupe Hat Ribbons Fite Dance - It's Always 1999 (Load 2004)
21. No Neck Blues Band - Boreal Gluts - Qvaris (5RC 2005)
22. Luck of Aleia - Burning Bridges - Six Songs (Caulfield 1999)
23. Mainspring - Primrose - Discography (Cass 1998?)
24. Honeywell - It's a Wonderful Life - Industry (Mollycoddle 1994)
25. Antioch Arrow - Space Age - In Love With the Jetts (Gravity 1994)
26. Pre - I Met Her in the Bin - Epic Fits (Skin Graft 2007)
27. Health - Crimewave - Self Titled (Lovepump United 2007)
28. Letters Letters - Between the Seams - Self Titled (Type 2007)

Reviews

2007-10-06T23:25:00.000-04:00

A few more mini-reviews.

Moving Units
Hexes for Exes
RIYL: The Rapture, The Faint, You Are The Drum, Death From Above 1979
"Blood Beats"

A mix of post-punk and dancy indie rock, Hexes for Exes is the next logical step for the band. While it no longer relies on a minimalist charm and is more The Faint than ever, the album still fits right along with everything Moving Units have released since their ThreeOneG debut. To put it bluntly, they're one of the few “dance punk” bands who don't immediately stand out as garbage. Compared to bands like VHS or Beta or Death From Above 1979, Moving Units avoid rock star ripoff status because they aren't a carbon-copy of their influences. That, and they just have so many of them. Sure, there's Gang of Four, ESG, Pixies, The Cure, Daft Punk ad nauseum, but listen closely enough and you can hear a little bit of Can, Wire, and even Captain Beefheart. Moving Units have been a long time favorite of the Southern California scene, but then again Palatka's "The Truth About San Diego" sums it up pretty well.

Jens Lekman
Night Falls Over Kortedala
RIYL: El Perro Del Mar, Belle and Sebastian, Architecture in Helsinki, Morrissey
"The Opposite Of Hallelujah"

Either you like him or you don't, and I doubt that will ever change. Night Falls Over Kortedala is all and more that we've come to expect from Jens Lekman, and like his previous albums, there are small shimmers I can only describe as incredible whereas everything else tries desperately to remain a complete bore. There's some appeal in that, though. It's why people like Belle and Sebastian probably. The difference is that Night Falls Over Kortedala is playful with its depression. Piano, ukulele, wordsmithing—dig it.

Chicago Afrobeat Project
(A) Move to Silent Unrest
RIYL: Fela Kuti, Antibalas, The Budos Band, Nomo
"Superstar Pt. 7"

Afrobeat is working its way closer into the mainstream every year, and 2007 is no exception having seen so many releases. CAbP keep a bright spotlight on their influences while dancing around a lot of obscure genres. Jeff Parker from Tortoise is noted as working with the band frequently, but since they're from Chicago, it's pretty much a given that a Tortoise member is somehow involved. Silly me, thinking that the similarities were a coincidence. Most of the songs have long runtimes, but they transition so much that you'll never feel worn out. (A) Move to Silent Unrest is simply the best orchestrated Afrobeat album of the year.

October 02, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2007-10-06T23:05:00.000-04:00

Not a whole lot in the way of "oddities" this time, but hopefully I snuck in a few things you've never heard before.

01. Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain - Ocean Rain (Korova 1984)
02. Fursaxa - Alone in the Dark Wood - Alone in the Dark Wood (Eclipse 2007)
03. Hrvatski - Paint it Black - Swarm & Dither (Planet Mu 2002)
04. Islaja - Muukalai-silma - Ulual YYY (Fonal 2007)
05. 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (International Artists 1966)
06. Dead Moon - Running Scared - Echoes of the Past (Sub Pop 2006)
07. The Boggs - Forts - Forts (Gigantic 2007)
08. Shotmaker - Shortwave Radio - The Complete Discography 1993-1996 (Troubleman Unlimited 2000)
09. By the End of Tonight - If That Diamond Ring Don't Sing - The Imaginary EP (Temporary Residence Limited 2006)
10. Lullatone - Sleepytime Samba - Plays Pajama Pop Pour Vous (Audio Dregs 2006)
11. You Are The Drum - Take Out the Trash (My Friend) - Step In, Step Out (Self-Released 2000?)
12. The Appleseed Cast - Ring Out the Warning Bell - Low Level Owl Vol. 2 (Deep Elm 2001)
13. When Clouds Attack - Ebb and Flow - Self-Titled EP (Infidel 2007)
14. Múm - Moon Pulls - Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (Fat Cat 2007)
15. Picastro - Friend of Mine - Whore Luck (Polyvinyl 2007)
16. Skallander - Haala - Self-Titled (Type 2007)
17. Caribou - After Hours - Andorra (Merge 2007)
18. Ghastly City Sleep - Ice Creaks - Self-Titled (Robotic Empire 2007)
19. Alaska the Tiger - Self-Portrait of a Drinker - The Truth About Earthquakes (Self-Released 2007)
20. American Football - The One WIth the Tambourine - Self-Titled EP (Polyvinyl 1998)
21. Heart Monster - Communities - Discography (Self-Released 2007)
22. Tiny Masters of Today - Radio Riot - Bang Bang Boom Cake (Great Society 2007)
23. M83 - By The Kiss - Digital Shades Vol. 1 (Mute 2007)
24. Dälek - Trampled Brethren - From Filthy Tongue of Gods and Griots (Ipecac 2002)
25. El-P - The Day After Yesterday - Collecting the Kid (Definitive Jux 2004)
26. Shape of Broad Minds - Buddafly Away - Craft of the Lost Art (Lex 2007)
27. Mono - Memorie Dal Futuro - A Collection of EPs: 2000-2007 (Temporary Residence Limited 2007)

Reviews

2007-10-03T09:14:00.000-04:00

Jason Anderson
Tonight
RIYL: The Hold Steady, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Bruce Springsteen
"Jonesboro"

Jason Anderson is a man who you may know from his 2005 The Wreath or, more likely, his work in the band Wolf Colonel. Forget about him. The lo-fi Jason Anderson who threw in a catchy song here and there as a pleasantry? This ain't it. This is a Jason Anderson you've never heard. Sure, you can still experience his high energy shows, his dedicated fan following, and his general avoidance of playing on a stage, but these new songs are indeed just that. Sort of. They're a different sound with the same feeling. The writhing gist of an old acquaintance. A new familiarity. Is Tonight borderline second-rate blue-collar rock? Maybe. But is it still fun as hell? You bet.

M83
Digital Shades Vol. 1
RIYL: Brian Eno, Fennesz, Boards of Canada, Air, Múm
"Coloring the Void"

Hippiegazer extraordinaire Anthony Gonzalez is probably the most namedropped artist when it comes to present-day shoegaze, and let's face it: It's because he's really awesome. New or old, fresh or stale, Digital Shades Vol. 1 is the return-to-form album for M83. Where Before The Dawn Heals Us radiated anthemic charisma, Digital Shades Vol. 1 might as well be the new replacement soundtrack for the upcoming final cut edition of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. With this album, we're returning to what some noise bands wish they could still do with field recordings and formless song structures where the inherent appeal of fuzzy, percussionless noise as music creates some kind of dense, dramatic lull you'd only experience from nighttime hypoglycemia. No, I'm not a doctor, but I did listen to M83 last night.

Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew
Spirit If...
RIYL: Stars, Menomena, Do Make Say Think, Sunset Rubdown, Metric
"Aging Faces/Losing Places"

A solo album? I don't get it. Even though it still has members of both Broken Social Scene and friends (Feist, Stars, Emily Haines), the new-but-not-so-different title is the first in the series of "Broken Social Scene Presents" albums. Low key songs are really what define this pseudo-solo release. By striking a balance between indie pop, singer-songwriter, and post-rock, the album has a sort of high-production, but lo-fi charm. I'm a sucker for texture added into songs, whether it's a ship creaking as it goes down, number stations, or even samples as breakdowns. Especially samples as breakdowns. Now, for two big complaints about the album: 1) It's too contrived. The distraught vocals, the moody, emotional storytelling—you're not falling for this are you? 2) It's too self-indulgent. Does Kevin Drew really need the backup of Feist and Emily Haines? How can you even call this a solo effort? And remember, this is going to be a series of albums. What if the sequels suck? Oh, god. What if they don't?

September 25, 2007 Playlist - O&E

2007-09-29T22:33:00.000-04:00

This isn't the full playlist, but a good majority of it. We had a bunch of trainees in the studio, so yeah. Screamy vocals make awkward silences even more awkward.

01. Goldmund - Larrows of the Field - Corduroy Road (Type 2005)
02. Colleen - The Golden Morning Breaks - The Golden Morning Breaks (The Leaf Label 2005)
03. A.C. Marias - Just Talk - One of Our Girls (Has Gone Missing) (Mute 1999)
04. Audrey - Six Yields - Visible Forms (A Tenderversion Recording 2006)
05. Slowdive - Rutti - Pygmalion (Creation 1995)
06. Blues Control - The Blue Sheep - Self Titled (Holy Mountain 2007)
07. Echo is Your Love - Memories - 8 Hours (If Society 2002)
08. Japandi - 1 - Self Titled (Self-Released 2003?)
09. Shellac - The Admiral - At Action Park (Touch & Go 1994)
10. Lungfish - Black Helicopters - Artificial Horizon (Dischord 1998)
11. Shroomunion - Monkey Song - ADV-M9 loves ADV-M10 (Monopoly 1994)
12. Jawbox - Static - Novelty (Dischord 1992)
13. Breather Resist - As Far As Goodbyes Go - Charmer (Jade Tree 2004)
14. Merel - Waiting for a Fist Fight - Merel (Gern Blandsten 1995)
15. Book of Dead Names - Establishment of Pronunciation - The Story Unfolds (Blood of the Young 2002)
16. The VSS - Silt, etc - 22-51 (GSL 1996)
17. Torches to Rome - Young Arsenal - Self Titled (Ebullition 1998)
18. Resplendent - In My Quiet Car - Am I Free? I Am Free (Mixx Tape 2005)
19. Clikatat Ikatowi - Rise and Shine - River of Souls (Gravity 1998)
20. At The Drive-In - Heliotrope - Vaya (Fearless 1999)

Update

2007-09-29T21:35:00.000-04:00

Okay, I lied. I'm still doing a free format show. Oddities and Enmities, Tuesdays 10-Midnight. For your convenience and safety, a link to the webstream is on the right.

Since I decided to update this blog, I'll start posting things like playlists, mini album reviews, and YouTube videos of really obscure bands you haven't been cool enough to listen to until now.

May 05, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-05-05T13:10:00.000-04:00

Download this show.

This was my last show of the semester. I'm going to do a free format show during the summer and then hardcore again in the fall.

01. Wake Up Snake - Never Saw Blood - Live a Thousand Lives EP (Self Released 2007)
02. Cantwell Gomez & Jordan - Shayna Wuz Here Peeing Like a Cheetah - We Are Not at the Opera (307 Knox 2007)
03. Bikini Kill - Capri Pants - Reject All American (Kill Rock Stars 1995)
04. Building Better Bombs - Bottle Rocket - Freak Out Squares (Init 2007)
05. Apeshit - Penis on a Washcloth - Tigershark/Apeshit Split (Molsook 2007)
06. Heart Monster - Pennsylvania - Discography (Self Released 2007)
07. The Assistant - I Have a Name - The Assistant/This Ship Will Sink/Takaru Split (Waking 2006)
08. In First Person - The Beast - Lost Between Hands Held Tight (Paramnesia 2007)
09. Takaru - Ultimate - There Can Only Be None (Alone 2004)
10. Mara'akate - Tree Song - Self Titled (One Day Savior 2003)
11. Makara - Papercuts - The Antique Dream (Level Plane 2001)
12. Snapcase - Coagulate - End Transmission (Victory 2002)
13. Capsule - Luke Warm - Capsule+ (Dippy 2006)
14. Divider - At Twilight (Shock Value 2006)
15. Furnace - Astronaut - Self Titled (Shock Value 2007)
16. In Full Effect - Over There (Live at Sector 7G 2006)
17. Where It Ends - Not Ready - Resonate (Surprise Attack 2007)
18. Invade - Fuck Tradition - In Times of War/Invade Split (Eternal Hope 2006)
19. The First Step - Learning - What We Know (Rivalry 2006)
20. Die Young - Graven Images - Graven Images (Eulogy 2007)
21. The Hope Conspiracy - Fallen - Endnote (Equal Vision 2002)
22. American Nightmare - AM-PM - Background Music (Equal Vision 2002)
23. Civil Dissident - 20th Century Holocaust Pt II - Cleanse the Bacteria Compilation (Pusmort 1985)
24. Corrosion of Conformity - Kiss of Deaths - Cleanse the Bacteria Compilation (Pusmort 1985)
25. Poison Idea - Typical - Cleanse the Bacteria Compilation (Pusmort 1985)
26. 7 Seconds - We're Gonna Fight - Cleanse the Bacteria Compilation (Pusmort 1985)
27. We Are Corpses! - Sorry for Apologising - Her Breath on Glass/We Are Corpses Split (Self Released 2005?)
28. Bezout's Identity - Broad Reach - Bezout's Identity/Peter and Craig Split (Self Released 2007)
29. Sine Nomine - Sad is the Word - This Machine is Malfunctioning (Relapse 2003)
30. Tantrum - Puss Oozing - The Frontier Bursts Into View (Radar Swarm 2004)
31. Tipping Canoe - Rudder - Self Titled (Forge 2001)
32. Daniel Striped Tiger - Disconnection - Capital Cities (Clean Plate 2007)
33. The Corta Vita - Montreal - Posthumous CD EP - (Self Released 2004)
34. Off Minor - Cadaveric - Innominate (Golden Brown 2004)
35. Wilderness Medicine - The Fisherman - Demo (Self Released 2003)
36. Ten Grand - To the Library and Step On It! - Comprehensive List of Everyone Who Has Ever Done Anything Wrong to Us (Level Plane 2003)
37. Adorno - Static Flight in Old Dancing Nights - Self Titled (We Love Pandas 2007)
38. Blackout Terror - Transparent - The Shortest Distance Between Birth and Death (Self Released 199x?)
39. Code 13 - The Future is Futile - Complete Discography 1994-2000 (Havoc 2000)
40. City of Caterpillar - Maybe They'll Gnaw Right Through - Self Titled (Level Plane 2002)
41. Current - Continued Rantings - Discography (Council 1998)
42. Fugazi - Merchandise - Repeater (Dischord 1990)

April 28, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-04-28T04:53:00.000-04:00

Download this show.

This show is an interview with Peter Calautti, A.K.A. Pete. He talked about putting out a record by himself and running a DIY label. We also gave relationship advice to some promiscuous punks and covered a little bit of screamo history. It's a genre that doesn't exist outside of the internet.

I did play a few songs just before the interview, though.

01. Silver Daggers - Displacement - New High and Ord (Load 2007)
02. The Hope and the Failure - Prozac Hell - The Lights Are On But This Dance Never Ends (Self Released 2005)
03. Mandela Strike Force - Did You Need It Specially Engraved - The Sound of Revolution in Stereo (Ladder 1995)
04. Assfactor 4 - Attempted Control - Self Titled (Old Glory 1995)
05. Marion - I've Got Your Shame - Self Titled (Kflr 199x?)

The Seeing Means More LP was played throughout the interview.

April 21, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-04-21T10:41:00.000-04:00

Download this show.

Started the show off with some metalcore-ish stuff this time. It's all good.

01. Converge - Plagues - No Heroes (Deathwish 2007)
02. Cursed - Fatalist - Cursed II (Goodfellow 2005)
03. Kylesa - Hollow Severer - Time Will Fuse Its Worth (Prosthetic 2006)
04. Botch - Thank God for Worker Bees - We Are the Romans (Hydra Head 2000)
05. Coalesce - A New Language - Functioning on Impatience (Second Nature 2002)
06. Tragedy - Deaf and Disbelieving - Nerve Damage (Tragedy 2006)
07. Lords - Watching the Clock - Swords (Jade Tree 2005)
08. Unearth - Black Hearts Now Reign - The Oncoming Storm (Metal Blade 2004)
09. Baroness - Red Sky - Second (Hyperrealist 2005)
10. Dawntreader - Road Warriors - Deconstructing The Coffin (Metaphysics 2006)
11. Breather Resist - Loose Lipped Error - Charmer (Jade Tree 2004)
12. Young Widows - Small Talk - Settle Down City (Jade Tree 2006)
13. Coliseum - This Mind Locked Inside This Body - Self Titled (Level Plane 2004)
14. Akimbo - Tower of the Elephant - Forging Steel and Laying Stone (Alternative Tentacles 2006)
15. Doomriders - Deathbox - Black Thunder (Deathwish 2007)
16. The National Acrobat - Eyes the Size of Organs - The Complete Recordings (Initial 2004)
17. Black Cross - Icebox in the Alley - Art Offensive (Equal Vision 2003)
18. Graf Orlock - A Shocking Interrogation - Destination Time Tomorrow (Level Plane 2007)
19. Das Oath - Years of Veneers - Self Titled (ThreeOneG 2006)
20. Orchid - Lights Out - Dance Tonight, Revolution Tomorrow! (Ebullition 2001)
21. Wolves - 13 - Simulation.Transparency.Alienation (Coalition 2003)
22. Ampere - We Live Like Lost Children - Ampere/Sinaloa Split (Ebullition 2006)
23. Bucket Full of Teeth - A Hopeful Sound - IV (Level Plane 2005)
24. Transistor Transistor - Power Chord Academy - Erase All Names and Likeness (Level Plane 2005)
25. Panthers - Uncertainly - The Trick (Vice 2006)
26. Envy - Chain Wandering Deeply - A Dead Sinking Story (Level Plane 2003)
27. City of Caterpillar - Minute Hour Day Week Month Year (The Faiths In My Chest) - Self Titled (Level Plane 2002)
28. Pg. 99 - In Love With an Apparition - Document #8 (Robotic Empire 2001)
29. Stop It!! - Amen and Boys - Self Made Maps (Robotic Empire 2003)
30. Yage - Leben Leben - Anders Leben (Ebullition 2003)
31. Forensics - Boat Day at the Marina - Things To Do When You Should Be Dead Anyway (Magic Bullet 2004)
32. Hot Cross - Rejoiner - Risk Revival (Equal Vision 2007)

Review

2007-04-14T22:52:00.000-04:00

Souvenir’s Young America
September Songs
RIYL: Russian Circles, Isis, Grails, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
"6:39"

Two words: Richmond, Virginia. Also, freight trains, but that may be my GY!BE nostalgia seeping through. This new release by Souvenir’s Young America takes us across all the familiar tracks of the instrumental post-rock scene while not forgetting the importance of capturing one’s attention before a song even takes off. Right from the get-go, September Songs howls desperately through the twang of a harmonica fit perfectly for some lonesome down-and-out roughnecking it through the old west. But all reminiscence and melodic harmonies aside, September Songs has more than its fair share of epic build-ups and heavy guitar work. And while they don’t take on quite the same amount of metallic intensity of bands like Isis, Souvenir’s Young America thankfully reach out with an urgency refreshing enough to maintain a captivating originality in a genre oversaturated by bands all too willing to cash in on the doom and gloom motif. Even though the album only features three tracks, September Songs is an effort deserving of anyone interested in, or even the slightest bit curious of, the future of post-rock outside of its established confines.

April 14, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-04-14T12:21:00.001-04:00

Download this show.

Call it Fire - Golden Egg

Fugazi - Glue Man

Genrevolta - Ploughed

Bastro - Tallow Waters

Wake Up Snake - Tracking Lice

Puke Attack - Dip Dive

Circle Jerks - Live Fast Die Young

The Skuds - Blood for Oil/Asylum

Dillinger Escape Plan - 43% Burnt

Descendents - Statue of Liberty

Hot Cross - Silence is Failure

The Locust - Book Bot

Bad Brains - Riot Squad

Uniform Choice - Use Your Head

Os Pedrero - Kymura

Minor Threat - Filler

Scream - Came Without Warning

Negative Approach - Bad Attitude

Adolescents - I Hate Children

Cro-Mags - Don't Tread On Me

Burn - The Bait

Bold - Looking Back

Sick of it All - The Bland Within

Most Precious Blood - Type A Personality

Slapshot - Do What You Want

Kill Your Idols - Madly

The New Flesh - No Expectations

Unwound - Message Received

Akarso - Leave Quietly

Relics - Poisonous Beliefs

Wasteland - River

Death to Tyrants - A Light in the Hall

Crain - One Who Hangs

The Exploder - Living, Breathing

O Pioneers!!! - I Could Buy a Prostitute for the Price of These Tickets

Rodan - Shiner

June of 44 - Cut Your Face

Ordination of Aaron - Exercise in Futility Part 1

Threadbare - Feed

Shroomunion - Crown

Reviews

2007-04-12T16:55:00.000-04:00

I decided to post some of my reviews for the station that are written marginally higher than a fifth grade reading level or are about an album worthy of negligible listenership.

Tar..Feathers
Make Way for the Ocean Floor to Fall to the Surface
RIYL: Woods, Meneguar, Les Savy Fav, Owls, Modest Mouse
"Was it Even There?"

Here we have another DIY miracle. The music, artwork, lyric sheet, and packaging are all the product of one Marcus Nyke from a little place called Sweden. Nyke is all over this record with his doubled/tripled/multi-layered vocal tracks that will stop at nothing to haunt you at every verse, chorus, and breakdown. Although Nyke is responsible for writing the songs, the bass lines and drum beats are filled in by friends Morten Bileskalns and Pål Olovsson. I really hope these guys can pull off everything on this album live because it would make a bad show an impossibility. Their sound is like a good synth-pop take on all the new freak folk bands that have been sprouting up lately, and I'm struggling to find anything wrong with that. It’s like Jana Hunter meets Les Savy Fav. I mean, come on! They’re from Sweden!

SeepeopleS
Apocalypse Cow Vol. 1
RIYL: The Physics of Meaning, Band of Horses, The Shins, Fields

They say puns are a rare medium well done, but SeepeopleS’ new release Apocalypse Cow Vol. 1 puts a stake in any grisly foretaste that might be nibbling at you. This album demonstrates not only the band’s exemplary application of wordplay, but their musical aptitude as well. Also, SeepeopleS claim to be an anarchist band, putting many of their political messages at the forefront of their lyrics when not about love or something even more boring like personal and universal issues. Why is it that anarchists bands always have the best album titles? Anyway, this Asheville, NC band manage to easily hold their own among southern indie greats like The Physics of Meaning and Band of Horses with this immense 15 song release on the band’s own Razcalz Recordz, a name of which its wordplay sorely lacks the same sense of whimsicality as Apocalypse Cow.

Chemikal Records
Ballads of the Book
RIYL: Areogramme, Idlewild, Sons & Daughters, Arab Strap, Scottish Accents

This compilation by Chemikal Records puts Scottish musicians in collaboration with Scottish writers. Chemikal Records considers it an "elaborately ambitious" project, but I think I would describe it as being closer to plain old "totally awesome." I'm surprised at how non-verbose this record really is. The lyrics are just as strong as the music and take nothing away. There really is no gimmick here. Despite all that could have gone horribly wrong, Ballads of the Book remains a fantastically genuine album. Upcoming and unsigned artists belt out, with heavy Scottish accents abound, solid and convincing rock songs that leave hardly any low points on the album. I would have it no other way. I can only hope this doesn’t become something more government "Art Councils" begin to latch onto.

Pistolero
The Last Foire
RIYL: Wilco, Spoon, Dead Ponies, The Kinks

Kick up a stool at the old saloon, buckaroo, and buckle down with some melodies from the wild west. Well, the west. And really, just west of here. Which means Atlanta. All right. You know what? Their CD case has a dude with mutton chops on it. So if that isn’t good enough for you, I don’t know what is. Honestly, aside from their name, Pistolero aren't so much representative of the wild west as they are of British rock and roll during the 60s. They manage to mix a few different influences to create a pleasant dissonance that is largely unique to the Atlanta music scene while still letting the British invasion shine through.

RTX
Western Xterminator
RIYL: Pussy Galore, Royal Trux, Memories of Hollywood before the “Hollywood Rock” music festival made everyone turn in their guitars and self-parody for synthesizers and sunglasses.

This will be the music blaring through the side-alley door of a cocaine-littered rock club while some 1980s, blast-from-the-past head banger, whose butt crack would be surging toward freedom if it weren’t for the overgrown mane sprouting out of his balding cranium, watches you with intrigue as you’re wallowing in your own vomit after a night of some impressively hard partying on the Sunset Strip. Yes, it really does take so many adjectives to explain the weight with which this album [review] should be taken. I’ve never seen a five-piece rock outfit pretend so hard to relive an era in which the only notable events were the rise of Mötley Crüe and the release of Beverly Hills Cop.

Actually, on second thought, where do I sign up for this?

March 31, 2007 Playlist - TWS (DIY Week Fundraiser Show)

2007-03-31T06:53:00.000-04:00

Download this show.

Also, somebody give my cohosts some gas money. Or donate to WUSC. Your choice, really.

Groundwork - Control

Index for Potential Suicide - Eat Lightning, Crap Thunder

The Misfits - American Psycho

Palatka - Bicentennial

In/Humanity - Embrace Androgyny

The Avenging Disco Godfathers of Soul - Invisible Jacket

The Disease - Beautiful Girls

Black Flag - Retired at 21

Merel - Lint for Brains

Frail - Blister

Braid - Hugs From Boys

Heroin - The Obvious

Lion of Judah - Astral Master

Four Hundred Years - Six Minutes

Gaffer - Last Defense

Against All Authority - The Restoration of Chaos and Order

Maladroit Mafia - Escape from Columbia

The Jazz June - Bleach In Your Eyes

Don Martin 3 - Katahdan

Die Young - Distant Memories

The First Step - A New Reality

Judge - Hear Me

Thank God - Human Flavored Tofu

Tigershark - Uspridge

Fighter Hayabusa - Insect Politics

Black Cross - Black Market Cigarettes

Daitro - Pourquoi Les Inconnus Restent-ils Inconnus?

Ampere - Woodlawn

Cowboys Became Folk Heroes - Direct Actions Gets the Goods

Ordination of Aaron - Lay Down and Die

The Locust - God Wants Us All to Work in Factories

Daughters - Fiery

Catena Collapse - Track 4 on Outback Songs 12"

March 24, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-03-24T02:43:00.000-04:00

There were recording problems, so I can't put this one up. Apologies! My cohosts were absent anyway, so it was kind of boring. But thanks for all the phone calls! Check out some of these bands if you don't know them. Lots of awesome music.

Young Widows - Baritone 3

The National Acrobat - The Mantis Romantic

By the Grace of God - Cole

Karp - Rowdy

Unsane - Over Me

Crispus Attucks - Crispus Attucks

Battalion of Saints - Fighting Boys

Jerry's Kids - Build Me a Bomb

TSOL - World War III

The Misfits - Halloween

The Unseen - The Anger and The Truth

Necros - Search for Fame

A Global Threat - All We Really Own

Vice Squad - Angry Youth

Angry Samoans - Lights Out

Government Warning - Sick of Home

Career Suicide - Another Sigh, Another Year

Toxic Reasons - Mercenary

Reagan Youth - Urban Savages

The Offenders - Face Down in the Dirt

DOA - The Prisoner

Negative FX - VFW

86 Mentality - On the Loose

Blanks 77 - Get Out Alive

Abrasive Wheels - Danger, Danger

Dead Kennedys - Kill the Poor

Authorities - Radiation Masturbation

Tar Babies - The Word

Ruhaeda - Spectro Photo

Tantrum - Soil

Marburg - The Jump of a Black Cat

The South - No Bombs Over Baghdad

Thieves and Assassins - White Nose

Call it Fire - Golden Egg

Cast Aside - Last Chance

Down to Nothing - I Can't Believe My Eyes

Have Heart - The Machinist

American Nightmare - AM/PM

Pixel Panda - A Ghost Whisper

Since the Flood - Strength

Sinaloa - The Earth is On Fire

Former Members of Alfonsin - Hurricane

Inkwell - Hands Like Mine

Joshua Fit For Battle - Song One

Love Lost But Not Forgotten - Happy To Be Alive

Maximillian Colby - Balance

Downcast - System

March 17, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-03-17T03:30:00.000-04:00

Download this show.

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Transnational Vampire Killers

An Arrow In Flight - Humyn Political Constructs

Drive Like Jehu - New Math

Quicksand - Backward

Clikatat Ikatowi - Affirmation

Antioch Arrow - The Angel's Lawn

Angel Hair - Origin of Species

Honeywell - Genius

The Icarus Line - Love Is Happiness

None More Black - Everyday Balloons

Circus Lupus - Pacifier

Indian Summer - Truman

The Monorchid - Oral Fixation Anonymous

Rye Coalition - White Jesus of 114th Street

Mohinder - Itch

Bread and Circuits - The End of History

Plunger - Aspire to Be

Native Nod - Lower G.I. Bleed

Heroin - With No Name

Current - Continued Rantings

Rapeman - Coition Ignition Mission

Black Cross - Art Offensive

Hot Water Music - The Sense

Born Against - Bit Part in a Bad Movie

Turning Point - Thursday

Government Issue - Teenager in a Box

NoMeansNo - Two Lips, Two Lungs, and One Tongue

Endpoint - Decision Maker

Adolescents - I Got a Right

Youth Brigade - Sound and Fury

X-Ray Spex - Obsessed With You

Really Red - Suburban Disease

Circle Jerks - I'm Gonna Live

Nixon - Lower Me Into the Steel Magnolias

Vandals - Jackass

Suicidal Tendencies - I Shot the Devil

Articles of Faith - Every Man For Himself

Lockjaw - Portland

The Misfits - Where Eagles Dare

Crass - Fold It In Half

Wipers - Up Front

The Fall - Totally Wired

Wire - Brazil

Six Finger Satellite - Dark Companion

Scratch Acid - Monsters

Akarso - Furthest End of the Couch

The Jesus Lizard - Karpis

Hot Snakes - L.A.X.

Panthers - Theory is Famous

Hot Cross - Fatefully

These Arms Are Snakes - Drinking From the Necks of the Ones You Love

Yo-Yo with WUSC

2007-03-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

WUSC is going to break the American Yo-Yo Association's record for the most people yo-yoing at the same time, but we need your manual extremities to help us! BYOYYYYYY or we can give you one.

It's all going down on March 26th. Sign up is at 6PM, and the attempt will start at 7PM. The event will be located at the Rec Field between the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center and the Greek Village on the USC Campus. Free parking can be found in the Carolina Colosseum parking lots and the surrounding streets

(Food and drinks will be provided.)

How can you resist? Come out and grab some attention.

March 10, 2007 Playlist - TWS (3 Hour Spring Break Edition)

2007-03-10T18:21:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Daitro - Chaque Seconde

Police & Thieves - Harbors

Breather Resist - As Far As Goodbyes Go

Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized

Pyramid Scheme - If I Could Get Rid of One Thing

Dag Nasty - Under Your Influence

Prayer For Cleansing - When The Sun Kisses The Morning

Zero Boys - Civilization's Dying

Frail - Obscene Jigsaw Puzzle

Bane - Give Blood

Song of Zarathustra - Shakes in Pain

Judge - Forget This Time

Guyana Punch Line - Papertrail

Shelter - Civilized Man

Baron Noir - Au Feu!

Trial - One Step Away

Mass Movement of the Moth - Idle Minds Speak In Binary

Invade - The Beast That Shouted "I" At The Center Of The World

Off Minor - Cadaveric

Over and Out - Moving On

Envy - The Spiral Manipulation

Living Sacrifice - Reject

Take Down Your Art - Rebirth

Orchid - The Action Index

Ampere - At Its Heart & At Its Head

Cloak/Dagger - Daggers Daggers

Pg. 99 - Living In The Skeleton of a Happy Memory

Phobics - Revenge

The Scaries - Revolvers

Marathon - Painting By Numbers

Chain of Strength - True Till Death

The Misfits - Halloween

Integrity - Hybrid Moments (Misfits cover)

Slapshot - Back On The Map

Discount - Miller Street

Ramallah - Kill A Celebrity

The Vicious - Walking Dead

Anti - Your Problems

Omega Tribe - Time For Change

Verse - Searching

Subhumans - Slap in the Face

Formaldehyde Junkies - Nuke the Frats

Bikini Kill - Hamster Baby

Coke Bust - Track 9

DYS - Open Up

Lincoln - Seed

Germs - Communist Eyes

The Frumpies - Giveaway Pile

Descendents - This Place

Black Flag - American Waste

Virgin Mega Whore - Stomach Full of Razors

Bad Brains - Banned In DC

Bones Brigade - Skate or Die

Braid - Milwaukee Sky Rocket

Channel 3 - Waiting in the Wings

Dr. Know - Citizens of the World

The Fix - Vengeance

Zao - Everything You Love Will Soon Fly Away

Econochrist - One Sided Story

Chorus of Disapproval - Justice

Amanda Woodward - Binaire Et Lisible

Koyla - The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Tipping Canoe - Minute of Arc

Toru Okada - Long Questions

March 03, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-03-03T15:24:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Naked Raygun - Mofo

Guns Up! - Face It

In/Humanity - Double Digit Fun

Anasarca - Stationary People

Four Hundred Years - The New Imperialism

Young Pioneers - Ride the Pig

O Pioneers!!! - Damn! I Didn't Know It Snowed Down Here

Inside Out - By A Thread

Floorpunch - Tolerate

Adrenaline O.D. - Hijack

108 - Shun the Mask

Striking Distance - Fight Their Words

With Honor - Third Generation

Snapcase - Caboose

Prozac Memory - Chisel Tone

Sleepytime Trio - Like My Plain

Some Soviet Station - Pistol Whipped

Digger - I Want My Hat Back

Frodus - Red Bull of Juarez

Former Members of Alfonsin - Itty Bitty

Light the Fuse and Run - The Flitcraft Case

Modern Life Is War - First and Ellen

Comeback Kid - Defeated

The Disease - Through the Arms of the Octopus

Cast Aside - Stand Up

This Moment in Black History - Pity the Back Seat

The Locust - Live from the Russian Compound

An Albatross - The Revolutionary Politics of Dance

XBXRX - Go Ape

I Object - Teaching Revenge

Madball - For My Enemies

Vitamin X - What I Do

Limp Wrist - Want Us Dead

The Hope Conspiracy - Fragile

The Nerve Agents - Jekyl and Hyde

Avail - Monroe Park

Count Me Out - Right For You

Murder Weapon - Your Pain

Learn - Live On...

Kid Dynamite - Shiner

Dropkick Murphys - Working

Youth of Today - Break Down the Walls

Insult to Injury - Traitor

Stretch Arm Strong - Rising Again

Mouthbreather - The Nazarene

Ten Yard Fight - Holding On

Bold - Looking Back

Coliseum - The Mind Locked Inside This Body

A Million Knives Lie in Wait - Daily Poison

Upright Citizens - Yellow Press

Deep Wound - Video Prick

Judge - Hold Me Back

Burn - Melt-Meta-Growth

Some crazy song called Freight Train Boogie came on after this, and it was way too awesome to leave out. So enjoy it!

February 24, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-02-25T01:23:00.000-05:00

I forgot to record this one. Sorry, guys.

Louise Cyphre - Laut Langsam: Schmierig Abgan

Merel - So Lovely Warmth

Between Earth and Sky - Between Earth and Sky

Shotmaker - Now and Then

Strong Arm - Advent of a Miracle

His Hero is Gone - ...And We Burn

Outbreak - Restless Minds

Shai Hulud - For the World

Reds - Lee Greenwood

Brother's Keeper - The Continuum

Blacklisted - I Refuse

With Honor - 20 Strong

US Bombs - Jacks

The Suicide File - Ashcroft

Shokei - Heels and Cleats

Suicidal Tendencies - Lovely

Discordance Axis - Pattern Blue

Bad Brains - Attitude

Burn - Shall Be Judged

Strung Out - Exumation of Virginia Madison

Fugazi - Smallpox Champion

Hope Prevails - Drawing Blanks

Since the Flood - Gone Tomorrow

Cold World - Refuse to Lose

Living Sacrifice - Bloodwork

Stabbed By Words - Words

Amber Inn - Dead Calm

Descendents - Cool to be You

1.6 Band - Back in Church

Ink and Dagger - Part Time Prophet

Dedication - Thanks for Last Night

7 Angels 7 Plagues - Dandelions

Hiretsukan - Hauling Sharp

Book of Dead Names - This Math is Complicated

CIV - Do Something

Downloads Available

2007-02-17T19:57:00.000-05:00

I have recorded all of my shows, and finally got around to uploading them. You can download them all from archive.org (except for the first which I didn't record, but it sucked anyway) and listen to how my voice learns to crack less and less with each show. Also I probably don't say "Um" as much anymore. "Uh" sounds much more appealing.

All the shows before January 20, 2007 are from when my show was free-format, so I only played hardcore stuff for about half of those and filled the rest with other great tunes.

February 17, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-02-17T19:34:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out to WUSC's vinyl fair today. A lot of people walked away with some great records while also supporting their favorite radio station. Thanks to Papa Jazz Records for sponsoring the event and to everyone else who donated their records for the fair.

For those of you who unfortunately missed out on a chance to meet our fine DJ entourage, you can catch us at the upcoming events taking place during DIY Week which is the last week of March. We'll be putting on some great shows as well as putting together an awesome zine chock full of fun DIY shenanigans.

Also, every Wednesday, WUSC sponsors a Local Showcase show at New Brookland Tavern. If you're a local band looking to play a show, contact Zach, our Public Affairs director.

----------

Some friends really wanted to play their CDs, so here's what we played this week. Next week I'll get back to a more variety-filled play list.

Durga - Signed Off at 7:49:18 PM

The Dead Boys - 3rd Generation Nation

The Misfits - Static Age

Ringworm - Justice Replaced By Revenge

Earth Crisis - The Disappointment

Hope Prevails - You're Nothing

Prayer for Cleansing - The Closet

Justice - Thin Ice

Adamantium - When it Rains it Pours

Refused - New Noise

Cold World

Minor Threat

Strike Anywhere

Converge - Conduit

Kid Dynamite

Strife - Will to Die

With Honor - Elevens

Flux of Pink Indians - Progress

Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device

A//Political - It's Not About Politics, It's About Life

The Flying Worker - Le Goût Du Vrai

Bane - Struck Down By Me

Poison the Well - 12/23/93

Gorilla Biscuits - Do it Yourself

Judge - The Storm

Iron age - Violate

Most Precious Blood - Less than Zero

Lion of Judah

One King Down - Defiant

Reach the Sky

Snapcase

Sick of it All

Turmoil - Every Man the Enemy

Supertouch - The Painted Sky

Ensign - The Spark

Good Riddance

Trial - Unrestrained

Februrary 10, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-02-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

This show got a little insane. The guys from Where it Ends were in the studio with me. Here's some of what we played.

Current - Overbearing

Frodus - The Awesome Machine

Strife - Stand as One

Hatebreed - Horrors of Self

Ambitions - Playing Dead

In My Eyes - Nothing to Hide

Trial - Reflections

Burn - Melt Meta Growth

Propagandhi - Mate Ka Moris Ukun Rasik An

Verse - Searching

Where It Ends - Resonate

Madball - Can't Stop Won't Stop

Champion - Promises Kept

Face to Face - Disconnected

CIV

Brother's Keeper - Poison Plot

Think I Care - Scraps

Adamantium - Funeral of Silence

Integrity - Taste My Sin

Guns Up! - Ghost Shelter

Drive Like Jehu - New Math

Napalm Death - Divine Death/C.S./Control

The Hope Conspiracy

Snapcase - Zombie Prescription

Stretch Arm Strong

Kid Dynamite

Brutal Truth - Hypocrite Invasion

Where It Ends - Those Were The Days

Shipwreck - Au Pach

Youth of Today

Iron Age

Harvest

Judge

H2O

In Full Effect

Most Precious Blood

Trial - For The Kids

Bane

Sick of it All

Stretch Arm Strong

February 03, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-02-03T17:34:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

City of Caterpillar - A Little Change Could Go a Long Ways

Hoover - Cable

Swing Kids - Warsaw

Admiral - Meter and Rule

The Assistant - Cry Blame Scream Repeat

Yage - Save the Fear Slave

Give Up The Ghost - We Killed It

Akimbo - Cavernous Black Eyes

The VSS - Lunar Weight

Off Minor - My Recovery

Send More Paramedics - Zombie Versus Shark

Set it Straight - Young Voices

This is Hell - Here Comes the Rains

Think I Care - World Asylum

Guns Up! - Test My Will

I Would Set Myself On Fire For You - Seven

D'amore - Shake Your Leg Son

Hassan I Sabbah - Untitled (Track 4)

Portrait - Constellations of a Star Gazing Iris

Transistor Transistor - I Am the Goddamn Devil

Wolves - 17

Cinemechanica - Bruckheimer

Sed Non Satiata - Spirit Fuel

Converge - Trophy Scars

Coalesce - Burn Everything That Bears Our Name

Spirit of Versailles - Two

Puritan - With Love

Cobra Kai - Box of Rocks

Louise Cyphre - "eh Bien, Mon Prince..."

Palatka - Black Elk

Insult to Injury - Traitor

xFilesx - X Up Or Shut Up

Honeywell - I'll Love

Pretty Faces - In A City

Catena Collapse - Hand to Hand Resuscitation

I, Robot - Exodus

January 27, 2007 Playlist - TWS

2007-01-27T15:26:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Former Members of Alfonsin - Kinetic

Thank God - Breathing Concrete

The Disease - Through the Arms of the Octopus

The Nation of Ulysses - A.P.E. Embassy

Bread and Circuits - Nuremberg Principles

Assfactor 4 - Is Love Just Jive Turkey?

In/Humanity - Super Plan B

The Avenging Disco Godfathers of Soul - Let's Transform NASA Machine

Index for Potential Suicide - A Bag of Mustard and Water

Encyclopedia of American Traitors - Sinking Atlantis

Eagle Bravo - Robotman

Brazilia - Metal Makes a Beard Grow

Cursor - My Blue Sky

Mouthbreather - The Nazarene

End of a Year - Darnel

Champion - Now is the Time

Betrayed - A Light in the Dark

Tragedy - Deaf and Disbelieving

The Letters Organize - These Words

Life at These Speeds - Submerge

Sinaloa - I'm Getting Tired

Gospel - As Far As You Can Throw Me

Current - Continued Rantings

Secretos del Corazon - (The End of) Chapter One

Aussitôt Mort - Aussitôt Mort, Aussitôt Dort

Mihai Edrisch - Marcher

La Quiete - Helas

Ampere - In Antiquity

Four Hundred Years - Radio Silence

Tsunami Bomb - Top 40 Hit

The Creepshow - Psycho Ball and Chain

Bright Calm Blue - Two for Treatment

Song of Zarathustra - Half Mass

Botch - Ebb

An Albatross - The Revolutionary Politics of Dance

The Red Light Sting - Abortions for All

Genghis Tron - White Walls

The Locust - Get Off the Cross, the Wood is Needed

Tristan Tzara - A Mad Gleam

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Karma Collection Day

The Evens - Cache is Empty

The Saddest Landscape - Weightless is the New Black

January 20, 2007 Playlist - TWS (First show of the Semester)

2007-01-22T01:55:00.001-05:00

Download this show.

I've been upgraded to a Specialty Show. That means I'm now hosting a hardcore/punk show on WUSC.

If you're in a band and would like to send in a demo or album for us to put on rotation, please do it!

Send them to:

DJ Ryan
WUSC
RHUU
1400 Greene Street
Columbia, SC 29201

If you have any questions, feel free to email thirdworldstruggle@gmail.com

-----

Pg. 99 - In Love With an Apparition

Orchid - I Am Nietzsche

Wrong Day to Quit - Friendship Isn't a Four Letter Word

In First Person - Item #14

Stop It!! - Amen and Boys

Snapcase - New Kata

Converge - Trophy Scars

Coliseum - Pretty Situation

Hope Prevails - Be Strong Weary Wolf

Sinking Ships - Ghost Story

Daitro - Laissez Vivre Les Squelettes

Amanda Woodward - Ultramort

An Arrow in Flight - One Bold Stroke from Right to Left

Helen of Troy - A Saint Among Madmen

The Vicious - Walking Dead

1.6 Band - One Eye Open

Limp Wrist - Want Us Dead

This Computer Kills - Paradigm: Anomie

Avail - Blue Ridge

Raein - The King Is Dead

Toru Okada - Long Questions

Olive Tree - The Lone Islands

Clikatat Ikatowi - Affirmation

Versoma - Come In Alone

Yaphet Kotto - Highly Enlightened

The Birds Are Spies, They Report to the Trees - A Song for Gera

Policy of Three - Nine Years Old

End on End - If You Only Knew How Wrong We've Been

The Pogues - Sally Maclennane

O Pioneers!!! - Emotion is Cancer and I Got No Cash for Kemo

Operation Ivy - Vulnerability

Nerve Agents - War Against!

Tiger Army - Wander Alone

Heart Monster - NYC pt. 1

December 16, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-12-16T04:49:00.001-05:00

Download this show.

The Microphones - Don't Smoke

Thanksgiving - The Ghost and the Eyes

Jonah Matranga - Hostage

Hop Along, Queen Ansleis - Bruno is Orange

Owen - The Ghost of What Should've Been

Caspian - Further Up

Boa Narrow - "We are the Boa Narrow", "Line"

Strike Anywhere - Dead Hours

Wet Confetti - Apple Disaster

Yage - Leben Leben

Stop It!! - Captain Roboto

Tokyo Police Club - Shoulders & Arms

Nation of Ulysses - Perpetual Motion Machine

Pyramids - Sleep Spindles and K-Complexes

The Hold Steady - Hot Soft Light

Hot IQs - Duck & Cover

The Big Sleep - You Can't Touch

65daysofstatic - Mean Low Water

31 Knots - Welcome to the Stop

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - The Asymmetric Enemy

The Flaming Tsunamis - Corpse Disposal for Dummies

The Blood Brothers - Lift the Veil, Kiss the Tank

RX Bandits - In Her Drawer

The Black Watch - Tatterdemalion

Cold War Kids - We Used to Vacation

Heart Monster - NYC Pt. 1

The Psychic Paramount - Microphone II

Jay Bennett - Out All Night

Tom Waits - Fish in the Jailhouse

December 09, 2006 Playlist - TWS (special 5 hour edition)

2006-12-09T13:30:00.001-05:00

Download this show.

The Dubliners - Dirty Old Town (live)

Hop Along, Queen Ansleis - Hi Too Loo Rye

Ghost Mice - Alas Babylon

Victory at Sea - Old Harbor

The Velvet Teen - Radiapathy

Devon Wolfe - I Know You Do

KC Milian - Sunday Sleepers

Maserati - Closer Than You Know

Gregor Samsa - What I Can Manage

MGR - IV

Aloha - Roanoke Born

Detwije - Would You Rather Be Followed By Forty Ducks for the Rest of Your Life?

33.3 - Super Eight

Friends in the Mountains - Own Nothing

Hangedup - Klang Klang

On The Might of Princes - Old Wives Tale

Desert City Soundtrack - What to Do in Case of Fire

The (International) Noise Conspiracy - A Northwest Passage

Boris - Woman on the Screen

Akimbo - When I am King I Will Spit on the Corpse of Ray Manzarek

Fear Before the March of Flames - The Waiting Makes me Curious

These Arms Are Snakes - Deer Lodge

In First Person - ...And Time is Running Out

Converge - Sacrifice

This Moment in Black History - World B Free

Sunn 0))) & Boris - Etna

Communiqué - The Sad Valentine

Scream! Hello - Bears Come Out Tonight

The Sass - Oleander & Anti-freeze

St Germain - So Flute

Arovane - Cry Osaka Cry

Cdatakill - Raining Glass

Laurent Garnier - Downfall

Hrvatski - Paint it Black

Ellen Allien & Apparat - Retina

Booka Shade - Night Falls

Thavius Beck - Under Pressure

Jay Reatard - Turning Blue

Eagles of Death Metal - I Like to Move in the Night

Woods - How To Survive In

mewithoutYou - Nice and Blue (Part 2)

Planes Mistaken For Stars - To Split a Sparrow

Beth Orton - Countenance

The Pogues - Sunny Side of the Street

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Johnny Appleseed

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn & Ginger Brooks Takahashi - Oh! September

Japandi - Track 3

The Mercury Program - This Hits Home

Jason Molina - Pyramid Electric Co.

Ugly Casanova - Diamonds on the Face of Evil

Three Mile Pilot - In This Town I Awaken

The Black Heart Procession - GPS

Two Gallants - Las Cruces Jail

Phillip Roebuck - Pocket Knife

Tom Waits - 2:19

William Elliott Whitmore & Jenny Hoyston - Black Iowa Dirt

Romi Mayes - Eight More Days

Des Ark - Love is a Lame Dog

Petrillo Relents - For You Camille

Black Bottom Biscuits - Don't Pave My Road

Mountaineer - A Town Called Ivanhoe

The Horrors - Death at the Chapel

Tempo No Tempo - A Different Weapon

Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death - Paris

The Stooges - No Fun

Stereolab - Fuses

DJ Tiësto - Obsession

Squarepusher - Hello Meow

December 02, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-12-04T10:39:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Tom Waits - Road to Peace

Sinaloa - I'm Getting Tired

Q And Not U - A Line in the Sand

Black Eyes - Someone Has His Fingers Broken

The Red Light Sting - When In Rome, Collect the Bone

Refused - Liberation Frequency

At The Drive-In - Quarantined (live)

M83 - Don't Save Us from the Flames

Sounds Like Violence - The Pistol

Milemarker - Food Chain

La Quiete - Ciò Che Siamo, Ciò Che Non Vogliamo

Mihai Edrisch - Oblier

Portrait - Constellations of a Star Gazing Iris

I Would Set Myself on Fire for You - Song Eleven

Miho Hatori - Barracuda

Conrad Ford - Radio Station

Frida Hyvönen - You Never Got Me Right

Jeremy Enigk - Dare a Smile

Tahiti 80 - Big Day

The Awkward Stage - The Morons Are Winning

The Hold Steady - Party Pit

Annuals - Brother

The Icarus Line - Black Presents

Crime in Choir - Measure of a Master

Nauseous Youth Future - Dental Care

Antime - Bellies Full of Rain

JRK - Come One and All

Jedi Mind Tricks - Outlive the War

The Trucks - Zombie

November 18, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-11-18T18:11:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - In the Service of Capital

Pg. 99 - In Love With an Apparition

Orchid - Lights Out

Constatine Sankathi - Classical

Clikatat Ikatowi - Welcoming the Shift

Drive Like Jehu - Here Come the Rome Plows

Song of Zarathustra - We Scholars

The VSS - Lunar Weight

Torches to Rome - Young Arsenal

Aghast - Deus Ex Machina

Los Crudos - Curiosidad

The Vicious - Walking Dead

Operation Ivy - Trouble Bound

Limp Wrist - Define

Avail - Monroe Park

Picnic, Lightning - Track 03

Gregory and the Hawk - Boats and Birds

Woelv - Chanson Pour La Géante

Mount Eerie - Dark Hills

The Hours - Ali in the Jungle

Panthers - Post-Fascist Fantasies

El Perro del Mar - Party

Defiance, Ohio - The New World Order

Tom Waits - You Can Never Hold Back Spring

Richard Buckner - Town

Chris Smither - Open Up

Joanna Newsom - Monkey & Bear

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Wasted State of Mind

Fields - Sisters

Del Rey - A Brief Strangle

Weatherbox - The Clearing

World Inferno Friendship Society - So Long to the Circus

Portastatic - I'm In Love (with Arthur Dove)

In First Person - Alfred Hitchcock

Reviews

2006-11-14T05:27:00.000-05:00

So now that I'm a DJ, I've started reviewing albums to get them submitted to the music library. I totally stole like a whole sentence from someone, but here they are:

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack
Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America
RIYL: Bread and Circuits, Torches to Rome, Econochrist, Moss Icon
"Karma Collection Day"

Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America is the quintessential mission statement of hardcore. After years of legal struggle, Clean Plate Records finally brings to light the second and final LP by Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack, a record which craftily challenges society and demands absolute cultural reformation of the United States and its groupthink. Mike Kirsch (Bread and Circuits, Torches to Rome) assembled this Californian combat team to triumph over the void of creativity to which most hardcore music today succumbs, and, in doing so, achieved immeasurable victory by creating an album that is more than just another "Fuck you" to the United States’ warped sense of capitalism and the Bush administration. In addition to their iconoclastic punk rock anthems, the band scatters these collage-like samples between songs that pull from various speeches, films, and even some original material. Also, the passionate sentiments of Stokely Carmichael during his speech at the 1968 Black Panther Party’s "Free Huey P. Newton" rally can be heard throughout the album. Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America is an unequivocal landmark and milestone for hardcore music. It is such a tragedy that this band broke up because, in the end, the message of this record falls victim to the same thing that befell Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton, and the rest of the Black Panther Party. In the end, these are just words.

In First Person
Lost Between Hands Held Tight
RIYL: You and I, The Assistant, Reversal of Man
"The Beast"

Thick, heavy, and sincere. Lost Between Hands Held Tight is the band’s debut album and the third release by Paramnesia Records. In First Person builds on the screamy, emotive hardcore sound of its members’ previous bands (You and I, The Assistant, A Petal Fallen) while trying to be an existential and socially conscious effort. In First Person and Mike Brennan at Paramnesia Records did a fantastic job of putting this record together. It’s an incredible gatefold release, complete with a screen printed insert, and very DIY. The album begins with the absolute intensity and political audacity of tracks like "The Beast," "Item #14," and "Kanye West Was Right" before moving into the more melodic and somewhat D.C. sounding "Alfred Hitchcock." The fifth track, "...And Time is Running Out" puts drummer Vanessa Espinal’s (hooray, a girl on drums!) vocals up front which is a much welcome addition to the album.

November 11, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-11-11T17:13:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Bread and Circuits - Trophy Room

You and I - Silent Morning Whisper

Wolves - 14

Funeral Diner - I Wish I Could Do the Backstroke

Dag Nasty - We Went Wrong

Fugazi - Smallpox Champion

1.6 Band - Back in Church

Four Hundred Years - Suture

The Third Memory - Il y a Des Etats Que je ne Peux Laisser en Dehors de la Maladie

Amber Inn - Leave With Dignity

The Birds Are Spies, They Report to the Trees - A Song for Gera

Belle Epoque - Il Est Trop Tard

Bright Calm Blue - The North Bottoms

Thee Silver Mountain Reverie - More Action! Less Tears!

The Polyphonic Spree - Hold Me Now

Hooverphonic - Lung

Cinemechanica - Bruckheimer

Maps and Atlases - Stories About Ourselves

Heart Monster - Communities

The Fall - North West Fashion Show

The Album Leaf - Always for You

Feathers - Iron Mountain

Brazil - Crime (and the Antique Solution)

These Arms Are Snakes - Horse Girl

Isis - Wrists of Kings

The Big Sleep - You Can't Touch

The Low Frequency in Stereo - 21

Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan

Cul de Sac - The Moon Scolds The Morning

Akron/Family - Raising the Sparks (live)

November 4, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-11-09T19:21:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - We Train These Robots

Nomo - Nu Tones

Ellen Allien & Apparat - Turbo Dreams

Black Eyes - Some Boys

Owen - The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi

Two Gallants - Long Summer Day

Langhorne Slim - Loretta Lee Jones

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Sooner Than You Think

An Arrow In Flight - One Bold Stroke from Right to Left

Pyramids - Lucid

1000 Travels of Jawaharlal - With Smile and Slobber

Welcome the Plague Year - Doomsday Parade

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Defeat or Humiliate the United States of America

Stop it!! - S.S. Betrayel

Raein - Tigersuit

Off Minor - My Recovery

Current - Basis

The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower - Sometimes I Wish I'd Lost a Leg

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - A Completely New Weapon

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Big Man

Lord Finesse (feat. AG & Percee P) - Yes You May

Aceyalone and RJD2 - Junior

The Perceptionists - Memorial Day

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Waiting for the Snow

Of Montreal - Psychotic Feeling

The Heavy Hearts - On the Breaks

Sparklehorse - Don't Take My Sunshine Away

Chin Up Chin Up - Islands Sink

In Civilian Clothing - Art of Conversation

Pleasurecraft - I Know What They Say About Me

Riding Paper Airplanes - Teenagers in Love

RX Bandits - To Our Unborn Daughters

The Slits - Typical Girls

Converge - No Heroes

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Who Are These Gurus?

October 21, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-11-09T19:20:00.000-05:00

Download this show.

Man Man - Black Mission Goggles

Matmos - Steam and Sequins for Larry Levan

Annuals - Brother

31 Knots - Vanish

Phillip Roebuck - Jackass Blues

Bessie Jones - O Day

Hand-Fed Babies - Oh Chariot

The One AM Radio - A Ghost on the East Coast

Songs: Ohia - Advice to Aces

John Davis & The Georgia Sea Island Singers - Buzzard Lope

Alan Lomax - Early in the Mornin'

Hobart Smith - Chinkapin Pie

Uncle Dave Macon - Way Down the Old Plank Road

Yaphet Kotto - Fact nor Fiction

Yage - Save the Fear Slave

Ampere - In Antiquity

Sinaloa - The Earth is on Fire

Portraits of Past - Implications of a Sinkhole Personality

City of Caterpillar - Maybe They'll Gnaw Right Through

Amanda Woodward - La Prosperite

Daitro - Laissez Vivre Les Squelettes

In First Person - The Beast

Please Inform the Captain This is a Hijack - Karma Collection Day

Nation of Ulysses - You're My Miss Washington, D.C.

Hoover - Cable

Antioch Arrow - The Angel's Lawn

The Locust - Live from the Russian Compound

Make Believe - A Song About Camping

The Physics of Meaning - Bigger Cities, Thicker Doors

The Mountain Goats - This Year

Pinback - Avignon

TV on the Radio - Was a Lover

Four Tet - Money Folder (Madvillain remix)

Collective Efforts - Medicine

The Perceptionists - Black Dialogue

Cale Parks - Wet Paint

Hot Snakes - XOX

Forward Russia - Nineteen

Tokyo Police Club - Cheer it on

L.E.O. - Ya Had me Goin'

Headlights - Everybody Needs a Fence to Lean on

Horse Feathers - Dustbowl

Elf Power - All the World is Waiting

Isis + Aereogramme - Delial

Calexico - Not Even Stevie Nicks...

Yo La Tengo - The Room Got Heavy

October 14, 2006 Playlist - TWS

2006-11-09T19:18:00.000-05:00

The Black Keys - Modern Times

My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus

The Hold Steady - First Night

The Minus Story - Joyless, Joyless

Jurassic 5 - What's Golden

Madlib - Box Top

Dalek - Asylum

These Arms Are Snakes - Subtle Body

Mastodon - Circle of Cysquatch

Modern Life Is War - By The Sea

The Hope Conspiracy - Suicide Design

Red Sparowes - We Stood Transfixed in Blank Devotion as Our Leader Spoke to Us, Looking Down on Our Mute Faces with a Great, Raging, and Unseeing Eye

Chatham County Line - They Were Just Children

Hank Williams III - Country Heroes

Magnolia Electric Co. - Don't Fade On Me

Xiu Xiu - Bishop, CA

Basement Jaxx - Run

Junior Boys - Count Souveniers

Thunderbirds Are Now! - The Veil Comes Down

Minus The Bear - Fine + 2 Pts

The Blood Brothers - Camouflage, Camouflage

Mirah - The Light

Old Crow Medicine Show - Let It Alone

Cursive - Dorothy at Forty

Six Organs of Admittance - Attar

Envy - Further Ahead of Warp