unity and strength: free comps and bands needed

this guy named martyn from hamilton, scotland, is looking for anarchist/anti-facist/metal bands for a free comp he is doing.

he has already put out two other free comps recently that are available to download as a zip file: ‘unity and strength’ and ‘in all your decadence people die’.  i have just downloaded them so haven’t had a chance to blast them through my headphones, but the download includes a booklet for each comp with the lyrics for each song (original language and translations for those who don’t know swedish, spanish, italian and german) plus artwork and pictures.

the comps have been released on unity and strength records, from a cassette label and zine he used to do in the ’80s. according to his myspace, he put out some comps in the ’80s with bands like the subhumans. seems to be a right-on kinda guy.

shit hot sums it up.

HEADS UP:

benefit show in dunfermline at pj’s sunday june 1st. 12am to 12pm. overspill, 4 past midnight, down to kill, threats and more. £3 in, which is literally as cheap as chips… and a smoked sausage. let’s be realistic here. in support of fife stop the war coalition.

free 13th birthday show at carlton studios saturday 14th june. the exploited are headlining, with a couple of other bands playing. i totally saw the flyer on friday night but cannae mind who the others are. dunno when it starts either. i’m rubbish.

DELIBERATION OF THE DAY:

during the middle decades of the 20th century, virtues appropriate to the development of the machine – productive order, efficiency, control, forward-looking dynamism – became prevailing social vitures as well. – kevin robins and frank webster

I’M NOT A MACHINE! I’M NOT A MACHINE! I’M NOT A MACHINE! WON’T WORK FOR YOU, I’M NOT A MACHINE! – black flag

TURN IT UP AND TUNE OUT:

subhumans – from the cradle to the grave. an ex of mine bought me a cracking pair of sennheiser headphones (the upside of going out with a non-punker is the amount of money they’re willing to splash on presents) and i’ve had the pleasure of listening to my favorite records through them, and it’s like discovering them all over again. the basslines thud through you, you find yourself doing air guitar and air drum AT THE SAME TIME and you hear all the nuances you miss through shitty ear bud headphones. anyways, the reason why i’m telling you this is that subhumans are really good for putting little, barely-audible bits in their songs and the only way to truly hear them is with a pair of hd-25s. but for those of ya without £120 to burn, just slap this record on.

z.a.t.: free cd download

i’ve just found out that you can download z.a.t.’s new cd libera società for free. i’m just about to download it so will give you my yea or nae once i’ve had a shot at it.

the website that you download it from is like this italian free punk downloading site. there are video clips and whole albums available. it’s probably not totally kosher, but nothing fun ever is. that’s really all i can discern, will need to get someone who speaks italian round to check it out for me.

z.a.t. are a pretty good italian anarchopunk band. they toured scotland in 2007. what cracks me up is that in their photos of the tour they have a photo of them labelled ‘al pub di trainspotting’ which i have translated as ‘in the trainspotting pub’. scotland’s everlasting legacy, huh? makes you wanna smack ewan mcgregor right in his plucked-eyebrow, lip-gloss-wearing face.

HEADS UP:

teaze – alternative burlesque shenanigans. friday 23rd may. doors 9pm, first burlesque performance 10 pm, djs until 3 am. £5 in. it’s a fundraiser for f.r.e.a.k., an event which aims to create a temporary autonomous art space in a disused location. so not only will it be a good night, you can tick it off as your good deed for the day and proceed to knock down grannies with a bag of dead cats.

show at bannermans friday 23rd may. doors 9 pm. cute lepers (starring ex-briefs members steve e nix and stevie kicks [if ya dig that pop-punk shite, it makes my teeth hurt it's so sweet]), the begrudgers and the dirty pickups. fiver in.

dead kennedys at the liquid rooms 23rd may. £16.50 in. doesn’t say who’s supporting them or what time. i would body-swerve this one. if you are interested in my reasoning, check out my post below.

DELIBERATION OF THE DAY:

‘the great refusal’: do not resign yourself to acceptance of things as they are. – alfred north whitehead

TURN IT UP AND TUNE OUT:

while the east-coast/west-coast argument over who released the first hardcore album still rages on (i bet there have been many a burst nose over that one), the middle class - out of vogue is a kick ass 7″. 1978!! it came out in 1978!!