Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Vinyl Vednesday 8/4/2010


[Vinyl Vednesday is a weekly feature about three favorite vinyl finds. It’s not meant to be
a dick-measuring contest, but it usually turns out that way. E-mail pelonej1@gmail.com
with your own big finds!]

Records: Antiseen/Rancid Vat’s “Funk U: A Tribute to Terry Funk”/“Portrait of a Real
American Hero (The Bruiser Brody Story)” (1996-ish) on white, The Explosion/The
A.K.A.s split (2007) on black, and Talking Heads' 77 (1977) on black.

Place of Purchase: The Antiseen/Rancid Vat split came from Repo Records. The
Explosion/A.K.A.s split was the only thing the A.K.A.s had at their merch table when
they opened for Big D and The Kids Table. 77 was inherited from my uncle shortly after
I acquired my first turntable.

Thoughts: Antiseen wrote a fucking tribute song to wrestling legend Terry Funk. I don’t
have to justify shit to you. Rancid Vat’s tribute to Bruiser Brody is pretty good too,
but “Funk U” is hard to beat. This is significantly better than the John Cena rap album which I recently purchased.


Record label Cry Tuff Council loves dub music. So it makes sense that The Explosion
and The A.K.A.s would contribute dub tracks to this split, even if the songs don’t really
represent the band’s respective sounds. The A.K.A.s are more of an adrenaline-soaked
gang of rockers. Their lyrics aren’t always that strong, but the hooks are always huge.
Still, though, this split gives me a shot of dub when I need it.


77 captures Talking Heads at their most punk, which is probably why it remains my
favorite TH record. Songs like “Psycho Killer” and “No Compassion” are built around
vox/guitar/drums/bass, and while I love the weirder avenues the band would later go
down, there’s something timeless about the comparatively stripped set they deliver here.
That being said, I think their discography is near perfect anyway, so it’s not like I’m
trying to hate on Fear of Music or Remain in Light.

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