Cornfed Zine Issue #1 available now.

Local Omaha scenester Dann Ciembor has recently finished his debut hardcore fanzine titled Cornfed, and it's available now for everyone to check out. This half-page zine features interviews with local Omaha hardcore band Muridia (now broken up), local hardcore video producer extraordinaire (and overall nice guy) Kyle Benecke, and some dude who does a local hardcore blog. Cornfed also has two guest columns by Bostonian Claire B, who writes and maintains a vegan baking blog, and Lauren from Maryland who submits a well written gender issues article. Also within the zine is a few mini reviews of bands: Mad Minds, Brain Dump, Fraud, and a download link for the Integrity Off The Bat demo. The beginning of the zone... err I mean zine has a nice but poorly edited (yo man, hire me!) introduction and rant by Dann himself that he is well aware of, so just overlook that. Copies are very limited, email Dann if you would like to buy an issue. dannciembor@hotmail.com

Crucial Changes Picks #1: Re-presses and reissues

Here at the Crucial Changes HQ, we can appreciate a good, high quality "fan club" pressing of a classic or a hard to find hardcore releases. Before the Internet enabled us to download just about any old gem from the past instantly, fan club pressings of certain records were pretty much the only way to hear classic, hard to find releases without having to shell out a lot of money for the originals. However, recently I have noticed that some albums have been receiving official re-pressings and reissues for a low price. Some of the nicely done re-releases like the Turning Point and JUDGE discography lp's are perfect for the fans to get a chance to own the vinyl. There has also been some releases that are currently being re-pressed and available again aren't necessarily hard to get but are noteworthy. Dischord Records have fresh new represses of FUGAZI's back catalog that I would recommend checking out. Bridge 9 Records has stated they will be repressing fresh vinyl for Agnostic Front's classic debut lp Victim In Pain later this year. Also recently, Cold Sweat's debut lp, Severed Ties has been available again on vinyl. I've also heard in months past that Six Feet Under Records will be re-reissuing and re-releasing the modern classic Tear It Up - Nothing To Nothing lp. In some occasions, labels will go all out produce an insane package of an re-release, as seen with the epic Floor box set. As long as the quality is nicely done, classic album reissues are a great way to get into some great gems of the past. Here is a short list of some of Crucial Changes favorite official represses of classic that are currently available that I feel are gems from the past that are worth checking out.

Here is the Crucial Changes Picks #1: Represses and reissues:


KORO - 700 Club 7"

Sorry State Records have made this amazing 7" available to the masses with a nice remaster job and true to the original sleeve. Tight and fast early 80's hardcore from Knoxville, TN with songs that clock in under a minute. In my opinion, one of the best hardcore 7"s of all time. Buy it!


Citizen's Arrest - Colossus (discography) 2xlp

This is the official lp re-press from one of the best late 80's NY hardcore bands. Anti Goth Records goes well beyond the ordinary by not only re-releasing Citizen's Arrest descent but not classic Colossus lp, but also contains pretty much everything they recorded including their 1989 demo, the classic 7", compilation tracks, album, unreleased Red C cover (33 songs total!). Everything is on two lp's and comes in a nice gate-fold sleeve with original artwork and also comes with a poster and a booklet. Highly recommended!


F - You Are The EP/Mess You Up lp

One of the best Florida hardcore punk bands from the 80's get a remaster and repress job of their Mess You Up lp plus the amazing You Are The EP added as bonus tracks. Limited pressing to 333 copies.


Ill Repute - What Happens Next? lp

This is the 1st time this classic "Nardcore" lp has been repressed by Mystic Records and contains the the Land Of No Toilets ep as a bonus. The bass lines are insane and super fast. Early Cali hardcore at it's finest.


Zero Boys - Vicious Circle lp

One of the best early 80's Midwest hardcore punk lp's is available again and remastered via Secretly Canadian Records. Awesome mid paced punk not unlike The Ramones with great guitar riff and leads and awesome lyrics. Essential record for any genre. You need this.


What are some of your favorite hardcore or punk albums that have been repressed or reissued? Leave a comment and let me know what your picks are.

-Keith

Fall is officially here...

Summer has finally come to an end and fall is here. Students have already returned to school, football season has started, days are getting shorter, and the leaves are starting to change. The last 3 months of the year have brought quite a few good shows to Nebraska with quite a bit of variety style wise. I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to write up a brief recap the summer scene as well as the upcoming shows this fall. So here it is...


The summer started off with a local hardcore band breaking up. Era played their last show early June to a good sized group of friends at the Ghost House with all local bands as support. Era's last show went really well with good crowd participation and the band sounded as good as I've ever heard them before. You can get whatever records the band has left over from Nihilism Records. In mid-June Hercules officially released their 2nd lp Moonriders to the masses playing a large release show before going on what seems to be never ending tours. Second press of Moonriders on green vinyl should still be available via Nihilism Records. In other release news this summer, power violence heshers Hominoid, and party core extraordinaires Highdive both released demo tapes this year (click band name to buy). Earlier in the summer, Clean Sweep and Velawsa Rapture also released good cd-r demos that is worth checking out. Math rockers Techlepathy have a brand new disc out as well on the legendary (to me) local label Speed! Nebraska. These guys are good so check them out. This summer I also got to see a few new local bands: skate-rockers Deadtread, the old styled Chopping Block, Pop-punkers Hoof Hearted and Thunderbolts, and the blackened Vermin all played out for the 1st time this summer to good crowd responses. Expect to see recorded material from these bands soon. My local favorites, Wasteoid played out quite a bit this summer, and I've heard rumors of new recorded material could be coming out sometime in the near future.

Robots Don't Cry brought the summer to a close with a reunion/final show. Robots Don't Cry's entire set was recorded, so I'm sure this recording will surface sometime in the near future, so keep your ears open for that. In other local news, OLD schoolers, Cordial Spew have been playing shows here and there throughout Omaha. These guys originally started in the late-80's and play a skatepunk style of hardcore that is a lot of fun to see, especially coming from dudes who are your parents age. Finally, Lincoln screamo band Ghost Towns officially have their posthumous split 7" w/ Lautrec for everyone to check out. Bringing an end to the summer, Box Awesome in Lincoln has closed it's doors and will serve as a teen dance hall that will no longer feature live hardcore shows. It's always sad to see places to play go away, R.I.P. For the national acts, just about every show this summer was awesome. MDC, Foundation, and Cruel Hand all really stood out. I'm glad some bands still think of middle America when they plan out their tours. I'd like to give big shout out to the promoters: Accidental Therapy & and Black Heart Booking, and houses: Ghost House, The Manor, The Milhouse, and 12 Deep House along with everyone else who has helped at all the shows, we'd have nothing without you.


The fall show lineups are slowing taking shape. So far Soul Control and Rotting Out will be rolling into town September 25th playing Ghost House with local support from Hercules, and Clean Sweep. Forfeit will be returning to Nebraska for the 3rd time to play Ghost House on October 5th with Backtrack. I expect to see the mosh brought again for this show. Death Before Dishonor will return to Omaha bringing Steel Nation to play the floor of Mosaic in late October. I missed them the first time through earlier this summer so I'm pretty excited to get a second chance to see them this year. Melodic hardcore favorites Strike Anywhere will be in town this month with Ruiner as well. For all the local hardcore show listings, check out the Nebraska Hardcore Myspace for all the upcoming show info. It's updated regularly so be sure to check it often.


Here at the Crucial Changes HQ things have been on a steady pace. Soon (more than likely tomorrow), I want to talk about all the classic hardcore albums that have received official re-pressings recently and where you can buy them. Very soon, another installment of local demo downloads is going to be up sometime this month. It seems like lots of new bands are popping up, so be on the lookout for some new local music. I'd also would like to get in an long over due local spotlight (sorry I've been so lazy on those). In mid-October I'll be taking my 2nd hardcore road trip of the year to Chicago to see the almighty Cro-Mags and the recently active Marauder are playing the final Jim Grimes promoted show with awesome local Chicago hardcore bands playing as support. I'm really excited for this show, and hopefully I'll be able to get a good vantage point to take some good action shots. Expect to see a full show review as well as a travel story with special photos. That is it for now, more local hardcore news and adventures will be posted as they happen. Peace.

-Keith

Review of Adbusters - Issue #86 - The Virtual/Natural World + Reader comment request

The new Nov/Dec issue of the anti-consumerist, glossy publication brings up valid observations of the very thing that you are reading this blog from... the Internet. The entire issue is devoted to how many of Americans, as well as Chinese and Japanese are plugging into the Internet to build an alternate life and how it could potentially effect you in the natural world. I found it a very interesting issue and really brought up some questions about how we live our personal lives with so much revolving around Facebook/Myspace friends and cellphone/texting technologies that may prevent us from developing real personal connections in a person to person way. It is a very interesting issue and I would recommend checking it out. Here is a small snip-it of one of the articles of the magazine taken directly from the Adbusters online blog:

How’s your online life? Are you happily learning, creating, interconnecting … or is your digital existence growing flatter, duller and ever more predictable? As physical reality crumbles, the bluish glow of the virtual realm beckons and humanity is presented with a Faustian temptation: to abandon our evolutionary home (it’s too damn hot, messy and boring anyway) and become psychic hives of activity in cyberspace.


Do you feel that the Internet has become too much of a factor into our interpersonal lives? Do you see it as a problem or becoming a problem in the future as more and more people are becoming more intertwined with their online identities? Let me know what you think and comment freely below.

-Keith

Rorschach reunion dates posted

Earlier this week, seminal NJHC band Rorschach have confirmed the show details for their upcoming reunion shows. I would highly recommend seeing one of these dates if you live within the area.

9/23 Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz w/ Pulling Teeth, Forensics

9/24 Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes w/ The Black Kites, Torchbearer
purchase tickets

9/25 New York, NY @ Santos Party House w/ Celebrity Murders, The Degenerics
purchase tickets

9/26 Boston, MA @ The ICC w/ Doomriders

9/27 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church w/ 1.6 Band, Halo of Snakes
purchase tickets

Show Pics - MDC, Cordial Spew ,+ more! - 8/23/09 @ Mosaic