New music from me / Ranking the Mystic Compilations
I have a new band and our demo just came out last Thursday. Jam it on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, or wherever you stream music and order the tape from Rebirth Records.
The whole thing came together in January as I was trying to will another Retaliate record into existence and in the process of doing so, I learned how to program drums. Now I can finally understand the Ray & Porcell 7” on a deeper level. That aside, creative bursts usually come in waves for me so when I was working on the Retaliate stuff, I also started writing a handful of songs for a different band that was inspired by a conversation I had on Episode 240 of 185 Miles South. I can’t remember if it was on or off air, but Pops, Body Bag, and I were talking about how modern beatdown sucks (deep, eh?). That kinda got me thinking - other that flapping my gums, what am I really contributing to the core? I started feeling the need to pump some E-standard shit back out into the world. That desire, along with my Ableton Live technological breakthrough got me looking to do a new band.
Fast forward six months and a dozen practices and here we are recording this demo with our friend Jared Cluff at Left Coast Case and Sound in San Diego. I really loved how that Ultimate Disaster record from this year sounded, so we got Ricky Olson to mix and master this thing as well. Shoutout to Bob Wilson for doing this split release with Camel Clutch and handling mail order (the main reason I don’t do CC anymore ha ha). Now make him actually do mail order, and GET THE TAPE.
Hopefully we can get a 7” out early-ish next year (get @ me Elektra) and start gigging soon. Thanks for the support everyone!
Alright, last week was compilation week on the pod. Shoutout to everyone who slogged through my monster post and wanted more. For you I deliver something no one actually asked for: the official ranking of all of the Mystic Records LP comps. If you didn’t take the whole journey through the Mystic catalog with us, you might want to do that first. For those who have, you know the Mystic catalog is filled with comps that are ass, endless samplers, and also a few good ones. I’m not including 7”s cuz I don’t want to listen to Opry Outcasts again, alright? Okay, let’s get into it:
21. The Sound of Hollywood #1: Girl Groups (1983)
Not a punk comp, just a comp of bands with female singers that has a couple punk bands on it. The De De Troit song is okay but long and the Sin 34 song is boring. The best song on here is a weirdo track by a band called Hot Food To Go. This is full of mostly shitty new wave or bad bar bands.
20. Covers (1985)
I've always hated this comp. It's a comp of punk bands doing cover songs which is a cute and fun idea, but I pretty much hate cute and fun music. Love Canal covering The Eyes is good. RKL whiffs on "Chinese Rocks." Don't No doing "Earache My Eye" is pretty decent. Everything else blows.
19. The Sound of USA Cities #1: Washington D.C. The Savages Are Loose (1986)
Comp of D.C. bands put together by a dude from Asbestos Rockpyle. Pretty much all the bands blow including his.
18. Clockwork Orange County (1985)
This comp pretty much sucks as bad as the album art. The D.I. song is pretty decent. The Doggy Style song is as bad as any Kottonmouth Kings song. The 2nd half of the Love Canal song is good. The rest of the comp sounds how you think it would...like 3rd rate bands who only listened to TSOL, Adolescents, and Agent Orange but were a few years late to the party. This scene was so ready for Uniform Choice to blow the fucking doors off. Did I mention how much I hate this f’n album art?
17. The Sound of Hollywood: Destroy LA (1983)
The second in the Sound of Hollywood series. It’s not a punk comp, but it has some punk bands on it. The Battalion of Saints song is great and also appeared on their split 7" with S.V.D.B. the same year. S.V.D.B. and Shattered Faith songs are decent, the Circle One song is boring, and the Bad Religion songs are the worst songs of their catalog. Greg couldn’t even be bothered to roll out his synth. Shame! Shame!
16. Mystic Sampler #3 (1986)
Dr. Know and PTL Klub songs are killer. Everything else is mid to bad. There's a Psycho record that's advertised here with their track but they never ended up doing a record on Mystic.
15. The Sound of Hollywood #5: Du-Beat-E-O (1985)
In true Mystic style, here we have The Sound of Hollywood #5, but #4 doesn’t exist. This is a movie soundtrack and a total mixed bag. There's a few songs off of the first Social Distortion LP, a Mentors track, the worst song from the first Dr. Know LP, a crooner from Tom Wait’s bud Chuck E. Weiss, and more songs of various styles along with movie clips. Cool? I dunno…it’s only the 15th best Mystic Records LP comp.
14. Mystic Sampler #2 (1985)
Mostly released tracks, except Membranes, whose track is supposedly from Sound of Hollywood Noise #6, RKL "Evil In You" supposedly from Return To Slimey Valley, and Doggy Style "Rookie Cop" supposedly from Cop II. None of those records came out. Pretty poor song selection here but the RKL song rips really hard and I believe is exclusive to this record.
13. The Sound of USA #2: Portland, OR City of Thorns (1986)
A comp full of Portland bands who sound like they exclusively listen to the Mentors catalog. As much as I hate to admit it, the Death Midgets and Oily Bloody Men songs are pretty good.
12. Mystic Sampler #1 ( 1984)
Mixed bag of mostly songs from other records. The only exclusive ones are Noise God, whose track is said to have come out on an album called The Sound Of San Diego that was never released and an alternate recording of Suicidal Tendencies "I Saw Your Mommy," which was supposedly on an album called Slamulation that also never came out. This comp has Ill Repute's best song, a killer S.V.D.B. track (that appears on like three Mystic Records), and I dunno why I like this Minutemen song so much, but I do. Everything else is kinda whatever. The back cover with the tiny red ink on a black background strained my corneas so f'n hard.
11. You Can’t Argue With Sucksess (1982)
Only Mystic could put out a 1982 punk comp and have it not be classic. This is all LA/OC bands plus Even Worse from NY. The most notable band on here is Mad Society who was known for having an 11 year old singer. The Crewd song "Little Boy Blue" rips but their other two are mid. As much as I hate to admit it, "Suburbia" by Nuclear Baby Food (lol wut) is pretty catchy. The rest is marred by below average songs and/or recordings.
10. Let’s Die (1985)
A compilation of songs about death that ended up being a mostly deathrock/goth comp. The Flower Leperds song is pretty killer. False Confessions/Ill Repute songs are whatever. I don't have an ear for this stuff so I can't comment on the quality of the gothier songs but the songs by Burning Image and The Drab sound the best to me. Cool comp in concept and a great cover by Mad Marc Rude.
9. Super Seven Sampler (1987)
LP comp of songs from Mystic Records 7"s. There's some killer stuff on here and pretty decent song selection. Episode 1, The Legend, Joe Rivas gave me my copy so this gets extra points for sentimentality.
8. We Got Power #3: We Got Party (1987)
The 3rd edition of the We Got Party series and a distant 3rd in quality. I highly doubt the zine folks were involved this time around since We Got Power fanzine wrapped in 1983. It kicks off nicely with one of the best Social Spit songs "Kids From Nowhere." Other notables with good songs: PTL Klub, Cringer, Cancerous Growth, and Life Sentence. Notable without a good song: NOFX. This comp has a bunch of bands with wacko names: Stupid Little Rubber Raft, Peasants With Pitchforks, Follow Fashion Monkeys, I Am The Hamster, and Defective Infants (okay, I kinda like that one).
7. The Sound of U.S. Colonies Airstrip One U.K. (1988)
Good comp. The Oi Polloi song rips, even with the solo overload. Ripcord rules. Napalm Death songs are live tracks...meh. H.D.Q. and Civilised Society are killer. The Deviated Instinct and Instigators songs would be great if they weren't so fucking long.
6. The Sound of USA #6: New York City Mutiny on the Bowery (1988)
Live compilation from CBGB that has some big moments. The Damage tracks are excellent. Seizure/76% Uncertain sections are both good, and "Office Building" by A.O.D. rips. The rest is a mixed bag.
5. It Came From Slimey Valley (1984)
Killer tracks from America's Hardcore, Ill Repute, Dr. Know, Flower Leperds, Crankshaft, Circle One, and even The Grim. Everything is pretty good. Killer cover art by Mad Marc Rude and I love the color scheme too.
4. We Got Power #2: Party Animal (1984)
The 2nd comp in the We Got Power series. This one is still pretty good but not as good as the first. Ill Repute, Sado-Nation, Hated Principals, Scared Straight, Justice League, NOFX, and an one of the three excellent America's Hardcore studio tracks.
3. We Got Power: Party or Go Home (1983)
One of the best Mystic comps, most likely because it was curated by someone else - the folks who did the We Got Power fanzine. 40 bands and lots of notable names. I'm 90% sure the Big Boys song and one the 7 Seconds songs is exclusive to this comp. Both rule. Then you got White Cross, The Authorities, Fuck-Ups, Adrenalin O.D., Sin 34, Stalag 13, Ill Repute, etc. Banger comp, just super long and hard to keep track of what song you're on when you're jamming the vinyl. The Clones song is a trip.
2. The Sound of Hollywood #3: Copulation (1984)
Comp full of anti-cop bangers. Black Flag, Agression, White Flag, The Authorities, Government Issue, etc. Excellent exclusive tracks from Dr. Know and America's Hardcore.
1. Nardcore (1984)
All the notable Nardcore bands from the 1984 era: Agression, Dr. Know, Stalag 13, False Confession and some of the best songs from Ill Repute, Scared Straight and RKL. Only negatives are the shitty Rotters song ("Men") and the Stalag 13 rap track (at least they put it last). Classic comp that shaped me and tons of other lifers from the city of Oxnard, CA and surrounding areas.
Alright, now buy the SUBVERSIVE INTENT demo tape.
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- ZN
Demo sounds great!
The demo is sick!