Epitaph reissues Blood Brothers' albums

Paul F. Agusta   |  Sun, 11/01/2009 11:57 AM  |  Music

Hello, my pretties. Welcome to yet another edition of your favorite source of musical edutainment. As always, thanks for all the notes I get from everyone, be it on the UH email address or on Facebook. Keep'em coming! Now, onto Reverb!

REVERB

International

The US military's alleged use of music, played at ear-bleeding volumes, as an "interrogation tool" has pissed of some of the musicians whose work is involved in the practice. And rightly so! That "interrogation tool" was allegedly used quite a bit at the United States' prison for terrorist suspects located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Today, MTV reports that a number of artists have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, a move that supports President Obama's pledge to shutter the prison even as it faces Republican opposition.

The coalition includes R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Rosanne Cash, Steve Earle, and Billy Bragg. It also includes Nine Inch Nails, whose "March of the Pigs" is among the songs that have reportedly been used in interrogations, according to MTV.

According to the Associated Press, a spokeswoman for the Joint Task Force Guantanamo claims that loud music hasn't been used on detainees since 2003, but a November 2008 report by the Senate Armed Services Committee makes reference to the tactic.

In a statement to the BBC, R.E.M. said, "We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends' music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It's anti-American, period."

As Trent Reznor completed the Nine Inch Nails farewell tour, he promised over and over that he wasn't done making music. A little over a month later, the first piece of post-"Wave Goodbye" Reznor music is out there, though its form may surprise you.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Reznor has reworked the track "Zero-Sum" from his Year Zero album specifically for J.J. Abrams' brilliantly twisted paranormal TV drama Fringe.

The new version was done for a promotional trailer. According to EW, the Fringe people had worked up a promo spot set to the original version of "Zero-Sum", but Reznor himself decided to participate after his friend Abrams asked him to collaborate.

So, in his inimitable demon-whisper, Reznor recited some lines of dialogue that Leonard Nimoy's character has spoken on the show. While he was on tour, Reznor also reworked the track. And according to EW, if you look at the track's sound waves digitally, you'll see one of the show's "glyphs." Yes, Trent Reznor is apparently that much of a nerd, which just makes me like him more.

Fringe executive producer Jeff Pinkner told EW that Reznor actually turned down any payment for his services. Pinkner also claimed that Reznor has a standing invite to appear on the show. He said, "Well, his head would probably end up exploding. There'd be some uncomfortable biology in there one way or another." How could Trent turn down something like that?

This could be the coolest rock meets sci-fi TV event since Shirley Manson played a killer robot on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Up until their 2007 breakup, the Seattle hardcore experimenters in the Blood Brothers practiced a sputtering, raging, freaked-out form of punk rock violence.

Their seesawing attack refused to sit still, and their yips and screeches and clangs came out sounding less like structured songs and more like a series of flaming car crashes.

Years before Battles, the Blood Brothers had kids singing along to scrambled squeaks. They were a mess, in the absolute best sense. The good folks at Epitaph might not be able to recreate the all-out insanity that was the Blood Brothers' live show, but they can at least reissue the band's albums.

And on Nov. 17, that's exactly what's going to happen. Epitaph will reissue four of the band's LPs: 2002's March on Electric Children, 2003's Burn, Piano Island, Burn, 2004's Crimes, and 2006's Young Machetes.

In fact, the only Blood Bros album that's not getting the reissue treatment is the 2000 debut This Adultery Is Ripe. The reissues will come with all sorts of bonus goodies: live tracks, B-sides, videos, live footage, alternate versions, remixes. Check out www.Epitaph.com for details

FREEBIE OF THE WEEK:

Yogyakarta -based pioneers of the Indonesian underground scene, Seek Six Sick, has released a new LP through the ever-so-nifty net label Yes No Wave records. Despite the fact that these songs have never been released in one package before (which qualifies the package as new, IMHO), fans of SSS may be familiar with some of the tracks because they comprise of songs they've played and recorded randomly between 2006 and 2008.

Definitely worth checking out.

Go to http://yesnowave.com/?p=412 for your free download. Enjoy!

DIG THE GIG!

If you like it loud, hard, rough, and raw and spent your entire teen years with your parents banging on your bedroom door, screaming at you to turn down the damn stereo, you will love the following event:

HEAVY FEST 2009 Date: November, 5th 2009 Place: BB's bar, Menteng Jakarta and the heavy-hitters are: 01. KOMUNAL (www.myspace.com/fromswamp) Stoner-metal / Crossover-Thrash from Bandung 02. SURI (www.myspace.com/suritheband) Psychedelic-Rock / Stoner-Rock from Jakarta 03. RAJASINGA (www.myspace.com/grindcoresinga) Stoner-Grind / Crossover / Grindcore from Bandung 04. GHAUST (www.myspace.com/soundofghaust) Post-Metal / Instro-Metal / Metal-Gaze from Jakarta 05. SERIGALA JAHANAM (www.myspace.com/serigalajahanamgila) Sludge / Doom / Experimental from Jakarta 06. ADRIAN ADIOETOMO (Freestyle Ultra Delta Blues) www.myspace.com/adrianadioetomo

Well, children, it's time to wrap up this week's edition of Reverb. Please do tune in next week for more musical mirth and madness.

Don't forget to drop us a line at undergroundhum@yahoo.com.

For any bands out there with gigs coming up, please send all the relevant info to us so we can tell the world about it.

Take care, darlings!

Stay fabulous!

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