TEENGENERATE were one of the first really “out there” bands I ever heard. I was 14 and super into the Ramones and the internet. The lovely newsgroups of the World Wide web opened the door to other kids my age in my city that had the same fire and passion.
Somehow I became friends with a young man named Brian whose older brother, a fan of all things Japanese (that also had something to do with the internet) had suggested he buy their “Smash Hits” cd from a local record store. Upon learning of my love of the Ramones, Brian thought I may like it.
What is weird is that at the time, I remember not hating it but not loving it.
I think I really liked Sex Cow but I was really stupid and it was probably because the name of the song was Sex Cow. In their defense, the song does sound like Sex Cow and you can’t not name it that.
Revisiting about fifteen years later I slapped myself in the face.
Every song is completely unhinged straight forward rock and roll. Pure. No ego. You can hear the same thing in every single song : we really love playing this song and so we figured we would share our happiness with you.
That’s it.
The snarliest guitars playing the most efficient chord progressions and hitting all of the wrong notes.
The bassist only knows the root notes and the pentatonic scale and that is all we need. The amp probably needs to get kicked every third song to stop distorting, but sometimes we don’t remember to do that, and that’s ok.
The drummer is always overlooked person in this type of band.
It would never work without the most charitable man. The guy who is just going to be serious back there, not let it get out of hand by not missing one beat, never slowing down, never runs out of energy – and most importantly, never makes a wrong move when it comes to the fills.
Here are my three favorite Teengenerate songs, all off Smash Hits! and all three covers and that makes it better. They are so good I listened to all three twice while writing this. I just said fuck it…let’s listen one more time.
Wild Weekend
That kick drum is so fucking loud its great. The guitars are absolutely perfectly tuned for specifically those power chords. The background vocals in the chorus kill me. Been singing it wrong since I fell in love with it. I legit have no fucking idea what they’re saying and I’m not going to ruin it by googling it.
Just Head
This is everything I’ve ever wanted in a punk rock song. I say that every song I hear on this record, but I truly believe it with this one. Full blast from the get go!
I have no fucking idea what the guy is screaming about and I have no idea what planet he’s from. The kick drum is 3dB too loud and in the history of the world, not one person, has ever complained about it. Like all of the best songs in this genre, it sounds like it’s getting faster and faster and might fly off the fucking turntable. Seriously listen to the rhythm guitar playing in this song. Its Johnny Ramone on HGH.
Burn My Eye
Again, they’re working with the works of our strongest elders, but turn it up. Seriously sounds like the mixing board is ALL RED and the engineer is spraying a fire extinguisher all over the place while the band doesn’t notice a thing. Fucking smoke coming out of the tape machine. The bass player finally gets to show off, how the hell is he playing that fast and not missing a note. What a shit hot song.
I haven’t posted in a while and it’s 100% tied to the crippling sadness of the start of Trump v2.
The return of the king mixed with my traditional late winter blues has ruined my energy drive and it’s been hard to push forward. About a week ago, I decided to let myself veg out and succumb to the laziness. I dug around for something to watch and found the film Instrument on the Night Flight app.
I have a VHS copy of this movie somewhere buried in storage but have not watched it since it was released. I remember thinking it was cool but looking back, I was 19, an idiot, and absolutely did not appreciate it for how valuable it was.
I, like I’m sure many of us, took Fugazi for granted.
Now that they’ve been gone for so long and we are in a space where their message is more important than ever, it made sense to look to them for inspiration.
With fresh eyes, I found a new level of appreciation for them. So much live footage of a band absolutely giving it their absolute all in each and every performance. They never cheated on us once. I’m not sure we ever really deserved them.
What really hit me hard was when my wife – who does not come from the punk rock world (although was really into industrial music, so she can appreciate rabid fandom of unpopular music) sat down and immediately appreciated what was happening.
Specifically, during the final scene, an absolutely killer performance of Glueman, as Guy is writhing on the floor while Ian creates an absolute wall of noise over the tightest drum and bass groove, she grabbed my arm.
She could tell how real it was.
It was then confirmed as during the end credits I told her that we had in fact spent time with the band, at Steve’s memorial, where we sat at a table together the last morning of the procession. I didn’t have to say much more because she knew what their presence felt like, as we shared a table together during the final day, during which many incredibly emotional moments burst. She and I could both sense how real it was, how in a world right now where we are subjected to nonstop gaslighting and phony confidence the real thing still exists. Thankfully it has nothing to do with Faith No More.
In addition to appreciating the honesty of the band, something else is made very clear in that documentary. While I enjoy each Fugazi album, the band was at their absolute peak when they were recording and performing Red Medicine. In addition to being the first Fugazi album I ever purchased, it has remained my favorite album of theirs since.
This album came out when I was 14 and could not have been a more perfect “get me from conference quarterfinals to championships” punk rock course. I remember buying the cassette at Best Buy, the same one where I purchased my first Jesus Lizard tape (Down) around the same time.
For the record I also purchased Testament’s “Practice What you Preach” from there due to my love of their instrumental track “confusion fusion” which was the perfect “get me from the play in game” to Breadwinner’s six consecutive championships.
At 14 I don’t know if I had heard an opening to an album like Do You Like Me, the distorted lo fi mess. Was the beginning of the trend that lasted until maybe the early 2000s where you went from lofi to hi fi on your first track? May have to rank those at some point, thinking of death cab and braid in the later 90s. However, even in this, Fugazi is way ahead of the curve, they’re not using it to fake you in asserting more power to the actual song, but instead creating a comparison of them fucking around, having a blast going past where they would honestly allow themselves to go. Some of this is again documented in Instrument showing them record a lot of the lofi sequences, they are just having a blast getting goofy, gawrsh.
To someone who was expecting absolute insanity (think what a 14 year old boy wants, the stupidity of hardcore and technical prowess) Do You Like Me is the perfect opening. Is that fucking guitar even distorted? Have I mentioned how great this record sounds? We are only one song in and Don Zientara is just absolutely killing it by capturing the drums in a very stereo sound, the bass tone that ONLY sounds good with fugazi and then the guitars so bright and clear and biting. Bed For the Scraping, track two, confirms the work by Z as the guitars really just kill it with the perfect vocal mix with one of Ian MacKaye’s strongest yelling performances going back to the Teen Idles. The yells. That was what I remember really hitting me. You get more in Latest Disgrace, possibly the most Fugaziest song of all time. It has it all. Birthday Pony brings back the lo fi fun and then leads into the rhythm section finally really leaning into groove that isn’t necccesarily reggae minded. I’m not sure if they’ve done it before. It’s almost, almost, I can’t believe it, but it might be funk.
Forensic Scene was my favorite song at 14. Fuck, it might be my favorite song at 44. Each song after song proves how powerful a simple really sweet guitar riff over a tight rhythm section can make things so easy for you. That bell too. Tasty drum fills, never not for the song. Combination Lock is the always required instrumental and leans into the funk and provides an intermission for what is about to happen.
Fell, Destroyed has always felt like the sequel to Forensic Scene. I think this was the first time I heard anything that I would later refer to as Slint-like. And while I love Spiderland so much, this is probably a more perfect union of those ideas.
As I wrote that last sentence I had a real guy behind the guy moment and heard it all read in Carrie Bradshaw voice and realized I am completely off the rails. That is ok. We may not make it another six months, folks.
Editors Note: Folks, I wrote this a week ago and after today, we may not make it another six days.
By You is the side B opener and might be the closest thing to a sequel they made for Glueman, with Joe Lally providing super groove over two guitars just absolutely freaking the fuck out with no end in sight.
It took me about 2 years to figure this one out and once I did, it changed everything for me. 2:05 to 2:19 on a loop from then, to now, it’s still the best thing you can hear/see. The cheat code to my heart. The ending, did this happen before Luah? Luah doesn’t go this far.
Why do we have to stop?
That is the ending of this song. This is them saying fuck you, this is fun, we don’t have to stop.
It took too long for me to understand that and essentially turn my life around. Glad I finally did.
Version floats in like a dream letting you catch your breath from that ending and again prep you for what is about to hit you.
The trifecta of Target, Back to Base and Downed City might be their best 3 song run in sequencing.
Target nice and clean so the vocals can cut through easier, warning everyone of that era of ABSOLUTELY WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, within 5 years it was so obvious. Nobody listened.
Back to Base is maybe their only attempt at somewhat mathy rock. Again, almost Drive Like Jehu esque, and again, done just a bit better because they are fucking perfect. Every fucking decision is correct for the song. It’s like watching a true genius poker player in a tournament where you have to sit back and laugh at how they know exactly what to do in each spot.
How can you beat this?
Downed City let’s Guy respond to Ian’s previous song and he makes an impassioned case, just absolutely unhinged vocals over anthemic rock, literally one riff over and over forever until the chorus once again reveals some odd meter riffage. Have I not noticed this before or was it a one album thing? Gonna have to investigate that.
Long Distance Runner is fugazi covering Poptones by PiL and I can’t think of a better way to end an album, can you?
God fucking bless this album. A masterpiece.
FIVE STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The stages of grief are pretty incredible. I’ve never had to go through it like this, with a friend this close, but I’m starting to wonder if each grief experience follows the same path or is it completely exponential in terms of possibilities. I say this because I feel like I started with the first level but when I moved to the second, the first one still lingers, and now that it has been quite a few months I’ve hit new levels but the old ones are recycled with new insight.
This is of course in reference to my lovely friend Steve Albini who died suddenly of a heart attack in 2024. I won’t look the date up. I don’t need to know the date because I can remember just about every action in my life the day of and after. Why put a number on it.
I hit a new level a week ago. A new appreciation, a new acceptance and coming with it a new bursting into sobs and my wife now familiar with the scenario scooting over to console me. What a lady.
We went to bed on a Saturday evening, mildly buzzed on some wine and weed and I decided to pop on some music with my best pair of headphones while my wife started to doze off in our dark room accentuated by the dollar store glow in the dark stars that bathed us in neon green splash.
I have no idea why, but I decided to pop on Uzeda’s 2006 album Stella. Recorded by Steve. I’ve kind of been avoiding music he’s recorded for a while. I certainly haven’t listened to any of his music.
The music itself is perfection. By 2006 I’m not sure what I had decided about a math rock and from what I remember it was about to start a new age that became comical and dumb, with bands outdoing each other with bleep bloop super compressed drums ding that bell and close that high hat as tight as possible while you switch from 9:4 to 15:2 stinger into 99:98 I dunno. We probably hit the end and it’s possible that the opening track, Wailing, did it. Because all of the legitimate, aspiring giants of the time realized that there was nothing else that could be proven after it. It ended the whole argument of how to construct something complicated and terrifying and open ended and beautiful.
Listening to all three minutes and thirty eight seconds, I don’t know if the bass player ever switches his part. Think Then Comes Dudley if the Jesus Lizard had the balls to just keep going, digging deeper. That’s how heavy.
And as guitarist Agostino slowly builds up, with absolutely terrifying pick slides that are so sharp and unsettling. Followed by a dark simple chord pattern that isn’t as discordant as you may think. Slowly building a fire.
Singer Giovanna Cacciola moves from a distant low moan that just keeps going until you start to notice the build.
The guitar is now shrieking and alerting us. And Giovanna is screaming. She’s louder but still far away.
Here comes the crescendo we’ve waited minutes and the drums and bass FINALLY leave their odd signature groove to hit the part where it all comes together a blues riff from hell?? In an odd meter????? The contrast knocks you on your ass.
Meanwhile Giovanna is having a mental breakdown singing in her own language (I remember an old review of the first Nerves record on Drag City and he mentioned that the best bands have singers that sound like aliens screaming in their own language)
Sorry every one else, this is the best it could ever get.
And somewhere in all of that, it hit me. It isn’t just that this is the pinnacle of the genre, it was that my friend Steve was there to capture it. Because we are hitting a new acceptance. That I didn’t just lose a wonderful friend, but an absolute master of his craft. I know that my good friend Devin Dixon, also suffering a similar pain, brought this up a few weeks ago after listening to an Ex record. Tim Midyett the historian and trustworthy source immediately explained how nobody else could have done that. Captured those guitars and drums the way Steve did.
The thing is, in this case, it is so extra good. Because not only was Steve the best at this, he was working for a group of people he absolutely adored. His love for Agostino and Giovanna was so abundant he would talk about them constantly. Random opportunities, he had to throw it out there with an anecdote to once again shine a light on them with adoration. When I hear this recording, I can tell, it’s not just a Steve recording. Like, you record with Steve you’re gonna get a great product out of him, or at least an honest try. The most honest try. Seriously.
But I could just see him hearing this music and moving around the board with the focus that he saved for very specific situations. Total lock in. You know that he went a little extra because of his love. That first pick slide is the proof. It is too good. It pricks your ear so hard but entices at the same time.
His determination to keeping dynamics as the most important part of the product, the slow build (almost in a way similar to the way I hear X’s Nausea slowly building and building slightly faster and faster and more menacing) is so much heavier than anyone else could have produced. He respects the slow build and doesn’t smash it. Those fucking drums that kick drum holy shit it changes the way I think of a killer kick drum sound and it’s much higher than I thought.
The vocals. The perfect volume and perfect mix of close and room sound.
I assume the only other things I can think of similar would be the Breeders stuff (especially Title TK), TJL and Silkworm. You guys got like, bonus Steve. It’s here. I can hear it.
Also, I’ll bury at the end of this.
I am listening to the record as I write and when I finished writing this up I finally let it move to the next song on Stella What I Meant When I Called Your Name and it dawned on me, that I actually started sobbing during this song.
Specifically a second after 1:27 when you get an absolutely unreal squeal of feedback and it absolutely takes your ear off and then dies off into the sunset as the heaviest riff rises up from hell.
That squeal is the proof. Who else allows that and makes it announce the bomb that’s gonna explode?
Tintoretto was a band I saw many years ago, as a weird, confused teenager obsessed with the various math noise bands of the midwest. They were born out of a very crazy hardcore band called Managra that I remember seeing open for Braid and absolutely loving…mainly because when you’re 17 and have no idea what the hell is going on, it’s always fun to experience the visual and audible expression of that confusion, rage and excitement.
Tintoretto were only around for a short time and I was lucky to see them as well and purchase their 4 song EP that was most likely #1 on my portable CD player Wrapped of 1999. The four songs kind of mixed the two dominant sounds of the era, Drive Like Jehu dissonant guitars and a combination of the Louisville and DC sound with a focus on dark, repetitive bass lines and odd meter abstract time signature interplay.
Unfortunately, they never came around again and word spread that they had called it quits. Members went on to form other incredible bands that I was lucky to share the stage with including Hero of 100 Fights and Murder in the Red Barn that expanded on the two styles referenced above by adding a clear King Crimson influence, which is never dissuaded.
It was during that timeframe that we learned four more songs would be released along with some unreleased Managra songs (that if I remember correctly, were supposed to be on a split with Brass Knuckles for Tough Guys and *those* songs eventually popped up shortly thereafter on the Tetsuo/Brass Knuckles discography cd).
Said unreleased songs did not disappoint, providing more of the same dissonant, moody hardcore. Did I mention how dark this music is without relying entirely upon minor chords to convey this mood? Well, I just did.
Fast forward maybe 24 years. I learn through HeartattaCk Instagram that they are going to put out all of these songs on vinyl. Shortly thereafter, I learned that they had scraped the idea of releasing a discography and instead would be re-recording all of the songs in drummer Shane Hochstetler’s recording studio.
The results are fantastic. Are you shocked that I feel that way?
They start off the record with Dying Days, which happened to be the last song we heard as Tintoretto fans, the last track of their posthumous release. Clever sequencing aside, this is the perfect starter as it immediately puts the focus on the true all-stars of the band, the rhythm section that snake their way through a slick groove before the guitars show up to create even more anxiety. The following track Are You Still Dying Darling uses the archetypal “dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun” riff that every band was required to use after the ending of Nosferatu Man melted all of our brains. Performed by a less capable band, it sounds like a cliche but the execution is so perfect (and so dark, everything is so dark) with tremendous dynamics. The section in the bridge that starts around 2:13 has been one of my favorite iterations of that motif since high school, and it still packs the same punch.
Later on, I Betray My Friends, the first song I remember hearing by them shows up and this where the level of production becomes very apparent. I would happily have purchased the original tracks on vinyl (and if you purchase the album, you get all of the original songs as wav files) and wasn’t quite sure what to expect with them redoing the entire thing, but man Shane killed it and while it is possible that they are playing new versions of parts on guitar (it’s been a long time, I wouldn’t be shocked if they had trouble remembering and relearning everything) the crystal clear interplay of little guitar licks that I never had noticed before put this over the top.
The album closes with Sweet Release, which was my favorite song on their posthumous release, their proggiest effort which was a precursor to what they would perfect in Hero of 100 Fights. A growing theme on this website is hearing guys singing now while in their 40s and 50s and sounding so much better than when they were 22. The same is here for the vocals on this release. They haven’t lost their growl but lost is the sloppy out of tune whining that had a presence on the original recordings. This song is over seven minutes and so dark! Did I mention how dark it is?
You can purchase this album on vinyl from Expert Work Records via bandcamp. I highly recommend it.
This record arrived a few weeks ago from someoddpilot records and it’s a beauty. A project between two people, including my old friend, Scott Shellhamer, known as a killer drummer with both Tetsuo and Ghosts and Vodka while also knocking people on their ass with heavy ass guitar riffs in American Heritage. Working alongside him is Jason Butler, who has been putting out records under the name Thee Conductor, a project between him and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. If you’ve heard either of their previous work, it seems like it is going to be an interesting mix, with Scott’s penchant for chaotic noise contrasting with Jason’s gorgeous pop sensibilities. The results are astounding.
Right from the get go you can tell this is going to be difficult and the tick tock sounds mixed with industrial noise reminds me of the dread of going to work in a previous life. Years upon years of beatings.
Then a pause. Maybe we got out of this one alive.
Not so fast.
It sounds like a mix of a black and white propaganda film rumbling through all of the instrumental interludes on dark side of the moon. I have had dark side on mind a lot lately, so that may just be some confirmation bias, but it’s hitting me now and that’s all that matters.
The sequence of tracks flow very well. This is a soundtrack to a film that probably rules but hasn’t been made yet. Maybe like if Trans Am had done the soundtrack to Tron 2 instead of Daft Punk (I was not impressed).
Track 3 Shhhhhhhhhhhhh takes us to a new territory, borrowing from the Thrill Jockey circa 1999 catalog with a new spin, as it melts into what sounds like Genesis trying to mock Black Sabbath instead of King Arthur of the Roundtable or whatever the hell it is they’re trying to do (and I am impressed).
You Won’t Be Alive to Feel It continues the cinematic excitement, with the rhythm track being led by the quick breaths of some type of creature. Not surprisingly soon after writing that I remembered that they made an actual video for this one, so I may be once again falling victim to my mind. Regardless, it’s a blast. Synth heavy industrial trash that doesn’t try to get too cute, just pummels you instead. View the video here.
Scarab of Ra sounds like a totally different band, but the same band somehow. Very dark bass synths and pads repeat a basic melody as the dread builds. My brain wanders to Lost Highway, as this almost would have fit better than the Bowie stuff. I can hear someone’s mind melting in the background of this track and the cause could have been their murder of of Dick Laurent. I shit you not the last song is called Motion Picture and builds off Scarab of Ra, almost an outro to the previous song and the entire album. It never lets up.
This one probably sounds insane on headphones. Remind me to do that next time.
You can purchase it from bandcamp directly from the band, and I highly encourage it. Click here.
My first review is fitting, as the whole idea for this website came from me gushing over it to a group of friends. It is the self titled debut from Deep Tunnel Project, featuring my friends John Mohr and Mike Greenlees (known for their work together in both TAR and Blatant Dissent) Tim Midyett (currently also with Mint Mile and known for his time in Silkworm, Bottomless Pit and as a touring member of Sunn O)))) and Jeff Dean whom I do not actually know but met once and seems like a lovely gentleman. Jeff has played in a ton of bands and a quick look at his discogs page tells me that was in the Chicago band “the story so far” that I remember sharing the stage with many times in the early 2000’s playing to fives of tens of people.
The album kicks off with Connector, which opens with Mike playing a heavy ass laid back beat similar to the gold standard, When the Levee Breaks. As the song develops, so many little things start to stand out with every repetition. The snare drum sounds so good. Massive guitars without sounding fake. Like everyone I know that has gotten older, somehow John’s voice has gotten better. The mesh of dour, beautiful guitars over a rock solid rhythm section elicits Jawbox in a relaxed fashion, a way that they could never do it which is insane. Think of how pretty and heavy that is. You end this song knowing that you’re in for something special. Such a ballsy choice to start it off.
As you wade through each solid track, this record hits me like Novelty era Jawbox, an album right next to the Los Crudos/Spitboy split LP completely knocked me on my teenage ass and changed the way I tried to make music. But it’s not like Novelty though. It’s so Chicago, not DC. A better writer could explain. Next album I’m putting out: This is Chicago, Not DC.
Track 5 the Grid hits me hard because while it’s not in any way a reference to the Sirs song, Burlesque it shares a vibe and chord change and it makes me realize how both John and Rob Warmowski could come to the same endpoint separately in a song so proud to worship the city of Chicago. It makes me sad he isn’t here it, but he’s in there. It led me to go back and listen to the first SIRS album that featured the same Mike Greenless on drums (before I took over for him) and marveled at how awesome it was to get to play with those guys on those amazing songs. I took it for granted. What an honor and what a great time, thanks Rob and thanks to Steve for suggesting I take over for Mike when Rob reached out for advice.
Gold Standard has maybe my favorite lyrics of any song I’ve heard in ages. All while another simple single chord jangler for minutes just trusting the melody. Look at the header of this website. My thoughts were explained there. Trusting yourself, trusting the song. Adults in the room, the whole deal.
Dry Spell is buried at the end but has the lushest quasi chorus where my incredible friend Tim Midyett absolutely puts on a bass clinic without sounding like he’s trying. The tastiest bassline under a sad wash of chords and buried vocals. It borders on Interpol and I mean that as a compliment. I would guess they may be more inspired by My Dad is Dead but who knows. The song winds down with the closest thing to sounding like a revolution summer “talkie” over an octave slowdown. Every move is the right move.
The album closes with a cover of Took a Hammering by Rifle Sport and you’re now on track eleven and you guy “holy smokes how have I not noticed how incredible this drummer is” and it’s a normal response because Mike is so smooth and machine like, you can’t help but fall under a spell. Be prepared for him to shrug after the set and say “I don’t know, I’m not good at this anymore.” What a goofball.
This album was recorded beautifully by Matt Barnhart, mixed impeccably by J Robbins (of the oft mentioned Jawbox) and mastered by the best in the business, Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.
The album was released on Comedy Minus One and can be purchased on their website via the following link.
