Head of David - White Elephant & The Saveana Mixes

Today's lesson is how to make damn near perfect noisy rock.  Class will be led by Head of David.

Step 1:  The foundation.  Gnarled, thick, twisted bass and pounding, huge, thunderous drums.
Step 2:  The walls.  Blistering, ear-slicing, brain-melting guitar.
Step 3:  The paint.  Forceful, well placed but not over the top vocals.
Step 4:  The roof blown off.  Turn volume up to "fucking loud".

Follow these steps and you will achieve damn near perfect noisy rock.  The problem is that almost no one does it like this anymore.

What we have here first is Head of David's White Elephant.  Made up of the first two Peel Sessions. The first, from '86, features the original lineup with drummer Paul Sharp.  Jack Nicholson and Metal Texas Psych-Out are songs not available elsewhere and Pierced All Over would end up recorded for the incredible Dustbowl LP in a fairly different arrangement.  The second session, from '87, features the Dustbowl lineup with Justin Broadrick on drums and features four songs that got recorded for Dustbowl.  Bugged and Tequila are pretty much as they are on Dustbowl but Snake Domain and Skindrill are somewhat different with more driving drums.  Both sessions are more raw than the studio material.  The '86 session is interesting as it shows them moving from the more spacey, psyched out stuff of the first album to the harder, more uptempo style of Dustbowl.


Head of David - White Elephant

Next we have the Saveana Mixes.  I know very little about the origin of this ep.  It contains three alternate mixes of tracks on Dustbowl and an outtake.  Apparently these were the primary mixes and they got lost or some such thing.  I've really no idea.  Interesting that it does say "Engineered by John Fryer" when Dustbowl was recorded by Albini.  Maybe they are Fryer's mixes.  Either way, this release is astounding.  The mix of Bugged is similar to the LP but has a much more full lively tone, the guitars are pushed back a bit but are very wide and the vocals are more present.  In fact all three alt mixes are like that.  In addition 108 has totally different drums at the beginning and the way the guitars are mixed here suits the song better.  Adrenicide is remarkably different.  It is much fuller.  The LP version has an intentionally(?) weird, thin mix.  It's ok but not my favorite track on the LP.  This mix sounds huge and much less tweaked and warped.  It sounds immense.  The real treat here though is "Bad Times", the outtake.  Why this was not on the album I'll never understand, unless it really was lost.  It would fit perfectly as the album closer with it's slower tempo, spacey "verse" section and huge chorus.  Really one of the best Head of David tracks.


Head of David - Saveana Mixes

Enjoy!

P.S. - If you are hearing Head of David for the first time here please, I beg of you, avoid their final album.  It's called Seed State.  Just don't do it.  Unless you like run of the mill, sub par, industial rock.  Front Line Assembly lite.  Really lite.  Ick.

Engine Kid - Heater Sweats Nails b/w Husk

It is safe to say that Engine Kid are one of my favorite bands and this is arguably my favorite of their releases.  They are the most interesting of Greg Anderson's bands.  I've had a long relationship with Engine Kid that unfortunately started right after they broke up.  I picked up the split album with Iceburn.  Being a huge Iceburn fan and never having heard of Engine Kid I wasn't too sure what to expect but their half totally blew me away.  I then proceeded to track down everything I could find.  Their earlier releases show quite a bit of Slint worship but they quickly morphed into a much heavier and varied band using the "loud-quiet-loud" template to push the loud louder and the quiet quieter while incorporating other textures and sounds to great effect.  It reached its pinnacle with their last album Angel Wings.  If you are looking for a place to start with Engine Kid, that album is it.  If you are looking for a guide to how that record sounds, this 7" here is like Angel Wings condensed into two tracks.

The Heater Sweats Nails/Husk 7" is the final Engine Kid release.  It was put out by Troubleman in '95.  The a side is probably their heaviest track and shows how far they had come from their first release just a couple of years prior.  The opening riff is as heavy as a really heavy thing.  The rest of the track is just an aural pummeling.  The b side is exactly the opposite.  It is a beautiful, relaxed instrumental propelled by quiet yet driving drums.  Engine Kid does both heavy and soft so well, usually in the same song.  I quite like the juxtaposition of these tracks and feel it is a little microcosm of their total output.

Added as a bonus is the song "A Quinn Martin Production" that is on the Angel Wings LP but not the CD.  It's a quick, heavy little instrumental just over a minute long.  It's a good, if not totally necessary track but if you check out Angel Wings on CD, it would be good to have on there. 

Engine Kid - Heater Sweats Nails b/w Husk

Now if only someone could get Engine Kid to reform so I can see them...

Coil - How to Destroy Angels

Here we have the first Coil release "How to Destroy Angels".  Well, first if you don't count the Zos Kia cassette. 

If you aren't familiar with Coil, you should be.  Nothing can really be said about Coil that hasn't been said already.  They were and remain one of the most singular, forward looking artists to grace this planet with their presence.  They left behind a legacy that will forever influence those that come after, both directly and indirectly.

How to Destroy Angels had the subtitle "ritual music for the accumulation of male sexual energy" and the cover has a statement of Coil's intent in the creation and manipulation of music and sound.  It is a statement that they never deviated from.  The music within is a rising and falling tide of clanging metal, low synths and various effects that can have an effect similar to being frightened yet sedated.  It is definitely a journey over the course of 17 minutes.  It also provides a sound or feeling that would generally be present throughout many of Coil's works to a greater or lesser extent for the rest of their existence.

This 12" had a number of different pressings.  The "b-side" is called "Absolute Elsewhere" is not contained herein because it doesn't exist.  The b-side is blank.  No grooves.  There were other pressings that had unplayable grooves, test tones, lock grooves and other things.  When the "track" ended up on the How to Destroy Angels cd, it was blank.  That cd was also several remixes of the original but not the original itself.  The original version is available on the Unnatural History compilation but in mono not stereo.  Gotta love Coil.  The only way to get the stereo original is to have a copy of the 12".

Coil - How to Destroy Angels 12"

I picked this up at RRRecords in Lowell many years ago for a good price.  Now I just need to find the other pressings with all the wacky b sides.

Enjoy!

Youpho - 3 12"s

This will be a quicky.

Youpho is one of JK Broadrick's least known projects.  It came at the height of his electronic side projects around '98.  It's a collaboration with one Oliver Waters who I know nothing about at all.  It's definitely one of JKB's best projects.  Good drum and bass foundation with some serious low end and some distorted, mangled synths and washy, spacey bits.  They released these 3 12"s and that was it.  There were rumors of a 4th but it was recently confirmed that it never came out.  There's some unreleased stuff as well in the hands of a particular maven of bass.  I really hope it all gets compiled and released someday as Youpho deserves to be heard by more people.

So here we have the three 12"s.  One nice little package.  I'm going to redo Mode 7 at some point as it's edited because my stylus couldn't handle one part.  Nang.

Enjoy.

Youpho 12"s

Review: Chuter - Coma

The first review award on this here blog goes to the new ep "Coma" by Chuter.  I can think of no other release I would rather have given this honor to.  This ep is a tremendous little thing, little only in its length as the breadth, scope and, most importantly, its maturity is massive and it would fit perfectly in Creation Records' catalog, if they were still around that is.  Creation 2.0 perhaps?

I first discovered Chuter through the man himself, Jack Chuter, in a nefarious den of iniquity known as the Avalanchers forum where he had posted about his first couple of releases.  I was quite taken by the quality of them, not only in sound and production but songwriting as well, rare these days for such a new project to show that, especially for its sole member being so young.  After a long spell of quiet from him (the odd track here or there that I've not checked out yet, sorry) comes Coma which feels like a huge step forward.

The first of the two tracks, "Agitated", is a killer.  It starts with just some heavily affected, looped guitar, synth and vocals drenched in reverb and delay slowly pulling you in for almost 2 minutes until you are hit with the huge drums and bass which deliver a building, driving rhythm while adding layers of guitar and building the track up.  The vocals become a barely there element that seem to creep about the track hiding way in the back. 

The second track, "Fading From View", is more reserved.  Opening with drums while guitar slowly fades in and vocals more prominent enter with some beautiful guitar melody underneath them it stays a quiet meditative song enhanced by various sounds, buried spoken vocals and penny flute.  It never gets too loud and carries on at a relaxed pace while never getting boring.

What is most striking about this release is its professionalism in both production and songwriting.  It sounds fantastic and full.  Nothing sounds forced or thrown together.  Every layer of these songs feels intentional, like it needs to be there.  Take it away and you lose part of the drive and narrative of the song.  It is not the "layers for layers sake" thing that many releases like this suffer from.  The songs both feel like they would be just as good alone in an acoustic, stripped down setting as they are in their form here.  My one complaint is that "Fading From View" sounds like it should have another song following it.  That's a compliment really as I just want more.  But that's what they make the "repeat" button for. 

Someone needs to sign, or at least distribute, Chuter's releases.  More people need to know.

Do yourself a favor and check this out.  It can be had for free at Chuter's bandcamp page in almost any digital flavor you want.

http://chuter.bandcamp.com/album/coma

And you will find some of his earlier releases over at Archive.org.

28 Inches of Final

Well, 16 inches really if you subtract the 3 inches per side for the labels. 

What can really be said about Final?  Justin Broadrick's original and continuing project started in 1983 and still currently active.  By far some of the most solid ambient work available.  It has a "creep factor" of approximately 12,000 on this author's "music that you fall asleep to and then wake up in the middle of thinking you are being watched by something other than your cat" scale of 1 -100.  I would highly recommend picking up the Final album "First Millionth of a Second" if you can find it.  Outstanding.

Well for today's post we have the two 7"s that Final put out in '95 and '96.  Flow/Openings, released by the wonderful Manifold Records in an edition of 1000.  Manifold also put out the aforementioned album I told you to get.  Sadly, Manifold isn't really a label anymore.  Flow/Openings is a wonderful little thing.  More somber and melodic than most of the Final material up to that point, the a side, Flow, is a frightening piece somewhat akin to getting lost underground only to come to the surface in a city abandoned and destroyed with no explanation.  The b side, Openings, is then coming to terms with the fact that you are utterly alone in this new world.  This record is a bit on the noisy side, probably due to trying to cram seven and a half minutes on each side.  I cleaned it up as best I could with my current tools.  Not too bad.  Incidentally, I remember buying this from Newbury Comics in Cambridge for $2 in the bargain 7" boxes a year or two after it came out.  Score.

The second record is Urge/Fail, released by Fever Pitch in two pressings.  The first was 250 copies, the second was 400.  This is a second press I got from Avalanche directly when the Godflesh album Messiah originally came out.  This 7" is much harsher than the other.  Urge, the a side, sits as one of my favorite Final tracks.  You remember that abandoned city I told you about?  This piece is what happened while you were trying to find your way in the dark while still underground.  The b side, Fail, is not quite as good as Urge but still a solid track.  More solidly guitar based it sounds sort of like an outtake from the Skinner's Black Laboratories cd.  Still creepy, still good.  I'm also out of apt, silly descriptions so you'll just have to leave it at that.

Two totally solid releases from one of most superb ambient/soundscape/isolationist projects out there.

Final - 7"s - Flac

PS - I realize that so far the blog is a bit heavy on the Broadrick stuff.  There will be other stuff, I promise.  These just happen to be the records I'm transferring at the moment.

Sweet Tooth - Soft White Underbelly

A hugely overlooked band formed by Dave Cochran of Head of David, Scott Kiehl of Slab! and Justin K Broadrick of Godflesh.  All three members were playing in God,  Cochran and Broadrick had recently both quit Head of David and Kiehl had quit Slab!.  Sweet Tooth was active for only a couple years releasing the studio album we have here, a live album on Broadrick's own Headdirt and a split 7" before dissolving.

 

 

Soft White Underbelly was their first release.  Co-released by Earache and Staindrop as MOSH26 it was available on LP and Cassette and classified as a "mini-album".  Granted it's only 34 minutes long but it feels like a whole album so it is a whole album.  There is nothing "mini" about this release at all.  Big bass, bigger drums and even bigger guitars, it packs a serious wallop.  Cochran lays down the foundation with pulverizing bass lines, Kiehl works his drums in and out of the bass with deadly precision and Broadrick finishes it off with some searing, noisy, guitar.  The vocals, by Cochran, are almost an afterthought.  They punch through with a reserved, almost lazy anger that seems to be only kept in check by apathy.  You would not be wrong, dear reader, to say that this sounds quite a bit like Head of David's fantastic Dustbowl.  Considering that DC and JB both play on that, it makes sense.  Some serious, pounding rock that on occasion loops away into the stratosphere.  If you want to hear what kind of effect a depressed, filthy, industrial atmosphere like Birmingham can have on balls out rock (besides Sabbath), this is it.

Soft White Underbelly - Flac

God - Breach Birth

For the first real post we have God's first release, Breach Birth.  God was a behemoth of a band fronted by Kevin Martin (currently of The Bug and King Midas Sound) and featuring a lineup of anywhere from 8 to 12 people with multiple drummers and bassists.  They put out three full lengths and a few singles and eps of pummeling, scorching, heavy slabs of transcendent free jazz/noise rock until imploding under their own weight.  This band, at various points, featured members of Slab!, 16-17, Head of David, Oxbow and also John Zorn who produced their album Possession.  Most notable though was the inclusion of one Justin K Broadrick who produced the first couple releases before joining the band.  He and Martin would go on to collaborate on numerous projects over the next ten years.  Sadly, all of God's material is out of print and will most likely stay that way.  It can all be found relatively cheap if you are patient and I would recommend getting all of it.

If I seem overly gushing about them it should be noted that this blog takes its name from a God track, so that should say something. 

Breach Birth, released by Situation Two, is a monster of a 12".  The A side, Meat Head, is an eight and a half minute onslaught of a heavy repetitive beat, monolithic bass, vicious vocals and blistering, dissonant sax and guitar.  This track shows what they would become on their later releases while having a more melodic, almost psych-rock feel with the guitars that was gone by their next release.  The B side features two tracks, Swine Fever and Crash Victim and is about 4 minutes long in total.  These are pretty unique in the God catalog for their brevity.  These are just as heavy as the A side but have more of a noise rock feel to them.  More like being stabbed than bludgeoned.  All in all as good a first release for a band as any you'll find.

God - Breach Birth in Flac

First blog thingie.

Well hello.  This is the first post of this blog.  Not sure where it'll all end up but music will be involved. Hopefully I'll turn you on to some new sounds or some old, depending on how you look at it.  There may be other stuff as well.  I just don't know.  I really just don't know.  Until next time.