nothing changes

Nope, not back from my little vacation/break/thing yet, but I was digging through a never ending pile of CDs today and found this. I thought it would be cool to post so here it is. That said, anyone out there have a lossless copy of Trent Reznor's remix of N*E*R*D's Lapdance? It's for an upcoming post. I used to have a promo CD of it but I can't seem to locate it any longer. Any chance someone has a FLAC of it they could share with me? Write me and I'll give you more info if you'd like.

Regarding this little sampler, back in 98 I was going to the Lorain County Community College and we were trying to get their radio station, which didn't actually broadcast on the radio, to be taken seriously and possibly get promotional materials from labels. No one really supported it other than myself and it went nowhere. That said, we did get some really good promo CDs and I managed to get in touch with Nothing Records. At the time they said they wouldn't send me anything because we didn't report to CMJ but somehow I ended up on their mailing list regardless and I received a really nice package from a woman named Leslie Miller. It had two or three copies of this sampler, which features a lot of the electronic artists Nothing was licensing at the time, including what appears to be an exclusive mix of Plaid's Abla Eedio, as well as a CD-R of The Bowling Green's One Pound Note album. That CD-R was totally cool to me because I'd never received a CD-R from a record label person, and this was a little while before it seemed like everyone could make CD-Rs. What more, it even had a track that got deleted from the US pressing due to sample clearance issues! I kept the original and made a copy for the station. Thanks Leslie, wherever you are!


nothing changes

01 Squarepusher - Tequila Fish
02 Autechre - Vose In
03 Meat Beat Manifesto - Acid Again (Dub Again Remix)
04 Plaid - Undoneson
05 Plug - Cheesy (Amen Mix)
06 The Bowling Green - Think What You're Doing
07 Meat Beat Manifesto - Book Of Shadows
08 Autechre - Corc
09 Plaid - Abla Eedio (Freemix)
10 Squarepusher - Massif (Stay Strong)
11 Plug - Drum 'n' Bass For Papa
12 The Bowling Green - The Road Is A Grey Ribbon

The Doom Generation Soundtrack

If you've never seen The Doom Generation or a Gregg Araki film, it's definitely an experience. I couldn't find The Doom Generation for rental but found a used copy for purchase on a VHS tape recorded at EP speed, so the quality sucked and was a less than optimal platform for enjoying the film. At the time, there was a punk/gothish girl I was trying to get next to who worked at the shop I purchased it from, and when she asked if I enjoyed the film I had to tell her that I was left a little queasy afterwords. She assumed it was because of the scene where one of the characters eats their own semen after masturbating, so she initially gave me the "you're much too vanilla for me" look, but that was never the issue, it was the violence of the ending, with a group of neo-nazis castrating and killing one of the main characters in such gruesome detail that put me off, leaving an otherwise entertaining film experience tainted by something seemingly out of step with the rest of the film.

I'm sure most people were put off by the majority of the film, what with the homosexual-undertones, violence, and ridiculously vulgar language, but it's meant to be confrontational, made with the intent to get one thinking outside of the figurative box. It probably didn't help that the script was rough, the film looked cheap (the VHS medium may have been a factor though) and there was a consistently directionless vibe throughout, all of which helped earn it a bad reputation, though I think it was wrongfully applied. Not every film is for everyone, so why would someone reviewing The Doom Generation treat it as if it were intended for the same people going to see Ace Ventura? It's their loss in the end, although I suppose what's great about The Doom Generation is it's so out there that just about everyone could walk away with something completely different. If only films like this could have made it to the local multiplex. Oh yeah, it also had a deliciously young Rose McGowan! Vavavoom!

I may never have found out about The Doom Generation, the film, if I hadn't been exposed to the soundtrack. I found the cassette for cheap at the same shop I eventually purchased the movie at and it became a permanent fixture in my car for a few years. Filled with shoegazer tripiness, hypnotic grooves, plenty of diversity and a clutch of supposedly rare tracks, I drove around blasting the Cocteau Twins' Summerblink, Babyland's deathly stomp of Double Coupon, the beauty of The Verve's Already There and much, much more. I figured, any indie film with a soundtrack this good had to be alright, and it certainly was.

The Doom Generation soundtrack was issued on American Recordings, Rick Rubin's label which I've mentioned before has catalog issues, what with it's distribution changing frequently and only it's Slayer and Johnny Cash releases always remaining in print. So, despite what seems like a decent push from Warner Bros. and it's appearance during the grand age of indie films, the soundtrack for the The Doom Generation, much like the film, is mostly forgotten today. I'm sure it would be hell to keep this collection of songs licensed for what would probably be an almost non-sale, so it's not at all shocking to see it has disappeared from retail, both literally and digitally, so I'm happy to post it here today for you to enjoy, and I'm sure you will. It's a REALLY GOOD record which, to be perfectly honest, stayed with me a lot longer than the film did. Don't get me wrong, the film is good and worth seeing, but the tunes from Medicine and Pizzicato Five still occupy my consciousness today, so that's saying something. This is ripped from an original US CD pressing with a new scan of the cover so enjoy!


The Doom Generation

01 Intro
02 Curve - On The Wheel
03 Love & Rockets - This Heaven
04 Cocteau Twins - Summerblink
05 The Wolfgang Press - Christianity (The Adrian Sherwood Mix)
06 Meat Beat Manifesto - Paradise Now (Remix)
07 The Verve - Already There
08 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Penetration
09 MC 900 Ft Jesus - But If You Go
10 Lush - Undertow (The Spooky Mix)
11 Babyland - Double Coupon
12 Medicine - Slut
13 Pizzicato Five - Groovy Is My Name
14 Extra Fancy - Violator
15 Slowdive - Blue Skied An' Clear

a little mixtape

So I was planning on doing a WaxTrax! retrospective this week, but something REALLY BIG has popped up and I have to turn my attention towards it, as it could prove to be of life-changing proportions. That said, I'm not going to be around for the rest of the week but everything will return to normal next week, starting with the WaxTrax! retrospective. For now though, here is a little mixtape I put together mostly from things I recently purchased on vinyl, although there are a few exceptions.


a little mixtape

01 Nirvana - Tourette's (Shitkicker Re-Edit)
This is a "remix/re-edit" I created a while ago for the hell of it. I'm not sure what I think of it, but I figured I'd share it with you all. If you hate it, just skip it, but I'd love to know your honest opinion of what you think about it.

02 69 - Ladies & Gentlemen (Original Version)
I got this from a friend, so it's not my rip, but the quality is quite good. This is longer than the version re-issued in the 69 box set, The Legendary Adventures Of A Filter King, and in my opinion, the extended portion should never have been deleted.

03 Joe Lentini - Mooonmen Jam #2
Joe is an up-and-comer who has a record, Pink Pussy Popsicle, coming out on Schematic next month. Really good, funky, clubby electronic stuff with some attitude! I'll be sharing some more info on Joe in the near future, but he's a really cool guy and the record is definitely worth grabbing!

04 Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock Cheer
This is on the A-Side of a promotional 12" I recently purchased, with an edit and a track from another McLaren project on the B-Side. This doesn't really have anything to do with the Duck Rock album, rather it's from the Swamp Thing album. Trevor Horn gets the writing credit and a co-production credit alongside Stephen Hague, leading me to wonder if Malcolm really had anything to do with the track. Not that it should surprise anyone if he didn't.

05 Jean-Luc Ponty - Twenty Small Cigars
From Ponty's amazing King Kong album, which features five Zappa compositions as well as Zappa on guitar, George Duke on keys and Ian Underwood on whatever he's playing whenever he's playing. Incredibly slept-on classic of a jazz album!

06 Beastie Boys - Shake Your Rump (Latch Bros. Remix)
The Latch Bros. were another Beastie side-project, but I may do a post about them eventually so I'll leave it at that. This is actually taken from the Beastie Boys Video Anthology DVD set.

07 Meat Beat Manifesto - Re-Animator (Part 1)
Probably my favorite track from Storm The Studio, this is from an original US WaxTrax! vinyl copy of the album I recently found in Pittsburgh. Crank it!

08 Maggie's Dream - It's A Sin (11th Avenue Mix)
This is a really odd discovery. Maggie's Dream was a band led by Dräco Rosa, an ex-member of Menudo and a very popular star of the Latin Alternative Music scene. Their sole album was released in 1990 on Capitol Records and a single for It's A Sin was released. The track on it's own is pretty good, but what makes the remixes stand out is they were created by the Dust Brothers! The mixes sound like left-overs from Paul's Boutique, albeit a little more subdued and featuring soulful singing in place of raps. I may post some additional mixes eventually, but none of them are all that different from each other. Still though, really great track!

09 The Marvelettes - Don't Mess With Bill
From an oddball red vinyl pressing of a Motown singles compilation from, I believe, Japan. The packaging is pretty horrid as the cover is made from something resembling construction paper and the vinyl is a bit beat up, but it was so strange I couldn't pass it up.

10 Chris de Luca - One
Not my rip, but a great track from de Luca's Unknown EP. Worth hunting down if you can find it, and as it's no longer in print as far as I know you probably won't. I might have to post the full EP here eventually.

11 Aretha Franklin - 96 Tears
From another assumed Japanese red vinyl record, this one a copy of Aretha Arrives. Never knew she'd recorded a cover of 96 Tears.


Again, sorry for the little break guys. I'll tell you a little more about it next week when I'm back. Enjoy the tracks!

Meat Beat Manifesto - Early Archives

If you're not familiar with Jack Dangers and Meat Beat Manifesto, you should go get Storm The Studio, 99% and Armed Audio Warfare now! All three are representative of late eighties and early nineties industrial/dance music with a serious hip-hop flair as well as experimental, dubby textures that would later become prevalent in modern electronic music. MBM is just as essential today, although their sound is far more hypnotic and dub-influenced than it previously was, so while they sound notably different they're still a tremendous force in electronic music, though it's easy to miss that hip-hop and sample-heavy crunch from their early years. The fact that most of the singles from that era aren't easy to locate doesn't make it any easier, even with two rarities compilations available, so I'm hoping to fill some cracks with the following upload which compiles most of the content no longer available from the Storm The Studio era and before it. That said, if you love that Meat Beat sound you should definitely grab Armed Audio Warfare, which collects rare and unreleased tracks from that era, and Archive Things, self-released by MBM, which features tons of unreleased demos and pre-MBM recordings as well as an anthology of Perennial Divide, the pre-MBM band, named Purged. Otherwise, if you'd like to learn more about Meat Beat Manifesto, Jack Dangers and his collaborators past and present, you can visit their official site, their "other" less frequently updated official site, their historical archive, TapeLab, and the Wikipedia references for MBM and Jack Dangers.


Meat Beat Manifesto - Early Archives


01 Untitled (Drum Machine Test '88)

I'm not certain where this track came from, but it's not available anywhere officially at this time. Funky little workout that would fit nicely on Storm The Studio.


02 I Got The Fear (Titanium Mix)
03 I Got The Fear (Without Jack)
04 I Got The Fear (The Missing 'F' Word Wireless Mix)
05 I Got The Fear (Burnt Version)

The Titanium Mix and Without Jack versions are mixes of what would become I Got The Fear (Part 4). The 'F' Word and Burnt versions are from a promo-only single nicknamed the Absolutely Fucking Free edition. To clarify, the single wasn't a giveaway, it featured clean versions of the song where the "break your fucking back in two" line was re-written. More about these tracks and their releases are available here.


06 Strap Down (Roar Of The Underground)
07 Give Your Body Its Freedom (Original Version)
08 Wall To Wall
09 Strap Down (The Sound Defence Policy Remix)

Both mixes of Strap Down are rather similar to each other, but the Sound Defence remix, which was released after the Roar Of The Underground version, is a much better organized track. Both have tons of samples and are a lot of fun, but the Sound Defence remix is the clear winner of the two. Wall To Wall is a slowed-down reinterpretation of Strap Down with added emphasis on the lyrics. Give Your Body Its Freedom is actually available on Armed Audio Warfare, and while that version is pretty much the same, it's missing the intro contained here. More info on these releases is available here.


10 Re-Animator (Test-Pressing Version)

The origin of this version is unclear, but it's assumed that it was featured as part of an unreleased single of which more information is available here. Another version from that unreleased single is available on Armed Audio Warfare.


11 God O.D. (Single Version)
12 Mars Needs Women (Single Version)
13 Feelin' Dangers

These are all from the God O.D. single. The version of God O.D. is clearly a completely different recording of the song, but it's very similar to God O.D. (Part 1) from Storm The Studio. Mars Needs Women is similar to the version on Armed Audio Warfare but seems to be an edit/remix of that version. Feelin' Dangers features part of the rap from Mars Needs Women which is also featured in some versions of I Got The Fear. More release info here.


14 Strap Down (Part 3)

Not from a single, this version of Strap Down was featured only on the vinyl and cassette releases of Storm The Studio. Some CD issues of Storm The Studio claim to feature this track, but they are misprints. I assume the reason for it's absence from initial CD pressings was due to time and space constraints on early CDs, but it's odd that it hasn't been included on later re-pressings or digital editions. More info here.