Sunday, December 25, 2011

FUCK YOU, SANTA! - Compilation Tape - 1998

   Josh Baker, of the bands CHASED AND SMASHED and GOD HATES COMPUTERS, made this compilation as a gift for friends on X-mess of '98. Hearing the bands FEAR, BLATZ, THE QUEERS, THE AVENGERS, DEAD KENNEDYS and BORN AGAINST won't be anything too new or exciting for many punks, but Josh was working on a theme here, which will be glaringly obvious and funny when you download it. The big surprise for me on this tape is ALBERTO Y LOST TRIOS PARANOIAS, who have been flying just under my radar for my entire life. How had I never heard of them? They were a comedy rock band, which usually isn't my thing, but the few songs I have heard by them now are so great that it somehow transcends the label placed on them and skyrockets them into a different category altogether...like, uh, a really good comedy rock band that has a working knowledge of punk rock. Anyhow, their song "Fuck You" is great. Also of note is the band 4Q, a precursor to THE CURSE. The sound quality on this comp is so-so. Side two (starting with FEAR's "I Don't Care About You") is abysmally and almost comically unlistenable, as far as the tape hiss and volume levels are concerned. But just like that sausage log, SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA record, salmon-colored sweater, rusty tin can and Newt Gingrich autobiography that you unwrapped this morning while feigning a smile to your Grandma Bob...it's the thought that counts. Just act like this comp is that box of chocolates sitting on the counter at the holiday party: take all the good pieces out, put them away somewhere special for yourself and leave all that crap (like orange chocolate and chalky mint and inaudible live AVENGERS) to be mulled over by someone more desperate than you.
   Fuck you and I don't care if your holiday is happy.

This tape is from the mixed-up files of Ms. Anandi Wonder.

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