Don Juan Matus / Oxido split 7"

Another one from Freddy over at his killer Wardance Records, this one more on a metal tip.  First thing you notice about any record is the sleeve and this one is cool as all get out.  It makes sense on the splits when each band gets a side to personalize their artwork, and both these sides capture the bands in an intensely eye catching way.  Freddy's releases that I have been exposed to are all sharp.  The description on the Wardance page reads, "Oxido: Legendary 80's Peruvian Metal band, 1st. time on vinyl.  Don Juan Matus: Current heavy Psych/Doom project from Peru HC & Metal scene veterans. Split release with Basilica Records, 300 copies pressed."  Both bands are out of Peru and both bands could loosely be termed metal but that's where the similarity ends.  I don't have a favorite, because these bands are not in the same genre and I'd have to favor one genre over another...and I don't.  In 1984, when Oxido was in their heyday, I was listening to hardcore and punk, but I was most decidedly labelled a metalhead stoner.  The crowd I hung out with, myself included, smoked weed, had long hair, wore those woven hoodies from Mexico and listened to bands like Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Slayer, Venom and Motorhead.  Both these bands could have easily been spinning on my turntable back then and they take me back to that glorious time.  Freddy writes up a nice history of Oxido and does an informative interview over at his place, Quixotic Dreams, a great read.  As far as Oxido, this is my first exposure to the band and probably yours too, but these guys rock in that NWOBHM and proto-thrash/speed kind of style.  Hardcore early 80's all the way, and I don't know what it is, but it reminds me a little bit of what I think was going on with metal in Japan at the time (don't ask me why, I have no evidence to back that up).  Good chunky riffing with a hook of a chorus, a little bit of noodling and soulful singing.  Don Juan Matus on the other hand are that modern stoner doom thing going on that's gotten pretty big these days.  Heavy, dirgy and a vocalist that reminds me a little bit of the guy from Sound Garden (and that's a good thing in my book...c'mon the early stuff was good).  If I still smoked weed this would go great with a big bong hit of the kind sticky crystaly red haired green (or the compressed seedy stemy dirty brown if you are on a low budget), but mind alteration is most certainly not necessary to enjoy the vibe these guys lay on you.  Ever seen the animated flick Heavy Metal (an absolute must if you haven't and I might even call you lame if you didn't)?  Both these tunes could easily be on that soundtrack and I absolutely worship that flick so that's a huge compliment.  If you are a fan of metal of any kind, do yourself a favor and go out and get thing from HERE.  For now I have some minute long samples I ripped for your listening pleasure. Don Juan Matus-Kadath (sample) Oxido-El Angel de la Muerte (sample)

"...some stupid with a flare gun..."

Who is that noodling up on that killer (alembic?) bass? Still listen to the radio as I'm driving to and fro in my journeys across the high plains. There's two classic rock (loose term) stations within an hour's drive of my farm/work that I go back in forth from. In fact the other day I turned on the radio and one station was playing Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". I dig some LS, I've even posted some but that tune is on every jukebox in every bar in America and I spent too many years in bars having idiots play that tune (there's several of those types of tunes, I'm sure you can think of a few) over and over. So I change over to the other station...lo and behold, they're playing the same tune. I turned off the radio. I have all the agency cars at work programmed with both those stations, in fact sometimes to fuck with people I'll set all the presets to just those two stations. There's KQNK, they just have a DJ in the mornings with a call in thing where you can call in birthdays and anniversaries, and if you want to buy/sell/trade/give away shit. Other than broadcasting sporting events, high school/college/pro they are pretty much the rest of the time syndicated classic rock. The other one, KFIX has their own DJs for most of the day and then they're syndicated with the likes of Nights with Alice Cooper, House of Hair (Dee Snyder), and House of the Blues (Dan Akroid). At noon, on weekdays, they have an hour of requests, but they don't have any other shit besides the stuff they play regularly (no Stooges, MC5, any garage, and only one tune each from Motorhead and the Ramones). They also interrupt regular programming for local sports. Both stations have almost the same playlists and they pretty much favor certain tunes, George Thorogood's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" is big on one, Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on the other, and I'll even catch them playing the same tune twice in one day. When you cover three decades of Rock n Roll, how the fuck do you play the same tune twice in one day?!?! Every once in a while, as I've shared in several previous posts, they'll play a tune I don't hear a lot (a few times, tunes that I didn't ever remember hearing) and it will really get my groove going. Today I was in my favorite agency car, which just so happens to have a damn decent stock stereo system and it was Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" that caught my fancy. Yeah, I know, DP has a ton of more obscure cool tunes, and this one is probably the most popular/commonly played. In fact, it, like "Sweet Home Alabama" is probably on too many jukeboxes across the US (and the UK too...do they have jukeboxes in pubs?) as well and over played. But that riff...DAMN! Today as I listened to it, all I was listening to was the bass and keyboards, and was completely blown away.  The lyrics, the story...anybody who mentions Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in a tune should automatically have a platinum record from it.  Plus, everybody knows "some stupid with a flare gun" or maybe you were/are one.  Have loved that line ever since the late 70's when I picked up my copy of "Made in Japan".  The comments as usual on Youtube ranged from lame to interesting, probably my favorite being "...is smoke on the water like a total metaphor for when you dont finish all ur bong lol..."  Anyway, long story short thought I'd share the moment.  The version I heard today from Machine Head... Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water ...The Made in Japan version, arguably the best... Deep Purple - Made In Japan - Smoke On The Water ...great live version from 1973...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjzVUCnnAk&w=420&h=315]

VA - New Breed Tape Compilation CD

You know doing this thing for the past five years, I have met some really cool cats...the latest being Mr. Freddy Alva of Wardance Records, an internet friend of a friend.  Recently got a beautiful package from him, a mix of some 7"s, a CD and a cassette, so some reviews were obviously pending.  Freddy also has a killer blog of his own over at Quixotic Dreams...a great read.  So anyway, the first thing I thought I'd review would be one of Feddy's biggest and earliest outputs, the New Breed Tape Compilation.  Originally released as a cassette in 1989 and now brought to you as a CD/2xLP, it's basically a who's who of New York hardcore from that era.  To be honest with you, not an area I'm all that familiar with, most of the bands were new to me.  The man did not fuck around when he put this out, it's beastly, with 20 bands doing 36 tunes (5 extra tunes on the vinyl version).  I don't know my music history as well as some, but I guess this represents 2nd generation New York Hardcore (1st being Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, and the likes...right?).  It's metallic hardcore, but not crossover, does that make sense?  These days I've kinda strayed away from the grunted and growled vocals (my buddy Mike calls it Cookie Monster), like anything it has it's time and place, but on this thing just about every band has the common feature of having intelligible lyrics.  Don't get me wrong though, this is angry, sweaty hardcore at it's best (I used to have a t-shirt with a cartoon monster on it that said "wicked mean and nasty"...that's what this is).  And best case scenario has occurred here, the lyrics are included in a really nice booklet.  In fact the packaging on this bad boy is top notch, this ain't no CD-R in a paper envelope (although there's nothing wrong with that either).  I'm not even going to try to pick any favorites here, EXCEPT one, I really like the Show of Force track, they kind of break it down a little bit.  Anyway, my words can't really capture the immensity of this thing, GO HERE and get it. In the meantime...these samples, are just the very tip of the iceberg... Breakdown - Don't Give Up True Colors - Finding It Hard Raw Deal - Wall Of Hate Direct - One Life Uppercut - Down For The Count