V/A - Food Not Bombs Compilation LP

This is one of several Food Not Bombs benefit records that appeared during the 90s, and it was released on Anima Records, a small Canadian punk label based just outside of Toronto, Ontario. Anima put out stuff by notable bands like Jonah, Bev Clone, Drift and the under-appreciated French band Anomie*, with the latter two bands appearing on this comp.

Food Not Bombs, for those who may not be familiar with the organization, is an all volunteer-run group devoted to developing positive personal, political, and economic alternatives to the way food is handled and, at times, used as a weapon or a commodity against people who struggle to feed themselves. FNB essentially collects and serves mostly vegan food items to homeless or sick people. The gathered fare is donated to FNB members predominantly  by co-ops, health food stores, or just all around nice folks who actually care about the suffering of complete strangers and want to make a difference, no matter how small. The collective exists as a direct protest to war and avoidable human adversity, putting people first before profit, which is clearly not how the military-industrial complex that Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the world about in the early 60s operates. You can learn more about Food Not Bombs here.

The record itself a nice mixture of bands that play different styles of punk, and this variety is probably it's greatest visible feature. I bought it not long after it came out from the fantastic and long gone Vacuum Distro, from the San Francisco area. I also think it's pretty great when bands have more than one song on various artist releases, as is the case with this LP. The music ranges from fast, crust-friendly hardcore (Swallowing Shit & Palatka) to classic emotive stuff (Constatine Sankathi) to dirty, messy Canadian greatness with the right amount of bass in the mix (Drift), as well as a band that party-dude Andrew W.K. played in (Michigan's Kathode, pre-Nema). It's a pretty good cross section of what was going on in hardcore throughout the later half of the 90s, which was plenty of diversity. I've already mentioned Anomie, who are pretty easily my favorite band here. Been jockin' them for ever. Something I've never loved, or understood at all, is the cover "art". What the fuck is happening, exactly? Is that supposed a d.i.y. rendition of the famously faked picture of the Loch Ness Monster? Perhaps it is a sock puppet? Some type of alien spacecraft? An artfully drawn chimney? My money's on Nessie, yo.

As with most compilations that were released during this era of hc history that were centered around a specific cause, there's tons to read in the liner notes. It's like you got a free bonus zine along with your mail order, and it made your day when it showed up in your mailbox. Disclaimer: some of these pics turned out better than others, but after trying to get a good shot of the Inso Grey and Holocron inserts for over twenty minutes, I finally threw my hands up in the air, briefly admired my ceiling fan and said "Fuck it Nessie, I'm done".

You'll have to deal with it, dear reader.
This is Anima Records #3, and it was released in 1997.

* Remember how fucking awesome of a drummer Sammy Siegler was, especially considering he was in the neighborhood of 13 years old when he was playing on those classic edge records? Well, the drummer for the female-fronted frenchies Anomie was the equivalent of Sammy, except he was from Europe, played in a DOPE AS FUCK screamy emo band not many people listen to anymore, and was named Remi Chaumet.

- seriously, that cover art -

Tracklist:
1) Anomie - "Alienation"
2) Anomie - "Remise En Cause Revolution Dilemme"
3) Palatka - "The Bus Ride"
4) Palatka - "Washington Park"
5) Palatka - "The Truth About San Diego"
6) Kathode - "Falling Down"
7) Inso Grey - "Lying Vines"
8) Inso Grey - "BBQ"
9) Holocron - "To Be Part Of A Group"
10) Sixpense - "Only The Faces Have Changed"
11) Sixpense - "Adapt"
12) Swallowing Shit - "I May Be PC, But You're A Fucking Poseur"
13) Swallowing Shit - "Welcome To Hell"
14) Swallowing Shit - "I Heard Songs About Animal Rights Aren't Cool Anymore"
15) Constatine Sankathi - "In December"
16) Drift - "Words That Burn My Ears"

V/A - "Is the Human Heart So Selfish? A Benefit for Food Not Bombs" compilation cd

Pretty rad late-90s comp from an Athens, Georgia (I lived there from 2004-2010, nice little southern college town) label called 893. There are some notable bands on here and I haven't seen very much about this record on the internet, so here you go. The booklet that comes with this has a good layout going on; band pics, info on FNB and kids living in poverty, some personal writings (what 90s compilation would be complete without some of those?) and a fucking Curtis cartoon, which is something I had completely forgotten about.

This compilation features bangers by Atlanta's Quadiliacha and Aslund Constant, an almost ten minute jam by Cerberus Shoal, and what is arguably Griver's best song (fyi - the Griver / The Exploder split lp is really, really tight). The Twenty Seven Hours song "Dear You" also smokes, and they are probably known best for doing a split with Canada's Republic Of Freedom Fighters.

-here-

Tracklist
1) Orlock "Dressed up"
2) The Mike Douglas "Untitled"
3) Aslund Constant "Number Six"
4) Party Of Helicopters "There's A Bomb In My Food"
5) The Perpetual Sciamachy Theorem "Acquiring the Asymmetric Ear"
6) Griver "Postmarked Division"
7) Twenty Seven Hours "Dear You"
8) Wheeljack "Baton"
9) Cerberus Shoal "Broken Springs Spring Forth From Broken Clocks"
10) Blue Stockings "Bubble People"
11) Quadiliacha "What's Wrong With This Picture?"
12) The Forty Two "Sounds Age"
13) Bughummer "Bird Dog"
14) Full Scale Replicas "Raised"
15) Flack Scramp Tramauntra "Dueling"
16) Titus "The What Little Boys Are Made Of Trilogy"