DON MARTIN 3 - self titled (7") Oberon Records #?? 199?

Okay here it is: the fucking essence with only 300 copies in existence.

I am not sure if Oberon was the band's own label - I do not know any other releases by this "label" - and when it was recorded/ released. There are no detailed informations provided here - all Don Martin Three records have that in common.

This 7" must be one of my most played ones concerning the 90ies emo thing (together with Inkwell maybe) - I have an additional copy up for trade.

I am not writing that much today (I haven't the last few weeks), just let those nine and a half minutes of delightful cliché speak to you.

DON MARTIN THREE - self titled (7") Oberon Records #?? 199?

side a:
1. katahdn

side b:
1. inefficient engine
[OGG Vorbis; 256 K; password: antithesis; mirror 1, mirror 2]

I recently saw that the scans of the 12" and 7" compilation were taken for the myspace tribute page of Don Martin Three - at least: ask nicely.


Links:
Former postings 1, 2

V/A - Education (LP) Mountain Records #04 1994

Uh, back from the dead. Thanks to all those who wrote.

Last part concerning Floodgate: the "Education" compilation on the now defunct Mountain label. Here are some notes by Jeff from Mountain Records:

"The Education compilation was Mountain's first release to focus not just on music but also address a particular social issue. The booklet that came with the LP contained liner notes for the LP as well as lengthy essays by various educators and educatees addressing the titular issue. It examined the complicated relationship that politically-minded, idealistic individuals have to education as it is and should be. All proceeds from the comp, which has now sold all 3,000 copies, went to the East Harlem Tutorial Program.

Musically, this comp is (for me) one of the key records from that period of time between the great wave of HC that spawned bands like Born Against, Rorschach, Econochrist, and the like - and the time when the word "emo" showed up on every page of every hardcore zine applied to every kind of music. Some of these bands are probably familiar to most people: Devoid of Faith, Policy of Three, and Floodgate are all fairly seminal groups. The rest of the comp is no slouch either. Coleman, one of my all time favorites, gives a slower song that spews venom and mucas. Kisses and Hugs offer a spazzcore (emoviolence?) tripcych that is nothing short of great, three short blasts of total fury. The rest of the music ranges from rocking quiet/loud stuff to more simple punk with an emphasis on screaming, bile chucking mid-tempo hardcore. As if the material in the booklet wasn't enough, all these songs address issues of education as well."

Quite self-explanatory, although I think the statements and ideas by the contributors are kinda one-sided and somehow even naive - a very strong "punk rock" view on the topic. But decide for yourself: I included the complete booklet within the zip file. Musically it's also an up and down. Outstanding tracks on this LP are - in my opinion - the Bleed track (must be one of their best), another New York hardcore mid tempo anthem by Devoid Of Faith, Policy Of Three and of course Floodgate. I also like the Citizens Arrest, Void feeling in the Dead Inside track but my favourite is Kisses And Hugs (get their LP and split 7"): three spazztic attacks within 1 minute - if you dig In/Humanity, Eurich, Palatka or the End Of The Century Party you have to love them too.

That was it - concerning Floodgate.

V/A - Education (LP) Mountain Records #04 1994

Side a:
1. DEVOID OF FAITH - I'll Keep You Safe From Me
2. BLEED - Better Days
3. KISSES AND HUGS - Lessons 1-3
4. HORACE PINKER- You Know
5. BENCHMARK - Knowledge Is Power
6. ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR - Monday
7. COLEMAN - Homage
8. OX - Channel 1

Side b:
1. FLOODGATE - Ruler
2. SILENCE EQUALS - How Does It Feel To Be The Last One Picked?
3. THREE STUDIES FOR A CRUCIFIXION - To Some Degree
4. RAZE - Blackboard
5. DEAD INSIDE - Natural Selection
6. POLICY OF THREE - Twelve Years Down
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, part 1, part 2, part 3]

Update:

Sendspace seems to be a bit slow: split in 3 parts -> 1, 2 and 3.

Links:
Mountain Records

VA - No Idea Fanzine - Bread, the Edible Napkin (CD) No Idea #20 1997

Okay, one of the compilations I am posting concerning Floodgate; their track "the pessimist" is otherwise unreleased and has a strong Moss Icon feel to it, but it is sadly one of their weaker tracks. But that's venial: "Bread, the Edible Napkin" is a great compilation. It was part of the No Idea fanzine - I was too lazy to scan the issue but I included the booklet of the compilation - but also available as double LP. You might still get it from No Idea records, if not you'll get it cheap second hand. The tracklist reads like a who is who of the late 90ies: Braid, Brutal Truth, Hot Water Music, Floor, Serpico, Cavity, Threadbare, Still Life, Sideshow, Moonraker, Horace Pinker, Car Vs. Driver, Locust, Christie Front Drive and so on. More than a half of the songs are otherwise unreleased and a few are my favourites by these bands especially those by Moonraker and Hope Springs Eternal. Some bands should be featured here sooner or later (later! ha ha ha): Serpico, Rhythm Collision and Gus.

If anyone has any additional tracks by The Lisa Killers which is a Floor/Dove sideproject, please write me a short e-mail!

Okay, that's it for today, after Threadbare's version of "sunstroke" I am going to spend my evening with Swiz records.


VA - No Idea Fanzine #12 - Bread, the Edible Napkin (CD) No Idea #20 1997

1. Hot Water Music - Floor
2. Floor - Who Are You?
3. No Empathy - Daddy's Got a Problem
4. Ash County Sluggers - Achiever 9
5. Brutal Truth - Eggshells
6. Christie Front Drive - Bag
7. Cavity - Wounded
8. Pung - Anthem for the Youth
9. V-Card - Strap Me Down
10. Floodgate - The Pessimist
11. Against All Authority - Corporate Takeover
12. Serpico - Double Negative
13. Elmer - Let's Get into a Fistfight
14. Gus (Canada) - Sinister Acts in Bright Sunshine
15. Moonraker - Friendly Fire
16. The Bruce Lee Band - Calling For Me
17. Horace Pinker - Sloth
18. Car vs. Driver - Generis
19. Locust - Inbred America
20. Hope Springs Eternal - Loneliness Equals Coldness
21. Jack With Killer - Stupid Heavy Metal 2--Restriction
22. King Friday - Lonnie
23. Braid - Katy Cat
24. The Lisa Killers - No One Gets Through
25. Rhythm Collision - Jack
26. Sideshow - Soar
27. Skankin' Pickle - $13,000 is a Lot of Food (live)
28. Crunch - Furioso Zapping
29. Threadbare - Sunstroke
30. The End of the Century Party - Doozer La, Doozer Do
31. Still Life - Someone Stole My Bike
32. Bombs of Cheese - White People in the Park
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Links:
No Idea Records

FLOODGATE - Troubles A' Brewin (12") Youth Strike Chord #2 & Ebullition #13.5 1993/1994

And finally: Floodgate's 12" which was a cooperation between Ebullition and the band's own label Youth Strike Chord - a huge step forward after their 7" but I must insist: still behind the double 7". Anyway I always loved how they managed to keep their sound on the hardcore side and "6+5+4=3" and "big brother blindness" are really two great songs. The instrumental on the flip side totally reminds me of something... but I can't recall of what... Rain? You tell me.

Funny sidenote: I saw this twelve inch on some Spanish blog filed under the category "Stoner".

FLOODGATE - Troubles A' Brewin (12") Youth Strike Chord #2 & Ebullition #13.5 1993/1994

side a:
1. troubles a' brewin
2. 6+5+4=3
3. big brother blindness

side b:
1.floodgate, m.l. (instrumental)
2. eldin o'brian
3. ancient of days
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

And since it has been a while, I repost their double 7":

Click! (Here is the original posting)

FLOODGATE - shirt

(front print)

This is an original Floodgate shirt and the only one known to me. In the 90ies it was a must for every band or fanzine to have at least one Käthe Kollwitz drawing or etching for a record cover, artwork etc. (no matter if your name was Split Lip or even Earth Crisis). This motive is also on the back cover of the Floodgate 12" on Youth Strike Chord/ Ebullition.

Off topic: if you ever stop by in Berlin, please drop a bomb on the district Kollwitz used to live. You'll do the city a huge favour!

FLOODGATE - 1st (7") Youth Strike Chord #01 & Anomaly #?? 1993

It's been a while and I like to subsume the last 4 months as "hard times in an age of quarrel".

I got Floodgate's first 7" for 5 bucks lately and I will post it together with other Floodgate stuff (12", shirt and compilations) the next few hours. Their debut release - I don't know if there's a demo tape - is still a bit behind their later stuff but it has it's moments. The last song "mountain" on this 7" is one of these moments: about 5 minutes long and driving with a huge Wash D.C. feeling in it. I'd like to emphasise that not that many bands played this style in 1993!


FLOODGATE - 1st (7") Youth Strike Chord #01 & Anomaly #?? 1993

side a:
1. the organic
2. conscription

side b:
1. abusive ego
2. mountain
[OGG Vorbis; 256k; password: antithesis; mirror 1, mirror2]

Links:
Floodgate @ BandtoBand
Floodgate's double 7"
The Notorious Love Affair

FLOODGATE - I choose danger (Double 7") No Idea #17 1994

Floodgate are mentioned rarely (while people throw in Indian Summer, Constantine Sankathi and Current to often)! I never heard or even had their first 7" on their own label Youthstrikechord (Nuzzle, Loomis Slovak...) but their 12" and this double 7" are classics for sure. Driven and heartfelt Hardcore with members of Campaign and the Fisticuffs Bluff including a household name: Andrew Gilbert who was also in The Notorious Love Affair (by the way: I think he wrote his best lyrics for The Notorious Love Affair, also I really dig the staccato but kafkaesque like lyrics from Floodgate).

I haven't listened to this record in years now until I picked up an additional copy some weeks ago and like more than 10 years ago I was steamrolled by "at rest". Jeez, this song blows. It has everything I expect from this type of music.

Compared to the previous 12" on Youthstrikechord/ Ebullition those songs are more sophisticated, true and tuneful. Even the production is way better.

The other songs are great too but I listen to "at rest" ten times in a row without getting bored.

If anyone wants to contribute a good rip of the first 7" including scans or sell it to me for a reasonable price: get in touch! Thanks.

Since it's easy to satisfy me concerning artwork: I really love the nice idea of an obi/banderolle around those two seven inches inside.

"Miles behind on the road to success" - yeah, me too!

FLOODGATE - I choose danger (Double 7") No Idea #17 1994

side a:
1. at rest

side b:
1. grind the pepper

side c:
1. I'd rather be out here with the unkown

side d:
1. miles behind on the road to success
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2)

"At rest" was also released on the "Blindspot" compilation CD on No Idea/ Toybox Records in 1997 and it looks like this (other bands are Integrity, Jud Jud, Ascension, Hot Water Music...):

SPIT ACID & STEP INTO NOWHERE - split (7") Per Koro Records #?? & NC #01 1995

Maybe you remember some of my previous postings: one of them was the No Cruelty shirt which was the “label” and mailorder of Tina and Peter who did Hardline Germany in Lörrach back in the days. I can also remember them organizing gigs in Lörrach with bands like Acme and Dawnbreed – none of these bands knew that they were involved in Hardline1.
Anyway this 7” was intended to be released on No Cruelty (their only releases are the Neckbrace 7” and an audio cooking book), but was released by Per Koro in the end, after the bands found out about the Hardline chapter and some crude statements by the people involved.

An observing reader of the blog also wrote me that he wanted to point out the Zorn – Step Into Nowhere connection which was swept under the carpet by me: Zorn (1, 2, 3, 4) were not only friends to Step Into Nowhere but also influenced by them, which makes sense. But I wanted to concentrate on the metal influences since I am a short haired friend of all longhairs.

Maybe Step Into Nowhere won’t stand the test of time like Zorn do (something big is coming up concerning Zorn by the way!), but this song here really sounds like early Zorn stuff.: empathic vocals, sluggish guitars… in the end: very “krauty”. Make sure you get your hands on their LP which is their best stuff in my eyes… ears. Spit Acid were from Göttingen and also had a LP on Per Koro/ Conquer The World Records which I listened a lot to in the 90ies. More due to their combination of political attitude, huge booklets and the melodic hardcore punk which combines early Ebullition with Berkeley – the weak vocals sometimes ruined it for me.
The only thing I found: an old Heartattack review.
The lyrics and a statement in the booklet all deal with the issue of animal "rights" and exploitation in a way both bands would have been better off on a Hardline label.
The label of the a side looks like the cover of the Crisis Of Faith/ Chokehold split 7" by the way.

SPIT ACID & STEP INTO NOWHERE - split (7'') Per Koro #?? & NC #01 1995

side a:
Spit Acid
1. PETA
2. tell me

side b:
Step Into Nowhere
1. schweigsam (im Grauen)
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, first mirror, second mirror]


1 funny side note: Hardline in Germany was more connected to the Ebullition and Profane Existence type of thing.

CHISPA - obstinator (7'') Per Koro #29,5 & Bloodlink Records #31 1999

Welcome to Postmodernism! This band arose after the end of Loxiran and clearly has one influence: San Diego. I think the band was also intended to be a rip off of bands like Guyver One – if you remember them? – and Swing Kids. They also had the perfect outfit for the sound (take a look at the glasses inside of the cover). But they kept this – self reflective - in mind and even their lyrics were insinuatingly this a bit (for example in „es gibt keinen Neuschnee“). Apart from those points (Alan Sokal we salute you… ha ha ha ha ha) they were one of the most intense live bands around that time on the old continent. You might be bored by this 7” - which was available as 5 song US version, 4 song version from Per Koro in Germany and a split CD version of those songs together with Enfold - but won’t do this band justice if you haven’t seen them live (they also toured the US together with label mates Enfold): an intense mayhem of guitar throwing and flying, doing somersaults and collecting the lost eyeglasses.
Enjoy! If you love Guyver One. „Showing ze Americans where ze hammer hangs“.
The members are quite successful in doing music nowadays being in Tomte, Marr and Der Tante Renate. Chispa just did those 7” songs and a compilation song. Markus from Per Koro Records still has some of those in his basement, write him nicely.

CHISPA - obstinator (7'') Per Koro #29,5 & Bloodlink Records #31 1999

side a:
1. Bradley
2. Glorification

side b:
1. Alienation aka K. Meine
2. Iskra
3. Es gibt keinen Neuschnee
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

CHISPA – unreleased song (recorded live) & compilation track (“Seed Of The Next Season” CD/LP Alveran & Per Koro Records)
1. Johnny Cash (live)
2. City of…
[MP3, 128k, password: antithesis]



Links:
Myspace Page