video: reality 86'd (Black Flag's last tour)

Click here to go watch the movie

Filmmaker David Markey is so cool that he released his documentary about Black Flag's last tour for free for all to watch on Vimeo, yet strangely he is not cool enough to let me embed it here. Oh well, can't win them all I guess. I've gotta go eat crazy-ass Chinese food with my lil' bro so I don't have time to watch this right now, but maybe I'll add my thoughts tomorrow. Or maybe you should add yours in the comment section.

In the meantime, here's a Black Flag video that will actual embed!

haust - ride the relapse (2008)

This band calls to my mind a specific emotion, or perhaps a state of mind, that I'm not sure there is a word for. The closest match might be "frenzy"- a sort of unhinged, panicked rage. On Ride the Relapse, the debut album from this Norwegian band, this frenzy is expressed as crunchy, nihilistic hardcore punk. It's a particularly heavy and metallic take on hardcore, sounding somewhat like a stripped-down version of Converge. It also straddles the line between punk and black metal- the riffs wouldn't sound out of place on one of the new Darkthrone albums, and it's really only the restrained drumming that prevents this from crossing over into actual black metal. Matching the aggressive mania of the music, singer Vebjørn Guttormsgaard Mølleberg shrieks and raves about white trash, drugs, Oslo and whatever else manages to catch his hate. It's an excellent debut and perfect listening for when you put on headphones to drown out all the human waste in the world.

Haust - White Trash Extravaganza
Haust - Ugly Fucking Oslo

wait what the hell

That's The Bronx, an LA based screamo/rock/punk/whatever band whose name I've seen a lot over the years, but who I've never bothered to check out. Based on the music video above, I don't really regret that decision. HOWEVER, it turns out they've just recorded a mariachi-influenced album called "Mariachi El Bronx"???



I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this; on the one hand, this sort of cultural appropriation isn't really any more offensive than, say, Beirut, although there is the issue that Zach Condon steals from cultures thousands of miles from where he lives, whereas The Bronx (or El Bronx in this case) are aping the ethnic culture of their own city. The Bronx don't obviously seem to be playing this for the "LOL we're white playing mariachi!!" factor, either. And the song isn't so bad. So... uh.... cool, I guess?

davila 666 - s/t (2008)

first off, its pretty bad-ass that this band is from Puerto Rico. I don't think I've heard any other band from Puerto Rico. second, this is a totally killer record. it hits so many right buttons that its kinda shocking to me- this band is basically everything that underground rock is trying to be right now. its poppy lo-fi garage rock, sounding kinda like Black Lips singing songs in spanish, or like maybe Brian Jonestown Massacre, but authentic sounding and dark. but then, its also got hints of shoegaze, the Jesus & Mary Chain kind, reverbed drums & tambourines, that bands like Vivian Girls or Crystal Stilts kinda have going. plus they're from Puerto Rico, which is hella cutty. and they're on In The Red records, which is a pretty goddamn great record label right now. so your enjoyment of this record may depend on how you feel about the current trends. fortunately, i'm all for this garage revival scene (which I would guess is probably not gonna last much longer), so I think this record is great. the record itself is half split between upbeat rockers, and extra-reverbed ballads- frankly I like the band at both speeds. I dunno if this record got all that much attention when it came out, but I do know that a lot of people at KUSF loved it.

Davila 666 - Basura
Davila 666 - Tu