condensed, funked up version of the song with a shitload of guest appearences. It all flows together pretty nicely, with fantastic beats and great, ridiculous larger-than-life aggressive tough guy/girl lyrics. Perfect tunage for sweaty parties with a few good friends and foes.

It's great solely because of the lyrics and the way Francis delivers it, with such aggressive honesty.

"The Witch" was the Sonics' debut single, released on Etiquette, the Tacoma, WA-based label owned and operated by local hero Buck Ormsby, member of garage rock pioneers the Wailers, who are known for unearthing the obscure R&B song "Louie, Louie." Reworking the tunes of Little Richard and Bo Diddley, the Sonics worked the local teen-hop circuit as a rock & roll cover band until eventually coming up with some original material with "The Witch" and what would become the flip side to the single, "Psycho." After revamping the lineup, taking on various members of the Searchers, Gerry Roslie commandeered the vocal duties with a bracing blues shouter style that would become the group's trademark. "The Witch," roughly recorded in mono, is a brooding rocker based around a revved-up blues progression with quivering guitar and a basic sax line holding down a simple riff, drums kicking away in the background. Roslie belts his cautionary tale, sagely advising all to steer clear of "evil chicks," with vocal-chord-shredding wails: "So you know the little girl/Who's new in town/Well you better watch out now/Or she'll put you down/'Cause she's an evil chick/Say, she's the witch, oww!" The band barrels on, lacking any semblance of finesse, stomping into a tempo shift and doubling the speed as Roslie howls, "Well she walks around/Late at night/Most other people sleepin' tight/If you hear her knockin' on your door/You better say get away/Wha whoo!" Guitarist Andy Parypa lets loose a note-stumbling guitar solo in a style similar to Dave Davies of the the Kinks. "The Witch" would become a regional hit, receiving extensive airplay on the powerful Seattle AM station KJR, but the Sonics would never break nationally, most of the country not yet ready for the extremely aggressive attach of the group's rough-and-tumble music.
(AMG)

Another Brazil '66 knockoff band, maybe not as solid as the Mendes-endorsed Bossa Rio, but they did do a nice version of the Roger Nichols track "love so fine". More importantly, they did this, a cover of one of the Drifter's less memorable hits, done over with a very punchy, immediate arrangement. More aggressive than most of Sergio's stuff. Nice Peanuts, Guaraldi/Schroeder style piano intro! Recorded in L.A. with a few studio guns on board. (added later) Maybe I have velveeta pumping through my heart, but I do enjoy this whole album, even the pretty bad version of turn, turn, turn.

"Mirage" was the first single taken from Siouxsie & the Banshees' first album, 1978's The Scream, and while it's not as uncharacteristically poppy as the group's debut 7", "Hong Kong Garden," it's still about as close to accessible as the group got in the early days. A tightly wound song built on John McKay's slashing, distorted guitar and a pounding, prominent drumbeat (the sort of near-tribal galloping beat that Kenny Morris' replacement, Budgie, would do much better on later singles like "Spellbound" and "Fireworks"; Morris simply wasn't good enough a drummer to impart the kind of urgency this song requires), "Mirage" builds a forward momentum underneath Siouxsie Sioux's yowling vocals, which obscure bassist Steve Severin's lyrics to the point that only occasional words and phrases are decipherable.
(AMG)

Opening with a brat beating bass and melody that is scarily reminiscent of some late 70s euro disco pathos, it�s only when Brian James� raunchy guitar kicks in that you know you�re well away from the lights of that dance floor and in the grips of a very different master. A hedonistic web of Bators� beloved conspiracy theorizing, the logical successor to the Wanderers� paranoia-packed repertoire, �Open Your Eyes� previewed a closet of horrors that embraced organized religion, the impending World Tour of Pope John Paul II, Bolshevik plots and Ronald Reagan�s apparent rush towards nuclear Armageddon. With session man Matt Black�s synthesizers giving the whole thing a classic rock feel that merged edgily with the band�s own punkish sensibilities, it was, as always, Bators� viperous lyrics that brought the whole thing into the twilight zone of pre-Internet intrigue. The 80s politicking of Margaret Thatcher�s Britain and Reagan�s cold war America pretty much ensured that both sides were far happier not having to open their eyes. A gleeful Bators was there, though, to make sure they did.
(AMG)

From the much maligned (unfairly) non Mc Cullough lp, a slice of dreamy, aggressive psychedelia with some of Will Sergeant's finest moments on guitar and a vocal to match from "the singer who never was". Should be on every compilation of the band but no doubt will remain hard to find. A pity.

This band is one of the tightest, most aggressive and imaginative 'hardcore' acts in modern music today.

This track would be a perfect introduction to NMN for the uninitiated listener.
If you like this one, you have about a dozen albums' worth of catching up to do.

Just marvel at the uninhibited pounding and tightly-woven rhythmic tapestries unleashed by bassist/ vocalist Rob Wright on 'Victim's Choice'.

NoMeansNo's style here can possibly be described as
'Devo Meets The Dead Kennedys'
...if one was so inclined to describe things.

This band just constantly and consistently manages to pour it on extra-tight, extra-heavy, and maniacally complex within the usually confining genre of 'Hardcore'.
(call it what you want, I am just attempting to simplify things here)

So don't be shy! This band will please a wide variety of listeners, from Jazz-Heads to Metal-Heads and many of the in-between-heads alike.

Band Website:
NoMeansNo

scissorfight are probably the heaviest band i've ever seen... their songs are incredibly intense, with deep, grinding bass lines, slow, thundering drums and aggressive vocals. granite state destroyer could be their theme song - it embodies both their musical aesthetic and their lyrical philosophy...

"weed, guns and axes / we don't pay our taxes / 'cause we don't exist / on any government list / ... / our battle cry / live free or die"

this is the song that hooked me on the band, and every time i hear the heavy yet pared-down opening riffs my tailbone starts shakin' and i can't stop.

'Ballsy' is the only word to describe this song. Yes, 'ballsy' like all of Liz Phair's songs...'Weakened State' is hard and aggressive which makes it stand-out from the other tracks on this outstanding album.