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

My Have the Years of Our Youth Passed On

Big post today, mostly because its been a great week, after a lackluster, rainy, cold weekend, full of dead musicians.

I knew it was gonna be a good day when I received my copy of The '59 Sound in the mail on Monday, and I have listened to it at least twice a day since. Seriously, I don't have a doubt in my mind that this will be record of the year, no matter what the mainstream outlets say. The only band that could possibly come close is The Riot Before, whose album Fists Buried In Pockets comes out in September. I have not felt such an emotional connection to an album in a long time, and it feels wonderful. Every song just spills passion out of my speakers and into my ears, and even the only semi-dud on the album ("Even Cowgirls Get the Blues") is only disliked for personal reasons (I hate Tom Petty). From the brilliant opener "Great Expectations" to the equally great title track, with its heartfelt lyrics about a friend dying in a car crash, to the fantastic "The Patient Ferris Wheel" (which i referenced in a previous post), the album builds on the solid foundation of Sink or Swim, and furthers their Against Me! meets Hot Water Music meets Springsteen meets soul sound. Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Chris Wollard of HWM even sing backup vocals on "The Patient Ferris Wheel!" Much like its predecessor, this album is packed with homages to their influences, from Springsteen (all over the album, duh), Petty (see above, ug), Miles Davis (Miles Davis & The Cool), Buddy Holly, Bob Seger (Great Expectations, eh), and even Casablanca (Here's Looking At You, Kid). Seriously, go buy this album.

I woke up Tuesday morning to find the fantastic news that Dillinger Four's new album Civil War will be released on October 14! 5 minutes later, I was watching a hilarious video of Paddy from D4 and Ryan from Off With Their Heads getting drunk at The Fest V and lighting themselves and OWTH's merch money on fire with grain alcohol. Then it was a long, but fun day at work, but followed by hanging out with various friends at the house until the wee hours of the night. Following a conversation with a friend about how awesome Phil Ochs is, I am officially on a kick. Like my buddy said, its easy to get mad at Bob Dylan for getting so popular, because he overshadowed so many great folk musicians from the same time period, like Ochs (who tragically took his own life in 1976). I will post all 3 discs of the out of print boxset "Farewells and Fantasies" that provides a great introduction to Ochs, from his fiery and witty folk troubadorship, to his poppier, experimental side. Disc 1 is posted at the bottom.

Today I went on a trek to the record store and picked up the following:

Johnny Cash-At Folsom Prison and San Quentin (2xLP)!!!!!!
Johhny Cash-Bitter Tears (LP)
Bruce Springsteen-Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ (LP)
Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run (LP)
Phil Ochs-Pleasures of the Harbor (LP)
The Replacements-Let It Be (CD)

It should be self explanatory why those make me incredibly happy. The fact that I found the Johnny Cash albums nearly gave me an erection. Tomorrow is my roommate's 21st birthday, so we shall be getting drunk and merry, and The Masters of Suspicion will be playing.

Phil Ochs
Farewells and Fantasies (Disc 1)
1. What's That I Hear?
2. The Bells
3. Morning
4. Bound For Glory
5. Highwayman (Live)
6. Power and the Glory
7. That's What I Want to Hear
8. Links On the Chain
9. Love Me, I'm A Liberal (Live)
10. Too Many Martyrs
11. In the Heat of Summer
12. Here's to the State of Mississippi
13. I'm Going to Say It Now
14. One More Parade
15. Draft Dodger Rag
16. I Ain't Marching Anymore
17. We Seek No Wider War
18. Ringing of Revolution
19. When I'm Gone
20. Song of My Returning
21. There But For Fortune

punkrockneverstop

I love The Measure [SA] for several reasons

1)They make awesome music (upbeat, folk-influenced punk)
2)They are from New Jersey (New Brunswick, Hub City Hardcore!)
3) They only release on vinyl, hence the [SA] which stands for strictly analog. (ok the released their first LP on CD eventually, but whatever)
4)Their singer Lauren has a great voice and sure is a cute one.
5) In continuation of point #3, their strictly analog-ness got me into actual record "collecting" Since they are still fairly unknown in wider punk circles, collecting all of the colors and variants of their records is pretty cheap and easy to do. I am only missing 3 colors of the Historical Fiction 7" (the one with Rosa Parks on the cover, and 1 color of the O Pioneers!!! split (the one with Vonnegut). They are still the only band I truly have a "collection" for
6) The fact that the theme for their records is putting people like Rosa Parks, Kurt Vonnegut, and Audry Hepburn on the cover. (Lauren does all the artwork)

Their debut album Historical Fiction (top left corner) is wonderful, lyrically and musically. The only drawback is their other guitarist/singer Mike, who is sloppy with vocal delivery, which kinda drags down otherwise good songs. But he has since left the band after the Means to An End 7" (red one in the bottom left corner with Humphrey Bogart on the cover). Other than his singing, I really like his songs lyrically, so its a shame he's leaving. But most likely, their next album will be a lot stronger. They have a collections LP, another split, and a new EP coming out, so I'm pretty excited for those.

So here is the Historical Fiction LP. If you like it, I highly recommend you buy it!

The Measure [SA]
Historical Fiction

1. Just Go
2. Key Ring
3. Little Things
4. Letters From the Earth
5. Ballad
6. Autonomously
7. We'll Always Have Asbury Park
8. Angell Street
9. So Much For That Vow
10. Media Free
11. Sleep
12. It's Me or the Marlboro Man
13. Desperation Song
14. Trainage

"Time's a locomotive that'll run you over anyway!"

Self Checkout

Sick of going out of my mind everytime I see
Somebody that looks like you, it's killing me
Because I think you're there for me
And when I realize your not, it's back to this mess
So please, take note, I'm going crazy
Did you get a chance to read the letter I sent to you?
Or did you throw it away cuz of everything I put you through?
I guess I understand
Just realized I'm looking for help from a friend
And you, you're the only one I can trust
I wanna tell you all about how I try so hard to keep it under track
I wanna tell you about the times I fuck up and wake up flat on my back
I wish I could call you to pick me up
I know its too much to ask
So I sit up and light a cigarette
And tell my self over and over again
It was all just a dream
And it's time to come clean
And it's time to move on
No matter how hard it seems
It was all just a dream

Off With Their Heads' new album went on sale today, and I managed to grab a secret tour edition (/200) from the No Idea distro page. I also was able to listen to it (like I am now) on punknews' stream. In addition to The '59 Sound, its a top contender for album of the year. Seriously, it fucking destroys. Its one of the albums that come into your life at the right time, and it never leaves, much like Hospitals did. Speaking of The Gaslight Anthem and vinyl, their new album also went on sale today, resulting in major shenanigans at both Vinyl Collective and Side One Dummy webstores, resulting in the latter being completely crippled. VC almost suffered the same fate, but thankfully only had a major slowdown. Despite the problems, I was able to get a hold of a White /500, after 30min of frustration. Huzzahs are in order!

Huzzah!

Other than that, I didn't really do much today other than play an unhealthy amount of GTA San Andreas. Since I can't take my anger out with a gun in real life for a myriad of obvious reasons, nor can I punch a cop off his motorcycle, I have to do it while playing a black dude in pseudo-los angeles. Which is fine with me. Also, I finally finished Johnny Cash's fantastic autobiography Cash.

Huzzah!

I think I'm gonna read me some On The Road next.

Another Side of Folking the System

I ain't lookin' to compete with you,
Beat or cheat or mistreat you,
Simplify you, classify you,
Deny, defy or crucify you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you,
Frighten you or uptighten you,
Drag you down or drain you down,
Chain you down or bring you down.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I ain't lookin' to block you up
Shock or knock or lock you up,
Analyze you, categorize you,
Finalize you or advertise you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to straight-face you,
Race or chase you, track or trace you,
Or disgrace you or displace you,
Or define you or confine you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to meet your kin,
Make you spin or do you in,
Or select you or dissect you,
Or inspect you or reject you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to fake you out,
Take or shake or forsake you out,
I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me,
See like me or be like me.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.


what a great fucking album. found it at the record store used the other day. Listen to it now. I don't know why I stayed away from Bob Dylan for so long. I was really missing out. Now if I could only find "Freewheelin'" on vinyl...

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