Tit Wrench - Full Employment

 

Well, as I promised a while back, here is the early "Best Of" CD from early 90s San Diego weirdos Tit Wrench.  They appeared on the "Beautiful Music for Beautiful People" compilation I recently reposted and featured Bob Barley, proprietor of Vinyl Communications Records on vocals.  Tit Wrench played fast and abrasive electronic music with sarcastic and silly lyrics and plenty of smarmy attitude - punk bands like The Feeders, The Crucifucks or Dead Kennedys come to mind, but with a furious techno beat.  This "Best Of" collection contains virtually their entire discography, aside from their second Lp, and includes a cover of fellow San Diego and Vinyl Communications band Amenity's song "Forward Into the Past."  Not essential but a fun listen nonetheless... definitely interesting for the time period.

Tit Wrench - Full Employment CD

Amenity - Forward Into the Past (Repost)

Here is the Discography CD from Chula Vista hardcore band Amenity.  They appeared on the "They Don't Get Paid..." comp. I just re-posted and were a staple of the Southern California HC scene in the late 80s.  A straight edge band with posi lyrics and a healthy social conscience, musically they seem to me to straddle the line between bands like Ignition and Verbal Assault and the emergence of early 90s chugga-chugga style HC as practiced by groups like Groundwork and Chokehold.  Their "This Is Our Struggle" 7" was a mainstay on my turntable back then.  This CD, issued by Vinyl Communications, includes their Eps and compilation tracks, demos and some live tunes, including cool cover songs.  The sound quality on much of this collection is lacking but the early tracks, though rough, include some great HC tunes.  The later material is more mid-paced and rocking, but still powerful and the lyrics are great.  I bet these dudes were awesome live.

Amenity - Forward Into the Past CD

Various - They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard Lp (Repost)

Here is a repost of that great compilation from back in 1989 I referenced in the Dissent post.  Put out by Maximum Rocknroll records, here is "They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid, But Boy Do They Work Hard".  14 tracks of U.S. punk and hardcore... a very representative sampling of the U.S. scene at the time.  This one has some crust (Nausea and Apocalypse),  a lot of  straight up hardcore (Christ On A Crutch, Detonators, Dead Silence), a little pop-punk (Cringer), even some ska-core (Downfall), which was all the rage at the time.  This compilation has a special place in my heart ever since a buddy of mine in high school gave me a tape with this record on one side and Christ On Parade on the other.  A very formative cassette to say the least. 

Here's the full tracklist:

The Detonators - Denied
Amenity - Follow
Christ On A Crutch - Nation of Sheep
Nausea - Clutches
Apocalypse - Techno-Doom
Conspiracy of Equals - Is It Right?
Screeching Weasel - This Bud's For Me
Jawbox - Bullet Park
Dissent - Superman
Downfall - Long Way to Go
Dead Silence - Hope
Cringer - Pay to Play
Bazooka Joe - Phoenix
Libido Boyz - Mr. Greenthumb

Everyone of these songs is great... from the best tracks ever by the Detonators, Screeching Weasel, Christ On A Crutch and Apocalypse, to hidden gems like Conspiracy of Equals, Bazooka Joe and the Libido Boyz.

Various - They Don't Get Paid, They Don't Get Laid...

Dissent

Dissent were a late 80s U.S. band from Rapid City, South Dakota that played political punk with insightful lyrics and plenty of positive energy.  Their ethos and sound put them in the emerging U.S. peace punk scene of the day and Dissent traveled in the same circles with contemporaries like Dead Silence, Libido Boyz, Cringer and Amenity, all bands that appeared along with them on the MRR comp. "They Don't Get Paid..."  Dissent released two Lps, a couple of Eps and a split Lp with Dead Silence, though the split Lp was a re-release of older tracks by both bands.  Sadly, the group dissolved when Bob Baker, their guitarist, principle songwriter and singer was killed by a drunk driver in a car crash.  Included in this file is essentially their entire discography... their eponymous first Lp, "Epitome of Democracy?" their great second Lp, along with their two 7" Eps.  The first Lp and 7" are not my favorite as I really don't like the voice of their first singer Skip.  After the first Lp he left the band Bob took over vocals, and in my opinion, the band hit their stride.  "Epitome of Democracy?" is a classic Lp of this time period for me.

Dissent - s/t Ep, Dissent Lp, Epitome of Democracy? Lp, Expression Ep   

Various - Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10" (Repost)

Here's the repost of another great compilation from the late 80s/early 90s... the "Beautiful Music for Beautiful People" 10".  This one features some great US bands, along with a spattering of international HC acts.  Libido Boyz and Dissent headline the US bands, but Crib Death and Tit Wrench have strong tracks as well.  Tit Wrench were bit of an odd-ball band.  Featuring Bob Barley of Vinyl Communications records, they played lightning fast techno like music with absurdly confrontational lyrics....think Pailhead or Lard.  "People Like That Should Be Spayed" is a good intro to their stuff.  I may post their discography some time since their stuff is fairly enjoyable in it's own weird way.  Anyways, the non-US bands on this comp. provide some great tracks as well... "Full Circle" is one of my fave Instigators tunes, the Scoundrels, Flitox, 16 B.U.H. also have strong tracks.  Australia's S.S.D.C. have a rousing number in "Free the Five."  The final track, from Denmark's President Fetch is the weakest, but not a bad song.  All-in-all a classic collection of HC from this time period.

V/A Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10"

Dead Silence - Unlearning

Here is the early discography CD of Colorado peace punks Dead Silence.  Starting up in the mid-80s, Dead Silence was active into the mid-90s, playing anarcho influenced hardcore punk with thought provoking lyrics delivered with plenty of spite and vitriol.  This CD compiles their releases through 1990, when the band was on somewhat of a hiatus, and includes their two Lps and their first two Eps.  After the release of Unlearning, Dead Silence regrouped and put out a few more Eps of material before apparently calling it a day.

Dead Silence - Unlearning CD 

Various - Stealing the Pocket Lp

This time out, I've got a relatively rare compilation 12" of mid-90s punk and hardcore called "Stealing the Pocket."  This record was produced by the very short-live Positively Punk label and, according to Discogs, was limited to 200 copies.  The covers were hand-made and consisted of a list of the bands glued on to old record covers salvaged from thrift stores... so each cover was unique.  The artwork accompanying this post and embedded in the tracks is my particular copy's.  The line-up on this comp. is a bit uneven - it includes 90s HC heavyweights like Los Crudos, Capitalist Casualties, Death Side, The Pist, etc. alongside relatively unknown and quickly forgotten groups like Chickita, Potato Justice and Bound.  A lot of these tracks made it on to discography releases of the more prolific bands - like Los Crudos, The Pist, Maximillian Colby, etc.  Others, like the Frail and Rye Coalition tracks, were left off any other release and appear to be exclusive to this obscure little record.  The stand out tracks are from Naked Aggression, Death Side, Cap Cas, Vanilla, Devoid of Faith, Los Crudos, Action Patrol, Frail, F.Y.P. and Maximillian Colby.

Various - Stealing the Pocket Lp