Bizarro Jerry's Kutout Bin Klassics, Vol. 7

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5
Vol. 6

...dunno if any of the download links on those albums are still working, but as always, hit me up at whimperwarrior@gmail.com if you're interested in hearing them.

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but I finally found a not-scratched-up copy of one of my favorite rock records of all time, so it's goin' up here. The group in question is Chicago's Muchacha. Part of a thriving 90's punk scene, these guys never made it outside of semi-regular college radio rotation, and what a shame that is. In my opinion, this 1997 self-titled album is every bit as rockin' and well-written as say, 'Nevermind.' I mean, Kurt Cobain's cult of personality aside, they were basically just a really good punk band, which is what Muchacha strives to be.

That goddamn GUITAR tone, though! It's almost like the guys from Kyuss wanted to write a pop-punk album without changing ANYTHING about their sound. The guitar is so fucking loud and crunchy that it gives a metal vibe to these decidedly non-metal songs. The singer/guitarist, Alex Acevedo, also has that great smoked-out voice that made so many second-rate grunge albums listenable. He's sneering, in your face, and drops alternately violent and apathetic lines like 'I wanna rip up your face' and 'I'll take a backseat for my education.' As a bonus, there's a Guided By Voices cover ('Gold Star for Robot Boy') that I actually like BETTER than the GBV original. I'm a huge GBV fan, by the way, so that's a pretty big compliment to these guys.

Muchacha also had a second album that I've only heard a couple tracks from, but I was fairly disappointed because they amped up the pop-punk shtick and put a radio-rock shine on everything. Whatever, most bands can only DREAM of having a record as good as this one.

Muchacha - 'S/T'

Tracklist:

1. Evelyn Mason
2. Cashed Out
3. Ugly Truth
4. Coffin Girl
5. Dead Right
6. Joy Ride
7. Lost Again
8. Horse Power
9. Lou Reed's Dead
10. Checkered Past
11. Gold Star for Robot Boy
12. Sub-Zero
13. Elephant Shoes/Hidden Track

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Botfly - S/T (rare Lansing funk/metal/weirdo shit)

Sometimes I buy cassettes from thrift stores. Often, as you can imagine, they are garbage. But, at like 50 cents, how are you going to pass it up? Mostly, I just collect weird ambient shit and easy listening jazz, because they're great to grab samples from, but today's find is a little different.

This is a group apparently out of Lansing, Michigan in the early 90's...all I can find on the internet is a description that says something like 'Primus meets Blues Traveler' which sounds pretty terrible. I'm guessing someone just wrote that because they have a ripping harmonica player. Whatever the case, this is a strange brew....they're definitely metal, but there's a LOT of funk and goofiness, that makes me think of the Deli Creeps. But then there's that harmonica....makes the whole thing seem like the 'Rosanne' theme song gone to a murky hell or something. I dunno. But, considering my recent post on funk metal, it's a pretty fitting thing to put up here. Plus, it's ripped directly from cassette by ME, so that's kinda cool, right?

Botfly - S/T (1995)

Tracklist:

1. Turns
2. Texas Toast
3. Wha-Hurd
4. Barney
5. Acquisition
6. Life
7. Program Callous Indifference
8. Trailer Park Shuffle
9. Feces Stew
10. Can Cega

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Bizarro Jerry's Kutout Bin Klassics, Vol. 6

...and look at that shit. Three posts in one day. That's probably a new record for the site. So here we have Lazy's second album 'The Lazy Music Group.' I don't care for the first one too much...it's just a Beat Happening ripoff that's kinda boring overall. This one, however, is a LOT different. I love pretty much all mid-90's grunge-rock bands that got signed to a major for one record then broke up, so maybe I'm biased, but these guys (er...girls and guy) are like Beat Happening with the balls of Dinosaur Jr or something. It's weird hearing this because the formula is pretty similar stylistically to my own group, Coma Nova. The dude yells and plays nasty-loud guitar, and the girl sings weird lyrics in a plain voice. Some of the songs are a little repetitive, but 1, 3, 6, 7, 9 and 11 are all terrific. Released in 1996 on Roadrunner Records for some reason.

Lazy - 'The Lazy Music Group'

Tracklist:

1. Favorite Song
2. Cut it
3. Stella Drye
4. Get it Right
5. Shut Down
6. What I Need
7. Cherry Smash
8. Petrified
9. Taya
10. All About You
11. Cinderella
12. Half Assed
13. Johnny Come Lately

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other Kutout Bin Klassics:

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5

Bizarro Jerry's Kutout Bin Klassics, Vol. 5

As promised, here are BOTH albums by San Francisco-based grunge-punk group Protein. (I know I said in the last post that they were from Texas...they actually relocated to Texas and former lead man Josh Zee's new band is based there.) I would post the Wikipedia article here in link-form, but it's all of three sentences, so basically all we know about these guys is that they were all kicked out of the same high school at the same time and decided to start a band with their downtime. That's a pretty fitting beginning for dudes who've got lines like 'I walk by your house extra slow under my hood, it seems like it would be interesting to sneak in kill you, but I never would' and 'you can pray all the way to satan everyday, but I'll say I don't worship anything but me.'

As I said before, if people weren't such fucking idiots, these guys would have been the next Nirvana. You can argue that lead man Josh Zee isn't nearly the songwriter that Kurt Cobain was, but then listen to "Passing By" from the 2nd album, or "Duct Tape On My Hat" from the 1st. This guy isn't just a flashy guitarist with a bad attitude. It's really disappointing that, when their major label deal fell through, these guys disbanded, but Zee is in a not-half-bad country band (I hate country, but I can at least stand this stuff) called the Mother Truckers.

Obviously, I can't conclude this brief little review without mentioning that guitar. That fucking guitar. How many times did Josh Zee sit in his room playing along with his Van Halen records until he had the solos perfect? The world may never know, but this is a guy who loves his guitar. Imagine the mind-fuckingly original capabilities of Buckethead, but without the shitty music (Deli Creeps aside). It's like 'here's some great songs, and oh, by the way CRAAAAZY SOLO RIGHT IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.' I guarantee you'll never hear another band quite like this, and it's a shame that they've been relegated to cutout bin status (both of these albums are, as far as I can tell, out of print). The 2nd album has a little bit more country-twang and less blazing solos than the first, but it also has better production and (arguably) more mature songwriting.

Protein - 'Ever Since I Was a Kid'

Tracklist:

1. My Blood
2. Obligations
3. Over My Head
4. Refrigerator
5. Maybe I Will
6. Slightly Bitch Philosopher Dream Chick Meets the Insecure Martian Prophet
7. What is #4?
8. Duct Tape on My Hat
9. In Half
10. I Own You
11. Roadrash
12. If I Were You

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Protein - 'Songs About Cowgirls'

Tracklist:

1. From Mercury to Texas
2. Lemonade
3. Over My Dead Body
4. Passing By
5. Sleeping on the Roof of a Mexican Restaurant
6. 40 Days and Nights
7. Intermission
8. I Waited in Glue
9. Drinking Song
10. Going to L.A.
11. Everything Good
12. Maybe the World Isn't Round
13. Transition

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...oh, and...

other Kutout Bin Klassics:

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4

Bizarro Jerry's Kutout Bin Klassics, Vol. 4

Time for another installment from the deepest depths of the cutout bin--aka where records nobody wants end up.

For being an out-of-print release, Basehead's 1991 release "Play with Toys" sure seems to be loved by a lot of people.

Recorded on 4-track cassette by college-dude Michael Ivey and whoever the hell was hanging out in his dorm room, this record is basically the most stoned, lazy, half-assed rap disc you'll ever hear (and those are all compliments). Ivey doesn't so much rap as he says things kind of rhythmically, and he doesn't make beats so much as he plays his out-of-tune guitar over store-bought drum machine tracks.

All in all, it's just a really cool, relaxing listen. A lot of people DON'T seem to like his '93 followup "Not in Kansas," (which has a full band and shorter songs) but I think it's pretty rockin' too. I even like Ivey's post-slacker, reborn-christian albums from the mid-nineties to present day (which find him rapping about god AND weed, instead of just the latter). Dude's just got a way about him.

Sound good? Download below.

Basehead - 'Play with Toys'

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. 2000 B.C. (Braincells)
3. Brand New Day
4. Not Over You
5. Better Days
6. Ode to My Favorite Beer
7. Hair
8. Evening News
9. I Try
10. Play with Toys
11. Outro

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Bizarro Jerry's Kutout Bin Klassics, Vol. 3

I first saw this album in a cutout bin when I was in junior high and thought it was the funniest looking rap tape ever. Years later, I tracked down a copy on amazon (for 50 cents) and confirmed this.

This is like the album Pharcyde always wanted to make, but never did because they did too much planning. Loose rhymes, murky beats, and a 'we're high as fuck in the studio' kind of feel dominate this record.

A while back, I spoke with H2O, one of the leading rappers, and he basically told me that initially they were pushed to be a stereotypical gangsta rap group by managers/labels, but after finishing their album found that they didn't like it at all. So, they redid the record, writing new rhymes and beats while still in the studio, and came up with this.

This has some of the downright funniest on-the-fly rhymes I've ever heard ('I'm hefty, hefty, hefty, you're whimpy, whimpy, whimpy/ you ain't got no TV, so you miss Ren and Stimpy'), the most bizarre misogynistic ranting ever ('Check this, last night I broke my fist/ from punchin' this bitch, I missed, twisted my wrist') and a token/tokin' (ha) weed rap that is so accurate it literally falls apart and descends into hilarity.

If this sounds up your alley, check it:

Yall So Stupid - 'Van Full of Pakistans'

Tracklist:

1. Introduce Me
2. 85 South

3. Interlude

4. Van Full of Pakistans

5. Interlude

6. Bowl of Soul

7. Interlude

8. The Plant

9. Interlude

10. Bootleg Beatdown

11. Interlude

12. Family Tree

13. Dirt Road White Girl

14. Interlude

15. Monkey Off My Back

16. Interlude

17. Super Nigga

18. Yall

19. On and On

20. Interlude

21. You Wouldn't Understand

22. 85 South (Remix)

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Bizarro Jerry's Kutout Bin Klassics, Vol. 2

Another great record that, while basically completely out of print, can be found in a fair amount of cutout bins is Brainiac's 1993 album 'Smack Bunny Baby.'

Once said to be Devo's successor (due to their sound and their location in Devo's hometown of Dayton, Ohio), Brainiac flipped people out with their bizarre mix of homemade synths, grunge guitars, and fucked-up vocals until lead singer/synth basher Timmy Taylor was killed in a car accident.

College radio folks may know Brainiac's 2nd and 3rd albums, 'Bonsai Superstar' and 'Hissing Prigs in Static Couture,' which feature a more developed sound, but their debut album often remains unnoticed and un-praised. As far as angry, crazy rock tunes go, this album is by far the best. To me, it sounds a wilder version of Nirvana's early recordings.

I dunno, but it definitely has its merits.

Brainiac - 'Smack Bunny Baby'

Tracklist:

1. I, Fuzzbot
2. Ride
3. Smack Bunny Baby
4. Martian Dance Invasion
5. Cultural Zero
6. Brat Girl
7. Hurting Me
8. I Could Own You
9. Anesthetize
10. Draag
11. Get Away

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