Ben Edge On Music 9

Last night, I had the privilege to see Broken Needle play a great show at 924 Gilman St. Broken Needle in the Bay Area always means some quality time with Mr. Ben Edge.
(Big ups to Chelsea, John Isaacson, Carl, and anyone else who mentioned Dead Time Pacifies to me!)

Now on the a taste of Ben Edge's musical rants.


Hazen Street:
"You know why they didn't make it? 14 year old girls are scared of a lead singer in his mid 30s with a mustache who is fresh out of prison."


Madball- "Ball Of Destruction":
" It is the only Madball album I own, and hopefully the only Madball album I will ever own."


Strain:
"The first show Todd Tyler drove me to was New Age Records night at the Showcase in '96, and he went to see Strain. The singer for Strain had this low, booming voice that actually hurt the inside of my right ear when he sang."


Reagan Youth:
"I love Reagan Youth. They were the heroes of New York hardcore, before the scene was high jacked by gay bashing right wing skinheads (some of which also happened to make very good music)."


Snapcase- "Steps":
"Probably the most dated sounding band of the 90s. But I'm not denying this record."


Ben Edge at Dead Time Pacifies Office

Ben Edge / Bad Reaction Car Crash

Last Friday, Nov. 15th, Bad Reaction got into a car accident with (this blog's contributor) Ben Edge driving.
The car is totaled but the boys are doing fine.

"We’re all fine. We’re all happy as hell to be alive. I’m the same person I was before. I have had no religious epiphanies. The only thing I really learned from all this is that you should replace your tires much more often than you probably already do.
I love you all"
-Ben Edge

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I am so glad you are all safe. I am going to have my tires changed very soon! (I was warned by a mechanic recently.)

Ben Edge On Music 13

Mr. Ben Edge has been visiting the Bay Area a lot lately it seems. I wish I could distill all of our conversations about metal and hip hop and screamo crunk into a blog. Well, here is a little bit of Ben Edge on music:


Accept - "Balls To The Walls":
The singer of Accept and Rob Halford were the only openly gay guys in heavy metal at the time. They were also the only heavy metal guys with short hair. Is this a coincidence?
One of the gayest album covers ever.

Let me revise that: Udo, the singer for Accept, doesn't appear to be openly gay. Everyone in the world just suspects he is.


Slash's Snakepit - "It's Five O'clock Somewhere" / Izzy Stradlin - "On Down The Road":
Fuck, I'm barely interested enough in GNR to give Use Your Illusion I and II another chance. I am not even close to contemplating listening to solo shit by former members. Slash's Snake Pit? No thanks. Can't do it. You know that the first Snake Pit album sold a million copies? That's mind blowing.


Raid - "Hands Off The Animals":
bad vegan metal played through Crate amps.


Leeway - "Desperate Measures":
It's like Van Halen, but not like SSD trying to do Van Halen and sucking.


Kevin Dubrow - "In For The Kill":
He died of a cocaine overdose. Ouch.

There is a scene from a film called Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, where a member of Redd Kross is playing a record exec, and he's talking to someone on the phone, and he says he's going to get the Beatles back together, and Kevin Dubrow will take John Lennon's place. I turned to my friend and asked, "Who's Kevin Dubrow?" When he said, "The singer of Quiet Riot," I laughed harder than anyone else in the theater.


Rainbow - "Down to Earth":
I like how there's this huge crossover between things macho metal dudes like and things four year old girls like (e.g., rainbows, unicorns). It just shows that the macho-girly spectrum is in fact circular, not linear.


Earth Crisis - "To The Death":
Might be the worst album ever. They keep raising the bar!

Ben Edge On Music 3

Ian MacKaye & Ben Edge

Halloween/Samhain related:
Ben Edge once drove me past an aging punk rockers house in LA. The house overrun with shrubbery, his black car, and a pile of bricks. Recently Ben helped me decide which albums of this rocker's, who we will call D****g, are worth listening to. However, Ben also explained his hesitance of criticizing D****g by name online.
"I'd be afraid to put anything D****g related on a music blog. D****g is very litigious. Back in the Napster days of '00, my computer got a virus, and it was traced back to a D****g track I downloaded. Could be a coincidence, but I can totally imagine D****g intentionally putting those viruses into the songs himself. "Teach them to fuck with the Dark Lord!""
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T. Rex- "Electric Warrior" (because I know Ben loves Marc Bolan and T. Rex)
"You better believe I own this puppy.
Electric Warrior is T. Rex's second best album. The best T. Rex album is Slider, which came out a year later."
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Better Than A Thousand:
"I saw that band many times in the summers of '97 and '98. I saw them play three nights in a row, and Cappo made the same speeches between the same songs, and did the same yoga poses during the same instrumental breaks (not making that up).
That band has not aged well at all. A lot of it has to do with finding out how much of a ego maniac cheeseball Cappo is, and a lot of it has to do with the music just not being that great.
They recorded the music for a third album, it sat around for a few years, and then Tim McMahon (Mouthpiece, Hands Tied, Triple Threat, Double Cross Webzine) laid down vocals, and it became a band called Face The Enemy. That record is way better than the Better Than A Thousand ones. So, maybe it had a lot to do with Cappo afterall."
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T.S.O.L.- "Dance With Me"
"One of the best albums ever made. I love everything about this record. It's definitely in my top 10, not that I've created a top 10 list yet, but there's no way this doesn't make the cut.
Between the aggro surf beat, the chorusy guitar, and Jack's vocals (a punk singer who actually knows how to sing?), there's no weak point throughout."
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Television - "Marquee Moon"
"I've got it. The first half is great, and the other half is boring, and I'm not the only one who feels this way. Both guitarists are playing lead a lot of the time, so the guitar work sounds all intertwined. These dudes know their music theory.
Tom Verlaine (the main one) even writes out a lesson every month in either Guitar World or Guitar Player (I can never tell those two mags apart). It's funny, because he's wedged between Dave Mustaine and some hair metal casualties in there.
They were the first "punk" band to ever play CBGB's, which is interesting because they don't sound punk at all. But in those days, anything that didn't sound like it could be played on the radio got lumped in with punk I suppose. Now that they actually play punk on the radio, what would "punk" sound like now by those standards?"
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Mott The Hoople - "All the Young Dudes" [Boxset]
"I've been listening to these guys a lot lately. They broke up in '72, and Bowie told them that they couldn't break up, because he loved them, so he produced their next record (just like how the singer of the Cars saved the Bad Brains). Bowie wrote "All The Young Dudes", which is their best song. Kind of sad if you think about it, but they have a lot of good ones of their own. My other two favorites are "Sucker" (on All The Young Dudes LP) and "Whizz Kid" (on the LP called Mott)."
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Deerhoof:
"People jock this band a lot because said people are fucking weak.

During the summers, starting about two summers ago, the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History holds concerts inside the museum on Saturday nights, next to the life-sized diaramas of stuffed ground sloths and elephants and shit. It's a totally cool atmosphere, but the acoustics suck. I went to a Autolux/Deerhoof show there in '07, because even though Autolux has a hipster/model/actress/actor fanbase, I like some of their jams. The room was so packed by the time they played, that they didn't let us in, but we got in the museum, so we walked around, looking at bird teeth and shit while Todd Tyler got all excited and scientific on us. By the time Deerhoof played, they let us in. We were all bored, and the band sucked.
I attribute the existence of bullshit like Deerhoof, Blonde Redhead, and Butter 08 to the direct influence of Yoko Ono. She was into addressing abstract ideas like love and peace and happiness the way a toddler would, and also making those dreadful sounds with her voice.
There's a real kindergarten "play with your food" vibe to Deerhoof, as there is with one of my all time most hated bands, Fiery Furnaces."
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Neurosis:
"I can't hang with this band at all. This is probably the most loved band that just goes right over my head. Okay, Slayer is the winner, Neurosis is #2."
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Sam McPheeters/Born Against/Men's Recovery Project:
"Everyone has been sucking the dicks of Born Against since they dressed up like bunny rabbits and put out mediocre records so many centuries ago.
The best thing that ever came out of Born Against was a band that existed BEFORE Born Against, called Life's Blood. I think it was the guitarist.

I was there for the Pickle Patch "show." If I had a time machine....
They (Men's Recovery Project) showed up, sat in their van, and when it was time to play, they walked into the Pickle Patch wearing t-shirts over their faces that had images of other peoples' faces on them. Some of them weren't wearing pants or underwear. Straight up dicks hanging out. They had big, brown paper bags full of mashed up food, and they kept repeating, "Our food is digested food" over and over again, and throwing the food on the carpet. They marched back into their van and drove off, fast. And that was that. Brett Bazilko (a resident of the Pickle Patch at that time), stood by the door and said, "That was lame." It sure was.
If I had a time machine, I'd slash all four of their tires, so that when they tried to make their getaway, they'd be fucked. Or better yet, pull shit out from under the hood of the van, so it didn't even start. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be for them? They'd be turning the key, sweating, and then, "Does anyone have triple A?" MAN that would be sweet.

Sam is damn right when he says Born Against were no Articles of Faith. Not even close! Boy, he sure hated Refused. I don't know what he was talking about when he said Dennis seems like someone with serious problems. I hung out with Dennis on a golf course with Sam Velde and Aoki during the INC days (are they still around?), and he seemed like a totally nice, enthusiastic, well-adjusted individual to me.
I think he's SOOOO wrong when he says hardcore stopped being innovative after 1986. There was a great period in the late 80s and early 90s of bands totally being innovative (Born Against not being one of them). Verbal Assault, Absolution, Burn, later Turning Point, Inside Out, Moss Icon, Statue, Fugazi, Pitchfork, Gorilla Biscuits, Reason To Believe, Lifetime. All those bands were doing cool things within hardcore that were never imagined pre-'87. Especially Burn. And as much as I HAAAATE what I call "random core" (bands like Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch, and the like), IF you were to consider those bands hardcore, they certainly were blazing their own trail musically. So those bands were doing shit in the late 90s / early 00s that were never thought up before. Party of Helicopters goes so far into left field, that I wouldn't call them hardcore, but they are a good example of a band that disproves the popular notion that "it's all
been done before."

To each his own. I liked Sam's short stories. I'm glad he's finally doing something creatively that I can appreciate."
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SPLIT BEAVER s/t 7"
"This shit rules! I've never heard of these guys. I'm all about obscure heavy metal, as long as it's not of the thrash, death, black, speed, or grind varietals."
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The Kinks - 'Muswell Hillbillies'
"This album is too low-key and country sounding for my tastes. It is by far, my old roommate's favorite Kinks album, and he's been a Kinks fan way longer than me."
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Hammerfall - 'Masterpieces' (cover album)
"Ouch. Is "We're Gonna Take It" a typo, or is it their own twist on the Twisted Sister classic?
"Man on The Silver Mountain" is in a Coors commercial.
Priest and Riot are tight.
How can you cover Yngwie Malmsteen with a straight face?"
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Tom Gabel - 'Heart Burns EP'
"It took me a second, but I figured out that this is the dude from Against Me, a band I tried to get into, but couldn't, and then was eventually glad I couldn't, when a bunch of kooks got into them (the same kooks that made it uncool to listen to Hot Water Music).
Here's what I hate about this music: it reeks of adjectives like ernest, heartfelt, sincere, and serious, when in real life, no one is like this. Against Me are the leaders of what I call "Bruce Springsteen Punk", which is a sucky new genre. But don't get me wrong - I like a lot of Springsteen's music, I just don't like what these punk bands have done with it.
I don't buy into the self-congratulatory vibe of this folk punk shit. It is entirely possible to fuse folk and punk and come up with something good (Violent Femmes anyone?), but this is doody. There are bands like this all over the country now. I think the granddaddies of it all are Avail, who have some tight jams on their earlier albums, but they haven't aged too well. The first song on 4AM Friday is still phenomenal though."

Ben Edge on music

I love the notorious Ben Edge. He used to do a blog but he doesn't anymore. I think the world needs to hear his opinions (and he gives them out freely), so here is more of what is becoming a regular feature:

Black Flag 1982 demo:
"Amazing shit. Considered by some to be the best Black Flag line-up.
This is the point at which a metal influence begins creeping into hardcore music."

dos -justamente tres aka two in Spanish (Mike Watt & Kira Roessler):
"I saw them once, and I got to talk with Kira about Black Flag. I was in love."

v/a - a small group of friends: a germs tribute:
"From what I remember, the only good song on this is the Melvins doing "Lexicon Devil.""

The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society:
"People jock this album so hard. It isn't their best one. Their two best albums are:
Something Else By The Kinks (1967)
Lola vs. Powerman & The Money-Go-Round (1970)"

Ben on stoner metal:
" It's SO contrived. Plus, all those bands think they're ripping off Sabbath, but they're really only ripping off the sludgy elements of the band, exemplified by their third album "Masters of Reality." If you listen to Sabbath's work, it's very diverse musically and thematically. A lot of it is upbeat, positive, feel-good music."

RightWing LOL

I subscribe to a rightwing blog, Matters Of Manner And Type. I was hoping to find articulate rightwing arguments. Instead, I really only find misleading and hilarious (or frightening) nonsense.
Here are some of the LOL-worthy latest with a sort of roundtable discussion.

1. FBI Spied on Tea Party Americans
"The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Assessment that is receiving so much attention is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, and the true patriotic citizens of this country are on the Titanic."

shane: He is trying to explain that those at the tea party protests are different than usual protestors...they were not "political activists" just frustrated citizens. hahahaha He is freaked the fuck out that the FBI monitored the Tea Parties as if it is proof that Obama wants to lock up conservatives.

Ben Edge: now he knows how smart people feel when they protest shit that really matters

2. Campus Leftists Don't Believe in Free Speech
"speakers now have bodyguards when they visit universities"

3. List of those supposedly under attack:
"veterans, small-business owners, practicing Catholics, gun owners, talk-radio listeners, tea-party attendees, Texans, smokers, limited-government proponents, pro-lifers, taxpayers, NASCAR fans, Boy Scouts, oil-company employees, secure-border advocates, capitalists, global-warming agnostics, Cuban refugees, school-choicers"

Ben Edge: besides vets, small business owners, and "taxpayers" (wait, that's everyone!), fuck all those people.

"global-warming agnostics"? Like retarded people?
poor Cuban refugees. Mexicans? Deport 'em!
boy scouts! what? Is this guy a pedophile?

Pranjal: i bet those practicing Catholic gun owning capitalist small business owners in Texas-- who listen to talk radio or watch NASCAR while they reminisce about their years working at Exxon-Mobil (which helped them to see the myth that is Global Warming)-- who are fed up of the loose border controls that fail to keep out those Mexicans who should just line up with the others because their family in Cuba didn't have a border to jump, and who wish they could choose to send their kids to a school where they wouldn't be subject to the big-government public school tyranny and the anti-life homosexual agenda... i bet those people are so pissed right now, they're just gonna go out for another cigarette and plan another tea-party with their ex-army buddies

Tiger Bone

First, watch this YouTube clip of N.O.R.E. talk about going vegan and hyping up Tiger Bone.


After watching that, I had to try me some Tiger Bone!
I found some online, paid way too much, and taste tested it with Mel, and Ben Edge.

Shane:
Smells and tastes like flat ginger beer with a STRONG aftertaste. I am not a fan of ginger beer and I feel almost like I just drank medicine.

Ben Edge:
I get angrier with each sip. I want my money back.

Mel:
I only had 3 sips. Here’s a timeline of my reaction:
1: This smells like something my grandfather would drink.
2: It tastes like bad ginger beer and licorice.
3: This is what I remember alcohol tasting like.
4. My mouth and throat feel warm.
5. My stomach feels warm and is starting to hurt.
6: My mouth tastes like I’ve been chewing on Tylenol and my tongue feels numb. I don’t feel very virile. Failure!

Edge

Edge The movie Website


(thanx Ben Edge)

Ben Edge On Music 7

Reason To Believe- "The Next Door":
"The 7" and LP by this band are amazing. They are the closest thing the west coast had to a band like Dag Nasty or Gorilla Biscuits (i.e., a melodic yet powerful and energetic hardcore band with melodic singing).
Jon Bunch is definitely the best singer in hardcore ever. Not by favorite per se, but technically the best. Maybe I'm tripping though. I don't know shit about singing.
I can't believe they were never a popular band."
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Discharge:
"Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing is the best Discharge record. It's so loud, powerful, and relentless.
That said, it's funny how they were the biggest influence on continental European and Japanese hardcore, when there were easily 30-40 American hardcore bands from the early 80s that were better than Discharge."
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Ben was asked his opinion on the following highly acclaimed drummers:

Keith Moon - "A very unorthodox drummer. Not skilled in the traditional sense. He had his own style, and played really well with his band mates. Just before he died, they recorded the WHO ARE YOU? LP, and there's a song with 6/8 time, and Keith just couldn't play it. He got worse in the end, because of the drinking, drugs, and lack of discipline."

Neil Peart - "Fucking awesome. He does not practice improvisation AT ALL. Every single drum hit on every album are played that way live, and always will be. That's why I understand a Rush show consists of dudes playing air drums. They know exactly what he's going to play. He also introduced right wing Ayn Rand politics into the band."

Dave Lombardo - "Yeah, he's good. It's pretty obvious. I can't get into Slayer, but that's my own problem."

John Bonham - "The best rock drummer ever. He could play circles around Keith Moon."

Tommy Lee - "More cowbell! He's great. The drums on that first Crue album are rad. And to think he's playing all that WHILE he's spinning his sticks the whole time? That's talent!"
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The Clash- "Combat Rock":
"My brother had the tape of it when it came out. I still have the tape. We loved the video for "Rock The Casbah". It's a good album. Way better than the one before it or the one after it. There's some strange stuff on there."
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Anthem 88- "Define A Lifetime":
"I didn't like this. It was these crusty thrashy dudes trying to do youth crew, but they couldn't help themselves, and they ended up making it sound crusty and thrashy."
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Post suggestions of bands/albums you would like to hear Ben's opinion on. (I am running low on good ones.)
Or ask him nerdy questions about early 80's punk and 70's glam.

Ian & Ben

Ben Edge On Music 12

The Killers:
"Totally embarrassing to watch. Brandon Flowers is one of the less intelligent rockstars around today. The verses of that song sound VERY similar to "Dancing in the Dark" by Springsteen. Rolling Stone ripped them a new asshole on Sam's Town for ripping off Springsteen, and then gave them a good review on the new album, BUT they're STILL ripping off Springsteen!"
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No Wave/Post Punk/Art Punk:
"ART PUNK! BOOOOOO!
I am violently allergic to any attempt at creating music by art school students, or anybody who wanted to go to art school. That said, I bet a lot of bands I like went to art school, and I don't even realize it. Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious dropped out of art school, so I don't count them."
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Fat Mike vs. Avenged Sevenfold:
"I read that Fat Mike quote somewhere recently. I can't say I disagree with him at all, although I've never played poker with Avenged Sevenfold, so I can't either confirm or deny that statement. Avenged Sevenfold, who if you think about it, are the worst band in the world, because at least we derive endless enjoyment out of trashing Brokencyde."
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Mouthpiece - "Can't Kill What's Inside" Discography:
"If you put the CD in your computer, there is an entire 13 song set from CBGBs, 1996, as well as their only music video, which is actually not embarrassing despite how the band members feel about it.

The CD (or LP, when it comes out) is worth owning, because it has a list of every show they ever played, and who they played with. If you're a "hardcore historian" like me, then you're stoked on that kind of stuff.

Listen to the last track, "Control Interview 1990". Mouthpiece was originally called Control, and this is an interview from when they were all 15 and 16 years old, and it's hilarious. They joke about how they don't even have a demo out and labels like Revelation, Enigma, Dischord, In Effect, Caroline, Capitol, and RCA already want to release their album. Ironically, they're now on Revelation, post-mordem.

Best straight edge band of the early 90s"
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Handsome-s/t:
"Not very good. I still own it."
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Quicksand- ep:
"I was confused by it, because the first song I heard was "Hypno Jam with Dan", which is a bullshit track, and isn't representative of Quicksand's sound.
The other three songs are great. People say that this started the "post-hardcore" sound, but that's ridiculous, because tons of hardcore bands started playing different kinds of music way before this record. I say Homeland by the Middle Class is the first post-hardcore record. It's no good, but it's still a band that used to be hc doing something different."
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Last Rights - "Chunks":
"Fuck yes. Choke's band after Negative FX, but before Slapshot. They played one show ever. Taang Records put out a CD that has everything by Negative FX and Last Rights on it.
Dinosaur Jr. covered "Chunks" on an earlier single, and they stayed pretty true to the original.
My favorite Last Rights song is "Out of Our Minds". It totally sounds like a missing Minor Threat track. Well, the music does at least."
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Crippled Youth - "Join The Fight":
"Crippled Youth changed their name to Bold right around the time they started going through puberty. You'd think this was a joke record, until you realize that all the members are 15 years old. It has its charm to it.

Mike Phyte wanted to do a band I think with Jeff Capra back around '96 called Join The Fight, and it was supposed to be '88 youth crew style. I said I wanted to play guitar in it, and Capra said, "No, I want it to have only one guitarist, like the second Youth of Today record." I didn't think much of it at the time, but he picked one of the only records of that era that had one guitarist to follow the example of. Subtext: Jeff didn't like me. Now I'm in a band with him. Ha ha.

It's a positive positive positive scene!"

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Broken Needle (with Ben on bass) will be playing with Zero Boys and Crucial Cause at 924 Gilman in Berkeley on Feb.20th!

Roadtrip: SouthWest. Pt. 7

On the evening of our 9th day of vacation, Mel and I got back to LA.
We went to Pure Luck for some dinner with some cool folks Mel met via The PPK forums. Pure Luck is like some former Korean restaraunt that is now a vegan Mexican joint apparently run by bike punx on a block dominated by bike punx. The food was amazing. I had a side order of fries and fried pickle slices with a "carnitas" torta. The "carnitas" at Pure Luck is jackfruit that is put through some unimaginable process to end up looking HELLA like chicken and tasting the part as well.

After this insane meal and talk of Motorhead and working for AVN, Mel and I headed across the street to Scoop again.

Then, it was back to casa de Ben Edge. We got to meet Ben's roommate who used to be in Undertow. I displayed my Undertow stickers and fliers for his amusement.
Before bed we engaged in discussions of politics and deep music snobbery. I ruin everything for Ben by claiming (rightfully so) that everything is right-wing and racist.
_____

The next morning we had to hit up M Cafe again. I stuffed myself sick.
I do highly recommend M Cafe for the (pricey) food even if the crowd represents all that I hate about LA.
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What a fuckin highly deserved holiday! What a fuckin wonderful time!
I have realized that my life (and my relationship with Mel) would be greatly improved if I don't stick so strictly to my regimented schedule as some form of desire denying and gratification delaying 'waiting.' As if something supposedly worthwhile will come.

Now back to the grind.

check my Flickr account for more photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanedanger/

Music According To Ben Edge

Fucked Up - 'The Chemistry Of Common Life'
"I haven't heard the new Fucked Up. I've read reviews in more mainstream publications, and the way people who have nothing to do with hc fawn over them makes me disinterested. And how they have electronic interludes or some shit? Sounds like Refused Shape of Punk to Come part deux. The biggest poseurs in the world who had no association with hc or sxe jocked the fuck out of that band AFTER they broke up, and couldn't have cared less about their pre-art fag material. Come to think of it, Refused was never that great to begin with. I can't blame them."

Danny Diablo - 'Thugcore For Life'
"I wonder if his song "Mechanix" is a Megadeth cover. Wait, actually I don't."


Joy Division - 'Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979'
"Yeah, this is their best live recording, and it captures the energy that Martin Hannett buried in the records he produced."

Token Entry playing a reunion show:
"Token Entry was a "you had to be there" kind of band, because their records kinda suck. And too bad for me, I wasn't there."


state of the union: d.c. benefit compilation (released in 1989)
"Fugazi is great, but they got way into being boring (and by that I mean playing slow, extended instrumentals) towards the end.
Red Medicine is definately their least best album. Diehard fans like the boring shit the most, because that's what happens when you get WAY into a band. You burn yourself out on the good material, and start thinking differently about the bad material.
All the early shit is by far the best material.
the best band on the State of the Union comp, hands down is RAIN, followed closely by ONE LAST WISH."

No Warning -' Suffer, Survive'
"haha. I remember when that album came out.
I was never a fan to begin with, but I think it's funny that some wack, new jack B9 band ended up on Warner Bros. (the company that put food in my mouth)."

U2:
"there's like one or two good songs each on their first three albums, but this band for the most part is crap.
Bono - so full of shit it's obscene."


Ya Ho Wa 13 - 'I'm Gonna Take You Home'
"I read about this guy. Reminds me of Steve Aoki."

Emerson Lake and Palmer:
"I have never physically met someone who likes this band. They are atrocious."

Angry Samoans - 'Play The Songs Of VOM' ep (1978 Demos)
"I bought this for my dad for his birthday one year. Richard Meltzer (Vom singer) was a very well known rock critic, as was Metal Mike Saunders (Angry Samoans singer), going back to the early 70s. So my dad knew both these dudes before punk was happening."

Let us know what you think of Ben's assessments. He will argue with you.

Ben Edge On Music 5

X:
"I love X.
Their first album "Los Angeles" is the best, but their first four albums are all great. They were all produced by Ray Manzerek (keyboardist for the Doors). Under The Big Black Sun is album #3. It's got some great songs.
I've heard that guitarist Billy Zoom is an extreme right-winger. He's 60 years old now. I've met the drummer, Don Bonebreak (Bonebrake?), and he was really cool. He's also an accomplished xylophonist."
_____


OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark):
"Don't like it at all. It reminds me of my shitty raver roommate in college.
I think that album came out on Factory before Joy Division even had an album on Factory. Joy Division however, is awesome, and OMD blow."
_____


The Make Up/Ian Svenonius:
"I'm against all things Ian Svenonius. I don't see any value in anything he's ever done. The Make Up was more benign than Nation of Ulysses. Make Up was him trying to be James Brown. Whatever."
_____


Refused-'Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent'
"The first song is cool. It sounds kind of industrial. "I'd rather be dead than alive by your oppression!" That's probably their best song.
I don't know if I could stand listening to that album all the way through though.
Shape of Punk hasn't aged well. And I'm ignoring the masses of POSEURS who love that shit when I say the music on it isn't that great after all."
_____


"I saw that. I think it's awesome. Especially when you listen to the original and how hard and fast it is."
______

Ben and Bad Reaction got into a car accident. They are all ok but they will not be playing at Burnt Ramen this weekend.