Death to False Metal

Wow, what a way to kick off a music blog, huh?

It’s been two months of complete silence since I wrote here last, and I figured if I’m going to make people wait that long, I better come back with a bang. Something big, something awesome. I’ll let you be the judge of that, but personally I think I’ve have done a good job making up for lost time.

This entry is about Deadguy. Don’t know who they are? If not, shame on you. Deadguy were a short-lived metallic hardcore band from New Brunswick, New Jersey – members played in or are currently playing with bands like Lifetime, Rorschach, Human Remains, Doc Hopper, Kiss it Goodbye, Playing Enemy and others. They’re another band that I consider disgustingly underrated. Not only is their output some of my favourite music, but it’s easy to see the massive impact they’ve had on their genre whilst for some reason remaining obscure and ultimately forgotten by the majority of the people/genre that owes them so much.

For a few years now I’ve maintained a Deadguy tribute/resource page on MySpace, and I’ve been contacted by countless fans, members/ex-members of bands they played with and even some of the boys themselves, and it’s been a fun thing putting all the Deadguy-related stuff I could find or was sent in one place. The page doesn’t get much attention these days due to my studies and trying to focus more on my own band than one that’s been broken up for almost fifteen years but the love is still there, and being the caring person that I am I’d like to share it with you.

Work Ethic (192)
A compilation of Deadguy’s first two 7” records – White Meat and Work Ethic. Tim’s scream is still somewhat unformed, the performances aren’t as explosive as they’d become later on, but it’s still better than any music I’ve made or will ever make. There are some tagging errors in this but fuck you, it’s free.

Fixation on a Coworker (V0-VBR)
Deadguy’s sole full-length album. This is their masterwork, a record about being pissed off for pissed off people – a recipe for success if I’ve ever heard one. Great songs, interesting artwork (buy it if you can find it), this is a complete package and one of the most influential and well-aging discs of 90’s hardcore.

Screamin’ with the Deadguy Quintet (192)
After the band parted ways with two of their members who then moved to Seattle and formed Kiss it Goodbye, the band had a bit of a line-up shuffle and introduced some new players. This is their final studio release and it’s a bit different from their earlier work – more overt Today is the Day influence (it helps that Steve Austin produced the EP, too) and more weird time signatures/riffs. Regardless of the style shift, it still holds up as a great record.

I Know Your Tragedy (192)
Deadguy’s live album, recorded with the Screamin’-era lineup. I’m not really a fan of this one; hearing the older songs played by the final line-up just doesn’t sound right to me, but for the sake of putting all the stuff in one place I’ve made it available here.

Decibel Magazine ran an awesome feature on Deadguy’s Fixation album and added it to their Hall of Fame. I’ve scanned the story at 300 dpi and you can download it here.

So, was that worth the wait?

Another blog... why?

Yeah, I know - there's already enough blogs out there and here I am, throwing more rats onto the plague ship that is already overrun with vermin and body piles that obscure the work done by qualified and genuinely talented writers. I am now officially part of the problem that has come to be now that anyone can make one of these things, and I acknowledge that it's a terrible thing to do.

This will end up as a music blog of some description. I'll put up some music, review shows, and try to entertain with some witty banter.

I'm pretty sick of music blogs that don't tell you the bitrates of their rips, so I'll do just the opposite whenever I put something up for grabs. If it's one of my rips it'll be done in EAC/LAME V0, which is the ultimate variable bitrate for .mp3 files, preserving maximum quality while taking up less disc space. Trust me, your ears (and your hard drive/mp3 player) will thank me.

Ah what the hell, I might as well provide a sample.

Milemarker - Satanic Versus (V0-VBR)

The name of this blog comes from a Milemarker song, so it makes sense to start here. These guys are originally from North Carolina, USA and then moved to Chicago when they got tired of crowds asking for Skynyrd songs. Made up of ex-members of Sleepytime Trio and Maximillian Colby, they have a pretty unique sound; originally they sounded like video game music but then they progressed into a more fleshed-out outfit. Imagine Fugazi in an alternate reality where Russia won the Cold War and add a keyboard  to the mix and you're getting somewhere. They're criminally underrated in my opinion.

Satanic Versus is a strange record; half of it was recorded with and produced by the legendary Steve Albini, while the other half the band did themselves. It's split between new tracks and re-recordings of old songs, most notably of which is this EP's version of "New Lexicon," which was originally done with minimalist electronics, while here it's Albini-aided full band bombast.

If you like it, check out Frigid Forms Sell, Anaesthetic, and possibly Future Isms for some of their more electronic stuff. These guys are one of my favourite bands and I'd kill to see them again - with Roby Newton back in tow, of course.

So yeah, here's to yet another music blog.