Fugazi by Jem Cohen

After letting audio tapes for more than 800 shows languish in a closet for years, Fugazi has begun putting them all on its Web site, with the first batch of 130 shows going up next Thursday.

In keeping with its commercial principles of low prices and trust in fans, the shows' suggested price is $5 each, with a sliding scale of $1 to $100, for the cheap or the philanthropic.

As a career-spanning archival project, the Fugazi Live Series has few equals, putting the band in the unlikely company of acts like the Grateful Dead and Phish. And for Dischord, Fugazi's self-run label, it has taken more than two years and tens of thousands of dollars, said Ian MacKaye, one of Fugazi's two singer-guitarists and a co-founder of Dischord.
-[NY Times]

The Fugazi Live Series is now in beta and officially launches on December 1st.

by BBG

Void were clearly ahead of their time. Although the Columbia, MD band were short-lived and their output was similarly small, Void's negative blueprint were the catalyst for legions to come, signifying one of the first moments when the chaotic urgency of hardcore mixed with metal. Void's split with The Faith is a certified classic (get it if you don't have it already), but the band had little other recorded material available for release save for the Condensed Flesh 7" and a few appearances on comps like the seminal Flex Your Head. Until a recent house-cleaning/excavation at 3819 Beecher St in DC revealed otherwise:

While organizing the Dischord archive, we came across the 4-track of Void's first recording session. This was done with Steve Carr at Hit and Run Studios in November '81 and never released (though there has been at least one bootleg made from a cassette of the original mix). The master tape was nowhere to be found, so the tape was remixed by Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara at Inner Ear earlier this year. It was like digging through a treasure chest! Hearing embryonic versions of what would become Void classics as well as songs that didn't make the cut made it clear just how driven this band was to capture their own sound.

Sessions 1981-83 features the entire Hit and Run session along with the first Inner Ear Demo (including the Flex Your Head cuts and the songs that ended up on the Condensed Flesh 7"), two out-takes from their second Inner Ear session, and a couple of live recordings including one that I think must be the last song they ever played.

Sessions 1981-83 was scheduled for release on 10/24 on Dischord Records but is currently shipping. Check out three versions of "Dehumanized" from November 1981, December 1981, and June 1982 that are all available on the release and are streaming below. Order your copy today.

Void still has one unreleased LP in Potion For Bad Dreams, which the band recorded for Touch N' Go before their demise. The LP is reportedly been shelved indefinitely.

Stream "Dehumanized" times three below, alongside some video.

Continue reading "Void releases "Sessions 1981- 1983" w/ unearthed tracks"

Bells at Cake Shop, photo by Caspar Newbolt

BELLS (mems Jawbox/Oxford Collapse) will play Bruar Falls on July 30th as part of a "rock and roil CRAB BOIL" at the venue. The show, headlined by Mcdonalds (who you can read more about here), will also feature a solo appearance from Bells member/cellist Gordon Withers. Gordon, who you may know for his cello Jawbox covers, now also plays with with J. Robbins in Office of Future Plans and with Zac Barocas in BELLS. Moonmen On The Moon, Man are also on the Bruar Falls bill which features a meal as described in the name of the show.

Speaking of Jawbox, Dischord remastered and reissued two singles at the end of May. Speaking of Dischord, Title Tracks are on tour and in NYC this weekend.

Office of Future Plans has three shows coming up, but still none in NY. They're listed below.

BELLS released their debut There Are Crashes EP last year, and are currently writing new material. Stream that EP and the Gordon Withers Jawbox covers LP below.

Continue reading "Jawbox-related bands playing shows (BELLS, Gordon Withers, Office of Future Plans, Title Tracks)"

Enrique Cardenas: Is the legend of the guitar god dead? Are there any young guitarists that will make an impact in 2009?

Sasha Frere-Jones: The last three "guitar heroes" I saw were women: Marnie Stern, Kaki King, and Marissa Paternoster of the the Screaming Females. And the only old-fashioned guitar solos coming to mind are on Chris Brown and Braid Paisley albums.

Heartonastick: Paternoster's hard to see, impossible to take your eyes off.

Screaming Females are on tour with Throwing Muses. They play Music Hall of Williamsburg together tonight (3/12).

Lissy Trullie is everywhere lately. One of those places is opening for The Soundtrack of our Lives at Bowery Ballroom tonight (3/12) (not sold out).

Speaking of Dischord, Medications are on tour with Edie Sedgwick They play Cake Shop in NYC tonight (3/12).

LA comedian Morgan Murphy apparently lives in NYC now. That is great news for NYC comedy. Catch her tonight (3/12) at 92Y Tribeca. Check her out in the video below...

Continue reading "Lissy Trullie, Morgan Murphy, Medications, Screaming Females --- shows tonight & other stuff"

"Opening up was Garrett from Texas is the Reason's new band, Surrounding Areas. It sounded like a slowed down possibly, at times, country influenced, Texas. Good but not spectacular...

...Finally, Bluetip came up and just blew everyone away. They sounded so tight and just so damn anthemic. They played almost every song I wanted to hear (besides Castanet) and really just fucking rocked it." [ThePunkGuy]

by Black Bubblegum

Bluetip

The recently reformed Bluetip (featuring members of the mighty Swiz) have lined up a handful of dates including one at Mercury Lounge on August 24th. Tickets are on sale. Let's hop in the time machine, courtesy of the world's most accurate encyclopedia:

Bluetip was a rock band from Washington, D.C. It was formed in 1995 by ex-members of Swiz, and released four albums, an EP, and a number of singles before splitting up in January 2002.

Bluetip's music is a fairly accessible brand of 'post-hardcore' punk rock, but without the bleak introspection of many of their Dischord labelmates.

The reunion is based on the 1996 lineup of Jason Farrell, Dave Stern, Jake Kump, and Joe Gorelick.

Following the demise of Bluetip, Jason Farrell and Joe Gorelick went on to form Retisonic, who are also on hand for the show. Retisonic was captured by Punkcast a few years ago. The Netherlands (the band, not the country) and The Surrounding Areas, a band constructed Frankenstein-style from pieces of Texas Is The Reason, Walking Concert, and Jets To Brazil, will jumpstart the evening.

Ex-Swiz-er Nathan Larson recently reunited with his band Shudder To Think at Baltimore's Virgin Festival.

Walking Concert figurehead Walter Schriefels has reformed Rival Schools.

Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens, and co-founder of Dischord Records) (alive and well) is holding a Q & A at the Indie & Small Press Book Fair (Dec 1-2 in NYC)

Bring your questions regarding the parallels between the worlds of independent music and book publishing, sustainable models for truly independent companies, and anything else that’s on your mind.

2:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, 2007

ALSO: Evens are on tour, Joe Lally is going on tour, Q & Not U are looking for live footage, and President (Harris ex-Q and Not U) is playing with Antelope (Dischord Records) at Glasslands in Brooklyn on November 27th. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "Ian MacKaye, Indie & Small Press Book Fair, Dischord tours"