Friday, February 1, 2008

album reviews

Hassan I Sabbah- Discography
maybe it's just me being incredibly biased towards having the pleasure of speaking to this band's former members over the internet, but i personally think that this is the single most cathartic band in hardcore. albeit being underrated to the 9th degree, i believe these guys deserve more recognition than they get. the lyrics are very symbolic and the vocals carry an air of anger and frustration unequaled by anybody in within this type of hardcore. the drummer himself is very very good, ending up in bands like the Red Chord. the guitar and bass work are not over the top, but provide an integral characteristic to the band. the ability to convey desperate messages without appearing too cheesy or without sounding like a whole bucket load of false angst is something incredibly hard to pull off right. if you find these guys anywhere on the internet, send them a message and thank them for making all these songs. it might take a while for them to respond, but they always do, and it always makes them feel better.

Religious Nightmare- the Junkyard of Infinity
quoted for truth, i never noticed these guys were Filipino until i read about them on Incidental Afterthought. i could safely say they are now one of my favorite grindcore bands both here in the country and abroad. i have no idea how it came to the point where merely saying the word grindcore drew responses that referenced pig-squeal vocals and crappy chug-chug death metal, but if there is one thing i know, it's that this band isn't one of them. imagine a screamy beast on the level of grindcore legends like Brutal Truth with a Discordance Axis-esque aesthetic (see their cover art and their song titles) i usually don't want to name-drop, but i'm only stressing the point that these guys should be way up there in terms of quality grindcore. the drumming is perfect. the guitar and bass work is perfect. the vocals are perfect tortured screaming at its' finest.

Phoenix Bodies- Raise The Bullshit Flag
nudity, thrash, hardcore punk, grindcore and two crazy dudes moving around like deranged psychopaths. that's basically Phoenix Bodies in a nutshell. they are working on releasing a few new splits, but till then, let's pay our respects to this awesome album. athletic thrash drumming, punky and chaotic guitarwork, no bass, and two vocalists who do an amazing job of contrasting each other. their lyrics deal with practical issues like consumerism and the progression of society with a tongue-in-cheek demeanor. this is a perfect album if you're looking for a good time. everything on it is just right. Derek is a cool guy too, very talkative guy.

C.C.C.C.- Love And Noises
noise is a genre often reserved for people who wear robes while prancing around in the woods or pretentious art kids saying music is overrated. there are only two people in this band. an ex-porn star and some dude. whatever they do to make their band sound like this is fucked up, but it works. this kind of noise strikes me as very cerebral and maintains a very cathartic feel up till the end. i'm not sure if half the things i hear in it are actually there or are effects of the noise setting up such a tense mood. GET THIS ALBUM

Sunday, January 27, 2008

news and updates

GUESS WHAT, I'M BACK!


THIS TIME WE UNITE
Madrazo Compound, Downtown DC
8pm Saturday, February 2, 2008
25 bucks damage

featuring:
Altars Of Hate
Anxiety To Hysteria
As A Whole
Caitlyn Bailey
Clobberin' Time
Explontoi
S.E.C.



UPDATES:

it's been a hell of a long time since i last updated Limp Cat, but i guess now's probably the best time. i'm finally moving to a real house after 17 years of living in the same old crusty apartment. this is a really big thing for me, so i hope you'd all wish me the best of luck in moving. other than that, i would like to announce that i am starting a record label with Peter of As A Whole called Shoulders Down Records. i'll handle the technical aspects like writing shit on Limp Cat for updates and letting people on the internet know, while Pete does the stuff the internet CANT do like making shirts and awesome packaging for DIY cds.

CAITLYN BAILEY INTERVIEW ON THE OVERTUNE PROJECT

this guy named Jericho asked me to submit a few tracks for his compilation called the Royal Rumble which featured all-philippine hardcore/punk bands. i willingly complied and sent a few tracks in. a few minutes later, he decided to ask me a few questions. here they are:

(taken off of the Overtune Project)

1. why Caitlyn bailey?
francis: i asked myself that a long time ago while browsing through this website that had obituaries for people who had myspace accounts. caitlyn bailey was just another name i thought sounded cool, so i decided to check out her profile. it didn't have much, one picture, a lot of comments, but what really got me was that one blog entry she posted which barely had one whole sentence in it. i checked the blog comments and i saw some of the most heartbreaking statements i've ever read. from then on, the name sort of had a special significance with me and ended up becoming the band's name. we have recieved a little feedback from the real Caitlyn Bailey's friends, but nothing bad enough to make us change our name. we do intend to inform her family of our presence someday.

2. if you want to describe the band with just a few words to someone who has never heard about it, what would you say?
francis: we're a hardcore/punk band who wants to do what we can for the scene because we believe in it.

3. could you describe in brief what kind of people are involved in Caitlyn Bailey?
francis: we are people who come from all walks of life and believe in different things. we all happened to come together through a common love of music and decided to express it the best way we could.

4. what kind of feelings and reaction is your band and your lyrics supposed to suggest?
francis: i try my best to not crank out preachy or over the top poetic lyrics or stuff with slogans written all over them. personally, i think the recurring theme with all the songs we have are different semblances of hope and the aspects of life that test them. we have some songs that cover issues like knowing the world will end because of the acts of an apathetic human race, molestation, international political economy, pregnancy, sexuality, marital infidelity, love, life, death, hope, and everything else that comes in between.

5. what are your band influences?
francis: musically, we drew a lot from bands like Orchid, the Apoplexy Twist Orchestra and Union Of Uranus early on. eventually, this expanded to include bands like Explosions In The Sky, Envy, Sed Non Satiata, Shikari, Neil Perry, Joshua Fit For Battle and the like. with further progress, we started listening to pretty much anything we could to incorporate into our sound. we have a lot of ideas that were influenced by artists outside the realm of hardcore, so it all went downhill from there.

6. which tracks will you point out as your favorite ones and why?
francis: personally, i'd pick object permanence. it's probably the happiest song i've written for this band, lyric-wise. the band probably agrees on the instrumental aspect of it as well. our drummer does love peduran a whole lot, and our bassist loves that new tagalog song we came up with a few weeks back.

7. what is the usual way in which you compose songs or write lyrics? Is it a teamwork?
francis: i usually have a bunch of lyrics in storage for a rainy day. if not, i just write for whatever suits the song. we have a weird process of writing that involves not using any lyrics at all and trying to guess what the hell i was screaming a while ago. sort of like looking for the exact time in that led zeppelin tape where the dude says "oh sweet satan!" or something like that.

if given the possiblity to change something in the world what would it be?
francis: the need for money and power.

any last words?
francis: life is a parody of life. live, love, laugh.

(please check out the compilation here)

CB NEWS

Caitlyn Bailey is currently brushing up on material for drum tracking this week and is currently open to interested bands willing to release a split with us. also, the band already has an official website right here. the freewebs site is up right now, in around a day or two, i would have been able to secure the permanent url which is http://www.caitlynbailey.co.cc

Thursday, December 20, 2007

DECEMBER 7 PICTURES.

to everyone who was at the show last December 7, or anybody who's interested at all. i uploaded all of the pictures to the Caitlyn Bailey myspace. you may view all of the pics in the blog and do whatever you want with them. thanks to Von of As A Whole and Stefanie Kessel for the pictures.

http://myspace.com/caitlynbailey <<< just check the blog.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

updates and a little food for thought.

first of all, i would just like to apologize for the agonizing delay of the pictures and the report from the December 7 show. a combination of conflicting schedules in school and a slight lack of coordination with the photographers (well, anybody with pictures) sort of get in the way of that every now and then. so yeah, expect something, but it might take a bit more since some of us have work/reviews/school/exams, whatever.

anyway, i've been thinking to myself about this a lot lately. almost everybody who was at the show last December 7 is still hung over in some way, be it Astroboy from local NYHC-style hardcore band, Clobberin' Time or Ian, the guitar dude from Futile Homicide (who have a nice story behind their name, by the way) . everybody isn't going to be over that show in a long time, and personally, regardless of the fact that Caitlyn Bailey played a relatively messy set, i think everybody in my band had fun as well. people seemed to see something in us other than the fact that we are a fairly new band. thinking deeper, i was asking myself, what made this show good and why did it end up like that in the first place? if you people were there, you would've seen a small, shitty bar filled with sweaty asian hardcore kids dancing/playing/standing on a floor drenched entirely in human sweat and an assortment of bodily fluids. putting things into perspective, the only logical answer i had in my head was "this is hardcore, this is a hardcore show." there was little or no drinking inside the venue, and whoever was inside when the show started stayed inside for the whole show. people paid a relatively small fee to come in, and they all made the most of it because they all believed they had a reason to be there, an ideology perhaps, a school of thought, an opportunity to engage in good clean fun. whatever it may be, everybody there was there because they believed in something. it wasn't a beer party organized by some prominent production with bands playing as long as they get 5 people to come in and pay X amount of money in the name of profits. this is not an attack on anyone i know personally, however. it is merely an insight in regards to the concept of shows vs. gigs.

should you reside in the greater metro manila area, you are probably familiar with the latter given the saturation. now, whereas gigs are legitimate sources for entertainment, i feel that it's a breeding ground for the bastardization of all i feel is "sacred" in punk and hardcore. i used to organize gigs prior to my immersion in the DC hardcore scene. in a sense, i should know how it feels. there is absolutely no sense of unity and/or brother and sisterhood in that cold, empty scene. i never felt any principles that would link me or put me on the same level as the people there. i saw no immediate reason to stay with that circle of people because at the end of the day, it did not make me a better person and it subjected me to a whole slew of derogatory slurs. i ran the whole fucking gamut twice, and i didn't like it. eventually, i stopped organizing, and my old band fell apart due to internal troubles and the fact we stopped playing. (we only played shows we organized back then)

as fate would have it, i started a new band with my previous band's guitarist and tried our damn best to get into the hardcore scene. after a quarter of a year's worth of idle time, and we seriously thought we weren't getting anywhere because nobody invited us and nobody was aware of our existence. we went -this- close to breaking up before playing a show, seeing a few gigs within that span of time further cemented my disdain for the concept of productions and gigs. it all paid off though, because eventually, by way of a few select contacts, we were able to organize an all hardcore show. we were new, we stuck our necks out for people to prey upon, but in the end, we met people we ended up being good friends with. we felt the concept of community, we felt that it would lead somewhere, and a few months later, it did. we played, and IT MEANT SOMETHING. something that i know i will never get from being lumped in with people who don't get what we are doing and what we want to do. it's incredibly bigoted to say
that this is the only way all bands should work, but this is what is relevant to me, this is what is relevant to us, this is what matters.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

EPIC FAIL, EPIC WIN


Caitlyn Bailey's set


the Saydee's Kitchen/City Of Thornz launch show last December 7 was sort of a disaster due to the fact we spent about thrice as much as we spent, but it was great, lots of people, lots of energy, but a lot of the people who came spent most of the time outside. to whoever paid the door fee, thank you so much for proving you support the Davao City Hardcore scene. there will be more pics, vids, and details from the show this monday. till then, just sit tight for more news.

xfrancisx

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

REMINDER

this is completely random, but i advise you to check out the links on the side of this page because seriously, there are lots of people out there who actually contribute to the lives of everybody who works with this e-zine. they are photographers, musicians, collectives, basically groups of people who serve as examples of time being put to good use.

that's all,
xfrancisx

Saydee's Kitchen and updates



we fixed peter's garage a few days ago and quite frankly, i see a lot of potential in it. Saydee's Kitchen will go a long way, i just know it. we got some utensils, we cleared out the garage, we started building our own DIY reading library, so yeah, we're almost there. here are some pictures of what we've been up to.





as you can see, we're very serious about this, and we plan to do our best to keep it together. also, there will be a show this friday at the Elevation Bar along Jacinto Extension, the bands stated to play are Anxiety To Hysteria, As A Whole, Caitlyn Bailey, Clobberin' Time, Fast Move, On Burial Grounds, and Struggle for Equality and Culture (S.E.C.). entrance is p20, so bring friends. there are only a few conditions though.



click on picture to show big poster

  • bring fun
  • bring fun
  • bring fun
  • no violence
  • no assholes


well, that's it. till next time.
xfrancisx






p.s.

YES, that's me on the poster for Locked And Loaded. i'm such a whore, aren't i?