Powerless with a Guitar

When the clutter of life becomes so entangled as to become a hindrance to living it, I look to bands built on a framework of simplicity. The last month has been one of those times, and Disaffect has been one of the remedies. By now the band is infamous as part of the Scottish division of the more hardcore branch of peace punk produced in the late eighties/early nineties in parallel with Nausea, Disrupt and the like. "Powerless With A Guitar" is a posthumous live document that proves to me at least that Disaffect only gets more classic as the years pass. Side "Punk" is a superior recording of a set in Glasgow in '92, and side "As Fuck" is perhaps one of the band's last sets (1994), and was recorded in Dijon. The 23 tracks hereon make a great bookend to their studio discography, the main contents of which can be found on the resurrected Stay Female Fronted blog.

Disaffect - "Powerless With A Guitar" Live LP

I'm Feeling I Wish I Was Dreaming

As the season arrives when we sweep out the dust bunnies from the baseboards and corners of our houses and the psychic junk from the recesses of our minds, it's time to replace the bad debris with the good Debris. I'm referring of course to Scotland's Debris, who continue the traditions begun by Scotland's Quarantine. Those traditions include driving and precise punk rhythms, harshly sung melodies, and acerbic political commentaries. The "Attrition" 7" was recorded way back at the end of 1998, and continues pretty close to where "Automatic Negative Thoughts" and "Junction 10" left off, and is beyond satisfactory for people like me with a love for crust and a soft spot for Bay Area (pop) punk.

The band followed up with the equally piss and vinegar suffused "Ten2" LP which is available in many distros, so I may not be able to keep the link up for long. The rips were recorded at a fairly loud volume, so be sure to play them through good speakers.

Debris LP and 7"

One By Sedition

This is a pretty odd ball 7", but that only makes it doubly worth a post! One way to look at this is to call it a One By One/Sedition split 7". A more precise description would be a One By One live 7" with a (badly) studio(?) recorded Sedition track. It was a 40th birthday gift for "Le Vieux" (depicted above); Sedition was supposed to play at this gig and be a more substantial part of the final output, but ended up breaking up too early. The good news is that the One By One tracks sound pretty damn intense (Keep in mind this is coming from a HUGE One By One fan who is not much of a live recording fan) and the Sedition track rules like all of their stuff did/does, even with the muddy recording. Let's see, what am I forgetting?... The 1b1 set was recorded in a farmhouse near Tours, France and includes a cover of "Police Bastard."

Download

Here's a photo of One By One at the same show, graciously offered by Fab(rice):

A Punx Picnic On Industrie Strasse

This week has been a real pirate whore. Next week and this weekend, I'll shoot for diligence, but no guarantees there. After such a shit week, it's time for a couple of fun comps. Shit, the "Industrie Str. 23 96-97" comp has an exclusive Quarantine track, for fucksake! Throw in a possibly exclusive La Fraction number and a bunch of other nice Euro punk/crust/grind of the late nineties, and you have instant party! Lots of variety; seldom a dull moment...

"Industrie Str. 23" Comp.

And, I need your help with this one. Below is a silly 7" comp from a festival in Biel showcasing a cover song contest. I picked it up because of Lost and Skew Whiff, but my brain isn't working right this week. Do you recognize any of these covers?

"Schrott Bar" Comp

The Family Band Of The '90's

The phrase "melodic crust punk" might illicit a strange response in many of you. For some it might conjure an automatic negative one. When I say that the melody actually comes from the vocals, it might draw an indistinguishable gasp of puzzlement. Quarantine were a Scottish band that did this, and did it right. Catchy, political, and powerful, this band pulled off beautifully what few bands ever attempted. Disaffect meets Crimpshrine? Leatherface meets Pink Turds In Space? You decide. This band ruled, and you'll probably like them.

The "Automatic Negative Thoughts" LP (Nabat Recs.) has been posted elsewhere before, I think, but I ripped my copy at 320 in case you need it, as well as the excellent "Junction 10" 7" (Panoptic Vision, etc. Recs.)....

Both records and a comp track here.

If you like Quarantine, you'll also like their new band, Debris.

Tonight, I kick off compilation week-- a series of posts dedicated to the most unpopular format in the blog world. The comps were selected for maximum entertainment; they're all interesting an/or awesome in some way. The first, to be posted Monday night, will feature another great song by Quarantine, so look out for that.

Sedition - "Earthbeat" LP

By request, here is Sedition's opus, "Earthbeat" (1993). As mentioned in a long-ago post, Sedition was a political hardcore band from Scotland influenced thematically by an atavistic tribalism. Musically their influences stemmed from other UK political hardcore, a little '80's crossover, and, on this record at least, a bit of the emotive modern hardcore contemporaneously spreading across the globe. There are no throw-aways on this rager, and as lead-ins to most tracks the listener is treated to some stimulating sound samples taken from documentary films on various tribal societies (mainly from North America and Ireland/Scotland). Sedition's socio-political vision may deter some, but their musical power and rhetorical sincerity render those hang-ups superfluous.

According to Flat Earth Records, 3500 copies were pressed and sold (1000 of which came in Hessian sacks). The tracks were collected on Sedition's discography CD, "End in the Beginning... Beginning in the End," but good luck trying to find anything of theirs at a reasonable/sane price.

"Earthbeat"

Pink Turds in Space vs. Sedition

Along with the Crudos/Spitboy LP, I think the Sedition/Pink Turds in Space LP is my favorite split LP of the 90's. The record was originally released on Real to Real Records in 1990, and then reissued in 1994 on the great Flat Earth Records. Both bands have since released discography Cd's, but even those are becoming increasingly scarce.

Sedition was an assemblage of impassioned Scotsmen who played meaningful peace punk/hardcore with a bit of metal, fronted by a screaming bearded dude in a kilt. My introduction to the band was in the form of their one LP, "Earthbeat," which was a slightly modernized thrash/hardcore barrage, propelling lyrics which encouraged humans to resist over-production, over-consumption and state control by returning to their tribal roots, either physically or at least psychologically/spiritually/mentally. The tracks they contributed to the split LP, being recorded at an earlier time, were cruder and more straight forward, but every bit as powerful and engrossing. I hate to choose favorites, but I believe Sedition takes the title on this record (and just in general). Tracks from this split LP, the "Earthbeat" LP, and the split 7" with Disaffect are included on Sedition's discography CD, which is out there if you search for it. Band members went on to play in Scatha, The Dagda, Ruin...

Flip this platter over and you've got Ireland's Pink Turds in Space. In addition to donning one of the best names in punk history, they also boast some of the most obnoxious lyrics and vocals. Their music has more of a thrash metal influence, but the shitty production dulls the metal edge some. The vocals and attitude, however, firmly embed this band in the musical space we call punk. They're raw, they're pissed, they're funny... you will/already do love them. Rejected Records in Dublin put out the "The Complete Pink Turds in Space" CD, compiling these split LP tracks, the "Greatest Shits" 12", the split 7" with Charred Remains (MITB), demo material, and live tracks. Hunt it down if you can. Members formed Bleeding Rectum and other bands (leave a comment if you know names!).

Sample Tracks (if you've never heard these bands):

Sedition - "Authority"

Pink Turds in Space - "Sickle $ell"

Download the entire Split LP (zip)
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