How I feel right now...

Burgundy years.
I remember everything.
Burgundy years.
Death tolls ever dark its cheers.

Dark the days that beckon me
throughout the Northland country,
but there was hope once in my heart
when minstrels sang sweet their song.

From the cup you made me drink
the potions of uncertainty.
My love never did perish.
I have kept the memories inside.

Blood it lingers still yet stirring
where goodwill was once endearing.
I've become the caretaker
dutifully, a saint forlorn.

Marriage to the brotherhood
by oaths sworn in magicians' woods.
The martyr of my Christian name
slain by the scarlet crusades

Shall the words of misfits spoken
be treated as jesters' tokens.
There is but a glimmer full
of the dim light you have cast.

In time all heroes depart,
but there was hope once in my heart.

WARNING: RANT AHEAD

It's really sad when people act and talk in an utterly vile way while being casually racist, selfish, consumeristic, and completely lacking in self-awareness.  I know this is pretty much the normal state of many people in America and the "first world" in the West, but when you go to shows at bars and clubs, it's much more prevalent and totally in-your-face.  That and the inevitable consequences of living that way are why so many people leave punk, hardcore, metal, "indie rock", counterculture movements, and even the "bar scene" to become hardline, holier-than-thou Religious Right conservatives, annoyingly self-righteous "P.C. fascists", or nihilistic misanthropes.  I used to be on of the latter and sometimes people make me feel that way again.  Like tonight, for example.

That said, I will leave you with this.  It's the full album stream of When Fire Rains Down Upon the Sky Mankind Will Reap As It Has Sown by the English blackened death/grind/noise band ANAAL NATHRAKH.  They boast former BENEDICTION vocalist Dave Hunt, who goes under the name V.I.T.R.I.O.L. when doing vocals for A.N.

This Is One of the Scariest Things I've Ever Listened To and It's From a Christian Experimental Noise Project (No, seriously...)

The singing, the metallic clanging and scraping... it's disturbing and sends chills up my spine.  It's one of the tracks on a free compilation of Christian experimental noise titled "The Blood of the Saints is the Seed of the Church".  The theme is martyrdom and the artist is VICTIMES DE REGIME, from Tennessee.

Check out the track here:

http://comearmageddon.bandcamp.com/track/my-godmy-god-why-have-you-forsaken-me

The other tracks on the comp are good, but none of them impacted me as much as VDR's.  Here are the other artists on it, all of whom I'd recommend checking out (preferably on other releases): CLANG QUARTET, BAPTIZER, CHRISTOPHER S. FELTNER, ATARAXY (Germany), BLACK MAGIC MARKER, CISTERN, and SIGNAL BLEED.

All My Favorite Current Garage Rock Bands Are From Ohio (and I Used to Hate That Stuff)

(Photo by Cassidie Mae at The Coup)

ARMY OF INFANTS

Hail SDayton, Ohiyer
Inderpendents (SIGN THESE THAR BOYS!!!!!!!!)
phaserbook
blandcamp

Blown-out, rockin', *nsane, and yes, melodic, you puss-puss.  Seen'em these thar hairfarmers twice and the second time it was twice as nice.  I haves their seven-incher, "Main St. Blues" b/w "Busted in B.G." (SPOILER: that stands for Bowling Green!), and lurv its.  Ye can gets halves of eet on thar blandcamps and thuh other by harassin'em on the phaserbooks.  I dern't know how good dey 're wit dem technologies, but thems fools rock it hards.  If'ns ye gets a chance ta see'em, be'a sures to do dats!!!!!

Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn, NY (photo by ...?)

TWEENS

Shittynati, Blowhio
Frenchkiss Records (Ooh-la-la!!!!!)
facespacers
bandcramps

TWEENS are the first garage rock band I really got into from here.  They're blown-out enough to grab my attention and catchy enough to hold onto it.  We have wayyyyyy too many bands here who want to sound like THE BLACK KEYS (who, since the early 2000's, have found a second home here), but come up short.  Thankfully, TWEENS are definitely not one of them.  Rather than going for a slicker, more-produced sound, they have more of a 60's girl-group, doo-woop, trash rock, and power pop thing going on.  THE SHANGRI-LA'S, GUN CLUB, BOBBYTEENZ, and EL VEZ are all cited as influences and I have to agree (I'm not familiar with Bobbyteenz and El Vez, though... yet).  A lot of writers lazily refer to them as "sticky-sweet" and "syrupy", which has reached the point where it's become a cliche that I feel does a disservice to them, though.  This is not just some catchy bubblegum shit.  It's more like a slap in the face and a kick in the nuts from your about-to-be-ex-girlfriend while her friends are cheering her on because she should've kicked you to the curb awhile ago.  Which might explain why when THE BREEDERS asked Jim Blase (owner of Shake-It Records) who they should take on tour with them recently, he recommended TWEENS.

It should obviously be said that that the rhythm section of this band is made up of 2/3 of the one-and-only VACATION, who have been breaking new ground in pop-punk since the late 2000's.  The crazy-assed bastard Jerry Westerkamp plays drums in both bands and the more relaxed Peyton Copes plays bass in TWEENS and guitar in VACATION.  Part of why TWEENS has been more active than their main band may be due to the fact that their bass player, Evan Wolff, currently lives in Columbus and is also a member of PRETTY PRETTY (who you should be sure to check out!!!).

(From Lamont "Bim" Thomas' facebook - "Puttin my hood up for Trayvon! Let my niggas live!")

OBNOX

The River's on Fire, Oh My-Oh!
Smog Veil, Slovenly Recordings,
sandyclouds
face your books
spotify webplayer

Holy.  Fucking.  Shit.  When I saw them recently at MOTR Pub here, it was the most punk thing I've ever seen.  Just a couple of black dudes, one singing and blowing people's minds with just a few guitar chords while the other went nuts on drums, showing a bunch of white kids how rock and roll is done!!!!  Vocalist Lamont "Bim" Thomas is the drummer for the politically-incendiary THIS MOMENT IN BLACK HISTORY and was formerly in THE BASSHOLES, COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS, FLIPPING HADES, MY UNCLE WAYNE, and THE CHEATER SLICKS (you can google those yourself!!!).  Listen to OBNOX and TMIBH immediately!!!!!!!!

Listen to this if you have anything remotely resembling good taste in music

 Atlanta grindcore trio Dead in the Dirt are staunchly vegan, straight-edge, and anti-human; they once sold stickers from their website boldly proclaiming, “Euthanize People Not Pit Bulls.” Nuanced reflection is not their aim. They're not subtle with their views, and their music follows suit. On August 6, Southern Lord will release their full-length The Blind Hole, which was produced by Andy Nelson of Weekend Nachos and Like Rats. That album's “The Pit of Me” lets their His Hero Is Gone influence shine more, as Nelson's touch lets Dead in the Dirt take up all the space they didn't consume on their previous efforts. “Pit” could very well be a reference to that above cover, as it possesses enough black space to create an ambiguous bottom.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO IT

Show Review: MUTANT SUPREMACY (NYC), ETHICIST, VALDRIN @ MAYDAY - 7/18

Photo taken by Reid Raley

I just saw MUTANT SUPREMACY (from New York City) at Mayday in Cincinnati and partied with them all night.  I have yet to get to sleep (please keep that in mind while reading this)  Had no idea that the main vocalist was a member of ATAKKE (female-fronted crusty death/thrash also from NYC).  They're all pretty cool dudes.  They played late 80's/early 90's death metal (my favorite kind) very well and while they didn't "break any new ground" (as if that matters...), they avoided all of the annoying trends in death metal today, like "br00tal slamz", super-techy bullshit, ripping off AUTOPSY, or trying to sound just like CANNIBAL CORPSE.  It was a total breath of fresh air.

A new blackened death/thrash group from the suburbs (Fairfield?) played, as well.  Their name is VALDRIN.  They were very young and left me very impressed.  And not just because of their performance - the lead vocalist had an embroidered BLOOD FEAST patch (an obscure death/thrash band from my hometown) and at the party after the show, they out-nerded everyone on black metal (even me).  They were also the only band to get people moving (which is very hard to do in this city) and holy shit, I don't think I've seen a pit that crazy at a metal show here since Sudsy Malone's was still around.  It was more nuts than even RAMMING SPEED and MUNICIPAL WASTE's pits at recent shows   Keep an eye on these guys.

However, it was the opener, a local black metal band on only their third or fourth show, who completely blew everyone away...  Their name is ETHICIST and they sound like WEAKLING and (early) WOLVES IN THE THRONEROOM with maybe a little DEAFHEAVEN thrown in there.  They soundchecked one song and over twenty people came in to watch and were very disappointed that they had to wait 10 minutes for the show to start.  :).  It's unbelievable that three people can make as much noise as they do.  The set was absolutely incredible, the sound job was perfect yet again (thanks to the talented hands of Mark Light, who is widely considered to be one of - if not THE best sound man in the city...), and I had the horns raised for probably their entire set.

This was a free show and the bar did so well that they sold out of everything they had that came in cans - everything.  If you didn't go to this, I feel bad for you, because it RULED!!!!!

Right now I'd like to give a shout-out to the lovely and wise waitress who served me at the end of her shift at an empty Waffle House this morning just after 6 AM.  Her advice for my headache worked perfectly.  I don't know if she believed me when I said that it wasn't from drinking (for those of you new to this site, I'm straightedge), though...

Btw if you've ever wondered what a "reek of putrefaction" smells like, just walk around Clifton Heights just before the crack of dawn early Thursday morning in the summer.  Trash day there is worse than walking by a cow pasture.  And yes, I'm quite acquainted with that - my grandfather and those who came before him were dairy farmers...

Pro-Life Group to Air Graphic Abortion Video in Fountain Square

I can't believe this is real...

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_news/graphic-abortion-video-to-be-played-in-fountain-square-organization-created-equal-says

Posted: 07/02/2013
Last Updated: 1 hour and 26 minutes ago

• By: Maxim Alter, WCPO Digital

CINCINNATI -- An anti-abortion organization will bring a jumbo television screen to Fountain Square next week to play what it describes as "graphic abortion video" to downtown Cincinnati residents and visitors.

Created Equal, which describes itself as "a social action movement seeking to end human rights injustice," rented out Fountain Square for the demonstration, according to a spokesperson from 3CDC.

While 3CDC could not confirm what date the organization rented out the popular downtown space, a Created Equal spokesperson said the demonstration will take place on July 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The 9 by 12-foot TV screen, which is being brought to Fountain Square by the organizers, will feature a "graphic abortion video" and will be accompanied by high school and college students holding pro-life signs.

The announcement of this event in Fountain Square comes only days after Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed the state's $62 billion state spending plan into law that left in place a new requirement that doctors inform pregnant women seeking abortions of any fetal heartbeat.

The new law will require doctors to check for a fetal heartbeat through an external ultrasound when a woman is seeking an abortion and let her know if one is found. It does not prevent the doctor from performing the procedure, however, as last year's unsuccessful "heartbeat bill" proposed.

"Kasich's agenda is clear -- to put politicians in charge of women's personal, private medical decisions -- even in cases of rape or incest, or when a woman is faced with serious threats to her health," Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Kellie Copeland told the Associated Press.

Created Equal's Executive Director Mark Harrington says his organization has pioneered the use of "cutting edge video technology to represent the victims of abortion" to audiences across the country.

"Now it's time to bring it to cities like Cincinnati," Harrington said. "Not until now has abortion been represented in such a profound way."

 

Created Equal also has plans for similar demonstrations in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Columbus.

Fountain Square is located at 520 Vine Street.