FOE: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr. LP Review

The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr.

2012

When I saw the original Record Store Day list for 2012 this record didn't register on my radar. I didn't know what the heck it was. Not a fan of moog versions of today's classic hits and the like, I kind of wrote it off as most likely pathetic. Then during my RSD research I stumbled upon the review in The Big Takeover. To quote David Musto, "The backing track of “The Lung,” reeks of Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) and that pretty much rules." All things happen for a reason. Not even sure how I stumbled upon the review, but damn if that wasn't a blessing!

J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.)

I am old enough to have bought Dinosaur when it came out in 1985 and have pretty much all of Dinosaur Jr.'s music. Yes I am a big fan of Dinosaur Jr. I am also old enough (and possibly insane enough) to have fifty Depeche Mode 12" singles (yes, exactly fifty at this point - and no, I did not "cheat" and include the remix box set in this total, or 7"s, or cd5s, or downloads, just 12" singles, and no that is not enough, I wish I had more). I am fascinated with alternate versions of songs, extended remixes and of course pretty vinyl. So of course I picked The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr. up on purple vinyl on RSD.

OK, so what is EAP/DJR? It is Brett Nelson from Built To Spill, providing the new wavey "electronic" versions/interpretations of classic Dinosaur Jr. songs (anthology). J. Mascis recorded new vocals for these tracks and I dare say "The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr." is nothing short of genius to my ears.

Brett Nelson (Built To Spill)

I literally listen to these nine songs repeatedly (five times in a row the other day). Songs like "Tarpit", "The Lung", "Raisans" and "Feel The Pain" are pure, 80s/new wave genius. The fact that they are new versions of Dinosaur Jr.classics makes this simply amazing.

One of the highest compliments I can give a record is that "I wish I had made that album". Yup. I wish I made this album. I wish I had something to do with this record. Best I can do is help spread the word about this record and take the musical inspiration from this down to my basement. Thank you Brett Nelson and J Mascis.

Take care,

Frank FOE

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Up To No Good Radio Playlist 4/29/12

Up To No Good Radio Playlist for April 29, 2012 (no download)

Thanks for listening! FOE did the show without Reds and Mr. Generic. Hour two was a complete 60 minutes of DEVO, celebrating the Record Store Day Release of their LP "Live In Seattle 1981". All live tracks were from this 2012 release.

Rancid "Up To No Good"
Cock Sparrer "Don't Stop"
The Jam "All Around the World"
Torche "Kicking"
The Dickies "Stuck in a Pagoda, With Trisha Toyota"
Jack White "Sixteen Saltines"

Rezillos "I Can't Stand My Baby"
Bad American "Blink"
Cockney Rejects "Headbanger"
Stranglers "Something Better Change"
Unsane "Ha Ha Ha" (Flipper)
Joey Ramone "Wonderful World"
Rob Zombie "Virgin Witch"
Social Distortion "No Pain No Gain"
Torche "Walk It Off"
Clorox Girls "This Dimension"
Bad American "The Jumper"
Alaric "Memory Assault"
Schleprock "Willow Tree"

Devo "Through Being Cool" (live)
Devo "Redeye Express"
Devo "Mongoloid: (live)
Devo "Speed Racer"
Devo "Girl U Want" (live)
Devo "Mr. B's Ballroom"
Devo "Gates of Steel" (live)
Devo "Day My Baby Gave Me A Big Surprise"
Devo "Race of Doom" (live)
Devo "Snowball"
Devo "Whip It" (live)
Devo "Big Mess"
Devo "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA" (live)
Devo "Come Back Jonee"
Devo "Uncontrollable Urge" (live)
Devo "Ton o Love"
Devo "Jocko Homo" (live)

Lemmy (Motorhead)

Motorhead "Ace of Spades"
Schleprock "Somber Song"
Professionals "Join The Professionals"
Soulfly "Intervention"
Urban Waste "Reject"
Bad American "Dirty Waters"
Fear Factory "Replica"
Radio Birdman "Non-stop Girls"
Adicts "Straight Jacket"
Cock Sparrer "Riot Squad"
The Electronic Anthology Project of Dinosaur Jr. "Tarpit"
Havok "Point of No Return"
Black Breath "Doomed"
Atriarch "Oblivion"
Bad American "Bad American"

Torche

Torche "Sky Trials"
Johnny Cash "Don't Take Your Guns To Town"

Black Breath "Sentenced to Life" LP Review

Black Breath

"Sentenced To Life" LP
Southern Lord
2012

Black Breath sounds like a collision between Discharge and Entombed. The Seattle band takes that simple, pure power of Discharge and steamrolls it with the metal precision and classic Swedish guitar sound of Entombed. Realize, Discharge and Entombed rank among my favorite bands and you will understand how excited I was to drop the needle on this slab o vinyl! I had to look up the definition of Black Breath (look it up yourself, you'd think I made it up if I told you what it was), but this record and this band takes my breath away!

Looking forward to the Black Breath gig at the Barbary in Philadelphia PA on July 7th, 2012.

Take care,

Frank FOE

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Alaric / Atriarch Split LP Review

Alaric / Atriarch Split LP
20 Buck Spin
2012

Both Alaric (Oakland California) and Atriarch (Portland Oregon) are heavy, dark bands that are bound to get comparisons to bands that are far removed from their hometowns. Killing Joke, Joy Division, Amebix and even Rudimentary Peni are sure to be the starting points. Both bands arrange anarcho-punk, post-punk, new wave and goth influences into an ominous sounding doom-fest.

Alaric

The music is bleak enough without knowing the lyrics. Not sure I want to know the contents of the lyrics as the bands' music alone has achieved a level of precision that has the ability to bring the most cheerful to a mournful state. "Reflect and Transform" should be the warning label on this powerful, dark music.

Atriarch

Taken from Atriarch's website, "Our aim is to tear a hole in the veil that blinds us from our true selves. We are bombarded with ideals of a superficial shallow lifestyle, that we are enslaved to maintain. This veil, has become so powerful and overwhelming that we ignore our spirits to worship our shells, as money stokes the fires that burns our immortal souls."

Be careful in the dark,
Frank FOE

Havok "Point of No Return" Review

Havok

"Point of No Return"

Candlelight Records

2012

I am a fan of all things Slayer, which means the "Postmortem/Raining Blood" cover makes this mandatory. Add in the Sepultura "Arise" cover and the value of "Point of No Return" increases. Multiply this by the fact that the two original tracks, "Point of No Return" and "Cradle to the Grave" stand on their own as technically masterful, raging, modern day thrash makes this a captivating EP!

Happy thrashing,
Frank FOE

Municipal Waste "The Fatal Feast - Waste In Space" LP Review

Municipal Waste

"The Fatal Feast - Waste In Space" LP/download

Nuclear Blast

2012

Raging out of Richmond Virginia, Municipal Waste sounds like a cross between DRI, Hirax, Nuclear Assault and Toxic Holocaust fronted by the corpse of Sam Kinison. “The Fatal Feast – Waste In Space” is their fifth studio release and is available on spectacular toxic-yellow vinyl, that also comes with an old-school 24” by 18” poster (remember when half the fun of buying a new slab o vinyl was finding out what was inside – color vinyl, stickers, posters, lyric sheet…). Municipal Waste are thrash metal fundamentalists and this album will have you yearning to start a circle pit immediately, no matter where you are (supermarket, walking around town with your ipod, bathroom, face down in the gutter...).

Check out the video for Municipal Waste's "The Fatal Feast".

Happy thrashing,
Frank FOE

Bad American "Pretty / Ugly" LP Review

Listening to Bad American “Pretty/Ugly” it remains unclear whether this Bethlehem PA area band of miscreants is the Bad American or whether this is a retaliatory response directed at the Bad American. That is a beautiful goal in art, when the end-user is left to their interpretations. What is clear is that these eight songs, clocking in at a grand total of 15 minutes, are pretty ugly. A lyric sheet is provided to help you decipher Ray’s tirades and help you to make your decision on the Bad American debate, but this lyric sheet is pretty useless while listening to the record. Between Ray’s angry outbursts and the Fang-like layers of guitar work over top the punishingly engaging songs, I found it impossible to read while listening to “Pretty / Ugly”. Is Bad American anti-literacy? No, I think the purpose of this record is to extract the fury from deep within the listener and Bad American succeeds at this objective on “Pretty / Ugly”. You can go back and read the lyrics at a later date and ponder the motivation behind including an image of a Bad American smoking crack on the lyric sheet and enjoy the details in the fantastic tribute to the Freeze cover artwork (see “Land of the Lost”). While the needle is on the record, I suggest you let the fury flow. Move fast, only 326 pressed.

Give a listen to "The Jumper" and "Dirty Waters".

Take care,

Frank FOE

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Abba "Voulez-Vous" 12" Review

ABBA "VOULEZ-VOUS/IF IT WASN'T FOR THE NIGHTS" 12" REVIEW

POLAR RECORDS

Yes I love ABBA. I loved ABBA before Tesco Vee made it OK for punk rockers to love ABBA. My favorite track from the "Voulez-vous" LP from 1979 was "Does Your Mother Know", but I'll take a 12" on blue glitter vinyl featuring the extended dance remix of the title track any day. Printing 5,000 copies of this may seem like a lot, but realize ABBA has sold something like 28,000,000 records. This was one of my favorite acquisitions from RSD 2012.

Thank you for the music ABBA! Thank you for the blue glitter vinyl RSD 2012! Thank you Compact Disc Center for scoring a copy to sell to me!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Up To No Good Radio 3/18/12 Playlist

The Clap

Up To No Good Radio Playlist (sorry no download this week)
Reds and Johnny Generic brought the house down as usual, playing punk rock and assorted nasties!

Rancid "Up To No Good"
Plasmatics "Corruption"
F "In Control"
Die Toten Hosen "Sekt Oder Selters"
D-Generation "Helpless"
The Clap "Don't Say No"
Dead End Drive "Dead Vs. Living"
Red Rockers "Folsom Prison Blues"
Iggy Pop "The Passenger"

Plasmatics

Plasmatics "Sometimes I..."
Murphy's Law "Crucial Bar B Q"
Ex-Pistols "Revolution in the Classroom"
999 "Lets Face It"
Jerry's Kids "Pressure"
Satans Rats "You Make Me Sick"
Circle Jerks "When the Shit Hits the Fan"
Fear "Lets Have A War"
Gun Club "Sex Beat"
CH3 "I Didn't Know"
The Damned "Melody Lee"
The Last Resort "Violence In Our Minds"
The Slamhounds "Cops Are Coming"
Biters "Oh Yeah (The Bitch Wants More)"
Social Distortion "Telling Them"
JFA "Skateboard"
TSOL "Sounds of Laughter"
Ramones "Somebody Put Something In My Drink"
Dead Kennedys "Chemical Warfare"
Battalion of Saints "Holy Vision"
Suicide Machines "Confused"
Motorhead "R.A.M.O.N.E.S."
The Undead "The Invisible Man"
Circle Jerks "Trapped"
X "Motel Room In My Bed"
Metallica "53rd and 3rd"
Ramones "Judy is a Punk"
Descendents "Ride the Wild"
Heart Attack "Trendies"
7 Seconds "Aim To Please"
Hairy Phlegmball "Road Pizza"

Stranglers

Stranglers "Shut Up"
Discharge "2 Monstrous Nuclear Stockpiles"
Queers "Another Girl"
Eater "I Don't Need It"
F.O.D. "Surfistas"
Murphy's Law "Killer Beers"
Clash "Somebody Got Murdered"
Adolescents "Word Attack"
Poison Idea "Pure Hate"
XTC "Set Myself on Fire"
Turbonegro "Denim Demon"
Damned "Problem Child"
F.O.D. "Haunt You"
Cheetah Chrome "Poison Lady"

Demolition Doll Rods

Demolition Doll Rods "Married for the Weekend"
Redd Kross "Puss and Boots"
Lunachicks "Jerk of all Trades"
Iron Prostate "Bring Me The Head of Jerry Garcia"

Saturday, April 14, 2012

FOE T-SHIRTS

Over the years I took great pride in providing an outlet for those artistic friends of mine who wanted to share their talents. You can take a look at all the covers of FOE zine here. This was one of my favorite parts of FOE for another reason, while I can write, I can not create something like the cover of FOE #3. I have trouble drawing legible stick figures.

Many years ago there were a variety of runs of FOE shirts and sweatshirts that included the following designs:

My friend of thirty years, Johnny from the legendary punk band THE CLAP has started a t-shirt business called Shut Up Store.

You can get Clap, Pork Dukes and Nostalgia Crisis t-shirts there among many others. He also offers a deal with some of the shirts where you get a free Pork Dukes or Clap CD with some of the shirt orders.

He is working on printing FOE t-shirts upon demand beginning in 2012. Johnny is working with another Lehigh Valley PA legend, CobraKale who runs a printing shop called LV Tees. So if you order a FOE shirt from Shut Up Store know it will trigger an order and a print job (so it might take a bit to process your order).

I am looking forward to Johnny eventually getting to some of my favorites like:

If you want a FOE #16 as pictured below, give Johnny a shout as they are in the works for printing now.

Otherwise, tell Johnny info@shutupstore.com which ones you want him to work on next!

Cheers!

www.facebook.com/DJ.FRANK.FOE

www.frankfoe.blogspot.com/p/complete-index.html

www.wlvr.org

www.frankfoe.com

www.frankfoe.blogspot.com

https://twitter.com/#!/UpToNoGoodRadio

foe411@yahoo.com

uptonogoodradio@gmail.com

Monday, April 9, 2012

UTNG Radio Approved Events as of 4/9/12

Get on out and do some crowd surfing!!!

Up To No Good Radio Approved EVENTS Listing

Girls on Film: 40 Years of Women in Rock, a traveling exhibit from Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is presented at Lehigh University’sZoellner Main Gallery from January 25 to May 25, 2012.

Who Shot Rock N Roll: A Photographic History 1955 to the Present, running at the Allentown Art Museum from February 11 – May 13, 2012

Thurs 4/12 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ MusikfestCafé Bethlehem PA

Fri 4/13 Converge@ Union Transfer Philly PA

Sat 4/14 DanielleLubené Band @ the Funhouse Bethlehem PA

Sat 4/14 Von Kull, Deprived, Retrokast, Cromwell Incident etc... @ Jimmy's Place Allentown PA

Mon 4/16 Scream @ Kung Fu Necktie PhillyPA

Tues 4/17 Hellyeah, Clutch @ Sherman TheaterStroudsburg PA

Wed 4/18 Black Dahlia Murder @ TLA PhillyPA

Thurs 4/19 Bad Brains, GZA @ Troc Philly PA(sold out)

Fri 4/20 Overkill@ Troc Philly PA

Sat 4/21 PureMetal Chaos Fest @ Jimmy’s Place Allentown PA

Sat 4/21 RecordStore Day @ Double Decker Allentown PA & Compact Disc Center Bethlehem PA

Limited Edition records released by: Social Distortion, Devo, Flaming Lips, Metallica, Ringworm, Joey Ramone, Snapcase, Abba, Iggy & the Stooges, Flogging Molly, Mastodon, Misfits, PIL, Refused, The Clash, Black Keys, The Cult, The White Stripes, Cause For Alarm, GG Allin/Antiseen, The Hives, Lou Reed etc….