R.I.P. Rowland S. Howard

Yesterday, on December 30th, the legendary (and fairly obscure) guitarist Rowland S. Howard died. Rowland is argueably best known for his contributions to the Australian Noise Rock band The Birthday Party (an evolvement from Rowland's earlier band Boys Next Door), who's sound took aspects from Post-punk, Noise, Avant-Garde, Blues, Garage and Jazz. Apart from The Birthday Party, he has played with the likes of Henry Rollins, Lydia Lunch, Einsturzende Neubauten and Thurston Moore. Halso fronted the late 80s/early 90s Post-punk band These Immortal Souls. Apart from his musical work, he would occasionally venture into acting, appearing in Queen of The Damned and Wings of Desire. Most recently he released a solo album, Pop Crimes and produced HTRK's Merry Me Tonight LP. Howard died of Liver Cancer.

O. Children - Dead Disco Dancer single

Okay, single by this new totally awesome band called O. Children. If you wanna imagine what they sound like, imagine intricate bass and guitar lines with a sense of Neils Children's Neo-Psychedelia, combined with the dark voice of Strange House era Horrors frontman Faris Badwan plus a hint of Dark Cabaret. Boom, you got O Children.

Tracklist:

1. Dead Disco Dancer
2. Dead Eye Lover

Download

Oh yeah, before the end of the year I'm definetly doing a best of the year thingy

Clan of Xymox - Clan of Xymox

Okay, so I haven't posted here in a few weeks, apologies for the absences, but I'm busy. Anyways. Here's the first album by the Dutch Goth/Darkwave band Clan of Xymox. Its a great album, I've known of the Clan (ironic name) for a couple years now, but I never really paid attention to their work. Anyways a friend of mine played of their songs to me and I was impressed, so I downloaded this album , I fell in love, the end. Period. Fucking love it. Done!

If you ask me, this was basically the first one of the first proto-Darkwave albums, Darkwave before Darkwave to say. You see, Goth history went like this:

late 70's - Post-punk predecessors
early 80's - First wave of Gothic-Post punk bands
mid 80's - Ethereal wave emerges, Gothic Post-punk turns into Gothic rock
late 80's - Gothic rock movement reaches its commercial height, Darkwave develops
early-mid 90's - Gothic rock falls down, Darkwave, Industrial and Electrogoth start to take the subculture by storm
late 90's - Goth becomes an item of hate and shock in the US where the movement quickly disperses in the wake of Columbine. Cybergoths emerge out of ex-Goths who decide to progress. In Europe goth keeps growing
early 00's - New Industrial bands like The Birthday Massacre take from Goth, blend it with Industrial and Synths and make something new. Meanwhile, the underground Deathrock Revival, centered around bands like All Gone Dead and Bloody Dead and Sexy appears
late 00's - Lo-Fi Goth develops and starts expanding.

Anyways, Tracklist:

1. A Day
2. No Words
3. Stumble and Fall
4. Cry in the Wind
5. Stranger
6. Equal Ways
7. 7th Time
8. No Human Can Drown
   
9. A Day (Remix)
10. Stranger (Remix)

Download

Mindless Self Indulgence - You'll Rebel to Anything

Okay sorry about the lack of recent posts, but I'm a busy teenager in a capitalist society who must compete with those around him. If your wondering why I posted this album of all albums, its because a) I fucking love it and b) I knew I really had to post something since its been two weeks since my last post, so I took the first album that came to my head. I'm also announcing that I'm gonna take a temporary break from blogging that will last probably for the rest of the month D:

Tracklist:

1. Shut Me Up
2. 1989
3. Straight to Video
4. Tom Sawyer [Rush cover]
5. You'll Rebel to Anything (As Long as its Not Challenging)
6. What Do They Know?
7. Stupid MF
8. 2 Hookers and an Eightball
9. Prom
10. Bullshit

Download

cya in December

My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything

1st album by the British Shoegazing giants My Bloody Valentine, too bored to give a description, but I'd like to say that the album gives a feeling that is both depressing, euphoric and faded at the same time :)

Oh er... can't be bothered to type a tracklist haha

Download

The Misfits - Cough/Cool single

This was the first recording ever made by the New Jersey based Horror Punk band the Misfits. The versions of Cough/Cool and She differ from the versions featured on the Collection I compilation album, in that these have no guitar on them. Danzig played a synthesizer on both tracks. So the EP is more of a Synthpunk record then it is a Horror Punk record. Hence why I specifically labeled both songs as Synthpunk in the download. The quality isn't excellent, its taken from an old vinyl with quite a bit of crackling and poping in it. But its still a good album, enjoy :)

Tracklist

1. Cough/Cool
2. She

Lineup

• Glenn Danzig - vocals/synths
• Jerry Only - bass
• Manny Martinez - drums

Note that this is the only Misfits record on which Manny Martinez was featured on. As far as wikipedia shows, its the ONLY record he's ever appeared on. He's never appeared on another record since (other then the Misfits compilations Collection I and II, Legacy of Brutalitly,).

Download

And Now for Something Completely different:

Okay, this is a story that I wrote, myself. It is drawn from a short story I wrote for english class, that part being at the beginning. But the remainder was written in my spare time.

I'd also like to give a disclaimer that the story may not be considered to be of "good morality ". In fact, I posted this on the Horrors Forum (Horum). I was warned that if I do this again, then I could be banned. My story was censored and replaced with the words; "Nothing better to say."

I'd also like to apologise for the lack of music posts lately, I've always said, I'm a busy man.

So, here we go:

The Rape, by Brandon George


The nurse left work at 5:00pm, she was exhausted, she had a long day of work and now had to go home to look after her son. Life for her was depressing, her husband had recently left her upon learning of her bisexual tendencies. The conservative community around her had also rejected her for such.

“Jesus Christ I could kill myself!” she said to herself on the walk down to her house. She lived four blocks from the hospital she worked at. She hated everything about where she lived. Especially the hospital she worked at. Although she was happy to assist the ill, she hated the people she worked with. As she kept walking, it started to rain. She took out her iPod. Playing some obnoxious Punk rock on it. She drowned herself in the sound. Paying little attention to what would happen.

When she was only a block from her house, a man came up beside her. The man was around five and a half feet tall. About an inch shorter then her. He asked her; “Where do you think you‘re going?” She didn’t notice at first. Then he shouted at her “Where do you think you‘re going!!!” At which point, she turned around and realized he was there.

“Ugh, I‘m going home, go away.”

“No, you‘re coming with me!”

He grabbed her by the hips, and threw her to the ground. He then dragged her behind a building. She was conscious, in fact, she had barely been hurt. But she was frightened as hell!!! What was happening to her?

The man slapped her on the cheek, Turning it red. He then tore of her clothing, While she tried resisting, she couldn’t stop him. The man then slapped her other cheek, this time with a leather slap jack. It gave her a slight cut near her eye.

The man then proceeded to pull down his pants, taking out his partially erect penis at the same time. The nurse then punched him in the eye, temporarily blinding him. He briefly blanked out, she took her clothes and quickly ran.

The man, finding his place, turned around, starting to chase her. She screamed, she ran, she panicked, she didn’t know where she was running to, Out in the rain, half naked, she ran. She ran to her house. Crossing the street.

She tripped over a noticeably large pothole. Falling to the ground head first, being knocked unconscious. The world turning into a foray of psychedelic colors and sounds. Was she dreaming? Yes? Was she dying? Maybe.

But the man caught up to her, dragging her away. He raped her, inside out. Eventually he grew tired of her. Slitting her throat with a dagger, he threw her corpse to the ground. He left. A victim of his own crime, now he would face the pain.

Her body was never found...


If you have any angry complaints, feel offended by this piece, think I should go away and die, actually like this story, think this is a work of art, then follow this advice:

1. Feel free to express your opinions and feelings in the comments section, whatever they are.
2. Show this to your friends (optional), see what they think
   
3. Grab a glass of water, fill it with ice, and wait for the ice to melt
4. Grab a pack of potato chips, eat every single chip, one by one, until the pack is gone
5. You've just wasted at least an hour of your life, congradulations :)

Repost: The Horrors - Primary Colours plus Horrors news

Okay, so lately I have gone slightly overboard on The Horrors, they're my favorite band, but yes, I have been skipping out lately on other music. So after this post I'm probably not going to post much on The Horrors until something happens to them (i.e. they do another US tour, they release a new album/single, they break up ect.) and yes! For the news they are releasing a new single called Whole New Way, which appeared on the Japanese version of Primary Colours. But they've re-recorded and remixed it and are releasing it on vinyl with the b-side being Primary Colours from the album of the same name, and I will include Whole New Way at the end of this post. Now, the reason I'm reposting this is because I bought the album legally on CD and I realised the quality is slightly better, plus I scanned all the liner notes for the album, for the fans :)

Tracklist:

1. Mirror's Image
2. Three Decades
3. Who Can Say
4. Do You Remember
5. New Ice Age
   
6. Scarlet Fields
7. I Only Think of You
8. I Can't Control Myself
9. Primary Colours
10. Sea Within a Sea

Download here :), I'd recommend that you listen through ear phones in a dark room, because it feels so psychedelic and dark, plus you hear things you didn't hear before.

Now listen to this!



I cut off the code on the Horrors website, wow lol, for my next post, I'm planning to put up some My Bloody Valentine, for those who like them lol

Various Artists - EXP6 - Mixtape

A mixtape for the masses composed of The New Thing and awesome beats/psychaedelic sounds. I recommend for those who know nothing of the New Thing :)

Download

If you like what you hear, then I encourage you to purchase the music on CD, Vinyl, mp3, ect.

The Gruesomes - Tyrants of Teen Trash

This was the first album by the semi-obscure, depending on yourself ovcourse, yet very respected Canadian Garage-punk band The Gruesomes. Half the songs are original, the rest covers of 60's Garage and Freakbeat songs. The album proved to be a notorious influence on the british New Thing band The Horrors. Especially the cover of Screaming Lord Sutch's Jack The Ripper. A great album for fans of Garage punk, freakbeat and b-rated surf music.

Tracklist:

1. (The From) Bikers From Hell
2. Cry in The Night
3. I Never Loved Her
4. What's Your Problem?
5. The Witch
6. Gone For Good
7. Jack The Ripper
8. For All I Care
9. Bloodhound
10. Get Outta My Hair
11. Unchain My Heart
12. My Broken Heart Will Never Mend (Unless You Come Back With The Glue)
13. Dementia 13

Mediafire

Oh yeah, since I don't know most of the original cover songs, except Jack The Ripper and The Witch, I credited most songs to The Gruesomes, but please tell me which onces are covers, I'm not an expert at 60's punk.

Review: The Horrors with openers Casper Bangs and Crocodiles live @ The Black Cat

First, off, pure excellence, the greatest live show I've ever been to, and my first at the Black Cat. The concert was certainly not big enough to take place at the 9:30 Club. And as a result, the Black Cat proved the perfect setting for the event. The Horrors, The Crocodiles and Casper Bangs, two great and one slightly mediocre but respectable bands all in one room with psychaedelic results!

So lets go in chronological order now shall we?


First off, Casper Bangs, now Bangs are a local DC based band who play what I'll describe as the offspring Belinda Butcher and Rivers Cuomo (don't know who I'm talking about? Belinda was the guitarist for My Bloody Valentine, Rivers is the lead vocalit for Weezer). Infact, I met the lead singer for the band after his set. I was right at the front of the stage and he just walked of the stage into the crowd. I asked him who his influences were and he said that they were Noise rock bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain and Pop-rock bands like The Beach Boys. He's a nice guy with a weird fashion sense (he really stood out from the crowd and other bands, he wore a red v-neck sweater, grey pants, a white button down shirt and a black bow tie). I gave him my email address and he said he'd be happy to send some songs. Infact he passed a list around for people to write their addresses. He also reeks of alchohol.



And now, the second opening act. The awesome, and quite original band Crocodiles. Now I had heard the Crocodiles' music before, well after I found they were opening for the Horrors which I heard a while back. But I never knew that they were so awesome on stage! They take from The New Thing, Garage punk and Alternative Dance music. I'm gonna call it No Dance lol. They're frontman, who's name I don't know sadly, is wild, and over the top playful. The girl next to me said she saw them before and that the frontman looks a lot like Bob Dylan and tends to dance a lot on stage. He is exactly like that! The first few songs, he was doing all sorts of stuff on stage, bouncing on the floor, it was pure awesomeness! Midway through the set he went to guitar and actually had to concentrate lol. The energy goes out as the set goes on. But nonetheless, pure excellence in the field of performance art.
_________________________________________

Ah, everything goes dark in the Black Cat, everyone waits impatiently, we all want the Horrors, well... we are Horrors! The background music plays, it goes off, onstage comes the great Tomethy Furse, followed by every other Horror, except one Faris Badwan.

"Hey Rhys!" I scream, mispronouncing his name by accident to say Rise.

"Its Rhys [Rhees]" he tells me

Ah, Mirrors Image starts playing, and up bursts the amazing and energetic Horrors vocalist Faris Badwan, he's full of both uncontrollable energy, and deep concentration. As the band play Three Decades, he falls into the crowd, no-one can hold him, he falls to the floor we all help him up, I touch his shoulder (fanboy moment!) He's helped back onstage by a roadie. He's tangled in his microphone wire. He goes through the set, at times wandering the stage, at other times, playing with the pipes above his head. He spits onto his setlist, saliva covering the tape of it (I took the setlist home with me! And covered my right hand fingers in Faris' saliva, pissing of my dad at the same time) Then after an amazing performance of Sea Within a Sea, they storm of the stage. But come back with the demand of the crowd. As an encore, they play a brand new song I've never heard before, it sounds like a mix of Kraftwerk and The Cramps, and both Rhys and Tom are playing keyboards... Oh wait! Its a cover of Ghost Rider by Suicide! Pure awesomness! Next, they go back to the days of Strange House, playing Gloves (Hacking desperatly in a sea of appendages!), with Faris swinging of the pipes above him. And they play one more song, Count in Fives, where the crowd shout out HEY! At the percise timing. They then leave the stage, the crowd satisfied. A good night and into a new day, a movement in the process.

Photos, vids and other shit:

THE HORRORS SETLIST:

MIRRORS IMAGE
THREE DECADES
PRIMARY COLORS
DO YOU REMEMBER
NEW ICE AGE
SCARLET FIELDS
I ONLY THINK OF YOU
I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF
WHO CAN SAY
SEA WITHIN A SEA

ENCORE:

GHOST RIDER (SUICIDE COVER)
GLOVES
COUNT IN FIVES

DOUBLE POST: Robots in Disguise - We're in the Music Biz/The Horrors upcoming concert

Okay, so its been a while since I've last posted, I'm a busy man, I have to juggle school and the free time I have. Anyways, I've decided to do a double post to make up for the lack of recent posts. What was the last thing I posted? I think it was something by The Gaa Gaa's and Good Night and I Wish. But we're here and now huh?

Okay so first off, an album by the british Dance-punksters Robots in Disguise. Now, if your like me, you will look at the album cover and think (oh... its just Robots in Disguise screaming and wearing skinny ties). Well you've been fooled. Because they're both covered topless and drenched in body paint. As a result, iTunes covers they're breasts in bars which have the album title and artist name on it (don't belive me? Check out for yourself). It was the first, and as far as this day the only RID record I have, well stolen. Because I'm simply a casual fan per say. I'm not as focused on RID as say Neils Children. But I respect them and enjoy some of their music. And belive me this album is an awesome Dance-punk album, plus an underground cult favorite. I first found out about Robots in Disguise after watching and becoming a fan of The Mighty Boosh, which in turn, I never watched until after I heard of The Horrors, and amazingly I was once in a nightclub with Noel Fielding, unsuprisingly at a Horrors concert, and only found out months afterwards. Anyways if your interested, then scroll down to the end of this post to download the album.

And now for part two. As I (partially) mentioned in the title, there is an upcoming Horrors concert near me, yeah at the awesome Black Cat nightclub in Washington DC (I'll admit, first time going there, and I've heard its like a slightly smaller 9:30 Club). This is the second time I'll be seeing The Horrors, and the first time seeing them headline a concert (first time they opened for The Kills). Now I've been a Horrors fan since February of 09 when my ex online girlfriend told be about them. I was amazed, the best thing out of England since The Jesus and Mary Chain, yes, even better then Bloc Party or Franz Ferdinand (two bands I also enjoy). Plus twice is dark, loud, throbbing and psychaedelic! But the Horrors aren't the only focus now aren't they. There are two opening acts, one, a great, and quite obscure, Garage-Dance band called The Crocodiles (but more commonly refered Crocodiles) and a rather mediocre local Pop rock artist named Casper Bangs (who I don't at all like, but I will try to keep quiet about Bangs). It sounds like a good concert. And I will, if I must! Get to the very front of the concert and be right under Faris Badwans nose! And I once was right under Kim Gordon at a Sonic Youth concert! Right at the fucking front! AWESOME!!!!

Downloading links:

Robots in Disguise - We're in the Music Biz, download here<<<

Planned concert merch shopping list:

- Horrors Primary Colours CD (I heard they come with free posters!)
- Horrors Rose button
- Crocodiles button
- Crocodiles CD

If you remember an old post of mine, I lost my Horrors rose button on the club floor haha

UK Decay - The Black 45 EP

Okay so this is an EP from the old school British Post-punk band UK Decay, if your wondering about the low frequency of recent posts its because I'm all busy with school work and stuff. So I may only post something once a week for a while from now (and by that, I mean a couple of months). Anyways UK Decay would turn out to be a massive influence on the 2nd wave of Gothic Rock bands that followed them (Sisters of Mercy, The Cult, Nosferatu ect.), but had already fallen apart by the time these bands were taken seriously my the music press and gained success. As a result, UK Decay are mostly forgotten, but have kept a cult following that resonates today and even reformed back in 2008 to play the Drop Dead Festival.

Tracklist:

1. Message Distortion
2. Disco Romance
3. The Black Cat
4. Middle of The Road Man

Mediafire

The Gaa Gaa's and Good Night and I Wish - One Eyed Stranger/The Dream Catch split

Yeah so its a split single by the New Thing band The Gaa Gaa's and the "Lullaby pop" solo project of Brandon Jacobs (best known for his work with Neils Children) known as Good Night and I Wish. Its an awesome single that I'd recommend to any follower or fan of The New Thing, or Zombie Garage as some call it. Enjoy

Tracklist:

1. The Gaa Gaa's - The One Eyed Stranger
2. Good Night and I Wish - The Dream Catcher

Download

Announcement for Horrors fans: The Horrors now have an online merch store, check it out here

Neils Children - You Didn't Care single

This is a 2007 single by the british Zombie Garage/Post punk band Neils Children, enjoy

Tracklist

1. You Didn't Care
2. We All Fall Down

Download

The Current State of Indie Music

I thought I'd just like to make a post on current Indie genres and movements. As well as criticise bands labeled as Indie, when they're totally not. Plus list bands, which are Indie, withing their movements

So, lets start a list :

Alternative Dance

- Orgins in the mid-2000's. Gained mainstream attention around 2008 when Bloc Party released the Intimacy album.

- Draws from Dance-pop music, 80's Synthpop, Dance-punk and the Post-punk revival of the 00's.

Notable bands

- Bloc Party
- Foals
- Franz Ferdinand
- Magic Wands
- Robots in Disguise
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Alternative/Underground Hip Hop

- Has its orgins in the late 80's and early 90's, at a time when many musicians wanted to keep to the core ideals of the Hip Hop culture, yet at the same time be individually artistic.

- Many artists have come with in the realms of mainstream attention, but have at the same time, kept to their underground roots.

- Notable record labels include Def Jux and Rawkus Records.

Notable artists

- Aesop Rock
- Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
- El-P
- Hieroglypics
- Rob Sonic
- MC Lars
- Mr. Lif
- Murs

Alternative Rock

- Orgins in the mid-80's. Started gaining mainstream attention in the mid-late 80's in the UK and early 90's in America

- Is rooted in Post-punk, Hardcore punk, Noise music and various other forms

- Is a very wide umbrella term. So technically, there's no definite Alternative sound, but unifying elements.

- Is quite mainstream at times

Notable bands

- Arcade Fire
- The Dead Weather
- The Kills
- Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
- Radiohead (they're actually signed to an Independant label now, the left Capitol a while back)
- Sonic Youth (left Geffen and now signed to Matador)

Note: A lot of major label, heavily popular bands are labeled Alternative rock by the mainstream. To us Indie people, those bands aren't alternative because they're at the state where they aren't an alternative to anything, i.e. they are the mainstream. Examples of these bands include:

- All American Rejects
- Blink 182
- Green Day
- Sum 41

Those are Pop Punk bands.

Cyberpunk

- Technically, not a genre, but an aesthetic, and a collective term for musicians who either incorporate a fashion or visual sense simular to cyberpunk, or lyrical themes related to cyberpunk.

- Covers genres as varied as EBM, Avant-garde, House music and Post-Industrial

Notable bands:

- Anglespit
- Apoptygma Berzerk
- Joy Division
- KFMDM
- Mindless Self Indulgence
- VNV Nation

Dark Cabaret

- Orgins in the early 00's, gained some mainstream attention around The Dresden Dolls

- Influenced by Alternative rock, Avant-garde, Cabaret music and Gothic rock.

- Notable predecessors include Goth band The Sex Gang Children and Rozz Williams' solo work with Gitane Demone.

Notable bands:

- Andi Sexgang
- Audra
- Black Tape for Blue Girl
- The Brides
- Gitane Demone
- Revue Noir
- Voltaire

The term became popular with the release of the Projekt compilation album Projekt Presents: A Dark Cabaret

Deathrock/Gothic Rock

- Orgins in the year 1979, when Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus, arguably the first gothic rock song, was released.

- Draws from Punk rock, Glam rock, Post-punk, Dub and Art rock. Early bands like Bauhaus also drew from Funk.

- Achieved a degree of mainstream popularity in the mid-late 80's, with bands such as the Sisters of Mercy, Fields of The Nephilim and The Cure gaining pop-chart success.

- Has gone through five phases, the first wave (1979-1984), second wave (1985-1990, when the genre reached its mainstream peak, and achieved a more rock-based sounds), third wave (1991-1999, when its popularity went underground, and the genre added elements of Neoclassical and Electronic), fourth wave (2000-2009, also refered to as the Deathrock Revival, due to the resurgance of interest in the early 80's goth and deathrock sound, which resulted in goth bands adopting a punkier sound.) and the arguably existing fifth wave (2009-present) which has birthed the new Lo-Fi Goth movement.

Notable bands:

- 45 Grave (reformed)
- All Gone Dead
- Bay Laurel
- Christian Death
- Cult of Xymox
- Frank The Baptist
- Human Drama (signed to RCA for a period in the late 80's, but left them)
- Ikon
- Sex Church
- Sex Gang Children
- Zola Jesus

Garage Punk/Garage Rock Revival

- Garage Punk has its orgins in the mid 80's in bands such as The Gruesomes who were part of an obscure underground Garage rock revival, blending 60's Garage bands like The Sonics with Punk rock sounds such as The Ramones and Black Flag.

- The Garage Rock Revival includes both the Garage Punk bands, and the newer Garage bands who stuck with original sound of the 60's, such as the Fuzztones.

Notable bands:

- Black Lips
- The Black Keys
- Carbon/Silicon
- Dwarves
- The Fuzztones
- The Hives (technically, no longer an Indie band)
- The (International) Noise Conspiracy
- Los Peyotes
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs (early work)

Hardcore Punk/Post-Hardcore/Melodic Hardcore

- Hardcore Punk developed in the late 70's and early 80's in the United States out of the pre-existing Punk Rock scene. Many of these bands were more inspired by the angry raging UK Punk Rock scene (The Sex Pistols, Crass) then the more melodic New York punk scene (Ramones, Blondie). The Hardcore bands played faster, angrier, and more aggresive music than the traditional Punk bands.

- Melodic Hardcore bands incorporated elements of Pop Punk and Skate Punk music, many of these bands are jokingly refered to as Warped Tour bands, due to their commercial appeal.

- Post Hardcore developed in the mid-80's around the DC Hardcore scene, these bands reacted to the violence in the scene. And incorporated elements of Post-punk as well. Some Postcore bands were refered to as "Emo" bands, but many rejected the term and blasted it as bullshit.

- Various subgenres and offshoots of Hardcore include; Artcore, Grindcore Metalcore and Grunge music.

Notable bands

- A Day to Remember
- A Wilhelm Scream
- Bad Religion
- Descendents
- Fucked Up
- Good Riddance
- NOFX
- No Use for a Name
- Propagandhi (older material)

Note that I excluded notable bands (e.g. Rise Against, since they're signed to corporate labels.)

Indie/Jangle Pop

- Indie Pop has its orgins in the mid 80's and is an umbrealla term for various types of music including Twee Pop, Jangle Pop and Riot Grrrl.

- Has its orgins in Post-punk and Pop music.

Notable bands

- Beat Happening
- Belle & Sebastian
- Camera Obscura
- Hatcham Social
- Los Campesinos!
- Shout Out Louds
- Tullycraft

Industrial/Post-Industrial (read for subgenres and offshoots)

- Industrial music has its orgins in the late 70's towards the end of the 1st wave of Punk rock. Although the genre had many Avant-Garde prototypes. Including Post-punk bands such as Joy Division, Electronic groups Kraftwerk and Gary Numan, the Musique Concrete of Pierre Shaeffer, Noise artists such as Lou Reed and Luigi Russoli and Krautrock bands such as Neu! and Can.

- Post-Industrial is an umbrella term for various forms of Industrial music that took the original elements of the genre, and would create new genres by so. These genres include Industrial Hip Hop, Industrial Rock, Electro-Industrial, Digital Hardcore, Industrial Jungle Pussy Punk, EBM and Industrial Metal.

Notable bands

- Alex Empire
- Armageddon Dildos
- Einstürzende Neubauten
- Front 242
- Haujobb
- KMFDM
- Mindless Self Indulgence
- Nine Inch Nails
- Saul Williams
- Skinny Puppy
- Spetsnaz
- Tim Skold
- Tyske Ludder
- VNV Nation

Lo-Fi

- Technically, the Lo-Fi genre predates the Alternative and Indie genres, as the term refers to music that is recorded outside of a high quality recording studio. Arguably, the first Lo-fi recordings were those done throught the famed Mapleson Cylinders, prior the World War One. However, the term would not be used musically until the 1980's,

- Lo-Fi has no unifying sound, so genres varying from Jazz to Indie to Black Metal have been labeled Lo-Fi.

Notable artists

- Animal Collevtive
- Deerhunter
- Half Japanese
- The Kills
- No Age
- R. Stevie Moore
- Suicide

Mathcore

- Mathcore grew out of the Math Rock movement in the early 90's. As the term suggests, it fuses Math Rock with Grindcore and Metalcore music. The movement has, in recent years, gained an expanding following.

Notable bands

- A Life Once Lost
- Behold... The Arctopus
- The Dillinger Escape Plan
- The Fall of Troy
- Head Wound
- Norma Jean

Noise Pop

- Noise Pop originated in the mid 80's when The Jesus and Mary Chain took too many amphetamines, forgot to tune their guitars, started some riots and created a dense, feedback drenched sound, with fuzzy basses and guitars, and a two piece drum kit... yet managed to bring all that punk noise into the context of a pop song. It originated out of Post-punk, Psychadelic and Rock and Roll music. If you want to be more technical, you could say The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat album was the first Noise Pop album.

- The genre is closely related to the Shoegaze genre, which has resulted in some bands to be labeled as being of both genres.

Notable Artists

- Animal Collective
- Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
- Deerhoof
- Enon
- Garbage
- The Jesus and Mary Chain
- Les Savy Fav
- No Age
- The Raveonettes
- Sonic Youth

Noise Rock/Noise Punk

- Noise rock developed over a long period in the 60's and 70's before becoming truly noticeable as a genre in the early-mid 80's. Noise rock can be viewed as Noise Pop's more extreme cousin. Noise rock took more from the academic noise music genre (Lou Reed, John Cage, Luigi Russoli). But can again, be traced back to The Velvet Underground. The genre has a noticeable relationship with Industrial Rock.

Notable bands

- Aids Wolf
- Ex Models
- Lightening Bolt
- Melt Banana
- Mike Patton
- Parts & Labor
- Shellac
- Vitiligo

Post-punk/Post-punk Revival

- Post-punk developed in the late 70's in England and America out of the Punk Rock explosion of 1977. The first postpunk bands were inspired by the speed and fast rock and roll of the first wave of punk rock and protopunk bands. But felt the urge to take the punk ideals to break down the genre's barriers. The genre, and post punk scene would remain active into the mid 80's by which time its various offshoots, such as Gothic rock, Synthpop, Industrial and Alternative rock would overtake its popularity.

- In the early 00's, various Indie bands began performing Post-punk music again, as a result, the term Post-punk began to appear in the media again. Many of these bands were also influenced by Indie rock and pop bands. A few singed to major labels. By the late 00's, many bands such as Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand moved onto Alternative Dance music. While Neils Children moved onto a genre that they had already influenced, Zombie Garage.

Notable bands

- Bloc Party
- Franz Ferdinand
- Interpol
- Joy Disaster
- Kaiser Chiefs
- The Kills
- Neils Children
- The Rapture
- The Ravonettes

Post-Rock

- The term Post-Rock was first used bye NME magazine to describe the british Post-Punk band Public Image Ltd. Who they declared "arguably the first post-rock group." However the term was taken seriously by the mid 90's to describe underground bands who borrowed from krautrock, avant garde classical, punk, jazz and shoegaze, as well as various forms of music. These were the first Post-Rock bands. Most Post-Rock bands are instrumental bands, although some such as Sigur Ros have made use of vocals.

- The term is not without controversy, as some Post-rock bands such as Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor have openly rejected and mocked the term.

Notable bands

- A Silver Mt. Zion
- Cul De Sac
- Do Make Say Think
- Don Cabarello
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor (on hiatus)
- Holy Fuck
- iLiKETRAiNS
- Mogwai
- Sigur Ros
- Stereolab
- Tortoise

Psychobilly/Punkabilly

- Psyhobilly has its orgins in the 1st wave of Punk rock in New York City some bands, influenced by punk rocks ideal of going back to rock basics, decided to go back to the most primitive form of rock music, Rockabilly, this, coubled with the sci fi and horror influenced fashion and lyrics of some bands, spawned the Psychobilly genre. Some bands in the early 80's inserted a faster, punkier flavor to the genre, creating Punkabilly music.

Notable artists

- The Cramps (disbanded back in Febuary after the death of Lux Interior)
- Elvis Hitler
- Horrorpops
- The Living End (earlier work)
- The Meteors
- Nekromantix
- The Reverend Horton Heat
- Zombina and The Skeletones

Shitgaze

- Shitgaze developed in the mid- late 00's out of the Garage revival and Lo-Fi scenes. The Shitgaze ethic is to reject conventional studio recording techniques, favoring low cost or free DIY techniques, and the view that instruments should be loud and heavily distorted and fuzzy, taking that ethic partially from the Shoegazers, but taking in from traditional rock and roll as well. The idea is also to produce music on the treble side, so basses are either rejected, or played at a high key. The genre is also linked to the Lo-Fi Goth genre through bands such as Zola Jesus.

Notable bands

- Ex Cocaine
- Psychadelic Horseshit
- Times New Viking
- Wavves
- Vivian Girls

The New Thing/Zombie Garage

- Okay so these two terms have been used interchangeably to refer to a new form Alternative Indie rock that derives from Garage Punk, Post-Punk, Horror Punk, Indie rock and Shoegazing. The genre developed in the mid 00's around the London underground scene, and has become quite popular in the UK especially in 2009, around the same time, the Indie scene took a turn as well.
Most bands are British, although The Jangletones are based in Sweden, and The Dead are American.

- Many bands are noted for their fashion sense, which normally makes use of simple black and white, though predominately black, fashion sense. Common clothing choices include band shirts, skinny jeans, blazers, band buttons, winklepickers, button down shirts, ties and various other accessories.

- I have a Zombie Garage studio project called The Dead

Notable bands

- The Black Tubes*
- The Dead
- Electricity in Our Homes
- The Jangletones
- The Horrors
- Neils Children
- Oh No Your Dead!
- S.C.U.M

* That band is itself a fictional band from The Mighty Boosh who were played by The Horrors.


So, whats been happening this year???

This year there's been a lot happening in Indie and Underground music this past year, when you look at it, a lot has changed, many bands have changed styles, many new genres have received a lot more attention... and popularity. Some bands have had some good albums come out... others, not so good. You can look at the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a year ago they were a Garage-Pop band, now they're an Alternative Dance band. The Horrors, since day one, the greatest band in England, were viewed as not even being a music group a year ago, but today? They're being nominated for a Mercury award. Plus Sonic Youth have shown that just because they're going fifty, they're full of as much energy as they had back in 1981. Of course, there are the low ends of Indie this year. you look at TV on The Radio, the most overrated Hipster waste ever. Kings of Leon are embarrisingly labeled Indie rock, how the fuck? How can you call a group Indie when they're signed to Sony, RCA and Columbia? Haha what a waster and shame.

But there's more to look forward to? Its only August.

Some stuff I'd recommend to you.

Primary Colours - The Horrors
X. Enc - Neils Children
The Eternal - Sonic Youth
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
We Agree Completely - Electricity in Our Homes
Magic Love & Dreams - Magic Wands
Something Clockwork Comes This Way - Spider and The Flies
Horehound - The Dead Weather

For the record, I didn't read through this that much, so you can find hundereds of grammar errors, and I wrote everything in here over a period of like two weeks haha.

Written by Brandon George

Magic Wands - Magic, Love & Dreams

Okay, this actually came out a few months back, but I didn't upload it. Anyways here's the first extended play by the Alternative Dance duo the Magic Wands. Anyways I caught the band opening for The Kills at the 9:30 Club here in DC (the same concert where I caugh The Horrors). Imagine them as a good version of the Ting Tings, who can actually make music, and not sell for cash. Funny thing is, I was once talking with a woman at the 9:30 Club and she told me the worst concert she ever went to was a Ting Tings concert at the 9:30 Club ironically lol. Seriously, Ting Tings - cheap sellouts, Magic Wands - real musicians. My dad views them as mediocre. But they're awesome, contrary to popular belief.

Tracklist:

1. Black Magic
2. Starships
3. Teenage Love
4. Kiss Me Dead

Download

The Horrors gig at The Black Cat on september 19th

Its a self designed poster, and hell yeah I'm seeing them at the Black Cat in DC in September :)

Neils Children - X.Enc

This, is the debut full length album by an excellent London-based genre-bending band called Neils Children. I'd like to say, they've now jumped onto a genre with two names, some call it "The New Thing", after a zine of the same name, and some refer to it as "Zombie Garage", a term that was invented by last.fm users to describe The Horrors. I'll have to admit, I think the New Thing has grown a lot this year, with new bands like S.C.U.M becoming more and more noticeable, the Horrors had Primary Colours reaching #25 on the charts, and this new Neils Children album, a pure gem. This is a pure work of noisy art, I love it. However, Neils Children aren't all gone with their Indie-Punk roots, the song I'm Ill, stands from the other songs by, instead of using atonal feedback and distorted guitars, makes use of a jangly C86 sound almost. Other than that, Zombie Garage for you! 5 STARS, this is going in my top albums of the year list!

Download

I don't mean to go political but...

Orly Taitz, Grand Wizardess of The Birthers

If you live in America, like me (or you receive American political news in another country), you should be well aware of this evil slut. This is Orly Taitz, a conservative wingnut who without the slightest sense of intelligence, has repressented a rediculous, unintelligent, and stupid court lawsuit filed by one Stefan Cook. Stephan, a dumb birther himself, volunteered to serve on year in Afghanistan starting July 15th. He then filed a lawsuit claiming he shouldn't serve because Barack Obama isn't the president. His lawyer, the wicked russian witch Orly Taitz. The reason I'm bringing this up is of course, because I'm angered. Now as a self-described Socialist, I'm not too much of a fan of Barack Obama. He's too willing to compromise with the right wing, so willing his healthcare bill may no longer include a public option. But he's the lesser evil. He is a victim of racism. The wingnuts and the republican fringe (I won't use the "F" or "N" words, i.e. Fascism and Nazism) are getting out of hand, and making themselves look like idiots at the exact same moment. I hate republicans, conservatives and right wingers (I'm sorry if it implies to you, the reader) but this is pure idiocracy. Glenn Beck says he's a racist, Taitz says he's Kenyan. I'll prove to important points to you:

• Obama is often said to be anti-caucasian by the wingnuts. Glenn Beck stating often that he hates white people. This wouldn't make sense, considering that A) Barack Obama's half caucasian, B) a very large percentage of his staff are caucasian and C) his own mother is caucasian. Surely you don't see something odd about your own statements Mr. Beck now do you?

• A dumb and common arguement: Barack Obama was born in Kenya, so therefore he can't run for president. Now, there's a problem with saying that. According to Obama's birth certificate, Barack Obama was born in Honalulu, Hawaii am I right? To an american-born mother of American citizenship and a Kenyan father of Kenyan citizenship. Technically, since he was born in an American state (Hawaii became a state in 1959, two years before Obama's birth in 1961), Obama can be inaugurated as pesident, and this is the LAW!!! Now get that in your heads you dumb birthers. Anyone, in their right mind, would be aware of that. Plus if your too fucking stupid to belive it. Look at his bloody birth certificate, its in the public domain now! Look!

I would like too close this post with a more musically related statement. If Demi Lavato likes Black Metal. Why doesn't she play Black Metal? Because she's a sellout

S.C.U.M. - Visions Arise single

Okay now this band here are some pretty awesome shit. Zombie Garage music (bands like The Horrors, The Dead.). Nice, noisy and chaotic. Faris Badwan and Joshua Third of The Horrors are both fans. Faris stated in an interview that they were kinda like the No-Wave band Mars (great stuff) and Joshua has a t shirt for this single (see below). Anyways worth the download.

Tracklist:

1. Visions Arise
2. Second Sea

mediafire

Josh's S.C.U.M. shirt, and yes, I know the girl on the right lol.

The Sisters of Mercy - Body and Soul EP

This is a now rare EP by the British Goth band The Sisters of Mercy, that was released in 1984 on the Sisters own Merciful Release label. Now, Andrew Eldritch has, since the 90's, claimed that the Sisters aren't a goth band. Okay seriously, maybe he now wants to move on from that reputation. But back then, lets face it, you had Patricia Morrison on bass, now I read an article saying that Eldritch only picked Morrison for bass not because she was a good bassist (she is) but because of her gothic pin up appearence. Plus look at the album art, the two romans in the night looks extremely dark and well somewhat gothic. For more info on the sisters of mercy, visit this link.

Tracklist:

1. Body and Soul
2. Body Electric
3. Train
4. Afterhours

Note: the Body Electric here is an alternative version to the same song on the Some Girls Wander By Mistake compilation.

Download

The Dead - The Poem single

The new single by my band, The Dead, I designed the artwork and everything and released it on my label Explicit. Ya EXP3 lol. I packaged a downloadable poster inside the zip folder for it. The Poem is pretty much a slap on reptitive moral about life lol. Noel Fielding is God is well as the title suggests, about Noel Fielding. Because The Mighty Boosh are awesome!!!! lol. So download this, give me a listen, and tell me what you think of me lol

Tracklist:

Its already there ^

Download here

Interpol - Turn on The Bright Lights

The first album by the amazing American Post-punk revival band Inerpol. Compared to their later work, the album is very dark, depressing and somewhat minimalist. The album has sold very well for an independant release, over 400,000 copies in America and 86,000 in the UK. Despite only peaking at number 158 and 101 respectively in both countries charts. If you want an idea of the sound, imagine that Joy Division were stripped as far down as you could go without robbing them of music, there you have an excellent and depressing album.

Sorry, I'm too bored to do the tracklist lol, clicky clicky! lol

The Dead - The Poem (Poster)

Run my slaves and paste, paste, paste!!!
lol its the new poster for my band's upcoming single, just post this wherever u can it'll get attention. I'm posting this around DC lol.

myspace.com/deadthe
my band's site

explicitrecords.blogspot.com
my label's site

Review: Sonic Youth @ 9:30 Club

Tonight (make it yesterday) I saw the great Avant Garde Noisy Indie Alternative Post Punk Rock band Sonic Youth at the 9:30 Club in DC. What can I say? Pure excellence and liveliness. Sonic Youth haven't sat down with age, they've gotten better. 2 encores, including the classic Death Valley 69. The main setlist consisted mostly of songs from The Eternal plus a track from Sister (White Cross). As I said earlier, the show was played to a sold out 9:30 Club, their second show at the club in 2 days. Tomorrow they will be playing The National in Richmond, Virginia.

BTW I swear I saw Billie Joe and Mike Dirnt of Green Day on the balcony, I should of taken a pic.

But first off.

The Entrance Band:

The Entrance band are an LA based Cream meets Nirvana meets Black Sabbath kinda band. I guess one called call them a psychadelic rock band, but who cares about that. Personally, I'm not a fan, although they do have some nice guitar work. I feel as if this music is kinda mainstream, I mean like, its canned per say. Not that they are, but its a form of music thats just uninteresting y'know. I'm not a fan of Psychadelic Rock I'll admit. They would probably find a better audience back in '68 then they would now in '09. Plus twice as fresh.




Headlining: Sonic Youth

Goddamnit I don't want to give a destription, lets face it, one of the best bands on the face of current Avant-Garde music. They killed live, they have the energy and the want to do this after almost 30 years and they are strong as ever. I'm guessing a lot better than last nights gig. According to what I've read. Strangely while waiting for SY to come on, I fell into a deep and intricate conversation on Indie rock with a group of teenaged Sonic Youth fans, I being the youngest of 14. For once I could share my sense of taste with one who knows of it in person. We were talking of bands ranging from The Cure to Foals to Big Black to Fugazi, it was great. Much like the whole show. Even the railing infront of the stage didn't bother me. There was only a 1 1/2 foot distance between me and the stage. Anyway, Thurston sang with his mighty voice into the great microphone, at times dancing with his guitar. There was one piece which sampled a piece of modern R&B music (not Rock and Roll but Chris Brown stuff) Steve, Thurston, Lee, Kim and Mark all seemingly laughed along with the audience before twisting it with some power distortion. A great show I will never forget. Plus two impressive encores and some nice merch.

The Merch + The Pics + Vids

Tonight: Sonic Youth @ 9:30 Club

Yepp, tonight I'll be attending a sold-out Sonic Youth concert at the 9:30 Club in DC. Sonic Youth have, as you probably know, recently released a new album (The Eternal) and are currently touring to support it ofcourse. Based on what I've seen, the setlist will mostly consist of The Eternal songs plus a couple of older stuff and the encore will be old stuff. Opening for them will be the LA-based Psychadelic-Alternative rock band The Entrance Band, now I don't know much of them so this will be something new to me, I admit I'm not much of a fan of Psych rock bands (except Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd) but this could be good, lol.

hahahahahahahahahaha

Black Flag - Six Pack EP

Classic EP by the LA Hardcore band Black Flag, at the time Black Flag's lead vocalist was Dez Cadena who as a result sang lead vocals on the EP. Cadena would switch to guitar shortly afterwards as he had worn out his voice within the quick time frame of Black Flag. The band recruited Henry Rollins to sing on the band's debut album which was released later that year, on which Dez Played second guitar with Greg Ginn, Dez was kicked out by Ginn in 1983 and Black Flag would from then on tour as a four piece and disband in 1986. Aside from the Six Pack EP, Cadena also sang on the Louie Louie single in '81, which is of course a cover of a Richard Berry song.

Tracklist:

1. Six Pack
2. I've Heard It Before
3. American Waste

Black Flags lineup at the time:

Dez Cadena - Vocals
Greg Ginn - Guitar
Chuck Dukowski - Bass
ROBO - Drums

Mediafire

The Cramps - Greavest Hits

This was the first release (and only EP) by the influential and far reaching Horror-inspired black clad New York based band The Cramps. The EP was released in 1979 and is often viewed as a landmark in the revival of Rockabilly music and in the birth of Psychobilly music, although the band didn't like the term used to describe their music, despite the fact that they often used the word on their early gig posters. The term Psychobilly was coined by songwriter Wayne Kemp in the lyrics for the Johnny Cash song One Piece at A Time. The Cramps proved to be a huge influence on a variety of bands, ranging from Punk rock to Zombie Garage to Goth to their own Psychobilly. My personal favorite off this album, the heavy ass beats on their cover of The Trashmen's Surfin' Bird, gotta love that. Track's 2 - 5 are all covers just so you know.

Tracklist:

1. Human Fly
2. The Way I Walk
3. Domino
4. Surfin' Bird
5. Lonesome Town

Mediafire