Forte 18, featuring Burzum's album 'Fallen'

If you've continued listening to Forte since I took over as host, odds are you like (or at least don't mind) Burzum. To me, Burzum isn't just one of the most innovative and original metal bands of the past couple decades, but they're one of the only groups in modern music that I find consistently enjoyable. This record doesn't come out in Norway til next week, and doesn't even reach America until April, so you might as well check out my podcast and hear the shit while you can.

That being said, here's my take on 'Fallen':

While 2010's 'Belus' was pretty subdued (for Burzum) and featured more emphasis on melody and intricate guitar parts than any other release, 'Fallen' sounds like Varg is getting angry again. The recording reminds me of older Burzum releases (pre-'Filosofem') where the idea was to do shit as lo-fi as possible. Maybe that's just the bad rip I have, but this sounds like a much 'dirtier' record to me. That being said, Varg has also continued to use his 'real' singing voice--something which first appeared on 'Belus.' Before that, it was all black metal screams and the occasional quiet talking part. There are full-on HARMONIES on this record. What the hell? There are also fewer 'ambient' pieces than on the last couple Burzum releases, which is fine by me. I like the stuff, but I pretty much just use it to fall asleep. I don't care about any of the murder or jail shit anymore, this guy is a great musician and he continues to prove it with each release.

Playlist:

Door into Emptiness - Ruh
Drainland - Jellyfish

Burzum - 'Fallen'
Fra Verdenstreet
Jeg Faller
Valen
Vanvidd
Enhver til Sitt
Budstikken
Til Hel og tilbake igjen

Enoch - Space Wizard
Cruel Force - Necromansy
Forgotten Spell - Into Sulphuric Vortex of Abyss Cult
Chaosophia - Schizophrenia
Grayceon - Shellmounds
Black Sabbath - N.I.B.
Euphoria - (Unknown Title)
Ives - Lost in the Pleasures of Moonlight
Malicious Onslaught - Blademade
Sky Shadow Obelisk - Dead Star Valley
Evoken - Descend the Lifeless Womb
Purtenance - A Dark Cloud Arises
The Lord Weird Slough Feg - Bi-Polar Disorder
Slaughter House - Gettin' Away with Murder
Fudge Tunnel - Good Kicking
Dying Sun - We All Dissolve
Coffinworm - Start Saving for Your Funeral
Acid Bath - Bleed Me an Ocean
Satan - Oppression (Live)

Enjoy Bizarro Jerry's bootlegging while you can!

Society's Fault - I was sick, Jake was sicker

...so we're not counting this as an 'official' episode, because it's just me and not him. Still, I dug out some good shit (I think) so the show's probably worth hearing. I played the last side of the Minutemen's double-LP 'Double Nickels on the Dime' because I just recently bought it and have always thought the last side gets the least play.

Anyhow, podcast.

Playlist:

Proto-punk:
Hawkwind - Down through the Night
The Flamin' Groovies - She Said Yeah
Les Yper-Sound - Psyche Rock
Pink Fairies - Street Urchin
The Shaggs - What Should I Do?
The Seeds - It's a Hard Life
The Church Mice - College Psychology on Love
The Nerves - Hanging on the Telephone
Can - (My) Connection
Third World War - Rat Crawl

Punk:
Minutemen - 'Double Nickels on the Dime' - Side 4 (Chaff Side)
Untitled Song for Latin America
Jesus and Tequila
June 16th
Storm in My House
Martin's Story
Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love
Dr. Wu
Little Man with a Gun in His Hand
The World According to Nouns
Love Dance
Three Car Jam

Vagrants - No Way Back
Lookouts - Outside
Surrogate Brains - Extreme Racial Pride
Simpletones - I Have a Date
Social Distortion - All the Answers

Post-punk:
Butthole Surfers - Too Parter (request)
Butthole Surfers - The O-Men (request)
Mission of Burma - Dead Pool
Stretchheads - 23 Skinner (request)
Meat Puppets - Other Kinds of Love
The Dead C - Scarey Nest
Afflicted Man - Get Stoned EZY

I'm STILL sick (or sick again, I guess) so don't expect anything beyond playlists this week. I'm tired and angry as fuck.

Forte 17, featuring Dead Horse's album 'Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers'

You remember these guys, right? I hope so. I've played them countless times on Obscuro, and periodically during my tenure as Forte's host as well. Now you get to hear the whole goddamn album.

Dead Horse was formed in the late 80's by Michael Haaga and his friends in Houston, TX. Maybe it's just the Texas connection, but to me these guys sound like if the Butthole Surfers started a thrash metal band. Weird interludes, bizarre humor, musical left-turns, and lots more stuff that doesn't really fit into the 'thrash' genre. They only cut two full lengths (two EP's also) and it was really hard to pick which one to play. The first one, 'Horsecore' is a little more thrash (and a little funnier) but it also has a lot more cursing, so it was just easier to play 'Peaceful Death.' Aside from the Horse, I played lots of 'classic' metal cuts to suit the early-90's mood of the album.

If you remember, I posted this album as a download a while back. There's also some info in that post about what lead man Michael Haaga is up to these days.

Anyhow, here's the podcast,

...and the playlist:

Sleep - Dragonaut
Cianide - Funeral
Witchrist - Shrine of Skulls
Fear Factory - Lifeblind
Atheist - Brains
Atheist - I Deny
Mercyful Fate - Curse of the Pharaohs
Ankrismah - Crawling Mist

Dead Horse - 'Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers'
Cod Piece Face
Turn
La La Song
Like Asrielle
The Latent Stage
Peaceful Death
Eulogy
Snowdogs
The Lark Nest
Medulla Oblongata
Aplo
Rock Lobster
Sawbone

Saint Vitus - Look Behind You
Atrox - Lizard Dance
Neurosis - Blisters
Eyehategod - Sister Fucker, Pt. 1
Carcass - Crepitating Bowel Erosion
Mayhem - Buried by Time and Dust
Voivod - Helldriver
Brujeria - Sacrificio
Brujeria - Matando Gueros
Brujeria - Grenudos Locos
Moss - Gate III: Devils from the Outer Dark, Pt. III: Exitus Templum
Drakar - Tunelem Zpatky
Crowbar - Self-Inflicted
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky
Cathedral - A Funeral Request
Shrapnel - Hellgrinder
Exemption - Blood Heaven

I'm thinking I might put a little more effort into this week's show...the past few have been kind of haphazardly-produced. Sorry 'bout that. Jerry's busy...Obscuro megashow still coming soon.

Society's Fault - Episode 32

We had quite a bit of fun this past Friday on the show. First off, we played nothing but Michigan proto-punk. There's lots of it. Then, we played post-punk bands covering other post-punk bands for the last section of the show. Plus, we pretended that I was a dad and Jake was a son and we were arguing about punk rock. Good times.

Download our shit homie.

Playlist:

Proto-punk:
Sproton Layer - Bush Tidal Wave
MC5 - Rocket Reducer No. 62 (Rama Lama Fa Fa Fa)
Death - Where do We Go from Here?
SRC - Black Sheep
Stooges - Fun House
Destroy All Monsters - Sheep Faced Monster
The Frost - Baby Once You Got it
Question Mark and the Mysterians - '8' Teen

Punk:
Black Flag - No Values
Pere Ubu - Street Waves
Angry Samoans - Lights Out (request)
Circle Jerks - Beverly Hills (request)
JFA - World Full of Peace (request)
Big Balls and the Great White Idiot - Damned, Damned Life
Descendents - My Dad Sucks
Dead Kennedys - Jock-O-Rama
Wayne County and the Electric Chairs - Things Your Mother Never Told You
Buzzcocks - Promises
Gorilla Biscuits - Forgotten
Black Randy and the Metrosquad - Marlon Brando
Bad Brains - Coptic Times

Post-punk:
Wire - I Am the Fly
My Bloody Valentine - Map Ref. 41 Degrees N, 93 Degrees W (Wire cover)
Lard - Can God Fill Teeth? (request)
The Cure - Throw Your Foot
Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven (Cure cover)
Joy Division - Something Must Break
Swans - Love will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)
Jesus and Mary Chain - Taste the Floor
Pixies - Head On (Jesus and Mary Chain cover)
Vaselines - Monsterpussy
Nirvana - Son of a Gun (Vaselines cover)

Now how's THAT for a fuckin' show?

Forte 16...including an on-air reading of a letter demanding Forte be pulled from WIDR

So, I got a letter in my mailbox at the WIDR offices...apparently it dates back to 1999 (probably during former host Aaron's tenure) and concerns a very religious, very angry man who wanted Forte pulled from the airwaves for being 'university-funded Satanism.' It's pretty funny. I'll probably post a written version of it up here in a day or so. For now, check it out in this week's podcast.

Totally Satanic Playlist:

Groover - Hop Ride
Groover - Sharp Dressed Man
El Hijo de la Aurora - Portal a Venus
Disinter - The Wrath is Unleashed
Paragon Belial - Necromancer
Meanstreak - Snake Pit
Noisear - Inoperative (New from Relapse)
Noisear - The Alternative is... (New from Relapse)
Funeral Circle - Homunculus
Death - A Moment of Clarity (New from Relapse)
Thrash Queen - Chasing the Dragon (request)
Heather Leather - Child Molester (request)
Jane's Addiction - Ocean Size
Jane's Addiction - Three Days
Esoteric - The Noise of Depression
Neurosis - The Doorway (request)
Deicide - Empowered by Blasphemy
Gojira - Toxic Garbage Island (request)
Wolfmangler - Blue Hotel
Ghost Tower - Sacrifice
XII Boar - Sludge
Abysmal Dawn - Perpetual Dormancy (New from Relapse)
Colosseum - Prosperity
Spirit Caravan - Fang
Depress - Monotone Response
Silent Death - Undesirable Demise
Rotten Sound - Targets (New from Relapse)
Predator - Hawk Mistress
Onslaught - the Sound of Violence
Royal Thunder - Sleeping Witch (New from Relapse)
Inner Strength - Red Room
Biohazard - Down for Life

Indeed. I had not heard this Esoteric group from the UK before doing the program this week, and that stuff is badass. It's really creepy and slow, both things I like. Expect to hear more of them on the program. Also, Obscuro mega-blowout-3-hour-special is STILL coming soon. Give it a couple more weeks, probably.

Society's Fault - Episode 31

More punk rock history for your enjoyment. This time around we played about half of 'Not So Quiet on the Western Front,' one of the earliest hardcore compilations. Seemed like the listeners enjoyed it, although goddamn there are some shitty songs on that album. It's like everybody and their dad cut a hardcore single, and they all somehow ended up on one LP. Whatever.

Get the podcast anyways.

Playlist:

Proto-punk:
electric eels - Wreck and Roll
Moha Jamin - Raks Raks Raks
T. Rex - Telegram Sam
Rob Jo Star Band - Blood Flower
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed
The Neon Boys - Don't Die
The Studebaker Bro's - Lie'n in the Grave
Doctors of Madness - Noises of the Evening
The Who - Hall of the Mountain King

Punk:
(Not So Quiet section)
Intensified Chaos - Intensified Chaos
Social Unrest - Their Mistakes
Fang - Fun with Acid
Capitol Punishment - El Salvador
Ribsy - Collapse
Crucifix - Annihilation
Square Cools - I Don't Wanna Die for My Country
Los Olvidados - Pay Salvation
The Honor Code - What Price Will You Pay?

Subhumans - No (request)
Unaware - Race Riot
Zero Boys - Amphetamine Addiction
Cardiacs - The Obvious Identity
Replacements - Within Your Reach
The Damned - I Fall
Dead Boys - Ain't Nothin' to Do

Post-punk:
Rocket from the Crypt - French Guy
Pain Teens - The Basement
Hoover - Distant
Skin Yard - Skins in My Closet
Jane's Addiction - Slow Diver (Demo)
Dead Milkmen - The Thing that Only Eats Hippies
Blurt - My Mother was a Friend of an Enemy of the People
Suicidal Tendencies - I Saw Your Mommy
Primus - Harold on the Rocks

I think we were especially funny this week...you be the judge.

I know you guys will dig this one...

Check it out...Armand Schaubroeck's rare 'live' album (it's fake). As far as I can tell, the only albums of his that are on the internet right now are 'Ratfucker' and 'A Lot of People Would Like to See Armand Schaubroeck...DEAD.' It's just as fucked as you'd think it is, and now it can be YOURS!

For those that don't know, Armand is a proto-punk musician from NY who got arrested for B and E at a young age and then proceeded to write a whole bunch of angry albums about it between 74 and 79. His records are peppered with foul language that's pretty unusual for the time, because Armand didn't need music at all to make money. He's much more well-known as the owner of House of Guitars, a very strange music shop in NY.

Anyhow...

Armand Schaubroeck Steals - Live at the Holiday Inn

Tracklist:

1. Elmira Bound
2. Ex-Con
3. I Wish to See Color
4. Streetwalker
5. Goddamn You
6. King of the Streets

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