Scratch Acid played a huge part in the noisy underground movement of the 1980s; they took punk to the dirtiest, dingiest mudhole they could find and sullied it from top to bottom until it looked and sounded like some hell-bound bogeyman. It’s not too far-fetched to think of Scratch Acid as the American equivalent of The Birthday Party, the Texans donning the mantle that was dropped when The BP disbanded. “The Greatest Gift” contains everything the band ever recorded, including a few lo-fidelity instrumentals. Scratch Acid never received the notice it deserved, but the musicians could pound out brilliantly frenzied and highly original post-punk/noise rock that sometimes rivals the material released by singer David Yow and bassist David Sims’ future (and much more well known) project, The Jesus Lizard. The first eight songs were originally released in 1984 as an eponymous EP; from the opening crashing bars of “Cannibal” to the terrifying lyrics heard on “Lay Screaming” (a song which reads like something culled from a medieval book about torture), this band obviously never had any desire to control itself. Only one slight reprieve can be found in the relatively tender “Owner’s Lament,” a song replete with weeping strings. Songs nine through 20 first saw the light of a sickly day as “Just Keep Eating”, Scratch Acid’s one and only full-length that found the band expanding its musical palette: insane noise rock numbers (”Eyeball,” “Holes”), jaunty, faux lounge grooves (”Amicus”), goofy Zeppelin-esque riffs (”Cheese Plug”), and a spot-on cover of the Webber-Rice rocker “Damned for All Time,” complete with exclamatory horns. The remainder of the disc comprises the songs from their definitive statement, the 1987 “Berserker” EP. A little more money went into this recording; as the sound quality is better than on “Just Keep Eating”, it was definitely worth it. “Mary Had a Little Drug Problem” and “Flying Houses” are whirlwinds of pounding drums, foreboding basslines, and scathing, blinding guitar phrases. The band never played so well or wrote better songs. Highly recommended to any Jesus Lizard fan and noise rock/hardcore punk aficionado. [Source: AMG]
Nevermind, a new brand from New Zealand started by Adam Bryce, Fergadelic, and Eric Elms, has just released their very first tee. Designed by Fergadelic, the tee features a big graphic of a person ripping off his shirt to reveal four bright colored zigzags. It also has the name of the shirt, Smash Babylon Mind Control, printed on the back. A very nice, eye-catching design for a first release. Now available at We Sold Out.
Street Carnage is going on tour from May 22- 25, 2008 with ISLANDS. That?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s right we are going to be live, in person, in the flesh, waging war against frowns and bummers, bringing you the best in laughs, laughter and laughing So, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be afraid, a scared or a pussy. Come see us and then if you want, you can stick around for the ISLANDS. At that point we could give a crap. I mean they are really, really good and all but they are not US!
Oh, Street Carnage will also have t-shirts and DVDs and all sorts of bobbles and trinkets on sale too.
So I’m totally stoked right now on the release of this amazing book!
When I was a teenager the most sought after album amongst my friends was the No New York LP and it seems only a few of us actually ever got our hands on it which lead to taping it for all our friends. When I got word that this book was out I put in my order immediately and got that same excitement of when I first received the No New York record. Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, James Chance & The Contortions, D.N.A. and Mars were the bands featured on the famed LP and you can find them and more in this seriously awesome book. Turntable Lab were nice enough to scan in some pages so peek at them for now and head out and pick the book up for yourself.
GOOD.LOOKING.OUT.JEN.via.KILL.CITY.&.GNARLITUDE.
