Mr. Jolly Fucker

Sleaford Mods is a musical group that I have shamelessly been head over heels for this year. A duo based out of Nottingham, England that have very rapidly put out numerous singles and LP's over the past two years. I've heard record collectors kind of hate them, and I can't pretend I don't see why. Their style and delivery was a bit of a challenge to listen to and absorb at first, but I kept coming back to it. Generally a good sign that there is definitely something with abstract substance there. The rapid-fire, ornery lyrical pieces that vocalist/lyricist Jason Williamson shout-raps are mesmerizing. While music-maker Andrew Fearn's minimal, post-punk flavored beats provide the perfect amount of punch and energy for whatever topic is on the tongue. A punk band in their attitude, but much fresher and more original then any of the rehashed punk bands of today. There is as much influence from bands like Crass in their tunes as there is from Suicide or The Fall, or Wu-Tang Clan. Tyrannical, sarcastic, opinionated, and incredibly British.
While the Mods discography is massive, they mainly thrive as a singles band. There are too many mandatory 7" cuts to buy at one time, and many are going for a pretty penny these days. Thankfully though, these are routinely reissued with many different collectable colored pressings and sleeve designs. So I was finally able to score the brilliant "Mr. Jolly Fucker b/w Tweet Tweet Tweet" single. The 4th edition, with an orange cover and vinyl, 45 RPM. Released by Forth Dimension Records.

"Mr. Jolly Fucker" is one of the first SM songs I fell in love with, and may just be the jam of the century. A perfect two minute romper of fast paced lyrical wit and a slamming, hypnotic beat. Unfortunately, no lyric sheets have ever been provided for this single, so I am still left a bit unclear about what Mr. Williamson's main message is here. The usual pessimistic and disgruntled attitude towards the privileged and hoytie-toytie people that take up space is prevalent. Little pokes like "pushing out office turds" and rotting away in the isles of the Co-op store are just a few of the many quotables I notice. And the immortal, cut and dry chorus/hook that is simply, "JOLLY FUCKER"! Such a great song, this is definitely one of my favorite 7" records in the collection at the moment.
The B-side is a track that was later put on the end of the album "Divide and Exit". Another wonderfully written and catchy little ditty targeting the masses apathetic nature towards real life (according to me). "Dead weight is living flesh", what a great line. "Tweet Tweet Tweet" is probably one of the best early examples of a "singing" Sleaford Mods. Jason's vocals follow more of a rhythm and melody on here, with some great back-up vocals fleshing the sound out more. We even get some piano and a little bit of electronics. All around fantastic!!

The 4th edition of this single comes in a sturdy glued sleeve with orange artwork and vinyl. A nice, thick slab of wax that sings clear and loud!

So far this year, Sleaford Mods have also put out my favorite album of 2015 with their recently released "Key Markets" LP. I might get around to posting that, it's amazing and definitely worth all of your ear time. 

~VII

Ski Mask

I remember gushing/complaining about how I wanted new Mellow Harsher records asap throughout the past couple years. A stupidly tough techy grind band from Wisconsin comprised mostly of peeps from SFN. Definitely not one of the most talked about groups in the genre, for whatever reason. But their impact and influence is present, most notably in newbies like Throat Slitter. Their excellent demo kept me happy for the length of time I waited for fresher jams. Lo and behold, my wish is double granted at the end of 2014 with two new tracks on Diseased Audio's "Bitter Cold Compilation". Which are so good they make me want to shitvomit blood chunks. And what's this? A split 7" with the outstanding Internal Rot! Mellow Harsher's new recordings make me want to rip out my guts and force-feed them to wild animals. While I sadly have neither of those, thought I'd give the 7" repress of the demo a little more light. Not sure how many were pressed, 33 RPM.

If you've heard SFN, and there's no reason you shouldn't have poser, then you'll smell what MH are cooking up real quick. Insanely precise, rapid, and visceral fastcore/grindy madness, with the helpful rawness from the "demo factor". Some of the most impressive and devastating vocal tradeoffs too. These guys seriously "write" their songs, honing them into calculated blast storms. Two of my favorite songs from this were rerecorded for the Internal Rot split, "Ski Mask" and "Stinge". They are all the more painful.

Always loved the art on this. Crude, sleazy, and strange. 625 Thrash and Give Praise Records did an excellent job and gave this the proper package. A nice sturdy, glued sleeve, insert, clean art, and good looking center labels. 

I'm drooling for the Internal Rot Split.

~VII

My Latest To Live A Lie Haul

I got my most recent package from TLAL recently. Super happy the store is back open and I'm able to get these hot jams. The Catheter/Massgrave split 10" came to me a bit damaged, but the sleeve is a bit flimsy, so it's just bound to happen.

Records featured:

• Catheter/Massgrave - split 10"
• Magrudergrind - "Crusher" 10" (red vinyl /200)
• Agathocles/Gerbophilia - split 7"
• Parlamentarisk Sodomi/Laserguys - split 7" (red vinyl #64/500)
• Tinnitus - "Gehenna" (transparent yellow vinyl)
• OSK - "Wretched Existence//Bleak Future 2007-2010" CD
• Suffering Luna - "Blood Filled Bong" cassette (/100)

~VII

Future Corpses

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been crazy busy, and was out of town over the weekend. I did get a shit ton of records this past week though, I have a lot of catching up to do. In the mean time, here's a record that I've been spinning for a while now. The almighty Iron Lung - "Sexless//No Sex" 12", repress on Prank Records, transparent "peach" vinyl with some red, 45 RPM.

Admittedly, this is the first Iron Lung full-length I've owned. I've been a fan for a while, of course, but never got around to actually getting a record. I think I made the right choice by choosing this one first. From front to back, this is a fantastic modern powerviolence record. The production is punishing, and the delivery is just tough as nails. I believe this is a concept record too, or at least made up of several opus's. Of course, this has "Future Corpses" on it, which has become a staple of their set-list. But really the whole record is brilliant. My guitar playing, in terms of writing riffs, is very inspired by this band.

Very elaborate pen/ink drawing. I never really thought this was a good cover until I got this record and held it in my hand. I still don't know exactly what I'm looking at though. It's like a semi-gothic, abstract, Lovcraftian-humanoid thing. 

"Cancer" is one of my favorite songs on here. I get a definite early Swans vibe.

Double sided insert with lyrics, and excellent artwork from Feeding.

Never seen this colour of vinyl before. It's like very light/peach vinyl. 

Since this is a repress, it's very widely available now. Perfect chance to get this awesome album. Buy or die.

~VII

North Coast Wizard Violence

My latest package from To Live a Lie came in a few days ago, I picked up 1 LP and a couple recent 7" represses that TLAL did. Here's one of them, Chest Pain - "s/t" on mess/marble vinyl, 45 RPM.

I've been digging this EP for a while since I found it on bandcamp late last year, and I was pretty bummed when I learned that the band had sold out of the 7" version. But good 'ol TLAL was kind enough to repress 500 copies of it(200 on color, 300 on black) so I can finally own a physical copy.

Today was actually the first I had listened to this EP in quite a while, and I forgot how much these guys kinda sound like Iron Lung, but with not as much powerviolence influence. Nothing Overly impressive and far from mind blowing, but it's still a pretty rad hardcore record. Love the artwork too.

One of the better mixed/mess vinyls that I've seen recently. I've dubbed the mixed color vinyls "shit-colored" cause of the ugly, brownish/gray color that often happens. But this one has a nice dark blue with some cool swirls in it. Nicely done. Pretty barebones packaging, standard record & insert. Nothing on the inside of the sleeve or anything. It gets the job done, but I was expecting a bit more.

~VII