Cianide - A Descent Into Hell (1994)

I've been readinga few "best of" lists from 2011, and the only record that I've listened to with any consistency from 2011 is Cianide's Gods of Death. As such, I present you with one of Cianide's early achievements. This band has been basically putting out the same album since the early 1990s. This albums is a logical extrapolation of Hellhammer's Apocalyptic Raids as well as "Procreation of the Wicked." This is fully primitive, and fully cohesive. Support this band.

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Jimmy Jones - Watch Out for da Big Girl (1996)

Watch out for da big girl. Watch out for da big girl. Watch out for da big girl. Watch out for da big girl. Watch out for da big girl. Wath ouy foe ad gig birl.

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Arab on Radar - Queen Hygiene II (1997)

As a man afflicted with sexual dysfunction in the form of debilitating delayed ejaculation, Arab on Radar comforts me. I'm not the only one. I'm not the only one who is broken.

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Gorguts - Obscura (1998)

One of my first trips to Chicago's Metal Haven (RIP) was part of a lunch date with my mother. I had recently gotten into "technical death metal" and I was obsessed with Cryptopsy. I hadn't heard Gorguts, but I was aware that they were another totally crazy French-Canadian death metal band. A promo copy of Obscura was in the used section, and I bought it (along with a dumb Marduk CD I think). I put it on in the car ride home, and my mom immediately asked me to turn it off.

This record is absolutely insane. So heavy. So weird. Consistently one of my favorite albums ever since that fateful day what must have been eight years ago.

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Party Boyz - The Bass, The Booty & The Cash (1992)

I've been posting a lot of serious metal records recently, so maybe you guys forgot that I like Miami bass. While Miami produced many impeccable singles such as "Tootsee Roll," "Face Down, Ass Up," and "Whoomp! (There It Is)," the full-length albums from these artists were surprisingly good as well. We've got a sort of Motorhead effect, where consistency and steadiness rule the day. Clearly, there is a Miami bass framework, and, if you just plug in clever and vulgar lyrics, you can create LP after LP of songs that I want to listen to.

The highlight of this record is obviously "give me hed til I'm ded." I too am the one who wants head until I'm dead.

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Varathron - His Majesty at the Swamp (1993)

For a brief period in the early 1990s, Greek metal bands zeroed in on the "epic but not cheesy" market. This album is the best of the bunch as far as I'm concerned.

Tempos rarely rise above a mid-paced stomp, giving this album the feel of Celtic Frost's "Procreation of the Wicked" or one of Iron Maiden's longer epics, and this album is full of harmonic minor single-string riffs. Also, do you guys remember when Dave Mustaine freaked out about sharing a bill with Rotting Christ and also had beef with Dissection? Hilarious.

Slowwwwwwwww.

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Alkaline Trio - Alkaline Trio (2000)

Just got back from a stint on the fucking Warped Tour defending pop punk with my doggs in This Time Next Year. Surreal and exhausting experience as a whole. I grew as a person a bit, and also delved into modernist fiction. As such, here is a Warped Tour related post. I made an effort to watch Alkaline Trio as many times as I could because they didn't always play the same setlist, and they were one of my favorite bands growing up in the post-Slapstick Chicago punk scene. My life was made up of teenage depression and shows at the Fireside & The Metro featuring The Lawrence Arms, The Honor System & Alkaline Trio. I don't think I ever saw Tuesday, though.

Anyway, this is a fantastic collection of raw pop punk songs where dudes obviously like The Misfits. Skiba always fakes the chorus the first time through, either by singing it an octave low or doing it instrumental or by skipping it altogether. Also, resolving a sixth up a half step to a power chord on the tonic is super common. Kind of a black metal sound, which is interesting because I had a brief conversation with Skiba about black metal and his Until the Light Takes Us shirt. I wonder if his interest in this musical subculture came before or after he wrote these songs.

Remember that I got into US Maple because of the lyrics to "Goodbye Forever." When a man says ow...

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DJ D-Man & Billy Boy - Dooky Boody (1995)

My friend Bria recently asked me to help her track down the songs on this list. I was surprised about the lack of availability of most of this material via my usual internet piracy waters, and I had to resort to old-ass tricks to dig most of it up. This inspired me to post this dang ol Dooky Boody so that someone who is looking for it can find it and discover pleasure in their lives.

"She got a big ol dooky boody" is one of my favorite vocal hooks to come out of my home city, and that paired with the "duh doo doo dun dun dun" melody is a real tapeworm for your ears' dookie booties. The production on this track isn't really that cool since it's mostly just a Percolator sampler, but I don't even care at all because the only thing I can think of is a nice .7 waist-to-hip ratio. Although maybe a "Dooky Boody" is more like a .15 or something. Check Urban Dictionary.

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Lisa Gerrard - The Mirror Pool (1995)

All of my readers should already have all of Dead Can Dance's releases, so here's Lisa Gerrard's first solo album which really just sounds like another Dead Can Dance Record. My recent musical exploration has taken me to look into solo works of artists that I like (Paul Westerberg, Bob Mould, Brendan Perry, Lisa Gerrard, Sisqo, etc).

The melodic possibilities of harmonic minor and its modes are explored in fascinating detail here. The songs are less "song-like" than a lot of Dead Can Dance material and function more as melodic adventures over droning backgrounds. I wonder how much of this is improvised, and I wonder how many cues Lisa took from Kind of Blue and how many she took from Indian classical music. That said, shit still sounds medieval as fuck, so blast this Lisa Gerrard album and this youtube video simultaneously and enjoy the best that life has to offer.

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Demigod - The Slumber of Sullen Eyes (1992)

What makes this Scandinavian death metal release special is the darkness & murkiness that it shares with bands like Incantation & Immolation. Some of the melodic leads tend in a direction typical of Swedish death metal, but the dirges and mid-paced parts weigh the atmosphere down. For a perfect example of what I'm talking about, consider about four minutes into "Embrace the Darkness/Blood of the Punished." There is a nice melodic lead over a weird0 wobbly super low frownfest riff; love this juxtaposition of different sides of the death metal spectrum.

Demigod are willing to let a riff ride, which is a very admirable trait when riffs are good. This restraint is particularly admirable amongst riff-happy death metal bands. Phrases are often longer than the standard two measure melodic arc, and slight variations in percussion give motion. What a good way to write songs. Man although the one riff on the record that makes me go insane every time I hear it (the thirds with the backbeat about halfway through the title track) gets shorted a bit. Dang!

In conclusion, this Finnish band makes me think of sinking into a swamp more than any NOLA sludge ever has. A bog flows from my mouth, a bog flows from my mouth, a bog flows from my mouth.

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Magnolia Slim - Dark Side (1995)

This Magnolia Slim aka Soulja Slim record starts with Method Man telling you he's gonna send your ass back to the dark side, which is awesome. This release fits loosely into the New Orleans bounce scene, which is beautifully documented over at Twankle & Glisten. However, as a big-brained ape like yourself might guess, this release tends a bit towards the darker side than any of the other stuff from New Orleans that I've heard. Actually, David Gilmour commissioned this recording after being inspired by "Dub Side of the Moon." Each of these songs is based upon a Pink Floyd lyric.

It has a bit of that eery, lo-fi feel that characterizes the stuff coming out a few miles north in Memphis. As is typical of these lo-fi recordings, vocals are muffled and the occasional double-tracking further pushes the voice into the "supplemental rhythmic instrument" category. Slim's delivery certainly has elements of the sing-song bounce style, as well as that peculiar, Thelonious-esque deviation from the beat. God I love that measured awkwardness. What matters though is that this has that stark, slightly melancholy feel that characterizes everything that I truly love. I want you to listen to this.

And hey, "The Dark Side" has the same sample as that Notorious BIG song. #RIPBIG And also #RIPSlim

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Morpheus Descends - Ritual of Infinity (1992)

Retardedly primitive and heavy death metal with that percussive New York sound. Linear, riff salad song structures that don't meander off into irrelevance like most current technical death metal bands. This is not a random collection of upbeats and pinch harmonics; these songs detail one path of a branched narrative.

Detuned power chord melodies swirl in sonic whirlpools before coalescing into an absolutely devastating riff that just completely blindsides you. See "Proclaimed Creator" for an example. This song gets my vote for having the most crushing death metal part ever recorded.

Also, the production is hilarious, and each kick drum hit does that weird volume swelling thing, which actually makes this a lot more primitive and heavy. Hey Andy, why does that happen again? Basically, I'm going to steal some of these ideas for Like Rats.

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US Maple - Sang Phat Editor (1997)

Like many teenage punk rockers, I first heard of US Maple via a catchy Alkaline Trio song. At the time, I was probably 15 and I thought I was into "some really crazy stuff" like At the Drive-In. Cool, man. US Maple, however, bummed me the fuck out, and that rules. Bum outs rule.

Those weirdo Napster found files stuck around in my life for awhile until I was ready for them, and, since then, US Maple has been dear to my heart.

Anyway, with any sort of modernist, deconstructionist what-have-you, you often run into the problem of "cool idea, too bad I never want to listen to it." This is not a problem with US Maple. Their damaged, chopped in half rock riffs have just the right style of discordant melody for my ears. Is it weird to say that the intro to "Mountaintop" is one of the catchiest things I've heard?

Also, I came across this video documenting US Maple recording Acre Thrills. The most fascinating part is the sequences showing the vocal tracking, because dude meticulously plans out and notates how his voice should sound on each part. Fucking awesome.

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Also, please note that I made a guest mix for top-notch internet destination ILLOGICAL CONTRAPTION. The theme is "THE FUTURE" and I spent some time making something that I'm proud of that tells a narrative about what might happen someday. Please enjoy this music HERE.

Originoo Gunn Clappaz - Da Storm (1996)

I looked at the "Boot Camp Clik" label over on the left there, and I was surprised to only see a little "1" in parentheses next to it. This is something that must change. ORIGINOO GUNN CLAPPAZ 2 DA RESKEW. Yeah with that gritty New York sound that I love.

Beatminerz provide stark, understated production. The arpeggios in "Gunn Clapp" take me to a better place, and "Danjer" reminds me of the dungeon music in some sort of Secret of Mana-ass video game. Oh yeah and notice the shared sample in "Da Storm" and the Dr. Octagon intro. Short post this week, so rest your eyes with some seltzer water and pumpernickel bread.

What's up what's up, what's up what's up what's up.

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Carmike - Comin at yo Azz (1994)

At this point, it should be pretty easy for you readers to guess my favorite genres of music: late 80s/early 90s metal, 60s pop, bossa nova, Prince, and early 90s hip-hop. And yeah, shit was fucking weird in Memphis in the early 90s. You may remember me talking about this before in the infancy of this blog in this Graveyard Productions post. If you never saw that post, you should probably spend some time reading through my archives because everything I post on here seriously rules.

This is another record whose sounds make me physically uncomfortable (see also: Godflesh - Streetcleaner, Whitehouse). The lo-fi, washed out production, and strangely affected vocal delivery and doubling create a total psychological immersion similar to the most primitive black metal. Hooks are barely intelligible, stuttering chopped up phrases with the moaning of the damned in the background. The vision required to create this sort of horrific sonic gestalt is astonishing.

Also, I usually skip the "Dedications" track, but I just noticed that he says "That solo tape gonna be hittin they ass in the face," which is really funny.

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Asphyx - The Rack (1991)

This record fills me with nostalgia. As a teenager, I was an angsty idiot mired in spazzy post-hardcore and metalcore. However, as I searched out bands with crazier riffs, I ended up digging into the death metal underground of the late 80s and early 90s. Initially, the poor production and lack of stupid guy heaviness confused me. However, as I read more and listened more, it became clear to me that my worldview was sorely, severely lacking. The upside to this disillusionment was a sense of wonder and excitement as a whole new existence came out of the fog of teen depression.

I can remember the confusion I felt at these raw, sloppy European sounds that were recorded in an era that I thought was entirely dominated by grunge Q101 radio rock. The title of the intro track, "The Quest of Absurdity," immediately spoke to my existential pinings. Still, my initial reaction was "these guys are just playing power chords and they're not even that good at their instruments." I kept checking in, though, and, probably around the time that I "got" Darkthrone, I "got" Asphyx, and the towering monolithic structures created by guys sloppily playing power chords permanently cast a shadow over my consciousness. Listen to the outro riff on "The Rack" until this makes sense to you, too.

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Tha Alkaholiks - 21 & Over (1993)

Tha Alkaholiks, despite being a hip-hop group from the West Coast in the early 90s, have a lot more in common with EPMD & A Tribe Called Quest than the whiny, whiny, whiny, whiny synth tones of G-Funk. I've really been on the straight and narrow for several months, so I don't even know what these guys are talking about with all their "drinking lingo." That is ok though, because I think that we both like partying. I mean, I don't actually like partying or meeting people or anything like that, even though I occasionally like to try to convince myself that I do. What are you guys doing tonight I don't have work tomorrow.

Tha Lik's debut also accomplishes something appallingly uncommon in rap music: this record is concise and consistent. There aren't five hundred annoying skits. There aren't filler tracks. Ten bangers for your mouth. Who'd like a banger in the mouth?

So, there's more to my EPMD comparison than the Tyrone Thomas sample used for both "It's my Thing" and "Only When I'm Drunk." J-Ro and Tash (and sometimes E-Swift) trade bars in their verses much like Erick and Parrish were doing a few years before. And both groups rely on lazy flows, their laid-back delivery almost masking the extreme cleverness of their rhymes. Although, the patterns on 21 & Over remind me a lot of Phife Dawg...

OH YEAH! I bought this CD on tour and I was putting it out on the merch table as a "conversation piece" along with The Righteous Brothers and Moondog and whatever else I had accumulated. In Cleveland, this guy who was of course very drunk really wanted to buy it, and became incensed upon being informed that it was not for sale. His offers for the CD increased linearly with his drunkeness, and he got to the point of offering me $30. I told him that if he would give me $40 for the CD, I would give it to him. Not because I felt like I needed $40 for a Liks CD that I paid $6.99 for. Rather, a man willing to pay $40 for a used Liks CD really really likes the Liks, and would enjoy the CD much more than me. Unfortunately, he didn't like music that much. However, he did fall over several times in the moshing pit.

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Camp Lo - Uptown Saturday Night (1997)

I've been listening to "Pot Casts" of my brother Stephen C. Kane's radio show recently, which has been a really good experience for me. Motherfucker had a 90's hip-hop "Cast," which is as directly up my alley as one can really be. So come into this alley with me. I'm not lonely, but I do want some company.

On said "Cast," Joel played Camp Lo's Luchini and it really got me thinking. As a youth into rap music, I really only liked the super dark, raw production of RZA, Mobb Deep, Boot Camp Clik, etc. I was familiar with Camp Lo, but, like a true countercultural teen, I found them boring & mainstream. However, since I'm now a much more eclectic consumer of music, I was surprised by how much I really really liked that dang Camp Lo song.

This is a different type of post for me, since I'm posting about something that is relatively new to me. I haven't listened to this record dozens/scores/baker's dozens of times. In fact, I'm listening to it for the second time as I type this, and I'll probably have played it a total of three times when this post "goes live." As such, I can't really isolate my favorite moments of the record and dissect what's happening because, man, I don't even know what my favorite parts of the record are! This shit is new to me, dogg! I will say that the production is phenomenal, and at least a few lines made me smile. Listen to this BIG BANGER, love it, download the record, live my life for me.

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Goran Bregović - Underground OST (1995)

Here is the soundtrack to one of my favorite movies. Periodically, I try to get into "film" or whatever, and I watch a lot of movies from my Netflix queue. Invariably, I find myself quickly losing patience with each movie I watch, and, as such, losing patience with "film" as a whole. It turns out that I am not well-wired for sitting passively taking in information. Anyway, Underground is one of the few movies that really struck a chord with me, in that I didn't at all feel like "why the fuck am I watching this I should really be doing something else." Not only that, but it nailed my skewed worldview, in which I find things that are not funny to anyone else beyond hilarious. Social tics and absurdist humor abound; if you ever want to know what kind of bizarro filter through which I view my interactions with other humans, Underground is a great place to start looking.

I feel associations with my memories of the film when I listen to this, which is how I think many people process music: in relation to significant memories in their lives. Usually, music is a very abstract "music for music's" sake with me, but, in this case, something is different, and the music is unequivocally tied to plotlines and scenes and characters. I am becoming a real boy after all.

I don't know a goddamn thing about Balkan brass music, but this shit is completely chaotic and awesome. A real sensory overload of nonsensical social dynamics, plotting, and deception. You're really gonna want to give this a try.

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Z-Ro - Look What You Did to Me (1998)

If you couldn't tell from the title, this record is fucking hostile. Dedicated Primitive Future readers will already have good feelings towards Z-Ro from my Guerilla Maab post, or maybe you're already into the Screwed Up Click and depressed, angry rappers. (Please download that Guerilla Maab album if you didn't the first time. It is important. Thank you.) So yeah, throw in my UGK post, and you've got a few of the finest cuts and slices that Texas has to offer. And you're already listening to the Geto Boys and Scarface, right? Right?

Just so you understand what kind of cool guys we're talking about here, check out this insane story about the lifestyle of the DJ Screw and affiliates from one of the best blogs on the internet, Twankle and Glisten: "Once we get to the ground the doors open and we were all asleep in the elevator standing up."

Z-Ro raps really, really fast about one of my favorite emotions: melancholy. Death is embraced as a starting point for existence, with a nod to Biggie: I'm ready to kill, and I'm ready to die. Even as a suburban white growing up in safety and affluence, this concept was crucial to my maturation. Human notions of purpose have no relevance outside of our own minds, but the impetus to act still exists and must be embraced with the same fervor with which we fear our own impending demise. Todd Niefzsche.

Nobody loves me, but I prefer to keep it like that:

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