The Trip - s/t 7"

I got this record solely because of the in-fuckin-credible artwork...having no idea what was in between the grooves.  Trip out... Mr. World-01 Mr. World-02

Turns out it's an educational record from 1962 that must have come with a globe.  I remember growing with these educational records, in fact that's how I learned we learned our times tables.  What's so cool about this little 7" (I know nobody will bother to listen to the whole thing), is that it really marvels at the world.  No nationalism, no racial pride, just human beings occupying this wonderful planet.  Kind of made me fell good about our situation in life...for a second.  As far as globes, if you click on my little spinning one off to the right, you can see who, from where, is checking out what, here.  At this moment, coincidentally, a person from Mumbai India and a person from Nashville Tennessee, are both checking on Ill Repute.

Speaking of schooling, just rediscovered an old junior high school buddy of mine, Mr. Lee Powers.  Yet another incredible person with a love for music.  On top of being a killer artist he plays in a couple of LA (actually Burbank) bands that are worth mentioning here at the Relics.  Death on the Radio, is this hard rockin' thing fronted by a lady, Bloody Mary Powers, with some serious as fuck vocal chords...a nice breath of fresh air for me.  There's an interview here at youtube. Then there's Friends You Can Kill, an industrial metal conglomeration, that calls to mind the word "compelling".  Again, the vocals take it to the next level, but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that the music is fuckin' rockin'.  There's a whole series of videos from this live set, one of which is here. If you live in the LA area you can catch both these bands gigging all over the place, tell Lee, Justin sent you...it won't entitle you to anything except he might wonder who the fuck Justin is...hahaha Spent several thousand dollars (wait I haven't spent it...I owe it), even with insurance, to find out that I didn't have cancer (yet...but at this point I'm VERY thankful...not quite ready to deal with the inevitable), but I do have the outset of COPD.  Yeah I know I should quit smoking, but between that and coffee it's all I have left of the self indulgent lifestyle (if you don't count record collecting and just generally being a fan boy).  Funny thing is, I'm out of shape, overweight and several other things, but with this diagnosis I feel VERY out of shape.  I could start working out again, but that leaves me feeling VERY out of shape.  Haha...if you haven't noticed yet, I enjoy bitching about the little things, while ignoring the bigger picture. I used to be in the "in", so many years ago, these days I'm just late to the party.  Can't blame that on my most recent situational circumstance...isolation, for a lot of years it was just a drunken stupor. Just discovered this band Sloth (there's at least 6 bands with that name, this is the "sludge" one).  The first track from their first release, 1994's "We Put The Massage in Misogyny" 7"...a little ditty about vengeful necrophilia... Sloth - Sassy Pants Soooo...heavy. This takes me back to my love of the great Saint Vitus.  A couple of years ago I realized there's a whole genre of bands, sludge, stoner, doom. Kind of a gloomy feeling you get a little like that drunken stupor I was talking about, that anticipation, waiting, wondering, "what next". Kind of an uneasy feeling, but as with anything stoned, I guess if you add a little weed, it's probably a more laid back groovy kind of thing. Another record I got just because of the cover...cute and sad at the same time.

Released in 1994 on the label Sympathy for the Record Industry, a label that has released a lot of cool and not so cool shit, and sort of fills the void in between DIY and major record labels.  In other words for bands, with a poppie edginess, that could be big and this band falls into that category.  Did some searching around and could find out nothing about this band, except that the next year they released an album called "Supersonic Roller Coaster".  I kind of like that they are a mystery as I don't want to be posting shit that people have heard before, sort of allowing something lost to see the light of day again.  I was pleasantly surprised by the stunning female vocals on the first track, while the second is a not uninteresting instrumental.  Both tunes follow the same formula bouncing back and forth from mellow strumming to harder driving.  Give The Trip a try, it won't hurt you...

Help Me Capitain Poland's Bolero (in D Minor)