DOCUMENT AND EYEWITNESS: THIS IS NOT A FUGAZI INTERVIEW (a conversation with dc punks from 2014)

"Perhaps after the show I should be killed, flash-frozen for maximum freshness and put on display [at the Smithsonian] with all the other relics."

Henry Rollins, LA Weekly

DC punk is being historicized in 2014 to an astonishing degree. Two brand new crowd-funded, feature-length documentaries about the 80’s harDCore scene will be out by the end of the year -- Salad Days and Punk the Capital -- both include new interviews with key participants and rare, raw footage. Sonic Highways - Dave Grohl’s new HBO documentary series - just aired an episode based in DC focused on telling Grohl’s personal story of growing up in suburban Virginia and getting involved in the DC scene as a teenage drummer. Dischord Records http://www.dischord.com/ has been documenting the DC punk scene for three decades but - despite the continued existence of DC punk - recent releases have all been reissues - Fugazi First Demo, Slant 6 Soda Pop Rip Off and Soulside Trigger/ Bass. The Washington DC public library is actively developing a punk archive http://dclibrary.org/punk in coordination with University of Mariland and Georgetown University and - as if that’s not enough - Henry Rollin’s recently talked about the history of the DC punk scene at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Those of us who grew up participating in the 80’s hardcore scene might wonder what relevance all this archival work may or may not have for future generations. Does the punk archive encourage the next generation to actively create their own scene or does putting so much emphasis on the past foster passive consumerism in the form of nostalgia? This question resonates with me personally as Bikini Kill Records is currently preparing a reissue of our demo tape. I decided to contact some of my friends in the DC punk scene to check in with them about this stuff.

What does nostalgia mean to you? Is there a good side to it or is it primarily negative?

SHARON CHESLOW: Nostalgia is a beneficial way to learn from the past, through thoughts and feelings - the key is not to get stuck there.

CHRIS BALD: My own nostalgia for my own past is contained in my own memories. When it becomes a studied subject the history is diluted and mutated through the opinions and misunderstandings of outsider observations. It is unfortunate that nostalgia has become a product thereby creating a demand that is too often satisfied by tall tales.

CYNTHIA CONNOLLY: A person is nostalgic when they need to find, retrace or relive something in their life for their own verification of the life they did live. Documentation is purely to mark down with ink that actions had happened that are important to remember not for personal self interest but for the greater good of a community or as a whole people.

IAN SVENONIUS: Nostalgia is like reminiscences for one's youth or dead friends or a place one lived or a lost time. The recent spate of documentaries, beginning with the riot grrl books and films and now the DC things could be seen as not so much nostalgia as a struggle for history, legacy and one’s place in the firmament of events.

ALLISON WOLFE: There can be a danger of pure nostalgia and lack of broader context. Time and resource constraints often help lead to fabricated categorizations and to diverse people, stories, and threads getting left behind. Real experiences get written out of existence while journalistic mistakes become encyclopedic reality.

ERIN SMITH: There's such a ridiculous amount of documentaries, articles, and reissues going on about similar things involving DC at the moment that I'll be really relieved when everyone just goes back to simply making NEW art to keep the scene going NOW.

KATIE ALICE GREER: Nostalgia is false. It usually means looking back fondly on days of yore, perhaps prioritizing a past time's importance or necessity over that of the present. In music world, it is a highly consumable product. Very easy for people to digest a contextualized history with footnotes, photos, and an explanation of Why These Things Matter. I love learning about history and appreciate the past but to romanticize things that have already happened and ignore the present is to miss an opportunity to figure out what is going on right now!

There's a fine line between documentation - reissues, documentaries, scene histories - and a "glory days" type ossification of the moment that happens and I'm always trying to describe and negotiate that space. History, in general, is political. Does viewing oneself as a historical subject encourage participation? Can you speak to this idea with regards to punk/radical youth culture?

SHARON CHESLOW: Instead of glorifying the past, we can use it as a model to create something new in the present, which can impact the future. It's important to question the past, think independently, and participate in creating culture that isn't dictated by others. Documentation can change the dominant historical record. It can be art in and of itself. It can prove what is possible.

CHRIS BALD:People who want to document time periods they were actually involved with still tend to glorify things that were not really such a big deal and delete negative aspects even though they are completely important pieces of the picture. Outsiders are even worse in this respect because they have their own incorrect overviews or agendas sublimating the entire writing or filming process.

CYNTHIA CONNOLLY: The reason I wanted to put together the Banned in DC was to make sure that the cultural epiphany is not forgotten and that the documentation will remind us that it can happen again. That we have that potential.

MOLLY NEUMAN: I used to look at listings in the weekly paper for shows and bought Banned in D.C. when it came out and felt like there was a world really close I couldn't be a part of. There's something so massive about that book, especially that it was published so close to when the photos were taken. I was lucky enough to finally meet and know the people in the book and ultimately be a part of a new D.C. scene that had a different but connected legacy.

IAN SVENONIUS: Because punk is youth based, and also anti idolatry, there is immediate wariness when one hears about an attempt to historicize it, and yet- because it is also a highly moral movement- there is a desire to do right by the originators and pioneers, who are typically mined for ideas and uncredited by the vultures who exploit their remains. History is fascinating and always interesting -- even if its insulting to the participants who are erased from it -- because its just an interpretation of events which can be challenged at any time. The book Please Kill Me can be seen as a refutation of Jon Savage's England’s Dreaming for example.

ALLISON WOLFE: Who is written into history and who is written out? Whose story gets told? Who has the opportunity, the time, the funding or the platform to tell their story? Who, through privilege or marginalization, even feels or is told that their story is worth telling?

ERIN SMITH: Too much focus on what came before downplays the incredible scene of young bands in DC today- bands like Priests, Dudes, Hemlines, Cigarette, Foul Swoops, Teen Liver, Girl Stabs, Peoples Drug, Flamers...as well as bands with veterans in them like Ex Hex, Coup Sauvage & the Snips, Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds, Deathfix, and Chain & The Gang...the entire great new scene going on at Comet Ping Pong. When we look at the past, we must remind everyone of the great CURRENT scene going on in DC, which is more exciting than it has been in a few years.

KATIE ALICE GREER: History is entirely political. Who tells the story, who is cast in its content, and who gets erased is, as the saying goes, determined by the victors.

How does it feel to see harDCore/punk from your vantage point today? Can you relate to the kids just discovering this scene today? Is there anything you want to say to that kid beyond the records /zines/artifacts themselves?

SHARON CHESLOW: The past can often be a great barometer of the present, which can then help us navigate the future.

CHRIS BALD: Band reunions are a sore point for me in that in no way are you really seeing who or what that band was in its original incarnation. It is a distortion of what was and an admission to what has become of the people involved. Life is too divergent to each of us individually, what and who are these bands and people now? Certainly very different than who they were and in my opinion merely cover bands at this point. There was a band here in Louisville a few years back called 'The New Mexico' they were 15 year olds who played hardcore exactly the way we did 30 years before them, they could have a track on Flex Your Head and no one would know the difference. Certainly they were nostalgia buffs but the intensity and age group they played with/for had a real honesty about it. Where do they fit in historically? Derivative imitations ultimately but in their own scene they equaled any great hardcore band I have ever seen.

IAN SVENONIUS: The histories are all garbage as far as being accurate. They are typically revisionist and serve the actors' own agendas which are typically ego driven but are also a struggle to guide the narrative of history and meaning.

ERIN SMITH: Know your history and use that as inspiration to go out and do your own thing. A scene can't exist entirely on nostalgia alone.

ALLISON WOLFE: I am in many ways interested in seeing punk/D.I.Y. pre-internet music scenes documented. I also love oral history/story-telling and the idea that everyone has their own truths. I prefer to hear it straight from the horses’ mouths, where “objectivity” isn’t claimed and real people exist outside of and in spite of some sterile scholar-defined meaning and timeline.

KATIE ALICE GREER: I love the history of the music community I come from. In studying it, I can both appreciate the sounds and dialogues already created, and see where I can take my art. Like, what is the next part of the conversation?

Document and Eyewitness: A conversation with Joey Casio on 5-23-03 in Olympia, WA

My connection with Joey was electric and dynamic from our very first conversation.

In early 2003 I was involved in anti-war organizing and going to a lot of events in support of Rachel Corrie and trying to find a way to connect that with punk in the local music scene. I deliberately sought Joey out because after I saw him at a bunch of political events/protests alone in the rain, I saw him play a show in the basement of the Red House and I was intrigued - like, woah - there's not only a new generation of punk kids doing something completely creative and intense, but they are also maybe radical politically.

I was propelled to get to know him. I tried to "interview" him for a magazine I was writing for in England. That "interview" turned into a conversation that lasted for four or five years, up-all-night style that expanded and enriched both of our lives immensely.

Joey is one of the best friends I have ever had and one of my favorite punk artists of all time. Like many of you, I miss him so fucking much. I hope to give back some of what he gave to me by sharing some of our conversation even if it's only a few sketches here and there and continuing to make and share my own work (something that is hard for me).

Here is how our first conversation started, via email:

TOBI VAIL: Hi. I saw your show at the red house and was intrigued. Do you have any records or tapes out? I would like to review it, maybe.

JOEY CASIO: I’m flattered, really. I don’t have anything out right now.

TV: Ok. You really don’t have anything recorded? I’m writing for this magazine in the U.K. and they probably won’t let me do a feature unless there is a record or something, not sure. I thought it would be cool to write about your group, along with some other ‘bands without acoustic instruments’ in light of electro-clash hype. When I was in D.C. recently, there was a WIT show that cost $17.50. There were DJ’s and some groups that were mostly karaoke or whatever it is (singing along to pre-recorded songs). We couldn’t get in but a friend was on the guest list. There was a VIP area roped off. He was ushered back there and set on a red velvet couch, which was then, itself, roped off as “special red velvet couch in the special VIP area” and given a bottle of very expensive champagne - funny, because he is straight edge! While this was happening, another friend was being thrown out of the backstage area because she didn’t have the proper “credentials”. When I got back from D.C., friends here were talking about your show with Anna Oxygen last weekend. It made me appreciate Olympia even more and think about how things are different here than they are in New York or London, or,whatever. I'm wondering how Joey Casio fits in to this trend? Also, you have a good punk singing style and there are elements of chaos to what you do! What are some of the ideas behind the work? 

JC: hi....

No one ever asks me these kinds of questions. I guess what I do is the intersection of several things.For a long time I had this idea that kept stirring: a guitar-less, drummer-less punk band. I grew up listening to punk but the only “instrument” I played was electronics and a little keyboard. If punk is supposed to be such progressive music, why do bands keep using the same tired old sounds? After a few timid incarnations, I started my dream “band”. I began to, if nothing else, play the exact kind of music I would want to listen to, regardless of whether anybody else liked it. But that’s just aesthetics.

TV: Sorry if that is too much analysis, I want to sort of explain how I'm viewing your work in hope that you'd have a response to some of these ideas. Perhaps you just do your band the way you do it because you enjoy working with synthetic sounds and that's all there is to it.

JC: I’m fascinated by the concept of subversive dance and pop music. In contrast to the singer/songwriter mold, people rarely stop to process the words they are hearing or even singing along to. This puts the person singing in an interesting place. The ideas put forth may (in theory) go directly to the subconscious. or, if the song is more catchy, even become stuck in the listener’s head. Of course, Kathleen Hanna spoke of {this} at length in regards to Julie Ruin/ Le Tigre and it was the impetus for Gang of Four.

TV: I’m interested in solo work made by feminists in the one-'man'-band format that utilizes multi tracking, samples, keyboards/fake drums - such as tracy and the plastics, anna oxygen, nomy lamm, julie ruin, the blow etc. and contrasting this mode of solo work with a male singer/songwriter tradition that equates authenticity with the stripping away of layers to get the 'real self' via confessional autobiography. Right now, in the underground, feminists are rejecting this mode of expression and replacing it with work that focuses on the negotiation of many 'selves' via persona (julie ruin, tracy and the plastics), found objects via samples/appropriation of pop forms and lyrics (nomy lamm, anna oxygen) and that this works to expose and possibly subvert socially constructed narratives of traditional femininity... I’m wondering where this leaves “male” artists. will they explore masculinity as part of their work or will they continue to be drawn to the lone wolf blues man/folk hero myth that bare bones acoustic music seems to represent?

JC: I have a lot of ideas/philosophies I would like to share but the question arises - how? I could write them out, but nobody reads essays and manifestos except people that write essays and manifestos. If the music was simpler and less distracting people would stop listening due to lack of subtlety. Therefore, dance music becomes the perfect medium.

{On} the nature of solo work - one of the things I like most about this newish solo medium is that the individual can occupy the same space as a group. This contrasts both with the old singer/songwriter model, where the performer is seen as somewhat alone and incomplete, as well as the band model where the front person is elevated to a hierarchical leader position. But the “new” solo performer can present a project that has been constructed from beginning to end, that is complete and full, but comes from the mind of one individual. This allows, as you said, the performer to create/present multiple selfs or - multiple sides of one self.

So…does my calculated attempt at juxtaposing a slow, vulnerable sounding song with a cold, analytical noisy song really challenge the culturally construed concepts of masculinity? I can’t really say for sure but it’s worth a try.I think my favorite single lyric out of any song I’ve written is “what you create defines the boundary of your identity”. That pretty much sums it up.

As an intersectional feminist, I support the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

1

As an intersectional feminist, I support the struggle for Palestinian liberation.  As backed by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and numerous Jewish organizations, we need to demand a cease-fire immediately and allow the borders to open so that medical supplies, aid, food and water can reach civilians caught in a war zone. Please contact your representatives and government today asking them to back this.

2

As a non-Jewish American citizen, I want to be mindful of the rising tide of anti-semitism around the world and neo-nazi right wing anti-Jewish hate crimes.  It is important to recognize that many of these same neo-nazi movements and organizations also target Arabs and Muslims. I feel like this shouldn’t need to be said but apparently it does: supporting Palestine does not equal hating Jews. If you would like more information on this please follow Jewish Voices for Peace. For a very strong personal essay published this week please check out Sarah Schulman’s piece in NY Mag

3

This is to say, not all Jews are Zionist. Not all criticism of Zionism is anti-semitic. Even within Israel (and even within the IDF) there is dissent against the occupation, against Netanyahu (who is very right wing) and not a monolithic opinion on Palestine or even Hamas.  Likewise, not all Palestinians have the same politics or religion. There are Christians, Druze and even Jews who are Palestinian. Many people in Israel and Palestine are not religious at all and there is definitely not “one opinion” on how to achieve peace in the region or resist occupation.

4

I am saying these things because I am appalled that Americans publicly speaking out against empire and war crimes are being bullied and accused of being “sympathetic to the terrorists”. I don’t have the space here to even begin to unpack this. It feels like 9/11 and the Iraq War all over again, with the western media manufacturing consent for war and any questioning or criticism of the government making you an enemy of the state.  In my own view, the only way to achieve peace in the region is to end the occupation.

5

Yesterday a hospital was bombed in Gaza and at least 500 people were killed. We don’t know who is responsible for this atrocity. But we do know that the IDF is known to lie. In fact, as the well known journalist I.F. Stone famously said, “all governments lie”. This is especially true during war time. We must question the official narrative.  50,000 women in Gaza are currently pregnant. 5000 are about to give birth in the immediate future. We must demand a cease fire, open the borders for supplies, and oppose the targeting of civilians, many of whom are women and children.

To get involved locally check out: The Rachel Corrie Foundation Economics for Everyone

EVER LOOK AT A FLOWER AND HATE IT

Things people have said to me as a person that has written about and participated in punk/independent/underground music since the early 80s: YOU can’t speak about that topic in public because

you are a role model, your band sucks, your band is too popular, no one cares about your band so shut the fuck up, you are too young, you are too old, you are too dumb, you are too smart, you are not cool, you think you are too cool, you are too ugly, you are a whore you are a slut you are a cunt you are a bitch ie you are a girl/woman and therefore you can only speak with authority about your own life and any experiential, lived knowledge you have gained thus far will be viewed as personal and subjective therefore not worthy.

In other words, women can’t be serious, funny, nuanced, multifaceted, intellectual, flippant, base, complicated, contradictory, abstract, specific, objective, opinionated, political, sexy, repulsive, tricksters, apolitical, transgressive, free, argumentative, antagonistic, querulous, pensive, or loudmouthed.

I am used to having my opinions misunderstood, scrutinized and dismissed but as a woman in public I actually risk my own personal safety using my voice. Not only are we punished for stepping out, we are also stalked and harassed on the internet/ social media and that impacts our bodily autonomy in a violent, unsafe world full of trauma and very real threats to our personal safety. I don’t talk about it publicly because talking about it can feed it and it is fucking scary and because talking about it makes it more real and because talking about it makes it suck even more than it already does but trust me this is real and this is extremely common. I’m speaking with first hand knowledge and experience here and I don’t need to qualify it with examples so I won’t.

Women often choose to stop sharing our work/ thoughts/ opinions/ stories publicly for these reasons. I think it’s important to acknowledge that this experience is shared and to see it is a result of patriarchy. I choose to participate because fuck society’s bullshit rules. I hate this place but I’m not gonna shut the fuck up, EVER

Xo Tobi Vail Feminist punk rocker

Document & Eyewitness: We Go with the Kids, Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

why this tape sounds the way it does.

although it could be argued that the tape sounds this way because I'm dumb,

I would prefer you think it's because rooms,

recording tape and tape machines are not invisible.

-- Al Larsen, From Playground Til Now - Some Velvet Sidewalk

Read my spiel on Bikini Kill Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah here

TIGER GRRL: A page from my diary, October 1990

October 21

I practiced with Cathy + Kathleen today and it was (should be thought of as) warranting AMAZEMENT.

A feminist to me means trying to confront sexism and be powerful.

I think I am changing. I am going to ask questions now instead of tell everybody everything.

Bikini Kill is a powerful name, the more people don't like it, the more I realize how great it is. Our band is really great. Nobody will like us though. I think we will be like thee most misunderstood band ever. It is really amazing to finally be playing with other girls again. I can already feel the power of it and the band is fast becoming the most important thing in my life. Kathleen is amazing. I am learning a lot.

Statement of Intent:

To provide support and guidance to the youth with modern punk rock sensibilities

To reclaim the domain of punk

anti-professionalism -- asking questions -- ideas -- anti-macho ritual -- anti-conformity -- form-as-key -- the cassette as access to means of production -- "don't follow rules" means not that everyone should or even could but that you don't have to be status quo -- NOT hardcore -- THIS generation

To set forth the legitimacy of GIRL ROCK. Sisters. Yeah.

incite discourse - - ask questions - - be dorky -- fight sophistication -- network

To work towards making a connection between political struggles against oppression and the new generation of punk

To entertain and alleviate despair

To fight sexism and homophobia

Fight song:

We're the girls with a bad reputation (Yeah you want to get to me) We're the girls with a bad reputation We're gonna make you pay (Hunger is power, desire a fool) Kill yr daddy, fuck yr boyfriend too We're the girls with a bad reputation (We're gonna show YOU what's TRUE) Kathy, Tobi, Kathleen (and Esther too.)

best of 2013 by ben trogdon

Man, I can’t remember what happened last year! But here are some of my fave things that I’m pretty sure came about in 2013:

BLACK BOOT demo – nasty metal with awesome mid-tempo parts

DRAPETOMANIA live – RIP my favorite band

GLUE live on Xmas – best way to celebrate is with live raw underground punk

WASTE MANGAMENT live – I’m a nerd and 2013 was the first time I got to see this band play live. I’ve seen them play 3 times since then. I love it!

La Misma – I think their song “Waterfalls” was written in 2013. It’s not out yet but that’s my favorite song written in 2013.

PROXY Police Car 7” – My favorite 7” of 2013 for sure! Rockin’ punk metal.

MURDURER / BLACK BOOT / DEFORMITY live at Stolen Sleeves – I drank in the hallway

MILK MUSIC “No Nothing My Shelter” Song / video – Dylan Sharp directed starring Alex Coxen and CarrieKeith. Desert mime dancin’

BLAZING EYE demo – Sounds evil. I love the drumming and vocals.

CONTINGENT demo – Boston melodic real deal new Oi! I love this demo.

NOMAD 12” – So groovy and fun. I listened to this non-stop all year. My fave 12” of 2013.

best of 2013 by chris pugmire

International:

Body/Head - Coming Apart

Broadcast - Berberian Sound Studio

J Graf - The Future is a Faded Song

Iceage - You're Nothing

M.I.A. - Matangi

Pulp - After You 12"/Party Clowns

Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Two

Australian:

Adalita - All Day Venus

The Ancients - Night Bus

Cybotron - Friday Night at the Totale Theatre - Reissue

Harry Howard and the NDE - Pretty

The Necks - Open

Scattered Order - Planet Scrape

Venom P Stinger - Meet My Friend Venom + What's Yours is Mine + Waiting Room + Walking About - Reissues

Live:

Beak> & Anika - Netil House, London

Blank Realm - The Tote, Melbourne

ESG - Hi-Fi, Melbourne

Rowland S Howard Tribute - Palace Theatre, Melbourne

HTRK - Howler, Melbourne

The Pop Group - Pontin's - Camber Sands UK

Television - Pontin's - Camber Sands UK

Books:

White Girls - Hilton Als

Debt - David Graeber

Uncommon - Owen Hatherley

Suicide - Édouard Levé

The Femicide Machine - Sergio González Rodríguez

Also:

1st year of baby Valentine

New War UK tour

DJing & dancing with ESG!

Raymond Pettibon on Twitter

best of 2013 by layla gibbon

It’s hard to sum up a year in sound; there are always records I forget about by the beginning of a new year that were all I listened to for months! The trials of modern day existences wiping minds clear when it’s time to compile comprehensive list type documents. I am also doing a year end top ten in the March 2013 Maximum Rocknroll, so this one contains some music that is not all MRR-able (ie came out on labels that maybe have deals with major labels for distribution etc etc or are just not “MRR” core) at any rate, blah blah blah. You can write me at Layla at maximumrocknroll.com A lot of these are things that I just listened to repeatedly, over and over and over on the way to work, always a sign of a record that’s got what it takes to make the maniax on the bus fade away and radiate. The best thing that wasn’t music this year was LIVING BY THE BEACH. Everytime it feels like the world is rotting away from you as it revolves just go to the ocean. OK. Also this isn’t in order and I missed things out I am sure?! It’s mostly punk even tho I listened to many other sounds and ideas throughout the year. I didn’t put any reissues. Past is passed.

  Body/Head-LP

This is gonna be on a lot of people’s lists, it’s transcendent /brutal / incendiary, an easy shoe in. I had no idea this was in store after seeing them live, it’s easily the best post Sonic Youth recording, Kim is a genius and this is essential.

  Cremalleras-LP

Scrape your eyes out rawness from Mexico City; Violeta’s vocals are coal for Christmas, the music is sick and perfect. Everything about this, from the LP cover to the out for blood nature of the punk contained within made me feel alive and ready for action. http://cremalleras.bandcamp.com/album/cremalleras

  Pleasure Leftists, “Elephant Man” 45

I like how it sounds like she’s saying Arrogant Man, her voice is so cool… as distinctive an instrument as Thalia from Come/Live Skull but that sounds so corny, an instrument?! What? She doesn’t sound like Thalia. But at any rate, this record did not leave my turn table all year and they were even better live. Cleveland out of place sounds for out of place people, post-punk but not posed.

  The Nots 45 on Goner

Goner put out 3 or 4 45s a year that are essential, and this was the cream of the crop for 2013. They cite Kleenex as an influence, but it sorta reminds me of a less garage/more punk A-Lines?! But then I watched some youtubes of them playing and there were many other musical dimensions present. So good! Usually 45RPMS is more than enough for most punk acts, keep it brief, the audience needs to sleep but they don’t need you to put em to sleep ya know? But this document made me wish there were 40 more coming out ASAP. A great record and I hope they make more 7”s and go on tour and maybe play the sea cave by my house?http://soundcloud.com/gonerrecords/nots-dust-red-goner-records

  EASTLINK-WILD DOGS

I listened to the tape that this 7” (and their other one too I think?!) was culled from a million times, cutting/biting sounds from Australia that is somewhere between Chrome and the first couple Pere Ubu 45s, for some reason it made me think of a more buzz saw Total Control, with less Eno, less head music and more metal box?! Metal machine music. I don’t know it’s just good and rotten ok, I can’t wait to get the LP. Fitting end times capitalism collapse music, ironic and hateful.

  Sauna Youth-False Jesii

I don’t think any of the rest of this band’s music sounds like this at all, but this 45 is a perfect Flatmates/Shop Assistants sound and a mix tape staple for me even tho I do not care for Pissed Jeans (the a-side is a cover of one of their songs), I have never heard the original version but this version is probably way better. The b-side is fresh too. The singer’s voice is so cool.

  The new Wire LP

Someone talked about how great it was, so I listened to it at work, then immediately sent off for it. It’s great, foreboding and a record for our times.

  QUANGO-Fatality-EP

I think this is members of an old anarcho punk band (the apostles?!) and  current London act Hygiene, it’s sounds like a band that would have started after hearing Never Been in a Riot, at any rate makes me think of Mekons at the peak of their powers which is a rare feeling… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrTykvWUqC8

    COMET GAIN AVENUE GIRLS 45

  I LOVE COMET GAIN this song is so good it makes me wanna be Billy Liar and Julie Christie at the same time. Songs for soul mods and crummy punkers. Photobooth photograph fans and delinquent squinters.

  VIXENS-LP

ALL GIRL HC FROM CANADA!!!!! It’s the best. The tape is my tape of the century, and the LP took a while to grow, but it planted its seeds and my brain got rotten from em; if you like the song explode by void, and have a brain send off for this.

  Stillsuit LP

DUH!

  PANG-45

All girl group from Oakland who broke up before I saw them or knew of their existence; this 45 rules but I made someone send me their unreleased songs and they are SO GOOD TOO and it makes me sad that this great band dissipated before I got to truly obsess over them! The song Young Professionals sort of reminds me of post-Eno nervous art punk music, it isn’t on the 45 of course, but the songs on the record are great in a UV RACE sort of manner. I mean they just rule and they should at least do a tape discography?! http://pangbandsf.bandcamp.com/http://pangbandsf.bandcamp.com/

  The Courtneys-LP

The guy that put this out sent me an email saying I would like it and he was SO RIGHT; as soon as I heard it I immediately emailed the music editor at Rookie mag and told her teenage girls must know about this band, she agreed and made another million converts! Three women from Canada who simultaneously channel the Clean and Look Blue Goes Purple making rambunctious music for summer all year round adventures. Plaintive and dorky, hilarious and true, once you get hooked (some of my friends have been slow converts for some CRAZY reason) you can’t stop singing random lines… Driving to Santa Cruz along the PCH blasting this and looking out at the ocean reinforced how much I love this band! They are great live too. I really need a copy of their first tape if anyone has one…

  Bleached-LP

I know a few people that were disappointed with Bleached after the force and genius that was Mika Miko, and I think it’s not fair to compare. Bleached are for fans of the Zeros / Go Gos / Ramones / early Bangles etc, perfect LA music, and yeah they wanna make it and are sorta corny, but so were the Go Gos… It’s pop music! It’s just good eating greasy food as the sun sets over the ocean sounds, which is a hard sound to master; there are so many terrible terrible post-Burger Records acts littering highways and dollar bins with tired “beach” dreck. The Clavin sisters write great catchy pop music, and this record is all kicks (I will admit to skippin past some of the syrupy ballads)

  La Luz-It’s Alive

I am putting La Luz next to the Courtneys and Bleached I guess because they are all guilty of having tapes on Burger!? Not that that's a crime. At any rate I love all three. Tobi wrote about La Luz last year and I just didn’t quite get it. The same thing happened with me and the Vivian Girls, it took me until they pretty much weren’t a band anymore to like them! But this time it was a faster process, I got a promo copy of their record and suddenly couldn’t stop listening to it. Everyday on the way to work, while serving customers at work…  As someone who hears all the stuff that gets sent to MRR for review every month I get to listen to all the trends in elmo grind / fonzie sock hop jive / trip crust etc etc, and one thing that is apparent is that the kids LOVE the post Ty Segall/Burger Records  “California Surf  Pebbles Lite” sound. There are so many bands! Most of them unmemorable and as gimmicky as one of those post Jan and Dean surfploitation acts tin pan alley turned out… The garage reviewers grumble about the wimpy music on the constant. Well, I was ready to lump La Luz in with these unlucky hucksters, girl group meets surf music and all, but it was soon apparent that I was addicted to listening to their LP. I mean I love girl groups and certain surf sounds so… I guess I am writing an essay for this one because it’s a current obsession?! They are incredible musicians, the guitar playing is insane, like a session musician from 1964, the singing is silky/doom laden with perfect girl group harmonies, but none of it comes over as sickly and twee and gross and affected. They write great songs, lyrically and structurally, which makes me think that the difference between all the tired acts and this is simply being good at what you do. There is a darkness to their sound that in places reminded me of Quix*o*tic, I think that’s partially because of the echo-y guitar though. It’s very cinematic and the snippets of the lyrics that I can make out are sort of cool and unnerving. Watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRIt3aDX7-k and listen to It’s Alive ok. Also I need their first tape too if anyone’s holdin!

  GOOD THROB-45

Watching this band play was one of the highlights of the year, real John Brannon style HC frontperson style from Ellie, this record is for fans of No Trend and hardcore and Honey Bane, reckless, fuck you, intelligence, vengeful feminists out for blood FOR LIFE! Good Throb are the best. The end.

  EX-CON-Cuda 45

Out for blood and vengeance; rudimentary destruction that I couldn’t stop listening to, Australian snipers summoning a sort of Babes in Toyland Royal Trux pummel.

  http://excon.bandcamp.com/

  Life Stinks 45

I know the LP has gotten a lot of props but I haven’t gotten a copy yet, and anyway this is the perfect format for their sound. 45RPM! Just a great punk record. If you like music from Cleveland OH from say, 1975-1981 you will want to use this to dig yr own grave. Free with every copy.

  ALSO: Veronica Falls LP / UNA BESTIA INCONTROLABLE-LP  / HOAX LP / LUMPY AND THE DUMPERS 45 / SHIRTLESS THUGS TAPE / PRIESTS TAPE

  LATE ENTRIES: Household LP / Angie LP

  EXCITED FOR IN 2014: spider and the webs, hysterics, La Misma, Ivy, Family Outing, Failed Mutation, Frau, In School…

P.S. add CRAZY BAND LP and SHOPPING LP to my almost made it section!

best of 2013 by mimi thi nguyen

The 2013 standout releases for me include the 45-track survey of Portland’s all-female punk band Neo Boys, called Sooner or Later (K Records); the West London anarcha-feminist art-punk band Androids of Mu’s Blood Robots (1980), reissued by Water Wing Records; Dark Entries’ compilation from Icelandic post-punk Q4U called Q1 Deluxe Edition (1980-1983); the dreamy Elaines 12” from Brooklyn’s post-punk Household; The Younger Lovers’s latest bouncy LP Sugar in My Pocket (Southpaw) and of course, Shopping’s Consumer Complaints LP (Milk), featuring the ever-amazing Rachel Aggs from Trash Kit.

Nyky Gomez may be one of my favorite people I met in 2013. During the week I was on the POC Zine Project tour this October, we shared inappropriately timed jokes and over eleven hours’ worth of trivia and revelations on the drive from Los Angeles to Oakland (Nyky drove the entire stretch, with me co-piloting). This bad bitch bruja runs the brand-new Brown Recluse Zine Distro, boasting a catalog made up of zines written mostly by indigenous peoples and people of color. BCZD is currently fundraising to help support itself, and to furthermore make the entire catalog available to prisoners for free, and to send one copy of every zine in the catalog to existing zine libraries or those starting zine libraries nationally and internationally, especially in indigenous communities and communities of color. Nyky also does the zine Skinned Heart, and her latest issue is by far one of my zine favorites in recent memory. Buy everything from her.

From two of my other favorite zinesters, Anna Vo and Osa Atoe put out the interview-heavy fourth issue of Fix My Head in Fall 2013, just in time for the second POC Zine Project tour. This issue of FMH, like the last, documents punx of color in scenes all over the globe, historically and contemporaneously. This issue includes interviews with Mars from Aye Nako, Textaqueen, Melting Pot Massacre, Daighila, and the amazing Taquila Mockingbird about the early days of punk in Los Angeles. I have to say, however, that Osa’s interview with Golnar Nikpour is my runaway favorite interview. Golnar talks about her all-female QPOC hardcore band In School, her time coordinating Maximum Rocknroll, and her genius thoughts on “punk studies.”

Rosi writes Not Straight Not White Not Male, a text-heavy (literally, there is no layout) zine about being a genderqueer Vietnamese punk kid in Southern California – a zine after my own heart, sniff sniff. The zine was published in December 2012, but I read it in 2013.

Margaret Thatcher died. All our enemies from the ‘80s are dead!

I did a lot of great readings this year, but my favorite has to be the Guillotine Press release of PUNK at WORD Bookstore in June 2013. PUNK is the product/process of a years-long conversation between Golnar Nikpour and me about punk (of course) and race, politics, and historiography. I got to read with Jenny Zhang, a brilliant poet and essayist I first met from the blog Fashion for Writers. Jenny and I both read pieces inspired by Wendy Davis’s all-day filibuster of the Texas State legislature against some of the most restrictive anti-abortion proposals in the United States (which ended in the wee hours of the morning of the release). Novelist and all-around star of smart shit Sarah McCarry, who publishes the Guillotine chapbook series, hosted the release and started us off with a champagne toast to Davis.

My graduate school friend Steven Lee sent me a video of Helen Slater from The Legend of Billie Jean, one of my favorite movies of all time, saying, “Fair is fair, Mimi!” I totally cried with happiness.

In December 2013, I co-organized (with Ruth Nicole Brown, Karen Flynn, and Fiona I.B. Ngô) the Hip Hop and Punk Feminisms conference at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We wanted to put hip hop and punk feminisms in conversation, especially since all the “third wave feminism” retrospectives seem to somehow ignore the emergence of hip hop feminisms concurrent with riot grrrl feminisms in the same decade. (From our statement: “This symposium stages productive conversations across hip hop and punk feminisms, including questions about the genealogies and as well multiple origin stories for hip hop and punk across diasporas and the globe (against a wholly distinct and discrete genealogy, or singular origin story, for each); about the theories of aesthetics and value that emerge from hip hop and punk cultures, including forms of immanent critique as well as political polemic that imagine futurity or negativity, and the uses and challenges to them from women of color feminisms; and about the ephemeral and haptic qualities of hip hop and punk performances, including the events, actions, and encounters between bodies that shape social and cultural formations within hip hop and punk cultures.”) The highlight for me has to be hosting the intensely powerful, and fiercely generous, Alice Bag in my sleepy cornfield-cornered part of Illinois, and otherwise bringing together some of my favorite zinesters –Nyky, Osa, and Anna—in my college town. Osa and Fiona also played with Alice for an electrifying performance, and may actually become a real band, so I feel I accomplished something this year.

best of 2013 by john root

Scenery outside the seen/scene, inside works 2013

Acquiring 7 months of sobriety.

The birth of my nephew Nico Dean Root.

Getting closer with my mom.

Returning to college after a 10 year absence.

Meister Eckhart selected writings

Popol Vuh (the band) + Meditating/Yoga.

Riding my bike to Napalm Death.

Reading the Cabalistic Keys to The Lord’s Prayer by Manly P. Hall.

Tripping out on William Blake paintings and Poems.

Resonating with words like “…the flame that kindles desire and illuminates thought never burned for more than a few seconds at a stretch. The rest of the time we tried to remember it." – Rene Daumal

best of 2013 by dave harvey

Nudity taking flight once again with the seriously amazing lineup of Stephie, Rachel, Max and Tanar. When things get rolling at a show, I really do feel like I'm leaving terra firma behind. (And so stoked to record an LP next month!)

- Letting Joaquin talk me into the cockamamie idea of Госкино composing and performing a 2 hour live rock'n'roll soundtrack to Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent Soviet film "October" about a month and a half before the performance date. I think it's one of the highest artistic accomplishments of my life, and certainly among my favorites. Here's hoping for more performances in 2014!

- Traveling the western hemisphere with Rachel, including starting off the new year in Chile, ringing in my 40th birthday in May on a perfect beachside surfing trip in Costa Rica, and an early fall west coast road trip in the Dart complete with managing to go 4 days in a row soaking in remote hot springs.

- Oh, other people's music? GLITZ rocked my sox off at that sketchy brief-lived loft space in the Trinacria alley. And tho the record came out in 2012, I discovered the latest band in my Gothenburg, Sweden obsession around the beginning of 2013, that being GOAT: fuzzed out psychedelic afro-beat with INCREDIBLE strong female vocals; oddly being performed by, well, Swedes... Oh yeah, and QUEEN CRESCENT, 4 ladies, one from Purple Rhinestone Eagle, doing the rad heavy 70's stuff, including a full-time flautist - oh yeah, oh yeah!

- The Franz Von Stuck exhibit at the Frye Museum in Seattle. It's up thru January - Northwesters, go, Go, GO!!! It's seriously recommended!

best of 2013 by lizet ortuño

Looking back at 2013 I realized that I went through intense transitions. I moved three times, lived in three different states, and found my home in the most unexpected place; Houston, TX. I fell devastatingly out of love with punk, but with the help of incredible talks with old friends, inspiring art/music, and new friends... I found that LOVE again. With that being said, I didn't make it to as many shows as other years, or bought very many records/tapes/zines, but the music/art that I have mentioned have truly moved me.

1) Spending two months in my hometown of Santa Ana, CA. Every morning I was able to have breakfast with my Grandmother, and every night I shared a bed with my closest cousin, Monica.

2) Institute - Demo + Live in Houston

3) Hanging out in Olympia with Hayes Waring, Dave Harvey, and Tanar Stalker.

4) Art by: Sara Abruña + Emma Kohlmann + Daniel Ortuño

5) Spending my summer in Portland: hitting up the tiki bars, going to Tiki Kon, swimming at Hag lake, karaoke, bowling nights, dancing @ hip hop night, being taken in by my dear friend Anne Stark, and sleep overs with Sarah Williams.

6) Hysterics - Live in NY + singing me Happy Birthday @ midnight!!

7) Moving to Houston and discovering I love it and the freaky people in it.

8) Ivy - Demo

9) Las Cruxes + Farewell books in Austin, TX - I'm so happy these places exist and that they're run by amazing people. Kudos to Veronica Ortuño, Mikaylah Bowman, and Travis Kent.

10) The Ukiah Drag - Jazz Mama is Cryin'

11) Taking solo trips to visit Darby Crash's grave and Rozz Williams' urn

12) Crazy Spirit - Live @ New York's Alright Fest

13) Getting tattooed by Christina Gemora

14) La Misma - Demo + Live @ New York's Alright Fest

15) Having a Disneyland Annual Pass and going three times a month!

16) Una Bèstia Incontrolable - Live @ Nuts! #11 Release Party

17) Everything about living in the Highland Park neighborhood of LA, but especially Wombleton Records.

18) Milk Music - Cruise Your Illusion

19) Mystic Inane - Live in Houston

20) Drake - Live in the City of Syrup

best of 2013 by joaquin de la puente

Top ELEVEN(!) live shows of 2013:

Vexx in Olympia...multiple shows all year long

Negative Approach in Portland and Seattle in February

The Specials in Seattle in March

Behead the Prophet (No Lord Shall Live), The Need, Thrones and Hysterics at Northern in Olympia in March

CCMC (Michael Snow, John Oswald and Al Mattes) and Wolf Eyes at MOCAD in Detroit in May.

Stillsuit, Spider and the Webs and Moon in Olympia in July

Cheap Trick at the Washington State Fair in September

Nudity in Olympia in October (and at midnight on the New Year…does this count? Best Show of 2014!)

The Julie Ruin opening night at Olympia Film Festival in November

Craig Extine, Stellar Angles, Hot Tears and Erica Freas at Sizzis in Olympia in November

Black Rainbow and Defect Defect in Portland in December

Top 11 Movie events of 2013:

-Pussy Riot, A Punk Prayer, Anita (Anita Hill Documentary) with Anita Hill hanging out talking to everyone, at Sundance in January.

-La Sirga at Portland International Film Festival in February

-David Holzman's Diary, Leviathan at True/False Film Festival in Columbia, MO in March

-Frances Ha, Towheads, Brave Miss World, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, Maidentrip, Something in the Air, Soft in the Head, The Rambler at Sarasota Film Festival in April

-The films of Mary Helena Clark, Saul Levine, Basma Alsharif, Kevin Everson, Peter Miller, Jonathan Schwartz and Seamus Harahan at Media City Film Festival (Windsor, Ontario) in May

-Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, Journey to the West; Conquering the Demons, Trials of Muhammad Ali and Your Day is My Night at the Traverse City Film Festival in August.

-Projecting Dovzhenko's Earth with an 18 piece orchestra, 2001: A Space Odysessy, and Wings of Desire reel to reel for over 1000 people in each audience/ watching Up Stream Color and Vanishing Waves in an empty Balcony at the Oriental movie palace during the Milwaukee Film Festival in September/ October.

-Playing in the band Госкино with the film October, Ten Days that Shook the Earth, Seeing Erick Lyle, Basma Alsharif and Cary Cronenwett present their movies, also the films Daisies, Burnt Offerings and the Bigamist on 35mm, Born in Flames on 16mm and the movies Nana, Aatsinki: the Story of Arctic Cowboys, Fat Shaker, Warmth and Combat Girls at the Olympia Film Festival in November.

-Spring Breakers (movie of the year!…as in, a total product of 2013...also completely great)

-The Wolf of Wall Street (!!)

-The Act of Killing (!!!)

best of 2013 by rachel evans & steve dore

The Fat White Family - Live and on record.

The Temples of Tokyo.

The existence of Lamingtons as a food source.

Flappers - Six Women Of A Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell.

Craft Coffee Shop - 68 Sclater Street, Shoreditch, London.

The Poetry of John Keats and Charles Baudelaire - Sounds poncey, not meant to, POETRY FOR THE PEOPLE.

Eating Vietnamese baguettes outside St Bartholomew the Great, Farringdon.

Sherlock on BBC1.... Cumberbatch fever.

The Lady Vanishes ( original version) at the Brixton Ritzy.

Alpha Papa.

Greenwich Planetarium.

Lew Griffin books by James Sallis.

Lee's Bonfire Night Party in Lewes.

TV - Toast of London.

Japanese Outsider Art at the Wellcome Collection, London.

Mathew Sawyer's barbecues.

Healthy Eaters Shop in Brixton.

Uniqlo boy short knickers.

Bert Bacharach live at the South Bank.

Diana Vreeland  - The eye has to travel documentary.

Finding Vivian Maier documentary.

The Sleaford Mods - Austerity Dogs.

best of 2013 by billy karren

THe SPECIALS u.s.a west coast tour-amazing shows gents!-meeting the Specials!

Vexx - cool new band-great show at the pizzaria in a Oly Town...great fun kids! keep it going

The Punk Singer Movie--good film ,we looked so cute. a totally adorable film. BIKINI KILL

The Seattle Seahawks-for Winning the SUPER BOWL!!! i hope--dude's do it!

best of 2013 by marissa magic

I saw new bands more than I listened to new records this year so heres some bands that blew my mind:

Swarm - Stillsuit was in Philadelphia in a bike shop  when we played with this band that consisted of two drummers, a bassist, a main singer and then a chorus of three women dancing and singing back ups. It was exhilarating and emotional. I'm pretty sure I cried. After tour anytime anyone asked what bands were good this was a always at the top of my list.

Permanent Ruin - This band is one of those bands to me that i'm kind of like "yeah, they're a good band"  and then I see them and without fail my jaw drops. Non-stop rage, bass and drums unrelenting, a guitar that squeals into chaos constantly and a singer that runs from belting to growling to screaming to holding a note for so fucking long.

Vexx - Wet Drag played a bar in Chehalis that stuffed us with free food and was totally one of those instances of  the bands watch the bands, no one else really there. The atmosphere was a little awkward and Larsens bass kept cutting out but they still slated the shit out of everything. I've been a big fan of stuff that Maryjane does for awhile now and this definitely fed the obsession

Black Dog - This band is somewhere between total sleaze and the heaviest of the heavy. They are so absurd that every time I see them I spend the entire time head banging and laughing hysterically. Their singer consistently wears corpse paint and does push-ups and occasionally brings free weights. This year the line up stretched to include a bass and some general tape loop noise. Basically a bunch of noise freaks decided to start an over the top metal band and its pretty amazing

Daisyworld - Grunge at its best. Jaime is such a rad drummer, The guitar keeps a sickly trance, back and fourth boy/girl vocals. Defenitely another band that falls into the category where I like them and then I see them and my jaw drops.

Styrofoam Sanchez - These noise weirdos. They all dress in suits and build masks and monoliths out of styrofoam that are ripped to shreds by the end. Earsplitting and filled with doom, a wall full of static and bleeps and growls. I once caught a glance of a lyric sheet and it said something like "the toxic rivers run through your blood"

Condominium - This band lands in the space of hardcore that I love, the part that gets real freaky all of the time. They have this seven inch called Carl that jags through an entire intro and then falls in line in the most seasick sense. Everything is barked out in disgust. I saw them live they were wearing flannel.

Not new bands I saw favorites:

favorite summer of my adult life: 2013 - Basically Stillsuit put out our own record, Wet Drag put out a tape and a seven inch, both went on tour, all experiences were excellent.

Realizing I still have feelings and I can get lost in love and get my heart broken

Starting The Blues with Max Nordile and daring to play quiet

Reading The Dialectic of Sex by Shulamith Firestone, getting pretty obsessed

Salami and Cheese snack packs

Moving into a room with a real window and door

Yogurt

Anything by Roky Erickson

Ok now I'm just rambling...

best of 2013 by justin trosper

Artist with most play time on my stereo regardless of the year it was released:

Alex Degrassi!

New records I bought AND liked:

Janelle Monae “The Electric Lady”

Daft Punk “RAM”

MIA “Matangi”

Queens of the Stone Age “Like Clockwork”

Congo Natty “Jungle Revolution”

Adrian Sherwood “Survival and Resistance”

Neko Case “The Worse Things get…”

...and the Reissued LPs:

PIL 1st ed. (Light in the Attic)

I Am The Center comp (Light in the Attic)

Chrome “Half Machine from the Sun: The Lost Chrome Tapes 79-80”

Bl’ast “Blood” (Southern Lord)

Rodan “Fifteen Quiet Years” (Touch and Go)

Iasos “Celestial Soul Portrait” (Numero)

Apochryphal Hymns comp (Numero)

William Onyeabor “Who is…” (Luaka Bop)

Live stuff I saw and liked:

Western Hymn, Mira Billotte/White Magic, Nudity, Raw Geronimo, Darto, Screaming Females, Pinback, Hysterics, Obits, Octagrape, Streateaters, Hungry Ghost, Broken Water, Neko Case, Greys, Modest Mouse

Interesting stuff that I heard from people on the internet worth checking out:

Gregor Schellenbach Kompact mix on Soundcloud, Ben Lukas Boysen/HECQ, Fuck Buttons “Slow Focus”, The Knife “A Tooth for an Eye”, Darkside “Psychic”, Anciients “Heart of Oak” Death Grips “Government Plates”, Oozing Wound “Retrash”, Chelsea Wolfe “Pain is Beauty”, Julia Holter “Loud City Song”, Burial “Rival Dealer”, Jon Hopkins “Immunity” Tim Hecker “Virgins”, Gesaffelstein

Music related reading:

David Byrne “How Music Works” paperback

Morrissey “Autobiography” paperback

best of 2013 by nadia buyse (aka DUBAIS)

Best Performances of 2013

Maybe this is a gross generalization here, but 2013 was a year of division. The consensus from everyone I’ve talked to about their personal 2013 was an expressed duality; both the highest highs and the lowest lows, massive accomplishments and overwhelming defeat. The world at large felt separation, internal/exterior struggle, and then polarized this energy to turn grit into diamonds.... but perhaps I’m being too romantic.

I definitely felt a divide on how to approach this ‘best of’ list. Do I talk about my favorite albums of the year? Do I talk about my favorite bands this year? In the end I decided to make my list focus on the best performances I ” saw” in 2013. So here it is, in no particular order or fashion, the best performances of 2013 according to me!

1. MATTRESS (Portland, Or)

I decide to start with Mattress because Mattress is the band I have seen the most this year, not only because we toured, but because MATTRESS is literally one of my favorite Portland bands. Every show has ambience and sex appeal. MATTRESS is the music baby of Rex Marshall. Rex grew up in Las Vegas. Legend has it Rex started singing at the ripe age of 7 after getting a gig at the CIRCUS CIRCUS from his showgirl girlfriend. Since then he has perfected a post post minimalist lo fi lounge experimental persona that is undeniable. He is also the lead singer of the Vietnam vet core blues-rock band SLIM FORTUNE.

2. SKIING (Berlin, Germany)

Everett Darling is a pop genius and Berlin is lucky to have him. I first met Everett the day I moved to Olympia; we started our first band that day. After that we were in many bands together in Olympia (The Itch, Becky, Fierce Perm) and one this summer in Berlin (Business Lunch.) Fast forward years later, Everett is living in Berlin and has started the band Skiing. Skiing is pop gold, (think Michael Hurley if he was into shoe gaze and riot grrl.). I saw them play multiple times but every show was an inspiration. So, at this point I should say the Berlin ‘punk/indie/whatever the kids are calling it these days’ scene is a total boys town (not to be confused with the electronic/experimental/performance scene which is a feminist/ queer utopia. ... And more Brown people are coming around too.) Every time I saw Skiing play Everett would sing in falsetto and dress in drag or wear a t shirt that would say something like “ in this T shirt is the body of a gay man” or do something to get the attention of all the sadwhiteboys and make those queens DANCE.

3. BODY/HEAD (Portland, Or T: BA festival)

BODY/HEAD is the newest project by Kim Gordan. If you were a teenager in the 90’s I guarantee you LOVED Sonic Youth probably as much as I LOVED Sonic Youth. I, like most people, felt the loss after they disbanded but was more excited to see what Kim would do next. She has always been one of my favorite feminist icons and I knew whatever she did would be AMAZING. What I didn’t know was that I would be performing the Pop Opera I had been working on for the last year after BODY/HEAD’s first Portland show at the Time based Art festival. Their performance was incredible; an epic sonic drama enhanced with cinematic projections. (PICA really knows how to Program a show!)

4. The Quaintrelles (Los Angelas, CA)

I should preface this by saying that this was the year I really felt a separation with punk scene/ punk music. Even if the music was good, (which often times it’s just regurgitated crap made by college kids who think being poor is cool) I was just hyper aware of the superficiality, exclusivity, and false hierarchy that exists at a lot of shows and in a lot of bands’ performance energy/presentation. It’s just kind of gross. But the Quaintrelles reminded me of the reasons I first fell in love with punk. The band couldn’t have been older than 20, two girls, two boys; all of which had made their own sharpie t-shirts. They did some covers (California Uber Alles) and originals (one song that was introduced as being about cheese and communism.) The music didn’t move me but the energy those kids had brought me back to be a young punk and just being so excited to play with my friends. You’ve never heard of this band, and you might not ever hear them… but all of those kids will continue to play music and be on some great bands I bet. The band was given their name by Taquila Mockingbird who is the main curator/ founder of the Punk Rock Museum.

5. Weird Fiction and the artificial empathy Machine (Portland, OR)

Weird Fiction is Weird… it’s not just a clever name. They played a show at Valentines with World Gang to pretty much no one. At this show they created the Artificial Empathy Machine, which the band played inside of. This machine had the ability to take your picture, fulfill your desires, and send sexy texts… I still don’t know how the machine got my phone number. PS. World gang was pretty great too, for the record.

. 6.Bahrain Music Camp for girls Showcase (Manama, Bahrain)

One of the most exciting things this year for me was getting the opportunity to go to Bahrain to start the Bahrain music camp for girls with my friends Beth and Sarah. Everyone who has been to a Rock Camp Show Case knows how awesome they are. This One was particularly special for me though, maybe it was the pre showcase epic dance party we had…. Also there were a lot more rappers than usual… I dig that.

7. Morgan and the Organ Donors (Olympia, WA) Just when I thought Morgan and the Organ Donors couldn’t get any better Olivia (from one of my favorite bands of all time C.O.C.O) joined the band… WTF!?

8. The Legend of Drake (Portland, Or)

So I’m pretty sure that one of the best things to happen to music this year was Drake’s album nothing was the same. It’s the best things that happened to R&B since Frank Ocean’s Orange Channel album last year, that’s for sure. Drake came to play Portland while on tour supporting his new album last month. I was so bummed because 1. I didn’t hear about it until the day of 2. I was DEATHLY sick, so naturally 3. I didn’t get to go. But I have to say that the ripple effect and ephemera of his time in Portland was magic. So first of all, Drake went to Black book after the show, which is the former Yes and No; a bar in downtown Portland that only a very small group of people cared existed until it closed and later re opened as Black book. The Instagram was all a buzz. The next days there were local news outfits telling stories of Drake visiting a homeless shelter in downtown and to give a large chuck of money to them for blankets and other necessities. Even though I didn’t get to see his show, the spectacle of his presence in my city was omnipresent.

9. The Germs (Los Angeles, CA)

The Germs were one of my favorite bands and I was pretty convinced it was impossible to see them live. The version I did see; consisting of original members Don Bolles and Pat Smear, was supplemented by Charlotte from the GoGos and Shane West, the guy who played Darby in What we do is Secret. I don’t think it was particularly the best show I’ve ever seen, I mean everyone playing nailed it and it sounded pretty good; but the fact that I was watching some dude, a Hollywood actor, do Darby Crash drag, was a weird experience. But good weird, It was like a flesh version of the 2 Pac hologram.

10. 48 hour performance art marathon at Month of Performance art Berlin (Berlin, Germany)

So last, but not least I got to give a shout out to the 48hour performance art marathon, which is the pinnacle of the Month of Performance art Berlin. It is my belief that Germany rolls DEEEEEEP in an art way. For anyone that has ever been to (d)OCUMENTA, Gallery Weekend, 48 hours Neukoilln, or any other German art party is my witness… Shit is cray cray. I mean, the UDK (Universitat der Kunst) open studios is like every dance party you’ve ever been to times 100 in the middle of mediocre student art (made even more mediocre by the European art school industrial complex.) Month of Performance Art was no different. The 48 hour Marathon took place in one building, every thirty minutes for two days someone would be doing a performance. The performances were varied but the real spectacle was watching VERY serious German artists essentially squatting in the gallery for two days, like sitting on the sidewalk slurping soup and brushing their teeth outside style.

best of 2013 by chris o'kane

2013 was a busy year for me with many highs and one prolonged and tedious low. I spent a third of it in England, a third of it in Berlin, and a month or so in Olympia; which was excellent. I spent much of the rest of it applying for jobs in Seattle; which has obviously been shit. What follows is an unranked list of my favourite bits in 2013.

TV

I’m sort of embarrassed to admit that the time I spent watching TV in 2013 outranks all my other cultural pursuits. Since that is the case I thought I would put it first.

Justified. The best written, best paced, and most constantly entertaining show on TV.

Enlightened. A warm-hearted satire of the self-help industrial complex and the vacuous sort of progressive politics it promulgates.

Top of the Lake. A film noir about the patriarchy!

Rectify.A meditative small-scale drama about how a man, his family and a small southern town react when he is released from prison after spending two decades or so of his adult life on death row.

Eastbound and Down.Another satire that manages to be equally stupid, incisive and hilarious. In my opinion, it’s also far better at representing the decline of American hegemony and the obscene norms of American masculinity than Mad Men or Breaking Bad etc.

In the Thick of it. I finally got around to watching this, and it lives up to the hype.

Veep. Not as good as In the Thick, and not as much swearing, but its still good.

Archer. It makes me laugh. I also like that the USSR still exists in it.

Breaking Bad. The hype was tedious and the last episode was a let down, but it was still gripping.

Music

New

Big Business – Battlefields Forever.

Paysage D’hiver – Das Tor

Chelsea Light Moving – S/T.

Vexx - S/T.

Hornet Leg - Wrecking Ball.

Body/Head – Coming Apart.

Stillsuit – S/T.

Unwound – The Kid is Gone.

The Fat White Family – Champagne Holocaust.

The Rebel – S/T.

Old

Arthur Alexander – You Better Move On, Detroit City, Call Me Lonesome

The Fall -- up to and including I am Kurios Oranj

The Go-Betweens – Live in Vienna

Black Flag – The 1982 Demos

Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction

The Saints – Eternally Yours

The Country Teasers – Satan is Real, Destroy all Human Life

Thin Lizzy – The Peel Sessions

ZZ Top’s first three albums.

After ending up on the same plane as Mudhoney, and having Mark Arm flip shit at me, I decided to listen to them on a lark and got into Superfuzz Bigmuff, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and My Brother the Cow.

Reading

Endnotes 3

Viewpoint 3

Werner Bonefeld – Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy.

Roberto Bolano – Woes of the True Policeman.

Rachel Kushner – The Flamethrowers.

Ellen M. Wood – The Ellen Meiksins Wood Reader.

Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos et al. – A Political Economy of Contemporary Capitalism and its Crisis.

Ingo Stutzle et al. – Polylux Marx – A Capital workbook in Slides.

Ingo Elbe – Between Marx, Marxism and Marxisms—ways of reading Marx’s Theory.

Karl Marx – The 1861-1863 Manuscripts.

Louis Althusser – Essays in Self-criticism, The Humanist Controversy, Philosophy of the Encounter, The Future Lasts Forever.

Georgakas and Surkin – Detroit do I Mind Dying?

Films

Mike Kelley - Going West on Michigan Avenue from Downtown Detroit to Westland.

Mike Kelley - Going East on Michigan Avenue from Downtown Detroit to Westland.

Stewart Bird et al. -- Finally Got the News.

Chantal Ackerman – From the East.

John Carpenter – They Live.

Noah Baumbach – Frances Ha.

Hal Ashby – The Last Detail.

Bob Rafelson – The King of Marvin Gardens

Werner Herzog – Happy People: a year in the Taiga.

David C. Thomas -- Mc5: A True Testimonial.

Shows

David Hasslehoff at the Berlin Wall.

The Melvins playing Lysol, Egnogg and Stoner Witch.

M’lady’s Birthday Party with The Hysterics, Vexx, Ruby Pins and Nukular Aminals.

Melvins Lite/Big Business.

StillSuit/Death Drive etc.

The Witch/Hornet Leg/Western Hymn.

Joey Shithead/Movieland

Mudhoney at the Seattle Center.

Wet Drag

All the other times I saw Vexx, Big Business and The Hysterics.

New Year’s resolution: Communism.

Failing that; get a job, spend more time writing and less time applying to jobs, and watch more films and less TV.