In a day when there were only two cores—hard and grind— and before anyone crabwalked their way through a music video, before there was a scene for which there could be hair, before anyone auto-tuned the clean vocals in their songs, Morbid Angel released an album called Domination. The year was 1995 and I was 13 years old. I had been listening to Morbid Angel for some time at this point. I owned 1989's Altars of Madness and 1991's Blessed Are The Sick, but it was their third album, 1993's Covenant that was the important one. I have no idea how many times I've listened to this album, but it must be in the healthy triple digits. The count was probably into the triple digits when Domination came out in 95. It was right up there with Vulgar Display of Power and Chaos A.D.

I listened the living hell out of that record. In case you are somewhere around my age and are unfamiliar with Covenant but you were around to see Beavis & Butthead, then you might recognize this video.

Pretty killer song right?

I know it is.

And then Domination came out and for some reason I thought they'd gone soft on me. I was disappointed with the album and it never really enter heavy rotation the same way that Covenant had. The songs were weak and soft. They basically made a fucking pussy ass country record I thought. I felt betrayed, so Domination was lodged into the back of my brain as Morbid Angel's failed mid-career attempt at selling out.

Then a few weeks ago, I decided I'd give their "new" record a shot. Of course, this was early 2010, 15 years after its release. Morbid Angel had released three records afterward, yet in my head, for whatever reason, Domination was still the "new" one. Weird how that happens.

And, wow. Was I wrong in my opinions of the album. Domination fucking SLAYS. Perhaps you'd be interested in hearing the song that pretty much convinced me that Morbid Angel had gone soft on this record? Here it is.

What the hell? Was I serious? Something in me thought that this wasn't heavy enough? "Where The Slime Live" is an amazing song, yet 13-year-old Joe thought it was total pussy crap. I was an idiot! In all likelihood I still am!

In case the sample wasn't enough, here are a couple more tracks from the record I had dismissed as not heavy enough.

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Yeah. I know. Totally soft right?

I think I've proven myself here. If you've got some old records around that you maybe didn't get into the first, give them a listen. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you hear.

Because I don't have a whole lot of awesome to talk about right now, here's a pretty killer video of Giorgio Moroder playing with his Vocoder. Please note the mustache.

Enjoy!

It just goes to show that being tone deaf, unable to sing, and unable to write and perform a song doesn't mean that your dreams of being in a band have to be put aside. Honestly, these guys might be regular old deaf. If so, more power to them.

Go for the gold, guys!

Check out that ripping guitar solo. Also, great use of Futura for the title at the front. Wicked smart choice.

Thanks, Tiffany!

Palate cleanser after the jump. (continue reading...)

I've been listening to Pulp for, oh, about a million years. The This Is Hardcore/Different Class duo were some of my most listened-to records between '98 and '00. It was a period where heavy metal music was stagnating under the ridiculous weight of Nü-metal and I started to explore lighter music. I got way into the pop and other rock coming out of the British Isles, bands like Blur, Supergrass, Pulp, Gomez, Radiohead. These guys and girls were carrying the torch of classic British pop rock music in the vein of The Kinks or The Zombies or any number of other bands. They were writing catchy as hell tunes with a light-hearted sensibility that nevertheless held a tiny shade of darkness below all the major chords and joyful harmonies.

No band exemplified that light/dark condition like Pulp did on 1996's Different Class. The record features a bunch of upbeat poppy tracks propelled by Cocker's sharp, biting lyrics. The songs are filled longing and remorse and shame expressed with witty jabs, all bouncing along to a brisk, danceable beat.

Then they released This Is Hardcore in 1998 which is Different Class's sleazier, darker, less poppy older brother. Lacking the supreme dancey-ness of its predecessor, it's also a whole lot darker. No, that's not exactly right. The darkness is a lot more apparent.

Neither record is better than the other. They've been in heavy rotation in my listening habits for a long time and I'm still not sick of them. What I think I really love is that the songs are like Jarvis Cocker having a conversation with the listener, like he's telling us a story. He allows his thoughts to linger and spread and chooses the right word even if he doesn't rhyme.

I could write a whole bunch of other stuff here, but I won't. Just listen to the music.

Ok. So, I'm a fan. Doy. You would think that I would have seen all their music videos, right? Me too. But until yesterday I hadn't seen a single one. What the hell is that about? At the very least, I guess it's because when I became a fan of Pulp there was no place like YouTube to see all their videos. It was an age when MTV no longer played videos and there was no good way for me to see the videos a medium-sized British band were making.

Well, now I've got YouTube, so I can watch whatever I want! I present to you, dear reader, every decent Pulp video I can find.

Enjoy!

Because it's been a few days since I posted anything at all and this song is undeniably awesome. You disagree? I DISAGREE WITH YOU!

I mean, how fucking killer is the sax solo? So fucking killer.

Dear Ke$ha,

Two things.

1 - I'm having a hard time typing Ke$ha for some reason, so from here on out it'll just be Kesha.

2 - I liked you better when you were called Uffie. Oh zing! See what I just did there?

Sincerely,

The Black Laser.

PS - I'd like to stop hearing this song everywhere. If you could do something about that and then get back to me, I would appreciate it.

This is very nice. I like all the colors in the video and the richness of the electronic audioscapes. Yeah, I totally just wrote that.

I've been rustling through the interwebs today and found out a little more about Die Antwoord. Apparently, the group is the brain child of Watkin Tudor Jones, aka NINJA. His career in South African hip-hop stretches back to the halcyon days of the mid-90s (remember those?) and across several different projects, such as Max Normal and the Constructus Corporation.

Now, I could go and rehash all the info I read, but instead I'll just send you to the site where I read it.

Die Antwoord, a review.

How about some samples of their previous work?

Max Normal.tv

Constructus Corporation

I've also learned about this concept called "zef" which is a South African word meaning something like "common." Based on the description I got from Kameraad Mhambi's blog post "What is Zef?" is that it's like a blend of ghetto and trailer park sensibilities. Read the article though, it's more informative than what I just wrote.

Where does that leave us with Die Antwoord? Exactly where we were before. They are still awesome. If these guys ever came to New York, I'd be in line an hour before doors. Seriously, I don't care if there's a whole scene in South Africa, this shit is fresh as fuck here in the States and I am into it. I need—NEED—the record. Need it so bad.

Yesterday, before posting Die Antwoord's music videos, I sent them to my friend Gardner, absolutely sure that he would enjoy them. I was, of course, right. He loved the hell out of them right away. And, being Gardner, what does he do? He finds the band's e-mail and send them an e-mail about how awesome they are.

To: Die Antwoord
From: Gardner Loulan
Subject: You are now my gods.

I just came across your stuff via my friends blog TheBlackLaser.net and I am totally obsessed now. I was a VJ for MTV Networks in the US a few years ago and have a knack for getting excited about the next level of music and you are it. It's like you're bitch slapping Lady Gaga while melting The Knife in her propelled by The Sounds and blowing up Golgol Bordello with an M.I.A. bomb---- putting them all int he past and back together again in the future where you clearly reside.

Well done,
-Gardner Loulan

Now, one usually expects this sort of missive to go unnoticed or unreplied to. But did it? Of course not!

From: Die Antwoord
To: Gardner Loulan

what a FUCKIN nice thing to say
we fuckin love you for saying this

once my blaar!

NINJA
out

This trifecta of e-mails was completed with a brief note from Gardner to me.

To: Me
From: Gardner Loulan

My day is now complete.

Awesome. Thank you, internet, for allowing us to have such remarkable instantaneous contact with such diverse people from all around the world. Though we often take it for granted, the ease with which we can communicate with folks from such places as far from us as South Africa is truly incredible.

And also thanks, Die Antwoord, for being cool enough to respond to Gardner.

And thanks, Gardner, for being enthusiastic enough about everything to go out of your way, if only a little bit, to track these dudes down.

If you haven't yet watched the music videos below, do. And get yourself to Die Antwoord's website and listen to their, frankly, amazing debut streaming in its entirety. Go now!

I sent these to my friend Gardner earlier and we couldn't decide if this was real or some elaborate performance. The consensus right now, based almost solely on the horrible tattoos of the frontman, is that it's real.

REAL.

Did you get that? Real. Holy living fuck. And you know what? Even if it isn't real, it's so fucking brilliant that it's STILL amazing.

This shit is too awesome for words. I can't even begin to list off all the things I love about this. The closest thing I can reference is Tripmeister Eder Tutenchamun's "Goa Goa MPU, Ja!" or Deichkind's body of work.

Check out their website. Die Antwoord

I need more music like this. Who can help me out?

Thanks for adding this bit of brightness to my life, Boing Boing!