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Well…. like an idiot i just lost the stuff I’d just written today about Floorpunch. I found all these editions of their 7″ for sale by one seller:

• Red vinyl #’d 200
• Blue vinyl (of 800)
• Black vinyl - 1st press
• Black vinyl w/ Green lettering on sleeve - 3rd press
• Euro tour edition w/ Judge sleeve
• White vinyl farewell edition

as well as a copy of their lp on white vinyl, and the In My Blood Records shirt.

This sucks total De Ja Vu from an hour ago. Anyway all I really wanted to say is that FP’s legacy has held up remarkably well over the last 10 years. The recordings still sounds pretty hot, the songs still deliver the power-load, the shirts still look good, the records still have cool layouts, it’s all still there, not really dulled at all by time. I was pretty disappointed I didn’t make it to their reunion show last fall, especially since I only really saw them twice when they were around. One more thing I gotta give credit for was how they were able to be a serious band, while still keeping a good sense of humor in interviews and on stage. If anything, the 90’s were plagued with overly serious, self important bands in every sub-genre around, and it’s safe to say, looking back a lot of it was presumptuous and I’d go so far to say some of it was downright insulting. Floorpunch was never caught in that trap. I mean their name defined, if it were in a dictionary, essentially means “To mosh.” Right there that tells you a thing or two, but even though the lyrics and music were simple, it still meant something. The anger was still there at the heart of it, and, even if some people don’t want to admit it, the rebellion against the outside world (and the larger “scene” for that matter). Also they always picked great cover songs.

So that’s not everything I was going to say, but that’s the gist of it. BUST!

Here’s a decent spread of NYHC style items. A lot of bootlegs but they’re all easily identifiable, and there’s a few that are actually pretty cool and nicely done.

Most interesting thing is this Krakdown 7″ with what seems to be an original insert, which is very rare. The story goes that they showed up to Kinkos to make lyric sheets but didn’t have enough money, and got sick of folding them or some such thing, so only a couple hundred were actually made. You almost never see a copy of this E.P. with an insert. Popular opinion, seems to be that their ‘87 demo smokes this recording, and though it is awesome, I think this record stands on its own for sure (even if the recording’s a little on the thin side). A jam like disappointed can’t just be written off quite that easily. If you don’t know Krakdown, well, you’re not necessarily to blame. They’re one of those NYHC bands stuck in reissue purgatory. I think their only available track is on the NYHC: The Way It Is comp, but they have a couple of demo recordings, this 7″, an unreleased split lp, and a wealth of great live sets. A real shame. They’ve always sort of been the NYHC equivalent to Void for me. They were looser and more punky than your average NYHC band with a wild and unhinged guitarist often that would break into squalls of feedback and stuttering atonal solos. Truly a cult classic.

I guess, continuing with the reissue purgatory is this Supertouch 7″ (titled: “What Did We Learn”). Supertouch is weird weird weird band, and until a few years ago they were in danger of being forgotten. I used to get made fun of for loving them in high school, I guess it finally came around though because Revelation recently repressed their album out of new interest in the band. This is their 7″ from before that though, and along with a couple of promo/demo recordings, a comp track on Revelation, and an infamous WNYU live set, it forms really the core of what the band was all about to people (besides stage diving that is). I still really can’t describe Supertouch right. Even on their earliest rehearsal recordings they mixed heavy grooving rock influenced guitar riffs, DC emo-core type melody, and NYHC attitude, delivering a really unlikely mix of all 3.

And then there’s this. Youth Of Today - Disengage on clear vinyl. I couldn’t help but see it and get annoyed. How similar it is to the Supertouch 7″, but how different as well. Disengage is a classic example of the washed-up Straight Edge record. The recording is clean and melodic. It’s a hard core 7″ but only has 3 songs. The cover doesn’t have the band name on it anywhere. The singer won’t scream anymore. While this isn’t far off the record named a few lines above here, the difference is that Youth of Today started off sounding like a bunch of Tasmanian Devils beating trashcans and stringed instruments (seriously listen to the original mix of their first E.P.), and thus it’s way more offensive to me. You’d think by now bands would have learned their lesson trying to transform their youthful hardcore band into some kind of half baked, reconfigured rock outfit, but it keeps happening. I feel like for 25 years it has been an endless cycle of youthful angry boys that make one or two good E.P.s, with a good intro or three, a couple catchy fast riffs, and then they start growing their hair, listening to Joy Division or Ride - or worse just another band of ex-HC guys like Quicksand or Into Another - and then it’s right on to the fanzine interviews where they talk about expanding their sound, how their old music is boring, all that shit. If only there was a way to tell these people that they are living out the same embarrassing cliche ending that so many bands before them have, on par with a high school football player choosing a white hat, or a Canadian citizen loving hockey.

By all means if you start a band feel free to grow, evolve, change, try new things, EXCEPT, if you start a straight edge hardcore band. If this is the path you choose please, all I ask is some good mosh parts, a singer with a powerful and unleashed yell, and at least one good t-shirt design (free of scratchy lettering, too many colors, and anything that has been on a hardcore band’s shirt in the last 6 years). This is all it takes folks. You don’t need to grow, you don’t need to get introspective, you don’t need to plagiarize that Sonic Youth lp you just bought. People have been playing rock music for a major chunk of the last century, so when you get over hardcore, please spare everyone the come-lately rocker vibe, and just quietly put down your guitar and shut up. Thank you in advance, and to all my formerly Straight Edge friends - I still love you.

I guess technically this should be on bid-proto-hardcore dot com. Once again we’ve got a seller with a bunch of clothing for sale, and a couple of interesting vinyl items. Most desirable is a decent looking copy of Crime “Hot Wire My Heart” backed with “Baby You’re So Repulsive”, their first release from 1976. I was struck with how memorable the Crime aesthetic was even before I’d actually heard their music. They have a big bold logo, they always look cool in promo photos, often in matching get-ups, and their promotional flyers always had cool looking pop-art type imagery. Something has been made of them being an early example of D.I.Y. type approach in punk music (Hotwire is a self financed/released single), and that’s worth at least a mention, but desirable records it does not necessarily make. The sound of Crime is interesting, it kicks up a mid-tempo rocking feel, not far off a solid glam band, maybe like one of those James Williamson era Stooges bootlegs, but even more rickety and loose, and with a sharp sardonic vocal delivery that’s altogether meaner than Iggs even at his most pissed. There’s something else I can’t quite put my finger on that makes the sound of Crime compelling though. Maybe it’s how it sounds like they don’t even care that the recording sounds like little more than a few mics standing in the middle of the racket, or the way the guitars seem to be getting bashed in and out of tune at various times. There’s just an intangible something about Crime that makes them cool as hell. If you’ve never checked out Crime you oughta be able to find the San Francisco’s Doomed anthology, or download their 3 singles (although the third sucks by all accounts) off any number of mp3 blogs.

1 more jam you might want up here is is this Major Conflict 7″. This is an early NYHC entry, and certainly an “also-ran”, famed partially for the fact that the group featured members of Urban Waste, and also for the movie and book, based in part on one of the member’s experiences in the band “A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints”. For NYHC trivialists, the 2nd Raw Deal demo (which was never officially released when the band was around, but is where their comp tracks come from, and was used to submit to In Effect to get signed) has a cover of the song Outgroup, which Raw Deal and later Killing Time later sometimes performed live. Anyhow, I can’t say this record is great, but it does have some cool parts. There’s only 3 songs, and they’re a little on the long side, and more tuneful and “rockin” than the sound Urban Waste were known for, but some people, including my associate AJ find the record, and it’s bizarre lyrics about walking down the street and being king of the jungle, to be endearing. Mad At The World records did a CD reissue of this 7″ along with an unreleased 12″ E.P. and some live material maybe 2-3 years back if you’re interested, but you could always just buy this very E.P.

OOPS — I almost didn’t notice this Accused/Rejectors split 12″the first Accused record (as noted), and I think (?) their only with their original singer before Blaine from the Fartz joined. I just learned he was also the singer on the 10-Minute Warning demo which is an exceptional tape trade obscurity. Can one of you hardcorepunkmetalfreaks get on reissuing that? The last song on my copy cuts off. Totally classic thrash, although it’s hard to tell the condition of the record from the photo.

Seller here has only 2 auctions even worth looking at, and they’re both the same record. Slipknot’s s/t 7″ on revelation, on black vinyl & limited red vinyl. Slipknot is a record best described as “infamous”, mostly for the fact that it sounds nothing like any of the other releases on the label at that time, but also for there being a famous band of the same name in the late 90’s. Unlike basically every record on Revelation up to that point which was derived from Youth Of Today, Agnostic Front, or somewhere in between, Slipknot were a bit of a “cross-over” band, that had most in common with Animosity-era Corrosion of Conformity, Money Talks phase Cryptic Slaughter, and maybe a bit of Septic Death as well. One thing they did keep in common with other bands on the label were message type lyrics, although they were more consistent with COC and Cryptic Slaughter type themes (anti-cop song, songs railing on the power elite). The record itself is quite ferocious and frankly I think the band could have had a decent career on NY’s Combat records, it’s funny how many people who would be into it aren’t familiar because of the Rev affiliation, the band name, and the sort of crappy sleeve on the thing.Whenst visiting RevHQ a couple years ago I saw founder Jordan Cooper sitting at one of the desks in the office. Cautiously I approached and asked for some Slipknot information, as if to illustrate how overlooked they are, he actually thought I was playing a joke. After I explained he opened up a little bit, but didn’t have much to offer in the way of info. There was a rehearsal demo produced by the band under the name Evil Dead, but they switched names probably because there was half a dozen other thrash metal bands with the same name. They were just some dudes from Conneticut doing the band mostly just to entertain themselves. They played CBGB’s one time and all the lights in the club went out which must have enhanced the sinister sound they had on display (or so I’d imagine). One thing people always said was Rev released this record because Jordan owed one of the band members money for pot (oh! the scandal!), but aside from it being denied of course, it sounds unlikely. It’s got a full color glossy cover, and my limited knowledge of the drug trade leads me to believe that’s just WAY too much pot for a dude to float you before asking for money.Here’s a photo of me holding the reels to the record as well as Breakdown the Walls:

Here’s a hot mess. Someone’s early 90’s shoebox of 7″s plenty plenty plenty of junk. But there’s some choice picks, like No Comment’s “Common Senseless” (why is this record so hard to come by?),  Trip 6’s one and only “No Defeat No Surrender”(plz don’t speak ill of the cover art), a bunch less remarkable things too like 7″s by Outburst, Against The Wall, Turning Point, early Seein Red, Confrontation. Also there’s 2 10″s, both by kinda weird bands, 1 is the post Brotherhood project, Resolution- foolishly this is not tagged as being pre-Sunn or Burning Witch. For all the bad music Greg Andersen has been involved with, he gets a pass for life for being in Brotherhood. Oh also there is the Demise 10″on Erich Keller’s Off The Disc, in fact it’s a rare variation limited to 100 copies. Demise were around the same time as Infest, and gigged around with some of the weird thrash bands in Cali but never found the same popularity that some of their peers did (I think in part because they took up some nationalist political views later on). This 10″, and their
Furnace of Tension 7″(which I believe is just remixed 10″ tracks?) are their best stuff which is still just OK at best. The clear gem in this stuff is the No Comment 7″. While it’s not an example of a perfect hardcore record (that would be their Downsided 7″), it’s damn near close. Andy Beatie (I think I spelled his name wrong), is one of the best vocalists ever to take up extreme music. Please someone - read this and get the Low Threat Profile e.p. released.  Trip 6 is a cool band probably most remembered for their track on the Revelation “The Way It Is” comp, and somewhat less so for being the band that The Psychos dissolved into. In fact the full recording session for this 7″ was actually a 12 song demo, about half comprised of re-done Psychos songs. Tommy Rat, the final singer for the Psychos has one of the burliest vocal styles in NYHC, kind of transposing the NY-Street vibe onto something that reminds me of Crucifix or some other such band… Trip 6 is hardly a peace punk band, but they have a dirty primitive sound and that’s what I mean when I say this.

Today’s post is sort of a clearing house for the other most interesting tapes I spotted on ebay this week. As a result, none of the tapes have anything to do with eachother, they’re about as unrelated as could be.

Firstly is this Gai “Damnation” tape from Japan. It’s not really clear even after consulting a few heads, whether this was released before or after the group had already disbanded, but it is considered to be official, and judging by the fact that the seller is auctioning a legit copy of Stalin “Trash” (among other gems) I would expect it to be an authentic original. Gai are one of the template for so many noize-core groups there after, and sadly, so many embarrassing myspace only punk bands. If you want to know about fuzzed out, dumbed down, noized up Japanese punk, check out www.shit-fi.com. There’s a great series that walks you through the essentials, and has some good downloads.

Next on the list: a Half-Off “Who Writes Your Rules” demo. Billy Rubin was the original ex-straight edge agitator, except he was never smart enough to make the kind of name and career for himself that Sam Mcpheters did. In fact I’d say he was a bit of a dunce, and an average hard core vocalist at best. Half-off is a thoroughly so-so band, but this demo is not bad, maybe better than their lp (with such ugly cover art) on New Beginning. Maybe if the drumming had not been so terrible, and the guitars a little more in tune, I’d cut the album a little more slack. Eventually the guitarist took his own life, and the remaining members formed Haywire, which kind of mixed a muscular post-Flag Rollins Band/Bl’ast rock, with heady Dan O’ type pseudo philosophical lyrics. I always wanted it to be good, but like Half-Off, my feeling is that it never sparked and caught fire.

Continuing on the “has nothing to do with the one before it” line: a Merauder demo for you! Truthfully my interest in NYHC stops before Merauder came on the scene by a year or two. But for post-Madball, post-Vulgar Display of Power, post-Obituary, dusted, gang related NYHC groups, there really is no other. Wait, that’s wrong. The scene in NY was choked with others in the mid-90s, but Merauder are considered one of the lasting greats. For me, it’s too hard. It’s just too hard. But for my friend Rob Buschgans, it’s just right,  and when he says “Hardest Out”, he’s speaking the truth. This demo is infamous because it predates the line-up on their “classic” Master Killer lp, and instead has a very scary dude, by the name of Minus on vocals (not that Jorge, the singer on that album isn’t also extremely scary).

Last up, another “completely unrelated” item, by a band who would probably be bummed to know they were getting mentioned right after Merauder, (but, if I ever cared less…): Midnight (PDX) - demo. This is not to be confused with the superior Midnight from Ohio who have been making records for the past few years. No, this is from Portland OR’s fertile crusty HC scene of the early 00’s. Though it’s one of the lesser-known releases of the time period, I expect that it’s going to be more and more sought after as time goes on, and had this demo been followed by a record, it would have most likely been one that was well liked. Anyhow, I guess the hook on this is it features the guitarist/main vocalist of From Ashes Rise, and I think at least one member of Lebenden Toten as well. The sound is pretty much like From Ashes Rise/HHIG/Tragedy - that epic/arena Crust sound. Maybe it’s a little more metallic, but the biggest difference I guess is the female vocals (though you probably wouldn’t know if no one told you - they’re very burley).

So ends this week of tapes, with the seemingly solid (on Tuesday) concept, fraying into a scatter-shot mess by Friday. Nonetheless, I’ll be back after the weekend, and it shall be business as usual.

Somehow I’m falling into a tape theme up in here. I didn’t mean to but scrolling through a bunch of really good records, these 3 cassettes stood out to me. All most definitely originals (I once shared an apartment with 2 Raw Deal demos). I never took the plunge on buying up original demo tapes but they’re undeniably cool, especially when from my favorite demo tape locale, NYC. I mean it’s no secret I can talk about this stuff more than any other microgenre in hardcore. To be totally exact though, one is from Connecticut, and another Long Island, but Raw Deal is undeniably New York City, Yonkers to be exact. Raw Deal took the blueprint that most of them had already laid out in Breakdown, injected a level of percision Breakdown never really seemed to have, and made a hell of a band out of it. The main thing that always struck me as the difference between the two was the much tighter drumming, and guitar playing, everything is more in synch. Don’t take that as a slight to Breakdown, who I honestly prefer, but Raw Deal, and later Killing Time, just come off more palletable. 

From Long Island, comes the classic Beyond “Dew It” demo. You could make a sound arguement for this being better than the No Longer At Ease lp they recorded just a year later. I wouldn’t, but one could. The level of fleeting youthful anger and uncertainty about the future on display is impressive with how clearly it’s articulated, and despite the lyrics getting a little day/way, slow/go, fast/last, the vocal phrasing is surprisingly well thought out, frequently breaking with and going against the flow of the song. Of course focusing on that would say nothing of the music itself which is shockingly well performed and nuanced, coming across in a way similar to Absolution at their best, but sounding completely and altogether different musically. That of course is still leaving out one important fact: Beyond are all highschool aged on this recording. Seasons was written by a bunch of 16 year olds, think about that. I mean REALLY think about that. It’s one thing to hear a band like the Teen Idles and have someone tell you “they’re only 18 on this recording”. It’s not really a surprise. Beyond at 16/17 years of age, not only were worlds more technically skilled than most of their peer group, but had the compositional skills to lay pretty much everyone not named Gavin van Vlack to waste.

Oh and there’s also the Wide Awake - “Hold True” demo, which is their most well known demo tape. Seriously what am I supposed to say about a demo tape that has an X’d up character from Family Circus on it. The 7″ is pretty good late 80s SxE HC cheese, but like the same way Polly-O string cheese is good. It’s not exactly the best idea to try and subsist off it.

More tapes tomorrow?

Yo, I’m a little short on time today, but here’s some hott picks anyway.

 First off found a dude selling a Sean John jacket, a SOIA cd, and oh a little 12″ called Breakaway, by one of the finer HC bands ever, Straight Ahead. This is the first press w/ the white DJ jacket and sticker. One just sold for $150, which is effin crazy, but this dude (stupidly) refuses to ship international, meaning that only people with the weak US dollar will be bidding on it. It’s like he opened a cake shop where fat people can’t fit through the door.

Anyway, Straight Ahead made me think of Lärm and I found this store in austrailia with their “No One Can Be That Dumb” e.p. I wish there were more bands that played the kind of tuneless thrash that they played in their day, that were also straight edge, and I was disappointed to hear that the whole band no longer is, (although Seein Red is still pretty ripping in their relatively old age).

Anyhow, after checking the other records for sale by this seller I noticed an OG Hitler SS/Tampax split, which if you’re a real baller, might be of interest to you. Me, I gotta pay that rent check.

Yet another fine collection, some real garbage, but a lot of gems. Note there’s another
Poison Idea “Getting The Fear” 12″ in here w/ poster and it’s lookin like it will go high like the last one. IMO each of those songs is easily worth $40 American, so I guess $80-ish is reasonable.

Got a Blast “Power Of Expression” on Wishingwell in here. I passed one of these up like a fool recently because I just assumed it was the SST press when some friends and I were dipping through a personal record sale by an acquaintance. I’ve always kind of wondered how “Fuckin’ With My Head” didn’t get voted down at Blast practice. Like how was anyone able to defend it?

Clifford: I dunno guys, I mean, it’s basically just Can’t Decide by Black Flag.

Neider:  Dude c’mon, it’s not THAT much like Black Flag. There’s goes “dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun” but ours goes “”dun dun dun-DUN dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun”…

Producer of Ice Ice Baby (to self): Note to self, remember what that guy just said and use it as a defense later…  

 Bill Torgerson: You know what else? It’s sad that I’m going to be a severely under-rated drummer in 20 years. I have groove!

I’ll discontinue my Blast fan-fiction here, but why did they think no one would notice? Nevertheless, this is one of the very very best of the mid-80s in the USA. No one can deny the power or the way they play so deep in the pocket, that even the fast parts feel like you’re in slow motion (and that’s a compliment). Now someone please: reissue the M.A.D. demo (please not Brian GTA). 

Got a 
Murderers Among Us comp up in the mix there… Obviously worth it alone for the 2nd best Absolution song (Dead and Gone), which is also the best Absolution mosh part. The level of sophistication that they were able to operate at on a track such as this one, while still sounding so rabid and unhinged, is something I feel has rarely been matched since then, and there was really no comparison to at the time. If they’d chosen different songs for their 7″ ep (Fall Of A Nation, Take Control, Not This Time, Dead and Gone, Blessed With Awareness) their legend would be more properly cemented. Absolution is without a doubt the best example of a “should-have-been”. The  people that were there know, or if you were born too late, and have only had the videos and dubbed cassettes to study, maybe you know too, but for the most part, they can’t be talked about without discussing what a misrepresentation their e.p. is. Oh the rest of the Murderers Among Us comp? I guess if you want the worst Born Against song (yea I said it), an average Life’s Blood song, and a subpar Nausea offering, we could talk about it. But I’d rather just hear Dead and Gone 4 times in a row.
Some other cool stuff up in here…
Swiz, Judge, DRI, Warzone, Cro Mags, you can have a look for yourself.

Alright, I feel slightly unsure of myself on this one, but I’m pretty sure I am right. This guy is selling a small amount of stuff and I noticed he’s selling boots of the Unity 7″, Skins Brains Guts, and the Cause For Alarm 7″, nonetheless, I am pretty certain this is a real Agnostic Front “United Blood”. You may want to email the guy and get some further photos to verify, but the sleeve looks right, the labels look right, and it seems to coincide w/ pressing info. One thing I find reassuring is that the sides are taped with scotch tape which is how a lot of the copies of the record originally came, because I guess there was a shortage of glue on the Lower East Side at the time or something? United Blood is the absolute ultimate proof that skill and ability are absolutely unnecessary to play convincing, memorable, and timeless hard core.

If skill is your thing though, there is this Judge “There Will Be Quiet” 7″ on gold vinyl. Forget This Time is a good, post Metallica jaded hardcore shit-kicker. 1,000 on gold vinyl btw. As good as this is (and it’s pretty good) it’s still no United Blood though.