Burning Fight

Burning Fight, subtitled The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit and Sound encapsulates just that. Written by well respected writer at large Brian Peterson, the book opens with sections on the straight edge movement, politics, animal rights and spirituality then covers 31 seminal bands from the genre, including 108, Threadbare and Undertow. It's pretty great, and presented oral history style for the most part, leaving the fanboy (girl) stuff to you the reader. It certainly prompted a bunch of nostalgia paired with a huge amount of downloading. It's published by your friends at Revelation Records and if you are a fan of the genre you should definitely pick this up immediately. Props are due to Peterson for a great book that will no doubt be the benchmark for hardcore journalism in the future. Get more info on Burning Fight at its official web presence, then buy it from RevHQ here.

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Tony Touch - Best of '09 Live from Shade 45

Mr. 50 MCs himself has got a new comp out that has 27 of the best freestyles from Toca's Shade 45 Radio show. Listening to it, you might actually think there is a future for hip hop. Toca drops old school freestyles along most of the artists, and for the record we are talking off-the-head freestyles, not their best writtens. He's hardly Big Daddy Kane, but he's a fair shade better than 95% of the crap that passes for today's hip-hop.

Of the 27, you'll be shocked to find that JS-NYC is coming out in favor of the Sean Price track. In other not so shocking nods, know that Joell Ortiz continues to decimate every other MC in the game. His track is fucking bananas and sadly for shitty rappers he twists the knife and appears a second time as part of Slaughterhouse. Don't think this a young man's game either, as old school players like AG and Steele also represent. Listen to this and ask yourself why these freestyles are better than anything that topped the hip-hop charts last year.

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Worn In Red - In The Offing

This has been sitting in the pile for a while now. I think it's because I confused it with the Mike Hale band that I kept passing it over. That's not a burn on Mike, who is undoubtably one of the nicest guys I've ever met, but after being not so crazy about his acoustic stuff, I was wary of not liking that either and feeling even more guilty. For the record: this isn't the Mike Hale band.

No ambivalence here. At all. I'm all about this fucking record. Screamy vocals over tight, heavy arrangements with great recording quality? Sign me up. Worn In Red are from Richmond, VA and sound like it. Rarely have I found that to be a bad thing and In The Offing is no exception. Four dudes, probably with a high beard percentage, playing their hearts out. You can't go wrong with that. Pony up the $8 and get In The Offing from No Idea right away. They are streaming it over there, too, if you're a doubting thomas. The gents are on tour currently, so pop on over to their web presence and see if they are coming your way. If In The Offing is any indication, I can't see Worn In Red doing anything but fucking killing live.

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Eddy Current Suppression Ring

Australia has brought many fine musical entities into the world: The Saints, Hoodoo Gurus, Paul Kelly. Then again there is most of the INXS catalog, Silverchair and Wolfmother. Add the ever-popular "garage rock" tag and you've got a pretty hard sell for this asshole. I can't say that I'm the hugest fan of the GR genre, but I know a number of serious players and connoisseurs and have spent enough time absorbing to know this isn't terrible. If you are a GR guy, you'll probably eat this up. Or maybe already own it, as this is a reissue. It's got a good backstory in that there are brothers in the band and EDHC were initially a drunken lark at a vinyl pressing plant's holiday party that had their besotted recordings duped and have gone on to be huge down under. Whouda thought? Get the whole story at the Eddy Current Suppression Ring web presence here, along with some audio and video delights. If you like what you hear, Memphis garage titans Goner are handling this reissue. You can grab it here, along with Primary Colors, the record that blew them up last year.

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Noise By Numbers - Yeah, Whatever...

Hey, Danny Vapid is back. They sure do have a work ethic in the Midwest. I believe that Danny is still a member of Screeching Weasel, The Methadones and the Riverdales when those franchises are active, yet he still has time to team up with Neil Hennessy (the only man who can lay claim to anything close to Mikey Erg's claim to the punk rock polygamy crown) to come up with his best project since Sludgeworth. There are touchstones from all the aforementioned projects, as well as a little Alkaline Trio and Raygun for good measure (and perhaps Union compliance). Props are due to Eric for hipping me to this. Pick up Yeah, Whatever cheap here from your friends at Asian Man Records. Keep tabs on when and if they are going to make it out of the Midwest here. Hennessy jockers should be aware that he only played on the record and, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't play with them live.

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Micah Schnabel - When The Stage Lights Grow Dim

How great is this record? I picked up When The Stage Lights Grow Dim at Micah's show the other night without thinking that I was going to fall for it as hard I did. There were a fair amount of covers in his solo set, so I was pretty sure it was for lack of solo material. Color this idiot wrong, as the whole kit and caboodle is pretty damn fabulous, even the song I was pretty sure was a Tim Easton cover. Micah self-released this late last year, but I understand Virgil and the kids from Suburban Home are re-releasing this soon, if not already. Check here for the details, but don't think for a moment that you don't want this. Buy it, love it and look out for a new Two Cow record this summer from Suburban Home.

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Aziz Ansari - Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening

Looks like Aziz has hit the big time. No longer playing Pianos on a Sunday night, he's ditched half of that Human Giant crew and moved out west to develop pictures with Apatow and star on Parks And Recreation. This is the CD and DVD version of his live set. It's pretty great. Aziz is one animated motherfucker. I can't say I'm about that Randy character, but judging by the crowd response here, I'm in the minority. Pick it up here from the Ansari web presence. Even if you think you hate him, check out the R. Kelly bit before you totally write him off.

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