Category: Bands/Comps/Splits
Review of Gaskill’s Special Weapons
If you pay attention to our Facebook page then you know we were so enamored by all the bands at the recent record release show for Death Kiss Volume 2 that we decided that we HAD to do a feature on all the current Bandcamp discogs from the bands that performed at the show.
But GASKILL just put out a new record. So we decided that we’d feature that instead. And still talk about their Bandcamp discography.
But I digress.
Believe it or not, my first exposure to GASKILL was the track they contributed to the latest Death Kiss compilation (Which you can read all about by clicking here). Once again, Mary Frances can pat herself on the back knowing she brought to light another local gem to, not just to me, but to so many others through the comp and her show on WEMF. And in turn, I get to shed a little more light through my medium of communication. Circle of life and all that shit.
So “I Am The Spider” was my favorite on the comp and it closes up Special Weapons nicely here. Like I said on my initial take of the track, it’s like Jello Biafra fronting Anthrax….but boy does Kevin Grant have range beyond that. In fact, my FIRST impression was that of the second coming of Stompbox while live they definitely added elements of early Clutch to their repertoire.
In other words, GASKILL is a mutt. A glorious mutt made from the bestest of the best to create this musical beast/hound of beauty. If you go back through their discography (See! I told you I’d go there!) which dates back to 1996 (The band formed in 1995), the evolution into this multi-faceted behemoth that offers you new music today is obviously apparent.
“I Know Your Name” is blistering and intense and, much like their Black Flag covers album (Our War, available here), is also direct and to the point. With Kevin Grant’s voice stabbing at listeners as Dan Jagoda’s cacophonous drumming and Craig Fleming’s wall of noise guitar fuzz provide the perfect soundtrack of organized chaos.
“Small Cake” alters the tone vastly with a slow groove that rumbles along like molasses with Grant’s bellows echoing out and resonating, careening into an almost Danzig-esque chorus. “Salt” really lets Mario Costa’s bass barrage shine during a track that encapsulates some of the great noise of Boston yesteryear (Think Sam Black Church and Tree in particular) while “Slow Crows” is all crunchy and dirty and gritty and all the things until it becomes a thrashing rager.
And “I Am The Spider” closes it all up. And you already know how we feel about that one.
Summer 2018 Cassette Collection
75OL-286 75orLess Summer 2018 Cassette Collection
$40.00 S&H Included
This is a collection of 15 different cassettes, including the following 2017-18 releases:
75OL-269 Gaskill – Special Weapons
75OL-279 Test Tube – Grows Up
75OL-278 Gladhouse – No One Is My Name
75OL-275 Sick Pills – Be My Girl
75OL-273 Deadlands – Wonderland
75OL-265 The Really Heavy – Titan Clinic
75OL-276 Creep Church – The Covers Record
75OL-264 Pixels – Accessories
75OL-254 Matt Fraza Band Flies Through The Dark
75OL-268 Foul Weather Friend – Self Titled
75OL-260 The Low Cards – Self Titled
75OL-267 The Lincoln Tunnel Phone This One In
75OL-263 Swampbirds – no parenthesis
75OL-272 Six Star General – Greatest Hats
75OL-257 Steve K – L4EO
Each cassette was limited to a maximum of ten numbered copies, most of these had less than ten made.
Gaskill Special Weapons
75OL-269 Gaskill – Special Weapons
$7.00 S&H Included
Digital download and free streaming available here
Track Listing
1. I Know Your Name
2. Small Cake
3. Salt
4. Slow Crows
5. I Am A Spider
GASKILL formed in 1995 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, releasing 2 demos and the Granite Iron Oak album before going on hiatus in 2002. The band reformed in 2015 with Chris Helme on drums, releasing an album of new material, The End of the World, and an album of Black Flag covers (Our War).
Foul Weather Friend Self Titled Album review in Motif
Foul Weather Friend – Self-Titled
Don’t know why, but I didn’t think that I’d like this debut album from Foul Weather Friend as much I do. It was an irrational fear because I run into my pal Bruce Humphrey at every show I’m excited about from here to Boston. We obviously have similar interests. What was I thinking — that Bruce was playing in a one of those country pop bands? In the words of Husker Du, “It makes no sense at all.” I popped in the biscuit and it kicks with a tune, “Halo Moon,” that is so good that I spent three months listening to that on repeat and didn’t bother with the rest of the record (sorry Bruce!). As the title suggests, it is ethereal and not far from a stone’s throw to stuff like The Yawpers with a Stones opening punch like punk rockers mining the roots. Lines like, “We’re so sway by the lunacy around us” sum up these times. I did eventually get to track two, being the responsible journalist that I occasionally am, to “Fences and Walls,” which is impossible to think of without mentioning the orangutan President we are all so lucky to have according to one Twitter account. “Fences and Walls” reminds me of Mathew Sweet fronting a band inspired by mod-era The Who mixed with Psychedelic Furs. “Let It Go” reminds me of the Goo Goo Dolls, before they sucked, as a ballad. It’s not quite Replacements level, but what is? “Girls of Wild Strawberries” sounds like you crushed Nick Lowe and Tommy Keene in a blender and poured the result over ice. “Happy Bubble” is the rocker with runner-up status to “You’re Love Won’t Leave Me Alone.” The closing, “No Use to You Now,” captures the defeated heartbreak of The Replacements with an indie rock swing.
Karma Rocket – Peace and Quiet
75OL-277 Karma Rocket – Peace and Quiet
$7.00 S&H Included
Streaming and digital download available here
Track Listing
1. Persephone
2. Lost It All
3. Creepily
4. Kay
5. Hey Dad
6. That Song
7. Blurry
8. Vulture
9. Stab
10. Legs
11. Hallelujah
75orLess 2018 Summer Sampler
75OL-280 75orLess 2018 Summer Sampler
This is a free download from the label bandcamp page
We hand-stamped and numbered ten cd copies of this comp. If you really want the cd version of this, use the paypal link below
$6.00 S&H Included
Track Listing
1. Invisible Man – Hey Jim 2:52
2. Plug – Don’t Be Strong (Live in-studio) 2:20
3. Stan – The Stanifesto (June mix) 3:38
4. Jeff the Postman – Tethered 3:11
5. Wrong Way Roger – Amaretto 3:18
6. Mark Cutler – Feeling Good Today 3:17
7. Bendays – Midnight Marge 3:19
8. Gladhouse – Drifting 3:14
9. Jets Can’t Land – Wreckage (Radio edit) 4:46
10. Automono – We, the People are the Plankton 2:15
11. Test Tube – You Gotta Be Nice 1:57
12. Foul Weather Friend – Sully The Mix 3:48
13. Deadlands – Wonderland 3:55
14. Josh Brown & the Blazers – Honorable Mention 1:50
15. Bill Keough – Soul and Fire (Sebadoh) 3:14
16. Jacob Haller – The Weiner Song 1:47
17. Maria Monk – Martin’s Letter 6:36
18. Minky Starshine – Whiskey In A Tea Cup (expl ver) 2:00
19. Hope Anchor – Dead and Gone 3:08
20. Harvey Garbage – Filthy 2:18
21. Gaskill – I Am A Spider 3:11
22. We Own Land – Deserae 4:13
23. The Really Heavy – Punch 3:43
24. Karma Rocket – Stab 3:54
Josh Brown & The Blazers – The Pyrostasis EP
75OL-274 Josh Brown & The Blazers – The Pyrostasis EP
$7.00 S&H Included
Digital download and free streaming is available here
Track Listing
1. Honorable Mention
2. Shut Up & Go
3. Have A Nice Day
4. Back In The Day
5. Force of Habbit
Recorded by Jacob Berberich in 2017 at NL Studios in Milford, CT. All guitar, drum programming, bass, keyboards, and vocals by Josh Brown.
Gladhouse No One Is My Name
75OL-278 Gladhouse – No One Is My Name
$7.00 S&H Included
Digital download and free streaming is available here
Track Listing
1. Greetings From Savannah
2. Going Home
3. Invitation to the Dance
4. Slow Down
5. No One Is My Name
6. Still I Wait
7. Cozy Arrangement
8. Trying To
9. A Little Bit Closer
10. Never Came True
11. Never Letting Go
12. (Return) To Eternity
Sick Pills Be My Girl EP
75OL-275 Sick Pills – ‘Be My Girl’ EP
$6.00 S&H Included
Digital download and free streaming is available here
Track Listing
1. Be My Girl 3:09
2. Die For You 3:33
3. Spin Me Round 3:20
4. Killing Moon 3:35
Motif reviews Hope Anchor’s ‘Beautiful Corpses’
Hope Anchor – Beautiful Corpses
I did a half review of this album last fall when I only had access to three songs. I don’t think I did it justice. Jams that have been rocking my world on this biscuit include the primal “Primal Mover,” which just makes me think of the band Magazine Meets Wire on amphetamines. Before it came out, guitarist Terry Linehan warned me this was their goth record, but I grew up on that shit in the ’80s. The creeping “Skeleton Waltz” takes me down some dark hallways of my past; Paul Everett acts like a tour guide, leading you through an extended doom. The guitars on “Xoxosos” jump out like the sunlight hitting you exiting a bar at 6am. The piano outré duet between Everett and Lolita Black’s Scarlett Delgado leaves a haunting touch. One of my favorite local bands, The Lincoln Tunnel, is opening this show. They are great despite the presence of my mortal enemy, Christian Caldarone.