Mix CD #37 - Earn Your Stripes

For the last few years, since I moved house, the majority of my CDs have been kept in crates in the attic. I had the albums I wanted at the time ripped to iTunes and never bothered with the discs after that. Over the last 4-5 weeks, I've been tidying up there, restacking stuff and going through all the crates of CDs, a lot of which it's been 10-15 years since I listened to them last. I've rediscovered old favourites, re-assessed albums I'd once passed over and even found a few that I had no idea I even owned.

During those last few weeks, I've ripped the CDs and added around a thousand more albums or so to iTunes. I was concerned that I was starting to run out of things to include on these mixes but, as you can imagine, doing this has massively bolstered my stockpile of songs to sift through. There's about half a dozen tracks of rediscovered stuff on this mix. Feel free to guess which ones.

I really like the album cover I've pinched this month, I think it ties in well with the title. Together they convey the message that the difference between a good soldier and a great one isn't just a skill and propensity to kill but to maintain some humanity and compassion as well.

Tracklisting
The Generators - Earn Your Stripes
Sasquatch - Seven Years To Saturn
Folly - The Weak And The Wounded
Kim Seviour - Fabergé
Snuff - Hey Boff
Marmozets - Like A Battery
Hundred Reasons - She Is Poison
Medulla Nocte - Problem To The Solution
All About Eve - December
Brad Sucks - Thanks For The Add
Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi - Hear The Air
Slugdge - The Chapter For Transforming Into A Slug
Elliott Smith - Memory Lane
The Bluetones - Marblehead Johnson
Dr. Frank - Knock Knock (Please Let Me In)
Fell At Ten - The River
Robert Johnson - I'll Believe I'll Dust My Broom
Cheap Heat - A Chip On The Shoulder
Skarlett Riot - Warrior
The Crimea - Someone's Crying

You can download the mix HERE if you want.
You can read fascinating little nuggets of ramble about each track below too. If you like.


The Generators - Earn Your Stripes
Taken from the 2016 compilation Earn Your Stripes

This L.A. Punk band have been knocking around since the mid-nineties and have released a ton of great albums, culminating in the Best Of Compilation that this mighty track is taken from. They're a no-nonsense Street Punk band with hints of Ska and Greaser Rock 'n Roll, Doug Dagger (who I originally came across singing for the band Schleprock, who are also great) has a big voice, reminiscent of Greg Graffin, so they come across as somewhere between Rancid and Bad Religion. I've just discovered they have a new album out but it's only currently available direct from Randale Records in Germany.

Sasquatch - Seven Years To Saturn
Taken from the 2006 album II

This is one of the many CDs I've dug out of storage and not listened to in years, I just have their first two albums and it turns out they released their fifth in 2017 so I'll have to track down the other three. 
As you might gather from their name, they're a Stoner Metal band, with flashes of Classic and Southern Rock. Frontman Keith Gibbs has a striking voice and this song is one of their pacier songs, despite its length. It's a tale of an unnamed person travelling through space (for seven years) before something goes wrong and his ship plummets through the atmosphere to crash on the surface. Their fate is untold. It's all very Major Tom. 

Folly - The Weak And The Wounded
Taken from the 2004 album Insanity later

This aptly-named New Jersey band took angular, screamy Mathcore and infused it with some perky Ska bounce. It'll probably sound like an unholy alliance to fans of either genre but they managed to pull it off fairly deftly. They released a couple of excellent albums, some EP's then unfortunately split. 
This song is probably my favourite from this album, not least because the title (and the sample in it, towards the end) are taken from the movie Session 9. It's about an asbestos removal company who are hired to work at a disused mental asylum. One of them finds recordings of interviews with a patient who killed her family one night. As he listens to them several of her personalities come forward, all very careful not to awaken the one called Simon. You can guess which session he turns up in. 
It was a surprisingly enjoyable, suspenseful horror film that was more tension than gore and it's worth a watch if you're into that sort of thing. Also, Folly are worth a listen if you're into this sort of thing,

Kim Seviour - Fabergé
Taken from the 2017 album Recovery Is Learning

I've been meaning to include this track since last year but it always seems to get bumped for some reason. Not this time. 
I first heard Kim when she sang on one of the songs on Lonely Robot's debut album. That was one of my favourite albums of 2016 and her song was my favourite on the album. Up until a couple of years ago, she was the lead singer in British Prog Rock band, Touchstone. Recovery Is Learning is her debut solo album and it's a concept album of sorts, the majority of the music is handled by John Mitchell (of the aforementioned Lonely Robot, among other things) so, along with Kim's impressive vocals, it's no surprise that it's a quality album. Kim's voice actually reminds me a lot of Julianne Regan from All About Eve, in fact, when this song popped up on shuffle, I initially thought that's who it was.
The song itself is about how we tend to keep feelings and anxieties hidden within and project a confident, bright exterior, ultimately to our detriment. 

Snuff - Hey Boff
Taken from the 2016 EP No Biting!

For as long as I've been wanting to include that Kim Seviour track on one of these mixes, I've been wanting to follow it with this track. I just like the juxtaposition between the two. In contrast to the epic beauty of Fabergé, Hey Boff is an oafish ode to an oaf; the kind of crazy friend that's always doing stupid, outlandish stuff, irritating everyone but you know that, when it came down to it, they'd have your back.
 It's powered along by a bouncy, stop-start riff and a ton of melody. It's full of energy and'll put a bold old smile on your face while you nod along merrily.

Marmozets - Like A Battery
Taken from the 2018 album Knowing What You Know Now

The excellent debut album, The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets, by this Leeds quintet showed a progression from their scream-heavy EP's to something a bit more accessible. Knowing What You Know Now shows further progression and it's a slick, savvy album that should see them gaining more success. If I'm honest, I'm having trouble clicking to it, though I'm liking it more with each listen. There's definitely a few standout tracks though, including this one.

Hundred Reasons - She Is Poison
Taken from the 2007 album Quick The Word, Sharp The Action

The height of the UK Post-Hardcore band, Hundred Reasons' popularity was around 2002-2004, with Ideas Above Our Station and Shatterproof Is Not A Challenge. After that, they seemed to fade away and I just assumed they'd split up. It turned out they had indeed split (they've recently been doing some reunion shows) but not for a while after I thought. They released a couple more albums first, though this, their fourth, doesn't feature Paul Townsend, the founding guitarist. Both albums are pretty good and I got them for cheaps off Amazon.
This song is one of the highlights from their last album and is as good as anything from those first two albums. I love the interplay of the two guitars in particular but it's just an all round, great song.

Medulla Nocte - Problem To The Solution
Taken from the 1998 album A Conversation Alone

Medulla Nocte were a British Hardcore band that had a big Metal influence. Or maybe it was the other way around? Anyway, A Conversation Alone is chock full of riffs, fury and shouty gang vocals that are fun to shout along to and Problem To The Solution is probably the most shouty-along-to song on it. Vocalist Paul Catton now fronts Barabbas but was previously in Lazarus Blackstar and the mini-supergroup, Murder One with folks from Raging Speedhorn.

All About Eve - December
Taken from the 1988 album Scarlet And Other Stories

I mentioned All About Eve back up in the bit about Kim Seviour, now you can listen to both and decide for yourself whether I'm talking bollocks or not. I used to have a couple of All About Eve albums on cassette but the only CD I've had was The Best Of, this song was always one of my favourites but was never on that compilation. Fairly recently I've bought the first three albums on CD and it's been great hearing them again. It must be over 15 years since I've heard this song and it's as excellent as I remember, a lot longer than I remember but excellent. Julianne Regan had (I presume still has) a great voice and all these albums are still really good. I guess the majority of people only really know them for Martha's Harbour but there's so much more to them than that song.

Brad Sucks - Thanks For The Add
Taken from the 2012 album Guess Who's A Mess

The Brad in isquestion Brad Turcotte, a multi-instrumentalist from Ontario. His first couple of albums (I Don't Know What I'm Doing and Out Of It) were self-depreciating Indie Rock with a few Electronic overtones. Guess Who's A Mess takes that further and is more Dance Rock, along the lines of LMFAO (Every day I'm shufferlin...). 
Thanks For The Add is a standout track and is a ridiculously catchy tale of a stalker/superfan. I can't get that stupid "And I'm livin' like a dead man, with a fake I.D." bit out of my head. I'm mumbling it to myself almost constantly. Right now in fact.

Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi - Hear The Air
Taken from the 2001 album Vague Us

This Welsh trio released just the one album and it's something of a forgotten classic, combining Art Rock, Indie Rock and Punk into a big, camp ball of peculiar. Hear The Air was a classic all on its own too, everything just clicks right with it: the harmonies, the melodies, the male/female vocals (sadly Rachel Tomsk only sang on this track, she fits in so well with the band) and that false ending and acapella middle section. It's just a brilliant song and they should have been a lot bigger than they were. I guess the name had something to do with it; I might be fun to say but it's still a bit weird and off putting.

Slugdge - The Chapter For Transforming Into A Slug
Taken from the 2015 album Dim And Slimeridden Kingdoms

This British band combine elements of Death, Sludge, Black and Progressive Metal to make a joyful, unholy noise. Almost all of their songs are gastropod themed in nature and plenty have a punned title that's as dodgy as the one in their name. This song takes multiple twists and turns but, for the most part, it's absolutely pummelling. 

Elliott Smith - Memory Lane
Taken from the 2004 album From A Basement On A Hill

His death/suicide might be a little fishy (stabbing yourself to death with a kitchen knife seems like quite a hard thing to do) but he's left behind a brace of excellent albums and a legacy that will long outlive a lot of his contemporaries. From A Basement On A Hill was his final album, released a year after his death and compiled from the remnants of a planned double album. Personally, it's my favourite of his albums and Memory Lane, the first song of his I ever heard, is still one of my favourite songs of his. It's a gentle, pretty song that's about an especially brutal and horrific Mental Institution. The juxtaposition is effective and it's a fantastic little song.

The Bluetones - Marblehead Johnson
Taken from the 1996 single Marblehead Johnson

This London Britpop band were overshadowed by some of the louder, brasher bands of the time, you know which ones I'm talking about, but they had a brace of excellent albums and some fantastic singles (If..., Autophilia, Cut Some Rug, Soloman Bites The Worm for starters). Marblehead Johnson was a stand alone single, not taken from any album and did pretty well at the time. The song itself doesn't appear to be but the title is a tribute to the late Bill Hicks, with that being the name of his band and stuff. It's a great song and I've that "Toniyiahyiahyiahyight I'm wound tighter than a watch string" line stuck in my head for over twenty years now.

Dr. Frank - Knock Knock (Please Let Me In)
Taken from the 1999 album Show Business Is My Life

Dr Frank is the vocalist/guitarist/bandleader of Pop Punk legends, Mr T Experience. He's also written a few books that are good too (King Dork had the rights bought for a movie at some point). The majority of his solo work is acoustic but I've chosen a track that's a full band and may as well just be another MTX song. Sorry about that. Knock Knock (Please Let Me In) combines a domestic argument with some hilariously awful puns and I love it very much.

Fell At Ten - The River
Taken from the 2018 album Another Day

Fell At Ten are a young Australian trio whose name may or may not be very rude (Fellat10). Musicwise they're an Alternative rock band with a few flourishes of Grunge and Post Hardcore. For me, there are hints of early Silverchair to this track in particular. My mate Eddie played The River on his radio show a while back and I really enjoyed it. The guy has a good voice, it's a catchy tune and that riff that crops up every now and then is pure 90's excellence.

Robert Johnson - I'll Believe I'll Dust My Broom
Taken from the 1937 78" I Believe I'll Dust My Broom

Speaking of being very rude, I always assumed this song was about entertaining yourself in private (his penis being the broom he's 'dusting') but apparently it's about leaving and never coming back. How disappointing. 

He sold his soul to The Devil you know...

Cheap Heat- A Chip On The Shoulder
Taken from the 2018 album Everything I've Ever Loved Has Either Died, Broken, Left Me Or Let Me Down

This is a pretty recent addition to the mix as I've never even heard of Cheap Heat until a week ago. A link to their Bandcamp popped up in a sponsored ad on The Facebook, I'm always a sucker for a Name Your Price so I gave them a listen and it turns out they're pretty decent! There are healthy doses of Idles, Reuben and Mongol Horde in their energetic, amusing, Hardcore Post Punk. A Chip On The Shoulder is a short, sweary rant about our relentless narcissism and anxiety. As he says,  don't take yourself too seriously.

Skarlett Riot - Warrior
Taken from the 2017 album Regenerate

From time to time I mention my secret list of all the grumpy rules I have about music, all the minor, inconsequential things that enrage me. One of those things is an intentionally misspelt words in band names, drives my pathetic little grammar Nazi mad.
Anyway, Scarlet Skarlett Riot are from the Rock and Roll utopia that is Scunthorpe. They take the standard formula of female fronted Gothic Metal and give it a modern, contemporary sheen, eschewing the symphonics in favour of riffery. Both of their albums are enjoyable listens, plenty of melody and hooks but weighty enough to maintain credibility too. Warrior was one of last years singles and it has a bit of a Power Metal feel to it. It's about having the confidence and self-belief to stand up for yourself, particularly in the face of domestic abuse/assault. Skarlett Riot are going from strength to strength and it's nice to see a good, young band from the, sort of, North of England having some success.

The Crimea - Someone's Crying
Taken from the 2005 album Tragedy Rocks

The Crimea were formed from the ashes of Folk/Punk/Indie Rock band, The Crocketts. They have a similar sound, mainly due to Davey MacManus' instantly recognisable voice, though it's much more refined and mature than the anarchic racket of The Crocketts. They released three fantastic albums before splitting in 2013, 
Someone's Crying was the closing track of their debut and it's a real tearjerker. It's about the loss of someone close, whether it's a loved one, a  relative or friend and whether they were murdered, killed in an accident, died of an illness or if it was suicide is left, we still feel the same, raw grief. It's a beautiful, haunting song and the pain in Davey's voice is heartbreaking as he angrily questions God in how He allowed it to happen. The song ebbs and flows, building in momentum and washing away until, at the last, everything drops away just leaving Davey asking "Where was your magic, Lord? Where was your magic?".