Unwound - New Plastic Ideas

Out of all of the Unwound records, this one is the most off-kilter/mathy, kind of like The Paper Chase, which I'm sure is why it's my favorite.

Pretty chill indie rock definitely inspired by Gang of Four, Fugazi, Sonic Youth, and The Pixies - which is basically the greatest influences you can have short of working some Swans in there.

Download

Breather Resist - Full of Tongues

Sadly, Breather Resist's last output before turning into Young Widows.

They took their name from Hoover, and they sound like Hoover but fucking louder and meaner...which I guess you could say sounds like Deadguy. This wonderful recording involves some really intense sex sounds, which was awkward playing it the first time through and having my mom hear it.

There are two other "bonus tracks" tacked onto the end of this, which I think are Young Widows songs with Steve doing vocals. I don't recall.

Good record. Good band.

Download

Akimbo - Elephantine

Akimbo was one of the first "non-hardcore" bands I really got into when I was 18 and realizing there really were good things besides Victory's, Trustkill's and Hydra Head's back catalog and sometimes a good guitar hook is a necessary thing.

When I saw them for the first time, I invited them to crash at my house and made an ass out of myself for 1) asking if they knew the dudes in Himsa and 2) making a girl's pants joke because their drummer was definitely sporting them.

Anecdotes aside, they were strangely a screamo band before Elephantine came out although their previous full length Harshing Your Mellow isn't really standard screamo fare in the vein of You & I, to my ears at least. So, imagine a screamo band evolving into stoner rock in the last annoying way possible and that gives a pretty rough approximation.

They prescribe to the kind of kitschy epic-themed lyrics, but in a tongue-in-cheek-we're-actually-better-than-this sort of way; in a lot of ways the lyrics seem kind of like a side note which make them more pallatable since they're goofy.

I'll stop the dissertation and get to the point:
Download

Selfish - Cry For Love, Cry For Death

I am hoping to complete a little trifecta here with two of my favorite blogs Fugitive Equilibrium and Lo-Res Viscera.

Selfish is probably my favorite Japanese d-beat band...even though they're Finnish. I mean, it's racist to exclude them solely because they're from the wrong country, right?

I will admit that I like Cause Pain more, but this record is still fucking awesome. The vocals have always reminded me of Damage from Philly, which is a good thing because Philly makes some of the best hardcore the whole world over.

Anyway, I've loved these guys for many years and I'm glad to be able to share this little gem.

Download

Triac - Dead House Dreaming

Now featuring a member of Pig Destroyer, Triac is part of the whole Maryland/D.C./Virginia grind/noise/punk thing, which is the best "scene" on the east coast - no offense to Florida, I guess.

Triac is pretty no nonsense grind. I remember the lyrics being better than I expected and the music plays hard. Expect some oddities - this isn't Napalm Death, after all.

Their new 7 inch "The Blue Room" also includes a CD, so if you like this, you got it for free - so don't be a piece of shit and buy something.

Download

Get Fucked - Get Fucked

Probably the harshest and noisiest screamo record ever. The guitars sound like Ragnarok in standard tuning and the vocals are completely indecipherable. Some "melody." I guess it's a challenging record, but I've always enjoyed it immensely.

Download

The Paper Chase - God Bless Your Black Heart

The Paper Chase is probably the greatest indie band I almost never heard of. I have only ever met one other person who had even heard of them and they didn't own any of their records. So I consider myself pretty grateful I stumbled across them.

I imagine, at least theoretically, that they sound like the soundtrack to David Lynch making a horror film. Off-kilter, mathy, weird, sparse (yet full of sound and instrumentation) indie rock. The lyrical content all deals with some surreal horror but somehow trivializes and pokes fun at it at the same time. I feel like most good art, it's hard to describe and is best if experienced.

In summation: imagine a really dark, weird version of Minus the Bear. That's not quite right, but a close enough approximation.

They're supposed to heave a new record out this year about natural disasters. Since I don't suck at the Animal Collective teet and Cursed broke up, I'm sure it will be the best record of 2009.

Download