Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Sonic Overload 8/20/12

Three members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot were found guilty last week of “of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and sentenced to two years in prison. The story has been getting a lot of coverage in the world press and sparked protests since their arrest earlier this year. I’d been checking on it sporadically but hadn’t mentioned it on the show until now (maybe I should have done it sooner but I digress...)

Pussy Riot are generally referred to as a band but someone told me it’s better to refer to them as an activist/performance art/protest group with a rotating membership. I’m not going to rehash things here but do include a brief clip from Democracy Now that gives a general overview. Some recordings have popped up on YouTube, including the one that starts this week’s show and I play another one at the top of the last segment. Even if there wasn’t any notoriety surrounding them, this is music I’d still be likely to play on the show. In other words, it stands on its own merits. In fact, it’s probably too abrasive for a more “mainstream” punk and rock audience—which is fine with me. And, of course, regardless of the style of music they play or whatever performances they engage in, it’s still a basic matter of free speech.

So let’s hope that they’ll be freed before the completion of the full two years (they’ve already served five months since their arrest) but I have my doubts that the Russian government will be moved. And let this situation also act as a cautionary tale to protect our own free speech rights and civil liberties in this country... rights that have been increasingly under attack in the name of the so-called “war on terror”...

Almost 2 ¼ hours of music this week... and I still had to put aside records to play next week!

Sonic Overload 8/20/12

TRACK 1

PUSSY RIOT-Putin Lights Up The Fires (MP3)

LIBYANS-We’re Coming (Upstate Chamber of Commerce)
PUPPY MILL-Casual Friday (demo)
RED THREAD-Cracked (Shock To The System)
FUTURO-Destroi Voce (Nada Nada)
NÜ SENSAE-Spit Gifting (Suicide Squeeze)
LES BATON ROUGE-Velvet Barbed Wire (Elevator)

SLUGZ-The Hourglass (Cowabunga)
NARCS-Long Hot Summer (Cowabunga)
SLIMY CUNT AND THE FIST FUCKS-I Don’t Belong (Patac)
CIDER-Authority (Painkiller)
9 SHOCKS TERROR-Razorwire (Havoc)
ANTISEEN-Hippy Punk (TKO)
HOOKERS-Satan’s Highway (Crypt)

TRACK 2

TOTAL RECALL-Taxi Driver (United Shoebrothers)
BIRTH DEFORMITIES-You Can’t Catch Me (Cowabunga)
PLASTIC CROSS-Plastic Hearts (Don Giovanni)
HOAX-Dead Weight (Katorga Works)
PANIC-Fall On Proverb (Bridge Nine)
NERVE AGENTS-Days Of The White Owl (Revelation)

RATIONAL ANIMALS-Gabrielle (Cowabunga)
CRANK-Bodies (self-released)
SHARDS-Suicide (Sorry State)
CELEBRITY ROAST-Dogmatic For The People (Creep)
MALE BONDING-All Things This Way (Sub Pop)

ROLLERBALL-Savage Eyes (Sing Sing)
BUSHPIG-Speedy’s Splitting Skin (PGK)
EPILEPTICS-1970’s Have Been Made In Hong Kong (Dr. Strange)
PART 1-Incest (Pusmort)

TRACK 3

P-NISSARNA-Jugend (Swedish Punk Classics)
SHEMPS-Do The Karate (Reservation)
VECTORS-Don’t Need Nothing (Busted Heads)
FLIPSHIT-End It All (Reel Time)
BOMBER-Go & Tell (demo)
NEGATIVE FX-Feel Like A Man (Taang)

SUPER FRISKY-Feel One Time (Burai Core)
RAPPA-Kakusei (demo)
RUIN-UK Death Squad (Agipunx)
SPAZM 151-Frozen World (Busted Heads)
WORLD//TRIBE-Broken Head (PunkAlive)
NEW REALITY-Taxidriver Igor (from “World Hardcore Punk Compilation,” Too Circle)

VITAMINS-Carry-Overs (demo)
LA PESTE-You’re Too Cute (Matador)
NUNS-Gettin’ Straight (demo)
TOOLS-Hard Wark (Subterranean)
FLIPPER-Living For The Depression (Subterranean)

TRACK 4

PUSSY RIOT-Kropotkin-Vodka (MP3)
BLACK BUG-Shard Of Glass (HoZac)
THEORETICAL GIRLS-Lovin’ In The Red (Acute)
LIARS-Grown Men Don’t Fall In The River, Just Like That (Blast First)
NO AGE-Cappo (Sub Pop)
FACTUMS-Don Quixote (Sacred Bones)

FLASH-Small Beginnings (Capitol)
SWINGERS RESORT-Movies (Swinging Singles)
THE FREEZE-I Hate Tourists (Dr. Strange)
O LEVEL-Pseudo Punk/O Levels (Rev-Ola)
FUNERAL-Ant Trap (Grand Theft Audio)

KILLING JOKE-Exit (EG)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Sonic Overload 8/13/12

Another long show with a bit over ten minutes of “overtime” but I had plenty I wanted to get it. The politics are eschewed this week. Instead, there’s a tribute to the 35th anniversary of Elvis “leaving the building,” so to speak. I also mark the 30th anniversary of the Process of Elimination tour hitting Boston, at the Gallery East, by playing all the bands who were on that incredible show. Not that I’m rubbing in the fact I got to see it. OK, maybe a little.

Sonic Overload 8/13/12

TRACK 1

FLESH EATERS-Radio Dies Screaming (Upsetter)

YOUTH OF TODAY-Expectations (Positive Force)
ALONE IN A CROWD-Is Anybody There? (Flux)
BL’AST-Break It Down (Wishingwell)
HAMMERHEAD-Louse (Amphetamine Reptile)
BLUE CROSS-Calling Combatants (Shogun)

SENZA TREGUA-Non C’e Tempo (Prohibited Projects)
ANXIETY-Stop Breeding (Social Napalm)
PEACE OR ANNIHILATION-Killing Continues (Shogun)
KROMOSOM-Swine Control (Hardcore Victim)
ANTI CIMEX-Warmachine (Distortion)

MIND SPIDERS-Wait For Us (Dirtnap)
TELECOMMANDE-Telecommande (demo)
STITCHES-I Can’t Do Anything (Vinyl Dog)
SMOGTOWN-Neighborhood Brat (Disaster)

TRACK 2

TALES OF TERROR-Hound Dog (CD Presents)

FORGOTTEN REBELS-Elvis Is Dead (Star)
DEAD KENNEDYS-Viva Las Vegas (Cherry Red)
SAINTS-Kissin’ Cousins (EMI)
FIENDS-Riot In The Men’s Room (Bemisbrain)
DARVOCETS-Space Shuttle (Painkiller)

BROWN SUGAR-Brown Eyed Girl/Copper Helicopter (Feeble Minds/Feral Kid)
TV FREAKS-Hobby (Schizophrenic)
FAGGOT-Fuck You America (Selfish Satan)
ZODIAC KILLERS-Genetic Mutation (Rip Off)
HANK HAINT-Thunderbird Esq (Voodoo Rhythm)

NECROS-IQ 32 (Touch & Go)
NEGATIVE APPROACH-Lost Cause (Touch & Go)
MEATMEN-Meatmen Stomp (Touch & Go)
MCDONALD’S-Miniature Golf (from “Process Of Elimination EP,” Touch & Go)
GANG GREEN-Sold Out (Taang)
DYS-Wolfpack/Bible (Taang)
DOGMATICS-Hardcore Rules (Homestead)

TRACK 3

ARCTIC FLOWERS-Crusaders + Banshees (Inimical)
RANK/XEROX-Stairs (self-released)
RAT COLUMNS-Death Is Leaving Me (SmartGuy)
NO SIR I WON’T-No More Poetry (demo)
NU SENSAE-Dust (Suicide Squeeze)

RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIFE-Thirty-Eight Milligrams (Gloom)
PATIENT ZERO-How Can We Expect To Change The World When We’re Surrounded By Fucking Idiots? (Holy Shit)
ALLERGIC TO WHORES-Isolated (Sound Pollution)
CROWN ROAST-Swarm Of Shit (Unclean)
SLUG-Borax (from “Jabberjaw: Good To The Last Drop,” Mammoth)

RAM JAM-Black Betty (Epic)
RIKKI & LAST DAYS OF EARTH-Victimized (DJM)
THE EXILE-Disastermovie (from “Streets,” Beggars Banquet)
ALTERNATIVE TV-Why Don’t You Do Me Right? (Cherry Red)

TRACK 4

GARBAGE STRIKE-Elvis In The Army (demo)
HANK WOOD & THE HAMMERHEADS-It’s Hard On The Street (Toxic State)
NICE FACE-You’re So Dramatic (HoZac)
CONSTANT MONGREL-Be Crystal (R.I.P. Society)
REPORTS-Turnaround (Ride The Snake)
COLIN NEWMAN-Order For Order (Beggars Banquet)

COLORS OUT OF TIME-Rock Section (Grand Theft Audio)
ANGRY SAMOANS-You Stupid Asshole (Triple X)
CIRCLE JERKS-What’s Your Problem? (Frontier)
MIGHTY IONS-Time To Get Outta This Place (Dino)
LEPER-Mums (from “A Wicked Good Time, Volume Two,” Modern Method)

TH’ FAITH HEALERS-Reptile Smile (Too Pure)

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Sonic Overload 8/6/12

A little bit of chicken talk at the top of the third segment, concerning Chick-fil-A and the controversy concerning their homophobic founder Dan Cathy. Enough energy has been expended already so I keep it to a minimum. Incidentally, the “kiss-in” I mentioned was the one involving same sex couples that happened at the restaurants this past Friday (the “appreciation day” was last Wednesday). Bottom line—it’s unlikely communities can block them from opening but customers can “vote with their feet,” so to speak. I’ll stay away...

The hot/humid weather we’ve had the past several days has finally subsided a bit. I guess that means I can hopefully wear more clothing when I do the show next week although I did resist the temptation to record this week’s installment in my underwear. I really did do that a few years ago, by the way.  No pictures (sorry—or, more accurately, thank God!)

Sonic Overload 8/6/12

TRACK 1

ADOLESCENTS-Kids Of The Black Hole (Frontier)

HANK WOOD & THE HAMMERHEADS-It’s Murder (Toxic State)
CONSTANT MONGREL-Cyclone Yasi (R.I.P Society)
TIMMY’S ORGANISM-Monster Walk (In The Red)
CARBONAS-Forget Me (Champagne Velvet)
DIRTBOMBS-Stuck In Thee Garage (In The Red)
TOTAL ABUSE-Masked Killer (Post Present Medium)

GIT SOME-Exhaustion = Feracity (Alternative Tentacles)
CRANK-The OrganGrinder (self-released)
ZEBRAS-The Dirty Dice (Secret)
YOUR ADVERSARY-Plan For Long Term Growth (Create A Villain Of Your Own)
WRANGLER BRUTES-Driving (Kill Rock Stars)
POOR LILY-Third Rail (self-released)

TRACK 2

NO USE FOR A NAME-Exit (Fat) in memory of Tony Sly
THE FACET-Things You Hate (Not Bad)
SULTANS-Heartbreaker (Swami)
CRIMINAL CODE-Empty Bodies (self-released)
WHITE LUNG-Dead Beat (Alternative Tentacles)

LAST IN LINE-I Quit (ACME)
TOTAL FURY-I Win, You Lose (Dan-Doh)
RAT BASTARDS-Contaminated Minds (Will E. Survive)
BUKKAKE BOYS-Never Change (Sorry State)
BAD AMERICAN-Blink (Bad Recordings)
NECRACEDIA-Suburban Death Machine (Wreck-Age)

PISSED JEANS-Little Sorrell (Parts Unknown)
RED TAPE-Dogfite (New Age)
CATHETERS-Been There Before (Sub Pop)
FUNCTIONAL BLACKOUTS-Tick Tick Tick (Dead Beat)
SCRAPING FOETUS OFF THE WHEEL-Lust For Death (Some Bizarre)

TRACK 3

TRASHIES-Get Daddy A Chicken Sandwich (The Party’s Over)

HAUTE COUTURE-Hello Finn (Shogun)
LÖGNHALSMOTTAGNINGEN-Information Overload (Kenrock)
FLIPSHIT-Stoop Rock (Reel Time)
IMPERIALIST PIGS-Cherub Rock (Fatal Erection)
ACTION SWINGERS-I Don’t Want To Be This Way (Repitilian)

NEO CONS-High Anxiety (Deranged)
MALE NURSES-GI Jock (Cowabunga)
KRUNCHIES-Ugly Inside (SouthKore)
FERAL BABIES-Thought Replacer (Rigid)
USELESS EATERS-The Moves (Jolly Dream)

CRAZY SPIRIT-Baseball Bat/You (Toxic State)
SWELL MAPS-Let’s Build A Car (Mute)
PENETRATION-Shout Above The Noise (Vigin)
URINALS-Sex (Warning Label)

TRACK 4

ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES IN THE DARK-Enola Gay (Virgin)
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN-Heaven Up Here (Sire)
ART YARD-The Law (Ride The Snake)
BOYS LIFE-It Came From Here (Seco)

NOTHING COOL-Rich Kid (Dummyup)
PONY-Prizefighter  (Homestead)
SWIRLIES-Didn’t Understand (Taang)
LYRES-Ain’t Going Nowhere (Ace of Hearts)
MUTANTS-Monster Of Love (White Noise)

RUBINOOS-Rock and Roll Is Dead (Beserkley)

Friday, August 10, 2012

Sonic Overload 7/30/12

So let’s see, what’s going on in the world? The Olympics started with a rather over-the-top opening ceremony although I did kind of like the tribute to the National Health Service i.e. state-run health care. I can only imagine what the right wing assholes had to say about that. I watched parts of it and was happy to hear Mud’s “Tiger Feet” used in the musical medley but pissed that they cut away to break just as the Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant” was about to start and let’s not forget the incessant, inane yammering of the NBC announcers.
   
In the meantime, Mitt Romney continues to make a complete fool of himself and there’s an increasing call for a boycott of Chick-Fil-A, since their founder is a homophobic piece of shit who donates money to anti-gay organizations. The chicken chain is looking into opening a store in Boston and the city’s mayor, Tom Menino, is trying to stop it. That’s probably not legal but I still love the fact he did that.

Sonic Overload 7/30/12

TRACK 1

FLUX OF PINK INDIANS-Tube Disaster (One Little Indian)

VILE-Overload (unreleased)
NIGHT STALKERS-Stabbed In The Mouth (Who Cares)
DRY HUMP-Mein Herr (Cowabunga)
NO TIME LEFT-Wartime Economy (Third x Party)
BURNING SENSATION-I Feel Disgust (Vertex)
ALLIGATORS-Song 1 (Bridge Nine)
PLASTIC CROSS-Totalitarian Eclipse Of The Heart (Don Giovanni)

WALLS-Making A Deal With Death (Iron Lung)
KIM PHUC-Heathens (Iron Lung)
CRANK-Sour (self-released)
PIGS-Whitewash (Solar Flare)

CRAZY SPIRIT-Troll (Toxic State)
AORTAORTA-More Than Happy (Tuska & Ahdistus)
OMATIC-Slow Ass Cadillac (Grass)
ONE TON SHOTGUN-Police Navidad (Atomic Action)

TRACK 2

O INIMIGO-Imaginario Absoluto (Nada Nada)
SLEEPWALL-Sleepwalkers (Toxic Pop)
CANCER BRIDES-Return (Brass Jacket)
SEX MANIACS-Dollars (Manic Ride)

COPS-Extra Passenger (Rob’s House)
NITAD-Vem Ska Man Lita Pa? (Mourningwood)
FUTURO-Maos Atadas (Nada Nada)
NIGHTBRINGER-Fight Like Hell (self-released)
SUPER FRISKY-The Gold-Bug (Burai-Core)
SELFISH-I Wanna Feel Some (Feral Ward)

DCBR-Let Them Eat Bikes (self-releaed)
PAPER DRAGONS-Fool Me Twice (demo)
WELFARE-Turn The Heat On (Rocknroll Blitzkrieg)
SUGARFREAKS-Snake Bite (VML)
BORN LIARS-Get Out Of Denver (Cutthroat)

TRACK 3

FLIPSHIT-Amerika (Reel Time)
UTAH JAZZ-Contact Low (Feral Kid)
INTELLECTUALS-Identity (Dead Beat)
DA MORONICS-Neutron Bomb (self-released)
TUSCADERO-Just My Size (Teen Beat)

OFF!-King Kong Brigade (Vice)
BREAKFAST-Way Home (625)
SAY BOK GWAI-Lazy (Monkey King)
RUDIMENTARY PENI-Sacrifice (Corpus Christi)
TAR BABIES-Native Son (Bone-Air)
DICKS-Rich Daddy (Alternative Tentacles)

ZEBRAS-The Mighty Bayonet (Secret)
PESD-Blyski (Prank)
LILIEDUGG-Fetish (Oh Yeah!)
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS-Alone (Dead Oceans)

TRACK 4

FOREIGN OBJECTS-Look Around (Vinyl Rites)
DAVILA 666-Patitas (In The Red)
KAKKA-HÄTÄ-77-Elama On Huora (Combat Rock Industry)
TUBERS-High Tide It’s Inside (No Idea)
MUNG-Red Light (Big Rig)
POSIES-Grant Hart (DGC)

X-Home Is Where The Floor Is (Rocknroll Blitzkrieg)
X-X-You’re Full Of Shit (Drome)
BIZARROS-Young Girls At Market (Mercury)
INSTANTS-The Need (from “Rocky Mountain Low,” Hyperpycnal)
WILLIE LOCO ALEXANDER-Dirty Eddie (Northeastern)

GIRLS-Jeffrey I Hear You (Hearthan)

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Sonic Overload 7/23/12

No words I write here could ever convey the horror of the events in Aurora, CO a few nights ago. 12 people dead, over 50 people wounded in a shooting rampage at a movie theatre. And I also don’t know if what I did say after the first song, concerning the availability of firearms and the ongoing debate over “gun control,” was well-expressed. The thing is there are quick reactions from those who think any sort of firearms should be available, including assault weapons, and there are those who want more controls on or the outright abolition of gun ownership. My own feelings are mixed and perhaps somewhere in the mushy middle of the spectrum. In the meantime, it’s another episode of senseless violence and one wonders what can be done to prevent this from happening again. The sad truth is it probably will happen again. And I don’t think any one person or group has the solution.

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the next two hours—if you look at the playlist, I think you’ll see that’s the case. Time for some punk rock therapy...   

Sonic Overload 7/23/12

TRACK 1

BRAND NEW UNIT-Guns For Everyone (Creative Man)

TIMMY’S ORGANISM-Poor and Bored (In The Red)
RUNNING-Asshole Savant (Captcha)
TOKYO STORM WARNING-Misery Antenna (Mind/No Mind)
1980-Ajassa Tapahtuu (Johanna)
NEU!-After Eight (Astralwerks)

HAUTE COUTURE-Act Your Age (Shogun)
SPEED KILLS-O Culto Insano (Nada Nada)
TASTE THE FLOOR-Less Bullshit On Songs Lyrics (Running Riot)
ZEKE-Let’s Get Drugs (Epitaph)
ADRENALIN OD-Suburbia (Grand Theft Audio)
NEGATIVE ELEMENT-Dough Boy (Version Sound)
VIOLENT ANAL DEATH-Hungry Hungry Hippos (Roachender)
PUSSY GALORE-Cunt Tease (Caroline)

TRACK 2

APB-Chain Reaction (Oily)
HEX DISPENSERS-Evil Eye (Alien Snatch)
A FRAMES-Nuclear (S-S)
BLOW UP-You Got Sound (Empty)

SENZA TREGLIA-Forza Nuova In Fiamme (Prohibited Products)
VENENO LENTO-Andando Pela City (Nada Nada)
INOCENTES-Apenas Conto I Que Eu Vi (Nada Nada)
HEAD OF SKULLS-No Foolin’ (Past/Futures)
NO CHOICE-If Logic’s First (We’re Coming Second) (Newest Industry)

CITY-X-Politi-Militaer (Grand Theft Audio)
SOCIAL SUICIDE-Born Again (from “Mixed Nuts Don’t Crack,” Crackle)
EFFIGIES-No Progress (Touch & Go)
DXA-New Right (demo)
IMPACT UNIT-Nightstalker (Big Rig)
GUN CLUB-Devil In The Woods (from “Keats Rides A Harley,” Happy Squid)

TRACK 3

THE MARX-She’s Got A Manifesto (Hammer and Sickle)
SWINGIN’ NECKBREAKERS-Take Your Life (Telstar)
BRAIN CAR-Rules + Regulations (Reel Time)
KALEMARIS-Staldfræseren (Scanfolk)

RAW NERVES-Time To Disintegrate (Inimical)
STRIPMINES-Get Away From Me (Sorry State)
NEEDLES-Twisted Vision (Lengua Armada)
BRAIN KILLER-Controlled Reality (Vinyl Rites)

SUPER FRISKY-No (Burai Core)
HUMAN TOILET-Giuliani Time (Black Thirteen)
SLICES-Greensleeves (Iron Lung)
FADING OUT-Shadows (Palace)
DEATH-Freakin Out (Drag City)

TRACK 4

DI-Guns (Triple X)
CHANNEL 3-Mannequin (Posh Boy)
SIN 34-Children Shall Not Be Heard (Spinhead)
ANTHRAX-Prime To Pension (Crass)
ELECTRIC DEADS-Fish In A Pool (Noise and Distortion)
ANGST-Die Fighting (Bemisbrain)

SUBS-Gimme Your Heart (Stiff)
GENERATION X-No No No (Chrysalis)
SHAM 69-Tell Us The Truth (Sire)
PROFESSIONALS-The Magnificent (Virgin)
EXPLODING HEARTS-Making Teenage Faces (Dirtnap)

LOST SOUNDS-Don’t Turn Around (Empty)