Sog - "Love / I Giganti Del"

"Love / I Giganti Del" (which may or may not be translated in English as "Love / Giants") is a relatively obscure full length from the emotive hardcore band Sog, which was formed way back in 1993 in Stuttgart, a city located in southwestern Germany. It was the first non-demo release from this four-piece, and I have absolutely zero recollection of how this album found its way into my possession. My best guess is that the description of this LP sounded interesting to me while perusing a Very Distro catalog many moons ago, so I took a chance and bought it. If that wasn't the case, then I haven't a clue.

So, what does Sog sound like? Well, that question does not have a straightforward answer. I guess in 2017 they would be awarded a post-hardcore classification, but back when this thing came out that specific style of hc was basically associated with one band, and one band only: Quicksand. Alas, Sog shares nothing in common with that sound, so that description didn't really stick. What the fuck was I talking about again? Yes, yes...Sog.

These seven songs, which clock in at around 40 minutes, cover a lot of bases as far as style goes. I hear something akin to a combination of fellow Germans Kurt with a touch of demo-era Off Minor and a pinch of Raein. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Add to that some busy bass lines, a healthy dose of creative weirdness in song structure (especially during transitions), jarring parts that come from out of nowhere and don't seem to fit in at first but eventually make sense (?), and samples of birds singing and fake hand claps.

This was clearly crafted by musicians who knew what they were doing and weren't afraid to experiment with the mid-paced hardcore they were constructing. The recording quality is better-than-average, as is the layout of this record; a mint green gatefold jacket and some of the best individual band member pictures I may have ever seen.

These songs were recorded in September 1996 by Beni Fleisch I, and this was released in late 1996 by Bremen, Germany's Love Records. There were 1000 copies pressed.

Tracklist:
1) Geschenk    (Present)
2) Klartext    (Clear text)
3) Küss Mich    (Kiss Me)
4) Krebsfrüherkennungsuntersuchung    (Cancer screening) *
5) Tiefe    (Depth)
6) 12 Uhr Nachts (Klacker, Klacker)    (12 o'clock At Night Klacker, Klacker)
7) Gedankengebäude    (Thought building)


- *holy shit, that's 31 letters -

King Slender - self-titled ep

Hey all. I just wanted to make a quick post here, and it's in regards to a new band I play drums and do vocals in. We're called King Slender, and we play a style of hardcore akin to loads of 90's emo hardcore bands you may already be familiar with.

Wisconsin's Parking Lot Records has just released a three song cassette for us, and we will be recording five new songs in April with Steve Roche (ex-Off Minor, Saetia, Books Lie, etc.) at his Permanent Hearing Damage studio here in Philadelphia. We're just starting out as a band, and we played our first show in December with more coming up in the very near future.

Here is a link to our bandcamp page (the three songs there are available for a free aka 'pay-what-you-want' download). We also have shirts available for any interested parties.

Finally, if you like what you hear and you're on f/b, feel free to toss our page a like.

Thanks, and I certainly hope everyone is doing well.

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 -