LarryLawless' Journal

Dusty
I've noted recently, when flipping through my records, that I have a lot of shit I never listen to. I realized today that there's a good amount of records that I've never actually played at all. So I'm going to listen to them all, which will probably prove to be a harrowing adventure of epic proportions. Buckle your safety belts, today we're listening to my forgotten EP's.

EP's

3 Way Cum- The Last Cumshow?
This is dark Swedish hardcore that I bought on impulse when that old guy from Trash American Style records set up a bunch of his stuff at Purchase. It's pretty good musically, though the vocals are really deep and thin sounding, sorta like "bluuhhhh buluhhhh buuulaaahhh". There's also a fairly unforgivable cheesy metal part on the b-side. The best part of this by a mile is the lyrics though, as they choose to sing in English instead of in their native tongue. So, we get stuff like "THE FRUITS LAYING ON THE GROUND DOOMED TO SLOWLY ROT WITH THE ETERNAL CELIBATEISM! NO ONE WANTS ROTTEN FRUIT! OVERRIPE, FULL OF SMALL WRIGGLING ACROBATS OF THE EARTH!" and the emotional intensity of "None of Your Business"; "IF I KNEW I SLEPT LAST NIGHT I CAN HEAR THEY SAY 'HE WAS AWAKE' WHEN I WAS DRUNK THEY CAN SAY 'HE WAS SO FUCKING HIGH'". And honestly, those aren't even the real highlights. I should also probably mention the amazing artwork- the cover is a drawing of some dude with his arms behind his back getting his crotch grabbed by a hand that is coming out of the ground, next to what looks like the ghost of monkey-Hitler watching a cloaked, backwards TV. On the inside, there's a picture of a guy on a dock holding a giant rock that's tied to his leg while a giant, surprised looking fish is lifted out of the water by a balloon. I am very happy that I own this piece of music.

Chisel/Velocity Girl split
They had a whole bin of these at the Q and Not U show at Trinity Church last year, and they were giving them away for free, so I didn't really expect much. The Chisel song is actually pretty good, it's like two wacky pop-rock songs spliced into one. It's catchy stuff and makes me want to hear more of this band. That Ted Leo can do no wrong. Velocity Girl, however, is awful. The song is boring, cheesy in a bad way, poorly written, the singer's voice is stupid, and the lyrics are beyond cliche'd. I imagine that even the kind of people that are generally into this kind of inane bullshit won't even like this. But this was definitely worth the nothing I paid for it for the Chisel side.

Colbom- Famous Last Words
This is Aaron Cometbus' new band, and it's more straight-forward punk than his usual stuff. It also isn't very good. Some of it is like, slightly catchy, and some of the songs are better than others, but it's definitely not too memorable. Also, the lyrics have those annoying "explanations" along with them, you know, "This song's about recognizing your fallible elements before writing off someone else for a similar fault." Whatever.

Cluster Bomb Unit- And the Dirty Little Weapons...
This is the kinda stuff that people use words like "raging" and "brutal" to describe, and I guess that's sort of accurate. They're from Germany, which is cool, and they play fast loud punk music, which is also cool, but except for the second song on the b-side ("Zukunftsvisionen") this ain't something I could listen to every day. Two things about this record are sort of weird; that the cover portrays a Sailor Moon type girl in front of a bunch of explosions, and that there somehow manages to be six entire people in this band (Mike, Marc, Werner, Oliver, Moritz and Roland). I can only discern one guitar sound on the record, so I'm led to the conclusion that three of these guys are "HYPE MEN" that just jump around and dance on stage with the band, like that dude in Avail. I guess I'll forgive them though, I mean, they're German, it's not like they're not gonna be weirdos.

Cringer- Karin
I'm not sure why I've never gotten around to listening to this, it's fun left coast 90's pop-punk. Fairly cheesy, and definetly not the best of the genre, but well-intentioned and listenable. And this Karin girl is pretty cute, so points for that.

Jawbox- Tounges
Goddamn I fucking hate it when records skip. This record skips. Fuck this record. Also, the band-aid on my finger came off while I was listening to it, and I had to get up and put on another one, so doubly fuck it. Oh, and the music on this is good.

The Orphans- st
Old sounding punk that is good. Like X or something. Sorry, this is the last 7" left and I've kinda lost steam here.

Next up, tapes. Keep your ears to the ground and eyes on the sky.