Working Holiday?

I'm off today, but sorta working from home. This song is sooo happy, it (almost) makes it OK.


The Coctails
Working Holiday
Working Holiday compilation 2xCD (buy)
Simple Machines 1994

This is from a compilation of a series of split 7" Simple Machines put out monthly in 93. Each song was to be dedicated to a holiday that corresponded to the month it was released. Someone was bound to flake, so Simple Machines had the Coctails record a song that:

...wasn't holiday-specific, one that could be slipped into any month if need be...Need did be and the song soon became the toe tappin', whistlin' theme for March!

On Liz Phair (the flake):

Liz Phair, what can we say? Initially she promised to do the series through a mutual friend who said she wanted to do a song about some Icelandic holiday where kids demand treats and if they don't get them they hit you with colorful sticks. As the deadline approached, we tried to contact her directly but she was phoneless. We left messages at her studio, her job, her parents. When we finally found her she denied having ever heard of the project, but she liked the idea and hung up promising a track. That was the last we heard from her.

(Both quotes from the liner notes)

I didn't care, I was never into her anyway and the Coctails's song is the best on the CD. Great stuff also from Codeine, Scrawl, Lois, Small Factory, Versus, Nothing Painted Blue, Lungfish, Caterpillar... The early pressings also came with a live CD recorded of the Working Holiday show commemorating the end of the series. Worth it alone for MC Jason Nobles's hilarious band introductions. Plus an unreleased Rodan tune.

Endnotes
1. The Coctail's Trouser Press page here.
2. Though no longer an active label, go here for more Simple Machines info.
3. One more thing, I have two comments that don't show up on Haloscan's comment field. This is for June 21st's post. It should read "comments (2)" but all I have is a big, fat (0).
Help! Please! Leave a...uhh, comment...!
July 7 Update
The comments suddenly showed up a few days ago. WTF?

Hardcore Friday

A two second long blast to a five minute sludge-fest. Sweat. Stage diving to an empty floor. Bruises. Cuts. Spikes. Fights. Drinking. Skinheads. 7"s. 12"s. RECORDS! Fanzines. The "scene". Maximum Rock'N'Roll. Enemies. Friends.

This is Hardcore.

Friday's tunes will be hardcore.

Why?

1. Punk and hardcore was the music I grew up on in my later teenage years. 30, 40, 50, years from now, Gauze, DRI, Rites of Spring, SIC, Husker Du, FVK, Ill Repute, RKL, Lip Cream; even Los Crudos and Constantine Sankathi, will be a part of my heart.

2. Nothing compares to getting a hand written letter from Mr. Chi Pig (SNFU) and Kurt from DRI when you are like, 16.

3. I was, like, so into the idea of punk. You know. Kids making music. Kids into change. Kids fucking shit up.

It's sort of sad how those ideals die out when you get a job.

(4). I have totally swiped this idea from The Mystical Beast's "No Wave Friday".

Sorry.

Scream
Solidarity
Still Screaming
Dischord 1982

From the outskirts of DC. One of my top five hardcore songs. Like a friend of mine told me,
"How can you go wrong with a chorus of 'It's just a love story/Solidarity!'"

Yes.

Years before Dave Grohl joined.


Endnotes
1. Check the latest Maximum Rock'N'Roll Radio Show for current hc/punk. Some of it is actually good. Go here.
2. Kill From The Heart. Best site for eighties hc/punk. Loads of info.

P-Model + El-P + another P?

A couple of songs today.


P-Model
Art Mania
In A Model Room
Warner Music 1979

The first time I heard this song was at a karaoke joint, of all places. There were only three of us left, drunk and bored of my lame assed attempts at Outkast! and Slayer.

In the real world, I despise karaoke. Get a few drinks in me and you will not get the mike out of my hands.

Anyway, Kage puts in this song and it's like, "Who the fuck are these guys?" It turns out that P-Model were a late seventies/early eighties techno pop band out of Tokyo. This song is from 1992's CD re-release of their first LP, In A Model Room. Produced by someone from the Plastics.
They are apparently still around in some form or another.


El-P featuring Cage
Oxycontin Part 2
Definitive Jux Presents III CD (buy)
Definitive Jux 2004

I love the chimes on this song, sort of gives it a trippy edge? From the newest Def Jux compilation, El-P teaming up with newcomer Cage. Seems to be a story in progress...don't know if there is a Oxycontin Part 1. The rap sort of seems to end without much of a conclusion...maybe Part 3 is in the works?

じつは、三つ目のPはピクシーズの１０何年ぶりの新曲！日本ではまだダウンロードできない。今の所はアメリカとヨーロッパのiTunesのMusic Storeのみ。いつ日本にMusic Storeが登場するんですかね？とりあえず、キムが歌う新曲はここ。

Endnotes
1. P-Model
2. Def Jux

...your friends don't dance, and if they don't dance, well, they're no friends of mine...

Quick post today.


Men Without Hats
The Safety Dance
Rhythm Of Youth LP
Backstreet/MCA 1983

Remember this song from way back then? The first time I heard it, "Goofy" was the word that popped up in my mind. But it was on the radio (and MTV), like, every other hour...it grew on me. Couldn't resist picking it up a few years ago.

The Lcd Soundsystem of the eighties?

Endnotes
1. A Mission Of Burma article here.

Hell Week+Seam & Mac

This week has been...well, not too good. Kana, a close friend, gets mugged, sleep is rare and work is hell. One bright spot, Japan clobbered India in a World Cup Qualifier (we're talking soccer, for you Americanoes!)

Enough excuses, back to the ROCK.


Seam@Reckless Records/Chicago/10.2.98
(photo by me)

In 1993, Seam released one of my favorite LPs, The Problem With Me. This definitely influenced the whole emo genre. The whole loud/soft dynamic, softly spoken/cried out vocals bit. (Which were probably swiped from friends Codeine and Slint.)

Don't think they rolled around on the stage, though.

Anyway, Seam had put out a LP and a couple of singles before TPWM, original members being Sooyoung Park (ex-Bitch Magnet) on vocals/guitar, Lexi Mitchell (ex-The Lillies) on bass and Mac McCaughan on drums.

Yeah, that Mac from Superchunk.

Seam
Look Back In Anger
Granny9X 7"
Merge/City Slang 1992

This song is a Television Personalities cover. (Yo! Kage-chan!) Mac sings lead on it, so it's sorta like a long-lost Superchunk song...and yes, it ROCKS!

Endnotes
1. The totally official unupdated Seam fansite. Buy The Problem With Me here.
2. Bitch Magnet.
3. !!! interviewed here, in Japan.
4. More links! Thank you nevercamehome, Bloghorrea, and Fruits Of Chaos.

A Sweet Little Dis

Thought about posting one of the !!! remixes that appears on the bonus disc that comes with the initial Japanese pressing of Louden Up Now. But I'm thinking that everyone already has, or probably will buy a copy or find it somewhere, you know. So for something different.

Japanese hip hop.

To tell you the truth, most of it is shit. Gangster wannabes, baggy pants, fashion replaces content...you know the routine. In the cesspool of Japanese hip hop, Tha Blue Herb fucking shine.


Tha Blue Herb
A Sweet Little Dis
Front Act CDEP
Tha Blue Herb Recordings 2002

Lyrics broken down:

1. On the commercialism of Japanese hip hop

"Hip hop degraded to commercial and cafe background music..."
"Behind each boom, the enriched brokers, promoters, ad agencies/Mr. Industry, up the dark end of every arrangement..."
"My hip hop is what you threw away that day, not 'mass', but 'core', 'tight' and 'rough'."

2. On critics

"Reviews are only first impression, a last-minute job before the deadline..."
"Sobre otaku, a garbage heap, hanging about the DJ booth waiting to be recognized/Have you ever created a single snare beat?"
"A Japanese Will Smith? Yeah right, just a cheap comedy..."

3. Boss The MC doesn't hate everyone

"There are also some cats that deserve my respect/Reckless graf writers and breakers, skaters and their resistance/Full of wit, dogmatic and deranged..."

(All quotes taken from the lyric sheet. Yes, Tha Blue Herb releases include English translations!)

Tha Blue Herb (Boss The MC+O.N.O) seem to distance themselves from fellow Japanese rappers, the one time I saw them live, they opened for a dub band (their name has like, totally warped from my mind.) Their thoughts on other Japanese hip hop artists (from the Musique Machine website):

Interviewer: What do you think of people like Shing02 or other Japanese hip hop acts?
Boss The MC: Nothing. If I would need to say something, I would just tell them: "Do your best".

Bold words. They back them up with their music.

Endnotes
1. For more on Tha Blue Herb, go here. More info, the full interview and mp3s+English translations of songs. Check out the "The Future Is In Our Hands" track, which is a super loose cover of an old Blue Hearts tune. Unrecognizable from the original song. Totally different lyrics, beats: the only thing that tied them together was the title. No wonder it got booted off of the Blue Hearts tribute CD it was intended for...
2. Another link! Domo Fat Planet!

Fuck The Rules and Make Me Yours Tonight!

Sometime in 92 or so, looking through the new but discounted LP bin at Disc Union in Shinjuku, I come across the Throw compilation, out on Yoyo Recordings.

"Hey, Superchunk's on it and it's, like only 300 yen."

So I pick it up, go home and set the record on the turntable. Check the liner notes. The first band is a duo called Kicking Giant and their song is called "Fuck The Rules". I'm thinking, "Probably some lame, anti-authority/hardcore band straight out of junior high. Be over in a flash." So I drop the needle.

And I'm hooked.

Kicking Giant were great. Olympia indie pop, via New York. Lo-fi and noisy, but, you know, listenable. Not too experimental. Sloppy, in a good way.
I found their first CD, Halo, which was pretty much a compilation of their cassette only releases, at Amoeba in Berkeley a couple of years later. This song is off of that release.

Kicking Giant
The Way That You Are
Halo CD
Spartadisc 1993

This CD has amazing packaging: remember those origami fortune tellers that you used to make before you got into music? The jacket was based on one, unfortunately, no fortunes. Still cool.
I think Kicking Giant influenced many a band: Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof...probably the whole K Records/Kill Rock Stars scene that developed after them. Hey, Built To Spill covered "She's Real", probably my favorite K.G. song.
They split a few years later, singer/guitarist Tae Won Yu starting up the KG (!) and drummer/singer Rachel Carns doing the Needs.

Endnotes
1. Get the Throw comp. Kicking Giant, Unwound, Bikini Kill, Superchunk, Mecca Normal, Courtney Love (the band w/Lois, not, you know...her) plus awesome tunes from unknowns Glad and Burl. The CD version is the only one still in print, but you get some extra songs.
2. Thanks for the links: Totally Fuzzy and selector de frecuencias. Also, check out Thom: Weblog, for a list of mp3 blogs.
3. Go to Fluxblog. A new look and a United State of Electronica track. Both ace.