AntiCurrent.com Archives Vol 14: Piss N' Blood- Treason EP

This is the fourteenth edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare or bootleg-albums I'm releasing through this blog. Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

Live at the Anarchy Library

I moved to California in 2005 under the guise of attending college, while in reality, all my ambitions were pointed towards starting a Punk band. Throughout the next few years, I auditioned or even briefly joined bands such as Terezodu, The Clampdown, and too many others to count. Sometimes we didn't jive, sometimes I hated their manager, and sometimes they were apeshit crazy, but ultimately, it never worked out. Around mid-2008 I responded to a Craigslist ad from two guys named Cam Mosavian and Ron Anger. They seemed to know their stuff and had just recently acquired a drummer, Brad Hicks. I auditioned on bass for Piss N' Blood* and they loved me, so I joined. What I didn't know at that moment was that by doing so, Brad and Cam's group of friends would ultimately become my family.

*The name came from Cam and Ron watching a war documentary. A soldier said something to the tune of, "We were laying there, covered only in piss and blood."

We practiced about 2-3 times a week for months before we played our first gig at The Anarchy Library on February 21st, 2009 in Downey, CA. We must have not fucked it up too badly because we were immediately asked to play a nine show residency there from April to December. We didn't just keep to Downey though, during that time we also played places such as Chain Reaction, The Palmer Room, and Alex's Bar in Long Beach. We even played the local Hot Topic for our record release show. We were having such a good time at these shows that when we were asked to play The Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas, we said yes immediately.

Flyer Collection

If you've never been to The Double Down, it is a perfect shit-hole. No barricade, no stage, and a house drink made up of the last night's leavings entitled "Assjuice". When we arrived, drunk of course, we were greeted by the bouncer who, at 7pm was already smashing bottles against the door and screaming about something of which we eventually deemed to be racially derogatory.

We opened up for a a buddy of mine's band, Wake The Dead. When we went on and the place erupted. Not only were our friends raising hell in the pit, but for the first time so was everyone else in the venue. Brad and I, being complete deviants, were having a blast while the more professional duo of Ron and Cam were upset about getting elbowed by dozens of people during our performance. The night culminated with my jumping into the pit with my bass, still connected to my dual 4x12 cabinets, and having drinks poured down my throat. It was a moment of pure beauty I will likely never experience again.

Front cover art by Ray

About the time that we got back from Vegas was just about the time everything started to fall apart. As with every band that has ever existed, factions began to form and friendships broke down. Out of respect for my friends and former bandmates I'm not going to publicly give a play by play as to what happened. Eventually I was told the band was disbanded and about a month later I was told they got back together without inviting Brad and I. Cam and Ron continued the band for another few years, eventually releasing a full album on a label and even playing Punk Rock Bowling. One hell of an accomplishment. Cam even went on to write/record the entire score for our film The Mission (which is available as a free download here).

My time in the band was everything Punk Rock was meant to be: Fast, angry, and really fucking loud. Even at it's worst, it was one of the best experiences I've had.

About The Recording:

Back Cover

In January 2009, we entered Tru-One Studios in Anaheim, CA on a Friday and by Sunday we left not only having recorded the Treason EP, but mastered it as well. That's the charm of this recording, it was recorded fast and dirty with no time for polish. We recorded it in one take as a band and then each had about 3-4 takes to get our overdub correct for the final version. Listen to the second bass note on the song Treason. It's about a 1/4 second late. That one note is totally indicative of how fast paced this entire process was. This EP consists of two songs that Ron had written previous to the band's inception, one that he had written with Cam, and one that we came up with at practice.

Right-click, download here:
Treason-MP3 ZIP File
Treason FLAC ZIP File

The Tracklist is:
01: 24 Hour Machine
02: Rebel Radio
03: Treason
04: Old Boring Rebel
05: Piss N' Blood (Demo)

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 6: William Elliott Whitmore- Legalize Freedom Demos

For the sixth edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the first of three collections of demos for one of my FAVORITE artists of all time.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

There are only a few select bands that I have ever discovered organically. I define that term "organically" as coming across music you have never heard nor been shown by your friends, but that you actually discover in its native environment. It's like they did back in the day, you show up to a gig for a certain type of music, and you experience it for the first time in the real world, rather than via the internet or word of mouth. William Elliott Whitmore is the best example of this for me.

I went to a Pogues show in Anaheim on October 28th of 2007 and the beginning act wasn't stellar, I had expected quite a punch from anyone opening for the Pogues and that band (I shall not name) did NOT deliver. So I sat in the back, ordered a drink at the bar and was prepared to be disappointed when the next guy went on, some dude with just a banjo. Before the end of the first song I was in front of the pit watching this guy work and yes, it was WEW. After what was easily one of the top 10 performances I have ever seen in my life, I ran back, ordered another drink and approached his merch table (of which he was splitting with the other said band). Unfortunately he only had a few pins so I purchased those immediately and went and watched the Pogues knock it out of the park. When I got home, I went straight to the internet, got on some file sharing site, and downloaded everything I could find of WEW.

I have since seen him live 8 times (Hell, I even made it plan a trip to Australia once and see him), and since I have 3 albums of his demos I am planning on releasing here, I will relive one of those amazing stories in each of the coming WEW AntiCurrent.com Archives I publish. Go and see this man. Purchase his actual albums. Buy him a shot of whiskey and give it to him on stage (he will drink it, trust me) Purchase his merch. After you do this, walk up to him after the show and thank him. The dude is salt-of-the-earth and is one of the most grateful people I have ever met. I have seen him 8 times, I have shook his hand 8 times.

Not much is known about Whitmore's demo albums (at least not that I've found) but the next time I see him, I will ask him and post the results here. I believe this to be the first... I'll let you investigate this album yourself as I believe most of his music begs, but I will leave you with this: "Legalize Freedom" has what is one of my top songs he has ever done. "Trespassers Will Be Eaten" is fucking genius. A slow melt banjo jam that explodes into energy, coupled with aggressive lyrics talking cruel threats to anyone that approaches a man's property without authorization. I love this track and it summarizes everything about his amazing presence perfectly.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:
1: Old 49
2: Trespassers Will Be Eaten
3: Forgive me
4: Diamond In Your Pocket
5: Lonely Walk
6: Run Johnny Run
7: Shogun
8: Whatll You Do
9: Oh Susanna
10:  One Glass At a Time
11: Evening

Breaking Down the Age Old Argument: Analog VS Digitaly Encoded Music

I've done a few blogs now on how to make a DIY Hi-Fi system, and adjusting a lower end record player, so I thought I should also break down the in's and out's of Analog VS Digital Media.

The argument of digital vs analogue sound has been around since Phillips and Sony debuted the Compact Disc format back in 1982. The core arguments of both sides are still very similar and it all ultimately boils down to this down to this: quality of product VS ease of accessibility. Vinyl (analogue) offers a 100% accurate reproduction of the original sound recorded, but is big and bulky while the digital market offers music that can be stored as data, but loses much of the source quality through the encoding process and as a result of what is being called the “loudness wars” plaguing digital media. This issue of low quality sound and high portability has been exponentially exacerbated with the advent of the internet and mp3s.  In this article, I will boil down the pro’s and con’s of the analogue vs digital debate not in an attempt to uncover the preferable format, but to allow the reader to decide where they fall on this issue.

For most of the 20th century, LP’s were the predominant way to distribute music to the home consumer. Originally formed out of shellac, and now polyvinyl chloride, people took great care of their music collections and spent tons of money on record players. However, in the late 1980’s the compact disc made it’s debut and within a few years became the new vehicle in which people enjoyed their music at home. Cassettes came and went, but were largely regarded as merely a way to enjoy music on the go, not for normal household enjoyment. This lasted until the late 1990’s when a hacker bought encoding software with a stolen credit card, widely spread it as freeware, and began the popularization of the MP3.

Before we compare and contrast the various mediums of audio delivery, it is first key to understand a few terms. The most important of which when speaking about digital music is the bit-rate. Essentially this is the quality of compressed digital audio. In digital, the analogue signal is sampled, taking bits and pieces of the audio rather than the entirety of it as a whole. The bitrate is the amount of data that is captured at any one second of the audio. These can range anywhere from low level MP3 encodes that start at 128 kilobits per second to 1,411.2 kilobits per second on CDs. With this, more data produces a better sound, but also produces larger file sizes. A standard 128KBPs encode will take up only a few megabytes of space, while a lossless cd track will take up between 30-50 megabytes. Lossless digital audio exists, but is accompanied by large file sizes. Analogue sound on the other hand, due to it being a complete reproduction of the source cannot be quantitated like this in regards to bit-rate.

Records, or LP’s, contain grooves in which a physical waveform (a direct reproduction of the source sound) is contained within the formed plastic. This waveform has a needle ran overtop of it in which a barely audible, completely authentic reproduction of the sound is played. The sound then transfers into an amplifier and out of the speakers generating a 100% authentic reproduction of the source material. This is lack of encoding and sampling the music is the prefered way to listen to music by “audiophiles”. The argument being that something sampled can never sound as good as an original reproduction.

However, vinyl has negative sides as well. It is big, bulky, and easily breakable. Also, although technology is readily available to have an amazing experience playing vinyl, due to it’s lack of popularity it is expensive to purchase the technology to properly utilize the format. There is also an audible sound with the needle dragging over the crevice, if a record is not completely clean, it will be filled with hisses and pops. This becomes even more of an issue due to the fact that you are essentially dragging a sharp instrument over a delicate surface. This means each time you play it, though it may be by an incredibly insignificant and minute amount, you are causing damage to the record. Additionally, a true hi-fi setup includes needle priced anywhere from $80-$5,000, direct drive motor, tube preamplifier, amplifier, and speakers. This can quickly total alot of money and is not a likely purchase for your typical consumer.

On the opposite end of the spectrum of vinyl are MP3’s. The average MP3 ranges in quality from 128 kbit/s to 320 kbit/s. While a 320 kbit/s is listenable to the normal everyday consumer, even the least trained ears can hear the obvious difference between the two extremes on the scale. MP3’s only take up a few megabytes of space on a hard drive, are quickly ripped (encoded) from a CD using the even the most primitive of computer systems, are easily shared, and contain the information about the artist, album, and even a small thumbnail of the artwork within them. This is the highest quality of portable music for the smallest amount of size. These are also largely popular with the public due to the fact that most online stores sell them for .99 cents a piece.

One of the major problems that stems from the popularization of MP3’s is the multiple-encoding that sometimes arises from them. Basically, this is the unfortunately popular practice of taking an encoded MP3, burning it to a disc, giving it to a friend, and having them re-rip (encode) it to their system, resulting in a complete and total fidelity loss for no reason whatsoever. Although an MP3’s file size is incredibly small, so is the quality of the sound. Despite these drawbacks, the consumers have spoken and ease of use and portability are what today’s general customer crave the most.

This huge cost and lack of portability is what largely drove consumers to CD’s in the first place. CD’s offer a mid to high quality level of sound while providing a very small delivery vessel. CD’s are also harder to damage than the traditional LP, and most of the time the damage is able to be repaired. Being a physical format it is immune to hard drive crashes, and unlike records it causes zero wear and tear when you use it each time. CD’s have a relatively high bit-rate of 1,411.2 KBPs, meaning that they have much more depth and clarity than MP3’s, but oddly enough, CD’s greatest asset is not being utilized in the least...

Technically speaking, a CD’s low-end dynamic-range is greater than that of the LP. This means that a CD can technically produce more low end frequencies than that of even a vinyl. Now on the outset, discovering that CD’s have a lower potential dynamic range, but they are in fact inferior to a wave-form may seem complicated, but it’s not. Yes, a CD designed directly from a professional mixer can in fact have audio levels that are not possible with an LP. However, due to what are being called the “loudness wars”.

The record labels are understandably in a competition to have their music heard over those of their competitors. This has resulted in labels pushing CD producing plants and digital distributors to make their music as loud as possible through what is defined by  Scott Metcalfe, the director of recording arts and sciences at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as “the range from the loudest notes being played to the softest notes being played”.

This practice effectively removes the peaks and valleys of a waveform making the entirety of it to sound as if it is louder as a whole. Unfortunately, this removes much of the character and subtlety of music, or as Bob Dylan puts it “You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like—static.” Although this affects CD’s and MP3’s, this is one of vinyl’s main draws for many people as record producing plants are not able to perform excessive compression with vinyl due to its physical constraints.

Based on all of the positives and negatives of each of these formats, the consumer seems to want portability and ease first, and quality second. Enter the FLAC file. FLAC is an acronym for Free Lossless Audio Codec. FLAC encodes at the maximum data rate of which humans can hear, but does not compress the audio, it compresses it as a file. For instance, with zero quality loss, FLAC zips the file to make 40-60% smaller with absolutely no quality degradation. The file size ends up being around 40 megabytes, more than small enough to fit on today’s 8, 16, or 32 gigabyte phones/players.

FLAC has a lot going for it. You can create a FLAC file out of your CD with just a burner. With just a little experience with audio, you can even rip a copy of your favorite LP’s and output an identical FLAC file that is just as clean as the original vinyl. This allows the portability of a vinyl collection and the ability to create a backup of any of your audio to keep for years to come. Most importantly, FLAC has one thing going for it that other lossless formats do not: It is entirely free to use. Is FLAC for everyone? No. Many people cannot differentiate the difference between a 320kbps MP3 encode and a CD, for them, they will go with MP3. But for those who care about audio quality AND portability, FLAC seems to be the best option around.

So what does this mean for the future of the record industry?  Which format will prevail? Well, records and vinyl have been steadily selling more each year since 1998 and appear to be on an upswing that is not going away anytime soon. CD’s certainly are suffering dimension sales and do not appear to be a long term solution as they are quickly falling out of popularity. MP3’s are still reigning supreme at the moment, but with the cost of affordable, high quality audio equipment coming down each year, that may not last. One amazing idea that has been prevailing among indie record labels is selling vinyl copies with a CD or download voucher with it. Sometimes even both. This allows the user to choose their experience and how they want their media, essentially taking the power out of the hands of the labels, and putting it where it truly belongs…. in the users hands.

AntiCurrent Archive Volume 1: Lux Interior: The Purple Knif Show

From 2005-2007 I lived in Fullerton California and worked at Black Hole Records, owned by local punk-rock legend (don't tell him he is though, don't want to over-inflate that ego of his) Bill Evans. During that time I was a broke as shit college student who basically worked for him in return for store credit, something that I am eternally grateful for and led to alot of the amazing records in my collection today.

But working for $15 an hour store credit soon was not enough to fulfill my musical obsession, so I struck a deal with him: I'll research, locate, create artwork, and print you one copy of the rarest of rare bootlegs for $40 a piece store credit (he would then reproduce the album and sell it to consumers). He agreed and I got to work. During this time I pulled demos from bands such as Rancid, Street Dogs, compilations such as the nearly impossible to find "The Bat Cave, Young Limbs & Numb Hymns", live and deleted albums, etc.

So what I'm doing here is the first in a series of hard to find recordings I am titling "The AntiCurrent Archive", in it I will post a series of the rare records that I tracked down back in my days at Black Hole. Now, some of these recordings are able to be found on other websites, but most of the time the encoding is shit, or the artwork sucks, or even worse, the website is old and the link is broken. I will post THE best version of the recording and artwork I can find, and feel free to contact me if a better one is available and I will be happy to replace it.

So without further ado, the first release up is the AMAZING "The Purple Knif Show" by Lux Interior. 

This was a one off radio show by half of The Cramps recorded in Hollywood in 1984. In it, Lux DJ's 24 of his favorite 45's for the listener while providing Horror-Host style commentary. The show play's like and old episode of Cleveland TV's famous Ghoulardi show. Even the name "Knif" is a tribute to the late TV horror host, in Ghoulardi's show's he would refer to his legion of fan's as Knif's (Knif being the backwards spelling of Fink"). This show is arguably the BIGGEST non-musical source of inspiration for The Cramps, seeing as how Lux grew up near Cleveland watching Ghoulardi in his youth. 

This compilation is the best, most strange, and epically genius piece of live radio I have ever came across. It perfectly showcases Lux's amazing and strange taste in rock and roll, music, theatricality, and radio all at once. These are definitely NOT the highest quality recordings of the songs available, this was played from Lux's personal 45's, broadcast over the airwaves, taped on cassette, and finally digitally encoded, but it's worth dealing with the quality degradation to experience this as Lux intended it, with his genius intro/outros and insightful commentary. For a great, high quality example of songs The Cramps drew on for inspiration, research the compilation "Songs The Cramps Taught Us", or the 11 disc set "Lux and Ivy's Favorites".

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:

MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:

  1. One Way Streets, The - Jack the Ripper
  2. Swamp Rats, The - Louie Louie
  3. J.J. Jackson - Oma Liddy
  4. Trashmen, The - Bird '65
  5. Sparkles, The - Oh, Girls, Girls
  6. Link Wray - The Fuss
  7. Bill Carter And The Rovin' Gamblers - Baby Brother
  8. Tides - Midnight Limbo
  9. Earl Hagan & The Interns - New Interns Watusi
10. Mad Mike And The Maniacs - The Hunch
11. Billy Strange - 007 Theme
12. Ted Weems & His Orchestra - Heartaches
13. Ray Anthony - Dragnet
14. Grady O'Neal & The Bellatones - Turkey Neck Stretch
15. Enchanters - Cafe Bohemian
16. Jam Space & The Cadets - Take Me To Your Leader Chachacha
17. Archie Bleyer - Fernandos Hideaway
18. Spark Plugs - Chicken
19. Frantics - The Whip
20. 5 Blobs - The Blob
21. Unknown Artist - Miller Beer Commercial
22. Ward Darby And The Raves - Safari
23. Cozy Cole - Topsy Pt. II
24. Deadly Ones - It's Monster Surfing Time