Mr Phreek's Anokist Emporium

World War IX - Locked In

2010-08-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Damn! I can't believe I haven't updated in over a month! Well, time to get back on track. I've been in a punk rock mood, so here's more of "the best trashy punk band in NYC," to quote myself again.

This is another "single" with Max on vocals, but for some reason, he's not so annoying on these. Actually, his voice kinda works, although of course, Mike would be preferable. Unfortunately, you can't have everything in life.

I remember writing a review for Under the Volcano where I called "The Life" a "punk rock opera" or something equally ridiculous. I'd reprint that review here if I wasn't too lazy to dig through my UTVs to find it.

The images and music were uploaded with Justin Melkmann's consent. Thank you, Justin!

World War IX
Locked In CD
(Elis Eil)
2006

01. The Life

02. Preteen Supermodel

Visit WWIX on MySpace!

Ghoatefische - Room For One More

2010-06-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Ackronomicon)

Some quick shameless self-promotion.

In 2003, I resumed my noise project Goatfish, only I added a few letters to the name and, taking some guidance from Ron K of Eckankore, I focused my soundscapes rather than letting chaos rule. The result was a darker, more nightmarish noise than my Merzbow-inspired experiments of old.

Initially released as a made-to-order CDR, the web-based Eleventh Key Records has reissued Room For One More, my first album as the mutated Ghoatefische, in their "Distributed Titles" section with new album art designed by Brian Magar. It's only $2 but over an hour of eardrum-piercing intensity, so it's quite a bargain, if I do say so myself.

Also, watch for news of the Necroparthenophacy/Layr split 3"CD, coming soon on Eleventh Key!

Ghoatefische
Room For One More CDR/MP3
(MPAE)
2003

Download Room For One More from Eleventh Key!

Sample track:

Old Man Ron

Violent Fit - Descent of the Monarch

2010-06-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

A quick one to get back on track.

Violent Fit is Dan, bassist/vocalist of Ultrabastard!, doing a solo hardcore thing in the Garage Band program. Don't let the "guy on a computer" aspect turn you off, though. This is some seriously noisy, pummeling shit, kind of a cross between Rupture and The Cows, or maybe Melt Banana and Poison Idea. I dig it, and you should, too.

Violent Fit
Descent of the Monarch MP3EP
(MPAE)
2010

Download Descent of the Monarch as a .zip file!

Sample track:

Descent of the Monarch

400 Blows - 3-19-98

2010-06-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here's another one that I'm extremely excited to be posting.

400 Blows were part of the Downtown LA scene that also spawned Leopold and Sleestak. In fact, I remember hearing that members of Sleestak and Leopold were instrumental in getting the band members together. Out of the three, though, 400 Blows became the most popular, taking a Melvins/Karp-style assault to an even more basic, primal level.

Christian (or Xian, as he later became known) played a guitar that was tuned to a single chord. He played with two fingers and daisy chained two amps together to get the high-end squeal and the low-end bass, so he effectively acted as both guitarist and bass player. Ferdie was the manic metronomic drummer propelling and accenting the wall-of-sound that emanated from Christian's two amps (and two fingers). At the front of the stage, Skot gyrated and contorted his body like a spastic as he delivered his oddball lyrics of alienation and reckless abandon. All three members wore black naval uniform shirts that Skot found in a thrift store. Sometimes Christian wore a bunny thing on this head. Eventually, Skot expanded his wardrobe to include black leather gloves and aviator sunglasses.

Most of these songs have been rerecorded and released on other 400 Blows albums, but this is how I remember the band sounding - a raw, in-your-face attack by an overgrown three-year-old who tauntingly chants "na na-na na na" as he beats your face into the edge of the concrete curb. For that, this is absolutely my favorite album by them. I suggest turning it up as loud as your ears can take, then a few more clicks and dancing like a heathen to the primitive groove.

I believe they're still around in some incarnation, though Skot's the only original member at this point. After not seeing them for years, I caught them in 2004 at the Knitting Factory in NYC. Skot was outside and he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw me. He gave me a hug and got my buddy and me in on the list. That's the last time I saw the original lineup.

The images and music were uploaded with the full consent of Anthony Francoso, owner of Total Annihilation Records. Thank you, Anthony!

400 Blows
3-19-98 CD
(Total Annihilation)
1998

Download 3-19-98 as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

The Bull That Killed the Matador

Premature Burial

Electric Wilderness

Sleestak - The Power of Gemini(a

2010-05-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

I cannot express how happy I am to be posting this on MPAE.

I first heard of Sleestak from Mike Desert of The Jack Saints. He told me about his friend's band that was just out-of-control noise and if I liked Slug, I should check them out. As soon as the CD came out, I hunted it down, bought it and listened to it with a group of friends while we all wondered what the hell to make of it. Seemed like I was the only one who liked it, so I was glad I bought it.

The first time I saw them was at a coffee house in San Pedro (I've forgotten the name) where there was an annual noise rock festival. I met Eddie of Leopold there for the first time, too. Sleestak's set was strange. They seemed really unhappy, probably because of the rain outside, but I enjoyed the set, strange as it was.

I came to realize that all Sleestak sets were unique, like jazz sets. Then, when I joined Leopold, Sleestak became family, as they shared a practice space, so I got to know them a bit. At one point, I asked Anthony, the bass player, how they wrote their songs. "We jam them out," he said.

I really think that they never got their just due in that Downtown LA noise scene when they were around. Quite frankly, people never knew what to make of them. It was sludge-y power violence, with a brutal artistic mindset that just seemed to be a contradiction. I think that's why I liked them so much.

As horrifying and uncompromising as this CD is, it brings back good memories, and it remains a favorite of my collection. By the way, Sleestak were a HUGE influence on Pope Goat VII.

Sleestak has now morphed into the mighty Geronimo.

The images and music were uploaded with Anthony Francoso's full consent. Thank you, Anthony!

Sleestak
The Power of Gemini(a CD
(Big Jesus)
1997

Download The Power of Gemini(a as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Mothball Coffin

Brown Bag

Phantom of the Mothra

Pope Goat VII - Book of VII Commandments

2010-04-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

(Photo by Sir Ackronomicon)

I'm really excited to post this, as I haven't heard it since we recorded it 11 years ago.

This was the last book of Pope Goat VII to be recorded in my mom's house before Sir Ackronomicon and I set up our domain in The Blue Room. Quite honestly, I don't remember much about this recording session, probably due to intoxication, but I do remember it being the first time I used my guitar for the Pope Goat and that we were screaming through most of it. Listening to it now, it sounds like a cross between Throbbing Gristle, Whitehouse and Acid Mothers Temple.

Of course, it was supposed to be 10 Commandments, but we moved before recording the last three Commandments, and by that time, the Pope Goat commanded us to start fresh, with the Book of New Surroundings.

About the psalms:
(note: psalms that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. I Am the Only God - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:2-6.

02. Keep My Sabbath Holy - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:8-11.

03. Bear False Witness - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:16.

04. Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:17.

05. Thou Shalt Kill - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:13.

06. Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:17 (continued).

07. Stealing Is Good - His Holiness Pope Goat VII's response to Exodus 20:15.

Pope Goat VII
Book of VII Commandments CDR
(MPAE/Hummer Productions)
1999

Download Book of VII Commandments as a .zip file!

note: the .zip file includes booklet and tray-card inserts so you can make your own PG7 CD!

More Pope Goat VII

Visit Pope Goat VII on MySpace!

Necroparthenophagy - "Laiad Chis Ananael"

2010-04-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

My work schedule has been eating up all my time, but I'm taking some time out to celebrate.

Today marks the official release of my black metal album on Winged Disk Records. Oddly enough, out of all the music I've recorded since I was 17, this is the first thing that anyone as wanted to release with their own money. Special thanks to Rich Black at Winged Disk for his continued support and guidance.

For contractual reasons, I won't be posting the entire album here, but I will post the title track, which has become a "single" of sorts in the digital domain.

Necroparthenophagy
"Laiad Chis Ananael" MP3
(Winged Disk)
2010

Download "Laiad Chis Ananael" as an MP3!

If you like what you hear, please...

Buy the album on Amazon

Buy the album on iTunes

Buy the album on Emusic

Listen/purchase on Lala

Download from Napster

Visit the official website

Visit the official MySpace page

Visit the MySpace fan page

Get my original handmade CDRs at Hexenreich Records

Exclusivos - Out of a Promising Start

2010-03-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the response the first time around was pretty enthusiastic, so I'm happy to say that the third official MPAE blog release is this double-disc collection of outtakes, rarities and live recordings by one of the most original bands you've never heard of, The Exclusivos.

Nef says, "It took me nearly six months to culminate but here you go. It's all of our music aside from what's already posted. It's 31 songs, all in chronological order. You pretty much get to hear us evolve from start to finish. The compilation ends with stuff we demoed last year. There are also some surprises at the beginning and end of some of the material. There are Instrumentals on there as well."

Admittedly, most of these recordings are pretty damn rough, but, chances are, if you're coming to this blog you're not an audiophile anyway. If you haven't heard The Exclusivos yet, I highly recommend that you begin with the first release I posted, and then come back here after you're completely hooked.

Now bask in the strangeness.

Exclusivos
Out of a Promising Start MP3
(MPAE)
2010

Disc 1:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)
01. Madness (Intro)
02. Year 3000
03. Charlie
04. Oh No
05. Summer of Fantasy
06. Fargunstein (Original)
07. Sad Ending (Original)
08. Alcoholism
09. Losing (Original)
10. Make Believe
11. Rocket (Original)
12. Losing (Revisited)
13. Micheal 5 (instrumental)
14. Micheal 6 (instrumental)
15. The Machinist (Original)
16. Forces Unknown (Original)

Download Disc 1 as a .zip file!

Disc 2:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)
01. Oh No! (live '05)
02. Rocket (live '05)
03. Fargunstein (live '05)
04. Break Free
05. Ballad of Fred (Original)
06. Hello
07. Faster
08. She Never Liked Me Anyway
09. Rocket (Revisited)
10. Losing (Let The Child Cry Version)
11. Tradition (Demo)
12. Acoustic Demo #1 '08
13. Acoustic Demo #2 '08
14. Demo #1 09
15. Demo #2 09

Download Disc 2 as a .zip file!

More Exclusivos!

Ultramundane - A Kingdom at Birth

2010-03-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

I'm very pleased to announce that Shaadie Khoury, the brain behind Ultramundane, has given me permission to post the entire Ultramundane discography.

I discovered the band while writing my series on Middle Eastern Black Metal for Bigtakeover.com. You can read the entries on Ultramundane here and here.

This was their first album. From what I can tell, the band was a side-project of sorts of Egyptian black metal band, Oziris. While there are two very nasty lo-fi black metal tracks on this album, the other five tracks are dark, psychedelic instrumentals, kind of like Mogwai. It was a great start to what would become a great band, although after this, they'd become an electronic darkwave/ambient band with drummer Shaadie Khoury at the helm.

The images and music were uploaded with Shaadie Khoury's full consent. Thank you, Shaadie!

Ultramundane
A Kingdom at Birth CD?/MP3
(Ultramundane?)
1998

Download A Kingdom at Birth as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Sworn Revenge

Stepped Into Heaven

Visit Ultramundane at Soundclick!

Pete-less - Pete-less

2010-03-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a band John, from ULTRABASTARD!, was in over 10 years ago. From what I remember, the band had another name and a proper singer until John was looking at their website one day and he saw something saying that the singer, Pete, had quit to start another band. Apparently, Pete forgot to tell his bandmates. John was playing bass, so out of necessity, he became the vocalist and they changed their name to Pete-less.

Sonically, I think the band is more "grunge" than anything - not like Pearl Jam mind you - but that style of metalized punk that really doesn't have any other name. Between Barbara's heavy guitar chops, Joe's powerful drumming and John's shouted vocals, it has a very late '80s/early '90s Northwestern US sound.

Some words from John:

"It's 33 minutes, 11 songs and aside from the shitty vocals, it still rocks after all these years!! We shoulda been contenders! 'When Illumination Comes' was a 10 minute jam with a lot of good riffs that I whittled down to 2 minutes. Half the songs were about Joe's breakup with his girlfriend including '3 West' which was named after the psych wing he was in because of depression. 'Tired' was a fuck you to everyone who said we were this or that."

The images and music were uploaded with John Ulmer's full consent. Thank you, John!

Pete-less
Pete-less CD
(Pete-less)
1999

Download Pete-less as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Squeezed-out

When Illumination Comes

Bradees

Libyan Hit Squad - Fiji

2010-02-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

If you've been reading this blog from the beginning and/or you know me personally, then you know how highly I think of Libyan Hit Squad. Not only are they an incredible band, but they're great people as well. I'm proud to have shared the stage with them on the too few occasions that it happened.

Fiji really shows the band progressing in their sound, which I described in this (unedited) review for The Big Takeover #64:

LHS never fail to amaze me. Now that their full-length promo CD has finally found a proper release on vinyl with Ripping Records, it’s like hearing the album all over again. LHS exist in their own musical dimension of Black Flag, Love and The Minutemen. Fiji kicks off with the folk-rocker, “Triggers & Knives,” which could have been recorded by Arthur Lee and company back in the ‘60s. Then you’re immediately thrown into the hardcore melee of the next three songs until side A closes with the syncopated instrumental, “BHS.” Side B gets even more out there with two eerie instrumentals, a folk punk number, a straight-up hardcore thrasher and a weirdo Butthole Surfers-style track. LHS are punk rock at its challenging, unpredictable, original best. There’s something about Florida…

They're a great group of guys with great songs and they're one of the five bands around today that I actually give a shit about (others include Six Finger Satellite, The Jack Saints and The Secret Machines). I really can't wait to hear where they go after this cuz I know it will be good.

The images and music were uploaded with Craig Englund's full consent. Thank you, Craig! Extra special thanks for the LP art scans and MP3s!

Libyan Hit Squad
Fiji LP
(Ripping)
2008

Download Fiji as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Long Way

Break

Buy Fiji directly from LHS on their MySpace page before it goes out of print (limited to 300)!

More Libyan Hit Squad!

Visit Ripping Records on MySpace!

The Repercussions - Modern Sounds

2010-02-18T16:57:00.001-08:00

The Repercussions were one of those incestuous garage bands whose members had been in several bands before this one and most of the members had been in those bands together. They played some damn fine rock'n'roll though, and they honored me when they asked me to write the liner notes to their debut full-length. Here's what I wrote (click the image to make it larger):

Unfortunately, whoever transcribed what I wrote left out a line of text, making one section not make too much sense, but whatever, you get the point.

I saw them a few times at the now defunct and sorely missed club, Saints'N'Sinners, and in my vain attempt at getting a job in the A&R Department of Atlantic Records, this was one of the CDs I presented. Hell, they were better than most of the other crap on that label.

Perhaps it was for the best, though, as they broke up shortly after this was released. Now they're in different bands with each other.

That's rock'n'roll!

The images and music were uploaded with the full consent of Jake Elliot Roren, owner of ESCHE Records. Thank you, J-Ro!

The Repercussions
Modern Sounds CD
(ESCHE)
2005

Download Modern Sounds as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Everything Is Gonna Be Alright

Heather in Pleather

Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads

Pope Goat VII - Book of New Surroundings

2010-02-11T17:33:00.001-08:00

(The Blue Room floor circa 1999/2000 - Photo by Sir Ackronomicon)

What better way to get back on track than with another Book of Pope Goat VII?

This is the Sixth Book of Pope Goat VII. Where's Number 5? We never mixed it down.

This was the first book we recorded after we moved out of my mom's house and into our own apartment. We immediately transformed our hallway, which was actually pretty spacious for a hallway, into a permanent recording studio, the Blue Room, for us to use at our leisure. This was really the most thriving creative period His Holiness the Pope Goat gave us, and we recorded something like 45 of our 50 Books here.

All tracks were now one take, no overdubs, completely improvised either off a riff one of us started, or by just hitting record and seeing what happened. This is really one of our finest moments, as the excitement and energy of our new living situation and my new-found freedom really shines through.

About the psalms:
(note: psalms that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. All Ye Who Enter Here - Our first recording in our new apartment and in the Blue Room conjuring the powers of His Holiness, the Pope Goat.

02. Tropical Frog - We had some shitty cereal with stale marshmallows in it, like Lucky Charms or something, and it was advertising the new "tropical frog" marshmallow, so in true Pope Goat fashion, we did a song about it.

03. Tropical Toad - We didn't feel done with the "Tropical Frog" thing when the tape ran out, so we recorded a "sequel," as directed by the Pope Goat.

04. Do the Pope Goat - Pope Goat disco. Pretty self-explanatory.

05. Shit - Everybody does it.

06. Christian Disco - The only channel we got on our TV (since we refused to pay for cable) was TBN, the Born Again Christian channel, which became a huge inspiration to our music. I believe this is the first TBN reference in the Pope Goat cannon.

07. White Trash Rap - Here, we were joined by Sir Ackronomicon's brother, Sir P of Pimping Hos, on vocals, and Sir Minister Barry the Conquistador on keyboards. Sir Ackronomicon is on bass and I'm playing trumpet and screaming in the background.

08. You Silly Bitch - Yup.

09. Black Sunday - We were hungover on a Sunday morning, and we said, "Black Sunday" - a reference to the great Mario Bava movie - in our Pope Goat voices and realized were were being summoned by His Holiness Pope Goat VII to record, which we did.

10. Leaky Ceiling - One morning it rained and I woke up with a deluge of water dripping through my ceiling all over my room, like it was raining inside.

11. Metal Plate - Basically, when we were moving into our apartment, Sir Ackronomicon had leaned a metal plate from something his dad had welded against the railing outside our door, and when we were moving his mattress in, we knocked the plate, which slid under the railing and sailed down into the courtyard of the apartment complex. We heard somebody yell, "What the fuck was that?" We didn't think anything of it until he kept yelling. We looked at each other and knew something was wrong. We ran downstairs and saw some guy on his knees holding his head. Sir Ackronomicon pulled the guy's baseball cap off his head and blood poured down his face. I ran back upstairs and called 911. Luckily, the guy didn't sue, but Sir Ackronomicon was stuck paying the guy's medical bills for a while.

12. Toilet - It was one of those typical shitty cheap apartment toilets that ran for no reason or got stuck after you flushed and you had to jiggle the handle.

Pope Goat VII

Book of New Surroundings CDR
(MPAE/Hummer Productions)
1999

Download Book of New Surroundings as a .zip file!

note: the .zip file includes booklet and tray-card inserts so you can make your own PG7 CD!

More Pope Goat VII!

Visit Pope Goat VII on MySpace!

UPDATE

2010-02-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

I was sick for a while and I fell off the radar, but I'm finally starting to feel better so I should be back up and running at full capacity sometime next week. I apologize for the delay.

World War IX - When a Good Time Turns to Shit

2010-01-14T16:32:00.000-08:00

Haven't been feeling very motivated lately, so here's a quick one for the week.

This is an early "single" from WWIX, when Max was still the vocalist. Personally, I never really cared for his vocals - his voice is a bit dopey and onstage he really seemed to be trying too hard. Compare this version of "Treasure Hunt" to the one on Brown Bagging It with Mike's vocals. There's no comparison; Mike's is way, way better.

But the band is top-notch here as always and it's cool to hear the origins of "the best trashy punk band in NYC," to quote myself.

The images and music were uploaded with Justin Melkmann's consent. Thank you, Justin!

World War IX
When a Good Time Turns to Shit CD
(Elis Eil)
2005

01. Intervention

02. Treasure Hunt

Visit WWIX on MySpace!

The Two Felipes - Hot Off the Grill

2010-01-07T17:27:00.000-08:00

For the beginning of the new year (and a new decade, according to some on NPR), I bring you the origins of one of the most important bands to my musical upbringing.

Hot Off the Grill was The Two Felipes' first tape, and it's basically a "demo" for what would become Eat Your Fill. It's pretty interesting to hear the orignal versions of these songs in comparison to how they evolved only a few months later.

A must for all Felipes Fanatics!

The images and music were uploaded with Dan Vebber's full consent. Thank you, Dan!

The Two Felipes
Hot Off the Grill CS
(Flaming Cow Productions)
1986

Download Hot Off the Grill as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Industrial Strife

Jay's Plan

Fish

More Felipes!!!

ULTRABASTARD! - Demo

2009-12-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

(Live at Big Al Doogie's birthday party August 2006)

My band, i.e., the functioning one that practices every week and plays out once in a while.

John and I met in Maggot, a Lower East Side scummy punk band that I joined after seeing them play once. Unfortunately, main man Greg Maggot and I butted heads and I was out of the band a few months later. Shortly afterward, I started playing with a douchebag who called himself Atom, where I met Dan, but that's another story.

Basically, John called me out of the blue one day after the Maggot debacle, right when I was realizing things weren't working out with Atom, and he asked me if I wanted to play music with him. Of course I did - he's a great guy, really easy to work with and he played bass. So we started writing and practicing songs with a drum machine in his garage. John wanted to name the band "Hypocrite," and I liked "Jackhammer," so we became Jackhammer Hypocrite. We actually played a show with the drum machine to about five people in a sandlot.

The thing was, we really wanted a singer and a drummer. Eventually, we found the latter in Dan Brown, a guy from my neck of the woods, the North Fork of Long Island. None of the singers we "auditioned" worked out, so John and I took over vocal duties. This line-up played several great shows, most notably at The King's Club in Centereach and Saints'N'Sinners in Smithtown. We also changed our name to JAKKHAMR HYPOCRYT for some reason.

Eventually, Dan Brown, who's a helluva musician by the way, began flaking on band practice, leaving John and I to sit there pissed off and frustrated. Finally, we just never called him back for practice and we returned to square one. We put a classified ad in a local music mag and talked to a few people, but nothing worked out. In the meantime, I played with Optimus Prime. Then one day, John called and said, "I've got a dumb idea - why don't I switch to drums and get Dan from Optimus Prime to play bass?" So that's what we did, and it's stayed that way for better or worse ever since, although now we practice in Dan's basement and we're called ULTRABASTARD!

There's been a lot of fun and a lot of turmoil. We did a mini-tour of Florida with Libyan Hit Squad. We played Cleveland and met Nightmare Mode. We've had incredible, ass-kicking shows and really horrible, embarrassing ones. We've hated each other and loved each other. We all love it, though, and we always come back for more. In fact, we're recording again (finally).

These songs were recorded in late 2005, right after John switched to drums and Dan joined.

(Live at Joe's going away party October 2009)

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Turning Fat Into Muscle - This instrumental evolved out of a riff I pulled out of my ass one night when John was playing bass and Dan Brown was still drumming. It became our staple opener for quite a while.

02. Numb - John wrote this one, though I came up with the chords for the solo part. It's a heavy, solid song about frustration - a subject that appears often in our lyrics. This was one of the original seven songs John and I assembled with the drum machine.

03. Don't Need You - I wrote this trying to write the "Sonic Reducer" of break-up songs. I actually originally recorded it on my 4-track for the second FPOS album that never materialized (because I had a real band for a change). It remains a crowd favorite.

04. Alive - John write this, but his original lyrics were some "pretty girl, dream come true" drivel that had no place in our repertoire, so I wrote lyrics about the asshole my mom married. Another of the original seven songs.

05. Kiss Me - One of mine, written shortly before "Don't Need You." One of the original seven.

06. Citiots - Dan came up with the music for this killer song and we all worked together to arrange it into what it is here. I wrote the lyrics about summers on the North Fork with some inspiration from The Candy Snatchers.

07. Piss & Hatred - John wrote this about a rough patch in his marriage. Also one of the original seven.

08. Big Fat Dumb - I was on a Motorhead kick when I wrote this song about an asshole I had to work with. We don't play it anymore, mostly because Dan can't remember the bass line and I'm too lazy to re-teach him.

09. Myrtle (Something Good) - Dan wrote and sang this garage-y stomper. He titled it "Something Good," but John said it should be called "Myrtle." Still one of my favorites.

10. Blues Type Thing - One of the original seven I wrote that was inadvertently ripped from Iggy Pop's "Rock And Roll Party" from Party. And yes, that's a Robert Plant reference in the lyrics.

11. Fight Song - I wrote this song about my experience moving across the country after being annoyed by Rush on the radio at work. Funny how that worked out. John said he could see the crowd fighting to it, so the name stuck. I think I wanted to call it "Wanderlust," but that didn't last long. One of the original seven, and, just for the hell of it, I'm gonna post that original seven song, four-track demo up here at some point. Also, be sure to listen to the hidden track, which appears 30 seconds after "Fight Song" ends.

PLAY LOUD AND DRINK HEAVILY.

ULTRABASTARD!
Demo CDR
(MPAE)
2005

Download Demo as a .zip file!

Bonus!!! A video of us in the basement performing a song that's not on the CD!!!

MPAE presents...A Guide to Middle Eastern Black Metal

2009-12-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I despise Christmas. It's one thing to be socially obligated to buy crap for people when I can barely afford to cover my rent, pay my bills and feed myself, but, to add insult to injury, I'm constantly assaulted by trite, vapid Christmas music everywhere I go. Makes me want to drive around the malls blasting Fear's "Fuck Christmas" over and over again at top volume. I'd like to dig up the corpse of Charles Dickens and kick his dead, rotten ass into dust.

So if you're like me and you feel like killing every asshole in a Santa hat, I've assembled a Christmas carol antidote - a collection of blasphemous black metal from the Middle East. This is some of the most punishing, brutal black metal on the planet, and the reality is, most of these bands are risking their lives by performing this music in their home countries. Talk about balls.

If Jello Biafra wants to bitch about a lack of personal freedom, he should go try to record a black metal album in Syria, where the style is out-right BANNED.

I have personally selected each track on this comp from bands I've covered in my series on MEBM for Bigtakeover.com. None of it was cleared, but most of these tracks are out-of-print, nearly impossible to find or were never given proper releases due to political or religious restrictions. If you really like a song on this comp, please try to purchase something from that band and help support true underground music.

MPAE presents...
A Guide to Middle Eastern Black Metal MZ
(MPAE)
2009

Download A Guide to Middle Eastern Black Metal as a .zip file!

Tracklist:

01. Ayat - "Possession" from El Nabi Mojrem Moghtaseb Dajjal LEBANON

02. Die Entweihung - "The Unholy Precept" from Die Entweihung ISRAEL

03. Mucous Scrotum - "You Will Perish" from Calls from the Underground ISRAEL

04. Narjahanam - "Nehaya Wa Bedaya" from Undama Tath'hur Al Shams Mn Al Gharb BAHRAIN

05. Al-Namrood - "Barzakh" from Narcotized SAUDI ARABIA

06. Ammattammen Bas - "Mint Tea Til Sugar Skog" from Estanna Yabny Estanna EGYPT

07. Dhul-Qarnayn - "From Chaos" from Beyond Human Malice BAHRAIN

08. Infernal Nature - "Of Lords & Servants" from Calls from the Underground ISRAEL

09. Veinen - "Apocalyptic Nuclear Terror" from Black Hypnosis LEBANON

10. Nekroforest - "Kristian Grave" from Kristian Grave TURKEY/UAE

11. Rabbath Ammon - "Crown of Sand" from Rabbath Ammon JORDAN

12. Ultramundane - "Sworn Revenge" from A Kingdom at Birth EGYPT

13. Damaar - "Ode to Blasphemy" from Triumph Through Spears of Sacrilege LEBANON

14. Aras - "Wish to Be in Death Embrace" from Depressive Rebellion IRAN

15. Dark Promise - "The Dark Promise" from To Violate the Light SYRIA

16. Blaspherion - "The Night Before Mourning" from The Night Before Mourning UAE/USA

17. Sorg Innkallelse - "Lethal Invasion" from Into the Dark Tower IRAN

18. Azaroth - "The Winds of Mayhem" from Azaroth/Nekroforest TURKEY/UAE

19. De Mysteriium - "546 BC (short mix)" from Cold Days in Experience IRAN

20. Kusoof - "Exist to Un-exist" from Vile BAHRAIN/KUWAIT

Simstim Technologies - Neuromance

2009-12-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

(Mr Phreek circa 1998/1999 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

It's oh-so-apt that I'm posting this after winning a five day battle with the swine flu of computer viruses...

Anyway, I'm really big into cyberpunk. Max Headroom, Shadow Run, Blade Runner, Tron, THX-1138, Akira, Philip K. Dick, Alfred Bester, Cordwainer Smith and, of course, the novels of William Gibson all rank highly on my entertainment scale.

On a cyberpunk kick in 2005, I decided to create music that was truly "cyberpunk." I figured a good way to do this would be to record a digital instrument through an analog recorder, so I overdubbed my digital Korg Prophecy on my cassette-based Fostex XR-7 multitracker. I kept William Gibson's first novel, Neuromancer, in mind as I assembled the tracks to create this bit of lo-fi electronica.

If you're familiar with Neuromancer, the song titles should speak for themselves, so a track-by-track analysis is unnecessary. However, if you're unfamiliar...hell, download this album and listen to it while you go to the bookstore to buy it. Or, in true cyberpunk fashion, shop online for an ebook.

And, no, you can't dance to it.

Simstim Technologies
Neuromance CDR
(MPAE)
2005

Download Neuromance as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Television Sky

Sleeping Coffin

Optimus Prime - And Now...Optimus Prime Time!

2009-12-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

To make a long story short, I met Dan through a total toolbag who went by the name of Atom (when he called, he'd say, "Hey, it's A-T-O-M!") and we all played together in a short-lived band called A Funeral in the Fall. Dan and I eventually got sick of said toolbag and quit, but that's another story.

Anyway, Dan had this thrash band that he had just started called Optimus Prime, but they couldn't hold down a guitarist. I volunteered, saying I couldn't practice with them, as they got together Monday afternoons and I had to work, but I'd kinda learn the songs and improvise the rest. As a big Melt Banana fan, Dan liked the idea and I joined as noise guitarist.

One day in February 2005, we went into Dan Keely's studio in Southold and recorded this gem.

We played a total of 12 shows from May 2004 to July 2005, when Joe, the singer, quit and we gave up. It was fun while it lasted.

Dan wrote everything. I think Joe wrote the lyrics for "Who the Hell Knows?" though. Lou played drums like a cracked-out Animal.

Optimus Prime
And Now...Optimus Prime Time! CDR
(MPAE)
2005

Download And Now...Optimus Prime Time! as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Better Days

Skin Deep

Get Off Yer Ass and Practice What You Preach

FPOS - Fuck You, We're Fucking Piece of Shit

2009-12-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

(Mr Phreek circa early 2001 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

December is my birth month (I was born on the seventh) so all my posts this month will be from my own musical projects.

When I recorded this album, I had been NY for a year and a half and I was completely frustrated. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't connect with anyone musically - open-mindedness isn't exactly prevalent on the east end of Long Island. I really wanted a punk band, but I was surrounded by strict metalheads and people whose ideas about punk rock came from MTV.

So, in DIY fashion, I did it on my own. It's a really good document of what was going on in my head at the time (late 2002). I also pulled out some of my favorite songs from the original MPAE tape and finally gave them a proper recording, despite the ultra-crappy production.

Goes well with a 12-pack of cheap beer.

(Mr Phreek circa early 2001 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Something More - This song came from nights where I'd just aimlessly drive around the North Fork because I didn't have any friends and I didn't know what to do with myself.

02. Q&A Session - Musically, this was one of the first songs I ever wrote back when I was 16, but I never really did anything with it. I decided to resurrect it here and write lyrics that are kind of like a punk rock Samuel Beckett. It's too bad I mixed this so poorly, as I really spent time on the drums.

03. Climbing Up the Walls - I had kicked junk a little less than two years before this was recorded, but I still had really bad cravings, which only got worse with my frustration.

04. I Wanna Die - This Dwarves-inspired ditty can be interpreted as either a celebration of hedonistic nihilism or a sarcastic mockery of it. Personally, I go back and forth, depending on what mood I'm in. Lots of people tell me this is their favorite song on here.

05. Deaf Mute - Remember that part in The Catcher in the Rye where Holden Caulfield says he wants to move to some podunk town and work in a gas station and pretend to be a deaf mute so he wouldn't have to deal with people? I horrified my freshman high school literature teacher when I told her I thought it was a good idea.

06. Pissed Off/A Sellout Like You - The first part is very Black Flag-ish hardcore, but the second part really came from Crass. Again, the drums were mixed way too low.

07. Bithing Again - A song about how all my songs were complaining about something or other. Even in my darkest moments, I retained a sense of humor. I've always really liked this one.

08. I Really Hate You - One of the songs from Anokist Antiquity that got a proper recording here.

09. Kill Your TV - Another Anokist Antiquity track that finally got the balls it deserved.

10. Sick of Porn - Ack had sent me this horrible porn tape, The World's Luckiest Man starring Jon Dough (who has since killed himself), and, without internet access or the slightest success in the female department, it was all I had to get off. It got old really quickly.

11. Burn Down Your School - My favorite Anokist Antiquity track. Burn, baby, burn.

12. I Don't Care - A much better version of a song from Mixdown 2 with better lyrics.

13. That's Me - This was also originally on Mixdown 2. This version is dirtier in that Fang way.

14. Pretty Bad Girl - A Flipper-type track about a girl I worked with based on stories she told me. It seemed like a good way to end the album.

FPOS
Fuck You, We're Fucking Piece of Shit CDR
(MPAE)
2002

Download Fuck You, We're FPOS as a .zip file!

Solarfeast - Gossamer

2009-11-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

Before The Jack Saints, Mike and Nick were in Solarfeast, a desert rock band that blended stoner rock, spacerock and noise rock into a heavy, psychedelic, unified whole.

"We recorded it and mixed it in 2 days and our singer hadn't finished writing lyrics... We did some cool shows though, played a lot on acid and in front of 16mm projections of space and Egypt educational films (I was on my Hawkwind kick obviously!). 'Rats' and 'Puppy Has Ludes' were my songs (not the lyrics), and 'Exode' was Nick's song. My favorite song though is the C.O.C. cover/hidden track," Mike told me in an email.

I found my copy of the CD in the dollar bin at Aron's Records in Hollywood!

The music and images were uploaded with Mike Desert's full consent. Thank you, Mike!

Solarfeast
Gossamer CD
(El Camino)
1995

Download Gossamer as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

My Cradle, My Grave

Helping Hands

MPAE presents...Hard Times

2009-11-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Thanksgiving time again, and I don't know about you, but I'm really struggling. There hasn't been a whole lot of work and things look pretty bleak from where I'm sitting. I keep telling myself to get through the end of the year and maybe things will look up come January, but I'm finding it harder and harder to listen to myself.

And so, I present my first mixzip, a compilation I assembled of songs dealing with the struggles I'm living every day. I actually made this back around May/June, but it's even more pertinent to my daily life now than it was then.

I recommend turning this up with some cheap beer for company and rocking to blues away.

A detailed track list with explanations for my song choices can be found here. The whole thing will fit on a CD if you want to burn it.

None of the songs were cleared for use here, but I hope you discover some new bands and rediscover some old favorites. Make sure you buy stuff from the artists you like (provided you can afford it, that is...).

MPAE presents...
Hard Times MZ
(MPAE)
2009

Download Hard Times as a .zip file!

I Luv Luv Birds - I Know Why the Caged Bird Gun Slings

2009-11-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

And here is what I believe to be the second ILLB release. Here, Holly Prindle's tortured/angelic vocals come to the forefront, delivering dreamy, psychedelic lyrics over Marc Mozga's trippy electronic dub. As to be expected, it's highly original and genuinely unique, and an interesting step forward from their previous tape, Mysteries of Magnetism.

Play loud and turn up the bass!

The images and music were uploaded with Marc Mozga's consent. Thank you, Marc!

I Luv Luv Birds
I Know Why the Caged Bird Gun Slings CDR
(ILLB)
2006

Download I Know Why the Caged Bird Gun Slings as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

One Watt

Icicles (Of Gasoline)

Visit I Luv Luv Birds on MySpace!

Jerk Alert - Jerk Alert

2009-11-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

Before World War IX, Justin Melkmann swung his left-handed axe in his first band, Jerk Alert.

In his excellent punk rock comic book, Slap in the Face: My Obsession with GG Allin, Justin wrote:

"A comment from a friend of mine, who I was trying to turn on to [The Donnas' debut, Rock and Roll Machine] kinda turned me on my head. He said that the music was good, but nothing special. And if I liked this simple stuff so much, then why don't I just start my own group. I couldn't wrap my mind around this ludicrous concept, but I knew he was right."

He continued:

"About a year later, I was at my friend Julie's karaoke birthday party and it hit me, hard. I'd had no idea she possessed such a great voice--very Joan Jett. She sang Madonna's 'Like a Virgin,' but it sounded nice and rough."

"I knew how to play a handful of chords on the guitar and it was then and there that I got the wacky idea to go ahead and try to start my very own band! Alcohol and karaoke can make for an inspiring combination indeed."

Though much less "hardcore" than WWIX, the songs on this CD stand out for their catchy, almost early '60s pop, melodies (that Frankie Valli influence perhaps?) and strong female vocals.

In various emails, Justin told me, "It's sooooooo innocent...I like it, but man is it...uh....old. sounds really muddy, and we didn't bother to record a second guitar. And that's not good. We were on a Jabbers only tribute cd outta sweden though, and that was freaking great...We were in such a bubble at the time. We didn't know hardly any other bands. Music seemed dead. Now? Christ, there's a great band playing every night of the week."

Hey, it's punk rock!

The images and music were uploaded with Justin Melkmann's consent. Thank you, Justin!

Jerk Alert
Jerk Alert CD
(Jerk Alert)
2000

Download Jerk Alert as a .zip file!

Sample Tracks:

What I Want

Bag Boy

Visit Justin Melkmann Comics!

The Jack Saints - Sweating Like a Whore in Church

2009-10-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Halloween's right around the corner, so here's the first release by my favorite horror-influenced band ever!

Mike Desert and I are practically family - his mom and my dad have been really good friends since the late '60s. When he heard that I was into punk rock, he found me on AOL (this was around 1996 or so, when I was just getting out of high school) and we've been music buddies on and off ever since. He got me into bands like Karp and The Candy Snatchers, both of which remain favorites of mine to his day. I believe I first heard about Hawkwind from him, too. We also shared a hatred of the NOFX brand of shit punk.

Around this time he was putting together his new band, the Jack Saints after the demise of his previous band, Solarfeast. I heard stories about shows in emails and finally, the band uprooted from their home in Palm Desert and moved to San Francisco, where they gained some attention.

I finally got to hear them when this CD came out and I found it used in Green Hell on Ventura Blvd. I was instantly a fan. It was dirty, scummy bar punk fueled by B-grade horror movies and booze. I've been a huge fan ever since.

I saw the band play three times, I think. Twice at Mr T's Bowl in Highland Park and once at Headline Records on Melrose with The Onyas, who I later saw at The Garage on Santa Monica Blvd. Great shows.

Years later, I interviewed them for what would be the final Horror Garage print issue.

When I hear The Jack Saints, I wanna get drunk and have fun. They make me very happy.

The music and images were uploaded with Mike Desert's full consent. Thank you, Mike! (I don't know The Idiots, so I didn't upload their portion of the split CD.)

The Jack Saints
Sweating Like a Whore in Church CD
(Man's Ruin)
1998

Download Sweating Like a Whore in Church as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Fox Sister

Lonely Man

Visit The Jack Saints online!

BONUS: Hear my band, ULTRABASTARD!, do a sloppy, drunken cover of "Lonely Man" on my birthday in 2006!

Ultrabastard!'s "Lonely Man"

Enchanted Sorrow - Enchanted Sorrow

2009-10-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in a black metal mood, so that's what you get!

Enchanted Sorrow was a Centuries of Deception side-project. Atrox had this to say about it:

"I am sending you 4 or 5 tracks from the unreleased Enchanted Sorrow album, which was recorded at the same time as the COD MCD...you can hear the COD type vocals in certain tracks like song #6. This is more melodic than what I would usually write but a lot of these songs were on their way to being converted into COD songs for the full-length album that never materialized..in fact, I remember arranging a lot of them in your apartment...There was an album cover once but it's long gone..."

Apparently, so are the song titles.

According to the Encyclopaedia Metallum entry, there was also another member called Agkistrodon.

Nothing wrong with rocking out to some tr00 kvlt black metal!

The images and music were uploaded with Atrox's consent. Thank you, Atrox!

Enchanted Sorrow
Enchanted Sorrow MP3
(n/a)
1997

Download Enchanted Sorrow as a .zip file!

Sample Tracks:

Track 04

Track 06

The Unnamable - I

2009-10-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Not much is known about The Unnamable and they prefer it that way. Musically, they're total Brainbombs worshippers, as well as obvious fans of The Swans, Stick Men With Ray Guns, Flipper and GG Allin. Lyrically, the songs deal with cannibalism, necrophilia, pedophilia, rape, torture, sadism, masochism and all other sorts of general violence - you know, all the good things in life.

Not for the easily offended, weak of stomach or people under 18 years of age.

The images and music were uploaded with the full consent of Vocals. Thank you, Vocals!

The Unnamable
I CDR
(The Unnamable)
2001

Download I as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

I Took Her For My Own

Acid Reflux Kiss

Pope Goat VII - The First Tract of Pope Goat VII

2009-10-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, some fuckhead stole Sir Ackronomicon's computer, so PG7 posts are on hold for the time being. (May His Holiness Pope Goat VII smite said fuckhead with all the chaotic violence of the universe.) The music is safe - it was all recorded on a cassette 4-track - but Ack wants to make fancy inserts for our followers, so I'll wait until he can get that together.

So, here we have a religious pamphlet that I wrote to spread the Word of Goat. It was heavily inspired by writings at The Kook's Museum. I could have sworn that I wrote a second one, but no one seems to believe that but me, so I'm probably wrong. Anyway, here you go. Praise be to Goat!

More Pope Goat VII

Twitch Party - Live at The Raven Playhouse 5/10/97

2009-09-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

(Flyer by Aidan Flax-Clark)

Great show by my first band. When I think of Twitch Party, this is what comes to mind. As far as I'm concerned, this was our peak. We were still getting along (for the most part) and our creativity was really flourishing. Sure, the recording quality here isn't perfect, but for a tape that was recorded from a Hi-8 video, I think it sounds damn good. I'm very proud of this band and what we accomplished. It's hard to believe this happened over 12 years ago!

Aidan Flax-Clark on guitar and backing vocals, Travis Erwin on bass, J.C. Ehle drumming and me as lead vocalist. We were good.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Intro - 30 seconds of setting up, tuning, etc.

02. Crack - A powerful version of the song that rages beyond the Whiskey recording.

03. Sore - Fuck yeah! Sme slight dropouts - somebody must have walked into my camera...

04. At Peace - This may have been the first time we performed this song live. (At most, it was the second.) You can tell it's not fully formed yet, but it has an energatic immediacy to it. Check out the improvised guitar solo by Aidan!

05. Grey Walls - I wrote this song. Very influenced by Karp and Hammerhead. Unfortunately, this was where I was headed, which was diametrically opposed to where everyone else wanted to go. If not for my ego...

06. Binding Glory - Balls!

07. Beautifully Deformed - A particularly tortured performance of this song.

08. Stench - Sure, it's an L7 rip-off, but it was one of my favorites and we did a great job with it here.

09. Urinal - Boom-cha-boom!

10. Song - Hell yeah!

11. Grassed - Good shit!

12. The Taxidermy of Love - I really like this performance. You can hear some drunks come in at the end of the tuning sequence after the song. They were pretty entertaining.

13. Fit - And the tensions start. We actually played the song pretty well until it fell apart in the end. Then, like an asshole, I had to insist that "I didn't screw up." I did. Sorry Aidan.

14. Halved - Oh yeah!

15. Stretched - Excellent performance of our signature closing track with some beautiful feedback at the beginning. I like to think that THIS was what we were all about.

(Flyer by Aidan Flax-Clark)

Twitch Party
Live at The Raven Playhouse 5/10/09 CS
(n/a)
1997

Download Live at The Raven Playhouse 5/10/09 as a .zip file!

More Twitch Party!

Meet the Exclusivos

2009-09-20T19:46:00.001-07:00

Eric - Vocals

Nef - Lead guitar, keyboard

Emmanuel - Rhythm guitar, keyboards

Ralph - Bass

John - Drums

(All photos courtesy Nef.)

Exclusivos - Demos

2009-09-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

(Exclusivos live - Photo courtesy Nef)

Back about three years ago, my band, ULTRABASTARD!, was playing at Trash Bar in Brooklyn when we noticed these guys up front who were dancing and going nuts to our songs. I remember looking at them funny, because I wasn't sure if they were mocking us or what, as we'd never had a reaction quite like that from total strangers. Turns out, they genuinely loved us and they were all in a band from the Bronx called The Exclusivos.

I checked them out on MySpace and was completely astounded at the completely original, unique songs I heard. They gave me a CD at a later ULTRABASTARD! show and I couldn't stop listening to it. It was just so DIFFERENT. Here's what I wrote for Under the Volcano #93:

From the sinister concrete jungle of the Bronx comes what is quite possibly the oddest band I've heard since Arab on Radar - The Exclusivos. Combining Captain Beefheart insanity with arrangements reminiscent of early Fall, these five outsiders contort their way through eight songs that syncopate like the Birthday Party and trip out like some of the funkiest West African Psychedelia to actually make it to the States. Top it all off with a singer that delivers his lyrics with the mind-altered, yet controlled, monotone of Can's Malcolm Mooney and you're left wondering whether your're listening to a band or a music therapy session at Bellevue. I sincerely hope (believe) that this rough, raw recording is just an inkling of what will come in the future. To quote their song 'The Ballad of Fred': 'The lightning's always frightening when it comes before the thunder.' This recording is the lightening.

Unfortunately, some inner turmoil tore the band apart shortly before ULTRABASTARD! was set to play our first show with them. There have been some attempts at getting the band back together, but nothing's been solid as of yet.

And so, I'm proud to announce the second "official" MPAE blog release. These songs were recorded on a Fostex multi-tracker between late '05 and early '06, according to guitarist/keyboardist Nef. Download it and leave comments to let the band know you want them back in action!

Exclusivos
Demos MP3
(MPAE)
2009

Tracklist:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)
01. Forces Unknown
02. Drip
03. The Machinist
04. Just a Thought
05. Ballad of Fred
06. Have You
07. Fargunstein
08. Tradition
09. Rage, Hate
10. Sad Ending
11. Changing (My Ways)
12. Untitled (Version 1)
13. Untitled (Version 2)
14. Dead Man's Curve
15. Breaking News
16. The Devils Dogs

Download Demos as a .zip file!

Messier 7 - Songs About Girls Who Never Existed

2009-09-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

(Photo of M7 by NASA)

I've been busy writing reviews for The Big Takeover, so I haven't had much time for the blog. Also, some fuckhead stole Sir Ackronomicon's computer, so Pope Goat VII books are on hold for the time being. I haven't posted something of mine lately, so I'd thought I'd get back into the swing of things with this, my Helios Creed-inspired spacerock CD.

Songs About Girls Who Never Existed was one of the first albums I finished after I moved to NY. I was having a really hard time connecting with anybody musically, as I was (and still am) on the ass end of Long Island where people get their cultural relevance from television and radio. I actually had some redneck asshole tell me that the music I like couldn't be any good since he hadn't heard of it. So I holed myself in my apartment, got really drunk and stoned and recorded music on my own.

I'd been a huge Helios Creed fan since I was 14, and I always wanted to do something along those lines. I even bought a bunch of effects pedals to get that spacey sound. Finally, I decided to put together some older tracks of mine, record some new tracks, and have a spacerock "band" of my own.

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. My dad was even impressed with my guitar playing. Maybe you'll dig it, too.

Best heard under the influence of something or other.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. I Saw You (Crying) - An old song from my solo recordings. Go here for more info.

02. Lady Dragon - Another old song from my solo recordings. Go here for more info.

03. Descent Into Your Mind - This was the first song I recorded after buying my Danelectro phaser pedal. It had been a long night working in the bar (I was a barback) and I was irritated at having to listen to Rush on the satellite radio, so I went home with a few drinks in me, quickly assembled my recording gear and basically improvised this. It's mostly influenced by The Butthole Surfers' "Human Cannonball," especially in the vocals. It's a fun song.

04. Mistress Morphing - The guitar riff was inspired by a song from the cult science fiction animated movie Rock & Rule, where the character, Mok, is summoning a demon in Ohm Town. I believe this was recorded under the influence of opiate pills, hence the pun title.

05. Space Flying - This was centered around a riff I had written for The Gardeners that was really influenced by Neu! and Stereolab. I kept it an instrumental and recorded two guitar tracks. I always liked this one.

06. Xolotl/I Wanna Be Your Dog - "Xolotl" was a song I wrote for Anubis Rising, but I was never happy with the way it came out with them, so I redid it and tacked The Stooges to the end for some reason (probably because I could, and because I wanted to do a cover of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" that didn't try to sound like The Stooges for once). By the way, "Xolotl" means "monster" in Nahuatl, the language of pre-Columbian Mezo-American cultures, i.e. Aztecs.

Messier 7
Songs About Girls Who Never Existed CDR
(MPAE)
2001

Download Songs About Girls Who Never Existed as a .zip file!

World War IX - Brown Bagging It

2009-08-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

Gearing up for the next issue of The Big Takeover, so I thought I'd get this up before I'm swamped in review hell.

I had heard about Justin Melkmann through "Crazy" Glenn Wernig of the New York Waste, who suggested we connect because of our mutual love of GG Allin. We exchanged a few emails, but they went nowhere. Finally, I met Justin and his girlfriend (now wife) Trish at "Crazy" Glenn's house-warming party. They were super-cool people and I discovered that Justin also shares my love of Black Flag and old hardcore/punk rock as well. He worships Lou Reed, too!

Naturally, I got into Justin's band, World War IX. Unfortunately, the original singer was kind of a douchbag - one of those "trying-too-hard" types. When he split and Mike joined, it was a godsend - just what the band needed. Here's the review I wrote for BT 64:

"This is a significant release in WWIX’s legacy in that it simultaneously announces the arrival of vocalist Mike and the departure of bassist Annick. If you ask me (and I’m assuming you are since you’re reading this), Mike is a far superior vocalist to Max. His gritty street punk voice works a lot better with the music than Max’s dopey monotone. It’s especially evident when comparing two old favorites of mine that appear here, “Treasure Hunt” and “Employee of the Month,” to their older versions. Really, there is no comparison; these are the definitive versions. WWIX include a CD of the songs with the 7”, which to me is a stroke of business genius and something more bands should do. The brown paper bag cover is a nice touch, too."

Hey, any band that combines Damaged-era Black Flag with GG Allin is A-OK in my book.

The images and music were uploaded with Justin Melkmann's consent. Thank you, Justin!

World War IX
Brown Bagging It 7"/CD
(Red Black & Blue)
2008

Download Brown Bagging It as a .zip file!

Sample Track:

Treasure Hunt

Euronymous

2009-08-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

16 years ago today, Oystein Aarseth, aka Euronymous from Mayhem, was brutally stabbed to death by Varg Vikernes, aka Count Grishnackh from Burzum.

I'm a fan of Varg's music, but I find him to be completely detestable as a person. It also really depresses me to think what a talented guitarist and song-writer Euronymous was, how great Mayhem were and how all that was taken away for the sake of Vikernes' ego.

In memory of Euronymous and the True Norwegian Mayhem.

The grave of Euronymous.

RIP.

I Luv Luv Birds - Mysteries of Magnetism

2009-08-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

I met Marc Mozga in English class my first year at CSUN. Somehow it came out in our first class that we were both film majors and we both liked David Lynch movies, so we started talking. Turned out, Marc was from the Minnesota Twin Cities and was heavily involved in the music scene there with a band called The Swingtones. Like me, he had a really eclectic taste in music, so we started hanging out. I believe he came with Aidan and I to see Thee Headcoates at Jabberjaw. We saw The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion a couple of times, too, and probably some more bands.

He also really loved The Two Felipes.

After a year or two in LA, Marc had had enough of LA, though he managed to bring The Swingtones around on tour and I hooked him up with a show at The Whiskey-A-Go-Go. I was there with my friend Mark Lovretovich and we sat there really amused by the bands that played before them. There was some really pretentious art-punk band that was trying desperately to be The Fall (and failing miserably) and this ridiculous Motley Crue/Poison-type LA glam band called 88 Crash, who really perplexed us - especially the bald, body-waxed singer who looked like some guy from Century City letting loose onstage. It was completely ridiculous. Finally, The Swingtones took the stage and it was a great show, they were all great guys and we had a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, after Marc got sick of LA and moved back to the Midwest, we lost touch. He sent me a few really odd handmade tapes (to be posted here in the future), but I didn't hear much from him after that. Finally, he found me on MySpace a few years ago, but I'm not good at communicating on MySpace and we lost touch again. Oddly enough, he Googled "The Two Felipes" and found this blog a few months ago, and I haven't lost touch with him yet.

I Luv Luv Birds is his newest project with his girl, Holly Prindle. He plays stuff and she sings. It's indescribably great music. Although it's rooted in dub reggae a la The Mad Professor, there are elements of various modes of electronic music, including Cabaret Voltaire's early industrial, new styles 8-bit and glitch, and some sound collage aesthetics to keep it interesting. This is one bass-heavy, pulsing, psychedelic collection of music.

Ever read William Gibson's Neuromancer? This is the music that I imagine the Rasta space colony listened to.

Mysteries of Magnetism is ILLB's first release. It's mostly instrumental, but Holly comes in on the last track with a haunting vocal that would indicate where they'd go in the future.

I'm very happy to be posting this tape. It's an amazing collection of music.

The images and music were uploaded with Marc Mozga's consent. Thank you, Marc!

I Luv Luv Birds
Mysteries of Magnetism CS
(ILLB)
2005

Download Mysteries of Magnetism as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

MoM 2

MoM 7

Visit I Luv Luv Birds on MySpace!

Centuries of Deception - Heic Noenum Pax

2009-08-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

I've been immersed in black metal lately, so I thought I'd post some.

I went to high school with Atrox, but I didn't really get to know him until after I'd graduated. Some mutual friends brought me to his house to hang out one night, and Atrox made an immediate impression with his extremely high intelligence, left field philosophies and black metal obsession. Soon I was hanging out at his house all the time and we quickly bonded as friends.

I got a crash course in black metal from Atrox. While I didn't really get a lot of it at the time, Burzum and Mayhem with Dead stuck with me. When I completely immersed myself in black metal over a year ago, I remembered a lot of what he had taught me and I put it to good use.

Unfortunately, we also bonded over drugs and our respective psyches fueled each others' addictions to the point where our friendship completely dissolved.

Fortunately, I've recently reconnected with Atrox and he's the same great guy, minus the chemicals.

The images and music were uploaded with Atrox's consent. Thank you, Atrox!

Centuries of Deception
Heic Noenum Pax CDEP
(Blood, Fire, Death)
1998

Download Heic Noenum Pax as a .zip file!

Sample track:

...Only War & Hate Survived...

Centuries of Deception on the Encyclopaedia Metallum

Eckankore - Mixdown 1

2009-07-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek at The Smell circa 2000/2001 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

Again, not a lot of time to post lately, but I wanted, at least, to get one more thing up before the month ended.

After Ed left Eckankore, Ron tried collaborating with Kris Andersen and then just doing things on his own, but nothing really clicked. (You can hear those recordings here.)

Finally, he asked me to join and these are our first "rehearsal" sessions together. Apparently, Ron really like what I did and how I was able to follow his lead, and I ended up joining Eckankore for a spell until I moved to NY. We performed several shows at The Smell in Downtown LA with Emerson Balla controlling the visuals. Emerson typically had nine film projectors running at once, and he'd run around the room switching film loops to the noise that Ron and I made. I always had a bottle of Seagrams 7 Whiskey that I'd drink before, during and after our set. Emerson drank some, too, to get in the mood. These performances were quite ear-shattering and I wish I had them documented. Oh well. At least I have the few "rehearsal" tapes that Ron and I made.

The tracks:
(note: there are only two, so they're linked individually)

01. 1/26/01 (Vagueness Visible)

02. 2/9/01

Eckankore
Mixdown 1 CS
(n/a)
2001

Nightmare Mode - Haste

2009-07-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've really been itching to post something, but time has been scarce, so Nightmare Mode's third release, this digital-only EP seems perfect.

From what I understand, Danny and Nikki up and quit, so Ammo quickly assembled these songs (out-takes?) and uploaded them to the internet. All things considered, it's a pretty damn good EP, with three previously unreleased songs and two killer versions of songs from The Eht.

Ammo has since replaced Danny and Nikki and Nightmare Mode are still in action.

The images and music were uploaded with Ammo's consent. Thank you, Ammo!

Nightmare Mode
Haste MP3
(Nightmare Mode)
2009

Download Haste as a .zip file!

Sample track:

Salute to the Dead

Download all Nightmare Mode releases!

Visit Nightmare Mode on MySpace!

Pope Goat VII - Book of the Fucking Piece of Shit

2009-07-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Book of the Fucking Piece of Shit was the Fourth Book of Pope Goat VII, recorded August 15, 1999 entirely live in four takes. Everything was improvised within the span of that hour without any pre-arrangement or overdubs.

This was a "concept album" of sorts centered around our "catch-phrase for the new millenium," i.e., "fucking piece of shit." So, as we recorded, we complained about every little thing that popped into our heads, from Christians to guitar picks, deeming them all "fucking pieces of shit." We even made shitty Jeno's personal pizzas while recording.

This was a true and powerful display of His Holiness Pope Goat VII's power. It was an awesome sight to behold.

(Sir Billy the Phreek circa Summer 1999 - Photo by Sir Ackronomicon)

About the psalms:
(note: psalms that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Chapter I - Intro, band, world, Christians, TV, cops, batteries, blues, singers.

02. Chapter II - Tape, suburbia, houses, food, piano solo, picks, land, action movies, jewelry, commercials.

03. Chapter III - Sharks, Mike, stock market, Elton John, bass solo, pizza, weatherman, alarm clock, golf, dogs, slide, Cher/Sonny Bono/John Denver/JFK Jr.

04. Chapter IV - Wrestling, bands, babies, infomercials, shitty piece of fuck, president, doctors, Grammys, end.

Pope Goat VII
Book of the Fucking Piece of Shit CDR
(MPAE/Hummer Productions)
1999

Download Book of the Fucking Piece of Shit as a .zip file!

note: the .zip file includes booklet and tray-card inserts so you can make your own PG7 CD!

Previous Books of Pope Goat VII

Visit Pope Goat VII on MySpace!

Goodbye Sky

2009-06-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

According to an LA Times blog post:

Sky Saxon, leader of Los Angeles 1960s garage-rock band the Seeds, died early Thursday morning in Austin, Texas. Born Richard Marsh, Saxon was hospitalized on Monday...for an undetermined internal infection and was reported to be in critical condition. A statement released last night revealed that Saxon ultimately died of heart and kidney failure due to the infection.

Sky and I weren't "bosom buddies" by any stretch of the imagination, but I did get to meet him once, and interview him, when the reformed Seeds toured with original guitarist Jan Savage. Sky was vibrant, full of life and one of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever met. I was really sad to hear of his passing, which fell on the same day that Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson both died.

Here is the article/interview I wrote for The New York Waste. It was probably published in the summer issue of 2003. (I don't know for sure because they never sent me a copy.)

I GOT MY WISH AND DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL ANYBODY!!!
The Seeds @ the Knitting Factory 5/11/03
by chuck.foster

Anyone who read the January issue of the WASTE may recall
my Love article (yeah, right) where I said (and I quote):
"Now if only someone can get the seeds out here in
2003..."

Well, guess what?  (Read the title again, Bozo.)  On an
overcastMother's Day Sunday, I found myself sipping coffee
outside the Knitting Factory (not open yet) with my
partner-in-crime, Atom, because, well, there was nothing
else to do before the show.  A van pulled up.  "Wake up,
Sky, we have a show to play!" someone yelled.  And there
stood Sky Saxon, in pin-stripes, velvet, platforms and
frills.  Beside him was Jan Savage in Western American
Indian gear.  Just as I'd hoped.

For those of you not "in the know" (97% of the readership)
I'll answer your "Who?".  The Seeds were one of the top
LA bands in 1966/67.  They played fast, angry, two-minute
songs about lousy girlfriends and apparently coined the
term "flower power", which sparked a well-known movement. 
Their sound was the unique blend of Sky Saxon's sneer,
Jan Savage's post-surf guitar noodling, Daryl Hooper's
pre-Kraftwerk keyboard lines and Rick Andridge's
hard-hitting metronome drumming.  The Seeds released five
excellent albums and a slew of great singles between 1966
and 1969.  I highly recommend their work to anyone
interested in true punk and roll.

Anyway, I accosted the poor band as they entered the
venue and the following interview ensued (broken in
the middle by a soundcheck):

chuck:  How's your tour been going?
Sky:  The tour's been going great.  I love the people
in New York, and I advise you all to do a rent strike.
chuck:  How is it having Jan back in the band?
Sky:  It's just amazing to have him back.  He plays like
I remembered, like he used to play and he's part of the
magical sound of the Seeds, you know?  He left because
he wasn't understood, but now he's back and maybe the
new generation will see what he really was about.  He's
about a lot of excitement and he was really innovative
on the guitar.
chuck:  He was.
Sky:  He still is and he's gonna do it again.  (Enter
Jan.)  Here, Jan, would you like to say something to
his radio?
Jan:  Hi, Radio!
chuck:  Hello!
Jan:  Hello!  We're downtown...Where are we?  This must
be New York!
chuck:  SoHo.  SoHo, somewhere...
Jan:  So Low, So Low...Thank you, New York.
chuck:  How is it being back in the Seeds?
Jan:  I didn't think I would miss it and I planned to
retire a quiet little life and then...they kept calling
and calling and calling and calling and calling and, oh
my god, I've gotta go shut em up and...I'm back.  And do
you know what?  I love it, I love it.
chuck:  Ya havin fun?
Jan:  Yes, the fans are fantastic, but nobody has yet
kissed my tail.  (Holds raccoon tail attached to belt.) 
I haven't got anybody to kiss my tail...
Atom:  I'll kiss your tail.  (Kisses tail.)
Jan:  Wanna kiss the tail?!  You're the first, thank you,
now I got somebody to kiss my tail.  Thank you, brother.

(Sound check break.)

Rick:  My name's Rick, I play bass in the band, I've been
friends with Sky since the mid-80s.  We were living in
Hollywood.  He used to stay at my old band's house, a
one-bedroom apartment with the whole band and Sky. 
Set my kitchen on fire twice.
chuck:  How long have you been in the Seeds?
Rick:  We just started this up about a year ago.  At
first, Jan wasn't in the band, we couldn't find him, and
we found him driving trucks in Arizona under a different
name.  And Sky I've known for a long time.  He moved up
to Northern California in the mountain area called Mt
Shasta.  I called him up and said, "Hey, what're ya
doing, man, let's play!"  He loves to jam.  He has a few
other bands.  He does records every day.  You make a
little tape like this of him just singing:  Okay,
another record, got a new record, let's release it.  And
if you guys jam, and he finds that out, he'll just go: 
alright, let's go jam.  We're constantly losing him, we
have to get a leash on him.  In San Diego we went to
this guy's house afterwards and recorded until ten in
the morning.  Partying, hanging out and Sky's singing
all morning, doesn't stop singing til the day he wakes
up.  He's singing constantly.
chuck:  So how is it?
Rick:  A lot of fun.  It's the real deal, you know.  He
hasn't changed at all, it's still 1966 in his mind.  He's
a smart guy, but he's like a child with a lot of ideas. 
Then we found Jan here...(Enter Jan.)  Dug him out and
found him under an assumed name.
Jan:  Yes, many assumed names.  I was hiding, I was
really hiding.  You can't find me, you don't know who I
am.
chuck:  Hiding from the Seeds?
Jan:  From everybody!  The law, the Seeds, anybody who
asked.  Wasn't me, I didn't do it, I wasn't there.  It
was that other guy.
Rick:  You wouldn't even talk to me the first couple
times.  "Jan Who?"
Jan:  That's right.
Rick:  We're gonna be in Europe in a couple weeks.  The
first show's in Athens, Greece, then we go to Spain for
six shows, but we found Jan, he's back, he's been
practicing, right Jan?
Jan:  What?
chuck:  Are you going to Europe, too?
Jan:  Yes.
chuck:  So you're in for the long haul...
Jan:  Yeah, I'm in, it's all the way, it's all or nothing. 
I gotta figure these boys out and then kick their ass,
and then...more tail kissing.
Rick:  It's been great having these two guys back, it's
been mind blowing.  Last time these guys played was in
'89.  They did a Summer of Love tour with Love, Big
Brother and the Holding Company and they played six
shows on the West Coast.  When did you guys play before
that?
Jan:  Before 89?  Back in the 60s.  69.  That was our
twenty-year anniversary reunion tour.
chuck:  Do you know where the other two guys are? 
They're just not interested?
Jan:  No, one of 'em is sick and the other one's taking
care of him and so they couldn't come.
chuck:  They were old friends, right?
Rick:  Yes, Daryl Hooper and Rick Andridge-
Jan:  They went to High School together and Sky and I
had already joined up together and we were auditioning
bands and we found Rick and Daryl, and they were so tight
together, we had to have them.
Rick:  Manzerek and Densmore auditioned, by the way, and
were passed up for Rick and Daryl.
chuck:  Wow.

One thing I'd like to state on record:  Sky Saxon and Jan
Savage, two men who have been at the top of the music
industry, who have had Top 40 hits, who have paid their
dues, are two of the nicest people I have ever met in my
life.  It was such a nice change from the arrogant idiots
who mosey about the Lower East Side like King of the
Molehill when they can't even call themselves has-beens
because they never were.  That said, Rick the Bass Player
and John the Merch Man were damn fine folk, too.

The show:

Aytobach Kreisor opened, and they were a helluvalot better
then that crappy band I saw open for Love.  This 72-style
power trio deserves more attention, so why doncha give it
to em, baby?

The Seeds?  Well, they were nothing short of fantastic
(or a hundred other corny adjectives).  The new band has
the songs down precisely. Jan can noodle like he used to
and he loves doing it.  And Sky, well, Sky's the frontman
he always was--commanding, mesmerizing, and magical.

I hear there are plans to record a new Seeds album when
they get back from their world tour.  I hope they do--
maybe it'll teach all these crappy new bands a thing
or two.

Visit www.skysunlightsaxon.com to keep up with the Seeds.

I'll see you, Sky. Later on, man.

The Two Felipes - Rock the Boat

2009-06-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I know I said that the Pyroclastix live tape would be the final entry of the live series for the week, but I have this ready and I feel like giving you a bonus. Think of it as the unwanted sequel to your favorite horror flicks, only way, way cooler.

Quite honestly, I'm not sure if I have the title of the tape right. Ack burned it for me from stuff that vocalist Dan Vebber gave him, and Ack labeled it as Live as the Dickens! In the jumble of Two Felipes scans he sent me, though, there was this tape cover that didn't seem to fit anything else Felipe-related, so I'm using it here. If I'm wrong, sorry - perhaps Dan can correct me.

In any case, this is a vintage live Felipes recording made between Eat Your Fill and Beaker Full of Death, so it's probably from around 1987 (as the tape insert indicates). I think the club was called The Unicorn, which was most likely in Milwaukee, WI. It must have been a soundboard recording because it's pretty clear.

The setlist mostly contains songs from Eat Your Fill, though "Door to Door Shoeshines from Beaker Full of Death is here, as well as covers of "Iron Man" and "La Cucaracha." No, I'm not kidding - download the tape!

The images and music were uploaded with Dan Vebber's full consent. Thank you, Dan!

***UPDATE 6/18/09***UPDATE 6/18/09***

According to Dan Vebber:

"Yeah, "Rock the Boat" was our proposed "next" album that never materialized. (We generally worked backwards, album concept/artwork first, music second, hence the tape cover.) And I think we had actually decided to call it "Hot Glue Gun" by then, so the artwork I did wouldn't have worked.
That Unicorn show was pretty awful. I think there were like, two people in the audience."

So that solves the mystery of the tape cover.

As for the show, there may not be many people in the audience, but it's a damn good document of The Two Felipes during their existence, regardless. Leave a comment and tell us what you think, Felipe Fanatics!

***

The Two Felipes
Rock the Boat CS
(Flaming Cow Productions)
1987

Download Rock the Boat as a .zip file!

Or try out some sample tracks first:

Explosive Enemas

Iron Man

Headache

Evil Robyn

Download more Two Felipes!

Pyroclastix - Live Destruction: Halloween, 1997, Syracuse, New York

2009-06-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

And now for the final installment in my trilogy of live posts this week.

Pyroclastix were a whole other animal live than on the "studio" recordings. It's just as intense, but a lot creepier with a lot of screaming and an eerie, empty feel to the overall sound. This is the last Pyroclastix release I have and it's definitely a high note in noise-master Brian Magar's catalog.

It's only one track that's just over 26 minutes.

The images and music were uploaded with Brian Magar's full consent. Thank you, Brian!

Pyroclastix
Live Destruction: Halloween, 1997, Syracuse, New York CS
(Imbalance)
1997

01. Route 13

More Pyroclastix!

deng - Live at The Raven Playhouse 10/97

2009-06-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

deng didn't last long, but we were around long enough to put out one tape (that got good reviews in Flipside) and we played one noise show at The Raven Playhouse with Eckankore, Musicide and possibly Flammable Child(?).

This is that show, as recorded on my 4-track as we performed. It's pretty chaotic, but it's a lot of fun and it's only nine and a half minutes.

deng
Live at The Raven Playhouse 10/97 CS
(n/a)
1997

01. Live at Ravens

Download the deng tape, Spasmodic Goat!

Twitch Party - Live at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go 4/13/97

2009-06-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

(Twitch Party's listing in the LA Weekly)

And now for the first in a trilogy of live recordings that I'll be posting this week.

This was Twitch Party's third or fourth show and you can hear a lot of diversity in the songs. We were in the process of assimilating our many different influences whole, which we eventually fully realized on our demo, but listening back on this recording, I'm pleased with the diversity. At least we were original.

This show is marked by my constantly cracking voice, JC's ever-troubling hit-hat and our general shyness when it came to dealing with the audience. Actually, Aidan does the best job trying to keep people entertained. I hid behind sunglasses and a dog collar and had a hard time talking to the crowd. I was 18 and thus not of legal drinking age, so I was probably pretty sober, maybe a little stoned.

Travis sat in a chair while he played - he thought it was funny.

There's a video of this show, too.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Intro - Us getting our bearings.

02. Crack - As far as I'm concerned, this was the first Twitch Party song. I wrote the lyrics in my college Intro to Philosophy class and gave then to Aidan. He called me with a riff. When he played it for me over the phone, it sounded good. While practicing at JC's house, I beat on the cow bell while screaming the "I stepped on a crack to break your back" and it stuck. The lyrics were very influenced by San Francisco's Bomb.

03. Sore - This was really Aidan's song and I don't know much about what was behind it. I remember getting really sick of this song after a while, but now it's one of my favorites.

04. Urinal - On my way back to LA from NY, I went into the bathroom and peed next to a guy who was beating off into his urinal while giving me a creepy grin. I wrote lyrics about it and Aidan came up with the music.

05. Stench - This was a silly song. I wrote lyrics about a brutal murder scene and the band came up with something that sounds like L7 on testosterone. I still like it, though.

06. Beautifully Deformed - The music for this one came from one of Aidan's 4-track recordings. It was originally called "The Poop Song" and the lyrics were of the "I want to poop on you, I want to poop on everyone" variety. Aidan asked me to write something else, so I came up with the Bomb-infused sex lyrics.

07. Binding Glory - I wrote this one. I borrowed an atonal chord from Six Finger Satellite and arranged it around S&M lyrics. It came out well, especially after Aidan, Travis and JC added their flourishes.

08. Football Jock - Another song that came from Aidan's 4-track recordings. JC and Travis did an excellent job of recreating the metronomic, robotic beat.

09. Song - One of my songs that we played until we broke up. It was properly recorded for the demo.

10. The Taxidermy of Love - If I remember correctly, the music came from one of Aidan's 4-track recordings and I provided a poem I wrote as lyrics.

11. Grassed - I took the title from the Naked Lunch glossary and wrote a song around it. Aidan came up with the music. I particularly like the Sword of Vermillion-like guitar riff.

12. Halved - Another case of Aidan setting my lyrics to music. Travis insisted that he couldn't play that fast, so he played the note slowly and it ended up sounding really cool. The song kinda reminds me of "Rope" by The Jesus Lizard.

13. Stretched - One of our first songs and one that remained in our set until we broke up. I love this song.

Twitch Party
Live at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go 4/13/97 CS
(n/a)
1997

Download Live at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go 4/13/97 as a .zip file!

Pope Goat VII - Book of Extreme Measures

2009-06-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is the Third Book of Pope Goat VII, and, at this point, Ack and I were comfortable with the roles of Sir Ackronomicon and Sir Billy the Phreek, which His Holiness Pope Goat VII handed down to us. It's a brutal onslaught from beginning to end, with some parts bordering on power-violence (that Sleestak influence coming through). The first song, "Fucking Piece of Shit Bitch," sets the bar, and the book continues down that path.

All music was improvised with vocals improvised later, with the exception of "27 in 1."

These psalms truly were the most extreme measures His Holiness the Pope Goat ever had to take!

About the psalms:
(note: psalms that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Fucking Piece of Shit Bitch - This woman kept calling and asking for "Ira" while we were recording, which, of course, made the Pope Goat very angry. When I insisted for the third time that there was no "Ira" and that she had the wrong number, she got indignant and the Pope Goat waged war. The Pope Goat won.

02. Headshots - Sir Ackronomicon was in the process of making a student film, and he had piles and piles of headshots from wannabe actors looking to get their big break from Dramalogue. We ran around the living room recording studio in my mom's house throwing the headshots in the air and screaming at them. It was a huge mess.

03. Just Dogs - I'm not sure if this was about my dog, Lady Cookie the Wookie (RIP - she's guarding Pope Goat VII at his throne now) or if it's about these asshole dogs next door that always barked at us. I think it was the latter. Fucking piece of shit dogs.

04. Micro Phones - A lot of our equipment was/is budget crap from Radio Shack, and, as to be expected, it breaks. I knew Sir Ackronomicon was a worthy warrrior when I saw the look on his face as he glared maniacly at a broken microphone and screamed, "Look at you, you fucking piece of shit microphone!"

05. Chicken in a Biscuit - Yes, it's about the cracker, but His Holiness Pope Goat VII didn't want to worry about trademark infringement, so we spelled it differently. "I think I'm gonna risk it for chicken in a biscuit!" How about you?

06. 1492 - This evil track is a brutal assualt on American society going all the way back to Christopher Columbus. It's the soundtrack to the Pope Goat destroying 500 years of culture.

07. Auto Erotic Asphyxiation - It was a popular way to die at the time.

08. 27 in 1 - This was the first time we recorded music and vocals together and it was a real turning point in the way the Pope Goat channeled his music and message through us. It was also recorded under the influence of mushrooms. Either later that night or listening to it the next day, Sir Ackronomicon said it sounded like 27 songs in one, hence the name.

09. Doughnuts (Remix) - A dub-style remix of "Doughnuts" from Book of the Headless Goat.

10. Decapitation (Remix) - Another dub-style remix of a track from Book of the Headless Goat. The remix was something we meant to pursue, but the Pope Goat doverted out attention into other areas.

Pope Goat VII
Book of Extreme Measures CDR
(MPAE/Hummer Productions)
1999

Download Book of Extreme Measures as a .zip file!

note: the .zip file includes booklet and tray-card inserts so you can make your own PG7 CD!

Previous Books of Pope Goat VII

Visit Pope Goat VII on MySpace!

Eckankore - No Symbols Where None Intended

2009-05-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

(My hand-written notes about Eckankore from the mp3.com page)

Remember when mp3.com was really cool, before Lars Ulrich and Metallica spoiled it for the rest of us, and musicians could post their music for sale on CD or free download? Well, back around 2000, Ron K. made an Eckankore page and posted this compilation that documented the noise project from its earliest recordings to its most recent (at the time) sound structures.

(My hand-written notes about the tracks from the mp3.com page)

According to Ron, I'm the only person who has this material, so it's a pleasure to post it here for posterity. Besides, mp3.com now charges for its "services."

The images and music were uploaded with Ron K.'s full consent. Thank you, Ron!

Eckankore
No Symbols Where None Intended MP3/CDR
(mp3.com)
2000

Download No Symbols Where None Intended as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Why this need of activity?

The confusion of identities

Goatfish - Noise for Films

2009-05-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek circa 1998 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

I haven't had much time to post lately, so here's a quick noise "single" to get me back into the groove.

Both these tracks were used for student films.

About the songs:
(note: it's only two tracks so they're linked individually)

01. Me & You - I met Stephen Franklin at John's house (where The Gardeners started). He showed us his latest film project, Me & You, where somebody eats a Madagascar cockroach. I was particularly interested because he used Throbbing Gristle as the sound track. At that time, I was looking to expand MPAE, so I approached him about releasing it on video through MPAE. The only thing was, he needed to change the soundtrack because I didn't want to bother getting performance rights for TG. One night he came over to my house, and we recorded this soundtrack on my four-track. Stephen did an excellent job of directing the audio to fit the visuals. The video never happened, of course. This was burned directly from my VHS copy, one of maybe three in existance.

02. Credit Sounds - Ack needed some sound for the credits to one of his student film projects, so he asked me to do some noise. New Room was kind of a music video with a plot. From what I remember, a girl arrives at a house full of dead bodies and the killer (played by me) is running rampant through the house. All this was set to a song by Chavez (I think). That's me in the picture above, covered in blood at the end of the film.

Goatfish
Noise for Films CS
(n/a)
1999

Mr Phreek - Solo Recordings 1998-2001

2009-05-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek circa 2000 - Photo by Judy Jean Kwon)

Here's a chronological collection of random songs I recorded over a span of about 3 years. I put a lot of time and effort into some of the tracks; others were "of the moment."

The first three songs were recorded at my mom's town house in Northridge. 4 and 5 were done at my mom's house where the first five Books of Pope Goat VII were channeled. 5-9 were recorded in the apartment Ack and I shared in Granada Hills. Track 10 was one of the first songs I recorded when I moved to NY.

The "bonus track" mentioned on the cover art isn't included because I used it on my spacerock album along with two other songs from this CD and that would have put about half the album up here. I'll be posting that spacerock album in the future.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. That Certain Feeling - This was an attempt to do something "industrial" sounding, but it just sounds like something Steve Albini would have done with Big Black. I wanted single note arpeggio, like you'd get from a Moog, as the bass. I didn't have a keyboard yet, so I used a real bass. It was hard keeping time. The guitar line turned out well considering that I played the whole thing through the song. I also incorporated some sampling elements that I had begun with The Goatfish Oratorio. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. It ended up on my digital hardcore/industrial album, Luddite Surprise.

02. I Saw You (Crying) - My first stab at psychedelia and spacerock. I tuned my guitar to some strange tuning that went something like E B D A B F#, essentially making power chords out of the three pairs of strings. I spent a lot of time programming the drums, which wasn't easy considering I have a Yamaha RX-11. I actually mic'ed the bass and guitar, too. I think this is one of the best songs I've ever recorded. It opens my spacerock album, Songs About Girls Who Never Existed.

03. Can't Really Complain - I was big into digital hardcore, ie Atari Teenage Riot, and this LA band called Babyland, who were the closest thing to DH that I had heard locally. This was my tribute to both. I recorded the vocals in a friend's (John from The Gardeners) closet. I played an early version for my friend Mark Lovretovich and he said it needed some squeals, so I got our friend Phil, who would become Sir Oedipus Beer in Pope Goat VII, to play a noisy guitar solo over the whole song, which I edited. Many people love this song, which makes me very happy. This is the first track on Luddite Surprise.

04. Torn Apart - This is the original version of "Torn Apart," and to me, it's far superior to the one on the Anubis Rising demo. It's very Slip It In Black Flag with a heavy dose of Hammerhead.

05. Is It Worth It? - I wanted to do something like Flipper, but ended up with this teen angst anthem instead. Features the first extended guitar solo that I ever wrote.

06. Kicking Self - This was a less successful attempt at psychedelia. It's kind of a spacerock version of Flipper. My vocals sound very drugged-up - I probably was.

07. Lady Dragon - Hands down, this is my favorite spacerock song and one of my favorite songs that I've ever recorded, period. It's "Lady Dragon" as in "chasing the dragon," something I was doing heavily at the time until I switched to a much more sordid way of getting high. The song was recorded very Pope Goat-ish - mostly improvised. It came out perfectly. This is also on my spacerock album.

08. Freight Train Baby - I was really big into The Stooges' Funhouse and it shows here. I even programmed a pseudo-funk, Ron Asheton-style drum beat.

09. Highway Driving - I really shouldn't have used the same beat as "Freight Train Baby," but I think I was just trying to get some ideas down as quickly as possible. More Funhouse-infused Stooge-rock.

10. Liz Thinks I'm a Bore - A very trashy garage rocker that marks my transtition to NY. I was using a really shitty Radio Shack mic that was meant for portable tape recorders, which is where all the noise comes from in the middle of the song.

Mr Phreek
Solo Recordings 1998-2001 CDR
(n/a)
2001

Download Solo Recordings 1998-2001 as a .zip file!

Pope Goat VII - Book of the Headless Goat

2009-05-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

(Original cassette insert.)

It's the first post of the month, which means it's time for another Book from His Holiness Pope Goat VII.

Book of the Headless Goat followed right on the heals of The First Book. It was recorded with the same setup we had in my mom's living room while she was away in NY.

As a joke, we submitted to a local LA film festival in the hopes that we'd get to play live in front of a bunch of industry fuckheads. The best part was going to some office on Hollywood Blvd. to meet the music coordinator of the festival. I made him listen to all of "Acid" and a little bit of "Sleep" while he tried to stifle his laughter. I kept a straight face and acted like we were the best band on the planet. Some lady in an adjacent cubicle complained. Needless to say, we didn't get the gig.

Headless Goat picks up where The First Book left off and bridges well with the unforgiving power-violence of Book of Extreme Measures (which will be posted next month). Again, the music was improvised first and the vocals were improvised later.

Sir Ackronomicon talks about the psalms (with comments by Sir Billy the Phreek):
(note: psalms that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

From the Dungeon of Sir Ackronomicon

A Treatise on the grouping of psalms called

Book of the Headless Goat

as recorded by

The Holy Order of the Knights of Pope Goat VII

01. Acid - After we recorded this psalm, Sir Billy The Phreek named it because he said it reminded him of his LSD trips. Although I had yet to take any heavy hallucinogens (wait for Book of Extreme Measures for evidence), I think my brainwaves & sound were very in sync with “it” on this one. Sir Billy the Phreek began the song with this HUGE noise sound using his pedals and I forget what else. I love how the song “mellows out” with myself on harmonica, then Sir Billy the Phreek's noise dies out and I get super drippy with my slide bass and wah pedal. Sir Billy the Phreek hit the couch with his mic or something and I got into it by being his victim. Holy Goat! we banished some demons somehow with this one. “Are you feeling lost? It’s OK. You’ll never find your way out anyway.” (Negativland and Throbbing Gristle were on my mind while we did this. My repetitive vocals were an attempt at recreating voice samples. Then it turns into S&M at the end. I was hitting the couch with a stick - possibly one of the "Lame Far and Limp Bizkit Drumsticks!" My favorite line is "I juggle clowns for a living!" -Sir BtP)

02. Sleep - After recording Acid, Sir Billy the Phreek really wanted to sleep. I said I wanted to do one more, although I was just as drunk and exhausted. It came out kinda funky. (Perhaps my being tired allowed me to channel the Pope Goat better. -Sir BtP)

03. Monk E - This may have been when we were falling asleep. We did some mumble-chanting. It features more of my bass, with distortion and wah mic’d though a shitty burnt out little amp - I loved the sound! Phreek’s Rhodes had such a strong power though the distortion on his Fender amp. If the Pope Goat built a gothic church as the only place of peace for all of the tortured souls in the middle of Hell, we would be there playing "Monk E" for them. (Meant to be played at a funeral along with "Memento Mori" from The First Book of Pope Goat VII. -Sir BtP)

04. Doughtnuts - For the love of doughnuts, and certainly not cops. (I think we were eating doughnuts while we recorded this. -Sir Btp)

05. Fucking Piece of Shit Cat - Sir Billy the Phreek had this cat that we kept in the dungeon. Sometimes she would escape from her chained existence and sneak into our studio. She would also stick her paw under my bedroom and wake me up in the morning. We had to buy cat food AND feed her. She could never open the fucking can of food, hence the name, "Fucking Piece of Shit Cat." She snuck into our studio during this session and we chased her through the house, screaming while recording. She didn’t like it one bit. We would play this psalm for her really fucking loud whenever she escaped. She was a fucking piece of shit cat! (Yeah, that cat WAS a fucking piece of shit; nothing like Lady Smokey, my FPOS cat who kicks ass! -Sir BtP)

06. Pope Goat VII - Ah, a tribute from the Goat to himself, through us. Phreek could really play like a demon in the Vatican. I grabbed the mic and stood on that soapbox to let the world know what the Goat was all about. The Goat reverted to his primitive state through Sir Billy the Phreek, and said, "Baaaaah!" Amen! (Amen, Brother Ackronomicon! -Sir BtP)

07. Vikings and Pirates and Bears, Oh My! - I think I came up with this title at work and brought it home to Sir Billy the Phreek. Don’t know where it came from but Sir Billy the Phreek and I come from different backgrounds. You see, before we were The Knights of the Holy Order of Pope Goat VII, I was a pirate and he was a viking. The drum machine really sounds like a machine gun. This psalm is long and obnoxious, different from our other psalms, which can be short and obnoxious. I love it like it was my own psalm. (The psalm title came from His Holiness himself, as do all our other psalm titles. It tells the story of how His Holiness Pope Goat VII brought us from two different eras of history into his time in the Middles Ages, then into the future. -Sir BtP)

08. Fish - On top of having the aforementioned "Fucking Piece of Shit Cat," we had a whole mess of fucking piece of shit fish. We went into the minds of the fish, which wasn’t that difficult because fish are really dumb. You see, they were religious fish who really didn’t know about Darwin. Oh, the nerve! And they, like the aforementioned "Fucking Piece of Shit Cat," had to be fed. They probably ate their own shit - I can’t remember. Well, we screamed at them while recording, as usual, because they were fucking piece of shit fish. At least they couldn’t escape. “The Pope Goat commands that everybody eat meat on Friday. Everyone must eat meat every single Friday, including Christmas Friday and people should eat fish every other Sunday of every other January of odd even years.” (The Pope Goat had some serious words with those fish. "Flopping fish/flying fish!" -Sir BtP)

09. Goat 3:16 - Keeping with His philosophy of straddling extreme Good and extreme Evil, The Pope Goat channeled this amazing psalm through us. One of us reads from the Bible, and the other from the Necronomicon. Who’s reading which? (I read the erotic parts of The Song of Solomon. "Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down the mountains of Galaad...Your breasts are like twin fawns, the young of a gazelle that browse among the lilies." Oh yeah, that's romantic. -Sir Btp)

10. Decapitation - Oh the glory of decapitation! Our favorite method of murder, and also torture, when it’s done meticulously and slow. I like the huge evil note we hit towards the end of the psalm. It’s the audio equivalent of a giant, double-blade ax swinging down upon an unarmed peasant, slicing through his jugular and spine. Pure bliss. (Off with their fucking piece of shit heads! -Sir BtP)

Pope Goat VII

Book of the Headless Goat CS/CDR

(MPAE/Hummer Productions)

1999

Download Book of the Headless Goat as a .zip file!

note: the .zip file includes booklet and tray-card inserts so you can make your own PG7 CD!

Previous books of Pope Goat VII

Visit Pope Goat VII on MySpace!

Pyroclastix - Stripped

2009-04-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

When I found my Pyroclastix tapes, I remembered liking this one the best. Listening to it over ten years later, I know why. These two tracks are well thought-out and excellently executed, but harsh, violent, dark and disturbing, especially "Burn," a 36+ minute noise collage that's a truly impressive work of art.

Stripped is a true classic of underground DIY noise and it makes me happy to post it here for you.

The images and music were uploaded with Brian Magar's full consent. Thank you, Brian!

Pyroclastix
Stripped CS
(Imbalance)
1997

01. Flow

02. Burn

Nightmare Mode - Sally

2009-04-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd post some wicked, hateful anti-hippy music.

Nightmare Mode were great live, as was their CDR, The Eht (download it here), but Sally was a whole new level of intensity. Read the review I wrote for The Big Takeover #62:

I thought Nightmare Mode were amazing when I heard their demo, The Eht, but right now, I'm feeling bruised, bloody and beaten, and I can barely catch my breath because their new EP is intense!!! Imagine if Damaged-era Black Flag had been informed by Carcass instead of Black Sabbath. They're not exactly hardcore punk, and they're not really thrash metal, but they are somewhere in between and wholly original - which is entirely befitting a band from Cleveland. Guitarist/vocalist Ammo riffs twisted punk metal while wailing like a manic Gibby Haynes doing a Rob Halford impression. Meanwhile, bassist Danny Desolation and drummer Nikki Nightmare propel the rhythm with blast beats, odd timings and lock-step syncopation, adding dual, sometimes triple vocals into the schizophrenic mix. It's sheer uncontrolled insanity - rabid bliss.

I've since learned that there was recently a split in the band and Dan and Nikki left. That didn't deter Ammo - he quickly found replacements and he continues recording and touring as Nightmare Mode.

The images and music were uploaded with Ammo's consent. Thank you, Ammo!

Nightmare Mode
Sally CD
(Nightmare Mode)
2008

Download Sally as a .zip file!

Sample tracks:

Nightmare Mode

Hot One

Eckankore - Mereology: The Raw Sessions

2009-04-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

Announcing the first "official" release on MPAE online!

Mereology: The Raw Sessions is a two disc compilation of previously unreleased tracks recorded by EJ Nervo and Ron K during the latter half of 1997, when the duo were at their peak.

These soundscapes are as harsh and dissonant as they are cold and distant. All tracks were mastered by Chuck Foster from the original master tapes. Experience some vintage "ice wave" from one of the best unknown LA noise bands in history!

Eckankore
Mereology: The Raw Sessions MP3
(MPAE)
2009

Disc 1:
01. 7/97 A
02. 7/97 B
03. 7/97 C
04. 8/16/97
05. 8/30/97

Download Mereology: The Raw Sessions Disc 1 as a .zip file!

Disc 2:
01. 9/18/97 A
02. 9/18/97 B
03. Live A
04. Live B

Download Mereology: The Raw Sessions Disc 2 as a .zip file!

Visit Eckankore on MySpace!

Visit the long forgotten Eckankore website!

Noise Jazz Ensemble - John Lydon

2009-04-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek circa 1999 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

How about something that's REALLY obnoxious?

By the summer of 1999, free jazz had become a very serious passion. I was enthralled by the loud, noisy, chaotic sounds of Sun Ra, later Coltrane and Peter Brotzmann. My recording equipment was set up for recording any time, so I decided to do my own free jazz album.

I randomly hit buttons on my drum machine, beat on the keys of my Rhodes like a spastic Chick Corea, played crazy Greg Ginn-style solos on my guitar and blew as hard as I could into a trumpet that I never learned how to play. Needless to say, it's really just a bunch of atonal racket. If The Two Felipes made jazz, it would sound like this. Perfect for getting everyone to leave the party after they've overstayed their welcome!

Honestly, though, it's so sloppy and so completely ridiculous that I can't help but find it hilarious. Seriously, I crack up every time I listen to this stuff. Hopefully, you'll download these tracks and laugh along with me.

(Mr Phreek circa 1999 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

About the songs:
(note: it's only two tracks so they're linked individually)

01. What You Are Listening To - The mercifully shorter NJE track. Dig my out-of-breath trumpet solo in the middle!

02. John Lydon - I put on a video of The Sex Pistols live while I recorded this, hence the name. The first 30 seconds actually sound like the beginnings of something, but then it quickly slides into the typical NJE "groove." All four instruments take a solo here.

Noise Jazz Ensemble
John Lydon CS
(n/a)
1999

Goatfish - The Goatfish Oratorio

2009-04-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek circa 1998 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

Okay, so maybe I was a little too harsh on my first Goatfish release. I've listened to it a few times and I've realized that it's a lot better than I thought it was when I wrote that post, so if you like what you hear here, download the first release here.

This is the unfinished, unreleased, unheard second Goatfish album, which would have been the fourth release on MPAE, the cassette-only noise label. I hadn't heard this stuff for over ten years until I finally burned it to CD.

At this point, I was using my 4-track as an instrument. I'd record a core sound onto all four tracks, and then overdub various sounds through various effects, while twiddling knobs, onto three of the four tracks. All the tracks with German language titles (possibly taken from Rainer Maria Rilke? - I can't remember now) were recorded this way. I really like these.

The tracks labeled "Billy," on the other hand, were recorded in 1996 for my weird homemade short film, When Billy Said, "Maaaaaaah!" It was shot on a Hi8 camera and I recorded the guitar noise live while I shot portions of the film. For some reason, I wanted them on this album, so here they are.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Billy 1 - The first bit of delayed guitar noise that I did for the short film. I like how the first few seconds are staticy noise. It's a good opening.

02. Untergehen - I began with the sound of a train moving on railroad tracks and went from there. One of my favorite noise tracks ever.

03. Billy 2 - Lots of playing with the knobs on my delay pedal while I made noise on the guitar.

04. Ubergang und Untergang - The rare "rhythmic" noise track. I forgot what the core sound was (something from a white noise sleep aid machine), but I basically overmodulated it and twiddled knobs. It came out really well. Sounds a little like Non.

05. Billy 3 - Probably the most controlled of all my Billy tracks. This actually sounds like a creepy B-movie horror soundtrack, like from a Roger Corman Poe movie or something. The wind-down at the end is perfect.

06. Rede Vorrede - Another excellent use of the 4-track as instrument. Damn, I wish I had released this tape.

07. Billy 4 - More creepy horror movie music.

08. Brecher Vorbrecher - I either never recorded this track, or never mixed it down, so while I was burning the tape to CD, I boosted the levels at the end of When Billy Said, "Maaaaaaah!" and made it the final track. I think it works as an end to the album.

Goatfish
The Goatfish Oratorio CS
(n/a)
1998

Download The Goatfish Oratorio as a .zip file!

Mr Phreek - Summer 99 Rhodes Electro Punk

2009-04-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek circa '98/'99 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

It was the summer of 1999 and Ack and I were living in my mom's house in Van Nuys, CA while she was in NY. We had turned the living room into our permanent recording studio so we could walk in and hit record whenever the mood struck us. Most of the recordings centered on Pope Goat VII, but I got home from work a few hours earlier than Ack so I squeezed in some recordings here and there.

By this time, I was fully steeped in Iggy Pop's The Idiot, Throbbing Gristle, The Birthday Party and free jazz, especially Sun Ra. All those influences can be heard here, though I was really trying to do my version of The Idiot using Indian beats described by Don Cherry on Actions. I used my drum machine, Fender Rhodes electric piano and bass.

I ended up sending a copy of these songs to Michael Dean from Bomb. He said it reminded him of Suicide, certainly a high compliment.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Hibernation - I guess this was my attempt at doing something like "Mass Production" from The Idiot. You can hear that I'm trying to do my best Iggy Pop impression in the vocals. Haha.

02. Friday - I programmed one of those Don Cherry beats into my drum machine and jammed this one out. It ended up sounding kind of industrial. I like the way it turned out, especially when it changed 2/3 of the way through.

03. Drunken Battle - Another Don Cherry beat. This one has Iggy all over it, even stuff from his first two Arista albums.

04. Desert Song - Probably the darkest song from these sessions. I really like the way this turned out.

05. Crossing the Line - This song ended up being pretty prophetic, as I was sinking deeper and deeper into drug use. There's much more of a Birthday Party/Jesus Lizard/Stooges thing here than on the previous tracks. You can clearly hear me smoking pot at the end.

06. Factory Man - The Stooges/Birthday Party/Jesus Lizard sound comepletely took over here. Maybe it was a good thing that I stopped when I did.

Mr Phreek
Summer 99 Rhodes Electro Punk CS
(n/a)
1999

Download Summer 99 Rhodes Electro Punk as a .zip file!

Blackout Shoppers - Used Cars

2009-04-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

Here's some more Blackout Shoppers for all you BS fans!

In The Big Takeover #60, I reviewed this and the previous EP, Smash & Grab (which you can download here). Here's what I wrote:

The Blackout Shoppers have been insulting audiences since 2004, and with these two releases, they plant their scum-encrusted boots firmly up the ass of Lower East Side New York City Punk Rock. Vocalist Seth Amphetamines spews his hatred for humanity with the vengeance of a young Dave Insurgent. Mike Moosehead’s guitar growl recalls the bar chord attack of Negative Approach. While a lot of Hardcore bands simply ape their heroes, the Blackout Shoppers “keep it real” with integrity and a strong passion for what they are doing. In particular, “No Decision” on the two-song “single” shows a strong progression in songwriting with changing tempos and a breakdown reminiscent of Victim In Pain-era Agnostic Front. Fast three chord songs will never die!

Make sure you check out their new full length CD Pass Out!

The images and music were uploaded with Blackout Matt's consent. Thank you, Blackout Matt!

Blackout Shoppers
Used Cars CDR
(Blackout Shoppers)
2006

01. Used Cars

02. No Decision

Visit Blackoutshoppers.com!

Visit Blackoutshoppers on MySpace!

Pope Goat VII - The First Book of Pope Goat VII

2009-04-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

(Sir Ackronomicon and Sir Billy the Phreek performing a mass at Al's Bar.)

In honor of April Fool's Day, I thought I'd post the beginning of what became the single most significant aspect of my entire musical "career."

In the summer of 1999, I was 20 and Ack moved into my mom's house with me. She went to the east coast for a few months, so we had the house to ourselves. One day, I asked him if he wanted to record, and we turned the living room into our recording studio. I set up my Fender Rhodes electric piano, my four-track and we just improvised. It was a way to do the Karp/Melvins thing that we always wanted to do.

Recording became an obsession for us. I suggested the named Pope Goat VII and Ack liked it. We transformed into Sir Ackronomicon and Sir Billy the Phreek and we came up with a whole history - we were nights from the middle ages sent into the future by His Holiness Pope Goat VII to teach the modern people how to make music without any strings attached. Have fun, make noise - that's all that counts. People who take themselves too seriously are pompous assholes.

The Pope Goat became our musical deity, and we recorded five albums in that living room before we moved into our own apartment. This is the first, hence the name.

We went on to record over 50 albums and perform something like seven "masses" in honor of His Holiness Pope Goat VII. We knighted people along the way, too, bringing them into the ways of The Goat. The Pope Goat is real in our minds, and he stands behind us with his hooves on our shoulders in everything that we do.

All songs on The First Book were completely improvised. We recorded the music first and then overdubbed the vocals. Sometimes we had a song title and a riff to work from; sometimes we just hit record and let the Goat guide us.

About the psalms:
(note: psalms that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Flies - This was the first psalm we finished with music and vocals, so it had to open the book. I had forgotten to empty the trash and one day I came home to find the house infested with flies. The vocals were recorded while yelling at the flies buzzing around us.

02. Plants & Girls - My mom made us pick up these huge, heavy plants from the place we used to live and Sir Ackronomicon was having female problems. This was our frustration. The Goat works in mysterious ways.

03. Korean TV - We had the TV tuned to the Korean station for this psalm.

04. Wuss - The first music that The Pope Goat ever channeled into us. The vocals were recorded later. This is The Pope Goat's commentary on wussy emo indie pop.

05. Kennedy Crash - JFK Jr. had just flown his plane into a mountain, so we recorded this. This was a pretty accurate precursor of what was to come on the next two Pope Goat VII albums.

06. Stupid Fucking Ugly Bitch - About someone I worked with.

07. Memento Mori - "Remember that you must die." Sir Ackronomicon suggested the title. It's a hedonistic celebration of mortality.

Pope Goat VII
The First Book of Pope Goat VII CS/CDR
(MPAE/Hummer Productions)
1999

Download The First Book of Pope Goat VII as a .zip file!

Visit Pope Goat VII on MySpace!

Anubis Rising - Demo 99

2009-03-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

(Photo by The Jeneral)

Here's another band I was in for about ten seconds - well, ten months at the most.

My good friend, Ack, and I worshiped Karp and The Melvins, and we wanted to form a band where we could make a lot of noise, do a lot of feedback and scream in goblin voices, a la Chris and Jared from Karp. I called a drummer, Alex Bytnar, who I knew from a band called Zipper Kitty. He said he'd be totally into it, but he knew some other guys who wanted to do something similar and we should all get together and see what happens.

Ack and I met Alex down at a rehearsal space in Reseda, CA where we met the other guys, Sacha Dunable - the other guitarist - and Kevin Henson - the would-be vocalist. The rehearsal went really well, although it wasn't anywhere near what Ack and I wanted to do. Plus, we both thought that Kevin completely sucked as a vocalist.

After the first or second practice, we decided to come up with a band name. Sacha suggested something he really wanted to use. I looked in the LA Weekly and, lo and behold, there was a band with that exact name playing at The Whiskey that Friday. Hilarious. So we went with the name I came up with, Anubis Rising.

We continued practicing and Ack and I quickly lost interest. We weren't getting to do our noisy goblin metal and Kevin was turning out to be a douchebag on top of being a shitty vocalist. Ironically, I got along really well with Sacha, both musically and personally.

After our first show at Cobalt Cafe, Ack and I bailed to pursue our weirdo improv group, Pope Goat VII, who, incidentally, opened the show with our first live performance (or mass, as we called it).

I remained friends with Alex until I got too heavy into drugs. He's a good guy, not to mention an excellent drummer, and I'd like to talk to him again. I never heard from the other guys again. Of course they went on to get somewhat of a following and release a few CDs.

So here's the document of what the band sounded like in the very beginning. It was recorded by a guy named Tom (I think) from a band called Kung Fu Chicken. He did a great job and he was supercool. My guitar is in the right speaker. Ack plays bass. Sacha is in the left speaker. Alex rocks the drums. Kevin and I shared vocals, to a certain extent.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Torn Apart - I orignally wrote this to sound like Hammerhead, not what it is here. I far prefer my original four-track recording of this song and I'll be posting it in the future. I'm the main vocalist, with annoying flourishes from Kevin. His solo vocals at the end really irritate me. I never agreed to them.

02. Behold the Future - A great example of Sacha's epic songwriting. Too bad it's not what Ack and I wanted to do. I bust into a crazy Greg Ginn-style solo at the end.

03. Bleeding Heart - A Sacha song. For some reason, this is the song I always associate with my bad memories of Kevin. I kinda feel bad picking on the guy like this, but I really, genuinely did not like him.

04. Emptiness - Sacha's fast song. Cool bass/drums intro by Ack and Alex - sounds a little like Karp.

05. I Hope - One of mine. Black Flag influence here. Why did Kevin insist on blabbering over my vocals?

06. Eternal - Another Sacha song. I don't remember much about this one except the cool riff.

07. Untitled - I wrote this song, but never came up with any lyrics, so Kevin gets to ruin it. I think I'll end up using the music I wrote for my second black metal album.

08. Boiling Pot - Epic instrumental courtesy of Sacha. Some of it reminds me of "Good Natured Emma" by The Amboy Dukes.

09. Laughter - The band in in a good mood.

10. Hippie Drum Circle - I'm not sure what was going on with this. Were we trying to be Neurosis?

11. Xolotl - This semi-improvised track was the closest Ack and I came to our original vision. I wrote the riffs and we basically jammed them out. I think I'm playing trumpet in there at one point. I ended up reworking this song for my spacerock album, Songs About Girls Who Never Existed by Messier 7, which will be posted here in the future. Thankfully, Kevin's vocals are buried in the mix.

(Photo by The Jeneral)

Anubis Rising

Demo 99 CS
(n/a)
1999

Download Demo 99 as a .zip file!

SqueakQuencer - Aerobics for Dead People

2009-03-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

The second release on MPAE, my cassette-only noise/experimental label, was this, my dad's first album. Yes, this is my dad's music. If I seem a little strange, now you know why.

While I was weened on The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, my dad also played a lot of '70s German electronic records, like early Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Kraftwerk. We were also big fans of John Carpenter's early soundtracks. Later, the Heldon albums got reissued and we blasted those along with the stuff I was listening to at the time, like The Jesus Lizard, Unsane and Neurosis, all of which my dad also liked.

I always remember my dad fiddling around with synthesizers, so when I started a noise/experimental label, it was logical that I ask him to do an album. This one got rave reviews in Flipside from Belalugo Z and even made her Top 10 list of the year! Just about everybody who heard this tape loved it and it's almost a shame that it had to come out on my piddly tape label with only 50 copies made. But it remains one of my proudest moments with MPAE and it means a lot to me.

Eventually, my dad went on to record several CDs, all of which he pressed himself. I plan to upload some of those in the future.

The images and music were uploaded with Robert Foster's full consent. Thank you, Dad!

SqueakQuencer
Aerobics for Dead People CS
(MPAE)
1997

Download Aerobics for Dead People as a .zip file!

Or try some sample tracks first:

Falling Elevator Music

Things Melt When You're Not Looking

Eckankore - A Brief Account of Nonissues

2009-03-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

My first exposure to Eckankore came at a noise show at The Raven Playhouse in North Hollywood. deng were on the bill, as well as Musicide and Flammable Child. It was an odd night. The kid from the TV show 3rd Rock from the Sun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, had a lousy alternative rock band that played before the noise show. All us noiseheads were going nuts waiting for his set to be over.

When Eckankore finally took the stage, there were two guys with briefcases, Ed Nervo (formerly of NYC's Final Solution) and Ron K., standing in front of a film screen that showed an odd, outdated psychology instructional film provided by Emerson Balla. It was altogether a very strange performance and I honestly didn't quite know what to make of it.

Some time later, I ran into Ron and Ed at Green Hell, the record store on Ventura Blvd where Mike Thrashead of Musicide worked. We talked for a bit and I found them entertainingly odd as people.

Still more time later, I went to a psychedelic rock show at The Chorus Club in Korean Town to see 4 Skulls, Farflung and Bardo Pond and Ron was there. We spent the night talking between the bands' sets and I think we finally exchanged phone numbers there. Ron has been one of my closest friends ever since.

When I was in Leopold, we played at the now defunct PCH Club and Caveat Emptor, another Ed Nervo noise project, opened.

Around 2000/2001, Ed took a break from Eckankore and I joined Ron in his noise endeavors. I'll document that period in future posts.

A Brief Account of Nonissues became the first CDR on MPAE. It documents the "classic" Eckankore lineup of Ron and Ed at their very best.

The images and music were uploaded with Ron K.'s full consent. Thank you, Ron!

Some notes about the songs by Ron K.:
(songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Empty Malls - This is my favorite track that Eckankore ever did. The structure is very simple - me: a sample played on my Yamaha SU10, fed through an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man and some MXR pedals; Ed: high-pitched noises on his little oscillator. The mood is hypnotic, and the track is perfectly named: it really does sound like an empty mall, with trash strewn about and homeless people living in dark, cavernous corners.

02. Encroachment - This one was recorded live at the Cobalt Café in Canoga Park, CA. One thing you don’t get by just listening to the recording is the visual contributions of Emerson Balla. He is a very strange, utterly unique individual who was born in Brazil and collected found and discarded films from all over the place. For live performances he would bring several projectors and loop everything while the sound was occurring. Other times (like the one here) he would just show some bizarre, dated education film from the 70’s. As you can hear, we would let Emerson start things off and we would ‘accompany’ what he was projecting. As far as sound goes, I can tell that I was using the MXR Phase pedal, and Ed was doing some manipulating with the oscillator. I always used a Crate amp set to low-end only.

03. Rightful Ownership - This was another recording (like ‘Empty Malls’) that was recorded in Ed’s living room in Sherman Oaks. This one is like ‘Empty Malls’ in that there is much looped repetition and an empty, hollow empty atmosphere. It almost sounds like a dying motor from a lawnmower is playing in the background, but it isn’t.

04. Price Gouging - This was a wild, memorable show at The Garage, a long-closed club in a dodgy area of East Hollywood/Mid-Wilshire. I say wild because the crowd was there to see the singer from Fishbone and they were not prepared to experience something like Eckankore. They were already blind drunk, and when we started, they went apeshit. I wish that we had done more shows like this. As for the sound, Emerson was showing the same film that he showed at the Cobalt. Just for the heck of it, I kicked my amp off the stage when it was all finished.

05. Squandered Utilities - Another living room recording. I think it becomes interesting toward the middle. There is some sort of interference going on, kind of unsteady and troubling.

06. Depleted, diminished - Living room noise again. It is a perfect title again - things sound all washed up and finished, like a mouse that has been flushed down the toilet. I like the way that Ed comes in at the three-minute mark. An eerie old self-help tape can be heard in the last minute and a half.

Eckankore
A Brief Account of Nonissues CDR
(MPAE)
2001/2006

Download A Brief Account of Nonissues as a .zip file!

Leopold - Leopold EP

2009-03-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

(Live at The Smell - Photo by Ackronomicon)

I first heard about Leopold on the Jesus Lizard newsgroup on AOL. I ended up trading a few emails with guitarist Eddie Rivas and he sent me a demo tape, which was basically this 7". When I found out they were playing a noise rock festival in San Pedro, I was there. They completely embodied where I was musically at the time - noisy, syncopated and angry. It was Unsane crossed with The Jesus Lizard. I was in heaven.

I kept in contact with Eddie and he knew about Twitch Party. At a show at The Smell, when it was still in North Hollywoood next door to Raven's Playhouse, he and Dave Miranda, the bass player, told me they had a new song and they asked me if I'd improvise lyrics. I obliged and soon afterward was asked to join the band as vocalist. It was a dream come true.

Now I was going to band practice in Downtown LA twice a week and playing shows two to three times a month, which was quite a change from Twitch Party. For the first time, I was performing to crowds.

My first official show with Leopold was in San Diego at some strange place called Che Cafe. I remember Dave being impressed with my performance there.

Eddie was the ringleader and, I suppose, still is. He was/is the master of atonal, trebly unison bends and he played a Travis Bean. We ended up clashing, which was a shame, because he's a good guy and he definitely had his shit together way more than I did. Come to think of it, that's probably why we clashed.

George Tseng was one of the most amazing drummers I've ever seen in my life. We got along at first, but soon our music geekness got in the way and we weren't liking each other very much.

I was most in tune with Dave. For some reason, his personality and mine really clicked and he was always there for me until the end.

I was the youngest at 19. George was 21, Eddie was 25 and Dave was 27.

(Live at Al's Bar - Photo by Ackronomicon)

We played some great shows with bands I loved, like Babyland, Sleestak, 400 Blows and Melt Banana. After we opened for The Murder City Devils at Al's Bar, their singer, Spencer, came up to me to tell me I did a really good job. It was everything I ever wanted from a band.

Then our personalities started to clash. And, as to be expected, my narcotic intake fueled the fire. It really started with disagreements about my lyrics. They had been an established band for a couple of years before I joined and they had an image that they wanted to portray and here I was contradicting it. But I was 19/20 and I didn't want to be anybody's mouthpiece. Pretty soon, I was wearing vinyl pants to shows just to annoy Eddie. And then I missed a show because I overdosed on speed. Bad news.

Things got really tense. I got into Iggy Pop's The Idiot and realized there were different avenues musically that I wanted to pursue. The yelling and screaming was getting tiresome, as were the disagreements. Finally, I bailed at just the wrong moment. Dreamworks was going to flim a scene at Al's Bar and was looking for a band. Toast, the booker, recommended Leopold, but we needed professional pics. I didn't want to do it. I was in the midst of moving, Dreamworks turned my stomach, blah-blah-blah. The truth was, my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I wanted out and I quit. It was an asshole thing to do, but it was honest.

I eventually got back in touch with Eddie and we've been friendly since. I even did guest vocals at a show at Mr. T's Bowl for his birthday a year or two after we fell out. Afterward, a drunken Indio grabbed me and yelled at me all night that I should still be in the band. He was probably right.

I had nothing to do with this EP - it was recorded before I joined - but I performed these songs when I was in the band. I even made up lyrics for the instrumental, "When Cousins Marry."

The images and music were uploaded with Eddie Rivas' full consent. Thank you, Eddie!

Leopold
Leopold 7"
(Lotion Industries)
1997

Download Leopold as a .zip file!

Sample track:

Brick Full of Tables

Visit Leopold on MySpace and buy The Wreck of Hope CD!

The Gardeners - Winnetka

2009-03-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

(Mr Phreek circa '98/'99 - Photo by Ackronomicon)

Here are some recordings made during a night of jamming with some friends, circa '98.  John Huntley is drumming, Micah Calabrese is on bass and I'm playing guitar.  The recording is surprisingly clear for something that was recorded on a boombox in a garage.

I originally met John at a coffee house in Northridge called Common Grounds. We quickly became close friends and I spent many many nights crashing at the huge house he shared with four other guys.

Micah was the drummer of a local band called Radio 4 (not the band that would later gain radio airplay). He was, and I imagine still is, a masterful musician.

After this jam session, John, Micah and I decided to continue the project. We brought in Aidan, from Twitch Party, to play second guitar and Ackronomicon to play second bass. We played live a couple of times, then it started to lose its charm. It quickly became an "anything goes" free-for-all with random people jumping in at practices that really had nothing to do with the band. Plus, the music was going in a really wimpy indie-rock/Stereolab direction that I thought lacked the edge we originally had. Too many cooks and all. Eventually, it just kind of dissolved.

So it goes.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Track 1 - Our first jam of the night. John and I bonded over our shared love of Joy Division and it really shows here. Towards the end, I started quoting "Walls" by Crass on my guitar.

02. Track 2 - This was all centered around Micah's phenomenal bass lines. Apparently, this was a song he had fully written that he randomly decided to pull out here. This was my favorite Gardeners track.

03. Track 3 - You can tell the night was winding down, as this goes all over the place. I think that at one point, Micah switches from bass to keyboard and things get really noisy.

The Gardeners
Winnetka CS
(n/a)
1998

Download Winnetka as a .zip file!

Pyroclastix - Gain

2009-03-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

From what I remember, I "met" Brian Magar on AOL and, since we shared a love of underground noise, we traded tapes.

Brian was making noise on computers before Merzbow and, while I've never been a fan of computer noise, Brian's has always amazed me, mainly because it sounds organic despite being digital.

MPAE and Imbalance ended up having a brief alliance that culminated in the Experimental Dentistry comp. Good times.

I eventually met Brian Magar briefly in a fast food joint in PA and he was supercool.

The images and music were uploaded with Brian Magar's full consent. Thank you, Brian!

Pyroclastix
Gain CS
(Imbalance)
1997

01. Hegemonic Breakdown

02. In the Mouth of the Lion

The Two Felipes - Beaker Full of Death

2009-03-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ask, and ye shall receive!

I'm not too sure on my Felipes chronology, but I think this was their third "album." It really shows the band progressing, too. The production is better than previous recordings, the songs are stronger and more experimental (check out the Coltrane/Sanders saxophone duels in "Air Jammer Road Runner" and the "sampling" in "Morning Bloke") and Dan Vebber's lyrics are at their most punk rock. If they had been from anywhere but Milwaukee, this tape would have been noticed, but then I wouldn't be posting it on this blog if anybody knew who they were.

Beaker is also notable for its science fiction themes - precursors to Vebber's work on Futurama - and its tongue-in-cheek politics - staples of Vebber's work on American Dad.

By far, this is the best Two Felipes album!

The images and music were uploaded with Dan Vebber's full consent. Thank you, Dan!

The Two Felipes
Beaker Full of Death CS
(Flaming Cow Productions)
1988

Download Beaker Full of Death as a .zip file!

Or try out some sample tracks first:

Air Jammer Road Rammer

Morning Bloke

Door to Door Shoeshines

Star Trek

Life in Hell

Goatfish - The End of a Fortnight

2009-03-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

After the deng tape, I decided to launch my solo noise project, Goatfish, with this tape. This was actually the third release on MPAE - Squeakquencer's Aerobics for Dead People was second.

Unfortunately, The End of a Fortnight doesn't hold up as well as Spasmodic Goat. Most of the tracks lack focus and end up as chaotic free-for-alls.

All 50 tapes came in the above purple sack, which was hand-sewn by Hellicine, the artist who drew the cover.

I've since continued Goatfish as Ghoatefische, with a much more focused, controlled approach.

About the songs:
(note: songs that are linked can be downloaded as samples)

01. Gone - Probably the first solo noise track I ever recorded. Too bad I can't remember anything about it.

02. Longing - Four tracks of a power drill through various effects. I think the idea was better than the result.

03. Missed - Lots of chaos that doesn't really go anywhere.

04. Frustration - A "serious" attempt at mimicking Masonna.

05. The Wait - A quieter track that didn't turn out so badly.

06. Distance - A little like Aube maybe?

07. Alone - Definitely one of my favorites. This is much more the direction I've headed with Ghoatefische.

08. Lament - My favorite track on the tape. I found samples of goats bleating online, mic-ed my computer's speakers into my four-track and added effects. The result is quite unnerving.

09. Remembering - Way too long track of my guitar feeding back over rumbles from my newly bought bass. I really should have watched the time here.

10. Silence - Another favorite track that shows the more controlled, focused direction I would go.

Goatfish
The End of a Fortnight CS
(MPAE)
1997

Download The End of a Fortnight as a .zip file!

Mr Phreek's Anokist Emporium

World War IX - Locked In

Ghoatefische - Room For One More

Violent Fit - Descent of the Monarch

400 Blows - 3-19-98

Sleestak - The Power of Gemini(a

Pope Goat VII - Book of VII Commandments

Necroparthenophagy - "Laiad Chis Ananael"

Exclusivos - Out of a Promising Start

Ultramundane - A Kingdom at Birth

Pete-less - Pete-less

Libyan Hit Squad - Fiji

The Repercussions - Modern Sounds

Pope Goat VII - Book of New Surroundings

***UPDATE***

World War IX - When a Good Time Turns to Shit

The Two Felipes - Hot Off the Grill

ULTRABASTARD! - Demo

MPAE presents...A Guide to Middle Eastern Black Metal

Simstim Technologies - Neuromance

Optimus Prime - And Now...Optimus Prime Time!

FPOS - Fuck You, We're Fucking Piece of Shit

Solarfeast - Gossamer

MPAE presents...Hard Times

I Luv Luv Birds - I Know Why the Caged Bird Gun Slings

Jerk Alert - Jerk Alert

The Jack Saints - Sweating Like a Whore in Church

Enchanted Sorrow - Enchanted Sorrow

The Unnamable - I

Pope Goat VII - The First Tract of Pope Goat VII

Twitch Party - Live at The Raven Playhouse 5/10/97

Meet the Exclusivos

Exclusivos - Demos

Messier 7 - Songs About Girls Who Never Existed

World War IX - Brown Bagging It

Euronymous

I Luv Luv Birds - Mysteries of Magnetism

Centuries of Deception - Heic Noenum Pax

Eckankore - Mixdown 1

Nightmare Mode - Haste

Pope Goat VII - Book of the Fucking Piece of Shit

Goodbye Sky

The Two Felipes - Rock the Boat

Pyroclastix - Live Destruction: Halloween, 1997, Syracuse, New York

deng - Live at The Raven Playhouse 10/97

Twitch Party - Live at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go 4/13/97

Pope Goat VII - Book of Extreme Measures

Eckankore - No Symbols Where None Intended

Goatfish - Noise for Films

Mr Phreek - Solo Recordings 1998-2001

Pope Goat VII - Book of the Headless Goat

Pyroclastix - Stripped

Nightmare Mode - Sally

Eckankore - Mereology: The Raw Sessions

Noise Jazz Ensemble - John Lydon

Goatfish - The Goatfish Oratorio

Mr Phreek - Summer 99 Rhodes Electro Punk

Blackout Shoppers - Used Cars

Pope Goat VII - The First Book of Pope Goat VII

Anubis Rising - Demo 99

SqueakQuencer - Aerobics for Dead People

Eckankore - A Brief Account of Nonissues

Leopold - Leopold EP

The Gardeners - Winnetka

Pyroclastix - Gain

The Two Felipes - Beaker Full of Death

Goatfish - The End of a Fortnight

UPDATE