Musick Reviews - AUG. 26, 2008

Okay here’s me trying to play catch up with the mail that I had received during my short 3 state – 3 year excursion.Between mail being forwarded from one p.o. box to the other I’m sure some shit got lost in the mail, misplaced in a move or lifted from my car or “borrowed”and never returned. I don’t really like calling these reviews as I’m sure that most people will find the narrative and points of reference pretty fucking useless.

TWO MAN ADVANTAGE/SUPREME COMMANDER split 7” (Basement Records, PO Box 511, La Habra, CA 90633-0511 USA)

www.basementrecords.net - NY puck punks Two Man Advantage return with two more hip checking, pogo in the pit friendly anthems. DC mofos Supreme Commander deliver the goods and give you three slabs of black dot era –esque Bad Brains fuesed with a bit of that post HC era of HC (does that even make sense) that was coming out NYHC around the time of ’89. Hard, fast, loud play this 7” at full volume. And if you need to get the digital version for your ipod and shit..welp, you bit the bullet. (7”)

THE RATFINKS “Detroit Fuckers” (Ratfinks, POB 359, Roseville, MI 48066) Solid oi!Ruck ‘n roll. Ratfinks start this disc of with the title track that has that shit kicker sound that made Oxblood’s Under The Boot 7” such a sweet disc back in it’s day. The tone flows into the second track “Fuck Ass”. The working class, boot boy ‘tude is present through out the 13 tracks. I love this shit. If I was to a scribble up “if you like these then listen to this” point of reference –think Subway Thugs, Oxblood fused with the sing a long oi-kaw that was turned out by the seminal American labels Vulture Rock and Headache Records. (cd)

Filthy 42s “Positively South Jersey” (Boot to Head Records, PO Box 9005, PDX, OR 97207) South Jersey’s Filthy 42s remind me a little of Social D, have bits of other Jersey bands that I remember, but that may be an embellishment on behalf of my ears. When the band plays loud,they’re fucking loud. Some of the aggro veers into a poppier (traditional rnr) place where I don’t care to dabble. Solid production and dare I say.. a little over produced. But that’s because I’m a bit biased, struck with tinnitus and prefer to have some shit in my cereal that posses some health risk or another.

v/a“Anti Disco League” (www.tkorecords.com)

Templar Phil compiles a who’s who of the current crop top scene. I know it
sounds like a cliché but there isn’t a week track on this one. A 16 track
global boot party. Fuckin A. BUY THIS!!! (cd)

more “reviews” to come later

Exit scenarios

Exit scenarios – so the interview is wonderful. A little unexpected but my gut was giving me a hint this morning. I shut off my intuitive side a decade and a half ago, as I was going mad when my bullshit detector wouldn’t stop ringing. I'd meet all these people..ding, ding, ding, all day long. It was maddening. I wanted to pretend it was a malfunction but time has taught me better.

Whewf, before I get too side tracked... Then they ask if I have any belongings in my office. They retrieve all my shit, which i kept simple. I didn't make the place my personal space. They get all my shit, bring it up to me, in order to prevent me from going postal. [I learned this at one of the "sensitivity" trainings that they sent me to. SO they have these exit meetings and emphasize that I not return to the building]. So I'm being let go as I'm not the go to guy. Which made me wonder a little, what makes them think I'd suddenly display the "get up and go mad" bug now?

As if I had that much ambition invested in an agency, ran by drones for people who will be sick and ill for as long as the state has dimes and beds to dish out. The mission statement is a bit muddied but they certainly better the lives of the needy by being condescending. They're all so darn fluffy and cute, each and every one the consumers. I wanna squeeze those bedbug infested cheeks and let out a loud "hoochie coo". Each weekly review meeting the room would be filled with canned "awws" "oohs and ahhs" the same sounds you'd get if you were playing Bambi for 7 yr olds. They treat 45 yr old grown men in the same manner that you'd deal with a 4th grade insubordinate (ever read that Judy Blume book?) A lady client steals a pocket book from a customer at a supermarket. She feels the pressure and ditches the belongings, but keeps the pocket book. Her explanation "I thought the bag was pretty." Ohh.. boy.. the room was yelping, awww.....butter being melted. You really have to love the industry.

Back to the "office" environment. Here, let me describe my joyous or is it joyless locale. A no window basement office, buried in the back of a fucking old converted house. Me, my personality surrounded by paper clip pushers who knew not to rock the boat and tow the line.

I played the game, faked the enthusiasm. I pretended to give a fuck, acted like I gave a shit at the appropriate times. I read the cues, played the role but apparently I wasn’t one of “them”.I made odd cultural references, didn't give a shit about American Idol and said so... I was...an antichirst..an anarchist.

I bore the brand that has long followed me around like a disease lurking beneath these layers of flesh. I didn’t buy this state of mind, didn’t buy into a lifestyle, hijack my insight. I thought like this before I ever knew what Punk Rock was. I had operation that placed a nice scar across my chest, and somewhere buried beneath my sternum the bullshit detector lays. It was my third eye, let me know how "they" perceive things, and they let me know I wasn't one of them. Oh well. Maybe the Buddhist argument is I am none of those things, I am all of those things. We are all of those things, we are nothing.

Things didn't go as planned. Oh well. The thing I most regret is not opening my mouth more. Letting the haphazardly know that I understand the plot has been laid out for the next bus to roll of the cliff. It's how things run, how things become billable.There's no point in being truthful when there's far too much money at stake. I feel bad for the doomed on the receiving end, they don't even know that they're being held down.

What ever the case might be, I’ve accepted what has been laid out before me, the road continues. The journey continues.. Melissa by my side and Sherman hopping along.. grazing on the homegrown cilantro. Here we go, three punks in a pod.

Wake up american punks!

The Mexicans have got a better clue than you.
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/globaltribe/countries/mex_punk.html

@mEriKKK@n idle

Food shortages, a billion dollar a day war, one of the worst national economic climates in quite some time, environmental disarray, a president in power with the worst approval ratings ever. The fuel for what could be a million dead Kennedy clones, or what should be enough fucked up situations that the "music/artist" community should be getting their shit together and putting the 60s protest movement to shame. Should, should, should. but not tonight. Let's focus on the real issues. Who is going to win American idol?

David or David? The great debate that was allegedly occupying the minds of the Amerikkkant Idlin' intellectual sewer. The news channels were devoting their "news" time to present this frat house hazed cookie platter to the (m)asses, with the underlying message that the out come of this would have some profound effect on their candy coated dire existence.

It is important, tune in, phone in and participate. Keep track of the results on your computer, have the latest happening textd to your cell phone. Let the machine know exactly where you are when you are obviously consciously asleep. Let them know how the marketing strategies are working and exactly how much they have to administer.

Skip the real stories because they are boring and depressing. I do not want to have the mental burden of having to think about what I might have to do if there is no more oil, or if the corporate maintained food shortage gets the famine vote by the authorities at the next shareholders meeting. Will I have to get my manicured hands dirty, and work my own crops? I mean geesh... to have to be exposed to other earthen materials is…welps, frightening and discussing. Why can't I open a "punk" fashion and hair salon by "punk rockers" like Pete Wentz?

The thing about this cookie cutter pop poop spunk is the fact that it is so nauseating. The goofed on don't realize that they are on the butt end of the punch line. The line "turning rebellion into money" is no longer ironic. It's a well-constructed coke nose meth lab concoction (I mean recording industry niche). There's all this well penned pr sheets that try to link this factory cultivated bs as having genuine and organic roots in the DIY soil that we've witnessed the machine pulverize and turn into a withered dioxin dump like vast waste land. So you here all this Stockholm syndrome type of speech by co-opted anarcho types to rationalize why it is necessary to do business with people who rammed their asses so hard. The speech often alludes to necessary evils in order to do the greater good. Umm… okay. Nevertheless, don't dare write another street punk anthem calling your new pals to a battle that you yourself know you wouldn't fight.

Intro

LEWD the story so far

Since revisionists are only going to retell this story and botch it up miserably, we’d thought we’d tell the tale from our delusion tainted recollections. LEWD began as a rather one sided, one dimensional zine compiled by a rather obtuse three dimensional character on the streets of Strong Island.

Rather than project the flaws onto composite non existent entities, we’ll simply at some points we became disillusioned, disenfranchised, over whelmed with depression, hungry ghosts and all the other materialist torments (both real and imagined) that can lead one astray we hit that rut. Somewhere in the midst of scraping rock bottom a new flame sparked and ignited a whole new mindset.

Ingredients to the new formula was Qi Qong (chi kung), meditation, Buddhism. A book called Dharma Punx. Who knew from altering your breathing that something so profound can come of it (well obviously some one knew and passed the info on to us.. BUT that’s all the technical stuff that we don’t need to explain in this paragraph but maybe further down the scrolling path.. we can get into all that.)

Anyway.. LEWD was/is a punk zine covering punk rock and hardcore.. since this is a zine without a target demographic we can pick and chose what we plan to cover with each issue and our perspective isn’t tainted by our advertisers and new stand placement. Which explains why.. we can cover any music, hardcore, reggae, ska and whatever else we want without missing a beat (pun intended).

AND THIS IS WHY WE’RE BEATING THE REVISIONISTS to the story. Broadening our horizons and not posting barriers has actually caught a little flack. How does a boot boy from the suburbs disappear into the rocky mountains for a year or so and then reappear back on the East Coast with a self proclaimed clear head and something interesting to share??? Well I guess, this is where the crass commercialism comes in. Read the zine and find out.

FAQ: WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?
Now I've blown this question on job interviews. I've said all the wrong things on dates, hell I even lied to my psychotherapist because I was tired of getting shit for not having an answer. HOWEVER, I do have an agenda with a LEWD blogger page. What I want this page to be is an area to promote all the decent bands and causes that are on out there and hopefully sift through the filler.
Obviously, I strongly encourage you to support the labels and radio programs on here, check them out. Tune them in with your fancy cable modems. Never mind the conglomerate clear channel shit that is coming out of your car radio, find the truth and create a solution. Hopefully there are little fragements you'll find that factor into the equation.

You can also read some of my ranting and raving in Under The Volcano fanzineUNDER THE VOLCANO or on UTV'S myspace page
ISSUE .. 1 will be available shortly.

Bands/labels/zines

send your stuff for possible review/coverage/interviews etc.Since our apartment mail delivery system is pretty suspect, send your stuff to our Po BOX.

Lewd PUNK Zine
c/o GCS
POB 1246
Patchogue, NY 11772
USA