Music General Music Discussion Catch-All

[ohtani's jacket]

H-Bomb's Coup de métal... this EP kicks ass. H-Bomb didn't record a ton of stuff before broke up, but this EP and their 1984 Attaque LP are some blistering French metal. This gets my highest recommendation if you're even slightly interested in metal from '83.

The Sisters of Mercy's The Reptile House E.P. -- goth rock is distinctly not my thing, but I can listen to it. This EP, however, was slow. Really slow.

United Mutation's Fugitive Family... it always used to amuse me how metal bands came up with their names. It was like they scribbled down a bunch of badass words and drew them from a hat. Now I'm thinking that hardcore band names may be even more amusing. Then again, based on some of these guys' lifestyles some of these names may not be a joke. This is a pretty cool hardcore record that is notable for its vocals. The grunting sounds close to Sakevi from G.I.S.M. Not sure if that was an influence.

Amebix's No Sanctuary... these guys would go on to become crust punk legends. Here, they were just starting out. Sounds a bit like early Killing Joke.

Mindless Sinners' Master of Evil... Mindless Sinners were a short-lived Swiss group that played fairly typical Euro metal. Worth checking out if you're on a Diamond Head kick and feel like unearthing a largely forgotten band with a similar sound. 

3 Teens Kill 4's No Motive... quirky record from New York City's No Wave scene. The band only released this single EP. Very artsy, for want of a better word. Having read some Hip Hop Family Tree recently it's impossible not to notice the hip hop influence. 

Discharge's Warning: Her Majesty's Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health EP... there's no beating around the bush with this EP title. There's also a lovely drawing of Mrs. Thatcher on the cover. Their fans see this as a drop-off from their previous material, and they would continue to drop further, but I liked this well enough. It's slower and has more of a metal sound, but I'm ok with that.

The Nurse's Nurse... all-girl Japanese hardcore band. Like you're gonna resist. It's fairly catchy as you can imagine. Worth checking out if you like Shonen Knife or the 5.6.7.8's.

Adrenalin O.D.'s Let's Barbeque... very suburban sounding hardcore record. I don't know if really was a bunch of neighborhood teenagers jamming together but that's the aesthetic.

Vixen's Made in Hawaii... how could beautiful, serene Hawaii produce this pulsating speed metal record? Wasn't a big fan of the female vocalist, but the guitar sound was awesome.

Gotham City's Black Writs... decent Swedish metal, but the vocalist had no chops. 

Wretched's In nome del loro potere tutto è stato fatto... Christ almighty, you have to be brave to listen to this one. It felt like a pair of arms were climbing out of the speakers and shaking me senseless. 

The Nits' Kilo... this band keeps confusing me. I love some of the singles I've heard from them, but it doesn't seem to come together on their records. At least not for me.

Francesco De Gregori's La donna cannone... nice change of pace. Basically, Italian singer-songwriter doing contemporary folk. Nice break from all the hardcore EPs from '83.

The Embarassment's Death Travels West... okay, now here's a bit of a discovery for me. And I really mean for me as others like Robert Christgau have championed this short-lived group. Really upbeat, enjoyable post-punk record. Probably owes more to the late 70s than being a true 1983 record, but it made me want to listen to the rest of the group's output. The discovery of the week.
 

Edited May 3 by ohtani's jacket

[Curt McGirt]

That might be my favorite Wretched, just because every song sounds like it was from an entirely different session  Maybe they just tried different rooms in Virus squat to see what came out? 

[odessasteps]

Today’s birfday edition of chain restaurant lunchtime playlist includes:

the Clash (rock the casbah), Modest Mouse (h/t Larry Sweeney), the Eagles (life in the fast lane), Zeppelin (rock and roll), Bon Jovi (h/t Dr Wagner Jr) , the Beatles (get back, Jo Jo), Journey (any way you want it), def lepard (photograph), Aerosmith (walk this way), blondie (call me) 

[ohtani's jacket]

Subhumans' Time Flies... But Aeroplanes Crash... I liked this better than the previous Subhumans EP. A bit more variety. They even try to stretch their talents with a piano number.

Let's Active's Afoot... if there's one thing I've learned from this crazy, stupid project of mine it's that I'm a fussy listener when it comes to jangle pop. I absolutely love jangle pop. At least I thought I did. Apparently, I don't have much time for second tier jangle pop. I can imagine more loyal fans of the genre getting more out of this EP than I did. Let's Active were Mitch Easter's band. Easter did production on R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning albums and was gunning for a similar sound. He gets there at times, but vocally he's no Michael Stipe.

The Alarm's The Alarm... The Alarm do this interesting Bob Dylan meets punk & new wave thing on this EP that they didn't really do their debut LP, which was more of a Big Music record. Interesting is always good.

Armored Saint's Armored Saint... some people claim that this group was America's answer to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. If that's the case, it's a pretty half-arsed answer. The guitar work is good, and they have a good rhythm section, but they were never getting anywhere with the vocals. IIRC, the lead singer went on to sing for Anthrax.

Savage Grace's The Dominatress... another LA metal band trying to copy the European sound. Sexy album cover notwithstanding, this is a fairly weak imitation of Euro metal. The vocals are better than Armored Saint, but when you consider what other groups were doing in different parts of America, they probably would have been better off trying to do their own thing.

The Body Electric's Presentation and Reality... another forgotten New Zealand record. This was Wellington group trying to go full tit with a new wave, post-punk, synth pop sound. Not bad, but personally when I listen to a New Zealand record I want to hear something Kiwi from it, not some dude trying to sound like he's on Top of the Pops.

Overkill's Power in Black... Overkill are one of my favorite metal bands from the 80s. This EP was a demo. It sounds like a demo, especially under headphones, but the energy is there.

L.S.D.'s Destroy... perhaps not the best hardcore EP to come out of Japan, but I liked the barreling sound. It actually reminded me of Japanese speed metal. 

The Style Council's À Paris... I've got to admit that Long Hot Summer is growing on me as a single. The rest of the EP is decent as well. If their debut LP had been a bit stronger they might have weathered some of the criticism better. Or perhaps not since Weller as a God in many people's eyes. 
 

[odessasteps]

Like Mussolini … 

[Curt McGirt]

The first Savage Grace LP, Master of Disguise, is a legendary piece of US speed metal but the rest is pretty poor. Unfortunate. 

[twiztor]

i dunno who's paying attention to it, but this Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar diss battle is fucking crazy. 

[Octopus]

7 hours ago, twiztor said:

i dunno who's paying attention to it, but this Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar diss battle is fucking crazy. 

Absolutely wild. Pusha T is sinisterly grinning in the corner.

[Curt McGirt]

I dunno. My bar for "fucking crazy" in a rap battle is shooting at each other. What's so wild about this one?

[Octopus]

4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I dunno. My bar for "fucking crazy" in a rap battle is shooting at each other. What's so wild about this one?

Standard rap beef at first. Kind of felt like a wrestling build where for a decade Drake and Kendrick and a bunch of other intertwined parties each where throwing subliminal and subtle passing jabs for a decade. 
Drake and J Cole do a song together bein buds talking about how they’re the big three (with Kendrick). Then in a Future & Metro Boomin song that features Kendrick, Kendrick says something along the lines of “fuck the big three, it’s just big Me” along with other words I can’t say. 
J Cole drops a song trying to make fun of Kendrick’s discography. It’s pretty much panned as people like the song but really isn’t making good points. He realizes that Drake and Kendrick actually hate each other and it’s about to get ugly so he apologizes at a concert and leaves the feud. 
I forget the order of everything but Drake made a lot of rap enemies over the years. Rick Ross does a song where he’s calling Drake “White Boy” and stuff like that. Pretty funny stuff for the most part. Claims Drake worked with the police and sent French Montana a cease and desist order. Other people say other things and the narrative is 20v1 against Drake. Drake does a song calling Kendrick’s feet little and disses to other guys. Also says most of his money goes to his label.
A week or so goes by and Drake is clowning Kendrick for not responding. He even does an AI song with fake voices of Tupac and Snoop that disses Kendrick. The Tupac estate sends a cease and desist because he used AI Tupac. Kinda funny in my book but super weak at the same time. More of a trolling thing so I don’t take it so serious.

Kanye joins and says J Cole makes women dry. Lolololol ok.

Kendrick drops “Euphoria” on like a Tuesday or something and I’m like oh wow. The song continues off of Pusha T’s “Who are hiding a child” line from a few years ago by essentially saying he’s not a good father to his son and a deadbeat. Also accuses him of Code Switching when it’s convenient and not really representing or respecting black culture. “Ain’t no 20v1 it’s a 1v20 if I’m going at everyone writing for you” and saying he can’t say the N Word no more. Also hints at much more. 

Drake jokes he’d need a quadruple entendres to impress him. A few days later, in the morning of Friday Kendrick drops 6:16 in LA. Lol, a Back to Back. In this it’s pretty much like a raise your kid better type diss. He also says there are people in your camp that are whispering about you. Either in this song or the last, he says he knows Drake is going to lie about his family and he’ll reveal truths about Drake’s. Yada yada yada. 6:16 has a lot of weird coincidences or connections to things that’s too long to type.

THAT SAME NIGHT Drake responds and it’s a really good song. In the music video he’s crushing the Van from GKMC. He alleges that Kendrick’s son is his producer’s kid or something like that. Also claims he hit his wife.

30 MINUTES LATER Kendrick drops a sinister track where he is talking to different members of Drake’s family talking about how he is a pervert and has sexual predators under contract with him and protects them. He also claims he is hiding an 11th at old daughter. The speed of release and the content shows Drake does have a leaker in his group.

The fact that we got 3 disses, Kendrick-Drake-Kendrick in the same day is pretty wild. Hopefully this doesn’t get anyone killed but it’s past a point of no return.

Lots of denials about the daughter. But that happened last time and there was a son. So . If any of the major accusations from either side is true then fuck them. I will say there is history of Drake being weird. Kendrick called what Drake’s move was before he played it, but that doesn’t mean it is true or false. So it’s just icky.
Lots of conspiracies of double or triple agents in each other’s camps which I think is silly. I also don’t like that people are looking up random 11 year old girls instagrams to speculate who is his illegitimate daughter. Not cool.

 I’m more on Kendrick’s side but if the weird stuff is proven, then dang. Fun and really icky.

[Curt McGirt]

Not wild enough, no bullets 

[supremebve]

13 hours ago, twiztor said:

i dunno who's paying attention to it, but this Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar diss battle is fucking crazy. 

I think Drake and, a large part of his fanbase, did not understand what the beef was about until it was too late.  Drake spent most of the battle talking about his success, his money, and his fame.  Kendrick was flat out telling him that he was a failure as a man and how he is totally unworthy of respect.  He told that man "You thought that money, power, and fame could save you from being you," and he should have just hung up his mic and went home.  Drake thought that this was about rap, but this is about Kendrick having utter disdain for Drake's very existence.  He told Drake that he's a failure as a father because he doesn't know anything about honor, discipline, integrity and morals.  Drake then said, well that's why I heard you beat your wife.  Kendrick less than an hour later wrote multiple letters to everyone in Drake's family calling him a pedophile, a pervert, and a predator and telling them he feels sorry for them for having to put up with his bitch ass.  

Kendrick is Ned Flanders.  Drake is Homer.

https://youtu.be/_1vTGN52MCc?si=8TV_5eWWZsKFtXjm&t=97

Edited May 4 by supremebve
Thought about something as soon as I posted.

[twiztor]

2 hours ago, Octopus said:

[Kendrick] says he knows Drake is going to lie about his family and he’ll reveal truths about Drake’s.

that's absolutely one of the hardest lines of the entire feud. "don't tell no lies about me, and i won't tell the truth about you."

[Curt McGirt]

Okay. It isn't exactly a DJ Quik feud where gang members are shooting up tour busses but for today, that sounds pretty vicious.

Edited May 4 by Curt McGirt

[supremebve]

42 minutes ago, twiztor said:

that's absolutely one of the hardest lines of the entire feud. "don't tell no lies about me, and i won't tell the truth about you."

The crazy thing is that seems like this all started, because Drake wants both Rick Ross and Kendrick Lamar to like him, but not only do they not like him, they have absolutely no respect for him.  That's the part that I don't think Drake fully comprehends.  He thinks they are jealous of his success, when they are talking about who he is at his core as a person.  Their main point is that if we had the choice to switch, you'd definitely want to be one of us, but we'd never want to be you.

[Death From Above]

Drake is a massive fucking creep and on top of that he's one of the most blatant clout chasers I've ever seen. Impossible to take him trying to go after Kendrick fucking Lamar seriously.

[Octopus]

Kendrick just dropped another song straight up calling Drake a Pedo.

[DMN]

I'm biased towards Kendrick because I'm from Los Angeles, but he's killing Drake. Gonna put him back in the wheelchair.

[zendragon]

On 5/3/2024 at 3:32 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Subhumans' Time Flies... But Aeroplanes Crash... I liked this better than the previous Subhumans EP. A bit more variety. They even try to stretch their talents with a piano number.

Let's Active's Afoot... if there's one thing I've learned from this crazy, stupid project of mine it's that I'm a fussy listener when it comes to jangle pop. I absolutely love jangle pop. At least I thought I did. Apparently, I don't have much time for second tier jangle pop. I can imagine more loyal fans of the genre getting more out of this EP than I did. Let's Active were Mitch Easter's band. Easter did production on R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning albums and was gunning for a similar sound. He gets there at times, but vocally he's no Michael Stipe.

The Alarm's The Alarm... The Alarm do this interesting Bob Dylan meets punk & new wave thing on this EP that they didn't really do their debut LP, which was more of a Big Music record. Interesting is always good.

Armored Saint's Armored Saint... some people claim that this group was America's answer to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. If that's the case, it's a pretty half-arsed answer. The guitar work is good, and they have a good rhythm section, but they were never getting anywhere with the vocals. IIRC, the lead singer went on to sing for Anthrax.

Savage Grace's The Dominatress... another LA metal band trying to copy the European sound. Sexy album cover notwithstanding, this is a fairly weak imitation of Euro metal. The vocals are better than Armored Saint, but when you consider what other groups were doing in different parts of America, they probably would have been better off trying to do their own thing.

The Body Electric's Presentation and Reality... another forgotten New Zealand record. This was Wellington group trying to go full tit with a new wave, post-punk, synth pop sound. Not bad, but personally when I listen to a New Zealand record I want to hear something Kiwi from it, not some dude trying to sound like he's on Top of the Pops.

Overkill's Power in Black... Overkill are one of my favorite metal bands from the 80s. This EP was a demo. It sounds like a demo, especially under headphones, but the energy is there.

L.S.D.'s Destroy... perhaps not the best hardcore EP to come out of Japan, but I liked the barreling sound. It actually reminded me of Japanese speed metal. 

The Style Council's À Paris... I've got to admit that Long Hot Summer is growing on me as a single. The rest of the EP is decent as well. If their debut LP had been a bit stronger they might have weathered some of the criticism better. Or perhaps not since Weller as a God in many people's eyes. 
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z51cbvRzg8U&ab_channel=TheClassicHeavyMetalVault

Armored Saints Symbol of Salvation is a stone cold classic and one of my personal favorites (I also admittedly like a good bit of Bush era Anthrax) but it came out in 91 when tastes in guitar driven music where sharply starting to pivot to grunge and alt. rock. They broke up for about 8 years afterwards, Similarly Black Sabbath put out their RJD reunion record in 92, really solid album but either ten years to early or ten years to late

[Curt McGirt]

I just could never get into Armored Saint. Had a friend who swore by Symbol though, and I never gave it a try so I will. Bush is a fine singer but almost too fine a singer, if that makes any sense? Anthrax is horrible too so he made probably a good choice for his wallet but an awful one musically. 

Savatage is a similar band that are kinda standard sounding and it took awhile to get into that I like better, but instead had a bad singer that hurt them. 

[Curt McGirt]

Some cheeky bastard has found the one Drake record at Walmart with his face as the cover and put it right up front on the shelf  And this is vinyl, not a CD

Edited May 5 by Curt McGirt

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Kendrick has absolutely destroyed Drake. On "euphoria" he hit him with the "you make music to pacify them" and said he wouldn't double down on that. He lied. It's gotten sick. Here's the rub though: how many Drake fans are going to fall off because of this? Some, to be sure. But I know people who still play R. Kelly music. To pop music consumers, Drake will still be Drake. The white twenty somethings at my job still ask me to put his song with Sexxy Red on today. They're aware of the beef and don't care. 

[DMN]

Drake just dropped a response, but, ehhh, people don't seem to be fucking with it, and it's kinda mid, tbh. Claims he fed Kendrick false info, but you think you would have been ready to hit back with that right after Meet the Grahams if that was the truth, and claims he's 'too famous' to be a pedophile as if there literally isn't mounds of proof that it takes forever for rich and famous sexual predators to get got.

Big 'I'm getting my ass beat but I'm gonna try and act like I won and walk away' energy. Waiting on the next Kendrick track.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

Yeah, "The Heart Part 6" just wasn't it. Real big grasping at straws energy. Kendrick said he was tired of being nice and would stop Monday. Interested to jump online after work tomorrow. 

[HarryArchieGus]

On 5/4/2024 at 10:45 PM, DMN said:

I'm biased towards Kendrick because I'm from Los Angeles, but he's killing Drake. Gonna put him back in the wheelchair.

I'm biased towards Kendrick because I'm from Toronto. Er... more accurately because Lamar is an interesting artist. I'm not so well read on Drake but, correct me if I'm wrong, he reps fame obsession, commerce and telephones? He also seems greatly responsible for our fair city's shitty nickname 'The 6'.