Ahh, remember the Roaring 20's? No, of course you don't. Do you even remember the week you spent on that era in your American History class in High School? Probably not and especially not if you were half as delinquent as I was at that age. But I can pretend thanks to the ease of access that the internet has granted us. Because of that I am able to find mp3s of songs that were originally released way back in a simpler time when it was not only acceptable to paint your face black and mock an entire race but you could make a career of it! But let's not dwell on that. It was a different time and people were much different. I included this part about blackface because many people who hear some Al Jolson songs like them, but ultimately give him the boot after reading up on his history. I'm not saying it's right or to ignore it, I'm just saying to simply listen to the music. Get lost in this compilation. Use it as something to listen in between everything you'd normally have on. Use one of the songs as something to make a mix more interesting. Use it as a pleasant escape from your modern life. Use it as background music. Use it because the most important thing about blogs like this one and the internet in general is that you can always find information on mostly anything and you can always find a testament to any period of time. Hardly anything can be forgotten anymore. It's so easy to document and research absolutely anything. Which is sort of what I'm doing with this post. So here's Al Jolson's Best Of compilation, a pleasant little sample of what was popular music in the 1920's.



at Friday, November 20, 2009 0 comments
Now let's talk about a Post-Punk group who's members went on to play Punk/Hardcore music. The opposite of what's going on in the previous Beautiful Skin post.

Jacket Weather were formed in the early 80's and played "pioneering minimalist-electro-wave", "described in their day as a cross between Joy Division and Young Marble Giants, with some Wall Of Voodoo mixed in". Jacket Weather became Reptile House, a mid 80's hardcore punk group that still sound fresh and nowhere near all the other short, fast and loud clones of that era. After Reptile House the frontman went on to Lungfish and the drummer worked with Samhain. Both Jacket Weather and Reptile House's most popular releases are their 7" EPs so those are what I've uploaded for this blog.

at Thursday, November 12, 2009 0 comments
There sure are a lot of groups coming out at the moment playing Post-Punk/New Wave/Minimal Synth/Synth Pop/Goth/Whatever/Etc influenced music that feature ex members of popular hardcore bands. Cold Cave are getting huge ripping off a few synth pop artists, Louderbach are getting laid by basically making Joy Division songs even more minimal (yeah it's possible, and yeah it's good), some other band is doing some other thing, blah blah, I actually can't think of any more than the last two but that's because I don't really listen to hardcore anymore. But that's beside the point. Whether they feature guys who used to scream who now mumble, this particular type of 80's revival is hip as shit right now. Look at how popular Blank Dogs got and there's nothing original about that other than a bunch of skinny white college kids calling it "shitgaze". And look at Blessure Grave blowing up while straight up ripping all kinds of pages from Peter Murphy's several books. The Killers and She Wants Revenge are making girls get wet while Gang of Four are probably wondering how to keep the pasty nerds from bothering them after their reunion show sets instead of which groupies are the best looking and most deserving of some backstage attention. I could keep going but this is turning into a rant and I know you don't want to hear it. You want the link. The pretty pictures and the free music. That's all blogs are good for. I'm just a cheap whore. So, in short, here are two albums by a Post-Punk/Minimal Whatever group that kickstarted this entire thing and were actually very good, as opposed to just being something hip for messageboard hype.


Oh, you're still here? Well then...

Beautiful Skin were a short lived group started by some guy who used to be in the seminal hardcore group Rorschach and some other guy from Brazil. They released their only album, Revolve in 2001, a bit before the whole Post-Punk Revival explosion and quite a bit before the recent minimal 80's revival thing going on. They were much better than Cold Cave but never got any offers from Radioshack for commercial money. One single (Sex Is A Triangle For The Perfect Square). One album (Revolve). One compilation of unreleased material (Everything...). One tour (West Coast, supported the Locust, Le Shok, etc). That's it. Beautiful Skin are worth remembering though and these albums are worth giving at least one listen if you are at all interested in Post-Punk music, past and present.


at Thursday, November 12, 2009 2 comments

bloodstains, speed kills, fast cars, cheap thrills, rich girls, fine wine...

If you are unfamiliar with the "Bloodstains Across..." compilations, they are fan made bootlegs of rare or forgotten punk songs. Each one is themed around a certain location. The first three were Texas, California and The Midwest. "Bloodstains..." are not just limited to the U.S. though, there are ones for Finland, Yugoslavia, The UK, The Canary Islands, Belgium, Norway, etc. I'm not sure how many there are in total as they might still be made and could continue to be made for years to come, but here are all the ones that I am aware of...


Download: Bloodstains Across Texas
Download: Bloodstains Across California
Download: Bloodstains Across The Midwest

Download: Bloodstains Across Australia
Download: Bloodstains Across Belgium Part 1
Download: Bloodstains Across Belgium Part 2
Download: Bloodstains Across Belgium Part 3
Download: Bloodstains Across Chile
Download: Bloodstains Across Denmark
Download: Bloodstains Across Europe
Download: Bloodstains Across Finland
Download: Bloodstains Across France
Download: Bloodstains Across Germany Part 1
Download: Bloodstains Across Germany Part 2
Download: Bloodstains Across Northern Ireland Part 1
Download: Bloodstains Across Northern Ireland part 2
Download: Bloodstains Across Norway
Download: Bloodstains Across Spain
Download: Bloodstains Across Sweden Part 1
Download: Bloodstains Across Sweden Part 2
Download: Bloodstains Across Sweden Part 3
Download: Bloodstains Across Switzerland
Download: Bloodstains Across The Canary Islands
Download: Bloodstains Across The U.K. Part 1
Download: Bloodstains Across The U.K. Part 2
Download: Bloodstains Across The U.K. Part 3
Download: Bloodstains Across The U.K. Part 4
Download: Bloodstains Across The World Part 1
Download: Bloodstains Across The World Part 2
Download: Bloodstains Across Yugoslavia


Are there any I am missing? Fill me in and I'll find and post them too.

And if you need any more info such as correct tracklistings, pressing info or recommendations for other similar comps for certain countries, try this great site: http://ickibod.com/comphell/bloodstains.html
at Saturday, October 10, 2009 7 comments
Jack Kerouac will always be one of my favorite authors and I will always think of people who have only read "On The Road" as silly and annoying. So if you are one of those people, please press that little rectangular shaped button in the upper right hand corner of your screen. It's usually red with a white X in the center, you can't miss it.

For anyone who's an actual fan of Kerouac (regardless of whether or not he's hip at the moment) I have for you the first and one of the very few recordings that Kerouac made. This one was done with Steve Allen (famous actor/comedian/writer/musician/etc), who accompanies Kerouac's voice with piano. Following this album was "Blues and Haikus" with Jazz Saxophonists Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. Kerouac's next and last album was "Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation." All three of these are compiled on a CD titled "The Jack Kerouac Collection" that is still easily available from Amazon if you are willing to spend about $30. Or you could bookmark this page or keep my blog in mind as I'm sure I'll upload the other two albums sometime in the near future.




Download: Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen-Poetry For The Beat Generation
at Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1 comments
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