Track Listing: 1.
A Jingle For The Product 2. Folk Song 3. Gainesville 4. D4 = Putting The "F" Back In "Art"
A live bootleg of Dillinger 4 recorded for some radio show....The back cover is also ultra misleading, since it gives the impression that there's a lot more music on here than there actually is...Y'see, it lists 25 tracks on the back cover, although if you look closely, there aren't any D4 songs listed...It's a bunch of song titles by Black Sabbath, Grateful Dead, etc...So if you're fucking stupid, you might mistake this as a massive collection of D4 covering a couple dozen tracks on a single album...And as much as I'd love to hear D4 tackle some Gary Numan or Slayer, we all know that's not going to happen...
In reality, there are really only 4 songs, all on a single side with side two being blank...Two from "Situationist Comedy" and two from "Civil War." And there was really no need for the track listing to be so misleading, because this is actually a fucking great live EP...There's no audience or banter, being a live recording for a radio show or something, but this is a best case scenario as far as a live recording can go...Nice and fat and probably clearer than most studio Dillinger Four albums...There are no big surprises or changes to the arrangements or anything; they just perform the songs pretty much exactly like they were recorded...
Should you pay $15.00 for this? Uhmmm, fuck no. $10.00? Ehhhh....$7.00? Okay, if you're a super hardcore D4 fan 7 bucks is perfectly reasonable...It kicks a fair amount of ass, still $5.00 would be better...It really is a super nice bootleg...
I'd post a video, but none of these recordings are on youtube and I don't feel like putting them up there cos I'm sick of my account being suspended...So here's Black Sabbath...
Track Listing: 1. A Jingle for the Product 2. 'Contemplate This on the Tree of Woe.' 3. Parishiltonisametaphor 4. Gainesville 5. Ode to the North American Snake Oil Distributor 6. Minimum Wage is a Gateway Drug 7. The Classical Arrangement 8.Americaspremierefaithbasedinitiative 9. The Art of Whore 10. Fruity Pebbles 11. A Pyre Laid for Image and Frame 12. Like Eye Contact in an Elevator 13. Clown Cars on Cinder Blocks
The Friday Night Record Party Blog: A Gripping Tale of Man Against Nature:
Ugh...Minor catastrophe in my apartment Monday morning...It goes back to the 4th of July when the freakin' roof blew off of our apartment building in a spectacular holiday-weekend haboob...
We alerted the apartment office that the roof was destroyed and their response was a disinterested, "Oh well, we were planning on replacing all the roofs someday anyway..."
"Yea, but what if it rains again? Surely that would cause a much bigger problem later down the road..." We asked them...
"Ahhh....It'll wait..."
So sure enough Sunday night all hell breaks loose and the city floods...
Which carried over into my apartment, so I've been dealing with that all day...Luckily most of my beloved vinyl was spared due to a sombrero that was sitting on top of the crates and captured most of the water...
¡Buena suerte!
However the same can't be said for one of my CD racks which was completely flooded...So I've spent the morning blow-drying sopping wet Blue Oyster Cult CD booklets hoping the sagging roof doesn't cave in (the ceiling fan has already fallen)...To top it all off, we call the office again and warned them about this...Their response?
"Oh well, we were planning on replacing all the roofs someday anyway..."
Ahh, well...What can you do? Ding-donged if you do...Dog-danged if you don't...I'm just hoping the rain is done, because although the fully-paid day off of work was nice, the flooding kinda sucks...I did take precaution and I went out and bought more sombreros to prevent further damage...
Waitasec...I didn't invite you here to regale you with my endless tales of woe...I invited you here to check out Dillinger Four's "Civil War" (which was spared in the flood)...
I remember buying this as a new release, although I wasn't in a big hurry to check it out..."Situationist Comedy" was a pretty big disappointment and I kinda lumped Dillinger Four in the Avail post "Over the James" or Swingin' Utters post "Five Lessons Learned" category...A band that made a punk album so flawless that they were never able to regain their bearings...So I picked up "Civil War" but wasn't expecting a whole lot...
But when I put it on and heard "A Jingle for the Product"...Holy shit...My jaw dropped to the floor...And I was greeted with track after track of pure perfection...I still consider "Versus God" as their high point but I'm willing to admit that ranking might be solely based on nostalgia...
Despite what all the cranky, snobby punks out there would lead you to believe, the band's strength has always been their sense of melody...And the six years (!) they spent on the album has surely paid off...This is the band's best collection of catchy, fist-pumping punk rock anthems yet...Highpoints?
Woo!...There's an awful lot of them...I've always loved "Gainesville" which perfectly executes the whole "bittersweet triumph" thing that lesser bands have devoted their entire careers to:
"And if the rain begins to fall,
I won't feel it at all,
Let's live it like we fucking mean it!
And it feels like summer in October
And I hope this day is never over..."
Do you hear that? That's sheer happiness coming from D4...Taking a minute from grumbling about politics gives the band a bit more dimension and makes them even more endearing...I love this damn song...
On the other end of the spectrum we get what might be their darkest song, "Clown Cars on Cinder Blocks" which reads like a suicide note:
"I'd offer up a sacrifice,
If I thought it would do any good this time.
I recognize the harms I've caused,
But I cannot pay for these crimes,
I'm not sure that I expect to be here New Year's Day..."
Dang, are we sure Erik's alright? Has anybody checked in on him lately? The song is a straight-up classic, though...Guitar heavy, hooky and the vibraphone gives it just the right feeling of dread to go with the shallow celebrating and "cheap campaign"...One of my favorites for sure...
I still can't get over how much I love this album...It's everything that was great about D4 multiplied by a thousand...In a time where good pop-punk albums are nearly non-existent this was a gift from the damn heavens...I get the feeling there's no possible way they can ever top this one, but to be fair I've said that before about them and was proven wrong...Three cheers for being wrong!
Here's "The Art of Whore" by Dillinger Four...Hey, that rhymes...
Track Listing: 1. Noble Stabbings!! 2. A Floater Left with Pleasure in the Executive Washroom. 3.Fuzzy Pink Hand-Cuffs 4. The Father, the Son, and the Homosexual/Single Parent 5. Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids Find Someone Else Forget It I'm Never Coming Back Forget It 6. Folk Song. 7. Fired-Side Chat 8. 'I Was Born on a Pirate Ship' (Hold Your Tongue) 9. D4=Putting the 'F' Back in 'Art' 10. All Rise for the Rational Anthem 11. Labour Issues in the Toy Department 12. File Under 'Adult Urban Contemporary' 13. New Punk Fashions for the Spring Formal
Hey! What's that in the air?
I think I hear the ka-chink of timeclocks...
...the cracking of beers...
...and the fragrant smell of black vinyl, followed by the sound of a dropped needle...By God 'amn 'er...
IT'S FRIDAY!! (Glug...Glug...)
Yes! I love Friday nights! I love the anticipatory feel of the upcoming weekend, bursting with possibilities...Who knows what monumental achievements I'll complete on those two days off...
Maybe I'll write a novel...
Or go on a nature hike...
Or watch 16 straight hours of Diff'rent Strokes (My money's on this option)...
So what are we going to blare on the hi-fi on this fine Friday night? Why, what else but "Situationist Comedy" by D4! Which is possibly my least favorite Dillinger Four album! Yay!
I mean, it's not bad...It actually kicks plenty of ass, but I can't help but feel the teensiest bit let-down after the absolute perfection of "Versus God." Although, you might see it differently...Y'see, unlike a lot of folks I don't listen to D4 for their speed or aggression...I listen to them for their brilliant songwriting and razor-sharp pop hooks...I seriously think the band is responsible for some of the smartest, catchiest songs ever recorded...But this album kind of feels like the band trying to reach back to "Midwestern Songs..." more hardcore moments, trying to get back a bit of their edge...This was good for a lot of the band's fans (many of whom single out "Situationist Comedy" as a highlight of D4's catalog) but I happened to be one of the people who really liked the big strides the band made in the melody department and as a result this album's never fully clicked with me...
I remember putting "Situationist Comedy" on for the first time and hearing the opener "Noble Stabbings!!"...The verses were as exciting as anything the band ever did.. Ratcheting up the anticipation for the inevitable killer chorus, but instead I was greeted with the anticlimactic refrain of "Broken glass and razor wire..." Huh? That 's it? That's the killer chorus? What happened to the effortless flow of hooks on songs such as "Shiny Things is Good" or "Doublewhiskeycokenoice'"? Even after playing it endlessly, the album mostly felt like a pile of parts...Albeit very cool parts, so I didn't complain too much...In the end, I found myself listening to it in the same way I listened to say, Agnostic Front...I put it on for a quick adrenalin rush...
Still, there are a few moments here that rank among the band's best... "Fuzzy Pink Hand-Cuffs" and "Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids Find Someone Else Forget It I'm Never Coming Back Forget It" are both top shelf pop-punk...Oh, and "Fireside Chat" has the coolest moment on any D4 album...Right before the extended clanging drum outro there's a little section where Erik piles the harmonies sky-high as he sings:
"Another day
Another dollar
Another way to live with a life so intolerable..."
Oh my God...It's so mind-blowingly awesome...It still makes my head swim whenever I hear it...I'd say these three tracks alone made the purchase totally worthwhile...And again, it's a pretty good album whose only real flaw is the spectacularly strong material that preceded it and followed it (but we'll get to "Civil War" in a day or two)...I still maintain this was probably the best punk rock album released in 2002 (alongside Bad Religion's "The Process of Belief" and "Apathy & Exhaustion" by Lawrence Arms)...
So let's crank up some Dillinger Four...Here's "Sell the House Sell the Car Sell the Kids Find Someone Else Forget It I'm Never Coming Back Forget It"...Let's make this the best Friday ever!!...
Happy Memorial Day everybody! I've been working on this post all afternoon and I'm tired of sitting here at my computer, so I'm publishing it warts and all...No editing, so if this is especially rambling and typo-packed (see the "Memorial Day" line above), so be it...Here it is...The Dillinger Four Versus God post that ends up hardly mentioning the album...
Dillinger Four: Versus God
2000
Hopeless Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Who Didn't Kill Bambi? 2. "Get Your Study Hall Outta My Recess." 3. Maximum Piss & Vinegar 4. Last Communion 5. Suckers, Intl. Has Gone Public 6. Total.Fucking.Gone.Song 7. Music Is None of My Business 8. Define 'Learning Disorder' 9. Let Them Eat Thomas Paine 10. Shiny Things Is Good. 11. J. Harris 12. Q: How Many Punks Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb? 13. Wreck the Place Fantastic
The entertainment industry has been rocked this weekend by an anonymous hacker who leaked nude online photos of various celebrities using the controversial /b/ thread of 4chan. Obtained through an Apple icloud leak, the hacker claims to have over 60 photos of A-listers such as...
...Jennifer Lawrence...
...Ariana Grande...
...and Paddy from Dillinger Four...
A spokesperson for Jennifer Lawrence released the following statement, "This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."
Paddy tweeted, "To those of you looking at photos I took with a crowd of 150 people, years ago in the privacy of a club, hope you feel great about yourselves!"
But we'll try not to let this scandal taint our view of "Versus God"...
This is my personal favorite Dillinger Four album and probably the best album Hopeless Records ever put out (possible tie with "Punk Rock Confidential" by the Queers depending on my mood)...A perfect balance of brute force and pop hooks...Erik takes most of the lead vocals this time around, as opposed to the half Paddy/half Erik approach on "Midwestern Songs... I view this as a plus, since Erik seems to have have the most interesting approach and he can sell a hook a little better than the other guys...
Still, I think Paddy gets in what is possibly the album's best track, "Let Them Eat Thomas Paine"...The song starts out very low-fi with a screech of feedback, some jangling guitar and Paddy's uncharacteristically low-key, mumbly vocals, which grab your attention immediately since they're such a departure from his usual bellerin'...Then suddenly the whole thing stops, a fat-ass riff barges in only to drop back out as abruptly as it appeared... Leaving only Paddy's shout and a drum beat that appears to be trying to pound him into the ground:
"Rally 'round a cage, cringe at the paper then place the blame on "these days"
As if we don't know what we've seen 'til we view it on the big screen..."
Then the whole band comes together and it becomes immediately apparent that this is the biggest, most bruising anthem in the band's catalog...Political punk is such a difficult thing to get right...You usually end
up with either simple, Anti-Flag style sloganeering or a bunch of
outdated references, but D4 manages to dig a little deeper into the sick
psyche of the country...As a result every lyric hits hard:
"But we act like we didn't know, then kids shoot kids or community defies its role,
Then of course it's everyone's fault except anyone we might know.
Tell me are the colors of the flag much prettier to see,
When viewed from the requisite comfort of the knees,
We're the loyal little chorus still singing out "please"
I can't understand..."
Here, listen to this and tell me that it doesn't hit you in the gut...
And when you think nothing else can touch it, "Shiny Things Is Good" comes on and it becomes clear the band has hit its peak... A crunchy, chugging riffs with Erik singing the album's cleanest, most appealing melody that features a memorable tag-team pre-chorus and a freakin' brilliant stop-start/hand-clap chorus...It jumps from brilliant hook to brilliant hook with such ease that I'm left with little choice but to declare it one of the best songs I've ever heard...And I've heard a lot of songs!
Better than "Stairway to Heaven?"
Yep...
Better than "Bohemian Rhapsody?"
That's a no-brainer...""Shiny Things Is Good" wins this round, hands down...
Better than Ted Nugent's "I Love My BBQ?"
You bet your biltong! I'm telling you, "Shiny Things Is Good." is the best song ever...Argument over!
Oh yea! I forgot to mention all the Bob Larson samples on the album! You should buy the album for these alone.. I swear, Bob Larson is the funniest man alive...I first encountered his work in Junior High School when a certain teacher decided to save my soul from Satan after seeing "KISS" written on my folder (I went to school in the deep backwoods of Hale, Michigan where people were afraid of monsters) and gave me a book by Bob Larson outlining the "dangers" of Heavy Metal (which has harmed maybe a handful of people in concert related injuries) and extolled the virtues of religion (which has killed a staggering number of people in various wars and witchhunts)...Anyway, the book was the funniest thing I had read in my life up that point...Then one night I was channel surfing and to my delight I discovered he had a television show! And y'know what?!?! It was 100 times funnier than the book!!!! So on Saturday Nights at about 2 am, we'd turn off the music, continue the beers and watch some Bob...Here's how the interviews usually went:
Caller #1: I don't see what's wrong with celebrating Halloween! It's a fun time for the kids, they get to dress up, go out with their friends, get some candy...It's all harmless...
Bob: Well, let me ask you something, are you a Satanist?
Caller #1: Well, yea...But I don't see what that has to do with it...
Bob: A-Ha!!
But the best parts were his exorcisms!!! Yes! He did on air exorcisms (well usually just clips, but you could buy the entire video for $249.99 or more...)...Here's one where he exorcises the gay right outta some guy...
I was thrilled to find out he now has a girl gang of teenage exorcists!!
"Oh yea, nubile teenage girls are particularly adept at exorcisms, so I usually bring a handful of them on tour with me, and..." Waitasec...Those cactuses...So familiar...Let me do some googling...Sweet Christmas! I live in the same city as Bob Larson!! Man! I should have him do an exorcism on me! Wait...Nevermind...It's costs like $260.00...I'll live with my demons...At least they don't hit me up for money...
Sorry, I got so sidetracked, that I forgot what album this post was even about...That's right..."Dillinger Four "Versus God"...Easily one of the best pop-punk albums of the 2000's...If you're looking to get into Dillinger Four this is the place to start...It's a little more polished while simultaneously kicking a little more ass...They got it just right, here...
Track Listing: 1. O.K. F.M. D.O.A 2. #51 Dick Butkus 3. It's a Fine Line Between the Monkey and the Robot 4. Portrait of the Artist As a Fucking Asshole 5. Twenty-One Said Three Times Quickly 6. Super Powers Enable Me to Blend in With Machinery 7. Doublewhiskeycokenoice 8. Supermodels Don't Drink Colt .45 9. Shut Your Little Trap, Inc. 10. Mosh for Jesus 11. Hand Made Hard Times Handed Back 12. "Honey, I Shit the Hot Tub" 13. The Great American Going Out of Business Sale
Wow...Two Hopeless Records bands back to back...First Digger and now Dillinger Four...But these they're about as radically different as two bands that arguably fall under the banner "pop punk" can be...Effectively showcasing the roster's sonic diversity within the supposedly "narrow" confines of pop-punk...See, we here at the Friday Night Record Party blog like to label our music...
We even have our own Label Maker!! And as catchy as Dillinger Four is, I'd label them more as an absurdly melodic hardcore band than a pop-punk band...And boy, "Midwestern Songs of the Americas" is a freakin' great absurdly melodic hardcore record...
Although, come to think of it, it's always fallen under the category of "albums that have an opening track so blindingly brilliant that the rest of the album cannot hold up" (the Label Maker strike again!)...The record kicks off w/ one of the band's signature scene-setting samples before launching into "O.K. F.M. D.O.A"...
And here's where we're introduced to the band's sound...Scratchy vocals that sound like they're being piped in from the world's most blown speakers...Clanging distorted bass...Giant fuzzy punk guitars and maybe the most glorious chorus I've ever heard:
"Move with the rogue set choking out the radio,
A thousand voices booming out in stereo,
From top to bottom knock them down like dominoes..."
As you might've gleaned from the album's title, this isn't some slick Western
Coast shit...Or meat-headed, tough-guy New York hardcore...No, this is big,
thick, beer-soaked Midwestern hardcore, and I'm telling you, it's just the most amazing shit ever...If you don't listen to "O.K. F.M. D.O.A" at least ten times in a row you're hearing it wrong... Check it out if you don't believe me...
I said earlier that this song was so awe-inspiring that the rest of the album couldn't hold up, but that's not entirely true..."Doublewhiskeycokenoice" is easily one of the band's best tracks...I always hear people say that Green Day ripped off the song for "American Idiot" but my guess is that those folks probably haven't listened to much punk yet..."Doublewhiskeycokenoice"'s choppy little riff is one that turns up all the time in the genre and with good reason...It's a great riff...I think this recurring accusation speaks more of the sheer power with which D4 wields this particular iteration of the riff...With that "D-4!" chant filling the spaces, they effectively write their name on it, making the riff theirs forevermore...And to top it off they manage to come up with at least 6 other top-notch melodic ideas throughout the song's 2 and a half minutes (not to mention a cameo from the late, great Otis Redding)...A good drinkin' song...
Other highlights include "Super Powers Enable Me to Blend in With Machinery"...If you've ever hung out with a group of people that are familiar with this album, you'll know that it's customary for everyone present to raise their fists in the air (preferably with the neck of a cold beer clenched in said fist) and bellow along, "FUUCK 'EM ALLLLLLLLLL...." as loudly as possible (If this doesn't happen, change friends immediately)...
Oh yea, My friend Joe used to always say that Erik Funk sounded like he had a deviated septum during the accapella outro of "It's a Fine Line Between the Monkey and the Robot"...I've always felt that was pretty sound medical advice...
Listening to this again, I can't help but think that maybe Dillinger Four were the last truly great punk rock band...They hit that perfect balance between political outrage and irreverent humor...The songs were always catchy...Always exciting...I'm hoping some fresh, young band will come along and make D4 look like a buncha chumps, but I'm starting to get a little worried that it's not going to happen at this point...I'm officially urging all the kids out there to unplug their Skrillex-y macbooks and plug in some guitars and make some catchy punk rock! (Good luck though...I tried doing it and nobody listened to me)...
Oh well, let's check out "Doublewhiskeycokenoice" by Dillinger Four...Enjoy...
Ah, what the heck...I don't feel ready for bed yet...I think I can listen to another one...
Dillinger Four: This Shit is Genius
1999
TDR (Compact Disc)/No Idea (Vinyl) Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc
Track Listing: 1. Shotgun Confessional 2. Unemployed 3. Smells Like OK Soda 4. One Trick Pony 5. Open and Shut 6. Sally MacLennane 7. I Coulda Been a Contender 8. Hi-Pro Glow 9. Two Cents 10. He's a Shithead (Yeah, Yeah) 11. Holy Shit 12. Bite the Curb, Bite the Curb 13. You're Not Blank 14. Inquiring Minds (Should Read a Book)
Oh, I was just telling a friend of mine that despite hearing them a million times, I don't know the names of
most D4 tracks...Sure, "Honey, I Shit the Hot Tub" and a few others
stand out, but for the most part I call them "Track 1," "Track 7"
etc...I felt weird about this until I recently read that even the band
member's themselves have this same problem...So now I don't feel so weird...
Anyway, "This Shit is Genius" is a compilation of early Ep's/Compilation Tracks/7-inch singles/12-inch singles/13 inch singles/16-centimeter singles/flexidiscs/inflexidiscs representing the band's earliest material...
The first four tracks come from 1995's "Higher Aspirations: Tempered and Dismantled" EP...It strikes you immediately that this is even more raw than "Midewestern Songs..." which is really saying something...You'll also notice that they had their shit down cold right from the get-go...If you liked "Midwestern Songs..." then there's a 100% chance that you'll love "Shotgun Confessional" and "Unemployed"...Prior to hearing this, I'd always had a bit of a hard time pinpointing the band's influences...They were clearly punk/hardcore but they didn't sound like anyone else, really...But after wrapping my ears around "One Trick Pony" I had to smack myself on top the head and say, "Ohhh yeeeeaaaa....Crimpshrine!" I also find "Smells Like OK Cola" interesting...For one, it's a swinging, mid-tempo rock song...And on top of that it's about OK Cola...A short-lived Daniel Clowes-flavored soft drink...
1995 also saw the release of the band's split EP with another Midwestern band, the Strike...Their cover of the Pogue's "Sally MacLennane" sounds appropriately wasted and "Open and Shut" rules...When I first heard that clean, funky opening riff I was like, "What the hell?" It was a thing of true beauty...It doesn't last long, eventually giving away to bulldozing hardcore with a chorus that somehow manages to shift things into an even higher gear...
Also included is the 1996's "The Kids Are All Dead" ep...You can hear the band's songwriting get marginally more complex and melodic with "I Coulda Been a Contender" and "Two Cents" is remarkable for sounding abso-fucking-lutely exactly like Crimpshrine right down to an awesome half-time breakdown and Erik emulating Jeff Ott's scortched vocal style...As much as I enjoy "He's a Shithead (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)" I think I enjoy the little low-fi "Dillinger Four" ditty that's attached to the end of the song even more...It's so cute and catchy...Rounding out the EP is "High Pro Glow" which features the hilarious lyric, "High and Mighty, barely nineteen..."
The remainder of the material comes form various comps...The key tracks here include their fantazzackle cover of "I'm Not Blank" (and I think I've covered how much I like the Dils elsewhere on this site) and "Bite the Curb, Bite the Curb" which is powerful enough to knock you on yer ass, ya big pansy...
Boy...I'm starting to get a bit loopy...I think I better pull the plug...To sum things up, I've always enjoyed this release...Sure, it drives me nuts that the "More Songs About Girlfriends and Bubblegum" EP isn't included and I wouldn't recommend this for newcomers to the band (I've showed this to a friend who loves D4 and even this was a bit raw for him)...Still, there's so many must-have tracks here...
Start elsewhere, but don't miss this, is what I'm trying to say...
Here's "Two Cents" by Dillinger Four...Check it out...
