Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #204
I recently had the good fortune to see From Ashes Rise again. They really tore it up at the Old Barn Punk Fest this summer and I was stoked to see them at the Inferno last month. If you are not dialed in to this band get with the program, totally raging, powerful, intelligent hardcore. They seem to have found the perfect mix of dark, brooding and metallic hardcore with full throttle 80's style thrash. The turnout at their Minneapolis gig was paltry (it was a Monday night) but those of us who showed up have seen the light.

Hail to Sweden department: Everyone knows by now that I'm hooked on Scandinavian thrash and there is a lot of great stuff coming out of Sweden right now that some of you might be missing. DS 13 finally has their 12" out on Deranged Records of Toronto. Some of this material is previously released stuff from splits and such but it should serve as a good introduction to the North American masses. Totally killer hardcore like Poison Idea, DRI, Minor Threat and Negative Approach crossed with modern fast hardcore. This record is "all killer and no filler" start to finish soon to be a classic and my pick for best album of the 21st Century. Skitsytem is a band finally getting some attention, I can't keep their new LP on Distortion on the shelves at Extreme Noise. This LP is a real hardcore monument. The production is clean and powerful while still feeling raw and brutal. After seeing these guys once in a Minneapolis basement and then again on a big stage with a killer PA in Umea I'm totally won over. Uncurbed's new LP on Sound Pollution is almost as great as Peace Love Punk Life, but not quite as over the top. Totally killer raw punk thrash with out of control guitar solo's and some of the wackiest political punk lyrics, I love this shit. Another band I can't keep in stock at Exteme Noise is Wolfpack. With an LP on Dirstortion, and Lp or Farewell and a split with Skitsystem this band is weighing in some heavy hardcore damage. Accursed new LP will be out by the time you read this, I haven't heard it yet but I'm certain it will be 100%. Some 7"s to look out for M'Pati from Gothenburg, really heavy and brutal HC. Despite from Malmo (not the Wisconsin Despite) Vicitms, Scumbrigades, ENS, Intensity, fuck why are people still listening all that wack shit they call hardcore nowadays when the real good stuff is there for the taking. Finland's Diaspora has an LP out on Elderberry, political HC with two female singers. There is also an 8" flexi comp. out of Finland called Outoo Maa with some killer fast core, thrash bands.

Much ado has been made lately about new Clash releases. I think the live double LP was kind of weak. I saw the Clash, albeit during their weak 1984 tour, but they still were a very high-energy band. I was pogoing around in front of the stage for the whole set. That energy just doesn't come through on a double live album. Another item is the re-issue of re-mastered Clash LP's on CD. Why? Why tamper with the classics. I don't want the Clash S/T and Give 'Em Enough Rope to sound "better." I want them to sound the same way they did when I first heard them as a kid. What's next "we've digitally re-mastered and cleaned up all those Minor Threat sessions." Leave the digital, CD, whatever to the new music and preserve the artifact that is 70's punk in its original context, on vinyl the way it was released.

I was excited to see the first issue of Short Fast and Loud, a new zine that will cover fast hardcore. There was a feature where the columnists listed the five most embarrassing records in their collection. This got me thinking about what five records I'm most embarrassed to have. Let me say this first though. I have a lot of records that have little or nothing to do with punk and hardcore and I'm not embarrassed of that at all. I have tons of 60's and 70's rock albums, lots of soul, R&B, Hip Hop and Reggae, lots of what we used to call New Wave, some Blues, Jazz and a lot of Metal. Records that I was embarrassed to have a few years ago are now probably big tickets on Ebay like my autographed Judas Priest and Slayer picture disks or early Siouxsie and Banshees and Adam and the Ants 7"s. Things go around and come around and what's not cool now might be the next big thing. I mean who would've thought that Swing music would make a comeback fifty years after its heyday. That said some music will never come back into style because it had very little merit to begin with.

Here than are my five most embarrassing records

Skrewdriver- Antisocial. 7" OK, we all know that this record came out before Skrewdriver got mixed up in Nazi politics but that doesn't really help because we all know what this band became. Still, Antisocial is a pretty kick ass song, and the lyrics are right on too. Of course this band went straight down hill after this record and I in no way endorse their later material.

V/A-K-Tel comp. Hot Nights, City Lights. I actually paid 50 cents for this one. Primarily because it includes Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell." An old girlfriend of mine used to play "Ring My Bell" whenever she was in the mood for ---- ---. Being a guy who can never get enough ---- --- I now have the fondest of memories attached to this song. That said I remain on record as being totally against Disco music.

Loverboy-Get Lucky. This record is incredibly corny. It has no redeeming value critically and will not even be remembered as a footnote when the history of Rock Music is written. However, after ten years in construction I feel special empathy for songs like "Working For the Weekend" which is a Friday afternoon job site favorite. "You take me to the top" is a great ballad and ladies of the 80's will agree with me that this was a great "make out" record in it's day.

Portishead-Dummy. OK this one is especially embarrassing because I heard this band on commercial "alternative" radio then went out and paid full price for the record at a place downtown that carries a lot of import vinyl. Call me a sucker but I really like this band's mix of hip hop, soul and pop. That said this is the only contemporary popular music record I own, period.

Weird Al Yankovic-S/T- Ok this record mostly blows but it's totally worth it for the two big hits "My Bologna" and "Another One Rides the Bus." I played this album for some people recently and they didn't quite get it. But in the early 80's this was so fucking funny since bands like Queen and the Knack were actually taken very seriously then.

Trying to narrow this down I actually rejected a lot of records that I decided I wasn't embarrassed to own at all and I kept telling myself "hey (fill in the bland with Jethro Tull, Urban Dance Squad, Montrose or who ever) really isn't that bad. There is of course no substitute for real punk. Hardcore Rules!

Publication Date:
January 1, 1988

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