Brandon Cruz - Eddie Was A Punk CD (Taang!) - Well, Taang! was originally going to release a Dr. Know discography CD (actually, probably just the stuff with Brandon on vocals - no way everything would fit on one disc otherwise). But Doug Moody (Mystic Records) put a stop to that and has or is planning to release another unauthorized disc of Dr. Know stuff. While all that is being sorted out, we get this collection of stuff instead. The disc starts out with some stuff that Cruz did back in 1970 when he was a child actor on a sitcom called The Courtship Of Eddie's Father. I guess I am too young to remember it. Anyhow, these tracks are interesting as a novelty I suppose, but as far as listenability goes, zilch. Except for laughs. Maybe those who can remember the show will find this portion of the CD more entertaining than I did. The remainder of the disc contains tracks of various bands Cruz was in after Dr. Know. Unfortunately, this is only around 20 minutes worth of stuff and as far as quality goes, it's kinda 50/50. The best stuff comes from Twister Naked, who do three Cruz-era Dr. Know tunes and one original. This stuff is cool, but I cannot say that these versions top the Dr. Know originals, but they are credible. Plans are afoot for a Dr. Know reunion tour, and legit pressings of the early Dr. Know stuff. Keep an eye open for those, but this disc is only for Brandon Cruz fanatics.

Con-Dom - Acts of Faith 3" CD (Tesco Organisation, Germany) - This has probably been out for a while now, but I just picked it up and since there are still copies available through some distros (check Relapse, Self Abuse), I figured I'd give it a review. I must start by mentioning the packaging of this release. A glass frame containing a picture and a 3" CD. The 2-sided insert in the frame describes 3 different people - including a man who decided to commit suicide to show his disgust for feminism and a man who killed sleeping people by dropping 50-pound stones on their heads. The three tracks on the disc relate to the three stories on the insert. The wildest of the tracks is definitely the first - a harsh noise track with vocals screaming about feminism. After hearing the track, I do not whether to feel pity or admiration for this confused man. The other two tracks aren't quite as harsh but still interesting for sure. Due to the elaborate packaging/being imported from Germany/limited nature of this, the cost is a bit more than I usually like paying for 20 minutes of music - but holding and playing this item is a real treat, plus when you're done, you can hang it on your wall...definitely a worthwhile release.

Dwarves - Blood Guts and Pussy CD (Subpop) - Subpop has finally decided to repress this long out-of-print gem (I'm sure them signing to Epitaph recently had nothing to do with that decision....). Regardless of the motive of this repress, anyone who is into punk rock must pick this up. It is certainly one of the best (possibly THE best) punk albums of this decade. Raw, obnoxious, catchy...it's got it all. And all in under 15 minutes. I haven't actually heard the reissue version of this, but I'm assuming that it's the same as the original CD (ie. one track from the LP version missing but 2 added from the "Drug Store" 7"). Now if Subpop wouldv'e been really cool, they would have put out a CD with all the tracks plus the "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" LP and it's related 7" tracks. Oh well, if you haven't heard this stuff yet, THAT kinda treat would probably be too much for ya anyhow.

Fang - American Nightmare LP (Wingnut) - Had been awaiting this one for a long time....I have always loved all of Fang's stuff (well maybe not that first 7") including the stuff they did right before Sammy's jailtime. The 7" they did after Sammy's release and Fang's reunion was great as well. This was a bit of a let-down however. The 3 songs from the 7" are redone and without exception they sounded better the first time around. There are 14 more tracks (only 13 on the CD, not sure which cut is missing) on here as well, and some of them are quite good. "Burn It Down" is a great straight-forward rager and "City Of Pain" is a great cut in the same vein as Fang's earlier forays into slower, grindier type stuff. However, quite a few of the songs seem to be influenced by the glut of 77-style punk coming out lately - Fang do manage to rise above that crap, their take on it seems more legitimate than most other bands mining the same territory - still, it's not at all what I would expect from a Fang record. The lyrics are a bit over-the-top as well - quite a bit of "tough guy ex-con" stuff going on. Some of the lyrics are pretty good however. Overall, this is a good record, just not the great record I was hoping for. If you have all of Fang's previous material already and need more, you should pick this up - but just remember, a decade has past since then and the band is all new members. For more information, click here!

KK Null - The Extasy Of Zero-G Sex CD (Vinyl Communications) - This solo release by KK Null (known mainly for his work with Zeni Geva) was quite a bit less harsh than what I was expecting based upon what I know about Null (not a lot). Not to say that this is a bad release. It is actually very good - I cannot call it ambient as it does get somewhat harsh at times, but it is certainly a noise release that you can listen to without fear of getting a pounding headache afterwards. The CD is comprised of sounds made only from guitar, voice (though I didn't hear any vocals on here at all) and nullsonic (??). There must have been quite a few effects used and a lot of studio manipulation as I wouldn't guess that many of the sounds here were generated by a guitar. The tracks overall are very droning and repetitive, but the fact that there is 10 tracks here in under 45 minutes keeps things from getting repitious to the point of being annoying. This CD could easily work as simply mellow listening material, background noise, or as fuel for a drugged-out voyage. I really dig most of the tracks here and imagine I will end up using this disc for all three purposes. For more info information, click here!

Lockweld - All The Power CD (Vinyl Communications) - Latest release from ex-Apt.213 and power-tool enthrusiaist Makita along with Dwid (Psywarfare/Integrity) and Karen. Live perfomances by Makita that I have witnessed have been great - insane displays of destruction via power tool - but their earlier 7" releases have left something to be desired in my opinion. This CD is what I had been hoping for previously. The fact that around half of this stuff was originally recorded live at Speak In Tongues may have helped quite a bit. The fact that they are not limited to fitting a track on one side of a 7" helps a lot as well - the 16-minute epic "Ampere/G.A.T." is the highlight of this disc - a bizarre synth melody with tons of machine and tool noise on top. The two-part "Terrorism Is The Only Way" is great as well - the first time since A213 that Makita's raging vocals can heard at home - and Eric Wood (Bastard Noise/Man Is The Bastard) adds his own vocal assault on the second part. Be warned, however, this is not hardcore...don't expect anything resembling Apt. 213 or Integrity - but the open-minded should enjoy this one. For more information, click here!

Lockweld - Blueprint Theories CDEP (Vinyl Communications) - Another release already by Lockweld, and maybe their best yet. This is called an EP but it's actually close to 40 minutes, featuring 3 new tracks as well as remixes of these tracks by Tit Wrench and Kid 606. The new tracks are harsh and atmospheric at the same, very nice stuff with quite a bit of a psychedelic edge at times. Makita had a wider range of machines to use on this release and it shows, some nice extreme sounds here. These tracks are definitely up there with the best stuff from All The Power. The remixes are of the 'hardcore techno' variety and it would be tough to immediately recognize them as Lockweld. I'm not a big techno fan whatsoever but these remixes are pretty fun, extreme, fast and definitely non-dancable. Kid 606 is my personal favorite of the two, as there is a lot more of the original Lockweld source that is recognizable. For more information, click here!

Merzbow - Tauromachine CD (Release) - Masami Akita strikes yet again with his latest cd for Relapse/Release (though there is already a newer full length on Alien8 which I haven't heard as of yet). Merzbow didn't seem to go over with metalheads quite as well as Relapse hoped, and I wouldn't be surprised if this was his last release for them. Which is a shame, because this is one of the best Merzbow discs I have heard and probably his best for Relapse with the exception of Pulse Demon. The sound here is pretty similiar to his previous release 1930, though it is not quite as intricate as that outstanding work. However, it is a bit harsher overall than 1930 which retaining the odd beats and pulses in the background that seem to be a trackmark of Merzbow's work in the past year or so. The results overall are excellent, all seven tracks here are fairly distinctive (well distinctive for Merzbow at least) and interesting. The best is saved for the last two tracks, where the harsh noise and beats combine to the best effect. Keep in mind, I am not talking about beats in the traditional dance music sense, more like bizarre noise looped to create somewhat of a rhythm. Both Merzbow fans and newcomers should enjoy this release. For more information, click here!

Mudhoney - Tomorrow Hit Today CD (Reprise) - Haven't heard anything by these guys since their major label debut around 6 years ago, which I don't remember being all too great. This CD was a pleasant surprise though. While this doesn't rock nearly as hard as their S/T LP or their early singles, there is still a lot of great shit to be found here. Most of the LP is in a pretty bluesy vein, a depressing vibe is found throughout most of the disc. This isn't a bad thing however, nearly all of these slower songs are catchy and I'm sure they will make damn good down n' out drinkin tunes (haven't tried it yet, but instead to soon). There are also a few more rockin upbeat tunes thrown in for good measure, and they do not disapoint either. Good release. For those for you who have always been scared off by Mudhoney's rep as a 'grunge' band, fuck that. Not much of their stuff rightfully belongs to that category and what does is still great shit that gave 'grunge' its initial underground reputation. Most of their stuff could be considered garage rock, or even better just straight-up rock'n'roll. I'd recommend checking out the Superfuzz Bigmuff+singles CD or the S/T LP before checking this disc out if you have never heard Mudhoney

Omnibot/Kid 606 - Unamerican Activity split CD (Vinyl Communications) - This release pretty much lies in the techno genre, which I have next to no interest in, but since Kid 606 put on a pretty wild show in Cleveland, I still decided to give this split release a chance. Omnibot is the most straight-forward of the two artists, his 5 tracks are pretty much standard 'gabber' hardcore techno. Noisy and weird at times but still pretty much strictly techno. It seems as though their tracks would have worked better on vinyl, I could see some DJs actually spinning some of this stuff. Kid 606 takes up the majority of the release and is more interesting than Omnibot but still not really my thing. His sound is a lot more varied blending jungle, gabber and noise into one big mess. Unlike Omnibot, I cannot imagine any DJs playing this stuff. The Kid 606 portion of this release can make interesting background music, but overall I would say this release is for techno fans into the hard and bizarre side of that music only. For more information, click here!

Pitboss 2000 - 5 song demo CS (self-released) - First release by Pitboss 2000 (formerly Prohibition 2000) discounting the songs on the One Life Crew CD. This carried on in the same tradition as the 4 songs at that release with 5 new ones in the same vein. Early NY style HC here, with a lot of obnoxious violent humor and a lot of use of the word 'fag' (the singer claims 32 times in this 4 1/2 minute demo!). In other words, the PC types should steer clear of this. For the rest of us, this is pretty damn hard not to enjoy - very catchy and agressive. Best cuts are the opener "Hardcore Loser" and "Get Off The Nuts". Only drawback is that this tape is as mentioned only 4 1/2 minutes...I'm thinking these cuts may have been intended for the OLC/P2000 split 7" which looks unlikely to happen now. I suspect this is pretty limited and hard to get outside of Cleveland, so most of you may have to wait for the upcoming CD but you can try emailing here!

Psywarfare - Circle Gets The Square CD (Vinyl Communications) - Psywarfare are beginning to leave their wall- of-noise style sound in the past, this CD isn't so much noise as it is all-out fucking weirdness! Their first CD showed them approaching this style, but there are 20 tracks here as opposed to that release's 5 which give them much more opportunity for variety. There is tons of variety here too...from a few jungle sounding tracks (one of which features Cleveland legend Supie T on vocals), a pseudo-cover of Porter Wagoner's "Rubber Room" with Boyd Rice on vocals, a couple bursts of noise, lots of creepy atmospheric stuff and to end it all off - a Godflesh sounding tune with guitar and Dwid on vocals which is the closest Psywarfare have gotten to sounding like Integrity (not very close at all however, so don't expect that). The thing that unifies all these tracks is the weird evil atmosphere found in all of them which the more ambient soundscapes very eerie and even the more dancey tracks very unsettling and interesting. Once again, Dwid is in charge of most of the sounds here, but there is a huge supporting cast this time around. Including Makita, Lisa, Karen, Black Nicky, Snakedick, the aforementioned appearances by Boyd Rice and Supie T along with many more. Reading the description of this disc may make it sound like an unfocused mess. Somehow, though, it all manages to fit together. The periodic switches in volume level are bound to shock you a couple of times when the music does switch to an all-out power electronics assault a couple times during the album. I wish there had been a bit more of that on this release, but this is still a great album and probably will go down as one of the strangest releases of 1998. For more information, click here!

Quincy Punx - Nutso Smasho LP (Recess) - This one was quite a pleasant surprise, as I didn't think the QP's last release (Stuck On Stupid 10") was one of their best, the 77' and poppy influences seemed a bit more prevelent there than they had previously. This LP is pretty much straight-up obnoxious early 80s style punk, with some poppier influences at times as well as some Meatmen-style metal influence at times. Gotta say that nearly all of the 21 tracks on here are ragers. Lyrics are top-notch as usual, with most songs revolving around the common themes of drinking and gun-fueled fantasies. Also, any band that can pull off covering Dayglo Abortions (I Killed Mommy) and Devo (Uncontrollable Urge) on the same LP is AOK in my book. Vinyl version comes with a nice comic book type thing with lyrics as well, some of the shit in there is fucking hilarious, and you'll probably want it just to know the lyrics. CD comes with some sort of CD-rom thing (I think it may be live footage) added to it, which my CPU can't handle anyhow so no clue about that.

Rancid Vat - Ugly Ducklings CD (Brilliancy Prize) - Quite a mixed bag of stuff here from the West Coast version of Rancid Vat...ranging from their earliest released song (a live song from their third gig in 1981) to the final studio recordings with original vocalist Steve Wilson. I am guessing that 4 of the 10 tracks here are from that final studio session and they are vintage Rancid Vat - especially the first two tracks on the CD - great stuff. The style of these final tracks surprised me a bit...not quite as straight-forward rock as the other early 90s releases of Vat - I would say these tracks sound like a blend of that style with the sound of the "Justice" 12". The rest of the tracks vary widely... from straight up annoying (the live 81 version of 'Go To Work'), interesting (a weird remake of 'Deeds Of The Damned', an instrumental 'Sad As A Turd' with the Justice-era lineup) to great raunchy rock (a rough rehersal of 'H.H.H.H.'). The final studio tracks alone make this an essential buy for Vat fans - novices may want to check out their other stuff first however, as this is far from their most accessible release. Being a fan though, I was glad to hear all this stuff. Originally released as a cassette-only (I am actually reviewing this from the cassette version) and now as a limited edition CD. For more information, click here!

Rollerderby #23 (Zine) - The first issue that I have seen of Lisa Suckdog (Lisa Carver nowadays actually) in a LONG time. Though it has been coming out consistently for almost a decade now. This issue features a transcript of an online sex chat Lisa hosted, sex diaries, an article about cocaine, discussions about religion with various people, etc, etc. The content of this zine is never really what's important actually, nearly everything ends up being pretty humorous and interesting to read. If eavesdropping on personal conversations sounds appealing to you, you will enjoy this zine. If not, you may enjoy it anyways...it's a nice way to kill some time. For more information, click here!

Schanuzer/Hangnail split 7" (Hibachi) - Two Cleveland bands who love to release split 7 inchers finally are on one together. Schnauzer offer up two more cuts of their usual madness, this time with Jim Kanya (oops, I mean Jim Teufel) handling all the vocals. For the unfamiliar, Schnauzer play very heavy metal oriented stuff with some great heavy riffs combined with outrageous, hilarious vocals. The first cut here "Drug Raid" is especially good and over-the-top in the lyrics department. The flipside contains 4 new cuts from Hangnail, which carry on in their style of sloppy (not in a bad way) early 80s thrash. This release is the best stuff I have heard from them, a bit more punk-oriented and tuneful in a way. But not too much that it slows things down at all. Hangnail feature ex-members of Ringworm and Gag Reflex.

Sloppy Seconds - More Trouble Than They're Worth LP (Nitro) - Sloppy Seconds first LP, Destroyed, is a classic - a blend of snotty punk, pop-punk and straight-up rock'n'roll with some clever lyrics. The material they released after that didn't interest me too much - it wasn't a radical departure from their earlier stuff but still something was lacking. This new LP is better than their other attempts to follow up Destroyed, but still doesn't measure up to that record. The formula is still pretty much the same - snotty lyrics,. tons of catchy melodies without ever becoming straight-up pop-punk. But there just aren't any tunes here in the same league as "Steal Your Beer" or "I Want Em Dead". This LP is definitely more acceptable to your average fan of 90s "punk rock". Still, they are vastly superior to the other crap that passes for punk rock these days - plently of better than average tunes - "You've Got A Great Body, But Your Record Collection Sucks", "Why Don't Lesbians Love Me?", etc, etc. Actually, all the tunes here are good - but as I said something is still lacking. I'll throw this on the turntable when I'm in the mood for some poppier type stuff, but I kinda doubt I will still be playing it for people a decade from now like Destroyed. For more information, click here!

SubArachnoid Space - Endless Renovation CD (Release) - Had to check something by these guys out after hearing their cut on the "Release Your Mind Vol. 2" 3XCD comp (good place to check into the noise/experimental scene BTW). Their cut there was great - noisy and bizarre but in a rock band type format. This CD is similiar but doesn't move me quite as much. It consists of 6 tracks (half over the 10-minute mark) that are often psychedelic (in a good way) and creative, but at times sound a bit too much like standard indie-rock minus vocals for my taste. Don't get me wrong - the jamming is pretty nice, but I was just hoping for something a bit more "out there" than this. I guess their earlier releases were recorded live - this release is fairly slick and has a variety of guest musicians. I still enjoy this from time to time - this would probably sound damn nice coming down from a crazy trip - but I have a feeling that I might like their earlier stuff better. For more information, click here!

Suckdog - Onward Suckdog Soldiers! CD (self-released) - Wow, 43 tracks in nearly 70 minutes spanning a decade of Suckdog recordings. This disc, which is a compiliation of rare tracks from 7"s along with a heap of unreleased stuff and some new tracks, is actually a bit more musical than a lot of Suckdog stuff. Sort of a warped disco sound on some tracks. Of course, many of the tracks are just Lisa and friends (the usual cast - Rachel, Helen, Costes, Dame Darcy, Coz The Shroom, etc , etc) screaming and making noise, doing karaoke-type stuff, and spken segements and some stuff too weird to even classify. Not all of it can be exactly considered pleasant listening, but this disc will give you some insight as to what has been going on in Lisa Suckdog's mind the last 10 years. Which can be scary at times! This disc may have been better if it was trimmed down a bit, 70 minutes is a lot to take! But then again, I have no idea what I would cut out so maybe it's fine the way it is. Besides, you're gonna want it just for the cover alone which is very nice as usual! You'll have to wait til you get the disc to find out what it is though, I won't give away the surprise...For more information, click here!

V/A - The Corner Free Music Sampler October '98 promo CS - I'm sure many of you have seen these monthly free promo tapes showcasing a bunch of major label metal/alternative/etc around before. Pretty much the only thing they are usually good is to be used as blank tapes, which is actually probably how this will end up eventully. I mention it here though because there is actually a couple very strange things on here! First off, I couldn't help noticing that Vanilla Ice contributes a track here - called 'Fuck Me'! My curiosity got the best of me and I had to check this out....wow, he's got the late 90s Korn style going on now! Along with somewhat of an industrial influence and lots of use of the word 'fuck'. This is atrociously bad even for the genre...if kids end up getting into THIS, it will have to be the ultimate example of how fucked the commercial music scene is these days. The other oddity on here is a little more depressing unfortunately. Motorhead contribute a track here (from an upcoming ECW comp). Now, Motorhead's output in recent times certainly hasn't been up-to-par with their earlier efforts, but usually makes a decent listen on one these free things. This track, however, is a cover of Metallica's 'Enter Sandman'. I see how this fits into the whole ECW concept album thing, but god Motorhead covering this tune is a pretty lame idea! They play the song pretty much exactly faithful to the original tune too. Lemmy's vocals are the only redeeming quality here, and as long as he doesn't end up looking like how the guys in Metallica do, Motorhead still won't be dismissable.

More Apt. 2324 E-zine #3

Lockweld Interview
Hellstomper Interview
Live Show Reviews
Apt. 2324 E-zine #3 Index
Apt. 2324 Home Page
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