Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Hot Head

A quick interlude before I review some killer releases from the almighty Wardance Records. My bro Jefe posted the video bellow at his place and it just blew me away...thought I'd share that potential blown-away-ed-ness with my other homies. Always heard of Captain Beefheart but never took the time to aquaint myself with his music or the man himself. YOU probably are several steps ahead of me on that, I grew up sheltered, but I ended up spending several hours watching all kinds of videos related to the gentleman...from live sets to his appearances on the Letterman show. Fucking love this song... EDIT:Unfortunately the video is gone from you-fucking-tube, for whatever reason (use your imagination...sad, really), but there's still the audio...oh well [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYPohsVi34]

VA - Anglican Scrape Attic 7" flexi

Had never seen the video, just the pictures which in themselves made a powerful statement.  I guess people are doing it these days too.  Not sure how a guy does that unless you have a pretty intense vision of the afterlife.  I've been suicidal but for stupid shit, and I certainly would not have made any statement except that people would have thought I was a selfish bastard.  This though is the epitome of an unselfish act. Was going through my media player on the computer the other day and seeing what kind of stuff I have, about 500 gb worth, and maybe listen to something I hadn't in a while.  Found it ironic how I preach about the importance of having physical copies of the stuff and I have so much digital crap...oh well, call it lazy or call it too expensive to pick up for myself.  For some reason I was wanting to hear the Faith/Void split. I have it on vinyl but I couldn't find it among the mountains of mp3s. So sticking with the digital moment, instead of ripping it (or much better listening to it on vinyl), I decided to see if I could track it down from a pirate (am I a pirate?).  Very easy find, it's basically all over the place, but I can't stand a blog that just posts links to the music with maybe a scan, without at least giving his two cents.  You can get it from this guy for example, he at least has something to say. Funny how everyone (I did find one who disagreed) likes the Void side better...I do too. It turns out that in my wanderings they, much later, released what is called the Faith/Void/Faith cd, which is the split plus Faith's "Subject to Change" ep. You can find that out there too for download, if that's how you roll, but do the bands a favor and go get it from Dischord. For now, the best song on either side of the split... Void - Who are You? Another one that I was in the mood for was the Heresy "Never Healed" flexi. One of the finest examples of music ever put to a flexi disc. The poor sound almost lends itself to the vibe of the tunes. Not that rare though, there was 3000 made, but I couldn't find any on ebay and the cheapest one Discogs is $35.  Have that record too (maybe I should post it, but I'm sure the links are dead because someone reported them...Earache maybe?), I was on a roll, so WTF. I'll be damned, in my search, there were several blogs that had it posted, but the external links were dead. Had to settle for a last resort...Filestube, to find at least an upload. I hate using that site, so impersonal, but even that place is dying with the collapse and corruption of external file storage sites. There was just one song I wanted to hear anyway... Looked on utoob and couldn't find the tune there either so I uploaded it, hahaha. Was kinda thinking about flexis now, so went on a search for another one of the best flexis ever put out...the Anglican Scrape Attic comp.  Another one that's not all that rare, 5000 pressed, but I didn't find any on ebay and at discogs it starts at 20 bucks from England.  Pretty sure I got mine when it first came out in '85 through mailorder.  I used to get Flipside and Maximum Rock and Roll all the time and would look through the ads and reviews for stuff to pick up.  I think this was released by the same guys who released the Heresy flexi, Dig (of Earache) and Kalv (of Heresy) but this was earlier.  All the blogs who have posted this have dead external links too, but this time, I figure it's been out of print for almost 30 years, so what the hell, let's give you a chance to give it a listen.  There's not a disappointing track on this bad boy and you get quite the variety in styles.  They were all previously unreleased tracks except the Hirax one, which is disappointing, even though it's a good tune.  They may have been released later, but I didn't research it that far.  Tough to pick a fave, they're all classics in their own way.  Sacrilege was always my favorite and I played the hell out of this thing (so the sound may suck even more than it did when it was brand new), but listening to it, as I ripped it, I was kinda favoring the Concrete Sox tune.  Japan, UK, USA, the big three of mid 80's metallic hardcore (although Germany and Italy may be open to debate) are represented.   I have a feeling that the dead links on all the previous uploads of this is for the same reason the Heresy one is mostly dead, so this may be the first thing I've been asked to take down.  I honestly could not find that it has been re-released in any way shape or form so give it a listen while you can...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSIrhTx__ZI]

Joe 4 - Enola Gay 10"

Got this one in the mail clear from Zagreb, Croatia (it went DHL to some sorting center in Wichita, Kansas and then here by way of USPS...in other words it's traveled more than I have). Cool as all get out that Josip (one of the band members) sent this beauty to me.  10" oddness, cool ass graphics, a trippy poster, a digital download code (as seems to be the standard these days), rock solid tunes on what appears to be a little thicker vinyl than usual (not quite 180g) and only 250 of these gems made.  Josip sent me their BIO, conveniently in PDF format. Apparently this thing has connections all over the place...a Croatian band, on a label out of Luxemborg (Whosbrain Records), mixed in San Francisco and mastered in Chicago. Music wise this struck me right away as something that could very well have been released on Touch & Go or Amphetamine Reptile. In their bio they're compared Jesus Lizard, Janitor Joe (I've got them cued to post in the near future), Shellac, Tar (gonna post them too), and Johnboy. The bio goes on to say, "Songs emphasize the percussion and rhythm while guitar and bass lines are braided within and around the lock-step drumming and tortured/drill-sergeant vocals are sardonically delivered over the resulting melee. Lyrically, the songs deal with the impulsive nature of the individual and are concisely worded as repetitive haiku poetry." I don't think I can say it any better than that, and I would have never in my life found a way to insert the word "haiku" (Japanese syllabic poetry) and make it work. All I know (in a euphemistic way) is that I dug these guys from the get go. It's compelling music with a jazz sophistication and really 10"s is not enough. At under 20 minutes Enola Gay leaves you wondering what's next up their sleeves, but I guess that's going to be a wait and see kinda thing. My bet is that these guys are going to be releasing some more stuff, based on the momentum they've defined with these 5 tunes. My understanding is that the best place to get this thing from these guys is at their Bandcamp, available on vinyl or cd and as I said comes with a digital download. I usually like to post up something live from utoob, just to give you that live vibe, but according to Josip, "We are not really handsome guys, so we avoid being filmed or documented on photos too!" Gotta dig that (reminds me of when I got shit faced one night and joined a biker club called the UMF, the Ugly Mother Fuckers, but that's another story). Anyway, one of my favorite tunes (they're ALL good)... His Profile

...and something different this time, I'm embedding the Bandcamp player so you can listen to the whole thing, right here at the Relics

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=3290264392/size=grande/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/