GG Allin - Always Was, Is & Always Shall Be (1980)

*First pressing. 

Contains 11 tracks total.

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore Punk

Label Number: 9-66543-2

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1980-1995 Holycon Records
AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
G.G. Allin's debut album is a raging, disturbingly sincere testament to misogyny; he puts on a virtual clinic demonstrating the word's definition. Allin views women as mindless instruments of gratification with irritating desires like interaction. (In "Automatic," he sings "Don't go playing with me emotionally/Or I will make you bleed internally"). His gender politics are discussed on nearly every track, which makes the mediocre girl group-style backing vocals on "Cheri Love Affair" seem all the more out of place. Allin is backed by a competent band playing Stooges-style riffs, and he himself is sometimes tuneful; this is enough to make the songs some of his best musical material. Amazingly enough, the violent hatred, sexual and psychological degradation, and staggering stupidity only hint at the heights (or depths) Allin would reach later.

tags: gg allin, always was is and always will be, 1980, flac,

More Info

GG Allin & The Scumfucs - E.M.F. (1984)

*First pressing. 

Contains 3 bonus tracks. 

14 tracks total.

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore Punk

Label Number: BB106

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1984-1996 Black & Blue Records
Review by Revolvy.com
The second full-length studio album by controversial American punk rock musician GG Allin, recorded and released in 1984 on Blood Records. Although side one, the first five tracks, were recorded and released initially in 1983 as a single. This album, played with the backing band The Scumfucs, marks the era where his singing voice had not yet began to deteriorate from a high-pitched sneer into a husky growl, yet his lyrics began to include extreme sociopathic themes and shock value.

The original pressings had the record in a plain paper sleeve with similar black & white xeroxed cover art glued to it, the front of which had what GG claimed was an individually self-traced outline of Allin's erect penis on the cover. Allin claimed in a video interview around this time (for his first home video release, Scumfuc Alley Trash, shot by Black & Blue Records co-owner Peter Yarmouth) that when he was handdrawing each front cover of this pressing, he had his then-girlfriend act as a fluffer to keep his penis erect for the drawings.
The subsequent re-release in 1989 by Black & Blue Records retitles the album, for front cover purposes, E.M.F., and does not mention The Scumfucs on the album cover (although they are clearly credited on the record label), nor does it list the song titles on the cover; the Black & Blue edition also adds 3 studio recordings "I'm Gonna Rape You", "I Wanna Fuck Your Brains Out" and "Teachers Pet" from a 1985 EP. Both versions contained Live at the A7 Club track which was from an April 1983 performance by GG and the Jabbers to the end of side two of the album.
None of the members of The Scumfucs are individually identified on the album cover, nor are the Jabbers mentioned in the credits in conjunction with the live tracks.
The "Dick Urine" production credit on the album was alleged to be one Richard Yorun, an up-and-coming recording engineer and producer that had been given the Dick Urine pseudonym by Allin, and who had reportedly died in a motorcycle accident in Sweden while he was attempting to set up Black & Blue Records. In reality, Richard Yorun never existed: the name, originally a GG Allin joke credit printed on some early cassette self-releases, is actually a collective pseudonym for Allin and Black & Blue Records owner Peter Yarmouth. It is believed that the title Eat My Fuc was inspired by a scene in the 1981 punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization where bassist Derf Scratch of the band Fear shouts "eat my fuck asshole" at a member of the audience.

tags: gg allin, and the scumfucs, emf, eat my fuc, 1984, flac,

More Info

GG Allin & The Holy Men - You Give Love a Bad Name (1987)

*First pressing. 

Contains 7 bonus tracks. 

17 tracks total.

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore Punk

Label Number: AWARE 4CD

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1987-1991 Awareness Records
AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
"I'm a Rapest," declares G.G. Allin on You Give Love a Bad Name, and the supposed provocation and idiotic brutishness in that misspelled song title perfectly sums up not only the album, but most of his subsequent output. No longer content to simply outrage all within earshot, Allin seized upon the notion that obscenity for its own sake was in fact politically significant art, a way for him to become a spokesman for the dirty, oppressed dregs of society. This gross misconception led Allin to pursue the most repulsive topics he could think of -- blasphemy ("Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt"), self-mutilation ("Castration Crufixtion" [sic]), sexual perversion ("Teenage Twats"), scatology ("Feces and Blood"), violence ("Watch Me Kill the Boston Girl"), and so on -- with a mentally unstable fervor that might have been frightening, had his own stupidity and utter lack of talent not rendered the execution so pathetically impotent. Appropriately enough, the disc concludes with an "Interview From Prison."

tags: gg allin, and the holy men, holymen, you give love a bad name, 1987, flac,

More Info

GG Allin & The Murder Junkies - Brutality & Bloodshed For All (1993)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore Punk

Label Number: ALIVE001CD

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1993 Alive Records
AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
The last album before Allin's death is his last opus of stale, uninspired punk riffs, egomania, violence, depravity, and universal hatred. All of the lyrics were written during his term in Jackson State Prison. The production is actually somewhat clear, but this unfortunately makes him sound like a deranged Muppet on many tracks. Still, this is a must for fans, as the package includes remembrances, copies of his birth and death certificates, and a photo of the Murder Junkies posing around Allin's open coffin.

tags: gg allin, and the murder junkies, brutality and bloodshed for all, 1993, flac,

More Info

Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk (1970)

*This is an unofficial pressing 

released in 1994 by Germanofon. 

Contains 4 tracks total.

Country: Germany
Language: German (Deutsch)
Genre: Electronic, Krautrock

Label Number: 941001
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1970-1994 Germanofon
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
What might have been simply seen as an agreeable enough debut album has since become something of a notorious legend because Kraftwerk, or more accurately the core Hütter/Schneider duo at the heart of the band, simply refuses to acknowledge its existence any more. What's clearly missing from Kraftwerk is the predominance of clipped keyboard melodies that later versions of the band would make their own. Instead, Kraftwerk is an exploratory art rock album with psych roots first and foremost, with Conny Plank's brilliant co-production and engineering skills as important as the band performances. Still, Hütter and Schneider play organ and "electric percussion" -- Hütter's work on the former can especially be appreciated with the extended opening drone moan of the all-over-the-place "Stratovarius" combined with Schneider's eerie violin work. But it's a different kind of combination and exploration, with the key pop sugar (and vocal work) of later years absent in favor of sudden jump cuts of musique concrète noise and circular jamming as prone to sprawl as it is to tight focus.

tags: kraftwerk, kraftwerk 1, kraftwerk album, 1970, flac,

More Info

Kraftwerk - Kraftwerk 2 (1972)

*This is an unofficial pressing 

released in 1994 by Germanofon. 

Contains 6 tracks total.

Country: Germany
Language: German (Deutsch)
Genre: Electronic, Krautrock

Label Number: 941002
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1972-1994 Germanofon
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
Like its predecessor (similarly designed right down to the traffic cone cover, though green instead of red), Kraftwerk 2 has never been properly re-released, giving it the same lost-classic aura as the first album, or at least lost, period. Thankfully, bootleg reissues in 1993 restored it to wider public listening; even more so than Kraftwerk 1, its lack of official reappearance is a mystery, in that the band is clearly well on its way to the later Kraftwerk sound of fame. Stripped down to the Hütter/Schneider duo for this release, and again working with Conrad Plank as coproducer and engineer (this album alone demonstrates his ability to create performances combining technological precision and warmth), Kraftwerk here start exploring the possibilities of keyboards and electronic percussion in detail. Given that the band's drummers were gone, such a shift was already in the wind, but it's the enthusiastic grappling with drum machines and their possibilities that makes Kraftwerk 2 noteworthy. The nearly side-long effort "KlingKlang," which would later give the name to the band's studio and which predicts later lengthy efforts like "Autobahn," shows how the duo is still working toward its future styles. Steady beats are sometimes sped up and slowed down; more freeform performances on flute, violin, and keyboard remain present (rather than honing in on a core melody); and again, no vocals yet grace the recordings. On the second side, the more rock-oriented origins of the group still cling on, mostly without any percussion whatsoever: the distorted solo guitar start of "Strom," the guitar/bass duets of "Spule 4" (queasy) and "Wellenlänge" (quite beautiful and very indicative of many '90s space rock efforts). Ultimately as with Kraftwerk 1, Kraftwerk 2 isn't the "classic" sound of the band, but it's astonishingly worthy on its own, well worth seeking out.

tags: kraftwerk, kraftwerk 2, 1972, flac,

More Info

Kraftwerk - Ralf & Florian (1973)

*This is an unofficial pressing

 released in 1994 Germanofon. 

Contains 6 tracks total.

Country: Germany
Language: German (Deutsch)
Genre: Electronic, Krautrock

Label Number: 941023
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1973-1994 Germanofon
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
Continuing to work with Conny Plank, who once again provides a compelling job as producer and engineer, Kraftwerk went right ahead and named their new album after their two remaining members -- an understandable enough move. Like the first two albums, Ralf and Florian still has not seen official re-release, for all that one can practically taste Kraftwerk's leap into the beyond on it. Given that this was the last album before the most famous lineup was formed and Autobahn was released, it's appropriate to listen to Ralf and Florian as a harbinger for the future, though perhaps all too easy. Take it on its own terms -- a further investigation of electronic possibilities in a more open-ended, less constantly structured fashion than would be the case later -- and Ralf and Florian becomes most enjoyable. "Kristallo" certainly shows how Kraftwerk was right on the verge -- various sequencer-driven rhythms and pulses provide the bed for what sounds like a free-flowing harpsichord solo or its near equivalent. "Tanzmusik," meanwhile, captures the sheer sense of beauty often present in the band's glory days, complete with what sounds like celebratory handclaps and bells, though crucially lacking the elegant melancholy that gave later songs total heft. "Tongebirge" is another one of the tracks that shows Kraftwerk right on the cusp of future changes, Schneider's swirling, lovely flute performance further treated with reverb and flange, while Hütter adds some immediately familiar (from later albums) synth tones. There's still no core rhythm or melody, though, the immediate distinction between this era of the band and the later one. Parts of the lovely, piano/flute-led "Heimatklänge," meanwhile, suggest some of David Sylvian's early instrumental solo work in its sweet appeal. Another hint of the future appears with the final song, thanks to the electronically distorted opening vocals chanting the title of "Ananas Symphonie." The inclusion of what sounds like steel guitar and banjo at the end is something else again

tags: kraftwerk, ralf and florian, 1973, flac,

More Info

Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977)

*Reissued by Capitol Records with an unknown date. 

This is a repress of the original 1977 U.S. LP 

pressing with vocals in English. 

Contains 7 tracks total.

Country: Germany
Language: English
Genre: Synth Pop, Electronic

Label Number: CDP-546473
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1977 Capitol Records
AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
Although Autobahn was a left-field masterpiece, Trans-Europe Express is often cited as perhaps the archetypal (and most accessible) Kraftwerk album. Melodic themes are repeated often and occasionally interwoven over deliberate, chugging beats, sometimes with manipulated vocals; the effect is mechanical yet hypnotic. Thematically, the record feels like parts of two different concept albums: one a meditation on the disparities between reality and image ("Hall of Mirrors" and "Showroom Dummies" share recurring images of glass, reflection, illusion, and confused identities, as well as whimsical melodies), and the other the glorification of Europe. There is an impressive composition paying homage to "Franz Schubert," but the real meat of this approach is contained in the opening love letter, "Europe Endless," and the epic title track, which shares themes and lyrics with the following track, "Metal on Metal." The song "Trans-Europe Express" is similar in concept to "Autobahn," as it mimics the swaying motion and insistent drive of a cross-continent train trip. What ultimately holds the album together, though, is the music, which is more consistently memorable even than that on Autobahn. Overall, Trans-Europe Express offers the best blend of minimalism, mechanized rhythms, and crafted, catchy melodies in the group's catalog; henceforth, their music would take on more danceable qualities only hinted at here (although the title cut provided the basis for Afrika Bambaataa's enormously important dancefloor smash "Planet Rock")

tags: kraftwerk, trans europe express, 1977, flac,

More Info

Kraftwerk - Computer World (1981) ☠

*Original U.S. first pressing with vocals in English. 

Contains 7 tracks total.

Country: Germany
Language: English
Genre: Synth Pop

Label Number: 3549-2
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

☠: Selected by Lass

© 1981-1985 Warner Bros. Records
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
The last great Kraftwerk album, Computer World captured the band right at the moment when its pioneering approach fully broke through in popular music, thanks to the rise of synth pop, hip-hop, and electro. As Arthur Baker sampled "Trans-Europe Express" for "Planet Rock" and disciples like Depeche Mode, OMD, and Gary Numan scored major hits, Computer World demonstrated that the old masters still had some last tricks up their collective sleeves. Compared to earlier albums, it fell readily in line with The Man-Machine, eschewing side-long efforts but with even more of an emphasis on shorter tracks mixed with longer but not epic compositions. While the well-established tropes of the band were used again -- electronically treated vocals, some provided by Speak and Spell toys; crisp rhythm blips; basslines and beats; haunting, quirky melodies -- there's a ready liveliness to the songs, like the addictive "Pocket Calculator," with its perfectly deadpan portrait of "the operator" and his favorite tool, and the almost winsome "Computer Love." Cannily, the lyrical focus on newly accessible technology instead of cryptic futurism and vanished pasts matched this new of-the-now stance, and the result was a perfect balance between the new world of the album title and a withdrawn, bemused consideration of that world. The title track itself, with its lists detailing major organizations presumably all wired up, echoes the flow of Trans-Europe Express, serene and pondering. "Pocket Calculator" itself is more outrageously fun, thanks to the technical observation that "by pressing down a special key it plays a little melody." Others would take the band's advances and run with them, but with Computer World Kraftwerk -- over a decade on from their start -- demonstrated how they had stayed not merely relevant, but prescient, when nearly all their contemporaries had long since burned out.

tags: kraftwerk, computer world, 1981, flac,

More Info

Kraftwerk - Electric Cafe (1986)

*Original U.S. first pressing with vocals in English. 

Contains 6 tracks total.

Country: Germany
Language: English
Genre: Synth Pop, Electronic

Label Number: 9 25525-2
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1986 Warner Bros. Records
AllMusic Review by Jason Ankeny
Five long years after Computer World, Kraftwerk finally resurfaced with another LP, Electric Cafe; the rest of the pop music industry having finally caught up with the group's vision, they no longer seem so innovative and inspired -- indeed, the record's brief running time (under 36 minutes) seems indicative of a lack of ideas and new directions, with the spartan opening tracks, "Technopop" and "Musique Non-Stop," virtually interchangeable and the remaining cuts surprisingly mainstream in both form and content.

tags: kraftwerk, electric cafe, 1986, flac,

More Info

Glass Candy - Deep Gems (2008) ☠

*This is a compilation release. 

It contains a collection of singles, 

B-Sides and other rarities.

 Contains 13 tracks total.

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Synth Pop
Label Number: IDIB011CD
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

☠: Selected by Lass

© 2008 Italians Do It Better
Review by Marc Hogan for Pitchfork.com
Glass Candy sure have themselves a nice haunted-disco niche, but you wouldn't accuse of them being original. On 2003 debut album Love, Love, Love, the Portland, Ore. duo of Ida No and Johnny Jewel caught the no-wave wave; back then, they had a drummer named Ginger Peach. Since moving to Italians Do It Better and focusing on dark-alley Italo disco, they've released upwards of three dozen tracks spread out across 2007's occasionally great but overrated B/E/A/T/B/O/X, the same year's excellent After Dark compilation, a couple of killer 12"s, a few 7"s, and now "singles, B-sides, and rarities" disc Deep Gems. After you throw out alternate mixes, godawful skits, and a reworking of their 2005 reworking of "Iko Iko", you're left with at most 22 discrete Glass Candy songs-- only 19 originals. Even then, the quality has been mixed.
Few bands really need a rarities collection. Glass Candy aren't one of those bands. Although Deep Gems maintains the after-hours glide of Jewel's recent work for Glass Candy or labelmates Chromatics, along with No's heavy-lidded Debbie Harry purr, it underscores just how few essential tracks Glass Candy have made so far. A hypnotic melody, murky bassline, and echoey keyboard splash-pulse help make "Animal Imagination" the most interesting "rarity," but the lyrics would embarrass "Celebration of the Lizard"-era Jim Morrison, and it shows up again, in an abbreviated lo-fi version, as "Soft Boundaries". Also pleasant enough is "Geto Boys", the aforementioned "Iko" update, a worthwhile purchase for anyone clamoring to have Glass Candy revisit the Mardi Gras favorite over the Geto Boys' 1991 hip-hop classic "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" (and who hadn't already downloaded the track's widely posted free "MySpace Demo" version).
Belle Epoque cover "Miss Broadway", one of Glass Candy's best tracks alongside the 12"-only "I Always Say Yes" and B/E/A/T/B/O/X's "Rolling Down the Hill", is still decent in an unnecessarily busy, demo-ish "Ms. Broadway (Remix)" form. "Poison or Remedy" is just a cheap-sounding version of B/E/A/T/B/O/X's "Beatific". If you paid 99 cents for it on iTunes because you thought it was a new song, I'm sure Glass Candy are sorry.

tags: glass candy, deep gems, 2008, flac,

More Info

The Art of Noise - (Who's Afraid of?) The Art of Noise! (1984)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Electronica, Synth Pop

Label Number: 7 90179-2
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1984-1987 Island Records
AllMusic Review by Ned Raggett
Art of Noise's first full album, (Who's Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise!, consolidated the future shock of the earlier EPs and singles in one entertaining and often frightening and screwed-up package. Rarely has something aiming for modern pop status also sought to destroy and disturb so effectively. The most legendary song is still "Close (To the Edit)," benefiting not merely from the innovative video but from its strong funk groove and nutty sense of humor in the mostly lyric-less vocals, not to mention the "hey!" vocal hook the Prodigy would sample for "Firestarter." Its close cousin, the title track, brilliantly blends a nagging bass synth, echoed drum, and percussion fills and constantly shifting vocal cut-ups, random noises, and strange melodies. They're just two highlights on this prescient release, though. Part of the thrill of Who's Afraid is the sense of juxtaposition and playing around, something still not very common in music and even less so in the pop music genre. The blunt political protest of "A Time for Fear (Who's Afraid)" and the more abstract "How to Kill," achieved via appropriate sampling, slams right up against the rough beat sonics and serene orchestration. If such material had appeared on Rephlex or even DHR in the mid- to late '90s, few would have been surprised. Things aren't all dour and gloomy, though; "Beat Box" captures heavy grooves from said source with quirky vocal bits and soft vibes. Patented Trevor Horn orchestral stabs surface throughout, while Anne Dudley's knack for gentler shadings and dramatic arrangements also comes through clearly, something that would surface ever more strongly in her freelance production career. The full ten-minute version of "Moments in Love" is perhaps her triumph here, a seemingly pretty instrumental turned increasingly strange.

tags: the art of noise, whos afraid of the art of noise, 1984, flac,

More Info

The Art of Noise - In Visible Silence (1986)

*U.K. pressing. 

Contains 12 tracks total.

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Electronica, Synth Pop

Label Number: CCD 1528
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1986 China Records
AllMusic Review by Steven McDonald
AON hit their stride with the release of this record, while showing their colors in the choices of material -- while the usual offbeat AON elements were present, so was "Peter Gunn," with Duane Eddy guesting on guitar. Another AON hit, "Legs," was present, as was the original version of "Paranoimia," enhanced in its single versions by the addition of routines from Max Headroom performed by Matt Frewer, who would later play the digital ding-a-ling on a short-lived TV series. The Frewer versions replaced the original on some pressings, including the original CD, but the original version has since been restored, with both Frewer versions now confined to best-of collections.

tags: the art of noise, in visible silence, 1986, flac,

More Info

The Art of Noise - In No Sense? Nonsense! (1987)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Electronica, Synth Pop

Label Number: VK 41570
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1987 China/Chrysalis Records
AllMusic Review by Evan Cater
In No Sense? Nonsense! contains some of the Art of Noise's most compelling work. With this album, Anne Dudley and company expanded their new wave experiments to include more instrumental firepower. In addition to full rock band production (including electric guitars, drums, and synthesizers), this record makes use of brass band, orchestral, and choral music. The result is about as rich and complex as they ever got. In No Sense? Nonsense! is probably best known as the album that included their take on the theme from the '50s cop show Dragnet, used in the 1987 film version that starred Dan Akroyd and Tom Hanks. That track is certainly the most accessible on the record, but it somehow seems a little too punchy for the primary ambient pop surroundings. It might fit better on a different album. This record is more notable for tracks like "How Rapid?" and "Opus for Four" that engage in fanciful genre blending. At times, the sound almost begins to anticipate later ambient dance artists like Enigma and DJ Shadow. But the Art of Noise are aptly named and consequently limited. Their artful noise collage lacks the visceral impact afforded by those later bands. In No Sense? is more often interesting than beautiful.

tags: the art of noise, in no sense nonsense, 1987, flac,

More Info

The Art of Noise - Below The Waste (1989)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Electronica, Synth Pop

Label Number: 839 404-2
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1989 China/Polydor Records
AllMusic Review by Dean Carlson
Following the multi-instrumental flair of In No Sense? Nonsense!, 1989's Below the Waste showed the Art of Noise almost completely ditching their elliptical art-punk roots for worryingly stylized, low-key ambient compositions that bordered on world mall-music. The now fully emerged fusion of village chants, ground percussion, rumbling guitars, jumpy handclaps, and mostly generic machine sound showed considerable personal growth, but the band seemed unqualified for it. The textures of the album were all wrong, from the puffed-up, intrigue-free cover of the James Bond theme to the Ron Grainer-like dribble of flutey jazz of "Island" and the dated and cringingly fake synth-thunderclaps in "Dilemma." A misfire

tags: the art of noise, below the waste, 1989, flac,

More Info

The Art of Noise - The Seduction of Claude Debussy (1999)

Country: United Kingdom
Genre: Electronica

Label Number: ztt130cd
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1999 Universal/ZTT
AllMusic Review by Keith Farley
More than ten years after the Art of Noise left Trevor Horn's ZTT label to record on their own, original members Anne Dudley and Paul Morley reunited with Horn plus 10cc's Lol Creme to record another LP, organized around the work of French modernist composer Claude Debussy. With a guest list including John Hurt as well as Rakim, the album charts the artistic use of sampled breakbeats -- pioneered by the Art of Noise themselves -- with nods to '80s hip-hop plus their '90s equivalent, drum'n'bass. Though the Art of Noise doesn't sound quite as brash as they did in their '80s prime, The Seduction of Claude Debussy is an interesting showcase of what made the group great.

tags: the art of noise, the seduction of claude cebussy, 1999, flac,

More Info

Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X (2007) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Synth Pop
Label Number: IDIB003CD
.FLAC via Florenfile
.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

☠: Selected by Lass

© 2007 Italians Do It Better
AllMusic Review by K. Ross Hoffman
A freewheeling electronic pop album that's goofy and glamorous in roughly equal measure, B/E/A/T/B/O/X is Glass Candy's first full-length as a duo, following an electro-disco makeover that has effectively cut the rock out of the group's dancepunk/no wave equation, and their first album for the disco-revivalist label Italians Do It Better. Markedly lighter and more colorful than the label's prevailing aesthetic as presented on the widely championed After Dark compilation, it plays to some extent like the daylit flip side of Chromatics' dark, atmospheric Night Drive, which was released around the same time and likewise produced by shared member (and Italians driving force) Johnny Jewel. Though it still projects a strong sense of decadence and a distinct air of the unattainable, B/E/A/T/B/O/X is earthier and more inviting than most of the label's output to date -- significantly, this is unquestionably music for dancing, as opposed to dance music that's probably a bit too cool to actually dance to. Kicking off with an aerobics instructor's spoken invocation to the DJ and "the heavenly beat," just about every track here is aimed squarely at the dancefloor (save for the brooding, beatless instrumental "Last Nite I Met a Costume," which would have sounded more at home on Night Drive). The duo's so-retro-it's-modern sound points, no surprises here, straight back to the early '80s, recalling not so much the robotic Italo disco with which the label is often linked (though there are traces of it, particularly on the cosmic strut "Life After Sundown") as plain old regular disco, the kind that at some point evolved out of funk (check out those full-blooded horn parts, synthesized though they may be, on "Candy Castle" and the punchy "Rolling Down the Hills") and went on to inspire the new wave art-punk likes of Blondie and Tom Tom Club (both palpable influences here: Debbie Harry, and perhaps "Rapture" in particular, are unmistakable in Ida No's slightly kooky, slightly chilly delivery). But that's not to suggest that this is straightforward stylistic revivalism -- for one thing, although 4/4 thumps carry Glass Candy through a sizable chunk of the album, the duo also ventures freely beyond the well-established neo-disco template on the weird, stuttering "Etheric Device"; scintillating, silky-smooth Kraftwerk cover "Computer Love" (a clear highlight); and sparse, throbbing, nearly industrial closer, "Digital Versicolor." There's nothing here that feels like a mere genre exercise, and for all its readily evident signifiers, there's ultimately not much to which it can sustain particularly close comparisons. B/E/A/T/B/O/X may be unabashedly a triumph of style over substance, but Glass Candy have at least managed to concoct a familiar-seeming, versatile, and enjoyable style, or set of styles, that's more or less all their own.

tags: glass candy, beatbox, beat box, 2007, flac,

More Info

Sick of It All - Blood, Sweat, & No Tears (1989) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore
.FLAC via Mega (Link)
.AAC 256 kbps via Mega (Link)

☠: Selected by Buccaneer

© 1989 In-Effect
AllMusic Review by Mike DaRonco
This is the album that epitomizes the sound of modern New York hardcore. Along with the releases of East Coast legends Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits, this is another album that contributed to the spawn of a million bands today to play faster, heavier, and to incorporate a breakdown segment in each of their songs. But hardly any of those clone bands could even come close to front on the style of Sick of It All. With a take-no-crap-from-anybody attitude, Blood, Sweat & No Tears blazes through 19 tracks of aggressive, start-stop hardcore that doesn't allow one chance for a breather. Not one song on here doesn't pump the adrenaline up a couple notches, while standouts like "Rat Pack," "Clobberin' Time" and "My Life" could inspire enough energy to bring out the tough guy in all of us. Essential for all those who need a lesson in "Hardcore 101."

tags: sick of it all, blood sweat and no tears, 1989, flac,

More Info

Sick of It All - Scratch The Surface (1994) ☠

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore
.FLAC via Mega (Link)
.AAC 256 kbps via Mega (Link)

☠: Selected by Buccaneer

© 1994 EastWest Records America
AllMusic Review by John Franck
Heralded as "the last remaining true New York hardcore outfit" by Spin, New York's proudest sons Sick of It All always have and always will be the real deal. After releasing a string of important hardcore records including 1989's Blood, Sweat, No Tears as well as 1992's classic Just Look Around, SOIA decided to take the major-label plunge by signing with EastWest Records. Leaving the act to its own devices, the label wisely chose to let the band self-produce Scratch the Surface (its fourth effort). Unleashed at the height of Green Day/Offspring mania, the album was destined for major attention, but, alas, it never came. Featuring a classic New York hardcore sound (and one that is admittedly not for the masses), the album features 14 tracks including the hyper-speedy "Insurrection," live favorite "No Cure," and "Desperate Fool." The real surprise, however, comes in the shape of two incredible band anthems. For one, there's the transcendent "Scratch the Surface" (which featured a great, live-action video later carbon copied by Papa Roach on "Last Resort"). Secondly, there's the monstrous singalong (not mention big Beavis and Butthead re-current) "Step Down." With "Step Down," the label tried to position SOIA as its "next big punk band." Unfortunately, EastWest met with resistance from radio programmers who were all too busy looking for the next Green Day. When all was said and done, as was the case with the Melvins, Scratch the Surface sold about as well the band's other independent efforts (even though it benefited from two videos and some decent label commitment).

tags: sick of it all, scratch the surface, 1994, flac,

More Info

Sick of It All - Built To Last (1997)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore
.FLAC via Mega (Link)
.AAC 256 kbps via Mega (Link)

© 1997 Elektra Records
AllMusic Review by Jason D. Taylor
Built to Last proves exactly that, as it seems there is no end in the near future for hardcore veterans Sick of It All. Once again offering a solid package of fast-paced hardcore punk, the New York natives succeed in churning out a handful of new streetwise anthems, including "Closer," "Us vs. Them," and "Burn 'Em Down." Built to Last writes another chapter in Sick of It All's lengthy career.

tags: sick of it all, built to last, 1997, flac,

More Info

Sick of It All - Call To Arms (1999)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore
.FLAC via Mega (Link)
.AAC 256 kbps via Mega (Link)

© 1999 Fat Wreck Records
AllMusic Review by Jason D. Taylor
Call to Arms found Sick of It All refreshed and ready to rejuvenate its career with a faster, more punk sound that made the band's streetwise songs seem that much more urgent. Spawning the rather successful single Potential for a Fall (which even found its share of MTV exposure), the album suggested that Sick of It All's future was on an upswing. Unfortunately, much like Scratch the Surface, Call to Arms only made a small wave, but helped introduce a new audience to the traditional hardcore sound that Sick of It All had championed for years.

tags: sick of it all, call to arms, 1999, flac,

More Info

Sick of It All - Yours Truly (2000)

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hardcore
.FLAC via Mega (Link)
.AAC 256 kbps via Mega (Link)

© 2000 Fat Wreck Chords
AllMusic Review by MacKenzie Wilson
Sick of It All frontman Lou Koller is a raging mad man, a vocalic inquisitor of sorts, and Yours Truly, the band's sixth album, sticks with the same vein of angry punk rock. Pure grit and growl swirl among speed metal guitar licks and thunderous percussion, Sick of It All twists the new millennium punk revival backward to achieve what once was an intimidating scene for music. The namesake says it all, therefore, cuts such as "Hello Pricks" and "Hands Tied Eyes Closed" depict the band's overall aggression against mainstream and social norms, for music is the supreme escape. The lyrical cynicisms are dead on, a little humorous even, but Sick of It All keeps it hardcore.

tags: sick of it all, yours truly, 2000, flac,

More Info