The Measure [SA] - Lauren's Gonna Hate This 7"

So I recently got a USB turntable, which is pretty bitchin'. Thus, I have been engaged in the slow, yet rewarding process of ripping my 7"s that I don't have digital copies of, and I eventually will work my way to the LPs. This benefits you, my thousands upon thousands of readers (i.e. random people stumbling upon this searching for mediafire links in google), as I will be posting some of these right here! O M G. The process has been fun to say the least, as I get to spend more time with my records, which is increasingly difficult these days, and I get to re-listen to a bunch of stuff I haven't touched in forever ("oh shit! I totally forgot I had this Dwarves record!").


The Measure [SA] are a band that means a lot to me (as I have detailed in earlier posts), and the news that they were disbanding was a bit of a blow to me. At least I had the pleasure of finally seeing them at The Fest 9 last year, and hopefully I will be able to see them in Gainesville again this year for their final show. This one-sided 7" (the b-side has a really awesome screenprinted artwork on the back) was originally included as a bonus with the initial pressing of One Chapter In the Book (their singles collection), and as a result is out of print and somewhat rare, although I'm sure you could acquire a physical copy pretty easily (I think I have 4-5, being the color nerd I am). The title song is one of the last recorded (or at least the last released) with Mike Regrets, and it is a vocally swaggering, musically hard hitting song, featuring choice lines such as "I'm beginning to think my friend is just another drink." It is followed up by their excellent cover of J Church's "Fascist Radio," whose deceased frontman Lance Hahn (RIP) graces the record sleeve. The 3rd track, "Pure Gold," is an audio documentation of several missed takes of the intro to "Portland," and is more or a less an entertaining throwaway.

On a related note (oh god pun fully unintended but hilarious to me), you should all pick up The Measure's newest LP Notes, released last fall. Its all sorts of awesome. It's got like, harmonicas and shit. The Pre-order pressing also came with an awesome bonus 7", and I'll probably post that sometime in the next couple weeks.

Enjoy

"Do You Know That New York Guy?": Jawbreaker - Live 8/31/92 at ABC No Rio, NYC

This a pretty fun bootleg I came across early last year. The band is in the midst of a tour supporting Bivouac, but are playing a fair amount of songs that would eventually appear on 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, as well as covering Bad Religion's "Chasing the Wild Goose" (from their maligned experimental Into the Unknown album). The sound quality is ok, its a little muffled and has some weird noise effects going on, most likely from recording transfers, being 20 years old and all. For the most part its tolerable, but "Chesterfield King" is pretty gnarly. I mostly chose this one because of the Bad Religion cover and the early versions of 24 Hour songs, and all the other bootlegs I have from 1992 are from 924 Gilman, and I didn't want to post another of those. (I think I have 6 or 7 924 Gilman Jawbreaker bootlegs, half of which are from 1992, haha)

The banter is pretty worthwhile here, Blake and some members of the audience seem to be bouncing off of each other. Blake gets frustrated by heckling while trying to explain "Boat," as well at some other points, but not terribly so. The funniest is when they start calling him the guy from Anthrax, and Blake responds "I'm the guy from Anthrax, that's correct. That was a funny joke an hour ago, and now, not so funny! Hey, do you know that New York guy?"

yar.

Tracklist:

1. The Boat Dreams from the Hill
2. West Bay Invitational
3. Donatello
4. Face Down
5. Chesterfield King
6. Indictment
7. Parabola
8. In Sadding Around
9. Fine Day
10. Want
11. Tour Song
12. Chasing the Wild Goose

"Somebody say something snide please!": Jawbreaker - Live 8/11/90 at 924 Gilman St.

JaThis is a great early bootleg from the Unfun era, which as it turns out is the source of the "Live at Gilman" bootleg 7" that a few people I know have. The band blazes through this set at a hardcore-esque level of energy (especially on "You're Right"), including the two Bivouac songs that appear on this. The tracks fade in and out, which somewhat detracts from the momentum of the recording. According to loosecharm.org, a great deal of banter, a cover of Freebird, and a jam played by Adam and Chris while Blake fixes a broken string are cut from this version. One day I will find a full version of this bootleg, and all will be alright in the world. Most of the time stage banter isn't very interesting, but I enjoy it being on a recording. I guess it makes it seem more authentic, and is part of the reason why I download so many live bootlegs. Nevertheless, enjoy this at maximum volume!

Tracklist:
1) Welcome to Our Band
2) Gutless
3) Down
4) You're Right
5) Softcore
6) Lawn
7) Big
8) Want
9) Seethruskin
10) Driven
11) Fine Day
11) Equalized
13) Shield Your Eyes
14) Eye-5

Download

Also: surprise! new layout!

New Year, (Give Me) More Beer

In case you haven't heard, its the new year, which is cool, I suppose. 2010 was without a doubt one of the strangest years I've ever experienced. It was basically like the world's shittiest roller-coaster ride. Allow me elaborate:

Starting, oh, at about the beginning of 2009, it was nothing but going up that giant hill all slow and steady, for what seemed like forever, straight through 2010, and it was fantastic. The peak of this hill would be the end of July, when I suddenly dropped down without warning. What had been a wonderfully promising year turned into utter utter shit faster than I could believe. Now, I think I've gotten to the bottom of the drop, but now the car is stuck, and I have to wait for maintenance to come fix it. The worst part of the wait is having to sit there and stare at all the fun parts of the ride that I won't get to go through ("It's not fair, I came so goddamn close!") Its hard to believe its been five months, but I'm glad it flew by so fast. These past few months have been ungodly rough on me, but I made it through for two reasons: my friends and my music.

Why my friends saved me should be self-explanatory. They've been here for me this entire shitty saga, being nothing but supporting and awesome. From day one when I was left heartbroken, jobless, and potentially homeless, to now, when I'm bitter and drunk, but hopeful, they stuck by me, arm around my shoulder, and making me smile even when I didn't really want to be. Music has been my life since I was 13, which is when I discovered Jawbreaker. They were the band that changed my life, and they're still picking me up to this day. Without their songs, I might not have escaped these past few months fully intact. Numerous other bands/albums/songs helped me trudge through the shit, but none more the Jawbreaker.

So for the new year and for the band that will forever mean more to me than any two-faced harpy, starting today, I will be posting some Jawbreaker bootlegs all week. So here's to another lousy millennium!

Up first are the band's first two demos, recorded in 1989. Parts of the first demo appear on Etc, but there are several songs left off, including "World of Shit," which is the sole song that Chris Bauermeister sings.

Demo #1

Demo #2