Ships - The Quilt Of Life CD

Ships - The Quilt Of Life CD (2007)

Artist: Ships
Album: The Quilt Of Life CD
Year: 2007
Label: Giant Waffle Records (GW-001)
Location: Durham, NC USA
Tracks:
1.) A Ringin' On My Doorbell
2.) Lead Out To The Barren Ground
3.) Where The Leader Sang This Song For Me
4.) My Question On The Subject Of Its Beauty
5.) Silence
6.) Entering The Woods
7.) The Woods
8.) Upon Leaving The Woods

Bit Rate: MP3 320 kbps
Size: 66MB

Kinda different than most of the stuff I post, but it's still good as anything else I've posted. The Quilt Of Life was put out between me and Harrison (the main person behind Ships at this point in time) on my label, "Giant Waffle Records" in 2007. It's a CD-R and was pressed to 200 but probably only 40-50 were sold because Harrison didn't really much like the album and because I never really went and grabbed the CDs from his house. This release is in the vein of Mt. Eerie or The Microphones. Harrison's ability to compose a tune is beyond phenomenal and I'm proud to say he's one of my favorite songwriters. Sadly, like I stated earlier, this album didn't make it far, but I figure I might share it with you folks in hope of getting some sort of response. I know it's not punk or hardcore, but it's a damn fine release by a great musician.

After this album (Ships' only release besides demos passed between friends), Harrison recruited a bassist and a drummer (two close friends of his Noah and Reed) and began to play electric shows. They played around ten-ish shows and even was asked to perform on the radio in Greensboro. I saw them twice and was fully blown away by their tightness. It was more shoegazey when electric, but still good none the less.

If I can find the original 10 song demo Harrison gave me, I'll post it. Until then, sit back, relax and enjoy "The Quilt Of Life"

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

*If you like it, PLEASE COMMENT!*

Chumbawamba!

Chumbawamba - Smash Clause 28! EP (1985)

Artist: Chumbawamba
Album: Smash Clause 28! EP
Year: 1985
Location: Leeds, UK
Tracks:
1.) Smash Clause 28!
2.) Fight The Alton Bill!

Bit Rate: MP3 160 kbps
Size: 8.88MB

Ah, good ole fashion Chumbawamba. Political in voice but dancey in the heart. I honestly can't name another group of crazy anarchists that have had me move like Chumba has.

I was trying to pick a release that's a tad more rare, but I did not want to dive into their old peace punk past just yet. I have a fair share of old Chumba to share, and I do plan on sharing it all (mainly because a friend of mine, Arwen, is absolutely obsessed with Chumba both old and new :P), just over time. So just pop this one on a mix of some sort and bring it to party you're headed to, because I guarantee the entire floor will be moving within 5 minutes.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

A-Heads

A-Heads - Dying Man EP (1982)

Artist: A-Heads
Album: Dying Man EP
Year: 1982
Location: Warminster, Wiltshire UK
Tracks:
1.) Dying Man
2.) Hell Cell
3.) Changing Places

Bit Rate: MP3 192 kbps
Size: 10.2MB

Really catchy female fronted anarcho-punk from this Warminster band. According to teh intarwebs, they backed the Subhumans a lot. Which is understandable what with both bands being from Warminster in addition to the fact that they both played similar styles (but I feel the A-Heads were the catchier of the two; maybe because I'm a sucker for clean female vocals?). Between Mel's higher pitch Exene-esque vocals and the thumpin' bass lines, this makes for one hell of a 7". On first spin it's nothing memorable, but it'll still find it's way into your daily routine with hooks such as:
"He's a dying man but he doesn't realise / He thinks what they say is just a pack of lies"

Good stuff. I plan on upping their other 7" "Forgotten Hero" sometime tomorrow.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Here's some more background info from "Women In Punk":
A-HEADS were an early Anarchopunk band from Warminster, England who often supported the towns other local punk heroes the Subhumans. They released numerous singles and tapes on the Subhumans Bluurg label amongst others between the 1982-1984 period and were fronted by the excellent female vocalist, Mel. The A-HEADS had a very English sound, especially Mel's classical vocal style. They carried on releasing various tapes until 1985 whereupon everything stopped!
Mel from the A-Heads went on to sing for Faction which will soon be covered on this site very soon.

Back in business!

That's right I'm back to posting! Oh and no more fucking "megaupload" type sites, I bought a domain/hosting for my store (the site isn't up, but you can visit our MyShit here), so there will be individual download links from now on. They'll also be there until I stop paying for the hosting, which is hopefully never :P

Expect a bunch of new posts in the coming weeks as well as a possible zine in the future. I'm also gonna probably post some reviews of records I dig/shows I recently attended. Maybe some interviews.

Who knows, all I know is that this is just the fucking start.

Love,
Ryan

Midnight

Midnight - Demo (2002)

Artist: Midnight
Album: Demo
Year: 2002
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Tracks:
1.) Distance
2.) Life Enhanced
3.) Cold Sweat
4.) Words In Bold
5.) Breakthrough

Bit Rate: MP3 128 kbps :(
Size: 12.5MB

It's almost frightening how good this PDX band is. Raging guitars with some of the most brutal melodic breakdowns ever...AND IT'S ONLY A FUCKING DEMO! They truly carry on the PDX brutal hardcore/crust sound we all know and love (Hellshock, Tragedy, Ausegbombt, Deathcharge, etc.)Needless to say this band is sick and it's a real shame I don't know anything about this band. It's a sick demo none the less and I guarantee you'll give this lone demo quite a few listens.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

REVIEW: Severed Head Of State

Since I plan on turning this into an actual print zine this summer, I figure I might as well post some reviews of records I've stumbled across in the past few months. This is my first shot at reviewing records on a constant basis. Hopefully I can stick with it!

-Ryan


Severed Head Of State - Power Hazard 12" EP (Havoc Records)



Severed Head Of State is back after two years, and they're shredding harder then ever! From the opening of "Death's Marionette" to the closer "This Final Scene...", SHOS blazes through 9 d-beat-esque ragers that sound similar to Lycanthro Punk-era Wolfpack. As per usual with SHOS, this release sounds like the polar opposite of it's predecessor (In this case I'm speaking of 2003's "Anathema Device" LP on Hardcore Holocaust) to keep things fresh. Now I know what many of you are thinking, "OMGZ WHEN MY FAVORITE BANDZ CHANGE STYLES THAT MUST MEANS TEY SOLD OUTZZZ!!!". No. This is not the case. Personally I think this record sounds better than Anathema Device, but that may just be me. I love Jack Control's Poison Idea type vocals layered on top of the insane drumming and the blistering basslines. It's kinda like throwing all the best bands from hardcore, d-beat, and punk into a blender and hoping that shit turns out alright. In this case it did, and this will probably become one of my favorite records of 2007. Chalk up another rager from Havoc!

($10ppd/Havoc Records/P.O. Box 8585/Minneapolis, MN 55408/www.havocrex.com)

The Exploding Hearts

The Exploding Hearts - Live On KBOO

Artist: The Exploding Hearts
Album: Live On KBOO
Year: 2003
Location: Portland, Oregon USA
Tracks:
1.) Modern Kicks
2.) Busy Signals
3.) I'm A Pretender
4.) Jailbird
5.) Still Crazy
6.) Walking Out On Love
7.) Waste Of Time
8.) Your Shadow
9.) Looking At The Sky
10.) Thorns In Roses

Bit Rate: MP3 192 kbps
Size: 42.6MB

Ah, the Exploding Hearts. It's almost summer, and anytime I think summer I think of the sweet poppy songs of the Hearts. Though the story of them is quite depressing, they wrote such upbeat and seriously some of the best tunes I've ever heard. Adam's voice is so perfect along with the beats to EVERY SINGLE SONG. I seriously can't name one bad tune they did. Sure some of their tunes may be lackluster but there is no possible way they're bad.

This is a recording from their in-studio concert at the KBOO Radio Station in Portland, OR. I never saw the Hearts live, but I can say that this captures the songs from the record pretty well. The semi-lo-fi recording brings out the raw edge of the band more than their recordings do. They play through a lot of songs off of their lone LP bu they also play some unreleased tracks such as Waste Of Time and Looking At The Sky. The dialogues between songs are pretty cool as well.

Not the best show of the Hearts, but downloading this is a necessity regardless. If you like really good pop music, this one's for you!

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5