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)