It's been a while since I posted anything new, but I've noticed that many of my favorite mp3 blogs are getting the axe, so I'm going to take the initiative and do the same. Aside from that happening, there's also the fact that I'm pretty busy with Totally Crushed Out, my book, being a family man and my day job to really put time into ripping obscure shit. I may do this again, but in a different form; Redefine may have an mp3 blog in the near future, at which point, I'll be contributing to that. So stay tuned, true believers. I'll leave you with this:
Before Gatsby's American Dream wowed pop-punk kids, there was once One Point Two, a band that consisted mostly of members who'd go on to Gatsby's and Casey Bates, Fueled by Ramen's producer du jour. It's pretty much in the vein of Blink 182, but there's some interesting stuff in this demo.
Conspiracy theorist and all-out killer lyricist Ras Kass is one of those dudes who just never caught a break. He was aligned with the well respected Western Hemisphere crew, was the strongest part of "Come Widdit" -- one of the best posse cuts of all time, started the Golden State Warriorz with Saafir and Xzibit and, for a brief spell, worked with Dr. Dre.
Ras's 12" solo debut, "Won't Catch Me Runnin'" b/w "Remain Anonymous" is one of hip-hop's best singles. His "Soul On Ice" LP is regarded as a disappointing debut, but it's actually one of hip-hop's lost gems and far more deserving than the tepid 3 mics that "The Source" gave it.
Buffalo's Polar Bear Club is having a pretty big year. First, they announced the signing to Bridge 9, then they released the fantastic sophomore album "Chasing Hamburg." Now they're on tour forever, but they've had to start somewhere.
This 2005 demo is the band's first effort and, despite the recording quality, shows the band's promise at such an early stage. Easily one of my favorite demos of all time.
Seattle-based Blue Sky Mile was a band that couldn't really fit in a specific category. They had elements to their songs that were math-y, but they were too emo (in the truest sense of the term) for the indie rock crowd and too indie rock for the emo kids. That being said, they were probably amongst the most underrated bands in the city.
They found a home in Louisville's Initial Records, but it happened after Initial stopped growing as a label and other outlets like Fueled by Ramen and Vagrant had taken the reigns.
This is long their out-of-print debut EP on Florida's Ohev and is a split production between Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla and former Seaweed guitarist Clint Werner.
Deftones "Back to School (Mini-Maggit)" Maxi-Single (Mav. Germany)
Deftones get a pretty bad rap (no pun intended). It sucks that they get lumped in the same categories as disposable 90s nu-metal shit like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park or whatever other crappy bands experienced even a little bit of airplay on M2 or The Box. Unlike those other bands, the Deftones were really great at a) crafting amazing songs and b) thinking outside the genre.
Their "B-sides and Rarities" collection featured a bevy of unpredictable covers like Sade's "No Ordinary Love" and The Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want." Live, they've been known to do a medley of Ice Cube's "Wicked" along with Weezer's "Undone." This is years before the concept of "mashup" permeated popular thought.
This post is of their maxi-single of "Back To School," a song that originally appeared as "Pink Maggit" on "White Pony." The story behind the song is pretty funny, but I'll let this Wikipedia entry say the rest. In any case, this single is pretty cool if only for the live versions of the songs, as well as a really haunting acoustic version of "Change."
Autumn Poetry "Poietes (Red Demo)" and "From October to Marge" (Self Released/West of January)
Autumn Poetry was pretty much the original Mountlake Terrace (Brier, maybe) band. Their influences are clearly within the realm of early 90s emo like Sunny Day and Christie Front Drive, but done in a way that isn't boring or trite.
The "Red Demo" and "Marge" are from 1999 and 2002 respectively and are the most intact of how I remember the band to sound like. In 2003, Autumn went through a personnel change with the rhythm section leaving the fold and with the addition of their new members, there was a stylistic shift, focusing on more rocking, uptempo songs.
Download "Red Demo" Here (Dave told me that one of the tracks on the Red Demo was corrupted, probably because the .rar file was too large; so here's "Poietes" as a separate file)
Before the band released "The Mark, Tom and Travis Show" the only places you could find live Blink recordings were online bootlegs or as b-sides from their European releases. This EP takes all the live b-sides from the singles that were released from "Enema of the State." There are some pretty good performances here and the banter is top notch. Many of these were recorded in 1999 so you can hear some really rough live versions of these hit songs.
New Found Glory "Live in Seattle 2000" (Unreleased)
This is recording is a bootleg from the same show as the Fenix TX post below. Interesting sidenote: this is the band's first Seattle show. How about that?
Sony dropped the ball on this one. Even though this album shipped gold, it pretty much is a footnote in the storied career that belongs to Fat Joe aka Joey Crack. Mostly known for Scott Storch-produced hits, collaborations with the late Big Pun, Diddy and a bunch of other dudes, this sophomore album by Joe features a lot of production from DJ Premier and Lord Finesse.
It's pretty much lost to the hands of time, until now. Enjoy.
This single came out before their debut album "X-Pressions." Roc Raida passed away two weeks ago and I'm going to put up his titular theme song for the rest of the world to enjoy. This EP has some great alternate remixes and "The Countdown" from "X-Pressions."
MCA released this promotional EP, "One to Grow On," in anticipation of DJ Shadow's album "Private Press." Some of these songs appear on the Deluxe Version of "Endtroducing..." or haven't been commercially released at all. Most of all, however, it has Cut Chemist's remix of "The Number Song" which is pretty sick.
Death Cab for Cutie "Live at the Crocodile Cafe 11/2000" (Unreleased)
This is a short, 10 song set from Death Cab when they were the support for Pedro the Lion. Many of the songs are culled from "The Fobidden Love EP" and "We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes." There's some pretty awkward banter from Gibbard and the live version of "President of What" is pretty rad.
Fenix TX is not a mind blowing pop-punk band, but they had a couple of pretty solid albums with their self-titled debut (originally released as River Fenix) and "Lechuza." This San Diego-by-way-of-Texas quartet led the way for Drive Thru to (briefly) take over the pop-punk scene for a minute.
This recording is from the Graceland (now El Corazon) on their headlining tour with New Found Glory, Good Charlotte and Lefty.
This kid was the golden child of R&B in the early 90s. Co-signed by both PRINCE (Prince!) and QUINCY JONES (The Q!), Tevin Campbell's new jack-esque pop debut, "T.E.V.I.N." spawned a hit single in "Round in Round," which was also used in the "Graffiti Bridge" soundtrack. Campbell's sophomore album, "I'm Ready" was much stronger and a bit more on the personal side.
Personally, I think it's one of the best R&B albums of the 90s -- it's earnest and introspective lyrics was a stark contrast to R. Kelly, Silk and the other oversexed male figures in the urban music market. Even though the guy has gone onto largely work on Broadway or get arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover cop, you can't deny how great this record is.
Bahamadia was one of the mid-90s additions to the Gang Starr Foundation family (which included Freddie Foxxx, Big Shug, Group Home, Jeru the Damaja and a ton of other dudes). Debuting in a year that also saw the release of the D&D Project and Lord knows how many Premier remixes, Bahamadia's "Kollage" was largely overlooked, which is a shame because there was great singles on this like "True Honey Buns" and "3 tha Hard Way."
Tacoma grind band Owen Hart is next level. The emotionally brutal lyrics is equivalent to the group's true to heart hardcore sound. This is their demo from 2004, "Lunchbox Rollercoasters." They've put out a few more releases and gone on about a billion tours since then, but I highly recommend catching them whenever possible.
The Get Up Kids "Live in Seattle 10/9/1999" (Unreleased)
This recording was from the soundboard at the RCKNDY in Seattle when the Get Up Kids were on tour in the fall of 99, hot off the release of "Something to Write Home About." This bootleg was floating around Napster and other filesharing sites in the embryotic days of mp3 trading.
To celebrate the Get Ups current reunion (and subsequent reissue of their seminal album), I'm sharing this totally sweet recording, which is much funnier and cooler than the live album that Vagrant put out a few years back as this bootleg has all of the stage banter and drunkeness that the gang is known for.
Backed With brings rare and out-of-print gems to your hard drive. This is primarily for those hard to find records, but if you are an artist who wants their music removed, just leave a comment.
