Destroyer Destroyer - The Dead Sleep Like Us For A Reason

It's been a while since I've updated.

Here's some more technical music for everyone. Destroyer Destroyer was (I can't figure out if they are still together) a band from the Oklahoma City area that played some of the most violent music to come out in a while. Like their fellow label-mates Robinson, their music was uncompromisingly nihilistic and hinted at a tech revival that was never to come. However, unlike Robinson, Destroyer Destroyer's music is chock-full of chug and the overall tempo of The Dead Sleep Like Us For A Reason is much slower than that of The Great City.

Either way, if you like technical, heavy music than this should be right up your alley.

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The Bastille

Once again, a post about an obscure and inactive band that I know nothing about.

The Bastille was a metal band from Virginia Beach that has been inactive since 2006. They played a hybrid style of metal gathering influences from across the entire genre. I only have 3 songs to offer you, but the download is worth it if you missed out (and you probably did) on this band while they were active.

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Japanese Torture Comedy Hour / Lasse Marhaug

Legendary Norwegian noise artist Lasse Marhaug and Japanese Torture Comedy Hour (Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer's side project) team up on this 1997 cassette release.

What you get here is 7 tracks, 4 by Marhaug and 3 by JTCH. The tracks by Marhaug drift from harsh noise into electronic ambiance and back into harsh noise. Japanese Torture Comedy Hour pretty much sticks to harsh noise on their portion of the cassette, which is to be expected. All in all a solid release.

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The Arson Project - Good Morning Vietnam

What is there to really say about The Arson Project?

I don't know too much about them. I know they are from Sweden and that they got their start in 2005. Good Morning Vietnam is their demo from the same year. It contains 7 songs in under 6 minutes. They're basically the Swedish version of Rotten Sound (although no one does it as well as the original), so if you like Rotten Sound there is a good chance you will enjoy The Arson Project.

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All Hands On Deck

For this post I figured I'd continue by giving everyone some more Houston underground stuff.

I saw All Hands On Deck circa 2006 at Emo's in Austin with Robinson, Signs of Collapse, and some other bands I don't remember. Fucking killer show. I went to see Robinson and had no idea who these guys were. They were the first band to play and it didn't take me long to realize that they weren't your typical opening band.

Let me preface this by saying I never know what to call this type of music because associating it with grindcore just seems to piss people off, but at the same time the only way I have heard it described is "tech grind" or some other similar phrase. So until there is a better label for it, I'm not going to concern myself with the finer points of what is or isn't grindcore. If you are a grindcore elitist, you probably won't like this band. You will probably complain about how it's just "faux technical wankery" and that it has nothing in common with Napalm Death. My response: "is that such a bad thing?"

While this type of music was mostly a flash in the pan, I greatly admired the spirit a lot of the bands had while they lasted. To me, All Hands On Deck exemplified what I loved most about this music and what its detractors most despised about it. It was chock full of technical chromatic riffage just for the sake of being technical and had a vocalist that sounded like a school girl. What's not to love about that?

Unfortunately, I only have two songs to offer but I find that no matter how many times I listen to them they remain just as fresh as they were in Austin four years ago. If you have any more of their material, for the love of god give it to me.

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Injurious Physical Violence - EP

Just took a trip to Houston to see P.L.F. and Kill The Client. One of the opening bands, Houston's own Injurious Physical Violence, was a nice surprise. They played an ultra-spastic form of grindcore that was an absolute joy to see live.

I picked up the EP they had for sale and I have to say it doesn't begin to do this band justice. The recording quality isn't great, but that's to be expected with bands that are just starting out. Either way, I figured I'd post it just to get their name out there.

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Tetsu Inoue - Yolo

Tetsu Inoue has been an active participant in the ambient/electronic scene since 1993. He has worked with artists such as Atom Heart, Pete Namlook and Taylor Deupree during his illustrious career.

Yolo is Inoue's 2005 offering that blends live instrumentation and digital ambiance to deliver 50 minutes of aural nirvana. This is the kind of stuff you put on to relax, contemplate or even fall asleep to (and I mean this in the best way possible). Think the opposite of Merzbow.

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