Myles of Destruction "Moth Curiosity"

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Myles of Destruction
Running Only Makes the Fire Worse.
CDR
(Burst Into Flames, 2002)

Years ago, there was a Yahoo! group called QueerMetal. I think. Hey, it's been a while, OK? I vaguely remember Myles Donovan posting there and talking a bit about his band, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I finally heard them, when I stumbled across a used copy of their split 7" EP with noisesters Abiku. Both sides of the record were pretty neat, so I sought out more by each.

Aquarius Records in San Francisco turned out to have a few Myles of Destruction CDRs listed on their site, so I ordered what they had. It happened that they were actually sold out of everything, but they contacted Myles and he found copies of today's jukebox parent and an earlier EP, Doom Town. All four songs on the latter were redone for Running Only Makes the Fire Worse., and, while they were already good, they were definitely improved.

It's not an easy task, sometimes, trying to genre-fy an artist, and guitarless trio Myles of Destruction are one of the tougher ones! The fuzz bass and drumming are rather aggressive, while the violin work brings to (my) mind, East European folk music. So, I've coined a new term: gyspy grind. Interestingly, the vocals remind me very strongly of the band Asa Nisi Masa, whom I featured here earlier this year, and who shared the same instrumental modus operandi: vocals, violin, bass, drums.

Limp Wrist "I Love Hardcore Boys, I Love Boys Hardcore"

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Limp Wrist
Thee Official Limp Wrist Discography
CD
(Arashikage Records/Cheap Art Records/Golden Shower Records/Lengua Armada, 2005)

Biki asked for some punk the other day, so here some is.

^_^

I was late to the party on Limp Wrist. I didn't hear about them 'til they'd already been split up for a few years, though they're apparently now back together. I'd seen them mentioned a few times as a slammin' queercore band when I happened across their CD Thee Official Limp Wrist Discography in a bargain bin. Naturally, I snapped it up for home listening.

Now, I'd heard a few queercore bands and most of what I'd heard was on the pop-punk side, like Pansy Division, whom I featured during last year's LGBT History Month. Limp Wrist, on the other hand, sounded like they came raging straight right outta the early 80s: raw, angry, fast as hell, and loud as a very, very bad word.

Listening to this CD makes me all the more bummed I missed out on them back then. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll hit the road to my town one day. Fingers crossed!

Blue Ice "Power Play"

Blue Ice
Power Play
7" single
(Cracked Records, 1977)

I have no idea what the significance of blue ice is, but there are currently four different groups with that name on Discogs.com. What the heck? Is it a drug thing? I'm straightedge as a very bad word, so I'm not hip to all the controlled substance vernacular. Of course, being hip is an old term for smoking opium.

Regardless, this particular Blue Ice was a hard rockin' band from Harrisburg, PA. This was the lone record they released, before new wave had made its way to the wilds of Pennsylvania. They clearly were influenced by the psychedelic sounds of the 6T's, as the flip of this lil' disc is a nice cover of The Electric Prunes' I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night), though they killed the parentheses for some no doubt nefarious, unknown reason. Or it was just a mistake. Evil is more fun than error, though. So there!

So . . .

Power Play

Power Play is what brings us together today.

Power Play, that blessed event. That dream within a dream.

Sorry! Got distracted . . .

While Power Play is, indeed, a slammin' little number, what really sets it apart and above and such is the insane synth solo near the end. The player of said instrument (and second vocalist on this track) was Bill Stump. After new wave came into being (to use his words), he changed his name to Billy Synth and has been sporadically active both solo and with various groups ever since. I highly recommend the two albums recorded as Billy Synth and The Turn Ups.

NOTA BENE: The bass player on this is Roger Deller, who kept his surname and his bass and played on the (Billy-less) Turn Ups' Crack My Face featured here last year.

Dysrhythmia "Polytrip"

Dysrhythmia Contradiction CD (self-released, 2000)

A burner from Dysrhythmia's long out-of-print debut album, yet another Wayside Music catalog discovery. From talking to guitarist Kevin Hufnagel several years ago, I gathered they aren't very happy with it and don't plan on reissuing it. I happen to be of the opinion that it rocks, however.

Thee Speaking Canaries "Toblewee Uslywus"

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Thee Speaking Canaries
The Joy of Wine
LP
(Mind Cure, 1992)

It's been a few years since the most recent (and hopefully not final) album by Thee Speaking Canaries, so here's a song from their near two-decade old debut. The covers were generic white sleeves with the artwork pasted on each side. So, either the person who pasted mine was lazy, or they're all off-kilter. I've never seen another copy, so I've no way of knowing, really. In the interest of fairness, I'll blame Dave Martin, since Mind Cure was his label, and because he's a super nice guy so my accusation is most likely completely without merit. Or is it?

The Turn Ups "Crack My Face"

The Turn Ups
Turn Up
LP
(Cracked Records, 1980)

One of the cool things about punk rock is finding gems from tiny, local scenes, especially in smaller areas. Harrisburg, PA's best-known musical export, sadly, is Poison, who emulated Hagerstown, MD's Kix, then moved to LA and made it big. The next biggest may be Billy Synth, but don't hold me to that. Please. Billy recorded two LPs backed by also locals The Turn Ups. I bought the second one, 1983's Disorderly Conduct, ages ago and it rocked.

When I found two LPs done by The Turn Ups on their own, I snapped 'em up, of course. Minus Billy's synth and decidedly odd vocal stylings, The Turn Ups sound kinda like Harrisburg's answer to The Suicide Commandos, from Minneapolis, MN. Both played speedy, hook-filled punk rock with a bit of a nod to power pop. This song is from their first album; the second was Urban Blight, and was also released on Cracked. Both are keepers.

Oh, yeah, the first Billy Synth and The Turn Ups LP was Off the Deep End. It, too, was on Cracked Records, in an addition of 300 copies. I have no information on the size of the press runs of the other LPs.