Notes From The
COMETIMES
SOMET
most
valuable treas-
ure chests are
still
buried
Underground
underground. Self-One and DJ Kool
Akiem of The Micranots have been try-
ing to dig their way out of the ranks of the
unknown for the past seven or eight years.
They've released several homemade hip-
hop concoctions, first in Minnesota and
now in Atlanta. But after
a minor dabble with the
and
majors resulted in noth-
ing but frustration,
they're following the
lead of groups like
Hieroglyphics
going for self over the
Internet, so hit 'em up at
www.micranots.com for
some authentic hip-hop
from the heart. As for the
more visible aspects of
the industry, I have a few.
quick questions: First off,
who the fuck let Vanilla
Ice come out with a new
album? Was 1998 the
year of the fat rapper or
what? I know I devel-
oped a fetish for over-
weight lyricists after Fat Joe and Big
Punisher Sumo-wrestled the charts into
submission. Is DJ Spooky a raver or a B-
boy? It's hard to tell from his album That
Subliminal Kid, but when he teams up with
Kool
Keith, Sir Menelik and
Organized Konfusion he almost makes
this B-boy forgive his Jungle fever. Why
did Cypress Hill even bother coming out
with IV? I still can't tell the difference
between the last two albums and this one
isn't much different. Is Ras Kass trying
so hard to sell out with Rassassination that
he made a song for every disparate audi-
ence of the rap world but an average
album for nobody in particular? What's
Xzibit so mad about? It's not because he
can't write dope rhymes; just check out 40
Dayz and 40 Nightz. Is Noreaga the Greg
Nice of the new millennium? Ridiculous
rhymes like "We run laps around the
English Channel/I got a cocker spaniel"
give him my vote. Didn't anyone tell
Priority Records that hip-hop cover songs
suck? I thought we already learned that
lesson from In Tha Beginning.
Unfortunately I guess that project made
enough cash to justify them coming out
with the NWA 'Straight Outta Compton'
10th Anniversary Tribute. This piece of shit
features all your favorite gangsta rappers
ruining the NWA songs that inspired
them. Shit just ain't the same since Eazy
died. True 54...I met Jello Biafra at
Gilman Street in Berkeley awhile back. I
took a picture of him too, but later I found
out there was no film in the camera. Ha!
Jello was there to see this band called
UltraBide. They're these three Japanese
guys from NYC who play real hard-edged
spacerock. I say spacerock because the
guitarist had about 25 different distortion
pedals which made his guitar do some
really weird cosmic shit. As an added
space-age accessory, the guitar guy
played with a toy lazer gun in his hand
110 THRASHER
during most of the set. By hard-edged I
mean the band really cooks. They're loud.
as hell and the drummer literally makes
sparks fly off his drum set. Fuckin' crazy
shit. If you're interested they got a couple
LPs and 7 inches out on Alternative
Tentacles...FYP headlined that night at
Gilman, and their new drummer Rawl is a
most definitely invaded his guitar pick.
The last time I saw their bassist Boyd,
he had a nice mullet and was planning
on moving to Tahoe soon. But he sorta
promised me that Slackaction was
gonna put a 7" out on Las Vegas
based Bucky Records before he
split town. For the sake of Las
Vegas, all you bastards better hope
they do. Andy Harris...First up on
the firing line this month is the brand
spankin' new 7" by The Mud City
Manglers. Complete with jukebox insert,
this one is the "Halloween 98" Fan Club.
45, and it's a solid dose of fueled up,
speedy garage trash punk à la Dummies,
from Pittsburgh. The b-side is a scary
Misfits tune, and this is one band to keep
ULTRABIDE
filthy bastard. Besides being able to beat
the crap out of Sean's drum kit, old Rawl
has also taken the sweaty hessian hair
whip to a whole new level. Anyone wish-
ing to be drenched in the sweat of a 21-1
year-old half Mexican, half Irish punk
rock drummer should come to 32nd
street in San Pedro and sit in on one of
FYP's practices. Fun, fun fun....Dirty Rawl
is also the drummer in this shit-ass band
of pukes called the Jag Offs. Monica, the
jag off who plays the electric blue axe and
screams real pretty, once had a boyfriend
who barfed on the Mayor of Eugene, OR.
Jacob drinks the beast, plays an Angus
Young axe and works at the Beach City
Market. Pepperoni on the bass has an
astonishingly thick mop on his head and
plans on looking surlier as each day goes
by. The Jag Offs are the latest shining
stars in the dirtball punk movement.
known as porchcore, following in the
exalted footsteps of the Leeches, No
Comply, and the Vans. Hopefully they'll
never record a damn thing because that
would just ruin it all...I used to hate Las
Vegas. Maybe I've had one too many
shiny food breakfasts at the Circus Circus
or maybe I've looked into the defeated
eyes of one too many tired, fat and pen-
niless midwesterners as I walked through
a casino at 3:00 AM, but I've always want-
ed to just bomb the city of sin to kingdom
come. All that changed when I saw this
band called Slackaction at Jerry's Pizza
in Bakersfield. These goons were from LV
and they actually didn't give me a stom-
achache or make me sad at all. In fact,
they kinda ruled. More than one
Bakersfield cowpokette was shimmying to
their schizophrenic-slap and twang-punk
rockingness that night. Their demo tape is
rocking too and even though the hippie
guitarist says he's never listened to the
Minutemen, the spirit of D.Boon has
the eyes and ears on
in the future... Next up
is perhaps the most
bizarre single to
come across the desk
this month. It's num-
ber three in the
Planet Pimp Sounds
Of collection, and this
one is "Sounds of the
International Airport
Restrooms." Some
oddball chatter sepa-
rates the sound
recordings that some-
one made of various
toilets flushing on
their trip to Asia and
Australia. Perhaps a
truly amazing testa-
ment to the increas-
ing trend of globalization, a veritable
handshake (after washing with soap)
across the oceans, this record is destined
to be either revered as treasure or used
for BB gun target practice....Rocket From
the Crypt put out a new 7" split that
shows their noisier, disjointed side, which
comes across really well on this record,
even if they have
been playing them-
selves silly with
relentless
However,
what sets this
one apart is
the b-side,
Julian
Briano Y Sus
touring.
ing rocks! I guess what made me skeptical
was a line-up change or two, and the fact
that they seemed to put out an LP and a
couple of singles a month. Now they're
back to their original vocalist, Steve
Miller, who, in my mind, makes the differ-
ence for this band. They've got a new sin-
gle, "Up From the Streets," which is some
furious ass punk ROCK, in the
Dictators/Dead Boys vein, on Cold
Front Records. They've also put out I Was
a Teenage Shutdown, recorded with Miller
back in '96 at a radio station. This mother
smokes with no abandon and hasn't left
my turntable for two weeks. It's available
as a pricy picture disc, or regular LP via
Estrus. Another EF relic to resurface is the
Conquer the World collection of early sin-
gles on Get Hip, originally released as CD
only, but we all know that CDs are weak,
and apparently the band agrees. This shit
smokes too...Japanese biker instrumental-
ists Mad 3 had everyone scratching their
heads awhile ago with the release of a
confusing 10": was it a 45 or a 33? As tes-
tament to the band's originality, it actually
sounded good on both speeds. There's lit-
tle confusion, however, about their new
LP, Teen Age Delinquent on Sympathy.
More hopped-up instros with a few vocal
tracks thrown in as well, including a
messed-up version of Motörhead's
"Please Don't Touch"...I promise that the
only Swedish band I'll write about this
month is The Turpentines. They've just
put out a new LP on White Jazz that is
rock-oriented punk in the vein of early.
Supersuckers, long before they went
country, or RFTC. The Swedes continue
to rock...The Problematics just put out
an LP on Rip Off, but, like the label's
name, it's kind of a rip-off. One side is the
10" that they released at least two years
ago (don't get me wrong, the material is
all smokin') and the other side I think is
mostly new stuff, but I could be mistaken.
If you never heard the 10", definitely pick
"Shit just ain't
the same since
Hermanos, which can only be
described as Mexican polka, for
real. Hmm... Gearhead is the mag
that combines punk rock and
Eazy died."
hot rods, and recently every issue has
come with a thrilling 7". The latest issue
features the usual auto and music articles,
and the record is none other than The
Melvins and Australian legends-in-their-
own-minds Cosmic Psychos, who both
mince covers ("Angel City" and "Racey," if
you must know, but I bet that doesn't
help)...I'm a sucker for the occasional
hardcore single, especially if it's got that
doo-dat, doo-dat drum sound, heavy gui-
tar, mixed tempos and male/female
trade-off angry vocals. You like it too?
You should check out Defile's 7" on Laid
Off Records. Also on Laid Off is a single
by The Aphrodisiacs, "Blood on Fire."
Although it seems a little too early to tell
for sure, these guys definitely have an
upfront guitar thing going, heavy on the
rock. Another band to look out
for...Electric Frankenstein has been a
band that I wasn't too sure about. Well,
I've made up my mind, and their shit fuck-
this up, although the Zero Boys cover on
the b-side makes it worthy in its own
regard...Two non-punk re-issues that I
think the world should know about are
The Meters' Look-Ka Py Py and The
Ornette Coleman Quartet's This Is Our
Music. The Meters kick out the stoniest.
funk instrumentals ever experienced by
humankind, and I'm sure you've heard
them sampled repeatedly on so many.
records this stuff will seem like second
nature. Just look at the funky threads.
they're sportin' on the cover and try not
to buy it. The OCQ reissue is an example
of the "modern," improvisational jazz that
I was coming out in the early '60s and is a
standard. Do not pass up on these.
two... On the 'zine scene, check out the lat-
est issue of Pool Dust. Yes, I am the guy
who does it, so of course I think it's good.
Road trips, pool skating, parks, punk stuff,
whatever. Send $2 to PO Box 419, Tempe,
AZ 85280-0419. -Wez Lundry
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