Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Livin' In The '90s Vols. 1-3

I go in and out of phases of nostalgia on a monthly basis it seems. Some months it's '70s biker flicks while other months it's horror comics of the '50s. Of course music is no exception, and for the past few weeks i've immersed myself in '90s punk.

I made these comps of some of my favorite punk/indie/emo/hardcore/ whatever songs of the '90s. I mastered all the tracks to the same volume, all from 320kbps mp3s, 90% of them ripped from my personal CD collection. As for the songs i needed help getting, thanks to snoro, hellyesicheated, Gen Ruido, dblwhiskeycoke and Grant.

Enjoy!



 Livin' In The '90s Vol. 1

I discovered punk/HC at the tail end of the '80s. It was the perfect time as the NYHC scene was exploding at that time. It seemed to peak in 1987-88, then a year later, as quickly as it all started, it just kinda faded away. To me, the New Breed comp seemed to wrap up the end of the '80s in NYC and marked the end of an era.

Then the '90s came along and wasted no time. Seminal records of the time were popping up almost immediately on the East Coast in 1990. The first Citizens Arrest and Born Against 7"s, the Rorschach LP, the Burn ep, the Turning Point LP, the second GO! 7", the Nausea LP, as well as records by Supertouch and Quicksand that brought NY Hardcore in a new direction. During the next few years the floodgates opened, and the city had a scene again. Great, energetic, and at times very interesting music, and all without the meatheads who think every show is the setting for a scene from Raging Bull.



 Livin' In The '90s Vol. 2

As much as i love the hardcore, punk and crossover of the '80s, i think the 1990s may be my favorite era for punk music (that's how i feel this month anyway). It was such a diverse and interesting time in the scene. There was the new wave of NY bands that emerged from the ABC No Rio scene (CxAx, Born Against, GO!, Merel, Los Crudos, The Manacled etc.), the powerful sounds (that would be come to be known as "powerviolence") coming from the West Coast (Neanderthal, Crossed Out, No Comment, MITB, Spazz, Capitalist Casualties etc.), bands like Native Nod, Heroin, Moss Icon, Indian Summer, Current, Inkwell, Hoover, and dozens more, who took inspiration from bands like Rites of Spring, Husker Du and Dag Nasty, and seemed to fuse it with the sounds of bands like Slint and Rodan, creating a unique sound that would be known as '90s emo. There were also the guitar driven indie rock punk (for lack of a better term) of bands like Superchunk and Seaweed. Then there were those bands that seemed to merge indie rock, emo and punk into a sound that is still influencing bands 20 years later. Jawbreaker, Samiam, Garden Variety, Jawbox, Greyhouse and Hot Water Music come to mind. There were also lots of great bands lumped into this scene that would be hard to categorize. Bands like Fugazi, Chisel, Unwound, 1.6 Band, and Phleg Camp. All great stuff.


Livin' In The '90s Vol. 3

The '90s was the decade of Assuck. Enough said.


My top ten U.S. punk-related records of the 1990s:

hardcore
01. Citizens Arrest - A Light In The Darkness 7"
02. Rorschach - Remain Sedate LP
03. Neanderthal - Fighting Music 7"
04. Infest - Mankind 7"
05. Capitalist Casualties - Raised Ignorant 7"
06. Assuck - Anticapital LP / Blindspot 7"
07. Born Against - 9 Patriotic Hymns For Children LP
08. Econochrist - Trained To Serve LP
09. Man Is The Bastard / Crossed Out split 7"
10. Burn - s/t 7"

non-hardcore
01. Moss Icon - Lyburnum Wit's End Liberation Fly LP

02. Jawbreaker - Bivouac LP
03. Garden Variety - s/t LP
04. Chisel - 8 A.M. All Day LP
05. Leatherface - Mush LP
06. New Bomb Turks - Destroy-Oh-Boy!!
07. Superchunk - No Pocky For Kitty LP
08. Samiam - Soar LP
09. The Nation of Ulysses - Plays Pretty For Baby
10. Fugazi - Repeater LP


Feel free to use the comments section to post your own top 10 lists. I'd love to see what everyone else's faves are.

Oops - turns out "Hate In Me" by Moss Icon was released in 1988. Oh well, that song is too damn good to not be on there.
Oh yeah, keep an eye out for those Easter Eggs.

32 comments:

  1. Boy, oh boy, you've made my day once again!

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  2. great years!! thanks for putting these comps together. a decade to remember.

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  3. Great mixes. Thank you. My favorite band of the ninetie has to be The Oblivians!

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  4. top 10 of the 90s (hardcore/punk/emo related)

    Hardcore stuff:
    1-rorschach-protestant
    2.resurrection-7" on new age
    3.cxa-a light in the dark
    4.Turning point-it's always darkest.....
    5.Admiral-1st 7"
    6.econochrist-another victim 7"
    7.greyhouse-1st 7" on withering
    8.John Henry West 7"
    9. Heroin 2nd or paper bag 7"
    10.downcast 7"

    less hardcore or emo or whatever...
    1.New Bomb Turks-Destroy oh boy!
    2.Samiam-Billy
    3.Vine-7"
    4.Fugazi-in on the kill taker
    5.chisel-8am all day
    6.gauge-soothe
    7.friction-lp
    8.dinosaur jr-where you been (if you'll count that)
    9.nation of ullysses-plays pretty for baby
    10.slant 6-soda pop rip off.


    Fairly similar list,but slightly different. It probably shows that I came along with the next wave of hardcore, after hardcore supposedly died, but actually enjoyed a rebirth with the Gravity records, Ebullition records and Vermiform thing.

    Anyways.. not that it matters, but my take. :)

    Rich

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  5. Great! Thanks so much for pulling this together!

    A few records which I would include as well follow. The 90s were a high point musically for me as well -

    Spirit Assembly - 12"
    Oordination of Aaron - Love in a 90 MPH World
    Broken Hearts Are Blue - LP
    Current - Is Four 7"
    Union of Uranus - 2x 7"
    Shotmaker - Mouse Ear Forget Me Not
    Rye Coalition - First 7"
    Garden Variety - Knocking the Skill Level
    Hose.Got.Cable - White Owl discography
    Floodgate - No Idea 2x7"
    Sleeping Body - Vermin Scum 7"
    Trail of Dead - Madonna
    Dead and Gone - T.V. Baby
    Angel Hair - Gravity 7"
    VSS - 21.51
    Lync - K Records 7"
    Neurosis - Souls at Zero
    Kerosene 454 - At Zero

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  6. Great blog and great comp. Am i the only one who likes Lifetime?

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  7. Some great lists so far. Lots of this stuff would have made it into my top 20 for sure. Heroin, Turning Point, and Greyhouse for sure.

    Anonymous, i did use a track from the first Rye Coalition actually, on the second comp.

    Shane, believe it or not i've never checked out Lifetime for some reason. I'll have to do that.

    Vin

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    Replies
    1. lifetime is absolutely fucking incredible....the three albums released in the 90s are immaculate

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  8. I like what i see here, but there is one glaring omission, Hot Water Music "Fuel for the Hate Game". It was a watershed moment in HC in the late 1990s. It was as if someone kicked the record player, literally. I would also add Avail "Satiate" - That was huge when it came out. Another one to consider is Yuppicide - They really kept NYHC going in the 90s. Dead Man Walking is especially underrated.

    You posted the enuf demo, but have not listened to lifetime?? I dig it all: 1st 7", lifewhine era, transitional tinnitus 7", punkier Hello Bastards, JBD material... Man, i will send you some stuff if you want.

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    1. Well, i do have tracks from Hot Water Music and Avail (even from Satiate) on the comps, but if you're talking about the top 10s, it's tough to narrow that shit down. WAY to much to choose from.

      If you could send me some stuff that would be great.

      Vin

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  9. This shit is killer. A lot of great stuff I already knew but a lot of new gems for me. Thanks a bunch! (Hardcore Breakout - YES!)

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  10. can't wait to download all of this!!! the 90's were such an interesting time. a lot of hardcore musicians and fans "graduated" to indie rock, often replacing aggression with more technical musicianship. the pop punk explosion, for better or worse, did produce some gems amidst an army of suburban clones. the midwest emo scene has been all but forgotten save for some wrinkled up zines, yet some of the bands from that category were incredible and should be considered timeless. a way stripped-down list of overall standouts for me were:

    PUNK
    samiam
    jawbreaker
    all
    pegboy
    seaweed
    nofx
    the marshes
    avail

    INDIE
    seam
    tugboat annie
    superchunk
    greyhouse

    HARDCORE
    turning point
    vision
    sick of it all
    4 walls falling

    EMO
    texas is the reason
    christie front drive
    mineral
    capn' jazz
    ashes


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  11. Thanks for the great comps, been loving the 90's lately myself. It was such a great time for music, the exploration of sound away from the standard three chord punk m.o., brave souls willing to probe the depths for some terrific and exciting sounds. I still find myself looking for it in current bands, usually without much luck. My list would definitely include:

    Still Life - From angry heads with skyward eyes
    KARP - everything
    Lync - these are not fall colors
    The Peechees
    Mohinder
    Clikitat Ikatowi
    Unsane
    Boy's Life
    Nuzzle - junk of myth '92-'95

    And on the mellower side of things I always loved:

    Bedhead
    smog
    Diskothi-Q - The wandering jew
    sebadoh - early stuff
    yo la tengo - painful
    pj harvey - dry
    codeine

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  12. Great Post. All these bands remind me of high school. I feel like it's too hard to make a best of list for the 90's, but my favorite album from the 90's is In on the Killtaker.

    Tommy

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  13. These have been on nonstop rotation. So much good stuff that I never heard, or stuff I had on tape only. Thanks for curating such an awesome set of songs.

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  14. Been following your blog for a couple of years now and this is the most incredible post so far.
    The greatest discovery for me here was the Ash County Sluggers track. Could you upload their CD?
    Thanks for these great compilations.

    Kef

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  15. Here's the Ash County Sluggers CD:
    bg.firstpress.net/Ash%20County%20Sluggers.zip

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  16. Top 10 Hardcore (in no particular order)

    1. Turning Point - It's always darkest before the dawn
    2. No Escape/Turning Point Split 7''
    3. End Point --Catharsis
    4. Four Walls Falling--Culture Shock
    5. Dead Guy-- white meat 7''
    6.Go!-There is no man 7''
    7. Ink and Dagger-Love is dead 7''
    8. Inside Out--No spiritual Surrender
    9. Unbroken--Life Love Regret
    10.Struggle --lp and 7''

    Non Hardcore in no particular order

    1. Mineral--the power of failing
    2. Karate--self titled
    3. Chisel--8 a.m. all day
    4. Lifetime --Hello Bastards
    5. Braid --Frame and Canvas
    6. Avail--Dixie
    7. Promise Ring --30 degrees everywhere
    8. Samiam--Billy
    9. Sunny Day Real Estate--Diary
    10.Shadow Project-- Dreams for the Dying

    How about a post on Animal Crackers? Awesome sounds on this blog. Thanks.

    Tim




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  17. Thank you for the great Compilations!
    Most of the relevant Records/Bands are already mentioned...the one Band i just wanna throw in:
    Mind Over Matter!!!
    Greeting from Germany

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  18. It's such a letdown that NO ONE has mentioned "Downsided" by NO COMMENT... That's the ABSOLUTE best HC rec of the 90's.

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  20. Fuck...this is so great! Thanks for taking the time to create these compilations. I was looking for a good starting point for my own nostalgia trip but was way too lazy to do it myself!
    Even though nostalgia sucks and is totally un-punk I am so freaked out to be able to re-listen to so many great forgotten, unheard and reconsidered bands! Thanks a lot!

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  21. great initiative!
    I love compilations :)

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  22. love the radio to Saturn jam thank you so much :)

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  23. SAMIAM "Soar" is in my top twenty perfect albums ever. P.S. so is The CLASH s/t & "London Calling" as well as DANZIG s/t, SLAYER "Reign in Blood" & MISFITS "Walk Among Us.

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  24. Glad to see CR getting some love.

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  25. Amazing tracklist guys,btw here is my sample resource If someone is interested in making music
    www.lucidsamples

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  26. please can you fix the links?

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