Winter in the Midwest

With the location-based gang mentality that has overrun hardcore since its inception, it's sometimes hard to hear the sounds coming from regional areas over the highly tauted and heavily promoted ones of New York, Boston, Los Angeles, etc etc. If you're outside of the US like myself, it's probably the same if you superimpose your own capital cities in that sentence. Everyone knows the big bands from the big labels with the big enough budgets, but what of the little guys?

For a while now I've been blown away by a lot of the bands coming from the American Midwest. Sure, you've got your heavies like Coalesce and Modern Life is War, but then there's the well-kept secrets that take a little bit of digging to discover. Here are some rad Midwest bands that fit the bill.

Building Better Bombs.
These guys alternate from caustic hardcore to two-step friendly Bronx-esque rawk 'n' roll to revolution summer melodies to atonal squalk to mid-tempo stomp effortlessly. Indeed the only constants here are great riffs and some throat-ripping screams. Featuring one of the girls who used to be in the Soviettes (one of the best guilty pleasure bands in punk), their full-length record "Freak Out Squares" really gets the job of putting an original spin on an often languid style.

Building Better Bombs - Freak Out Squares (V0 VBR MP3)

Get Rad.
A joke band with serious riffs. Their songs touch on topics such as the rise and fall of Metallica, how cool friends are, breaking into waterparks, and being nice to puppies. The songs, however, are no-bullshit hardcore, with elements of crossover thrash, youth crew, and fastcore thrown in for maximum effect. Their first full-length, "Say Fuck No to Rules, Man" was my soundtrack to the summer of 2006, and their efforts since then, namely the "Bastards United" EP and their second LP, "I Can Always Live" aren't too shabby either. Featuring members of bands like Seven Days of Samsara and Herds, who I'll get to shortly.

Get Rad - Say Fuck No to Rules, Man (V2 VBR MP3)
Get Rad - Bastards United (V2 KBPS VBR MP3)
Get Rad - I Can Always Live (V0 VBR MP3)

Herds.
This is crusty, d-beat ugliness of the highest order. Featuring one of the dudes from Charles Bronson and revelling in feedback and Motorhead back-patches, these guys use a lot of the better elements of their genre to their advantage while throwing in some original sounds for good measure. Occasionally the tempos slow and the guitars give way to towering monoliths of bass noise, but no matter what the tempo Herds know how to stay earfuckingly abrasive. Their self-titled full-length was one of my favourite records that came out last year.

Herds - Self-Titled LP (V0 VBR MP3)

DOOM

Got sludge?
Hello! Once again I've failed to update in a timely fashion, and for this I apologise. Again.

One of the many reasons for the big gap in between posts (other than the fact that I'm a lazy shit) is that I'm busy writing and jamming with my current band. We are called Vassals, and if you'd like to give us a listen you can do so here.

Seeing as this band is pretty doomy and heavy, I thought I'd use that as a theme and lay out some doomy and/or heavy shit in this entry. No metal, as there's plenty of other blogs that specialise in that area already, but rather sludge, doom, whatever you want to call it. There was a bit of this kind of stuff in my last post, but that was so long ago you're probably jonesing for more by now, right? Here goes.

The Gersch.
This is a band that ISIS guitarist Bryant Clifford Meyer was in from 1994-1999. They were the first band to release a record on Tortuga Recordings, which eventually became Hyrda Head records. They put out a 7" record with two songs on it, and other than a compilation appearance it is the only recorded output from The Gersch during their lifetime. Instead of getting a bass player, they opted to have three down-tuned guitarists, and the effect retains the heaviness that they were obviously going for, but the lack of bottom end (plus the low-fi production) really brings memories of early Black Sabbath records and other relics from back before they really learned how to record bottom-heavy bass. Don't let the lack of releases or the fact that Meyer's current band overshadows this little nugget of the past turn you away: this band fucking ruled, and they've gotten their due in the form of a discography record that backs up those three previously released songs with a slew of others which are just as good.

The Gersch - Discography (192 CBR MP3)


Noothgrush.
First impression everyone has when it comes to this band: "what's with their fucking name?" It's from a Dr. Seuss book, but don't let this stop you from listening. Kids literature references aside, this band is heavier than fourteen anvils stacked on top of your face. The vocal style is very reminiscent of Chuck Schuldiner on Death's first couple records, and while that's pretty cool it takes a back seat to the riffs and the tempos. This band knows how to trudge, plod, and eek out every last bit of pain from their music, and the overall effect is downright brutal. Last I heard they had reunited and were planning an Australian tour, but that was years and years ago and they've doubtlessly given up on that by now.

Noothgrush - Erode the Person (V0 VBR MP3)


Corrupted.
Most people know this band as those crazy Japanese guys who don't give interviews, speak Spanish and write songs that take up a full CD, but before they expanded their musical vision to this scale they were a straight-to-the-point sludge band. This old 10" EP they released showcases this side of the band perfectly, from the slow fade in of the tribal drum patterns to the last droning note, and all the dirty chaos in between. Three songs, over twenty-seven minutes, and guitars tuned to baritone tuning, what more could one ask for? Unless this record could "make pancakes and massage your balls for you," as George Carlin so eloquently put it, this has it all and takes the cake as my favourite release in its genre.

Corrupted - El Dios Queja (V0 VBR MP3)