June 27, 2011

MIXTAPE: Black Sabbath cuts deeper


Black Sabbath are the forefathers of heavy metal. Singular. End of discussion. I like some Led Zep but they are merely a pioneer of heavy blues-based rock. Not heavy metal.

Once again, I recommend you listen outside what the record labels tell you are the greatest hits. Listen to a band’s entire discography and make your own determinations – as I did recently for Black Sabbath. What I rediscovered is some really nice gems beyond what “We Sold Our Souls For Rock & Roll” tried to sell me.

My mixtape is only Ozzy-era Sabbath because that is where it starts and ends for me. No disrespect to RJD (and all the gushing tributes, etc. since his death), but Dio’s voice has never done a thing for me. This mix comes from the 8 studio albums they did with Ozzy – released over an 8-year period. Prolifically amazing.

As an aside, I highly recommend the new Ozzy biography “I Am Ozzy”. It is the best rock book I have ever read. Even if you don’t like Ozzy, it is interesting as hell. The first third of the book is on the formation of Sabbath, and that alone makes the book a must-read. And if you remotely like Sabbath and/or Ozzy, you will love it. If you don’t like Sabbath or don’t at least have a curiosity about Sabbath I highly recommend you promptly close your browser and get the fuck off this site.


Watch this and see why Ozzy is the only true frontman of Sabbath – and an icon to this day – over 40 years after this 1970 performance.

The stage freakout by Ozzy at the 7:27 mark is absolutely amazing. Just spazzs out for 56 seconds straight. 

So from Birmingham in the UK (birthplace of my favorite band Napalm Death), here is some Sabbath off the beaten path (and a few well-known classics I really like). Enjoy.


Track Listing:

Am I Going Insane (Radio)
Back Street Kids
Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Black Sabbath
Children Of The Grave
Evil Woman
Hand Of Doom
Hole In The Sky
Junior’s Eyes
Lord Of This World
Megalomania [Edit]
Never Say Die
Over To You
She’s Gone
Spiral Architect [Edit]
Supernaut
Sweet Leaf [Edit]
Symptom Of The Universe
The Wizard
The Writ [Edit]
Tomorrow’s Dream
You Won’t Change Me

Liner Notes:

Edits are my edits – used to improve the song, keep listener interest high and/or shorten in an attempt to get more songs played at a party. Don’t like it? Buy the original.

June 26, 2011

ABC's of Metal: my take

Last year a poster started making the rounds with the ABC's of metal by Aye Jay. Very cool. But not my history. Not the choices I would have made. I'm sure we each could make one that fits our liking. Here's the one I created, made up of my favorite bands & respected trailblazers...

NOTE: the title at the bottom of the piece uses Black Sabbath logotype for the "ABC's" portion. That's my touch. 
 
How many can you guess correct out of 26? The key, or "legend", is in the comments.

UPDATE: 
Proud to say Scott Ian of Anthrax "endorses" my version. On January 3, 2012 he tweeted that his infant son is learning the alphabet with the help of my graphic. He's got good taste. Cheers to the next generation of metalheads.


June 22, 2011

MIXTAPE: Snapcase – hardcore best of


From the Queen City of Buffalo, NY Snapcase is one of my top 5 favorite bands of all time. After high school when I grew out of Metallica, Snapcase fit the bill for me. They were local to me but they seemed so much bigger. They were on Victory Records when that meant something. In fact their self-titled 7" was VR#9 and their first big full length was Victory #13 (the label’s catalog counts up in order). They were always much bigger in Europe than in the USA. Crazy to me. But awesome, because I'd see them in small, local venues. 

I saw Snapcase at the Showplace Theatre in Buffalo with my girlfriend the night before I proposed to her. Just me and her. Wasn't really part of the plan. Just worked out that way. "Well I paid for the ticket!" - yells Tommy in Trainspotting. The fact that she went to yet another show wasn't why I proposed but it was on the checklist to making her a keeper. As a dude that likes death metal and other extreme shit, I've always maintained that I don't need a girl that likes extreme music. She just needs to respect that I LIKE extreme music. She's always done that. Still married. So there. 

As Snapcase the band had two singers in its history – Chris Galas and then Daryl Taberski. To me Galas had the classic 80s hardcore voice that wasn’t much my style. Taberski played bass in Snapcase when Galas was the throat, but then took over the vocal duties. Taberski was the unique element of Snapcase that separated them from all the other newer age hardcore bands of the early 90s. His voice, the snappy sound of the drums (particularly Tim Redmond) and driving guitars led by Jon Salemi MADE the Snapcase sound.

After being exposed to Snapcase in 1993, I was all in. I have seen them live the most I have seen any other band (6X). They formally broke up in 2004. I was at their final show in January 2005. Past members of the band played at the show, and they all sounded great. At the beginning of their set they played a killer retrospective recap video by PumiceT...


Since the breakup they have played a handful of shows in 2007, 2010 and most recently with Sick Of It All at the SOIA 25th Anniversary Show.


What I always liked about Snapcase was that although the band members were straight edge the band didn’t throw it your face (like Earth Crisis). The messages were just positive, but not churchy or gay.

If you don’t know Snapcase, get to know them. Here is a career spanning best of Snapcase Mixtape. Enjoy.

Track Listing:

Ambition Now
Aperture
Believe, Revolt
Blacktop (Helmet Cover)
Bleeding Orange
Caboose
Coagulate
Cognition
Comatose
Crown of Thorns
Deceived
Depth Of Field
Die Laughing
Drain Me
Energy Dome
Filter
Harrison Bergeron
I (Bad Brains Cover)
Incarnation
Killing Yourself To Live
Less Than Convenient (ATR)
Litmus Test
Looking Glass Self
Mountain Song (Jane’s Addiction Cover)
New Kata
Priceless
Run And Fall (Instrumental)
She (Misfits Cover)
She Suffocates [Edit Ending]
Target
Truth Hits Everybody (The Police Cover)
Typecast Modulator (Big Beat Mix)
Windows
Zombie Prescription

June 20, 2011

Top 8 stupidest band NAMES


Again, I had this on my Kielbasage Twitter recently. And what’s funny is Kowloon Walled City noticed that they made my list. They retweeted it to their followers, so you gotta give them credit for having a sense of humor.


#8: BALLS DEEP IN THE DEAD
#7: HELLYEAH
#6: QUEENSRYCHE
#5: LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR
#4: KEN MODE
#3: PUDDLE OF MUDD
#2: KOWLOON WALLED CITY

...and the worst offender....
#1: MY MORNING JACKET

Top 10 best band NAMES (not logos)


I did this a little while ago on my Kielbasage Twitter, but that timeline moves so fast, who the fuck saw it?  So here you go. My list of best band names:

#9: CROWBAR
#8: BLOODLET
#7: VENOM

#6: BAD BRAINS
#5: GALLOWS

#4: DEFTONES
#3: KILLING JOKE
#2: SLUGFEST  (Buffalo, NY hardcore)

...and the coolest band name of all time (in my opinion)...
 
#1: BLACK FLAG

June 17, 2011

MIXTAPE: The finest in German death metal


The death metal bug bit me in about late 1990. After 20 years, there isn’t a ton of it that really excites me – especially newer stuff. But a couple years ago I literally stumbled onto the best death metal/grind band that I’ve heard in a long time.

Profanation Рhailing from G̦rlitz, in East Germany near the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic.

They switched singers recently (from a bloke named Hippi to a youngin’ named Jeff) – but they remain crushing.  Like many underground bands they self finance their own albums and are unsigned. They have just finished a new album, but again no label. So here you go – a nice healthy swallow of broken glass force fed by a metal funnel emblazoned with the name Profanation. Yep. 

If you are ever in Germany check them out. Or if you know somebody at a label, for god sake pass this on to them. Do you hear me Brian Slagel? We don’t need more recycled metalcore. We need this.  

June 14, 2011

Top 5 Cock Rock Singers of All Time


Here's my list in rank order:

1 - David Lee Roth (top choice)

2 - Bret Michaels
3 - Sebastian Bach
4 - Vince Neil
5 - Paul Stanley (the Godfather of the movement)

Rough criteria (with a little exaggeration):

* 75% of the band's lyrical content is all about getting some
* Artist must have some longevity on the scene, say 7+ years (which is why Jani Lane doesn't make the list)
* Most "metal chicks" would be into him (again, sorry Jani)
* Important: I'm not knocking these dudes. They do what they do - and they do it well. I'm talking about dudes that would rock out with their cock out all the time (if it was legal). I am only personally a fan of DLR and Vince, but I respect the other dudes for being true to the craft of being that kind of frontman.

Pantera Reunion

If there ever was to be a Pantera reunion with the remaining original survivors, I still maintain there is only 1 guy who could play guitar: Zakk Wylde. Zakk has the chops and could actually perform Dime’s solos (as opposed to every other jagoff that covers Pantera songs live and chickens out on the solos). He was Dime’s best friend, he can live up to Dime’s boozing and he would appreciate the significance. The only choice.

Side story:
Kicking myself for not going to Dime’s final full show. Damageplan played their last show in my local Buffalo. A small little club. They played for 2+ hours and jammed Pantera songs. He died onstage the very next night of course during the first song of the Columbus Ohio show, December 8, 2004.

I thought about going to the Buffalo show but didn’t go because I heard the Damageplan disc and wasn’t really into it. I wish I had gone. However I did get to see Pantera live in all their glory twice. Good shit.

June 12, 2011

R.I.P. Seth Putnam, you asshole.

Anal Cunt (A.C. or AxCx) frontman Seth Putnam has allegedly passed away at age 43 of a heart attack. I’m not shocked. I’d also not be shocked if this was a publicity hoax or another Chuck Biscuits situation. But either way, here’s my piece on Seth. I’ll write this once. If he dies again later, fuck it he’s only getting this one.

A friend of mine used to throw AxCx songs into party mixes. Fucking perfect. 40 seconds or less of disorganized grindcore splattered with hilariously offensive lyrics and song titles. “Van Full Of Retards” sticks out to me as perhaps my first full-frontal exposure to Seth and AxCx.

For the past five years I too have carried on the tradition of inserting the shit covered songs of AxCx into my personal, just-for-me playlists and other party mixes. The best is the reaction you get at a party with mixed company. The kind of crowd that thinks Metallica is the devil’s music. A blast of AxCx is like snorting horseradish.
Song titles by the band were highly insensitive to some. I’d call them thought provoking. Which I think was the point. So with Seth’s death, here are a few new ones I’ve penned in his honor:

“Good Fucking Riddance Seth Fucking Putnam”
“Mourning Seth Putnam is Gay”
"Rest in Piss Seth Putnam"
"Meth Seth Dead in Bed”
“Seth Putnam has Dead Shitbreath”
“Seth You’re Dead (Fuck You)”

Quick story:
I’d never seen AxCx. Then they announced they’d be playing a club gig in Buffalo. I had to go. So 3 other dudes and I drove all the way up there to the club only to find it was cancelled. The band couldn’t get there. I emailed Seth after the show and he replied. He said they didn’t have a vehicle big enough for them and their gear. Local bands wouldn’t let them borrow and he didn’t want to pay the high price the club would have charged to rent equipment. So they bailed. He said he’d put me on the guest list for next time.

I can only imagine what kind of a posh backstage experience that would have been. Sitting in their big custom 75 foot tour bus. Sampling the meat and cheese tray and being offered a snort of cocaine off a stripper’s implanted rack. No, that’s 1987 Motley Crue. This would have been more like in the alley behind the shit hole club. Sitting on milk crates. Drinking warm, tallboy cans of Miller High Life. With Seth bumming cigarettes off me.

Anyway – it didn’t happen. And I never saw them play. But if you’ve never heard any Anal Cunt – here you go. A nice little primer.


One final song title:
“Fuck You Seth Putnam for Stiffing The Buffalo Show So I Never Saw How Big of a Drunk Asshole You Were”

June 11, 2011

“The days of the entire record are long gone.”

I love Tommy Lee. Dude is 48 and is just the same guy as he was 30 years ago bashing the skins on Motley Crue's “Too Fast For Love.”

He just did an interview with Steve Baltin of Noisecreep and he had this to say about the demise of the LP:

“To tell you the truth, I think the days of making a record, for me personally, are over. I'll never make another full record I think. It's a waste of time cause people can only ingest a song at a time, so why not make bitching songs at a time and release them. If you want to call them singles, great, whatever; or at its maximum, an EP, four songs, done, boom. I just really feel like the days of the entire record are long gone. I don't listen to anybody's full record anymore and when I did, I don't think I listened to the whole record. I'm sorry, and I don't care who it is, if it's the Beatles, I can't listen to an hour and a half of anybody straight. Maybe it's my child-like short attention span, but I'm not a fan of that long, drawn-out fucking album anymore. I don't think most people are; if you look at sales most people are buying songs at a time and they're just not really buying records. That's just a sign of the times. There's so much more out there to play with that grabbing anybody's attention and keeping it there for an hour and a half, good luck.”

------------

I totally agree. I do listen to full CDs in the car – because the 6-disc in-dash gives me the chance to re-engage with my dusty CD collection – but when I listen for me – just me – it’s my mp3 player with my playlists made up of individual tracks. My party mixes for friends and fam – playlists of individual tracks. It’s it for me. Tommy is right. What say you?

Dropping beats in death metal

I'm a big Obituary fan. Probably my first foray into death metal back with Cause of Death (1990). I celebrate their entire catalog.

Did you ever notice that 1994's "World Demise" has enhanced, studio, hip-hop style bass dropped in? I find it interesting/cool. And what's also interesting is that the liner notes don't give any indication that such elements exist on the album. They want you to think it's your run-of-the-mill Scott Burns produced Morrisound Recording. There are many samples, including at the beginning of one of the songs an actual rap sample. But it's not credited. Only the "Sample from...A Celebration of African/American Music" - credited on the back of the CD for track 12 "Kill For Me."

Exhibit A:

Any way, it's a killer album. Check out the album and listen for the enhanced bass - which obviously ain't coming out of Frank Watkin's low end. The track with the most extra bass boost is "Splattered". Listen for yourself - particularly check out the 3:10 mark.

Support bands. Buy their music.

June 10, 2011

MIX-O-RAMA: Justice All In One...

…And Justice For All is one big ball of awesome riffs (and no bass of course). 


I have compiled into one epic, And Justice-like 10 minute song, a compilation of the best riffs and parts of the entire album. Enjoy.

Inspiration

Just wanted to give a shout out to 6 very cool blog/music sites that I follow every single day. They have given me inspiration to give it a go here. I may not like everything they post, but for the most part they hit the spot for me, opening my eyes to a bunch of good new and old shit – indie, underground and mainstream.

Lo-Res Viscera          

I encourage you to check them out and I hope you find Scrap Metalinguistics worth coming back for as well. Cheers.

June 9, 2011

MIXTAPE: The “real” best of Faith No More

 
Label money grabs have put out a lot of FNM best of compilations since the band broke up following their Lisbon show April 7, 1998. Best of albums put out by labels always seem to miss the mark for true fans. They always include the obvious tracks, like the songs that were singles. But we all know those aren’t always the best. You’ll never hear “Kindergarten” off Angel Dust. If I had to pick one song as my catalog favorite it would be Kindergarten. Patton nails the chorus so flawlessly. It sounds almost ghostly. So killer.

Angel Dust is also my favorite album by the band. Everybody wanted Epic Part II and when they didn’t get it they left in a huff. The album has a tremendous edge to it, and if you followed the drama that was going on within the band at the time the Patton influence is becoming much, much more pronounced. And guitarist Jim Martin is becoming less into it. This of course was Martin’s last album with the band.
 
Liner Notes:
In my entire junior high and high school career I only skipped school once. It was to buy Angel Dust when it came out in June 1992. I didn’t really miss much school. Me and a buddy left school during lunch to go to the mall to buy it. Then we came back. Not really skipping, but we did miss a huge, extremely rare, full blown food fight in the cafeteria. Oh well, every time I play that CD I think of leaving school to go buy it.

A final memory. The very first time I heard FNM was June 30, 1990. It was during a Metallica/Aerosmith outdoor concert played in the outfield grass of a triple A baseball stadium in Rochester, NY. Five bands played that day and there were lengthy pauses in sets because of crazy summer lightning/rain storms. During this downtime they kept playing the entire “The Real Thing” album. I totally dug it. I asked some dude next to me who this was on the PA and he’s like, “Faith No More, duh.” Whatever. But I was hooked then. Bought the album right after that. Later that summer “Epic” blew up with constant video play by MTV. So FNM is one of those bands that I label as I “discovered” - meaning I was a fan before most people I know were into them. Been a huge fan ever since.

Here’s hoping the recent 2009/2010 second coming of Faith No More tour/reuniting brings us a new studio album. Recent interviews I’ve seen with Billy Gould tell me this will happen.

So as a HUGE Faith No More fan, I give you the definitive best of. This is the Real Thing. 

UPDATE: the following was a link to download a mixtape I put together. But for some reason little ol' me has come under fire recently and have had a bunch of my blog posts targeted as copyright violations. So I've taken down the link. So check out the list of songs that I deem as good, but that you can't hear here, but that you can find in a million other places on the Internet for a band that broke up 13 years ago and SHOULD be dying to attract new fans based on the glowing praises of REAL fans like me. What the fuck ever. 

Mixtape: Faith No More Best 1987-1997

Track Listing:

Absolute Zero [KFAD b-side]
Another Body Murdered (With Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.)
As The Worm Turns (Patton version)
Ashes To Ashes
Caffeine
The Cowboy Song
Digging The Grave
Easy [Turn The Lights Off Intro]
Epic
Everything's Ruined
Evidence
Falling To Pieces
The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies
Jizzlobber [Edit]
Just A Man
Kindergarten
Land Of Sunshine
Last Cup Of Sorrow
Let's Lynch The Landlord
Light Up And Let Go
Midlife Crisis
The Morning After
Mouth To Mouth [Edit]
The Perfect Crime [Bill & Ted Soundtrack]
Ricochet
RV
A Small Victory (R-evolution 23 Full Moon Mix Edit)
Smaller And Smaller
Spanish Eyes
Surprise! You're Dead!
This Guy's In Love With You [Live 10-21-97]
Underwater Love
We Care A Lot [1987]
The World Is Yours

NOTE: Edits are my edits – used to improve the song, keep listener interest high and/or shorten in an attempt to get more songs played at a party. Don’t like it? Buy the original.

Support bands. Buy their music.

June 8, 2011

MIXTAPE: Bitchin’ Mixtape Vol.1

I will randomly create these mixtapes from time to time. Like this one, they will be a mixture of heavy and non-heavy, old and new.



Track listing:

Anthrax - Be All, End All
Aziz Ansari - Cold Stone Creamery
Benny Barnes - Diesel Smoke
Big River Ransom - Maritime Hotel
Bitter End - House Of Denial
Black Dahlia Murder – Necropolis
Cave In - Moral Eclipse
Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band - The World (Is Going Up In Flames)
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Deke Dickerson - Deep River
Dicks - Off-Duty Sailor
Dredg - The Tent
Elvis Presley - One Night
Expire - First Fall
Fatboy - Bad News From Pretty Red Lips
Foo Fighters - Enough Space
Full Of Hell – Routine
Gluecifer - I Got A War
Gluttons - Shell Shock
Guadalupe Plata – Cementerio
Johnny Burnette - Honey Hush
Kissing Cousins - Pale White
Mötley Crüe - Come On And Dance
Neil Diamond - Solitary Man
Obituary - See Me Now
Public Enemy - How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul
S.O.D. – Go
Scorpions - The Sails Of Charon
Shipwreck A.D. – Squall
Skarhead – Skarhead
Skarp - Feed The Addiction
Slayer - Behind The Crooked Cross
Slayer - Temptation [Kielbasage Riff Edit]
Slut Sister - Teenage Pussy
Spazz - Backpack Bonfire
The Jesus Lizard - Wheelchair Epidemic
Unrestrained - 80k
Victims - In Control

Liner Notes:

  • Benny Barnes – Diesel Smoke: now THIS is my kind of country. Awesome. Catchy as hell. Great vocal style.
  • Bitter End – House Of Denial: the classic hardcore voice for me. Tight musically.
  • Charles Bradley: I can’t emphasis how much I love this song. 
  • Deke Dickerson – Deep River: the stand up bass player for a rockabilly band was rapping with me about other cool rockabilly bands. Deke was one that he mentioned. I looked up Deke’s entire catalog (like 15 albums). It was solid but did not blow me away. But this song did. Nothing else he did touches this song. Awesome. 
  • The Dicks – Off-Duty Sailor: I love the rawness of this song. Great raspy, unique voice.
  • Elvis: I like to push Elvis on people that maybe haven’t given it a shot. Even if you have, this song gives me the chills. So awesome. 
  • Guadalupe Plata – Cementerio: a very, very interesting band. Spanish speaking for the most part.
  • Kissing Cousins – Pale White: In general I’m not really into female singers – but when I do like them they sound like this. An angel. 
  • Motley: I relistened to their debut album (now 30 years old) and several songs stuck out to me. This was one. I think you actually CAN dance to this song. All slutty and 80s style of course. Head down, feathered hair swinging side to side. 
  • Neil Diamond – Solitary Man: When Neil was just inducted into the R&R hall (at age 70) I decided to check out his first few albums from the mid 1960s. This song is SO incredibly awesome. His voice is gold and the horns are so fucking smooth. 
  • Scorpions – The Sails Of Charon: this song was on a mixtape I downloaded by some dude in a band. It was all songs he’d want to hear if he was stranded on an island and he only had one tape. I thought, great “the scorps”. Please. But this song is so catchy. I don’t want any other Scorpions. This will do just fine. 
  • Skarp – Feed The Addiction: some grindcore for your ass.
  • Slayer – Behind the Crooked Cross: Off South of Heaven (1988). That album is really solid. This is when they started to get their shit together production wise. In my opinion South of Heaven and the following album – 1990’s Season’s in the Abyss is the apex for that band. So tight. 
  • Victims – In Control: off their new album. The only song that grabbed me – but boy did it clench its grubby little hands around my throat.


If you like the bands – support them and buy their music.

The bums lost.

Always remember that.

And that the Big Lebowski wasn't just a goldbricker who lost his legs to a Chinaman in Korea, he was also Kevin Arnold's grandfather in The Wonder Years:

Legendary artists I can't stand...

Revered musical artists that I can't fucking stand...

(in no particular order except the worst offender)

Lou Reed
Tom Waits
Bruce Springsteen
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Simon & Garfunkel
Grateful Dead
Rod Stewart
Neil Young
David Bowie

Runner up to the worst all time:
Bob Dylan

The worst EVER - without a doubt:
James Taylor

Uggh. God I hate James Taylor.

And sorry Metal Bastard but I just can't do Tom Waits. I've tried. With your help. Not happening.  


I shared this list with some friends in the past and one said, "what about Limp Bizshit and Disturbed???" But the key here is "revered" artists that are generally accepted as "legends". So there.

Mission of this blob (sic).

I’ll just post stuff that I like. My opinions. Random musings. Things that probably aren’t important. There will be no politics here because I don’t have any. There will be no religious shite because I don’t really put any stock in it.

This will simply be my asinine, nonsensical, grab-asstic tomfoolery.

And although it will primarily have a metal-tinged slant to it, I’d like what is represented here to be like the fan’s expectations of Faith No More or maybe Van Halen. 

With those bands they could go from something mellow and beautiful to something brutally hard that will rip your face off. All in the same album. All perfectly accepted, embraced and celebrated by their fans. That to me is freedom for a band. Metallica or Slayer don’t have that kind of latitude. Nope. It’s gotta be 1986 speed or it’s no good.

But not here. We’ll mix it up. I like what I like. And I’ll share it.

So let’s not just be a metal guy. Listen to other genres. It makes you more well rounded. It gives you something to talk about at work or parties – because not everyone gives a shit that you know Motley Mick Mars’ real name is Bob Deal – or that Ron McGovney played bass in Metallica before Cliff Burton.

OPINION:
Three old-school singers that have flawless, golden voices:
Dean Martin, Nat Cole, Johnny Mathis

Who’s the Boss will be back in a moment. Stick around…