The Flex - Flexual Healing Vol 2: (NOT EXACTLY A) Demo Dogz #8

I've got a great new formula...for BLACK AND REDDDDDD

The Flex - Flexual Healing Vol. 2 

In the Doghouse: Live at Mongrel Fest

I'd been wanting one of these tapes for a while, and finally managed to acquire one through a euro trade. I loaded praise on their first demo in Drug Dogs Newsletter #A and at this point they've also got a  7" out too. Since this is a live tape, I won't go too deep into the bands sound, but if you dig burly, mean, one-two-feck-you kinda old Boston stuff, then you've probably already discovered this band. 

The sound quality of this recording ain't terrible either. I'm not sure if that sample at the beginning was added in later, or if they opened their set with it, but either way it's cool. I wasn't really familiar with Mongrel Fest until I'd read Big Karl's review of it in Intro Changes #2. 

REXUAL REELING

Highlights:

-Mongrel Fest seems like a cool fest, and whoever got to see this set was privileged because this band rules. (I think I've seen the video floating around).

-There's a great "Unity" speech (that doesn't get too namby pamby) right before an excellent cover of Breakdown's "Kickback."

-Between songs, you can hear two moshers talk about how tired they are at this point in the day. Having never been to a hardcore show in the UK, I find it comforting that showgoers there talk about the same inane stuff.

-The "Get in the pit and touch each other" mosh call. 

-Youth of Today's "Take a Stand" gets the cover treatment at the end, and it sounds straight ferocious.

-You can download this tape/set in one entire MP3 at their bandcamp, here. 

Neutral Accents Fanzine (Weekly Seizure - 11.17.13)

Filthy Lucre

Greetings, groin grabbers. Got a huge order of things to read and listen this week, coming in from all corners of the world (see above). Great stuff. Particularly chuffed over The Flex Live at Mongrel fest tape, courtesy of my euro friend Fabian.

Fly the flag

1) Neutral Accents #5
I'd be remiss not to mention my favorite fanzine in America, Neutral Accents, and I recently snagged #5. 

I basically put Neutral Accents in the same camp as those "lad culture" mags (Think Loaded) that popped up in the UK throughout the 90's. They were mags which glorified a culture more than anything else, vying for the ribald interests of the modern English male through slick coverage sex, drugs, rock n' roll and copious amounts of SOCCER (erm...football). Perhaps NxA is the calloused, cynical and wholly depraved successor to these magazines, feverishly scraping into the corners of the modern male psyche. Pornographic illustrations, old rock n' roll, selective amounts of hardcore (none o' that B9 nonsense) and a series of film reviews (Grim Cinema) that rivals anything "The Academy" could put together makes it, in my opinion, the best fanzine in America. 

One for the freaks. For the rockers. For the knuckleheads who have Think I Care next to Thin Lizzy in their iTunes. 

#5 comes out swingin' with my favorite back cover image of all time (see above), a great interview with Hoxton Tom McCourt, "Captain Drack" (great raunchy comic about a Duke Nukem type with a mean streak), a guide to home brewing and an always great Grim Cinema section (side note: the review of Only God Forgives was so good, it convinced my girlfriend to rent it at Redbox. Thanks Neutral Accents, you saved our evening!). Plus, great layouts, funny pics and great reviews. If you're not on the Neutral Accents wagon, than you're on the wrong wagon entirely. Rectify it. There's still some zines available at their bigcartel! 

It speaks for itself