Sunday, March 29, 2009

Our Gang - 1988-1989 Discography




Yet more great late '80s NYHC. Eighteen tracks recorded live at Don Fury studios from three different sessions, and a set live at WNYU in 1988. Members of Our Gang went on to Citizen's Arrest, Born Against and Hell No. Thanks to Andy from Mortville Records for fixing up the WNYU set. He was able to boost the sound by over 400%, remove the tape hiss, and separate the tracks. Great sound throughout. Enjoy.

Our Gang Collection

6/88 and 10/88 sessions:

Vocals - Bryant Wilms
Guitar - Hobi
Guitar -
Lewis Dimmick
Bass - Javier
Drums - Patrick Winter

6/89 sessions:

Bass - Lewis Dimmick

Penguin Romp originally by NYC Mayhem
United and Strong originally by Agnostic Front

The 6/88 sessions were released as the "Uprising" demo. There are other versions of all these songs on various recording sessions, but these sound the best, both performance and quality wise.

Lew and Hobi on Our Gang:
(interview excerpt taken from Double Cross)

How did Our Gang Originally form? Were you guys friends from high school? Meet one another at HC shows? How did it happen? What year was this?

Lew: Hobi and I formed the band together. We had been friends since junior high school and grew up listening to punk and metal together. Our first band was called Blood Sausage, a mock metal band. This was before we actually knew how to tune our guitars. We probably started writing the songs that we would later use in Our Gang in 1986 or so.

How old were you guys when you formed?

Lew: 15 or 16.

What was your goal as a band when you first got together?

Lew: To be in tune, put out a demo we could sell at Some Records. Play CBGB's. Become part of the NYHC scene.

Who was in the band and what did they play? Were there many line up changes?

Lew: We recorded 4 demos at Don Fury’s. Nothing from the first demo (late '87) appears on the record, as that demo was mostly out of tune. Hobi and I switched back and forth between bass and guitar on that recording. Bryant sang and Pat played drums.

Our second tape (June '88) was the re-recorded “Uprising” demo. Javier joined on bass for that demo so that both Hobi and I could play guitar.

We went to Don Fury’s a third time (October '88) to record a new song, “No Motive.” That song and “Penguin Romp,” a NYC Mayhem cover, appear on the LP from that tape.

Hobi: It should be noted that we went to Don's that time solely to record for Freddy's New Breed Comp. Oddly, we chose not to submit it cause we thought it wasn't good enough. In retrospect it's one of the best things we ever did.

Lew: The last 3 songs on the record, our more melodic songs, are from the fourth Don Fury tape. I took over on bass for this tape, as it was not really Javier’s style. We ended as a four piece band.

Hobi: That session at Don's was intended to be a demo for us to scrutinize before recording our record. We had gotten much more serious as a band - diligently rehearsing and thinking about the songs. It was really exciting to see what Bryant was doing lyrically and vocally while we were growing simultaneously as songwriters.

Check out the full interview (in 2 parts), here and here.

And buy the new "Uprising" LP.

Friday, March 27, 2009

AbombAnation - 1988-1989 Discography



Revised on Feb. 9, 2010 for better sound quality.

More great late '80s NYC hardcore. AbombAnation played very melodic and catchy hardcore, similar to Token Entry. From what i've read, Ernie (the drummer of Token Entry) played drums on the AbombAnation demo, and his brother was the vocalist. I started this collection off with the three songs from the New Breed tape. These songs are on the demo, but the quality is much better on the New Breed tape so i decided to include them, as it's the best representation of the band's powerful sound. The 1988 demo is pretty easy to come by these days, so the real gem here is the live set on WFMU recorded in February of 1989. The WFMU studio seems to have a way of bringing out the best in bands, and this set is no exception. Incredible stuff. Apparently there was also a recording done for an unreleased album. I'd love to hear that. If anyone has it, please get in touch.


AbombAnation Collection

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

True Colors (NYC) - 1987-1989 Don Fury Sessions



True Colors were a late '80s New York hardcore band with members of Our Gang and Citizen's Arrest. This is a collection of everything they recorded, minus one song. All recorded at Don Fury Studios between 1987-1989. All great stuff. Enjoy.

True Colors Collection

Daryl Kahan on True Colors (excerpt from interview - You Breed Like Rats blog):


True Colors was a band I formed after meeting several guys in a band called Our Gang. I used to hang out and rehearse at a great place on 14th street in New York City called Giant Studios. Many well-known NYHC bands used to rehearse there including Lifesblood, Sick Of It All, Side By Side, YDL, Krakdown, Breakdown, Mental Abuse, Warzone, Death Before Dishonor, NY Hoods etc. There were rooms A through Z so you could just walk in and hang out and listen to each band rehearse. Through this process I ran into a band my age called Our Gang. They had a friend named Chuck who attended these rehearsals (which were more like small shows complete with a pit and sing alongs etc..- great times!). Chuck and I became friends and decided to form our own band, True Colors. Lou Dimmick of Our Gang joined along with Pat Winter. I originally was the drummer of True Colors until our singer quit and Pat joined. We recorded two demos at Don Fury's studio and played two shows, one in Connecticut with our friends Pressure Release and another with Underdog in Albany, NY. We recorded one song called "No Way To Live" at Don Fury's which appeared on Freddy Alva's New Breed Compilation. Fred Alva later formed Wardance which later signed Citizens Arrest for our first EP and album. After a while I lost interest in True Colors and started looking for members to form a new band which became Citizens Arrest.
— Daryl Kahan

You can read the entire interview here.

Chuck Gomez - Guitar
Daryl Kahan - Vocals
Lewis Dimmick - Bass
Patrick Winter - Drums

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Joy Division - Live in Amsterdam 1980


Joy Division at their darkest, heaviest, and most memorable. The sound quality, the performance, the track list, and the fact that the band were just "on" the entire time, puts this bootleg head and shoulders above all others i've heard. Intense stuff, and possibly the only live album i listen to more than the band's studio albums. 17 perfectly executed classics from one of the greatest bands ever. Enjoy.

Joy Division Live in Amsterdam 1980

Monday, March 16, 2009

Greyhouse - 1991-1997 Discography




One of the tapes i played countless times throughout the '90s was my trusty Greyhouse live on WFMU cassette. I never thought their studio recordings captured the band's live intensity, but listening to all this stuff again now, it really sounds great. These are not vinyl rips, these files are straight from the master tapes (same as the Hated collection), so the sound quality is excellent. A double CD of this material was supposed to come out back in 2005. At that time all the tracks were mastered (and leaked obviously), and apparently all the band was waiting for was the artwork. Nearly 4 years later, i'd say this is safe to post here. Shame it never came out, but it's time to let the fans hear it.

This 2 CD set collects everything the band released, besides the song Ashes from the Beneath the Wheel comp, as well as a dozen unreleased tracks (some of which were recorded in 1997), and the entire live on WFMU set. Enjoy.

Greyhouse

A Rose For Lindsay remains one of my favorite songs of the '90s.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Samuel - 1994-1995 Discography



I saw Samuel at a show in NJ sometime in the mid '90s with The Van Pelt, Chisel and some other bands. Most of the shows from that time are a blur now, but i remember being blown away by Samuel. I had no idea who they were before then, but before their set was finished i was at the merch table snatching up whatever i could by this band. They played emotional and melodic punk, with female vocals, and elements of bands like Jawbreaker, Garden Variety and Superchunk. At their best (songs like Common Little Numbers and Empty and Then Some), they really tapped into something special, it's a shame they were so short lived. This is everything they recorded, enjoy.

Samuel discography

Vanessa - vocals
James - guitar
Josh - guitar
Dean - bass
Eric - drums

Recorded in September of 1994 in Fred Weaver's attic.
Mastered at Masterwork.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ruido - 1997-2000



I did this discography for the band back in 2000, but unfortunately it never got mastered and released. Here it is, with permission from my buddy Gen (the vocalist). Everything the band released between 1997-2000, 54 songs in roughly 30 minutes. I ripped all this from vinyl and it came out surprisingly well, with pretty much no surface noise or pops. The only real flaw is that the levels are a bit on the low side, so turn it up loud! Hopefully this gets remastered at some point and sees the light of day as an official release.

Ruido put out some of my favorite hardcore recordings of the late '90s. The first demo (the first 24 tracks here), is especially great stuff, like a vicious combo of Despise You and Los Crudos. After that it's a bit more straight forward hardcore punk, all great stuff. Enjoy.

Ruido 1997-2000

Here's the rest of the info on these recordings:


tracks 1-24: recorded and mixed by Frank Espinoza at Herb Studios in LA, CA. on 8/16/97.
tracks 25-44: recorded by producer Joe Ventress and engineer Dave Swanson at Stonefly Studios in Idyllwild, CA on 9/20/98. Mixed by Joe V. and Gen Ruido. Mastered by Ray and Jordan at Riot Now studios in Echo Park, CA on 2/13/99.
tracks 45-49: recorded and mixed by Carlos "Mr. Pink" Buscemi at KXLU Studio, LA on 11/11/98.
track 50:
recorded and mixed by Carlos "Mr. Pink" Buscemi at KXLU Studio, LA on 9/27/00.
tracks 51-54: recorded by Mike Vallejo at Feedback Studios in Eagle Rock, CA on 5/20/00. Mixed by Mike V. and Gen Ruido on 5/28/00 at Feedback Studios.

1997: Gen-vox/noise, Aimee-bass, Steve-stix, Mike-gits
1998: Gen-vox/noise, Richard-vox, Aimee-bass, Steve-stix, Thrashead-gits
2000: Gen-vox/noise, Isaiah-bass, Steve-stix, Lamin-gits

Fight originally recorded by Agnostic Front.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Jerry's Kids unreleased 7" 1982



The Jerry's Kids tracks on This Is Boston Not LA are pretty much the epitome of hardcore punk for me, so i was excited when i heard about this lost 7".

Here we have 13 tracks from the 1982 sessions. Some of the tracks here like Straight Jacket and Uncontrollable are the same versions as on This Is Boston Not LA. Others, like Wired and Pressure are from the same sessions, but are different takes. And of course a bunch of this stuff was never released. The last track, Circus, gets cut off before the song ends, but from what i've heard it's like this on all the copies that are out there. There's absolutely no info i can find about this record online. Just enjoy the music:


Jerry's Kids unreleased ep

Friday, March 6, 2009

The Hated - 1985-1989 Discography





Let me first say, this was the find of a lifetime for me.

For the past 2 weeks i have been going through all the Hated files i've accumulated through the past 20 years. Stuff i had ripped from 20 year-old tapes and vinyl. Seems i had 2, sometimes 3 versions of the same tape or record, and i was on a quest to find the best possible quality track from each release to assemble a decent sounding collection for myself. Then, last night while roaming the web for art, i came across a mediafire link to the Desmond Outcast ep which sounded amazing. No vinyl rip here, this was the real thing, straight from the master tapes. That file led to other files and pretty soon i had enough mastered Hated material for 3 CDs. I can't take credit of course, all i did was assemble everything for my own convenience. Whoever put these files on the web is a hero. And at this point, i'm assuming Troubleman Unlimited dropped the project (wasen't this supposed to be released about 7 years ago?), so i see no harm in posting it here. This music should be heard the way it was intended to be heard. No more waiting. Enjoy!
The Hated Collection Vol. 1
The Hated Collection Vol. 2
The Hated Collection Vol. 3

Disk 1 has the entire 1986 demo (an amazing work of art), which was released in '92 as the What Was Behind LP, and mastered at the wrong speed. Here is the correct version, along with the band's first 7" No More We Cry from 1985, the Like The Days 2x7" from 1987, and the Desmond Outcast ep released in 1997, recorded in 1989.

Disk 2 has the entire Every Song LP. A classic, along with an assortment of unreleased songs recorded between '85-'89. Some outstanding numbers on this one. Flux, T.S. Elliot, Lighthouse... some of the most beautiful stuff they ever recorded.

Disk 3 contains the band's 1985 demo. A bit more on the punk side, and certainly less serious sounding. Good stuff though. Followed up with a bunch more unreleased stuff, aside from 2 tracks originally released on the Awl tape in 1992.

Every song is a revolution.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Repos - 2003-2008 Discography



It's rare that i'll post newer music on this blog, especially newer hardcore. I haven't really kept up on the current scene, and aside from a handful of great bands like Sex Vid, Warkrime, Ciril, Walls and a few others, i honestly have no interest in current hardcore. The Repos are my biggest exception though. I loved this stuff from the first second i heard it. The Repos were a Chicago band from 2003-08, and played a vicious style of hardcore clearly inspired by the likes of Septic Death, Infest, early Jerry's Kids, Poison Idea, and of course Youth of Today (The Repos last album was a cover of the entire Youth of Today album "We're Not In This Alone" from 1988). This is great no-bullshit hardcore with not many songs clocking in over 30 seconds. As Infest would say, they put the "hard back in the core". This is their complete vinyl discography (all out of print now), including their 2003 demo and a recording of their final show, recorded March 29, 2008. Thanks to the Crooked Edge blog for that one. This collection is 76 tracks, great sound. Enjoy.

Repos Collection