Fisheye

Full set here.

Action Swingers - Fear of a Fucked Up Planet (Primo Scree)

Lead Action Swinger, the irrepressible Ned Hayden, pulled Julie Cafritz and Don Fleming into the band's ever-rotating line-up for this 1990 single. Ned's music is a pitiless concoction of grazed guitars and low production values. The none-more-punk sound of the Swingers is pockmarked by Ned's gruff vocals, which emerge from somewhere deep inside the musical mêlée, and are usually drawn from a base lyrical palette that simply revolves around the words "fuck" and "motherfucker." "Fear of a Fucked Up Planet" and its b-side, "Blowjob," are as good a way as any to witness Ned unleash his unrepentant fury, and the phrase "short, sharp, and to the point" could practically have been invented for the unrefined ear-grinding of the Action Swingers (full-length album Decimation Blvd. clocks in around the 21 minute mark). Of course, Ned's bullish reputation perfectly fits the music, but probably added to the fact that the tactless singer could never really keep a steady line-up of the band together. The Swingers' revolving door policy even saw J. Mascis and former Sonic Youth sticksman Bob Bert drop by to play on a few songs over the course of the band's chaotic lifespan. Ned's ire hasn't wilted though--at the present time he seems to spend most of his days hunting down and berating Matador boss Gerard Cosloy on various internet message boards.

STP - Smoke 'Em (Circuit Records)

In 1991, Hole's ferociously raw Pretty on the Inside was released, helping to kickstart Courtney Love's bizarre climb into the upper echelons of celebrity culture. Part of that rawness can be ascribed, at least in part, to the grunge-rock production dream team of Kim Gordon and Don Fleming. Fleming's time in Half Japanese was followed by the formation of several of his own bands, such as Shimmy Disc stalwarts B.A.L.L. and the powerpop-influenced combo Gumball, which in turn led to production duties for everyone from Teenage Fanclub to Alice Cooper. One year prior to Pretty on the Inside came this Gordon/Fleming produced single from New York City's STP. Guitarist Julie Cafritz put the all-girl line up of STP together shortly after the break up of Pussy Galore, released this magnificent statement of intent, then promptly disbanded the group. The reasons behind STP's split remain lost in the mists of time, but it's difficult to imagine where they could have gone after the down-at-heel scum rock of "Hey Bastard," which manages to condense the entire careers of (early) Hole and Babes in Toyland into a song that barely crawls over the one minute mark. Like Pussy Galore, there's no bass here, just three guttural guitars competing with rudimentary drums and the rasping vocals of singer (and former Dustdevil) Jacqui, who details the collapse of a relationship with begging pleas for her "bastard" boyfriend to "love me for what I am." Jacqui's forlorn appeal soon descends into hoarse and hopeless shrieks of "it's my nightmare!" as the song collapses in on itself. There are three other tracks included here, and a great back cover shot of the band by Michael Lavine, but "Hey Bastard" is all you need.

Mexico

Full set here.

Unsane - Concrete Bed (Glitterhouse)

In the early '90s, just before Manhattan's Lower East Side completely caved in to the baying crowds of post-college kids, who lined up to throw their trust funds straight into the sweaty palms of morally repugnant landlords, a few bands emitted one last glorious howl from the scene. The days of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, DNA, and Mars were long over, Sonic Youth were sidling up to the majors, and Giuliani’s widespread clean up of the city was to begin in a few short years. The bands who were left, such as Cop Shoot Cop, the Action Swingers, STP, and Unsane, all made records that sounded like they were on the run from the gathering forces who were rapidly ushering them out of the neighborhood. “Concrete Bed,” Unsane’s 1990 single for German label Glitterhouse, perfectly embodies the fading scuzz of the Lower East Side. The de rigeur (for the time) buried vocals of the band's singer/guitarist Chris Spencer are barely decipherable (apart from the telling refrain: “it wasn’t always this way”), the late Charlie Ondras pounds away behind him, and the wonderfully muddy recording was cut on tape at Wharton Tiers’s legendary Fun City studio. The whole track sounds like it was written and recorded in about five minutes, and it probably was.