don't even sing about it.

bloodshed will always hold a really special place for me. they were the first hardcore band i ever saw when i was twelve at some church show. they weren't much older than i was... they were talking about how they couldn't tour outside of california because their drummer was in eighth grade. i think the oldest guy might have been sixteen maybe? it was really inspirational to think of kids not much older than me getting up on stage & creating this visceral art. i saw them as often as i could, which was maybe another eight or nine times until they broke up. definitely d.c. & ebullition inspired, this still really holds up for me after 17 years.

driving down pch.

chris rouse has been a friend of mine for more than half my life. he is one of the most genuine & caring & passionate human beings i have ever known. his lyrics in this band is what really makes this record special. extremely political from a humanist position, brimming with righteous anger... haha. sorry if you ever read this chris. i have always felt he was a special guy, & this was just the right band for him. the perfect mix of chokehold, trial, & unbroken, some of our favorite bands growing up. it's weird to be posting this because i remember when we were young brahs, & now he has been in this really popular band & toured the world & turned down doing vocals for outspoken. & everytime i come into town he's always the same guy who has time to get coffee & talk poetry with me. anyway, this record is for those times when a molotov cocktail through a window is the only option.

fred mertz was most likely a bad poet & a pervert.

this is a really special & meaningful record to me. i don't wanna stranger danger tmi y'all, so i'll just say that the first i hate myself song on here made it onto plenty of mixtapes made for friends back in the late nineties. i never really listened to the twelve hour turn side too much because i was captivated by the sheer emotion exuded by the ihm cats. no idea hardcore influenced by ebullition. i still listen to this all the time. it's one of my desert records fer shure comrades. i also want to share a piece of my youth culture with my kid brother who is experiencing his own youth culture right now which is exciting to see blossom. here's to yr adventures young pioneer.

prole art threat.

from the ashes of honeywell arose volume eleven like a fire breathing art damaged phoenix. building off of what honeywell was doing while upping the manic factor by ten by incorporating more of the gravity sound & less ebullition, v.11 were a sight to behold. i got to see them once with yapphet kotto at the che in san diego years & years ago... 2000 maybe? 2001? anyway, i still blast this from time to time & it has held up surprisingly well unlike many of the other mid to late nineties hardcore records i really liked back then.

i reckon.

as i have mentioned before, assfactor 4 is one of my all time favorite hardcore bands ever. they just had such an emotional heft & took the best parts of what i liked about san diego & added tons of melody to it, much like palatka & the rest of the bands (think no idea/schematic) from the south did. this is their entire discography. i promise yr going to get super pumped because this is definitely a summer time band.

fall on proverb.

i saw these brahs in the mid two thousands two or three times a month for a good six month stretch. they were the most exciting thing happening in hardcore at the time for me having moved from southern california & getting bummed at the way that every band wanted to sound like terror or hatebreed. i went to to see holy roman empire & ended up only catching not enough gold's set. i knew i was in love when they closed their set with unbroken's fall on proverb. they took the best parts of the hope conspiracy & married them with unbroken. their singer was this asian guy who was super fashionable, & he always had the nicest shoes. anyway, they broke up shortly before i left chicago as did tower of rome who i'll do a post about soon. i felt that it was kind of a sign that maybe my time in chicago was up. anyway, this is for you dudes who still like to bedroom mosh.