Young Widows - Old Wounds (2008)

I know this is all over the web right now.  But if by some chance you haven't heard it yet, I'm telling you it's the best album of the year.  If you act quickly you can still maybe get the limited edition colored vinyl.  They're also on tour now, so don't miss them if they play in your town.  I just can't stop listening to this.  Seriously, I can't think of a better album to come out in recent years...

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Technician - Opposition (2002)

...and this one takes Shellacishness to a whole new level.

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New Brutalism - A Diagram Without Scale Or Dimension/Structural Gymnatics/+1 (2002)

Very Shellacish...

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Omega Massif - Geisterstadt (2007) & Mills Of God - The Seed (2005)

I know there's a ton of Post-Metal or Instru"metal", or whatever you want to call it, bands out there right now.  A lot of it sounds pretty much the same and there's all kinds of blogs out there dedicated to this genre.  Two of these bands really seem to stand out amongst the rest to me for some reason.  Both Omega Massif and Mills Of God are from Germany and are amongst my favorites that I've heard recently.  Slow, sludgy and super heavy. 

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Budd - Yakfat (1993)

Great noise-rock band from Melbourne that much to my surprise are still together after all of these years.  Had no idea??  Anyways, I had a cassette copy of this EP back when I was a kid that a friend made for me that is now long lost.  One day for whatever reason I got the Fogman song stuck in my head even though I hadn't heard it in like 15 years.  At that point I had to track it down and found some guy online in Australia that was willing to do a trade for it.  And you know what?  I like it even better now.  So don't feel the slightest bit of guilt for downloading this for free because it's long out of print and was probably a rare find even when it was still in print.  At least here in the U.S. anyways.  I can't even find the album artwork anywhere.

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Fight Amp - Hungry For Nothing (2008)

So they've got kind of a lame name, even worse album cover art and a song called Get High And Fuck.  But damn, this kind of album just brings me back...  For fans of anything on Amphetamine Reptile Records.

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Astrobrite - Pinkshinyultrablast (2005)

Feedback drenched shoegaze from Chicago.  A bit of a My Bloody Valentine rip-off but lets face it, what band in this genre isn't.

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Thrones - Untitled Demo (1996) & Melvins - Joe Preston (1992)

This is Joe Preston's very first release as Thrones that was released as a cassette from the "Punk In My Vitamins" label.  I don't know how many of these are out there exactly but my guess is not a lot.  They were probably given out at shows just as a taste until his first proper LP Alurane came out.  There are no song titles, just side A and side B.

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I'm also including Joe's Melvins solo record which could really be considered the first Thrones record technically speaking.  With the song Hand Over Speaking sounding a lot like Joe's pre-Melvins band Earth.  This record actually came out a year before Earth 2 which is considered by many to be the record that kicked off the whole drone/doom genre.  Now this is all subjective of course, but I think everyone understands my point.  It's something to think about... It's my personal favorite of the Melvins solo albums.

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Black Snakes - Crawl (1988)

The Black Snakes were a scum-rock band from NYC that featured Jack Natz (Cop Shoot Cop), Darin Lin Wood (Fireworks, Blacktop) and Richard Kern.  Yes, that Richard Kern.  Apparently he played a little guitar when not exploiting the world with his short films and bondage photography.  For fans of Pussy Galore and The Honeymoon Killers.

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Qui - Love's Miracle (2007)

Since this seems to be David Yow week here at COD I figured I post his latest offering.  I hesitated even posting this because I assumed everyone was already aware of this album but since we've had some requests for Jesus Lizard records maybe there are some of you that may still need an introduction.  So I believe I saw Yow's first ever show with Qui a while back playing at this little club in Hollywood called 3 Clubs.  The band, who originated as a 2 piece, played most of the set without him then he joined in at the end for just a few songs.  One of them being a cover of Led Zeppelin's Black Dog and the other The Jesus Lizard's own Glamorous.  All I can say was it was one hell of a drunken spectacle and I mean that in the very best way.  Yow at one point bounced the mic off of the ceiling and even tackled the guitar player in mid-song.  I honestly thought that I was possibly witnessing Yow's last ever live performace to an audience of maybe 15 people.  This was shortly after Scratch Acid's reunion shows which I think most people thought would be the final bow of his amazing career.  This show seemed to be a one-time "special guest" kind of thing he did with a couple of his friend's for fun and nothing more.  Luckily for all of us it turned into a full-time gig.  So obviously they are compared to The Jesus Lizard all the time.  Are they as good as Jesus Lizard?  The answer is "no" or maybe I should say "not yet."  Since that show I've seen them play maybe 7 or 8 times and I've gotta say they get better and better with every show.  Matt and Paul (the other guys...) keep improving at playing their instruments every time I see them.  They just keep getting tighter and tighter.  So even though Love's Miracle may not hold up to JL's Goat or Head it's still a solid album.  I have a feeling the next one's going to blow everyone away.  I've read in interviews with Yow that the Jesus Lizard's demise was the result of Mac McNielly leaving the band, and that after he left it became more like a job and just wasn't fun anymore.  With Qui he seems to be having a blast and could probably give a shit if anyone likes it or not.  It's a hell of a lot better than the crap that Duane Denison's done lately anyways.  I also included a couple of guest tracks he did with the LA band's Geronimo and Model/Actress.

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HAZE XXL - A Purge Of Dissidents (2007) (By Request, I Think...)

So Yansmd was asking about a Heroine Shieks/David Yow collaboration 7" that was mentioned on the Heroine Shieks myspace page.  I believe what they were referring to was the A Purge Of Dissidents which was a project that Tom Hazelmeyer did with artist Dalek.  So HAZE took some of these instrumentals that went with the animations and later added in vocals by David Yow, Shannon Selberg, King Buzzo, Grant Hart and others and released a few of these as 7"s including one with both the Yow and Selberg tracks.

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Steel Pole Bathtub - Unlistenable (2002)

This album was released years after they broke up.  Apparently they submitted it to their label (Slash) and they refused to release it calling it "Unlistenable"  So this record fell victim to the post-Nirvana "lets sign as many underground bands as we possibly can" major label feeding frenzy.  Personally I like it.   It's not their most accessible album but that's what I like about it.  It's a bit more on the experimental side.  There is some good news for SPBT fans.  They recently reunited to play the Musicfest NW festival in Portland just last week.  Not sure if this was just a one time deal or not.  I would have loved to have been there.  If anyone did see it I'd love to hear how it was.

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Enemymine - The Ice In Me (2000)

Enemymine features Mike Kunka of Godheadsilo.  Similar to GHS but has a cleaner metal edge to it.  His bass sounds more like a guitar then the more low-end sounds of GHS.

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The Austerity Program - Terra Nova (2003)

I just came across NYC's Austerity Program this year and they have quickly become one of my favorite bands.  I was amazed to hear that they've been around 10 years and I'd still never heard of them before.  Part of the reason may be that they aren't the most prolific band in the world.  Only one LP and this EP were produced in that 10 years.  And they hardly ever play outside of the east coast.  I was able to see one of these rare performances this summer in Brooklyn and it was fantastic.  But hey...they're family guys with jobs so it's understandable.  Although the last year there seems to be a little more activity which is a good sign.  You can learn more about the band in this upcoming documentary.  They draw obvious comparisons to Big Black because of a drum machine and their angular, abrasive guitar style.  They even play the same Travis Bean guitars as Albini etc.  Although they seem to have developed a unique style of their own.  Definitely a stand out among the Hydra Head roster.

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Caspar Brötzmann Massaker - Home (1995)

Son of Free-Jazz legend Peter Brotzmann, whose music I also highly recommend.  Caspar's music is just as chaotic as his fathers, only he expresses it with a electric guitar as opposed to a saxophone.  His style is kind of hard to put a label on.  It's got elements of noise, experimental, drone, improv and just old fashioned rock and roll.  Only it's cranked up at distorted, ear-shattering volumes.  He's seemed to have completely disappeared from the scene for the last decade or so.  Anyone know what happened to him?  This album would probably be the result of Jimi Hendrix having had a few more bad acid trips as opposed to good ones.

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Grey Daturas - Blood Trail (2006)

Much of Melbourne's Grey Daturas music is noise/drone in a loose, improvised, experimental kind of way.  This release seems to have more of a rock structure to it.  Just a "little" bit that is...  For fans of The Dead C or Bardo Pond.

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Cop Shoot Cop - Headkick Facsimile & Pieceman 7" (1989)

Rare early CSC EP's.  Headkick Facsimile was their first record and was given a limited, vinyl only release on some obscure Japanese label.  Some of the songs ended up on Consumer Revolt but the best ones Shine On Elizabeth and Triumphal Theme were on this release only.  I also included Robert Tilton Handjob from the Pieceman EP.  The records sleeve had actual pigs blood splattered all over it.  I remember reading an article about the band years ago that said the sleeves were lied on the floor and they hung a pig from a rope, cut it's throat and spun it around as the blood dripped down on the record sleeves.  I asked Tod A at one CSC's shows about it and he said they got the blood from some local butcher and sprayed the sleeves with spray bottles.  I guess the spinning pig just made for a better story.

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The Cutthroats 9 - Anger Management (2001)

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Chris Spencer of Unsane moved to San Francisco for a few years and formed The Cutthroats 9.  He eventually moved back to NYC and reformed Unsane after releasing two CT9 records.  If you like Unsane there's no reason you shouldn't like this.  It sounds EXACTLY like Unsane.  Maybe the only difference being is that there's not a single drop of blood on the album artwork.

Basement - Underneath (1998) & Everything Gets Distorted (2006)

A band from from France that would have shitloads of fans if anyone had actually heard of them.

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Sweet Pea - Chicks Hate Wes (1996)

David Uskovich of Distorted Pony's short-lived follow up band.  Their only release which was put out by the Trance Syndicate label.  This band has great thudding David Sims'ish style bass lines.

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