Sunday, February 22, 2009

DRONE/SLUDGE MEGA POST

so here's a brief selection of my current playlist for the past few weeks.
its all about sludgy, slow and heavy stuff. old or new, it stays the same...
(press the album title for download)

GRIEF
grief is one of the most influential bands in sludge music. keeping their raw sounds with down tuned guitars and screams full of agony. their music is highly meditative in a fucked up way.
the band was formed in 91 and split up in 2001. in 2005 they fomred up again and played few reunion shows.
>>>come to grief (1994)














>>>turbulent times (2002) - best of/compilation out on Southern Lord.
Tracks 1 & 2 off of the Dismal full length.
Tracks 4 & 6 off of the Come To Grief full length.
Track 8 off of the split with Soilent Green.
Track 3 off of the split with 13.
Track 10 off of the split
with Dystopia.
















BONGRIPPER
fucking nice band from chicago. they play instrumental sludge, their music can take you into a journy of soundscapes and majestic drones. worth checking, awesome album, one of 2008's finest for me...
>>>hate ashbury (2008)














KHANATE
this band is a "supergroup" featuring Alan dubin (vocals), Stephen O'malley (guitars), James plotkin (bass), Tim wyskida (drums). they were active from 2001-2006 in those years they put out like 11 albums (eps, live recordings...).
this is their full-length album from 2003.
>>>things viral (2003)













MOLOCH
great band coming from the uk. if you find "eye hate god" inspiring you will love this one for sure.
i think this band is one of the best new acts coming out in 2008.
>>>moloch - s/t 10"

Monday, February 9, 2009

HHH - complete discography 85 - 93


HHH
This HHH retrospective was written by their guitar player Marc, for the recent double CD discography. Thanks to Luc for helping me out!

The story of the band was very simple: one day Alex, Marc and Koki decided to emulate the bands they had interviewed or reviewed in their zine, so they created a band just to play the kind of music they liked. The line-up didn't include a bass player because at that time it was impossible to find one in Banyoles who was interested in punk rock music. 8 months after the first practice, but with lots of songs - because we only played with a 2 string guitar so it was easy for all of us to make music -- we recorded the Sin Identidad demo.
HHH Personally I've always thought that this demo was one of the great releases from the incipient Spanish HC movement, especially since Koki used to practice on petrol cans and detergent boxes - that was the second time in his life playing on a real drumkit (the first one had been two months prior to that supporting Frites Modern in Barcelona). One year later we recorded the Intelectual Punks 7". The lack of record labels in Spain forced us to put it out abroad. We released the EP on Dissonance Records from Germany, at the same time GRB and L'Odi Social released their 7"s in Italy for the same reason. The new HHH songs departed from the Scandinavian HC influences and the music became faster. Moreover on that record Alex started to sing/play bass. Our idea was to make a 12-song EP but there were some problems with the length of time so finally we only included 9 songs and we kept the rest in store for a future compilation LP on the same record label, but it was never released. In that same studio session we recorded 5 extra tracks. Of all these songs only Jim was used on an excellent compilation LP against sexism, released by Nabate Records (Belgium). After a first failed attempt to record a full HHH LP, the influences of crossover and thrash metal bands led us to a more exclusive work for some years with Overthhhrow, a HC-metal project band.
In the spring of 1990 we recorded A Por Ellos... LP with an important line-up change: Koki became singer/drummer (as he used to do in Overthhhrow) and Alex concentrated all his work playing bass and his energy on stage jumping out of control and making our shows more exciting.
The songs from this LP probably stand for the genuine essence of HHH music: raw sound and maximum speed. The release of this record coincided with the beginning of the first Spanish record labels and the HC spread.
In the summer of 1991 we recorded Homo Homini Lupus, a split LP with Vitu's Dance. We worked in a different studio and we got our best production, a very powerful sound mixing speed with the metallic influences of Overthhhrow. Some years later Rumble Records reissued the 13 songs on CD format with an extra song Pesadilla, recorded to appear on a compilation that was never released (again the same old story). HHH played the last show - without knowing that would be the last one - with 24 Ideas in Barcelona in July 1993. Today, 7 years later, Alex lives in Donosti. He's a cook, he has got his own restaurant and he plays guitar in a band featuring people from other well-known punk/HC bands from Euskadi. Koki is a secondary school teacher. He has got a pair of guitars at home. He likes experimenting with old recordings and creating art/videos with HHH songs. Marc used to distribute HC stuff but 2 years ago he left it definitively. The three of us stay involved in a way or another into hardcore, at least listening to the hundreds of new bands or reading fanzines, and I know we'll be into it for a long, long time still.
Actually, every day when I drive to my work new rhythms and lyrics come to my head as it used to happen when the band was active... I guess the spirit lives on.
Marc (July 2000)

(http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cch223/spain/hhh_main.html)

LINK


thanks to G for this one.