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Just a short post today. I'll let the record do it's talking.
Here is a definite overlooked band that somehow fell off the Dischord bandwagon. Cannot see any place they belong other than that though. This album is extremely rockin' with powerful emotional vocals. It sits somewhere directly inbetween Fugazi and Rites of Spring. With incessant ramblings, sung portions, and mostly shouted political and poetic lyrics. They were short lived existing between '92 & '94. That is what this download contains the near-complete discography for that period of time.

If you're like me and listen to nearly everything on Dischord records and would never turn away anything of the sort get downloading this now

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1.6 Band

Here is a delightfully weird band called 1.6 Band. This download includes two albums one titled "pimpin' ain't easy" and one titled "The Checkered Past Of All Kings Present." These two albums hold two very different feels and almost seem like different bands but there is a decade between them so they are basically different bands.

1.6 Band formed back in 1991 and split up in 1993 but reformed in the 2000's (2006, I believe.) The one thing that stays the same between this reunion and the original band is the extremely weird composition of the band. They have odd and often nonsensical lyrics.
If you are a fan of A Day In Black In White (link goes to gonnagetsued's post on the band) you will likely enjoy the first album "Pimpin' Ain't Easy." Simple rhythms with shouts and a lot of repetition make up most of these songs. This album would make Steve Albini proud I'm sure.

The later album "The Checkered Past Of All Kings Present" enters even stranger territory with high pitched playful guitar lines, and pitchier shouted vocals. (Is "pitchier" even a word? I didn't want to call them whiny. Did I just call them whiny? I think I did.) Something about this album feels more Freedom summer to me matched with Fugazi styled rants. This album I could see fitting in well on the Dischord catalog extremely well.
Some of the guitar portions make me want to watch detective tv shows with long chase scenes shot in slow motion. If that does not make you want to listen to this, what will?

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The Exploding Boy

Gloomy rainy day? Absolutely. Does this call for more goth? Absolutely.

This group is not one I can really make any comparison to another group to give you an idea of what they sound like. Some tracks are reminiscent of Joy Division, others are more electronic and power poppy like Flock of Seagulls or New Order. I think it's a safe bet to say that if you like New Order this will not be too far out of touch for you. And I figure I managed to jock it last post let's do it again--If you liked A Place To Bury Strangers you're almost guaranteed to like The Exploding Boy. The final "if you like..... you'll like..." point I'll make is if you like the Bloc Party this should be one hundred percent down your alley. Bloc Party are a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine but would be the "new new wave" to me, while "Afterglow" feels straight out of that era rather than an album that came out just last year.

These are good chill-out jams with a few dance tracks mixed throughout if you're in that mood.

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Sunshine Blind

Time for another Goth edition. Sunshine Blind started in the 90's and put out three albums. I have not heard the third but out of "Liquid" and "Love the Sky to Death" Liquid is certainly my favorite so far.

If you enjoyed my earlier post A Place To Bury Strangers you will likely also dig Sunshine Blind. Mix their loud overwhelming sound with female vocals and that is a little of what Sunshine Blind sounds like. There are some slow tracks with atmospheric industrial-goth styled buildups which are not really my style. Most of the goth I listen to has jangly guitar bits and really powerful hooks so this is a little out of the ordinary for me. It has a real industrial touch to most of the songs but still has enough of a Siouxsie & The Banshees influence for me to really dig it.

"This Longing" in particular is a really good track that does not really have that industrial sound through most of it. The bass sounds less tinny/robotic and the guitar especially gives some life to the track. This album also contains an awesome cover of "I Ran" by the Flock of Seagulls.

In the end if I were to describe this track to someone quickly it would just be Depeche Mode mixed with Siouxsie & the Banshees. How can you not dig that?

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Abilene

Mediafire was acting up for a bit but it appears we are back in business. Today I will throw up "Abilene" and in particular their album "Twin Guns, Twin Arrows."

I love the mood of this album. Abilene is a band that escapes classification but easiest would be post-rock. There are vocals but overall what Abilene offers is extremely minimalistic; leaving large brooding silences and emptiness between different sections of their songs. The buildups are not overly intense and it is a quiet impactful album. I find that horned instruments have this tendency to overpower all of the other instruments, but Abilene does a great job of laying a strong undertone with the other instruments.
The vocals are minimal and range from raspy whispers, to quiet well-sung sections, to Shellac-styled shouts and yells.

I personally like the louder, more moody tracks: "Fellini," "Phase Four," & and would be a lot more fond of the whole album being in this style. The vocals reach towards a more emo audience and sound much more intense and frantic. The guitar is played in long drawn out notes but the added volume gives it a less minimalistic feeling compared to the first four tracks on the album. It's a good album as a whole these just were the most down my alley.

The more I write about this the more my lack of musical training is showing though. I am just going to state that this album is extremely stylized with some cool aspects to it. Fans of Colossal should check this out. Or fans of jazz or post-rock bands. I don't know. I felt like putting something kind of different up today. So enjoy.

Myspace (Could not find one.)
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Former Members of Alfonsin & Bread And Circuits

On some old downloading binge I remember going after the band Breads & Circuits due to the involvement of Mike Kirsch & Jose Palafox of Swing Kids fame... And Please Inform the Captain This Is A Highjack! fame... And Baader Brains fame... And well. Just a shitload of really, really good bands. The band also includes Mag of Yaphet Kotto. But the true find I got out of this hunt was "Former Members Of Alfonsin" when I finally played their half of the split I was immediately blown away. So I am doing another double post.


First up is the split that brought me to discover this band in the first place! I did not zip the Former Members of Alfonsin section because the tracks are also on the full length I included. The songs are "Kinetic," "Devil's Vocabulary Test," "Hurricane" & "Magic Marker." Luckily they're even in that order on the full length.

Bread & Circuits sounds a lot like Please Inform or Baader Brains. You can definitely see where they were headed when you listen to it. It is not as sample heavy and holds onto some of the more aggressive tendencies of Swing Kids and Torches To Rome compared to the more tech-y style they adopted for the later bands. The vocals are distinctly Mike Kirsch's. That grating nasally yell of his sounds great surrounded by the heavy walls of guitar that this album has. The impact of "Shameful Library" is one that sticks.


I don't really know what it was about this band that got me immediately interested but within two songs I knew I loved it. I think it's that the guitar is boppy and sometimes approaches pop before stripping down into a flurry of quick hardcore riffs. It's fun like Books Lie or Dag Nasty except it's pissed off, political & straightedge.

Listen Here (Former Members of Alfonsin)
Listen Here (Bread & Circuits)
Download Here