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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