hickey - hickey / voodoo glowskulls split (1997 probe)

There will be no music posts for the next week. Sorry. But as an act of penance, I am going to post The Greatest Record Ever Released: The infamous Hickey/Voodoo Glow Skulls 7". I know I'm prone to exagerration, but not this time. This is my #1 all-time favorite record, for about a thousand reasons, which I won't go into at the moment.

For those who don't know the story behind this record, here are the SparkNotes:

• Hickey plays a show with FYP & the Voodoo Glow Skulls in Arizona. 
• Hickey makes fun of Epitaph Records (VGS's label at the time)
• VGS gets pissed, get Hickey kicked out of the club, without pay. 
• On their way out, Hickey swipes a VGS trumpet as payment. 
• VGS & their homies proceed to leave death threats on Hickey's phone.
• Hickey releases these death threats as the VGS side of this split.
• Oh, yeah, with Hickey attempting to play said trumpet in the background.

That would be enough to make me love this record. But you also get a zine, "You Bet Your Sweet Ass I'm A Turtle: To Blow The Horn Of Justice", that explains and analyzes the entire sordid affair, complete with the paper correspondence between Hickey and VGS.

That would be enough to make this one of my favorite records. But you also get Hickey's song, "Food Stamps And Drink Tickets", which is one the best songs Hickey ever wrote. So perfect it makes me wanna cry every time I hear it.  

If you really loved me 
You would have killed me long ago
And buried my bones
In your mom's backyard
Right below your window
So I'd never be alone

When the cold winds blow
you'd be the only one who knows 
I'm the the green grass that grows
Under the snow
And there won't be school tomorrow
It's much too late
To be saved by
Goofy escapades
There isn't any aid
To correct this mess we've made
We can run
You can't run away
You can dig your own grave
Crawl in and wait
In a couple of days 
I'll be by to cover you up
With the earth that you hate so much
Food stamps and drink tickets
Are all that's left for me

Best band ever. Best record ever.

My favorite poet, Matty Luv, R.I.P.

1. Food Stamps And Drink Tickets
2. Me and My Homies 

DL 'HICKEY-VGS'

steakknife - the day larry talked (1995 x-mist)

Steakknife are a German punk rock band named after an Angry Samoans song. And yes, there is a definite Angry Samoans influence ('specially on "Body Bomb").

1. The Day Larry Talked
2. Body Bomb
3. Whiskey Bottle Blues

myspace
last.fm
 
DL 'LARRY TALK'

the automatics - in disguise (1996 fourty-two)

More pop-punk from the Northwest. Previous posts here and here. 

1. Super Spy
2. Robots 
3. King Of The West

DL 'IN DISGUISE'

guttermouth - 11 oz (1993 hopeless)

The first release ever on Hopeless Records, which was named for the first song on this release.

I didn't really care for anything they did after Friendly People, but I'll admit I once listened to a lot of Guttermouth. Yeah, I cringed at a lot of the lyrics, but they were pretty fun live.

1. Hopeless
2. Just A Fucking Lounge Version
3. Pot
4. Sid Vicious Was Innocent

DL '11 OZ'

billingsgate - reach out (1990 victory)

Minnesota straight-edge hardcore. More importantly, Erik Funk's (Dillinger Four) old band. That's him, on the cover, SMOKING. I'm telling Ian.

Special thanks to Pay No More Than for providing a very high quality rip.

1. Know No Boundaries
2. Hold Strong
3. Won't Hang Myself
4. Reach Out
5. Never Stop
6. Open Your Eyes

DL 'REACH OUT'

blam goes the firecracker

I gotta lay a lot of the blame for this hot mess on the audio/video guy. Just because the Sports Wizard took the night off doesn't mean you get to just phone it in. It would be nice if at least one thing you did went correctly. But poor Matt Lorch. I was going to label him a victim of circumstance until his apology at the end."Hopefully we'll have more news for you tomorrow on this station." Yeah, hopefully the news doesn't run out or something. "Drive safely?" Where does he think people are watching from? Or maybe he just likes to sign off with some helpful advice. Next time it'll be, "Always look both ways before crossing the street".  But Don Jefferies in the newsroom didn't exactly have a stellar night either. The only one who took care of his business was The Merv. You gotta guard Merv!

[barstool]

pipe truck

Speaking of JFA...

shoulda sung for flipper

[ohhaveyouseenthis]

jfa - camp out (1995 spontaneous combustion)

80's skate punk legends mellow out a tad on this 1995 release.

1. Camp Out
2. Travels With Charlie

DL 'CAMP OUT'

galt's gulch

This is what a Republican "privatize everything" wet-dream must look like.

Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency. 

But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary. 

Or, there's the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help. 

This is one of thousands of reasons why, contrary to Scott Brown's claim, I like paying taxes. All-you-can-eat 911 calls. Mmmmm.

[consumerist]

propagandhi - where quality is job #1 (1994 recess)

This is the real deal. Not an assembled version from the Where Quantity Is Job #1 CD, but the 2X7" rip in all it's ugly glory. Live tracks, demos, fragments of songs ("Degrassi"), intentional skips, guitar solos, early versions of later Propagandhi classics ("Kill Bill Harcus"), and a couple of classics that were never redone (as far as I know)("Die For The Flag", "Support Gun Control"), it's all here in all its ugly, beautiful glory. A high-quality rip of a low-quality recording. This is one of my untouchable records. This is essential.

1. Die For The Flag
2. Metal Intro
3. Metal Guitar Solo
4. Degrassi Jr. High Dropouts
5. Bent
6. Greenest Eyes
7. Who Will Help Me Bake This Bread?
8. Kill Bill Harcus
9. Support Gun Control..Kill A Hunter
10. Hidden Curriculum
11. Gov't Cartoons
12. Leg-Hold Trap 

DL 'QUALITY' 

colbert is god, part 446524

[warmingglow]

i'm angry

Surf Nazi's Must Die

flash bastard - s/t (1991 stiff pole)

If you can excuse the horrific (hopefully tongue-in-cheek) cover art, you'll get some pretty rocking punk rock from Flash Bastard. Especially considering there wasn't a whole lot going on punk rock-wise in 1991. The fact that it's on Stiff Pole makes me wonder if these guys played in any later Stiff Pole bands. I'm hearing a little No Consent. I wouldn't know, though, because there's nothing about these guys on the Interweb.

1. This Means War
2. Not Dead Yet
3. Depressed
4. Don't Splash

DL 'FLASH BASTARD'

bad idea

Today inroduces us to a couple of things you probably shouldn't do. t least if you don't want to look pretty stupid.

#1 Pick a fight with a guy wearing a shirt that says "I AM A MOTHERFUCKER"



#2 Challenge Obama to a televised debate.

In the words of the infallible George W. Bush, bring it on.

dear orly taitz

[rumproast]

defeat the world

san diego kinda rules

boy sets fire - consider (1996 initial)

You know 'em. You love 'em. Or maybe you don't. Either way, metallic post-hardcore.

Also, I've never been clear - is it Boy Sets Fire., or Boysetsfire.? It seems pretty clear it's Boy Sets Fire. And yet...

1. Consider The Numbers
2. Turn The Key
3. Fuedal

DL 'CONSIDER' 

miskatonic university - cowhill house (1994 mele marce)

Italian post-hardcore named after a fictional school in an H.G. Wells novel. They get compared to Helmet a lot, but I wouldn't consider them a clone. I barely hear the similarities. 

1. Cowhill House
2. Wings
3. Don't Ask Me Why
4. Rape

DL 'COWHILL HOUSE'

i begrudge

Did Obama seriously compare Wall Street bankers to baseball players? Ridiculous. Charles Pierce agrees. 

Demagoguing the salaries paid to elite athletes is a tactic for Bob On A Car Phone, not the president of the United States, and especially not in connection with men who, if there were any justice at all, would be waiting tables at a food bank somewhere.

jones crusher - s/t (1997 kado)

Rock 'N' Roll from Long Island, NY. I don't know anything else about them. Sorry.

1. On Your Own
2. The Doctor

DL 'JONES CRUSHER'

tecmo

fistfight in the parking lot

SNL actually had a non-lame skit! Dave Grohl channels his old Scream days. Fred Armisen, who used to be in Trenchmouth, makes a great punk singer. Add some Suicidal Tendencies tendencies and you've got a winning sketch.

dirt bike annie - choco-berri sugar pops (1997 mutant pop)

Kinda brilliant pop-punk that, for some reason, I never fully appreciated when it first came out. I think at the time I had some irrational disregard for anything that came out of New York/New Jersey. Yes, I was stupid. Don't be stupid. Download this.

1. Letters And Numbers
2. Bobby Sue
3. What's Happening, Hot Stuff
4. Down The Drain

DL 'CHOCO-POPS'

digger - geek love (1996 hopeless)

Pennsylvania pop-punk professionally played.

1. Geek Love
2. Leaving Home
3. Car Keys

DL 'GEEK LOVE'

the turnover gods strike again

So, back in the day I used to play a lot of Madden '95 on Sega. Yeah, I'm that old. Anyways, my roommate Vic had this uncanny ability to force you to throw an interception by summoning the Turnover Gods. He would say, "C'mon turnover Gods, I need an interception" and boom - interception. Now, in reality it probably worked once, but in my memories it worked. every. single. time.

You don't have to believe me, but tonight, right before the game sealing interception, I prayed to the Turnover Gods.

You're welcome, New Orleans.

notes on a super bowl

I'm gonna get my thoughts out there now before they become corrupted by other blog's opinions.

• Until Manning's pick in the fourth quarter, this was easily the best quarterbacked game in a Super Bowl I have ever seen. It still might be, even with that interception.
• After the first quarter, Brees played his ass off. As good as I've ever seen in a Super Bowl.
• Manning's throw to Dallas Clark, dropping it in just over a couple of Saint's defenders, is tied for the best pass I have ever seen. It's tied with every other perfect pass I've seen. Because it was perfect, you see?
• Sean Payton and Jim Caldwell each channeled their inner Norv Turner, going away from their strengths and calling running plays at the goal line - the Saints at the end of the first half, the Colts near the end of the game. Both failed. It was positively Norvilicious. Good to see San Diego kinda sorta did make it to the Super Bowl in their own special way.
• It's been a long time since a team I was actively rooting for won the Super Bowl. There have been plenty of games where I didn't give a shit, but the last time I successfully rooted  for a team to win was 2003, when Tampa Bay crushed the odious Raiders. Oh man, that day was a lot of fun. 
• Halftime show sucked. Yeah, I said it. 
• Now the important stuff: The commercials!
• Go Daddy can feel free to never make another Super Bowl commercial. Not funny, not clever, and they payoff you get by going to the website does not exist. Nary a nipple to be found.
• I hate the E*Trade baby. I find him creepy in all the wrong ways. But that Milkaholic one made me laugh. 
• As did the Diamond Nuts human dolphin one, in it's own weird way. 
• My inner woman liked the Google ad. Can't believe I just admitted that. 
• Dramatic Chipmunk in two commercials? Didn't realize it was 2007.
• Anyone else surprised that LG ad wasn't a Droid ad?
• Best commercial was the Letterman one. They must have used some James Cameron CGI to get it to look like Letterman and Leno were in the same room.
• Runner-up: VW's slug-bug homage.
• The Tim Tebow/Focus On The Family ad was much tamer than I was expecting. All the controversy was for that?
• Coke, Bud/Bud Light, Doritos. Yawn, yawn, yawn. 'Cept for the dog collar. That was okay. 
• Who doesn't want to be in New Orleans right about now (Indy fans excluded)?

teleprompters

Sarah Palin has forever lost the right to make teleprompter jokes. 

Holy Christ, somebody needs a teleprompter. "Because it's ridiculous we have just sitting warehoused under God's green Earth, here in the United States Of America, rich resources, oil and gas and our coal and all these conventional sources of resources we have got to actually walk that walk to allow them to um, come to development."

Your future President!

inglourious velvet tenenbaums petit fitzcarraldo touchdown

traitors - i'm so happy when i'm hating (1996 harmless)

Quick dose of angry, snotty punk rock. This is the orginal line-up of the Traitors, with Todd Pot (Apocolypse Hoboken), Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), Marc Ruvalo (No Empathy), and Francisco Ramirez (Gasoline Fight.).

I posted another Traitors EP earlier, it can be found here.

1. I'm So Happy When I'm Hating
2. Son Of Wallet Ball
3. Birth Of A Genius

DL 'HAPPY HATING'

richard shelby: america's biggest welfare queen

Where are the teabaggers when you need them? Someone turn on the Teabag signal! 

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold....

According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama's nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:

- A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: "Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals." Federal Times offers more details on the tanker deal, and also confirms its connection to the hold.

- An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: "[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won't build" the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based "at the Army's Redstone Arsenal."

the twerps - will play for food (1994 702)

Holy shit! I forgot all about this band. The Twerps were from Cincinnati and were fucking rad. Juvenile and snotty. Reminds me of Showcase Showdown. Their myspace page has a lengthy band history. 

Big thanks thanks to Shpadoinkle for the original post/rip back in 2007. That's two years I missed out on reliving The Twerps magic. I'm pretty stoked right now, though.

1. Will Play For Food
2. Joey
3. Just Say No
4. You Can't Have Any
5. Two Too Much To Drink
6. Fuck You

myspace

DL 'WILL PLAY'

what atrios said

Come Back, Johnny Mac:

"I appreciate that they're noticing, but how many what the fuck happened to John McCain articles will be written before it sinks in that he's a bitter asshole."

yes this is class war

In 2010 campaign, I'm sure you're going to hear a lot of Republicans talking about Main Street, "real" America, and "real" American values. They'll be fronting about how they are the protectors of the middle class. That they have your best interests in mind. Just always remember that they are liars.

Republicans are stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street, trying to capitalize on an increasing sense of regret among executives at big financial institutions for backing Democrats in 2008.

In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street.
...
Mr. Boehner told Mr. Dimon congressional Republicans had stood up to Mr. Obama's efforts to curb pay and impose new regulations.

Adding: Contrary to popular belief I'm not (that) naive. I know that Democrats are plenty guilty of duplicitous doublespeak regarding Wall Street. I've just never seen any of them so publicly cast their lot with Wall Street.

the fighters - breaking bones for laughs (1995 rocco)

I cannot emphasize how much I love The Fighters. But, that doesn't mean everything they do is awesome. It's just that their awesome stuff is so awesome that it dwarfs any filler songs they may have. For instance, on this EP. "Green Light" and "Something Else"? Meh. But "The Flying Father" and "Breaking Bones For Laughs"? Two of the best songs ever. How can you not love complicated lyrics like,

He's big and strong and brown
He's gonna wreck the town
His beard is big like a tree
More masculine than a mom
With his exploding Dad-bomb
He will do damage to me

Now, normally, if I can't find an existing rip that's above 192kbps, I'll just rip the vinyl instead. But in this case, the 160kbps files found at The Modernist (where there's more stuff) still sound much better than my vinyl rip, which has been played to death, so that's what I'm using.

Previous, even awesomer release here. Awesome!

1. Green Light
2. The Flying Father
3. Something Else
4. Breaking Bones For Laughs

DL 'BREAKING BONES'

randy - fat club (2001 fat wreck chords)

Randy is a Swedish kinda-sorta political punk band. But in a happy way. Like a lite version of The Refused. Wait, that's a horrible comparison.

1. I'm Stepping Out
2. If We Unite
3. Freedom Song

last.fm
myspace

DL 'FAT CLUB'