Notes from the underground

Thrasher Magazine, Sept, 2004

STARTIN' WITH THE LITTLE RECORDS, check the new 7" Hatebeak entitled Beak of Purefaction on Reptilian. Every fan of screaming, gnarly, death-inducing grindcore will find this fits right in with their tastes, BUT IT'S A FUCKING PARROT DOING THE SINGING! Get it? Hatebeak! Ha, ha! Don't act like you can understand the lyrics in them grindcore songs anyway; I played this for a kid and he was totally diggin' it, not knowing about the cute little birdie behind the mic.

This shit's great; love to see 'em play live, I bet the birdseed goes flying everywhere ... Also on the smaller side, check the new split 7" by Die Harms and Radio One. C'mon dude, it's friggin' Duane Peters! And the Hunns--err, I mean, Die Hunns--have done a great job of incorporating Corey Parks (with backing vocals here). The flip side is another dose of straight up punk, a solid split here ... More in the skate rock vein comes from Harry Balzagna & The Teenie Weenies. Full on early-style, high-speed HC from SoCal, it seriously sounds like Minor Threat meets RKL. Check the Skate Army 7" on Snack Attack! Records (What, those guys been listening to Quirke?) ... Tempe, AZ's the Half Empties finally put out their first 7", Dead inside b/w 7 Wishes on I Don't Feel a Thing Records. Great catchy and melodic up tempo punk rock, demand it at your local record store ... Dirtnap Records has put out a great LP that's a little bit of a departure from their regular stuff Check out the Marked Men, On the Outside. It's kind of similar to early Vacant Lot, before they got all sappy and whiny, and played full steam, rockin' power pop, with an emphasis on the power over the pop. Goes well with a summertime BBQ at the beach ... For more of a downer, try the Black Lips' new LP We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow on Bomp! I know what you're thinking: what a stupid title for a record. Sounds like some ridiculous new age hippy shit, but it ain't. Just great Robitussin-fueled trash rock, this shit has some psych and can induce a bummer in the most steadfast of flower children. Yeah! ... On the live front, got to report on the Wilders, a great bluegrass four-piece from Oklahoma City. The little lady dragged me down to check out a show of some lousy band, but there was a diamond in the rough: the Wilders blew the doors off of them whiny indie rock acts. Stand up bass, guitar, and fiddle, with the fourth alternating between pedal steel, guitar, and mandolin. They played fast and loud and kicked up a shitstorm, just what I needed in the midst of all of the shoegazing goin' on ... The Thermals have a follow-up to their recent debut on Sub Pop, entitled Fuckin' A. The catchy songwriting remains, and, although they might appeal to the indie crowd, this shit rocks. The vocals are a little over-enunciated compared to the first and the sound is a lot cleaner, so it's a bit of a departure in that sense from the first (which was a lot grittier). Still, a great listen ... Also on Sub Pop is the new one by the Catheters, Howling ... It Grows and Grows. It's got a little jangle in the guitars and is a little more garagey than their earlier stuff, hut it's still straight up ass kickin' ... On a trip down memory lane, there's a hunch of great re-issues and back-from-the-dead (or prison) stuff this month. First up, a vinyl reissue of the Big Boys' Complete Control, on Red C Records. It's a German import so it's pricey, but it's a great recording--classic skate-oriented stuff that defied the early onset of "rules" and "norms" in punk rock ... Never heard of Michael Liggins and the Super Souls before, but man! This is some smokin' shit from Phoenix, circa 1970. This was recorded as soul was getting funkier, with contemporaries such as the Meters. The four-song EP has two versions of "Loaded to the Gills," "Loaded Back," mad "Function Underground." Super stylin' ... Malt Soda (get it?) Records put out a new CD by Bay Area punks Fang, entitled Live Cheap. Fang's first two records (Landshark and Where the Wild Things Are) kicked ass in a simple way, but by the time they got to their third and fourth LPs, A Mi Ga Sfafas and Spun Helga, they'd pretty much become pretty spun themselves. Singer Sammytown then spent six years in the poke for manslaughter, got out, and reformed the band. This CD doesn't contain info, so I have no idea when it was recorded or what the line-up is/was (Sammytown has been the only original member at some points). This is a great listen, though, with some of the classic Fang stuff ("You're Cracked," "Skinheads Smoke Dope") but leaves out the anthemic "Berkeley Heathen Scum." Oh well ... Malt Soda also put out a live China White CD, Live Cheap. Two studio tracks from '79, four live tracks from '81, and 10 tracks from their reunion shows in '02-'03 ... Malt Soda's also co-released (with AZPX skateboards) Junior Achievement's 1984 LP Fade to Black. Great early Phoenix punk, mid-tempo and gloomy ... It's a sad state of affairs when most of what I've got to write about is re-issues, and I know there's tons of good shit being made out there. So send that good stuff my way for review: PO Box 419, Tempe, AZ 85280-0419.