Show Pics - Another Mistake, Diamondz R 4 Eva, Nasty Asshole 2 - 1/9 @ Kenny's House

Another Mistake

Diamondz R 4 Eva

Nasty Asshole 2

Show Pics - Focused Minds, Discourse, Nate's pop punk band - 11/18/11 @ Charles Mansion

Focused Minds

Discourse

Nate's band

Favorite 7"s of 2011

I've always felt that that hardcore bands have presented themselves best on a shorter length format than that of a longer player.  2011 had it's fair share of good 7"s, 45 and eps and it was quite hard to decide what releases I liked best.  However, with repeated listening I present my favorite 7"s from the past 12 months (in alphabetical order).  Click links to buy.


Culo - Toxic Vision (Deranged Records)

This young Illinois hardcore band's record from last year nearly made my best of list, but earned it this time around with their 3rd 7" Toxic Vision.  Culo play tried and true 80's styled hardcore, but with more varying speeds this time around.  The production and drumming have been a bit more cleaned up compared to previous material and it works to the bands benefit.  Great lyric topics of hating everything and getting fucked up... everything hardcore should be about.





Hank Wood and the Hammerheads - 7"  (Toxic State)

Who is Hank Wood?  I don't know, and it doesn't matter because this 7" rules.  This band plays a more punk version of garage rock, aka GOOD garage rock.  The opening track is quite infectious and has the best vocal call out ever; UUUUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHHHHH!  There are some keys in there, the ever so popular surf-drumbeat over inaudible vocals. I'd like to hear more. This is party music.






Herds - Michigan  (Residue Records)

Coming off a great lp from a year before, Herds come back with a hardcore 7" that is heavy, fast, and punishing.  This band is made up of seasoned scene veterans and it shows on this recording with their playing ability.  The production on this 4 song short player is top-notch as well.  This was probably my most played 7" of the year.







Neo-Cons - 7"  (Deranged Records)

Neo-Cons play melodic, rockin' punk that is upbeat and catchy.  What separates this band from others playing this style of punk is the amount of personality the vocalist brings to the music.  I can totally relate to the lyric topics with songs like High Anxiety, Can't Sleep and Don't Touch Me.  Neo-Cons also released an awesome 45 this year called Hardcore Elite that is also a must listen.






No Tolerance - No Remorse, No Tolerance (Youngblood)

X the fuck up and let's mosh.  This popular Boston hardcore band is back with their first 7" as a full band.  Sadly, they slowed it down a bit from the demo, but the power in the music is still there.  This is unabashed straight edge pride here as No Tolerance rip thought 6 songs in 6 minutes.  Plenty of dance parts for the most fickle hardcore fan.  BUST!







Perdition - 7"  (Toxic State)

Out of NYC comes my favorite raw punk release of the year.  These guys borrow heavily from the UK82 sound and image complete with the spiky jackets and charged hair.  Perdition also mixes in a heavy dose of Japanese influenced noise on this bands third 7".  I'm  also feeling the heavy cardstock, screen printed packaging that give this release a cool D.I.Y. throwback feel.






Put To Death - 7"  (DSP Records)

This band doesn't fuck around at all.  Put To Death play only one speed... blasting fast.  By this point everyone knows what the classic 90's PV sound is, and this is one of the few bands who can do it right.









Slobs - Look Busy, Do Nothing  (Cowabunga Records)

Slobs from Montreal play a style of fast 80's hardcore that is a bit different than other bands mostly due to the distortionless guitars that to me sounds fresh compared to the sea of bands who try to play as brutal and downtuned as possible.  Good stuff.








Social Circkle - Expiration Date  (Side Two Records)

Sadly, this Boston area band called it quits this year, but before doing so they released one final great 7".  The jangly guitars that the band is known for is still there, but the song writing in my opinion has been stepped up even more for this short-player.  Coming back to the speeds of their pre-lp 7"s, Social Circkle come strong with to me could be the best song they have ever written with the song Up The Ladder that has really cool start/stop guitar playing.  Au revoir!

Favorite LPs of 2011

It's about two weeks into 2012, so I got my ass into gear and have finally came up with my best of lists of 2011.  Here are my favorite wax long players of 2011 (in alphabetical order).  Click the links if you wanna buy 'em.

Arctic Flowers - Reveries  (Inimical Records)

Arctic Flowers from PDX released their debut lp further fleshing out their early 80's peace punk style a-la Crass Records but with slicker song writing and melodic female vocals.  The guitar riffs/leads are tasteful and catchy without being an over the top noodle fest.  There are a few faster songs, but the mid-paced ones steal the show.  A great punk record.

Brain Killer - Every Actual State Is Corrupt  (Deranged Records)

Here is a band from Boston that doesn't play anything that resembles the classic Boston hardcore sound at all.  Instead what we have here is raw d-beat hardcore with lots of over the top feedback and screaming.  The vocals are a bit different compared to previous releases and I feel it's for the better.  I'm also feeling the earnest spoken intro and ending tracks in this 11 track lp.  Awesome gate-fold packaging to boot.

Dead Language - LP  (Iron Lung Records)

Full on blasting PV played by the most seasoned veterans of the genre make up the group on this awesome lp.  Side 2 slows things down to a crawl and it's some of the most powerful music I've heard all year.  Nothing genre reinventing, but just 20 minutes of straight up brutality.  Easily my favorite record on the year for this style.  Slick packaging.

Kim Phuc - Copsucker  (Iron Lung Records)

Here is a band I've seen records of but never checked out until I got a hold of this lp.  I didn't know what to expect but what I got was an awesome lp of discordant, moody, and melodic punk/post-punk style that warranted repeated listens ever since I've had the record.  It's not brutal or fast... it's just FUCKING GOOD!

Nazi Dust - Wretched Hour  (Vinyl Rites)

Nazi Dust are back with a 1-sided 12" and improve on their nasty take on straight forward, fast, raw hardcore taking strong elements from Siege and Deep Wound.  Awesome vocal delivery with the minimalist negative/artsy lyrics that everyone loves.

Omegas - Blasts Of Lunacy  (Parts Unknown Records)

Killer mid-80s NYHC inspired hardcore from Monteral that has just enough speed and plenty of mosh to keep my interest.  Omegas vocalist has plenty of personality in his vocal delivery that makes the band stand out above other bands trying to play this style.  12 tracks of pure "slam skank".

Vacant State - Fill The Void  (Deranged Records)

I've followed this band since their previous 7"s liking the style but feeling just so-so about the songs.  However, Vacant State's debut lp pretty much destroys the previous material releasing a great fast, no-frills early 80's USHC inspired lp.  Vacant State isn't rewriting the style at all, and this is exactly what I want to hear.  Pure hardcore for the hardcore. 

Warning//Warning - There's Nothing Left  (Solar Funeral)

Warning//Warning released one of the most over the top Japanese inspired NOISEhardcore tapes last year that went to the top of my favorite list.  This French band released this lp just before doing a short tour in the US back in November, and continues down the path of audio destruction as in the past.  The production seems a bit more tidy compared to the tape, but when you play this insane, nothing can save you.  The lyric sheet  goes out a bit further than normal with song explanations, and although it can be redundant, it's something I can get behind here.    

2011 Local Poll Results - Top 6

The polls are closed and the results are in.  Here are the top 6 albums from 2011 the
local Nebraska underground scene selected and you voted on.  Thanks for voting!

Milk Music - Live at WFMU

Autopsy - Macabre Eternal

Trap Them - Darker Handcraft

The Men - Leave Home

Noisear - Subvert the Dominant Paradigm

Orchid - Capricorn

Happy New Year, yada yada yada... + blog update

2012 already?  Damn.  I remember last January when the Tear It Up reunion show was announced and I can't believe that a full year has passed since then.  I hope everyone was safe while celebrating New Years Eve festives.  Anyway, I would like to formally announce that Crucial Changes is planning on displaying a table at Chicago Zine Fest 2012!  I'm still waiting on a follow up email from the organizers, but I'm gonna go ahead and go public with the announcement now.  I haven't been wasting any time getting ready for Chicago  Zine Fest in early March by getting a head start on reprinting back issues of the zines I have done in the past.  For some reason, I have been having a hard time finding the PDF of my first zine but I still have the raw pages saved in Scribus.  The last two nights I have finished reprinting my photo zine Scenes, limited to 20 copies.  I still need to finish the new intro page that will be included in all reprints, but once that is done, I can begin the binding process.  I recently bought a trimmer, so all further zine and CD-R projects will be cleaner.  Scenes should be ready by tomorrow night.  Up next, I'll have to solve the missing PDF problem of my first zine, and possibly reprint Interview(s) within the next few days.  My goal is to have all back-printed material done within the next two weeks to allow myself plenty of time to get the Stranger Randy comic done in the way I'd like it.  I will also be re-releasing the comp. CD-Rs I did last year on one cd just for fun.  I'll have more updates as they happen about my progress leading up to the event.

This is how I do it.

In other blog news, things have been kind of slow show wise, so I haven't had any opportunities to snap off some show photos to share.  Speaking of photos, I still have one roll of film from last year that will be processed as soon as I expose a couple more rolls.  As you can also see, that there is a a poll that has been running for nearly a week now.  So far the participation has been pretty good, and expect mini reviews of the top voted releases.  Please note that this is not a list I came up with so if any of the albums listed in the poll are not from 2011, don't tell me.  However, if there is an album MISSING from the list that you loved in 2011, please feel free to mention it via a comment.  The poll ends in less than a week, and thanks to everyone who has participated so far.  Within the next week, I will have a special feature of three guest reviewers (names withheld) that will mention their favorite releases of the year.  It should be fun, and I am pretty excited to see what will be on their lists.  Speaking of year-end lists, I will have mine out within the next week.  I'm putting it off by a few days, because I'm still waiting on some wax that I ordered too close to the holidays that I would like to digest a bit before I can write up my final lists.  OK, that's it for now.  Expect more updates, as well as the year end local's choice poll results, as well as the guest reviews, as well as my top records of 2011 list as well.  Here's to a new year!  Peace.

-Keith