I will post damn near anything for local bands who want to get their music out there, so email me at:

zachattack924@gmail.com


Include a link to your shit and don't be a fag, you fucking faggot. Eat a dick. Lick on these testicles. I wanna anally inseminate Miles Ellerbeck (this will probably be here a year or two before he sees it...Love you bro). Also open yourself up to constructive criticism. I'll bluntly tell you it sucks and give the world a link to see just how bad it sucks. I am mimicking the stream of conscious asshole blogger speech now. Fuck you and eat several more dicks.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

D.F.A.-Defy False Authority

D.F.A. is a Canadian Thrash Metal/Crossover Act and play some of the most rippin' thrash I've listened to in a while. The whole New Wave Of Thrash Metal has been defined by newer bands that take the Crossover aesthetic to a whole new level and expand upon what D.R.I. arguably started. I'd say this new wave is way more Hardcore influenced than the original purveyors of Thrash. I will go as far to say that the new wave is carrying the torch of hardcore punk more so than the new hardcore out there. You'll always have "throwback" bands, but it's not safe to call the newer thrash a throwback to 80s thrash metal. It's an evolution that expanded on Crossover and if anything, it's a throwback to Hardcore Punk...With obviously better instrumentation and musical prowess. I hope to hear more from this band. Enjoy!

D.F.A.-Defy False Authority:

1. Defy False Authority
2. No Fight To Lose
3. Your Song
4. So Futile
5. Pliant
6. That's Gonna Leave A Mark
7. The Muse
8. Useless
9. Eat Shit
10. Fight Club

Friday, May 27, 2011

Interview With Mark Prindle Of Mark's Record Reviews.

I am shifting gears here at the Blog Of Least Resistance. I am going to no longer focus on free downloads. I'd like this to be more of a record review/interview site. So in my inaugural ceremony I bring you a quick email interview with Mark Prindle Of Mark's Record Reviews, the site I will be attempting to rip-off in the coming months. There will still be occasional downloads, but I will be including in depth reviews and the occasional interview to differentiate this site from the rest of the blogging scene. If you have been living under a rock, or have some semblance of a life away from the computer, Mark Prindle has maintained his website for 16 years. It is a resource for some of the funniest and brutally honest reviews on the web. As well as his hilarious interviews with many sorts of different figures in the alternative music world. His site has had me laughing my ass off for many years. What is important to note is that his site, while not a music blog, predates the structure (or lack of) and writing style exemplified by many of the blogs out there. I don't know how I'd be writing my reviews if it weren't for stumbling upon his site many years ago. He's a big influence. I just wish I had his wit. This is my first interview ever, as you can tell. My lack of interview skills is evident to the trained reader, but know I gave it my best here. He could of ripped into me and tore me a new asshole, but he didn't. If I had chosen to interview Metal Mike from the Angry Samoans, another noted music critic in punkland, he would have. If you can't guess, I am referencing the Punk forums on Myspace, circa 2006 and 2007...Anyways, here's Mark Prindle! Enjoy!

How has life been treating you lately?

Pretty well, thanks! I had a very difficult 2010, having to deal with a painful marital separation and long-term unemployment, but the past six months have been much better. I have given up drinking, found a wonderful new girlfriend and apartment, and begun working temp jobs to keep my savings from completely dwindling away. I still need a full-time job, but at least I'm not drinking myself into blackouts and waking up handcuffed to hospital beds anymore.

I stumbled upon your record reviews site many years back, before the blog had really caught on and although your site lacks free downloads, I think it is one of the precursors to the music blog. Some bloggers have developed a "Prindle-esque" style of record reviews. I know I have. I'm certainly nowhere near as humorous as you, but I give it a try. Tell me, what has influenced your writing style above all?

Boredom. I love talking about music, but I can't stand writing straightforward reviews. That's why I'd make a terrible journalist; straight, serious writing bores the hell out of me. Not to READ, mind you -- I read nothing but nonfiction and am thrilled that so many people have the discipline and interest to write in a straightforward factual manner. However, although I can write that way (and have for 15 years in my PR career), it's not all that fun. If I'm going to waste all my free time writing, it had better be fun.

I relate more so to a reviewer if they write in a similar style as you do. You seem to have a way of blogging through your reviews. Is that intentional? Or does it just happen that way?

My web site is the only personal writing I do, so I use it not only as a record review guide, but also as a diary and creative writing outlet. My site pre-dates blogs by several years, so I'm definitely not imitating that aesthetic. I think we all have the same drive though: the urge to write anything we want free of editorial constraints.

Is there something you wanted to review, but couldn't? Like there was almost nothing that could be said that hadn't already been said before?

No, I could review anything. All it takes is a few knock-knock jokes and stories about my dog.

I was reading your reviews of Agnostic Front the other day. On your "My Life, My Way" review, you say that speed alone isn't enough to hold your interest. I'm assuming you don't mean the drug, but what does a hardcore band have to do to hold your interest nowadays? Are there any bands that do?

They must display either a strong personality, a unique take on the genre, or simply the ability to write catchy and original chord changes. I don't keep up with current hardcore, but if Fucked Up counts, I do like them. I love how anthemic they are, and I find many of their songs quite catchy. I recently downloaded albums by over 100 old hardcore bands I'd never heard. Some were generic and forgettable, but there were some really terrific bands in there too. Check out Malignus Youth if you've never heard them. They had a really unique sound. If I could remember the names of any others off-hand, that would be very helpful.

Of the newer releases by older bands, which would you say have both stayed true to their roots and has been relevent to today? In any genre.

I don't think music needs to be relevant to a particular time period. In fact, it probably shouldn't be. Artists should strive to create timeless work, not work that will only appeal to today's listeners. The Spice Girls were plenty relevant in their day, but who gives a shit about them now? As for staying true to their roots, AC/DC, Motorhead and Neil Young certainly qualify. Bad Religion does too, but I'm not sure they even enjoy the music they're playing. If you listen to Greg Graffin's solo records, it's clear that punk rock isn't his chief interest anymore. It probably hasn't been for some time. But he knows that Bad Religion fans expect Bad Religion music (he learned that lesson from the reaction to "Into the Unknown"), so he delivers. I shouldn't complain, considering what happened to The Dwarves after Blag Dahlia got tired of hardcore.

I'd go as far as to say the new thrash metal bands are carying the torch of hardcore more so than the modern "Hardcore" and "Metalcore" bands are. At least in the delivery and attitude departments. There seems to be a genuine cross polination of style between the scenes. It's more musical than"crossover thrash" was, but it still sounds way more punk than the 80s pure thrash bands. What do you think of the New Wave Of Thrash Metal?

I love their sound. They remind me of old DRI and stuff like that. I haven't spent enough time with any of them to know which are the best songwriters of the bunch, but I love the fact that they exist!

What do you think of a genre like deathcore, combining Metalcore with the Cookie Monster?

That's actually not how I hear deathcore. I hear deathcore as a dumbed-down version of metalcore. Metalcore to me means intense, difficult aggressive bands like Converge, Botch, Coalesce, Every Time I Die and Dillinger Escape Plan. But all the deathcore I've heard is just guys blasting away at two or three chords and bellowing. Have I just not heard the good ones?

How has your musical taste evolved? I see you're becoming harder on punk and hardcore. What do you find yourself listening to mostly nowadays?

I'm all over the place. I keep buying books about musical subgenres and then downloading hundreds of albums by bands discussed in them that I've never heard. So for a while I was listening to British hardcore bands from 1988-1991, then American hardcore bands from 1980-86, and just recently I listened to about a hundred albums by "progressive metal" bands. That's a difficult subgenre because it includes everything from Dungeons & Dragons nerd-prog (Dream Theater) and overblown operatic garbage (Queensryche) to awesomely intense death/thrash/grind/black/psycho-metal (Enslaved, Voivod, Meshuggah, Deathrow, Deathspell Omega, etc). I currently have a book coming in the mail about British hardcore 1980-83, so I'm sure I'll be listening to a lot of that soon!

Are you a nostalgic person who goes back to the music of your youth, or do you prefer the new bands to the old?

I don't prefer new bands to old, but I'm always looking for great bands that I've never heard. I enjoy my old records too, but I can sing all of those in my head so I don't need to listen to them.

What was your favorite interview to conduct?

Billy Zoom because I was drunk off my ass!

Who turned out to be nicest? Who was the biggest asshole?

GBH's Colin Abrahall was belligerent, but he had every right to be; prior to our interview, Go-Kart's PR guy alerted him to my GBH review page, on which I ream pretty much their entire catalog! Aside from him, they were all nice -- at least until afterwards, when I've alienated a few through drunken emails and childish behavior (including Steve Albini, Henry Rollins, King Missile's John S. Hall and the Cows' Kevin Rutmanis -- though I think a couple of them have forgiven me by now).

Is there anyone you have been trying to interview, but it never seems to work out? Like the person is too busy all the time, or they do whatever they can to avoid you?

Jello Biafra refuses to speak to me because I sided with the other Dead Kennedys in my interviews with them. I can understand that; I shouldn't have taken sides in a legal dispute that had nothing to do with me.

If you could interview one person that you haven't interviewed before, before you died, who would that person be?

Paul McCartney

Is there anyone who you wished you could have talked to before they passed on?

Dee Dee, Joey and Johnny Ramone.

Have you been following any of the blogs that have popped up in recent years? Which one's are your favorite?

No, I don't follow any blogs. Unless Facebook is a blog!

What is your thought on the proliferation of free music downloads? Are we hurting anyone by sharing their music for free? Should music be free for everyone? Has it gone too far?

Music downloading has quite literally destroyed the record industry. Nobody buys CDs anymore, because why should they? It's much quicker and easier to just steal it off the Internet. Music should not be free, and it has definitely gone too far. Nevertheless, as an important record reviewer and tastemakers, I feel it is my duty to continue downloading every album in the world.

What's the status on Red Eye? You haven't made an appearance in a while.

The old booker accepted a production job with Greta Von Sustern's show, and the new booker ran across an extremely offensive and pointlessly racist joke on my web site. So I've essentially been banned.

If you could take 3 things with you on a desert island, what would they be?

A ship, a crew and enough gasoline to get me home

Say that you could only take records...A total of 5, and a record player. You had no access to water or food. As you slowly meet your demise, what would the soundtrack consist of?

The first Ramones album, The Cars' "Candy-O," Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," AC/DC's "Flick of the Switch" and Aerosmith's "Rocks." Those aren't my favorite albums in the world; I just think they'd be nice to die to.

Now for random questions cause I wanna ask...

Favorite food? Favorite drink?


Pizza and Diet Coke. If you'd asked me two months ago, I'd have said Vodka.

Worst band of all time?

Eagles, unless Billy Joel counts as a band

Worst genre of all time?

Deathcore and modern emo are equally abominable.

Best band in a terrible genres? Worst band in an awesome genre?

I'm definitely not a country-western fan, but I love Johnny Cash. Hardcore is an awesome genre, but the Cro-Mags are godawful.

Best TV show? Worst?

Best is Mr. Show. Worst is nearly everything else. I do like Community, Arrested Development and SCTV though.

Favorite movie? Least favorite?

Favorite is "The Decline of Western Civilization." Least favorite is "Breaking the Waves."

Any parting words?

Yes, several.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Death Of The Music Blog...

This is something I've been wanting to write for quite some time, but never did, because I am an extremely lazy and busy person...Two opposites that kinda do work together in some ways. I am writing this because I am a firm believer that the music blog community has lost it's way and has been replaced by a quick Google search to find a particular album, rather than downloading one based on a blogger's impassioned recommendation. It was always "convenient", but the discovery of new, unknown artists has been replaced with a desire to find one artist by simply inputing "band name" and "mediafire" into Google's all too helpful search bar which aids in finding everything from today's hot news stories to a porn star's filmography. It's gotten so convenient that I don't even bother reading the blogger's words...For all I know, he could of written a very funny and/or insightful review on the material he posted. But I don't know that, because I went straight to the Mediafire link and was 2 minutes away from enjoying some Scandinavian D-beat band that would of been obscure two years prior to it's posting. It's not necessarily a bad thing that Mp3 blogging brought to my attention so many amazing (and even more shitty) Hardcore, Crust and D-beat bands...It's a bad thing that no body pays attention to them. I looked on my Mediafire account the other day...You know who gets the highest number of downloads? Pennywise, Leftover Crack, Rancid and The Casualties. This proves my point. They probably found the links using Google. They didn't even bother reading the blog, because they found my link and got what they were looking for. The kids these days still only seem to be interested in the bigger bands. I catered to all forms of punk and hardcore when I was actively posting on The Blog Of Least Resistance. I did post a lot of bigger bands. Why? Because I liked them. But what I really wished is that maybe people would have stuck around and found something more obscure. Something that you won't read a Wiki about, or actively search for. One of the great things about blogs was the discovery aspect. This was our version of tape trading. Now look at what it's becoming.

When I first got into the blogging scene, there was a genuine sense of community. The write ups and the comments were well thought out and showed that the people posting and downloading the album actually cared. No it's 90% spam. I post something I know will get a lot of downloads and what happens? It gets the downloads, but no one other than a bot has something to say about it. This is not a criticism so much of the blogger themselves. Most of the blogs that stated 5 years or so ago that are still around do actually care. It's the crop of "Wal-Mart" blogs that popped up in their wake. No write up, sometimes no tracklist, no reason to download other than the artwork looks cool. I'll be honest, there was a few stages here at this blog where I was too lazy and apathetic to post any kind of write-up. But a lot of times I did. I'll admit I'm no Mark Prindle when it comes to my reviews, but I at least tried to give something to the reader on occasion. It's these blogs that have consistently done that from day one that I have a problem with. Does the reader download it because it's labeled as "Crust" or because it's the only record by such and such band they don't have yet? What's the motivation here? The blogger's job was to give us a reason to download it. Whatever they could. And it was appreciated.

The blogging community, or should I say, the "Music blogging community" has become something that will likely die out soon. What was a tool for people to share music and experiences from said music has become too convenient for people to snatch and grab some free music. These blogs are not even what they were because the reader has discovered they can just use Google to get everything. The CD killed the tape. Mp3 killed the CD. Mp3 blogs made Itunes functionally useless. Google killed the Mp3 blog. Google wins. Convenience always seems to prevail. It's funny how that works.

The only way to save the Mp3 blog is too maybe reserve them for posting only out of print or hard to find records. Maybe demos from your crappy grindcore band, or demos from your cousin's power metal band. We need to stop posting what can be bought relatively easily. We need to reserve this space for obscurity. We need to reserve this place for unsigned band promotion. The blogger's themselves seem to care more about site traffic and blog promotion than for the unsigned band that asks them for a review and to have their demo posted. When posted, they seem to easily get lost in the sea of big names on the blogsite. I know people care more about Guttermouth than Spitting On Cops, but come on? Why don't we leave this space to help out the little guy? I'm guilty of it myself. I've posted way too many bigger names than obscure bands and it sucks. Even if we post a bigger band, we should at least have the decency to give the record a proper write up. I'll no longer post something without saying something about it. Never again. We need to bring the joy of discovering new old music back to the music blog.

If you can buy it relatively easy, then buy it. We do hurt some smaller bands who have a proper release out by posting every song on the album in it's entirety. Say they pressed 500 of them and can't move them, except at shows...The band got fucked in the ass there. Unless they are completely anti-capitalism/anti-consumerism/anti-ism and have explicatively stated they want their record posted everywhere for free, we shouldn't fuck with their need to make their money back on it. Unless it's Metallica. Then by all means post the living shit out of it. I heard Lars Ulrich eats babies. What a sick fuck.

I happen to see almost no issues with posting a RIAA band or other bigger names. I just say "do it at your own risk". For all too many reasons. There's the obvious "DMCA" notices and possible shutdown of your blog, but there's also the fact your blog will likely be overlooked because you posted something easy to find elsewhere. Your other posts will likely not be read and that obscure Japanese HC band you had to share with the world will not get it's fair due because the mindset of the downloader tends to lean on the snatch and grab aspect of it. I hate the music industry as much as anyone, and while we're not giving them anything, in fact taking, we're hindering the smaller bands and labels by including them in a sea of bigger names. Again, we should stick to unsigned bands, out of print, or hard to find stuff. Once the Mp3 blog caught on, everyone started their own punk or metal blog. And 90% of them have the same or eerily similar content. You can go here and you can go here, but you'll go there because they use Mediafire and the other uses Rapidshare. We need to bring the diversity back. When I found blogs like 7inchpunk back in the day, you realistically couldn't get any of it unless you had an Ebay account and something called a "disposable income". They had the hard to find stuff and at the time, no one had it. Then it caught on and it was reposted over and over and over again on many different blogs. Now you could find The Fuck-Ups "FU82" on at least 10 different blogs, including this one. Maybe everything that needed to be posted has been posted already. But when it's reposted without an opinion from the poster, it's just another link. Another sign of the Mp3 blog's impending doom.

The Mp3 blog will not in itself die. People always find a way to share their music. I remember using Soulseek. The chat in the Punk/Hardcore room used to be insightful discussion about punk and hardcore. Now it's basically "n-word this, n-word that". It's pretty racist up in there. Soulseek seemed to die out somewhat. At it's pique, there were a few hundred in the room, now maybe 100-150 depending on the day...They're all still stingy assholes and you have to be on their user list and part of their secret club to download from them and everyone seems to log off when you're getting what you looked so hard for. And they don't ever seem to log back in. That's what originally made me turn to blogs in the first place. No judgmental pricks with download limits and a que so long your download doesn't take a week to start. The blogging world has it's share of judgmental pricks, but not as many. One thing it lacks is the rules...Unless the uploader used Rapidshare or a similar hosting site. What will die with the Mp3 blog is the spirit. It has become a ghost town. I used to like reading what the poster had to say, but even for myself, it has gotten to the point where it's hard to care when there's free music at your fingertips, one-click away. We love our instant gratification.

The music blog has come under fire by many for it's non-monetary nature and for taking the thrill out of finding music. I'll be honest, it has. Most of these critiques come from middle aged holdover's from the original HC scene who had to wait month's for that blank cassette tape to come back filled with music. That must have sucked...Waiting a few months to find out if the band you so desperately wanted to hear was any good. I'm betting these guys got coal in their stockings a few times. What the blog did was take out the middle man. In the beginning anyways, it was a form of electronic tape trading. You had someone there hyping what they posted. It might have not been any good, or might not have been your style, but still, the blogger had to essentially "sell" you on it with their review, the provided band history and whatever reasons they might have for a recommendation. Most blogs now are photo, tracklist, and link. Nothing else. It just sucks now.

I have over 40,000 songs indexed meticulously on my Itunes, backed up on 2 hard drives...Why? No idea. I've been hoarding music for a while. The problem being, I've listened to maybe half of it...And that's a very liberal estimation. I keep the music I don't like. Maybe to give it another chance one day, maybe for boasting purposes, I don't know. I estimate that I have paid for a total of 1,000 of these songs...They were my CD back-ups, and now I don't even have the original CDs. I have my vinyl collection, but it still pales in comparison to my army of Mp3s. I downloaded these is my incessant urge to find new music. Most of these were picked off of blogs. I stopped caring 20,000 songs ago, replacing "blogspot" in my search with "Mediafire". The joy in the hunt was lost for me. I used to search for one thing and then read the rest of the blogger's site if it was in English. Then I stopped giving a fuck about one asshole's opinion. I wanted music and I wanted it now. If I ever was subject to a search and seizure by the RIAA, I'd be millions in debt. And I'd laugh all the way to the courtroom. Fuck them. Back to my point if I still had one...I stopped caring about discovering music. I just wanted it and now it's old. I think the blog is dead because it has made finding specific music too easy. We are no longer discovering, we want what we know and don't yet have.

So fuck it all. I'm gonna go masturbate. This aimless rant made me horny.