Taargus Taargus, meet taargustaargus.

Here is a tumblr blog with the same name - and it kicks this blog's under-updated ass. Its almost entirely comprised of awesomely bizarre animated gifs found around lots of other cool sites. Kudos to a really rad collection - but people with crappy computers/connections, beware: LOTS of moving pictures. And they are all fucking radical!

Picked out a few favorites for you to preview. You're welcome.

A few good things produced by winter

Yeah yeah blogger cliche - I haven't posted in forever - blah blah blah. But I'm back with renewed blogging vigor and a shit ton of stuff I want to share. First of all, this winter has been complete bullshit. Today was the first sunny, bearable day in Muncie, IN. I spent it mostly indoors on Hydrochodone and coffee after having a gnarly tooth extraction yesterday.



In between toothaches, blizzard conditions, and gruesome work schedules - I've also kept busy with my band Meat Coma. We recorded an album back in December and have yet to let it "drop," officially. So I've just been posting it on the internet. We'll have a proper release sometime in the spring. And you'll want it. Tons of bonus tracks and rad art will accompany this EP. Till then - check it out.



Some money shots of Meat Coma in action:








Another great album coming out of Muncie is Nic Lee's solo album. Nic Lee has been in quite a few notable Muncie scene bands - probably most fondly remembered with The Lou Reeds. He currently plays in Meat Coma's brother-band, Hollis Mason. He also happens to be married to Meat Coma's other guitarist - Judi Lee. You can hear her vocals on Nic's song Care Package. Listen to the whole album here.

Real Punk Radio has been another winter savior for me. Lots of lonely nights spent there. My last post was about how wonderful garagepunk.com was. And even though there are still a ton of great shows, resources, and people at the site - it is no longer being updated by its creator, Kopper. He has some family medical things going on and is kind of leaving it to the community to upkeep. I discovered Real Punk Radio on garagepunk.com awhile back and it has been really rad listening as it has progressed. They have several shows, some live, some pre-recorded - and the shows span a wide variety of music. Punk, trash, thrash, hardcore, ska, weirdo shit - anything and everything. 24hrs a day everyday. They're good about interacting w/ the audience via chat or email. And the best part? They play the shit out of Meat Coma. The people who run it are a nice couple from the Tennessee hills and are super dedicated to providing a quality station. So check them out! Real Punk Radio dot com.


Well - I hope everyone else is coming out of this winter unscathed. Check back soon and drop me a line if you have anything you'd like covered.

Garagepunk.com

I've been putting off this post because I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to interview Kopper, the creator of the new podcast/social networking site Garagepunk.com. I wanted to draft it out, you know, really polish this post. But there is a reason I dropped out of college - I simply put off the hard stuff. And this shouldn't be hard, should it? Here is the link if you want allllll of the story.


I'm sitting here listening to the latest episode of the podcast Mystery Action, and just enjoying the shit out of it! Its one of about 30 shows hosted on the site. All of the shows are playable from the page or downloadable for your pod machines. I love every single one of the shows. Some have over 100 episodes under their belts - all archived and available. For free.

To try and describe the kind of music using umbrella terms, well, I'll just end up looking like an idiot. I'll just say its like having the coolest friend who has the coolest basement pad and lets you lay around all day listening to his most radical, ecclectic record collection. His mom brings you both mini pizzas as snacks and doesn't mind that it "smells a little funny down there." And when you get tired of whatever he's playing - he puts on a completely different and equally rad collection of records. And he makes you awesome mixtapes that you can take home with you.

Garagepunk.com is my best friend. Forever.

Kopper, the creator, founder, and head honcho of Garagepunk.com says on the about-page, "...we'll cover anything we hear that is good—from traditional garage rock to trashy punk, surf/instro to rockabilly, '60s garage to swamp rock, broken blues to greasy R&B, soul to funk, frat rock to psych, freakbeat to power pop, proto punk to new wave, noise to lounge/exotica—and anything in between."

And that's not all! Its not just a site with a bunch of rad podcasts - its also a social networking site. I hate saying those words but - if ever I REALLY wanted to be in a social network - its The Garage Punk Hideout. There are tons of specialized groups with active message boards. The most active are the ones by region - which rules because you get to find out about great shows, venues, and shops that might fly under the hipster radar.

After all this you're probably thinking "well it probably looks really boring and plain and usenet-esque." Nope. And you're a jerk for jumping to conclusions. I don't have web design experience - but I look at a lot of them. And the site design is cool, simple, and intuitive. You also get to have your own page with a lot of customization - minus stupid crap like "glitter graphics," and Farmville, etc.



And though they do have ads on their pages - they aren't intrusive, dumb ads. Most that I've seen have been for labels/bands that I already like. Hosts can choose to advertise or not. One of the shows advertises for some skateboard company - but that's all I've heard. And I like skateboard companies, as a general rule.

I just love love love it. The whole spirit of it. All the people I've connected with there are super friendly and helpful. I've found myself going there for answers to music-based questions more and more.

More from Kopper: "This was all done with two major goals in mind: First and foremost, we wanted to try to do more to expose the music that we think is good (as well as featured on my radio show) but that most people have never heard simply because they don't seek it out, have never been exposed to it before, or can't hear my show for one reason or another. Secondly, to encourage each and every one of you to support your local independently owned record stores, mailorder sites, and especially the indie labels that produce the vast majority of music featured here."

Times I most like to listen to the various shows: doing the dishes, painting, drinking beers with buds, in the car, while playing horrible online flash games, and in the shower.

If you give two shits about rocknroll - you should probably check out Garagepunk.com.

Sonic Reducer Radio

I had a radio show at Ball State University a long time ago. It kinda sucked. Pete, my co-host, and I played awesome stuff but the time-slot was crappy and we just didn't really know what we were doing. Since then, I've pulled off one live podcast this past Halloween (albeit with some technical difficulties). It was tons and tons of fun and this time - I'm doing it from my dining room where I KNOW my signal won't get dropped.


So tonight, Sunday November 15th - I'll be live on my Ubroadcast channel Sonic Reducer Radio. Tonight will be a hodgepodge of punk, post punk, weirdo stuff, soundtracks, random records, psyche, surf, trash, thrash, and.........MEAT COMA!. That is right folks. You'll get to hear a couple of rough recorded gems from the best band you've never heard.

I'll post an edit with the archive of this episode after we finish up. As long as all my gizmos and jerry-rigged electronics don't fart out - this should be a super fun first episode. I hope you'll turn on, tune in, and drop me some comments if there is something you wanna hear or just wanna say hi. I'll be live chatting on the actual page.

The Curse - Teenage Meat

This album is one of around a dozen albums I picked up on an epic teenage trip to the pawn shop downtown. Anderson, Indiana - like many great cities of the Midwest - was not regaled for its assortment of record shops. Some indie shops shot up and sank - leaving a few good records and tapes floating around. But this was back when - if I or someone I knew didn't physically own a copy of an album, it just didn't exist. I read about shit in Maximum RocknRoll but couldn't afford a lot of mail order. And then one day I had some lawn mowing money and went into Alan's Jewelry and Loan....

And found a HUGE punk collection of cds had been pawned. Most for only a buck each. It was awesome. I just remember being in a fervor. Some I remember picking up:
-Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
-New York Dolls - Self Titled
-Bikini Kill - The First Three
-Velvet Underground - Best Of
-Sonic Youth - Dirty

and of course The Curse - Teenage Meat.

The Curse was an all female punk band from Canada. Some of the info I read said that they were supposedly one of three of the first all-female punk bands (The B-Girls and The Dishrags being the other two). But as with all facets of punk rock history - someone ALWAYS did it first. Doing it your way and making it the right way is what makes the first. And these girls did what they did first, the right way - and I am better for it.

The Canadian punk scene is a hugely unknown one to me. If anyone knows of a good book or zine on the subject - I'd be interested. Here is a really good article about a Canadian punk festival that celebrates the history of the various scenes. And here is a Canadian punk mixtape for sale - featuring The Curse.



Well, I guess if you like lo fi 70s punks, women you don't introduce to your parents, and Canada - you should download this. And let me know what you think, you little jerks.



Tracklisting

1. The Curse - If It Tastes So Great, Swallow It Yourself (Live) (1:46)
2. The Curse - Johnny Feels Good (Live) (1:27)
3. The Curse - He's My Boy (Live) (2:36)
4. The Curse - No More Ice Cream (Live) (2:24)
5. The Curse - Blunks (Live) (2:29)
6. The Curse - Aggravation (Demo) (1:57)
7. The Curse - Eat Me (Demo) (2:17)
8. The Curse - Switchblade Love (Demo) (3:22)
9. The Curse - I Accuse You (Demo) (3:03)
10. The Curse - Somthin' You Can't Tell Your Mother (Demo) (2:10)
11. The Curse - Feelin' Dirty (Demo) (2:20)
12. The Curse - Oh My God (Demo) (2:00)
13. The Curse - Teenage Meat (2:30)
14. The Curse - Killer Bees (3:02)
15. The Curse - Shoeshine Boy (2:26)
16. The Curse - Eat Me (2:43)
17. The Curse - I Accuse You (3:05)
18. The Curse - Somthin' Ya Can't Tell Your Mother (2:23)
19. The Curse - Switchblade Love (3:28)
20. The Curse - Aggravation (2:09)
21. The Curse - Raw (1:37)
256kbps

Linkage is here===>

Teeto and the Snotragz - Flamin Hot Teetos

Here is an obscure throwback to the mid 90s punk "scene," in Anderson, Indiana. I can't tell if other people will hate it or not because I sort of grew up listening to this band. I hung around with the band Corky and the Retards (whose tape I DON'T have and would like...anyone?). And Corky and Teeto always played shows together. F.O.P, V.F.W, all the Eagles lodges...for being a couple of crappy punk bands they sure did play a lot of shows. There was one in some basement dungeon where no one showed up but the cops. They called my mom cause I was a minor and said "do you know who your daughter is with and where she's at?!"

Get the album here.

From Teeto and the Snotragz dedication myspace site:

"Teeto and the Snotragz was originally just a punk kid that hung out at A1 Records that was eager to join the ranks of other local bands, such as Mindline, the Sokols, Severe and Profound, Monkey Kill Human, Five Pound Skillet and VBF in 1996. His name was Tyler Soverns and he could barely play a bar chord.
Too young and inexperienced to be in his older brother's band, Bean Dip, he decided to do his own thing. He couldn't get anyone to be in his band due to the fact that he couldn't play very well so he recorded an E.P. of the very first songs he wrote on his mother's walkman sized cassette recorder using his brother's amp and his friend Troy's guitar that only had 3 strings. In those days there were no CD burners or home recording studios so he made and sold over 200 cassettes of "Now with Onions" to his friends at school and at Mounds Mall for $2 each. They were all dubbed on his home stereo and the covers where hand drawn and cut out by him and his friends. They came with a dog biscuit and a package of Taco Bell Fire sauce taped to them for some reason.
Paul Hagan was his best friend and actually wrote a song called "The Crappin Blues" for this release and was quickly recruited to be the bass player when his real band "Mindline" would allow him to practice with Teeto. After selling tapes and getting a small amount of notoriety kids started asking him if he needed anyone else to join the band. These were the same kids that earlier that year wouldn't give Tyler the time of day. Tracey Goode was the first drummer and played their first show in December of 97 at Espresso Chalet as A1 Records (the only 'venue' in Anderson) had recently shut down. They played with Corky and the Retards and Illithid and they had no idea what they were doing.
They kept practicing and getting a little better and asked Joe Baker of Jerkwater to join as the drummer. They played a few shows and recorded a full length album on a 4 track in the summer of 98 with the help of Matt Hagan. Tyler moved to Seattle shortly after and very few people ever heard the recording.
There were a few classic songs such as Bo Bo the Wonder Hamster, I hate Miricle Whip, Kill the Manson Teens, and Matt Sokol is a Queer that seemed to be well received by a few (very few) loyal fans. Mostly this band was the forerunner for Life After Bed, the band that changed the face of music as we know it. Did you really read all of this crap?"

Music to keep me from murder.

Photo courtesy of my favorite Flickr friend Superbomba


I've been watching a lot of Dexter lately thanks to a renewed Netflix account and an antisocial sort of life. Not antisocial, just situational-socio-isolation. Whatever. But I'm really liking it. It is more intelligent than I thought - that name, Dexter, just threw me off. Anyhow, I really like the idea that he is supposedly "pretending," all the time - to be human. Every person who has ever done a little reflection has probably considered the idea. I work in customer service - and it really deads-my-head some days. Empty, phatic expressions uttered 300 times a day - leaving one to wonder what is said in earnest and when auto-pilot is on. Nods and waves and how-do-you-dos.
Some of those days - I just need to come home, go into my room, shut the door, and listen to this stuff. I hope you enjoy it.

Music to stay sane to. A late-July mix by Jannell.


1. x - Warning (0:35)
2. Flipper - Ha Ha Ha (2:19)
3. Japanther - See Evil (1:52)
4. Pissed Jeans - I've Still Got You (Ice Cream) (3:07)
5. Judas Preist - METAL MELTDOWN (5:02)
6. Pixies - Break My Body (2:05)
7. Cave In - Juggernaut (5:35)
8. No Age - Ripped Knees (2:53)
9. GWAR - Sick Of You (3:08)
10. Warsaw - Failures (2:30)
11. Misfits - Hatebreeders (3:07)
12. DEAD MILKMEN - Dead Milkmen - Violent School (1:57)
13. New Math - Invocation (4:16)
14. CKY - Rio Bravo (3:10)
15. Vivian Girls - I Believe In Nothing (2:26)
16. Pelican - Forecast For Today (7:29)
17. Pulp - common people.mp3 (5:50)
18. The Dead Milkmen - Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance To Anything) (3:37)
19. Beck - Mutherfucker (2:05)
20. Bobby Stantons Sextet - Scree.....Argh (1:50)
21. The Dicks - Dicks Hate The Police (1:58)
22. Descendents - I'm Not A Loser (1:28)
23. Danzig - Evil Thing (3:18)
24. The Cure - So What (2:30)
25. Moistboyz - fuck you (6:50)
26. Built To Spill - Goin' Against Your Mind (9:49)
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Japanther(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulgalipeau/)