My intelligent friend pointed these guys out to me a few years ago with an assortment of MP3s he'd come across. I eventually picked up a few CDs, but the ones I started with have always been my favourites. Dulcinea Duct Tape - Troubled Hubble Yes Have Some, Yes Have Some EP (2003)
Ear Nose Throat - Troubled Hubble Making Beds in a Burning House (2005) Airplanes - Troubled Hubble Penturbia (2002)
The band are defunct now, but you can still get most of their CDs easily. Check out their website for them, and links to what the members are involved in nowadays.
So I've been looking over my old albums and I've picked out two long-dead bands who haven't just vanished.
Million Dead (2001-2005) With a name plucked from the lyrics of a Refused track, Million Dead's sound resembled more that of Fugazi. Heavy, grungy, angry and British, their second album Harmony No Harmony is the better of the two, in my opinion. Frank Turner's lyrics and singing, often sticking out like a sore thumb, beat down harshly on lifestyles and politics in the UK. It seems so obvious now that he would break off to become a solo artist.
So after this they disbanded, Frank Turner hastily hit the road with his acoustic guitar and his opinions. To date he has three albums, the latest having just happened. You can check him out on his official website.
Formed in 1996 in Greenwich, Llama Farmers were soon supporting the Foo Fighters and Greenday. They got signed to Fierce Panda Records, then Beggars Banquet. Aside from vinyls and EPs, they released two full albums before their disappearence in 2000.
But they didn't just disappear! After a stint as 'Letters', all four members are now back and active as Bear Hug. "Bear Hug is a band with four people in it, three boys & one girl to be precise. They like to make pop songs with harmonies and wiggly bits."
I tripped over a couple of tracks from this album on Vinyl Mine and liked it a lot, so I tracked down my own copy.
A punk/indie band from Dallas, I really only know what I can find on the internet, and in my infinitely small grasp of this era in music I can't really compare them in context. Out of context then? They're a lot like Refused in places, a later hardcore punk band I happen to love. I would also compare some songs to guitar-heavy indie like Interpol, maybe Joy Division in places (not for the better). Reality Bath was the band's debut, released on Homestead Records circa 1987. What I have found with Nice Strong Arm is a record of honest late-80s indie rock, and purchase on that steep ledge of music-that-happened-before-I-was-born.
Apart from being a brand of Finnish beer, kARHu is an experimental progressive electronic outfit. I know there's a hell of a lot out there since the internet caught on, but this one is a keeper. Mellow ambience meets glitchy hip-hop, it feels like those interlude tracks you always secretly loved more than the rest of the album. They've just released a nineteen-track album under a Creative Commons license, which is good news for everyone because it means you can listen to it right now.
Newtopia - kARHu Sinfonia for a Blunt Sword (2008)
You can get the whole album on the official site here.
All recordings I find are posted with love. If you are the copyright holder and wish to have a link removed, please feel free to contact me immediately and I will do so. If not, just smile.
My intelligent friend pointed these guys out to me a few years ago with an assortment of MP3s he'd come across. I eventually picked up a few CDs, but the ones I started with have always been my favourites.
