Joshua cd

Time for some real talk, dawg. Let's be honest with ourselves; not every single record released by a label, no matter how great you think said label may be, is going to be a clear-cut winner. Furthermore, the whole reason I started doing this blog is to help expose folks to music that was (for the most part) released long ago that he or she may not have been exposed to until reading about it here. That being said, I don't do these posts for me, I do them for the kids, people like you! I'm not going to be crazy about all of the shit that appears here within the digital pages of Creation Of Minerals. This, my friends, is an example of one of those records.

Upon shitting my pants after purchasing two early Immigrant Sun releases; the Hourglass and Morning Again eps, I almost immediately mail-ordered this Joshua cdep as well as the first Immigrant Sun Records offering, the Sarin 7". Much to my chagrin, I wasn't really into either of these releases, and I wanted to be. The stuff Joshua was doing here reminds me not only of that Sarin record, but also the Massachusetts band Six Going On Seven, and maybe the calmer, quiter stuff from Staten Island's The Cable Car Theory, a band this label would eventually release a record for. Definitely some emopop stuff going on here, but I guess I'd just rather listen to Dahlia Seed, Samuel or, well, Six Going On Seven. I cannot say that this is a bad record, 'cause it's not; the recording is good enough, the layout is fucking sweet, there are lots of "rocking" elements to the music, but overall I just could not get into it. I think the vocals might be a bit too sing-songy for me (haha, what the fuck?). Yup, it's the vocals. I mean, the dude can sing, but...I dunno, man. You be the judge.

Hey, just 'cause I'm not into this shit doesn't mean you won't be, right? So, check out some mid-90's college rock with some "sing-songy" sweetly sung vocals from the shores of the Hudson River in Orange County, New York. The first four songs were recorded for this release at Sanctuary Studio, and the last two songs included on this disc were taken from the band's "Today We Flew Our Balloons" demo tape.

This cd is Immigrant Sun Records, I'm sorry, I mean Kill-003 and was released in 1996.

Tracklist:
1) Lover's Quarrel
2) Forever
3) Disassociation
4) Kickstand
5) Impossible
6) Safe

- Orange County, NY emocore -

Chelsea's Gone Under cdep

Three songs (well, two plus an "intro" consisting of just under thirty seconds of orchestra music) made up of moody and abstract weirdness from members of Mainspring, Empathy and Manetheren, and a future member of Thoughts Of Ionesco / Triptych, Anchorage and Leaving Rouge. This might be a challenging listen for a lot of folks, but there are pretty interesting parts sprinkled throughout the two actual jams on this disc. The song titles are pretty self-explanatory; the first is an orchestra music intro, the second has lots of piano playing going on, and the third and final song is the grindy one with loads of feedback, more piano and a recorder (probably). This was released in 1995 by Nate Miller, who played drums on this here ep and bass in Empathy, on his Cascade Recordings / Cascade Records, and was sad labels first output. It's a little bit noisy, a little bit screamy, sometimes harsh and a bit different from what you might have expected it to sound like given the folks who did this. I'm going to guess that a good bit of improvisation happened during the recording of this ep.

Regardless, hats off to a bunch of hardcore kids who did something different and just enjoyed themselves. These recordings took place in May of 1995 with Tim Pak at Woodshed Studio in Oak Park, Meeeshigan, and is Cascade Recordings #1.

Smoke some drugs if that's your thing, and get down.

Tracklist:

1) Orchestra

2) Piano

3) Grind

-get warped-

V/A - "Ourselves" compilation cd

The Omega, the same New York City label that spawned upon the world The Last Crime record (which, uh, fucking rules...see the accompanying insert pic) released this compilation of live stuff in mid-1997. Coalesce, Endeavor, Still I Rise, Disembodied, Converge, Fall Silent and Coercion all appear on this disc, which features a pretty nice recording quality taken from various live shows that occurred in '96 and '97 at various venues across the country. Includes a nice little insert with contact info for the bands, dates and locations of the recordings, a written piece by Ian Richer (who ran The Omega) revealing the reasons why he decided to release this comp, numerous Dead Poets Society samples (I've still never seen it), and a picture of a gentleman who I'm assuming goes by the name of Gordon appears on the cover.

Seventy minutes of live and mostly metallic hardcore from bands that were active two decades ago?

You're welcome.

Tracklist:
1) --
2) Endeavor - "Kill Traitors"
3) Endeavor - "Luke Perry & The Sweat Lodge"
4) Endeavor - "Bleed Them Dry"
5) Endeavor - "More Milk, Please"
6) --
7) Coercion - "Bird Of Prey"
8) Coercion - "The Infection"
9) Coercion -"Armistice"
10) --
11) Converge - "Forsaken"
12) Converge - "Farewell Note To This City"
13) Converge - "Color Me Blood Red"
14) --
15) Fall Silent - "Unnecessary Decoration"
16) Fall Silent - "Broke"
17) --
18) Coalesce - "Cut To Length"
19) Coalesce - "A Safe Place"
20) Coalesce - "Gram Of Salt"
21) Coalesce - "Blend As Well"
22) --
23) Disembodied - "Expressionless"
24) Disembodied - "Epilogue" (named on the recording as "Skeleton Eyes" by the band)
25) Disembodied - "Eulogy"
26) --
27) Still I Rise - "Dead Ends"
28) Still I Rise - "Happy Endings"
29) --

-i've let myself down again-

Alison Ranger - self titled cd

If you aren't familiar with the excellent Alison Ranger, I should refer you to their Last fm page for all of the JUICY DEETS, as what's written there is better than anything I could provide for you, my dear reader;

"Alison Ranger formed in August, 1999 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Despite claiming West Chester as a home town, Alison Ranger's members lived in such disparate states as Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. For the next five years, after many shows, two tours, some line-up switches, and a few collections of recorded material, the band broke up in August, 2004."


On this self-titled, self-released debut, Alison Ranger deliver up some inspired, busy, and emotive hardcore punk with tight drumming, vocals that alternated between high pitched screaming and the "yelled" variety, and (most notably) keyboards by someone who sure as shit knew how to play them. True, the keys aren't going to be for everyone, but if you're open minded enough to dig on some pretty original and energetic hc and, say, Bruce fuckin' Hornsby...well then I've got some shit you should hear.

My first and only encounter with these dudes occurred in January of 2001, when bass player Sandro Braidotti booked a show for one of my old bands at the completely awesome Wild Child Cafe in Wilmington, Delaware*. Not only was Sandro an all around nice guy, but his band rocked my balls off when we played with them that night. For me, that was one of the more memorable shows I ever played with that band, and I definitely consider myself lucky to have crossed paths with Alison Ranger. We had some serious van trouble on the way down to Wilmington and arrived stressed the fuck out (because that show was the first of three in a weekend road trip). However, once we got there, the friendliness of the folks in this band really helped me to settle down and quickly brought me back into a good mood.

These six jams were recorded at the prolific Clay Creek Studios with Nick Rotundo on August 8th and 9th, 2000. Peep it, 'cause it is indeed quite good. Alison Ranger to this day remain the only hardcore band from West Chester, Pennsylvania I've ever heard.

* A quick search through a box in my basement didn't turn up the flyer I still have for this show, but it's definitely down there somewhere.

Tracklist:
1) Wing Commander
2) Soap Factory
3) Who Has The Six-Top?
4) Pralines And Dick
5) Painter's Crossing In The Time Of Lope de Vega
6) Double-Blind

- choose where your shadow is cast -

V/A - "How To Be A Hero" compilation cd

"How To Be A Hero" was the introductory release from Prizefight Records, an obscure label located on the outskirts of Saint Louis, Missouri which existed briefly during the tail end of the 90's and was operated by a really nice guy named Neil Simpson. This compilation was a benefit for Habitat For Humanity, and featured a pretty diversified lineup of bands, something that I've always appreciated with comps where this is the case. Styles included on "How To Be A Hero" range from melancholic instrumental pieces (Indiana's Ativin, who released a bunch of stuff on Secretly Canadian), midwestern-ish post-rock-tinged stuff (Nova Scotia), screamo (Delaware heroes Joshua Fit For Battle and Missouri locals Johnny Angel), interestingly weirdo indie rock (Paper Castles), really good indie rock (Cursive), indie rock featuring some off-key vocals in the chorus (Civic), yet another band named after a character from an outstanding, classic NES video game^ (Piston Honda) and more.

There are sixteen songs on here, so more than likely if you've got at least a passing interest in underground shit and have a somewhat decent taste in music, there has to be something here you'd be interested in hearing*. The manila envelope packaging is simple yet effective, and in case you can't read the text on the cover, it says "and then you thought you had no friends". My copy included an insert advertising two releases by a couple of bands that appear on this comp, Park and Civic. My apologies for the less-than-stellar liner notes picture in today's post, but it's the best I was able to do because I stink.

At the end of the day, this is an enjoyable disc which, when released during the summer of '99, was connected to a good cause. Prizefight Records #1.

* It is probably worth the download for The Firebird Suite's song alone, y'all.
^ I play in such a band.

Tracklist:
1) The Firebird Suite - "The Pleasant Return Of Kerrazo"
2) 21 Union Square - "It Couldn't Be Me"
3) Park - "The Pandorian Adventures Of Dan Rosenthal"
4) Quell - "Aftermath"
5) Cursive - "After The Movies"
6) Johnny Angel - "Sweet Shop Savvy"
7) Civic - "Pincushion Flower"
8) Nova Scotia - "Achilles Heel"
9) 47 Ronin - "Something To Be Desired"
10) Baxter - "These Times"
11) Piston Honda - "For All The Bryn-Mawr Girls"
12) Paper Castles - "Miss The Sunset Rising"
13) Joshua Fit For Battle - "Song Three"
14) Penfold - "Chaper Two"
15) Joel Madigan - "Driven Drove Drought"
16) Ativin - "My Eyes Of Yours"

- right here -