Lisabö - Berak Ekoztua (1999)

Berak Ekoztua is Lisabo's first recording.  The album was self-released and super rare.  Hopefully some day this band will get the recognition they deserve.  For fans of Fugazi, Shellac and Unwound.

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Plows - Those People (2007)

I first heard of Louisville's Plows because of a split single they did with Young Widows.  I loved that song and have been looking all over the place for anything else by the band.  It turns out that their only other recorded material was their debut album which only had a pressing of 200 copies.  Only 200 copies for this fantastic album!?  It's a shame that it's not more available although according to their Myspace page they have a second pressing in the works.  I know that the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the Louisville scene are the mathrock bands of the 90's like Slint, Bastro, Rodan etc.  Recently the town seems to be producing some great young hardcore acts that are really putting Louisville back on the map again.

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Teith - Oak City (2006)

Teith is a side project of Pelican guitarist Trevor de Brauw.  Teith are much more experimental and abstract than Pelican.  They're like a mix between The Dead C and Throbbing Gristle but with a little lighter touch.

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Pinto's Top Ten Of 2008

So I see that a lot of blogs do these lists toward the end of the year so I thought I'd try to put together a list of my favorites of 2008.  I know I'm going to forget a bunch of albums.  I'm sure I'll remember ones that I forgot about in the weeks to come but these are what's coming to mind now.  2008 as a whole had been a pretty good year for music if you ask me.

1- Young Widows - Old Wounds

I've already posted this before and I'll say it again.  The best album of the year.  I just can't get enough of it.  The best noise-rock album to come out since the 90's in my opinion.  Download

2- Earth - The Bees made Honey In The Lion's Skull

With this album they improved on what was missing from Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method.  Hex marked return of Earth after a long hiatus.  Dylan Carlson came back with a whole new band and a whole new sound.  But with Bee's the sound is filled out a lot more and has a bit more weight to it than Hex.  This album brings back a little bit of the old Earth sound.  This was probably the record I listened to the most this year.  Download

3- Dead Meadow - Old Growth

Old Growth is probably the bands most accessible album.  Not quite as fuzzed out sounding as some of their older material.  I guess you could say that Old Growth is Dead Meadows most mature album.  Who says you can't have a little Pop in your Stoner Rock?  Download

4- Heroine Sheiks - Journey To The End Of A Knife

So Shannon Selberg moved back to the Cows home town of Minneapolis and started a whole new Midwest version of the Heroine Sheiks.  It resulted in his most Cows sounding record since the Cows.  Download

5- Russian Circles - Station

This album is all about precision and control.  Station also has some of the best drumming that I've heard all year.  My favorite post-rock/metal album of the year.

6- Spiritualized - Songs In A & E

It's the Christmas season.  What's more appropriate than songs about drugs and Jesus?  Download

7- High Dependency Unit - Metamathics

I had waited 7 long years for HDU's next release and it was well worth the wait.  Download

8- Mills Of God - Call Of The Eastern Moon

Sludge never sounded so groovy.  Download

9- The Dead C - Secret Earth

I guess you could consider Secret Earth a return to form for the band.  It's the most "rock" sounding album they've put out in years.  Every song has vocals and only one song runs longer than 15 minutes.  Download

10- Bardo Pond - Circuit VIII

It's only one song but it sounds as if it were four.  Circuit VIII has these epic movement that go from drone to acoustic to rock and back to drone again all with in the same song.  It has a clean studio recording and seems more well thought out than the typical Bardo Pond jam.   Download

Other great albums of 2008...

Fight Amp - Hungry For Nothing

5ive - Hesperus

Capricorns - River, Bear Your Bones

The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded

Don Caballero - Punkgasm

The Goslings - Occasion

Wavves - S/T

Harvey Milk - Life... The Best Game In Town

Boris - Smile

18th Dye - Amorine Queen

Scul Hazzards - Let Them Sink

Ufomammut - Idolum

Grey Daturas - Return To Disruption

The Hospitals - Hairdryer Peace

H.O.F. - A New Kind Of Hate

Gown - For The Maples

Monno - Ghosts

Across Tundras - Western Sky Ride

Bongripper - Hate Asbury

Deerhunter - Microcastle

Melvins - Nude With Boots

I didn't want to take the time to upload all of these so I did take a few from other sites like Sordo Music and others.  So as of now all the links are active, but everything on this list is still in print I believe so please buy anything you like.  Christmas gifts maybe?

Uzeda - Waters (1993)

This is Uzeda's last album they made before making the move to Touch And Go Records.  Although I wouldn't say it's their best release (each album seems to get better than the last), it is the first record where they really established their own sound.  Their first album sucked and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.  This is also their first recording they did with Steve Albini who has recorded every record of theirs since Waters.

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Lowercase - The Going Away Present (1999)

This album was already posted by me in the comments somewhere on this blog before I was a contributor and I thought I'd bring it up front to any readers who may have missed it.  The Going Away Present is one of my favorite albums of all time.  It should really be a lot more well known than it is.  It's not as heavy as their earlier records but also not as emo as Imaad's post-Lowercase music.  It's just kind of a perfect combination of the two.  More mature than their first two albums but still has the aggression that's missing from Alaska, Folk Implosion etc.  The bands progression reminds of Nirvanas actually.  Just the simplicity and the same sort of dynamics as Nirvana even though they don't actually sound much a like.  If people had actually heard this they could have maybe reached that level of popularity.  Ok, well maybe half that level of popularity...

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Final - 1 (1993), 2 (1996) & 3 (2006) (By Request)

Justin Broadrick's (Jesu, Godflesh) power electronics/drone/ambient project.  Technically this is his first band with the original demo tape made when he was only 11 years old.  For fans of Whitehouse or Throbbing Gristle.

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Garage Rock "Combo Pack" with Bob Log III - Trike (1999), Fireworks - Lit Up (1997) & Yikes - Whoa Comas Or Blood Bomb (2007)

I really love scuzzy lo-fi garage rock. There are a few artists playing today that take Garage, Rockabilly, Country, Delta Blues and execute it in a punk rock fashion. So I threw together a couple of my favorites into one RAR file.

Bob Log III is a one man band that evolved out of the break up of his two man band Doo Rag. Trike features tit clapping used as a instrument on some of the songs.  I'm not kidding.  I always imagine walking into some hole-in-the-wall strip club in the south and seeing a stripper sliding down a pole to the songs on this album.

Fireworks is a band Darin Lin Wood (Black Snakes, Blacktop, Dig Dat Hole) started in Dallas and it definitely has more of a Garage sound than his previous bands (all of which I've already posted on this blog).  The difference with Fireworks is that it really is "his" band this time.

Yikes is another project of John Dwyer (Pink And Brown, Coachwhips, Thee Oh See's and about a dozen other bands...) so if you are familiar with him you already know what to expect.  Similar to Bob Log but maybe even more distorted and raw.

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Godflesh - Cold World (1991)

Two great Godflesh songs with two unnecessary remixes.

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Crunt - Crunt (1994)

Crunt was a one-off side project of Stu Spasm (Lubricated Goat), Kat Bjelland (Babes In Toyland) and Russell Simins (Blues Explosion!).  Crunt came about around the time that Stu and Kat got married.  The band and the marriage didn't last very long but it resulted in one great record.  I guess it resembles Lubricated Goat the most because Stu sings the majority of the songs, although Kat and Russell each sing a song themselves.  I personally think it's tighter and more focused than Lubricated Goat.  Another great release from the sorely missed Trance Syndicate label.

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The Goslings - Full Hunter's Moon (2005)

The Goslings are a husband/wife duo from Florida.  They play drone/doom in the vein of Sunn O))) or Thrones but with more of a higher end treble(ish) distortion than the sub-tones of those bands.  Similar to the wall of noise you get from My Bloody Valentine but with more of a bleak tone to it.

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Melvins - Eggnog (1991) & Lysol (1992)

Some Melvins were requested a while back and I hesitated posting anything at the time because I thought this blog had a lot of Melvins already and their music really isn't to difficult to find out there if you just take the time to look.  But I just saw them play a great show at the Troubadour last night and I thought I'd share my personal favorites.  I don't think I really need to go into any description of the band because we all know who they are.  Eggnog and Lysol are really the Melvins in their prime in my opinion.  The early 90's were sort of a slower sludgier phase for them and their music was just so much different than everything else coming out at the time.  I was fortunate enough to see them play these two albums together in their entirety at a concert a couple of years ago and was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

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The Shipping News - Claws (2006)

After reading Yansmd's previous post about Big Black's performance at T&G's 25th Anniversary Festival, it reminded me of how great of a time it was.  I was at the festival and I have to say that it was three of the best days of my life.  With Big Black being the highlight for me, seeing as that I never did see them play when they were still together.  Those 4 songs alone were worth me traveling almost 2,000 miles to hear.  But there was also a ton of other great bands playing that weekend which brings me to Claws.  The Shipping News were the band that started off the festival and really got the show off to a great start.  The band features Jeff Mueller and Jason Noble of Rodan.  With these two being the core members of Rodan it really is almost as if Rodan never broke up in the first place.  After their great set they announced that they had a free single that they made specifically for the festival and were giving them away to whoever wanted one.  I'm not sure how many were made but they were all gone maybe a hour later.  My guess is the song was probably an outtake from the Flies The Fields session.  The song itself isn't anything particularly special which is probably why it never made the cut in the first place. It's still not bad though and every time I hear it it brings back memories of the festival.  I know that Touch And Go hate blogs posting their albums which is why they never seem to stay up very long and I understand that.  Although this song was never really in print in the first place and there was no money to be made off of it so I really can't see why they would have a problem with me posting this.  But you never know so I'd still grab it quick before it's gone.

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Bushpig - EP (1989) (By Request)

Bushpig features members of The Thrown-Ups and King Snake Roost and they sound exactly as you would expect it would sound.  Just loud, ugly noise-rock.  This is their first single released by Amphetamine Reptile Records with a pressing of 500, although the actual request may have been for their LP which I don't have.  So if anyone could hook us up it would be much appreciated.  For fans of Lubricated Goat and Feedtime.

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Bastro - Antlers: Live 1991 (2005)

The music that Bastro was working on before they broke-up.  These live songs never made it to a studio and was released 14 years later.  Kind of a different direction with them toward the end.  Most notably being no vocals on any of the tracks.

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Jesus Lizard Reunion Shows!

http://www.atpfestival.com/atp/Events/TheFansStrikeBack/News/View/0811261613.

"All Tomorrow’s Parties are extremely excited to announce that THE JESUS LIZARD have reformed and will perform at the Fans Strike Back festival in 2009.

In what has to rank as one of the most unlikely developments in rock, the awe-inspiring primal force of the Jesus Lizard will return, briefly, in 2009.  The original lineup of David Yow, Duane Denison, David Wm. Sims and Mac McNeilly will reform for a very limited series of live dates in 2009, starting with the All Tomorrow’s Parties event dubbed The Fans Strike Back in Minehead, UK on May 9 and 10 and ending with a final appearance in Chicago in late November.  These shows will be the Jesus Lizard’s first since disbanding in 1999 and the first in twelve years to feature the original storied quartet.  As anyone who has experienced the Jesus Lizard live can attest, they are one of the most intense and visceral musical assemblies to ever stalk a stage.  This fleeting reunion offers an incredible opportunity to either be blown away all over again or to immerse yourself in the sweaty power and driving mayhem for the very first time.
 
In celebration of this event, Touch and Go Records will reissue four full-length releases from the Jesus Lizard in May 2009. Remastered recordings of Head,Goat, Liar, and Down will be available on both LP and CD, all with expanded packaging and liner notes.  Bob Weston is heading up the remastering process with Steve Albini, the original session engineer, sitting in."

Model/Actress - EP (2006)

Model/Actress is a band from LA that features members of Bullet Lavolta and Braniac.  They basically sound like a combination of those two bands.  Maybe a little more on the poppy side.  The song The Nodder features guest vocals by David Yow, who happens to be dating the guitar players' sister.  The Yow track is definitely the most aggressive song on the album.  Big surprise, I know...

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Jakob - Jakob EP (1999)

I've been a little bored with post-rock in general lately.  There's just so damn many bands out there and they more or less sound the same.  Maybe New Zealand's Jakob aren't really all that much different I suppose.  They just do it better than all the rest of them.  Along with Mono, they are in my opinion the best post-rock band playing today.

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Last Of The Juanitas - Time's Up (2002)

Last Of The Juanitas is a band I've just gotten into recently (Thanks, Shiny Grey Monotone...) that I've been a little obsessed with.  This album is mostly instrumental but the few tracks that do have vocals has more of a upbeat punk-rock kind of feel to it.  More so than the other albums of theirs that I've heard so far which has a little slower sludgier pace to it.  Members went on to form Red Fang.

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Six Finger Satellite - Weapon (1993), Machine Cuisine (1994) & Massive Cocaine Attack (1996) (By Request)

This comes as sort of a late "request fulfillment" from a while back.  I didn't come across these EP's myself until recently thanks to a great blog called Expressway To My Skull which everyone should check out.  Weapon and Machine Cuisine were what was requested but I'm also including the cassette that was a companion piece to Machine Cuisine and the Massive Cocaine Attack single. 

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Dig Dat Hole - Demo (1986-1988?)

Dig Dat Hole was Tod Ashley's post-Shithaus/pre-Cop Shoot Cop band.  They never did release a proper album but they did get close.  The album that never came to be was titled Knee Jerk which was suppose to be released on Steve Albini's (at the time) Ruthless Records but it never happened for whatever reason.  Some of those songs are on this demo.  DDH also featured Cop Shoot Cop's Phil Puleo and The Black Snakes/Fireworks' Darin Lin Wood.

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Shithaus - Live Crush (1985)

This is an even rarer Jon Spencer release than Exile On Main Street.  With even worse sound quality if you can believe that.  But once again, it's a great collectible for the die hard Spencer fan.  This was his first band (that I'm aware of anyways) that he started with future Cop Shoot Cop founder Tod Ashley.  Shithaus was a short lived band that he was in while attending Brown University and it's compiled of some live performances and a radio show that they performed for under the moniker Knocked-Up Teens.  It's really a good mix of the PigFuck sound of Pussy Galore and the more industrial side of Cop Shoot Cop.

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Pussy Galore - Exile On Main Street (1986)

Around the time that Sonic Youth was considering covering the Beatles White Album in it's entirety (which never happened) Pussy Galore had a similar idea in covering The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street.  They recorded it in a true lo-fi fashion and self released it on cassette with a home made hand drawn sleeve.  The result seems to be done very much on the fly and I imagine that from conception to execution probably took a matter of days, if that even...  This album is definitely not a good album to start with for a first time listener of the band.  I would recommend Right Now or Sugarshit Sharp as a introduction and their best work.  This is truly a record collector rarity for the die hard fan.

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Wino - A Bottle Of Pills With A Bullet Chaser (2008)

I already posted the one Wino album a while back and this includes that plus everything else they ever recorded.  Many of these songs are being released for the first time in this collection.  It's been digitally remastered and sounds fantastic.  Just a really underrated band.  

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J. Spaceman - Guitar Loops (2006)

Guitar Loops is a solo album from Jason Spaceman of Spacemen 3/Spiritualized.  It's kind of a experimental guitar exercise more than actual songs.  It's one 35 minute track can go from an almost silent hum to a thrashing freakout with all kinds of weird shit in between.  It could maybe fall into the John Zorn/Tzadik kind of scene I guess.  This is for Jason what Colossus Of Destiny was for the Melvins.  I think a lot of people that like Spiritualized may hate this where as a lot of people that may not like Spiritualized might like it.  Or they could be like me who likes everything he does.  Just don't write it off after the first few minutes, I think it really needs to be listen to through it's entirety.  Then delete it if you don't like it.

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Morkobot - Mostro (2006)

Morkobot are an Italian space-psych post-rock/metal band.  Does that make any sense at all?  Once again it's kind of hard to throw this into one genre.  They are on the Italian label Supernatural Cat which is a small label that's home to other great bands from Italy such as Ufomammut and Lento.  They have a lot in common with the doomy post-metal of the aforementioned bands but with more of a spaced out vibe similar to Helios Creed or maybe Six Finger Satellite.  Kind of like a dark twisted retarded offspring of Black Sabbath and Devo.

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Johnboy - Claim Dedications (1994)

Austin's Johnboy were another great band from the Trance Syndicate label.  Johnboy offer nothing real groundbreaking here.  It's just good straight forward noise rock.  Maybe a little more controlled and tighter than most of their label mates.  For fans of Helmet and Unwound.

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Ramleh - Blowhole (1991)

Since I posted a Skullflower album I figured I may as well post a Ramleh album also.  They were part of the same inner circle of musicians as Skullflower and would often share some of the same members in their always changing line-ups.  If you liked the Last Shot At Heaven post, you'll like this.  Plus it's got great artwork by Savage Pencil to boot.

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Skullflower - Last Shot At Heaven (1993)

Skullflower are a noise-rock band from the UK that have been around since the 80's.  The majority of their music is very free-form improv driven feedback without a whole lot of structure to it.  Although Last Shot At Heaven and a couple of their earlier releases have a little bit more of a rock sound to it.  Their improvised noise soundscapes are interesting but I can only listen to it for so long where as this album is a little more accessible.

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Ruby Falls - Heroines (2000)

Maybe Ruby Falls is a little too girly for this blog, I'm not sure I guess.  Not that there isn't enough aggression in Heroines because there is some of that.  Maybe there's more of a sense of optimism in this record than what I usually post.  If Sludge Swamp can post Mazzy Star I can certainly get away with this.  I always felt Ruby Falls were underrated and could have maybe become fairly popular had more people heard them.  Members went on to form the Rodgers Sisters and Retsin.

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Scout Niblett - Kidnapped By Neptune (2005)

Scout Niblett's music can be incredibly simple and almost childlike at times.  That's what I really love about her.  It can be really stripped down and minimal but at the same time be really catchy.  After listening to one of her songs it tends to be stuck in my head all day.  Of all of her albums this one is the most aggressive but also has some really emotional gentle moments as well.

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Neil Young - Dead Man Soundtrack (1996)

I figured I may as well get in on the movie soundtrack posts this week.  This being the only soundtrack I have I believe.  All I can say is I wish Neil made more music like this.  Experimental, dark and a polar opposite to "Keep On Rocking In The Free World."  It kind of reminds me of Earth at times.  

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A Place To Bury Strangers

I downloaded this a little while back and whatever blog it was that I got it from called it the "Breathe EP."  I've been listening to it a while and it's great but it wasn't till just now that I realized after looking for the album artwork that it isn't the Breathe EP.  So if anyone can tell me what EP these songs are from please let me know because I've been googling it like crazy and I can't find any info on it.  Maybe it's just some compilation tracks that somebody put together.  Anyways, it's cool to hear them do a Jesus And Mary Chain cover finally because they're obviously their biggest influence and it was only a matter of time.  Great band and a amazing loud as fuck live show.  I definitely recommend seeing them if you get a chance and if you do bring ear plugs...

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Dis - Small Fry Sessions 1&2 (1993) & M386.D57 (1994)

I was uploading this for someone and I figured I'd just throw it up here while I'm at it.  These are Dis' first two albums which have been long out of print and I really don't see them ever coming back into print.  So this is another "guilt free" download for all of you.  I guess you could describe Milwuakee's Dis as being on the poppier side of math-rock. 

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Kinski - Be Gentle With The Warm Turtle (2001)

This is the second album by Seattle's Kinski and was my first introduction to the band.  It's still my favorite of theirs.  This along with their follow-up Airs Above Your Station is what I would consider the band in their prime.  I guess they usually get the post-rock label which I understand but that seems to sort of limit their range.  Post-rock with some experimental, psychedelic and noise-rock as well.  I guess it just depends on which album you're listening to.  For fans of Mogwai, Bardo Pond or Sonic Youth.

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