NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
ong Island's Vision of Disorder knew it
was theirs to lose. Better positioned (read:
funded) than any of their contemporaries,
VOD had to make their new album Imprint
count. Whether they succeeded or
L
O not only time will tell, but our bet is
that the band will finally quiet their
many fans who have been bugging them to put
out something as raw as their early releases. To
help them get down and dirty, Roadrunner
Records brought in producer Dave Sardy (of
Helmet and Chili Peppers fame). Next entry in
this year's battle is Massachusetts' Converge,
us yea
whose Equal Vision full length debut When
Forever Comes Crashing was produced by Steve
Austin of Today Is The Day, and the influence
shows. The two bands toured extensively this
summer to further reinforce their symbiosis. But
the band that continues to keep the others on
their toes is Kansas City's Coalesce, who, with
one 7-song EP called Functioning on Impatience,
(Second Nature, PO Box 11543, Kansas City, MO
64138) once again redefine what it means to
rock. Their respect among the other frontline
bands is such that keyboardist Chris Reeser of
Today Is The Day brings only two shirts with him
on tour, and they are both Coalesce t-shirts. Fresh
off the success of their first full length Give Them
Rope (Edison Recordings, PO Box 42586,
Philadelphia, PA 19101), Coalesce pushes the
envelope once again with stripped-down songs
that expose the listener to the pure manic com-
plexity that has become the Coalesce trademark.
Coalesce has been busy since we last checked in
with them. After their split EP with Napalm
Death on Earache and their full length, Coalesce
released a 7 inch split with Converge on Edison,
and a 7 inch split with Boy Sets Fire on Hydra
Head Records (PO Box 990248, Boston, MA
02199) where each band covered the other's
songs. That formula was repeated on a Second
Nature split with fellow Kansas City residents
The Get-Up Kids. A split with Today Is The Day
for a Black Sabbath tribute series followed on
Hydra Head, as well appearances on a couple
compilations, most notably Definitely Not The
Majors on Bush League records (PO Box 10165,
New Brunswick, NJ 08906), adding up to 9.
releases on 7 different labels in one year!
Coalesce is a band that leaves everyone wonder-
ing, "What will they do next?"...Just when you
thought tornado season was over, Shai Hulud
(FL), Overcast (MA), and Disembodied (MN)
are triple teaming your hometown soon...with 60
dates in almost as many states, they'll be down
your street before you know it. Take the neces-
sary precautions and board up your windows.
Also joining parts of the tour are Section 8 (NY)
and Shadows Fall (MA). There were many hard-
core fests this summer, but by all accounts the
one that truly ruled was the 3-day Kentucky
Krazy Fest put on by Initial Records in late May.
The bands were great, the venue was accommo-
dating, and the show went like clockwork. 3500.
fans from all over the country came to hear
Snapcase, Boy Sets Fire, The Suicide
Machines, Coalesce, Grade, Torn Apart,
104 THRASHER
Elliot, The Enkindels, Ten Yard Fight and a
dozen other bands tear up the Brewery
Thunderdome in Louisville. A film was made for
the event, which will be available on video
through Initial Records (PO Box 17131,
Louisville, KY 40217). -Onnit...Well, if you can
get this sucker to play on your hi-fi, The Candy
Snatchers' new 5" record (part of Headache's
Live on a Five series) is a pill-sized smoker. A cou-
ple of live versions of songs you'd better have
heard before, it's full-bore anger punk at its most
charged... The Baseball Furies, made up of
Odie, Diaper, Hollywood and Styles, have just
released a trashy new single. Primitive and noisy,
in the Headcoats vein, but raw and punk as all
get out t the same time...The newest release by
Italy Records, a small Detroit label that has put
out nothing but winners since its recent incep-
tion, chalks up another winner with The White
Stripes. A two-piece whose vocals land just to
the right side of grating on your eardrums, à la
Dead Moon, Italy scores again... The Swingin'
Utters have a new LP entitled Five Lessons
Learned, and it's got more of their UK punk
(Clash, SLF) meets Social D stylings, with some
out-there arrangements as well, such as the
Pogues-ish "Promise to Distinction."
Satisfying...Straight outta St Paul, MN comes The
Dillinger 4 with Midwestern Songs of the
Americas. Strange in between song banter intro-
duces angry punk chops that fall somewhere near
Fuel (the original, SF Fuel), Jawbreaker and
even RFTC, although the poppier edges are sig-
nificantly more roughed up, like I like 'em...My
first dose of Argentinian punk comes in the form
of Fun People's Desarme 7". Socially and politi-
cally aware punk that's pretty rockin', and the B-
side features Clash, Sabbath and Shakers cov-
ers...With one foot still seemingly planted in the
late '50s/early '60s, ex-Devil Dog Mighty Joe
Vincent is now pounding the skins with 3 chicks
in The Pristeens. Catchy girl rock reminiscent of
decades ago, with some pop/punk sensibilities
thrown in, their debut LP Scandal, Controversy &
Romance is a toe-tapper...I've been receiving lots
of good zines lately (and, of course, some not so
good). A couple worthy of mention include
Sugar (2919 Richard Dr, Durango, CO 81301),
which does an excellent job of covering
CO as well other areas via road trips.
Concussion (PO Box 1024, Santa
Cruz, CA 95061-1024) is a
skate/surf/punk zine that rules. Thick
and high quality, issue #4 features a
David Lee Roth interview ("Call me
retro but I'm still hetero!") and a look
at Foucault's re-examination of
Bentham's panopticon theory (for
real!). Send music and zines directly
to me to check out, if you think they
got what it takes. -Wez Lundry, PO
Box 419, Tempe, AZ 85280-0419...DJ
Greyboy was always one of those
artists whose stuff I would see at the
record store and think, "Hmm, that
looks all right, but it's probably just
some boring acid jazz bullshit," and
then not get it. But I got this DJ Greyboy Presents
P-Jays Unda-Pendent Hip-Hop Volume 1, and it's
actually kinda nice. P-Jays is a new label created
by Greyboy and none other than Alien Workshop
pro rider and time traveler Rob Dyrdek in an
effort to provide better opportunities for true
underground hip-hop. There're two crews of up-
and-coming Wu-Yorkers and a couple other East
Coast heads dropping lyrics like buttered bowling
balls over Greyboy's melancholic loops. The
songs featuring AG (of Show & AG fame) shine
the brightest even though AG does recycle a cou-
ple rhymes from his last album. Speaking of recy-
cling, DJ Faust's Man or Myth is composed com-
pletely of sounds that have already been record-
ed elsewhere, but Faust and a few of his partners
manipulate them into an hour's worth of
turntable terrorism that attacks your ears like
1200 hip-hop militia members. The only problem
with this release is that if you get it on CD it's all
on one track even though there are 27 tracks list-
ed. So get it on LP and you shouldn't have that
problem. You should have it on LP anyway; it's a
DJ album, for crying out loud. Buy vinyl, dammit!
Bubbling up from the Bay Area undergound is
San Francisco's Mission district's Imprints.
Ringleader Tommy V raps and lays down the
tracks with some of his close personal friends
from all over Cali, resulting in some inventive,
introspective and thoroughly original hip-hop. His
newest issues are "Homeliss Tea Party" and
"Dust Collector," but Tommy is more prolific than
Shakespeare, so seek him out to get the new, new
shit. Rules of the Game is a hella tight compilation
of hip-hop that features some of the bombest
rappers striving for scrilla in the Bay Area. It's all
gravy, but the cleanest cuts are by The Coup,
Fanatik featuring Planet Asia and Grand the
Visitor, Bored Stiff, and Mystik Journeymen.
The Journeymen also have a new album called
Worldwide Underground; it's basically a chronicle
of their recent world tour. It's definitely worth
copping if you run into PSC and BFAP slanging
tapes down on Telegraph in Berkeley, CA; in fact,
you should make a special trip out there to sup-
port Bay Area hip-hop if you can't find it at your
local record store. -True 54
BFAP of Mystik Journeymen
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