Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized
Jay HinmanImageLeave a comment

I’ve loved the 1984 TALES OF TERROR album from the first time I heard it. It’s not for everyone, granted – you’ve got to have a decent half-respect for hardcore punk, sloppy glam rock and even a tinge of metal, and/or for the better aspects of what morphed into “grunge” just a few years later.

Here are a few things you need to know:

1. Their story is tragic across the board. Here’s a great article from a couple of months ago in the Sacramento News and Review you’ll wanna read.

2. There’s a documentary film being made about the band as we speak.

3. And here’s our take on the band, written back in 2004 on an old blog…

TALES OF TERROR – “TALES OF TERROR” LP

Time marches, bellies extend, joints stiffen and responsibilities mount, but one thing remains constant: that 1984 TALES OF TERROR LP is one fucking incredible long-haired punk rock & roll record! These alcoholic Sacramento-rooted bastard sons of ELVIS, THE STOOGES and BLACK SABBATH have aged very well with the passage of the years, and when I plopped on their one and only LP this past week for a couple of spins, it blew me away – again, as it always has. GREEN RIVER? Loved ‘em, but their bombastic guitar & drum roaring never held a candle to this revved-up record, as even Mark Arm would likely admit (they covered this record’s “Ozzy” on their “Dry As A Bone” EP in homage).

This record almost perfectly arrives at the nexus of early 80s hardcore punk and heavy 70s glam, adding a small dollop of 45 GRAVE or MISFITS-style horror imagery which thankfully doesn’t mess up the sound one bit. 45 Grave and The Misfits, bless them both, unfortunately let the spooky goth-vibes seep into their music, employing creepy echoes, ridiculous “ghastly voices from the beyond” and annoying witch-like cackling far too often. Both bands ruled, but it’s hard to listen without switching a judgmental, BS-detecting, post-teenage portion of the brain completely off. Not so with these guys. I used to see “Tales of Terror” spray-painted in men’s bathrooms across the San Francisco Bay Area (especially in bars as I got older), but the dumb-ass mohawk punks in my high school – the ones who regularly made it up to SF for shows, unlike me – just hated them, almost as much as they hated FLIPPER. Loved by the drunks, loathed by the Dead Kennedys-loving high school alternajerks. Draw your own conclusions. 

Out of the gates this record is fast, loose and full of swaggering, liquid courage. Two lead guitarists, neither of whom shies from firing off a “fiery” but non-obnoxious lead from time to time, usually over a near-hardcore tempo (“13” and “Deathryder”). The track that everyone loved at my college radio station was “Over Elvis Worship”, about how the spirit of Elvis inhabits singer Rat’s Ass thanks to a well-placed tatoo of the King “down on (his) cock”. As if. But that track – and all of Side 2 – is just incredible raw, blazing and bleary-eyed fun rock and roll. I’ve always been partial to “Romance”, the lead track on Side 2, which is to me the template song for my made-up category of long-haired punk.

Some great fake names for these guys, too – well, “Rat’s Ass” and “Dusty Coffin” aren’t that hot, but what about “Captain Trip Mender” and “Thopper Jaw”? Whoa. There are rumors circulating that CD Presents, who originally put out this LP, are thinking about gathering the tracks and throwing them out there again on compact disc. This is an exciting event, but tempered by the fact that I’ve never read a thing about CD Presents that didn’t present the guy behind the label as an out-and-out crook, loathed by just about every band who ever recorded for him. I know there are some peeps in the audience who saw this band a bunch, and I hope you’ll weigh in posthaste on the majesty that was Tales of Terror.

Uncategorized
Jay HinmanLeave a comment
https://www.tumblr.com/audio_file/dynamitehemorrhage/102619278176/tumblr_nf1h1i6yK01rex6a7?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

Here’s what Dynamite Hemorrhage’s Erika Elizabeth has to say about this summer’s PRIMETIME 7"EP:

Killer slash & burn angular pop from four London ladies who paint a fairly convincing picture of what the first Elastica album might have sounded like if they had lifted their songs from the Au Pairs & Delta 5 rather than Wire & the Stranglers. Primetime are clearly well-schooled in the rich history of post-Desperate Bicycles minimalist DIY messthetics (UK Division), as evidenced by the agitated vocals, wiry guitar & ever so slightly off-balance drums propelling “Slushy”, which, despite my initial hopeful excitement, is not actually a cover of the Vaselines song of the same name (but no matter). My gold star, however, goes to the opener “Tied Down”, which sort of updates the skittering see-saw rush of Kleenex’s “Ain’t You” for the realities of casual encounters in 2014, with the particularly gleeful kiss-off line “I want your body, not your mind; don’t wanna see you all the time” delivered via an effortlessly cool girl-crew chorus. Yes, a million times yes. Do not fuck with Primetime! (La Vida Es Un Mus; lavidaesunmus.com) – Erika

Order our new issue, with 86 more reviews like this one, here.

Uncategorized
Jay HinmanImageLeave a comment

(Originally posted in July 2004 on my now-defunct Agony Shorthand blog)

WHERE TO START WITH GIANT SAND?

It was about 11-12 years ago when I became deeply entangled with the music of the then-California High Desert-based (by way of Tucson) GIANT SAND, and bought pretty much their entire back catalog in one fell swoop. I’d seen the band play once before, in 1987 in Los Angeles – they were still in their Dylan-of-the-desert stage best heard on the 1986 LP “Ballad Of A Thin Line Man”, and actually blew me away with a great keyboard-drenched set of country-based troubadour blues, similar to their pals GREEN ON RED (whose Chris Cacavas was conveniently guesting on keyboards that evening). But an ill-fated purchase of their next record, 1988’s “The Love Songs”, soured me on the band for a couple of years – right around this time Howe Gelb & co. were veering into an experimental black hole of their own making, taking a blender to traditional American roots music and creating something full of quick edits, abrupt shifts in direction, random noise and/or talking, and lyrics that made sense to no one but themselves & the man on the moon. They kept getting big props in the fanzines of the day, but I couldn’t crack the new code. 

That was the case until I heard 1992’s “Center Of The Universe” and became re-engaged in a big way. While Giant Sand retained a lot of the weird surprises of the intervening years, in which a song could be an explosive 30-second shitstorm or a beautiful folk-tinged pop song, the songcraft was at its peak during their 1991-94 glory years. Gelb’s mumbly vocal style and cryptic lyrics gave him a certain stature as a true, bent original, and the much-heralded Convertino/Burns rhythm section were helping him crank out some really terrific songs. They were like this weird, desert-based communal family, with members that floated in and out (Paula Jean Brown, Gelb’s wife and then ex-wife, made regular appearances) & special guests like Gelb’s 6-year-old daughter or an ancient old desert sage that Gelb met in a bar (Pappy something-or-other, who is in full force on 1991’s “Ramp”). To this day “Center of the Universe” remains my third favorite of the three CDs of theirs I’ve held onto into the 21st century. The real killer, the one I still listen to all the time, is 1994’s major label debut (and not at all coincidentally, their final major label record), “Glum”. This is where it all came together: slithering, eerie folk songs full of danger (“Happenstance” and “Glum”); know-it-all travelogues (“Frontage Road”), NEIL YOUNG-style erupto-metal, and the usual detours deep into Howe Gelb’s cranium, this time a journey well worth taking. 

My problem with the band not long after this one was that everything was being recorded and nothing was being tossed, no matter how jammy or boring. Gelb’s unharnessed creativity led him to put out just about everything he did, and I was gobbling it all. I finally had to filter the band’s accumulated catalog into those three essential CDs: “Ramp”, “Center of the Universe” and “Glum” (I dipped a toe back in a few years ago when “Chore of Enchantment” came out and didn’t like it). Talk to people these days about Giant Sand and you’re usually going to get a frothingly positive response or a big fat “they suck”. I’m trying to take a nuanced middle path here, and recommend checking out those 3 if you’re still a bit dubious – and keeping your distance from the remainder.

Uncategorized
Jay HinmanImageLeave a comment

Originally posted on my Agony Shorthand blog in November 2003)

THE MO-DETTES – “The Story So Far”

One of the first 45s from the “new wave era” that I ever bought was the MO-DETTES’ “White Mice / Masochistic Opposite” in 1980, and it remains one of my favorite records of any era. Played to death on my local college radio station back in the day (KFJC), the song “White Mice” arrives at the perfect intersection of rough English D.I.Y. and pure golden girl pop, and has one of the most lilting harmonies you’ll ever hear. Among the more charming aspects of the band were the mushmouth vocals of Ramona Carlier, she being of Swiss descent and a then-recent UK immigrant (which helps explains it). It’s hard to put a bead on exactly what she’s saying beyond the song’s chorus, which starts with the first-rate couplet, “Don’t be stupid, don’t be limp / No girl likes to love a wimp”, and contains a throbbing bassline that leads, rather than follows, everything else in the song. The guitarist is practically invisible throughout – her ineptitude in moving from chord to chord is part of what’s so special about “White Mice” and indeed, the small handful of other good tracks this band produced in their short life. 

So let’s talk about that, shall we? This CD-R – or bootleg CD, I’m not sure – is a complete-works (1979-1981) collection of the MO-DETTES’ one and only album and their 45s. “The Story So Far” LP followed the “White Mice” 45’s lead and contained exceptionally crude, poorly-drawn cover art that was sort of a cartoonish, Archies-like version of something you might have found on Fuck Off Records or by THE DOOR AND THE WINDOW. I also bought the LP in high school, and sold it back to a used record store the same year. That’s because outside of a couple of hot ones that’ll charm the pants off of ya (“Fandango”, “Dark Park Creeping”, “Masochistic Opposite”), the band really hid in the shadow of their one and only naïve-pop masterpiece. 

They knew it too, as the LP contained not only the de riguer “White Mice”, but a sped-up version called “White Mouse Disco”. Kind of sad, actually. There’s an awful STONES and an awful EDITH PIAF cover, too – yet I still have a real big soft spot for the band overall. They honestly sound like a case study for the D.I.Y. archetype: young girls, raw ambition, out-of-tune guitars, lots of stumbling and fumbling, and presto : an instant, all-time classic 45. That the rest of their career didn’t live up to it is fairly beside the point, I reckon.

Uncategorized
Jay HinmanLeave a comment
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/176184081/stream?client_id=3cQaPshpEeLqMsNFAUw1Q?plead=please-dont-download-this-or-our-lawyers-wont-let-us-host-audio

We took an unforgivable three weeks to get this podcast, our forty-eighth, to the people – but we were sorta busy. There was this, and then there was this. And here’s this – a 1 hour, 3 minute edition of DYNAMITE HEMORRHAGE RADIO (#48), which goes from frantic to frantic-er over its 63 minutes and which might be the most edifying phony radio show since our last one – or at least since this one by our magazine’s esteemed contributing editor.

If you choose to proceed, you’ll be hearing new stuff from Midnight Snaxxx, Primetime, Sauna Youth, Buck Biloxi and the Fucks, Coneheads, Shitkickers, CCTV, Ultimate Painting and Russell Street Bombings. These modern heroes will be interspersed with Grade-A material from winners from the past – like Liliput (pictured); Rema-Rema, England’s Glory, Die Kreuzen, The Minutemen and even Clothilde (she follows a set of hardcore and closes out the show in fine style). You know what? I think you might like it.

Download Dynamite Hemorrhage Radio #48 here.
Stream or download this episode on Soundcloud here.
Subscribe to the show on iTunes here.

Playlist:

MIDNIGHT SNAXXX – Don’t Wake Me Up
ENGLAND’S GLORY – City of Fun
PASTICHE – Flash of the Moment
ULTIMATE PAINTING – Ten Street
ELECTRIC EELS – Wreck and Roll
PRIMETIME – Right Track
LILIPUT – Split
CCTV – Le Jom
THE TAKE – Summer
RIGHT PROFILE – Alien
SAUNA YOUTH – Monotony
THE CONEHEADS – Lizard Lady
THE 1-4-5s – Crush Rush
REMA-REMA – Short Stories
RUSSELL STREET BOMBINGS – Homicide Squad
SHITKICKERS – N.Y. Niceguy
DIE KREUZEN – Hate Me
SIN 34 – Nuclear War
RED CROSS – Burn-Out
QUEER PILLS – Time To Fuck 
MINUTEMEN – Below The Belt
THE STAINS – Sick and Crazy
BUCK BILOXI AND THE FUCKS – I’m Useless
CLOTHILDE – La Verite, Toute la Verite

Some past shows:
Dynamite Hemorrhage #47    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #46    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #45    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #44    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #43    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #42    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #41    (playlist) 
Dynamite Hemorrhage #40    (playlist)

Uncategorized

hey there, just came across your publication through Bill Direen and saw you had an article about female post punk artists. By coincidence NZ Onset Offset label with UNWUCHT in Germany recently released a double vinyl of some punk/alternative female artists originally from Christchurch and recorded in 90s but only now released. It’s called Off Our Shoulders 2 and followed off our shoulders 1 recorded and released in the 80s by onset offset. Wondered if you’d come across it?

Jay HinmanLeave a comment

Hey, thanks for getting in touch. No, I have not heard either of these records, but it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve been trying to find ways to hear it, short of ordering it from Germany (it may be sold out in any case) and paying for the LP. Any ideas?
Uncategorized
Jay HinmanGalleryLeave a comment

Pages from DYNAMITE HEMORRHAGE #2, an 84-page fanzine now being printed available for pre-order here. We should have them in stock by November 20th or so.

It’s written by Jay Hinman and Erika Elizabeth, and the thing took the better part of 2014 to throw together. Seemed to have turned out all right despite some typos that I’ve already caught post-production. You can handle it, right?

Learn more about what’s in it and order at this link here….!