Honor Role - "Album"

Don't get me wrong, I think Chunklet is a fine magazine, but I hate to quote or cite it as a point of reference. It makes me feel like some cynical hipper-than-thou turd. This is not to say that everyone who reads or even writes for Chunklet is some tight-jeans-wearing, unwashed-shaggy-haired record store clerk with blotchy skin, but let's be honest for a moment: most of the people involved with the magazine, either directly or indirectly, are exactly that.

Nonetheless, I have found the occasional bit of wisdom in the pages of this periodical, and I'll be the first to admit that they've introduced me to some damn fine music that I would otherwise be completely unaware of. One of the things Chunklet did right was to let some fella on staff make a recommendation to Drive Like Jehu fans (such as m'self): the work of the band Honor Role.

Honor Role began their collective life in Richmond, VA as a fairly standard three-piece hardcore band featuring the guitar/vocal work of one Pen Rollings and the drum stylings of Steve Schick. (While they were not the only two members of the band, the course of history would see more member changes than Spinal Tap, so I'm only going to point out the most important and lasting lineup alterations.) After releasing the It Bled Like a Stuck Pig 7", the band added Steve's brother Bob to the ranks as lyricist and vocalist.

From this point forward, Honor Role's sound really started coming together and the recorded evidence on hand suggests that they really put some work into developing an original sound. Pen Rolling's guitar playing grew increasingly complex, with discordant melodies and the occasional odd time signature creeping into the mix. Bob's lyrics kept the band connected to the hardcore scene but added a legitimate depth to the proceedings, while Steve's drumming seems to have followed the arc of Rollings' musical growth.

The group toured both the east and west coasts and clearly made their mark. Their influence is plainly evident in the work of bands like Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Quicksand and any other artists who pushed hardcore to its furthest limits. And by "furthest limits" I don't mean "as fast and heavy as is humanly possible", I mean quite the opposite: they showed kids that you could put together an ambient instrumental piece like "Break the Ice" and remain true to your punk-rock ideals. But they also rocked about as hard as is possible--check out track 11, "Lives of the Saints #135 (Naked Wife)" and tell me it's not the frickin' blueprint for post-hardcore and emo-core.

Anyway, in 1996, after the band had called it quits, Merge Records (which is a completely kick-ass label, I urge you to check out more of their records) released an Honor Role discography, Album. Thus the file you have presented today. It's not an actual discography as I understand it, as there are a few tracks that exist that weren't included here due to space constraints. It's definitely the bulk of their recorded work though, and it's a rad document of a band that laid the groundwork for so much of the indie rock, hardcore and post-hardcore we take for granted today.

So get the file, and then buy the damn CD! (Or record.) After visiting the Merge website, it doesn't appear to be available through them anymore, but surely you can find a copy at Amazon.com or some similar site.

Radiohead - "Boston 96"

There's a pretty good chance at this point that I'm posting this stuff for the benefit of, well, nobody really. Which makes today's selection particularly appropriate: no band mixes "I don't matter and nothing I do makes any difference to anybody" teenage nihilism with "...therefore I'm gonna do something awesome and maybe slightly obscure, and maybe then I'll discover self-respect as well as peer encouragement!" better than Radiohead.

So this here file is a live recording of Thom Yorke and co. playing a sweet-as-hell gig at the Avalon in Boston, MA. in 1996. (Sshh, it's a bootleg.) You may have seen a CD-R of this show labelled as Boston 96, which is how mine came and how I have helpfully labelled the individual files contained herein.

In any case, this is a pretty good-sounding recording featuring material from Pablo Honey and The Bends, although an early version of "Lucky" pops up in the middle of the set. There's not much more to it than that; have at it!

Colin Newman - "A - Z"

Hey imaginary gang, hope you're all doing well. If anyone is actually reading these posts and checking out the files, I promise I won't mind if you leave me some feedback... Anyway, today I bring you an artifact from the early 1980's, a solo record by Wire singer/guitarist Colin Newman titled A - Z.

This little gem was recorded with a backing band that featured Wire drummer Robert Gotobed, as well as keyboardist Mike Thorne (who was, incidentally, the producer of Wire's second and third albums Chairs Missing and 154, respectively). Some dude by the name of Desmond Simmons plays bass on this record, but I've no idea who he is or what he did before/after A - Z.

This is a superb collection of songs that fans of Wire will surely appreciate. It's atmospheric yet energetic, with enough obtuse lyrics and strangely processed instruments to keep your head spinning for days. "Warped" might be a good word to apply here. A - Z bears a strong resemblance to Wire's early work in terms of the use of simple, driving rhythms, but it actually feels more developed than, say, 154. The arrangements are a little more full, and while I certainly appreciate Wire's minimalist approach, the pieces on this album have a certain "heavy weightlessness" to them that the band may have been trying to achieve without quite getting there.

For example, "Alone" has the sullen, wistful air of regret that Graham Lewis attempted on 154's opening cut "I Should Have Known Better," but the Newman composition works better in part because it doesn't feel nearly as self-conscious. It works as a pop song as well as it does a piece of art, which is a balance that Wire couldn't always manage (but God bless 'em for trying).

That subtle Brian Eno ambient influence that always seemed to lurk beneath the surface of Wire's quieter moments makes itself a little more prominent, especially during the intro and outro to "Image," which is interesting considering that at some point during his art school career Newman used to hang out with Eno and a couple other artists and talk about ideas, techniques, and processes. There are places on A - Z where Wire bill-sharers Joy Division come to mind, and one has to wonder who was a bigger influence on who.

The 1998 Beggars' Banquet CD reissue thoughtfully included a few bonus tracks that weren't on the original album. They're the last three numbers here, and they're perhaps a little more technologically accomplished but they blend in perfectly with the material that precedes them. "Not Me" sounds like a lost Wire track from sometime between Pink Flag and Chairs Missing, and the chorus ("You didn't touch me...") wouldn't sound out of place on a Radiohead record, making Newman's lasting influence and obvious brilliance clear for all to see.

A - Z is a "should-have-been-classic" album of the era, and I highly recommend listening to it here and then snagging a copy for yourself. I'm pretty sure it's still in print, thought it may be a little hard to track down in your average middle-American record store.

Get this file, dammit!

Th' Faith Healers - "Peel Sessions"

With one entry featuring a classic shoegaze band, and another about a prime Krautrock band, I figured this would be a good place to show how in the 1990's the two genres started to meet in the middle. Th' Faith Healers (they dropped the 'e' in 'The', claiming they'd given it to Thee Hypnotics) were equally influenced by groups like MBV, with their ear-bleeding volume and noisy squall, and German experimental rock from the likes of Can, Neu!, and Faust, who capitalized on repetitive rhythms and gradually shifting dynamics. In fact, Th' Faith Healers would go on to release a 5-minute-long cover Can's 20-minute-long epic "Mother Sky" on their 1992 album Lido.

Th' Faith Healers were comprised of singer Roxanne Stephens, bass player Ben Hopkins, drummer Joe Dilworth, and guitarist Tom Cullinan. Almost immediately after the release of their first EP, the late, great Mr. John Peel booked them for a session on his show. He liked 'em so much that he asked them back a subsequent four more times, resulting in today's file, Th' Peel Sessions (actually, it's just called Peel Sessions, I added the "Th'" just now because I thought it'd be funny. But I just re-read it and it's not that funny after all).

In any case, these recordings are pretty cool. They showcase a band at different stages in their development, and it's interesting to observe how they go from sounding loud but maybe a little tentative to a full-on rock assault toward the middle, and end with the confidence to cover Nilsson's "Without You" and actually make it palatable. Yep, it's too bad these cats didn't stick around for more than a couple of albums; after listening to this, I do have to wonder what would've come next for them if they'd let their sound evolve more in either a pop or experimental direction (or both, preferrably).

In any case, I recommend picking this one up if you like it 'cause the liner notes are written by the singer, Roxanne (quite short, but cool) and some neat pictures of people at shows lookin' all 90's alternative. Uh, maybe those aren't selling points, exactly. Well, at least get the damn file.

This Heat - "This Heat"

I don't know if I could come up with a better description/review of This Heat's self-titled album (sometimes referred to as the Blue and Yellow record because of it's two-toned cover) than the one I found over at AllMusic, so I'm just gonna copy and paste theirs here.

"This British group could neither be called post-punk nor progressive rock, yet This Heat was one of the most influential groups of the late '70s. They created uncanny experimental rock music that has many similarities in approach to German pioneers such as Can and Faust. Other groundbreaking independent groups such as Henry Cow and Wire may be their only peers, and much later This Heat also became profoundly influential on the '90s genre known as post-rock. Their angular juxtapositions of abrasive guitar, driving rhythms, and noise loops on the opening cut, "Horizontal Hold," preempt much later activity in the electronica and drum'n'bass scenes. The outstanding "24 Track Loop" is based around a circular drum pattern that could have been a late-'90s jungle cut were it not recorded in late-'70s London, long before such strategies were even dreamed of in breakbeat music. This album is a great example of ahead-of-time genius, work that draws on elements of progressive rock, notably "Larks Tongues in Aspic"-era King Crimson for all its abrasive, warped rhythm, as well as Can, Neu!, and Faust's pioneering work — though there is little else that comes close to the unique and distinctive avant rock sound, an entirely new take on the rock format. Their self-titled debut is a radical conglomeration of progressive rock, musique concrète, free improvisation, and even — in a bizarre distillation — aspects of British folk can be heard in Charles Hayward's singing. There are very few records that can be considered truly important, landmark works of art that produce blueprints for an entire genre. In the case of this album, it's clear that this seminal work was integral in shaping the genres of post-punk, avant rock, and post-rock and like all great influential albums it seemed it had to wait two decades before its contents could truly be fathomed. In short, This Heat is essential."

So there you have it. This is a pretty goddamned good record and I highly recommend downloading it and then buying it, because it was reissued (again) fairly recently and isn't particularly difficult to find, nor is it very expensive. Hell, Amazon.com probably has a couple of cheap used copies up at any given moment, try there if you like it.

What'd be nice is if someone would take some initiative and remaster/re-release This Heat's second record, the superb Deceit (huh huh, get it? Deceit by This Heat? That's funny...), which is long out of print and sells for something ridiculous like $150 on any sites that have a copy. In any case, I'll probably put up here for your scrutiny at some point in the near future so don't go throwing that money at some huckster just yet...

Get this damn file!

The Red Crayola - "The Parable of Arable Land"

Today's little bit of genius comes courtesy of one Mayo Thompson and his band of merry mayhem-makers (Jesus, is alliteration pedestrian or what?) known as the Red Crayola. Actually, thanks to a lawsuit by the makers of Crayons, they're known as the Red Krayola nowadays. In any case, the file available for download is their debut album, The Parable of Arable Land. If you've never heard this band before, their first record is a good place to start not just for the obvious chronological reasons, but because if this appeals to you you're probably insane enough to want to seek out their later work, most of which isn't nearly as noisy but is oftentimes even more difficult to listen to.

Behind the music: Houston, Texas, 1966. A young guitar player and singer by the name of Mayo Thompson forms the band as a trio, with a view to creating expansive rock music that defies convention at every turn. The group often improvises entire performances, figuring that riding the wave of energy that accompanies the "Eureka!" moment is more valuable than plugging away at a bunch of polished pop tunes. And besides, they can't but half-play their instruments, so remembering who was doing what during which song is difficult at best.

The trio plays a gig at a shopping mall-- of all places for this group's story to really begin, right in the heart of heartland commerce is not what you'd expect; but then again, the Red Crayola would make a career out of turning expectation on its head... Anyhow, they play a gig at a shopping mall, where a rep from International Artists catches a few tunes and figures he'd like to add them to the label's burgeoning roster of Texas psychedelic bands. The logic here went something like this: "Wow! These guys can hardly play their damned instruments and yet they're still attracting and entertaining a crowd. Imagine what'll happen when they actually learn to play! They'll be huge!" The band, however, had other ideas.

The group arrived at the studio with a small mob of people carrying all manner of instrumentation, from kazoos to zylaphones to timbales. A reportoire of songs had been half-prepared, with a view to tightening them up as tape was rolling. In between numbers, the army of followers would provide a bed of noise from which the songs would emerge, giving the whole recording a freakish energy and unique atmosphere.

Sure enough, the plan worked and what you will hear on The Parable of Arable Land is a handful of really great songs, with "free-form freakout" sections providing segues. It should be annoying (and to some people, it probably is), but I'll be damned if it doesn't make me love this record even harder. With should-have-been-classic-songs like "Hurricane Fighter Plane" and "War Sucks", it may be the case that the Red Crayola shot themselves in their collective foot by including the noisy bits. But as the rest of the band's history would demonstrate, band leader Mayo Thompson isn't particularly interested in the workings of the mainstream musical marketplace.

Historical footnote worth mentioning: International Artist labelmates The 13th Floor Elevators' Roky Erickson makes an appearance here. Mostly, he's credited with providing nothing specific, but I've read that he alternately played organ parts as well as the harmonica that appears infrequently.

Get this damn file, and try to keep your head from exploding!

Harmonia - "Musik von Harmonia"

I know it's still early in the game for me, but I want to keep on top of things and make sure I'm posting files regularly. I'd like to make this a blog that people are stoked about discovering, and hopefully anyone who reads it will feel like it's worth keeping an eye on.

In any case, I'm trying to make today's post a special one-- there's nothing like a horse that comes out of the gate strong, right? First, however, it's important to define my MP3 labeling system. The way it works is:

Artist Name - Album Name - Track Number - Title (and any additional information, such as "Live 02.15.05" goes at the end in parentheses)

It's pretty much that simple. Now on to the good stuff...

Today's batch of files comprises Harmonia's first album, Musik von Harmonia. If you're into Krautrock, boy are you in for a treat with this one. Then again, if you're into Krautrock, I probably don't need to give an intro for this piece because I'm sure you're well aware, but for everybody else, I'd like to give a little edifying information.

Harmonia was a German space-rock group formed by Michael Rother (previously of Neu!) and Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Deiter Moebius (of Cluster). After recording their first pair of albums, the two fellas from Cluster had moved out to a converted farmhouse studio in the countryside town of Frost, seeking a kind of psychological/spiritual sanctuary where they could continue working on their improvisational, technological experiments without disruption. Michael Rother was between Neu! albums, and after a few failed attempts to expand his band's live lineup beyond a duo playing against a tape machine, he needed some down time to collect his thoughts. An invitation to get some R & R and participate in some low-key improvised jams with the Cluster boys was apparently too good an offer to resist, so Rother packed his bags and headed for the farm.

Musik von Harmonia was the result of the trio's messing around. Released in 1974, the record presents a perfect balance between Cluster's spacier experimentation (with a focus on sound, pitch and timbre rather than musical content) and Michael Rother's guitar-and-synth-oriented extended pop workouts. It's worth noting that the experience of making this album must have put some serious juice back into Rother's batteries, because after recording this album and doing some live gigs, he rolled on into the studio with Klaus Dinger and came up with the space-pop monolith that is Neu! 75.

Harmonia's influence on modern music is pretty clear, upon listening to their records. Drum boxes clatter away, recreating simple-yet-effective rhythms with a precision only matched by recent hip-hop production; synthesizers swirl around, forming the bizarre cloudy textures and cool, icy tones that gave birth to post-punk and New Wave; meanwhile, guitars alternately chug on fat chord changes, or reach out with echoing melodic fingers that wrap around your mind and won't let go for days.

No less a titan than Brian Eno himself declared that Harmonia was "the world's most important rock group." As it happens, in 1976 he'd go on to put his money where his mouth was and joined the trio. The quartet rechristened themselves Harmonia 76 for the occasion, but the results of this work didn't see the light of day for twenty years til Ryko released the brilliant Tracks & Traces album (which, and I know I'm in the minority here, I think rivals the quality of anything else the group achieved). Michael Rother went on to enjoy a solo career, while Eno made two more records with Cluster under the factual moniker Cluster & Eno, and... well, I think that's enough for today's history lesson. On to the file.

First Blog! My Bloody Valentine - 4 Rarities

This is the first post in what will, with any luck, be a long-running series of MP3 blog entries. This is probably a really good time to make clear my intentions and policy on file sharing.

I'll be posting files (or links to files, as it were, because I'm not quite facile enough with HTML to figure out how to embed them in the posts) of music that I'd like to share with other people. It'll probably tend toward the slightly obscure, but every now and again it may take a detour into whatever kinds of things are getting heavy rotation in my headspace at any given moment. You know, kinda like everyone else's MP3 blog.

Anyway, to make a short story quick, I make no claims to the quality of this site or any of the files I make available herein. I also make no claims to own the copyright to anything here, and I would like to make it clear that the reason I'm posting this stuff is either a) because it's rare and/or out of print and I believe it should be available, or b) because I really like the artist(s) in question, and I want you to hear some of their stuff and go wild for it and buy every commercial release available the way that I did.

Feel free to leave comments whenever you like, whether you're a Blogger.com member or not. I like feedback, so I know whether I should keep things as they are/modify my approach/quit altogether. I believe there's a method of emailing me through this site, but if you can't find it, feel free to make requests in the most recent Comments field and I will do my best to fill them. Or not.

Alright, onward and upward...

For my first post, I'd like to start things off with a few rare tracks from one of my favorite bands of all time, My Bloody Valentine. I'm gonna start off with 4 songs for the moment, and probably add a few more in the very near future. (I'm still learning how to do all this stuff, you know.) The tunes in question are...

1. Instrumental A - This track was one side of a 7" released by Creation Records that came free with original vinyl copies of Isn't Anything in the UK. I find it interesting because it's closer to the more intense, Sonic Youth-y style the band started exploring around this time. It's not a far cry from stuff like "You Made Me Realize" and "Feed Me With Your Kiss." A cool, punky riff collides with Kevin Shields' infamous "glide guitar" and the whole thing gets kinda fuzzy/noisy toward the end. http://files.to/get/235088/6658/my_bloody_valentine_-_18_-_instrumental_A.mp3

2. Sugar - One of my favorite MBV tracks of all time, this one was released as a free Flexi-disc promo with some UK music journal called The Catalogue (#67, if that helps you remember it), and later appeared as a B-side on the "Only Shallow" US promo CD. Anyway, a weird galloping, clip-clopping rhythm machine kicks off the proceedings, joined shortly thereafter by a lovely keyboard line and some typically in/out of tune guitar work from Mr. Shields. The vocal melody is nothing short of heart-achingly beautiful. http://files.to/get/235089/49692/My_Bloody_Valentine_-_Sugar.mp3

3. Soon (Andrew Weatherall "Sabres of Paradise" Remix) - I'm not a huge fan of remixes, and the vocal samples that open this cut are a pretty big reason why. For some reason, every producer who wants to add a cool beat to a song always feels the need to add some kind of instantly-dated nonsense that they've imported from the hip-hop or dance music scene, and it almost never works. This remix is no exception, but at around 1:15 this one takes a turn for the better, which is fortunate because the damn thing is 7 and-a-half minutes long. So the beat that gets added here is pretty 90's sounding but don't let that stop you from enjoying the new focus around Belinda Butcher's erotic "ahhh-hahhhh" sighing chorus melody. That shit could melt butter across a crowded room. http://files.to/get/235090/24032/My_Bloody_Valentine_-_Soon__Andrew_Weatherall_Sabres_of_Paradise_Remix_.mp3

4. We Have All the Time in the World - The only track recorded to see a release after MBV signed to Island Records (they really did, it's true!), this neat little slice of orchestral chamber-pop saw the light of day on the label's Peace Together compilation, which hit shelves in 1993. It's quite 60's sounding in terms of production and musical content (Burt Bacharach ought to collect royalties on that string arrangement), and it definately feels like a departure from the band's signature sound. Gone are the noisy beds of droning guitars, replaced instead with some jangly six-string action and mellow keyboard work (harkening back to the band's Ecstacy & Wine era, but much more laid-back). And only someone as rediculously, self-indulgently reclusive as Kevin Shields would have the sheer cojones to call a song "We Have All the Time in the World" and then keep everyone waiting for 40 goddamned years for a new MBV record. Thanks, bud. http://files.to/get/235091/32660/My_Bloody_Valentine_-_We_Have_All_The_Time_In_The_World.mp3

Alright, this concludes my first post. Hope you (whoever you are...) enjoy it. Get these damn files.