Notes From
The Underground
V
HE JUSTICE LEAGUE helped cele-
brate the Loosegrooves/No Mayo
record release of The Funky Precedent
by hosting a dope party with live per-
formances by Breakestra, the
World Famous Beat Junkies, Cut
Chemist, and more. Watching the Beat Junkies
(who were billed as the World Famous Junkies or
something like that) get ill on wax always gets
people hyped, bobbin' their inebriated little
heads all night long, and this solid performance
was no different. (Anyone who can mix in some
Jane's Addiction and not ruin or destroy the
song has got skills to me.) This album switches
up the various styles nicely, and if you're tired of
the same old chunky styles of a certain mono-
syllabic master, then this is right up your street.
The hip-hop/rap/all around funky music compi-
lation features many prominent artists in the vein
of Jurassic 5, Dilated Peoples, Black Eyed
Peas, and Aceyalone, as well as the more
instrumental-heavy prowess of Ozomatli and
the Breakestra. Now go get it and go AWOL from
the No Limit Army. -Dan Nazzareta...In the
aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, the 1999
DMC/Technics World DJ Championships blew
into NYC the weekend of September 17 and 18,
and minds were blown. True 54 and I acted as
Thrasher roving correspondents and were in the
house for the Thrasher-sponsored event. This
year's mayhem included the first-ever world
team championships. When the dust settled, the
UK's Scratch Perverts, featuring Prime Cuts,
MASS.
I was there working as an observer). Still, with all
the adversity to overcome, it's nice to know that
punk is alive and well in some of the big cities.
While in Jakarta, I got to check out a show with
some local bands. Drama was pretty heavy, with
a Helmet kinda feel, until their third song, which
was George Michael's "Faith." Ouch. Koil had
some industrial elements, and Pause was some
really solid, crunching hardcore. The word
"amok" is an Indonesian word, and now I know
exactly what it means. Pas reminded me of early
Bad Brains, with some
noodly guitar solos
thrown in. They defi-
nitely had the crowd
running amok as
well...Back stateside, I
just caught the
Murder City Devils
on tour with Zeke, and
they played another
fantastic set that had
the kids writhing spas-
modically and pogo-
ing. These guys are
finally getting some
much-deserved atten-
tion, and have just put
out a scorching split
single with Gluecifer
on Sub Pop (featuring a
couple of oddball cov-
ers) and have a split
Siccines
AND VIOGENGE"
Tony Vegas, Mr Thing, and First Rate, took
the title with the Allies (USA and Canada) com-
ing in a close second. In the one-on-one compe-
tition Craze took the gold for the second year in
a row (no real surprize there), Tony Vegas won
silver, and P-Trix represented the LBC with the
bronze. True 54 felt that new innovation took the
backseat to a more uniform standard of techni-
cal excellence in this year's competition. The
question on everyone's mind is, will Craze pull
down the first-ever hat trick in 2000? Props out
to all the competitors and especially to Afsheen,
Christie, and Bloody Tony of DMC for a killer
event. -Eb-Dog 55...Indonesia is going through
its toughest times since 1966's "Year of Living
Dangerously"; a bank scandal that is threatening
the political and economic system, separatist
movements in Aceh and other provinces, and the
recent referendum in East Timor in which an
overwhelming majority chose independence,
which led to mass killings and violence (I know
single coming out soon with Seattle hardcore
band Botch on Excursion Records (both bands
are also featured in a low-budget movie about
the punks versus the hardcore kids). Sub Pop has
also put out the latest Zen Guerrilla LP, Trance
States in Tongues, which is a heavy dose of blues-
inspired rock medicine...On the 7" front, check
out the Spitfires' "Slick Black Cat" on Junk
Records, a straight-up divebomb of high speed
punk from Vancouver, no holds barred. The
Tight Bros From Way Back When have a split
single with the Champs. When people were
screaming about rock 'n' roll that was coming out
these days reminding them of seventies and
early eighties guitar rock bands, they were right
when they said that the Bros were taking it to
another level... The new issue of Gearhead is out,
featuring a split single with Rocket From the
Crypt and the Hellacopters, plus the usual
assortment of punk reviews and automobile
worship...Lightning Beat Man has got to be
partially retarded, which means that you
should find and buy at least of couple of
his records that blend wrestling and
rock and roll in an inimitable Euro fash-
ion. Check out one of his latest: "It's Hip
to be Fucked Up" b/w/ "I Hate to
Dance."...Although it sounds almost unbear-
able, someone has gone and put out a compila-
tion of all AC/DC covers. I'm not usually too
into tribute comps, and while this is no excep-
tion, it does have a few gems, and the vinyl
comes with a bonus split single of the
Supersuckers and Zeke...Speaking of '70s
bands, three fine records from that era have
just been released. If you've never heard of
these bands, this is a pretty good introduction.
Radio Birdman was an Australia-based pow-
THE WEGBAGOPTERS
erhouse of American and Aussie rock and roll
that never saw the fame they deserved, but cer-
tainly influenced a lot of bands in the
Stooges/MC5 vein. Check out Rock and Roll
War on the French label Mission for a taste of
the real deal. The Real Kids, who just played a
few shows recently, have released through
Norton two records of their stuff from '77-'79.
It's much more polished than the Grown Up
Wrong live-in-the-studio record, doesn't rock as
hard, but shows why the catchy songs they
wrote were so damn catchy. I'd choose the ear-
lier stuff on Better Be Good over the other, as
their later stuff turned pretty wimpy when they
became the Taxi Boys. Finally, the legendary
MC5, the overwhelmingly rockingest revolu-
tion rock to come out of Detroit, has their roots
laid bare with the new LP 66 Breakout!
Compiled by band member/jaildog/revolu-
tionary/punk poet Wayne Kramer, this is the
earliest of the early stuff, back when the guys
were playing high school dances, block parties,
record hops, etc. In fact, most of the stuff here
is recorded at places like the aforementioned,
but the sound quality is good enough to show
that these guys' in their early period were des-
tined to become Rock and Roll Warriors. Seek
this out.-Wez Lundry
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