Review: ECOLI - Rape EP

Here's the debut EP from El Granada, California's ECOLI. A great-sounding bedroom recording offering almost exclusively sub-minute blasts of fast hardcore punk. It's rooted in the sounds of 80's US hardcore but at the same time, there is some solid lead guitar work and actual song-writing that saves this EP from hardcore generica and lifts it beyond genre exercise, yielding 8 songs that are all immediately identifiable from each other. Lyrical topics, as the sleeve might (or might not) suggest, focus on racism, urban decay, police brutality and the evil US killing machine. Noam Chomsky it ain't but a record worth picking up and giving a spin it is.
(Stress Domain Records - http://www.stressdomainrecords.tk)

Track Listing:
A: "Big Stupid Ape (Police Test)" "Whites Will Inherit The World" "The Order" "Trammel"
B: "Social Anxiety" "Warts On My Dick" "Metropolis" "Shoot 'Em All And Let God Sort 'Em Out"

Review: DAVE E AND THE COOL MARRIAGE COUNSELLORS - s/t EP

Here's a bootlegged gem capturing the legendary Dave E with a post-ELECTRIC EELS endeavor. What you have is a studio cut ("Searching Through Sears", a spontaneous live performance sans band "Love Meant To Die", and a live cut "Psychology 101". All three tracks are equally brilliant, and not just for a passing novelty value chuckle. "Searching Through Sears" was originally featured on CLE Magazine #3's 8" flexi insert. 2000 copies were issued in 1981. The flexi showcased several Cleveland underground bands, including PERE UBU. Back to the first cut: An utterly depraved zombie suburban odyssey featuring heaping spoonfuls of xylophone; the instrument of choice for the infirm. Ingredients include: social commentary, children's TV show theme song, alcohol and electro shock therapy. Next up is the live and spontaneous radio performance of "Love Meant To Die". He performs a cappella, providing "doo dee doos" for instrumentation between verses. As off-the-cuff and incomplete as it is, I can only imagine this being a perfect rendition of the song, which somehow manages to yield a complete vision of what the song was to become, as well as a perfect display of Dave E's creative potential and a balance of humor and nihilism. "Psychology 101" continues this formula on the live stage. A laid-back jazzy number accompanied by saxophone. A tangled and tragic tale of man and woman. I haven't been able to dig up much information on this 7". My guess is that this is not a reissue but something that was assembled out of scraps of the band's ephemeral existence (even more so than the ELECTRIC EELS, who only performed live a half dozen times before imploding). Dave E does talk in the radio recording an upcoming release on his to-be label, Christmas Pets Records, but I gather this never came to be. A friend told me that Dave is now Born Again and performing in a church band. No clue as to this story's validity.
(bootleg)

Track Listing:
A: "Searching Through Sears"
B: "Love Meant To Die" "Psychology 101"

Radio State: Now Podcasting!

Radio State: Exploring punk, hardcore, rock, psychedelic, jazz and beyond since 1999. Mondays, bi-weekly on 101.5 UMFM Winnipeg.

As of February 11th, Radio State on 101.5 UMFM Winnipeg is now podcasting! Now you can download archives of the show hosted by DJs Terrible and Fuck You and listen at your leisure. You can either click on the subscribe button to automate downloads with your favorite service or you can download individual episodes directly.

March 24, 2008
March 10, 2008
February 25, 2008
February 11, 2008

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MP3 blog coming soon...

Thanks to one of these, I'll be posting vinyl reviews with MP3 downloads shortly.