Michael Haaga - 'The Plus and Minus Show'

As promised before, here's former Dead Horse frontman Michael Haaga's solo outing. Recorded in 2003, this is A LOT different than the Demonseeds album I put up earlier, and way way way different than the old Dead Horse recordings. Haaga claimed he was listening to a lot of Radiohead and the Shins when he made this album...I hate the shit out of both those groups, though, so obviously this isn't really similar.

To me, it sounds like Haaga was rockin' some Pumpkins and Nirvana...a lot of the tracks have a Pixies/grungey kinda vibe, and his voice is way too hardcore for this to be a 'soft' record. Granted, there are a lot of piano-driven ballads, but I never got the feeling he's 'mellowing out' or some shit. I dunno, just good alt-rock....not as impressive as the Demonseeds stuff, but 'Looking Beyond' 'Four Letter Words' are up there with some of his best compositions. Fuckin' dig it, cuz you won't find it anywhere else. Dunno if he's doing anything now, but he sure as fuck should be.

Michael Haaga - 'The Plus and Minus Show'

Tracklist:


1. Same Old Strings
2. Looking Beyond
3. Mountains Fall Down...
4. If and When
5. Four Letter Words
6. Serious
7. Supernaive
8. Baby
9. Anything is Real
10. Belong
11. End of the Day

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The Demonseeds - 'Knee Deep in Hell's Grasp' plus Dead Horse EPs

Alright, sorry for this one being in .wma format...I hate that shit, but I'm at work and there's no iTunes, so I had to import the CD this way.

That being said, it's safe to say you're not going to find this album anywhere else. The CD is long out of print, and I scoured the internet for an upload of it to no avail. Unfortunate, because this shit rocks hard.

Longtime readers are probably familiar with Dead Horse and how much I love them, so it shouldn't be that surprising that I spent an afternoon finding a used copy of The Demonseeds' lone album 'Knee Deep in Hell's Grasp' on eBay.

The Demonseeds were Dead Horse frontman Michael Haaga's 2nd big project. I think he played bass on a Superjoint Ritual album and the following tour before, but this release finds him writing his own songs again.

I don't have a copy of his 2005 solo release 'The Plus and Minus Show' to put up, but suffice to say it's not very heavy. It's more like Pixies/grunge-type rock music, and is really really really good. The Demonseeds are like a step in between that and the goofy thrash-punk of Dead Horse. Basically, that means it's a perfect Haaga release. It's melodic and catchy with Haaga's trademark defeatist lyrics, but you can tell he took some cues from roommate/bandmate Phil Anselmo and his Down affiliates (note: just for the sake of clarity, I mean his Superjoint Ritual bandmates...Anselmo isn't on this release.)

If you like sludgy stoner stuff like Kyuss, Down, and Sleep, you'll definitely dig this, but to me it's a more enjoyable listen. Not to say I don't love Sleep, I'm just a sucker for a good pop song, which Haaga delivers on almost every track. As a side note, check out the awesomely reimagined version of the Dead Horse track 'Every God for Himself.'

I'm also posting the two final Dead Horse EPs which followed the 'Peaceful Death' album because they're not too easy to find either. The first one, 'Feed Me,' was the final Dead Horse release featuring Haaga. They did one last EP, 'Boil(ing),' with a different singer, then changed their name to Pasadena Napalm Division with basically the same lineup.

The Demonseeds - 'Knee Deep in Hell's Grasp'

Tracklist:

1. Discorporate
2. Fail
3. To the End
4. Death to Love
5. Promises and Lies
6. Every God for Himself
7. Rifle
8. No Heroes
9. The True Demons

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Dead Horse - 'Feed Me' EP

Tracklist:

1. Every God for Himself
2. Eaten by the Grave
3. Something/Nothing
4. My Dog the Prophet
5. Chiggers

***LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST***

Dead Horse - 'Boil(ing)' EP

Tracklist:

1. One Nation
2. What a Beautiful Day
3. Reach Around
4. My Apology
5. Eaten by the Grey
6. My Dog the Prophet
7. (Untitled Track)

***LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST***

Full-lengths, installment 9

Well, I've ran out of the full-length albums I've played on the show. The last one I played was "First Chips, Volume One" and you can find that in one of the first posts on this blog. This album, Dead Horse's "Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers," is an extremely obscure thrash metal album from Texas that I've loved for a long time. I found it in a cut-out bin and became a huge fan of this group due their strange incorporation of traditional country, humor, and oddball indie-rock moves into the trash formula. Nowadays, frontman Michael Haaga is doing his own stuff that kind of reminds me of the Pixies. They had another full-length before this one, called "Horsecore" that's a damn good album, too, but for now, here's their second LP, "Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers."

Tracklist:

1. Cod Piece Face

2. Turn

3. La La Song

4. Like Asrielle

5. The Latent Stage

6. Peaceful Death

7. Eulogy

8. Snowdogs

9. The Lark Nest

10. Medulla Oblongata

11. Aplo

12. Rock Lobster

13. Sawbone

Relapse records apparently has the rights to the Dead Horse albums now, and has done some great re-releases with plenty o' bonus tracks. Check it out!

***LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST***