Lifetime "Seven Inches" Ad

It's been a year. I've debated what to do, just leave the blog up so people can download or just walk away. Most things are still functional download wise, though with mediafire, some aren't. Maybe we'll make a switch over, maybe not. But for now, we'll get this going again.

Here's an old Lifetime add for the Seven Inches collection CD.

Enjoy!

It's Been Some Time...

Connor, doing his best Alec McKaye 

... But as it was previously, things are still ticking. Life has been busy, unpredictable, and fun. The blog has suffered, but the little guy you see in the picture takes some priority. However, the blog will continue and new posts will emerge. Hopefully as soon as the next few days. Thanks to everyone this far- I appreciate the downloads, sharing, commenting, and emailing me, even if just to chat a bit. As always, if you want to possibly see your band/music here, email me. If you see something that is yours/you've been a part of and you do not want it here, email me and I will take it down. Im not doing this to take money from anyone, and I am making no money from this. It's all free, save for my time and effort- and if you look around, you will notice the posts have more than their bit of info. This isn't a massive download site looking to undermine music for free.

 Enjoy!

the Assistant - Both LPs, EP, and Splits

The Assistant were a hardcore punk band from New Jersey. They played loud, fast, heavy music with lots of screaming. They also played catchy and poppy songs with slightly off key singing. Songs with programming, keyboards, and samples- Yeah, that too. They could also jam for 5 minutes without saying a word. I try not to get to tied up in the genre(s) slapped on a band, outside of the broader things like Hardcore, Punk, Ska, Rock, Emo, Metal, etc.; I know that the Assistant was a Screamo band, but that just sounds so narrow, so I guess I will get caught up in it this one time, which is why I called them a Hardcore Punk band at the onset of this post. I think that does them the most justice, and at least for me, more fairly says what they were and the depth of what they meant to me.

The last song that the Assistant released, "I Have A Name", from the split with Takaru & This Ship Will Sink, states that the Assistant, as a band, was about standing up for what you believe in. To me, that speaks far more to what this band meant to me (and many others). They covered topics that encompass just about every aspect of human emotion, self-reflection, and dealing with life itself, as a whole. From self-abuse to the impacts of illicit drugs (and discussion of the lengths that governments have been willing to go to in order to test out new drugs on the poor and the resulting impacts), sexual abuse, consumer culture, the consequences of convenience, the com-modification of independent and thought provoking music sounds/scenes, and much more. All of it with thought and explanation - an insight into the words and thoughts that are just as heavy (if not more so) than the music they are playing. Multiple members singing and writing lyrics gives a little something extra, not that the band wouldn't have been great with just Leigh singing.

I will leave it at that- as i've said before here, some times less is more. The Assistant, for me, is a band that ranks up there with Battery, Hot Water Music, the Cable Car Theory, By The Grace of God, and other incredible bands that seemed to fuse themselves into the music they played, and shared words that were bits and pieces of themselves and of myself too. That's not said for a dramatic flair; this music of hardcore and punk ; through many bands and people; has indelibly made an impact on nearly every aspect of my life in some way.

Members have been in a laundry list of other bands, especially guitarist/vocalist, Tom. Check each and every one of them out.

Sadly, it seems, everything the band has done has gone out of print. So, in two downloads, you have the Self-Titled LP, In the Year of the Dawg Tour EP, We'll Make the Roads By Walking LP, the aforementioned 3-way Split, Split with Red Scarlet Letter, and a song that seems to come from an internet created Comp (an alternate version of the song "I Have A Name" from a comp called Screamo Room Presents...) ***In the Year of the Dawg actually features two tracks that ended up on the second lp, they are identical, but included for completions sake***

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: The Assistant "Self-Titled LP & In The Year of the Dawg"

DOWNLOAD: The Assistant "We'll Make the Roads LP, Splits, & Comp Track"

Lay It On The Line - UK Hardcore - 4-Song EP

Lay It On the Line are a hardcore band from South London, England. Described as melodic hardcore, don't stop reading if you're immediately getting images of bands like Final Fight (who are great), Lay It On The Line is much more a hardcore band that has some melodic elements to a more traditional angry and riff filled attack.

The band formed in January of 2012 and recorded a demo shortly after, followed in May with this 4-song EP, "A Lesson In Personal Finance". Each song checks in under three minutes (with Pay Your Rent, Boy coming in under a minute) and builds a good pace without any songs sounding drawn out or forced. With some well placed slightly chugging riffs that definitely draw from heavier hardcore bands and little leads to add flavor and drums and bass that balance and fill out the sound, the music is very strong, especially for a band only roughly 5 months old at the time of recording. Something about the vocals helps to put the band over the top for me, from good sounding band with potential, to new band I am excited to hear more from. While none of it is re-inventing the wheel kind of stuff, it's a fresh sounding EP and the vocals have an almost spacey kind of sound at times to their gruff scream. Where many similarly sounding vocalists would likely opt for a more guttural sound, the vocals here blend into the mix somewhat, and work with the music instead of above or below it.

All in all, a great 4 song ep.

Check their Tumblr and Bandcamp for updates, more music (inc. their demo), and up coming shows. As always, be on the look out for new bands even more than the magical old records. Support the here and now, now.

DOWNLOAD: Lay It On The Line - "A Lesson In Personal Finance" EP

Descender - And So We Marched EP

Descender hail from the left coast- Brooklyn, New York to be specific. Not exactly the area I think of when bringing to mind heavy, driving, and a bit rhythmic hardcore/post-hardcore (I'm also not mr. super current-affairs these days).

While I could sit and rattle of bands that were most likely an influence on this band (and it would be a damn fine list of bands, you can be sure of that), it's better to just get to it:

Descender bring a sound of heavy music that can appeal to anyone in the realms of loud music- it can collapse on you like a pile of shifting bricks just as fast as the drums can shift into a galloping beat that gives way to a well placed chopping and chugging riff.

Surely, Descender owes plenty to heavy post-hardcore stalwarts of the last 5-8 years, but it's clear they draw on many other influences in the punk/hardcore/indie world- taking cues from plenty of bands in the 80's and 90's and creating a tightly put together EP of 4 songs in 16 minutes. And I think that's where the songs begin to set themselves apart from many of the other newer bands in the pack- their length. While the songs have plenty of the things that lend themselves to thought evoking, emotion provoking music for late nights or long drives, they still reign in each track in under 5 minutes (with two at the 3 1/2 minute mark) without giving up anything. The ringing notes, slowing drums, build ups and explosions- its all still here.

The other thing that really sets this record apart for me is the vocals. I really like them. Lots of bands have chosen to go the instrumental route, and I dig that a lot. But, its always nice to see someone incorporate vocals and do it well. None of the vocals feel forced or out of place, and the sound works just right... screamed and a bit back in the mix to have an almost faint sound at times, the vocals blend and add, rather than demand notice. Hardcore and Punk colliding with all the right touches of Metal mixing in.

I lied, I will say one thing band specific... this brings to mind, at times, how I felt listening to the Restrained/the Separation split 12inch. Heavy, driving, and deliberate in its sound- but not so much so that it only appealed to a certain set of heavy music listeners.

Give the record a spin, its 16 minutes you will listen to over and over again.

Big thanks to George from Descender for submitting this-

DOWNLOAD: Descender "And So We Marched"

Descender on Facebook

Glory Kid Records Giveaway Contest at Toxicbreed's Funhouse

Time For Change (2008)

   

Glory Kid Ltd. and Toxicbreed's Funhouse have teamed up for a great giveaway of a ton of Glory Kid releases.

All you need to do is head on over to the Toxicbreed Facebook page
and post how the name for the label came about. Yep. That easy
so don't be a bunch of lazies.

Toxicbreed's Funhouse: Glory Kid Ltd. Giveaway
Toxicbreed's Funhouse: Glory Kid Ltd. Giveaway
Toxicbreed's Funhouse: Glory Kid Ltd. Giveaway


Also, while you're there you can link to the TF blog and stream the Burn Your Life Down EP (out now on tape and soon to be released on vinyl). Don't sleep, unless of course you're a commercial driver and need to sleep before working. Then please, sleep. Then go to Toxicbreed.

Parades End - "Self-Titled" 7inch

Alright, time to bounce back. Been down and not posting for a few months. Moved into our first house and dealing with an infant who is rolling over and learning to crawl and stand almost simultaneously has proven to be the exciting challenged that it promised to be. But now that things have settled some and the office/record room has come together for the most part, lets get back to this.

Parades End were one of the first, if not the very first, band that I ever heard that you could remotely call Screamo (by 90's emo/punk standards). I had no idea of it when I heard them in the mid/late 90's. I was still very much a hardcore/punk kid who knew emo as it related to the DC/Dischord universe.

I was fortunate enough to catch Parades End on local 88.7 KSPC as they played a live 5-song set. I was doubly fortunate enough to be recording the radio that night. It wouldn't be until years later that a good friend would share with me the Assistant which then led to things like you&i, saetia, jeremin, neil perry, and on and on down that twisted genere muddled list of hardcore punk music. Unfortunately, it would still be more time after that before I was able to run down a copy of this 7inch. Clearly I did though, and even was able to get a copy of their split 7inch. Both 7inches and the live radio set were posted on the old What We Want Blog, though the rip here is just the 7inch, and is a newer rip done with the new laptop. It may only be marginally better, but its not quite as hot (loud) of a rip as the previous one, so it balances out a bit better on all playing platforms.

Enough mumbling... Parades End, as mentioned, certainly fell into the Emo/Punk/Screamo realm of music going on at the mid/end of the 90's. Spoken/Screamed vocals, driving guitars, drums that while not simplistic, didn't rely heavily on lots of toms and double bass, and enough emotion that you could see this four piece bouncing around the stage trading vocals between guitarists. Though, it isn't without mentioning that they did have at least one song on the Indecision Records comp Guilty By Association, which featured the band as a 5 piece with a singular singer. Not a bad track itself, but a fair bit different.

In the end, the band recorded this 4-song 7inch, 2 tracks on their split 7inch, the aforementioned comp track, the radio set, and a full length that was purported to have been recorded over with a lot of nonsense and noise since the band was splitting up. My understanding is that some of that became the track "the Book of Jae" which was on another comp. Members were in and have since been in quite a few bands, some you've even heard. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD: Parades End - 4 song 7inch