Trash Talk - 119

Love them or leave them, Trash Talk is pretty damn unfuckwithable. They have spent the last six years raising hell anywhere people would have them, from shitty basements to the New Museum. The level of youthful skater/hipster jackassery has risen exponentially in recent years, in no way helped to the cranky old JS-NYC eyes by their affiliation with West Coast hip-hop collective Odd Future. Generation gaps aside, Trash Talk have become the first non-hip hop artist to sign to the Odd Future collective.

119 is their first record for Odd Future Records (in conjunction with their own Trash Talk Collective) and shows little change from the Flag-ged up guitar thrash we've come to know and love from the fearsome foursome. Things rarely stretch past the one-minute mark, save for a brooding collabo with OFWGKTA proprietors Hodgy Beats and Tyler The Creator that seems tailored more for the after-parties Trash Talk have been playing on the recent Odd Future tour than anything people are really clamoring for. The rest is business as usual, and tracks like Reasons do make me want to hit people in the face with a shovel, so rest assured that your Sacto boys are still bringing it. Get 119 here from the TTC web presence and look out for them at Gramercy on 10/17 with Mellowhype. I suspect there will be ten or twenty underground shows for TT that day as well, so keep your eyes peeled.

R

Jaded Scenester NYC: Best EPs of 2011

As I understand, it's in the way that you use it, or so the Michelobs are telling me. Here's the JS-NYC take on all things short format in 2011.

1.  Iron Chic – Split & Shit EP
Their crowd is getting a little wearisome to this old bastard, but when it comes to hooky LIHC with a decided post-Lifetime bent, you can't go wrong with Iron Chic or Split & Shit.

2.  Drive-By Truckers – Sometimes Late At Night EP. It's chaos as usual for Team DBT, with bassist/singer Shonna Tucker the latest to depart in the time-honored ambiguous circumstances. This EP came out before the split, featuring a handful of live tracks and a studio version of the Vic Chestnutt tune, When I Ran Off And Left Her. Be interesting to see what's next for these Sons Of The South.

3.  The Hold Steady – Live from Soho EP
I still miss Franz, but this is a pretty solid eight song showing from Team THS. I'm intrigued to see how Craig's solo record impacts things as/re: the new (non-Vagrant?) record. I'm calling ATO as the winner, unless they score themselves a too-good-to-be-true major deal with Anti.

4.  Restorations – The Key Studios EP
Restorations have been a big deal for me over the last year ago and I was glad they sweetened the top with this live recording. Five great takes, with a little studio banter to remind you its not all glowering and dynamic shifts with these nice young men.

5.  Chixdiggit – Safeways Here We Come EP
Chixdiggit pretty much redeemed their last half-hearted junket through town with a fun EP and a great set with Kepi Ghoulie on an East River Rocks Off death barge. On Fat Wreck again, as well. While Hot n' Horny is embarassing for guys as old as these dudes, Since You Got A Dog continues to be an anthem for our times.

6.  Armalite – Humongous 7”
The eight year locusts of hardcore re-emerge from dormancy to drop three jolts of post-D4 Philly punkcore. Boo-ya. And Go! for that matter.

7.  Jon Snodgrass – Tri-State Record
I wish Jon would pull a Wedding Present and release a song a month and then offer a catch-up comp release at the end of the year, as he's almost prolific to a fault. Tri-State Record is the best cumilitive record this year, although the Scorpios record is quite a little delight as well.

8.  Superchunk/Coliseum - Record Store Day 7”

C'mon: The Chunk and Coliseum togther doing Misfits covers. That's worth a spin.

9.  Bobby Bare Jr. – a storm, a tree, an acoustic ep EP
The companion EP to A Storm, A Tree, My Mother's Head gave nerds and completists a shot at the demos that fostered the full-length.

10.  Trash Talk – Awake EP
Blaaaah! Blaah-Blaah-Blaah-Blaah! Circle Pit. Mosh-mosh-mosh. Chug.

Trash Talk - Awake EP

Happy Thrashgiving:

I like Trash Talk as much as the next old guy. You're not going to catch me thrash-capped out and standing on the fringes of the pit with my deck ready to bean some sucker, but I will take exception to Trash Talk being featured as ESPY-rock. That's kind of fucked, I think, even if I could have stolen the cover art from another source.

Either way, Trash Talk are always a blast (ha!) to see live. The show with Youth Of Today that I evidently neglected write up was pretty aces, even if the skate douche factor was a little spiked. These five songs are the usual post-Flag thrash that you have come to expect from team Trash Talk. Awake should have you circle-pitting up a storm in short order. Get it here from said Trash Talk Collective.

R

Live: OFF! with Trash Talk @ Santos Party House 3.26.11

Eric had been after me to see this show, and as I enjoy taking in all things rock and brewed with him, I picked up a ticket even though OFF! would probably play 20 minutes tops. Brevity is the soul of punk and while I'm wholly in favor of bands not overstaying their welcome, the cranky old man in me hates dropping $15 for the privilege. My issues aside, Trash Talk had also come highly recommended, so it seemed worth ponying up.

I rolled in just as Trash Talk were going on. In my favorite turn of events, there was an unannounced lineup switch and they were in the midcard slot. Once I ascertained I hadn't missed OFF! in that switch, I settled in for the fracas. The party line on TT was that they 'fucked shit up'. I'm not particularly of a mind to act as such in my old age and don't mind that the young people choose to (most of the time) unless I unwillingly have to be in the thick of it. Santos is awesome for a lot of reasons, but its layout is not conducive to being out of the fray if the kids start to get frisky. While kids of all ages went apeshit from the jump for Trash Talk, the band was as active as the crowd. At not one, but two occasions at this show I took my eye off the singer (on stage) for maybe a second and he was literally on my head. Were I to have been up front, that wouldn't be so shocking, but I am 6'3" and was probably 20 feet from the stage for the duration. Trust me: Trash Talk give new meaning to working a room. And they fucking kill it, so buy all their records and go out of your way to see them if ever you get the chance.

OFF! rolled up right after, owing to the dance party that curfews a lot of Santos shows ala Europa. Their Brooklyn show was purported to be pretty bad-ass and the crowd was pretty antsy for being as old as it was in anticipation. Morris and Co. didn't disappoint, romping through their entire canon in about a half hour, even with Keith shooting off his mouth. In a bad ass encore turn, they returned and announced that they were just going to start the set over and play until they got cut off, garnering all who stuck around a good part of the set a second time. Props are due to the loveliest slash best-smelling woman I've ever encountered at a punk show, who tarried in our little enclave for a good part of the set before disappearing. It seems like some slumming was in effect, and I'm as shocked as you are that I don't have anything negative about her attendance. Statistics say it could happen. Either way, the frosting on the beater from one hell of a great show. Go out of your way to see either, but if you enjoy your hardcore with a healthy dose of power violence, step lively here and get yourself some Trash Talk.

R