This is one of two commemoration compilations that I own. Both are great (the other is the We’ve Lost Beauty lp).

This double album — In Memory of Jason — is dedicated to the life of Jason, who died much too prematurely at age 21. The insert states:

This recorded is dedicated to the spirit and memory of my brother, Jason Jon Fleagane.The bands on this compilation are not only Jason’s personal favorites, but they are also in the spirit of what flowed through this inspirational individual.

Jason gave all that is humorous, generous, and kind back to his family and friends. His combustible, spontaneous personality truly made him one who is small on the outside, big on the inside. Jason was a pioneer who created Monopoly Records and Resolution Skateboard Shop. His creativity served to promote unity and friendship in a place where these values are hard to come by.

At the young age of 21, Jason pursued art, skateboarding, music, architecture, brought a family together, friends that will never part, and a memory to last a lifetime. I will miss him for the memories that we cannot make.

His own band, Pottyface, featuring him on drums and Alex on bass, have short tracks at the end of each side. I didn’t know what to name them, so I just named them “Pottyface One” etc. They are low-fi garage recordings that, I think, punctuate the record in a nice, meaningful way.

Jason obviously had great taste in music; featured is quite a remarkable collection of bands. And, like most comps, it serves well as an intro to bands you may not have heard before. Here’s the line-up: Angel Hair, Babyland, Clikatat Ikatowi, Crash and Britany, Driftwood, Evergreen, Godhead Silo, Honeywell, Jackbarber, Karp, Reach Out, Rice, Still Life, The Saw.

Many of them take advantage of their ample wax-space. Each side has three or four tracks. The first three songs are aggressive in nature, but then Honeywell comes in and spaces things out. Afterwards, which the exception of Angel Hair, the bands take more opened up, introspective approaches (contradiction?!). Well, maybe Karp doesn’t either. Some notes:

Rice, of course, sing about rice. I first heard this song on a mixtape a friend gave me. So it was a fun surprise to have it also on vinyl. The song can also be found on their discography, Fuck You We’re Rice.

Godhead Silo’s track can be found on the Scientific Supercake album.

Reach Out’s song is absolutely brutal and spastic and explosive. Fittingly, they seem to have upped the recording level to 15, or something — it’s slamming against the ceiling. Their song kind of reminds me of Incurable Complaint (a Santa Barbara band — I’ll make sure to post them eventually).

The Evergreen track is lovely. I like music that reminds me of lounging on a beach. I’ve heard the Evergreen 7″ on Gravity, but I don’t have it. From what I remember, this song is different.

I’ve been looking for more Crash and Britany, since I really like their tracks on here. But I haven’t come across anything. This record used to contain a nice big crack and a skip toward the end of their first song. But I’ve managed to mostly clean it away. Now there’s just a pop. I like female-vocaled emo bands. I don’t have enough of them. I know there’s one on the Use This Coupon comp. I’ll make sure to post that it soon.

Clikatat Ikatowi starts off sounding like Still Life, but then the drums kick it up and then it’s unmistakably Clikatat!

Anyway, great comp, great bands, great tribute. I’ve included in the zip the entire insert in pdf form! In real life, the insert is made of a nice vinyl paper. It’s heartwarming to see the artwork and the kind words for Jason. It’s a big file, so if you feel like sharing it elsewhere, feel free to put it up on mediafire or wherever. It’s not like I’m looking for hits and googlemoney. Free love!

In Memory of Jason – A Compilation

After discovering that members of Merel are in Rye Coalition, I made an effort to get into them. I ordered Hee Saw Dhuh Kaet from Gern Blandsten, and then came home soon after to find a box strewn across the driveway, ripped into shreds by my puppy dog. Within the scraps was the lp. The cover was torn, and the vinyl had some bite marks on it. I listened to part of it once, and then gave up.

But then a friend gave me their demo! And it’s great – crashing, infectious (I remember waking up on a friend’s couch one morning with a terrible hangover, wearing a baby-tee that said “Philippines” on it, since I’d barfed all over my own t-shirt the night before after losing hard in a vodka drinking game which involved girls making me drink after answering “wrong” to “are you still a virgin?”, and then I put on my headphones to listen to these songs, and then we walked down the street to buy burritos), harsh, and emotional. Those are enough general adjectives, I’d say…

The third song is my fave. “Who says you’re useless? We feel you’re capable.” aw.

I left all the tracks unnamed. I know the first one is called Baby Puts Out Old Flames. And one of the songs is on the split with Karp (or is it the split with Maximillian Colby?), so the title of that one could be figured out by someone with that record. I don’t have it. And I haven’t heard Teenage Dance Session or New Sheriff in Town 7″‘s, so I don’t know if any of these songs are featured on those. If anyone knows all the track names, I would appreciate them.

This is a transfer of a transfer, but it sounds pretty good. I’m guessing this demo is already floating around. I downloaded one song from a site (that only posted one song), and this here recording/transfer sounds better than theirs. Just please forgive the very slight wobbliness of the first few seconds. It’s not very noticeable anyway, since the intro is so muffled.

Rye Coalition – The Dancing Man

This is one of the first records I got. I had a friend in gym class (in, I dunno, 1995, when I was a sophomore), and he was into hardcore. He had a tape with some Antischism and Heroin and Apeface (speaking of which, if anyone has the Apeface/Lemming split 7″, share it!!). We were both big into surfing. I had passed through a metal phase and was then stuck with pop/surf punk, such as Pennywise. But it wasn’t enough. I was into his stuff. It seemed, to my untrained ears, to be the perfect combo of punk and metal. But he was always going on about Struggle and Manumission and Man is the Bastard, and I couldn’t keep up. So he sold me some records to serve as an introduction — the Rugburn/Jeberrekenelle split lp, the Rorschach/1.6 Band split 7″, and one other one which I can’t recall at the moment… possibly the Heroin paperbag 7″. Those served as my favorite records for a time. I’ll share the Rugburn/Jeberrekenelle split soon, since it’s great. Then we went to shows, including GoletaFest (1996?), wherein I bought the Reach Out 7″, the Jihad 7″, one of the Thenceforward 7″‘s, I think the Second Story Window 7″, although I don’t have that one anymore, which sucks, and other crucial records that then rested next to my dad’s turntable for many months (headphones only! lest I scare my parents too much).

My friend watched with jealousy as I bought this record. He wanted it. And for some reason he didn’t want to buy it after I’d picked it out for myself… At any rate, it’s a mesmerizing record. One of my all-time favorites. The dual-guitars seem to swirl endlessly around one another, the drums, especially the kick drum, (though subdued on the recording) defy domesticity, and the vocals are screeched out with such venom and anguish that you can absolutely feel it. A friend who grew up in the same area as them (Pleasant Valley/Bay Area, CA, and thereabouts) told me that the singer would sometimes throw up during shows… Yet there’s a beautiful harmony to it all.

There are two tracks on each side. However, they flow into one another, so I’ve saved each side as single files. This was put out on Great American Steak Religion, in 1993.

Reach Out

This album was requested by GabbaGabbaHey from Hardcore for Nerds. Here it is. Enjoy!

Vermin Scum re-released this lp in 2000. It was originally released in 1990. I don’t know a ton about this, except for the obvious stuff: it’s essentially Moss Icon with the addition of a violin player. For many of us, I imagine that’s all that’s really necessary to know. I’m guessing these sessions were close in time to “Cornflower Blue,” the Moss Icon track featured on the False Object Sensor comp. (which, in case you’ve noticed, is not featured on the “Moss Icon Discography.” So perhaps I should share that comp soon…)

Two songs on this record – Guatemala and Moth – were previously featured on Moss Icon releases. Guatemala, in fact, has shown up in some form at least twice on Moss Icon records… and it shows up twice more on this record! Does that make it a sort of Moss Icon anthem? I think so. That “pling pling” could be considered the pulse running through the life of these bands. Here’s the track listing:

1. Elephant
2. All Over Heaven
3. Guatemala
4. Moth
5. Demon (live)
6. Guatemala (live)

Elephant and All Over Heaven take up side A. Elephant is a gorgeous song – love the bass line, love the violin. I included the insert in the zip file, so you can read the lyrics and see the art.

Sorry about the three pops at the beginning of side B. Otherwise, this record plays well. Except! I have no idea why, but Jimi Hendrix seems to be bleeding through at the end of the live Guatemala. I don’t understand it. I replayed it three times, and it was always there. All Along the Watchtower. It’s a live track, so maybe that was playing somewhere at the show?

Breathing Walker

Today I filled my suitcase full of stereo stuff and traveled over the next state over. I felt pain a lot while hauling it the final blocks to my house, but then I set it right up, and now I am happy.

Since I said in the previous post that once I got myself a new turntable I would start transferring, and then posting transfers of, some records that I like and think people would want to hear, I then got myself one and then did all that. So here, hear, etc.

Here’s a good record that I haven’t seen around lately.

If I remember right, I got the Nuzzle – Anchors Astreigh 7″ upon the recommendation of a friend, after having shared my like for the Benchmark 7″ (Note: different Benchmark from the one that’s on the Education Comp. put out by Mountain Collective – this Benchmark put out a 7″ on File Thirteen, and I used to have it, and I lost it somehow. I think maybe I let someone borrow it, though I don’t, and never did, have any recollection of doing so… it’s one of my favorite records, and I’ve been lazily looking for another one for years) and the Frail 7″. And I think it was a right on recommendation. They are much slower than those two bands, though. But they have big, fuzzy guitars, a bit rolly and even sometimes maybe rocky; and they have fairly similar vocal styles: of a mewly spoken voice, with a staccato scream that can tip to a cracking shriek (like Native Nod, too).

Nuzzle was from Rosemead, California, and around from, I don’t know, 1993 to 1995/6. This record was put out by YouthStrikeChord (recorded by Matt Anderson, from Heroin; photos inside by Bobby from Honeywell. They put out some splits that I don’t have and have never seen. And a seven inch that Ryan from Honeywell says was recorded at the same time as this one, and is totally great. And a full length, put out a little after this record, called Follow for Now. I haven’t heard it, but I really want to. I saw some store selling it on ebay a month and a half ago, and I bought it, and it still hasn’t arrived, and that’s lame. And then in 1999, long after they broke up, they released another full length, on Troubleman, San Lorenzo’s Blues, which I bought on CD. I’ve only listened to it twice since then. On the first listen I was waiting so anxiously for the songs to explode with the energy of this 7″, but they never did. And I came away disappointed. On the second listen I looked for melodies that were at least comparable to this record. They were almost there. It just seemed kind of slow and boring to me, with vocals that whined but didn’t scream. I should try probably try it again.

It’s four songs, and I included scans of the cover and insert. Quite a crackle to the record. I don’t remember it ever being very clean. And there’s some major noise on the recording, so you just have to wade through it. I think it’s nice. I like their sound. I love the first song (especially the drum-intro). I guess I was kind of a square at the time, but I remember being shocked when he says, “To be drunk, to know, still, where…”

Nuzzle – Anchors Astreigh