Well! The summers winding down, once again it's creeping into fall, and with that, in the nick of time we get another release by Trauma Harness, who last year around this time threw out their first tape. This time around we're diving into the darker ends of the tide, the feelgood washed-out fuzz replaced with a tide of black sludge. The tape starts off with "Red Heat", which opens with the slug-like squirming noises and distorted vocals that sound like they come from a family man, before jumping into a uptempo drown-out. The start-go pacing of "Pearl Moon" and the gothy garage of "Diesel" both interlace a distorted wall of scratching behind the music, and "Chew Z" romps through pummeling drums in under a minutes time. "Binding Light" ends the first side, followed by the hollow-wail of "Hypnik Jerk", who's guitar creaks up and down like a old house swaying in the wind. "Back to the Basics" offers up a near 4 minute goth death march before jumping into the surprisingly uptempo "Big Pyrimid" and "Frances Bay". The tape ends with the vocal-less and drum machine driven "Blue Flames", which is covered in audio samples of Frances Bay herself, before ending into a mist of noise and samples.
Anywhoo, you can listen to it/download it right here, as well as order it sooner than later, priced at $4. Included along with the pitch black art and cassette is a fold out poster and lyric sheet. Suck it all in and waver around the streets at night till fall is completely gone!
Yo Yo Yo Folks! I'm here again to give you the lowdown on all things Dingle!
It's been pretty darn hot in the Belleville area, so much so that most yards are a wilted yellow and people are being encouraged to stay inside instead of going outside. I don't even remember the last time it has rained here either, which is a bummer considering I've had a tremendous lack of swimming this summer so far, AND July is almost over, and I've gotta get ready for school and such. Garbababababababababaabababa.
Anywhoo, What we've got today is a awesome compilation of All-Belleville/IL area artists that have made up the latter half of 2012 in spring/summer. It's not all encompassing because really this was a open invitation comp, and those who responded or sent me junk got onto it, so what you see is what you get. In fact, most of this I guess you could say are EXCLUSIVE TRACKS!!!!
Let's cut right into it shall we? I'll give you a track by track recap of this. Starting things off is the Belleville mainstay options R with "Star Peak". I recorded both songs on this comp by him but the entire time he barely spoke and kept talking about dissociative identity disorder, weird guy. Acreage follows on the second track with "Statistic", whom are a jerky country-tinged three piece who've played more shows in New York than Belleville. Track 3 is by Todd Anderson's I Could Sleep in the Clouds, which any 2007 Dingle vets might remember his release from yonder under The Paper Transit, "Revelations" is a short recollection tune, but just listen to those snare roles! Freeburgians Dem Scientist shove out the headbangin' "Pizza World", which seeps with anger, irritation, and cheese grease. Wrapping up on track five is the epic five minute jammer by Carte De Visite, "The Worst Years of My Life", complete with French Horn breakdown. Jangly jammers Cinema Verite pops up from behind with the bouncy alterna-recording of "Turn into Gold", which they may or may not hate, followed by "Don't Say Nothin" By Dem Scientist, "What is Stolen is Gone Forever" by Acerage, "Manipulated Weapon Systems" by options R, and finally, military base mainstay and expert comic book artist Dusty Fingers ends the entire romp with "Happy Haunting", a fade out myriad of broken carnival rides petering out the last of their energy.
The compilation is free to download right here. If you made it out to recent Cheddr Den shows there were also crappy CD-R compies floating around. Stop by the Dingle Box soon though, for a tape version at a name-yr-price standing.
Anywhoo, that's about it for this here bugger. Give it a listen , listen to the lyrics really hard and make something out of it. Either or, enjoy the rest of the summer as well, coz the last thing you wanna do is mope about it coming to a end! Go out and get a slushie or something!!!!!
(WELL! UHHH sorry about the lack of update-age in the past month. My labtop spontaneously combusted leaving me with little functioning internet availability. But here I am once again at work abusing my powers as a employee to write about the newest release. Oh well.)
DING055 is a release of swirling bile and ghostly tunes coming straight from the sewers of Mascoutah, by the Illinois ghoulmaster himself Dusty Fingers(aka Devin Hill). "It's Later than You Think" is the fourth "official" tape by Dusty Fingers, who utilizes droning tape loops of found footage, audiotapes, children's lullabies, and corrosive tribal toms to punch out nasty swampy ooze of musical bile. Songs like "Ectoplasm Under My Fingernails" literally makes you check your uncleaned and untrimmed claws for any kind of slimy particles. The music can convey some image of a old iron factory still running in a overgrown forest to descending into the soundtrack for a boat wandering through a haze-riddled lake at night, no sense of direction.
early show of dusty fingers at lemp arts center
The tape itself has a small run of 25 with exclusive artwork, so get em while they're hot! You can stream the entire thing on bandcamp right here, plus some of his earlier releases for free as well. Feel free to contact him directly as well for awesome hand-drawn artwork and comic books. Finally, in the forthcoming months keep your eyes peeled for a new full length tape of his, AND a split with Trauma Harness.
It's march(or late march), meaning the barely present gauze of a 2012 winter is over. No sledding this year, actually only one snow that stuck for half a day! What gives!? I never felt in winter mode fully and now it's dunn over with! Oh well. Springtimez are here, get sick and stuffy early so you're not stuck indoors when summer springs out.
Today we got a UNRELEASED gem from 2008 by a wee band called Oh No You Didn't!(!!!). Easily the most influential and go-to dudes of the time frame of 2006-2009 in Belleville, they were the initial spark of awesomeness that not only started booking diverse and all ages shows that drew a wide crowd, but their eclectic mix of punk, funk, surf, hardcore, noise, jazz, and free-from freakout made them praised by all sides. (guess it helps they were super cool dudes also)
This was actually a band going back to 2004/2005 with a different lineup and around when I first started going to shows. Even then it was "DAMN YOU'VE GOT TO SEE OH NO YOU DIDN'T I THINK THEY'RE PLAYING THIS", but they ceased playing when one of their members moved to Columbia, MO. It wasn't till 2006ish when John Birkner(now famous for Shaved Women, French Fry Guys, Trauma Harness with a buttload of defunct bands) took over bass and they started back up again. Their live shows generally consisted of the entire crowd dancing/acting as a whole, so even the meeker who were worried about being judged for dancing could have fun, in fact ONYD's entire mantra was to unify all show-goers into the same positive mindset and perception, mixing ethos similar to Bad Brains(minus the sexisim), Minutemen, and Fugazi. Jeff Hursey, the main brainz behind the band booked at a local art space regularly and his shows definitely were gasoline to the fire of the local scene in Belleville, with tremendous amounts of people and bands making it out. So anytime they played it was always guaranteed to be a good time, and it just so happened they played quite a bit, if that says anything. Even when they were tacked on lamer shows with lame bands and lamer people it was still a great time.
These recordings were actually made in late 2007/2008 and originally meant to be released on Caffeine Tambourine, but the release never came to fruition. In the last track of audio you can hear various chatter from all sorts of people in bands from that time frame who were over to do group vocals on some of the songs.
Unfortunately they dissolved sometime in late 2008, mainly due to tension and problems with one particular member, but these things cannot be helped. Their last show ended in shambles with a sloppy cover of "Bikeage" by the Descendents, the band themselves all in a bad mood and four people from the crowd fighting over the mic trying to sing along. I thought that was going to be the last time I saw them but luckily they did a awesome reunion set at ITR's last show that made up for the embittered last show, and definitely the highlight of the entire event.
Anywhoo, of all the tracks, one is actually missing, and if I end up getting it I'll be sure to add it to the fray. There's a good chance this might have a physical release of some sort, as it never received one initially, included hopefully a showcase of some of their live footage which adds another dimension to the band. For the time being, check it out on bandcamphere.(photo cred to jason tasso & dustin brown) Also, below is a composite video of some of their live assault all pressed into a musik viddy.
Release 054 is a solo 1-2 punch by Belleville-area native Adam King, who's a proactive dude currently behind all kinds of cool stuff ongoing in the IL zone. "Adam King"(I could just say self-titled, but that's boring!!!) is a bare bones five song gust to kick off the season for those of you in a mid-pace walk still accepting it's springtime. The cassette starts with a cover of Jeff Mangum's "Engine", before jutting into the ship-swaying "Big Mouth". Avast mateys! hold the ship-side steady because that's the end of side A. Side B get's harrowing as "Dirge" and "What is Stolen is Lost Forever" hit a more melancholy note before the instrumental "Stained Glass" Ends the entire hurrah in a nodding whisper.
You can buy the BLOOD RED cassette directly from Dingle right here. This puppy is only limited to 25 copies, so act now to get your hands on the original pressing!(?) Who knows what could be in the future as well with such a short run(???). You can also listen/stream/download it right here via dingle's bandcamp! ker-pow!
Yeah! Well good news all around, we've got a slew of releases coming out in the spring, most of which are already very far down the pipeline. Keep yr. eyes out for them making their way around in April.
That being said, got yet another internet re-issue of one of the best local bands to spring out of Belleville, Evil Illegal! The band themselves had broken up in early 2006, but the records definitely hold up and demonstrate their intensity and appeal. The original release of this was one of the first ones on Dingle in 2007, back when it was all just free paper CD-Rs. Thankfully we've taken some babysteps up the ladder of label evolution and aren't doing too much of that anymore(or are we?)
Starting in some timeframe around 2004, Evil Illegal was comprised of dudes from both Belleville and Mascoutah IL. The core lineup was Jon Maguire, Brandon Brewer, and Erik Wolfe, but in early days I think that fluctuated with a bass player and second guitar before going back to simply guitar/drum. They played across the Belleville area and extended into St. Louis as well, and from my memories going to shows in early high school they were definitely the most engaging and entertaining band you could catch. By the time I already had gotten into them they were fairly "locally" popular and had developed a flock of girls in the front row of their shows wearing cut up Evil Illegal t-shirts, better days indeed. Most people I knew weren't explicitly into them at the time because most belleville bands were ska or high school punk in the circle of show-goers I was around, but Evil Illegal definitely holds up much more than any of those other bands have for me. The band collapsed sometime in 2006 and Jon and Brandon went on to form The Mhurs(who are still active in STL now, without Brandon however). Erik focused on Illegal Tone Recordings, which he started around the timeframe of Evil Illegal's final year and continued it up till recently, and in 2008 started a band with Brandon called Yamada Taro, then starting Egg Chef in summer 2009. All the tracks stand up strong even now, sometimes you even forget this band was just guitar and drum due to how aggressive the music can get. Check it out, reference a friend to it, pretend it's your band! whatever. Listen to it here, and check out a video of em' playing the former all ages Main Street Jazz & Blues(now known as the 21+ and less fun Blue Agave)
Hey Everyone! Small update on Dingle's end, we're now officially located in Belleville, IL opposed to our hometown of Millstadt, so all mail, hate mail, stuff can be sent to the following address!
the cheddr den.
21 W. Garfield
Belleville, IL
62220
Send away!(?)
Friday, February 10, 2012
A wish-washy review of "Trauma Demolitional in MRR plus a shout name dropping of Dingle + a mention of "Erman" EP they didn't review.
We've also got a twitter now. Follow it if you want free packaged non-perishable meals and stuff right here.
all photos taken by mabel suen, big thanks to her and joe @ wrong division
Hello everyone! (for anyone reading this? IS ANYONE READING THIS?!?!?!) Haven't given a update since Turkey Season but not because I'm lazy and uncommitted, but because there is in actuality little to report! Thankfully I've amassed enough news to make a noteworthy post. Some reviews of "TraumaDemolitional" and "Erman" EP are from folkies, and right now the process of two compilation tapes(one studio & one live) in the workings. More info on that soon enough.
Anywhoo, Bigger fish are up to the ancestral sacrificial pedestal, this big fish being the closure of Illegal Tone Recordings(aka ITR), in Belleville, IL. A studio/venue that will stand out as far as location, independence, and aesthetics as far as the area of Belleville goes fur immer. Not trying to toot my own horn here either, I only co-ran it for under a year, and that's in regards to a four and half year lifespan. I guess I was around for that entirety and probably longer, so angry folkies can probably find some area to bash any positive comments I make!
Patrick Sexton came through over the summer and wrote a awesome article on the blog Suave Citation in his own perception of the venue and the community mindset of the dudes and dudettes of Belleville. Really great stuff all around! Joe & Mabel took the helms of doing a full write-up and giving the place's last gasp the limelight to the Riverfront Times, which can be read here(another one here) and is pretty sweet if you're at all curious to any kind of history or development of the venue.
As I mentioned if you want a history lesson just check out the two articles above, I'm not going to spiel on about stuff I've already rambled about(but I probably am going to still anyway). Instead I guess I'll talk about cool memories or something. Anywhoo, I guess I'll start with the very outside image of the building. Nothing will top the reactions of bands arriving to see the goofy flagship image that conjures the majestic ITR, a printed spread of Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar(which was a marketing gimmick by Erik in a attempt to lure simple minded jam bands that they'll be as cool as jimi and jon bonam if they record here and die of a drug overdose as well and be glorified by people trying to emulate them playing at hard rock cafe). The original atrium layout walking into one door and having a open hall to hang/look at merchandise was always a great feeling as well. Sometimes I was completely anxious walking into the room like it was some amusement park ride, or just seconds away from seeing some awesome band. As it stood as a recordings studio, I had super fun recording a bunch of stuff there. (Recorded two albums with Stiff Kittens, A massive amount of material by The Belleville Pizza Raptors that will never see the light of day, a rap album with Patrick Cadaver that will never see the light of day, Everything Egg Chef ever recorded, The Reaganomics/Fudge, and even recently, the first French Fry Guy EP.) The first year of room engulfing circle-pits to third wave ska, reopening queue lines because the hype was that much, wall ball and skate videos, basement exploitation movies, super dew, laughing at people laughing at us calling it a straight edge venue, the list goes on and on and on. Some people my age seem to only recollect on the initial year it was open prior to the first shut-down, which is cool because alot of those people maybe had fallen out of going to shows or whatever during the gap it was closed(even though there were a buttload of shows happening in that time too elsewhere) and don't seem to bring up past that often. Sometime in the 09'/10' zone there was this weird blacklisting thing going on with ITR that was pretty goofy, which also was fine because anyone who actually acted on it probably wasn't that down of a person to begin with. I was also quoted in the same article saying I spent my high school days booking shows at pizza places in a quote of broken and fractured sentences. It was on that day that I hired my first PR agent, and have been living the good life ever since.
Generally hanging out and somehow playing every generation of video games bi-yearly, and seeing goofy and weird confrontational situations involving drunks, idiot kids, and people complaining ITR wasn't treating bands good. The latter was always perplexing and also increasingly irritating, I think anyone will becoming disenchanted with a place when for one you're booking bands you don't even like, then to have people tell you you're not running YOUR place the way it should be is brain-clotting.
Taking over the venue was pretty cool as well. The arrival of Tarpland(pictured above!) and Erik's Snack Shack were fun to do, and even more so having a show in Tarpland! Meeting tons of people and hanging out with down to earth folks was great. Of course initially things were weird and shaky and Erik didn't have any trust in either Andy or I that we were capable of running the place(which I don't know to this day has changed!) and sometimes It was overwhelming and mindbogglingly frustrating, but the end result was totally worth it for ever single corroded-axon-perceived nanosecond of whatever.
Either or, I'm super bummed that the venue is closing abruptly and for good. The idea of closing was a slow-moving glacier but the glacier managed to trip on a stick and fall into the sun instantly. But sadness should be momentary, as it closing opens up new pathways for people to take shows around the area as well. There were already a bubbling group of high school/college freshmen doing shows at their houses, and the use of renting halls was discarded for the easy accessibility of ITR for free and with less hassle, not due to any kind of problem or dispute. Perhaps people will start booking in halls again? Possibly even looking into opening up their own space in a rented building? I would hope that would be some kind of result from folks seeing ITR closing down and maybe try to emulate the idea or something, not to say ITR was a godsend or anything, but just their own version of a positive environment-sh place or just a place to go and have fun and do whatever they've been wanting to. Clinging to the past or looking at what was in regret and sadness won't create anything but bad vibes and still-water progression of inspiration and drive to go out to create something.(Sorry folks reading this not from around the Belleville area, out of context this probably looks overtly preachy and exaggerated [ppl in context might think this is dumb too lol], so thanks for reading this far if you don't give a crap and am perplexed at a 22 year old guy ranting about a building being shut down). So Anyway, thats probably all I can say or think of to say at the current time. It was a blast but ah, such is life. I'm typing this at work and it's Sunday, nobody is here and my feet are tired from standing for the last five hours, so I guess I'm going to go eat now. Make it out to the last show if you're reading this, if you happen to read in post-Jan 31st, It's okay, we love you anyway. Here's some last gasps of glory to give you a momentary glimpse into stuff.
The Undefined, 2007. Freeburg's Favorite Son killing it at the first Halloween show.
How to Steat & Cheal, third wave champs/mainstays of 07/08 + circle pit enthusiasts
Suburban Epidemic, pogo punx heroes from 2008/09
Meth Mouth, hardcore high skoolerz recording at a shut down ITR, 2008.
The Belleville Pizza Raptors, 2009 definitive pizza cover band
Hood Kicks, one man keyboard purple sounds, 2010.
You're Not Kablamo!, 2010. The brainchild of the world's most punk recess attendant Patrick Cadaver.
Carte De Visite, unloved & underrated indy 500s in 10'
Dem Scientist, Freeburg's Favorite Son pt. II, 2011.
French Fry Guys, absurdist foodpunk ska nobody gets down the fryhole. 2011
The Taxpayers playing ITR in one of the more memorable shows of Summer 11'
Lots more to be found, but I'm on time constraints, sorry! All these vidz should have linked vids to more vids of vids of vids all regarding ITR. Stay gold.
