Besides Asides

In October 2001, singer-songwriter Greg MacPherson and Weakerthans frontman John K. Samson did a shared solo set in Altona, Manitoba as a benefit for Amnesty International at W.C. Miller Collegiate. This is between Weakerthans 2nd and 3rd LPs, so conceivably "One Great City" and "Reconstruction Site" were brand new. Another nifty gem is a cover of the Clash's "Bank Robber" that features Greg and John playing and sharing vocal duties. If you've never heard Greg MacPherson before you are in for a treat as he has an awesome voice and vivid lyrics and this serves as as good an introduction as any.

The sound of the recording is great and I've had it for awhile waiting for the right time to post it but it seems like I was scooped last fall as someone posted a torrent of it BUT it seems like people weren't looking for it and it isn't exactly seeded and healthy so I decided I'd upload it myself for the blog. Also the torrent doesn't have the exact recording date which I do. As always enjoy!

I'm a bit of an odd Replacements fan in that my favourite release isn't Let It Be or Tim but Pleased To Meet Me and I don't completely shit on their final two LPs. While promoting Don't Tell A Soul (one of those LPs that often gets shit on by fans) their record company ended up sending out this EP, Inconcerated Live, to radio stations. The set was recorded at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, it is a nice selection of their career and the band isn't too drunk or sloppy but has a perfectly measured energy. The best part of it for me is the version of "Talent Show" which highlights how Don't Tell A Soul could have been a lot better if it felt a little looser and spontaneous. It also contains an extra little portion of the song "Portland" which was scrapped and became "Talent Show". This is a great, somewhat obscure, piece of the band's career and although this was up on other blogs before, none of the links seem to be active and this is a high quality rip from my own collection. Enjoy!

I don't think Pegboy gets the credit they deserve. I really feel like they were creating an original sound that could be called pop-punk when such a term didn't exist without default to influence from bands like Descendents, The Ramones or the Buzzcocks. Of course guitarist John Haggerty's former band was Naked Raygun who are legends in and of themselves.

What I have here today is a live set they did at CBGBs in summer 1991. At that point all they had out was Three-Chord Monte EP, the Strong Reaction LP and the Field Of Darkness 7". If you are like me, you thing that is their strongest material anyway. This is floating around the net elsewhere but this is a high quality rip converted from an FLAC copy of a first generation tape that you won't find anywhere else. It sounds great beyond a few imperfections Enjoy!















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Tracklist:

1. Method
2. Strong Reaction
3. Not What I Want
4. My Youth
5. Field Of Darkness
6. Fade Away
7. Time Again
8. Still Uneasy
9. Walk On by
10. Locomotivelung
11. Through My Fingers

Recently Samiam had to cancel a number of shows in support of their latest album Trips so I missed them but lucky for me and anyone else that did I found this pretty decent quality live recording from their Krazy Fest set earlier this year. It was one large file so I went and cut up the songs in a way I feel retains the flo of the set. My only real complaint is that the setlist heavily favours You Are Freaking Me Out and Astray. Don't get me wrong I love those albums and get that they are fan favourites but in a roughly half our set it would be nice if they could atleast have a one song from each of their albums but Samiam, Soar and Billy are completely ignored. Heck considering it was their last proper album I expected more than one song from Whatever's Got You Down. Enough of my complaining, it is a good boot, enjoy!

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Remember a few years ago when noise pop was the coolest kid on the block? I'd be extremely surprised if members of those band's didn't cut their teeth on Henry's Dress' self-titled 10". What made Henry's Dress special though is they balanced the perfect amount of melody and fuzz. You think with all the noise making and rocking going on the sweet parts might get lost in a muddy mess but not at all. I can't say the same for this recording exactly, but this is a live show if you want excellent quality pick up the studio stuff. This is pretty darn good for what is likely an audience recording. Even more so than the records you really see how the trio rocked out, playing songs mostly from the then forthcoming Bust 'em Green LP. It would be nice to have seen a bit more of an even mix of songs from the Henry's Dress in here and maybe one of the songs from the split with Rocketship but hey beggar can't be choosers. This bootleg does the job of making you wish you could have been there but also makes you wish the band had some kind of proper live album. Oh well, this will have to do. Enjoy!

If you've never heard Armchair Martian before they were Jon Snodgrass' band before Drag The River and they rested somewhere between Social Distortion and 2000's Americana influenced punk rock - both musically and chronologically. This is a live set they did for a college radio station in 2001, perhaps because it was for something other than commercial radio the set is actually pretty decent in length, with a dozen songs running about half an hour. As a radio show the sound quality is pretty good for a live set, I'd give it a solid B+. The song choices are from all over Armchair Martian's career but there is a a strong focus on their split with Bad Astronaut as it had just come out that year. For me the real highlight is having a recording of their cover of George Jones' "She Thinks I Still Care". Enjoy!

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Although the most noted band in Toronto punk and hardcore of the 2000's has to be Fucked Up, I have to say Career Suicide is my personal favourite. Mixing 80's hardcore with tinges 60's garage doesn't sound highly original today but unlike the legions of bands you could apply that genre distinction to after the Bronx blew up, Career Suicide doesn't sound much like them at all. Sure there is speed, swagger and sing along but is completely unique.

Today I've combined two radio sets that CS has done, one is a quite easy to find but not often circulated set they did for the Equalizing Distort radio show for CIUT in Toronto and the other which was recorded for CJLO in Montreal is not as easy to find. The EXD set list is mainly focusing on stuff that can be found on their Anthology of Releases and conveniently the CJLO set list mainly focuses on material from Anthology of Releases Vol. 2 and their Attempted Suicide LP. Therefore, if you've never heard the band before this is as good an intro as any. The sound quality is good as far as a live set go since they are from studio sessions and I've tried to clean them up as best I could. Enjoy!

I just got back from Fest in Gainesville and it was by far one of the best weekends of my life. One of the bands I only got to somewhat see at Fest was Bars of Gold. How did I somewhat see a band? I was half passed out due to exhaustion during their set. Bars of Gold feature the singer and drummer of a band I miss dearly - Bear Vs. Shark. Those looking toward Bars of Gold for the manic energy or startling originality of BvS might be a bit disappointed but that isn't to say the two bands don't have their similarities. Yet, it is hard to deny that Bars of Gold have their own unique sound and aren't enjoyable in their own right. Anyways, the band has a bootleg of their very first show so I thought I'd share it in case there is any BvS fans out there that didn't know about them or anyone just looking for some good new music, they recently put out a 12" so you all should check it out. The sound quality here is far from the greatest but I tried to do some minor touch ups and it should give you an idea of what the band is about:

There are a lot of Hot Water Music boots floating around on the internet but I chose this one because it is a great setlist and the sound quality is great. It captures the band right before their jump to Epitaph Records right when they were in their prime. There is some funny banter about people comparing them to Avail and references to other shows on the same tour. This is a really essential live document for anyone that considers themselves a HWM fan. enjoy!:

My favourite "era" of Toronto's ever controversial Fucked Up was probably around the time of their first LP, Hidden World, and it's associated singles. This BBC session was recorded in May of 2007 in support of that record and showcases three fantastic renditions of songs from that LP as well as the b-side "Black Hats". My personal favourite is this version of "Manqueller Man" as Ben Cook's fantastic backup vocals give this version a little extra "something", Ben would go on to join the band as a third guitarist and play on future studio recordings by the band. I've been sitting on this for a few years and it doesn't seem to have much internet presence,although I did find it on one blog but the quality doesn't appear to be as good as this version and it doesn't have the great artwork made for it :). Enjoy!:

Sorry for the late update.

In the fall of 2007, freshly reunited 90's pop punk/hardcore act Lifetime did a tour of Japan. Somewhere in there they played a short acoustic set in a record shop in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Someone filmed four of those songs, and I've ripped the audio from them in surprisingly good quality. It is a real treat to hear these classics and one new song re-arranged. I hope you enjoy this:

I'm not too sure what to say about Lawrence Kansas' Kill Creek other than they are one of my favourite bands. Although they are from the other Kansas, you likely wouldn't have had bands like The Casket Lottery or The Get Up Kids without them. They have that muscular and melodic sound that the 90's seemed to produce in spades with bands like Jawbreaker and Seaweed but softer country/folk and pop moments that recall the Weakerthans or Jets To Brazil. Anyways, this is the only live material I was able to find of theirs and it is quite good quality, the first half of it is taken from a live in studio acoustic session and the second half is taken from a full band awards show performance.

The radio show set is rather cute with with renditions of "Twinkle, Twinkle" one including guest vocals by guitarist/vocalist Scott Born's son Alex. There is one really sad part to the set where Scott dedicates the final song to his daughter who passed away as she was being born just a few days prior and you can hear his voice crack up. Here you go:

This is a great quality recording of Tom Gabel of Against Me! playing solo at Generation Records in New York. Even if you don't care for his solo material you will still probably dig this set, it is floating around out there but this is likely the best bitrate/version you are going to find. Both the vocals and music are at a good volume, and there is also decent crowd participation. Enjoy:

To my knowledge there isn't a lot or any Lemuria live audio floating around out there, so this is a set that the band recorded live in studio for the Cloak & Dagger Radio Show on WHFR out of Dearborn, Michigan back in 2006. It is before their Get Better LP came out so the set is almost completely made up of 7" and compilation material that made up The First Collection in 2007. There is also the rare treat of "Hey, I'm Over Here" from the band's demo as well as an adorable acapella version of Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious". Each band member also does a quick radio drop for the show and and intro to the set. The sound quality is pretty darn good about a B+ and the band has a real nervous energy with Sheena either missing some of the lyrics or them dropping away from the mic. I hope you enjoy: