Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Doper's Classic?

I was watching LBL 09 on the trainer and it got me thinking. Even after the EPO fueled Gewiss team put their supercharged stamp on the Ardennes classics, Liege Bastogne Liege remains a race you may not want to win if you don't want to get busted down the line
Year Winner Busted
1999 VDB RIP Which time?
2000 Bettini No
2001 Oscar Camerzind Multiple from Festina on. Now a Postman
2002 Bettini No
2003 Hamilton Twice
2004 Rebellin Doomed
2005 Vino He's back
2006 Valverde He's hanging on
2007 DiLuca Gone baby Gone
2008 Valverde Busted, but racing
2009 Andy Schelck -maybe there's a reason the Italian cops
were searching your dad?

So out of ten years there are 3 years and 2 riders that have not been sanctioned
for doping. Not a good winning percentage for clean riders.....
This also highlights the winning tradition of late 20s/early 30s thinning hair'd euro pros Bettini/Valverde/Rebellin. If he hadn't got caught, Schumacher was a shoe in for the podium!
La Doyenne or La Dopage?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Unsane First Three Singles


Don't know why I broke these out, but I am glad I did.
I remember seeing them at Hampshire college and they were one of the loudest bands I had ever seen. They had this goofy little A frame thing practically falling apart. Since I was a straightedge goodie two-shoes, I imagined these guys to be as crazy and fucked up as the graphics. They had that total NY vibe. Totally disgusted and disgusting.

This Town b/w Urge to Kill. Treehouse Records 1989. So right off the bat you've got the Zodiac Killer artwork. Brutal. Feedback, Wah-Wah, buried vocals. A winner.

Concrete Bed b/w El Mundo. This is the one that really stands out to me. Glitterhouse 1990. Concrete Bed is a total ripper with a Big Black kind of vibe.
Maybe the hit single of the bunch.

Sub-Pop was the home for 1990's epic Vandal-X b/w Streetsweeper. All the elements of the first 2 singles are pushed to the limit. Harsh, trebly, buried vocals. Pummelling assault. Nevermind the graphics which were some over the top sickness.

Jungle Music came out in 91 too, but it didn't grab me as much as the first three.
The first album was pretty rad too, but they kind of started to live off the hype. Maybe there was just too much competition for the hateful noise crown as you had Drunktank (naptime!),Red Bliss,Whorl, Zeni Geva, Hammerhead... I getting giddy just thinking about it.
I guess there is a singles collection of these on Matador, but it appears to be OOP and going for dumb money on amazon. I would guess those without the records are savvy enough to track it down and poach it on the web.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Boris 7's 1+2. Call off Pavlov's dogs


Is it just hype? or is it their uncanny ability to keep putting out records in ways that make you want to jump through hoops to get them? Japanese Heavy Rock Hits? Mailorder all three singles and get a free one sided single? Call me a dork, herb, whatever, but sign me up. These three have figured out how to push all the buttons on record collectors. They might even have one upped the Melvins with their ability to make people buy almost anything with there name on it.

#1 shows up. Graphics are too goofy for words. A-Side has me thinking it's a Swirlies record at first. B-Side "Hey Everyone" would be a cool track if it came up at the right time on shuffle.
#2. Nice underpants. "H.M.A". Heavy Metal Addict. Just like the Melvins-they got me wondering, are they laughing with me or at me? For a track called Heavy Metal Addict, I was expecting a little more shredding. B-Side starts off with a drum machine and maybe a nod to all those Blank Dog type bands with kind off a english/english disco vibe. Might be the best track of the 4 as I wasn't really expecting it.
Southernlord is the place to get it.
Probably will get more spins than Solomon Overlooked, but not by much. I will dig through a lot of trash to find a classic and Boris come through enough to make it worth it. Even if it it hasn't happened yet with these 7"S