Hey How Ya Doin', Sorry Ya Can't Get Through, Why Don't You Leave Your Name, And Your Number, And I'll Get Back to You

 So I have computer access now, I've been without for some time now. I can do things like download music, add new music to my iPod and take music off. All good things. But why can I do all these now?
 Because I live in mother fucking Philidelphia now. Moved here Sunday. So anyone thinking I'm still in KS or OH....







 I moved here on Sunday night after spending a week at Ragnarok, a foam fighting event. I was pimping with newly built gear, new garb and a better attitude then ever. For the first time in my 10 year fighting career I used a spear. A short 6 ft. harpoon that was difficult adjusting to at first but after two days I began becoming a menace with it. Now I need to add one to my personal arsenal.

 This year also marked something new for me. I started a squireship under a knight I greatly respect, Sir Rune of Mittlemarch. Here's a picture of us together on Wednesday. He's the burly mother fucker on the right side of the picture with the chain mail.

 Over the next two years(minimum) I will truly show my dedication to the sport , myself, my knight, my local realm, my fighting, my attitude and my garb. I will step up my game in all aspects be it physical, mental, personal, in game, out of game, on the field or off. I will learn what it means to be exemplary and how to lead by being exemplary. I'm pretty excited about it.

 Once I get settled in with a job and all that stuff I can start updating again talking about bands and shit. Good vibes.

 As a new chapter begins, the others remain barely open only to glance back at what's happened. Memories of blast beats, Fugazi, fucking epic pocket stabs.

Good Times

 I'm re-upping this post for one reason. I miss my brothers in grind from Kansas and I think back to this day a lot. Get high, listen to fast music and drink dark beer.

Fuck...I'm Drunk

If you're ever in the Lawrence, KS area check out Freestate Brewery. They make all the beer in house and it's all REALLY good. Oatmeal Stout and Imperial Stout are my favourites, hands down. They have good food, good service and good times.

Scorned for Ska

 Le Scrawl is not a band for everyone to listen to. They take thrashing, deathy, grindy metal and splatter it with bits of skas more surprising elements such as saxophone, organ and skanking 4x4 beats. This is for sure experimental music, but not in the vein most people think. There's no droning seven minute songs, no keyboards/synth/electro elements, no "atmosphere". Just grindska. Or skadeath. Or skagrind. Or thrashska. I really don't know what to call it besides enthralling and catchy as fuck. Could this be another case of music by location? Le Scrawl are from Belgium, which might have something to do with it. Wedged between France(prominent language in Belgium), Germany, The Netherlands and the English Channel with the UK to the North it makes sense where their influences come from. England was the start of the punky ska movement once it got exported from the Caribbean and Germany is a thrash/death metal Mecca. It all makes sense. I have no clue where their experimental impetus came from but man am I happy they found it.
 The thirteen songs presented here on "Eager to Please" start off with energetic metal that bounces and makes you wanna skank until the death metal slaps your face again. The first six songs do really well at alternating tempos and moods with middle songs slowing down to more mid-tempo and letting the organ and horns really shine through. The first three or four times you listen to this you'll ask yourself and those around you "Is this a joke? Are these guys for real?" The answer is fuck yes. It's for real. You probably will chuckle at what seems to be absurd, but you'll eventually go "Oh shit this is really good!". I personally love the metal riffs with guttural vocals that transition into the ska parts that are more light-hearted, with the sick guttural vocals. This interplay of atmosphere gives me the same feeling power-violence bands that play blasts into breakdowns give me.
 So do yourself a favor and get adventurous and experimental without listening to Boris.

"One by one, you will die"

Five Thousand Strong...And Growing

So today is kind of a milestone for me. I hit 5,000 unique views a few minutes ago. It's been under three full years of "writing" for me, about two and a half to be almost concise. Considering there are blogs that get 5K views every day, I feel pretty awesome. I'm by no means a pro, or even "good" at this. I've always had a good grasp on the English language (minus my bad spelling) but wasn't a big fan of writing in school. I didn't usually have the impetus to write about things I liked, like music. This blog was that impetus. I've really enjoyed meeting lots of you guys in the GrindBlog community we've established. I've made friends, made Jon Chang hate me and joined a much bigger blog that may set me up for internet stardom. I wonder what will happen in the next 5K views.
 I want to do something special for this, I just don't know what yet. Expect something awesome!
 Thanks again everyone. I'm real stoked.

March Thrash Madness!

 With lots of thrashing happening here, I might as well keep it up. I'm exclaiming this to be March Thrash Madness! I'll try to do only thrash and crossover all of March. I even had this INSANE inclination to wait until March Madness hits and taking the final (x) teams and posting bands from their corresponding states. We'll see how lazy I get and how many drugs I can do first. Haha. But onto the music!
 Here's a sweet split from Municipal Waste and Crucial Unit. Municipal Waste you should be quite familiar with since Dave Witte has played drums with them for a few years and Municipal Waste were fore bearers of that "modern thrash revival" we had. Thrash never died, it just went back underground. Regardless, they're a super D.R.I. influenced crossover style thrash band. That's a good pick up reference, but I hear a lot of hardcore influences on here. A couple of breakdowns even. Not slams, this isn't death metal.  Fast, sloppy drum fills. Fast talk/yelled lyrics. Fast punx guitar parts. These guys are the line between fastcore and crossover. A few more BPMs and they cross that line. The newer material is longer and much more thrash-tastic. I prefer the shorter crossover songs on their early material a la this split 7". I really love the samples they use as well. Some people aren't too keen on them, and they're missing out. Really adds to the atmosphere for this band.  "Born To Party" also appears on the "Art of Partying" LP in a varied form with lots and lots of gang vocals. I also want to note the sweet band Poser Disposer got their name from MW. Cheers.
 Crucial Unit play short, fast thrash. Straight up. Their singer should maybe be in a power violence band, but it's interesting over the thrash. One thing making them interesting is the Macabre influence. It's much more prevalent here then on the "Moshzilla" 7". I just don't hear enough Macabre in sweet bands. The other non-Macabre aspects of their music are fucking fast and chaotic hardcore punk thrash. Crucial Unit like Municipal Waste have fun lyrics but some of their tongue-in-cheekery is done with political motivations. I love this lyrical style because it doesn't get boring. It's like those lines you quote in movies over and over before your band samples them.


"It's circular. Round. Circular. Circle. With the music. The flow."

A Hidden Hand...of Love

I just found this dude's Twitter and I'm so stoked. Andrew W.K. is by far THE greatest artist of any generation. Granted the only record he made that's any good is "I Get Wet", it's absolute gold. I saw the video for "Party Hard" when I was a freshman and immediately fell in love. Everything from the nuances of the video to his album packing when I bought it later that week. Especially the album cover! Just as brutal as Pantera's "Vulgar Display of Power" except AWK hit himself in the face with a brick until he bled instead of paying some dude to get jacked in the fact with a meaty fist. Then he started blowing up and his other videos got lots of air time. "She Is Beautiful" showed AWK playing all the instruments and running through a house just rocking out. And his best video, "We Want Fun", is all out mayhem with the Jackass cast and fucking Butterbean. There's a scene where AWK is walking around with Butterbean on his shoulders. Now that's fucking metal. This song and video are the epitome of his style and message. Yes he wants everyone to party 'til they puke, but he's about more than that. He also embodies the ideas of self-affirmation and unnerving positivity in the face of any and all adversity. Seeing him live was a great way to experience this. I've only seen him twice. Once in IN for free and at the final US Hellfest in New Jersey. The Hellfest performance was one of the best things I've ever seen. Three thousand hardcore kids going absolutely batshit. There were two circle pits going, one clockwise the other counter-clock wise and everyone had someone on their shoulders giving high fives. The stage was full of people the entire time dancing, stage diving, grabbing for the mic, taking pictures, throwing beach balls, and then there was the inflatable party dolphin of death. Fucking Boston Beatdown tough guys were grabbing it and crowd surfing or "riding the bull" around the floor where everyone was dancing, two-stepping, HB strutting, taking their pants off and just generally loving life. I've never seen so much enthusiasm from so many people all focused one thing until that night. And all 3,000 people were focused on one thing: having fun. When was the last time any of you saw that? I also have to mention that AWK headlined that day's performances and direct support on the bill for him was Mest. Those poor pop-punk poser pussies. I, as well as 20-30 other people were throwing water/soda bottles at them (some full, some empty) their whole set beckoning them to fucking go home so we could see AWK. If there were more than ten people (i.e. pubescent girls and their boyfriends) there actually enjoying the set I'd have felt bad, but of course no one felt any remorse.
What does this have to do with anything? Well it's getting to be the time of year for holidays and parties. And with AWK being a mainstay for Halloween costumes and New Year's soundtracks I'm posting his best work for everyone to really start their parties raging. I've uploaded 90 percent of "I Get Wet" (the two or three filler songs I don't like have been omitted), the original version of "We Want Fun" from the Girls Own Juice EP, the first two tracks off his second full-length "The Wolf" (Victory Strikes Again and Long Live the Party) which both sound like they belong more on his first album and finally his contribution to the Aqua Teen movie soundtrack "Party, Party, Party" which is also in a hilarious Aqua Teen episode with a montage and a raging animated Andrew himself.
I've also just found out he did an entire cover album of the original Gundam soundtrack for it's 30th year anniversary, which is fucking balls. The first few incarnations of the Gundam series are classic slices of no only anime but good t.v. in general. Speaking of which I'd love to point out his DVD "Who Knows" is fantastic. It covers his performances from like two years of him touring. He spliced together all kinds of fan recorded footage of his worldwide tours including right when "The Wolf" came out and he broke his foot on stage on night and then finished that tour cycle in a wheelchair! And it has some amazing footage of his Furnace Fest performance, which I imagine would have been amazing if I could have went. Fucking HUM reunion for christ's sake.

This is where the link usually goes but the internet connection I'm using right now is worse than a fermented offal discharge, so when everything finishes you'll be able to party hardy.