FUCKING DYKE BITCHES

So not too long ago I went to see MEN at the Brooklyn Museum. I am down with MEN's agenda of making queer electropop anthems, of promoting politics through accessible dance music. That was what I needed in Le Tigre in high school, and without this kind of music, this blog wouldn't be here. That said, sometimes you need more confrontation.

Enter FUCKING DYKE BITCHES.



FDB provide a different kind of queer anthem. Think Blatz as a metal band, smacking you upside the face with queerness rather than starting a dance party. Although they're also that. I gave Fucking Dyke Bitches a brief shout-out after they played a show at Manifesta along with Aye Nako, Sandy and the Rats, and Invincible Prismz. It was insanely crowded but still an awesome rowdy time, one of the best shows I've been to this year. FDB did a cover of "Fuk Shit Up" too. Despite the amped up riffs, the Hand Jobs snottiness is definitely still present. Perfect combination of squeak and anger. FUCK YEAH!

Sadly I think this band are no more, at least in their current incarnation. So enjoy this demo.

FUCKING DYKE BITCHES- demo

Burning Kitchen

Wrapping up the supposedly month-long series of international lady-fronted hardcore is Burning Kitchen's 10", Damn You If You Do... Damn You If You Don't. Clearly I'm great at sticking to self-imposed schedules.



Burning Kitchen were a Swedish hardcore band from the mid-1990s through 2000. Think angular Euro hardcore mixed with some of your favorite early US or anarcho lady-fronted punk bands. Topics include punk, immigration, and sexism. Aside from this 10", now out of print, the band put out a three-part 7" series and supposedly now have a discography available.

Burning Kitchen- Damn You If You Do... Damn You If You Don't 10"

P.S. A ton of distro updates here (shameless, I know).

Nog Watt

So I'm failing pretty hard at this whole series idea. Shit happens. There'll be another post after this before May 1. Going back in time, to an early lady-fronted hardcore band, Nog Watt released a sole 7", Fear, in 1985 and contributed to a few compilations.



In addition to the Euro hardcore instrumentation, what strikes me most with Nog Watt is Joanna's howling voice, which sometimes reminds me of early goth bands like 45 Grave. She's aggressive without conforming to stereotypical hardcore tropes. Political topics range from the contemporary to the historical to secret police and paranoia.



For further info on Nog Watt check out Kill From the Heart. Another good resource for early lady-fronted hardcore bands is the compilation series A Reference of Female-Fronted Punk Rock.

Needless to say, this 7" is long gone, but you can get a Nog Watt shirt here.

Nog Watt- Fear EP

Infect

This post will kick off a month-long series of international, lady-fronted hardcore.

I suppose I first got into Infect when 625 put out a discography compilation, I think almost two years ago now. Had been previous into them, enjoyed reading the lyrics/song explanations in English translations when I nabbed their LP from Scot last summer. I was able to pick on some themes due to the similarity of Portuguese and Spanish, but I was certainly pleasantly surprised with a lot of the radical feminist themes-- critiques of systemic oppression, the nuclear family, relationships, and so forth.



This discography compilation is really comprehensive-- including the LP and various splits, comps, demos, etc. Thundering, fast, in-your-face all-girl hardcore, Infect were active from 1998 to 2003.

Infect- Complete Discography 1998-2003
Buy it

Poor Aim: Love Songs

First things first: lots and lots of news. I have been very bad about keeping this updated lately, clearly. The main reason at this point is that the structure of my life has changed drastically. I'm no longer in school and cannot update this thing at work. Aside from work, I've been keeping pretty busy, and I generally don't want to do more computer-ing once I'm home. Here's one thing I've been doing...



New York Abortion Access Fund provides assistance to low-income women seeking abortion. Hopefully you know about all the fucked up shit our government has been doing to hack away at reproductive rights lately, and hopefully you're doing something about it, whether signing a petition, donating to Planned Parenthood, getting involved with some sort of radical health collective, or something else. The Gift are an awesome band from DC featuring Turboslut front-lady Beck. Waxahatchee is Katie's current solo project (from P.S. Eliot and Bad Banana). Dear Marje are playing their second show, and they're just about the cutest band in Brooklyn. If you live here I hope you make it out!

What's been occupying my time more so, is starting a record label--it's called puzzle pieces as well. I'm frighteningly uncreative. The first release, a 7" by Four Eyes is out now. Next up is a 7" by Bad Banana. That one should be ready within the next month. I'm quite excited by this whole endeavor.

This weekend I went to two rad shows-- Friday night was Fucking Dyke Bitches (ex-Hand Jobs), and last night was the release show for the International Girl Gang Underground zine with Slingshot Dakota (who did an acoustic remix of "Until the Day I Die"), Bad Banana, Aye Nako, and a new band called American Sun. If you haven't had the opportunity to check out Aye Nako they are the no-longer-so-new rendition of Fleabag. They are probably my current favorite Brooklyn band, and you can download their demo here.

---

And now for a post: For the past however many years, I've had an ebbing and flowing obsession with the Blow. With her electropop songs I think it's easy to get hooked in by the catchy beats, and I certainly have. I think this is only half of Khaela's genius though. She uses pop songs, in some ways more contemporarily pop than other present indie pop bands, to cloak an intelligent critique of popular culture, in a totally queer way. While not overtly queer in physical presentation, she is pretty vocally queer at shows (telling stories about girlfriends and so forth), I think what is so sharp about her performance is in her subtle subversion of pop songs.



The Blow follows the heterosexual paradigm of pop music with songs such as "Hey Boy." She subtly exaggerates the part of the desperate-for-love, over-analytic female, queering it in the process. I've raved to many I know about how I think Khaela is truly fucking intelligent in the hopes to convert them, I could go on and on and on, but I'll cut myself short, in the hopes of getting to bed at a reasonable hour. Seriously also read her blog.

Poor Aim: Love Songs was originally released on Portland's States Rights Records in 2004 before being reissued (accompanied by remixes) by K in 2007 (after the Paper Television craze). As the K website says: "A concept record loosely unified in failings; songs about failed love, and conversely, love songs that fell short - Poor Aim explores love's yearnings, deceptions, addictions, and ultimately, its complacency." It is in this failure that Khaela's critique finds its strength.

The Blow- Poor Aim: Love Songs
Buy it from K Records

Lazy Mary

Lazy Mary kick ass. The label (Mountain Man) says "For fans of Slant 6, the Frumpies, Bikini Kill, the Stooges and Black Sabbath," but I keep thinking of if Heavens to Betsy were a metal band but not really metal. See also other grungy girl punk bands. Lazy Mary are more subdued sometimes and straight-up shrieky at others. I think my favorite track may be the totally chilling "Shiza Minnelli."



As far as I know this is the only release from this Long Beach duo. If anyone knows of a demo or any future releases/recordings, let me know! I'm hoping this band will tour the East Coast at some point in the relatively near future, or that I'll catch them at some point while in the LA area.



Lazy Mary- Crazy Hairy 7"
Get it from Mountain Man

Suture

First, Jessica Hopper linked to this interview recently, making me revisit an old favorite: "But speaking of lesbianism, tell me about your mom’s favorite song on the new record." Check out this interview Miranda July did with Khaela from the Blow. (From/who is the Blow? I don't know how what is proper to use.)

I keep giving this Mary a shout-out, so I think it's high time another Mary gets one. The East-Coast Mary has revived her blague Cindy Shmerman, which you should check out.

To the point, I was talking about Suture with West-Coast Mary a couple weeks back. As she said, anything with both Kathleen Hanna and Sharon Cheslow is bound to be awesome. Suture features Kathleen's signature roar, but is perhaps more similar to Viva Knievel than Bikini Kill, mixing grunge, post-punk, and general brattiness. I believe they performed at IPU's Girl Night (aka punk rock dream come true).


And we're back to my shitty photobooth pictures...

Suture released a 7" in 1992, a split release between Decomposition and Dischord. My favorite is the more delicate B-side "Pretty Is." They contributed these three songs ("Good Girl," "Falling," and the aforementioned "Pretty Is") to the compilation cassette A Wonderful Treat, which included another one-off Kathleen Hanna project, Wondertwins. I'm going to include all four tracks on A Wonderful Treat in this upload. The 7" is long out of print, so snag it if you can!

Suture- four tracks

The Dixie Cups

In addition to sharing some genes and a love for her sassy personality, my younger sister and I share a penchant for Father of the Bride. This film introduced me to the Dixie Cups #1 hit "Chapel of Love" back in the day. While browsing youtube videos of '60s girl groups back in the spring, I discovered a new love for the Dixie Cups, this time for "I'm Gonna Get You Yet."



Those dance moves, that hair... I only wish the video were in color so that I could get the full effect of the dresses. They released their earlier music on Red Bird Records, which was also home to the Shangri-Las for some time.

The Dixie Cups- Complete Red Bird Recordings

Neonates

I gave this band a little bit of a shout out, and now it's time for a more proper one. Neonates are a new-ish band from the LA area. They pretty much got started when Mary wrote lyrics/recorded a few songs based on some interviews for a global sexualities class. This post is long overdue, and since I finally mailed a mix to Mary yesterday that I had been meaning to send out for a few months, I figure this should make an appearance as well.



Neonates play mid-paced post-punk with plenty of no-wavey/new-wavey yelping, as if it were Max’s Kansas City in 1979, fitting in the league of girl-fronted arty punk bands coming from the West Coast these days-- think a more no-wavey Brilliant Colors, for example. The band’s variation comes from a combo of dual guitars at times and guitar-bass at others along with Mary’s perpetually changing vocal pace. Occasional backed vocals and frequently hi-hat-happy songs = toe-tapping all the time. Perhaps Mary's killer podcasts might also hint at what her band sounds like.

They put out a split CS with Pussy Patrol from France on ClanDestine Records (UK). You can get it here. You should join me in talking them into venturing out to the East Coast for a tour (hint, hint).

Neonates- Demo

Sourpatch

A bit of news to start off this post... My friend Lee who is in Titfit and The Facts We Hate is organizing a mini Brooklyn girl punk fest on Thursday, October 21. Hopefully you can make it!



Picking up where my Bad Banana post left off, I have been crazy about Sourpatch for some time now. They played at Platonic Sleepover House a couple falls ago, but I couldn't go to the show and have been kicking myself ever since!



I have been in love ever since the Sourpatch demo- a dose of delightfully fuzzy pop. Their LP, which came out late last year on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records, took it in a slightly more art-punky direction while retaining the poppiness that hooked me to begin with, not dissimilar from some of their neighbors (Brilliant Colors for example)... perhaps most akin to a more art-punk Tiger Trap. I've always found in interesting that this band shares a drummer with the grindcore band In Disgust; I think the drums sound pretty rad on this record, coming in nicely at the end of "Never (Ever Ever) Enough" for example. I think recordings of little kids speaking kind of creep me out, so I always skip the first track, but I think "Fun" is my absolute favorite. Topics generally go along with standard indie pop themes of crushes (shocking given the title of the album) and so forth, but the lyrics never sound totally cliche or forced. "Toothache" has some pretty good dueling boy-girl vocals, which I'm always partial to. I would say this is my favorite pop full length of 2010, but I think it actually came out last year.

This one will only be up for a month, as per request from the band.

Get it from HHBTM

Bad Banana

So last Monday morning I woke up around 5:30 or 6 am for no reason. The door to my room is possessed and creaks back and forth, seemingly endlessly. After about a half hour of that, I decided the internet would be a much more productive thing to do. I'm not a fan of all this facebook crap where people invite you to be a fan of their band and what not because I like to be all allusive on the internet (obviously why I write a blog). Anyway, turns out this fateful Monday morning a great great thing happened because Katie invited me to be a fan of her and Allison's new band, Bad Banana. These tracks would be enough to get me super excited and then I glanced to the bottom left corner to see "tour with SOURPATCH east coast, USA." (More on Sourpatch to follow shortly, but hopefully you already know that they rule.)



But seriously, holy shit. For anyone who loves P.S. Eliot, especially their demo, Bad Banana is essential. Perfectly glorious fuzzy pop punk, probably a little bit more on the indie pop side. I've been listening to almost nothing else since Katie sent it to me. Each of them wrote half the songs and then recorded them, and then they were all mashed together into one demo, so you can try to guess which song is by which sister. (I'll put the answers in the comments.)

My new favorite punk show love song is "Stand Next to Me." Cutest fucking lyrics ever: "I don't know the words to this song, I want you to come sing along and put your arm around me/Stand next to me/I see you across the room and I'd like to get to know you/You seem to be in high demand but you're talking to me about your favorite bands-- Descendents & Dinosaur Jr./Maybe I should have spoken up sooner/I'm not looking for a boyfriend, but if I was I would like you to be him." That is what my crush on Bad Banana is like.

Bad Banana- Crushfield
Tape coming soon

Blass

This one goes out to my darling friend Jess, who loves this 7" as much as I do. It's another 7" unearthed from the Record Hospital coffins, the first 7" of two by German indie pop band Blass. I know this record came out in 1990 on Bad Moon Records, but not much else beside that.


You can see a few more reviews on my lovely photobooth picture of the copy in the RH collection.

This is in many ways more of a single than an EP for me as I only ever really listen to "Bad Effect." I love the touch of art punk/indie rock they introduce from the beginning of the song with the bass line along with lazy jangling guitars and perfect pop lines like "because my heart still burns only for you." "Short Time" certainly has some hooks as well, but who really cares when you have a pop song as superb as "Bad Effect"? I know Jess would back me up here.

Blass- s/t 7"

Meat Joy

Well, it has been a while. Good news is that I'm settled in my new home and have quite a few posts stocked up. Credit to Baris for the introduction to this one, and to Phoenix Hairpins for the link.



Here's the sole, hard-to-track-down LP from Houston's Meat Joy. Only 1500 were pressed by Flesh & Blood Records in 1984, each with a different cover. Totally queer, totally weird, stripped down post-punk. My favorite is the ambling pop jam "Another Pair," complete with snapping; some matter-of-fact promiscuity going on here. Meat Joy add some feminist social commentary with "Slenderella" and some criticism of hardcore with "Proud to Be Stupid," which always reminds me of a quote from a Huntington Beach punk in Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins' Dance of Days: "The geeks, the people with new wave ties… When we see someone at a gig that we don’t like, we fuck them up." I'd been curious to know how this band interacted with a lot of the queer punk bands from Texas who were similarly turned off by the whole muscle head hardcore mentality. (For more on that check out the article on queer punks in Austin in MRR's queercore issue from last October.)

Meat Joy- Self-Titled

Libyans- Paralyzed

Keeping a low profile these days but still one of the best bands in Boston, Libyans continue recording more than most other bands around. This time it's a one-sided, two-song 7" with an etched B-side. I'm not sure if they all look the same (got the record-release edition when they played at Record Hospital Fest), but as always, you can expect great packaging from Libyans. (Mostly I'm thinking of their airplane-equipped 12".)



Anyway, the "A-side" (really just the first song), "Paralyzed" is going to be on the band's upcoming Sorry State 12". Similar to their other 7"s, the A-side is really more of the single, the catchy more Dangerhouse-esque song where the B-side packs a bit of a harder touch. On "Paralyzed" Liz even sounds a touch snottier, at least at the beginning of the song. We've gotten some backing vocals before, but Dan (Libyans' drummer) counters Liz on "Keep Waiting." Normally I'm not a huge fan of bands releasing a single as an album teaser or whatever, but "Keep Waiting" is worth getting this record. In fact, one reviewer called it "the most poignant love song Panella has ever written." (Scroll down all the way on that link. You know it's really saying something if you've ever heard Corner Club.) In all seriousness though, from the bass line starting off the song to the perpetually scratchy guitar riffs, you want to listen to "Keep Waiting."

Libyans are mostly on a break for the summer, but hopefully you can catch the tail end of the Eunuch tour and their new 7" (Liz plays bass in that band) or Foreign Objects (Dan also drums with them).

Libyans- Paralyzed 7"
Buy it from Upstate Commerce or Sorry State

LAST CAFFEINE BLUES (April 29, 2010)

And so goes our last show ever. Thanks to Adanma, Steve, Rob, Jim, Liz, Rachael, Milli, Karen, Sarah, & Alejandra for stopping by. Matt gets an extra special gold star for coming to almost every show this semester. It's been a good run.

Download it here.

Gray Matter- "Caffeine Blues” | Food for Thought (LP, 1985) | R&B

P.S. Eliot- "Like How You Are” | The Bike Wreck Demo (CD, 2009) | Self-Released
Teenage Cool Kids- "Queer Salutations” | Queer Salutations (CD, 2008) | Protagonist
The Diamond Sea- "Heavy Skies” | Slow Signal (12Inch, 2009) | Yellow Ghost
Delta 5- "Mind Your Own Business” | Delta 5: Singles & Sessions 1979 - 81 (CD, 2006) | Kill Rock Stars
Subdebs- "12XU” | She's So Control (CD, 2007) | K
Fleabag- "Curb Appeal” | The Best of the Nest 2009 (CD, 2009) | For the Birds

Abe Froman- "Russian 101” | Baltimore Is Scum (7Inch, 2001) | Self-Released
Witches with Dicks- "How to Cook for 40 Humans” | Manual (LP, 2007) | Kiss of Death
Social Circkle- "Life Crisis” | I've Got Afflictions (7 Inch, 2008) | No Way
Minor Threat- "Filler” | Minor Threat: Complete Discography (CD, 1989) | Dischord
Bikini Kill- "Carnival” | Bikini Kill (12Inch, 1992) | Kill Rock Stars
X- "Los Angeles” | Los Angeles (LP, 1980) | Slash

Cat Party- "Jigsaw Thoughts” | Jigsaw Thoughts (7Inch, 2008) | Rich Bitch
Wounded Lion- "Wyld Parrots” | Creatures in the Cave (7Inch, 2009) | Down in the Ground/Gilgongo
The Oh Sees- "Rainbow” | Help (LP) | In the Red
Loyce E Os Gnomos- "Era Uma Nota De” | Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas (LP, 2010) | Tropicalia In Furs Records/World Psychedelic Funk Classics
Pens- "High in the Cinema” | split with Male Bonding (7Inch, 2008) | Paradise Vendors
Sourpatch- "Fun” | Crushin' (CD, 2010) | Happy Happy Birthday to Me

Hey Girl!- "Always Be My Baby” | Spill Your Guts!! (LP, 2007) | Thrillhouse
Mika Miko- "Business Cats” | C.Y.S.L.A.B.F. (LP, 2006) | Post Present Medium
Wire- "12XU” | Pink Flag (CD, 1977) | Harvest/EMI
Y Pants- "Love's A Disease” | Y Pants (CD, 1998) | Periodic Document

Young Marble Giants- "Searching For Mr. Right” | Colossal Youth (CD, 1990) | Rough Trade
General Interest- "Capricious Youth” | Right by the Beach (12Inch, 2009) | Ride the Snake
The Dicks- "Anti-Klan (Part One)” | Kill from the Heart (LP, 1983) | SST
The Men- "Ailment” | We Are the Men (LP, 2008) | Self-Released

The Marked Men- "A Little Time” | Fix My Brain (LP, 2006) | Swami
Four Eyes- "Anchor Home” | Bill Jefferson's Licks (2010) | Self-Released
Shorebirds- "D.O.A.” | Shorebirds (7Inch, 2008) | No Idea
Team Dresch- "Freewheel” | Personal Best (LP, 1994) | Chainsaw
Cheeky- "Get Outta Here” | Choke on a Cheeseburger (7Inch, 2008) | Freedom School
The Coathangers- "Don't Touch My Shit!” | The Coathangers (7Inch) | Die Slaughterhaus

The Champagne Socialists- "Blue Genes” | Blue Genes (7Inch, 2009) | Slumberland
Pure Ecstasy- "Easy” | Easy (7Inch, 2009) | Light Lodge
Buckets of Bile- "Caught It Still” | Xxperiments (LP, 2008) | Die Stasi
Dan Melchior Und Das Menace- "The Post Office Line” | The Post Office Line/Tourists (7Inch, 2009) | Columbus Discount
Psychedelic Horseshit- "Out of Control, No. 36” | Out of Control, No. 36 (7Inch, 2009) | Columbus Discount

Meneguar- "Bury a Flower” | Bury a Flower (7Inch, 2006) | Troubleman
Life at These Speeds- "Younger Monkey” | split with Thank God (7Inch, 2007) | Exotic Fever
Slingshot Dakota- "The Golden Ghost” | Their Dreams Are Dead, But Ours Is the Golden Ghost! (CD, 2007) | Self-Released
Little Lungs- "Atlantic Bridge” | Hoist Me Up! (7Inch, 2008) | Salinas
Masshysteri- "Istiden” | Masshysteri (7Inch, 2008) | Hjernespind

Tiger Trap- "Puzzle Pieces” | Tiger Trap (LP, 1993) | K
Heavenly- "Cool Guitar Boy” | Heavenly vs. Satan (LP, 1991) | Sarah

Tokidoki- "Cookie Cutter” | Cookie Cutter (7Inch, 1995) | Tiny Shoes Records